Hooked On Hollywood by Mia Summers

Ryan Jones has a bad reputation in Hollywood after he went off on a director and it was captured on someone's phone. Of course, it spread like wildfire. Now he's gone back to his hometown to lick his wounds. It's not like he really enjoys the limelight anyway. Plus, he's going to help raise money for his local theater run by his first acting coach. He doesn't expect to be put up for auction, nor to be won by Olivia Bloom with whom he had his first dance (one he still apparently talks about.)

Olivia isn't expecting to win the dinner. She used to have the mother of all crushes on Ryan but that love died when she saw the infamous video. She also didn't expect to spend the dinner handcuffed to Ryan. She definitely didn't expect for the key to be lost and the replacement won't be back for almost a week. Suddenly, she's spending 24/7 with the man she now despises, taking turns covering ears while the other person uses the restroom, and trying to get dressed with one hand not available.

This was an okay story but I got a little tired of the back and forth. For supposedly mature people these two sure argued like children. Also, Olivia never just asked Ryan what had happened with the video. I also wasn't sure how the two of them were going to have an HEA as their relationship didn't seem to have a lot of the depth you'd need for longevity. 

Three stars

This book came out September 26, 2023

ARC kindly provided by Sterling & Stone and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

How to Fake-Date a Vampire by Linsey Hall

Emma Willowby has been trying to break into the local coven for awhile now. She grew up without a group or family to call her own so she's trying to find her place. One of her problems is that she hasn't quite figured out what her magic actually is yet so she can't really judge her own strengths. Something that would definitely get her into the coven would be successfully planning and pulling off the Beltane Ball but, in order to be chosen as the planner, she needs a venue. The most fabulous venue around would be the local duke's estate. But she'll need his buy-in and he's notoriously hard to get a hold of. 
Alaric is bemused by the woman that he meets first in the local pub's men's bathroom, then as the goat she is working on training headbutts him. She is refreshing, unique, and doesn't seem to be entranced by his title or his pots of money. So when his grandmother, who has been looking rather worn lately, asks about his fiancee, Alaric sees Emma as his perfect chance to make his grandmother happy. 
There are, of course, the requisite misunderstandings and deceptions around a fake relationship. There is also the last Big Misunderstanding which is blessedly short but a little out of left field. I think a number of people will make note of the fact that the title of this book has the word "vampire" in it but, other than the fact that they live the same number of years as humans and drink blood in their dinner drinks, we don't get to learn much about the lore of vampires in Hall's world which is disappointing. 

Three stars

This book comes out August 31, 2023

Follows The Modern Girl's Guide to Magic

ARC kindly provided by Bonnie Doon Press

Opinions are my own

The Modern Girl's Guide to Magic by Linsey Hall

This was a nice start to what I assume is going to be a series. If it's not, it was still a nice book. There could have been more between the two main characters. When I closed the book there didn't seem to be much other than he was hot and he's been attracted to her since she was seventeen but I was okay with it. 

Aria is moving back to her home town. London was an okay escape for awhile but her latest job has gone bust and it works out that she's been invited to participate in a contest to take over the local gardens. She needs to win; this is the garden that supplies her grandmother's potion store. Do you know how hard it is to find a supplier these days?

Callan has also been invited to compete. His face graces the covers of many magazines in the witching world. He's handsome and rich, the right combination to break any number of hearts. Except Aria's, he broke hers many years ago when one of his projects means she can no longer connect to her grandfather. 

In the very first round, Aria and Callan are paired up. While working together, she discovers more about him and a lot about herself. But I didn't feel like we learned a lot about Callan. He could have been fleshed out a little more but the story was overall just very charming. 

Four stars
This book comes out June 2, 2023

Followed by How to Fake-Date a Vampire

ARC kindly provided by Bonnie Doon Press

Opinions are my own

What the Hex by Jessica Clare

We knew from the first book in this series that Penny was anxious to be a familiar. So anxious that she might be willing to go to some unusual measures, like working with a wizard who is definitely NOT supposed to have a familiar.

Willem isn't sure about Penny. She's definitely a sunshine to his grumpy. But she's beginning to grow on him. Even her quirky pet is becoming more cute and less annoying. 

Good freaking lord. Why is WTF spelled out? And it's used so many times. So. Many. Times. I also wish that the love hadn't been quite so insta, that we had seem more of a relationship develop. And I didn't like the ending. Penny has been wishing for one thing her whole life and now she's being prevented from doing it. 

