Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron

5*

Reena, a middle-child in a traditional Muslim Indian family, is sandwiched between an older brother who has done everything right and a younger sister who is self-absorbed, somewhat passive aggressive and obsessed with healthy eating, to the point that she destroyed her sister’s side business blogging food and chance at a cookbook deal when she posts a diatribe on food bloggers pushing fattening foods. She has very low self-esteem and sees herself as a failure at everything, but especially relationships (12 in 13 years) and jobs (one layoff after another due to downsizing). She’s stuck in finance because she doesn’t want to work for the family development firm, but also doesn’t see a way to turn her passion for artisanal bread baking into a viable career.

Added to all of this are Indian Muslim parents who emigrated to Toronto from Tanzania who are pushing eligible, but totally unappealing men at her in the hopes she’ll marry someone of her kind and pump out some babies. Then Nadim moves in across the hall, a sexy “brown Captain America” with a swoonworthy smirk and British accent. Before she even has a chance to learn more than his name, he reveals that he’s her dad’s new employee and arranged marriage prospect thanks to a business deal between their fathers.

So what’s a girl to do? In her case, she’s pushed into entering a televised cooking contest where she needs a fiancé. Turns out that Nadim is the perfect and willing candidate to fake it. When their drunken audition video lands them a spot, they become fast friends, agreeing to an “unengagement” and fighting an attraction because there’s no way Reena will give her parents the satisfaction of falling for one of their chosen marriage prospects, no matter how appealing.

This story proved to be so much more than a lightweight rom-com. Although there’s humor, chemistry (of both the physical and kitchen variety), and family drama, there are also some heavy topics. When a family that thrives on gossip (while keeping their own secrets) and long-time rivalries starts coming apart at the seams, issues such as eating disorders, depression, and bad decisions threaten to tear them apart. However, the author treats our MCs with compassion and proves that with a little faith, emotional support (from each other and a couple of LGBTQ friends and relatives), and killer sourdough, mistakes of the past can be overcome and the patriarchical nature of their community can be overcome. Highly recommend.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Forever Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

This is for Tonight by Jessica Patrick

5*

Crafting YouTuber Andi needs money to go to SCU (presumably the fictional USC) with her twin brother, the same school where her parents met. Unfortunately, she doesn’t win the scholarship and can’t afford the tuition since they’re still paying off her father’s medical bills 5 years after his death. (Universal healthcare, anyone?) So they come up with the idea of filming a video at the Cabazon Music Festival (Coachella in disguise) in the hopes it’ll go viral and raise the funds she needs. The problem is that she’ll have to change her vlogger focus if she wants the money to keep rolling in.Jay Bankar has a hugely-successful YouTube channel that features him pranking people and being an all-around jerk and misogynist. When he and Andi meet the first night of the festival when he offers to help her set up her tent, the chemistry is instantaneous, that is, until she gets a good look at him in the light of the following day. She struggles to reconcile the nice guy with the vlogger she hates with a passion. As they begin to compete with each other in a scavenger hunt with the prize of interviewing the headliner band, one of the hottest in the country, she sees traces of that sweet guy hiding behind his sarcastic online persona. Can she believe him when he says it’s all an act, one designed to raise his own college funds? Is he worthy of her forgiveness after he disappoints her more than once, especially when she thinks about her father’s policy of “no second chances”?

Patrick’s debut novel will appeal to her internet-savvy, social media-obsessed teen audience. In addition to its enemies-to-lovers theme, it also explores sometimes rocky sibling relationships, the lingering grief of losing a parent, and the stress caused by a lack of funds which sometimes causes people to make questionable decisions, all set against the backdrop of a music festival. If you have teen patrons looking for a fun summer read, hand them this book. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Swoon Reads through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

5*

Wes is the boy-next-door who has taken pleasure in annoying Liz since they were children. It’s pretty obvious from the start that he’s using the tried and true method of all little boys who want to get a girl’s attention. However, it isn’t until Michael (her girlhood crush) moves back to town and Liz bribes Wes to help her get Michael to ask her to prom that she begins to see Wes in a new light. When they decide to fake a relationship to get Michael to notice her, it’s inevitable that real feelings will surface. Is it possible that Wes was the right one all along?
This is a sweet, sweet enemies-to-lovers YA romance that deals with Liz’s prolonged grief over losing her mother at a young age and the unconscious way she dresses like her mom and imagines life and love to be like the rom-coms they enjoyed together. (This same relationship mirrors the adult one in Waiting for Tom Hanks.) It’s also about friendship and the pleasure of discovering someone who sees and admires the real you. There’s so much to recommend this debut novel, and Painter’s sophomore effort will be hotly anticipated by teens who love romances. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Simon & Schuster BYR through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Sunkissed by Kasie West

 

4*

Very cute teen romance with only a mild bit of angst. If you combine Dirty Dancing (without the sex) with A Star is Born (without the tragedy), you get a really good sense of the plot of this book. There’s Brooks, the hot rocker with a heart of gold, who works at a woodsy resort in Northern CA so he can both escape the obligations to his family and raise funds for his father’s medical bills and Avery, the good girl who doesn’t like conflict, which means she trods the path of least resistance. When she realizes that she’s not living a life she’s chosen, she makes a vow to get out of her comfort zone, and Brooks is there to encourage her every step of the way. They break all the rules to help each other fulfill their dreams and, in the process, fall in love. Supporting them is a solid group of friends and Avery’s younger sister, all of whom spur them on to reach for the stars. Fans of Morgan Matson, Huntley Fitzpatrick, and Sarah Dessen will love this great summer read. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Delacorte Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Devil in Disguise (The Ravenels #7) by Lisa Kleypas

