Artificial Sweethearts
587335
the second book in julie hammerle's north pole series, artificial sweethearts, introduces us to tinka foster, who quite frankly is kind of an emotional mess. her entire childhood has been overshadowed by her brother's accidental death when she was an infant. and she's spent all her time avoiding confrontation because she can't handle people being unhappy with her.

the problem with this approach is that people are still unhappy and this makes tinka even more unhappy. home for the summer after a year away from her parents, everything feels wrong. especially when her parents surprise her with a new hometown, her old best friend who she isn't currently speaking to, and a golf instructor/potential love interest that she isn't interested in. ever since she went away to boarding school she's felt out of control, and all these changes make that sensation feel worse. she expected to come home and settle back into the routine of making her parents happy. but now they seem capable of doing that for themselves.

the foster family is totally the poster family for what happens when you avoid conflict and talking things out in the open. tinka's parents have made strides to heal themselves and their relationship, but they have completely forgotten about tinka. and so even when tinka's behavior comes off as self-absorbed or selfish you kind of get it, she has no idea how to approach problems with emotional honesty. everything in her life has been about hiding her true feelings, and at some point all that bottling up with lead to an explosion.

sam anderson really gets it. the emotional avoidance. the bottling up of feelings. the making everyone else happy at your own expense thing. all of those things tinka does, he does too. the main difference is that sam is inherently selfless, so he does all these things at his own expense. while tinka is more into self-preservation. but this understanding is what draws them together.

sure there's also the whole fake relationship thing. but that's just an excuse. because the reality is that they are both totally into each other. it's just that emotional honesty isn't something they are used to, confronting things head on, not their thing. so you see how they are meant to be.

even though this is the second book in a series, it stands alone. we do still see some of the small town quirkiness and characters we loved in any boy but you, but if you haven't read the first book, you will still enjoy the second. one of the things i really enjoy about these books is that the characters aren't perfect. they are flawed, and things blow up in their face even when they have the best of intentions. but this also lets us see how they grow. and also how letting people into your life can change you for the better.

**artificial sweethearts will publish on july 10, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (entangled: crush) in exchange for my honest review.
1802
As modern American tiny-budget indie rom-coms go, this is sweet and charming, managing to avoid falling into most of the mumble-core traps and cliche's. There's something more successfully wistful and sad than usual in this tale of two mismatched and very quirky young people stumbling into each other's lives.

When we meet 20 something Rose, she's literally wailing and crying as she drives her car  seemingly without aim  after discovering her husband has been having an affair. Before long she meets a young, sweetly quiet English boy in his late teens, who came to America to meet up with a girl, and has now been cast adrift by her (maybe  there's a lovely question mark over all this character's stories. While there are scenes that are too precious, and moments where it feels like the film-maker and actors are working a bit too hard and self-consciously at being charmingly weird  moments where you can almost see the actors/director think "this will be a cool choice" - there's also a lot of humanity and quiet emotion in the performances by Greta Gerwig and Olly Alexander  creating characters who both seem caught on the edge of real emotional trouble -and in the muted, touching images with which Alison Bagnall frames them.

Yes, maybe we cut to migrating birds one too many times, or we're ahead of the supposed twist of a scene now and then. But it's the moments of fragile human complexity that feel unusual in any American film-making these days, large or small, and which ultimately won this a place in my heart.
3207327
In The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers, the romance begins electronically through an online personal ad the hero places and the heroine answers.  Most of their romance takes place off-screen and in person, but Rivers cleverly develops the characters by having them interact through various ways of communicating. Brian is a wonderfully complex man with some very heavy life issues that make it difficult for him to meet women and have a relationship. (I cant tell you the issues, that would be cheating, but youll be amazed at his strength and tenderness.) Carrie is seeking adventure in her life and takes a risk, meeting a stranger at a park bench for no-strings-attached kissing. Though their story doesnt truly evolve online, the technical aspect makes for a fun premise and does add to the story development. Its a heart-wrenching tale that readers will love. Keep a box of tissues nearby.

--Shelley K. Wall, author of Text Me
745310
Although the sheikh of contemporary romance may be a 21st-century ruler, his country is still steeped (mired?) in the traditions of the past. Apparently, one of them is that he mustnt marry a foreign American woman. Thats because all Westerners are decadent heathens and infidels, right?

