Category: Romance

‘Kiss My Cupcake’ – Helena Hunting

A romance to devour, and savour every moment of…

Blaire comes from a wealthy family of restaurant owners, but she has a dream of running her own business and making it successful on her own terms. Our first encounter with her is as she prepares to open her cupcake and cocktails shop. Things are looking good, but she’d not reckoned on Roman Knight who’s helping out his grandad by renovating the sports bar next door and installing some rather loud attractions.

First meeting between the two is explosive. They’re immediately wound up by each other, which we assume is the start of a great relationship eventually. Everyone around them can see where it’s going, but we have to go through the inevitable misunderstandings and problems first.

While it’s all quite transparent, the main characters are ones you can’t help but fall in love with. They’re far more alike than they want to let on, and the cast of surrounding characters also make for some amusing episodes.

From the off it was pretty obvious where we’d end up but every moment of this journey was great fun, and I’m so pleased that I was able to get my hands on this prior to publication.

‘Fame, Fate and the First Kiss’ – Kasie West

This time round we’re focusing on Lacey, who was a minor part of book one, and her role in a major movie. It’s a zombie horror movie, full of gore, and Lacey’s co-star is Hollywood heart-throb Grant who’s determined to reconnect with fans after some big budget movies haven’t gone as well as hoped.

Initially, Lacey came across as a little ruder and more insensitive than she did in book one. She was rude to her dad and doubted everything she was doing. Thankfully it was clear this was nerves about making a success of something important to her, so she never reached the stage of being too irritating.

Alongside the filming and mystery of who’s sabotaging her work, and why, we have a relationship with the cute boy who’s asked to tutor her.

It’s Kasie West so there’s few surprises. We get some tension, the characters have their ups and downs but it all gets resolved by the end and it’s a light-hearted read.

 

‘Faking Normal’ – Courtney C. Stevens

To a certain extent we all fake normal, but for those living with extreme situations it can become ingrained. From the moment we meet Lexi we know she’s struggling with something, something she can’t yet put a name to, but the signs are there and from the things she reveals it’s clear it’s serious. But nobody around her sees it…or, if they are picking up on the clues, they’re not pushing to learn the truth.

As Lexi manoeuvres her way through school she’s maintaining good grades and things seem, superficially, fine. But nobody knows that she can’t sleep at night, hides in her closet and self-harms as a way of trying to get through the pain of her experience.

This could have been a book like countless others, but alongside Lexi’s story we have Bodee. He starts as a rather nondescript character, given the nickname the Kool Aid kid, and all we know is he’s coming to live with Lexi after an incident involving his parents. Over time we learn more, and he quickly becomes the more interesting of the two – though because it’s Lexi’s story we never go quite as deep into the character as we could have.

What was at the heart of this book though was the developing friendship between these two, and the way they supported each other to begin to take the steps needed to begin their healing process.

Little clues were dropped initially about the identity of Lexi’s attacker. I had my suspicions, and once this was confirmed then it does make a lot more sense of some of the stuff we’ve seen. As in reality, we don’t see the full resolution but it was nice to know she was on her way.

‘The Voting Booth’ – Brandy Colbert

For anyone who has an interest in politics, social injustice and who also can’t help but get invested in a good old-fashioned romance. Voting Booth offers some serious messages, while also delivering a love story in the making.

Our main characters are two first-time voters, Marva and Duke. They’ve never met, but both come from families with a healthy interest in politics. When they turn up at the polling station for their first time voting everything could have gone smoothly and they’d have left never having exchanged words. But where would the fun be in that?

Marva’s voting experience goes without a hitch, but Duke isn’t registered to vote. Realising he pre-registered at his dad’s address he thinks it’s a straightforward matter of getting to the new polling station and turning in his vote. At that moment we know the gods are conspiring against him as his car won’t start. Marva, desperate to ensure he votes and does his bit, offers to drive him.

