Paradise Cove by Jenny Holiday: A Perfect Balance of Emotion, Humour, and Steam

Paradise Cove (Matchmaker Bay #2) by Jenny Holiday
Published: July 28th, 2020
Publisher: Forever
Tropes: Small town romance, friends-to-lovers, fling to forever
Heat level: 🔥🔥🔥
# of pages: 368
My rating: 5 stars
Acquired this book: From the publisher in exchange for honest consideration
Add to Goodreads
Buy: Amazon Canada || Amazon US || Indigo

Dr. Nora Walsh has just been dumped in spectacular fashion, making it the perfect time for a major life change. She figures taking over the medical practice in tiny Matchmaker Bay for a couple of years will help her get over her broken heart, and then she can head back to the big city. But when the first man she sees looks like a superhero god, she wonders if maybe there's something to small-town living after all.

Jake Ramsey also has a broken heart--one he never expects to heal. He doesn't need people anyway and is content hiding out in his secluded cottage on the beach. But after helping Nora with a medical emergency, he finds himself opening up to the witty, warmhearted doctor. Soon the local matchmakers are working overtime to pair them off, and Jake begins to wonder if his campaign to get Nora to stay is for the town or because he can't bear the thought of her leaving.

I enjoyed Mermaid Inn, the first in Jenny Holiday’s Matchmaker Bay series, and I was excited to return to this charming Canadian small town and its quirky collection of residents.

I was curious about Jake in Sawyer and Eve’s story - he was a man of few words, one who had obviously been hurt, and who mostly preferred to keep to himself. Nora was new in town, and her stay was meant to be a temporary one before moving back to Toronto for good. Neither of them was looking for any sort of romantic entanglement, which any seasoned romance reader knows will lead to lots of delicious push and pull, will-they-won’t-they, and emotional highs and lows. Paradise Cove delivered on all of that and then some.

From their adorable meet-cute to the two of them working together during a medical emergency, to Jake quietly stepping in to fix Nora’s new house and clinic without any sort of expectation or ulterior motive, these two were a joy to watch. They developed a beautiful, close friendship where they relied on each other while still maintaining their own lives and independence. They had fantastic chemistry and hilarious banter, and I loved watching them grow closer and fall for each other without realizing it.

This book was funny and super sexy, but it packed an emotional punch too. It handled grief in an open, realistic way. As someone who is unfortunately well-acquainted with grief, it really resonated with me and made me love this book even more. Jenny Holiday did a fantastic job of balancing really deep, often painful emotions with humour and sexytimes. This book had it all.

Come for the pizza and zombie movies, stay for the giggles, feels, and swoons. I can’t wait to return to Moonflower Bay in the near future, and I’ll definitely be recommending this series to fellow romance lovers in the meantime.

Read my review of Mermaid Inn

Have you read either of the Matchmaker Bay books? What's the last book you read that felt perfectly balanced?

{Bookstagram || Instagram || Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest}

*Please note I'm an Amazon affiliate, and some of the links in this review are affiliate links. All income made through affiliate sales goes directly back into maintaining Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Thank you for your support!

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London: A Bitter Disappointment

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
Published: July 7th, 2020
Publisher: Dial Press
Tropes: Reality TV
Heat level: 🔥🔥
My rating: 2.5 stars
# of pages: 432
Acquired this book: From the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest consideration
Add to Goodreads
Buy: Amazon Canada || Amazon US || Indigo 

Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers--and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?

Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition--under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She's in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful anti-fat beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That's it.

But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated. She's in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale. In this joyful, razor-sharp debut, Bea has to decide whether it might just be worth trusting these men--and herself--for a chance to live happily ever after.

I had high hopes for One to Watch - a fat Instagram-famous fashionista going on a reality dating show to find love? Sign me up! I was expecting something cute, funny, empowering, romantic, and feel-good. What I actually got was slammed in the face with a book full of fatphobia, making One to Watch incredibly difficult to read and often downright depressing.

I love when I can relate to a character, whether it’s because they’re fat or deal with mental illness or they’re nerdy or love to travel or whatever. If I can connect to a character because of common life experiences or interests, it makes it that much easier to love a book. In the case of One to Watch, my connection to Bea stirred up a lot of painful emotions. See, like Bea, I’m fat. I’ve always been fat. I’ve been made fun of, I’ve been bullied, I’ve been ridiculed, I’ve been judged. And like Bea, I’ve worried that no one will ever see past my size and love me for me. After so many rejections, both big and small, it becomes impossible to fathom that anyone would ever find you desirable or love you or be in a relationship with you. I’ve felt invisible for so long that it’s become a shield, and I saw that in Bea - her suspicion and mistrust and defensiveness around people, especially guys.

