MyTiredBrain

I typically really love books by Katherine Center, but this was just ok to me. Jojo is bad a love. Every time the relationship becomes committed, she feels the need to run. She tries to trace back to roots of her problems with the help of her family and also her life-long best friend, Cooper. It starts with Jojo about to marry someone she doesn’t really love, and Cooper coaching her on how to get out of it. Cooper ghosted Jojo four years ago, right after she got engaged, so seeing him at the wedding was a shock. They meet up again at her sister’s wedding, which is a week-long cruise. Jojo thinks her love problems stem from never getting over her first kiss, which was with her childhood crush, Finn. The fact that it was really with Cooper, and it had always been Cooper, seems very obvious from the start, so it feels like forever for Jojo to catch up, which was frustrating. Jojo seemed a bit too stupid to live at times, which brought the book down. I get that some people can be really sm...

I pretty much devoured this book. It was very pine-y, and the MMC was almost too perfect, but I appreciated the central problem keeping the two main characters apart, and how addiction, grief, and friendship was conveyed. Larissa met best friends Chris and Mike at a concert, and chose Mike when she needed a ride home. That one choice had a ripple effect - she started dating Mike, so she was permanently off limits to Chris. Basically forbidden live, written with sensitivity and nuance.  Larissa and Chris become friends, and share a spastic dog. Chris covers for Mike when Mike drinks too much, and he gives Mike ideas for gifts for Larissa. As a pharmacist, Chris is knowledgeable and careful of Larissa’s nut allergy, and goes out of his way to accommodate her needs, even as Mike is cavalier. The more time Chris spends with Larissa, the more he realizes he’s in love with her, but even if she and Mike broke up, he could never date her.  Mike’s drinking finally pushes Larissa to dum...

It was a cute, sexy, quick read. Rae has spent her life taking care of her siblings and her father (after her mom died when she was young, because it seems like every romance lately has a least one tragic upbringing). After breaking up with her boyfriend she decides she wants to shake things up, and goes to a kink club to be a sub for a dom. There she meets gruff Grant, who isn’t looking for an inexperienced sub, but jumps in because he’s drawn to Rae.  They are both surprised to find out they will be working together, as Grant was hired as a consultant at Rae’s company. Grant is neighbors and friend with Rae’s boss, so he gets hired to try to root out the cause of a security breach at the company. Rae says yes to everyone, and Grant teaches her to have more of a backbone. She makes tiny book nooks in her spare time. The boss’ son-in-law is the bad guy, because he wants to take over the company. The book was mostly fluff, but the dialogue was cute. 

Cherry and Tom’s marriage is over. His star is rising after his webcomic, Thursday, becomes a sensation, resulting in a movie adaptation. The comic includes a character, Baby, who has a striking resemblance to Cherry, including her big hips, stomach, chest, and butt. As Tom spends more time away from home their marriage crumbles to the point where Cherry asks for a divorce.  Now she’s trying to pick up the pieces, and reconnects with an old college crush, Russ. Cherry struggles to navigate dating again while still trying to care for her and Tom’s dog, and still living in the shadow of their life, all while trying to avoid trailers for Tom’s upcoming movie.  At times the book felt slow to me, but I appreciated the unflinching way Rowell writes Cherry’s fatness, and her sister’s use of weight-loss medication. I like how there are hints of Tom’s infidelity. Cherry’s sisters are a bit much but well done. Cherry and Tom work together to pack up his things, and realize they want to ...

This series is cute. Calder prefers one-night-stands. Dakota just got divorced, and she is looking to regain her spark. They have been enemies ever since Calder remodeled her home, and they clashed over everything. She’s his brother’s wife’s best friend, and they are thrown together for his brother’s wedding in Mexico. (Due to some meddling by his niece.) Sparks fly, and when they get back, they decide to be enemies with benefits. She needs to recover her self esteem, and Calder needs to stop being the grunt work guy in the family contracting business. He creates a sex list for them to try to help her feel more comfortable and confident. She encourages him to focus on his furniture building business. (8)

The writing was very strong, but I feel a little conflicted about the story itself. Magic pixie Katie adds glitter and sparkle to everything in part to force herself to see and feel beauty. Her golden-child brother’s life was tragically cut short, and the one person she wants to lean on, the boy next door and her brother’s best friend, Tyler, leaves her in the dust. Her parents seem to have forgotten they had two children, and it was heartbreaking to see her so neglected by their grief.  When Katie and Tyler are forced to work together to ghost write a book for a famous romance author (Meredith), they have to face their pasts and where it all went wrong. They end up staying at the author’s mansion, and all the tropes they weave into the book mirror in real life. The mysterious author has a cat sidekick, and a history tied to Tyler and Katie. Spoiler alert: Tyler’s father was in love with Meredith, but she chickened out and pushed him away, becoming, literally, a ghost of herself. K...

Micah was the lead singer in a successful band as a teenager, until it all fell apart. John and Micah were best friends growing up, and when the band imploded Micah essentially ghosted John. Now they are forced together, along with the three other band members, for a nostalgia cruise.  I like Alicia Thomason’s writing style. It’s told in alternating narratives between Micah and John, which worked for me. At one point Micah is introducing John on stage and he doesn’t hear what she says about him, and the author skillfully adds it later in the book, when Micah reaffirms that John is the heart of the band.  Micah’s previous relationship with another member in the band, Ryder, felt a little shaky and I was happy when he was punched and booted. Micah herself was unlikeable at times, and John was almost too understanding. I read With Love, from Cold World a long time go, so I didn’t remember the characters from the book, but some were John’s roommates. The chemistry was good and it ...