New-to-Me Author Summer Bingo UPDATE #2

My blogger friend Jessica over at Reading with Jessica has set up a summer bingo challenge with Jana at Artsy Reader Girl. I am going to attempt to play along this summer. I’ll update you with how I’m doing periodically.

NEW-TO-ME AUTHOR SUMMER BINGO

The Basics:

  • This event lasts from June 1st-August 31st.
  • You can only count books towards the bingo card if you have not read that author before.
  • Each book only counts for one bingo spot. You can’t use one book for multiple spots.
  • A bingo can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.
  • Feel free to use any genre for this challenge. Multiple genres even!
  • Use the hashtag #nasbingo to share updates on social media/blog posts.

Bingo Card:

Where you can join:

*UPDATE*

Completed Bingo squares are off.

My TBR: COMPLETED!!!

Recommended by a friend: Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
Over 400 pages long: One More Step by Assorted Authors – 658 pages and I’m kind of cheating here because this is an anthology. I have read some of the authors, but many were new to me. At least 15 out of 25. It counts, right?
Features a vacation: Vegas Love by Jillian Dodd
First in a series: The Hook Up (Game On, #1) by Kristen Callihan
Standalone: The First Score by Amie Knight

Extra Squares Marked Off:

A Holiday is Celebrated: Worth the Fall (The McKinney Brothers, #1) by Claudia Conner
Contemporary: Get a Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters, #1) by Talia Hibbert
Summer 2020 Release: Living at the Frat House by Penny Wylder
Hyped: The Roommate by Rosie Danan

I got a Bingo! Now, everything else is just extra.

Review: The Girl Next Door (Emma Hart)

The Girl Next Door
Series: The Girl Next Door, #1
Author: Emma Hart
Publication: July 21, 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Note: This review is for an ARC and is my unbiased opinion.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

Synopsis:

One accidental pregnancy. One fake husband. What can go wrong?

There’s nothing like starting your Monday morning with a positive pregnancy test.
Trust me, I know. Because I’m looking at one right now.
All I can think is: Oh, hell. My grandmother is going to kill me.
This might just send her to an early grave, so there’s only one option—pretending the father is my new husband.
If only he’d agree to fake it.
Kai Connors was supposed to be nothing more than a one-night stand. A long, dirty, one-night stand fueled by one too many tequila shots, where the only promise was to never speak of it again.
But if my unfairly sexy next-door neighbor gets his way, this fake marriage could turn out to be very, very real…


Before I start this review, if you’re at all interested in this book after reading the blurb, I highly recommend The One Night Stand Next Door. It’s the free prequel novella to this book and it sets up the entire scenario. It was a fun read.

As for The Girl Next Door, it was also incredibly fun to read. I loved Ivy. She had this snarky, sarcastic sense of humor that I loved. I was constantly laughing at the stuff that came out of her mouth. Her thoughts and opinions on pregnancy were fantastic. I could relate.

I also enjoyed Kai. He was the sweetness to Ivy’s spunk. I loved how he reacted to both Ivy and the pregnancy. I don’t think the surprise pregnancy trope would have been half as fun without the personality of his character. Kai and Ivy’s love story was just so entertaining and lovable.

I do have one complaint about this book. It was shorter than I wanted it to be. It ended up at an epilogue way faster than I wanted or expected. It was almost startling. I wanted more time with Kai and Ivy. It didn’t change my feelings about the book, just disappointed me a bit.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books to Help You Transition from YA to NA (Part 2)

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is:

Today’s topic is:

FREEBIE

A while back I did a TTT post on books that helped pave the way from YA to NA. I decided that for my freebie topic today, I’m going to give you more examples with:

Ten Books to Help You Transition from YA to NA (Part 2)
1. If you liked Pushing the Limits, try This is Falling.

What they have in common: Big on emotions and baseball. They also are first books in a great series.

2. If you liked Autoboyography, try Goodbye Paradise.

What they have in common: LBGTQ+ romances with a religious aspect.

3. If you liked What Happened to Goodbye, try The Simple Wild.

 ⇒

What they have in common: emotional and physical journeys to learn about their parents and the past. Oh, and cute romances.

4. If you liked P.S. I Like You, try Let’s Get Textual.

What they have in common: both books fall in the cute romance category and anonymous communication before they figure out who the messages are coming from.

5. If you liked Alex, Approximately, try Where I Belong.

What they have in common: summer vibes, moving, and fun romances.

6. If you liked The Heartbreakers, try Cake.

What they have in common: Sweet rock star romances with some heavy emotions and topics.

7. If you liked Fallen Crest High, try Addicted to You.

What they have in common: darker, edgier, and angsty. Both also have a group of friends/family that you want to know all about.

8. If you liked The Field Party, try Kick Push.

What they have in common: there’s big emotions in both of these.  They have female MCs who don’t speak due to past trauma and supportive guys.

9. If you liked On the Fence, try The Friend Zone.

What they have in common: best friends to more, sports.

10. If you liked Delicate Monsters, try Marrow.

What they have in common: to put it plainly, they’re both super messed up. Dark and twisted — great for psychological thriller readers.

Review: Hate the Player (Max Monroe)

Hate the Player
Author: Max Monroe
Publication Date: July 21, 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Note: This review is for an ARC and is my unbiased opinion.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Synopsis:

“Roses are red, violets are blue, stay away from Andrew Watson’s *ahem* because no other women ever do.”

That’s quite the way to start a conversation at a casual lunch, huh? Grilled chicken, French fries, and pelvic-fatigue, oh my!

And that’s not even the worst of it.

My friend Raquel didn’t pull any punches when she warned me about my brand-new costar and his notoriously player-esque ways. Apparently, my most important mission on my first role in a feature film is to stay immune to his charms.

Are you kidding me? Production costs on this movie are in the hundreds of thousands a day, and staying away from a panty-whispering, vajayjay-charmer is supposed to be at the top of my list? Pfft. Puh-lease.

It doesn’t matter that he’s annoyingly attractive, uber rich, crazy famous, and lusted after by ninety percent of the female population; Andrew Watson is trouble with a capital T—especially for a woman like me.

As a preventative measure, I’ve decided to go ahead and hate him.

Don’t worry, you guys, I’m completely in control. There’s absolutely no way I’m going to do something stupid like fall in love with him.

I can hate the player but still secretly love his addictive game.

I’m sure of it.


ADORABLE! HILARIOUS! Hate the Player was everything I was expecting from the duo behind Max Monroe and more. Now I love everything they write, but this one was especially entertaining. There was something about the celebrity trope combined with the enemies to lovers one that made for a great time. Birdie, the confident country music star, was a fish out of water in the acting world. Famous womanizing actor Andrew helping her find her groove was one cute moment after another. Even when they were slinging insults at each other this book was nothing but fun. Their chemistry was off the charts. Add in some cameos from the first couple of books in this series, and it was PERFECTION! Max Monroe’s humor shined so bright. I smiled so hard. This is the stay at home and read romance everyone needs in their lives right now. I already want to do a re-read.

Review: The Roommate (Rosie Danan)

The Roommate
Author: Rosie Danan
Publication Date: September 15, 2020
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Note: This review is for an ARC and is my unbiased opinion.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Synopsis:

House Rules:
Do your own dishes
Knock before entering the bathroom
Never look up your roommate online

The Wheatons are infamous among the east coast elite for their lack of impulse control, except for their daughter Clara. She’s the consummate socialite: over-achieving, well-mannered, predictable. But every Wheaton has their weakness. When Clara’s childhood crush invites her to move cross-country, the offer is too much to resist. Unfortunately, it’s also too good to be true.

After a bait-and-switch, Clara finds herself sharing a lease with a charming stranger. Josh might be a bit too perceptive—not to mention handsome—for comfort, but there’s a good chance he and Clara could have survived sharing a summer sublet if she hadn’t looked him up on the Internet…

Once she learns how Josh has made a name for himself, Clara realizes living with him might make her the Wheaton’s most scandalous story yet. His professional prowess inspires her to take tackling the stigma against female desire into her own hands. They may not agree on much, but Josh and Clara both believe women deserve better sex. What they decide to do about it will change both of their lives, and if they’re lucky, they’ll help everyone else get lucky too.


The Roommate was sooooo much fun to read! I smiled so hard. My husband was making fun of me from across the room because of the gigantic smile on my face. I just couldn’t help it. The Roommate was adorable, sweet, slightly innocent while also being extremely sexy. I don’t know how Rosie Danan managed to combine those two things, but she did, and she did it well.

