{Review} Built to Last by Erin Hahn

 

Page count: 336

Publisher: Macmillan

Published on: October 18, 2022 

Genres: Adult contemporary romance

Format: ARC from Macmillan

[Purchase Here]

Tropes: best friends to lovers, childhood friends to lovers, second chance romance

Spice: 🌶/5

Rating: 4 stars

~ HGTV home reno vibes, formerly famous main characters, former child stars ~

Goodreads synopsis:

Shelby Springfield has spent the last ten years trying to overcome her past. As a former child star and lack luster pop star, it's difficult to move on from her widely documented and public meltdown and incredibly humiliating public break up with her former co-star, Lyle.

When Shelby is asked to be the star of a home renovation show, she can't help but accept. Especially if her other co-star and first love, Cameron, is involved.

This book was so adorable! I can't thank Macmillan enough for sending this my way. Shelby and Cameron were so so sweet and their love story was so much fun to read. I'm always searching for a delightful second chance romance storyline and this definitely scratched the itch.

Cameron has made a name for himself as a widely popular nature documentary videographer. When he's asked to co-star in a home renovation show with his former best friend and first love, Shelby, he can't refuse.

~~~

Thank you for the ARC, Macmillan!

** All thoughts are my own and I have received no financial compensation for my honest review **

    Shelby (27) has lived a quiet, secluded life away from the spotlight since she left L.A. She's created her own business where she refurbishes and restores furniture and works with her father to flip houses in the community. She's found purpose and peace since her wild child days in L.A. I absolutely loved seeing Shelby's growth throughout this book. Her journey to love herself isn't easy, and forgiving herself and moving past her mistakes is just as hard of a task. I was so invested in her journey and I loved the HEA that resulted. The chemistry between Shelby and Cam is undeniable. Their friendship is so so sweet and I honestly loved the minor miscommunication that aided them in admitting their feelings for one another. It was realistic and really really cute. I loved the themes throughout this book, particularly the focus on personal change and growth. Humans are meant to evolve with their experiences and I felt like Hahn represented humanity and their tenacious spirit through her characters. It was absolutely fantastic and I definitely teared up a little when I got to the end of the book. The payoff is so worth it to me. Cameron (28) is one of the sweetest fictional men. I loved his perspectives throughout because he was just sooo smitten with Shelby. I loved seeing him get to grow as a person and actually pursue his passions despite the hardships that arose. His relationship with Shelby's dad was so wonderful and I loved how he fell for not just Shelby, but the life she's created and a livelihood that he finds fulfillment. One thing that I missed in this book was flashbacks. Cam and Shelby's relationship was believable, but their chemistry kind of lacking sometimes. I felt like there should have been a few more flashbacks to really solidify their backstory. I really wanted more from their past and I felt like it would have filled in the holes where the story lacked. If there had been more, I think that S&C's development, growth, and romantic chemistry would have felt even more believable. The events of the past just seemed so incredibly important to the characters, but we only got a glimpse of how they actively affected their lives. It was talked about, but there wasn't enough showing for my taste. Overall, this was so much fun to read. I can't wait to shove this into the hands of my romance-loving friends. They're going to love this so so much.

I definitely recommend this one! Snag your copy now!

Happy reading, friends!

Olivia

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{Review} Mr. October by Bethany Weaver

 

Page count: 65

Publisher: Bethany Weaver

Published on: October 13, 2022 

Genres: Adult romance

Format: eARC from Bethany

Preorder NOW on Amazon! Only $2.99!

Tropes: best friends to lovers, small-town romance, Halloween romance Spice: 🌶.5/5 Rating: 4/5 stars

Goodreads synopsis:

Halloween has come early in this steamy, friends to lovers, teacher/teacher romance filled with secret pining, fun hijinks, and quirky small-town feels. Sabrina is no stranger to the Halloween pranks played around Grimsby, Indiana in the month of October. In fact, she is the recipient of nearly all of them. Usually, she would laugh it off and spend the rest of month looking over her shoulder anxiously awaiting the next scare. But not this year. She’s ready to fight prank with prank…starting with her best friend and Grimsby High’s favorite history teacher: Mr. October.

~ ~ ~

Hey, guys!

I had the pleasure of reading my friend, Bethany's, Halloween romance novella while I was down with COVID -- and I have to say that it was one of the highlights from those two weeks! Bethany and I graduated together from Indiana University and I had the pleasure of taking classes with her throughout my four years of undergrad. When she told me she was releasing a novella, I was ecstatic! Her work is so much fun to read and she writes romance like no other. Any snippets of her work that I got to consume while at IU was just absolutely phenomenal. She's so talented.

Needless to say, I'm biased toward her work. But that isn't going to stop me from hyping her up to the gods. I can't recommend her work enough. When her full-length books come out, prepare to be sick of me because she is THAT. GOOD.

I'm absolutely a sucker for any kind of romance, but I love a holiday centered read. I'm a huge fan of Halloween romance novellas. It's always such a great time. A fantastic mixture of cozy, spooky, and hilarious. Bethany didn't disappoint!

Mr. October is sixty-five pages of fun and swoony romance. It follows Sabrina and Adam who are best friends and coworkers at a school. I won't explain because it's sixty five pages! They fall in love and things get spicy. It's so much fun!

There are two reasons why this only got four stars, but they're selfish reasons:

1) I really wanted just a bit more. Just maybe five thousand more words tacked onto the fifteen thousand. Some of the plot points were a smidge too rushed or glossed over, but overall, it worked so so well. I'm just always grooving for more from Bethany.

2) I've read snippets of Bethany's upcoming work. It's just SO GOOD. Compared to the stories she is preparing for 2023, this story was just four stars for me. Those that are reading this review are going to go absolutely feral for Bethany's upcoming work. Preorder them! You won't be disappointed!

If you love cozy, fall themed romances, this is one to pick up. You'll love Mr. October and the easily frightened Sabrina and swoony Adam October. You need this novella in your life. Also! It comes out on my birthday! It's fate! Read this novella!

Follow Bethany!

Instagram/ Amazon

Weaver Literary Agency

Happy reading, friends!

Olivia

Liv the Book Nerd

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{Review} The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

Page count: 448

Publisher: Atria Books

Published on: February 8, 2022 

Genres: Adult romance

Format: ebook & paperback - personally purchased; audio via public library

Tropes: Tropes: enemies to friends to lovers; forced proximity, office romance, one-bed, slow burn, miscommunication

Spice: 🌶🌶/5

Goodreads synopsis:

Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiraled out of control. Now everyone she knows—including her ex and his fiancée—will be there and eager to meet him.

She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool.

Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.

But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office.

