Asia

3.5/5

It was a fun and cozy read. Perfect for autumn, especially with a cup of warm tea, curled up under a blanket.

I enjoyed it. The characters were interesting and the plot engaging. The spice was spicying too. I enjoyed it and wished to move to Scotland for a while too!! Although I wouldn't survive without a hot shower!

3.75/5

Out of the Delca siblings, I much prefer Stefan and his story.

Nadia was cool and I liked her but I had some problems with Griffin. I just disliked his "I'm not gonna deal with my shit or fix my messes; I will just ignore it all and live blissfully in delusion" attitude. Man was 35 years old and was as less mature then Nadia, who was 21. Literally, she was more responsible and mature and knew how to deal with her problems than this gron-ass man. He was in his mid 30s and yet wasn't even able to use his big words. Ughhh.

What really got to me was that plot twist at the end. So you're telling me that this guy has been married on paper for however long, never bothered to get a divorce properly until now, and yet this wasn't the reason for them to break up. No, they talked like mature people (color me surprised) and she promised to stand with him... Until next week, when they broke up for... What reason exactly? What was the reason there I'm so confused?

We had the potential conflict that was swept under the rug and I thought "oh, we're out of the woods, that's fun!:" only for the author to say "sike!" and break the characters up ANYWAY.

Super frustrating.

I have to say I loved the mail Nadia got from Gryffin. He called her "Wildflower" and then sent her so many wildflowers AND THEN HE PLANTED THEM FOR HER SO THEY COULD BUILD HOME TOGETHER???? Are you kidding me? That was the sweetest thing!!

The story was lacking something for me though. All those time skips while she was at school only so we could see her receive mail from him. Like I hoped we'd see her apart frorm him, with different people as her own person! Because they met in chapter 1 and I only saw Nadia as already obsessed with him, never had any opportunity to know her before their meeting. At elast Gryffin had flashbacks to before he met her, but Nadia? There was nada. Which was frustrating.

All in all it wasn't bad book but it wasn't for me.

4/5

I liked this book, but I have some thoughts.

First of all, as much as I love Zachary Webber, his narration in this book made me laugh. He was going for the Romanian accent, but it sounded more like what Ben Barnes did in Prince Caspian lol. Second of all, Soneela Nankani male vocie was absolutely horrible. I'm sorry. Her narration and her reading female characters was fantastic, but that male voice wasn't it.

Third. I was so over the whole "I can't believe I'm sleeping with the enemy" narrative. The whole treatment of Stefan was so over the top, are we in middle school? Especially Billie's behaviour, how much she hated him. All because he wanted to buy her horse once upon a time. Jesus. You're an adult; act like one, instead of resorting to high school taunts and the name-calling.

Also, Mira's "I'm sleeping with an enemy" mentality. If he's your enemy, walk the fuck away. Who calls other people enemies in real life anyway? Grow up. I wouldn't be surprised if she was the one setting his stable on fire.

I also hated Mira's behavior at the end. She was keeping the secret from Stefan since he told her about his father, and she had MONTHS to figure out a way to tell him. She didn't, and THEN she had the gall to say that it's not her fault and she didn't do anything wrong??? And that the situation is 'faultless'?? What do you mean???? It was your fault! You kept his father's identity away from him! Even after he explained to her that mere suspicion without confirmation would be better than not knowing, she still didn't understand! And she still claimed it wasn't her fault till the end!

I hated it. And I hated how it was all brushed away because surprise! We needed another drama!

Why is it that Stefan is not only hated by all the characters but the narrative as well? He's beating himself up about leaving sis sister (while he himself was still a kid), he's hated by everyone in the industry, the woman he sees is embarrassed to be seen with him and keeps him a secret, and then, because it's not enough, his barn needed to be set on fire. For what???? There was another way to bring the MCs back together!

ANYWAY, rant over. I liked the book otherwise; I loved Stefan and Mira (until she decided to keep it a secret from him anyway), Nadia was great too. Loki was amazing, and I approve of the name. The relationship was amazing, but I needed more after the hospital. In the epilogue, we are told that Billie suddenly starts calling Stefan "her brother from a different mother" or something like that, but why are we being told this? I want to see this. I want to see Billie apologize to him and mean it. I want her to feel bad for the name-calling and schoolyard taunts. I don't want this to be swept under the rug and her to randomly start calling her her brother when she never even apologized for her immature behaviour. Like she literally made him the villain, and now I'm supposed to believe all is well and he's suddenly accepted? Show me.