While on the one hand it was nice to see myself in Bea and to see the struggles many fat people face talked about with brutal honesty (emphasis on the 'brutal'), it was also too much at times. Bea couldn’t seem to catch a break. For most of the book, it seemed like her fears about how she was perceived and would never find love were completely founded. People treated her like shit. They judged and ridiculed her. So much of the book was Bea being relentlessly humiliated by fatphobic assholes and questioning her self-worth. At times it felt overwhelming seeing all my own fears and insecurities play out right before my eyes. 

All of this isn’t to say I didn’t like Bea, because I did. I could see myself being friends with her and I’d definitely love to get some fashion tips from her! I appreciated how strong and smart and real she was. The reality TV aspect of the book was interesting; I used to be obsessed with The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, so I enjoyed reading about the fictionalized version of a show like that with all its ups and downs, the drama, and the dream dates. I didn’t connect to any of the guys, though, and didn’t think any of them were really right for Bea. With the premise of the book being a reality dating show, the guys’ motivations weren’t clear (were they there for fame? Did they want to use the show to advance their own careers? Did they want to get a spot on one of the franchise’s spin-off shows?) and we didn’t get to know any of them well enough to know whether they suited Bea long term. Her constant doubts about them didn’t help either because I found myself mistrustful of every single one of them, waiting for the moment when she would be humiliated yet again...which always, always happened.

Overall, this book was a miss for me. There were too few triumphs for Bea after so much pain, heartache, and humiliation. I was hoping for a book that would leave me feeling hopeful and happy, not depressed and disappointed. I would have loved to see Bea have more things work out in her favour, more circumstances where she was the winner instead of the loser. She was obviously a confident, self-assured woman, but we got to see very little of that because she was constantly put in crappy situations that often left her feeling like the butt of a bad joke.

{Bookstagram || Instagram || Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest}

*Please note I'm an Amazon affiliate, and some of the links in this review are affiliate links. All income made through affiliate sales goes directly back into maintaining Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Thank you for your support!

8 2020 Rom-Com Releases That Should Be on Your TBR

*Please note: Each book has a link to Amazon, which is an affiliate link - all earnings go into the upkeep of this blog, and I truly appreciate your support - but if you have a local indie bookshop you can support, please be sure to do so!

2020 has been an emotional roller coaster of a year and we're only halfway through. It's hard not to get bogged down in fear and uncertainty when every time you turn on the news or open social media, you're bombarded by bad news, heartache, scary statistics, and hatred. Now more than ever, people need an escape - something to make them smile and laugh, feel hopeful, and help them forget the real world for a little while. For me, that escape has always been books, and lately, it's been romantic comedies in particular.

I wanted to share eight of the 2020 rom-coms I read and loved in the first half of the year. All of these were laugh-out-loud funny, clever, swoony, and full of feels. If you're a rom-com fan or if you're new to these types of books and looking for somewhere to start, you can't go wrong with any of these. And if you're looking for even more recommendations, be sure to check out my bookstagram where I share book recs daily!

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
Published: July 7th, 2020 by Sourcebooks Casablanca

Wanted:
One (fake) boyfriend
Practically perfect in every way

Luc O'Donnell is tangentially--and reluctantly--famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he's never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad's making a comeback, Luc's back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.

To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship...and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He's a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he's never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.

But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that's when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don't ever want to let them go.

Add to Goodreads || Buy
Read my review

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Published: June 23rd, 2020 by Avon

Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits—someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom.

When brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and ex-rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Now half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae—and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out, his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse?

Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf’s secretly a hopeless romantic—and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his... um, thighs.

Suddenly, the easy lay Dani dreamed of is more complex than her thesis. Has her wish backfired? Is her focus being tested? Or is the universe just waiting for her to take a hint?

Add to Goodreads || Buy
Read my review

The Little Bookshop of Love Stories by Jaimie Admans
Published: May 8th, 2020 by HQ Digital

Today is the Mondayest Monday ever. Hallie Winstone has been fired – and it wasn’t even her fault!

Having lost her job and humiliated herself in front of a whole restaurant full of diners, this is absolutely, one hundred percent, the worst day of her life.

That is until she receives an email announcing that she is the lucky winner of the Once Upon a Page Bookshop!

Add to Goodreads || Buy
Read my review 

The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez
Published: April 14th, 2020 by Forever

Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can't seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a "take me home" look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker's owner reaches out. He's a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.

Well, Sloan's not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can't deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There's no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak? 

