lisaluvsliterature's reviews
4011 reviews

I love how the author has given us a bit of a later in life love story. Both characters have had a first marriage and lost their significant other due to divorce or death. One has kids, one is floundering and unsure where to go at this point. The story takes place in a small town with a fun cast of supporting characters. 

Willa is reserved, still dealing with her husband’s death, she’s unsure how to move about in this new world and new reality. She married pretty young, against her parents’ wishes, and her life never became the steady, safe one they’d always wanted her to have. Now she’s kind of trying to move on, to start a new life on her own, with the luck of her great-aunt’s home in this small town. The first job opportunity that might actually help her get on her feet comes along, but it’s not an easy one. The antics with trying to come up with “sexy” recipes for this influencer’s cookbook is so much fun. Even as I could feel the stress Willa was dealing with to complete it.

Then there is Hudson. He’s the flirty divorcee, with two grown kids, because he also got married at a young age. He’s a few years younger than Willa, but also at a point in his life where he thinks he wants to be. But as he gets to know Willa, and learn about her life, he does start to wonder about a few of his own misses in his life. However he is a giver, he’s there to help out anyone, and so that has always come first, like raising his kids when his wife left them. His family is a blast. His daughter and his mom, and even his dad. All of them just want him to be happy, and of course are shocked when it seems he’s interested in this new woman on the island. 

The romance progresses at a slow pace, both attracted, but Willa unsure and not wanting to accept help, and Hudson worried about scaring her away if he moves too fast. When Willa visits her family, it makes sense why she feels the way she does. But I love how she makes her decision on what to do next. 

Another thing I loved about the story is that we don’t get that third act break up really. There is a bit of the disaster we need to move the story along of course, but the two of them are able to figure that out, and then we have other things to worry about messing up their relationship, or them figuring out what they are going to do and how they can move on.

Another sweet romance, with a little bit of spice from Cathy Yardley.

My 2nd second chance romance read in a row! But once again I loved it! It was almost perfect! I loved the way the CD player was giving Sam flashbacks, but not flashbacks exactly because they are actually new memories of what might have been if she’d only given in and kissed Damon on that one night back in high school. As someone who thinks back a lot of times to certain moments where I wish maybe I’d made a different decision, it is nice to get this look at what or how things might have been better in some ways, but also there are things in Sam’s life (or my own life) that would not be the same, things that could change how the happiness level could be.

Of course as you’d expect, at first the changes seem to be wonderful. Even if they turn what Sam calls “Alt-Sam” into a bit of a different version of herself. She says and does things that our heroine can’t imagine actually doing. Which obviously are partly probably from the changed decisions, as well as just the fact that this Alt-Sam thinks or chooses differently. Of course things don’t keep going smoothly. And of course Sam can’t really tell anyone about these “visions” she’s having. Or when she does, her friend thinks she’s hallucinating and needs an intervention.

Then things get a little crazy back at home where Sam has gone to help her grandmother get ready to maybe move to a senior community. First, right before the hurricane comes in and hits, Sam’s mother shows up out of the blue. And now Sam has to face the issues she has with her mom leaving her. But as you can expect, there is more to that than the story that Sam has always believed and been told by her grandmother. She finds herself falling again for Damon outside of the visions too. I mean he really is such the perfect guy for her, other than he lives there, and she lives in Paris with her whole pilot career. Not to mention the huge change in her life in the visions, that take away some of her most important parts of her current life and she has to decide maybe she didn’t choose wrong after all, but can she make any new decisions that might work out now?

A fun story, definitely recommend!

I loved the sound of this second chance romance when the publisher reached out to me and so I was very excited to read it. And it did not disappoint!

I really got Georgia’s feelings about losing friends as they went on to different stages of their lives. I think I had this same connection with another character just recently in another book. But in a way she kind of was letting them, or expecting them to do that. She didn’t want to need them. Based on her past with her own mother, and even things with her father, she knew it was just better not to be needy. In her mind and experiences, it had made people leave her because she was too much. In fact that is part of what she felt split her and Eli up.

Eli was someone you could tell from the first actual point he showed up at the airport had made some changes in his life. It wasn’t just that he seemed so different to Georgia, I mean, yes, it was, but there were just a lot of clues laid into his actions that definitely kept me thinking about what had probably been going on for him. It was also obvious he was coming to make amends, not only with their friend Adam, but also with Georgia.

I loved how they finally gave in. How both of them supposedly handled keeping it just for that short time. But Eli stepped up, he really did prove that he was there and was there to be part of her life again. And the paper rings, those were the neatest thing. I loved that she’d kept them all that time. It’s totally something I would do. I even have silly notes from high school from people, so I got that. But what those rings turned into, what the surprises that came with them at the end were, I didn’t see that coming, but oh did I love that! This romance was so good. It didn’t work out perfectly without any mistakes or any heartbreak or trying to figure things out. But it worked out with the characters having to figure out where they’d went wrong on their own, and make their own lives ready.

