I love reading romance epilogues. I adore the cozy feeling of everything settling into its place, the sureness of the couple having overcome the challenges standing in their way. In the epilogue the characters have figured out their life together. Oftentimes epilogues are where you can find the true happily ever after. There’s always some kind of lasting commitment: a new house together, marriage, or, perhaps, even a baby. When I started writing The Secret Ingredient, I wanted to write a Continue Reading
Guest Post: Writing Demisexual Heroes by Annabeth Albert
Greetings! I’m so happy to visit one of my favorite blogs as I celebrate the upcoming release of FEEL THE FIRE. This is book 3 in my hotshot series which centers around smoke jumpers and wildfire fighters, but the series can be read out of order! When people hear firefighters, they often immediately think big rugged alpha type heroes. And I do love writing those characters too, but what I wanted to do here was to explore a wide range of first responders beyond the alpha male stereotype—different Continue Reading
Audio Review: A Princess for Christmas by Jenny Holiday
A Princess for Christmas by Jenny HolidayContemporary Holiday RomanceOctober 13, 2020, by AvonARC Review by Melinda This book was the definition of aggressively fine for me and part of it has to do with my own issues I bring with me but part of it was definitely the book. My issue is around that once again breast cancer is in the background for these characters. Admittedly, it plays a small part but it looms large over the entire book as it’s what killed one of the protagonist’s mothers. Continue Reading
Guest Post: Smexy welcomes author Carla de Guzman
I Hate Lumpia Lemons, in any way, shape and form, make me laugh. They bring me right back to #romanceclass, that time when theater actor Jef Flores sucked the life out of a poor, hapless lemon in the guise of kilig, reading a scene from Camilla Sisco’s “Sumbission Moves”, back when we could still be outside and suck lemons in public. Lemons are expensive, ha! And now they just make me laugh! Lumpia initiates an instant ‘ick’ reflex for me. It reminds me of Continue Reading
Angela’s Minis- Reviews for books by Lorraine Heath, Christina Lauren, and Rosie Danan
Beauty Tempts the Beast by Lorraine HeathSins for All Seasons #6Historical RomanceSeptember 29, 2020, by AvonARC This is the last book in the Sins for All Seasons series and features the last Trewlove sibling, Benedict aka Beast. If you've read the previous five installments then you know that the Trewloves were all (except for Fancy) taken in as infants by Mama Trewlove and given a good and loving, but poor home. Beast doesn't know who his parents are or why he was given up as a baby. Continue Reading
Kini’s Friday Kisses- Mini Reviews for You Had me At Hola by Alexis Daria, Like Lovers Do by Tracey Livesay, Fearless by Katie Golding, and The Mall by Megan McCafferty
We made it to Friday y’all. And it is kind of a weird day filled with lots of memories for many of us. Be extra kind and gentle with yourself today. But on to the books. Here is a smattering of books I started and finished recently. I even put them in order of how much I liked them, because why not? You Had me At Hola by Alexis Daria- This book was so good I am not sure I have the words to properly explain it. Beautifully written and engaging from page 1, Daria tells the story of two actors Continue Reading
Excerpt: In Case You Missed It by Lindsey Kelk
Blurb: When Ros comes home after three years away, she’s ready to pick up with life exactly where she left it. But her friends have moved on, her parents have rekindled their romance, and her bedroom is now a garden shed. All of a sudden, she’s swept up in nostalgia for the way things were. Then her phone begins to ping, with messages from her old life. Including one number she thought she’d erased for good – the man who broke her heart. Is this her second chance at one big love? Continue Reading
Review: You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis DariaContemporary RomanceAugust 4, 2020 by Avon ARC Favorite Quote: 1. Leading Ladies only end up on magazine covers with good reason.2. Leading Ladies are whole and happy on their own.3. Leading Ladies are badass queens making jefa moves.And then there was the fourth mental item she hadn't dared write down: Leading Ladies do not rebound with their new costars. If you are desperately looking for a fun, fresh, romantic time-out from the craziness of 2020, Continue Reading
Guest Post: Smexy Welcomes Emma Salah
It’s been my dream to be published since I was a small child. But as a young, black woman growing up in London (vibrant, but expensive London), the concept of being an author was appealing, but being an author was never truly feasible. I was raised on the immigrant idea that I must become either a doctor, an engineer (if you’re a boy, of course) or a teacher. But I couldn’t stop dreaming about characters and worlds that were so vivid I had to write them down. And I didn’t just want to write, I Continue Reading
DNF Review: The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Our friend Melinda @melindaedits, is here with a review for The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. This is a follow up to The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of The Fug Girls, fashion bloggers who I follow and really enjoy. The Royal We, and now The Heir Affair, is a thinly disguised alt fan fic of Princes Harry, William, and Kate Middleton. The Royal We pre-dates the arrival of Meghan Markle on the scene so there’s really no fictionalized version of her that Continue Reading