Page 54 of 412

Item: Beauty and the Baller
Rating: 4.5
Author: Jen

Recommendations of our Favorite Books We Read in 2021

April 1, 2022 / Jen / 6 Comments

Here are the books that consumed our hearts and souls last year! Click our reviews to learn more about each book, or click on the cover to go to Amazon. We organized our favorites by age and genre categories so it would be easier to find exactly what you want. We hope you enjoy!
♥ The Star-Crossed Ladies

YA Romance

Jen’s Review	Jen’s Review	Jen’s Review
Jen’s Review

NA Romance

Arielle’s Review	Arielle’s Choice	Arielle’s Choice
Arielle’s Choice	Jen’s Review	Jen’s Review
Arielle’s Review	Arielle’s Review

Adult Romance

Arielle’s Review	Jen’s Review	Jen’s Review
Arielle’s Choice	Arielle’s Choice	Jen’s Review
Jen’s Review	Jen’s Review Arielle’s Choice	Chelsea’s Choice
Jen’s Review	Jen’s Review	Arielle’s Review Chelsea’s Review
Jen’s Review	Arielle’s Review	Arielle’s Review
Arielle’s Review	Arielle’s Review	Arielle’s Review
Arielle’s Review	Arielle’s Review

Historical Romance

Jen’s Review

YA Dystopian

Jen’s Review

YA Fantasy

Chelsea’s Review	Cheslea’s Review	Chelsea’s Review
Chelsea’s Review	Jen’s Review	Jen’s Review
Jen’s Review	Chelsea’s Choice	Cassie’s Choice
Chelsea’s Choice	Arielle’s Choice	Cassie’s Choice Chelsea’s Choice
Arielle’s Review	Cassie’s Choice	Chelsea’s Choice
Arielle’s Review Chelsea’s Review	Cassie’s Choice	Chelsea’s Review
Chelsea’s Review	Cassie’s Review

NA Fantasy

Arielle’s Review Chelsea’s Choice	Arielle’s Choice Chelsea’s Choice	Jen’s Review Arielle’s Choice
Jen’s Review Arielle’s Choice	Chelsea’s Review	Chelsea’s Review

Adult Fantasy

Arielle’s Choice

Chelsea’s Review

Chelsea’s Choice

NA Paranormal

Jen’s Review

YA Sci-Fi

Chelsea’s Choice	Arielle’s Review Chelsea’s Choice	Arielle’s Review
Arielle’s Review	Arielle’s Choice	Arielle’s Choice

YA Thriller

Cassie’s Choice	Cassie’s Choice	Cassie’s Choice
Cassie’s Choice

Adult Thriller

Cassie’s Choice

Fan Fiction

These are Arielle’s recs and they’re all Draco x Hermione ♥

*Remain Nameless by HeyJude19
*The Right Thing To Do, All the Wrong Things, and The Auction by lovesbitca8
*Manacled by SenLinYu
*Wait and Hope and Beginning and End by mightbewriting
*Bring Him To His Knees by Musyc
*The Gloriana Set by ThebeMoon
*The Disappearances of Draco Malfoy by Speechwriter
*The Fallout by Everythursday

We hope you had fun looking through our 2021 Favorite Books! Are any of these your favorite books too? If not, what was your favorite standalone book last year?

You can see more of our yearly recommendations for Favorites From a Series HERE.

You can also see more of our yearly recommendations for Favorite Standalone Books HERE.

COVER REVEAL: Fauxmance by Cookie O’Gorman

March 31, 2022 / Jen / 0 Comments

I absolutely adore and love every single book I read by Cookie O’Gorman! I’m so excited for her latest release. Check out what Fauxmance is about below and you can add it to your tbr on Goodreads. Enjoy ♥!

Fauxmance
Cookie O’Gorman
Publication date: April 28th 2022
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Fauxmance (fow-mans): Term for a romantic relationship that is fake. Real feelings, like love, are strictly prohibited. See also: Why would anyone enter a fake relationship?

Eighteen-year-old Magnolia believes in true love.

