ARC Reviews

I'm catching up at ARC Reviews that didn't have a scheduled post - I hope you can find something that sounds good to you!

Kiss Me at Christmas by Valerie Bowman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars - Would Recommend to a Friend

Ms Bowman is a newish author for me and each book I read makes me want to go grab her backlist and start reading!
Kiss Me At Christmas is the 10th installment of the Playful Brides series, but only the second that I’ve read. The series seems to work in sequential order and there is some continuity of story lines, at least for the 2 books that I have read.
Regina and Daffin are both excellent characters and seem to reflect that changing social structure of the society they are living in. I appreciated that Regina is a strong female character in a setting where that would have worked against her.
This is a story that blends historical elements with romance and intrigue in excellent proportions. Characters from prior books make appearances here as supporting characters, but only Mark and Nicole are key players (as they are Regina’s family).
This series is quickly becoming a must click for me.

Amazon

Not Quite Over You by Susan Mallery

3.5 Stars 🌟 - Worth A Reader's Time

Review Copy Provided by Author

I really struggled with how to rate this book. I wanted to give it a full 4 stars, but there was one major issue that kept me from that.
Let’s start with the good - Silver and Drew. They are a unique second chance romance. Their past had the potential for lots of angst and hurt feelings, but they handle everything beautifully.
Silver (along with Leigh and Autumn) are all the best possible outcomes of an adoption story. Adding Drew in the mix had just the right level of uncomfortable to be real, but with out lots of unnecessary drama.
Drew’s relationship with his parents/aunt/grandpa - the perfect catalyst for angst and the odd humorous moments. One of these days, I would love to know the story behind Libby and Irene - there has to be something to make them the way they are!
The friends that make up the secondary cast add a lot of dimension as well. Not only are they key players from previous/upcoming books, they are a community that we have come to know. It’s nice to see them again and get to know them all a little better.
While the secondary cast is a strength to the book, it’s also the thing that kept this from being a full 4 star read. We were rocking along with Drew and Silver’s story when poof, we are in New York with Jasper. The transition was not organic to the story and it pulled me away from the book. The same thing happened in several other places, but not enough that we were seeing two love stories in parallel. While I am curious about Jasper and Wynn and am looking forward to their story/stories in the future, I felt like the introduction here was abrupt and not handled with the grace I usually associate with Ms Mallery.
This book is definitely connected to the previous Happily Inc stories, but probably stands alone more than the others. This is an enjoyable series and I am looking forward to what comes next.

Amazon

Stuck in Manistique by Dennis Cuesta

My rating: 3 of 5 stars - Average Read

Review Copy Provided by Publisher via Netgalley

I really don't know what to say about this book. I just finished and really don't know what I was supposed to take away from the ending.
The story and characters were interesting, but I really don't know what the point was. Mark and Emily have several adventures and the odd little connections around them and the community were intriguing, but it never seemed like anything went anywhere.
I felt like this was more a collection of odd little short stories with Mark and Emily being the connecting factor than a novel.

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