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✍🏻 Professor Romance ADORES Kandi Steiner. When she releases a book, I’m ALL in. Check out the cover for her upcoming book, Close Quarters. You can preorder or add it to your TBR TODAY! ✍🏻

Kandi Steiner has revealed the cover for Close Quarters!

Releasing: February 18, 2021

Photography: Lauren Perry of Perrywinkle Photography


My boyfriend’s billionaire boss always gets what he wants.⁣

Menacingly handsome and unquestionably powerful, Theo Whitman need only snap his fingers to have a flock of supermodels fall at his feet. So when his steel gray eyes first meet mine, I expect him to pass right over me, to not give so much as a second thought to my presence.⁣

Instead, he sees me. ⁣
Truly sees me. ⁣
And for a girl who prefers to hide behind her camera lens, it’s the most unnerving experience of my life.⁣

Until he asks me to stay on his yacht for the summer.⁣

All I have to do to earn my keep is be Theo’s on-call photographer when he has guests, and I’ll get a free ride through the Mediterranean with my boyfriend. Easy peasy.⁣

Still, my skin prickles in warning when I say yes.⁣

As the humid days fade into balmy nights, I can’t seem to avoid Theo. And when he finds me, it’s like a rabbit running into a wolf.⁣

His intense gaze immobilizes me. The way he speaks strips me bare. Every brush of his skin sears me like a violent flame.⁣

My boyfriend’s billionaire boss always gets what he wants.⁣

And this time, I think he wants me.

Pre-order your copy today!

Amazon: https://geni.us/CloseQuarters

Get an email when it’s live in Kindle Unlimited:⁣ kandisteiner.com/newsletter

Add to Goodreads:⁣ https://bit.ly/CQGoodreads

BLOGGERS, request an ARC: https://valentinepr.net/closequarters/

Meet Kandi

Kandi Steiner is a bestselling author and whiskey connoisseur living in Tampa, FL. Best known for writing “emotional rollercoaster” stories, she loves bringing flawed characters to life and writing about real, raw romance — in all its forms. No two Kandi Steiner books are the same, and if you’re a lover of angsty, emotional, and inspirational reads, she’s your gal.

An alumna of the University of Central Florida, Kandi graduated with a double major in Creative Writing and Advertising/PR with a minor in Women’s Studies. She started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic, and likes to highlight all the challenges of love as well as the triumphs.

When Kandi isn’t writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys live music, traveling, anything heavy in carbs, beach days, movie marathons, craft beer and sweet wine — not necessarily in that order.

Connect with Kandi

Website: www.kandisteiner.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7319216.Kandi_Steiner

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kandi-Steiner/e/B00JDJOINE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KandiSteiner/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/kandilandks/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kandisteiner/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KandiSteiner

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kandi-steiner

Book+Main: https://bit.ly/39u1KLs

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✍🏻 Aly Martinez’s The Complete Truth Duet is LIVE. This boxed set will be a great addition to your library. ✍🏻

“Aly Martinez is one of the best in the business. You have to read her books.” –Meghan March New York Times bestselling author

Truth Duet, the complete duet in one boxed set with The Truth About Lies and The Truth About Us from USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez is available now!

The Truth About Lies

Truth: From over a thousand miles away, I watched on the screen of my phone as two men murdered my wife. Consumed by hate and rage, I spent four years running from my memories – until a shattered woman gave me a reason to stop.

Cora lived in a nightmare, but through sheer force of will, she’d turned it into something beautiful. She had a smile that could pierce the darkest soul. And with one glance, she shredded mine.

Lie: I was only there for a fresh start.
Lie: I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Lie: There was nothing I could do to save her.

But that’s the thing about lies – you never know who to believe.

The Truth About Us

Truth: Penn Walker entered my life like a summer storm—dark, ominous, and filled with thunder.

After witnessing my husband’s murder, I didn’t have much of a heart left to offer a man.
But Penn took it all.
Every jagged shard.
Every broken bit.
Even the dirty and twisted pieces that I wish never existed.

Lie: I didn’t need him to save me.
Lie: I knew exactly who he was.
Lie: Losing him wouldn’t destroy me.

But that’s the thing about lies – you never know who to believe.

