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Happy Thursday, lovers! How many hours of Disney backlist have you watched so far? (I have to admit, at the time of writing this, I have watched zero. But believe me, I’m looking forward to the chance to watch tons. My Disney OTP? Goliath and Demona. All the way.)
Over on Book Riot
Do you like comics? You should check out these cute, swoony ones. (I will personally vouch for My Boyfriend is a Bear, which I recognized from the two panels listed and love with all my heart.)
Lily always reads the acknowledgements, for the same reason many of us do as well.
Do you know how many romance novels started out as NaNoWriMo projects? I don’t either, but here are some books that did (not all romance, but definitely interesting to know).
Need some good autumn spirit? I live in the desert, and definitely miss the leaf-changing of my youth during the months that end in brrr (I’m sorry, that was terrible.)
If you’re a Goodreads user (or just a data nerd) this is an interesting dive into the platform and its future.
Deals
We’ve seen a lot of “marriage-in-trouble” books recently, but the first one I remember reading is Day of the Duchess, which is more of a second chance romance since the pair is estranged and far beyond “in trouble”. The third in the Scandal & Scoundrel series (I do love Sarah MacLean’s series titles), this one harkens back to happenings in the first, The Rogue Not Taken, in which that book’s protagonist pushes her brother-in-law into a fountain. Pond? Something. Said brother-in-law is the groveling husband in this one, trying to get his wife to fall back in love with him. He does it in a really stupid way, but I mean, he’s trying, right? The pair of them are ridiculous. But those two were my first married couple, and they have a special place in my heart. CW for discussion of past emotional abuse and a magical infertility cure.
New Books!
This has been another great week for new releases! I’ve got a couple that I’m really excited for you to read, and some others that I hope to read soon.
Not the Girl You Marry
Andie J. Christopher
It’s not often that I flailingly, excitedly recommend books that I personally Did Not Finish, but this is going to be one of those books. A gender-swapped retelling of the movie How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, this book is the perfect kind of romcom: great writing, witty dialogue, and great character depiction and development, with some steamy sexytimes as a bonus. But as I sat there flying through the pages, I got about halfway through when I just stopped, unable to pick it back up after a little break. I’d forgotten that the hardest part of the movie to watch for me was act two, when Andie and Ben really amp up their deception game in the process of reaching their own personal ends. It was when Not the Girl reached that stage—when both Hannah and Jack have started repeating to themselves how bad they feel about deceiving the other person—that I started to slow down. I love a good fake relationship story, but I need both people to know that it isn’t a real one. So both people thinking the other one thinks it’s real is a dealbreaker for me. But it was so good! Hannah is amazing, Jack is amazing, all their friends and family are amazing; Andie’s storytelling is amazing. If you don’t have a serious liar squick, I’m pretty sure you’ll love it.
I also tore through Ruby Lang’s Open House in a number of hours, having started reading it around 11pm under the assumption that I would just read a few chapters. Fast-forward to 1:45 and I’m reading the Author’s Note and smiling at my pillow. I’d never read anything quite like it before, and it definitely lives up to the first in the series, Playing House. Magda (the realtor showing the house “Ollie and Darling” sort of…break…in the first book) has two tough jobs on her hands: the first is to sell the multimillion dollar brownstone her uncle can’t seem to let go of. The second involves selling an empty lot nearby…except it’s not empty at all; in fact, it’s filled to the brims with a thriving community garden. She and the garden’s tenders—including the very attractive Ty—don’t start off on a very good foot, and she doesn’t know what she can do to help them. Also, she keeps running into Ty and their attraction isn’t going away. At all.
It’s so good, y’all.
Here are some other new releases I’m happy to check out:
No Whisk No Reward by Ellie Kay (I just love all these Smartypants covers)
A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas by Jackie Lau
Eight Kisses (a holiday anthology)
Changing Course by Brey Willows
Someone Seeking Someone Else by Nicole Falls
Back to September by Melissa Brayden
Christmas Blues by Leigh Jarrett
Just Down the Hall by Alessandra Thomas
As usual, catch me on Twitter @jessisreading or Instagram @jess_is_reading, or send me an email at wheninromance@bookriot.com if you’ve got feedback, bookrecs, or just want to say hi!