The next book is Nadia and Stefan's friend he got the stable from, isn't it?

4.25/5

I loved this book. The narration was great too (though Vanessa's male voice wasn't my favourite and Connor's therapist voice made me laugh).

I loved Violet. And I loved Cole. I love how complicated they both were and how they tried to fit in. I didn't even mind all the flashbacks, which I'm normally not a fan of. I was waiting for the last flashback to be from Cole's pov of when he recognized her on track; alas, we didn't get it.

I didn't like the third-act breakup. Here Cole is, telling Violet that his father died on track, and her making it about herself. I get it, he was traumatized and didn't say things the way he wanted to, but goog God, woman, give him some grace! I agreed with her that she didn't need another man to micromanage her, but that's not what he was trying to do. And the deadline was just the dick move.

I also wish we saw Cole and Vaughn's talk on the stairs on page. I was waiting for this, and instead we got this conversation with Billie instead. Which was great, sure, but I wanted to see the brothers bonding on page too.

The therapist was the best, she was cracking me up. Easily my favourite side character.

The light/lightcatcher speech at the end was amazing and made me cry. I love a good metaphor.

It was a great book. I love a tortured hero pining over a woman he can never have.

3.75/5

The male narrator pissed me off. I didn't like his narration. Possibly the main reason why I disliked the MMC, although I also hated MMC's choices. He was so obsessed with his family's reputation, he was blind to everything else. I disliked him.

There was not enough grovel at the end either. He even said himself earlier that he wouldn't grovel! I didn't like that she was forced to go to that final race, all because he was too man-child to actually talk to her. He was petty and immature and didn't deserve her.

I'm excited to read Violet and Cole's book. And I'm sure, Stefan Dalca will get his own book, too!

That was cute

4/5

This was a solid book. I enjoyed it, though not as much as I did the previous one.

Beau and Bailey, I didn't expect this pairing at all, but it works. I liked them. I felt like the fact that everyone in town hated Bailey for being related to her family was super far-fetched and exaggerated, though. Like sure, some people might have held it against her, but everyone? Every single person except for the Eatons? And then she started yelling at everyone to treat her better and they suddenly did? Yeah, I don't buy that. That's the part that bugged me the most. It was too unbelievable.

The other part that bugged me was that we saw so little of that last mission of Beau. I expected more. I'm still a little confused - so he went back to that cave, alone. How and when did his feet burn up? In the cave? Was he shot in the feet? Was there a fire? Did they move from the same cave Beau find this journalist to some other one? If they didn't, how come the enemies didn't find them? How and when Beau get injured? I still have so many questions. That one dream he described to Bailey wasn't enough to answer them.

Other than that, I liked the book. I wish Bailey had more scenes with the other Eaton wags (since she didn't have any other friends) because it felt like every single scene Bailey had in the book, except for 1 or two, were with Beau. And while I don't mind so many scenes with her love interest, I wish she had some with other people who liked her. And I LOVE that they left town at the end. It really wasn't a good place for Bailey and I'm glad that the author didn't force her to stay there like a martyr.

Also, Bailey was super innocent and naive and while this should have annoyed me, I found it endearing, almost. And hilarious. Some of those questions were super funny.

I liked this book. I can't believe it's the end of the series already, I had super fun reading it. I guess it's time for me to read Gold Rush Ranch next (which I should have done before, oops!!

4.5/5

This book was amazing. I love it. I don't necessarily like unplanned pregnancy, but I'm glad this was part of the blurb and that there was a time skip.

I also LOVED that the secret wasn't dragged on for too long and that Theo could be a part of his daughter's life ever since he came back to the town.

I hate miscommunication, but in this case, it was handled very well. I loved Theo dressing down Winter's father and that employee. I loved that he stepped in and saw and had Winter's back from the beginning when nobody else did.

I loved Winter's relationship with her sister. I knew there was more to her than what we've seen in Summer's book. I loved how they reconciled and the work they've put in to get there, though some of that was shown in the previous books too. I loved that at the end, Kip finally started to reach out too (the dollhouse!)

Theo and Winter's relationship was my favourite. I love how they sniped at each other but respected one another too. I love that Theo saw her and knew that the only way to bring her out of her shell was to needle her and be a menace - but a respectful one. And I love that Winter gave him a chance and opened up and realized that she is worthy of love. And I love that Theo loved Winter and Vivian since the start.

