viviennereads
24 i like books and swearing like a sailor
688 points
viviennereads TBR'd a book
1h
Extracurricular
Rachel Lynn Solomon
When a former pop star enrolls in college, the last thing she expects is A-plus chemistry with her psychology professor in this sexy and tender romance from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Lynn Solomon. Ramona Wilder has spent her whole life in the spotlight. After a hit kids’ TV show, she transitioned into music, singing in arenas around the world and becoming an icon for millions of teenage girls. Now at age twenty-six, exhausted by the inhumane lack of privacy, she’s done—with all of it. She wants a chance at normal, whatever that might mean for her. And she’s starting with college. Professor Nick Navarro is recently divorced but determinedly optimistic, allowing himself a very reasonable ten minutes per day to wallow. When his department calls a meeting about a celebrity enrollment, he plans to treat whoever it is like any other student. Except when Ramona blazes into class and causes an uproar, the typically easygoing professor is rattled, maybe for the first time in his career. Ramona loves the way she flusters him, taking every opportunity to push Nick’s buttons, though what she really wants is to unbutton them completely. When a crisis brings them closer outside of class, they begin a tentative friendship amid an undeniable attraction. But Ramona can’t be so easily finished with her old life, and they’ll both have to confront their pasts if they want a chance at something real.
viviennereads TBR'd a book
1h
Dolly All the Time
Annabel Monaghan
From The New York Times bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a romance about a single mother who’s offered a Pretty Woman-type deal that’s too good to refuse. If they begin by pretending, can they end with something real? Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home. So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and swinging on the porch, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself, can she really start now?
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1h
Love and Other Words
Christina Lauren
The story of the heart can never be unwritten.Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love. Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).
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1h
Good Spirits
B.K. Borison
“Good Spirits is an absolute knockout. A new Borison book feels like coming home in the best way. She's truly in a league of her own.” — Hannah Grace, New York Times bestselling author of Icebreaker The USA Today bestselling author of Business Casual, B.K. Borison is back with a whimsical new holiday romance—this time with a magical twist—that will have everyone falling in love with the Ghost of Christmas Past. He’s the Ghost of Christmas Past. She’s not exactly Scrooge. Ghost of Christmas Past Nolan Callahan intends to spend this holiday haunting like every other—get in, get out, return to his otherwise aimless existence as a ghost awaiting the afterlife. But when he’s faced with Harriet York, the sweetest assignment he’s ever had, he suddenly finds himself wishing for a future. Harriet York has no idea why she’s being haunted. She’s a good person—or, at least, she tries to be. A people pleaser to her core, she always does what’s expected of her. But as she and Nolan begin to examine her past, they discover there are threads that bind them together— and realize there might be more to moving on than expected. With the deadline of Christmas Eve fast approaching, will they find the key to their futures in each other’s pasts? Or will they stay firmly in the present, indulging in their unexpected, spirited connection? Filled with magic, mayhem, and cozy holiday charm, this swoony romance is B.K. Borison’s best yet!
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1h
The Friendship Fling
Georgia Stone
In this delightfully charming and heartfelt debut love story, two lonely and wildly different strangers embark on a short-term friendship over one London summer—only to discover they may be something more by the time the season ends. No one would ever call Ava Monroe a people person, which isn’t ideal for a barista in a busy London coffee shop. She’s sarcastic, blunt, and cynical, and her relationships are strictly no strings attached. With her best friend Josie soon leaving for a year, Ava knows she’ll be all alone unless she shakes up her routine. But she can’t risk bringing chance back into her carefully controlled life. Then insufferably cheerful, country-hopping, undeniably gorgeous Finn O’Callaghan rolls into her coffee shop with a horrifying proposal —a strictly friends-only summer fling. Finn needs a local to help him complete his London bucket list, and Ava needs to reassure Josie she won’t be on her own. And it’s only for a few months. To Ava’s surprise, their mismatched friendship of convenience becomes oddly tolerable, and as they work their way through Finn’s list and around the sun-drenched city, from rooftops and floating bars to nights at the museum, their adventures—and Finn’s company—start to feel . . . nice. Incredibly, terrifyingly, dangerously nice. Still, rules are rules—Ava has good reasons for them—and as the days get shorter, Finn’s departure gets closer. Because that’s the thing about it always ends. Right?
viviennereads started reading...
