9. Natural Selection - a short story by Erin Hildebrand

listened on Audible

54 pgs.

2024
Adult contemporary short story
Finished 2/8/2026
Goodreads rating: 3.61
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Galapagos Island

My comments: Even though it was supposed to be a mystery and you knew exactly what was going on, it was fun to adventure into the sea and surroundings of the Galapagos Islands.

Goodreads synopsis:  When her boyfriend bails at the last minute, a New York woman embarks on their couples’ cruise alone to find that maybe the person she was supposed to fall in love with was herself.

After a string of bad dates and no prospects, Sophia Othonos has finally hit the jackpot: an actual nice guy. When he suggests a romantic getaway, she’s sure they’re about to take the next step toward their future. A rustic cruise to the Galápagos Islands isn’t exactly her idea of a vacation, but Sophia is ready for anything…until her boyfriend has to cancel.

Now she’s all alone on a trip that was meant for two. Sophia finds herself at a crossroads about who she is, what she wants, and whether her relationship is really everything she thought. But if she’s going to suffer an identity crisis, at least she gets to do it amid the unexpected majesty of nature.

Eight days of wild, unobstructed beauty are enough to make anyone reevaluate their life. These islands are all about adapting to your surroundings—and change just might be what Sophia needs most of all.

5. Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb

listened on Libby

336 pgs.

2024
Adult romance
Finished 1/21/2026
Goodreads rating: 3.59
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Tucson

My comments: Great, fun premise, set in Tucson.  Birding interests me, I love Tucson, and fake dating is always I trope that can be quite enjoyable.  However, the protagonist was too over-the-top for me - very believable as such, but she sorta drove me nuts.  So-so romance. And not enough Tucson.  

Goodreads synopsis:  A divorcee embarks on her “year of yes” and crosses paths with a shy but sensitive birdwatcher who changes her life in this charming rom-com that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Ali Hazelwood.

Newly divorced, almost-empty-nester Celeste is finally seeking adventure and putting herself first, cliches be damned. So when a friend asks Celeste to “partner” with his buddy John for an event, Celeste throws herself into the role of his temporary girlfriend. But quiet cinnamon roll John isn’t looking for love, just birds—he needs a partner for Tucson’s biggest bird-watching contest if he’s ever going to launch his own guiding business. By the time they untangle their crossed signals, they’ve become teammates…and thanks to his meddling friends, a fake couple.

Celeste can’t tell a sparrow from a swallow, but John is a great teacher, and the hours they spend hiking in the Arizona wilderness feed Celeste’s hunger for new adventures while giving John a chance to practice his dream job. As the two spend more time together, they end up watching more than just the birds, and their chemistry becomes undeniable. Since they’re both committed to the single life, Celeste suggests a status upgrade: birders with benefits, just until the contest is done. But as the bird count goes up and their time together ticks down, John and Celeste will have to decide if their benefits can last a lifetime, or if this love affair is for the birds.

41. The Wedding People by Alison Espach

listened on Libby

367 pgs.

2024
Adult Romance
Finished 9/6/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.08
My rating:   4
Setting:  Contemporary Newport, RI

Goodreads synopsis:  It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

40. P. S. I Hate You by Lauren Connolly

listened on Libby

432 pgs.

2024
Adult Romance
Finished 8/25/25
Goodreads rating: 4.02
My rating: 3 

My comments: I didn't take notes on this, but remember rolling my eyes a lot.

Goodreads synopsis:  Maddie Sanderson would be proud to honor her older brother’s dying wish, that she scatters his ashes over eight destinations that the adventurous 29-year-old never got to visit before he died from cancer. But in his will, Josh assigned her an impossible partner to help complete the mission—Dominic Perry. Seriously, if Maddie weren’t already at his funeral, she would have killed him for this.

Sure, Dom was Josh’s life-long best friend. He’s also the infuriating man who broke Maddie’s heart back when she was naïve enough to give it to him. But since Dom insists on following the rules and Josh didn’t leave much room for Maddie to argue the matter, they embark together on a farewell trip that spans thousands of miles, exploring new places and revisiting their complicated history along the way.

After a snowstorm leads to a shared bed, Maddie starts to wonder if her brother might be matchmaking from the grave. But when grief also reopens old wounds between them, Maddie will need more than Josh’s ghostly guidance to trust Dom again.

25. Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jiminez

listened on Libby

368 pgs. (9:59)

2025
Adult Romantic Fiction
Finished 6/8/2025
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 3.75
Setting: Half in LA, half in Minnesota, contemporary

My comments: Not really a Rom"COM" (there's some funny parts, but much of this book is pretty darned serious).  Samantha & Xavier fall hard for each other, but she lives in LA caring for her mother with dementia and he owns and runs a veterinary clinic in Minnesota.