~~~

When it comes to The Spanish Love Deception, I really thought that I would love it. I really enjoy a slow burn romance, especially when it’s done well. My friends Paige and KJ LOVE this book. They love Aaron Blackford and I had genuinely only heard phenomenal things about this book.  Overall, I’m really not sure how to feel about this book because it had an equal amount of things that I just really didn’t like and things that I was absolutely obsessed with. 

In TSLD, the story features a Clark Kent type (sign me up), an enemies to lovers dynamic, the one-bed trope (because he broke his bed!!!), an office romance, international travel (they go to Spain!), and I was promised pining. I got all of those! What a treat! Unfortunately, we also get willful ignorance on our heroine’s part, oodles of the misinformation trope, and lackluster chemistry once the characters actually get together.

This book was incredibly engaging. I really really enjoyed the reading experience. I tandem read between the audio and an ebook. I even stayed up until 1am to finish. (For context, I haven’t done that in forever! To be quite frank, getting COVID has absolutely ruined my sleep schedule. But anyway!) Once I finished it, I just felt …empty? And disappointed, I think. The story was just missing something for me. I really wanted to love this book! It’s a book community darling! The author has impeccable taste and is a genuinely wonderful person. I wanted to love her book! 

Once I finished — and even during moments while reading — I felt like this book was too long. The lead-up to their actual trip took way too much time. There were moments that felt crucial for the story, but I genuinely think a lot of it could have been cut or condensed. At least 100 pages could have disappeared and I wouldn’t have minded. 

Let’s talk about Aaron Blackford because wow. I love that man. I genuinely wish the book had been from his perspective. He’s so stoic and quiet and I would have loved to get his internal angst and pining on page. He’s sooo sweet and he does far too much for Lina. He’s always thinking about how he can make her happy and bring joy to her life. He sacrifices so much and is so selfless; I just didn’t think Lina deserved it. She willfully ignores his affection for her. She actively disregard his plain language and the sweet things he said because it was easier to hate him. She also shut down multiple conversations that could have cleared the air because she knew what he was about to say. She was incredibly selfish and I ended up not enjoying her character by the end. 

