Author: Jana

The Roommate Pact by Allison Ashley | Book Review

Posted July 31, 2023 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 1 Comment

The Roommate Pact by Allison Ashley
Published by Mira on August 1, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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All of the fun, none of the heartache…as long as they stick to the agreement.

The proposition is simple: if ER nurse Claire Harper and her roommate, firefighter Graham Scott, are still single by the time they’re forty, they’ll take the proverbial plunge together…as friends with benefits. Maybe it’s the wine, but in the moment, Claire figures the pact is a safe-enough deal, considering she hasn’t had much luck in love and he’s in no rush to settle down. Like, at all. Besides, there’s no way she could ever really fall for Graham and his thrill-seeking ways. Not after what happened to her father…

Just as things begin to heat up way before the proposed deadline, Graham’s injured in a serious rock-climbing accident—and he needs Claire’s help to heal. She’ll do whatever it takes to nurse him back to health…even if it means moving into Graham’s bed and putting up with his little dog who hates her. But with this no-strings arrangement taking a complicated turn, keeping “for now” from turning into “forever” isn’t as easy as they’d planned.

I read and really enjoyed Would You Rather, so I was excited to read this companion novel! Would You Rather features Noah and Mia, both of whom make multiple important appearances in The Roommate Pact. Both of them are close friends with Claire and Graham, who take center stage in this book. So while The Roommate Pact works fine as a standalone, I recommend you reading Would You Rather first for Noah’s and Mia’s sweet marriage of convenience love story. One thing you can expect with an Allison Ashley book is an emotional story with some humor thrown in, and that’s exactly what you get with The Roommate Pact! As always, my main points are bolded.

1. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes, so I was happy Allison Ashley chose to use it again in this book. Claire and Graham are roommates and good friends. He’s a firefighter (mmmmmm) and she’s a nurse. They made a silly pact to become friends with benefits at 40 if they are not in serious relationships at that point, so you know they already have a tiny thing for one another. While chatting outside one night, Claire realizes how seriously Graham took that pact. The feelings start to bloom between them then and there, and go into overdrive when Graham is injured. Claire offers to help him recover at home, and that’s where our love story begins.

2. I really liked Graham and Claire! Both of them have some trauma from their pasts that make them reluctant to entertain any kind of relationship with the other, which is where the friends with benefits idea came from. Graham has a risky lifestyle, being a firefighter and a hiker/rock climber, and Claire experienced loss as a child as a result of someone else’s risky lifestyle, so he’s kind of off limits for her. She doesn’t want to constantly worry about losing the person she ends up. Graham was burned as a teen, and vowed never to fall in love again. Both of them are in for a rude awakening when they discover that love always finds a way around these kinds of rules people set for themselves.

3. I said I liked Claire, but Graham has my heart and deserves a little more discussion. Claire suggests that he journal during his recovery, and he decides to write her long emails while she’s at work instead. He sends them to an email address she hasn’t checked in ages, and finds this outlet to be very therapeutic. He learns a lot about himself and is so vulnerable. I really felt for him and loved seeing him grow and change. He’s just such a good guy. He’s a protector, a provider, and I love him. Oh, and he falls first. So good.

4. GERTRUDE. There is a tiny dog with a huge attitude in this book and I LOVED her. Gertie is Graham’s little princess, and boy is she spoiled. This dog hates Claire with every fiber of her being, and it was the cutest and funniest journey for the two of them. Gertie brought a lot of comedic relief to the story, which I loved.

5. The romance is a little formulaic as far as the friends to lovers trope goes, but it was sweet in the end. Graham is unable to speak for a little while due to a small injury in the hospital after being intubated, so OF COURSE this means Claire needs to sleep in his bed with him every night even though he texts her all day long. How convenient! I enjoyed their friendship and their conversations. I loved the trip they take together to his parents’ house, and Claire’s interactions with his parents. SO sweet. I really enjoyed delving into their minds and learning what they truly think about one another. Graham’s emails, where he pours out his heart had me in a puddle. There’s so many feelings on both sides. On the surface, though, there’s a lot of physical attraction and that’s the bulk of what actually propels the romance forward. Because they decide to become friends with benefits a few years earlier than originally planned their relationship starts out very physically driven, even though the actual intimate scenes are fade-to-black (which I thought that was an odd choice considering the nature of their relationship). Their foundation was formed before the book begins so readers arrive on scene just in time for things to get physical. I guess I just wanted to see more of that depth, rather than be told it’s there. I felt like I was missing a lot of info that I needed to be able to fully believe the love story. There was a lot of telling and not much showing.