I can’t finish this review without talking about the hilarious wedding curse that their friend Adam and his fiance Grace were dealing with. So many hilarious things, and you can’t even imagine how insane some of these things that went wrong were! The crazy DJ they went to check out to replace the original one they had. The cabins they stayed in for the wedding, the cake tastings and then incidents, TWO!, with the final cake. Not to mention the way they got their HEA and the epilogue of the story was so unique and fit perfectly.

This is my first book by this author, I’d wanted to read the first one, but didn’t get around to it, now I know I will have to, so I’ve added it to my audiobook wishlist to enjoy as well. And I’ve seen there is a novella to read, so that is on my TBR too now!

What I’ve really enjoy about this series is just how real the characters are. Especially how Nellie is not at all timid or careful about how she enjoys herself and her dating life. I know this might be off putting for some people, but for me, it worked. And the banter and hilarious innuendos and puns that the characters engage in had me laughing as I was sitting in my doctor’s office waiting room. 

This is the second book, and so I will do my best not to spoil anything, although I will say I thought it was going to be the conclusion, but no, we have at least one more book to finish up this story, and I was not expecting that! Another not cliffhanger exactly, but I wouldn’t call it a HFN this time really either. So be prepared. I knew as we got closer to the end, even as some things looked like maybe they were falling into place for a real relationship, more than just a FWB relationship, I could tell not everything that would need to be settled for that to be HEA was there yet.

Nellie is still enjoying her time with both of her FWBs, Ben – her former professor, and JP, her best friend’s older brother/her nemesis. However her dad is still being a real jerk, and ooh, I hated him so much in this one, even more than the first book if it was possible! We did get a bit of a different look at his latest wife Kimberlee, and maybe have to give her a little bit more credit and like her a bit more. And of course her friend Anne-Marie was her usual gossipy, hilarious debutante self. Even if there was one point that she did something that made Nellie unsure of their friendship. 

JP also became someone Nellie actually got to know better, through both of them dealing with personal issues, and talking instead of just the physical aspects of their relationship the whole time. It made JP a little more lovable for me. Even if I had been rooting for him the whole time anyway. Because I could tell that he felt more than just the basic physical feelings Nellie had for him. 

I don’t remember much about Nellie being neurodivergent discussed in the first two books, but maybe I just skimmed over it? Any way, there was a lot to do with that in this story. And it makes sense that she is based on how her life has been and how she deals with situations. 

There were some new characters we met in this story that I adored, and I loved how they kind of came into her dealings with her dad at the end too. It was the perfect bit for her, even if her dad still didn’t give her any credit at first. Between those humorous bits as well as all the hilarious banter between JP and Nellie, especially about what she promised him in order to get him to do a favor for her, I found myself laughing quite a bit and speeding through this one!

I’m not always a huge fan of age gap romances, but to me the age gap in this isn’t a huge one that bothers me. And of course if anyone can write it in a way I’ll love, it is going to be Helena Hunting. I started out listening to the audiobook, and I will definitely say that both narrators did a great job! I ended up switching the e-galley at about 60% because with not driving to work every day, and riding a lot of places with family members, I wasn’t listening as much or as quickly as I needed to. However, once I started the e-galley, I finished in basically one day. 

I love all the characters in this series of course. Getting time with the Rix and Tristan from the first book, If You Hate Me, since Rix was sort of Hammer, or Aurora’s roommate, was a lot of fun. In fact, we had another secret dating type of story with this one, so that couple had definitely some great insight into what Aurora and Hollis were going to deal with if they kept it a secret. All the little inside jokes the “Bad A– Babe Brigade” had from what we knew from the first story also made for some hilarious spit-take moments for several of the characters. We also get little insights into some of the other possible future couples, or at least the hockey team player that we’ll hopefully get to see HEAs for sometime in a future book.

Aurora and Hollis were definitely both lusting after the other, and both knowing it was wrong, not because it really was, but because of issues with Aurora’s father. First with him being Hollis’s best friend, and second because his one rule for Aurora’s dating was not to date a hockey player. It was easy to understand why Aurora worried about his rules, but then when we learned a bit more of what really happened when her parents had switched custody of her, things made more sense for her. I liked also that Hollis knew sooner that he needed to come clean with her father about their relationship, even if he let her talk him into waiting. Her reasons definitely made sense, even if they shouldn’t have made up their mind. 

