Review: Three Hearts Hideaway by Luna Day*

 *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: Three Hearts Hideaway
Author: Luna Day
Genre: Romance

Trigger warnings:  Verbal Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Kink Shaming, Slut Shaming, Physical Violence, Gambling Addiction, Narcissistic Behaviour

Rating: ★★★★★

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Explicit & Plentiful Open Door)

When Ava stumbles into sleepy Little Greenfield with nothing but a suitcase and humiliating voice message on her phone, the last thing she expects to find is Roman—a tattooed B&B owner who offers her a place to stay.

After dumping her narcissistic boyfriend and running away from the embarrassment he caused her, she needs to focus on herself. It’s up to her to puzzle out what she truly desires in a partner, and the sparks flying between her and Roman—and his broody best friend Logan—are too tempting to pass up.

But when her past comes knocking, it’s hard not to crumble to the familiar cycle of cruelty, even when things feel so right in this small town—with both these men.

Could Roman and Logan be her soulmates? Or will Ava prove she’s exactly what her ex says she is? A deviant.

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Three Hearts Hideaway is the spicy fast burn debut contemporary romance from author Luna Day. It’s a sizzling fast burn why choose MFM romance with off the charts spice and a really sex positive theme, which is absolutely brilliant to see. I absolutely devoured this book in a single sitting and loved every aspect of the strangers to lovers to found family story.

Ava was a brilliant, sexy and strong-willed FMC whose resilience and eventual self-love and self-empowerment will really empower female readers. I saw another Goodreads reviewer say they couldn’t decide if they wanted to be Ava or date Ava and I couldn’t agree more.

We also get to enjoy two swoon-worthy MMCs and I fell in love with both of them. Roman was a brilliant golden retriever boyfriend and Logan a brooding and grumpy alpha; you truly get the best of both worlds with this two absolute hunks. Ava had sizzling chemistry with both of them and the three of them complemented each other really well. Their open communication was also a breath of fresh air to see within a romance novel and there’s no third act breakup in the story.

This is a fast-paced quick read which is predominately made up of spicy scenes and let me tell you they are HOT. There’s a real variety of scenes with the three partners exploring a range of kinks and the book is packed full of blush-inducing dirty talk.

There is potentially triggering content including kink shaming, slut shaming, verbal abuse and emotional abuse, all from a narcissistic partner/ex-partner (please see a full list of triggers at the top of this review). This was well explored and I loved that we got to see Ava start to process this trauma and get to a place of self-love. This is a really sex positive book and over the course of the story Ava starts to really understand what she wants and needs physically and emotionally from a sexual/romantic relationship and she also starts to feel confident enough to communicate this within said relationship. There’s a real theme of overcoming shame culture which is really excellent to see within romance fiction.

I loved the charming Canadian small town setting of Little Greenfield. I really didn’t feel ready to part with it by the end of the book so would love to return in some capacity in a later book from the author.

You will love Three Hearts Hideaway if you fancy a light-hearted read which is the perfect combo of sweet and spicy. This is a brilliant debut from Luna Day and I can’t wait to read more from her. In fact I’m off now to read Three Hearts Hideaway again (and probably again); I just can’t get enough.

Review: Oar Than Friends by Lulu Moore*

 *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: Oar Than Friends
Author: Lulu Moore
Genre: Romance

Trigger warnings:  Death Of A Sibling

Rating: ★★★★★

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Open Door)

She's rowing for Cambridge. He's rowing for Oxford. But they just can't keep one another at oar's length . . .

Arthur Osbourne-Cloud has his future mapped out for him – graduate Oxford and follow his dreadful father into politics. Except Arthur wants anything but that. He’d rather spend his days rowing for gold at the Olympics,.

And this year he has the Boat Race to win.

Kate Astley also has her future mapped out. Fly half-way across the world, and win a scholarship at Cambridge University to study medicine. Oh, and crew for the legendary Boat Race. Seems simple enough.

But then she meets Arthur.

For Arthur, this feisty American challenges everything he's been taught to believe, while Kate battles between what she's expected to do, and what she wants to do.

The bitter rivalry between their universities ought to destroy them. Or will it just be a matter of time before they surrender to the sizzling chemistry between them?

But In The Boat Race, there can only be one winner. Who will sink and who will swim?

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Oar Than Friends is the latest sports romance from author Lulu Moore and the first instalment in her new Oxbridge series. It is the love story between Kate and Oz, two athletes competing for rival university rowing clubs, set against the backdrop of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

I grew up around 30 miles from Cambridge so have followed the boat race for years and it was the perfect backdrop for a rivals to lovers sports romance. If you’re unfamiliar with the Boat Race, it’s a set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club which take place on the River Thames in London and has been an annual event since 1856. Lulu Moore nailed the blend between the story being focused on the romance but also including a good amount of rowing content leading up to race day.

