Tag: book blogger

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Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: CD Reiss’s Fake Crowne, a Crowne Brothers romance ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: fake relationship; work romance; LA romance; contemporary romance; billionaire brothers; band of brothers

Bear with me as I ramble about CD Reiss’s newest Crowne family story, Fake Crowne. There’s so much I want to say, but it’s not organized or probably even insightful; however, I need to say it anyway. 

Reiss is attempting (I actually believe she did it — but I really want to hear from people) to capture a voice in romancelandia that is burgeoning: the voice of the later Millenials or the older Gen Zers. I’ve been thinking about this generation in romancelandia. They live in a different world than the former generations, and they connect in spaces that are visual and muted. They’ve been raised with trauma infused into their systems and parents who have recognized that and created safe spaces to fall. All of that has conspired to build people with mental health struggles. How does this generation fall in love? It’s both the same and different from the past. And CD Reiss builds the space and unspoken words into the relationship between Colton Crowne and Skye. 

As I was reading this book, I was imagining my son’s voice as Skye’s voice. They have very similar mental health struggles, and Reiss elaborated on them in a real way. Both Colton and Skye are overwhelmed by and push against parental expectations. Colton rebels against it, while Skye contends with them within a set of stifling boundaries she sets for herself. Through this struggle, Colton and Skye forge a fake relationship, upend their own set boundaries of that relationship, and fall in love on their own terms. This is CD Reiss imagining correctly, I think, a love forged in the 21st century by people who simply don’t know the depth of their future. They’ve either denied themselves, rebelled against tradition and expectation, or made concessions to avoid failure. 

In fact, that seems to be the battle cry of Fake Crowne: “There’s something comforting about failure. Like I don’t have to be responsible for my work or my choices because…whoops, I failed, color me shocked. Oh well, no big deal. And it’s easy, right? I don’t have to improve. I don’t have to face the next stage. I don’t have to learn. […] I’m weak, but sometimes weak is a choice.” Through Colton and Skye’s journeys, Reiss suggests that we can treat life in one of three ways: play it safe; fail incredibly and stay down; or fail on some level and get up and try again. Each of these has consequences, and Reiss illustrates it beautifully through Colton and Skye’s falling in love. 

Are Reiss’s style and storytelling flair all over this book? Yep. In fact, as I read this book, I felt like it straddled her Crowne Brothers series and her Hollywood A-List/Star-Crossed/Lead Me Back stories. It’s very LA…and freaking Gene Testarossa is back wreaking havoc. Given I’m a So. California girl, I love Reiss’s characterization of LA for her readers. But her knack for wordsmithing and her infusion of spice and steam are encompassed in this book. 

Please…read Fake Crowne and tell me she’s capturing some of Gen Z in it. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not of that generation. I simply need more stories in it so we keep Gen Z readers gobbling books, and they need to find themselves in the books that are served. And I believe CD Reiss has done it with her newest book. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

Sorry for the rambly quality of the review. I just had so many words to say about this book.

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Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Devney Perry’s Jasper Vale, a The Edens romance ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: fake marriage; marriage of convenience; Vegas wedding; opposites attract; grump/sunshine; wealthy MMC; found family; romantic suspense elements

I’ve been sitting on my review for Devney Perry’s newest book in her The Edens series, Jasper Vale. Trying to find the words to express my adoration for this story isn’t easy because it’s a story that feels a bit like a departure for Perry. Yes, this is a Vegas mistaken wedding turned fake marriage. It’s a common trope, but Perry’s books sparkle, by my estimation, from start to finish. And Jasper Vale reads grittier. In fact, I think it’s one of her $exiest books in that her main characters, Jasper and Eloise, simply can’t help themselves around each other. $ex comes first for this couple out of a pure chemical connection. Jasper is bossy and super-alpha, and it’s titillating and $exy in all the best romancelandia ways. And it feels so different from Perry’s usual fare, at least with recent stories. I loved Jasper and Eloise’s struggles. 

For one, they are opposites. Jasper’s life is one big secret for everyone. It’s not healthy in the least, and it informs how he responds to Eloise’s family in the face of their surprising marriage. This is unlike the other partners of the Edens who fit so seamlessly into the Eden family. And I liked the trepidation and discomfort of his first meeting because he responds to them out of a protectiveness and compassion for Eloise as well as the experiences of his past. Jasper is one of the darkest Perry characters, I believe. 

