The Backup Bride Proposal a fun and flirty rom-com where sparks fly at first sight! by Jaci Burton

The Backup Bride Proposal
a fun and flirty rom-com where sparks fly at first sight!
by Jaci Burton

Genre: Romance, General fiction (Adult)

I’m a bit of an addict for the fame romance trope, I love the drama that brings. I was hoping this would be a perfect read for me, and I enjoyed it but….at times it dragged, and Kane could have been any good looking guy dropped into a romance, other than the filming parts there was little indication he was a leading actor. No bodyguards, screaming jealous fans etc.
I did like Kane but there wasn’t anything really special about him for me. Mae had some great dialogues with him, and I could feel the attraction but she was ( IMO) too prone to over reaction, and poor Kane was left feeling What just happened?
Its a great setting, fun characters and interesting read but for me it lacked drama, lacked the magic spark that would make me think – Must read that again!

Stars: Three, a good book but for me not a great one.

ARC supplied by netgalley and publishers

Relight My Fire (The Stranger Times 4) by C. K. McDonnell

Relight My Fire
(The Stranger Times 4)
by C. K. McDonnell

Genre: General Fiction (adult), Sci Fi & Fantasy, mystery and thrillers.

Oh, I just love the whole silliness of this series, combined with the witty fun dialogue. Banecroft still wins at that, he is such a curmudgeon, sharp tongue (but accurate), drunken workaholic, and yet hidden deep he’s actually got a caring side underneath.
Stella is lovely, I do feel for her, she doesn’t know what she is, or how to control her powers. Then the rest of the gang, they all work so well together.
Its another fun story, involving more supernatural entities, a new drug that gives people temporary powers but inevitably ends in death, the spook squad of the police trying to work out how to prevent more, and cover up whats happening so as not to alarm the public. The founders doing their usual, another group creating mayhem, a new character joining the ST gang, its business as normal for the ST group.
What I love about this series is the supernatural has elements of spooky but its all wrapped up with some sheer silliness, stuff that’s so improbable and yet fits in perfectly and becomes almost believable. You never quite know quite way the story will turn.
I loved it again. Do I know exactly who’s behind what and how it resolved after finishing the story? Not really, it becomes so complex its quite hard to keep track, but I have the gist. This is one of the stories for me where its about the journey not the ending, the enjoyment is in just how things play out along the way, not in finding out exactly who did what.
Roll on more for the cast of The Stranger Times.

Stars: Five, a fun read, full of weird and wonderful events and surprises.

ARC supplied by netgalley and publishers
#RelightMyFire #NetGalley

The Christmas Love Letters by Sue Moorcroft

The Christmas Love Letters
by Sue Moorcroft

 

Genre: romance, General Fiction (Adult)

I live in Norfolk, close to the setting this book exists in. And that north sea wind is just as cold as Sue writes!!
I loved this story, the gentle romance, the relationship between Maddy and Ruthie, the wonderful Lyla.
Maddy has some great friends too, she;s needed them after the disappearance of Adey, and the uselessness of her in laws after he went missing. She had a fight to save their home thanks to Adey’s actions, at a time when she was dealing with unexpected pregnancy. Its been a tough few years for her but with the help of the wonderful Ruthie and her friends she’s squeezed through.
Its not just Maddy’s burgeoning romance her though, nor the missing husband, but another beautiful romance involving Ruthie, which brings out secrets long held, and Raff to her vicinity. That had me on the edge of tears, poor, poor Ruthie, who lost so much.
I was talking about this book with a friend yesterday, saying one of the things I always love about Sue’s books and the myriad of plots, they’re never just single plots books but ones where there are several running concurrently, just waiting to be woven together with some Sue magic. That’s what turns a book from just OK to a re-reader for me. I need those extras, the drama, the background, all the different things happening.

Stars: Five, another tear jerking read but which also had me laughing at times and rooting for Raff and Maddy.

