Showing posts with label contemporary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contemporary. Show all posts
Series: / standalone
Pages: 432
Genre: Romance
The story of the heart can never be unwritten.
Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.
But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.
Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.
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I feel like I should've enjoyed this story a lot more than I did, but I didn't, so I kind of feel bad right now. But this is also another reminder for me why I don't like reading second-chance romances.
I had a hard time finishing this book because it was boring and it was stupid. I saw no point in all those throwback chapters when Elliot and Macy were young, there was no point in there being so many of them because most of them added no significant meaning to the story and they were absolutely boring and awkward, so I started to skim past them.
And then the thing with Macy and Elliot meeting for the first time after so many years: Elliot confesses his love to Macy and Macy is engaged at the time, but the moment she sees Elliot, she starts second-guessing everything and (surprise, surprise) starts realising her perfect relationship isn't so perfect after all. I don't know where she was before Elliot came around, but apparently, our Macy isn't the smartest girl out there.
But at 60 %, Macy is still with her fiancé and this is where the story completely lost me. Macy and Elliot come together at around 80 % and it's really nothing memorable. I didn't feel much of the chemistry between them, I didn't even care for them. For all I cared, they didn't even have to come back together - I'd feel absolutely nothing if they didn't, that's how uninvested I was.
There was also this bullshit excuse why they broke up so many years ago - it's truly a typical one, the most cliché ever (with the exception of I thought it was you, baby! which just made me want to throw up).
While I loved some of C. Lauren's story, this was definitely not my thing. The writing was average, nothing special, I didn't even highlight one line in the whole book that would actually touch me.
Just not my cup of tea.
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced sixteen New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 30+ languages. (Some of these books have kissing. Some of these books have A LOT of kissing.)
Release date: March 8th, 2020
Series: / standalone
Pages: 289
Genre: Romance
The first time Cassio met his fiancée, she called him ‘Sir’.
After losing his wife, Cassio is left to take care of two small children while trying to establish his rule over Philadelphia. Now he needs a mother for his children, and someone who can warm his bed at night.
But in a traditional world as his, choosing your wife is duty not pleasure.
Rules have to be followed. Traditions heeded.
That’s how he ends up with a woman—a girl barely of age. She might not be what he and his children need, but she’s wicked lovely and a sweet temptation he can’t resist.
Giulia always knew she’d marry a man her father chose for her. Only she never expected to be given to someone much older.
Suddenly she’s supposed to be a mother to two small children when she hasn’t even held a baby in her life.
Giulia quickly realizes that Cassio isn’t interested in a relationship on equal footing. Her mother always warned her that men of power like Cassio don’t tolerate insolence; yet, tired of being treated as a nanny and clueless child-bride, Giulia decides to fight for her vision of a happy family.
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This might be the most non-mafia mafia book I've ever read. It didn't feel much like reading a mafia book as if the author just said 'let me throw some Italian names in it and call it a mafia book'. It's also my first Cory Riley read and I primarily read it because it was nominated for Goodreads rewards.
Okay, so we have quirky, young Gulia here who has no experience in literally anything when she marries the big bad mafia man Cassion, who's much older than her and already previously married. Now he has two young kids to deal with, one of them suffering from a big trauma.
When Giulia moves into his house, it's like she immediately knows what to do. Upon stepping into the house, she suddenly gets some powers about how to train an untrained dog and deal with him and, best of all, she immediately becomes an expert in how to deal with problematic children, even though she's never had any experience in her life before.
And, as I said, this really didn't feel like a mafia book. There was no drama, no suspense (except between Giulia and Cassio), just nothing that would make this book really mafia-like.
It was still a good read, I liked reading about both Cassio and Julia's characters progress and change, seeing Giulia maturing and Cassio becoming more trusting and more loving.
But there were aspects I didn't really enjoy, like his dead wife constantly hovering between them and the chapter when it was explained in detail how she died was, in my opinion, kind of unnecessary and I'd much rather learn about her death through Giulia and Cassio's conversation when he explained everything to her.
Not a bad read, but I kind of expected a little bit more out of it.
I'm an author of romance and new adult novels. I'm a lover of good food, wine and books, and I'm hopelessly addicted to bad boys (in books).
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Release date: April 1st, 2021
Series: / standalone
Pages: 551
Genre: Romance
Losing people you love is hard.
Aurora De La Torre knows moving back to a place that was once home isn’t going to be easy.
Starting your whole life over probably isn’t supposed to be.
But a small town in the mountains might be the perfect remedy for a broken heart.
Checking out her landlord across the driveway just might cure it too.
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❝I don't know how anybody would let you walk away, and it isn't going to be me. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. Are we clear?❞
I have to admit that, maybe, I was a little too excited for this book, especially when I recently read Under Locke and fell completely in love.
