Rock Hard by Nalini Singh

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise of mousy Charlotte "Charlie" Baird hooking up with big time businessman and former rugby star Gabriel Bishop sounded fun. And the glimpses of their relationship we got in the first book was fun. But the way the story played out... Ufda. 

Gabriel can tell that Charlotte is hiding and he figures out pretty quickly why. And that's why I'm so confused that he's pushing her so fast. All of the thoughts that we get from him are that he doesn't want to push her but... he's pushing her. And I feel like I missed broad strokes of their story. Things bounded ahead quickly and we missed parts where they grew closer. The first book and then the novella were so good, I was hoping for better for this one.

Weirdly, this is one of my favorite books in this series to re-read. I honestly skip over the flashbacks and the end and I like the book much more. 

Rock Kiss #2
Three and a half stars

This book came out March 10, 2015

Follows Rock Courtship

Followed by Rock Redemption

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible Plus audiobook February 2024

All I Want For Christmas is the Girl Next Door by Chelsea Bobulski

There is a romance trope of falling in love with the girl next door and that's what Graham Wallace has done. About 2 years ago is when it happened even though they'd been friends for years. But Sarah is dating his best friend Jeremy. However, a wish on a falling star makes it so that Graham gets everything he ever wants, he's the one who's been dating Sarah for two years.

It takes him a little time to find his feet but he VERY quickly starts to figure out that this life might not be the one he actually wants. And it's that swiftness that surprised me a little bit and actually made me like Graham a little less. It would have been nice to see a little more joy in his wish and not just a guy falling in love with another girl at what is basically the outset of his dream relationship. It made the whole thing rather joyless. And there was a LOT of focus on the girls' appearance. I'm assuming this book is going to be aimed at teenage girls with the "love" story but... there is so much focus on weight and outer beauty as being what is attractive to Graham. I generally liked the writing but there was a lot of internal misogyny included in it that is sort of ridiculous in a book published in late 2021. And most of the book was three stars until the last 10% which got beyond dramatic, really highlighted Graham's self-centeredness, and it really didn't need to be included.

Two stars

This book came out October 28, 2021

Followed by All I Want For Christmas is the Girl in Charge

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Wedding Date by Monica Murphy, Felicity Munroe, Stephen Dexter

While Kelsey has been a part of the series since the first book, we only met Theo in Rate a Date, the book right before this one. Kelsey is model gorgeous and has had problems in the past when men fall in love with her face without really figuring out who she is. The two of them have become friends and Theo needs help. His ex-fiancee is marrying his cousin (yes, the cousin she cheated on Theo with) and, in the way of romance novels, one of his cousin's groomsmen is in jail and he needs Theo to even out the lines. Theo needs a date so he and Kelsey decide to set it up. Of course, they'll need to attend a few family events first to really sell it. 

We do get to see Kelsey fall in love with Theo and with his family and we also get to see Theo finally confess his feelings but it's all sort of low stakes and I kept wondering why Theo said yes in the first place. And why Kelsey worked so hard to encourage him to say it.

Three stars

This book came out December 1, 2020

Follows Rate a Date

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Prime

Opinions are my own

Rock Courtship by Nalini Singh

Dave has been after Thea for a long time. He knows that she went through a bad time with an asshat of an ex. But this band member is in love with his publicist and he thinks she might like him too (and he's a little stalker-y in the beginning. Not so romantic). But then her sister (Molly from the first book) tells Dave to write her a memo. That Thea listens to memos. So Dave composes a memo. And Thea writes one back. Except for the vaguely stalker-ish moment and the reaction to the first memo, it was a nice novella and a good read, quite possibly my favorite story in the series. Can't wait to read the next book.

Rock Kiss #1.5

Four stars

This novella came out September 30, 2014

Follows Rock Addiction

Followed by Rock Hard

Audible book I own

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible audiobook February 2024

Lightning in a Mirror by Jayne Ann Krentz

For the other books in this series, the Rancourt family has been set up as a former Big Bad. But in this book, Harlan Rancourt returns and appears to be on the side of angels. Or at least the same side as Olivia Le Clair.

Olivia is an investigator and an aura talent. She's not the oracle Harlan believes he needs. but he promises her a chance to solve her mother's murder. 

The resulting investigation will include characters that we've seen from other books but not to the point of making it confusing to new readers. Regular readers will finally find out the secret to the camera in Swan's antique shop that has been teased in previous books and Olivia will find a man who is willing to walk through hell to find her.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out January 18th, 2022

Follows All the Colors of Night

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2022 as audibook from Libby

Rate a Date by Monica Murphy, Emma Wilder, Patrick Zeller

What would you do if your friend set up a profile for you on a dating account? Would you keep dating, even if you weren't sure that meeting people online was the way to go? Eleanor Murray is trepidatious but goes for it. And she meets this guy Mitch. He's evasive about his job and never gives up his last name. He is also moving from California to Las Vegas. But he's hot so she's all in. 

There is not a lot of relationship development in this book so if that is your catnip, this is not going to be the book for you. Eventually it does come out what Mitch does but they get over it faster than he deserves.

Three stars

This book came out March 16, 2021

Follows Hate to Date You

Followed by Wedding Date

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price

In America, (I can't speak for other countries) it is thought that if you aren't doing SOMETHING, you are lazy. And even those "somethings" are rated. Bubble bath? Not important. Working every minute of every day? Incredibly important. No matter whether you are becoming irritable or unmotivated.  And the truth is, now we're being told that we need to make sure to take time for "self-care". More work! But Price, very convincingly, argues that laziness (at least as it is often defined), does not actually exist. The whole book is worth a read but there were a couple of points that I really resonated with. Burnout is very real and can cause people to act in both small and big ways, from small, petty actions to larger scale. I really loved the point in Chapter 2 that said, if you fail to meet a goal and don't feel guilty about it, it might not actually be a priority.

Four stars

This book came out January 5, 2021

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own