Jerry Cooke

4.25⭐️ - A super cute cosy fantasy in a familiar world, with more peril than previous books!

Fern has been running her bookshop in Murk for many years now and the more she hears about how well her old friend Viv is doing running her bustling café in Thune, the more dissatisfied she has felt with her own life. Finding out that there's a vacant building next to Legends & Lattes, she sells her old shop and sets off for the big city! She's happy to see Viv and Tandri, but even after she sets up her new shop with the help of handyman Caz, she still feels that emptiness inside. After getting drunk and having a heart to heart with Caz, she finds her self stowing in the way in the back of a wagon. When it transpires that owner of this wagon is the one and only Astryx One-Ear, Blademistress, Oathmaiden, and skilled bounty hunter. Despite some initial misgivings, they begin to travel together and in doing so, Fern finally faces the doubt she has about her future path.

This was just as cute as Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust, but has a lot more fighting and danger than the other two, making is a little less cosy, but just as sweet and fun. The world really is a wonderful one and it was super lovely to see more of Viv, Tandri, Potroast, and Caz - I hope so much that Travis Baldree writes more of these, because it's one of my favourite series of all time!

4.75⭐️ - A thrilling lovers to enemies to lovers sapphic undersea adventure with Bioshock vibes!

Sargent Nix Marr hasn't seen her former royal paramour, Subarch Kessandra, for over four years. Not since a horrific cave-in below the underwater city of Fall robbed her of a best friend and had Kess abandoning her. Understandably then that she's not best pleased when the Subarch shows up to observe her squad's training session and announces that she's looking for a bodyguard to protect her on a return trip to the depths. Her sense of trouble is confirmed when Kessandra shows up in her father's home the next day, offering to fund his medical treatment in return for Nix's cooperation, leaving her little choice. As the two embark on the three day journey to Fall within The Luminosity - a town sized giant submersible - things go from feeling bad, to being distinctly terrible, and the two must work together to safe as many as they can.

I have loved Rebecca's cosy fantasy writing for a while now, but this is the first dark work I've read by her.. and I loved it. It gives such Bioshock nostalgia, with the wonderful art deco submersible, the mindlessly aggressive enemies, and the water filled sections - truly just the perfect vibe for this story. Kess and Nix are such a great pairing, reminding me a little of Vi and Kate from Arcane - Nix a powerful fighter from the outskirts of the city, Kess the high-born smart gun wielder. Made me love them all the more and so impatient for next year's sequel to find out what happens to them!

4.25⭐️ - A wonderful and affirming story of second and third chances and falling in love in a single day!

Ellie Oliver thought her life was changing for the better when she moved to Portland from Ohio. She was finally getting away from her emotionally abusive mother, starting a job with her dream animation studio, and has a ten-year plan for how to get the life of her dreams. When a freak snowstorm sees her spending a whirlwind day with the tall and intriguing Jack, it seems like something really special might be developing.

That was last Christmas though and that one day lead to a year of questioning and longing. Having since lost her animation job, she's now working as a barista with a worsening financial situation, which makes the offer from the shop's rich landlord to enter into a marriage of convince to meet the stipulations of his inheritance something that she can't say no to. Having to spend Christmas with his family to really sell the fake relationship, the last thing she expects to find is that Andrew's sister Jaqueline is none other than the girl she gave her heart two that time last year. Faced with having to weigh supporting Andrew and her own financial security against taking a chance on something that could have been, Christmas becomes incredibly complicated all of a sudden.

Ugh, this story was full of so much beauty and affirming queerness, matched against longing and frustration. Ellie's horrible treatment by her parents being healed by Andrew and Jack's wonderful family is so sweet to see, and the chemistry between Jack and Ellie is utterly palpable. I loved their story so much for so many reasons, but I can't give this five stars because I felt left wanting by a lack of epilogue. I know it leaves things open, but I always want more 😅

4⭐️ - A sweet small town romance with a side of warm spice!

When Jeanie's boss drops dead, it makes the decision to accept her aunt's offer for her to take ownership of the much adored Pumpkin Spice Café a much easier one. It's a lot of responsibility to take on though and it's not made any easier by the mysterious noises keeping her up at night. Flustered and afraid, she eagerly accept the offer from grumpy produce farmer Logan to stake-out together and get to the bottom of things. As the pair find their enjoy time together, they have to come to terms with their respective fear of abandonment and failure.

This was a cute and cosy slice of autumnal romance, with Logan and Jeanie and their respective circle of friends making for a sweet found family vibe. I've put off reading the Dream Harbor books till this colder time of year and I'm glad to finally be getting into them, because they're lots of fun.