Download your copy or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited today!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3j6yy1X
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/TruthDuet

About Aly
Originally from Savannah, Georgia, USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez now lives in South Carolina with her husband and four young children.
Never one to take herself too seriously, she enjoys cheap wine, mystery leggings, and olives. It should be known, however, that she hates pizza and ice cream, almost as much as writing her bio in the third person.
She passes what little free time she has reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, preferably with a super-sized tumbler of wine by her side.

Connect with Aly
Facebook: http://bit.ly/2RvbjCA
Twitter: http://bit.ly/2DUCq1Z
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2We92eT
BookBub: http://bit.ly/2V32S4B
GoodReads: http://bit.ly/2UKGUOM
Facebook Reader Group: http://bit.ly/2DEpPAh
Instagram: http://bit.ly/2DUgzrJ
Website: https://alymartinez.com/

Stay up to date with Aly by joining her mailing list today:
http://bit.ly/2WnkxjS

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✍🏻 Blog Tour: Erin Mallon’s The Bromantic Comedies ✍🏻

The Bromantic Comedies, an all-new compilation of laugh-out-loud audio plays from Erin Mallon and featuring your favorite narrators is available now!

A paintball battleground. A wrestling mat for sleep-deprived new daddies. A feminine product aisle in the local drugstore. These are some of the places where men connect… at least in The Bromantic Comedies.

A compilation of humorous and heartfelt plays exploring what it means to be “masculine” in a world where men are supposed to be tough.

Download your copy today!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3953TNz
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/BromanticCom
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/35d7tEg
Audible: http://adbl.co/3rYLTgL

Check out an Instagram interview with Erin and some of the narrators from The Bromantic Comedies!
https://bit.ly/36kT6OP

Meet Erin
Erin Mallon’s debut romantic comedy novel, Flirtasaurus, releases in July 2020. She is an award-winning narrator of over 450 books and an accomplished playwright and producer in New York City. She has written over 40 plays, which have been produced Off-Broadway and all over the country, including These Walls Can Talk, a raucous theatrical love letter to the romance audiobook community. She lives in a little yellow house on the outskirts of NYC with her husband and Three J’s.

Connect with Erin
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2XKvu2t
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3f0xYPY
Twitter: https://bit.ly/3eYTzrP
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2UkbMZ6
Bookbub: https://bit.ly/2Ab8Abo
Stay up-to-date with Erin, sign up for her mailing list:
http://eepurl.com/b_Ym75
Website: https://bit.ly/37akDBZ

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✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 5 ⭐️ Review: Max Monroe’s Swoony Billionaire, the Kline Brooks Collection ✍🏻

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

“‘Your happiness is my happiness,’ he said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.”

As a reader, it becomes second nature to find authors you love and instantly buy their books because you are guaranteed a read that satiates you. For me, Max Monroe is a go-to read for romantic comedy. Their ability to write tongue-in-cheek, absurdist situations that make you chuckle from your gut with heroes and heroines who are fallible but swoony is like no one else. If you’ve read other reviews, they have their nay-sayers, but honestly, those naysayers just don’t get it. Max Monroe are in the game to sell books that, quite frankly, make you smile. And Swoony Billionaire, their newest offering, provides the piece de resistance of their book library: Kline Brooks. 

Swoony Billionaire is a compilation of Tapping the Billionaire, the first book of their Billionaire Bad Boys series, Tapping Her, a follow-up novella, and a new short story, Be My Billionaire Valentine. Let me tell you. This is guaranteed fun. My favorite Max Monroe hero is Kline Brooks. He is a combination of handsome, rich, kind, empathic, reasonable, and adorably in love with his heroine, Georgia. He isn’t without his foibles as we see in Tapping the Billionaire. While much of that story is quite charming, Kline blows it as tends to happen in the funniest of romantic comedies, but he makes a huge gesture to win Georgia back. As a heroine, Georgia is an independent, intelligent, capable heroine who meets her clear match in Kline. One of the best moments of this book comes in their “Epilogue” through the point of view of her best friend, Cassie, who shows readers the depth of love between Kline and Georgia. Their resiliency is impressive, but it’s the depth of love between Kline and Georgia that will steal your heart. Cassie shows us that in the epilogue. 

