Ice Cream Lover by Jackie Lau

"Because even though I'm a grumpy bastard who stomps all over people's dreams, sometimes I just want a cuddle, you know?" 


I hate ice cream. Ever since my fiancée left me at the altar and skewered me in her bestseller “Embrace Your Inner Ice Cream Sandwich: Finding the Positive You in a World of Negativity,” I haven’t been able to stomach the stuff.

Unfortunately, my five-year-old niece is a budding foodie and her favorite place in the world is Ginger Scoops, a cutesy Asian ice cream shop. Since I’ve been looking after my niece a lot lately, I’ve spent too much time there, sipping black coffee, refusing to eat ice cream, and trying not to look at the owner, Chloe Jenkins. Chloe is obnoxiously cheerful, and I can’t stand her. 


Naturally, I end up kissing her.


But I’ve sworn off women after the fiasco with my ex-fiancée, and I’m convinced I’m no good at relationships. Still, with Chloe I’m tempted to do the impossible: give love and ice cream another chance…



The premise of this book is a bit weird at first, a guy is left in the altar and then his ex fiance goes on to write a very famous book about "embracing your inner ice cream sandwich" and that's why he hates ice cream. This sounds incredibly funny and, like I said, a bit weird, but I'm a super big fan of Jackie Lau and when I went into this book I knew what I was about to read was going to be well written and from an unique perspective. And that was definitely what I got. Jackie Lau has a wonderful way of introducing you to characters that you immediately feel connected to. And it's true that we met some of these characters in the first book in the series but in this book I felt like I linked to them in a deeper level. I understood them even if they made decisions that were so different from the ones I would make and I felt like I knew them from the beginning. Like I mentioned, the hero in this story is Drew. A grumpy Chinese-Canadian guy who hates ice cream but who is taking care of his niece who loves food and specifically this new Asian ice cream shop that was opened by Chloe, our bisexual, biracial heroine who is following her new dream of managing this business, honoring her late mother's Chinese heritage. 

These two characters are opposites in a lot of ways but have a lot of things in common. They are very melancholic and emotional. They bring a lot of good things from each other. But Drew doesn't think he deserves to be with anyone because he will melt someone's "ice cream sandwich" (yes, her ex's book is self-help), he definitely had a lot of things to figure out. And Chloe as well. Also, there were a lot of people who hurt them and who managed to give them some really big insecurity issues. And seeing their development into being more independent and well rounded people was incredibly interesting. I also absolutely adored the descriptions of food and the ice creams and I am not at all an ice cream person. The ideas for the flavors and the intricate metaphors and connections that were made made me extremely happy. I adored her first book in the series The Ultimate Pi Day Party and this one was a wonderful companion and I loved seeing the characters from the first book in this one as well! 

As I mentioned, I adore how Jackie Lau writes. You can tell she actually really cares about her characters and gives them complex and multidimensional lives and personalities. Specially in the relationship that Chloe has with her family and the life that she has after the death of her mother. I always love how she writes her biracial heroines and how she writes about the lack of representation or the lack of a community that they can find of people who look and can have similar experiences to theirs. I appreciated that she added Michelle in this book, who talked about her experiences from another point of view and who saw herself in Chloe and that was a very important moment. Being biracial also impacts her relationship with her father and those conversations were some of the most captivating and profound in this book. Jackie Lau always makes me feel such a large range of emotions and manages to write sexy, adorable and complex couples but also beautiful family relationships and friendships and I can't wait to read more from her!

The Inside Track by Tamsen Parker


Nick Fischer is a screw-up; everyone knows it and they’re not afraid to tell him so. The only thing he’s got going for him is that he plays a reliable rhythm guitar for License to Game, and his big fat bulldog, Princess Fiona, is so ugly she’s cute. Dempsey Lawrence is a former child star turned financial advisor, and while she’s curious about the hot mess of a man who’s her co-panelist for a presentation on financial literacy, she has no intention of pursuing anything with him. Too loud, too crass, too wild, Nick is altogether too much. Plus, he’s famous, and she is so over stardom and everything that comes with it. Except that when Dempsey gives Nick an inch, he takes a mile, and she finds that she doesn’t mind so much. Until Nick brings the pitfalls of stardom to Dempsey’s doorstep, then all the attraction in the world might not be enough to promise a happily ever after.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43792892-the-inside-track
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L2HGXSF/


