As you may have noticed, I lost my blogging energy for several months. I became Director of a public library, signed on to an ALA awards committee and hey, my home country is in crisis. No promises going forward, but here are some overdue reviews of FIVE Red Tower romantasy series-starters I read in the last few months.

Below I talk about Games Gods Play, Bloodguard, The Last One, The Never List and The Half King. A couple of duds and three I enjoyed! I didn't make content notes as I read, but most do have darker themes or scenes.

Ratings are based on whether or not I recommend them to fellow readers -  DNF (Did Not Finish), Pass, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), Read It, Read It Soon.

Title: The Friendship Study
Author:

• Ruby Barrett

Heat: NSFW
Genre(s): Romance Contemporary
Tropes: Friends to Lovers Nerdy Heroine Forced Proximity
Tags: f-m bisexual queer history of trauma disabled character firefighter academic professor

Where to Buy or Read:Amazon (affiliate)  Libro.fm  Goodreads

Synopsis from the Creator: Jesse Logan doesn’t want a fresh start. He wants his old life back—before an injury made his career as a firefighter impossible, before his grandfather’s Alzheimer’s got so bad he doesn’t recognize Jesse anymore. When a friend tells him about a paid psychological study, Jesse sees it as a chance to get back to the man he was while making a little extra cash.
All Lulu Banks is asking for is a fresh start. Back home after a devastating breakup, she’s struggling to find her place. She’s always been a lot—too loud, too eager, too obvious about her feelings. The friendship study seems like a great idea…until she’s paired with Jesse Logan, who recently ghosted her after a blind date that led to a steamy make-out session.
Now that old familiar tension is back. Despite the program’s strict “no romance” rule, Jesse and Lulu are quick to find a work-around that allows them to explore their tenuous connection. And soon they’re on their way to total self-improvement…
As long as they don’t get caught.

After their mutual friend sets them up on a date that leads to a great kiss and nothing else, Jesse and Lulu independently sign up for a social study meant to find out why millennials struggle to make friends as adults and how to help them do so. One rule: they're not allowed to have sex with other participants. Naturally, our two leads fall head over heels and try (not that hard TBH) not to hook up with each other.

A few months ago, I was offered a copy of a book that's essentially catnip for me: The Court of Shadows, by Victor Dixen, out today! This is a long review, so here's the quick version:

We've been fans of Felicia Grossman's books since the beginning, but I think she's outdone herself with Marry Me by Midnight. Since the death of her father, businesswoman Isabelle's place in the family surety business is at risk. She needs to marry, but she also needs to make sure the man she gives that much control to won't steamroll her or squander her money. Fending off the advances of the Barab brothers, who own the other half of the business, she hatches a plan: she'll hold a series of balls at which she will entertain suitors from the Jewish community... and pick one by midnight at the final ball.

These mini-reviews are all second-chance contemporary romances. Those of you who know my reading preferences might be surprised to learn that I liked and recommend all of them. One of them is maybe cheating a bit, but I'll get to that in the post.

I read all four of these in the last month and have determined I require most of the following criteria:

• A convincing reason the couple separated.
• That obstacle must be surmountable and not something that will come up again. If they've already broken up once, I will not settle for a Happy for Now ending.
• Equal amounts of suffering for both characters. I hate when one character has been miserable for a decade and the other was happily pursuing their dreams. (If both are happy in the interim, that's fine!)
• Some kind of flashbacks or enough exposition that we get a good feel for the foundation of their relationship. This is my preference for novellas, too.

 With those very me-specific requirements in mind, here are my reviews of Jana Goes Wild, Happy Place, The Seven Year Slip and Snow Place like LA! I also wrote about Julie Soto's debut, Forget Me Not back in May and I think the same list above applies to that book, which is probably why it worked so well for me.

Ratings are based on whether or not I recommend them to fellow readers -  DNF (Did Not Finish), Pass, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), Read It, Read It Soon.

I pitched this book to one of my reading Discord servers as "if Jessie Mihalik wrote erotic romance." I didn't mention that the FMC reminded me of Inara from Firefly, but that too!

An adjunct professor and a widower find love behind the bar in Mickey Chambers Shakes It Up.  Charish Reid is an auto-buy/auto-read author for me because of her skill with character building, humor and tension. I was a little hesitant to pick this up because I don't enjoy books with lots of alcohol, but I'm happy to report this book strikes just the right balance by focusing on the workplace dynamics rather than endless descriptions of alcoholic drinks. If that's a concern for you, have no fear! I would put this in the same category as Natalie Caña's stellar debut, A Proposal They Can't Refuse, but with more heat.

Ratings are based on whether or not I recommend them to fellow readers -  DNF (Did Not Finish), Pass, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), Read It, Read it Soon.