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Loverboy by Sarina Bowen
Shipped by Angie Hockman
Flight by Laura Griffin
Sweet Dandelion by Micalea Smeltzer
Hard Pursuit by Pamela Clare
Ever After Always by Chloe Liese
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Category

Contemporary Romance

    Chick LitContemporary RomanceNew AdultReviewsRomantic Suspense

    Loverboy by Sarina Bowen

    written by Dísir
    Loverboy by Sarina BowenLoverboy by Sarina Bowen
    Series: The Company, #2
    Published by Tuxbury Publishing on 1st December 2020
    Pages: 278
    Buy on Amazon
    Goodreads
    three-stars

    Secrets, desires, and exquisite pie. It’s all in a day’s work at The Company.

    Growing up, I was the rough guy from the wrong neighborhood who couldn’t catch a break. Posy was the pampered girl I tried to impress. But all she gave me was a single kiss before I had to skip town.Now I’m back, and the tables are turned. Posy runs a struggling pie shop. I’m the VP of a secretive billion-dollar security company.

    Not that I can tell her. There’s a murderer on the loose in New York, and he seems to spend a lot of time at Posy’s shop. It’s my job to identify him before he can harm a hair on her pretty head.

    Going undercover as Posy’s new barista wasn’t my idea. I don’t even drink coffee. But now I have to call her “boss,” and do everything the curvy perfectionist asks of me. I’d forgotten how much we infuriate each other, and that she somehow fills me with both irritation and desire in the same breath.

    There’s nobody more skilled at stealth ops than me. I can bring this killer down. Right after I take a cold shower. And just as soon I figure out how to make a skinny peppermint latte with milk poured in the shape of a kitten...

    ‘Loverboy’ is a bit of an oddball, reading like a more ‘loving’ and dampened-down romantic suspense with cutesy moments minus the gore, guts and edge. It requires a mental shift really, as it tries to sit between a rom-com and a romantic suspense and I’d thought that if anyone could pull it off, it would be Sarina Bowen. The result is one that doesn’t quite punch above its weight, but that’s because I couldn’t quite get over its strangeness and the rather tiresome phrases that try to emphasise quirk and homey-comfort more than heart-pounding action.

    Going undercover as a barista – this should be a huge clue that the storyline isn’t what you’d typically expect – isn’t really the highlight of Gunnar’s career, but doing so in Posy’s cafe – the girl whom he sort of teased and had a crush on years ago – is probably the cherry on top of it. It’s amusing enough to begin with, but then Bowen builds on their chemistry and leads the plot in weird directions that get me more and more befuddled.

    Posy’s inexperience is overshadowed by a near-neurotic monologue of her losing her senses over Gunnar – her hormones quite literally, speak a little too much here – as Gunnar’s slickness never quite fades into a vulnerability that I wanted to read about. Still, their banter takes precedence over the mystery – an overarching plot runs through this book – and Bowen never quite strays from keeping it as lighthearted as possible.

    ‘Loverboy’ probably works well as a standalone; it’s sort of a new direction that Bowen’s writing seems to be taking with this series even though I’ve not read the first book yet. I’m probably slow to jump on the bandwagon here, but fingers crossed here that it only gets better.

    three-stars
    Loverboy by Sarina Bowen was last modified: January 17th, 2021 by Dísir
    20th January 2021 0 comment
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  • Advanced Reader CopyChick LitContemporary RomanceNetgalleyReviews

    Shipped by Angie Hockman

    by Dísir 16th January 2021

    Shipped by Angie Hockman Published by Gallery Books on 19th January 2021 Pages: 336 Buy on Amazon Goodreads Between taking night classes for her MBA and her demanding day job…

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  • Advanced Reader CopyContemporary RomanceMystery/CrimeNetgalleyReviewsRomantic Suspense

    Flight by Laura Griffin

    by Dísir 12th January 2021

    Flight by Laura Griffin Series: The Texas Murder Files #2 Published by Berkley on 30th March 2021 Pages: 368 Buy on Amazon Goodreads When former forensic photographer Miranda Rhoads moves…

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  • Contemporary RomanceNew AdultReviews

    Sweet Dandelion by Micalea Smeltzer

    by Dísir 8th January 2021

    Sweet Dandelion by Micalea Smeltzer Published by Amazon Digital Services, Amazon Publishing on 25th March 2020 Pages: 486 Buy on Amazon Goodreads Dandelion Meadows is cursed. Horrible name. Horrible luck.…

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  • Action/AdventureContemporary RomanceReviewsRomantic Suspense

    Hard Pursuit by Pamela Clare

    by Dísir 4th January 2021

    Hard Pursuit by Pamela Clare Series: Cobra Elite, #6 Published by Pamela Clare on 15th December 2020 Pages: 254 Buy on Amazon Goodreads She walked away once… When ER nurse…

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  • Advanced Reader CopyChick LitContemporary RomanceNetgalleyNew AdultReviews

    Ever After Always by Chloe Liese

    by Dísir 31st December 2020

    Ever After Always by Chloe Liese Series: Bergman Brothers, #3 Published by Amazon Digital Services, Amazon Publishing on 12th January 2021 Pages: 286 Buy on Amazon Goodreads Aiden I’ve spent…

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  • Advanced Reader CopyContemporary RomanceMagic/ParanormalNetgalleyNew AdultReviewsSpeculative FictionYoung Adult

    To Whatever End by Lindsey Frydman

    by Dísir 27th December 2020

    To Whatever End by Lindsey Frydman Published by Entangled Publishing on 2nd March 2020 Pages: 320 Buy on Amazon Goodreads What if with every person you met, after just one…

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