Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan
Goodreads blurb: From The New York Times bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script , a romance about a single mother who’s offered a Pretty Woman -type deal that’s too good to refuse.
If they begin by pretending, can they end with something real?
Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home.
So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and swinging on the porch, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself, can she really start now?
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher. Book comes out on May 26th.
My take: 4.5 out of 5. This book grew on me so much. It took me a bit longer to get there but once I was in, I was invested. It is adorable, real and so well written. I love how Annabel writes older, real characters, with unperfect lives living hard moments, that can still want more, wish for more and good things can happen to them. Its a fantasy within reality and its all the more powerful for it. The cast of side characters is nuanced and entertainment for how many they were between Stewart’s sister, Dolly’s family (her dad and son are so special), her best friend. Side note: The cover should totally have had the green dress or the yellow pants, they were such a visual part of this.
The Shippers by Katherine Center
Goodreads blurb: One of the hottest, fastest-rising rom-com stars delivers her latest swoon-worthy novel about a destination wedding on a cruise ship.
After a whole lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton decides to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. With the help of a little pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest ), and she decides to woo him during the cruise for some long-delayed closure. Only problem is, her sister’s a little busy being a bride at the moment—so JoJo ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, to be her wing man. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but then showed up, anyway. Cooper: who left town without a word four years earlier and moved to London. Cooper: who was, if she’s honest, the worst heartbreak of JoJo’s life. It’s bliss for her to see him again, and it’s agony, too—and the more they team up for Project Conquest, the more she obsesses over questions she can’t bring herself to ask.
Shipboard antics ensue in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance—as JoJo and Cooper fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, treat sunburns, get jealous, rescue each other over and over, and finally, at last, figure it all out in the most blissful, swoony, romantic way.
No one does summer romance quite like Katherine Center. THE SHIPPERS will take readers on the cruise of a lifetime in a story awash with romantic longing, top-notch banter, long-held secrets . . . and true love rediscovered.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher. Book comes out on May 19th.
My take: 4 out of 5. Im still waiting for Katherine Center to give me my new rom commers, of which I was obsessed, but I really enjoyed this book. Yes it was predictable but in the best ways rom coms should be. Cooper is a perfect MMC and I was just obsessed with him throughout. He will be up there in the high ranks of the perfect book boyfriends category. Jojo on the other hand is not that. She is very flawed like I wanted to slap her half the book, and does she really deserve Cooper? However, give me cooper in all the ways and he just made this book. Just fyi, Eric is my favorite Disney prince, so the comparison was really good and even though I think vests are def not a good look in men I ended up thinking I could be convinced?
Romantic Hero by Kirsty Greenwood
Goodreads blurb: A heartbroken romance novelist is forced to address her writer’s block when the villainous cowboy character from her books shows up in the real world, desperately in need of his own Happily Ever After. . . from the bestselling author of GMA book club pick The Love of My Afterlife.
Gertie Bickerstaff writes happily-ever-afters for a living. . . . Or she did, until her own love life fell apart. Now her ex is thriving, her deadline is looming, and she can’t write a single word.
The last thing Gertie needs is more drama—like waking up to find a confused and rugged cowboy on her sofa. And not just any cowboy, but River Oakley, the villain from her unfinished novel. Somehow very real . . . and very shirtless.
River wants to go home. Gertie wants her life back. So they strike a deal: he’ll use his cunning ways to help her win back her ex, she’ll finish the novel, and, surely, he’ll return to whatever world he rode in from.
But as River Oakley proves to be so much more than just the bad guy, Gertie has to choose: the ending she thought she wanted . . . or the plot twist she never saw coming.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher. Book comes out on June 16th.
My take: 2.75 out of 5. This book had me suffering from anxiety for half of it. Did she really not think showing up with someone with the same name as her character was not going to raise red flags? like nobody in this book was in their right mind. I can’t with dumb people. Also Gertie relationship with Henry was insufferable and it have me the creeps, like I could not even feel that bad for her because she was just not seeing a single bright red flag. Like least make it interesting and not so obvious she is delusional. After a great start of the year I kind of was hate reading this one. The ending was adorable but my annoyance throughout it did not compensate.