6. There’s a lot of discussion surrounding grief, loss, illness, fear of the unknown, and processing trauma. These topics were handled with respect and sensitivity, which I really appreciated. I don’t tend to enjoy heavier topics like these in my romance because I read to try and get away from my own inner demons. But Allison Ashley does such a good job tackling weightier subject matter, and juxtaposing it with humor and flirtatious banter.

So all in all, I enjoyed this! I really loved Graham and his little Gertrude. I enjoyed seeing Claire and Graham open up and express their fears and grapple with what they have been through individually in their pasts. I do wish I had been able to see more depth to their relationship, rather than being told about it, but I do really like them as a couple. I’m definitely interested in seeing what Allison Ashley has in store for us next.

The Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish

Posted July 24, 2023 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 20 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is The Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish. I feel like DNFing gets a bad rap, but it is not at all a bad thing! Not every book will mesh with every reader, and that’s ok! It doesn’t have to mean that the book was bad (although, it does sometimes), and I know I’m a happier person when I decide to not finish a book that just isn’t working for me. It keeps reading a hobby that I love instead of a job I have to do. I also don’t rate or review books that I DNF, so that means I don’t have to review a book that obviously wasn’t written for me. I can just move on, no hurt feelings or negative energy. This doesn’t mean that I always only finish books I love or that I only write 100% positive reviews. It just means I’ve given myself permission to read what I want, when I want. There’s freedom in doing this. So today I’m sharing my ten most recent DNFs and a little bit about what made me decide to set them aside. If you choose to do the same thing, I would encourage you to be kind to the authors and not tag them when you mention your post on social media. So let’s begin!

1. Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long (audio ARC – DNF @ 23%)
I was super excited for a fun pirate fantasy, but what started out as a very exciting tale with Pirates of the Caribbean vibes quickly simmered down to a lot of characters on a lot of different boats or in a lot of different locations, with not much happening. I couldn’t connect with the two main characters because I had no idea who they were and what made them who they were. Finally, the narrators are good individually, but their voices were not complimentary of one another. I had a hard time remembering which characters were which because the male narrator’s voice for some characters were so different than the female narrator’s voice for those same characters.

2. The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren (e-ARC – DNF @ 57%)
This one hurts me. I adore Christina Lauren. These two ladies have written some of my very favorite books ever and I always squeal with glee when I get my hands on a new title of theirs. This did not feel like a romance novel to me, and Fizzy is better suited as a side character. I just didn’t like her or care about her story.

3. Vacation Wars by Meghan Quinn (audio – DNF @ 26 minutes in)
The humor in this is not for me. Referring to her nameless crush as “the bulge” because his nether region is round and large in swim trunks? How is she 30? This is the third book by this author I have DNFed, so I think this is just a case of the books not being right for me. I will not be attempting to read more books by this author, no matter how good they sound or how pretty the covers are.

4. The Heiress at Sea by Christi Caldwell (e-ARC – DNF @ 15%)
First off, I found the writing style to be incredibly frustrating. It’s page after page of extremely long sentences with an over abundance of punctuation marks, and purple prose everywhere. But it didn’t flow at all. The language felt so unnatural that I tripped over all the words and sometimes had to read sentences over again. But regardless of that, the heroine is one of the stupidest heroines I’ve ever read about! She disguises herself as a boy and gets hired aboard a vessel as a deck swab. Her first job is to paint the hallway, and in what universe would anyone think that that means to paint an entire country scene mural on the wall? Seriously, there’s a pink sky with clouds and trees and a house. She keeps getting so confused that these men are not happy with her work and keep asking her to repaint the hall. And then she just paints a new scene with the lovely “art supplies” they gave her, instead of painting it a solid color! She then realizes she has boarded the wrong ship and thinks surely they would be happy to turn the “boat” around and deposit her back on the dock from which she came. They keep correcting her use of “boat” and want her to say “ship”, and she always responds with a “that’s what I said, please turn this boat around”. Does she really not understand the difference? She’s demanding, speaks out of turn, and gets away with way more than any deck swab should get away with. She orders the men about and demands the captain do things, and they all keep dealing with it. While also thinking she’s a young boy. I couldn’t continue.

5. Love at First Psych by Cara Bastone (Audio – DNF @ 33%)
Supremely annoying, rude heroine. Super sweet and goofy hero, but not enough to keep me listening to her.

