An enemies-to-friends-to-lovers story that’s sure to delight rom-com fans.
An interior designer builds a “spite house” to get revenge on her cheating ex…but falls for the grumpy architect who’s helping her design it.
Dani Porter’s happily-ever-after imploded when she found out her fiance, Sam, cheated on her a month before their wedding—with their realtor. Dani can’t seem to move on until she realizes that the lot next to Sam's house—her former home—is still for sale. With the help of her BFF/cousin, Mia, and her new landlady, Iris, she pulls together enough money to buy the lot and start construction on the Spite House, an Airbnb that will block Sam’s view and remind him of her every time he looks out the window. The only problem is that Dani barely has enough money to cover the build, and she needs to find an architect on the cheap. Enter Wyatt Montego, a gruff architect at her firm who strikes fear into the hearts of their co-workers and has even been known to make them cry. As they get to know each other, Dani realizes that Wyatt’s standoffish personality is hiding his vulnerability—but will he ever open himself up to her? And can Dani ever give up on her revenge scheme and let go of the past so she can have a future with Wyatt? Dani and Wyatt have loads of chemistry, and Collins ratchets up the sexual tension as they get to know each other, although the story loses some steam in the middle when they hit numerous roadblocks that are largely created by a lack of communication. Still, they’re an engaging couple, and the side characters are entertaining (particularly Iris, a delightfully eccentric widow who supports Dani with humor and wisdom). Dani’s struggles to get over her ex are believable, and Wyatt is the perfect grumpy romance hero with a heart of gold.
An enemies-to-friends-to-lovers story that’s sure to delight rom-com fans.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-525-89979-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Graydon House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
Haphazard and undemanding.
A sports agent’s first official client is the man she dumped years ago in college.
After two years of hard work as an underling, Nora Mackenzie is finally being promoted to full-time sports agent. She’s worked hard, kept quiet, and allowed men in the office to call her Mac—a nickname she hates—all to show she’s a team player and “one of the guys.” Unfortunately, her boss instructs her to sign Derek Pender, a football player coming off an injury, who happens to be the man she heartlessly dumped in their senior year of college. Derek signs with her for revenge, seeing it as his opportunity to pay Nora back for callously breaking his heart eight years earlier. He insists she be at his beck and call: answering his emails, running his errands, cooking dinner for his dates. He also refuses to let her explain why she broke up with him without warning or explanation. Nora feels she has no choice but to acquiesce to Derek’s humiliating demands, since she’s worked too hard to let him ruin her dream job. She hopes he’ll thaw and they might become friends, but Derek’s bad behavior is designed to hide the fact that he’s still in love with her. Nora’s characterization is uneven, veering between anger at how she’s treated in the male-dominated field to immature bickering and bantering with Derek. Although Adams likely meant for Derek and Nora’s interactions to have an enemies-to-lovers vibe, the characters instead seem juvenile and stuck in the past. The novel is fueled by a string of tropes—second chance romance! married in Vegas! only one bed!—each randomly deployed to keep the book going despite thin characterization and wan plotting.
Haphazard and undemanding.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593723678
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dell
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.
A vampire and an Alpha werewolf enter into a marriage of convenience in order to ease tensions between their species.
As the only daughter of a prominent Vampyre councilman, Misery Lark has grown accustomed to playing the role that’s demanded of her—and now, her father is ordering her to be part of yet another truce agreement. In an effort to maintain goodwill between the Vampyres and their longtime nemeses the Weres, Misery must wed their Alpha, Lowe Moreland. But it turns out that Misery has her own motivations for agreeing to this political marriage, including finding answers about what happened to her best friend, who went missing after setting up a meeting in Were territory. Isolated from her kind and surrounded on all sides by the enemy after the wedding, Misery refuses to let herself forget about her real mission. It doesn’t matter that Lowe is one of the most confounding and intense people she’s ever met, or that the connection building between them doesn’t feel like one born entirely of convenience. There’s also the possibility that Lowe may already have a Were mate of his own, but in spite of their biological differences, they may turn out to be the missing piece in each other’s lives. While this is Hazelwood’s first paranormal romance, and the book does lean on some hallmark tropes of the genre, the contemporary setting lends itself to the author’s trademark humor and makes the political plot more easily digestible. Misery and Lowe’s slow-burn romance is appealing enough that readers will readily devour every moment between them and hunger to return to them whenever the story diverts from their scenes together.
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593550403
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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