Bringing Down the House by A.R. Casella

We've seen Nicole and gotten glimpses of Damien in earlier books in the series. This fits in the series chronologically, at least I think, a bit before the previously released book because Damien and Nicole were already married and this is the story of them meeting.

Nicole is in HR but she's just a little... off-beat, which can be detrimental in her line of work. But she just accept a new job in a little theater. And the main male actor is HAWT. There is an immediate attraction but the two also cross over when a man Nicole is trailing to prove that he is cheating is also being tailed by Damien. 

As usual in a Casella book, it all goes a little crazy from there but it is a fun ride (as along as you are willing to wildly suspend your disbelief.)

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 10, 2022

Follows Matchmaking Mischief

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Matchmaking Mischief by A.R. Casella, Denise Grover Swank

I liked Willow, the sunshine-y baker, and I liked Alex, who was maybe a little bit of a grumpy/brooding writer, but I missed any sense of chemistry between them. Like most of the Bad Luck Club series, this book was fast, fun, and fluffy but the enjoyment was more in the friendships and the matchmaking than in the romance.

Alex met previous heroine Molly at a writer's retreat and she convinced him to come down to Asheville and live with Bear. She assured him that his writer's block would be solved. Instead, he gets caught up with Willow and her matchmaking antics.

Willow left her hometown and her family's legacy but can't help herself in trying to match up couples. Alex accidentally distracts one of the matches and she yells at him. Of course, out of character for the sunshine one. He is bemused at first but then decides to join Team Sunshine and starts working to get at least two of our favorite characters from the series together.

Three stars

This book came out

Follows Fraudulently Ever After

Followed by Bringing Down the House

Followed by new series starter Matchmaking the Billionaire

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Fraudulently Ever After by A.R. Casella, Denise Grover Swank

Zach Littlefield, of the banking Littlefields, needs a date to his brother's engagement party and one night, while extremely drunk, decides to start interviewing women to be his fake date for dinner. 

Tina DiVirgilio needs money. Her third roommate moved out and she and Harry need someone else to move in so they can keep their place. While they both have friends and family who would be happy to help, neither is eager to rush in. Fake-dating Zach will kill two birds with one stone - it will also fulfill the terms of the Bad Luck Club's offshoot. See, she was cursed by an Italian grandmother when she was nineteen. She will be doomed to fulfill romance tropes but never find true love. And so far, that is proving true. Her "Greek Chorus" (three friends trying to help her out) want her to get out there and date someone with as many tropes as possible to try to get over her hurt and prove that the curse isn't real. Zach actually ticks off a number of tropes.

It's an interesting story that's really cute with the zaniness you'd expect from these writers and sets up a number of other possibilities (Tina's ex, the billionaire Rory who is probably going to be paired up with one of Willow's sisters who run a matchmaking agency, Willow, who is moving back to Asheville, the mysterious writer who was on Molly's book retreat who is now moving to Asheville to live with Bear, Zach's sister Kennedy who will have a great love but not any time soon etc. etc.

Tina is Dylan's little sister from Luck of the Draw.

Four stars

Follows Jingle Bell Hell

Followed by Matchmaking Mischief

Related to Luck of the Draw

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Love at First Hate by A.R. Casella

In previous books in the series, we were introduced to the Bad Luck Club. This was for the people who seemed to have more bad luck than good but who were actively working to make a change. Blue, a previous heroine, even graduated. But it seems that one of the members has written a book about the club claiming that she founded it. And new Bad Luck Clubs are popping up all over. But was she really the inspiration?

Molly O'Shea is ready to jump-start her career. She's just lost her job at a dating blog site and is back in Asheville to watch her sister's dogs while her sister is on a babymoon. What else does she have to do? But this reveal about the BLC might get her going in a different direction, more in line with what she wants to do. Too bad that researching the club might ruin what could have been a great relationship with Caleb "Cal" Reynolds. Because picking at the secrets of the club mean picking at the secrets of Cal's past. And he doesn't want those secrets to resurface.

I really liked that Molly came clean with Cal early in the book. I was getting some definite squick from the idea that she might lie to him about why she was getting in touch.

Four stars

This book came out August 12th, 2021

Follows Luck of the Draw (Asheville Brewery series)

Followed by Jingle Bell Hell

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own