Not-so-stuffy librarians, rugged ex-convicts and a worst best man
Books to read while you decide not to go anywhere at all ever?
The rain continues in earnest down here in Atlanta, and I’m not gonna lie, it’s a little depressing. We had a brief break from it last weekend, just in time for the husband and me to go and stay in a lake cabin Airbnb for our anniversary (which was GREAT and the perfect atmosphere for catching up on some reading), but the second we started driving home on Monday morning it was like the skies just SENSED they had to open up again.
So it’s been a lot of staying-indoors-and-reading weather lately, which is fine considering all this coronavirus talk has me eager to embrace my introverted tendencies and go absolutely nowhere. (We watched Soderbergh’s movie Contagion during our cabin weekend, which, in spite of having All The Stars Ever, may not have been the best choice.) The good news is that I have a few more recs for you this week — some I read early last month, some I’m still working through but just KNOW you’re going to love too.
Hearts on Hold by Charish Reid
(contemporary romance)
Dr. Victoria Reese is fighting an uphill battle as a Black woman in a predominantly white academic environment. Her closeminded peers at Pembrooke University are definitely tough nuts to crack, especially when it comes to her latest plan to up the school’s enrollment numbers by forming a partnership with the local library. What the professor who carefully plans everything couldn’t have anticipated is the hot, tattooed librarian who also happens to be the head of the children’s department. Yes, it’s swoony and hilarious. Yes, there’s making out in the stacks. Yes, there’s a running joke about how Victoria checked a romance novel out from the library eons ago and has been running up the late fees on it ever since. Of course, when these two start pursuing a strictly casual fling outside of their working relationship, they eventually start to wonder why they’re not just giving it a shot for real — even if it doesn’t necessarily fit into the overall plan.
All Chained Up by Sophie Jordan
(contemporary romance; content warning for sexual assault)
The only books of Sophie Jordan’s I’d read before this one were her historicals, and the only prison romances I’d read before this one were basically sci-fi romances too. SPACE BAD BOYS; it’s definitely a niche. But I saw this series (which had initially been recommended on the podcast Fated Mates) available for borrow through my local library and decided to give it a shot — and then basically inhaled all of it in a matter of days. It’s tough to pick a favorite, but I am a little partial to All Chained Up, which follows the burgeoning romance between inmate Knox Callaghan and prison nurse Briar Davis. When Knox gets injured in a fight, his trip to the infirmary puts him in Briar’s path, and when he’s eventually paroled for good behavior (no spoilers), it turns out he wasn’t just imagining the sparks flying between them. Jordan handles the issue of Knox as a criminal in a really thoughtful way, addressing the reason for his arrest to begin with while also depicting him as a man who has earned his redemption through a lot of time reconciling with the consequences of his actions. This is definitely a romance with darker themes, no doubt about it, but it and the series as a whole were pretty impossible for me to put down.
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
(contemporary romance)
Okay, THIS is the one I’m technically still reading, but I loved it so much that I couldn’t wait to share it in a future newsletter. This book is such a genuine pleasure with a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, but I’m really looking forward to getting to the romance that I know is coming. When Carolina Santos is left at the altar, it’s up to her fiance’s little brother Max Hartley to break the news to her in person. Fast forward three years and Lina’s established a name for herself as a successful wedding planner (yes, the irony isn’t lost on her, either) in Washington, DC. When a hotel owner offers her the job opportunity of a lifetime, it comes with a caveat: she’ll have to work alongside a marketing expert to craft the perfect pitch. Of course, said expert is none other than Max, and of COURSE, they have to meet up in order to ensure their presentation is a wild success, and OF COURSE, there’s going to be lots of simmering tension along the way — but Lina isn’t eager to get her heart broken again, and Max is tired of always playing second fiddle to his big brother, especially in the romance department. I have no idea how it’ll turn out, but I’m loving the ride so far.
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