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stephsnextread's Reviews (390)
I really enjoyed this book! It’s a second chance romance combined with a marriage of convenience, which brought out all of the emotions from the main characters, Dani and Wouter. The book effortlessly switches between present day (where Dani has found herself in Amsterdam for work) and the past (when Wouter was a high school exchange student with Dani’s family in California). I loved getting to know their history while simultaneously watching their current story play out. They had a magnetic chemistry that was obvious from the start!
The Amsterdam setting could really be considered its own character. The author did an amazing job describing it in a way that spoke to all of my senses. I especially loved the use of Dutch words and the food descriptions. I definitely recommend this book, especially for anyone looking for a romance that feels like it takes you on a vacation!
Thank you to Rachel Lynn Solomon and Berkley for the gifted e-ARC. All opinions are my own.
Thank you to Rachel Lynn Solomon and Berkley for the gifted e-ARC. All opinions are my own.
Read if you like:
💕 Second chance romance
💕 Marriage of convenience
💕 Forced proximity
💕 Depression and anxiety rep
💕 Picturesque settings
This was such a quick, fun read! I’m not going to give a synopsis (and I recommend going in blind) because the synopsis gives away a lot of the short story. One sentence summary to pique your interest: An actor has a steamy night with a bartender, and then their paths cross again 5 years later in an unexpected way.
I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes peek at Hollywood and the movie industry. I’m a sucker for a serendipitous reconnection, and the two main characters had undeniable chemistry. Even though it is a novella, the plot felt complete and the pacing was great. I recommend this book if you’re looking for a short rom-com. It would be a great book for anyone in a reading slump!
Thank you to Lana Schwartz, 831 Stories, and NetGalley for this e-ARC; all opinions are my own.
Read if you like:
💕 Celebrity romance
💕 Second chance romance
💕 The Great Gatsby
💕 Short rom-coms
Note: This book discusses heavy topics. Please check content warnings if that is something you need.
This was such a unique book! Phoebe has hit rock bottom. The story starts with her arrival at the Cornwall Inn as one last splurge before ending her own life. She does not expect to be the only resort guest who is not attending a wedding. When the bride, Lila, finds out about Phoebe’s plan, she declares that Phoebe will not be ruining her wedding week. Lila decides to include Phoebe in the pre-wedding events, and a friendship starts to develop.
I was so captivated by this book! The characters were all so flawed yet likeable. There was family drama and conflict that kept me reading to find out what would happen next. I loved Phoebe’s character development and who she became in the end. It was a story of friendship, love, starting over, and self-acceptance. Even though it covered heavy topics, this book was funny and hopeful, and I highly recommend it!
This was such a unique book! Phoebe has hit rock bottom. The story starts with her arrival at the Cornwall Inn as one last splurge before ending her own life. She does not expect to be the only resort guest who is not attending a wedding. When the bride, Lila, finds out about Phoebe’s plan, she declares that Phoebe will not be ruining her wedding week. Lila decides to include Phoebe in the pre-wedding events, and a friendship starts to develop.
I was so captivated by this book! The characters were all so flawed yet likeable. There was family drama and conflict that kept me reading to find out what would happen next. I loved Phoebe’s character development and who she became in the end. It was a story of friendship, love, starting over, and self-acceptance. Even though it covered heavy topics, this book was funny and hopeful, and I highly recommend it!
This is the second book in Chloe Liese’s The Wilmot Sisters series of interconnected standalones. This book focuses on Katerina (“Kate”) and Christopher, who have been enemies since sharing a backyard as kids.
There were parts of this book that I really liked and parts that felt off to me. The banter between Kate and Christopher was really good, but I didn’t fully understand why they hated each other so much. Especially when he was basically part of the Wilmot family and no one else seemed to have any negative feelings toward him. There is also a small age gap (I think it’s 6 years), which usually isn’t even noticeable. However, because they’ve known each other so long, Christopher sometimes thinks about memories from when they were really young (like Kate in diapers), which gave me the ick.
As they worked things out, they had really honest and clear communication, which I loved! I also appreciated that they seemed like a good match once they got over their hatred of each other. They seem like a couple that could work in the real world. Overall, I liked this book but not as much as the first one in the series.
Read if you like:
💕 Childhood enemies to lovers
💕 Dual POV
💕 Chronic migraine rep
💕 ADHD rep
There were parts of this book that I really liked and parts that felt off to me. The banter between Kate and Christopher was really good, but I didn’t fully understand why they hated each other so much. Especially when he was basically part of the Wilmot family and no one else seemed to have any negative feelings toward him. There is also a small age gap (I think it’s 6 years), which usually isn’t even noticeable. However, because they’ve known each other so long, Christopher sometimes thinks about memories from when they were really young (like Kate in diapers), which gave me the ick.
