I adored Lexi and Kirby’s story! This book hit harder than some of Natasha Madison’s other books because of the sensitive topics involved in Lexi’s abusive marriage and Kirby’s childhood. But Natasha Madison handled it so well and delivered a lovely, heartfelt story.
I have personal experience with being isolated from family/friends while in a toxic relationship, so Lexi’s journey back to rediscovering herself really resonated with me. Kirby was the perfect match for her as they started out as friends before becoming anything more. He was patient and kind and supported her from the wings, ultimately giving her the courage to finally leave her situation — without even knowing how much of an impact he had on her life.
Narrators Teddy Hamilton and Stephanie Rose did a great job with this book. Not only were they spectacular with the heavy stuff that both of these characters dealt with, but they perfectly captured the more playful moments between them, like the running dares.
Also, I loved pitbull Ryleigh as Lexi’s divorce attorney and the cameo from Casey Barnes!
I think this book may be one of my favorites in NM’s hockey world! I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Meet Natasha Madison:
When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…
The Way Back to Us by Samantha Christy is OUT NOW!
An accident erased me from his memory.
I vow to make him fall in love with me again.
Blurb
The day my husband died, a piece of me died with him.
It was ripped away by the stone-faced officers sent to my doorstep.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I might get that piece back.
And I was right.
Because, while the man I’ve loved for nearly twenty years isn’t as physically gone as I was led to believe, everything that made him who he was, is.
He’s forgotten everything. The life we shared. The years of infertility we battled. Me.
If I want to save the family we worked so hard to build, I have to show him why he loved me. Why he chose me to be his wife. Why he should choose me again.
What’s more… I have to tell him I’m pregnant and that he has to raise a child he doesn’t know he wanted with a woman he can’t remember loving.
But it’s not long before I discover the missing piece I prayed for might not fit. And that I may not be able to fall back in love with the stranger my husband has become.
The Way Back to Us is a standalone Calloway Creek novel. It’s a small town/second chance/surprise pregnancy/amnesia romance.
Having gotten to know Ava as a friend of the rest of the gang throughout the Calloway Creek books, I have been waiting and waiting for her book. Ava and Trevor’s story was heartbreaking, and Samantha Christy gave one hell of a second-chance romance for this married couple.
Ava and Trevor are childhood sweethearts, and they are less than three weeks from him finishing up his military service when he dies in an IED explosion. Ava thought it was a blessing when she learned that, through a horrible case of mistaken identity, Trevor was actually alive — but the reality is that he has amnesia and no memory of her or their life together.
This story is not a lighthearted, feel-good romance. It is heavy and difficult to read at times because of the emotional toll their situation takes on both characters. As always, SC does a great job of handling the delicate subject material, and these two go on quite the journey as they try to figure out their new normal.
The Way Back To Us is angsty, raw, and emotional, and a beautiful story! I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
They say all is fair in love and war. Clearly, they haven’t met Warner Landers.
The ruthless billionaire had me begging him to spare my family’s restaurant from a buyout. In response, he shamelessly flirted and walked away wearing a smug smirk.
Karma strikes, literally, when he crosses the street.
Unconscious, he’s rushed to the hospital, and for some unknown reason, I’m swept in right after him as if I know this man—or worse, that I’m married to him.
Am I in too much shock to deny the allegation? Yes.
Am I still using his short-term amnesia to my advantage? Absolutely.
Playing the doting wife to a grumpy CEO won’t be easy, but I’m determined to save my family’s livelihood. I just didn’t expect him to be a changed man after the accident. Far graver (for me), the iciness between us begins to thaw, and our fake marriage starts to feel real, making it easy to forget my mission.
When his memory begins to return, so does the truth. We’re at war, and falling for the enemy wasn’t part of the plan.
