Playing with Fire shows off the softer — but no less angsty — side of L.J. Shen’s writing. Her stories frequently feature alphaholes — truly despicable men of privilege that you hate to love. This book isn’t about bored little rich bullies. It’s about misunderstood misfits, about loss, and rising above one’s demons.
The Girl in the Love Song is a friends-to-lovers new adult story that is custom made for angst junkies like me.
Jewel E. Ann’s Jack & Jill trilogy remains one of my all-time favorites. It’s unique, suspenseful, funny, tragic, and romantic. While I hated saying goodbye to the characters I’d grown to adore, the ending was so satisfying that I didn’t dare ask for more. When I found out Jewel was writing Out of Love as a spinoff, my first thought was, “Don’t f*ck it up!” And she didn’t.
By all accounts, this ought to have been a home run. I have a huge soft spot in my heart for single parent romances, and it is very rare for me to not love a Sarina Bowen book. I’m bummed because while Lies & Lullabies is nice, the book lacks the luster I expected.
I was hesitant when I found out about this new series of books penned by various authors and set within Penny Reid’s book universe—-specifically in the Green Valley town that is home to the Winston brothers. I wasn’t sure another author could do justice to the kooky but heartwarming vibe I’d grown to love. Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit if Baking Me Crazy didn’t make me a believer.
Elle Kennedy’s Briar U series is filled with lovable goofball hockey players and the girls that put up with love them. The Dare is the fourth standalone set on the Ivy League campus and both the lady and the jock shine bright.
The Lying Hours is a modern take on Cyrano de Bergerac. I was worried I’d spend the majority of the book just waiting for the main character to be caught in a lie, but it’s not nearly as bad as I feared.
Thrive is a full-length companion novel to the Addicted and Calloway Sisters series. I have a feeling I would have enjoyed it more had I read it in the suggested order. As it is, I skipped this one when I devoured the entire series a year ago, and since I was missing the characters I decided to go back and read this book.
I’m doing this backassward because I’ve already read the entire Addicted/Calloway Sisters series (I’m obsessed, okay?) but am only now reading this book. Ricochet bridges the gap between Addicted to You (book 1) and Addicted for Now (book 2). It spans the 90-day period that Lily and Lo are separated while Lo is in rehab for alcoholism and Lily seeks therapy for sex addiction.
I don’t typically go for high school romances, but Dear Ava is a really well written enemies to lovers new adult story.
I’ve merged Whatever It Takes and Wherever You Are into one review because it’s a duet and there really isn’t a dramatic cliffhanger at the end of the first book. The second book is merely a seamless continuation of the story.
This was a hard one to rate. I had higher expectations for Angry God, but I enjoyed the suspenseful nature of the book.