I like this sweet small town romance series and this second instalment was a good way to pass a couple of hours. I think I preferred the first instalment – The Girlfriend Sweater – slightly more, but this was still an enjoyable quick read that is a solid three and a half stars.
Becca is the owner of the only bookshop in St. Brigid. She prefers to spend her time with a good book and her cats Bear and Silver. Selma is a visiting literature lecturer at St. Brigid’s College for the summer. She’s looking to escape from Chicago and the tenure track.
The storyline is character driven and I liked both MCs. Selma gives off a carefree vibe, but actually deep down is troubled with the direction her life has taken. Becca has the more serious, quiet vibe initially, but has a more relaxed attitude to some things. I liked the secondary small town characters, especially Becca’s grandmother.
The angst in this narrative is driven by things from the past and not from the couple’s relationship itself, which made for a nice change. I thought the ending suited the couple and I’m looking forward to any future instalments.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I really enjoyed the first book in this series for a number of different reasons, so it pains me to say that this one just didn’t really hit the spot for me.
It has so many great things going for it, number one being the diversity the series brings. I enjoy the fact that Murphy wraps in diversity in a number of different ways and I hope this continues throughout the series and sets examples to others as to how to do this well.
I also like a book that includes a pet heavily so Rudy the dog was a nice incorporation for me.
I liked the small element of mystery that was threaded through the storyline with regards to Eun’s father. It was a nice addition to the romance and helped solidify the feelings Eun had regarding her father and the situation she finds herself in.
I have to agree with the other reviews, towards the end I was missing any relationship development and felt it had just been replaced with unnecessary sex scenes. I wanted something else instead to show intimacy between the MCs. I also wasn’t completely sure why we were introduced to Morgan’s ex suddenly at this point of the narrative either, unless this was a setup for her inclusion in future instalments.
I want to discuss a couple of small spoilers so I’m putting these behind the spoiler tag.
***Spoiler Start***
I didn’t enjoy the number of times other characters seemed to want to put down the relationship between Morgan and Eun, mentioning a date Morgan had been on that clearly hadn’t meaner much to her. One mention to add tension would make sense, but it seemed to be a running theme.
I actually had a point where I had to put my Kindle down and wanted to yell at the MCs. Later in the book they say to each other that they have to keep up good communication – I just wanted to scream that they don’t communicate well!! This was a bit of a theme in the first book too so I’m hoping that the MCs in the third instalment don’t have the same issue.
***Spoiler Finished***
Whilst I’m disappointed, I’d say there is still lots about this book to enjoy and I’d definitely recommend people give this series a try. I’m really just hoping the third book is about Yvonne.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is my fourth Waters book and whilst it wasn’t my favourite of the four I did find it to be an enjoyable read.
Leigh is an American lawyer working in London. She’s a very private individual and doesn’t get on with her boss, but knows that she doesn’t want to go back to America if she loses her job. Rosie is a gardener by trade, she loves spending her time getting her hands dirty but is struggling to make a living doing what she loves. They unwittingly find themselves thrown together in an unusual situation when they meet one day in a London pub. Rosie agrees to help Leigh out by entering into a fake ‘green card’ marriage in exchange for the one thing she’s always wanted.
I haven’t read many fake relationship books, so I don’t have a lot to compare this one too, but I feel like my enjoyment was hampered by Leigh’s character in this particular trope. Her private nature makes the fake relationship hard to believe, so whilst I thought Leigh was written well as a character, she just didn’t fit in the situation. I also found the fact that Rosie so openly discussed the arrangement to be quite strange.
I enjoyed the twists in the narrative and whilst I didn’t initially feel much connection with the two MCs, both had points that made them likeable, even relatable, but I just didn’t get a personal connection. It’s perfectly possible others will feel differently than I on this one though. I did like how both MCs grew within the narrative though and I found the ending very fitting.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is another book due out in October with a number of darker topics. Remy is an Inspector who has been tasked with finding what is likely to be a serial killer, we meet her after the second victim has been found. Giana is a forensic scientist who decides to up and move her life across the country from Philadelphia to San Francisco, where she meets Remy at work.
I like both characters for very different reasons and connected with them both. Remy is well written as an inspector, but also with regards to her interactions and loyalty to family and friends and with regards to how her past impacts her feelings and decisions. I enjoyed Giana as someone discovering herself and her feelings about Remy and I liked reading about her work as a scientist, although it’s brief.
The story has some turmoil, both with family and the underlying murder storyline and the relationship isn’t always easy either. I’m finding it hard to rate because I enjoyed the book – but it isn’t one I’d want to read again – so I’m settling for around 3.5 stars. I would definitely appreciate a sequel though as I feel the situations they encounter mean that there would be lots of opportunity to tell lots more interesting stories about the pair and their friends and family.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is my first Jae book and whilst I don’t normally listen to an audiobook if I haven’t read the actual text first, I took a chance with this one as I had the opportunity to listen to a book when I could concentrate on it and I’m glad I did.
I really enjoyed both the storyline and the narration and can see why people enjoy Jae’s books so much. I loved the inclusion of a geek character in Annie and found the realisation of her feelings towards Drew to be written well. I liked Drew and enjoyed the way their friendship turned into a relationship. I also really appreciated that Jae didn’t rush the couple into situations that would have been very uncharacteristic for them.
I’ve only read one or two fake relationship storylines before – I think I’ve subconsciously avoided them, but this was the one I enjoyed the most out of all of them I’ve read so far. Would definitely recommend.
LGBTQ+ Reader 