ARC Review: In A Rush by Kate Canterbary

February 3, 2025February 2, 2025 Dini @ dinipandareads4 Comments

Special thanks to the author and her team for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In A Rush
Publication Date: 4 February 2025
Genre: Adult Romance

Panda Rating:

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📖 SYNOPSIS

What’s better than a revenge date?
A revenge husband.

Pro quarterback Ryan Ralston has always known two things.
First, he’s desperately in love with his best friend Emme Ahlborg.
Second–and most importantly–he still has no idea how to tell her.

The marriage pact they made in their senior yearbook was the closest he ever came.
Years passed and Emme forgot about their promise.
Ryan never did, especially not on his thirtieth birthday.

Emme can’t catch a break. Always unlucky in love, her cheating ex is a groomsman in her best friend’s wedding—and there’s no way she’s showing up alone.

Ryan offers her the one thing better than a wedding date: a revenge husband. And he’s not just any fake husband but the NFL’s brightest star…and in need of serious reputation rehab.

Playing the part of the happy couple comes easy and soon enough, the lines between real and fake blur. They disappear altogether when there’s just one bed.

All Ryan has to do is save Emme from her ex, find her step-sister an internship, and get his wife to fall in love with him—or fumble the one thing he’s ever wanted: her heart.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

From the author: incidences and discussion of infidelity, incidence of body shaming, parental estrangement, parental divorce, brief mention of parental death (ALS), chronic illness (main character—endometriosis).

Over the years, Kate Canterbary has become one of my favourite go-to romance authors. Now when I pick up one of her books, I know it’ll be a great time.

TL;DR: Reading In A Rush felt like receiving a warm and welcoming hug from an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while and I loved Ryan and Emme! Their chemistry was a simmering explosion just waiting to happen, their friend groups were hilarious, their families entertaining (but also very messed up, at least on Emme’s side) and overall, this was the perfect romantic escape read from the mess of reality. I was all for Ryan’s peak Wife Guy energy that had me swooning all over the place (no joke)! I’m already excited to get more books in the Friendship series (please bless us, KC!).

ARC Review: Take the Lead by Jaqueline Snowe

June 27, 2022October 10, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads13 Comments

Special thanks to Jaqueline Snowe for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Goodreads: Take the Lead (Central State #3)
Published: 28 June 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

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Falling for my fake girlfriend was never part of the plan…
Daniella Laughlin might seem put together in her dance gear and captainship, but on the inside, she’s figuring out who she is without her mom’s beauty pageant influence. Constantly being critiqued and set up by her mom, she dreads going home for the holidays.

Enter her best friend’s older brother, hockey captain Gabriel Van Helsing. Dani and Gabe have been friends for two decades, and sure, she’s harbored a secret crush on him forever, but she never acted on it because his sister would’ve killed her. Gabe’s a player, on and off the ice, and the longest relationship he’s had is with his hockey stick. He offers to drive her home for Thanksgiving break and proposes the most bonkers idea—they should fake date until New Year’s to get her mom to leave her alone.

Gabe might wear the C on the ice, but he’s always been passive. Here for a good time, never rocking the boat. But after his latest hookup wouldn’t take a hint, he uses Daniella’s predicament for the perfect solution: if he was unavailable, people would leave him alone.

Things begin easily with their friendship, but with every touch and fake kiss, Daniella can’t hide her feelings anymore. And for Gabe, who sets deadlines for every fling he’s ever had, he struggles to fight for what he wants. When their timeline is up, Daniella’s insecurities clash with Gabe’s inability to commit. For two people terrified to take a chance, they must risk their decade-long friendship for a shot at love.

ARC Review: Sweeter Than Honey by Joy Avery

June 25, 2022September 10, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads2 Comments

Special thanks to Montlake for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Goodreads: Sweeter Than Honey (Honey Hill #2)
Publisher: Montlake
Published: 28 June 2022
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

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A talented baker and a small-town sheriff forced into a fake relationship decide whether to take a chance on love in this delectable romance from Joy Avery.

Baker extraordinaire Rylee Harris has a recipe for everything—except love. It’s been five years since she lost her husband, but romance is still a struggle for Rylee. In her small hamlet of Honey Hill, North Carolina, Rylee knows she’ll be the talk of the town when she finds someone new.