Love & Warner by S.L. Scott kind of reminded me of the movie While You Were Sleeping. Delaney is trying to convince alphahole billionaire Warner Landers not to sell the property that includes her family’s beloved restaurant when he gets hit by a car crossing a street in New York City. Suddenly, Delaney finds herself along for the ride to the hospital and mistaken for Warner’s wife. And since the accident gave Warner a bit of amnesia, Delaney has the opportunity to continue her ruse and convince the CEO not to sell her family’s building.
But as she takes care of the injured billionaire, lines cross, and feelings start to develop. And then Warner’s memory starts to return….
Suzie wrote a great siow-burn romance as Warner and Delaney started to fall for one another. Even though he suspected she was keeping something big from him (oh, like the fact that she was lying about being his wife!), there were some really sweet and tender moments between the two characters. For a lot of this story, I had to not focus on the lie Delaney was keeping. Even though she was trying to protect her family’s business, she was in the wrong for lying to him the way she was. The hole Delany dug for herself kept getting bigger and bigger as this story progressed, so of course, it was bound to explode spectacularly.
At first glance, Warner is the typical cold, arrogant CEO. But as he began to let his guard down around Delaney, the reader got to see a much different side to the character, who was actually more of a lonely guy living in an ivory tower with little substance in his life that filled his cup. He got that and then some through his relationship with Delaney, and he really changed and grew as a person in this redemption tale.
Overall, this was quite enjoyable. Suzie always delivers.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
A spicy grumpy-sunshine, age-gap, close-proximity romance from USA Today best-selling author Marni Mann …
I’m the mysterious one. The angriest alphahole who never bends. And she’s the woman who will bring me to my knees.
As the executive chef and face of my family’s billion-dollar empire, time is the one luxury I don’t have. With endless responsibilities and nonstop demands, I lost my passion and love for the art of cooking. What used to be my dream job is now my worst nightmare. I was ready to walk away and give up everything we’d built …
Until Alivia happened.
She was supposed to be a temporary diversion so we could satisfy each other’s desires and then never see each other again …
Yet I knew she was different right away. A woman who was my complete opposite, the calm to my storm. The sunshine to my darkness. With a body that left me speechless.
What I didn’t see was how much we both craved a break. Me from a career that would eventually kill me, her from an abusive home life.
When two people in pain connect, an explosion erupts. That was us. All fire and longing, mixed with a genuine need to seek shelter in one another’s arms.
While I’m still savoring the taste of her on my lips, I see her again unexpectedly and wonder … is our connection enough to surpass the secrets between us, or were we only meant to have those two nights together?
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The Mysterious One is Walker Weston’s book, the executive chef in the Weston Group restaurants, and is a sizzling age-gap, forbidden romance.
Suffering from serious burnout, Walker has completely lost his passion for cooking, so his sister Eden sends him off on a staycation at a hotel and makes him install a hookup app. Meanwhile, Alivia needs an escape from her brutal home environment, where she lives with her alcoholic mom and stepdad. Getting matched on the app gives both Alivia and Walker a perfect escape. There’s an insane connection between them and off-the-chart chemistry, but after their time together, they part ways. never having exchanged their actual names. So it’s a shock to both of them when he returns to the restaurant and Alivia is Charred’s newest employee.
Although they both try to fight the connection between them, Alivia soon becomes the only thing Walker looks forward to about being at work. As their bond deepens and they begin a secret relationship, Walker rediscovers his passion for cooking as his love for Alivia grows.
My heart broke for Alivia and all that she had to put up with at home, but I was so happy to see that Walker provided her a safe place to land. Not just emotionally, but a physical environment, as well. He gave her the space and means to pursue her dreams, and I loved what they built together.
This was a lovely addition to The Weston Group series! I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
💓 NINE HOLIDAYS FALLING by ERIN GRAVES IS AVAILABLE NOW💓
Sadie Winslow
I never expected to run into my sister’s ex-boyfriend at that New Year’s Eve party. I should’ve known it was a possibility—I mean, it is his hometown—but I never thought he’d be at THAT party.
Then the Valentine’s date from hell—not even close to his hometown? And the Memorial Day barbecue and Fourth of July festival? What was happening?