Goodreads synopsis:  There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong…

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.

78. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

listened on Libby

368pgs.

2022
Adult Contemporary Ghost Story/Fantasy
Finished 11/16/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.92
My rating: 3

My comments: Well, I didn't take down notes on this and it's a good six weeks later.  I do remember the story, and I remember shaking my head about some of it....her relationship with siblings, why she never returned home, and why she'd do all the writing she did as a ghostwriter for a hugely successful series and not be compensated better....

Goodreads synopsis:  Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.

Romance is most certainly dead... but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

73. Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

listened on Libby

384 pgs.

2024
Adult spicy romance
Finished 9/28/2024
Goodreads rating:  3.67
My rating: 2
Setting: Contemporary Austin, TX

My comments: Bleh.  Disappointing.  Tried and tried to like the female protagonist, Rue, but we were only given snippets of her inner self, and many didn't come until later on in the book.  Ice skating was a life changing event for both protagonists, and it should have been a bigger part of the book.  Rue was fighting with her brother about a cottage left in a will, but why?  Only because it was needed to move/change the plot a few times.  Not well done.  A disappointment from this author.

Goodreads synopsis:  Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.

Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through - and he's a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can't stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him.

Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business - one that plays for keeps.

69. Funny Story by Emily Henry

listened on Libby

395 pgs.

2024
Adult romance
Finished 8/4/2024
Goodreads rating:  4.23
My rating: 4.25
Setting:  Contemporary

My comments: A definite meet cute story that was quite enjoyable and ... well, cute...

     When Daphne is jilted the night of her fiancé's bachelor party, she is pretty devastated, as you'd expect.  That he jilted her to be with his best friend, a girls he's known since childhood, particularly upset her.  And having no place to go, she ended up moving in with the also-jilted boyfriend of the so-called best friend.  And it goes on from there.  Daphne is a children's librarian and loves her job, but has a lot of hangups.  Miles, her new roommate, also has a lot of hangups.  And they seem to fit together just like two pieces of a perfect puzzle.  He's too good to be true, actually.  With a cast of bizarre characters that are a lot of fun and a narrator who is one of my favorites, I totally enjoyed listening to this book.

Goodreads synopsis:  

Goodreads Choice Award

Winner for Readers' Favorite Romance (2024), Winner for Readers' Favorite Audiobook (2024)

A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?

50. Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

listened on Libby - borrowed from the library
416 pgs.

2023
Adult romance
Finished 6/1/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.33
My rating: 3.75
Setting: contemporary Minnesota or Wisconsin or somewhere like that

My comments: Very likeable main characters, both doctors who don't seem to have to work very much, Jacob who has extreme anxiety, Briana who is newly divorced and very distrustful of men, which carries over to the big misunderstanding/miscommunication climax that happens in every one of these romance novels.  It was this part that lowered by rating.  Lots of complex issues in this story, and most of it was quite delightful to read.  There was one short, steamy moment, but other than that this was pretty clean.

Goodreads synopsis:  Dr. Briana Ortiz's life is going downhill. Her divorce is about to be made official, her brother is running out of time to get a liver donor and that promotion she wanted so much is almost certainly going to that new doctor she can no longer stand. However, just when all systems are programmed for hate, Jacob Maddox flips the scoreboard by sending Briana a card. One that proves that Jacob, in fact, is not the Antichrist.

Bri and Jacob continue to write to each other... And so, he decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable, and she can't help but wonder how she's going to resist this quiet and attractive newcomer... especially when he asks you for a favor you can't refuse.

47. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

listened on Libby
272 pgs. (6:54) Julia Whelan

2024
Adult Romance Magical Realism
Finished 5/23/24
Goodreads rating: 3.71
My rating: 3.75
Setting: Contemporary LA

My comments: About halfway through this book you get a BIG surprise which changes the way you look at everything that has happened so far.  Not very long and quite easy to listen to (thanks Julia Whelan), this story actually gives you a little bit to think about more than many of the romantic fictions I've read recently.  The magical realism part is very slight, and a touch eye-rolling.  I had my ups and downs throughout the reading, but looking back upon it I don't have many complaints.  After the huge surprise in the middle of the book, there aren't many other surprises.....

Goodreads synopsis:  Being single is like playing the lottery. There’s always the chance that with one piece of paper you could win it all.

From the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and One Italian Summer comes the romance that will define a generation.

Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.

But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.

