Kind of a light week in reading this week for me! I read several 4-star and 5-star reads though, especially some good ones over the long holiday weekend that I can’t wait to share!

Just a reminder, my rating scale is as follows:
Five-star: I LOVED this book and would highly recommend it to anyone that asked me for a recommendation. I believe the writing is quality, the characters are so loveable that you can’t help but love their story, and the plot has little or no gaps in my opinion. A five-star book often results in a re-read because I loved it so much.
Four-star: I really liked this book and would recommend it to most readers. The writing is good, the character development is great, and the plot has just a few areas that I think needed more development.
Three-star: I liked this book. I wouldn’t necessarily re-read it again, but I didn’t stop reading because I felt compelled to find out what happened. There might be errors or other editorial complaints.
Two-star: This book was not for me. I couldn’t get into it for whatever reason. There were likely many things that turned me off, including but not limited to: a poor choice in POV, character development, flow, energy, attention grabbing, etc. I would not recommend this book to my friends.
One-star: Likely, a one-star is a DNF book for me. There were too many problems. Would not recommend this book to anyone.

I finished re-reading The Bergman Brothers (and Sister) series (the stories that are currently available anyways).

Always Only You

Get ready for an emotional ride filled with laughter, longing, and a sweet slow-burn in this sports romance about love’s power not in spite of difference, but because of it.

Ren

The moment I met her, I knew Frankie Zeferino was someone worth waiting for. Deadpan delivery, secret heart of gold, and a rare one-dimpled smile that makes my knees weak, Frankie has been forbidden since the day she and I became coworkers, meaning waiting has been the name of my game—besides, hockey, that is.

I’m a player on the team, she’s on staff, and as long as we work together, dating is off-limits. But patience has always been my virtue. Frankie won’t be here forever—she’s headed for bigger, better things. I just hope that when she leaves the team and I tell her how I feel, she won’t want to leave me behind, too.

Frankie

I’ve had a problem at work since the day Ren Bergman joined the team: a six foot three hunk of happy with a sunshine smile. I’m a grumbly grump and his ridiculously good nature drives me nuts, but even I can’t entirely ignore that hot tamale of a ginger with icy eyes, the perfect playoff beard, and a body built for sin that he’s annoyingly modest about.

Before I got wise, I would have tripped over myself to get a guy like Ren, but with my diagnosis, I’ve learned what I am to most people in my life—a problem, not a person. Now, opening my heart to anyone, no matter how sweet, is the last thing I’m prepared to do.

Always Only You is an opposites-attract, forbidden love sports romance about a nerdy, late-blooming hockey star, and his tough cookie coworker who keeps both her soft side and her autism diagnosis* to herself. Complete with a meddling secretary, tantric yoga torture, and a scorching slow burn, this standalone is the second in a series of novels about a Swedish-American family of five brothers, two sisters, and their wild adventures as they each find happily ever after.

*This is an #OwnVoices story for its portrayal of autism by an autistic author.

Rating: Five-stars. Always Only You’s Ren is in my top five book boyfriends. He’s quirky and so sweet, he has his priorities straight and a great head on his head.

Spoilers ahead…

This will just prove how sweet Ren is…

“You remember I have a small country’s worth of siblings, right?”

Frankie wrinkles her nose, clearly confused. “Yes?”

“My little sister is on the spectrum. So, while everyone’s unique, and I’m no expert, I love someone who’s autistic. And I hope you know I’m a safe place for you to be you.”

***swooooooon***

I love that this is a forbidden romance novel AND a sports romance at the same time. Two of my favorite tropes!

Frankie and Ren are both nerdy in their own way. Frankie walks with a cane she calls the Elder Wand, and Rent is part of a Shakespeare club. These two are meant to be in so many ways, yet they both have their reasons for staying apart. Ren lucks out and wins more time when Frankie has to come and stay with him at his beach house. During that time, Ren is able to see what a real relationship with Frankie would be like, and once he has a taste, he can’t give it up.

Ever After Always

Buckle up for an emotional journey of hijinks, heartache, and a hot slow-burn in this marriage-in-crisis romance about going the distance to make love last.

Aiden

I’ve spent twelve years loving Freya Bergman and twelve lifetimes won’t be enough to give her everything she deserves. She’s my passionate, tender-hearted wife, my best friend, and all I want is to make her happy. But the one thing that will make her happiest is the one thing I’m not sure I can give her: a baby.

With the pressure of providing and planning for a family, my anxiety’s at an all-time high, and I find myself pulling away, terrified to tell my wife how I’m struggling. But when Freya kicks me out, I realize that pulling back has turned into pushing too far. Now it’s the fight of a lifetime to save our marriage.

Freya

I love my cautious, hard-working husband. He’s my partner and best friend, the person I know I can count on most. Until one day I realize the man I married is nowhere to be found. Now Aiden is quiet and withdrawn, and as the months wear on, the pain of our growing distance becomes too much. 

As if weathering marriage counseling wasn’t enough, we’re thrown together for an island getaway to celebrate my parents’ many years of perfect marriage while ours is on the brink of collapse. Despite my meddling siblings and a week in each other’s constant company, this trip somehow gets us working through the trouble in paradise. I just can’t help worrying, when we leave paradise and return to the real world, will trouble find us again?

Rating: Five-Star. Ever After Always made my Fave 14 list for the first half of this year. Aiden and Freya are experiencing marriage troubles just before their 10-year anniversary. This book is full of heartfelt challenges of marriage… I call this the ever after…after the happily ever after. It’s a beautiful story of the joys and trials of marriage, intimacy, maintaining passion and steam, feeling *all* t he feelings, and loving your partner to the best of your ability. Freya is a beautifully strong female heroine, and Aiden is a sensible, smart, and driven man full of love for his woman. This book is about experiencing your partner in all the seasons of life. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. HIGHLY. SERIOUSLY. READ IT.

Crazy in Love by S.L. Scott – ARC

Rating: Four-stars. Full review coming this week! 🙂

The Bromance Book Club

The first rule of book club: You don’t talk about book club.

Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott’s marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him. 

Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.

Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville’s top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it’ll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.

Rating: Four-stars. This was a fun read. Gavin and Thea’s marriage in dissolving, until Gavin’s buddies introduce him to romance novels. I giggled throughout this book was Gavin was inspired by the advice of his buddies and the regency novel he was reading. Adams has done something I’ve often thought about: what happens when husbands discover romance novels? How many lessons in romance, intimacy, and love could partners learn if they paid attention to romance novels? Such a fun concept and I’m excited to read more in this series!

The Kiss Quotient

A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there’s not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position…

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but crave all of the other things he’s making her feel. Their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…

Rating: Five-stars. Stella is such a sweet, logical character, it’s hard not to love her. She tries so hard to understand the world around her, to act “normal” according to learned social conventions, and to appear to be an average 30-year-old on the outside. Inside her private world, she thrives. Her house may be empty of furniture, her life may be empty of friends, her circle might be small, but she’s doing almost everything she wants with her life, except she’s lonely. Her previous partners were not understanding and respectful (and honestly, isn’t this true for most women in the dating world these days??). Yet Stella’s challenges make her believe she’ll never be able to experience intimacy like a “normal” person.

Enter Michael, a mama’s boy who escorts one night a week to keep up with the pile of bills related to his mother’s cancer treatments. Upon meeting Stella, Michael can’t understand why she’s single – she’s beautiful, smart, and successful. Michael agrees to help Stella, and their mutual respect and love for each other blossoms into something even more beautiful than they could’ve ever imagined.

What are you reading this week?