Books Added
Books Read
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Well, considering I was missing in action for the greater part of the week (family issues) it didn’t stop me adding to my reading mountain. A boxed set of 4 audio-books for a fantastic 99p courtesy of my recently re-joined Audible sub started the ball rolling. I then had a fabulous week for freebies until I rounded the week off with another boxed set. A further bargain at 99p on pre-order for a set of 3 summer romances from Sue Moorcroft. So, 18 titles in total for £1.98, that helps boost the book budget ahead of my forthcoming summer book events. I just need to make sure I don’t splurge before then!
On the reading front, being away meant 3 days with no cycling which ate into my reading time. You could argue that I was sat on a train for longer than I’d have been on my bike, but I can’t seem to settle when I’m on a train. As my journey involves 3 of them, I get very antsy and spend more of my time, using the dodgy train wi-fi to browse. This probably accounts for my acquisitions this week! I could have used the time to be productive on the blog expect for some reason the train wi-fi deems WordPress to be insecure and won’t access it. Anyway, that said I still read four which wasn’t too bad.
I started with a welcome return to Polkerran last weekend, ahead of my publication day review during the week. I then made headway into my Kindle Unlimited list. I add to this and wait until I get a subscription offer so I can then binge my way through it. So, as Amazon let me re-join again at 99p for 3 months, my reading going forward will largely be from that list. As a result expect to see a lot of ice-hockey gods and cowboys as I’ve got several series to read my way through. The offer coincided with the publication of the latest of Britannee Nicole’s Boston Bolts Hockey series. Playboy did not disappoint, ‘Baby Hall’ is the sweetest, in this age gap romance – where he is the youngest. He is now competing with his teammate ‘War‘ for my Bolts Book Boyfriend of the Year award. After hockey, it was back to the ranch with the first in Jessica Peterson’s Lucky River Ranch series. Cash is one grumpy cowboy, (though with good reason) and the pain in his side is his new ‘boss’. He’s the manager of Lucky Ranch, a ranch he’d been led to believe would be his when his former boss died, unfortunately, his will dictated otherwise. What ensues is a battle of wills, that sees both sides re-evaluating their views as they get to know each other. I lapped it other and so I’ll definitely be catching up with the rest of the Rivers brothers. My final read, was a return to Never Harbour to catch up with the Davies brothers. I’d downloaded and read the first in the series but as I’ve now got KU I can read the rest. So Out With the Tide features Cassidy and his blossoming relationship with Marina, his new found roommate. It was a lovely read, with no real 3rd act break up, just a bit of a bump in the road.
I’m looking forward to seeing what this week brings. I know I’ve got to leave my book boyfriends behind to read this month’s book club choice, so you’ll be hearing whether it was worth it next week!
Books Added
Small Town Single Dads by Kristen Proby (a four book audio bundle 99p)
Here are FOUR full length novels from New York Times Bestselling Author Kristen Proby, all featuring some of her swooniest single dads!
- Wild for You – Narrated by Sebastian York and Emma Wilder
- Courage – Narrated by Stephen Dexter and Erin Mallon
- Flirt With Me – Narrated by Connor Crais and Stella Bloom
- Already Gone – Narrated by Lee Samuels and Kirsten Leigh
Summer with the Single Dad by Whitley Cox (free)
What happens when the stubborn island prince falls for the mysterious stranger with a secret?
Welcome to San Camanez, a humble, peaceful little island in the Puget Sound and home to the McEvoy brothers. Four sexy single fathers—and one childless snack with a beard—who run a brewpub on the beach, raise their kids together, and hope to find love and happiness in the chaos that is life.
This is Bennett’s story …
Single Dad and CFO, Bennett McEvoy, is determined to give his daughters a fun summer despite the money woes plaguing his family business. He needs the brewpub and cabins he owns with his brothers to be more prosperous than ever. Because right now, things are tight. His focus is on profit and sustainability. He doesn’t have time for the mysterious beauty in cabin five. But when her cabin floods, he insists she move into his house, because he absolutely does not want to see her go.
