Tropes: high school crush; love from afar; second chance romance; small town romance
Lauren Connolly’s Letter Late Than Never is a wonderful addition to Smartypants Romance’s Green Valley Heroes series. I found myself lost in her story as Gwen and Sebastian recognize their feelings for each other. Unlike other Smartypants Romance stories, Connolly’s Letter Late Than Never is more nuanced in its messaging. Gwen struggles with believing she can have what she wants, namely Sebastian in this story. The choices other’s made for her in the past influence her present, and she struggles to accept more from Sebastian. That she’s worthy of it. And through Sebastian’s characterization, Connolly highlights the impact of working in a trauma-filled world and the post-traumatic consequences of it: anxiety and panic attacks. Placing that struggle as Sebastian’s journey highlights discussions about masculinity, trauma, and therapy in an underserved population.
Connolly has crafted a compelling romance in Letter Late Than Never that is sweet and spicy in equal measure. Sebastian’s realization about Gwen and Gwen’s reticence to accept his interest in her make for a story that engages the reader through to its sweet happy ending.
Tropes: friends to lovers; opposites attract; slow burn; close/forced proximity; college romance; new adult romance; contemporary romance; STEM FMC
Allie Winters’s Can’t Fight It is a bit of a revelation. There are some tropes that don’t entice me as much as others, namely friends to lovers and sometimes slow-burn (specifically when the pacing is off). However, with Winters’s newest Smartypants Romance book, I found Winters’s pacing appropriate and chemistry-inducing. I was compelled forward through Winters’s romance as her main characters, Tessa and Austin, navigate moving past first impressions (Tessa is initially frightened by Austin’s large stature), learn the complexities of each other, move through life (she’s a student researcher/future grad student and he’s a boxer turned eventual business person), and fall in love. What grounds their story is their mutual respect for each other which begins as neighbors turned friends but eventually becomes attraction due to Austin’s protection and kindness for Tessa. Winters crafts Austin to be physically overwhelming, but he has the biggest heart and shows unending kindness towards Tessa. And Tessa becomes Austin’s motivation to consider more for his life. She impresses on him to stand up for himself with his father and challenge himself to attend school. Before there is love and attraction between Tessa and Austin, they are the other’s biggest ally. And this is why I fell in love with their story.
Readers should know that this is a serious slow-burn romance. In fact, Can’t Fight It is a romance between introverts, but it felt real to me. There are several lessons to be learned from this story: overcoming fear (literal and perceived); accepting that failure is a part of the learning process; and recognizing that loving and protecting someone doesn’t make them a burden; it’s a byproduct of one’s love for the other. Smartypants Romance continues to tell compelling stories.
Smart Move, an all-new grumpy sunshine sweet romance by Amanda Pennington, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited!
Ivy Lunden is Team Keep Things Casual…
I am Toby Azumah’s opposite in every way. I’m a pessimist; he’s an optimist. I’m into art; he’s into sports. Still, I’m highly entertained by our flirtationship.
When he finally talks me into a date, everything goes wrong. Chaos descends on my orderly life when my mother falls and needs nearly round-the-clock care. Add in my nosy neighbor, and my peace of mind has been turned inside out.
When Toby, Mr. Best-Case Scenario himself, offers to help, I’m skeptical. A relationship with him would only make things more chaotic, right? Or maybe Toby is the real deal, and giving him a chance is a smart move after all.
Toby Azumah is Team Happily Ever After…
I’ve wanted to take the mysterious, beautiful Ivy Lunden to dinner ever since we met, and I’m confident she just needs a little time to warm up to the idea of us. But nothing goes according to my daydreams.
Despite a no-show date, some flirty texts, and the fierce ways she protects herself and her mom, I see through the chaos and smoke to the real Ivy. The Ivy she rarely shows to the world.
How can I convince her I’m making the smart move and playing for keeps?
‘Smart Move’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #7 in the Work For It series, Educated Romance World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
Amanda Pennington lives outside Louisville, Kentucky with her husband in their fixer-upper house. When she’s not writing, Amanda loves traveling, running, and reading anything within reach. More information is available at www.amandacpennington.com.
“Aly Stiles delivers the perfect romantic comedy with Look Smart. I found myself laughing throughout and wondering what the secondary characters would do next. The connection between Nate & Nat filled my heart with pure joy and was immediately rooting for their HEA.” -Author Andrea Johnston
Look Smart, an all-new star-crossed lovers workplace romantic comedy from Aly Stiles, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited!
Nate Hanover’s future was set. The perfect girlfriend, the perfect career… He’s the perfect man with the perfect life—until he lost it all this summer. Now he’s not sure about anything, except that no one can know the truth lurking behind his “perfect” facade. Especially not at this week’s high-stakes corporate circus known as Tele-Con.
Natalie McAllister has no time for games. After working nonstop since… ever, she’s one win away from the dream promotion she’s been chasing for years. All she has to do is land the Sandeke Telecom account at this week’s telecom conference and life will be perfect.
But when a chance encounter leads these strangers to an incredible night of intimate soul-searching, “perfect” might look different than they thought. With so much on the line, it’s a good thing they’ll never see each other again. Well, not until the following morning when they learn they’re competing for the same account, their firms despise each other, and a nut-obsessed enigma named Chad Smith is the key to their success. Oh, plus their forbidden connection is still fully charged and more off-limits than ever.
What could go wrong when the perfect night explodes into the perfect storm?
‘Look Smart’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #6 in the Work For It series, Educated Romance World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
Can’t Fight It, an all-new friends to lovers college romance from Allie Winters, is now available in Kindle Unlimited!
Mousy bookworm. Psychology nerd. The kind of girl who constantly sticks her foot in her mouth.
The last thing I am is the type to attract the intimidating, motorcycle-riding guy in the apartment next door. Especially when that mouth of mine gets me in trouble and he overhears me talk smack about him…
So no one’s more surprised than me when he shows up as a participant in the psych study I’m running on campus. Or when he generously offers me some much-needed self-defense lessons. Or when we grow closer than I thought possible. It turns out some people aren’t at all what they seem at first glance. They can actually be everything you never knew you wanted in a man.
The thing is, Austin Langford is so far out of my league, it’s laughable. Muscled boxers don’t go for nobodies like me. I need to forget about this one-sided attraction.
Even when it feels like I can’t fight it.
‘Can’t Fight It’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #3 in the Lessons Learned series, Educated Romance World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
An hour and a half later, I’m ahead of schedule as my fifth participant finishes. That only leaves one more.
Austin.
And as I decided last night, it’s not a big deal at all. Just because he makes me sort of… flustered… doesn’t have to mean anything.
I head out into the lobby, my stomach jumping around a bit as the main door opens, but it’s not my guy.
Not that he’s my guy.
Half a minute later, it is him, though.
He runs a hand through his dark blond hair, natural streaks of lighter blond sprinkled throughout, and searches the lobby, looking for…
Me.
Our gazes lock, my belly dipping low for a moment at the way he seems to take me in all at once, his movements slowing, then speeding up as his heavy footfalls sound on the carpeted floor, getting closer, closer…
“Hey, Tessa.”
I bite my lip, containing the unintelligible noise that itches to escape, and hold up a hand instead, waving.
God, why can’t I be normal?
I spin around, silently berating myself as I lead us down the hall. Every time, I forget how much of the room he seems to take up, how my brain goes a little fuzzy, how my lips seem to get looser. I just need a minute to acclimate to him. To remember how to be myself.
“Lexie was telling me last night about the boxing you and Ethan do. She said you’re really good.”
There, that was totally normal. I breathe a sigh of relief, glad that my mouth is at least temporarily in working order.
He tilts his head in acknowledgment, taking off his worn leather jacket to hang on the back of his chair. He’s got a different henley on this week, this time a charcoal color that complements the gray of his eyes. “I do all right.”
“She said you’re undefeated. Twenty wins or something?”
He shrugs, taking a seat. “Yeah, I guess.”
I don’t know why, but the way he says it has me smiling as I sit behind the desk. “You’re awfully humble.” Other guys would brag if they had that kind of skill.
Rubbing at the back of his neck, he says, “I mean, it’s punching people. It’s not important or anything. Not like what you do.”
I stare at him for a moment. “You think my study’s important?” I didn’t get the impression he even thought all that much of it last week.
His mouth opens and closes, then he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Everything that goes on in this building must be, right?”
“Yeah, you could view it like that. But you shouldn’t sell yourself short. It would be cool if I knew how to do what you can.”
What would it be like to watch him box? To see him in action?
He looks over at me, a small smile on his lips. “You want to box?”
I can’t help the laugh that escapes me. “Can you imagine me in a ring? I’d get pounded flat in about a second.”
His smile grows. “We have some girls that come to the gym and train. Even Mia comes in and punches the heavy bags.”
I shake my head. “No, I’d be ridiculous. Although, I’ve always wanted to learn some self-defense moves.” Maybe it would help me feel better prepared if something were to ever happen again. Maybe if my mom had known…
No. Best not to go down that path.
“I could teach you.”
It takes me a moment to process his words. “You’d teach me self-defense?”
He shrugs. “Yeah, sure.”
Have I completely misinterpreted all our previous interactions? I thought he was barely tolerating me.
About Allie Winters
Allie is the author of the Suncoast University series, the Bishop Brothers series, and the Lessons Learned series. She lives in sunny Florida with her husband, daughter, and two cats. A librarian by day, she spends her nights writing happily ever afters. She enjoys reading, playing video games, and all things Disney.
Letter Late Than Never, a second-chance small-town romance from Lauren Connolly, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited!
Can a hot paramedic resuscitate this mail woman’s flatlining spirit of adventure?
Gwen Elsmere fell in love with Sebastian Kirkwood when she was sixteen, but a dead frog stole her chance to land the guy of her daydreams. Ten years later, when Gwen makes a desperate 9-1-1 call, Sebastian re-enters her life as the first paramedic on the scene. Unfortunately, she’s smeared in blood, and he’s engaged to another woman. The awkward rescue is far from the passionate reunion she’d secretly hoped for. Still, Gwen’s brief transformation from postal worker to neighborhood hero has her reevaluating her cautious nature.
If she can save a woman’s life, why can’t she change her own?
As Gwen challenges herself with adventures, big and small, she discovers an unlikely sidekick in her former crush. Sebastian reveals glimpses of the goofy teenager who first made her swoon, but there are shadows behind his eyes she wants to shine a light on. When Gwen discovers the sexy EMT is not as spoken for as everyone in Green Valley believes, she dares to hope for a second chance to risk her heart. But even as a chemist cat, drag queens, and glitter beards reward her new outgoing nature, secrets, pain, and fear threaten to snuff out her courageous spirit.
Gwen will have to decide if Sebastian and she are better late than never or better never together.
‘Letter Late Than Never’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #3 in the Green Valley Heroes series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.
Lauren Connolly is an award-winning author of contemporary and paranormal romance stories. She’s lived among mountains, next to lakes, and in imaginary worlds. Lauren can never seem to stay in one place for too long, but trust that wherever she’s residing there is a dog who thinks he’s a troll, twin cats hiding in the couch, and bookshelves bursting with stories written by the authors she loves.
Dough You Love Me?, an all-new second chance small-town romance from Stacy Travis, is now available in Kindle Unlimited!
First rule when returning to your hometown after storming out of sight: don’t fall for the guy who broke your heart.
Julia Browne should know better than to kiss where she bakes. She’s built a bread empire in California, and only plans to stay in Green Valley long enough to sell the family house.
She certainly won’t spend any more time with Shane Meadows than she has to…and she will not let him draw her in with his soft blue eyes or level her with his handsome smirk of a grin.
The last thing she wants is a temporary gig at Donner Bakery, baking sourdough side-by-side with Shane and clashing with his ego. And he thinks the sassy baker should take her fancy bread and go back where she came from.
But that’s before they take a series of wrong turns on a road trip to look at wheat, leaving them stranded for the night. Out on the open road, neither of them can escape the sizzling attraction and old feelings that feel a lot more real this time around.
But life is complicated, and Julia’s life in California might derail their second chance at love. Will they wake up and smell the sourdough?
They say you should leave the past in the past, but what if it’s the winning recipe for love?
‘Dough You Love Me?’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #2 in the Donner Bakery series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
My eyes traveled to one of the musicians who stood out from the others, not just because he was tall and lean with a dark shock of hair hanging over his forehead. He sat playing the French horn, a gleaming gorgeous pretzel of brass with a bell at one end.
The sound was a love language that spoke directly to my heart.
But an intricately curved, soulful symphony instrument at a country music jam session full of Tennessee local boys . . . WTF?
I didn’t have to be a country music aficionado to know that one of these things was not like the others.
Every other instrument came from the string family—banjo, guitar, fiddle. An older man with a gray beard stood behind Cletus playing the bass, plucking the strings, and nodding along with the music.
The faces in the room started looking more familiar. Maybe I’d known some of them once. Maybe I wasn’t such a stranger. Not that it mattered, since I had no plans of sticking around afterward to chat. I felt worn out from the funeral and the travel.
But . . . that horn . . .
My eyes remained riveted to the instrument and the man playing it. I’d been to a couple of orchestra performances with a full brass section. Those were the types of places people normally found a French horn—with musicians wearing tuxedos and following a conductor.
This man and his instrument stuck out like a glossy gemstone in a sea of wicker and cardboard. And yet, oddly, it worked. He pursed his lips and blew out notes that had no business sounding so beautiful.
Nodding and stomping one foot, he picked up the rhythm of the other instruments and made his accompaniment sound like it belonged there.
He kept one hand in the bell-shaped end of the horn and used his other hand to draw out a melodic sound. From the first note, he had me willing to follow him down whatever path he took. For the first time since I’d arrived in town—hell, for the first time in months—I felt a glimmer of happiness. Double-chocolate cupcake happiness.
I wanted to hear more, and at the same time, I knew exactly what I would hear. Something in his beautiful aching call sounded familiar, as though I’d been hearing it my whole life.
But that was impossible.
I hadn’t been in town in years. Even if I’d heard this man play before, it had to have been so long ago that surely the sounds wouldn’t be familiar now.
The music called, and I answered by freeing myself of the funereal black jacket I wore over a white tank top and getting comfortable leaning against the wall. As a spectator, I had license to gaze at him for as long as I wanted.
My senses scrambled and competed for which one should win out—the sight of him, the sound of his music, or the touch I felt from him halfway across a crowded room.
Taking a couple steps closer, I cautiously took in the whole of the man playing the gleaming horn. He looked about my age, early thirties, and the strong cut of his jaw and short beard made things happen to my lady parts that hadn’t happened in a very long time.
He wore a dark brown corduroy sport coat over a fine-checked plaid flannel shirt and dark blue jeans. His eyes were a pale blue, like an illusion of shallow water that actually runs deep enough to be dangerous. Soulful. Like repositories of hurt or art or knowledge.
Almost as though he could feel the heat of my stare, his eyes fastened to mine and didn’t let go.
So I did the only logical thing a person could do when faced with a sexy, soulful stranger’s lingering gaze.
I ran from the room.
About Stacy Travis
Stacy Travis writes charming, spicy romance about bookish, sassy women and the hot alphas 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 very tall sons and a poorly-trained rescue dog who hoards socks. And she’s serious about the Thanksgiving thing.
One of my favorite aspects of Penny Reid’s Smartypants romance, besides all of the fantastic stories born from Penny’s stories, is the introduction of new-to-me authors. Talia Hunter is one such author. Her offering to the SPR world, Tough Cookie, was captivating. Her story chronicles the fake relationship evolution of Noah and Carla. Carla rents and lives in Noah’s childhood home. When a leak in the ceiling leads to its disrepair, Noah who is in town healing from an on-set accident from his stunt actor work is tasked with repairing the roof and ceiling. He falls almost instantly for Carla. As their time treks toward Valentine’s Day and his eventual return to stunt work, Carla and Noah begin to fall hard for each other. Some of that transpires from their instant attraction. Some of it comes from Noah’s protection of Carla who suffers from ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) or chronic fatigue syndrome. Not one to shy away from loving hard, Noah must win Carla’s heart which is protected behind fortified emotional walls. Thankfully, his tenacity wins out, and these two find a happy ending, even though it’s hard-won.
In each of the SPR stories, authors focus on important topics that add gravity and dimension to small-town romances. In this story, Hunter deftly characterizes the difficulties of this disease as Carla fights against Noah’s love. She feels she has very little to offer, yet Noah loves hard and perseveres in loving Carla on her terms. Even more, Hunter lovingly proffers a heroine whose intellect and love for science feel necessary in stories wrought with romance. Carla’s braininess becomes a major attraction to Noah as well. Their coupling is dreamy with Noah’s fight for her, winning over your heart.
There is so much to love about Talia Hunter’s Tough Cookie. Jethro and Sienna make a small appearance, underscoring one of this beautifully drawn book’s messages: perfection doesn’t exist; it’s simply created in the eye of the beholder. I’m thinking Hunter’s book will be one of the favs of this newest season of Smartypants Romance.
Tropes: second chance romance; small-town romance; Penny Reid-inspired romance; going home
Stacy Travis’s Dough You Love Me? has found an apt home in Penny Reid’s crafted Smartypants Romance world. Set in the Donner Bakery series, the story follows Julia, who has returned to Green Valley after her grandmother’s death. Julia ran from Green Valley when she was younger because she was spurned by her crush, Shane. Never realizing that Shane felt like he wasn’t good for her, she left town and stayed away. She realizes she has stayed away too long in the shadow of her grandmother’s death. When she encounters Shane at the Friday jam session, long-buried feelings rise to the surface, and she runs again. Thankfully, she only runs as far as her grandmother’s home. As a friend of Cletus Winston, he connects her with his love, Jennifer Sylvester nee Winston who needs her help making bread. It becomes immediately clear that Julia will be working with Shane. As these two spend time together, those buried feelings find flight, and Shane and Julia fall in love in the specter of their past. Eventually, Julia decides to stay in Green Valley, finding her future with Shane.
Dough You Love Me? provides enough of that tension between falling in love and fighting the hurt feelings of one’s past. Julia and Shane engage in a tug-a-war of feelings until they simply can’t deny their attraction and love for each other. Through their story, Travis deftly points to how young people often struggle with differences. Shane’s story is wrapped up in his finding self-confidence in himself due to his disability. He rejects Julie out of a lack of confidence. When he finds music, specifically the French horn, he finds himself. When Julia returns to town years later, he is now able to love her despite his disability. Travis handles this storyline well.
I think Travis muted this message with the coincidence of Julia and Shane’s bread-making. On the one hand, she’s able to spend some time focusing on the importance of companies using local growers to source their ingredients. It’s an important message to consider, but I found it to undermine the larger message of Shane’s journey of self-acceptance. There were times when the story felt uneven as Travis had to balance what I felt were two storylines.
All in all, though, I loved Stacy Travis’s Dough You Love Me? as it returns us to the world of Cletus and Jennifer (even if they are sitting in the background), and it keeps us wrapped in the world of the Donner Baker’s delectable pastries and bread. I’m hoping we see more stories from Travis in this new world for her. I think Clay deserves a story in the Smartypants Romance world.
Can’t Fight It, an all-new friends to lovers college romance from Allie Winters, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited!
Mousy bookworm. Psychology nerd. The kind of girl who constantly sticks her foot in her mouth.
The last thing I am is the type to attract the intimidating, motorcycle-riding guy in the apartment next door. Especially when that mouth of mine gets me in trouble and he overhears me talk smack about him…
So no one’s more surprised than me when he shows up as a participant in the psych study I’m running on campus. Or when he generously offers me some much-needed self-defense lessons. Or when we grow closer than I thought possible. It turns out some people aren’t at all what they seem at first glance. They can actually be everything you never knew you wanted in a man.
The thing is, Austin Langford is so far out of my league, it’s laughable. Muscled boxers don’t go for nobodies like me. I need to forget about this one-sided attraction.
Even when it feels like I can’t fight it.
‘Can’t Fight It’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #3 in the Lessons Learned series, Educated Romance World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
Allie is the author of the Suncoast University series, the Bishop Brothers series, and the Lessons Learned series. She lives in sunny Florida with her husband, daughter, and two cats. A librarian by day, she spends her nights writing happily ever afters. She enjoys reading, playing video games, and all things Disney.
Professor Romance 