Rating: 4/5 Heat Level: 3.5/5 Pub Date: June 9th

My review:

There are lots of books out there being marketed as romcoms, but reading The Missed Connection might be the closest I've ever felt to watching an old 90s or early 2000s romcom on the big screen. For one, the set up is just as zany: Sasha meets a hot Italian mystery guy on a flight, and ends up accidentally emails her entire casting agency for help finding him— but that's not enough for Sasha. She decides to ask Wes, the ex-private detective who helped her with her stalker situation some years ago, to help find the mystery man too.

Which is a pretty awkward set-up! Sasha and Wes definitely had Something there, even though their paths collided years ago at a pretty rough point for both of them: Sasha was dealing with a stalker and still experiences symptoms of PTSD, and Wes was suffering from career burnout. Their reunion brings back a lot of those very mixed emotions, but Wes agrees to take her case.

In classic romcom fashion where there's two love interests, we get an healthy dose of jealousy from Wes— which veers into morally dubious territory more than once, but I thought Tia Williams did a really good job of writing a hero who is flawed but he's just So Down Bad for the heroine that you can't help but root for him. Because romance genuinely does feel like one of the last genres... last kinds of media, perhaps, where it's okay to be openly passionate and obsessed, I'll always root for characters like this, rather than conflate it with real life expectations and call this behavior cringe or toxic.

The sex:

Okay but the way Sasha kinda uses Wes for sex is actually HYSTERICAL, even though I know time #1 was supposed to be a tense emotional moment (some tragical flashback thigh-riding). Time #2 though... WOW. Who knew trying to get off to a guy's voice without... him realizing she's doing it could be so hot? I did laugh.

To be clear, there are more times than time #1 and 2, but honestly those live in my head rent-free.

Overall:

If you're looking for the perfect old-school romcom-feeling romance, complete with the classic nyc backdrop, this is your book! I'd highly recommend as a summer or beach read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advanced copy.

Rating: 4/5 Heat Level: 3.5/5 Pub Date: June 2nd

Premise:

Guinevere comes to London to beg ruthless gambling hell owner Gabriel to let her brother's debts go. He agrees... if she spends one night with him.

My review:

An indecent proposal! I'm TRASH for this kind of set up, but Julie Anne Long ended up delivering a romance that tugged at my heartstrings after the predictable outrage one feels on behalf of a heroine after she's propositioned. Which takes skill! Ultimately, the romance is soft and introspective, a JAL classic, and the simmering sexual tension keeps you on your toes until the very end.

Ginny's caught between a rock and a hard place: She can either settle her brother's debts with Gabriel, or she can settle his debts with a family friend. She chooses the latter route out of self-preservation, and what follows is a wild goose-chase across London, with Gabriel as her reluctant bodyguard. I LOVED reading her deep... I guess, CARNAL awareness of Gabriel right from the get-go— clueless virgin she is not! She's also a very-much-parentified Eldest Daughter, something Gabriel figures out early on, and accurately clocks what she might need romantically... and sexually, because of course he does.

Gabriel is, I would say, on the softer end of a bit o'rough, self-made heroes who rose from the underworld. He's older, and he's seen life and experienced the kind of tragedy as an adult (important distinction) that changes a person, and likely tempers them to some extent. As a result, he's... remarkably kind to Ginny after the initial proposition, though it still stands! He's her bodyguard and her confidante throughout their time in the Grand Palace on the Thames and even has a fit of scruples or three where it concerns her.

And this wouldn't be a Palace of Rogues book if I didn't mention the lovely PoR crew who don't have an inkling as to what's going on between Gabriel and Ginny because they have their hands full with a toddler guest who is causing a lot of them to ponder about life and raising children and whatnot.

The sex:

Sex-wise this is slow-burn. Gabriel and Ginny are very much in love when they sleep together, though they're both laboring under the delusion that their connection is temporary. It has to be! So they think. The running gag in this story is the suggestion that Gabriel is into some kinky shit— tbd on that BUT we do get an EMOTIONAL blindfolding sex scene.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the advanced copy.