W.W.W Wednesday: February 7, 2018

Happy hump day!

For the past few days, I’ve been looking for simple book tags/memes to do. I came across this one and I thought it was pretty easy, so I’m trying it out today.

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words. Simply answer the following questions:

What have you recently finished reading?

What are you currently reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

I’ve had His to Take by Katee Robert on my Kindle for ages, I feel? But I’ve only read and finished it today. The story was set around Christmas, featuring two characters who used to have an on-off affair with each other. I liked it fine but I feel like I would’ve liked it better if I wasn’t in such a blah mood when I read it. [GR review]

I also finished Jennifer Dawson’s latest novella, Twist of Fate. I like the concept of fate keep bringing these two people together in unexpected situations. I wish I was more attached to the characters but overall, I still enjoyed the story. [GR review]

Finally, I finished Sarah Mayberry’s HerKind of Trouble and I adored it so much. I gushed about it in my Goodreads review but in short, this book is about two reformed party people falling in love with each other. There is a second chance element here (H/h hooked up 10 years ago and have been circling each other since) as well.

I’m currently reading* Prime Minister by Ainsley Booth and Sadie Haller, A Choice of Fate by Jezz De Silva, Hurts to Love You by Alisha Rai, Zero Hour by Megan Erickson, Collision Course by Marie Harte, and Love in a Small Town by Zoe York.

*I’m still in a meh mood when it comes to reading new books so I’ve been reading a chapter or so from one book before jumping to the next book and the cycle repeats this is a disease

I just got an ARC of Lucy Parker’s Making Up so I’m making a deal with myself to only start it when I finish all my backlist ARCs. Making Up will be my reward.

I also plan to reread Ainslie Paton’s The Love Experiment before I start the ARC of The Love Coupon.

What's your WWW?

Share with me in the comments!

A Glimpse Into Life After The Happily Ever After & A Gambling Historical Heroine

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

How are you guys doing? I hope you've been reading lots of romance! In today's post, I have two reviews for you guys, one is a contemporary novella, and the other is a historical romance, that I wasn't entirely into. I also share some other books I read recently at the end of the post. I hope you find something to add to your TBRs!

ON HART'S BOARDWALK
by Samantha Young

Series: On Dublin Street #6.7
Genres: Contemporary
Publisher: Berkley Romance

Publication Date: March 20th 2018

Source: ARC received for review purposes

Rating: ★★★★

Amazon - Barnes & Noble

I don't think I've talked about it enough, but Samantha Young's On Dublin Street is one of my all-time contemporary romance series. I have such fond memories of reading those books and discovering the OTPs that lay within. So, I was very happy to hear that she had written a novella, years into the future, featuring one of my favorite couples from the series. I loved this glimpse into Nate and Livia's relationship. They are both busy with their jobs, have two lovely daughters, and are leading a rather monotonous life. To make matters worse, Livia feels that Nate just isn't present in her life anymore as she would like. After the death of a friend, he's receded into himself, and doesn't open up to her. I'm not going to lie, it was a little hard to read about Nate and Olivia having marriage troubles, but it was also incredibly realistic. Let's face it, what marriage is ever 100% happy 24/7? So, I appreciated this look into the life after a happily ever after. Nate and Livia have to work hard to restore their marriage, and the first step towards that is going away from home to Hart's Boardwalk. This is the setting in Samantha Young's newest series, so this novella was a crossover. Besides loving reading about Nate and Livia mend their fractured marriage, I also loved meeting some of my favorite characters from that series. I particularly loved seeing Bailey and Vaughn! Anyways, this is a short novella, so I won't give everything away, but know that it's an emotional, beautiful and sexy story, just as every other book by Samantha Young.

