Single dad-nanny books really do it for me. And a Hockey sports romance on top of all that? Yes please. This hit all the right buttons. Gru4.75 stars
Single dad-nanny books really do it for me. And a Hockey sports romance on top of all that? Yes please. This hit all the right buttons. Grumpy Goalie widower Will Perry and kindergarten teacher Chloe Knot were adorable. And his little girl Ava was cuteness overload. I loved that she wanted to play Hockey just like her Daddy. ...more
“Is it really you?” I ask into his neck. “Yeah. It’s really me.”
How can something so simple be so perfect? To think I originally 4.5 stars
“Is it really you?” I ask into his neck. “Yeah. It’s really me.”
How can something so simple be so perfect? To think I originally DNF'd this. I'm so glad I went back. Majority of this novella is through email format. That's what initially threw me off. But my absolute weakness is epistolary romances so I had to see how it would play out till the end. I just love that trope so so much. This story covers 10 years of what starts off as an email being accidentally sent to the wrong email address which becomes a yearly tradition between 2 strangers checking in every Valentine's Day only to find each other in real life. So sweet, adorable and feel good. The execution is so straightforward and so simple but worked. I didn't want to say goodbye to these two when they finally just found each other. Their first face to face after she finally figures out it's him? *chef's kiss* I have never swooned harder over a hug. So much meaning punched into just one hug. I felt it....more
So so so much better than Hail Mary (Leo sweetie I'm so sorry you were done dirty). Clay and Giana were a treat. Very adorable. I just really4.5 stars
So so so much better than Hail Mary (Leo sweetie I'm so sorry you were done dirty). Clay and Giana were a treat. Very adorable. I just really wish this author would lay off the 3rd act drama in her books that takes up 100 pages. I'm fine with break ups and conflict but why is it always family drama and adults being so fucking awful and toxic to their kids in Steiner's books? Or whatever 3rd act drama there is, it's always dragged out for much too long IMO. And parents getting excused for abusive behavior to their kids cause they "mean well" and need help isn't it. Absolutely not. Don't care if it's his mom who raised him, that shit with Clay's bitchy conniving ex-girlfriend and her interfering father was ridiculous. But shout out to that breakup scene cause a hero crying because he can't stand hurting the heroine and leaving her? THE ANGST. ❤️ Emotional heroes are my kryptonite. Just hits different....more
“Fadat besham, Asal.” Three words paralyzed me. I am willing to sacrifice myself for you, Honey.
Just so wonderful and feel good.4.75 stars
“Fadat besham, Asal.” Three words paralyzed me. I am willing to sacrifice myself for you, Honey.
Just so wonderful and feel good. A persian flight nurse heroine? I mean come on. I knew I had to give this book a try after learning Layla is Persian and her hero is calling her "asal" in Book 2, that had my antennas go up and eager to go back and read this. I was nervous but I have to give Maggie C. Gates her brownie points for really doing her research with all the details as far as language and customs, either she knows someone Persian who helped her out or she really did her homework. Some things were a bit exaggerated as far as customs go and religious practice and how phrases are used in what context but even so, I was very surprised and impressed by her thoroughness and care.
“But I’m most thankful that you spent your life making your soul just as beautiful. Dooset Daaram, hamsar-am.”
I just love and adore bilingual romances, whisper sweet nothings in my ear in another language and it really does things for me. I mean a hero who learns Farsi to tell the heroine how he feels? COME ON. Heart melting. Ovaries gone. He learned how to make her chai with nabat. This book made me want to squeal out loud like a lunatic. GIVE ME A CALLUM FLETCHER PLEASE. ...more
He stroked her hair and her back, kissed her temple and her cheek. "When you're gone, half of me is gone. Why do ye suppose the firs
3.75 stars
He stroked her hair and her back, kissed her temple and her cheek. "When you're gone, half of me is gone. Why do ye suppose the first thing I do is find ye?"
