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Recent Romantic Reads
4
items I've started reading again after years of not doing so regularly. I was never a Romance reader, however I've picked up a few and … have kinda really liked them (,,>﹏<,,) ! While you can shop the list earning me a little commission in the process, I'd highly encourage you to check the books out from your local library (you can even do so digitally).
Avi is in the army and visiting home, Tallgrass, Oklahoma, for a few weeks before heading to her next assignment. She strikes up a summer fling with Dr. Ben Noble, her mother's best friend's son. While Avi's family is close to Ben's mother, he and his mother's relationship is strained, of course causing a little tension between he and Avi. The relationship moves a little fast, after all Avi's in town for only part of the summer, but I found this an easy read. The descriptions of Oklahoma in the summer had me wanting to be reading while sipping an iced tea on a shaded porch swing. This is book 4 in a series, but reading out of order was no problem; it's actually got me wanting to read the others. The story didn't end how I would like, but it was an ending I can live with. My only gripe is that the author tries too hard to get us to like Ben's mother, even though he has every right to keep her at a distance.
A Promise of Forever (Tallgrass Series #4)
If you read The Pumpkin Spice Cafe and had mixed feelings about it, like I did, you may like the second book in the Dream Harbor Series much better. I'm 70% through the book and have found myself groaning and eye-rolling much less than I did reading the first. I've found myself not wanting to put it down. Maybe I like it because Hazel Kelly is much like me, approaching 30 years old, working the same job since high school, and feeling like she didn't live her 20s to the fullest. Thankfully, seemingly random books in the shop keep popping up defaced, which 25 year old Noah, the town's tatted fisherman, thinks are actually clues to a scavenger hunt he is more than happy to help Hazel solve. This is perfect for reading at the end of Summer when the weather is beginning to turn to Fall. There's even an accompanying Spotify playlist to set the vibes. This is a spicy book, however the spice doesn't seem misplaced and unnecessary like in The Pumpkin Spice Cafe….well for the most part…thus far.
The Cinnamon Bun Book Store (Dream Harbor, #2) by Laurie Gilmore
Wow! Short , yet powerful. The relationship forms quickly and unexpectedly, making you reflect on how brief relationships, and life in general, are and how they're often unappreciated. It makes you question why and how certain attractions and relationships form, why we do or don't do things even when we really want to, and it provides no answer because that's life. I highly recommend.
Brokeback Mountain
I've seen the show, but I've never read the manga, which I heard has more to it than the show. If you haven't seen the show, watch it. Should you read it before you watch? I'm not sure, but I'm sure it's great either way. Two 20 year-old girls are moving from their small towns to the big city. Both happen to be named Nana. Both have boyfriends that moved to Tokyo a year or more before them. The story follows their maturation in careers, life, and love.
Nana, Vol. 1