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Love Between the Lines by A.D. Brazeau – Review by Bailey Stiles

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Love Between the LinesLove Between the Lines by A.D. Brazeau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marlowe Bennet is an author who has become used to her hermit existence. She wants to stay home in her sweats with her cats and eat junk food while she writes. Heath is a model who is ready to stop traveling and settle down. After steamy kiss a year ago, Marlowe’s best friend Iris arranges a date for the two of them.

I really enjoyed this book. A.D. Brazeau did a nice job of going into how anxiety can take over your life. I thought the chemistry between Heath and Marlowe was wonderful. Heath was truly a perfect book boyfriend. He was so patient and understanding. I loved how the book focused on their relationship, but I was sad there was no steamy sex scenes.

The friendship between Iris, Marlowe and Marlowe’s sister Lucy was really fun to read about. I liked how they were all so supportive of each other. This was a heartwarming story that was funny and light. A great book to read on a rainy weekend in.

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10 Days by KJ Holliday – Review by Bailey Stiles

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10 Days10 Days by KJ Holliday
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alex is an author with a case of writer’s block. His friends Luke and Penny agree to take him on a 10 day camping trip to help him. There he falls in love with Penny. But will she return his feelings and what will Luke think?

Alex was not my favorite character. He felt super inconsistent, I’m not sure why he would choose to write a book about a marine lost in the woods, when he had never been in the service and hated the outdoors. It didn’t make sense to me. His background was also confusing.

I did like both the characters of Penny and Luke. There are themes of self harm, so trigger warning for anyone who needs it. It was definitely fun to read the steamy bits, but I found myself skipping over parts to get to those because I wasn’t enjoying Alex’s inner monologue and the rest of the story.

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Professor Valentine: A Student-Teacher Contemporary Romance Novella (Kirk University Series Book 1) by Diana Vale – Review by Bailey Stiles Sieler

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Professor Valentine: A Student-Teacher Contemporary Romance Novella (Kirk University, #1)Professor Valentine: A Student-Teacher Contemporary Romance Novella by Diana Vale
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a story about a young girl away at university. It explores how an 18 year old feels at a new place, trying to find herself and meeting new people. She is focused on school until she meets Diego, her professor. Their relationship unfolds.

Some parts of this book weren’t believable to me. I don’t know how they’re mutual feelings developed so intensely. She was very immature, which was believable, she’s 18. But he was twice her age (mentioned several times) and didn’t seem to have any control of the situation. It was also weird how she kept pursuing him after he tried to set such clear boundaries. I think the author must have done this to make him not seem like a predator, but it seemed odd to me.

This was a novella, a quick 40 minute read. I wish we would have seen more of her relationships with friends. Overall, I felt neutral about this book.

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Is This Me? (Being Me Book 1) by Tricia Copeland – Review by Bailey Stiles

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Is This Me? (Being Me #1)Is This Me? by Tricia Copeland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amanda is off to college at her dream school. She is planning on focusing on school, but instead she meet Doug, a dreamy senior who she can’t avoid. She is drawn to him even as he tells her there’s nothing there.

This was a quick read. It was a clean coming of age story about a young woman finding herself and falling in love. I thought the author did a nice job of capturing the budding love between Amanda and Doug. I could understand Amanda’s avoidance of situations and it made sense how lack of communication caused so many problems in her life.

I was upset that the story didn’t end how I wanted it to. And I found Amanda hard to relate to and I wasn’t sure why everyone was so drawn to her. There were several times I grew frustrated with her. I wish we had gotten to know more about her friendships especially since some of the friends were supposed to have been life long friends. Doug was kind of boring and brooding and his indecisiveness made me tire of him quickly. They’re relationship didn’t seem like a particularly healthy example for young readers. However, I thought Tyler was fun and lovable, and I wanted so much more for his character. This is a guilty pleasure book and I will probably want to read the next one.

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Crave (Clark Family Series) by Evelyn Sola – Review by Bailey Stiles

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Crave (Clark Family Series Book 1)Crave by Evelyn Sola
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Crave by Evelyn Sola

Tells the story of Sandra, a nurse who spends her weekends helping out at her mother’s bakery. One weekend, she is delivering a cake to a client’s party and meets Jacob Clark. The attraction is instant.

If you enjoy books like Fifty Shade of Gray, you probably will enjoy this book. Sola writes a very steamy story, that addresses class differences, race, and the pain of being betrayed by the ones closest to you.

I think writing a book is a huge accomplishment and I can see why others might like this one, I don’t think this book was for me. The romanticization of an abusive relationship is a theme I have never really been able to get behind.

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