ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN by Talia Hibbert

April 24, 2021

The Brown Sisters, Book 3

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From the publisher:

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In Talia Hibbert’s newest rom-com, the flightiest Brown sister crashes into the life of an uptight B&B owner and has him falling hard—literally.

Featured on Parade, PopSugar, Marie Claire, Oprah Mag, Bustle, Shondaland, CNN.com, Kirkus Magazine, Bookpage, USA Today, Bookish, Bookriot, and more!

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong. So she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how…

Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.

Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore… and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.

This has turned into one of my favorite series, but I’m afraid I’ve reached the end. I’m pretty sure there are only three sisters, and honestly it’s hard to say whether they’ve saved the best for last. I’ve loved all these books!

Eve may be a mess, but she knows she is the most “normal” one in the family. Her two sisters are on the autism spectrum, so she recognizes Jacob’s issues immediately and better yet, knows exactly how to treat him. But he’s not going to be that easy.

After Eve accidentally hits him with her car, giving him a broken arm and a nasty concussion, she feels guilty enough to stick around and help out. Jacob doesn’t really want her there but he doesn’t have any other options. To his shock, his customers love her, her food is amazing, and he can’t help but like her too, as much as he fights it.

Meanwhile she has pretty much dropped off the face of the earth to her family, which suits her just fine. She is determined to prove them wrong about her and her flightiness by sticking with this job, even if Jacob is fighting her at every turn.

I loved these characters so much and I especially loved how Eve grew and learned about herself. The romance – enemies to lovers – was great, but it was the story and these characters that really drew me in. These books do not have to be read in order, but I highly recommend reading them all – they are really terrific! Can’t wait to see what Hibbert does next.

4/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN by Talia Hibbert. Avon (March 9, 2021). ISBN: 978-0062941275. 400 pages.

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SIRI, WHO AM I? by Sam Tschida

April 22, 2021
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From the publisher:

Indie Next and Library Reads Pick
One of Cosmopolitan’s “Best New Books Coming Out in 2021”
One of POPSUGAR’s “Best New Books Coming Out in 2021”

A Millennial with amnesia uses her Instagram account to piece together her identity in this hilarious and whip-smart comedy about the ups and downs of influencer culture.

Mia might look like a Millennial but she was born yesterday. Emerging from a coma with short-term amnesia after an accident, Mia can’t remember her own name until the Siri assistant on her iPhone provides it. Based on her cool hairstyle (undercut with glamorous waves), dress (Prada), and signature lipstick (Chanel), she senses she’s wealthy, but the only way to know for sure is to retrace her steps once she leaves the hospital. Using Instagram and Uber, she arrives at the pink duplex she calls home in her posts but finds Max, a cute, off-duty postdoc supplementing his income with a house-sitting gig. He tells her the house belongs to JP, a billionaire with a chocolate empire. A few texts later, JP confirms her wildest dreams: they’re in love, Mia is living the good life, and he’ll be back that weekend.

But as Mia and Max work backward through her Instagram and across Los Angeles to learn more about her, they discover an ugly truth behind her perfect Instagram feed, and evidence that her head wound was no accident. Did Mia have it coming? And if so, is it too late for her to rewrite her story?

Amnesia! I haven’t read a good amnesia plot in a long time. While Mia leans who she is and where she lives from her phone (Siri is good for something after all!) she also doesn’t know how she ended up in the hospital, but it seems like there are a lot of people who would be happy to put her there. Let’s call this mystery adjacent. While there are a lot of unknowns, it is the romance that is at the heart of this fast moving story.

This also revolves around how social media rules our lives. Could you piece together your life from your social media accounts? I know I surely can! You don’t have to be a Kardashian to live your life online, and oversharing has become the norm and is exploited here for the humor. I love snark and Mia reminded me a bit of one of my favorite characters of film – Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. That combination of airhead and brains, beauty and kindness, yet apparently enough hostility in her life for her to end up with a traumatic head injury.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and a pointed look at our culture. Nothing wrong with that!

