A Justified Love Affair. Kimberly Brown. 2024. 295 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] The Santiago family returns in this sequel to The Expiration Date. In it, Emmanuel Santiago finds himself excited by a chance meeting with Racine Bradley at his brother’s coffee tavern. She’s unhappily and unfortunately still married after catching her husband cheating on her in their own bed. She turns to the coffee tavern as a retreat, but it leads to a great opportunity to connect. When she starts to give her estranged husband a taste of his own medicine, Emmanuel is the perfect person for the job. Emmanuel and Racine have an immediate – and intense – chemistry that comes through immediately.  He’s known as a playboy, but their entanglement brings out a side of him that is unfamiliar to those closest to him. It’s clear that Racine doesn’t fall into the same treatment as his situationships, one night stands, etc. This makes for tons of jokes at his and Racine’s expense, luckily from a place of love and affection, if not admiration for her potentially slowing him down a bit.  Nonetheless, at times it feels like so much of a whirlwind that it may be harder for…

Deep in My Soul. Kimberly Brown. 2023. 304 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] The second installment with the Jareau family returns with a deeper dive into a situation first presented in Where Love Blooms. Cartel Jareau has been drawn Adina Harold since he intervened when her husband made a scene in his restaurant a year prior. Adina’s trapped in a toxic, abusive relationship to Dominic, and can’t find her way out. Nonetheless, Cartel remains at the ready to support her, and remains an attentive friend in the meantime. When he literally saves her life after yet another attack from Dominic, it seems like he might finally have his chance to prove that he can be the partner and protector Adina needs. Unfortunately, Adina’s recovery is anything but smooth, and Dominic isn’t so quick to give up his wife. He remains ever present but in the shadows, making sure Adina, Cartel, and the Jareau family know he won’t be easy to get rid of. His character is that of a true villain; unfortunately, he was just as cunning and connected. There’s definitely a dramatic tension where he’s concerned, but it was balanced with a predictable anticipation for me. While reading, I could…

The Expiration Date. Kimberly Brown. 2023. 230 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] Serial dater Audrey has a fool-proof system for breaking up with men. On her “expiration dates,” she takes them to her favorite coffee tavern where she can let them down easy and enjoy a spiked hot cocoa for her troubles. That “foolproof” plans works great … until it doesn’t. Sullivan “Sully” Santiago is more than familiar with Audrey’s reputation, having seen it in action for months. And while he’s content to let it continue, he’s not going to let Audrey’s inability to commit mess with his money.  He walked away from an executive level position at the coffee business that made his family billionaires, damaging his relationship with his father in the process. Failure isn’t an option, which Audrey learns the hard way when she gets kicked out after an “expiration date” goes wrong. A chance meeting brings them back into each others’ orbit and the two explore what feels like instant chemistry. All seems to go well until misinterpretation and miscommunication land Audrey with another yet expiration date. Unfortunately, the cut isn’t so clean and the two eventually find their way back to each other with a surprise…

Daddy’s Maybe. Denise Essex. 2023. 197 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] This book was messy as hell. That’s not a terrible thing; it just comes with the territory when the main characters have to live out the adage, “mama’s baby, daddy’s maybe.” Destiny Cooper has settled into a quiet life in her small hometown. She has a career that’s rewarding and three loveable kids, which she holds onto to balance out that she’s accepted the reality of her marriage to a habitually unfaithful man.  Things are shaken up when her high school flame returns home, moving in across the street with his wife and son.  Xavier Grant had no reason to return to Tinsville, but an unexpected – and impossible to pass – opportunity brings him and his family back to face his skeletons, both known and unknown.  With a wife who is going stir-crazy and a son looking for connections after being uprooted, the last thing he needs is a wrench that changes everything he thought he knew about his own past. What sets this book apart is how realistic this plot is. I personally know people whose lives closely mirror the situation Destiny and Xavier found themselves in, and…

Where’s the Fun in Forever. Ashley. 2023. 98 page. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] A vacation fling always makes for a fun, and hopefully enticing, story. In Where’s the Fun in Forever, Moira and Chance find themselves vacationing on a beautiful Hawaiian island and connect through a series of extremely unfortunate events. While they’re away from home hoping to escape the drudgery of their daily lives, they also can’t seem to stay out of each other’s paths. Both decide to take a chance (no pun intended) to open themselves up to new adventures and experiences, and the result is a passionate fling neither expects to extend to the mainland. Of course things are rarely that simple, so the core of this story is about what brought the two to Hawaii in the first place and later questions what’s next for the pair. Much of the focus is on Moira — her backstory, her relationships, and her changing needs. This isn’t to say that Chance was completely ignored, but he wasn’t given the same depth of backstory or character development she was. At times, it felt that Chance was more of a driver for Moira’s growth and it wasn’t always reciprocated in his…