5*


Kleypas and these families will always earn a 5* from me. She has a way with historical romance unsurpassed by any other writer I’ve read and always has a plot that involves a mystery where main characters are put at risk. Both the romance and the mystery are well-drawn and not at all gratuitous. Her characters are well-developed, her history accurate, and the relationships are full of intense, eternal love, sizzling chemistry, and lots of laughter. One of the things I love the most about the Ravenel series is that it features the children of the couples from the Wallflower series. If you’ve read those books, you get why the presence of Sebastian and Evie and Lilliana and Marcus is so emotionally satisfying. Her heroines are feminists who never let men dictate their lives, and they’ve produced equally strong daughters like Merritt and Phoebe.

Almost all historical romances aren’t just about the eventual happily-ever-after, but the journey to get there. In this case, it’s one that begins in the offices of a shipping firm owned by Lady Merritt Sterling, Marcus & Lillian’s eldest child, who took over the firm after the untimely death of her husband of only 1.5 years. It’s been three years, so she’s no longer grief-stricken but she’s also vowed to never marry again. Then Kier MacRae, an incredibly handsome Scot who owns a whiskey distillery and bears an uncanny resemblance to our favorite reformed rake, Sebastian, formerly Lord St. Vincent and now Duke of Challon. The attraction is instantaneous, and mysterious circumstances throw them together as they try to determine why Kier is being targeted.

I also appreciate how Kleypas seamlessly blends the aristocrats of the haute ton with the rise of the industrial revolution. On the surface, her pairings are ones that might have caused scandal, but by the time this story takes place (1880s), cash-strapped aristocrats either must marry for money or earn their fortunes through trade and industry. Generally, her characters buck tradition, marrying for love rather than money or social standing, and investing in the new inventions that power progress.


I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Avon through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Life's Too Short (The Friend Zone #3) by Abby Jimenez

4.5*


Trigger warnings for mental illness, drug addiction, and grief.

It’s extremely challenging to talk about this story without spoilers, so I won’t go beyond the basic set-up. Just know that it’s about two really kind, decent people, travel vlogger Vanessa Price and criminal defense attorney Adrian Copeland, the cousin of Josh from The Friend Zone (Book 1), who we first met in The Happy Ever After Playlist (Book 2) when he went on a double date with female lead Sloan Monroe. (We are given a nice catch-up with the two couples in this book.) Vanessa began her highly-successful YouTube channel after losing her older sister to ALS (a disease that also took her grandmother, mother, and aunt). She has a 50/50 chance of succumbing as well, so she doesn’t want to waste a single moment wallowing, choosing to travel the world instead. In her introductory video, she shares her intention to donate proceeds to ALS research.

She meets her next door neighbor Adrian after he knocks on her door at 4:00 a.m. to see if she can get her baby to stop crying. (It’s actually her niece who she’s fostering.) This leads to a fast friendship that quickly becomes serious, a true meeting of soulmates. However, the past trauma of losing parents, either through abandonment, death, or mental illness (her father is an extreme hoarder), has greatly impacted their way of dealing with life’s challenges. For Vanessa, it’s to push away negative thoughts, even if it means sometimes faking happiness. In Adrian’s case, it’s to maintain total control and bury himself in his work. Will they be able to adapt and change to give each other unconditional love or will they crash and burn? You’ll need to read (and cry a lot of tears) to find out.

I’d give this a 5*, but it put me through the emotional wringer, so I can’t be objective. All 3 books in this series have female protagonists dealing with life-altering (or, in this case, life-threatening) conditions. The romances are genuine, complex, and deeply-emotional and the men they love are supportive and willing to make sacrifices (in this case, eventually). However, Jimenez never lets her readers forget that life is fragile and that we’re all on this planet to make the best of bad situations and find joy amidst the disappointments and tragedies we’ll all face on the journey. As this title so aptly points out, life IS too short and we must live our best lives rather than dwelling on the inevitability of future loss. Although this is a standalone, I highly recommend reading the first two books as well because, despite the heavy subject matter, they are extremely well-written stories of loss, grief, love, and redemption.


I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Forever through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne

 

5*

So heartwarming! An homage to You’ve Got Mail (and its earlier iterations). The method of communication has changed over time (hand-written letters, then email, and here in an app), but the message is the same. It’s about 2 people who meet as enemies while unknowingly falling in love anonymously. Layne does a fabulous job of bringing us a 21st-century enemies-to-lovers story between a serious, scowling developer, Sebastian Andrews, and champagne shop owner Gracie Cooper, who meet when he shows up with a hand-delivered letter (after she ignores his earlier ones), offering her a buyout of her family’s business. To her, he has a callous disregard for family tradition, but has to admit that taking him up on his offer might free her to follow her own dreams rather than living her deceased parents’. In the meantime, she’s falling in love with the faceless Sir who fulfills her dreams for a fairy-tale romance. So what’s she to do when she starts to fall for the gorgeous man who is standing right in front of her?

Although there’s sizzling chemistry between these two, this clean romance is tame compared with Layne’s previous books. The focus is on the slow-burn relationship, not a rush to the bedroom.