This Love Story Will Self-Destruct
Written by: Leslie Cohen
Released on: 1/23/18
Genre: Adult Fiction
Reviewed by: Heidi*
Rating: 4 Early 2000’s Emo Musicians
Recommended for: If you’ve ever wondered what When Harry Met Sally would be like with millennials.
Eve and Ben have been acquaintances throughout college, but never really friends. You know, the type of person that you recognize in the campus library but avoid making eye contact with because small talk is exhausting. Eve is kind of an emotional basket case, while Ben is a tidy basket with structural support beams and a backup basket just in case the first one has a flaw. They’re opposites, and yet somehow their paths always seem to cross.
The book blurb describes this love story as a modern re-imagining of When Harry Met Sally and it is, perfectly so. It takes place over a decade in Manhattan with both of them graduating from Columbia University in 2006. Full disclosure, I graduated from college in 2005 so there was a major nostalgia factor at play for me.
This is a winding story of emotionally stunted youths, poor decisions, head-shake inducing mistakes, and swoon-worthy meet-cutes. I couldn’t put it down. Buy it!
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
Surprise Me
Written by: Sophie Kinsella
Released on: 2/13/18
Genre: Comedy/Fiction
Reviewed by: Leanne*
Rating: 4 marital mishaps
Recommended for: Kinsella fans, those who are married and those who hope to be
Sylvie and Dan have it all. They’ve been together 10 years, have a lovely home, twin girls, careers they enjoy and fantastic health. Maybe too fantastic. When an insurance physical reveals they could live to be 100, potentially facing another 68 years of marriage, they are shocked and overwhelmed. Marriage is forever, but just how long is forever supposed to be? Fearing the tedium of 68 more years with someone whose every restaurant order they can predict and every sentence finish, a plan is hatched to bring adventure into their marriage. The problem is, adventure isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic series, delivers another delightful tale of shenanigans, mishaps, and relationship complications that her novels are known for. Surprise Me is more than just formulaic entertainment, as the story twists in an unexpected way and may ultimately make you take a closer look at the people with whom you share your life. Buy it!
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
Cake at Midnight
Written by: Jessie L. Star
Released on: 1/15/18
Genre: NA Romance
Reviewed by: Heidi*
Rating: 4 Hot Neighbors next door
Recommended for: Valentine’s Day reading
Cake at Midnight was one of those books I picked up without any expectations. I’ve never read anything by Jessie L. Star before, but I like cake and literally all romance novels so I figured it couldn’t hurt. I underestimated this one. Cake at Midnight starts with an unrequited love story but it ends up being about friendship and self-discovery. Plus it’s about a taciturn hot neighbor and nothing gets me like a quiet hero who has all these feelings boiling just under the surface. Let them out, it’s going to be so hot! As the reader, you know that Giovanna and Theo are creating something good together, but you’re not really sure how good until the end. I enjoyed this one a lot. Buy it!
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
The Duke
Written by: Katharine Ashe
Released on: 9/26/17
Genre: Historical Romance
Reviewed by: Danelle*
Rating: 4 Scottish Dukes pretending to be brutes
Recommended for: People needing a good, quick fix of regency
This was a pretty good book by an author I’d never read before. Lady Amarantha Vale is headstrong and decides she’s fallen in love with a traveling preacher who is going to Jamaica to bring religion to the masses there. She leaves her family in England and sails with him, where she wiles away the days in the hotel with a boring companion while her fiance builds his church in the jungle. The wedding gets delayed because a hurricane arrives, and Amy decides to go exploring the town of Kingston right before landfall. She finds refuge in the basement of a shop in town, and to her surprise, so does a handsome Naval officer named Gabriel Hume.
The book has that bit of trope where she finds she’s really in love with him but isn’t sure she will be able to call off her wedding to the boor of a preacher before its too late. She decides (of course right before Gabe goes back to sea as captain) that she will call it off and will marry Gabe when he returns. Cue the doomsday music, because then it cuts to Amy getting the news from Gabe’s cousin that he’s died at sea, and she’s devastated. Turns out, she finds out later, that he didn’t die at sea, but the rumors are that he is cavorting with women on every stop, so she decides to go ahead and marry the preacher-man. Fast-forward some years, and you find out it wasn’t a happy marriage. Amarantha heads to Scotland to find a friend, and she finds out women have been said to disappear from a certain spot with some frequency, so she decides to put on her detective hat to figure out what’s going on. Guess who comes back into the picture? That’s right – Gabriel Hume, who just happens to be a Duke because his older brother died. I won’t spoil the rest of the book, but it was an easy and quick read for a good dose of Regency. I will be checking out other books by Katharine Ashe for sure. Buy it!
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
By the Book
Written by: Julia Sonneborn
Released on: 2/6/18
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Reviewed by: Angela*
Rating: 3 Copies of The Complete Jane Austen
Recommended for: Anyone that liked the book version of Austenland
I am going to admit something to you: while I love all adaptations of Jane Austen’s books, I had never actually read any of the originals until I slowly got through Pride & Prejudice last year (thanks, Serials app!). So where other reviews will tell you that this book is based on Persuasion, I have no idea what that means. I will tell you that this was a lovely second chance at love story. Anne’s jilted college fiance Adam is the new University President at the school that she is an English Lit professor trying to get tenured. While she navigates that uncomfortable situation, she meets prize-winning, adjunct professor and hottie Rick and starts a fling with him. To complicate matters, Adam and Rick have worked together before and hate each other. If I had one complaint, it is the lack of steam, and I don’t just mean that the sexytime happening off screen. But, you know what, sometimes it is nice to read a book that I don’t mind that my mother is going to see the cover on Goodreads and that I don’t have to worry about blushing while reading in public. Buy it!
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
The Dark Calling
Written by: Kresley Cole
Released on: 2/13/18
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended for: Anyone that liked the book version of Austenland
The newest book in the Arcana Chronicles is out TOMORROW! While it might not exactly fit in with the rest of these strictly books with just about shirtless men or hearts on the cover, there are some hot YA sexytimes in this book. And you know how much we LOVE this series and Kresley Cole here. So we couldn’t not say something… 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.
But now, what you really came to this post for – A GIVEAWAY! Including some romantic favorites AND one of our Boozy Book Club picks for February. So for all of you waiting for your library copy to come in, now’s your chance to skip the line!
Epic ROMANCE and LOVE Book Giveaway!