The Inside Track was nothing like what I imagined I would find in this book. In general I'm a bit wary of books about music stars, but this was deep and intricate and it explored important emotions that made me cry and feel profoundly at so many points. At the beginning I must admit that it was difficult to get into because Nick had ADHD and you don't know that when his narration starts but his mind goes at a million miles an hour and it reads like that; without giving you time to think. It doesn't make a lot of sense in the combination of the sentences. But once you get into it, you understands how he thinks and how he talks just like Dempsey does. I know it's a love or hate thing that not everyone is going to get into but I would say give it an opportunity before you dismiss it. This book has two main characters who are dealing with their own mental health in their own way. As I said before, Nick has ADHD. He's funny, goofy and definitely brings the lighter part of the relationship (which doesn't mean he's better, he just takes things differently). Also, he has a dog! He can't focus on one thing at the time, but he does his best to help Dempsey in any way he can. I loved him as a hero and as an individual character. 

Dempsey felt like his complete opposite. She's introverted, darker and more complex. She has an anxiety disorder and is dealing with agoraphobia and trauma. Even though I can't talk about the representation with Nick's ADHD, I really related to everything that happened to her. Not the fame part, obviously. But I thought her anxiety and agoraphobia were amazingly written. Her dark places reminded me some of my darkest places and made me feel all those emotions that I talked about before. I absolutely adored how she let herself feel those emotions and how she knew how to get herself out of there when it was necessary. She knew herself in the way you know your mind when you've had a mental illness for years and you know when you're having a bad day, a good day and how you're going to feel better or worse. That felt very realistic to me and well written and researched even though they were in this not so common setting of fame and fortune. 

Their relationship was one of my favourite parts of this book. The way that they let themselves be however they wanted to be but also called themselves out when it was necessary was beautiful. I loved the domesticity that we experienced between them, their friends and the dog. There was a real chance here to go over the top and Tamsen Parker didn't go there and I appreciated that. I loved how she respected her characters and gave them time and space to grow and heal and be better people. I absolutely adored the writing, the metaphors and the way the situations and emotions were constructed. This is a very unique book that will stay in my mind for a very long time. 



Crashing Into Her by Mia Sosa

"Every night before bed, I think about what she looks like when she's aroused, the noises she makes when she comes, what she tastes like. It's my new nighttime routine: shower, brush my teeth, think about Eva, lights out."
Relationships are a thing of the past for Eva Montgomery. Her current motto? You can’t spell “manipulative” without man. But Eva has needs, and a one-night-stand at her best friend’s wedding is the perfect way to kick off her new approach to singledom. Then a job opportunity puts her in the same city with the guy she can’t forget . . .

Anthony Castillo is a perpetual bachelor—no strings, just flings—a status he maintains by being honest about his intentions and never looking back. So why is he still thinking about the firecracker of a woman who rocked his world at his cousin’s wedding? It’s a question he refuses to answer, until she comes crashing back into his life, taking his emotional walls down with her.

When her father doubts her ability to make it in LA, Eva vows to go big and prove him wrong. With her athletic background, she’s an ideal candidate for stunt work. But first she’ll need training, and the instructor is none other than her former hookup, Anthony Castillo. Except he’s not as cocky as she remembers and he’s definitely still sexy as sin. The only problem is . . . Anthony doesn’t want her anywhere near his stunt school—or his heart.



Every time I read one of Mia Sosa's books, I fall more and more in love with the way she writes and constructs the pacing of the plot. This is something that I've seen only in a few other authors and that is that she keeps me on my toes, she doesn't create the normal plot that we see in romance where the characters meet, sleep together, fall in love, something happens and they fight at the 70 or 80% mark and they get back together. No, she constructs her own pacing and I love that. Even though Pretending He's Mine is still my favorite from her and one of my favorite romances ever, this one is very close. She gave us moments that are imprinted in my mind and that I can't stop thinking about. That reggaeton scene was one of my favorite things that I've ever read just because it was so hot and original but it also had a nostalgic factor that reminded me of a lot of scenes of romantic comedies where dancing brought two characters together even when they didn't want that. 

