Tag: book review

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Jewel E. Ann’s The Apple Tree, book 2 of her Sunday Morning series

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Overall Grade: A-

Tropes: small town; preacher’s kid FMC; age gap; close proximity/neighbors; single dad MMC

Expectations – the heavy suggestions that society lays on you based on some arbitrary set of standards. Many times, it’s impossible to live up to those expectations. When we try, we conscript ourselves to wear an identity far too big or small for our spirit. Some wear the heavy clothing of expectation with a facade of perfection. Don’t look too closely, though. You’ll see the tears in the fabric or the breaks in the musculoskeletal system from carrying that uncomfortable weight. Others will throw off the garment of expectation and make their way, but that way is often lonely and fraught with unease because making one’s own rules about life is a bumpy path away from society’s suggestions. 

You may be curious why I began this review for Jewel E. Ann’s The Apple Tree with this reflection on expectations. Well, her first two stories in her Sunday Morning series underscore this idea of expectations. Yes, she shades around these ideas with the story of a “good girl” hate to love romance with a “bad boy,” her boyfriend’s brother in book 1, Sunday Morning. But the second book, The Apple Tree, provides a bit of the antithesis to the first book. Eve, the younger sister of Sarah, the FMC of Sunday Morning, isn’t afraid to “break the rules” of the household when she falls hard for the new next-door neighbor, single dad MMC, Kyle and his son, Josh. 

Jewel E. Ann uses the idea of expectations to underscore how we might come to her story with a set of expectations mired in societal standards. Should Eve and Kyle have a successful romance if 1) they have a ten-year age difference, 2) she isn’t quite sure what career she wants, and 3) as a teacher and coach, their small community might have certain opinions about them? You can’t help but notice your awareness of their plight as you read their story. Ann deftly moves us through the complications of their burgeoning relationship, forcing readers to encounter and interrogate their expectations for Eve and Kyle. What she leaves you with, though, is a realization that it doesn’t matter. Love is love, after all, and Eve and Kyle have the qualities necessary for working through the difficult moments in a love relationship. 

Everything standard in a Jewel E. Ann romance is found in The Apple Tree. Obviously, the ongoing tension that underpins the angst of her romance both drives the story forward while also slowing the read (some of us have to read the ending to remember the promise of romance’s HEAs). Her prose is some of my favorite in romancelandia. It isn’t like a Kennedy Ryan or Sierra Simone’s almost academic elegant prose, but she writes sentences that grab at you with their candor and reflection. Even more, Eve and Kyle are likable, even when they make choices that pull the happiness out of the story. You understand their choices because they feel like choices the reader would make. Jewel E. Ann’s characters, even when set in unreal plots, are relatable because they live in worlds (most of the time) like our own. 

If I have one criticism of The Apple Tree, it’s the same as I had for Sunday Morning. I don’t understand the need to set it in the ‘80s. Honestly, the ‘80s references are sprinkled throughout the book in such a way that she could have removed them, and we wouldn’t miss out on them. I know it allows her to remove cell phones and technology of the 21st century, but I don’t believe it would have changed the story. Again, this is my curiosity. I’m sure there are ’70s and ’80s babies who love the allusion to one of their favorite time periods.

Jewel E. Ann’s The Apple Tree continues her Sunday Morning series beautifully. I prefer Eve and Kyle’s story to the story of her first book. Kyle and Eve fall hard for each other. Their love for each other, at its core, is never the problem of this book. They find “their person” in the other. It’s the expectations of everyone around them that muddies their love (well, except for Grandma Bonnie – my favorite character in the book). Thankfully, Jewel E. Ann aptly walks us through their story carefully and gifts us with a beautiful happily ever after to revel in.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Jessica Peterson’s Wyatt, book 2 of the Lucky River Ranch series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-

Tropes: cowboy; he falls first; friends to lovers; fake dating; small town

I’ve been a member of romancelandia long enough to know that friends-to-lovers is a bit of a fraught trope. Some people absolutely love it, while others detest it. That particular group struggles with the shift in feelings for the main characters, and the credibility of their love is called into question. I’ve read some problematic friends-to-lovers stories, but Jessica Peterson’s Wyatt, the second book of her Lucky River Ranch series, is not one of them. 

Peterson has done well in many aspects of this story. 

  • Sally and Wyatt have loved each other from afar for a long time. This is pretend unrequited love: two people avoiding their feelings to protect their friendship. Peterson is strategic in how she maps out their journey. When Wyatt (yes, this is a “he falls first” trope story) recognizes his love for Sally, he decides to keep it to himself so she can succeed in her educational journey. That sacrifice is the heart of this book and one of its pieces that incites her readers’ feelings. In any other book, the intentionality of this choice might have culled feelings of irritation. In Wyatt, it helps you fall in love with Wyatt, the player. The way that Peterson handles their friends-to-lovers relationship is done so well with only a small amount of strife that you leave this book more in love with her characters than you start, and the last ten percent of the book becomes a holiday gift, sown in sweetness. 
  • Wyatt is pure perfection. While he falls first for Sally (but not by much), Peterson still drafts him into pure masculinity, not one that oozes toxicity. Instead, he’s masculine while still able to love Sally hard. When he finally admits his feelings, he becomes the PERFECT book boyfriend, and I imagine there will be fights over him in her fan group because of it. 
  • While Wyatt’s journey is defined by admitting and encouraging his feelings for Sally, Sally’s journey is about self-discovery. As an only child, she’s lived her life people-pleasing, namely her father, a man who, we find, is living vicariously through her. As the story progresses, she recognizes the key to her happiness: being surrounded by a loving community and, in turn, returning love to that community. Quite frankly, Peterson could have mired herself in a plot hole had she allowed Sally to define herself solely in her “boyfriend’s” love, trading her identity as a skillful veterinarian surgeon for one of Wyatt’s girlfriend. However, what is always special about Peterson’s romances is her insistence on her MMC and FMC aligning themselves equitably. When Wyatt asks his brothers if it is okay for him to follow Sally to New York, his brother responds with the idea that Wyatt could be the one to stay home and watch their children. Each person has a place in Peterson’s romances, and it never seems aligned with gender norms. It isn’t that she does this overtly; instead, it is simply the nature of the worlds she creates. 

It is also why I prefer her romances over many. Jessica Peterson’s Wyatt absolutely put a smile on my face. This isn’t high drama like the first book, Cash. Instead, Sally and Wyatt’s journey is one of acceptance: recognizing their love for each other and leaning into it. Honestly, while it does not have holiday overtones, it feels right for this holiday season. It’s a special gift of love wrapped in a shiny bow of sweetness and spice.

In love and romance.

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻Professor Romance’s Reviews: Jewel E. Ann’s From Air, book 1 of the Wildfire series – a top 5 read of 2024 ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: A

Tropes: close proximity/roommates; smokejumper MMC; travel nurse FMC; angst; second chance; grump/sunshine; age gap

“Sometimes, for something beautiful to take to life and grow, everything around it has to be sacrificed. All we see is the destruction, but if you wait long enough — if you’re patient — magic happens.”

These words, prophetic and beautifully drawn, embody the truth of Jewel E. Ann’s From Air. This newest book, the first book of a new series — The Wildfire Series — is one of my favorite stories in 2024. I began reading Jewel E. Ann with her book, Look the Part. The witty banter between the uptight MMC and the fluidly intriguing and beguiling FMC was the draw in that story. Their immediate chemistry, the hate to love, the emotionally uptight MMC drive that story forward. Until a moment that has often been characterized as the JEA Effect — the moment in the story that comes from nowhere and takes the reader out emotionally. It’s usually shocking and rarely forecasted, so it turns your head deeper into the pages of her book. For me, that moment is where I fall more deeply in love with Ann’s storytelling.

From Air has the same feel, for me, as Look The Part. It isn’t the same story. It inhabits new worlds in the JEA universe: travel nurse and smokejumper. It’s even set in a different space, one that changes due to the FMC’s occupation. However, the witty banter that Ann writes well and the chemistry that feels complicated and messy are the mainstays of From Air. In those spaces, you find Ann’s brilliance as a writer with crisp and quotable prose. There is the JEA moment —- and it comes from nowhere. I’m usually able to see the foreshadowing of plot points, but, once again, she kept me off-balance. As a multi-year reader of romance, I loved it. My heart hurt for the characters, and the only promise I had of surviving this turn of the story was the knowledge that I was reading a romance — the promise of a HEA. And that happily ever after is perfect, more poetry in storytelling motion.

Calvin “Fitz” and Jaymes “Jamie” took me on a complicated journey filled with humor, tension, sadness, and pain. Other beautifully written characters, like their roommates Will and Maren, Fitz’s grandmother, and Jamie’s best friend, Melissa, add dimension to the story and provide hope for the future stories in this series.

