Tag: amreadingromance

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#BlogTour: The Italian Daughter by Soraya M Lane

For this blog tour we’re looking at a tale where the author can *finally* combine “both halves” of who she is as a storyteller. For this blog tour we’re looking at The Italian Daughter by Soraya M Lane.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Slight Departure From Lane’s Typical Approach, Same Great Storytelling. I think this may be the first dual timeline book I’ve encountered from Lane, who normally writes historical fiction – mostly WWII – under this name. Here, we get a WWII story… but it serves to fill in the holes of the current day mystery, which is the other timeline. This is potentially an excellent starter that does well to both set up a series *and* combine “both” sides of Lane’s storytelling – she also writes actual romance stories as her name without the “M” middle initial, and the romance/ women’s fiction element here is particularly strong in *both* timelines. Which arguably makes this Lane’s strongest book to date, as she is finally able to combine her components into one full “self”. Truly an outstanding work, and very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details”, including book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Italian Daughter by Soraya M Lane”

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#BlogTour: Snowed In For Christmas by Sarah Morgan

For this blog tour we’re looking at Sarah Morgan’s seeming annual Christmas story, this time a Hallmarkie type tale set primarily in Scotland. For this blog tour we’re looking at Snowed In For Christmas by Sarah Morgan.

Here’s what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

Hallmark Scottish Christmas. Let’s be real here, this book is essentially a Hallmark Christmas movie set in Scotland. How you feel about the entire tale will likely be pretty close to how you feel about the sentence prior to this one in this review. There are three different romance tales at play here, between each of three siblings – Ross being the sacrificial lamb with a made up girlfriend to distract his parents from his sisters’ issues but who becomes all too real, Alice with an all too real fiancee, and Clemmie with plans of her own… who then has her own story from there. Along the way we also get to see the conflict between Ross and his dad, both of them successful businessmen who love to talk about anything *other* than business with each other. Ultimately, Morgan weaves her magic and makes all of this work quite well – if pretty much exactly within the Hallmarkie mold. Still, this is yet another solid hit for Morgan, and exactly how good of a hit really depends on exactly what the reader themselves feel about this type of story – Morgan’s bread and butter. I happened to think it worked quite well, and it is very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Snowed In For Christmas by Sarah Morgan”

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#BookReview: The Make-Up Test by Jenny L Howe

Academic Romance That Is Refreshingly Light On Academic Theory. Wait. A book set in Academia that *isn’t* hyper preachy about white people and/ or straight men being the epitome of all things evil and a scourge on humanity? That alone makes this work from debut author Howe quite refreshing. Now toss in a fat chick who is comfortable in her own body and who learns to stand up for herself even to those closest to her, and you’re getting *really* “out there” in terms of things that simply aren’t usually done in novels of any form, particularly romance novels released by Mega publishers. Now we’re even going to toss in *actual* academic work discussing the variations and themes of medieval literature? Wow, we’re really going on a refreshing romance journey that stimulates the brain as well as the heart! There are a few quibbles here or there with this book, but overall, ignore the people that are hating on it – this is actually quite a departure from the norm for this genre in so many ways, and thus deserves to be explored because of its originality while still being perfectly within overall genre norms. Very much recommended.

This review of The Make-Up Test by Jenny L Howe was originally written on September 9, 2022.

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#BookReview: Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings

Sex-Positive Neurodivergent Rom-Com. Straight up: If you don’t like damn near erotica level sex scenes… this book probably isn’t your thing. If you’re one of the “THERE CAN BE NO SEX AND IF THERE MUST BE SEX IT MUST BE STRICTLY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS AND THE MAIN COUPLE CAN BARELY KISS OR HOLD HANDS ON SCREEN” types… yeah, just skip this one. You’re not going to like it, and you one-starring a book over your own hangups does no one any favors.

For the at least 80% of us who *aren’t* like that… this is a fun book. Lizzie, and the author herself, has ADHD. (Serious question – for Autistics we have “Autistic” rather than “has Autism”, and the community tends to prefer the first one. Is there a similar name for people who have ADHD?) And this book shows the struggles that can come from that – but also shows how it can be managed and even worked into a strength, with proper preparation and training. (Which is similar for Autistics as well.) This is also a very neurodiverse-positive tale, showing that not everyone has to be a doctor or lawyer or engineer or anything else to have a fulfilling and meaningful life and be able to support and take care of themselves independently. Indeed, even with Lizzie’s titular “mistake”, there is quite a bit about her life and actions here that are to be readily commended, and it is refreshing to see authors willing to do just this in this era and with these types of characters.

Even though this is listed as “Book 2” (and wasn’t when it was presented to me), there are really only a couple of sentences in the entire 300+ page tale where this is even obviously hinted at inside the tale itself, so it actually works pretty well as a standalone, which is how I read it.

Overall this was truly a fun book with a lot of upside, and it is very much recommended.

This review of Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings was originally written on September 5, 2022.

