Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that your April reading month is off to a great start.  I have a lot of ARCs to review this month, which wasn’t great planning on my part since April is also a huge deadline month for me at work, but we’ll see how it goes. Today I’m sharing reviews for two really great romance reads. One is from an author I’ve been enjoying for a while now, and the other is a wonderful debut.

 

The Plus One (A Brush with Love, #3) Goodreads

Author: Mazey Eddings

Publication Date: April 4, 2023

Publisher:  St. Martin’s Griffin

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

 

The Plus One is the third book in Mazey Eddings’ A Brush with Love series and like its predecessors, this book features complex, well drawn characters who are dealing with relatable real life issues, working on their mental health, and who just happen to stumble upon love when they least expect it.

When we meet Indira, she has just caught her boyfriend in a sticky situation involving another woman and a jar of peanut butter.  Disgusted, Indira grabs her stuff and storms out.  She decides to move in with her brother Colin, who is busy planning his wedding. Indira figures she can help him with the planning while she regroups and starts looking for a place of her own.  She doesn’t realize until she arrives on Colin’s doorstep that Colin’s best friend, and Indira’s archnemesis, Jude is also in town and is staying there.  Needless to say, Indira is not very excited. At first anyway…

I love a good enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity story so I was practically giddy as Indira and Jude were forced to awkwardly interact on a regular basis.  I also immediately became invested in both characters finding their way to some kind of happy ending since it’s obvious that both of them are dealing with some heavy stuff.  Indira is a psychiatrist who is questioning her ability to effectively help her patients, while her own mental health isn’t where she thinks it should be, thanks to her cheating ex. Jude is a doctor who has spent the past several years traveling the globe to treat patients in need in war torn areas that are facing humanitarian crises.  When Jude and Indira reunite, Jude is practically a shell of himself and is clearly suffering from PTSD because of all that he has seen on the job.  I loved that their shared history, even if they were sworn enemies in the past, gave them both the comfort they needed to cope while all of the pre-wedding shenanigans were taking place.  They even agree to fake date so people will leave them alone, which I particularly enjoyed since it gave them even more time to get reacquainted and realize their feelings for one another go well beyond hate at this point.

While The Plus One is the third book in the A Brush With Love series, it will definitely work as a standalone, although I personally recommend reading the other two books since we reunite with beloved characters since they’re all part of the same friend group.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys heartfelt romances that feature tropes like friends to lovers, forced proximity, fake dating, and brother’s best friend and I also recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories that normalize people seeking help when they are struggling with their mental health.  4 STARS

 

The Nanny Goodreads

Author: Lana Ferguson

Publication Date: April 11, 2023

Publisher: Berkley Books

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

 

Don’t let the cute cartoon cover on this one fool you – if you’re looking for a heartfelt romance that knows how to bring the heat, look no further than The Nanny by Lana Ferguson!

Cassie is a young woman trying to put herself through college.  She has no support from her family, so in an effort to make money in a way that fits into her busy school schedule, Cassie starts an OnlyFans account (or a “boobycam” as her hilarious elderly neighbor calls it).  When she gets too close to one of her anonymous fans, Cassie pulls the plug on her account.  She struggles to find and keep a job after OnlyFans until she finally lands a gig as a live-in nanny.

Aiden is an executive chef at a popular local restaurant.  He loves his job but it makes raising his 9-year-old daughter, Sophie, a challenging endeavor, especially since Sophie excels in running off nannies if she doesn’t like them.  Aiden is desperate for help and when Cassie applies for the job, he practically begs her to take it.

Aiden and Cassie are clearly attracted to each other from their first in person meeting. The more Aiden watches Cassie try to win over Sophie, the more he cares about her, while the more Cassie watches Aiden trying to be the best dad he can for Sophie, the more she cares about him too.  As the two grow closer and things start to really heat up between them, Aiden tells a story that Cassie has heard before…on OnlyFans!…and she realizes that Aiden is actually the fan that she grew too close to when she was on that site.  Awkward!

I really enjoyed how all of the elements of this story came together, from the super steamy scenes between Cassie and Aiden to the more innocent and adorable family moments between Aiden, Cassie, and Sophie.  I was just so invested in the three of them becoming a family and was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how things would play out once Aiden finally realized that he and Cassie have a very intimate history together.

I highly recommend The Nanny to anyone who enjoys romances that feature forced proximity, workplace romances, sizzling bedroom scenes, with a healthy side of family moments to round things out. 4 STARS