Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

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If you've been reading my blog lately, you may have noticed that I've been getting more and more into romantic comedies. I've come to really love this genre and can't seem to get enough of these funny, swoon-inspiring reads. 

After a near-death experience causes web-designer Chloe's dull and boring life to flash before her eyes, she decides to get a life...an exciting one. Enter the list. From enjoying a drunken night out and riding a motorcycle, to meaningless sex and going camping, Chloe has determined that by checking off the things on her list, she'll have a life worthy of flashing before her eyes should a near-death experience hit again. She never expected to find love with that list, but when her gorgeous superintendent Redford agrees to help her check some items off, she finds herself falling deeper than she ever expected.

First, let me give a huge shout out to Talia Hibbert for putting a content warning about a character recovering from an abusive relationship in an author's note at the beginning of the book! THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT PEOPLE! It didn't take away from the plot at all but was the perfect way to let a reader know that something potentially triggering existed in the book.

I absolutely appreciate that the main character struggled with a chronic illness. Chloe has fibromyalgia, and even though I have a different chronic illness than her (endometriosis here), I really identified with a lot of the things she went through. I thought she was really stuck up at first, but soon realized that this was just a coping mechanism that she used to protect herself from the fear of people leaving. I thought Red was a super stand-up guy and really loved seeing the softer, artist side of him. This book also had an adorable cat named Smudge, so I couldn't possibly leave that part out of the review!

There was a little too much instalove in this one for me, even though that normally doesn't bother me much. I just thought that Chloe and Red went from completely despising each other to being all over each other in literally seconds flat.

It looks like one of Chloe's sisters is getting an installment next, so I can't wait to read that book as well!

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Thanks so much to Avon for a finished copy of this read! Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert is out TODAY, November 5th, so be sure to pick up a copy to get your rom-com fix!

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

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I really enjoyed reading The Wedding Date, so I was excited to pick up Jasmine Guillory's next book, The Proposal. This book was focused on Carlos, a side character in The Wedding Date who I absolutely loved!

When Nik's boyfriend Fisher surprises her with a proposal during a game at Dodger Stadium, she is shocked, and not in a good way. When she turns him down, on the JumboTron no less, the whole stadium turns against her, and a kind stranger behind her (enter Carlos) offers to help her escape before the news crews can hunt her down. 

Nik is grateful to her kind, thoughtful, and super handsome rescuer, so when they decide to spend more time together, she is overjoyed. The only problem is she has no desire to get into another relationship, but to her relief, neither does he. 

This was another adorable read, and I enjoyed this even more than The Wedding Date! Like I mentioned in the review for that book, I really love Carlos as a character, and I was really excited to get to know more about him in his own story. Alexa and Drew from The Wedding Date were in this book a few times as well!

I thought the issues addressed in this book were important, and much less frivolous than some of the things in other romance books I've read. I loved Nik and her friends, and really admired her for putting her career so high on her priority list. There was wonderful diversity in this book as well, and a feminist message that really resonates with what society is going through today. I laughed so much while reading this, and felt so many warm fuzzies along the way.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

I have finally started to venture out of my Christina Lauren romance cocoon and branch out to some other romance authors! Jasmine Guillory is one I've seen mentioned a lot, so I decided to pick up The Wedding Date. 

When Alexa and Drew are stranded in a hotel elevator together, Drew spontaneously asks Alexa to be his date to a wedding he is dreading: the wedding of his ex-girlfriend and his best friend. Alexa agrees, thinking it would just be a weekend of fun in her chaotic life, because after all, they live in different cities and Drew told her he doesn't do relationships. But when the two have a fantastic time at the wedding and want to keep seeing each other, things get complicated. What are they to each other, and how long can this possibly last?

I'm really falling in love with these romantic comedy reads. Yes, they're incredibly predictable. But I think that's why I like them! You can just enjoy the journey of the story rather than worrying about what will happen or trying to guess the outcome of the plot. I loved Alexa's character in this book, especially her confidence in herself and her high-powered job. I adored the side character Carlos as well, and thought he provided some great comic relief and support to Drew throughout the story. Overall it was a super cute and enjoyable romantic comedy.

Can't wait to pick up The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory next since it features Carlos as a main character!

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

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I finally got to dive into this super-hyped Christina Lauren read! And it did in fact live up to that hype. 

At the beginning of The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, Olive's twin sister Ami is getting married. But when everyone gets food poisoning at the wedding, Ami and her new husband Dane have to figure out what to do with the honeymoon trip that Ami won for them. Luckily, Olive avoided the food poisoning, as she was allergic and didn't eat the fish that was served, so it appears that she'll get to enjoy this fancy trip. The groom's brother Ethan also didn't partake of the buffet, and in order to fool the hotel and go on the trip, they have to pretend to be Ami and Dane, aka husband and wife. The only problem? Olive and Ethan completely despise each other.

This was so cute! I mean of course it was, it's a Christina Lauren book. But I really enjoyed this one. I loved the enemies to lovers trope used here. I saw a lot of myself in Olive and her insecurities, and loved Ethan and Ami as characters as well. I thought it was great that Olive was a science nerd and wore shirts with physics puns on them. I really enjoyed seeing Olive and Ami's big, boisterous, and supportive family and how they all rallied around the two sisters when things went south. I was grinning or laughing out loud for probably 85% of the book, and the banter between these Olive and Ethan was second to none. I could see this making such a good movie!

I'm so excited to continue to experience Christina Lauren's rom coms, and will probably pick up Roomies next. They also have a new book, Twice in a Blue Moon, coming out this fall!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Be sure to check out my reviews of some of Christina Lauren's other books, Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating and My Favorite Half-Night Stand as well!

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

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After absolutely loving Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren, I knew I needed to pick up another one of their books. Enter My Favorite Half-Night Stand. 

In this story, Reid and Millie are best friends. When an opportunity for a fancy event requiring plus-ones arises, they immediately decide to go with each other. But then they end up sleeping together, and suddenly the chance to go to the event as just friends is out the window. When one of their other friends suggests a dating app for all of them to find dates, Millie and Reid are reluctant but go along with it. And when Reid matches with Catherine, Millie's secret profile, things get really complicated really fast.

This story was definitely cute! I loved the relationship dynamics, not just of Millie and Reid, but with all their other friends: Ed, Alex, and Chris. I also loved how they were all working in academia as professors and researchers. This book was interspersed with pseudo-multimedia in the form of dating app messages, online chat messages, and text messages which was a nice touch. I also really appreciated that this story addressed family dynamics, especially with a sick and elderly parent. This is a hard topic to address, and the authors did a good job of showing how difficult this can be.

I'm not generally a fan of "romance" and smut makes me squirm, but this book was very tame and the sexy bits were done well (and not too frequently!). 

I will say I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as Josh and Hazel because it was super predictable. It was very easy to tell what was going to happen so even though it was adorable, there were times where I just wanted to skip to the end since I knew how it would all play out. That being said, I did still really like this read and can't wait to pick up another Christina Lauren book. The Unhoneymooners is next on my list!

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Verity by Colleen Hoover

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Just like Christina Lauren, Colleen Hoover has been an author I've been avoiding because of the "romance" label. But after really enjoying one of Christina Lauren's books, and hearing that this read was super creepy, I decided to give Verity by Colleen Hoover a try - romance be damned. AND I LOVED IT. Definite trigger warning on this one though for the death of a child(ren).

Writer Lowen Ashleigh is taken aback when she is approached about helping finish a popular book series after the author, Verity Crawford, was in an accident. Lowen reluctantly accepts, desperate for money but shunning any attention she might get from undertaking this project. In the spirit of research, she is invited to the Crawford family home by Verity's handsome and charming husband Jeremy. Here she finds out much more than she bargained for, from the extent of Verity's condition to the desire Lowen is developing for Jeremy, and some sordid information about the family's tragic past that completely changes her perspective entirely. 

This book was incredible! I was legitimately terrified to the point that I couldn't read this book before bed. That so rarely happens to me that I'm completely shocked and impressed when it does, but I hate it because I want to keep reading but mentally have to wait until the day time. This story is told in different points of view, alternating between Lowen's thoughts and Verity's hidden autobiography manuscript. It was such a mind-F, and shocked me time and time again.

I do think Lowen was a pretty naive character, and I thought the ending was a bit hurried, but these things didn't bother me enough to knock off a star. Lowen's back story was very interesting and unique, and I honestly would have loved to know even more about it.

I believe this would make a fantastic movie if the raunchiness was reined in a little. It was a lot heavier on the romance than I tend to like, but somehow the creepy plot cancelled it out. Had it been less creepy, the level of smut probably would have been too much for me. Not sure if I'll read any more of Colleen Hoover's books for that reason, but I'm very glad I gave this one a try. If she does anything else along this thriller vein though, I will definitely pick it up! 

The hype around this book is absolutely real, so if you have debating picking it up I would definitely recommend going for it!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

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So this is the first Christina Lauren book I've ever read. I know, I know...what have I been waiting for? I don't know, but now that I've read this book I am desperate to get my hands on more by this author duo. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating is an adorable contemporary romance that follows best friends Josh and Hazel and their riotous relationship as they navigate trying to hide that they have feelings for each other.

Josh and Hazel were friends in college, but had since drifted apart. But when Hazel finds out that Josh is actually her new best friend Emily's brother, the two rekindle their friendship and ultimately end up becoming roommates. The pair tries to set each other up on blind dates with friends of theirs, with each new date ending in disaster. Maybe strangers aren't who they should be dating after all.

I absolutely loved this story! It had me smiling and laughing the whole way through. It was told in alternating chapters between Josh and Hazel, giving the reader insight into each of their feelings and what they were thinking as the story progressed. I loved Hazel's zany personality and menagerie of pets, and I loved Josh's reserved yet playful demeanor. I actually think I was hesitating on reading this because it was labeled as a romance and I am not a fan of smut. Yes, there were a few sexy scenes in this book but it was much less than I thought it would be and did not at all deter from my overall enjoyment of the book. 

There were the perfect amount of side characters, and the plot was very easy to follow. I thought the epilogue was adorable, even though I've seen some people saying they weren't a fan of it. I could absolutely see this fantastic romantic comedy becoming a movie! And can we talk about how pretty this cover is?

Now that I know what Christina Lauren's books are like, I've already ordered My Favorite Half-Night Stand to try out next!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars