katiedermody's reviews
1972 reviews

This was a very emotional second chance story about two former NHL players, now in their early 40s, who used to be teammates, best friends, and roommates, and would hook up sometimes. Riley knew he was gay and was in love with Adam, whereas as Adam remained in denial about what his feelings and experiences meant, and hurt Riley multiple times because of it before they didn't see each other for 12 years. He married a woman, had kids, and only just retired from hockey recently. Riley left the sport at 29 needing help mental health and addiction, neither of which were supported in the league or discussed at the time. He went back to his small Nova Scotia town, figured out his stuff and built a quiet life for himself and his dog Lucky. But now his dad has died, which has thrown him for a loop, and amidst his already deep sorrow and grief, Adam shows up for the funeral. The men spend a week together working through their emotions, finally coming clean about things (including Adam's divorce), and trying to avoid their attraction, at first. It's a slow burn, but feelings are still there too and what they end up with is beautiful and joyful even with Adam's trip home to Toronto looming. I really liked this book, it got me in my feelings as a queer person and someone who loves second chance romances. It didn't blow me away as something I'd want to scream about from roof tops but I think that's because of its more somber, serious tone because it still has me captivated enough to stay up into the night to finish it. 
Thank you to Harlequin for the arc! Release date: Mar 4/25.

Based on my experiences with the first two books, I expected I'd enjoy this one well enough, and I'm happy to say that I loved it! The MC, Clementine, is in her mid thirties, bisexual and recently out of a very long term relationship with a man where she was very strait passing and not out to some people, and so now she wants to explore and expand the queer aspect of her life. 

After meeting during Clem's first solo visit to a local queer bar, she ends up in a fake dating situation with Chloe (friend of the leads in the first book and regular patron of the bar in the second), who she's met before at work things but she doesn't really remember. Chloe needs a date for her friends' wedding, as she's the only single one in the group and feels looked down upon, and she proposes that she can be Clem's practice girlfriend, someone to refer to as her ex when she starts dating women for real. The problem is, Clem likes Chloe from the start. It's all from her POV, and as much as I often prefer dual-POV, I think this story was exactly as it should be and it benefited my reading experience not knowing Chloe's inner workings in real time. 

As usual in this series, there's great found family in Chloe's friend group (one of whom is Clem's boss, which she didn't realize), and I had that that cozy, warm chest comfortable feeling I got from the others in the series. But what meant the most for me as a queer woman in her thirties who came out a few years ago and hasn't experienced much of anything, was seeing a "later in life" queer woman exploring her identity purposefully and outloud, actively going after the life she wants and going through all her firsts. I also so appreciated the aithor's note where she said she wanted to write this story for those of us who hear seventeen year olds saying they're late in life queers, and that no matter what age you are, it's never too late because we're all continually becoming the new version of ourselves (heavy paraphrase).

So, thank you to Amy Spalding for this story, for her words. And thank you to Kensington and NetGalley for the arc; I'm thrilled I got to read it early and now share how much I loved it. 

The reason I didn't start with this one even though it's the first in the series is because I'm not big on boss/employee romances because the possibility of a power imbalance/abuse. But I liked book two enough to go back and am glad I did because I enjoyed this one too and think the workplace aspect was handled well for the most part. Nothing was entirely secretive, they all considered the potential issues of her working for them, they'd actually all met and hooked up before she interviewed not knowing it was their company, etc. Paige moved to New York from LA after her fiance and colleague (she worked for his dad) cheated on her. After an intense one night stand with Ryker, Garrett, and Luca, all of them feel the connection but sort of ignore it for a while before admitting that all three men want to be with her and she wants them all. They're best friends so it's a bit different than the second book where it's two competing people, so that was a nice difference. The spice was spicing, there was plus size rep, and I got to know characters from the second one better, including  more about Ryker and Libby's childhoods like I wondered about from book two. Looking forward to book three later this spring. 

I enjoyed this MMF why choose romance with a woman, her best friend, and her brother's friend/her new coworker. I thought the chemistry was well written, the exploration of the way sexuality changes or you learn more about yourself (labels aren't boxes!) was well done with Ethan only every having been attracted to men but now in love with and attracted to Libby (I would think it's demisexuality for women, aka just her in this case, but the word was never on page), and Leo's further acceptance of himself and his attraction to both women and men. The one thing I wasn't sure was fleshed out enough was Libby's past with her mom and homelessness, but I'm wondering if that's because this is book two and her brother is one of the MMCs in book one, which I haven't read yet. 

I don't think I've ever seen Twister in its entirety, which means I also wasn't part of the Twisters/Glen Powell hype train last year, but I was still excited to read this book and now it makes me want to watch the movies a little bit. Finley is one year into her master's degree and is about to go on a weekend chase/research trip, chosen by her professor and professional storm chaser Ryker. Problem: she has a huge crush on him and is trying so hard not to cross a line (she doesn't know he's trying even harder because he likes her too). I am easily bother e by romances where there's an obvious abuse of power but in this case his class was done she's in her mid-twenties and really freaking smart and good at her work so it didn't feel like grooming at all, and they both take huge care and consideration into what it could do for both their futures (after they already cross the line, yes, but still). This has adventure, fat rep, smut (including holy crap we survived smut), humor, a great little cast of side characters, and a fun tie in to another of her series. I really enjoyed it and would be happy to end up back with this team again someday. 

I definitely liked this one better. Millie, the sister and best friend of the MCs in book one meets three fireman, one of them being the boy who broke her heart in high school, all grown up now. At a Christmas party gone wild, she has a steamy night with all three and soon discovers she's pregnant. She ends up getting a job at their station and having to tell them, then they all work to figure out what their life is going to be like. She deals with sexual harassment from another firefighter there, so make sure to read the content warnings. There was ADHD rep with one of the guys that was done in an interesting way I'm not sure I've seen before (showing the effect it has on someone when your family essentially berates you for you executuve dysfunction, etc.). One thing I noticed was that the author's timelines seemed a little wonky at times including overlap of the two books, things not matching up, etc., so that bothered me on occasion. Otherwise, it was steamy (though this one seemed a bit less descriptive than the last at times) and didn't feel long like the last one even though it still was. I'd probably still read more by this author if something caught my attention but I didn't enjoy it enough to seek it out now. 

This one was interesting. I'd read another by this author and it was actually the second book in this duo that caught my attention this time, but I decided to go back and read this first. It was fine, and I enjoyed it enough to read the next one, but it felt a little longer than it needed to be. I don't often read why choose romances that involve brothers as the MCs (feels a little too close to invest to me even though they aren't there for each other), so I was a little wary the entire way through. It ended up being fine but I still think it took too long for her to get to a place where she could acknowledge her feelings for any of them, let alone all three. I get why she did, the storyline with her narcissistic mother and awful family made that clear. Overall I'm not mad I read it, but it's still book two I'm looking forward to. 

Part 2: The girls are at a party some time later and have ended up being friends with the girl from the dinner. They both kiss her and thought interested in doing more, she wants to take it slow. They go on a date and discuss being in a poly relationship. Then after a few more times hanging out they all hook up  and say I love you. Again, it was fine but they both felt too short and like they would have been better as one novelette versus two short stories. 

This was fine. I got it for free during stuff your Kindle day for the queer and disability rep. It's a short story about two college girls roommates (one is autistic), and they both find out the other is pan at a dinner set up by one girl's mother to introduce her to her also queer daughter. Unfortunately, the mother's friend outs them to each other (don't love that) but fortunately, they have feelings for each other. They go home, hook up, and end up together. 

This was a fun, quick read and a lovely ending to the series! I really liked Brooks and Emma's story, from their meet cute to their fake dating turned engagement, to them truely caring about and for each other. She's an interesting mix of oddball who does what she wants and soft-hearted and healing from hurt. He's a jerk who surprises everyone, especially himself, when he enjoys himself so much with this woman. The timeline is fast so some people might be bothered by that, but if was written in a way that worked. The bonus epligue was also great, giving us a glimpse into the future for every single Salinger brother's family from the POV of their wives mostly, and then also set up the author's upcoming new series, which the only Salinger sister will be part of.