E-galley Review: Nun the Wiser (Bad Habits Book Club #2) by Lissa Sharpe

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Nun the Wiser by Lissa Sharpe
Series: Bad Habits Book Club #2
Published by Smartypants Romance on May 1, 2025
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 306
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
Goodreads
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Also by this author: Nun Too Soon
My Rating:

Blurb:

Matilda Markov is ready to put her former nun days behind her and experience all the worldly pleasures she can. (ALL the worldly pleasures.) But when she feels her friend group starting to slip away from her, just like she’s lost so many people who were close to her before, she takes some bold action to try to keep everyone together. If only she can anticipate everything that could possibly go wrong, always, she might be able to keep her life from falling apart.

What she doesn’t see coming from a million miles away? Kimo Kapono, the surfer-dude/secret multimillionaire with a heart of gold who treats her like a lady, pays off her student loans, and who can’t seem to keep himself from getting kidnapped (repeatedly). Kimo is the golden retriever to Matilda’s black cat, and he’s determined to win her heart—or get thrown in the back of a van with tinted windows trying.

Beneath her prickly exterior, Matilda is terrified of letting someone in, and even more terrified of losing someone she loves, again. She’s always known she’s not the kind of person who gets a love story–snarky bitches who’ve locked away their hearts rarely do. Luckily Kimo’s not afraid to get creative. If he can’t find the key, he’ll just use a jackhammer…

‘Nun the Wiser’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. It is Book #2 in the Bad Habit Book Club series, Seduction in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

My Review

I really enjoyed the first book in this series last year, Nun Too Soon, and was excited for the next nun to get her HEA. Matilda was the one, as described above, who was prickly, and harder to get to know in her own way. But we learn so much about her background in this story. And it is so understandable why she is the way she is.

There were a couple things towards the beginning that she said that totally are the way I feel about things. First was about being the friend who when your other friends find their significant other, it isn’t long before they move on and you are no longer someone that they make sure to spend as much time with. It feels like being ghosted at times. Then there was Matilda’s thoughts on personal space vs. sex, and that also is something I’ve felt like in the past as well. That you can enjoy sex, but still not want people in your personal space other than that.

While it was frustrating to watch Matilda push Kimo away over and over, it also made sense for her, and it only made him more lovable in how he kept not giving up on her. And then when she had a cranky day after they seemed to be in the groove with their relationship, his reaction and how he took care of her, I loved it so much! His niece and nephew were adorable, as was his watch dog mother. I loved how he kind of won over every person he talked to, he was totally the golden retriever hero.

Now, I am unsure of how to picture him. Because it makes him look very hunky on the cover, but just other things about how he was described made me think of a BIG man, like Jason Momoa, but also not as buff? But I still fell in love with him and his easygoing ways and personality.

The epilogue was from our third nun’s POV and I’m so eager for her book and to learn all about the family she is dealing with. I wonder if the ex-priest who is now a part of their group will be a bigger part of her story, or if we will get a story for him afterwards?