Month: Jan 2021

Veterinary Technician – Nancy Wheelton

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
3.5 stars. I thought I would be onto a winner with this one – animals and romance should have been my thing, but this didn’t wow me. It’s a solid romance, with some good moments, but it didn’t wow me.

Val is a veterinary technician. She’s happy with her daughter and her friends and is hopeful one day she’ll be able to go to veterinary school. Whilst she’s happy she’s living a well organised somewhat rigid life and after some bad breakups isn’t sure she’s looking for a relationship.

Ronnie is relatively new to town. She teaches English at the school in town and helps with some extra-curricular activities. She has a background with animals from her teenage years and like Val is suffering from the effects of a breakup in her past. She’s also had addiction issues in the past.

I didn’t realise this was the second part in a series when I picked this one to read. I don’t think I missed anything by not having read Veterinary Partner – but I wish I had as I liked both Lauren and Callie whom the first book is about. The moments both of these characters appear are some of the better ones in the book so I think even though I wouldn’t return to this one, I will still make the time to go back to the original.

The book alternates point of view and the unfortunate thing for me about this was that both points of view were often just reasoning and feelings about why they shouldn’t be together. There’s a lot of stop start in their relationship – making this quite a significant slow burn.

I hadn’t read the blurb since choosing the book (a normal habit for me), so it came as a bit of a surprise to me how Ronnie’s addiction was introduced, as whilst we spend a lot of time with Ronnie clearly having issues with the idea of a relationship and failure in general, it isn’t explained why. I feel like I would have connected more with the book if it had been.

This wouldn’t be the first book I would think of to recommend, but I think it’s likely if you enjoyed the first part you’ll enjoy this one too and if you’re a romance and animal fan you’re likely to find something in this too.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Mandolin Lunch – Missouri Vaun

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
3.5 stars. This was an enjoyable sweet romance that pleasantly surprised me.

Garet is an author and illustrator of children’s books. She takes an assignment as a substitute art teacher in a small town outside of Atlanta. She believes relationships always end and refuses to have more than one drawer in any girlfriends dresser.

Tess is a single mother, mandolin player and music teacher at the school Garet has taken the assignment at. She hasn’t dated in a really long time, preferring to focus on her daughter June instead.

I have to say that it was June that made this book for me. Vaun used her character to perfectly bring out Garet’s personality. I loved how the relationship between Garet and June organically grew and with it the relationship between Garet and Tess too. There are a couple of scenes with June that really had me smiling and wanting to read more.

What I am now nicknaming “the inevitable angst” later in the book happens, it’s quickly resolved and doesn’t feel too uncharacteristic for either of the main characters. I also felt the ending was really appropriate for both of them.

I’d recommend this to any wlw romance fans and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more Vaun now.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Last First Kiss – Julie Cannon

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
3.5 stars. There are some elements of this book I really enjoyed and others I still find myself a little unsure on. Overall I’d say I found this to be a pleasant read, with some really likeable characters, but I wouldn’t find myself wanting to re-read I don’t think.

Matt is a single mother. Her wife was an Army nurse who died in Afghanistan six years ago. She hasn’t had the opportunity to have anytime to herself or to think about moving on romantically. The Army, her in-laws and her son have all had negative reactions to her possibly finding a new partner.

Her best friends take the opportunity to send her to a lesbian resort when her son heads to camp for the summer and to make sure she “participates” fully, they decide to go with her.

Kelly is an electrician who planned to go to the same lesbian resort with her now ex-girlfriend. She owns her own business and is looking for the opportunity to relax and get away.

I liked both characters independently and together. They undoubtedly have chemistry and I enjoyed them getting to know each other. Matt’s bumbling lack of confidence was amusing and I enjoyed the interactions that the best friends provided too. Despite the fact the majority of the book takes place over a mere ten days or so, and mainly in one setting I was impressed at the way Cannon succeeded in keeping the narrative fresh.

The ending is the thing that really threw me off giving this a four star review. I liked the reason the Kelly and Matt are pulled apart, and I even liked how they are brought back together, I just didn’t like the where or the situation it took place in. I think it was done in order to show a clear delineation of Matt moving from one partner to another in her life, but it made me uncomfortable that it would take place in that environment. It’s likely to be my own personal opinion though – so don’t let it put you off giving this a try.

I will definitely be checking out more Cannon books in the future.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Scent – Kris Bryant

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Rating: 3 out of 5.
I really wanted to be able to say I loved this book. I was surprised to find that this was my first Bryant read and I’ve heard such great things, but the thing is I only liked this one, which I found really disappointing as it’s clear to me that Bryant is a great writer, I just couldn’t get into the characters or storyline. I read some early reviews of this and it seems to have been a polarising you either love it or hate, but I’m firmly in the middle.

Nico owns a packaging company with her sister. She’s the artistic director and an artist in her own right, mainly specialising in welding. She’s had some bad experiences in the past with girlfriends just wanting her for her money.

Sophia is a chocolatier, inheriting the family business that her brother is now attempting to run dry. She wants to branch out into higher end chocolates and for that she needs high-end packaging.

If that had been how the two had met, I would have been on board with that storyline, but in fact they meet because Nico notices Sophia on the train, somewhat stalking her in an attempt to get her to notice her. When they then run into each other at Nico’s place of work, she lies about her role in the company in an attempt to hide her money.

This was the second book based around deception that I read in a row, which may have coloured my opinion slightly as I felt the deception aspect of the storyline was handled in a way I was more comfortable in the other read. In Scent the deception goes on for a long time, with Nico’s family trying to encourage her to be truthful to Sophia throughout.

Again, I could somewhat understanding Nico’s reasoning for the deception, but the other problem I had was that I couldn’t relate to Nico as a character either, making the deception seem even more jarring for me. Nico is self-centred, making lots of decisions that don’t include Sophia and we’re lead to believe is self-assured in her looks as well.

All in all, I don’t hate this like some, but I don’t love it either. Some have described this as having a 90’s rom-com feel and I completely agree. They all have elements to them that probably shouldn’t sit well, but you end up getting swept away in the love at the end, and for many this will be what they feel about this book – so I encourage you to take a chance on this one and see how you feel.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Midnight Tradition (Celebrities #3) – Nicole Pyland

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
3.75 stars.

I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the other Celebrity series books – but it was still an enjoyable read. I liked both main characters. Maddox is a photographer who appeared in the previous part of the series – No After You. She’s still recovering from previous break ups and ends up at Peyton & Dani’s New Years party after lots of international travel – meaning she doesn’t really want to be there.

Avery ends up at the party after being dragged along by her brother – she doesn’t know anyone there and would rather be at home, working on her app. I enjoyed Avery as a character, and I think that might be because of how her introduction as a non famous person into a series about celebrities forces you to look at the rest of the characters slightly differently.

I actually enjoyed that the majority of the book takes place over a few days. It does create a bit of an instalove feel to the romance, but I liked how the setting forced the characters to get to know each other in a different way.

My disappointment came in the way that things were kept interesting – which normally meant adding another character that wanted to date one or the other MCs. This really worked in the first instance, but felt a little contrived when it kept happening.

It was nice to return to the rest of the characters in the series and learn how their relationships have moved on, which in itself probably adds half a star. If you like Pyland you’ll enjoy this one, but if you’re new to this you should definitely start with the first part of the series – All the Love Songs.