The Chemistry of Love. Sariah Wilson. 2023. Montlake. 347 pages. [Source: personal copy.] The Chemistry of Love was a no-brainer for me to check-out. I love a good fake relationship trope, and this one seemed especially messy.  Anna is a mousy cosmetic chemist who feels stuck in a role that doesn’t allow her to explore her innovative ideas for beauty products.  Instead, she’s stuck pining over one of her bosses, hoping he’ll figure out that she’s in love with him. Lucky for her, he’s got an older brother who’s the CEO of the company. One who’s hatched a plan to fake a relationship with Anna in a play against his competitive nature … for the sake of business, naturally. Sadly, my initial impressions of Anna were negative. In fact, I spent a nice chunk of the book actively disliking her, and questioning exactly how delusional she was for her views toward Craig. She also lacked assertion in her relationships at work and home, which made her come across as unreasonably weak and insecure. But what stood out to me was her obsession with her company CEO. She frequently references being in love with him, but she’d only had one substantive…

Where Love Blooms. Kimberly Brown. 2022. b. love publications. 284 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] The debut book of the Jareau Family novels starts with the eldest son, Jamison. A father of four, he was widowed at the birth of his youngest son. After more than two years of struggling as a single parent, he finally gives in by hiring a live-in nanny. All he expects is to get some live-in help in managing a household with four kids; what he gets is a battle to fight his attraction to his new, beautiful, nanny Aliveyah. This is certainly a trope I’ve seen (and enjoyed before), but it’s not super cliche here. There’s the obvious question around integrity of sleeping with your boss, but to her credit, Aliveyah is a professional focused on what’s best for the children involved. She’s great for them, readily stepping into a mother-ish role for the three older girls, and a mother figure for the toddler who has never known a mother. In her role, she also has to balance Jamison’s late wife’s own family in addition to Jamison’s — these interactions provide depth to the story as it confronts the grief that Jamison and his kids…

New Year, New Ci. Nicole Falls. 2021. 269 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] Usually when people say “new year, new me,” there’s a lot of personal agency at play. You know, someone wants a new job and they’ve started planning. Or they want to move and start shopping neighborhoods. Cienna doesn’t have that same fortune. Instead, her career and relationship implode unexpectedly, leaving her heading into the new year with more uncertainty than ever before. New Year, New Ci does have a heavy focus on Cienna’s dating life, but it’s very much about how she rebuilds not just her life, but herself. More aptly, though, it shines a light on how she sometimes gets in the way of her own success — something I think most folks can relate to on some level. She’s a great example of “once bitten, twice shy,” and while it’s easy to understand why she’s like that, it’s still disappointing to watch. So the idea of crafting a “new Ci” is critical to her moving forward with her great new life. The book is, of course, filled with drama between friends, family, coworkers, etc. Nicole Falls doesn’t disappoint when it comes to creating a story that…

Continuum. Danielle Allen. 2021. The Art of Being. 176 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] There’s nothing quite like a youthful, unrequited infatuation. Aisha spent a year tutoring Kwame in college stats, only to graduate without having the opportunity to express her true feelings for him. A chance encounter nearly two decades later, however, gives her a chance to finally act on desires she’d long put behind her. Continuum takes place over only a few days, but it packs a lot in. While Aisha and Kwame reacquaint themselves, they explore how life has impacted them along the way. Everything from career growth, death of loved ones, and failed relationships plays a part in who they’ve grown to be, and it’s compelling to see the two of them navigate trading in the old Aisha and Kwame for who they’ve matured into. No romance would be complete without drama, and Continuum has plenty. Aisha’s an attractive woman on the dating scene, and Kwame’s a catch in his own right. Others don’t necessarily see the two as a match and don’t shy away from making their opinions and intentions known. Things are further complicated by the reality that Aisha and Kwame live halfway across the…

The Unbroken Rose. Christina C. Jones. 2020. Warm Hues Creative. 166 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] I’ve been waiting for Dacia’s story. She was introduced in Deuce’s Wild, and the sliver of her experience detailed in that book was shocking and sickening. The Unbroken Rose catches up with her while in the process of adjusting to life outside The Garden. She’s building her relationship with her sister Alicia, and figuring out what will come next for her. What she doesn’t expect is to run into the person she was closest to while she was inside The Garden, who also happens to be someone she might not want to get away from. Dacia is a somewhat complicated character. She’s sometimes perceived as sheltered by her familial connections but also broken by her experiences. While she is certainly healing from trauma, she’s also tougher and more in control than she gets credit for. To that end, some of the relationships she wants to foster are complicated by her need to gain independence and really define life on terms she can be at peace with. The introduction of Isaiah as a former Thorn and acquaintance of Dacia’s provides both sexual tension and conflict with…