karina_dreamsinwords's reviews
954 reviews

𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: sports romance
𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒄: all to myself by dan + shay
𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝟓/𝟓⭐️

↣ 𝒷𝓇𝒾ℯ𝒻 𝓈𝓊𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓎
Fresh off of another SuperBowl win, Quarterback Weston Shaw is living on a high! However, life as he knew it changes drastically when he receives a call that his two month old son was in a car accident, leaving Wes as the legal guardian of a newborn he’s never met.

Sadie is deep in the throes of grief after suddenly losing her sister and discovers her nephew’s father wants to be involved, leaving her scared of being pushed out of Caleb’s life. After making an arrangement they’re both comfortable with, Sadie moves in with Weston to help care for Caleb as Weston adjusts to this new life path of juggling his career and fatherhood. Are they able to navigate this unorthodox dynamic to raise their sweet little boy in a loving home?

↣ 𝓂𝓎 𝓉𝒽ℴ𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈
Watching Sadie and Weston set aside their differences to come together for the sake of loving and caring for Caleb was beautiful. Their shared love of the little guy allowed them to grow closer as friends, and eventually, so much more. The progression of friendship to romance was gradual with an obvious chemistry and attraction to one another that simmered off the pages. I ate this book up and loved every bit of it!

Not only did this serve up the romance but the humor among Weston and his teammates was golden. They have such a strong bond and show up when needed. The group of single dads put together the coveted Single Dad Playbook to aid in Weston’s journey of fatherhood. It was the absolute sweetest thing!

This was my first Willow Aster book and will certainly not be my last. There was great chemistry, angst and a beautiful romance as they came together to care for Caleb. 𝗠𝗮𝗱 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 is a heartwarming and emotional read that explores the complexities of love and family.

PICK THIS UP IF YOU LIKE—
✨enemies to friends to lovers
💗sports romance
✨forced proximity
💗single dad
✨small town
💗he falls first
✨a spicy mirror scene
💗when he’s a complete simp over her 😌

**𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘗𝘙 & 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘈𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺!

UHMM okay?!

What a trip this book was and the fact this was my ”read in the dark” book for Summerween is wild! No better feeling when a creepy book leaves you feeling uneasy & unsettled! 

This book will have you feeling confused but just roll with it because it really comes together so nicely 😭

This was such an interesting story told in reverse where we piece together not one, but two disappearances spanning years apart. 

It was quite boring at first, but the latter half kept my interest as we were dialing in on the truth for both cases. This was such an intriguing way to tell a mystery and very unique in nature. I am quite interested in reading more from this author and look forward to diving in to her work!

A generous 3* at that.. and I'm sad about not caring about this story because I ADORED the snippets pf Kai and Isabella's interactions in KOW.

This is the second book of the 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝘿𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙮 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙝 series featuring the grumpy oldest brother of the Noughton family, and his best friend since childhood. 

Jude and Sadie have been the best of friends since they were kids & have only gotten closer over the years. When tragedy strikes, Sadie’s family farm is put in jeopardy leaving Jude to help in the most noble way he knows— by proposing to enter into a fake marriage in order to save the farm. Will forced proximity & secret feelings for each other allow their friendship to blossom into more? 

Jude is very stoic by nature, yet only opens up for his best friend Sadie. She is the sunshine to his grumpy, and will not let anyone’s unwarranted opinions thwart her dreams of having a chicken farm coming true. The thing I loved about this dynamic is how Jude was so supportive of Sadie’s future dreams and (without giving spoilers), even helped get the journey started for her. I also really adored the snippet of their childhood and seeing Jude take comfort with Sadie after experiencing tragedy. Fast forward 27 years and we get to see the roles reversed. Tug on my heart strings, why don’t you! 

If you’re looking for your next emotional yet heartwarming read with lots of humor, self discovery, and second chances- LOOK NO FURTHER and pick up this series immediately! I absolutely cannot wait for Emmett's book because I already know he’s going to steal my heart.

🐣𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽—
grumpy x sunshine 
fake marriage of convenience
childhood friends to lovers 
mutual pining
forced proximity 
band of brothers 
small town
 
“𝓎ℴ𝓊 𝓁ℴ𝓋ℯ 𝓂ℯ?"
"𝒾𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝒾𝓉 ℴ𝒷𝓋𝒾ℴ𝓊𝓈?" 🥹🫶🏼

Thank you to Valentine PR & Piper Rayne for an advanced copy to review 🩵