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Donut Fall In Love

TW: loss of a parent

A rom-com involving donuts? Count me in!

Ryan Kwok is a movie star who just moved back to Toronto to help his father and sister following the unexpected death of his mother. Lindsay McLeod is the co-owner of Kensington Bake Shop, where she makes delicious confections. Ryan and Lindsay meet when Ryan walks into Kensington Bake Shop, drawn by a memory of his mother. While lost in the memory, Ryan steps into the bake shop and knocks into Lindsay who was been carrying a batch of her newest creation: matcha tiramisu donuts. Lindsay has no idea who Ryan is but she’s pissed that two dozen of her donuts are now lying on the floor. Needless to say, Ryan and Lindsay don’t exactly start out on the right foot.

When Ryan gets asked to be a participant on the celebrity version of Baking Fail, he enlists Lindsay’s help to teach him the basics of baking. After a little bit of persuading, Lindsay agrees. As Lindsay and Ryan spend more time together their attraction for each other grows, but Lindsay must decide whether she’s able to deal with Ryan’s life in the spotlight.

This was a sweet book, pun totally intended, but it also explored a lot of heavy topics including coping with the loss of a parent, navigating complex family dynamics, postpartum depression, and dealing with racial stereotypes in the film industry as an Asian-American actor. I honestly was not expecting the book to get that deep just based on the cute cover and my cursory reading of the synopsis, but the fact that these topics were explored, or at least touched upon, made the story more well-rounded and realistic. It was a bit of a slow burn, but it was worth it in the end (as you can tell from the thread count rating below)!

THREAD COUNT RATING: 800

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Mr. Wrong Number

This was a super cute book and I completely devoured it within 24 hours. If you’re looking for something fun, flirty, and on the lighter side, pick this one up! With the weather warming up and pool days in the not too distant future, this would make for the perfect pool-side reading material.

Olivia Marshall has just moved back to Omaha after enduring a rough turn of events in Chicago. While she’s working on sorting out her life, she’s crashing at her brother Jack’s apartment. Jack just so happens to also have a roommate and that roommate is none other than Colin Beck. Colin and Jack have been friends forever, which means Olivia has also know Colin for most of her life and the two of them are not exactly friendly with each other.

On Olivia’s first night back in town she gets a text from a wrong number asking what she’s wearing. Rather than ending the conversation once Mr. Wrong Number realizes that he texted the wrong person, Mr. Wrong Number and Miss Misdial keep the conversation going and develop a genuine connection. In case you haven’t guessed it already, Mr. Wrong Number turns out to be Colin and when he discovers that Miss Misdial is actually Olivia he decides the only thing to do is ghost her.

Olivia is pretty disappointed when Mr. Wrong Number just stops texting her back all of a sudden and she doesn’t know what she did wrong. She misses her anonymous friend but as more time passes she notices that void being filled by a budding relationship with Colin. But what happens when she finds out that Colin is actually Mr. Wrong Number and he knew she was Miss Misdial?

This book is the epitome of a romantic comedy filled with the tried and true tropes of enemies to lovers and brother’s best friend. It has some deliciously steamy scenes but nothing too explicit. I honestly can’t recommend this book enough!

THREAD COUNT RATING: 600

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Hook, Line, and Sinker

This book honestly exceeded my expectations, which is saying a lot because I had been looking forward to it for months! I didn’t think it was possible but it was actually better than It Happened One Summer, and you guys know how much I enjoyed that one! If you haven’t already, check out my blog post about it here.

Hannah and Fox’s chemistry was apparent from their first encounter in It Happened One Summer but we really get to see the evolution of their relationship play out in this book. Hook, Line, and Sinker can be read as a stand alone novel but I personally recommend reading It Happened One Summer first.

Hannah Bellinger lives and breathes music and her dream is to work in the movie industry and create film scores. She lives in L.A. and works as an assistant for a production company. When the director, whom Hannah has been crushing on forever, decides that his movie requires a new setting Hannah has the perfect place in mind: Westport. Westport is a small pacific coast town where her sister met and fell in love with her fiancé Brendan last summer.

