Tag: forced proximity

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 5 ⭐️ Review: Melanie Harlow’s Runaway Love ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: runaway bride; single dad; dad of twins; forced proximity; grump/sunshine; opposites attract

“It’s me choosing you —- just you. As you are.”

Thus far, in the month of May, Melanie Harlow’s Runaway Love is my favorite romance book. This is part Runaway Bride, Sound of Music, and Notting Hill. Two tropes that instantly grab my attention are found in this book: single dad and grump/sunshine. And Austin, Harlow’s MMC, is drawn as deliciously hot, but a grumpyumpleton to his core. Harlow balances his curmudgeon nature with two precocious twins and a family who humbles him daily. Her FMC, Veronica aka Roni, challenges him, through her sunny disposition, to recognize his self-sacrifice and consider choosing his dreams. Conversely, Austin helps Roni recognize the importance of expecting people to love her on her terms. As they work through their separate issues, Harlow infuses spice and humor, sweetness and challenge to engage her readers’ feelings, and the combination of these things causes the reader to gobble the book. At least, I did. Austin and Roni excited me, and I didn’t realize that I’d been missing the draw of reading until I fell into Austin ad Roni’s story. I felt indignant for Roni’s betrayal, cheered Austin’s sister when she decided to invite Roni to be a nanny for Austin’s children, grew annoyed with Austin’s instant judgment of Roni, became elated when Roni showed her beautiful soul, was titillated by Austin and Roni’s chemistry, and grew emotional as both Austin and Roni recognized that he needed to choose himself and his dreams and she needed to be chosen period. 

Grab Melanie Harlow’s Runaway Love if you need something to read that feeds your soul. This book will make you laugh, become misty-eyed, and fog your glasses all in one pass. This book is a total homerun.

In love and romance,

Professor A

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Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4 ⭐️ Review: Tijan’s A Cruel Arrangement ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: anti-hero; alpha hero; mafia romance; forced proximity; grumpy/sunshine; opposites attract; heroine in danger; tragic past

Tijan’s next Kings of New York story, A Cruel Arrangement is a fitting follow-up to Tijan’s A Dirty Business. Both books envelop the reader in a harrowing tale of mafia tribulations couched in sultry romance. Where Trace and Jess’s love story is fraught with the forbidden element of their relationship, Ashton and Molly’s romance is high adrenaline from the very start to its end. 

As Tijan does well, A Cruel Arrangement is full of minute-by-minute tension. Ashton and Molly are opposites: he’s the new head of a mafia family, and Molly is the owner of a local bowling alley. Her father is a street “rat,” owned by Ashton’s family due to his extravagant gambling debt, and Ashton has taken on the family business in the wake of the deaths of his uncles. They shouldn’t work; however, something in Molly matches Ashton’s darkness, and the two are drawn together like magnets. 

This book has much to be solved because danger is afoot at every corner. Tijan places her characters in sundry difficult situations, and Ashton and Molly must work their way out of them. A Cruel Arrangement is page after page of trials, yet Ashton and Molly forge ahead, their attraction palpable on the page. Even in its darkest moments, Tijan has grafted a sweetness in Ashton and Molly’s pairing. 

Given the suspense in this book, I didn’t figure out the villain’s accomplices until Tijan revealed it. This, thankfully, kept me turning the pages of her story. The ending, however, was abrupt and not fully fleshed out. Yet, I’d like to believe there might be another book. 

If you’re an avid reader of suspenseful, dark mafia, A Cruel Arrangement will give you some good feels, but I’m not sure the most dedicated reader of mafia romance will find it dark enough. In the end, I’m here for Tijan and her stories, and this newest book didn’t disappoint. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: J. Saman’s Irresistibly Perfect ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes:  friends to lovers; forbidden romance; opposites attract; forced proximity; band of brothers; found family; rockstar romance

I’m in love. I’m in love with J. Saman’s Greyson from her newest book, Irresistibly Perfect. If you had told me that I would not be able to put down a friends to lovers romance, I would have laughed at you. It isn’t my favorite trope, but I’m a fan of J. Saman’s stories. And Greyson and Fallon don’t disappoint. This is delicious friends-to-lovers romance. Greyson is swoony in that he adores Fallon even after years of estrangement. When Fallon decides to break her engagement and end her engagement, Greyson becomes her “ride-or-die” and the deliciousness of their attraction takes center stage in this book. 

