How it started How it's going Almost 5 years ago Mandi DM'ed me to ask me if I ever wanted to write a review for Smexy and I did. I wanted it so bad. Little did she know- I'd been an avid Smexy reader for quite some time. I knew that if Mandi, Tori, or Sheena loved a contemporary, I was going to love it too. And they asked ME to join the crew. To say I was excited was an understatement!Mandi and Tori taught me so much about blogging and reviewing. They were both adamant that we be honest Continue Reading
Kini’s Friday Kisses- Mini reviews for books by Sarah Morganthaler, Molly O’Keefe, Cecelia London and a couple of DNFs
I’ve read a lot of books that I haven’t talked about yet, so I am trying to catch up. The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morganthaler- The premise to this sounds so cute. And the book delivers a lot of cute, almost too much for me. Snarky hero who hates tourists, nerdy, glasses wearing heroine who is a tourist, a blind dog that wears pajamas, a moose that loves a car, and a town full of quirky characters. Zoey travels to Alaska and meets Graham, a diner owner who really hates the tourist who Continue Reading
Kini’s Friday Kisses: Mini reviews for books by Tammy Robinson, Ainslie Paton, and Nalini Singh
Photos of You by Tammy Robinson- This is 100% not a romance, but it does have a romantic arc. I knew going in this would not have an HEA but I wanted to give it a try. CW: death, dying, main character with breast cancer. The main protagonist, Ava, discovers her cancer has not only returned but it is aggressively terminal. She wants the rest of her life to be on her terms and decides to have a wedding before she dies. It was a journey that had some brutal moments as Ava talked about her Continue Reading
Kini’s Romance Wrap Up 2019
Just over a year ago, Mandi decided she didn’t want to run Smexy anymore and Angela and I jumped at the chance to do so. I have learned so much about running a blog. The biggest thing is that my relationship with books has changed. I am no longer “just reviewing” books. Now not only am I looking at them for potential review but also is it something we might want to spotlight in some other way to Smexy readers. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it. But it has just changed things for me. Continue Reading
Guest Post: It ain’t heavy, it’s my romance by Ainslie Paton
Some romances are designed to read like sunshine and lollipops, some to please with sass and snark, or comic situations and big laughs. Some show the storm clouds. Like a lot of authors, I write romance in part to explore issues that interest me. Sometimes that means showing the darker underbelly of storm clouds. I’ve written a mentally ill hero who was homeless, a male nanny, a female executive in a male dominated industry, a tech titan who got sacked from his own company for being a Continue Reading
Smexy’s August TBR
Angela- I have tons of great ARCs for this month and I want to dig in to all of them right now. The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai 8/6- Alisha Rai is one of my go-to, must-have, auto-buy authors and I love her. This story about two rival dating app creators sounds amazing and I can't wait to read it this week. The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare 8/13- If this book is half as cute as the previous book in this series, The Governess Game, I know I'll be in heaven. The First Girl Child by Amy Continue Reading
Kini’s Favorite Reads of 2018
2018 was a hard reading year for me. I started out the year with huge goals and it fell apart quickly. I can’t be mad about it though. I read some fantastic books by amazing authors, made new friends in romancelandia and had lots of romance discussions on Twitter and beyond. Here is a round up of my favorite books this year. Spoiler alert, several these authors were on my lists from 2017 and 2016. 2018 was all about fantastic series for me. So many of my favorite books where part of a series. Continue Reading
Kini’s Friday Kisses
I managed to read to Holiday novellas this week and both were pretty cute. Merrily Ever After by Jenny Holiday. This is part of her Bridesmaids Behaving Badly series and probably better enjoyed if you have read at least one of the previous books. This one feature Elise and Jay who got married and the first book although the first book was not their love story. This was a cute and emotional holiday novella about a couple who is already married working through some things. This isn't a Continue Reading
Kini’s Friday Kisses
Fool Me Forever by Ainslie PatonContemporary RomanceSeptember 24, 2018 Paton has pubbed two books earlier this year that I really enjoyed, including the first book in this series One Night Wife. I really enjoyed ONW but Fool Me Forever didn’t work well for me. It felt slow and I never fully connected with the characters. The hero, Halsey, is the younger brother of the hero in the previous book. Halsey is everything I like in a hero including awkward and a someone straddling the line of right Continue Reading
One Night Wife by Ainslie Paton
One Night Wife by Ainslie Paton Contemporary Romance May 17, 2018 Entangled Reviewed by Kini Favorite Quote: “Are you scared I’m going to bolt?” “I’m scared you’re going to eclipse the sun.” Cal Sherwood, you keep saying things like that, you are so getting kissed. I loved pretty much everything about this book. The premise is a fake relationship between a con-man hero and a heroine that wants to raise money for the non-profit she just started. They meet in a bar and Fin tries to Continue Reading