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#BookReview: With Love From Wish & Co by Minnie Darke

Light And Fluffy But Tackles Serious Issues As Well. This is one of those books that is centered as a romantic comedy – and never really strays from that, despite tackling serious issues of trust in various forms: infidelity, love languages, being the black sheep of a family, etc. Some bits are truly laugh out loud funny (yet of the cringing variety), including the scenes where the central plotline is first revealed. Other scenes are romance of the level Nicholas Sparks even often fails to pull off. (Including the one in the garden, all I’m saying there.) Ultimately this is a story of a woman discovering just what she wants and being in a position to make it happen, and that is the ultimate feel-good here, even above the pair of romance stories embedded within. Very much recommended.

This review of With Love From Wish & Co by Minnie Darke was originally written on August 22, 2022.

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#BlogTour: Would You Rather by Allison Ashley

For this blog tour we’re looking at a book that could have gone far darker and more serious than it did and instead chose to have fun even while dealing with serious subject matters. For this blog tour we’re looking at Would You Rather by Allison Ashley.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Solid Friends To Lovers Romance. This is one of those books that takes a legitimately serious issue – insurance, insurance fraud, and organ transplants – and spins a charming and fun romance around it. Ashley manages to weave the ultra-serious in with the frivolous to great effect, enhancing both the seriousness and the fun while leaning more into the fun and romance. Overall a truly fun book, and a solid one for its end-of-summer release time frame. Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” – including an excerpt, book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
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#BlogTour: Mr Perfect On Paper by Jean Meltzer

For this blog tour we’re looking at a comedic look at romance during the Jewish High Holy Days that presents some interesting ideas. For this blog tour we’re looking at Mr Perfect On Paper by Jean Meltzer.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Interesting Story Built Primarily Around Jewish Holidays With Epic Final Meeting. This was a genuinely interesting – if long (seriously, the same story could have been told with roughly half the length and worked just as well, maybe better) – story built around a Jewish tech magnate and a desperate ploy to use the Jewish High Holy Days (+ Hanukah) as a way for a daytime TV show to save its ratings and thus the jobs of its staff. The comedy hits well, particularly in the initial appearance of the tech magnate on the TV show and on the first few dates (that all end in some form of disaster). The romance plods along a bit (this is where the shorter length proposed above could dramatically help), but the slow build works to get to a truly epic final meeting between the lead couple. Overall a solid story and well told, and gets some different ideas out to boot without being overly preachy about them. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Mr Perfect On Paper by Jean Meltzer”

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#BookReview: A Lot Like Forever by Jennifer Snow

Epic Angst Filled Romance. This is one of those more divisive romances where you’re either going to see it as truly epic and one of the best ever for just everything that the couple has to overcome… or you’re going to hate it because most of the issues could have been resolved in about two seconds if one or both halves of the couple had simply let go of their pride for a few minutes and had an open and vulnerable conversation with their partner. Obviously, I learn more towards the former than the latter. I also really appreciated the flashbacks to “then”, when the couple first began dating through when they first got engaged. This is where the real romance of the story was, particularly as they were both being so stubborn and angsty in the current timeline, and it worked quite well with most chapters ending in this time period before coming back to the current timeline to start the next chapter. Even the ending grand gesture was excellent and called back to a part of both then and current, with a dose of solving a major issue between the couple thrown in. Overall an excellent book and very much recommended.

This review of A Lot Like Forever by Jennifer Snow was originally written on August 6, 2022.

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#BlogTour: Great Sexpectations by Kristin Bailey

For this blog tour we’re looking at a hilarious and sex-positive romantic comedy. For this blog tour we’re looking at Great Sexpectations by Kristin Bailey.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Sex Positive Romantic Comedy. This is a fun, *just* under 300 page romantic comedy where much of the both the sex positivity and the comedy comes from the fact that our heroine runs a sex toy company and is the daughter of porn stars. So if that kind of humor isn’t your thing… this likely isn’t the book for you. For the rest of us though, it was freaking hilarious, literal laugh-out-loud-even-while-your-sister-in-law-is-sleeping-in-the-next-room-as-you=read-the-book-overnight hilarious. But it also has a degree of angst the way so many romances, and particularly those featuring Millenials, must. Truly just a fun book that never gets *too* deep but hits most every note romance readers have come to expect. Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Great Sexpectations by Kristin Bailey”

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#BlogTour: For Butter Or Worse by Erin La Rosa

For this blog tour we’re looking at a romantic comedy that deals with more serious topics than most of its genre do. For this blog tour we’re looking at For Butter Or Worse by Erin La Rosa.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Deeper Than Usual Rom-Com. This is one of those rom-coms that starts out light and fluffy and fun – even in an “I’m gonna kill you for that!” way – and then hits on several more substantive issues along the way. And yet, it never feels overly weighed down by any of them, though as with the comedy itself it is very likely that your mileage will vary there. For me, I loved the “behind the scenes” look at the “real-life” stresses of being a TV food show host/ judge… while also running your own restaurant empire off camera. And the constant twitter / google/ other social media feeds were an interesting spin as well, particularly used how they were. Great for foodies or really anyone just looking for a good time – though on *that* note… maybe not so much for the “clean” / “sweet” romance crowd. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: For Butter Or Worse by Erin La Rosa”