A lot of my rec lists are books I have not read but want to read, as they fall under a trope I like but here’s something a little different: a summary of romance books I’ve read that I would actually recommend along with their reviews.
- 1. The Unhoneymooners – Christina Lauren
- 2. Not in Love – Ali Hazelwood
- 3. Easy Tiger – Prickle Island Zoo series, Ali K Mulford
- 4. The Hating Game – Sally Thorne
- 5. Get a Life, Chloe Brown- Talia Hibert
- 6. Love and Other Words – Christina Lauren
- 7. Book Lovers – Emily Henry
- 8. Love on the Brain – Ali Hazelwood
- 9. That time I got Drunk and Saved a Demon – Kimberly Lemming
- 10. The Ex Talk – Rachel Lyn Solomon
1. The Unhoneymooners – Christina Lauren
A summary attempt
Olive is the unlucky twin, that is just an established fact, until the day of her sister’s wedding that is. Amy is the lucky twin and her aggressive competition and giveaways entry campaign in the lead up to the wedding has meant she’s gotten most of her dream wedding for free, including the honeymoon. The twin’s luck seems to switch though when the (free) buffet makes the entire wedding party, including the bride and groom, sick. The only people who were safe was Olive, thanks to shellfish allergy, and her least favourite person, the brother of the groom who has a thing against buffets.
Not one to loose out on a free vacation, Amy insists her (identical) twin sister goes on the non-transferable prize vacation in her place but to her great displeasure, Ethan was also offered the groom’s place. When neither of them will back down from a free holiday for the other, they decide to put up with each other for the chance of a dream vacation. They only have to pretend to married at check-in and then they should be able to go their separate ways (apart from sharing a room that is). Until Olive bumps into her new boss at the spa, where he overhears her being called ‘Mrs Thompson’ by the masseuse. They hope they’ll only have to pretend for one night longer, as her boss leaves the next day, when Ethan runs into his ex, who is already engaged to someone else.
Forced to keep up the act, they start to find themselves enjoying each other’s company…. is it the dream vacation, or could Ethan and Olive maybe not be enemies after this?
My thoughts
You know what? I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. It’s funny, I liked the characters and the male lead is not some grumpy, unlikeable asshole for a change. The female MC is witty, sarcastic and so real. Obviously, the concept behind this book is ridiculous but somehow, the author makes it work and it doesn’t feel silly because who wouldn’t take a free 10 day holiday in Maui? I listened to this as an audio and it was literally making me laugh out loud, I even had to pause it once while driving because it was distracting the hell out of me, where normally I don’t struggle to listen to audios and drive.
2. Not in Love – Ali Hazelwood
A sort of summary
Rue is a scientist, researching her dream project, when her company’s loan gets bought out by a tech acquisition company who seems hell bent on removing her boss, and friend, as CEO. To add insult to injury, one of the new prospective owners is the man she almost slept with, who she met through an anonymous dating app for sex.
Rue is forced to fight the magnetic connection she feels with Eli because his company is trying to oust her friend but events keep throwing them together until they are no longer able to resist getting together. Both of them have rules about no repeats, so Rue hopes she can get him out of her system but she finds Eli getting under her skin. They are brutally honest with each other about the darkest aspects of their pasts and they find themselves telling the other things they’ve never told anyone else. They see each other in secret and Rue feels terrible for betraying her friend, but as things progress with the buyout, it seems her boss has a lot of secrets and ties that go deeper with Eli and his partners than the acquisition.
My thoughts
Genuinely, this has rocketed to being my favourite Ali Hazelwood. I loved Bride and Love on the Brain but this just hit different. The writing was excellent, the depth of the characters was so much more than in other books. Just all round, this book had so much more depth than her other books, which isn’t a criticism, because those books have been written to fulfil a niche in the romance genre audience but I’ve found over time that I like a little more plot with my romance or smut. I like how their relationship changes, I like that it takes the girl longer to fall, I liked their brutal honesty and how they learn and grow out of the toxicity they grew up with. There was also a little more spice than her other books, but it was well written and made sense for the characters and the narrative.
Honestly, I’m not exaggerating when I say this is her best book, I hope this and Bride are a sign that she’s getting a bit more control of what she writes because these feel a lot more authentic than her other books.
3. Easy Tiger – Prickle Island Zoo series, Ali K Mulford
A vague plot summary
Hawk’s one year to save his family zoo is almost up, he has just the summer left to save their home and his father’s legacy. In walk’s chaos on legs: Hannah, the pretty new summer front of house worker.
Hannah is the only child of a mom who had her late in life, whose now putting off her retirement plan because Hannah just can’t seem to get her life together. So when the boss at the ‘journalist’, which is mostly puff pieces, job she hates, offers her a huge pay check in exchange for getting some information about Prickle Island zoo on behalf of an ‘interested party’
When she arrives at the zoo she finds out that A: she’s really bad at snooping, B: this is a really nice family, an amazing zoo and she can’t possibly spy on them. Also, the brooding zoo keeper is really hot and nice… but what about giving her mom the retirement she deserves?
