HC

Love it!

Revisado: 09-11-22

I adored this fun book with great characters. Bee, who cries over roadkill and loves 90s female artists, is my kind of character with her amazing brain, pink hair, tattoos, and piercings.

Levi is a brooding apparent jerk-face who's actually a socially awkward dork with a heart of gold.

The plot is totally a me kind of plot with a me kind of ending.

There are cats and hummingbirds and Houston humidity and a lab where actual plot takes place. (I hate when characters have jobs and then those jobs end up not mattering)

Everything just works so well in this story. The queer RA is my favorite and her side plot is amazing (along with it being a great way to show vs tell a plot point)

The author's usual size kink (both in tol/smol character pairing and the usual meaning of size kink) are here, so YMMV on that, I've read too much fic not to be familiar, lol) But I very much enjoyed how she wrote it and the sexy times are a very small part of the story since this is trad published.

I really enjoyed the You Have Mail part of this book, it's so much fun!

This is one of the best romances I've read this year, highly recommended for all romance readers who love smart women and beautiful characterization.

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A rewarding listen!

Revisado: 08-30-22

I enjoyed The Comeback immensely! The romance is swoon-worthy, though I'm questioning the marketing because the story is more WF than romance, and far too angsty to be a romcom. It's perfect as is, the marketing just needs some work.

Ariadne is one of my favorite heroines of all time. I love how much she grows over the course of this novel. It was a perfect character arc and I enjoyed being on the journey with her.

Both Toronto and Seoul shine as settings. One of the best parts of Lily Chu's writing is how active her settings are, they are an essential facet of the story and nearly a character in their own right. I don't know if some of the places are real locations, but I want the record bar in Toronto to be one!

Another thing that I enjoy about Ms Chu's writing -- and what edges this book into WF instead of romance territory-- are the family relationships and friendships that populate the novel and breathe life into it. Ari is dealing with her father, her sister, her roommate, and (ugh) her coworkers in a way that realistic and rewarding. Her work situation rang such a cord for me that I was yelling at my car stero while I was commuting!

Jihoon is wonderful as her romantic foil, someone who is struggling with his own set of work issues and incredible social pressure. I would have loved to see Ari and his arc from his perspective, it was the only thing that felt missing.

I love how everything unfolds and how it all wraps up in the end and I was sad when I reached the end of the story. A wonderful book that I highly recommend for readers who want to immerse themselves in a story!

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Stellar!

Revisado: 03-21-22

This story completely enthralled me from start to finish. It's funny, sad, and heartfelt in all the best possible ways. Marie and Christian are meant for each other from the first scandalous moment they meet. It's the meet-cute to end all meet-cutes, and I can't tell you how much I appreciated the entire beach scene. I love how much both characters enjoy life, and how, when the inevitable rainclouds come, that they discover that storms can be weathered. As always, the conflict Merry Farmer writes is amazing. This book is a masterclass in how conflict should work in a romance novel. The setting is also lovingly described, and the historical details are impressive. The climax of the story is a perfectly thematic scene and the HEA is so sweet and so sweetly earned. The narrator does an amazing job, his voice is like honey and made me so excited to listen to the rest of the books in this series. Five very enthusiastic stars for this story and the audio version of it. Highly recommended for all romance readers.

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Excellence

Revisado: 03-08-22

I really enjoyed this collection of essays and the celebration of black love/black romance novels. If you make room for one nonfiction book this year, make it this one. I appreciate the intersectionality on display because black love and black writing is not one thing. (I do think Jasmine Guillory didn't understand the assignment, however) These authors and this collection of essays is the best and most engaging, interesting thing I've read in a long while. Highly recommended for everyone, but especially for *all* romance writers and readers.

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Sweet 1890s Story!

Revisado: 03-03-22

I thoroughly enjoyed this little story of mail-order bride Willow finding not only her place but her family's place as well. The characters are well developed, and the conflict is well done. The amount of thematic imagery in the climactic scene blew me away and it really worked well with the story being told. As a very closed-door nearly inspire romance, it's not my usual, but I'd still recommend it as a well-written book with engaging characters and a great sense of place. The narration worked well and I appreciated the calm voice of the narrator.

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Excellent all around!

Revisado: 02-24-22

I very much enjoyed this engaging Regency Romance! Both main characters are splendid, and they each follow their own character ARCs, growing smoothly from the start of the book to the end. The cricket match was so much fun and very accurate, totally A+ content. The pacing moves right along while still giving the characters and readers time to breathe. The conflict is deliciously written and kept me wondering right up until the end. The author does the narration for this book and she does an amazing job, the voices are enough to differentiate characters without any over the top put-on accents. It really felt like the author was sitting beside me in the car, reading as I drove between work and home. All around an amazing book and audio book!

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Two people who need each other

Revisado: 02-15-22

Private Lives is not only the title of this book or the name of the escort agency that Sofia, the fmc, works for, it is also what these two characters are battling to create for themselves. Chris is a big name actor who is tired of being on display, and Sofia's life as an escort means that her relationships are never real. Reality vs. just for show is a theme in this book, and I do wish strongly that theme had been linked more to Chris' acting job and maybe a little less with the character of Ginny (I listened to the audio so I'm not sure I'm spelling that name right). Ginny is more or less the antagonist of this novel, mostly because she's annoying and Chris doesn't like her. There's a lot about her being "fake" and I think that there's some reflection to be done there because having hair extensions and breast augmentation are not negative things by themselves. A lot of women need these things for many reasons, like being a cancer survivor, or to meet patriarchal beauty standards in a tough industry. They're not simply signs of a person being "worse" than another one that's "natural" but I see how this worked in accordance with the theme of the novel.

The writing is natural and flows well, even if the story itself needed a bit of an edit. There's plenty of description to keep the reader grounded in the scene, and dialogue is realistic feeling. The characters are well-rounded and have more than just one side. I do think the language around Chris' mental health was a little bit of an issue, as the negative self-talk was framed as "voices in his head" which is not usually a phrase used with an anxiety disorder. But that's a minor thing and I don't think it'll bother many readers.

I loved Sofia's best friend and I hope she gets her own book! I also adored Sofia's long red hair, it's not something you see in many contemporaries. (Though it looks like Ginny on the cover with the blonde, lol)

The story structure is a bit loose and I ended up not knowing exactly what the main characters' goals were but in the end, I was happy they were together and felt that they had a happily ever after ahead of them. I also enjoyed the sex scenes, they're smoking hot and I never got lost as to what was happening. That's a real skill!

I'd recommend this book for readers who enjoy steamy Hollywood romances. I listened to the audio and appreciated the narrator, he did an excellent job.

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THE BEST

Revisado: 11-15-21

I've come to expect a great deal from this author and this book delivered! (in spades? 🤔) The characters are wonderful (I have been WAITING for Joker's book because I knew he'd fall hard), the sex is on fire (the power exchange is *chef's kiss*), and the emotion is so on point I ended up in tears twice. I am a dog lover so YMMV. Mostly I'm sad to have it the most current release in this series and I hope there'll be many more in its future! I can't recommend this book and the entire Four Kings security series enough.

As always, the narrator knocks it out of the park. It's like magic.

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Good with Flawed Narration

Revisado: 04-12-19

This is a good, well-plotted, romance novel. The characterization of the hero fell apart near the end, and I did feel that some of the emotional points were belabored, but for most of the novel I was rooting for the two main characters to be together and wondering how their impossible situation was going to be resolved. The breathy performance of the narration was very off putting and impacted my opinion of the characters far too much, and I think it changed the tone of the novel far too much. I’ll be reading the rest of the books in this series, but I won’t be listening to them.

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