Let’s Kiss and Tell by Joss Richard
Goodreads blurb: Fall for the brand-new sexy, sweet and heart aching romance from the bestselling author of It’s Different This Time!
Lucy Reid’s about to fake it.
As a sex columnist, her views on relationships aren’t exactly optimistic.
Instead, she encourages readers to embrace their sexuality and that you don’t need a partner to be happy. But when her team claims that all their readers are in relationships, and that it might be time for something – or someone – new, she’s got to act fast.
Enter Marshall Oakley.
Marshall is the new Senior News Writer at Lucy’s company, and he’s just confessed to needing a girlfriend for his ex’s wedding. Faking a relationship is perfect. Marshall can finally prove he’s moved on, and Lucy can write about finding ‘the one’ only to break up and prove to readers – and her bosses – that relationships don’t solve everything.
But spending lots of time together and faking affection has lines blurring… And now the two of them must find the courage to rewrite their story with a happily ever after.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
my take: 4.75 out of 5. This is going to be one of my top reads of the year— not just romance. I’m completely obsessed with it. I’ve already told my book club they need to have this preordered because I need everyone to read it and, hopefully, love it as much as I did. On the surface, it’s a fake dating romance, but it feels so real, raw, and wonderfully messy. I don’t even know exactly why I loved it so much—it just worked. The banter is phenomenal, both characters feel flawed and authentic, and you can’t help rooting for them even when you understand why they keep getting in their own way. The character development is incredibly well done, and watching their relationship grow felt natural every step of the way. I usually hate insta-love, and this is the complete opposite: a slow, gradual fall that is executed to perfection
Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer
Goodreads blurb: A coming-of-age novel, a love story and a tale of life-enhancing Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer showcases his wit, sophistication and deep knowledge of focaccia in this magical tale set amidst the Tuscan hills.
Broke and directionless, our young man takes a job in the Italian countryside as the all-purpose assistant to Lisabetta, known to her friends as Coco – a strong-willed, wealthy widow of great local renown.
Trained as an archivist, he thinks he’s been hired to catalogue the contents of the beautiful, crumbling mansion nestled in the green Tuscan hills… but what are his actual duties? Days are spent ridding the house of a marten – whatever that is – locating the antediluvian septic system, entertaining an endless carousel of guests (from bohemian painters to elderly princesses to unnervingly handsome nephews), attending a funeral in order to make off with the urn, and not inadvertently sabotaging Coco’s great and final plan-to locate the lost love of her life and be reunited before it’s too late.
As summer turns into autumn and the Italian countryside begins to work its magic on our protagonist, the secrets of Villa Coco and its inhabitants are slowly brought to light – and with them, an unforgettable story of the enduring power of friendship.
My take: 2.5 out of 5.This was such a disappointment. I’d been really looking forward to it, but it turned into a hate-read just to see how it ended. The last few chapters do improve things somewhat, but not enough to make the journey worthwhile for me. At around the 25% mark, my notes literally said: “Nothing has really happened yet. It’s mildly funny, but why does this book even exist?” Unfortunately, that feeling never fully went away. I also have to call out the lack of research regarding Colombia. If you’re going to write about a country, at least get the basics right: Rionegro is not in Bogotá, the pink river dolphins are not found there, and people in Bogotá speak Spanish—not Portuguese.
Abby Offsides by Anna McCallie
Goodreads blurb: In this witty and heartfelt debut, a woman’s impulsive journey across the pond after a broken engagement leads her to a new love—and a new version of herself.
Seeking a fresh start after leaving her cheating fiancé, Abby McIntyre makes a series of spontaneous decisions: She quits her job. She books a one-way flight to the UK. She even gets bangs!
Newly arrived in Liverpool, she lands a job with the Mersey Football Club and meets Lachlan Ramsay, the recently recruited Scottish star midfielder. Both lonely in a new city, the pair bond quickly, and Abby finds it nearly impossible to deny their chemistry—despite the nagging guilt she feels about Lachlan’s mysterious wife who didn’t relocate with her husband.
When Abby’s housing falls through, Lachlan insists she move into his massive penthouse. As they spend almost every waking moment together, Abby wonders if it’s possible that the world-famous footballer could be falling for her, too. But with her job and his marriage dependent on them staying firmly in the friend zone, can Abby risk being caught offside?
