Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen

Title: Park Avenue Summer

Author: Renee Rosen

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: April 30, 2019

Mad Men meets The Devil Wears Prada as Renée Rosen draws readers into the glamour of 1965 New York City and Cosmopolitan Magazine, where a brazen new Editor-in-Chief--Helen Gurley Brown--shocks America by daring to talk to women about all things off limits...

New York City is filled with opportunities for single girls like Alice Weiss who leaves her small Midwestern town to chase her big city dreams and unexpectedly lands the job of a lifetime working for Helen Gurley Brown, the first female Editor-in-Chief of a then failing Cosmopolitan Magazine.

Nothing could have prepared Alice for the world she enters as editors and writers resign on the spot, refusing to work for the woman who wrote the scandalous bestseller, Sex and the Single Girl. While confidential memos, article ideas, and cover designs keep finding their way into the wrong hands, someone tries to pull Alice into this scheme to sabotage her boss. But Alice remains loyal and becomes all the more determined to help Helen succeed. As pressure mounts at the magazine and Alice struggles to make her way in New York, she quickly learns that in Helen Gurley Brown's world, a woman can demand to have it all.

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“The girls! My girls. Your girls. The new Cosmo reader is a young, vibrant, single woman. She’s career minded and driven. She’s sexy and fun spirited. Even a bit naughty. And I know her better than anyone because I was that girl.”

What an interesting story Renee Rosen brings to life! It's a piece of historical fiction who has Helen Gurley Brown as the protagonist. For most of us, she's a name we have heard before but we might not have realized how important she became to the women in the sixties.

In 1965, Helen Gurley Brown becomes the new Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan. Helen the author of Sex and the Single Girl novel has already created quite a stir but when she lands the position at the had-seen-better-days-magazine, many people are unhappy. Multiple employees (men for the most part) quit instantly and some others over the next few weeks after she takes over. From the novel, we learn that Helen was working with a skeleton crew and a very tight budget. Everyone was sure she was going to fail and plenty of leaks were dispersed about what she had in the works for the July and August edition of Cosmo that year. The Hearst executives didn't support her. She was too progressive for them. She wanted to speak to young women through the magazine.

“Helen Gurley Brown is all for a woman having a career.”

In order to tell us Helen's story, Renee Rosen brings us, Alice Weiss. A young woman who has moved from Ohio to NYC. Her mother used to live in NYC when she was alive. Alice wants to feel closer to her mother and she knows that in NYC she can be. Alice has the dream of becoming a photographer.

Thanks to a friend of her mother's, Elaine Sloan, Alice lands the job as Helen's secretary. Alice might disagree with some of the things Helen says but for the most part, Alice believes in her boss. A woman who for the most part is underestimated by many.

At work, Alice meets Erik Masterson and then, later on, she meets Christopher Mack, a photographer who has an eye for things and who wants to help Alice achieve her dreams. Alice realizes that both men are quite different and she's attracted to both. What does a girl do?

What I like the most about the book is the clear portrayal of Helen. She was a thin woman who ate very little. She broke pencils when she was under stress. A woman who loved to cry as an outlet and who asked for the support of her husband, David Brown, the famous producer of many movies like The Sting, Jaws, Driving Miss Daisy, Cocoon and Chocolat (to name a few), whenever she felt down. 

“Get me David.”

She was also a pioneer in fighting for "her girls". This is what she called the women she wanted the magazine to target. "My Girls" were women who were independent, women who were interested in their own careers, their own value and their sexuality. Women who might marry someday but who were enjoying the single life for now. In a world where women in their twenties were considered old or not marriage material, Helen was telling them, their life was just beginning.

“She’s smart, independent, always striving for more,” 

“She’s bold and daring. She loves men and she loves sex.”

I appreciate Mrs. Rosen's portrayal of Helen's life. Very interesting indeed. After finishing, I went to look for pictures of the July's cover with the model Renata. I also looked at pictures of Helen and Helen with David. They seem to have lived a long and loving life together.

"She truly cared about her girls."

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Berkley via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

Title: The Girl in Red

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher:  Berkley

Release Date:  June 18, 2019

From the national bestselling author of Alice comes a postapocalyptic take on the perennial classic "Little Red Riding Hood"...about a woman who isn't as defenseless as she seems.

