ReadingReneeReviews
No matter your mood, there's a great book to suit it. !!
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Something Resembling Love by Elizabeth Standish @GiveMeBooksPR
Title: Something Resembling Love
Series: Something Resembling #1
Author: Elizabeth Standish
Genres: Contemporary Women's Fiction
with Romance Elements
Tropes: Found Family/STEM Background
Medically Child-free/Chronic Illness Rep
Release Date: September 16, 2025
BLURB
Life has a way of uprooting us when we least expect it.
Jane Davenport has been shattered twice—once by the tragic loss of both her parents, and again by her own life-threatening diagnosis. She’s learned relying on people is risky, and the only thing she can count on is the scientific method.
Dr. Peter Livingston has always sought validation through achievement and professional success, masking self-doubt behind the expected uncertainty of his cancer research. Despite his dedication, Peter can’t shake the restless sense that life could offer something more. Even if he’s never stopped long enough to consider what more might be.
When Jane and Peter cross paths at Thanksgiving dinner, their shared fascination with scientific puzzles sparks a passion that’s as physical as it is intellectual. Sharing about her illness has always left Jane feeling like she’s on the outside, but with Peter, it seems she’s found someone who speaks a common language. Yet as their relationship deepens, the boundaries Jane has built to protect her heart and her life are challenged, and Peter begins to unearth the truth about his own desires.
Both must confront the fragile, often painful truth of what it means to truly love: that choosing themselves might mean letting go of each other.
Told from both Jane and Peter's perspectives, Something Resembling Love is a tender exploration of the ways love can both heal and hurt, how the choices we make echo throughout our lives, and how sometimes, the most significant love story we write is the one we create for ourselves.
Elizabeth Standish is an attorney based in Denver, Colorado who has: had a solo practice, presented criminal appeals to the Colorado Court of Appeals, worked in-house in biotechnology. When she finally got tired of telling other people's stories in her legal briefs, and telling happy endings only to herself, she wrote her first novel. Just like her first heroine, Emmalyn, she too grew up showing horses. She shares her home with a chaotic yellow lab, a cat who likes to sleep in her bathtub, and an assortment of wildlife that like to eat the vegetables that escape the confines of her garden.
Thursday, August 28, 2025
The House Guest by Penelope Ward @PenelopeAuthor @GiveMeBooksPR
Title: The House Guest
Author: Penelope Ward
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Billionaire Hero/Roommates/Twist
Slow Burn/Angsty/Opposites Attract
Release Date: August 31, 2025
BLURB
From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward comes a new, STANDALONE contemporary romance…
The last thing Dorian Vanderbilt expected was to find me painting in my crop top when he returned to the mansion he hadn’t inhabited in years.
He was understandably surprised I’d turned his living room into an art space.
Life is certainly full of surprises, though, but not always in a good way.
I learned that lesson when my aunt and the billionaire she married died unexpectedly while traveling.
I’d been living with them, and just like that, my life was turned on its axis.
Unsure of what was next, I stayed alone at the barren estate figuring out my next move.
That was when Dorian—the late billionaire’s only son—showed up.
I’d never met Dorian Vanderbilt. He’d been living on the other side of the country.
But now, he was home, left to pick up the pieces of his father’s legacy.
Not only was Dorian devastatingly handsome and mysterious, but he was the sole heir to the Vanderbilt fortune.
He didn’t seem to like me—at first. We were total opposites. But I was grateful that at least he didn’t kick me out.
We stayed out of each other’s way for the most part, save for some late-night kitchen run-ins or unexpected bonding sessions in the home theater.
Over time, though, we grew closer. Turned out, our chemistry was pretty combustible.
I was falling in love with him.
Until everything I thought I knew turned upside down yet again.
And fate left me pining for the one man I’d ever loved.
PRE-ORDER LINKS
$3.99 for a limited time!
Will be FREE to read in Kindle Unlimited
The current paperback pre-order is for the special-edition “ocean” cover only. A model-cover paperback will be live on release day.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
BILLIONAIRE HERO
ROOMMATES
TWIST
SLOW BURN
ANGSTY
OPPOSITES ATTRACT
EXCERPT
Copyright © 2025
By Penelope Ward
Eventually, I was able to put Dorian out of my mind and continue my movie night for one. Pulp Fiction was almost finished when the theater door opened again.
