Mini reviews: The Romance edition ?

Good afternoon bookworms! (I really need to remember to change the am/pm time on that scheduling sidebar!)

So, I’ve been on a bit of a romance binge lately. And, as what generally happens, I am just so behind on book reviews because I’m so busy screaming about TBRs for read-a-thons that I never remember to stick to, and Top 5 posts and all of the other things. So, to try and catch up a tiny bit, I’m squishing a bunch into a mini reviews post! Huzzah!

PARENTAL GUIDANCE – AVERY FLYNN

Release date: 17 June 2019
Goodreads link
Rating

Parental Guidance (Ice Knights #1) blurb:

THOUGHTS

This book was faaaaar cuter than I thought it would be. I think I was looking for a super steamy, knock my socks off, hockey-player smut-fest, and instead I got this super sweet. adorable, heart-eye emoji story about couple that was kind of meet-cute (with a little smut). But yes, the guy is a hockey player. But there’s not a huge amount of hockey in the story.

Caleb is a gentle marshmallow who has anxiety about his dyslexia. Zara is a manic artist pixie with daddy issues. I mean, obviously they were made for each other, and NOTHING was going to go wrong. Ever. OMG, sorry, I need a tissue from all the tears of laughter I am currently emitting.

But seriously, the characters are cute, the team mates are … kind of dicks, but I’m sure Flynn will have more on them later… but the story and the grand gestures (even if they don’t go as planned) are sweet. and it’s an enjoyable read.

IN BED WITH THE BEAST – TARA SIVEC

Release date: 5 June 2018
Goodreads link
Rating

In Bed With the Beast (Naughty Princess Club #2) blurb:

Naughty Princess Club #1: At the Stroke of Midnight

THOUGHTS

*fans self* This is definitely a hilarious and steamy take on a Beauty and Beast retelling. I mean, all of the Naughty Princess Club books are amazing, but this one about how Isabelle (Belle) needs to learn how to be a grown-up and make her own choices without being scared of hurting her dad’s feelings is probably one a lot of us could relate to. (Although the part about running off to live with a random stranger I probably wouldn’t do or recommend…)

Anyway, Belle and Beast are kind of cute, and he certainly has a lot of secrets that I didn’t really see coming – which was great because sometimes I like not having a super predictable story. And the lengths that she goes to, to make him jealous were kind of hilarious. 10 points for every cameo you can find as well.

Overall this one was cute, but I definitely like the other two a bit more. (Beast just isn’t my type of guy…)

KISS THE GIRL – TARA SIVEC

Release date: 4 September 2018
Goodreads link
Rating

Kiss the Girl (Naughty Princess Club #3) blurb:

THOUGHTS

This was, without a doubt, my favourite of the Naughty Princess Club books. I mean, The Little Mermaid had always been my fave Disney movie growing up (until Merida came along in Brave – who needs a man when they can out archer all of them?!) so I was very much looking forward to it.

Where Cindy was prudish and Belle was naive, Ariel was the balls-to-the-wall loud-mouthed, smart-ass, confident, kick-ass girl that we all wish we could be. The best part of this book was realising that Ariel also wished she could be those things. She was just kind of faking it. And it takes guts to fake that amount of confidence. But underneath it all, there was no self-belief at all, which made her the most relatable of the trio. For me, anyway. She also had some of the toughest challenges to overcome.

Eric was also the sweetest of the three guys. I mean, all of them did sweet things, but Eric was upfront about his feelings for Ariel from the start and didn’t try and hide anything from her. And I respect that.

Just quietly, I was in tears for basically half of this book. That’s how much it got me. But look, if you’re a bit of a Disney nerd and you like romance with some smut, and enemies to lovers tropes, and you’re here for female empowerment and body empowerment, you should probably give this series a go.

KISSING TOLSTOY – PENNY REID

Release date: 7 November 2017
Goodreads link
Rating

Kissing Tolstoy (Dear Professor #1) blurb:

THOUGHTS

I had some reservations going into this… the ‘dating a teacher’ trope can be VERY bad. But, in saying that, I thought it was done reasonably well in this case. (Or as reasonably as possible in a 200 page book that still had a plot.)

The characters were ok, they were a bit 2D (but again, it’s a 200 page book), but I respected the steps that they took to ensure the relationship didn’t hamper the teacher-power-authority vibe. In saying that, it’s not like they met while he was teaching, they did have the pre-meet where they were both equals, which I think makes a lot of difference.

Look, it was cute, and I didn’t find it overly problematic. It was a fun, escapist read.

So, that’s four pretty recent romance books that I have read… I will still be doing actual reviews for the others I have read recently (Red, White and Royal Blue, and The Kiss Quotient), but I there was less I wanted to say about these!

Are you reading good, fun romance novels? Or ones that make you cry lots? Tell me about them!