Title:Finding Mr. Write Author: Kelley Armstrong About this Book: This is a romance novel by Kelley Armstrong! KELLEY ARMSTRONG! Raise the wicked alarms. Daphne, the MFC, is a writer who struggles to get her book published under her own name. Her sci-fi, adventure novel.
Sounds familiar? It should be, because this happens a lot. So what does she do? She uses a pseudonym and then hires someone to be Zane Remington, author and outdoors person.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and honestly? I cannot wait for Writing Mr. Wrong.
Also, please note if you are Canadian, and reading this, Kelley Armstrong is Canadian, and the link above will lead you to your local independent bookstore to purchase. I gain nothing from putting that link there aside from the knowledge that I am hopefully helping people support their local businesses.
Title:At Her Service Author: Amy Spalding Series: Out in Hollywood
About this Book: This book is queer joy and sapphic love, along with some character building and growth. This book is about Max, who you would have met in For Her Consideration if you read that book (also great). She, like many people, is unsatisfied with her career progression and trying to get ahead. She’s also trying to get the girl, in a way.
You’ll recognize familiar names and faces from the previous book as well.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and honestly? Loved it.
Title: All Rhodes Lead Here Author: Mariana Zapata Series: N/A About this Book: Aurora De La Torre, or Ora to her friends, knows moving back to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, a place that was once home and is now full of bittersweet memories of her late mother, isn’t going to be easy. Starting your whole life over probably isn’t supposed to be.
But after breaking up with her longtime, famous musician boyfriend, hiding out in a small town in the mountains might be the perfect remedy for a broken heart. And checking out her landlord who lives across the driveway just might cure it, too. Only Tobias Rhodes didn’t rent out the apartment to her, rather it was his teenage son, Amos. Fiercely protective of his family and distrusting of strangers, gruff and grumpy Rhodes initially keeps little miss sunshine Ora at a distance. But over days and weeks, long hikes and fireside chats, Aurora breaks down his walls and soon an unbreakable friendship blossoms into a once-in-a-lifetime love.
My Thoughts:
Amos Rhodes is a national treasure and I would fight tooth and nail for him, I just want that to be mad clear. He’s a good kid, a great kid even and I love how different he is from Tobias in manner, and how much he can get under his father’s skin, especially by bringing in someone who will become a big love for Tobias.
This book takes place in a small town surrounded by gorgeous scenery and sometimes dangerous hiking trails. It will make you wish you had a camera and the same surroundings and maybe even want to get out and hike a little while taking photos.
The characters are as different as can be (Tobias kind of gave me Luke Danes vibes), and I am a sucker for Grumpy/Sunshine so it’s not surprising that I ended up loving this book.
That being said if you are hoping for a quick romance you won’t find this here. This book satisfyingly takes the two through an awesome getting to know you stage and a slow burn before allowing them to get together.
And as with all romances we are not without conflict.
Title: Funny Story Author: Emily Henry About this book: Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.
Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak. Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads —Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?
But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?
My Thoughts: Emily Henry is a master at many things but especially at banter and this book is teeming with it in the best way.
Let’s start with the characters:
Daphne: She is a bit judgemental at first, that cannot be denied, and a little uptight but one of the best things in this book is watching her evolve and begin to loosen up and maybe become a little more chaotic in the process. She gives up so much for Peter (I hate him) and gets a lot of despair in return.
Miles: I loved this scruffy stoner from the get-go, listening to his sad music and turning out to be a world class guy despite Petra doing what she did to him.
I can’t ignore that this book also takes place in a library, be still my heart. I love a library setting, it’s above only one bed, and coffee shop romance for me.
This book isn’t heavy, and is filled with wonderful romance, great characters, both main and otherwise, and I am happy to own it.
Title:As Good as Dead Author: Holly Jackson Series: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Genre: YA, Mystery/Thriller
About this Book: This book is a mystery/thriller starring a teenage true crime podcaster set in either Connecticut or England depending on where you live and what version of the book has been sold to you.
It is the third book in a trilogy, about Pip, who started out in book one solving the disappearance of one of her schoolmates and the suicide of another.
In this book she is ready to head off to college, but unlike a lot of her friends and classmates she is a little less than excited, consumed by the last case she worked on.
Title: Lucky Bounce Author: Cait Nary Source: Netgalley Genre: Romance Summary:A single dad pro hockey player falls for his biggest fan—who just happens to be his five-year-old daughter’s teacher—in this fun, flirty romantic comedy from Cait Nary
Ezekiel Boehm is no stranger to teaching kids with famous parents. But when the pro hockey player he’s been thirsting after walks into the Rittenhouse Friends School gym hand in hand with a tiny kindergartener, he figures he must be hallucinating. Spencer McLeod is a lot of things—Zeke’s favorite winger on the Philadelphia Liberty; a menace on the ice; a mumbling, reluctant but somehow captivating-as-hell postgame interview—but he’s not a dad. Except he is. Apparently.
Zeke can be chill about this. He can.
