I am a part of everything I have read – Theodore Roosevelt
Photo Credit: Aline Viana Prado (Website / Instagram / Pexels)
Today marks the 1st in a new series of blog posts featuring an A-Z of My Favourite Authors & Books.
I love blogging about books but most of my posts come out either at the end (Next Month in Books) or the beginning (Five Star Reads and My Favourite Kindle Book Deals) of the month. I want to try and be more consistent so every Monday I’ll be blogging about my all-time favourite books from authors with surnames beginning with that week’s letter.
I’m a 2nd generation book cataloguer (thanks Mum!) so putting these blog posts together gives me the perfect excuse to get all nostalgic (Fun Fact: I’m such a Book Nerd that I can actually remember where I was & what I was doing when I read most of my 3k books) and take a look back through my Goodreads.
Today’s letter is A and my 8 x Favourite Authors & Books (in alphabetical order) are as follows:
AUTHOR: Carrie Aarons (Website / Instagram)
Carrie Aarons writes books that are just as swoon-worthy as they are sarcastic. A former journalist, she prefers the love stories of her imagination, and the athleisure dress code, much better.
When she isn’t writing, Carrie is busy binging reality TV, having a love/hate relationship with cardio, and trying not to burn dinner. She lives in the suburbs of New Jersey with her husband, two children and ninety-pound rescue pup (Author Website).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 3 including Red Card (My Favourite Football (Soccer) Romances)
BOOK: Kissed by Reality (2016)
Falling in love is hard. Falling in love on national television is impossible. Right?
Leighton Aldridge did not sign up to meet her soulmate; she signed up for the lights, camera and action. So when the Hollywood-native ends up with the wounded war veteran and a ring on her finger, it’s a surprise to everyone.
What isn’t a surprise is the way she breaks Finn Wyatt’s heart, or the massively public breakup that follows.
But a year later she’s back, ready for another round on the reality TV show that brought them together. Her ex-fiancé has no idea why she left, and the dark secrets she’s bringing as baggage might make him change his mind about her.
She knows what they had was the real thing, and she’s ready to fight for him, even if it means ultimate embarrassment and heartbreak.
Finn is the new Mr. Right, the country’s favourite single guy, and the object of 25 women’s affections. But when his ex-fiancé steps onto set and back into the limelight, he wishes he never agreed to another season.
Leighton shattered his heart for the world to see, and he’s not ready to face that reality. Or the fact that he can’t focus on anyone else when she’s in the room.
Can Leighton convince him, and America, that she’s the one? Or will her future with Finn only consist of fifteen more minutes of fame?
WHAT’S NEXT? Bittersweet (7 July 2023)
AUTHOR: Lyssa Kay Adams (Website / Instagram / Twitter)
Lyssa Kay Adams is the pen name of an award-winning journalist who gave up the world of telling true stories to pen emotional romances. She’s also a diehard Detroit Tigers fan who will occasionally cheer for the Red Sox because her husband is from Boston.
Lyssa lives in Michigan with her family and an anxiety-ridden Maltese who steals food and buries it around the house and who will undoubtedly be a character in a future book.
Things Lyssa loves: Baseball pants, mashed potatoes, and that little clicking sound that scissors make on the cutting table at fabric stores.
Things she doesn’t love: Mean people, melting ice cream cones, and finding food in her underwear drawer (Goodreads).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 5
BOOK: Isn’t It Bromantic? (Bromance Book Club #4) (2021) (My Favourite Books of 2022)
Series: The Bromance Book Club (#1), Undercover Bromance (#2), Crazy Stupid Bromance (#3) & A Very Merry Bromance (#5) (My Favourite Country Music Romances)
With his passion for romance novels, it was only a matter of time before Vlad wrote one.
Elena Konnikova has lived her entire adult life in the shadows. As the daughter of a Russian journalist who mysteriously disappeared, she escaped danger the only way she knew how: She married her childhood friend, Vladimir, and moved to the United States, where he is a professional hockey player in Nashville.
Vlad, aka the Russian, thought he could be content with his marriage of convenience. But it’s become too difficult to continue in a one-sided relationship. He joined the Bromance Book Club to learn how to make his wife love him, but all he’s learned is that he deserves more. He’s ready to create his own sweeping romance—both on and off the page.
The bros are unwilling to let Vlad forgo true love—and this time they’re not operating solo. They join forces with Vlad’s neighbours, a group of meddling widows who call themselves the Loners. But just when things finally look promising, Elena’s past life intrudes and their happily ever after is cast into doubt.
WHAT’S NEXT? Courting The Countess (#0.5) (July 2023)
AUTHOR: Noelle Adams (Website / Twitter)
Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she reads any book she can get her hands on and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances (Author Website).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 20 including Home for Christmas (12 Bookish Dates of Christmas)
BOOK: A Negotiated Marriage (Convenient Marriages #1) (2013)
Series: Married by Contract (#2), A Wedded Arrangement (#3), Wrong Wedding (#4) & Christmas Bride (#5)
Sex wasn’t supposed to be part of the deal.
Three years into a marriage of convenience, Molly’s high-powered CEO husband wants to add a new term to their marriage agreement. Sex—without any messy emotional entanglements. But weekly sex with Luke, despite their carefully negotiated terms, is likely to get messy eventually.
Content in a mutually beneficial arrangement, Molly isn’t going to fall for Luke the way she fell for an old lover, only to be crushed in the end. She vows to stay strong, no matter how much intimacy develops between them in bed. When her old lover returns, finally wanting a real relationship, Molly has the chance to give her heart to a man who will accept it.
It’s too bad she now wants to give it to her husband, who has never admitted her heart is what he wants.
AUTHOR: Sarah Adams (Website / Instagram / Twitter)
Born and raised in Nashville TN, Sarah Adams loves her family, warm days, and making people smile.
Sarah has dreamed of being a writer since she was a girl, but finally wrote her first novel when her daughters were napping and she no longer had any excuses to put it off.
Sarah is a coffee addict, a British history nerd, a mom of two daughters, married to her best friend, and an indecisive introvert. Her hope is to always write stories that make you laugh, maybe even cry; but always leave you happier than when you started reading (Author Website).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 2 (although ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ is on my Holiday TBR)
BOOK: When in Rome (When in Rome #1) (2022) (My Favourite Books of 2022)
Series: Practice Makes Perfect (#2)
Amelia Rose, known as Rae Rose to her adoring fans, is burned-out from years of maintaining her “princess of pop” image. Inspired by her favourite Audrey Hepburn film, Roman Holiday, she drives off in the middle of the night for a break in Rome . . . Rome, Kentucky, that is.
When Noah Walker finds Amelia on his front lawn in her broken-down car, he makes it clear he doesn’t have the time or patience for celebrity problems. He’s too busy running the pie shop his grandmother left him and reminding his nosy but lovable neighbours to mind their own damn business. Despite his better judgment, he lets her stay in his guest room—but only until her car is fixed—then she’s on her own.
Then Noah starts to see a different side of Rae Rose—she’s Amelia: kind-hearted and goofy, yet lonely from years in the public eye. He can’t help but get close to her. Soon she’ll have to return to her glamorous life on tour, but until then, Noah will show Amelia all the charming small-town experiences she’s been missing, and she’ll help him open his heart to more.
Amelia can’t resist falling for the cosy town and her grumpy tour guide, but even Audrey had to leave Rome eventually.
AUTHOR: Stacey Agdern (Website / Instagram / Twitter)
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 3 (My Favourite Novels with Jewish Representation)
BOOK: Miracles and Menorahs (Friendships and Festivals #1) (2020)
Series: History of Us (#2) & Love and Latkes (#3)
Sarah Goldman loves Hanukkah, and she’s thrilled to be appointed as vice chair of the Hollowville Hanukkah Festival. So when the festival is threatened with cancellation, she comes up with an idea: a new slogan and advertising campaign topped off with a metal menorah large enough to fill the centre of town. But even though her heart and dreams are large, the committee’s budget constraints threaten to stop her grand plans right in their tracks.
Famous metal sculptor Isaac Lieberman also loves Hanukkah. But his vision of a perfect Hanukkah isn’t a commercial community event–it’s spending time with family, following age-old traditions. He’s not interested in the festival, no matter how many times his grandmother, his bubbe, asks him to contribute one of his sculptures.
Then Sarah comes tumbling into his life…can she change his mind about more than just the holidays?
WHAT’S NEXT? B’Nai Mitzvah Mistake (1 June 2023) & The Dating Contract (22 August 2023)
AUTHOR: Fisher Amelie (Website / Instagram)
Fisher Amelie resides in the South with her kick ace husband slash soul mate. She earned her first ‘mama’ patch in 2009. She also lives with her Weim, ‘Jonah’, and her Beta, ‘Whale’. All these living creatures keep the belly of her life full, sometimes to the point of gluttony, but she doesn’t mind all that much because life isn’t worth living if it isn’t entertaining, right?
