Mini Reviews - March Romances

So far, I've been keeping up with my March TBR and haven't deviated from the list - which is a surprise for me. I'm usually easily influenced by BokTok and would binge books I randomly stumble upon. Here are short reviews for the last 3 books I read:

1. In The Same Boat - Holly Green

a cute book with writing that's easy to follow and characters you can root for 😄

so why 3 stars? Well, there's nothing wrong with this book, it's just that the race theme wasn't interesting to me and all the sport talk was sometimes boring to read about. It's completely personal preference, I can't even call it a "con."

I really liked Sadie, she was pretty determined and a hard-working person. Cully was the same, they both put a lot of effort into the race. Sadie even got carried away a bit, which is a part of her personality and she has lots of reasons for trying extra hard to win. During the course of the race, both Cully and Sadie grow a lot and learn more about each other even though they are childhood best friends turned enemies.

Their interactions were slightly repetitive at the beginning and only started to turn around after 60%. Actually, the whole story is repetitive. They are in a boat, paddling, avoiding branches and trees, paddling some more, arguing, paddling, etc. It gets a bit...mundane. Some people will enjoy reading about their routine, but I'm more of an action girly, so I got bored 😂

In the end, I still find this book to be quite enjoyable. It's got a different theme than most contemporaries and the characters were interesting as well. I wouldn't call this a romance novel because almost no "romantic scenes" happen at all. Also, I wish we got to learn more about side characters, especially Gonzo and Erica. I kinda wanted to see Tanner apologize as well...The book ended with some loose strings, at least for me 🤷‍♀️

2. Just Listen - Sarah Dessen

It was slightly darker than I thought but I really enjoyed this story. Annabelle wasn't exactly memorable, but she was a decent MC. She had some character development but what I loved the most were her interactions with Owen and her sisters.

I live for a good sibling story and this one had a pretty good one. You have three sisters who couldn't be more different navigating love, life, and other issues while always being there for each other.

Then there's Owen who I really loved as a character. He completely surprised me in the best possible way. I also loved how he and Annabelle disagreed all the time when it came to music, it just added a bit of depth to the story - instead of her "totally understanding his weird music and becoming enlightened" she still hated most of it and had her own taste. He, on the other hand, accepted her "basic tastes" and loved her for it.

I want to say this is a cute book but I can't. The romance is cute, but the rest is pretty serious. The tone of the book is hard to describe, not really sad, but not happy either. There are lots of troubles and bad relationships to go through before you actually get a happy scene near the end of the book. I still enjoyed it a lot and would recommend, but if you're thinking this is a cute fluffy book (like I did), it's not 😂

3. Not With The Band - Kelli Warner

A charming story that's so much more than it appears at first.

You've got these two teens - Kassidy and Jordan - who suddenly become step-siblings after her mom and his dad marry each other, who have to navigate school, new family relationships, romance and finding out what you really wanna do in life.

Jordan's a prodigy footballer who just wants to play guitar in his band, and Kassidy is a shy girl who wants to become the next big soccer star. They both had so many wonderful qualities and were generally nice people. There was no big drama between them and I found that to be refreshing.

The same thing applies to the romance. I won't spoil anything, but both Jordan and Kassidy had adorable, healthy relationships that I couldn't help but root for. Also, this is the type of fluffy story that has you giggling and kicking your feet

But, for me, the BEST PART, was the relationships that slowly formed between Jordan and Kassidy. The way they start hanging out shily at first, then having serious conversations, and then being so supportive and knowing each other so well...ahh so cute