My Darling Bride by Ilsa Madden-Mills

When she steals a car, Emmaline Darling is just trying to get away from an abusive boyfriend and a man who is coming on too strong. She left the keys on the tire in good faith not realizing someone else might steal the car. So, when Graham Harlan shows up and demands that she marry him in order to even the scales, Emmaline is aghast. It doesn't help that Graham has bought the bookstore where she works. 

Graham is just trying to help his brother. Though he's a famous football star, he doesn't have the money to help his brother open a gym. But he can get a chunk of money when he marries. A near death experience on the football field has made him more aware of his own mortality. A vision he saw while he was dead makes him wonder if Emmaline was pre-ordained.

I liked this book though the story felt a bit forced in places and Graham was not the best. I'm really hoping for a story with Graham's teammate and Emmaline's sister. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out December 5, 2023

ARC kindly provided by Montlake and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date by Ashley Herring Blake

The last of a group of friends to find her forever after, Iris Kelly is actually very sure that she doesn't want a forever after. That doesn't mean she doesn't feel a bit lonely. So she goes out to enjoy herself with a one night stand. But... it doesn't go well. 

Stefania (IRL "Stevie") is beyond embarrassed that she ruins an evening with the gorgeous Iris Kelly. She's not sure how this is ever going to work. At least she has her ex-girlfriend's gender-bending "Much Ado About Nothing" to look forward to. But who is the Benedick to her Beatrice? Somehow it's Iris. 

Suddenly the two are agreeing to a fake relationship. Stevie because it means her ex is going to get off her back; for Iris... well, her friends mostly know about it but her family might finally look at her like she's accomplished something. 

A highly enjoyable book and an amazing addition to this series. 

Four stars
This book comes out October 24, 2023

Follows Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail 

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group 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

Not Your Ex's Hexes by April Asher

For most of her life, Rose Maxwell had been assumed to be following her grandmother to be the Prima Witch, a force in the supernatural world. In the first book of the series, it was discovered that her sister, Violet, is actually the most powerful of her triplets, it just came in late. And Rose... was relieved. Now, however, she's not really sure what she's supposed to be doing with her life. So she's trying to figure it out. Unfortunately, she misfires on her first foray and ends up neeeding to do some community service with the local veterinarian. Too bad he's her former one-night stand. The one she wouldn't mind repeating. 

Damian is a half-demon who tried to make his father proud until the night he accidentally broke a girl's heart and she hexed him. He wants to love Rose but is afraid of what will happen. And his old life still keeps calling and trying to drag him back in.

I didn't connect with Rose and Violet as much as I did with Violet and Lincoln and that's okay. I just didn't see her growing as much as Violet did and there were a few more glossings-over that were fine but could have been played out a little more. 

Three and a half stars
This book comes out February 7, 2023

Follows Not the Witch You Wed

Followed by Not Your Crush's Cauldron

ARC kindly provided by MacMillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Not Your Valentine by Jackie Lau

Some people seek the spotlight, some have it thrust upon them. Helen Tsang is among the latter. After her boyfriend broke up with her, blaming her, in a public place and it was videoed and made into a meme. It is almost a year later and she wants people to believe that she's moved on. She hasn't but she wants to get them off her back. 

So, she taps her friend Taylor, to be her fake boyfriend. They've been friends since high school and he knows her well enough to be a believable partner. 

This is a romance so the inevitable happens. Helen catches feelings. But how can Taylor even feel the same way?

Lau is an amazing writer and this book was a fast and fun read. It was just a little too fast for me. I wish we had seen more of Helen and Taylor and how they would function as a couple (not just faking it). I also wish we had seen a little bit more of Helen's friends as they feel like sequel-bait and it would be nice to get to know them a little better.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out January 24, 2023

ARC kindly provided by Kobo Originals and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Kiss Hard by Nalini Singh

We saw Danny and Catie meet as teens in Cherish Hard. They are siblings to the characters in that book but are now in their mid-20s. Yes, they are still squabbling like nobody's business but they are comfortable in their relationship and they still look out for each other. Which is evident in the opening scene as Catie sees Danny across the floor at a dance club and realizes he doesn't look right. In fact, he looks as though he's been drugged. She's able, with the help of his friend Viliame, to get him to the hospital. Unfortunately, rumors are now flying about them being a couple. See, Danny is a super famous rugby dude and Catie is famous in her own right for competing in the Paralympics and apparently people have been 'shipping them for quite a while.

Lots of deep discussions in this book about expectations, limb loss, parental relationships, and more. Singh is such a delightful writer though that all of these are handled with a deft touch while going from friends to lovers in a fake relationship is a joy to read.

