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From the publisher:

A thirty-year-old woman retraces her gap year through Ireland, France, and Italy to find love—and herself—in this hilarious and heartfelt novel.

It’s been seven years since Chelsea Martin embarked on her yearlong postcollege European adventure. Since then, she’s lost her mother to cancer and watched her sister marry twice, while Chelsea’s thrown herself into work, becoming one of the most talented fundraisers for the American Cancer Coalition, and with the exception of one annoyingly competent coworker, Jason Knightley, her status as most successful moneymaker is unquestioned.

When her introverted mathematician father announces he’s getting remarried, Chelsea is forced to acknowledge that her life stopped after her mother died and that the last time she can remember being happy, in love, or enjoying her life was on her year abroad. Inspired to retrace her steps—to find Colin in Ireland, Jean Claude in France, and Marcelino in Italy—Chelsea hopes that one of these three men who stole her heart so many years ago can help her find it again. 

From the start of her journey nothing goes as planned, but as Chelsea reconnects with her old self, she also finds love in the very last place she expected.

One of Popsugar’s Best New Books for Summer 2020

I recently read this author’s newest book, Wait for It, which I liked a lot so I poked around my Kindle and found this book that somehow I missed last year. Have I mentioned that I have over 5000 books on my Kindle? So easy for stuff to get lost. I try and keep it organized as best as I can, but sometimes books fall through the cracks. As this one did.

Chelsea has had a really hard time managing her grief after her mother’s death from pancreatic cancer. It’s been several years and she is still mired in it. When her father announces he is remarrying, she doesn’t handle it well, to say the least. Her family points out that she has lost her joy and she decides the best way to find her old self again is to return to Europe.

Seven years earlier Chelsea had taken a gap year and worked in several different countries in Europe, before being called home when her mother became ill. She fell in love three times; in Ireland, Paris, and Italy. She hasn’t been able to get in touch with any of the men other than Marcellino from Italy, but she decides to take a leave of absence from her job and see if she can find her joy with these men.

It’s an interesting trip, especially when her nemesis from work shows up. Jason is helping on a big account but she never expected him to show up in person. They don’t get along at all and have very different working styles. But come together they must for this new client.

Meanwhile, her European romances are not at all what she was expecting, but luckily, Jason is helpful with all that. Much to her surprise, Chelsea realizes he is not the bad guy she thought he was.

This is an enemies-to-lovers romance and a very good one. There is a lot of humor here, as well as bits that made me cry, or as they say, it has all the feels. Highly recommend!

8/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA by Jenn McKinlay. Berkley (July 21, 2020). ISBN: 978-0593101353. 352 pages.

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From the publisher:

Love-cynic Bridie Morgan is holding a last hurrah to the ‘dating’ stage of her life; shes going on twenty dates in twenty days. If this ‘love’ thing really is a numbers game, then surely she’ll find the one. And if not? Well at least the memory of her date with the Spice Girls’ biggest fan will be enough to put her off for life. She’ll never again wonder what she was missing.

But being love’s biggest skeptic is a challenge in the face of best friend Hattie’s upcoming nuptials. And as Maid of Honour, she really has to give it a chance. That is until Bridie’s lifelong nemesis Ben Kemp returns home to join the wedding party.

Ben Kemp who left her waiting outside their Leaver’s prom, in her nicest dress, alone. Ben Kemp who triggered the sorry state of affairs that has been Bridie’s love life. Ben Kemp the Best Man to her Maid of Honor.

A hilarious and uplifting romantic comedy perfect for fans of 10 Things I Hate About You and The Hating Game.

Bridie has had a lot of bad dates. Really bad dates. She decides to give it one more chance; well, 20 more chances as she attempts 20 dates in 20 days. Then if there are no second dates, she is giving it up and resigning herself to a life of singledom.

Bridie’s best friend Hattie is getting married and Bridie is her maid of honor. Unfortunately, the best man is Ben Kemp. Ben and Bridie were childhood friends and did some fooling around in high school, but were never girlfriend/boyfriend. Ben invited Bridie to a school dance and stood her up, and she has never forgotten or forgiven, so needless to say she is not happy she has to work with him on the wedding.

This is an enemies to lovers story, and a really funny one with lots of laugh out loud moments. Eventually, Ben and Bridie work out their problems and get to their happy ending, but it is the journey that is all the fun. A terrific read from this new-to-me author. I will be looking for more of her books!

8/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT by Mary Jayne Baker. Aria (March 1, 2022). ISBN: 978-1800246164. 352 pages.

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From the publisher:

A smart, sexy, and witty romantic comedy—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne—about a twentysomething who lives out every woman’s fantasy: getting paid to give men who do us wrong a taste of their own medicine. But when a previous target unexpectedly shows up at her office, she’s forced to rethink her life as a professional heartbreaker.

Brinkley Saunders has a secret.

To everyone in the academic world she left behind, she lost it all when she dropped out of grad school. Once a rising star following in her mother’s footsteps, she’s now an administrative assistant at an insurance agency—or so they think.

In reality, Brinkley works at Heartbreak for Hire, a secret service that specializes in revenge for jilted lovers, frenemies, and long-suffering coworkers with a little cash to spare and a man who needs to be taken down a notch. It might not be as prestigious as academia, but it helps Brinkley save for her dream of opening an art gallery and lets her exorcise a few demons, all while helping to empower women.

But when her boss announces she’s hiring male heartbreakers for the first time, Brinkley’s no longer so sure she’s doing the right thing—especially when her new coworker turns out to be a target she was paid to take down. Though Mark spends his days struggling up the academic ladder, he seems to be the opposite of a backstabbing adjunct: a nerd at heart in criminally sexy sweater vests who’s attentive both in and out of the bedroom. But as Brinkley finds it increasingly more difficult to focus on anything but Mark, she soon realizes that like herself, people aren’t always who they appear to be.