5⭐️ - A beautiful love story filled with the passion of art and reading, utterly joyful!

After her planned solo debut performance ends in total failure due to her chronic migraine symptoms becoming suddenly debilitating, cellist Courtney Starling decides to take refuge in her best friend Sam's bookshop in Kansas. When the beguiling Thea Quinn announces her appearance in the bookshop with an ear splitting scream, it's an unexpected start to a chemistry laden number of weeks of shared lunches, book recommendations, and stargazing. Her music life hasn't stopped while she's been living incognito though and as the past catches up with her, things between her and Thea become so much more complicated.

This was such a movingly written story in a beautiful small town, with so much sweet found family and searching for self. Despite their ups and downs, the way Courtney and Thea area able to talk through their relationship is absolutely healing to read. It was so satisfying, but I was very much left wanting more from these two. Not because there wasn't a great ending and epilogue, but because I loved everyone so much and didn't want it to stop!

4.75⭐️ - A ton of Christmas cuteness with a grumpy/sunshine vibe and lots of dogs!

Kira's decision to give almost all of her trust fund to charity and to buy the old Christmas Tree Farm in the small town of Dream Harbour seemed like a good idea at the time. Reality isn't quite as rosy though, with a freezing cold property, and this is forcing her to re-evaluate the statement she made to the town about not re-opening the farm. She's just pondering her lot in life when a barking outside makes her take notice of a trespasser with three adorable dogs.

Bennett, brother of Jeanie who runs the Pumpkin Spice Café, has no idea the farm was occupied and his first impression of the standoffish Kira is that she's beautiful, but mean. There's serious curiosity in the town though and as he's just visiting for a couple of months, and thus an outsider, it's deemed that he's the perfect impartial person to get to know Kira better and find out what's going on at the farm. As the two end up spending more time together, Kira's icy exterior thaws and it becomes clear that there's some possibility for Christmas warmth between them.

This was adorable and my favourite Dream Harbour book so far. Bennett and Kira have a great grumpy/sunshine relationship with the slow thawing and growing found family being super sweet to see develop. A great Christmas read!

3.5⭐️ – A cosy small-town romance with clues, chemistry, and cinnamon buns!

As Hazel approaches her 30th birthday, she can’t shake the feeling that she somehow missed out on the wild, adventurous twenties she always imagined for herself. As manager of the eponymous Cinnamon Bun Book Store in Dream Harbour, her life is comfortable and familiar — until she stumbles across a mysterious clue hidden in a misshelved item, turning her quiet routine upside down.

Following the trail leads her to team up with Noah, a local sailor who runs fishing trips for tourists and has a firm rule about never dating locally. What begins as light-hearted fun quickly turns into something deeper, giving Hazel a taste of the spontaneity and excitement she’s been craving… even if she’s convinced it can never become anything serious.

This was another sweet return to Dream Harbour, complete with a he falls first romance, plenty of interaction with familiar faces from The Pumpkin Spice Café, and that comforting small-town feel where the community continues to grow with each book. While I enjoyed this one, it didn’t grip me quite as much as The Pumpkin Spice Café, but it was it was still a fun, cosy read and a lovely continuation of the series.

5⭐️ - Another incredibly moving and heartfelt romance where fake dating turns to irresistible attraction!

Olive is categorically not okay with being on her first ever plane journey, but that won't stop her for diving into action when a medical emergency calls for her to bring her ER nurse skills to bear. While she saves the passenger's life, the forced diversion of the plane means all the anxiety was for nought and she's sure she won't get to Disneyland in time for the charity half-marathon she's been preparing to run in honour of her brother. Thankfully, the beautiful and confident copilot of the plane, Stella, is heading that way too and comforts Olive with the offer of a lift.

While the two end up spending two days at Disney together getting to know each other better, social media interest in Olive's saving of the passenger (who turned out to be a popular character actor at the park) has grown viral. Eager for promotion at the airline and always getting passed over, Stella makes a proposal that they spin a story that they fell for each other after the emergency on the plane and have started dating. With there being benefit for Olive to bring attention to her ER department as well, she agrees, but as the two spend more and more time together, the lines between fake and real get more and more blurred.

This was Andie's first book, so I really should have read it before With Stars in Her Eyes, but the two aren't connected at all, except in sharing her wonderful and tender treatment of loss and trauma. As a nurse in real-life, she brings real accuracy to this story and carefully handles topics such as life-support, Parkinson's, and toxic relationships. A fantastic story that continues to cement her as one of my new favourite romance writers.

