Here’s how it works: We read books. If we think you will like them as much as we did, we tell you why. It’s SO SIMPLE. It’s symbiotic, almost. So here goes:
Royally Screwed
Written by: Emma Chase
Release Date: 10/18/2016
Reviewed by: Heidi
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4 Future Kings
Recommended for: Kate Middleton Wannabes
Admittedly, I have a thing for royalty. I watched the Royal Wedding of Kate and Wills at least 5 times (and yes, I just referred to Prince William as “Wills”, go with it) and I was on royal baby watch like I was getting paid for it. I don’t think there is a better fairy tale than a “normal” girl falling in love with a prince. Thus, my love of Emma Chase’s newest romance, Royally Screwed.
Royally Screwed is the story of Nicholas Pembroke, the Crowned Prince of the fictitious but decidedly European country of Wessco and his surprising encounter with Olivia, a Manhattan waitress from a much more modest background. But really, who doesn’t have a more modest background than a prince? Their romance is predictable as much as it is sweet.
This is a grownup fairy tale. Is it believable? Well, no, but who cares! It has castles and rich men with too much time and power. What more could you need in a fun romance to read on a rainy day? You’ll enjoy Royally Screwed as much as I did. Buy it.
American Queen
Written by: Sierra Simone
Release Date: 10/25/2016
Reviewed by: Beth
Genre: Erotic Romance
Rating: 3 … is a crowd
Recommended for: MMF junkies needing a hit
Imagine someone decided to take the Arthurian legends (the probably dirty parts) and turn them into an American political drama with hot, young politicians, a little BDSM and MMF threesomes.
If you can imagine it, then you can read and enjoy the American Queen Trilogy by Sierra Simone.
Fun fact about me: I will read anything Sierra Simone writes because she gave us the incredibly-hot-hits-all-my-kinks book, Priest, and the also hot and wicked Markam Hall series. So when she came out with a new trilogy I fast-passed my way to the front of the line. (I just left DisneyWorld; I have no other metaphors).
American Queen is about a political dynasty- the granddaughter of an ex-Vice President who’s highly influential, and the war hero she met years before at a ball, of all places, who becomes an American darling and a president in record time. He’s hot, he’s widowed, he has a tortured relationship with the equally hot Vice President, and in walks Greer Galloway.
The premise was hard for me to wrap my mind around in the current political climate. I want to believe that we could one day have a hot, virile, honorable Dominant in the Oval Office, but right now anything to do with the institution truthfully makes me nauseated. It’s NOT a great time to come out with a HOT PRESIDENT book.
But if you’re into MMF, sometimes heavy handed allusions to Anglo-Saxon legends, and can suspend your disbelief that the United States would ever have a hot, single POTUS AND a hot, single VPOTUS … you’ll love this series. Buy it.
Hold Back the Stars
Written by: Katie Khan
Release Date: 05/23/2017
Reviewed by: Heidi*
Genre: Fiction
Rating: Four Star-Crossed Lovers
Recommended for: People who wanted Sandra Bollock to love George Clooney in Gravity.
Ninety minutes. Carys and Max have ninety minutes to live. They’re careening through space, tethered to one another with a dwindling air supply with only 90 minutes to go before they save themselves or suffocate. Make that eighty nine minutes. The clock is ticking.
Hold Back the Stars takes those ninety minutes standing between Carys and Max and their mutual demise to tell us their story. It’s a story set some time in the future where the United States and the Middle East have destroyed one another while Europe and Asia have formed a Utopian society with strict guidelines about how its citizens should live. The Citizens of Europia live individual lifestyles, moving to different locations every few years to avoid making deep connections, waiting to marry until their mid-thirties, and putting themselves above all others. It is in this society that Carys and Max met and fell in love despite all of the odds being against them. And we only have ninety minutes to hear their story.
Hold Back the Stars, what have you done to me? Max and Carys’ story sucked me into its vortex and still hasn’t let me out. Theirs isn’t a story you’ll want to miss. Buy it.
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
Public Relations
Written by: Katie Heaney, Ariana Rebolini
Release Date: 05/09/2017
Reviewed by: Beth*
Genre: Chick-Lit/Contemp Romance
Rating: 4 Still Hot Members of One Direction
Recommended for: Basic Bitches who know it
This book looks great. I love the cover. I love the premise. I even like that the authors, both with Buzzfeed bylines and addresses in Brooklyn, teamed up to give readers a look at the world of Public Relations and trying not to fangirl too hard over your own clients.
Rose Reed is a junior level PR exec who falls into main-staging the upcoming album release of a major British pop-star/songwriter, Archie Fox. Archie needs a bit of a re-brand, and a love story, so Rose, tumblr savvy and young enough to be his core demographic, finds the perfect catch: an FKATwigs/Alexandra Savior hybrid who is about to blow up will be his newest “collaboration.”
Archie is patently modeled on Harry Styles, complete with an old TSwift-style heartbreak and some recognizable tattoos. He seems to be a little more interested in Rose than she expects him to be, and over the course of the novel she vacillates between trying to keep her feelings professional, and letting her crush go full blown.
There is less romance in this novel than there is good old girl crushing, but it’s still a fun read. I’ll let you guys decide if you think the authors really sold Archie falling for Rose, or if it reads like self-insert RPFic. Regardless, it’s a PERFECT summer read. I read it on the beach in record time while my kids burned because I forgot to reapply their sunscreen. Buy it.
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
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.
If you like what you see, check out our other #TNReads posts for more quick and dirty recommendations. Or our Books Section for all the rest of our favorite novels.
