Tag: amreadingromance

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#BookReview: Pretend To Be My Cowboy by Sophia Quinn

Solid Series Starter. This is the beginning of a new series by two authors combining under a single pen name, and while I had only read one of the two before… this is truly a solid sweet romance that her fans will enjoy, but also shows where she is not the only voice in the room. And yet, there is never a *blatant* change of perspective or anything that overtly gives away that two different people were writing this – which actually speaks to just how well they work together both as storytellers and through the editing process. Absolutely one for the sweet/ clean crowd – there is barely any kissing, much less anything else. (Sorry, steamier fans.) Also one for the Hallmark Movie type crowd, as this is absolutely one of their infamous general plots – big city girl comes to the wide open country, falls in love with the charming small town and one of its resident cowboys. While this book had *some* minor (Hallmarkie) level drama, there is a fair amount of foreshadowing here that there is at least the potential for meatier drama down the road in the series, and that could actually be a welcome change of pace for the one author I’m familiar with here. (For those that read this book and enjoy it, you’re absolutely going to love that author’s work as well.) Excellent work, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this progresses and how many books are ultimately in the series. Very much recommended.

This review of Pretend To Be My Cowboy by Sophia Quinn was originally written on December 1, 2021.

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#FallIntoChristmasRomance #BlogTour: A Little Christmas Spirit by Sheila Roberts

For this #FallIntoChristmasRomance blog tour, we’re looking at a strong amalgamation of A Christmas Carol, The Grinch, and Up – with a romance tacked on + an even stronger romance that “romance” purists will claim is just a love story. For this blog tour, we’re looking at A Little Christmas Spirit by Sheila Roberts.

A Christmas Carol / The Grinch / Up Mashup. If you go into this book expecting a romance – how it was marketed to me – … ummmm…. yeah, this isn’t really that. The “romance” here is fully tacked on in the last 20% of the book, with the guy barely mentioned at all before that point (and even in the “romance” here, the rest of the plot of the book is still truly the driver). But if you go into this as more of a women’s fiction / Christmas type book, it works quite a bit better. The focus is largely on Stanley, who is an amalgamation of the memorable parts of Scrooge (from A Christmas Carol, including a Christmas Ghost in the form of his dead wife), The Grinch (and his too-small-due-to-pain heart), and Carl from Pixar’s Up (grump old widower who doesn’t really like kids… at first). Then we’re introduced to Lexie and her son Brock, and from that point on Stanley’s life will never be the same again. But the majority of the book really is spent on Stanley, Lexie, and Brock, with the edge to Stanley and his memories of his wife (and interactions with her ghost). Here, it really does work to be a heartwarming tale (or heartworming, for those adverse to stories that get a bit saccharine at times, and in nod to the word I originally wrote there :D) again in line with A Christmas Carol and The Grinch. A fun tale that could have gotten a lot more depressing than it ever did, this is a solid Christmas tale… just not a Christmas Romance. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#FallIntoChristmasRomance #BlogTour: A Little Christmas Spirit by Sheila Roberts”

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Featured New Release Of The Week: Snowbound With Her Mountain Cowboy by Patricia Johns

This week we’re looking at a nearly 400 page romance with lots of secondary love stories embedded within it that reads much faster than its page count suggests. This week we’re looking at Snowbound With Her Mountain Cowboy by Patricia Johns.

Slow Burn Clean Second Chance Romance – With A Disaster. This is exactly what I noted in the title – a slow burn romance where the couple never really gets together until the very end, clean in that there is barely any kissing and certainly nothing beyond that (sorry, fans of near-erotica level steam), and featuring a couple that has been divorced far longer than they were ever married… but who neither ever quite got over the other. This one also has a few other love story tales embedded naturally within the story, all of which contribute nicely to the primary romance of the story here. Not short at nearly 400 pages, but does actually read a bit faster than other books of its length I’ve encountered. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” including book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “Featured New Release Of The Week: Snowbound With Her Mountain Cowboy by Patricia Johns”

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#BlogTour: Forever Home by Elysia Whisler

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a strong tale of second chances and taking risks… in more ways than one. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Forever Home by Elysia Whisler.

