Book Nerds Across America: Rom-com

Showing posts with label Rom-com. Show all posts

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Book Review: The Love Haters by Katherine Center

GOODREADS SUMMARY:

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim, but fakes it that she can.

Plus, Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop, paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good-looking man she has ever seen... but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

TEE'S THOUGHTS:

The Love Haters is the first book I have read by Katherine Center, despite having at least one sitting on my shelf! I am not sure why I haven't picked one up yet; my TBR shelf is just intimidating, and I spend a lot of time staring at it, finding a book to read elsewhere. I will say, if all her previous books are like Love Haters, I am sorry I haven't picked it up yet, because I did enjoy this book.

I really enjoyed Kate. I am not saying she was without problems, but I liked her. I understood her shyness about her body. I think a lot of us would relate to that. She was charming and flawed, so she felt relatable, and I really like that in a character. It was fun to see her growth throughout the story.

Key West is one of those places I have always wanted to go, so I liked that the story was based there, but honestly, this beach-raised girl now living in the middle of nowhere near water, would enjoy any beach setting.

I liked Katie's reluctance to get involved with Hutch. I think anyone with a bad dating past would be, or at least should be. Relationships are hard, and I think I would be the same after a string of them. I also liked the fact that even with her reluctance to have a relationship with Hutch, she still appreciated the finer points of him. The author also peppered in some great secondary characters that really added to the story.

Despite my really enjoying this book, it seems to have gotten mixed reviews from people who have read her before, saying this wasn't her best. If that is the case, I am truly looking forward to picking up some of her past books.

Grab this for your beach bag, it's the perfect summer read.

Monday, February 27, 2023

Book Review: Off The Map by Trish Dollar

GOODREADS SUMMARY:

Carla Black’s life motto is “here for a good time, not for a long time.” She’s been traveling the world on her own in her vintage Jeep Wrangler for nearly a decade, stopping only long enough to replenish her adventure fund. She doesn’t do love and she doesn’t ever go home.

Eamon Sullivan is a modern-day cartographer who creates digital maps. His work helps people find their way, but he’s the one who’s lost his sense of direction. He’s unhappy at work, recently dumped, and his one big dream is stalled out—literally.

Fate throws them together when Carla arrives in Dublin for her best friend’s wedding and Eamon is tasked with picking her up from the airport. But what should be a simple drive across Ireland quickly becomes complicated with chemistry-filled detours, unexpected feelings, and a chance at love - if only they choose it.

TEE'S THOUGHTS:

Ever since I read Float Plan I have been a fan of Trish Doller, her romances are fun but also very heartwarming and relatable. I was excited to get an advanced listen to her new book Off The Map, which is the third in the Beck Sister’s Stories.

Float Plan and The Suite Spot instantly pulled me in, and I had very few complaints about either of them, but unfortunately Off The Map did not have the same effect on me.

This was a fairly short read, only 275 pages, I listened to it on audio and it was a day of house cleaning. I did not hate the book, I just felt it lacked something. I think Doller writes an entertaining story and I can see people loving this one as I loved Float Plan.

Basically Carla Black travels the world, she use to be with her dad, but he is now struggling with dementia and has had to stop traveling. He has asked Carla to continue her travels and doesn’t want her to see his decline. She heads to Ireland to be the Maid of Honor at her best friend's wedding. The groom's older brother Eamon will meet her at a pub in Dublin and they will drive across Ireland to the wedding.

Eamon and Carla hit it off at the pub…and by that I mean, they met and are back at Eamon's apartment in bed together before you can blink. Now I am not a fan of insta-love, and I found out reading this I am surely not a fan of insta-lust. I mean I am not a prude, I love a good smut story, and I expect the characters to hop right in bed, but in a general rom-com I realized reading this I really didn’t want a wham bam thank you ma’am kinda meeting. I would have just preferred a bit of build-up to their romance, you know.., a meet-cute…that sorta thing. Off The Map was way sexier than Doller’s previous two books, and maybe it just threw me off a bit, thinking it was going to be more like them.

As far as the characters, I really didn't feel much of anything for either of them. They seemed selfish to me. I know Carla’s father wanted her to go on with her life while his health declined, but it was several years since she had found out he had dementia and she hadn’t been home to visit him. There is NO way I could do that. My dad is no longer here and I would have given anything to have known I needed more time with him. Not only that, but she was going to this wedding to be her best friend's Maid Of Honor, not to mention Eamon was the best man and carrying around the wedding rings, and they both set off together on this bizarre sex-filled trek across Ireland to camp and surf instead of going to the pre-wedding festivities and hope they can get there in time. I WOULD BE PISSED if I were the bride.

I know there will be plenty of people who disagree with me and will love this book, and I hope there are, I like the author’s writing, but this one, it just wasn’t for me. I found that it was very rushed and even the ending was not enough to save it for me.

However, as I mentioned at the first of this rant, I did listen to this on audio, and it was the narrator who saved the book for me and kept me from turning it off and walking. Her Irish accents were entertaining and made an otherwise disappointing book bearable. I give her 5 big stars on this one!

