Today is Friday and I’m here again with the next letter of the ABC Book Challenge!
MEMORABLE TITLES THAT START WITH THE LETTER “V”
BOOKS STARTING WITH “V” ON MY TBR
The ABC Book Challenge | V
Tag: adult contemporary
REVIEW: Love Her or Lose Her – Tessa Bailey
Title: Love Her or Lose Her (Hot & Hammered #2)
Author: Tessa Bailey
Rating: ★★★½
What is this book about? Love Her or Lose Her is about second-chance romance and falling in love all over again with your spouse. The story focuses on Rosie and Dominic, who we were introduced to in Fix Her Up, and the desperate attempts they make to save their crumbling marriage.
What did I like? My favorite part of Love Her or Lose Her is the hopeful message. Contemporary romances featuring characters trying to save their marriage and falling in love again with their spouses are such a sweet spot for me. I loved watching Rosie and Dominic “relearn” each other’s love language and figure out how to better communicate and what needed to be changed in order to grow together and fix their marriage.
What didn’t I like? I didn’t end up loving this one as much as Fix her Up, and I think it’s because I struggled with Dominic’s character. I understand that he’s not meant to be a touchy-feely talkative guy, but I feel like 99% of the problems could have been solved quicker and with less heartbreak had he just talked to Rosie. There were also moments where he was very overbearing towards Rosie.
Overall thoughts: An enjoyable contemporary romance about second chance romance and going to the extreme to save your marriage, but it didn’t wow me as much as Fix Her Up.
REVIEW: Red, White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston
Title: Red, White & Royal Blue
Author: Casey McQuiston
Rating: ★★★½
“The first slide says: SEXUAL EXPERIMENTATION WITH FOREIGN MONARCHS: A GRAY AREA. Alex wonders if it’s too late to swan dive off the roof.”
What is this book about? Red, White & Royal Blue is a warm, amusing story about self-discovery and an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance between Alex, the First Son of the United States, and Henry, the Prince of England.
What did I like? Who could help but love these characters? Alex and Henry were such soft, tender-hearted men and I felt giddy the entire time as their relationship and feelings unfolded between them. I also really enjoyed how funny the book is. It’s no secret I’m a big fan of rom-coms, and some of the one-liners in this book were absolute gold.
“How dare Henry come into Alex’s house looking like the goddamn James Bond offspring that he is, drink red wine with the prime minister, and act like he didn’t slip Alex the tongue and ghost him for a month.”
What didn’t I like? For whatever reason, this book seemed to really drag. I think it’s because at some parts of the book, the plot seemed to stall out which left me inpatient for it to get on with already. I also found some of the political aspects of the story to be unrealistic and overly-romanticised for the sake of the novel, which is fine-it’s fiction, but bothered me enough that I don’t think I enjoyed the overall story as fully because of it.
Overall thoughts: Red, White & Royal Blue is a heart-warming, romantic story about two young men coming to grips with who they are and who they want to be. As always, I absolutely loved the hate-to-love aspect of the story and Alex and Henry are such wonderful characters it’s hard not to root for them throughout the book.
The ABC Book Challenge | U
Happy New Year! I’m here again with the next letter of the ABC Book Challenge!
MEMORABLE TITLES THAT START WITH THE LETTER “U”
BOOKS STARTING WITH “U” ON MY TBR
REVIEW: Husband Material – Emily Belden (ARC)
Title: Husband Material
Author: Emily Belden
Rating: DNF @ 58%
ARC provided by the publisher through Netgalley.
Unfortunately, I had to call it quits shortly after the halfway mark. I skimmed quite a few parts from the remainder of the book, so I have a fairly good idea of what happens and I’m sorry to say that had I finished it, my final opinion would have been just as bad.
What is this book about? Husband Material follows our protagonist, Charlotte, a widow who lost her husband five years ago from a freak accident. She’s made a new life for herself in LA, however, a misfortunate event causes the ashes of her deceased husband to appear at her front door five years later, along with the reappearance of his best friend. Do not let the fact that this book keeps showing up under the romance genre; Husband Material is a not a feel-good, lighthearted romance novel. I sort of feel like I misled in that aspect? Instead, the story is about grief, secrets, and forgiveness.
What did I like? Charlotte was a pretty decent character. I really felt for her throughout the story and the incredible circumstances she’s had to overcome.
What didn’t I like? The first issue I had was the overly descriptive writing. There were so many unnecessary specifics and I felt like the author kept name-dropping expensive brands just for the sake of it. A lot of time in the book was spent describing every little detail of the book and characters; I don’t need to know the color, type, and label of the pajamas the character was wearing – just say she was in pajamas in move on!
The “love interest” – if you could even call him that – was terrible. There was absolutely zero chemistry between him and Charlotte and I could not for the life of me even figure out why she would be with him or even like him?? There were hardly any genuine moments of tension or buildup between the two of them to convince me of any kind of feelings. Not to mention that he is a thief and a liar and a terrible person!! The title of this book is ironic because he is most decidedly NOT husband material.
Overall thoughts: Husband Material has been marketed as a romance book and so I was expecting an entirely different kind of novel. Regardless, between the overly descriptive writing and the horrible “love interest” this was not something I wanted to continue to read and ended up quitting halfway.