4/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

SIRI, WHO AM I? by Sam Tschida. Quirk Books (January 12, 2021). ISBN: 978-1683691686. 352 pages.

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THE KINDRED SPIRITS SUPPER CLUB by Amy E. Reichert

April 20, 2021
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From the publisher:

Jobless and forced home to Wisconsin, journalist Sabrina Monroe can tolerate reunions with frenemies and kisses from old boyfriends, but not the literal ghosts that greet her in this heartwarming tale of the power of love and connection from acclaimed author Amy E. Reichert.

For Sabrina Monroe, moving back home to the Wisconsin Dells–the self-described Waterpark Capital of the World–means returning to the Monroe family curse: the women in her family can see spirits who come to them for help with unfinished business. But Sabrina’s always redirected the needy spirits to her mom, who’s much better suited for the job. The one exception has always been Molly, a bubbly rom-com loving ghost, who stuck by Sabrina’s side all through her lonely childhood.

Her personal life starts looking up when Ray, the new local restaurateur, invites Sabrina to his supper club, where he flirts with her over his famous Brandy Old-Fashioneds. He’s charming and handsome, but Sabrina tells herself she doesn’t have time for romance–she needs to focus on finding a job. Except the longer she’s in the Dells, the harder it is to resist her feelings for Ray. Who can turn down a cute guy with a fondness for rescue dogs and an obsession with perfecting his fried cheese curds recipe? 

When the Dells starts to feel like home for the first time and with Ray in her corner, Sabrina begins to realize that she can make a difference and help others wherever she is.

I love Amy Reichert’s books, and this one was worth the wait.

Sabrina is a wonderful character, so well developed that I felt like I knew her. Besides having anxiety issues, Sabrina has a gift that runs in the family. At least among the women in the family. They can communicate with the dead. Ghosts. But only those who need help in getting their affairs in order before they leave forever. But a few of the ghosts don’t leave, they hang around. Especially Molly, who has been hanging around for over a hundred years and is, in fact, Sabrina’s best friend.

Sabrina grew up in the Dells, near Door County, Wisconsin. In fact, that is the only place her and her mom can connect with ghosts. Once that ability hit, around puberty, Sabrina became the town weirdo. Her nemesis bullied her all through high school and beyond. And, in fact, is her current boss. Sabrina tries her hardest to hold on to her job, she really needs it to pay off her college loans and other debt. She was determined to be a journalist until she eventually realized talking to strangers was not something she ever wanted to do.

The Dells have a newish resident who has taken over an old supper club and has turned it into a destination, not only for tourists but for the towns people. Ray’s family owned quite a bit of the area but his parents moved to NY and are in a highly successful real estate business, and they have no intention of losing him to the Dells. But when his uncle Harry gets sick, Ray moved in to take care of him and the supper club was born again. Ray finally felt like he found himself, and his place. Especially when he meets Sabrina.

Ray and Sabrina are a couple who just don’t know it yet. Ray has family issues, Sabrina has her own issues, and it seems like they are always at odds. Ray is a patient man, and he realizes that Sabrina is the one for him. It takes her a bit longer to figure it out, but it is so much fun to get there. I also loved the Wisconsin food facts and recipes. And while I’m still not 100% clear on what a supper club entails exactly, I definitely want to go to one!

All of Reichert’s books tend to focus on food, which probably explains why I enjoy them so much! I hated to turn the last page. I really hated it. I wanted to spend more time in the Dells, especially with Ray and Sabrina. Another winner from one of my favorite authors.

4/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE KINDRED SPIRITS SUPPER CLUB by Amy E. Reichert. Berkley (April 20, 2021). ISBN: 978-0593197776. 352 pages.

