Follow Me To The Edge - Tariq Ashkanani

 

This police procedural follows rookie detective Joe Finch as he arrives at the scene where an entire family was murdered.  Joe has been working alone ever since his partner was shot in a routine traffic stop a few months earlier.  However, with a case this big and with pressure from all sides, Joe is teamed up with a new partner for this investigation.  As the two begin to investigate, it is clear that in the small town of Cooper, Nebraska, not everything is as upstanding as it seems.  Joe needs to deal with greedy politicians, a cartel boss, a nosy journalist, and even a cult all vying for power in the small town. 

TW/CW: alcohol abuse, death of an infant, pet death, cults, domestic violence, police corruption

This is the prequel sequel to Ashkanani's 2021 novel Welcome to Cooper - which I absolutely loved.  In Welcome to Cooper, we see Joe Finch as the partner to that book's main character, Thomas.  This novel is set some time before Welcome to Cooper and we see Joe Finch evolve into the man and detective we see later.  This felt almost like a villain origin story since Joe was clearly an antagonist in Thomas's life.  But even if you haven't read Welcome to Cooper, this was still a compelling police procedural and works perfectly well as a stand alone read.  But if you did read Welcome to Cooper, this is a wonderful follow up that gave me more of that gritty, small town feel that I loved.

Ashkanani does a fantastic job of making the town of Cooper its own character.  We get so many details from the oppressive heat to the ancillary characters all seeming like they're just biding their time for something better to come along.  Cooper is not painted as a picturesque, middle America, small town.  Instead, it is gritty, sleazy, corrupt hole that these characters find themselves in and it seems like anyone who has the means to leave the town does so in a hurry.  The people who live their do their best to make it a community, but there's only so much they can do.  This was really highlighted when Joe - who grew up in Cooper - is reminiscing about fellow high school students with an old friend and when he inquires where X person is now, their stories are never happy. I also really loved how Joe, an insider to the town, was paired with an outsider so Joe could explain to his partner how this town really works.  Getting that outsider perspective and sometimes shock at just how bad this town can be was a great lens for the reader. 

I was pleasantly surprised when we got chapters from the POV of a woman in the cult - Laura.  Her chapters start at about the 10% mark in the book and then we get one of her chapters for every 3ish of Joe's.  Of course, it isn't immediately apparent how Laura and Joe's plots are connected, but they do come together eventually in the end.  I was pretty equally interested in both plot lines, although I was more emotionally invested in Joe's. I think these cult chapters were a great way to break up the more procedural sections of the main plot line.  I did find the cult plot line to move pretty quickly, but I didn't find myself lost or confused at any time.  We just didn't get as much build up or tension that I think we would have if the cult plot was primary. 

The actual police investigation was great and had some great reveals.  We get a good balance of leads, dead ends, and double backing onto previously visited suspects.  There were also some great pay off moments were a small detail from earlier paid off big time later on in the investigation.  Having read Welcome to Cooper, I knew generally how some details were going to play out because I knew how Joe is in that book, but Ashkanani did a great job at really building up Joe's character that I was still hoping some details would end up differently.  I also think the villain had a pretty great reveal that I didn't see coming.  I didn't find the ending quite as bleak as Welcome to Cooper's ending, but it also wasn't what I would call a happy ending.  I'm pretty sure no one in Cooper gets a truly happy ending. 

Overall, this was a really great read and I loved being back in Cooper.  This gave me more of that gritty, depressing, oppressive despair that I loved in the original.  It was so interesting to see Joe's evolution from this version into the version we see later on.  The investigation was well plotted and I was interested from start to finish. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

Publication date: March 8, 2022

The One - John Marrs

 

This sci-fi thriller follows 5 different people - Mandy, Christopher, Jade, Nick, and Ellie - as they find their 'match'.  DNA testing service Match Your DNA uses the scientific discovery of a gene that matches your with your soulmate and turns it into a sort of dating app.  Our 5 characters each uploaded their DNA for different reasons and each found their match - although some are more surprised than others at who they end up matched with. 

TW/CW: stalking, infant in danger, kidnapping, infidelity

I listened to the audiobook and would highly recommend it.  It is narrated by 5 narrators - Clare Corbett, Vicki Hall, Simon Bubb, Jot Davies, and Sophie Aldred.  Since the chapters in this book are pretty short, we are really rotating quickly through the characters and having a different narrator for each really helped me keep them all straight.  There are a ton of names flying around this book and since I'm not great with names the voices were key.  I would recommend the audiobook if you're a reader who may have similar struggles with so many character POVs. 

I absolutely loved the characters and how we're following so many different types of love stories in this book.  We have the engaged couple who is questioning their bond, the workaholic woman who has convinced herself she doesn't need a relationship, cross continent long distance relationship, and a romance after divorce. I found all of the characters compelling and enjoyed following their different paths.  I didn't find that I had one favorite character, but rather, my interest was piqued at different times in the story with different characters.  Since we are following 5 characters, we didn't get a whole lot of time to get to know their backstories or past relationship history.  It felt very much like the reader was plopped into the middle of the story right when they would get their email telling them they had a match.  I didn't personally mind this because we saw a good amount of character growth while they were in the relationship and we would get little tidbits of information throughout the story. There were some side characters, but most of them played a very small roll in the story and weren't developed much.  This story was really focused on our 5 main characters and their DNA matches. 

I really enjoyed the science that Marrs used in this book.  I'm not a DNA expert, so maybe it was completely impossible, but I found the way the soulmate gene was explained very believable.  It was easy to understand and was explained simply enough that I think it would be really accessible for readers. I also enjoyed how the science aspect didn't come in until later in the book.  We were able to see the sociological and interpersonal outcomes of this first and I think this allowed the reader to already have a vague framework of the technology.  Then, when we get the science info-dump, it was really just filling in the spaces in the framework we already had. I also think Marrs did a good job of having one character ask all the questions that the reader might be asking as well.  I'd consider this pretty light on the sci-fi scale since the only science-y stuff is really the DNA matching but everything else in the world is the same.  It is really just like 23 And Me but instead of being matched with distant cousins, you're matched with your soulmate.  

As an avid romance reader, I was a bit surprised at just how much romance is in this book.  The first half really felt more like a contemporary romance rather than a sci-fi/thriller.  We get the somewhat awkward first dates, the best friends begging for all the dirty details, the wondering if the other person is feeling what you're feeling.  It is really great.  We do get some interesting reveals early on in regards to the identities of some of our characters, but for the most part these are all pretty straight forward budding relationships.  There is one particular couple that goes through an entire typical romance arc and I absolutely loved it.  However, since this isn't a romance book, there are some darker plot points brewing beneath the surface. 

