"Books are a uniquely portable magic." – Stephen King
If you’ve read any of my blog posts, you already know that I am a big fan of the smart romances of Penny Reid. I discovered today that the first book in the Knitting in the City series, titled Neanderthal Meets Human, is FREE for a limited time. Get started on this fantastic series by getting your free copy! As a reminder, if you haven’t already gotten the fourth book in the series, it is still free and you can find it here: Beauty and the Mustache
4 of 5 hilarious stars
I really love this series. My favorite is still Man Card, but Boy Toy was VERY good. I adored Liam… where can I get one of my own? 😉 I love a couple with a backstory, and while this one wasn’t all that complicated, it was ADORABLE.
I had a tiny issue with Sadie being all concerned with a 6-year age difference, but I understand it was less about the number of years than it was about the difference in life experience.
I LOVE a man who is invested in children that are not his own, especially when their dad has not been! These two ladies are very good at writing remarkable sexy times, but there is also heart to the story, and I always love seeing what the couples from the previous books are up to! If you haven’t read Man Hands or Man Card, you’ll definitely want to read those before tackling Sadie and Liam!
Five of Five enthusiastic stars
I’m a big fan of Second Chance Romance stories, as well as characters with a complicated history, so I really couldn’t go wrong with this one. I may be in the minority, but I really liked that this book took place much later than the previous book in this series. I liked seeing bits and pieces of what has been going on in the five years since we’ve heard from these characters that I’ve loved for five books now (six, if you include Beauty and the Mustache, which you should.) I also like the little hints of things to come in future books that Penny has promised us. (Cletus and Jenn’s cozy mystery series, anyone?)
Honestly, Beard in Mind, Winston Brothers #4, was a difficult book for me to stick with. Being a Penny Reid book, it was very well-written, but I found Shelly very hard to relate to. I really loved Beau, and I wanted him to be happy, and glad he found that happiness with Shelly, but BiM was not my favorite. So, there was nowhere to go but up, as far as this fifth book was concerned. I already loved Roscoe from what I knew of him from the previous books. I liked Simone, as well, especially because she wasn’t a new character that popped up, but one that had been around for a while. It’s hard to review this book without giving anything away, and I don’t want to spoil anything, so just READ IT! I think you can read this one without having read the previous books in the series, since it takes place long after the first four books. (Keep in mind that Beauty and the Mustache is still FREE on Amazon, so pick it up if you haven’t already!)
One of my pet peeves is when the author takes the easy way out, and the conflict between the characters stems from a misunderstanding or a stupid argument. Penny Reid never does this. When her characters are in conflict, it is about something real and usually pretty devastating, and a simple conversation is not going to fix the problem (unlike the books with the stupid misunderstanding, which can usually be resolved if the characters just open their mouths and TALK!)
When we get to the point where Roscoe and Simone have their moment of conflict, you can totally see things from both perspectives because it is a legitimate issue, not a made-up one. There is also a moment where I felt that there would be no way for the conflict to be resolved, and I must admit I skimmed through the next couple of pages to find out whether my fears would be confirmed. (They weren’t. PHEW!)
I really loved this book. I feel like we’ve waited a long time for Roscoe’s story, and I’m so happy with it. The audiobook should be released later this month, and I will put it on my wishlist (especially if Chris Brinkely does the narrating!)
Of course, DSB left me wanting more of the Winston Brothers, especially Billy. I know I’m not alone in stating that I simply cannot wait for Beard Necessities, releasing October 2019, which happens to be my birthday month. 🙂
4 of 5 thought-provoking stars
Kristan Higgins is one of my favorite authors. In fact, she was my gateway back into contemporary romance after a long hiatus. I’d asked a friend, Eileen, who she would recommend, and she pointed me in the direction of the first book in the Blue Heron series, entitled The Best Man.
I have a few authors whose books I purchase without ever reading the summary ahead of time, because I trust them. Kristan Higgins is one of those authors. I have enjoyed every book I’ve read of hers, and have followed her hilarious blog. She is real and funny and doesn’t take herself too seriously. She seems like the kind of person I would want as a friend.
Her writing is funny and sexy and moving. She can make you laugh one sentence and cry the next. She can make you laugh WHILE you’re crying. And as her new book demonstrates, she can also make you think.
“Good Luck with That” deals with the topic of body image and self-acceptance. It is the story of three friends who have all struggled with their weight to one extent or another. As a reader, we see from the outside how each of them deals with family members, friends, and even strangers commenting on their size, shaming them about their weight, making snide remarks about their food choices. I have to imagine that many readers of this book have experienced some of what Marley or Georgia or Emerson went through. It wasn’t always easy to read, but it helped me see things from a different perspective, and isn’t that what good literature is supposed to do?
You know the old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? The first time I read a book by Penny Reid, I did exactly that. I’d gotten the first book in her Winston Brothers series, entitled Truth or Beard, for free through a newsletter, and I did what I normally do once I download a free book: forget all about it. Then one day, I was scrolling through the books on my kindle and my gaze fell upon this awesome cover. While I know we’re told not to judge a book by one, with a cover image like that, I figured it had to be good. It was, after all, different from what my daughters call my “shirtless man books.” I was hooked from the start, partly because the book opens with a Lord of the Rings quote, but mostly because of the history the two main characters, Jessica James and Duane Winston, share. (I love it when characters have a complicated backstory!) I finished this book in three days.
Most of the time, a series has three siblings, and each gets their own book. Duane Winston has five brothers (in no particular order, his twin Beau, Billy, Jethro, Cletus, & Roscoe) and one sister, Ashley. To date, the Winston Brothers series has five books, with more to come. Duane’s sister Ashley’s story is part of another series, called Knitting in the City. Lucky for you, Ashley’s book is FREE for a limited time (link below). Penny Reid is also the author of the Hypothesis series, the Rugby series (with L. H. Cosway) and the upcoming Dad Bod series.
I have read every one of the Knitting in the City books, and also own most of them on audiobook. (Side note: Joy Nash, who does a lot of the narrating in both of these series, is AMAZING. I am VERY picky about my female narrators, because I don’t like the way the majority of them do the male’s voices.) I have read all of the Winston Brothers books so far, except the most recent, Dr. Strange Beard, which I am saving for my beach vacation next week!
Penny Reid is known for “smart romances.” You’ll read about bitcoins, the Nigerian oil crisis, RICO charges, Artificial Intelligence, and the NSA. She is hysterically funny, and her books make me FEEL ALL THE FEELINGS! I remember when I was reading Dating-ish, book #6 in KitC, and something happens to Marie, the main character. Penny’s incredible writing made me feel as if it had happened to ME. I honestly had to put the book down and walk away for a couple of days, because I was so profoundly affected by it. That’s the sign of an excellent and well-written book, right there!
If you’d like to find out more about Penny Reid, you can check out her website http://pennyreid.ninja/ and sign up for her newsletter. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Even better, you can start reading one of her books for FREE right now! After you’ve fallen in love with her writing, be sure to join like-minded readers in her Facebook group, called Sharks of Awesome!
4 of 5 stars
Bikers and Brides: it shouldn’t have worked, but it really did! The basic premise of this story is that Trey, the leader of a motorcycle club called the Iron Shadows, unwittingly becomes involved in the planning of his long-lost sister’s wedding, and recruits his fellow club members to help him out. His co-planner, Bethany, suspects that he isn’t really a wedding planner at all, and seeks to reveal him as a fraud to his newfound family. Of course, it’s not a spoiler to say that they end up falling for each other instead.
I don’t read a lot of MC books, and this concept is most definitely different than any MC I’ve read before. Reading about guys named Wolf, Ace, Flash and Doc try to figure out how to create invitations and assemble wedding favors was quite enjoyable. It should have been ridiculous, but Ms. Cole really makes you picture it and like what you see!
Every story has conflict, and a lot of it can be avoided if the characters just talked to each other. In this story, practically everybody is lying to everybody else, and it almost makes you roll your eyes and say “For Pete’s sake, just tell each other the truth already!”
I especially enjoyed getting to know the members of Trey’s biker gang, and anticipate each of them having their own Bikers and Brides book in the future.
Dare Me Once by Shelly Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have enjoyed Ms. Alexander’s writing in the past, but I think this is my favorite of her books. Start with a single dad of a special needs son, add in a supportive family and watch what happens when a beautiful young woman takes refuge in the family’s resort as a way to hide from her past.
Every story has a moment of conflict, so the characters can deal with it and get their happily ever after. I really dislike when the conflict is the result of a “misunderstanding,” and either one or both of the characters overreact. I sometimes see the situation coming and it always makes me cringe. There was no such issue in this story. Lily had a secret, and we always knew that Trace and his family would find out about it, most likely not from Lily herself; what we didn’t know was how they would resolve it so they could be free to have their happy ending.
Having a special needs son myself, I could relate to Trace struggling to care for his child and often feeling like he wasn’t doing enough for him. I enjoyed getting to know Trace’s brothers, seeing them work together to support their family’s business, and I look forward to Elliot and Spencer’s stories as the Angel Fire Falls series continues.
5 of 5 stars!
Another fantastic visit to Blue Moon. This book was a combination of my two favorite types of stories: second chance romance and fake relationship, with the usual Blue Moon zaniness, swoon-worthy sexy times and laugh out loud moments that Lucy Score does better than anyone.
I love catching up with the other members of our favorite community and getting to see what they’ve been up to since the last book, but the stars of this show are Davis and Eden. They have a complicated history, which is something I always love, as well as a complicated present, since their families have been feuding for the past 50 years!
They are forced to spend time together through the shenanigans of the well-meaning but often ridiculous Beautification Committee. Things don’t go as planned, of course, but we are all better off for it!
Being a big fan of origin stories (especially Lucy’s Where It All Began, the Blue Moon prequel), I especially loved the bonus epilogue. Here’s hoping there’s plenty more Blue Moon in our future!
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