NJ
I woke up at 2:00 and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to pick what I thought would be a sweet easy book, that would leave me with warm fuzzy feelings. This was not it.Firstly, I find [a:C.D. Reiss 6896405 C.D. Reiss https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1448479589p2/6896405.jpg]'s style anxiety-inducing. Something about the sharp dialogue and the abrupt ending of the scenes really irritated me. I often felt that I didn't have a good grasp of what I had read after I was done with a chapter. Why did the characters feel the way they did? Why did they make those choices? Who knows. I certainly didn't.Additionally, I thought too much was happening in the story. Either his split band storyline or her sexual assault storyline would have been enough. But both of them at once? That was definitely overkill. I did, however, feel that her conversation with Brenda was insightful and that it treated the subject matter with some depth. However, it is literally the only thing I liked about this book and why it has 2 stars instead of 1. Finally, I could not connect with either of the main characters. I actively disliked him, and her actions made no sense to me. There were a couple of times where she told him to leave her alone or to contact her at a different time and yet he would turn up when he felt like because he just had to see her. I found that really irritating. Also, when her picture was put in the papers because she was with him, she had legitimate concerns about what that would mean for her privacy and her business' chances if she kept seeing him, but somehow by the end of the conversation with her sister that was suddenly a non-issue? Then when he found out about her 'controversial' past, he was ready to drop her like a hot potato? And she didn't point out the double standard inherent in that decision. Instead by their next conversation, she was apologising to him and then staying away for his own good. WHAT?!!!?!?!?! And then it was never discussed again, how his reaction to hearing she was abused by her boss was to ask her to cool their relationship off. I need to stop writing this review now because I'm getting even farther away from the illusion of sleep. But I just had to document my feelings so that the next time I was tempted to pick up another [a:C.D. Reiss 6896405 C.D. Reiss https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1448479589p2/6896405.jpg] book, I could come back to this and remember how irritated I was.
I didn't enjoy any of the books in this anthology.
Seducing the Scoundrel by Maya Rodale- 2/5
As another reviewer mentioned, the hero in this book did a sudden about-face and promptly fell in love, when he realized the previously ugly heroine had become beautiful. Additionally, I felt like his intentions missed the mark. The heroine mentioned to him how stifled she felt by her family and society's expectations of her and she craved the same freedom he had had for 9 years. Instead of simply helping her along without the express intent of wooing her, he set aside to show her freedom for ONE MONTH, while still carrying on his wager. I didn't really believe that he cared about her happiness but rather, he was still serving his desire to be with her.
A Study in Scandal by Caroline Linden -2/5
I was irritated by the heroine's lack of agency after she met the hero. She seemingly left her town with no money and vague plans of getting to London and meeting her brother. When she got to London, she had no solid plans of how she was going to escape her father and forge a life for herself. Instead, she just centred her life around the hero (who also seemingly had no independent income) without thought for what would happen after she had to leave his bachelor pad. Thus, I didn't buy their love. It seemed more like a convenient escape plan for the heroine than anything else.
The other two books didn't really leave much of an experience, except I remember being irritated by Miranda Neville's book because it seemed the hero had no respect for the heroine.
3.5 stars.
I didn't really like Luc in the beginning but by the end, I liked his and Oliver's relationship. However, I never fully got invested in their romance, partly because they were constantly breaking up. By the final chapters, I wasn't entirely sure their relationship would survive, they were both too eager to throw in the towel any time they encountered an obstacle. After their final reconciliation, it crossed my mind that they were likely to be that on-again, off-again couple that irritated all their friends and finally broke up after 10 years of turbulent coupledom.
All that said, I liked that Luc's father wasn't magically turned into a present dad. It seemed a realistic portrayal of their relationship. Finally, I hated Bridget, I know that I am likely to be in the minority here but I couldn't stand her.
