Weekly Reads: September 9 to 15, 2024

The Finest Print by Erin Langston (2024)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Standalone novel. We get the next generation of Sinclairs here, with Belle, the daughter of Gavin and Emilia (from Some Winter’s Evening). Belle is a writer of a gory novels and has become somewhat of a spinster after breaking her engagement to a Scotland Yard inspector several years ago. She has a chance meeting with Ethan, newly from America, who has inherited his uncle’s indebted print shop. It’s a perfect fit because she has stories and he has the equipment to print it. They start a weekly printing of Belle’s writing, hoping to recoup the money to pay off Ethan’s uncle’s debts. I loved the fated meeting of these two, how perfectly they suit each other’s needs, and the respect that Ethan has for Belle’s work. The romance here was soft and sensible and soothing in all the best ways. It’s clear these two have an equal partnership and make a great team. Belle’s family is strong and supportive, just as we would expect them to be, and I also enjoyed the found family of the print shop crew. Loved it.

Advance ebook provided by Erin Langston.

Rachel Weiss’s Group Chat by Lauren Appelbaum (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Rachel’s mother was all sorts of annoying, until I realized this was a Pride and Prejudice retelling and her mother is supposed to be the quintessential Mrs. Bennett. Rachel is an almost-thirty year old single woman living her best life ever with her best friends, a job she hates, and no relationship prospects in sight. Her meddling mother tries very hard to set her up with the new billionaire neighbor, Christopher, but she hates him immediately because of his tech job, his money, and the glowing recommendation from her mother. He’s basically the Darcy character here being all stern and serious and aloof. We spend most of the book with Rachel either thriving or flailing at life with misadventures in dating and various embarrassing encounters with Christopher. It’s light on the actual romance between Rachel and Christopher, since they rarely get any page time together. It leans more towards women’s fiction to me, with Rachel needing to find her footing in the world on her own, before realizing that maybe her mom was right about Christopher being perfect for her.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Hachette Audio via NetGalley.

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His Regency Goddess by Steffy Smith (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Part of the Curves and Cravats series. Quick steamy novella. Widow Sophie is ready to rejoin society and look for an affair. She’s staying with her best friend and her husband for the season, and the husband’s best friend Sin is also back in town after an extended stay away. It’s lust at first sight for Sophie and Sin, even though her friend is trying to warn her away because of Sin’s rakish reputation. But he’s totally serious about her since he’s the heir to a marquess and needs to start settling down. This whole book is fun and quick and steamy and perfect for when you just need a couple of hours of fluff.

Advance ebook provided by Steffy Smith.

Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Super funny and charming book! Hallie is a web series producer without a series after her ex-boyfriend kicks her off his project and she is looking for the next big web star. She stumbles on Hayden, who hosts a podcast about conspiracy theories and ghost hunting. They team up to turn his podcast material into video material and the show is absolute delight to all their fans, especially with the quippy banter between Hallie and Hayden. As they get closer together, it’s clear that they’re trying to balance keeping things professional and pursuing their feelings. Hallie’s especially skittish since she just got out of a toxic relationship with a guy she still works with. The humor and banter here was so fun and Hayden’s emotional intelligence ranks up there with his conspiracy theory intelligence (which is a lot).

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

Rule of the Aurora King by Nisha J. Tuli (2023)

Fantasy romance. Book 2 of the Artefacts of Ouranos series. This book continues where we left off at the end of Book 1, where Lor is back in The Aurora, under the watch of Nadir, the Aurora Prince. They’re basically completely untrusting of each other, even though they have a mysterious magical connection to each other (possibly a fated mates situation?). They’ve basically teamed up to look for Lor’s crown so they can unlock Lor’s magic and take down Nadir’s father. We also get inserted chapters from Lor’s grandmother’s point of view centuries ago, which is really fun and adds to the backstory and hidden history of Lor’s legacy. Really interesting progression of the story and looking forward to reading what comes next.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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No One Does It Like You by Katie Shepard (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Second chance romance with lots of comedy. Tom and Rose have been divorced for about ten years, and he leaves her a voicemail before heroically rescuing a man from a flood during a hurricane. She does not receive that voicemail until about three months after that hurricane and decides she’ll take him up on the offer to make things up to her when she needs help fixing up her aunt’s inn on Martha’s Vineyard. He thinks she wants to get back together; she really just wanted help fixing the inn. It’s a slew of miscommunication and mixed signals, and then Tom’s famous co-star comes to help and brings with him a bunch of fans and groupies. Somehow this wacky group of people come together and are surprisingly very productive. But Tom and Rose still have terrible communication skills, with Rose not being clear with what she wants, and Tom being generally oblivious to her feelings. It’s kind of a mess and I’m not sure their core issues are resolved, but the friends and fans are fun to read and make for funny moments.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.