Surprisingly, the more time he spends with Spencer, the easier this becomes. School volunteer events turn into reserved seats at games, turn into…more. And even though Zeke is 100 percent committed to ignoring Spencer’s blush, to ignoring the way he looks in that one pair of gray sweatpants, he can’t take his eyes off him.
Title: The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist Author: Sophie Gonzales Source: Netgalley Genre: Contemporary YA Summary:Ivy Winslow has the house to herself for a week while her parents are away. She’s planning to use this newfound freedom to binge-watch her favorite fantasy TV show, H-MAD, and hang out with her best friend, Henry. She’ll also have to avoid her former best friend-turned enemy (and neighbor), Mack. But things quickly go awry when Ivy wakes up to find Weston, the gorgeous, very fictional main character of H-MAD in her bedroom, claiming to be her soul mate.
Ivy realizes that her fanfic writing has somehow brought Weston as she’s imagined him to life. But it turns out that the tropes she swoons over in her stories are slightly less romantic in reality, and her not-so-fictional crush is causing some real-world problems. To figure out why Weston is here and what to do with him, Ivy decides to team up with Henry and (against her better judgment) Mack. But with Mack back in her life, Ivy starts to wonder if Weston, her “perfect guy”, is the one who’s truly perfect for her . . . or if that was someone else all along.
Title: Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice Author: Elle Cosimano Series: Finlay Donovan Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Genre: Mystery, Thriller. Trigger Warnings: Violence, death, wouldn’t say too graphic but take care of yourself. Explicit? Low level spice. Summary:Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero are in sore need of a girls’ weekend away. They plan a trip to Atlantic City, but odds are―seeing as it’s actually a cover story to negotiate a deal with a dangerous loan shark, save Vero’s childhood crush Javi, and hunt down a stolen car―it won’t be all fun and games. When Finlay’s ex-husband Steven and her mother insist on tagging along too, Finlay and Vero suddenly have a few too many meddlesome passengers along for the ride.
Within hours of arriving in their seedy casino hotel, it becomes clear their rescue mission is going to be a bust. Javi’s kidnapper, Marco, refuses to negotiate, demanding payment in full in exchange for Javi’s life. But that’s not all―he insists on knowing the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike, who mysteriously disappeared. Unable to confess what really happened to Ike, Finlay and Vero are forced to come up with a new plan: sleuth out the location of Javi and the Aston Martin, then steal them both back.
But when they sneak into the loan shark’s suite to search for clues, they find more than they bargained for―Marco’s already dead. They don’t have a clue who murdered him, only that they themselves have a very convincing motive. Then four members of the police department unexpectedly show up in town, also looking for Ike―and after Finlay’s night with hot cop Nick at the police academy, he’s a little too eager to keep her close to his side.
If Finlay can juggle a jealous ex-husband, two precocious kids, her mother’s marital issues, a decomposing loan shark, and find Vero’s missing boyfriend, she might get out of Atlantic City in one piece. But will she fold under the pressure and come clean about the things she’s done, or be forced to double down?
Title: The Boy Who Cried Bear Author: Kelley Armstrong Series: Haven’s Rock Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Genre: Murder Mystery. Trigger Warnings: Kidnapping, child endangerment. Explicit? Not explicit, but gruesome. Summary:Haven’s Rock is a well-hidden town surrounded by forest. And it’s supposed to be, being that it’s a refuge for those who need to disappear. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton already feel at home in their new town, which reminds them of where they first met in Rockton. And while they know how to navigate the woods and its various dangers, other residents don’t. Which is why people aren’t allowed to wander off alone.
When Max, the town’s youngest resident—taught to track animals by Eric—fears a bear is stalking a hiking party, alarms are raised. Even stranger, the ten-year-old swears the bear had human eyes. Casey and Eric know the dangers a bear can present, so they’re taking it seriously. But odd occurrences are happening all around them, and when a dead body turns up, they’re not sure what they’re up
Water Under the Bridge Series: Perks and Benefits Authors: Kels Stone, Denise Stone Genre: Romance Source: Kindle Unlimited Books in Series: 4 as of April 2024 Spicy Levels: Fair to High Tropes: Enemies-to-Lovers, Workplace Romance, Grumpy x Sunshine Pacing: Fast Summary: Avery Soko, a bright-eyed and ambitious do-gooder, is on the cusp of getting her dream fundraising job at the Oceanic Research Organization. Luca Navarro, a former corporate lawyer with an extravagant tie collection and an irritatingly handsome smirk, holds Avery’s future in his very large hands. When he calls with the news of her rejection, Luca seems to revel in crushing her dreams.
But Avery will do anything to pursue her passion, even accept a job at a struggling start-up. Her spell of bad luck finally changes when a competition is announced at a grandiose gala that could save her and her new team from going under. Of course, Avery’s least favorite person, Luca, also joins the running for the multimillion-dollar prize.
At the height of the competition, Avery and Luca realize they’ve met their match. Will the tense moments, absurd attempts to out-do each other, and the string of games and bets they’ve concocted turn into a series of failures, or will it make them into something more than adversaries.
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