Tag: Romance Novel

Book Review: The Man Next Door by Sheila Roberts

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🫑 /5

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Part mystery, part romance, part women’s fiction The Man Next Door was such a fun read! The story follows three generations of women: grandmother, mother, and daughter.

Zona is freshly divorced (husband #2, thank you very much), broke, and forced to move back in with her mother, Louise. She thinks she’ll at least have a little breathing room while Louise heads off on her long-awaited singles cruise. But a hilarious accident leads to not-so-hilarious consequences, and Louise ends up back home with a broken leg and a bruised spirit.

Zona’s daughter, Bree, is juggling nursing school and a full plate of emotional baggage, thanks in part to her mom’s messy love life. She’s got an adorable guy trying hard to win her over, but she’s so jaded she can’t let him in. Eventually, he gives up and walks away. Bree is left miserable, confused, and furious at the world especially at her mom.

Then there’s Alec James, the new hottie who moves into the long-empty house next door. Louise and Zona immediately start spying on him, sometimes intentionally, sometimes because Louise’s dog, Darling, keeps choosing Alec’s yard as his personal bathroom. There’s also a mystery woman coming and going, shouting matches over the fence, and a lot of speculation. Louise is eating it up for her next novel, with plenty of encouragement from her tough-as-nails nurse, Gilda.

Oh, and Martin. A sweet, solid guy right under Louise’s nose. But she’s too busy chasing the idea of someone… shinier.

This book was fast-paced, witty, and full of heart. I loved the growth arc of all three women, but I was especially cheering for Louise. Her storyline was surprisingly tender and empowering.

PS, don’t think I missed that Susan and Carol reference at the end. I love a good F.R.I.E.N.D.S. easter egg!

If you’re a fan of the Stephanie Plum books or the Finlay Donovan series, this will be right up your alley. Equal parts fun, heartfelt, and sneakily emotional — I didn’t want to put it down! Thank you to the author Sheila Roberts, Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA and netgalley for the ARC copy of this book.

On sale now, you can grab your copy here!

Book Review: A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🫑 /5

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If ever there was a book that felt like a cozy, witchy hug, it’s this one.

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is a warm, enchanting, and emotionally resonant story about rebuilding from the ashes of failure, rediscovering joy in magic, and finding home in the most unexpected people (and creatures).

At the heart of this delightful novel is Sera Swan, once the rising star of the Guild, now an exile stripped of her magic after breaking the rules to save someone she loved. In a desperate act of forbidden magic, Sera brought her quirky Aunt Jasmine back from the dead—and unintentionally resurrected a zombie rooster named Roo-Roo in the process. With her powers gone and her reputation shattered, Sera retreats to Jasmine’s magical inn in Lancashire, a place where outcasts are welcomed, and the impossible feels ordinary.

The inn quickly becomes a gathering place for some of the most charmingly chaotic characters I’ve ever met. But I think my favorite just might be Roo-Roo – the unintentionally resurrected zombie rooster who steals every scene he’s in. Yes, really. Oh and there’s a talking fox named Clemmie. I picture her as a British fox version of Salem from Sabrina The Teenaged Witch.

Through it all, Sera must navigate the messy, funny, and sometimes heartbreaking process of learning to live a life she never expected, with people she never saw coming. And maybe—just maybe—she’ll rediscover her magic in more ways than one.

Mandanna’s writing is full of charm, wit, and just enough emotional heft to make your heart ache in all the right ways. The story balances found family, redemption arcs, gentle romance, and whimsical worldbuilding with pitch-perfect tone. The village inn setting, nestled in the English countryside, is pure autumnal escapism—exactly the kind of place you’ll want to move into (goats, zombie birds, and all).

It’s the perfect read to usher in fall, purely magical, and full of cozy charm.

On sale now, you can grab your copy here.

Plot Twist by Carmen Sereno

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🌶️🌶️/5

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💖 Enemies to Lovers

💖 Opposites Attract

💖 Forced Proximity

💖 Workplace Romance

💖 Slow Burn

Plot Twist launches today! It’s a fast-paced rom-com packed with some of my favorite tropes!