Dr. Justine Brazeau, a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, made a mistake and killed a patient. Clearly, she’s not cut out to practice medicine. But now, she has no direction or purpose. She’s lost. She’s sad. And she’s lonely. Well, not anymore since she’s living with Bennett, and he’s making it very difficult for her to figure out her future—that doesn’t involve him without a shirt (or pants).
Can Bennett make the money his family business needs this summer, and heal Justine’s guilty heart? Or is she too consumed with her own pain to see that together they are stronger, better, and a lot less broken?
Lost in You by Brenda Rothert (free)
I’ve got one job: protect the younger sister of my best friend and team captain. Then our private plane crashes in southern Alaska, and we’re the lone survivors.
The two of us are the unlikeliest of partners when we find ourselves stranded in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness. My hockey playing skills are of no use here, where the bitter cold is my new opponent. And Trinity Lorenzo? She’s about as warm as a block of ice. I get it, she’s fleeing an abusive boyfriend and she and I are strangers. But I always keep my word, and I promised Dalton I’d keep his prickly sister safe. If we want to live, the two of us will have to find a way to get along and work together.
Our ordeal draws Trinity and me closer, and fighting the pull between us becomes harder than anything we face while hoping for rescue. Whether we make it out or not, I need her. More than water or shelter—more than anything. Dalton will never forgive me if I cross the line with her, but surviving means something different now. Surviving means making her mine.
A Journey Spared by Alexandra Grace (free)
Three reasons. Two years. One epic journey.
All Jackson wanted after high school was to escape. The Marines were his ticket out—a chance to chase adventure, purpose, and freedom on his own terms. For eight years, he had everything he dreamed of.
But war doesn’t just shape men—it breaks them.
With two shattered legs and a medal that feels more like a cruel joke, Jackson is sent home to a life he doesn’t recognize and a past he tried to leave behind. Alone and trapped in an empty future, he’s losing the battle to reclaim himself.
Then Avery walks back into his life.
No longer the girl from his childhood with an unshakable crush, she’s now his physical therapist—tough, relentless, and determined to push him beyond his limits. With every milestone reached, she challenges him to believe in more than just survival. Somewhere along the way, she starts to look like the answer to questions he hasn’t dared to ask.
But love alone isn’t always enough to mend what’s broken. And if Jackson is ever going to stand on his own again, he may have to let go of more than he’s willing to lose.
Heart of a Champion by Kris Montforte (free)
He’s the last person I expected support from, but he’s my rider. I can’t be with him.
She needed my help when she was falling apart, when I was focused on only winning.
Can Sophia and Javi avoid the dynamic pull they have to each other?
Sophia Everett is a Technical Coordinator for a motorcycle racing team. She is living her best life, getting promoted and doing what she loves. Until her boyfriend dumps her wildly inappropriately after 2 years and then her mum passes away unexpectedly. Will she always feel this broken?
Javi Cordova is Infraction32’s rider and has the championship in his sights this season. Nothing is getting in his way of crossing the finish line as champion. Until he feels the pull of Sophia needing his support. Can he be there for her and keep his feelings to himself?
Do you love biker boys and track racing?
Into cute, cuddly and supportive characters who have great banter and red-hot chemistry?
Down for Aussie characters and settings for something a lil different?
Love a sports rom-com with a sprinkling of gut-wrenching tragedy?
This is nota dark romance or motorcycle club romance.
This is very much a light and fluffy romantic comedy. Perhaps a palette cleanser for my dark romance besties.
Between Then and Now by Patricia Prior (free)
It was supposed to be a fresh start. But the past doesn’t like being left behind.
I came to Hallow’s End to escape. To breathe. To finally be free of the expectations that have been crushing me for years. No deadlines, no boardrooms, no pretending to be someone I’m not. Just me, my paint-stained hands, and a quiet little cottage tucked away from the world.
