Switched. Cassie Mae. 2013. 262 pages. Flirt. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] Kayla only has eyes for Talon. Too bad he’s in love with her best friend Reagan. Poor Wesley, he wants to be with Reagan. Unrequited love hurts, but it’s also messy with these four. Instead of watching from afar, Kayla and Wesley team up to make their dreams come true … the question is will it actually work. Switched is a fun, messy, and cute love story all wrapped in one.

Yours to Keep. Serena Bell. 2013.  324 pages. Loveswept. [Source: ARC Provided courtesy of NetGalley.] Yours to Keep intrigued me because it had an undocumented woman as its protagonist. This is definitely off the beaten path of what I typically read, so I was excited to see how Ana’s story played out. It is your typical romance in that “boy and girl meet but things can’t work out but they have to because love happens.” However, it does venture into more than that by factoring in Ana’s precarious residency in the United States. At times I felt the plot was predictable, but it didn’t always play out in the timeline nor pacing I expected. That was refreshing because it wasn’t a simple “happily ever after.” It was a bit messy at times, and had peripheral stories that were just as engaging to me as the courtship of Ana and Ethan. To the author’s credit, she did highlight some of the nuances of life for undocumented families. The concerns about identification to do something that so many take for granted was humanizing.

Undone. Shannon Richard. 2014. 416 pages. Loveswept. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] I thoroughly enjoyed this read! Paige was so relatable that I found myself pulled in to her story immediately. My heart ached for how her life was collapsing in front of her, but was hopeful that she’d have a happier ending because she stayed true to herself and just kept plucking along. The characters in this book? I either loved them or hated them with all my heart. Paige’s ability to counter the nastiness made me chuckle, and seeing her built meaningful relationships with others had a grin on my face.

The Trouble with Love. Lauren Layne. 2015. 249 pages. LoveSwept. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] Emma Sinclair and Cassidy’s lives are just tolerably messy – she told him she didn’t want to marry him the night before their wedding, and he stood her up at the altar the day of.  Seven years later and four states north, she’s a dating columnist at Stiletto and he’s editor-in-chief of its “brother” magazine Oxford. They somehow find a balance of mutual indifference that leaves their friends and coworkers wondering “what the hell happened with them?” But when Emma’s editor-in-chief Camille decides to take a sabbatical, Cassidy steps in as her temporary replacement — and interim Emma’s boss.  And you can’t forget Emma’s flooded apartment; Camille’s “generosity” winds Emma up in a gorgeous apartment that happens to be next door to Cassidy.  Even this could have been manageable if Cassidy hadn’t assigned Emma to revisit her past relationships in a “12 Days of Exes” piece.  But once Emma started opening her cans of worms, it complicates how she tidily compartmentalized what happened between her and Cassidy.

The Pilot’s Baby. This book features Zoe, a flight attendant whose love life is in a drought. Her best friend pushes her to be more spontaneous, hoping she’ll find a new love … or at least a new lover. While Zoe is enjoying a beautiful Hawaiian resort, she encounters gorgeous Mason, who happens to be a pilot. They have strong chemistry, which leads to a one-night stand. That night/morning of passion leads to her pregnancy, and the story unfolds from there. While the premise of this story had a lot of potential, its execution fell very short.