Or she did.

When her boyfriend dumps her the day before her sister’s wedding, Maggie is devastated—but her broken heart is only part of the problem. Maggie is the maid of honor, and her sister insists: Every member of the bridal party must have an escort. No exceptions.

Thank goodness for Hayden Davenport.

Sarcastic, cocky, a surprisingly good listener and self-professed player, when Maggie gets stuck in an elevator with the handsome stranger, she thinks she’s found the perfect wedding date. Unfortunately, Hayden hates weddings. Like really hates them.

But one soul-shattering kiss changes everything.

Maggie needs a fake boyfriend. Hayden wants to prove he’s changed his playboy ways. Faking it should be easy. The hard part?

Remembering it’s all pretend and not falling in love for real.

This book features two opposites with sizzling chemistry, a sweet, hopeless romantic and a cynical bad boy who’ll steal your heart. Elevators, fake romance, and weddings, oh my! Get ready to swoon, laugh, and say ‘I do’ to this heartfelt YA romance.

Add to Goodreads

Author Bio:

Cookie O’Gorman writes YA & NA romance to give readers a taste of happily-ever-after. Small towns, quirky characters, and the awkward yet beautiful moments in life make up her books. Cookie also has a soft spot for nerds and ninjas. Her novels ADORKABLE, NINJA GIRL, The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad, The Kissing Challenge (YA novella), and WALLFLOWER are out now! She is also the author of NA sports romances The Best Mistake and The Perfect Play. Her newest release CUPCAKE came out on November 2, 2021!

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BOOK REVIEW: Beauty and the Baller (Strangers in Love #1) by Ilsa Madden-Mills

March 30, 2022 / Jen / 6 Comments

Beauty and the Baller was such a wonderful story! Check out my 4.5 Star Review below, enjoy ♥!

BOOK REVIEW: Beauty and the Baller (Strangers in Love #1) by Ilsa Madden-Mills

BOOK REVIEW: Beauty and the Baller (Strangers in Love #1) by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Beauty and the Baller (Strangers in Love #1)
by Ilsa Madden-Mills
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
An NFL quarterback turned small-town coach gets sacked by a Texas beauty queen in this swoony, passionate romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills.

Gorgeous, talented, and brilliant, NFL quarterback Ronan Smith has the world in his hands. But after losing his career and his fiancée in a car accident, he falls into a pit of grief and bad choices. When a mysterious girl shows up to his party, he feels drawn to her and makes her his…for one night.

Former beauty queen Nova Morgan is on a mission. Scantily clad as a princess from a galaxy far, far away, she sneaks into a high-profile party to capture the attention of her favorite quarterback. But her hopes crash after an awful one-night stand.

Fast-forward two years. Broke and desperate, Nova returns home to Blue Belle, Texas, where, by a cosmic twist of fate, her broody neighbor is none other than Ronan, the shiny new football coach everyone adores. But he has no idea who she is.

The booster club keeps shoving women at Ronan to keep him in town. His solution? He proposes fake dating to Nova. But things heat up for real under these Friday-night lights when he realizes she’s the one who slipped away.

Has this jaded beauty found her forever baller, or will his past keep them apart?

Review:

I want to touch the stars, even if I get burned.

Beauty and the Baller was a sexy, swoony, angsty read! With a spunky cat, a lovable heroine and a sexy hero, this book was a lot of fun. Add in fake dating, small town charm and a wonderful HEA and this book was such a beautiful love story. If you like sexy, adult romance then you definitely need to check this one out!

“I like seeing you squirm,” she murmurs.
“Why?”
“Payback.” A slow blush works up from her neck to her face as she mutters something under her breath.
“What was that?”
She clears her throat. “Just . . . life has a funny sense of humor.”

Ronan Smith had a tragic past. His fiancé was killed in the car wreck that also killed his professional football career. While still struggling a year later, Ronan found himself having a one night stand with someone he actually felt a connection to. Too bad for Ronan, Nova Morgan saw it as a horrible and left before he woke up. I just want to say I screamed noooooo out loud over something that went down, so I got why Nova bailed afterwards….you’ll see lol. Two years later, fate had them both living in the same small town, neighbors and unable to escape one another at every turn.

