I loved the plus size representation in this book and that was about it.
I don’t know if it’s because I don’t watch shows like the Bachelor, 2 stars
I loved the plus size representation in this book and that was about it.
I don’t know if it’s because I don’t watch shows like the Bachelor, but this book and the formatting didn’t do it for me. And it’s weird because I don’t really don’t consider this book a romance. Yes, there was sex, but this book left me feeling kind of angry rather than happy at the ending. I wouldn’t recommend this to any of my friends.
Bonus points though for an author who actually understands Los Angeles, and it’s because she lives in LA. Nothing she said about the city was untrue or made me glance back twice....more
You know, I gotta stop listening to the hype sometimes.
Two rival authors discover they are living next door to each other for the summer. Whe 3 stars
You know, I gotta stop listening to the hype sometimes.
Two rival authors discover they are living next door to each other for the summer. When they both realize they are dealing with writer’s block, they challenge each other to write a book that the other would normally write. Gus will write a book with a happy ending, and January will write the next great American novel.
Beach Read was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020. I was hearing buzz about this book before the dang pandemic. And while this book is cute and a breath of fresh air, it was incredibly easy for me to set down and walk away from. For days… The author failed to invest me in the romance between Gus and January. The romance fell flat for me. What carried this book was January as a character and her internal conflicts and struggles. By the time the romance began to happen, I honestly did not care how it panned out....more
What to say about this book? It had me actually laughing out loud like a maniac while I was reading it. This is the book you read when you 4.5 stars!
What to say about this book? It had me actually laughing out loud like a maniac while I was reading it. This is the book you read when you want to forget about real life and your problems. I would pitch this book as conceptually similar to the film How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, but instead both people in the relationship are trying to get the other to break up with them so they don’t have to foot the massive wedding bill.
Like I said before, this book was the perfect escape from reality. I understand how some people may think the main characters are immature, I get that. But to me, it was two people who used to love each other, trying to get a reaction out of the other one. Reasonable communication wasn’t working, and I feel they did what they had to do in their given circumstances. Plus, if these two acted reasonably, then this wouldn’t be the comedic genius it us.
I loved it. If other book friends hadn’t raved about it I wouldn’t have picked it up based on the cover (which I think is terrible) but I am glad I did. One of those cases of don’t judge a book by its cover....more
“You guys read romance novels?” “We call them manuals.”
Gosh, what an absolutely perfect escape from reality! Bromance Book Club is a b 4.5 stars!
“You guys read romance novels?” “We call them manuals.”
Gosh, what an absolutely perfect escape from reality! Bromance Book Club is a book I’ve been meaning to get to for a little bit now. Berkley even sent me a finished copy (thank you Berkley!) but I hadn’t made the time to sit down and read it. Well, all we got now in April 2020 is time, and I am so glad I prioritized this one on the tbr.
A second chance love story surrounding a broken marriage, Gavin is a professional baseball player who shuts down on his wife when he finds out she’s been faking orgasms for their entire relationship. But when he goes to apologize, she asks for a divorce. That’s when the boys of the bromance book club take him under their wing and use romance novels to help him try and save his marriage.
“Don’t be ashamed for liking them. The backlash against the PSL [Pumpkin Spice Latte] is a perfect example of how toxic masculinity permeates even the most mundane things in life. If masses of women like something, our society automatically begins to mock them. Just like romance novels. If women like them, they must be a joke, right?”
Second chance romance novels are my crack, add in a married couple trying to make it work and I basically have all I want and need right there in a book. I was able to completely escape into this story while reading, which is really all I want from a book the majority of the time. It was well written, and funny, and heartwarming too. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series, this author has won her way into my heart.
“That’s why fiction resonates with people. It speaks to universal truths.” ...more
What a cute little book! I ordered this from The Ripped Bodice bookstore at the beginning of the covid19 social distancing/quarantine. 3.5 – 4 stars
What a cute little book! I ordered this from The Ripped Bodice bookstore at the beginning of the covid19 social distancing/quarantine. My brain has been all over the place and this book, which normally would take me 1-2 days to read took me two weeks! But not because it’s bad or anything. I just can’t focus anymore.
Anyways, this is a seriously cute and fun book about a woman who loves order in her life, and the superintendent that works his way into her heart. I loved the banter between Chloe and Red. And the enemies to friends to lovers plot was very well done. I’m excited to read the rest of the series when it is released. This book is a perfect escape from our current reality....more
Well Met is about a young woman named Emily who dropped everything in her life when her sister is in a car accident. Taking care of her sist 4 stars!
