Tag: romance

Book Review: Some Like It Scot, by Pepper Basham

Image belongs to Thomas Nelson.

Title: Some Like It Scot    
Author: Pepper Basham         
Genre: Christian, Romance    
Rating: 4 out of 5

Katie Campbell has traveled her entire life. As the daughter of an army chaplain, changing homes–or even countries–was commonplace, so when her wild childhood storytelling turned into a lucrative career as a travel writer, she thought she’d found her perfect match. But as she’s nearly thirty with no real place to settle down, she’s starting to wonder where “home” actually is. Her own family hadn’t felt like home since her sister’s death left them all limping through life.

When a lengthy project in Scotland promises to not only give her travel fodder for months but also a shot at a coveted editing position, she accepts and is sent to spend three weeks in the newly created Craighill House, a Scottish home redesigned to offer guests an Edwardian experience. But her entrance to Craighill introduces her to a quirky group of characters and a surly Scot who is helping refurbish the magnificent woodwork of the estate house.

As Katie attempts to live “Edwardian,” she learns that all that glitters does not a comfortable lifestyle make . . . and surly Scots may turn out to be dashing and creative uncles raising their orphaned nephews. When a few escapades from the Downton era lead Katie on hunts for mermaids and dragons or to a fireside chat with a family who has grown stronger through tragedy, Katie begins to wonder if “home” looks a whole lot like rolling green hills, magnificent braighs, and a few extra “ayes” thrown in for good measure. But can her world-traveling lifestyle fit in with a Scot whose heart is double-knotted to home?

This was a cute, fun read, perfect for a weekend binge. Lots of comedic moments made it enjoyable. I liked Katie a lot, and her banter with Graeme was a lot of fun (okay, I love puns, but it did get a tiny bit excessive with them). Graeme’s family was wonderful, and I’d love to read more with them. I really wanted to  pack up and run away to Scotland!

Pepper Basham lives in North Carolina. Some Like it Scot is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Love, The Duke, by Amelia Grey

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: Love, The Duke  
Author: Amelia Grey         
Genre: Romance   
Rating: 3 out of 5 

When the Duke of Hurstbourne receives a letter from his childhood friend asking him to marry his sister Ophelia, Hurst declines. He’s not adverse to taking a bride, but he believes in love at first sight that stirs his desire―not marriage sight-unseen.

Adhering to society’s strict propriety for ladies, Ophelia Stowe has no choice but to present herself as a man to seek the Duke of Hurstbourne’s favor. If not for the dire situation she finds herself in, she wouldn’t have asked for help from the handsome man who had rebuffed her. When the alluring duke’s response is a plan of his own, Ophelia never dreams it would be a proposal of a marriage of convenience.

But the stakes are high, and the good name of the Stowe family will be damaged if a missing antiquity isn’t found. When she accepts his offer, she quickly finds she isn’t immune to the passion building between her and her new husband―or how real the marriage begins to feel.

This was an okay read, but the two main characters were both needlessly headstrong and stubborn, refusing to see the other’s point of view or bend at all. That didn’t really work for me, in fact, it had me skimming at times just so I could get through the sections I found pointless. This wasn’t bad, I just didn’t really connect with the characters or find the whole scenario believable enough to be invested in.

Amelia Grey lives in Florida. Love, The Duke is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Spring Fling, by Annie England Noblin  

Image belongs to Avon and Harper Voyager.

Title: Spring Fling  
Author: Annie England Noblin         
Genre: Romance        
Rating: 4 out of 5

Spring is in the air and Mylie has everything she could ever want: her tackle shop is thriving and employs a third of Clay Creek, Arkansas, and she lives with her beloved Granny and little sister Cassie, who both keep her on her toes. As tourists pour into town for the annual fishing tournament, Mylie is in her element and ready to bring her all-women team to victory.

After moving to Chicago, Ben never thought he would return to Clay Creek. But with both his grandfather and mother gone, he’s left to deal with their estate. His plan is simple: come in quietly, fix up his lakeside childhood home, sell it quickly, and get out. He underestimates how quickly his arrival will stir up the local gossip, and how intensely his unresolved feelings for Mylie, his childhood best friend, will resurface.

