Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

The Kinloch Series, Book 1

From the publisher:

Sparkling, sexy and utterly unputdownable – it’s the romantic comedy of the year!

A fiery heroine, a Scottish god, a cabin, a castle, and enough heat to warm the coldest Scottish winter…

Highland Games is an unputdownable, enemies-to-lovers, romantic comedy, with sparkle and sizzle and a guaranteed happy ending. This steamy, witty, debut from Evie Alexander will have you laughing, swooning, and staying up way past your bedtime…

Perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Talia Hibbert, Sophie Kinsella, and Helen Hoang. If you’re looking for a riotous romantic comedy with plenty of heat, then Highland Games is for you!

♥♥♥ Welcome to Kinloch, and the hottest winter Scotland’s ever seen. ♥♥♥

Zoe’s always played it safe, just as her parents wanted. But when her great-uncle dies and leaves her a ramshackle cabin in the Scottish Highlands, she decides it’s time to change her life.

Upping sticks seems like a good idea in her cosy flat in London, but the reality is very different. There’s no electricity or running water, the roof leaks and there’s no front door. If that wasn’t bad enough, she’s moved up in the depths of winter and her scorching hot neighbour wants her out.

Rory’s got a fifty thousand tonne problem. If he can’t make Kinloch castle profitable, he’s out of a job. He needs a clear head, but there’s someone living in the cabin he saw as his own and she’s turned his world upside down.

Rory needs Zoe out of Scotland, and out of his life. The trouble is, she has no intention of leaving.

Let the games begin…

This was my first Evie Alexander read and it was a good one. From the title, I assumed it was an historical Scottish romance but the cover gives it away. This is a contemporary romcom set in the Scottish Highlands of today, and that was interesting for sure.

Zoe is an amazing heroine; fierce and fun. She has great memories of the summer she spent with her uncle in his cabin in the Highlands, so when he leaves it to her after he passes away, she decides to quit her job, leave London and move in. Except her uncle hadn’t lived there for a few years before he died, and the place is a wreck. Luckily, her neighbor, the very hot Rory, is there to help. Sort of.

Turns out Rory thought he was getting the cottage and is pissed off that Zoe has moved in. He helpfully points out that the front door is broken, the roof leaks, and there is no electricity or water. But Zoe doesn’t care, she will fix the place up and make it her own. Rory has a few tricks up his sleeve to try and get rid of her, but Zoe is one tough cookie and manages to turn the tables on Rory more than once.

Giving up, Rory and Zoe form a friendship and he ends up helping her out quite a bit. And then they become something more – except Rory has some major secrets he hasn’t shared with Zoe that could cause their whole relationship to blow up. But no fear, they get their happily ever after but not until the fireworks have passed.

There were a couple of things that took me right out of the story, but this was the worst: Rory says, “I reckon.” Do they say that in the Highlands? In England where he went to school? Or is it just the southern/western thing that I thought it was. I poked around the internet a bit but never did get a satisfactory answer. But the thing is, I didn’t want to poke around the internet in the middle of the book, so that was annoying.

Aside from those little things, it was a good story with interesting characters in an unusual setting. There are some real laugh out loud moments, and lots of witty dialogue between Rory and Zoe, making this a fun read and a real romcom. Would love to see this as a movie!

11/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

HIGHLAND GAMES by Evie Alexander. Emlin Press (October 5, 2021). ISBN: 978-1914473012. 310 pages.

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Britta didn’t plan on falling for her personal trainer, and Wes didn’t plan on Britta. Plans change and it’s unclear if love, career, or both will meet them at the finish line.

Britta Colby works for a lifestyle website, and when tasked to write about her experience with a hot new body-positive fitness app that includes personal coaching, she knows it’s a major opportunity to prove she should write for the site full-time.

As CEO of the FitMi Fitness app, Wes Lawson finally has the financial security he grew up without, but despite his success, his floundering love life and complicated family situation leaves him feeling isolated and unfulfilled. He decides to get back to what he loves—coaching. Britta’s his first new client and they click immediately.