Okay, I may be projecting. I haven't seen that written anywhere in any of the modern Harlequin romances Ive read. But I have to wonder at the urgency of men who have a one-night stand with a woman, jet off into the sunset and only return and demand marriage when they find out their American lovely is pregnant. It basically states, There is no way a man born into royalty would marry a woman like that unless she were expecting his child. What other message can be inferred? Cinderellas dream come true, this isnt.

So we get another entry into this shotgun-wedding trope. This one has some unexpected additions. It turns out Sheikh Kadin Gabriel ben Kadirs intended fiance wasn't the pure virgin she was supposed to be. Shes been seen keeping company with an Italian count. But his one-night fling, Sarah Duval WAS a virgin when he slept with her, making her a perfect substitute.

Sarah herself is a dreamer, a throwback to a bygone age when women saved themselves for the wedding night. But her demands of no nooky before marriage left her with three wrecked relationships. So she tosses her ideals out the window to sleep with a man shes known for less than an hour. In real life, shed be lucky to avoid getting murdered. But, hey, this is a fantasy so naturally she falls for him, he falls for herand abandons her to marry his intended.

Sarahs got entanglements of her own in the form of a pushy ex-boyfriend who only stuck with her to get his hands on some famous jewels. His on-again, off-again appearances are so lackluster and unconvincing he might as well not be in the novel at all.

I expect more from 21st-century romances that are only Regency romances thinly cloaked. Lets face it, ladies. We deserve better than this.
711917
This is a humorous look at dating and romance. Leah owns a bakery and likes to eat her sweets. Sam does construction and loves treats, too. Sam tells Leahs ex that he and Leah are getting married to make Leah feel better. Her mother finds out about their supposed engagement and invites the couple on a weekend cookout. They make a deal that hell pretend for two weeks to be her fianc if she gives him sweets. He acts badly to get her family to step up and stop her from marring him, but he soon finds that her family is not as benevolent as he thought. I like most of the characters and they make the story fun.
2839051
Cyborg lesbians and a dystopian future setting. Fairly near future-tech employed. Quite a few steamy sex scenes tho not overly gratuitous. If that sounds like something you'll enjoy then this book is for you. It won't change your life but it will probably entertain you quite nicely, at least it did me.
1198608
Fine-Tuning Hanna is 100% romance--boy and girl meet, boy loses girl, it's all a mistake, and things work out in the end.  However, Fine-Tuning Hanna is a slightly different take on this tried and true formula.  Firstly, Hanna is Finnish, and is pragmatic, practical, and literal to a fault.  She is working in Ireland for a few years, where people are more relaxed and a bit more whimsical.  Hanna's best friends in Ireland are another woman from Finland, and a kind, wealthy event planner (Micheal)who loves Hanna dearly--but is homosexual.  Micheal introduces Hanna to Sebastian, a handsome and charismatic positive thinking guru, and it's love at first sight.

As with any good love story, complications arise, and Hanna returns to Finland, cutting off all contact with Sebastian.  Here, Fine-Tuning Hanna exceeds what you find in a typical romance, as both Hanna and Sebastian become introspective about their lives, the impact of their cultures, and their approach to their relationship.

Of course, the two find each other in the end, but it is a bumpy path filled with both sadness and fulfillment first.  Fine-tuning Hanna is a nice romance novel, a fast and fun reader for fans of the genre or for anyone looking for a little reading escape.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the author to review; the opinions in this review are mine.
3368941
I had not previously encountered the authors, nor am I a fan of romance novels, but I was intrigued by the summary. I'm so glad I bought the book. A seamless marriage of semi-hard science fiction and romance. The girl is, to be sure, gorgeous and the guys are firm-jawed astronauts, but that's about as far as the romance tropes go. You get a good look at political NASA, with just a smidge of suspension of disbelief required. The slightly awkward social interactions give a good picture of geek love at it's finest. Once the mission launches, a cascade of problems carries you on through climax after climax. I can't say I didn't see the not-quite tragic Romeo and Juliet ending coming, but the reveal was fun. I definitely want to read a lot more from these guys.

Write on young men, write on.
777144
They do look artificial so if you want to use them, I suggest mixing them up with other flowers.
It's hard to find fake ponies, so these will do.
4504581
The guy in this was super sweet. I just wanted to squish hug him from the beginning. These short Meet Cutes are really a great way to turn a bad day around. Every one of them made me feel a little bit better about tackling my day. I wish I hadn't finished all of them. Write more, Kait!
1027151
Real Love is a futuristic romance set in space with alien life forms a normal part of everyday reality. Think Star Trek without the battles.  Most of the story takes place aboard a huge space transport ship, which is why I made the Star Trek analogy instead of Guardians of the Galaxy or Star Wars.

