Romance Wrap-up March 2024

 Sharing Shane - Hannah Murray

This polyamorous romance follows Veronica after she finds her boyfriend cheating on her with her neighbor.  Instead of moping, she decides to take the couples vacation to Bermuda by herself.  The only catch - she needs a second person to go with her or else her reservation is cancelled.  Shane is a friend of a friend and needs some nice rest and relaxation time.  Plus, it doesn't hurt that his boyfriend is going to be at a retreat at the same time.  Things quickly heat up with Shane and Veronica but transitioning this vacation fling to something more concrete once they are all back to real life will take more than a little work.  I really enjoyed this read.  It was my first poly romance that didn't end in throuple territory and I loved seeing different representation of what a poly romance could look like.  While I'm not poly personally, I do think this book does a good job of explaining the dynamics and challenges that come with this relationship structure so I think even folks who aren't well versed in poly-culture could follow along just fine.  I absolutely loved Veronica and her kick-ass attitude when it comes to her ex.  Shane is certainly a bit more buttoned up about his feelings (with the past relationship trauma to back that up) and I loved how they came together.  I did want more of them just dating when back in the real world because the transition from vacation fling to relationship was a little fast and loose for my liking.  I loved how much heart this read had and the emotional depth we get from these characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.  Publication date was March 19, 2024.

Gouda Friends - Cathy Yardley

This is the second book in the Ponto Beach Reunion series and follows high school best friends Tam and Josh.  After a disastrous break up with her boyfriend, Tam reaches out to the one person who was always there for her - Josh - using their special code word goldfish.  Next thing she knows, she's flying across the country and reuniting with her high school friend group that she had been distanced from for a while.  Now, Josh is determined to help Tam find her next step in her life plan, just like she did for him a few years prior.  Only as the two friends work closely together, they start to realize there might be something more between them, maybe something that had been there the whole time.  This was a fun read, but I think it might have been a bit over-hyped for me.  Personally, I found Tam and Josh to be such good friends that I wasn't entirely sold on their relationship.  This was one of those reads where, at the end, I was left feeling like they were maybe better off as friends.  I think my main issue was that we don't get to see a whole lot of time when they are actually in the relationship phase.  We see friends, budding feelings, friends with benefits, and then we skip to the third act breakup pretty quickly.  I wanted more time to settle into their relationship and see how them being together is even better than them being friends.  All that being said, this had some really heartfelt moments and I loved the found family aspect of the friend group.  I also loved all the cheese related humor and plot points. 

Ben - Cora Rose

This MMM, age gap romance is the 8th book in the Unexpected series and follows Ben, Cash, and Ford.  Cash and Ford are Ben's father's best friends and until a few weeks ago, the three men didn't have any interest in each other beyond friendship.  But now that they've breached that relationship barrier, they must contend with their new feelings as well as what their relationship dynamic might mean for the people around them.  This read was 80% smut, 20% plot, and I wasn't mad about it.  But by the end, I was a bit tired of the smut and I'll fully admit to skimming those scenes to get to the plot points.  I didn't read any of the previous books in the series, so I'm not sure if I missed some character development there, but in this read we are just dropped into this world and relationship dynamic a few weeks into it.  We don't get to see, in this book, the moments that these men crept from friendly to something more - we just hear about it as off-hand comments.  I'm not sure if those scenes were present in book 7 or not.  In any case, since we skipped seeing those points on page, I didn't get a great sense for any of these characters until I was well into the book and for me, that meant the smutty scenes lost their intrigue pretty quickly because I didn't have the emotional build up or connection with these characters.  I didn't see enough of their character that I fully believed any of them had feelings deeper than horny lust.  I did like that since this was mostly smut, it was also low angst and the conflicts get resolved very quickly with basically just a conversation. This felt like it should have been a novella but then to add pages to make it novel length, Rose just added more sex scenes. 

Late Bloomer - Mazey Eddings

This FF romance follows Opal and Pepper.  Opal is ready for a fresh start and winning the lottery is just her ticket.  Her impulsivity pays off when she buys a flower farm in Asheville, North Carolina. But when she goes to move there, she finds Pepper.  The flower farm was her late grandmother's and Pepper believes she's the rightful owner - if only she could find the will that proves it.  The two strike up a deal that they will both live on the farm until Pepper can start buying Opal out.  As the flowers bloom, so does the relationship between the two women and soon enough they are thinking more about staying than leaving.  I loved this read - it had everything I was hoping for from the premise.  Opal and Pepper are such great opposites attract and were such fun characters to follow falling in love.  Pepper is autistic and Opal is neurodivergent and these are characteristics that they celebrate in each other right from the beginning.  I also loved Opal's sisters and Pepper's friends who all come together in such a loving and fun group.  The background of a flower farm is maybe my new favorite romantic backdrop to a story and I think Eddings does a fantastic job balancing the reality of farming with the romanticized elements.  The plot with Pepper's con-woman mother was really interesting and I think Eddings handled the topic with care.  This was another win from Eddings with a great mix of heart and heat and I can't wait to get more (hopefully following Opal's sisters).

