Romance Wrap-up 7/16/21 to 7/31/21

 Grin and Beard It - Penny Reid

This is the second book in the Winston Brothers series and follows eldest brother Jethro and actress Sienna.  Sienna is in town filming a movie but gets lost on the winding mountain roads.  Luckily, Ranger Jethro is there to rescue her and, to Sienna's surprise, he doesn't recognize her.  The two start spending more time together and eventually the town finds out and the two need to figure out how to balance their relationship and the spotlight.  Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  I really liked Sienna and Jethro as their own characters and as a couple.  There was so much great flirty banter in this book!  I really liked how both characters were pretty well comfortable in their own skin and life choices so while Jethro may rescue Sienna when her GPS cuts out, he isn't rescuing her from anything else.  I loved how much of the Winston family we got in this book and I can't wait to read book 3 which follows my favorite brother.  I'm not the biggest fan of romance books where one side of the relationship is famous (actor, rockstar, etc) and the other side is 100% just a regular person.  I prefer my fame-based romances to be with people at least in the same circles (so the actress and the screenwriter, for example), but that is just a personal preference.  I think the fame aspects for a regular person in this story were handled better than I've seen in some of the other books I've read but I'm still not the biggest fan.

The Fixer - Jessica Gadziala

This is the first book in the Professionals series and follows Aven and Quin.  After months of having a stalker and no police action, Aven is attacked in her home.  She calls on Quin, a Fixer, and his company to get her life back on track.  However, the first attack wasn't the end and Quin isn't staying away from her like he normally does with clients.  I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to continue on in the series.  I loved Aven and Quin as well as all the other characters at the company we meet.  I think this was a really good introduction book to the series because it laid a lot of ground work for the characters we'll follow in the upcoming books.  I really liked Aven and Quin together and how easy their chemistry felt - especially given the circumstances of their meeting.  I do wish we had gotten a little more of their relationship once they got together, especially since it is mentioned that one of the other members of the team always gets broken up with because his girlfriends can't handle his schedule and him being gone so much. 

TW/CW: stalker, attempted sexual assault, suicide, domestic abuse

Like You Love Me - Adriana Locke

This is the first book in the Honey Creek series and follows childhood friends Sophie and Holden.  Sophie runs the local Bread and Breakfast and needs to pay off a chunk of debt to keep it open.  Holden comes to town to work at his grandfather's vet practice while waiting on his dream job offer.  Only problem is that job wants a stable, family-focused man and Holden has recently been fired from his job and ended an engagement. The two friends reconnect and make a deal - they'd get married so Holden looks good for his new job and he'll pay off Sophie's debt so she can keep the B&B open.  But when emotions get involved in what should have been a pure business relationship, they'll need to decide what truly matters.  I absolutely loved this book.  Friends to loves with a marriage of convenience is one of my favorite trope combos. I really liked how easily Sophie and Holden's history got integrated into the story so we got a really good feel of their friendship.  This book was a little short (about 280 pages) so I wouldn't have been mad if there could have been a few more scenes of how their friendship worked back in the day.  I loved the small town setting and all the side characters - especially Sophie's siblings. I also appreciated that this was a pretty low angst read where the third act breakup was pretty quickly resolved.  The chemistry between Sophie and Holden was fantastic - especially their close flirting scenes in the beginning 50%.  I can't wait for more books in the series to be released!