hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about five romance books i’ve read recently! honestly, some of these book weren’t good at all and i ended up dnfing them. but, i still wanted to include them, since i did pick it up for this blog post. also, the books that i actually read, they will get a full blown review soon.
but, for how i’m gonna talk about these books, i’m going to talk about the romance, characters, and the writing, since i feel like that was the main thing in these books, since it is a romance book. but, i’ll also include the trigger warnings, so you know what you’re getting yourself into, if you pick up one of these books.
shipped by Angie Hockman. i gave this book 4/5 stars. honestly, this book was so cute, and i completely loved the characters and how their interacted. and just completely like this book so much. and it was honestly just such a cute book, and i highly recommend it.
trigger warning– misogyny, sexism, death of a parent, vomit, grief, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, panic attack/disorder, ocean / deep water, water anxiety, sharks.
romance– honestly, this was such a cute romance. like, it was very enemies to lovers, in a more modern setting. so, i really liked it. but, i do feel like they got together to close to the end, so i couldn’t really get into the couple that much towards the end. and i also feel like it was wrapped up to quickly, which was kind of annoying since they didn’t really get a good ending.
characters– personally, i really liked the characters. i honestly really liked Graeme and Henely, i feel like they were developed really well and that they were honestly very well rounded, in my opinions. but, i feel like some of the side characters weren’t developed all that well. especially the people that they worked with, since we didn’t see them a lot, but they were still really nice when we did see them.
writing– the writing was honestly super good. it really honestly really drew me in, and it really got into this writing. like, it was just so good and really really worked in this book. and i feel like the author really knew the characters, so it made the writing so much better. and also it was just so fun, that i really got into it.
love your life by Sophie Kinsella. this is one of the books i did dnf, since i just wasn’t that into the series, and i just couldn’t get into this book. and i’m kind of upset since i feel like this author is such a stable in adult romance, so that honestly sucks. but, thanks for the arc.
trigger warning– body shaming and chronic illness.
why i dnfed– to me, the writing of this book was just so bad. like, i mean, i feel like this whole book was the main character just complaining about leaving her dog and friends in london and how she has to go to italy, i believe, to write about her book. and also, once she got to italy was honestly lowkey kinda culty, like they couldn’t use their real names or any personal information, had to wear random clothes that they gave them at the retreat. and honestly when i got to reading, i could honestly just tell this wasn’t the book for me.
the ex talk by rachel lynn solomon. i gave this book 3/5 stars. this book was honestly pretty good, and i really did like the workplace aspect of this book. and if you are looking for some books with Jewish characters written by a Jewish author, i highly recommend this.
trigger warning- sexual content, death of a parent, grief, sexism, misogyny, cancer, chronic illness, death, panic attack.
romance- personally, i think the relationship worked so well together. like, i feel like the romance was just so good, and honestly so steamy, which was so good. and i feel like they were such a compatible couple, which was so exciting to see honestly. and i mean, it all worked so well, and i feel like this book was more romance heavy then shipped, so that honestly worked so well. but, i could honestly see how much they loved each other, and how much they really worked together.
character- this might just be me, but i feel like a lot of the romance books that i read, and the main stream books, the male character is always older, but in here it was the reverse. since, the Shay was older and i actually really liked it. and i feel like most of the characters were really well rounded, so that was cool. but, i feel like Shay and Dominic really worked well together and they were very strong characters.
writing- honestly, this was the bad part of the book. i feel like there was so much drama in the book, like there was so much f/f hate at some parts, and it got to be so annoying. but, i do feel like the writing with the whole romance was so good, and they really did the sex scenes so well.
take a hint, dani brown by Talia Hibbert. i gave this book 4/5 stars. i honestly found this book so be so funny and light hearted, but also kind of emotional at the same time, which i really liked. but, this was honestly such a solid read.
trigger warning– sexual content, panic attack/disorder, mental illness, grief, death of a parent, death, car accident, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, islamophobia, racism.
romance- honestly, the romance of this book was super cute. like, i really liked how this romance set up, and how they got to their fake dating, with the whole twitter sandal. and i thought it was just super cool. it was also so cool and getting to see the whole fake dating, but then them getting into this relationship was just so cute, and i honestly really liked that element of it.
characters– personally, i honestly really liked Zaf and how he was so into romance books, i just thought it was so cute and i really liked reading about him talking about them. but i also didn’t like how he was so rough with his family and friends and also like threated them. but, i feel like Dani was a really sweet character and she was very loud, but still really sweet.
writing– the writing was honestly pretty good. i mean, it had the whole basic formula from book 1, which was fine, if you’re into that. but, i feel like this still had very good writing and wasn’t dry or anything. and it was honestly so addicted to this book, which i think is mainly romance and the writing.
real men knit by Kwana Jackson. this is the other book that i did dnf. but, i just didn’t like this book, which i’ll explain more, since i feel like this book was just not what it was.
why i dnfed– the biggest thing, it just didn’t make sense to me. like, in the start of the book, they just talked about things like in present tense and what was happening, and then they would jump back into the past, and i just couldn’t get into it. and also just the writing was just, not good. like, it just felt so dry to me.
anyway, that is all for today! i honestly hope you enjoyed this post, since i had so much fun reading these books, and also writing this post was really fun. and hopefully you liked this, since i have so many more in the process and some ideas.
r.bookish 