I didn’t blog about my Five Star Reads last month because a couple of days after I came home from my birthday trip to New York, I tested positive for COVID so today’s blog post is a double-header with 2 x Five Star Reads from March (Ready or Not & Fool Me Once) and 3 x from April (Till There Was You, The Long Game & Right on Cue).
(1) Ready or Not by Cara Bastone (2024)
Eve Hatch lives for surprises! Just kidding. She expects every tomorrow to be pretty much the same as today. She loves her cosy apartment in Brooklyn that’s close to her childhood best friend Willa, and far from her mid-western, traditional family who has never really understood her. While her job is only dream-adjacent, it’s comfortable and steady. She always knows what to expect from her life . . . until she finds herself expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.
The unplanned pregnancy cracks open all the relationships in her life. Eve’s loyal friendship with Willa is feeling tense, right when she needs her the most. And it’s actually Willa’s steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help Eve. He has always been friendly, but now he’s checking in, ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints, and is . . . suddenly kinda hot? Then, as if she needs one more complication, there’s the baby’s father, who is (technically) supportive but (majorly) conflicted.
Up until this point, Eve’s been content to coast through life. Now, though—maybe it’s the hormones, maybe it’s the way Shep’s shoulders look in a T-shirt—Eve starts to wonder if she has been secretly desiring more from every aspect of her life.
Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the next right step in her expanding reality, she begins to realize that family and love, in all forms, can sneak up on you when you least expect it.
Tags: Best Friend’s Brother / Friends-to-Lovers / New-to-Me Author / Oopsie Babies
I’d never read anything else by Cara Bastone before but I pre-ordered Ready or Not based on how gorgeous the cover is and I’m really glad I was so shallow. I started Ready or Not on the flight from Manchester to New York. I knew it was going to be a Five Star Read from the very first page (Eve is so funny and relatable) and even getting COVID whilst reading it didn’t put me off. I loved it so much that even though I read it on my Kindle, I had to buy the paperback as well.
(2) Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead (2022)
Lee Stone is a twenty-first-century woman: she kicks butt at her job as a communications director at a women-run electric car company (that’s better than Tesla, thank you), and after work she is ‘Stoner’, drinking guys under the table and never letting any of them get too comfortable in her bed…
That’s because Lee’s learned one big lesson: never trust love. Four major heartbreaks set her straight, particularly grad-school boyfriend Ben Laderman – who wasn’t actually cheating, but she could have sworn he was, so she reciprocated in kind.
Then Ben shows up five years later as a policy expert for the Texas governor, just as Lee is trying to get a clean-energy bill rolling. Tension builds as old sparks reignite when they’re forced to work together, fanning the flames for a romantic dustup the size of Texas.
Tags: Favourite Author / Political Romances / Second Chance / Women in Politics
It felt like I’d been waiting forever for Fool Me Once to finally be published here in the UK. The companion novel, The Boyfriend Candidate (which is about Lee’s sister, Alexis) was a Five Star Read and one of my 10 Favourite Books of 2023. Fool Me Once is the 2nd of my COVID Five Star Reads (after Ready or Not) and should really be a Six Star Read given that COVID didn’t just obliterate my appetite for food but also reading, hence why I only read 4 x books in March, which isn’t like me at all. The fact that I not only finished Fool Me Once (in between shivering myself to sleep) but gave it Five Stars should tell you how much I truly loved Lee & Ben’s story.
(3) Till There Was You by Lindsay Hameroff (2024)
Culinary student Lexi Berman, 24, has one goal: to make her late mother proud by becoming an executive chef in a Michelin-star restaurant. And she isn’t going to let anything–or anyone–get in the way. But when she meets Jake Taylor, a dive bar musician who charms her with show tunes, she makes a rare exception to her no-dating rule. After a steamy weekend together, Jake leaves for L.A. to record his demo, and Lexi never expects to see him again. And she definitely doesn’t expect him to become an overnight celebrity, with a breakout single that’s almost certainly about her famous blueberry pancake recipe.
As Jake’s star rises and the world speculates about the subject of his song, Lexi keeps the affair to herself. After all, she’s finally found her footing at her new restaurant job, and even has a prospective romance with her co-worker. But when a distraught Jake turns up on her doorstep late one night, her carefully-laid plans are thrown for a loop. Though she and Jake try to be friends, things between them soon reheat faster than a bowl of Lexi’s matzah ball soup. But a relationship with Jake means risking her face in tabloids, withstanding cruel internet comments, and worst of all, jeopardizing her career. As Jake’s upcoming tour approaches, and rumours swirl about him and another pop star, Lexi has to decide if holding onto her meticulously-planned future is worth walking away from what could be the perfect recipe for love.
