Reading Update: Page 1

Cold and blustery day, so I'm warming up with corn bread and cowboys! 

🤠🐎 

We're headed back to Rancho Lindo! 

A champion equestrian, Veronica has spent the last three years healing and hiding after a disastrous competition went viral. Ready to get back in the saddle, she begins training at the Ortega's family ranch. 

Tómas is the family's stable manager and while he's busy caring for the horses and trying to keep the ranch afloat, he can't help offering advice to Veronica. 

They're a bit oil and water but when Veronica offers to be his pretend girlfriend when his ex comes back into town, he can't help but accept. 

Tómas soon realizes that Veronica isn't who he thought she was but with her dream of the Olympics and him needed at the ranch, their future seems uncertain, even as they grow closer. 

Giddy up, this sounds like it's going to have some delicious tension 

The Cowboy Whisperer by Sabrina Sol purchase (Releases tomorrow Nov. 28th!) link

BBQ Chicken Pot Pie topped with Cornbread recipe

Tasty one and comfort food feeling on a cold day. I added diced jalapenos to the cornbread for some kick

Review: Christmas at the Shelter Inn

Christmas at the Shelter Inn by RaeAnne Thayne
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

She disliked the holidays anyway and she especially disliked being here, filled with memories and ghosts and regret. 

After she receives a text that just says “Help” from her younger sister, Natalie knows she needs to go back home. McKenna has been put on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy and with an aunt that is recovering from a leg injury, Natalie is needed to help McKenna with her two little girls and the family's business, the Shelter Inn. Ever since Natalie's mom and older brother died and their father abandoned them, Natalie has been a nomad traveling the world, finding it too painful to be at home with all the memories. Now, this Christmas season, she's going to have to confront those painful feelings and the growing ones for her brother's bestfriend who keeps finding ways to rescue her. 

If she wasn’t careful, she might find herself falling head over heels for Griffin. 

Christmas at Shelter Inn was a story that definitely delivered the festive atmosphere but it also definitely dropped trauma after trauma; I'm talking the old tv show Party of Five trauma levels. Any and all content and trigger warnings for what felt more like book club fiction (if your book club is full of holiday masochists) than romance. Natalie left home because of a painful childhood of having her mother die of breast cancer when she was sixteen, having her father take off to Alaska because of his grief and basically abandoning his three kids to their mother's aunt, and an older brother that became an alcoholic because of his grief and ultimately died in an avalanche. If you're not satisfied with that barrel of laughs, the love interest for Natalie, Griffin, is semi-shunned in town because his alcoholic father killed not only himself but four teens in a drunk driver incident and is divorced after he and his ex-wife went through the death of their baby being stillborn. 

She laughed and he thought how lovely she was, there in the wintry moonlight. 

So, yes, these two have a lot of baggage and emotional trauma to work through but Natalie gets the load of page time with Griffin's side not really coming in until the latter half of the story. Weaved around all these trauma issues are elements of that festive atmosphere I mentioned, shopping at a Christmas Market, watching a choir sing carols, snowy walks, the joy of putting up inflatable decorations, and hot chocolate and cookies. It was cozy atmosphere with holy god that's traumatic, especially when you add in the fear of miscarriage because her sister experienced two prior ones, Natalie thinking her sister's husband is wanting to abandon his family, Natalie's friendship issues with Griffin's younger sister who also dated her deceased older brother, and then Natalie's father showing back up to spend Christmas with them. 

He looked down at her, his blue eyes suddenly warm. For one glittery, breathless moment, he looked as if he wanted to kiss her. He might have even leaned down slightly before he seemed to check the movement and step away. 

I found the romance to be fairly weak without much depth, as the focus was more on Natalie's issues. Around the midway point, they kiss (only a few kisses for steam here) but Natalie doesn't see a reason to invest in the relationship because she can't wait to leave home and the pain it causes her to be here. Griffin does have povs but they're mostly him thinking about how to put a stop to his grandma trying to set him up with Natalie but also thinking he's attracted to Natalie. The second half becomes Natalie coming to terms with the past (catching her father kiss someone that threw her and me into a tailspin) and accepting that she has feelings for Griffin. The last fifteen percent has both saying they love each other but I can't say I bought into it, there was no real building blocks for their relationship. 