I absolutely adored the characters as individuals. Eva was smart and intriguing and I was constantly interested in what she was going to do next. She was ambitious and I loved the determination that she had to prove herself to her father. She's a character with flaws, with lots of courage, with lots of goals and spirits and she makes you root for her all the way. Anthony shares a lot of her qualities. He's headstrong and spirited and intelligent. He also wants to prove himself and is full of flaws. None of them want to be in a relationship but they're very attracted to each other. They want their one night stand to be just that and that makes their meetings so much more entreating. I love how they call each other out on their bullshit when they need to and how they keep each other on their toes. 

The most amazing thing for me about this book is the chemistry between them. They're one of the best couples that I've read. I love how they think they're super different between them but in reality they're the perfect match. Their sex scenes were some of the hottest scenes that I've read. Also, their discussions about life and family were really interesting to read, they didn't try to hide their feelings and they worked together through them, they helped each other out with the problems that they had to figure out especially with their families and you can tell they were good for each other. The fact that they were friends before being together made me so happy! And I adored the descriptions of food! This was a brilliant series that definitely goes to my favorites and Mia Sosa goes to my favorite authors list!!



My Fake Canadian Wife by M. Hollis

“Why was it so hard to find good mainstream media where you could see two girls falling in love with a happy ending? Even harder if I wanted to find stories with black girls. Brazilian black girls falling in love? Mostly, I’d only found them in indie and self-published books. Maybe it would be easier to enjoy more media if everything I tried to watch didn’t look as white as the walls of my apartment.”
When Dora receives a letter from the immigration service in Canada saying she will be deported soon, as her visa is expiring, a friend suggests she marry a woman. Since she doesn’t currently have a girlfriend, faking a relationship might be her only option since she can’t muster the desire to return to school for advanced photograph studies.
Abby is a reserved librarian who seems enthusiastic about helping with the marriage plan. As the two girls get to know each other through dates in snowy Toronto and meeting Abby’s family for Christmas, Dora starts to wonder how much of this relationship they are faking and how much is real.




If there's something I can tell you is that I can always count on M. Hollis to write adorable, heart-warming, sapphic stories with interesting characters and plots. The idea for this book is definitely what made me interested in it in the first place. It's an own voices book about a lesbian, Brazilian girl who is an aspiring photographer. She moves to Canada to pursue a new life but when her visa expires she has to find a new way to stay in the country. After analyzing a lot of options she encounters her coworker's best friend, Abby, who is a pansexual librarian and who wants to marry Dora to help her stay in the country. They start hanging out so they can learn about each other before they officially marry and they even spend Christmas at Abby's place with her family, faking a relationship. 

This is a gorgeously written book. As I said, I always love how M. Hollis constructs cute and interesting f/f relationships. I love how she isn't afraid to write harrowing and challenging situations in the middle of her fluffiness and how the resolutions aren't always what you expect them to be. I think this book in particular is written from such a personal place for her and I could feel that through the pages. I appreciated what she had to say about the topics that were touched here. I also felt that she held these characters close to her heart and that she wrote them with a lot of love and care. I adore the awkwardness that they had at the beginning and how realistic it felt when they didn't know what to say to each other but also the slow progression into a friendship and then a relationship. 

The problem that I had with this novella is one that I had with her other books as well and that's that they're too short. In this one, I couldn't fall completely in love with the relationship because we didn't see a lot of it. We were supposed to know that they were talking and getting close but it was all in a montage rather than a deep descriptions of feelings and that's just a preference but I like to see the falling in love part more than the beginning and the resolution. I didn't mind very much because I knew going in that it was a novella, but I still was left wanting more. I would have liked to see more from Abby as well since I liked her character a lot because of the dichotomies of being shy but also super upfront when needed. Overall, this was a very beautiful story and I adored seeing what we got from their relationship. I would definitely recommend this if you're looking for something soft, fluffy and easy to read! 