Tapping Her is more of their life, post-wedding. It’s also so ridiculous but binge-worthy. It introduces us to more of Max Monroe’s most absurd yet popular couple, Thatch and Cassie. But it also provides the beginning of Walter and Stan’s love affair. Like Tapping the Billionaire, it is also steamy, steamy, and steamy since we find Kline and Georgia on their honeymoon. Again, you leave Tapping Her satiated by the fun, frolicking story that Max Monroe has crafted. 

The final portion of this compilation is Be My Billionaire Valentine, a new novella in the Kline/Georgia timeline. Set from the time of their honeymoon to weeks after, this is a hilarious romp through fighting a curse about Valentine’s Day. Once again, just as you find with Tapping the Billionaire and Tapping Her, there are antics galore, figured in heavily by Thatch. There is more delicious sweetness between Kline and Georgia, more steam, and more hilarity. Max Monroe have done what they do best: created a space where it’s easy to laugh and swoon over two of their beloved characters. 

If you have yet to meet Kline and Georgia, Swoony Billionaire is a perfect book. It will make you laugh out loud and help you wile away your cares for a day or two. If you love a dirty-talking, all around good guy and his quirky yet intelligent heroine, then this is the read for you. 

In love and romance, 

Professor A

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✍🏻 If you haven’t met Max Monroe’s Kline and Georgia, then you’re in luck. You can find their stories, Tapping the Billionaire, Tapping Her, and a new novella, Be My Billionaire Valentine in one book. Grab this one NOW! ✍🏻

Meet the swooniest billionaire of all time in one awesome and hilarious romantic comedy collection (all for the price of one novella, too!)

Swoony Billionaire, an all-new swoon-worthy romantic comedy collection of Tapping the Billionaire, Tapping Her and the all new novella, Be My Billionaire Valentine from New York Times bestselling author Max Monroe is available now!

This collection includes the following three books:
*New York Times bestseller Tapping the Billionaire
*Tapping Her

*And a BRAND-NEW novella, Be My Billionaire Valentine

This is the perfect indulgence for new and old readers alike!

A favorite book boyfriend of all time, Kline Brooks sets a different kind of standard.

If you’re the type of woman that prefers crotch selfies to small talk, this hero isn’t for you.

If you HATE laughing, this hero isn’t for you.

If you want your male leads to grunt, thrust like jack rabbits, and have one-track minds that prefer a nice pair of t*ts to brains every hour of every day for the rest of forever, well…then, this hero still isn’t for you.

But.

If you enjoy a good swoon, a hearty laugh, witty banter, some hot as f*@% f*@%ing, and an awesome HEA, then dive into this collection and never come up for air.

Kline Brooks isn’t the kind of man you regret.

Download your copy today or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3aghXV7
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/SwoonyBillion

Add Swoony Billionaire to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3ooQl5s

About Max Monroe
A duo of romance authors team up under the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling pseudonym Max Monroe to bring you sexy, laugh-out-loud reads.

Max Monroe is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of more than ten contemporary romance titles. Favorite writing partners and long time friends, Max and Monroe strive to live and write all the fun, sexy swoon so often missing from their Facebook newsfeed. Sarcastic by nature, their two writing souls feel like they’ve found their other half. This is their most favorite adventure thus far.

Connect with Max Monroe
BookBub: http://bit.ly/3bJFJJh
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ReoxkK
Facebook: http://bit.ly/31XxggS
Instagram: http://bit.ly/39wuCkW
Stay up to date with Max Monroe by joining their mailing list today: http://bit.ly/2HzGmau
Website: https://www.authormaxmonroe.com/

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✍🏻 Oh Olivia and Jake, we are so ready for you! Staci Hart’s Bet the Farm is coming February 23rd. Check out the teaser and excerpt here. ✍🏻

Staci Hart has a brand new rom-com standalone coming February 23rd! Bet the Farm is a heartfelt, flirty story of opposites attract and I cannot WAIT to read it! Mark your calendars and pre-order your copy today!

Amazon | AppleBooks | Kobo | B&N | Goodreads

An unbidden laugh slipped out of me, and she softened at the sound. Her eyes traced the lines of my face with an unfamiliar emotion behind them. It was a sort of fondness, an admiration. 

“I love it when you laugh. You never laugh. Or smile. Has anyone ever told you you have nice teeth?”

“Wouldn’t you know—that’s the first thing anyone says about me,” I teased. 

