If you love our book advice, join us for Boozy Book Club! Beth reviewed one of our our August picks just this morning.
Rookie Move
Written by: Sarina Bowen
Reviewed by: Heidi
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Recommended for: Romance readers who don’t mind sports
Rating: 4 Hockey Players with all their teeth
I love romance novels. Give me a happily ever after with a slightly unpredictable plot and I’ll gladly devour it while on the treadmill. If we have that in common, I have your next binge read. Rookie move is the first in a new series of sport romances written by Sarina Bowen. In it, 24-year-old Georgia Worthington has just earned her dream job as the publicist for the Brooklyn Bruisers, a professional Hockey team. At her first big press conference, she is surprised to realize that the new player being introduced is her old high school boyfriend whom she dumped for mysterious reasons on graduation day.
Rookie professional hockey player, Leo Trevi has never gotten over Georgia and will do everything in his power to win her back even if she denies him at every turn to keep things professional. Once I got over the skeeve factor of Georgia’s high school sex memories, this was a fun book that introduced characters I enjoyed. Leo was adorably sincere while Georgia had her insecurities, but none of the ones you would expect. Plus, the book centers around an entire locker room of hot hockey players who will inevitably get spin-off books. I feel like I just won the Stanley Cup. Buy it.
Asking for It/Begging for It
Written by: Lilah Pace
Reviewed by: Beth
Genre: Erotica
Recommended for: Smutty smuts with loose hard limits
Rating: Four trigger warnings!
While contemporary erotica explores lots of different taboo subjects, this duo of books (the main character can only find sexual satisfaction while pretending to be raped, as she herself experienced sex for the first time while being raped) is one that most folks are not gonna jump to read. I picked it up because the author recently wrote another book that I really enjoyed and I wondered how she treated this subject matter. This book is not perfect. The pace is great. The tone and the point of view are well-written. The male protagonist is hot and smart and sensitive (oh, but he also harbors rape fantasies). Hence, it’s not perfect.
These two people clash together over their shared fantasy, and while it brings them together, it also is totally toxic. I’m recommending it if you are a reader who can handle taboo subject matter and enjoys that type of erotica. If you have any reservations, listen to them and hard pass. Buy it.
The One Real Thing
Written by: Samantha Young
Reviewed by: Heidi
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Recommended for: Smutty Beach Read Lovers
Rating: 3.5 Walks on the Boardwalk
The One Real Thing is the first in a new series by Samantha Young. Doctor Jessica Huntington is plodding through the life of a doctor at a women’s prison when she discovers a set of undelivered letters from a former inmate. Her quest to deliver the letters to their intended recipient leads her to the beach town of Hartwell where she meets a group of people who will change her life. Namely, the rugged bartender, Cooper, who makes me want to take up running at 6 am and drinking at bars until 2am. That’s a healthy life choice, right?
This is your typical romance with a few surprising twists. I’m pretty great at figuring out where a book is headed, but the mystery Jessica is hiding even got me. This should be a fun start to a new series. Nothing life changing here, but if you enjoy a good romance with a hot hero and a few twists along the way, this one could be for you. Buy it.
Marrying Winterborne
Written by: Lisa Kleypas
Reviewed by: Heidi
Genre: Historical Romance
Recommended for: People looking for a new book boyfriend
Rating: All the torn chemises
Marrying Winterborne is the second of The Ravenels, Lisa Kleypas’ newest series and her long awaited return to historical romance. Rhys Winterborne is a rich business tycoon who gets what he wants no matter what it takes. In this case, he wants the innocent Lady Helen, but I’ll be honest, she’s not too upset about it. I wouldn’t be either.
I can’t emphasize how much I loved this book enough. It had everything that I adore in an historical romance; a compelling female heroine, a rich alpha-male love interest, a secondary storyline to provide conflict, undeniable chemistry, sweet love letters and, of course, lots of corsets being unlaced. Lisa Kleypas has written another wonderful love story that I look forward to reading again. Buy it.
Tudor Legacy (series)
Written by: Laura Andersen
Reviewed by: Danelle
Genre: Fictional Drama
Recommended for: People who like British historical fiction – like Philippa Gregory’s books
Rating: 5 crown jewels
If you’re like me, then you probably go through about a million-plus “what if” scenarios daily. I can’t help myself; I think its just my genetic makeup, but I am an over-thinker extraordinaire…which is sometimes bad, and sometimes good. I like to think of it as me being super prepared for anything that might happen. Thanks to That’s Normal, I just found an author who combined my love of all things British monarchies (specifically the Tudor family) and some great big what-if scenarios.
Laura Andersen’s books are a match made in heaven for me! I was sent the final book in her Tudor Legacy series – The Virgin’s War – to read. I saw when I got it that it was the third of a trilogy and so I took my happy self over to Amazon to purchase the first two, because I LOVE all books with Elizabeth Tudor in them. Y’all…I read the first two books in two days because I could NOT put them down.
The entire mesmerizing Tudor Legacy series is about Elizabeth I and what might have happened had she gotten married to Philip of Spain and then had a daughter with him. It is SO GOOD. There are so many pieces of real (or very close to real) history mixed in with the fiction, that I found myself going back and forth to the internet to verify what was and wasn’t factual. Andersen is a master at dropping real people who lived and breathed, and situations that actually happened in the Elizabethan court into this alternate reality world of Elizabeth Tudor. There is so much political maneuvering in these books, and it is surprisingly easy to keep straight. There are also a few threads of love stories woven in. It really was just a hypnotic read for me – I hope one of you picks it up and reads it, too! ! Buy it.
There you have it! Real quick reviews for books we loved … real quick because we lazy. Hope you find something new to read. But in the meantime, tell us what you are reading in the comments or on twitter using #TNReads.