As they worked things out, they had really honest and clear communication, which I loved! I also appreciated that they seemed like a good match once they got over their hatred of each other. They seem like a couple that could work in the real world. Overall, I liked this book but not as much as the first one in the series.
Read if you like:
💕 Childhood enemies to lovers
💕 Dual POV
💕 Chronic migraine rep
💕 ADHD rep
This book was a lot of fun! I’ve never read Nisha J. Tuli’s fantasy books, but I thought she did a great job switching genres!
Trishara Malik is an engineer and woman of color in a workplace full of white male privilege and nepotism. This is all the more clear when the promotion that should’ve been hers goes to the boss’s son, Rafe Gallagher. Despite losing her promotion, she is selected as one of two employees from her branch to attend a corporate leadership event in Hawaii. Unfortunately, Rafe is the other employee chosen to attend. When they end up sharing the honeymoon suite because of a booking mistake, Tris learns that Rafe might not be the villain she thought he was.
Tris was such a strong character, not hesitant to stand up for herself. I really appreciated that Tris’s story led to the discussion of racial and gender discrimination in the corporate environment. I started out hating Rafe because of how his family has treated Tris, but he quickly won me over. The banter between the two of them was so much fun. Not only was the romance great, but the character development was amazing too. I was cheering especially hard for Tris at the end!
The audiobook is narrated by Soneela Nankani. Her voice was a perfect match for Tris’s character, and she voiced the other characters well too. I recommend this audiobook for anyone looking for a smart romance book with a glorious tropical setting!
Thank you to Nisha J. Tuli, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for this e-ALC; all opinions are my own.
Read if you like:
💕 Women in STEM
💕 Workplace romance
💕 Rivals to lovers
💕 Forced proximity
Trishara Malik is an engineer and woman of color in a workplace full of white male privilege and nepotism. This is all the more clear when the promotion that should’ve been hers goes to the boss’s son, Rafe Gallagher. Despite losing her promotion, she is selected as one of two employees from her branch to attend a corporate leadership event in Hawaii. Unfortunately, Rafe is the other employee chosen to attend. When they end up sharing the honeymoon suite because of a booking mistake, Tris learns that Rafe might not be the villain she thought he was.
Tris was such a strong character, not hesitant to stand up for herself. I really appreciated that Tris’s story led to the discussion of racial and gender discrimination in the corporate environment. I started out hating Rafe because of how his family has treated Tris, but he quickly won me over. The banter between the two of them was so much fun. Not only was the romance great, but the character development was amazing too. I was cheering especially hard for Tris at the end!
The audiobook is narrated by Soneela Nankani. Her voice was a perfect match for Tris’s character, and she voiced the other characters well too. I recommend this audiobook for anyone looking for a smart romance book with a glorious tropical setting!
Thank you to Nisha J. Tuli, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for this e-ALC; all opinions are my own.
Read if you like:
💕 Women in STEM
💕 Workplace romance
💕 Rivals to lovers
💕 Forced proximity
This book was very entertaining! Ofosua is a Ghanaian heiress who is working in book publishing. She is ready to marry a man who has earned the approval of her overbearing mother, but Ofosua’s Ghanaian wedding crashes and burns, leaving her to figure out what she really wants. Cole Drake, of the Drake family who owns the publishing company Ofosua works for, re-enters her life and gives her a lot to think about.
While this is definitely a romance book, it is a slow burn, and I loved how much of Ofosua’s story is told. She has worked hard to climb the ranks of publishing even though she doesn’t really need the money. She has to manage micro-aggressions and stereotypes at work, and her success speaks for itself. Her mother is such a frustrating character, but I enjoyed watching Ofosua gain the confidence and clarity to stand up to her. I learned so much about Ghanaian culture, especially surrounding weddings and food. The cultural differences between Ofosua and Cole led to a complex exploration of their relationship, and I loved it. I recommend this book for anyone looking for a book that is a bit of a mix of romance and women’s fiction.
Thank you to Nana Malone, Gallery Books, and Valentine PR for this e-ARC; opinions are my own.
Read if you like:
💕 Workplace romance
💕 Enemies-to-lovers
💕 Books about the publishing world
💕 Anxiety rep
💕 Dual POV
I read and loved Meryl Wilsner’s Cleat Cute last year. So when I saw they were releasing a childhood friends-to-lovers (my favorite trope!) with a nonbinary main character, I was so excited! At the beginning of the book, I LOVED it! Ginny and Elsie have been best friends since elementary school, but Elsie doesn’t know that Ginny has been in love with her the whole time. Ginny’s experience of longing for Elsie in high school was so well written, it made my stomach hurt!
