Intrigue at Court by Victoria Maze – a 4/5 Star Review!

Brian, the Duke of Wentworth, has never cared about what the newspapers have written about him or who his parents want him to marry. He is set on living his own life the way it pleases him most. That is, until he runs into the enchanting Anna drenched in the rain.

Anna is in great spirits with the good fortune of being invited to stay with her friend in London for a season. She hopes to find love and instead finds three potential suitors fighting over her. Her first time in London and her first time falling in love, which man wi be the right one for her?

This was a short but fun holiday regency romance read. I liked how quickly the story moved and the relationships between the characters. On the other hand, the writing style with switching narratives within paragraphs became confusing to me at times. This was especially confusing when it switched not only between Brian and Anna but also Amelia’s narratives.

I would recommend this book for adult romance readers who enjoy regency romances and holiday themed romances. A warning for romance readers looking for more passionate reads: There is not a lot of spice in the book aside from kissing.

I was given a free advanced copy of this book and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you BookSirens for your generosity!

A Winter In New York by Josie Silver – a 5/5 Star Review!

Iris is finding her footing in New York City, far away from the grief and trauma of her old life in London. While she is not at the culinary level she would like to be in her chef career, she finds comfort and friendship in the local noodle shop where she works. Still reeling in grief from the loss of her mother, she finds her identity through her mother’s past. A chance run-in with an iconic gelateria present in her mother’s scrapbook, what lies behind the front door will turn her new world upside down.

I really enjoyed this deep story of love in its many forms: intimate, parental, friendship. I loved the slow build of her found family in New York City and how often she is reminded that she is important to the group and the dependability of the member of the group when she feels very isolated. I personally enjoyed the family and friend bonding over food and wine. If you are a fan of romantic movies set in New York City, this book is for you. It mentions Moonstruck, When Harry Met Sally, Pretty Woman, and many others that have slipped my mind. My favorite character is Gio, especially with a scene in a storage unit where he demands maturity and communication with respect and basic human dignity. I literally cheered out loud as I read that part! I also enjoyed how fiercely loyal he is to his family and his willingness to compromise in order to make those he cares about happy. I would recommend this book for adult readers who enjoy a story that travels between past and present. I would also recommend it for those who love to read about found family as this story slowly builds on this to band together for a victorious defeat over a despicable villain.

On the other hand, I would not as enthusiastically recommend and more give a warning to those who may be triggered by relationship abuse, parental loss (especially maternal), and homelessness as some scenes may be difficult to read through.

Please note: at the time this review has been posted, the current release date is set for 10/03/2023. Many thanks to Dell, Ballantine Books, Penguin Random House, Goodreads Giveaways, and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk – A 4/5 Star Review!

Gwen is leaving the city for a holiday getaway in her family’s small hometown. She lost her big-time lawyer job, her boyfriend cheated on her with his receptionist, and she had to move into a small apartment to nurse her feelings. Can the magic of Christmas help her find herself again?

It sounds like the beginning of every Hallmark Christmas movie but what makes this book standout is the comedy. This book was downright hilarious at times and tear-jerking emotional at others. Lindsey Kelk has a wonderful balance of honest feelings about grief and loneliness with humor that is raunchy at times and definitely not for readers younger than 18. The time loop of having to repeat Christmas day becomes a great vehicle for plot movement. It also gives Gwen a chance to reconnect with each member of her family from years of not making time for them due to her high-pressure career.

A couple of my favorite quotes are:

“Whatever else it might be, I do know loneliness can be very cruel. You can’t pick and choose when it visits and it often overstays its welcome, sometimes it stays so long you get used to it and forget to ask it to leave. I would hate for you to fall into that trap.'”

“I couldn’t think of anything more romantic than someone choosing you and you choosing them right back, every single day for the rest of your lives.”

Taking it down to 4 starts instead of 5 because I almost stopped reading the book after the first 50 pages. The pace was slow at that point and the animosity between Gwen and her sister, Cerys, was so vicious that it took away from the holiday optimism I was expecting in the beginning of this book. It is stressed so much in those few pages that I was worried it would be never-ending in the story. Thankfully, there was improvement once the time loop starts.

The Christmas Wish is a fun holiday story more about family dynamics and communication than a holiday romance. The romance doesn’t really start until 3/4 of the book because of a (glaringly obvious) communication barrier where Gwen is so wrapped up in her own dismay that she doesn’t pay attention to or even ask about how things are going with Dev and his love life. Also, if you are a romance reader looking for a lot of heat, this book may not be for you. There is pretty much only a couple of kissing scenes and that is about it. Everything else has more to do with character development that the romance is left out in the cold.