6. Icebreaker by Hannah Grace (e-ARC – DNF @ 6%)
Bit too spicy for me!

7. When In Rome by Sarah Adams (e-ARC – DNF @ 51%)
It’s hard to believe this book is by the same author who wrote my beloved The Cheat Sheet. The book started off so promising, with a really fun meet cute and characters I thought I was going to fall in love with, but there is no chemistry between the main characters. The same things and the same conversations keep happening over and over again, and I think Noah’s eyes might be getting more obnoxiously green as the book goes on. I keep reading about how everyone in this book is so beautiful and so perfect and so pretty, and that’s it. Noah is supposed to be grumpy, but he just comes off as a jerk instead. He goes back-and-forth between wanting to kiss Amelia’s face off and saying really mean things to her. I don’t believe any kind of romance that is founded on this kind of treatment. Amelia latches on to anyone and everyone who offers her a crumb of kindness or affection. I don’t feel like it’s Noah that she’s falling for, I feel like it’s the personalized attention he’s giving her. I’m a very character-driven reader, so I can’t continue reading a book if I don’t like the characters.

8. Gilded by Marissa Meyer (e-ARC – DNF @ 10%)
I love Marissa Meyer, and I was super invested and interested in this story until I came across multiple reviews with trigger warnings for animal cruelty so I had to stop.

9. What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall (e-ARC – DNF @ 27%)
I couldn’t stand the main character at all, and I didn’t enjoy the writing style.

10. To Marry a Scottish Laird by Lynsay Sands (Audio – DNF @ 30%)
Walking and having sex. That’s all that happens. Cam and Joan are traveling together, and their conversations are all how they shouldn’t be having sex. Joan’s thoughts are all how she can’t believe he wants to have sex with her when her face is so bruised and swollen from being attacked a few days earlier. Cam’s thoughts are all about how much he wants to have sex with her. And when they are not walking or sitting on a horse together or eating, they are either having sex, or hoping to, or trying to talk themselves out of it. I was so bored!

How do you feel about DNFing books?
Will you abandon a book you don’t like, or will you push through it?

How to Be a Wallflower by Eloisa James | Book Review

Posted July 20, 2023 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 0 Comments

How to Be a Wallflower by Eloisa James
Series: Would-Be Wallflowers #1
Published by Avon on March 29, 2022
Genres: Historical Romance, Romance
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Netgalley)
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Miss Cleopatra Lewis is about to be launched in society by her aristocratic grandfather. But since she has no intention of marrying, she visits a costume emporium specifically to order unflattering dresses guaranteed to put off any prospective suitors.

Powerful and charismatic Jacob Astor Addison is in London, acquiring businesses to add to his theatrical holdings in America—as well as buying an emerald for a young lady back in Boston. He's furious when a she-devil masquerading as an English lady steals Quimby's Costume Emporium from under his nose.

Jake strikes a devil's bargain, offering to design her “wallflower wardrobe” and giving Cleo the chance to design his. Cleo can't resist the fun of clothing the rough-hewn American in feathers and flowers. And somehow in the middle of their lively competition, Jake becomes her closest friend.

It isn't until Cleo becomes the toast of all society that Jake realizes she's stolen his fiercely guarded heart. But unlike the noblemen at her feet, he doesn't belong in her refined and cultured world.

Caught between the demands of honor and desire, Jake would give up everything to be with the woman he loves—if she'll have him!

Historical romance might just be my favorite genre, which is so surprising to me! I loved it as a teen, and it was actually my first adult romance genre so maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised! I’ve been discovering a lot of new-to-me authors in this genre over the last year, and this year I’m rediscovering Eloisa James. I read a fairytale retelling of hers a couple years ago and enjoyed it, but I never picked up anything else by her until I received How to Be A Wallflower for review. I was looking for more books for lovers of Lisa Kleypas and fell down a bit of a rabbit hole that led to me finding out that Eloisa and Lisa are friends, and that they love each other’s writing! That got me even more excited to jump back in to Eloisa’s titles and I’m so glad I did! Right after I finished this one I read another one of hers, and both were so much fun! I’m hopeful I’ve found another author to love! As always, my main points are bolded.