MY ONCE AND FUTURE DUKE

by Caroline Linden

Series: The Wagers of Sin #1

Genres: Historical

Publisher: Avon

Publication Date: February 27th 2018

Source: ARC received for review purposes

Rating: ★★★

Amazon - Barnes & Noble

I usually really love Caroline Linden's historical romances, but I was quite disappointed by My Once and Future Duke. Let me get to the positive aspects first. I really loved the idea of the heroine being a gambling queen. Sophie is a pro at cards, and is absolutely unapologetic about it. It was refreshing to have a heroine who wasn't part of London high society. She's fiery, independent, and does not let people walk all over her. I admired her absolute tenacity and strength throughout the book. Sophie was absolutely a character that I easily found myself rooting for. I also really enjoyed the friendships here. Sophie's friends could not be more different than her, but their dynamic was so interesting to me. I'm certainly looking forward to reading more about them in the subsequent books. Now, the hero himself, Jack, the Duke of Ware, wasn't the easiest for me to warm up to for some reason. For most of the book, he wasn't very comfortable showing his true self, and part of me felt like we never really got to see the man behind that tough exterior. I also think a reason why I wasn't entirely enamored with Jack was that he didn't stand out to me in any way. My attention was one hundred percent on Sophie. I just thought she deserved someone better. The chemistry was definitely there for me between the two of them, but like I think my lack of connection to Jack made it difficult for me to become invested in this ship. I wanted to see more banter, more scenes of them communicating and being themselves. I was expecting more from them because Caroline Linden has written some AMAZING romances in the past. Sophie and Jack's relationship simply didn't live up for me. All that being said, I still found the book to be quite entertaining since I managed to finish it, and I am quite eager to read the next book featuring one of Sophie's friend. Just the synopsis of An Earl Like You has me buzzing with excitement!

More Books I've Read

   

I'll be reviewing these closer to release date, but I had to quickly share my thoughts about them over here. These were all part of my most anticipated romances of the year and they were just so great. Brooklynaire was a book I've been waiting for for like ever - the romance between Nate and Becca has been building up since the first book in the series, and omg it was so worth the wait! The Kiss Quotient was also another book I was highly anticipating and it was just wonderful. It was sweet, sexy, a little awkward, but just absolutely perfect. I can't wait for it to be out in the world. A Princess In Theory was also absolutely wonderful. I'm not usually one for royalty romances because I think they tend to veer into cheesy territory, but this was lovely and smart and made me very happy. Hello Stranger was another hit for me from Lisa Kleypas. I swear, this woman can do no wrong in my eyes!

Have you read any books feature in this post? Tell me about some of your latest 4 or 5 star romance reads!

February Reads: Books I'm Excited About

Hello!!!

This is the month of romance. My love for romance really started 2 years ago, when I decided in February 2016 that I was only going to read romance for that whole month... I never stopped. I started reading less and less fantasy, and YA and my love for NA and Adult Romances only grew and grew and grew.

And now it's addicting, and I'm kind of expanding my favorite authors list, and getting more and more recommendations of some great amazing new authors, and I'm loving it.

I have a relatively small TBR this month, and while I was going through them (while writing my TBR post for my other blog), I realized that I was super excited about some of those titles and I wanted to talk more about them and why they excite me at this point. So, why not?!

Here are some of the books I'm reading this month...

Wildcat (Mavericks, #1) by Max Monroe

I never read anything my Max Monroe before, but Deanna @A Novel Glimpse told me to request the ARC, she sang praises to the author, and made me so so curious. Also, it's a sports romance, and the beginning of a series, so I was jumping at the opportunity to get it.

Deanna never failed me with her author recommendations, and while I'm only around 30% into this book so far, I'm loving it. The writing is on point, and the perfect mix of funny and romantic.

Brooklynaire (Brooklyn Bruisers #4) by Sarina Bowen

By my last post you guys can deduce how much I love Sarina Bowen and all her books. But this one, this is precious! 

Since the first book of the Brooklyn Bruisers that we've all wanted a book about Becca and Nate, and finally, FINALLY, it's here. I've been wanting to drop all the other ARCs and get to this one first, but I couldn't... I had release dates prior to this one, so I wasn't able to get to it as soon as it landed on my Kindle, but I've wanted to, I did.

Wanderlust by Lauren Blakely

Lauren Blakely is always a blast to read, but the reason I'm so excited about this one, it's because this will be my first audiobook ARC! Yep, an AudioARC, eheh!!! 

I love audiobooks, and Blakely's stories work so well in audio format, so I'm certain that this will be another hit for me.

(I'm only a bit uncertain about the amount of time I'll have to listen to it...)

Monster Among the Roses (Fairy Tale Quartet, #1) by Linda Kage

Linda Kage produced one of my favorites New Adult Romance series, Forbidden Men, so when she reached out and asked me if I wanted to read book 1 and 2 of her Fairy Tale Quartet series, I jumped at the opportunity.