I turned to find Dorian entering—alone.
“Is it over?” he asked.
My pulse raced as I paused the movie. “About ten minutes left.”
Without further comment, he took the seat next to me, sinking into the chair and stretching his long legs. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. His delicious cologne wafted my way, sending unwanted arousal through me. I pressed play on the movie, hoping to move out of this hyper-aware state.
“Where’s your date?” I asked after the movie finished and she still hadn’t reappeared.
“She left.”
“Is she a…girlfriend or…?”
“Definitely not,” he said, staring at the screen.
“Someone you hook up with?” I pried.
He turned to me. “You always this nosy?”
“Well, we are stepcousins,” I teased. “You can tell me anything.”
“We go way back, don’t we? So much I nearly kicked you out when I got here.”
“Details…” I shrugged.
He chuckled. “She’s someone I used to hook up with when I lived here years ago. Thought it might be interesting to reconnect with her, but I was grossly mistaken.”
“Why? What was wrong with her?”
“Nothing wrong with her. I was just bored out of my wits. It’s probably me that’s changed more than anything. That happens when you leave home, I guess.” He reached for some popcorn. “Anyway…found myself more in the mood to watch Pulp Fiction than I was to make pointless conversation with her.”
“I can start it over, if you want to watch from the beginning.”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “But I’ll watch another movie with you, if you’re down.”
Ohhhkay.
Hesitant excitement washed over me. I’d been pretty lonely lately if the idea of having someone to watch a movie with felt exhilarating. But at the same time, this was Dorian Vanderbilt—not exactly someone I could relax around yet. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to say no.
I finally nodded. “That’d be cool.”
“You choose.”
“Well…” I took a moment to think on it. “If you were in the mood to watch Pulp Fiction, maybe another Tarantino?”
He scratched his chin. “Actually, have you ever seen Snatch?”
“Guy Ritchie, right?” I nodded. “I’ve heard of it but never watched it.”
“His style reminds me of Tarantino. I think you’ll enjoy it. Would you want to watch that?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, impressed with his effort to think of a movie I would like.
Dorian went over to the laptop and pulled up the film, then returned to the seat next to me. He reclined his chair as I pressed play on the remote. He once again stretched out his long legs.
For the next couple of hours, we watched the movie intently, neither of us saying a word until it finished. That was exactly how I liked it. But he did look over to see my reaction at certain parts, which I also liked. Any nervousness I’d had dissipated as the movie went on. And I certainly couldn’t complain about sitting close to him, since he smelled like heaven. I hadn’t been out with a member of the opposite sex in what seemed like ages. Sitting this close to an attractive man made me miss dating, even if the man sitting next to me currently was out of my league.
When the credits came on the screen, he reached for the remote and lowered the volume. “What did you think?”
“It was awesome. I love movies where you don’t know what to expect, and the power dynamic can change at the drop of a hat.”
“Ah…sort of like how you suddenly had the power when I discovered you could control those dogs?”
“Maybe, yeah.” My mouth curved into a smile.
“They actually like me now. But they did not like Savannah.”
“Savannah was your date tonight?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Tess saved me, actually. She helped me get out of the rest of the date.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wanted to end the night early and had been thinking up an excuse. Then Tess rubbed her asshole on Savannah’s shoe as we were standing in the foyer. She decided right then and there she wanted to call it a night.”
I cracked up. “Saved by the asshole.”
“Exactly. It was perfect.”
“Did you drive her home?”
“I called her a car.”
“Well, I’m sorry again if I disrupted your evening.”
“Trust me, I had more fun watching the movie with you than I would’ve sitting through whatever sappy film she picked.” He sighed. “And…I’m sorry if she was rude to you. She was probably just intimidated.”
“Intimidated? Why?”
He glared. “Really? You’re gonna make me say it?”
“Sure.” I smirked.
“Because you’re attractive…” His eyes fell to my abs. “And you seem to have no other wardrobe besides crop tops.”
AUTHOR BIO
Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.
She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.
With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over forty books. Her novels have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.
AUTHOR LINKS
Monday, August 25, 2025
Victorious: Part 2 by K E Osborn @GiveMeBooksPR
Title: Victorious: Part 2
Series: LA Defiance MC #6
Author: K E Osborn
Genre: MC Romance
Tropes: Trauma Bonding/Road Trip/Slow Burn
Forbidden Attraction/Redemption Arc
Tragic Past/Alpha Hero/Angsty/Assassins
Cover Design: Designs by Dana
Photographer: Emma Jane Photography
Model: Hayden
Release Date: September 22, 2025
BLURB
Vegas was supposed to be a road trip.
A simple job to get me away from the chaos back home.
But it turned out to be something so much more.
A forbidden connection that could never be stopped.
In the neon-lit shadows of Sin City, Phoenix and I finally give in to what’s been burning between us. With no big brother looming over our every move, we’re free to explore our newfound romance. Phoenix touches me like I’m something sacred, kisses me like he’s been starving for it. Every night in his arms makes me forget the war raging back home—until reality crashes back in.
The club is under siege. Our family is scattered to the wind.
And the enemies we thought we’d defeated are rising stronger than before.
Maverick doesn’t know that Phoenix and I are together, or the secrets we shared in Vegas, including the ones that bind us together. And when we finally make it home, his fury will be devastating. With danger closing in from all sides, I have to choose between the family that raised me and the man who owns my heart.
But maybe the scariest part isn’t heading home. Maybe, when you’re blissfully happy in the City of Sin, and you’re on the run from the Cartel, perhaps the scariest part is, you won’t make it home at all.
From USA Today Bestselling Author K E Osborn comes the highly desired sixth book in the LA Defiance MC Series.
This is a forbidden love, forced proximity, high-stakes romance featuring Vegas heat, family secrets, and a love worth fighting for. This is Part 2 of the explosive Victorious trilogy.
TRIGGER WARNING
This book contains scenes of violence, death and emotional distress. If any of these are triggering for you, please go into this fully aware that Victorious Part 1 and Part 2 comes at a cost. You can't have a profound victory, without first, a crushing defeat....
PRE-ORDER LINKS
AVAILABLE NOW
All free in Kindle Unlimited
ALSO COMING SOON
Releasing October 20
AUTHOR BIO
With a flair for all things creative, USA Today Bestselling Author K E Osborn, is drawn to the written word. Exciting worlds and characters flow through her veins, coming to life on the page as she laughs, cries, and becomes enveloped in the storyline right along with you. She's entirely at home when writing sassy heroines and alpha males that rise from the ashes of their pasts.
K E Osborn comforts herself with tea and Netflix, after all, who doesn't love a good binge?
Explosive. Addictive. Romance. at www.keosbornauthor.com
AUTHOR LINKS
Friday, August 22, 2025
A Shore Fling by Jacob Chance @GiveMeBooksPR
Title: A Shore Fling
Author: Jacob Chance
Genre: Summer RomCom
Tropes: Opposites Attract/Grumpy Harbormaster
Successful Businesswoman Heroine
Release Date: August 22, 2025
BLURB
I’ve done everything right—built a career, climbed the corporate ladder, and put the family business first. But when my father tries to turn my love life into a merger deal, I realize it might be time to finally break a rule or two.
So I do something completely out of character: I run.
One impulsive flight, one sketchy boat rental, and one minor shipwreck later, I wash up off the coast of Maine only to be rescued by a grumpy (and unfairly attractive) harbormaster who thinks I’m a walking, talking disaster.
He’s rugged, grounded, infuriating, and annoyingly good at saving me.
I’m only here for the summer—just long enough to clear my head, avoid my father’s matchmaking schemes, and figure out what I want.
Falling for a man who navigates fog better than his own feelings? Not part of my plan.
But between lobster rolls, starry nights, and kisses I can’t stop thinking about, I start to wonder if I’m no longer escaping something... but finding something worth staying for.
Jacob Chance grew up in New England and still lives there today. He's a martial artist, a football fan, a practical joker, and a bacon lover.
A USA Today bestselling author of sports romance and romantic suspense, Jacob has endless ideas and plans on providing his readers with many more entertaining stories.
AUTHOR LINKS
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Rescuing Dr. Marian by Lucy Lennox @GiveMeBooksPR @lucylennoxMM
Title: Rescuing Dr. Marian
Series: Made Marian Legacy #1
Author: Lucy Lennox
Genre: Contemporary Gay Romance
Tropes: Opposites Attract/Late Bi-Awakening
Forced Proximity/Only One Cabin/Fake Boyfriend
Release Date: August 19, 2025
BLURB
One kiss changed everything.