Amid the buzz of competition and the rhythm of small-town life, Mylie and Ben find themselves unable to ignore their shared history. They tentatively explore a future together, despite the impending sale of Ben’s house and Mylie’s insistence on staying put in Clay Creek. Flings are easier said than done, and Mylie and Ben will have to address their clashing lifestyles before their feelings get away from them.

I liked Mylie and Ben. This made living in small-town Arkansas sound appealing—and I’ve been there and done that and have no desire to repeat the experience. The characters really made this read fun—all the characters, not just the main two. The raccoon was hysterical! This was a fun, sweet read, perfect for a weekend binge.

Annie England Noblin lives in Arkansas. Spring Fling is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Avon and Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: My Big Fat Fake Marriage, by Charlotte Stein

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: My Big Fat Fake Marriage
Author: Charlotte Stein        
Genre: Romance       
Rating: 3 out of 5 

Connie has always distrusted nice guys. In her experience, they’re just waiting to reveal some horrible secret. And then she meets big, adorable, Henry Samuel Beckett—editor extraordinaire, lover of bow ties, sweet and so cheery she struggles to believe he’s real.

Until Henry Samuel Beckett—or Beck, as he’s known to most—tells her the secret underneath his sunny surface: He’s been single all his life. But in a moment of panic, he’s told everyone at his publishing house that he’s married. And when Connie, an aspiring writer herself, can’t help defending him, she ends up being the fake wife he doesn’t actually have.

When they head off on a writing retreat, surrounded by people convinced this must be a ruse, both of them can’t help but agree. Until they share their first kiss, their first touch, their first time in only one bed. Side by side, every night, as the simmering tension builds…Connie starts to wonder if this might be real after all.

I have to be honest:  this felt like a badly-disguised, cliched bit of porn. The characters felt more like tropes than actual people—Connie/not really Connie and her extreme skepticism of all men, Beck’s nerdy/oblivious personality—without much of a believable explanation as to why, so I could buy into the whole thing. This just really wasn’t a good fit for me.

Charlotte Stein’s new novel is My Big Fat Fake Marriage.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Never Planned on You, by Lindsay Hameroff  

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: Never Planned on You   
Author: Lindsay Hameroff       
Genre: Romance       
Rating:  3.8 out of 5

Ali Rubin has a reputation for spontaneity. Like that time she made a drunken bet in London that led to matching tattoos with a stranger. Her joie de vivre is one of her best qualities; she lives every day to the fullest and follows her dreams wherever they take her. And now, they’re taking her from her career as a chef in New York City back home to Baltimore, where she’s interning as a wedding planner.

Despite the occasional fantasy about her British tattoo twin, Ali never expected to see Graham again. So no one is more surprised than she is when he turns up in Baltimore, ordering a latte at her favorite cafe. When they reconnect during an enchanting evening together, Ali can’t help but wonder if Graham might be someone special.

At the same time, she’s desperate to succeed in her new career and prove that she isn’t the family flake. When she gets a job planning a high profile wedding at a historic hotel, it seems like things are finally falling into place. That is, until Graham turns out to be the groom.

Graham’s family owns the once-grand, now struggling Black-Eyed Susan, and he’s returned to Baltimore to help his grandmother get it back on its feet. He’s certain that hosting a wedding at the hotel is just the publicity boost it needs. Ali’s boss agrees, and promises Ali a full-time gig if the affair goes off without a hitch. Unfortunately, Ali and Graham can’t seem to ignore their rekindled chemistry, especially when it’s revealed that Graham and his fiancée are planning a marriage of convenience. Still, staying away from each other is the best thing they can do, since giving in to their growing feelings might cost them everything.

Because when it comes to love, all bets are off.

I liked Ali…except that she thought it was okay to be involved with an engaged man. I wasn’t okay with that. I loved Ali’s family, but her self-identifying as the black sheep/family disaster was kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I liked a lot of the secondary characters, too, but Ali and Graham just didn’t work for me because of the whole he’s-engaged-to-someone-else thing.

Lindsay Hameroff lives in Pennsylvania. Never Planned on You is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  The Perfect Rom-Com, by Melissa Ferguson

Image belongs to Thomas Nelson.

Title:  The Perfect Rom-Com  
Author:  Melissa Ferguson    
Genre:  Romance       
Rating: 4 out of 5

She’s written dozens of smash hit novels as a ghostwriter. Too bad no one knows it.

Aspiring author Bryony Page attends her first writers conference bursting with optimism and ready to sell her manuscript with long-shot dreams of raising awareness for The Bridge, her grandmother’s financially-struggling organization where she teaches ESL full-time. But after a disastrous pitching session, she stumbles into correcting another author’s work in a last-ditch attempt to make a good impression with the agent. And she, as it turns out, is spot on.

No one is more surprised than Bryony when the agent offers her the opportunity to be a ghostwriter for Amelia Benedict, popular rom-com novelist. Bryony agrees on one she’ll write books for this vain, demanding woman just as long as Jack Sterling, literary agent of the legendary Foundry Literary Agency, works to sell her own book too.

What nobody predicted, however, was that Bryony’s books would turn Amelia Benedict into the Amelia Benedict, household name and bestselling author with millions of copies sold around the world.

And just like that, the Foundry Agency can’t let her go.

But on a personal note, Jack is realizing he can’t either.

I wouldn’t quite describe this as a rom-com. The writing is solid, and I like the characters (Except Amelia. She’s terrible.). The interactions between Jack and Bryony are great. I really enjoy their banter. But…very little of this story is actually about their romance. It’s more about Bryony finding herself and her place in the world. That being said, as long as you aren’t expecting a full rom-com, this is a solid read.

Melissa Ferguson is a bestselling author. The Perfect Rom-Com is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Southern by Design, by Grace Helena Walz  

Image belongs to HarperCollins.

Title: Southern by Design
Author: Grace Helena Walz     
Genre: Fiction        
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Magnolia “Mack” Bishop is staring down the barrel at single motherhood–thanks to an unsolicited personal picture her husband texted another woman that quickly went viral among every mom group in town. But she’s determined to not let it distract her from the professional victory she’s inches away securing Charleston’s prestigious Historic Preservation Design Fellowship, the apple of every local designer’s eye.

But when the final house tour is undone by a host of calamities, Mack’s shot at the fellowship goes up in flames. Smelling blood in the water, Mack’s mother, the original Magnolia Bishop, breezes in with a project lead–strings attached. If there’s one thing Magnolia lives for, aside from maintaining her station atop the Southern social ladder, it’s to control Mack’s life . . . and that includes keeping the identity of the absentee father Mack never knew in the shadows.

While working for her mother is the professional equivalent of moving into one’s parent’s basement, Mack spots an opportunity to make it her own when a television network puts a call out for local designers. Pitching the home renovation TV pilot of her dreams–one with a historic preservation twist–might just be the way to finally prove herself. Still, she’ll have to do it covertly to avoid her mother’s interference.

Just when Mack finds her professional footing, at home she spots an impossibly familiar figure unloading his moving truck into the newly sold house next door. She is furious, floored, and regrettably flustered because Lincoln Kelly is the one who got away. Fifteen years earlier he was a summer romance she inadvertently fell in love with, and when he left, following his dreams to New York, Mack was broken-hearted.

I love Southern fiction, and this fits the bill. Mack’s mom is…terrible. Her ex-husband is terrible. The thought of living in that world with those people made my skin crawl.

I loved the Charleston setting. It felt so vibrant and real, and I wanted to visit immediately! Mack’s friends/coworkers were also fantastic, and her daughter made me want to hang out with a tiny human. Definitely recommend this read!

Grace Helena Walz lives outside of Atlanta. Southern by Design is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Get Lost with You, by Sophie Sullivan

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:  Get Lost with You
Author:  Sophie Sullivan        
Genre: Romance        
Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Jillian Keller took the long route to her best life, but is now happily settled in her hometown of Smile, raising her little girl alone while helping her brother run Get Lost Lodge. A lover of structure and routine, she doesn’t need anything, or anyone, disrupting her carefully curated life.

After chasing and achieving his culinary dreams, Levi Bright realizes he’s still missing something. Something he can’t find in a big city. Returning home to Smile, he intends to build a different future for himself that includes mending fences with his dad, reconnecting with friends, and creating elevated comfort food for a town he loves.