What follows has to go down as the weirdest of days. Marva and Duke end up searching for a missing cat, organising transport for other voters who can’t access their right, one gets dumped, they both sort out some of the issues they’ve been hanging onto and one plays a gig. Both succeed in voting (eventually) and there’s even the strong hints of them starting a relationship.

I found the interaction between these two very natural. Their passion for politics and their ability to make a difference was infectious, and though I was carried along with their relationship it was impossible to ignore the focus on pressing social issues and attitudes to race.

I really hope people find their way to this book and enjoy it as much as I did.

 

‘Midnight Sun’ – Stephanie Meyer

Twilight from Edward’s view…yes, at the time, I read the leaked version that made its way on-line and, yes, at the time I thought it seemed a little pointless. When this project seemed to be shelved, life went on and I didn’t think of it again…until we got the news it was releasing this summer. No matter what I thought of it, I knew I’d read this because it counted as unfinished business and my curiosity would win out.

The first thing to make clear is, as so many point out, this is over-the-top, riddled with cringe-worthy similes and there’s still very little to make Bella a particularly endearing character. I have to say I expected this. The second thing to comment on is the story is the same. We know what’s going to happen and it really is a step-by-step rehash of the story we already know, so there’s little added for us. Again, no surprises.

What we did get with this story from Edward’s view was an attempt to poke beneath the surface of what still seems a very odd and unhealthy relationship. I actually found myself liking some of the big scenes coming from this perspective – things were fleshed out and it was easy to see why events were organised as they were. Learning a little more about the Cullens and their backgrounds was good. Some will kill me for saying it, but I also liked the fact there was surprisingly little focus on Jacob and the wolves. My only concern now is the somewhat cynical fear that we’re now going to get another book…this time telling us Jacob’s story. I truly hope not, as I feel this would be too much and definitely exploiting all those readers (myself included) who probably could have done without this but who read it for the nostalgia fix.

 

‘Love, Life and the List’ – Kasie West

Love, Life and the List is a YA contemporary that delivers exactly what it says it will.

The story is pretty straightforward. Abby wants to paint. She thinks she has talent, and wants to get a place on an art workshop. She also has a huge crush on her best friend, Cooper. She told him about it and was rebuffed, so has spent the last year pretending she was joking. They pretty much do everything together and it sounds like the kind of situation that could have drifted on and on.
Naturally, they need a bit of a kick in the right direction.

This comes when Abby’s boss tells her he won’t let her show her artwork because it lacks heart. Determined to work out what she should be doing differently, Abby starts off a summer of challenges. Each of these challenges is meant to show her the way forward, and help her to find something to inject some heart into her artwork.

From the outset we assume this will only go one way. There’s a few proverbial spanners in the work, but it’s all done in a very light-hearted way so you never feel like anyone is going to have their life destroyed.

Abby needs to learn a few things about herself in order to get to the right place for things to move forward. Those around her also have to change a few things…

 

‘Boyfriend Material’ – Alexis Hall

Boyfriend Material was just what I needed right now…funny, a bit silly, romance in dollops (and not always where you’d expect it) and that feeling that things would work out just the way you knew they would even if there were bumps along the way.

Our story has two rather misguided souls as our central characters. Luc – son of two ex-rock stars, and who has a tendency to disgrace himself in public – and Oliver – lawyer who’s determined to keep control of everything around him. These two have met before, and not got on particularly well. But they are thrown together when Luc needs a ‘respectable’ date for a work event. Oliver agrees to be his fake boyfriend…so it’s just a matter of time before they end up together for real.

A bit like a rather over-the-top TV sitcom, there were somewhat excruciating jokes and some cliched characters. There were scenes where you could pretty accurately predict what was coming, almost down to the jokes. I didn’t particularly like the representation of the wealthy characters (too many cheap shots at something they seemed to have little awareness of), but the lurking irritations were very much on the outskirts of the central story.

Luc and Oliver might be infuriating in real life, but they seemed to bring out the best in each other and I was definitely rooting for them. Don’t expect anything unexpected here and you’ll be happy.

 

‘More Than Maybe’ – Erin Hahn

A love story written by someone who I imagine is obsessed with matching moments to music, this is a contemporary that deserves to be fallen in love with.

Our main characters are Luke Greenly, son of a rather famous British punk musician, and Vada Carsewell, daughter to an ex-musician and determined to follow her dreams of being a music journalist. Luke, along with his twin Callum, hosts a regular podcast and Vada is desperately trying to help keep her boss’s bar afloat (not least because it forms a major part of her plans). It could only be this way, but each harbours a secret crush…on each other…so we get to watch as they get thrown together for a college assignment and then start to develop their relationship.

Alongside the love story between these two, we get a lot of attention on their family set-ups as they’re instrumental to the choices these two make. Some of the characters are more appealing than others, but the general vibe is a positive one that you can’t help but smile at. I defy anyone not to be full of love, rainbows and sparkly unicorns (or whatever else signifies happiness to you) by the closing moments.

What made this book stand out for me though was the obvious love of music and the significance it can hold for us as we go about our business. Huge thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this before publication, and now I need to go and dig out some old music!

‘The Extraordinaries’ – T.J. Klune

The Extraordinaries has a rather unusual take on the super-hero story and I wasn’t totally sure whether we were meant to see this as genuine fantasy, fan-fiction comedy, or some weird hybrid. Elements of this were very funny, the hints of what’s to come in the bigger picture are definitely interesting but there’s a few elements that I feel will make this problematic.
Our main character is Nick Bell, son of a local cop. Nick has ADHD and is struggling since the killing of his mother. He has a close group of friends that he claims are the school outcasts, though their bond is close enough they don’t seem to take much notice of this. His ex, Owen, still hangs around and pushes his buttons – but seems very keen to see how Nick’s best friend Seth reacts. Nick keeps himself occupied by writing fan fiction about his crush on the superhero Shadow Star.
From the outset we see how important the superhero is to Nick. He ends up rescued by him, but then there’s the small matter of Power Storm, his nemesis. We don’t know quite what’s going on (although it doesn’t take long to figure some parts out) but the rapidly escalating violence between these two starts to cause problems.
The focus on Nick means we are, naturally, kept a little in the dark about some aspects of the world-building and events taking place. As Nick learns, so do we. Watching him bounce round causing chaos was funny, but not particularly helpful at times. However, once we get further details of the role certain characters play it certainly offered more interest- don’t want to give anything away, but the revelations about Nick’s mum right at the end certainly imply there’s more to this than we’ve got here.
Unfortunately, the humour and general lighthearted focus was marred by some of the details given and the characters’ reactions. As the son of a cop, Nick gets away with a lot. In light of current affairs and concern about police behaviour, to have him joking about such affairs seems in bad taste. We find out his dad was demoted after punching someone involved in a case. Few details are given, but it adds nothing to this story and seemed a poor decision to feature when so much is being talked about with regard to the behaviour of those in charge of maintaining law and order. I’ve seen a couple of reviews where this feature was picked up on and vociferously decried, so it’ll be interesting to see whether attention is paid to these advance reviews and whether any changes are made prior to publication.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for my thoughts.

 

‘The Switch’ – Beth O’Leary

Two remarkably similar characters, a generation apart, but it takes quite a shift in circumstances for them to learn a little about themselves in this unapologetically heart-warming book.

Our focus is the Cotton family. It’s almost a year since Leena’s sister died of cancer. Since then she’s withdrawn from her family and thrown herself into her work. When we meet Leena she’s clearly experiencing extreme stress – and is horrified when her boss offers her paid leave for two months.

Many people might wallow at home for a bit then go on holiday. Leena takes herself off to Yorkshire to visit her grandmother, Eileen, and it’s at this point they come up with the madcap idea to switch lives.

What follows is highly obvious, and nothing happens very quickly, but it’s infectiously positive and I ended it feeling as if everyone involved in this large cast of characters had experienced their own personal journey. Nothing earth-shattering here, but good-humoured and it did (in a light-hearted way) try to examine some hard-to-hear issues. I defy anyone not to fall in love with Eileen!