The more thrilling aspects of the book take a while to get going and I could see some readers finding the pacing a bit slow.  The first half is entirely set up of these relationships and seeing them grow.  We get to know these characters better and see them blossom in their relationships.  But, after the halfway mark, we start to see the cracks in some of these characters and the bodies soon start dropping.  By the end, I was honestly surprised at just how many people died in this book - some in natural ways, others very unnatural.  I think listening to the audiobook really helped with the pacing because it was more engaging to listen to all these different narrators go through these chapters.  I think if I had been reading it with just my eyes, I could see how some of these plot lines would be a bit boring at the beginning and I would be tempted to skim them.  However, as mentioned before, I think each plot line traded off their exciting moments so we do have some plot lines that were more exciting early on and others that only picked up toward the end.  There is one particular character who I think exists partially to let the reader know that this isn't some general contemporary romance book, that this will get messy and darker eventually.  The last 15% ish of the book had some fantastic reveals that had me gasping in surprise.  

Overall, this was a fantastic read.  Super page-turning fun plot, great characters, and good balance with the science-y stuff.  I would recommend the audiobook for anyone interested as, again, it has a different narrator for each main character. 

The Children on the Hill - Jennifer McMahon

 

This horror/suspense, inspired by Frankenstein, follows a group of siblings starting in 1978.  Siblings Vi and Eric live with their grandmother on the grounds of her renowned psychiatric treatment center in rural Vermont.  Then Gran brings home another girl one day - Iris - and she joins Vi and Eric on their adventures.  Outside of homeschooling, caring for their pets, and exploring the grounds, the siblings also have the Monster Club. This club is where they categorize information on all types of monsters, including how to defeat them because, as Vi explains, monsters are everywhere.  Now, in 2019, the host of popular monster-hunting podcast, Lizzy Shelley, is on her way to Vermont.  A girl has disappeared from a small town and rumor is that the local monster took her.  Where the police are sure the girl just ran away, Lizzy knows some monsters are real and one is her sister.

TW/CW: medical experimentation, eugenics, abduction, arson, animal death

I really loved the characters and their dynamic.  And as someone who normally finds almost all children in fiction annoying, that is really saying something.  I loved Vi, Eric, and Iris and McMahon does a fantastic job of introducing the reader to their dynamic and their whole world of imagination.  The side characters were also really well done, especially since we get them from the Vi's POV so they were maybe a bit more like caricatures (the grumpy lady working the front desk, for example).  Lizzy was an instantly compelling character for me, since she's a grown adult who genuinely believes in these monster hunts she's going on.  I loved her lone-wolf attitude but then how she could flip on the charm and get information out of people for these investigations.  These were the types of characters who we know must have had very interesting lives and I wouldn't be mad if we could read more of those earlier bits (I want to see Lizzy hunt down all the monsters!)

I think the dual timeline aspect worked well but it was a situation where I was much more interested in one timeline over the other.  This felt like a 70/30 split between the 1978 timeline following Vi and the 2019 timeline following Lizzy - I was much more interested in the 2019 events.  Looking back at the chapter titles in the ebook, I was suprised that it was split nearly 50/50: Vi has 19 chapters and Lizzy has 17 chapters (however, I didn't go back through the whole book to count pages).  Maybe readers who prefer Vi's chapters in 1978 will feel differently than I did about the balance between the two timelines. I so badly wanted to follow Lizzy as she hunted this monster and I loved the chapters we get from 2019.  McMahon did a great job of linking the two timelines by having something come up in one that we then see mirrored in the other timeline.  I always appreciate when authors do this because it does help the story feel like a more cohesive whole.  We also get, mostly later on in the story, some excerpts from articles that allude to some tragedy and I really wanted more of those.  They very much felt like an easy way to get some information to the reader that our POV characters might not know about. I think these breaks helped remind the reader that we were working toward something bad and it helped to re-up the tension when it had been a bit more relaxed.

I found the ending to be a bit anti-climactic, mostly due to the pacing.  The build up was fantastic but when the final reveal comes, it is cleaned up so quickly and cleanly that it didn't give me enough time to really sink into the situation.  I loved the plot points on paper, but I just wanted one of the last scenes to last longer and have the main conflict resolution be handled in a more complex way.  I think the way this ending reveal was handled then made the final twist, again, less impactful overall.  I wanted a bigger build up, more conflict, and higher stakes than what we ended up getting but since I didn't have any problems with the actual plot points themselves, I think this might just be a me-issue.  If I'm putting my ex-English major hat on, I think that this quick clean up of the main climax sort of mirrors the earlier discussions in the books about monsters and their inevitable fate.  We, the reader, have been trained by years of reading and watching these type of 'monster' stories that we're fully aware of how these ending climaxes usually turn out.  However, the subversion of this was really interesting and while it was maybe less satisfying from a gut-reaction sort of lens, I can admit that it is more interesting from a thematic analysis. 

I loved the way the horror is implemented in this story.  We know from the description of the book that this was Frankenstein-inspired and I think that comes across very obviously.  I could see some readers finding this a bit too heavy-handed, but I thought the references were earned well enough in the world of the story that I didn't have a problem.  I also think readers who aren't familiar with Frankenstein will have no problems following along.  At first, I thought maybe we'd just be more in the psychological/philosophical horror realm and discuss what being a 'monster' really means and how one's identity can impact their lives.  And, to be fair, we for sure get some of those themes, but I was glad that we get a bit more into the medical/science type horror as we get into the later part of the book.  I read Frankenstein in my college Gothic Literature course and I absolutely loved it, so I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it already. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this read and found it much more compelling than I was expecting.  I do wish the dual timelines were balanced a little differently and that the ending pacing was tweaked, but otherwise this was a really fun time. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC

Expected publication date is April 26, 2022

Dark Romance Readathon Wrap-up

The below books were all ones I read for the Dark Romance Readathon this year and, thus, they are all dark romances (some are obviously darker than others).  I've tried my best to pick out TW/CWs for all of them, but since I read them pretty much back to back over 4 days, I know I didn't hit every single one in the below reviews.  A number of these books contained CWs in the beginning of the book (which I always appreciate), but I wanted to give a general disclaimer that these romances do have dark themes/settings/situations that may not be a comfy read for all readers.

 

Heat of the Night - Nicole Stewart

This MMF mafia romance follows Anton, Enrico, and Isabel. Anton is the soon to be heir of his father's criminal enterprise.  He's been in a relationship with Enrico since high school, but due to old-fashioned ideas of homosexuality, the two need to keep their relationship secret.  When Isabel's father gets in trouble with Anton's, Anton surprises them all by offering to marry Isabel in order to keep her father in line.  Isabel doesn't have any plans of enjoying this forced marriage, but finds herself attracted to her new husband in ways she didn't expect.  When she sees Anton and Enrico together one night, the three of them have to draw some new lines in the sand and figure out how they can all get what they want.  I overall enjoyed this read, but felt the pacing was a little off.  This is a pretty angsty, slower burn romance which I generally don't mind.  However, the secondary plot was also pretty slow paced which just made the whole thing drag.  I really loved our three characters together and their personalities meshed well. We get a good balance of scenes between the different pairs as well as the trio together so I could really believe the poly romance. I loved the scenes we get of Anton and Enrico early on so we establish just how much these two love each other and the struggles they have navigating their closeted relationship.  I think Stewart does a great job of really getting inside the characters' heads and showing us what they're struggling with.  I always like my mafia romances to have a bit of a romantic suspense element and this one sort of did, but then it was cleaned up really quickly so it wasn't super satisfying.

TW/CW: homophobia, threat of sexual assault

The Trouble with Trying To Date A Murderer - Jennifer Cody

This MM dark rom-com is the first in a planned trilogy and follows Romily and Fox.  Due to his rough upbringing, Romily is completely mute.  Romily has seen Fox commit mass murder 3 times but instead of fearing him, Romily is attracted to him. Fox is equally intrigued by Romily and his seeming lack of self preservation. Fox offers Romily a job working and living with him and the two soon strike up a curiously affectionate romance.  I absolutely loved this read and I can't wait for the other books in the series to be released so we can continue with Romily and Fox's relationship.  This ends up being a lot lighter of a read than I was expecting once we learn the reasons behind Fox's killing sprees. I loved all the side characters and the whole world that Cody built.  The murder scenes had a very John Wick feeling to them with Fox being just so good at his job that people fear him. I can't directly speak to the representation of Romily's muteness but I liked how it wasn't a source of tension or angst in the story.  I think the writing style and voice would be a hit or miss with readers.  I absolutely loved the sort of over-the-top cheeky writing style but it won't work for everyone.

TW/CW: mass murder, mass suicide in a cult, medical abuse, sexual assault

Sing Me to Sleep - R. M. Virtues

This paranormal romance follows Penelope and sleep paralysis demon Acheron. Penelope has been having trouble sleeping ever since the home invasion that killed her father six months prior.  When she does manage to fall asleep, the nightmares take over quickly.  Acheron's job as a sleep paralysis demon is to harvest people's fears and take them back to Hell.  But when Acheron meets Penelope, the two are drawn to each other.  Together, they work through her fears and Penelope is finally able to sleep.  But just as they're exploring their relationship, the two will need to team up to fight off dangers in the real world, not just nightmares.  I heard so much hype when this book released but put off reading it because I thought paranormal romances weren't usually my cup of tea (which I'm currently reconsidering).  But I'm so glad I finally picked this up.  This was a fantastic read and I loved the world that Virtues crafted.  I've experienced sleep paralysis a few times so I really felt grounded in what Penelope was experiencing.  I thought the CNC was handled really well and I liked how much it was integrated into Penelope's healing process. 

TW/CW: home invasion, CNC, death of a parent

Promises and Pomegranates - Sav R Miller

 This mafia Hades/Persephone-lite romance follows Kal and Elena.  Elena is getting ready to marry another man when Kal convinces her father to give Elena to him instead.  The two get married and then Kal quickly flies them away to his home.  While the two of them try to negotiate the terms of their marriage, the news in the press is that Kal kidnapped Elena on her wedding day.  There are some mysterious blackmail packages that arrive and threats made that could upend Kal and Elena's relationship before it has a chance.  This did not work for me on a lot of levels but I know it is very popular dark romance.  This is a very steamy book that had some interesting pieces.  However, none of those pieces really came together for me.  I wasn't feeling the chemistry between Kal and Elena.  They were obviously very physically compatible and their kinks matched up well, but I wasn't getting any sort of emotional connection at all. They're the kind of couple who I couldn't see actually getting a HEA. I also found the outside conflict to be extremely convoluted and didn't really make sense.  I know the author states that she used the Hades/Persephone as a loose framework but it really felt like she forced in those references and expected them to do the heavy lifting.  Kal calls Elena "his Persephone" a handful of times and each time I rolled my eyes because I get what Miller was going for but it felt so incredibly out of place while reading. 

TW/CW: blood/knife play, kidnapping, drugging

Go Down Hard

  This is not a romance! There is no HEA between the characters.  Full review can be found here.

 I read this for the readathon because I had heard it pitched as a horror/romance between two serial killers.  As a note, the book, itself, does not claim to be a romance, that is just what I've seen some readers call it. It is primarily shelved as a horror on Goodreads so I was skeptical that this would actually fit into the "Capital R" Romance genre.  We do get some interesting sexual tension between our two serial killers, but that is about it.  (It was a 5 star horror/thriller read for me so would recommend)

Unhinged - Onley James

 This MM psychopath romance is the first in the Necessary Evils series and follows Adam and Noah.  Adam and his brothers are all psychopaths, adopted and raised by an eccentric billionaire who trained them to kill for good. Noah's father was murdered years prior, sending his life into a spiral.  Now, he's spent the last two years tracking down his father's killer - Adam.  But when Noah confronts Adam, Adam shows him evidence that his father was not a good man.  The two form an unlikely bond and Adam finds himself helping Noah work through his childhood trauma as buried memories start to surface.  This book had such a weird tone that I absolutely loved - it was like Umbrella Academy meets Dexter. I can't speak directly to the representation of CSA survivors but I did find Noah's range of emotions very realistic. I loved Noah and Adam together and how their relationship, despite starting off pretty quickly, didn't feel insta-lovey to me.  Instead, it felt like it started out as a strong infatuation with each other that grew to a genuine emotional connection as the two men shared parts about themselves. This was a weirdly sweet romance surrounded by some pretty horrific situations and it worked so so so well. I loved all the brothers we get to meet (although they all have A-names so I had a hard time keeping them straight). I cannot wait to continue on in the series.

TW/CW: CSA, pedophilia, PTSD triggers, alcohol abuse, kidnapping, human trafficking

 

Hooked - Emily McIntire

This mafia romance is the first book in the Never After series and follows Hook and Wendy. He sees her walk into his bar one night and immediately sets his plan into motion.  He's charming, handsome, and sweeps her off her feet.  The two quickly get involved, but when their true identities come to light, it will change their relationship forever. So McIntire lets the reader know upfront that this is a contemporary dark romance, not a retelling or a fantasy romance and I appreciate the disclaimer.  However, I then had a really hard time with the Peter Pan references.  Some of them I liked (such as the Jolly Roger being the name of Hook's bar) but some were not working for me.  I think I just watched the Disney movie too many times as a kid so whenever we would get a character name or reference, I immediately thought of that movie. So having Hook as our MMC in this story meant that I was picturing Hook from that Disney movie version.  This, obviously, might just be a me-issue, but I think these sorts of references might trip up a lot of readers. I thought Hook and Wendy had a lot of chemistry but I wanted more time for the romance to develop before we got to the main conflict.  I did like how twisty the conflict got and there were some really great reveals. I also wanted more from the side characters from both Wendy and Hook. We get some great side relationships in the beginning, but it really felt like once the main couple got together, all other characters were forgotten about until they were needed for plot reasons.

TW/CW: CSA, kidnapping, torture

 

Deceived by the Gargoyles - Lillian Lark

This MMMF paranormal romance is the second book in the Monstrous Matches series and follows witch Grace and a gargoyle clan.  Grace isn't having much luck finding a partner on her own, so she enlists the help of a matchmaker.  She soon finds herself matched with Elliot, a charming and flirtatious gargoyle.  Everything seems to be going smoothly until Grace gets the feeling she's being kept secret from Elliot's family.  Soon, she finds herself meeting and being courted by not only Elliot, but also Elliot's mates Broderick and Alasdair.  The gargoyle trio is more than Grace signed up for, but she's surprised to find they just might be the perfect family she's been looking for.  I really enjoyed this read and found it surprisingly sweet.  I didn't read the first book in the series, but I want to go back and get more of this world that Lark is building.  I loved the different relationship dynamics we see between the various pairings on page and how they all come together well.  There's a real big 'found family' dynamic that isn't usually my thing but I think it worked well in this case. I loved how we got the POV of all 4 characters so we could get a good understanding of how everyone involved was feeling.  This was a pretty long read (388 pages) but I think we needed some more time with the three gargoyles both in the beginning as well as later in the story.  We're primarily following Grace's plot in this story but since the trio was already well-established, I wanted to see some more emotionally intimate scenes with them adjusting to simply having Grace around or how they were re-negotiating certain aspects of their relationship.  I did love how Grace's relationship with each of them were different but still felt very authentic to the characters.

TW/CW: stalking, body shaming, abusive/neglectful parents

Go Down Hard - Ali Seay

 

This horror/thriller follows Meg and Jack. Meg is moving in to a house next to Jack's farm and Jack is instantly intrigued with Meg - she's beautiful and, more importantly, alone which makes Jack think she'd be the perfect new victim.  Meg is looking for her own private area to go about her work undisturbed.  After a traumatic event in her childhood, she's decided to become a guardian angel, of sorts, and turn the tables on predatory men.  When Meg's most recent victim escapes and run's to Jack's house for help, she's sure she'll have to kill her new neighbor as well.  But when she barges in on Jack cleaning up his most recent victim, they realize they have more in common than they initially thought.  They have an electric attraction to one another, but the only question is: do they want to kiss or kill?

TW/CW: rape of a minor, abduction, torture, gore 

I picked this up because I've heard it pitched as a horror/romance and I was intrigued as an avid romance reader and a growing horror reader. I even read it as part of a Dark Romance Readathon.  And while I really enjoyed this read, I do just want to clarify for any other genre-romance readers out there that this is not a "capital R" genre romance.  It does not fulfill the technical requirements of the Romance genre.  I'd categorize this as a horror with some really great romantic-ish tension between the characters, but that's about it. 

The pacing is fantastic.  This was a shorter read (166 pages) and the story really only takes place over a few days so we are full speed ahead from the beginning.  I would absolutely recommend setting aside an afternoon and reading this start to finish.  I selfishly wanted more of the cat-and-mouse dynamic over a number of different situations because every interaction between these two were just crafted so well.  When I take a step back, I think this story included everything it needed and nothing extra.  I didn't feel myself getting bored or annoyed at any part.  We get reveal after reveal in pretty quick succession and then we're flying toward the inevitable conclusion of what happens when two serial killers meet.

The characters are fantastic and Seay was able to really walk the line between making them likeable enough but not too likeable. They're both oddly charming and charismatic but we also see both of them hunting and killing on page and we get their inner monologue explaining how satisfying killing is for them. I found myself rooting for them each at different times during my reading and, for a brief moment, I was actually hoping they'd end up in some sort of weirdly loving relationship. This is told in dual POV which really helped solidify the characters considering the book is so short.  It felt more like a 70/30 split between Meg and Jack's POVs so we do get more from Meg.  I really liked the choice to make Meg's backstory told through flashbacks because it made those traumatic experiences so much more vivid to the reader rather than just having Meg make some off hand comment about it down the line. 

The tension was a really great mix of danger and sexual tension.  I really loved the choice for both of them to find out at the same time that they are both serial killers so it really feels like all the cards are on the table.  We get some inner monologue from both of them that this is a new feeling for both of them and they really aren't sure if they want to kill or kiss the other person.  They end up in this sort of holding pattern for a bit while they are both trying to figure out what they want to do next while at the same time being a little cautious because they know what the other person is.  I loved that, since we're so in the character's heads, the reader also doesn't know if they're going to end up killing each other or not or maybe if they'll have one night together to get it out of their systems before getting onto the killing part. 

The gore was really effective and really well written.  Seay does a great job of giving the reader just enough details to really sell it but it never crossed the line to gratuitous for me.  Seay also managed to keep up this balance even in the more action-heavy thriller portions of the book. The gore level reminded me of a really well-balanced slasher movie where we certainly see and get the gory details, but it was never so over-the-top.  

Overall, I'm absolutely in love with this book and it gave me everything I wanted. Fantastic tension, dynamic characters, and a thrilling 3rd act. Would highly recommend reading in one sitting.

Romance Wrap-up 4/1/22 to 4/15/22

 Home Game - Odette Stone

This hockey romance is the second book in the Vancouver Wolves series and follows NHL player Ryan when he meets Zoey in a cafe. The two part ways, neither one expecting to see the other again.  But then Ryan gets a call from a hospital where Zoey is unconscious after being attacked.  She's injured, has lost her belongings, and has nowhere else to go so Ryan invites her to stay at his place for a while, until she can get back on her feet.  The two have a rocky start but they soon start up an odd friendship as Zoey begins to heal and settle into her new life. However, her past soon catches up with her and she ends up trying to decide between leaving Ryan (and her growing feelings for him) or staying. I really enjoyed this read, despite this being more of an angsty read than I normally enjoy.  This book is almost 400 pages long but I didn't feel like it dragged at all.  There was a lot of growth and character development to get through and I'm glad none of that was rushed.  I loved Ryan and Zoey together and how accepting everyone in Ryan's life was of Zoey.  I thought the conflict was very realistic but there was a pretty heavy handed miscommunication that happened in regards to the conflict that didn't feel like it matched their established dynamic. While I didn't love how angsty the 3rd act breakup was (because I just want them to be happy together already!), I did enjoy that it gave both characters the space they needed to come back together more solid than before.  I loved how many side characters we get in this book and how integral they were to Ryan and Zoey. 

