canyonmoonreads's reviews
265 reviews

4.75⭐️  |  Spice🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5  |  eArc from GoodGirls PR

Tropes:
Age Gap
Enemies to Lovers
Twin brother's girl
Age gap (7 years)
Unrequited love
Bollywood references
Indian (desi) American heroine
Cold/grumpy hero
Sunshine heroine
Super spicy dirty talk

This book was so intense oh my gosh! It had me cussing the characters out, giggling and kicking my feet, and literally jaw dropping. It was so unpredictable and that's hard to find in books these days.

Isadora is stuck between identical twin brothers, but truly only loves one of them. Even knowing who she wants, she struggles to choose between them and I felt bad for her. Due to her mother's

physical and mental abuse

its hard for her to make decisions that she actually wants. Her feelings are always pushed to the back burner. 

I love enemies to lovers, but I don't always enjoy when the guy is just downright mean as hell and Stellen was just a meanie. He grew on me though, but he could've eased up on my girl. I think he would be categorized as morally gray in my opinion and those are not my type of men. But it was fun reading him and still enjoyed it.

The spice was 5/5. I've never read some hardcore stuff like this before so my jaw dropped a few times. Stellen and Isadora are some little nasty freaks😏 Had be blushing and everything!

Overall I was locked in to the story and couldn't put the book down. Kent kept you on your toes, you never knew what was going to happen. If you want a rollercoaster of emotions, top level spice and a mmc that will do anything for the fmc, this is your book!

The dialogue isn’t written well. It doesn’t flow well and just sounds mechanical or robot-like

Spoilers Below

 

The 3rd act conflict/breakup was so trivial. It seems like the author was grasping at straws to make something big happen, when a better storyline would be for Bex not to take space from Anders and they work through the issue together. Or create a different conflict that they could deal with TOGETHER. The conflict through pretty much half the book was them actually dating with mentions of Anders’ parents being awful. Now all of a sudden Bex thinks she going to ruin his life when his dad assaults her??? They were literally making plans to go to New York together and she knows Anders doesn’t want his dad’s money. 

 

It truly doesn’t make sense that she would just leave him and then not speak for weeks. Especially after he has told her multiple times he hates his father, doesn’t want his money and truly has no desire to have a relationship with his parents. She also mentions as one of her reasons “I don’t know how to take the risk—I’ve taken so many lately, and I’m so tired.” What risks has she taken??? Like genuinely the only one that she was vocal about was finally getting into a relationship with Anders. This conflict fell flat for me and the story doesn’t have much substance. 

 

Also I hate the name Anders. It sounds like a nickname, not a real actual name. 

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Levi is a freaky freak)

I LOVED this book! This was my first Meghan Quinn book and it did not disappoint. So This is War has to be the funniest book I've read this year. Wylie wants to make a career change and quit graduate school with one year left. Her controlling father isn't having it, and challenges her to become Levi's, one of his players, assistant to prove she is mature enough to do what she wants with her life. He forces Levi to give her crazy tasks to try to bring her down, but actually pushed them into each other's arms. After a chance meeting a year ago, Levi and Wylie begin a fight of control and attraction with one winning out.

Posey was such a good guy, and in my opinion didn't deserve the sh*t his friends gave him for being the fun guy of the group. (I actually hate that in any story. Quit being mean to your friend! And then turn around and miss them when they get distant. Umm quit ragging on them!) He has such a big heart, loving and supporting all his friends, as well as taking care of Wylie even before they get together. 

Wylie (interesting name) was such a trooper with a dad like that. Her character arc was thrilling. It felt so good reading her tell her dad off. She had every right to demand respect and love from him and I'm so happy she held her ground. Levi was such a good partner, supporting her through it all and caring for her in a way she never experienced before. I can definitely relate to that, and

it was relieving that Wylie accepted that support from him instead of running away.

 

The friendship featured in this were so fun and loving and supported (despite what I mentioned above i.e. Posey).

Levi sought out help from his friends' girls, which I loved! I think it would've been an entirely different story if Levi got advice from his guy friends. Men are that intuitive and it would've ended in disaster

Overall I really enjoyed reading this story, and it has led me to read other MQ books. Sometimes you need a laugh over all the dramatics of typical romances. Also no third act breakup! Always a winner in my book.

