Category: Review

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4 ⭐️ Review: Louise Bay’s Dr. CEO, another romance in The Doctors series ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: billionaire MMC; grump/sunshine; small town romance; one night stand; hate to love; found family; opposites attract

Have you ever been afraid of change? Have you needed the promise of stability to keep you going? If you’ve answered “yes” to either question, then you recognize the plight of Louise Bay’s FMC in her newest book, Dr. CEO, the next book in her The Doctors series. Kate has lived at Crompton Estate for a large portion of her life. It’s the place where she is happy and secure after a childhood of insecurity at the hands of her mother. When Vincent, Bay’s MMC, shows up, that security is threatened by his purchasing of the estate. All she knows changes, but most importantly, she falls for the guy changing Crompton Estate which adds a complication. Vincent and Kate’s story highlights the power of the mind influenced by trauma. For Vincent, it’s an absentee father; for Kate, it’s a mother who lived a fluid life before her early death. Bay creates an instant attraction, one-night stand scenario to grow Kate and Vincent’s attraction. She then complicates it with his playboy, transitory ways and her need to stay at Crompton Estate. As each of them is challenged by the other, they transcend hate-to-love vibes and grump/sunshine and fall for each other, even though Vincent fails to acknowledge it. 

It’s the falling action of Dr. CEO where Bay lost me a bit. Vincent’s resolution to his absence from Kate feels rushed. The inconsistency in character doesn’t feel organic to the story, and I struggled with the ending. Even more, there were times when I didn’t believe Kate and Vincent’s chemistry. There is attraction between them, but there is something missing from their romantic journey. 

Thankfully, Vincent and Kate find their happy ending, and it adds another happy couple to the Doctors series. I believe there is one story to go for each of the family members to find their HEAs. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Roxie Noir’s The Two Week Roommate, a Wildwood Society story ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: friends to lovers; second chance romance; small town romance; forced proximity/one bed trope; childhood friends

“You would take us places and I’d get us home safe. None of it ever felt like a burden. It just felt like…us.”

A week later and Roxie Noir’s The Two Week Roommate still resides in my head. Like some of her contemporaries, Noir has taken the space to add depth to the romance genre. How you might say? In her newest book, her thematic choices elevate the simplicity of the romance genre. With her newest book, Noir highlights the complexity of relationships, underscoring the fraught nature of her main characters’s journey. The influence of Gideon’s upbringing tears them apart in their youth and leaves Gideon with a hole in his heart, only filled when he reconnects with Andi. His penance and guilt challenge Andi to forgive him for choices made in the inexperience of his youth. Maturity, the personal journeys of his siblings, and military service have opened his world and his mind, and his need to let go of his past to find his future with Andi is the most compelling part of their story. Andi’s willingness to help him process the final bits of his guilt while falling in love with him adds heart to this book. I lost myself in The Two Week Roommate. Roxie Noir doesn’t need to add much tension to Gideon and Andi’s relationship, given that their environment is stressful enough. Instead, acceptance is the ultimate message, backed up by keeping Gideon and Andi together even through difficult times. That’s the promise of this newest book from Roxie Noir. She has drawn a socially responsible and beautiful romance between Andi and Gideon that steals a bit of your heart and leaves you questioning your perceptions of others.

In love and romance,

Professor A

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Nikki Sloane’s The Good Girl ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: brother’s best friend; best friend’s little sister; virgin heroine; prolific hero; series of interconnected standalones

“He wasn’t wrong. I was a good girl, but sometimes, especially when I thought about him, all I wanted was to be bad.”

And that, my friends, is the crux of Nikki Sloane’s deliciously steamy The Good Girl, another story in her Nashville Neighborhood world. Preston and Sydney (Preston of The Doctor and Sydney who is the little sister of The Frat Boy’s Colin) remind us what we love most about Nikki Sloane’s brand of romance: it’s pure spice. This story is an insta-attraction between her main characters. Sloane deftly weaves Preston and Sydney’s forbidden journey with themes about overwhelming parental expectations and the danger of falling in love (or lust) with your best friend’s little sister, lending more gravity to her story beyond just smutty romance. Preston’s journey into maturity redeems him from his role in Sloane’s The Doctor, and you can’t help but fall in love with him as he negotiates his intense attraction to Sydney while starting a business with her brother. If I have any criticism, it’s the forbidden nature of their relationship. This has nothing to do with Nikki Sloane’s ability to write romances. Her easy prose and the pacing of the characters’ progressions make for an unputdownable read. However, I’m weary of the protective older brother trope. I’m not a fan of a big brother having a “say” over his little sister’s choices. I’ll fight against this as long as I can, hoping that authors will allow little sister’s agency and autonomy.

