Review: An Unconditional Freedom

An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We first met Daniel in the first 2 books and this is his story.  Daniel was born free and grew up with Elle (book 1). He was later kidnapped and sold into slavery before he was freed by one of the protagonists of the previous books.  Now his goal is vengeance.

Janeta is the daughter of a plantation owner and slave (even though her father married her mother).  She was told she was "better then" and "different" from the slaves.  She was used to having the best and being waited on.  When the man she was in love with wanted her to help the South, she agreed.  She joined the Loyal League with plans to give information to Henry so he could join the Sons of the Confederacy.

I liked Daniel right off the bat, but Janeta took longer to like.  She was so spoiled and naive.  However, she was always learning and recalibrating her positions.  Both were able to lean on each other.  This was a harder book to read when comparing to events of today (ICE raids, dismantling of any DEI, slavery education in the National Parks, the list goes on and on).  

This whole series has been wonderful!

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Review: Valentine's Slay

Valentine's Slay by Navessa Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Emma had been Noah's crush since high school. Noah now works as an undertaker, so imagine his surprise when he hears "help" coming from Emma's freshly dug grave. It turns out someone might have tried to murder her.
Fun, short read. I liked them together. Good to have an epilogue considering the length.

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Review: Death to Valentine's Day

Death to Valentine's Day by Catherine Cowles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maia broke up with her childhood boyfriend a year ago. She's been in a funk for a year (after realizing she wasted so much time). Her friends talk her into going to an 'I hate Valentine's Day" party. Decker has been in love with Maia since they were kids. A complication? Her ex is his younger brother (who also happens to be a cheating, self-important asshole).
I liked the alternating points of view. The romance worked since they knew each other well. The murder "mystery" is a bit of an afterthought and did not add to the story. It felt unnecessary.

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Review: A Play for Love

A Play for Love by Trilina Pucci
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rory meet Oliver briefly during a Romeo and Juliet scene for her college theater mid-term.  They had chemistry, but then didn't see each other again.  Fast forward 5 years.  Oliver is playing Cupid for rent money.  Rory is on a horrible "date."  He rescues her and they opt to spend the day together.  Turns out they had crushes on each other in college but both were too intimidated to do anything about it.  The big problem is Rory is leaving NYC in the morning to move back home.

They opt to do the long distance thing over the next couple of months.  And then a surprise at Rory's niece's play.  Nice!

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Review: Second Act Romance

Second Act Romance by Julie Soto
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Bex has one of the leads in "Oklahoma."  When food poisoning strikes and takes out a lot of the cast, Colby steps in.  He and Bex were previously leads with each other and had good chemistry.  Until Bex got sick and they had a miscommunication (because of course).

Now years later they are leads together again.  A lot of technical jargon.  Had a hard time getting into this story and I wasn't that crazy about the romance (there really wasn't any IMO).  

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Review: Time Will Tell

Time Will Tell by Hannah Bonam-Young
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Georgia is a high school history teacher. When she gets a letter from her recently deceased grandma Bonnie detailing a time capsule that she and her girlfriend Martha buried, she involves her students in drafting a letter to Martha's next of kin, her grandson Callum. Thus begins an email correspondence for the next month or so.
I thought this was nicely paced and I could get a good sense of Callum and Georgia through their email banter. They do meet at the end of the story to see what is in the time capsule. This was different (when LGBTQ+ rights were non-existent).

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Review: Accidentally Yours

Accidentally Yours by Christina Lauren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Veronica was just laid off after she spoke out about being overlooked for a promotion (again).  She worked at a "tech-bro" company.  While interviewing for another position, she accidentally crashes someone else's Zoom meeting.  And proceeds to eviscerate their (bad) ideas.  So she is surprised when the CEO comes after her with a job offer.

This was so fun.  I enjoyed the banter back and forth between Veronica and Jude.  They have chemistry (and don't know what each other looks like).  Veronica also has a crush on a neighbor (she doesn't know his name or what he does).  And surprise!  Yes, predictable, but so much fun.  

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