If you’re a sucker for a romance story where he falls first and harder, you’ll absolutely love Arthur Osbourne-Cloud (or ‘Oz’ as he’s known). I very quickly fell in love with Oz’s charm and when he said he had known Kate for “fifty-six hours, and I’d thought about her for every single one” he awarded himself the award for my absolute favourite book boyfriend of 2024 so far. He was a swoon-worthy MMC and his nicknames for Kate and little romantic gestures throughout the story completely stole my heart. Hearing his girlfriend cry on the phone and instantly jumping in the car to drive two hours to see her? Now THAT is what we’re talking about! I was really rooting for Oz and Kate right from their brilliant meet cute scene until the end of the book; they were a brilliant match.

Our story is told through a dual POV narrative and I LOVE this in a romance story. Hearing the MMC’s POV adds something so special to the story, particularly when it’s a ‘he falls first and harder’ story, and this was perfectly illustrated by Oz who spoke about Kate in the sweetest way. Oar Than Friends does also have some fab open-door spicy scenes but these felt really realistic which I loved.

Kate was a brilliant strong FMC and it was great to see her grow in confidence as the novel progressed and begin to really advocate for her own needs and dreams. The loss of her elder brother was well explored, as was Oz’s difficult family dynamic.

Oar Than Friends also has a fantastic cast of supporting characters who brought so much to the story and I’m excited to potentially return to them later in the Oxbridge series.

In Kate and Oz we have an American FMC and a British MMC and I loved this dynamic. It does mean that we see Kate use American terms rather than British ones (e.g. dorm, campus) which could be a bit grating for a British reader but I didn’t really mind it at all.

Humour was woven into the story brilliantly and I particularly loved how British the humour was. Kate and Oz had brilliant banter and we had some fantastic flirty moments in the early stages of their relationship. I also loved the individual chapter titles and they often made me giggle.

Overall, Oar Than Friends is a fantastic rivals to lovers sports romance novel which is packed full of witty banter, charm and loveable characters.

Review: The American Wife by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger *

  *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: The American Wife
Author: Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger
Genre: Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings:  War, Antisemitism, Guns

Rating: ★★

With her heart in her mouth, Kitty let herself into her husband’s private study. She knew where he kept the papers that might save her dearest friend from the Nazis. She just had to steal them…

Vienna, 1937. When beautiful American Kitty becomes engaged to Austrian diplomat Edgar, she finds herself thrown into a very different world in Europe, and soon longs for home. But when the woman designing her wedding dress, Judith, takes Kitty under her wing, she sees the city of Vienna in a new light – a city of culture and music that she can explore with her new friend.

But when the Nazis come, the fact that Judith is Jewish means she is no longer safe. Kitty knows that as a diplomat’s wife she can steal the papers that will allow her closest friend to escape to safety, but will it mean betraying the love of her life?

Except that Edgar has grown distant and secretive since she joined him in Europe and, when war breaks out, Kitty wonders which side her husband is really on. And, as she prepares to betray him, Kitty begins to fear that she doesn’t really know the man she married at all.

Facing an impossible choice between her dearest friend and the man she loves, Kitty knows she must be brave, and do the right thing, no matter the personal cost…

 

The American Wife is the latest historical fiction novel by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger and the first in her new ‘The Diplomat’s Wife’ book series.

I want to preface this review by saying that I did really want to like the book as a story focusing on the annexation of Austria and the lives of American diplomats living in pre-war Europe was a really interesting concept but unfortunately it did really miss the mark for me.

One of my primary criticisms of the book was that it tried to be too many things. There were three distinctly separate aspects to the story: Kitty’s work for the US embassy processing visa applications for those trying to leave Austria, the relationship between her and her diplomat husband Edgar despite their apparent opposing political views and her work for the Austrian resistance protecting people being persecuted by the Nazis. All three aspects were interesting plot points in themselves but it felt like they were fighting for page space and therefore none of them were explored in the depth I was craving.

I did particularly find the exploration of the American visa application process for people trying to escape Nazi persecution to be very interesting and something I hadn’t seen before in other Second World War historical fiction novels. It was particularly powerful to see the book shed a light on the impact of international antisemitism

I unfortunately didn’t warm to Kitty’s character at all and that did have a big impact on my overall enjoyment of the story. She felt incredibly immature, selfish and generally unlikeable. Although she did have redeeming qualities such as her determination to do whatever it takes to protect the friends she hadn’t even known for that long, these moments of bravery and thoughtfulness didn’t quite do enough to make up for her negative traits unfortunately.

Although I can be a fan of the instalove trope normally, it was really quite hard to root for Kitty and Edgar’s relationship at all. Their initial connection felt very superficial and their marriage was incredibly rushed, although we are told that this was very typical of Kitty’s character. It was inevitable that the cracks in their relationship would start to show very quickly and I honestly didn’t find myself really caring if they found their way back to each other or not. Kitty was clearly not mature enough for marriage and I felt Edgar would have actually been better finding someone more mature and trusting.

Although they were only supporting characters, I actually found myself really drawn to the different characters within ‘The Gang’ and felt they would have actually been much stronger protagonists than Kitty and Edgar. I am curious to see the direction Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger plans to take the rest of the series to see if we get any further exploration of their stories.

The ending of The American Wife paves the way for the next book in the series although I have to say I did find it predictable, particularly the ‘big twist’ about Pim’s identity.