This is possibly one of my favourite books of the year so far. I love Laurie and Jamie. I love them together so much. I remember thinking when I read [b:Tiny Imperfections 51918673 Tiny Imperfections Alli Frank https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565887389l/51918673.SX50_SY75.jpg 71683994] earlier this year that it was a book about a black woman written for a specifically white audience. In that certain things about the black female experience were explained in a way that didn't feel organic to the story's narrative because the author felt they had to be explained to her readers. I didn't get that feeling here. Laurie was a biracial heroine whose experiences weren't erased or even written specifically for people who didn't look like her. This is not to say that her characterisation was absolutely flawless, but rather that this is one of the better characters of colour I have seen written by a non-POC author.I loved the romance aspect but more than that there was so much feminist commentary that was snuck in this book that it was a joy to read. I had several laugh-out-loud moments, along with several heartbreaking ones. In short, this book worked for me on multiple levels. I absolutely loved it.
This romance lacked any sort of depth, especially in the case of the heroine. We saw very little character development from that quarter. Nothing happened to her and for her, that wasn't related in some way to the hero. There was also very little development in the romance department. We saw the hero and heroine have maybe 3 meaningful interactions and suddenly they were in love? The romance was definitely lacklustre.
However, what did work for me was the hero's lack of elite-level talent. Often in sports romances, it feels like every player is a star, especially when they are being pitted against formerly famous parents, the characters always end up on top. It was therefore really refreshing to read a sports romance where the main character was significantly less talented than their family members and had to come to terms with what that meant for them. It was also nice to see the hero eventually succeed in a slightly different arena. I really enjoyed that aspect of this book otherwise it would probably have been a 2 star read for me.
One of the hero's major problems with his ex is that because of a purity ring she refused to have sex with him for 3.5 years. What!?! When he met her she had a purity ring, she didn't just switch-up on him, so it was not unreasonable of her to stick to her beliefs. In fact, his own comments were a bit creepy and entitled.
The cover art and marketing is deceptive. This is not a romance. In fact in a generally unimpressive book, the romance was the most lackluster aspect. The characters were bland and there was very little plot. The heroine's love interest was extremely irritating. I didn't believe in their reconciliation and felt the heroine was making a mistake. That is not how you should feel after reading what is billed as a feel-good romance.
The message of the importance of mental health and sexual assault awareness for young gymnasts was important. The book however, was not very captivating.
I love this book. But it's a quiet, contemplative kind of love because the book itself is largely quiet and contemplative. Despite it's misleading title and marketing this is not a romance, I mean there is a bit of romance, but it is largely chick-lit. In that, it was centred around a woman's journey of self-discovery. My favourite relationship in this book was not Reid and Meg's but rather, Meg and Sibby's. I loved the portrayal of a female relationship which is initially breaking apart, but in the end, gets reshaped into something healthier and better. I loved that despite Sibby's less than positive feelings, she was not demonised by the story's narrative. I loved all the other strong female relationships in this book. I loved Lark, I loved Lachelle and I loved Cecilia. Perhaps the only person I didn't have a fount of love for was Reid. I liked him, he was a perfectly serviceable love interest but he was not one of the stars of this book. I loved the lettering, I loved Reid's letters to Meg. Considering the number of times I have repeated the word love in this review, it is a bit of understatement to say that this has been one of my favourite reads of the year.
I don't know how I feel about their final conflict. It made sense to me that she would have that initial moment of doubt after all he put her through. I don't really like romances where people fall in love with their former bullies. However, I think that I believed the hero has really changed in this one. That he truly regretted his actions before being confronted with his former victim. In most other books like this, the former bully almost seems to have moved on from their past actions before being reminded by their prey. So I appreciated that aspect of this book.
4.5 stars.
I loved these two. As I'm writing this review my face hurts from smiling. Also, I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud this many times while reading. Dani and Zaf are both well-written characters and I was firmly invested in their happy ending. Gigi is always and and forever the best!
Too many misunderstandings between main characters. And while I liked Lottie, it seems like every time she and her love interest had a misunderstanding they just shut down their relationship for a while instead of communicating like two adults. Usually in a romance this happens once, but in this book it happened twice. Which in my opinion was one time too many. By the end of the book I didn't have much faith that their relationship would survive.
Loved Deja and Alejandro. Loved the depiction of academia. What I didn't like so much was that the two main antagonists were women. I would have liked a bit more balance in that department as I feel like romance novels often villainises women who are not the heroine or in the heroine's inner circle. This however is a bit balanced by the strong female relationships depicted in the book.