This is it.
Not IT-it. I’m still here.
This is it meaning this is the last of my 5-star books over the last few years. This will catch me up on the books I enjoyed most while I was MIA. From here on out, I’m back to talking about my current books.
I made some decisions about coming back.
First, absolutely no ARCs. I do this thing called “hyper-fixation,” and ARCs can definitely fall into that category. Even if I knew I wasn’t going to read them right away, I had to have them. I can’t get caught in that cycle again.
Next – no set schedule. No schedule, no pressure. I’m here for fun only. This isn’t my job, it’s a creative outlet.
FYI – laying out these rules is reinforcing them for me. But, thanks for listening!
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
STEM Romantic Comedy
Berkley | September 14, 2021
About the Book:
As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding… six-pack abs.
Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
Ali Hazelwood’s marriage of women in science and romance has got to be one of my new favorite obsessions. I haven’t read Bride yet, and I haven’t read her YA book. I have, however, read every single STEM adult romance she’s written and I devour them!
There was something special about The Love Hypothesis. I thought Olive was really adorable, but I especially LOVED Adam. The chemistry between Adam and Olive was fantastic!
I know Bride is popular, and I do own it, but what I really want is more women’s representation in STEM! Please!
Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas
Taboo Contemporary Romance (Ex-boyfriends Father)
Berkley | April 15, 2018
About the Book:
JORDAN
He took me in when I had nowhere else to go. He doesn’t use me, hurt me, or forget about me. He listens to me, protects me, and sees me. I can feel his eyes on me over the breakfast table, and my heart pumps so hard when I hear him pull in the driveway after work.
I have to stop this. It can’t happen.
My sister once told me there are no good men, and if you find one, he’s probably unavailable. Only Pike Lawson isn’t the unavailable one.
I am.
PIKE
I took her in, because I thought I was helping. As the days go by, though, it’s becoming anything but easy. I have to stop my mind from drifting to her and stop holding my breath every time I bump into her in the house. I can’t touch her, and I shouldn’t want to.
But we’re not free to give into this. She’s nineteen, and I’m thirty-eight.
And her boyfriend’s father.
Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.
I joined Goodreads in 2010. Birthday Girl was really popular then. Penelope Douglas is pretty popular now, especially the Devil’s Night series, but back then it was all about Birthday Girl.
I didn’t read it then. Taboo was not my thing 14 years ago.
I guess I’ve devolved because I ate this book up. Pike is delicious. The angst. The inappropriateness. The illicit possessiveness. It all equals heat and I couldn’t have loved this one more.
(Unfortunately, that love didn’t carry over into other books as much. Credence was only okay, and I didn’t make it through the first Devil’s Night book. Maybe I’ll try again sometime.)
By a Thread by Lucy Score
Romantic Comedy
Bloom Books | April 23, 2020
About the Book:
Dominic was staring at me like he couldn’t decide whether to chop me into pieces or pull my hair and French kiss me.
Dominic
I got her fired. Okay, so I’d had a bad day and took it out on a bystander in a pizza shop. But there’s nothing innocent about Ally Morales. She proves that her first day of her new job… in my office… after being hired by my mother.
So maybe her colorful, annoying, inexplicably alluring personality brightens up the magazine’s offices that have felt like a prison for the past year. Maybe I like that she argues with me in front of the editorial staff. And maybe my after-hours fantasies are haunted by those brown eyes and that sharp tongue.
But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be the next Russo man to take advantage of his position. I might be a second-generation asshole, but I am not my father.
She’s working herself to death at half a dozen dead-end jobs for some secret reason she doesn’t feel like sharing with me. And I’m going to fix it all. Don’t accuse me of caring. She’s nothing more than a puzzle to be solved. If I can get her to quit, I can finally peel away all those layers. Then I can go back to salvaging the family name and forget all about the dancing, beer-slinging brunette.
Ally
Ha. Hold my beer, Grumpy Grump Face.
Author’s Note: A steamy, swoony workplace romantic comedy with a grumpy boss hero determined to save the day and a plucky heroine who is starting to wonder if there might actually be a beating heart just beneath her boss’s sexy vests.
The Knockemout series was my first foray into Lucy Score. I know how “viral” that series went, and it was decent, but for me it was but a gateway into her much better stories.
And the best one is By a Thread.
