L-L-L-Little Reviews #42: Six romances

Posted August 18, 2022 by Lisa Mandina in Review / 6 Comments

July was busy, so I’m a bit behind again on reviews! Plus several audios that weren’t part of tours so they get pushed back to these posts for reviews usually. I’ve got two audiobook novellas, one audiobook that I finished by reading the paperback, and one more audiobook that goes with one of the novellas. Then I have an e-galley that I wasn’t able to get read for the author by the time of the pub date, but I still want to review and share. And finally a TikTok recommended book!

Shopping for a Turkey (Shopping for a Highlander #1) by Julia Kent

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

L-L-L-Little Reviews #42: Six romancesShopping for a Turkey by Julia Kent
Series: Shopping for a Highlander #1
Narrator: Shane East, Emma Wilder
Published by Prosaic Press on December 27, 2021
Genres: Adult Romantic Comedy, Adult Sports Romance
Length: 05:31
Source: the author
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: five-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Barnes & NobleBuy on Audible

Shopping for a Turkey features Scottish football player Hamish McCormick and Amy Jacoby as they navigate unusual cultural norms around American Thanksgiving, new traditions, and the undeniable attraction between these two characters who have been featured as minor players in Julia Kent's New York Times bestselling Shopping series.
It's their turn to pull the wishbone. 😉

My Review:

The author had shared the second book with me, and I wasn’t sure if they needed to be read in order. So when I reached out, she sent me this audiobook as well. This was the usual catastrophe of a get-together for the family we’ve come to know and love in the Shopping for a Billionaire series. Oh my gosh, a Thanksgiving like this was hilarious! Not to mention the mom broke her leg in a sex swing at the beginning! And then Hamish and Amy were perfect for each other. Although I’d like to just have Hamish for myself.

Shopping for a Highlander (Shopping for a Highlander #2) by Julia Kent

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

L-L-L-Little Reviews #42: Six romancesShopping for a Highlander by Julia Kent
Series: Shopping for a Highlander #2
Narrator: Shane East, Emma Wilder
Published by Prosaic Press on January 6, 2022
Genres: Adult Romantic Comedy, Adult Sports Romance
Length: 07:55
Source: the author
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: five-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Barnes & NobleBuy on Audible

I’m a professional chickenblocker.
Except “chicken” is a euphemism.
I get paid to follow a womanizing troglodyte who thinks rules are for other people and that my pants are the next pair he’s getting into.
Dream on.
Bet your first professional job didn’t involve babysitting an extremely hot, muscle-bound Scottish Highlander with an ego the size of a kilt and a libido bigger than his…well…
Chicken.
Keeping Scottish football (that’s ‘soccer” to us Americans) player Hamish McCormick away from inappropriate scandals while he does product endorsement campaigns is my mission.
No problem.
Until Hamish decides I’m his next scandal.
And maybe more….
Shopping for a Highlander is an enemies-to-lovers, slow burn romance that opens with a surprise kiss and ends with a happily ever after. This sports comedy in the New York Times bestselling Shopping for a Billionaire world contains no actual chickens, but it has plenty of locker room scenes, a fake relationship, very real banter, and more. You do not have to have read the previous books in this world, though after you read about Amy and Hamish, you’ll want to. 😉

My Review:

Now technically it was almost a month before I got around to listening to this because I had one audiobook I wanted to listen to before I went to Book Bonanza. Then not sure why I did another short one before. But anyway, I loved this continuation of Hamish and Amy’s story. This was the true beginning of their relationship. While the male narrator is the guy who does Hardin in the After series audiobooks, and usually that distracts me from other books he reads, his Scottish accent was making me swoon and curse the Droughtlander we are in waiting for the next season of Outlander. But I loved how the author even had Hamish mention that show! Then the line about “Nobody puts Baby in the corner!” So much funny in this one. But not just that, so much emotion! I was in tears at the end, but loved how it all wrapped up. Another funny, emotional ride from Kent.

A Rival’s Kiss (Fulton U Rivals #3) by Maya Hughes:

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

L-L-L-Little Reviews #42: Six romancesA Rival's Kiss by Maya Hughes
Series: Fulton U Rivals #3
on May 5, 2022
Genres: NA Sports Romance
Pages: 418
Source: the author
Format: E-galley
My Rating: five-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Barnes & Noble

Walking away would be the smartest decision, but no one’s ever accused me of being smart. Cold, determined, brutal, but never smart.
Willa’s mine from the moment I rescue her. I protect her from a brawling crowd and she stares up at me like I’m her prince charming. No one’s ever looked at me like that. No one has ever dared to come that close.
I didn’t know she was the little sister of one of my biggest rivals. Her brother and I have both drawn blood on the field, dislocated joints, broken bones, but I’ll never want to show her that side of me.
I long to be the man she believes I am, but there’s only one way I know how to win—how to survive—and that’s ensuring my enemies lose.
Once he finds out who his sister has been dating it’ll be all-out war, and I might lose the only woman who’s ever looked at me like I’m not built only for destruction.
Changing my ways won’t be easy, but I’m willing to risk it all for her.

