Tag: book review

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Kristen Ashley’s Sharing the Miracle ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A+

Tropes: surprise baby; novella; found family

As a novella form goes, Kristen Ashley’s surprise release, Sharing the Miracle, is a treasure. I adore Kristen Ashley as an author in how she mixes the unreality of life through the ways she expounds on designer clothing and extravagant living with the reality of life: messy relationships and situations. In this newest story, she returns us to Hale and Elsa, one of the most profound stories in her beloved River Rain series. In this book, Hale and Elsa receive surprise news: a baby. What Kristen Ashley does with the short space of this novella is inspired. She illustrates the profundity of female relationships in discussing and processing female issues, the largesse of a found family for a character who is seemingly alone but not really, and the reality of the emotional daring required of parents. But it was Sharing the Miracle that truly showed me the underlying and decided detail of the River Rain series: Kristen Ashley’s knowledge and capacity for drawing the unevenness of grief. Kristen Ashley’s talent in storytelling is marrying fiction with the realism of life. I realized as I teared up over Hale’s experiences with grief that she captures so beautifully the complications we encounter as we continue to live after the loss of someone we love. It’s the ups and downs of that grief that make it palpable and ever-present. I reflected on the stories thus far in the River Rain series as I was reading Sharing the Miracle, and I recognized this to be true of every character of the series thus far. Life must be lived with or without Corey, and his absence as life goes on lays heavy on the various characters of this series. That Kristen Ashley can capture that reality without heavy-handedness but with a quietude through the development of her narrative is exquisite and impressive and another important reason to dive into her stories.

Can Sharing the Miracle be read alone? Sure, but you’d be missing the gradient of color that is the prism of the River Rain series. If you have yet to jump into this world, don’t wait. Hale and Elsa’s story in Fighting the Pull will always be my favorite story of this series, and this inspired novella is the frosting on the delectable cake of their romance.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Helena Hunting’s Where It Begins, an origin story for Hunting’s Pucked series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A

Tropes: single mom; single dad; insta-attraction; prequel

Helena Hunting’s Where It Begins is the romance you didn’t know you needed. This engaging novella, a tome under the 1001 Dark Nights press, is the prequel story of Skye, Violet’s mom from Hunting’s beloved Pucked, and Sidney, Miller’s father from that same book. There isn’t much complication in this story; it’s one of those reads that will put a smile on your face because it breeds nostalgia for one of Hunting’s favorite series. Skye is the OP to Violet’s characterization. If you loved Violet in Pucked, you will adore Skye because Violet is a carbon copy of her mother. This means lots of nervous, inappropriate chatter, gut problems, and huge ti…knockers. Sidney’s characterization is underwhelming in this story because he’s simply her love interest. That isn’t to undermine his character development. Where It Begins is a love note to Hunting’s Pucked series fans. It’s intended for you to read and feel nostalgic for that series (at least that’s the case for me). I finished this fun and entertaining novella, pining for a re-read of Pucked. And that is the brilliance of this story.

Even if you haven’t read Helena Hunting’s Pucked series, you can read Skye and Sidney’s story. When you’re done, jump into the Pucked world. You will not regret it.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Meghan Quinn’s He’s Not My Type ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B+

Tropes: he falls first; close proximity; friends to lovers; pro hockey/sports romance; roommates; found family; band of brothers

I had eagerly anticipated Meghan Quinn’s He’s Not My Type, mostly because I’ve enjoyed her Vancouver Agitators series and secondly because I’ve been intrigued with Halsey Holmes. Insight into Professor A’s romance loves: broody, quiet, emotionally complex heroes/MMCs are my favorite. Hence, other than Silas Taters, I’ve hoped for Halsey’s story. 

For the most part, Quinn doesn’t disappoint with him. For one, what’s not to love about a “he falls first” trope for Quinn’s most internal character? Halsey falls deep, at first sight, for Blakely, her FMC. This creates two situations: his unrequited love grows to the point that he becomes awkward (very funny stuff) when he finally has the opportunity to date her, and two, his friends, the foundation of this series, are enlisted to help him. This provides pages upon pages of hilarious banter with this band of brothers we’ve all come to love. You’ll laugh out loud at their antics as they seek to aid Halsey in his pursuit of Blakely. Honestly, it’s the best part of He’s Not My Type…which is where the problem of this story lies.

