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.

49. Live and Let Grow by Penny Reid

listened on Audible/AudOriginal

narrated by Joe Arden and Fiona Fischer

Unabridged audio (1:33)
2021
75 pgs. - Novella
Adult CRF Novella
Finished 5/8/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.96 - 193 ratings
My rating: 2.5
Setting: Contemporary America

My comments: If this protagonist doesn't have Aspberger's I'll eat my hat.  Gorgeous girl doesn't dare tell her gorgeous hunk of a best friend that she loves him, while for years he's felt the same way and didn't tell her for fear of how she'd react.   So one evening, after FIFTEEN years, they fall into each other's arms immediately getting it on with him asking her to marry him, then and there.  Oh, ad of course there's the selfish sister that keeps talking easily-impressionable Alice to questions herself.  Okey-dokey.  Cut and stupd and either too much for not enough, I'm not sure.

Goodreads synopsis: 

          ‘Live And Let Grow’ is a 14k word (short) contemporary romance of long-suffering unrequited love and can be read as a standalone.

 Alice is in love with her best friend. Now all she needs to do is tell him.

          Best buds Milo Manganiello and Alice Hooper have been the one constant in each other’s lives for over fifteen years. The charismatic and compassionate physics professor was there when Alice got married, and he was there ten years later when she got divorced. Likewise, the candid and kind computer science professor has always been there for Milo. She babysits his apartment and plethora of houseplants when he’s traveling and they share breakfast together every day he’s in town. Alice wasn’t always in love with Milo, but the feeling has grown, and when Milo returns from his latest globe-trotting adventure, Alice decides it’s time to spill the seeds.     

          Does Alice have the grit to confess? And will feelings take root? Or is hers a love destined never to bloom?

99. Scoring the Keeper's Sister by Delancey Stewart

listened to Audio on Chirp
narrated by Ellie Gossage and Logan McAllister
Unabridged audio (5:08)
2019
204 pgs.
Adult Low-Steam Romance
Finished 6/26/2020
Goodreads rating:  402 - 610 ratings
My rating: 2.5
Setting: contemporary San Diego

First line/s: "There are a few things you need to know about me."

My comments: The story was okay, steam factor there but low, most of the 5- hours was story.  Professional soccer team San Diego.  Nothing special or different and only good endings for both mother's sickness and love.  Did not really care for either of the readers.

Goodreads synopsis:  Soulmates don't always start as friends. Sometimes they start as enemies. And sometimes they need cheese to help seal the deal... 
          ERICA: 
          Signing up for a matchmaking service was not my idea.
          But when Andrew-the-Hand-Model dumped me, my brother suggested I try Mr. Match. And I figured it couldn’t hurt. As it was, I’d never get away from meathead moron soccer players (since my brother plays keeper for the South Bay Sharks and I manage PR for the team). But Mr. Match is a moron too because he matched me with a guy I see at work every day. A guy who has a different girl on his arm at every turn. And a soccer player.
          Fernando Fuerte, the “Fuerte Fire,” is one guy I can assure you is NOT my match. 
          FERNANDO: 
          Getting girls is not a problem.
          Getting girls who care about something besides my status as the South Bay Sharks star striker, my salary, and my social status?
          Yeah. That’s the problem. So when my buddy Max tells me he’s actually Mr. Match–the secret proprietor of San Diego’s hottest matchmaking app, I let him convince me to try it. 
          And Erica Johnson is not actually a bad match–only she doesn’t seem to agree. And then there’s the small matter of her being in the middle of trying to save the team (and me) when the owner’s ex brings to light some, ahem, unsavory accusations about me…      
          And then there’s her enormous and disapproving twin brother…
          And there’s something about cheese, too. 
          But if I have my way? Erica will definitely be my match.