MyTiredBrain

This was a little meh for me. Prodigal son, Wyatt, returns home for his brother’s wedding and gets caught up in his family’s drama. His uncle, Jed, is a greedy developer and has pressured Wyatt’s father, the Mayor of Cold Springs, to sell out the local farms for a new subdivision. Not so riveting. Wyatt meets pool-stick wielding Hazel, and out goes his plans to stay for the wedding and then get out of Dodge. The folksy side characters were ok. Hazel’s pet bird was cute in a fowl-mouthed (get it?) kind of way. None of the characters popped for me, and I got through the book to get through it. I would consider giving the author another try because the writing wasn’t bad, but I‘m not jumping to read the series. (6.75) 

Indiana Aaron is a talented coder, but gets looked over for promotions because she’s a petite woman. And because she often speaks her mind. She’s banished to a failing team, but due to the team working remotely, her boss thinks she’s a man, and she gets to enjoy the privileges of being a man in the tech world. It becomes a farce as the legend of Indiana’s manliness grows, aided by some ridiculous friends. He’s sporty but artsy, and births a baby then lands a plane. Indiana has to go through great lengths to avoid her boss when he wants to meet face-to-face. The romance aspect of the book is thin, with the focus more on Indiana’s work struggles. Her relationship with a coworker is cute, but their interactions aren’t memorable. It was a quick read. (7.5)

This is a sweeping love story with some real substance. Kaliya Wilson met Danny Prescott in college where they dreamed of producing and directing Oscar-worthy films. Their romance imploded, and Danny went on to reap the benefits of being the son of a famous director. Kaliya struggles in the swamps of a reception desk at a film studio, repetitively looked over for promotions, and it’s impossible not to root for her. When Danny offers her a job on a new film based on the life and love of his parents, Kaliya knows it’s her shot to make a real contribution to her love for movies. Her past love for Danny starts as an unwanted complication but grows as they spend more time together. Side characters like Bella, a podcasting intern that’s handed a job initially promised to Kaliya, make the novel even better. The writing was strong and the characters felt real. I’d happily read another book by Myah Ariel. (8)

Always good to see romance novels where the heroine isn’t stick thin. Everly has learned to mute herself to blend in, and has been fearful of taking risks ever since her grandmother, who was her biggest cheerleader, died. She gets nominated for a reality TV makeover show, and develops a connection with the cameraman, Logan. The showrunner, Sady, is stretching the “reality” in reality TV, and go-along-to-get-along Everly has to find her voice to make sure she is portrayed authentically. There could have been a bit more suspense about Logan’s true intentions. The relationship between Everly and her mother, who meant well but hurt Everly with pressuring Everly to lose weight and not stand out, was well done. I would read another book from this author. (7.75) 

LaRynn spent summers in high school at her grandmother’s duplex home. Deacon’s grandmother rented the other half. The two grandparents fell in love and knocked the walls down to create one large unit. LaRynn and Deacon had a summer romance that ended badly, but are forced to work together after both grandmothers die and leave them the home. The house needs a lot of work, and LaRynn only has access to her trust if she gets married. Deacon knows about construction but has no money. They marry to be able to fix the place up for selling, and while fixing up the home, they deconstruct what went wrong during their past relationship. It was well written, and I’d read another book from this author. (8)

This one was a bit tough for me. It starts with the main character, Sylvie, breaking into Killian’s home (ok, walking in without permission), and she’s impressively unlikeable. So much so, that I don’t really feel for her when the predicable happens - her boyfriend is cheating on her with her best friend. Right as she’s losing everything, she gets an extremely unlikely offer to move to Scotland and marry Killian in order to trick him into giving up his home. He thinks marrying her ensures he gets to keep his home. They hate each other until they don’t. The enemies to lovers was done fairly well, along with the plot line of Killian’s panic attacks and anxiety. There’s a lot of sex and some light bondage. It wraps up too neatly. I liked the book, but I wasn’t crazy about it. That said, I would consider reading another Sara Cate book. (7.25)

I’m a Lucy Parker fan, and this book didn’t disappoint. Her writing style is chatty/wordy, which might aggravate me if she wasn’t so talented and funny. Petunia (Pet) is the pint-sized personal assistant to Johnny, the accident-prone husband of Rosie, a down-the-line member of the royal family. Matthias is the giant, glowering security guard. Johnny and Pet are photographed in what appears to be a romantic moment, so to steer the paparazzi away from that incorrect narrative, Pet and Matthias stage Codename Charming, acting in love to give the paparazzi a different shiny object to focus on. As Pet and Matthias realize the act comes way too natural, Pet is also trying to find out information on her father. And Matthias is working through grief from a violent loss. Despite the heavy themes there’s a lot of humor in the book, including a fun paint-ballesque scene (using wands instead of guns). The writing sounds very British to me (even though the author lives in New Zealand), with fun sla...