Romance Wrap-up 10/22/2020 - 10/31/2020

Wrapping up the month of October and with November Nanowrimo on the horizon, not sure how much reading I'll be getting done next month.  

 My Brother's Billionaire Best Friend - Max Monroe

 This is the second book in the Billionaire Collection and follows Milo and Maybe.  Maybe is back in NYC looking for a job in the publishing industry after graduating from Stanford and Milo has recently been named one of NYC's most eligible bachelors.  A chance encounter at Maybe's parent's flower shop and Milo doesn't recognize her but the crush Maybe has had on Milo since they were kids is still in full bloom. Maybe's brother Evan reaches out to Milo to see if he has any connections to help Maybe with her job hunt and the two reconnect from there.  Overall, this is Max Monroe's typical fun, flirty, and funny romcom.  Maybe is a virgin but I did feel like it was handled better in this book than in other books where Milo understands that her first time is important and doesn't want to 'conquer' her or 'take' her virginity.  He does fetishize it in his head, but his actions are much more respectful. What I really didn't like was how much secondhand embarrassment I got when reading this book.  I fully acknowledge that I am so incredibly sensitive to secondhand embarrassment so this might not bother anyone else, but I almost had to DNF the book because I was cringing and squirming in my seat.  As an example: in one scene Maybe overhears two girls talking in a coffee shop about a particular sex activity that she's never heard of before.  She texts her friend saying that these other girls said it was the best type of sex and Maybe declares that she wants to try it (before she even knows what the act actually is).  Her friend thinks it is funny that Maybe doesn't know what this act even is and tells Maybe to text Milo and tell him the exact same thing.  Maybe does, Milo fills her in on what exactly that act is, and she sort of freaks out at the same time as asking him if he's ever done that with someone. A lot of the relationship building between Maybe and Milo that the reader sees is done via text message.  I would have liked to gotten more in-person interaction between them.  

Cruel Paradise - J.T. Geissinger

 I loved this book. It is the second in the Beautifully Cruel series and follows Irish mob boss Killian and secret thief Juliet.  The two meet after Juliet and her crew pull a Robin Hood style theft from one of Killian's warehouses.  The attraction is immediate (some might even call it insta-love) but both are hiding secrets that are stopping them from taking the relationship to where they want it to be.  Not everyone will love a hopeless romantic mob boss who quotes Shakespeare but my goodness I loved it a whole lot.  Killian is typical big, broad, and broody mob boss but with a soft nougat-y center that he isn't shy about sharing with Juliet.  She has put up emotional walls a mile high around her and is trying her hardest to keep Killian out.  She thinks he's everything she never wanted in a man but is inexplicably drawn to him nonetheless. I loved their chemistry - even if it did fall on the insta-love side of the spectrum - and I think their relationship was realistically complicated based on their own personal histories.  While this book is the second in the series and it is a standalone story, I would highly recommend reading book 1 first because it gives some backstory to Killian's situation and lets the reader in on his secret right from the beginning, which just makes us route for him and Juliet even more.  

Beautiful Scars - Ariana Black

This is the first book in the Cruel Heroes series and it follows gangster Cillian and Meisie, daughter of Cillian's political rival.  Cillian kidnaps Meisie with the plan to force her mother to stop a bill legalizing drugs that would put a damper on Cillian's drug running side of his business.  Meisie's mother is tougher to deal with than expected so Cillian and his ruthless twin brother Cole need to find some more creative measures to get their point across.  This is a dark mafia romance with some pretty extensive BDSM scenes which won't appeal to all readers.  The heroine does have a safeword and the hero does respect when she uses it, which is the first time I've seen that come up in one of these dark romances which I appreciated.  Overall, I wasn't a real fan of this book because I didn't get any chemistry between the two characters.  Often with these mafia romances, the hero kidnaps the heroine for some reason and it is just super lucky that they both are instantly attracted to one another and it takes the rest of the book to break down emotional walls and win hearts.  In this book, however, I didn't even get the feeling that the hero was super into the heroine.  Sure, he mentions that she's pretty, but the whole arrangement felt like a business deal for the entire book.  Even when they're declaring their love for one another, it just didn't ring true.  I didn't find the plot outside the romance particularly interesting either so this whole book fell really flat for me.  Book 2 in the series follows Cole after the events of this book which, based on the description, sound like Cole is out for revenge.  Cole was a pretty bad guy in this book so I don't think I'll find myself reading his book.

