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24/03/2024

Passing Notes

208449822.jpg de Nora Evely - SmartyPants Romance (à paraître le 25 avril 2024)

Résumé : When the one who got away moves in next door…

Clara Hill wants to be left alone. Sitting on her porch watching everyone else’s lives go by is way more fun than dealing with her own problems.Or at least that’s what she thought. Now that her secret high school sweetheart is her next door neighbor, she’s not so sure anymore.

Being back in Green Valley was hard enough without having her first love right there within touching distance.Especially when he’s so stubbornly determined to flash his unforgettable smile at her every chance he gets and reminding her of when she thought she’d found her happily ever after.

Once upon a time, Nick Easton thought he had it all.A football scholarship, his dream girl, and a future so bright he couldn’t wait to get started.But, like everything else in his life, it all came toppling down.Now he’s content to raise his kids, teach English, and coach football at Green Valley High.He has no time for things like romance, and dating, and starting over…He’s fine being alone. Who needs love ?

But when he catches a glimpse of his new neighbor his quiet little world turns upside down, lighting a fire that makes him determined to reclaim all he thought was gone forever.After all these years, can he convince Clara to give him another shot?Or will their love story stay hidden in their past?


Note : 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥

Clara et Nick étaient adolescents quand ils ont eu le coup de foudre l'un pour l'autre, venant de milieux sociaux différents, ils ont tenu leur relation secrète. Un concours de circonstances (que je ne peux pas spoiler) les ont fait partir chacun de leur côté vivre leurs vies.

15 ans lus tard, leurs routes se croisent à nouveau et leur amour reprend vie, d'ailleurs ils n'ont jamais cessé de s'aimer. Ce roman raconte leur seconde chance, comment les blessures du passé affectent toujours les choix du présent et comment accepter ce qui ne peut être changé.

Je ne voudrais pas en révéler trop sur cette romance que j'ai beaucoup aimé, alors je ferais court pour une fois. L'auteur a su très bien mettre en place la tension romantique en Clara et Nick, on sent que ces deux-là sont faits l'un pour l'autre, c'est juste une histoire de temps et et communication.

Mention spéciale pour tous les personnages secondaires : les enfants de Nick qui sont adorables (de toute façon, c'est pas le propos d'avoir des gosses compliqués) ; les soeurs de Clara et spécifiquement Gracie ; et c'était pas mal de voir un peu l'évolution des soeurs Hill avec leur maman (dont on suivi les problèmes dans d'autres livres).

**************

Clara and Nick were teenagers when they fell in love, coming from different social backgrounds, they had to keep their relationship a secret. A combination of circumstances (which I cannot spoil) made them each go their separate ways to live their lives.

15 years later, their paths cross again and their love comes back to life, but they have never stopped loving each other. This novel is about their second chance, how past hurts still affect present choices, and how to accept what cannot be changed.

I don't want to reveal too much about this romance that I really liked, so I'll keep it short for once. The author knew how to set up the romantic tension in Clara and Nick very well, we feel that these two are made for each other, it's just a story of time and communication.

Special mention for all the secondary characters : Nick's children are adorable (in thi story, there's no point of having complicated kids) ; Clara's sisters and specifically Gracie, and it was good to see the evolution of the Hill sisters with their mother (whose problems we followed in other books).

16/03/2024

Nun Too Soon

208424713.jpg de Lissa Sharpe - SmartyPants Romance (à paraître le 18 avril 2024)

Résumé : Helen is just your normal, everyday librarian who writes romance novels on the side… except she also happens to be a former nun, new to life outside the order and to the dating scene. Helen isn’t just a virgin in her 30s– she’s never had a boyfriend, never kissed anyone, never even so much as held someone’s hand. Becoming a nun was always her path, until it wasn’t anymore, and trying to forge a new path in life has been…tricky.What isn’t tricky?

Her unrequited crush on the handsome library patron that Helen and her friends have affectionately nicknamed ‘The Red Unicorn’ -- a man who loves to read, looks great in glasses, and has red hair, aka Helen’s dream man. But the idea of dating is still intimidating, so Helen prefers to daydream about Thad from afar, turning him into her perfect romance novel hero.Thad is far from perfect, not like the smart, sexy librarian he’s been surveilling. Thad is a bounty hunter who’s determined to find Helen’s brother, Dean, and he’s certain Helen is the key to tracking Dean down. Thad never plans to approach Helen or insert himself into her life–until it becomes clear he’s not the only one looking for Dean.

The other people after him are bad news, and Helen’s going to get caught in the crossfire if Thad doesn’t intervene. As Thad and Helen work together to find Dean, they actually get to know each other, soon realizing that the perfect, ideal versions they have of each other couldn’t be more wrong… but that who they are together might actually be just right.



Note : 4/5 ♥♥♥♥

Helen est bibliothécaire à Chicago, elle mène une vie tranquille plutôt banale, mais celle-ci va changer lorsque Thad débarque. D’abord client de la bibliothèque, il lui révèle rapidement qu’il est en réalité un chasseur de prime à la recherche de son frère. Celui-ci est dans le pétrin et d’autres personnes moins scrupuleuses pourraient se servir d’elle pour le retrouver.
Helen est déçue que son crush sur sa Red Unicorn (Thad est roux) soit basé sur un mensonge mais décide de l’aider dans ses recherches à la condition qu’elle vienne avec lui. Leur proximité forcée va déboucher sur une alchimie muy caliente.

Ce que Thad ne sait pas (de suite) c’est qu’Helen est une nonne réformée. Dans la vie civile depuis quelques années, Helen n’a donc pas encore eu de relations amoureuses. Et l’un de ses grands challenges de vie est de connaître l’amour (au sens propre comme au figuré).

Vue ce pitch de départ, j’avais quand même un peu peur que ça soit un peu beaucoup une romance catho avec de la morale chrétienne par-ci par-là à toutes les sauces. Bon heureusement c’est pas le cas. Helen évoque plus certain aspects de son éducation dont elle a encore du mal à se détacher en lien avec ses problématique d’aujourd’hui : la te connexion avec sa féminité, la perception de son corps, son pouvoir de séduction sur Thad ^^. Et ce qui est plutôt cool, c’est qu’Helen va se donner des challenges à elle-même sans forcément prendre Thad en compte dans ses paramètres.

Thad de son côté va avoir beaucoup de chemin à faire car il ne part pas avec des bons points au début : toute sa famille est dans le business de la chasse à la prime et celle-ci a même fait l’objet d’une tv réalité. Il a une vision des gens hyper stéréotypée, pour lui personne n’est jamais totalement honnête, et tout le monde a un double discours et veut le berner ou obtenir quelque chose de lui. Et pour les femmes c’est encore pire, il balance quand même pas mal de remarques sexistes… il n’imagine pas qu’Helen n’a aucune arrière pensée pour le doubler quand elle insiste pour l’aider à retrouver son frère. Comme il va bien tomber de haut.

Heureusement pour les lecteurs, Thad et Helen sortent un peu des clichés de leur archétypes de personnages et nous donne à lire une romance roadtrip sympatique.

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Helen is a librarian in Chicago, she leads a quiet, rather ordinary life, but this will change when Thad arrives. First a customer of the library, he quickly reveals that he is in reality a bounty hunter looking for her brother. He is in trouble and other less scrupulous people could use her to find him.
Helen is disappointed that her crush on her Red Unicorn (Thad is a redhead) is based on a lie but decides to help him in his research on the condition that she comes with him. Their forced proximity will lead to a muy caliente alchemy.

What Thad doesn't know (right away) is that Helen is a reformed nun. In civilian life for several years, Helen has not yet had romantic relationships. And one of his great life challenges is to know love (literally and figuratively).

Given this initial pitch, I was still a little afraid that it would be a bit much of a Catholic romance with Christian morality here and there in every way. Well fortunately that’s not the case. Helen talks about certain aspects of her education from which she still has difficulty detaching herself in relation to her current issues: the connection with her femininity, the perception of her body, her power of seduction on Thad ^^. And what’s pretty cool is that Helen will give herself challenges without necessarily taking Thad into account in her parameters.

Thad for his part will have a long way to go because he doesn't start with good points : his whole family is in the bounty hunting business and it was even the subject of a TV show. He has a hyper-stereotypical view of people, for him no one is ever completely honest, and everyone has double talk and wants to fool him or get something from him. And for women it's even worse, he still makes a lot of sexist remarks... he can't imagine that Helen has no ulterior motive for double-crossing him when she insists on helping him find her brother. How deep he’s going to fall.

Fortunately for readers, Thad and Helen break away from the clichés of their character archetypes and give us a nice roadtrip romance to read.

20/11/2023

Down for the Word Count

DFTWC_coveronly.png de Piper Sheldon (2023)

Résumé : With a single phone call, I swapped my life of movie scripts and paparazzi for bedtime stories and skinned knees.

I always dreamed of having a family. As my two childhood friends settled down with partners of their own, I worried it was too late for me.
Until her. The beautiful woman who chased me down and stole my heart.
And to think she accused me of stealing.

After that awkward encounter, I thought I'd lost her for good. Then months later, I showed up at the only home I'd ever known to find the mystery woman, a precocious child in tow, and my aging father figure in desperate need of supervision. This incredible stranger took on more than she ever bargained for and needed help.

There was only one thing to be done.

Now I'm a single-sort-of-dad to a child who isn't my own and she's a kind-of-sort-of mom to her niece in need, as we work together to care for the man who helped raise me. I want nothing more than to take this role of a lifetime and make it last.

But this isn’t Hollywood and I’m just an actor.
I’m doing my best to support them all, but can my help ever be enough?



Note : 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥

Down for the Word Count est le 3e et dernier tome de la série Unlucky in Love de Piper Sheldon, après Charlie et Kate, puis Emma et Wesley, c'est au tour d'Harrison de trouver son grand amour auprès de Frankie.

Harrison est le golden boy de l'Intrepid Trio, le seul continuant à jouer dans des films. Il n'a pas une mauvaise réputation, mais disons qu'il est plus celui qu'on appelle pour faire la fête que lorsqu'on a un soucis, seuls Charlie et Emma le connaissent très bien, pour le reste du monde, il est juste un acteur, presque cliché de lui-même. Cependant, depuis que ses deux meilleurs amis ont trouvé leur moitié, il commence à se lasser de son mode de vie et aspire à plus de tranquillité et d'avoir lui aussi quelqu'un à aimer.

Lorsqu'il apprend que Georges, l'auteur des livres dont a été adapté sa série TV, ne donne pas de nouvelles à son éditeur, il décide de lui rendre visiter pour vérifier que tout va bien, et en même temps faire un break auprès de celui qui a été comme un père pour lui.

La vie de Frankie a été chamboulée depuis quelques mois : sa soeur lui a laissé dans les bras sa fille de 6 ans, Colette, pour partir tenter sa chance et devenir actrice. Ne pouvant pas s'occuper de Colette tout seule, Frankie est venue vivre chez la seule personne qui lui a apporté de la stabilité : Georges. Il a été sa famille d'accueil quand elle était ado, et aujourd'hui il les accueille toutes les deux dans sa grande maison. Georges l'a embauché pour faire le tri dans toute son oeuvre : ses livres, ses notes, les interviews, les memorabilia etc...

Frankie n'a pas besoin de plus de complications, mais les complications arrivent quand même : d'abord avec Harrison, il souhaite l'aider à s'occuper de Georges et Colette, Frankie a du mal à lui faire confiance, d'autant qu'il réveille en elle toute sorte de sentiments qu'elle pensait ne plus éprouver.
Ensuite c'est la mère de Colette qui débarque en laissant de faux espoirs à sa fille, Frankie va devoir mettre les choses au clair avec sa soeur car Colette a besoin de stabilité.

Frankie et Harrison sont tous les deux toute suite attirés l'un par l'autre mais ils vont devoir dépasser leur a priori et découvrir qu'ils sont beaucoup plus que ce qu'ils laissent voir en surface. Ils ont chacun leur raison pour ne pas se livrer d'emblée. Leur romance était inévitable, ils sont faits l'un pour l'autre.

Dans mes reviews des tomes précédents, la série TV fictive et la fanbase faisaint beaucoup penser à Firefly, ici Geogres m'a fait aussi penser à Terry Pratchett. Ce tome clôture très bien la trilogie. Je vous le recommande !

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Down for the Word Count is the 3rd and final volume of the Unlucky in Love series by Piper Sheldon, after Charlie and Kate, then Emma and Wesley, it's the turn of Harrison to find his true love in Frankie.

Harrison is the golden boy of the Intrepid Trio, the only one continuing to act in films. He doesn't have a bad reputation, but let's say he's more the one you call to party than when you have a problem, only Charlie and Emma know him very well, for the rest of the world, he's just an actor, almost a cliché of himself. However, since his two best friends found their other half, he begins to tire of his lifestyle and longs for more tranquility and to also have someone to love.

When he learns that Georges, the author of the books from which his TV series was adapted, does not give any news to his publisher, he decides to visit him to check that everything is okay, and at the same time take a break from his life with the one person who was like a father to him.

Frankie's life has been turned upside down in recent months : her sister left her 6-year-old daughter, Colette, in her arms to go try her luck and become an actress. Unable to take care of Colette on her own, Frankie came to live with the only person who gave her stability : Georges. He was her foster family when she was a teenager, and today he welcomes them both into his big house. Georges hired her to sort through all his work : his books, his notes, interviews, memorabilia etc...

Frankie doesn't need more complications, but the complications arrive all the same : first with Harrison, he wants to help her take care of Georges and Colette, Frankie has difficulty trusting him, especially that he awakens in her all kinds of feelings that she thought she no longer felt.
Then it's Colette's mother who arrives leaving false hopes for her daughter, Frankie will have to clear things up with her sister because Colette needs stability.

Frankie and Harrison are both immediately attracted to each other, but they will have to overcome their preconceptions and discover that they are much more than what they let on on the surface. They each have their own reason for not giving in straight away. Their romance was inevitable, they were made for each other.

In my reviews of the previous volumes, the fictional TV series and the fanbase reminded me a lot of Firefly, here Geogres also reminded me of Terry Pratchett. This volume closes the trilogy very well. I recommend it !