1. Right off the bat I knew I’d like Cleo. She’s a spicy spitfire, and I loved watching her put people in their place. I loved her personality. Not every lady would take pride in being the owner of a company that makes commodes (toilets), but she does! Her mother pushed the boundaries of society and lived her best life, and Cleo is following in her footsteps now. She doesn’t care that she doesn’t fit in, she just owns who she is and loves herself. She has no interest in settling down with a man and handing everything she’s worked for over to him, so she sets out to become a wallflower–someone no man would pay any attention to. She designs the most unattractive wardrobe for herself and is ready to blend in while she joins her grandfather in London. But no, she will pay for her own lodging because she’s an independent woman. She’s reluctant to start a relationship with Jake because her mom couldn’t commit to just one man and Cleo doesn’t want to hurt him. I loved this unconventional role reversal, and I just loved her!

2. Jacob Astor Addison, rugged American businessman, wants to buy a clothing shop and take it to America to change the world of theater. I loved Jake, too. He’s so burly and strong and he won a fight with a bear, for crying out loud. An actual bear in the wild. He falls very quickly, and boy does he have it bad for Cleo. Like so, so bad. He loves her so much that he’s willing to parade about London in the brightest colors and the boldest prints because she helped design his wardrobe for him. He insists on moving to her floor at the hotel she’s staying at so he can make sure she’s safe (since she lives there alone). And yes, he rents out the entire floor so it’s just the two of them. In their own suites. He befriends her grandpa. He worms his way right into her heart and patiently allows her to fall a little, back away, fall a little more, get scared, and ultimately fall head over heels, all on her own time.

3. I loved the friendship these two form on their way to love. They sit around and have stimulating conversations over meals. The banter is amazing. They are such wonderful communicators, and we know how that makes me soar. They’re both so open with their fears and emotions and wants, and they get to know one another on a very deep level. It just felt like this romance was built on a stronger foundation than many others in this genre.

4. The romance is just amazing. The pining on his part, and the trepidation on her part. The things he thinks about her and says to her face had me swooning. I loved that Jake let Cleo drive the romance at her own speed. They kissed when she wanted it. They did… *ahem* other things on her terms. He respects her feelings and her wishes, and is such a flirty cinnamon roll gentleman that he left me weak in the knees. The story is just so romantic.

5. The entire story is very sweet and low stakes, which was so refreshing. There was little to no angst, no big miscommunications or misunderstandings, no villains. Just two people working their way to each other.

6. I loved the supporting characters. All of them.

7. The humor! Perhaps parts of this story are a little outlandish and unbelievable, but I didn’t care! I loved the humor, and had so much fun reading this.

All in all, I highly recommend this book and am excited to continue with the series! I took a little detour and went to an older release, My American Duchess, because I heard it’s the love story of Jake’s best friend, Merry. I loved her so much in this book that I absolutely had to go read her story. It was amazing, and my review should be up in the next few weeks! I can’t wait to read more from Eloisa James!

Top Ten Books with One-Word Titles

Posted July 17, 2023 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 17 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is Books With One-Word Titles and was submitted by Angela @ Reading Frenzy Book Blog. Thanks, Angela! I love a good title that sounds pretty and interesting, but sometimes one word can pack quite a punch. Today I’m sharing some of my favorite books with one-word titles. Many of these take me back to my YA days! I think there must have been a one-word title trend back then because there are so many!

Ledge by Stacey McEwan
Frost by Kate Avery Ellison
Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Boomerang by Noelle August
Roomies by Christina Lauren
Hunted by Meagan Spooner
Captivate by Vanessa Garden
Winter by Marissa Meyer

Can you think of any books with one-word titles that you love?
Did you and I pick any of the same books this week?

You, with a View by Jessica Joyce | Book Review

Posted July 14, 2023 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 3 Comments

You, With a View by Jessica Joyce
Published by Berkley on July 11, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Netgalley)
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Two high school enemies must reunite for a road trip inspired by their grandparents’ broken engagement in this electric debut romance.

Noelle Shepherd is unemployed, living with her parents, and grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos of Gram and a smitten man, tucked alongside a love letter. She creates a TikTok to search for the mystery man, which goes viral, and she’s shocked when his grandson responds—a man who happens to be her high school nemesis, Theo Spencer.

Noelle refuses to let Theo’s annoying accomplishments in adulthood—or his sexy smirk—stand in the way of meeting his grandfather and unlocking the secrets he knew about her gram as a young woman. When she learns that their plans to elope were thwarted, Noelle decides to take the honeymoon road trip they planned but never got to carry out. There’s a catch, though: Paul, Theo’s grandfather, asks to come with her, and he insists that Theo join them.

