Cider Bar Sisters series – Cannonball Read 17

Grumpy/Sunshine Double Header (and Bingo!)

His Grumpy Childhood Friend (Cider Bar Sisters #2) by Jackie Lau

Her Pretend Christmas Date (Cider Bar Sisters #2.5) by Jackie Lau

September 8, 2022 by faintingviolet 1 Comment

I was simply delighted by this one. His Grumpy Childhood Friend hit a couple different trope happy places for me – second chance romance, friends to lovers – but it also did something I love more and more as I consume a good amount of Romance books: it released its third act tension without a break-up or fight. The tension point of the story isn’t a misunderstanding or one of the pair freaking out and walking away, instead we get characters dealing with traumatic experiences […]

Cider Bar Sisters Series Opener

Her Big City Neighbor by Jackie Lau

September 8, 2022 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

I started reading this series from the middle. I had recently signed up for Jackie Lau’s reviewer list (which has benefitted me with many books) and the first novella in the Cider Bar Sister series, Her Pretend Christmas Date was released for reviews. I had a great time with that novella and have read the rest as they come (my review of the final in the series, Her Unexpected Roommate, is forthcoming). But I hadn’t gotten around to reading the first two books, a very […]

The Season of Soft Bois Begins.

Her Unexpected Roommate by Jackie Lau

August 9, 2022 by Emmalita 10 Comments

Jackie Lau doesn’t always write soft boi romance heroes, but when she does, she does it well. Cal is a very soft boi, but he is neither unintelligent nor unselectively sexually active, so he isn’t a himbo. He does have big golden retriever energy. Rose is the last of the group who meet at the cider bar to find a partner. She has treatment resistant depression and as much as she would like a partner, she wonders if she is capable of having a relationship. […]

Welcome to the Jackie Lau Experience

The Professor Next Door by Jackie Lau

May 14, 2021 by Emmalita 3 Comments

At 2:15 this afternoon I posted in a discord chat: “I was surprised to get an arc of Jackie Lau’s newest, The Professor Next Door, this morning and now 3 1/2 hours later I have finished it, have a sore neck from reading without moving, and I wish I could gorge on cheese. I really liked the book.” The response was: “Welcome to the Jackie Lau experience.” Accurate. The Jackie Lau experience is a reliably enjoyable read, with excellent food and good sex. Anyway, I’m […]

Opposites Attract Fake Relationship Holiday Romance Novella – a book made for me

Her Pretend Christmas Date (Cider Bar Sisters #2.5) by Jackie Lau

December 1, 2020 by faintingviolet 5 Comments

I received an ARC of this novella from the author, in exchange for an honest review. Her Pretend Christmas Date releases on December 8th, 2020. I am a sucker for a holiday romance novella. I read and enjoyed Lau’s Holidays with the Wongs series (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Valentines Day) and after reading The Ultimate Pi Day Party earlier this year I signed up for Lau’s reviewer list – and Her Pretend Christmas Date is the first work I’ve received as part of that. […]

When they were kids, it had felt like she was always the one saving him.

His Grumpy Childhood Neighbor by Jackie Lau

October 8, 2020 by Emmalita Leave a Comment

While the first book in Jackie Lau’s Cider Bar Sisters series, Her Big City Neighbor grew on me as I read it, I fell immediately into the second book, His Grumpy Childhood Friend. Charlotte is at a baseball game with her boyfriend of 3 years when her actual nightmare happens, he proposes on the jumbotron. She runs away and goes on a five year dating moratorium. As one does. When we rejoin Charlotte in the present (an alternate universe present with no COVID-19), she would like […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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