Well Met is about a young woman named Emily who dropped everything in her life when her sister is in a car accident. Taking care of her sister and her teenage niece, Emily is roped into volunteering at the local Ren Faire where she meets Simon, a rude and judgy English teacher. But when the faire starts, Simon turns into a charismatic pirate and Emily finds herself seeing a different side of him.
What a cute debut novel! I don’t remember why I placed a hold on this book from the library, but I am so glad I did. Well Met is everything a chick lit romance should be and I had so much fun reading it. I’ve never been to a Ren Faire, but now I really want to go (although I do not want to volunteer at one). This book was mostly sweet, but had some small angsty bits that I ate right up. I would love to read more from this author in the future.
Have you ever read a book that you actually somewhat enjoyed, but made a list of all the shit in it that bugged you and messaged your friends 2 stars
Have you ever read a book that you actually somewhat enjoyed, but made a list of all the shit in it that bugged you and messaged your friends about how much it bugged you? That was this book for me.
I thought about this a long time, overall there was too much about this book that pissed me off and took me out of the story. But I also don’t want to sit here and nitpick every little thing that bothered me. There were some really great things about this story and I think it tells a romance that not many authors have told before. But like I said ultimately, I did not love or even like reading this book....more
Alright y'all, this review is going to be full of You've Got Mail gifs so here we go!
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Waiting for Tom Hanks is about Annie, a young 4.5 stars!
Alright y'all, this review is going to be full of You've Got Mail gifs so here we go!
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Waiting for Tom Hanks is about Annie, a young woman obsessed with romantic comedies and searching for her own "Tom Hanks". Not the actual Tom Hanks, but the metaphorical version of him where he's the perfect man in romantic comedies. When she finds out a romantic comedy is going to be filming in her neighborhood, she gets a job on the set where she meets leading man Drew, the opposite of Tom Hanks.
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I loved this book, I actually made myself put it down so I could get enough sleep for work the next day. Had it not been a working day, I would have read this until well into the evening because it was a total page turner. A great enemies to lovers romance, this book was more than just a romance book, it was an ode to rom com films. And obviously I love rom coms more than I knew I did, because I knew Every. Single. Rom. Com. Reference in this book.
One of the better books I've read this year, I am now a Kerry Winfrey fan and excited to read more of what she has to come. And even though this book takes place in winter, it is the perfect beach read for this summer!
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ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
When all your friends loved this book but you don't have the same love for it [image]
I liked it. But this was almost a 2 star read for me. 2.5-3 stars
When all your friends loved this book but you don't have the same love for it [image]
I liked it. But this was almost a 2 star read for me. A cute and sweet (almost the death sentence there for me) MM romance between America's First son and a Prince of England. I thought there were some funny parts and the relationship/chemistry between the two main characters was great.
I honestly almost quit 20% in, the tense this book was written in was god awful (like a weightlifter talking about himself in 3rd person all the time) and if Burberry was mentioned one more time, I was likely to find one of their coats and set it on fire.
It's funny, because I was one of the few people who didn't lose their shit over TKQ, and I ended up loving this book! I never give up on an 4 stars!
It's funny, because I was one of the few people who didn't lose their shit over TKQ, and I ended up loving this book! I never give up on an author after one book, and Helen Hoang proved she's not a one hit wonder with her sophomore novel.
The Bride Test is about Esme/My, a mixed race Vietnamese girl who is convinced to travel to America to date a strangers son. Except what she doesn't know is Khai Diep is autistic. In a comedy of errors almost, Esme ends up driving poor Khai crazy, in the best possible way. Esme finds herself falling for Khai, but he is convinced he can never love anyone.
As I said before I really enjoyed reading this book. It was the perfect balance of sweet and angsty, and not too smutty. I loved Esme's story and her struggles, I feel hers reflect a part of our country that isn't heard very often. I also thought Khai was portrayed amazingly. I cannot wait to see what else Hoang brings to her readers.
This book started out strong and halfway through completely fizzled out for me. I really enjoyed this author's debut book The Wedding 2 stars
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This book started out strong and halfway through completely fizzled out for me. I really enjoyed this author's debut book The Wedding Date, and at first I thought this one was similar, but by the end it wasn't even in the same ballpark (pun intended).
I love that Berkley is publishing more work by authors of color and books with characters who are persons of color, so I was glad to see this book. I hope Berkley continues to publish books like these because they are needed. The story in this one just wasn't more me, I wish things had been more fleshed out.
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
“My physical appearance was just a small fraction of who I was. I was more than a pretty bauble to hang on the tree of a man’s world.”
A 4.5 stars
“My physical appearance was just a small fraction of who I was. I was more than a pretty bauble to hang on the tree of a man’s world.”