Elsie is about to be married, after a proposal that she did not want and her fiancé planning a wedding that she VERY MUCH did not want. Elsie will stand up for everyone but herself, she won’t ask for what SHE wants. Elsie finally takes the first step to getting a life that she actually wants, and she breaks off the engagement. The honeymoon is non-refundable, so it makes sense that Elsie asks Ginny to go with her instead.
The book up to this point was great! But then I felt like it skipped ahead without actually skipping ahead. I wanted all of the in-between from friends to lovers. At the resort, Elsie and Ginny didn’t waste much time before hooking up the first time (and this book is SPICY!). I wanted build up, subtle flirting to see how the other reacts, discussion about feelings, and worry about losing their friendship if it doesn’t work out. Their friendship felt too important to risk it like that without talking about it.
The audiobook is narrated by Blair Baler and Emily Shaw. I thought both narrators did an excellent job, and their voices were distinct for the characters. The audio was well produced and engaging. Overall, I liked the book but it left me wanting more.
Thank you to Meryl Wilsner, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the gifted e-ARC and gifted ALC; all opinions are my own.
Read if you like:
💕 F/NB romance
💕 Childhood friends to lovers
💕 Vacation romance
💕 Lots of spice
I really enjoyed this book! Jo is a founding instructor of Haven, a Peloton-like streaming fitness platform. She has become a celebrity through the platform and she struggles with anxiety, especially the “what if” type. Jo was so relatable and I loved her character, as well as how her anxiety was portrayed. Silas is a journalist who is working on a story about Haven, and he ends up surprising Jo with his authenticity. There is an aspect of Silas withholding some information from Jo in the beginning. I am usually very bothered by the MMC being untruthful to the FMC, but it wasn’t a problem for me in this book. I loved that Jo and Silas developed a true friendship before feelings ever even emerged. Their slow burn was full of great banter, cute adventures around NYC, and true connection.
The audiobook is narrated by Maria Liatis and Kellen Boyle. Both of these narrators were new to me, and they were great! Their voices matched what I imagined for the characters, and they each voiced all of the characters so well. As I read and loved this book with a combination of e-book and audiobook, I recommend it in any format you typically prefer!
Thank you to Ana Holguin, Forever, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for the gifted e-ARC and gifted ALC; all opinions are my own.
Read if you like:
💕 Celebrity fitness instructor FMC x journalist MMC
💕 Group fitness classes
💕 Anxiety rep
💕 Supportive female friendships
💕 Slow burn
💕 Dual POV
There was a lot about this book that I loved. The main characters are in their 40s, and we need more romance books with characters this age! Tanika is a Black woman in a male-dominated field (sports reporting), and she experiences a lot of discrimination in her job due to her age, race, and gender. These sensitive topics were written about so well! The book explores aging as Tanika’s eyesight gets worse and she has to come to terms with it. Tanika also has such a supportive friend group (and I’m really hoping there are books about them to come 🤞🏻). Gideon is a widower and not completely ready to date again, but he just feels a pull to Tanika. He is so thoughtful and kind, and I really loved his story.
While I loved so much about this book and thought it might be a five-star read for a while, as I got further into the book, I thought the characters acted immaturely for two professionals in their 40s. The conflict could have easily been avoided. There is also an extra element (not quite magical realism but close) with special glasses that changes how Tanika sees people. I thought it was interesting, but I didn’t really understand what it added to the plot. Overall, I enjoyed this book and recommend it if you’re looking for a sweet and spicy romance featuring characters who are older than most other romance characters.
Read if you like:
💕 Professional main characters in their 40s
💕 A hint of magical realism
💕 Supportive friend groups
💕 Laugh-out-loud stories
While I loved so much about this book and thought it might be a five-star read for a while, as I got further into the book, I thought the characters acted immaturely for two professionals in their 40s. The conflict could have easily been avoided. There is also an extra element (not quite magical realism but close) with special glasses that changes how Tanika sees people. I thought it was interesting, but I didn’t really understand what it added to the plot. Overall, I enjoyed this book and recommend it if you’re looking for a sweet and spicy romance featuring characters who are older than most other romance characters.
Read if you like:
💕 Professional main characters in their 40s
💕 A hint of magical realism
💕 Supportive friend groups
💕 Laugh-out-loud stories