The Honey Don't List by Christina LaurenContemporary RomanceMarch 24, 2020 by Gallery BooksARC Christina Lauren is one of those author duos that I keep on my auto buy list even though their books have gradually moved toward more semi-closed door romance and womens fiction rather than the hotter than hell romances I remember back in the day when they first started publishing together. I miss those down and dirty, filthy love scenes. The Honey Don't List starts out in a way that completely Continue Reading
Secrets of a (Sometimes) Sunny Girl by Karen Booth
I am a fan of Booth’s after having read her second-chance rock & roll book, Bring Me Back several years ago. I also belong to a Facebook group that she co-started called Seasoned Romance, focused on romances with older (40+) characters. All this to say I am a Booth fan and I was pretty excited to get this ARC. Second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes. I read this book knowing it is labeled Romance & Women’s Fiction and both are true. I love when authors, publishers, etc help Continue Reading
Tori’s Tuesday Musings
**We are going to try a new format at Smexy. Each day, one reviewer will post all the books she has read in the past seven days. Sometimes it may be long reviews like you are used to seeing. Sometimes they will be mini reviews. This gives each reviewer a week to read books, and their own day to talk about them. Mandi is Monday, Tori Tuesday, Sheena Wednesday, Helyce Thursday and Kini Friday. The Top Ten will be coming back this week, and we will still post a wrap-up and Smex Scene over the Continue Reading
Review: Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton Publication Date: February 6, 2018 Historical/Women’s Fiction Berkley Reviewed by Kini Favorite Quote: To be Cuban is to be proud— it is both our greatest gift and our biggest curse. We serve no kings, bow no heads, bear our troubles on our backs as though they are nothing at all. There is an art to this, you see. An art to appearing as though everything is effortless, that your world is a gilded one, when the reality is that your knees beneath your Continue Reading
Review: At the Heart of It by Tawna Fenske
At the Heart of It by Tawna Fenske Romantic Comedy/Women’s Fiction October 3, 2017 Montlake Romance Reviewed by Kini I don’t always include blurbs in my reviews any more, but for this review it is necessary. Love doesn’t stick to the script in this witty romance from USA Today bestselling author Tawna Fenske. TV producer Kate Geary is in unscripted heaven. She’s piloting a reality series featuring her favorite self-help guru, Dr. Vivienne Brandt. The Dr. Viv—whose nuggets of Continue Reading
Review: The Awkward Path to Getting Lucky by Summer Heacock
The Awkward Path to Getting Lucky by Summer Heacock Romantic Comedy July 25, 2017 MIRA Reviewed by Kini In thirty-four days, it will have been exactly two years to the day since I've had sex. Having sex wasn't exactly high on Kat Carmichael's priority list while her successful bakery was taking off, especially since things hadn't been working very well in that department. And the last time she and her boyfriend, Ryan, even attempted the act, they found it to be physically Continue Reading
Review: Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sikes and Jo Piazza
Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza Women's Fiction/Comedy July 11, 2017 Doubleday Reviewed by Tori Favorite Quote: “You work out 3 hours every day for fun? Fitness Junkie is snark-filled laugh out loud satire that wildly swings on a pendulum from realistic and relatable to the outrageous and insane as authors Sykes and Piazza mock and poke fun at the fitness and health fad craze of the rich and famous. Delightfully humorous and loaded with energy, we follow Janey Sweet, the Continue Reading
Review: On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins *Giveaway*
On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins Contemporary Romance/Women's Fiction Harlequin HQN January 31, 2017 Reviewed by Tori Favorite Quote: “This is so good. Thanks for making me shower.” On the heels of Higgins’ entertaining and thought-provoking If You Only Knew, Higgins revisits her sleepy little town of Cambry-on-Hudson, New York in On Second Thought. Using the dysfunctional O’Leary family and the timeless topics of love, loss, family, and second chances, Higgins builds a story on Continue Reading
Review: Perfectly Charming by Liz Talley
Perfectly Charming by Liz Talley Publication Date: September 27, 2016 Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction Montlake Reviewed by Kini Blurb Morning Glory native Jess Culpepper is desperate to get out of town after divorcing the only man she’s ever dated. She takes a temporary nursing job in Florida and, thanks to the bequest of her late friend, Lacy, has the funds to rent a condo right on the beach. She’s not prepared to literally trip over her old high school lab partner—and Continue Reading
Review: The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz
The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz Women's Fiction/Historical/Mystery/Interracial June 28, 2016 Mira Reviewed by Tori Favorite Quote: “We tell ourselves lies to survive when we know the truth will kill us.” A mysterious woman attempts to steal a piece of her past only to be detained by its current owner. When she makes him an offer he can’t refuse, the unknown story of how one of the richest and most distinguished bourbon empires, Red Thread, rose and fell, in return for the very Continue Reading