Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday

Archie and Clementine grew up together but haven't seen each other for about five years. Still, when her father sends him a letter asking for help, Archie is ready to ride to the rescue. He even drags along his two best friends because they're supposed to be on their annual "Earls Trip" (only two of them are earls, one is an heir.) They seem surprisingly okay with detouring their trip to help rescue Clementine who is hell bent on rescuing her sister, Olive. Then all five trundle off to continue on the earls trip. Without chaperones. To a house that has a bunch of bushes in phallic shapes.

I've only read contemporaries by Jenny Holiday and those a generally fairly fun. This book, though historical, still has those contemporary beats. If I had thought or known to expect an overlay of contemporary banter, ideals, and jargon over a historical setting, I think it would have made the book more enjoyable for me.  

Three and a half stars

This book comes out April 23, 2023

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Duke, Actually by Jenny Holiday

I really enjoyed this book because we got to see Maximillian and Dani's relationship go from barely knowing each other, to friends, to lovers, to an HEA that makes sense. Is the book perfect? Maybe not; we could have had a little more resolution with the parents but overall a nice story.

Dani and Max met in the first book in this series (which I did not read and do not feel like I suffered for it.) Dani is the best friend of a cab driver who fell in love with a princess. Max is the heir to a duke and was engaged to said princess. When they met, Max was intrigued. Now in New York, supposedly to find his next fiance, Max finds himself looking for Dani.

Dani isn't sure how this unlikely friendship happened. She did use Max for a work party that her ex was also at (with his twenty-year-old-former-student-new-girlfriend). And now they're talking most nights as the year between Max showed up on her doorstep and the royal wedding that they are the best man and woman for. But that might be more than just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 

Four stars

This book came out November 16, 2021

Follows A Princess for Christmas

Borrowed ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Sandcastle Beach by Jenny Holiday

Maya Mehta and Benjamin "Law" Lawson have been fighting for more years than anyone can remember. It started when they were teens (at least she was) and has carried on into their twenties. As any character in the book (or any reader of the other two books in this series) could fairly easily tell, these two were meant for each other. 

Maya Mehta needs the new grant that the town is offering. She has created a theater group that is just months away from failing. She's hooked a former boy band-er to come and be in her next play but the money would SO come in handy in renovating her falling-apart theater.

Law needs the grant the town is offering. He is third generation operating the family bar and he's ready to expand into a restaurant as well. But he doesn't want to mortgage (and possibly lose) the bar.)

Mirroring the play that Maya is putting on, <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i>, the two find that their squabbling might just be hiding a bigger attraction than either of them realize. The story does get a little hokey in places but previous readers of the series will be familiar with the level of sweetness and be prepared for it. This is my favorite book in the series so far and I am already ready to read the next one.

Three stars

This book comes out March 9th
Follows Paradise Cove
ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Paradise Cove by Jenny Holiday

Being a female doctor is tough. It's a hard world to break into and then there are all of the hours you have to work. That doesn't really make it conducive to having a relationship. Even if you're dating another doctor. Especially if you walk in the door and find said other doctor screwing a resident on your couch. Even more disheartening is realizing that the past few years of your life have been directed by your ex.

Dr. Nora Walsh is dealing with ALL of that. She sees a notice that there is an opening for a small town doctor in Paradise Cove and she decides to take the position but her plan is just to stay for two years, pay off her student debt and save for a house that she can share with her sister. She's not looking for a forever home or a forever love.

For his part, Jake Ramsey is barely even looking for someone to grunt in the general of. He lost his infant son to the flu and his marriage imploded soon after. He barely even wants to talk to the friends he's had since childhood. His life is all about helping out around town and that's what leads him to be one of the first people to meet Nora. They share a pretty intense experience and then... start hanging out. Nora gives him sympathy but not too much and not too little. She's the Baby Bear of sympathy. 

From the beginning, I was really hoping that a particular plot line wouldn't pop up. But it did. While Holiday is an entertaining writer and I am very much looking forward to Maya and Law's story, the end of this book was just a little to fraught to feel like there was a concrete resolution.

