Skip to main content

Book 49 - Summer in the City by Alex Aster

Elle attends a party in NYC, and meets a handsome bouncer-looking guy. They make out and he tries to take her home by offering to buy her anything, unwittingly triggering her biggest pet peeve - someone using money to buy affection. She bolts and spend the next couple years seething over the interaction. 

She returns to the city to house sit for someone she couldn’t say no to, and (What’s the chances of this…) ends up on the penthouse floor with only one other apartment, and that one belongs to, wait for it, the bouncer-looking guy. He’s actually tech billionaire Parker Warren, and he needs a fake date for the summer to distract the media from a meager. She’s a screenwriter with writer’s block, and being around him seems to inspire hate-fueled writing. 

Their dialogue and it actions were mostly great. I liked how the author weaved NYC into the book. The forced proximity coincidence is super far-fetched. Elle’s distain for using money for control was understandable, but sometimes repetitive. The writing was solid and the enemies to lovers spice was good and not cringy. I would absolutely read another book from this author. (8)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Book 63 - Book Boyfriend by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

Jennifer and Scott are work rivals at a publishing company. He scoffs at her favorite fantasy series, so she’s shocked to see him at a week-long fantasy immersion vacation. Enemies to lovers, always fun.  I love this duo’s writing style, like the line about Princess Bride-ing it down a hill and other clever turns of phrases. I’ll read whatever they write just for that. I liked how they incorporated the fantasy world, Elytheum, into the story, even if it was a bit over-the-top and unrealistic. I’m not a big fantasy reader, and I wasn’t sure what a fae is (Google confirms my thought that it’s like a fairy), but I could appreciate how ingrained the series is into Jennifer’s life.  I liked Jennifer and Scott’s interactions, for the most part. I think the biggest flaw is that the only thing really keeping the characters apart is their suspicion and fear. Which got a little repetitive. And Jennifer’s self reflections got a bit tedious for me. All in all it was a cute read. I liked t...

Book 40 - The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

Classic fake-dating trope mixed with The Hating Game. Catalina Martin needs a boyfriend for her sister’s wedding, so the whole family doesn’t look at her with pity. The groom’s brother is her ex, and he’s recently engaged. The only one willing to help is her enemy colleague, Aaron Blackford. Nothing new of overly inventive, although the Spanish flavor was nice. Slow burn and then a fair amount of spice. Aaron seemed to have pretty good people and communication skills once he was fake dating Catalina, so I’m not sure why he didn’t use those skills before to apologize and express his feeling for her. There’s nothing overly memorable about the book, but I enjoyed it. I’ll happily read the next one about Catalina’s best friend. (8)

Book 69 - Business Casual by B.K. Borison

This wasn’t my favorite B.K. Borison book, but it was still cute, and an easy, quick read. I’ve only read the first book in the Lovelight series, so this one is out of order for me. I’d still read book 2 and 3 if they become available. Nova is a tattoo artist who feels like she has to do everything perfectly to make her family proud. Charlie is an investment banker who lives 3-4 hours away, but goes to the farm to see his step-sister (Stella, from the first book), and to recharge. It starts as a casual hook up for them, but then moves to business casual, then to more serious. But Charlie has always felt like he doesn’t quite belong anywhere, and he fears he’s overstaying his welcome if he’s not helping to fix something. And Nova’s always been very independent and never wanted a serious partner. There’s not much more to the book. (7.5)