Hard Play#4

Four and a half stars

This book comes out May 3, 2022

Follows Love Hard

ARC kindly provided by TKA Distribution and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as ebook from Libby March 2024

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

Darcy Lowell is an actuary. She deals with facts. Nebulous ideas don't exist. So why is she so attracted to a woman who very much believes in things that can't be proven?

Elle Jones is an astrologer. She believes in the stars and has even built a job around that fact. In fact, her work with Darcy's brother is what brings them together. Their first date is sort of a disaster with Elle spilling wine on Darcy's vintage suit but the spark is still there. And Darcy needs to get her brother off her back about dating and Elle needs to show some stability to her family who doesn't really understand what she does.

This story was amazing. I wish there had been more closure with Elle's family but watching Elle and Darcy fall in love was a wonderful ride.

Four stars

This book came out November 10, 2020

Followed by Hang the Moon

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Not the Witch You Wed by April Asher, April Hunt

Violet Maxwell is in town for her sister's Witch Bond Announcement weekend celebration (engagement party). Not just her sister, one of her triplet sisters. So when she tries to bow out of some of the celebration with slightly younger sister Olive and they are then caught by Rose, she does feel some guilt. And that compounds the guilt she feels by not picking up her grandmother's place as the Prima Witch. Luckily, Violet was born a dud. No magic whatsoever. She still decides to go skiing with her sisters, even though she's not very good. In fact, she encounters Lincoln Thorne as she's laying in the snow after having fallen over while standing in place (it's not that hard to do, really...) While she doesn't recognize him, he sure as heck recognizes her. He's happy to see her and his Wolf (Lincoln's the Alpha of NAP, the North American Pack) is even more so because he's had a lot of downs in his life recently. He's trying to make it so that all shifters are on more equal footing but there is one particular man, Rose's fiance in fact, who is trying to undo all of his work. He also has a limited time before his thirty-third birthday. If he doesn't have a mate by then, he either has to step down from the Supernatural Council or accept a mate chosen by the Elders. He's also trying to dissolve the Elders but that's a whole other story. He's not quite resigned to fate but the chance of finding a partner who satisfies both he AND his animal are practically nil. 

Through mistakes and a lot of accidental relationship building, Violet and and Lincoln do end up together.  

There is a LOT of world building and so the first couple of chapters really do read like an info dump and that doesn't really even out but I still enjoyed the read. I'm tracking some of the characters for my own benefit because... there are a lot. 

Adrian -- Lincoln's friend, lion shifter

Vi's best friends -- Bax, Guardian Angel -- Harper, succubus coworker at Potion's Up, magic themed bar, Vi brewmaster, virgin, host of radio show Sexy Talk with Savannah They also work together at the Kid Command Center (B&GC for supes?)

Four stars

This book came out February 8, 2022

Followed by Not Your Ex's Hexes

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year by Jackie Lau

Zachary Wong knows that he needs to be preemptive. The last two holidays, his parents have invited prospective partners for he and his siblings. So he asks his friend, the town dentist Jo MacGregor, if she will pretend to be his girlfriend. From there, this book beats exactly along the fake-relationship-trope lines and does not veer from them. Zach and Jo go out to dinner to convince the townsfolk that they really are dating, they both have deeper feelings for the other but don't want to say anything, etc. Lau is an amazing writer but this felt like more of a duty book than one she enjoyed writing.

Two and a half stars

This book came out January 7, 2020

Follows A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas 

Followed by A Big Surprise for Valentine's Day

Kindle book I own

Opinions are my own

The Engagement Arrangement by Jaci Burton

I had enjoyed the first book in this series and thought that the second looked like it might be fun as well and friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes. Fake relationship is a trope that I don't mind (not catnip; not something I avoid) but it was interesting to me that so little of the book was actually spent with Brenna and Finn actually having to pretend to be in a relationship when it is literally in the title of the book. There are a few chapters where Brenna needs Finn to pretend to be her fiance so that her ex-husband and his new wife (Brenna's high school BFF turned worst enemy) can't gloat. Then there is a larger part where they are moving toward a real relationship with a couple of chapters thrown in for faking the relationship again though that seemed to be mostly for Brenna mending fences. 

Finn Nolan has loved Brenna Bellini ever since he arrived at her family's vineyard after his parents died. Now that she needs a buffer for an upcoming wedding, he's ready to make her see that he can be more than just part of the family. 

Three stars

Follows The Best Man Plan

Followed by The Accidental Newlywed Game

This book comes out June 29th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Undercover Duke by Sabrina Jeffries

Sheridan Wolfe, Duke of Armitage, is asked by his half-brother, Grey, to start making into the death of his brother's father. The whole family is worried that it may have been a murder since their mother's second and third husbands died young as well with Sheridan's own father was poisoned. With his brother's wife in labor, Sheridan has been tasked with questioning Lady Cora Eustace who was at the party for Grey's christening the weekend his father died. She is also Grey's aunt who Sheridan barely knows. Besides, she has a daughter, Vanessa, who Sheridan is... well.. prickly about. Sheridan knows that he needs to marry an heiress and doesn't want to drag Vanessa into his quagmire. Besides, she's enamored of a poet, Juncker.

Vanessa has been using Juncker as a reason to make Sheridan jealous. He doesn't seem to realize that she is full grown and she'll use any means she can to make him realize that she is perfect for him.

The ending wrapped up rather quicker than I had hoped especially since it closed out an arc that has been going on for several books. I was at 80% done and it didn't seem like it was getting close. There was also sort of a rush to the "I love you"s that could have been a little longer to feel more like a real HEA, especially after there was so much deception (some of it from themselves) in the rest of the book. I really do like Jeffries' writing though and up to that end was a lovely story.

Three and a half stars
Follows Who Wants to Marry a Duke

This book comes out May 25th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

America's Geekheart by Pippa Grant

Beck Ryder is a lot of things, including famous. He was in a boy band then became an underwear model. It's that fame that makes the tweet that was supposed to be a private message to his sister go viral. And not in a good way. No he's America's #1 hated man and his charities are floundering. He needs some help to get out of it.
Sara Dempsey has a very good reason for wanting to stay anonymous. But she's willing to step into the limelight if it means that her beloved giraffe and bee charities will get some play in the press.
I'm not sure why I liked this book so much. Pippa Grant is hit or miss for me and it might be something about the humor (I can't put my finger on it) but this book hit my funny bone in the right place as did Sara and Beck's story. And the lack of a last Big Misunderstanding. I kept waiting for it, feeling so bad for the characters but it never happened. Yay!

This book comes out July 14th
Follows Flirting with the Frenemy
Followed by Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire
Borrowed ebook from library
Opinions are my own

Mr. Maybe by M. Kate Quinn

Kit Baxter's life has been somewhat...complicated lately. At Christmas, she caught her cousin and her (Kit's) boyfriend kissing under the mistletoe. Now the two are getting married and her cousin wants the bridal shop Kit works at, Kit specifically, to alter their grandmother's dress. The dress that Kit has always wanted to wear at her own wedding. But she can't complain or she'll be accused of being petty. And the shop needs the word-of-mouth anyway. The one bright spot, the fact that she's been able to buy her house on the water. Of course, it's a fixer-upper. And that dead tree did just fall and crush the car she doesn't have comprehensive insurance for. So, she needs a way to make some money.
Shane Dugan needs a place to live. In order to get his dream job as a paid fire fighter, he needs to prove residence in the area. And the apartment he had locked down isn't going to be ready for 3 months. So Kit's neighbor comes up with a plan, Shane lives at Kit's and pays rent; Kit gets money.
Kit isn't so sure it will work, but when she accidentally lies to her aunt and cousin to get them off her back, she decides that, if Shane will pretend to be her boyfriend, he can live with her.
I do like a fake relationship story and this was an interesting setup with Shane already having a girlfriend. Kit and Shane have some low level vibes but absolutely nothing happens before he breaks up with his girlfriend (which I appreciated... there were some glances and feelings but nothing else.)

Three and a half stars
This book came out August 21st
ARC kindly provided by The Wild Rose Press, Inc. and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Hold On to Me by Jules Bennett

Jade Mackenzie doesn't particularly like Cash Miller. So when he ends up being the pilot taking her to her cousin's wedding, she's really not thrilled. Especially when they end up making a crash landing and getting to the wedding late. But when Cash steps up as Jade's "date,", she's confused. They don't do nice things for each other. But somehow, making him her fake boyfriend makes it easier to imagine all the things they could do with each other if they were in a real relationship. And then they start doing them... even after they get home. Neither is very interested in telling their friends (at least at first) because what is the point? They're just going to break up eventually. But then fate steps in and forces Jade and Cash to face the fact that they are going to be tied together one way or another for the rest of their lives.

I don't particularly love the game-changing trope in this book but I do like friends-to-lovers and Ms. Bennett in general. I think the regular Return to Haven readers won't be disappointed and new poeple won't have had to read the other books in the series to like this one.

Three stars

This book comes out August 27th

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own