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ratetheromance's Reviews (659)
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Can you say FOODGASM? A book that marries my two passions in life? SMUT and DELICIOUS FOOD? Yes please!
When I heard about the πππ£π£πππ¬ ππ©ππ₯ πππ§ππ₯ ππ’π’πππ’π’π I knew it was gunna be epic and I wasn't wrong, Smut Squad. Here's what it's got.
The πππ£π£πππ¬ ππ©ππ₯ πππ§ππ₯ ππ’π’πππ’π’π contains exclusive appetizers, soups, main dishes, desserts, cocktails, breakfast, and bakery recipes. Each recipe is inspired by a book and you get a peek into each book along with gorgeous photos of each recipe!
Here are the recipes I made...
ππ’π’π: MY CONE & ONLY
ππ¨π§ππ’π₯: Susannah Nix
π₯ππππ£π: Cheese Grits
π©ππ₯ππππ§: Oh. My. Lord. (said in a Southern accent). I have 2 questions: (1) Where gave grits been all of my life? (2)How do Southern women stay thin? The butter. The cheese. The deliciousness. My Virginia-raised husband has never been so happy!
β β β β β β β β β
ππ’π’π: DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
ππ¨π§ππ’π₯: Skye Warren
π₯ππππ£π: Chocolate & Raspberry Crepes
π©ππ₯ππππ§: My family loves crepes, so how have I never made chocolate crepes before now? I promise I will be making them from now on! I used strawberries in this recipe because my horrid children don't like raspberries (monsters, right?). Throw on some whip cream and chocolate sauce and you are in heaven! So good!
Both of these recipes were incredibly easy to make and both were delicious! I also saw a gazillion other recipes I would love to try in this cookbook.
The πππ£π£πππ¬ ππ©ππ₯ πππ§ππ₯ ππ’π’πππ’π’π is such a fun take on combining delicious themed recipes with devilishly good books. If you have a Smutty Book Club it would be amazing to choose a monthly read and make it's recipe too!
When I heard about the πππ£π£πππ¬ ππ©ππ₯ πππ§ππ₯ ππ’π’πππ’π’π I knew it was gunna be epic and I wasn't wrong, Smut Squad. Here's what it's got.
The πππ£π£πππ¬ ππ©ππ₯ πππ§ππ₯ ππ’π’πππ’π’π contains exclusive appetizers, soups, main dishes, desserts, cocktails, breakfast, and bakery recipes. Each recipe is inspired by a book and you get a peek into each book along with gorgeous photos of each recipe!
Here are the recipes I made...
ππ’π’π: MY CONE & ONLY
ππ¨π§ππ’π₯: Susannah Nix
π₯ππππ£π: Cheese Grits
π©ππ₯ππππ§: Oh. My. Lord. (said in a Southern accent). I have 2 questions: (1) Where gave grits been all of my life? (2)How do Southern women stay thin? The butter. The cheese. The deliciousness. My Virginia-raised husband has never been so happy!
β β β β β β β β β
ππ’π’π: DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
ππ¨π§ππ’π₯: Skye Warren
π₯ππππ£π: Chocolate & Raspberry Crepes
π©ππ₯ππππ§: My family loves crepes, so how have I never made chocolate crepes before now? I promise I will be making them from now on! I used strawberries in this recipe because my horrid children don't like raspberries (monsters, right?). Throw on some whip cream and chocolate sauce and you are in heaven! So good!
Both of these recipes were incredibly easy to make and both were delicious! I also saw a gazillion other recipes I would love to try in this cookbook.
The πππ£π£πππ¬ ππ©ππ₯ πππ§ππ₯ ππ’π’πππ’π’π is such a fun take on combining delicious themed recipes with devilishly good books. If you have a Smutty Book Club it would be amazing to choose a monthly read and make it's recipe too!
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
was so excited when I heard that these two authors were coming together to write a book series! The first installment, ππ¨π£ππ πππππ ππ§π¬, was really good with just a few minor issues.
To set the scene, the core story of this series of novellas is a bunch of strangers are stranded in an airport lounge one night and become friends. After they return to their lives they stay in touch via text. These books will each follow two of those characters as they fall in love. Each book will center around a certain holiday. ππ¨π£ππ πππππ ππ§π¬ centers on Valentine's Day.
First things first, the set-up chapter of the actual airport drama which led them stranded felt a bit rushed. I struggled to really get a feel for these characters before the stories branched to each individual.