If you’re looking for a quick bit of romance, one that will satiate your erotic hunger, Nikki Sloane’s The Good Girl is the perfect read.

In love and romance,

Professor A

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 5 ⭐️ Review: H. Hunting’s Shattered Truths, book 3 of the Lies, Hearts & Truths series ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: opposites attract; new adult romance; he falls first; forced proximity; hockey romance; Cinderella story; fish out of water

To date, Helena Hunting has gifted us three incredible books in her Lies, Hearts, & Truths series: Little Lies, Bitter Sweet Heart, and Shattered Truths. Until today, I would scream to the rooftops that my favorite of the three is Little Lies. Lavender and Kody, the next-gen of Hunting’s wildly popular Pucked and All In series, stole a piece of my heart as Lavender and Kody struggle through the difficulty of their bonded relationship. However, her newest characters, BJ and Winter, have stolen another piece of my heart for an entirely different reason: these two offer one of the most equitable relationships of this series. They are truly partners: edifying, exhorting, and enticing each other in ways that made my heart sing for them. In fact, I ate this book whole, not intending to do so. I wanted to savor it, relishing my time in this world rife with the progeny of some of Hunting’s beloved characters. But I just couldn’t do it. Before I knew it, I had finished BJ and Winter’s book, and I already yearned to read it again. 

This is what I loved about this book:

BJ, the guy who beds women and remains friends with them in large quantities, falls first. He’s literally and figuratively struck by Winter. And given Winter’s story, it would be simple for Hunting to have BJ “save” Winter; however, that would go against Hunting’s sense of romance. Instead, BJ needs proximity to Winter, and this affords her incredible opportunities, opportunities she takes advantage of even though, given her upbringing and circumstances, she could have denied. BJ provides the space, and Winter uses her facility and agency to step forward. BJ becomes her biggest cheerleader, not her savior. Winter saves herself and her mother instead. That’s empowerment and the best use of Winter’s agency. Can I get an AMEN for that?

Winter returns BJ’s gift later in the story when tragedy strikes for him. This is the equity/partnership of this romance. In Shattered Truths, Hunting complicates their individual lives, and she allows them to create a true coupleship grounded in mutual respect. I reveled in this throughout the story, which was why I couldn’t put it down. When one of them faltered, the other was there to lend support. This is what healthy relationships look like: one partner giving more at moments when it’s needed. It’s this concept that stole that piece of my heart.

Of course, the extended family of this world entices the reader. Hunting grants us more access to Rose, Darren and Charlene’s daughter, as well as my new favorite character, Laughlin, a Butterson sibling, and the rest of the Pucked and All In crew. Lily and Randy, my favorite Pucked series couple, continue to be $ex-positive idols, and they play a major part in Winter’s journey. Returning to this world of old and new characters feels like a warm blanket on a cold night; it’s comfort and nostalgia mixed with the promise of future stories from this beloved universe. 

Add to all of this the themes of domestic violence, the challenge of women’s hockey, the expectations of parents, the letting go of dreams, etc., and you recognize the gravity of Helena Hunting’s storytelling. Yes, the spice and humor expected of Hunting’s romance are also found in this book, but I don’t fall in love with her characters for those reasons entirely. It’s the real-life situations entwined in this fictional world that keep me coming back for me. 

For now, I’ll accept a tie between Little Lies and Shattered Truths as my favorite stories from her Lies, Hearts, & Truths series, but I suspect she has future stories that might steal that top spot if she continues to be the gifted storyteller I’ve come to expect. 