As weeks pass, she’s surprised at how much she enjoys experimenting with her exercise routine. He’s surprised at how much he looks forward to talking to her every day. They convince themselves their attraction is harmless, but when they start working out in person, Wes and Britta find it increasingly challenging to deny their chemistry and maintain a professional distance.

Wes isn’t supposed to be training clients, much less meeting with them, and Britta’s credibility will be sunk if the lifestyle site finds out she’s practically dating the fitness coach she’s reviewing. Walking away from each other is the smartest thing to do, but running side by side feels like the start of something big.

I loved Williams’ debut novel, How to Fail at Flirting, so I was really looking forward to this new one, and it did not disappoint! This book stands alone just fine, however, so no worries if you didn’t read the first one. Like many romances, the connection between the two books is the friendship between the female characters. The first book was about Naya, and this book is about her friend Britta.

Britta wants to be a writer. She is an editorial assistant for a lifestyle magazine with a strong online presence, and there is one opening for a writer coming up. Her competitor for the job is Claire, and they are rather wary of one another. But when Britta suggests a series on one of the new health and wellness apps, her boss decides that Claire should test out a different app. They will both write about their experiences and Britta is thrilled.

Britta is, in her words, fat. She struggles with accepting her body but her goal isn’t to lose weight; it’s to feel better about herself naked, and to jump out of a plane. She was denied the skydiving experience because of weight limits. She joins a fitness app that stresses wellness over weight loss, and assigns a personal coach to each user. Her coach is Wes.

Wes is very experienced at coaching; in fact, he owns the company. He hates his role as CEO and misses coaching clients, so his partner urges him to take on a client or two and get back to what made him happy, at least part of the time. He takes the two newest clients, one of whom is Britta. Her profile makes him laugh, and he reaches out to her, explaining that this isn’t a weight loss app and the goal is never pounds off, but rather eating better and exercising more. Britta is all in.

We don’t hear a whole lot from Claire, who is quite svelte, but the app she is using is big on pushing tons of exercise and crazy diet tips, with the goal of losing pounds every week. This app just started using coaches as well.

Britta gets to work, tracking what she eats every day, her exercise – a dance class for seniors that she accidentally joined – and how she feels about all of it. Wes is very encouraging but not pushy, and they get along well. Pretty quickly Britta points out that their email communications would be so much better in chat, so Wes shares his chat name and they move to that, and eventually texting. Coincidentally, they both live in Chicago, but this is online app so meeting up isn’t possible. Except Wes really likes her, and the feeling is mutual. Eventually, an accident forces a meetup, and things gets interesting.

Wes hasn’t like anyone this much in a very long time. His ex was a cold woman, and she left him and the company to start up her own wellness app, now in direct competition with his. Britta has had a crush for a long time on a former wo-worker, but he treats her badly, and she is finally ready to move on. And Wes is so nice and so hot!

There is a lot of drama here between their jobs, their love lives, and their relationship, but I couldn’t help but root for Britta and Wes to find their happy ending, and eventually they do. There are a lot of laughs along the way, and a bit of sex, just enough to keep it real, and of course some angst. It was also refreshing to read a romance with a plus-size heroine, which I’m sure more exists but is rare. This is another terrific read from this author, and I am looking forward to the next book in this unnamed series.

11/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE FASTEST WAY TO FALL by Denise Williams. Berkley (November 2, 2021). ISBN: 978-0593101926. 384 pages.

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From the publisher:

The International Bestseller—A feel-good, holiday rom com about identical twins who swap lives twelve days before Christmas—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze and Josie Silver’s One Day in December
 
All they want for Christmas is a different life.

When chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the L.A. set of her reality baking show, she loses a lot more than consciousness; she also loses her ability to taste and smell—both critical to her success as show judge. Meanwhile, Charlie’s identical twin, Cass, is frantically trying to hold her own life together back in their quaint mountain hometown while running the family’s bustling bakery and dealing with her ex, who won’t get the memo that they’re over.

With only days until Christmas, a desperate Charlie asks Cass to do something they haven’t done since they were kids: switch places. Looking for her own escape from reality, Cass agrees. But temporarily trading lives proves more complicated than they imagined, especially when rugged firefighter Jake Greenman and gorgeous physician assistant Miguel Rodriguez are thrown into the mix. Will the twins’ identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track?