I just adore this series so much. So much to sink your teeth into. Adventure, family, humor, lowkey magic, suspense, sexual tension, passion and yearning in spades. No one does yearning anymore like Elisa Braden does. While this wasn't my favorite installment, I still had trouble putting it down. Alexander MacPherson and Sabella Lockhart made quite the pair. I loved the whole forbidden/sworn enemy dynamic here with a bitter hollowed-out jaded angry hero pining over the sister of his family's sworn enemy. Kenneth Lockhart terrorized, tortured, falsely imprisoned and nearly killed Alexander's brother Broderick a year ago and nearly killed Alexander too. So the grudge is deep and for good reason. While the already established "I've wanted you for so long" feelings didn't work for me in Campbell's book it worked well here because we actually got to see it play out in real time in Book 2 when Alexander and Sabella meet and the fallout of him nearly getting killed. So that underlying tension has been simmering in the background for two books so it held weight. You feel that anticipation going into this book already. Was there insta-lust and tripping over things quickly to get to a marriage of convenience? Yes. But the sexual tension, pining and chemistry saved it for me. And yes there was a quite lot of tup, tup, tupping. These two are so insatiable and smitten with each other and while I wish some beats played out differently and paced out better, a fun time was had nonetheless. I just loved how obsessed Alexander was with her. He hates that he's wanted her and couldn't have her and thought he lost her to someone else. His desperation in wanting to keep her and fear of losing her was so great to see. There's just something about lovesick obsessed "I'll do anything to keep her" heroes even if they have to play a little dirty to do it. He starts off mean to her because of a misunderstanding but even underneath that bitterness you see how much he worships her. All bark and no bite is the best kind of brooding hero. I mean the switch mode from broodacious rawr! to losing his shit over her getting hurt? Ugh. INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS RIIIIGHT NOW.
“But first, I want to know why ye call me Duchess. Early on, I assumed ye intended to mock me, but I no longer think that’s true.” “Ye should be a duchess,” he answered. “But as ye’re mine, and I cannae offer lofty titles, I call ye what ye are to me—my wife, the mother of my bairns. A woman too fine for aught that’s ordinary.” He shrugged. “Ye’re my Duchess. That simple.”
The weakest points for me were two things. Their first time having sex I didn't really love. I mean it was hot but felt kind of anticlimactic; I didn't love the whole fucking her against a tree for their first time (after all that build up) and to continue to just go at it after finding out she's a virgin without pause was little WTF for me. Considering he thought she was mistress to a man he loathed for 1 whole year, yeah I wanted the coming together to be little more explosive or meaningful or at least freak the fuck out realizing how wrong he was. That moment just lost something for me and fell a little short. And second, the whole random villain conflict and resolution with the bad guy Cromartie in the end with her brother's mistress wasn't great. Considering Cecilia's role in my baby Broderick's downfall in Book 2 I really didn't care for a revisit of this character. I don't care what a sad tragic life she's had, she nearly got my man unalived and mutilated for it. ...more
The perfect nanny/single dad book does not exist. Liz Tomforde: WANNA BET??!
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“I simply stopped running when the t
⚾️ *5 Golden Stars* ⚾️
The perfect nanny/single dad book does not exist. Liz Tomforde: WANNA BET??!
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“I simply stopped running when the two best boys I know caught me.”
Wowie did I love this. Happy New Year to meeee! This was a complete home run and yes I just used a baseball analogy for a baseball book I don't care. lol I need to sue Liz Tomforde for emotional distress. Her books keep stomping on my ovaries, flambéing, frapeying, just kaboom boom booming them to smithereens. ...more
You don’t know me, but you have my husband’s heart.
This book hurt me. In a good way but whew. I would like to sue Jennifer Hartmann for em
You don’t know me, but you have my husband’s heart.