The main character has led a specifically sheltered life, and is at first overwhelmed by all the new concepts and choices surrounding her on the ship. She's never had to make her own choices or consider what she wants, but faced with sudden freedom to choose, her world begins to open to possibilities, including real love, as the title suggests.

I whipped through this story in no time, and loved every minute of it. If you like your contemporary romance with a touch of alien, grab this sweet story and be ready to smile.

I received an ARC of this book for my honest review, and I honestly loved every minute of it and will be looking for more books from this author!
3416527
Yes even autistic people want love and happy endings according to this sweet, often over-sugared romance about two people with Asperger's Syndrome who find they can live without their tics but not without each other.
Josh Hartnett delivers a strongish performance as the man obsessed with numbers (Rain Man lite) who lives in a crummy apartment with several birds and their waste products.
Radha Mitchell, though lovely, delivers a soft performance as the gal he loves. Her Aspberger's manifests itself in a weird barking laugh delivered at regular intervals and a hatred of the sound of metal clanging against metal.
This movie is laudable in that it tries to explain the lives of people born without the ability to relate to others in socially-accepted ways. Its problem is that it pretends the condition can be solved with a Hollywood-style ending. It trivializes the problem and reduces it to a few carefully calculated movie tics without ever penetrating the minds of its characters.
It's not unpleasant or objectionable -- just thin.
1092475
Madison -- aka Mads -- is in love with Sean Benedetto, a hottie Senior. Lina is in love with Dan Shulman, their Interpersonal Human Development (IHD) -- aka Sex Ed -- teacher. And Holly -- aka  the Boobmeister - is in love with herself. For their IHD class project, the girls set out to prove that boys are more obsessed with sex than girls. They establish a blog where they post the Dating Game questionnaire, which asks students at their school about their sexual attitudes and experiences. And they post a web site where they provide matchmaking services for students and send them out on actual dates. Overnight the three girls, who consider themselves misfits, become the most popular kids in school! Everyone gets into the Dating Game and a Pandora's box opens wide. When Mads tweaks the matchmaking service to finagle a blind date with Sean, she gets more than she bargained for. Lina's newfound popularity gives her the courage to pursue being more than teacher's pet, but it's not exactly what she dreamed it would be. Obsessed with her reputation, Holly chases down rumors and lies about her sex life while running away from the one guy who really cares about her. When the dust settles on the sexual explosion these girls unleash, the results are not at all what they expected.

This book provides a road map for kids to create their own dating game, plus there's a companion web site that includes a personality quiz and newsletter. Whether it's kids talking to kids, kids talking to teachers, or kids talking to parents, this is a fun, frank, and safe way to get kids to open up about sex, drugs, and alcohol. It's all in the book, yet handled with a good dose of humor and great sensitivity. For parents -- and kids -- who want to know what teens are into, the answers they find in "The Dating Game" will blow their minds!
3209569
Machines aren't supposed to feel, but this cyborg cant help falling in love. Formerly known as unit X109GI, Joe is on a quest to discover his origin. While he doesnt find the answers hes looking for, he does discover that affection and lust aren't just for humans. But when it comes to a battle between logic and love, which side will the cybernetic organismonce a manchoose. Chloe is assigned as a specimen collector for a captured cyborg, with a large bonus for any specimens she collects. Chloe is intrigued by the machine disguised as a man. Kidnapped during his daring escape, he shows her that despite the chip in his brain, his humanity is not completely lost.

Read on a whim and although I enjoyed the premise, the constant sex was too much. I like that the cyborgs became self aware and are attempting to save themselves.

**Spoiler**

I do not know why Chloe was chosen as a subject if she was so weak willed. I know they were trying to fix a control mistake, but why pick someone with no will. She should have some spunk.
3953943
this is a funny and cute love story that is a bit earthy.  They did a good job making a risque story
4934475
Contrary to what the blurb may imply, this is a sweet, swiftly played, love story.  Aiden who is really Anthony is a wuss. Mitchell who is looking for love, is a bit of a reluctant aggressor.  The cross-currents of their backgrounds and the way they fall in love are all totally illogical and completely wonderful.

Pure fun, without laughs, just smiles.
3183624
If you like sex, these are good. They retain the locusts of mini-me's. Very useful in the age of Tinder.