The Christmas Tree Farm (Dream Harbor #3) by Laurie Gilmore

 

4*

As author Gilmore says in her dedication, “For anyone who ever wished Hallmark Christmas movies were steamier, this one might do the trick,” and how right she is. Like the movies, it’s a small town Christmas romance between a pseudo-local guy (his sister now lives in the town where they both frequently visited as kids) and a former Georgia debutante who buys a farm sight unseen because she’s running away from her oppressive, uber wealthy, socially-conscious parents after her twin and best friend “abandoned” her to follow her new husband to Denmark. Turns out the farm grows and sells Christmas trees, and Kira doesn’t know the first thing about the business (other than what she’s gleaned from homesteading influencers), and, ironically, doesn’t even like the holiday. Bennett’s love language is acts of service, but his compulsive need to fix things has made him a human doormat. He’s a gorgeous, kind, cinnamon roll book boyfriend and she’s the grumpy to his sunshine. However, at some point, she’s going to have to begin believing in herself and making new friends and he’s going to have to realize that not all women just want to use him.

Gilmore makes good on her promise to make this steamier than the traditional made-for-TV movies by giving us a male lead who is the good kind of alpha in the sheets and a female lead who matches his enthusiasm. Their chemistry is hot, but the spicy scenes are also full of laughter and strong feelings. Mix in a trio of friendly mutts, a low-key treasure hunt, a plethora of Christmas activities, and busybody friends and neighbors, and it’s a winning recipe. Recommended!

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

Jupiter Rising by Gary D. Schmidt

 

5*

I decided to re-read Orbiting Jupiter before reading this sequel, and it was just as heart-wrenching as I remembered. I recommend any reader do the same for context, but this can technically be read as a standalone since some of the background story of Jupiter’s parents is revealed. However, getting a greater sense of why Jack so desperately wants to keep Jupiter (his foster sister and Joseph’s daughter) close makes this story that much more poignant. Schmidt never shies away from highlighting how poorly children can be treated by parents who should love and protect them and how the government agencies that are supposed to safeguard abused children so often fail in their duty because of unscrupulous lawyers and the misguided idea that all efforts should be expended to keep them with their blood relatives.

In this story, Jack’s adopted parents fostered Jupiter’s father who was just 14 when she was born. Eventually, they began fostering her as well and are in the process of adopting her when her maternal grandparents, who ignored her for the first three years of her life, decide to fight for custody. At the same time Jack has to worry about losing her, he’s also paired by his coach with one of Joseph’s former bullies, Jay Perkins. As they spend every weekday afternoon running the roads of their small Maine town, they start to grudgingly build a friendship and Jack finally learns why Jay was so angry at Joseph. I couldn’t help but hope that Jack wouldn’t suffer the loss of anyone else he loves. Schmidt writes achingly beautiful coming-of-age stories that highlight just how strong young people can be when faced with some of the worst of humanity. Be sure to have tissue ready! Highly recommended!

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

Happy Medium by Sarah Adler

 

5*

Sarah Adler’s 2nd book, Happy Medium, is a delightful enemies-to-lovers romance and ghost story featuring a fake medium with her own moral code, a reluctant goat farmer, and a charming (but somewhat sexist) 100-year-old ghost with a TV addiction.

When Gretchen Acorn is asked by her most important client to help an old friend exorcise a ghost on his family’s goat farm who has been driving away potential buyers, she reluctantly agrees because, even though the $10,000 would really come in handy, she doesn’t have any prior knowledge that would help her with her scam. So, imagine her surprise when the old farmer, Charles Waybill, turns out to be a handsome man about her age who knows she’s a scammer and promptly boots her off his property and the ghost she doesn’t believe in not only blocks her exit but can talk with her as well. Now she just has to convince Charlie that the ghost, Everett Waybill, is real and his reasons for the haunting are a matter of life and death. Can Gretchen learn to trust love and can Charlie learn to trust her before it’s too late?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am now going to go back and read her debut novel, Mrs. Nash’s Ashes. Adler does a wonderful job creating characters whose honesty, kindness, and compassion reel us in and balancing the romance between Charlie and Gretchen with her relationship with Everett which is full of laughter and aggravation (just like a sibling relationship). Bonus: you get to learn a bit about goat farming and who doesn’t love the little goat kids. Highly 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.

Tangled Up in You (Meant to Be #4) by Christina Lauren

 

5*
(release date: 6/25/24)

Contemporary, creative retelling of Disney’s Rapunzel movie, Tangled.

In Tangled Up in You, the writing duo Christina Lauren spins a backstory of how Rapunzel (Ren) ended up isolated from society for years until the fateful meeting with Flynn (Fitz). I love Ren’s wide-eyed innocence and inherent goodness and how bad boy Fitz, despite his desperate need to protect himself and trust no one, can’t help but want to be a better man for her. The use of a road trip with forced proximity in a variety of hotel rooms is a great plot device, giving the couple plenty of time to get to know each other through endless days of driving with stops at famous tourist traps along the way. (The biker bar scene is especially endearing.) Yes, Ren is seeing a world she only knew from books after her sheltered childhood, but Fitz is also viewing everything through a new lens, and it is actually Ren who is rescuing him.

I haven’t read any of the other books in the Meant to Be series, but I’m so glad Disney placed this story in Christina Lauren’s very capable hands. They have shown their readers that, although fairy tales are just make-believe, it is possible to have a happily-ever-after following heartbreak. Every great story has its roots in reality, and I love the characters and story they created to bring Rapunzel characters to life. Highly recommended clean romance for both teens and adults who need reminding that happy endings can exist.

