First and Forever by Lynn Painter

5*

I love that, no matter how bad my mood, reading a Painter romance snaps me out of it. First and Forever is a swoon-worthy, hilarious delight that had me laughing from the first scene and didn’t let up. Duffy DiStefano is snarky, tells it like it is, and isn’t one to back down from a challenge. She’s also been friend-zoned with every guy she’s ever dated because she’s so easy to like and doesn’t play the games like other women do. Lucky for her, Heisman-winning tight end Connor Cunningham likes a challenge. What starts out as an agreement to be her fake boyfriend in order to make her grieving and ailing father happy becomes so much more as they get to know each other, whether it’s scootering to White Castle or coaching a kids’ flag football team. Connor, despite his fame and devastatingly handsome looks, is an absolute sweetheart who goes out of his way to make her and her father’s life more comfortable, but is he too good to be true?

I don’t think I’ve ever laughed more while reading a romance. Whether it’s taking on a hoard of zombies or verbally sparring with Duff’s dad, Tony (an absolute hoot!), the humor doesn’t quit. Of course, at its core, this is a romance and Painter delivers incredible chemistry and some spicy scenes, too. This is one of those books that you wish you could read again for the first time, which is the highest compliment I can give. So, pick this one up for the perfect beach read. Highly recommended.

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

Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter

 

4*

Nothing Like the Movies is the long-awaited sequel to Lynn Painter’s Better Than the Movies, a sweet, clean, YA second chance romance. I wish I had reread the first before I began this one, not because it can’t stand alone, but because I wanted, fresh in my mind, Wes and Liz’s origin story and the place where they left off.

Liz and Wes were next-door neighbors in Omaha, and Wes enjoyed antagonizing her as all little boys do when they like a girl. It wasn’t until their senior year, when Liz’s old crush Michael moved back, that she and Wes faked a relationship in the hopes of getting Michael to finally notice her. As so often happens, after spending so much time together, they realized that their feelings had gone from frenemy to love. This story picks up as Liz is entering her third year at UCLA where she started with Wes as a freshman until his father’s sudden death forced him to drop out and quit a very promising baseball career. So, imagine Liz’s surprise when she sees that he’s back and eager to rekindle their relationship despite breaking her heart (and his own). Liz, in a misguided attempt to dissuade him, fakes another relationship, this time with her very platonic roommate Clark. When her new internship has her enmeshed with the baseball team, filming their every move in the preseason, it becomes harder and harder for her to ignore Wes’s efforts, especially when she finally learns the truth about what happened that led to their breakup.

Although I didn’t find this sequel quite as entertaining as Better Than the Movies, I think it’s because of the suffering these two delightful kids went through to find their way back to each other. Wes is quite clueless when he thinks he can just work his charm on Liz and she’ll fall back into his arms, but she’s not having it. I enjoyed watching each of them excelling, Liz with her sports video productions and Wes with his exceptional pitching (when he can get his head back in the game after recalling his father’s critical comments). There’s a good balance of humorous banter and painful vulnerability, and side characters provide encouragement and guidance to help Wes and Liz recognize the truth of their complicated feelings. I also enjoyed the rom-com movie quotes at the start of each chapter, my recognition proof of my unapologetic love for the genre. Once again, Painter has demonstrated why she’s a star in the YA romance world. Highly recommended.

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

The Next Best Fling (Librarians in Love #1) by Gabriella Gamez

 

2*

I found this book really tedious and repetitive and was tempted to not finish it several times. I’m not a fan of the miscommunication trope, and with all of the main characters lying through most of the story, I was bombarded with it. Overall, I felt that they were all immature, especially with the excessive drinking, and I just couldn’t buy into the premise of pining for 8+ years with unrequited love. Marcela’s love interest and Theo’s younger brother Ben is a manipulative, narcissistic jerk whose actions traumatized Theo and whose controlling interference in Marcela’s love life (which she, sadly, allowed) kept her emotionally tethered to him. His fiancé Alice wasn’t much better, in my opinion, although her actions were just selfish. The fake relationship between Marcela and Theo made sense, in theory, but they were lacking the chemistry to take it to the next level and spent too long clinging to their crushes, especially Marcela when this blinders for Ben were coming off. They also didn’t really seem to have anything in common, her a librarian who doesn’t care for football and him an ex-NFL player who doesn’t read. Overall, just a miss for me. Not recommended.

 

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.