Lisa

Quick, easy why choose romance with light suspense. A smaller cast of characters than I usually expect from a Tessa Bailey book but the ones you have are charming and fun. Plenty of banter and jokes, triple the amount of dirty talk, and overall a tidy plot.

You're dropped right into it all and the pace pretty quick. Happestance lacks some of the emotional depth you can find in Tessa's other novels but it's still a solidly fun read. I've followed this since it was just a joke on tik tok and the whole process has been a delight.

A tender historical romance from a unique perspective.

The romance is sweet, the trio of sisters are fierce and intelligent, and the suspense towards the end was a high point for me. It was an incredibly quick read that let me get swept along with it.

I did find it to be a bit of a slow start and I found myself wishing for more conflict. The relationship between the sisters is supposed to be strained and grow stronger throughout the book, but I felt like they resolved their issues fairly early on. The characters are charming, and most have clearly defined story arcs, but their epiphanies often fell flat to me. They were mostly shown through dialogue without actions to back them up.

The majority of the novel is from Ana Maria and Gideon's perspectives, aside from a small part of one chapter that switches to her sister. I assume she's the focus of the next book but it was jarring to have her perspective added where it was.

There are Spanish phrases throughout that I could understand with my few years of Spanish classes, but someone who isn't familiar probably wouldn't. There's no context or translation given with them. It doesn't affect the reader's ability to follow the plot, but I did find the phrases I didn't know to be distracting.

Overall, I'd recommend this for anyone who enjoys historical romance but wishes there was more diversity. The sisters are independent, bright, capable women, and their status as outsiders allows them space to have more modern opinions than one would often find in a book like this.

This was fun. Unique premise and a great blend of action and humor.

If you like urban fantasy and have ever looked around a Costco thinking about what you could use as a weapon, this book is for you.

It goes quick. I listened to the graphic audio version and enjoyed it.

I love Tangled, but was hesitant about reading a story where the heroine was naive, earnest, trusting, and interacting with the world for the first time.

Ren is still all those things, but she's also charming and kind and that made the difference.

The book does a great job following the spirit of the movie and is full of little Easter eggs any Tangled fan will recognize.

That being said, I think the book is still good enough on its own for someone who hasn't seen the movie.

It's not my favorite Christina Lauren book but it does like a Christina Lauren book, so I still enjoyed it.

(4.75 stars) A Christmasy, locked room mystery tailor made for book lovers and fans of romantic suspense.

This was a quick fun read. The banter is witty. The mystery is compelling and twisty. The romance is swoony with some great protection tropes. It's the perfect book to read during the busy Christmas season when you have a million other things on your mind.

My only complaint was that some parts of the big finale twist kind of came out of nowhere, but it didn't ruin anything for me. I just think it would have been better to lay a little bit more groundwork.

Overall would recommend. Will reread. Great if you watch Knives Out and were like "I wish this had more romantic suspense".