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THIS TIME NEXT YEAR by Sophie Cousens

April 18, 2021
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From the publisher:

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

Their lives began together, but their worlds couldn’t be more different. After thirty years of missed connections, they’re about to meet again…

Minnie Cooper knows two things with certainty: that her New Year’s birthday is unlucky, and that it’s all because of Quinn Hamilton, a man she’s never met. Their mothers gave birth to them at the same hospital just after midnight on New Year’s Day, but Quinn was given the cash prize for being the first baby born in London in 1990–and the name Minnie was meant to have, as well. With luck like that, it’s no wonder each of her birthdays has been more of a disaster than the one before.

When Minnie unexpectedly runs into Quinn at a New Year’s party on their mutual thirtieth birthday, she sees only more evidence that fortune has continued to favor him. The gorgeous, charming business owner truly seems to have it all–while Minnie’s on the brink of losing her pie-making company and her home. But if Quinn and Minnie are from different worlds, why do they keep bumping into each other? And why is it that each fraught encounter leaves them both wanting more?

A moving, joyful love story, This Time Next Year explores the way fate leads us to the people we least expect–no matter what the odds.

oard of Ethan’s new shul hired him with the hopes that his nontraditional background will attract more millennials to the faith. They’ve given him three months to turn things around or else they’ll close the doors of his synagogue for good.

Naomi and Ethan join forces to host a buzzy seminar series on Modern Intimacy, the perfect solution to their problems–until they discover a new one–their growing attraction to each other. They’ve built the syllabus for love’s latest experiment, but neither of them expected they’d be the ones putting it to the test.

I am sorry to say this book got lost in my towering to-be-read pile, but I am so happy I found it! Family history is the meet/cute of this quirky romance, and while not entirely original, who cares! Minnie is the loser of the New Year’s Eve birthday contest, losing out on a cash prize and the name she was supposed to have because Quinn was the big winner of both. And did I mention her last name is Cooper? Minnie Cooper?

Flash forward and Minnie and Quinn run into each other at a New Year’s Eve party. Again and again. The attraction is there but they each are in relationships with other people who are obviously not right for them. Obvious to the reader at first, but soon enough to the characters as well.

I like the latest trend of giving heroines a mental illness. Whoops, that doesn’t sound right, does it? But I mean it, and in this case Minnie suffers from sometimes debilitating anxiety, something that so many people suffer from, usually in silence and on their own. It is refreshing to see it out in the world, even in fiction. Minnie is a great character, very well developed, relatable, and so likeable. Quinn is easy to like – he’s gorgeous, rich, and most important, kind.

It may take them a while to get together, but the journey is so much fun! If you love romcoms, especially British ones, as much as I do, you won’t want to miss this one.

4/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THIS TIME NEXT YEAR by Sophie Cousens. G.P. Putnam’s Sons (December 1, 2020). ISBN: 978-0593191200. 352 pages.

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THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT by Rosie Danan

April 16, 2021
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From the publisher:

Naomi and Ethan will test the boundaries of love in this provocative romance from the author of the ground-breaking debut, The Roommate.

Naomi Grant has built her life around going against the grain. After the sex-positive start-up she cofounded becomes an international sensation, she wants to extend her educational platform to live lecturing. Unfortunately, despite her long list of qualifications, higher ed won’t hire her.

Ethan Cohen has recently received two honors: LA Mag nominated him as one of the city’s hottest bachelors and he became rabbi of his own synagogue. Low on both funds and congregants, the executive board of Ethan’s new shul hired him with the hopes that his nontraditional background will attract more millennials to the faith. They’ve given him three months to turn things around or else they’ll close the doors of his synagogue for good.

Naomi and Ethan join forces to host a buzzy seminar series on Modern Intimacy, the perfect solution to their problems–until they discover a new one–their growing attraction to each other. They’ve built the syllabus for love’s latest experiment, but neither of them expected they’d be the ones putting it to the test.

I loved Danan’s first book, The Roommate, so I was very excited for this one. And it came out as the number one book for April from Library Reads. And the male protagonist is a Rabbi! All in my wheelhouse for sure. But even so, this was just an okay read for me.

Naomi, nee Hannah Sturm, a nice Jewish girl gone porn star, is our heroine. Her porn days are pretty much behind her now that she has taken her notoriety and turned it into an uber-successful website called Shameless, where women (mostly) can go to learn about sexuality. Her next goal is to get a teaching gig but doors are being slammed in her face, until she meets Rabbi Ethan Cohen. He is the young newish Rabbi at a small Los Angeles synagogue. He has high hopes of bringing in young people into the synagogue, as almost all of his congregants are retirees. Their temple can’t compete with their big money neighbors, so Ethan decides to hire Naomi to teach a course on Intimacy.

The initial turnout is in single digits, but a word of mouth leads to slight growth but it’s when Naomi brings in her marketing guru that things really take off. There is a strong attraction between the Rabbi and Naomi, but she is convinced he needs a nice Jewish girl and she barely remembers anything since her bat mitzvah. Ethan can’t believe a worldly woman like Naomi could possibly be interested in a rabbi, and they are at crossed points despite their growing attraction. The synagogue elders are not thrilled about this development at all, and there is some pushback that eventually gets pretty serious.

I found the story slow moving and the romance tepid. I really wanted to like this more than I did, but apparently I’m in the minority and I’m fine with that. Would love to hear from anyone who reads it.

4/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT by Rosie Danan. Berkley (April 6, 2021). ISBN: 978-0593101629. 336 pages.

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SECOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS by Sally Thorne

April 14, 2021
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From the publisher:

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Hating Game and 99 Percent Mine comes the clever, funny, and unforgettable story of a muscular, tattooed man hired as an assistant to two old women—under the watchful eye of a beautiful retirement home manager.

Dazzle (n): Brightness that blinds someone temporarily. 

Position Vacant: Two ancient old women residing at Providence Retirement Villa seek male assistant for casual exploitation and good-natured humiliation. Duties include boutique shopping, fast-food fetching, and sincerely rendered flattery. Good looks a bonus—but we aren’t picky. 

An advertisement has been placed (again!) by the wealthy and eccentric Parloni Sisters. The salary is generous and the employers are 90 years old, so how hard could the job be? Well, none have lasted longer than a week. Most boys leave in tears. 

Ruthie Midona will work in Providence’s front office, and be at the Parloni’s beck and call, forever. That’s sort of her life plan. If Ruthie can run the place in her almost-retired bosses’ absence, with no hijinks/hiccups, she has a shot at becoming the new manager. She might also be able to defend her safe little world from Prescott Development, the new buyer of the prime site. Maybe after all that, she can find a cute guy to date. All she needs to do is stay serious—and that’s what she does best. 

Until, one day, someone dazzling blows in to town. 

Teddy Prescott devotes his life to sleeping, tattooing, and avoiding seriousness. When Teddy needs a place to crash, he makes a deal with his developer dad. Teddy can stay in one of Providence’s on-site maintenance cottages—right next door to an unimpressed Ruthie—but only if he works there and starts to grow up.

Ruthie knows how this sweetly selfish rich boy can earn his keep—and be out of her hair in under a week. After all, there is a position vacant…

It’s hard to believe in this day and age that there is a young woman, a twenty-five year old woman, who believes herself ready to live in a retirement village forever. Yet somehow it feels true here, and you can’t help but root for Ruthie to wake up and realize she has a whole lotta life in front of her.

When Ruthie’s boss goes on an extended vacation, she leaves Ruthie in charge, and she hires a temp, Mel, to help out. Things are changing at the retirement village though; there is a new owner, the Prescott family, and they are known for shaking things up. The first they did was give everyone’s contract an end date for the following year. But Ruthie is bound and determined to show them what a good little business this is. Providence is home to forty townhomes owned by very wealthy people, including the Parloni’s. Ruthie loves all her old people, but especially these two women, who are eccentric and entertaining. When the Prescotts show up, father and son, with the father seeking employment for his son, Teddy, the old women hire him.

