Book Review: Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Love You a Latke
Author: Amanda Elliot
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: October 8, 2024
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Snow is falling, holiday lights are twinkling, and Abby Cohen is pissed. For one thing, her most annoying customer, Seth, has been coming into her café every morning with his sunshiny attitude, determined to break down her carefully constructed emotional walls. And, as the only Jew on the tourism board of her Vermont town, Abby’s been charged with planning their fledgling Hanukkah festival. Unfortunately, the local vendors don’t understand that the story of Hanukkah cannot be told with light-up plastic figures from the Nativity scene, even if the Three Wise Men wear yarmulkes.

Desperate for support, Abby puts out a call for help online and discovers she was wrong about being the only Jew within a hundred miles. There’s one other: Seth.

As it turns out, Seth’s parents have been badgering him to bring a Nice Jewish Girlfriend home to New York City for Hanukkah, and if Abby can survive his incessant, irritatingly handsome smiles, he’ll introduce her to all the vendors she needs to make the festival a success. But over latkes, doughnuts, and winter adventures in Manhattan, Abby begins to realize that her fake boyfriend and his family might just be igniting a flame in her own guarded heart.

Let’s hear it for a Hanukkah romance with heart! Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot combines holiday cheer with the fake dating trope, then adds in deeper emotion and meaningful moments related to community, identity, and assimilation. Does that sound too serious? Never fear, Love You a Latke is fun and has an overall upbeat tone… and plenty of Hanukkah joy.

Abby runs a coffee shop in a small Vermont town, but worries that the tourist trade has fallen off, which may imperil her business’s future. When the head of the local merchant association basically ropes Abby into planning a Hanukkah festival as a tourist draw (after all, any town might have a Christmas festival — but nowhere in Vermont is there a Hanukkah festival!), Abby reluctantly agrees, but quickly realizes she’ll need help to pull it off. Unfortunately, the only other Jew Abby can find in her area is Seth, the annoyingly cheerful customer who comes into her shop every day.

With no other options, Abby asks Seth for help — and he agrees, but with one condition: He’ll help her connect with all the great food and event vendors he knows in New York, who’ll be sure to be perfect for the festival, and in exchange, she’ll come spend Hanukkah with him and his parents. A fake girlfriend is just what he needs to get his mother to ease up on the matchmaking pressure. Desperate for Seth’s help with the festival, Abby agrees to the fake-dating scheme. How hard could it be?

Over the eight days of Hanukkah, Abby warms to Seth and his parents, and rekindles her connection to her Jewish roots. Due to an incredibly toxic relationship with her parents, Abby fled not only them, but the entire Jewish community with which they seem so inextricably linked. Through her time with Seth, as well as by experiencing myriad Jewish and Hanukkah settings and events in New York, Abby begins to realize that she can reclaim an important element of her past — her Judaism — without falling prey to the harshness and negativity of her upbringing.

Of course, there are also romantic sparks being kindled as Abby and Seth light the menorah each night. Their chemistry is lovely, and while Abby struggles to avoid entanglement for way longer than I’d wished, her resistance is understandable given the pain of her past. When Abby and Seth finally do connect, it makes the waiting absolutely worth it.

A subplot throughout the book is Abby’s involvement in the Hanukkah festival. Even though she is nominally in charge, it’s clear that the woman who assigns the job to Abby really wants to retain control — and her idea of a Hanukkah festival is essentially a Christmas festival, but maybe add in a game of dreydel. Part of Abby’s evolution over the course of Love You a Latke is learning to take a stand, claim her own heritage, and refuse to be marginalized or forced to assimilate. It’s all quite awesome.

I just didn’t want Christmas in my Hanukkah, the same way I didn’t want to dip a grilled cheese in my cinnamon roll latte. Both were delicious, but I didn’t want them together

Love You a Latke deals with serious themes about emotional abuse and the lasting damage it can inflict, but the book is not a downer in any way. As Abby starts coming to terms with her life, her past, and her hopes for the future, and recognizing that her life feels richer once she reconnects with the Jewish community she thought she’d left for good, she blossoms and is able to start creating meaningful friendships and romantic connections. She and Seth are great together, but it’s also wonderful to see her connecting with new friends and feeling open to a more positive way of living her life.

The Jewish elements in Love You a Latke are handled very, very well. I loved seeing the community and the holiday represented in non-typical yet very positive ways. Too often, I’ve seen Jewish characters included in romance novel in a tokenized or stereotypical way, but I feel that’s been changing more recently. Love You a Latke brings the Jewish without ever resorting to tired old cliches, and even shows how a new generation of young adults find ways to connect to their heritage and community in all sorts of modern, fresh ways.

Love You a Latke is just the book I needed in this week leading up to Hanukkah! As I light the menorah for the first night of Hanukkah tonight, I’ll be thinking of Abby and Seth and their celebrations too!

For anyone looking for a sweet holiday romance that has something to say, do check out Love You a Latke! Highly recommended.

6Sep2024

Book Review: My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: My Vampire Plus-One
Author: Jenna Levine
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: September 17, 2024
Length: 400 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance/fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Nothing sucks more than fake dating a vampire in this paranormal romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of My Roommate Is a Vampire.

Amelia Collins is by definition successful. She would even go so far as to say successfully single. But not according to her family, and she’s tired of the constant questions about her nonexistent dating life. When an invitation to yet another family wedding arrives, she decides to get everyone off her back once and for all by finding someone–anyone–to pose as her date.

