March reads: series books

Wow it's been so long since I wrote any book reviews lol. 

I was able to read these ebooks via the Libby app and my public library. No cover images as Blogger's insert image by url tool is refusing to work. DM me for trigger warnings. 

Tough Guy (Game Changer #3) by Rachel Reid

 Ryan is the enforcer on his and Scott's (from Game Changer, book 1 of the series) hockey team, which means he has to fight and physically keep other hockey players away from the scorers. It is wild to me that these professional athletes are actually expected to straight-up punch each other?! Ryan has near-debilitating anxiety, especially on planes. He happens to run into Fabian, an out and proud, femme musician whose family Ryan lived with for a while as a teen for hockey reasons, and they reconnect. They're attracted to each other, and it turns out they both had crushes on the other when they were teens. They start dating, but Fabian hates hockey and the fact that Ryan has to fight for a living and wants him to quit. Ryan also has to deal with his homophobic teammates/hockey culture and injuries on top of the anxiety. I enjoyed this book, although it bothered me that Fabian was pressuring Ryan to quit his whole career just because he didn't like the idea of him fighting, which is basically his whole job. And they'd only been dating like a couple of weeks at this point!  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶🌶

 

The Man Who Died Twice (The Thursday Murder Club #2) by Richard Osman

I adored the first book in this series, and was chuffed to borrow this and the next book via Libby. Someone from Elizabeth's past shows up and asks her for help: he is accused of having stolen diamonds from a dangerous man who was holding them for the American mafia, and they're both out for his blood. Ibrahim was attacked and mugged (he's ok!! considering), and the Thursday Murder Club (and everyone who knows them) is plotting revenge. The TMC's favorite police duo are having trouble closing in on a local drug kingpin (queenpin?). Bodies start piling up, and where could those diamonds be? The way all of these plots weave together is excellent, and I couldn't put this down.  ★★★★ 

 

The Bullet That Missed (The Thursday Murder Club #3) by Richard Osman

Shockingly, the third book in this series was available right away in Libby. The Thursday Murder Club are focusing on a decade-old cold case: the murder of a young journalist who was about to blow a big corruption case wide open. Elizabeth is kidnapped and blackmailed by an dangerous man: she must kill the former head of the KGB, or Joyce will be killed. The TMC meets television personalities, acquire an adorable dog, dig up clues (well, the police do; the TMC are septuagenarians), and make new, dangerous friends. I also couldn't put this down, although reading both TMC books back to back means I keep confusing which plot points belong to which book.  ★★★★

 

Common Goal  (Game Changer #4) by Rachel Reid

Recently divorced Eric is the oldest player on his and Scott's hockey team, and is contemplating both retiring and dating men for the first time (he's bi). 25 year old Kyle works and is friends with Kip (you'll recall Kip and Scott got together in the first book, Game Changers; now they're engaged!); they meet at the gay bar where K&K work and are instantly attracted to each other, and Kyle offers Eric gay lessons 👀 It's supposed to be temporary and no strings attached, as they both consider the age gap between them to disqualify them from dating... but the heart wants what it wants. I enjoyed this, although the big issue is just solved by them deciding they don't care about the age gap since they're love (they're still 16 years apart, lol). It's like, what was the point of all the angst and drama, then? Also I hate Reid's choice of short K names. Kip is bad enough, but what 25 year old is named Kyle?  ★★★★  🌶🌶🌶🌶

Book review: A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins

Loreli Winters never imagined she'd end up a "mail-order bride" in middle-of-nowhere Kansas -- until the two adorable orphan nieces of a dusky dream named Jake Reed beg her to be their new "mama." And one look at the dark, devastatingly handsome man is enough to entice her to abandon her California plans and stay put for a while in this one-horse frontier town.

Strong, sensible Jake was hoping for a wife to help him raise his girls, but Loreli may be more than he can handle. He can't stop wondering what it would be like to hold the fiery enchantress close and kiss her deeply. Surely he could never compete with the sophisticated gents she has known, yet he intends to try. But will his honest passion be enough to take a chance on a long-shot called love?

This was another ebook downloaded during the shocking B&N free ebook dump of last year. I had read of Beverly Jenkins, an iconic Black historical romance novel author, in an article about the historical romance genre, so I was pleased to nab this book. I read it in late February for Black History Month. 

Loreli is your typical Headstrong Tempestuous Heroine™ who is independent and doesn't need a man. She's stunningly gorgeous and turns heads wherever she goes, all the men want her, etc. Jake is your typical Good Steady Man hero who is also kind of a stick in the mud and Disapproves of the heroine's behavior. Loreli ends up in this farming community (which sounds like it's mostly Black?) because the train she's on took mail-order brides there (she decidedly isn't one but is happy for the women she befriended, who've all made good matches). She plans to go on to California for the adventure but then meets two adorable 9 year old twin girls who ask her to be their mama. They're orphaned and being raised by their single uncle Jake, a hog farmer-slash-unofficial vet who is single and gorgeous. 

Loreli has no plans of being tied down, but the adorable girls win her heart. Jake doesn't think Loreli is wife material (she makes her living by gambling and wears flashy fashions, plus the headstrong thing), but the girls love her and they really do need a mama. Loreli and Jake agree to marry and mother for a year, until he finds a more suitable wife. What with divorce not being a thing, I don't know why they thought getting married would be a good idea if it was only supposed to be temporary, but whatever. L&J are super attracted to each other (Loreli is the experienced one, while Jake has never been with a woman). They learn about and start to respect each other, reluctantly falling in love as their arrangement is supposed to be temporary and love isn't supposed to come into it. Then disaster strikes on their wedding day...

The story and characters are tropey, but I liked this book. It's a very solid example of its genre and achieves what it sets out to do. I liked that Loreli is 35 and Jake is perhaps a little younger; it's a nice change from the "18 year old girl + mid-thirties man" pairing you get a lot in this genre (looking at you, Georgette Heyer). Both characters are settled into who they are, but they help each other grow. Jenkins is a skilled writer and I'd definitely read more by her. A friend who read a different BJ book told me she was a librarian, so that's probably why she's such a good writer. Her setting felt researched and rooted in history. Jake is a union man, and has to deal with both political parties giving African Americans the runaround despite promises made during/right after the Civil War (this book is set in 1884). Jenkins includes some of the history she mentions in the story in her author's note, as well as suggested sources for further reading on the topic of labor unions and African Americans. Love that! Hell yeah unions and librarians. 

Overall, this is a good, interesting and steamy historical romance novel about two people learning to parent and overcome their childhood wounds. I recommend it for anyone who likes this genre. 

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶
Read in: February 25
From: B&N Nook

Genres/classification: historical romance

Representation: African American/Black, poor, Loreli is biracial (Black and white), rural Midwestern; Black female author

Tropes (spoiler-y): that thing I already mentioned where she's headstrong and tempestuous and he's like >:( about it, opposites attract, experienced heroine, virgin hero; one of them's uninhibited about sex and the other's repressed, good man who keeps his word (she finds that hot), marriage of convenience, "it's only a temporary arrangement", catching feelings during a practical arrangement, instant family (kinda), "I'm just here for the children", that Maria/Captain Von Trapp vibe. you know what I mean, "I can't fall in love with them because this is a temporary arrangement/he's going to find someone else", this house needs a woman's touch, that thing where a rich person solves everyone else's problems with money, someone from a character's past appears, someone objects during the wedding after "speak now or forever hold your peace", "I must leave in order to protect those I love, because while I'm with them, they're in danger", surprise pregnancy trope. This pairing has Taming of the Shrew vibes but luckily she's never tamed, he just gets over himself and goes along with her

Trigger warnings: racism, murder, kidnapping, sex shaming/whorephobia, a character was raped as a young teen (past, not described), extortion/ransom, past parent death, trauma, a character has a phobia of horses due to seeing someone be killed by a horse, an adult verbally abuses children and threatens them with corporal/physical punishment, sexism, terrible judgy pastor, religious abuse, past financial abuse if you squint, infidelity mentions, betrayal, corruption