charleys_bookshelf's Reviews (252)

Wine In A Million

Tobie Carter

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

All Bats are Off

Kelly Reynolds

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

All Bats Are Off by Kelly Reynolds is a fun, short, and spicy novella! A baseball player and sports journalist end up working together on the article, and when a one-night stand turns into something more, will they be able to handle it?

Johnathan Tucker, “Tuck,” is the second baseman for the Rose City Roasters team. He has golden retriever energy and definitely fills out his uniform if you know what I mean. Brock Heller is a sports journalist who covers the Roasters and a podcaster (one Tuck loves)!

This book was fun, short, spicy, and sweet. While it is a novella, All Bats Are Off has all of the Kelly Reynolds flair I love reading. My issue is that it felt a little instant lovey since it was shorter, and we didn’t see the motivations from the one-night stand to the 6 weeks after they were together the whole time. I love the banter and chemistry between the characters and had a great time reading this book. I highly recommend reading this one!

Thank you Kelly Reynolds for the copy to review.

With Love, from Cold World

Alicia Thompson

4.0

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Somewhere We Belong

Mandy Muse

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful relaxing tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Somewhere We Belong by Mandy Muse

I have been following and reading Mandy Muse's books for a long time now, so it is safe to say that I love and enjoy her writing and books. I love that her books or ploy romances have some great spice in them. Somewhere We Belong was no exception to that. This book is about a single mom in a small town where our next-door neighbors are three hot cowboys who are all in polyamorous relationships.

This book was heartwarming and so sweet. This is one book where I was yelling at Nova to go to therapy, but I loved watching Nova grow and learn to love and trust people will show up for her. The communication abilities of the three men were fantastic, and I loved the emphasis they all placed on having concerns and past problems that they discussed to improve their relationship. I also loved how much Theo, Colt, and Atlas all loved Sol (Nova's Daughter), and she was happy.

And Mandy's muse can write some great spicy! From sex on the back of a motorcycle to their ravenous group scenes! I had a great time reading this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for some hot, queer, small-town, poly romances. This needs to be read this summer!

What to expect:
Poly Romance MMMF
Single Mom
Small Town
Hurt Comfort
Cowboys
Close Proximity

Thank you to Mandy Muse for the ARC to read and review!

Love in Focus

Lyla Lee

4.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Love in Focus by Lyla Lee, Narrated by Natalie Naudus; Catherine Ho. This book combines the fun of a workplace setting with forced proximity tropes into a second-chance romance. We have two Korean Women as the main characters who started as college roommates and fell in love several years ago. Now, in the present day, Gemma & Celeste have to work together on a story for a magazine, and that old spark is still there.

This book was one where I was yelling at both of them to go to therapy to work through their trauma, but then they did, and I was obsessed with that being included. I really enjoyed the storyline and the character's communication in this book. If you are looking for spice, some exploration, and a strap scene, this is right up your alley.

I also really enjoyed this dual narration of this book. Both did a fantastic job. I had a hard time figuring out which narrator was reading for which character at the beginning because they were similar, but once I got into the book, I could distinguish between them. This, however, could have been a problem, as I listen to my romance novels at 1.5 to 2.0 times the speed.

Overall, I had a great time reading and listening to this audiobook, and I highly recommend picking up this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ALC.