The E.M.M.A. Effect

The E.M.M.A. Effect
by Lia Riley

Avoid! 

Rating: 1/5

Go Luck Yourself

Go Luck Yourself

by Sara Raasch

 

A satisfactory and fun sequel to Nightmare Before Kissmas.

 

Tell Me Three Things

Tell Me Three Things

by Julie Buxbaum

10 Things I Hate About Prom

10 Things I Hate About Prom

by Elle Gonzalez Rose

The Comeback

The Comeback

by Lily Chu

 

Ariadne "Ari" Hui is a Chinese Canadian working her way up the ladder at a prestigious law firm that her dad helped her get into. She's devoted to her job and works constantly to get ahead. But two things suddenly get in her way. First, her clientele are reassigned to the new caucasian associate who was literally just hired. Second, her roommate's cousin, Jihoon, comes to stay at their apartment after a "breakup" and Ari starts to fall in love. 

Hopes of becoming more than friends get dashed when she finds out that he's an "idol". He's one member of a worldwide phenomenon K-pop group and people have figured out where he's been hiding. 

Now Ari has to choose what is more important to her: her life in law and her reputation or her possible future with one of the members of Starlune and all of the baggage and fame that comes with it.

Final thoughts: Too much tell with not enough show. No real chemistry between Ari and Jihoon. And it feels like she's being very honest with her reservations, while he never listens but blames her for running.

Rating: 2/5

Not Your Ex's Hexes

Not Your Ex's Hexes

by April Asher

TL;DL - Enemies to lovers trope romance with some good moments but inconsistent writing and characterization.

Rating: 3/5

The Neighbor Favor

The Neighbor Favor

by Kristina Forest

TL;DL - Cute BIPOC romance with some hidden identities and secrets. Decent read.

Rating: 3/5

 

Bookish and the Beast

Bookish and the Beast

by Ashley Poston

 

TL;DL Retelling of Beauty and the Beast filled with references to books and movies of the past. Tropes are poorly used and characters aren't realistic.

A Thousand Heartbeats

A Thousand Heartbeats

by Kiera Cass

TL;DL - Enemies to lovers romance with some decent moments but too much telling instead of showing and some major logistics/consistency errors with time and travel.

Rating: 3/5

The Do-Over

The Do-Over

by Lynn Painter

It's February 14th and Emilie is determined to have the absolute best Valentine's Day ever. It's the 3-month anniversary of dating her perfect boyfriend and he's perfect because he literally checks off all the items on her "perfect boyfriend" list. It's time to tell him the L-word.

Things start off a little awkwardly at home, but she won't let it worry her. She drives to school, gets distracted, gets in an accident, and is forced to accept a ride in the truck of the guy she hit.

But she's still going to make this day work.

Then her scholarship is revoked due to a mathematical error. She has to deal with the school mean girls. And her perfect boyfriend kisses his ex in the parking lot. 

Day ruined.

To make it all much worse, she gets home after school to find out that her dad, stepmom, and half-brothers will be moving to Texas and leaving her behind. 

So she goes to her grandma's house to cry and sleep only to wake up in her bed at her dad's house and it's all starting again. It's her own personal Groundhog Day.

Through the many repeated Valentine's Days, Emilie learns more about herself, the people around her and about the boy whose truck she kept crashing into. 

Nick is nothing like she thought and everything that she might need.

Final thoughts: Total cotton-candy book with fluff and strangeness. The only fully built characters are Emilie and Nick; the rest of the characters are one-day only versions of themselves with no real depth. Nick is awesome and there is some chemistry between him and Em. 

Rating: 3.5/5

Not Here to Stay Friends

 

Not Here to Stay Friends

by Kaitlyn Hill

Sloane and Liam have been BFFs since their early childhood but they were physically separated after Liam's parents got divorced and he was forced to move from Tennessee to Los Angeles. Even with the miles between them, they have still been super close. They talk/text/Facetime daily and live for the teen soap, The Cove.

Five years after their physical separation, Sloane is invited to spend the summer with Liam and his dad in Los Angeles and she has plans to do the whole touristy thing while there.

