A Justified Love Affair. Kimberly Brown. 2024. 295 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] The Santiago family returns in this sequel to The Expiration Date. In it, Emmanuel Santiago finds himself excited by a chance meeting with Racine Bradley at his brother’s coffee tavern. She’s unhappily and unfortunately still married after catching her husband cheating on her in their own bed. She turns to the coffee tavern as a retreat, but it leads to a great opportunity to connect. When she starts to give her estranged husband a taste of his own medicine, Emmanuel is the perfect person for the job. Emmanuel and Racine have an immediate – and intense – chemistry that comes through immediately.  He’s known as a playboy, but their entanglement brings out a side of him that is unfamiliar to those closest to him. It’s clear that Racine doesn’t fall into the same treatment as his situationships, one night stands, etc. This makes for tons of jokes at his and Racine’s expense, luckily from a place of love and affection, if not admiration for her potentially slowing him down a bit.  Nonetheless, at times it feels like so much of a whirlwind that it may be harder for…

The Expiration Date. Kimberly Brown. 2023. 230 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] Serial dater Audrey has a fool-proof system for breaking up with men. On her “expiration dates,” she takes them to her favorite coffee tavern where she can let them down easy and enjoy a spiked hot cocoa for her troubles. That “foolproof” plans works great … until it doesn’t. Sullivan “Sully” Santiago is more than familiar with Audrey’s reputation, having seen it in action for months. And while he’s content to let it continue, he’s not going to let Audrey’s inability to commit mess with his money.  He walked away from an executive level position at the coffee business that made his family billionaires, damaging his relationship with his father in the process. Failure isn’t an option, which Audrey learns the hard way when she gets kicked out after an “expiration date” goes wrong. A chance meeting brings them back into each others’ orbit and the two explore what feels like instant chemistry. All seems to go well until misinterpretation and miscommunication land Audrey with another yet expiration date. Unfortunately, the cut isn’t so clean and the two eventually find their way back to each other with a surprise…

The Chemistry of Love. Sariah Wilson. 2023. Montlake. 347 pages. [Source: personal copy.] The Chemistry of Love was a no-brainer for me to check-out. I love a good fake relationship trope, and this one seemed especially messy.  Anna is a mousy cosmetic chemist who feels stuck in a role that doesn’t allow her to explore her innovative ideas for beauty products.  Instead, she’s stuck pining over one of her bosses, hoping he’ll figure out that she’s in love with him. Lucky for her, he’s got an older brother who’s the CEO of the company. One who’s hatched a plan to fake a relationship with Anna in a play against his competitive nature … for the sake of business, naturally. Sadly, my initial impressions of Anna were negative. In fact, I spent a nice chunk of the book actively disliking her, and questioning exactly how delusional she was for her views toward Craig. She also lacked assertion in her relationships at work and home, which made her come across as unreasonably weak and insecure. But what stood out to me was her obsession with her company CEO. She frequently references being in love with him, but she’d only had one substantive…

Love Scammed. Rilzy Adams. 2021. 141 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] Blind dates are usually a recipe for disaster — you show up somewhere, hoping the other person doesn’t look like an ogre, isn’t a sociopath, and if you’re lucky, you’ll make a love connection. Imagine, then, planning for a tropical getaway with your best friend, only to show up to the airport and see the would-be blind date you’ve been dodging for months. This unexpected — and quite unwelcome — intro sets the tone for Love Scammed. Monae and Hudson are duped, but there really isn’t much else they can do but enjoy a free trip to Turks & Caicos on their friends’ dime to make up for the scamming. The trip, then, turns into an opportunity — albeit forced — for Monae to see if Hudson lives up to the hype she’s been fed for months. She’s definitely is reluctant to risk her heart again, but their time together gives her a glimpse of Hudson that has her rethinking her plan to swear off men for a bit. The characters themselves were likeable and relatable. Monae’s a workaholic who has had misfortunes in her love life. She’s cautious, almost…

The Garden of Eden. Millie Belizaire. 2019. 356 pages. [Source: Provided courtesy of author.] Who knew stumbling into the wrong car while looking for an Uber could lead to something like love for Eden, a rising pop-star, and Drew, a reluctant megachurch pastor. The Garden of Eden, set mostly in New Orleans with a few scenes in Miami, is an intriguing look at a passionate but sometimes reluctant courtship that has so many obstacles it’s hard to know whether it’s worth the fight. I had mixed feelings about the main characters. On one hand, it’s easy to sympathize with them. Eden’s career is something she values, but it impedes her ability to just be herself and breath. Drew is living in the shadow of his father’s ambition as a pastor. But I often questioned their decision-making that led to worse circumstances or put them into easily avoidable situations. But hey — that just means they’re complex characters and have room for growth. I rarely find myself having strong feelings about secondary characters — regardless of how critical they are in a story, they’re still peripheral to me, and as such don’t often warrant emotional investment. I was shocked at how…