This book hurt me. In a good way but whew. I would like to sue Jennifer Hartmann for emotional distress. My gawd. I don't even know what to say or where to begin but this was such a ride. This is only my second book by her and I love her writing. She really knows how to grab you with her beautiful prose, engaging all 6 senses and emotionally reeling you in. This book made me cry. This touches on quite a few dark themes primarily around mental health and spousal loss so it may not be for everyone. It's about two emotionally vulnerable hurt people finding comfort and hope in each other. Hartmann really knows how to write unique romances that test emotional boundaries and strongly focusing on healing. Her writing really makes you believe in fate. What would you do if you emailed the heart recipient of your late husband's heart? That's exactly the kind of stuff I sign up for. Oh the angst.
Melody. Honestly, her name irritates the fuck out of me. No woman should have a name like music and a face like poetry. She’s a walking contradiction.
The situations Hartmann comes up with and how everything plays out where you are holding your breath waiting for the other shoe to drop is just really mastery level. Yes there is a twist which I won't give away which makes things even more complicated and angsty. I just could not put this book down. Melody March lost the love of her life, her husband Charlie, in a horrific mugging gone wrong when a thief tries to steal her purse during date night. You see the scene play out in the opening of the book and omg the atmosphere Hartmann creates where you see someone's entire happiness and peace ripped away in a matter of minutes in slow motion just grips you by the throat. Like I said this writer engages all your senses and paints a scene so brilliantly. I normally don't love it when a dead spouse takes up emotional space in a book, cause you want that for the hero/heroine right? But lord this made me sob. Flash forward to 9 months later and Melody ends up in a therapy group for suicidal people struggling with mental health. There she meets stoic Parker Denison who is so prickly, mean and bitter. These two form a connection where they just can't stay away from each other. It's like a gravitational pull. The character growth and slow transformation the hero Parker goes through is so stunning. I almost don't want to call this a grumpy x sunshine book because while it is that it's also so much more than that too. You have a deeply scarred man who has walls erected around himself, walls that are covered with barbed wire who doesn't let anyone in, women in particular. He hates women and wants nothing to do with them. (view spoiler)[ As a child Parker was horrifically abused by his alcoholic mother who would burn him with cigarette cherries and beat him and lock him up in his closet for days and starve him. After his mother died he ended up in a foster home with a foster mother who was no better and cruel and kids in that house who bully and abuse him because of his trauma and the scars on his chest. (hide spoiler)] Because of this Parket never takes his shirt off, never been kissed and very little sexual experience. I almost want to call him asexual as he has no desire for sex even though he finds women attractive but he loathes physical contact of any kind. The only person he has in his life and that didn't give up on him is his foster sister Bree. Bree grew up with Parker in that foster house and protected him from neglect and abuse. What was also great were all the relationships and connections that you see water and slowly grow and flourish. Between Parker and Melody, between Parker and his sickly grumpy dog Walden, between Parker and a little lonely boy Owen who he meets at one of his construction jobs. The kinship he forms with that little boy is so touching. Everything feels full circle and fated. Hartmann truly makes you believe in fate and the question what if?.
“You said I look at you like I’m trying to fix you,” she says softly, her eyes scanning my face, searching for a crack. A hole. A way in. “You look at me like you’re trying to break me.”
“You and your smiles…” he says in a low voice.“So damn intrusive.” “Like the sun, right?” My tone is gentle and unoffended as Parker’s jaw tightens, and he whispers back, “That’s right.”
“Dance with me,” I urge him, fumbling for his wet hands and holding them in mine. I swing his arms side to side, shimmying us in a ridiculous series of movements that don’t at all resemble dancing.
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I dip in closer until our noses touch. “I’m falling for you,” I breathe against her lips, almost grazing them. “But I don’t know how to fall without crashing and burning.” Melody makes a sound, a little gasp, her hands rising up to clasp my face again. She arches her body into me, whispering, “I’ll catch you.”
It’s a smile that evaded me for months, one I craved to witness, to experience for myself, and now it’s mine. It’s just another offering of trust he’s given to me. I promise to keep that smile safe.
I let out a choppy sigh, instinctively holding her closer, losing myself in her warmth, in her citrus scent. She’s the only beam of light in this dark room—my only escape. She’s my moon.
