The Wedding Party – Jasmine Guillory (Review)

Despite hating each other, Maddie and Theo share a best friend. When she gets engaged and enlists them to the bridal party, Maddie and Theo are suddenly faced with having to see each other far more often.

This is further complicated by the knowledge that the last time they spent time together, it ended in an alcohol-fulled hook up that neither of them has stopped thinking about.

With the sexual tension rising, they agree to a secret enemies-with-benefits set-up that starts to build into something more…

By this point, it’s fairly clear that I’ve really enjoyed all of Guillory’s novels. The Wedding Party, however, is absolutely my favourite. I think it’s actually the first one I read before realising it was third in the series and swiftly reading all the others as well, but it’s also the one that’s stuck with me the most.

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The Proposal – Jasmine Guillory (Review)

When Nik Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her boyfriend, the last thing she expects is for him to suddenly propose to her on the Jumbotron. Not least because he can’t even spell her name right…

Also at the game, Carlos Ibarra and his sister Angela witness her swift refusal, and quickly rescue her from the prying eyes of 45,000 baseball fans and the camera crew that just showed up.

After the video goes viral and Nik’s ex starts harrassing her, Carlos becomes a valued friend, confidant, and extremely fun rebound. Although both Carlos and Nik aren’t looking for anything serious, can either of them ignore that their feelings are getting stronger?

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The Wedding Date – Jasmine Guillory (Review)

Alexa Monroe is on the way to meet her sister when she gets stuck in a hotel lift with a handsome stranger.

Drew Nichols is in town for the wedding of two of his best friends, one of whom just happens to be his ex. Dateless and dreading the party, Drew finds himself stuck in a lift with a beautiful woman who inexplicably agrees to be his fake girlfriend for the weekend.

Now, as I have stated in earlier reviews, I love a good fake relationship romance, and meeting in a lift is another classic rom-com trope. This joyful interpretation of these produces the resulting meet-cute with a great sense of humour, but doesn’t over do it, kicking off one of the best series of contemporary romances I’ve ever read.

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We Just Clicked – Anna Bell (Review)

Izzy Brown is an aspiring Instagram influencer who makes a deal with the devil, a.k.a. her coworker Luke, to fake a relationship to boost their profiles. Their plan works, but the longer it goes on, Izzy starts to wonder whether this fake life is worth it. When she reconnects with Aidan, a mysterious stranger who looked after her the day her brother died, Izzy’s dilemma comes to a head: does she want true love with Aidan or the picture-perfect life and perks of internet fame?

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Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (2020) – Review

Zoey Clarke (Jane Levy), a recently promoted programmer at a San Francisco tech company, is stuck in an MRI machine listening to the technician’s terrible playlist when an earthquake hits, causing something strange to happen to her brain.

From this moment on, Zoey can hear what everyone is thinking – or rather, she starts to witness people’s innermost emotions playing out in huge song and dance numbers that only she can see.

Enlisting her neighbour Mo (Alex Newell), Zoey starts to use these ‘heart songs’ to better understand and communicate with the people around her, while also dealing with the deterioration of her father’s health (portrayed heartbreakingly beautifully by tv’s best dad, Sandy Cohen himself: the incomparable Peter Gallagher), pressure at work, and one of the nicest tv love triangles I have seen in a long time.

Joyful, musical, intelligent, funny, truly heart-breaking, this show is exactly what I needed to cheer me up in my lockdown funk and everyone should be watching it!

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The Flatshare – Beth O’Leary (Review)

Tiffy and Leon are both looking for a solution to their financial and housing difficulties. They find a creative solution: Leon (who works nights) has the flat during the day and Tiffy gets it overnight and for weekends. They share the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom and the bed, without ever having met.

The Flatshare tells the story of how they get to know each other through post-it notes, and how, despite their agreement not to meet, they start to have a profound effect on each other’s lives.

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Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop – Rebecca Raisin (Review)

Successful chef Rosie gives up her job and life in London after her marriage falls apart, drunkenly buying a bright pink campervan with all her savings. Deciding to be spontaneous for the first time in her life, Rosie decides to join the campervan community and take her van, “Poppy”, around the UK, paying her way by turning it into a travelling tea shop.

Now, I’m really fond of the “girl packs in her big city life and sets up some form of a teashop/cafe/chocolaterie/bakery in the British countryside and finds love along the way” subgenre of romance, and I always read about fifteen on my summer holidays every year. However this one just didn’t hit the spot.

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