I was sent this book as an advanced copy by the author for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are my own.



Dance All Night by Alexis Daria

Broadway hotshot Nik Kovalenko is a confirmed bachelor.

Ballroom champion Jess Davenport is a bona fide Scrooge.

Last year, they shared a midnight kiss at a New Year’s Eve party that made both of them believe—briefly—in the magic of the holiday season. The magic was cut short when Nik went on tour the next day, but he never stopped thinking about that kiss—or Jess.

When the holidays roll back around, Nik runs into Jess again. He doesn’t want to spend another year pining for the Scrooge who got away, so he tells Jess he’ll stay if she’ll give him a shot at being her Christmas Present.

Jess thinks he’s full of it, but she agrees to three dates. If Nik can make her believe in holiday magic in a place as un-wintery as Los Angeles—and convince her that he’s ready to stick around—she’ll give him a chance. But he won’t know until New Year’s Eve. If she kisses him at midnight, he’ll have his answer…


If you're looking for a christmassy, adorable and beautiful romance to spend the holidays with, this might be the one you're looking for. It has a hero who loves Christmas and who's trying to get the heroine to feel the joy of it with him with three dates before New Years Eve, when she decides if she wants to be with him or not. Every time I read one of her books, I remember that Alexis Daria is an incredible writer. She has a wonderful way of portraying realistic and relatable characters that you root for but who have to have a lot of growing up to do during the duration of the book. The dynamics that they had especially during their first date when you can see them together bantering back and forward and dancing and enjoying what they do were gorgeous and I think the beginning of their story contributes a lot to those dynamics. The fact that they meet during New Years and then meet again next December but stayed following each other's social media and career was adorable. 

The main thing that kept me rooting for this couple is how the hero wasn't playing games. He wanted to show her his change during the past year and knew how to do it. He was honest and direct and he also was rooting for her and themselves even though she wasn't in the best place mentally to do the same yet. This is exactly what you would want if you're looking for fluff and something inspiring for Christmas. It's full of joy and the desire that you have to connect with people during the holidays. It's realistic and charming. It's a New Years kiss, a Christmas cookie, a romance that you look for. All in one. 

An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!



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Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore

The biggest lie of all is the story you think you already know.

The del Cisne girls have never just been sisters; they’re also rivals, Blanca as obedient and graceful as Roja is vicious and manipulative. They know that, because of a generations-old spell, their family is bound to a bevy of swans deep in the woods. They know that, one day, the swans will pull them into a dangerous game that will leave one of them a girl, and trap the other in the body of a swan.

But when two local boys become drawn into the game, the swans’ spell intertwines with the strange and unpredictable magic lacing the woods, and all four of their fates depend on facing truths that could either save or destroy them. Blanca & Roja is the captivating story of sisters, friendship, love, hatred, and the price we pay to protect our hearts.



Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36952596-blanca-roja
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250162718


If you know anything about me, you know Anna-Marie McLemore is one of my all time favourite authors. Her books have inspired me to do so many things, to think outside of my comfort zone, to look inside myself and reconcile with a lot of parts of me that I thought would never be healed and for that I will always be thankful. This book is up there with my new favourites ever. It touched on so many topics that were powerfully important to me and that demanded my full attention and comprehension and feelings. The reimagining of a classic tale in the voice of these two sisters who were highly complex and deep and multi-layered was well done and constructed. They were extremely flawed in their quest of learning how to survive and be their own persons and I saw my sister and myself in them a lot. This book impacted me in so many ways because it talked about raw and angered emotions that were trying to come out to the light and two main characters who were fighting and finding those emotions in every turn. The rivalry that were trusted upon these girls was the center of the plot but the thing that attracted me the most were the relationships that were formed and strengthened throughout the book. 

I obviously adored how Anna-Marie McLemore wrote this book. With light-skinned and dark-skinned latinx sisters, with a transboy who uses he/she pronouns, with a boy who is trying to get over domestic abuse and trying to escape his family and  his name. All those complexities were so beautifully explained and expanded. You could feel everyone's stories and were rooting for everyone's happiness. All their paths' cross with one another as they look for their salvation, for their meaning and their self-discovery. It's about two romantic love stories but it's mostly about the complicated love of these two sisters. No one writes like her. No one crafts like her. 

