Give Love Chai

de Nanxi Wen (2021) Smartypants Romance

Résumé : Tia Wang’s Wedding Planning To-Do List :
1. Find the perfect dress
2. Win her future mother-in-law's approval
3. Divorce her not-so-ex husband, Andrew Parker

When she fell in love and married her childhood best friend on a whim in Vegas, Tia innocently thought love conquered all. Turns out, that was a crushing lie. Her world shattered as she and Andrew were torn apart by secrets and mistakes. Ten years later, Tia has left the pain behind and carved out a new life with Mr. Perfect. The only thing standing between her and happily ever after? A divorce from Andrew.

It should have been easy for Andrew to sign his name on the dotted line. Independent, prickly, and always in control, Andrew has done everything to escape his past. But seeing Tia on his doorstep after all these years? He can’t help wondering what might have been. Andrew has never forgotten Tia and vows to fight for their relationship this time around. If he has to hold those divorce papers hostage to get his second chance, he will.

Feelings resurface, stronger and more complex than ever. But Tia and Andrew have more than Mr. Perfect between them. Can they overcome past mistakes to forge a future together, or will new threats ruin their second chance at forever ?


J'ai un avis très partagé sur cette romance, même si je l'ai globalement bien aimé, j'ai trouvé qu'il y avait quand même des éléments un peu too much, et qu'Andrew avait bien besoin d'une bonne claque à un moment xD.

Le point de départ est assez intéressant : Tia veut se marier à Clayton, sauf qu'elle découvre qu'elle est toujours mariée à son amour de jeunesse Andrew, qu'elle n'a pas vu depuis 10 ans, ce divorce n'a jamais été finalisé... Donc Tia va voir Andrew pour lui donner les papiers à signer, et là problème : revoir Andrew réveille d'un coup ses anciennes passions et elle part précipitamment sans les papiers xD. Du coup, cette fois c'est Andrew qui se déplace pour aller la voir, tombe sur Clayton et réalise que non il peut pas signer ces papiers, il aime encore Tia ! Clayton devine l'embrouille et va laisser du temps à Tia pour qu'elle fasse son choix (le pauvre, il a pas le bon rôle, mais il est pas non un méchant).

Andrew va avoir 2 semaines pour convaincre Tia que leur histoire n'a jamais été terminée, que leurs erreurs d'ados peuvent être réparé maintenant qu'ils ont tous les deux grandit. Ils vont avoir beaucoup à se dire, ils avaient de gros problèmes de communication à l'époque et des anciennes blessures vont ressortir.

J'ai apprécié que Tia et Andrew galèrent quand même une fois qu'ils commencent à parler, quand ils apprennent les raison du quiproquo qui les a fait se séparer. Ce sont des êtres humains avec la présence d'esprit de ne pas être dans la rancoeur et d'admettre leur erreurs respectives.

Ce que j'ai trouvé too much dans ce roman, c'est tout le bin's avec le papa d'Andrew, je pense qu'il avait pas besoin de réapparaitre à la fin, que l'histoire pouvait se clôturer sans cette mini intrigue qui sortait de nulle part.

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I have a very divided opinion on this romance, even if I liked it, there were still elements a little bit too much, and Andrew really needed a good slap at one point xD.

The starting point is quite interesting : Tia wants to marry Clayton, except that she finds out that she is still married to her childhood sweetheart Andrew, whom she has not seen in 10 years, their divorce has never been finalized... So Tia goes to Andrew to give him the papers to sign, and problem : seeing Andrew awakens her old passions and she leaves hastily without the papers xD. So this time it's Andrew who goes to see Tia, comes across Clayton and realizes that he can't sign these papers, he still loves Tia ! Clayton guesses the mess and gives Tia time to make her choice (poor man, he doesn't have the right role, but he's not a bad guy either).

Andrew has 2 weeks to convince Tia that their relationship and marriage were never over, that their teenage mistakes can be fixed now that they have both grown up. They are going to have a lot to say to each other, they had big communication problems at the time and old wounds will emerge.

I appreciated that Tia and Andrew still struggle once they start talking, when they learn the reasons for the misunderstanding that caused them to break up. They are human beings with the presence of mind not to be resentful and to admit their respective mistakes.

What I found too much in this novel is all the bits with Andrew's dad, I think he didn't need to reappear at the end, that the story could have ended without this mini plot that came out of nowhere.

Mad About Ewe

de Susannah Nix (2021) Smartypants Romance

Résumé : Dawn Botstein is doing just fine after her divorce, thank you very much. She’s got her yarn store to run, her house to herself for the first time in her life, and no use for men anymore. That is until the hottie silver fox who walks into her store turns out to be her old high school crush—the guy who rejected her 30 years ago.

No way is she going to lose her head over him this time, no matter how well he wears that salt-and-pepper lumberjack beard. Okay, so he’s the opposite of her ex in every way, and his attention gives her a thrill she thought she’d never feel again. She’s not risking her heart again.

Mike Pilota is having a mid-life crisis. Only instead of buying a red sports car he can’t afford and dressing like a 25-year-old who’s time-traveled from the 1990s, he quit his job after his second divorce to move closer to his recently widowed mother.

He didn’t expect to run into Dawn again, but as soon as he lays eyes on her he’s utterly smitten. So he sets out to make up for past mistakes and prove he can be the kind of man she deserves.

But is it too late for second chances? Or will these two lonely hearts find a way back to each other ?


J'imagine que ma note est peut-être biaisée : on lit tellement de romance avec des héros de 25 ans, que lorsqu'on en découvre une avec des quarantenaires on en profite à fond xD

Dawn et Mike ont eu chacun une première vie et viennent tout juste de commencer une nouvelle étape. Dawn profite de son célibat après son divorce et prend plaisir à s'occuper de son magasin de laine ; Mike, aussi divorcé, retourne dans sa ville natale pour s'occuper de sa mère après le décès de son père. Tous les deux étaient au lycée ensemble : elle était folle amoureuse de lui, mais lui était un ptit con à cet âge-là et ne voulait pas être vu avec elle (même s'il l'aimait bien)... 30 ans plus, ils se recroisent par hasard et c'est électrique, comme s'ils étaient 2 ados !

Même en étant tous les deux célibataires et très motivés à se donner une chance, il y a quand même des aléas de vie qui n'aident pas et des fragilités personnelles qui ne sont pas évidentes à surmonter quand elles sont ancrées depuis des décennies. Dawn et Mike vont se porter l'un l'autre pour arriver à se libérer des derniers freins qu'ils se mettaient et enfin vivre pleinement (dans tous les sens du terme).

Une romance qui fait du bien et qui montre que des gens de 45 ans peuvent aussi être des héros de romance sexy ^^

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I guess that my rating may be biased : we read so much romance with 25-year-old heroes, that when we discover one with 40-something, we take full advantage of it xD

Dawn and Mike had lived their first lives and have just started a new step. Dawn enjoys her celibacy after her divorce and takes pleasure in running her wool store ; Mike, also divorced, returns to his hometown to care for his mother after the death of his father. The two of them were in high school together : she had a massive crush on him, but he was a jerk at that time and didn't want to be seen with her (even though he liked her)... 30 years later, they meet again by chance and it's electric, as if they were back being teenagers !

Even being both single and very motivated to give each other a chance, there are still life events that do not help and personal weaknesses that are not easy to overcome when they have been embed for decades. Dawn and Mike are going to support each other to free themselves from their last brakes and finally live fully (in every sense of the word).

A feel good romance that shows that 45-year-olds can also be sexy romance heroes ^^

Under Pressure

d'Allie Winters (2021) Smartypants Romance

Résumé : Mia knows stress. She’s dealt with it her whole life. So when she gets an opportunity to run a psychology study to help her get into grad school, it should be no problem dealing with the prickly guy she suddenly finds herself paired with.
The one she had a secret crush on last year. The one who refuses to let anyone close. The one she’s discovering by the day may have a softer side than he lets anyone else see…

Tyler knows stress. He’s grappled with it for as long as he can remember. And just because he has to share credit with this girl on his new psychology study doesn’t mean he has to be friends with her. Except she somehow keeps worming her way into his life. In school. In the boxing gym. In his bed.

But everyone knows it’s safer to keep to yourself. You can't hurt anyone that way. Even if it means giving up the best thing that’s ever happened to him.
As things heat up in the Stress Lab, will this match be able to work together without disruption, or will this growing attraction between them eventually... combust?

Cette romance suit deux étudiants en psychologie qui vont devoir travailler sur un projet commun de recherche. Ils travaillent sur la même thématique (la gestion du stress) avec des approches différentes et complémentaires, leur prof n'a rien trouvé de mieux de les combiner ensemble au lieu de ne choisi qu'un étudiant à tutorer...

Les histoires se passant dans les universités américaines m'ont toujours laissé perplexe, je n'en ai pas lu beaucoup, mais j'en ai retenu une impression de n'avoir jamais aucune idée de ce que les étudiants étudiaient xD ... Si je devais faire un seul reproche à ce livre, c'est de ne pas être allé plus loin dans la présentation du sujet de recherche, nous montrer ces deux étudiants bosser (ils sont sensé être au top de leur promo, et en fin d'études) et comment leurs travaux se fond dans leur vie privée et leur histoire d'amour.

La gestion du stress en psychologie, c'est un sujet à la portée de tous, j'aurais pas dis non à des scènes de cours magistraux où à des analyses scientifiques lorsqu'ils commencent à récolter des données pour leur mémoire. Aussi, chose étrange : on sait sur quel aspect travaille Mia, mais on a rien du tout sur la partie traitée par Tyler...

Le fantasme universitaire mis à part (^^'), Mia et Tyler ont des histoires intéressantes (même si un peu too much pour Tyler) et étant quand même étudiants en psycho, ils arrivent à identifier leur problème et faire le premier pas vers l'amélioration leur bien-être.

This romance follows two psychology students who will have to work on a common research project. They work on the same theme (stress management) with different and complementary approaches, their teacher has found nothing better than to combine them together instead of choosing only one student to tutor.

Stories happening in American universities have always left me perplexed, I didn't read much of them, but I had a feeling of never having any idea what the students were studying xD ... If I had only one reproach about this book, it is not to have gone further in the presentation of the research subject, showing us these two students working (they are supposed to be at the top of their class, and at the end of their studies) and how their work blends into their private life and love story.

Stress management in psychology is a subject within everyone's reach, I wouldn't have said no to lectures or to scientific analyzes when they start to collect data for their article. Also, strange thing: we know what Mia is working on, but we have nothing at all on Tyler's part...

The college fantasy aside (^^ '), Mia and Tyler have interesting stories (even if a little too much for Tyler) and being psychology students, they manage to identify their problem and take the first step towards the improvement of their well-being.

 

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