You see, as much as I anxiously awaited this book, some aspects disappointed me…or, more concisely, confused me. For one, the pacing was strange. If you’ve read the first books of this series, you know that Halsey’s twin brother has died. I had wanted the background as well as the emotional journey that Halsey must undertake to work through the grief at the loss of his brother. Quinn does proffer that up, but she spends the last ten percent of the book working out Halsey’s emotions about it. What happens is a strange pacing situation in her book. The second issue is Blakely’s chemistry with Halsey. It’s clear that he pines for her. He’s attracted to her into speechlessness, but Blakely doesn’t return it until much later in the book. In fact, Blakely’s character journey feels pretty flat in contrast to Halsey’s, and it makes it difficult (at least for me) to accept her change of interest in Halsey…at least at first. Their physicality changes her impression of him. Quinn has Halsey morph from awkward broody quiet guy to alpha stud in the sheets. It’s not hard to understand Blakely’s change of heart, but it causes you to consider her reasons behind it. Then, when Halsey has his breakdown (again, in the last ten percent of the book), she’s all in and his emotional support. The emotional development of their relationship lacks the depth necessary to pull off the last portion of the story. At least, that’s how I felt in reading it. 

He’s Not My Type is less about the romance between Halsey and Blakely. That’s a foregone conclusion. Instead, it’s about the band of brothers and its impact on helping Halsey grieve. Much of that is couched in some delicious funny banter, but it’s more a deflection to the heart of this story: the love shared with teammates. Is this book typical Meghan Quinn? Indeed. Is it spicy? Absolutely! Halsey Holmes is a beast in the bedroom. But does the storytelling match the quality of the other Vancouver Agitators books? I’m not so sure. I am absolutely ready for Posey’s story; Quinn has set that up well. I’m thinking we might also get another character in this world, thanks to a crossover with the other books in her universe. I just hoped Halsey’s story would have had a stronger emotional impact than Meghan Quinn gifted us.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Adriana Locke’s Flame, a Carmichael Family series book ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B

Tropes: second chances; bodyguard; forced proximity; marriage of convenience; band of brothers

I have loved Adriana Locke’s Carmichael Family series from its first book, Flirt. I was ready for Foxx Carmichael’s story because he’s been the most mysterious, very little of his story divulged throughout the series. With mysterious texts about an animal to his brothers in the first four books of the series plus the Carmichael matriarch insisting on a new couch, there were mysteries to be divulged in this final book of the series. So many expectations in a single book, and Locke meets them, but I’ll be honest, the answers to these enduring questions are answered, but they aren’t as impactful as I had anticipated. Even more, while Foxx Carmichael shines in this book, his second chance/marriage of convenience romance with Bianca, the object of his undying affection, was a bit underwhelming. The necessary tension found in the earlier books of this series was profound. In this one, it seemed like a machination to move through the book. I didn’t believe the reason Foxx denies a relationship with Bianca at first, even more so, when Foxx and Bianca must marry each other, essentially deflating their emotional struggle. Locke deftly adds tension through Bianca’s relationship with her father, but, for me, it wasn’t enough to resurrect the necessary tension and resolution of this story. 

Did I fall in love with Foxx Carmichael? Indeed.

Was Bianca the perfect FMC for Foxx? For sure.

There was something missing, though, from Flame, this final book in Adriana Locke’s Carmichael Family series. I believe it was the pacing as it felt rushed, and it lacked the emotional punch of the first books of the series. Adriana Locke will always be a must-read author for me. I was just hoping for a bit more for our silent but deadly Carmichael brother.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: L.B. Dunbar’s Naughty-ish ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B

Tropes: next door neighbor; single mom; divorcee; small-town romance; Christmas romance

To be honest, I am not a huge fan of Christmas romances. I will only read the Christmas romances of my favorite authors, L.B. Dunbar being one of them. And her Naughty-ish did not disappoint. Given her background as an English teacher, Dunbar’s intentionality in providing a meaningful structure to her stories impresses me. For this story, she organizes her FMC’s story around statements: “be youthful,” “be present,” and “be the future you want,” all admonishments illustrated through the growth of Holliday, the FMC. As she takes steps to live that out in her life, we, the reader, can ponder how we can do the same in our own. While it might feel prescriptive, I think we could consider it inspiring.

As she usually does, Dunbar gifts us with an older FMC and MMC (Holliday and Nick). Next door neighbors, these two fall fast and hard for each other, even though it takes each of them a bit to accept it. There is a nice blend of spicy romance with the sweetness of a holiday one, and Dunbar’s finished product is one that will put a smile on your face. L.B. Dunbar’s Naughy-ish is a romance meant not only to entertain but to also encourage. At this time of year, it’s everything you need in a Christmas romance.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Melanie Harlow’s Make-Believe Match ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-/B+

Tropes: marriage of convenience; opposites attract; meddling grandmother; hate to love or enemies to lovers; one night stand; small town romance

Melanie Harlow has cornered the market on small-town romances set in Michigan and its surrounding areas. She has this way of connecting her series and inviting readers into her world…where you hate to leave. Her newest series, Cherry Tree Harbor, also reads like her dirtiest, enticing more readers into the lives of the Buckley siblings. Make-Believe Match proffers up Devlin Buckley’s marriage of convenience romance. He meets Lexi one night in a bar, and they share a fiery memorable evening together. When it’s revealed a day or so later, that Devlin is the representative of the company wanting to buy her family’s ski resort, fireworks fly as Lexi vows to block Devlin’s efforts. When complications arise, the only way forward is a marriage of convenience between Devlin and Lexi. Hate slowly evolves into love, and Lexi and Devlin must acknowledge their feelings to move forward into a future together, one that saves her family’s resort, or they must be content with the consequences. 

