bookilydo's reviews
410 reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I think it was less a romance and more a women's fiction with a bit of a romantic element. All in all, it's mainly the story of a woman overcoming her past and putting herself out there in a really vulnerable way to help other women. It's really a story about female solidarity, as the author writes in her acknowledgements. I LOVED it from that angle. The FMC and her best friend have a great relationship. It's lovely to see. Additionally, there are some really great laugh-out-loud moments and cringe-with-the-character moments that were so fun to read. This is my third book by Mhairi McFarlane, and it redeemed my love for her after the second one was not my cup of tea. 

This book started out strong, lagged in the middle - to the point that I nearly DNF'd it, but redeemed itself in the end. The concept is interesting - a young woman adrift in life finds purpose and community around a bookstore. However, the execution nearly had me screaming. Often, things in romance don't always follow logic. On the Fated Mates podcast, Sarah MacLean explains this away as "romance reasons." It requires a bit of suspension of disbelief on the reader's part. I get it. I enjoy it, normally. However, this book and it's main character's actions go just a bit too far to suspend disbelief for me. Maybe it's because I am a nerdy accountant, but I wondered where she - a formerly unemployed person living with her parents - scraped up the money to buy the book stock she sells covertly (the "banned books" in the title). Why was no one reviewing purchasing invoices rather than just sales reports (that's the auditor in me), etc. Also, the deceit! There's much hand-wringing over it, but it just continues and continues. It didn't sit well with me that her best friend and her new boyfriend were just, you know, pretty okay with all the deceit in the end.

So - this book had some issues for me, but it was engaging and enjoyable in the end. I think others would probably not be as critical of some of those lagging middle bits as I probably was.

This book has a beautiful cover and a great story. I love historicals set outside Regency London! This one is set in 1889 Paris and features a modern Caribbean woman of business, Luz Alana, come to exhibit at the Exposition Universelle. She meets her match in Evan, the Scottish whisky-making Earl of Darnick. 

I love Evan's respect for Luz Alana - right from the start he respects her position as a business woman, her knowledge, her culture, her freedom, and her strong will. 

I'm looking forward to the other novels in this series!

I could not love this book more. Seriously. Alexa Martin write her characters in ways that make them jump off the page and feel like they could be a part of your friend group. I loved the romance between Drew and Jasper but also really loved the best friend relationship with Elsie and the burgeoning sister relationship with Daisy.

Run, don't walk, to pick this up wherever you can. I waited a good long few months to get it from my library but will definitely be buying a copy to add to my shelves.

This was a delightful story of an unconventional FMC during the Industrial Revolution in England. After inheriting some factories, she decides to buck the labor norms of the day and institute fair wages and safe labor practices for her workers. Threats to her person ensue, and her family hires an investigator/bodyguard against her wishes to keep her safe. It just so happens that they hire a famous war hero who happens to have been one of our FMC's suitors during her first season.

This is a story of second chance romance with a fun trip to luxurious Monte Carlo thrown in. The mystery of who is out to get out FMC is what throws our MCs together, but it takes a backseat to the love story.

This was such a refreshing take on romance for me. The juxtaposition of an adult film performer with a more uptight, trust-fund roommate built a fun tension. Clara's journey from deciding that she could define her own life and be happy and comfortable in her decisions was really fun to watch. That she's helped along in this journey by someone so opposite of herself (on paper, at least) was exactly what I needed to read right now. The overwhelmingly sex positive and female empowerment messages were refreshing, too 

Highly recommend this book!

I loved this story of best friends to fake dating to lovers. This author is a new read for me and this title wasn't without its issues - some sections were a little disjointed with the use of ASL and spoken conversation and the third act conflict was hasty - but I loved these characters so much. They were endearing and real and the relationship was the perfect mix of sweet and spicy. I will definitely be looking for more from this author!

My favorite part of this book was the nostalgic bits - the 90s and 2000s pop culture references and the FMC's relationship with her younger brother. I'm not a true crime fan which is a central piece of this FMC, but I have enough general knowledge and the author gave enough context clues that those references were easy to follow. What was tough to figure out was where the spark and romance between our grumpy/angsty FMC and her sunshiny sweet neighbor came into play. I just never saw it or felt it, right up through the very end. I finished the book with a very "meh" feeling.

I read another of this author's books and absolutely loved it. This one was a bit of a let-down for me. The first obstacle was that I got absolutely lost in the British-isms and the Brit pop culture references. This isn't necessarily an author problem, but I feel reasonably well read enough in Brit contemporary lit that it's never happened before, but there were many, many instances where I couldn't even use context clues to figure out how a character was feeling based on the British jargon used. The second obstacle was that it seemed to take a good third of the book for our main characters to even get together. I appreciate that we needed to see Laurie properly wallow and grieve in the end of an 18-year relationship, but still...it was a bit much. 

<Spoiler> Finally, I wanted to see Jamie fight for her in the end. He did so well fighting for her in ways she needed, throughout, that I was thoroughly let down when he left it to his best friend and Laurie to sort out. Honestly, he was a bit of a prat at the very end, and it soured me on him.

I absolutely did enjoy the female friendships in this book, the layers of depth each of the main characters had, and the realness of the character's experiences about being biracial. 

I admit to picking this book up purely for the nostalgia factor. I am firmly a product of the '90s and loved many of the nostalgic references but wished for more. This book was a delightful read with a former self-destructive rock star turned sober living home administrator and a ski mountain owner. It was filled with unexpected emotional depth and a great sensitivity in it's depiction of recovering addicts. I really enjoyed it and look forward to other books in this series.