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.