definitely, possibly, maybe

you all probably noticed that in 2019 i was...well, kind of a blogging disaster. life has gotten increasingly crazy, and while i mostly had time to complete all the reading, i often found it hard to find the energy to type up a review that was in any way meaningful. apologies for that, and i aim to improve this in 2020, but i'm not making any promises. other, that is, than reducing my reviewing responsibilities by a significant amount. i do still believe in it, and i want to do it, but i am going to aim to be more selective. i'm also going to continue to cover my clients' books and will always let you know when it is a client's book, both with a disclaimer and a label. there's a lot going on in the industry at the moment, and twitter is really my main time suck these days, and it takes up a lot of my energy. so again, i'm sorry if i'm a little low-energy here. i do hope to picks things back up, get back on track in 2020. but i'm making no resolutio...

a cowboy never quits  finds single mother jessica cook doing everything in her power to pull her daughter chloe out of a bad situation that could send her down the wrong path. jessica knows from making mistakes as a teen, since she was only fifteen when she had chloe. the turn around ranch seems to be the perfect place to help chloe, but wade dawson, one of the owners, that they belong there is a big ask. but jessica is determined and charming and does everything she absolutely can for her daughter. in face of that kind of persistence and tenacity, wade doesn't stand a chance. in more ways than one, because he's pretty head over heels for jess early on. this story is sweet and about more than just a romance. what makes a family and what you do with second chances figures pretty heavily in the plot. and there is a subplot between chloe and one of wade's adoptive brothers that is also very sweet. **a cowboy never quits will publish on december 31, 2019. i received an ...

hadrian ames, the duke of clayton, is rather the stuffy sort. raised in that very proper, stiff upper crust sort of britishy way. when natalie fanshawe's young charge stumbles into his sitting room as f orever my duke opens, he's not quite sure how to react. it all sort of just happens. and when he realizes that natalie is his long-lost cousin's guardian, he proceeds to help them to their shared destination. natalie is suspicious of all things noble and british. she has no idea how lofty a personage she is interacting with until she's obviously behaved very inappropriately, but hadrian doesn't seem to mind it. these two are just so good together. he early on realizes that what he was missing in his life was someone who could challenge his biases and natalie is just that person. i've definitely been more into contemporary romance over historical lately, but this one is very, very good. and i'm glad i had a chance to read it. **forever my duke will publ...

perfect kiss  is a new year's romance where detective david gallagher finally confronts his unresolved feelings for arson investigator travis sommer. it all started when travis inadvertently outed david. it was not malicious at all, merely a case of bad timing and unfortunate circumstances. when david decides to go out and enjoy new year's eve, he runs into travis, and slowly comes out of his shell and allows the attraction he'd felt at their first meeting to grow. and over the next couple of days they take their relationship to the next level, and it's a sweet story. **perfect kiss will publish december 23, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/riptide publishing in exchange for my honest review. 

make your move is the third book in the gamer girls series, this time the focus is on tyler and shannon. tyler has had a crush on shannon from the start, but shannon is a demisexual and doesn't feel sexual attraction without forming a deep, personal connection with her partner. this is a fact she had to explain to tyler when he misread her signals and kissed her during a friend's wedding. things between them are awkward, though most of the awkwardness stems from shannon's insecurities about her sexuality. she finds that most people don't understand what she needs, and she despairs of finding that meaningful connection she needs in order to have a fully realized relationship. when tyler moves in as her temporary roommate, they start spending more time together, and shannon learns more about him. including the fact that he's moved on and has a girlfriend who happens to be shannon's nemesis at work. things get messy as they do, and when tyler accompanies her...

book 4 in the fire's edge series picks up drake chandall's story. in the enforcer , the red dragon is experiencing side effects of his premature aging due to the fact that he hasn't found his mate. when he almost fails to save a woman during a fire, he realizes he's become a liability to his team and goes rogue. the last thing he expects is to reencounter the woman he nearly failed to save. and when it becomes clear that camilla bears the mark of a dragon mate, the same mark that belongs to his high king, drake knows that has to keep her safe at all costs. as compelled as he is toward camilla, he is afraid of taking any steps that might tie her to him, he believes that there is no reversing the aging process, and he doesn't want camilla's life to be bound to his. but the connection between them is undeniable, and the fire's edge crew continues their path to a confrontation with dragon leadership over how mates are found and selected. i can't wait f...

if you enjoy reading books by sophie kinsella and have run out of new ones, then would like to meet  would be a very good stand-in. it's a british rom-com, in which evie summers, our hapless heroine, who's naïveté about her boss's willingness to promote her and her tolerance of their most prominent client's bad behaviors can't help but lead her astray. the gambit here is that she is going to try to reenact famous film meet-cutes in the hopes of finding love, to prove to the nob (the poorly behaved client) that the premises of romantic comedies can work in real life. the nob is a "serious" screenwriter, and can't stand the idea of writing something he believes is unrealistic. in the process of doing this, she keeps running into a widower and his child, ben and anette. and the trio form a connection, a friendship, of sorts. but the nob is forever putting a wrench in things and evie is just silly enough to be lead astray. don't get me wrong, i...

reverie   was pitched as inception meets the magicians, and that's probably the exact right way to describe this book. kane montgomery needs to figure out what happened that left him half-dead in a river with no recollection of how he got there. his sister is the only person who seems to be helping him. But he might have more help than he thinks, but he's not sure who he can trust. his friends? ex-friends? people he has no memory of? dr. poesy? the boy with the sea foam green eyes? who has his best interests at heart? the journey here helps us answer these questions. it's not a straight-forward journey, with leaps into the fantastical. but it's such a delightful journey to embark upon and so worth the read. it's whimsical and lyrical and utterly delightful and thought-provoking in so many ways. **reverie  will publish on december 3, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/sourcebooks fire in exchange for my honest review.