Tag: Contemporary Romance

Book Review: Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings

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Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake (A Brush With Love #2)
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Pub Date: 6 September 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

(5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Lizzie has made endless mistakes. Kitchen fires, pyramid schemes, bangs (of the hair and human variety), you name it, she’s done it… and made a mess of it too. One mistake she’s never made is letting anyone get closer to her than a single hook-up. But after losing yet another bakery job due to her uncontrolled ADHD, she breaks her cardinal rule and has a two-night-stand that changes everything.

Once burned, twice shy, Rake has given up on relationships. And feelings. And any form of intimacy for that matter. Yet something about charming, chaotic Lizzie has him lowering his guard. For two nights, that is. Then it’s back home to Australia and far away from the pesky feelings Lizzie pulls from him. But when Lizzie tells him she’s got an unexpected bun in the oven, he’ll do whatever it takes to be a part of his child’s life… except be emotionally vulnerable, obviously. He’s never going to make that mistake again.

Through a series of mishaps, totally “platonic” single bed sharing, and an underground erotic baking scheme, Lizzie and Rake learn that even the biggest mistakes can have the most beautiful consequences.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Internalised ableism, sexual assault, on-page cheating recounted, unplanned pregnancy, abortion discussed, pregnancy, sex on-page

TL;DR: It took me long enough to pick this up (silly panda) but I’m so glad I finally read it because wow! I feel emotionally drained and invigorated at the same time and just thinking about these two has my heart squeezing with ALL THE FEELS. Prepare to be taken on an emotional ride! Edding’s writing radiated warmth, joy and comfort which is what made this so delightful to read. These characters are so personable and real and aside from the swoontastic romance, I appreciated how the author showed us what it’s like to live with a neurodivergent brain. I would definitely recommend this for those who are looking for a well-written romance that has the potential to make you laugh, swoon, and cry (in the best way, obviously)!

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Book Review: King of Wrath by Ana Huang

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King of Wrath (Kings of Sin #1)
Publisher: Piatkus
Pub Date: 20 October 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

(3.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

She’s the wife he never wanted…and the weakness he never saw coming.

Ruthless. Meticulous. Arrogant.

Dante Russo thrives on control, both personally and professionally.
The billionaire CEO never planned to marry— until the threat of blackmail forces him into an engagement with a woman he barely knows.

Vivian Lau, jewelry heiress and daughter of his newest enemy.
It doesn’t matter how beautiful or charming she is. He’ll do everything in his power to destroy the evidence and their betrothal.
There’s only one problem: now that he has her…he can’t bring himself to let her go.

***

Elegant. Ambitious. Well-mannered.

Vivian Lau is the perfect daughter and her family’s ticket into the highest echelons of high society.Marrying a blue-blooded Russo means opening doors that would otherwise remain closed to her new-money family.

While the rude, elusive Dante isn’t her idea of a dream partner, she agrees to their arranged marriage out of duty.
Craving his touch was never part of the plan.
Neither was the worst thing she could possibly do: fall in love with her future husband.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

King of Wrath is a steamy billionaire/arranged marriage romance. It contains explicit sexual content, profanity, and mild violence. Recommended for mature readers only.

*This review was first posted to Goodreads in January 2023*

TL;DR: Was this particularly new in any way? No. Did I have a fun time reading it anyway? Absolutely, yes. I haven’t read a marriage-of-convenience book in a while and while this billionaire romance isn’t normally one that I gravitate to often, I’ve been enjoying my fair share of them in the last few months! I enjoyed the dynamic between Vivian and Dante and found their romance pretty entertaining. This was also not as petty and drama-filled as I thought it would be but it had just the right amount of angst to keep me interested.

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#FirstLinesFriday: 24 February 2023

Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here are the rules:

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!
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Book Review: In the Weeds by B.K. Borison

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In the Weeds (Lovelight Farms #2)
Pub Date: 18 April 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

(4 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

Evelyn St. James isn’t the kind of woman you forget.

Beckett Porter certainly hasn’t. One incredible weekend in Maine, and he’s officially a man distracted. He’s not unfamiliar with hot and heavy flings. He knows how it goes. But Evie wove some sort of magic over him during their tumble in the sheets. He can’t stop thinking about her laugh. Her hand pressed flat against his chest. Her smiling mouth at his neck.

Also, her eyes. And her legs.

So when she suddenly appears on his farm as part of a social media contest, he is… confused. He had no idea that the sweet and sexy woman he met at a bar is actually a global phenomenon: social media influencer Evelyn St. James. When she disappears again, Beckett resolves to finally forget her and move on.

But Evelyn St. James has a problem.

Feeling disconnected from her work and increasingly unhappy, she’s trying to find her way back to something real. She returns to the last place she was happy, Lovelight Farms and the tiny town of Inglewild.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the hot farmer she spent two incredible nights with.

Nothing at all.

In The Weeds is a sweet and steamy second-chance romance about finding your happiness. It features a grumpy farmer, a no-nonsense social media influencer, a small town of busybodies, and four very cute kittens. In The Weeds is a standalone romance and is part of the Lovelight series.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Social anxiety

*This review was first posted to Goodreads in December 2022*

TL;DR: This dual-pov second-chance romance was a delightful slow-burn as Beckett and Evie learn more about each other but also about themselves. Beckett is absolutely the perfect book boyfriend and that plant-daddy really had me swooning! If you loved him in the first book with his kittens, then you’ll definitely love him more now because not only do we get to see him with more animals, we get to see him come out of his shell in full simphood glory! It was swoontastic! 😍 This was a great second book in this series and I can’t wait to continue on to the next.

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ARC Review: A Long Time Coming by Meghan Quinn

Dini @ dinipandareads11 Comments

Special thanks to Meghan Quinn and her team for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A LONG TIME COMING, a brand new sexy, friends-to-lovers standalone romance from USA Today bestselling author Meghan Quinn, is Now Available in all formats, including the illustrated hardcover edition!

✓ Friends to Lovers
✓ Forbidden
✓ Billionaire Romance
✓ Quirky Heroine
✓ Steamy Scenes

Get ready to fall in love with this unassuming, smoking hot billionaire and his beautiful, quirky best friend he’s destined for! One-click your copy of this sexy, laugh-out-loud romance full of charm and heat today!

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Cover Reveal: A Long Time Coming by Meghan Quinn

Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

Hi, friends! I’m back with another cover reveal today for A LONG TIME COMING by Meghan Quinn! This is a brand new, standalone romance will be released on January 10th in all formats!

Don’t miss the fantastic cover below and get ready to fall in love with this sexy romance with a witty take on a romantic comedy classic, My Best Friend’s Wedding. Steamy, laugh-out-loud, and full of charm, these two best friends heat up the pages while proving true love might be right in front of you.

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Release Blitz Review: The Holly Dates by Brittainy Cherry

Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

Special thanks to the author for providing a digital ARC via Valentine PR in exchange for an honest review!

The Holly Dates
Pub Date: 07 December 2022
Genre: Contemporary (Holiday) Romance

Panda Rating:

(3.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

All she wanted for Christmas was a boyfriend for the holidays…
All he wanted was for her to take her crappy first dates elsewhere…

Quirky Holly Jackson was unlucky in love, yet her romantic heart refused to give up her search for companionship—even after her fiancé left her at the altar on Christmas Eve.

Grumpy restaurant owner Kai Kane wanted nothing to do with love after his last relationship crashed and burned. Romance was the last thing on his mind. Unfortunately for him, when an eccentric Holly kept entering his restaurant nightly with a different first date, his annoyance grew.

When Kai volunteered to help Holly find a suitor it was for one reason only: to get her out of his restaurant and on to a second date with someone at a different location.

Once Kai became Holly’s dating coach, her confidence grew.

It was all going great until Kai became increasingly jealous of the connection Holly developed with another man. The more Holly fell for Kai’s pick for her, the more overprotective he became.

Kai quickly realized that all wasn’t fair when it came to love and the holidays.

He was going to have to step up his game if he wanted a shot at the ultimate prize—being Holly’s favorite date.

*The Holly Dates is a steamy, full-length romantic comedy that will put you right in the holiday spirit.*

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Childhood abandonment and abusive parents (recounted), infidelity (on-page and recounted), manipulative gaslighting partner, body shaming (one incident on-page), cancer (former partner of one of the main characters)

📚 BUY A COPY
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