I love this time of year with all the Christmas romances, and I was super excited about this one because of this blurb:

The Great British Bake Off AKA The Great British Baking Show here in America was my happy place during the pandemic, and I’m loving the new season as well. I am a long time Gilmore Girls fan – my daughter and I started watching when she was in middle school, and it is one of my comfort TV watches (is that a thing? It is for me!). In fact, I recently started re-watching the series a few weeks ago, for about the tenth time? So Jennifer Robson, shame on you for this blurb. There’s no tent, no contestants helping each other out, no Lorelai & Rory, no Kirk, no Taylor, no Luke! The closest I could get to Stars Hollow was the small town where the twins family bakery is, called Starlight Peak. Not even close. I have serious doubts that Robson even read it.

Enough ranting about a blurb – the book was good despite my dashed expectations.

Charlie and Cass are identical twins and both love to bake, but they took it in different directions. Charlie couldn’t wait to leave the family bakery and the small California town and went to culinary school to perfect her pastry skills. Cass stayed home and is now running the family business while their parents are traveling. Cass has a long time boyfriend who is pushing her to get married, but she realizes that over the years they have grown apart, so she tells him she needs time to think. He takes that as a yes and buys them a house. She is furious, and breaks up with him – or at least tries to, he’s not taking no for an answer.

Charlie has found success on reality TV cooking shows, and is co-hosting a holiday baking show with a super ambitious and totally obnoxious co-host. They are both up to host a new baking show solo, and Charlie is determined to win that job. An accident on set takes her out, but despite her concussion and the cute ER doctor telling her to take time off, she is determined to finish out the show. But then she realizes she has lost her sense of smell and taste, so how will she be able to judge anything?

Enter the oldest trick in the book, the Parent Trap if you will: identical twins changing places. Cass is happy to get out of town and away from her ex and is hoping that Charlie will be able to convince him they are done. Charlie needs this job and hopes Cass can fool everyone enough to ensure she gets the solo hosting gig.

Then Charlie has a small kitchen fire and one of the firemen really catches her eye. It seems the attraction is mutual, except he thinks she is Cass and that is not a great way to start a relationship. Meanwhile, Cass runs into the cute ER doctor and things heat up there, with him thinking she is Charlie. Let’s just say hijinks ensue until the happy ending is reached for both twins.

No real surprises here, just a sweet Christmas romance which worked for me. Enjoy!

NOTE: The author, Maggie Knox, is actually Karma Brown’s and Marissa Stapley’s first joint project writing under that pseudonym.

10/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE HOLIDAY SWAP by Maggie Knox. G.P. Putnam’s Sons (October 5, 2021). ISBN: 978-0593330739. 352 pages.

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From the publisher:

Mistletoe, Maine, is buzzing and not just because Christmas is around the corner! Dante West, local cutie-turned-Hollywood hunk, is returning home to make his next movie. Everyone in town is excited . . . except librarian Lucy Marshall. When Dante took off for LA without warning—or even a goodbye—he broke Lucy’s heart. She swore not to spend one more minute thinking about her ex, but Dante makes an offer Lucy’s struggling library can’t refuse: a major donation to film on-site.

Dante is thrilled to help boost his hometown’s economy and finally begin making amends to the people he hurt years ago when he left, starting with Lucy. But seeing his former best friend on set every day feels a lot less like closure and more like a fresh start. It’s one thing for Dante to fall for Lucy all over again, quite another for a famous movie star and a small-town librarian to find lasting romance. Can the magic of the holiday season give Lucy and Dante’s first love a second chance?

The holiday romances are upon us. In fact, this one is from last month and I’m just catching up! This is a sweet, small town romance. Dante and Lucy were best friends since elementary school and in high school, started dating. Things got pretty serious and they made a lot of plans for their future. But one night Dante just took off, and Lucy didn’t hear from him for several months. By then, he was in California, chasing his dream of acting. He broke Lucy’s heart and now it is almost nine years later and she really hasn’t recovered. She is still in love with him.

Dante becomes a huge movie star, and the tiny town of Mistletoe, Maine becomes his next project. He’s written a script, a love story, about him and Lucy, and returns to his hometown to film the movie. They throw him a parade, but Lucy is in shock. When she does run into him, she lets him have it and storms off.

