Romance Roundup: June Edition
Welcome to “Romance Roundup”where I share mini reviews of 3-4 romance novels that I’ve read recently. This month’s edition includes stories of first loves from childhood, the pressure of royalty, and a couple that meets in real life after an online relationship. Hope you enjoy these reviews!
Swear on This Life
Synopsis: When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J.Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.
Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.
That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.
The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction? (description from Goodreads)
Review:
Swear on This Life is a contemporary novel about a woman who finds out her first love wrote a book about their past. Emiline, our narrator, is aspiring writer who is stuck in her life. She has extreme writer’s block, doesn’t really feel a connection in her current relationship, and she is unsure of the direction she should take in her life. Revisiting her past helps her to move on and move forward.
This is such a sweet book with a happily ever after, but it takes a lot of soul-searching for Emiline to get to that point. At first the transition between the current day and book were jarring, but this issue smoothed out itself out after the first initial chapters. I loved the overall plot and the way the Emiline developed over the course of the book, and when the reader finally realizes why J. Colby wrote the book for her, my heart practically melted.
Overall this is an engrossing and easy to read, but there is a lot to digest at times considering the harsh condition of Emiline’s childhood (it was heartbreaking). Overall this was such a good contemporary read and I will check out Carlino’s other books.
Final Verdict:
Hold Me (Cyclone Book 2)
Synopsis: Jay na Thalang is a demanding, driven genius. He doesn’t know how to stop or even slow down. The instant he lays eyes on Maria Lopez, he knows that she is a sexy distraction he can’t afford. He’s done his best to keep her at arm’s length, and he’s succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
Maria has always been cautious. Now that her once-tiny, apocalypse-centered blog is hitting the mainstream, she’s even more careful about preserving her online anonymity. She hasn’t sent so much as a picture to the commenter she’s interacted with for eighteen months—not even after emails, hour-long chats, and a friendship that is slowly turning into more. Maybe one day, they’ll meet and see what happens.
But unbeknownst to them both, Jay is Maria’s commenter. They’ve already met. They already hate each other. And two determined enemies are about to discover that they’ve been secretly falling in love… (description from Goodreads)
Book Review:
I have always wanted to read books by this author and I was not disappointed by this book! Hold Me is a character driven story of two people who know each other from online conversations, but when they meet in person they can’t stand one another.
Maria is transgender (first book I’ve read where the main character is trans) and has a job in STEM (which is somewhat of a rarity in romance novels, please rec some more book with characters in STEM!). She’s smart and sexy, but is also very vulnerable which is revealed through her anxiety issues and her past. Jay (bisexual MC) is a know it all/arrogant person, but he is also vulnerable like Maria. He comes from a highly successful background but feels like he’s never good enough for family and he is still coping with the death of his brother. Though Jay and Maria hate each other the grow to love one another after getting past their prejudices.
I thought the characters are well-developed, as Milan gives Maria and Jay solid back story explanation. I enjoyed the constant switching of POVs and getting to see both sides of the story from each character and I liked how their online chats that are embedded into the text. Though it’s not an own voices novel, I liked the positive representation of diverse/multicultural, LGBT characters and the fact that there is STEM embedded in a romance novel
Though I haven’t read the other books in the series I could still read it as a standalone. I’m definitely going to check out the other books in the series as well as Milan’s other historical fiction works!
Final Verdict:
Royally Screwed (Royally Series)
Synopsis: Nicholas Arthur Frederick Edward Pembrook, Crowned Prince of Wessco, aka His Royal Hotness, is wickedly charming, devastatingly handsome, and unabashedly arrogant; hard not to be when people are constantly bowing down to you.
Then, one snowy night in Manhattan, the prince meets a dark haired beauty who doesn’t bow down. Instead, she throws a pie in his face.
Nicholas wants to find out if she tastes as good as her pie, and this heir apparent is used to getting what he wants.
Dating a prince isn’t what waitress Olivia Hammond ever imagined it would be.
There’s a disapproving queen, a wildly inappropriate spare heir, relentless paparazzi, and brutal public scrutiny. While they’ve traded in horse drawn carriages for Rolls Royces, and haven’t chopped anyone’s head off lately, the royals are far from accepting of this commoner.
But to Olivia, Nicholas is worth it.
Nicholas grew up with the whole world watching, and now Marriage Watch is in full force. In the end, Nicholas has to decide who he is and, more importantly, who he wants to be: a King… or the man who gets to love Olivia forever. (description from Goodreads)
Book Review:
Royally Screwed is a somewhat predictable romance novel, chock full of many steamy moments with a happily ever after. The book follows a waitress who meets an arrogant prince and upon their first meeting they butt heads. The two have very different personalities, but as soon as things simmer down they find they have a lot in common with each other.
Oliva and Nicholas relationship moves pretty fast, but they still take the time to really know each other, understand their pasts and backgrounds, and then move forward to the future. Nicholas was a such a jackass in the beginning of the book that it was such a turnoff. I didn’t think I would like him at but least he owns up and apologizes for his initial behavior, but I guess I still wasn’t completely sold on his character. Olivia has such a kind heart, but she has a tendency to always do stuff for others, but never takes time for herself. Her character besides a few others were the only ones I really liked.
All in all, I liked the story. It was fun and the characters were somewhat enjoyable. I’m not sure if I would continue with the series though.
Final Verdict:
What romance novels have you read lately? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. If you have any recommendations feel free (particularly #ownvoices novels) to share those as well. 🙂
*Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links!
Okay, this is a very predictable (for me) recommendation, but if you want more books about people in STEM professions, Ruby Lang has a series of three contemporary romances whose heroines are all doctors. They’re really sweet and funny, I recommend them all over the place and have therefore almost certainly told you about them before. :p
I saw you review one of those books in your romance review posts a while back and bought that exact series by Lang. I think its called the Practice Perfect series? I can’t wait to read them! Thanks for your suggestion, if you come up with any more recs please feel free to send them to me. 🙂