I’m Ronan Smith and . . . I pause as clarity runs through my head. I want my life back, no matter what that may be.
Closing my eyes, I touch the ring around my neck.
Today is when everything changes.

Ronan was in Blue Belle Texas coaching their high school football team. With the small town scared that they could lose their coach, they went to unimaginable lengths to keep him. Especially their attempts to set him up with every single female. So when Nova re-entered his life, he didn’t remember her. He just knew that she wanted nothing to do with him, unlike everyone else. So when he proposed that they fake date, to solve both of their problems, I was so happy when she said yes! Yes Ronan had some growing to do, but I absolutely loved him. Jaded characters always sneak so easily into my heart. And when Ronan started to show us little bits of himself, I just knew he was so much more than meets the eye.

“Everything will be fine. We’re different flowers from the same garden, but we’re perfect together. Mama always said so.”

Nova was completely unique. She was someone who knew what she wanted and went after it, like dressing up in the past as a Star Wars character to win over Ronan for their one night stand. She loved telling us about the outfits she was wearing. She had so much sass. But her life completely flipped upside down when she gained custody of her high school aged sister, since her mother passed away. While trying her best to raise Sabine, Nova definitely had her hands full. This story was an emotional journey for Nova too, and Ronan helped play a big part of that. But Nova had no problems pushing Ronan’s buttons. And telling him when he was being a jerk, I actually clapped out loud in one scene lol.

I literally have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into. On the outside, I’m cool, but on the inside, I’m quivering with uncertainty.

The way the fake dating played out was so much fun! The touching. The kissing. Showing the town that they were together. And time and again they crossed that line of what was real and what was fake. Because Ronan and Nova definitely wanted to rip each other’s clothes off. The passion between them was so intense. And when things did develop between them, it was extremely sexy and hot! But Ronan was terrified to feel and he didn’t want to love. His past still haunted him. Except when he was around Nova, it was impossible not to feel. And for Nova, each time Ronan showed a true piece of himself to her, it was hard to keep him away from her heart. It didn’t matter that they didn’t want anything to happen, there was no stopping it!

My head tells me to keep the walls up around us, but the other side of me—my stupid, weak heart—clamors to tell him things.

This story was rounded out so well with some fabulous side characters. I’m looking at you Skeeter, Sabine and Sonia! And I loved the feel of the small town charm that was laced throughout this story. Plus not only did Nova and Ronan’s love story cause me to laugh so much, but I even shed a tear. Beauty and the Baller was a wonderful, adult romance that many will fall hard for!

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book, provided by the author. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

About Ilsa Madden-Mills:

Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is best known for her angsty new adult romances and romantic comedies.

Eight of her eleven novels have placed in the Amazon Top 10 Best-seller List: Dirty English #1; Fake Fiancée and I Dare You #2; I Bet You, Filthy English, and Very Bad Things #6; Boyfriend Bargain #8; The Last Guy, her collaboration with Tia Louise, #4.

A former high school English teacher, she adores all things Pride and Prejudice, and of course, Mr. Darcy is her ultimate hero.

She’s addicted to frothy coffee beverages, cheesy magnets, and any book featuring unicorns and sword-wielding females. Feel free to stalk her online.

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Join her Unicorn Girls Group on FB, the best way to keep up here.

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BOOK REVIEW: The Damned (The Beautiful #2) by Renee Ahdieh

March 29, 2022 / Chelsea / 2 Comments

The Damned (The Beautiful #2)
by Renee Ahdieh
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with the second installment of her new sumptuous, sultry and romantic series, The Beautiful.

Following the events of The Beautiful, Sébastien Saint Germain is now cursed and forever changed. The treaty between the Fallen and the Brotherhood has been broken, and war between the immortals seems imminent. The price of loving Celine was costly. But Celine has also paid a high price for loving Bastien.