Crackling with witty banter and palpable sexual tension, Abby Offsides is at once a smoldering, slow-burn romance and a nuanced exploration of one woman’s journey to reclaim her own dreams and desires after years of living life on autopilot.
my take: 4.5 out of 5. I read this during the World Cup, and honestly, I can’t think of a more perfect time to pick it up—but I’d recommend it even if you couldn’t care less about football. That said, if you’re into the sport as I am, you’ll get an extra kick out of it. It would also make a fantastic companion to the new season of Ted Lasso—a little Ted Lasso, a bit of this book, and you’ve got the perfect combo. The setup definitely gives off some Ted Lasso vibes: an American woman who worked in baseball finds herself working for a football club in the UK while knowing next to nothing about the sport. The relationship between her and Lachlan is honestly kind of absurd, and yet it works perfectly. You never quite understand why it’s happening or exactly how Lachlan and her become friends, and that’s probably my one real criticism—I definitely had a few “really?” moments. But at some point, I just suspended disbelief and went with it because they were so good together. Their friendship is adorable, the banter is great, and watching their relationship develop was incredibly sweet. I loved it—it’s a quick, charming read and pretty much a perfect sports romance in my book.
Every Version of You by Natalie Messier
Goodreads blurb: For fans of The Love of My Afterlife and The Seven Year Slip, Reese’s LitUp Fellow Natalie Messier’s debut following a woman who gets a chance to relive her college years—with the opportunity to win back the one that got away—is “full of surprises and sneakily perceptive” (Yulin Kuang, USA TODAY bestselling author of How to End a Love Story).
Joey Vasquez’s life is the definition of good on paper. At thirty-two, she’s a Los Angeles lawyer on the cusp of making partner, but while she’s a professional success, she’s a personal disaster. Her social life mostly consists of nights spent watching TV with her elderly cat. Life isn’t quite what she dreamed when she was younger, but really, whose life is?
But a dinner party with the best friend she’s secretly pined after for years and its aftermath changes everything.
When Joey is given a second chance at life, she finds herself in college again. Armed with memories from her first life, Joey is certain she’s come back to finally convince the one man she ever loved to love her back—so why does she find herself strangely drawn to the man she thought she hated?
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
my take: 4.25 out of 5. I absolutely loved this book and was also a little baffled by it. The concept is brilliant, and I was fully invested for the first half, but then a twist comes along that I won’t spoil, and it took the story in a direction that just didn’t work as well for me. It leans hard into the fantastical, which is part of its charm, but at some point it all became a little too perfect and a little too neat for what I wanted. Even so, I can’t deny how clever it is. Beneath the romance, the fun, and the cute moments is a genuinely fascinating question: if you could go back to one specific point in your life and make a different choice, where would it be? Would it change your love life, your career, your family relationships? The book takes the romantic route with that idea, but there are so many other possibilities. Side note, people in the book were not using their second chances too creatively—i needed way more detail on their money schemes
The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston
Goodreads blurb: The new head gardener at the enchanting Lilymoor House stumbles upon a secret garden . . . with a mysterious man trapped inside, in the next magical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Sounds Like Love and The Seven Year Slip.
When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love.
But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place.
And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside.
This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie’s careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor’s owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires—including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer.
Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more.
my take: 3.5 out of 5. I was very mixed on this one. Parts of it were absolutely beautiful, and the idea of a hidden man in a garden where time stands still and a relationship can grow in this strange in-between world is both absurd and kind of wonderful. It’s quirky, weird, and fantastical in a way that feels very Ashley Poston, which is exactly what I loved about it. At the same time, this is a deeply grief-filled story, and that aspect hit me hard. Maybe I’m just more sensitive to grief stories, but I really felt the weight of everything Sofie is carrying, and at times her entire view of life seemed defined by that loss. It made some of her decisions feel frustrating and a little hard to believe. Still, I loved the magical elements, and the gorgeous garden setting was a perfect backdrop—I honestly wished I could visit Lillimoor myself. In the end, it’s a bit of a mixed bag: a good, fast, and engaging read, but if heavy grief isn’t your thing, just know that it plays a very big role in the story.
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