Young Royals is one of my favorite shows and Red, White & Royal Blue one of my all time favorite books, so a story combining those into a new book by Julian Winters was of course something I needed to read! Prince of the Palisades might not be exactly of the same caliber as RWARB, but it was certainly a wonderful, sweet, adorable and emotional mm romance story between a struggling prince and a badass pink-haired commoner! Prince Jadon is the spare of the fictional kingdom Reverie as the younger, messy brother of crown princess Annika. After a leaked video of him trash talking the prime minister (who is also the father of his ex) makes his parents lose their patience with him, Jadon gets exiled to Los Angeles and a preppy private school together with his sister and two royal guards. In order to be allowed back home, Jadon must change the public perception of him and prove that he is worthy to represent the royal family. Including making friends with his fellow students, joining the school play and making public non-political speeches. But definitely not getting involved with someone or getting caught kissing in public. Which turns out to be harder than expected when sparks start to fly with a certain pink-haired film student…
Running With Lions is my favorite Julian Winters book, with all the amazing characters. This story had the same kind of vibes and fleshed-out characters, witty banter and focus on love and friendship. I truly adored Princess Annika, the quirky royal guards and Reiss’ family. Jadon and Reiss had a wonderful chemistry and I loved their fun banter and how Reiss kept Jadon grounded and showed him what a “normal” life and family looked like. It was perhaps a bit too insta-lovey the way Jadon immediately was intrigued by Reiss, and it took me a while to warm up to Jadon who came across as a little too immature and selfish at first. But the character development was amazing and at the end I fully rooted for him and his relatable struggles to find his path in life. I also loved the fanfiction references to RWARB and The Princess Diaries in the tweets and comments. All in all, this was a sweet and charming YA read about finding your true self and taking a chance on love! Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the free ARC of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed. Rating: 4 stars Get your own copy: Amazon Add on Goodreads Author info: Julian Winters
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3/8/2024 0 Comments Offtrack by Esha PatelI’ve been a Formula 1 fan since way before Drive to Survive, so the story about a female F1 driver and a racing romance felt like the perfect book for me! And I’m glad to say that the racing parts were done really well and felt both realistic and captivating. You could tell that Esha Patel had done thorough research and how much of an F1 fan she must be herself. But unfortunately, the romance fell a bit flat for me. There were also some parts of the plot that just didn’t make any sense and pulled the story down. So even though I wanted so much to love this story, it ended up being an okay entertainment for the moment, but didn’t fully meet the hopes and expectations I had. Offtrack is a story told in the dual POVs of the two F1 drivers, Diana/Diyana - the first female F1 driver ever, and Miguel - racing royalty as third generation of a family of F1 drivers. I loved the idea of a female F1 racer, and how strong and badass, yet kind, Diana was. She’d had to fight so hard for her dream to come true and even fight harder to keep it, with all the misogyny going on in the racing world.
