Temptation on Ocean Drive by Jennifer Probst

Bella Sunshine has been singularly slow on the uptake where Gabe Garcia is concerned. Yes, he's invaluable to the family company of wedding planning. But, first she assumed he was gay, then she believed the gossip about his dating habits. She's also made little remarks here and there that show that she doesn't think of him as anything but a playboy. Which is a shame because Gabe is in love not only with Bella but with her little girl Zoe as well. He's finally brave enough to make his move, but will Bella be able to make hers?
Like the first book, I felt like there could have been a little bit more introspection from one of the characters. I also wish we had seen more of Gabe -- he was just a little too perfect.

Three stars
Follows Love on Beach Avenue
Followed by Forever in Cape May
This book came out August 25th, 2020
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

First Comes Like by Alisha Rai

Jia Ahmed is on top of the world. Or at least her social media feed says so. In truth, she feels old. She was an early influencer and is now feeling like all of her best ideas are behind her. While recovering from a recent illness, she reconnected with a man she met online, a soap opera star who is part of a Bollywood dynasty. He's recently been put off meeting her but she knows that he's in the States and is going to a party as a part of the role he took on a US TV show. So, she decides to go. But the man, Dev Dixit, doesn't seem to want to acknowledge her at all.

Dev isn't sure who the beautiful woman is who approaches him at a party but she seems to know him. He is astonished when she runs away. But he ends up tracking her down (which, it's built into the story that he would leave her be if she had said so, but she doesn't, so not as creepy as it could have been - a sign of Rai's mastery.) Through an odd series of events, they end up pretending that they are in a relationship. 

I really, really liked watching the relationship between Jia and Dev develop. They are both so aware of each others feelings (sometimes the feelings are misinterpreted but they are at least aware) and both just want the other to be happy so each works toward finding that goal for the other.

Four stars
Follows Girl Gone Viral
This book comes out February 16th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins and Edelweiss Plus
Opinions are my own

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

I've had this book on my shelf for a REALLY long time. I finally started it and was surprised how readable it ended up being. After all, it is LIT-erature. Classics and readability don't always go together. And the out of order storytelling became a little hard to follow in places but overall, the story of Tomas and Tereza as well as some side characters including Tomas's side piece.

Three stars
This book came out in 1984
Hard copy I didn't keep
Opinions are my own

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Samantha Chase

This book is a prime example of why I started tagging books fast, fun, and fluffy. Not a LOT of character development, and, when it happens, it's sort of in a rush at the end. But it's still a fun story and is perfect for escaping the world for awhile.
Hunter Jones has a little boy but the boy's mother has been pulling away more and more, taking less and less care of the child. Now she's disappeared completely and he's not sure what to do. He's definitely not prepared to have some unknown woman yelling at him.
Violet Drake grew up with an unreliable parent before being stuck into foster care. She has no use for people who have children but can't take care of them. Normally a travel writer, Violet is just in Magnolia Sound to help her super-pregnant friend until her husband comes back on leave. Violet is definitely not expecting to fall in love twice. Once with Hunter and once with his son.
There were definitely too many misunderstandings at the end of the story.

Three stars
Follows And Then One Day

Followed by Last Beautiful Girl
This book came out August 10th, 2020
Borrowed as ebook from the library
Opinions are my own

We Need to Talk by Celeste Headlee

Interweaving her own experiences with harder research, Headlee teaches us how to better communicate. Of course, a lot of it comes down to listening. But there is a lot that has to do with empathy for... well, everyone. Or mostly everyone. She is a radio host and did interviews for a living so the audiobook is quite delightful to listen to. However, I think that much of this information could be gleaned from the TedTalk that Headlee based the book off of. If you want to get down to the nitty gritty, I suggest finding that. If you like your information a little more filled out, this is going to be the place to come to.

Three stars

This book came out September 19th, 2017
Borrowed this as an audiobook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Considering Kate by Nora Roberts

Kate Kimball has been on the greatest stages of the world. But she is done with the world of ballet; she just wants to retire home in West Virginia and open up a school. First, she will need to have her building renovated. But Brody O'Connell, her contractor, is infuriating. And handsome. And a good dad to his son.
Brody doesn't want to deal with a stuck-up woman like Kate. His wife was a woman from that world and her family turned their backs on her when she married Brody. But she is different. Decisive as well as beautiful and she fits so perfectly into his life.
This book very much mirrors the first book in the series down to the misunderstandings that occur when our protagonists meet. The frills are different and Katie is much more forward than her mother was but quite a bit of overlap that some readers may not enjoy.

Three stars
This book came out February 1st, 2001
Follows Waiting for Nick
Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary
Opinions are my own

The Vineyard at Painted Moon by Susan Mallery

 If you looked at it from the outside, Mackenzie Dienes really does seem to have it all. A job she adores, a handsome husband, and a family that has welcomed this orphan into their ranks. But if you look a little harder, you'll see that there are cracks in the perfection. Yes, she has been working her ass off to develop the family's wines but there always seems to be something keeping her from truly becoming a part of the family legacy. Then there's the fact that she and her husband haven't really been together in years. And she is somewhat doubting whether it was ever truly a love match. 

When she has the chance to reach for her dreams, it threatens to upend her entire life.  

Like many of Mallery's non-series books of late, this book is a little lighter on the romance and more on the plot development. Even with the plot development, the book was a slooooooow build and I kept putting the book down and picking it up again trying to figure out why we needed exactly so much back story. I wish we could have learned more about some of the other characters - the main focus was on Mackenzie with a bit more about her best friend/sister-in-law Stephanie. It did eventually pay off with a satisfying ending.

Three stars
This book comes out February 9th

ARC kindly provided by HQN and NetGalley

Opinions are my own