I didn’t agree with the time Aurora got upset with Hollis after finding out he’d met with his ex. First of all, the timing should have made it not a big deal. What with everything that had been going on at the time with her other date, and him pushing her away. So that bugged me a bit. Also, this is a me problem, the picture of her on the cover of the book doesn’t look like she has long enough hair that she would be wearing the type of scrunchies that she was wearing, or that she would need one very often. But that’s just me, and not at all a real issue with the story, lol. Because I love the cover, so I can’t believe I’m even saying that!

Another great addition to the new hockey world, with ties to the original hockey world from Hunting. I am ready to maybe have a little bit different trope in the next book, not a secret dating type. I can see at least one enemies to lovers story in the works, which I can’t wait for that. And I hope we also get a chance to see Aurora’s dad get a story too! I mean, he’s not that old since he was such a young father!

I’ve loved the books by this author that I’ve read and was excited for this adult romance, I especially love when there are cultural aspects that are new to me and I get to learn about them, in this case, the same time that our hero Evan is learning about them.

In the end I adored this book! Although it was in 3rd person, which is never my favorite, it had so many great moments, and so much emotion. It definitely seemed at first as if Dalisay was being a little bit too picky or rude. But I love the way that Evan jumped right into the Five Stages. The story was totally one where the two characters had that inkling, that little thought that this was going to be their person, even if you wouldn’t call it love at first sight.

I fell in love with Evan pretty quickly. Starting with how well he took the news that he didn’t get the job he thought he was going to get. It was still realistic how he felt when Dalisay edited some of his work without him asking her to do that. When we got more from Dalisay though, we learned that was just how the work ethic had been for her back in her country. It’s the way I’ve kind of always felt at work, that yeah, I want to get my stuff done, but I want to help others too. I think part of that is from the middle school philosophy I firmly believed in as I began teaching. But that’s off topic, so let’s get back to the book.

All of the friends and family characters in this book added so much to the story as well. As someone like myself who didn’t know the Five Stages, it was fun how the author let me find out what each one was along with Evan as the story progressed and he learned them from his friends or from Dalisay or her family. The second stage, ugh, I was so irritated with Dalisay, but in the end it made sense why she did what she did. Especially when it came to grand gesture time, but I won’t spoil that for the reader! So many parts of the different stages led to hilarious laugh out loud moments for me. Like the kid’s birthday party with the clowns, and Evan’s reaction to them. There was a part with a seagull trying to get Evan’s ice cream cone too. And the ice skating scene was adorable and sweet. Oh my gosh, and the trip to the zoo with Little Luis!

There was a lot of emotion as well. Dalisay thinking about how her family would handle her not sticking to their traditions. How Evan’s family acted when she met them, wow, his family was not what I was expecting, and they made me mad! Of course we had the side story of Dalisay’s sister Nicole and how she had her own secret, and what happened when she tried to finally be open with her family about it.

And I guess I didn’t figure that we’d have some of the steamy scenes we had, as I am mostly used to reading this author’s YA books in the past. But it wasn’t as steamy/explicit as some of my favorite authors are, just wasn’t closed door either. Not saying this wasn’t a good part of the book! I liked the way it all happened, that Dalisay didn’t immediately want to jump into that physical relationship. It took her a bit to be ready for that. That part made sense to why she had the issue when he tried to move the relationship to an even more serious level. Even if I was mad at her for that.

In the end the grand gesture and the way it all was wrapped up and settled into the HEA was perfect for me, and so romantic. Loved this book so much, all the cultural info, I want someone to do the Five Stages with me, lol! And Evan was such a wonderful guy, I’d totally want him for a book boyfriend as well!

I have really enjoyed all of this author’s books, so I was immediately intrigued with the synopsis of this one! I mean, as a single woman who is pretty sure she is always going to be single, what could be better than the book boyfriend of my dreams popping out of the current book I’m reading or me being able to pop into the book to fill out the rest of the story?

So much of this was a single romance reader’s dream come true story. But what made this even more fun was when Killian actually showed up in Leigh’s world outside the book, in her bed even! Suddenly this billionaire enemies to lovers romantic interest from her book must figure out how to go about his new life in the real world. Figuring out if he was real, or if he was a figment of her imagination took some time to decide as well.

As much as I adored this story, and totally got the direction the author took it in the end, I did have a few things that didn’t quite work for me. For instance, the fact that Leigh’s work had to do with AI made me think maybe there was going to be some kind of connection to Killian coming out of the book. But there was not. And honestly, we never really got a reason for how he came out of the book, and my brain needed just a little bit more about that. What they did about the book later in the story, well, again, it was a bit anti-climactic for me. 

Besides those things though, it was a fun read, and I did really enjoy this fun little foray into a world where a book boyfriend comes to life. Now I’m off to bed, hoping to dream about one of my own many favorite book boyfriends, even I don’t get them appearing in real life out of my dream when I wake up in the morning.