Dirty Talk - Lauren Landish

This is the first book in the Get Dirty series and follows radio show host Derrick and app developer Kat.  The two meet after she calls into his late night love and relationship show (think Love Line with Dr Drew) and the two have an instant connection.  A few bouts of phone sex later and they meet in person, start dating, and things progress from there.  Overall, I really liked this book but I think I could have loved it if it was just a bit longer and some of the side plots were more developed.  I thought Derrick and Kat's chemistry was off the charts.  I think I've mentioned in some of my reviews for Landish's other books, but she can write some damn good dirty talk. This book is filled with very explicit scenes almost right from the beginning so if that isn't your thing then this book is not for you.  I was surprised that the central conflict wasn't what I was expecting it to be, which was refreshing.  I really liked how many scenes we got of Derrick doing his radio show and it was interesting to see little glimpses of the back end of a hit radio show like that.  I do wish we got some more development of the side characters and side plots as well as a deeper dive into Derrick and Kat's very different views on love and relationship.  He's a hopeless romantic, she's jaded from multiple men falling short of even the most basic guidelines.  I was really expecting that difference to play a much bigger role.  Also, I wanted more of the friends and what they thought about the budding relationship.  We get Kat's friends in the beginning scene and then she'll call them a few times through out the book, but I never really got a strong sense of the friendship they have and since Kat has a not so great history with men, I would expect her to be really grounded with her girls and I was missing that development. 

Romance Wrap-Up 10/8/20 - 10/14/20

 Rough Country - Lauren Landish

This is the third and final book in the Tannen Boys series and follows singer-songwriter Bobby and new to town Willow. Willow comes to town to reconnect with her uncle Henry and she starts to bar tend at Henry's bar.  Bobby is the most eligible bachelor in town and his live music nights at the bar are the place to be.  Bobby sees Willow across the room and is instantly smitten.  She's not so convinced that this man, who all the other women seem to be throwing themselves at, would be right for her.  Bobby shows Willow that he's only interested in her and the two click instantly (the chemistry between these two is fantastic).  But then a big Nashville music producer finds Bobby and offers him the record deal of a life time and Bobby is faced with a life-changing decision to either follow his lifelong dream of being a country music star or stay in town with his new love.  I absolutely adored everything about this book.  By book 3 in a series like this, the reader is pretty comfortable with the cast of characters surrounding the main couple, but we get some more great side characters in this book.  I've never related so much with a heroine before so I was rooting for her and Bobby so so hard.  Willow is someone who always takes care of others.  She like photography, but wants her blog to stay anonymous so she can highlight the little, everyday moments that she finds.  She is generally happy with her life and happy to help out those around her.  But she deserves someone who thinks she's the whole world and will take care of  her.  And that person is Bobby.  He's a big hunk of man with a soft center which comes out a lot in his songs.  He doesn't shy away from showing Willow exactly how much she means to him and makes sure to take care of her when she's taking care of everyone else (and that dirty talk!).  I really loved the ending and how much we got to see of these two after the main conflict of the story was resolved.  I liked being able to see the characters settle into their new lives a bit and not have the book end basically right after the conflict is finished. 

Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire - Pippa Grant

This is the third book in the Bro Code series and follows single dad Tripp and business woman Lila.  After an encounter in a NYC bar where Tripp lies about his identity, the two find themselves working together to revitalize Copper Valley's baseball team.  While the series can be read in any order, I would recommend reading at least book 2 first because it really introduces a lot of the recurring characters.  Book 1's characters do show up in this book as well, but in a much more minor role.  Pippa Grant is one of my go-to authors when I want a fun rom-com with little to no angst and this book is no exception.  I really liked how well developed the characters were and how self-aware they were about their flaws.  It can get real annoying real fast when reading about a character who doesn't know why X keeps happening and the reader is like "duh, it is because you're doing Y".  Not the case in this book.  Both Tripp and Lila have their own struggles and while they are both highly aware of them, they keep falling back into old habits.  I also liked how their struggles weren't the typical romance tropes that would cause tension in relationships.  I'm not a baseball person, so the fact that these two characters are managing a baseball team together didn't really enhance the story at all for me in fact, I wasn't really engaged at all with the baseball talk.  I was much more interested in Lila's romance book publishing company.  Overall, this was a super cute and fun read, I laughed out loud a few times, and I highly recommend the series overall.  