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Expected publication date is April 16, 2024.

The General - Jessica Gadziala

This is the fourth book in the Professionals series and follows Smith and Jenny.  Jenny is married to Senator Ericsson's son - and her abuse is an open secret in Navesink Bank. She was coerced to lie on the stand when her husband got caught one night but then she faded into the background. Until one night she had enough, took matters into her own hand, and then called the office of Quinton Baird & Associates.  Another great entry in this series after book 3 (which I wasn't a fan of).  Smith is Quinn's #2 in command and is running the office while Quinn is on vacation so when the call from Jenny comes in - Smith is on the case.  While Smith may be the titular General, this story feels 100% like Jenny's journey.  She has spent years being abused by her husband and is now not only having to navigate her way out of being caught for murder (which of course Smith is helping her with), but also navigate finding her way back to herself.  Big content warning that we do see the abuse on-page in the form of flashbacks as well as her probable PTSD manifesting even after her husband is gone.  We don't get a whole lot of information or character development from Smith.  Instead, he is the solid person there to help Jenny find herself and safety after her ordeal.  I loved how these two characters come together and support each other.  This is less of the typical romantic suspense that the previous books in the series have leaned toward and more of a caretaking book with a political edge. I liked getting to see the other members of the Professionals a bit and I think this book helps set up the next half of the series nicely.

Eyes on Me - Sara Cate

This step-sibling romance is the second in the Salacious Players Club series and follows Garrett and Mia.  Garrett is co-owner of the Salacious Players Club and he's a voyeur.  He had all but given up on relationships until he's browsing cam girl sites one night and comes across someone he recognizes.  Not just anyone - his younger stepsister, Mia.  I'll fully admit I was a bit hesitant going into this one and almost skipped it.  The only reason I picked it up was that there is a significant age gap (13 years) between our two characters which meant that while they did know each other when they were younger, they didn't really grow up together in the same house.  When it comes to age gap and/or step sibling romances, I really prefer there to be a pretty significant separation.  In this one, we get other characters even confirming that it wasn't like they were actually siblings since Garrett was grown and out of the house pretty much when their parents were married.  That being said, there was still a good amount of tension between the characters and the taboo aspect of their relationship was really well developed.  This was lower angst than I was expecting, which is a plus in my book.  This had a great core romance lesson of "you can't help who you fall in love with" which I think is the best core to build a taboo romance around.  I do wish we had gotten a little more playing of Garrett's voyeurism and Mia's exhibitionism at play when they are together.  I loved the amount of character depth and development we get with both characters - more than I found in the first book.  I loved being back in the SPC and can't wait to continue on in the series.

A Soul To Keep - Opal Reyne

This is the first book in the Duskwalker Brides series and follows Reia and Orpheus.  Every 10 years, a Duskwalker demands a human offering in exchange for giving the village protection from demons. Reia, village outcast, is the offering for this round.  Orpheus is immediately intrigued by Reia and her almost lack of fear of him.  He agrees to take her as the offering and the two set out for his home in the Veil.  There, he sets out a number of rules in place to keep her safe from not only the demons outside, but also from Orpheus himself.  The more they spend time together, the closer they become, but Reia is torn between escaping back to the human world and admitting her feelings for Orpheus.  This was such a great monster romance and I was immediately drawn into this world.  This had big Beauty and the Beast vibes (which I loved) but wasn't a straight up rewrite of that story.  Reia and Orpheus are such interesting characters and I loved how Reyne is able to give us such clear characterization of two very different entities.  The world building was superb and I'm 100% continuing on in the series to see more of these Duskwalkers and this world.  While this is a captor/captive romance, we get enough scenes outside of Orpheus's home that it never felt like the plot was stagnating. I adored the gradual feelings blossoming between the two and Orpheus was about as cinnamon roll a character as I've ever seen in a monster romance. I can't wait to continue on in this series.

