Best romances of 2022.

And before that, I have read Things we Never got Over, by the same Lucy Score!

This book is a grumpy/sunshine small town romance with great characters and interesting side characters who will probably get their own stories one day!

I loved Naomi, she was a courageous heroine, determined to love and care for her niece Waylay.
I loved Waylay too, eleven bordering on thirty! That kid was a STEM, quiet, shy, smart and had been delt bad cards in life so far.

Of course I loved sexy barber Knox, even if I wanted to bash his skull more than once when he couldn’t see what was right in front of him!

And I loved Steph the gay best friend, Liza the excentric grand mother, Sloane the vixen librarian and so many other characters!

I had a great time reading the book. It was a mix of light, fun and emotion!

Then we have another funny romance set up in a very imaginative world! The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

his is an enemies to lovers trope with great supporting cast, an imaginative world that feels a cross between Greek mythology and western!

Hart is the broody/grumpy hero and Mercy the energetic sunshine heroine! Both hate each other for years (but do they really) and feel in need of a friend.

I loved the humor in the book, the family banter and bickering, the insults traded between Hart and Mercy while you could guess the attraction!
I had guessed the nefarious subplot so I wasn’t surprised when the cat was out of the bag but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment in the least!

Mercy’s family and Pen ( Hart’s young apprentice) were the cherry ok top to keep that story rolling on a bouncy tempo.

It’s whimsical, romantic, fun and heartfelt.

Now a very hyped one: Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood.

I adored Olive and Adam from The Love Hypothesis and.. Levi and Bee raised to the challenge!
I so love these two together as well!

Ali Hazelwood creates characters who are terribly smart yet totally clueless at the same time when matters of heart are concerned! She also give us these many details to flesh them out perfectly (going from Star Wars nerds to crying at every roadkill) and make them so real that you just feel like they are the best friends you’ve known forever!
Also, for how imposing and intimidating her heroes can be, they still blush adorably in presence of their secret crush. Sigh. Adorable! Levi was the absolute best here and he is my new book boyfriend!

This story has many assets:
-the characters (adorable, quirky, smart, sexy…);
-the science (because people don’t talk enough about science in romance stories);
-a romance really well executed
-a villain and a slight suspense (just enough to keep us interested all along).

Thank you for Listening is my second book written by Julia Whelan

I could gush for hours about that book that will be on my top reads of 2022 but let’s try “list style” here.

1) Amazing characters with an unusual choice of heroine. Sewanee has gone through hell and came back kicking. She is taking care of her grandmother (who has Alzheimer) and that made my heart melt!

2) Meet not so cute but undeniably sarcastic and hot! Sewanee will meet Nick in Las Vegas and I adored their heated discussion about romance tropes and them building an imaginary story on the spot!

3) Excellent banter! Be it with Nick or in her DM with Brock, the dialogs, humor and banter had me snickering so often! Dry humor is my brand of fun!

4) Enlightening! I learned so much about narrating books it was pure delight!

5) All the feels but not heavy nor syrupy! I laughed, I cried, I raged… I felt everything but Julia Whelan never overdid it. It was just the right balance between lighthearted banter and serious topics.

This gave me feelings akin to Book Lovers this year.

Just read it!