Overall, whilst The American Wife did feel well researched, the plot and characters really didn’t grip me unfortunately and it ended up feeling like I was having to drag myself towards the end of the book. As stated previously, this was a shame as the different aspects of the storyline were interesting but they just weren’t as effectively executed as I would have wanted.

Review: Your Dream For Me by Alison Schaffir*

 *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: Your Dream For Me
Author: Alison Schaffir
Genre: Young Adult Romance

Trigger warnings:  Sexual Assault

Rating: ★★

Your Dream For Me tells the story of seventeen-year-old Scarlett who dreams of becoming a renowned fashion designer. One day, whilst exploring the costume room of her school’s drama department, she meets Nathaniel, the new kid at school who is a very talented actor, and instantly falls for him. With Nathaniel’s encouragement she decides to get involved back-stage at the school’s play to learn more about theatre costuming and get to spend more time with Nathaniel. But Nathaniel’s scene partner Tina is trying to steal him away from Scarlett and a distressing event causes her best friend Macie – and then Nathaniel – to distance themselves from her.

I’ll preface the review by saying that I wanted to love the book. As a big theatre fan I really liked the idea of a theatre-based romance between someone working on-stage and someone working off-stage but unfortunately it just wasn’t executed well and fell really flat for me. Although Your Dream For Me is a YA novel, it largely felt more suitable for a younger audience, potentially as a transitional read between the middle grade and YA genres. Largely I think this is down to the characters as not only do they lack any real depth and have very little character development during the story but they also really lack maturity. Our protagonist Scarlett had a very immature voice which would have been more fitting in a 13/14 year old character than a 17 year old. She had very dramatic spiralling reactions to things that could have been resolved through simple communication and honestly just didn’t seem mature enough to have a relationship, despite the romance being a major plot point.

Unfortunately, not only is Scarlett immature but she is also quite unlikeable. She felt very self-centred and naïve and I struggled to understand why the other characters thought she was so superior to everyone else. Scarlett is also very disillusioned about the world around her as although she has big ambitions of going to a world-renowned fashion school to train as a fashion designer, she doesn’t seem to be doing anything to work towards it. She seemed very disillusioned that a good GPA, fashionable dress sense and a Saturday job in a clothes shop would give her any chance of getting in to such a prestigious school when she lacked basic fashion designing skills such as sewing. On a similar note, Scarlett also seems to really lack any kind of drive. She is desperate for a sewing machine but the second she gets one she decides it’s too hard to learn and she’ll have to wait until someone else teaches her. You’d expect a character with such high ambition to have the drive to teach herself through books or YouTube tutorials but this just isn’t the case. And then we’re then expected to believe that she could fashion a high-quality prom dress in a mere matter of weeks, after a single sewing lesson? Even the most gifted of dressmakers would have struggled with that.

The character of Nathaniel did charm me from his very first appearance and I think his character is one of the highlights of the story, which makes it disappointing that we see so little of him despite him being the main love interest. I also liked the character of Gavin and thought it a shame that we saw so little of him, particularly as he seemed to be only used as a sounding board by Scarlett rather than as the good friend he had the potential to be.

I did find the speed that Scarlett fell for Nathaniel very unrealistic and superficial as she is practically besotted with the boy after a mere 5 minute interaction where they don’t even swap names let alone any real details about each other. Fans of the insta-love trope might enjoy it for this reason but it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t buy into their chemistry and although I appreciate that teenage crushes can be quite intense, this just seemed beyond anything you’d actually see in real life and therefore made it difficult to root for the relationship.

The conflict which leads to Nathaniel ghosting Scarlett was a little bit ridiculous (although no more ridiculous than Scarlett’s responses to it) and I struggled with the instant-reprieve the main antagonist Tina had after simply apologising. It made the drama feel even more superficial and I would have considered not finishing the book had it not been so close to the end. The ending of the story is incredibly frustrating and I think the less said about it the better but overall I think it’s testament to the lack of maturity we see in Scarlett.

I am keen to highlight some of the strengths of the book through and I think the representation of a strong female friendship through Scarlett and Macie is one of them. But unfortunately this doesn’t last the duration of the story as they start to clash with each other after Macie is sexually assaulted (which is a major potential trigger all prospective readers need to be aware of). Scarlett is initially very supportive of her friend but I grew very quickly frustrated by Scarlett’s lack of empathy to how the trauma of the assault was affecting her friend. In one of the chapters, she starts going on about how everyone is leaving her and it’s all very woe is me, completely disregarding how her friend is feeling and why she might be distancing herself away. This all further demonstrated a real lack of maturity in Scarlett which only made her even more unlikeable.

I did really like Macie and I thought the exploration of Macie’s assault and the effect it had on her was really interesting and well executed. So much so, that I think the character was wasted as a supporting character and would have made a much more interesting protagonist than Scarlett. I would have loved a narrative focused on Macie and how she begins to recover from the trauma of the assault, with a potential friends to lovers romance between her and Liam. Overall, I think that would have made a much stronger story than what we got from Scarlett and Nathaniel.

Overall, I think Your Dream For Me would be a good read for a younger YA audience who may be oblivious to the issues with characterisation and plot and simply be able to enjoy it as a cute high school romance.