Review: The Heart Principle

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This has been a fantastic series.  Of the 3, I think this is my favorite.  

Quan is Khai's (book 2) brother and Michael's (book 1) cousin.  Quan has had a rough couple of years.  He was diagnosed with testicular cancer and had surgery.  This also affected his fertility.  He went from someone who was at the top of his game & someone who was called on to help, to being the one his family worried about.  Now he is cured and looking to get back into the swing of things.

Anna is a violinist who had (an awesome) viral moment.  Now she is dealing with performance anxiety.  Anything less than perfect is a failure.  Her long-term boyfriend also wants to see other people.  During this time, she also starts therapy and begins to understand she may be on the autism spectrum.  During the course of her life, she "masked" and became the person she thought her family and other people wanted her to be.  She lost herself.  She joins a dating app with the goal of having a one night stand (because the ex is "exploring things," so she should too!).  

The first date becomes a second date, then a third.  Quan quickly becomes the one person who understands Anna.  During this time too, her father suffers a massive stroke and the women in the family become his caregivers.  

This was a wonderful book about the story of discovery and learning about oneself.  Anna grows so much throughout the book.  This was definitely a more serious book, but also a love story.  The traditional love story is there, but it was also a story about loving and accepting oneself.  

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Review: Immortal Matchmakers, Inc.

Immortal Matchmakers, Inc. by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The goddess Cimil starts up a matchmaking service for immortals. She decides to setup Andrus, a demigod who lost his mate years ago. Problem is, he has a BIG alpha-hole. Sadie was hired to smooth his edges. Enter romance.
I did like the mix of banter and humor. I liked Sadie. I hated Andrus.

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Review: Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life

Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Arnold is an interesting person. I listened to the audiobook which he narrates. Nice mix of memoir and self help/advic

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Review: Two Rogues Make a Right

Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Will found Martin (his childhood friend who is chronically ill) living in the attic of Harley's house (Martin lives there as a kid). Will takes him to the country for the fresh country air. Martin has tuberculosis. Will would wake up every morning not knowing if would find Martin deceased. Martin slowly recovers.
This was a sweet, but slow paced friends to lovers with interesting characters (bisexuality, addiction, chronic illness, PTSD). I did find this slow going and this was so easy to put down and pick back up.

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Review: The Matchmaker's Playbook

The Matchmaker's Playbook by Rachel Van Dyken
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked that this was told from the guy's perspective. Ian is a player who decides to help women out and get the guy they are crushing on. He also doesn't date clients. But, of course, that changes when he takes on Blake who hired him to get her crush David.
Ian is super cocky, but I did like him when it came down to it. Good banter and I liked the writing.

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Review: Three Little Words

Three Little Words by Jenny Holiday
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gia (who is friends Elise, Jane, and Wendy (who were in previous books) is a bridesmaid in Wendy's wedding (just like in the previous 2 weddings). Gia is also a model and is struggling a bit (she turns 30 in this book). She was hurt once upon a time and ever since has vowed to not "do" relationships. Bennett, Noah's friend (from book 2), owns a restaurant and is also in the wedding party. They get stuck together while making their way south to the wedding in FL.
Fun forced proximity about 2 very different people who end up complimenting each other so well. Both have issues. Gia with disordered eating and body image issue (due to modeling and her mother). Bennett has a history of addiction and unsupportive parents. Despite this history, or because of it, Bennett understood Gia and Gia understood Bennett.
Enjoyed the epilogue which showed what everyone was doing 2 1/2 years later.

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Review: Through the Storm

Through the Storm by Beverly Jenkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sable was a slave who was able to escape during the civil war. She found employment, friendship, and a home with a contraband camp. She also met Raimond, a free, successful, Black businessman who enlisted to help the Union. However, things happened and she was threatened. So she took the opportunity to save herself and run.
Raimond was used to women falling all over him, so when Sable didn't he was interested and got to know her. She surprised him in many ways. When she left he was pissed (of course not knowing the whole story and assumptions were made).
Sable is able to make in North and finds employment as a companion to an elderly woman who grew up in the South and wants to return there. They do after the end of the war. They meet up again after the companion dies.
Wonderful romance; a bit of a second chance and marriage of convenience (Raimond has to marry to gain an inheritance). Sable was wonderful, Raimond too, and they were so good together. I loved his family and how they quickly welcomed her into theirs. Enjoyed Hester and Galeno's appearance too.
I also think this is important to say: Beverly Jenkins always does a good job of weaving actual history into her books. She does this in a way that you learn something from a viewpoint that is NOT taught in history books. It is not preachy, it is subtle.