Siobhan Harris is an inexperienced romance writer, just trying to make ends meet. Recently ghosted by her boyfriend and stuck in an unaffordable apartment, she’s down to her last shred of sanity and nearly her last dollar when a book offer changes her life.

Marcel Dupont, a narcissistic asshat, ended his phenomenally successful thriller series by killing off its hero in a tantrum. His fans are outraged, and so is his publisher. He’s obsessed with keeping his identity a secret, remaining a faceless author.

Forced onto Twitter, the first thing the social media-naïve Marcel does is start a feud with Siobhan. With her star on the rise and his on the decline, the publisher decides they need to collaborate on a romantic thriller.

Cue the drama. Sparks fly, tensions escalate, and as they get to know each other, they both discover that there’s more to the other than meets the eye. The writing is sharp and witty, and the banter between Siobhan and Marcel is outstanding! Initially, I really, really disliked Marcel, but I eventually grew to love him. Siobhan, however, had my support from the very start! Also…potential 2nd book with Paige and Alex 🤔 🧐

A huge thank you to the author, the publisher Amazon Crossing and NetGalley for sending me this amazing book for my review. It’s on sale now and you can pick up your copy by clicking here.

Just Some Stupid Love Story by Katelyn Doyle

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🌶️🌶️/5

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💖2nd chance

💖High School Sweethearts

💖Enemies to Lovers

💖Opposites Attract

💖Grumpy vs Sunshine

💖Long Distance

Just Some Stupid Love Story was a quick read that I really enjoyed. It’s perfect for the beach or if you need something funny and sexy to read.

Grumpy vs. Sunshine is one of my favorite tropes, and usually, it’s the guy who is grumpy and unavailable. I absolutely love when it’s flipped around!

Meet Molly – she’s emotionally unavailable, with a host of problems she’s working through, including anxiety, depression, and some really deep dad issues. (Her dad sucks.) In a delightful twist, she writes rom-com screenplays and is very successful at it.

Meet Seth – an eternal optimist in search of true love. He’s loyal, funny, and just a tiny bit over the top. All he wants is a family of his own. He’s a divorce lawyer who tries his best to help his clients and their families get through a horrible moment in their lives without causing chaos.

The book spans from when Molly and Seth meet up again at their 15th high school reunion in November 2018 through their 20th in 2023. This is quite a time span for one novel, but I feel it was well done and not rushed. I enjoyed the email and text exchanges we got to read. It’s challenging when the characters are apart for a significant portion of the book, as they are here. But between their correspondence, chance encounters, and planned meetings, it was handled very well.

If you’re a fan of Katherine Center, Abby Jimenez, or Ali Hazelwood, I think you’ll love Katelyn Doyle too. The writing is quick, funny, and flows so well. I also really like dual POV in my romance books, so I was happy we got to bounce between both Molly and Seth. There’s also a great cast of side characters that we get to know and love.

The author Katelyn Doyle writes historical romances under the name Scarlett Peckham, but this is her Rom-Com debut. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

A huge thank you to the author, the publisher Flatiron Press and NetGalley for sending me this amazing book for my review. It’s on sale now and you can pick up your copy by clicking here.

The Seaside Sisters by Pamela Kelley

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🫑/5

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Part romance, part women’s fiction, The Seaside Sisters is an ode to sisterhood in all its messy forms. Sisters Hannah and Sara are mourning the loss of their mom, while their Aunt Maddie is grieving her sister. What better place to do that than on the Cape?

Set on Cape Cod for one summer, Maddie attempts to save her marriage, Sara struggles to find her place as a working mom and wife, and Hannah just wants to get her next book written after a breakup.

Cape Cod is my happy place, so I’m always delighted when it’s the setting for a good book, especially with our annual summer vacation there coming up soon.

I loved this book so much and really identified with Sara and her struggle to be seen and appreciated. This was my first Pamela Kelley book, but it won’t be my last.