I absolutely adore Mariana Zapata, but the lost two books of her didn't really give me what I wanted.
I loved the idea of this book and I had high expectations because, hello, going to live in the middle of nowhere, meeting a single dad who's tall and muscled and broody? Sign me the hell up!
But the issue I had with this book is that I really missed the romance. This is a long book and, while I usually love slow-burns, the thing was ... for almost the whole half of this book it wasn't a slow-burn, it was basically a no-burn because nothing really happened. We didn't get to see much of Rhodes, couldn't really meet him and their interactions were limited and there just weren't many. So, yeah, getting 270 pages of absolutely no romance really threw me off a little.
It was all about Aurora moving on from her previous bad relationship, trying to build a new life, reconnect with an old friend and going on hikes. That was it and it made me frustrated. I couldn't help but compare this book to Under Locke where that sweet, sweet burn was always present, we could read about their interactions and we could feel the connection.
We got little of that here.
And, so, at around 80 % when they finally get together, it all felt rushed and like they didn't really know each other that much because the first half of the book we got almost nothing out of them.
There was also this weird thing about Rhodes calling Aurora Buddy as an endearment word and ... it was weird. And Rhodes calling Aurora angel and her thinking he's getting her name wrong? That's just way too dumb to be believable.
I did not like the fight Rhodes and Aurora had at the end because it made absolutely no sense and Rhodes overreacted. It really wasn't that big of a deal.
I still liked this book, it was beautifully written, but I just didn't love it as much as the others.
Release date: December 10th, 2019
Series: / standalone
Pages: 363
Genre: Romance
Series: / standalone
Pages: 363
Genre: Romance
Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.
Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.
With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.
While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.
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❝I love how much he makes me laugh when I don't feel like laughing.❞
Colleen Hoover is the one author for me that I can never give a bad rating. It's mostly because her books are always so very well written and they deal with difficult things and her books always contain sudden, unexpected twists that I just love.
This book was, once again, not what I expected. I liked it, but I didn't particularly love it, although it did contain things that are important and it was written in such a realistic way and jam-packed with emotions.
The POVs were dual, from Clara and Morgan, mother and daughter, each of them facing their own struggles. We have a teenager on one side and a broken-hearted mother on the other and things quickly get messy.
This was a book about love and loss, about getting broken and healing again. About losing and finding yourself again.
I loved the characters, particularly Jonah. He was the biggest sweetheart and he deserved the whole world.
Miller was atypical, not the bad-boy kind of type I thought he was at the start, but more of a closed-off and shy teenager who was really sweet and nice.
This was a book about putting your pieces back together after your life gets completely shattered, after you realize you've been deceived by people closest to you and they left you to clean their mess up.
Once again, Colleen really knows how to write books. That's all I can say.
International and #1 New York Times bestselling author of romance, YA, thriller, women's fiction and paranormal romance.
I don't like to be confined to one genre. If you put me in a box, I'll claw my way out.
My social media username is @colleenhoover pretty much everywhere except my email, which is colleenhooverbooks@gmail.com
Founder of www.thebookwormbox.com charity and Book Bonanza.
Series: / standalone
Pages: 497
Genre: Romance
He was my boss, my brother’s friend, a Widower, an ex-felon, and a man I’d seen casually with a handful of women. But he was everything that gripped me, both the good and the bad. Worst case scenario if things turned awkward between us, I could go somewhere else. I’d gotten over epic heartbreak before, one more wouldn’t kill me.
After moving to Austin following six months of unemployment back home, Iris Taylor knows she should be glad to have landed a job so quickly... even if the business is owned by a member of the same motorcycle club her estranged father used to belong to. Except Dex Locke might just be the biggest jerk she’s ever met. He’s rude, impatient and doesn’t know how to tell time.
And the last thing they ever expected was each other.
But it was either the strip club or the tattoo shop.
… she should have chosen the strip club.
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❝You've gotta be the best thing I never knew I wanted.❞
It's official, I'm completely head over heels in love with Dex Locke.
This book ... dear God. This was such a good read that captivated me from the first page. Props to Miss Zapata because she just knows how to do it and she totally has me wrapped around her pinky with the guys she creates.
I was having a little trouble between 45 % to 60 % because the story kind of lost my interest for a bit with all the drama about Iris's father that just felt like it kept dragging on and on and there was no end to it, but, oh, the last part of the book made it all too worth it.
I loved Dex, most of the time at least. I loved him a little less when he was being a jackass, but he was still a sexy jackass, so I forgave him all too easily (I know, I know, shame on me). I don't care and I don't want to hear any judgment.
I love this thing in Zapata's books how she makes it obvious to readers that the characters are obviously in love with each other, but they're completely oblivious to it because she makes it work every time.