Eloise is the sunshine to Jasper’s grump. She is his light. Perry puts her through her paces in this story as she must mine for Jasper’s secret gold, surrounded by an almost impenetrable wall. For every step forward, Eloise finds herself taking a step back. This tango both wrings out the heart of the readers and sets up the anticipation of the eventuality of their relationship: pure love. It takes much of Jasper Vale to get to this point with quite a bit of heartache woven into the story. 

So Jasper Vale reads like this: surprise, $ex, silence, separation, $ex, a building of a nugget of vulnerability, confusion, more $ex, silence, $ex, secrets revealed, deeper involvement, $ex, drama, reconciliation, healing, abiding love. Or at least something like this with more $ex added in. 

Perry’s Jasper Vale is a revelation to me. I still think she needs to work on the last 10% of her stories because she deftly develops her plot but the endings always seem rushed, at least until the epilogue and bonus epilogue. Those are always pure gold; however, the falling action and resolution of the inciting incident(s) of her plot points always read underdeveloped to me. Or maybe I want to sit longer with characters like Eloise and Jasper. Bottom line: Devney Perry’s Jasper Vale is MY favorite The Edens romance.

In love and romance,


Professor A

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Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 5 ⭐️ Review: Catherine Cowles’s Whispers of You, book 1 of The Lost & Found series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: small-town romance; second chance romance; romantic suspense; forced proximity; found family; band of brothers

Have you ever seen that episode of Grey’s Anatomy where the active shooter invades the hospital? The one that incites terror in you as you watch it. I will never forget that episode of television. Catherine Cowles’s Whispers of You has shades of that episode with its compelling, terror-inducing hook, incremental slow-burn second chance journey, and the story twist that you don’t quite see coming. For me, Whispers of You is my favorite Catherine Cowles story of her recent stories. In simple terms, this book is the rib-eye of books to her former porterhouse stories. Whispers of You held me in its thrall and engaged me to the very last page of her bonus epilogue.

Here’s the why:

  1. The hook of this book is terrifying and heartbreaking. Don’t let that dissuade you from reading it. Like I said earlier, it felt inspired by that emotional and anxiety-inducing episode of Grey’s Anatomy. I originally read this book’s beginning in one of last year’s books, and I couldn’t WAIT to read Whispers of You because of it. 
  2. I adore a resilient character. Wren is the embodiment of it. Instead of becoming a victim who lives in the shadow of her trauma, she becomes an advocate, instead. Holt is lucky to earn her heart because, honestly, she is too good for him given his choices. Cowles grants Colt grace for these choices due to his age. But had this been real life, he might not have won over his love. 
  3. The balance, however, of this story is Holt’s capacity to love and cherish Wren. Once he recognizes his former short-sightedness, he’s a delicious male character: all alpha-hero with a protective streak. Cowles deftly balances Wren’s strength and resilience with Holt’s adoration and compassion. So incredibly good!
  4. I didn’t see the depth of Cowles’s revelation coming. Yep. I’m usually attuned to the story, but I gasped at the story’s twist. I love that Cowles doesn’t take it easy on her reader.

Catherine Cowles knows herself as a writer as well as the interests of her fans. Whispers of You was an unputdownable read. It was impossible to walk away from Wren and Holt because their story is just that compelling. Fans of small-town romantic suspense – this story is for you! Oh, and there’s an impressive husky to boot!

In love and romance,

Professor A

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new release

✍🏻 Watch out! Jasper Vale will steal your heart. Grab Devney Perry’s next The Edens story, Jasper Vale, today! ✍🏻

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 Jasper Vale by Devney Perry is now live! 

Eloise Eden’s pride and joy is her family’s hotel in Quincy, Montana. Her lifelong dream is to own The Eloise Inn. All she has to do is prove to her parents that she’s the epitome of responsible. That her days of being duped and making reckless decisions are history. She’s so close she can taste it.

Until after one weekend in Las Vegas, she comes home married to a stranger.

Jasper must have put her under a spell with those soul-deep eyes because after a single night together, they woke up husband and wife. Her only hope is to keep this marriage a secret until it’s annulled. Then she’ll pretend it never happened.