With a laugh of her own, she tried to bump me with her hip, but because she was drunk, she just sort of fell right into me. For the second time in ten minutes, Olivia’s body was flush against mine. 

But this time it wasn’t just the sweet scent of her that I noticed. It was the length of her dark lashes, the endless depth of her eyes. It was that smart little nose and the valley that connected it to her lips. Those lips were full and wide, with a bow so deep and sharp, it looked like it’d been carved there by a sculptor. I could have counted the smattering of freckles on her cheeks or the creases in those plump, rosy lips, which parted just a little. Just enough for me to capture one if I tried.

Olivia Brent has one summer to save the dairy farm she just inherited.

But there’s one problem, and it’s not her lactose intolerance.

Jake Milovic.

The brooding farmhand has inherited exactly fifty percent of Brent Farm, and he’s so convinced the city girl can’t work the land, he bets she can’t save it in a summer. 

Determined to prove him wrong, Olivia accepts what might be the dumbest wager of her life.

His strategy to win seems simple: follow her around, shirtlessly distracting her between bouts of relentless taunting. And it’s effective—if his dark eyes and rare smiles aren’t enough to sidetrack her, the sweaty, rolling topography of the manbeast’s body would do the trick.

What they don’t know: they’ll have to weather more than each other. 

Mysterious circumstances throw the farm into disarray, and with the dairy farm in danger, Olivia and Jake have to work together. But when they do, there’s more to fear than either of them imagined.

Because now their hearts are on the line, and the farm won’t be the only casualty if they fail.

Staci has been a lot of things up to this point in her life — a graphic designer, an entrepreneur, a seamstress, a clothing and handbag designer, a waitress. Can’t forget that. She’s also been a mom, with three little girls who are sure to grow up to break a number of hearts. She’s been a wife, though she’s certainly not the cleanest, or the best cook. She’s also super, duper fun at a party, especially if she’s been drinking whiskey. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, sleeping, gaming, or designing graphics.

Amazon | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Website | Newsletter

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✍🏻 Do you LOVE Helena Hunting as I do? Check out this book announcement. Love Next Door is coming July 27th, and the cover is here! ✍🏻

We have exciting news! Love Next Door, an all-new enemies-to-lovers standalone romance filled with laugh-out-loud banter and undeniable chemistry from New York Times bestselling author Helena Hunting, is coming July 27th! 

Pre-order your copy today, exclusively on Amazon!  

Amazon → https://amzn.to/3oFVab6

Amazon Worldwide  → https://geni.us/LoveNextDoorHH 

Add LOVE NEXT DOOR to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2MbXVTP

When Dillion Stitch left her hometown, she had no intention of going back. But when her brother gets into trouble, Dillion reluctantly agrees to return home to take her place at the family business.

Being back in Pearl Lake after all these years feels familiar, but also brings a few surprises. She’s quick to notice that someone new has shown up at the cottage next door.  Dillion gets more than an eyeful when she goes to check out the newcomer and meets Donovan “Van” Firestone—her beloved neighbor’s grandson—in all his unclothed glory.

Having gotten off to a rocky start, it’s not long before they begin bickering with each other all over town. All that back and forth inevitably sparks an undeniable attraction. But Dillion’s family has issues, Van’s family resents him, and neither Dillion nor Van feels truly at ease in the small town. For these Pearl Lake exiles, home isn’t just where the heart is—it’s where things get complicated.

Cover Design: Eileen Carey 

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✍🏻 Vivian Wood is announcing a new series, and I have the covers. The Broken Slipper Trilogy starts March 11th with The Patron. Add it to your TBR today! ✍🏻

From Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Vivian Wood comes the all new emotional, raw, and gripping Broken Slipper billionaire romance trilogy!

Add The Patron to GR:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56591177-the-patron

Preorder The Patron
Coming March 11th.
https://geni.us/thepatron

The Patron Blurb:
Ballet takes everything from you.
All your sweat, all your tears, all your dedication, all your time.
There are no drunken nights, no drugs, no boyfriends, no distractions whatsoever.
But everyone has a dirty little secret…

Working as a stripper at Club Ecstasy at night is my dark indiscretion.
Sexy, mysterious billionaire Calum shows up as a patron at my club. He’s drawn to my provocative innocence, not realizing that I am also a ballerina in his dance company. When I dance for him, he feels something stir in his cold, dead heart.