And then there’s Ethan.
Steady, rugged, and good with his hands. The kind of man who doesn’t just walk into your life—he roots himself there, making it impossible to imagine a world without him in it. Watching him with his little sister, seeing the way he cares without hesitation, I start to wonder if maybe I was meant to find him.
But when the past comes knocking, I’m left with a choice—run again… or face it head on.
And if I do, I might lose the only man who’s ever made me feel safe.
Playbook by Rebecca Jenshak (free)
From USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Jenshak comes a standalone fake dating sports romance. This steamy, grumpy / sunshine football romance delivers a swoony and emotional happily ever after.
Brogan Six’s fan mail has been filling my mailbox for weeks. With every lipstick covered letter I receive, my irritation with him grows. And let’s not talk about the time I accidentally opened one of the packages to find someone had sent him their panties. Gross.
When I come face-to-face with my new nemesis, I expect to give him a piece of my mind and we’ll go our separate ways. Me to an empty mailbox and him to sift through his panty collection.
That is not what happens.
I don’t know if it was the booze, his clever wit, or if I was tricked (I’m sure I was tricked), but now I’m fake dating the Mavericks’ hot new rookie.
And I might just be the next woman to lose her panties to Brogan Six.
Ice to Meet You by Vicki Hilton (free)
Esmé Laurent is about to trade control for chaos—and maybe love.
Esmé thrives on order. Her Paris art gallery is her world—carefully curated, immaculately run, and entirely hers. But her structured life takes a sharp turn when Matteo Romano arrives. Her new assistant is everything she isn’t—playful, spontaneous, a little younger, and brimming with Italian charm.
Mentoring Matteo for six months is the price of securing a game-changing investment in her gallery. She expects a challenge. What she doesn’t expect is Matteo himself—a golden-retriever sweetheart who upends her perfectly organised life and makes her wonder if a little chaos might be exactly what she needs.
From snowy escapes in the Italian Alps to art-filled days in Paris, their unlikely partnership sparks more than just professional growth. Matteo is learning the ropes, but Esmé? She’s discovering a whole new side of herself—one willing to risk her heart for an adventure she never saw coming.
With her reputation on the line, will she fight to keep her world intact, or will Matteo unravel her in the most irresistible way?
Love Rekindled at the Bookstore by Skye Hudson (free)
Grace Carter thought she’d left Willowbrook—and her past—behind for good. But when heartbreak sends her back to her childhood home by the lake, she comes face-to-face with the one person she never truly let go of: Ben Jacobs, her childhood best friend turned first love. As Grace finds herself drawn back into the comforting embrace of small-town life, old feelings resurface, forcing her to confront the biggest question of all: Is Willowbrook still just a stop on her journey, or could it finally be home?
Welcome to Willowbrook, where love lingers like a warm summer breeze and second chances are as sweet as the town’s famous blueberry scones. If you love heartfelt reunions, small-town charm, and the kind of romance that feels like coming home, you’ll adore this story of love, hope, and new beginnings.
Life Derailed by Beth Merlin and Danielle Modafferi (free with Amazon First Reads)
A visionary AI program upends a woman’s love life and career in a moving, funny, and thought-provoking novel about connection, friendship and family, and the resilience of the human heart.
Remi Russell knows this playbook all too well. She’s seen it unfold five times over her six years at The Sophisticate, a once prominent but now struggling women’s magazine. So when the publication needs rescuing yet again, an intriguing new chief digital officer, Jason Ashbloome, arrives with a revolutionary plan beyond the usual workforce cuts. He proposes integrating MAUDE, an innovative AI software, to make the magazine more efficient. Remi fears she could lose her job to a machine, and worse, the magazine she loves might lose its humanity altogether.