To ease her mother’s worries about her love life, Rylee impulsively invents a fake relationship with the only man who’s caught her eye: the town sheriff, Canten Barnes. It’s supposed to be a secret, but secrets don’t last long in Honey Hill. One bit of gossip leads to another, and soon the whole town thinks Rylee and Canten are an item.

As Rylee and Canten embark on a make-believe relationship to save face, they slowly realize that their feelings for each other aren’t fake at all. Can Rylee and Canten keep the charade going—or will the town’s prized baker and respected lawman take a real chance on love?

#TopTenTuesday: Romances with my Favourite Tropes!

March 8, 2022August 11, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads28 Comments

So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s prompt is: Books With Your Favorite Trope/Theme (Submitted by Allona @ Rain Check & Read and Sara Beth @ Life, Love, Writing)

I mostly read romance these days so it’s no surprise that this list will focus on my favourite romance tropes! Honestly, there are so many that I love but I decided to focus today on hate to love/enemies to lovers/rivals to lovers and friends to lovers! I have a feeling the enemies to lovers trope will be a very popular pick today… 😉

Book Review: In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

December 17, 2021August 13, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads8 Comments

Goodreads: In a Holidaze
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 06 October 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

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One Christmas wish, two brothers, and a lifetime of hope are on the line for hapless Maelyn Jones in In a Holidaze, the quintessential holiday romantic novel by Christina Lauren, the New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.

But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.

The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.

Book Review: Captain Heartbreaker by Brighton Walsh

December 2, 2021August 13, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads15 Comments

Check out my review for the prequel novella Pact with a Heartbreaker!

Goodreads: Captain Heartbreaker (Havenbrook #4)
Publisher: Bright Publishing
Published: 31 March 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

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Adventure’s in Captain Hudson Miller’s blood. For the past ten years, he’s spent his days in the sky, serving as a pilot for the Army. But where adventure called him away, something—someone—else is calling him home. On post-deployment leave, he escapes to the one place he hasn’t been since he enlisted: Havenbrook, Mississippi. Hometown of his momma’s peach cobbler, enough memories to last a lifetime, and the only girl who ever left an imprint on his heart.

Mackenna Haven thought she’d have her life figured out by now. Instead, she’s a twenty-seven-year-old college dropout who works at her soon-to-be brother-in-law’s bar and lives on her parents’ land. No husband or kids to her name. Not even a consistent weekend booty call. She’s been pretending she’s happy working dead-end jobs in an even deader-end town, but she can’t stop thinking she was meant for more than this.

After a childhood as best friends and a single weekend exploring more, Mackenna and Hudson haven’t seen each other in ten years. But they made a pact that long ago weekend, and Hudson’s coming to make good on his promise. Except she has no interest in it or him. After all, he walked away from her once already, and she’s not interested in opening her heart and allowing him a second chance at destruction.

Mini ‘Friends-to-Lovers’ Reviews: Guarding Temptation & Pact With A Heartbreaker

November 29, 2021November 29, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

Goodreads: Guarding Temptation
Publisher: Nixon House
Published: 22 April 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

Protective. Obsessive. And rough around the edges.

James Foster knows the rules: you don’t fall for your best friend’s little sister. Nina is too young, too reckless, and too busy saving the world to be tied down by the commitment he craves.
If he was smart, he’d stop wanting her. But she’s the one thing on earth James just can’t quit.

Fierce. Principled. And impossible to resist.

Political campaigner Nina Chapman is sick of one-time things. She wants forever, and she wants it with her brother’s best friend—but James still sees her as a child to be coddled.
So when a controversial article lands Nina in hot water, she finds herself under his protection and under his roof. It’s a shame James doesn’t want her in his bed, too.
…Or does he?

Book Review: The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert

November 22, 2021August 13, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads6 Comments

Goodreads: The Roommate Risk
Publisher: Nixon House
Published: 04 May 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

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Jasmine Allen believes in bad luck, great wine, and the seductive power of a stiletto heel. What she doesn’t believe in is love. Her life is perfect without all that romance rubbish—until a plumbing disaster screws everything up and leaves Jas homeless. Luckily, she has someone to turn to: her best friend Rahul.

For seven years, Rahul Khan has followed three simple rules.
* Don’t touch Jasmine if you can help it.
* Don’t look at her arse in that skirt.
* And don’t ever—ever—tell her you love her.
He should’ve added another rule: Do not, under any circumstances, let Jas move into your house.

Now Rahul is living with the friend he can’t have, and it’s decimating his control. He knows their shared dinners aren’t dates, their late-night kisses are a mistake, and the tenderness in Jasmine’s gaze is only temporary. One wrong word could send his skittish best friend running.
So why is he tempted to risk it all?

This book was previously published as Wanna Bet?. The Roommate Risk is a steamy, standalone, diverse romance. This book is 75,000 words of fluff, angst, and extreme pleasure, with NO cliffhangers, NO cheating, and a guaranteed HEA. Please be aware: this story contains themes of parental neglect and abandonment, parental death, and alcohol dependence that could trigger certain audiences.

ARC Review: When Sparks Fly by Helena Hunting

September 9, 2021June 23, 2021 Dini @ dinipandareads13 Comments

Special thanks to Sara at St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads: When Sparks Fly
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publish Date: 21 September 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

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Running the Spark House, a hotel/event space that has been in her family for years, has been Avery Spark’s lifelong dream. After years of working hard and making personal sacrifices, Avery and her two younger sisters have turned the Spark House into the premier destination in Colorado Springs. Avery is living her best life—she works with her sisters and loves every minute of it, she has a great group of friends, and she lives in a fantastic condo with her best friend Declan. She might not have any love in her life, but she’s happy.

But everything comes to a screeching halt when Avery is in a car accident, leaving her immobile for weeks. After nearly losing Avery, Declan insists that he will be the one to take care of her while she recovers. However, as Declan becomes Avery’s caretaker, lines begin to blur.

Avery and Declan have been best friends since college and always had an attraction to one another, but when she ended up dating his best friend, Sam, they successfully stamped down any feelings they may have ever had for one another. Now, as Declan and Avery spend more time together, they each begin to wonder what would’ve happened if she’d dated him instead of Sam. What starts as a friend helping out another friend turns into foreplay and, before they realize it, they recognize how deeply they care for one another. But when things get serious their past threatens to destroy everything they have built.

TL;DR: Sadly, sparks didn’t exactly fly for me with this book. There were definitely some cute fluffy moments between Avery and Declan and I enjoyed reading about the Avery and her sisters running Spark House, plus I appreciated that Hunt emphasised the importance of seeking mental health support by seeing a therapist. Ultimately though, the writing felt stilted and repetitive, and I was unable to really connect with the characters or feel invested in their romance. I’m in the minority though but it was still a quick and easy read and would be a good palate cleanser between genres.

Can’t Wait Wednesday + Cover Reveal: Love Thy Neighbor by Teagan Hunter

November 25, 2020November 29, 2020 Dini @ dinipandareads9 Comments

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Goodreads: Love Thy Neighbor (Roommate Romps #2)
Publication Date: 10 December 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Don’t fall for your roommate…especially when he’s your best friend.

Cooper Bennett is my best friend.
That’s all he is and all he ever will be.
Nothing will change that.

Accidentally seeing him naked? Please. So not a big deal.
Having less-than-tame thoughts? I mean, have you seen this guy? Who could blame me?
Kissing him? It was a one-time mistake, and it will not be repeated.
Falling into bed with him? Uh-oh…

It’s fine. We’re fine.
We’re Caroline and Cooper. Best friends until the end. Nothing has ever come our way that we couldn’t survive together.
Surely, we can handle this too…

So… I’m not the biggest fan of romance covers where the men/women are half-naked or baring a lot of skin but let’s take a moment to appreciate this one because I do quite like it! LOL 😉 I actually quite dig the covers for Hunter’s Roommate Romps series. They give the impression of a fun, steamy read and well, that’s pretty on-the-mark for Hunter’s books! 😍 Plus, I’m a fan of the friends-to-lovers trope and I remember meeting these two in book one and I already recognised the suppressed chemistry there, so I’m excited to dive into their story! You know when they say “it’s fine” that it’s definitely not fine and it’s going to be a fun time getting to actually being fine again 😂