The Love We Found (The Light We Lost #2) by Jill Santopolo

5*

This is a beautiful sequel to one of my favorite love stories, The Light We Lost. The Love We Found starts ten years after Gabe’s death, and Santopolo’s decision to use Lucy’s voice narrating the story to Gabe is an especially poignant one. I teared up at times, but not to the devastating degree I did with Gabe and Lucy’s story. This is a story of hope, navigating motherhood, blended families, and the fear and exhilaration of finding love again after loss. Dax is a worthy successor to Gabe, but as Dax said, it’s not a competition, just a comparison. If you’re looking for a mature romance between two wonderful people who, despite suffering shattering loss, take a chance on love, read this. Although it can be read as a standalone, I encourage you to read The Light We Lost first. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

 

The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right by Suzanne Allain

 

4*

The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right is reminiscent of some of Shakespeare’s comedies as if read aloud by Bridgerton’s Lady Whistledown. It’s a fun romp through the English Regency period, complete with cousins Lady Isabelle (Issie) and Arabella Grant (Bella), who look very much alike and agree to switch identities so that anxiety-ridden Issie can avoid her first season on the marriage mart. What neither of them anticipates is that they’ll fall in love and risk losing the objects of their affection when their deceit is revealed.

As with her previous book, Mr. Malcolm’s List, Allain pokes innocent fun at the haute ton’s ideas about marriage and the convoluted rules of primogeniture. If you’re looking for a fun, low angst, historically researched, clean romance, this fits the bill well. Recommended.

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

The Jewel of the Isle by Kerry Rea

 

5*

The Jewel of the Isle, reminiscent of one of my favorite movies, Romancing the Stone, is the third book I’ve read by Rea and all three are deserving of their 5* rating. She does such a fabulous job of crafting characters you can’t help rooting for and creating a plot that is full of surprises.

This friends-to-lovers, opposites attract, Instalove romance is more than you’d expect. Rea starts out introducing Emily and Ryder, who have both recently lost loved ones and who are struggling with misplaced guilt. However, from the moment Ryder makes a daring, yet foolhardy, leap onto a departing ferry bound for Isle Royale National Park, the action never stops. Emily, an ER doctor, is determined to complete her late father’s bucket list, fighting her natural fear of risk and the outdoors and, after her boyfriend dumps her, she hires what she thinks is an experienced tour guide to accompany her. Unfortunately, Ryder was the marketing brains behind the business he ran with his late brother and knows as little as she does about surviving in the wild. I literally laughed so hard that I teared up three times in the beginning chapters with this hapless duo and their hysterical banter, but never expected the thrilling, yet murderous action adventure to come. As they face down a bull moose, a pack of wolves, and an evil professor and his henchmen, they come to realize that the need to protect those they love trumps any fear or perceived incompetence they assumed about themselves.

I highly recommend this spicy, endearing romance that keeps you on the edge of your seat while still providing levity.

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

Christmas with the Knights by Hannah Langdon

 

4*

If you love the idea of spending Christmas in the UK as much as I do, reading this wonderful story is the next best thing to being there. I really enjoyed Langdon’s 2023 Christmas offering, Christmas with the Lords, so I was excited to read this one. Although there isn’t as much humor, it’s still another heartwarming romance between the lord of the manor and a Londoner who desperately needs the escape and joy that a celebration of the holiday in the English countryside can provide.

Fallon is a highly successful, workaholic event planner who’s burned out and in need of a restful vacation. Instead, she accompanies her self-absorbed, neglectful soap opera mother to her soon-to-be stepfather’s country estate for three weeks around Christmas. There she meets his gorgeous son, Alexander and precocious grandson, Theo, who are both dealing with their own issues. Rather than taking it easy, Fallon agrees to plan her mother’s engagement party and work with Alexander to help launch his artisanal gin business at the annual village Christmas Fayre. As the days pass, Fallon begins to fall for this father and son but doesn’t see a future since she doesn’t want children, believing she’ll be as bad a mother as hers was. However, the appealing beauty of the Yorkshire moors, the warmth of the quirky extended Knight family (including eccentric Aunt Constance and effervescent sister Coco), and her mother’s apologies and efforts to heal their relationship help ease her loneliness and make her question if the frenetic pace of London is sustainable or even desirable.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story which checks all the boxes for a cozy, clean Christmas romance. The only problem I had was Fallon’s negativity and hurtful decisions she made out of fear. All’s well that ends well, though, so I definitely recommend this charming holiday offering.

