This was such a delight. A charming, funny, angsty, endearing, adorable delight. I adored th
The bane of his life and the balm to his soul.
This was such a delight. A charming, funny, angsty, endearing, adorable delight. I adored this so much and adored the leads Max and Effie even more. Two incredibly lonely souls finding acceptance and happiness in each other. For fans of Amanda Quick's Ravished I think you'll love this one. This had a very similar set up with a scarred "beast" recluse hero and a sweet eccentric bluestocking heroine who loves her archeology. Although I found this one much stronger with more depth and emotion on top of the humor. I loved Effie's combination of confidence in her intelligence yet vulnerability and insecurity of wanting a family and to be loved just as she is. Max was the perfect gruff, brooding, grouchy "beast" to her smiling personality and open heart. Max just dissolves into a big teddy bear around her and it was so great to see. Their meet cute happens when he finds her on his land digging up holes trying to extract an old ancient pot. He first mistakes her for a boy since she's covered in mud and wearing breeches and weird goggles. The hilarity and fun ensues from there. What I loved most about this was that while we got to see this couple slowly fall for each other we also got to see them become friends first. I found that very significant and so dear considering Effie never had a real friend before this. Her "big brain" and tendency to ramble out whatever comes to her mind and debate topics always scared people off and society labels her as odd. Her scholarly father died so that left her completely alone in the world with nothing but her and her passion for antiquity to distract her. I just found her so endearing and sweet. Both hero and heroine are recluses for different reasons but need distractions from the whirling questions and thoughts plaguing them in their loneliness. They both needed unconditional love and that's exactly what they found in each other.
"Can I ask you a question, Max?" "You can always ask me anything, Effie. In fact, I insist upon it. I find your honesty and your undisguised curiosity refreshing." "Then that is a first. Most people loathe it." "Then most people are daft. What’s the question?" "Are we friends now? I feel as though we are, but I am never entirely sure. And experience has taught me that if I assume, then I am doomed to be disappointed when my perceived friend starts to avoid me." She said it so matter of factly, but his heart wept for her. It was so ill deserved. Effie was a breath of fresh air, not an irritation. "I suppose we must be." Her delighted smile was like a balm to his soul. "That’s nice. And you don’t mind all the questions?" "I don’t want you to ever think you shouldn’t ask questions, Effie. You can always ask me anything..."
Ugh. Just so adorable. ❤️ This scene honestly made me want to cry I found it so touching and vulnerable. I loved how patient and kind Max was with Effie. Her intelligence and how quick her mind works fascinates him. And him going from grumbly put-out neighbor to intrigued assistant helping her dig up treasures and artifacts on his land was really cute and hilarious. Their banter is the greatest thing. I loved the endless nicknames he came up for her when he was angry or wanted to tease her. Miss Naive, Miss None-of-your-business, Miss Ninnyhammer, etc. ...more
“Is it really you?” I ask into his neck. “Yeah. It’s really me.”
How can something so simple be so perfect? To think I originally 4.5 stars
“Is it really you?” I ask into his neck. “Yeah. It’s really me.”
How can something so simple be so perfect? To think I originally DNF'd this. I'm so glad I went back. Majority of this novella is through email format. That's what initially threw me off. But my absolute weakness is epistolary romances so I had to see how it would play out till the end. I just love that trope so so much. This story covers 10 years of what starts off as an email being accidentally sent to the wrong email address which becomes a yearly tradition between 2 strangers checking in every Valentine's Day only to find each other in real life. So sweet, adorable and feel good. The execution is so straightforward and so simple but worked. I didn't want to say goodbye to these two when they finally just found each other. Their first face to face after she finally figures out it's him? *chef's kiss* I have never swooned harder over a hug. So much meaning punched into just one hug. I felt it....more
“Fadat besham, Asal.” Three words paralyzed me. I am willing to sacrifice myself for you, Honey.
Just so wonderful and feel good.4.75 stars
“Fadat besham, Asal.” Three words paralyzed me. I am willing to sacrifice myself for you, Honey.
Just so wonderful and feel good. A persian flight nurse heroine? I mean come on. I knew I had to give this book a try after learning Layla is Persian and her hero is calling her "asal" in Book 2, that had my antennas go up and eager to go back and read this. I was nervous but I have to give Maggie C. Gates her brownie points for really doing her research with all the details as far as language and customs, either she knows someone Persian who helped her out or she really did her homework. Some things were a bit exaggerated as far as customs go and religious practice and how phrases are used in what context but even so, I was very surprised and impressed by her thoroughness and care.
“But I’m most thankful that you spent your life making your soul just as beautiful. Dooset Daaram, hamsar-am.”