I really enjoyed book #2 in the Campus Diaries series. I honestly think this series is one of Elle Kennedy's best. The Graham Effect blew me away, and The Dixon Rule didn't disappoint. 

Fake dating is my favorite trope, so Diana and Shane gave me life. I really appreciated the fact that they both spoke up about their attraction towards each other, so there wasn't a slow burn. They got right to the fun. Even when their feelings developed they were revealed in the best way. 

Diana's boyfriend became abusive after their breakup, and Kennedy really handled that story line really well. Some books don't write it well, or even glamorize it, but that wasn't the case here. Diana's feelings and actions after the first hit were valid and accurate. I was proud of her when she finally told someone (even if it wasn't her choice). Shane was an amazing boyfriend, and extremely emotionally mature if we're being honest. Even though he was sleeping around, he was upfront with each girl about what it was, and tried to always take their feelings into account.

This isn't some fluff romance. It is rooted in reality and sucks you into the story. I couldn't put it down. The chemistry these two had jumped off the page, and the spice was next level. 

I was gagged the entire book! Feyi and Alim were so messy but I was living for it! I don't like the age gap trope, I think it's weird to be attracted to someone so much younger than you. I just put that at the back of my mind so I could fully enjoy it.

Spice: 🌶 (a couple of scenes but not graphic)
Tropes:
Fake Dating
He falls first
Forced proximity
Opposites attract
One bed

The Kiss Countdown is the perfect book if you're looking for some romantic fluff and a really sweet boyfriend. Life isn't going very well for Amerie, and in an impulsive decision recruits Vincent to be her (fake) boyfriend to prove to her ex she's moved on. This is the same man she spilt coffee on and was rude to the day before. That split decision was in front of Vincent's sister, pushing this charade farther in the future than for 5 minutes in a coffee shop. 

I found this story to be lighthearted, but still deep with themes of parental sickness, overbearing parents, as well as sibling death. They all really worked through their problems like grown adults, with no miscommunication. Vincent was a man we all want, and Amerie quickly fell for him, just as quickly as he fell for her. It was a little nuts when

Vincent's mom asked him to propose to Amerie at her birthday dinner. They've been "dating" for 8 months, you're just meeting her and you're pretty much depending this??? Weirdo behavior

 

Amerie is a big people pleaser, and I wish we could've seen her work through that and start putting herself first. I don't think finally

revealing her truths to her parents and Vincent's family

is putting herself first. She still has some work to do in that way. 

Vincent had great character growth. He copes with isolation and internalizing his feelings, but when he met Amerie that all went our the window at the jump. He was really a sweetheart.

I do wish we could've gotten a glimpse after he returned to Earth. I need to know how they cope with another mission. Or even just seeing how they handled this mission, and them contacting each other while he was in space. Overall I really enjoyed this book!

Spice: 🌶🌶🌶
Tropes:
Age gap
Best friend's brother
Forced proximity
He fall first
Single mom

Ella Gets the D is about a 39 year old woman trying to figure out life after separating from her husband of 16 years and take care of their 2 kids. She was a stay at home mom, managing everything for years so looking for a job with a resume gap like that can prove to be difficult. 

Through happenstance, Ella meets Julian, her best friends brother and they begin to co-habitat because she's living in his house(!). This begins a beautiful friendship turned lovers. 

Julian is 30 but is very much wise beyond his years. I don't know many responsible 30 year old men like him. From the start Julian took consideration for Ella's kids, making sure everything was in their best interest.

Charles (ex-husband) wants to make this divorce as difficult as possible, so Ella and Julian are met with a lot of road stops and a roller coaster of emotions. Charles got what he deserved at the end. 

Ella never annoyed me with her actions and there was never the miscommunication trope. She was a grown woman that was going to handle her sh*t and make sure her babies had a good life. The fact that she found a man that would do anything for her, burden her emotions and take care of her and the kids, was just an added bonus. She got through the storm because of her family of friends and her determination to make it. 

I would've given this 5 stars just off the amount of Beyonce references alone. If I was an author all my books would mention her at least once. I found all of the pop culture references an addition to the story, not something there to be relatable. They were fresh and I understand every single one. It read like my ADHD brain, popping in pop culture because the situation fits. 

This book was funny, and hopeful, and sweet. There is a twist at the end that I never expected (and I mostly always figure out plot twists before they happen) which just cemented this 5 stars for me. Now let me get on and find me a Julian to love me down.