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

The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean

 

2*

Sorry, but I did not like this book. My biggest pet peeve is when authors randomly skip from one time to another, from chapter to chapter, for no justifiable reason. This is one of the worst examples of that writing device. At the start of each chapter, I had to calculate (based on the year) approximately how old Amanda (Mandy) was, and each time, it took me out of the story. Sometimes she was kindergarten age, then in her late twenties, or just 17, heading over to London, then second grade and so on. Not only were the loose ends not tied up at the end, but I also felt like the author intentionally misdirected readers about who Mandy was going to marry. It just all made my head spin and kept me from feeling at all engaged with the main characters or the story. Not recommended.

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

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

5*

Another heart-warming winner from Abby Jimenez! Although Just for the Summer isn’t officially a book in the Part of Your World series, it might as well be given how many characters from those books are featured in this one.

It all starts with an online meet-cute when Justin (29), a software engineer from Minnesota who builds websites, posts on Reddit about how he’s cursed to be the guy women break up with and then go on to meet their soulmate. His friend Brad describes it as “ferrying women to their happily ever afters.” Emma (28), a traveling nurse whose next adventure will be in Hawaii, messages him to let him know that he’s not alone. From that initial exchange, they slowly start building a relationship through texts, emails, and video chats until Brad suggests they date each other to break the curse. That’s when Justin starts his campaign to get Emma to do her next assignment in Minneapolis rather than Hawaii. The fact that they find each other attractive and have an instant connection makes it easy for Emma to convince her best friend and fellow nurse, Maddy, to postpone Hawaii and spend the summer in Minneapolis at the Royaume Hospital (where the protagonists from the Part of Your World series all work).

Justin is really the perfect book boyfriend. Not only is he handsome and genuinely charming, but he’s also responsible, kind, and protective. One of my favorite parts of the story are his dating plans, surveys, catchy invitations, and post-date exit interviews. From the moment they meet, their conversations are witty, honest, and open, and, despite Emma’s commitment to leaving at the end of 6 weeks (following the plan they put together to break the curse: 4 dates, 1 kiss, and the breakup), there’s no way either of them can avoid catching feelings.

Unfortunately, as with all of Jimenez’s books, her characters are dealing with some serious issues. In this case, neither of their moms is going to win any parenting awards. Justin is the oldest son, and his mom is going to prison for embezzlement, leaving him to be guardian to his siblings for several years since their father died in an accident 4 years prior. Emma’s mother is an impulsive, irresponsible, and selfish drifter who had her at age 18 and essentially abandoned her when she was a child, with her ending up in the foster care system. Her final placement at age 14 resulted in her meeting Maddy, whose two moms took her in. She thinks she’s resolved her childhood trauma, but it's obvious that she has created a life where she can move around the world with just two suitcases of possessions so she’s prepared to leave wherever she lives at a moment’s notice. She also deals with periods of depression which she calls “getting small,” often triggered by her mother’s sudden reappearance. It isn’t until the truth of her mother’s betrayal is discovered that she finally recognizes she needs help if she’s ever going to be whole and able to accept love in her life.

I appreciated that Jimenez chose a dual POV so that we could really get to know Justin and Emma through the other’s eyes. One of the most poignant scenes, that made Justin realize the depth of Emma’s kindness and caring, is when she helps a woman with dementia (or a TBI) while on their first date. After explaining how she knew the woman needed help, she said that her motto is “In a world where you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy.” It’s that way of thinking that allows her to keep a tenuous hold on her fractured relationship with her mother, a philosophy that’s put to the test more than once after her mother reappears.

Abby Jimenez is one of the reigning queens of the romance genre, and her newest offering confirms that she deserves all the accolades. Highly 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. 

 

Christmas at The Shelter Inn by RaeAnne Thayne

 

4*

RaeAnne Thayne can always be depended on to bring us sweet, emotional, heart-warming stories. This year’s Christmas at the Shelter Inn, set near the fictional Lake Haven, ID featured in so many of her stories, is a friends-to-lovers, small town romance between Natalie, a digital nomad who writes travel stories, and Griffin, a family doctor who was her brother’s best friend and her long-time crush. When she comes home to help her pregnant sister who is on bed rest, it’s the first time since leaving for college following the deaths of both her mother and brother that she’s spent any measurable time there. She ran from the crushing grief and painful memories, and despite her growing feelings for Griffin and her love for her sister and adorable nieces, she’s ready to run away once her nephew is born rather than risk falling in love and being left behind again. Griffin also has ghosts and regrets from his past that he manages to compartmentalize so that he can be a great doctor and grandson to Birdie. It will take a Christmas miracle for them to shed the restraints from past trauma so that they can acknowledge what’s obvious to everyone else in their orbit.

