Can't fight it

d'Allie Winters - SmartyPants Romance (2023)

Résumé : Mousy bookworm. Psychology nerd. The kind of girl who constantly sticks her foot in her mouth.

The last thing I am is the type to attract the intimidating, motorcycle-riding guy in the apartment next door. Especially when that mouth of mine gets me in trouble and he overhears me talk smack about him…

So no one’s more surprised than me when he shows up as a participant in the psych study I’m running on campus. Or when he generously offers me some much-needed self-defense lessons. Or when we grow closer than I thought possible. It turns out some people aren’t at all what they seem at first glance. They can actually be everything you never knew you wanted in a man.

The thing is, Austin Langford is so far out of my league, it’s laughable. Muscled boxers don’t go for nobodies like me. I need to forget about this one-sided attraction.

Even when it feels like I can’t fight it.


note : 2.5/5 ♥♥-

Avant de commencer, je me dois de préciser que les romances avec des étudiants c'est pas vraiment ma tasse de thé. Encore moins quand on a une thématique sportive, ni quand un stalker fait partie de l'intrigue...

M'étant engagée à faire une review honnête, j'ai essayé de mettre mes préférences de côtes afin de laisser toutes ses chances a ce livre.

Cela dit, j'ai apprécié les 2/3 du livre, mais a un moment donné j'ai décroché car toute était tellement prévisible sur la fin que ça m'a ôté l'intérêt pour les personnages.

On est sur du slow burn avec cette romance. D'abord nos héros doivent s'apprivoiser, ce sont tous les deux des solitaires pas trop habitués aux relations sociales. Petit à petit chacun apprend à connaître, ça se dévoile... Tout deux sont connectés à l'autre, ils comprennent leur difficultés et se portent l'un l'autre pour les surmonter.

Tessa, en cours d'études de psychologie, va aider Austin a prendre conscience de ses compétences (en dehors de la boxe) et à se remettre dans une démarche de formation pour enfin faire un métier qui l'intéresse. En retour, Austin va apprendre à Tessa des mouvements de self-defense, toujours traumatisée par un drame pendant son enfance, elle aussi du mal à faire confiance.

Là où le bouquin m'a perdu c'est lorsque qu'un personnage secondaire devient malintentionné et se comporte en stalker. A partir de là, tout devient super cliché : on voit venir comme un montagne les embrouilles qu'il va générer, comment nos héros vont se faire avoir et comment tout se résout, il n'a plus de surprise. Tout ce à quoi on peut s'attendre se passe, l'intérêt diminue, j'ai commencé à sauter des pages pour aller le plus vite possible à la fin. Un peu dommage...

Before we begin, I must point out that romances with students are not really my cup of tea. Even less when you have a sports theme, or when a stalker is part of the plot...

Having committed to doing an honest review, I tried to put my preferences aside in order to give this book every chance.

That said, I enjoyed 2/3 of the book, but at some point I gave up because everything was so predictable and at the end that I lost interest in the characters.

This is a slow burn romance. First our heroes have to get used to each other, they are both loners not too used to be social. Little by little they learn to know each other, they talked about themselves... Both are connected to each other, they understand their difficulties and support each other to overcome them.

Tessa, currently studying psychology, will help Austin become aware of his skills (apart from boxing) and get back into a college degree process to finally do a job that interests him. In return, Austin will teach Tessa self-defense movements, she's still traumatized by a tragedy during her childhood and she finds it difficult to trust.

Where the book lost me is when a secondary character becomes malicious and behaves like a stalker. From there, everything becomes super cliché : we see his troubles coming, how our heroes will be fooled and how everything is resolved, there are no more surprises. Everything you would expect is happening, interest wanes, I started skipping pages to get to the end as fast as possible. Too bad...


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The Vinyl Frontier

de Lola West - SmartyPants Romance (2023)

Résumé : What happens when a uptight preppy frat boy sets his sights on a punk rock princess? #superherolevelchaos

Zack Worthington's life is a carefully curated performance. Controlled by his politician father, he stands on his mark and recites his lines. There’s no room for deviation, no time for comic books and no patience for obscure Trekkie facts. He's all business, polished to a shine--the sparkling jewel in his father's crown. Then one night, Zack lays eyes on a girl he can't unsee...

Open minded, self-sufficient, Deaf drummer, Molly Mills is working hard to find her rhythm in a competitive college music program. She's driven to prove herself to nearly everyone, even while living off of packaged noodles and thrift-store clothing.

Watching her alone on the dance floor, punky, free and wild, Zack told himself that opposites attract was totally not a real thing. But a couple days later when he realizes he's the teaching assistant in her research methodologies class, he can't ignore his instincts. He has to know her.

Only Molly isn't interested in his platitudes and superficial chit-chat.
Suddenly, all bets off because this buttoned up, rule-following rich guy actually wants to be more than meets the eye...


Note : 4/5 ♥♥♥♥

Cette romance n'est pas un coup de coeur, elle est loin d'être parfaite mais je l'ai trouvé très intéressante, et c'était pas gagné pour moi avec les romances étudiante.

Déjà le contexte "études" de l'intrigue est pas le plus important dans l'histoire, on quelques scènes qui présente ce que font les héros, les circonstances qui font qu'ils vont devoir interagir ensemble, et puis basta ! L'auteur se concentre sur leur relation, leurs problématiques personnelles. J'ai bien aimé le fait que les héros étant jeunes, ils font des erreurs, et parfois ils recommencent... Parce que c'est pas en une fois, qu'ils vont changer tous leurs aprioris.

Zack est un fils de sénateur, son père a de grandes attente à son sujet et surtout une image à laquelle il doit se conforter. Zack est donc le président de sa fraternité, pas le truc qu'il espérait faire, mais au moins il peut éviter aux relous de son groupe de faire n'importe quoi. Au fond de lui, Zack est un gros geek, il adore les films de SF, les jeux de société et lire des comics, mais tout ça, ça ne passe pas quand on est en représentation permanente, avec un père sadique prêt à lui ôter ce qui ne collerait pas avec son image. Zack n'a personne avec qui il peut relâcher la pression, le faire avec les gars de sa fraternité risquerait de remonter jusqu'a son père.

Un soir, sa route croise celle de Molly, habillée en punk, cheveux coupe pixie. Molly est sourde et joue de la batterie, son rêve est de devenir musicienne professionnelle. Zack est immédiatement fascinée par cette jeune femme qui fait des choses en dehors de ce que la société attendrait d'elle. Fort heureusement, il a suivi des cours de LSF, même si il est pas hyper doué, il arrive quand même à communiqué avec elle. Quand l'interprète de Molly la plante à un cours, Zack se propose de l'aider.

Molly n'est pas non plus parfaite, ses parents sourds également, lui ont toujours appris à se méfier des "entendants", qu'ils ne pourront jamais comprendre toute la subtilité de la surdité. Molly a donc des préjugés, qu'elle va devoir apprendre dépasser si elle veut vraiment être avec Zack.

Zack et Molly sont jeunes, ils ont toujours un certain mode de vie. Puis ils réalisent que ça peut changer, que leur vie peut être ce qu'ils veulent qu'elle soit. L'auteur a réussi a amené l'évolution des personnages d'une façon simple et ça fonctionne très bien.

This romance is not a favorite, it is far from perfect but I found it very interesting, and it was not a done deal for me with student romances.

Already the "studies" context of the plot isn't the most important part of the story, there are a few scenes that present what the heroes do, the circumstances that make them meet, and then basta! The author focuses on their relationship, their personal issues. I liked the fact that the heroes being young, they make mistakes, and sometimes they make them again... Because they will change all their preconceptions in one go.

Zack is the son of a senator, his father has great expectations of him and he must fit a certain image. Zack is therefore the president of his fraternity, not the thing he hoped to do, but at least he can refrain the goons of his group from doing anything stupid. Deep down, Zack is a geek, he loves SF movies, board games and reading comics, but all that doesn't go well with a sadistic father ready to take him away. Zack doesn't have anyone he can take the pressure off with, doing it with his frat guys would risk thing getting back to his dad.

One evening, his path crosses that of Molly, dressed in punk, pixie hair. Molly is deaf and plays drums, her dream is to become a professional musician. Zack is immediately fascinated by this young woman who does things outside of what society would expect of her. Fortunately, he took ASL lessons, even if he is not very talented, he still manages to communicate with her. When Molly's interpreter fails to show up her in a class, Zack offers to help her.

Molly is not perfect either, her parents are deaf too, they have always taught her to be wary of "hearing people", that they will never be able to understand all the subtlety of deafness. Molly therefore has prejudices, which she will have to learn to overcome if she really wants to be with Zack.

Zack and Molly are young, they always had a certain way of life. Then they realize that it can change, that their life can be whatever they want it to be. The author managed to bring the evolution of the characters in a simple way and it works very well.


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Dough you love me ?

de Stacy Travis - Smartypants Romance (2023)

Résumé : First rule when returning to your hometown after storming out of sight: don't fall for the guy who broke your heart.

Julia Browne should know better than to kiss where she bakes. She's built a bread empire in California, and only plans to stay in Green Valley long enough to sell the family house.
She certainly won't spend any more time with Shane Meadows than she has to…and she will not let him draw her in with his soft blue eyes or level her with his handsome smirk of a grin.

The last this she wants is a temporary gig at Donner Bakery, baking sourdough side-by-side with Shane and clashing with his ego. And he thinks the sassy baker should take her fancy bread and go back where she came from.
But that's before they take a series of wrong turns on a road trip to look at wheat, leaving them stranded for the night. Out on the open road, neither of them can escape the sizzling attraction and old feelings that feel a lot more real this time around.

But life is complicated, and Julia's life in California might derail their second chance at love. Will they wake up and smell the sourdough?
They say you should leave the past in the past, but what if it's the winning recipe for love?

note : 3/5 ♥♥♥

Une romance sympathique mais pas exceptionnelle. J'ai trouvé l'intrigue facile et sans suspense, elle aurait nécessité d'être plus longue et plus élaborée.

Le début est trop rapide à mon goût. Ça aurait été peut-être bien de voir Julia dans sa vie a Los Angeles, avec ses problèmes de cheffe d'entreprise, sa passion qui est partie, ses difficultés à lâcher son job... Afin qu'on puisse bien voir la différence quand elle revient a Green Valley et qu'elle redécouvre le plaisir de faire du pain. De même pour les funérailles de sa grand-mère, on passe trop vite dessus.

Autre détail qui a commencé à me faire dire "je crois que j'ai compris maintenant" c'est que le héros est né avec une main malformée. Bon ok. L'auteur nous montre une héroïne qui n'en a rien à faire. Jusque là, ça va. Mais alors pourquoi mettre l'accent sur la main du gars a toutes les occasions ? Si l'auteur souhaitait nous faire oublier ce détail une fois dit, en parler tout le temps n'était pas la meilleure solution.

La romance est tout mignonne, mais on sait d'avance ce qu'il va se passer et j'ai trouvé que Shane manquait un peu de profondeur. Là encore, l'auteur a de bonnes idées mais j'ai l'impression qu'elles n'ont pas été assez creusées, qu'on est juste passé au-dessus.

Avec cette review on pourrait croire que je n'ai pas aimé ce livre, mais ce n'est pas le cas ^^ j'ai bien aimé que Shane soit un musicien professionnel, que Julia check la famille royale tous les matins comme sa grand-mère, le frère de Julia n'apparait pas souvent mais je l'ai trouvé très bien.

A nice romance but not exceptional. I found the plot easy and without suspense, it needed to be longer and more elaborate.

The beginning is too fast for my taste. It might have been nice to see Julia in her life in Los Angeles, with her problems as a business manager, her passion gone, her difficulties in letting go of her job... So that we can see the difference when she returns to Green Valley and rediscovers the pleasure of baking bread. The same goes for his grandmother's funeral, we pass over it too quickly.

Another detail that started to make me say "okay I got it" is that the hero was born with a malformed hand. Okay. The author shows us a heroine who thinks nothing of it. So far so good. But then why focus on the guy's hand at all times ? If the author wanted us to forget this detail once said, talking about it all the time was not the best solution.

The romance is cute, but you know in advance what's going to happen and I found that Shane lacked a bit of depth. Here again, the author has good ideas but I have the impression that they were not dug enough, that we just went over them.

With this review you might think that I didn't like this book, but that's not the case ^^ I liked that Shane was a professional musician, that Julia checked the royal family every morning like her grandmother, Julia's brother doesn't appear often but I found him very nice.


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