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The Honey Don’t List by Christina Lauren

Gallery Books – Review: 3 Stars

All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.

Anyone who looks at my blog can see how much I love Christina Lauren books. It’s a lot. And I also love HGTV and all forms of house renovation/decoration shows. So, obviously, I was really excited about this book when I heard that it was coming out. All of that being said, I enjoyed this book, but it wasn’t my favorite from this author duo.

Let’s start by talking about the characters. Our two leads, Carey and James were likeable enough, and in Carey you do get a bit of the character development that I always love (although not as much as I might have liked). They are both dedicated workers, in the “I don’t have time for anything that isn’t important to my career, because that is where my priorities are” way, but since they go about that in different ways it opens up the opportunity for all of that sassy banter that I also enjoy.

However. Characters are my favorite part of just about any novel, and that doesn’t just mean the romantic leads, I want to enjoy the rest of the cast as well. I will say, that the other characters that you spend the most time with, the Tripps, weren’t supposed to be traditionally “good” characters. You aren’t supposed to be rooting for them. And believe me, I wasn’t. But I always find that characters (even the ones that you “love to hate”) are more interesting to me when there is something about them that you are wanting to like. The characters that are definitely and obviously flawed, but that there is something about them that is still so intriguing to you as a reader. That is more of a personal thing, and I know that quite a few other readers would be more than content with characters that they have full permission to hate, but I wish that there could have been just a tiny something extra that I could cling to. Who knows, maybe I am just one of those naive people who wants to be able to see the good in each of the characters. Even while I hate them.

And as for the story, on the surface this book is a classic example of “enemies to lovers” and “workplace romance” tropes. So that is definitely what I had expected going in. However, the storyline with Rusty and Melissa Tripp took the reins a bit more than I would have expected, and in some places the love story actually got a little bit lost to me. I will also say that James and Carey seemed to go from “I don’t enjoy this person that I work with” to having full crushes on each other very quickly, and I’m not sure that I felt that it was quite earned with what we actually saw on the pages. It just seemed like, because the Tripp’s portion of the story was so big, that I missed seeing “the chase” portion of the relationship. Or the “courting” portion, however you want to think about it.

All of that being said, I really did enjoy this book, although I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped to. However I would still recommend this to my friends who need a rom-com read with some juicy drama that they can just pull out and sink their teeth into. Although this may not be the Christina Lauren book that I will shove at people to be the first of their books to read, or to try and make them fall in love with this awesome duo. I would say that this is a great book to read while you are in the mood of “I need to be able to focus on other people’s drama instead of my own,” you know? We all have those moods, right, that’s not just me? Good. Then next time you feel that way, read this book and lose yourself in the craziness of whirlwind romance and life with the Tripps!

Want more CHristina Lauren? Check out the below blog posts for my thoughts on more of their books!

Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating (Christina Lauren) Review – Posted 03/12/2020

Roomies (Christina Lauren) Review – Posted 05/20/2019

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Faker by Sarah Smith

Berkley – Review: 3 Stars

All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.

This book was such a fun example of both workplace romance and an enemies-to-lovers story! We follow Emmie – copywriter in a seriously male-driven profession and company, and “fake” Bad Bitch POC, and Tate – the coworker who gets under her skin like no other, and they just can’t stand each other. Until, of course, they can. Stand each other, I mean. Because, like I said, this is an enemies-to-lovers book.

One of the biggest issues that I can have with enemies-to-lovers is when the romantic side of the relationship completely comes out of nowhere and they go from hating each other to loving each other within a matter of days. I know that it is possible for this to happen, but it doesn’t typically seem all that realistic, and sometimes takes my brain back to the “he’s being mean to you because he likes you” sh*t that we got told on the playground as kids. The thing I really loved about this book, is that that didn’t seem to be the case. First of all, they were never too terrible to each other even in the “enemies” phase, it really only went a step or maybe two past “sassy, playful banter” at any given time. And second, even with that being the case, you got to feel the appreciation (as well as the sexual tension) building up for a bit before either of the characters really did anything about it. It seemed like they really had time together to feel their connection growing rather than jumping straight to “we’re soulmates,” and I really appreciated that.

My only really big issue story-wise was something that happened with Tate late in the story, after they are actually together. It isn’t the worst thing that could possibly happen in a relationship, but it isn’t quite a “Ha ha, that was a funny thing that happened last week, right? Let’s tell our friends over dinner tonight, because it was so funny and we’re both totally over it.” Spoiler: At his high school reunion, Emmie sees a woman who basically looks exactly like her, who turns out to be Tate’s ex. And he goes up to her and kisses her, and we find out later that he thought she was Emmie. He has a very specific type, I guess?

All of that being said, I would recommend this book to my friends. It was a very fun, and fairly light read, and it was a perfect way to start my 2020. I would say that the best way to read this book would be in a nice long, relaxing bubble bath!

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The New Guy by Kathryn Freeman

One More Chapter – Review: 3 Stars

Thanks so much to the author, NetGalley, and One More Chapter for the complimentary advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my full reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

TW : loss of a family member

This story was a very fun and saucy! It had a ton of the romance stereotypes that draws people in – workplace romance, broody bad boy and glass-half-full optimist, love triangles, opposites attract – it’s got it all! I love the story of the sexy one night stand turned office fling, and I really enjoyed seeing how Sam, the female lead, balanced that with what she saw as her responsibilities as the CEO.

That being said, I didn’t find that this book was perfect for me. There were just some parts that I didn’t feel as invested or drawn in as I did in the beginning.

