Game Point - Meg Jones (3.75/5 stars)

 

3.75/5

Tropes: Friends to lovers, athletes, tennis, grumpy MFC, competition.

I read this book without reading the first book in the series, so my POV is biased because the MFC is expected to be grumpy, bitchy, difficult to manage with angry issues. However, without the context of her behavior from book 1, I found her to be pretty normal. 

She has struggled with winning the finals of any of her professional matches and struggles to comes to terms with it. The reason why I gave it a 3.75 instead of 4.5 was because while some friendship moments were shown between the leads, I didn't feel like there were that many? I mean, sure they watch Twilight together, but I wish more of the banter was shown prior to Oliver becoming Dylan's coach. In my opionion the transition from friends to lovers happened really quickly, I would have liked them to have explored the friend zone more fully. 

The whiplash from the leads wanting to retire, retiring, realizing they don't want to retire, to not retiring was also a bit much, in my opinion. Also, how old were the MFC and MMC? I don't think it said and in my mind that was a thought. Sometimes, despite your best talent, and drive, injuries and age is the limiting factor. And I wondered if that would happen to the leads but I didn't get an answer to this.

Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the e-ARC.

 

Review of The Heir by Sophia Travers (3.75/5 stars)

3.75/5 stars

Tropes: Lost connection, old crush, rich hero, not-that-rich? heroine, angst, pining

Honestly this book deserved 5 stars. IF ONLY it had stopped when the going was good. Unfortunately, it just couldn't recognize a good thing and kept going on and on and on.... (you get the idea).

This is a book full of GOOD ANGST. You know the kind...? it makes your heart stop? The kind where you are IN IT. The only problem is... it doesn't STOP.

The story was just too long. I think a good 1/3 of it could have been edited out, and the outcome would have literally been the same. Both the MMC and the MFC are crazy about each other, had decades long crush ON EACH OTHER. TELL EACH OTHER THAT THE OTHER PERSON IS THE REASON FOR THEIR HAPPINESS AND PROGRESS. EVERYONE (including the readers!) CAN ALSO SEE THIS. And yet they distrust each other SO much that they literally act like young adults in their 20s rather than people who are 30. Also, the Hero is like The Heir and Super rich and yet the heroine DONATES 100K to the local high school. And apparently has done so many times before....SO IS SHE NOT RICH?

Also, there was no mention of the MMC and MFC going to work...? Like, Ok the MMC is a rich bastard and yet in all interactions, he's home chilling reading romance books ( I mean, no shade, because same, but I got a day job yo, so I have to manage the addiction, ya know?), hasn't left the house in a year??? I mean there is literally no mention of the winery (is that what it's called, the place where their family made whiskey?) And what happened to MMC's MOM? Did she run away? Abandon the kids - die? (Inquiring minds want to know!)

The MFC's parents are also just a means to an end. There is literally barely any interaction between her and her parents, but when the big conflict happens, they are suddenly there. And everything is ok? Also, yes, we know that the MMC and MFC love each other. That's what the whole book was about. We did not need two different Epilogues about it ( I think?)


Thanks to Netgalley and Sophia Travers for providing the e-ARC. Views are, obviously, my own.

He Falls First - Jill Shalvis (3.75/5)

 

Rating: 3.75/5 rounded up to 4.

Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for providing me the e-ARC. Views are my own.

Tropes: sweet romance, beta-hero, trauma-childhood, family-values, siblings, part-of-a-series, sassy-grandma, working-class-hero, working-class-heroine.

This is a sweet romance. I wish there were any other way to describe it, but sweet really does describe it well. The hero, Ryder, is the oldest sibling, takes cares of his family and all the kids were abused by their dad. Now their dad has had 2 strokes and is the sweetest ever, but the siblings are still reeling from the past abuse of their dad. Together, they own and run Colburn Construction.

Penny's mom is unstable and has left her grandma and younger (half?) brother alone. She gives up her job to help them out. She dreams of opening up her cafe, but is so bogged down from day to day, that she can't think straight. She works for the catering company that supplies lunches and snacks to the Colburn Construction.