Overall, I liked this book, but it just fell flat for me. I absolutely adored Aaron. He was so swoon-worthy and I wish I had read more from his perspective. He was incredibly dreamy. 

I’m not sure if I’ll read The American Roommate Experiment. I really liked the premise, but I’m not 100% into Armas’ writing style (unfortunately).

Happy reading, friends!

Olivia

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{Review} Go Hex Yourself (Hex #1) by Jessica Clare

Page count: 384

Publisher: Berkley Books

Published on: April 19, 2022 

Genres: Adult romance, paranormal fantasy

Format: paperback - personally purchased

Goodreads synopsis:

When Reggie Johnson answers a job ad in the paper, she's astonished to find that she's not applying to work at her favorite card game, Spellcraft: The Magicking. Instead, she's applying to be an actual familiar for an actual witch. As in, real magic.

The new job has a few perks - great room and board, excellent pay, and she's apprenticing to a powerful witch. Sure, the witch is a bit eccentric. And sure, there was that issue with the black cat Reggie would prefer to forget about. The biggest problem, however, is warlock Ben Magnus, her employer's nephew and the most arrogant, insufferable, maddening man to ever cast a spell.

Reggie absolutely hates him. He's handsome, but he's also bossy and irritating and orders her around. Ben's butt might look great in a crystal ball vision, but that's as far as it goes. But when someone with a vendetta targets the household, she finds herself working with Ben to break a deadly curse. Apparently, when they're not fighting like cats and dogs, things get downright...bewitching.

✨ Rating: 5 stars

Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶 /5

Tropes: grumpy/sunshine; enemies to friends to lovers; forced proximity

CW/TW: financial insecurity, death of parents (historical), toxic & manipulative parents, abandonment, mention of suicide (mention, side character, historical), murder (hist.), blood, knives, blood, death of parents (hist.)

This is probably one of my top favorite books from this year. I absolutely loved this spicy paranormal romance so much. Reggie and Ben had the best chemistry and I loved getting to experience how they fell for each other. This book was giving me cozy mystery, spicy witchy romance, paranormal goodness. Needless to say, it was everything I could have ever wanted.

If you can't tell from the cover, this book is essentially a Reylo fanfiction. I can't say that I'm part of that fandom or ship, but I definitely loved what I got from this book. (To clarify, I really enjoy SW, but it's not one of my main fandoms. I'm definitely knee-deep into the Reylo fandom. I'll leave that to my best friends.) If you're not familiar with Ali Hazelwood and her debut, Love on the Brain, first - wow! Welcome! You should definitely read it! Second, I saw that she raved about this book soon after starting and I have to agree with her! Masterful and everything you could want. 10/10. Love on the Brain is also a Reylo fanfiction that has been published. So I guess maybe I should just be pursuing witchy Reylo fic now? I'd honestly love more.

Anyway!

This book was exactly what I needed in my life. I'm absolutely desperate to get book 2. I need that couple's story so badly. Again, I'm desperate. I won't spoil who it is because I think it's worth reading AAAALL of Go Hex Yourself, getting acquainted with the characters, and being just as excited as I am when you read the synopsis to book 2. This is your push to read GHY. I mean, you can continue reading this review, but I insist! *nudge nudge* Get on it, little chickadee!

I loved Reggie and Ben so freaking much. One of the best parts of this book (for me) was that we got chapters from both of the leads' perspectives. I noticed that many people didn't enjoy Ben's POV, but those chapters made me absolutely feral. He's such a softy and I love his constant angst and devotion to Reggie -- even during the moments where he had no recollection or awareness of it.

Reggie was such a lovely, spunky MC. I usually have a love/hate relationship with characters that are described as "spunky," but I adored how her character was developed. She was strong, and she was a little obtuse, but she worked so hard and she does everything she can with the cards she was dealt. Her backstory is riveting and I loved seeing how she grew from her circumstances. Her parents can choke and Reggie deserves so much better. (Reasonably, yes, these are fictional characters with potential mental health issues, but just from their actions alone -- they should know better! They refuse to change and that's just horrible!)

I really appreciated how the conflict was handled throughout. There were multiple issues that cropped up throughout the story and there were facets of the plot that tied into the overarching conflict, but they weren't overdone. Sometimes it feels like some romance novels just have too many points of conflict that affect the characters. It gets overwhelming and strange and it usually messes with the flow and pacing of the novel. I'm happy to say that this book didn't do this AT ALL.

I also adored the world-building incorporated throughout. I'm obsessed with the magic system and the concepts discussed throughout. Magic users are descended from the children of the gods? That genuinely sounds plausible! Tell me more! I can't wait to learn more in book 2. Gimme gimme.

This book just ticked every box for me and I cannot wait to read more witchy romance from Jessica Clare. I'm unfortunately not her target reader for her other books (cowboys do not do it for me and neither do billionaires typically). I definitely need more witchy romance recs so please comment below if you have any titles you recommend.

Happy reading, friends!

Olivia
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{Review} The Kraken's Sacrifice (Deal With A Demon #2) by Katee Robert

Page count: 172 

Publisher: Katee Robert 

Published on: October 11, 2022 

Genres: Adult romance, paranormal 

Format: eARC provided by KR through Patreon  

✨ Rating: 5 stars

 

Tropes: Grumpy/Sunshine, monster romance 

Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶 

 

TW/CW: Abuse/neglect (mental/emotional, parent to child, historical), spousal death (historical, non-graphic, off-page), explicit sex, vomit (non-graphic), pregnancy termination, incidental injuries for magical purposes, grief, body shaming (historical, referenced briefly) 

 

- - - - 

 

Goodreads synopsis: 

 

Catalina only made her deal with the demon because she had nowhere else to go. The world has kicked her every chance it got, so she’s all too happy to leave the realm she knows behind. What’s the worst that could happen? 
 
She doesn’t anticipate being auctioned away to a kraken. 
 
Thane is cold and distant…but he’s not unkind. Isolated as they are, Catalina finds herself seeking his company again and again. And when she finally agrees to uphold her portion of the bargain? 
 
That’s when things get really interesting. 
 
But she only gave the demon seven years, and when the time is up, she’ll have no choice but to leave behind the kraken who’s stolen her heart and return to the world that doesn’t want her. 

 

- - - -

Hello, my sweet peaches,

I didn’t think that I would love this sort of romance, but now I can’t get enough of them. Katee Robert has the key to my heart. She just writes romance so well and I’ve been absolutely obsessed with her work – especially this summer.

In April, my book club voted to read Katee Robert’s The Dragon’s Bride, the first book in the Deal with a Demon series, and we all loved it. It was such a fun read and we desperately wanted more.

The best thing about KR’s monster romances is that she takes an imposing creature and humanizes them. In The Kraken’s Sacrifice, Thane was the perfect mixture of sexy, soft, and grumpy. I loved his grumpy exterior. He was absolutely delightful. Once you get through his emotional walls, he shines. I adore him and he was a beautifully complex hero for this story.

Speaking of complexity – Catalina! What a firecracker. She is the sunshine half of the grumpy/sunshine trope and she also had an incredibly complex series of growth throughout the story. I was absolutely obsessed with her. Low key, I’m already planning on rereading during the release week (and it releases two days before my 25th bday, so that’s just fate).

In this book, Catalina is attempting to cope with the intense amounts of abuse she’s faced throughout her life. Thane is trying to cope with the loss of his husband. Together, their characters provide exactly what each needs to move on with their lives and be the best versions of themselves. I’m not saying that Thane has to just drop his husband, but he’s learning to live again. He’s learning to love and be vulnerable again. I found it to be beautiful.

I think what I loved the most about this book was that they weren’t together because they loved to sleep together. Their intimacy allowed them to be more vulnerable with each other, but it wasn’t what the book was based around. Rather, they had to learn to trust each other and to be friends before they allowed themselves to be their truest selves with one another. I also really loved that they won’t be having babies and that they don’t feel like their little family won’t be complete without adding another little person to the mix. KR’s representation was excellent and I loved how she handled the in-world pregnancy termination. I’m so glad she included that part.

This is definitely on my list of favorite books of 2022. I’m so eager for the next addition to the series and you’ll definitely see more reviews for KR’s other books.

Until then, happy reading!

Olivia
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