When Levi and Jilly run into each other one day in Smile, once requited feelings that never had a chance to bloom as teens flare between them immediately. Jaded from her past, Jilly is cautious and convinced that she can handle being just friends, as the two have to work closely together to prepare for Get Lost’s official summer opening, spending time together, camping, laughing, kayaking, and reminiscing. But when her brother hires sweet, funny, ridiculously hot Levi as the new chef at the lodge, and she and Ollie are getting more attached, things are moving more quickly than she anticipated–and Jilly has been hurt before. If she wants to be head over heels in love, she’ll have to learn that the past doesn’t always repeat itself. Sometimes, it just leads you where you’re meant to be.

I don’t feel like there was very much conflict in this read. I mean, Jillian and Levi re-meet, are immediately attracted to each other/admit their past attraction for each other, and Boom! They’re together. Even the potential conflict with her brothers not wanting their friend to date their sister was…underwhelming and resolved in about 25 seconds. The stuff with Jillian’s ex was overblown—and we didn’t even see how it turned out. The characters were fine, this was just an easy HEA.

Sophie Sullivan is from Canada. Get Lost With You is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:   Brewing Up a Bad Boy, by Katherine Garbera

Image belongs to Harlequin/Afterglow.

Title:  Brewing Up a Bad Boy
Author: Katherine Garbera         
Genre: Romance        
Rating:  2.5 out of 5

Sometimes the second sip is sweetest.

In the cozy town of Birch Lake, tea shop owner Poppy Kitchener thought she’d left her mistakes, and her failed marriage, in the past. But when her ex-husband, Alistair Miller, turns up—as charming and irritatingly handsome as ever—those old feelings float to the surface. To top it off, he has a puzzling pretend they’re still married for his cousin’s wedding in exchange for a lucrative business deal with his family.

Easy enough, right? After all, this could be Poppy’s last chance to get closure, grow her business and use Alistair’s knowledge of microbrewing to help her finish that winning recipe for the tea competition.

But even after all this time, he still knows how to make her laugh. And he’s changed in ways that make Poppy wonder about the man he’s become… Can she trust this new Alistair with her heart, or will a second chance brew up disaster?

This was an okay read, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go. At first, Poppy and Alistair’s divorce was in the distant past, then it was 18 months ago. The first half of the book, Poppy wasn’t into anything spiritual, then suddenly she was a diehard practitioner. This needs another round of editing to make it palatable. I enjoyed the tea stuff, but the “As you know, Bob,” discussions of kombucha and brewing felt like I was being waterboarded.

Katherine Garbera is a bestselling author. Brewing Up a Bad Boy is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/Afterglow in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Only in Your Dreams, by Ellie K Wilde

Image belongs to Atria Books.

Title:  Only in Your Dreams  
Author:  Ellie K Wilde       
Genre:  Romance       
Rating:  4 out of 5

If he can prove he loved her then, and he loves her still, this time might be different.

Ten years after one of the most heartbreaking nights of her life, Melody Woods is back in her small hometown of Oakwood Bay, broke, jaded, and unceremoniously dumped by her big-city boyfriend. To top it all off, her twin brother, Parker, is pushing her to take his spot on a camping trip with the one guy she’s spent a decade avoiding.

For college football coach Zac Porter, his best friend’s twin sister, Melody, has always been off-limits. And after fumbling his chance ten years ago, a devastated Zac was sure he’d lost Melody for good. So, when Melody shows up at the campsite instead of Parker, Zac realizes that now is the time to prove to her that they were always meant to be, no matter how long it takes to make up for his teenage self’s mistake.

Reeling from the truth of her last relationship, Melody plans to stay in town just long enough to get back on her feet. Then, she’s gone again. Meanwhile, Zac is facing an uphill battle to coach his team to its first winning game in years, to show Melody how she deserves to be loved, and to keep Parker from ever finding out. Maybe then, being with her will be more than just a dream.

I like second chance romances, and this was a fun read. Melody and her antics kept me entertained, and Zac seemed too good to be true—while Melody’s ex was no good at all. This was pretty steamy—very steamy, actually. This would make a perfect weekend binge-read.

Ellie K Wilde is from Canada. Only in Your Dreams is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.)