Add to Goodreads || Buy
Read my review

Beach Read by Emily Henry
Published: May 19th, 2020 by Berkley

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They're polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

Add to Goodreads || Buy
Read my review

The Blind Date Diaries by Brenda St John Brown
Published: January 15th, 2020, self-published

Dating? Lower than a bikini wax on my list of priorities.

Blind dating? Let’s just say I’d rather have a Brazilian - and not the hot soccer-player variety.

So the fact I’ve agreed to do a blind-date feature for Pink, the magazine I work for, and write it all up Bridget Jones style means one thing - Pink is in dire straits and this is my best shot at saving my job.

Make that my only shot because date number one is with Jack Reese – the son of the publisher of Pink – and he dislikes me as much as I dislike him.

Or at least I thought he did.

Add to Goodreads || Buy
Read my review

Don't Go Stealing My Heart by Kelly Siskind
Published: April 22nd, 2020 by CD Books

Some people would call Clementine Abernathy a criminal. She considers herself a modern day Robin Hood, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Not exactly on the up-and-up, but she knows what it’s like to lose everything. Her latest heist involves swiping a priceless Van Gogh from its owner, who’s supposed to be an egotistical trust-fund brat.

Turns out Jack David is a sexy, kind-hearted man…and Clementine is in trouble. Falling for her mark would make her the World’s Dumbest Conwoman, but Jack is charmingly persistent, always singing sweet songs in her ear.

And that earth-shattering kiss? She never stood a chance.

Now she’s imagining a fresh start with this dashing man, but that means telling Jack about her past. And other nefarious sorts are after the same painting. Too soon, Clementine learns what it means to risk it all for love.

Add to Goodreads || Buy
Read my review

Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
Published: March 10th, 2020 by Berkley

Braden Mack thinks reading romance novels makes him an expert in love, but he’ll soon discover that real life is better than fiction. 

Liv Papandreas has a dream job as a sous chef at Nashville’s hottest restaurant. Too bad the celebrity chef owner is less than charming behind kitchen doors. After she catches him harassing a young hostess, she confronts him and gets fired. Liv vows revenge, but she’ll need assistance to take on the powerful chef.

Unfortunately, that means turning to Braden Mack. When Liv’s blackballed from the restaurant scene, the charismatic nightclub entrepreneur offers to help expose her ex-boss, but she is suspicious of his motives. He’ll need to call in reinforcements: the Bromance Book Club.

Inspired by the romantic suspense novel they’re reading, the book club assists Liv in setting up a sting operation to take down the chef. But they’re just as eager to help Mack figure out the way to Liv’s heart...even though she’s determined to squelch the sparks between them before she gets burned. 

Add to Goodreads || Buy
Read my review 

Have you read any of these? Do you have any rom-com recommendations?

{Bookstagram || Instagram || Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest}

The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan: An Emotional Punch With a Side of Intrigue and Scandal

The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Published: July 7th, 2020
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Royal Romance
My rating: 4.5 stars
Acquired this book: From the publisher in exchange for honest consideration
Add to Goodreads
Buy: Amazon Canada || Amazon US || Indigo

After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca “Bex” Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world’s judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance.

But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they’d placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges. Now, as old family secrets and new ones threaten to derail her new royal life, Bex has to face the emotional wreckage she and Nick left behind: with the Queen, with the world, and with Nick’s brother Freddie, whose sins may not be so easily forgotten — nor forgiven.

Since I was late to the game reading The Royal We, I was able to start The Heir Affair with all the happenings and characters fresh in my mind. After spending over a week with Bex, Nick, Freddie, and the gang, they became very real to me, with their saga feeling as if it played out like a movie in my head. Now I miss these characters and their world!

Part of why The Royal We was so fun was because it was familiar in a way. I didn’t follow Will and Kate’s relationship in the early days, but I became obsessed with the couple when they announced their engagement, so getting to read a fictionalized version of a story with many similarities to their relationship was entertaining and amusing. The Heir Affair was completely different, though; it was still a lot of fun and I was still entertained and amused, but it all felt fresh and new and much less like Will and Kate fanficiton.

We so rarely get to see what happens after the ‘and they lived happily ever after’. Most romances feature couples falling in love and, while they struggle and overcome obstacles, you know a happily ever after (or happy for now) is guaranteed. But what happens when the shine of a new relationship wears off and the honeymoon is over? What happens when the obstacles in a marriage seem insurmountable? That’s what we got in The Heir Affair. We still got the ‘behind the scenes’ of royal life/life in the public eye and how that affected every aspect of Bex and Nick’s life, but their relationship had more depth because more was at stake. While most people can’t relate to dodging paparazzi and having every aspect of their life scrutinized under a microscope, the authors managed to make it relatable. It helped that real-life issues like infertility, infidelity, secrets and lies, and mental health were woven through the plot.

While The Royal We felt mostly like fun escapism, The Heir Affair dealt with much heavier subject matter. It was still hilarious and definitely had plenty of fun, light-hearted moments, but it also made me tear up and outright cry on several occasions because Bex’s pain was so authentic. Also, as someone who has had mental health struggles for years, I appreciated the way mental health was dealt with in an honest and open way, with references to therapy and coping mechanisms. I also continued to enjoy Bex's relationship with her college friends (I want a friend like Gaz in my life - in fact, I think we all need a Gaz), the different (and healthier) dynamics between her and her sister Lacey, and Bex's relationship with various royals. There are several scenes with the Queen that had me grinning and laughing throughout. With all the heavy subject matter, this book easily could have turned depressing, but the authors struck a good balance between the parts that felt like an emotional gut-punch and the parts that were truly hilarious.

If you haven’t read The Royal We, I highly recommend picking up a copy, along with The Heir Affair. This royal saga will make you laugh, cry, rage, and fall in love. Full of surprises and lots of heart, The Heir Affair is one of the best sequels I’ve ever read, and I'm grateful to the authors for giving us the opportunity to return to this world. I know Bex, Nick, and the others will stick with me for a long time.

Read my review of The Royal We

Have you read The Heir Affair or The Royal We? Do you have a favourite sequel? Or a book you wish would get a sequel?

{Bookstagram || Instagram || Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest}

*Please note I'm an Amazon affiliate, and some of the links in this review are affiliate links. All income made through affiliate sales goes directly back into maintaining Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Thank you for your support!

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan: A Royally Good Romance

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Published: April 7th, 2015
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Royal Romance
# of pages: 558 (Mass Market Paperback)
My rating: 5 stars
Acquired this book: Won on Instagram
Add to Goodreads
Buy: Amazon Canada || Amazon US || Indigo

American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.

Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick's sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he's fated to become.

Which is how she gets into trouble.

Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she's sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.

The Royal We has been on my radar since 2015. I kept saying I would read it, but I always put it off, and after all these years I have to admit the hype had me nervous to finally start. The hype was justified, though, and I loved this book for so many reasons.

I’ve been a ‘royal watcher’ since I was a child. Like many, I adored Princess Diana, and I mourned with the world when she died. I’m halfway between Princes William and Harry age-wise, and having lost a parent myself just a few years before, watching them publicly grieve made me feel a strong connection to them. I paid slightly less attention to them as I grew up, but Will and Kate’s engagement rekindled my interest. The fact The Royal We is basically Will and Kate fanfiction was a huge draw for me, and it didn’t disappoint.

My favourite part of the book was the beginning, when Bex and Nick were in Oxford, largely in their own little world, separate from the duties and responsibilities of Nick’s usual life as a prince who would one day be king. I enjoyed watching them become friends and then watching as their friendship blossomed into something more. This part of the book was the most relatable - watching them fall in love, watching Bex make new friends, adjust to life in England, miss her family back home, and basically have a normal college experience except for the fact she was friends with a prince.

I did thoroughly enjoy the royal aspect of the book too. You could feel Bex’s frustration and pain at not being able to go public with Nick while still having to deal with the press. I loved her friendship with Nick’s brother Freddie (the ginger-haired spare who was known for being a partying playboy...hmm, I wonder who he was based on?), and I appreciated the complexities of her relationship with her twin sister, Lacey. One of the things that really stuck with me is just how pervasive the media is. I don’t think I ever quite grasped the lengths people will go to for a story or a photo of a member of the royal family (or any celebrity). I’ve always been aware of the gossip - I make a point to scan the ludicrous headlines of the tabloids in the grocery store waiting line, just for giggles - but I try not to believe anything unless it comes from an official source. Many people don’t feel the same way, though, and will treat any and every crumb of gossip as fact, even if it’s wildly false. This book really makes you think about how things can be twisted and turned for the sake of a headline, how relationships can be damaged or ruined, and the strain it puts on the people who aren’t able to step outside their door without having it turned into a story.

Royal romances can be hit or miss for me, but this one knocked it out of the park. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, romantic, and it pulls at your heartstrings. Part of me regrets waiting so long to read it, while the other part of me is grateful I let the hype monster keep me away for so long because it meant I got to start the sequel, The Heir Affair, immediately and spend more time with these characters who came to mean so much to me.

Have you read The Royal We? Do you like royal romances? Have a favourite?

{Bookstagram || Instagram || Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest}

*Please note I'm an Amazon affiliate, and some of the links in this review are affiliate links. All income made through affiliate sales goes directly back into maintaining Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Thank you for your support!