Still recovering from injuries sustained during a night she can’t quite remember, her dreams are troubled. And she doesn’t know she has inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that could lead to her demise and unveil a truth about herself she’s not quite ready to learn.

Forces hiding in the shadows have been patiently waiting for this moment for centuries. And just as Bastien and Celine begin to uncover the danger around them, they learn their love could tear them apart.

“And real love may be a choice, but I plan to choose someone who steals the breath from my body and haunts my very dreams. That is the only kind of love worth having.”

Look, this is hard for me. I do NOT like bashing a book even remotely connected to another book I adore….let alone in the same series.

Yet here we are. Imagine how hard this is for me.  The easiest way I could think of to explain this abomination of a story is as simple as this:

This book, simply put, is the child to a mother who yearned for so much more world expansion so as to ‘have another child’ there wasn’t possibly any way to sustain the child that already existed, to possibly survive on its own. The lack of nourishment for our already conceived and existing child caused it to shrivel and die… all in the name of making sure there were enough nutrients for another child, another being that literally didn’t exist.

Ahdieh made it so we got another two books with other characters instead of taking care of the first book she had already written, made a lottt of people fall in love with, and let Bastien and Celine’s story just…what even happened? Celine legit was barely in this book. SHE WASN’T EVEN THE MAIN POV.

And here we go. HERE. WE. FUCKING. GO. Bastien. What the cinnamon toast FUCK did she to do my child?? That is NOT who we fell in love with in book one. Not a wink. I get it. I fucking get it. But to take this beloved character of mine and, like, massacre his soul like this-that is NOT okay.

And even more than that, she triggered the EFF out of me. Yes. I know. I KNOW I am sensitive and get mad at the stupidest shit…but I just felt like this was

What even. What EVEN was she doing here. Sloppy. Inconsistent. Unlike Bastien. And, I’m guna say it-COWARDLY. This was a pathetic attempt at a story and it was just…not good. I had read people said book two was different and, like, that’s okay? I don’t CARE. But this was just out of left field different.

New creatures. New storyline. No direction. I get what she was attempting here, but it fell flat, period. And to not even really do anything until the last bit of the book, to let things hang in such a manner, to throw so much in with so little payoff-especially for certain things (I WILL NOT SPOIL. I WILL NOT)-it was a slap in the face. I do not CARE about these next characters. If you cannot take care of the dog you have, you have literally zero-zip-right to get a new puppy.

Look, I sound bitter-and I AM bitter-but this was a dumpster fire of a book, and NOT in a complimentary way like the masterpiece that was You Deserve Each Other. I could go on. And on. And on. About this piece of trash but-as I said in review one-I don’t have time to pretend that such a sadistic piece of turd exists and I’ll continue to cherish book one as if it was a standalone-or, rather, a single, solitary fucking child. At least then it can learn to feed and take care of itself instead of living in the shadow of stink that this one exudes. And that…is all I have to say. Regardless of what else I want to rant about, it’s not worth it-period.

View all my reviews

RELEASE DAY: Tough Justice (K-9 Special Ops #1) by Tee O’Fallon

March 29, 2022 / Jen / 0 Comments

Tough Justic by Tee O’Fallon is out today! I loved this story! My 5 Star review can be found here and you can read an exclusive excerpt below. Enjoy ♥!

Title: Tough Justice
Author: Tee O’Fallon
Genre: Romantic Suspense

About Tough Justice:

It should have been a routine investigation. Instead, DEA K-9 agent Adam “Deck” Decker watches in horror as one Denver hospital seems to be Ground Zero for overdoses of a new drug. Now Deck can only hope a certain icy, green-eyed ER doctor will help him and his canine partner track down the deadly source. Dr. Tori Sampson has her reasons for not trusting federal agents, especially ones working for the DEA. But the rash of overdoses—including a heartbreaking case involving a teen—is alarmingly high. And the new opioid is not only extremely dangerous, it defies all the usual medical treatments. So Tori has a choice: work with the big, brawny, and annoyingly hot DEA agent…or watch more innocent people die. Tori’s the only person who can help Deck break the case, and they’ll need to trust each other, no matter how high the tension and attraction sizzling between them runs. But with every question answered, they realize there’s something more behind these typical teen overdoses. There’s a pattern here, and a pattern can only suggest one thing. There’s a killer on the loose.