As always, I encourage you to read for yourself and see how you like it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Thank you to the author, the publisher St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for sending me and ARC copy. It’s on sale now and you can pick up your copy by clicking here.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🫑/5

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💖Closed Door Romance

💖Forced Proximity

💖Grumpy vs Sunshine

💖Strangers to Lovers

💖 Workplace Romance

🏠 Hollywood Setting

🚫No spice (hence the bell pepper 😂)

Just finished The Rom-Commers and wow, what a ride. Seriously, the ups and down in this book. I can’t even. Even though I usually read romance books with a lot of spice, I adore Katherine Center’s books. The characters she creates jump off the page and come to life. This was no exception.

Emma is so strong and selfless. I instantly wanted to give her a hug. And I also kind of want to shake her. The poor girl has put her whole life on hold to take care of her dad, blaming herself for his accident and the loss of her mom. I really hate that she was manipulated into working with Charlie. Logan sucks. He’s sneaky and tells half-truths and keeps secrets. Thank goodness he somewhat redeemed himself. But he was a pretty awful friend for a while.

It took me a little bit longer to warm up to Charlie. He’s kind of a jerk for the first half of the book. I have to admit I was pretty nervous about his cough, though. As someone who is familiar with sarcoma and its recurrence, as soon as he started coughing I had to stop myself from skipping ahead to make sure he was okay. It’s sweet how he takes care of his guinea pig. By the end of the book, I had heart eyes for him. 😍

I love this ode to romance and rom-coms and the joy they bring. Hands down one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. I would have liked it to be dual POV, but if you check out the audio, you get a little sneak peek into Charlie in one of my favorite scenes (the diving board!!!).

As always, I encourage you to read for yourself and see how you like it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

A huge thank you to the author, the publisher St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for sending me this amazing book for my review. It’s on sale now and you can pick up your copy by clicking here

Mr. Wicked by Marni Mann

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🌶🌶🌶🌶/5

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Book #2 in Marni Mann’s Hooked series follows the second of the Hooked boys Grayson after a paparazzi scandal. With the company in jeopardy due to his poor choice of words, he’s forced to face his biggest fear: commitment. In order to restore his reputation, his business partners decide he needs to get married. They hire an image consultant who picks the perfect fake wife. Too bad Jovana also happens to be one of his infamous one night stands. And the one night seems to have an impression on both of them.

I absolutely LOVED this book! It was flirty, funny, sexy and absolutely HOT 🔥. Grayson is a complete 🍆 most of the time, and I think it’s great how Jovana not only doesn’t put it up with it, but she sets him straight. She’s convinced she’s going to be the one who changes the forever bachelor.

I loved the twist at the end (didn’t see that one coming) when it turns out Jovana is also hiding a secret of her own.

With a HEA and the promise of Holden’s story in book 3, Mr. Wicked won’t disappoint. Bonus: both the ebook and audio are available in KU!

💖Fake Marriage

💖Billionaire Romance

💖Grumpy vs. Sunshine

💖Forced Proximity

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher Montlake and the author Marni Mann for the ARC copy of this book.

Mr. Wicked is available now in KU. Grab your copy here!

Almost Pretend by Nicole Snow

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🌶🌶🌶🌶/5

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I really wanted to like this book. But something felt off about it from the beginning. Like, why is a millionaire/billionaire flying business class on Delta? And it just kind of went downhill from there.

We start off with Elle, suffering from a blistering migraine, making her way back to the west coast. She just happens to be seated next to “The Fixer” August. She passes out, he feels compelled to take care of her, and someone splashes pictures of them all over the internet. In a bid to repair his reputation, August proposes.

I enjoyed the story itself, but I had a hard time connecting with the characters and finding them and the situations believable. There is a ton of spice and open-door sexy time, so this is a red hot read for sure.

Overall it was a quick read with a meh story line with characters who just didn’t do it for me. It felt like the whole book was trying too hard. Almost as if they were trying to hit every popular trope. Also it was long for a book that didn’t have much to offer plot wise.

If you’re looking for lots of sexy time with minimal plot and character development, this book is for you.

I’m pretty sure that this review perfectly sums up how I feel.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. But as always, I encourage you to read for yourself.

RED HOT READ ALERT: this book is a sexy sexy red hot read that might jusy leave you blushing.

