Spotlight & Excerpt of I’m So (Not) Over You

February 24, 2022February 24, 2022 ~ Tej ~ Leave a comment

I’m So Not Over You by Kosoko Jackson

Genre: Contemporary Romance/LGBT

Release Date: February 22, 2022

Publisher: Berkley

When Kian gets a text message from ex-boyfriend Hudson, he’s not quite sure what to expect. He definitely does not expect for Hudson to ask Kian to be his fake date to Georgia’s wedding of the season. Soon their fake dating starts to feel all too real – will they keep up the charade or move to make their relationship real? Really looking forward to reading this fake dating/second chance romance!

SYNOPSIS

It’s been months since aspiring journalist Kian Andrews has heard from his ex-boyfriend, Hudson Rivers, but an urgent text has them meeting at a café. Maybe Hudson wants to profusely apologize for the breakup. Or confess his undying love. . . But no, Hudson has a favor to ask–he wants Kian to pretend to be his boyfriend while his parents are in town, and Kian reluctantly agrees.

The dinner doesn’t go exactly as planned, and suddenly Kian is Hudson’s plus one to Georgia’s wedding of the season. Hudson comes from a wealthy family where reputation is everything, and he really can’t afford another mistake. If Kian goes, he’ll help Hudson preserve appearances and get the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in media. This could be the big career break Kian needs.

But their fake relationship is starting to feel like it might be more than a means to an end, and it’s time for both men to fact-check their feelings.

EXCERPT

I’M SO (NOT) OVER YOU by Kosoko Jackson

Berkley Trade Paperback Original | On sale February 22, 2022

Excerpt

Chapter One

The first rule, and only rule, of getting over your ex is not to answer your ex’s messages. This can be done in many different ways, depending on the person.

One, change his contact to read: DO NOT ANSWER.

Two, block his number.

Three, glue a horrible weave to your scalp, so you look and act like a completely different person.

Four, restart your life as the owner of a mom-and-pop shop in rural Indiana and call it a day. That’s one I’m particularly partial to.

All of those are good and valid options. Do what you need to do-no judgment.

And yet, somehow I found a way to break this simple rule. Not just break it, burst it wide open. Shatter it, if you will.

Because it’s one thing to open a text and answer it, but it’s another to decide to follow through with your ex’s request.

Look up Bad Idea on Google, and our helpful search engine will bring up, Did you mean: Kian Andrews’s choices whenever they involve Hudson Rivers?

My phone in my pocket vibrates once. My heart skips a beat. Maybe Hudson will cancel. Or maybe he’ll realize the past three months apart have been a mistake and he’s going to confess he’s still madly in love with me? Maybe . . .

Nope, just Divya.

DIVYA EVANS: Let the record show this is a horrible idea.

“Of course you’d say that,” I mutter, forgetting she can’t, you know, hear me. And she may be right, but that’s not the point.

When I got the text from Hudson a week ago, asking me to meet him at the Watering Hole, Divya was not amused. She scrunched her nose, like she tasted something rancid in the air, which wasn’t entirely off.

Because to her, that’s exactly what my relationship with Hudson was: rancid. Which, sure, everyone says that about their ex because it makes them feel better.

KIAN ANDREWS: You’ve said that-multiple times.

DIVYA EVANS: And yet, you still refuse to listen. Remind me, who is getting their law degree from Harvard?

KIAN ANDREWS: Wow . . . we went . . . 12 hours without you bringing up your Harvard degree. That’s a new record!

DIVYA EVANS: But seriously, K. This is a bad idea. Closure is not as good as you think it is.

As a lawyer-in-training, she should understand why I need to meet with Hudson: to process what happened, to close that chapter of my life, and to seal it shut with a glue made of truth. The memory of us breaking up is an open wound that never healed. It was a volatile separation, ending with me blocking him on every social media account possible and drinking myself into a stupor that made the two weeks after the breakup a blur.

Maybe that’s why Divya’s a prosecutor and not a defense attorney.

Another vibration, another text.

DIVYA EVANS: I’m only a few blocks away if you need me.

KIAN ANDREWS: What are the chances of that happening?

Pretty high, if I’m being honest. Divya has always been my rock, no matter what. Whether keeping me from embarrassing myself when I started crying in the club two weeks after my breakup, making sure I got my worthless self out of bed so I didn’t lose my partial scholarship, or even finding some men with absolute dump-truck asses to help me get over my head-over-heels obsession with Hudson, Divya has been that ride-or-die friend for me.

So it’s reasonable to assume that when I’m about to go through another major, traumatizing Hudson experience, Divya Evans is the big guns I have on speed dial. What’s that expression? Behind every great gay guy, there’s a badass woman?