After a chance encounter with Reginald Cleaves, Amelia decides he’s perfect for her purposes. He’s a bit strange, but that’s fine; it’ll discourage tough questions from her family. (And it certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s very handsome.) For centuries-old vampire Reggie, posing as her plus-one sounds like the ultimate fun. And if it helps his ruse of pretending to be human, so much the better.

As Amelia and Reggie practice their fauxmance, it becomes clear that Reggie is as loyal to her as the day is long, and that Amelia’s first impressions could not have been more wrong. Suddenly, being in a real relationship with Reggie sounds pretty fang-tastic.

My Vampire Plus-One is the follow-up to last year’s My Roommate Is A Vampire — and if anything, it’s even cuter and sillier than the first book.

In My Vampire Plus-One, Amelia is a successful, hardworking accountant, whose large family seems to constantly have weddings — at which Amelia is on the nonstop receiving end of questions about why she’s single. She’d love to ditch the next wedding, but her parents would be so disappointed!

When Amelia has an unexpected, literal run-in with a good-looking but decidedly weird guy (he runs right into her as she’s leaving her office one day), he definitely leaves an impression, and when she sees him again at a coffee shop, they strike up a conversation. Reginald is a guy who is always up for a good practical joke, and he thinks the idea of posing as Amelia’s special someone at family events sounds hilarious. Also, he finds accountants incredibly hot (or maybe just a certain accountant named Amelia…), so that’s added incentive.

Amelia doesn’t know that Reggie (she refuses to call him Reginald) is a vampire, although she does clue in to the fact that he’s odd right from the start — both because of his interesting approach to style and the fact that he has absolutely no internet presence. But when he tells her straight-up that he’s a vampire during a middle-of-the-night phone call, she assumes it’s yet another of his jokes. A running stream of misunderstandings ensues, as he’s sure she knows something that she doesn’t actually know. You can imagine.

The fake dating trope works in romance because it inevitably leads to real dating, real feelings, real attraction… and yes, it all unfolds that way for Amelia and Reggie. Getting snowed in at an isolated cabin helps move things along — and Reggie listens to and seems to appreciate Amelia, accounting expertise and all, in a way no one else ever has.

“You have an exceptional flair for the dramatic for an accountant.”

“I have a completely average flair for the dramatic for an accountant,” I said, feeling a little unhinged. Talking to this man felt like trying to walk in a straight line on a listing ship. “Which is to say, I don’t have one.”

My Vampire Plus-One is utterly goofy, and that’s really its charm. You cannot for a second take this story seriously, and that’s okay. There’s a storyline that runs throughout about a group of disgruntled (and incompetent) vampires who are out to get Reggie due to a centuries-old grudge, leading to him constantly being on the run — but that’s just all part of the fun. This piece of the story ultimately connects back to Amelia’s work, and there’s an amusing showdown — there’s no real sense of threat or danger, and it’s resolved pretty quickly, but it’s entertaining to see how it all shakes out.

“Do you swear?”

“I swear it on the vows I took when I became a CPA.” There were, of course, no vows you had to take when you became a CPA. But he didn’t need to know that.

The only truly discordant note, from my perspective, is one explicit sex scene that’s way more graphic than it needs to be, and that seems out of place in a novel that’s otherwise full of silly banter and cutesy flirtation. Going a little more closed-door with this scene would have fit the overall tone of the book much better.

That aside, My Vampire Plus-One is goofy and funny, and is a great light read for when you’re in the mood for something fluffy. Reggie first appears in My Roommate is a Vampire as the main love interest’s annoying friend, so it’s fun to see him in a central role here… and having an accountant depicted as the ultimate sexy smart girlfriend is a total win.

28Apr2024

Book Review: Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie
Author: Jackie Lau
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: May 7, 2024
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A charming rom-com about a young woman’s desperate attempts to fend off her meddling mother…only to find that maybe mother does know best.

Mark Chan this. Mark Chan that.

Writer and barista Emily Hung is tired of hearing about the great Mark Chan, the son of her parents’ friends. You’d think he single-handedly stopped climate change and ended child poverty from the way her mother raves about him. But in reality, he’s just a boring, sweater-vest-wearing engineer, and when they’re forced together at Emily’s sister’s wedding, it’s obvious he thinks he’s too good for her.

But now that Emily is her family’s last single daughter, her mother is fixated on getting her married and she has her sights on Mark. There’s only one solution, clearly : convince Mark to be in a fake relationship with her long enough to put an end to her mom’s meddling. He reluctantly agrees.

Unfortunately, lying isn’t enough. Family friends keep popping up at their supposed dates—including a bubble tea shop and cake-decorating class—so they’ll have to spend more time together to make their relationship look real. With each fake date, though, Emily realizes that Mark’s not quite what she assumed and maybe that argyle sweater isn’t so ugly after all…

In this cute fake-dating romance, Emily realizes that the best way to get her mother to stop pushing Mark Chan on her… is to pretend to date Mark Chan. Emily is the only unmarried daughter in her large family, and she knows that all her immigrant parents want is for her to have a steady, successful career, own a nice home, and marry an eligible man. That’s not asking too much, is it?

Unfortunately for her mother’s dreams, Emily, while a published author, still has to work as a barista to make rent on her shared apartment, and struggles to find time and energy to finish edits on her second novel and finally develop the great new idea she has for her next book. She’s well aware that she’s a disappointment, and it’s hard to take… and the fact that Mark Chan is the perfect guy that every Chinese parents dreams of is not helping matters. Finally pushed too far, Emily proposes a fake-dating scenario, and surprisingly, Mark agrees.

But just pretending to go on dates isn’t working, since Emily’s mom has eyes and ears everywhere, and soon the couple realizes that they’ll have to actually go on dates together in order to keep up the charade. As they spend time together, Emily starts to realize that there might be more to Mark than she assumed (the fact that he has an adorable cat named Ms. Margaret Muffins certainly helps), and… gasp… are they actually developing feelings? But that would mean that her mother (another gasp!) is right!

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie is a funny, engaging blast that’s easy to tear through in a day. Emily’s varied predicaments had me laughing out loud, and I really enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes. There’s a lot going on beneath the humor and silliness, including dealing with more serious issues around parental expectations, family pressure, and how easy it is to misinterpret other people’s actions, no matter how well meaning they are.

My only quibbles with this book are (a) I don’t necessarily felt like I got the best handle on Mark as a person — he’s a delicious fake (then real) boyfriend, but his personality remained a bit of a cipher, and (b) the big crisis that’s obligatory at the end of any contemporary romance here felt a bit uneventful. Thankfully, the crisis isn’t about a huge misunderstanding between Emily and Mark, but even so, it’s something that feels unimportant to me, and has a weirdly magnified effect.

Putting those two minor issues aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Having read the author’s two previous novels (Donut Fall in Love and The Stand-Up Groomsman), I wasn’t surprised by how much fun this book is. Jackie Lau is great at creating engaging, funny characters and putting them in relatable but over-the-top situations.

If you enjoy light-hearted romance with plenty of humor — plus great exploration of family dynamics and expectations — definitely check out Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie.

17Feb2024

Audiobook Review: Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Yours Truly
Author: Abby Jimenez
Narrators: Kyla Garcia & Zachary Webber
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: April 11, 2023
Print length: 416 pages
Audio length: 11 hours 23 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

A novel of terrible first impressions, hilarious second chances, and the joy in finding your perfect match.

Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin’-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass” scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,” and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she can’t refuse.

I loved Abby Jimenez’s previous novel, Part of Your World, and just had to stay in that book’s world a little longer by immediately starting Yours Truly. Great decision on my part! I thoroughly enjoyed this sensitive, romantic audiobook.

But before I explain why, I do need to point out that that is a seriously terrible synopsis above. The synopsis makes Yours Truly sound like a comedic war-of-wills workplace romance… and that’s not how I’d describe this book at all.

So let me put my own spin on this book.

Briana is a highly-skilled ER doctor who’s loved by her coworkers and seems on track for a chief position, just as soon as her current boss finally takes his long-awaited retirement. She’s thrown for a loop when she’s informed that he’s holding off on retirement just a bit longer, and that she may have competition for the chief role — the new ER doctor who just transferred to her hospital.

The new doc doesn’t seem to be lining up fans. On his very first day, the nurses have secretly dubbed him Doctor Death. He’s rubbing everyone the wrong way, and manages to thorougly irritate Briana as well.

What Briana doesn’t know is that Jacob is an introvert with social anxiety, who’s just trying to get through his day without further triggering his anxiety responses. Jacob is dealing with stress in his personal life — his brother announcing his engagement to Jacob’s ex-girlfriend — and learning a whole bunch of social cues in a brand new work setting is not easy for Jacob.

Eventually, Briana clues in to the fact that Jacob is not actually some arrogant, sexist jerk, but is really a deeply sensitive man who’s also a terrific doctor. After Bri extends an olive branch by advising Jacob to win over the ER staff via cupcakes, Jacob writes her a thank-you letter. Yes, writes — as in, by hand — a letter — as in, on paper. Briana can’t help being charmed.

Bri and Jacob start exchanging letters, opening up in writing in a way they haven’t been able to in person. Eventually, letters turn into long conversations, and suddenly, they’re spending more time talking with one another than with anyone else.

When Jacob turns out to be a perfect match as a kidney donor for Briana’s ailing brother, she wants to do a huge favor for him in return. Jacob’s family refuses to embrace his brother’s engagement, fearing that Jacob will be too terribly hurt by the whole thing. He’s not… but to convince his family to get on board and be happy for the couple, Jacob decides he needs a fake girlfriend, and Bri is happy to sign up for the role.

As Jacob and Brianna play-act a relationship, they spent lots and lots of time together, even to the point of fake living together. You get where this is going right? Before long, they’ve both caught feelings — but each is 100% sure that the other is pretending. There’s a lot of tormented self-doubt and longing in store for both of them. Ah, if only people in romance novels knew how to communicate!

Yours Truly has lots of funny scenarios and flirty banter, but it’s also rooted in more serious emotions and complications. Bri is still deeply wounded by her divorce, thanks to her jerky ex-husband who cheated on her for years with a woman she thought was a good friend. Between that and the father who abandoned the family when she was a child, Bri doesn’t believe that love can be counted on, and has serious issues around trust and security. Jacob, meanwhile, has learned to manage his anxiety, but he can be triggered by uncertainty and lacks the confidence to feel that he’s worthy of love. While Briana and Jacob fall madly in love with one another, it takes them a very long time to realize that their feelings are returned, in large part because neither is able to believe that they deserve to be loved by someone so wonderful.

The author does a terrific job of developing these two characters and making them likable even while showing their wounds and their flaws. We readers may feel frustrated enough to want to give them each a good shake, but we also understand why they’re having such a hard time believing in the truth of their relationship.

I did feel that the communication issues dragged on longer than necessary, and wished that these two incredibly intelligent people talked honestly a lot sooner. They each make some pretty significant assumptions based on overheard conversations and mistaken beliefs about the other’s feelings, and while we get where they’re coming from, they really could have worked all this out through a simple conversation.

Another quibble is that they’re a pair of doctors, and yet they have unprotected sex! In this day and age, when most romance novels do such a fantastic job of incorporating condoms into sexytimes, its absence in a key scene between Jacob and Briana is a glaring omission. Yes, it’s dealt with later in the plot, but still, given who they are as people, it was not believable to me that they’d have sex in that moment without protection.

That aside, I really did love the characters, the plot, and the overall story. When Bri and Jacob make bad choices, we understand why. The writing balances the zippy, light-hearted moments with the deeper emotional stakes and traumas, and I loved how sensitively they’re able to connect with one another when they open up and truly communicate.

“We’re all a little broken, Briana. We are a mosaic. We’re made up of all those we’ve met and all the things we’ve been through. There are parts of us that are colorful and dark and jagged and beautiful. And I love every piece of you. Even the ones you wish didn’t exist.”

Yours Truly is set in the same fictional world as Part of Your World, and it’s nice to get to visit with that book’s main characters, Alexis and Daniel, and see how they’re doing. Zachary Webber, who voices Daniel in Part of Your World, is back in Yours Truly as the narrator for Jacob’s chapters, and he’s got the role of smart, sensitive, sexy boyfriend down to a science. Kyla Garcia is very good as the narrator for Brianna (and gets her lisp just right in a scene where Bri wears her retainer!). The voices work really well together, and the audiobook as a whole is a treat.

Part of Your World was my first book by Abby Jimenez, and after listening to Yours Truly, I’m all in! I need to read EVERYTHING by this author. If you haven’t had the pleasure yet, do yourself a favor and pick up one of her books!

On a related note…

Amazon’s free story collection for February is romance-themed — it’s the Improbable Meet-Cute collection, and includes a very sweet story by Abby Jimenez, so naturally, I read it immediately after finishing Yours Truly. Worst Wingman Ever is a fast, enjoyable read. Check it out!

The rest of the collection looks great too — have you read any of these stories yet?

2Jul2023

Book Review: The Dating Playbook (The Boyfriend Project, #2) by Farrah Rochon

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Dating Playbook
Series: The Boyfriend Project, #2
Author: Farrah Rochon
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: August 17, 2021
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

When a personal trainer agrees to fake date her client, all rules are out the window in this delightful romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of The Boyfriend Project!

When it comes to personal training, Taylor Powell kicks serious butt. Unfortunately, her bills are piling up, rent is due, and the money situation is dire. Taylor needs more than the support of her new best friends, Samiah and London. She needs a miracle.

And Jamar Dixon might just be it. The oh-so-fine former footballer wants back into the NFL, and he wants Taylor to train him. There’s just one catch — no one can know what they’re doing. But when they’re accidentally outed as a couple, Taylor’s game plan is turned completely upside down. Is Jamar just playing to win . . . or is he playing for keeps?

What a fun bit of escapism! In The Dating Playbook (the 2nd book in a trilogy), Taylor Powell is thousands of dollar in debt, is trying to resuscitate a floundering fitness business, and can’t seem to find a way to dig her way out of her problems. Sure, her best friends Samiah and London are supportive and more than willing to help, but Taylor wants to do it on her own… somehow.

And then Jamar Dixon shows up at her pop-up fitness class. Jamar is a former NFL player whose promising career was cut short in his first season after a devastating injury on the field. Jamar approaches Taylor with a proposition: He’s seen her YouTube videos, and is impressed with her approach to training. She’s also off the grid as far as the NFL is concerned, which is perfect for him. His goal is to work himself back into playing shape with the help of a private trainer, but keep it top-secret to avoid media scrutiny until he’s ready. He offers Taylor the job, and a hefty paycheck to go with it.

The catch? She has to agree to keep it completely secret. The payoff? In addition to earning enough to get herself out of her financial mess, Jamar will also reveal her as his trainer once he goes public and will endorse her fitness business, Taylor’d Conditioning.

When the two are spotted together and Jamar is questioned about whether Taylor is his trainer, she invents a lie on the spot — she’s not training him, she’s dating him. Despite her personal commitment to never date a client, she decides to see this fake relationship through. It’s better for Jamar this way, and she’ll still get the endorsement in the end when the truth is revealed. Meanwhile, she and Jamar put together a “dating playbook” — a way to convincingly act as a couple while secretly continuing the plan to get Jamar back to football-playing fitness levels.

The fake relationship trope doesn’t always work for me, but it’s done so well here that I was willing to buy it. There are solid enough reasons established to allow me to cheer for the ruse while also waiting for the fake-to-real transition to take place. Taylor and Jamar have oodles of chemistry, the sparks fly right from the start, and it’s only a matter of time before they give in to their feelings and mutual attraction.

One of the things I really appreciate about this trilogy (The Boyfriend Project) is how important the core friendship between Taylor, Samiah, and London is. The first book was Samiah’s story, and the third will be London’s, but in each book, all three women get together to support one another, share their joys and worries, and laugh together whenever possible. Too often, the best friend role in contemporary romance novels is tucked away in the background, but in these books, the friendship between the three women is really central to the storylines and the romantic relationships. It’s wonderful to see strong, smart women who are truly there for one another (and I can’t wait to see what happens with London in the next book).