People did change, she thought as they returned to the party. Maybe she had changed. Maybe the perfect life she had created for herself no longer met her needs as it once had. Maybe, just maybe, she was ready for something else—if she could find the courage to reach for it. 

Along with the ending I love you, there's a snowstorm that creates some havoc, a situation that leads to our doctor Griffin being able to finally work through his pain of losing his child, and an epilogue that shows a future happily ever after. The romance felt a distance second place to the issues Natalie had to work through and there wasn't enough depth to the main couple's relationship for me. However, if you're looking for the combo of festive atmosphere and trauma (they could be out there!) consider this the snow globe of trauma you'd want to be in.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

Survived the Thanksgiving break and ready to move onto full holiday fever! 

🎄🎄🎄 

Natalie's back home to help her older sister out with their family's Inn while she's on bed rest with her third child. 

Home is where the memories hit the hardest, missing her mother and brother. And the first night back has her wrecking her rental car but also brings an expected surprise, her brother's bestfriend Griffin is also back in town. 

Griffin is seeing Natalie in a whole new light, but things he's held back about the last time he saw her brother alive, have both scared to trust. 

Snuggling in this Sunday with what sounds like an emotional and festive read! 

Christmas at the Shelter Inn by RaeAnne Thayne purchase link

Mexican Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Skillet recipe

Review: A Fragile Enchantment

A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“She is common, but she is divine-blooded.” 

 A Fragile Enchantment was a fantasy re-imagining of the historical way the United Kingdom treated Ireland that lead to the Great Famine in the 1800s. Niamh Ó Conchobhair is an eighteen year old Machlish (Irish) girl who was born with the magical ability to infuse the clothes she sews with emotions. When a dress she sews for a common girl is seen to help her capture a member of the nobility for her to marry, Niamh's designs become popular. So popular, the Prince Regent of Avaland (England) invites her to come and sew the wedding clothes for his younger brother's wedding. Niamh sees herself responsible for her grandmother and mother's well-being and knows this to be the opportunity to make enough money to secure their futures. However, the more Niamh uses her magic, the more life force drains from her but Niamh is a martyr and thinks it's her duty to sacrifice herself for her family, the way her ancestors fought against Avaland's rule. 

She had grown up on horror stories of the Avlish royal family’s power. How it had caused the Blight by depleting the soil. How during the War of Machlish Independence, briars had torn from the earth and skewered men like living bayonets. Niamh had always suspected those legends were exaggerated. Now, she wasn’t so certain what the Carmines were capable of. 

When Niamh gets to Avaland, she's amazed at the opulence (it's a very Regency England setting) but realizes quickly that something itsn't quite right. The castle seems to be running on a skeleton crew and there's obvious unrest with the working class protesting and demanding reparations for how the Avlish have treated the Machlish. There's also the obvious arranged marriage feeling with the Prince Christopher (Kit) sullen and angry that he is being forced to marry the Princess Rosa. The Prince Regent, Jack, seems to constantly be harried and keeps refusing to meet with Helen, the leader of the protesters. It's a tense situation and it gets complicated more when Niamh and Kit start to notice each other more. 

He had chosen her not for her skill or her craft, but to make himself look enlightened. To slither out of any accountability. She was nothing more than a novelty to point out to her fellow countrymen and say, Look, not all of you suffer here. 

Since the world-building borrows and relies heavily on Irish and English historical relations, it's kind of already built in, as long as you the reader are knowledgeable about such things. The magical components also borrows some from Irish mythology, which was a fun additive but Niamh's personal plot of her magic draining her life force didn't feel quite filled out right. Without scenes with her grandmother and mother, we have to go on her word that she's forced to do this and the reasoning never had me truly buying into it. Since she's a seamstress, I thought there would more scenes of her sewing and fabric descriptions but they were fairly few, even though the story has Kit constantly telling her not to overwork herself. I just felt it needed to be a bigger discussion that while she sews, she's taking years off her life?? 

