Romance – Page 6 – Baltimore Bibliophile

Title: The Unhoneymooners

Author: Christina Lauren

Publisher: Gallery Books

Publication date: May 14th, 2019

400 pages

5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of… lucky.

Review

I can appreciate my body in a bikini and still want to set fire to the patriarchy.
christina lauren, the unhoneymooners

Friends, I officially love Christina Lauren and their books. This is my first read from the writing duo, but I am an auto buyer for life now. I really can’t wait to read more from them. I picked this up on a whim in Rehoboth Beach while browsing an independent book store – mostly because it was used and on sale. I am SO GLAD I DID!

The Unhoneymooners tracks Olive, a quirky and loud woman who has no shame or filter. This makes Ethan, our other MC, uncomfortable because he isn’t sure how to handle her. Olive’s twin sister is getting married to Ethan’s younger brother, so they are forced to spend time together. When everyone but them gets sick at the wedding, they are forced into taking the honeymoon together so it doesn’t go to waste. They try so hard to stay away from each other, but sometimes differences have a way of attracting…

Y’allll Olive is my love. If Ethan didn’t end up with her, I totally would have. Christina Lauren manages to really craft well-rounded characters in stand-alone novels, which is impressive to me and lends to a better read. I really understood Olive’s point of view and where she was coming from – but same with Ethan. Their romance was easy to read and easy to love.

This is a total beach read. If you have this on your TBR, either read it immediately (because hello, it’s amazing) or save if for the beach vacation you’re dreaming about now in the dead of winter. I personally read this on my couch, but would have loved to be toes in the water, ass in the sand with it and a fruity drink – doesn’t help that most of it is set in Hawaii!!

Please read this is you love contemporary romance! Happy reading, bookish friends! 🙂

Title: Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered #1)

Author: Tessa Bailey

Publisher: Avon Publishing

Publication Date: June 11, 2019

400 pages

5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

New York Times bestseller Tessa Bailey launches a super sexy new series featuring the blue collar men who work for a HGTV-esq house flipping business.

After an injury ends Travis Ford’s major league baseball career, he returns home to start over. He just wants to hammer out his frustrations at his new construction gig and forget all about his glory days. But he can’t even walk through town without someone recapping his greatest hits. Or making a joke about his… bat. And then there’s Georgie, his buddy’s little sister, who is definitely not a kid anymore.

Georgette Castle has crushed on her older brother’s best friend for years. The grumpy, bear of a man working for her family’s house flipping business is a far cry from the charming sports star she used to know. But a moody scowl doesn’t scare her and Georgie’s determined to show Travis he’s more than a pretty face and a batting average, even if it means putting her feelings aside to be “just friends.”

Travis wants to brood in peace. But the girl he used to tease is now a funny, full-of-life woman who makes him feel whole again. And he wants her. So damn bad. Except Georgie’s off limits and he knows he can’t give her what she deserves. But she’s becoming the air he breathes and Travis can’t stay away, no matter how hard he tries…

Review

Maybe it was the way she only reached his shoulder that sent protectiveness surging up to his jugular, while somehow—at the very same time—he wanted to seek refuge in her.
Fix Her up, tessa bailey

Okay, so I have been wanting this book pretty much since the day it came out because I saw so many people loved it on bookstagram. I was wandering around Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, DE and thought it was the perfect time to buy it. Knock one off my to buy list while supporting a local business. BEST. IDEA. EVER. I picked it up right before we were driving back to Baltimore so I had the WHOLE drive to read it. I just about finished it before we got home, but once we unloaded the car I dove right back in! Finished it all up in one day.

I fell in love with Georgie’s character within the first few pages. She was such a complex character (which frankly isn’t something you see much from smutty romance novels) who knew what she wanted. She had the best banter with Travis, which is something I could never do with the person I had been in love with forever. It was amazing to see her progression through the story and with Travis.

Travis was a great character too. He was just coming off a failed baseball career, living in his home town, living down his Two Bats nickname that he got from sleeping with everyone in America apparently. He also had this deeply sad part of him and believes he deserves the worst in the world. His type of character is my favorite in romance novels.

The side characters were good and obviously served their purpose in getting Georgie and Travis to the ending. The plot moved along well and hit all those Romance Novel check boxes. I don’t read Romance or Adult Contemporary super often, more just as a palate cleanser after the barrage of YA Fantasy I throw at my brain. But when I do, there are certain aspects I look for and this book had all of them.

Also, the smut. I mean come on, it had to be discussed right? Fix Her Up had a good level of smutty content without being too in your face, Fifty Shades style. There was mostly anticipation to the deed, which was honestly the best part. There’s this scene during a family dinner party that I needed to read again, for scientific purposes of course ;).

This book is the start of what appears to be a series where Fix Her Up’s side character become the main character and looks at their love story. Rosie and Dominic are up next in Love Her Or Lose Her, publishing in early 2020. You bet I’m picking up my copy!

Happy reading, bookish friends 🙂