Again, my phone pings. I pull it out of my pocket without looking, expecting another (well-deserved) quippy barb from Divya. But instead, an e-mail stares back at me.

FROM: JOBS@SPOTLIGHT.COM

TO: KIAN.ANDREWS@NORTHEASTERN.EDU

SUBJECT: RE: Investigative Journalism Fellowship Application | Andrews, Kian

I stare at the screen for so long, the colorful background of one of the many lighthouses on the North Carolina coast. I want to savor this moment. Hold on to it, keep it in its box, and put it on the top shelf somewhere out of the way. When I’m a famous journalist, with sources sliding into my DMs, begging me to write Pulitzer-winning stories, and I’m giving a guest lecture at Northeastern, they’ll ask me, How did you get started in this competitive, cutthroat business?

And I’ll say, I got my first job at Spotlight. Will Spotlight be around twelve years from now? Probably not. News websites cannibalize themselves like bacteria. But it’s the hottest place to work in journalism right now. Getting an Investigative Journalism Fellowship here would change my life. It’s like . . . do not pass Go; instead, get Park Place on your second turn.

I tap the screen, bringing it back to life. Still, the e-mail alert taunts me. Maybe it’s an interview request? Maybe my pitch on the lack of education programs in Appalachia and how it’s setting students back several grade levels that I spent all last week making really did impress them, and they are going to offer me a position sight unseen. That’s not unreasonable. It happens to white guys all the time. And I have good-no, fucking great credentials.

Like Divya says, they would be lucky to have me.

But at the same time, as my journalism professor said, Journalists are a dime a dozen. Why should they pick you over anyone else?

Which takes us back to Divya Evans, and her exact words: You’re a goddamn star, Kian Andrews.

I wish I had the same level of confidence as her. I do a good job faking it when I’m around her, at least I think I do. But now? Alone in this cafŽ? Doing something stupid like waiting for the boy who broke my heart-who is now seven minutes late-and staring at the e-mail that could change my career? That confident facade is pushed far back into the closet; a place I haven’t been since middle school.

And I promised I’d never go back there again.

Without overthinking it, I tap on the screen one more time, and then enter my passcode before I can change my mind. One more tap, and the e-mail fills the screen.

Dear Mr. Andrews,

Thank you for your application for the Investigative Journalism Fellowship at Spotlight’s Boston branch. At this time, we’ve decided-

“Shit.”

There’s no need to read any more. I could do a CTRL-F in my inbox, search for “we’ve decided,” and bring up more than a dozen results. This is no different, despite how badly I want it to be different.

I’m halfway through a text to Divya, informing her about the rejection from Spotlight, which will undoubtedly result in her replying with drinks on me tonight, when a baritone clearing of a throat behind me causes my fingers to stop. The deep voice cuts through the low sensual tones of the Esperanza Spalding cover artist serenading us in the Watering Hole, even if it is as out of place as a Black guy in Boston-aka Me.

But the voice is unmistakable. Even after a year of avoiding everything related to Hudson, the way he speaks effortlessly from the depths of his diaphragm still sends shivers down my spine. And the way his boyish grin plays off his chiseled jaw makes me want to melt.

“Kian?”

I do my best to turn slowly. Eagerness isn’t a good look on anyone, especially around your ex when you’re trying to act like you’ve moved on and are living your best single twentysomething life.

But my God does he look nice.

No, not nice.

Hot.

“Hey,” he says while smirking. “Thanks for coming.”

ARC Review – A Perfect Equation

February 14, 2022February 15, 2022 ~ Tej ~ 2 Comments

A Perfect Equation by Elizabeth Everett

Genre: Historical Romance

Series: The Secret Scientists of London Series #2

Heat Level: 🔥🔥

Release Date: February 15, 2022

Publisher: Berkley

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

SYNOPSIS

How do you solve the Perfect Equation? Add one sharp-tongued mathematician to an aloof, handsome nobleman. Divide by conflicting loyalties and multiply by a daring group of women hell-bent on conducting their scientific experiments. The solution is a romance that will break every rule.

Six years ago, Miss Letitia Fenley made a mistake, and she’s lived with the consequences ever since. Readying herself to compete for the prestigious Rosewood Prize for Mathematics, she is suddenly asked to take on another responsibility—managing Athena’s Retreat, a secret haven for England’s women scientists. Having spent the last six years on her own, Letty doesn’t want the offers of friendship from other club members and certainly doesn’t need any help from the insufferably attractive Lord Greycliff.