As I said at the beginning of this review, From Air is one of my top five romances of 2024. Jewel E. Ann illustrates her dexterity in drawing stories that interrogate social norms, incite intense emotions, and beguile her readers. I can only look forward to the other books in this compelling series.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: L.B. Dunbar’s Grouch-ish, a Holiday HOTTIES novella ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B

Tropes: forced proximity; insta-attraction; first-responder MMC; silver fox; holiday romance; single dad; boss’s daughter FMC

L.B. Dunbar’s Holiday Hotties stories have engaged readers over the past couple of holiday seasons. This year’s offering, Grouch-ish, offers more of the same holiday spice with a fireman MMC who falls for his boss’s daughter while staying at the boss’s house. Her characters, Brock and Pear, aka Paradise, are shaded nicely in light and dark. Brock struggles with his guilt over the loss of a probie and the ending of his problematic marriage. He has been asked to his boss’s winter camp as a last-ditch effort to work through his issues. Pear has left her life behind, intent on reconnecting with her father over the holidays. Unfortunately, her father has other plans, leaving Pear lonely in his absence. When Brock arrives late and misses the shuttle to the camp, he’s left to earn his penance with Pear. It’s where Brock and Pear begin to fill something emotional and, eventually, physical in each other. 

I enjoyed Pear and Brock’s journey to falling in love. Dunbar has a way of creating highs and lows in her plotting that keeps her reader engaged. However, one of my criticisms of Dunbar’s storytelling lies in her need to draw a heavy-handed allusion through her story. She’s done this in many of her stories, which detracts from the natural storytelling. In Grouch-ish‘s instance, she alludes to the Twelve Days of Christmas. Unfortunately, given the timing of her story, she adds a note at the beginning of her story to make allowances for it. I understand it as a mechanism to attach meaning to a holiday tradition; however, it’s not necessary for us to fall in love with Brock’s grumpiness turned romantic or Pear’s acceptance of her circumstances and future choices. 

Overall, Grouch-ish is an enjoyable holiday romance for this holiday season. Brock and Pear will steal your heart for the holiday season.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Melanie Harlow’s Slap Shot Surprise, book 5 of her Cherry Tree Harbor series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-/B+

Tropes: ONS to more; accidental pregnancy; professional hockey player; opposites attract; small-town romance

Melanie Harlow’s Slap Shot Surprise is one of my favorite stories of her Cherry Tree Harbor series. Throughout this series, Harlow has written engaging characters fraught with outside issues, and this newest book is more of the same. Joe and Mabel are likable, drawing you into their journey of falling in love after a one-night stand of fun turned accidental pregnancy. Even as Joe struggles between his growing feelings for Mabel and his desire to remain single and free, Harlow held me in the thrall of her characters’ progression. Now, I did struggle with Mabel’s character development in that she readily forgoes her professional aspirations. I don’t want to reveal more of this, but it seemed incongruous with her characterization. I found myself questioning her final choices even though it intensified the romance of this book. 

There is something lovely about Joe and Mabel in Slap Shot Surprise, but it’s balanced well with their chemistry and desire – adding spice to all the right places. I would have also liked more of her brothers in this story, but I believe Harlow had a bit of a balancing act between the Buckleys and the Lupos.

Slap Shot Surprise is such a great book for a relaxing weekend read.

In love and romance,


Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Jewel E. Ann’s Sunday Morning, book 1 of her Sunday Morning series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-/B+

Tropes: brother’s ex; preacher’s daughter; cheating; small town; 80s vibes

Jewel E. Ann surprises me. Over and over again, she writes stories that challenge the thinking of her readers. Sometimes, I wonder why her books don’t explode on “the charts,” and I’m certain it’s because they are hard to qualify or quantify. I’ve listed tropes above in this review, but honestly, her romances transcend tropes, oftentimes only focusing on a specific trope: cheating. She finds ways to write stories that play with the boundaries of cheating, challenging our views on it, especially for a reader like myself who typically eschews books that handle this topic. However, it’s Jewel E. Ann’s interrogation of this trope that constantly challenges me and helps me determine what I’m willing to accept. Her newest book, Sunday Morning, plays with this trope as her MMC and FMC circle the complications of it as their relationship evolves. 