I will concede that there is no doubt that the hero likes the heroine. All the people around him ALSO know that he likes her. He waits for her delivery and has (supposedly) bumped into walls because he was watching her. My issue is that I wish there were a little more anticipation between the two. The conflicts that each of them took a back seat, where as a reader you sort of discard their issues (they are not highlighted much at all, in my opinion). Because they kiss so naturally and are already so in tune with each other, it seems hard to understand why they aren't together already.

The about-face that Hank (the dad) had... I'm not sure if that was necessary? The relationship between the heroine's mom and herself could also have been explored much more to give more depth.

Let's Make a Scene - Laura Wood ( 5 stars!)

 

(Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing me an e-ARC. The review is my own.)

Tropes: m-f, second-chance, long-term-love, slow-burn, humor, fiery-love, funny, friends-are-family, he-falls-hard, alpha-to-beta, beta-hero, independent-heroine.

Ok. Here it is. THIS IS A 5 STAR READ!
OMG. OMG. OMG.

From the first paragraph, I was hooked. The way Laura wrote the scenes made me feel like I was there. I have read over 150 romance books this year (to date). This book has become my favorite find yet!

Favorite things:
- The writing is impeccable. The description is so vivid that you feel it's happening right in front of you.

- The character arc of the MMC is STUNNING. Jack's growth from an asshole to a mature and understanding man is realistic. I have had so many encounters with former asshole classmates/collegues who have changed (for the better) as they have matured.

- The way this book is written, the movie, that MMC and MFC have been a part of, is a character and it acts beautifully to support the growth of our characters.

-I literally imagined Penelope Cruz and Javier because, why not? It's hard to maintain relationships in the entertainment industry and these two have ALSO worked on a movie a long time ago and reconnected and now they have a couple of kids, right? It made Jack and Cynthie's story plausible to me.

- The side characters were really well-written. I loved them all.

-No third act break up ( thank the good lord!)

- Funny, in an understated, every day. Not a deliberate, "I have to put in a joke here" way, but just naturally... pleasant.

- SLOW BURN! but not boring or draggy in ANY WAY. Everything was just sooooooo! Ooooph!


AAAAAH I love this book!!!!!

The way that the MMC and MFC looked back at their behavior was so... natural yet full of angst, that it really hits hard. It could be that I'm an older millenial but that the MFC and MMC both did therapy and destigmatized it really plays a big role. Bring in a diverse supporting characters in a very natural way ( sort of like the cast of Brooklyn 99) and you have a hit on your hands.

Going in my re-read pile.

Review: Caught Out - Ann Butler (4/5)

 From the Blurb

"Bad Press is her middle name

What does a socially awkward introvert do when she's trolled for not measuring up to her super model mum and gorgeous media personality sister?
If she's Amara Allen, she keeps her armour polished and her punch bag handy. After all, she'll need some way to cope when the trolling becomes too much.
Things start to look up when the man she's been watching for months and has pegged as one of the good guys asks her on a date. Maybe with him she can let her guard down.

As for Nicholas, the man in question, dating a social misfit who struggles to make conversation is not his idea of a good time. But what can he do when her mum is pulling his strings?"

Review

(eARC provided via Netgalley, 2025)

The story's about Amara and her crush on/interest in Nicholas Lewis, a furniture brand mogul. It's not explicitly stated in the book that she is ND so as a reader, you're wondering it, without any confirmation. I wish the author had explicitly stated it so everything fir in better.

Trinity, Amara's mother, gets Nicholas/Lewis (I wish the author had decided what to call him and then stuck with it) to date Amara for 6 months in exchange for a social media campaign. This means the story is a blackmail/extortion trope.

The problem is that you get the clash first. The book starts with Amara finding out so it colors all their interactions negatively (for me). The lack of verbal communication (makes sense in the instance of MFC being ND) makes this an awkward read for at least the first half of the book. The story could have had more visual cues to make up for it, but that's neither here nor there.

Now, a lot of people may have issues with Trinity (the mom) interfering with her child's love life, but it is pretty cultural, I think. SE Asians have their parents arrange their marriages so for us, meh, it's ok.

It's not explicitly stated how old Amara and Nicholas are (as far as I remember) so that aspect would have helped contextualize their interactions as well.

Open door explicit.