 

Readers looking for a clean Christmas romance with all the charm and warmth of a close community will find it in this story. Add in a fun group of senior residents at the Shelter Inn and two precocious, darling little girls and it hits all the marks. Be warned that there are triggers: fatal accidents, cancer, miscarriage, and abandonment. However, Thayne writes with sensitivity and balance so that they don’t weigh down the story. Recommended.

 

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

 

Escape to Starshine Cove (Starshine Cove #1) by Debbie Johnson

5* 

Escape to Starshine Cove (Book #1) is a beautifully-written story that, at its heart, is about the many faces of grief and the power of a loving community coming together selflessly and without judgement to nurture and help wounded souls heal. In true Johnson style, though, it’s also full of laughter and light, quirky characters, romance, and vivid descriptions of the setting. On the surface, Starshine Cove on the Dorset coast is like something out of a fairy tale with its cobbled streets, thatched roof cottages, a beautiful beach surrounded by turquoise waters, and the magical cave full of colorful stones. 

 

Ella Farrell flees her home after discovering her partner of 13 years in bed with his assistant. It’s the final straw, but it’s the miscarriage she suffered three years prior and endless hours working at the hospital during the pandemic that have left her broken. When her car breaks down, she discovers a magical place with handmade fairies in the trees and a welcoming community of kind and caring citizens.  It is, as Ella says, “wild and beautiful and free – it is the absolute image of the happy place I have spent so many hours conjuring up...” Like Ella, it seems to be a place where lost souls find themselves again, many of whom are struggling with their own profound grief. 

 

One of these is Jake Hennessey, aka Pub Daddy, the owner of the Starshine Inn. As Ella and Jake spend more time together and start to share the reasons they escaped from their previous lives, Ella begins to confront her trauma and start the healing process. One step is to accept the townfolk’s offer to become their new doctor. However, when faced with a near-tragedy she blames herself for, she flees Starshine Cove and her budding romance with Jake. As she says, “I’m a doctor who can’t cope with stress, who can’t cope with caring, who can’t cope with life-threatening situations. A doctor who can’t even control her own mental health, never mind her patients’.” It will take a miracle (or maybe just some long overdue therapy) for her to find her way through her grief to acceptance and the embrace of her newfound family.

 

Johnson is an exceptional writer who captures the essence of the human experience by illustrating the many types of grief while showing that, despite the pain, there are still many moments of loving, laughter, friendship, and wonder. There’s always the chance the talk of the pandemic will quickly date a book, but I applaud the fact that Johnson doesn’t shy away from illustrating the profound effect it had (and continues to have) on both the physical and mental health of healthcare workers. I highly recommend this heartwarming, magical story that is the first in a series. 

 

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

 

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

5*

On his first day of work in the ER, Jacob Maddox is dubbed “Doctor Death” by the nursing staff after he loses 7 patients. If that isn’t bad enough, his severe social anxiety leads to some faux pas that give everyone, especially Dr. Briana Ortiz, the impression that he’s rude as well. In Briana’s eyes, his bad reputation is cemented when she’s told by her superior that her presumed promotion to Head of Emergency Medicine isn’t a guarantee since the new guy is now in the running. So, imagine her confusion when more than one friend tells her she’s misjudged him and that he’s one of the good ones. Who would have thought Jacob’s letter of apology would be the start of a beautiful friendship?

In less talented and superficial hands, this might have been just another simple enemies-to-lovers workplace romance. However, Jimenez gives us LAYERS. Although Jacob struggles to be understood and to navigate social situations, he is one of the most empathetic and altruistic characters ever written, and it’s this care and concern for others that leads him to donate a kidney to Briana’s younger brother. In return, she offers to be his fake girlfriend through the minefield created when his ex-girlfriend and younger brother decide to marry, his family withholding their acceptance of the new relationship until they’re sure Jacob is past his heartbreak. As the weeks pass leading up to the wedding and the transplant surgery, feelings between them begin to grow, but the inevitable misunderstanding gets in the way. Briana doesn’t trust men or her own judgment after being abandoned by her father as a child and her ex-husband in the worst possible way, so is there any chance that they’ll ever have a future together?

In one of the most poignant scenes in this touching romance, Briana says of Jacob, “He let me look into his soul.” Jimenez, with her gift for crafting complex characters navigating some of life’s hardest challenges, has given her readers that same glimpse into the souls of both main characters. In so doing, she has left us with an indelible impression of the power of selfless, harmless, enduring love. Highly 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.

