The Worst Guy
RECOMMENDED: The Worst Guy by Kate Canterbary is 99c! This is the only non-KDD on the list. It also made our Best Reviews of 2022 list. Elyse gave it an A:
The Worst Guy was the first book I read in 2022, and I hope it’s setting the tone for the rest of the year because I loved it. It’s an enemies-to-lovers story with tons of competence porn. It’s also The Grumpy One/…the Introverted One, I guess? There’s no sunshine here, and I honestly appreciate a heroine who doesn’t have to be the sunshiney one.
Eight weeks of forced proximity is a long time to hate someone you’re trying not to love.
Sebastian Stremmel doesn’t need another headache. He has enough of his own without Sara Shapiro, the noisy new reconstructive surgeon, stomping all around his surgical wing with her chippy, chirpy cheerfulness.
But Sebastian doesn’t usually get what he wants.
No one gets under his skin like Sara – so much so a heated “debate” and an exam room left in shambles later, they land themselves in eight weeks of hospital-mandated conflict resolution counseling. Now they’re forced to fight fair…which quickly leads them to playing dirty when no one’s looking.
They know it’s a mistake.
They promise themselves it will never happen again.
They swear they got it out of their systems.
They didn’t.
Author’s Note: Grumpy/recovering people-pleaser sunshine. Introverts attract. Enemies-to-lovers in the workplace. Banter, bicker, and button-pushing foreplay. Don’t tell the friend group, get jealous when the friend group tries to fix her up.
Heat: rip her clothes off before you get the front door open.
Angst: big laughs, big feels, no ugly crying.
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Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks is $1.99 and a KDD! I remember being curious about this one after Kareni mentioned it in on a recent Whatcha Reading. Have any of you also read this one?
TikTok sensation Morbidly Yours, an opposites-attract romantic dramedy about a shy, demisexual Irish mortician who must marry by his 35th birthday to keep his beloved family business, and the Texan widow escaping her past who moves in next door.
Falling for the wrong person? Bury your feelings.
Callum Flannelly would rather dive into an open grave than take a stranger to dinner. But he can only inherit the family undertaking business under one condition: He must marry before his 35th birthday. So it’s out of the mortuary and into the dating scene. Lark Thompson came to Galway, Ireland to embrace life, not be reminded of losing her husband by moving in next to a funeral home.
Then the vivacious Texan animator learns of painfully shy Callum’s dilemma and makes it her mission to help him find The One. Although sworn off love herself, she’s certain Callum will find his match. But as the dating project progresses and their friendship grows, their attraction is undeniable. Spending time with serious, sarcastic Callum starts to crack the ice around Lark’s heart, and the more color Lark brings to Callum’s monochrome existence, the less he can imagine life without her.
If they think they can ignore their connection, they’re dead wrong.
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Beautiful Things by Emily Rath is $2.99 and a KDD! Right now, it looks like this price is only at Amazon. This is a Why Choose historical romance and I’d love to see more of those (feel free to drop them in the comments or maybe I’ll do a Rec League).
Crashing a country house party in Regency England, an intrepid young woman is drawn into the orbit of three delicious gentlemen in this slow burn, very sexy, definitely-not-your-mother’s historical romance from internationally bestselling author Emily Rath.
At twenty-two, Rosalie Harrow is unmarried and near destitute. She has two choices: snag a wealthy gentleman, or take work as a governess. Neither option appeals to headstrong Rosalie, who sees both futures as a kind of cage.
When Rosalie receives an invitation to Alcott Hall, she believes she’s there to meet the Dowager Duchess of Norland, the mysterious childhood friend of her late mother. Instead, Rosalie is thrust in the middle of a house party of eligible high society ladies all desperate to win the hand of the new, conveniently single duke. Hilarity ensues as Rosalie dodges the attentions of the officious duke, and weathers the censure of the other guests, all while trying to unravel the mystery of her invitation.
And then there’s the gentlemen…
The more Rosalie tries to avoid the high society husband hunt, the more she finds herself charmed by three very different men. There’s Lord James, the duke’s younger brother, who is the secret duke in all but name. Lieutenant Renley, recently returned from the West Indies, and begrudgingly looking for a wife of his own. And the tempestuous Mr. Burke, who irks Rosalie to no end.
The clock ticks down the days to the Michaelmas ball, when the duke is set to announce his bride. Marriage is a trap and Rosalie will not be easily snared…but that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy the chase while it lasts.
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RECOMMENDED: Writing Mr. Wrong by Kelley Armstrong is $1.99 and a KDD! This is a standalone contemporary romance. Lara gave this a B+:
Their emotions are really mature and considered. Miscommunications are solved by clear conversations. Enthusiastic consent is the goal. That kind of thing. So there is emotional maturity with enough tension to keep it interesting (and human – no one is perfect, after all).
From a New York Times bestselling author, a second-chance rom-com about a debut author who unexpectedly goes viral when readers discover her hero was inspired by a beloved pro hockey player—and her high school crush.
Debut author Gemma Stanton knows romance readers love a bad boy—and she has the perfect prototype for her Mason Moretti. High school hockey god-turned-pro player, Mason was Gemma’s first crush, but she couldn’t forget the sting of his very public rejection. So, she casts him as a hot-headed Highlander in her spicy new historical romance. She never expected readers would find out on live TV when a morning show host invites Mason for a surprise on-air reunion…
As an aging hockey player with a rep for being ruthless on the ice—and roguish off of it—Mason has an image problem. So, when his meet-cute with Gemma goes viral, Mason proposes they build on the momentum with a few fake dates to boost her book sales…and his sagging profile. But when the fictional flirting gets a little too real, Mason realizes Gemma actually makes him want to become a better man—someone worthy of her trust and her love.
