lisaluvsliterature's reviews
4011 reviews

I’ve enjoyed another one in this series, so thought I’d give this one a try too. It’s always fun for me to read a story set in Scotland since I am in love with the country! This one had an interesting story line with a jilted at the altar former aristocrat party girl moving to a small town to escape the gossip and shame of what had happened with her ex-fiancee who left her at the altar and took off with the money she’d thought she was donating to a charity. The small town where she ends up is a great hiding place for other people with similar issues, including a famous actor that just happens to stop by her shop. At first they find a bit of kinship, even though she doesn’t tell him who she is.

When a gossip magazine reporter, Zach, starts sniffing around for this actor, Ezra, she feels it is her duty to help Ezra keep his privacy. With her past she assumes Zach is only there for a sensational story no matter who it hurts. But when Ezra feels she’s meddled too much, he cuts ties. And after Bailey does some research on who exactly Zach is, she begins to wonder if he really is the gossip rag reporter he seems to be at first.

There’s more to the story than just this romance and the mystery of Ezra’s hiding out. Bailey’s family has its own issues, including her brother’s fiancee leaving him, and her society mother being a bit of a meddler. In the end, their family turns out to not be as bad, and there are reasons, even if hidden from the others that things happen. But when Zach finds out that Bailey is someone he actually had looked into about a story, he also cuts things off.

I wasn’t thrilled with some of how that bit went. Some miscommunication/misunderstanding aspects. In the end though, I liked how everything wrapped up, and I appreciated why Zach did some of the things he did, even if they made me mad. A sweet story and I can see lots of people enjoying this one!

Oh my gosh, once again Meghan Quinn had me laughing so hard at a story while I was reading in bed, that both of my dogs jumped out of bed after giving me a dirty look. That seems to happen with every one of her books I read! I may have to not read her books in bed, lol. As usual though, this was such a great story and I loved almost every single minute of it!

So many characters joining us from other books/series by Quinn. It’s like going to a place where you know everyone. And when new characters are mentioned, you can’t wait to see how they might end up in a future book. The relationship between Hardy and Everly is exactly what I would love to find. Even when they are just friends, because she’s helping him try to get his ex, Maple (seriously? What a name!) back. The banter is so much fun. The silly things they both seem to connect about, movies, foods, etc. The cute little things that become inside jokes or silly little gifts, like the Clue playing piece for Professor Plum, the matching t-shirts, etc.

And then there was the date Everly’s sister set her up on with the guy named Tomothy. Yep, you read that right, it’s not a typo. Oh my gosh, it’s like he was every single red flag there could be. And I don’t even know where to start with him licking his cat’s paws. While that guy may have been someone you don’t like, it was impossible to dislike Maple, even as Everly wanted to, because, duh, that’s who Hardy wanted to get back with. Maple was a really nice person.

There were several situations in this story, even some of the misunderstanding/miscommunication bits that I was okay with, because I’ve done similar things. Like when you don’t want someone to know you like them, and you’re sure they can’t possibly be flirting with you because you know they like someone else. Or when the guy acts like it isn’t anything other than physical, you can’t possibly let him know you thought it was more than that, you’ve got to be cool about it! So while I normally might mark down for the miscommunication bit, this one just made sense and was so real to me. I totally got why Everly took so long to believe that Hardy might actually like her.

Finally, let’s not even get started on J.P.’s new fascination spreading to flamingos and penguins, that whole crazy wild path in the story had me giggling with every email asking for donations. Meghan Quinn has done it again, and I can’t wait to read more in this series!

I really enjoyed this author’s Well Met series, although I still need to read the last one! So this one with the paranormal aspect to it really sounded good and I was excited to read it! I really did enjoy this new series started too!

I loved the idea of this little island town that is a haunted place, supposedly one of the most haunted towns in Florida for the story? But anyway, I totally connect with Cassie and her feelings of her friends moving on and getting married and how you start to feel left out because you don’t have those same things in common anymore. I also liked Nick, and loved his texting with his “roomie” Elmer. The two of them were fun and I enjoyed Nick taking Cassie on a little tour of the town, as well as her official ghost tour with one of the other characters. One I could possibly see getting her own book in this series I’m hoping?

Cassie communicated with the ghost in her house with those little magnetic poetry words, and I loved it! One line that cracked me up, and I heard like it was the Jaws movie line: “She was going to need a bigger fridge.” You know, more room for the ghost to make sentences, etc. All the haunted stuff in her house was so unique, in fact a lot of the things the author used in this story were really good. Like the beach ghost, and leaving him an open beer. The spot in town that was just really really cold, always. The cemetery island, and so much other stuff! And I loved the reason Cassie’s laptop wouldn’t charge when she plugged it in! 

