Rom coms for the win! It was a crazy busy release month, but I also had a crazy busy work schedule, and the two do not mix, lol. At the end of a busy day, all I wanted to do was curl up with a lighthearted, funny book – and that’s what I did. I didn’t end up reading some of my most anticipated releases (particularly the heavier ones), but I’m very happy with the way things worked out. I tried a bunch of new-to-me authors with a lot of success, and I had twice as many 5-star reads this month as I did in March. So that’s a definite win! I didn’t review quite as many books as usual, but that’s because I have at least a dozen partially read on my kindle. Oops. With so little reading time, I simply didn’t finish the books that didn’t immediately hold my attention. I’ll get back to them later! I know myself, and the best way for me to avoid a slump (and recover from a busy workday) is to stick with the books that are working. It’s a recipe for success, and a great way to discover new and unexpected reads!
May is looking slightly less busy than April, but it certainly doesn’t start that way. I’ve got a ton of books on my TBR, and I’m still making my way through all of the April releases. Hopefully, both work and the releases will slow down by mid-month, and I’ll finally be able to catch up. We’ll see! Either way, I’d love to have another reading month like this one, so I can’t really complain.
If you missed my May 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.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved it
A romantic adventure
Being an antique expert and authenticator isn’t as glamorous as it seems.
Not nearly the amount of excitement I’d hoped for—at least not until I have some competition looking for the missing pieces of an engraved chess set.
My competition is dashing—but more likely to swoop off with the chess set than me.
Bodie King. Alias Sullivan Keene, Robby Landon, Captain Sexy Pants, The Trade King, and I’m sure many, many more that he would never admit to.
To make it simple: he’s a con man.
Bodie shows up in my antique store with a smile and promise of things to come
I don’t trust him. And I definitely don’t want him to end up with the chess set. Which means I’m going to have to keep those pieces safe—and hopefully find them before he does. But more people than just Bodie and I are interested in the chess set, and we’re forced into a tentative alliance—at least until I’m out of danger.
But as we race against the clock and across the globe to find the missing pieces, Bodie surprises me by being real. Authentic. Dare I say loveable?
But can you ever really trust a con?
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3yPnKxy
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Light and spicy
Emma
Since the man I thought I would be walking down the aisle with broke up with me, I’ve been focused on my business.
As the designer of Emma Belle Bridal Gowns, headlining the Blushing Bride Convention in Las Vegas has been the highlight of my year. And the legendary editor of The Dress magazine wants to feature me in their upcoming issue?
A dream come true.
And it’s my birthday! Nothing can get me down…except maybe my ex’s engagement splashed across social media.
What’s a girl to do other than drink a truck load of champagne and see a male revue show?
When a dancer pulls me up on stage, the chemistry between us is undeniable.
Forget holy matrimony, I’m going to lower my expectations for one night.
One night that just may last forever.
Griffin
One last night…
After twelve years raising my baby sister, Sophie, and dancing for Las Vegas’s top male revue in order to pay bills and ensure she graduates college, I’m ready to hang up my tearaway pants and start a new life.
My intentions were to protect Emma, a captivating and tipsy woman at the show, from doing something she regrets. With chemistry neither of us can deny, the night takes an unexpected turn and we find ourselves waking up married.
It happens. We’ll correct our mistakes and move on.
But with a viral wedding video, our nuptials end up on Page Six, and Emma needs me in New York to play the part of doting new husband for a career-boosting interview.
I’ll play the part, do what she asks, then we’ll part ways.
Emma’s smart, enchanting and beautiful…and completely unexpected.
But right now, I have nothing to offer a woman like her, let alone forever.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/41B22uc
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Quirky and fun 🎧
I didn’t know bridesmaid was code for babysitter for the bride’s brother, but if that’s what my best friend needs of me for her dream wedding to go off without a hitch, that’s what I’ll do.
Even if Theo Monroe has been a pain in my rear since third grade.
Even if he should be responsible enough to not wreak havoc at his sister’s destination wedding.
Even if it means we have to share a hotel room in Hawaii, which might be the final duty that breaks me.
Not only does Theo know exactly how to push my buttons, but he never wears clothes, he’s hiding a litter of kittens in his room, and he keeps showing up with fresh-baked cookies that seemingly come from nowhere.
Also?
I have no idea what’s up with the tension between him and the groom.
Or why he’s so proud of the world’s strangest wedding gift.
Or why I suddenly want to know what makes him tick. The story behind his tattoos. How he can afford to rent a convertible in Hawaii. And if maybe all of that utter frustration and irritation I’ve felt for him for years is suppressed attraction that a good girl like me isn’t supposed to feel for the biggest bad boy of Snaggletooth Creek.
But I do know one thing.
When I find out his biggest secret and the answer to all of my questions, it will change everything.
The Worst Wedding Date is a frolicking good time of a destination wedding enemies-to-lovers romcom, complete with a good girl bridesmaid, her best friend’s troublemaking but secretly big-hearted brother, and more than one hitch on the way to happily ever after. It stands alone, has no cheating, and comes complete with ooey gooey goodness.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KBL3l8
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cozy murder mystery/romance combo
Love, laughter, and a dead body…
Juniper Bean has big plans for her writing career. Swoony kisses, sigh-inducing happily ever afters—she’s going to write them all.
There’s just one problem: she can’t seem to stop killing off her main characters.
After accepting that a genre change is in order, Juniper sets out to do some research. What’s the best way to carry a dead body? How exactly does one pick a lock? Juniper is going to find out—with the unwilling help of her new roommate, Aiden.
But Juniper’s plans go haywire when she stumbles across an actual, real-life dead body—and before she knows it, she and Aiden are thrust into the middle of a murder mystery that seems suspiciously tied to Juniper’s past.
Who killed the girl in the woods? Can Juniper ever get the hang of mystery writing? And, perhaps the biggest question of all: Why the heck does Aiden look so good in a tweed jacket?
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/40EFwQm
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Messy and unique
Nothing brings stressed people together like desserts.
Revenge is a dish best served scorching hot. That’s why professionally stressed and dessert loving Heaven Wilson creates a fake profile on the app her cheating boyfriend is using to find hookups.
But when she unexpectedly matches with Shane H, a man who seems as sweet as the baked treats he tempts her with, revenge becomes the least of her problems.
A more pressing issue? Not falling for the man she’s catfishing until she can ditch her unfaithful boyfriend. More pressing still? Shane turns out to be the professionally stressed, intimidating new boss she’s sent to work with.
And he has no idea she’s the girl whose messages leave him craving more every night.
With a boyfriend who could doom her to enormous financial debt, a hot and cold, irresistible boss complicating her work life, and the intricate web of lies she’s designed for herself, this is the perfect recipe for disaster.
When it turns out Heaven isn’t the only one keeping secrets, will the cookie finally crumble?
Desserts for Stressed People is a steamy, slow burn, laugh out loud story about love, friendship, and sweet treats. It features two stressed workaholics who, relying on each other’s strength, find the courage to chase the happily ever after they deserve.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FA91KW
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Angsty and emotional 🎧
A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.
Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.
They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.
Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.
Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Ko3iKO
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Emotional and engaging 🎧
What starts out as a fake wedding date turns into something these childhood enemies never expected in The Plus One, a sparkling romantic comedy by Mazey Eddings.
She’s not looking to fix him. She’s looking to love him, if he’ll let her in.
Some facts are indisputable. The sun rises in the east, sets in the west. Gravity exists. Indira doesn’t like Jude. Jude doesn’t like Indira. But what happens when these childhood enemies find the only thing they can rely on is each other?
On paper, Indira has everything together. An amazing job, a boyfriend, and a car. What more could a late twenty-something ask for? But when she walks in on her boyfriend in an amorous embrace with a stranger, that perfect on paper image goes up in flames.
Jude has nothing together. A doctor that’s spent the last three years traveling the world to treat emergencies and humanitarian crises, a quick trip home for his best friend’s wedding has him struggling to readjust.
Thrust into an elaborate (and ridiculously drawn out) wedding event that’s stressing Jude beyond belief and has Indira seeing her ex and his new girlfriend far more frequently than any human should endure, the duo strike a bargain to be each other’s fake dates to this wedding from hell. The only problem is, their forced proximity and fake displays of affection are starting to feel a bit…real, and both are left grappling with the idea that a situation that couldn’t be worse, is made a little better with the other around.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3THZmrk
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved it 🎧
When falling in love is the punchline…
Farley Jones is being forced to date Meyer Harrigan, the man she has come to love, in order to make all of her stand-up dreams come true.
It’s agony— a tragedy, even. In lieu of flowers, please send cash…
Meyer and his daughter Hazel have been everything to her since they came into her life three years ago. So, all joking aside, the stakes are especially high when it’s not only her career, but both of those relationships on the line.
A former stand-up star himself, Meyer has been vital to the trajectory of her career since he began managing her… Since he became her closest and most treasured friend, in the process.
This friendship is the only reason why, when the biggest opportunity of Farley’s career includes thrusting him back into the spotlight to stir up publicity, he agrees— in spite of his grumpiness, his protectiveness over Hazel, and his disdain for public attention.
It doesn’t take long for their act to bring all those other funny feelings out into the open, and, like most matters of the heart, it quickly begins to feel like anything but a joke.
Funny Feelings is a swoony story about friendship, love, and looking for the laugh in life. It touches on the creative spirit and all that comes with sharing that gift, and how oftentimes the comedians in our lives are the most sensitive, or struggling. It features two friends, one incredible little girl, and a kaleidoscope of feelings along the way.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PPco40
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Solid debut
What do you do when your worst enemy turns out to be your new boss?
Quinn Taylor is flat broke and stuck in the same Brooklyn apartment she’s lived in her whole life. Struggling with student loan payments and medical bills, she works at The Phoenix, an elite Manhattan lounge known for its confidentiality. She’s not waiting around for Prince Charming; in fact, she learned to forget that dream a long time ago. Now, her dream is to open her own restaurant. The only problem? The handsome and elusive real estate mogul Wesley Marks just got her fired.
When Wesley unexpectedly inherits his father’s position as CEO of Marks Properties, he’s desperate to take care of his family and prove he’s nothing like his father. But after the beautiful hostess at The Phoenix betrays his trust, leaking a story that nearly destroys everything, he has a new plan. You know what they say – keep your friends close, and your enemies on your payroll. Both Wesley and Quinn are determined to get their way.
But can they put down their weapons for long enough to discover the connection between them?
LOVE MARKS is a dual-POV, open door enemies-to-lovers, billionaire boss contemporary romance. Please note that this book has content warnings for adult language, adult content, a parent with cancer, alcoholism/rehab, brief references to suicide, sexual assault, and sex work.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3GxFBO6
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Spicy and entertaining 🎧
A woman discovers the father of the child she is nannying may be her biggest (Only)Fan in this steamy contemporary romance by Lana Ferguson.
Suddenly unemployed and on the brink of eviction, Cassie Evans is left with two choices: get a new job (and fast) or fire up her long-untouched OnlyFans account. But the job market is terrible, and as for OnlyFans. . . . Well, there are reasons she can’t go back. Just when all hope seems lost, an ad for a live-in nanny position seems like the solution to all her problems. It’s almost too perfect—until she meets her would-be employer.
Aiden Reid, executive chef and DILF extraordinaire, is far from the stuffy single dad Cassie was imagining. He shocks her when he tells her she’s the most qualified applicant he’s met in weeks, practically begging her to take the job. With hands that make her hindbrain howl and eyes that scream sex, the idea of living under the same roof as Aiden feels dangerous, but with no other option, she decides to stay with him and his adorably tenacious daughter, Sophie.
Cassie soon discovers that Aiden is not a stranger at all, but instead someone who is very familiar with her—or at least, her body. Given that he doesn’t remember her, Cassie is faced with what feels like an impossible situation. As their relationship heats to temperatures hotter than any kitchen Aiden has ever worked in, Cassie struggles with telling Aiden the truth, and the more terrifying possibility—losing the best chance at happiness she’s ever had.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3z68OeV
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Light and cute
Katie Collins has barely ever left her tiny Irish village of Ennisbawn. Why would she? With its tightknit community, friendly local pub, surrounded by glistening lakes and perfectly mysterious forests, it’s a place of peaceful beauty.
Or it was peaceful. Until Callum Dempsey turned up. Part of a hot-shot (and, Katie has to admit, hot is annoyingly apt for him…) development team with zero eye for beauty or charm, he’s not only building a hideous hotel just outside the village, he’s also just announced a plan to knock down Ennisbawn’s only remaining pub. To make way for a view from the golf course.