Tags: Female Chefs / Fictional Musicians / Jewish / New-to-Me Author / Second Chance
Sometimes when you read a blurb for your book, you just know you’re going to love it and that’s exactly what happened with Till There Was You. It’s got professional chefs, famous and non-famous people trying to make a relationship work and Jewish representation.
(4) The Long Game by Elena Armas (2023)
Adalyn Reyes has spent years perfecting her daily routine: wake up at dawn, drive to the Miami Flames FC offices, try her hardest to leave a mark, go home, and repeat.
But her routine is disrupted when a video of her in an altercation with the team’s mascot goes viral. Rather than fire her, the team’s owner—who happens to be her father—sends Adalyn to middle-of-nowhere North Carolina, where she’s tasked with turning around the struggling local soccer team, the Green Oak Warriors, as a way to redeem herself. Her plans crumble upon discovering that the players wear tutus to practice (impractical), keep pet goats (messy), and are terrified of Adalyn (counterproductive), and are nine-year-old kids.
To make things worse, also in town is Cameron Caldani, goalkeeping prodigy whose presence is somewhat of a mystery. Cam is the perfect candidate to help Adalyn, but after one very unfortunate first encounter involving a rooster, Cam’s leg, and Adalyn’s bumper, he’s also set on running her out of town. But banishment is not an option for Adalyn. Not again. Helping this ragtag children’s team is her road to redemption, and she is playing the long game. With or without Cam’s help.
Tags: Enemies-to-Lovers / Fish out of Water / Football
The Long Game is the 2nd book I’ve read by Elena Armas and I finally get what all the hype is about. I loved everything about The Long Game from Cameron (who reminds me of Mariana Zapata’s Kulti), the Green Oak Warriors girls especially adorable Maria and her hilarious nicknames for Coach Cam, Cameron’s possessive cats, Pierogi and Willow and who could forget, blind baby goat, Brandy. I can’t wait for The Fiancé Dilemma which features Josie and Adalyn’s best friend, Matthew and is due out on 30 July 2024.
(5) Right on Cue by Falon Ballard (2024)
Hollywood darling Emmy Harper is considered the queen of writing romantic comedies. That is, until tragedy struck and she swore she’d never write another happy ending again. After some time away, and lots of encouragement from family and friends, Emmy is finally ready to dive back into the genre with her latest project. But more is riding on this movie than just her return to the big screen. This time, Emmy’s also been convinced to star as the lead, dusting off acting skills she hasn’t used in over a decade.
Emmy’s nervous, yet excited, to give performing another shot, until a last-minute injury benches her trusted co-star. With filming about to start, there’s only one other actor available on such short notice, Grayson West. A blockbuster action star known for his mega-watt smile and impossible abs, Grayson is anyone’s dream of a romantic lead. Anyone except Emmy that is, who still blames him for her disastrous first movie and the early end to her acting career.
As filming begins, the friction between Emmy and Grayson is palpable and it’s anyone’s guess if it’s unresolved awkwardness or simmering sexual tension. The two are pushed to get their acts together—and quickly—or they risk tanking the entire movie, but if working things out leads to sizzling chemistry on screen, what might happen when the cameras stop rolling?
Tags: Second Chance / Stage & Screen Romance
I really enjoyed Falon Ballard’s previous 2 x books and I was hooked by Right on Cue from the very first page. It’s got the cosiness of a small town coupled with the shenanigans that inevitably take place on a Hollywood film set. Emmy, like Eve from Ready or Not, is one of those heroines that you immediately root for. On the surface, Grayson is a himbo action star who’s more comfortable with car chases and shoot-outs than talking about his emotions but scratch the surface and there’s a more complicated and gentle character lurking beneath. He and Emmy have amazing chemistry. The supporting characters really added to the story, especially Emmy’s mom.
My Month in Books (March 2024)
1 (It was OK)
1 (Liked It)
2 (Loved It)
New-to-Me Authors (Excluding Non-Fiction): Cara Bastone & Amy Lea.
My Month in Books (April 2024)
1 (Didn’t Like It)
5 (It was OK)
5 (Liked It)
3 (Loved It)
New-to-Me Authors (Excluding Non-Fiction): Melanie Benjamin, Lindsay Hameroff & Libby Hubscher.
If you want to check out the full list for March & April 2024 on Goodreads, click here.
Until next month, Louise x
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Louise Hall 