12h
Mile High
Liz Tomforde
ZANDERS Chicago hockey isn't complete without me - everyone's favourite player to hate. I know my role, and I play it well. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy spending the majority of my game time in the penalty box before leaving the arena with a new girl on my arm each night. What I don't like is the new flight attendant on our team's private plane. She works for me, not the other way around. But I'll be sure to remind her of that, and I can guarantee, by the end of the season, she'll be begging to quit her job. But every road trip blurs the lines, and I can't quite figure out if I keep pushing that flight attendant call button in order to push her buttons, or if it's more than that. STEVIE I've been a flight attendant for years. I thought I'd seen it all, but when my new job lands me onboard working for the most egotistical and self-righteous diva in the NHL, I start to second guess everything. Including the promise I made to myself of never hooking up with an athlete again . . . no matter how annoyingly tempting he may be. Evan Zanders is unfiltered, unapologetic, and too attractive for his own good. He loves his image, but I hate everything about it. Everything but him.
I have to start by saying that I am not the biggest paranormal romance fan. Paranormal romance can be hit or miss for me because sometimes I find myself more interested in the romance than whatever supernatural mythology is happening in the background. Thankfully, Windburn had characters I genuinely wanted to follow, and Rhiannon and Pru were easily my favorite part of the book.
The world building is excellent. There is clearly so much thought put into the supernatural world, its history, its rules, and the various forces at play. I could tell that Milena McKay had a very specific vision for this universe, and I appreciated the depth of it. There’s a lot to sink your teeth into here, and for the most part, I was interested in learning more about the world and figuring out how everything connected.
My biggest issue was that eventually there was just too damn much to keep track of.
The plot became unnecessarily convoluted and, at times, genuinely difficult for me to follow. There are extensive lore, supernatural politics, complicated histories, mysterious forces, secrets upon secrets, and a whole lot of moving pieces. I’m willing to put in the work for that kind of story, but there has to be a balance.
I’m willing to follow it if the emotional throughline stays crystal clear. I need to understand what the characters want, what they’re feeling, what they’re afraid of, and why their relationship matters even when the plot gets complicated.
But when the plot starts requiring a corkboard and red string, meanwhile the romance is happening in the margins... it gets to be a bit much.
And unfortunately, that’s where I struggled with Rhiannon and Pru’s relationship.
There IS a good slow burn here , so naturally I was interested. I liked the tension between them and enjoyed watching their relationship develop. But the development itself felt… odd. It almost felt like we, as the audience, were left out of a lot of it.
There were clearly important emotional developments happening between these two, but I didn’t always feel like I was actually there for them. Instead, I’d sometimes get the sense that something significant had happened between Rhiannon and Pru off-page or in the gaps between scenes, and then suddenly their relationship would be further along than I expected.
And that’s frustrating because I really liked them!
I wanted to SEE more of that development. I wanted to experience the little moments that made them fall for each other. I wanted more of the emotional intimacy and gradual realization that makes a slow burn so satisfying. The ingredients were there. I just didn’t always feel like the book let me fully experience them.
Rhiannon and Pru were compelling enough that I kept wishing the romance had been given more room to breathe. I think the story would’ve benefited tremendously from pulling back some of the more complicated plot elements and using that space to deepen their relationship.
Because honestly? I would’ve happily read more of them doing absolutely nothing.
Conversations, quiet moments, awkwardness, longing. Give me those tiny interactions where one character realizes they’re in deeper than they thought. THAT is the stuff I wanted.
Instead, there were times when I was trying to remember which supernatural faction hated which other supernatural faction and what the significance of some mysterious historical event was, while simultaneously thinking, “Okay, but are Rhiannon and Pru going to talk about their feelings or…?”
I also think this is where my lack of enthusiasm for paranormal romance probably worked against the book a little. Someone who LOVES elaborate supernatural lore might be much more willing to follow all of these threads than I was. The world itself is fascinating, but I found myself more emotionally invested in the characters than in the mythology.
That doesn’t mean I thought the world building was bad. Quite the opposite. The world building was one of the strongest elements of the book. My problem was that there was so much of it competing for my attention that the actual emotional story sometimes got buried underneath everything else.
Still, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy myself. Rhiannon and Pru carried a LOT of this book for me, and I really did love spending time with them. Even when I was confused about the plot, I remained interested in where their relationship was going. That’s a pretty significant accomplishment considering paranormal romance isn’t even really my thing.
Ultimately, I think Windburn is a book with a fantastic foundation that just needed a little more balance. The world is rich, the characters are interesting, and the slow-burn romance had the potential to be exactly what I wanted. I just wish the story had trusted its emotional core more.
Give me the complicated lore, but don’t make me work so hard to find the love story underneath it.