What did I adore about this story?

*Once Fallon knows she’s not marrying her fiance, Greyson is intent on wooing Fallon. I was drawn into their relationship even as Fallon was denying her feelings for Greyson. His ability to win her over through spice and care is pure swoon!

*I love Fallon’s journey because I relate to her need to do what others expect. She’s the good girl, doing everything her parents want for her even if it’s at the expense of her happiness. As the details of her life unfold, J. Saman invests us in Fallon’s resolve to live her life on her terms. This quickly evolves into Greyson and Fallon acknowledging their feelings. This happens about 70 to 80% into the story, and they become a power couple through the book’s end. 

*I will always love the found family/band of brothers trope. In Saman’s series, she’s writing the camaraderie of Greyson’s former boy band members and brother in a way that begs for more stories. Their ability to be real with each other, while advising and protecting each other is a huge draw in Irresistibly Perfect. 

If you haven’t read J. Saman yet, grab this book. Even better, start with book 1, Irresistibly Broken. I dare you not to fall in love with the guys of Central Square. I can’t wait for future stories in the Irresistibly Yours series.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release

✍🏻 Love a little forced proximity, one-bed romance? Grab Louise Bay’s Dr. Perfect, out TODAY! ✍🏻

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DR. PERFECT

Louise Bay

Release Date: April 20

A boss, his assistant, a snowstorm and just one bed. What could go wrong?

They call him Dr. Perfect.

I call him Dr. Aloof, Dr. Arrogant, Dr. If-you’re-going-to-fire-me-just-get-it-over-with.

If I had other options, I’d quit, but I need this job. Badly. So I jump at the chance to impress him by hand-delivering some important documents.

Yes, he’s staying on a remote Scottish Island, but I’ve got it covered…

Until the ferry back is canceled, there are no hotels on the island, and there’s a storm headed our way.

So I’m snowed in with my impossibly handsome boss, who barely knows my name, in a tiny one-bedroom cottage in the middle of nowhere.

But unlike the snow outside, his icy stare is beginning to melt and we don’t need a generator to keep it warm inside.

Grab Your Copy!

https://geni.us/QwhZbhd

Meet Louise Bay:

International, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author, Louise Bay writes sexy, contemporary romance novels – the kind she likes to read.

Ruined by bonk-busters and sexy mini-series of the eighties Louise loves all things sexy and romantic. There’s not enough of it in real life so she disappears into the fictional worlds in books and films.

Louise loves the rain, the West Wing, London, days when she doesn’t have to wear make-up, being on her own, being with friends, elephants and champagne.

She loves to hear from readers so get in touch!

Keep up with Louise Bay and subscribe to her newsletter: https://louisebay.com/newsletter/

To learn more about Louise Bay& her books, visit here!

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Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4 ⭐️ Review: Allie Winters’s A Mountain Divides Us ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: single parent (mom); slow burn; forced proximity; small-town romance; insta-attraction; wounded hero; found family

Allie Winters’s A Mountain Divides Us, book 2 of her A Crescent Pass series, is exponentially stronger than book 1 of the series. From the outset, Winters has crafted a clear chemistry between Kristen, a single mom of twins, and Eli, an unexpected visitor turned roommate. Through her careful characterization, Winters has created Kristen as a woman who feels as though she can only count on herself to provide for and raise her children. While she has a strong family, Kristen believes people will disappoint and leave her, this having been taught to her through the deaths of her father and husband. As such, Winters has infused her with a stubbornness in the face of Eli. 

From the moment they meet, it’s clear that Eli and Kristen are drawn to each other, and Winters takes the span of much of A Mountain Divides Us to bring the together. Overall, her romance is sweet with small helping of spice…eventually. 

I enjoyed this book more than book 1 which I thought had some issues with development, and A Mountain Divides Us has more story development on the front end, as she builds her slo- burn romance. However, once Eli and Kristen figure their “ish” out, it drops off quickly, and the story comes to a quick end. Yes, there is the promise of an HEA, but I thought it could have had more story development after they realize they can be together. It’s a bit too neat. 