The first book, Monster Among Roses, is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, so I'm all for it. I'm excited to read something else, from this author who made me fall in love with an amazing cast of friends with some messed up stories (and yes, I plan to talk more about Forbidden Men here, in the near future).

The Duchess Deal (Girl Meets Duke, #1) by Tessa Dare

So... confession... I never read any historical romance, so when Nick and Lisa got a hold of this information, they wanted to kill me. As the good girl that I am, I asked for recommendations for my firsts ones, and they recommended several authors, including Tessa Dare and Lisa Kleypas, so I've added one book of each of them to my February TBR.

But for some reason, this cover speaks to me, and I'm very excited for this one. Maybe because it's more recent, and has a second book coming out, and I have a feeling I can actually catch up?!

Here it is, some of the books on my TBR that I'm very excited about. 

So, have you read any of them? What were your thoughts?
Talk to me!!! 😉 

“So, what comes after the HEA?”

Happy February, everyone! Did you get to see the Super Blue Blood Moon? My family and I went out to see it but we only stayed to watch for maybe an hour before heading back home since it was a school night for my sister. Still, it was an experience, and my social media timelines today are all moons, which is super great.

I’m still not reading :/ so instead of reviews today I will share with you my favourite books featuring *drum rolls* married couples. 

As I get *coughs* older, I gravitate more towards characters who are in the same age bracket as me or older, and sometimes that includes married ones. For someone who avoids marriage talks like the plague, I sure love my married romance. I love watching these characters keep the flame alive, work through their marriage and reconnecting, you get my drift.

Bonus points if they're angsty—I even have a Goodreads shelf I dedicate to stories with ‘marriage on the rocks’ trope.

RETROSEXUAL BY AINSLEY BOOTH & SADIE HALLER

This is the most recent book I read in this category. I adore this book! I was actually in the middle of reading Prime Minister when I picked up this book, and I finished it in one sitting. Stew didn’t really jump at me in Prime Minister, which is why I was surprised to find him attractive and weirdly sexy in Retrosexual, LOL.

In this book, Stew and his wife, Adrienne, squeezed in time to reconnect as partners because they realized both of them (especially Stew) had been so busy with work and kids. I really like that they worked so well together, and how close they were to each other. Bonus: it’s still free on Amazon!

HAPPILY EVER NINJA BY PENNY REID

OMG I love Greg and Fiona so much #couplegoals. I’ve been rooting for them ever since they met in college (the battle of wits! the tension!) in Ninja at First Sight, their prequel novella. Married Greg and Fiona is a whole new level of awesome. I didn’t want to talk about the plot because it’s best to discover it yourself (it was a direction I’ve never expected Penny to take, and I loved it) but I will leave this quote here:

“It occurred to me in that moment: marriage is an ultimate sport in emotional multitasking. I'm never only mad at Greg. I'm mad and madly in love; angry and concern for his wellbeing; he frustrates and delights me in the same second. We were arguing, but we were still a team.”

MAKING IT LAST BY RUTHIE KNOX

The couple in this book first appeared in How to Misbehave, where they first met. Making it Last is set a decade and so after How to Misbehave, with Amber and Tony together for thirteen years, and married for ten. They were under a lot of stress; Tony’s company wasn’t doing financially well so he was working himself to death to save it, and Amber was physically and mentally exhausted trying to handle three growing boys in his absence. 

I have so many feelings for this couple because they were just trying so hard. Reading this made me realize how dangerous it is to keep your feelings bottled up, and how important it is to communicate with your partners and listen to each other. I also cried a lot reading this because the hopeless feeling that Amber and Tony experienced re: life and their marriage were overwhelming I just want to give them a hug and make them hot cocoa. 

Other titles that I reread from time to time that are all super angsty and have made me cry: 

Turning Up the Heat by Laura Florand  

Arouse by Nina Lane

Still into You by Roni Loren

I think what I love most about this kind of romance is that it depicts the life after the happily ever after, where loving and caring for somebody is continuous work and not always sunshine and roses and smooth sails. There are all sorts of emotions and not all of them are happy; there are frustrations, stress and anger, and hard work work work. It's fascinating to see this side of the story, and it is so satisfying to see these characters come through difficult times a whole lot stronger and more in love with each other. 

Have you read any Married Romance? 

Share with me in the comments!