It's not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn't look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.

There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there's something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined. 

Red doesn't like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn't about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods....

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"Red was going to be the final girl, the sole survivor of a massacre, just like in horror movies."

In this new post-apocalyptic world, there are three evils. The Cough who's wiping up millions, the unknown and the evil Humans. Or more specifically the evil male humans who would do anything to get a hold of women and children.

Our protagonist goes by the name of Red. Her real name is Cordelia and her mom calls her Delia. Yet, she only responds to Red. As you can guess, she wears a red hoodie. When Red was eight, a car hit her and she lost her leg. She wears a prosthetic leg but she doesn't have time to wallow in self-pity. The accident made her stronger. She becomes a survivor. Her love for horror movies and biology help with her self-preservation. 

A new plague has come over the world. It started with a simple cough. Whoever gets infected, won't survive the virus. Red's plan is to move from their home to the safety of her grandmother's house. She's packed and ready to go. She just needs to convince her parents and her brother Adam to hurry. She knows they are running out of time.

The road to her grandmother's house is full of dangers. Evil men are lurking everywhere. Red won't trust anyone. She's ready to defend herself at any cost. Yet, a greater danger is out there. She can feel it.

The Girl is Red is the retelling of Red Riding Hood. We all know there is a wolf somewhere out there. Red is desperate to seek the comfort of her grandmother's home. Red was not your typical heroine. She knows all the dumb mistakes characters make in the horror movies she has watched and she won't make any of them. Stay together, be patient, avoid the highways, pack the right survival kit, defend yourself ask questions later, don't trust anyone, trust your instincts, all things Red follows are what differentiates her from the rest. Yes, she has weaknesses but not the dumb ones.

As secondary characters go, Sirois is an intriguing one. I wish I had seen more of him. I hope there is a second book to learn more about him. There are so many things that were not explained in The Girl in Red that a sequel is worth it. Even the end felt anticlimactic. Anyway, I hope there is more.

"Good luck to you then, Red Riding Hood."

Cliffhanger: No

3/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Berkley books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

Title: The Proposal

Author: Jasmine Guillory

Publisher: Berkley Books

Release Date: October 30, 2018

The author of The Wedding Date serves up a novel about what happens when a public proposal doesn't turn into a happy ending, thanks to a woman who knows exactly how to make one on her own...

When someone asks you to spend your life with him, it shouldn't come as a surprise--or happen in front of 45,000 people.

When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn't the hard part--they've only been dating for five months, and he can't even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans...

At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik's rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He's even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik's social media blows up--in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of LA, a handsome doctor like Carlos can't be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes...

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Let me start by saying, I didn't read The Wedding Date (but I wanted too). The Proposal should be counted as a novel written within the same world. I will call it book #2. The couple from the first story is mentioned or appeared quite a few times through it.

The Proposal begins with an embarrassing situation.  Nikole Paterson is at the Dodgers game when her boyfriend, a guy whom she has only dated five months, proposes to her using the scoreboard. To her dismay, everyone is watching her as she tells him no in the most subtle way. He storms out, leaving her behind. 

Carlos Ibarra and her sister are a few rows behind watching the events unfold. They decide to help Nikole by taking her away from the stadium and dropping her to meet her friends. When asked to join them, they agree. Carlos and Nikole share a spark and they will start communicating through texts and phone calls in the days to come. 

Nikole thinks that Carlos will be a nice rebound hookup since she doesn't want anything serious. Carlos feels the same way. Yet, the more time they are around each other, the more difficult this arrangement becomes. 

The Proposal is a fast and easy story. I liked that the author was inclusive of different races and body types but I had a hard time relating to Nikole. She said she was hurt before and that's why she didn't want to be in a relationship but we never get to experience her past. It's only mentioned. I would've liked to see more of what the other boyfriend did to make her skittish of relationships.

Carlos was very likable and so was his family. He was devoted to them. He was a good friend too. The only time I didn't approve of him was when he felt rejected. He was quite mean then. Otherwise, he was a good guy. 

Cliffhanger: No

3/5 Fangs

Thank you Berkley Romance and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of The Proposal in exchange for an honest review. 