While this story started with our out-of-towner/new resident Cassie, I look forward to seeing some of the regulars/original family characters getting their own HEAs in future books, I hope. The only reason I don’t give this is a 5, is for a little bit of miscommunication, which was kind of cleared up at one point in the story, in a way that it wasn’t really that. And then the third person aspect, as that is never a favorite with me in romance. Other than that, I loved this story!

I was really excited for a book about teachers. But it started off rough for me with being in 3rd person. Then the characters didn't have the greatest chemistry, and I just didn't get how quickly they ended up together before what happened to lead on to a surprise pregnancy. So after reading other reviews saying the same things I was feeling, I ended up DNFing at about 11%

Obviously the punny title grabbed me when I first heard about it. So when the publisher sent me a Netgalley link to read this one, I quickly downloaded it. Unfortunately I didn’t get to it until it was actually published, but then I devoured it pretty quickly!

This is a story for anyone who has loved Bridgerton, especially for the YA crowd, as it doesn’t have the extremely steamy parts that the tv show and the novels have. But it was still a fun romance, set in a time where titles were important and you might have to marry due to money need for your family, etc. There was also a Jane Austen feel to it.

Briggs was a character, we got the enemies to lovers because he and Blythe had a habit of some misunderstandings leading to pranks, leading to a really horrible prank the last time the two saw each other. Both of them had family financial issues that kept any attraction between them from being able to be acted upon because of the responsibilities they felt needed to take care of their families. So then they made a deal to help each other. Blythe to help him win a very quiet, hard to get to know girl with a huge dowry. Briggs was supposed to help introduce her to possible inventors for her proposed beekeeping business.

Of course the two had so many sparks, and so many close encounters. Not to mention more misunderstandings and half-truths, blowing up at each other, then making up. There was a man that through the trying to find investors became a suitor for Blythe, and he was a nice guy, so it was really hard to not root for him. Again, reminded me of the last season of Bridgerton.

So many wonderful side characters as well. I loved the cousins and best friends, and would love if the author maybe wrote some connected stories for some of their HEAs/love stories. Even just the people that lived on Briggs’s land, and his friend who ended up also kind of saving them in the end with his own romantic past.

While there is a bit of a third act break-up/drama portion, it fit into the story enough that I didn’t mind it. I also loved the way the author solved the obstacles for these two star-crossed lovers to be together in the end.

I adored the little friendship/love story that started with Lewis and Callie as kids in their parents’ books, so I was extremely excited to read this one! We got some of the sweet stories from their past when they were teenagers, and then we found out that they had of course broken up and things weren’t good between them now. When the two of them meet up for the first time since they broke up, things get pretty tense, and then later intense, as they let their drinking help them get physical again.

Callie of course runs away before Lewis wakes up, and goes back home. Things seem perfect at home, her mom is like her best friend and she loves working at the bakery with her. Soon though, the small town atmosphere makes itself known with the gossip and how people are saying things behind her back. I kind of felt for her a bit, even made me think of myself as a bit of a mooch with how my parents have always been there for me as well.

Lewis is all grown up and not at all what I would have expected from what we knew of him in the books when he was a kid. He’s a tattooed motorcycle riding architect. Okay, so the architect bit wasn’t a surprise, lol. But he wants Callie back, and decides to give up on his London job and take his father’s offer to come work at the firm back in Ardnoch so he can be close to her and figure out a way to get her back.

As the blurb says, their one night together leads to a surprise pregnancy. Although the fact that he knew the condoms in his wallet were old and thought about that made me figure that was coming, because I hadn’t read the whole blurb before reading this. I just always know I’ll read this author’s books, so I don’t bother with the blurb other than maybe to see who the characters are and if I know them from other books. I did like how the two used the pregnancy to get to know each other and did find their way back to each other.

Like the other books in the series there was some danger and suspense from bad people. I kind of clued in to what was being looked for when Callie’s house got broken into based on another bit in the story that seemed like we got some random info. Maybe I just read too much and notice all that now. I do like however, that this type of story means we don’t usually get the third act breakup that I don’t care for, and so that made this book lovely as well.

I’m pretty sure all the characters from both this series as well as the one it branched off of were mentioned or showed up at some point in the story. While I’ve enjoyed all the books, they’re not ones I reread like with the author’s On Dublin Street series, so a few names were kind of run together for me. But I still liked getting to see them. A few small details I loved were the “In My Baking Era” t-shirt she had, since I have a similar one that says “In My Librarian Era.” And, one of Callie’s favorite snacks was Irn-Bru, the soda I discovered and fell in love with when I visited Scotland last summer. Also now that I’ve been there, some of the details about when they visited Edinburgh stuck out to me since I’ve been there and recognized what they talked about.

Anyway, this will now probably be my favorite in the series, and I’m excited for the next one, since I’m guessing it will be about Lewis’s little sister Eilidh.