Told with her signature warmth and insight into matters of the heart, Rebecca Serle has finally set her sights on romantic love. The result is a gripping, emotional, passionate, and (yes) heartbreaking novel about what it means to be single, what it means to find love, and ultimately how we define each of them for ourselves. Expiration Dates is the one fans have been waiting for.

41. Bride by Ali Hazelwood

listened on Libby - borrowed from library
410 pgs.

2024
 Adult paranormal steamy romance
Finished 5/7/24
Goodreads rating: 4.09
My rating: 3.75

My comments:  3.75  Good vampire/werewolf/human story.  Last third of book has a LOT of steam....a little too much, actually....which took it from a 4/4.5 down to 3.75.  Loved the first 2/3 of the book.  Haven't read a decent vampire book in awhile...

Goodreads synopsis:  A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again...

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

35. Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu

listened on Libby
370 pgs.

2023
YA Romance
Finished 4/13/24
Goodreads rating: 3.70
My rating: 1

My comments: The story should have been told in about the half the pages that it took.  It really, really dragged.  I almost DNF at about 30% but kept pushing and pushing to finish it.  Winter Young is the male version of Taylor Swift and Sydney Cossette is a brilliant spy.  They are both 19 and have the savvy of at least 30-somethings.  Totally unbelievable.  At some point you just have to suspend belief about everything that's happening.  Descriptions are over-the-top and much too lengthy.  Boring.  I can't believe I stuck it out and finished it.  Blech. 

Goodreads synopsis:  Meet Winter Young―Global pop sensation, with a voice like velvet and looks that could kill. His star power has smashed records, selling out stadiums from LA to London. His rabid fans would move heaven and earth for even a glimpse of him―just imagine what they’d do to become his latest fling.

Meet Sydney Cossette―Part of an elite covert ops group, Sydney joined their ranks as their youngest spy with plans to become the best agent they’ve ever had. An ice queen with moves as dangerous as her comebacks, Sydney picks up languages just as quickly as she breaks hearts. She's fiery, no-nonsense, and has zero time for romance―especially with a shameless flirt more used to serving sass than taking orders.

When a major crime boss gifts his daughter a private concert with Winter for her birthday, Sydney and Winter's lives suddenly collide. Tasked with infiltrating the crime organization’s inner circle, Sydney is assigned as Winter's bodyguard with Winter tapped to join her on the mission of a lifetime as a new spy recruit. Sydney may be the only person alive impervious to Winter's charms, but as their mission brings them closer, she’s forced to admit that there's more to Winter Young than just a handsome face . . .

26. The Island Cottage by Jane Lovering

listened on Audible
250 pgs. (8:33)

2024

Adult British romance, very clean
Finished 3/24/24
Goodreads rating: 4.46
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Orkney Islands

My comments: One of the slowest moving novels I've read in a while, there were absolutely no surprises or twists, you knew exactly what was going to happen.  Very close to boring, but the charm of the Orkney Islands and Magnus, the handsome male in the light romance allowed me to push my way through.

Goodreads synopsis:  When Brid Harcus is sent to the Orkney Islands, in the far reaches of Scotland, she has high hopes for her trip being short, straightforward and lucrative.

Her mother has inherited a cottage from her Great Aunt Jennet which has been unlived in and unloved for decades, and the time has come to make it habitable and saleable. Easy, right?

But Midness Cottage has other ideas. For one thing it’s rather more ‘fixer upper’ than Country Living, with a resident goose and her goslings who have made themselves at home. And Brid definitely hadn’t planned for the strongly-held local belief that the cottage is meant to be the home of the Orkney Witch, and whomever lives in it must fulfil this role. Not the best message for the estate agent brochure and of course Brid doesn’t believe in magic, let alone have healing powers.

But Orkney does have healing powers. Its beauty and peace are enchanting, its people welcoming, and Brid’s handsome new friend Magnus is rather charming too. When her life back in York starts calling her home, will Brid sell up and ship out? Or did the last Orkney Witch cast a spell and leave a legacy of love if only Brid believed in magic…

23. Penelope in Retrograde by Brooke Abrams

listened on Audible

247 pgs. (7:46)
2023
Adult romance, no smut

Finished 3/23/24
Goodreads rating: 4.11
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Coronado Island, San Diego, CA (with a few flashbacks to the past)

My comments: I almost put this down after listening to the first few chapters. The protagonist seemed frenzied, over-the-top. But she/it did settle down and the storytelling became tongue-in-cheek funny, if not exaggerated and in some places, a bit ridiculous, but really fun. Penny is a romance writer, but the story is devoid of anything steamy, very clean. Great characterizations and interesting characters, including an elderly grandmother who was a hoot. The protagonist grew a lot during the story. Disliked her during the first 2/3 of the book, then she started smartening up. Enjoyable read.