It was a surprise when my sister told me they broke up, but I understood after the stories she shared. Now, though? I’m struggling to believe he’s really as bad as she said.
Nothing’s adding up anymore.
Reid Alexander
Running into my ex’s younger sister wasn’t on my bingo card for the year, and if I had my way, I never would have seen her again.
It might not be fair to assume Sadie’s like her sister, but my gut’s been proven wrong before, and I can’t trust it anymore—no matter how much it’s telling me to give Sadie a shot.
But with every run-in, it’s getting harder and harder not to listen. Maybe I was wrong about this particular Winslow sister.
If only I could figure out why she hates me so much…
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars
Nine Holidays Falling was such a cute, feel-good story! Reid and Sadie’s story spans all the holidays throughout the year, as they keep bumping into each other. He is her sister’s ex-boyfriend, and Sadie does not have the best opinion of Reid, thanks to things her sister had told her. As it turns out, Sadie is so very wrong about the Ashford Falls cop!
I really enjoyed seeing the small moments between these two. What starts out as one tension-filled encounter slowly grows into undeniable chemistry and a connection that they just can’t ignore.
Since Reid works with Gage, there are appearances from the other Ashford Falls couples, which was a nice little holiday treat!
I received a complimentary copy and voluntarily left a review.
NYT and USA Today Bestselling author Kaylee Ryan brings you a new standalone series surrounding the Nashville Rampage football team. Follow the Play is a single dad, nanny, friends-to-lovers, forced proximity sports romance.
Baker
Being a single dad was never part of the playbook, but one look at my son and everything changed.
Now football and fatherhood are my whole world—a world that gets turned upside down when my nanny quits two weeks before training camp.
Sloane Peterson runs interference by stepping in to help.
She’s sweet, dependable, and the one woman I shouldn’t want. Not when our lives are so entwined.
But every time she smiles at my son—or me—it gets harder to remember that our little arrangement is only temporary.
Sloane
Taking a short-term nanny gig for Nashville Rampage’s most eligible DILF has disaster written all over it.
But when Daddy Sin is in a bind, I do just that. It keeps me from waiting tables, and his son is the cutest little boy on the planet.
Baker Sinclair is famous, has a body like a Greek god, and when he’s in daddy mode… he’s irresistible. He’s also currently my new boss, and completely forbidden.
The longer I’m in his home, the less this feels like a job.
Because between reading bedtime stories and baking cookies, I can’t imagine my life without them… either of them. Too bad love doesn’t follow lesson plans… or playbooks.
From the moment that Baker found out he was going to be a father, I have been waiting for him to find his mate. Throughout these books, we have seen him be an absolute gem of a dad to baby Camden. I never expected that Corie’s bestie, Sloan, would be the one who turned out to be Baker’s forever, but here we are. And the story was perfect.
Baker is rocking the single dad thing, with the help of his nanny and band of brothers. Camden’s mom is a supermodel that Baker had a one-night stand with, and Natasha has been an absent mother, at best. If you’ve read the other books in this series, you know that Baker wishes things were different for his son as far as having a relationship with his mother goes. So when Cam’s nanny quits because of a family issue, Sloane — a currently out-of-work early childhood teacher — moves in to help out Baker as the new nanny. Suddenly, after being friends for years, Baker and Sloan are seeing each other in a different light, Camden has completely bonded with the new woman in his life, and Baker is realizing just how lonely he’d been.
I loved the slow burn of their romance and how easily it all came together. Months of tender little moments built up before either of them acknowledged that they weren’t just friends anymore before they even had their first kiss. Everything clicked into place, and I loved how drama-free this story was.
I am really hoping that the next book in the series brings us Foster and Amanda, because there is something sketchy about her husband!
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Kaylee Ryan has been crowned the Queen of Swoon by her readers. With nearly fifty romance books under her belt, she’s known for penning happily ever afters with heart. When she’s not writing, you can find her with a book in her hand or hanging out with her family where she resides in her home state of Ohio.
