Tag: Romance

Reviews

You and Me on Vacation Review

by amyleighreads2 Comments on You and Me on Vacation Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together. Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

I really loved Poppy as our main protagonist. She is very self aware which I enjoy and most of what she is feeling and going through is so very relatable. Absolutely loving your family and their quirks and being so quick to defend them against anyone but still also being mildly embarrassed of them and then being ashamed you feel embarrassed. I think every teenager/young adult has felt these emotions and it just felt so realistic that this is highlighted as we look back. The fact that she is kind of going through a quarter life crisis after accomplishing all her goals is also very relatable and definitely made me develop more of a connection to her character.

We don’t learn as much about Alex as I would of liked to. Had this been a dual perspective and we see the war raging inside his mind about keeping Poppy at arms length as a friend instead of crossing that boundary would of been nice to have. He is very standoffish and aloof but I really enjoy the fun, witty side that comes out of him almost reflexively when he is with Poppy.

The whole premise of the book was highly engaging and very juicy! I loved the countdown to that fateful summer in Croatia and the fallout that ensues and how we see the two of them try to mend that bridge and gain some semblance of their previous friendship. From the outside it is soooo obvious that these two are soul mates but I loved seeing them having to come to that conclusion on their own!

⭐️5/5 stars I absolutely loved this book!

Reviews

Happy Place Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Happy Place Review

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t. They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts.

I hate miscommunication as the main barrier in a romance book which was what this was all about. Had Wyn and Harriet simply sat down and had an open and honest conversation with each other instead of just trying to make the other person ‘happy’ this book would of been maybe 10 pages instead of 400.

Harriet should of just told her friends when it happened. I understand how embarrassing it is and how much this was going to change the dynamic of their friend group but this is a pretty huge life event and these girls are supposed to be your family.

The fact that Wyn thought it was ok to just end their relationship over text and then be confused as to why Harriet doesn’t want to speak to him and is angry that he showed up grated me. The way he just felt so entitled to pull that stunt despite not speaking to Harriet in 6 months and without giving her a heads up was when I knew I probably wasn’t going to like this book very much.

The present timeline with all the friends at the Maine cottage was fun. I enjoyed learning about their friendships and how they are came to be so close. All of the side characters were easy to distinguish and were quite multifaceted. I liked the fact that you could feel tension between them all and they weren’t just one sided, though again this is all because they stopped communicating with each other.

⭐️2/5 stars The amount of times they keep asking each other if they’re happy really got on my nerves!

Reviews

Secretly Yours Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Secretly Yours Review

Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family’s winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small town. When Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she’ll finally get that smooch. But the grumpy professor isn’t the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls’ night later, Hallie can’t shake the sense that she did something reckless–and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit.

Hallie’s character I didn’t really gel with. She’s supposedly 27/28 years old and she honestly acts as if she is 20-22. Running around town, getting drunk and vandalizing businesses whilst being very cavalier in her own business ( showing up whenever she wants). I understand she is still mourning her grandmother but I don’t think that’s an excuse to throw away all sense of composure and decency. I feel like she needs to grow up and maybe book that appointment with her therapist she keeps putting off and start to heal properly.

Julian I didn’t really like all that much as well. He is very standoffish and he also knows he has a lot of issues that he kept pent up and won’t get any kind of help for it. For the most part he is quite comfortable sticking to his routines and burying all of those emotions further and further down until the inevitable break down. Also in the smutty scenes where he whips out all of this dirty talk was very jarring and kind of pulled me out of the story.

I did however, really enjoy the setting and premise of the plotline. If these character were a bit more memorable and slightly more mature maybe it would of worked a bit better for me. I kept waiting for twists and conflicts and passion but overall it was just a bit weak.

⭐️2/5 stars I felt unfulfilled

Book Lists

5 Romance Books I want To Read in 2023 Update

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on 5 Romance Books I want To Read in 2023 Update

Back in February I picked 5 romance books that are high on my TBR that I wanted to try to prioritize and actually read! And so far this year I’ve read three of the five so I figured this was a good chance to do a little recap of the five and give my thoughts on the ones I’ve completed so far.

Happy Place by Emily Henry – Overall this was ok. I just couldn’t get over the fact that if these two would of communicated when they were going through their rough patch in San Francisco then all of the drama wouldn’t of happened. Both of them didn’t want to burden the other and they just kept kept this false sense of happiness to keep the status quo. There was definitely some cute and semi-steamy moments, but I don’t think second chance romances are for me. ⭐️3/5 stars

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood – I really like this, I thought the premise was fun and the stakes weren’t too high. I wanted Olive to have a little more confidence in herself and stand up for herself a bit more. I liked the banter between out two main protagonists and learning about Adam more thoroughly and finding out there’s more to him than meets the eye was very cute. ⭐️4/5 stars

Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola – This was amazing! I loved all of the characters, they each felt unique and distinct and had a purpose within the plot. There was a lot of social commentary and the plot as a whole felt realistic and wasn’t forced. I loved Kiki’s attitude and the way that Malakai wormed his way into her heart was so endearing and gave me all the feels! ⭐️5/5 stars

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Reviews

The Spanish Love Deception Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on The Spanish Love Deception Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiraled out of control. Now everyone she knows—including her ex and his fiancée—will be there and eager to meet him. She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool. Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.

Catalina was kind of a forgettable character. There was nothing really about her other than her culture that set her apart from every other female romance protagonist out there. She kind of got on my nerves how much she didn’t communicate her feelings to Aaron and projected her fears from her past experience onto this current one. She should of definitely called out her ex and how his inaction over her torment affected her a lot sooner and should of realised that Aaron wouldn’t of let that happen to her again.

The way Aaron was introduced into the story was very abrupt and strange. We are essentially told all about the horrible things he’s done in the past towards her but we only see the Aaron who is obviously infatuated by her. We don’t see a lot of him the the weeks leading up to Spain and then it’s like once they hit those foreign shores all his doubts fade away and he’s this ‘casanova’. It does come across a little strong yet it was very romantic and cute, in no way realistic though.

I think that’s kind of what put me off this book in the end (other than the obvious sexism that is demonstrated multiple times in her company that is never called out by any male colleagues) the development of the relationship just felt so rushed and unrealistic. The very long winded monologue of how much she loves and adores him felt very cringey to me and I couldn’t come back from that.

⭐️2/5 stars Just a no for me!