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“Melody… you’re my starting point. You’re my turning point.” Pulling her forehead against mine, a strangled sound escapes her, and I finish with conviction, “You’re the whole damn point.” Parker’s starting point is me.
There's just something about emotionally vulnerable characters that hits me in the heart. Parker is very much all bark and bite kind of hero. Someone who has been literally starved from love and affection his whole life to the point he's just given up on life. And when he starts getting that affection and kindness from the heroine he literally doesn't know how to handle it. This isn't just shallow grievances/hangups that you typically see in brooding CR heroes. His insecurities and trauma run deep. He's very much like a wounded animal who is given a life line and struggles to trust in fear of it hurting him. Even hand holding is a whole new experience for him and seeing that inner boy slowly soak it up just makes you want to curl up into a ball and cry. Parker Denison soaking up affection and tenderness is truly a sight to behold. Melody was patient and wonderful with him. A little too patient given how he snarls and pushes her away when he's terrified. But this author's way with writing such an emotional story with layered characters makes you hang in there and root for both characters. I could not pry my fingers off this book because of it. The way these two connect not just emotionally and physically but mentally is nearly poetic.
And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I didn’t fall in love with the wrong heart. I fell in love with the right heart at the right time. I fell in love with Parker Denison.
And I'm just going to pretend that epilogue doesn't exist. I really don't understand the point of writing a beautiful love story where your couple fight to get to their HEA only to (view spoiler)[shove a epilogue in there where one of them dies when they are old and grey. Like....what was the reason?! Yes that's part of life and everyone dies eventually but I really don't want to see it author. It's not romantic, it's morbid and devastating. Because I totally want to see his wife dying in his arms which means he will be all alone until he dies and sees her in heaven. COME ON. This ain't it! If I wanted to read a Nicholas Sparks book for that kind of fuckery I would. (hide spoiler)] Huge pet peeve of mine triggered. It's like dumping a bucket of freezing water over your reader's head. You already did a flash forward to 3 years later in the previous chapter before the epilogue so I really didn't understand why that epilogue was even necessary??? This morbid fascination and interest in doing that to your HEA is beyond me and I will never understand. But aside from that, so good. Highly recommend.
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[Death of first spouse, child abuse, suicide attempt, suicide (of secondary character), self harm. (hide spoiler)]...more
“Say something to me, Philly,” he whispered into her hair. “Anything. Even if it’s only to tell me that I must let you go.”
This was an utt
“Say something to me, Philly,” he whispered into her hair. “Anything. Even if it’s only to tell me that I must let you go.”
This was an utter delight. A closed door romance that actually worked for me. Yay! Finally a winner. This is very much a kissing book and I loved every second of it. A kissing book that made me blush, kick my feet and all gooey inside. This gave me butterflies in it's simplicity yet beautiful connection between hero and heroine. The writing is beautiful. Arthur and Philly were adorable in their tender sincerity. The yearning. My gawd THE YEARNING. Two introverts who hate London city life and much prefer the quiet country. Captain Arthur Heywood once a formidable Captain in the army and sharp shooter is now a shell of the man he once was, with PTSD and his crippling war injuries have left him depressed and closed off to the whole world. Everyone labels him cold, uptight and rude. Yet somehow sweet natured wallflower Phyllida Satterthwaite sees through all that. From the moment these two meet they are drawn to each other.
“You’re so perfect that, when I look at you, I can scarcely believe you’re mine.”
