Sweet Spring Romances
April Showers Bring Many Books
April showers means lots of time to sit inside and read! With everything going on the world, I’ve had a hard time focusing, and I find myself drawn more to quick reads, especially romances.
In March I delved into Sarah Adams’ backlist with The Match, one of her earlier novels. The Match is about a character with epilepsy, Evie, who trains service dogs for a living. She meets a single dad, Jake, who wants a service dog for his daughter, and they end up falling for each other.
I loved the disability rep in this one. I don’t have epilepsy, but I deal with chronic illness and the way Evie's illness impacts her life, while not being her defining feature, was very well done. There was also some great ways of support modeled, from her friend’s understanding to the way Jake takes care of her after an episode. I cried at that part because I know how it feels to not want anyone to see you when you’re having a flare up, and it was so affirming to see the love interest care for the main character and still love her. Overall, it was a cute, heartwarming romance and I want to read more of her work!
Then I read the first two books in the Holidays With Hart series by Courtney Walsh. Walsh writes sweet “closed door,” but not religious, romance. Holidays with Hart is set in a Valentine’s Day themed town, and is centered around a local hockey team.
The first one, My Phony Valentine, was a super funny, quick read. I really liked the main character, Poppy, and how playful her and Dallas’ relationship was. I especially loved Poppy's family, including her two sisters, so I was excited to continue the series about her sister Eloise.
Unfortunately, second one was a bit of a disappointment. It’s called My Lucky Charm but St. Patrick’s Day is only brought up at the end. It's a grumpy/sunshine romance and I’ve had a problem with this trope lately—so often, it seems to be code for “friendly woman does emotional labor for rude man.” In this one, the main character, Eloise, is literally the assistant to the hockey player love interest, Grey. He’s very emotionally closed off and avoidant, and doesn't know how to take care of himself. Eloise does everything for him and starts teaching him how to function as a human. Then—spoiler alert—halfway through the book, we find out Grey has a kid. This wasn't in the blurb and I was a little annoyed since I don’t always love single dad romances. Eloise was completely fine with him keeping his kid a secret and then wanted to be part of their family, so now she gets to be a wife AND a mother! Argh. It seems like a lot of folks on Goodreads did like this so I guess I’m in the minority. I’m still interested to read the third book, about the final sister, Raya, when it comes out.
If I had a nickel for every time I read a St. Patrick’s Day romance, I’d only have two nickels, but it's weird that it happened twice.
Go Luck Yourself is the sequel to Nightmare Before Kissmas, and is about the second Christmas Prince, Kris, and the Prince of St. Patrick’s Day, Loch. I actually completely loved this, even more than the first one. It was less bogged down by worldbuilding and politics, and instead mostly focused on the romance between Kris and Loch. It starts with a rivalry, and develops into a very steamy romance. I thought the pair had so much chemistry and it was such a fun read. The only thing I disliked was that there is a third act breakup very similar to the first one, but it wraps up quickly for a happily ever after. I’m dying for the Easter Princess, Iris’ story and also very excited for Raasch’s upcoming fantasy, An Entanglement of Rival Wizards.
I’m almost done with The Serendipity by Emma St Clair, the first in a shared universe series about a magical apartment building that pairs people up. The premise is adorable, and I like the characters, but I found the story a little underdeveloped. The two mains, Archer and Willa, don’t have much chemistry, and are entirely dependent on “opposites attract” principles. It's another grumpy/sunshine pairing—Archer does gain some emotional intelligence by the end, but Willa has to rescue him a lot. (Also, why are the sunshine characters always bakers? Is there a grumpy baker out there?) As for the funniest part to me—Archer and his male assistant, Bellamy, have WAY more chemistry than the lead. I would totally have read a m/m friends to lovers romance about them with Willa as the quirky friend helping them get together. I’m unsure if I was intrigued enough by this debut to read the rest of the books in the shared universe, especially since it looks like Bellamy was just a side character and won't get his own book.
If you’re looking for more Spring romances, here are a few recommendations:
Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings is perfect for Springtime. It's set on a flower farm, and the cover screams Spring. The main character, Opal, wins the lottery and buys a flower farm, and ends up in an enemies-to-lovers situation ship with the farmer, Pepper. This one has autistic and adhd rep. I had some issues with plot holes, but it was a fun story.
A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft- Also has a gorgeous cover! A romantasy about a tailor who gets hired to design for the royal wedding. She ends up falling for the prince, Kit, who has nature magic. It's very atmospheric and I adore Kit, who is prickly and introverted and what I actually want to see in a grumpy love interest. If you like the sound of Bridgerton meets romantasy + cottagecore, you might enjoy this.
Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee- Ok, this is technically a Fall romance because it's set during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, but the cover looks more Spring-coded to me and it’s super sweet and it has baking! It’s a romance set during a baking competition, and is about a shy teen baker and a wealthy boarding school kid. It’s extremely fluffy and there are gorgeous food descriptions.
And of course I have to mention the OG Scandal In Spring by Lisa Kleypas. It’s the final book in the classic Wallflowers romance series, which has a seasonal theme for each book. It is not my favorite in the series (I think everyone agrees that’s Devil In Winter), but still worth reading to finish the series.
What have you been reading as Spring has sprung?