Must-Read Small Town Romances | Top Ten Tuesday

It’s been a while since I participated in Ten Top Tuesday, which is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, but I wasn’t sure what to post, and when I checked the topics for this month, this week’s topic “books set in X” really caught my eye. So I decided to make a list of romance books set in small towns that I have read and loved in the last couple of years. I kind of cheated and included books in a series just as one entry on the list, so there are more than 10 books in this list, but I couldn’t pick just 10.

After Hours on Milagro Street and Full Moon over Freedom by Angelina M. Lopez

Both of these books are set in a small town in Kansas and they have a big Mexica-American family at the heart of the story, some paranormal elements, female characters that go through a lot of character growth, and really sweet but steamy romances. In After Hours on Milagro Street, there’s an opposites attract romance with forced proximity. In Full Moon over Freedom, there’s a second chance romance between childhood friends.

Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage

This is set in a small town in Wyoming and if you like cowboy romances, the brother’s best friend trope, two main characters with tons of chemistry, and a reformed bad boy, this book is for you!

Curves for Days by Laura Moher

This book is set in a small town in North Carolina and it’s a slow-burn romance with two plus-size characters, it includes the grumpy/sunshine trope and there’s a big focus on the healing and character growth of the heroine.

Built to Last by Erin Hahn

This is set in a small town in Michigan. It’s a second-chance romance between childhood sweethearts, and it’s a perfect example of a low-angst, low-conflict romance book done right.

Bet On It by Jodie Slaughter

This is set in a small town in South Carolina, and it’s a romance between someone running TO a small town and someone running FROM a small town that has to come back. It’s a friends-with-benefits, interracial romance with a plus-size female main character.

Lovelight Farm, In The Weeds, and Mixed Signals by B.K. Borison

These books are set in small town in Maryland. Lovelight Farms is a friends-to-lovers romance with a fake-dating plot. In The Weeds is a second-chance, grumpy/sunshine romance, with forced proximity. Mixed Signals is a friends-to-lovers, sunshine/sunshine romance with a little fake dating.

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care and Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

This series is set in a small town in Oregon, both books are sapphic romances and deal with complicated family relationships. Delilah Green includes the sister’s best friend trope and one of the main characters is a single mom, and Astrid Parker is a rivals-to-lovers romance.

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

A big part of this is set in a small town in Minnesota. It’s an opposites attract romance where there’s an age gap and the woman is 10 years older than the guy, and it deals with heavy topics such as past abusive relationships.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

A big part of this book is set in small town in North Carolina and it’s an enemies-to-lovers romance between two people who work in the publishing industry.

All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata

Set in a small town in Colorado, and it’s a slow-burn romance, with a grumpy/ sunshine dynamic, a single dad as a protagonist and a bit of forced proximity. It has a very outdoorsy vibe and there’s a lot of hiking.

Is there any particular setting that you love in books, like a specific city or country, large city or small towns, beaches vs snowy places?

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February 2023 Wrap Up: so many good books by Black authors

February is over so it’s time to talk about all the books I read for Black History Month. I found two new favorite books and I’m excited to tell you about them!

Here are my thoughts on the books I read in February:

The Year of the Witchlings by Alexis Henderson (4.5 stars): This was atmospheric and a little gruesome. It had vengeful witches, a haunted forest, and a lot of ritualistic acts, there were blights, sickness, and curses. Nonetheless, people shouldn’t go into this expecting it to be a scary book. There was a big focus put on the themes that this book addressed; religious abuse, domestic violence, pedophilia, and the way women and girls are made to pay for the wrongdoings of men are themes that are really well incorporated into the story and are treated with the necessary care. The writing is fantastic, especially considering that this is a debut, and I also really enjoyed the romance which is a relatively small part of the story. I think I understand what the author was trying to say with the ending, but it didn’t entirely work for me, that’s why this doesn’t get a full 5-star rating.

Ring Shout by P. Djelí Clark (4 stars): The writing in this was great, the narrative voice was distinctive and compelling, the fantastical elements were well connected to the thematic content of the book, and there were some very disturbing scenes. But the most powerful part of this book was the depiction of the history of racism and oppression and the exploration of hatred and revenge vs righteous anger and justice. This book did a lot of things right and I can see that, but while I was interested while reading, I was never truly invested.

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B: Alston (5 stars): This was such a fun, entertaining, fast-paced, magical story. This book has a lovable main character, who in turn has a sweet and super smart best friend, and some understanding and empathetic mentor-like adult characters in her life, and I was rooting for all of them. I really appreciated that most of the adults in this book were actually not terrible. I enjoyed the way this incorporated common elements of fantasy- such as a magical school, supernatural creatures from werewolves to bigfoot, magic mixed with technology, and so much more- but adding new elements that make them feel new and fun. The ending felt a bit rushed and I saw the twist coming, but that didn’t affect how much I liked this book.