As a recent widow whose heart has been as empty as her dating-app inbox, Remi takes MAUDE for a test drive and asks it to revamp her profile in the hopes of healing from the loss of her college sweetheart, who died three years earlier. Fueled by wine and bittersweet memories, she makes a plea to MAUDE (and the universe!) to help her find someone just like him. The AI-assisted update pays off big-time when she receives a message from Noah the next day. He embodies everything she’s been seeking—intelligence, humor, adventure, and altruism—and he’s ruggedly handsome to boot.
While her connection with Noah deepens, tensions at work escalate to a boiling point. Jason is determined to prove that AI can be as genuine as real people, while Remi strives to protect the very soul of The Sophisticate. But when a discovery about Noah’s true identity forces her to question everything she once believed, she must finally confront her own grief, embrace the unexpected bond she’s forming with the last person she ever expected, and find the courage to set a life derailed back on course.
The One That Got Away by Mike Gayle (free with Amazon First Reads)
From bestselling author Mike Gayle, a story about exes and how to get over them. Or not.
Reuben thought he’d spend the rest of his life with Beth, until she broke his heart six months ago. He’s not even remotely over her, so he’s devastated to hear she’s getting married—this weekend.
Now he’s faced with the ultimate question: what should he do on the day of the wedding? Grieve? Disrupt the ceremony? Or do everything in his power to pretend it’s not happening?
Enlisting the help of his friends, Reuben is all set to mark the occasion with distraction on a grand scale: Ferraris, champagne, and a VIP box at the races.
But on the morning of the Big Day, Reuben gets a phone call that not only derails his elaborate itinerary: it may well change his life completely…
Off the Record by Chelle Sloan (free)
When you’re a female sports reporter, you have to work twice as hard. Prove your worth. Show people that you belong in the room.
The pressroom. Not the bedroom.
Oops. And there’s my first mistake.
In my defense, resisting Hunter McAvoy is easier said than done.
Professional football insiders call him the hottest up-and-coming coach in the league. Gossip columns rate him as the sexiest coach in pro sports.
But only I know that when he kisses you, you feel it in every cell in your body.
At first, I was strong enough to not fall for his Southern drawl or piercing blue eyes. But when a man who’s hot enough to be on the cover of fashion magazines praises your football knowledge while also telling you how beautiful you are?
Yeah…I was a goner.
There’s just one problem: Coaches dating reporters is forbidden.
It’s a conflict of interest for both sides. If either of our employers found out what we’re doing, we could both lose our jobs in an instant.
It’s stupid. Reckless. We’re putting everything we’ve worked for on the line.
But when you fall in love, you risk it all.
Even if you have to love in secret.
Summer Romances Books 1-3 by Sue Moorcroft (99p pre-order due 28th April)
BOOK 1: THE WEDDING PROPOSAL: Elle Jamieson’s summer in Malta was meant to be carefree — until she finds she’s sharing a boat with Lucas Rose, the man who broke her heart. Sparks fly and tempers flare in close quarters. But both Elle and Lucas are about to discover that falling out of love is much harder than falling in love.
BOOK 2: NO STRINGS ATTACHED: When Honor Sontag’s life falls apart, she retreats to the English seaside — only to keep running into Martyn Mayfair at the worst possible moments. He’s sworn off complicated women, but there’s something about Honor he can’t ignore. As secrets emerge, they’ll both have to decide if love is worth the risk.
Book 3: WANT TO KNOW A SECRET?: Diane’s silver wedding anniversary doesn’t quite go to plan — her husband is in a helicopter crash and she discovers he’s been hiding a second family, and a secret fortune. Picking up the pieces, Diane finds an unexpected ally in her brother-in-law, James — funny, kind, and far more appealing than he should be. As the chaos settles and sparks start to fly, Diane realises this could be her chance to rewrite the love story she never saw coming.
Books Read
A Fresh Start at Polkerran Point by Cass Grafton
They’ve both been burned by love before, but will they take a second chance?
A year on from the demise of an unhappy marriage, Kate Stretton grabs the opportunity to move to the other end of the country and start afresh in Cornwall with her teenage daughter, Mollie. Unused to the slower pace of life, Kate leaps at the chance to take on Polkerran Point’s ailing annual arts and music festival.
Soon, though, she locks horns with local Rick Devonshire, the main sponsor for the festival. Rick’s marriage has fallen apart in spectacular fashion, and the last thing he needs is Kate pushing to go against the festival’s traditions.
Between unhelpful locals, taunting messages from her ex and trying to be present for her daughter, Kate’s life is rapidly spiralling out of her control. It will take the whole village to make the festival a success, but with her determination and growing friendship with Rick, she might just do it…
Playboy by Britannee Nicole
“In your dreams, Baby Hall.”
Older. Hotter. And way out of my league, Hannah Prescott has been my obsession since the moment she uttered those five simple words.
She thinks she’ll deter me by her dismissive attitude but her words only spur me on. I love a challenge and since Hannah is my literal dream girl, she’s worth putting in a bit of work.
Up until now everything in my life has come easy: hockey, women, friendships. Then Noah Harrison is traded to our team and my spot on the first line with my best friends is at risk. Suddenly Hannah is wearing his jersey and I realize I’ve got to act fast or risk losing my shot forever.
Fortunately for me, dreams do come true because though she only offers me one night, fate has other plans. She may have said she’ll never call me Daddy Hall, but the positive pregnancy test in her hand makes that impossible.
With my every dream within reach, I need to find a way to prove to Hannah that she’s the one for me and I’m so much more than a playboy.
Cash by Jessica Peterson
Butting heads leads to knocking boots for city girl Mollie Luck and grumpy cowboy Cash Rivers. . .
Mollie desperately needs new investment to keep her beloved cowboy boot company afloat, when she suddenly inherits her estranged father’s sprawling cattle ranch. The catch? Live on the ranch and successfully manage it for a year before she can access her inheritance.
Mollie can handle moving back to cowboy country but there’s one giant roadblock to her plan: the ranch’s gruff foreman, Cash Rivers. Never mind how good he looks in his Wranglers and chaps; he’s rude, growly, and wants Mollie gone. She’d fire him in a heartbeat, but she needs Cash and his strong hands to teach her the ropes.
Forced to work together, Mollie and Cash are soon having late-night conversations beneath the stars and dancing cheek-to-cheek at the local dive bar. To her surprise, Mollie finds herself falling in love with ranch life . . . and maybe with a certain handsome cowboy, too.
But with her company and everything she knows back in the city, Mollie never meant to stay forever. And you know what they say about cowboys: they may break horses, but they also break hearts.
Out with the Tide by Julie Olivia
This isn’t her idea of home, but she’s quickly becoming mine.
I’m Never Harbor’s neighborhood best friend. Along with being the middle child in a loud family of seven, I’m accustomed to being everything to everyone. But after moving into my new townhouse by the sea, my world has suddenly grown too quiet.
But then she moves back to town.
Marina Starkey is my landlord’s daughter with nowhere to go. She needs a place to stay for the summer, and thankfully I’m just the kind of guy to offer.
Hello there, new roommate.
She’s gorgeous and cheeky with a stubbornness that matches my own. (Don’t get me started on the shared bed situation.) Summer days pass in soft touches and afternoon swims, and my heart sinks deeper with every stroke.
I’m not a temporary fling kind of guy, and Marina has no intention of staying past the summer.
She doesn’t want to fall in love with her hometown, and I’m basically Mr. Never Harbor himself.
But my home is quickly becoming wherever I’m with her.
The Verdict
| Books Purchased | 18 |
| Books Read | 4 |
| Imbalance | -14 |
| Balance brought forward | 34.76 |
| Weekly budget | 10.00 |
| Total Spent | 1.98 |
| Balance carried forward | 42.78 |