After a horrible trip to her childhood home, Ava just wants to get the heck out of Arizona and back to her apartment in Boston. Her attempts at everything in the airport from first class upgrades to meals to the coffee cart are thwarted by a rude Scotsman…. who happens to be her seatmate on her flight. Their hatred for each other soon turns into a night neither of them will ever forget.
By chance Caleb reenters her life when Ava had thought he was just a one night stand, and the two decide to explore their physical attraction even further…
“When you were infatuated with someone, you failed to see their imperfections. When it was more than a fixation, you still cared about them in spite of their flaws.”
First off, Samantha Young is romance royalty. She delivered THE BEST ANGST in any romance novels, hands down. She’s also one of the few authors that I don’t skim sex scenes (yes I am weird and I do that most of the time). When I read a book by Young, I am enthralled from the very beginning, all the way to the last page at the end. I always say this too but I love how she manages to write characters from different countries and nails it every time, there are never cultural inaccuracies which blows my mind.
There are similarities in this book to On Dublin Street, a heroine with a messed up family past and a best friend who dies tragically (not a spoiler it’s in the beginning of both books). But the similarities end there. I loved Ava. She was such an incredible female character unlike many we see in this genre. She’s gorgeous but wants to be valued as more. She works hard but remembers to be kind. Caleb was an amazing alpha-hole, but was nice at the right points. I wish we had gotten more of his side of events but I still really loved him too.
I have two things to gripe about in this book, the first affected my rating the other did not. At the end of the book, what was done to Ava, there needed to be a lot more fucking groveling. I was actually appalled at the lack of groveling at the end considering Caleb’s words and actions. The second thing I have to gripe about, I friggin hate the cover of this book. I know it’s the newest rage in romance and we have The Hating Game to blame for it, but the cover of this book does not match the inside at all and I am looking forward to when (if) they change the cover in the future. I want to reiterate, the cover did not affect my rating.
“We’re all afraid of something, sweetheart. It’s up to us whether we stay and fight that fear… or whether we run and hide from it.”
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All quotes came from an unedited copy and are subject to change in final review.
I reread The Kiss Quotient as a part of The Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo for the category Kissing for Sc upgraded to 4 stars with audiobook reread 2023
I reread The Kiss Quotient as a part of The Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo for the category Kissing for Science. I enjoyed it a lot more this time on audiobook. After rereading my review, I still agree that the characters and their indecisiveness bug me, but not as much as when I first read it. I happily listened along to this book and the narrator did a great job bringing Stella and Michael to life.
--------- original review 2018 ---------------
3 stars
I want to reiterate, 3 stars for me still means I liked it, this is not a negative review
This is the story of Stella, a woman with Asperger’s who has trouble connecting with men romantically. When her mother begins to pressure her for grandbabies, she decides she needs to face her fears. To do this, she hires an expert. Or well, an escort. Stella hires Michael, a dreamy escort who seems very understanding of her needs. But he has some secrets behind his reasons for being a male escort, and he doesn’t want to get too close to anyone so they can find out.
The Kiss Quotient is a book I was very excited to read, mostly because it has an autistic main character and an Asian male lead. I think this is a great debut novel and I love that we got a male Asian lead, you rarely see those in the romance genre. I also liked Stella because while many people may not have Asperger’s like her, I feel she’s a relatable character that many women will identify with.
This book was steamy and sweet at the same time. My main issue with it was I felt the plot structure was all over the place and it made the story very choppy for me. This also made the characters seem very indecisive on some things which is a pet peeve of mine in books. But overall I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to seeing what else Hoang has to deliver in the future.
ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review ...more
This is a book that’s been getting a lot of great buzz, a lot of my book friends really loved it and I’ve been hearing good things all around 3 stars
This is a book that’s been getting a lot of great buzz, a lot of my book friends really loved it and I’ve been hearing good things all around. I was a fan of Julia on the show Once and Again and I had the pleasure of meeting Julia at another author event for a book she narrated and she’s absolutely lovely. All those things combined, I was very eager to read this book and really wanted to love this book and I had high hopes. And while I didn’t love it, I enjoyed it and I think this was a really great debut from this author.
There were a lot of moments when we as readers were supposed to feel a lot, and I felt a bit like a sociopath in those moments because I didn’t really feel anything and I knew I was meant to. Plus, a lot of the dialogue and some of the vocabulary was way above my head and I felt, well, unintelligent at moments while I was reading this book.
I think Julia Whelan is a fantastic writer, I think she delivered a very interesting and engaging story. I also think a lot of readers will love this book and I while I didn’t love it, I will be recommending it quite a lot because I think many of my friends and close ones would really enjoy this story.
Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, Jojo Moyes and Sally Thorne, this is your next book to pick up!
A copy for review was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss
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