A girl like her wanting Kit Carmine would not—could not—end well. 

This is all told from Niamh's point-of-view and I thought it took until closer to the midway point for her and Kit to show anything of their relationship. They share a kiss in the second half and get a closed door scene but I'm not sure I really felt or understood the claim that they have a burning romance, the emotions just weren't there for me. This does read Young Adult, with the occasional curse word and even though it's historical fantasy, the vernacular reads modern (leading to an uneven feeling with the supposed to be Regency England). The angst comes from Jack making Kit marry, for political reasons, but Kit and Niamh starting to want to be together. There's some secondary character friends on the side, helping and hurting the cause, a quick jaunt to a country house of the royal's that felt added in for the requisite country house scenes, and a little political intrigue. 

“I am so afraid, Kit. I am afraid that I will fail, despite all the pains I have taken. I am afraid I will let everyone down. And deep down, I am afraid that I am horribly, irredeemably selfish because I am so afraid that I will die without having let myself live at all.” 

I read an early ARC copy and I hate to say it, but it read more like a beta, Niamh's magical story thread needed more shoring up as it only seems to get weaker and weaker as the story goes on. The ending gave a last thirty percent third act breakup, and again, not fully constructed right with the stopping a wedding, a duel that felt madcap thrown in, and revelations that were a bit obvious regarding the political aspects. It all wraps up with a HEA and relations between the countries hopefully taking a right step toward working together. The elements were there but lack of refinement had this more of a struggle to get through than enjoyable.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

How could I not start the week off with this pretty little cover?! 

The same magic that lets Niamh stitch emotions and memories into fabric, is the same magic that may eventually lead to her downfall. Thinking her time is limited, she jumps at the chance to design a wardrobe for a royal wedding. 

There she finds a town simmering with unrest from the working class and a groom who resents being used as a political pawn. 

When an anonymous columnist starts writing about Niamh and the groom Kit's chemistry, Niamh finds herself getting blackmailed to uncover the royal family's secrets or remain in the gossip columns. 

Niamh will have to decide if the risk of exposing a nation and her heart are worth it. 

Can't wait to get swept away into this fantasy romance! 

A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft preorder (Jan. 2nd) link

Lemon Pepper Cajun Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo recipe

Cajun and pasta?! Of course a tasty winner :)

Review: The Girl Who Was Too Much And Not Enough: Book 1 of 3, Kiera Rieman Series

The Girl Who Was Too Much And Not Enough: Book 1 of 3, Kiera Rieman Series by Lelina Durrette
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

And yet, part of me still wondered what was really so fundamentally wrong about just being myself. 

Set in the year 2125, The Girl Who Was Too Much and Not Enough takes a look at a society that has given full governmental control to what and how much food people can consume, along with other personal choices. Told all through seventeen year old Kiera's eyes, she's one of the “not-quite-perfects”, which is what her friend group calls themselves because they're deemed unattractive for not meeting the society's rigid standards. It's rough for Kiera because in this society, how good you look equals power and most teens, before adulthood, enter The Center and do the Sleep-a-Weigh program. This program is basically where they are put in a comatose state to lose weight and get plastic surgery to look “perfect”. Losing some from her friend group to this program, Kiera feels even more lonely, especially when her mother and younger sister constantly berate her and only her father seems to love her for her, until she has a chance encounter with an eighteen year old boy.

I had never really fit in my world. It was like I had been waiting my whole life to make this change. 

When Kiera meets Asa, her whole world changes. He introduces her to the Underground, a market and makeshift city where people who don't want to follow the restrictive rules of the government live. There she tries real fresh fruit, meat, and see that people can be, what is deemed overweight, and with their “imperfections” like crooked teeth, happy and be loved. The beginning of the story was a little shaky with it's constant talk and comparisons of GMO and non-GMO food, to the point I was thinking this was going to be fully an indoctrinate book but that eventually, for the most part, faded away and the plot of teens and outcasts fighting the evil government started to progress (I fully realize this is a different kind of propaganda but was less forced in face and more flowed written message in). 

I really wanted to believe that Asa and I had our whole future stretching before us, but why did it feel like this was only the beginning of our struggles? 

This was in the vein of a Hunger Games or Maze Runner, with Kiera joining Asa and his friends and family as they first buck the system with the Underground Black Market, the government capturing some of them and sending them to The Center for “rehabilitation”, rescue mission, and eventual plan for the future. There's a romance between Kiera and Asa (it was definitely rushed with how quickly he trusts her) with kissing and a faint love triangle that tries to appear with a classmate of Kiera's named Ian, along with some action and light battle scenes with the rescue mission and them being on the run. 

I drew a shaky breath and turned back to Asa. He smiled and held out his hand to me. I took it and we set off together into the unknown. 

The ending had a slight cliffhanger with the cast of characters having to leave their district for another one to try and avoid all the heat from being found out in theirs. There's an obvious villain, Captain Kulig who tortured people in The Center, in the wings, a maybe maybe not traitor Ian going along with them, the question of what happened to Kiera's family, and of course the continuing romance between Kiera and Asa. The second half with all it's action felt a little disjointed with the slower, introducing beginning but if you like dystopian young adult, this could be another series to add to your reading.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

Early afternoon reading with this futuristic YA! 

Kiera lives in a society where looks equal power. She's about to turn 18 and thinking about checking herself into The Center, a place where they make you "better". 

But she meets Asa, a boy who likes her just the way she is. He's also a smuggler and introduces her to an underground world she never knew existed. 

Now Kiera's loyalties are being tested and she has to decide if she wants to conform or blaze her own path. 

The Girl Who Was Too Much and Not Enough by Lelina Durrette purchase link

 

Salsa Verde Chicken Enchilada Skillet recipe

This one was pretty easy and tasty, recommend! 

Review: The Second Chance Year

The Second Chance Year by Melissa Wiesner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.7 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

And suddenly the room is spinning. Because though it's January first, just like I expected...It's January first, twelve months ago. The entire last year of my life is---gone. 

Gone. 

Just like I wished for. 

Sadie has had a year, she lost her job as a pastry chef when she stood up to her boss again about his dictator way of running the restaurant, lost her boyfriend when he broke up with her because she made a scene again at one of his work events over sexist comments, and lost her apartment when her savings ran out. She's now living in a spare bedroom in the apartment of Jacob, her brother Owen's bestfriend. Depressed she works as a barista after her boss got her blackballed, she hardly leaves the couch. The only good thing is that she's starting to see that Jacob isn't so much standoffish and judgmental of her but really shy. When her bestfriend Kasumi invites her to a New Year's Eve party she doesn't want to go but it turns out to the be the best thing to ever happen to her. 

And then he stands up from the couch. 

Crosses the room. 

Sinks down on the bed next to me. 

Slides one hand behind my head. 

And he kisses me. 

The Second Chance Year was a chik-lit story told all from Sadie's point-of-view that took a good look at what it means to go along to get along and staying true to yourself, with a little romance. At the NYE's party, Sadie meets a fortune teller and makes the wish to get a second chance at the horrible year she just had. With some magical realism, she gets that chance and wakes up in her old apartment with her ex Alex and late to work at the restaurant she was fired at. Getting back all the things she lost has her taking a second look at how she reacted to things and trying a different route to get a different outcome. Instead of yelling at her chef boss, when he's unfairly yelling at employees or asking her to work the front of the restaurant, she bites her tongue and sees that he starts to treat her nicer and even dangle the promotion she wanted in front of her. Sadie also doesn't attack Alex's co-workers when they make sexist comments and instead talks to Alex first about it, which he had asked her to do. This has him inviting her to more work events, buying her expensive designer clothes to help her fit in, and even act like he could be ready to propose. Sadie starts to think this might be the chance she needed to get everything she wanted, if it didn't feel like she was also losing herself and the friendships she made in her awful year. 

If I could go back, I'd do it all differently. I'd never let him walk out thinking everything that happened between us was a mistake. 

Sadie sees that not only do things change for her when she acts different, things change for the people around her. She loses her bestfriend Kasumi instead of her job when she acts different at work and that awful year that lead to her knowing Jacob more and ended with them having a NYE's kiss, which now didn't happen, has him slowly hanging out with a neighbor that Sadie had set up with someone else. I greatly enjoyed how the book explored and showed how people who say others are too “abrasive” with what they say, is really how it isn't how you say it but that you're saying it at all, with it's looks at sexism in the workplace. Sadie struggled with this and how her college professor parents constantly belittled her pastry chef occupation and heaped loads of praise and love on her younger brother Owen because of his college degree and high powered job in robotics. As Sadie opened up more to the people around her, it was nice for her to see how the people who really cared for her, admired the things about her she thought she needed to change to succeed. 

So, this is what it's like to be loved by someone who appreciates who I am, not just who I could be or should be. Not just who they want me to be. 

During her second chance year, things don't quite work out the way she thought they would if she tried changing herself and gets a dose of maybe things happen for a reason. Sadie's journey is the focus of the story but, while we don't fully get to know Jacob, he's around a good amount and the way Sadie starts to see him different and the way he gets to be there for her does provide a sweet romance thread (not genre romance and no open doors) with a scene delivering happily for now that will probably get a few eyes watering. This was self-affirming, frustrating look at the systems allowed to exist in workplaces, a look at how sexism breaks people down emotionally, and a great look at how whittling yourself away to fit others never works. If you've ever wondered what a second chance could look like, this delivers all the ways it could go wrong and right, with a little tender romance.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

What if you could redo not just one day but a whole year? 

It sounds amazing and horrible to me all at the same time! 

Sadie's lost her job, apartment, and boyfriend. But a fortune teller offers her one wish and suddenly Sadie sees a way to fix things, but maybe not in the way she planned, especially when she ends up kissing her brother's best friend. 

The next morning has her waking up in her old apartment and with her ex! Sadie's going to get a second chance year as it's January 1st, of last year. 

Suddenly all the things she missed are glaringly apparent and she can't stop thinking about a certain kiss, even though he has no idea it happened. 

What would you do with a second chance? 

This sounds so good, can't wait to start 🎉 

The Second Chance Year by Melissa Wiesner preorder (Dec. 5th) link

Honey Chipotle Chicken Bowls recipe

I added oodles (technical cooking term) more chipotle peppers and adobe sauce and ended up loving the sweet and spicy of this. It's been 50s here in MN, so I took advantage to make a more summery meal!

Review: It Had to Be a Duke

It Had to Be a Duke by Vivienne Lorret
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“Because her grandson, the Duke of Longhurst, and I are engaged to be married.” 

Verity is the serious, plain, and at almost twenty-six years of age, spinster sister of the Hartley family. Her two younger sisters are beauties and with a scandal that had her father accused of masterminding a swindling deal and older brother that was forced to leave his architecture apprentice job to join a merchant ship, her prospects don't look too inviting. Which is why when her neighbor nemesis is mocking her again, Verity, the staid, responsible one, lies convincingly for the first time about being engaged to the Duke of Longhurst. 

“But it will still be a lie, all the same.” 

“Not for this week. I fully intend to treat you as I would if we were betrothed. Therefore”—his lungs expanded and contracted on a resigned breath—“Miss Hartley, for the next seven days, will you consent to be my betrothed?” 

Magnus is on the brink of finally righting his family's fortune after his father lost it all in the Hartley swindle with a betrothal to the Button King's daughter, Anna Snow. When a rumor reaches London that he is already engaged, Anna's father is, rightly, upset. Magnus promises to get things sorted out within a week and travels to the village that his grandmother and former bestfriend, Truman Hartley's family live. With his grandmother's advice of not looking like the jerk that breaks off the engagement that everyone seems to believe, when he confronts Verity about the lie, they both agree to act engaged for one week, before Verity will break it off. 

He wasn’t drawn to her out of a need to tame her. For some inexplicable reason, she had unleashed something wild inside of him. 

It had to Be a Duke is the start to the new Liar's Club series and with it's light angst and back and forth couple, it was a fun start. When Verity and Magnus are together, which was wonderfully for most of the book, they had an amusing chemistry with Verity pushing Magnus to his brink with either her word play with him or his protective nature over all the scrapes she gets herself into. They pretty much banter throughout the book and while I can see some thinking it goes on too long, I liked how each banter session had Magnus cracking just a little more. He can't let go because he thinks he needs to marry an heiress to refill his estate coffers and allow for his younger brother to come back home and “live the life he was promised” by their father. Magnus is pressured and guilt tripped by his mom and there is still that lingering animosity Magnus has for Verity's father. 

Verity hated the Duke of Longhurst. He was the most maddening, vexing man she had ever had the misfortune to know. 

After the week together in Verity's village, they shared a kiss, Magnus kind of hightails it back to London, still determined to marry his heiress. With some maneuvering by his grandmother, she and Verity go to London and there Magnus can't seem to get away from her, especially when Verity and Anna become good friends. Magnus has his issues and we get a better look at how Verity has her own, feeling like the always forgotten plain one due to men paying more attention to her sisters and a governess who liked to lock her in closets. Verity can't quite believe that Magnus would want her, it's a little comedy of errors when every time they're together Magnus is fighting his attraction and Verity thinks he's fighting the urge to throttle her. 

But, perhaps, he just didn’t want her to feel alone. 

The latter second half has the mystery of what really went down with the swindle deal and we get some danger, suspense, and mystery characters revealed and explained. There is an open door bedroom scene and an ending third act breakup that felt a little forced but I'll accept it because it did eventually lead to a pretty big grin inducing move by Magnus. 

And when she smiled up at him without the slightest degree of maidenly shyness, he knew he was too far gone to resist her. 

There were times where I really enjoyed this and times where I thought it started dragging. I just felt like the story wasn't quite shored up right, this did have a lot of little and big elements outside of the romance and I'm not sure they were structured or laid out cohesively, probably first in a series syndrome. There were plenty of series baiting characters, Anna and revealed mystery character and the story ending with Verity's sister's supposed to be made up betrothed viscount showing up at their house. 

It was just that, somewhere along the way, she had stopped hating him quite so much. And all this not hating him was making her heart ache. 

There was also a desk scene I don't want to forget to mention (Pushing back the chair, he stood in front of her. “You’ve made me waste a lot of ink, I hope you know.”) that was sweet with it's finally dawning on Verity what Magnus' feelings truly are when she finds some of his keepsakes and then steamy when he shows some of those feelings, very smile inducing. Even with some of my complaints, I did just plain enjoy the lighter angst relationship of these two, I'll always love a lead slowly breaking down for another lead.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

New historical romance series! 

Verity is sick of her snooty neighbor, and so, tells a little lie. A little lie claiming to be betrothed to a Duke. 

Verity, not even an Earl but a DUKE?!?! 😂 

Turns out this particular Duke was almost engaged, trying to save his estate from financial ruin. But now that's in jeopardy when it gets around he's already engaged. 

News to him! 

Trying to save his reputation and estate, he finds the little liar, and she asks him to keep the lie for only a week. 

One week to pretend or week to make it all real? 

It Had to Be a Duke by Vivienne Lorret (Nov. 28th) preorder (Nov. 28th) link

BBQ Chicken Sweet Potato Bowls recipe

Review: Crashed

Crashed by Shiloh Walker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

She’d let her guard down only once. It had destroyed her, breaking her heart into such tiny pieces that she’d never been able to find them all. 

Fifth in the Barnes Brothers series, Crashed brings us the last Barnes brother romance. Travis fell in love hard when he was younger and as the story opens up, we get a look at text messages between him and a girl named Isabel that start when they're fifteen. It's a summer romance that grew to more as Isabel's family spends every year at their vacation home by Travis. Through the text messages, readers see Travis and Isabel stay committed to each other even while some looming cloud seems to come from Isabel as she tries to avoid talking about what is really going on with her family. When Travis is eighteen and Isabel turning soon, they come up with a plan to elope and flee to California for awhile, Isabel fearing her father's reaction. Travis knows her father is a U.S. District Attorney and Isabel fears him and has only stayed around to try and protect her younger twin sisters but Isabel has been keeping some important secrets. When an FBI agent lays some harsh facts on Travis but not the full truths, their young love goes up in flames. 

If it was the last thing he did in his life, Miles would fix what he’d done to these two. 

I haven't read the previous books in the series and I didn't spend a lot of time confused here, you'd just miss out on knowing Travis' brother's love stories; family dynamics get well laid out here and the brothers don't really come into the picture into the latter second half. A few tragic instances befall Isabel, she does talk about rape, losing a baby at birth, and infertility (there's also bullying to other characters) for content warnings. This is a second chance romance with the FBI agent, Miles, trying to fix his mistake of breaking these two apart. He was working a case against Isabel's father, human-trafficking, and Travis gets a bit caught in the cross-fire. On the day he and Isabel were supposed to runaway together, he sees something that has him thinking she's a liar and wasn't serious with him, he feels betrayed and never answers her text or phone calls. Isabel goes through the ringer for awhile, with dealing with the fallout of her father and going into witness protection as she helped give evidence against her father and a personal tormentor of hers named Stephen. A few years after the initial breakup, Miles tries to get these two together but hurts and pains still keep them cold. It isn't until ten years later they have their second chance. 

She still loved him. She’d never stopped. 

While Isabel went into witness protection and became a foster mom, Travis tries to ease the guilt for how he thinks he betrayed Isabel by going to work for Miles. He starts off working for the government and later as an independent contractor who goes in undercover and helps breakup human trafficking rings. It's a little bit of go along with it as his famous family and his well known face are discussed and how he had plastic surgery to make himself look less like them. When he gets severely injured and Miles sends him to his house on the coast to recuperate, his neighbor turns out to be Isabel. The rest of the story is them looking at each other with their hearts in their eyes and then deciding to get together fairly soon, they have an open door scene around midpoint of book. While there was some of that wonderful angst from the hurtful situations they went through and how their relationship was broken up, I would have liked if it had been gritted out longer. Their relationship almost seemed to take a backseat to Isabel's foster kids' dramas, I almost felt like I knew their characters better than the two that were supposed to be the main couple. The second half also brought in some suspense with a past danger rearing his ugly head and then Travis making up with his family that he had iced out for the last decade. 

There just wasn't enough continuous focus on the romantic relationship development for me but the ending did deliver a happily ever after bow ending. If you've been a reader of the series, you'll probably love seeing this last Barnes get his HEA and a possible tease for the series to spin-off with one of Isabel's sisters and an operator friend of Travis.

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Reading Update: Page 1

Happy Friday, all 🎉 

So, this book is 5th in a series! And guess what...I have not read any others in that series 🙃 

I saw the author's name on Netgalley and having read other books by them, just kind of one-clicked Want because Walker feeds into my angsty soul. 

This sounds like a second chance romance with two deeply hurt people and some possible romantic suspense. And if I really like this one, bonus four other brothers to read about! 

Let's get angsty! 

Crashed by Shiloh Walker purchase link

Chipotle Cheddar Chicken Meatloaf recipe

I LOVED this one! I added a lot more chipotle peppers for more spice and then when we had leftovers the next day, kind of made into a patty and ate in a bun. The flavor was majorly my jam and highly recommend!

Review: A Holly Jolly Ever After

A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“My entire life, everyone else has defined Winnie Baker for me, but now, I want to define Winnie Baker for myself. I want to be a new Winnie.” 

Winnie grew-up as a child actress, groomed to be a Christian and Inspirational content darling. She also has narcolepsy, so when a photograph got out when she was a teenager of her passed out in a car, looking drunk, the team around her and her parents, rush her into marriage at eighteen with her boyfriend at the time. Now, years later, discovering her husband was having an affair, she's divorced but lost a movie deal with the Hope Channel. Needing money to pay them back, she signs onto a movie for the Hope After Dark part of their programming. The lead playing the dirty Santa Claus is none other than the guy who took the picture of her that started all the rumors. 

Kallum always had a crush on Winnie but as a member of a popular boy band, his reputation didn't fit in with her “good girl”. Now the owner of a budding pizza restaurant business, he's had a sex tape leaked and he was kind of forced to license it to get the money that was getting made from it. He knows his parents were embarrassed and his reputation for being a good time guy, he's ready to make some changes in his life. He can't believe his luck when he signs onto a movie and he may just get his chance with Winnie. 

“Will you help me?” I blurted. 

Second in the Christmas Notch series, you could just into the series here, like I did. Not knowing the exact tone of the series did have me a little shocked at how steamy the open door scenes were. The cover kind of gives off a sweet holiday story vibe, but I'm here to tell you that pinkies are going in b-holes in the first one-hundred pages or so. The whole concept is that Winnie was sexually repressed and is working through the indoctrinated shame she has grown up with, so when it becomes clear that she doesn't know how to fake an orgasm during one of the scenes she's filming for the movie, she eventually goes to Kallum to help her with “research”. If you're looking for more physical interaction between your leads than emotional, this would be for you. Since they kind of knew, at least of each other before, it's pretty much insta-lust and attraction. 

“Research,” he said. He made the word sound utterly filthy, and my stomach flipped right over at the sound of it. 

There's a little bit of holiday atmosphere, the film is being shot in a Hope Channel created Christmas town but there wasn't much to the movie aspect, a few shown, quick times of them filming (I found it strange it wasn't talked about at all that Kallum had no acting experience??). By the midway point they've slept together and while Winnie thinks Kallum is just his want no responsibilities persona, he's thinking he's in love with Winnie. At their end of filming, Kallum has an emergency he has to leave suddenly for and Winnie overhears a conversation that makes her think Kallum wasn't as into their relationship as she was. The story goes into Part 2 six weeks later where a bomb gets dropped on Winnie and she's fighting to keep her ex out of her life and her parents still trying to control her, while Kallum is fighting to show Winnie that he's a changed man and wants to be serious with her. 

There wasn't much of emotional depth here for me, therefore the numerous hot and heavy scenes had me skimming because they just felt explicit for explicit sakes, which could be someone's jam but didn't work for me. The latter second half also brought in a lot of characters, friends and family, the couple from book one, and obvious future main character bait. If you're looking for more hot and heavy and not sweet emotional in a holiday read, then this had more of those scenes than you can shake a candy cane at.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

It's November 1st, you know what that means! 

🎄❄️🎅 

Time to dip into some holiday romance! And yes, that is real snow for the background. It's like the weather knew 😭 

A former boy band member, Kallum has been living a quieter life as a pizza chain owner (Slice, Slice, Baby 🤣) but an old sex tape has suddenly gone viral. 

Winnie was a child actress that avoided the usual pitfalls and has transitioned to a stable adult acting career. So stable, she's actually ready to redefine herself with a sexy Santa biopic for the Hope Channel. 

Kallum's ready for the spotlight again and starring with his childhood crush is going to be something, especially when Winnie starts talking about pleasure research. 

A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone purchase link