Luke, book three in Con Riley’s Learning to Love series, is a beautiful and powerful second-chance, friends-to-lovers story full of the exactly the sort of emotional soul-searching and insight I’ve come to expect and enjoy from this author. As in the other books in the series, the glorious Cornish settings are vividly described and the…
The plot of In Search of a Prince is a twist on the classic story of Cinderella. In this case, a young woman discovers she is heiress to a royal throne in a faraway country, travels there to explore her options, and falls in love. The country is a West African island nation, and In…
Jenny Holiday calls Duke Actually and its predecessor, A Princess for Christmas, her “Hallmark Christmas movie in book form except with sex and swearing” series. It’s quite apt: like a Hallmark movie, this book has plenty of cheer. Dani, an English professor in New York, would rather be a writer. She would also rather be…
The Royals Next Door is sweet and funny, but it also has body and substance. It starts out as extremely fluffy and lighthearted – very much a beach-read – but then it hits you with some surprising depth and truth. You might have to adjust your expectations with this one, but it’s worth the ride….
I’ve often heard/read authors say – ‘this character just took over my brain and demanded their own book’. I don’t know if that’s what happened to Con Riley when she created Charles Heppel, a major secondary character in His Haven, but whatever the case, he’s one of those characters. Vibrant, funny, larger-than-life and a complete…
People We Meet on Vacation is a novel about a wanderer and a homebody, and how their friendship changes through a dozen years of summer trips. Poppy and Alex have been best friends since college, despite being an odd couple pairing. Poppy wears loud clothes and desires adventure, and Alex is a sweet grump who…
The Moonlight School is a prettily written if occasionally predictable inspy with a heart of gold. Its feeling for life in the Kentucky hills alone is worth the price of admission. Lucille – Lucy – Wilson carries an ugly, heavy burden with her. When she was a little girl, it had been her job to…
Olivia Dade’s Marysburg series stars older teachers (all characters are forty-somethings) in workplace romances. This anthology contains three novellas: Sweetest in the Gale (in its first release), and reprints of Unraveled (originally from the anthology He’s Come Undone) and Cover Me (from the anthology Rogue Acts). All three stories are heartfelt and enjoyable, and if…
I’ve been a fan of Lauren Layne ever since I read Only With You back in 2014. (According to Goodreads, I’ve read seventeen of the author’s books which is a good indication that she a) writes a lot and b) is one of the authors whose new releases will generally catch my attention). But I…
I’m still happily working through my TBR pile and have across another winner! Tiny Imperfections is a delight of a book set in the cut-throat world of West Coast kindergarten admissions! Who knew?? In the quiet Midwest kids pretty much just go to the local school. But in San Francisco, where you go to kindergarten…