What did I think?
I really loved this book, I loved how chaotic Hannah is and all her big feelings. I liked Hawks’ character development and how their relationship grows. The ending made me cry but just because I’m a wimp when it comes to stories about animals (which these books have a lot of) and then the resolution of the third act miscommunication hit me very much in my feels. A lot of the story focused on Hannah’s struggle with finding work she enjoyed and keeping on top of things because of her ADHD. As someone with *suspicions* about herself, the way everyone at the zoo loves her as is, without her having to feel any shame or mask around them, also made me have a lot of feelings.
I am very much in love with this series and can’t wait to read the next one!
4. The Hating Game – Sally Thorne
A summary attempt
Lucy and Josh are complete opposites, hippy vs corporate, people pleaser vs universally feared, driven by good literature vs driven by sales. They are the executive assistants to two ceo’s from a merger of two publishing houses with very different approaches and they hate each other. They have multiple hr complaints against one another and they spend most of their days scheming on how to wind the other up, or distract, or make them laugh. When the ceo’s announce there will be a new position just below them and the successful candidate will be the boss of the remaining executive assistant, their competitive streak ratchets up a notch.
When the tension inevitably bubbles over and turns into something more, Lucy discovers many surprising things about her nemesis and starts to find out, to her dismay, she could actually quite like him… but what does that mean for the promotion and for them?
What did I think?
This book is so much fun, it genuinely made me laugh out loud quite a lot, their banter and competitiveness makes you do the squee kicking fee thing. It is one of the few ‘enemies to lovers’ set in a modern day setting that felt realistic, whereas usually someones “enemy” in these books is a bit convoluted, they had a genuine rivalry that also didn’t make the Male MC a walking red flag and didn’t rely wholly on the miscommunication trope *coughs* looking at you The Spanish Deception*.
I’m definitely looking into other books by this author as this is the first one of theirs I’ve read.
5. Get a Life, Chloe Brown- Talia Hibert
An attempt at summarising
After getting diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Chloe’s world has become very small but when she has a near-death experience, she sets out on a mission to ‘get a life’. First step: move out of the family home. Chloe’s plan to tick off the rest of the ‘get a life’ check list is making… slow progress but everything is going well, apart from the infuriating and extremely attractive super-intendant of her building, that is.
My thoughts
Now, I won’t put myself in the same camp as someone with fibromyalgia but as someone who has experienced ongoing, chronic pain (back injury, I’m mostly fine now). That being said, something about Chloe’s story really got me, especially in all the ways she has to both accept her new bodies’ limitations and still try to live her life. Also, the way the love interest accepts and accommodates for her, without making her feel shame or embarrassment is just *chefs kiss* and made me feel a lot of things. Red, the love interest, is recovering from a controlling relationship, another thing that really got to me. It’s dual POV and their voices really felt like their voices in their chapters. I really loved this book and I’m definitely going to buy the rest of the series.
6. Love and Other Words – Christina Lauren
Vague plot summary
The story flashes between present day Macy and Elliot and their teenage selves 11+ years ago. Something happened that meant they didn’t speak for those 11 years and as they get to know each other again in the present day, we slowly get snapshots into their relationship as teenagers, walking us towards the incident that caused them to lose contact.
They met when Macy was 13, only just having lost her mum to cancer. Macy’s mum left behind a list of ‘rules’ or guidelines for milestones as she grew up and one of them was to buy a vacation home by a lake so that they had somewhere to go to get away from it all. On the day she moves in she discovers an awkward, lanky, teenage Elliot reading in her closet, with reading being one of the special things Mace shared with her mum, they quickly become best friends. As time goes on they begin to realise they could be more than friends but Mace is hesitant because she didn’t think she could survive losing another person, if something went wrong between them because they were involved.
In the present day, Macy is engaged and working crazy hours during her residency program. Her engagement was sort of… sudden, so when she bumps into Elliot with her best friend, her friend encourages her to reconnect with him and maybe heal some of those past wounds. Elliot responds to seeing her again by immediately breaking up with his girlfriend and declaring his undying love for Macy but she’s not quite ready to inspect those old wounds just yet. They decide to re-connect just as friends, avoiding the subject of *that* night all those years ago, until it becomes apparent that cannot just be friends, or, ignore the elephant in the room.
What did I think?
This whole book had an ethereal, endless summer holiday vibe, especially in the chapters that flashed back to their friendship in the cabin. It was also, coloured by loss and grief throughout, as well as sort of weary sadness in the present day snapshots. In the present day, Macy has also since lost her father but we don’t really know how long ago until the end.
This book was maybe a little sadder than I generally would gravitate towards for a fluffy romance book, it’s definitely on the end of the spectrum of people that prefer a lot of story with their romance/ spice. That being said it was a beautiful story and honestly, the rose-tinted first love part of the story that was looking back on their teenage selves was so romantic but so was the present when they are re-learning each other, baggage and all. Elliot is genuinely the dream guy, except for the big fuck up which causes them to not talk.
