Playing House - Cassie-Ann L. Miller
This is the first book in the Playboys of Sin Valley series and follows Sera and Jason. He's her brother's best friend and he's been secretly in love with her for years. On the morning of Sera's wedding, her fiance leaves her at the alter and after a few too many drinks Sera and Jason end up getting married. Jason had already agreed to let Sera stay with him while she gets back on her feet and now that their married, he just might not let her go. Overall, I liked this story pretty well, but I did have some trouble with the relationship between Sera and Jason because I just didn't really get on board with Sera making the emotional switch so easily. They only had so long to file for an annulment of their marriage so obviously they were going to fall in love before that deadline. I realize Sera's ex-fiance was a real jerk so obviously it was easier for her to get over him because of those circumstances but there was a good amount of hesitation on her part to actually give this relationship with Jason a shot. Jason, on the other hand, has been in love with Sera for forever and is really grabbing onto the silver lining of the whole situation. He's never been the serious relationship type so this is new territory for him as well and it felt sometimes like he was glossing over Sera's feelings in favor of his own. I think their dynamic would have worked better for me if Sera wasn't engaged and maybe instead it was just a long term relationship. I did like in the later part of the book how they both would hype each other up when they were struggling with something and the relationship finally felt like it was moving past the physical attraction and I could actually see these two getting along emotionally as well.
Ruthless King - Meghan March
This is the first book in the Mount Trilogy and it follows Keira and Lachlan. He's the king of the New Orleans underground and she's the owner of a whiskey distillery. Keira is trying to get her family business back on track after her deceased husband was found embezzling from the company. What she didn't know is that he took out a loan from Lachlan and it is time to pay up. Keira doesn't have the money but Lachlan wants something else in return - her. This book was not for me although it is highly rated on Goodreads (4.14 avg with 25k ratings). I love me a good mafia romance and some dub-con trope if it is done well. This, in my opinion, was not done well and it really hinged on the fact that we get almost nothing from Lachlan and a lot of negative feelings from Keira. After Lachlan gives her a deadline, Keira eventually agrees to his deal when it is clear that this is the only way to save the distillery. She tries to draw boundaries for their arrangement and he blatantly disregards them and tells her that she's his property and he'll do what he likes to her. This, on its own, is somewhat standard mafia romance fare but Lachlan carries through on his threats every time and the only perspective we get is Keira really hating Lachlan and what he's doing to her. It was uncomfortable to read and I didn't get so much of a hint of any real care between the two of them. There was one point where Keira cut her hand and Lachlan seemed to care about her for a split second before tending to her wound so that it wouldn't ruin his night. It doesn't help that all but maybe 2 scenes are from Keira's POV so we only see her hatred for him and how almost sociopathic he comes off being. Maybe if we had gotten more from his POV or they had some actually nice times together (like if the hand cut was handled better) then this could be a couple I could root for. The whole trilogy is their story and considering I almost DNF'd this book, I won't be continuing.
When Sparks Fly - Helena Hunting
This friends to lovers story follows Avery and Declan. Friends since college and now roommates, the two have always been close but never crossed the line. Avery has a great life running Spark House, a hotel/event space with her two sisters and spending her free time with Declan and their friends. However, that all comes to a halt when Avery is in a car accident and ends up needing care around the clock. Declan steps up to the challenge and goes above and beyond to help Avery as much as he can. Spending every day together sparks a long-held flame in both of them. However, their relationship isn't as solid as they might think and just as Avery is getting back on her feet, it all comes tumbling down. I really enjoyed this story and how great Avery and Declan are with each other. Their friendship is really established on the page before any hint of romance comes up. I also loved how attentive and caring Declan was to Avery, even when she was getting frustrated with him having to help her with everything. I really loved the slow burn chemistry between them and how carefully both of them acted because they didn't want to give up their friendship. We do see a little bit of their flaws earlier on in the book, but I do wish we had gotten a little more of a ramp-up to the act 3 break up considering how big and explosive that ended up being. It felt a bit out of left field, especially given how solid Avery and Declan's friendship and relationship were up to that point. Thankfully a big blow up like that didn't go unchecked and it was therapy and lots of time to the rescue for this couple. I really loved the positive therapy aspect both for individual therapy as well as couple therapy. This was a super cute read and I really hope Avery's sisters get their own books in the future!
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for review. Expected publication date is September 21, 2021.
The Marriage Contract - Katee Robert
This is the first book in the O'Malleys series and follows Teague and Callie. Callie was promised to the son of a different crime family but after his unexpected death, she ends up engaged to Teague - a move to unite the families. Both Callie and Teague are less than thrilled, but they understand the role they play in the greater scheme. Plus, it doesn't hurt when they are both very attracted to the other. However, the death of Callie's original betrothed leads to a war between the families and with both Teague and Callie keeping secrets, there's a good chance someone will end up dead. I liked this book, but it didn't really hit the points that I like in my mafia romances. I prefer my mafia romances to either be pretty dark or to be more romantic-suspense and this one just felt more like a contemporary romance with some mafia sprinkled on top. Since Callie and Teague actually liked each other and were generally nice people, any dark romance elements went out the window. The romantic suspense elements were there a little bit, but a lot of the crime/revenge planning and scheming was done off page and our main couple was just informed about an upcoming strike a lot of the time instead of being involved. Or, if they were involved, the reader doesn't get to see it until the end of the meetings where everything is decided. I thought Teague and Callie were really cute together and they had really great chemistry. I think this book does a good job setting up the rest of the series since we get to meet a lot of the other family members as well as set up the overall relationship/conflict between the three families. I'd be interested in continuing on in the series (especially since the next book seems like maybe an enemies to loves situation which is more in line with how I like my mafia romances to go).
Fix Her Up - Tessa Bailey
This is the first book in the Hot and Hammered series and follows Georgie and Travis. Travis is Georgie's brother's friend and just recently retired pro-baseball player and Georgie has been in love with Travis since they were kids. Now, he's back in their hometown and he's a little lost with what to do with his life now. Georgie is a one-woman children's birthday party queen - a far cry from her family's house flipping business. When Travis gets the opportunity to get back into baseball, he needs to prove his days of sowing his wild oats are over and the two agree to fake-date. Their agreement will show Travis has settled down and Georgie is grown-up enough that maybe her family will finally take her seriously. I really loved this book. Georgie and Travis were the perfect type of grumpy/sunshine relationship and it was great to see them both be comfortable enough to open up. They both have some pretty deep feelings and insecurities that come from their family dynamics, but they are so supportive of one another. At first, Georgie can come across as a little immature and air-head-y and Travis has a bit of a temper and a real big chip on his shoulder. However, I found their characters to quickly get to the root of those feelings (which were both pretty solid defense mechanisms in my opinion) and their relationship really seemed to break down those walls for each other. I also loved Georgie's group with her sister and best friend that they start to support each other's ambitions and to keep each other accountable. All the characters felt really well developed and all the relationships (familial, platonic, and romantic) felt really authentic and really enhanced the overall story. This is my second Tessa Bailey book (and my second 5 star rating) so she's quickly climbing into 'auto-buy' status for me.
Planet Lara: Tempest - Eliza Gordon
This is the second book in the Planet Lara series and picks up pretty much right after the events of book 1. Since this is a romantic-suspense trilogy, I'll try my best to keep the spoilers of book 1 to a minimum during this review of book 2 (no book 2 spoilers) but of course even sharing a description of this book would spoil the events of book 1 so I'll just skip to my thoughts. I thought this was a really solid book 2 but it did feel like it had a bit of middle book syndrome going on. With both the romance and the suspense aspects, it felt like the first half of the book was catching back up to the ending of book 1 and then only really moving forward a little bit. As an example, for the romance part, Lara and Finan have a fight at the end of book 1 so tensions are high during the beginning of book 2 and it takes them a long time to get back to where they left off. On the one hand, I think this is more realistic because of course they'd need some time to get their feelings straightened out but since it took so long to get back to where they were, it didn't feel like any real progress had been made by the end of the book. My same feelings hold for the suspense aspects of the story where we thought A at the end of book 1, then turns out that wasn't the whole story so we backtrack a little, find some more information, and then we're back where we started and there's only time for a little more forward momentum. Again, this makes for a compelling read with the added layers that we didn't know about previously, but it sort of made the book feel like it was treading water and waiting for the reader to gather up all these bits of info before moving onto the third book (which is coming in December and I can't wait!). As a disclaimer, I don't read a lot of series so maybe I'm a little over-sensitive to this sort of pacing. All that being said, I was super engaged the whole time and read this book in one sitting (after staying up a little too late on a worknight). I was super intrigued with the breadcrumbs we were following for the investigation but also in the interpersonal relationships being explored in the story. I liked how we spent a good amount of time widening Lara's circle of friends and seeing her become more comfortable with her role as a leader on the island. Lara and Finan (and Humboldt) have my entire heart and I can't wait for book 3 to release so those two can finally get their happily ever after.
TW/CW: alcohol as a coping mechanism, miscarriage
Thanks to BookSirens and the author for the ARC - I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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