Love at First by Kate Clayborn

5*


When Will first visits the Chicago apartment building he inherited from his uncle, his only thought is to sell it as soon as the year his uncle required he keep it expires. He refuses to live there due to the bad memories associated with it, except for one shining exception: the young girl he saw on a balcony tossing cherry tomatoes at the squirrels who strikes his very heart and soul, a feeling he’ll never forget. Although he never got the chance to speak with her, Nora is the one bright spot in a day when Will lost everything. When he finds her 16 years later, living in her late grandmother’s apartment and looking out for the older tenants who are like family, he realizes that his plans to rent the apartment short-term will make him the enemy. Despite Nora and the others’ attempts to sabotage his efforts, the two are drawn to each other.

Clayborn has such a way with words. Describing their first pseudo-date on a Lake Michigan beach and discovering the comfort and joy they find in each other’s company, she writes, ”Between them, the jacket-tablecloth had wrinkled up, a dozing chaperone.” So much of their relationship is conveyed with looks, limited words, and intense feelings that can’t be hidden. However, the path to happily-ever-after is strewn with the baggage of childhood neglect and abandonment for both of them, and Will is determined to avoid falling into the “rash, reckless, selfish” love he witnessed between his parents (as described by his uncle on that fateful day). Out of fear that he might follow in his parents’ footsteps, he spent his adult life proving that he could be stable, measured, and in control, going on to become an ER doctor. It will take a great deal of persuasion on the part of friends who care for him to get him to accept that there isn’t just one way to love.

There’s so much packed into this beautiful, enemies-to-lovers story: genuine emotion, a subtle romance with mild sex scenes, selfish parenting, and a colorful cast of secondary characters who offer a platonic, at times parental, kind of love. This is a very worthy follow-up to Love Lettering, and you won’t be able to help being charmed by the well-meaning extended family. Highly recommend!

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

A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan

3.5*

You get three romances for the price of one in this latest offering from Sarah Morgan. Rosie is getting married…to a man she’s only known for about 12 weeks. Her mother Maggie, home in England, is upset to learn that the wedding will be in Colorado at Dan’s family lodge and that his mother Catherine is handing all of the arrangements, including dress shopping. When older sister Maggie, a workaholic ER doctor, hears that her impulsive baby sister (who she’s mothered her entire life thanks to Rosie’s asthma) is getting married to someone she’s never even met, she makes it her mission to stop the wedding. Unbeknownst to both girls, their parents have separated and are heading for divorce, and they’re going to pretend they’re still a perfect, loving couple until after the ceremony. As they all converge on the resort in Aspen, sparks start to fly…both angry and passionate ones! Thanks to Katie’s warnings, Rosie’s starting to doubt her relationship, Katie is sparring with Dan’s best friend Jordan, and Maggie and Nick are discovering that the passion they used to share may just be dormant, not dead. Will Katie succeed or will distracting Jordan teach her a thing or two about love?

There is much to be frustrated about in this story: Katie’s smothering interference, Rosie’s disregard for her mother’s feelings by allowing Catherine to take over, and the pacing of Katie and Jordan’s relationship. The highlight is the romance between the middle-aged parents. It’s so refreshing to feature a mature relationship imbued with passion, and Morgan gets to the heart of what it takes to save a marriage. Fans of Morgan and light-hearted romance will enjoy this one.


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

Dine with Me by Layla Reyne

5*

Beautiful gay romance between a cancer-stricken top chef who would rather die than lose his tastebuds and a young doctor who answers the ad to accompany him on a 2-week foodie extravaganza. Just when he thinks his life is over following a throat cancer diagnosis, Miller meets Clancy, a young doctor about to join his father’s plastic surgery practice in LA. The tasting trip is his parents’ congratulatory gift to him, but the true gift is the love that blooms in the face of impending tragedy. Will Clancy, whose passion is actually oncology, be able to convince Miller that it’s worth taking the chance to live and that his value as a compassionate friend and family member is just as important as his ability to create art through his cooking?

This book is a gift to foodies with its lavish descriptions of the meals they enjoy on their journey and proof that love, in all its glorious variety, can blossom when you least expect it. Strong cast of supporting characters including Sloan, Miller’s best friend and ex-wife, his other best friend and renowned chef, Greg, and Clancy’s parents. Sexy scenes, but not overly graphic, this is a highly recommended purchase for public and college libraries.

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