I read Emerald Lake so I remembered bit of Theo and Winter and I feel the need to reread it now. There was even a reference to that cruise ship, and it was nice to see how long Elsie planned the whole story.

Vivi was adorable. I don't usually like children characters but she was fun. I wish there was more of Winter being pregnant, but I guess that didn't work out story-wise. I really liked this book, it wasn't what I expected at all but I had fun.

I'm glad that Theo wasn't a raging misogynist with a hero complex the way I saw Cade and Rhett. Hopefully, Beu will be better too??

Speaking of, I wonder what's up with him. He wasn't at the birthday party at the end, which was rude of him. I guess that the next (and the last book in the series), will be about him (unless Harvey gets his own book which I doubt), but no idea beyond that. There was no hint as to who his love interest might be, so I'm ready to read the blurb and the book and find out.

I really love this book. I can see why it's the strongest one from the series and fan favourite. I really had fun reading it!

4.25/5

I loved this book. I'm sla glad that I did. It was amazing.

First of all, I've loved Jasper since book one and I loved him even more now. He was great. I love a tortured hero and he was so good. Second of all, Sloane was incredible. I loved her. She had a shitty relationship with her ex and I'm glad she had this wake-up call and broke things off.

I'm not usually a fan of "she loved him all this time and he's never noticed her until recently," but I loved it in this book; it was really well written and I enjoyed it. Because even when he didn't see her like that, he still liked her as a person, and he cared for her, and I loved seeing that. Their relationship was special and important since the beginning and I loved seeing it progress. I loved how they both opened up to each other even more, especially Jasper.

I loved Sloane's speech at the end and that Jasper took it to heart that she can't always pull him from darkness and that he has to learn to do it himself. I loved that Sloane wasn't really a damsel in distress, and she was capable of rescuing herself, she just needed a little push, and that Jasper wasn't a knight in a shining armour, but he always had her back.

HE ALSO GAVE HER THE ENGAGEMENT RING SHE TOLD HIM ABOUT AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE BOOK, WHEN DID HE EVEN BUY THIS THING OH MY GOD I'M SO EMOTIONAL.

Their relationship was great. I loved their relationship with Eatons too and I love how immediately they accepted Jasper as their own - I wish we saw more of that, beyond that little flashback with Beu. Wish we saw more of Violet and Sloane's friendship (does Violet have her own book? I feel like I have to read every single book by this author because they all seem to be connected and set in the same universe and yet I keep reading them in the reverse order) and I wish we saw more of Jasper with his teammates and coach.

I loved the supporting characters. Willow was here! And damn, her chemistry with Theo was off the charts. I knew she'd have a new love interest and I was wondering who and I forgot about Theo! Damnit it all to hell, I actually read Fever Dreams last month, I should have remembered it was her. I can't wait for their book. I HOPE she finaly kicks her current husband to the curb, what takes it so long? I was under the impression that she wasn't the divorce and he's dragging it out but what di I know. I can't wait to read her story.

Beau. I love him. I wonder what happened to him, but I guess we'll lern it in his book - I suspect it's the last book in the series. I can't even begin to guess who he migth fall for but I want to know what happened during his mission and what he's going to do now that he's retired.

Harvey was fantastic, as always. Do I spy with my little eye (ha!) that he has a little crush on his sister-in-law? Ex sister-in-law? His late wife's sister? Each to their own, I guess.

Anyway, I loved this book and I'm super excited for the next one (Willow and Theo?)!

3.75/5

ANOTHER unplanned pregnancy? I hate it. I hate it. I hate it so much.

I didn't like this book for the most part. I liked FMC and the little boy, but MMC was annoying. I hated how he called Willa "woman" when he was talking to her. Misogynistic arsehole.

I really wanted to like this book, alas, the unplanned pregnancy made me dislike it even more. Ughhh.

What I liked about it:

- Willa and Luke's relationship was adorable and I loved it.

- Harvey was, as always, delightful

- Winter! I knew she wasn't the raging bitch the first book wanted me to believe. I can't believe she's still "sort of" with Rob, dump him!!! Now! I can't wait to read her book. I wonder if she ends up with Beau? Or someone else? It won't be Jasper, that's for sure. I feel like I should know who she ends up with, but I can't think of anyone for now.

- Jasper and Sloane. I know that there's something there. I can smell it. I can't wait for the angst. And yearning. So. Much. Yearning. Ahhh!

All in all, I can't wait for the next book. I hope it will be Jasper and Sloane!