In love and romance, 

Professor A

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4 ⭐️ Review: Penelope Ward’s I Could Never ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: hate to love; enemies to lovers; forced proximity; forbidden romance; dead fiance’s best friend; found family; small town romance

Penelope Ward’s newest romance, I Could Never, is the emotional juggernaut of a story that you expect from her. Her characters, Carly and Josh, put her readers through the paces as they navigate the minefields of a forbidden relationship as Carly is the fiancee of Josh’s now-dead best friend. Ward weaves hate to love with forced proximity and forbidden romance while also falling into a trope of found family as Carly and Josh are left to care for Scottie, the orphaned brother of Carly’s dead fiance, Brad. All of this culminates in a story that tears at your heart and makes you yearn deeply for Carly and Josh’s future. 

A highlight of I Could Never is the dialogue and banter between the main characters, Josh and Carly. What begins with the spirited banter between the two who begin with attraction but also disdain flows into an emotional, tortured dialogue as they fight that attraction out of a sense of obligation to Brad. Ward is careful to dole the tension of her story out through their interactions, and it’s pure torture for most of the story. That is the compelling force throughout the book. 

A second highlight is Ward’s creation of their chemistry. While they begin with a hate-to-love vibe given some actions of the past, it’s clear from almost the beginning that they are fated for each other. Unfortunately, Ward complicates it with a forbidden element. She edges her readers as they hold out even though they are ready to burst with their attraction. Again, it’s another compelling force behind her book.

Another important highlight is the found family trope created by Carly and Josh’s care for Scottie, the dead fiance’s orphaned brother. Ward creates a charm in their care for Scottie who is non-verbal autistic. From Scottie’s obsession with Josh’s smell to Carly and Josh’s compassion for Scottie, Ward’s readers are charmed into loving this trio. When she complicates their world through a series of actions, Ward builds a different tension level into her story, drawing her readers through the book. As I see it, the ending of I Could Never is the only way forward, and it’s my favorite part of the book. 

My biggest criticism of Ward’s book is the balance between Carly and Josh’s chemistry and their guilt over it. For me, it felt overwrought and unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong. I understand it, but it wasn’t necessary for it to exist for much of the book. I believe it could have ended sooner, and she might have complicated Carly and Josh’s relationship in other ways.

That aside, Penelope Ward’s I Could Never is special. It highlights the love for people living with special needs and the necessary depth of care for them. The story is spicy and romantic, but it feels like the last important part of this story. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4 ⭐️ Review: Winter Renshaw’s Hate Mail, book 1 of Papercuts ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: arranged marriage; hate to love; side of romantic suspense; grump/sunshine

Winter Renshaw’s gold lies in the way she crafts her MMCs. There is a common thread to them: alpha in nature, closed off, and stubborn. It takes the tenacity of the FMC to blow through their tremendous emotional walls. Over and over again, Renshaw makes us fall in love with this character construction, no matter the plot points. This is also the case in her newest story, Hate Mail. Slade and Campbell’s parents are life-long friends who decide early in their children’s lives to arrange a marriage, effectively joining their powerful families. Their parents also encourage them early on to become pen pals, and it becomes clear from the start that the two don’t want what their parents have decided. 

The first half of Renshaw’s Hate Mail is compelling. Slade is Renshaw’s typical hero, and while Campbell hopes to forgo the arranged marriage, she strives to understand and connect with Slade, who makes that task almost impossible. This first half, their strife and Campbell’s pain, is where the angst of her story resides and where she pulls her reader into Hate Notes. 

Unfortunately, the second half falls apart a bit. For one, Slade spends two-thirds of the story pushing Campbell away, and he makes a sudden 180 with very little provocation. His acceptance of Campbell comes too easily given the strife of the first portion of Renshaw’s book. It feels like “a miss” of sorts. Secondly, there are two situations that arise for Slade in the story, one resolves too easily and the second feels thrown into the story. Had I read a draft of Hate Mail, I would recommend removing the second and developing the emotional turmoil of the first so we can better empathize with Slade. 

The ending for Slade and Campbell in Hate Mail is sweet, and they earn their happy ending. It’s the latter third of this book that simply needed a bit more work, save for the epilogues.

