I was able to get a fair amount of reading done lately and it has been kind of glorious!
Her Perfect Affair by Priscilla Oliveras– I actually started this a couple of weeks ago and failed to report on it. I LOVED book one in this series and this book has long time friends and an accidental pregnancy, so basically it was written for me. But with that being said, once Rosa discovered her pregnancy the guilt and shame started to set in. A twenty-something woman who had consensual sex and then is subsequently weighed down by the guilt and shame of that, well it’s not something I want to read. I had to nope out of this one.
The Story of Us by Molly O’Keefe- I belong to Molly’s FB group and she posted that she had gotten back the rights to some of her SuperRomances and was giving away ARCs. I almost broke my one-click finger responding to that. I love O’Keefe, I loved the SuperRomance line. But I should have read the fine print a bit better. Or maybe it just wasn’t there. But when I started the ARC, in the notes it said that as she was reworking the story some other things worked their way in the story, one of which was the mob. I haven’t read ever SuperRomance ever, but I don’t remember many having the mob in them. I think of that line as being more of a deeply emotional line, so I was worried. I gave the book a chance and it had a dark undertone that I wasn’t ready for. I was sticking with it. And then it introduced the POV of an unexpected character and I just couldn’t keep reading. I am a mood reader and that character wasn’t working for my mood, so I declared it a DNF. This book might be for someone who loves O’Keefe and doesn’t have a preconceived notion of what the book should be.
The Billionaire’s Wake Up Call Girl by Annika Martin- I bought this a few weeks back when some Twitter friends recommended it as a slump buster. And they were right. It was sexy and funny and emotional. My main gripe would be that the conflict was resolved too easily for me. But it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.
Sheena had a great, in-depth review earlier in the week if you need more convincing that you should read this book.
Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren- I guess this was my week to read all the books with ridiculously long titles. CLo does friends to lovers really well and this was no exception. Hazel is an unconventional women, she lives and loves by her own rules. One might say she has a big personality. Hazel knew Josh in college and had some interesting interactions with him. Nothing romantic came to be though. Fast forward 7 years and they reconnect. They vow to be best friends, well at least Hazel does.
Over the course of a good portion of the book, Josh and Hazel attempt to date other people while denying their attraction to each other. They go on some hilarious and disastrous double dates. I was there for every single moment. I loved watching their ‘ship evolve from people who knew each other in college, to friends, to lovers. I was VERY invested in their relationship and it worked for me.
A few gripes.
- Hazel moves in with Josh for MONTHS after there was a small flood at her apartment, it seemed like a really long time.
- There is a lot of referring to Josh and Hazel by their first and last names. It was weird to me.
- Lastly, I wasn’t thrilled with how Hazel was described. She was described as a maniac, crazy, and a hot mess. I was not a fan of this. I was bitching about it on Twitter, as one does, and Brie (@racblog) brought up that perhaps CLo was trying to subvert the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope by making making the eccentric woman the main character as opposed to a support character just there to drive the emotional advancement of the male protag. And maybe that is the case. But I still didn’t feel great about the way that Hazel was characterized. Once I moved on from that, I enjoyed the book a lot more.
While I normally love it when authors get their rights back and do reissues I am NOT a fan of “reworking.” O’Keefe’s recent work is quite different from her SuperRomance work – but they’re both very good in their own ways. This is one instance where I don’t want my chocolate and peanut butter to be mixed together.