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

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Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

Title: Let Me Lie 

Author: Clare Mackintosh

Publisher: Berkley 

Release Date: March 13, 2018

Two years ago, Tom and Caroline Johnson committed suicide, one seemingly unable to live without the other. Their adult daughter, Anna, is struggling to come to terms with her parents’ deaths, unable to comprehend why they chose to end their lives. Now with a young baby herself, she feels her mother’s presence keenly and is determined to find out what really happened to her parents. But as Anna digs up the past, someone is trying to stop her. She soon learns that nothing is as it seemed.

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I was a huge fan of I Let You Go and I See You. I couldn't wait to start Let Me Lie. So imagine my disappointment when after finishing this novel, I couldn't give it more than two stars. 

Why this book didn't work for me? One of the reasons is the slow build up. I felt like it dragged way too many times. The writing was good but the action was minimal except when we get to the end of the book. Also, Let Me Lie has plenty of twists including the ending but for this reader, they felt unbelievable. No one is sadder that this didn't work for me, than me.

So what's the book about? 

Anna Johnson recently became a mother. She loves her daughter and can't think about anything happening to her or she not being part of her life. Anna can't understand why first her father, Tom and then her mother, Caroline decided to take their own lives. But Anna has doubts, she's not sure they killed themselves. She believes that just maybe, someone is behind their deaths. So when a card gets to her home on the anniversary of her mother's death claiming foul play, Anna immediately believes it and right away, she takes it to the police. This is where she meets, Murray a retired cop who decides to dig into the past. 

Murray was my favorite character. He was smart and methodic. He was a good detective with excellent instincts. He was also a dedicated and loving husband. His side story was so full of anguish and sadness. In this, Mrs. Mackintosh did a great job at describing how mental health issues can affect the dynamic of a marriage.  

I won't say more to avoid spoilers but I hope that you enjoy this novel more than I did. 

Cliffhanger: No

2/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Berkley via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Every Little Thing by Samantha Young

Title: Every Little Thing

Author: Samantha Young

Series: Hart's Boardwalk #2)

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: March 7, 2017 

Hartwell, Delaware—the perfect place to get away from it all, and find what you never knew you needed…

Bailey Hartwell has many reasons to feel content—her successful business, a close circle of friends, and her steady boyfriend…even if their romance feels staid after ten years without a serious commitment. The only challenge in her life comes in the form of sexy businessman Vaughn Tremaine. She thinks the ex-New Yorker acts superior and that he considers her a small-town nobody. But when Bailey’s blindsided by a betrayal, she’s shocked to discover Vaughn is actually a decent guy. 

Vaughn admires Bailey’s free spirit, independence, and loyalty. As his passion for her has grown, his antagonism toward her has only worsened. Every little thing Bailey does seduces him. But when Vaughn’s painful emotional past makes him walk away in fear he will hurt her, it opens an old wound in Bailey, and she uncharacteristically retreats.

Once Vaughn begins to realize he’s made the biggest mistake of his life, he has no choice but to fight like he’s never fought before to convince Bailey that the love they’ve found together only comes around once in a lifetime.

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"you take my breath away."

Every Little Thing was wonderful! It made my romantic heart very happy. 

This is the second novel in the Hart's Boardwalk series but I think it can be read as a standalone. The book takes us back to the small town of Hartwell, where everyone in the boardwalk knows each other's business. 

We met both of the main characters in the first book: Bailey and Vaughn.

Bailey Hartwell and her siblings inherit her family's Inn when their parents moved to Florida. Bailey is a hard-worker, strong minded, passionate and trustworthy individual. She would do anything for her town or her friends. She has been in a relationship with Tom for a decade but things are not moving forward. When she discovers his infidelity, she is more affected by losing him as her friend than as her boyfriend. It doesn't help that for the last few years she has been attracted to Tremaine, the hotel owner. She has always thought he was hateful but he was there for Cooper and Jess, so he might not be as bad as she thought. 

Vaughn Tremaine is a powerful business man. He moved from NYC and open a five-star hotel in Hartwell's boardwalk. He has made the town his home. He knows they don't consider him part of the town yet although it seems things are changing now that he has become Cooper's friend. He is also aware that Bailey doesn't like him and in a way, Bailey terrifies him. He's attracted to her and her personality. He knows she's loyal and determined. He knows Tom doesn't deserve her but he's not sure he does either. Instead, he wants to keep her at arm's length. Disagreeing and fighting with her, is the only defense he has and yes, sometimes he goes too far but she gives it right back without delay. 

I love novels depicting enemies falling in love and this pair did a great job at hating each other in order to mask their attraction for each other. It took Bailey's friends and her own family/relationship ordeal to realize Vaughn was a good man. For his part, Tremaine needed a little nudge from his father and his friend Cooper to realize what he had in front of him and not to let it go. 

Bailey said whatever was on her mind. She had no filter and this made their interactions very refreshing. 

Every Little Thing is full of great scenes. There's romance, excellent banter, and tons of passion. It's a magnificent addition to this town's love stories. 

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Berkley in exchange for an honest review.

Every Little Thing was a very romantic book that had humor, family values, and so much more. One of my favorite types of romances are romances that are about enemies falling in love, and this book handled that type of romance really well. The romance made me smile with joy and it also made me want to scream with frustration. I thought that tug and pull was quite addictive. The romance was very passionate and full of banter, which I enjoyed a lot. I also enjoyed the main characters in this book and the side characters as well. I want to read about these people forever!

The main female character, Bailey, was great. I loved how she was always happy and full of positive energy. She never let negativity completely tear her down, which I appreciated. I also really liked how she was a bit of a firecracker and that she wasn't afraid to say what she was thinking. That lead to a lot of banter that made me laugh out loud! My only issue was that I wish she would have given Vaughn a bit more trouble for the one thing that he did. I felt like it was kind of glossed over and I was expecting more of a reaction from her. 

Vaughn had a lot of sweet and swoony moments that made my heart skip a beat. I found myself falling for him right along side with Bailey throughout this book! However, Vaughn was a bit of a jerk. I found myself wanting to slap him quite a few times! I understood that he had a lot going on and that there were things in his past that made him the way he is, but I still didn't like that he had so many asshole moments. He redeemed himself by the end of the book, but it still bothered me in those moments. Also, his friend Oliver was the WORST. I wish Vaughn wouldn't have been friends with him because he was such a scumbag. Vaughn deserved better friends!

I love the town that this series takes place in and I will forever wish I could live there! The town felt so quaint and perfect. It is one of my favorite settings in a contemporary romance! I also love the people who live in the town. I really like how the author made sure to include the people in the town and I wanted to learn more about each person. I am so excited to read about all the different characters and see them find love. 

Overall, this book was addictive, steamy, funny, and charming. Fans of this series and author will devour this book! If you are looking for a great contemporary book and series, then I would definitely recommend picking this up! 

3.5 / 5 Fangs

*This ebook was given to me in exchange for an honest review. * 

I've been waiting for this book for months! The tension between Bailey and Vaughn in The One Real Thing was INTENSE and yippee I was finally able to read their story, so back to Hartwell we go! 

Bailey captured my heart instantly! She's outspoken, sassy, and has a huge heart! She welcomes people with open arms and is faithful to a fault, except for with Vaughn. Vaughn's the competition, with his montrosity of a hotel, and his killer good looks. It just burns Bailey especially because she's unequivocally attracted to him and there's nothing she can do about it, which I just loved! When Bailey and her long time boyfriend's relationship hits a rut she's hell bent on changing that, but what she finds is not what she expects at all and Vaughn seems to be there with open arms. Vaughn is so sweet to her when she finally lets her vulnerability show, and seems to be the rock she needs. 

The sizzle between these two was just too much! Vaughn seems to be the rich cocky player, but he's really not that way at all. He's in Hartwell for the calm and peaceful life it offers and having the fiery outspoken Bailey there in just an extra bonus for him. I guess soon enough things are not so peaceful for Vaughn in Hartwell because his relationship with Bailey changes and things get complicated.

I swear there is something mystical about Hartwell. This charming little town by the sea where they welcome you with open arms, but there are many many secrets to be revealed, and I'm coming along for the ride. Samantha Young knows how to write a romance that will leave your heart aching for more. The setting she's created for this series is one that everyone will fall in love with! 

4.5/5 Fangs

*A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review. 

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