Real Fake Love by Pippa Grant

I'm not sure what it was about this book that captured my attention so much but I stayed up way to late reading it. Actually, I think it was just the sheer zaniness of it. I didn't love the heroine, "Henri" Henrietta Bacon, as she was just a little too peripatetic in her thought process and the flips often threw me out of the story. However, her manic-pixie-dream-girl-ness is updated a little bit by showing what that kind of chaos can leave in it's wake (for her, five broken engagements) and how that can wear on a person. For Henri, she decides it's time to learn how not to fall in love. And, she decides that her latest fiance's childhood best friend is the perfect person to learn from.

Professional baseball player Luca Rossi just wants to play the game, hopefully in the same place for more than a year or two. He definitely doesn't want to fall in love but his Nona (who is famous on TikTok) shows up in his kitchen the morning after Henri shows up on his front steps. And she's making her ziti which, everyone in her family knows is a part of putting the Eye on someone and that person will then fall in love. And woe to those who try to avoid it. 

Luca did have some flaws but, on the whole, he did lean a little bit toward too-good-to-be-true.

Overall, a fun story that was just a bit fluffy but still really fun to read.

Four stars

Follows Jock Blocked

Followed by The Grumpy Player Next Door

This book came out September 3rd, 2020

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Reread as Kindle ebook October 2024

The Home Edit Life by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin

 I have a feeling that the hard copy or ebooks have more pictures that go along with the book but I didn't feel like I was missing anything by listening to the audio. I do like the Home Edit philosophy of "editing" your house rather than wholesale getting rid of everything (especially books - though, even as a bibliophile and former librarian, I do believe even those should be culled every 5 years or so). This was an okay book but after awhile, hearing about how Clea and Joanna organized for various (mostly celebrity) clients got a little old. The tips were very nice though!
The narrator was fantastic and did a wonderful job injecting tone and enthusiasm where appropriate.

Three stars

This book came out September 15th, 2020

Audiobook from Overdrive

Opinions are my own

Every Witch Way but Wicked by Amanda M. Lee

 Bay is caught up in another murder. She is also having to deal with a new boss since her ninety-year-old boss died and left the paper to his grandson, Bill, who seems rather slick and oily. Even the ghosts at the newspaper can't tell Bay what he's up to. Then the town drunk is found dead during what is supposed to be a murder mystery weekend; there just wasn't supposed to be a real murder. Her FBI agent love interest from the first book is back in town but he may not be around for long since Aunt Tillie decides to take matters into her own hands and it will change how Landon looks at her family.
The mystery in this one didn't make a ton of sense but we got to know all of the characters a little better which is good because with Bay, her two cousins, all of their mothers, a couple of guys who are hanging around, and Aunt Tillie, that's a lot of people to track.

Three stars
This book came out March 26th, 2013
Follows Any Witch Way You Can 
Followed by Witching You Were Here
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

This Can't Be Love by Maria Geraci

 When Luke Powers' girlfriend gives him an ultimatum, he chooses to break up. When, just months later, he's invited to her wedding, he realizes it's time for a vacation. He's an engineer who works with companies located on the water, helping them make sure that they are being environmentally safe and travels all over the United States. That means he hasn't been to see his family in Whispering Bay for almost a year. So he heads back to the house his grandfather left him. But there's already somebody in his bed...
Sarah Jamison just wants to earn another $5k so she can open her food truck. She didn't even finish college and her life has been peripatetic so she in no way can measure up to a man who is clearly the apple of his mother's eye. Plus, he's the pattern card of a man who doesn't want to get married. That's not exactly her dream either but that doesn't mean she'll just jump into bed with a guy just because he's hot.
I didn't read any of the other books in this series but didn't feel like I needed to to understand what was going on in this book. The story was a bit thin but the characters were fairly well developed.

Three stars
This book came out
Follows The Best for Last
Followed by Can't Stop the Feeling
Ebook borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Naughty Boss by Whitney G.

 Sometimes you work for an ass. Even if he is a hot ass. Mya London is stuck in just such a job. She's been in the position for almost a year but, if she can handle Michael Leighton, she can handle anyone. The man is rude, demanding, and, yes, very hot. Which is what she emails to her friend. Often. Until the day she accidentally emails Michael instead. 
This was an okay story. The timelines were a little muddy and I never could figure out how Mya ended up emailing the wrong person which was a small issue but still made me wonder.

Three stars
This book came out December 15th, 2016
Followed by Dirty Doctor
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

How to Drive a Dragon Crazy by G. A. Aiken

Éibhear has been attracted to his (not blood related) niece Izzy since her mother married his brother something like 15 years ago. He went absolutely nuts when he found out she was having sex with one of his cousins but still has never made a move toward her. At least, not until this book. After all these years, he is being summoned to go find her and take her home. Nobody knows quite why but they do make it home and he finally apologizes for his actions from ten years ago. Izzy is not impressed. But they do have to work together to help keep her sister and cousins safe.
There was so much going on in this book. Some series story arcs got wrapped up in this book which was nice but it was sometimes hard to follow.

 
Three and a half stars
This book came out September 4th, 2012
Follows Dragon Who Loved Me
Followed by Light My Fire
Opinions are my own
Audiobook from library

Any Witch Way You Can by Amanda M. Lee

 Life can be odd if you grow up in a small town. Especially if you happen to be a witch. Especially, especially if everyone knows it. Bay left Hemlock Cove for Detroit and the bigger newspapers but now she's back and the editor of a newspaper that comes out once a week. She's also discovering a dead body in the middle of a corn maze. And discovering the ghost. Then another body shows up and it looks like someone with witchy connections might be the killer. Which is not a good sign for Bay's family. She works with her two cousins, Thistle and Clove, to figure out who the true killers are.
All of the characters are a little over-the-top and it can get to be a little much if you read a lot of these in a row but they are fast, fun, and fluffy.

Three stars
This book came out December 12th, 2012
Followed by Every Witch Way but Wicked
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own