I found Allie Winters’s A Mountain Divides Us to be a sweet romance. Kristen’s struggles did have a tendency to become frustrating, but Winters’s character development of Eli balances that struggle. In fact, Eli is a huge reason to read this book. If you’re a fan of small-town romance, you will like this book.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Stacy Travis’s He’s A Charmer ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: forced proximity; best friend’s sister; soccer romance; sports romance; long distance

I had the pleasure of beta-reading Stacy Travis’s He’s A Charmer. To read a book from a rough draft to a final draft is a special distinction. Noting keen changes that help the book bloom makes me excited. And this is definitely the case with Travis’s next book in her San Francisco Strikers series. 

I love a forced proximity story. In this book, this is created when Linnie, the story’s FMC, finds herself snowed in with her brother’s best friend, Weston. From the minute they meet, Travis has crafted a distinctive and slow-burning chemistry. Weston is struck by the beauty of Linnie’s eyes, while Linnie finds herself attracted to Weston’s professional athlete physique. Travis deftly draws out their attraction, building it to an incendiary fire. When they can no longer avoid each other, Travis creates fireworks in the bedroom for her couple. Unfortunately, this is short-lived, yet Travis carefully draws them back together, gifting her readers with a sweet ending. 

With the pacing on point, character development is also important. Linnie struggles with wanting to be more than just a pretty face as well as her strained relationship with her father (much like her brother, Tim). She wants her father to see her capacity as an individual, not her weakness as a woman. Weston struggles with people leaving him behind, so the fact that Linnie lives in London makes it difficult for him to consider anything with her. Due to being snowed in, Linnie and Weston must confront their feelings about these issues. Their vulnerability to each other adds dimension to their physical attraction, deepening their character development and the storyline. You must be patient with Travis’s He’s A Charmer because this is a slow burn that seems necessary for Linnie’s and Weston’s journeys.

Unlike the other books in this series, Travis’s ancillary characters play small parts in the story. Tim and Mary, Linnie’s siblings, offer moments of wisdom to help her make decisions about her future, but they are fairly silent for much of the book. Instead, Weston and Linnie grow closer with each turn of the page. Their banter and survival tasks create the excitement of the story.

Stacy Travis ends He’s A Charmer with the promise of more stories in a new series. I hope Mary gets a story because her situation is long-suffering. If you’re looking for sport in this romance, you won’t find it. Instead, you’ll fall in love with a couple thrust together in a difficult situation, finding out that true love will find you when you least expect it.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release

✍🏻 Stacy Travis’s He’s A Charmer is LIVE! Weston and Linnie are pure romance gold. Download your copy of it today! ✍🏻

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He’s a Charmer by Stacy Travis is now live! 

Snowed in for days with a gorgeous soccer star? Maybe that’s someone’s else’s dream vacation, but not mine.

I’m a small town girl with big-city dreams of seeing San Francisco-cable cars and wine bars and the Golden Gate Bridge-not getting stranded during a blizzard in a tiny mountain cabin. 

And definitely not fixing leaks and playing endless board games with my brother’s grumpy best friend, who has zero construction skills and even less charm.

Did I mention there’s only one bed?

I’m on a self-imposed man ban, so I try to ignore his sculpted abs and gorgeous dark eyes. He tests my resolve with his gourmet cooking and perfect campfires, but even those can’t make up for his prickly personality. 

Problem is, once Danny Weston starts to drop his guard, I begin to understand him. His painful secrets rival my own, and his beautiful, tender heart begins to melt mine. 

Which leads to one unforgettable night when our resistance wears so paper thin, it rips to shreds.

I shouldn’t want him at all. And I shouldn’t think about what would happen if this vacation fling becomes permanent.

Weston is known for breaking records on the field. But what happens if he breaks my heart?

He’s a Charmer is a brother’s best friend sports romance and a full-length standalone novel. It is Book 3 in the San Francisco Strikers series.

  Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3vVadDr

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

Add to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3w10b3q

Meet Stacy

Stacy Travis writes spicy small-town romance about bookish, sassy women and the hot heroes who fall for them. 

Writing makes her infinitely happy, but that might be the coffee talking.  

She’s worked as a journalist, camp counselor, TV writer, SAT tutor, corporate finance researcher, education technology editor, and non-fiction author. When she’s not on a deadline, she’s in running shoes complaining that all roads seem to go uphill. Or on the couch with a margarita. Or fangirling at a soccer game. 

She’s never met a dog she didn’t want to hug. And if you have no plans for Thanksgiving, she’ll probably invite you to dinner. 

Stacy lives in Los Angeles with her two sons and a poorly-trained rescue dog who hoards socks. And she’s serious about the Thanksgiving thing.

Connect with Stacy

Website: https://www.stacytravis.com

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3t2hb64

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3bPwy8H

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

   Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/2B1psS4fbgroup

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

  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stacytravisauthor

Bookbub:  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/stacy-travis

Verve: https://ververomance.com/app/Stacytraviswrites

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 5 ⭐️ Review: Lucy Score’s Things We Hide From The Light ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: opposites-attract; forced proximity (next-door neighbors); brother’s long-time friend; romantic suspense; found family

“‘Tell me it’s worth it,’ I blurted out. 

‘What’s worth it?’ 

‘Letting someone in. Letting them get close enough that they could destroy you if they wanted to.’ 

‘I might sound like a goddamn greeting card, but it’s worth everything,’ he rasped.”

I know that one of my favorite messages in romance is the idea of needing to become vulnerable when falling in love. That internal fight shading the journey of an MMC and FMC is both delicious and compelling. And Lucy Score’s newest tome, Things We Hide From the Light draws on this message in a way that gobbles your heart. 

Score doesn’t leave it for just one of the characters; she weaves it into the stories of both Nash and Lina. Both of them initially fight against allowing the other into their emotional lives in any meaningful way. The book’s first half is a figurative tug-of-war between an overwhelming attraction to the other and a need to protect their hearts and souls. Score balances these conflicting emotions beautifully, giving us an inch and pulling us back a mile when these two opposites, Nash as the black and white officer of the law and Lina as the arbiter of the gray areas. Honestly, their journey is decadent, with Score offering up a five-course meal of story, character development, universe-building, emotion, and spice. Every turn of the page promises more investment into Nash and Lina’s story. 

What are the big takeaways?

Score is a wordsmith, threading words together into sentences weighted in their truth. 

Nothing is better than a “girl gang” in a romance story, and the combination of Naomi, Sloane, and Lina is a roundhouse kick of women’s power. When these three live on the page, the story is heightened. You find yourself either laughing or crying at their camaraderie. 

The bonus epilogue will legitimately give you a cavity. It’s sweet and heartfelt, and I left this book hating to leave Lina and Nash to their life. 

As I was reading, I reveled in the way that Score takes her time in telling Nash and Lina’s story, as well as the bigger story of the first two books: the one about Duncan Hugo. There is some resolution to it, BUT I don’t think it’s “done done.” I’m thankful that Lucy Score doesn’t feel the need to rush her story or character development, and there was no point in the book when I felt it was repetitive or redundant. Each cycle of Nash and Lina’s journey moved them closer to the abundant love neither really thought they’d find. Lucy Score allowed that space to build it. 

Mr. Studly Do-Right is a dreamboat, even when he’s dark. I love me a dark-to-light trope, and Score uses it brilliantly to allow Lina to shine. One of my other favorite parts of romance is how an FMC or MMC truly sees the other person. Score utilizes this trope to draw Nash out of the dark. Because Lina recognizes his pain due to her own past trauma, he can be seen and work towards healing. This truth plays beautifully into the developing vulnerability between Nash and Lina. 

One of the best moments of TWHFTL is a skydiving moment. It seems trivial, but Score uses it to impart an important life lesson, one needed for her characters and one needed for us. 

If you’re a dog lover, then Piper will steal your heart. She adds another layer to Score’s interrogation of being brave to love.

It is without a doubt that I will read whatever Lucy Score has cooked up. Just as she did with Things We Never Got Over, she has written her heart into Things We Hide From The Light. As readers, it behooves us to take it to heart, reminding ourselves that loving bravely will make us better people.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Uncategorized

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 4.5 ⭐️ Review: Rebecca Yarros’s A Little Too Close, book 2 of the Madigan Mountain series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Tropes: grump/sunshine; forced proximity; single mom; family reconciliation

Weston Madigan is hands-down my favorite Madigan brother. Bet. Now, to be fair, I haven’t quite met his youngest brother yet, BUT I suspect I will still adore Weston when the final story has been released. There is something incredibly romantic about a hero who is grumpy, protective, and responsible. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also handsome and well-built, but based on character traits alone, Weston is my romance hero catnip. Does he hate messes? Yes. Who doesn’t? Has he intentionally stayed away from his hometown and given his oldest brother grief in the face of the challenges of their family business? For sure. But the pain of his mother’s death coupled with his father’s actions in the wake of her death ensures his reticence at wanting to come home. However, he does, and he does so with the intent of protecting his “found family.” Yes, he’s willful and protected behind a steeled wall. Yet…yet, Weston cannot protect himself from the heroine of Rebecca Yarros’s A Little Too Close, book 2 of the Madigan Mountain series. Callie owns Weston from their meeting, and Yarros takes us on an emotional journey of second chances.

While I’ve been vomiting the beauty that is Weston Madigan, I’ve been remiss in noting the power of Callie and her daughter, Sutton. Callie’s purpose lies in breaking down Weston’s emotional walls, loving him through his foibles and helping him, on his own terms, to reconcile with his older brother. Her kindness and care along with her self-determination to give her daughter, Sutton, the best life are utilized to rock Weston’s world. Initially, they rock the bedroom, but little by little, Callie’s tenacity transforms Weston. If you’re like me, this transformation of a grumpy hero through the sunshiness of the heroine makes you swoon. And Rebecca Yarros has crafted their story arcs in ways that make you fall for their coupling. 

Adding in the vivacity and daredevlishness of Callie’s daughter, Sutton, simply adds an additional layer to the story. She provides humor, as well as a complication to Callie and Weston’s story. Even more, Sutton’s existence is why Callie forgoes her dreams of becoming a nature photographer a la National Geographic. Callie loves her life and her daughter, but for much of A Little Too Close, she lives in the shadow of her lost dream. Through her story arc, Yarros reminds her readers about the reality of dreams: that they can change as we experience life. Just as Weston is living a second chance in his birthplace, Callie lives out a past dream only to find it no longer fits. She earns a second chance, only to find that Weston is her new dream. 

Rebecca Yarros’s A Little Too Close is a steamy, emotional romance with an MMC and FMC who will engage you. Thus far, I’ve enjoyed the first two books of the Madigan Mountain series, and I’m certain Devney Perry will situate herself alongside Sarina Bowen and Rebecca Yarros in this world of family reconciliation. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

Uncategorized

✍🏻 Have you missed Sarina Bowen’s Brooklyn Bruisers? Love Lessons is HERE, and Ian and Vera are EVERYTHING you LOVE about this series. ✍🏻

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Sarina Bowen’s Love Lessons is LIVE!

He needs an image makeover; she needs a mojo upgrade.

A new lessons-in-seduction hockey romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Sarina Bowen.

After I’m arrested for throwing a raucous party, my hockey team says I have an image problem. And I need to fix it, stat.

Charity work? Check. Haircut? Sure. But I draw the line at hiring my neighbor to style me. In the first place “style” shouldn’t be a verb. And I’m tired of people who’d judge me on appearances.

Vera and I don’t see eye to eye on anything. She wants me to try on clothes, while I just want to remove hers. She’s distractingly pretty, with soulful eyes and a sinful mouth that likes to argue with me.

But when management threatens my summer vacation, I grudgingly agree to Vera’s unusual proposal: she’ll give me an image makeover. But in return, she wants lessons in the art of seduction.

It sounds a little nutty, but I know a good opening when I hear it. Besides, it’s not like I’ll ever fall for her…

Cover Design: Hang Le
Cover Photo: Wander Aguiar Photography

Grab your copy here!

Amazon: https://geni.us/lovelessons-amazon
Apple Books: https://geni.us/lovelessons-apple
Kobo: https://geni.us/lovelessons-kobo
Nook: https://geni.us/lovelessons-nook
Google: https://geni.us/lovelessons-google
Audio: https://geni.us/lovelessons-audio

ADD TO GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60811919-love-lessons