This book got my attention as a woman working in STEM, for which I have to say, the science in the book is mostly realistic! I loved this book for theThis book got my attention as a woman working in STEM, for which I have to say, the science in the book is mostly realistic! I loved this book for the first half, where the love was slow-burn, friendly and funny. The dynamics of the friend group were giving good vibes. In my opinion, it would have been nicer if the MMC and the FMC got together later in the book, because it would give more tension towards the moment. An additional reason for this is that I found the smud in the book a bit too awkward/uncomfortable but especially too frequent in terms of the plot. Overall, I enjoyed this book, as the story is very realistic written with mature main characters. There was a solid main plot next to the romance, but one tip would be to keep this main plot going during periods of more smud.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily....more
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very fast paced, and since it was just below 150 pages, I finished it in 3 or 4 readings. Even though I wanI really enjoyed reading this book. It was very fast paced, and since it was just below 150 pages, I finished it in 3 or 4 readings. Even though I wanted that there was more of this story just because I liked it, I think it was a good call to make a sequel instead of elongating this story, as now my attention did not drift away. I loved the only one bed trope and thereby forced proximity. To make it 5 stars, I would have loved to see the characters (or one of them) stay with their original statement. For example that the FMC would have never seen him as possible future lover and that the MMC has always seen her like that. Now towards the end, it feels like she is saying that she fancied him all this time, while in the beginning of the book she is really against him. I would love to read the sequel of the book! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily....more
The reason I picked this book was the fact that the old diary, combined with royalty romance, intrigued me. The mystery and suspense about getting royThe reason I picked this book was the fact that the old diary, combined with royalty romance, intrigued me. The mystery and suspense about getting royalty rights was something that led me to reading the first part of the book. However, at a certain point, the pace of the book slowed down a lot and there was a lot of internal monologue around her decision, which took too long in my opinion. I feel that there were quite a lot of plots within this book that all sequelled to the next book (I hope?), regarding the history, side characters, the MMC, etc. That said, I had a really hard time connecting with Henry, the MMC, as his emotions were all over the place without any explanation from him or background explained from the past. It is described as a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers but I'm not sure if I agree on that, since it mostly felt like friends to enemies to lovers (from FMC POV) to enemies to not so much enemies but also distant lovers (at least from FMC POV)? The actions and feelings of the MMC were very confusing in this regard. There were certainly good elements in this book, but I would really wish to advise the author to connect the plots better to get the book to a higher level and thus rating. Now, the book felt like a really long introduction into the rest of the series. I would always like to see some of the plot elements worked out in a single book and not bridge all plots to the sequel(s). All in all, I have to say, this book is a 2.5 rounded up for me, even though I really wished there was more to the book based on the blurb. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily....more
I am giving this book 4 stars, as I believe this book is a nice and quick read. I love how this book is not solely focused on romance but mostly on thI am giving this book 4 stars, as I believe this book is a nice and quick read. I love how this book is not solely focused on romance but mostly on the mystery/past events leading up to the problems Minty finds herself in. At first, I had to get used to the humour used in the book, but as it progressed, so did the humour, especially scenes with her parents. I see how the book could be considered a bit chaotic, as is Minty herself, but it didn't bother me too much. I think I even read the last half of the book within 2 days. Maybe a good addition would be to create short moments where Minty is not running around to avoid feeling rushed through the book. I have read both of Holly's other books this year and I must say that the writing has immensely improved, but kept being quirky, caring, funny and light. The previous books have been published some time ago and I felt that Holly's writing has adapted to current times. The ending was fine, but not too thrilling. I would have enjoyed a good plot twist for a 5 star read. I would definitely read Holly's next books!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily....more
I really enjoyed this book as an easy read. It's a clean romance, which is very sweet (pun intended) between the two main characters as they grow intoI really enjoyed this book as an easy read. It's a clean romance, which is very sweet (pun intended) between the two main characters as they grow into each other. I would have loved if meeting each other earlier outside of Larkin Bay was elaborated on or talked more about between the characters. I loved the support of the community in this book and it definitely is a small town romance book. Reaching the end, I enjoyed the tension of finding the arsonist in the town and I think this was the quickest part I read of the book. At some points the vocabulary or the author felt limited and repetitive. There were some loose ends in the story, but considering this was Leanne Stanfield's debut, I would say it's off to a great start for clean romance/small town romance!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily....more
I. LOVED. IT! This truly felt like a Hallmark winter movie, but then on paper, especially regarding the setting of the story. The setting of being snowI. LOVED. IT! This truly felt like a Hallmark winter movie, but then on paper, especially regarding the setting of the story. The setting of being snowed in in a cabin and staying in with good food and a warm fireplace really set the scene. I liked how the characters developed during the story. It felt a bit like a grumpy/sunshine story, but one where the MMC is more sunshine, go-with-the-flow, easy-going and the FMC is rather pissed off, annoyed and strict. At some point, I was a bit frustrated by how fast Sabrina was in 'fight-modus', while she didn't make it clear to Reid why (okay, they need to be on time, but why?). I loved how the humor of Reid could clear the air and how the use of spreadsheets and color-coding turned into something they could both laugh about. I love how supportive their friends were. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily....more