I just love and adore bilingual romances, whisper sweet nothings in my ear in another language and it really does things for me. I mean a hero who learns Farsi to tell the heroine how he feels? COME ON. Heart melting. Ovaries gone. He learned how to make her chai with nabat. This book made me want to squeal out loud like a lunatic. GIVE ME A CALLUM FLETCHER PLEASE. ...more
So adorable. Surprised me how adorable. Wish this was a full length book given the emotional beats played here. Sumner was a giant love bug h4.5 Stars
So adorable. Surprised me how adorable. Wish this was a full length book given the emotional beats played here. Sumner was a giant love bug hero and Britta (hate these names by the way) kinda drove me up the wall with her hangs up on not doing committed relationships and keeping the hero at arm's length. Girl, this man is crazy in love with you and just wants to take care of you! If you don't want him I'LL TAKE HIM. I'll climb him like a tree and cling like a koala and never let go. Glad her mind, heart and lady parts got with the program eventually....more
The perfect nanny/single dad book does not exist. Liz Tomforde: WANNA BET??!
[image]
“I simply stopped running when the t
⚾️ *5 Golden Stars* ⚾️
The perfect nanny/single dad book does not exist. Liz Tomforde: WANNA BET??!
[image]
“I simply stopped running when the two best boys I know caught me.”
Wowie did I love this. Happy New Year to meeee! This was a complete home run and yes I just used a baseball analogy for a baseball book I don't care. lol I need to sue Liz Tomforde for emotional distress. Her books keep stomping on my ovaries, flambéing, frapeying, just kaboom boom booming them to smithereens. ...more
“I’m done pretending to be head over heels in love with you because I’m legitimately head over heels in love with you. And acting lik
4.5 stars
“I’m done pretending to be head over heels in love with you because I’m legitimately head over heels in love with you. And acting like I’m not tears me up.”
I'll be honest I'm a little conflicted on the rating for this. It's between a 4 and 5 stars. Which is still great either way. This was a 5 star for a good chunk of it but the steam factor and the last 20ish% kind of made that last star fall off a bit for me. I've been in a not great head space the past week so reading was a struggle in general. But even so, this grabbed my attention and the distraction I needed from reality. Beau and Bailey were adorable and so sweet. Two lost souls trying to find themselves and their way in life and finding comfort in each other. Bailey was a great combination of innocent, vulnerable yet smart mouth and guarded. I loved the age gap here. Beau is 35 and Bailey is 21. Beau is a special ops soldier who is back home after a rescue mission left him with burned scarred feet and a serious case of PTSD. He's the jovial "goofy" Eaton brother but underneath the bravado is someone who is very weary and lost. Bailey Jansen is the misfit outcast that everyone in Chestnut Springs treats like a pariah given her last name. Her family is a bunch of drug addicts, petty thieves and bullies that the entire town find a nuisance. Bailey has been getting the burnt end of her family name when she's just trying to make her way on her own. I felt for her. Did the conflict in the end feel overblown and a bit silly? Yes. I was expecting it. It was overblown considering the timeline of it. But thankfully it didn't drag on too long and they talked it out. I love how slow burn this felt. Elsie said this was her "least" slow burn book from this series and frankly I disagree. I'm a little confused what she meant by that because this felt pretty slow burn in my book. The amount of pining/yearning/edging that drags on is both delicious and frustrating at the same time. lol
You don’t tell a person you love them with the expectation they’ll say it back. You tell them because you want to. You tell them because it’s true.
I personally love shy virgin heroines who find their own voice and independence. Bailey fit that bill. I just wish the steam was a bit more exciting in this rather than focused solely on "I wanna get rid of my virginity now, a sex toy already got rid of my hymen". It felt heavy handed. I know I'm in the minority when I say this but I absolutely hate when virgin heroines are portrayed like this in romance, specifically CR. Like it's some big shocking annoying thing a young girl in her 20s should be ashamed of? It's a weird gross narrative that I'm seeing more of and I truly don't get it and so tired of seeing it. A woman in her 20s (or any age for that matter) being a virgin is not gross or shocking please stop treating it that way authors, it's insensitive and utterly ridiculous. But that's a rant for another time. Also the porn thing, do all of Elsie Silver's heroines love to watch porn? I'm not knocking porn fanatics and normally don't even care but it feels very disingenuous here because these are women from different lifestyles and backgrounds but all of them just casually watch porn when they are horny or bored, in every. single. book. With uptight "ice queen" Winter it felt weird and very forced and here it felt forced too given how much it was brought up. Like yes, the heroine is a virgin but she's a COOL virgin ya'll! She watches porn and has a box of sex toys to prove it. RME. Please stop. It was doing too much IMO. Also, when you have an experienced hero and a virgin heroine who is eager to try things and discover sex, why not show some of that sexual exploration? *cries into my pillow* That's the part I felt let down the most TBH. This book kinda felt like a big ol' tease in many ways in that regard. And I want to throw my shoe at people who labeled that bathtub scene as "steamy" all over social media because it built up expectations in my head I wasn't aware of until I got to it. (view spoiler)[ Your man helping you shave your pubic hair is sweet but standing in a bathtub full of floating pubic hair (I really didn't need that visual Elsie Silver thanks) while he performs oral sex on you is not my idea of sexy time. But that's just me. (hide spoiler)]...more
Really loved this. There's just something about Shupe's writing I really enjoy when the story is right. It's so intelligent, precise, sexy an4.5 stars
Really loved this. There's just something about Shupe's writing I really enjoy when the story is right. It's so intelligent, precise, sexy and well researched. It does take on a bit of a modern tone in some areas as far as female autonomy and independence but it's not distracting. This is the biggest age gap romance I've read and I'll be honest if this was a Contemporary I would not have touched it. There's a 23 age difference here. The hero is 41 and the heroine is 18 and yes it took me some getting used to considering he's known her since she was a baby and he has a teenage son who is 2 years younger than the heroine Violet. I would have liked it more if Violet was 21 at least. But she's very mature for her age (a little too mature at times if I'm being honest lol). It definitely helped that the hero Max tried to put some distance and barriers between him and Violet who is doggedly pursuing him and is freaked out that she wants him. She's hurt that he's put distance between them since her coming out and it turns out he did it for a reason as he found her beautiful but much too young for him and it freaks him out. This also helped because if he had just went along with it easily I would have dropped this in a hot second. He's terrified and tries to scare her off at first which was great character development.
The Duke of Ravensthorpe is Violet's father's best friend and a family friend and Violet's crushed on him from afar since girlhood. He's a widower who enjoys single life after his marriage was a disappointing disaster after his wife died during child birth. He's a rake through and through who loves naughty times in the bedroom and honestly I found him so sexy and delicious. He's so intimidating, commanding, intelligent, earthy, sensual and masculine but also kind and a gentleman. I can't blame Violet for wanting him. A silver fox Duke with a filthy mouth. I wanted to climb him like a jungle gym so I get it. lol He steals the scenes and then some. Violet for her part I thought could have been developed a little more in comparison. The fact that I don't know what she looks like beyond having blonde hair and a curvy body for example did bug me. Her face is a hazy blur in comparison to the Duke who we get every little detailed description on. I liked that Violet's passion was in photography (I didn't even know Kodak camera boxes were a thing in 1895?) and studying photography (were classes available for women back then?). The sex scene involving her taking pictures of him naked was insanely hot and erotic. I thought that was nicely done. (ETA: I just realized the model on the cover is holding a camera. Very clever.) This is a very hot spicy novella and I loved every minute of it. I honestly wish this was a full length book given how quickly these two acted on their attraction and I wish that was dragged out a bit more given the forbidden aspect of it and Max's hang ups over their age difference and his friendship with her father. The hero caves a little too soon for my liking but since this is a novella you kind of just go along with it. I thought the emotions, the connection and tension was nicely done. If this was a full length book I probably would have given this a 5 star TBH. I could not put this down. Maximilian Thomas William Bradley III could absolutely GET IT. ...more
Adorable. My ovaries went boom, boom, kaboom. Theo tap danced all over my ovaries and I wasn't expecting th4.75 stars
“Te vivo, baby girl.”
Adorable. My ovaries went boom, boom, kaboom. Theo tap danced all over my ovaries and I wasn't expecting that. Theo Silva is a dreamboat hero and has come for Cade Eaton's throne as hottest baby daddy. Plot twist. lol This book turned ONS/secret baby trope on its head. Which is hard to do. I'm not a fan of one night stand stories, in fact I generally hate this trope and avoid it like the plague. But Elsie Silver made some smart choices here that worked for me. For one, the actual sex scene from the one night stand is fade to black. Our hero Theo Silva and heroine Winter Hamilton hook up the night they meet in the beginning of the book but we don't see them have sex which I thought was a very smart move on the author's part. Because while technically there is insta-lust this is also a slow burn book. Which I'm a big fan of. I'm never a fan of insta-anything in my reads, I don't like instant gratification. I want work put in before our couple take the next step or give into feelings or else I can't buy it. While these two scratch that itch after a tequila-induced night of fun, the tension, the circling, the push and pull is very much present through the rest of the book which saved it for me. Something that was completely missing in Powerless. As for the secret-baby, again another interesting choice made here that took me by surprise and I think Elsie did a good job in how it was delivered. (view spoiler)[The book jumps 18 months ahead after their ONS, where we see the heroine had a baby girl Vivienne and believes the hero wants nothing to do with them. But we quickly realize a big misunderstanding played a hand into why. Before the time jump Winter tried to contact Theo when she found out she was pregnant but the message was never delivered and got in the wrong hands while Theo was on the road competing as a professional bull rider. So now 18 months later we have the hero moving in next door to the heroine to train to get back on the circuit completely unaware he fathered a child and a hurt confused heroine thinking he walked away from them. (hide spoiler)] Call me sick in the head but this is the kind of misunderstanding equation that I love if a misunderstanding situation has to happen in a book. The angst it brought to the table, the tension it creates, the unspoken feelings on both sides, the yearning, thinking the other doesn't want them? *chief's kiss* And the misunderstanding thankfully doesn't last long which I can't stress enough how relieved I was on that part. Once it's revealed we get cute as hell domestic scenes of Theo and little Vivi bonding and family moments between the three. Theo's reaction when he finds out he fathered a child? *clutches heart* Broke my heart. I just adored him. He's a total cinnamon roll hero.