Three stars

This book came out April 19, 2022

Follows Go Hex Yourself

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Witcha Gonna Do? by Avery Flynn

Matilda "Tilda" Sherwood is the black sheep of her witchy family, the only one without magical power, an outré. When the book opens, she is sitting in a cafe, waiting for her date from a matchmaker to show up. Her three-hundred-yearl-old sprite matchmaker had even instructed her to sit under the dragon's blood tree in the corner, the one with really gummy leaves, yes, the one that seems to want to be near Tilda. Tilda's just hoping that this blind date is not her nemesis (somehow they've been set up three times already...) but, alas, it seems she is to be disappointed. 

Gil Connolly is playing a long con. He's a part of the Council but also the Resistance. The Council is a secret (even from the witches) society that seem to believe that Tilda is faking her non-magicalness. So, Gil is setting up these dates in order to see if he can figure out her deal. Too bad it seems like it may be that her deal is setting his own magic, calling out the desires of people whether it be wealth, knowledge, power, whatever, on fire. 

In general, this hits about the same as Flynn's usual stories but with a paranormal twist. This book starts and ends as though Matilda is speaking straight to the reader which was a little odd since the rest of the book is alternating first person for Matilda and Gil. This book also sets up at least three more in the series as the epilogue is five years later and lets us know how everything (overall) turns out. Otherwise, this was a first book and there was so much going on in trying to set up the world and the characters that it got a little confusing. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out December 6, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Runaway Groomsman by Meghan Quinn

I generally like Quinn books but there always hits some point where I wonder why I'm finishing a book. For me, it was about 60% through this book and Fallon was still with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend who isn't the hero. The overall book was fine and I really enjoyed Quinn's representation of living with a family member who suffers from Alzheimers but... ugh. I wish there had been more time seeing Fallon and Sawyer navigating their relationship. 

Just about a year ago, Fallon went on a blind date with Sawyer, just after his last girlfriend had left him for his best friend. Now, he's in small-town Canoodle, California and doesn't remember her at all. That's fine, she's too busy taking care of her grandfather and trying to put their family cabins back into repair.

Sawyer is a screenwriter. He writes something that sounds like a Hallmark romance. But he hasn't felt very romantic since his girlfriend and best friend fell in love on the last movie set. And then his studio strong armed him into pretending to be okay with it. At their wedding, he snaps and runs away, ending up in Canoodle.  

Three and a half stars

This book comes out October 11, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Montlake and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

Our favorite crime-solving team is back and once again under threat. This time, Elizabeth is picked up from a walk with Stephen (who is picked up along with her.) A mysterious Swede (quickly dubbed The Viking) wants her to kill a man she once knew. She's not sure how well she knew Viktor Illyich but he's pretty sure they were VERY good friends. But she's told that it's either killing Viktor or The Viking will send him information which will cause him to kill Joyce. 

While Elizabeth is struggling with that problem, the rest of the club is working on a nearly ten-year-old murder. This one is focused around newscaster Bethany Waites. She was on the trail of a big story when her car was pushed over a cliff. Her body was never found but that was not unusual in the place where her car went over.

Like the other books in this series, lots of twists and turns and a series of unexpected endings. Not everything in the end will be good news and I did tear up while listening. 

The narrator for the book was absolutely fabulous and I am leaning more toward listening to the rest of this series than reading it in the future.

Four and a half stars

This book came out September 15, 2022

Follows The Man Who Died Twice

Followed by The Last Devil to Die

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Humbugged by Pippa Grant and Lili Valente

I think it is probably better to read all of the books in this series closer together. I've forgotten some of the names and it made it hard to keep track of everyone. Also, the nutiness of a Grant and Valente book is better when it's sustained, still enjoyable when broken up, but better as one book after another. I liked that Grant set up a way for the two to have an HEA but I'm on a string of woman-giving-up-her-life-for-her-man books and I just wish one, ONE, were different. 

Noelle is a Marine Corps brat who was also a traveling photographer but she never managed to break into the big leagues. So she settled down in Atlanta with a "young Santa" and thought she was living her HEA. But then, just days before a romantic trip, he ghosted her. And took her favorite coffee mug. So, even though she attracted to the younger man, Clint, she is trying to put down roots in her new hometown, Happy Cat, and open a bakery devoted to cupcakes. It's just too bad that msot of her creations seem to be going wrong.

Clint is a fun-loving, over-the-top, Marine who truly believes he is a hero. And he is for a lot of people and especially Noelle. He is pretty much halfway in love (or at least to this reader's eyes) with the woman and doesn't even mind the ribbing he gets from his brothers on that score. He knows that she's been burned before but he's already all in on trying to make her change her mind. And good for her for calling him on it. But they do eventually figure out their relationship and make it work. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out December 10, 2019

Follows Hitched

Opinions are my own

The Grumpy Player Next Door by Pippa Grant

Tillie Jean Rock is the sister of baseball superstar (well, at least he's really well known in Copper Valley) Cooper Rock. She got involved with one of his teammates ONCE and now her brother is paranoid about her seeing anyone else. Sure, she flirts with most of them but they all know it's not serious. The only one who might reasonably hold her interest is Max Cole but he's avoiding her because Cooper is his best friend on the team and he doesn't want to screw up that relationship. Plus, he had a really complicated childhood and doesn't want to inflict his angst on to anyone else. 

