Review Round Up - June 12

Coming Soon

Home Field Advantage by Liz Lincoln

3.25 stars - Better than average

Review Copy Provided by publisher via NetGalley

I truly enjoyed reading the first 2 Milwaukee Dragon books, so I was excited to revisit the team with Ms. Lincoln's third installment. Unfortunately, I didn't connect with Natalie and Quinn's story the way I had hoped.

These two were college sweethearts until.... fast forward 8 years later and they find themselves back in each other's orbit. This was a set up that should have been a slam dunk of a book, but it felt like there was just a little too much going on for me to really appreciate the story.

When I say too much going on, I mean things like there being almost no set up for the back story of these two characters. No prologue, etc, just a swift plunge into their reintroduction to each other. Things were explained later, but I spent the first part of the book wondering what I missed.

Then there was the secondary cast and the amount of time spent on them. As a series focused on a team, a larger secondary cast is expected, but there seemed to be an unusual amount of time spent talking about a particular set of secondary characters. My guess is the 4th book in the series will focus on them, but it was a bit distracting here.

Then there were Quinn and Natalie themselves. They each came to the table with baggage and it was at times hard to get a read on how they felt about being back around each other. There were times I found myself rooting for them to have a second chance and times when I wanted to tell them to just forget about it. I enjoyed seeing them rekindle a friendship and there were some nice moments, but I never really felt like they were a solid couple.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book, but maybe not the strongest entry in the Dragon's series. I am curious to see what happens next for the team.

Amazon

TBR READS

A Five-Minute Life by Emma Scott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars - One of the Best

Copy was gifted by a fellow reader

Ms. Scott is an author that has been on my TBR for a while and I don't know why I haven't read one of her books before now. I was gifted a copy of A Five Minute Life from a fellow reader and I am just blown away by this read.

Thea and Jim are both inherently likeable characters. I appreciated the fact that Ms. Scott created two people who were both wounded in different ways and brought them together to help each other heal. It was like Jim's emotional wounds gave him the empathy to see past Thea's diagnosis to the woman within.

The story surrounding Jim and Thea is heartbreaking, uplifting, sweet, romantic, and redeeming by turn. Well written, A Five Minute Life pulls the reader in and doesn't let go until the very last page. The secondary cast is small, but plays a significant part in Thea and Jim's love story. After reading A Five Minute Life, I know that while this may have been my first Emma Scott book, it won't be my last.

Amazon

Arrange Us by Katy Regnery

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve been curious about how Josh and Courtney’s story would resolve itself since reading Arrange Me (part 1 of the duet).

Arrange Us is a realistic look at some of the potential conflicts that can crop up in any marriage - not to mention one started in such an unconventional manner.

There were times when I didn’t like Courtney and times when I didn’t like Josh, but overall I appreciated them as individuals and a couple as they tried to figure out a path for them.

I have to confess that I still don’t love the duet concept, but Arrange Me and Arrange Us are a set of books where the duet is done well and worth the time to read both books.

Amazon

FREE READS

Ride Me Dirty by Vanessa Vale

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a quick, fun read that left me wishing for a more developed story line.

I liked Catherine, Sam, and Jack and found them all to be interesting characters. Catherine’s story arc of discovering what she really wanted was also interesting.

My issue with the story is that while the sexy times were plentiful, that seemed to be the limit to the story. There were so many questions that were left unanswered that I was disappointed when the book ended.

Amazon

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