Fisher grew up writing. She secretly hid notebooks and notebooks of dribble in a large Tupperware storage container in her closet as a kid. She didn’t put two and two together until after college where it suddenly dawned on her, “Hey, I like writing”. She’s a bit dense. “No, I’m not.” “Yes, you are. Put down that Oreo, your butt can’t take any more.” “You’re rude.” “Yeah, yeah.” Anyway, she likes to write and has finally beaten her self-esteem into submission enough to allow herself to be scrutinized under the ‘other readers’ microscope. “No! No! Not a cover slip! Last time it gave me a ra….” (mumbling) (Goodreads).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 3
BOOK: Penny in London (2016)
P.S. How gorgeous is this cover?
You know how everyone says when one door closes another one opens? At the time, you find this statement obnoxious as all get out because a) you don’t really know what the future holds, it certainly hasn’t been a cakewalk so far, and b) the thought of change is unbearable.
You feel like your life is falling apart and everyone around is feeding you clichés like they’re made out of kale or quinoa or whatever the trend health food is right now. You don’t want kale clichés, you want double-chocolate fudge realisms, and you want them now. You just want things the way they were, but then something happens, a moment, an instant that sets you out on a path toward happiness you never knew could exist, and suddenly you think, huh, I don’t think I want double-chocolate fudge anymore.
I think I’m in the mood for this heaping serving of strawberry cheesecake sitting in front of me…with a side of kale. And a pair of split pants, but we won’t get into that right now.
Graham Glenn may have tossed her in, but Oliver Finn made her feel again.
AUTHOR: Lauren Asher (Website / Instagram / Twitter)
Plagued with an overactive imagination, Lauren spends her free time reading and writing. Her dream is to travel to all the places she writes about. She enjoys writing about flawed yet relatable characters you can’t help loving. She likes sharing fast-paced stories with angst, steam, and the emotional spectrum.
Her extra-curricular activities include watching YouTube, binging old episodes of Parks and Rec, and searching Yelp for new restaurants before choosing her trusted favorite. She works best after her morning coffee and will never deny a nap (Goodreads).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 2 so far & 4 x TBRs
BOOK: Terms and Conditions (Dreamland Billionaires #2) (Five Star Reads – May 2023)
Series: The Fine Print (#1) & Final Offer (#3)
Declan
I’m destined to become the next CEO of my family’s media empire.
The only problem? My grandfather’s inheritance clause.
Fulfilling his dying wish of getting married and having an heir seemed impossible until my assistant volunteers for the job.
Our marriage was supposed to be the perfect solution to my biggest problem.
But the more we act in love for the public, the more unsure I feel about our contract.
Caring about Iris was never part of the deal.
Especially not when breaking her heart is inevitable.
Iris
My plan to marry Declan was simple in theory.
Move in together. Throw a wedding. Have a baby.
We set rules to prevent any kind of issues.
Ones that were never meant to be broken, no matter how much Declan tempts me.
But what happens when our fake relationship bleeds into our real one?
Falling in love was never an option.
At least not for me.
WHAT’S NEXT? Love Redesigned (Lakefront Billionaires #1) (7 November 2023)
AUTHOR: Jana Aston (Website / Instagram / Twitter)
Jana Aston likes cats, big coffee cups and books about billionaires who deflower virgins. She wrote her debut novel while fielding customer service calls about electrical bills, and she’s ever grateful for the fictional gynecologist in Wrong that readers embraced so much she was able to make working in her pajamas a reality. Jana’s novels have appeared on the NYT, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists, some multiple times. She likes multiples (Author Website).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 16 including Wrong (My Top 5 Re-Reads), The Next Mrs Russo (My Favourite Books of 2021) & The Boss Who Stole Christmas (12 Bookish Dates of Christmas)
BOOK: Good Time (Vegas Billionaires #2) (2018)
Series: Good Girl (#1)
Marrying a stranger tops the list of things you should never do in Las Vegas, but I did it anyway.
The entire night was my idea. I was the one who suggested a wake-up-with-a-tiger kind of night. Instead, I woke up with a ring on my finger and Vince Rossi in my bed.
Vince, who was nothing like I thought he was and everything I never knew I needed.
Suddenly I was falling head-over-heels in love with my accidental husband and the idea of ending this union was the last thing I wanted.
I wanted forever.
So what if we barely knew each other? Statistically speaking, our odds were as good as anyone’s.
Until the annulment papers landed on my doorstep…
Louise Hall 
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