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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Weight of wrath

de M.E. Carter (2021) Smartypants Romance

Résumé : Rosalind Palmer was blessed with the perfect stage name. Or so she’s been told. There are just a few problems with it:
1) Her family doesn’t know she’s a stripper
2) She’d like to keep it that way
3) She got over the nickname somewhere around seventh grade.
Unfortunately—because she likes her job and she really likes her independence—her unexpected pregnancy means Rosalind’s days on a pole are numbered. Even so, she's determined to make this co-parenting thing work.

Joey Marshall never thought much about having kids until he got the text announcing his impending fatherhood. Now it’s all he can think about. But there are a few concerns:
1) He doesn't know anything about babies.
2) Adulting usually leads to disaster.
3) It’s his best friend’s cousin he knocked up.
First things first, making sure his baby’s mama is in this for the long haul. Because now he's got baby on the brain, he can't wait to make this co-parenting thing into so much more.

Now all he has to do is convince Rosalind, which shouldn't be too hard . . . right?


Dans ce roman, nous retournons à Weight Expectations, la salle de gym où se sont croiser plusieurs de nos héros des tomes précédents. Celui-ci nous raconte l'histoire de Joey, le meilleur pote d'Abel, qui travaille lui aussi en tant que coach. Sa vie va prendre un tournant radical lorsque son dernier "rencart d'un soir" lui annonce être enceinte.

Rosalind est stripteaseuse et malgré tous les préjugés de sa famille, elle aime son boulot : pour elle c'est un mélange de performance artistique et sportive, elle est plutôt douée au pole dance, oui elle le fait dénudé, et alors ? Un soir elle est repartie avec Joey, car il était gentil et il avait autre chose dans le regard que tous les autres clients. Parcontre elle ne pensait pas tomber enceinte... (précision : tous les deux s'étaient protégés)

Elle n'imaginait pas non plus la réaction de Joey, qui passé le choc, se tranforme en futur papa prêt à vivre cette aventure avec elle. Joey et Rosalind vont devoir apprendre à se connaitre avant de rencontrer leur bébé.

Cette romance n'est pas hyper couinante, mais si comme moi vous êtes pas fan des romances mit bébé surprise, elle a quand même le mérite de ne pas nous saouler niveau "baby stuff". Oui, on suit les étapes de la grossesse, mais ça sera toujours en lien avec les petits pas de la relation entre Rosalind et Joey. Ils vont certes devenir parents, mais ils vont aussi tomber amoureux pour eux et pas uniquement à cause du bébé.
L'auteur évoque aussi le sujet de la dépression post-partum, un sujet sérieux pas forcément glamour dans ce type de romance, qui est traité ici avec justesse.

En conclusion, une romance sympathique, mais à laquelle j'ai pas autant accroché.

In this novel, we return to Weight Expectations, the gym where several of our previous books heroes met. This one tells us the story of Joey, Abel's best mate, who also works as a coach. His life will take a radical turn when his last "one-night stand" announces that she is pregnant.

Rosalind is a stripper and despite all her family's prejudices, she loves her job : for her it's a mixture of artistic and sporting performance, she is rather good at pole dancing, yes she does it half naked, so what ? One evening she left with Joey, because he was nice and he looked at her in a different way than all the other customers. But she didn't think she was going to get pregnant... (important detail : both of them had contraception).

She also did not imagine the reaction of Joey who, passed the shock of the news, turns into a future dad ready to live this adventure with her. Joey and Rosalind will need to know each other before they meet their baby.

This romance isn't super swooning, and like me, if you are not a fan of baby surprise romances, it still has the merit of not having to much "baby stuff" in it. Yes, we follow the stages of pregnancy, but it will always be related to the small steps of Rosalind and Joey's relationship. They will certainly become parents, but they will also fall in love because of each other and not only because of the baby.
The author also evokes postpartum depression, a serious subject not necessarily glamorous in this type of romance, which is treated here with sensitivity.

In conclusion, a nice romance, but one I wasn't into very much.

 

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