Reading Round Up: June 21st -30th Part 2

Hello Friends! Here is my last round up for June! Have you read any of these? If so what were your thoughts?

American Royalty by Tracey Livesay – 3 Stars American Royalty is about Duchess who is an American female rapper who gets asked to perform at a concert for the Queen of England’s late husband. Duchess or Dani which is her real name decides to go to England early for bit a respite because she has been working non stop. Dani is housed at Prince Jameson’s country home and the two immediately hit it off and the spicy scenes come quickly! I thought this one was just ok, I never really felt the chemistry between Dani and Jameson. I did enjoy the baking and references to The Great British Bake Off in this one. If you love books with royalty then this one might be worth picking up, Im not a huge fan of that trope but I love Tracey’s writing so wanted to pick this one up. Thank you Avon for my #gifted copy for review!

The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray – 1 Star I picked this up on a whim and I am so sad I didn’t like it. I have always enjoyed an Austen retelling and was excited when this book brought all of them together but my main problem with this was the pacing and the characters. I felt at times this book just dragged on and on and never really went anywhere, I ended up skimming the middle of this book just to get to the end. My other complaint was the characters, these are fictional people who I have known for years and I felt like the author changed some them to unrecognizable version of themselves. If you are an Austen fan then you might want to pick this one up, maybe I am the minority with how this book turned out.

The Beach Trap by Ali Brady – 5 Stars I really enjoyed this fun take on The Parent Trap, I loved watching the Hailey Mills version when I was growing up. Kat and Blake met at the age of 12 at summer camp but soon learned they shared a father. Over a decade later Kat and Blake inherit their father’s beach house and the two have very different ideas on what they should do with it. I loved this story of sisters learning how to love each other as well as romantic relationships for them as well. Highly recommend this one!

Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley – 4 Stars This one is a fun combination of fake dating and a foodie romance! Jada takes a job at a bakery after talking bad about in front of the owner to try convince her grandmother that she is capable of keeping a job. Donovan is the owner of the cupcake shop that Jada insulted but he realizes he needs more customer so agrees to take Jada on so she can boost sales. Donovan and Jada soon start a fake relationship to help each of them with their public images, Donovan for his store and Jada because after turning down a proposal on national TV both could use some good press. I really enjoyed their relationship, it started out fake but both realized pretty soon that there was more there. I will say I could have used a little more on Donovan being a professional athlete. This book took place over a good chunk on time and it was never discussed that he would be away for a lot of time for games and practices. I also really enjoyed the family relationships in this book as well as the friendships. I always enjoy when the characters have great relationships with other people in books. This one does get steamy in case you like or don’t like that. Thank you St. Martin’s Press for my #gifted copy for review!