After Calum finds out my little deception, he should turn me in. After all, ballet requires sacrifice.

But to my surprise, he makes me an offer I can’t refuse.
And now I am staring into his dark blue eyes as I dance for him privately. Trying desperately to remember rule number one of being an exotic dancer.

Don’t fall for your customers.

Add The Dancer to GR:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56591193-the-dancer

Preorder The Dancer
Coming May 1st.
https://geni.us/thedancer

Blurb:
Ballet takes everything from you.
All your sweat, all your tears, all your dedication, all your time.
There are no drunken nights, no drugs, no boyfriends, no distractions whatsoever.
But everyone has a dirty little secret…

Working as a stripper at Club Ecstasy at night is Kaia’s dark indiscretion.
Sexy, mysterious billionaire Calum shows up as a patron at the club. He’s drawn to her provocative innocence, not realizing that she is also a ballerina in his dance company. When she dances for him, he feels something stir in his cold, dead heart.

After Calum finds out her little deception, he should turn her in. After all, ballet requires sacrifice.

But to her surprise, he makes her an offer she can’t refuse.
And now she’s staring into his dark blue eyes as she dances for him privately. Trying desperately to remember rule number one of being an exotic dancer.

Don’t fall for your customers.

Add The Embrace to GR:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56591209-the-embrace

Preorder The Embrace
Coming June 18th.
https://geni.us/theembrace

Blurb:
Ballet takes everything from you.
All your sweat, all your tears, all your dedication, all your time.
There are no drunken nights, no drugs, no boyfriends, no distractions whatsoever.
But everyone has a dirty little secret…

Working as a stripper at Club Ecstasy at night is Kaia’s dark indiscretion.
Sexy, mysterious billionaire Calum shows up as a patron at the club. He’s drawn to her provocative innocence, not realizing that she is also a ballerina in his dance company. When she dances for him, he feels something stir in his cold, dead heart.

After Calum finds out her little deception, he should turn her in. After all, ballet requires sacrifice.

But to her surprise, he makes her an offer she can’t refuse.
And now she’s staring into his dark blue eyes as she dances for him privately. Trying desperately to remember rule number one of being an exotic dancer.

Don’t fall for your customers.

About the Author:
Vivian likes to write about troubled, deeply flawed alpha males and the fiery, kick-ass women who bring them to their knees.

Vivian’s lasting motto in romance is a quote from a favorite song: “Soulmates never die.”

Connect w/Vivian:
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2C3eZGy
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2OXb4im
Instagram: http://bit.ly/2ob66AI
Bookbub: https://bit.ly/2OhOpfd
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2BEMRqB

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✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 5 ⭐️ Review: Ashley Jade’s Hate Me ✍🏻

Overall Grade:  ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

“Every action has a consequence.”

This statement is strewn throughout Ashley Jade’s Hate Me, and it’s a warning, not just for the characters of her story, but her readers too. When you enter Hate Me, you enter at your own risk because this book, this book which is so clearly Ashley Jade’s brilliantly f’ed up thinking, is dangerous. Her warnings that it’s not safe are true, but if you take on the action of reading this book, it will indelibly offer you the consequences of a beating heart, panties that need changing, and confusion for loving a hero who seems so utterly unloveable. On finishing Hate Me, you will ask yourself, “how?” How does Ashley Jade imagine these worlds where everything seems so utterly wrong, but feel so incredibly right for her readers? Because she has done it again with this book. She has made me love this world, when it feels like you shouldn’t 

I’m not giving away any details in this review about the story. To do so would be to undermine Ashley Jade’s careful protection of her story. What I will tell you are the feelings you will encounter as she processes the impact of psychological trauma in her book. Because that idea is at the core of Hate Me. This is why her warning should be heeded. 

You will feel:

Appalled

Turned on

Hopeful

Disappointed

Frightened

Gutted

Empathic

Astounded

Jade’s Hate Me conspires in its storytelling, its characterization, and its steaminess to make you feel. I know that seems obvious, but it isn’t. I don’t know that I’m a fan of bully romance, to be honest. I read it, but I will only read it from authors who do it well. For me, Ashley Jade sits at the top of the list. For one, she writes with the intent of entertainment. She writes it to shock her readers. She writes it to see how she can push the boundaries of her readers. She writes it because she loves it herself. With that in mind, you can’t help but love a story such as Hate Me because she cares about offering this story so that people won’t be turned off by its duplicity. It’s why I read it from her because I know that she cares about the time I put into reading her story. So she shocks me, intrigues me, entertains me, and titillates me with her books. And Hate Me sits solidly in those feelings. 