Please note: an electronic Advanced Reader Copy of this book was generously provided for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There’s Something About Merry (Mistletoe Romance #2) by Codi Hall – DNF at 47%

DNF at 47% – I found this book to be chaotic and the characters flat.  It felt like there is so much dialogue used in order to fill in for a lack of a plot.  There are so many characters in some scenes that it feels overcrowded.  For example: Her first date with a guy she met on a dating website she brings her siblings (Nick, Noel, and Holly – catch the theme?) and her friends, and her ex is there, and the girl he cheated on her with, and then the guy from the dating website shows up to this crowd. Also, the whole point of her bringing all of these people is because she doesn’t know what he looks like and he doesn’t know what she looks like which seemed out of place for me since it’s set in modern day and I am pretty confident that dating websites require photos these days.

Additionally, I did not care for any of the characters.  Not one.  Merry comes off as immature and slightly toxic to me.  Clark seems to be kind of flat and not very heartwarming for a romantic character.  Jace’s dialogue doesn’t seem to fit that of a 7-year-old’s.  There is so much dialogue with the many side characters that I had a hard time keeping track of what the storyline was supposed to be.  There is not a lot of follow through with things that happen to Merry.  For example, she has to get stitches on the bottom of her foot after an incident, but the author barely mentions the foot pain afterwards and she is already walking on her foot very shortly after.  I’m not a doctor but I am pretty sure that would be painful to walk on for awhile.  

In conclusion: this is not the book for me but it might be for other readers.  I would not recommend this book for young readers and teenagers as there are a lot of sexual innuendos made up to the point where I gave up.  There is a crochet project of a male apparatus that is heavily mentioned, for example.  

Please note: I received an electronic ARC of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thanks!

One Day in December by Josie Silver – a 5/5 Star Review!

It was love at first sight but life got in the way. One glimpse and their lives were forever changed. This story spans almost ten years and dangles the hope of a Happily Ever After in front of the reader and sneaks in pain, grief, and other unexpected turns that life takes. It’s a winding track with many hurdles but it makes the story authentic and the ending bliss. I would highly recommend for adult romance fans, especially around the holidays.

For those who may be triggered or offended: there was foul language, alcohol use, grief, death, pregnancy struggles, and mild sexually suggestive scenarios. 

Please note: an electronic copy of this book was provided for free by my local library via OverDrive. Please support your local libraries! 🙂

A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan – A 5/5 Star Review!

Another great romance novel from Sarah Morgan! Having read her From Manhattan With Love series and a couple of standalones (see reviews: Sleepless in Manhattan (From Manhattan With Love #1)  , Sunset In Central Park (From Manhattan With Love #2)  , Miracle On 5th Avenue (From Manhattan With Love #3)  , New York, Actually (From Manhattan With Love #4)  , Holiday in the Hamptons (From Manhattan with Love #5)  , Moonlight Over Manhattan (From Manhattan With Love #6)  , A New York Christmas Story  , How To Keep A Secret  , The Christmas Sisters  , One Summer in Paris ), I expected romance, humor, and character building.  I was not disappointed! Sarah Morgan has crafted building hope from trauma in her characters.  She also shows that bumps will happen in life but turning to those you love in those hard times help you get through.

This is not a simple sappy Christmas romance.  There is grit, trauma, misunderstanding, but there is also hope, love, and strength.  Rosie has moved an ocean away from her loved ones leaving her sometimes overprotective family behind.  She has found how to overcome her lifelong battle with asthma as well as how to stand on her own two feet for once.  She has also found love.  With her soon to be mother-in-law at the helm, she finds herself engaged with a Christmas wedding! Her family has to scramble to get to America and get through the blizzard to get to the wedding but what could possibly go wrong?

Everything.  Of course.

I highly recommend this romance to those getting ready and excited for the holiday season! It has a beautifully depicted backdrop of snowy mountains and treehouses at a resort I would absolutely love to go to for a vacation.  I would also recommend this novel for adults as there is mild foul language and sexually explicit material.

This is a standalone novel but I would love if further novels developed from this novel.  I would also recommend her other standalones as well as her From Manhattan with Love series!

Please note: an electronic version of the Advanced Reader Copy of this novel was generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (Thank you Harlequin!).

Mutts and Mistletoe by Natalie Cox- a 5/5 Star review!

Charlie’s least favorite time of the year, the holidays, is the worst it could possibly be this year. Not only did her long-time boyfriend cheat on her, but her apartment is destroyed and she has a concussion as a result of it. Her cousin, Jez, needs Charlie as much as Charlie needs a place to stay peacefully to eat as much chocolate in front of the tv. Jez runs Cozy Canine Cottage, a dog boarding place, out of her country home on several acres in the country. Jez needs someone to look after the dogs while she jets off to the Arctic, Charlie needs a place to stay, sounds like an easy trade. There’s just one teensy, tiny problem: Charlie is a city girl who hates dogs as much as she hates the holidays.

I was at my local library on the hunt for a fun holiday romance book when I came across a recommendation from one of my favorite authors, Sophie Kinsella (see reviews: #1  & #2 ), for this book. I figured, she knew what she was talking about when it came to fun romances as I am a big fan of hers. I was right. Mutts and Mistletoe is a funny romance that will warm a reader from the inside out. Many times I audibly gasped followed by a “Noooo!” or I laughed out loud. It is an engaging storyline with a lovable yet mischievous main character that seems to attract disaster wherever she goes. I loved the tumultuous way in which the relationship between her and Cal, the veterinarian who seems to be opposite of her in every way, grew. This is further complicated when another love interest wedges his way into the house crammed with a growing number of friends of all species.

