RATING: 4.5/5 SPICE: 1/5 GENRE: Romance, General Fiction TROPE: Forced proximity, Hot neighbour, Starting Over I want to start off by saying, for a fluffy romance novel this book has so much more going for it. From needing to start over (with a baby no less), needing to move back in with your mom, start your career from the bottom… there was more than just a fluffy romance in these pages. This book made me laugh, it made me cry. It touched on complicated Mother-Daughter relationships, single parenthood, and ultimately pick yourself up and repairing post-chaos life has thrown at you. *** I received this book as a gift from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
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RATING : 4.5/5
SPICE: 2/5 GENRE: Romance, Plus Size, Sports TROPE: Fake Dating, Friends-to-Lovers, Virgin Trope I want to start off by saying that I am someone who is picky and critical when it comes to the books I read, and more so when it comes to the tropes. That’s why this book was has a 5-Star rating for me, as it has done something that no book has managed to do for me: Change my opinion on a trope. Firstly, I couldn’t put this book down. I have been eyeing this title for a while because it has a lot of the elements I look for when trying to decide what to add to my TBR. Romance? Check. Plus size Romance? Check. And I have been recently dabbling my hand in the Sports Romance genre and this book fit the bill. Especially after the Superbowl! Perfect read. Trixie (MC) and Chris (LI) have been friends for a long time and when Trixie is faced with a few Mean Girls who peaked in High School, she lies and tells them that in fact she and Chris are dating. Let the FAKE DATING scheme commence! Now, back to my VIRGINITY TROPE comment, please note below there are some MILD spoilers. Trixie hasn’t had it hard because she a plus size gal and men “don’t desire” plus size babes. That is what most of the books I have encountered with the plus size characters and the virginity trope imply. In this case, the reason for Trixie being a virgin so long is that her mom was a porn star. The novel explains that due to the over-sexualization of her mother, she often came across guys who would overly sexualize her in association to her mom. For example, she had a long time boyfriend, and when they were at the moment to have sex for the first time he suggested they put on porn FEATURING HER MOM! What are are men?!?!?! Honestly though, its something I can picture a man suggesting. It made it so real and the explanation super understandable… I also enjoyed how her loosing her virginity wasn’t a huge planned out magical spectacle. I won’t describe it here because… it was HOT. *** I received this book as a gift from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
RATING: 3/5 SPICE: 4/5 GENRE: Romance, Sapphic, Spicy, Forced Proximity So there is a lot to say about this book. Firstly, I did get this as an audiobook over the summer and withing a few minutes the narrator did not get me into it, so i left it on the back burner… The only reason I decided to push through and give this a chance (which honestly i am glad i did) is because i had zero pending audiobooks on NetGalley, and i had a week to wait for my next Audible credit. Anyway, so i restarted the book and it did start off really well. The story is a dual POV bouncing between young smart Cassie and distinguished and beautiful Erin. Cassie is avoiding parent’s weekend at her University because her family won’t be there and it isn’t really her thing, so she hits on the sexy older woman at the bar, Erin. Honestly, other than the wild sex they have in the car, it is a very good one night stand between two women. The problems begin with the drama… turns out the reason Erin was even at the bar is that it is parents weekend and she was there to see her daughter… but her daughter was spending that evening with her dad. Oh and that daughter so happens to be Cassie’s newest best friend. The plot is definitely THICK and dramatic. The whole relationship honestly gave me anxiety from that point forward, but that was beside the point; and honestly the premise and sex scenes were probably the best parts of this book. The issues I had with the novel are firstly, Parker (Erin’s adult daughter) acting like an immature child the entire time, making it hard to reconcile the fact that Cassie is both in a mature relationship with Erin and also friends with Parker. Then you have the god-awful dialogue and internal monologue and overall narration. If you don’t care for much of those details and just want some decently written sapphic sex, then pick up this book but if you need there to be some substance and good writing you should pick up something else. GENRE: Holiday, Romance
