Happy Thursday!
Wow, it feels like forever since my last
Thursday post/wrap-up thingy. And wow, it’s October,
how did that happen?
Life update: I turned 27 on Sept 20th!
Honestly 27 doesn’t feel any different than 26… It’s kind of sad that birthdays
lose their specialty as you get older. I didn’t do anything special on my
birthday as it was a school day, but getting birthday wishes was still pretty
exciting. Also, I’ve turned in the first full draft of my Master’s thesis to my
supervisor so she can go through it and give her feedback. I’m expecting at
least two more edits before the thing’s ready to be submitted—I’m so having a pizza party for one the day
I submit my thesis, truly.
September reading recap: It’s been a good
reading month for me, I think. There were so many September releases that I
enjoyed. For one, A Kiss in Lavender by Laura Florand is my 5-star read
this month; it exceeded my high expectations and I wrote a long email gushing
to Laura about it. I’m going to reread it before writing my review here sometime
soon. Acting on Impulse by Mia Sosa is also a very great
one and pretty much flawless, and so is Completely by Ruthie Knox. Lastly, Jennifer
Dawson’s latest, Head Over Heels is also a winner for me. I wrote my
review almost immediately after I finished because I had so many emotions about
it, which literally never happen to me—unlike books I dislike, it usually takes
two reads for me to properly review a book that I love. I want to make sure
that I cover everything, LOL.
October has some pretty exciting releases too,
and I’m looking forward to a greater reading month.
Today I'll be reviewing two titles that share a common theme: taking a chance on love. The heroes and heroines in both books are stubborn and have their own reasons as to why they think love is too good to be true, but love (and HEAs!) can be just as stubborn. I'll just stop here before I get too corny but proceed for the mini reviews!
TAKE THE LEAD [★★★★]
Amazon | ARC is received thanks to the publisher via Netgalley
Take the Lead follows Gina and Stone, two
reality TV stars, as they compete with the other contenders in The Dance Off, a
network-TV dance competition. Both have different reasons of joining; Gina is
in it to finally win it, since it’s already
her fifth season, and Stone sees the prize money as a chance to alleviate his
family’s financial troubles. However, Gina realizes immediately after meeting
Stone that they’re being set up for the show’s romance bait, something she’s
been adamant with the producers that she would not do.
What I love most about Take the Lead is the
relationship between Gina and Stone. Gina is fierce about protecting her
reputation. She recognizes her privilege by being Puerto Rican on a show with a
nationwide audience, so she remains resolute about doing her job to the best of
her abilities and not be stereotyped as another sexy Latina, which means she
needs to keep things with Stone professional. She has dreams of making it big
in this cutthroat business, and she will not let anything stand in her way. Stone,
on the other hand, loathes the “celebrity” life. He never wanted to be a
reality star, but was pulled into it due to his loyalty to the Nielson family.
Stone has his own secrets, things that will affect his family and their
livelihood if they become public. I love how they grew closer the more they
spent time with each other, and how they became each other’s solace. Gina and Stone
have strong chemistry with each other and it’s so entertaining to watch their
bond shift from colleagues to lovers.
My only issue with the story is that the
pacing felt slow in some parts and rushed towards the end, but other than that
it’s a pretty solid debut, and I’ll be keeping an eye on more of this author’s
works.
PLAYING WITH DANGER [★★★]
Amazon (out on Oct 10th) | ARC is received thanks to the publisher via Netgalley
It was a whirlwind romance for Hannah and
Grant. They met on a cruise and spent the next two weeks with each other, fell
in love, and decided to get married on their last night together, before they
had to return to their separate lives. But then Grant woke up to discover that
Hannah had disappear…
It’s the runaway bride thing that hooked me to
this book. I’m also a big fan of second chance romance, so naturally I was very
interested to know how their reunion would go, and I wasn’t disappointed. Ms.
Ryan did a great job packing the reasons why they married into the flashbacks
we got throughout the story. Hannah and Grant had intense sexual chemistry with
each other, and they genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. Sometimes when you
know, you just know.
There were a lot
of cute moments when Grant decided that his wife needed some wooing in her life
and proceeded to do so, and the sexy moments were A+. It was a well-developed
insta-love, if I may say so myself. The only reason why this didn’t get a higher rating
is because Grant keeping The Secret from Hannah and not being upfront with her
about it frustrated me so much, especially since I felt it was unnecessary for
him to keep it from her in the first place.
What are your anticipated October releases?
Tell me in the comments!
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