Having said that, ππ¨π£ππ πππππ ππ§π¬ has two delightfully quirky stories that I really liked.
βͺοΈANIMAL ATTRACTION by Evie Alexander βοΈβοΈβοΈ
Whooo-weee! This novella was wicked hot and I was here for the insta-love (which I usually don't love, but totally bought here). Personally, I found the comedic portion of this novella too over-the-top for me. Maybe I'm too much of a realist, but a funny situation has to seem plausible for me to find it humorous. Some readers will LOVE how ridiculous the story is and will laugh until the pee a little. Just not me.
βͺοΈSTUPID CUPID by Kelly Kay βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
This novella also had a humorously absurd chain of events in it, but one that I was able to embrace more fully since it felt more realistic. I loved these two blind-date ditchers! Their date was both funny and sweet and swoony. Oh yeah, also crazy hot. I really felt invested in this love story!
Overall ππ¨π£ππ πππππ ππ§π¬ was a great read and I'll definitely be picking up the coming books in this series!
To set the scene, the core story of this series of novellas is a bunch of strangers are stranded in an airport lounge one night and become friends. After they return to their lives they stay in touch via text. These books will each follow two of those characters as they fall in love. Each book will center around a certain holiday. ππ¨π£ππ πππππ ππ§π¬ centers on Valentine's Day.
First things first, the set-up chapter of the actual airport drama which led them stranded felt a bit rushed. I struggled to really get a feel for these characters before the stories branched to each individual.
Having said that, ππ¨π£ππ πππππ ππ§π¬ has two delightfully quirky stories that I really liked.
βͺοΈANIMAL ATTRACTION by Evie Alexander βοΈβοΈβοΈ
Whooo-weee! This novella was wicked hot and I was here for the insta-love (which I usually don't love, but totally bought here). Personally, I found the comedic portion of this novella too over-the-top for me. Maybe I'm too much of a realist, but a funny situation has to seem plausible for me to find it humorous. Some readers will LOVE how ridiculous the story is and will laugh until the pee a little. Just not me.
βͺοΈSTUPID CUPID by Kelly Kay βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
This novella also had a humorously absurd chain of events in it, but one that I was able to embrace more fully since it felt more realistic. I loved these two blind-date ditchers! Their date was both funny and sweet and swoony. Oh yeah, also crazy hot. I really felt invested in this love story!
Overall ππ¨π£ππ πππππ ππ§π¬ was a great read and I'll definitely be picking up the coming books in this series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
I absolutely loved this book! From start to finish. It is written in letter format, which is generally my least favorite format, but it is essential in this book and wasn't at all clunky (as I often find it).
I just adored the main character. She made me laugh out loud many times and wish I was her best friend, even while she struggled.
This book was such an unexpected gem! It so seamlessly covers love and loss, grieving and guilt, family dynamics and life's unexpected heartaches. I am sad to say goodbye to these vibrant characters. I will miss them.
I received and advanced copy of this title from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I just adored the main character. She made me laugh out loud many times and wish I was her best friend, even while she struggled.
This book was such an unexpected gem! It so seamlessly covers love and loss, grieving and guilt, family dynamics and life's unexpected heartaches. I am sad to say goodbye to these vibrant characters. I will miss them.
I received and advanced copy of this title from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Sadly, this book is not very well written and about 150 pages too long. It starts off well enough with a good premise. And the writing in the first half of the book is fairly good.
The second half is where the writing goes way off. Suddenly, entire months are being summed up with one paragraph each, back to back, within the same chapter. Many main points in the story are rushed or completely passed over, while unnecessary plot lines are drawn out for entire chapters. This book needs an editor and much more focus.
I received an ARC copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
The second half is where the writing goes way off. Suddenly, entire months are being summed up with one paragraph each, back to back, within the same chapter. Many main points in the story are rushed or completely passed over, while unnecessary plot lines are drawn out for entire chapters. This book needs an editor and much more focus.
I received an ARC copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This was a story of a nanny who receives guardianship of triplets when their parents die in an accident and the ex-Navy Seal chosen to protect them.
Overall this book was a good read, but seemed to only barely scratch the surface of certain plot lines while also feeling a bit too long. There are a number of story arcs which are brought up and then never resolved, including what actually happened to the children's parents.
There is a certain mystery the book is building to that turns out to be completely obvious and also ends in an overly quick and shallow conclusion. The whodunit moment being built up to for the entire first 75% of the book is solved and dealt with within a few pages and feels skimmed over.
The main love interests are good together, but we really only get 1-2 meaningful conversations with each other before they fall in love. Chemistry is great, but the Emotional connection felt rushed and underplayed.
Overall this book was a good read, but seemed to only barely scratch the surface of certain plot lines while also feeling a bit too long. There are a number of story arcs which are brought up and then never resolved, including what actually happened to the children's parents.
There is a certain mystery the book is building to that turns out to be completely obvious and also ends in an overly quick and shallow conclusion. The whodunit moment being built up to for the entire first 75% of the book is solved and dealt with within a few pages and feels skimmed over.
The main love interests are good together, but we really only get 1-2 meaningful conversations with each other before they fall in love. Chemistry is great, but the Emotional connection felt rushed and underplayed.
I really liked the premise of this book and the plot summary was intriguing. Unfortunately I found the writing style very convoluted and the characters mostly unlikeable. I have read this author's work once before and liked it, but this book just meandered all over the place until I finally gave up. Not the book for me.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.
I feel badly for leaving this review, but this book is so convoluted in it's storyline and timeline that it was nearly impossible to read. We are immediately plunked into what seems like the ending of a relationship, punctuated by a car crash. Then we are very suddenly plunked into six months after the crash. The chapters continue at this point with no adequate flashbacks or fleshing out of the back story and the reader is left to flail around and grasp at characters that seem to exist with no grounding characteristics.
A slew of new characters are introduced casually and the reader hasn't even felt a connection to any of the main characters yet.
Yes, slowly revealing character's back stories is a normal writing device, but this book bumbles it badly and so slowly that the reader is left with nothing to ground the story.
I finally gave up reading this book.
A slew of new characters are introduced casually and the reader hasn't even felt a connection to any of the main characters yet.
Yes, slowly revealing character's back stories is a normal writing device, but this book bumbles it badly and so slowly that the reader is left with nothing to ground the story.
I finally gave up reading this book.
I love a good friends to lovers romance, but this book felt very light on the "friends" portion. We never hear how these two met and became friends and we also don't get to read very much friend-zone banter. At most, these leads seem like they are friendly coworkers.
When they go undercover, Isabelle is determined to prove herself as an Agent who can kick a** next to the boys at the security company. I was so disappointed that we never truly got to see her kick a**. We hear a lot about her gun skills and her karate prowess and the most we get is a knee in the crotch and later a "hold" on a bad guy. I wanted her to really rise to the challenge and show her stuff, but we never got to see it.
This is a sweet and steamy (and predictable) romance, but I wish the author really would have really let the heroine shine.
When they go undercover, Isabelle is determined to prove herself as an Agent who can kick a** next to the boys at the security company. I was so disappointed that we never truly got to see her kick a**. We hear a lot about her gun skills and her karate prowess and the most we get is a knee in the crotch and later a "hold" on a bad guy. I wanted her to really rise to the challenge and show her stuff, but we never got to see it.
This is a sweet and steamy (and predictable) romance, but I wish the author really would have really let the heroine shine.
BAD BACHELOR is an engaging and sweet romance with flawed characters that you can't help but root for. Having a female lead that is tattooed and pierced, but also smart and bookish was so refreshing!
The story got a bit slow in the middle, but picked back up. I liked seeing the main characters opening up to each other, but I wish some parts of the story were fleshed out more. The theme of social classes and fitting in was a recurring theme and then doesn't resolve. How will these two fit into each other's lives? There was also some loose ends in the female friendships. A secret is revealed that could really impact the female friendships, but it's not even addressed as it relates to the girlfriends.
Overall, this was a good read with a good premise and a fun HEA. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.
The story got a bit slow in the middle, but picked back up. I liked seeing the main characters opening up to each other, but I wish some parts of the story were fleshed out more. The theme of social classes and fitting in was a recurring theme and then doesn't resolve. How will these two fit into each other's lives? There was also some loose ends in the female friendships. A secret is revealed that could really impact the female friendships, but it's not even addressed as it relates to the girlfriends.
Overall, this was a good read with a good premise and a fun HEA. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.
This book was work. It was a very heavy story that plodded along at a arduous pace for me. If you're looking for a light-hearted and uplifting romance this is not the book for you.
It IS well written, but just too serious and heavy to be characterized as a "romance". I would call this a heavy drama with a touch of a love story.
I received an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest feedback.
It IS well written, but just too serious and heavy to be characterized as a "romance". I would call this a heavy drama with a touch of a love story.
I received an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest feedback.