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Exclusive Excerpt:

Her eyes softened, turning pensive. “If there’s something I can do proactively to stop the rising body count, I want to do it.” Absently, she stroked Thor’s ears, allowing him to lean his head against her thigh. Deck suspected the change of heart had something to do with the dead teenager. “But let’s be clear on something.” Her pretty eyes glittered like shards of green ice. “You have your rules, and I have mine.”

He and Thor led the way to the elevator. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure she was behind him.

“Meaning?” Two seconds into their alliance, and he was already on the verge of regretting it.

“Meaning”—she stared up at him frostily—“you will not skulk around the ER, waiting or searching for overdose victims. You’ll wait until I notify you that a patient is willing to speak with you.”

“Skulk?” Deck held back a snort. Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. “DEA agents don’t skulk.”

She pursed her lips. “I beg to differ. History has shown otherwise.”

He leaned his shoulder against the wall by the elevator bank, tensing. “What history?” He had no idea what she was talking about. Whatever it was, they really needed to clear the air fast or this partnership would sink faster than the Titanic.

“Never mind.” She shook her head and looked away, as if she’d said something unintentional. “There is one other thing, however.”

“What other thing?” Yeah, two minutes into it, and this arrangement was already fixing to be a cluster.

“If a patient changes their mind in the middle of your interrogation and no longer wishes to talk, you’ll leave, no more questions asked.”

“Fine.” Between them, Thor swung his head back and forth, as if watching a tennis match. “And for the record, it’s not an interrogation. It’s an interview. Anything else?”

“Yes. You have to promise never to use a patient’s name in any report.”

Deck pushed from the wall, towering over her, but she stood her ground, craning her neck to look up at him. The elevator door opened, but he ignored it. “No dice, Doc. That’s how I get my PC—probable cause. If an OD victim has information about the source of the opioids and can direct us to the location where they purchased it, I may need to put their name in an affidavit for search and arrest warrants.”

She crossed her arms and jutted her chin up at him. “Then that part of the deal is off.”

What had he gotten himself into? They’d made a deal over the phone, and she was already changing the rules. He should’ve known he couldn’t trust her. Maybe he should find someone else. But they were here, and he didn’t want to waste more time finding another doctor. “Let’s compromise. I’ll do everything in my power to leave names out, but you have to understand that sometimes that’s what it takes to get a dealer off the street. If a judge allows me to refer to victims as ‘confidential sources’ instead of using their real names, then I’ll do it. Deal?”

Before meeting his gaze, her lips compressed into a tight line, and he expected her to tell him to pound sand. “Deal.”

“Good, and I have a condition of my own. Everything we do together, everything we discuss, is confidential. You need to be discrete about DEA operations.”

“Understood,” she said curtly. “And for the record, that seems obvious.”

The door began to close, and he reached out his arm, stopping it. “Is there anything else I should know?” Her lips twitched. “If there is, I’ll tell you.”

“I’ll bet you will.” This woman was hardcore. Delicate and pretty on the outside. Inside, she was a drill sergeant, barking out orders like a seasoned federal agent. Like him. He’d bet she could hold her ground against some of the best defense attorneys he’d ever run into.

About the Author:

Tee O’Fallon is the author of the Federal K-9 Series and the NYPD Blue & Gold Series. Tee has been a federal agent for twenty-three years and is now a police investigator, giving her hands-on experience in the field of law enforcement that she combines with her love of romantic suspense. When not writing, Tee enjoys cooking, gardening, chocolate, lychee martinis, and spending time with her Belgian Sheepdogs, Loki and Kyrie. Tee loves hearing from readers and can be contacted via her website https://teeofallon.com where you can also sign up for Tee’s newsletters.

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