Romance Wrap-up April 2026

Under One Roof - Sophie Andrews

This read scratched a very particular itch I had to read something with a very competent MMC and I had a great time.  This has the same vibe as The Sound of Music - a singing nanny, grumpy father, kids who prank their nannies to try and scare them away.  And I think it really delivers on all those fronts.  I do personally wish the romance was a little more of a slow burn with more of the hidden glances and accidental hand touching.  But that's just a personal wish, I think the romance pacing was overall well executed and I'll most likely continue on in the series.

Thanks to the author for the ARC.  Publication date was May 1, 2025

Tropes: Single Dad/Nanny, Age Gap, Grumpy/Sunshine

Series: Stone Family #1

The Cupid Dilemma - April Asher

I don't read a ton of paranormal/supernatural romances, but April Asher is always a hit.  Her books always feel so grounded with the characters and setting with the little bit of magic sprinkled on top and this was no exception.  The premise of this one was so fun with the Anti-Aphrodite paired up with a rockstar in search of a muse. I loved our FMC and her complexity as the down-to-earth, no-nonsense business woman in a lovey-dovey industry that she still tries her best to give her clients what they want.  I did want more from our MMC in terms of depth.  We get little glimpses of his background and we're told about how he's feeling in regards to his rockstar status, but I felt like a lot of the internal churning and deliberation were being done off-page and then we just get to see the final results. I'm not a big reader of rockstar or fame romances so I did appreciate that his fame and the complications that came with that weren't really the focus of the story. I did love the world building and I'm hoping we get a second book following two particular characters next.  

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date is May 12, 2026

Tropes: Paranormal, Fake Dating, Rockstar MMC

Standalone 

 

Mistakes Were Made - Lucy Score 

I read somewhere (I could not find whatever little article or snippet I think I read) that this series is a "coming home", of sorts, for Score's most beloved tropes and I 100% agree.  We're in a quirky small town, following a set of brothers who will inevitably fall in love with chaotic women.  And I loved every minute of it.  Score does an incredible job building up our MCs differences at the same time as their attraction.  I loved the amount of communication in the book and that they were both on the same page as far as their undeniable chemistry but also wildly different life goals. I also always appreciate the lengths Score goes through to flesh out her setting and I enjoyed that the first book in the series and this one both have very strong subplots that have to do with the town and other people living there. I absolutely cannot wait for the final book in the series. 

Tropes: Opposites Attract, Friends With Benefits, Small Town, ADHD rep

Series: Story Lake #2

The Family Game - Catherine Steadman

 

"Harry is a novelist on the brink of stardom; Edward, her husband-to-be, is seemingly perfect. In love and freshly engaged, their bliss is interrupted by the reemergence of the Holbecks, Edward's eminent family and the embodiment of American old money. For years, they've dominated headlines and pulled society's strings, and Edward left them all behind to forge his own path. But there are eyes and ears everywhere. It was only a matter of time before they were pulled back in . . .

After all, even though he's long severed ties with his family, Edward is set to inherit it all. Harriet is drawn to the glamour and sophistication of the Holbecks, who seem to welcome her with open arms, but everything changes when she meets Robert, the inescapably magnetic head of the family. At their first meeting, Robert slips Harry a cassette tape, revealing a shocking confession which sets the inevitable game in motion.

What is it about Harry that made him give her that tape? A thing that has the power to destroy everything? As she ramps up her quest for the truth, she must endure the Holbecks' savage Christmas traditions all the while knowing that losing this game could be deadly."

What Worked For Me

 This is a great example of a premise pay off and I wish I would have picked this up sooner.  There is an alternate universe where this book could have been more of a quiet domestic drama but I'm so glad Steadman went full steam ahead into thriller territory. The story does start a bit on the quiet side and it takes a little while for the sinister undercurrents to start coming to the surface but once they do, it is a real fun ride.

The comparison to the movie Ready or Not is pretty obvious and I think matches the tone of the read well.  I loved the sort of fish out of water aspect of our main character and seeing the strange world that this rich family live in.  We even get a similar sort of game element where this family has been playing certain games for years and our outsider main character gets thrown into the mix without knowing the full extent of the stakes. 

 I loved our main character, Harry, and how competent she was without feeling like she was unrealistic.  She is a mystery/thriller writer so her brain is sort of naturally wired in a way to think through these sorts of puzzles.  She has some resources from her writing job that she can reach out to for help and it never felt like she had over the top investigation skills - just a regular person with enough time on her hands to do a bunch of research.  Her keen observations about the family and her investigation made her a really fun character to follow as she unraveled the mystery.

What Didn't Work For Me

 The mechanic of Harry listening to the tape in chunks instead of all at once irked me a bit.  I understand it happened that way in order to help the flow of the story so that she would investigate one thing at a time.  However, whenever we got a new chunk, it ended up taking me out of the story a little bit because I just didn't understand why she couldn't listen all at once.  At the end of the day, she still gets all the info off of it one way or the other, but I wish it could have been handled in a way that didn't feel quite so heavy-handed. Maybe multiple tapes are being mailed to her one by one or she has to collect them from different spots that are important to the mystery, something along those lines I think would have been a bit more immersive. 

 Overall, this was a really fun and fast paced read.  I loved the reveal of all the secrets as well as the game elements. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.  Publication date was September 29, 2022.