I don’t regret reading this, and I’m glad I gave a paranormal romance a shot because Rhiannon and Pru were absolutely worth it. But I definitely found myself wishing the book would occasionally put down the supernatural corkboard, step away from the red string, and just let these two women FALL IN LOVE.
viviennereads finished a book
13h
Windburn (Crow's Coven Book 1)
Milena McKay
Never Forgive and Never Forget. Hunted as witches during the Salem Trials and haunted by their past sins, the Crowhart women carry a deep secret and an inescapable curse.Rhiannon Crowhart, the renegade second sister of the notorious family, returns to Dragons Island and its sleepy town of Crow’s Nest in a flurry of storms and scandal. Her homecoming is not hospitable, as the townspeople and her own sisters are keen to hold onto old grudges. Not that Rhiannon requires their welcome. She left twenty-two years ago and has never looked back–until now. After all, she hated everything about the island, the town, and the old Atelier she recently inherited. Everything except a pair of gray eyes that look at her from the bookstore next door. Eyes that belong to the Mayor’s daughter. Eyes that Rhiannon keeps seeing in her dreams.Prudence Fowler has never seen a more fascinating woman than the one who glides around town in four-inch heeled boots carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Rhiannon Crowhart is as beautiful as she is troubled. And, above all, Rhiannon Crowhart is dangerous.When their connection upends both their lives, Prudence needs to choose between family loyalty and loving the woman who is Wind herself.
viviennereads started reading...
1d
Windburn (Crow's Coven Book 1)
Milena McKay
Never Forgive and Never Forget. Hunted as witches during the Salem Trials and haunted by their past sins, the Crowhart women carry a deep secret and an inescapable curse.Rhiannon Crowhart, the renegade second sister of the notorious family, returns to Dragons Island and its sleepy town of Crow’s Nest in a flurry of storms and scandal. Her homecoming is not hospitable, as the townspeople and her own sisters are keen to hold onto old grudges. Not that Rhiannon requires their welcome. She left twenty-two years ago and has never looked back–until now. After all, she hated everything about the island, the town, and the old Atelier she recently inherited. Everything except a pair of gray eyes that look at her from the bookstore next door. Eyes that belong to the Mayor’s daughter. Eyes that Rhiannon keeps seeing in her dreams.Prudence Fowler has never seen a more fascinating woman than the one who glides around town in four-inch heeled boots carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Rhiannon Crowhart is as beautiful as she is troubled. And, above all, Rhiannon Crowhart is dangerous.When their connection upends both their lives, Prudence needs to choose between family loyalty and loving the woman who is Wind herself.
viviennereads finished a book
2d
Lovelight Farms
B.K. Borison
Two best friends fake date to reach their holiday happily ever after in this first romantic comedy in the Lovelight series. A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams. In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a kid, Stella enters a contest with Instagram-famous influencer Evelyn St. James. With the added publicity and the $100,000 cash prize, Stella might just be able to save the farm from its financial woes. There’s just one problem. To make the farm seem like a romantic destination for the holidays, she lied on her application and said she owns Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend. Only…there is no boyfriend. Enter best friend Luka Peters. He just stopped by for some hot chocolate and somehow got a farm and a serious girlfriend in the process. But fake dating his best friend might be the best Christmas present he’s ever received.
viviennereads started reading...
3d
Lovelight Farms
B.K. Borison
Two best friends fake date to reach their holiday happily ever after in this first romantic comedy in the Lovelight series. A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams. In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a kid, Stella enters a contest with Instagram-famous influencer Evelyn St. James. With the added publicity and the $100,000 cash prize, Stella might just be able to save the farm from its financial woes. There’s just one problem. To make the farm seem like a romantic destination for the holidays, she lied on her application and said she owns Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend. Only…there is no boyfriend. Enter best friend Luka Peters. He just stopped by for some hot chocolate and somehow got a farm and a serious girlfriend in the process. But fake dating his best friend might be the best Christmas present he’s ever received.
viviennereads finished a book
3d
Matchmaking for Psychopaths
Tasha Coryell
Alexandra grew up hungry. Hungry for food, hungry for safety, hungry for love. Which is why she's worked so hard to have it a beautiful home, a gorgeous doctor boyfriend, and an ambitious job matching individuals with... unconventional emotional responses. Sure, her clients may sit somewhere on the psychopathy scale. But they're not the dangerous, murderous kind. They're doctors, lawyers, teachers, and everyone deserves love.And that's exactly what Alex thinks she's found. Love. So she's floored when she arrives to her dinner with her boyfriend, expecting a ring in a little box, and instead finding her best friend sat at the table with him. They have news. They're together now. And apparently her birthday dinner is the best time to share the news.Suddenly, Alex's world implodes. She has lost the two people in the world closest to her, her only support. She's utterly alone, her future in pieces. So when she unexpectedly bumps into a client, Rebecca, and Rebecca seems to want to be friends, it feels like a lifeline. But then Alex's now ex turns up dead, then more people around her seem to be dropping like flies. And she can't help but wonder if this new friendship is a match made in hell.
