July was a struggle, but I made the most of it! While several of my favorite series had new installments come out in July, it’s like the authors all decided to feature my LEAST favorite tropes – second chance and friends to lovers. That’s personal preference, of course, but I often find myself distracted by the characters’ tangled histories in those books, so I lost interest in several of my most anticipated July releases… at least for now. My husband is also home for the summer, so we’ve been bingeing a lot of TV shows, and the time I have for reading feels more precious than it does the rest of the year. I haven’t wanted to spend that time reading books that were clearly not going to be 5-star reads for me, so I have a stack of partially finished books that I’ll wrap up when the mood strikes. It wasn’t until the last week or so that things started looking up – there were a few great new releases, and I took a chance on several new-to-me authors. And that was definitely a win!
Here’s hoping that things keep looking up as we move into August! It’s another quiet-ish release month, so I’m sure that I’ll continue to do some exploring as the month goes on. I’m not complaining about finally tackling my TBR a bit, lol. And the exciting news? My Best of 2022 (So Far) list included two August releases – and they were both incredible reads. That’s a good sign for August! If you missed my August Release Calendar, you can find it here!
If you missed any of this month’s reviews, I’ve got the blurb and rating for each below. There’s also a link to all of this month’s recommendation lists and the new release list.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bingeable
They have to stop meeting like this.
After a disastrous meet-cute turns into repeated meetings, a flighty free-spirit and a stodgy rule-follower come to realize that one they can’t get away from … is the one they can’t live without.
Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Austin just wants what any modern, commitment-phobic woman in New York wants: a no-strings-attached hook-up, steamy enough to brag about over mimosas the next morning. What she doesn’twant is her dating app’s latest suggestion: preppy, corporate Thomas Decker. So, obviously, she rejects the guy without a second thought. There’s just one snag: he’s sitting next to her, so he witnessed her do it. And now he’s calling her out.
After the initial embarrassment, Mac is determined not to let it bother her, but Fate has other plans – and Thomas isn’t going anywhere. First, he pops up as her new boss. And then he reappears as her best friend’s soon-to-be brother-in-law.
As the not-so meet cutes add up, Mac is sure that uptight Thomas is the last man that a free-spirit like her should want. Only the more time she spends with him, the more Mac realizes that the man she can’t get away from has become the same one that she wants to keep close…
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3OpGPM5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved it
The rules were simple. Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble.
But now I’m stuck with her. There’s only one bed. And well, rules are made to be broken.
I’m the face of professional bull riding—the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.”
But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can’t stop running.
A mouth I can’t stop thinking about.
Because Summer isn’t just another conquest. She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run—she pulls me closer, even when she shouldn’t.
She says this means nothing.
I say this means everything.
She says there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross. That my reputation can’t take any more hits—and neither can her damaged heart.
I say I’m going to steal it anyway.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3onzLoK
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved it
Two bickering strangers, Chloe and Warren, are partnered by Child Protective Services to qualify for next of kin fostering of their younger siblings.
When people-pleasing Chloe learns that her birth mother has unexpectedly had another baby, she doesn’t hesitate to become a next-of-kin guardian. But when she fails to pass Child Protective Services’ financial evaluation, she is faced with a choice: see her baby sister placed in foster care or participate in CPS’ new initiative, TeamUp.
Enter Warren, a surly mechanic’s apprentice attempting to get custody of his deaf fifteen-year-old brother after failing CPS’ housing evaluation. The two strangers immediately clash but agree to live together until Warren can find housing elsewhere and Chloe can further grow her freelance career.
As their lives intertwine, Chloe and Warren both realise that they’re far more similar than they could have imagined. What started as forced begins to feel natural—and far less lonely. Chemistry soon intensifies beyond what either of them can stand, but they must each decide if what burns between them is worth risking their arrangement.
With banter, heart, and steam that will have the reader blushing, NEXT OF KIN is a true underdog story of two young adults redefining what family can look like.
Content Warnings:
For adult readers only due to explicit (consensual) sexual content, child abandonment (referenced in memory), substance abuse and addiction (referenced, not described), foster care and adoption (theme throughout), references to anxiety (brief description of a panic attack), and death of a parent (referenced in memory).
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3J0MDe8
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Original and layered 🎧
A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.
Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RVn2at
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fun and steamy
Ryan Hutton has spent his entire life being the shy, nerdy, rule-following nice guy on Summersweet Island. He’s the high school bowling coach and algebra teacher who’s always predictable, and he’s always been fine with that… until a sexy, nut job of a stranger gives him the best kiss of his life in his favorite pizza place, and he suddenly doesn’t like being the quiet, obedient nice guy anymore.
When Danica Brewster first set foot on this beautiful island a few days ago, she just wanted a place to call home, far, far away from her family. A place where she could be wild and free without their judgment. When she finds out her new roommate is the stranger she kissed for free pizza, Danica knows this is a complication she definitely doesn’t need in her life right now.
But the memory of that kiss is making them both act out of character. Ryan and Danny soon realize you can’t ignore your problems and hope they’ll go away. Those problems will just come back with a vengeance, tossing everything into the gutter.
It doesn’t make sense for a nerd to fall in love with a nut job, but with the magic of Summersweet Island, anything is possible… especially if you have enough balls.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PP9XNV
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved it 🎧
The first time I met Jax Blackwood things went a little sideways.
In my defense, I didn’t know he was Jax Blackwood—who expects a legendary rock star to be shopping for groceries? More importantly, a blizzard was coming and he was about to grab the last carton of mint-chocolate chip.
Still, I might have walked away, but then he smugly dared me to try and take the coveted ice cream. So I kissed him. And distracted that mint-chip right out of his hands.
Okay, it was a dirty move, but desperate times and all that. Besides, I never expected he’d be my new neighbor.
An annoying neighbor who takes great pleasure in reminding me that I owe him ice cream but would happily accept more kisses as payment. An irresistible neighbor who keeps me up while playing guitar naked–spectacularly naked–in his living room.
Clearly, avoidance is key. Except nothing about Jax is easy to ignore—not the way he makes me laugh, or that his particular brand of darkness matches mine, or how one look from him melts me faster than butter under a hot sun.
Neither of us believes in love or forever. Yet we’re quickly becoming each other’s addiction. But we could be more. We could be everything.
All we have to do is trust enough to fall.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NXWWkN
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Light and steamy 🎧
“When I kissed you last night, I wasn’t pretending.”
Everly Dalton is a walking, talking, martini-drinking dating disaster. Forget kissing frogs. She can’t even get past the first date. But at work, she’s a badass—the longest-running assistant billionaire Shepherd Calloway has ever had. Her coworkers wonder how she handles the big bad wolf—and never gets bit.
Shepherd Calloway isn’t interested in being anyone’s sugar daddy. Tired of women who only want him for his money, he swears off dating, determined to focus on running his empire. Until his gold-digging ex hits him where it hurts, putting him in a difficult position.
His solution—to have Everly pose as his live-in girlfriend—is obviously crazy. But the timing is uncanny. It just so happens Everly needs a favor from her boss—a big and awkward one—and this could ensure everyone gets what they want.
Besides, Everly can totally survive a few months of faux romance.
Except there’s a problem. Shepherd is supposed to be a single-minded, unemotional robot boss. Not an actual human with a heart and morning wood. Between the awkward bed-sharing and tingly fake dates, lines are blurring. And as Everly gets to know the real Shepherd, she discovers there’s more to the man behind the bank account.
And faking it gets all too real.
Faking Ms. Right is a hot, STAND-ALONE romantic comedy.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xnZxyG
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sneak peek review 🎧
From the author of My Oxford Year, Julia Whelan’s uplifting novel tells the story of a former actress turned successful audiobook narrator—who has lost sight of her dreams after a tragic accident—and her journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance when she agrees to narrate one last romance novel.
For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.
On her return home, Sewanee discovers one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book—with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. Sewanee doesn’t buy what romance novels are selling—not after her own dreams were tragically cut short—and she stopped narrating them years ago. But her admiration of the late author, and the opportunity to get her grandmother more help, makes her decision for her.
As Sewanee begins work on the book, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again, but secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.
If she can learn to risk everything for desires she has long buried, she will discover a world of intimacy and acceptance she never believed would be hers.
Thank You For Listening releases on August 2nd!
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3IbDA9G
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Heavy and heartfelt 🎧
Grey Brooks is on a mission to keep her career afloat now that the end of her long-running teen TV show has her (unsuccessfully) pounding the pavement again. With a life-changing role on the line, she’s finally desperate enough to agree to her publicist’s scheme: fake a love affair with a disgraced Hollywood heartthrob who needs the publicity, but for very different reasons.
Ethan Atkins just wants to be left alone. Between his high-profile divorce, struggles with drinking, and grief over the death of his longtime creative partner and best friend, Ethan has slowly let himself fade into the background. But if he ever wants to produce the last movie he and his partner wrote together, Ethan needs to clean up his reputation and step back into the spotlight. A gossip-inducing affair with a gorgeous actress might be just the ticket, even if it’s the last thing he wants to do.
Though their juicy public relationship is less than perfect behind the scenes, it doesn’t take long before Grey and Ethan’s sizzling chemistry starts to feel like more than just an act. But after decades in a ruthless industry that requires bulletproof emotional armor to survive, are they too used to faking it to open themselves up to the real thing?
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PeWOxI
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Quick and easy
Life’s Too Short meets The Unhoneymooners in this sparkling, steamy, and swoon-worthy novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken, in which two sworn enemies must share house, home—and maybe their hearts—when they become co-parents after a sudden loss.
Colby’s living her best life: as a popular food blogger, she gets to fulfill her dreams of exploring the globe. But her world comes crashing down when a tragic accident leaves her co-guardian of her best friend’s two adorable children. Not only does she need to put down roots—fast—but she’ll be sharing custody with the one man she can’t stand sharing a continent with, let alone a house.
Accountant-extraordinaire Rip values rules and plans. But when he loses his sister and his best friend and becomes an insta-guardian all in one night, Rip sees his organized life imploding. What he really doesn’t need is his sister’s irresponsible, flighty—albeit kind and gorgeous—best friend making it worse.
Rip doesn’t trust Colby to take their new responsibilities seriously, while Colby can’t believe Rip thinks children will thrive under his rigid control. Yet soon Rip and Colby discover they need each other more than they hate each other. Could it be possible that following their hearts is just what their new little family needs?
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PdxV5G
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sexy fun 🎧
He needs an image makeover, she needs a mojo upgrade. A new lessons-in-seduction hockey romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Sarina Bowen.
After I’m arrested for throwing a raucous party, my hockey team says I have an image problem. And I need to fix it, stat.
Charity work? Check. Haircut? Sure. But I draw the line at hiring my neighbor to style me. In the first place “style” shouldn’t be a verb. And I’m tired of people who’d judge me on appearances.
Vera and I don’t see eye to eye on anything. She wants me to try on clothes, while I just want to remove hers. She’s distractingly pretty, with soulful eyes and a sinful mouth that likes to argue with me.
But when management threatens my summer vacation, I grudgingly agree to Vera’s unusual proposal: she’ll give me an image makeover. But in return, she wants lessons in the art of seduction.
It sounds a little nutty, but I know a good opening when I hear it. Besides, it’s not like I’ll ever fall for her…
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3yiOMOM
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Light and easy
I spent the night with a hot, grumpy stranger in an airport hotel.
No, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter. It was just sleeping. And… maybe a little cuddling.
Long story short, I embarrassed the heck out of myself. But at least I never have to see him again.
Except the universe is clearly out to get me, because Monday morning, I arrive at my new job and who’s the first person I see?
Hot stranger himself: Liam Donovan.
AKA my new boss.
AKA Annie, you are so freaking screwed.
While the HR rulebook doesn’t explicitly say you can’t share a bed with your boss, I can read between the lines. And I need this job.
Which is why I have to pretend that night never happened. Luckily for me, sexy as Liam—excuse me, Mr. Donovan—is, he’s surly, rude and totally not my type.
Or so I keep telling myself.
Because I’m starting to think there’s a warm, gooey cinnamon roll with extra frosting lurking beneath that impressive, muscular form.
I promised I’d never choose between my career and love.
But when a scandal threatens to break, that promise could prove impossible to keep…
So That Happened is a laugh-out-loud funny, swoony, closed door romantic comedy. Expect some mild language and suggestive jokes coupled with tons of chemistry and tension, but no explicit scenes.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NHNBwt
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Quick and cute
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new steamy, STEMinist novella…
Nothing like a little rivalry between scientists to take love to the next level.
Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn…
Logically, Sadie knows that civil engineers are supposed to build bridges. However, as a woman of STEM she also understands that variables can change, and when you are stuck for hours in a tiny New York elevator with the man who broke your heart, you earn the right to burn that brawny, blond bridge to the ground. Erik can apologize all he wants, but to quote her rebel leader—she’d just as soon kiss a Wookiee.
Not even the most sophisticated of Sadie’s superstitious rituals could have predicted such a disastrous reunion. But while she refuses to acknowledge the siren call of Erik’s steely forearms or the way his voice softens when he offers her his sweater, Sadie can’t help but wonder if there might be more layers to her cold-hearted nemesis than meet the eye. Maybe, possibly, even burned bridges can still be crossed….
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3np50zj
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Light and sexy 🎧
“You will never mention me or my favors, nor will you disclose what favors we trade. I am a ghost to you.”
Or a genie. I think a genie is way less scary, don’t you?
It’s official.
I, Ainsley James, am crazy.
Desperate and crazy.
It’s the only explanation as to why I’m nauseous, standing outside Maverick Lexington’s door.
I mean, it’s possible the stories about his deck of playing cards—with the words IOU scrawled across the back—are just rumors of the ruthless quid pro quo deals he barters.
But the flutters in my stomach know better.
Maverick is as cold as they come.
But, I need one of those cards.
I NEED to owe Maverick Lexington a favor…
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3OUGzpd
⭐️⭐️⭐️ A miss for me 🎧
From USA Today bestselling author Pippa Grant comes a fabulously sharp-witted romantic comedy about a socialite’s fall from elitist grace to backcountry purgatory—and her accidental tumble into love.
If the Upper East Side had an evil twin, it would be Tickled Pink, Wisconsin. This run-down, backwoods town isn’t worthy of the footprint of my Louboutins, never mind all of me.
But when my grandmother has a near-death experience and realizes we Lightlys can’t buy our way into heaven, she relocates the family to Tickled Pink to work on improving our souls. And that’s how I trade my heiress existence for gigantic bugs, dishwater coffee, and a cranky single dad named Teague Miller.
Teague spends his days fishing, raising his spunky teenager, and after an unfortunate incident involving cheese curds, living rent-free in my head. The one thing he and I can agree on is that I don’t belong here. He’s willing to help me escape—until the unexpected happens.
I kind of like him. I might even more than like him.
But am I ready to give up the life I adored for a man I love to hate?
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3nWinYd
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Blurb woes
In this fresh romantic comedy from the author of Shipped, heralded as an “absolutely sparkling debut” by Entertainment Weekly, a woman wakes up from a car accident with memories of a boyfriend she’s never met…only to run into him a year later. Perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Rebecca Serle.
What would you do if your dream man turned out to be real?
When law grad Cass Walker wakes up after surviving a car accident, she is flooded with memories of a man named Devin. The only problem? Devin—as confirmed by family, friends, and doctors—doesn’t exist. Everything about him, from his coffee-brown eyes to the slightly crooked angle of his pinkie to his high-wattage charm, is a figment of Cass’s coma-addled imagination. Still, she can’t get him out of her head.
So when she happens upon the real Devin a year later in a Cleveland flower shop, she’s completely shocked. Even more surprising is that Devin actually believes her story, and despite his protective younger brother’s doubts, they soon embark on a real-life romance. With her dream man by her side and a new job at a prestigious law firm, Cass’s future seems perfect. But fate might have other plans…
From the beloved author of Shipped comes a magical and witty romantic comedy that explores what happens when our dreams come true—even when they’re not the ones we expect.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3uW4TPR
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Not my favorite 🎧
Eliza Catalano has the perfect life. So what if it actually looks nothing like the story she tells online? As a therapist, it’s part of her job to look like she has all the answers, right? But when Eliza ends up as a viral “Worst Date Ever” meme, everything in her Instagram-filtered world begins to crumble.
Enter the most obnoxiously attractive man she’s ever met, and a bet she can’t resist: if she swears off social media for six months, Beck Carter’ll teach her the wonders of surviving the “real world.” No technology, no dating apps, no pretty filters, no BS.
It seems like the perfect deal—she can lay low until her sudden infamy passes, meet some interesting new people, and maybe even curate this experience into a how I quit the online dating racket book along the way. But something about Beck’s raw honesty speaks to Eliza in ways she never expected. She knows he’s supposed to be completely hands-off…but as complex feelings grow and walls come tumbling down, rough-around-the-edges Beck may be exactly what Eliza needs to finally, truly face herself—and decide who she really wants to be.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3agwKDl
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mixed feelings
Could the man I hate be the perfect match I need?
I’m Jules Kelly, a certified bohemian boss babe, whose hip tech company just won subsidized office space in the coolest co-working space in town. From a distance I seem poised to take over the world (or at least the travel industry), and I would be if it weren’t for two big complications:
1. A rare and seriously inconvenient disease is tanking my health by the day, and my only hope for a cure—a transplant—is moving further from my grasp.
2. A soulless database company is sharing my new office space, and its coldly gorgeous, judgmental, CEO is on a path to world dominance (at least in his mind).
Tom Davenport represents the very worst of bro culture in the start-up world. Naturally, we despise each other.
The thing is, as much as Tom’s antagonism annoys me, he has an uncanny ability to conjure up my fighting spirit and vitality at a time when my illness is robbing me of both. I’m drawn to him in ways I can’t (or would really rather not) understand.
A mysterious angel investor forces our companies to compete for a life-changing amount of money just when my relationship with Tom becomes infinitely more complicated. To make matters worse, things get cutthroat just as my health and time start to run out.
In order to survive, I must decide if I can truly trust my most unlikely ally of all.
Unlikely Match is a high-stakes, occasionally steamy, workplace romance that will leave you feverishly turning pages.
For those of you who love wry (and sometimes a wee bit dark) humor, emotional intensity, loyal friendships, insane chemistry, and forced proximity in the context of high medical stakes, you can fill your boots with Unlikely Match.
Not sure about a transplant romance? As a living donor transplant recipient myself (five years and counting!) I know this world from personal experience. Please note that this book contains sensitive topics such as medical trauma and hospital scenes on the page. It also refers to parental abandonment and the foster care system mostly off the page.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vc6lxR
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Forgettable
An airport pet groomer meets her frequent flier crush in this captivating romance novella from the acclaimed author of How to Fail at Flirting
Ollie Wright loves the thrill of taking chances, like opening a pet grooming salon in an airport where every day is a little unpredictable. The one thing she won’t risk is her heart, so catching glimpses of a cute stranger from afar is enough romantic entanglement for her.
Bennett Baker is a professional risk assessor by day while writing popular romance novels at night, except he finds himself facing writer’s block. His life of carefully planned stability comes crashing down when he rescues a slippery pup in the airport and returns it to the enchanting pet groomer whose laugh inspires him to start writing again.
Their chance encounter and instant chemistry thrusts them into a whirlwind of airport dates at pretzel kiosks, stolen glances at empty gates, and late-night texts that leave them swooning. If the risk-adverse Bennett can take a chance on uncertainty and adventurous Ollie will break her own rule, their relationship might stop taxiing and actually take off.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3tWWyek
DNF or LOST INTEREST
A partial list, lol!
This friends to lovers romance just failed to catch my interest – it was an easy DNF for me.
The Sizzle Paradox by Lily Menon
The Kiss Quotient meets Love Potion No. 9 in the next sparkling romantic comedy by Lily Menon, The Sizzle Paradox.
Lyric Bishop feels like a fraud – she’s studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners and what makes for a successful long-term relationship, only she can’t seem to figure it out in her own dating life. The science is sound, but how can she give her expert opinion with no real-world experience? In order to complete her doctoral thesis, she must crack the Sizzle Paradox – it seems the more sexually attractive she finds a guy, the less likely it is to come with an emotional connection; but why? – and to do that she must get the help she desperately needs.
Kian Montgomery, her best friend, roommate, and fellow grad student, has no trouble bringing both romance and sizzle to his own relationships. When he offers to tutor Lyric on dating tactics to find a good match, she’s certain it will solve her problems, and in exchange she agrees to set long-term-commitment-averse Kian up with someone different to give his romantic life a much-needed shakeup.
But once the two progress with their “tutoring sessions,” they start to feel less like the academic exercise they were supposed to be as real feelings develop. Which is a problem, because Lyric and Kian are best friends and absolutely, irrefutably nothing else… Right?
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LAcE3J
Love Bromberg, hate second chances. I started listening to the audiobook on release day, and I just… never picked it back up after setting it down that night. I’m sure I’ll finish it before the next book in the series releases, but it didn’t really win me over.
On One Condition by K. Bromberg
First loves deserve a second chance in an all-new small town, billionaire romance by New York Times bestselling author, K. Bromberg.
The requirement is ridiculous but simple. Spend two months in Cedar Falls and play the mayor’s games to ensure that The Retreat, Sharpe International’s newest resort, can open.
But I have a history with this small, Montana town. One I’d tried to forget but never could. AsherWells. My Lavender Girl.
She’d had dreams and aspirations to leave Cedar Falls and make her mark on the world. So why is she still here, standing in front of me? And more importantly, why is she looking at me with hurt in her eyes when I was the one who‘d been forced to leave or else face the damning consequences of that night?
I have everything in life: money, success, an empire to run . . . everything except for one, very important thing. Her.
Fifteen years is a long time to wonder. . . what if. I’ll be damned if I leave town this time without her.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3wyEMzW
Another second chance romance! I was on the fence about picking this up because the blurb had a few red flags, but I do love Madden-Mills’ writing. Unfortunately, early reviews made it clear that this was heavier and less romance-focused than I was hoping, so I’ve lost interest.
Boyfriend Material by Ilsa Madden-Mills
Can this hockey player prove he’s boyfriend material, or will our past get in the way?
#1 Amazon Bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills delivers an all-new, enemies-to-lovers sports romance, a breathtaking tale of passion, heartbreak, and love…
Skyscraper cheekbones, lush lips, and magnetic topaz eyes.
Yeah. I’m talking about Eric Hansen.
Rich prick.
Glorified hockey star.
Thinks he’s amazing.
The Golden Boy and I are WELL acquainted. In prep school he trampled on my heart and kept right on going.
Now, he’s living the high life with frat parties and puck bunnies at Hawthorne University. On the other hand, people barely notice me—unless I’m on stage taking my clothes off. I’m the nobody, surviving in the seedy part of town as I fight to keep my head above treacherous waters.
I’ve snubbed him for three years.
The avoidance game we’ve been playing was working—until he rescues me from a bad guy and claims he wants to help me more.
Hello. I don’t need a knight in shining armor. This girl saves herself.
Yet, I’m not sure how long I can ignore the undeniable spark between us. (It’s not even a spark; it’s a full-fledged, blazing fire.)
This steamy romance is perfect for fans of enemies-to-lovers or second-chances. Boyfriend Material is a new adult college romance.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3MKrKnO
Friends to lovers paired with friends with benefits is a surefire way to turn me off, especially if they cross the line quickly. As much as I love Harlow’s writing, I just couldn’t get into this one.
Tease by Melanie Harlow
I didn’t mean to say I was engaged to a hot billionaire–it just slipped out.
In my defense, I’d had a really bad haircut, a really strong drink, and I was trying to save face in front of the Mean Girl at my high school reunion.
Lucky for me, I happen to know a hot billionaire. Hutton French and I have been friends forever, and even though big social gatherings are not his thing, I called him from the coat closet and begged him for a favor–show up and play my fake fiancé for the night.
Except that word of our engagement spreads like wildfire. Our families are ecstatic. We’re front page news. My little food blog is launched into the stratosphere.
Of course, I offer to set the record straight right away, but Hutton wants to give it a little time–the phony engagement will keep his matrimony-mad mother and every matchmaking granny in town off his back.
He even suggests I move in with him to make the ruse more real.
And we don’t stop there.
We practice kissing. Undressing each other. Saying things–and doing things–we’d never dare if we weren’t pretending. Because it’s all for show, right? We’re just role-playing. Hutton doesn’t want a real relationship, and I don’t want to get hurt. But the more time we spend faking it, the more I start to wonder.
Could Hutton French and I actually be right for each other, or is it all just one big tease?
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3n3HGqA
I might go back to this one, I don’t know. In a month with second chance and friends to lovers disappointments, this one is kind of a combo of both – I was already in the wrong mood when I started reading. I’ll probably go back to it down the road.
The Crush by Karla Sorensen
You know that girl from your past that you can’t quite stop thinking about? The one that you pushed away because you had a goal that seemed so much bigger, so much more important than any crush you might have had?
That’s Adaline Wilder for me.
Nothing came before football. Not in college, and not in my five years in the pros. All I wanted was to win games, win a championship, carve my own path out of the illustrious Ward family football legacy. And I’ve done all that. But something is missing.
I’ve never been wrong about what I want. Except with her.
She moved on to someone else, but that baseball playing moron just broke her heart. I don’t blame her for not trusting me, but even Adaline can’t deny the heat when we’re together.
I have one shot at winning her back. And I intend to take it.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3y18tu7
THIS MONTH’S RECOMMENDATION LISTS
15 Sexy Fake Relationship Romance Books
15 Sexy Office Romance Books
15 Best of the Year (So Far): 2022 Complete List
Check out this week’s new releases here.
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