TW/CW: homelessness, foster home child abuse, stalking, attempted sexual assault

First and Forever - Eve Dangerfield

This is the third book in the Rebirth series and follows DJ Eden and pro-soccer player Willow. Willow falls in love with Eden pretty much at first sight but she's focused on her upcoming international tour so Willow suggests they have a short, fake relationship.  The relationship should boost Eden's online profile (and Spotify listens) as well as give him the time with her that he wants.  As they grow closer, sharing parts of themselves they normally keep hidden, they need to figure out where the line is in this fake relationship and if they've already crossed it.  I really enjoyed this read and absolutely adored Willow and Eden as a couple.  I loved how different they were at first glance but they really worked well together.  I loved the role play aspect in this (even if the specific roles/kinks were not exactly my jam) and how both of them completely embraced the other's fantasy.  I thought the conflict between them was very realistic and I really liked how they both had to figure out what they wanted in their lives before they could come together fully.  The fake dating aspect didn't entirely work for me.  There are a couple mentions of how many followers Eden gained or how many more streams her songs were getting, but I felt like we pretty quickly abandoned the whole reason for fake dating (or, at least, pretty quickly abandoned mentioning it). We don't get a whole lot of stakes from the fake dating aspect of the relationship which I think is what made it fall a little flat for me.  This ended up feeling more like a friends with benefits to lovers book which is all well and good, but just wasn't what I was expecting from a fake dating plot.

TW/CW: alcohol abuse, drug use, humiliation/degradation kink, mentions of past grooming behavior (not by MCs)

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC. Expected publication date is May 4, 2022

Book Boyfriend - Kris Ripper

 This friends to lovers story follows PK and Art.  PK has been in love with Art since they drunkenly kissed one night in college, but he hasn't been able to figure out how to tell Art.  After Art breaks up with their boyfriend and ends up staying with PK, he thinks it is finally his chance.  Except feelings are hard and messy and instead of telling Art how he feels, PK writes a book where he can be the perfect boyfriend and can say these feelings aloud. But when PK's book starts gaining popularity, it becomes harder and harder for him to actually tell Art that he wrote it.  And when PK's grand gesture crashes and burns, PK might just lose Art for good. I liked this book and I think it is a really great example of what it was trying to be, but unfortunately, what it was trying to be was not my favorite type of romance.  I love a good friends to lovers, slow burn romance and this technically hit both of those criteria but not in the balance that I personally like.  If you like your slow burns extra slow (like they finally get together in the last chapter slow) and absolutely filled to the brim with pining, then this is the book for you!  We only get PK's POV in the story so I wasn't sure if Art was catching on to PK's feelings or not.  I wanted more of PK and Art actually being friends without PK's constant inner monologue freaking out about how much he loves Art. I loved the narrative voice in this book and how it really felt like PK was telling his own story to the reader.  The side characters were fantastic and I loved how integral they became to PK and Art's story.  I personally prefer my romances to show more of the actual dating/relationship portion and I kept waiting for PK and Art to make that jump (which they eventually do, of course, and get their HEA).  That sense of anticipation just went on too long for my liking but I think readers who enjoy a long, pining, romance will really like this.

TW/CW: drug abuse (family member, not MCs)

Thanks to NetGalley and Carina Adores for the ARC. Expected publication date is April 26, 2022

Wait With Me - Amy Daws

This is the first book in the Wait With Me series and follows erotica writer Kate and mechanic Miles.  Kate has a bad case of writers block until she re-discovers her spark while in the customer care center at Tire Depot. She thinks she's flying under the radar until she catches the eye of Miles.  Miles is intrigued by Kate, but after finally ending a decade long on-and-off again relationship, he's not exactly looking for anything serious.  But the more time they spend together, the more they both want to give in to the chemistry between them. They strike up a friends with benefits deal with Miles helping Kate with her book research. Kate and Miles had amazing chemistry in this pretty much instantly.  I loved their dynamic and how they interacted with each other so easily.  The side characters were great and I'm so excited to read on in the series and read their books.  I did find some of the characters to be a little over-the-top: Miles was super jealous and Kate's ex was the literal worst.  I also would have liked some gradual build up with feelings as their relationship developed.  It felt pretty insta-love from both Kate and Miles and they tried to keep their relationship casual for their own reasons.  But since they were basically in love with each other from the beginning, there wasn't really as much emotional growth as I would have liked.  That being said, I did really enjoy how they kept sharing parts of themselves that they don't share often and they were both so open and accepting.  Kate and Miles are one of those book couples who are just so incredibly well matched that they could be considered soulmates.

The Murder Rule - Dervla McTiernan

 

This suspense novel follows law student Hannah as she transfers universities with the goal of joining the Innocence Project - a project dedicated to overturning wrongful convictions and freeing innocent people from prison.  On the outside, she is a typical, idealistic law student who wants to see justice win out.  But her true intentions for joining the project are more sinister.  The project's main case - a man convicted of the rape and murder of a young mother - hits a personal spot for Hannah and while the rest of the team is fighting to free this man, Hannah is fighting to keep him locked up for good.

TW/CW: police brutality/corruption, alcoholism, rape

 The main story takes place over the course of about a week so we don't have a lot of time to dilly-dally.  I really enjoyed the characters in this and was surprised by the amount of character development McTiernan was able to squeeze in.  All of the development felt really natural and there wasn't any time that felt info-dumpy to me.  As this is a legal suspense, we do get some poetic waxing on the state of the United States justice system and these conversations are a pretty good window into these characters and their mindsets. I really liked the side characters and how much information we were able to get about them in a very short amount of time.  I think McTiernan does a great job of having just the right amount of small talk scenes to get some background information to the reader but not too many that it distracts from the main plot.  I do wish we had seen more of Hannah's background and how she grew up.  We get little snippets here and there but I never had enough time to really sit with those situations before the plot kept moving on to the next point.  Hannah's childhood and her relationship with her mom are so integral to the plot but we get so little of those interactions actually on the page that I didn't feel like they had the emotional weight they should have. 

The twists and reveals come late in this book, but when they hit it is perfection.  This book utilizes my favorite trope in a fantastic way (but that trope would be a spoiler).  There were a couple of reveals that felt like they were a little bit of a cheat because they were not at all telegraphed to the reader ahead of time and they should have been.  We were close enough to the characters involved in the reveal that we should have gotten some sort of feeling that something wasn't quite right.  Instead, the reader is lead to believe that X is true for quite a while only to have the rug pulled out from under us.  It was the type of reveal where, when thinking back, the reader was specifically not shown the situations that would have given the reveal away early.  I didn't want to be able to guess the reveal, I just wanted more of a feeling that there was something else going on that the reader didn't know about so that when the reveal did happen, I still could have a feeling of 'ah-ha, I knew there was something going on!'

The tension in the second half was fantastic and there were some truly pulse-racing moments.  The first half is a bit slow paced and low tension as the characters are starting to gather witness statements and double check paperwork.  I think the tension in the first half could have really been upped if we saw some more of Hannah's scheming and some of the more hands-on ways that she was planning to sabotage the case.  It feels, at times, like Hannah is just there hoping that they'll find evidence that the man is guilty but then we do see her take some definitive actions at other times. Seeing her take more of these steps on page could have really upped the tension as we would have more easily seen Hannah as infiltrating the project.  In any case, once we get past the midpoint reveal, everything ramps up.  The stark difference in mood between the two halves might be a little too much for some readers to find believable, but I found McTiernan toed the line just right for my personal tastes.  The second half is where the story transitions from a more clerical-heavy legal suspense to straight up small town thriller and I absolutely loved it.  I also loved how these tension-upping reveals we get are mentioned in passing a few times earlier in the story so instead of these changes coming out of nowhere, it feels like a puzzle piece finally falling into place. 