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Book Review: Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q Sutanto

SUMMARY:

Meddy Chan has been to countless weddings, but she never imagined how her own would turn out. Now the day has arrived, and she can't wait to marry her college sweetheart, Nathan. Instead of having Ma and the aunts cater to her wedding, Meddy wants them to enjoy the day as guests. As a compromise, they find the perfect wedding vendors: a Chinese-Indonesian family-run company just like theirs. Meddy is hesitant at first, but she hits it off right away with the wedding photographer, Staphanie, who reminds Meddy of herself, down to the unfortunately misspelled name.

Meddy realizes that is where their similarities end, however, when she overhears Staphanie talking about taking out a target. Horrified, Meddy can't believe Staphanie and her family aren't just like her own, they are The Family--actual mafia, and they're using Meddy's wedding as a chance to conduct shady business. Her aunties and mother won't let Meddy's wedding ceremony become a murder scene--over their dead bodies--and will do whatever it takes to save her special day, even if it means taking on the mafia

TEE'S THOUGHTS:

Y'all...I was so excited when Net Galley approved me to read Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q Sutanto. I loved Dial A For Aunties, the first book in this series and I hoped that Four Auntie's would continue the fun. I often struggle with the second book in a series, in fact, I am not even much of a series reader for this very fact. Maybe it is me. Maybe I put too much pressure on that second book and it lets me down. But nope. Four Aunties gave me everything and more!

I laughed. I laughed out loud. I laughed out loud in public places. I saw the looks people gave me. I suspect they were just wishing they had such a great read like I did. I think I laughed more at Four Aunties than I did at Dial A.

I love Meddy Chen, and have so much love for her crazy family, who honestly are the real stars of these books. Let's face it, when I say crazy, that is probably putting it lightly, this family is bat shit crazy, there just isn't another description that fits them than that.

I don't want to go into the story much, because I don't want to spoil the fun for you, but imagine Meddy and her family taking on the Mafia. Can you even imagine the pure chaos that will take place??

If you have not read Dial A For Aunties- pick it up so you will be ready for Four Aunties on March 29th when it publishes. I promise you, it will give you a laugh, and you will not want to put either of them down.

Monday, December 21, 2020

Book Review: Love Song For Skeptics by Christina Pishiris

Goodreads Summary:

Zoë Frixos gets the whole love song thing. Truly, she does. As an editor at a major music magazine in London, it's part of her job description. But love? Let's just say Zoë's been a bit off-beat in that department. After falling hard for her best friend, Simon, at thirteen and missing every chance to tell him how she felt before he left town, Zoë came to one grand conclusion: Love stinks.

Twenty years later, Simon is returning to London, newly single and as charming as ever, and Zoë vows to take her second chance. But Zoë's got other problems now: In order to save her magazine from closure, she has to land the biggest interview of her career with a notoriously elusive rock idol. There's just one problem: Nick, the arrogant publicist who seems determined to stop the story and ruin Zoë's life.

With her brother's big(ish) fat(ish) Greek wedding on the horizon, Zoë begins to wonder if her first love is the right love. In the wake of a life-changing choice, Zoë must decide if she's right to be skeptical about love, or if it's time to change her tune...

Tee's Review:

Zoe has a job many people would consider perfect, she is an editor of reSound, a music publication. She spends her time hanging around concerts and interviewing musicians, but the magazine is in a slump and she needs to find something to revive the magazine and up the readership, or she and the rest of her crew will lose their jobs.

In walks Nick Jones, the arrogant PR man to the extremely popular Boy Band Hands Down. Zoe has already had a run-in with their lead singer and it did not end well, and she feels that having a pop-sounding boyband will ruin the credibility of the magazine. What she really wants is an interview with the reclusive singer Marcie Tyler, who has been her musical idol for years, and has just seemed to drop out of the music scene. This one interview would be a live saver for the magazine and Nick is the person who can possibly make this happen, unfortunately, he wants her to interview Hands Down and put them on the cover.

But Nick isn’t Zoe’s only problem, there is also Simon, her childhood friend who moved back to American when they were teenagers. Zoe has always had a mad crush on Simon, and they have kept in touch over the years. Now in their 30’s he is divorced and moving back to London, and Zoe is hoping that their time has finally come.

Being a music blogger, I really enjoyed Love Songs For Skeptics and was surprised that this was Christina Pishiris' debut book. It is a heartwarming story, that centers around music. The characters are relatable, though you may find yourself not liking all of them. I find that the best books you can read are books that make you feel, and I certainly felt Zoe’s frustration on many things. Each chapter, which is not overly long, long chapters are a BIG pet peeve of mine, is titled with a name of a song that fits with the action going on in the chapter, and also makes a heck of a playlist!

Love Song For Skeptics provides the reader with humor, two hot guys, interesting side stories, and the hard choices that come with life. There is plenty in the book to keep anyone entertained, especially if you are a music fan or love rom-coms.

** This book was provided to me for review from Sourcebook **

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