Snowbody Has to Know by Michele Elizabeth is AVAILABLE NOW
BLURB
He wants her heart. She wants his body. But what if the man who believes in forever is the only one who can make her believe too?
Lexi Love? Yeah, no thanks. I’ve seen how that story ends, and it’s never pretty. Keeping things casual means no lies, no heartbreak, no mess. Then Brandon shows up—charming, persistent, and way too good at making me forget why I swore off feelings in the first place. He’s the kind of man who makes forever sound tempting… and that’s exactly why I should stay away.
Brandon I’ve always been a believer—in love, in fate, in finding the one. I just never expected her to be the one woman who doesn’t believe in any of it. Lexi’s a challenge I can’t walk away from. What starts as something physical quickly becomes the thing I can’t stop wanting more of. And the more she fights it, the deeper I fall.
But when the line between fun and forever starts to blur, there’s only one thing we can agree on—snowbody has to know.
Brandon and Lexi’s story was so good! Brandon is Nathan’s brother from Falling Too Soon, and Lexi is Daphne’s best friend. The prologue overlaps with the end of the first book, but it is a standalone story. And to be honest, I think I liked Snowbody Has To Know more!
Brandon and Lexi have insane chemistry. And what starts as a one-night stand becomes a secret situationship for them both. Except that Brandon really likes Lexi, and she has sworn off relationships, having seen the way her mom struggled after her father left when she was very young. So when their friends-with-benefits hookups begin to border on something more, she spirals.
As it turns out, both Brandon and Lexi have abandonment issues, and I thought that Michele Elizabeth handled their mental wellness wonderfully. I was very impressed with how aware Brandon was throughout the whole book about his previous depression and overall mental health. And then, after Lexi hit rock bottom when her feelings for Brandon became too much for her, she really did own up to the self-work she needed to do.
For a relatively new author (this is only her second book), Michele Elizabeth once again delivers a charming, engaging, well-written, and entertaining story. The characters are likable, there’s a clear throughline, and so much growth from both of these characters. Snowbody Has To Know is a bit spicier than Falling Too Soon. And if you like a Hot Santa…. well… don’t miss this one!
I can’t wait to see what Spring brings for Dylan…. and I would love to see Summer bring together the brothers’ dad, Dane, and Lexi’s mom!
I received a complimentary copy and voluntarily left a review.
CHASING HOME by Piper Rayne is now live in Kindle Unlimited and in Audio
It was straight out of a rom-com—until two pink lines changed everything.
Zander Shaw is country music’s hottest star. So, when he singled me out of a packed arena and had me pulled backstage, I should’ve known I wasn’t his forever. One signed NDA later, I was sneaking onto his tour bus, wrapped up in his world, and him. But it ended before it really started when he ghosted me.
Then he shows up on my family’s ranch to film his new music video, a surprise to us both. Now I’m his appointed tour guide around the ranch, stuck sharing all my favorite places with the man who carelessly discarded me.
The more time we spend together, the harder it is to guard my heart because his flirty half-smile makes me forget my anger. But Zander’s made it clear, he’s not looking to ride out into the sunset with anyone.
Which would be fine… if I wasn’t carrying his baby.
I love a tortured hero who doesn’t think he’s deserving of love, and that is exactly what we got with Zander Shaw in Chasing Home! Piper Rayne dropped hints in the last Plain Daisy Ranch book that Romy was knocked up by her mystery man, and in Chasing Home, we get all the details about her fling with country star Zander Shaw…. who happens to have rented out Plain Daisy Ranch to film his next music video.
I adored these two characters and their road to HEA. Poor Zander. A former foster child, he had no idea what to do with all the big feelings he started having for Romy during their secret fling. When he then began spending every day with her at the ranch, he really started spiraling further. And then… And then… Romy shared that they were expecting a baby. I really have to give Zander credit, because he really made an effort to be Romy’s boyfriend, despite not knowing how to really be one. But when the pressures of Zander’s career became too much for him to protect the bubble of happiness he was building with Romy, he freaked out, and it threatened to destroy the life they were building together.