Teddy is as laid back as it gets. A natural born wanderer, he couch surfs until he lands in Providence, where his job includes daily humiliation but somehow he doesn’t mind. Especially if he gets to live on the other side of the very thin wall from Ruthie. Ruthie is security and order, something his life has always lacked. But she cannot believe this gorgeous man could possible be interested in her.

Mel is determined to get Ruthie out into the dating world and works very hard at it. She forbids Ruthie from dating Teddy, explaining he is way out of her league but while Ruthie definitely believes that, she also can’t help falling for the sweet man. There are also endangered tortoises, business start-up stress, and a makeover – not to mention the angst these characters go through to find their happy ending.

This is another fun read from Thorne, who has become one of my go-to authors for light, humorous love stories. If you want to escape for a few hours, look no further.

4/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

SECOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS by Sally Thorne. William Morrow Paperbacks (April 13, 2021). ISBN: 978-0062912855. 352 pages.

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ACCIDENTALLY ENGAGED by Farah Heron

April 3, 2021
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From the publisher:

A “delectable” romantic comedy about a woman who fakes an engagement to the boy next door to enter a couples cooking contest (Farrah Rochon, USA Today bestselling author). 

When it comes to bread, Reena Manji knows exactly what she’s doing. She treats her sourdough starters like (somewhat unruly) children. But when it comes to Reena’s actual family—and their constant meddling in her life—well, that recipe always ends in disaster.

Now Reena’s parents have found her yet another potential Good Muslim Husband. This one has the body of Captain America, a delicious British accent, and lives right across the hall. He’s the perfect, mouthwatering temptation . . . and completely ruined by the unwelcome side dish of parental interference.

Reena refuses to marry anyone who works for her father. She won’t be attracted to Nadim’s sweet charm or gorgeous lopsided smile. That is, until the baking opportunity of a lifetime presents itself: a couples’ cooking competition with the prize of her dreams. Reena will do anything to win—even asking Nadim to pretend they’re engaged. But when it comes to love, baking your bread doesn’t always mean you get to eat it too.

Featured in Buzzfeed, Brit & Co, PopSugar, Oprah.com, Goodreads, The Nerd Daily and Frolic

This was such a fun read. I loved the characters and really feel like I got to know them, especially the main characters but even some of the secondary characters. I always love any kind of food connection, especially when it is food I’m not as familiar with and this book checked off all those boxes. Lots of tension, drama, and of course a happily ever after! 

Reena has a large, very close family. It’s bad enough her father just hired someone in hopes she would marry him; he also gave him the apartment across the hall from Reena. The attraction is real until Reena finds out about the matchmaking. She is determined to find her own man, despite how many men her dad and her aunties bring by for her. 

There is a lot of humor here with the family and with the cooking competition and I mean laugh out loud funny, but the sexual tension is also high. I couldn’t put down this swoon-worthy read and I highly recommend it.

4/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

ACCIDENTALLY ENGAGED by Farah Heron. Forever (March 2, 2021). ISBN 978-1538734988. 368 pages.

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THE LOVE PROOF by Madeleine Henry

February 9, 2021
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BLOG TOUR!

From the publisher:

A brilliant physicist studying the nature of time embarks on a journey to prove that those we love are always connected to us, leading to surprising revelations in this fresh and unique love story.

Sophie Jones is a physics prodigy on track to unlock the secrets of the universe. But when she meets Jake Kristopher during their first week at Yale they instantly feel a deep connection, as if they’ve known each other before. Quickly, they become a couple. Slowly, their love lures Sophie away from school.

When a shocking development forces Sophie into a new reality, she returns to physics to make sense of her world. She grapples with life’s big questions, including how to cope with unexpected change and loss. Inspired by her connection with Jake, Sophie throws herself into her studies, determined to prove that true loves belong together in all realities.

Spanning decades, The Love Proof is an unusual love story about lasting connection, time, and intuition. It explores the course that perfect love can take between imperfect people, and urges us to listen to our hearts rather than our heads.

“Henry uses deep characterizations and poetic descriptions to deliver a mesmerizing love story that contains a lot of serious science talk but luckily doesn’t require prior knowledge of physics. Fans of stories about the power of first love and the struggle to listen to one’s head or heart should not pass this one up.”—Library Journal (Starred Review)

“Henry has done a masterful job…This book is academic and heartfelt and tender and loving. It is worth every minute spent reading it.” —Kirkus Reviews(starred review)

When publicists send me info on their upcoming books, they generally send along blurbs from other authors and media sites. Occasionally, if publication is pending, I will also get snippets of reviews. This was the blurb that moved this book into my “Read Next” folder: “Fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife will be blown away by Madeleine Henry’s The Love Proof. Told across decades, the book tells the story of physicist Sophie Jones’s quest to prove true love not only exists, but that soulmates will find each other in every iteration of reality.” —PopSugar

I loved The Time Traveler’s Wife. I loved it so much I read it more than once, I facilitated a book discussion on it, and I refused to watch the film for a very long time. This book is not that, not by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, it pretty much revolved around time but not really time travel, and that is a huge difference. Also, I found myself skimming it quite a bit as theories of mathematics and physics filled the pages, or at least I assume that’s what that stuff was, as I said, I didn’t read it all that carefully because I didn’t care. When I returned to college to finish my degree after being away for over twenty years, the computer algorithm somehow decided I needed an additional math class. I had taken Statistics (twice) and College Algebra (twice) and as I told my advisor, I would drop out again before taking an additional math that I did not need. My major, English, required just two maths and that was that. He fixed it. Physics? Never. But I digress.

The characters at the center of this love story both march to the beat of their own drummers. They are both brilliant, hard-working, dedicated to their studies, and ambitious, albeit in different ways. Yet there is that strong physical attraction that defies all the logic in the world and that is what initially draws them together. Then they become inseparable.

Jake goes on to fulfill his dreams of running his own hedge fund and earning billions of dollars. But before he does, he realizes that Sophie has given up on her ambition, some theory about time (I don’t know exactly how to explain it because I didn’t really care to understand it.) So he dumps her at graduation. She goes back to work, but both of them experience this feeling that somehow they are still together. My best understanding of it is it most resembles this thing they do on Star Trek where there is a parallel universe: same people, same surroundings, but different behaviors and outcomes. Whatever. 

They both go on to have enormously successful, yet lonely lives. Until they meet again, some thirty years in the future. The future looks exactly like the present except the Apple watches are called something else and do a lot more.

I’m not explaining this well, sorry. It’s not an easy story to pin down with a few sentences. Bottom line? I loved the beginning, struggled to get through the middle, but it was worth it in the end.

2/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE LOVE PROOF by Madeleine Henry. Atria Books (February 9, 2021). ISBN 978-1982142964. 304 pages.

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TEN RULES FOR FAKING IT by Sophie Sullivan

February 6, 2021
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From the publisher:

What happens when your love life becomes the talk of the town?

As birthdays go, this year’s for radio producer Everly Dean hit rock-bottom.

Worse than the “tonsillectomy birthday.” Worse than the birthday her parents decided to split (the first time). But catching your boyfriend cheating on you with his assistant?

Even clichés sting.

But this is Everly’s year! She won’t let her anxiety hold her back. She’ll pitch her podcast idea to her boss.

There’s just one problem.

Her boss, Chris, is very cute. (Of course). Also, he’s extremely distant (which means he hates her, right? Or is that the anxiety talking)?

And, Stacey the DJ didn’t mute the mic during Everly’s rant about Simon the Snake (syn: Cheating Ex).

That’s three problems.

