Daddy’s Maybe. Denise Essex. 2023. 197 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] This book was messy as hell. That’s not a terrible thing; it just comes with the territory when the main characters have to live out the adage, “mama’s baby, daddy’s maybe.” Destiny Cooper has settled into a quiet life in her small hometown. She has a career that’s rewarding and three loveable kids, which she holds onto to balance out that she’s accepted the reality of her marriage to a habitually unfaithful man.  Things are shaken up when her high school flame returns home, moving in across the street with his wife and son.  Xavier Grant had no reason to return to Tinsville, but an unexpected – and impossible to pass – opportunity brings him and his family back to face his skeletons, both known and unknown.  With a wife who is going stir-crazy and a son looking for connections after being uprooted, the last thing he needs is a wrench that changes everything he thought he knew about his own past. What sets this book apart is how realistic this plot is. I personally know people whose lives closely mirror the situation Destiny and Xavier found themselves in, and…

Where’s the Fun in Forever. Ashley. 2023. 98 page. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] A vacation fling always makes for a fun, and hopefully enticing, story. In Where’s the Fun in Forever, Moira and Chance find themselves vacationing on a beautiful Hawaiian island and connect through a series of extremely unfortunate events. While they’re away from home hoping to escape the drudgery of their daily lives, they also can’t seem to stay out of each other’s paths. Both decide to take a chance (no pun intended) to open themselves up to new adventures and experiences, and the result is a passionate fling neither expects to extend to the mainland. Of course things are rarely that simple, so the core of this story is about what brought the two to Hawaii in the first place and later questions what’s next for the pair. Much of the focus is on Moira — her backstory, her relationships, and her changing needs. This isn’t to say that Chance was completely ignored, but he wasn’t given the same depth of backstory or character development she was. At times, it felt that Chance was more of a driver for Moira’s growth and it wasn’t always reciprocated in his…

Where Love Blooms. Kimberly Brown. 2022. b. love publications. 284 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] The debut book of the Jareau Family novels starts with the eldest son, Jamison. A father of four, he was widowed at the birth of his youngest son. After more than two years of struggling as a single parent, he finally gives in by hiring a live-in nanny. All he expects is to get some live-in help in managing a household with four kids; what he gets is a battle to fight his attraction to his new, beautiful, nanny Aliveyah. This is certainly a trope I’ve seen (and enjoyed before), but it’s not super cliche here. There’s the obvious question around integrity of sleeping with your boss, but to her credit, Aliveyah is a professional focused on what’s best for the children involved. She’s great for them, readily stepping into a mother-ish role for the three older girls, and a mother figure for the toddler who has never known a mother. In her role, she also has to balance Jamison’s late wife’s own family in addition to Jamison’s — these interactions provide depth to the story as it confronts the grief that Jamison and his kids…

Bookmarked. Bella Jay. 2022. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of author.] I’ve heard of honeymoons. Babymoons, even. A divorcemoon, though? This will either be a complete disaster or the greatest thing ever. Either way, Brooklin’s about to find out when she accepts her estranged husband Elgin’s invitation for a final baecation before they divorce. It’s a bit unconventional, but what does she really have to lose? Brooklin, aka Books, and Elgin, aka Juice, have been together more than a decade; long enough to see his unexpected pivot into Hollywood stardom and her own ascent as a host of a popular romance book podcast. It’s no small thing to part ways after so much time and so many changes. To his credit, Juice creates the perfect getaway for the two, with a book-inspired itenery that’s entirely suited to Books’ love of reading and will ensure she doesn’t forget how very good they were together. Throughout their story, Bella Jay brilliantly captures the complex emotional and mental journey it is for them to consider what’s ahead of them. This book was an emotional roller-coaster as it explored Books’ and Juice’s search for clarity about the decision to end their marriage. One moment they…

Brunch at Ruby’s. DL White. 2015. 408 pages. [Source: personal copy.] I love a good story about lifelong friends experiencing the ups and downs of life. Brunch at Ruby’s is no exception. The book centers three thirty-something year old women who’ve experienced myriad ups and downs of life, and share it over a meal at one of Atlanta’s beloved diners. Renee left the nest but came back to care for an ailing father. Debra is a married mother who finds herself embroiled in a scandal at her school. And Maxine is an upwardly mobile real estate mogul who just wants to find her match. Brunch at Ruby’s stands out to me because as much as this book is a romance, it’s about so much more. The complexities of life, love, and career all play out in different ways for the three women. Even their friendship is complex. There’s an honesty here about the unspoken challenges of adulthood and it plays out differently for each of the three women. I had such conflicted feelings about the main characters while reading this book. So often books are written to make the reader root for the main characters simply because they’re the focus….