Lots Of Moving Parts And Yet It All Works. This book has a *lot* of moving parts with a primary romance, a secondary romance setup, two different tragic female backstories to encounter and mostly resolve, and a primary mystery and a secondary one to boot. And yet Whisler somehow manages to make all of that work, though the fact that she has 400 or so pages to play with here probably plays into this working as well as it does. The story is well paced – if you don’t mind a very slow burn primary romance. As in, not so slow that there is zero “piano playing” at all, but slow burn enough that this doesn’t actually happen until the last 15% or so of the book. So for the clean/ sweet crowd… eh, *all* of these characters have enough rough edges you’re likely not going to like this one. For those that *like* a bit more edginess… yep, this one is for you, particularly if you’re closer to the clean/ sweet side but like to get brave occasionally. 🙂 Overall a great tale that never overly feels like a “Book 2”, even though it is explicitly noted that this tale is, in fact, a “Book 2”. 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: Forever Home by Elysia Whisler”

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#FallIntoChristmasRomance #BlogTour: The Christmas Wedding Guest by Susan Mallery

For this blog tour we’re looking at a very Hallmark Christmas type tale that happens to be a two-for-one romance, with *two* couples’ stories told at once. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Christmas Wedding Guest by Susan Mallery.

Two-For-One Christmas Romance. This is one of those Christmas Romance novels that almost seems destined to be made into a Hallmark Christmas movie – you’ve got the quirky town, the various leads that have no interest in an actual relationship, the innkeeper, the local shop owner, the mysterious stranger, and even the unusual-yet-cool career… and *none* of them are actually looking for romance. And yet… Mallery has a lot to cover in nearly 400 pages, and does a solid job of showing the two relationships – one new, one second chance – building throughout. If you’re looking for a book where the couple is already together a quarter into the book… this isn’t that. This is one of those where they finally actually get together closer to the end (which isn’t a spoiler due to genre 😉 ), and it is indeed a satisfying conclusion. It will be interesting to see where Mallery takes Book 2 of this new series, with a couple of interesting possibilities there. Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” including book description, author bio, social media links, and links to buy the book.
Continue reading “#FallIntoChristmasRomance #BlogTour: The Christmas Wedding Guest by Susan Mallery”

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#BookReview: Fake Dating My Rockstar Roommate by Maggie Dallen

When You’re Dating A Celebrity – And Don’t Know You Are. This was one of the more entertaining “fake dating” type romances that spun the general idea on its head and runs with the idea of “what if a PR team claimed their client was dating someone – who had no idea the photo they are spinning had even been taken?”. From there, we get a realistic-ish look into the world of celebrity in the modern era, where *everyone* has a phone and even minor things most people wouldn’t even think twice about can go viral just because someone “famous” is doing it. Another fun entry into this series that works as a standalone, but one where the characters from previous books do show up. Very much recommended.

This review of Fake Dating My Rockstar Roommate by Maggie Dallen was originally written on November 17, 2021.

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#BookReview: An Unexpected Distraction by Catherine Bybee

Organic Romance – In A Romance Book???? Let’s face it, so many times in a romance book, the romance feels at least somewhat contrived. “Oh, you’re *really* going to go completely against your established character for this person you just randomly met?” kind of stuff. This isn’t the case here. Instead, Bybee crafts one of the more genuinely organic romances I’ve ever seen in a romance book… while still having her lead female kick ass and take names later. Fans of the Richter books largely know what you’re getting into here, and while this *does* work as a standalone, there *are* a lot of established external characters and backstories that you’re going to want to know up front. Thus, while you don’t have to go *all* the way back to its actual origins a couple of series ago, I absolutely recommend at minimum starting with Richter #1 and working your way to this book. But if you do… you’re going to want to get here anyway. 🙂 Very much recommended.

This review of An Unexpected Distraction by Catherine Bybee was originally written on November 7, 2021.

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#BlogTour: Meet Me In Madrid by Verity Lowell

For this blog tour we’re looking at an interesting FF romance that dives into some areas not usually seen in romance novels, but which does have a couple of major flaws. For this blog tour we’re looking at Meet Me In Madrid by Verity Lowell.

Interesting FF Romance Brought Down By Preachy Politics And Blatant Racism. As a romance, this book works. It starts out as a “forced” (ish) proximity before turning into a bridge-the-gap, all revolving around two female academics at different points in their careers. Not for the “clean” / “sweet” crowd, as others have noted there is a fair amount of sex in the first four chapters alone. Also falls into the trap of describing both women as very buxom, which is a bit of a cop-out to my mind designed to get those of us with… “active imaginations”… more into the book. But that point is but a minor quibble. The preachy politics, and in particular the blatant racism, is the reason for the star deduction here. Let me be perfectly clear. My standard is this: If you reverse the [insert demographic in question] and keep everything else absolutely identical, would anyone cry foul? I believe this book fails that test in its characterization of its singular straight white male character, and thus the star deduction. But still, on the whole this is a mostly solid book, and thus it is *only* a singular star deducted. Fans of the romance genre generally should enjoy this one, fans of FF romances in particular will probably thoroughly enjoy this one, and it does indeed dive into areas not frequented, particularly academia and art professors. Thus, this book is recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details”, including book description, author bio and contact links, and a link to buy the book.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Meet Me In Madrid by Verity Lowell”

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Featured New Release Of The Week: A Lot Like Christmas by Jennifer Snow

This week we’re looking at a book that uses a Christmas countdown to both countdown to Christmas… and to a goodbye. This week we’re looking at A Lot Like Christmas by Jennifer Snow.

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

A Different Kind of Christmas Countdown. What happens when you meet a new person 3 weeks before Christmas and you find yourself falling in love… and yet they have told you up front that they are leaving town again on Christmas Day? Well, in this case… you have a plot (and plot device, as the countdown is given at the start of every chapter) for a romance novel. 😀 For the clean/ sweet crowd, know that Snow doesn’t exactly shy away from the sex scenes here, and they are never of the “behind closed doors” (unless inside a freezer counts? :D) nor “fade to black”. Otherwise, this was a fun Christmas novel of the various parties and sweets that flavor the season while also dealing with a couple of distinctly non-Christmas heavier issues as well. Truly an excellent work that shows Snow’s skill of showing off social issues without letting them weigh a story down – and even working them into the overall theme of the given book. Finally, I love the “connective tissue” of the series such that we see the couple from the first book a few times and seem to have an indication of who at least one person in the next couple in the next book will be. Excellent tale no matter the time of year you read it, and very much recommended.

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#BlogTour: Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert

For this blog tour we’re looking at the first entry in a new series of gay military romances. For this blog tour we’re looking at Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert.

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

Solid Military Romance. This is a fairly standard romance / Annabeth Albert romance with one guy in uniform and the other not… and eventually, neither is. 😉 She’s done the virgin thing at least once or twice (I fully cop to not reading her full back catalog, and I seem to remember her covering this even in the books I *have* read from her), and here it works just as well as it did the last time. For those looking for “clean” / “sweet” romance… Albert uses the virgin trope to explore as many successive sex acts as she can squeeze into a book. So this won’t be something that fits those definitions, but will work well within the more general romance/ gay romance reader crowd. The family dynamics are fun, some of the situations border on silly yet work, and the military scenes are accurate enough for someone who is only vaguely aware of US Navy operations. Looking forward to seeing where this new series will go. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt and the details about the book from the publisher, including the book description, author bio and social media links, and links to buy the book.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert”