romancingthereader's Reviews (1.65k)


Iโ€™m desperately seeking a MC romance that makes me feel like my favoritesโ€ฆ and so far, nothing has hit. I saw a few people rec this author, and unfortunately I donโ€™t think it landed, either.

๐Ÿ“• ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: My Darling Mayhem by Ashley Munoz

๐Ÿ“™ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Not listed yet.

๐Ÿ“— ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€: E-book on Kindle. ๐Ÿ†“ on KU.

๐Ÿ“˜ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: MC romance

๐Ÿ“” ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Forced proximity, opposites attract, single mother, neighbors-to-lovers, hidden identity, reformed bad boy.

๐Ÿ“– ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: Wren is living a quiet life with her son when Archer Green moves in next door. The president of a local motorcycle club can only spell trouble, but Wren canโ€™t keep away.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„: Iโ€™m sure Ashley Munozโ€™ fans love this book: but after a lot of head scratching and some googling, I figured out that itโ€™s a โ€œnext genโ€ series, and since sheโ€™s a new-to-me author, I was lost from the start.

I did like some portions. There was some solid spice and good timed quotes I highlighted. But overall, the book just felt like I was taking a test I didnโ€™t study for. Characters I had no clue of their context, locations I couldnโ€™t place, conversations that all didnโ€™t make senseโ€ฆ. Just not my jam. I understand cameos and references, but in my opinion I have to be able to pick up a new book in a new series without reading an entire backlist.

๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: 3/5 โญโญโญ

๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น: 3/5 ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ
funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Iโ€™m not giving a Lucy Score book a 5-star review, and it feels so very wrong to do it.

๐Ÿ“• ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Story of My Life by Lucy Score

๐Ÿ“™ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Story Lake character series. Book 1.

๐Ÿ“— ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€: E-book on Kindle. ๐Ÿ†“ on KU.

๐Ÿ“˜ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: Small town romance

๐Ÿ“” ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Grumpy/sunshine, found family, RomCom, romance writer inception.

๐Ÿ“– ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: Hazel is burnt out of romance writing after a contentious divorce. One. Ight, after she finally gets inspiration from seeing a family of hot contractors restoring an old house, she decides to move from the city to the small town of Story Lake to help her write.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„: Let me first say, if this was my first Lucy Score book, Iโ€™d probably have upped my rating to a 4.5. But alas, Iโ€™m a Lucy Score connoisseur. 

I got all of the classic good notes from this one. I got the zany small town. The grumpy/sunshine goodness. The MMC who literally canโ€™t stop himself from loving the female lead. I got the relatability I always crave from her books. I laughed a ton.

But when I really, really sat down and thought about itโ€ฆ two things. One, I really do think it was a little long. Usually I canโ€™t find portions Iโ€™d cut, but there were a few scenes in this one I could have done without. Second, is that this was a carbon copy of Things We Never Got Over.

And listen, I love TWNGO. I think itโ€™s a transcendent book that is in my top five romance novels of all time. But Story of My Life had the exact same fish-out-of-water FMCโ€ฆ the same grumpy MMCโ€ฆ some nearly identical scenes and an absolutely identical final conflict. 

I like where the series is going - and like Lucy Score does, she made me fall madly in love with the other characters who may get their own books. But this felt too familiar, and I definitely noticed.

๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: 4/5 โญโญโญโญ

๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น: 3/5 ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ
emotional funny tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I've loved walking out of the monster realm with Clio Evans and into small town Texas. But you know that couple you realllllllly wait for in a character series? Hunter and Emma are THAT couple for Citrus Cove. And I was down bad for them.

๐Ÿ“• ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Hidden Roots by Clio Evans

๐Ÿ“™ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Citrus Cove character series. Book 3.

๐Ÿ“— ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€: E-book ARC on Kindle. ๐Ÿ†“๏ธ on KU.  

๐Ÿ“˜ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: Small town romance

๐Ÿ“” ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Enemies-to-lovers, meet cute, BDSM vibes, fake engagement, touch her and die, all of the banter.   

๐Ÿ“– ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: Emma and Hunter have hated each other since she tased him on the side of the road when they met. But when her ex husband comes knocking on the door with news of her father's death and asking to rekindle, she tells her ex she's dating Hunter. Hunter? Well, he goes right along with it because he's been secretly obsessed with Emma the entire time.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„: Emma and Hunter have been fire since book one of this series. So I might have begged for this ARC a bit. They really ended up lighting the pages up in flame.

I wasn't sure how this was going to go, but the first paragraph of Hunter's POV had me hooting. Yep, he's OBSESSED with our girl Emma. And he's down BAD. Can't even be in the same room. Compromises his morals. He's been running her dates of for months! This was the kind of surprise that had me clutching my invisible pearls and absolutely excited.

As always, the spice was spicing - including a wonderfully written pegging scene I don't think I am going to forget. I love Clio Evan's ability to create these characters that aren't one dimensional - a small town farmer who is a simp for a woman and willing to throw down, but also man enough to be a switch when he wants to be.

Citrus Cove has been a joy to read - I love how Clio Evans stepped into small town romance, but didn't shy away from bringing her signature sex positivity and high spice to the table with her. 

๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: 4.5/5 โญโญโญโญ

๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น: 4/5 ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ

๐‘ฐ ๐’“๐’†๐’„๐’†๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’… ๐’‚๐’ ๐‘จ๐‘น๐‘ช ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐’Š๐’ ๐’†๐’™๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’‚๐’ ๐’‰๐’๐’๐’†๐’”๐’• ๐’“๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜. 
dark funny sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

So let me be honest. I gave the first book in this series a 2-star rating and went off a bit on it when I read it. I do like dark romance, and I loved the idea of it, but the execution was on that edge of dark romance that I find uncomfortable. But I was out of audiobook ideas, and the second book was available on Hoopla. So I jumped in, and this one wasn't like the first. 

๐Ÿ“• ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: The Pucking Wrong Guy by CR Jane

๐Ÿ“™ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Pucking Wrong character series. Book 2.

๐Ÿ“— ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€: Audiobook on Hoopla. Narrated by Troy Duran and Alexis Page. ๐Ÿ†“๏ธ on KU.

๐Ÿ“˜ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: Dark romance

๐Ÿ“” ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Hockey, himbo MMC, touch her and die, stalking.

๐Ÿ“– ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: Ari and Blake grew up in a group home together, until Blake was adopted. Over a decade later, Blake has escaped a life of expectation and is living in LA, and Ari is playing hockey in the same city. Seems like fate, except Ari orchestrated the trade to make their years-later meet cute happen.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„: So yes, this book still had the stalking. It still had all of the red flags. But Ari Lancaster was like a dark romance golden retriever. He's this silly, funny at times, oblivious himbo who just wants his girl and is going to do anything to get her.

If I wrote out the list of things he did to get her, though, I feel like I would start to question myself for reading this. This book is definitely dark. There's probably a list of triggers, and you should DEFINITELY read them. But if you go in knowing what you're getting, you'll probably feel like it was a fun time. It's not ground breaking, but it was a wild ride, and I will take it.

FWIW, the narration was great, and it made it an easy listen as well.

๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: 4/5 โญโญโญโญ

๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น: 3.5/5 ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ 
adventurous funny tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Normally I'm not out looking for romantasy series to drop in on. I get FOMO and pick up the big ones, and maybe some smaller hit my feed, but its definitely not my biggest subgenre. But Gretchen Powell Fox put up a threads post that immediately god my attention. What if SHE'S the 250-year old shadow wielding fae, and she's always saving him? Ok, girl. Gimme the book. And that Threads post delivered.

๐Ÿ“• ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Smoke and Scar by Gretchen Powell Fox

๐Ÿ“™ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Shattered Crown trilogy. Book 1.

๐Ÿ“— ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€: E-book ARC on Kindle. ๐Ÿ†“๏ธ on KU.

๐Ÿ“˜ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: Fantasy romance

๐Ÿ“” ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Deadly trials, enemies-to-allies-to-lovers, slow burn.

๐Ÿ“– ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: Elyria is tortured by grief from losing her soul mate in The Crucible, a series of trials pitting human and magicfolk against each other in hopes they win the elusive and powerful Crown of Concord. When the Crucible is set to begin again 25 years later, she enters to help save a friend. After the trials are revealed to be structured toward unity of the two realms, she teams up with Cedric, a knight who has trained for the trials his whole life.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„: I always have trouble rating the first book in a trilogy, because to me... book 2 and 3 (especially in this case) are going to be where the REAL fun happens. But I truly enjoyed Smoke and Scar, even with the sky high expectations that Threads post gave me.

The world was an easy learn, and the Crucible trials themselves were exciting. I read through this super quickly, and I was almost surprised I was at the end because it was such a fluid read. The characters were awesome and dynamic, and you truly root for them and grieve when someone doesn't make it - because Gretchen Powell Fox isn't scared of killing off a character. There were a few twists I didn't see coming.

And for those concerned, the ending isn't what I would consider a cliffhanger. It ended where you clearly want more, but you don't feel anxious enough to lose sleep. I can't wait for book two - there's so much I want to learn more about - and it comes out this fall so the wait isn't too long.

I will say a few things - the romance is light, but I was promised it will be much more focused in book 2. It felt consistent with the story - where were Elyria and Cedric going to get it on during an extremely intense set of magical trials? But I wished there was just a little more.

๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: 4/5 โญโญโญโญ

๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น: 0/5

๐‘ฐ ๐’“๐’†๐’„๐’†๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’… ๐’‚๐’ ๐‘จ๐‘น๐‘ช ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐’Š๐’ ๐’†๐’™๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’‚๐’ ๐’‰๐’๐’๐’†๐’”๐’• ๐’“๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜. 
emotional funny inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

*Taps the mic* Ladies and gentleman, I have my first contender for favorite book of the year. 

๐Ÿ“• ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Wild Side by Elsie Silver

๐Ÿ“™ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Rose Hill character series. Book 3. 

๐Ÿ“— ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€: Paperback. ๐Ÿ†“๏ธ on KU.

๐Ÿ“˜ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: Contemporary romance

๐Ÿ“” ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Sports (wrestling), enemies-to-lovers, grief journey, marriage of convenience.

๐Ÿ“– ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: When Tabitha's sister passes, she's left to care for her orphaned son. Until Rhys shows up on her doorstep with a will showing he's been made Milo's guardian. The animosity both originally felt turns to partnership as the pair gets married to help Rhys stay in Canada, and then starts to sizzle into more as they learn to get along.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„: I loved this book. And if you want no details to spoil it (I promise I will only speak in generalities, but still), then all I can say is this was the fastest I read 450 pages this year, and when I put it down I immediately wanted to pick it back up again.

For those of you who like more detailed reviews... It seems like every  new Elsie Silver book unseats the last as my new favorite. But Wild Side feels bigger than that. Admittedly, my husband and our friends all have fun watching wrestling all of the time - just like Elsie did to do research for this book - and it felt like I was immersed in everything I loved... the wrestling excitement, the fantasy, the romance of it all. 

But outside of how it spoke to me personally, this book was impeccably written. The way it opened with such deep emotion, the way Elsie Silver wrote this relationship and the slow burn that made your heart literally ache. The dual POV cemented how both Rhys and Tabitha slowly let down their walls, and very slowly learned to be brave with each other. A few times, I cried. A couple times, I laughed out loud. More than a handful of times, I caught myself grinning like a cheshire cat.

I feel like I owe Elsie Silver a standing ovation for this one. And a big thank you for filling my heart... and, you know, for that mask scene.

๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: 5/5 โญโญโญโญโญ 

๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น: 3.5/5 ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ 
emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Sometimes Iโ€™m all vibes reading. And other times, I feel like I have to get into the thick of it with some critiques. This is one of those times.

๐Ÿ“• ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: The Charlie Method by Elle Kennedy

๐Ÿ“™ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Campus Diaries character series by Elle Kennedy. Book 3.

๐Ÿ“— ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜€: E-book on Kindle. ๐Ÿ†“ on KU.

๐Ÿ“˜ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: College romance

๐Ÿ“” ๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜€: MFM, hockey, opposites attract.

๐Ÿ“– ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€: Charlotte is focusing on graduation and has a lot on her plate when she meets Will and Beckett, who challenge her to get out of her comfort zone.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„:  A lot of people were not into the idea of an MFM book in this series, but I was pumped. Especially since Iโ€™ve been reading Elle Kennedy since before her hockey era and she had some incredible throuples.

But this one fell kind of flat for me. And if Iโ€™m being honest, the two other books in this series suffered from the same issues.

First off, in all of the books thereโ€™s A LOT going on. Thereโ€™s side quests and random characters and each of the main character had highly dramatic stuff going on. It was allโ€ฆ exhausting.

And I say that while also saying none of them were fully developed. Will wants to be in politics but he has no solid conviction or ideals ever in the book. Beckett ends up in ocean preservation without ever talking about it once. And Charlieโ€™s story is full of loose ends. 

So a lot of the wrong stuff, and not a lot of the important stuff.

I had this at a 3.5 until the ending. I wonโ€™t give spoilers away, but it wasnโ€™t anything Iโ€™d hoped it would be. Iโ€™m bummed, to say the least.

๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: 3/5 โญโญโญ

๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น: 3.5/5 ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