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cakt1991's review
4.0
I received an ARC as a part of The Romance Cafe review team via BookFunnel. All opinions are my own.
I’ve been a member of The Romance Cafe’s associated Facebook group, The New Romance Cafe, for just over a year, and this is the first publication I’ve read from them, although I’ve associated with the authors to varying degrees in this group and others. However, their publishing arm was completely new to me, and I was excited to see what the authors, all of whom I had not read before had to offer.
And for the most part, this is a fairly solid anthology. One of the standouts for me are Sera Taino’s Slant Rhyme, with lovers who bond over poetry, and also features the compositions by the poet heroine, Belmira Saez, showing that Taino excels in more than one medium of the written word.
My other favorite, Love Will Have Its Way by Liz Martinson, won me over with its fun premise and the way it skillfully makes use of the shorter format to show the growth of a relationship from the initial meeting of two heartbroken people with a coincidental connection to them inevitably making the commitment to one another.
The other stories vary, some more memorable than the others. Testing the Limits by Rebecca Conrad documents both the growth from friends to lovers as well as the passage of time, and it was simultaneously catnip for my friends-to-lovers loving heart as well as packing nostalgia for the last twenty years.
Some of the other stories did feel a bit less resonant to me, although that comes with the territory. The Meal Plan by Erin Lee is cute, but it was a little short and had a bit too much going on, especially given the somewhat ambitious premise of going on numerous dates for a news article. Learning to Love Again by Elodie Garroway packs a punch in the beginning with the demise of a bad relationship and the heroine’s decision to go out into the world again, but ultimately, while the new relationship is cute and surprisingly not creepy, given the teacher student dynamic, it’s not nearly as engaging.
The Ice Garden by Jorja Tabu is an outlier, in having a lot of potential with its premise of a second chance with a former love, but I’m not a massive fan of heroes who have a ton of baggage and let it get to them, with him being full of self loathing and fixated on his scars.
In spite of any shortcomings, this anthology is fairly solid, and some unevenness in terms of quality and/or enjoyment comes with the territory, and it’s really a case where your mileage may vary. I look forward to following all these authors individually, as well as seeing the further releases from the Cafe. And if you love a sweet (or spicy) contemporary romance, and also love short stories or novellas, I recommend checking this out. And bonus: the profits for the book (as with all their others) go toward breast cancer research!
I’ve been a member of The Romance Cafe’s associated Facebook group, The New Romance Cafe, for just over a year, and this is the first publication I’ve read from them, although I’ve associated with the authors to varying degrees in this group and others. However, their publishing arm was completely new to me, and I was excited to see what the authors, all of whom I had not read before had to offer.
And for the most part, this is a fairly solid anthology. One of the standouts for me are Sera Taino’s Slant Rhyme, with lovers who bond over poetry, and also features the compositions by the poet heroine, Belmira Saez, showing that Taino excels in more than one medium of the written word.
My other favorite, Love Will Have Its Way by Liz Martinson, won me over with its fun premise and the way it skillfully makes use of the shorter format to show the growth of a relationship from the initial meeting of two heartbroken people with a coincidental connection to them inevitably making the commitment to one another.
The other stories vary, some more memorable than the others. Testing the Limits by Rebecca Conrad documents both the growth from friends to lovers as well as the passage of time, and it was simultaneously catnip for my friends-to-lovers loving heart as well as packing nostalgia for the last twenty years.
Some of the other stories did feel a bit less resonant to me, although that comes with the territory. The Meal Plan by Erin Lee is cute, but it was a little short and had a bit too much going on, especially given the somewhat ambitious premise of going on numerous dates for a news article. Learning to Love Again by Elodie Garroway packs a punch in the beginning with the demise of a bad relationship and the heroine’s decision to go out into the world again, but ultimately, while the new relationship is cute and surprisingly not creepy, given the teacher student dynamic, it’s not nearly as engaging.
The Ice Garden by Jorja Tabu is an outlier, in having a lot of potential with its premise of a second chance with a former love, but I’m not a massive fan of heroes who have a ton of baggage and let it get to them, with him being full of self loathing and fixated on his scars.
In spite of any shortcomings, this anthology is fairly solid, and some unevenness in terms of quality and/or enjoyment comes with the territory, and it’s really a case where your mileage may vary. I look forward to following all these authors individually, as well as seeing the further releases from the Cafe. And if you love a sweet (or spicy) contemporary romance, and also love short stories or novellas, I recommend checking this out. And bonus: the profits for the book (as with all their others) go toward breast cancer research!
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