Presidential – Lola Keeley

Sep 8, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I found this easy to read and somewhat charming, but it didn’t quite hit the spot for me. There were some aspects I really enjoyed and things I was missing. It’s about a three and a half stars for me.

After spotting Lex’s updated review of this I decided to watch The American President for the first time (before reading the book). I’m a big Sorkin fan (the scripts anyway) so whilst I was reading I just couldn’t help drawing the direct comparisons. I’ll be honest, I’ve never read much fan fiction, so in general I found the similarities amusing. Despite this though it limited any major connection I could have with the narrative.

I really enjoyed the only other Keeley I’ve had a chance to read and much like Slammed I found Presidential to be well written, it was just missing some things for me. I wanted and needed more politics in the book. I’m a big fan of a series by another author with a female president and an age gap romance, so I think this probably coloured my impressions of this book too.

About three quarters of the way through the book I realised I didn’t really connect with Emily, I sympathised with some of her experiences but was missing the thing the necessary connection with an MC that for me makes books five stars. Connie on the other hand I really enjoyed spending time with, despite that lack of in depth politics. I also appreciated the family connections in the book – both MCs relationships with Connie’s son Zack and Emily’s relationship with her sister Sutton.

The epilogue did leave me smiling.

All in all I would recommend this and I’m sure there are many people out there that will love this book. I’m glad I read it, it’s just not an auto add to the reread pile, which I had great hopes it would be.

I received an e-ARC directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Finding Home (Your Way #2) – Jamey Moody

Sep 5, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

I’ve not really had the opportunity to read very much in the last couple of weeks and to be honest I’ve missed it a lot – so it was nice to try and get back into the swing of things with this one. I have an ARC for the second part of this series – Finding Family – and I didn’t want to read it without having read Finding Home first.

I really enjoyed the main characters in Frankie and Olivia – but as is normal with me I most enjoyed the friendship group around them and how the characters interacted with each other. I enjoyed getting to know both MCs through the friendship discussions and it made things seem much more believable when they got together.

The addition of the ex-girlfriend worked from a story point of view but frustrated me none-the-less.
The body positivity messages throughout the book are great and I appreciated that whilst there could have been a source of angst towards the end of the book it wasn’t treated that way.

I’m looking forward to reading more of Moody and reading more about this friendship group.

Finding Family (Your Way #2) – Jamey Moody

Sep 5, 2020Oct 14, 2020 ~ lgbtqreader85 ~ Leave a comment

This is the second part in the Your Way series and Moody produced something I actually slightly enjoyed more than the first instalment of the series – Finding Home. This could be read alone, but I would recommend Finding Home first as it sets up key details about the lives of the minor characters in this storyline.

I loved both Desi and Erin as main characters and enjoyed being able to read progression of Frankie and Olivia’s relationship from the first book. It was also good to read about more of the friendship group and I’m hoping there will be at least one more book so that we have Stella as a main character. It was fun reading about the kids in their respective families too.

As someone who has experienced the stereotypical meet, fall for each other, move in, get married in a short period of time, I felt this storyline was written really well. The family pushback was also aptly incorporated. The pace of the relationship was matched well by the pace of the book – but key elements of the narrative were explored in appropriate depth so it was clear why the MCs loved each other.

The ex-girlfriend trope is quickly dispatched expertly by Erin and any angst/turmoil for the remainder of the book is created through life events rather than the often typical desire to split the MCs close to the end just to get them back together. I found this refreshing as it makes the book a sweet romance tale of two people falling in love and getting everything they could ever dream of.

I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys wlw romance but particularly to anyone who enjoys a series about friendship groups. I’m hoping there isn’t too long to wait for book three.

I received an e-ARC directly from the author in exchange for an honest review.