7. Book Lovers – Emily Henry
A summary attempt
Nora is the anti-heroine of every romance book, she is the high powered city girl in fancy shoes who the male love interest leaves for the girl from the charming small town he goes to visit and ends up staying forever. In fact, this has happened to her, three times. Ahead of the birth of her sisters third child, Nora is convinced by her baby sister to take a vacation in the small town featured in one of the author’s Nora represents novels. Libby has a check list of small town romance novels things they must do while on holiday, including setting her sister up with a rugged local man. When they arrive, Nora finds that the only place with good wifi happens to be the bookstore, where she discovers one of her nemesis’s from the literary world is working to help out his family while his dad is sick. Libby is charmed by small town life but Nora can’t wait to leave, she senses her sister is hiding something as they make their way through the checklist, meanwhile, Nora finds herself drawn to the equally cut-throat, equally city loving and literary rival, Charlie.
My thoughts
This was such an enjoyable read and one of the things I loved most about it is that she is still a career-orientated, child free by choice, city dweller at the end. Her character development is all about moving on from her mother’s death and her relationship with the baby sister she helped raise changing and growing. I loved all the ways this book breaks the fourth wall about traditional tropes in the romance genre to show a romance with the kind of woman we don’t usually see in these novels.
8. Love on the Brain – Ali Hazelwood
A terrible attempt at summarising
Bee’s career in neuroscience has stagnated, until she gets the opportunity of a lift time, working for NASA to develop a helmet designed to optimise an astronaut’s ability to concentrate. Only, she arrives to discover the guy from her grad school lab, who absolutely hated her back then, will be running the lab in partnership with her. Bee has hope when Levi seems different to how he was in school, more personable, well liked by his colleagues and he is mostly civil with her. Until her lab equipment does not arrive and he reprimands her for not dressing professionally. Furious, Bee finally chews him out and threatens to go to the department head, despite Levi’s insistence that it won’t be a good idea. Somehow, Levi beats her to the supervisors office and Bee is about to barge in and say her piece when she realises Levi is defending her and demanding her lab equipment. From there, they strike an un-easy truce, until the day Bee get stuck in a graveyard after dark and only has Levi to call for rescue. She is forced to stay over night at his place and it’s then Bee realises she may have misunderstood a lot about Levi.
All the while Bee is posting on her steminist twitter account and messaging with a fellow women in stem supporter. They anonymously talk about their professional frustrations… such as the lab co-lead whose being a massive camel dick, and the women that the other account is love with who recently joined his team but he believes she’s married and hates him so he can’t act on his feelings.
What did I think?
You know what? I might even prefer this book the most out of three Ali Hazelwood books I’ve read. Bee is just… cool, in a nerdy kind of way. Her character has some real depth, between the facts about famous women scientists sprinkled throughout her narration, her quirky internal monologue and the way she always blurts out what she’s thinking, she felt very real. I loved the little extra details like her demonic little gen z lab assistant and Levi’s extra interests outside of work. The whole messaging each other over twitter about one another thing is a little contrived but I don’t think it took away from the narrative. Also, there was no incredibly predictable third act misunderstanding this time, which was refreshing.
So for a fluffy romance, I actually got a whole bit of plot that I actually enjoyed!
9. That time I got Drunk and Saved a Demon – Kimberly Lemming
A summary attempt
All Cinnamon wants from life is to look after her spice farm, get a cat and get drunk with her best friend. So when she accidentally helps a demon in a drunken stupor and he recruits her for his quest, she pissed off to say the least. She never wanted an adventure but it seems she going to have one against her will… the fact that the demon is incredibly hot is just a side benefit.
What did I think?
I loved this book, it’s a short, fun read. I enjoyed the way they used modern speech in this medieval fantasy setting because it’s not taking itself too seriously, it was just funny rather than taking away from the story. It’s part quest, part spice and just all round an enjoyable read!
10. The Ex Talk – Rachel Lyn Solomon
A summary attempt
Shay’s dream has always been to work in radio, she’s the youngest senior producer at her radio station but she’s always harboured the dream of hosting her own show. When there are going to be lay-offs and some schedule changes, she takes the swing and pitches a show where two exes talk about where they went wrong and offer relationship advice. Shay’s convinced her pitch was her downfall when she’s called to her bosses office alongside her nemesis Dominic. He has decided their famous rivalry will make for an excellent show where they pretend to be exes… oh and if they don’t do it, they’ll also lose their jobs in the lay-offs. Shay convinces Dominic to do the show, despite the fact he prefers research journalism and they don’t really like each other. The show is immediately a massive hit and Shay is finally living her dream… except it’s based on a lie and she’s developing feelings for her supposed ex.
What did I think?
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, it was so funny, the main characters personality was really enjoyable, the way their relationship changes feels really natural and it was just a fun story. There’s no pointless miscommunication, when they start to feel things for each other they admit it and then start to figure out how they can make it work on the show. The under current of Shay’s grief for her dad, whose the reason she wanted to work in radio, added a real depth to the story and it was just all round a good story.
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Antonia Bernardin 
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