4.5⭐️ - Surprise parenthood meets forced proximity in this steamy and sweet slice of small town romance!

Archer's high pressure culinary career has had him working in Paris for a while now, but his life is upended when he finds out that his ex- Kate from Dream Harbour has passed away and left a five year old daughter called Olive that he never knew about. Struggling to fit into life in the small town and needing to go back to work in order to meet the adoption requirements, he surgely needs a nanny to support them both.

Iris has never had a serious relationship and she doesn't intend to start now, but she DOES need some reliable work and accommodation after losing yet another job. She really doesn't want anything to do with kids and the surliness of the diner's new chef doesn't make her particularly inclined to nanny for him, but when she finds out room and board are included, it's too good of an opportunity to pass up.

This was a super cute story in Dream Harbour, with the cast of characters expanding even more. The found-family vibes are extremely literal in this one, but there's also sweet inclusion of Archer in town activities as he slowly comes out of his shell (and gets that pancake recipe right, finally!). Not super seasonal, taking place in the spring, but an adorable love story!

4.25⭐️ - A sweet winter treat to the most christmassy town with Alex and Molly matchmaking!

Alex and Molly's bestie Cora has been crushing on May for an infuriatingly long time without making a move. So when the May invites the three of them to visit her family's Christmas tree farm for the winter, it's the perfect chance to play Cyrano again. Molly and Alex both struggle to focus all their mental energy on this though, because each of them are struggling under the weight of their post-graduation plans. As the holiday progresses, it becomes imperative that they talk about this stuff, but the fear continues to rise.

This was a short snack of a christmassy sequel to She Gets the Girl and it was as cute as the original, with the same setting-up-a-friend energy three years into their relationship, just with a different couple to focus on. It was cute and very human and I loved all the christmassness of it ^-^

4.75⭐️ - A beautiful and cosy sapphic Christmas story of second-chance love!

Arden has been working as an actor for years now, going from role to role, always dreaming of finding finding something that can let her drop the artificial party-girl image she's had to hold up for so long. When the perfect role finally comes along and she aces the audition, she think's it's her big chance, but the directly understandably doubts her ability to portray the wholesome small-town girl. Which is ironic, because she IS a small-town girl, albeit one who hasn't been back to her home town in years. When her publicist lies and says that Arden's childhood best friend Caroline is actually her long-term secret girlfriend, she's given until Christmas to get an article published about it.

There's just one problem - Arden hasn't talked to Caroline in years and asking her to be her fake girlfriend isn't the best way to apologise for being gone so long without any contact. The sweetened deal of letting the wannabe journalist write the article that Cosmopolitan will publish.. and that would support her application to Columbia.. might just be enough to get her on board though. As the two spend twelve holi-dates together for the article, old feelings start to come back and the lines between lie and truth become blurred.

This was just as adorable as I'd expect from Rachael and Alyson, a cosy and sweet small town experience that introduces the characters that later show up in Joy to the Girls! I was rooting so hard for them, even though I knew though they were going to make it in the end. Such a cute winter treat!

1.5⭐️ - Cheesy and forgettable, with writing constrained by set chapter lengths that make it chaotic.

April is back at her father's chalet in the foothills of Mont Blanc for the first time after a heart failure required a transplant three years ago. Her regimen of recovery has left her feeling incredibly risk averse and with very little joy in her life. When she comes back into contact with her best friend Eva's brother Augustin, she's slowly encouraged back into a love of skiing, but while attraction blooms, so too does risk.

I didn't expect much of this book, an advent calendar is meant to be kind of cheesy after all. I also didn't realise when I ordered it that it was translated from the original French, which makes for some slightly off sounding phrasing at times. With that allowance, I didn't hate it, it was fun enough and there were some chapters that left me really wishing I could read the next day. As a whole though, it was a simple and predictable story that was kind of ruined by the requirement to hold each chapter to exactly 12 pages.

4.25⭐️ - A sweet winter treat to the most christmassy town with Alex and Molly matchmaking!

Alex and Molly's bestie Cora has been crushing on May for an infuriatingly long time without making a move. So when the May invites the three of them to visit her family's Christmas tree farm for the winter, it's the perfect chance to play Cyrano again. Molly and Alex both struggle to focus all their mental energy on this though, because each of them are struggling under the weight of their post-graduation plans. As the holiday progresses, it becomes imperative that they talk about this stuff, but the fear continues to rise.

This was a short snack of a christmassy sequel to She Gets the Girl and it was as cute as the original, with the same setting-up-a-friend energy three years into their relationship, just with a different couple to focus on. It was cute and very human and I loved all the christmassness of it ^-^