RATING: 5/5 SPICE: 3/5 TROPES: Childhood Friends-to-Lovers, Forced Proximity, Enemies-to-Lovers Usually I do a book review per book, but in this case, I am going to do a review of the series. The Mistletoe Romance series by Codi Hall, overall is a 5-Star holiday read for me. I do want to mention that this really only surrounds Christmas, and while I do not identify as Christian, it was still a lot of fun to read. As a Canadian, I really love romances set in the winter and unfortunately, that is quire rare without the element of Christmas added in. So, if that isn’t something you can get behind, you can skip this series but if you’re looking for romance with that winter aesthetic, these were great reads. I read all three within about a week. The tropes were super well handled, especially in books 2 + 3. I also really enjoyed the fact that the women in the novel had very distinct personalities and opinions, while still being close. Most of the time, in series, we will find similar characters in slightly different fonts. With the exception of Noel (briefly) in the first novel being irrational and kind of annoying, the story is really great and she makes up for it, so I allow it. RATING: 5/5 SPICE: 1/5 GENRE: Romance, Bad Boy x Good Girl, BiPoc I absolutely loved Roommates by Ola Tundun. It did not follow conventional American style romances. Honestly, it was so refreshing. Ariella leaves her childhood best friend-turned fiancé one day without warning. Just packs up and leaves him without explanation; leaving the picture perfect life we are all told as women to aspire to. She had it; but there was something not quite right. She moves in with Caleb, the fuck-boy at her office who happens to have a room available. When I read the synopsis of this book, and began reading it, I thought I knew how the story would progress; how the characters would act, and maybe all the circumstances that brought them together. This was not the case and I was not only extremely surprised but pleased. This novel exhibited complex human emotions, like loving someone deeply but knowing that love is not enough to move a relationship forward, and complicated familial ties. When most authors write romances where the characters begin “as friends” we never really see the foundations of the friendship actually being built. Often characters are “friends first” but within the narration you see that someone is usually already pinning for the other. In this case, you can truly see the characters feelings gradually change and blossom. They actually challenge each other in meaningful ways. Romance, love, family… none of these things are perfect and while we often see them come together in that perfect idealistic way, Tundun has written a story where these things come together in a realistic way. The emotions, the characters, they all felt so real. If you aren’t afraid of a slow budding romance, so slow that even the characters themselves almost don’t realize that they are falling, I highly recommend you pick up this book. Roommates by Ola Tundun is officially in the running for one of my favourite books of 2023! *** I received this book as a gift from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*** GENRE: Romance, Plus Size RATING: DNF'd at 75% This was supposed to be a good book! I was so excited to love this! Its an Olivia Dade novel. Its got plus size rep and romance. Rose Owens is a teacher, she is in her 40s and has been divorced. She is not some the woman who never was seen as attractive and finally some man looks at her. It has all the elements I love in a book. Even Martin Krause, our love interest, he in theory was supposed to be swoon worthy. He is a single dad, a teacher and he uprooted his life in order to teach at the school his daughter attended in order to be close to her. Rose experiences sexism in the workplace (being pushed aside for a man) which is relatable and I absolutely LOVED that she asked him out first and made that confident move… but god was this book boring and oh my god I felt like a zombie reading it… You know when you’re reading the words but its so numbingly boring that nothing is really registering? Yeah… anyways really disappointed. GENRE: Romance, Self-Love, Women's Fiction RATING: 3/5 SPICE: 0.5/5 “Back in the Burbs” was a pleasant surprise. The premise was quite simple, newly divorced Mallory inherits a house from her great-aunt Maggie, the hoarder. She is in her 30s, needing to start her life again after her husband cheats on her with a younger woman. While I have to say Mallory’s inner dialogue and thoughts were very annoying and bordering unlikeable there were so many instances where I found myself relating to her. Firstly, the fact that she had given up her career and aspirations to help her husband run a successful business; is a story that MANY women can relate to. Learning to defend yourself, speak up for yourself at a later age is really hard, and not a small feat. I was really happy to see this within the novel. I also found it so relatable that in the instance where Mallory is the victim in the situation (her ex cheated on HER) her mother basically BLAMES HER for HIS CHEATING. She uses the same old boomer talking points like not having enough sex or not wearing enough make up and I literally had my arms up in anger