In love and romance,


Professor A

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4 ⭐️ Review: Skye Warren’s Red Flags, book 1 of the Cirque des Miroir trilogy ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes:  forbidden romance; boss & employee; forced proximity; found family; secret billionaire

“This isn’t a light way to pass the time This is an agony of desire.”

Skye Warren’s Red Flags is a mystery, the first book of a trilogy named Cirque des Miroirs, the fictional name of the circus in her story. It’s the kind of start that intrigues the reader without giving much away. Her characters, Logan and Sienna, are still fairly shrouded in secrecy by the compelling conclusion of this book. She indulges her reader with a cast of characters that beg for more information, giving the story a fragmented feeling. This fragmentation affects the pacing, causing the reader to often feel the quick starts and abrupt stops of Logan and Sienna’s journey. However, the compelling cliffhanger has already created a cloud of anticipation for book 2, White Lies. The circus theme isn’t one I’ve read to date, and given that Skye Warren’s superpower is crafting grand universes of stories, I see the potential for this world, given that the cast is quite large to begin. Logan and Sienna’s journey is one of instant attraction with the push and pull of a forbidden romance. Warren’s brand of eroticism finds purchase in Red Flags, but it never fully ignites as her readers might be used to. This book exists to set the stage for the greater trilogy, I think. 

Stylistically, Warren leans into the mirror image as an apt metaphor for the illusion of truly knowing a person or situation. She also uses the repetition of the “red flag,” both an image from the circus and a symbol of someone’s shortcomings, to underscore Logan’s mystery. Warren nods to domestic violence, the inequities of women in society, and the censure of being an outsider throughout her story to lend gravity to it.

All of these qualities conspire to bring about a book that will grab your attention and keep you pining for more from Skye Warren’s Cirque des Miroirs trilogy. I am ready for White Lies…like now!

In love and romance,


Professor A

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Adriana Locke’s The Proposal ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: brother’s best friend; best friend’s little sister; forbidden relationship; surprise Vegas wedding; marriage of convenience

Adriana Locke’s The Proposal is the type of romance story made to binge-read. It is a book that you’ll pick up and won’t be able to put down. She’s lying to herself if she thinks this is a true standalone because it introduces us to a family BEGGING for their own stories, but I digress. 

The highlight of The Proposal is the burning chemistry between her main characters, Renn and Blakely. Renn is the best friend of Blakely’s older brother, and these two have toyed with each other for years. The sexual chemistry is off the charts between these two, and Locke shows her prowess as a romance writer when you desperately need them to jump into bed together from almost the first page. It’s clear from the start that they are destined for each other, and Locke does a superb job of making them loveable characters. 

The pacing of the story is also well done. While they have a moment of drama, for the most part, Renn and Blakely are connected almost immediately. It isn’t rushed; Locke keeps them simmering on the stove for the first portion of her story, but she knows when to turn up the heat. It’s the pacing of their story that actually makes it unputdownable.  

Additionally, she doesn’t mire her story in the forbidden nature (bro code rules) of Renn and Blakely’s pairing, thank goodness. A serious pet peeve of mine is the older brother taking his ire too far with the MMC when he breaks the rules. Locke gives it space in her book, and Brock takes his responsibility to Blakely seriously. However, his friendship with Renn is more important than his anger over his perception of Renn’s breaking of the bro code rules. Thank you, Adriana, for moving us quickly over that plot point.

Ultimately, Renn’s cinnamon roll hero characterization made me love the book. His facade is built on his player status, but it’s clear that he’s pined for Blakely for a long time, adding depth to his character development. In fact, while Locke doesn’t name it as a trope in her promotional graphics, it seems Renn was the first to fall, making him even more delicious. His protectiveness over Blakely coupled with his ardor for her is the final enticement of The Proposal. 

What does it say about Adriana Locke as an author that she builds families that create a fervor in her fans for more stories from one book?  This is the case with The Proposal. Renn and Blakely’s story feels like a launching pad for more stories from Renn’s family. I’m hoping those characters speak to Adriana Locke because I’m ready to give her my money right now.