I’ve enjoyed books by this author in the past, so definitely was interested in reading this one. And when I picked it up, I was so glad I was able to fit it into my review schedule because I devoured it in about two sittings! Yes I got very frustrated with Molly not seeing that Duncan wasn’t really the right one. However he did such a good job of playing on her weaknesses and knowing what to say to get her to think and remember how good things had seemed between them. At least before he dumped her to go on the reality show. 

Then there was Ben, the grumpy of all grumpy-sunshine stories. Ben was a good guy. But boy did he have so much to work on. It was obvious he really liked Molly, and he was trying to get her back. His holdups though kept things from going smoothly. However I liked the way their friendship/relationship grew and got stronger the more time they spent together. How they worked through things, fought, made up, and brought out the good in each other. 

I’m not the type of person who likes to watch dating shows. But for some reason I enjoy reading about them in romance stories! And this story was perfect for me. The way the show was set up was a lot of fun. This did have a bit of a jargon issue for me at times with obviously British jargon. I did have to look one word up, even if I kind of figured it out based on context clues, “bagsy”. Kind of means what I’d think of as calling dibs on something basically.

This story had romance, banter, steamy times, and a wonderful HEA that had me swooning. But it also kept me guessing or wondering how things would come about, as Ben kept saying he couldn’t do marriage, and Duncan kept stringing Molly along. As I said, I am soooooooo glad I fit this one in! I’ll be making sure I do my best to continue fitting books by this author into my schedule in the future!

I almost forgot about the e-galley I had of this, so got to reading a bit late. But once I picked it up I was sucked right into this fun little story! I’ve enjoyed the YA books by this author that I’ve read in the past, but haven’t read any of her adult titles. And this was her first rom-com, and I think she did a great job! It doesn’t sound as if she’s planning to venture into a bunch of this type in the future, that she had the idea for this one pop into her head and then got it all planned out and written based on some fellow writers suggestions. However I would read more from her like this in the future!

Daphne was a fun character, I totally got her “fear” of talking in front of crowds or even the attention she would get from being a famous author. I do know there are always still the people in the publishing or any other world that still look at a man’s work over a woman’s if they know who the author is. However, I do wonder if a YA book might be okay these day by a woman, as it seems as most of what I stock in my library is by women authors? But as was mentioned in this story, Daphne’s book got put on the adult bestseller list and all the backing because it was supposedly by a guy.

I fell in love with Chris from the first time we met him. But with what had happened in Daphne’s last serious relationship, it was extremely easy to understand why she wasn’t going to be interested in him, or give into the inkling of attraction. Chris had his own background and reasons for not jumping into it at first. Not knowing for sure how she actually felt about him. And then wanting to go slow. To prove to her. Yes, he was a perfect book boyfriend. Probably almost a perfect boyfriend in real life if he’d been real! The banter and sexual tension between him and Daphne, especially every time they got interrupted by a phone call or text, was perfect!

The living in the Yukon wilderness setting of the story was something I really liked as well. Daphne having built her perfect house, learning about all the different things that area had to offer like hiking, outdoor activities, etc. The bear parts of the story, her past with swimming, all of it either was very exciting or else I connected to it in a way. It was also a lot of fun reading about the author events, and I loved when Daphne looked out and saw that not all the people in her audience were there just because of how Zane/Chris looked or his crazy grizzly bear video.

I do feel like the neighbor Robbie’s storyline was maybe left a little bit hanging at the end? I know that by revealing the secret the way they did, it took away his blackmail, but, and maybe I read too fast and missed it, I’d have like to have seen something happen to him for what he did.

But a wonderful unexpected rom-com from Kelley Armstrong, and I’d definitely read more like this from her in the future! Hint: Maybe we could get either Daphne’s friend Nia’s story or Chris’s sister Gemma’s story?

This is my 2nd book by this author and I’d give it a little higher rating than my last one. It was intense, and definitely had me on the edge of my seat wondering what exactly was going on, who was this killer that was part of the tagline on the cover. It started out with an event that was so emotional and definitely influenced how Katie behaved or acted. Not to mention that Aster had her own issues from how she had behaved or reacted to that event at the beginning. There were portions split out from the viewpoint of someone you didn’t know for sure. Was it one of the two girls after the story we were getting on their hike? Was it another person they’d seen along the trail? Was it even anyone we’d had any contact with through Aster and Katie’s viewpoints? Then, who was the character that Katie and Aster should be worried about. Was it Finn? Was it the runner they’d seen early on? The two climbers? The druggie guy? I had guesses, some panned out, some weren’t quite right, but I liked the way the author kept me turning pages just to find out what happened.