Amari and the Great Game by B.B: Alston (4 stars): This book was definitely not as strong as the first book in the series. It still had excellent writing and lovable characters that were easy to root for, I loved that Amari made new friends and that there were more kids with significant roles in the book, and the world and magic were still very interesting. Nonetheless, the whole Great Game storyline wasn’t as compelling as it could have been, and, just like in the first book, I was able to guess the people behind the mystery very early on.

Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter (4 stars): This is a soft, character-driven romance focused on mental health. The hero in this book has PTSD and the heroine struggles with generalized anxiety disorder, and the portrait of those experiences was really thoughtful and it felt like a lot of care went into it. I really appreciated how the main characters recognized and understood parts of each other’s struggles with mental illness, and I loved how caring and supportive they were. Also, they had great chemistry, there was lots of sexual tension and a few really good steamy scenes. Finally, I really liked the friendships in this and how both characters had/found friends who were supportive, kind and compassionate.

The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa (4 stars): I had a hard time at the beginning of the book, but this ended up being really fun and entertaining. As always, Mia Sosa has the most ridiculous premises but she ends up making them work. I liked the main characters, their chemistry, and their friendship, the writing was really good, and there were some iconic scenes like a karaoke scene where the hero recreates a Magic Mike performance and a sex club scene. Overall, really enjoyed it.

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo (4 stars): This book is really accessible and as always Oluo writes with so much patience, while also effectively delivering her point across. This book explores the ways in which the system has been set up to cater to white men’s success even when they do the bare minimum, and how white supremacy hurts everyone. I think the idea of “works according to design”, which Oluo addressed in the book, perfectly encapsulates what this book is talking about. As a person that is not from the U.S., I learned a lot about specific historical events and data that support Oluo’s ideas, which I didn’t know about and found fascinating.

The Push by Ashley Audrain (4 stars): It took me a while to get into this book, I almost DNFed, but it picked up and ended up being a fast, entertaining, and a little anxiety-inducing read. I felt so bad for the main character the entire time. This book addresses the hardships that mothers face: the lack of support, the expectations placed on them, and the uneven distribution of childcare responsibilities between mothers and fathers. But beyond that, it’s a book that does a good job exploring intergenerational trauma and the nature vs nurture debate. I usually don’t lack flashbacks but I think this book used them very well.

A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette (between 2.5 and 3 stars): I’m sad to say that this was very meh, I read it quickly and I didn’t hate the reading experience but there wasn’t anything particularly good about it. The first half of the book is focused on introducing the characters and showing the day-to-day life of the protagonist in a very repetitive and not that-interesting way, and the “investigation” of the crime doesn’t really start until late in the book which made this drag. But that isn’t even my main complaint about this book, I think the main character was such a bad sleuth, she asked obvious questions, didn’t connect the dots, and was very naive. Also, the characters around the main character, especially her two best friends felt like caricatures. The ending was so anti-climactic.

What were the best and worst books you read in February?

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February 2023 TBR: the books I’m reading for Black History Month

Black History Month is about to start and I decided to put together a short tbr with the books that I want to prioritize during this month. I’m hoping to read more than the 6 books on this list but I’m leaving space for some mood reading.

These are the books that I’m planning to read:

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson: I’m embarrassed to say that this is the third year in a row that this book makes it into my Black Heritage Month tbr. But hopefully, the third time is the charm! This is witchy and sounds like something I would love and I need to finally read it.

Ring Shout by P. Djéli Clark: I have read a few books by this author and enjoyed them, and I have heard nothing but great things about this one, so I’m excited to give this one a read.

A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette: I love cozy mysteries but most of the popular ones are written by white authors, so one of my goals for 2023 is to find more cozy mysteries written by authors of color, and I have heard great things about this one.

Bet On It by Jodie Slaughter: this sounds like such a cute romance and I have heard that it has really good mental health rep. Also, it seemed like this is steamier than the cover suggests and there’s some sort of bingo-based sex pact. I’m intrigued!

The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa: I really enjoyed The Worst Best Man and I was looking forward to this companion novel, but the mixed reviews when it came out made me hesitate to read it. Nonetheless, recently I have heard a lot of people talking about how much they enjoyed this so I’ll give it a chance.

Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo: I read another non-fiction book by this author, So You Want To Talk About Race, and I thought it was brilliant, so I’m looking forward to her newest release.

What are you planning to read for Black History Month? What are your favorite books by Black authors?