ARC supplied by author

Perfect In Death: A murder mystery with a ghostly twist Reily Garrett

Perfect In Death: A murder mystery with a ghostly twist
Reily Garrett

Genre: Sci-fi and fantasy, General Fiction (Adult)

I’m always stunned how authors put together a story, or series, so many characters and plots to weave together in a way that makes sense. I’d be useless ;-).

Hailey, loved her humour, loved her dedication to her job, but occasionally her decisions were a little too risky. There’s a balance and she strays at times. Trenton was so opposite to her, though I did understand his protective streak, at times it was too much. I could see why Leigh and Hailey were annoyed and tried to evade him.
The Vodou was an unusual addition, something that I enjoyed. Its good to have something different in the way of magics, and the history of this is rich and varied, so many ways to fit in a story.
Hailey is determined to bring justice for the teen, but it puts her in dangers she could never have foreseen, It connects to her family on a personal level too, which came as a surprise to me. Trent’s unsure if there’s a connection to his case too, which has brought out threats to his family. You can see what I mean now about the different pieces that slowly come together. Then – Caspar from a previous series turns up, I loved that. She was a great character and will slot in perfectly with Leigh and Hailey. I hope she deters them from that annoying “twin speak” though….
This particular plot wraps up but with a few open ends that leave things set up for the next book.
As usual in Reily’s stories the star of the show is Gunther the Wolf/dog hybrid 🙂 Wish my dogs were that well behaved ( though to be fair one is only six months).

Stars: Five, a great start to a new series. More magic, mayhem and mischief to come.

ARC supplied by author

Ghosted by Sarah Ready

Ghosted
by Sarah Ready

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Women’s Fiction

No. no, no, not womens fiction. Please stop using this category, men read romance, men write romance, there’s no place for this outdated category on 2023.

My first book by Sarah and what fun. Did I have to suspend belief? Yes. Did it matter? no. This is fiction land. Oddly I found a couple of the “real life” parts harder to believe in than the paranormal bit 😉

Jillian seems very needy at first and in a way irritated me, but as I got to know her and understand the trauma she’s been through it lessened. She was funny and quirky, loyal to friends and her job, and speaking of which, what a terrific bunch of characters!
Daniel was just wonderful, right from the start. I just loved him, funny, kind, generous nature. And gorgeous ( yes, I can be shallow, I want my men to be attractive).
I kept wondering how this was going to play out, how Sarah was going to resolve things. She had a great solution though, one which brought in some much needed drama and down spots to the romance. I do love a bit of heart break, so long as there’s a happy ending!
Its a great fun read, light and easy, something I needed after coming of some intense fantasy reads. I’m not sure I’d ever reread it, as I do with books I really love, but for this moment it was perfect for me.

Stars: five, a fun, light story, just what I was in the mood for.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

The Space Between by Sarah Ready

The Space Between
by Sarah Ready

 

Genre: Romance,

Sarah is a new-to-me author so I’d no idea what to expect. I liked it right from the start, but about quarter in I felt it dragged a little and I put it aside. Came back a few days later, must have just been my mood because I was sucked in to what was happening between them, to the drama of their lives, the deceptions and heartache. Oh I love that drawn out emotional drama, it was perfect for me.
The characters are incredibly real feeling, and I veered from hating them, being angry, frustrated , heartbroken with them, to feeling the joy when finally, finally things came right. I need to FEEL along with the characters, to care about them, and I really did here. I love stories that cover a longer time span too, I feel it really lets the nuances of the story shine through.
The actual story too, it was a treat to read something a little different from the standard rock romance, I love those, but sadly many now seem to fall into almost a format, this was different, very turned on its head type of story. There were lots of really interesting side plots, along with the main romance. I could see them developing into a later story.

