NEW SUMMER ROMANCE RELEASES| Are they worth the read?

[00:00:00]Hello, my name is Heather and welcome to the channel Bookables and welcome to some recent reads of books that I've read recently. So, I have five romance releases that have all come out this month that I have read and I'm going to let you know my thoughts on them. With these recent reads, I tell you what the book is about, what I liked about it, and my rating, like would I recommend it or not. If you want to hear about one particular book I'm talking about today, I will leave timestamps down below.

[00:00:27]They're all spoiler-free. So, the books I'll be talking about today, reviewing, whatever you want to call it, Rules for Summer by Megan Quinn, Chase Me If You Can by Heather Francis, The Summer Girlfriend by Christina Forest, In Every Possible Way by Alicia Thompson, and North Country by Kate Tucker. First up, I want to talk about Rules for the Summer by Megan Quinn. I have read not maybe like three or four Megan Quinn books. I mainly read her holiday ones and her summer ones. Those seem to be my kind of staples. She's an author I like, I don't love. I actually really enjoyed her summer release last year, much to my surprise, Till Summer Do Us Part. I love it. It's one of my favorite summer romances. So, I was very excited that she was having another summer romance. I was like, yes, that seems to be my thing with her more than her holiday ones cuz I don't really like her holiday ones that much. But sadly, I did not enjoy this one. I gave it a two out of five and I don't like relish the thought of giving books a two out of five. I'm never going into a book waiting to just eviscerate it, just loathe it. I don't ever want that. I don't think any of us do. If we do, I don't think we're really in it to for reading, you know what I'm saying? So, I was disappointed in it. I just didn't jive with it at all. Let's get the number one thing that I complained about in this book is the sheer size of it.

[00:01:43]There is no reason why a summer romance should be over 600 pages. I'm sorry, it's I'm not It's not over 600 pages. My bad.

[00:01:53]It's 557 pages, so almost 600 pages. Why is this that long? I don't know. It doesn't need to be. Megan Quinn seems to have a trend with that. Even the book that I really enjoyed last year, I was like, this is still way too long. This one it was 420 pages, so less than that, and it was still a little bit too lengthy.

[00:02:13]But there is just no reason for a romance of any genre at all to be like over 400 pages. There's just not. Like there is just no reason for it. So this whole book is about two characters. We follow Theo and we follow Wrenly. Wrenly at the beginning of the book lives in this small town and she gets the bid for like winning this competition for a business and she wins like the town's candy shop that was going out of business and she has plans to revitalize it, redo it, and she thinks that her aunt has the money because her aunt says, like, I have the money to do this.

[00:02:45]And it turns out her aunt does it. So Wrenly is screwed. She's like, crap.

[00:02:49]Somehow her aunt convinces her to go on this like finance.com, but they're a little bit tipsy and actually it says fiance.com.

[00:02:57]It Does it make sense? No. No, it does not.

[00:03:01]Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond in Britain, we have Theo, who is like a lord's son and he's just partier and stuff like that and his father never takes him seriously and his father's threatening to like make him marry some random girl that he loves and he's like, I'm going to find a fiance. So he goes to fiance.com, gets paired with Wrenly, goes there, Wrenly realizes, oh crap, like I was a little bit tipsy and it it it doesn't make any sense. Basically, he fronts her the money, you know, fake I just wasn't feeling the romance, the whole plot in general with the whole fiance finance thing. I'm just really Also, the aunt bugged me to know end in this book. She was only like in her 50s and she acted like she was in her 80s.

[00:03:47]Like she was like into hobby horsing, which is It's a bad thing at all, but she would just be like, "Oh, my hips."

[00:03:52]And I'm like, "Girl, you're in your 50s." Like, speaking as someone that's going to be in her 40s here soon, like I don't think I'll be that way in my 50s.

[00:03:59]Like, she just seemed really theatrical.

[00:04:02]I don't know. She also was just way more kooky. You know, sometimes you read a kooky aunt. That's great, but this one was like overly kooky and just not very responsible or just or didn't care about it. I don't know. I just I really didn't like this book. Let me just boil it down for you there. I didn't enjoy it. I wanted to enjoy it. I didn't like it. A lot of people have liked it, so take my review with a grain of salt. It wasn't for me. I will be re-homing it because I didn't enjoy it. I'm sorry. Two out of five.

[00:04:30]Moving on, we have Chase Me If You Can by Heather Francis. I was very excited for this book because it's all about storm chasing and I have talked about this book non-stop since I discovered it because it just reminds me so much of Twister. I'm talking about the '90s with Helen Hunt, Bill Pullman. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[00:04:50]Philip Seymour Hoffman. Like, stacked cast. Amazing soundtrack. Got the best scenes. Like, it is one of my most re-watched movies of all time. I watch it probably like three or four times a year. It's just a comfort movie for me.

[00:05:02]I love it. So, when I heard there was a book that had that kind of Twister vibes to it, I was like, "Yeah, sign me up."

[00:05:07]So, this is about character Sloan and also a character named Wes. Sloan is a wedding photographer most of the year, which I can resolute I I can connect with cuz I used to be a wedding photographer. I don't miss it at all.

[00:05:20]>> [laughter] >> Because it gets to be kind of the same win rinse wash repeat. And also, the heavy heavy workload. I don't think anybody realizes how much work goes into wedding photography and videography.

[00:05:32]Like, it is insane. Like, you know, they it's it's it's it's a lot. It's like even when you leave the event, you're like done with work, but you're not. You have like a lot more work to do after the event. It's a whole thing. Anyway, she does take a couple months out of the year during the peak storm seasons to go storm chase to photograph some storms.

[00:05:52]She's entering in this contest by Nature Shots. Whoever gets like the best storm picture this season will win and she's always had her eye on the prize. There she meets Wild West who is kind of like a staple. He reminds me a lot of um the new Twisters guy, Glen Powell's character. He's just, you know, he's reckless. He just wants to chase storms for the fun of it. Doesn't really think about danger and stuff like that. You have Sloane who's very much more like we shouldn't be like near the eye or the funnel and all that kind of stuff. So, basically they get paired up together.

[00:06:24]They don't like each other, but they get paired up together. Romance happens, storm chasing happens. It was okay. I gave it a three and a half out of five.

[00:06:31]It wasn't anything monumental. I wasn't expecting it to be. I did want a little bit more storm chasing. They weren't really storm chasers. They were more storm photographers, which I get, but they didn't really go into the metrics and the stuff like that with storm chasing. They really went there to find, you know, real to take really good pictures of the storm, which I appreciate, but they did learn about and they shared their information about the storms. But, it wasn't anything monumental. I'd say if you love like Twister and stuff like that, check it out. I think it was good. It wasn't amazing, but it was a solid one. It gave me Twister vibes and that's all I was looking for, honestly. Next up, probably my favorite book out of this whole bunch. Am I spoiling that? Sorry. The Summer Girlfriend by Kristina Forest. I haven't heard anybody talk about this book, which is a shame because I always talk about the cover. The cover is chef's kiss, amazing. This is a quintessential summer romance. It will be on my favorite summer romances from here on out. So, expect to see it. This is about two characters, Noel and Jeremiah. Noel at the beginning of the book is trying to go back to college.

[00:07:32]She wants to become a librarian and she is, you know, struggling with money because everything in life costs money and she works at a bookstore. She she does like this she's a bridesmaid for hire, if you will. Like people will hire her to be her bride bestie to fill in, and she makes a good amount of money from that. She one day randomly runs into Jeremiah, who is avoiding going back to his summer home.

[00:07:54]His family, like his his whole family like kind of owns the sweet um like bakery line, and they're really well-known, but his grandfather passed away, and he's just never been back to their summer home in Jersey City since, and he lied to his mom saying that he has a girlfriend, so he can't come. And she's like, "Oh, bring her." He meets Noel, and he's like, "Hey, can you be my fake girlfriend for a while?" And she's like, "You know, Lana, I really need the money." So basically, this whole book is them fake dating, her getting to know his family and how great they are.

[00:08:25]They're also like, you know, his family has a beach house like right near Jersey Shore, not the show. Okay? But it's just so adorable. I give it a four out of five. I really enjoyed the romance. I love the side characters, the whole family aspect. I really love how driven they both were, and it was just a quintessential summer romance. That is what I think about this book. So I really enjoyed it. Again, I haven't heard barely anybody talk about it. If you're looking for a really cute summer romance with fake dating set in a summery place, check this one out. Then we have in every possible way by Alicia Thompson. This is my second book by her.

[00:08:59]I you know, I don't know. She's maybe not the author for me. This one, I love the cover. It looks so like beautiful. It should have probably been released in March because it's all about four-leaf clovers. It was very much like Leap Year with Amy Adams. If you've seen that movie, you know. We follow a character named Jess, who at the beginning of the book is turning 38. It's like her 38th birthday, and I turn 38 in a couple months.

[00:09:23]>> [laughter] >> I'm not feeling that age at all.

[00:09:26]I'm feeling so old. Anyway, she's on a horrible date with this horrible guy that's from Ireland, and she's like, "Oh, I've always wanted to go to Ireland." And he's like, "Why? Cuz of Leap Year?" And I'm like, "Is that a freaking crime? Like who cares? Like, >> [laughter] >> and he's just he's a horrible date and she's like, I I got to go. And so, she goes and she gets mugged like outside.

[00:09:46]And then, she hits her head and next thing you know, she wakes up and the girl is in Dublin, Ireland and she is like, what the heck? You know what? She doesn't really even freak out that much.

[00:09:54]She just like kind of rolls with it, which kudos to her because I would be like, somebody gave me something very strong and like, when am I going to come down from this because oh my god, I would be flipping out. She just kind of rolled with it. There she meets Eamon, hopefully I pronounced his name right. He has a garage and it so happens to be the brother of the guy she went on a date with before, you know, she got mugged and stuff like that. He decides to help her out because it's like a Saturday, the consulate is closed, she doesn't have a license, a phone, or anything, which is like, I would be like, what? And he's like, you know what? I'll show you Ireland for the day.

[00:10:32]So, this whole book takes place during the day. They go on a lot of sightseeing, they really delve into each other and they learn more about each other and romance happens and ensues. It was okay. I give it a three out of five.

[00:10:43]It did take me a little bit to get into.

[00:10:45]I don't think this book will be for everybody. It's not like one of my favorite romances that I'll be shouting out from the rooftops, but look, was it cute? Yes. Was it like anything memorable? No. I'd say with this one, if you just love romances set in Ireland and have that underlying like Irish tone to it, then yes, check this one out. As far as like, if you're looking for a really solid romance, I don't think this one is it. I did like the connection between the two main characters. I really felt that was real and very palpable, but when I think about it overall, it was just kind of middle of the road for me. So, a three stars it shall get.

[00:11:22]And the last book I want to talk about is North Country by K. A. Tucker. I love K. Tucker. I have read a lot of her books. My favorite will always be the Simple Wild series. Like, a lot I think everyone's favorite is Simple Wild. It's set in the ruggedness of Alaska. It was just It's an amazing and amazing story.

[00:11:39]So, when I heard that she was coming out with a new series, I believe this is a new series. I could be wrong. This is a series or if this is just a book, I'm not 100% sure. I was just so excited about it. A new romance by her like, yes, please.

[00:11:52]Sadly, I did not love it. This one pains me. It pains me a lot because I really expected to give it a five out of five.

[00:11:58]I expected to fall in love with it hard, but I didn't. I would give it, if I'm being generous, a three out of five. I just could not really get into it. This one, two characters. At the beginning of the book, we follow Emery and she is like 18, 16, something like that and she is in love with her best friend and her neighbor, Logan. They have grown up together. They finally realize they loved each other. Everything is just going great. It's his 18th birthday. He is going out with his older brother who kind of gets into some mischief. Oh my gosh, mischief is had because after his birthday, Logan ends up in prison for 20 years. You heard that right. Then we pick up 20 years later.

[00:12:39]He is finally getting released for something that his brother kind of did that he kind of took the fall for, things like that. And he's coming back home. Emery still lives next door. Emery is now divorced, as a single mom. Logan is also very, very changed. So, it's a second chance romance with him learning life outside of prison. Her She's also like the deputy sheriff person. There's also like a big mystery undertone for this whole book because a local girl goes missing and so she's trying to solve that and he also has a lot of things happen from when he got arrested all those years ago of things that are happening and it just I don't know. I think if it was strictly a romance, I would have really enjoyed it, but it had this like kind of mystery suspense to it, which she's known for.

[00:13:25]But I just I don't know. I just didn't love it. It didn't pull me in as much as I wanted to. It just wasn't for me. So, I gave it a three out of five. It's not to say it's like bad or anything, but I just I don't I don't know. I didn't love it. I wasn't like obsessed with it like I was obsessed with Serpent & Dove. Like after I finished that first book in Serpent & Dove, I was like, yes, please, give me a thousand more of these ASAP.

[00:13:46]With this one, I was like, uh, this is one done. I'm okay with it.

[00:13:50]And if it's a series, I'm just not sure if I'll continue on with it. I don't know. I did like the whole aspect of this dude has been through the freaking ringer and he's coming back home to like everybody moves on in your life after 20 years. Like, you know, like everything that he has known has changed. His siblings have gotten older. His siblings have kids. His You know, everything has changed. So, he has to learn how to navigate life and she's also, you know, still in love with him. I don't know. I just I wanted to love it, but I just didn't and it bums me out so, so much, but that's how it goes sometimes. Sadly, that's just how it goes. So, there you have my thoughts and feelings on five recent reads. Overall, June has not been like the best as far as like finding a five-star, but I mean, it's pretty successful for like summer romances. I'm not mad about that because that's exactly what I'm in the mood for, something light, fluffy, that I don't have to think about much and these have been fitting the bill on that. So, I'd love to know if you've read any of these, what your thoughts on are on what your thoughts are on them and also if I convinced you to read them or not, let me know. As always, thank you so much for watching and I will see you in my next video. Bye.