When Liam picks her up from the airport, they both realize the difference that five years can make on their besties. While trying to adjust to their new realities in that sense, they must also adjust to the fact that Liam has been roped into working as a production assistant (PA) for a reality show based on The Cove.

What's worse is that one of the girls scheduled to be one of the dates on this reality show has dropped out and Liam's dad bribes Sloane to be the replacement.

Now Liam and Sloane must not only deal with their own changing views of each other, but also with the fact that Sloane seems to be the one person that star Aspen Woods wants to see win at the end. 

Final thoughts: There are some cute moments here and it's full of tropes but it doesn't always come together well. The thoughts of the characters end up being repeated on a loop as if the author has almost copy/pasted them and then changed the order of the sentences. Some of the ideas are good but they never come off as great.

Rating: 3/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Mr Perfect on Paper

Mr. Perfect on Paper

by Jean Meltzer

Dara Rabinowitz is a third generation matchmaker with a 21st century app that makes matchmaking an algorithm to be solved instead of gut feeling to be followed. Years of coding and spreadsheets has convinced her that marriage can be formulaic and romance isn't necessary.

Chris Steadfast lost his wife two years before and has been trying to keep things going for himself and his preteen daughter ever since. With his daily show about to get cancelled, he's looking for a miracle to keep things going.

When Dara and her grandmother come to the studio at the start of the High Holidays to promote her app "J-Mate" and celebrate her grandmother's near 90 years on this earth, the miracle Chris is looking for seems to happen, though Dara's not so happy about it. Grandmother Miriam announces to the audience and the cameras that Dara has a list for her perfect husband (written during a drunken rant with her sister a few weeks before) and then proceeds to read it on air. A simple short segment goes viral and Chris decides that he's going to use this to save his program.

With Dara's agreement, Chris sets up blind dates for her for each of the High Holidays with men who meet the requirements of Mr. Perfect. Each date starts well and then ends in disaster. And with each date, Chris sees more and more that he'd much rather be dating Dara than setting her up.

But when Mr. Perfect on Paper shows up one day, will Chris be able to show Dara that her list is wrong?

Final thoughts: This is a checkbox romance with the author ticking off her list as she goes. It just doesn't feel organic. There are a few scenes where it seems Meltzer was having fun, but the rest was just her ticking off item after item on her rom-com must-haves list. It felt like she's pitching a story to Hallmark instead of writing a fun romance.

Rating: 2/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Not the Witch You Wed

Not the Witch You Wed

by April Asher

 

Violet Maxwell is the "Maxwell Dud". She's the first born of triplets in a magical family but she seems to have no magic. She's grown up to be pretty ok with this but it has affected her prospects within the supernatural community. Though she's supposedly magicless, she is still being told she must marry a supe by a certain point due to an archaic tradition.

Lincoln Thorne is the Alpha of the North American Pack and he has his own bonding deadline coming up. If he doesn't bond by his thirty-third birthday, he will have to withdraw as Alpha and also as being a member of the Council.

Violet and Lincoln have a rocky history, but they have a common goal. They need to get their respective supes off their backs and a fake dating arrangement would be just the thing. 

Unfortunately, Lincoln betrayed Violet years before so faking it may not lead to making it. 

Final thoughts: Completely formulaic and full of all the romance tropes that are out there, but still a fun ride. This is cotton candy from start to finish. The author seems to be having some fun with this and does a pretty good job working with the formula and tropes. Read it with the cotton candy mindset and you should have some fun.

Rating: 4/5

Go Hex Yourself

Go Hex Yourself

by Jessica Clare

When Reggie Johnson responds to an ad to be the assistant to a Spellcaster, she assumes that the person in question is someone who works for the company that creates and publishes her favorite card game. What shes doesn't know is that spellcasters are real and she has managed to find an enchanted ad that lead her to this dotty old woman and her grumpy nephew.

Now Reggie must start believing in witchcraft and curses while learning to be the familiar of one of the most renowned witches to have lived. The grumpy nephew isn't happy with her being there but Reggie will convince him, ignore him, or both.

However, when a mysterious curse hits the family, all thoughts of not working together go out the window because only together can they solve the mystery and get that dotty old woman back on her feet.