Stars: four. A gorgeous, emotion and drama filled romance

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

Love Me Do by Lindsey Kelk

Love Me Do
by Lindsey Kelk

Genre: Romance,

Its ages since I’ve read a Lindsey Kelk novel, this sound fun and light, just what I need right now. For me reading is very mood dependent.
I found it very slow to start though, but about 20% in I really got invested in the story. I loved Phoebe, Ren and of course Bel. I could see how easily Phoebe got sucked into doing things that she really didn’t want to, Bel is such a great character that it was simple to see how phoebe got drawn in. she just wanted everyone happy, and if it was at the price of her own…well..that’s the price you pay for friends she seemed to think.
Ren, I want a man like him, caring, thoughtful, and handy around the house!!
The tale was fun, full f little snippets of humour mixed with Phoebe’s regrets that she wouldn’t admit to herself. There were times when credulity was stretched to its fullest, but hey – its fiction.
A great holiday read, light, easy and fun.

Stars: four, a great holiday read to relax with.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon

Only Love Can Hurt Like This
by Paige Toon

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Romance,Women’s Fiction

Women’s fiction…Bah, humbug! Lets get rid of this category please.

So, the book. I found Paige Toon some years back by way of the wonderful Johnny be good, and its follow up. I loved it, and its still my favourite novel of hers. Might just be reread time 😉
Since then I’ve read many, some I loved, others not so much. This one falls in between. The plot and that reveal – excellent. The fragile family relationships equally so, as was Wren’s fiance – such an honourable man. I liked Anders too though his brother Jonas was far more interesting! I loved the day to day stuff, Bailey and her irrepressible humour, the Air-stream renovation, the little issues that make up real life. I loved that it covered a decent time period, months not the weeks or even days of some romances. How quickly do those broken hearts mend sometimes ?

What didn’t really work so well though was the actual relationship between Anders and Wren, I just didn’t feel that magic spark, that sizzle of passion. It was potentially there but kind of damped down IMO. I wanted Fireworks, Blazing Heat, sizzling sensuality but felt it was all pretty tealight candle, not Sensual Eastern Promise fragrance but Winter Cotton Pjs…… I just felt they were more good friends than lovers.

Its a good read – does Paige ever write a bad book – just not going to become one of my favourites.

Stars: Three, a good read but not one of my favourites from Paige.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

A Florist Called Daisy by Elsie G. Beya

A Florist Called Daisy
by Elsie G. Beya

 

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Romance

Well, this was a perfect read for me, a beautiful romance, intelligent characters, but with Flaws, some pretty big ones that affected them and the story hugely.
Those flaws, the bits that made it feel so real were handled really well. The self harm aspect, I really understood the motivation, and the feeling of release. Its something so often misunderstood, and of course, so difficult to control, along with that feeling it must be hidden at all costs.
The friendship issue, the Girls Code, made for some interesting moments, and for me showed that Daisy’s friend was actually anything but. There’s a line in the Girl ( and Bro) Code, but there’s delusions of fantasy and for Daisy to not date Stewart because her friend felt he was her OTP was just ridiculous. They’d never dated, Stewart wasn’t interested and had made that clear. Thankfully Stewart was very persuasive.
Towards the end I did get a bit irritated towards Daisy when she still was trying to hide their relationship from her friend, going to some extraordinary excuses to do so. That just wasn’t fair on Stewart. Of course that leads to some drama, some heartbreak, all of which make for a perfect romance for me, I like a few potholes on the way to a HEA 😉

Stars: Five, a really fun read, with some very thought provoking parts. And fab flowers, which as a flower lover I really appreciated.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

No More One More Time CL Rowell

No More One More Time

CL Rowell

Genre: Romance

Well, I don’t read novellas, didn’t realise this is one. Its under 2000kb and books I usually read are between 4-5000kb so it felt very truncated.
The reason they don’t gel with me is they feel rushed, I never feel plots get time to develop properly, before racing on to the next one.

That’s exactly what happened here, it feels like every romance trope going is crammed into one short novel, and nothing really gets fleshed out. Something is barely mentioned, before its happened and over. I want to get to know characters, understand them, I want plots that will play out in their entirety, and I felt that if this book had been twice the length I may well have loved it, but as it is…well, I just didn’t really connect.
If you like short stories, novellas etc then this could be perfect for you, everyone wants different things, but for me it just fell short.

Stars: Two and a half, not really one for me as I’ve explained, not the book, just my taste. If you like shorter reads could be perfect.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers