Earl Grey Books

A very happy (slightly late depending on your timezone) Valentine’s Day to you all! I love using Valentine’s as an excuse to talk exclusively about romance (as if I need an excuse) so over the last month I’ve tried a bunch of new-to-me contemporary romance authors and here I am to share my reviews.

As usual, I went into this with lofty plans that I couldn’t meet so I’ve got four today plus a few honourable mentions at the end.

Out On A Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young

I added this one to my TBR months ago, but the second my bestie Angel told me she read and loved it, I immediately started it. I’d been looking for the right time to pick it up and her recommendation was all I needed. I don’t usually like pregnancy in books, but this is about so much more. I really enjoyed the disability representation (which is OwnVoices) because it felt really. My own disability is different from Win or Bo’s but a lot of the same feelings were there. I really liked the discussion around disability and pregnancy, especially around conditions that can be genetic and the complicated feelings that can come with all of that. It made me cry so many times, but in a good way. I loved every part of Win and Bo’s relationship—it’s sweet and they just care for each other so much. It was so nice to see a romance where they really, really love and care for each other but it doesn’t feel obsessive or creepy. It was honestly just really beautiful. This was only my fourth book for the year and I feel like it’s going to end up on my favourites at the end of the year.

With Love, From Cold World by Alicia Thompson

Back when Thompson’s debut, Love In A Time of Serial Killers, came out, I considered braving my anxiety and giving it a go but I just never did. When this one came out, I sort of filed it away as things I’d never get around to too. But then I desperately needed something else for this post and this one was available at my library. It was an incredibly quick read—I read it in two sittings and that was only because I needed to break for dinner. It was just a really fun, sweet romance and I didn’t want to put it down. It gave me a little bit of The Hating Game vibes with the workplace enemies to lovers, but with a little extra fun with the tourist destination setting and all of that. It definitely helped push me closer to being out of this slump I’ve been stuck in for so long. I’m also really excited for Thompson’s next book now.

Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort

I came across this one while searching KU for some other things but the second I read that it was a reimagined gender-bent Phantom of the Opera with an ex-Broadway performer and a glam rock musician, I was sold. I absolutely loved this—it was such an incredibly fun read with the right amount of drama and absurdity without it being too much. I’d happily read an entire series of the other members of the band finding their own partners and I’m a little sad that it’s only a standalone. It was also definitely a spicier read than I was anticipating—I read almost all of this on a Disney cruise so I was constantly trying to hide my Kindle screen every time families were walking by me. It was so fantastic though and definitely worth the read. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for Jen Comfort’s next book which is out in a few days.

The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams

I’m a little bit late to the party with this one—I only really heard about it midway through last year and I feel like most people have moved on for it already. This wasn’t a great read, but it only took a few hours and it was fun. It definitely has some melodramatic/cringe-worthy/second-hand embarrassment moments and the characters are pretty immature and there’s no real depth or emotion to the story, but it was a good light, switch-your-brain-off kind of read. There’s some representation of anxiety and panic attacks that felt relatively realistic, so no real complaints there. This isn’t something I’m ever going to come back to, but I’m glad it could take my mind off things for a while.

The Ones That Didn’t Make This Post

I went through a couple of TBRs trying to get this post together so I thought I’d share a couple of books that I tried but that ultimately didn’t make this post.

I’d originally planned to include Meghan Quinn in this list because I see her books every single time I go on KU. I tried two books of hers and immediately returned them after five pages. I also tried Lucy Score’s Things We Never Got Over and returned that after 20 pages. I made it a bit further through The Hookup Plan by Farrah Rochon but around the 15% mark, I decided I couldn’t be bothered.

Finally, I also started The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon and A Thousand Miles by Bridget Morrissey but put them both down early on. I own both of these physically and I will come back to them, I just didn’t want to push through and not enjoy them.

And that’s all of them. I’d definitely consider this a success—out of these four, Sarah Adams is the only one I’m not rushing out to get the next book from. Have you read any of these? Who are your favourite contemporary romance authors?