Suddenly, people are lining up to date her, Bachelorette-style, fans are voting (Reminder: never leave house again), and her interest in Chris might be a two-way street. It’s a lot for a woman who could gold medal in people-avoidance. She’s going to have to fake it ‘till she makes it to get through all of this.

Perhaps she’ll make a list: The Ten Rules for Faking It.

Because sometimes making the rules can find you happiness when you least expect it.

Everly has sucky birthdays, and her 30th is the worst yet. She catches her boyfriend in bed with another woman. To make matters worse, she doesn’t realize she is complaining about it in front of a live mic at the radio station where she works. Listeners get involved quickly, but Everly suffers from social anxiety. I really liked the way that was handled in this book.

The romance is a super slow build. The new station manager is hot for Everly, but is afraid to get involved as this is just a stepping stone for him. His family owns the station and he is being groomed for much bigger things, a continent away in New York. Meanwhile, he quickly realizes that he has a viral moment that can lead to big ratings, so he convinces Everly to commit to a Bachelorette style radio dating show.

Everly is a likeable character, as is Chris, the station manager, and the dates they set her up on are more funny than fun. This is a light and enjoyable romantic romp, and a fast, fun read, but nothing really special.

2/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

TEN RULES FOR FAKING IT by Sophie Sullivan. St. Martin’s Griffin (December 29, 2020). ISBN: 978-1250624161. 384 pages.

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HOW TO FAIL AT FLIRTING by Denise Williams

January 17, 2021
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https://amzn.to/3ibSeAI

From the publisher:

#1 LibraryReads Pick
Indie Next Pick

One daring to-do list and a crash course in flirtation turn a Type A overachiever’s world upside down.

When her flailing department lands on the university’s chopping block, Professor Naya Turner’s friends convince her to shed her frumpy cardigan for an evening on the town. For one night her focus will stray from her demanding job and she’ll tackle a new kind of to-do list. When she meets a charming stranger in town on business, he presents the perfect opportunity to check off the items on her list. Let the guy buy her a drink. Check. Try something new. Check. A no-strings-attached hookup. Check…almost.

Jake makes her laugh and challenges Naya to rebuild her confidence, which was left toppled by her abusive ex-boyfriend. Soon she’s flirting with the chance at a more serious romantic relationship—except nothing can be that easy. The complicated strings around her dating Jake might destroy her career.

Naya has two options. She can protect her professional reputation and return to her old life or she can flirt with the unknown and stay with the person who makes her feel like she’s finally living again.

Naya (rhymes with papaya!) is an inspirational heroine. She’s a math professor (!) and has escaped from an abusive relationship. Three years have gone by and she has avoided dating and men altogether. But her best friends know she needs a little push, and they help her put together a short list of things she needs to try to get her out of hiding. The list includes having a stranger buy her a drink and having a one night stand.

They arrange to meet one night at a bar, but while she’s waiting they call to say they can’t make it. The man sitting next to her starts talking to her, and the next thing you know, Jake is taking her home. Except she drank too much and pretty much vomits her way out of the one night stand. But Jake, smart man that he is, gets her phone number.

Meanwhile, her university is looking to make some cuts and her department is definitely on the chopping block. The university has hired a consulting firm to help with the cuts, and of course Naya knows the man who holds her future in his hands – it’s Jake. To make matters worse, the university has recently hired her abusive ex, so now she has to deal with him, too.

Naya is freaking out about all of it but starts dating Jake anyway. Their attraction is strong enough to override the possible impropriety/conflict of interest and as their relationship deepens, it doesn’t seem to lighten Naya’s anxiety about work and her ex.

There is a lot of angst and drama here, and frankly, I couldn’t put this book down. I was rooting so hard for her! I love books like this, that take the rom-com and manage to turn it into something of substance while not losing the laughter or the love. Please add this to your to-be-read list!

1/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

HOW TO FAIL AT FLIRTING by Denise Williams. Berkley (December 1, 2020). ISBN 978-0593101902. 352 pages.

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