Tag: romance

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Rebecca Jenshak’s Comeback, book 3 of her Holland Brothers series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-

Tropes: best friend’s sister; brother’s best friend; forced proximity/roommates; sports romance; pro football; cinnamon roll MMC; dancer, sunshiney FMC

“He cares deeply for the people in his life and he makes sure they know it.”

Rebecca Jenshak’s Comeback stands as the pinnacle of her Holland Brothers series. Having tracked Archer’s character development from his peripheral appearances in both this series and Jenshak’s Campus Wallflowers series (notably in Tempting the Player), I found his emergence as a protagonist particularly compelling. Archer’s character distinction lies not only in his hearing impairment but in how this aspect of his identity interweaves with the series’ broader themes of familial loss and resilience.

The Holland brothers’ shared trauma – their mother’s death and father’s absence – creates a profound foundation for their relationships. While Archer’s disability could have dominated the narrative, Jenshak masterfully positions it as both integral to his character and seamlessly integrated into the larger story. Her nuanced portrayal reveals how Archer has learned to minimize himself to accommodate others, a pattern that makes his relationship with Sabrina particularly transformative.

Notable strengths:

* Jenshak subverts traditional romance tensions by focusing on individual growth rather than relationship conflict. The narrative tension emerges organically from Archer’s professional challenges and Sabrina’s complex relationship with her brother, Brogan, rather than artificial obstacles between the protagonists. This structural choice allows for a refreshingly authentic romance arc.

* The fraternal dynamics continue to illuminate why this series resonates with readers. Their group communications and collective support of their youngest member’s MLB career provide both emotional depth and moments of levity that enrich the narrative.

* The pacing demonstrates remarkable precision, maintaining momentum without sacrificing character development or emotional resonance.

In Comeback, Jenshak demonstrates her mastery of contemporary romance, crafting a narrative that balances emotional depth with compelling characterization. Through her deft handling of disability representation, family dynamics, and personal growth, she elevates what could have been a conventional sports romance into a nuanced exploration of self-acceptance and unconditional love. The result is an emotional addition to the genre that both satisfies series fans and stands confidently on its own merits.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release

✍🏻 I have wanted Asher’s romance since the first book of Rebecca Jenshak’s Holland Brothers series. And she did NOT disappoint with Comeback. From start to finish, Jenshak’s newest romance is equal parts sweet and spice. ✍🏻

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🏈 Comeback by Rebecca Jenshak is NOW LIVE 🏈

The next book in the Holland Brothers series is NOW LIVE!

🩰 Best Friend’s Sister

🏈 Sneaking Around

🩰 Roommates

🏈 Sports Romance

🩰 ASL Rep

🏈 Chronic Illness Rep

🩰 Ballet Teacher

🏈 Broody, Tattooed Hero

Comeback is a football romance with lots of spice, swoon, and a happily ever after. It’s the third book in the Holland Brothers series and can be read as a standalone.

Read in Kindle Unlimited Here -> https://geni.us/Comeback

new release

✍🏻 The Sylvers are back…L.B. Dunbar’s Sterling Fight is HERE. Don’t miss out on Judd Sylver finding his HEA! ✍🏻

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✨Let’s celebrate! It’s release day for STERLING FIGHT by LB Dunbar! 
Grab it in KU! 
#OneClickNowhttps://a.co/d/7KIiaqr

Why you need to #ONECLICK this book…
💕Childhood Friends
🔥Crush Revealed
💕Fake Engagement
🔥More Secrets
💕Small Town Swoon
🔥All the steam!
These former friends might be faking their engagement, but revealed crushes prove there might not be anything fictional about their arrangement.

Blurb:

In college, I often saw Judd Sylver in the library. He was a cool, broody type of guy who reminded me of a deeply tortured soul who might write poetry.

He was very different from the boy I met in third grade on National Make a New Friend Day when I passed him a note, asking if he wanted to be my new friend: Check yes or no. (I’m a bit obsessed with calendar days.)

He was also vastly different from the young man who stood me up after I asked him to his prom.

Twenty years later, I can let bygones be bygones, especially when he rescues me from a bad date.

Then I witness him breaking up with his girlfriend which resulted in a sticky coffee drink on his chiseled cheeks and ice cubes on his fine-fitting jeans.

I offered him a napkin.

Hey, once a friend, always a friend, right? *insert sarcasm*

However, Judd takes us to the next level at my mother’s garden party, where a misunderstanding occurs with a teeny tiny slip of the tongue and a precious ring on my finger.

And suddenly, I’m Judd’s fiancée.

Fake or not, things are about to get a little too real with my old friend.

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Vi Keeland’s Indiscretion ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-

Tropes: hate to love; cinnamon roll MMC; grump/sunshine; forced proximity; workplace romance

Vi Keeland’s Indiscretion delivers a captivating romance that elevates the beloved enemies-to-lovers trope through exceptional character development and emotional depth. At its heart, this spicy contemporary romance succeeds by focusing on the compelling evolution of its main characters, Dawson and Naomi, whose journey from antagonism to love feels both authentic and deeply satisfying.

The story’s greatest strength lies in Dawson’s character arc. Keeland crafts a masterful transformation of a man initially closed off to love, peeling back his layers with deliberate care. His journey from emotional unavailability to vulnerability isn’t just convincing—it’s impossible not to invest in. The author takes her time developing his character, ensuring that each step toward opening his heart feels earned rather than rushed.

Naomi serves as the perfect catalyst for Dawson’s transformation. Keeland writes her as a force of nature who refuses to accept Dawson’s emotional walls at face value. What makes Naomi particularly compelling is how she challenges Dawson’s preconceptions about love and relationships without losing her own identity in the process. She’s written with a refreshing combination of strength and vulnerability that makes her feel real rather than just a plot device for Dawson’s growth.

The antagonistic chemistry between Dawson and Naomi crackles from their first interaction, but Keeland demonstrates her skill by building tension naturally through their evolving dynamic. The “hate” in this enemies-to-lovers story never feels contrived; instead, it stems from genuine conflict between two strong personalities with opposing views on love and life. This makes their eventual transition to romance all the more satisfying.

The spicy elements of the story are well-integrated, serving to enhance the emotional connection between the characters rather than overshadowing it. Keeland maintains a perfect balance between steamy scenes and character development, ensuring that each intimate moment advances the story and deepens the reader’s understanding of both characters.

What truly sets Indiscretion apart is how Keeland keeps readers invested in the outcome even when the happy ending feels inevitable. The journey to get there is so compelling, and the character growth is so well-executed that readers will find themselves turning pages not just to reach the conclusion but to savor each moment of Dawson and Naomi’s evolution both as individuals and as a couple.

Indiscretion proves that even familiar romance tropes can feel fresh and exciting in skilled hands. Through strong character work, emotional authenticity, and engaging storytelling, Keeland has created a romance that will satisfy readers looking for both heat and heart.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Reviews: Tia Louise’s The Way We Score, book 3 of her Bradford Boys series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-/B+

Tropes: second chance romance; high school sweethearts; small town; pro football; accidental pregnancy; soul mates; he falls first

I’ve recently fallen into the world of big “teddy bear” MMCs who fall hard for their FMCs. Tia Louise’s newest book, The Way We Score, is a lovely, engaging romance that reminds us that first loves are hard to get over. In this story, Olivia and Garrett, are high school sweethearts who lose each other to long distance in college. Years later, newly divorced Olivia returns home for her friend’s wedding, only to be met with Garret, her friend’s older brother and the one “who got away.” Attraction is re-kindled, and the two spend a passionate night on the night of the wedding. A couple of months later, Olivia, who has since left town out of a fear of her growing attraction to Garrett, realizes she is pregnant. She also misses the simplicity and ease of her hometown, so she returns to their small town to be near her mother. What she doesn’t expect is Garrett deciding he would end his football career so he can be close to her and the baby. Over time, they grow closer and realize they want to be together. When a couple of incidents threaten their happy lives, Olivia and Garrett work together to find solutions, landing squarely in their happy ending. 

From the start, Tia Louise crafts Olivia and Garrett so that you cannot help but root for them as a couple. Garrett clearly adores Olivia, and Olivia has never moved past her feelings for Garrett, even though she works hard to ignore them. Their chemistry is off the charts. It is easy to love them throughout this story. In fact, there is no third-act break-up here; instead, they have to learn to navigate some challenges which Louise quickly resolves for her reader without much tension. 

This new series from Tia Louise, The Bradford Boys, has become one of my favorites of hers. Louise writes them as realistic; they are characters you cannot help but swoon over. Adding to that realism is a small town filled with characters who add dimension to each of her stories in this series. One of my favorite parts is the Dare Dish challenges of the fictional Cooters & Scooters found in each of the series’ stories. It’s the moment when the characters come together with banter and sibling love. You cannot help but love the Bradford family and their community. 

My only criticism relates to a slight plot point with Olivia’s husband. Creating that complication seemed unnecessary. It seemed tangential and out of focus. However, it’s a small moment in a larger enjoyable read.

If you’re looking for a story that grabs at your heart, steams up your glasses, and leaves you with all of the small town happily ever after feels, run and grab this book. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

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

✍🏻 Jewel E. Ann is one of my favorite authors. She has this way of reaching into the heart of humanity, while titillating us with her humor and spice. The Apple Tree, the second book of her Sunday Morning series, is HERE, and it’s pure perfection! ✍🏻

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The Apple Tree by Jewel E. Ann is now live! 

He’s a single dad starting over in a new town. She’s a relentless flirt with a penchant for trouble, ten years younger than him, and the babysitter. What could go wrong?

Eve has just graduated from high school, but she doesn’t know what’s next aside from working at the local motel, spying on Kyle, her neighbor, and stealing apples from his orchard. If she doesn’t figure things out soon, she’ll be stuck at home and treated like a child forever.

Kyle is a single dad and the new football coach who needs a babysitter for his adorable son. When he meets Eve, there’s an instant connection because she reminds him of someone—himself. But Eve is the preacher’s daughter, off-limits, and Kyle has already had his heart trampled by his ex.

After earning his son’s affection with her homemade apple sauce and youthful spirit, Eve asks Kyle to teach her things like driving his fishing boat and shooting his hunting bow. Despite his better judgment, he agrees, but swears Eve to secrecy so no one gets the wrong idea about them.

Their playful banter and innocent flirting crosses a line, and Kyle misses the heartbreaking secret Eve’s hidden in plain sight.

When tragedy strikes, can they find their way back to each other?

The Apple Tree is a standalone in the Sunday Morning series by USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Jewel E. Ann.

  Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://amzn.to/47LyBJy

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

Hardcover: https://mybook.to/AppleTreeHC

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/4dryjbZ

Meet Jewel E. Ann

Jewel is a Wall Street Journal & USA Today bestselling author with a quirky sense of humor. When she’s not saving the planet one tree at a time, you can find her role modeling questionable behavior to her three boys, binge-watching Netflix with her husband, and writing mind-bending romance. 

Connect with Jewel

Website: https://www.jeweleann.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7505427.Jewel_E_Ann

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jewel-E-Ann/e/B00IJYHDIG/

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

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/485996228236493

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JewelE_Ann

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jewel-e-ann

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

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeweleannauthor

Cover Reveal

✍🏻 Who is ready for Hudson Hopper? April 15th is your LUCKY day! Check out the cute cover for Meghan Quinn’s Bridesmaid by chance! ✍🏻

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From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Meghan Quinn comes the next standalone romance in the Bridesmaid for Hire series, BRIDESMAID BY CHANCE! This steamy, marriage of convenience, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, workplace romantic comedy is full of the witty banter, sizzling hot scenes, and laugh out loud moments you’ve come to love from Meghan Quinn! Releasing April 15th in all formats, check out the cover and blurb and pre-order your copy today!

https://mybook.to/BridesmaidByChance

About BRIDESMAID BY CHANCE (Coming 4/15/2025):

Hudson Hopper is in some trouble. After doing his business partner, Jude, a favor by hiring his younger sister, Sloane, Hudson very quickly finds out that she is a massive distraction―especially since she’s now his assistant.

But when they are confronted with a situation where Sloane is told to fill in as a bridesmaid for one of Hudson’s business partners, she comes up with an equal trade. She’ll be a part of the regency wedding–corset and all–if Hudson marries her. Sloane knows the value of the trade, he needs her, and she needs his wedding ring to get her into a high-society club that will further her career.

It’s an instant no from Hudson at first, but when she convinces him that no one will find out, including her brother, and he will benefit from the marriage too . . . well, Hudson finds himself saying “I do.”

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

https://mybook.to/BridesmaidByChance

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ABOUT MEGHAN QUINN:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, wife, adoptive mother, and peanut butter lover. Author of romantic comedies and contemporary romance, Meghan Quinn brings readers the perfect combination of heart, humor, and heat in every book.

Connect w/ Meghan:

Website: https://authormeghanquinn.com/

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

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorMegQuinn

Cover Reveal

✍🏻 Check out this ADORABLE, HUNKY cover for Ilsa Madden-Mills’s The Kiss Lottery, your required Valentine’s romance read! ✍🏻

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Ilsa Madden-Mills has revealed the cover for

The Kiss Lottery!

Releasing February 11, 2025

From bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills comes a steamy story about first love and second chances where a city girl returns home for a Valentine’s Day tradition…and the boy who broke her heart.
Roses are red, violets are blue–someone in Rose has feelings for you…
Yeah, bad ones. Everly Davis didn’t leave her tight-knit hometown on the best terms. It’s been ten years, but you don’t forget heartbreak like that. Then again, the anonymous invite to the annual Kiss Lottery in Rose, Tennessee, gives Everly content for her podcast. And she has a bone to pick with that old heartbreak anyway.
Beckett Whitfield has never left Rose–and he’s never forgotten Everly. He even named the villain in his latest bestseller after her. Turns out she’s not happy about that. Nothing about their reunion is particularly happy, and after the way they left things, what did he expect?
When the Kiss Lottery pairs them together, Everly and Beckett will have to confront old feelings that never went away and the secrets they never shared. But finally telling each other everything might be exactly what they’ve needed all along.

Cover Designer: Letitia Hasser
RBA Designs 

Preorder your copy today!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/49BGhiI       

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/4gt5tdc 

Meet Ilsa Madden-Mills


#1 Amazon Charts, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills pens angsty new adult and contemporary romances.

A former high school English teacher and librarian, she adores all things Pride and Prejudice, and of course, Mr. Darcy is her ultimate hero.

She’s addicted to frothy coffee beverages, cheesy magnets, and any book featuring unicorns and sword-wielding females. Feel free to stalk her online.

Connect with Ilsa

Website | www.ilsamaddenmills.com   

Goodreads | http://bit.ly/2EESfM9   

Amazon | http://amzn.to/2nY2pxT    

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/authorilsamaddenmills     

Facebook Group |  https://www.facebook.com/groups/728703210580726     

Instagram |  https://www.instagram.com/ilsamaddenmills/    

Bookbub |  http://bit.ly/2GaR6cn        

Newsletter |  https://www.ilsamaddenmills.com/contact     

Text Updates |  text romance(877) 207-0713 to receive updates

Cover Reveal

✍🏻 My Dark Prince is coming soon! If you haven’t met Parker S. Huntington and L.J. Shen’s Dark Prince Road men…it’s time! Check out the cover and preorder your copy NOW! ✍🏻

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Title: My Dark Prince
Series: Dark Prince Road #3
Authors: Parker S. Huntington & L.J. Shen
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers/Second Chance/Amnesia
Sleeping Beauty Retelling/Fake Relationship
Release Date: February 9, 2025
BLURB
From Wall Street Journal bestsellers L.J. Shen and Parker S. Huntington comes a twisted second-chance romance between a prince haunted by a dark secret and his reluctant Sleeping Beauty.
Oliver
I don’t usually trap women with amnesia into marriage.
But I guess there’s a first time for everything.
When the woman of my dreams falls into my lap, I can’t help but wonder what else she can do in that position.
She’s here. In my house. At my mercy.
And she thinks we’ve been lovers the entire decade we spent apart.
Briar and I have always been unfinished business.
Now it’s time to seal the deal.
Briar
I’m marrying a beautiful monster.
A crooked fraud. America’s wealthiest bachelor.
He claims we’re in love, yet all I taste in our kisses is hate and lust.
I don’t remember why or how.
But I do remember he’s the enemy.
Now, I’m stuck inside a nightmare.
And Oliver will do anything to keep me in the dark.
Authors’ Note: My Dark Prince is a standalone enemies-to-lovers Sleeping Beauty retelling, in which a damaged billionaire with a dark past and his childhood sweetheart fall in love—literally. It is set in the decadent Dark Prince Road universe.
PRE-ORDER NOW!
AMAZON US / UK / CA
AVAILABLE NOW
AMAZON
AMAZON
PARKER S. HUNTINGTON
Parker S. Huntington is a stay-at-home dog mom from SoCal, where she discovered her allergy to rain.
In spite of her shoddy attendance record and strong aversion to homework, she earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside and an A.L.M. in Literature from Harvard.
When she’s not writing or exchanging food pics with her friends, she’s binge-watching an unhealthy amount of Netflix while curled up with her dogs.
Parker hates talking about herself and is (also) allergic to social media, but you can catch up with her in her newsletter or through the occasional TikTok video.
L.J. SHEN
L.J. Shen is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of contemporary and NA romance. Her books have been translated in over twenty different countries. She hopes to visit all of them.
She lives in a picturesque beach town with her family, pets and inner demons, and enjoys reading, traveling, cooking and spending time with her grumpy cat.
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