I also really enjoyed all the racing parts, the strategy communication and the competitiveness on track. Esha Patel really managed to build the intensity, and I read the racing parts feeling almost as nervous as if I was watching a real race! So Diana as a character and the racing parts were great! But I had problems to fully understand and root for Miguel. On one hand he was the cliche of a playboy racing driver, on the other hand he was very supportive of his sister Paula and stood up for Diana when no one else did. I also had problems with the arranged marriage plot. Not going into details here to avoid spoilers, but everything about it felt off and made it hard to figure Miguel out. How could he be a player, allegedly screwing around with team principal’s daughter and others, at the same time as he was determined to honor the arrangement made when he was sixteen? Another thing that felt like such a huge plot hole that it pulled the whole story and the romance down, was (sorry, might be a bit of a spoiler coming up here) was the unbelievable way that Miguel hadn’t heard about a female F2 champion and didn’t recognize her at the driver presentation. Adding the even more unbelievable part that he’d forgotten that they not only knew each other from not only racing each other but having a crush on each other as teen karting drivers. Especially as this crush later became the foundation for their newfound romance. But even though I didn’t fully root for the romance, it was a very entertaining and fast paced read with a badass female racing driver giving hope for a near future with a real female F1 driver! Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for the ARC of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed. Rating: 5 stars Get your own copy: Author links Add on Goodreads Author info: Esha Patel 2/29/2024 0 Comments American Love Songs by Ashlyn KaneThis was such a sweet, fun and charming feelgood romance with characters learning a thing or two about life and themselves! The story follows Jake and his best friends’ alt-rock band, The Wayward Sons, as they find a new lead guitarist in the sexy nerdy Parker. It has a completely clueless MC, so much fun banter and quirkiness, a super slow burn friends to lovers romance and the perfect amount of heartbreak and emotions! It’s a sweet YA story, focusing on feelings rather than smut, which I appreciated. And I loved the writing style with the interspersing of blogs, texting, and media releases to tell the story (even though the blogging part felt a bit outdated and made you realize that the book was released in 2010).
All in all, a sweet, lovely, goofey, fun and heartwarming m/m band romance story that I’ve already reread twice now and know I will keep coming back to as a comfort-read! Rating: 5 stars Get your own copy: Author links Add on Goodreads Author info: Ashlyn Kane This is the third book in the Mackenzie Country series and it was yet another sweet and heartwarming MM romance taking place in the remote New Zealand sheep country with fleshed out and mature characters to root for! I’ve never been to New Zealand, but the way Jay Hogan describes the rugged, southern alps scenery is so beautiful it makes want to book a flight right away to come visit… It’s almost like the nature plays a role in the story.
In this third book, we once again get to visit Lane Sheep Station, but this time focus is on Zach’s older brother Jules. The books can be read as standalones, but I strongly advice to read them all and in order, for the wonderful revisits of the previous characters and to fully understand the background to the events, but also because they are all highly recommended reads! As we know from the previous books, Zach’s and Jules’ father is a mean homophobe, who drove Zach away when he came out as gay. Naturally, Jules has had good reasons to keep his bisexuality hidden. Especially since he’s never met a man worth pursuing that side for. Not until his dad gets a stroke and physical therapist Liam comes to stay at the station and turns Jules’ world upside down… This was such an adorable bi-awakening story, full of first time sweetness, supportive family members and friends, and the struggle to stand up for yourself and take a chance on true love. It was also lovely seeing both Gil and Holden, and Zach and Luke still being so happily in love and totally sappy! Compared to the previous books, it was lower on angst and a little bit slower, but still full of humor, perfect chemistry, surprising twists and the perfect amount of spiciness! I received a free ARC of this book, which I have voluntarily reviewed. Rating: 4 stars Get your own copy: Amazon Bookbub Add to Goodreads Author info: Jay Hogan This wonderful novella is set in The Cabots universe, even though there’s no real connection to the Cabot family, and it’s just as amazing as the other books in the series! In just about 100 pages, Cat Sebastian manages to write a completely addictive story with fleshed out characters to root for. Set in the 1950s it tells the story of Billy and Luke, who are baseball players and teammates. Recently Luke has been injured and gone into hiding, leaving Billy sick of worry. Billy, who has been able to keep his feelings hidden for more than five years, suddenly don’t know what to do when Luke turns up on his porch.
