Book Review: Promise Me Forever

Quick note here, don't go into this thinking these are short novellas, otherwise you're going to get REAL frustrated. Ha! Instead, go into this knowing these are four full length novels and settle in because you are going to enjoy this.

Promise Me Forever - Top Shelf Romance #3

For the love of books...

Top Shelf Romance is devoted to bringing readers a new standard of Romance. Unforgettable books in a collection you'll cherish.

Promise Me Forever is a collection of four best-selling novels, including: ⁣

Drive by Kate Stewart

Ghost by A Zavarelli

The Stolen Duet by BB Reid

Flow & Grip by Kennedy Ryan

⁣

Top Shelf Romance represents the best of the best in romance. There are no cliffhangers. These are simply must-read novels for readers looking for the best in happily ever afters. 

Full disclosure, this is my first Top Shelf Romance book so I wasn't sure what to expect. Inside there are full length novels so if you order this as a hard copy, it's coming in close to 2000 pages. I'm not even kidding.

BUT!

You're going to get so much out of this one, things from four really great authors. I won't go into every story too much because this would turn into the longest blog post, but if I had to rank the stories...

1. Drive 

2. Flow & Grip

3. Ghost

4. The Stolen Duet

Let me be clear, this isn't to say one is better than another, but this was just my favorite lineup. Far and away, DRIVE by Kate Stewart was my favorite. So much so that I actually read it again after I finished the book because it just tugged at my heart. I went into it thinking it was a novella so I didn't want to go to bed if the end was near. (Spoiler: it wasn't) I ended up reading an entire book at lightning speed and I texted my friend Shirley and told her she had to read this book. It was so good that I felt like I should have a cigarette at the end and I haven't smoked ever. Also, if you don't have the Deftone's cover of Drive stuck in your head forever, we can't be friends. That song has always been a favorite of mine since I was little so when that came up in the book I totally cried.

FLOW & GRIP was pretty good though there is a prequel called GRIP included that you really should read first because it is how this couple meets each other and its him before he was famous. The nice thing about Kennedy Ryan is she often features bi-racial couples and includes conversations about race and while the characters are learning about each other, you might be learning things that maybe you didn't feel comfortable, or had the opportunity, to ask. I always appreciate that from her and she did it exceptionally well here. The only thing I didn't love about this book is our female lead is... I'm not sure if its selfish or self-centered. She doesn't always understand or consider what other people want, she's very singular and at times that made me hard to like her.

I am not familiar with the Boston Underworld books by A. Zavarelli and I don't think mafia/crime family type books are my thing, so I had a hard time getting into GHOST. I just had an icky feeling about all of it but by the end, I was really rooting for Talia because she's had the WORST time imaginable, and I really wanted Alexei to pull through for her.

THE STOLEN DUET is last on my list but not because it wasn't good, it's just that there has to be someone last. Obviously 'duet' tells you this is two books, THE BANDIT and THE KNIGHT. The story is good, I liked the premise of it, I just had a hard time connecting with the characters.

Ultimately, I think the fact that DRIVE was the first one in here and it was so incredibly great, I kept measuring things to that instead of how they would have been separated and I had more time before stories. Alas, that's the tricky part about reviews, sometimes you just have to read, read, read and I don't always have time to come down from a book so to speak.

If you're looking for something to round out your summer reading list, this is an excellent one to pick up! A huge thank you to the authors as well as Social Butterfly PR for having me on this tour and sending me an ARC for review. Have you read anything by these authors? Share in the comments!

      

This post contains affiliate links. 

Book Review: Hoops Holiday

I hope you all had a really great Christmas and that Santa was really good to you. We had a pretty good one but I'll talk more about that next week because we still have one more Christmas to do with my brother and his family this coming weekend.

In the meantime, let's do some book reviews! Today I have one for you, tomorrow I'll have two for you, and I might even have one for next week and that will finish my Goodreads Challenge for 2019!

Hoops Holiday - Kennedy Ryan

MacKenzie Decker was a question Avery never got to ask, much less answer.

They met when she was a young reporter fueled by ambition, and the ink on Deck's first NBA contract was barely dry. Years later, they've climbed so high and lost so much, but one thing hasn't changed. The attraction that simmered between them in a locker room before is still there. With success like theirs, everything has been possible . . . except them.

That was then . . . but what about now?

The great thing about this one is it's a quick novella but it does contain two bonus shorts that feature the couples from the two books previous to this (Long Shot & Block Shot) so if you're missing them you can get a little visit in just a few pages. This book only features Decker & Avery though and it is really a great read as you snuggle under your new blankets and the kids run wild with their new toys.

In this one we have Avery, an up and coming sports journalist, who meets MacKenzie Decker (who goes by Deck) in an unfortunate way, but that one moment in time stays with them both (hard not to because it was pretty memorable). Definitely a connection between them that engagements, marriage, children, and death can't deter it so when they find themselves working together years later, it's obvious the connection is still there. Older and wiser, they slowly forge their way into a relationship while navigating each other's issues plus the difficulty of long distance romance.

Overall? I have to give this one a solid 4. I like that this series is tackling serious issues and though this is only a novella, it also tackles the issue of suicide but also grief/grieving, and I appreciate that. What I wish we had more of was the romance. Avery almost got on my nerves because she is the queen of mixed signals, and I got a little irritated for how determined Deck was he was ready to give up easily on the whole thing. A few missteps but overall I did like this one and I liked the two bonus epilogues featuring past characters. Definitely a quick one to enjoy before the end of the year.

   

I have yet to read other books in this series, so don't spoil it for me! This post contains affiliate links and happy reading!