Will Gemma give him a second chance? Mason knows it’s a long shot, but taking shots is sorta his thing, and besides, who loves a redemption arc more than a romance author?
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I was looking at Morbidly Yours thinking ‘I have this, why do I feel like it has a different cover?’ So I checked. His shirt is a different colour. Why?!? Does Canada not like white shirts?
I loved the Worst Guy, but I still think it has one of the worst covers. Does anyone else think he looks four feet tall with a child size torso? I think it’s due to the dark pants, dark cushion, and the tiny sliver of white shirt.
The ‘Beautiful Things’ description is a perfect example of what I was complaining about the other day, book descriptions that do not entice me to read the book because of basic errors –
“She has two snag a wealthy gentleman,”
Also the mention of “Lord James, the duke’s younger brother, who is the secret duke in all but name.” – there is no previous mention of a ‘secret duke’, is this some trope everybody else knows about that I’ve managed to miss? I’ve come across secret dukes posing as their secretary, or long lost or estranged from their family and making their living as a boxer/gaming hall owner/pirate/you name it, but not one so described at a house party at the family home with his brother the existing duke there.
I will of course have made some basic error in this comment, because that’s the law when you criticise someone else’s writing, but I can’t see it.
Mabry you are right, the arms and up don’t fit with the tiny torso and below.
Writing Mr. Wrong was a lot of fun, I think it’s a great deal
I can highly recommend Morbidly Yours! The “must marry by your birthday” premise stretches belief a bit, but the rest of it is so sweet with just the right amount of angst that I forgive it. I am sucker for competence porn in my contemporaries and was charmed by both Callum the mortician and Lark the animator.
I do feel I should point out that it’s dual first person narratives (switching almost every chapter). That worked for me but I know it’s not everyone’s cuppa.
Another THE WORST GUY fan. Reading that sent me on a Kate Canterbary nosedive into a deep pool of goodness. BEFORE GIRL is the first in her (more, please) Vital Signs series, the only romance I’ve been able to listen to (crippling secondhand embarrassment because I think about the narrators having to say those words aloud). On the page, not a problem. Highly recommended.
@Jazzlet: I agree with you that a poorly written blurb keeps me from buying or reading a book. I figure if a short blurb is such a mess that no one bothered to proofread and fix, the longer book will probably annoy me no end. There are plenty of other books to read and this is one easy way to winnow the list down.
I do not, however, agree with your agreement with @Mabry’s comment about the cover of “The Wrong Guy.” It looks good to me and I think it’s a matter of the perspective of the photographer in relation to the model. Or maybe my glasses are warped in the right way to correct whatever the problem is.
Karen H, I have eyed that cover for years and my only reaction has been “HAWT!” so I am with you. 🙂
THE WORST GUY
Love it! The specificity of the details of medical talk from the two MCs was fun. I enjoyed how they interacted. Their fights were epic and fabulous. I could never live like this, but it was fun to read.
WRITING MR WRONG
WHAT WERE THEY DOING DRINKING CHAMPAGNE IN A BROKEN BOAT IN THE OCEAN WHEN NO ONE KNEW WHERE THEY WERE! I’ll stop yelling now. I was entertained. I believed the romance. The conflict was reasonable. But it’s not terribly memorable. Except for the lack of water safety.
@Jazzlet, @Karen H
The relevant section of the actual book description for “Beautiful Things” (e.g. at Amazon) reads “… has two choices: snag a wealthy gentleman …”. Basically there appears to have been some sort of error in the cut-and-paste process to the blog post (or perhaps an issue in how the blog post is displaying).
I’m reading “secret duke” as suggesting that the younger brother is currently doing most of the actual work involved in running the dukedom.
We’ve dealt with this issue before and I’m sorry it’s so frustrating! Goodreads descriptions will sometimes disappear a colon and the word before it. No clue why. It might have to do with when people are putting in the book data on GR.
Free:
– The Cowboy’s Last Rodeo (The Men of Marvell Ranch 1) by Jeannie Watt
– The Baby Whisperer (Outback Babies Book 3) by Fiona McArthur
– All of Me (Starlight Hill Series Book 1) by Heatherly Bell
– Dusk Before Dawn (Love Bitten) by Fiona Davenport
– Daddy’s Little Treat by Elyse Kelly
Didn’t notice any issue with the proportions on the WORST GUY cover, but I’m bothered by the fact that is torso is about 3 shades darker than his face, and five shades darker than his forearms. Does he wander around shirtless in opera gloves and a gauzy veil to get that gradation of tan?
Amanda and Michael I
The descriptions problem is not simply missing words, it can be peculiar or simply incorrect word choice or other things too, and I don’t just see it here,so it’s not solely down to Goodreads being odd here or elsewhere.
Michael I
Why would that be secret?
@Jazzlet
My thought was that the younger brother is actually doing most of the work but it’s secret in the sense that it isn’t generally known in the broader society.
@Jazzlet I’m reading “Beautiful Things” now—the duke is a useless, immature hedonist. His younger brother and, to a lesser extent, the dowager duchess handle all the responsibilities of the dukedom, but making that widely known would be a bad look for the duke (esp since he still needs a wife). Describing him as the “secret” duke was almost certainly a marketing choice.
Fwiw, I’ll definitely judge an indie book for badly written/edited marketing copy, but in trad publishing the author doesn’t necessarily have any say in it whatsoever. It’s written by someone else who may not have even read the book. :/