This book comes out July 28th

Follows Mermaid Inn

Followed by Sandcastle Beach

ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday

I have enjoyed other books by Ms. Holiday but this one just didn't resonate as well. I think part of the problem was that this took place over a year which should have been great for the relationship development but, instead, we just dipped in and out of different days making it feel a little bit more shallow. And I wish Eve hadn't let Sawyer off so easy for making life decisions for her even if it was "better in the end." That's a BS reason to make decisions for somebody else and that seems to be a theme in romance novels I'm reading lately, men making sweeping life decisions for women because they "know" best. In at least one other book the guy figured out his mistake and I guess Sawyer sort of did but I wish we had seen more.

Two and a half stars
Followed by Paradise Cove
This book came out January 28th, 2020
Borrowed this book from the library
Opinions are my own

Three Little Words by Jenny Holiday

I've been ready to read Gia's book for awhile. She's a jet setting model who seems, in the last few books, that she has something to hide. And she is definitely going through some life changes. About to turn 30, her body just isn't working the same way it used to. It's out of her control. In her control? Getting Wendy's dress from New York to her Florida wedding. So when a storm hits and Gia isn't going to make it on time, she goes nuts.
Bennett Buchanan knows entitlement and isn't impressed by it. But when he realizes he is connected to the woman throwing a hussy fit, he decides to help.
Eventually the two decide to drive to Florida and that means enforced time in close proximity.  And in a romance novel, you can be sure that will lead to an HEA.
Maybe my expectations for this book were too high. I felt like Gia's problem was too quickly solved by Twu Lurv and that the romance between the two felt shallow. I get that they spent a lot of time together but a LOT of that time was spent with misconceptions and irritation rather than dawning feelings of love.

This book comes out January 29th
Three stars
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Merrily Ever After: A Novella by Jenny Holiday

Elise and Jay are perfect for each other. He doesn't want kids and she can't have any. Except, despite all the odds, Elise is pregnant. And she's terrified about what that's going to mean for their relationship.
Jay doesn't know what's going on but he knows that something is up. His normally loving wife isn't responding the way she normally does. How will he react to the news?
I wish that this had been longer. Elise and Jay were presented as a couple at the beginning of the series so we don't know either's back story very well (maybe they were in a different series?) and that would have helped tremendously with this story. I'm still very much looking forward to finding out what is going on with their model friend, Gia.

Three stars
This novella comes out December 4
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley; opinion is my own

It Takes Two by Jenny Holiday

Wendy and her best friend Jane bonded over both losing their fathers at a young age, naming themselves the Lost Girls. Jane definitely had it a little easier with her older brother being there to help out. Of course, that may have also been a detriment since her brother Noah was so unbelievably overprotective. And he still is. Of course, he's also still hot.
Noah didn't want to get sucked into the vortex that is his sister's "low-key" wedding, but he doesn't hat that it's brought him back in the circle with Wendy. He was always attracted to her and that hasn't gone away. She's a lawyer, like him, a runner, like him, and really into baseball, like him (although they don't like the same team.) 
I really liked the first book in this series and this one doesn't quite live up to that but is still good. The ending was definitely over-the-top for me.

Three stars
This book comes out June 21
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley
Follows One and Only

One and Only by Jenny Holiday

Jane Denning is the responsible one in her friend group. It's probably the reason that she's been chosen to babysit the younger brother of her bridezilla friend's fiance. She's not thrilled by that assignment but at least it gets her out of the rest of her bridesmaid's duties.
Cameron MacKinnon is not surprised that his brother's fiancee wants to set Jane on him. He had a pretty wild reputation growing up. But it doesn't mean that he has to sit down and take it. Especially since his list of things to do after being dismissed from the army includes getting laid and Jane keeps preventing that from happening. So, maybe he should focus on her instead...
I liked the building of this relationship. Yes, there were some one dimensional aspects (especially with Cameron) but, overall, we got to know both Jane and Cameron pretty well. We got to see just enough of her friends that there might be more of them in later series (worker girl Wendy and super model Gia) but it wasn't overly heavy in trying to build them up.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out February 27
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley
Followed by It Takes Two