Fresh in the Kitchen

I had a lot of fun reading about Aubrey and Tom. 

They were a great pair from the beginning. Ms. Burke sets up the tropes, conflict, and stakes from the beginning and hits reader expectations every step of the way. 

A fun fresh take on a tried and true trope, and I maybe read at times when I should've been doing responsible things because I was enjoying the story. 

FYI, the MC's are a clean and wholesome couple. The secondary characters not as much, but everything is aluded to off page. 

AMAZON

What happens between two best friends when a fake-dating plan goes better than expected?

Aubrey Walker just wants to get through her big sister’s wedding without losing her sanity. Her overbearing mother and nosy family, however, might push her over the edge. To get them off her back, she comes up with a harebrained plan – pretend that Tommy Flanagan, her best friend, is actually her serious boyfriend. To her great surprise, the fake relationship with Tom actually works, but what happens when Aubrey starts to see him in a whole new light?

Chef Thomas Flanagan is ecstatic when he wins several awards from the city’s local magazine – not so much when his famous chef father decides to attend the awards party. Tom finds the perfect solution in Aubrey’s fake dating scheme, but there’s one big problem: he’s secretly in love with the beautiful Aussie. Torn between playing along or telling her the truth, will he risk his heart to fire things up between them for real?

Body Beats

If you're an author and need a great way to figure out how to get your character's mood/thoughts across, this is an excellent resource. 

Ms. Gardner has done a marvelous job of putting together lists or ways to convey character by breaking them down to body parts. The division is easy to navigate and will up your game as a writer when applied properly. 

It's the book I've been looking for and would be an excellent addition to The Emotional Thesaurus. 

A must for every genre fiction writer. 

AMAZON

BODY BEATS TO BUILD ON is on a mission to nix the same old "he smiled" and "she shrugged," to transform worn-out beats into phrasing the reader won’t flag as been-there-done-that. Need help revolutionizing your tired beats? Now, there’s a resource.

It all starts with a gasp. Fifty-seven of them actually. In one manuscript. You probably just gasped. Or maybe you...gulped air, pulled a sharp breath through your teeth, sucked in a lungful of wind, or took a crisply indrawn breath

The truth is, having numerous inhales over the course of a manuscript isn’t so odd—we humans, even the fictional kind, do tend to breathe. The trouble come with repetition, which readers will interpret as a lack of originality or, Muse forbid, laziness. And they’ll be right.

Staying inventive isn’t easy, though. Especially when it comes to those actions an author can’t avoid repeating, such as gazing, raising eyebrows, making a fist, and the list goes on. Use this fiction writer’s thesaurus to add variety to repetitive body beats!

BODY BEATS TO BUILD ON is an emotion phrase book that provides the bones for fresh, vibrant content. Layer with a little imagination, mix and match, and voilà—endless, unique beats. No more pet phrases. No more wasting time in search of a different way to write "she blushed." Just you and your manuscript climbing to the next level. This easy-to-navigate tool for novelists is a must-have for your fiction self-editing checklist.

Running to You

If you're looking for a clean romance, then Ms. Spencer's book will serve you well. 

The HEA I expected. The timeline wasn't what I thought it would be, but as I don't want to give away spoilers, I won't elaborate. 

This is a YA/NA age book with likeable characters, a lovely setting (who doesn't love a B&B?), and a few sweet kisses. 

There is mention of sex but none happens on page. 

AMAZON

Sammy didn’t expect Brandon to look twice. But Brandon didn’t count on Sammy running off with his heart.

First love can be bittersweet in this touching teen romance. Sammy had her sights set on track state finals and never paid much attention to the college guys who came to help her mom run their bed-and-breakfast. But that was before Brandon. He was young and strong and not that much older than Sammy.

Brandon took the job to help pay for college. It sounded easy: live in the apartment above the garage, be the handyman and groundskeeper, and run off to the dorms in the fall. He didn’t count on finding a family. He didn’t count on Sammy running away with his heart.

When tragedy strikes, Brandon has to make a choice. Be the big brother Sammy so desperately needs, or admit his feelings run much deeper.