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

Faking Christmas by Kerry Winfrey

 

4*

Laurel Grant has always struggled to find her passion and her place in the world. She also has an unfortunate habit of engaging in workplace romances which invariably go bad, the most recent of which left her homeless and jobless. So when her best friend suggests she apply for a social media position at Buckeye State of Mind, an Ohio magazine and website, she gives it a shot and is offered the job. The only hitch? Her new boss Gilbert, who she’s at no risk of falling for, thinks she’s a successful farmer thanks to the Meadow Rise Farm Instagram account she moderates for her twin sister Holly and her husband Darius. Fearful that the job offer will be rescinded if she sets him straight, she keeps up the ruse by writing a monthly column highlighting her life on the farm as a fabulous cook, custom furniture maker, and goat tender. So when Gilbert invites himself for their traditional Christmas Eve Eve dinner, she conspires with Holly to switch places, complete with playing Mom to her niece and nephew. How hard could it be to pull off?

Turns out it’s a lot harder than Laurel thinks when her nemesis, Max Beckett, shows up at Holly’s invitation to play her husband. When a blizzard turns an evening’s dinner into a weekend gathering, it’ll take a Christmas miracle to pull it off, especially since she’s hated Max ever since Holly’s wedding when she overheard him trying to convince Darius to call it off. Is it possible that she’s misjudged the grumpy, Christmas-hating killjoy who’s doing his best to help her fool her boss since she has no clue how to cook or milk a goat or why she suddenly finds herself fighting an attraction?

This sweet slow-burn, enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, fake relationship Christmas romance is the perfect recipe for a holiday treat. Combining plot elements from the classic movie Christmas in Connecticut with The Parent Trap, blended together with favorite Christmas songs and movies, Winfrey offers up a great escape for readers looking for a heaping helping of holiday cheer. 

I received an ARC from Berkley Books through NetGalley for an honest review. Opinions are strictly my own.

Much Ado About You by Samantha Young

5*

Evie Starling, 33, is done looking for love after a string of bad relationships, culminating with being stood up by a guy she’d been texting with for a month. When she’s passed over a 4th time for an editor position at her misogynistic company in favor of a younger man, she chucks it all for a month’s vacation in northern England, running a bookstore. Shortly after arriving, she meets a handsome, kind farmer after saving his dog. Despite her best intention to focus on herself and discover if her loneliness means she wants to be in a relationship or she’s just missing the companionship of friends who are coupling up and having kids, she can’t resist the friendship Roane offers. As the sexual tension between the two grows and the villagers accept her as one of their own, she begins to believe the fantasy that there might be someone who’s just perfect for her. Can this independent feminist trust that her feelings for this unicorn of a man are real and reciprocated or will she return to her unfulfilling, lonely life in Chicago?
There’s so much to love in this delightful, heartwarming romance. Although Evie’s an American outsider, she welcomes the embrace of the villagers, and reciprocates by lovingly interfering with their lives. Whether it’s freeing a young woman from an abusive relationship, bringing together star-crossed lovers, reuniting an estranged mother and daughter, or encouraging a widow to move past her grief, she has a profound, positive effect on the lives of those around her.

This lovely romance, inspired by the real rental bookstore holiday in Wigtown, Scotland, is quite a departure from Young’s best-selling, steamy On Dublin Street series. She deftly balances the various relationships without taking attention away from the central couple, giving readers a bountiful bouquet of love and heartbreak in all its forms. Topics like abuse, addiction, racism & homophobia are handled delicately and are not gratuitous, but rather integral to the story. Recommend this to fans of Susan Wiggs, Jenny Colgan, and Christina Lauren.

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 Next to Last Mistake by Amalie Jahn

5*

Tess Goodwin, Iowa farm girl, lover of cows, chess player, and best friend to Zander, the boy next door, is blindsided when her father re-enlists in the military and moves the family to Fayetteville, North Carolina. She worries that she’ll lose her relationship with Zander despite his assurance “You’re always gonna be a part of my life, even if you’re no longer a part of my days”, that she’ll be all alone without him acting as her “relationship liaison”, and that she won’t be able to adjust to a bigger school in an unfamiliar place. When she sees the casualty count billboard on the base at Ft. Bragg (“incentivizing the practice of staying alive”), her fear for her father’s safety is actualized. On her first day of school, she meets Leonetta who, along with new friends Alice and Summer, helps Tess navigate the racially and economically-diverse landscape that her homogeneous town in Iowa didn’t prepare her for. As she stumbles and apologizes for unintentional microaggressions, she builds the first real female friendships she’s ever had and realizes that mean girls exist everywhere. Through letters and phone calls, she also comes to accept that her love for Zander is more than platonic. Is there hope for the two of them becoming more or will distance and time tear them apart?

This is an exceptional YA novel that breaks from the normal tropes and, instead, focuses on healthy friendships, sweet romance, and the strength and support of a loving family. Romance, though present, isn’t the main focus. At its heart, it is the story of platonic love between friends. Jahn uses blond, blue-eyed Tess’s friendship with two African-American girls to highlight the issues of racism, “voluntary isolationism” in peer groups, and white privilege without becoming preachy. By using first person and liberal dialogue, she easily invites us into her characters’ lives. And when tragedy strikes, our tears are inevitable. Highly recommended for libraries serving teens.

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