I loved the way the two of them slowly opened up to each other and letting themselves be vulnerable, despite the potential consequences. Cat Sebastian always has such an authentic way in describing the current time period and the fear and homophobia that queer people had to live with. Adorable first time experience, witty banter and pretend dislike to (unsuccessfully) disguise the true feelings. And Billy’s mother was pure gold! All in all, this was yet another highly enjoyable, adorable and heartwarming queer historical story by Cat Sebastian! Rating: 5 stars Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Cat Sebastian I absolutely adored this cute and heartwarming YA RomCom! It had so many things I love, like secret romance, friends to lovers, finding your path to live an authentic life and music nerdery. The story follows the two 17-year-olds Emmett and Luke. Emmett dares to dream and to follow his dreams; he’s already taking his first small steps towards becoming the country music’s biggest gay superstar. Luke is the opposite, his dreams are much less grand, but even so he doesn’t dare to follow them, too focused on finding a realistic plan to help his struggling family out. Due to his religious mother, being openly gay is not an option either. And as for country music, it’s a forbidden topic, being the grandson of the disgraced country singer Verna Rose, who had a famous falling out with the big star Wanda Jean.
But when Luke gets a job at Wanda World and runs into Emmett sparks start to fly and maybe, just maybe, Luke can finally let his guard down a bit and allow himself to dream and discover his true queer self. This was such a sweet story, but also with more depth than the cute cover might hint at. My heart ached for Luke and how he put his family before his own happiness and how he struggled to keep his true self hidden, while not being able to stay away from Emmett. It was so raw and authentic in the way Luke’s fear for and the consequences of being outed in the wrong circumstances was described. In a small town there’s no going back once the truth is out there. But I also ached for Emmett’s struggles to keep his principles and his dreams about being an openly gay country musician when the record labels tried to persuade him otherwise. It really takes a lot of courage and integrity to stay true to yourself when your whole career is at stake before it has even started! I had some problems with how Luke treated Emmett at times, and how Emmett let himself accept getting less respects than he deserved, but at the same time I fully understand why and where they were both coming from. In the end, it made the story more authentic and the characters more relatable. I haven’t listened much to country music, to be honest, but this book definitely made me want to try! I loved the music references and how important music was to Emmett. The music was almost like a character in itself that played a big part of the story. All in all, this was such a wonderful queer coming-of-age story about small town life and big dreams, about finding out what you really need and want in your life and being brave enough to chase it, and about the love of music. Highly recommended! Rating: 5 stars Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Brian D. Kennedy A girl who wants nothing but to leave her home town behind to be her openly bisexual self, a boy who gave up a scholarship for a life staying in the town, a quest and a mystery to solve, a past love story to unfold, but more importantly a story about finding yourself and live authentically. Ready Player One meets Daisy Jones & The Six in this hunt for a country musician’s legacy. This queer coming-of-age story is told in split-POVs and timelines of nowadays Darren Purchase and the 1960s rising country star Decklee Cassel, slowly revealing their queerness, their ambitions and struggle to live an authentic life, during the hunt for Decklee’s heritage via the unfolding of scavenger hunt clues.
It started a bit slow, and I had trouble rooting for both of the main characters (both nowadays Darren and the past time Decklee). I completely sympathized with their wish to leave their home town and make something of themselves, but not with the way they walked all over people and didn’t care who they hurt on the way. But the more we got to see the reason behind their decisions and understand what they had to give up to stay true to themselves, they both completely stole my heart. And Kendall and Mickenlee were just total sweethearts who I rooted for immediately! And the closer Darren and Kendall came to finding the final clues, the more intense and addictive the story got! What started a bit slow and not fully engaging was almost nail biting at the end! And the twist… so worth waiting for is all I’ll say! I’m so satisfied with the authenticity and the way Jenna Voris kept the characters real with all their flaws. The two main characters were allowed to the strong, complex and ruthless. And the love story was kept real as well, no fairy tale, cheesy, one but very realistic while still completely satisfying. All in all, this was a heartfelt road trip story about finding your true self, finding love and not letting a small town crush your big dreams, but also not letting your dreams stand in the way for love and happiness. Disclaimer: I received a review copy for free via NetGalley, but I am leaving my honest review. Many thanks to Penguin Teen and the author for the opportunity! Rating: 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Jenna Voris This was such a sweet, fast-paced and charming fake dating romance with magic, adorable characters and a mystery to solve! Luca is an ambitious witch lawyer who wants to prove himself to his scrutinizing father who’s never content no matter how successful Luca is. Now, his father is set on getting Luca to marry his way up the social ladder. To get his father off his back, Luca agrees to meet a friend of a friend, Theo, to potentially get him to act as a fake boyfriend.