However, that’s but a small portion of the significance of this newest book to her book list. Ann’s characters are fated with a chemistry clear from the beginning of the story. The MMC, Isaac, falls deeply for the FMC, Sarah, before she can understand or reconcile her feelings. They walk a balancing act of emotion and attachment for much of the book until their attraction becomes undeniable, and the chemistry overflows the page. Then, in true JEA form, someone dies, and their worlds are upended. Co-mingled with the journeys of her characters are themes about God (if God is in control, why does he allow bad things to happen to good people or good things to happen to bad people), the importance of living out your dreams on your terms, people pleasing, the complications of family relationships, etc. As her FMC, Sarah, begins to know herself, she challenges the beliefs of her parents and her small town society, and it’s her character growth that provides the “meat and potatoes” of JEA’s story. 

Throughout Sunday Morning, Jewel E. Ann shows us her capacity for storytelling as she weaves her tale with the gravity of her messaging. You are pummeled from all sides with her challenges. If I have any criticisms of this newest book, there are two. I’m still trying to determine why she decided to set this story in the late 80s other than to provoke nostalgia from her readers (or because she simply wanted to write about a time that is nostalgic for her). Additionally, her prose felt starker than her previous books. Her penchant for crafting reflective, quotable sentences is still in Sunday Morning, but more simple sentences and fewer transitional expressions sometimes cause an almost staccato feel to the story. It made it difficult to get lost in her story. 

Jewel E. Ann is a must-read author for me, no matter the story, no matter her insistence on bleeding the cheating trope on the page. I love that she forces me to unpack my thoughts and feelings about complex topics through the scope of her stories, and Sunday Morning dares us to upend our restrictive, inherited views of God, faith, and love. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: J. Saman’s Undeniably Infatuated, book 3 of her Boston’s Irresistible Billionaires ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-

Tropes: forbidden; brother’s ex; forced proximity; second chance; secret romance; FMC in trouble; grump/sunshine; opposites attract; he falls first

J. Saman’s newest series, Boston’s Irresistible Billionaires, is not disappointing. This next-gen series invites her readers back into her previous book worlds, mixing former characters’ children into love matches. Her newest story, Undeniably Infatuated, I believe is my favorite to date. Saman carefully interweaves some romantic suspense with a spicy, secretive, forbidden relationship with “undeniable” chemistry between her main characters, Stone and Tinsley. From the outset, the big question is…how will Saman handle the complicated relationship between Stone and Tinsley, given that Tinsley is Stone’s brother’s ex-girlfriend, who he’s still obsessed with? I’ll be honest. I was nervous because, if mishandled, the believability of Stone and Tinsley’s relationship would be undermined. It created a complex problem for Saman, and she handled it well because she granted them space and time to process their feelings about it. She also allowed Stone to acknowledge the complication without wasting his opportunity with Tinsley. This situation required a careful balancing act with intentionality and decisive writing, and Saman did this well. 

I love a romance where the gruff playboy of an MMC falls hard for the erstwhile, independent FMC, and Saman crafts this well in Undeniably Infatuated. I loved the tension of their coupling as well as their fire and eventual romantic happy ending. Undeniably Infatuated is exactly what the doctor ordered for a weekend of reading. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s The Rules of Dating a Younger Man, the final book of The Law of Opposites Attract series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B-

Tropes: age gap; close proximity; cinnamon roll MMC; “forbidden” relationship; he falls first; friends to lovers

Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s The Law of Opposites Attract series has come to a close with their final book, The Rules of Dating a Younger Man. Throughout this series, their readers have been gifted with the found family/band of brothers trope that tends to be popular. From Colby to Holden to Owen to Brayden, Keeland and Ward have ingratiated their lives into our lives. Here’s the thing about this series, though. This series started strong with Colby/Billie and Holden/Lala’s stories, but the magic of those books feels lost in Owen and now Brayden’s book. With The Rules of Dating a Younger Man, for me, the highlight is Brayden. In their friend group, Owen and Brayden seem the most level-headed and secure of the bunch, but Brayden, especially, is one of the quietest of the stories going into his book. Keeland and Ward draw him as a wildly handsome, thoughtful, humble, kind man. You have no heart if you leave TRODAYM and don’t love Brayden. It’s impossible to dislike him because he cares so much for his friends, the kids he develops prostheses for, and the project of Ryan’s House. Alex, the FMC, cannot help but fall in love with someone like Brayden. 