It’s the final blow to the village and the last straw for Katie, who refuses to let her home-from-home disappear. The pub is her life – her job, but also her last connection to her parents, who had met at Ennisbawn’s once-famous matchmaking festival that was held in the grounds.
But, after being laughed off the building site in her best flannel pyjamas for demanding the builders leave, Katie decides enough is enough and hatches a plan. She’s going to revive the matchmaking festival, save the pub, and single-handedly bring the town back to life again.
She might even help her two best friends find love as well. Since, heck, what’s another project when you’re taking on the world’s hottest, evilest man?
But what Ireland’s newest matchmaker doesn’t know is that even when someone’s really not your type on paper, love might be a little bit more than just a formula…
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3mWsMWp
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mixed feelings
If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that I’ll do anything to prevent some suit from walking onto my family farm and buying it from us.
Hayes may think he can show up at our home, fling a contract in my face, and I’ll drop to my knees and thank him for saving the day, but he’s got it all wrong.
Even if it means Hayes has to spend more time on the farm, sleeping in the bedroom next to me, and almost getting a limb cut off.
When I learn that Hayes needs his job to care for his nephew, I see a different side to the grumpy businessman and understand his motives. He may be the enemy, but soon I can’t deny the chemistry that sizzles between us.
But his boss gives him an ultimatum to finalize the sale or get fired, and I make the greatest sacrifice of my life and sign the contract so he can raise his nephew right. Even if it means losing the man I love.
Meet Hate is an enemies-to-lovers rom-com with crackling chemistry full of laughs and heart set on a dairy farm. All the tension without the explicit bits. It’s the third book in the Meet Cute Series, but it can be read as a standalone.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KIlZbi
⭐️⭐️⭐️ A miss for me 🎧
Trish Doller’s idyllic romance Off the Map proves sometimes a wrong turn can lead to the exact right destination.
On the road to love, you don’t need a GPS…
Carla Black’s life motto is “here for a good time, not for a long time.” She’s been traveling the world on her own in her vintage Jeep Wrangler for nearly a decade, stopping only long enough to replenish her adventure fund. She doesn’t do love and she doesn’t ever go home.
Eamon Sullivan is a modern-day cartographer who creates digital maps. His work helps people find their way, but he’s the one who’s lost his sense of direction. He’s unhappy at work, recently dumped, and his one big dream is stalled out—literally.
Fate throws them together when Carla arrives in Dublin for her best friend’s wedding and Eamon is tasked with picking her up from the airport. But what should be a simple drive across Ireland quickly becomes complicated with chemistry-filled detours, unexpected feelings, and a chance at love – if only they choose it.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3z4tUtN
Mini audiobook review 🎧
A single dad, forced proximity, standalone romance from New York Times bestselling author K. Bromberg.
Crew Madden needs to find a place to recover.
For his twin girls.
For himself.
From the woman who left them without a backward glance.
Recovering from a traumatic event, a summer in the small town of Redemption Falls was the perfect solution for him. For his family. The only drawback? The rental cottage at the end of the drive.
But then he met its tenant.
The quiet, guarded, sexy-as-sin woman who took Crew’s breath away.
—
Tennyson West moved to Redemption Falls to hide.
From her previous world of abundance.
From the woman she used to be.
For a chance to start over . . . and be free.
She’s settled into her new life on the outskirts of a small town, content with her solitude. Her peaceful life.
And then she met her new landlord.
Crew Madden—and his sweet daughters—entered her life with a bang. She learned how to laugh again, to love again, something she never thought would be possible.
It was only meant to be a summer fling, but as demons from their past knocked on the door, their relationship was tested. Was their love strong enough to keep them together or would danger drive them apart for good?
Read the mini audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3TWtbVl
Movie review
Two youngsters reeling from bad breakups who connect over an eventful day in South-London.
Currently streaming on Hulu!
Read the movie review here
THIS MONTH’S RECOMMENDATION LISTS
15 Hidden Identity Romance Novels
Anticipated 2023 Romance Releases
THROWBACK RECS: 15 Sexy Single Dad Romance Books
Check out this week’s new releases here.
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Jeeves Reads Romance 
Romcoms are the best. I read The Worst Wedding Date and I’m looking forward to Happy Place.
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Just know that Happy Place is definitely not a rom com – at all! 😅 It’s very good though.
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