Except Jasper begs her to stay married. To fake it for three months so she can accompany him to a wedding. Maybe she’s lost her mind to agree. But her brooding husband seems desperate. It’s only three months, right? Then she’ll say goodbye to Jasper Vale, and with any luck, hello to her new hotel.

Download today or read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3wfKUfJ

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/JasperVale

Goodreads: https://geni.us/VtVvUdB

Meet Devney


Devney is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who lives in Washington with her husband and two sons. Born and raised in Montana, she loves writing books set in her treasured home state. After working in the technology industry for nearly a decade, she abandoned conference calls and project schedules to enjoy a slower pace at home with her family. Writing one book, let alone many, was not something she ever expected to do. But now that she’s discovered her true passion for writing romance, she has no plans to ever stop.

Connect with Devney

Website: www.devneyperry.com

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2kncXnb

Amazon: https://geni.us/nAXkP

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/devneyperrybooks

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324585607979213/

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/devneyperry

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/devneyperry

Bookbub: http://bit.ly/2v1Hr7t

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/devneyperry

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new release

✍🏻 I LOVE CD Reiss’s Crowne series, and Fake Crowne, Colton’s story, you know…the “black sheep”, is LIVE and a must-read! ✍🏻

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Fake Crowne, an all-new fake-relationship, billionaire romance standalone from New York Times bestselling author CD Reiss is available now! 

How can I let him destroy everything he’s worked for just to make me happy?

I’m a singer with stage fright who’s famous for…well…nothing yet. And I promised my family if I didn’t make it big by the end of this year, I’d go back to med school.

My agent thinks Colton and I would be a great team both in the studio, and outside of it—especially if label executives think we’re dating.

The rules? We can kiss in public, but not in private.

We can act like we’re doing the deed, as long as we’re not.

And as far as having actual feelings for each other goes…that’s obviously out of the question.

But after so many late nights in the studio and a bunch of stolen kisses, I start to see beyond his party boy facade to something real underneath. And he believes in me–with his coaching and encouragement, I’m finally overcoming my anxiety and giving the best performances of my life.

If only time wasn’t running out so fast.

Then Colton has an idea to keep us together. It’s terrible, but it’s the only way.

How can I let him destroy everything he’s worked for just to make me happy?

Start reading today!

Amazon: http://bit.ly/3DmQoJj

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/4N71jLB


Learn more about CD Reiss and her releases by visiting her website: https://cdreiss.com

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Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: L.B. Dunbar’s Letting Go at 40 ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: small town romance; husband’s best friend; second chances; band of brothers; single dad; widow

If you’ve read any of L.B. Dunbar’s first three books of her Lakeside Cottage series, you grabbed Letting Go at 40 with two emotions: elation and trepidation. How do you write a story about two characters falling in love in the specter of one of the character’s beloved husbands? Seemingly a challenge, I entered Letting Go at 40 figuratively holding my breath. Ben was beloved. He was the perfect husband for Anna. How would Dunbar successfully craft a story for Anna and the forever-pining Mason, the playboy of the guys’ friend group? With aplomb. 

If you’ve been reticent to read this story, don’t be. Dunbar has written the heck out of Mason and Anna’s story. I will say that it isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’re not a fan of a slow burn, this story isn’t for you. But the slow burn is necessary for this story. Dunbar has carefully plotted Mason and Anna’s journey with the premise of “two steps forward, one step back.” This was necessary. In doing so, Anna could grieve and begin to understand herself beyond Ben. And Mason could face his own challenges: becoming a better father and realizing that he can be good for Anna. It takes much of Letting Go at 40 to achieve this, but honestly, Anna and Mason had to learn to “let go” of expectations, other dreams, and guilt. While it could sometimes be frustrating for Anna to push Mason away, it was completely necessary to Dunbar’s story. 

What you earn at the end of this book is a journey of a thousand miles and the acceptance of Anna with Mason. Dunbar also deftly highlights the complications of friends’ and children’s perceptions in this story, and she rewards her readers with a gorgeous happy ending for these long-suffering characters. 

Please don’t miss this book. I believe it’s the best of the four Lakeside Cottage series, and here’s to hoping she will write the next generation of love stories for this group.

