Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean

Princess Diaries set in Japan. What's not to love?

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

I didn't know much, if anything, about C. S. Lewis's wife or their relationship before this, but it made me want to read everything Lewis wrote (although I've read a bunch of his books already). It was a cute story (but I think was too long) and I love Joy Davidman now.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

I read that this was a Beauty and the Beast rewrite, and was interested, but it didn't really grip me like I thought it would. It was fine but I wasn't tempted to read the sequels. I was confused about the love triangle thing. 

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey

This was a cute romance, with a few raunchier scenes than I expected. The characters were great. I liked the setting of a small fishing town. 

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

This was a cute romance, and I liked the childhood friends-to-lovers trope, but I didn't like the angst of her big secret and the reason they hadn't talked for ten years. I would have liked it better if it hadn't been for that. 

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan

I loved this audiobook and this story set in the audiobook recording world. Such a cute romance.

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

I actually really loved this romance. I loved Katherine Center's other book, Things You Save In a Fire, and I thought this was so cute, with the girl being the bodyguard for the famous movie star. I loved the whole thing. 

Just Haven't Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens

After reading This Time Next Year, I figured I could read another Sophie Cousens romance in an afternoon and relax a little more. This one was less enjoyable than This Time Next Year though, and I ended up skimming a few chapters because I was wanting to get to the good part, where she realizes who she's in love with. Laura is obsessed with meet-cutes and with having a great romantic story, because of her parents' sweeping love story that she's heard since birth, and then she accidentally ends up with the wrong man's luggage at the airport and decides that this must be the man for her. She somehow ends up getting a cab driver to drive her all around the island of Jersey looking for this guy, and it becomes increasingly evident that she should be with the cab driver to everyone except her. It took a while but eventually everything got figured out. I thought it was cute and that was all. 

Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne

I was so annoyed by this that I ended up not finishing it. Is it lame to still review it on here and count it as one of my books? No. I spent a number of hours listening to this story and I just couldn't rack up the energy or the interest to try and finish it. Ruthie works at a retirement community and is such a nervous person that it's hard for her to even leave the property without having panic attacks. Then Teddy, a huge, muscular, tattooed man comes and ends up working as an assistant at the community. For some reason, he is clearly attracted to her and acts like she's the most interesting person on earth even though she DEFINITELY IS NOT. I just found their dynamic weird and creepy and completely not believable, and I didn't want to find out how they got together because it did not make any sense to me. 

This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens

I don't know where I heard about this book, but it seemed like a light, fluffy, quick romance that would be easy to inhale as an e-book on my phone. (I don't know why, but I've been reading a LOT on my phone lately, which I never, ever used to do except when nursing. I've gotten a lot more reading done this way this last month.) This book is about Minnie Cooper (yep), who was born on the same night and in the same hospital as Quinn Hamilton, and has spent her whole life feeling resentful toward him for stealing her name. I thought it was a cute story and I kind of liked all of the near-misses where they kept almost running into each other throughout the book. I wasn't super overly invested in it, though, but I was happy that it worked out in the end. 

Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler

I actually really loved this Anne of Green Gables retelling except for a few sexy parts. I didn't want to read about Anne and Gilbert having sex--I wanted it to stay cute and pure like in the original series. But I did really like the premise of a modern-day Anne living in Manhattan and coming across Gilbert again after years of being separated. It was a great retelling.

Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass

I saw this one described as a Caribbean-inspired retelling of Persuasion, and I was all in. I am a sucker for a Jane Austen re-telling, obviously. In this one, the setting was the biggest draw, and I loved the details of what it was like living on Trinidad (or Tobago? I can't remember which one?). I felt like the story dragged a lot though, and I didn't feel the same sort of connection to Reyna that I do to Anne in Persuasion. I also felt like her love interest, Aiden (and his name feels way too white boy to fit in this story also), was just boring and not very nice most of the time... but maybe that fits with the original story. It took me longer than it should have to get through this book because I didn't really want to pick it up much, but it was still cute. 

Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez

After reading Part of Your World, I wanted to check out some more Abby Jimenez because it reminded me how much I enjoyed her books. I hadn't read this one before but it was supposedly somewhat related to The Happy Ever After Playlist, which I loved. I felt like this one was very cute and sweet, but not anything to write home about. Vanessa is a travel blogger who secretly has a family history of a disease that she believes is going to kill her like it did her sister, and she starts getting to know Adam, the lawyer next door after she starts fostering her niece. Honestly, I don't remember too much about it. Jimenez is super good at making real connections between characters, but I didn't love the side characters and the side issues in this one as much (Vanessa's crazy family and health issues just felt blah and maybe over-dramatized). Overall, a solid enjoyable romance, but not my favorite. 

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

I LOVED Jimenez's Happy Ever After Playlist, and I definitely wanted to read her most recent book when I heard about it. I had to wait for like 3 months at the library for the audiobook version of Part of Your World, but I was so excited when I finally got it. I got really into it and I loved both main characters. Daniel was clearly a better guy and I was rooting for him. Alexis was super snooty and kind of got obnoxious, but I liked how she developed as a character over the book and became more capable and more aware of her biases and problems. I was kind of annoyed about how she just kept insisting "our worlds don't fit! We can't stay together!" But she didn't explain anything or tell Daniel why it wouldn't work and it felt like a ton of unnecessary baggage that wasn't necessary. 

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

I feel like the main draw of this book was the setting of it being in the academic world of a STEM lab. I liked the romance here between the two characters, but I honestly COULD NOT handle some of the awkward scenes at the beginning of this fake-romance. There were numerous scenes I had to skip through--a few because of being too smutty, but more because they were so uncomfortable and unbelievable and I couldn't read them. Like where she somehow gets forced to apply sunscreen on her fake BF's bare back and chest? That would never happen! Or where her friend forces her to sit on his lap in a crowded auditorium during an academic lecture? What??? Honestly, I loved the main character, Olive, and her love interest, even though he basically had no major personality traits other than being dark and brooding and extremely buff. But I would have liked the book more if it hadn't been so beyond unbelievable for me. 

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

I needed a few super quick and easy romances this week as we led up to school starting, and I blazed through this one in just a few hours. I thought this was really cute, a romance about a screenwriter who falls in love with a A-list movie star. I liked how the story didn't follow the plotline that I expected--which was kind of the point, based on the title--and how Nora and we had to wait for the romance to fully come back together after getting broken apart. I thought it was a really fun read and I liked Nora's character and how she managed to handle things so well. 

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

I love, love Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy, but I hadn't ever read any of her other books. I wanted to read this one because I'd heard really good things about these books too, and it was available as an e-book at my library so I could check it out easily. Jenny Han is such a great romance writer and this was such a cute story with Belly and her family and her longtime family friends who she spends every summer with. I really liked a lot of the story and the flashbacks and how I got to know Belly (although I really didn't like that nickname), but I didn't feel super comfortable with the love triangle. It just feels a little weird and gross for her to like both brothers and for them both to like her. Plus I never like the bad guy character and I wanted her to like the other brother more. I just didn't really want to finish the trilogy because I didn't know how I wanted the romance to resolve and I didn't want it to resolve either way. But it was a super cute book and story. 

The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella

I've read plenty of Sophie Kinsella over the years--including all of the Shopaholic books long before I started keeping this blog--and she always has these characters that are just really zany and over the top with their own funny problems. The characters always get into the most ridiculous situations and this book was no exception--at one point Effie is hiding under the table while everyone else in her family is eating around her for hours. I always feel like so many problems in these books could be avoided by just normal adult conversations and communication--but it was still a fun book to read. It was good that it all ended up happy in the end. 

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

I have loved both of Emily Henry's previous books that she's written (Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation) and was super excited to hear about this new one that she wrote. I powered through this one super fast and loved the story about the hardcore literary agent and the book editor who have clashed in the past and end up falling in love in an unlikely location. Nothing super extraordinary to include about it but it was just the romance I needed.

99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne

After reading The Hating Game, I wanted to read another one of Sally Thorne's novels--I was definitely in the mood for more easy, fun romances. This one was a brother's best friend trope novel, and the guy is renovating the girl's house for her before they sell it, so they see each other all the time and get stuck working together and eventually admit their mutual love for each other. Super classic and easy to read and enjoyable.