If you love a heartfelt grovel and a hard-won HEA, don’t miss this book. Zander Shaw spent his entire life “chasing a home” and he gets that and then some with Romy and her extended family. Sean Masters and Holly Warden did a wonderful job with this duet narration, perfectly capturing the fun, playful moments between these characters as well as their vulnerable and messy ones.
Bring on Nash and Poppy!
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
He was dating me to save his reputation… but it was all a lie.
From Holt, With Promise, an all-new Fake Dating, Best Friend’s Brother Billionaire romance, and book 3 in the NYC Billionaire Series from bestselling author Brittany Taylor is now available!
He was dating me to save his reputation… but it was all a lie.
I’ve seen the pain love can cause, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake. It’s made me swear off love forever, and now I’m more than content living my quiet life in the big city, with my small group of friends.
Until the night my best friend begs me to help with her fundraising auction.
The winning bidder’s prize?
A date with me.
But when the highest bidder joins me up on stage to claim what he’s now owed, it’s more than just his surprising, electric kiss that catches me off guard.
Turns out my date isn’t just another big city billionaire.
He’s Holt Capuleti.
Owner of Scribe Magazine.
Self-described bachelor.
And my best friend’s older brother.
At first, I refuse to follow through with going on a date… until Holt reveals his true intentions. Reluctantly, I agree to play at being his girlfriend, all to turn the focus of the media attention away from his looming lawsuit.
But once the scandal dies down, and the cameras stop pointing in our direction, we still can’t seem to keep our mouths and hands to ourselves.
Before I realize what’s happened, Holt has managed to break through the walls of my heart, and the longer we keep up the pretense, the more I begin to understand that Holt has secrets of his own—secrets that make him offer me a perfect forever.
But how can I promise him forever in return when I’m not even certain forever exists?
From Holt, With Promise delivers a perfect fake-dating/secret crush romance between Holt and Selene. I love that Holt has been pining for Selene from afar for years, and finally got his chance with her after a charity date auction and a proposal of a fake relationship to help him through a PR scandal.
Both of these characters have some family baggage, and it ends up bonding them in a way. Selene had sworn off relationships (ugh, her background was devastating), and Holt really showed her that she can trust someone else, and that love can be healing. I loved how he became such a safe space for her and how she blossomed as their fake relationship became so much more.
These two characters were magnetic. I’ve always had a soft spot for Asher (since I read Asher and Charleigh’s OG story before the NYC Billionaires series), but Holt is running a close second!
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
First Class Fling took me just over an hour to read. It was a perfect feel-good, no drama, bingeable story.
Rosa is Marcella’s sister from Wistful Whispers, who runs the family restaurant. She’s a workaholic who never makes time for herself, so her family forces her to take a month-long vacation to Barcelona, a city she loved while she was training to be a chef. She meets sommelier Santiago (who knew who she was, having been at her restaurant before) on the plane, and ends up having a whirlwind romance during her four weeks in Spain.
Having spent years building his business, Santiago is looking to settle down a bit more in his life and not live out of a suitcase. So he jumps at the opportunity to show Rosa the Barcelona he was raised in, and they spend four weeks eating and drinking their way through the region. And falling madly in love after just a few days.
Even though this book is a novella, I didn’t feel like the story was rushed. Much like Boarding Pass, the relationship developed naturally between these characters and I very much enjoyed seeing where they went after their meet-cute on the plane.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Meet Kaylene Winter:
Kaylene Winter is an Amazon best-selling author of steamy, contemporary romance.
Each character-driven novel is filled with snappy dialogue, pop-culture references and enough steam to make you fan yourself. Kaylene weaves authenticity, emotion and angst into a turbulent rollercoaster ride of love, passion and soul-searing romance always ending with a delicious HEA.
Kaylene lives in Seattle with her amazing Irish husband and gorgeous Siberian Husky. She loves creating art of all kinds.