Tag: new book review

new release, Review, Uncategorized

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Tijan’s My Anti-Hero ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A- / B+

Tropes: FMC with secrets; anti-heroic vibes, protective MMC; football romance; insta-attraction; small town vibes; romantic suspense; serial killer fun

Honestly, Tijan is always a surprise. You’re never certain what you’ll get when you jump into one of her books, but there is a certainty that you won’t leave it the same person. Her newest book, My Anti-Hero, held me in its thrall. There are so many aspects to this book that engaged me from page to page. Let me count the ways…

  • Tijan has this way of changing her writing style. For this book, there was a starkness to her writing style. It contrasts with the secrets of the story, the quiet unraveling of Billie and Brett. Tijan’s intentionality in this is impressive.
  • The evolving storyline with its many twists and turns. I did see the book’s secrets, but Tijan moved it around enough that it kept me guessing and wondering if I had it all wrong.
  • I ADORE that Brett and Billie are endgame from almost the beginning. Their romance and eventual love are the foundation of a suspenseful thriller, which is really the focus of this book. Even when one of them considers pulling away, Tijan shuts that down through the power of their connection, reminding us that there are more serious issues in this book, say a serial killer.
  • My Anti-Hero is on trend with fans’ obsession with crime thrillers. Tijan deftly entwines parts of her Fallen Crest/Roussou universe with her Enemies football world, and she pins it with the suspense of the world of serial killers. All of this conspires to keep you turning each page whether it be for a glimpse of a former beloved character (Mason and Samantha) or the intricacy of the suspense plot (is Billie really safe?). 

There is much to love about My Anti-Hero: their undying love, the Tijan universe nods, the spice, everything. I simply couldn’t put this story down. You don’t need to read any of those stories mentioned above to read this one. In fact, if you’re a crime junkie, you should pick this one up and get lost in its secrets. However, if you’d love to be in on Tijan’s Easter eggs, start reading her booklist. You will NOT regret it. Oh…and thankful that Brett and Billie got their happily ever after.

In love and romance,

Professor A

Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Ilsa Madden-Mills’s My Darling Bride ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B

Tropes: marriage of convenience; grump/sunshine; pro football MMC; soulmates

Ilsa Madden-Mills will always be a must-read author for this reader. Her stories hit you right in the heart and tend to last long past their reading. Her newest romance, My Darling Bride, is an engaging, yet uneven marriage of convenience romance. When her MMC, Graham, requires a bride to acquire an inheritance as help for his brother, he chooses Emmy, the woman who “borrowed” his Lamborghini, as her penance. There is actually more to it, but Graham, the ever-serious grump who is too focused on football, cannot admit his attraction and interest in her. Madden-Mills’s story is a journey of tears and smiles as Graham comes to recognize his need for Emmy.

There is much to love about My Darling Bride:

*Emmy and Graham’s chemistry is at the top of this list. It’s clear from their meet-cute in the hallway of a motel in Arizona. Their attraction to each other is undeniable, and Madden-Mills deftly builds on that attraction throughout their story, turning up the heat once they return to New York. It is everything you expect from one of her romances.

*Graham’s struggles with life change make for an emotional read. Through his character’s journey, Madden-Mills is able to highlight the inherent danger of football, notably CTE. She has written Graham to struggle with his identity and whether he can be more than football. It’s this struggle that infuses him with the “grump” trope so many of us love in romance; however, he is more cinnamon roll hero as he becomes Emmy’s protector, even when he can’t explain the “why” behind it. Even more, Graham’s family life is fraught, and Madden-Mills uses it as a contrast to Emmy’s loving family, one she created.

*I connected the most with Emmy. She’s the woman who has taken care of everyone around her. Through her journey, Madden-Mills interrogates the trauma of DV in one’s past. There is nothing overt about it in the story, so I don’t think Madden-Mills’s book requires a content warning, but it’s good to acknowledge. With Emmy, we receive the warmth of the story. She loves and is loved, but she sacrifices her comfort for the lives of those she loves. This reality allows Graham to swoop in and care for her. It’s here where Madden-Mills builds the emotion of her story. When Graham cares, it gives Emmy (and the reader) hope for their future. However, Madden-Mills doesn’t make it easy on her reader, and Graham’s subsequent disinterest in hiding his feelings breeds the angst of the romance.

I state all of this to show My Darling Bride‘s beauty, but I struggled with this story. There is something missing from this book: a disconnect at moments in the story. While I clearly understood Graham and Emmy’s relationship, Graham’s indecisiveness throughout much of the story undermines the development of feelings in their relationship. When they are first intimate, I was confused because it was difficult for me to accept they’d move so quickly given Graham’s insistence on space. I found this occurring at different moments through their journeys. And it made the believability of their coupleship difficult.

Ilsa Madden-Mills’s My Darling Bride is a beautiful story about recognizing what matters in life: love and family. But it doesn’t quite have the same magic as her former stories, and I wonder if Graham and Emmy just needed a bit more spark to pull this book together.

In love and romance,

Professor A

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✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 5 ⭐️ Review: H. Hunting’s Shattered Truths, book 3 of the Lies, Hearts & Truths series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: opposites attract; new adult romance; he falls first; forced proximity; hockey romance; Cinderella story; fish out of water

To date, Helena Hunting has gifted us three incredible books in her Lies, Hearts, & Truths series: Little Lies, Bitter Sweet Heart, and Shattered Truths. Until today, I would scream to the rooftops that my favorite of the three is Little Lies. Lavender and Kody, the next-gen of Hunting’s wildly popular Pucked and All In series, stole a piece of my heart as Lavender and Kody struggle through the difficulty of their bonded relationship. However, her newest characters, BJ and Winter, have stolen another piece of my heart for an entirely different reason: these two offer one of the most equitable relationships of this series. They are truly partners: edifying, exhorting, and enticing each other in ways that made my heart sing for them. In fact, I ate this book whole, not intending to do so. I wanted to savor it, relishing my time in this world rife with the progeny of some of Hunting’s beloved characters. But I just couldn’t do it. Before I knew it, I had finished BJ and Winter’s book, and I already yearned to read it again. 

This is what I loved about this book:

BJ, the guy who beds women and remains friends with them in large quantities, falls first. He’s literally and figuratively struck by Winter. And given Winter’s story, it would be simple for Hunting to have BJ “save” Winter; however, that would go against Hunting’s sense of romance. Instead, BJ needs proximity to Winter, and this affords her incredible opportunities, opportunities she takes advantage of even though, given her upbringing and circumstances, she could have denied. BJ provides the space, and Winter uses her facility and agency to step forward. BJ becomes her biggest cheerleader, not her savior. Winter saves herself and her mother instead. That’s empowerment and the best use of Winter’s agency. Can I get an AMEN for that?

Winter returns BJ’s gift later in the story when tragedy strikes for him. This is the equity/partnership of this romance. In Shattered Truths, Hunting complicates their individual lives, and she allows them to create a true coupleship grounded in mutual respect. I reveled in this throughout the story, which was why I couldn’t put it down. When one of them faltered, the other was there to lend support. This is what healthy relationships look like: one partner giving more at moments when it’s needed. It’s this concept that stole that piece of my heart.

Of course, the extended family of this world entices the reader. Hunting grants us more access to Rose, Darren and Charlene’s daughter, as well as my new favorite character, Laughlin, a Butterson sibling, and the rest of the Pucked and All In crew. Lily and Randy, my favorite Pucked series couple, continue to be $ex-positive idols, and they play a major part in Winter’s journey. Returning to this world of old and new characters feels like a warm blanket on a cold night; it’s comfort and nostalgia mixed with the promise of future stories from this beloved universe. 

Add to all of this the themes of domestic violence, the challenge of women’s hockey, the expectations of parents, the letting go of dreams, etc., and you recognize the gravity of Helena Hunting’s storytelling. Yes, the spice and humor expected of Hunting’s romance are also found in this book, but I don’t fall in love with her characters for those reasons entirely. It’s the real-life situations entwined in this fictional world that keep me coming back for me. 

For now, I’ll accept a tie between Little Lies and Shattered Truths as my favorite stories from her Lies, Hearts, & Truths series, but I suspect she has future stories that might steal that top spot if she continues to be the gifted storyteller I’ve come to expect. 

In love and romance, 

Professor A