Holiday romance
The heroine of Jackie Lau’s Not Your Valentine, Helen Tsang, goes viral as the victim of a nasty public breakup on Valentine’s Day. As the anniversary of that humiliation approaches, the pity from her family and friends feels intolerable, so she concocts a plan: she’ll ask her friend Taylor Li ...
Marcella Bell’s Snowbound in her Boss’s Bed makes the same mistake I’ve seen in a few books lately - focusing on the wrong part of the story.
Miriam Howard, event planner, is the daughter of a Black pastor and hasn’t fit in with her family since she converted to Judaism. Temporarily hired ...
I know Rebecca Crowley from her soccer romances (such as Crossing Hearts, which I previously reviewed at AAR) but currently she’s been writing a contemporary romance series called Orchard Hill, with characters who practice their Jewish faith. I picked up Shine a Light, a Hanukkah-themed romance re ...
I've been excited for The Do-Over, Painter’s new YA novel ever since I read and loved Better Than the Movies (2021) and I’m happy to share The Do-Over was just as good, if not better. It reminded me of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off mixed with a little Groundhog Day and I was quickly swep ...
Snowed In for Christmas will be counted among my favorite holiday Hallmark-style comfort reads this year. It's a sweet story about a family coming together and mending fences, with a great ensemble cast and varied plotlines.
The story centers around the Miller family - a picture-perfect (literall ...
Back in 2021 when I reviewed Charles, the first book in Con Riley’s Learning to Love series, I said that he seemed to be one of those characters who elbowed their way into an author’s brain and demanded their story be written. Vibrant, funny, larger-than-life and a complete scene-stealer Charles ...
There is a single off plot point in Ramón and Julieta, but you’ll be darned to notice it while you’re nose-deep in the thick of reading it. It’s fun, light-hearted, and without the heavy sturm und drang of your usual Romeo and Juliet retelling; it’s got a lot of spirit and enough spice to m ...
Note: The sensuality rating of these stories ranges from Kisses to Burning
If you liked the movie Love Actually but wished more of the characters had gotten happy endings, Amor Actually, which re-imagines every plot thread from the movie, might be the anthology for you. Like the original, the c ...
A Retro Review
originally published on December 31, 2009
I decided to take a chance on Holiday Outing after Jessica at Racy Romance Reviews posted a review of this novella. I’m so very glad I did, because this was a nice little gem to add to my holiday reading this year.
Jonah Levinson hasn ...
I’m always up for a holiday romance. I’m definitely in the “love it” camp for Christmas romances, which tend to have both passionate fans and die-hard avoiders. However, I love reading about other holidays as well, whether from traditions I share or not. In my case, part of my family is Jewi ...