In this 8th edition of What We’re Reading, we’re joined once again by our brilliant romance loving friend Erin Galloway who is the Deputy Director of Publicity for Berkley. We chat about all the great books we’ve read in the last month and what we’re looking forward to this year!
If you haven’t joined our new Facebook group yet, you’re missing out on the fun! Find it HERE! If you have a moment to leave us a rating on iTunes, we would be ever so grateful!
WAYS TO LISTEN
Books Mentioned:
Block Shot by Kennedy Ryan
- Both Jenny and Sarah LOVED it!
- Enemies to lovers
- Rival sports agents
- Morality chain
Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey (out 6/11/19)
- Self-aware Rom Com
- Very white hero and heroine but aware of it
- Very meta, heroine gets a job as PA on a movie
- Parallels romance novels very closely in how meaningful they can be
Fumbled by Alexa Martin (out 4/23/19)
- Jenny liked the first but loved the second
- Confident, put together, funny single Mom heroine
- Second chance, surprise baby
- Sexy, sexy times
- Takes on CTE in a football romance and does it well
Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik
- Space princess on the run, her dowry includes planets
- Funny, competent heroine
- Murdery-hot hero
- Just really fun and sexy
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- Bait and switch hero, Erin was warned going in, she tore through all of them over the Holidays
- Sarah loved hero from pg. 1
- All are looking forward to the future books in the series
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams (11/5/19)
- Hero who has a stutter told by wife marriage is over
- Heroine is pregnant with twins when he gets called up to major leagues
- His friends start tell him to save his marriage he needs to be at a place and time and it’s a book club where they read romance to help save their relationships
- Future books for guys in the book club
Act Like It by Lucy Parker
- West End London Theater
- Fake relationship to mend his reputation
- Grumpy hero
- Not too angsty, not dark, really satisfying read
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
- Island where girls have been disappearing frequently
- Trio of girls
- Wasn’t terrifying horror, more exploring female strength and friendship
- Lesbian relationship, Asexual character, lot of exploration of identity
Not the Girl You Marry – Andie J. Christoper
- Event planner heroine
- She’s never chosen to do weddings even though that’s where the money is because she’s not very ‘romantic’
- Hero wants to do serious news but is doing more Buzzfeed style news
- Hero is assigned a ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ type article
- Biracial woman who has dealt with a lot of prejudice
- Lots of banter, great HEA
- All of romancelandia ships Andie and Chris Evans and their official ship name is Andie J. Chris Evans
Escorted by Claire Kent
- Talked about it on Fated Mates (if you aren’t listening, you should!)
- Romance author who is a virgin, feels like a fraud
- Hires a male escort
- Elements of sex work representation was great
- But there were pieces of the conclusion that didn’t work for Jenny
Comfort Food by Kitty Thomas
- Guy abducts woman, keeps her in basement
- Trains her as a submissive without all the consent and rules
Born Darkly by Trisha Wolfe
- Psychologist talking to serial killer
- They’re both psychopaths so obviously a dark romance
- Fiction, which is different than serial killer romance with a real life hero
From Lukov, With Love by Mariana Zapata
- Enemies to lovers, Ice Skating romance
- Grumpy hero
- Slow burn – takes so long to get to the romance
- Witty banter
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
- Different from TKQ but you’ll still love this
- Autistic hero doesn’t experience love and emotion the same way a non-autistic person would and his mom is very concerned
- Mother goes to Vietnam and brings back a bride for him
- Author was inspired by her mom’s experience
A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh
- THRILLER out in December
- Her answer to Scandinavian noir with a haunting landscape
- Heroine comes back from London where she lived
- Many women have gone missing while hiking in this region
- Has to be a local who is doing the killing
Support for The Wicked Wallflowers comes from Harlequin and their New Year, New Reads campaign. A resolution you can keep past February? Yes please! Harlequin and their blockbuster series authors have got you covered with many ways to start your #newyearnewreads binge reading. MIRA Books and HQN are home to many authors with an impressive list of series that are already out, as well as great upcoming books. What better way to keep a binge reading new years resolution than by diving into a series you can fall in love with from the very beginning? Head over to newyearnewreads.com to discover exciting series and upcoming titles by Christina Dodd, Lee Tobin McClain, B.J. Daniels, Heather Graham, Robyn Carr, Sherryl Woods, Sheila Roberts, Brenda Novak, Carla Neggers, Karen Robards and more.
Special thanks to Melinda Utendorf for helping with the show notes on this episode! Melinda is a phenomenal freelance editor–you can check out her website HERE!