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Review: A Little Bit Wicked

A Little Bit Wicked by Robyn DeHart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At 24 Vivian fell in love. At a party she surprised her lover (in the dark) with a kiss. Only it wasn't him, but someone else. Marcus never forgot the surprise kiss. And Vivian's lover broke her heart. After this, she vowed to never fall in love again.
Over the next decade, she built herself a reputation as a "fixer" of sorts. She helps young women restore/rebuild their image/reputations. Marcus, the second son of an earl, went on adventures, leading tours to different places on different continents. He finds himself the earl after his brother's death. He is also now responsible for his younger sister Clarissa. Clarissa finds herself the subject of gossip after she is seen talking to the owner of a gaming hell. Enter Vivian.
Very nicely paced with a gradual friendship gradually blossoming into more. I also liked the age gap; Vivian is about 7 years older than Marcus. And when it came to the blackmailer, Vivian handled it on her own, in her own way. Nicely done.

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Review: Gabriel's Rapture

Gabriel's Rapture by Sylvain Reynard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This picks up where Inferno left off.  Julia and Gabriel are happy together.  Both know their relationship could have some issues (she is a grad student and he is one of the professors).  Obstacles do happen once their relationship is out in the open.  

This forced them apart and they were forced to deal with some issues on their own.  Each grew as individuals and become better, stronger because of that.  And don't worry, this is a romance book.  There is a HEA at the end.  

A compliant; didn't care for the OW drama.  

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Review: Heroine Complex

Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Evie is the personal assistant to Annie, AKA Aveda Jupiter, superhero extraordinaire. Evie and Annie have been best friends since childhood. San Francisco has portals that open and demons poor through. These demons generally take the form/imprint on the thing they see first. It can be cupcakes or an animal, etc.
Annie gets injured and Evie is talked into pretending to be her. Evie who does not like the spotlight and prefers the background. Evie has powers herself that she hides for fear of losing control. Evie's power is pretty cool (fire). It turns out, Evie is not bad at the superhero stuff.
I liked Evie and thought she went from being a doormat and passive to speaking up for herself. I wasn't too crazy about the romantic interest. I thought Evie and Nate were too hot and cold (either bitching to each other or they were all over each other).
I did not like Annie and thought she was a total BITCH. She's very self centered and frankly, not very nice to those around her. There are signs of a personality change coming, but I have absolutely no desire to read her story (which is the next book).

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Review: Heart Mate

Heart Mate by Robin D. Owens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5* (generously rounded up)
Rand T'Ash is a Lord of a GreatFamily (one of the First families) of the planet Celta. Celta was settled about 400 years ago and its inhabitants have various degrees of psychic/magical abilities (called Flairs here). T'Ash creates jewelry.
When T'Ash meets his HeartMate, he is excited. Except Danith, who is from a lower class (Miz- middle-class with limited magical ability), thinks he is playing a joke on her. She believes he placed a seduction spell on the piece of jewelry (called a HeartGift) he intends to gift his HeartMate. This begins there courtship (if that's what you want to call it). T'Ash is too pushy. Way too pushy.
It did take awhile to get into the story. Even then I wasn't totally feeling it. I wish some things could have been explained earlier; a prologue would have been helpful. At moments I felt I was missing some background. Many terms are guessable (like Flair= magic, Miz= lower class, Gallent = significant other)
I might have rolled my eyes when Danith discovered she had strong magical abilities. And learned all about them practically overnight. Oh, and she happened to be a rare Animal Healer. A strong Flair puts one in the Nobel class.
Zantih- T'Ash's cat familiar was the best thing about this book. I doubt I will read more in this series.

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