Combat boots tugged carelessly over the top. Laces not tied. I remember thinking once that the very last thing I needed in my life was a man who didn’t tie his laces. It makes me laugh now, a light little chuckle that bubbles up from somewhere near my heart. How wrong I was. I feel like he rolled up and loosened my laces when I didn’t realize I was tied up far too tight.
As for the heroine Winter, I liked her. Which was another pleasant surprise considering she's not my favorite type of heroine. She's prickly, stubborn, closed off, blunt, the grump to the hero's sunshine sweet disposition. But her emotional vulnerability and insecurities is what saved this character from becoming a one-note archetype who magically is just "nice" all the sudden cause she's getting a book. She's the underdog and you want to root for her. I absolutely live for greyish anti-characters because they want to prove to others and most importantly themselves they are better and deserve happiness and love. I just loved how honest she was about herself and what her limits were and just yearns for love. I loved that she wanted to include Theo in everything from the start when it came to Vivi, misunderstanding aside. This book is about two adults who are trying to make the best of something unplanned, no immature nonsense. Winter is complex, layered and very misunderstood and I think Elsie Silver did a nice job of showing this character's arc and emotional growth. I was not a fan of this character in Book 1 Flawless for good reason. She played the part of the mean cold stepsister to Summer and here we get a better understanding of why. I think her character growth was very successful. Yes her insecurities do get the better of her time to time and have her dragging her feet in places but I felt for her and understood the why of it. Her whole life she had to fend for herself in a toxic home environment and nobody showing up for her and everyone always believing the worst of her. She finally finds that faith, security and unwavering support in a sweet man like Theo and she's as wary and scared as a wounded animal who is given a lifeline. I understood her fear so much. That contrast and dynamic between the two was fun to see. Her dream was to become a mom and after fertility struggles with her awful prick of a ex-husband, seeing her become a mom and flourish here was also great to see. I just absolutely adored the little family moments. Is there anything sexier than a man being a hands on doting father to his little girl? When I tell you it revved my engine whenever this man called his Vivi "baby girl". Oof. ❤️
A smiling Vivi is strapped to his chest in the floral-patterned Tula baby carrier I bought. He’s singing to our daughter. And dancing. And cleaning. One hand rubs the back of her head like she’s some sort of crystal ball, while the other wipes at the white cabinets in the cottage-style kitchen.
This had typical trademark dirty talk that Elsie Silver is known for. I'll be honest and I hesitate to even say this and the only reason I'm even pointing this out is because it had me going into this book expecting something totally different given the strong reactions I've seen on BookTube. To be frank I was expecting more in the steam department simply going off of the outrage. And it honestly confuses me? because this was pretty tame compared to the previous books as far as actual spice content. (view spoiler)[ He calls her a "slut" in the bedroom a total of 3 times. Did I love it? No. It's not my thing at all. But as far being out of character, it didn't feel out of character for a playboy like Theo. And I'm letting it slide here because 1. it wasn't prominently used, 2. Winter liked it and thought it hilarious and it became a recurring joke between the two of them. He uses it to tease her and excite her. And the sex scenes themselves were pretty standard. Book 1 and 2 were waaaaaay raunchier than this in the steam department. (hide spoiler)] I personally thought the style of dirty talking was out of character for heroes like Cade and Jasper, Cade especially but I know I'm in the minority on that one. To each their own but I'm not sure what in this book would be labeled as "over the line" or "disgusting" especially if you loved the first 2 books in particular. I'm just saying. ...more
My dad and brothers did it to me without even realizing that putting baby sister up on a pedestal was some real patriarchal bullshit.
“I d
2.75 stars
My dad and brothers did it to me without even realizing that putting baby sister up on a pedestal was some real patriarchal bullshit.
“I don’t need you to coddle me. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
This wasn't what I was expecting. Leave it to Billie Black to be the most sensible character in this book when I couldn't stand her in Book 1. I just did not like how the heroine Violet was written in this. And it pains me to say that because I love the Eaton brothers so so much from Chestnut Springs series, so I thought I would love their baby sister just as much. But gosh, she gave me serious whiplash. She's supposed to be sweet and bubbly with a generous heart but I really didn't see much of that sweetness here. The whole hardened "tough love" persona didn't work for me and ruined moments that would have otherwise been emotional and meaningful. It felt trying too hard. When you are dealing with a character who is struggling with severe crippling anxiety, trauma and PTSD? Then I think being a little reasonable and sensitive is not asking for too much is it? The hero Cole Harding is a former marine who served in Iraq through 4 deployments and came back with trauma and an injury that he's hidden. (view spoiler)[He lost his leg and wears a prosthetic leg which he has kept a secret from everyone including his own brother and very insecure about it. I thought the slow reveal of this injury was nicely done, I wasn't expecting it. You see small hints alluding to something being off but it takes a while to reveal it. (hide spoiler)] While struggling with that and being pretty much a recluse who shut himself off from the world, he is also still dealing with grief over losing his father a professional jockey rider who died during a race when he fell off his horse. The heroine Violet is an up and coming jockey rider, so clearly the tension is there. I was expecting an overbearing controlling alpha hero who bulldozes his way over people and control the heroine but that's not what is happening here at all. Cole is actually a very sensitive, deeply insecure, ashamed and closed off man who has been going to therapy for years to work on himself and just wants to keep to himself. This character had so many layers and emotional vulnerability that it actually surprised me. I really thought I was gonna get a rude and overbearing asshole from Cole but he wasn't either of those things. I wish he had a heroine who matched him in vulnerability and sensitivity while also being his champion at the same time. The nuance I was hoping to see just wasn't there. There's nothing wrong with giving your loved one a kick in the pants when they need it....but all the time? That's not healthy nor is it realistic. I just can't buy or believe this was a loving HEA with the way Violet kept brushing off Cole's feelings and in some cases his trauma.
Frustration surges up in me, fueled by our interaction. Fueled by my embarrassment. I can’t be this close to him right now. “Can you just throw me a fucking bone and not tell me what to do?” “Drive carefully, please.” His voice is all gravel with a pleading tone to it. I snort and continue to the driver’s side. He looks shocked, and I don’t care. I need some fucking space.
We keep being told Violet isn't giving up on him or trying to change him but actions speak louder than words. When she pushes him away cause "she needs her space" but literally gripes about him ignoring her. Like....? I couldn't keep up with her. How are you gonna tell the man you love who witnessed his father die on the horse track to get over it if they want to be together? No darling, YOU get over it and give the man some grace?
Violet Eaton in a nutshell: [image]
What kills me is Cole doesn't even tell her what to do or try to control her, he was surprisingly not the overbearing type. He just tells her how he feels and where he's coming from, that's it. Telling someone your feelings is not the same thing as telling someone what to do. Like it really felt like I was supposed to pat the heroine on the back for her hard stance on everything and suck it up buttercup attitude but I just wanted to shake her instead. I'm not sure what was in Elsie Silver's cereal when she wrote this series but her heroines are so over the top in their belligerent "don't tell me what to do" independent attitudes. Billie had blinders on when it came to her job and having things her way. And Violet was very much the same. It's either their way or no way. The 0 to 180 reactions just feel like you are getting smacked in the face. It's so excessive and so repetitive. Violet grew up on a farm with her 3 older brothers and father who "smothered" her with their love and were overbearing in their protectiveness to the point she moved out to find her independence and branch out on her own. I love an independent heroine just as much as the next person but the number of times this girl rants about how she "doesn't want to be coddled" if someone even breathes on her wrong was so extreme and over the top. Like it came off almost petulant. Your hero isn’t ever allowed to fuss over the heroine? Not ever? Is Violet's feminist card gonna be revoked if Cole wants to help her out of the car when her foot in is in a cast? ...more
[image] There's just something about a nanny/single dad trope that I love so much. Maybe it's cause I grew up on the show The Nanny but it ju4.75 stars
[image] There's just something about a nanny/single dad trope that I love so much. Maybe it's cause I grew up on the show The Nanny but it just does things for me. And Elsie Silver did it well here. While Flawless still edged this one out, this was still pretty good and extremely enjoyable. Grumpy stoic cowboy Cade Eaton meets fiery wild girl Willa Grant was fun to see. Loved the polar opposites dynamic that was played up here, the big age gap (13) and Cade's adorable little boy Luke who is hysterical. Willa is the perfect example of free spirited, smart mouthed no-filter "hellion" heroines that I adore, she has a vulnerability, intelligence and wanting to find herself underneath all that bravado that is relatable. And how she is with Luke really highlights that. While I really liked this, just something about the second half of the story that lost something for me. Just a bit. I gave Flawless 5 stars so the bar is pretty high and everything I say right now is random stuff that stuck out to me and minor nit picking. Maybe it's cause my expectations were super high and some things didn't play out to it's full potential like I was hoping. For one, I did feel like Cade's transformation from brooding serious grumpy grump to Mr. Chuckles who dirty talks so openly was a little too fast. It didn't feel true to his character (the fact that he dirty talks like Rhett tripped me up a bit too). He is a sweetheart underneath the bark so the softening didn't surprise me a bit but how suddenly laid back he was about everything considering the situation didn't ring true to this character. Your kid nearly drowns in a pool by a demon brat and you are more concerned about defending the heroine to the bitchy parent? (he's an amazing protective father btw, just felt his first priority in this scene was weird) Finding out your awful ex-wife did indeed trap you into marriage by lying about birth control and you just laugh it off? Seriously? I was raging right along with Willa on that one. Moments like these felt weirdly OOC for Cade. This is by no means a character drag, Cade made a fantastic hero but it felt like missed opportunities by the author. The angst/tension kind of fell away for reasons that didn't feel right after they finally give into their attraction. Which is sometimes a pitfall for a story with a trope like this.
I don't need angst all the time or in all my reads, this is a wonderful small town romance with the right amount of depth, emotions and sweetness but given the hero's personality and history I was expecting more push/pull in the second half is all. That and I wasn't a *huge* fan of the surprise reveal near the end. (view spoiler)[ I normally don't mind surprise pregnancies at all and I didn't hate it here but considering their oopsy pregnancy happened the same way it did with Cade's ex-wife wasn't so great for me. It put a damper on things. It just felt unnecessary. And the lack of emotional reaction didn't really help either. (hide spoiler)] But this was still a great read with some cute heartwarming emotional moments and low angst. Cade's little boy Luke was the star of this book for me. I love that kid so so much. ❤️ Such a sweet cutie pie and I absolutely melted and cackled over his scenes with Willa. I guess the greatest part about the Nanny trope is seeing the connection made between the child and nanny first and to see that bond grow and become something more. Luke and Willa's relationship was the greatest highlight for me. This little family sure are adorable and everything feel good you could want. This read was so sweet that it hurt. I would absolutely recommend this fantastic book and this series to readers. I can confirm it's worth all the hype and praise. ...more
Flawless indeed! This was everything I needed and wanted. Hilarious, smart, witty, sweet, emotional, sexy, yummy,As the book title itself says: [image]
Flawless indeed! This was everything I needed and wanted. Hilarious, smart, witty, sweet, emotional, sexy, yummy, angsty, steamy, fluffy good times. I can't even label this as light fluff. The hero is a professional bull rider. Need I say more? This is my first Elsie Silver book and it won't be my last. Her writing and characters are stunning. So much heart and depth. If grumpy alpha heroes with soft vulnerable underbellies and filthy mouths and filthier imaginations are your thing, give this a go. Rhett and Summer were insanely sweet and the sex scenes were fucking hot as hell. ❤️...more
(This review has been sitting in my drafts for a month. Excuse the excessive word vomit.)
4.75 stars [image] This was a rollercoaster of emotions, highs (This review has been sitting in my drafts for a month. Excuse the excessive word vomit.)
4.75 stars [image] This was a rollercoaster of emotions, highs and lows and everything in between. I'm a little conflicted on the rating. This was almost perfect but the constant up and down and the last leg of it annoyed me a little too much and another example of why some books absolutely do not need to be nearly 600 pages. Lucy Score's writing is insanely good and so addictive and this is probably one of the best enemies to lovers office romance CR books I've read. "Maleficent" Ally and "Charming" Dominic butting heads was the absolute highlight for me (seriously points to Score for the clever snarky nicknames that morph into endearments ...more
In the event of a nuclear war, the first thing I’d do is eat.
If I was rating this book on just the first half alone, I would have given it a 1 staIn the event of a nuclear war, the first thing I’d do is eat.
If I was rating this book on just the first half alone, I would have given it a 1 star. It was that bad. If you want to read a romance about a curvy full figured woman finding love, this is not it. The first 150ish pages at least. The last 30%? Cute. Adorable. I wanted more.
The heroine Joellene Bixby is everything self-loathing, sad, body shaming, fat-shaming, self-pitying, weight obsessed, every negative thing you can think of all rolled into one. It's quite miserable. A rock has higher self-esteem than this woman. She compares herself to a farm animal, a rodent, Shrek, etc. The constant references to food and how she eats all the time and her size is uncomfortable to say the least. She's a hermit who hates drawing attention to herself but some moments that are supposed to be funny just come off awful and mean. I saw some drawing Bridget Jones comparisons and while I could see it in some parts, Bridget Jones's self-deprecating humor and clumsiness had charm and was never mean or dark. Breaking an office chair by simply sitting down just to show how awkwardly clumsy and "hefty" the heroine is was really too much and made me want to question how Geissinger pictures her own heroine. I really have no idea what the heroine looks like, all I know is she is fat, wears glasses and has "mousy" brown hair. No details are given beyond that.
Joelleen is a 36 year old plain jane copy editor who has been secretly in love with her boss the CEO, Michael Maddox for 10 years while working at Maddox publishing house. He's everything perfect and dreamy in her eyes, the British version of Clark Kent is how he is described. Her new rugged "Mountain Man" neighbor Cameron McGregor is the complete opposite of her crush. Cameron is a famous Scottish rugby player who is visiting the states for 1 month and staying at his cousin's apartment which happens to be right across the hall from the heroine. He's a brash bad boy with a lot of bad press back home but underneath that image he's a total cinnamon roll sweetie pie who manages to lure his grumpy cat lady neighbor out of her cocoon of self-loathing and loneliness. Honestly, Cam is a delight and I really wish we got more focus on him and got his POV. This whole book is from the heroine's POV which is a shame, I don't know why Geissinger chose this route for this book since Book 1 is dual POVs? I was seriously having my doubts if he even would get the girl given how slow it took to get there and how much time Joellen spent pursuing Michael.