Dante wants to film part of the movie in the library where Lucy is the manager. He talks her into it by promising her a big donation, which the library desperately needs. She knows if she turns him down, the library will suffer, not to mention the mayor would overrule her anyway. The next thing you know they are spending some time together.

Lucy finds herself falling in love with Dante all over again. She tries to fight it at first, but eventually gives in. What she doesn’t realize is that when he left, Dante’s heart was also broken and he’s never stopped loving her. There are many hurdles for them to reach their happily ever after, and it is a lot of fun to get there.

This author was new to me, but I will certainly read anything else she writes. I really enjoyed this holiday romance – it was a gift!

10/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

NO ORDINARY CHRISTMAS by Belle Calhoune. Forever (September 28, 2021). ISBN: 978-1538735985. 336 pages.

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From the publisher:

From Mary Kay Andrews, the New York Times bestselling author of Hello, Summer, comes a novella celebrating the magic of Christmas and second chances in The Santa Suit.

When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an old farmhouse sight unseen, she is definitely looking for a change in her life. The Four Roses, as the farmhouse is called, is a labor of love―but Ivy didn’t bargain on just how much labor. The previous family left so much furniture and so much junk, that it’s a full-time job sorting through all of it.

At the top of a closet, Ivy finds an old Santa suit―beautifully made and decades old. In the pocket of a suit she finds a note written in a childish hand: it’s from a little girl who has one Christmas wish, and that is for her father to return home from the war. This discovery sets Ivy off on a mission. Who wrote the note? Did the man ever come home? What mysteries did the Rose family hold?

Ivy’s quest brings her into the community, at a time when all she wanted to do was be left alone and nurse her wounds. But the magic of Christmas makes miracles happen, and Ivy just might find more than she ever thought possible: a welcoming town, a family reunited, a mystery solved, and a second chance at love.

As readers of this blog know, I love Mary Kay Andrews, and I was so excited to see she has written a holiday romance! It has her all of her trademark humor, love of kitsch and everything vintage, and terrific characters I wanted to hang out with.

Ivy’s been divorced for just about a year. Her ex-husband really hurt her and made her distrustful. She not only lost her husband, but she also lost her house (she got paid for her half) and her very successful business (again she got paid for her half.) She decides she wants to make a drastic change in her life and finds this old farmhouse called the Four Roses for sale online. She buys it sight unseen.

When she arrives, her real estate agent is there to meet her with the key. He tries to tell her more about the house and its sticking front door lock, for instance, but she brushes him off. Until she can’t get in and has to call him back. Ezra is not the old man Ivy assumed him to be from his name. Instead, he is about her age, young and good looking. Which makes her nervous.

The big surprise of the house isn’t how ramshackle it is, that she expected more or less. But the fact that the family left everything behind. The owners had died years earlier, and their son didn’t want any of it. Cleaning out the house was going to be a huge project.

The Four Roses was known in town as the place to go to look at all the Christmas lights. All of that was left behind as well, including the beautiful Santa suit the owner wore every year. And in the pocket was a note from a little girl, Carlette, asking Santa to bring her daddy back from Vietnam. Ivy is intrigued and asks the one friend she’s made in town if she knew anything about it. Turns out she did, her mom was best friends with their across the street neighbor, Carlette. The dad didn’t make it, and Carlette and her mom moved away.

Meanwhile, Ezra is slowly wearing down her defenses. He’s just incredibly helpful and she finally agrees to go out with him. Ivy meets the old man who is living in Carlette’s old house and more of the mystery is solved. But it’s at the town’s Christmas Stroll that everything comes together, all tied up with a bow you might say, but with some surprises at the end.

If you are looking for a way to get in the holiday mood, this is a great start. It’s a novella, so pretty short and fast reading (I wish it were longer!) It’s heart warming, sweet, and fun – all the good stuff I look for in a Christmas book. Happy holidays!

9/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE SANTA SUIT by Mary Kay Andrews. St. Martin’s Press (September 28, 2021). ISBN: 978-1250279316. 220 pages.

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