Some of my issues (Spoilers ahead, keep reading at your own risk): how did not writing a River book or helping him write her book was never an option? The fact that the book relies on the concept that writers have no imagination, just transcribe felt kind of weird.
And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison
Goodreads blurb: Two competing meteorologists are forced to find common ground in this opposites attract, When Harry Met Sally inspired romance, from New York Times bestselling author B.K. Borison.
Jackson Clark and Delilah Stewart have had their fair share of run-ins over the years, often ending in disaster. While Jackson thrives on routine and organization from the comfort of his radio booth, Delilah loves the spontaneity and adventure out in the field. When they’re partnered against their will to cover the snowstorm of the century, they find themselves scrambling to figure out how to work together.
Eager to be taken seriously as a journalist, Delilah offers Jackson a deal. If he can help her ace this assignment, she’ll help him rediscover his long-lost fun side. With an undiscovered chemistry burning beneath their clashes, the unlikely partnership quickly tumbles into an easy and surprising friendship.
But when other feelings start to enter the equation, can Jackson and Delilah withstand the storm? Or does what happens in the mountains, stay in the mountains?
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher. Book comes out on Feb 24th.
My take: 3.75 out of 5. This book is the clear proof that expectations are always a problem. If I had not read the blurb here and First Time Caller had not been a top 10 read last year, I would have said this was a super cute romance, with some good banter and some absurd weather one bed shenanigans. However expectations do matter. The fact that it is a follow up of First Time Caller puts the expectations at that level and Jackson and Delilah are great but Aiden and Lucie they are not. However, the even greater expectation that was not met for me was that it was called: and opposites attract, When Harry Met Sally inspired romance. When Harry met Sally for me is an institution and one that needs to be reverenced. I however did not get When Harry Met Sally vibes. Yes this is an enemies to lovers and it does have opposites attract, but for me When Harry met Sally is not an enemies to lovers story, its and opposites to friends to lovers progression during a long period of time. It answers the age old question can men and women really be friends, so there needs to be some friendship involved. Yes the hate here lasted a while but there was little to no interaction. We went from enemies to friends to lovers in the span of a snowstorm and that just didn’t feel right. Again as an enemies to lovers, single bed trope really funny romance I thoroughly enjoyed it but When Harry Met sally homage it is not.
The MASH Up by Laura Marie Meyers
Goodreads blurb: It’s all fun and games until someone falls in love.
MANSION • APARTMENT • SHACK • HOUSE
Ruby Wynne is a staunch rule-follower who lives by the numbers. So when a surprising breakup – on her thirty-fifth birthday – ruins all her well-laid plans, Ruby makes an unexpected wish . . . Only to wake up inside a M.A.S.H. game from seventh grade.
Settled in a Technicolor mansion, driving a tie-dye Jeep, and running a roller-disco restaurant, Ruby is living out her childhood dreams come true—with one exception. According to the game, Ruby’s “other half” is supposed to be Penn Hayes, her brother’s annoying, and annoyingly handsome, best friend. But there’s zero romance between them. Just like in real life, all they share is sarcasm. With no rules to follow and desperate to return to reality, Ruby makes her best guess at an escape plan: win Penn’s heart so the game comes completely true and she can go home.
It’s unthinkable. On Ruby’s list of dos and don’ts, Penn Hayes is a lifelong don’t. But as Ruby navigates the magical world she dreamed up at thirteen, she wonders if, by finally throwing out her rules, she might just find her way home to the life and love she deserves.
My take: 3.5 out of 5. It was sweet and I loved the ending but it was also a bit much, and the absurdity level was quite high. I like the whole go to an alternate universe to learn more about yourself trope, but here by making it random and a MASH GAME it really wasn’t going back to what her 13 year old self wanted, it was thinking that a random game at 13 was who she really was. I digress but although fun, that just made it absurd. I actually wanted more of her at 13 and the history they had with Penn, it would inform today much more. A minor pet peeve, I really don’t get why Penn called Ruby Wynne if he is best friends with her twin? Wouldn’t his friend be the one he called Wynne?
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