Let’s start with the characters. I really loved the character of Sam. I also really loved that the author decided to turn the office romance on it’s head a bit and have the female lead be the bad ass CEO, and the male lead be the one working with and for her. I found Sam pretty realistically written and fairly likable from the very beginning, and I had no trouble feeling myself stay invested in her and her story. She was just a character that I wanted to succeed, you know? I wanted to watch her app turn out incredibly successful, and I wanted to watch her give her jerk ex a piece of her mind, and I wanted to see her be able to Ryan and start to really feel all of that love. She just turned out to be the very type of character that I found I was wanting to read about, just so that I could root for her.

Now to Ryan, our troubled and brooding introvert of a male lead. I really did like his character – I love a flawed character that has plenty of space to grow and change throughout the course of the story. That’s what makes characters fun! When you get to see someone become a better or more rounded person, it just really makes the reading experience for me. And Ryan definitely had all of that in spades. One thing that I will say is, while I loved his backstory and still wanted to be able to watch him succeed, there were just a few times that his gruff exterior towards Sam was just a bit harsher than I would have loved to see. It was definitely a part of who he was as a character, and like I said, that gave him the opportunity to really show some great character development by the end. But there were just a couple of times when, in my opinion, it crossed the line from “brooding bad boy employee/fling being protective of her and being a strong alpha” to “jerk that she has feelings for belittling her and basically telling her to f*** off on multiple occassions.” And those were the moments that made it just a bit more difficult for me to keep myself fully invested in the story, particularly the romance. There were just one or two times when if I was her best friend I maybe would have told her that this guy may not be the best news for her right now. Although overall he did follow through on that previously mentioned character development, and by the time I got to the last page I was back on his side. Mostly.

Over all I definitely enjoyed this read, and would recommend it to friends who are looking for a sassy and slightly steamy workplace romance or opposites attract story. It has a few pretty steamy moments, but most only go so far as a movie scene fading to black, and it never got too much worse than PG-13. And from my experience, it is definitely best enjoyed with a glass of wine and a bubble bath!

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Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Gallery Books – Review: 5 Stars

I knew before I even started this book that I was going to love it. I mean, it’s Christina Lauren. What’s not to love, right? Well little did I know that it would still exceed the already high expectations that I had for it! I have read a good number of Christina Lauren’s books, but this ended up being one of their tops for me! I only wish I hadn’t let it sit on my backlist-TBR for as long as I did.

Lets talk about the characters. Josh is cool, calm, and collected, and a perfect straight-man in this romantic comedy. He has this delightfully sarcastic and sometimes dry humor that just really tickled me while I was reading it. I mean it, this book had me in giggle fits almost the entire time reading through it! And now let’s talk about Hazel. Oh, Hazel. Hazel is now absolutely, 200% a favorite female lead in a book for me! She is so silly, and sassy, and wild, and I just want to be more like Hazel Bradford in my day to day life! She is a character that really knows how to have fun and get the most out of life, and I just really admired that in her as a character, and it made everything about this duo and their story just so enjoyable to read!

I love a friends-to-lovers romance as much as the next guy, but every once in a while it can feel like the stories can tend to blend together. There’s only so many versions of the same type of story, right? Well, sometimes that is true. And don’t get me wrong, that will not even remotely stop me from reading them! But this story went above and beyond the trope and added in some really fun details and twists that I hadn’t seen in the books that I’ve read before.
Josh and Hazel are friends that start living together while Hazel’s apartment is being fixed and updated, and soon after they start setting each other up and going on these (sometimes hilariously terrible) double dates. And that, to me, was just a really fun way to set up their story and transition into the next chapter in their relationship!

I don’t want to get into too many details on the plot, because I really don’t want to spoil any bit of this delight for anyone else who hasn’t read it yet. But let me say this – I finished this book in only a couple of days because I absolutely did not want to put it down. Hazel is forever my #WCW. This is one of the very top Christina Lauren books, in my opinion. And I would very highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys friends-to-lovers with a little bit of steam, and a whole lot of joy.

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The Simple Wild by K. A. Tucker

Atria Books – Review: 5 Stars

Another book that I was told over and over again that I needed to read, and about how much I would love it – from friends, fellow readers on Instagram, etc. And oh my goodness, were they right about this book! While yes, like just about any other book it is not without a fault or two, I absolutely devoured this read.

Just to jump right into the downer part before we get to the more fun part, my biggest annoyance with this book was the main character Calla during the first portion of the book. And up front I was to specify, it was not at all an issue with the way that the character was written – she comes across exactly how the author had meant her to for the purpose of the storyline. She is a deeply, and intentionally, flawed character. Which on principle I have nothing against, because you need the flaws in order to show growth. There were just a few more chapters (from Calla’s perspective) of the inconveniences and trials of her time in Alaska. Although, again, this gives the character the opportunity for all of the growth and development that she shows throughout the rest of the novel. And by the end of the novel I found myself liking and relating to her much more.

That being said, on to the fact that I really loved this book! Other than first-half-of-the-book-Calla, all of the characters in Alaska are incredibly charming and heartfelt, and it made me want to go for a visit myself! This story deals with some difficult subjects, like loss and sickness in a family member, but it tells those stories with such heart and such care that I couldn’t help but fall in love with the book and all of it’s characters.

This book was incredibly enjoyable, and had just the perfect amount of steam to meet my contemporary romance needs without being too much to read in public. It is perfect for a summery beach read, or curling up by a cozy fire in the dead of winter, with your favorite sweater and glass of wine. And I will definitely be going back in for second and maybe third trips into this world!