Mini Reviews (part fifteen)

Hi everyone!

Welcome to another round-up of my 2023 non-podcast reads.

It has been a few weeks of reading romances, in between my re-read of A Court of Thorns and Roses for the podcast. Most of them were pretty average, but I did also read my second 5 star book of this year!

Secretly Yours (A Vine Mess #1)

For me, this was genuinely a slog to get through.

I didn't connect to either of the characters and the insta-lust felt extremely forced. Most of the interactions between the two main characters felt forced, to be honest, and they are both quite forgettable - I am writing this review not even two weeks after having finished the book and I genuinely don't remember their names.

Okay, I looked up the names - they are Hallie and Julian. Hallie is a gardener and Julian is a university professor who has come back to his hometown to write a novel. She is spontaneous and pure sunshine, he needs a strict schedule and is a bit of a grump. Obviously, his personality flips almost immediately upon meeting her...

Even some of the smut and dirty talk - two elements I really enjoy in Tessa Bailey's books - felt forced, I didn't fully believe Julian would talk like that...

It took me more than a month to finish this and while I will be reading the sequel, it's not super high on my TBR.

Rating: 3/5

Unlikely Match

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for sending me an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, although it took me a while to finish it - I felt like the middle dragged a little bit, there was a bit too much time spent on Jules being indecisive about reaching out to people to ask them for help with her medical situation.

I liked the build up of the relationship between Jules and Tom. I found Jules' entire family abhorrent to the point where it kind of became unbelievable to me that people like this can exist and I question why she puts up with them at all.

Overall this was good, but it could have been perhaps a bit shorter.

Rating: 4/5

Highest Bidder (Salacious Players Club #5)

This was one of my most anticipated releases of this year and ended up being quite disappointing.

While I enjoyed Ronan as a character, I had trouble connecting with Daisy. The relationship between them felt forced, rushed, unrealistic and built more so on lust than anything else. I think what worked really well in the previous books of this series is that the main couples already had a history, they already knew each other. Here, the relationship between Ronan and Daisy spans only a few weeks.

I really tried to look past the large age-gap (35 years) but it was hard to do when these two people had almost nothing in common. Except for one conversation about books, I didn't get the sense that they talked about anything that would form a deeper connection between them.

In terms of kinks explored - the 'Daddy' kink is not my favourite and I was uncomfortable with its implementation in this book, considering Ronan lost a child many years ago. Ronan being a Pleasure Dom also didn't feel fully explored, he seemed to lose control a lot for someone his age and experience. Even the inclusion of Eden felt a bit forced, but I know she will be the main character in the last book so she needed to be featured more.

Rating: 3/5

Pucking Around by Emily Rath (Jacksonville Rays #1)

I devoured this book in 3 days.

This was close to perfection. For a book this long, it went so quickly. I thought the pacing was excellent, it never dragged for me. I genuinely didn't want it to end.

I loved all of the chracters and how different they were. I loved the communication between them all.

I'm knocking off 0.5 stars because Rachel cried in almost every chapter. I mean, I'm an emotional person, but this was a bit much even for me...

The sex was 🥵

Rating: 4.5/5

Part of Your World (Part of Your World #1)

This book was just so lovely, there really isn't any other way to describe it.

It was funny, the characters had great chemistry. Not much happened in terms of plot, it was all about their relationship and I was here for it.

Loved it.

Rating: 5/5

Have you read any of these books? Do you agree with my ratings? Let me know in the comments below, via e-mail or DM us on Instagram - we love to hear from you!

Until next time, keep reading!

Lucia