The main plot takes place in 2019 but we also get some chapters from Hannah's mom's journal from when she was growing up.  It isn't initially clear how, exactly, these journal entries are connected to the main plot, but by the halfway point, it is very clear.  I thought the journal was used really well to give us a quick drop of exposition and then get us back to the main story.  If this was told in flashbacks instead, I think it would have dragged the pacing down a bit.  It was interesting to see the differences between Hannah's mom we see current day and this version in the journal.  I also enjoyed the difference in voice between Hannah's chapters and the journal although the journal chapters did feel more juvenile than I would have expected.  I wish we would have seen some more journal entries - maybe Hannah's from when she was growing up? - as a way to flesh out some of the missing background that I wanted.  

Overall, this was a really great legal suspense/thriller.  I think these characters were all perfectly cast and I was genuinely shocked at some of the reveals we got.  I do wish we had gone further with some of the character backstories and started building the tension a little earlier, but all in all this was a solid read. 

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC

Expected publication date is May 10, 2022

The Fervor - Alma Katsu

 

This historical horror novel takes place in the Japanese Internment camps during World War II.  We mainly follow Meiko and Aiko - mother and daughter inside a camp in the Midwest.  While there, the two attempt to keep their lives as normal as possible, falling into a rhythm as the days pass.  However, when a mysterious illness starts sweeping through the camp - the sufferers overtaken by sudden rage and aggression - it starts to become clear that this isn't an ordinary sickness.  They team up with Fran, a reporter, and Archie, a widowed minister, to try to find the truth behind what is happening and stop it from spreading any further. 

TW/CW: racism, infidelity, spiders, mob violence 

I don't read much historical fiction because I personally find a lot of them get really bogged down in the details of the historical dates/events (which is understandable, but just not my personal favorite writing style). In the case of this book, I didn't feel that was the case.  This felt like a little looser of historical fiction where the time and events were more flexible and used in a way that enhanced the story Katsu wanted to tell.  This was confirmed in the Afterword where Katsu herself states that the sequence of events in the book are not presented in the historically accurate sequence as well as most of her characters are not based on real people.  While this may annoy some historical fiction readers, I'm sure, I found that it made for a much more immersive read.  However, just because she was more flexible with the timing and events does not mean the story is lacking in details.  I absolutely loved the amount of details we get of life in this time both inside and outside the camps. Katsu, again in the Afterword, states that her in-laws were in the Internment camps and she was able to talk to them, as well as others who could give their first hand experiences to Katsu.  I think this really helped flesh out the story with accurate details without giving the narrative that typical bogged-down feeling that I find a lot of historical fictions have.

The supernatural horror elements in this were a little less-intense than I was expecting. I really enjoyed how the supernatural element was introduced and, for the longest time, the reader isn't exactly sure what is happening. These horror elements slowly ramped up as the mystery of this illness unfolded but then it sort of plateaued from there.  But while the supernatural horror elements were stagnating, we do get some pretty significant escalation in terms of psychological horror.  These elements reminded me a lot of why I enjoy reading/watching/consuming serial killer media - I find it fascinating what humans are capable of.  The second half of this book really ramps up the racism and shows just how bad the anti-Japanese sentiment got. In the Afterword, Katsu draws the comparison between these sentiments and the current wave of anti-Asian hate crimes.  It is my understanding that we now widely acknowledge that the Japanese Internment camps were wrong from start to finish but viewing these escalations from inside this time period does show this sort of pervasive fear of 'the other' and how that fear can cause us to do things we initially thought impossible. The psychological aspect really escalates with the question of if these people are under the supernatural influence or if they truly feel this way. The horror aspects in this book are very humanity-based and I think this book is one that will really settle into my bones and stick with me. 

I loved the multi-POV and how these four characters all intertwined by the end. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of character development we got considering this book isn't too long (320 pages) and it felt split pretty evenly between all 4 characters.  I think Katsu does a great job of making all 4 story lines interesting in their own way so I never disliked switching to another POV.  I did find myself gravitating more toward Fran's story line as she's trying to investigate and put together an article, but that's just the mystery reader in me I think.  I did find Meiko's plot line to be the most interesting in terms of this world and the horror elements as she is right in the middle of the Internment camp as well as the mysterious sickness.  We also get some flashbacks to Meiko's father in 1927 which, while not immediately clear what they have to do with the main story line, are interesting and sort of eerie interludes. I found all the POVs built on each other and enhanced the main story as we could get various viewpoints about the ongoing war and internement.

The ending wrapped up a little more quickly than I was expecting, but I think overall it was a satisfying place to end the story.  We don't get 100% closure on some aspects in the story but we have enough of a sense going forward of what will happen that we can fill in those blanks.  Plus, since this time in history was so recent (at least in comparison to Katsu's other historical horrors), we can draw the connection between these events in the book and where we are today.  I found this aspect really interesting because obviously this is a historical fiction book, but Katsu lays out the fictional elements in such a logical manner that I could 100% believe that this happened and lead to where we are today. The resolution to the ending conflict did feel a bit convenient and it was a real "how are they going to get out of this" moment and then the conflict was over pretty quickly.  The resolution made sense in the story but when I was reading it, I just felt like there was this long lead up to this moment and when we finally got there, it sort of fizzled.  It felt like reading the equivalent to when you think you're going to sneeze but then that feeling goes away. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this historical horror read.  I liked how this one felt a little more narrative-focused than the other books from Katsu that I've read.  I loved the POV aspects and I think the ending note of these lasting repercussions is really powerful. There were a few elements that I wanted more from, but overall I would recommend this read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC. 

Expected publication date is April 26, 2022

Magpie - Elizabeth Day

 

This domestic suspense follows couple Marissa and Jake and their lodger Kate.  Marissa and Jake are looking to start a family and have undergone months of fertility treatments.  Kate seems normal at first, but then Marissa notices she is pushing the personal boundaries of the living situation.  Kate also seems overly familiar with Jake and, as time goes on, Marissa becomes increasingly concerned that Kate might not be who she said she is.  Marissa's suspicious turn to obsession as she begins to investigate Kate and, in doing so, Marissa risks losing the life she'd just begun to build.