I just loved seeing Dex being all possessive, frustrated and all in knots because he had a thing for Iris since the moment she stepped a foot into his tattoo shop.
And out poor, oblivious Iris ... She really didn't know the storm with the name of Locke that was just waiting for her.
Honestly, this super slow burn book made me feel all kinds of things and the slowness of the story was so worth it. Zapata really knows how to captivate her readers. She's literally the queen of slow-burn stories.
Release date: August 9th, 2016
Series: / standalone
Pages: 387
Genre: Romance
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
2) A person’s undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.
Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything—especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking.
If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth-shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.
Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
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I loved it because it had funny and witty characters and although this book is enemies-to-lovers, there was no hardcore bullying like there usually is in such books.
Joshua Templeman was to die for sexy without even needing to try. He immediately won my heart with his brooding attitude, possessiveness, protectiveness, humour and jealousy - everything in the right amount, of course.
And props to Lucy for not being one of the empty-headed and stupid characters.
Let me not even start on the chemistry between them because h-o-t.
In all honesty, this book had me laughing at 4 % already and it all went upwards from there. It truly exceeded my expectations and now I'm sorry for waiting this long to read it.
I can not find one bad thing to say about this book. Perfection. That's it.
Sally Thorne is the USA Today bestselling author of the office rom-com The Hating Game (2016). It is her debut novel that has sold in over twenty-five countries and is being made into a major motion picture, to be directed by Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion and The Simpsons Movie director David Mirkin. It was named in the top 20 romance novels of 2016 by the Washington Post and was a top ten finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards romance category. The Hating Game has been cited as a book that has reinvigorated the romantic comedy genre.
Sally’s much anticipated second novel, 99 Percent Mine, was released on 29 January 2019 by William Morrow Books and debuted at #37 on the USA Today Bestseller List.
Sally is writing two more books for William Morrow, and is currently drafting her third book.
Sally lives in Canberra, Australia, with her husband Roland- plus a pug called Delia and a horse called Louie.
Release date: June 16th, 2013
Series: / standalone
Pages: 216
Genre: Romance
Does everyone deserve a second chance? Even someone who lies and deceives to get it?
Do we all have a second chance coming? Even if we play a part in our own destruction?
How hard would you fight to have a second chance at love? A second chance at life? Another chance to tell your own story?
Every love story has two sides. Evie told hers. This time it's Leo's chance.
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I am terribly sorry, but this one is a DNF for me at 65 % because I simply can't get past the weirdness of this book.
There are just ... so many things that made this story incredibly unbelievable and I really couldn't finish it.
Let me just ...:
- The stalking. Ok, I get it, Leo stalked the love of his life yada, yada ... but her reaction when she finally approached him about it? She turned it into a joke. Girl, if a man ever stalked me, I'd run to the police. But not Evie. She took it easily, joked about it, and parted ways with him like ok, buddy, I'll miss you stalking me a little, but you can stop now that I know about it. And when she sees him again the next day? Nothing. She even accepts going on a date with him.
- Not remembering him. Leo's supposed to be Evie's big love of her life from the past, but now, eight years later, she has no idea who he is - she just doesn't recognise him. How, tell me, how is that possible?
- Lying. Leo introduced himself as Jake and everybody called him that, but I just didn't understand the lying part. Maybe I'd understand it more if he wasn't overdoing it, lying about Leo dying and that he didn't talk much about Evie, what he told him on the hospital bed etc. That was not okay for me because why lie this much?
- V-card. Yeah. You guessed it. Evie is a virgin. And Leo aka Jake is all too happy about it because he, more than anything, wanted to be her first and now his dream came true. Lol. Ok.
- The cheesiness. I just ... I love a good and nice romantic read, okay. I love it. But this was just so ... Cheesy and weird, it made me uncomfortable. We get it, okay. You love her more than anything, you think she's the most beautiful creature in the world, a goddess, whatever. We get it, ok? No need to keep repeating it throughout the whole book over and over again because it just loses its meaning and charm and it gets annoying.
- The sex. Ok, so, Evie meets her stalker, goes on a few dates with him, there's a little drama with him and the women, naturally, but our virgin girl has no problems having sex with her supposedly dead big-love-of-her-life's friend soon after meeting him. She stayed virgin, dated just a little, but as soon as he appears, she goes all for it. And not even that, she even calls him Leo once when they're at it, even though she didn't know it was him. That's just ... ugh, no.
Sorry for this rant, this is more of it's not the book, it's me case because everyone seems to love it but me. I just really couldn't get past the stupid storyline and I really, really couldn't connect with it. It's a shame because I enjoyed Mia Sheridan's past work and I had high expectations about this one.
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