Roxie Noir

Roxie Noir, I pledge you my troth. I mean, we are both straight, but I am pretty sure I would marry you. You know just what I like, even when I did not previously know I found those things appealing. The Loveless brothers are all wonderful. This is my 4th book in the series, Caleb's story, and I have loved every single one. (There is only one brother left, and I am in mourning thinking of the end of the series.) All that said, and with all the 5-star reads, this is my favorite Loveless book so far. Everyone is smart and funny, the banter (between the leads and the the brothers and the FMC and her BFFS) is funny and lovely and what most of us want our friendships and loveships to sound like. This installment is a hot-for-teacher setup with all sorts of differences from most books that employ the trope. It is super sexy but never tawdry, and it never falls into a power dynamic where he is in control of her, Thalia is very much her own person. Everyone around Caleb and Thalia assumes this is manipulative, and aspects are problematic (it does not hide from the fact that as a professor he was wrong to become involved with her, he always knows it, but also recognizes he is willing to the pay the costs of being with her if need be), but they are equals in all the ways that count. I read this straight through, and am going to have to work this weekend because I kept opening up my Kindle cloud reader for one more chapter when I should have been writing up admissions recommendations. I will be shocked if this is not my #1 romance this year, and we are still in the first week of the year.… (meer)

I have been sick all week so it has been all romance all the time. I just don't have it in me to read things that require work right now. This was a step up in complexity since I read rather than listened, but still, this was calorie-free comfort food from start to finish.

This is my third book in the Loveless Brothers series, and every one if them is a joy. All of the brothers show up for cameos here, but the book is less focused on the family dynamic than the others, and the guys' mother, Clara, is totally absent. That bummed me out at the beginning because I love their relationships, they are funny and sarcastic and smart and loving and supportive (well, that comes with snark sometimes, but it is still there.) It turned out though that I did not miss it. I really liked the relationship between June and Levi and between Levi and June's brother Silas (which is an important part of the story.) I think Roxie went a little overboard with Silas's murderous impulses toward anyone June dated, it started to feel not just toxic but a little repressed Flowers in the Attic, but otherwise it was so fun to read.

I have to note that a climactic scene happens in a small town in South Dakota. Everything is flat and cold and treeless and there is no Chinese food. The workplace is filled with passive-aggressive (and some aggressive-aggressive) staff and leadership who insulate them because they are "nice guys" or fellow Sons of Norway members, or are married to their uncle's third-cousin by marriage (and also, it is not like there is a real talent pool to replace anyone.) I had such a strong stress flashback to leading a team of incompetents in the other Dakota that I was worried it would trigger a migraine. (I had one great person on my staff and everyone hated her. There are no rewards for pushing through.) Could Roxie have done a stint in the Dakotas? If not, she has some reliable people giving her the real tea. (She did know that to get to the Dakotas from the Carolinas you have to fly through Dallas, so I get the feeling she has lived that.)… (meer)

As with the first in this series, there are some clunky moments (a little more editing would have taken care of them) but as always with Roxie the dialogue is so fresh and charming and natural it is all forgiven. I love this family and so far all of Roxie's books.

Briefly, this is a friends-to-lovers romance between Charlie and her longtime BFF Daniel. Daniel is a single father of a precocious 7-year old. He is embroiled in a custody proceeding with a terrible baby mama. Daniel and Charlie have been friends since they were 11 and there were moments it looked like it would turn to romance, and then in his very early 20's Daniel found himself moving back into is mom's house with an infant daughter who, it is hinted at, was neglected and needed all of him so he gave up is hot 20's guy life to be a stick-up-his-butt dad. Now 29 he co-owns a brewery and focuses on his family and Charlie. Charlie was an impulsive wild child but entered an apprenticeship and is now a carpenter working hard to build her own business while working full time for another business. She is still impulsive, clearly, she has ADHD but also she is fun. When his ex marries an affluent man and gets knocked up (not in that order) and petitions for sole custody to take the daughter (named Rustalina for some reason which. seriously, is a terrible name) from their Virginia home to Colorado. Terrified he will lose his daughter he ends up fake engaged to Charlie so the court will see she will be in a two-parent home. The rest goes as you might expect, but all the characters are so delightful, and the conversations between them (the Loveless family and Charlie and her sister Elizabeth) are just a joy. It is a blast getting to the HEA. So fun.… (meer)