Review— Only You by Melanie Harlow

I really took my time with this one. I thought that meant that it was more of a 4 stars read because I didn’t felt that I had to devour it but Only You was really the perfect romance novel. 

I’ve read several books by this author and I always always enjoy them. They’re not life changing epic love stories but I realized that sometimes you need less intensity and more of a warm beautiful feel good read and she’s perfect at this. This book reminded me of a Nora Ephron movie, it’s set Detroit and it’s really a part of the story. You feel right there with the characters, all of the places mentioned are real. It’s definitely one of the reasons I found this book so charming! 

Emme and Nate had this great connection you feel right from the start. They’ve been sort of friends for three years when the story begins and I really liked the fact that their friendship was sort of recent. It has many advantages for us readers : they care for each other when they get together but they still have things to learn about the other so we sort of get to see their relationship develop, their friendship is kind of unlikely because they’re so different, Emme is bubbly, she’s romantic and fundamentally enthusiastic while Nate is trying very hard at this alpha male thing, he doesn’t believe in relationship, and wants to preserve his bachelor lifestyle at all cost. Despite those fundamental differences they have fun together, they really like each other but there’s still this delicious banter we so enjoy from our beloved romance novel couples. When they get together we don’t have to deal with the usual friends to lover angst, they don’t spend the entire book feeling bad about it or fearing that it might end their lifelong friendship because even though they’re really good friends it’s nothing sacred for them .
I liked that because the story we get instead is much more interesting : Nate has to deal with the changes in his life since he found out that he’s a father, his relationship with Emme is a big deal but because of this life changing matter he kind of doesn’t see it coming and it’s the same for Emme she’s helping him so she gets to work on herself and live in the moment instead wondering about the future, marriage and kids and all of the things that ruined her previous relationships. 
This is the reason this book is perfect, the relationship just work, the romance is delicious with just the right amount of angst. The pace and the structure are perfect, I had to DNF a pretty good book because of the dreadful structure so it felt great to read a book with a perfectly fleshed out story. 

So ok this book might not have dragons and angst lava but it still deserves 5 Only you Always you stars!

5 stars 

Amazon Global

Continue reading →

Review— The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

FAKE DATING WITH A TWIST!

I loved this cute romance novel! Jasmine Guillory took one of the most overused romance trope and wrote a unique and realistic story. 

THE MOST NATURAL, LOVELY CHEMISTRY!
Alexa and Drew were delightful together. They had one of the best meet cute EVER, once I finished that scene I just knew they were IT for each other. It was the most natural, lovely chemistry. You could just tell that they had FUN together and I loved that. So much fun that it made total sense for them to try a long distance relationship. It's probably this aspect of the story that kept me invested . So often when a romance novelist use the fake dating trope it last for the entire book and imo it's not the most interesting choice, when the book is over i'm never totally convinced by the HEA unless they're a big fat epilogue to make up for it. Here you get the comedy of a fake wedding date but you also get to experience what happens after it, when they're back to reality and in their case reality means self-doubt, flying every week end, missing each other, falling in love, fighting and REALLY getting to know the other. 


They were much more than a sexy pairing, Drew and Alexa really cared about each other. They were interested in each other beyond sex and even when they were struggling to define their relationship you could feel that what they had was special. One of my favorite thing was how supportive they were when it came to their respective careers. They're both passionate about their work and it was nice that even though they worked in totally different environment they both cared enough to ask how the other was doing, to ask about specific projects or patients in Drew's case.

A RELATABLE COUPLE !
Jasmine Guillory said that she wanted to write a romance with characters that look like her friends, live in big cities, had careers they're really invested in and all of this trully made the book for me. Alexa work for her city and she had a particular project that she was passionate about, I don't want to reveal it because it's one of my favorite storyline in this book, but the fact that Drew kept asking her about it really solidified their relationship for me.

Some people prefer when fictional interracial couple don't talk about race and don't make a big deal of it I personally don't agree, I think it's great that Alexa was scared to ruin everything by talking about their relationship status but never compromised when it came to this. She was NOT afraid to confront him about his privilege as a white man, she didn't hesitate to ask him if there would be any black or poc guests at the wedding and Drew was never defensive or made her feel like he wanted to avoid the topic or like he had nothing to learn from her. I think it SUPER important to represent that kind of healthy dynamic in an interracial because it's cool to be attracted and fall in love with a black/poc but some people don't want to deal with our struggle or hear about it and that's just toxic imo especially when these people end up with black kids and refuse to hear that they'll experience things differently and that at some point they WILL have to have THE talk.

The Wedding Date is an absolute GEM, I just know that it'll be one of the best books of this year. Even though i'm unapologetic about my preference for this genre, this book is much more than a romance, it's a love story, it has an amazing cast of secondary characters and compelling relevant storylines. I'm gonna campain HARD for the Choice Awards this year, move over Colleen Hoover!

Continue reading →

Review — Sex, Not Love by Vi Keland

I've never read a bad book from Vi Keeland, she's a great writer but what I like the most about her stories is that they're always unique and it never feels forced. Here we have a really unconventional family, Natalia, the heroine is in her late twenties and has physical custody of her teenage stepdaughter, this sounds crazy when you read it but she managed to make it work and I think it's probably the best part of this story.

Hunter and Natalia were perfect for each other, at first I was a little scared about Hunter because he was a little too persistant but there's a moment that convinced me that he was a really good man and not just a cocky bastard. He's definitely book boyfriend material ! 

I won't say more about the book because it could really ruin your experience, just read it! It's a great read for those who like romantic comedies with some drama elements.

4 stars

Amazon Global

Continue reading →