Make-Believe Match reminds readers that change can be good when you have an apt partner to inspire and uplift you. Both Devlin and Lexi have lost parents, so they’ve created emotional mechanisms to handle their pain. Instead of setting them free, it has reduced their capacity to process change and embrace love. Melanie Harlow has woven their journeys together in a way that provides the emotional ungirding for her romance. 

She has also whipped in a spicy treat for her readers who love a little smut with their romance. Devlin and Lexi are pure fire. Additionally, the treat of extended family is my favorite part of this new series. Besides returning to Devlin’s older brothers whose stories we received in the first two books of this series, Lexi’s grandmother’s machinations and her cousin’s villainy add emotional depth to Harlow’s romance. All of these elements conflate to bring about a captivating and titillating story. 

Small-town romance fans, if you’re not reading Melanie Harlow, you are missing out. She continuously crafts regional romances that tug at heartstrings and fog up glasses. Her Cherry Tree Harbor has been an absolute delight, and I inhaled Make-Believe Match.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Stacy Travis’s Love You More, book 1 of her Buttercup Hill series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B+

Tropes: single dad; grump/sunshine; insta-attraction; small town romance; romantic suspense

Stacy Travis’s newest book, Love You More, the first book of her Buttercup Hill series, adds to the tradition of small-town romances found in stories by authors such as Devney Perry, Catherine Cowles, Elsie Silver, etc.  Travis has deftly crafted a regional small-town romance much like the authors noted above. Given that I live in California, I’m excited about this series because it sits at my geographical back door. Even more, she has set up a compelling series, starting with Jax and Ruby. Here’s what I loved about Love You More:

  1. There is nothing better than grump/sunshine. Ruby is the light to Jax’s dark, and Stacy Travis has drawn their chemistry well in this story.
  2. I’m also a fan of the single dad (or parent) trope because we know cute encounters with the heroine are a deciding factor for their future. Ruby and Jax’s daughter, Fiona, are adorable together, instantly hitting it off, given their shared experience of losing a parent. Fiona adds levity to Jax and Ruby’s fraught romantic journey.
  3. This is small-town romance at its best in a wine town such as Napa. Stacy Travis has carefully created this town, making us fall in love with it while also wanting more.
  4. The plot and character development are the most important parts of this story. I know readers will want more steam from these two, but, given that this is the first book of the series, Travis has taken the space to set up the region of her series while also doling out the beginnings of a mystery certain to thread through the other books of this series. She’s made some keen decisions with the development of this series in this first book.
  5. Small-town romance needs a combination of fun and angst, and I think Stacy Travis has balanced those two well in her first book.

My biggest criticism of Love You More is the inconsistency in her characterization of Stella. There are moments in her story when her want for Jax versus the pull of her responsibility for her sister is confusing. She would accept Jax in her life to quickly turn around and spurn him out of her need to care for her college-aged sister. It was story whiplash, and I thought it interrupted the flow of her plot. 

As the first book of a new series, Stacy Travis’s Love You More, was a delight. I’ve read Stacy from the beginning and her growth as a romance writer is paying dividends in Stella and Jax’s story. I can’t wait to find out Jax’s dad’s secrets. I imagine, though, that Stacy Travis will keep us guessing.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Annika Martin’s The Grumpy Billionaire ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B+

Tropes: unrequited love; opposites attract; found family; grump/sunshine; billionaire MMC; rom-com

Gah, I don’t want Annika Martin to ever stop writing grumpy billionaire romances. Seriously. Just when I think she can’t write a different story, she finds one. Now, she has found a formula that seems to work for her: grumpy billionaire plus a heroine who keeps him on his toes, extrapolating his humanity through her erstwhile, independent way. Martin’s newest story, The Grumpy Billionaire, is more of this, and it is sure to put a smile on your face by the end. 

To get there, however, her billionaire MMC, Hugo, has to recognize his feelings for her FMC, Stella, and he has to become comfortable acting on them. Thankfully, it doesn’t take him too long to recognize them, but it does take him a while to accept them. Martin has paced out her story well, building a mountain of chemistry between Stella and Hugo. It’s one of my favorite parts of this book. But Stella’s burgeoning understanding of Hugo is the piece de resistance of this book. If you fall in love with anything in The Grumpy Billionaire, it’s the puzzle pieces clicking together that charm your pants off.

