Category: Romance

Review: The Way You Make Me Feel

DeAnne1 Comment

Synopsis: Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn’t so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind?

With Maurene Goo’s signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you’d never thought to look.

I’ve wanted to pick up one of Maurene Goo’s books for quite a while, so I was glad to finally get to this one. While it was often pitched as a contemporary romance, I feel it is so much more than that. It explores aspects of all different types of relationships whether they be friendships, romantic relationships or family relationships. The characters on the surface are simple, but Goo gives them depth and individuality that is refreshing. The way they play off each other and the ways that different characters grow and change, Clara especially.

Clara is a little unlikable at the beginning, but as the book progresses her motivations and reasons for her behavior become more apparent. She’s been very careful to distance herself from things to keep from truly getting hurt and watching as she slowly lets more people in and changes is wonderful.

There were a ton of moments that made me laugh and the banter between the characters were priceless. It’s own voices for Korean representation, which I love (my partner is Korean so anything featuring Korean characters, culture, history or mythology is pretty much auto-buy for me). Overall it’s a wonderful story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Also as a sidenote, how gorgeous is that cover? I’m in love with pretty much all her covers.

Happy reading!

Review: Meant To Be Yours by Susan Mallery

DeAnne1 Comment

I was so excited when Harlequin reached out to me to be a part of their new blog tour program so I jumped at the chance to join. I’m eager to check out a bunch of new books in varying genres. While I’m being provided digital copies of the books in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

Synopsis: In Happily Inc, love means never having to say “I do”…

Wedding coordinator Renee Grothen isn’t meant for marriage. Those who can, do. Those who can’t, plan. But she never could have planned on gorgeous, talented thriller writer Jasper Dembenski proposing—a fling, that is. Fun without a future. And the attraction between them is too strong for Renee to resist. Now she can have her no-wedding cake…and eat it, too.

After years in the military, Jasper is convinced he’s too damaged for relationships. So a flirtation—and more—with fiery, determined Renee is way too good to pass up…until his flame becomes his muse.

Renee is an expert at averting every crisis. But is she finally ready to leap into the one thing that can never be controlled: love?

Buy Links: Harlequin Indiebound Amazon Barnes & Noble  Books-A-Million Target Walmart Google iBooks Kobo

I love stories that feature love interest who think they can’t love or aren’t suited to love, so the description of this book was right up my alley. It’s actually the fifth book in a series, but from my experience with this one it doesn’t appear you need to read the previous books to understand the setting or characters, though I’m sure there are things that make more sense if you do as the stories likely wind together. Still, from the way this book reads you can probably only read the ones you are interested in, read them out of order, or read them all – either way works!

I absolutely fell in love with the characters in this book, not just Renee and Jasper, but the friends that surround them. The world building and setting of Happily Inc was enchanting, there were so many places I would love to see in this quaint little town. Throughout the story you do see glimpses of who I assume were the couples from the previous books, and they each have stories of their own that weave into the main plot. Mallery has done a masterful job of creating a place and characters that you want to be friends with and spend time with. And Renee’s mother plus the relationship between her and Renee? Beautiful.

Now to Renee and Jasper, who both believe that they are broken in different ways. Neither of them believe that love will ever be in their future because of different things they have experienced in the past. Their internal dialogue and struggles when faced with the progression of their relationship was beautiful. The insecurities and worries that they each had were understandable and I really enjoyed the way they would sort things out in their heads, and then with each other.

If you’re looking for a romance on the fun side but with plenty of soul searching and growth of characters, be sure to pick this one up. I’m so thrilled I got the opportunity to read it.

SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women’s lives—family, friendship, romance. Library Journal says, “Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations,” and
readers seem to agree—40 million copies of her books have sold worldwide. Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live. Susan grew up in California and now lives in Seattle with her husband. She’s passionate about animal welfare, especially that of the two ragdoll cats and adorable poodle who think of her as mom.

Social Links: Author Website
Twitter: @susanmallery
Facebook: SusanMallery
Instagram: @susanmallery
Goodreads

Thanks again to Harlequin for giving me the opportunity to participate in the blog tour, Meant to Be Yours is out now, so check it out!

Happy reading!

Review: Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu

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mooncakesOh my heart! Mooncakes was such a fun and enjoyable read and was a perfect title to break up my reading. This story follows Nova (a witch) and Tam (a werewolf) as they reunite and face a danger while also exploring their feelings for each other. It was a beautiful story that put a smile on my face, seeing friendship and love blossom between all the characters.

This story discusses so much in the way of real life issues such as family, love, diversity, etc while also seamlessly blending in the supernatural aspects and the mystery they must solve. I would definitely love if there were more stories following these characters, but this also stands well on its own. The art style and color palette are beautiful and fit the tone of the story perfectly. It leans earth tone, but that is perfect for the setting and feel of the story.

Overall, Mooncakes is a beautiful story full of magic and the strength of friendship and love. I’m very interested in seeing more from both the author and the illustrator as their collaboration produced such an amazing tale.

I definitely recommend picking up a copy.  Mooncakes comes out October 15th from Lion Forge.  I know I’ll be adding it to my shelf!

Happy reading!

Review: Haunted Hearts

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Kimberlydean_Haunted_Hearts_300x480I originally requested this book from Netgalley purely because the subject seemed interesting and I usually like most things with a paranormal spin. I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did, but it was a very fun and enjoyable read. This story follows Callie who has recently inherited a house and decided a change of scene is just what she needs.  Turns out, that house comes with a history that’s known to everyone but her.  Watching her discover the secrets of the house and her ancestors was wonderful, though part of me wished for more.

The chemistry between Callie and Carter was great and it was always fun to watch them spar. There were certainly parts of the book that were predictable, and once I got to 80% I had figured out what the climax/twist was going to be, but I was pleasantly surprised it took that long for me to see all the clues fall into place. I felt that supporting characters were well defined enough to be individuals, though I would have loved to have more details about the town and locations.  Though this appears to be set up as a stand alone, I would definitely enjoy getting more books set in the town and reappearances by many of the side characters.

The scenes where we see the point of view of Callie’s ancestor were well written and there was no mistaking the personality and individuality of this person.  In fact, the different personalities of all of the characters were some of my favorite parts of the book, I found myself falling in love with some of the characters and secretly wanting more.

The writing and pacing seemed to fluctuate a little, but not to the point that it was off putting and the read itself was well paced on average. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and think it would be great for anyone who enjoys paranormal romance.  If you want to pick up your own copy of Haunted Hearts, it is out now and clicking on the cover image will take you to the Amazon page for it.  Check it out if you like ghost stories, romance or just a fun and dynamic story.  If you want to find out more about Kimberly Dean, check out her website at https://kimberlydean.com/ – I know I will definitely be checking out more of her books.

Happy Reading!