booksalacarte's reviews
708 reviews

Sleeping with the Frenemy by Natalie Caña

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5⭐️3🌶️

Interconnected stand-alone

Book 3

Chicago setting

Bipoc romance

On again-off again romance

Secret relationship

Forced Proximity

This was a fun read! I really adore the Vega family, and especially Abuelo. The side characters in this series so far steal the show.

This was a good 3rd book for the series. The couple was heavily hinted at in book 1, so it wasn’t a surprise pairing.

I can’t praise enough, the amount and care for detail that is put into the cultural aspect of this series. As someone who doesn’t speak Spanish, the language is flawlessly implemented and translated in a way that doesn’t detract or distract from the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Perfect Fit by Clare Gilmore

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Perfect fit

3.75⭐️3🌶️

First person

Contemporary romance

Romcom

Workaholic FMC

Ex-Best friends brother

He falls first

This was a great contemporary romance that hit on second chances, work-life balance, mental health, and that all encompassing feeling of falling hard and fast for someone.

So often the “just knowing” is played up as people being immature or not believable. This made it a natural mentality.

I love that these adults spoke to each other like adults. It takes so much unnecessary drama out of the equation.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own

Content Warnings

A Dish Best Served Hot by Natalie Caña

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

The Beast Takes a Bride by Julie Anne Long

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

3⭐️3🌶️

Historical Romance

Multi pov

Beauty and the beast retelling

He fell first

Troubled marriage

Second chance romance

Forced proximity

Slow burn

There are 8 books in this series. I did not read the previous before starting this one. Generally it isn’t necessarily required when it comes to historical romance. With this series I felt a little out of place because there was a lot of missing context due to me not reading the previous books in this interconnected series.

One of the tropes I consider a spoiler is one that I absolutely hate. The use of the trope made this a harder book to enjoy, with it being the main trope of this couple. It was never made clear if he was just a big hypocrite (as men of the time generally were) or justifiably upset. The slow burn timing was really well done.

Some of the transitions from POV shifts or scene changes were fairly abrupt, making the scenes not as seamless as it could have been.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Vouager for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

A Proposal They Can't Refuse by Natalie Caña

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

4.75⭐️2.75🌶️

Rom com
Multicultural romance
Friends to enemies to lovers
Marriage of convenience
Chef FMC
Brew Master MMC
Older Main Characters
He fell first
Forced proximity
Chicago setting
Barely open door romance

Tw: cancer, death of a family member

The side characters are so vibrant and adorable. I loved all of them. The family dynamics are top tier and so relatable!

Pop cultural references, but I didn’t mind.

The spice was there, but it was more liked a cracked door into the on page romance rather than open door. Things get hot and heavy, but the sex itself is off page.

As someone who only speaks English, the use of Spanish was a lot, but not overwhelming due to the wonderful way that it was used and expressed throughout the book. It lent such a rich texture to the family and story.

I adored this book so dang much!

Content Warnings

Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

3⭐️3.5🌶️

First person

Present tense

Romantic Fantasy

Grumpy/sunshine

Mythical creatures

Marriage of convenience

Forced proximity

Guilds

Patriarchy

Training

The book cover is beautiful!

I went in completely blind with this being my first Ruby Dixon book. I know, I know… how is that possible? I’m not too sure. But here I am.

The plot was decent. There aren’t many archeological rom coms out there, so it was definitely unique. But I found things a little too repetitive in descriptions and internal dialogue. But the world building was well done and I found the setting to be engaging. Interconnected standalones in this would will be interesting.

The main characters were fine, but nothing to write home about. Nerdy/Curvy woman (who refuses to wear her glasses) is attracted to big and burly/grumpy minotaur. She seemed a bit too naive and immature for her age. And he didn’t have much of a personality at all.

The discussion about this looming Minotaur mating moon, overshadowed the plot just by how often it was mentioned. The spicy scenes that were present were fine, but lacked a level of intimacy due to the lack of kissing… because Minotaurs don’t have lips/can’t kiss… which makes sense… but still. There was knotting, but meh. I guess I need the romantic lead to have lips. I learn something new about myself every day.

The secondary characters were fun and a good diverse group of personalities. It was a good found family trope.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings

A Reign of Rose by Kate Golden

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Reign of Rose

3.75⭐️3🌶️

Third book

Dual POV

Fantasy Romance

Healer FMC

Magic

War

Dragons

Mythical beasts

Betrayal

Imprisonment, self harm, Death, War

The book picks up nicely a few weeks after the end of book 2. There is some time jumping at the beginning that I feel lessened the impact of the kidnapping/imprisonment. It did introduce new characters that I loved.

The pacing was decent, but there were definite lulls where it just felt like the same plotting from previous books.

With how much plot happened off page, this should have been a multi pov book. Maintaining the dual pov and having side characters just show up with problem solving items/ideas/people in tow made it a bit too clean of a resolution to specific plot holes for my taste.

There was a lot of action/fighting/war but at times it was hard to follow clearly. So much felt jumbled up, especially in the pov shifts.

I feel like sometimes the character choices were very abnormal. They serve the plot, but they’re not consistent with who the characters are in previous books. But then they would have a moment that was very lined up with the character development.

I guess I don’t mind loose ends, if the Author admits that they are loose ends. It felt like a definite set up for expanding this series by at least 2 possible couples, but I don’t know if they would be compelling or high enough stakes after the villain of this story is defeated. I don’t think I would read further in this world.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

The Sacred Stones Series- 3.75⭐️3🌶️

A Dawn of Onyx- 4⭐️3🌶️

A Promise of Peridot-3.5⭐️3🌶️

Reign of Rose-4⭐️3🌶️

Content Warnings