Reviews: MIXED SIGNALS & BRUTAL PRINCE

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Apologies if you tried to visit my blog this past week and it was down.  I’ve been dealing with some technical issues off and on this week and it’s always challenging to troubleshoot when you’re not super tech savvy. I finally reached out to my host provider yesterday and hope that the problem is now resolved.  Anyway, back to the books.  Today I’m sharing my thoughts on two very different romances, one sweet and one dark.  The main thing these two books have in common is that they are both being reissued by new publishers.

Mixed Signals (Lovelight) Goodreads

Author: B.K. Borison

Publication Date: August 1, 2023

Publisher: Berkley

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.  All opinions are my own.

Mixed Signals is the third installment in B.K. Borison’s Lovelight Farms series and it might just be my favorite yet.

Layla Dupree is the best baker in town, but while she may win when it comes to baked goods, she is having no luck whatsoever when it comes to her love life.  When we meet her, her latest date is such a disaster that the jerk actually ghosts her at the restaurant and sticks her with the bill. Layla is an absolute sweetheart and all she really wants is a nice guy who treats her right and makes her heart flutter.  What she doesn’t realize is that guy not only exists, but he has been coming to her bakery every day and ordering a single croissant just so that he has an excuse to interact with her as often as possible.

Caleb Alvarez has been in love with Layla forever but has never made his feelings known.  He is also an absolute golden retriever of a book boyfriend.  He’s currently working as a substitute teacher because he actually got fired from the police department for being too nice, haha. I really adored this guy and thought he was perfect for Layla from the moment we meet him.  When this story opens, Caleb runs into Layla after her disastrous date.  They chat, and after he shares with her that his love life is also a mess, the two of them come up with a plan to fake date for a month. Caleb’s goal is to renew Layla’s faith in men, and in exchange, Layla will rate Caleb’s dating game and give him pointers as needed.

Caleb and Layla’s time together is incredible. The entire time they’re going through with this platonic fake dating plan, it’s pretty clear they have amazing chemistry and that it gets harder and harder to fight that attraction.  We already know Caleb doesn’t want to, but what about Layla?  Isn’t Caleb exactly the kind of guy she has been dreaming of?

The perfect blend of sweet and spicy, Mixed Signals is a delightful small town, friends to lovers romance that will have you both swooning and smiling as you watch this sweetest of couples find their way to one another.  I loved coming back to Inglewild and Lovelight Farms again, and Layla and Caleb’s story just captured my whole heart. I really hope we get more books in this heartwarming series.  4 STARS

Brutal Prince (Brutal Birthright, #1) Goodreads

Author: Sophie Lark

Publication Date: July 25, 2023

Publisher:  Sourcebooks Bloom Books

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.  All opinions are my own.

Brutal Prince is the first book in Sophie Lark’s Brutal Birthright series.  This was my first time reading a mafia romance so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I was not at all disappointed.

The story follows Aida Gallo and Callum Griffin.  They are sworn enemies from rival mafia families, but when a mishap involving Aida sneaking into the Griffin home leads to an accidental fire and destruction of priceless property, the two families decide that the best way Aida can make amends for her mistakes is to enter into a fake marriage with Callum and thus build an alliance between the two families.  Everyone seems thrilled with the idea, that is except for Aida and Callum, who would much rather kill each other.

It took me a while to warm up to Callum.  He’s stiff, arrogant, and ruthless, and he’s downright abusive to Aida in their early scenes.  I liked Aida right away though. She’s fierce, scrappy, and much smarter than her own family gives her credit for being.  She also doesn’t put up with any of Callum’s abuse, dishing it back at him as fast as he can dole it out.  Even though it’s a bit darker than what I’m used to reading when I read romance, it was a wild ride and I did love to watch the sparks fly between then and I loved it even more once their relationship started to change.

I was expecting violence since this is a mafia romance, and while there is some, it was milder than what I had braced myself for, which was good for me.  What I wasn’t expecting though was for the story to be so fun, like I actually found myself laughing out loud at some of the hilarious pranks these two pulled on each other in the beginning of this forced relationship.

I’m not entirely convinced that mafia romance is for me since I’m a rom com girl at heart, but I cannot deny that Brutal Prince entertained me from start to finish and that I’m most definitely interested in continuing the series.  4 STARS