💖 Fake dating

💖 Fake engagement

💖 Grumpy vs sunshine

💖 Age gap

💖 Billionaire Romance

💖 Boss-Employee

Almost Pretend is available now in KU. Grab your copy here

Thanks to Netgalley and Montelake for the ARC copy of this book.

Road Queens By MaryJanice Davidson

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ /5

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Road Queens was my first book by MaryJanice Davidson. While the premise was intriguing, I had a hard time getting into this book. Cassandra, Amanda, and Sidney were best friends once upon a time. With Cass as the driving force, they created OpStar, a way to help people in bad situations. Until everything went wrong and Cass took off. But now, there is a dead body whom no one seems to know, and Cass is back in town. Enter Sean Beane, a PI or a cop—it’s kind of hard to tell, and it isn’t really made clear.

The story is told by switching between the past and present, and while I normally don’t mind this, sometimes the flashback was 5 years ago, other times it was an indistinct time such as “forever ago.” It also wasn’t consistent. I found the banter between the girls to be funny-ish at best and downright annoying at other times. But that’s how it is when you’re an outsider looking in. When you’ve been friends for so long, you develop your own patois and secret language. However, I felt it was a little overdone. One too many pop culture references for me. And it took forever for me to figure out what was going on. I felt like I had missed something for the first 20% of the book. And how many times do we need to mention that Cass likes to eat dinner for breakfast? It became redundant after a while. I also don’t understand how the banter can be so quick but the story could move so slowly.

There is also a romance component to the book between Amanda and Sean Beane. The sexy bits are around the 2.5 peppers range, so I’ll round it up to 3. But it felt a little forced. This book seems like it didn’t know what it wanted to be—a romance? A thriller? Women’s fiction? I would put this in the same category as The Finlay Donovan books, basically a soft thriller.

All of this aside, I did enjoy the book. I found the story interesting and the character of Iris is downright intriguing. Towards the end, Amanda and Sean’s chemistry didn’t seem so forced, which was an improvement. We also left off with Sidney promising to be divorced or widowed, leaving the door open for another book which I look forward to. I found the information about MC clubs and female motorcycle riders interesting. I love that the girls are so badass and independent.

As always, I encourage you to read this book and form your own opinions just as I have. Thank you to the publisher Montlake, NetGalley, and the author for the ARC copy of this book. For all my fellow KU lovers, this book is available in KU to read AND listen! Grab your copy here.

Witches Get Stuff Done by Molly Harper

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️/5

🌶🌶/5

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OMG, with my love of witchy cozy’s/romcoms, how have I not read any books by @mollyharperauth before?! This book was the ideal segue from the non-fiction I’ve been reading lately and just in time for Fall/Halloween. I’m not one for scary tales, so the witchy romances all over the shelves this season are right up my alley.

Riley receives a summons to Starfall Point by her late mother’s hitherto unknown sister, Nora. Her arrival on the island is far from grand, leading to her first encounter with the town librarian, Edison Held. Soon, she finds herself amidst chaos, eclectic ghosts, and a buzzing nanna grape-vine gossip network, while falling in love and finding her coven.

I adored this book! The magical world-building is phenomenal, the characters compelling, and the writing brims with wit and sharpness. I also appreciate the twist with Edison as a small-town librarian escaping his past, a part typically reserved for female leads. The paranormal mystery threads through well-devised plots, even if it leads to a somewhat foreseeable twist. My only quibble is that Edison and Riley’s relationship isn’t as fleshed out as Riley’s ties with the coven, lending the narrative a slightly rushed tone.

Nonetheless, it’s an amazing concoction of magic, cozy romance with a dash of spice, and paranormal mystery. I’m already devouring Caroline’s story (the 2nd book) and can hardly wait for Alice’s. Looks like I’ll be binging on Molly Harper’s backlog for the remainder of the weekend 😉.

Bonus – it’s available as an Audible original included for audible members. You can get your copy here. Or if you prefer the kindle version: here.

Tropes hit: Enemies to lovers, small town romance, found family, long lost relative, opposites attract.