Susan’s Book Blog

 Happy Publication Day to Jacqueline Firkins and her newest work, Marlowe Banks Redesigned .  Check out my original review of Marlowe Banks here and then get your copy! 

Marlowe Banks, Redesigned by Jacqueline Firkins Pub date: Oct 25, 2022 // ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ // Marlowe Banks is an overworked, under appreciated production assistant on a TV show filming in LA with dreams of one day becoming a costume designer. She has a run-in with grumpy actor Angus on set and things don’t really get off on the right foot. They eventually get to know each other through working together but it takes extra work for Marlowe to excavate the real Angus Gordon from all the publicity she reads about him in magazines and online.  Even though this is a romance, the main story arc of the book is more about Marlowe’s journey in discovering who she is, what she wants in life, and figuring out how she’s going to get it. It has more emotional depth than a typical romcom and explores many important topics.  Aspects of the book remind me a little of Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard and Ava Wilder’s How To Fake It in Hollywood, both of which I loved. The blurb totally sold me o...

  So This is Christmas   by Jenny Holiday Pub date 10/4/2022   Avon/ Harper Collins 🏔 3.5 stars out of 5 🏔 ✨ 🏰 👑 🎿🛷❄️🎄🎅🏻✨ Matteo Benz has spent his life serving at the pleasure of the Eldovian crown. His work is his life and his life, well…he doesn’t have much of one. When he is tasked to aid a management consultant who has been flown in to help straighten out the king’s affairs, he is instantly disturbed by her brash American manner—as well by an inconvenient attraction to the brainy beauty. Cara Delaney is in Eldovia to help clean up the king’s financial affairs, but soon finds herself at odds with the very proper Mr. Benz. As intrigued by his good looks as she is annoyed by his dedication to tradition for its own sake, she slowly begins to see the real man behind the royal throne. As they work together to return Eldovia to its former glory during the country’s magical Christmas season, Matteo discovers he is falling hopelessly in love with the unconventional A...

Paris Daillencourt Is About To Crumble by Alexis Hall Pub Date: Nov 1, 2022 🍰  3.5 stars out of 5 🍰   Despite having been warned that this book wasn’t a romance or a romcom (those are debatable) and that the anxiety rep was intense, I still feel underprepared for what this book was. (Not that I even *know* what it was.) I feel almost unable to assess it properly after just one read-through. My opinion of it changed drastically several times while reading as I adjusted and readjusted my expectations. I’m not sure I can give a coherent or meaningful opinion on it right now. I’m also not sure I want to reread it so…  🤷🏻‍♀️  But I’ll do my best to come up with a review that says more than “…it was okay?”  The TV show characters are all back and even more enjoyable than the first go-round (in Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake), in my opinion. The on-set animosity between host Grace Forsythe and producer Jennifer Hallett is great. Not really sure why but I enjoyed th...

  Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade Pub date: Nov 15, 2022 🇸🇪 4.5 stars out of 5 🇸🇪  This one starts out with a bang. (Insert juvenile snickering.) In the very first scene, Peter and Maria are indulging in what she thinks is going to be a one-night stand and what he’s hoping could turn into more. But she takes off before he wakes up. The next day they unexpectedly meet up again when they arrive at their auditions for the TV show Gods of the Gates. And of course they’re both cast for the roles they auditioned for. Roles that will require them to play opposite one another. As a couple. On an island. For a role on a show that’s guaranteed to run for several years. YIKES. That’s awkward. The way this plays out wasn’t at all what I’d expected. The story is told mostly chronologically but with some jumps backward here and there. The six years Peter and Maria spend working together on the show just breeze by in the first 30% of the book. It’s only after that the romance really begins. ...

 It’s Pub Day for THREE amazing titles! The Godparent Trap by Rachel Van Dyken Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee The Bodyguard by Katherine Center  I loved each of these books very much - some of my favorites of the year - and highly recommend them all. The links to my original reviews of them are above - click the titles and check them out!  Let me know what you think if you pick them up!

The Godparent Trap by Rachel Van Dyken Pub Date: July 19, 2022 Forever/Grand Central // 4 🦋 out of 5 //  I loved this so much! It was hilarious, adorable, romantic, heart breaking, and heart-warming. Rip and Colby have both lost their best friends (Rip’s sister Monica and her husband Brooks) in a tragic accident and they are committed to raising the two small children that were left behind. Rip and Colby do their best to become replacement parents for their friends’ kids and it’s both heart-rending and heart-warming to watch them give their all to these sweet children who are barely old enough to understand what’s going on. But they aren’t a couple, can barely stand each other, and worse, they deal with their grief in very different ways. They have opposite emotional reactions and there is growing resentment on both sides because of it.  Van Dyken writes with humor but doesn’t skimp on the emotional core. The way she simultaneously blends heartbreak and laugh-out-loud funny i...

The Sizzle Paradox  by Lily Menon Pub Date June 28, 2022 👩🏼‍🏫 3.5 stars out of 5 👨🏾‍🏫 Cute, fairly standard, run-of-the-mill contemporary romcom. The writing is a little cheesy and so is the basic premise but it’s also charming and the love story is sweet. I was definitely rooting for Lyric and Kian.  Lyric and Kian are a couple of Columbia University grad students, roommates, and long-time friends. Lyric wants to figure out why none of her romantic relationships (in all her many, many 24 years of life) have worked out. She evaluates her dates like Sheldon Cooper ranks Star Trek characters: logically, ruthlessly, and methodically using a scale she made up herself. It’s called The Sizzle Paradox Scale. It’s also what she is working on for her doctorate: analyzing data collected from happy couples to determine what makes their relationships work.  She decides to enlist the help of her never-without-a-partner BFF Kian. A fake dating/tutoring scheme is initiated. Shenan...

  Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez Published April 19, 2022 by Forever/Grand Central Publishing 5 stars out of 5 After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable. While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people. Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet ...

Just a reminder that this beauty is published TODAY!! Buy it, borrow it, request it at your local library.  (Read my review  HERE! ) So This is Ever After by F.T. Lukens ❦  ❦  ❦ Carry On meets Arthurian legend in this funny, subversive young adult fantasy about what happens after the chosen one wins the kingdom and has to get married to keep it…and to stay alive. Arek hadn’t thought much about what would happen after he completed the prophecy that said he was destined to save the Kingdom of Ere from its evil ruler. So now that he’s finally managed to (somewhat clumsily) behead the evil king (turns out magical swords yanked from bogs don’t come pre-sharpened), he and his rag-tag group of quest companions are at a bit of a loss for what to do next. As a temporary safeguard, Arek’s best friend and mage, Matt, convinces him to assume the throne until the true heir can be rescued from her tower. Except that she’s dead. Now Arek is stuck as king, a role that comes with a ...

  Look for these updates on the blog:  1. Early Review of The Suite Spot , Trish Doller’s amazing follow-up to Float Plan. (Pub date: Mar 8, 2022) 2. Something Fabulous, Alexis   Hall’s new queer HR, drops TOMORROW January 25! Review coming soon. 3. Weather Girl (Jan. 11) Rachel Lynn Solomon’s romcom about a weather reporter and a single dad sports reporter. Review coming soon!

How to Hate Love Your Neighbor   by Sophie Sullivan Pub Date Jan 18, 2022 The setting and premise were enough to hook me on this one. I loved seeing two characters with interesting professions working on home renovation and design projects - it was like watching my favorite HGTV home reno show. And I thought the rivals/enemies-to-lovers aspect was done well. (I hate when they are needlessly vicious to one another and that wasn’t the case here.) I would call them more rivals than enemies though. Noah is a real estate developer (sweet but with overprivileged douchebag vibes because of course) who is looking to buy the home next door - the home Grace inherits and moves into. Grace is a soon-to-be design school grad and ends up renovating her new neighbor Noah’s home, and romcom shenanigans ensue. There's plenty to like about the book including Noah’s friend Josh; I thought he was a good side character. I liked, too, that Noah and Grace were in constant close proximity and worked toge...

  🏰🏰🏰🏰✨ 4.5 castles out of 5 I loved this, it was so much fun! This was one of those books where I knew it was going to be a favorite even before the first chapter was over. The writing is sharp and the characters are quickly and fully realized. Max and Dani are amazing and I loved their banter and the rapport they have. Dani’s lack of awe for Max’s position had me cracking up. (And Max liked it too which made me like him even more.) A couple of my favorite things from the book: The Dirty Dancing lifts ‘Max Maximus’ & ‘Max Minimus’ “Dukish casual” The MC’s BFFs who are loving and supportive but don’t let them get away with any bullshit This book surprised me because the premise is super Hallmark fairytale Christmas movie, which is not normally my thing, but somehow it felt thoroughly grounded in real life with plenty of depth. I did feel like a subplot involving Max’s brother was left a little… unresolved. But overall it is fun and funny and delightful and adorable and supe...

  This book should be called  Romeo & Juliet Get a Happy Ending This book is amazing. I smiled and laughed and squeed my way through the entire thing. I may have even cried once or twice. I have nothing to nitpick about it. Absolutely nothing. The premise was unique and the plot was compelling. The characters were fantastic from top to bottom. The dialogue is some of the best I’ve read. The pacing was perfection. And it totally puts the “com” in “rom-com”. It was SO funny I was dying.  I’m in awe of how Abby Jimenez makes writing characters with such depth and humanity look so effortless. So much of the book is normal romcom romance and angst and relationship drama but she elevates the whole genre when she works in topics like privilege, status, grace, kindness, and integrity.  It also deals with the heavy topics of emotional abuse and domestic violence in a smart and sensitive way.   That’s part of what makes this book so special.   This is a dual pers...

  I got to read the first four chapters of the upcoming Abby Jimenez book Part of Your World  (pub date Apr 2022) on NetGalley tonight and I was super impressed. I’ve never read anything by Abby Jimenez before (I know, shock, gasp ) and now I feel like I definitely need to explore her back catalog now. Her writing is so good! The pace of this one is snappy and the characters (Alexis and Daniel) are interesting and hilarious and smart and very easy to like. I liked everything about what I read. I’m in. I will definitely be preordering this one.