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.

Forbidden love filled with all the tension, longing, and heart you could ask for.

This is basically a slow burn in the Tessa Bailey world, despite a timeline that feels jarringly fast at first. You get a very charming meet cute, leap through the getting to know you phase, and dive deep into the desperation of two people forced to ignore their feelings. It kind of feels like the whole book takes place in a third-act-breakup, but not in a bad way. The timeline makes sense since so much of Sig and Chloe's story takes place before we meet them in the previous book. It's written in a way that feels natural, there's just a small part of me that is bummed I missed out on some of those early moments.

Sig and Chloe are likeable (yet flawed) and you really root for them to figure things out. Really great romantic tension with their efforts to not cross the line drawn between them. Watching Chloe grow more confident and independent with Sig's help is a delight.

The actual sports aspect is pretty light but it IS there. There are plenty of fun scenes with notable members of the team outside of practice or games, so to me it did still feel like a sports romance.

Tessa Bailey should also be called The Queen of Breadcrumbs because she always sets up her next book in a way that has you invested based off of just a few pages. I have no hesitation about continuing with the series.

I'd recommend to anyone who loves Tessa Bailey (obviously), fans of Clueless, and people who think self sacrifice is a noble way to show your love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper and Avon Voyager for access to this ARC in return for honest feedback.

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.