Lips Like Sugar - Jess K Hardy

This is the second book in the Bluebird Basin series and follows Mira and Cole.  When Mira's ex boyfriend shows up unexpectedly at her bakery and asks if she is going to attend the wedding of Ashley and Madigan (the couple from book 1) - she of course says yes and that she's actually going to be bringing her boyfriend.  What boyfriend?  Well the handsome stranger that just so happened to walk into the bakery at just the right time - Cole, Madigan's best friend.  The two agree to fake date for the wedding but when fake dating leads to real feelings, the 50+ year olds must figure out if they have something worth disrupting their carefully crafted lives for. This was a great next installment in the series and really felt like a continuation of the first book.  Because of that, I did feel a little lost at times before my memory would get triggered and I'd remember who some of these side characters were.  I'd recommend reading book 1 for sure before starting this one and I'd say the shorter the time between the two, the better.  I've only read a handful of older MC romances and I'm really enjoying them and the slightly different dynamic of either being a second chance at love or, as is the case here, a chance to go all-in.  Mira and Cole have a great depth of character and I love how much we get to see of them outside the main relationship dynamic.  We get to see family and friends as well as their own thoughts and worries.  I do wish we got to see a little more of Cole's internal thoughts on paper because there were a few places where it felt like the book was missing that extra layer of character development.  

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.  Publication date was March 28, 2024

The Last Guest House - Caroline Mitchell

 

This mystery follows DI Alex McKenna as she, her son, and boyfriend, all take off for a weekend away. But there's a problem with the reservation and the only other place in the area with a vacancy is The Loch House.  When they arrive just ahead of a snowstorm, The Loch House owners greet them with the rules: no smoking, no loud music, no phones, and no leaving their rooms after 9pm. Over dinner with the other guests, Alex learns about the grisly history of The Loch House and starts to wonder if they'll be able to leave or if they will become the next mark on its bloody history. 

This read had a lot of interesting elements, but they didn't quite come together for me as well as I would hope.  We have a great cast of weird characters, a detective MC, and an isolated setting.  This should have been a slam dunk.  Unfortunately, I didn't love some of the narrative structure choices which really knocked the whole reading experience down a bit for me.  Obviously mileage may vary with my complaints, but the parts that did work for me were great so it all evened out to just an okay read at the end.

I did not enjoy the true crime podcast element at all.  I'm not a big true crime enthusiast on a normal day, but I have enjoyed books in the past that use these podcasts as framing devices for the plot.  In this case, it felt very removed from the main plot.  The podcast hosts were not characters at The Loch House nor was anyone listening to the podcast.  Instead, it felt like an easy way for the reader to be told background information or to flesh out information in a way that wasn't just having the characters give pages of exposition. Since it was so removed from the main plot, every time we switched to a podcast transcript, it took me out of the story.  I do think we needed the information in the podcast for the ending reveals to really come out, but I wanted it to be integrated into the story in a more natural fashion.  

The setting was by far and away my favorite part of this read. Mitchell wastes no time getting us to The Loch House but still manages to give us so much atmosphere to really set the scene.  The descriptions were absolutely wonderful and I loved how they really toed the line of being quirky but also sinister.  As the narrative goes on, we get to revisit similar areas or pieces of the setting but they come across as completely different because of the plot reveals.  Mitchell really uses the isolated setting to her advantage and it often feels like a separate entity that our characters are battling against.  

The cast of characters - especially the strange owners of The Loch House, were such a fun group to follow for this read. We do get both Alex and her boyfriend's POVs, but I wish this was more of a full-cast of POVs type of book.  These characters were so interesting and the right amount of over the top that I wanted to spend more time with each of them.  I didn't love our MC Alex as much as I was expecting too.  I found her characterization was a bit off for me and she seemed to oscillate between two main personalities, neither of which I felt particularly interested in.  There is a bit of domestic suspense with her relationship, but even that felt like it wasn't used to bring as much tension to this read as I was expecting.  There was significant domestic violence in her past that is brought up but it didn't really add anything to the character for me as is.

The ending reveal was interesting, but the way it played out on page felt like it really deflated the moment.  We do find out what is going on with The Loch House and why everyone there is so strange and I did like the reveal from a plot perspective.  However, when it comes to the big finale scene, we skip over seeing the action on page and instead have like a 30 min fast forward moment only for our characters to then flash backwards and recount the events that happened.  It felt really strange to read, especially for the moment where all this building tension was boiling over. 

Overall, this was an okay read that I enjoyed some parts of but not all parts.  I felt like this just fell into the "not for me" category and I didn't have any significant plot holes or other complaints. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Embla Books for the ARC.  Expected publication date is April 9, 2024