I love Annika Martin’s ability to draw characters that are equal parts quirky and spicy. Her capacity to draw a swatch of characters over several books is special. She treats her readers to past beloved characters, and they work together to build a world that readers want to return to over and over again. Stella and Hugo now exist in this universe. We can also add their parents and Stella’s brother to that mix. Honestly, Annika Martin’s world of billionaires makes me remember the days of Fisher Price Little People toys: so many options and potential stories to tell. 

If you’re looking for a story that will put a smile on your face, you should grab Annika Martin’s The Grumpy Billionaire today.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Catherine Bybee’s The Whole Time ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B

Tropes: insta-attraction; opposites attract; friend’s brother

Catherine Bybee’s The Whole Time gifts us with Salena’s romance. If you’ve been reading her The D’Angelos series, Salena has been a breath of fresh air amongst the old charm of the D’Angelo’s romances. While her best friend, Chloe, is the requisite rule-follower, Salena marches to the beat of her own drum. She’s independent (seemingly so) and knows herself well. She’s a $exual being who doesn’t apologize for it. Instead, we find through her story that she leans into it, and it’s her superpower. 

It would make sense that she would need a partner such as Ryan who would accept her as she is and be attracted by it. The self-professed “black sheep” of his family, Ryan is an apt match for Salena. The Whole Time is a story of instant attraction and a journey of becoming. The story begins with Salena sneaking out of her parents’ home to find the independence she craves from her old-world Italian family. It ends with her having found that independence and a whole lot more. 

What I’ve loved about The D’Angelos series is its location, the charm of its characters, and the real-life feel of Bybee’s characters. These are characters whom you expect to meet on your street. While we might not be Italian, we understand the difficulty of growing up with a certain amount of respect for parental expectations while also wanting to find our own space. Bybee deftly crafts this struggle in both Ryan’s and Salena’s lives. She makes it palpable and understandable for her reader.  Whether you’re the son of a wealthy wine owner or the daughter of traditional Italians, we can understand the want to be our own person on our own terms. 

Throughout The Whole Time, we are once again treated to the lives of the D’Angelos after the conclusions of their stories. I love the relationships that Bybee has created through these stories. The theme of family is the foundation of these stories, and they add a layer to Salena and Ryan’s romantic journey. 

My biggest criticism about this story is its heavy-handedness in chronology. In the former D’Angelos stories, they don’t read like a time diary. This one, however, walks us through each month of Ryan and Salina’s lives. It sometimes makes the story feel tedious. While I believe the character development and the capacity to place them in the space of this world are these story’s strengths, there were times when the story read slow, and I believe it has to do with the plodding of its chronology.

Catherine Bybee, however, did not disappoint with The Whole Time. My favorite moments come at the end when Ryan and Salena find their happy ending on their own terms. Even though this book and its predecessors are set in San Diego and Temecula, neither of which I’d describe as traditional “small towns,” this newest book from Bybee gives you all the feels of a small-town romance.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland’s The Rules of Dating: My One-Night Stand ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-/B+

Tropes: one night stand (ONS) to more; close proximity/neighbors; insta-attraction; surprise baby; grump/sunshine; cinnamon roll MMC

Who knew? Who knew that the big, busy grump of the friend group in Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland’s series, The Law of Opposites Attract, would have the biggest heart of his friend group? In the series’ first two books, we learn that Owen, the MMC of their newest story, The Rules of Dating: My One-Night Stand, works A LOT. To be a successful real estate mogul would require it. We also see him as the voice of reason, sometimes the “stick in the mud”. However, in their newest story, Owen is a good guy who falls instantly for Devyn, a woman he meets in a bar. When she ghosts him after their one-night stand, he believes he won’t ever see her again until he finds her in an apartment in his apartment building. He is drawn to her, and she is drawn to him too. However, her life is complicated. 

What sets Owen apart from his friends is his instantaneous commitment to wooing and winning Devyn’s heart. To date, he is the swooniest of Keeland and Ward’s MMCs in this series. The traits of tenacity and perseverance emphasized through his work ethic become the main reason why Devyn falls for him despite a list of complications. Keeland and Ward draw this couple so well in The Rules of Dating: My One-Night Stand that you cheer them on through the entirety of this book.

What’s compelling about Ward and Keeland’s stories is their second, sometimes third-act plot disruption. It happens in all of their books. Given the predominance of it in their stories, one would think this might cause their readers to grow bored of their storytelling. However, the plot disruption is usually something you don’t expect. In this newest book, you might think it’s the surprise baby plot device. But it isn’t. It’s something I didn’t expect, and it added emotional gravity to Ward and Keeland’s romance. I find their ability to create these moments in their stories compelling and one reason I adore their romances. The Rules of Dating: My One-Night Stand is another example of Ward and Keeland’s genius at crafting spicy, ingenious, and compelling romances.

In love and romance,

Professor A