What was so fun about this book? Well, it stars an uptight young woman who is breaking free from her socialite upbringing. Clara thinks she’s going to be roommates with her childhood best friend who she’s had a crush on FOREVER. Everett throws a kink in her plans to seduce him when he rents out his room to someone else for the summer. Josh isn’t at all what Clara was expecting for the summer — he’s a porn star. You can only imagine the shenanigans that take place once Clara figures out what Josh does for a living, and how things take a turn when Clara finds herself falling for Josh. It was all kind of crazy, sweet fun.

I guess what made me love this one so much was the writing and the romance. I am not a fan of third person, and this would have been that much better in first person, but I didn’t care. I was so in love with the story and the way it was written. There was so much heart and that’s what mattered. It was a fabulous read. I can’t believe it was a debut novel! I cannot wait to find out what Danan has coming next.

Review: Varsity Tiebreaker (Ginger Scott)

Varsity Tiebreaker
Series: Varsity, #2
Author: Ginger Scott
Publication Date: July 23, 2020
Publisher: Little Miss Write, LLC
Genre: Mature Young Adult, Contemporary Romance, Sports
Note: This review is for an ARC provided by WordSmith Publicity and is my unbiased opinion.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Synopsis:

Abby Cortez is a girl with goals, on the verge of turning eighteen and on the brink of stardom. Falling in love isn’t just something she doesn’t have time for, it’s something she doesn’t really believe in. Her rule? Date but never, ever fall.

Tory “Salvatore” D’Angelo loves falling in love…just not for real. The star basketball player at Allensville Public High gives his heart away one girl at a time then takes it back when he’s ready to move on. No serious feelings, no serious pain.

They’re both good plans until Abby’s jaded heart gets all tangled up with Tory’s hopeless one. A friendly rivalry grows into friendship, and long talks start to blur the lines.
Just one problem—Abby’s current boyfriend is Tory’s twin brother, Hayden.


Not going to lie… I was both excited and scared going into this one. I am not a fan of love triangles, and one involving twin brothers made me nervous. The only reasons I read it were I loved Tory in Varsity Heartbreaker and it was Ginger Scott’s book. Ginger Scott never does me wrong.

Varsity Tiebreaker was exactly what I needed it to be. Yes, there’s the whole Hayden – Abby – Tory thing, but it was done well. I never felt like I wasn’t sure who Abby was going to end up with. It was an emotional roller coaster for sure, but not in a bad way. It was a very good way.

I, of course, adored Tory. That kid was a good kid. He might have been a little bit of a player in the past, but he had good intentions and morals. Tory tried to do right by his brother, Abby, and his family. His character is one I would be okay with my daughter dating when she gets older, and that’s saying a lot because the kid isn’t allowed to date until she’s thirty. 😉

Abby was a little more surprise to me than Tory. I liked her as June’s sidekick, but I loved her even more on her own. Her struggles were all over the place, and it was fun to experience her working everything out in her head. I liked the choices she made. I also loved her relationship with her mom.

Abby and Tory worked well together, and I loved the connection they had. Even if it took them a while to get everything figured out. That time gave me just the right amount of angst for this mature YA romance.

As for Hayden… I feel like I got enough of his story here to not necessarily need a book dedicated book for him. That doesn’t mean I don’t want one! I would really love for him to get his own happy ending. He and Tory went through so much, that it would be nice to see how thing really worked out for him. So, maybe a book 4? Please?

Overall, I adored Varsity Tiebreaker. It was a fun, slightly angsty YA sports romance that made me swoon. I enjoyed every minute of it. I also loved the preview for Varsity Rulebreaker. I am dying having to wait for October for that book!

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Events/Festivals I’d Love to Go to Someday

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is:

Today’s topic is:

Book Events/Festivals I’d Love to Go to Someday

Oh, boy. What a topic with what’s been going on in the world.

Events:
1. Book Bonanza 2021

I was actually supposed to go to Book Bonanza 2020, so my ticket rolled over to this event. Crossing my fingers, it will happen next year.

2. LoveNVegas
3. Shameless Book Con
4. ApollyCon
5. RARE London
6. Music City with the Belles
Bookstores:
7. The Bookworm Box
8. Powell’s City of Books

I’ve been here quite of few times but want to go again.

9. Elliot Bay Bookstore

Again, been here, but want to support a local bookstore once it’s safe to again.

10. Third Place Books

I’ve never been but want to and it’s close enough.

Are there some I’m missing? I’m all about romance novels, so if you know of any I should put on this list, let me know!

Review: One More Step Anthology

One More Step
Authors: Colleen Hoover, A.L. Jackson, B.B. Easton, Devney Perry, Tijan, K.L. Grayson, Alethea Romig, K.F. Breene, Debra Anastasia, T.K. Rapp, Amy Daws, Cathlin Shahriary, Emma Scott, Evan Grace, Gianna Gabriela, Ginger Scott, Jaci Wheeler, J.B. Salisbury, Jessica Sorensen, Julie Solano, Tracy Justice, Lilly Wilde, L.K. Farlow, M. Lynn, Santana Blair, S.M. Soto
Publication Date: July 7, 2020
Publisher: Bookworm Box, Inc.
Genre: Multi

Rating: Each novella is rated individually below.

Synopsis:

Have you ever been curious how a writer’s mind works?

The Bookworm Box is proud to present ONE MORE STEP, an exciting and unique reading experience.

Each of the twenty-six authors featured in this anthology were given the same first sentence. Where they took that first sentence was completely up to them.

Every story is different.

No story is related.

The only thing these stories have in common is their starting point.

All of the authors showcased in this anthology were featured in The Bookworm Box charity during 2019.

Each author has graciously donated their story so that 100% of profits from this anthology will be going to the various charities The Bookworm Box is able to support because of you, the readers.


Before I review each novella in One More Step, I want to talk about how cool the idea behind this book is. 1. It’s filled with authors who contributed to Bookworm Boxes in 2019. 2. All these authors donated their novellas so that all money raised goes to charity. 3. Each story starts with the same first line crafted by Colleen Hoover. The whole concept is fascinating and cool. Bravo for the creativity!

A Meet Cute and Other Natural Disasters by Emma Scott – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I wasn’t expecting a story about Faith from Someday, Someday! This novella is all about how Faith falls in love on a Hawaiian getaway. It’s so adorable and I loved it!

Something Like Kismet by Ginger Scott – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This YA novella was adorable! It was everything I love about Ginger Scott’s writing. There was a small bit of angst and a whole lot of cute. I wouldn’t mind an entire book about Frankie and Hudson.

Love at First Fight by K.L. Grayson – ★ ★ ★ ★
I loved the way this novella started out. It was so fun and flirty. The entire story was. My only big complaint was it felt more like a preview than a novella. I would have liked a little more development, but it hit the spot.

First Flight by Jessica Sorensen- ★ ★ ★
The writing was good and the romance cute, but I wasn’t into the angel of death stuff. It was just weird to me.

Something Wonderful by LK Farlow – ★ ★ ★ ★
This one was fun.  I would have loved for this to be a full-length novel to develop the characters and relationship even further. I didn’t have enough time to like Dane Foster.

Opening Up by T.K. Rapp – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This was another I wanted a full-length novel for. It was such a fun story! I liked the fake boyfriend aspect and how they met.

The Ex-Dynamic by S.M. Soto – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
More, please? I loved this hockey novella. Although, I did think Reeve was an idiot after finding out what he did. I need to read more from this author.

Bound by Cathlin Shahriary – DNF
I gave this one a try, but fae stories aren’t really my thing.

Saving Ava Grace by Julie Solano & Tracy Justice – DNF
I tried to get into this one but couldn’t, so I skipped it.

The Story by Evan Grace – ★ ★ ★ ★
This one had a lot of instant attraction. It was almost too much, but I liked how it ended.

Hail Mary by JB Salsbury – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This was a great start to a story, and it seems like I’m going to get more from this couple by how it ended. If that’s true, I can’t wait! I loved this one.

Whatever It Takes by Gianna Gabriela – ★ ★ ★ ★
I LOVED this one, but it ended out of nowhere! I needed and wanted MORE!!!

Magical Show Down by K.F. Breene – DNR
This is a vampire novella. Not really my thing, so I skipped it.

Rendezvous Dot Com by Lilly Wilde – ★ ★ ★ ★
I was so intrigued by this story. It was fun in a crazy way. I really wanted to know what was coming next.

Interception by Santana Blair – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I was so impressed by how much story was in this novella. I felt like I got a whole book. I loved the characters and how they got together.

The Bride by Devney Perry – ★ ★ ★ ★
What a fun introduction to an upcoming book! I really, really want to know what comes next.

Leap of Faith by Jaci Wheeler – ★ ★ ★ ★
Kind of sad, but really good. This will hit people in the heart.