Not that I’d blame him. I’m such a loser, it’s probably hard for someone like him to breathe the same air as me.
Mr. Bingley makes a meal of his hind paw, going at it like I go at a rack of ribs.
Then Cam performs a miracle and picks me up in his arms. I’d protest, but I’m too tired, so I allow him to carry me over to the sofa while I marvel at how effortless he makes lifting the weight of a baby elephant seem.
I seem to be not having the best luck with love triangles this year. This book suffered what some love triangle tropes fall victim to, where the “third party” gets more attention than the poor hero for a good chunk of the book. It’s kinda infuriating why authors would think this is fun to sit through. Because of course I wanna see the heroine send flirty emails back and forth with her boss at the 76% mark right? I mean at one point I started to question who the hero of this book was, Cam or Micheal. This is very much a slow burn but you can tell the hero is developing feelings for the heroine and making excuses to spend more time with her and she's so oblivious to it. Once the antagonism dies down from the heroine, the bickering banter becomes cute and friendly and you just want her to drop her interest in her boss who suddenly is showing interest in her out of nowhere after announcing he's getting a divorce. I'll give it to the author because normally you can tell the other guy has scrupulous shady motives from the start or half way in but that wasn't the case here which had me continuing to read to figure out how it would all play out in the end. Michael shows his true self near the end which makes you want to scream FINALLY! but it's a shame because all that time and energy could have/should have been spent on the lovely hero Cameron.
Once the third wheel is out of the equation, these two are adorable and pull at your heartstrings. Joelleen's growth in this book is another thing I will give the author credit for even though I don't like how she went about it. Deciding you need to lose 40 lbs by starving yourself for your dream man is just asking for some therapy and self-love, not romance. Joelleen learns to love herself and not try to change herself for others with a lot of help from the hero cheering her on and calling her out on her self-loathing toxic bullshit. He can't stand when she puts herself down and gets huffy and angry with her every time. It's really sweet. He's 7 years younger than the heroine but you would never think that with how he carries himself. Yes at times he did sound like an arm chair therapist with some of the stuff he would spout but considering the heroine was living in a cloud of negativity all her life with awful toxic parents who shamed and gaslit her all her life, I looked the other way. I just wish this book was filled with more of that sweetness we got in the very end. The hero is adorably sweet and sexy and seeing a woman finally be confident in her skin and giggly and happy for the first was so sweet and almost worth the whole Michael drama.
Also I just have to point out that whole thing with HR near the end drove me a little insane with how ridiculous it was. (view spoiler)[ What kind of HR personnel overhears an employee getting sexually assaulted by their CEO in a bathroom and doesn’t intervene????? The heroine believes she's going to get fired because she was caught in a very compromising position with her boss Michael in the ladies bathroom by her bitchy supervisor even though she was actually assaulted. Turns out the kindly HR lady Ruth happened to be in one of the bathroom stalls the whole time and overheard the whole thing. I know this reveal was used to corroborate the heroine’s innocence and not get fired but it was insane to me why this woman just sat in a bathroom stall and let it get THAT far to begin with...? What the ever living fuck, Ruth? She made a point of calling an emergency meeting with Joelleen's supervisor and company lawyers right away to have Micheal removed so it's not like she was afraid for her own job. That’s just grounds for a lawsuit on it’s own. The heroine not even asking why HR didn't intervene when she was seconds from getting raped also bugged me. (hide spoiler)]
I was in a shit mood after a shit night’s sleep. Both of which I blamed on Naomi “Flowers in her Fucking Hair” Witt.
Adorable, funny, engag
I was in a shit mood after a shit night’s sleep. Both of which I blamed on Naomi “Flowers in her Fucking Hair” Witt.
Adorable, funny, engaging CR read that reminded me a lot of Susan Elizabeth Phillips in her prime. The grouchy asshole hero with a soft protective underbelly, the runaway bride heroine ending up stuck in a small town and saddled with a 10 year old niece she didn't even know existed. Naomi the good twin and Knox the grouchy next door neighbor with the permanent scowl just made for a recipe of yummy fun. I just adored these two butting heads and seeing a giant man in both presence and personality crumble to his knees for the heroine with a "fancy vocabulary". The grumpy "Viking" and sunshine "Daisy" made for a great team.