In love and romance,

Professor A

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4 ⭐️ Review: Lexi Blake’s Start Us Up, book 1 of the Park Avenue Promise series ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: band of sisters; standalone in an interconnected series; intelligent STEM heroine; golden retriever hero; rom-com; workplace romance; close proximity; grump/sunshine; starting over; office romance; found family; returning to hometown; insta-attraction

Lexi Blake’s Start Us Up reminds readers of her versatility as a romance writer. She pivots so easily from rom-com to romantic suspense to MFM to paranormal/fantasy romance to women’s fiction that she makes it look easy for her readers. Start Us Up shows the spark she has for writing as she details the journey of Ivy Jensen, her two best friends, Anika and Harper, and her hero, Heath Marino. There is much to like about this new story: a band of sisters/close friends which drives this new series, the Park Avenue Promise series; Heath’s general easiness with Ivy, who is strong and independent, but struggling with the imposition of failure; a found family that is diverse and progressively feminist; and a sweet story sprinkled with the angst of failure and parental strife. I love that Lexi Blake’s Start Us Up highlights women who are decided and tenacious in their career-chase, but messy in their lives. She has written main female characters who are likable and provoking, and she partners them with characters who hold the wisdom of age and the insight of having lived entangled lives. These make the romance intriguing and loveable. 

My biggest issue, however, lies with the believability of Heath and Ivy’s romance. Two issues complicate their chemistry: the one-person POV (Ivy’s) and the instant attraction. Coupling these together makes it difficult to “buy” how quickly Heath reads Ivy and endures her temperament so they can become romantic. If we had his POV, it would be more easier to accept them. If we had a dual POV with the instant attraction, again, it would be more acceptable for their pairing. My difficulty in believing their easy coupling is my reason for a 4-star review. 

Beyond that, I will absolutely be ready for Anika’s story, coming next in the series. If the synopsis at the end is any indication, I predict some exciting things for Anika and her besties in future stories. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

header with brand information and book pages
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Melanie Harlow’s Hideaway Heart, book 2 of the Cherry Tree Harbor series ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: a little bit of hate to love; small town romance; forced proximity/one bed; bodyguard/music star romance; found family; opposites attract; cinnamon roll alpha hero; best friend’s little sister

“I didn’t have to let fear stand in the way.”

Melanie Harlow’s Hideway Heart handily reminds us of the power of fear. Both her MMC and FMC struggle with different types of fear (fear of relationships and the consequences of standing up for oneself), and Harlow does many things well in this book to illustrate these struggles. Making this the focus of her characters’ journeys creates a tension that expands and recedes, creating an explosive chemistry between Xander and Kelly Jo, the main characters of her book. From one minute to the next, Harlow deftly keeps her readers guessing as to when they will finally consummate their relationship. The eventuality of that becomes explosive, offering up some serious 4-star steam.  Crafting this tension is one of Harlow’s standards, the reason for her dedicated fan base. 

Additionally, the initial hate-to-love between Xander and Kelly Jo turns up the fire of their chemistry making their physical moments much spicier. Xander’s domination of Kelly Jo and her willingness to feign fighting him create shades of fanciful dub-con in this book. It’s not spicy enough or problematic enough to warrant a content warning, but it feels fresh in a Melanie Harlow romance.

Harlow also adds nuggets of suspense in Hideaway Heart, which is a great vehicle for highlighting Xander’s protectiveness. In book 1 and even in much of this book, Xander is carefree, a bit of a jokester, and seemingly easygoing. It becomes apparent through Xander’s care of Kelly Jo that there is a gravity to his character. Xander and Kelly Jo’s chemistry and connection are a result of Xander’s possessiveness towards Kelly Jo as he unravels the suspense of her story. The intentionality of Harlow’s choices for this part of the story highlights her giftedness as an author.

Add to all of this the feeling of “found family” for Kelly Jo with Xander’s family plus a sweet epilogue and bonus epilogue to round out the textures of Hideaway Heart. The balance of humor, saccharine, and fieriness creates the perfect confection of romance. I will say that I felt something missing from the story which I can’t put my finger on. I’m still a bigger fan of the first book of Harlow’s Cherry Tree Harbor series, Runaway Love. But it’s inconsequential enough for me in the grand scheme of this series. I’m absolutely looking forward to the rest of the Buckley siblings’ stories. The teases for them in Hideway Heart have already ramped up my anticipation.

In love and romance,

Professor A