Summer Term, by Molly Ringle

Summer Term by Molly Ringle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Paige Huntley, a grad student teaching a summer course, is surprised to see film star Aidan Grey on her class roster. She's getting over a broken engagement, and has been thinking a lot lately (maybe a little too much!) about her urbane dissertation adviser, the attractive but married Stefan Serovinak. The last thing she needs is the distraction that comes with having an attractive celebrity in her class. But as summer term unrolls, she finds there's something about Aidan that she didn't expect, and begins to find hard to resist. Aidan has come home to the remote college town where he grew up to finish his degree and figure out if he's as enthused about this whole Hollywood thing as he once thought. Meeting the attractive, down to earth and clever Paige was definitely not on his syllabus. Take these ingredients, stir in some stalkerazzi fans, a pushy agent, and a great cast of side characters, plunk them down on a sleepy summer college campus, and you have a charming, funny, sometimes suspenseful, and very satisfying light romantic novel.



For some reason this book makes me think of a lovely German wine - light, sweet but not cloying, with many classic, familiar elements, but still fresh and original. It's definitely a Qualitatswein mit Pradikat - a superior wine with special qualities. The characters are maybe a little too good to be true (that's one sensitive and understanding movie star, you've got yourself there, Paige!), but isn't that part of the fantasy fun, really? There is definitely some toe curling mclovin' going on, too - this is def an adult romance, and there's a bit more of the old je'ne sais quoi going on than in the YA I'm used to reading (wow, what you girls are getting up to these days!), but it's sweet and intense and conveys so nicely the dizzying, overwhelming emotions that engulf our mc's and catapult them into and out of each others arms, even against their better judgment and common sense. And isn't that what love is supposed to do?



View all my reviews

Double Clutch, by Liz Reinhart

Double Clutch by Liz Reinhardt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When I realized that I'd used the word "smexy" in several of my last few reviews I started worrying that maybe I was using it wrong. I decided I'd better look it up on Urban Dictionary, and whoa, right next to it was a picture of Brenna Blixen, the MC of this romantic dramarama. This is Brenna's story, and she is quite a girl. After spending a year in Denmark with her mom & stepdad (he's Danish, bit of a backstory) she returns to her old school in New Jersey, but she's changed. Something about her - her sense of herself, her style, her emotional maturity? sets her apart from her classmates, but also makes her irresistible to two guys she meets on the very first day of school. Yes, it's one of those "torn between two hot guys" books, and man Liz Reinhardt knows how to bring that old song to life. Both of the boys are pretty swoon-worthy, and Brenna, while drawn to nice guy Jake despite his sketchy past, is also unable to put snarky, sexy Saxon out of her mind. Brenna has lots to deal with besides the boys, two former best friends who now inexplicably hate each other - school, her t-shirt business, the track team, and her Mom's sensitive attention (she's determined Brenna won't make the same mistake she did, the one that resulted in Brenna). She manages to squeeze in some super sexy times with Jake (yowza, Louisiana hot sauce warning!) and to get to the bottom of the emnity between the two guys. This isn't really a plot book, though, it's a character and emotions book, and by the time the last page rolls around you are so infused with both that you almost have to shake it off to rejoin the real world. I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to more Brenna (yes, there's a teaser chapter for the sequel). This is a self published e-book, and delivers great reading value for a reasonable price. It's the kind of book that gives self-pub a good name!



View all my reviews

A Little Less Girl, by Tess Oliver

A Little Less Girl by Tess Oliver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


MC Dani and her mom have moved from California to a small town (in the midwest?), and Dani hopes to leave her mom's sketchy past and even sketchier boyfriends behind them for a "normal" life. The move is tinged with sadness, though, because they've inherited their new home from Amy's grandmother. Grammie died shortly after Dani's cousin Amy committed suicide when Jake West, the boy Amy obsessively crushed on, made some hurtful remarks about her. Dani wants to hate Jake, but begins to realize things weren't what they seem as, with the help of Amy's diary, she begins to figure out what really happened to her beloved cousin.



This is a good read, with intense emotions, a bit of mystery and many charming characters. Dani is maybe a little to good to be true, but still comes across as real, tender and tough, and deserving of better than what she's got so far. Jake - super swoonworthy, not just because of his looks, but also his thoughtfulness and vulnerability. The other side characters, especially Dani's mom, are interesting and fun, and add dimensionality and depth. This was a fun, fast read (I started it this morning and worked all day, so ...) and is hard to put down. It is pretty much a romance, with all of the attendant Pride & Prejudice and Wuthering Heights allusions one could hope for. I liked the discussion of Lord of the Flies, it was relevant to the plot, and also helped with the development of the characters' relationship. I always think it's fun when a book does that.



View all my reviews

June of Rock, by Elisa Ludwig

June of Rock by Elisa Ludwig

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this quite a bit, somewhat to my surprise, since June started out as a self-admitted bit of a hostile b. Her acknowledgement of that, and her attempts to move past it, are kind of a charming part of the story, as she becomes more accepting of what is really going on with her, her relationships, her fantasies about her Dad returning, and her attempts to make her rock fantasies become real. I went to a rock/guitar camp a few years ago, and although I'm not a teenage girl (obvs), June's experiences rang true to the vibe of the weird social microcosm these places are. By the end of the story I was empathizing with and rooting for June, who it turns out really is a pretty cool, if somewhat mixed up person. June is a drummer, in a book by a Ludwig, pretty cool note there for a Beatles fan!



View all my reviews