If you are a fan of SEP, I recommend this. It had that old school CR vibe that I love in both emotions and angst and conflict. My only hang up for why this didn't reach that 5 star status is I wish the second half lived up to the excitement and pacing as the first half. The breakup and aftermath just dragged on for a little too long for my liking. Also kind of bummed and irked that the hero's brother Nash is getting paired up with his brother's ex. ...more
For a Paranormal romance this was colorful and light but some things fell a little flat for me. It's definitely on the lighter side as far as angst anFor a Paranormal romance this was colorful and light but some things fell a little flat for me. It's definitely on the lighter side as far as angst and plot. I had high hopes for this since I've been dying to stretch my wings in the PR world and heard so much about this series in particular. For one thing I felt this was more NA than adult Paranormal, in tone and how the characters acted. Which isn't necessarily a huge negative (unless it's super glaring) but considering these are 300+ year old vampires/fully adult supernatural beings it did feel a little off. The 37 year old heroine sounded like a naive sheltered 20 year old. The heroine Isadora and her sisters are powerful witches with varying skills but they acted green in quite a few things about their own world and other supernaturals, especially Jules the oldest sister and Enforcer of their district. As an Enforcer Jules oversees everything and supposed to keep all supernaturals in her district of New Orleans in check. And yet she had no idea a vampire's bite can be addictive. She dated a powerful vampire overlord but didn't know this? O_o That made zero sense. Isadora couldn't seem to understand how the hero a Stygorn vampire had super sonic hearing and could overhear conversations in a room, etc. At first I thought she was being deliberately obtuse for laughs but no she really doesn't understand or know that he has a heightened sense of hearing. Shouldn't these ladies know more about the supernatural world they live in? There was just a lot of inconsistencies. And the glamour thing. Glamour is what vampires use to entice/seduce someone, to persuade someone to do something, to wipe memory, to move at lightning speed, to create illusions, etc. So on and so on. All of that is considered glamour. I felt it was too broad a term to describe all the varying and wide range of skills these vampires had. "Tracing" from one place to another is not glamour in my mind.
When I think glamour I think this: [image] [image] [image]
This is Juliette Cross's world and I'm just visiting but I felt her world building wasn't fleshed out in places it needed to be or contradicted itself at times. The Savoi sisters and their wide-eyed inexperience for one. Supernaturals and humans coexisting ....sort of? Some humans are aware of supernatural existence and cool with it while others are oblivious to it, some establishments are literally built around that. How does that even work? That's maybe explained better in Book 1 which I didn't read. The mystery subplot of human women going missing also really wasn't as exciting and just took up page time. It really wasn't much of a mystery for one thing.
I did love that Cross had a blend of varying supernaturals living in the same world: witches, Grims, Werewolves, vampires. That made it fun. It kind of reminded me of a paranormal Zootopia just minus the class divisions. I loved that you get diverse characters as well. Which comes to the highlight of the book and the lowlight that made this a mixed bag for me. The hero, Devraj Kumar is an ex-Bollywood actor, 300 year old Indian Stygorn warrior vampire. He was absolutely delicious. [image] Major points and snaps there. He's an alpha hero but total Beta material in how sweet, gentle and considerate he is. I loved his backstory and that he's a practicing Hindu. The fact that he was turned into a vampire at a young age I found intriguing and surprising. Another interesting element to Cross's world. The guilt he carried over having to drink blood when he first turned and trying to hide it from his mother I thought was very compelling and gave this character weight and nuance. On the flip side, where the hero was fully fleshed out, dynamic and layered the heroine was....not.
I found the heroine Isadora so flat in comparison and I just struggled to connect with her unfortunately. On paper I usually adore shy, socially awkward, introvert heroines but I just couldn't click with her and her grumpiness. I don't do well with grumpy heroines. :/ She's an introvert who likes her quiet time and space and doesn't like interacting a lot with people and as a fellow introvert I get that but she just irritated me even when the author tried to make her likable. She loves plants and spending time in her greenhouse creating herbal remedies to sell at her shop and stops by the animal shelter but even so I struggled. Her unreasonable dislike and judgement of Devraj at the beginning felt a little overblown and extreme. Their meet cute was him hitting her with his car and he does everything to get her to forgive him. Once they get over that hurdle she was more tolerable but she just never wowed me for some reason. She also felt extremely underdrawn in comparison to the hero. All I could picture of Isadora was green eyes and blond hair. You get detailed obsessive depiction of the hero, down to his trimmed beard, long thick hair, his silver ring and mother's bracelet, stacked muscles and pierced tongue. But quiet Isadora is a hazy undefined blob in a summer dress. :/ I almost want to say she didn't have much of a personality outside of her standoffish demeanor and shyness. So that's what made this disappointing for me mostly, when you can't click with one or both of the main characters then it's hard to buy into the romance or chemistry. The sex scenes were steamy but overall I wanted more.
The only sister that intrigued me was Clara and that interesting snippet between the 2 guys Charlie and JJ. So I'll probably try the novella and wait for Clara's book if I'm in the mood. But overall this felt like a miss when I wanted it to be a hit like it was for everyone else. :( I'm clearly in the extreme extreme minority on this one....more
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