But Max has moved next door to Tillie Jean in the off season and suddenly the close proximity means all bets are off...

One of my least favorite tropes is the "we can't date because you're my sibling's friend." And this book leans hard into Cooper not taking their relationship well. Grant tries to turn it around and make the prank war between Tillie Jean and her siblings amp up because of it but it didn't really click for me. Also, I never really saw that Max was trying to work through his issues with romance. In a romance novel. I wish we had seen more introspection and working toward healing from his crappy childhood but it mostly seemed magically resolved. 

Three stars

This book came out July 8th, 2021

Follows Real Fake Love

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Hitched by Pippa Grant and Lili Valente

Blake and Hope were introduced in the previous book in this series. They obviously have good chemistry but Hope doesn't believe that to be enough. Her parents' marriage is proof that no one should ever get married. But her grandmother's will leaves a valuable alpaca to whichever of her grandchildren get married first. And Hope's cousin has already found a willing candidate off Tinder. Blake is not her first choice. Or her second or even her third. He's far down the list and she only calls him when her first option craps out and no one else interested. But Hope has something that Blake wants; she can help him get a liquor license for his winery ahead of opening which will make or break his work.
For his part, Blake is only too willing to play along. Except that he knows something that Hope doesn't, he still loves her and is ready to do whatever it takes to win her heart for good.
Not quite as good as the first two but still a fun book.

Three and a half stars
Follows Hammered

Followed by Humbugged
This book came out September 3rd, 2019
Borrowed book from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Hammered by Pippa Grant

Jace O'Dell has been in an on-again/off-again relationship with kindergarten teacher Ginger for a long time. We know from the first book that he has a history of picking women who chew him up and spit him out. Ginger is no different. And Jace is ready to be done with her. He's met a woman who is much more interesting, with whom he has more chemistry, and who actually seems to want him, Olivia Moonbeam. But Ginger has some news for him, she's pregnant and she wants to get married.
Look, I get that this is the south, but that doesn't mean that they have to get married, just because there's a kid involved. If Jace were doing it for any other reason than "that's what I'm supposed to do," I would have been more sympathetic when he is whining to himself about being with Ginger. Luckily, Olivia is much smarter than he is and realizes that he can choose a different path.
This book is bonkers. The plot barely holds together and I'm not sure that I actually liked Jace. But the fast-paced narrative of the story kept me involved and amused, even when they brought in the clowns.

Four stars
Follows Hosed
Followed by Hitched
This book came out May 28, 2019
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Hosed by Pippa Grant, Lili Valente

Cassie Sunderwell doesn't want to stay in Happy Cat, Georgia for long. Her job as a coder is in San Francisco and she is feeling overwhelmed by the nosiness of this small town. She wouldn't be here at all if her sister's husband hadn't decided that he liked a sheep better than her sister. Now her sister is in England leaving Cassie in charge of the sex toy factory that specializes in all-natural lube. Of course, not everyone in town is happy to have this particular factory there, even if it employs many people. But does that mean that someone is trying to sabotage the factory?
Yes. And it starts with explosions that bring firefighter Ryan O'Dell back into Cassie's orbit. They had worked on a project together in high school that left Cassie with a disgust of him. Even if he is mouth-wateringly hot.
This was just the sort of fun and fluffy book that I've come to expect from Pippa Grant. Lili Valente writes just as well. And a pet racoon? Okay, I'll bite.

Four stars
Followed by Hammered
This book came out January 15th, 2019
Borrowed this book through Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Josh and Hazel knew each other in college. Well, sort of. She puked on his shoes and he TA'd her anatomy class. She decides that they will be BFFs. But then they lost touch for seven years.

Hazel is trying to stay cool at a party full of teachers that she wants to work with when she announces that Josh has seen her boobs. To the entire party. Luckily, he rolls with it. And so do the teachers (though it doesn't hurt that her best friend (Josh's sister) is one of them and that the sister's husband is the principal).  

Told in alternating first person, this book walks us through the summer and to the end of the year as Josh and Hazel go from friends, to dating buddies, to dating, to love.

It was an okay book. I didn't love the ending and Hazel was a little too "too" for me but I think regular Lauren readers will not be too upset. And on a reread, I really liked this book. Yes, Hazel was still a manic-pixie-dream-girl but she is also really aware of herself and how she moves through life which was really refreshing. 

Three stars (bumped to three and a half on re-read)
This book came out September 4
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley