The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling

Bowen Penhallow is a loner (except for his friend Declan who is, admittedly, a ghost). But he has been having a bit of back and forth with Tamsyn Bligh. She is a procurer of magical items. How does she get them? Eh. Maybe best not to ask. But she is a human who is not put off by magical things. She does enjoy meeting Bowen. 

But when she arrives at a house party and realizes that he is there too, she's a bit shocked. Even more shocking is a spell that sends them back in time where they will need to help his grandparents fall in love. They do adjust the course of history, but they also fall in love.

The plotlines don't quite all fit together but it's an overall fun story.

Three and a half stars

The Ex Hex #3

This book comes out October 8, 2024

Follows The Kiss Curse

ARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyage, 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

A Reluctant Roommate by Angela R. Casella

At the end of the last book, Drew and Andy were moving in together. Well, Andy was moving into Drew's. And Drew wasn't incredibly excited. He likes his shades of gray living room and Andy is bringing with her ALL the colors of the rainbow. Plus, there's that whole inconvenient crush that he has on his sister's best friend.

Andy genuinely sees Drew as an older brother. They grew up together after all. But then she walks in on him... and suddenly Andy is seeing Drew in a new light. He's grown up. He's handsome. And he's willing to check up on her grandmother when she can't. 

The two are going to be spending a lot of time together and they figure out that familiarity doesn't always breed contempt.

This is a Casella joint so it's fast, fun, and fluffy with circumstances that are often over the top. Was Andy a little TOO reluctant and dramatic? For me, yes. I was also a little disappointed to see Nicole and Damien say that they're going to be taking some time off but I know that Casella will be keeping us in enjoyable reading material. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 30, 2023

Follows A Brooding Bodyguard

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Matchmaking a Roommate by Angela R. Casella, Denise Grover Swank

Ivy is licking her wounds in  her hometown. She doesn't particularly want to be there but between her dad's health and her own situation, she's stuck there for a bit. As an independently published romance writer, she's part of the new breed of writers. Not like her father's tenant, Lou. He's an agent for Ivy's sister's fiance (if that is easy to follow). 

Older than Ivy, Lou is in a different place in his life. He's trying to regroup after finding one of his writers in bed with his fiance. He's bemused by Ivy. And, of course, attracted.

The two start by trying to create a profile for each other for dating but quickly realize they'd rather be dating each other. But Lou belongs in New York and Ivy seems like she's ready to settle in North Carolina. Can they make it work?

Lots of big words like immolate and erudite in this book that I don't remember in other books of the series. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out February 9, 2023

Follows Matchmaking a Grump

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Brooding Bodyguard by Angela R. Casella

Sinclair Jones is a famous actress who has a few problems. First, she's not sure what she wants to do with her life now that she's no longer playing a teenager on TV. Second, her mother (former momager) trashed her reputation so her reputation in the industry isn't exactly sterling. Oh, and she seems to have picked up a stalker.

For the first, she's been trying a number of new things like painting or creating things with clay. For the second, she's fake dating a man who tapes television shows about man vs. wilderness. For the last, she has a bodyguard.

Rafe used to be a painter. Then he got shot and became a personal fitness instructor (and got ripped.) Now, in between jobs, he has been asked by some of his father's friends to watch over Sinclair. He is expecting a snobby millionaire but finds someone who is much more complex. The more time they spend together, the more he wants to plumb her depths (har.) But her stalker is escalating and no one seems to be able to figure out exactly how to stop them.

Three and a half stars

This book came out January 19, 2023

Follows A Stolen Suit

Followed by A Reluctant Roommate

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle

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

Matchmaking a Grump by Angela R. Casella, Denise Grover Swank

Kennedy might have a massive trust fund but she can't touch any of it until she's thirty and she wants to put a spotlight on the nonprofit she works for. So she agrees to go on a dating show that is basically  The Bachelor for rich people. But none of the men have caught her eye. At least, none of the contestants have. The grandson of host Nana Mayberry on the other hand isn't... horrible. Nana Mayberry is definitely horrible but Rowan...

Rowan is trying to destruct the show. His grandmother is a horrible person and she does NOT need a national platform to increase her ego. If Kennedy gets run over as he does that, it's not like he knows her anyway. Or likes her all that much. But the more he gets to know her, the more he does like her.

Four stars

This book come out November 3, 2022

Follows Matchmaking a Single Dad

Followed by Matchmaking a Roommate

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Stolen Suit by Angela R. Casella

In grad school, Grace Parker and Enoch Laskin were first and second in their class. They had a fairly contentious relationship that turned into a short-lived relationship that lasted until exactly when Grace discovered that Enoch had encouraged her not to work for her father but then accepted that same position. Not that Grace wanted the position (she wanted to be a romance writer) but she still felt betrayed. Now she works for Vera Valentine, the well-known writer, though she's more of a lackey than anything else. But Vera has promised to read her manuscript.

However, after years apart, Enoch is suddenly in town. In fact, he's Vera's new muse which means that he's going to be around pretty much... always. And he makes it very clear that he is still interested in Grace. But Grace isn't over her hurt and she's got the Fairy Godmother Agency on her side. And that's what's going to make things really interesting....

Four stars

This book came out September 29, 2022

Follows A Borrowed Boyfriend

Followed by The Brooding Bodyguard

Ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

Vivi's cousin Gwyn meets her match in this book and it's Rhys's brother Lwellyn, better known as Wells. He is the oldest brother, the Golden Child of their father's eye. But being the Golden Child is wearing on him and he is ready to escape. Why not to Graves Glen? It's a place he can convince his father that it would be good to have a Penhallow (obviously Rhys doesn't count since he married a Jones woman) and it's not like the pub in Scotland is even getting any customers.

In Graves Glen, Wells first finds a bachelorette party in his family home (invited there by his brother.) Then he engages in a not-so-friendly rivalry with Gwyn when he sets up a true witch shop (as opposed to her... plastic pumpkins) right across the street, and he also encounters a face from the past who may or not be evil.

This was, overall, an enjoyable story though it meandered and crossed over itself without seeming rhyme or reason. I never really did understand why Gwyn and Rhys would be drawn to each other but, for folks looking to get into the Halloween season, this is a great read.

Three and a half stars

The Ex Hex #2

This book comes out September 20, 2022

Follows The Ex Hex

Followed by The Wedding Witch

ARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyage and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Matchmaking a Single Dad by Denise Grover Swank, Angela R. Casella

Holly Mayberry and Cole Garrison do not like each other. Not a little bit. Not at all. Yet sparks fly when they are around each other. Because they dislike each other so much. It has nothing to do with a series of misunderstandings that occurred after they kissed almost a decade ago. But now they are thrown together when Holly starts working with a number of students after school and Cole's (incredibly precocious) daughter Jane is included in the group. 

Unbeknownst to the two of them, they are also matched in the dating app that Holly is helping to develop. It will take the two of them banding together against Cole's in-laws who are trying to take Jane away in order for them to figure out that they can, at the very least, be enemies with benefits. 

The timeline in this book was very confusing to me. I do enjoy this series but this story was maybe not as well plotted as some of the others.

Four stars

This book came out August 11, 2022

Follows Matchmaking a Billionaire

Followed by Matchmaking a Grump

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Matchmaking a Billionaire by Denise Grover Swank, Angela R. Casella

Bryn Mayberry is a fourth generation matchmaker but she's having problems working with her grandmother. Yes, her grandmother took in Bryn and her siblings when their parents couldn't/wouldn't but she wasn't the warmest of grandmothers. Even today, she's more well-known around their small town for her iron will than being a loving person. So Bryn is fairly shocked when she sees Rory Byrne in their office. The millionaire is a tech mogul and Bryn's grandmother has been turning down the opportunity to create a dating app with their family name for a long time. 

Rory knows he's smart. Smart enough to realize that Bryn is someone that's going to be important in his life. Still, he agrees to let Nana Mayberry set him up with four women. He just doesn't understand yet the lengths she will go to get her way. But still, he gets to spend more time with Bryn. 

I wish we had seen a little bit more of Bryn and her sister getting back to a good place but this was overall a cute book, exactly what you'd expect from a Swank/Casella joint.

Four stars

This book came out April 28, 2022

Follows (nominally) Matchmaking Mischief

Followed by Matchmaking a Single Dad

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

A Borrowed Boyfriend by Angela R. Casella

Casella has begun this new series with a corker that is just as fun and enjoyable as her previous books. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the series.

Nicole and Damien are back, working to implement their plans to right wrongs and be fairy godmothers to those who have been kicked in the pants by life. Marnie Jones is sure one of those people having gone viral for tripping on her wedding gown after her groom announced, at the altar, that he could no longer marry her. It became huge because her sister is an actress on a long-running series of a teen detective (and her sister hasn't been a teen for a good long time.) Marnie one night tells her sister that she is doing just fine, dating a new man. 

Nicole and Damien decide to help her find that man. Overhearing their conversation, Griffin, co-owner of a bar with the two of them, volunteers himself as tribute. He saw Marnie earlier and is entranced. She is entirely too good for him (tragic backstory alert!) but he decides to take his chance.

There were a few sticking points in this book and it does, as Casella's books do, push the bounds of wacky but I did enjoy it thoroughly.

Four stars

This book came out June 9, 2022

Followed by A Stolen Suit

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Cheers to the Duke by Sally MacKenzie

Jo, Lady Havenridge as she is more properly known, is frustrated. Yes, her friends are happy and married but that means that creating the ale that pays for the Home (a place for women and children to live) rests solely on her shoulders. Yes, the Duke of Grainger has proved a steady patron but that's because he's only been nobility for a year. The rest of the people who fund the Home? They might have shorter attention spans. And where would that leave her and all of her charges? 

But her friends are conspiring against her. In fact, everyone is conspiring against her to get her away from the home. And maybe into a new family.

This was a cute story but there was just so much pressure on Jo and Edward. Edward fell in line pretty fast but Jo railed against what appeared to be inevitable. 

Three and a half stars
This book comes out October 5th, 2021

Follows The Merry Viscount
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Hidden Miles by Claire Kingsley

Leo Miles hasn't left his family's property in three years. Not since he came back from the war scarred down one side of his body and with PTSD that confines him to the vineyard. His solace is his online gaming where he hangs out with his friend Gigz (short for giggles.) Hearing her voice just makes him feel good. When he hears her voice at a wedding on the family property, he's astonished. But he can't show her his physical self.

Hannah Tate knows she needs to leave her relationship but she's terrified that her abusive boyfriend will hurt her when she does (TW for physical harm). She is shocked to have a moment with a stranger at her boyfriend's cousin's wedding but intrigued. When she finds out the man is her online gaming buddy, Badger, she's shocked. But it turns out to be a blessing because he ends up being the only one she can call when her boyfriend does put her in the hospital. She ends up staying with him and eventually falling in love. Well, lust for sure. But he doesn't seem to feel the same. Or maybe he can't. But their feelings are about to be crystallized because the storyline involving Leo's father that has run through all four books in the series is about to come to a head.

This was some serious relationship whiplash in this book. If you don't like the h/h to have a relationship at the beginning of a book, this book will not be for you. Hannah's boyfriend is defintely an asshat but she doesn't get rid of him for well into the book. And there were so many Big Misunderstandings at the end... it just kept going. 

Three stars

This book came out March 22nd, 2019

Follows Reckless Miles

Followed by Gaining Miles

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Reckless Miles by Claire Kingsley

I would not have enjoyed this book nearly as much if I hadn't listened to Jessen and Juliette on the "Smart Women Read Romance" podcast squee so much over it. I didn't love it quite as much (the characters were more New Adult, which is not my favorite, and the insta-love was a little hard to grasp, especially since Cooper had been set up as a man who enjoyed... the favors... of many women, never sticking to just one and Amelia had quite literally just been dumped at the altar) but I am enjoying the series in general and will more than likely read more by Kingsley.

Cooper Miles usually babbles somewhat incoherently but not usually at strangers. And not strangers who understand him so well. But this woman in a wedding dress sitting next to him seems to understand him. And she's really hot. AND willing to follow him home and spend some time on a "Cooper-moon" while she sorts through her options. 

Amelia is pretty used to doing what other people tell her to do. She sort of falls in with Cooper but then falls in love both with him and his slightly crazy family. Is it a little too fast? She wonders about that as well but she does feel like this could be the real thing.

There is a subplot with Cooper's dad that seems to be the running thread through all of the books and takes up a LOT of the book. 

Three stars

This book came out September 21st, 2018

Follows Forbidden Miles

Followed by Hidden Miles

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Forbidden Miles by Claire Kingsley

I don't really get the whole sturm and drang of dating a sibling's best friend. If I hadn't been working my way through the series, I might have skipped this book. Especially since I also don't love New Adult and Brynn is twenty-one. Can people find their OTL at twenty-one? Certainly. But it's not my favorite reading. 

After finding her best friend and boyfriend together, Brynn Miles is okay with moving back home. She's got a friends-with-benefits who is helping her move back home. Little does she know that PDA with the FWB will help her find the love of her life... a man she already knows.

Chase Reilley never looked twice at Brynn Miles. His best friend for life is her brother, Cooper, and the two have been set up in the previous book as man-sluts. They'll sleep with anything that has a vagina but never actually pair up with any of them. However, seeing Brynn in the back booth of the local diner makes Chase suddenly realize that she is a Woman. And she must be his. But Cooper can't know.

Which, admittedly, Cooper doesn't take the news of their dating well but that also might be because he walks in on the two of them before they have a chance to talk to him (which Chase WAS planning on doing).

This is a fast and furious romance with the "I love yous" and marriage proposal happening just after the 50% mark. That means that there have to be a least a couple of Big Misunderstandings in the latter half of the book. And for some of the series arc to take up space that might have been given to a lengthier courting and more understanding that these characters might be finding their HEA and not just a HFN.

Three stars

This book came out July 20th, 2018

Follows Broken Miles

Followed by Reckless Miles

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Broken Miles by Claire Kingsley

Roland Miles is the oldest of his siblings and, as such, his father expected him to take over the family vineyard. Roland ran hard and ran fast. All the way to San Francisco. Too bad his need to prove himself cost him his marriage. Not that he sees it that way. All he knows is that Zoe left him. And he's not upset by it anymore. So when his brother Leo calls and tells him that the family vineyard is about to be taken by the bank, he only hesitates for a moment. Has it really been almost two years since he's been home?

Zoe Sutton is shocked that Roland has returned. But she's even more surprised that her feelings for him don't seem to have diminished at all. Even though her heart was broken, and it's been a long time since their divorce, she is still having some feels. 

Fast, fun, and fluffy. I enjoyed the book.

Four stars

This book came out March 5th, 2018

Followed by Forbidden Miles

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Dirty by Kylie Scott

Lydia Green is sent a rather graphic video of her fiance just before the ceremony is supposed to start. So what does a woman, recently moved to the area with no friends or family at the wedding, supposed to do? She does the sensible thing and runs. Wearing the fancy underwear which was supposed to tempt her fiance (ha!) and her wedding dress, she whisks past the flower girl and makes it over the fence in the backyard, through a small window and into the bathroom and shower of the house behind.
Vaughan Hewson doesn't expect to hear any noises coming from his shower when he turns it on and he is even more startled to realize that it's a woman. A now soaked woman who can't stay in her wet wedding dress so she's sitting in his kitchen with great lingerie displaying an amazing rack. He failed at being a rock star but the lifestyle sure taught him how to roll with the punches. Even one this big. And when Lydia's ex-fiance and in-laws try to start blaming her for what happened? Vaughan wades into the fray. Lydia punches her ex? Vaughan knows the deputy and helps back him off.
This is a super fun and fluffy book where the focus is on the couple and even though the relationship and character building is a little shallow, it was still a fun read.

Four stars
This book came out April 19th, 2016
Audiobook borrowed from library
Opinions are my own

Rancher's Wild Secret by Maisey Yates

Holden McCall wants one thing from Emerson Maxfield; the means by which to revenge his sister's honor. Emerson is going to inherit a chunk of her family's winery upon her marriage and Holden wants to use those shares to get revenge on Emerson's father. So he seduces her and then blackmails her into marrying him. There's... not a lot else to the story. But it was still an entertaining read, setting up stories for sure for Emerson's sisters, Wren and Cricket.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out November 5th
ARC kindly provided by Harlequin Desire and NetGalley
Opinions are my own