With Sonia Hartl’s “bitingly funny” (Publishers Weekly) prose, Heartbreak for Hire is a clever romcom you and your girlfriends won’t be able to stop talking about.

This was an interesting premise; women for hire to take down whatever man did you wrong. Not cheap, but possibly therapeutic? The woman who started the company found her employees crying in coffeeshops or bars etc. She offers them a way to work out their demons, and Brinkley certainly has some. She was in a psychologically abusive relationship for several years while she was in college. In fact, the breakup led her to drop out of her masters program at Northwestern, where her mother is a professor.

Brinkley and her mom do not get along. Her mother was determined that Brinkley follow her footsteps into a career in academia. But when Brinkley changes her major to art and then drops out, her mother is just beside herself. They meet up every week for lunch where her they end up fighting. Every week. Her mom thinks she is an administrative assistant in an insurance company because Brinkley never tells anyone what she really does for a living.

Then she meets Mark. The woman who contracted for his takedown is a nightmare, and Brinkley isn’t sure she even believes what she says, but a job is a job so off she goes. Except when she meets him, she likes him. A lot. They end up back at his place but she panics and runs out on him. Then they keep bumping into each other, and soon a relationship is keeping them both busy. But when he is hired by her company in their attempt to add men to the roster, none of the staff are happy, to say the least.

This was a laugh out loud book for me, lots of crazy situations along with the romance and some hot sex. Total fantasy, but what’s wrong with that!

8/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

HEARTBREAK FOR HIRE by Sonia Hartl. Gallery Books (July 27, 2021). ISBN: 978-1982167783. 320 pages.

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From the publisher:

A woman looking for a new lease on life moves to Arizona where she rents a guest house on a gorgeous property with a mysterious owner—a man who teaches her about resilience, courage, and ultimately true love, in this funny, bighearted novel about hope and healing from New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay.
 
Stuck in a dreary Boston winter, Annabelle Martin would like nothing more than to run away from her current life. She’s not even thirty years old, twice-divorced, and has just dodged a marriage proposal… from her ex-husband. When she’s offered her dream job as creative director at a cutting-edge graphic design studio in Phoenix, she jumps at the opportunity to start over.
 
When she arrives in the Valley of the Sun, Annabelle is instantly intrigued by her anonymous landlord. Based on the cranky, handwritten notes Nick Daire leaves her, she assumes he is an old, rich curmudgeon. Annabelle is shocked when she finally meets Nick and discovers that he’s her age and uses a wheelchair. Nick suffered from a stroke a year ago, and while there’s no physical reason for him not to recover, he is struggling to overcome the paralyzing fear that has kept him a prisoner in his own home.
 
Despite her promise to herself not to get involved, Annabelle finds herself irresistibly drawn to Nick. And soon she wonders if she and Nick might help each other find the courage to embrace life, happiness, and true love.

This author was new to me, and I really liked this book. So yay, she has a ton of books for me to find.

Annabelle is a graphic designer who works freelance. She’s pretty successful in her professional life, but her personal life is a mess. She lost her mom when she was in high school, and married the first guy who asked. They were both really young and no big surprise, it didn’t work out. But then she married the next guy who asked, and that marriage was even worse. Her best friend lives in Phoenix with her husband, and they are partners in an up and coming marketing firm. They want Annabelle to come be their creative director, but she’s pretty happy in Boston, despite the cold.

Annabelle and the first husband are still friends. In fact, they “celebrate” the date of their divorce with dinner every year. But this year, Annabelle realizes things are different. Her ex seems like he is going full proposal at dinner, and she panics, downs her champagne and ends up choking then swallowing the ring. Then before he can ask, she announces she is taking the job and moving to Phoenix.

Her friends arrange for her to rent a guest house on an estate that is walking distance to her new job. She is told to avoid going to the big house on the property, and not to bother the landlord who lives there. Annabelle assumes the landlord is some rich old guy who apparently is quite the curmudgeon. She receives a ten page list of rules to live by, and she is not happy because the pool is marked off limits. But there is no mention of the hot tub, so she decides to give it a go. Then she receives another note stating the hot tub is also off limits.

Annabelle is a real people person, and she thinks if she meets the landlord, then she can charm him into giving her pool rights. But he is not interested in meeting her. Until she throws a Friday night happy hour, replete with her work friends using the hot tub, lots of loud laughter and music, and enough rule breaking to get the landlord to meet her.

Turns out Nick is not old, just cranky. He is a 35-year-old man who had a stroke. Luckily, it didn’t affect his speech or his brain really, just his body. It’s been almost a year and he still has issues with the left side of his body suddenly going numb, including his leg which means he tends to topple over unexpectedly. He has become a recluse, with his hired physical therapist, groundskeeper and housekeeper all living with him and taking care of him.

Meanwhile, Annabelle is having some trouble at her new job. Her friend’s husband had hired a college fraternity brother when they first started the business, and he was expecting the promotion that they gave to Annabelle. He is not nice, to say the least, but Annabelle is very friendly with some of the staff and is determined to do a good job, despite him.

When Annabelle finally meets Nick, there is a lot of chemistry but he is still determined to keep away from her. But he can’t. Their worlds are colliding and it is for the best, even if he doesn’t realize it.

This was a really good story with characters I got to know well. There were a lot of serious issues but it is a romance so happily ever after is achieved. Reviews have been good all around, so don’t miss it! I also found her last book, Paris is Always a Good Idea, on my Kindle so I will be reading that next!

8/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

WAIT FOR IT by Jenn McKinlay. Berkley (August 10, 2021). ISBN: 978-0593101377. 352 pages.

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