Lord William Hughes, the Viscount Greycliff cannot afford to make any mistakes. His lifelong dream of becoming the director of a powerful clandestine agency is within his grasp. Tasked with helping Letty safeguard Athena’s Retreat, Grey is positive that he can control the antics of the various scientists as well as manage the tiny mathematician—despite their historic animosity and simmering tension.

As Grey and Letty are forced to work together, their mutual dislike turns to admiration and eventually to something… magnetic. When faced with the possibility that Athena’s Retreat will close forever, they must make a choice. Will Grey turn down a chance to change history, or can Letty get to the root of the problem and prove that love is the ultimate answer?

REVIEW

Letty Fenley is the most at home at Athena’s Retreat, where women scientists such as herself are free to complete their experiments without any outside interference. When Letty’s best friend and owner of Athena’s Retreat, Violet asks Letty to manage Athena’s Retreat, Letty reluctantly agrees. What she doesn’t count on is having to manage the retreat alongside Viscount Greycliff. Letty and Grey have had a rocky past and Letty wants nothing to do with him and the feeling is mutual. How will these two keep the retreat open when they can barely be civil with one another?

Oh, how I adored Letty and Grey in A Perfect Equation. These two had so much chemistry. I loved their banter and immediately needed to know what history they shared that made them dislike each other so much. And while I loved their enemies-to-lovers slow progression, I also loved how fierce and protective they were of one another (swoon).

I loved delving into both Grey and Letty’s past. These two individuals had been through so much and both of them had such a hard time letting their guard down. There were so many times when I just wanted to scream at them, but at the same time I knew exactly where they were coming from.

A Perfect Equation had the perfect amount of humor, romance, angst and suspense! I was hooked from the beginning and loved the storytelling. I can’t wait for the next book in The Secret Scientists of London Series. Overall I would give A Perfect Equation 4.5 stars!

Good Girl Complex ARC Review

February 2, 2022 ~ Tej ~ 2 Comments

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy

Genre: Contemporary Romance/New Adult Romance

Release Date: February 1, 2022

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

SYNOPSIS

She does everything right. So what could go wrong?

Mackenzie “Mac” Cabot is a people pleaser. Her demanding parents. Her prep school friends. Her long-time boyfriend. It’s exhausting, really, always following the rules. Unlike most twenty-year-olds, all she really wants to do is focus on growing her internet business, but first she must get a college degree at her parents’ insistence. That means moving to the beachside town of Avalon Bay, a community made up of locals and the wealthy students of Garnet College.

Mac’s had plenty of practice suppressing her wilder impulses, but when she meets local bad boy Cooper Hartley, that ability is suddenly tested. Cooper is rough around the edges. Raw. Candid. A threat to her ordered existence. Their friendship soon becomes the realest thing in her life.

Despite his disdain for the trust-fund kids he sees coming and going from his town, Cooper soon realizes Mac isn’t just another rich clone and falls for her. Hard. But as Mac finally starts feeling accepted by Cooper and his friends, the secret he’s been keeping from her threatens the only place she’s ever felt at home.

REVIEW

I’m not quite sure how to review this book without giving away major spoilers (read to the end if you’d like to see some of my thoughts that might spoil the book for you) – so I will say that I really ended up loving both Cooper and Mackenzie (Mac) in Good Girl Complex. This book was complicated and messy…but somehow it really worked. I loved not only Mac and Cooper but all of the secondary characters in the story as well.

I was rooting for Mac and Cooper as soon as they first “met.” Their chemistry and banter was always so fun! I loved how they were both stubborn and feisty. And I liked it how they didn’t always see eye to eye on every topic. Somehow that part of the romance felt so real. Cooper and Mac had their own differences and ideas and they fought about them…but they also always talked it out and saw the other side.

Good Girl Complex was funny, sweet, sexy and yes at times made me feel that angst that I love so much with Elle Kennedy books. I definitely recommend this book and hope that we get to see more of the characters from this universe.

SPOILER
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While I typically HATE cheating/love triangles. For some reason I didn’t mind the one in Good Girl Complex. Yes, Mac starts having feelings for Cooper while she’s still with her boyfriend Preston. But he’s a total douche and she breaks it off with him before fully committing to Cooper. So…while not ideal and typically I’d be like NOPE not really my thing, I stuck it out and am really glad I did!

CW: parental abuse/neglect, cheating, alcoholism (death of parent off page)

February Reads

March 2, 2021March 1, 2021 ~ Tej ~ 2 Comments

February flew by and I definitely felt like I didn’t have a lot of reading time this month. Figures, since I started my new job and computer training/training took up a good part of the month. Although I didn’t read a lot of books this month, the ones I did read were mainly 4 and 5 star reads!

I haven’t made my TBR list for March, but there sure are a lot of good books releasing in the next few months!