The heroine Philly has Heterochromia, one blue eye and one amber brown eye which has marked her as unique and given her the moniker "the work of art" by the ton. She hates the title and all the attention. She's been forced to move to the city by her uncle after her grandparents who raised her passed. Used to living in her country home Fox Cross with its quaint village and surrounded by nature, the city life is uncomfortable and overwhelming for Philly. Her menagerie of 4 rescue dogs reminded me a bit of Beatrix Hathaway. She has a soft heart and is even kind to people who don't deserve it IMO. What starts off as a marriage of convenience to save her from a marriage to a crazy cruel Duke that her uncle is forcing her into, quickly forms into something stronger and so sweet over time. Seeing both of them shine and grow in their marriage and help each other was very satisfying to see. I want my own brooding Captain who is a bear to everyone but sweet with me to snuggle up to in a country house. ...more
“Maybe that’s part of why loving is frightening. I’d rather pay the price and have you than be invincible because I have nothing.”
If I3.75 stars
“Maybe that’s part of why loving is frightening. I’d rather pay the price and have you than be invincible because I have nothing.”
If I was rating this solely on the couple and their romance alone this would be a 4-5 star, no hesitation. Cord and Anne aka "Annie" (as he loves to call her) were just adorable and all kinds of sweet and wonderful. I especially loved the heroine Anne. She was my kind of heroine in every way, her sweetness, her compassion, her honesty and telling it like it is, her spark and sassy wit, her strength, resilience and courage. I just loved her so much. Cord the outsider Bennett sibling who is half Indian made for a compelling hero, if a bit stubborn in his silent ways but so protective of Anne when a terrible horrific situation forces these two together. But everyone else in this book? Can go to hell. Seriously. The amount of page time, point of view, energy and just straight up patience wasted on awful family members and prejudiced townfolk who refuse to believe the hero and heroine's innocence even when shown proof and witnesses come forward just made certain parts of this book torturous to get through. Because it was so damn repetitive. Cord's brothers Frank and Epriham were insufferable and so were the sisters. They made my head spin in how many times they kept wavering on believing their brother's innocence and believing in his marriage. First they were convinced Cord forced Anne into staying in the marriage and he's just "using her for sex". Then it was Anne would never let a man like Cord touch her much less kiss her! Then it was 'he's just keeping her around out of guilt and he'll get tired of her'. Then it was 'oh he must care for her after all! We were wrong!' Then it was 'he treats her awful'.......Which is it? :/ Is your head spinning like mine was? The contradictory merry go round from the peanut gallery was endless. Also I have never seen siblings so worked up and refusing to believe their own brother's innocence over an incident years ago involving a ranch hand who abused an animal. Yeah because you believe that guy who maimed a horse over your own brother? Please. But we have to sit through these idiots scratching their heads over wondering if they got it wrong this whole time and earning redemption? Fuck that. [image]
“Do you know that every time you look at me like that you erase the hurt of at least a hundred times someone said I wasn’t ladylike enough? You make me feel so—female. I think that must be the way a hungry wolf looks at a lamb.”
I had the same problem with Without Words while the romance was quiet and beautiful, the writing focuses too much on the narration rather than literal action and romance. Ellen O'Connell's writing leans more toward mechanical and telling rather than showing. More was being said than done and that writing style drives me crazy. There was so much telling in this book where I started to skim at the halfway mark. Summarizing events and telling readers about conversations that happened off the page or about conversations readers just saw happen doesn't really add anything to the story and makes the pacing completely stagnant. There were also so many POVs in this that it crowded the book and made the romance feel very secondary especially in the second half. This is a 427 book and 100 pages should have been cut down because of all the excessive secondary conversations taking up page time. So many people talking that didn't need to talk IMO. I don't really need or care to know the POV from all the awful stubborn racist family members who refused to believe the heroine has fallen in love with the biracial hero and wants to stay with him. Who refuse to believe Anne's own father held her prisoner in his house and then let a gang of angry racist men beat her and sexually assault her and nearly kill the hero in the process. Like why did I need to read all their POVs?! I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY THINK. Especially when it takes some of them 427 pages to come around to finally believing the hero isn't so bad or "mean" but still seem completely gobsmacked by the very idea of him having a tender side. It got so ridiculous. Which is another O'Connell writing choice I'm not a fan of, obstinate-to-the-point-of-stupid prejudiced family members getting lengthly POVs and absolution. ...more
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