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Ely Picks Romance Books For Me To Read

Ely Picks Romance Books For Me To Read

February 16, 2021 Posted by angelreads Best Friend TBR No Comments

This post is a long time coming. This was supposed to go up last year – but life and a new job just got in the way, but I’m finally getting to it. I was in my moods of not knowing what to read, so I got my best friend Ely to pick 3 romances books to add to my tbr and read. I also picked 3 for her – so check that post out too.

But anyway today I share my thoughts on the books that she picked out for me. And like always these are in no order. 

Heart of the Fae (The Otherworld #1) by Emma Hamm

Ely: This isn’t a weird romance book by any means—it’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling mixed with Irish mythology. But I really want Angel to read it because I picked it up in December last year and was kind of conflicted by it. A lot of people love it, so I want to know whether it just completely missed the mark for me, or whether it’s worth another chance.

Angel: This is the book that I struggled most with, so much so that I couldn’t even get into it. I might try and give it a go this year, but at the time it was not for me. I really struggled with the world, I’m not 100 per cent sure as to why just nothing was jelling with me. And that made it hard for me to like the characters and the story. I hope I can get into it soon. 

 

Lacy’s Legacy (Westward Home and Hearts Mail-Order Brides #1) by Elaine Manders

E: So this is a historical Western with some sort of mail-order bride deal? I don’t know if you’ve ever read a historical Western before, but I definitely haven’t. So as per usual, you’re being my guinea pig—if you end up enjoying this as much as we like Regency romance, then I’ll give this a go too. But this has a pretty good rating and people say it’s well-written, so I’m hoping it’s going to be at least okay.

A: I didn’t know what to expect when going into this one. I hadn’t heard of the author or the series before, but I was intrigued by the Western element of the book. I didn’t love this book, let’s start off with that. But it had nothing to do with the western element and all to do with the romance. It just wasn’t my type of romance at all. I didn’t hate the book, but it was just not for me at all. If you are looking for some mild romance with not so much sexy time – then this might be for you. 

Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians #1) by Ruby Dixon

E: I remembered one of my Goodreads friends reading this a few years ago and her updates were hilarious, so I’m expecting live updates from you on this one. I think this is the lowest rated one on this list—people either seem to give this 2 or 5 stars, so I guess we’re about to find out where you sit.

A: If I say that I’m already on to book 3 of this series, I think that sums up how I feel about this book. I didn’t know what to expect when I starting reading the first book. It was totally out of my element, I barely read sci-fic and when I do, it’s normally humans that I liked to read about. Not blue aliens. The first few chapters of this were hard to get through. I didn’t know what to expect really and the author throws 

***

And those are the books that Ely picked for me this time! I hope that we can do it again this year as it was so much fun. Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Let’s Chat! 

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📚15/150

I have a love-hate relationship with this series. I have a love-hate relationship with this series. But I ended up really enjoying this one. It’s best friends to fake dating to-lovers. It’s always been you, bad-boy/good-girl, and I loved that. While Save Your Breath has quite a few tropes, it really leads itself to it, and it works. 

Aleks and Mia have known each other for years now. Since they were teenagers, that angst has been building up this whole time. And you can tell right from the get-go, it’s fantastic. I even wanted more of it, because I love pain. When Aleks went to live with Mia’s family as a teenager, sparks flew, but for many reasons, they both put their feelings aside. And well, now they are not only going to be fake-dating, but they might as well be engaged, too. 

I really enjoyed seeing how both Aleks and Mia both tried to hide how they were feeling throughout the whole ‘fake-dating’ situation, but anyone could see it. They know each other as no one else does. Aleks has a lot going on, and while I do think this was brushed over a little too much, Mia is his centre. Mia is a massive music star and is a female in the industry, so yeah, people don’t respect her. Obvsiouly because why couldn’t a female star be badass and write about the things that she has gone through? Aleks and Mia get each other, and that is very clear from the start; they are both just trying to squash everything. We get to see them slowly start to show how they feel, and well, one night it all explodes. 

Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot; it’s not my favourite of the series, but I had a great time reading it. I liked Aleks and Mia a lot as characeters and while I think the mental health aspect could have been explored a whole lot more, I can see why it wasn’t. The romance was slow and spicy, the angst was great, and the payoff for these two was what they needed. 

Tropes
🏒Sports/Hockey Romance
🎤Fake Dating/Engagement
🏒Childhood Friends to Lovers
🎤Forced Proximity
🏒Athlete x Pop Star 
🎤Angsty Slow Burn 

Content Warnings
Mental Health Struggles 
Suicide Intention 
Family Deaths 
Alcohol Consumption
Violence on Ice

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #bookreview
Well February wasn’t the best reading month. I onl Well February wasn’t the best reading month. I only ended up reading 3 books in. 3 pretty fun books but one of my slowest readings months in a while. 

And I’m going to be honest here it’s because I’ve been constantly reading Heated Rivalry fanfics. 🤷‍♀️ I’m having the best time though. 

How was your reading in February? Any 5  star reads? 

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #februarywrapup
January was a really solid reading month. I read s January was a really solid reading month. I read some books that had been on my tbr for some time, reread a few things that peaked my interest. I also started a few new series. And just had a good time!

I just had a really good start to the year. While February is a little slow so far I’m looking forward to what I can pick up.

What did you read in January? Any 5-star reads? Let’s chat! 

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #januarywrapup
Can you believe that it’s already February? I know Can you believe that it’s already February? I know I can’t. But that means it’s a new month with more releases coming out! And that makes me excited. Some fantastic titles releasing this month and I cannot wait to read them. 📚

A couple of these are on my TBR already and some have just caught my eye and that makes me super excited to pick them up. 🖤

What are you looking forward to reading this month? Let’s chat! ✨

🏷️ 
#romancebooks #bookstagram  #angelreads #spicybooks #Februaryreleases2026
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