Rockaway Bride by Pippa Grant

What do you do when your manager runs away with all your money? This on top of the fact that your father's health is failing, your band's tour got canceled due to low sales, and one of your bandmates is missing? Well, getting drunk and stealing his fiancee probably isn't a good idea. But that's what Dax Gallagher does. 

Willow Honeycutt lives a pretty normal life as a preschool teacher in New York. Okay, yes, her step-father is the king of a small country but she herself is perfectly normal. She does play in an all-girl boy band cover band but perfectly normal. So when she decides to run away from her wedding the night before it happens, then finds out that her fiance actually dumped her first, she has sort of an existential breakdown. Kidnapped? Eh, not really. Willow is smarter than Dax and a better fighter than Dax so she soon becomes the brains of the operation, dragging him along on her bucket list trip around Europe. 

This book is crazy sauce. Absolutely crazy sauce. In the best kind of way. Believable? No. Enjoyable? Highly. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Three and a half stars

Follows Stud in the Stacks

Followed by The Hero and the Hacktivist

This book came out June 29th, 2018

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Stud in the Stacks by Pippa Grant

Parker Elliott needs a boyfriend so she bids on Tarzan at a bachelor auction. She doesn't win him but she convinces him to pretend to be her boyfriend at her 20-year high school reunion. Her boss is pushing her to go so that they can land her former husband (and isn't THAT a story) as a client. Too bad she accidentally closets herself in a men's room with Tarzan. And that's before she realizes she actually used to babysit him.

Knox Moretti loves two things - romance novels and his job as a librarian. He even writes a blog as Mr. Romance. And it's that blog that gets him in trouble at work (although his boss wants him gone anyway...). So he'll take Parker on as his fake fiancee (much more stable than dating) and maybe they can help each other. 

There were parts that I found more cringe-worthy than funny but overall a fast-fun-and-fluffy book.

Three and a half stars

Follows Mr. McHottie

Followed by Rockaway Bride

This book came out January 5th, 2018

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Want You to Want Me by Lorelei James

I would sort of classify this as a slow burn. There is a LOT of relationship building before the sexy times which means that the characters have a lot of time to get to know each other. Which is good since the book opens with Gabriella Welk being dumped by her boyfriend for her younger sister. And she, gasp!, doesn't hate her younger sister for it. But Nolan Lund does overhear the exchange. He's not particularly comfortable being there but he does offer to take the hockey star/coach out for drinks.  While at the dive bar, Gabi overhears him say something rather uncomplimentary. But then... he owns his mistake! No excuses, just is sorry and then builds his way back in to her good graces.
The bummer of this story is the awkwardness of how the rest of the books in this series are set up. For the first 3/4 (maybe a little less), we have a smooth-flowing story. Then there's a whole other story that's shoehorned in that might have made more sense if there were hints in the first book but I honestly don't remember there being any. It also might have made more sense if there was a build up to the next book but instead there's a story line just plopped like a rather large unwieldy stone.

Four stars
Follows I Want You Back
This book comes out August 4th
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Finding Our Forever by Brenda Novak

Cora Kelly is trying to find some closure in her life. She wants to know more about her birth mother and thinks that working at the boarding school her mother runs. But Aiyana Turner wasn't the one to hire Cora, instead, it was one of her 8 (!) adoptive sons, Elijah. A man who Cora is desperately attracted to.
Eli has some past issues of his own. He might have been adopted by Aiyana but the beginning of his life wasn't exactly tea and roses. We don't actually get a full description of what his life was like which was sort of disappointing. There are glimpses of his current relationship with his birth mother but no resolution.
This is a wonderful Novak story but suffers from a few things -- this is a world building story so we don't get as much time with the main characters, we get to see a lot of the physical relationship with Cora and Eli (why are so many authors into sex in public places right now? Is this the new thing in romance novels?) but not as much of the emotional, there is a nice use of condoms in the beginning and some discussion of alternate means of birth control but no discussion of STIs as if condoms were only used as a mean to prevent pregnancy but nothing else.
This isn't one of Novak's super-emotional stories that rips your hearts and guts out but I still think regular readers will enjoy.

Three stars
This book comes out March 21
Followed by No One But You

Run to You by Rachel Lacey

Another small-town romance? Gimme. Fake relationship? Eh. Not my favorite. In fact, I was super-stoked that Gabby said no at first when Ethan first proposed the plan. I get that the former Olympic swimmer wanted to make his dying grandmother happy, but that just doesn't seem like a great way to do it. But then, Gabby's abusive ex is in town so....
I did love that Gabby wanted to stand up for herself. Oh, and that she's a video game designer. Loved it. And Ethan is beyond romantic in letting her figure out their relationship steps. She sets boundaries and he <gasp> sticks to them. Does this happen in other romance novels? Certainly. But I haven't gotten to read too many of them and we definitely need more out there.
There were some clunky parts of the story but overall it was a fast and fun read with a hero who was an alpha male but NOT an alphahole and thus a delight to read. I really wish that Gabby hadn't been so gung-ho about not using condoms. Just not smart but Ethan did stick to his guns (mostly).
I hadn't read Rachel Lacey before (at least not in my memory or according to Goodreads) but I am very much looking forward to her next Risking It All novel. I think fans of Susan Mallery and Rachel Gibson should do the same.

