Trust Issues. Danielle James. 2019. 266 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] I’m in a lot of reading communities online, and Danielle James’ Trust Issues came up so much that I had to check it out. I’m happy to say that it lived up to the hype, and threw me for a few loops in the process. Trust Issues follows the love-hate friendship of Kyla Bradshaw and Maxwell Parker. He’s a financial whiz, and she’s a powerhouse attorney. They’re neighbors who love to fight just as much as they love to enjoy a night of movies and 90s TV show marathons. I have to be honest that as it became apparent that this book is inspired by a ’90s black sitcom, I started to get turned off. I’m not generally into fanfics, and I was worried that’s what Trust Issues would turn into. I kept on, and I’m glad I did. Although the book is inspired by a show, it stands on its own merit. The characters, while inspired by the show’s characters, have enough nuance to show that the inspiration is simply that. James took the basics and put her own spin on them to develop them all as unique and…

A Natural Transition.Nicole Falls. 2019. 109 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] One of my favorite romance tropes is enemies-to-lovers, and A Natural Transition definitely Nyema and Langston are opposites, so it makes sense that they easily fall into a contentious relationship. To her, he’s the lame “suit & tie” accountant who’s been taken under her father’s wing and doesn’t respect her profession. To him, he’s the woman who’d already been his if his remarks about her occupation hadn’t landed him permanently on her bad side. For the past few years, they’ve been enemies, more on her end than his. That, however, doesn’t keep them from harboring secret crushes, especially since they often find themselves together for Sunday dinners at her parents’ house. The turning point comes for them in part because they can’t avoid each other, when they try. He’s at dinner almost every week, then ends up at the club where she DJs. When he steps in to check someone for disrespecting her … things change. Eventually, they are forced to reconcile the obvious sexual tension that’s been building. Their chemistry is potent, but is balanced out with a rapport that still sports a bit of the skepticism that is…

I Think I Might Love You. Christina C. Jones. 2019. 130 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] I haven’t enjoyed a book quite the way I enjoyed I think I Might Love You in a while. I mean put the Kindle down, guffaw, and wipe tears from my eyes laughing. This book is so fun and so real. I Think I Might Love You doesn’t start off like you’d think a romance would. Jaclyn, a bit tipsy, strolls into her sister’s apartment only wanting some good ice cream to ease the pain of finding out her boyfriend has a whole wife and family he’s been hiding. She finds the ice cream, but also finds a naked dude in the kitchen. She punches him and locks herself in the bedroom, only to wonder where the hell her sister is. She later finds out Kadan is actually a legitimate subletter … awkward. That’s just the first of many awkward and uncomfortable — if not completely hilarious — interactions between the two. Their “courtship” is anything but. I mean, she intended to use him as DoD* and saved him in her phone as “Dicky McStrangerballs.” (Shoutout to Mrs. Jones for that piece of literary excellence…

He’s Just a Friend. J. Nichole. 2019. Not the Last Page. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] I’m a sucker for a good buddies-turned-bae romance, and He’s Just a Friend is exactly that. Brooklyn and Josiah have been thick as thieves since they were kids. They’ve held each other down through the good and the bad, but have never taken it any further. They’ve batted away the usual comments about them really wanting to be together, but that changes when they both find themselves single at the same time. For her part, Brooklyn is still pining away for Marcus, who broke up with her out of the blue. She’s convinced that at any moment, he’ll call and be ready to jump back in with her for good. Josiah, however, is a barely willing participant in his new relationship with Alana, whose high-maintenance ways are a constant source of annoyance. Brooklyn and Josiah, however, have an obviously comfortable rapport that demonstrates their care for each other; it seems obvious to literally everyone except them. With this book, I felt that the author made it easy to love Josiah. He’s a genuinely good guy who wants to keep the people around him happy and cared…

Coveted. Christina C. Jones. 2019. 107 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] I am so pleased that Christina C. Jones is back with the second installment in the “Eternally Tethered” series, Coveted. With this book, she focuses on younger sister Ancelin and further explorers the ties between her and Nasir that were introduced in 2015’s Haunted. Ancelin is known as a bit of a wild child; her reputation for hedonism is well-known. She, like Khalida in Haunted, is loath to commit to one person for fear of getting hurt or making the wrong choice in partner. However, when a series of odd and forboding coincidences keep occurring in relation to Ancelin, she’s forced to accept Nasir as a bodyguard. As Aram’s right-hand man, Nasir is unquestionably loyal to Ancelin and will guard her life at all costs. The reasons run deeper for him, but Ancelin takes a while to get to a point of truly understanding his motivations. Along the way, though, the two have a deliciously tense chemistry that has Ancelin doing all she can to tempt Nasir. I enjoyed Coveted even more than Haunted, which I was a bit shocked to realize. I’m still not into paranormal, so these two…