My favorite interaction was on page 233:

“What do you know about alpacas?” Hugo asks Cal in a jaunty tone.

“They make great sweaters,” says Cal stonily.

It was tough to choose my favorite character in this book as there are several great choices. My top three were: Cal, Charlie’s father, and Malcom-the great dane. Charlie’s father was very reasonable, open-minded, and optimistic-much like my own father- which was endearing and seemed to be very good at stabilizing Charlie. In the end, Cal won my heart as I am sure he will warm the hearts of many other readers, as will all of the animals in this book. Natalie Cox did a wonderful job of assigning each animal with distinctive personalities. She also created a fun winter wonderland in a remote location with situations that would be ridiculous outside of this plot. Furthermore, the vocabulary in the writing is exquisite. There were many times that I had to put the book down to look up words such as “munificence” and “rictus” or I resorted to consulting with my logophile friends.

I would recommend this book to adult readers looking for a fun holiday romance. I would also recommend this book for animal lovers, particularly of dogs, wolves, and alpacas. Fans of the English countryside, or small towns in general, and of winter snow will also enjoy this book. There were only suggestions of sexual scenarios and there is a big scene of birthing puppies which is why I did not recommend it for an audience younger than adults. I do not remember any foul language or violence but that is not to say that there was not any in the book. If there was, it was not enough to stick out in my mind.

 

The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan-a 5/5 Star Review!

I know what you might be thinking, dear reader. It’s far too early to be reading a Christmas book. And I would be inclined to agree with you-it’s not even Halloween yet! However, the temptation to read another Sarah Morgan romance novel outweighed the holiday timing principles. Make no mistake: I will be reading this again during the holiday season. It was <i>that</i> charming and magical.

This is a story mostly about three sisters: Posy, Hannah, and Beth. These three sisters each have very tricky relationships with each other, with their adopted parents, and with their respective significant others. Each one is also trying to overcome their own significant hurdle in their lives but all things come back to the one fateful night that their parents died in an avalanche years ago just a days before Christmas. That night has not only impacted their lives, but also the lives of those who would come to know and love them afterwards. How can they move forward 25 years later when that night comes back to haunt them every Christmas?

Sarah Morgan is easily my favorite author (see reviews: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, & #8,). Every book she writes has characters that are authentic, complex, and hard-working. In this book, each sister handled the traumatic experience of their parents’ death differently. Yet each sister needed to rely on the other in order to overcome it many years later. Each sister had their own mountain to climb but learning to work together rather than only relying on their own self made it easier to face.

I seem to have a problem choosing my favorite character in each book Sarah Morgan writes. In this book, I choose Stewart. Stewart and Suzanne took in the three orphaned sisters and raised them as their own. Stewart is the calm yet adventurous, quiet yet funny, father figure that we honestly could all use. I found him to be incredibly endearing and entertaining.

I would recommend this book for all adult readers, regardless of the time of year, as it pulls you into the Scottish Highlands and takes you to new heights. I would also note that there is a big surprise about 70% into the book that changes everything.

On the other hand, I would not recommend this book for readers who do not enjoy or may be triggered by parental death, grief, mild foul language, or sexually suggestive scenarios.

Please note: an Advanced Reader Copy of this book was generously provided for free by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

The Christmas Cottage (Ever After) by Samantha Chase-3/5 Star Review

Ava and Mason are getting married. This alone is cause for some family stress, but when it’s a Callahan that’s getting married, it has to be a huge event. Fortunately for Ava, her best friend Lacey is her maid of honor.

Lacey Quinn has been best friends with Ava since childhood and in love with her older brother, Ean, since then too. She has been equipped with an extremely detailed binder of instructions to get the cottage ready for Ava and Mason’s honeymoon. Every detail was specified in the giant book, except the minor detail that Ean would be coming home early from out of state and hoped to stay at the cabin before getting together with his family.

When they meet again, accidents happen, a bad snowstorm rolls in, and they both have to decide how to go about their feelings while setting up the cottage.

The story was easy to relate to when Ava and Lacey’s opposite personalities clashed. Ava’s personality in particular was one that I have met in real life a few times. A person so desperate for the romantic fantasy of love that they overlook the red flags along the way. I wanted to like her, since she was the main character’s best friend, but I found her to be exhausting and immature.

A lot of it was over the top, although it may have felt more so because of the overuse of exclamation marks. It was predictable and rather impractical, but despite these things it was also a cute and quick holiday read.

Please note: an electronic copy of this book was provided for free from Sourcebooks Casablanca via daily e-mails containing excerpts. You can sign up for these e-mails by going to http://books.sourcebooks.com/casablanca-stay-in-touch/ and clicking on the Free Romance Reads Daily Email.