Fox Thornton has a reputation as quite the ladies man. He also happens to be Brendan’s best friend and a skipper on his boat. Hannah and Fox met when she was in Westport with her sister last summer and when Hannah returned to L.A. they kept in touch. Now Hannah is coming back to town for work and she is crashing at Fox’s place. Fox and Hannah are totally just friends though and Fox has been given explicit orders from Brendan to keep his hands off Hannah. Besides, Fox knows Hannah is crushing on the director and is actually helping her get his attention. Nothing could possibly happen between Fox and Hannah, right? Wrong.

Hook, Line, and Sinker was just as hot as It Happened One Summer and if you’re a fan of the friends to lovers trope, you won’t want to miss this one!

THREAD COUNT RATING: 800

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The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

India Holton most certainly got an A+ in her creative writing class in school. This was such a fun read, and I honestly cannot recommend it enough! It’s like Mary Poppins meets The Pirates of the Caribbean. The entire novel is full of deadpan humor, and I swear I was smiling the whole time I was reading.

Cecilia Bassingthwaite is a junior member of the Wisteria Society, a group of Victorian ladies with flying houses, who also happen to be pirates. Cecilia was largely raised by her aunt, Miss Darlington, who is a senior member of the Society, and Cecilia aspires to become one too. Unfortunately, the shadow of Cecilia’s father, the evil Captain Morvath, and the Society’s fear that she may become like him stand in her way of doing so.

Captain Morvath has plans to destroy the Wisteria Society and has employed Ned Lightbourne to help him execute those plans. However, Ned’s loyalties lie elsewhere. Unbeknownst to Cecilia, Ned has a connection to her past and will do everything in his power to keep her safe, though she largely doesn’t need his help. When the Wisteria Society is kidnapped by Captain Morvath, Cecilia sets out to rescue them and hopefully prove she has what it takes to be a senior member. With Ned at her side, she embarks upon her journey to finally confront and defeat her father.

In terms of sex scenes, this book is tame. The chemistry between Ned and Cecilia is apparent from the beginning, but the spice level is largely suggestive. Towards the end of the book Ned and Cecilia’s chemistry comes to a boiling point with an extra spicy scene, but other than that you won’t encounter anything close to sexually explicit. Even so, I highly recommend this book!

P.S. The next book, The League of Gentlemen Witches, was just released last week! Buy it here.

Thread Count Rating: 400

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Highland Wolf

If you enjoy steamy historical romances set in the Scottish Highlands like I do, then this is a must read! This is the 10th novel in the Highland Brides series by Lynsay Sands. You don’t have to have read the other books in order to follow the story, but I highly recommend them! I was a little disappointed because I was expecting this to be Alick’s story (if you’ve read the other books in the series then you know what I’m talking about). That said, I still really enjoyed it and I’m hoping this means there will be another book in the series!

Claray MacFarlane is moments away from being forced to wed Maldouen MacNaughton when the Wolf swoops in to carry her off. Claray has long believed her betrothed to be dead but little does she know that he’s actually the one who just saved her.

The Wolf (aka Conall aka Bryson MacDonald) witnessed the murder of his parents and other clan members as a young boy. He escaped with his life but everyone, except for a select few, was told that he had also died. He has spent the last 16 years living as Conall and working to save enough money to reclaim his home and solve the murder of his parents. Now that he has wed Claray, he can return to MacDonald to restore it to its former glory, reunite his clan, and ultimately uncover the truth surrounding his parents’ death.

This book follows the general pattern of the other books in the series, but that’s part of the reason I love it. When I pick up one of these books I know I can count on a variation of a theme that I enjoy immensely. If you’re looking for something completely original and unpredictable this probably isn’t the book for you, but if you’re looking for a sexy read with a little bit of suspense and mystery that will transport you back in time, you should check it out!

Thread Count Rating: 800

When Sparks Fly

TW: death of parents

Fans of the friends-to-lovers trope will enjoy this one! It was a very cute read with a happy ending that elicited a few tears from me along the way (tbh it’s not that hard to make me cry but still).