In love and romance,

Professor A

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Excerpt/Sneak Peek

✍🏻 Catherine Cowles’s newest romance, Whispers of You, is DIVINE. This story kept me on the edge of my seat and Cowles salved the story’s pain with a gorgeous second-chance romance. ✍🏻

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💙Whispers of You Sneak Peek💙

USA Today bestseller, Catherine Cowles, has a sneak peek of her upcoming second-chance, small-town romance, Whispers of You, coming January 31st!

HOLT

Wren opened the door to reveal a massive Husky with the most piercing blue eyes standing guard in front of her. The dog’s gaze went from Lawson to me and back again. 

Wren’s head jerked in my direction. “What are you doing here?”

Lawson winced. “Sorry. He overheard the call. There was no stopping him.” 

My eyes traced the trails that tears had left on Wren’s cheeks. Some ended on her chin, while others streaked down her neck. Marks that I had put there. 

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

Wren stared at me for the count of three. “I’m fine. Really.” 

Lawson cleared his throat. “Can you show me where you found the shoe print?”

She nodded, motioning around the house. “I was in the hall with Shadow. I had just hung up with Grae and heard what I thought was a twig snap. Shadow growled, which she doesn’t usually do unless she’s warning me that she heard something.” 

“Did you hear anything other than the twig snapping? Voices? Footsteps?” Lawson asked. 

Wren shook her head. “Nothing…” 

Her voice trailed off in a way that had me picking up my pace. “What is it?”

Read the Full Sneak Peek ➝ https://geni.us/WoYSneakPeek

Pre-Order Now ➝ https://geni.us/WhsprsofYou

About Catherine Cowles

Writer of words. Drinker of Diet Cokes. Lover of all things cute and furry, especially her dog. Catherine has had her nose in a book since the time she could read and finally decided to write down some of her own stories. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring her home state of Oregon, listening to true crime podcasts, or searching for her next book boyfriend.

Connect with Catherine

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IEQXSw

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/catherinecowles

Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2RFY7Jv

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BookBub: http://bit.ly/2J3dWWF

Website: https://www.catherinecowles.com/

Stay up to date with Catherine by joining her mail list: 

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new release

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4 ⭐️ Review: Helena Hunting’s Make A Wish, a Spark House romance ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: second chance romance; band of sisters; age-gap; single dad

Helena Hunting’s Spark House Sisters series has a steady brand of sweetness with a side of steam and unease. If you’ve read the first two books, When Sparks Fly and Starry-Eyed Love, you’ve encountered the growing pains of Avery and London as they transcend their core family unit, adding men to the mix. Make A Wish, the final story of this series, brings about Harley’s growth. In her newest book, Hunting shows her authorial strength as she crafts a main female character such as Harley to find her voice and position in the family business while reviving a long-forgotten love and finding her place within Gavin and Peyton’s family unit.

Make A Wish was a fast read for me. The plot structure is fairly uncomplicated as it begins in the past and moves forward seven years. While seven years might seem like a long time progression for Hunting’s main characters, it’s necessary. Harley is an interesting character in this series because, I think more than her sisters, her parents’ deaths factor heavily in her maturation. Even more, the inciting incident for her separation from Gavin and Peyton at the outset of this book keeps Harley in a safe space, stagnating to a certain degree. As her story progressed, my heart actually hurt for Harley as she tried to grow and find herself in an ever-changing Spark House. I hated that she seemed pushed out, which became my attachment to Make A Wish. 

Because of this, I struggled with Harley and Gavin’s pairing. It’s easy to love Gavin’s precocious daughter, Peyton, and Harley and Peyton’s relationship is a special one, as emphasized at the story’s end. Yet, I didn’t feel the chemistry between Harley and Gavin, and I believe it’s because we never really get his internal motivations. Their relationship felt uneven to me, and I didn’t fully trust Gavin’s feelings for Harley. This is further underscored later in the story when the couple struggles. Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t entirely love Gavin. 

What do I know about Helena Hunting’s Make A Wish?

Its ending will make you shed some tears because it’s heartfelt and ties the series up into a neat little bow. Harley’s journey, for me, is probably the most profound because she doesn’t have a distinct place at the story’s beginning; she has to make space for herself at Spark House and with Gavin and Peyton. And Make A Wish is a beautiful swan song for a sweet package of sisterly love. I will miss Avery, London, and Harley BUT I know Helena Hunting always has more to come for her readers.

In love and romance,

Professor A

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new release

✍🏻 The final book of Helena Hunting’s Spark House series is HERE. Make A Wish will make you smile so wide you’ll think your face will crack. ✍🏻

professorromance

♥ NEW RELEASE ♥

With her signature charm and sense of humor, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Helena Hunting creates a novel about love, family, and second chances in Make a Wish…

Ever have a defining life moment you wish you could do over? Harley Spark has one. The time she almost kissed the widowed father of the toddler she nannied for. It was so bad they moved across the state and she never saw them again. 

Fast forward seven years and she’s totally over it. At least she thinks she is. Until Gavin Rhodes and his adorable now nine-year-old daughter, Peyton, reappear at a princess-themed birthday party hosted by Spark House, Harley’s family’s event hotel. Despite trying to avoid the awkwardness of the situation, she can’t help but notice how unbearably sexy he looks in a tutu.  Add to that a spontaneous hives breakout, and it’s clear she’s not even remotely over the mortification of her egregious error all those years ago. 

Except Gavin seems oblivious to her inner turmoil. So much so that he suggests they get together for lunch. For Peyton’s sake, of course. It’s the perfect opportunity to heal old wounds. Or it could just reopen them. This is one of those times Harley wishes she could see the future…

AVAILABLE NOW!!

Ebook → http://bit.ly/3iZep24 

Audio → https://bit.ly/mawsparkaud 

Paperback → https://bit.ly/3R14SUL
Add it to Goodreads →  https://geni.us/MakeAWishGR

Website →  https://helenahunting.com/books/make-a-wish/

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✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4 ⭐️ Review: Corinne Michaels’s Keep This Promise✍🏻

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: one-night stand; surprise baby; second chance romance; band of brothers; small-town romance; romantic suspense

Corinne Michaels’s Keep This Promise is quite the whirlwind of a story. Michaels forces her readers to run the gamut of emotions: surprise, grief, anticipation, shock, and adoration, to name a few. There is a LOT to this final story in her Rose Canyon series, and she puts her readers through the paces as she reaches its finale. 

What should you know?

  1. Holden is a surprise. He begins the story as an inveterate singleton, completely expecting to live his life married to his job. When Sophie and Eden enter his life, it’s all over for him. In fact, he doesn’t really put up much of a fight. One might say that his characterization is a bit uneven regarding how quickly he changes, but he is gone for Sophie and Eden immediately. He is as swoony as his friends in this series, Emmett and Spencer. 
  2. Sophie is the hold-up. For good reason, to be fair. In this series, Michaels asks a lot of her heroines/FMCs. They are entangled in some serious problems, and at one time or another, their lives are in danger. As such, Sophie’s boundaries are firmly in place until Holden weaves his magic and wins her over. It takes some time, but when it happens, it makes sense for Michaels’s story. 
  3. There are a lot of plot points to this story. Many of them are surprises, so I don’t want to reveal anything in this review. Once it seems that Holden and Sophie are beginning to find their groove and settle into each other, Michaels pulls the rug out from under them, and they find themselves embroiled in chaos. This leaves the reader of Keep This Promise sitting at the edge of their seat, waiting for the resolution to each situation. One of these plot points relates to the arc of the series. If I had to be disappointed by anything, it would be that resolution. For me, it came from out of nowhere; the villain isn’t someone you’d suspect. I still have questions about a couple of characters who acted suspiciously, and I don’t think Michaels wrapped up those questions. Additionally, I have never seen Jackson’s team be so inept as it is in this story, and that goes against character for his team of security professionals.
  4. However, even though this arc seemed like Michaels” jumped the shark,” the long-lasting, protective community grounded in friendship is this book and the series’ glue. Beyond the different romances in this series of books, Michaels’s ability to draw a friendship between life-long pals adds another depth to Keep This Promise and its predecessors. It’s one of the main reasons I continued reading this series. The ways the guys care for and protect each other and their loved ones is my favorite aspect of this series. 

As with her other books, I enjoyed Corinne Michaels’s Keep This Promise. It has her signature angst and community wrapped with a bow of romance. It’s a quick read that keeps you engrossed through to the sweetness of her bonus epilogue. Any fan of small-town, romantic suspense will surely enjoy this book and the rest of the series.

In love and romance,

Professor A