My Review:

I feel so bad that it took me longer to read this book than it should have. I was reading as part of the author’s ARC team, but then I had too many other books for reviews to read at the time this came out and I didn’t get it read before pub date. I did read it shortly after, about a month I guess, and I loved it as I have with the other books in this author’s series. While there were parts where Ezra made me kind of mad, in the end I loved this story! Sadly the author has a lot going on right now I guess and the next books in the series won’t be coming out till 2023 I believe. But I’ll be ready for them!

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon:

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

L-L-L-Little Reviews #42: Six romancesIce Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon
Series: Ice Planet Barbarians #1
Published by Berkley Books on November 30, 2021
Genres: Adult Romance, Adult Science Fiction, Erotica
Pages: 317
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
My Rating: five-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Barnes & NobleBuy on Audible

You'd think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you'd be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they've left their cargo of human women - including me - on an ice planet.
And the only native inhabitant I've met? He's big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me...

My Review:

So of course I learned about this thanks to BookTok. I bought it thinking it would be a quick and fun read if nothing else. And it was that, but it was so much more! It was so good! I was sucked in from the very beginning, and let me tell you this was so HOT! I was fanning myself while reading, and whoa! Hot, hot hot! Waiting on my copy of the next book and time to read it.

Give Love a Chai (Common Threads #2) by Nanxi Wen:
L-L-L-Little Reviews #42: Six romancesGive Love a Chai by Nanxi Wen
Series: Common Threads #2
Narrator: Kelsey Navarro, Benjamin D. Walker
Published by Dreamscape Media, Smartypants Romance on March 18, 2021
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 300
Length: 10:20
Source: Purchased
Format: Audiobook, Paperback
My Rating: four-half-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Barnes & NobleBuy on Audible

Tia Wang’s wedding planning to-do list:
1. Find the perfect dress2. Win her future mother-in-law's approval3. Divorce her not-so-ex husband, Andrew Parker
When she fell in love and married her childhood best friend on a whim in Vegas, Tia innocently thought love conquered all. Turns out, that was a crushing lie. Her world shattered as she and Andrew were torn apart by secrets and mistakes.
Ten years later, Tia has left the pain behind and carved out a new life with Mr. Perfect. The only thing standing between her and happily ever after? A divorce from Andrew.
It should have been easy for Andrew to sign his name on the dotted line. Independent, prickly, and always in control, Andrew has done everything to escape his past. But seeing Tia on his doorstep after all these years? He can’t help wondering what might have been. Andrew has never forgotten Tia and vows to fight for their relationship this time around. If he has to hold those divorce papers hostage to get his second chance, he will.
Feelings resurface, stronger and more complex than ever. But Tia and Andrew have more than Mr. Perfect between them. Can they overcome past mistakes to forge a future together?
'GIVE LOVE A CHAI' is a full-length contemporary romance, and can be listened to as a stand-alone. Book #2 in the Common Threads series, Seduction in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
©2021 Nanxi Wen (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

My Review:

So I both listened and read this book. I started out listening, however the narrators read too slow, but when I tried to speed it up even a little, then it was too fast. So I bought a copy of the paperback at Book Bonanza and then I finished by reading the last third of the book. I did like the characters, and loved the funny jokes and all the physical tension between the two. I look forward to reading more by this author, as well as in this series, in the future!

Below Zero (The STEMinist Novellas #3) by Ali Hazelwood:
L-L-L-Little Reviews #42: Six romancesBelow Zero by Ali Hazelwood
Series: The STEMinist Novellas #3
Narrator: Savannah Peachwood
Published by Penguin Audio on April 5, 2022
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance
Length: 03:43
Source: Purchased
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: five-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Barnes & NobleBuy on Audible

3 hours 43 Minutes
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new steamy, STEMinist novella…
It will take the frosty terrain of the Arctic to show these rival scientists that their chemistry burns hot.

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn…
Hannah’s got a bad feeling about this. Not only has the NASA aerospace engineer found herself injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station—but the one person willing to undertake the hazardous rescue mission is her longtime rival.
Ian has been many things to Hannah: the villain who tried to veto her expedition and ruin her career, the man who stars in her most deliciously lurid dreams…but he’s never played the hero. So why is he risking everything to be here? And why does his presence seem just as dangerous to her heart as the coming snowstorm?
To read Mara and Sadie’s stories look for the novellas Under One Roof and Stuck with You available now from Berkley!

My Review:

I think Ian will be my favorite of all the guys in this novella series. But I loved so much about this short, sweet story! I loved the NASA aspects. This one definitely had a different slant to it as Hannah has dated both men and women. So we got LGBTQ+ representation in this story. I’m actually looking forward to when they put out a physical book with all three of the novellas together at the beginning of 2023.

Please follow and like us:
0
fb-share-icon0
Tweet 0
Pin Share20

Tags:


6 responses to “L-L-L-Little Reviews #42: Six romances

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.