More Than Friends by Denise Hunter

 

More than Friends by Denise Hunter
3 Stars

Denise's books - I have enjoyed several but sometimes they don't always work out for me either. More Than Friends has the set up of a cozy, small‑town best‑friends‑to‑lovers romance with wild ponies, a loyal firefighter hero, and a mother‑with‑a‑mysterious‑boyfriend subplot. And while I enjoyed the setting and the heart behind it, I struggled to fully connect with the romance and characters this time.

Jenna and Tyson’s lifelong friendship turned romance was just something I didn't connect with but I think it could be a good option for my friends who like clean romance. I didn't love the third act breakup in this one and some of the romantic parts came across as awkward or slightly cringe rather than swoony, which made it harder to root for them as a couple. (ex: "their lips mated in a sensuous dance" lol)

The side mystery involving Jenna’s mom’s new boyfriend adds to the book and I liked how that ended up, she realized what she needed to.

Overall, while it wasn't a favorite, I think many would enjoy. The narration by Kim Churchill is always great!

Content: Romance is clean with kisses only, just some more odd statements as mentioned above about lips mating and being like magnets haha.

Thank you to the publisher for a complimentary e-book and audiobook to read for review. All thoughts are my own.

Libro.fm Audio (Supports Local Indie Book Stores):
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Amazon: https://amzn.to/4t3Ra4Q Baker Book House: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/9781400348732_more-than-friends

*Amazon links are affiliate links and a commission may be earned on items purchased from these links.

The Summer of You and Me by Denise Hunter

 

The Summer of You and Me by Denise Hunter

5 Stars 

Set in North Carolina, Maggie has been grieving the loss of her husband the last five years. She is taking pictures one day with her little girl at the amusement park one day and thinks she sees someone who looks like her late husband.  Her brother-in-law, Josh, helps her figure out this odd mystery....and who the man is that looks like her late husband. Soon...feelings happen and they try to navigate them, through grief and how to handle the romantic feelings that are happening.

Loved Josh's character so much, he was a great guy. This is a clean romance, with no language. There are no faith elements as this is just a clean read. Audio narration is great!

The way the grief in this book was explored was beautiful and the ending had me in tears with the revealing of everything in the mystery aspect. This felt realistic in many ways.

- Clean summer romance books
- Light mystery elements
- Childhood friends
- North Carolina setting
- Death of husband / grief storyline
- Toxic relationship with mother/daughter 
- Single Mom Trope
- Great dialogue 

Definitely recommend!

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7171472749
Amazon: https://amzn.to/46lV7Ks
Baker Book House: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/600801

*Amazon links are affiliate links and a commission may be earned on items purchased from these links.

Love, Unscripted by Denise Hunter

  Love, Unscripted by Denise Hunter - 4 Stars

This was a cute summer beach read type of book! Really enjoyed A Novel Proposal last year and this one was great too. Chloe Anderson is an author who has a movie coming up for her romance novel. She is nervous about Liam Hamilton being cast as the male lead because of his reputation in Hollywood. She lets her producer know her thoughts about the casting when Liam overhears it on speakerphone. Liam's reputation continues to go south when his agent creates a plan to fake date with Chloe during the filming. They think creating this wholesome, committed relationship will gain each something they need. Liam - his reputation to get better. Chloe - increase her following online to help her writing career. What could possibly go wrong?! Feelings start to be real - that's what! Ha! And what do they do next when they start to truly like each other and secrets come to the forefront......

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It was a clean romance and the interactions between Liam and Chloe were great. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the 3rd act breakup and miscommunications but it was still a good summery read. Audiobook narrator is great too. She narrated some in Loyally, Luke by Pepper Basham so I really liked her voice.

4/5 

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6017712212
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RlObEQ

*Amazon links are affiliate links and a commission may be earned on items purchased from these links.

Falling Like Snowflakes by Denise Hunter

 

Falling Like Snowflakes by Denise Hunter 

2.5 to 3 stars. I may write a formal review later but this book follows a girl who is running from her past with her little boy and is hiding her identity. Her car breaks down and she is stuck in this new town and meets many new people.

 They help her get back on her feet and she meets specifically this guy Beau who starts being interested in her and vis versa. What bothered me about this book is Beau has a girlfriend for 60% of the book and never broke up with her while he was as developing feelings for our new girl in town.

And his girlfriend was helping the new girl out by letting her stay at her place. It just felt icky. Also there’s a mistletoe scene where someone is encouraging him to kiss the new girl…and he kisses her cheek when she moves a little and he kisses part of her lips. Whileeeee he is still dating his current girlfriend.

I don't think Denise hunter’s older books are for me. I have read two now that have this cheating thing going on. This is a Christian book, why? It encourages it. 

The only reason I gave this 3 stars on goodreads versus 2, is I really liked the scenes about the girls past and the mystery there involved with it and the small town and side characters. But the romance did NOT work for me personally. I really liked her book this year called A Novel Proposal but this one wasn’t for me.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5994193580
YouTube Review to come.

 

 

Autumn Skies by Denise Hunter

 

Autumn Skies - Denise Hunter - 3.5 Stars (Book 3 in the Bluebell Inn Romance Series)

I liked this but didn't love it -- I haven't read the other books in the series but don't feel like you have to. This is about Wyatt and Grace. Wyatt is a Secret Service agent and takes a mandatory leave of absence that leaves him turning up at The Bluebell Inn where he meets Grace. They both have a mystery of baggage that we don't know about fully until the end of the story. Little bits are revealed through out the story, such as Grace having survivors guilt over something that happened many years ago when she was young and Wyatt experiencing trauma surrounding his mother's death. But we don't fully see what happened until the end---I was shocked at that part, very interesting how Hunter tied this all together between the two characters.

I liked how the characters went on camping trips and got stuck together - getting to know each other. That's always a fun trope.

However, I don't feel like I fully loved the story - whether that's due to the bad audiobook narrator or not, I'm not sure. There were some fun cozy vibes for sure that I really enjoyed but it was a bit of instalove that I didn't care for. They knew each other 2-3 weeks and fell in love kinda thing. Again, my personal preference on what I like in Christian romance vs don't like.

If you like Christian romance that has that hallmark feel - this would be one to look at for sure. I liked it, but didn't love it as much as I hoped I would.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5770832791
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3EdM5jt
YouTube Review Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP6NLPxY6po

A Novel Proposal by Denise Hunter

 

A Novel Proposal - Denise Hunter - 4 Stars - A perfect beach read!

This was such a fun, refreshing, light contemporary romance and would be a perfect beach read! I enjoyed the characters, the writing aspect, the little free library, the romance writing 101 bits at the beginning of the chapters and the little mystery they followed surrounding the engagement ring added a nice touch to force them to bond. Some parts were a little predictable, but overall, such a cute, clean romance! I listened to the audiobook, and I was thoroughly entertained! 4 stars.

This book follows Sadie, an author of westerns, who loses her writing contract and is asked to try her hand at writing a romance story. She has never been in love and has no idea where to start with this novel so she goes to this little beach house to get away so she can be inspired to write her story. In comes the next-door neighbor in the little duplex she’s in, Sam. He’s been through a tough breakup about a year ago and hasn’t been looking for love since. They start to get close after Sadie enlists Sam to help her with this situation surrounding an engagement ring. Sam says he will help her as long as she agrees to be his +1 at his cousin (and ex-girlfriends) wedding. Sparks fly and the rest is history…..

Such a sweet romance and I’m excited to read more of Denise Hunter’s books in the future!

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5366170962
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JwGMPj
Baker Book House: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/509274
YouTube Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNfiPar0nxE

Winter Brides: A Year of Wedding Novella Collections

 

Loved buddy reading this with my friend Amy! We both really liked the first 2 novellas but didn’t love the last one.

A December Bride - Denise Hunter: 3.5-4 stars

This is actually a Hallmark movie - which is pretty cool. I could see that for sure. This is about Layla trying to get her home staging business up and running when some circumstances happen where Seth gets them in a situation where they have to pretend they're dating and engaged. He agrees to let her decorate his home for Christmas Home Show and the story takes off there. Liked this pretty good, but the ending was too rushed.

A January Bride - Deborah Raney: 5 stars - loved!

This is all about Maddie who is an author and needs a place to write her manuscript because her house has some electrical issues going on. Ginny, who is her 80 year old neighbor, recommends Art's house that used to be a bed and breakfast. She goes to his home for about a week, each day, writing her story. Each day they write letters back and forth, never actually meeting in person. Each one of them thinks each other is an older person, Ginny's age, which adds a lot to the story. You are rooting for them to finally meet the entire time and loving them writing letters back and forth. Loved this one. So engaging and the characters and chemistry were great. Would love to check more by Deborah out, as I had never read anything by her before.

A February Bride - Betsy St. Amant: 2 stars

This didn't make any sense to me.... This starts with Allie leaving her fiancé at the alter because she is afraid she will make the same mistakes as her mom, aunt and grandmother.....Marcus doesn't know why she left. So much miscommunication. The characters keep getting forced back together but.............this just was so ridiculous of a story. The last chapter had some good redemption and realization points and this was the only short story that had a couple who already come in knowing each other for a while, but still did not like it.

Goodreads Review:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5214103483

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NQp1f4
YouTube Review Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmUXgZGhqm4&t=64s