Review: The Summer Girl - Book #3 Avalon Bay Series - Elle Kennedy - July 2023 In an effort to clear my bookshelf of my physical copies as I counted at the start of the year and I had 412 books sitting there unread. It has been interesting though as to be completely honest, most of the physical books I have tried to read, they have been just so damn boring and blah and end up going straight into my "to donate" pile.  However, I knew that I would enjoy Elle Kennedy's book as she is an author whose every title I have loved and she is just easy to read. The other great thing was that even though was Book #3 of the Avalon Bay series, it could easily be read as a standalone and you don't need to have read the other two in order to get the gist of the story as I haven't yet and I still managed to enjoy and understand this book just fine. Cassie Soul is back in Avalon Bay for the Summer and staying with her grandmother who has just sold her business, the hotel that has ...

Review: This Summer Will Be Different - Carley Fortune - May 2024 One of my favorite Canadian authors is Carley Fortune, I love her books as they are based around Summer and the sunshine as well as the love that spans years. They are books that despite the characters not being able to be together, they finally can and they always get their HEA. This Summer will be Different and spans five years between best friends Bridget and Bee. Five years ago when the story begins, the friends headed to Bridget's family house on Prince Edward Island. Bee got there a few days earlier and was given Bridget - three rules and #3 on the list was Do Not Fall in Love with My Brother. While there on her first day, Bee meets a guy named Felix and they have a romantic night together only to discover later that Felix is Wolf - Bridget's brother. Over the next four years, the pair have this on/off relationship as they both decided that Bridget wouldn't be too happy and they both had their own lives...

Title: Uncaged Summer Author: Colet Abedi Genre: Chick Lit/Romantic Comedy Release Date: April 9, 2024 BL URB “Best new book to read.”— New York Post “... a wonderfully witty chronicle of awkward first dates, with Avalie slowly coming to understand what makes a relationship work, guided along the way by a supportive network of friends.... Abedi’s emotionally charged portrait of what it takes to heal from heartache resonates. It’s an uplifting ode to self-love.” — Publisher’s Weekly Newly heartbroken, a woman embarks on a glamorized summer of couch surfing to rediscover herself and learns that though life may not go according to plan, there is magic in the unexpected. Avalie Monfared has a theory about saying “I Do”—that the magic ends there. After thirteen years of magic-free marriage to her high school sweetheart, she’s discovered where it went: gambling and prostitutes. Now, Ava is on a quest to rediscover herself—and men. Her soul-searching finds her living on a succes...

Review: The Getaway List - Emma Lord - January 2024 Today was another nice day outside and so it meant, sitting on my outside porch swing and reading and when I get undisturbed reading time then that's the time, I love to get stuck into my Book Shoppe Book Boxes. I had 5 sitting on my pile and so I asked my partner to pick a number between 1-5 and he picked number #4 which happened to be Emma Lord's The Getaway List which was February's YA Book Box. After reading a mystery this morning, reading a sweet YA romance was right up my alley. In The Getaway List, we have Riley and Tom - best friends since childhood. In a world where most people their age would be going off to college, they are both stuck in the "what to do next stages". Riley decides on a whim to visit Tom in New York for the weekend and start the Getaway List they wrote before Tom moved away. What turns from a weekend ends up being the whole summer and with a few more friends chucked into the mix, their...

Review: Every Summer After - Carley Fortune - May 2022 Sitting on my bookshelf, I had the two books written by this author and decided to try her first one first - Every Summer After. I have to admit this was one lot of people have raved about and I was looking forward to it as I do love second-chance romances,  but when the big reveal was talked about why they broke up the first time - I felt a little disappointed as was like, seriously - this was the reason both your hearts broke and you disappeared from each other's lives for twelve years. Do you both think that high of yourselves? This book starts with our main female character Percy getting a phone call from Charlie Floreck to say their mum has died and he wants her to come back for the funeral. It has been twelve years since she and Sam broke up and it ruined them both, they haven't talked since and it still hurts her to this day - so much she has had panic attacks when she thinks too much about him. It was this reason, ...

Review: Blossoming Flower - Book #1 Wildflowers - Vivian Winslow - October 2015 Not having much luck with the books on my actual bookshelf, I went scrolling through my Kindle trying to find something to read and came across Blossoming Flower which had been sitting there for a few years. Again, with the majority of books on my kindle, I am going in blind with them as I have no idea what they are about - just the main gist is back when I got it originally there was something about it that had jumped out at me to read and purchase. Blossoming Flower by Vivian Winslow was a good read as we met Flor who is the daughter of a now-disgraced billionaire in Brazil. She has been living in the US and studying as she dreams of becoming a vet. When the school she was at suddenly closes down and she finds herself without any place to live and needing an idea for some money before she starts Smith University, Flor heads to a family friend Poppy Baron. Poppy has a strong connection to Flor's famil...

Synopsis: Caught in a Storm - Ali Marie - November 2022 Watch hill is a small sea town that only a few know about, celebrities love to escape too and full of townspeople that protect their own. Years after her moms death, Emelia is still trying to come to terms with the heavy loss. She recently has made peace with the fact that she will always be alone, with no one to love her. Because everyone she loves … leaves. Emelia goes about her days in her small town being the librarian and events planner. Being what anyone needs her to be, and that is as close as she allows herself to get to anyone anymore. Summer is about to kickoff off this shoreline and a new European celebrity is in town. A race car driver none the less, who finds himself immediately infatuated with Emelia. He is convinced fate has brought them together. Emelia however, is not looking for a summer love especially with the one and only playboy Lucas Stratton. Lucas has only ever dreamed of being at the top of h...

Two Boy Summer Melissa Chambers Publication date: July 19th 2022 Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult Two boys, one boardwalk, and her sweetest summer ever Jules Jarvis never asked to be a rags-to-riches cliché. Since moving from simple Sugarbush Island, Florida five years ago to elite Greenwich, Connecticut, she has done little but miss the life and the true friends she left behind, especially Adrian Ryker. With one touch of her knee against his, her then twelve-year-old heart was stolen and never returned. Now seventeen and headed back to Sugarbush for the summer, Jules hopes to reconnect with her old life by working at the candy apple stand on the boardwalk and reuniting with the friends she left behind, particularly Adrian. The only problem is she ghosted them all five years ago when seeing their pictures and posts became unbearable. Now she’s back and ready to eat a big ole crow sandwich with an extra-large side of groveling. It’ll be worth it to follow the hope o...

Just One Chance Lynn Stevens Publication date: January 25th 2021 Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance, Young Adult One summer. One last chance. Miranda Reynolds hasn’t had a good year. Her obsession with Eddie Blake pushed her over the edge last summer, and she’s been working toward straightening her life out since. When Aiden King shows her more than a passing interest, Miranda hesitates. Aiden is smart, funny, and loyal. Not to mention gorgeous. Despite her reservations about dating her best friend’s brother, Miranda agrees to go out with him. But she can’t stay away from Eddie. With her world shifting, a family disaster turns her life upside down. Determined to change perceptions, Miranda sets out to prove that she’s more than what she’s been labeled. If only she could believe it herself. Add to Goodreads / Pre-order Author Bio: Lynn Stevens flunked out of college writing her first novel. Yes, she still has it and no, you can't read it. Surprisingly, ...

The Flame Must Burn Beena Khan (Red, #0.5) Publication date: September 22nd 2020 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance The hottest summer brings the first flames of love. Love is dangerous. It collides with culture, and culture is defied with rebellion. She promised herself to me. Ryder is the small town’s local college boy. It’s summertime, and he’s at the beach when he sees a young, college girl. Their eyes lock together. Intrigued by her, he wants to approach her but she quickly disappears. Disappointed he returns home, but he sees her the next day in his summer class. Good girls don’t fall in love. They only obey. From a traditional Middle Eastern family, Cyrah is a young foreign-exchange student. She’s studying abroad in a summer program of the small-town. Intimidated by her beauty, Ryder begins writing love letters to her. She is flattered but tries to steer clear from him. But then an incident happens that draws these two star-crossed lovers together. Slowl...