The Perfect Illusion - Winter Renshaw

 Meh, this book just wasn't for me.  It follows architect, Hudson, and his secretary, Mari.  As she's in the process of quitting working for him because he's a huge jerk, he offers her millions of dollars to be his fake fiance.  He doesn't take no for an answer and she eventually agrees.  Now, fake dating/engagement/marriages are one of my favorite romance tropes so I was all in (I even broke my personal 300 page rule for this book because the summary sounded right up my alley).  However, the rest of the tropes in the book are some of my least favorite ones ever (and I can't go into too much detail because they're all spoilers).  The worst of which was the fact that Mari has a secret that could derail the whole fake engagement aspect and, of course, she doesn't tell Hudson until the last possible moment.  Ugh, angst for angst sake.  She mentions numerous times throughout the story that she should tell him but she just never does and at one point she writes off not telling him because she's "living one day at a time" which almost made me throw my eReader across the room I was so mad. And the worst thing is, if she would have told Hudson her secret right at the beginning it could have done a few different things: 1 - it could have gotten Mari what she wanted initially which would be for Hunter to back off, 2 - they could have still gone through with the fake engagement and the second half of the book when we find out more info about the secret would have been even more dramatic and angsty.

Wicked Sexy - J.T. Geissinger

This is book 2 in the Wicked Games series and it was the only one that I was really interested in reading.  It follows Tabby, a hacker with a photographic memory, and Connor, a marine, as they work together to track down a sociopathic cyber criminal.  This book was fantastic.  I found Tabby and Connor to both be super interesting characters and their chemistry is off the charts.  They have crossed paths previously so while we don't get to see their initial meeting, their history means we get a kick-start to the romance and the two get together pretty early in the book (around 25%).  I was instantly intrigued with the cyber criminal plot line and found it very interesting that Tabby was the 'good' version of the cyber criminal with all her skills and knowledge.  I loved Tabby and Connor's banter back and forth and the whole cast of characters that we meet are just great.  I thought the twists uncovered during the investigation were really well done and who doesn't love a big alpha marine hero coming to save the day.  Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Romance Wrap-Up 10/1/20 - 10/7/20

Only 5 books this week, but 4/5 were the first books in new series.  I won't be continuing all series, but it was nice to try out some new ones this week.

The Best Friend Zone -  Nicole Snow

This isn't listed as a book in a series, but it does take place in the same town (Dallas, North Dakota) as some of Snow's other books (Accidental Knight, for example) but you do not need to read the other books before this one.  This book follows childhood best friends Quinn and Tory.  They both spent time in Dallas each summer and then returned home for the school year.  They haven't seen each other since Quinn was 20 and Tory was 17 but life events have the two coming back to the small town 10 years later.  After reconnecting and reminiscing over their old fun times in childhood, they both have some pretty heavy baggage that they're working through and some quiet time in Dallas is just what both of them need - too bad it doesn't stay quiet long in a Nicole Snow novel.  I love friends-to-lovers romances and this is no exception.  The two characters are equally attracted to each other and they mutually decide to take a chance on a relationship (only pushed slightly by Tory's meddling grandmother).  I love a good love declaration of "I've always loved you" or "I've never stopped thinking about you" and we get some heartwarming declarations from both sides in this book.  The outside danger element I wish was a little more developed, I didn't feel the danger closing in on the couple like I normally do with a Nicole Snow novel, but overall was a good plot line.  And there's a big dog named Owl that absolutely stole the show.

 Sweet As Sin - J.T. Geissinger 

Not for me. This is the first book in the Bad Habit series and follows lead singer Nico and makeup artist Kat.  The two meet on a video shoot for Nico's rock band when Kat needs to unexpectedly stand in as the love interest in the video.  I was intrigued by this premise and unfortunately that's where the things I liked about this book ended.  First, this book is angsty, super angsty, like 16 year old thinks she's going to die of embarrassment at prom sort of angst levels.  I'm finding that a lot of angst isn't my cup of tea, especially for adult characters with established careers and mortgages (Nico is 30ish and Kat is 25).  Second, I really don't care about music stars as romantic leads in my books, I find the whole brooding artist trope annoying and find any details about filming a music video or recording new songs boring.  Third, I found Kat to be super uninteresting.  I think it is a bad sign that I was more interested in her two best friends (who are the heroines of books 2 and 3 in the series) than Kat.  My main issue with this book (which almost made me put it down) was Nico's and Kat's relationship felt super toxic to me.  Right from the beginning, red flags were going off in my head.  This is the first romance book I've read where I actively wanted the characters to not end up together.  The fact that Nico and Kat end up together so early in the book made me think there might be a second hero waiting around the corner, but no such luck.  Nico has never been in a serious relationship because he's a rock star.  Kat has been in 12 relationships by the time she's 25 and all of them were toxic or abusive (she gives a quick rundown at one point in the book).  She doesn't like Nico's super possessive attitude, short temper, or violent outbursts but then she goes and does the same thing to Nico (which he calls her out on but thinks that it is cute that she's possessive of him).  The whole book is them fighting, her running away, him finding her, them having angry make up sex, then being all sweet together.  Lather, rinse, and repeat.  I don't believe for a second that these two will have a happily ever after and that's a bummer for a romance book.  After looking through the descriptions of the other 2 books in the series on Goodreads, they don't sound like healthy relationships so I'm not going to continue the series.