You know how authors, or sometimes readers, like to talk about how their heroine is “feisty”, but then you read it and they’re really NOT feisty at all? I actually thought Ally was feisty! She put Dominic in his place multiple times. She was an independent woman who didn’t need no man…
But, she was also too independent, and Dominic was a great partner for her. It had banter, it made me giggle and swoon. It’s Lucy Scores #1 book.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
The Empyrean #1
Romantic Fantasy
Entangled-Red Tower Books | May 2, 2023
About the Book:
Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders…
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.
I’m hoping on a train. It’s a train I’ve been on for over a year now, but as we’re all aware, Fourth Wing has taken the book world by storm.
I think everyone is talking about this series, especially right now with the release of Onyx Flame. I’m not going to be any better.
There’s a lot of conversation surrounding this series. The merits of it as a fantasy vs a romance. As a reader having fallen into the abyss of what we’re now calling “Romantasy” I’m going to say, I thought it was a good blend of both. There is a strong plot here, with strong characters. There are multiple incredible dragons. There is a sexy romantic lead and a strong and impressive heroine.
Basically, what this bookworm is saying is that I am a fan. Hands down.
If you haven’t read it yet, what are you waiting for?
The Right Move by Liz Tomforde
Windy City #2
Contemporary Sports Romance
Golden Boy Publishing | January 1, 2023
About the Book:
RYAN
She’s a distraction, that’s what she is.
I’m the newest Captain of the Devils, Chicago’s NBA team, and the last thing I needed this year was for Indy Ivers, my sister’s best friend, to move into my apartment. She’s messy, emotional, and way too tempting.
But when the team’s General Manager vocalizes his blatant disapproval of my promotion to Captain, referring to me as an unapproachable lone wolf with no work-life balance, I can’t think of a better way to convince him otherwise than pretending to date my outgoing roommate.
The only problem? Faking it feels far too natural.
Having a fake girlfriend wasn’t supposed to be messy but having Indy under my roof and in my bed is complicated, especially when she wants all the romantic parts of life that I could never give her.
INDY
I never imagined I’d be living with my best friend’s brother, NBA superstar Ryan Shay. Even more unbelievable? He needs me to act as his loving girlfriend who’s suddenly changed him into a friendly and approachable guy.
Because, well…he’s not. He’s controlling of his space and untrusting of others.
Our arrangement isn’t one-sided, though. I’m in a wedding coming up, one where every one of my childhood friends, including my ex-boyfriend, will be in attendance, and there’s no better date than my ex’s celebrity hero.
Blurred lines make it almost impossible to separate real from fake. Falling for my roommate was never part of the deal, especially when Ryan is quick to remind me that he doesn’t believe in love.
I’m a romantic and can’t help fantasizing that he’ll change, but soon enough, I find myself questioning if sharing a roof with my best friend’s brother was the right move after all
I’m hyped for sports when it’s in a romance.
Am I sporty myself? Not in the slightest. Even so, put some athletes into some sexy-time romance and sweet-sweet moments, and I fall hook, line, and sinker.
Ryan Shay was pretty great, but honestly (and I don’t say this often), I seriously fell for Indy. I liked her from book one, but getting into her head and her heart. She’s a really special character who suffers from some of the same problems that affect me. I felt a bond with her.
Honestly, I enjoyed book one, but the Windy City series only gets better with each book.
Call me Ronald, because I’m loving it.
As usual, please like and comment. I’m here for the conversation.
Also, I’m supposed to have some writing help around these parts. In the coming weeks, you should see some flavor from our resident grumpy Cat, along with my daughter who has grown up. Baby Chick isn’t a baby anymore. She’s a beautiful, fully-flighted, black Crow, eager to write about her favorite reads. She’ll have some goodies for you soon, I hope.
That’s all folks.
On to books from 2025! Oh, what a…. mess it’s going to be.
Thank goodness for FICTION!
Birdie Bookworm 
I am the opposite when it comes to Birthday Girl – that was the height of my taboo romance, and I at it right up. I loved it, as well. Her other books don’t entice me to read them, except for maybe Punk 57.
I DNF’d The Love Hypothesis. I just couldn’t get into it.
Great reviews, Birdie!
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I’ve thought about Punk 57, but I’ve heard it’s kinda part of the Devils Night series. If I go back and try those again, which I may, I’ll fit Punk 57 in there. We’ll see. I’m iffy when it comes to bully romance.
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I think you have the right idea with your rules for book blogging! It’s good to be here for fun and not be stressed about it! I enjoyed reading your thoughts on these books, I love reading your enthusiasm!
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yay!
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