Apart from all the technical and critical aspects of this book that touched me and made me feel that this book was objectively one of the best books of the year, I want to get sappy and tell you what it meant to me. I'm a sister. I have a complicated relationship with her but she's the most constant thing in my life and she's my best friend and has been my best friend since she was born. We're both latinas and have been compared to each other throughout our entire lives. This book felt like it put a lot of the feelings that we both shared into words. I know it's a book about rage and anger but it's also about those relationships that are unique and unbreakable when you live like we live. Like Blanca, I put my sister above everything and I protect her from the world and that doesn't mean she hasn't suffered but being the bigger sister I put myself in that role that I never left even now that we're both adults. It was so validating seeing that dynamic in these characters in how even though they were put against each other at so many points they still came together and fought for one another and that meant everything to me. 




Not Another Family Wedding by Jackie Lau

Natalie Chin-Williams might be a cranky professor of climatology who thinks the world is doomed, but she believes in lasting love…just not for herself. She has a long history of failed relationships, plus the men she dates inevitably want children and she doesn’t.

Now thirty-six and single, Natalie expects endless comments about her love life when she attends her baby sister's wedding. Worse, weddings are always drama-filled disasters in her family. She needs emotional support to get through the weekend, so she enlists the help of her friend Connor Douglas, the dependable family doctor.

The wedding reception goes south when a drunk aunt announces a family secret that sends Natalie reeling and shakes her faith in love. Luckily, she has her long-time friend to lean on—a man she somehow ends up kissing. But there’s no way this could turn into anything lasting, is there? That’s impossible for her, especially now…



There hasn't been a book by Jackie Lau that I haven't loved. She's one of my favourite authors at writing comedic situations that are also romantic and emotional. In this book, we have a main character that truly might be one of the characters that's closest to my heart now. She's in her 30s and doesn't want children. She lives within a family that's constantly asking her questions about when she's going to have them and that really affects her. I related a lot to her since I'm sure I don't want children and I've had a very similar journey with a lot of my relatives. She has to accept throughout the book that there are some members of her family that are trying to accept her and love her and who are fighting for her and some members that aren't worth caring for. Also, even though there were some tense moments and some sad moments, everything was so funny surrounding the problems with the weddings and I appreciated the sister relationship and that was also very relatable since I also have a younger sister who's my best friend and who's going to get married before me. 

I absolutely adored that Jackie Lau doesn't shy away from talking about important issues that affect the everyday life of her characters. In this book, there was a lot of talk about racism and especially internalised racism because Natalie is biracial with an Asian dad and a white mother. Additionally, it discussed problems and decisions surrounding pregnancies, abortion and postpartum depression. It was talked about in such a caring and tender way. It described how it also affects the people who surrounds the person who's suffering especially the children of the mother who's suffering of the postpartum depression and how they understood her as they got older. I'm so happy it discussed Natalie's abortion in a way that didn't diminished the way she felt but it wasn't this traumatic event that she was going to regret. I appreciated all those talks so so much. 

Connor was a fantastic hero. We didn't know everything about him since the beginning but I rooted for his happiness because he was obviously a good person who cared a lot about Natalie even if he wouldn't admit it. As we knew more about him, I began to love him and ship them as a couple and not only caring for Natalie and her happiness. What I adored the most about them is how different they were and how much they understood each other as well. Especially since she was such a pessimist about the world and he was a ray of sunshine. The gradual realisation that they cared for each other as more than friends was the best thing to read about. What I have to say is I'm aromantic and there were a lot of arophobic things as the phrase "just friends" was constantly used and it was implied that even though she didn't want kids she had to want romance otherwise she would be REALLY weird. I know those things weren't on purpose because there were a lot of discussions on prejudice and what other people think about your life and I know the author wouldn't do that to other people but it would be nice not to see those things in romance anymore. Other than that I have nothing bad to say, I loved every minute!



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