Theo on the other hand is trying to stop his siblings from meddling in his love life after a bad breakup three years ago. He might therefore have told a lie about seeing someone. Said someone that he now would need to bring with him to his mother’s birthday party. When Luca offers to pretend to be his boyfriend he’s more than grateful and jumps the opportunity. I loved the way Luca and Theo got to know each other and how they slowly started to trust and open up to each other. I also loved the character development and how they both finally found ways to stand up for themselves. And Theo’s mother was the sweetest! The rest of the family members were not always great, but they mostly got their acts together in the end. I really appreciated the support from their friends and Luca’s sister throughout the family drama going on. The mystery plot was perhaps a little unnecessary though. The curse felt a bit far fetched and didn’t add that much to the story and the way it resolved was a bit hasty. It wasn’t negative for the story as such, but it didn’t really intrigue me. To be honest, the magic world wasn’t a big part of the story either, but it did add an extra layer of fairytale vibes that I truly enjoyed and which made the story more special. Everything is better with magic isn’t it?! All in all, this was a charming, feel-good and witty story showing the importance of trust and allowing yourself to be vulnerable to find the magic of love! This is my first book in the Love & Magic series but I definitely need to read all the other ones right away too! Thank you Pride Book Tours for the free copy which I have voluntarily reviewed. Rating: 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Colette Rivera 1/26/2024 0 Comments The Wild Within by Gwen MartinI love Gwen Martin’s authentic love stories! They are always heartbreaking and beautiful, full of pain and hope, grief and joy, loss and love, and amazing characters, often struggling with their mental health. This new The Collective series is no different! The Wild Within follows Chance, who is trying to get his life back on track after a suicide attempt and getting a bipolar diagnosis, and Duncan, who is Chance’s brother’s friend and who volunteers to drive Chance to his appointments and the community center The Collective where he volunteers. Helping others is what Duncan does, and it doesn’t hurt that Chance is charming, funny and attractive. But helping others comes at a cost, and while Chance is slowly his bearing, Duncan is pushing himself to the brink of exhaustion.
This was such a beautifully written, emotional and raw story dealing with depression, addiction and mental health. But also a warm and hopeful story full of friendship and support. And love. A very slooooow but wonderful slow burn. And some amazing character growth, especially from Chance! I can’t wait to continue this series with Tristan’s story next! Thank you to the author Gwen Martin for the free review copy, which I have voluntarily reviewed. Rating: 4 stars Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Gwen Martin 1/21/2024 0 Comments The Wonder Within by Gwen MartinThis novella explains how The Collective in Gwen Martim’s new series came to be. I really appreciated getting the background to this beautiful and emotional new series, and getting to know the founders more. When their best friend Jon commits suicide, the former boyfriends Leon and Toryn are brought back to their home town to fulfil Jon’s dream of a creating a safe space for those in the community struggling with mental health issues and addiction (The Collective).
This was such an emotional read, full of love and sadness for the lost friend mixed with the tension and suppressed feelings from the past! It was so fulfilling to slowly get to understand more of the backstory and why Leon had left Toryn and fled his home town four years ago. I do however wish that the transition to admitting their feelings once again had felt a bit less rushed and that they had worked out the major issues causing the break-up more before getting back together. But that probably has most to do with the novella format, and I hope to see more of Leon and Toryn in the next book in the series, to maybe get those parts further addressed. All in all, it was a truly beautiful story about love and friendship, and the importance of clear communication, and I can’t wait to continue the series! Thank you to the author Gwen Martin for the free review copy, which I have voluntarily reviewed. Rating: 4 stars Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Gwen Martin |
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September 2023
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