The issue with this book is two-fold: Alex’s journey can be challenging to understand. She is not readily likable because she spurns Brayden at every turn. I found it tiring as it continues for 80 percent-ish of the book. The second issue is their chemistry. Keeland and Ward create more tension between Brayden and Alex than they create their love. Yet, these two fall in love after three weeks (weekends only). I struggled with this inconsistency, making it difficult to believe they were indeed in love. As situations play out, Alex readily denies Brayden for much of the book, even though she allegedly loves him. Again, the credibility of their relationship created issues for me. 

Did I love the camaraderie of the friends? Yes.

Did I enjoy their antics and the way they loved each other? Absolutely!

Did I love Alex and Brayden when they finally got where they needed to go? Yep. However, this takes up most of the book and adds a huge helping of frustration. 

Do I think The Rules of Dating a Younger Man a fitting end to this series? I’m not sure. I believe this series began strong and lost its magic in the two later books. 

As always, however, I adore Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s storytelling prowess, and I will continue to read their works. I’m just not sure I loved The Rules of Dating a Younger Man as much as I wanted to.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Jessica Peterson’s Cash, book 1 of the Lucky River Ranch series ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: A

Tropes: enemies to lovers; hate to love; cowboy; opposites attract; small town; boss/employee (owner/foreman of the ranch)

Jessica Peterson seemed to have cornered the market on intelligent, spicy romance set in the Carolinas. Whether she writes chefs, romance writers, farmers, lux resort owner siblings, or bonds people, she finds a way to infuse romance tropes with deep issues. When she announced her foray into cowboy romance, this reader was excited because I knew she would put her storytelling stamp on this genre. And she did this beautifully in the first book of her newest series, Lucky River Ranch, Cash. What Jessica Peterson didn’t know, through the scope of Mollie and Cash’s wild journey of hate to love, was her impressive ability to capture the trauma of divorce and death in the lives of the children of divorced couples.  Cash provided an apt mirror of my own story; this capacity for storytelling leaves me wanting more stories from Jessica Peterson. 

Peterson’s newest book, Cash, is spicy, perfectly paced, and engaging. Mollie and Cash’s immediate chemistry is the initial draw to the story. Their meet cute when Cash assumes Mollie’s a spoiled socialite who turned her back on her father, sets up the emotional tether between these two. As Mollie moves between grief and ire and grief and loyalty, you can’t help but champion the coupling of Mollie and Cash. From the start of this story, Peterson held me in the thrall of her story. It’s funny, it’s tear-invoking, and it’s sweet. By the end of Cash, you will be hoping for a short time until the next book of the series, Wyatt, because the other characters in the story are just as compelling and engaging as Mollie and Cash. 

There is so much more to this new series from Jessica Peterson. I love a cowboy romance, but I’m sure she will be one of my favorite authors of this subgenre of romance. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Devney Perry’s Rally ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-/B+

Tropes: one-night stand to more; opposites attract; surprise baby; new adult romance; sports romance; cinnamon roll MMC; down on her luck FMC

Rally, Devney Perry’s third book in her Treasure State Wildcats series, gifts us with the story of Faye and Rush. If you have read the first book of this series, Coach (my favorite of the series to date), you’re familiar with the broad strokes of their story. However, Rally takes us deeper into its beginning, middle, and beautifully written ending. Seriously, Perry’s endings and bonus epilogues are some of my favorites in romancelandia, and Rally exemplifies this gift well. 

Faye and Rush’s story is one of complication. Perry has beautifully penned the trials of Faye becoming pregnant while struggling through life. Thankfully, Perry partners Faye with Rush whose background is less uncomplicated and filled with love so he can learn to love her through her struggles. Rally is a roller coaster ride of emotions as Faye learns to depend on Rush, even though she struggles to become vulnerable and willing to rely on someone. Thankfully, Perry crafts Rush to be uncomplicated and stalwart through Faye’s journey. This adds a sweetness to Rally that feels quintessentially Devney Perry. 

My only issues are the oft-used “we’ll rally” or “need to rally” as it feels a bit “on the nose” in this story. I know it’s the battle cry of their relationship, but it seemed too pedantic for Perry. Secondly, there are moments when Rush’s actions are inconsistent with the overarching sense of his character as a noble, compassionate fellow. He sometimes retreats from Faye when, as the quarterback of a successful college team, that seems contrary to who he is. Beyond these issues, I loved Faye and Rush’s story.

Devney Perry’s Rally and its predecessors continue her tradition fo writing palatable, engaging romance. I love her stories, and given Rally and her story, Crossroads, published earlier in the year, I won’t stop reading her stories anytime soon.

In love and romance,

Professor A