As sheriff, I’m the guy people call for help.
But when my solo Hawaii trip gets hijacked by my clingy ex, suddenly I’m the one who needs saving.
My unlikely rescuer?
A gorgeous stranger who plants one breathtaking, reckless kiss on me in the middle of a crowded bar—sending my ex packing… and stealing my carefully guarded heart.
Tommy Marian kissed me like he knew me.
Like he wanted me.
Like I was his.
Like he was mine.
But he’s not.
He’s a straight, ambitious city doctor—here in paradise for his own damn wedding.
And I’m going home alone, as usual.
Six months later, I land a dream search and rescue gig in Legacy, Montana.
One summer. A break from my coupled-up friends. Zero distractions.
Except guess who’s freshly single… and bunking in my tiny cabin? The biggest distraction of my life.
Tommy Marian is still beautiful, still infuriating, and still everything I can’t want.
He says what happens in Legacy stays in Legacy.
I say I’m not even tempted.
At least one of us is lying.
Because when Tommy disappears on the mountain, I realize I’d burn the world to get him back…
And maybe this time, I won’t let him go.
PURCHASE LINKS
Free in Kindle Unlimited
ALSO AVAILABLE
COMING SOON
Releasing November 18
AUTHOR BIO
Lucy Lennox is a USA Today bestselling author and winner of the A.C. Katt Gay Debut Novel Award.
After enjoying creative writing as a child, Lucy didn’t write her first novel until she was over 40 years old. Her debut novel, Borrowing Blue, was published in the autumn of 2016. Lucy has an English Literature degree from Vanderbilt University, but that doesn’t hold a candle to the years and years of staying up all night reading tantalizing novels on her own. She has three children, plays tennis, and hates folding laundry. While her husband is no shmoopy romance hero, he is very good at math, cooks a mean lasagne, has gorgeous eyes, looks hot in his business clothes, and makes her laugh every single day. She writes gay romance with heart, humor, and heat!
AUTHOR LINKS
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Other Woman Drama by Lani Lynn Vale @GiveMeBooksPR @LaniLynnVale
Title: Other Woman Drama
Series: Content Advisory #4
Author: Lani Lynn Vale
Genre: Mafia Romance
Tropes: One Bed/Enemies to Lovers
Other Woman Drama/Single Dad
Grumpy x Sunshine
Release Date: August 12, 2025
BLURB
Piers “Webber” Webb knew two things for certain.
One, he needed to stay the hell away from Silver Donahue. Two, he didn’t think there was a chance in hell that he could.
He tries, though.
For a solid year, he does his best to be dismissive to the point where he appears cold and threatening.
But when Silver finds herself in danger, he forgets why he was giving her the cold shoulder to begin with.
The thing is, Silver didn’t forget.
***
Silver Donahue was so deeply in love with Piers Webb it was disheartening. Especially knowing he didn’t like her back.
She’s determined to live her life, but with Webber always on the edge of her existence, she knows it’s futile.
But she tries.
The thing is, there’s no way you can ignore Piers Webb when he’s aiming that dark and deadly gaze your way.
She’s determined to keep him at a distance, until one night she has to pick him up on the side of a deserted road in the middle of nowhere. That one moment of need on his end is all she needs to realize a few things.
He’s as scary as he wants her to believe, and killing a man and disposing of a body is a daily practice for him.
She should run so far in the opposite direction, because he has so many red flags, even a toddler wouldn’t be able to ignore them.
But she’s always proven she makes bad decisions.
But Piers Webb is going to be the best bad decision she’s ever made.
PURCHASE LINKS
ALSO AVAILABLE
COMING SOON
Releasing September 9
AUTHOR BIO
Lani Lynn Vale is an American author of humorous romantic suspense novels. Born in the Great State of Texas, she has lived the majority of her adult life in East Texas where most of her novels are based. She’s married to her high school sweetheart whom her readers refer to as “LLV’s Bearded Half.” She published her first novel, Boomtown. in the summer of 2013 after the birth of her third child. She’s gone on to publish over 100 novels, with most of them going on to become USA Today Bestsellers.
AUTHOR LINKS
FACEBOOK
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