Goodreads synopsis:  In this witty and heartfelt debut from author Brooke Abrams, a romance writer with a passion for astrology reluctantly travels home for Thanksgiving to make amends with her estranged family…and possibly manifest her own happily ever after. Romance writer Penelope Banks can write the perfect love story, but when it comes to family, all she’s got is a rough draft. Penny shelved the idea of fitting in with her high-achieving family years ago, but when her new business venture—a romance bookstore—is at risk of closing before its doors have opened, she’s forced to ask for help from the one place she never expected. Home. Penny’s prepared for the usual Thanksgiving her perfect sister, meddling nana, matchmaking mother, and workaholic father. The guest she didn’t anticipate? Her ex-husband, Smith. After an awkward rideshare with Smith leaves Penny questioning why the romance in her life exists only in her novels, Penny adds some fiction to reality and turns her father’s colleague into the perfect fake boyfriend. With only four days to mend damaged relationships, and her bookstore’s future at stake, all the stars must align for Penny to finally write a happily ever after for herself and her family.

17. Georgie, All Along - Kate Clayborn

listened on Libby, borrowed from Library
340 pgs.
2023
Adult Romance

Finished 3/1/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.81
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Virginia, alongside a river

My comments: This one checks off all the boxes for a decent romantic comedy with a little steam.  I loved getting to know the characters and their back stories, it wasn't all drama and misunderstandings through those were definitely included.  Great narrators, the male put on the southern accent that was quite charming.  The philosophical-trying-to-figure-things-out parts didn't drive me nuts, as they usually do.  I very much enjoyed this story and greatly looked forward to returning to it.

Goodreads synopsis:  A wise and witty new novel that echoes with timely questions about love, career, reconciling with the past, and finding your path while knowing your true worth.

Longtime personal assistant Georgie Mulcahy has made a career out of putting others before herself. When an unexpected upheaval sends her away from her hectic job in L.A. and back to her hometown, Georgie must confront an uncomfortable truth: her own wants and needs have always been a disconcertingly blank page.

But then Georgie comes across a forgotten artifact—a “friendfic” diary she wrote as a teenager, filled with possibilities she once imagined. To an overwhelmed Georgie, the diary’s simple, small-scale ideas are a lifeline—a guidebook for getting started on a new path.

Georgie’s plans hit a snag when she comes face to face with an unexpected roommate—Levi Fanning, onetime town troublemaker and current town hermit. But this quiet, grouchy man is more than just his reputation, and he offers to help Georgie with her quest. As the two make their way through her wishlist, Georgie begins to realize that what she truly wants might not be in the pages of her diary after all, but right by her side—if only they can both find a way to let go of the pasts that hold them back.

Honest and deeply emotional, Georgie, All Along is a smart, tender must-read for everyone who’s ever wondered about the life that got away . . .

3. My Darling Bride by Ilsa Madden-Mills

listened on Audible

2023
327 pgs.
Adult Romance with steam...
Finished 1/16/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.10
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary NYC (with the beginning in the desert just outside Tucson!)

My comments: A steamy romcom set in a bookstore.  Take one six-and-a-half-foot exceedingly handsome football star and one thoughtful, conscientious (gorgeous, of course) bookstore employee who has raised her two younger siblings since they were very young, throw in a marriage-of-convenience/fake marriage trope and a few steamy sections ... and voila!  This is an excellently plotted story with great characters and, of course, an HEA.  Very enjoyable listening to on a frigid snow day.

Goodreads synopsis:  In a sizzling romance that sparkles with wit and depth, two wounded souls meet by chance in the desert and agree to get married, and their lives will never be the same.

On a normal day, Emmaline Darling isn’t a car thief. She’s just a simple girl who runs a bookstore and adores cats. But when she’s stranded in the desert and needs to get away from her dangerous ex-boyfriend, she picks her only option: swiping the keys to a famous football player’s Lamborghini and speeding away.

Football star Graham Harlan is in chaos. First he took a hit on the field that left him with a near-death experience, and now he’s promised his brother he’ll get married to secure the family inheritance. Trouble is he isn’t even seeing anyone.

Then a mystery woman steals his car. With his usual stubbornness, he tracks her all the way to Manhattan and gives her an ultimatum: marry me or I’ll press charges.

Her choice is obvious, only neither of them expect the sparks that ignite between them.

As the end of their arrangement looms, will Graham take a chance on love or let his darling walk away forever?

