Let's just clear the air about something before moving on - I don't know how any author will ever top Theo from Reckless. BUT that being said, I loved Beau and Bailey so much. I felt like Beau and Bailey's story was a little more disconnected from the group than some of the other stories, and I think I actually liked that. They were in their own little bubble between the bar where Bailey worked and Beau's little corner of the ranch. There were obviously moments where you saw the whole family, but they weren't daily interactions.

My favorite part about this book was the way the suspense storyline was revealed. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, never knowing when there would be a reveal into Caleb’s past or Paisley’s past or when something devastating might happen in the present storyline.

Once I got past the explanation of all of the different houses and warring groups of vampires, I was completely drawn in by the Kejari trials themselves and the competitors’ preparations for them. I loved the way Oraya and Raihn battled one another with their banter, humor and anger and just generally were challenging one another every step of the way, all while somehow learning and understanding one another better than anyone else.

I was really enjoying the beginning of this book! I thought it was sweet showing the scenes between Olive and Jason when they were kids when she had such a big crush on him. And I thought there were some hilarious scenes of Olive losing her mind when they were adults and reconnecting after 8 years. Plus no one really knew Jason he was the inspiration for that male main character all along. Also, I love fake dating and marriage of convenience stories so I enjoyed the times they had to be out together for the public and she wasn’t sure what was real. And I loved how he was falling for her without realizing it. But then at about the 60%-70% mark, it was suddenly super steamy but the steamy scenes weren’t really moving the story along in any way. And then I hated every single bit of the third act conflict/drama.

I should preface this by saying this is a totally wackadoodles story, but in a good way! If you enjoy quirky crazy rom coms, then I think you’ll enjoy this. But if you’re not up for craziness that requires you to suspend disbelief, this might not be for you.

If you love protective heroes and ALL THE ANGST, I think you’ll love this forbidden second chance romance, too.

This story was bonkers in the best way. Seth is best friends with Jenny, who used to be best friends with Maddie. Now Maddie is dating Connor but really she’s mostly with him for the status of dating the quarterback. But Jenny started tutoring Connor and it’s causing some issues for Maddie. They all end up in this bookshop where a faerie insists on rewriting their stories. She removes the frost that Jack Frost apparently put on Maddie and sends them all to an alternate reality where Seth never had his accident and is still the star quarterback and Maddie is the dorky tutor that follows after Seth like a puppy. Maddie makes a deal with the faerie to get back to her old life - she just needs to make Seth fall in love with her.

This book was distressing and emotional at times but ultimately, an epic love story! This is a right person-wrong time forbidden romance but unfortunately for Iris it is much darker than that.

Betting On the Boy Next Door is a dual POV clean rom com with some forced proximity, fake dating, amazing roommates, loving grandparents and a quirky parrot.

Poppy’s husband was murdered 5 years ago and left behind a Birthday List (like a bucket list but things he wanted to do for each of his birthdays). Poppy decided to tackle the list to help herself move on. One of the first things she does for the list is take a karate class where she ends up running into the cop who delivered the news of her husband’s murder.

I would highly recommend this if you’re a fan of the movie The Prince and Me as well as anyone who enjoys royal clean rom-coms! I don’t know that it’s 100% necessary but I would recommend reading Royally Rearranged first so that you get all of the background character info. Plus, I totally loved that story so I think you’d enjoy it anyway. 😊