It’ll be a miracle if they make it through the trip without Noelle throwing Theo out of the moving car—or the bed they end up sharing. As the miles tick by, the tension simmers hotter between them…until she discovers that Theo’s hiding a secret that could cause their tenuous relationship to end before it can restart.

I’ve been very excited for Jessica Joyce’s debut ever since I found her on Twitter and thought she was hilarious. Seriously, she is so much fun to follow. And I have her to thank for my love of Lisa Kleypas, as she forced me to read the Ravenels and then I binged nearly everything Lisa wrote right after. I almost didn’t even write this review because I like the author so much and would never want to hurt feelings, but I just didn’t enjoy this book. There are parts of it I loved, but I came away from it all with a general sense of not liking it. This makes me so sad. But, since I received this for review I feel I need to share my thoughts.

What I loved:
– Grandpa Paul. I love him so, so much. He completely stole my heart and I read this book for him. I miss my grandpa a lot, so I kind of adopted this one as my own. I think he is the sweetest, most adorable, most heartwarming character I’ve ever read about.
– I loved the relationship between Grandpa Paul and Theo. So, so sweet.
– I loved the story of Grandpa Paul and Kat, Noelle’s grandmother. I loved reading about their romance and the times they shared together. The memories warmed my heart. I loved the idea of incorporating their story into this book, and centering a road trip around the honeymoon Kat and Paul planned to go on together. I’m sad they never got to, and instead went their separate ways.
– I loved the idea of Noelle and Theo coming together to take Grandpa Paul on this trip and then falling in love along the way. I loved the idea of the grandkids ending up together through learning about their grandparents. What a special, magical idea!
– I loved all the photography love, and how the author was able to put into words how much an artist falls in love with their craft.
– I loved the found family aspects of this book, and the way that Grandpa Paul essentially adopted Noelle. He stayed strong for her through her mourning, even though I’m sure it hurt him to know Kat was gone, too. It made me teary to think of him embracing Noelle even though she was born because his first love married someone else. The fact that he could process all of this and come out with only smiles and love made me love him even more.

What I didn’t love:
– Ok, why is there a cell phone camera on the cover? This book is about documenting a special trip through photos and videos, and includes one professional photographer and one who hopes to become one. Why the heck is an iPhone on the cover? It should be one of the professional cameras they take on the trip!
– I didn’t like that the main trope in this is enemies to lovers. When you’re dealing with loss and grief, I don’t also want to deal with the opposition that comes with this trope. There’s a lot of bickering, which we all know gets on my nerves quickly. Friends to lovers or second chance would have been so much better. Or even just let Noelle and Theo meet up for the first time and discover that they’re connected by their grandparents. Even meeting on an online dating site would have been better than this.
– I can’t say that I really liked Noelle or Theo, both individually and together. Even though they’re nearly 30 years old, they act like teenagers with not a lot of depth to them.
– Noelle and Theo didn’t really have the deep, emotional connection that I wanted. There’s not much development of their relationship in the present day. They knew and hated each other ten years ago. Why is that enough of a foundation to build a relationship on when so much has changed since then? There was no build-up or excitement. How do we go from bickering like teenagers to falling in love? It was all physical for them. They’d rather use their stolen moments while Paul is sleeping to be physically intimate than emotionally intimate, and it didn’t work for me. This trip is emotional for Noelle. She’s going through a lot. She’s vulnerable, and I wanted them to spend more time talking than having sex. To me it felt like Noelle was more interested in feeling good in the moment than in developing real feelings for Theo, and is seemed like Theo wanted to make her feel good physically because he didn’t want to take the time to help her process her grief. I know people grieve and fall in love differently, but this isn’t romance to me. I was never swooning or swept off my feet.
– Honestly, I would have preferred to read about Paul’s story with Kat through his own storytelling and flashbacks (or just take me there in real time) than to see it as a backdrop to Noelle’s and Theo’s story. When you compare the two, his story is just so much better and feels more real to me than theirs feels.
– Maybe it’s the travel bug in me, but I wanted more road trip details. I wanted more location descriptions, more info on the things they saw and did, etc. I wanted to be immersed in the settings.
– There actually isn’t much of a plot. We’ve got letters between Paul and Kathleen and we’ve got sex scenes. There’s nothing to really hold on to when the book is over.

So there you have it. I loved the idea of this story, but the execution just didn’t work for me in the end. Grandpa Paul saved everything and kept me reading because his character was a balm for my heart that I didn’t know I needed. I’ll probably always remember him. The rest of this book, not so much.