TW/CW: pregnancy, miscarriage, infertility, mental illness, infidelity, manipulative parents, parental abandonment, sexual assault

This book utilizes one of my favorite mystery/suspense tropes but I can't say which one because it would be a spoiler.  There is a "Dear Reader" note from the editor at the beginning of the book that I felt hinted at this particular trope a little too obviously. I read an ARC, so I'm not sure if that reader note will be in the final copy or not, but I would recommend skipping it initially and read it after you've finished the book.  It sort of plants the seed of what to look out for in your mind so I found myself constantly re-reading and checking if maybe this part is what the editor was hinting about.  The Dear Reader note does go into Day's own background, including how she had her own struggles with fertility and miscarriage so I do think it adds some nice framing to the story overall. 

Pregnancy and motherhood are big themes in the story and while I don't have a particularly strong emotional connection to either of those themes, I did think they were handled well.  As the editor pointed out in the Dear Reader note, Day has personal experience with navigating these tough situations and decisions and I think that really comes through in the story.  I think Day really captures the highs and lows of the trying-to-conceive rollercoaster and the strain of how that can affect every aspect of a couple's life.  We see a lot of the lower-points directly on page and they are presented in a very matter-of-fact way that does not overly romanticize or dramatize the events while still keeping the emotional center of the scene.  I also liked how we get some characters with outdated views and opinions about families and conception.  These characters mean well, but often say the wrong thing because they've never had to struggle to conceive.  These views are challenged and the main couple is a team and makes their decisions about their relationship together but we do see how these comments are hurtful.

I really loved the midpoint turn in this book.  It was one of the most well executed twists I've read in a while and I think I really would have been absolutely on the floor if it wasn't for the previously mentioned Dear Reader note. I was so excited to keep reading and see what other reveals we were going to get (since we often will get at least one or two more in the second half of the story).  We did get some more reveals, but I didn't feel like they came anywhere close to the same magnitude.  I think the story peaked at the midpoint for me and then from there it was a slow roll to the ending.  I liked the reveals we get later from a plot perspective, but they didn't ramp up the tension or stakes in the same way as the midpoint turn did.  It also felt like these later reveals should have more of an emotional impact to the reader but I didn't find the characters directly involved in those reveals were developed enough for me to really empathize with them.

We move back and forth in time in this story and it didn't always work well for me.  We're pretty much shoved right into the action when Marissa and Jake are moving into a house together to start their family.  We get some backstory as to how they met and how their relationship developed, but we're mostly just moving forward pretty quickly with Kate moving in, Marissa getting pregnant, and tensions start growing from there.  Then, we get the big midpoint turn and suddenly we're back in time jumping between Kate and Marissa.  We now get to see the build up of the relationship and all those details I wanted earlier, but they feel so unimportant at this point because all I want to do is get back to the present day and see how that midpoint reveal threw everything out of balance. I did like how this going back in time allowed us to see some of the plot points from earlier from a different POV.  I just wish some of these more mundane moments were shown earlier (by flashbacks or however) and then we could just move forward with the juicy details.

 I would categorize this as a domestic suspense read, but I feel like the suspense part ends pretty quickly after the midpoint reveal and then it started to feel like more of a domestic fiction.  I really didn't feel suspenseful or nervous about what was going to happen after about the 65% mark.  It seemed like the main conflict was resolved pretty quickly and any side conflicts that did remain were much less severe, in comparison.  I kept trying to inject my own suspense feeling into the book while I was reading by trying to read specific details about characters in a purposefully sinister manner.  However, even when I was trying to make everyone a villain and question everyone's motives, the actual book just didn't support that reading and, overall, I think everything just moved right along without much drama at all.  I did feel that in the lead up to the ending reveal that Day was trying to mirror the same ramp up of tension that we saw before the midpoint but I wasn't buying into it at that point (but maybe other readers would).

 Overall, this was a fine domestic suspense read.  I really enjoyed the midpoint reveal but wish we kept ramping up the tension in the second half of the story.  This did have one of my favorite tropes that was executed very well but I just didn't find the follow-through to be enough for me to really love it. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC

Expected publication date is May 3, 2022

The Return - Rachel Harrison

 

This horror novel follows a group of 4 friends after one of them returns home after disappearing 2 years prior. Julie, Elise, Molly and Mae have been best friends since college.  Since graduating, they've all gone in their own directions but always managed to keep in touch.  Then Julie went missing.  Elise is certain Julie is still alive and is just doing the typical 'Julie' thing of wanting some attention so she'd come back to her husband in a few days.  Only the days continue passing with no sign of Julie.  Until she just shows up back at her home 2 years after she disappeared with no memory of where she was for that whole time.  Once Julie has some time to recuperate, the friends decide to get together in a hotel in upstate New York for a nice girls weekend.  None of them have seen Julie since she's returned.  What starts as an excited reunion soon turns sour as the friends notice increasingly disturbing signs that Julie isn't as okay as she insists she is.

TW/CW: disappearance of a loved one, infidelity, body horror/gore, animal death

I loved the horror elements in this.  I had heard people talk about this as a horror, but from the description and the cover, I wasn't sure what the horror elements were going in and I was pleasantly surprised by what we got.  This ended up being a mix of supernatural and creature horror that I think worked really well together.  We do get confirmation on the creature part, but we never really get a concrete answers to the supernatural elements but I didn't particularly mind that part as it ended up being less important by the end.  The creature is never named, although I think it is pretty obvious what Harrison was going for. The creature/body horror elements really pick up in the third act and I was completely onboard for that ride.  The supernatural elements start pretty early on but are more subtle so they get a little lost, for me, once the action picks up.  I do wish the supernatural elements were a bit more developed and used more in the story.

The setting was phenomenal.  It takes a while to get to the hotel, but once we're there, it is really the star of the show. It is a newer hotel with all the rooms having different themes as part of the attraction gimmick.  The hallways and common areas are equally eclectic which gave me the feeling of this toeing the line between being hip/modern and being a creepy carnival fun-house.  Everything is cute and special in the daylight, but in the dark then things seem to take on a much more sinister tone.  Creepy, possibly haunted hotel + tense friend situation = prime set up for some spooky stuff.  I was a little confused at the layout of the hotel because there are mentions of multiple hallways or wings but since I listened to the audio book, I'm not sure if there was a map in the book or not.  I could still follow the main story but couldn't exactly picture where these different rooms and characters were in relation to each other.  There is a frantic chase scene at the end where characters are running all over the place and, honestly, not knowing the exact layout made the scene feel even more chaotic which I think worked out well. I really enjoyed how the hotel became this sort of oppressive force in the book where the characters diverted their frustrations to when, in reality, they were frustrated with other aspects of their lives.

The dialogue and interactions of these characters were the weakest part of the story, for me.  A lot of reviews I've seen cited the juvenile and seemingly unnecessary dialogue as the reason they DNF'd or rated the book low.  I listened to the audiobook (on 2x speed like I do with all audiobooks) so I think these sections didn't feel as long for me.  However, if I was physically reading this and having to turn page after page of this, I can see how that would put some readers off.  I did notice, even in the audio form, how shallow and juvenile the dialogue was.  These are supposedly best friends from college who are all now 30ish (I can't remember if they give an exact age) so I would expect their conversations and interactions to have some more depth and substance.  There were many topics that were 'off limits' which the characters were sort of dancing around.  They didn't want to bring up their concerns for Julie's condition and instead wanted to focus on just relaxing and celebrating that she was back.  Now, it is 100% authentic that not every conversation, even with close friends, is super deep and intense.  I think this sort of shifting friend group dynamic is very realistic in that transition out of college where you all go your separate ways.  However, just because the dynamic is realistic doesn't mean I necessarily want to read it for 300+ pages.  We get a few passive aggressive remarks and allusions to past actions but, in general, there is just a lot of "OMG, I'm so glad we could get the group back together / you're all my best friends / I love you all / what should we do tomorrow / etc".  I did like how the shallowness of their conversations (and, as an extension, their whole relationship) got addressed in the ending so that was a moment of character growth for them. 

The pacing was a bit different but I ended up enjoying it.  This book is 300 pages but only has 9 chapters (33 pages per chapter) and that really makes this feel like a longer read that it was.  We also get a lot of set up at the beginning before we see Julie's return but, looking back, I think this was necessary to set up the characters and dynamics well enough before hand.  They only spend a few days at the hotel so we needed those two years of set up to be really solid.  I was also surprised at how much time we spent focused on Elise's situation early on in the story.  Based on the description, I thought the story would pretty much kick off with Julie's return and then we'd get maybe flashbacks or information through dialogue on the history of what the characters were doing or feeling through the last few years.  Harrison's choices to set up the pacing of the book like this really helped settle the reader in Elise's mind and her circumstances before we really introduced the bulk of the friendship dynamics.  I always prefer these sort of friend-group stories to be in multi-POV but I think if we had to only pick one, Elise was the best choice to follow through the story.  The pacing really picks up around the halfway mark, despite the chapters still being long.  The second half of the story is where we start getting some pay off for the long set up we had initially which is why, looking back, the overall pacing worked.  

Overall, this was a really great read for me.  I completely understand why some readers ended up DNF-ing this due to the slower start and frustrating dialogue between the characters.  I would recommend the audiobook which, for me at least, helped lessen the impact of these issues.

Romance Wrap-up 3/16/22 to 3/31/22

 40-Love - Olivia Dade

This is the second book in the There's Something About Marysburg series and follows Marysburg vice principle Tess on a vacation to an island resort.  There, she meets Lucas, a former tennis star and now the resort's tennis coach.  The two meet during a bikini top wardrobe malfunction in the ocean and the chemistry between them builds over the next few weeks - despite Tess's insistence that he's too young for her.  Lucas isn't letting their 13 year age difference deter him.  Tess is the first woman he's felt drawn to in years, maybe ever, and he's determined to show her that he can be more than just a vacation fling.  I overall really enjoyed this romance but did wish it went a little deeper into the characters.  We get a good amount of background information on the characters and their respective trauma/baggage that they would bring to a relationship.  However, I didn't feel like we actually see the resulting conflict of that baggage on page.  I think a lot of the tougher emotional stuff fell into the 'telling' vs 'showing' category and I wish we would have gotten more on page.  That being said, this was a very low-angst read which I wasn't expecting given the tropes of age gap and vacation romance.  I also felt like we got the 'break up' at the 20% mark instead of the 80% mark, like we would in most romances.  I actually liked this choice because it meant Tess and Lucas basically laid all their cards on the table and then could move forward more quickly - which made the insta-love part of a vacation romance more believable for me.  I really loved how Tess and Lucas both supported each other in their aspirations for both career and other life choices and how practical the ending was with both of them basically making a presentation for how to solve the issues that would come up with continuing on a relationship.

TW/CW: past infidelity, medical trauma

Mister Fake Fiance - Nadia Lee

This fake dating office romance follows David and Erin.  She has been his assistant for 2 years and both have a very mild crush on the other.  David needs a date for a charity auction where his ex-girlfriend ambushes him and in the heat of the moment, he tells her that Erin and him are together.  As luck would have it, Erin's ex that her farther wants her to get back together with is also at the auction.  After some photos circulate the tabloids and Erin's identity is leaked, her and David decide to keep up this fake relationship for 3 months to let everything blow over and give them both some time to figure out their personal lives.  However, the more intertwined their lives become, the more they see of each other, and the more they don't want things to end after only 3 months.  This should have been trope candy for me - fake dating and an office romance, yes please!  However, the characters and pacing really didn't come through for me.  I really liked David and Erin together and felt they were the most real characters of the whole cast.  All the other side characters, however, really felt like caricatures.  For example, David's mom only seems to care about if he is going to give her a bunch of grandchildren and Erin's father is the skeeviest local politician who outright tells Erin that she's only good to be a silent and doting wife.  I really loved the parts with David and Erin together where they are really getting to know each other outside of the office environment. At one point, David finds out about Erin's past and better understands some of her eccentricities and I really loved how he took that information and changed some of his language and actions because of it.  I just wish we would have gotten more of those types of caring moments and saw Erin grow more comfortable and relax a bit more around him.  I think the pacing was also just a bit off for me and the ending felt really rushed.  The fake dating didn't start until close to 25% in and since neither of them had any huge feelings for the other ahead of time, the romance was pretty slow burn.  Everything comes to a climax in pretty much the last chapter so we didn't get a chance to see David and Erin together after such an emotional moment.  We do get two epilogues (a few months and then a few years later) so we do see them get their HEA but I think it just wasn't as satisfying as it could have been.

 

 TW/CW: past infidelity, mental illness, emotionally manipulative parent, mentions of past suicide  

Act Your Age, Eve Brown - Talia Hibbert

 

This is the third and final installment in The Brown Sisters series and follows youngest sister, Eve, as she strikes out on her own.  After years of trying new businesses, interests, and opportunities - all ending in various degrees of disappointment and disaster - Eve's parents cut her off from the trust fund payments and tell her to go get a job.  She interviews on a whim for a chef position at Jacob's bed and breakfast and it does not go well.  But after an accidental bump with her car, Jacob finds himself with a broken arm and a new helper at his B&B. The more time the two spend together, the more they find in common and, as a surprise to them both, the more they actually enjoy each other's company.  This was absolute perfection.  I've heard many people call this their favorite book in the series by far but I loved the first two so much I wasn't sure what to expect.   This is an instant favorite romance and one I'll be re-reading for sure.  I found Eve and Jacob to be extremely well developed and fleshed out characters on their own before they even meet.  Hibbert captured their personalities so well in their interactions with other characters that I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation of how they would collide.  I loved how the autism rep was integrated into the story - it wasn't constantly brought up by name over and over again but rather woven into the actions and thoughts of the characters.  I loved how seemingly effortlessly Eve and Jacob just worked together pretty much instantly and I adored how that fact surprised them both!  I couldn't stop swooning while reading and I 100% understand all the hype.  This book was absolute perfection and now I want to go read it again.