Sample-Chapter Showdown: Romance III

 

Part of Your World by Abby Jiminez (Forever)
Time to Shine by Rachel Reid (Carina Adores)
After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez (Carina Press)

In Part of Your World, Alexis and Daniel shouldn't work—she's a big-city doctor from an ambitious family, and he's content getting by in his struggling small town. But when life and an ill-placed ditch throw them together, they start to question "should."

Sample takeaways: If I'm honest, I picked up this preview because there was a mention of a gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich in the description, and that is not something I can resist. The grilled-cheese sandwich disappoints (it's only mentioned in passing—at least in the preview—and it has tomatoes in it, the horror), but the preview does not, and neither do Alexis and Daniel. The setup here is funny and lively, with the promise of two genuinely good people who have natural chemistry but very different lives and don't see how they can make things fit.

On the surface (of the ice?), Casey and Landon of Time to Shine have one thing in common—hockey. Beyond that, they're as different as peanut butter and coffee (I swear I'm not going to extend this metaphor, but it's relevant to a small joke in the book). Landon is quiet, new, just getting his first chance with the big leagues. Casey is already a star, nothing but a bundle of energy and fire. And when Landon needs a place to stay, Casey is quick to offer up a spare room—because Casey has demons of his own, and they're best quelled by not going home alone to an echoing house. Shenanigans, one can safely assume, ensue.

Sample takeaways: Lovely setup here: very different heroes, and not immediately comfortable together, but both likable—this is less enemies-to-lovers than it is awkward-acquaintances-to-lovers, but that suits my book preferences just fine. From the sample, I foresee clashes on and off the ice, continued awkward communication that makes its way to awkward sexual tension and eventually chemistry on and off the ice, and an eventual thawing...hopefully of only the relationship, not the ice. Hockey's a fast-paced sport, but Time to Shine looks poised to keep up, and it looks like there's lots of room for character development and Figuring Stuff Out. I'm here for it.

In After Hours on Milagro Street, Alex is home—for now—and she has a bone to pick with the world. She and her sisters want to buy their grandmother's bar, mostly to give their grandmother a chance to rest...but for Alex, it couldn't come at a better time. The problem is that suddenly there's a tall, wealthy, white stranger living in a spare room, and suddenly there's a pile of factors that Alex can't predict or control.

Sample takeaways: Here's what I've learned from perusing the early chapters of a couple of Lopez's books: she does not mess around, and she does not believe in starting slow. These early chapters hint that Alex has reason to be angry with the world, and Jeremiah (the stranger) is in her warpath. He is...shall we say...not prepared. I'm not sure what to make of Alex here: angry I'm on board with; confident I'm on board with; warpath I'm on board with. But the first chapters ask us to accept behavior from Alex that I (and presumably others) wouldn't accept from a male hero, to the extent that I came away wishing that instead of Jeremiah saying "yes", he'd said "no, I do not consent, get your hands off me". I've read enough from Lopez to be confident that she delivers, so I'm thinking that Alex does some character growth throughout the book, but I'll have to hope for some really direct conversations as well.

The verdict: I really enjoy reading these previews because they're a low-stakes way to test-drive a book (hopefully not into a ditch, though at least Alexis would relate) and see what might hit the spot in a given mood. I could use a grilled-cheese sandwich right about now...but it's almost summer, so some time on the ice doesn't sound so bad either.

Thanks to the authors and publishers for providing these samples through NetGalley.