Spy’s Heart by M. Lynn – DNR

8°F by Debra Anastasia – ★ ★ ★ ★
What a wild ride! I enjoyed this one a lot. It was action packed. I was so curious as to know what would have happened next.

Kess by Tijan – ★ ★ ★ ★
It’s always fun to be back in the Fallen Crest/Crew world. This was related to Crew loosely and I really liked that it was new characters. I wonder if I’ll be seeing Kess and Christopher again soon in the upcoming Crew book…

Set Fire to the Sky by A.L. Jackson – ★ ★ ★ ★
A firefighter plus the girl he saves makes for a sweet love story.

Kick Off by Amy Daws – ★ ★ ★
Instant love all. The way with this one. It was cute at times. Then there was a twist that just made this end on a depressing note.

Call Me Heather by BB Easton – ★ ★ ★ ★
This was crazy hot — emphasis on crazy. It was very entertaining.

The Deal by Alethea Romig ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This was super-fast paced. I loved the writing style. I really wanted more!

Saint by Colleen Hoover – ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Um… This novella felt like a full-length book. It was crazy in an uncomfortable way, but also in a good way. I kind of hated parts of it because it made my skin crawl, but that doesn’t take away from how good the story was.

Review: Worth It All (Claudia Connor)

Worth It All
Series: The McKinney Brothers, #3
Author: Claudia Connor
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Publisher: Loveswept
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ½

Synopsis:

She’s fighting for control. . . . Paige Roberts learned to fend for herself growing up. Now she’s doing everything possible to give her daughter, Casey, the stability she never had. But when the vivacious five-year-old decides she’s done wearing her prosthesis, Paige faces her toughest challenge yet: trusting a handsome, brooding stranger who simply wants to help.

He’s struggling to connect. . . . JT McKinney lost more than his leg in a car accident that stole his dreams of pro football. Eight years later, he’s made a new life for himself far away from his old one. His business is developing cutting-edge prosthetics and he’s more than happy to turn his attention to machines instead of people. Still, he can’t shake the feeling that something’s missing.

Will they take a chance on love? . . . When JT gets the chance to help Paige’s daughter, he takes it. He never planned on the two of them tearing down his walls or teaching him to believe in himself again. Paige might not believe in happily ever afters, but JT wants more than anything to be her prince. They’ll both have to let go of the past if they want a future.


This was my second favorite book in the series. It was almost as good as that first book. I think what made me love this one and the first one more than the second book was that Claudia Connor writes some of the best children! I adored Casey in this one. She was all fire and cuteness. She really helped make this book that much better for so many reasons. I loved how she bonded with Jake. And Jake… Loved that guy! I was so curious about him after the first couple of books and his story lived up to my expectations. Paige was great, too. I liked how she was determined to give her daughter more than she had. She was a good match for Jake. Overall, this book was a winner.

Review: Worth the Risk (Claudia Connor)

Worth the Risk
Series: McKinney Brothers, #2
Author: Claudia Connor
Publication Date: January 27, 2015
Publisher: Loveswept
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Synopsis:

When a McKinney brother falls in love, powerful emotion and overwhelming desire are never far behind.

Two hearts locked away . . . Hannah Walker spends her days coaching children through injury and trauma, one therapeutic horseback ride at a time. She knows all too well how violence can change a child and leave scars that never heal. It’s easy for her to relate to the kids; what isn’t easy is the thought of facing her own harrowing past.

Millionaire playboy Stephen McKinney could use a little coaching himself. Five years ago he encountered his most horrible nightmare—and the nightmare won. No matter what he achieves, nothing can make up for that awful night . . . or so he believes.

Both desperate for a second chance . . . Stephen is used to getting what he wants. And he wants Hannah. So when she turns him down, he’s intrigued. What he doesn’t know is that her secrets will lead him to a place he never wanted to go again . . . to a side of himself he’s tried to forget . . . a side that would scare Hannah away from ever loving him. Now his only chance to win her trust is to bare his soul, risking everything he tried so hard to protect. mega888official


When I started Worth the Risk, I was surprised at how different it felt than Worth the Fall. It was more angsty. I wasn’t sure if I liked how jaded Stephen was at first. I guess I just wanted some more of that sweet feel Matt gave the last book. His attitude and the sweetness did improve as the book went on, which I was glad for. I really liked Hannah. Her strength was a cool thing to experience. I liked how the last part of both Stephen and Hannah healed together as they fell in love. Overall, it was a good romance.