Mister Billions - Cassie-Ann L. Miller

This is the first book in the Bad Boys in Love series and follows billionaire Cannon and bridal shop owner Lexi.  After Cannon discovers his long term girlfriend and best friend in bed together, he returns to his hometown where he runs into Lexi at the local coffee shop.  They immediately do not get along - Cannon is a huge grump and Lexi calls him out on it - but Cannon is intrigued by Lexi's spirit.  Soon, local business owners are being evicted due to not paying their rent on time and Cannon makes Lexi a deal that if she marries him for a few months, he'll stop the evictions for the whole town. Lexi agrees and feelings don't take long to follow.  This book was perfectly average in every way.  I didn't particularly love any part of it but I didn't hate any parts either.  Overall, I found the plot cute and Cannon and Lexi's chemistry was good.  I found the conflict to be pretty surface level (it could have gone deeper, but then it wouldn't have been easy to fix) and the stakes were pretty low.  I was much more interested to see what happened between the end of the main story and the epilogue.  The time jump was only 18 months, but it seemed like Cannon did a total Scrooge 180.  He was slowly changing for the better throughout the book, but then went from 0 to 60 during the 18 months we didn't see.  I would have really liked more of that development to happen on the page.

Heartless - Winter Renshaw

This is the first book in the Amato Brothers series and follows oldest brother Ace and makeup artist Aidy.  Aidy finds an old journal in the bushes outside Ace's house one day and takes it home by accident.  After reading it, she finds it is filled with details of a passionate love affair.  When Aidy tries to return the journal, Ace insists it isn't his (despite it being found outside his house).  The two keep having chance encounters in NYC which eventually, of course, develop into a relationship.  This was a very brief enemies to lovers situation and while that trope isn't my favorite, I really liked how the two characters sat down together one day to hash out their issues with each other.  They cleared the air and were able to put aside some misunderstandings which the whole 'enemies' thing was built upon.  Communication for the win!  I thought Ace and Adiy had really great chemistry and I really liked how she had a blossoming career that she was very focused on.  Ace is a retired baseball pitcher who is trying to figure out what his next career move is so it was nice to see the reverse of what a lot of romance books show for the main characters' careers.  I do wish the book was longer and the plot device of the diary used more in the story.  But overall, I really liked the slight twists on typical romance tropes that this book delivered and I think I'll give the next book in the series a read.

Southern Charmer - Jessica Peterson

So brooding rockstars aren't my thing (see Sweet as Sin above), but charming southern chefs sure are!  This is the first book in the Charleston Heat series and follows local chef Eli and aspiring romance author Olivia.  After rejecting her boyfriend's proposal, Olivia drives from upstate New York to Charleston, SC to take a month away from her responsibilities and figure out what she wants out of her life.  Does she want to marry her boyfriend?  Does she want to write romance novels? Who is the handsome shirtless stranger next door?  All important questions Olivia must answer.  Eli is a big hunk of muscle with an even bigger heart.  He's trying to figure out the answers to his own questions in life and the two end up finding solace in each other's company.  I felt this book had two main messages - follow your dreams to your own happiness and relationships can't be used as a quick fix.  The second point, especially, was really important because I think a lot of times relationships in romance books are framed in such a way that the people 'complete' each other, inspire them to be a better person.  And, to an extent, this can be true.  But for Eli and Olivia, in order for their relationship to have a chance, they both needed time to get their lives together and figure out what is going on in their own heads.  Olivia just got out of a 3 year relationship that everyone (including herself) thought would last a lifetime.  Eli just suffered a personal loss and he isn't sure who he is anymore.  Eli ends up going to therapy (yay for therapy!) and working on finding himself again after his loss rocked his world a little too hard. If you like loving, supportive friends to lovers who have the emotional maturity to admit they need to work on themselves before being ready to jump into a long term relationship then this is for you!