The backdrop of this book is Spark House, an event hotel hosting everything from hobbyhorse competitions to weddings. The Spark sisters, Avery, London, and Harley, run it now, but it was started by their grandparents. After their grandfather died, their parents stepped in to help their grandmother (“Gran”) run the place. When they lost both of their parents in a car accident during their teenage years, Gran took over raising them and running Spark House full-time again. Now the sisters are grown up and running the place on their own with Avery’s best friend, Declan McCormick, as Spark House’s financial advisor.

Avery and Declan met the first weekend of college and have been best friends ever since. They never pursued anything romantic but everyone around them seemed to sense they each had deeper feelings for the other. Following college they moved to the same city and purchased a condo together as friends. Declan’s parents have a toxic relationship that he’s been stuck in the middle of for most of his life, which has seriously impacted his feelings about romantic relationships and being involved in one long-term.

When Avery gets in an accident on her way to an event, Declan feels responsible because he was supposed to go with her but flaked out for a random hookup. Fueled by his guilt Declan tries to make it up to Avery by taking care of her while she recuperates. This changes the dynamics of their relationship and unearths some repressed feelings on both sides, which leads to some sexy (not too graphic) scenes, but conflict ultimately arises.

Without giving too much away, I really enjoyed that the resolution of the conflict between Avery and Declan was more realistic than you typically see in romance novels. Rather than being an automatic fix it was gradual and illustrated the work that it takes to make a relationship last. I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on this, so let me know in the comments how you felt about it!

P.S. The next book in the series is Starry-Eyed Loved, which follows London Spark, and sounds like it will be a workplace romance. Its release date is May 10^th! You can pre-order it here.

Thread Count Rating: 600

Bringing Down The Duke

Annabelle Archer is one of the first female students to study at Oxford University, but to pay for her tuition she has accepted a scholarship from the National Society for Women’s Suffrage. Now she must support the group’s agenda to amend the Married Women’s Property Act and give women the right to vote. While working to recruit men of influence for the cause, Annabelle encounters Sebastian Devereux, the Duke of Montgomery.

The Duke of Montgomery, known for his brilliant political mind, has his own agenda: to regain his family’s ancestral home. To do so will require the favor of Queen Victoria, and she has tasked him with winning the upcoming election for the Tory party, which of course vehemently opposes women’s suffrage. If he fails, his ancestral home will be lost forever.

Annabelle and Sebastian come from two completely different worlds, she is a commoner with limited options due to her social station and sex; he is a nobleman with seemingly unlimited choices, but constrained by societal expectations and his own notions of duty. Despite these differences there is a magnetic pull between the two that can’t be ignored.

If you’re a fan of historical romance, this book is for you! Evie Dunmore has delivered a sexy, heart-wrenching romance that beautifully captures the internal struggle of remaining true to one’s self in the face of significant external and internal expectations, while also weaving in the history of the women’s suffrage movement in England in the late-1800s.

Don’t miss the bonus chapters at http://eviedunmore.com/bonus-content/.

Thread Count Rating: 800

It Happened One Summer

Looking at this cover I did not expect to find such steamy sex scenes, and boy was I pleasantly surprised! The inspiration from Schitt’s Creek is apparent in the premise and main character, Piper Bellinger, but don’t expect the same absurd sense of humor and kooky family dynamics.

Piper and her sister Hannah end up in a small Pacific Coast town in Washington where they have been sent to run their late father’s bar and it’s far from their optimistic expectations. Cue the love interest (and man of my dreams), Brendan Taggert. He’s a sea captain with silver-green eyes, dark hair, and a body sculpted by hard manual labor. Brendan and Piper have an instant attraction, though they both try to fight it in their own way.

This was a sweet and sexy read filled with humorous encounters, hot sex, and a touch of emotionality. If you’re looking for a light read that still brings the heat, check this book out!

P.S. This book previews the chemistry between Hannah and Brendan’s friend, Fox, and I cannot wait to see where their story goes in Hook, Line and Sinker. Its release date is March 1, 2022 and y’all already know I’ve pre-ordered my copy and you can too!

Thread Count Rating: 800