Final thoughts: Cute book with a nice progression in the relationship between Reggie and Ben. Some of the other parts of the book have issues that were not resolved well, but I always like a book that shows instead of tells when it comes to romance.

Rating: 3/5

Warning: this is NOT a kids' book

How to Date a Superhero

How to Date a Superhero
(and not die trying)

by Christina Fernandez

Astrid is in her sophomore year of college working on her premed courses to someday become a doctor. It's not that she really wants to be a doctor but more that she feels she needs to really do something with her life after she almost died in high school when a supervillain attacked her school bus. 

Yup. That's right. Supervillain. In this alternate universe New York, superheroes and villains are everywhere and just a part of life.

When Astrid is kidnapped by a villain from her dorm room, Kid Comet saves her from a fate worse than death and just admits that he's really Max Martin, her boyfriend and the clumsy guy she's known since high school.

Now Astrid must add in to her very busy schedule time for The Program, which is designed to teach the significant others of superheroes how to survive all things that may happen to them when (not if) they are kidnapped.

If she can't find some balance in her life, Astrid may not survive college let alone the murderous rage of a supervillain intent on revenge.

Final thoughts: The idea of this alternate universe is cool. I would love to see how people who are in the world of the Avengers deal with all of the new complications in life. Unfortunately, this story is more about Astrid's personal issues dealing with time, planning, and over-scheduling. Some interesting ideas but just not enough world building for me.

Rating: 3/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I Speak Boy

I Speak Boy 

by Jessica Brody

After Emmy messes up a "meet cute" setup that she was making for her best friend and a boy at school, she ends up dunked in the dirty water of the "Enchanted Lagoon" at their school's first-ever carnival. Desperate to keep her phone from becoming permanently drowned, she drops it into a bag of expired rice. 

While waiting for her phone to recover, Emmy thinks over the disastrous night and wishes that she could understand the alien language of boys. 

Wish granted.

Once the phone is up an running, Emmy's translator app on her phone suddenly is no longer just "iSpeak" but "iSpeak Boy". Now everything that males of the species say, write, and draw can be translated in this handy little app, making Emmy the "Love Coordinator" of her middle school. She's helping girls figure out the boys they like and she's getting popular as she does it.

But not everyone likes what Emmy is doing and not everyone who likes what she is doing can be trusted.

Final thoughts: Modern day middle school retelling of Jane Austen's Emma. This is written for upper elementary and middle school students so that should be considered, but it really is cute and fun. 

Rating: 4/5

Untouchables

Untouchables

by Ivy Smoak

 

Wolf Girl Series

 

Wolf Girl

 

Lost Girl

 

Alpha Girl

Mated Girl

all by Leia Stone

Five Ways to Fall Out of Love

 

Five Ways to Fall Out of Love

by Emily Martin

Aubrey Chase is a pessimist who thinks of herself as a realist. Based on her parents' dying marriage, Aubrey believes that there's not much point to love since all she sees is breakups and fighting.

Across the street lives Webster. Just when Aubrey was ready to give love a try, Webster stands her up for Homecoming and then embarrasses her in front of the school. Over a year later and they still wage a daily battle to tick the other one off. 

But there's still a little something there. 

There's also Webster's cousin who might be able to show Aubrey that love can be more than the end of the relationship; it can be the beginning, too.

Now there's a triangle and Aubrey is more confused about relationships than ever.

Final Thoughts: I was not a fan of this one. The characters were pretty flat and the story just didn't flow well. I finished the book but not with the satisfaction of reading a good story. 

Rating: 2/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Of Curses and Kisses

 Of Curses and Kisses

by Sandhya Menon

Jaya Rao has been raised to put family reputation above all things. When her family name is put in jeopardy, she moves with her sister to a boarding school in Colorado to help the rumors die down and keep her sister's reputation safe.

Grey Emerson has been raised to believe in a curse put on his family generations before. He has been taught that he will be the last of his name and his father has pretty much abandoned him to that boarding school in Colorado since he was able to start school.

Now the two of them will meet. Jaya will need to decide if reputation is everything, while Grey will need to decide if he will be ruled by the curse or by his heart.

Final thoughts: Ok book. Not a super attention-grabber, but it's solid in the writing and the main characters are decent. 

Rating: 3/5