2. In a Jam by Kate Canterbary

listened on Audible (also on Kindle, but only read a small portion)

2022
480 pgs.
Steamy Rom Com
Finished 1/7/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.99
My rating: 4 

My comments: Set in contemporary Rhode Island in a small town on the coast, with a charming (though not entirely unexpected) plot with great characters - especially the 6-year-old niece that pretends she's a pirate and swears like one, too.  It didn't get steamy until at least a third of the way through, maybe even further, but is certainly did get steamy!  Told back and forth by the two protagonists, the voice of the male was particularly enjoyable.....

Goodreads synopsis:  When Shay Zucconi’s step-grandmother died, she left Shay a tulip farm—under two conditions.

     First, Shay has to move home to the small town of Friendship, Rhode Island. Second—and most problematic since her fiancé just called off the wedding—Shay must be married within one year.

     Marriage is the last thing in the world Shay wants but she’ll do anything to save the only real home she’s ever known.

     Noah Barden loved Shay Zucconi back in high school. Not that he ever told her. He was too shy, too awkward, too painfully uncool to ask out the beautiful, popular girl.

     A lifetime later, Noah is a single dad to his niece and has his hands full running the family business. That old crush is the farthest thing from his mind.

     Until Shay returns to their hometown.

CW/TW: absentee parent(s), brief mention of parent death, brief mention of parent chronic illness, mention of incarceration, mention of temporary foster care placement, reference to teenage teasing/bullying (not detailed, not explicit), brief incidence of fat-shaming, living with a neurodivergent child

23. Thank You For Listening - Julia Whelan

listened on Libby

2022
432 pgs. (12:13)
Adult Romance
Finished 3/26/23
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary LA, Las Vegas, Venice (Italy)

My comments: This was read by the author, and is about an audiobook reader - and the industry.  Julia Whelan is an INCREDIBLE narrator.  She can flawlessly switch between characters, making male characters sound like REAL male characters, and all the characters in a book have their own particular, recognizable voice.  Quite amazing!  The story was FUN.  You absolutely had no surprises, but the humor - much of it laugh-out-loud - and the clever, quick conversation is top notch.  However, it went on and on too much, it could have been cut down by a couple of hours at least.  I got a little bored listening at the end, every single mentioned side story was wrapped up so completely that unneeded details were included.  I really did love this, and want to read (listen to!!!) her previous novel.

Goodreads synopsis:  For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.

On her return home, Sewanee discovers one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book—with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. Sewanee doesn’t buy what romance novels are selling—not after her own dreams were tragically cut short—and she stopped narrating them years ago. But her admiration of the late author, and the opportunity to get her grandmother more help, makes her decision for her.

As Sewanee begins work on the book, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again, but secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.

If she can learn to risk everything for desires she has long buried, she will discover a world of intimacy and acceptance she never believed would be hers.

From the author of My Oxford Year, Julia Whelan’s uplifting novel tells the story of a former actress turned successful audiobook narrator—who has lost sight of her dreams after a tragic accident—and her journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance when she agrees to narrate one last romance novel.

11. Northern Lights by Nora Roberts

listened on Libby

2004
637 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Romance
Finished 1/31/2023
Goodreads rating: 4.02
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Lunacy, Alaska

My comments: Can't believe I read a Nora Roberts, swore I never would.  Read for a January Bookgirls Challenge.  Dragged on and on...much too long.  The setting, Lunacy, Alaska, was definitely cool.  Most was in the winter, then quickly moved through spring to summer.  Many characters, you either hated them or loved them.

Goodreads synopsis:  As a Baltimore cop, Nate Burke watched his partner die on the street—and the guilt still haunts him. With nowhere else to go, he accepted the job as Chief of Police in a tiny, remote Alaskan town with the hopes of starting over. Despite the name, Lunacy provides a balm for Nate's shattered soul—and an unexpected affair with pilot Meg Galloway warms his nights...

But other things in Lunacy are heating up. Nate suspects the killer in an unsolved murder still walks the snowy streets. His investigation will unearth the secrets and suspicions that lurk beneath the placid surface, as well as bring out the big-city survival instincts that made him a cop in the first place. And his discovery will threaten the new life—and the new love—that he has finally found for himself.

10. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

listened on Libby 

2022
309 pgs. (11:24)
Genre/Level
Finished 1/25/2023
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Houston, TX

My comments: SHE'S the bodyguard!  The perfect book to read when you need a break from the darker stuff.  The two protagonists were SO clever/incredibly good looking/funny that it should probably be labeled a farce!  HEA of course - gotta throw in a romcom every now and then.

Goodreads synopsis:  She’s got his back.

Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka "bodyguard"), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.

He’s got her heart.
Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.

They’ve got a secret.
When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.

What could possibly go wrong???
Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.