for Mallory. Like how could her mother… HER MOTHER say that to her. Now I don’t want to give spoilers, but there is a romance in the novel.. I like to call it a slow burn without the tension, but I found myself really not in it for the romance at all. I really just enjoyed Mallory’s journey of self discovery, self love and figuring out her life independent of a man; as well as letting (the right) people into her life. There are even a couple of surprise twists I didn’t see coming! If you’re looking for something lighthearted but with surprise depth to it, I’d give this a read. GENRE: Romance, Spicy RATING: 2/5 SPICE: YUCK/5 *TW: SA mention* I had given this book a higher rating but in retrospect, I think I am going to lower it. (for those of you wondering… yes I did). There are a few things I did enjoy about this book. Firstly, that it was a easy read, perfect to have by the beach or by the pool. This was the mindset I had when starting the novel. I knew it wasn’t going to be something super deep. It was going to be a fun fluff romance with some spice. I enjoyed it at first, it was giving “Pretty Woman” meets “Fake Fiance” (that movie with Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence) with the added forced proximity trope. Then there were things that really bugged me and I couldn’t ignore them. MC’s sister was CONSTANTLY defending her rich-af-fake-fiance’s behaviour and it really felt like “its fine because he’s rich.” which nope not for me. Another issue is with the spice in the novel. While normally, I would give it a 3/5 because there was a significant amount of spice in the novel… I want to give it a huge ICK/5 and that’s because it glorified SA. There is a scene in the novel where MC initiates sex with her Fake-Fiance WHILE HE IS ASLEEP!!!!! And while his character does say afterwards how much he enjoyed that… it really grossed me out. I think that those are things you and a partner have to discuss beforehand and they absolutely DID NOT in the book. I didn’t like this in 50 Shades of Grey when Christian Grey did it; I do not like it here. I don’t think we should be upholding these toxic types of double standards. So while I do have another Meghan Quinn book on my TBR (because well I already spent the $) unless it really has a different tune on the SA front, Meghan Quinn will be going on my NEVER authors list. GENRE: Romance, Fantasy, Plus Size RATING: 4/5 SPICE: 1/5 “Lexi Let’s Go” is the latest addition to Mary Warren’s Mystic Falls series. Warren’s series has hands down been one of my favourite series’ in the last year, not only because they are in the romance genre (my fave) but because of their positive plus size representation. As Warren says on her FatGirlsInFiction page, big girls deserve love too. In this novel, Lexi meets Liam James a pop superstar, who is not only talented and down to earth but super sexy. As with the other two books by Mary Warren, with some divine intervention, the two find themselves. While I don’t think this is who Warren was actually describing, I did find myself picturing a romance between Lexi and Lewis Capaldi (who I have a major crush on). I absolutely loved it. I also just want to mention… the ice cream scene… OMG gave such Duke from Bridgerton vibes! I loved it so much. As per usual, if you’re looking for well-written romances featuring plus size babes, Mary Warren should be at the top of your go-to list! * RECEVIED AS AN ARC FOR AN HONEST REVIEW* GENRE: Summer, Romance, Spice RATING: 4/5 SPICE: 3.5/5 So, I want to start off by saying that I came into this book very negatively. By this I mean, I already had a preconceived notion of my opinions of Elle Kennedy’s writing because I absolutely LOATHED “The Deal” - specifically how the novel addresses SA and being supper abrasive with the language. Someone who has experienced SA would not be so BLANTANT in the language and would not forget to add a trigger warning at the beginning of the novel… that being said… THE SUMMER GIRL was an amazing read. It really changed my opinion of Kennedy as a writer and I am now going to be more open to her works in the future. While there were a few ICKs at the beginning of the novel (namely Cassie basically admitting to excusing Tate’s repulsive/pervy behaviour because he is attractive). SIDE NOTE: This book comes out tomorrow (JULY 18, 2023) and I think that it may have been a better option not to use the name TATE for our love interest… no matter what happened all I could picture was Andrew Tate (barf!) As the novel progresses, you forget the unfortunate fact of his name, and his shitty behaviour at the beginning of the novel because Tate becomes overall a very great and fun love interest. Without giving spoilers here are some aspects of the novel I loved:
If you need something fun and romantic and quick to read this summer, you should definitely pick up THE SUMMER GIRL by ELLE KENNEDY. ***I RECEIVED THIS BOOK FOR FREE ON NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW*** |
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