Oh would you look at that, another trope based post. I’m on a roll with these, and I still haven’t started writing all of the ones I want to talk about yet. I’ve had these planned for months now but finding the right time to start them has been a little difficult. You don’t want to start too many new posts at the same time, I hate posting the same number post in a series around the same time. Does that make sense?
Anyway, I still have at least two other tropes to start posts for in the future, so keep an eye out for those at some point.
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
Love on the Brain was my first Ali Hazelwood book and I was hooked from the get go. She’s become an instant buy author for me and I’ve loved (pretty much) every single of her books I’ve read.
If there’s one thing I love in a STEM novel, it’s “enemies” being forced to work on a project together. The mean but slightly flirty banter, the withering stares across a lab, disagreeing on the stupidest things? Sign me right up. I love it. You do need to look past the constant ‘omg he’s huge’ or ‘this man is massive’ though. I find this extremely annoying in romance novels. Why are we as a society so obsessed with huge men? Especially when the woman is like 5 foot? It’s insane.
Anyway, I adored this book and I think I stayed up till 3am to finish it in one sitting. I don’t find myself doing that too often, especially these days.
Synopsis: Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project – a literal dream come true – Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.
Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school – archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.
But when her equipment starts to go missing and the staff ignore her, Bee could swear she sees Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas… devouring her with those eyes. The possibilities have all her neurons firing.
But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there’s only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?
Love on Deck by Kasey Stockton
Being stuck on a cruise with the guy you hate is just about as forced proximity as you can get. Well, actually cruise ships are pretty big, but you’re literally stuck in the middle of the ocean with them. What makes this even better is that not only are they forced to spend time together, but they also pretend they’re dating – don’t ask me why, I can’t remember, I read this quite a while ago.
This was such an entertaining read though. I read the entire thing in one sitting, which is pretty rare for me.
I think this book is great, and the forced proximity parts are great, but I wished they’d last longer. The forced proximity goes hand-in-hand with fake dating and when the characters hate each other, these moments are great. You don’t spend the entire book on the cruise, which you’d think you did based on the cover and title, but it is really fun.
If you take contemporary romances at face value and don’t expect a revolutionary plot, you can really have a lot of fun with them.
Synopsis: He calls it fake dating, but she calls it caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Lauren Foley and Jack Fletcher already tried to be amicable once—on a blind date that ended in complete disaster. Now, years later, they have to put up with each other for the sake of her sister and his best friend, who are eloping on a cruise to the Bahamas. But that’s not the worst of it. No, Lauren’s in even deeper water when she finds herself agreeing to play Jack’s fake girlfriend for the duration of the cruise.
Now the only thing on her mind is trying not to strangle him when he dials up the charm, but it becomes harder to remember exactly why she ever hated him in the first place. Jack, on the other hand, is enjoying the perks.
Until the cruise lands on American soil again and real life hits them square in the face. Lauren is up for a promotion at work, and Jack promised her something that would secure it. But promises are easily broken, vacation life doesn’t always translate to the real world, and sometimes enemies start that way for a reason.
Check out Young Creative Press on all socials
You can also check out my StoryGraph here
Like this post? Why not read this one too: Book Review: Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid