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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Great start to a series! Very well written and I can't wait to start the second one!!! The family dynamics kill me because they are so real... gotta love big families :)
I loved this story and fell completely in love with all the characters. It was a great romance that had me laughing out loud at times, especially when it came to the rest of the family. I cannot wait to read on and find out what happens to the rest of the family x
3.5 stars
Another family to fall in love with, yay! I dunno why I like reading this kind of series. It's fun.
Anyway, I found this easy to get into. It's light, it's fun, I love the characters. Basically it's a great contemporary read. I wish I could say more but I don't know how to review things, obviously.
Another family to fall in love with, yay! I dunno why I like reading this kind of series. It's fun.
Anyway, I found this easy to get into. It's light, it's fun, I love the characters. Basically it's a great contemporary read. I wish I could say more but I don't know how to review things, obviously.
I wanted to like this book so much. It has some of my favorite romance tropes - long lost loves, forced togetherness - but it ended up being not my cup of tea. The MMC and FMC's story really isn't as fully explored as I wanted it to be, and I didn't see much personal growth from either of them. They half-heartedly try to resist fooling around with each other for valid reasons but then give in for no good reason.
The more compelling stories actually involve other couples in the family - one is the MMC's brother and wife, and the other is his twin sister and her husband. A LOT (too much) of the book is devoted to the twin sister's marital problems, and she is a thoroughly unlikeable character, too, so I had zero interest in that plotline.
This is an older book, and maybe I'm used to fresher writing styles, but this one just didn't do it for me...YMMV.
The more compelling stories actually involve other couples in the family - one is the MMC's brother and wife, and the other is his twin sister and her husband. A LOT (too much) of the book is devoted to the twin sister's marital problems, and she is a thoroughly unlikeable character, too, so I had zero interest in that plotline.
This is an older book, and maybe I'm used to fresher writing styles, but this one just didn't do it for me...YMMV.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Body shaming
Minor: Domestic abuse
It was humerous and fun. Summer beach read. Older couple who dated and split after high school.
★★★☆ 3.5 Stars
Joe is a famous author who jealously guards his privacy, Keri works for a gossip magazine. When Keri's boss finds out she was Joe's high school sweet heart, she leaves her no choice but to track him down and get a story.
With her job on the line, Joe makes her an offer she can't really refuse. If she accompanies him on the annual Kowalski family camping trip, she can ask him one question for every day she survives.
Exclusively Yours is very much by the numbers contemporary romance. There is nothing particularly new in there but it's done well with characters you like and a story that is entertaining and engaging.
Joe is a famous author who jealously guards his privacy, Keri works for a gossip magazine. When Keri's boss finds out she was Joe's high school sweet heart, she leaves her no choice but to track him down and get a story.
With her job on the line, Joe makes her an offer she can't really refuse. If she accompanies him on the annual Kowalski family camping trip, she can ask him one question for every day she survives.
Exclusively Yours is very much by the numbers contemporary romance. There is nothing particularly new in there but it's done well with characters you like and a story that is entertaining and engaging.
3.5 stars
So the first thing I need to say is that I don't read a lot of contemporary romance.
I read a few Sophie Kinsella, Jane Green, and Helen Fielding books when I was in college, and maybe a half dozen sports romances, but it's only been the last 18(ish) months that I've really started reading straight-up romance (and if it's not Kristen Ashley, Julie James, or a handful of others, I don't know much about it).
So know upfront that I'm not any kind of authority.
But I liked this. It had more depth than a lot of the other books in this genre that I've read--it felt more real.
There are a couple of secondary plots within the main plot, and the secondary storylines have to do with other members of the Kowalski clan. Members of the Kowalski clan who are already married.
And that is why I felt the need to clarify that I'm essentially a romance novice. Maybe this happens all the time, and this is just the first time I've come across it, but in all the romances that I've read, two single people are coming together for the first time (or the first time in a LONG time). They aren't already married and having real life marital issues, teetering on the edge of that precipice, on the other side of which is divorce.
I really liked what Stacey did here. We had Joe and Keri finally getting their second chance, and interwoven were the all too believable marital roadblocks that two other related couples were pressed up against. It was honest in a way that is terrifying to anyone who is married, but at the same time it was hopeful.
Books that can make me feel hopeful are my favorite kind of books.
And I'm not talking a desperate, "I will never go hungry again," determination that masquerades as hope, I'm talking that pleasant lightness that fills your chest with the belief in a brighter future (that thing with feathers *winks*).
Depending on your perspective, that may or may not be realistic.
I don't care. I like it.
That being said, there's not anything particularly original about what's going on with the main couple--high school sweethearts getting a second chance at love, but still having to overcome a standard set of problems . . . There's only so many times that story can be told. However, I wasn't bored, and it was an excellent feel-good read, so if that's what you're in the mood for, I say go for it. If you like it, there are plenty more Kowalskis to keep you happy and entertained after you finish this one.
So the first thing I need to say is that I don't read a lot of contemporary romance.
I read a few Sophie Kinsella, Jane Green, and Helen Fielding books when I was in college, and maybe a half dozen sports romances, but it's only been the last 18(ish) months that I've really started reading straight-up romance (and if it's not Kristen Ashley, Julie James, or a handful of others, I don't know much about it).
So know upfront that I'm not any kind of authority.
But I liked this. It had more depth than a lot of the other books in this genre that I've read--it felt more real.
There are a couple of secondary plots within the main plot, and the secondary storylines have to do with other members of the Kowalski clan. Members of the Kowalski clan who are already married.
And that is why I felt the need to clarify that I'm essentially a romance novice. Maybe this happens all the time, and this is just the first time I've come across it, but in all the romances that I've read, two single people are coming together for the first time (or the first time in a LONG time). They aren't already married and having real life marital issues, teetering on the edge of that precipice, on the other side of which is divorce.
I really liked what Stacey did here. We had Joe and Keri finally getting their second chance, and interwoven were the all too believable marital roadblocks that two other related couples were pressed up against. It was honest in a way that is terrifying to anyone who is married, but at the same time it was hopeful.
Books that can make me feel hopeful are my favorite kind of books.
And I'm not talking a desperate, "I will never go hungry again," determination that masquerades as hope, I'm talking that pleasant lightness that fills your chest with the belief in a brighter future (that thing with feathers *winks*).
Depending on your perspective, that may or may not be realistic.
I don't care. I like it.
That being said, there's not anything particularly original about what's going on with the main couple--high school sweethearts getting a second chance at love, but still having to overcome a standard set of problems . . . There's only so many times that story can be told. However, I wasn't bored, and it was an excellent feel-good read, so if that's what you're in the mood for, I say go for it. If you like it, there are plenty more Kowalskis to keep you happy and entertained after you finish this one.
Having never read anything by this author previously, I wasn't sure what to expect, but when I finally got around to reading this, I was pleasantly surprised by it! I enjoyed the reunited high school sweethearts story, and found parts of the book quite amusing! I identified with both characters in the story, and I liked how the author did a bit of world building as she went along. I also liked how there were two other threads that got tied up within this book, leaving no cliffhangers for the following books. All in all, a good introduction to the series, and leaves me curious to find the others in the series.