Look, you can take the action of not reading Hate Me and gain the consequence of existing safely in a romance that maybe makes you feel good for a minute. Or you can read Hate Me and realize the consequence of reading an Ashley Jade book: the hangover effect as the book continues to penetrate your soul as you try to make sense of the world she’s crafted for your entertainment. 

I decided, and that consequence only makes me want more of her stories, even when they feel dark and dangerous. Get ready. This book will steal your time because you won’t be able to put it down. 

In love and romance, 


Professor A

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✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 5 ⭐️ Review: Jolie Vines’s Obsessed ✍🏻

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I have been waiting for this. I’ve made no mystery about my love for Jolie Vines’s Scottish Highlander heroes and heroines. She has this amazing capacity to craft heroes who adore their heroines, and it makes you light up inside at the revelation of their love stories. But something has always felt underwhelming in the later chapters of her stories (epilogues excluded). Once the heroine accepts/acknowledges her love for these brawny, masculine heroes who adore them, the story loses a bit of its shine. It drags sometimes in ways that undermine the overall feel for the book, so I oftentimes give her books 4 and 4 ½ star reviews. I still adore her characterizations and the decidedly Scottish and English voices of her stories, but I’ve always expected a bit more. And that may be my fault, but I knew that there was more for her to give. And she has done it in her newest book, Obsessed. Let’s just say that I’ve become a bit obsessed with the hero and heroine of this story, Lochinvar “Lochie” and Caitriona “Cait.” So let’s begin about all the reasons why I adored this book, cementing it as tied for my favorite book with her Love Most Say Least:

For me, this book’s plotting and story development feel the most evenly paced. I believe this is the case because there is some romantic suspense within this story for both Lochie and Cait. As such, Vines is so careful to reveal the evolution and resolution to each of their stories that your interest in the story development is maintained through to the end. Even then, the resolution makes you feel replete. This felt different from her other books where the finality of the story was grounded in characterization (which is also the case here) instead of the story. I LOVED that aspect of Obsessed. 

Additionally, Vines plays with ideas about $exuality in this book that are intriguing. She speaks to it in her acknowledgments, and it’s an aspect of $exuality that is rarely discussed or shown in romance. In doing that, Vines continues to push the envelope of romance writing along with pushing the boundaries of her own romances. It’s clear that she isn’t interested in generating staid romance. She seeking after evolution. Cait’s characterization as a beautiful woman who doesn’t feel strongly about love with any man is so contrary to romantic heroines that I adore reading her. Vines has thrown out the formula and rewritten it for Obsessed. 

There is a psychology to this book that also intrigues me. While Vines handles Cait’s depiction well in this story, she also plays with the idea of the perceptions of others on our own perception of ourselves. Let me grow tangential here. I’ve been thinking recently about the impact of parents posting about their children online, how they are creating an idealized version of their children that their children can later consume. I’ve wondered how that might craft a different version of identity for their children that isn’t grounded in reality. And I’ve worried that we are raising a generation of confused children for it. In Obsessed, Vines plays somewhat with that idea of the influence of how others view our lives and its traumas in crafting our identity and choices in the present. This is shown in both Lochie and Cait’s depictions, making for an intriguing and thoughtful read. I love how Vines uses this idea to connect these two, adding gravity to their depiction. 

While it’s clear that Lochie and Cait feel something for each other, it takes much of the story for that knot to be unraveled. And as Vineshas done well in the past, Lochie embodies the Vines hero well. However, unlike past stories, it’s done in a way that isn’t rushed and keeps the tension of the story driving forward. 

There is so much to love about Jolie Vines’s Obsessed. I could wax poetic forever on the depth of storytelling and characterization in this story. But to do so would ruin the book for her readers. Instead, I challenge you to run and grab this book today. It still has some traditional romance elements, but I see Vines astutely and brilliantly pushing the boundaries of romance with Obsessed. Honestly, you won’t want to put Lochie and Cait down. 

In love and romance,

Professor A