Four stars
This book comes out August 23

The Girl from Summer Hill by Jude Deveraux

Deveraux's books for me can be good or WAY too twee. This book was quite fun. Especially with the play on Pride and Prejudice with chapters that were just fun. Of course, knowing P&P made particularly squirm-worthy when Tate Lander's (Mr. Darcy) ex-brother-in-law Devlin manages to pull the wool over Casey's eyes. The phrasing is the same as ever, just a little TSTL, but in a re-working of an old favorite, it really works.
Acacia "Casey" Reddick is sipping her tea one morning when she's shocked to see a man come jogging into her yard, onto her porch, and then... he strips down. And takes a shower. Then, he runs in yelling at her before storming out again.
Tatton "Tate" Landers (where the HELL do these names come from? I mean, I know where they come from  but as names for romance characters?) is a bona fide Hollywood hunk. He's been typecast into the role of the brooding hero in period pieces. Which is fine as long as the paparazzi isn't following him around taking pictures when he's supposed to be on his down time. Tate's only in Spring Hill as a favor to a long-lost relative who helped Tate buy his family's estate. How annoying that he has to read for Mr. Darcy in the community theater play. But that's what you do for family. And, if you're Tate, that includes family you'd rather forget (i.e. Devlin).
I really dislike the "I'm on the pill so let's forgo condoms" especially in an otherwise very cute novel. I mean, it's nice that it was included but there are SO many other reasons to use condoms than just birth control (all of them STDs). Definitely took me out of the story and knocked it down a half star overall.
Four Stars
Will be published May 3

My Kind of Wonderful by Jill Shalvis

This book came out last month so imagine my absolute squee of delight to find out that I was still given an ARC through NetGalley.
We met Hudson "Hud" Kincaid in Second Chance Summer. He's one part of the "other families" that his father scattered around the country. He and his twin had a blow-out argument and Hud hasn't really spoken to him since then though he's desperately worried since his twin is in the army and they're never really sure whether he's alive or not. Meanwhile, their mother, never super-stable to begin with is now teetering on the edge of what seems to be Alzheimer's or some sort of dementia.
Bailey Moore has her own issues. She just wants to live life to the fullest and complete her list (not a bucket list, BTW). Though she realizes that Hud's mom might have invited her to paint a mural at the lodge under false pretenses, Hud's family quickly jumps on the idea, throwing Bailey and Hud together. And sparks have been flying since they first met on a double black diamond so Hud doesn't see this as a good thing, spending more time with a woman who is bound to change his life.
But they do get together and there is some give and take. I liked Bailey well enough but I wish we had seen more growth. Hud's hidden edges were a nice touch. I didn't love the end but this is definitely a book that regular Shalvis readers will enjoy.

Follows: Second Chance Summer
Followed by: Nobody but You

Always on my Mind by Bella Andre

Image linked from Goodreads

Finally, an Andre book where the hero isn't so much an alpha as an asshole.
This is the last book of the original Sullivan family. It's finally time for Lori (Naughty), one of two sisters, to get her man. She's finally fed up with her boyfriend indiscriminately cheating on her and using her to climb the ladder. She's flown back to California in a fit but doesn't want her family to know. So she rents a car and decides to go to Pescadero based on the fact that it's the clerk's favorite place to get away. Of course, Lori hasn't stopped to change (really?) so she's still wearing her dance outfit which causes quite a stir in the sleepy town of Pescadero. While in the general store, she sees an ad for a ranch hand and decides to answer it, because, why not?
Upon getting to the ranch, she immediately crashes into a fence pole. Because that's how you show that you're a capable ranch hand. But Grayson Tyler feels sorry for her. Or something. She just worms her way right into his house by picking up the chickens and making him dinner.
That's the first part of the story and by now, you can tell that you will have to suspend a lot of disbelief to get through this story. And while my recounting of the story may sound a little sarcastic, I was able to get through the whole book and not just because I needed to review it for NetGalley.
If you are an Andre fan, I think you will enjoy this book.

When we met by Susan Mallery

Image linked from Goodreads

While Susan Mallery is usually a straight three-star author for me, I really enjoyed this book. The main characters could have been a little better about protection (though they did at least back up and do it right eventually, and she actually addressed the issue.) We also get to see some great character development with both our hero and heroine. His is a little faster than hers (lightning at the end, there, but believable).
Taryn Crawford has been introduced earlier in the series as a smart, capable woman who takes guff from no one, not even the three former professional football players she works with. While not super-stoked about moving their company from L. A. to Fool's Gold. 
It has it's perks though. One of them is Angel Whittaker, a chiseled man with a scar across his throat. A man who intrigues Taryn in a way that no banker or businessman ever could. 
Both have their pasts and it seems like their relationship could be perfect - Taryn doesn't believe in love and Angel no longer has a heart to give. But could working together with eight seven-year-old girls as well as getting to know each other better start to crack even the hardest of hearts?
I have to note that it's getting easier for me to suspend my disbelief about this tiny, little mountain town having so many people and festivals and huge companies. I live in a tiny, little mountain town with just under 900 people so it's been very difficult for me to read this series but... 13 books in and I'm getting there. 
Still way to many previous characters showing up and breaking my reading flow (Isabel? which one was she? Does it really matter? Maybe, Why can't I remember? Maybe I should just keep reading this one) but this is to be expected in this series.