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Ranking all the book I read this month aka My June 2020 Wrap Up

Hi everyone! June was a bit of a weird reading month for me, I read a lot less than the previous months, I only read 2 books that were on my June tbr, and I was in a reading slump for the last two weeks of the month. Nonetheless, I read some good books. I’m not gonna talk too much about most of them because I already review them, so I’m linking those posts and I’m spending a little more time talking about the books that I didn’t review.

As always, I rank all the books I read from my least favorite to my favorite book of the month. The ranking is not entirely dependent on rating, so there can be books with lower ratings that are higher on the list than books with higher ratings and that has to do with my enjoyment of the books.

Without further ado, here are the books I read in June:

*Click the book titles to go to the Goodreads page*

My Least Favorite Book of the Month

This month there wasn’t one book that I truly disliked, so for my least favorite of the month I chose a disappointing romance:

12. Loud Mouth by Avery Flynn (3,4 stars): The main characters were very two dimensional and they only had two or three conversations that were not about sex in the whole book, but somehow they still fell in love. They did have physical chemistry tho. While I was not invested in the romantic relationship in this book, I was so invested in the relationship between the brothers! There was so much angst and I liked how their relationship developed.

The “I Mostly Liked Them, But…” Books

These are books that I had significant issues with, but they had redeeming qualities that made me mostly enjoy them:

11. The Blind Date Diaries by Branda St. John Brown (3,5 stars): it took me a while to get into this, but I ended up liking the relationship.My issue with this is that it was unrealistic that they fell in love in 3 dates. (Review)

10. The Marriage Game by Sara Desai (3,5 stars): This was ok. I liked the main characters, but this suffered from telling and not showing when it came to the romance and the guy needed to grovel a lot more at the end. (Review)

9. The Change Up by Meghan Quinn (3,6 stars): A good friends to lovers story, I could definitely feel the chemistry and tension between the main characters and I enjoyed seeing the way their relationship developed. Nonetheless, I had issues with the conflict at the end. (Review)

8. We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal (3,6 stars): This was a fun and quick read, but I had a lot of issues with it. Mainly because the author had a lot of good ideas, but she didn’t execute them very well. (Full Review)

7. Want by Cindy Pon (3,7 stars): This book was a quick, entertaining read. The group of friends was great; the setting (future Tapei) was very cool and atmospheric; I liked the twist and turns the story took, and I liked the fact that this dealt with important subjects like the environment, pollution, and privilege. Nonetheless, this book was so short and it included so many important subjects that it only dealt with them in a superficial way; the romance played such a big part of the story and there wasn’t any real connection, emotion or development between the characters; this book didn’t build tension, it was going so fast that I didn’t have time to care or worry, and I don’t understand what happened between the characters at the end.

The Ones I Liked

The ones I liked are books that I had really small issues with, but after I finished them I had mainly positive feelings towards them:

6. The Billionaire’s Fake Fiancée by Annika Martin (3,7 stars): This book has a grumpy/sunshine romance, fake dating, and forced proximity. I slowly fell in love with the dynamic between the main characters and I ended up really enjoying their relationship. (Review)

5. Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner (3,7 stars): I enjoyed both of the main characters and their relationship from the very first page. I could feel the connection and tension between them. But I had issues with the conflict. (Review)

4. Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon (3,8 stars): I loved the two main characters in this book and I had fun reading about their marriage of convenience. They were so cute together and there were some very steamy scenes. (Review)

3. White Whisky Bargain by Jodie Slaughter (3,9 stars): This book was so good. The marriage of convenience plot worked perfectly and I loved both main characters, there was an instant attraction between them that made this entire book be filled with sexual tension. The hero was such a nice guy and I loved the way he treated the heroine and how much emphasis he put on communication. The heroine is a badass. While I learned a lot about moonshine, I liked that the business aspect and the conflict with the other family didn’t take over the story.

The Ones I Really Liked

I consider books I really liked the ones I really enjoyed, but they are not new favorites:

2. White Rage by Carol Anderson (4 stars): The way the author did a great job of showing how white rage has manifested in history after big “wins” for Black people and how they have essentially undermined and invalidated those triumphs. This book was brilliant and also exhausting. (Review)

My Favorite Book of the Month

My favorite books of the month can have different ratings depending on how good a particular reading month was. This month my favorite was a 4 stars romance book that made me so emotional!

1. Only When It’s Us by Chloe Liese (4 stars): this book is one of my new favorite romances. I LOVED the main characters so much. They had a frenemies to lovers, slow burn, angsty and emotional romance that I absolutely loved. (Review)

 What were your favorite and least favorite books you read this month? Have you read any of the books on this wrap up? Do you agree with my opinions about them?

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