The Dating Playbook spends maybe a bit too much time describing workouts and food planning for me, but that’s a minor complaint. I really enjoyed the main couple’s dynamics, and I appreciated the depth and seriousness applied to the central conflicts in both Taylor and Jamar’s lives.

Taylor’s situation is particularly well told. She thinks of herself as the black sheep of her high-achieving family, the disappointing child who doesn’t have the impressive careers and credentials of her siblings. As she realizes that a lack of a degree is hurting her professionally, Taylor is forced to finally consider why she hated school so much, including acknowledging that she may have an undiagnosed learning challenge at the root of her struggles.

Yes, I still find the sex scenes in this series to be a bit cringey, but there aren’t all that many, so I can abide getting through those in order to enjoy the rest of the story.

The Dating Playbook is a fun 2nd book in an upbeat series, and I look forward to finishing up with book #3, The Hookup Plan.

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14Jul2022

Book Review: The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Bodyguard
Author: Katherine Center
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: July 19, 2022
Print length: 320 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

She’s got his back.
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindgerten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.
He’s got her heart.
Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.
They’ve got a secret.
When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.
What could possibly go wrong???
Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.

Katherine Center excels at creating fascinating women as lead characters and placing then in challenging, unusual situations. In The Bodyguard, there’s quite a bit of humor, and yet the heart and emotions of her previous books still shine through.

As the book starts, main character Hannah has just been dumped by her boyfriend, who also happens to be a coworker. Awkward! He’s a total jerk, says terrible things to her, has cheated on her with her best friend… and yet she still needs to see both of them at the office on a daily basis. All Hannah wants is to escape, and begs her boss to send her off on a new assignment, preferably one somewhere on the other side of the world.

But Hannah is a depressed, emotional wreck, and her boss has other plans for her. She’ll stay in Houston working on their new high-profile client’s protection assignment, and if it goes well, she’ll be up for a promotion to head the agency’s new London office.

The assignment is movie star Jack Stapleton, who’s coming home to Texas to be with his mother while she undergoes cancer treatment. Jack has been living off the grid for the last couple of years after a scandal, but he still pops up in the tabloids whenever the paparazzi can track him down and catch shots of him with his latest Hollywood-appropriate girlfriend. But now, Jack is leaving his North Dakota retreat to be with his family, and it’s the agency’s job to keep the crazy stalkers at bay, or preferably, in the dark.

Jack most emphatically does not want a bodyguard, but the studios insist, so he adds his own stipulation: Hannah can protect him, but only by posing as his girlfriend at his parent’s ranch. They simply do not need the stress of knowing he’s in danger, not while they should be focused on his mother’s health.

What follows is equal parts silly and serious. Hannah is small but powerful. She may be able to kill someone with a ballpoint pen, but if she has to fight or injure someone, she’s already failed. Her job is to protect and keep safe, and never let her “principal” anywhere near being in danger. She’s used to being in the background, a serious presence in a pantsuit and an earpiece, not there to be noticed. But to meet Jack’s requirements, she finds herself in a “girlfriend” outfit, sundress and sandals, engaging with his family, holding hands, and even sleeping in the same room as Jack (although, per her insistence, on the floor rather than in his bed).

As the story unfolds, we learn about both Hannah and Jack’s past traumas, which influence so much of who they are now. Hannah’s history with her mother was painful, full of neglect and danger, seeing her mother descend into alcoholism and endure a series of abusive relationships. Jack is haunted by the car accident that killed his younger brother and has driven a wedge between him and his older brother. There’s a secret there, but Jack refuses to discuss it, instead reliving it through regular nightmares. As Hannah spends time with Jack, she sees beyond the Hollywood surface to the vulnerable person underneath, and becomes determined to help him.

The Bodyguard has plenty of light moments too — silly encounters on the ranch, moments of joy and laughter as Jack relaxes around Hannah and gets Hannah to unwind a bit too — as well as scenes of family connection, simple pleasures, and true warmth and emotional reality. At the same time, Hannah second-guesses her growing chemistry with Jack. After all, he’s an actor, and she’s seen him on screen many, many times — she’s knows he’s good at his job. So when he seems to care for her, is it real, or is he just acting?

I really enjoyed Hannah as a character, and loved that this petite woman is a strong, dangerous, accomplished defender who can hold her own, and then some. Her outer toughness and professionalism hides her inner vulnerabilities, but she’s awesome at her job and her abilities are absolutely never in doubt. Seeing her fall for her principal and sort out who Jack is and whether he’s being truthful with her is fascinating, and I loved seeing their relationship blossom.

There are some familiar and well-loved tropes here — fake dating, Hollywood star falling for a regular person, love on a ranch, just one bed, etc. The author does a terrific job of incorporating these elements while also keeping them fresh and new.

One of my very favorite things about The Bodyguard was the laughter. Despite the many scenes and discussions focusing on the character’s painful pasts, they also laugh together — a lot. And when Jack laughs, it’s a full-bodied, all-out experience that strips away all his outer polish and shows his inner good nature, and it’s just so much fun.

A dangerous scenario toward the end of the book brings the story back into a more serious focus and gives Hannah a chance to shine — I was on the edge of my seat! But beyond this situation, the book’s focus is on the relationships — romance, friendship, family — what they mean to the characters, and how Jack and Hannah are changed by them.

The Bodyguard is a refreshing, engaging, light-hearted but also emotional summer read. Don’t miss it!

17Jun2022

Book Review: Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Written in the Stars
Author: Alexandria Bellefleur
Narrator: Lauren Sweet
Publisher: Avon
Publication date: November 10, 2020
Print length: 384 pages
Audio length: 11 hours, 11 minute
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Purchased
Rating:

With nods to Bridget Jones and Pride and Prejudice, a charming #ownvoices queer rom-com debut about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to fake a relationship with an uptight actuary until New Year’s Eve—with results not even the stars could predict!
After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass.
Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account, Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy… a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy’s brother—and Elle’s new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because… awkward.
When Darcy begs Elle to play along, she agrees to pretend they’re dating to save face. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family over the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a fake relationship.
But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?

The synopsis really says it all — Written in the Stars is a fake-dating, opposites-attract romance with a guaranteed HEA, but with a few bumps along the road.

Darcy is a (gorgeous) tightly-wound actuary who likes her world orderly, clean, and easily analyzed and compartmentalized; Elle is a (super-adorable) astrologist who likes gel pens, glitter, marching to her own drummer, and a certain amount of chaos. They have nothing in common — yet somehow, their fake-dating arrangement starts to feel more and more real as they have fun together, learn to see beneath their surfaces, and (obviously) recognize that they have a major spark going on.

The comparisons to Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones are mostly unnecessary. Yes, the Darcy character comes across as judgy and off-putting, but that’s just a piece of the puzzle in this relationship, and the P&P trappings (sisters named Jane and Lydia, for example) are just minor details that don’t particularly matter.

Elle and Darcy have a lovely chemistry, each forcing the other to rethink basic assumptions and stretch a bit in their worldview — although honestly, most of the changing seems to happen on Darcy’s end. They’ve each been hurt in different ways in the past, through family dynamics or disastrous relationships, and they bring their baggage with them. As their fake relationship deepens into something more, they’re forced to open up and be honest about their dreams and their fears — but of course, as happens in pretty much all romance fiction, there’s a major falling out before they can get to a happy ending.

I enjoyed Written in the Stars, but not without some quibbles. The writing is spirited and light, and I liked getting chapters from both Darcy and Elle’s perspectives. But, certain wording choices started getting on my nerves, possibly more noticeable because I listened to the audiobook and repetitions really jumped out at me — for example, I lost count of how many times it’s mentioned that a particular character licked her lips. (It was a lot.)

All romance novels have the inevitable obstacle right before the happy ending, but the big drama here had to to with an overheard conversation and misinterpretation, and the way the scene was constructed left me feeling that the characters were behaving unreasonably and with a lack of maturity. Yes, their fall-out was over some big issues that they needed to address and resolve in order to move forward, but an actual conversation would have been a much healthier approach.

Side note: Some day, I’d like to read a romance where the main characters have a misunderstanding and then TALK ABOUT IT LIKE ADULTS, rather than having to go through a break-up, pints of ice cream, ugly crying, and then a BIG GESTURE in order to get to a good place. Anyway…

In terms of sexual content, there aren’t a huge number of sex scenes, but the ones that do exist are on the graphic end of the scale. (See my thoughts on a ratings scale for sex scenes in books, here). We are up close and personal with the characters through every moment of their encounters. Not my personal taste in fiction, but could appeal to those who generally enjoy these scenes on the explicit side.

Overall, Written In the Stars is a sweet story with lots of cute and funny moments. The audiobook is well done, with the narrator infusing humor and personality into the dialogue (and doing a great job with how she reads the many texts between characters — a very fun aspect of the story).

There are two more books that follow Written In the Stars, one focusing on Darcy’s brother, the other on Elle’s best friend and roommate. I don’t feel a need to continue at this point, but I may keep them in mind for when I want a light diversion at some point down the road.

4Jun2022

Book Review: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Boyfriend Material
Author: Alexis Hall
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication date: July 7, 2020
Length: 427 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Wanted:
One (fake) boyfriend
Practically perfect in every way
Luc O’Donnell is tangentially–and reluctantly–famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he’s never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.
To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship…and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He’s a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he’s never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.
But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that’s when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don’t ever want to let them go.

Sometimes, mood is everything. Several months ago, I borrowed the audiobook of Boyfriend Material from the library, and couldn’t get past the first chapter. Too self-absorbed, too focused on partying, too desperate to be adorable… or so I thought.

Here I am, months later, to tell you that I was wrong, wrong, WRONG about Boyfriend Material. My friends, this book is a delight!

On a whim, I borrowed the e-book from the library, incredibly in need of a light, engaging story — and that’s exactly what I found here, plus heart-warming squishy love and oodles of giggles.

Our main character is Luc, the son of a famous rockstar who walked out of his life as a child. After a terrible betrayal by an ex-boyfriend years earlier, Luc lives fast and free, and has developed a tabloid relationship of being yet another spoiled, misbehaving brat of a has-been celebrity. When Luc’s latest exposure in the tabloids (honestly, he just tripped! he only looks like he was passed out in a gutter!) threatens his job in fundraising, he knows some serious reputation repair is needed.

Enter Oliver, an uptight lawyer whom Luc once propositioned years earlier (unsuccessfully). Through a mutual friend, Luc and Oliver are reintroduced and agree to the ultimate romantic trope, the fake-dating scheme. Oliver is posh and presentable, someone who will give off “good gay” vibes for the donors Luc needs to charm, and Luc will make a fine companion for Oliver at an obligation-and-guilt-filled upcoming family event.

He gave me the type of look you give someone when you’re mentally shifting them from the box that says “attractive” to the box that says “weird.”

Initially like water and oil, Luc and Oliver eventually find that they complement each other in all the best ways. Trust, friendship, support, and (obviously) feelings soon follow. Their fake relationship turns into something real, but they’ll need to each get out of their own heads and put their unproductive inner dialogues aside if they’re going to make it work.

Oh, my, is this fun! First of all, while Luc is definitely a fiction type — the messy, unreliable, flighty guy with a heart of gold, who just needs someone he can count on — he’s also a total sweetheart, and outright hilarious. He’s silly and snarky, and I love him to pieces. Oliver is a little harder to love, since he comes across as stiff and serious, but hey, despite being a total neat-freak, he makes a mean French toast and is sweet and protective when it counts.

The plot zips along and hits the major plot points you’d expect, but the journey is just so adorably entertaining that I loved every minute.

The writing is consistently funny, and managed to catch me by surprise with its silliness and cleverness the whole way through. A few choice bits:

Peeping through my eyelashes like a small child braving an episode of Doctor Who from behind the sofa cushions, I checked my notifications.

We went on a couple of dates and I thought it was going really well, so I introduced him to Bridget, and she fucking stole him from me. Well, she didn’t steal him. He just liked her more. And I don’t resent it at all. I mean, I do. But I don’t. Except when I do.

“I’m sure we can negotiate matters as they arise. And you’re still welcome to stay. If you’d like. If you have no other engagements.”
Engagements? Oh, Oliver. “There was this tea dance I was meant to go to in 1953, but I can probably skip it.”

“You”—I gave a thwarted sigh—“are a terrible fake boyfriend.”
“I’m building fake anticipation.”
“You’d better be fake worth it.”

I stood at the sink and did that thing people do in movies where they brace themselves on the counter and stare meaningfully at their reflection. Turns out, it didn’t help. It was just a dick, looking at a dick, asking why he was always such a dick.

… Really, what do you have to lose?”
“Pride? Dignity? Self-respect?”
“Luc, you and I both know you have none of those things.”

You get the picture. Boyfriend Material is a book you’ll want to hug. There are emotional moments and people confronting past hurts and obstacles, but overall, it’s sweet and upbeat and just cute and romantic as hell.

A follow-up book comes out this August, and I absolutely cannot wait!

13Jan2022

Book Review: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Love Hypothesis
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: September 14, 2021
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Purchased
Rating:

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding… six-pack abs.
Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

EVERYBODY seems to either have read or to be reading this contemporary romance — so I gave in to temptation and joined the crowd! And mostly, it’s a really enjoyable, sweet tale.

But — ugh — let me just say that I do not like the synopsis (above). It just doesn’t convey the charm of the characters or what’s special about the book’s set-up.

So… Olive is a Ph.D. student working her butt off, living off her meager grad stipend, and basically focused solely on her work. A complication arises when it becomes clear that the guy she’d started casually dating is actually much more interested in Olive’s best friend, who seems to return the interest. But Anh would never agree to date him and break the friend code, even if Olive insists she’s just not that into him.

When Olive lies to Anh and says she’ll be out on a date with a new love interest, leaving Anh free to start a romance with Jeremy, things get complicated. Anh sees Olive in the lab building — clearly not on a date. So, as the synopsis says: Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees — who just happens to be Dr. Adam Carlsen, a young powerhouse in the academic field, with a reputation of being an arrogant ass when it comes to his grad students.

Olive is embarrassed and super awkward… but as it turns out, a fake dating scenario would benefit both Olive and Adam. Olive needs Anh to believe that Olive is in a relationship so that she can pursue her own love life guilt-free, and Adam needs Stanford to believe he’s in a relationship so they don’t consider him a flight risk and cut off his grant money. So hey, what’s a little fake-dating between (kind of) colleagues? Olive assumes a weekly coffee date is enough to seal the deal and make it believable.

Of course, it’s more complicated than that, as Olive and Adam are constantly thrown together, and (of course) develop an easy rapport, ridiculously cute banter, physical attraction, and, eventually, real and actual feelings.

The Love Hypothesis follows many of the standard story beats of the fake dating trope, but it’s got a lot of unique elements going for it as well. First of all, the science and academia setting is terrific. I love seeing a woman in science, here presented as dedicated to the point of obsession when it comes to her profession and her research. Olive is smart, motivated, and committed, and her struggle to be taken seriously and get the opportunities she deserves is well portrayed and convincing.

Also, the academic setting provides a structure that I haven’t come across much in contemporary romances. The science and lab work and dissertation meetings are all part of the plot. I’ve seen too many romances where we’re informed that the lead character is a respected professional, but we never see her doing any actual work. Here, we follow Olive in and out of meetings and labs and conferences, and get a real feel for the texture of her life as a graduate student (as well as the truly minimal financial resources she has… so yes, it’s a big deal when Adam pays for her pumpkin spice lattes!).

An added unique element is Olive’s sexuality, which I’d describe (although not labeled as such in the book) as demisexuality. Olive is fairly inexperienced when it comes to sex, mostly having tried it a few times during her college years as something to check off a list, rather than experiencing desire. As she explains, she’s only able to feel sexual attraction when with someone she likes and trusts, and this hasn’t really happened for her previously in her life.

Olive and Adam do have great chemistry, and I enjoyed them together as a couple. Despite Adam’s fearsome reputation in the department, he warms up around Olive, and they’re able to joke and exchange quips together that would probably make his grads’ heads spin.

I’m not typically a big fan of awkward encounters, which seem to be a staple in contemporary romances, and this is an obstacle for me in The Love Hypothesis as well. There’s a lap-sitting scene and a sunscreen scene, to name but a couple, that are kind of clunky and weird — I think they’re meant to be funny, but really, just made me cringe and feel uncomfortable.

Also, some of the lying really bugged me after a while. Olive persists in lying about the fake-dating to Anh even well past the point where she should have just come clean. She also lies to Adam after he overhears a conversation that could reveal her feelings about him, and continues to allow him to misinterpret her feelings even after it’s clear that she should be honest. She’s way too smart for some of the dumb decisions she makes about her emotions and her personal life, and even though she’s portrayed as someone so focused on science that she’s neglected her inner life, I feel like this goes overboard and undersells Olive’s maturity and good sense.

If you’ve read any of my other romance reviews, you may know that I prefer my romances with steaminess on the implied rather than explicit side of things. In The Love Hypothesis, there’s really just one major sex scene, but it is very explicit. Because it was limited to one encounter, I didn’t feel that it took over the book or overwhelmed the reading experience — but still, if you prefer these kind of scenes to be off-screen or fuzzy, just be aware in advance that the sex in The Love Hypothesis is graphic.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Love Hypothesis and found the characters and the set-up charming and off-beat. I love seeing women in STEM professions, especially when the professional aspect is treated seriously and not just as a side note. I’ll definitely want to read more by this author!

10Jul2021

Book Review: While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: While We Were Dating (The Wedding Date, #6)
Author: Jasmine Guillory
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: July 13, 2021
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley
Rating:

Two people realize that it’s no longer an act when they veer off-script in this sizzling romantic comedy by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory.
Ben Stephens has never bothered with serious relationships. He has plenty of casual dates to keep him busy, family drama he’s trying to ignore and his advertising job to focus on. When Ben lands a huge ad campaign featuring movie star Anna Gardiner, however, it’s hard to keep it purely professional. Anna is not just gorgeous and sexy, she’s also down to earth and considerate, and he can’t help flirting a little…
Anna Gardiner is on a mission: to make herself a household name, and this ad campaign will be a great distraction while she waits to hear if she’s booked her next movie. However, she didn’t expect Ben Stephens to be her biggest distraction. She knows mixing business with pleasure never works out, but why not indulge in a harmless flirtation?
But their lighthearted banter takes a turn for the serious when Ben helps Anna in a family emergency, and they reveal truths about themselves to each other, truths they’ve barely shared with those closest to them.
When the opportunity comes to turn their real-life fling into something more for the Hollywood spotlight, will Ben be content to play the background role in Anna’s life and leave when the cameras stop rolling? Or could he be the leading man she needs to craft their own Hollywood ending?

Jasmine Guillory’s books are reliably romantic, intimate, and full of unusual characters, and While We Were Dating is no exception.

Our two main characters are Ben, an up-and-coming advertising executive (who, BTW, used to be a backup dancer — hot!), and Anna, an Oscar-nominated actress who needs her next movie to be the big breakthrough that will take her back to the Oscars and send her home with the prize.

When Anna agrees to star in the ad campaign Ben is leading, they’re immediately drawn to one another and develop an easy rapport. But it’s not until Ben offers to drive her all night to reach her family at a Southern California emergency room that they truly connect, spending the long car ride sharing secrets and dreams. Their intimacy becomes physical, and they’re both wildly attracted to one another — but neither imagines that this can be anything but a fling.

Later, Anna’s manager comes up with a plan: In order for the studios to see Anna as a big enough box-office draw to land that next crucial movie contract, she needs to be more in the public eye. He convinces her to go public in a fake relationship with Ben, making sure the paparazzi are on hand to capture their every private-but-public flirtation. Soon, they’re featured in People magazine and are walking the red carpet together, but Ben knows that once the premieres have ended, so will this relationship.

I enjoyed a lot about While We Were Dating. Anna and Ben are both well-developed, flawed people. Sure, they’re super hot, but they’re also vulnerable, each dealing with his or her memories and past painful experiences, cautious about who they trust and who they allow into their lives. They have an easy chemistry together, and their banter is adorable and flirtatious and very down-to-earth.

This author also tends to go outside the societal norms of beauty when it comes to her heroines, and Anna is depicted as both stunningly gorgeous and plus-sized. And honestly, I love that about her.

I’m not a huge fan of “Stars! They’re Just Like Us!” kind of stories, so the Hollywood magic is, if anything, a minus for me when it comes to books featuring glamorous stars and their love lives. Here, though, we see Anna’s family and her roots, her struggle to adjust to her new reality, the invasiveness of the paparazzi, the need to always be “on”, and it makes her feel relatable, even if the day-to-day of her life — with stylists and gowns and borrowed jewels — feels like something from another world.

The books in The Wedding Date series are all loosely connected, but don’t worry if you haven’t read the others. Familiar characters show up, and you’ll be happy to see them if you know who they are, but it’s not at all crucial to know their backstories in order to enjoy While We Were Dating (or any of the other book in the series.) Each book focuses on a new romantic pairing and can stand on its own just fine.

If you’re a fan of Jasmine Guillory’s books, you’ll definitely want to read this one as well. Even if you’re new to this author, this would make a great pick for beach or poolside reading.

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