Romance Wrap-up 7/1/23 - 7/15/23

 Double Pucked - Lauren Blakely

This MFM Why Choose romance follows Trina, Ryker, and Chase.  After finding out her hockey-loving boyfriend cheated on her, Trina leaves their shared apartment and makes sure to snag the VIP meet and greet tickets on the way out.  Ryker and Chase are childhood friends who now play on different NHL teams.  The crosstown rivalry doesn't dull their friendship so when their VIP meet-up turns out to be a sweet and nerdy girl instead of the major hockey dude-bro they were expecting, the night turns interesting.  After spending the night together, the three end up as temporary roomies for the next week.  But when that week comes to a close, will all three be able to walk away from possibly the best relationship they've had.  This was a super fun read that manages to hit all sorts of tropes in one book.  This had a ton of spice but an equal amount of heart which made for an overall lighthearted read.  I loved Ryker and Chase's friendship and how easily they communicated with both each other and Trina. It is always nice when these why choose romances aren't super angsty or drama-filled.  Ryker and Chase are polar opposites - Ryker is the grumpy intellectual with a heart of gold and Chase is the outgoing golden retriever. They each have their own unique relationship with Trina and their dynamic together was also really well balanced.  I did find this veering toward the cheesy side of the spectrum, which I've noticed other readers not liking.  However, I loved this fun, fluffy, but still steamy read. 

In The Weeds - B.K. Borison

This is the second book in the Lovelight series and follows Beckett and Evie.  After one amazing weekend together in Maine, Evie left without a word.  Beckett starts to move on when she shows up at the Christmas Tree farm he lives and works at.  Then, she's gone again.  He's determined to move on now, but when she turns up in town a third time with no place to stay but determined to find her happy, he opens his home, and his heart, to the possibility that she just might stay this time.  This is one of those books where I just kept putting it off because I heard so much love for it that I was afraid it was over-hyped and I would end up disappointed.  And I'm so glad I did because I ended up absolutely loving this read.  The mood of this was absolutely perfect and it was such a sweet and quiet romance with a strong undercurrent of sexual tension that pays off perfectly.  I really loved how Evie and Beckett both have some personal growth on page and they support the other person as well.  We get some more small town antics as well.  On paper, Beckett and Evie are so different but they come together so perfectly that they really feel like they are meant to be together.  This is the kind of quiet romance that really settles into my heart and I think it will be there for a long time. 

In The Case of Heartbreak - Courtney Kae

 This MM romance is the second book in the Fern Falls series and follows friends Ben and Adam.  Ben is in the running for a TV baking show and when he's trying his best to show off his family cinnamon roll recipe, the camera catches a chemistry-filled hug between Ben and Adam.  But when the crew asks if they are an item, Adam definitively states they're just friends and Ben ends up leaving town to nurse his broken heart ... and attend his grandmother's 2 week long 80th birthday bash. But when Adam is also there, playing guitar with the band, the two end up spending time together and deciding if they are just friends or something more. I really enjoyed this read and loved being back in Fern Falls again.  We got a bit of an introduction to Ben and Adam in the first book, but I was glad to see the amount of backstory that was sprinkled in.  We only get Ben's POV and I really wish we had some of Adam's as well considering this was pretty heavy on the mutual pining.  The romance was incredibly sweet and at the same time, the chemistry sizzled off the page.  There is a good amount of emotion and heavy topics surrounding the romance, but the romance itself is quite low angst.   The one downside to this, for me, was the amount of plot happening outside of the romance.  We have so many moving parts and I didn't quite find there was enough page space to have so many complex plot threads.  There would be whole chunks where one plot wasn't mentioned at all and then when it would suddenly become important again, I had almost forgotten about it.  I think this would have been better balanced if either it was longer or if a plot thread or two were cut.

TW/CW: included at beginning of book; parental abandonment, narcissistic parent, alcoholism

Thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Books, and the author for the ARC. 

Expected publication date is July 25, 2023.

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved A Demon - Kimberly Lemming

This paranormal romance the first book in the Mead Mishaps series and follows human spice seller Cinnamon and demon Fallon.  After Fallon crash lands in Cinnamon's home town, he reveals that the local goddess is not a goddess at all.  Now, the two are on a quest to kill an evil witch and their friction has them burning up.  This was such a fun read!  I absolutely loved the world we're dropped in and all the different characters we get introduced to over the course of the story.  This was a shorter read at only 185 pages so the romance as well as the outside plot both move pretty quickly but I still felt like most of the plots and characters were well developed.  I would have liked if the romance between Cinnamon and Fallon was a little more of a slow burn because their tension was just spectacular and I wanted more of a build up.  They come from different worlds, but their characters just work so well together that it really felt like they new each other for years.  And once they got together, it was absolutely fire.  Fallon does get a little bit of the overprotective alpha-hole that you would expect from a demon MMC but he does soften up per Cinnamon's wishes. I normally prefer having dual POV in my romance reads but Fallon is so forward with his feelings that I didn't miss his POV as much as I normally would.  I really loved the side characters and I'm so excited to continue on in the series to follow their own romances. 

TW/CW: death of a sibling (in past), enslavement