romancedispatch's reviews
284 reviews

The last ‘Waylon University’ book is the romance between Quarterback and Casanova extraordinaire Dillon McQueen and grad school journalist Serena.

Dillon, hypnotised by Serena dancing at a bonfire, kissed her at a party his freshman year, ignoring the superstition that whoever you kiss at your freshman’s year party will be your forever. But Serena got under his skin, and then disappeared. Dillon couldn’t find her anywhere, but has never forgotten her.

Three years later, Serena reappears in Dillon’s life, and he is determined to win her love and to never let her go. But Dillon has zero experience when it comes to relationships, as well as to wooing a woman. Moreover, Serena has her own demons to fight - she is been hurt before, and this handsome, cocky quarterback is everything she thinks she should avoid...

I loved this book - possibly it’s my favourite in the series! Serena is a heroine worth rooting for, she is strong, opinionated, wickedly funny and knowledgeable, smart, quirky. Dillon is adorable in his clumsy attempts to win her over, and their slow-burn romance is the stuff of dreams.
As I’m writing this, I’m still experiencing some sort of “romance afterglow”, which only happens once in a blue moon, with a great book that warms my heart.

A nice novella which predates “See me after class” and tells the story of Gunner (Mr klein is fine) and Lindsay - who we know from the baseball books as one of Emory and Knox Gentry’s best friends.

I just love how these two series, baseball and teachers, are intertwining! Jason and Dottie appear in “See me after class” too, and Greer (the heroine of the book) actually goes on a date with Walker, Jason’s and Knox’s friend from the bobbies. And what do you know, now Walker’s story is coming out (baseball) as well as Romeo and Stella’s (teachers). I just love that Meghan Quinn’s universe is ever expanding, and we almost always get the story of every character we meet in her books!

I’d definitely suggest to whomever might want to start this series that it would be better to read the “Landry family” series first, then the “Gibson boys”, and then this one, just because that gives much more context and perspective to the book, and you’ll enjoy the story more by knowing all side characters and who they are and what they are going through or what happened to them so far. But this book CAN be read as a standalone, too.

It’s a sweet, enjoyable read opening a new series: the Masons in Savannah.

As I said before, I liked this a lot because it brought together my favourites clans, the Landrys (Graham! Lincoln! Sienna!), the Gibsons (Walker! Peck!) and it feels good to know that these families are now bound together with the Masons and that we come back to Savannah, Georgia, after taking a detour to Illinois :)

I liked the story and seeing how two powerhouses like Holt and Blaire fight for their relationship. Although I must say that Blaire did not win me over as a heroine until the very end.

I’m excited for the Masons stories to come! Coy and Boone’s books are next, but it’s Ollie and Wade’s stories that I can’t wait to read!!

Miss Meghan Quinn, you did it again! I absolutely loved this book!

Noely Clark is 27 years old, is beautiful, has the perfect life, the perfect job (co-hosting ‘Good Morning, Malibu!’) and... is deeply lonely.

She wants love in her life, the Tom Hanks to her Meg Ryan, the Joe Fox to her Kathleen Kelly. And to find him, she signs up to “Going in blind”, a matching app service that promises to find your perfect match(es) and even takes care of setting the perfect background for the first and second dates.

As Noely embarks in her search of true love, she will meet some very different matches: the Suit, The Rebel, The Jock. All of them incredibly handsome and charming, all of them in some way, unattainable. Or are they? And if they are not, which one of them will message his way to Noely’s heart?

This is a sweet, laugh-out-loud, swoony romantic comedy, and Noely is one of the best heroines I have ever had the pleasure to meet, so I found myself on her side pretty quickly, laughing and suffering with her, and rooting for her to get to her special happy ending.

Also, any book which references ‘You Got Mail’ is bound to have a special place in my heart.
Thank you, Miss Quinn, for another great love story!

The thing I appreciate the most about Alisha Rai’s novels is that they are some sort of “photograph” of this moment in time, a candid shot of the world at the time of her writing.

So I know, that when I’ll pick up her books in three, five, or ten years’ time, I’ll know exactly where we stood. It’s been like this for every book of hers so far, and ‘First comes like’ is no exception.

Influencers, beauty bloggers, Instagrammers, TikTokers, the movie and series industry, the media, and even a subtle COVID reference, it’s all there. And don’t let me start on how groundbreaking it is to have a heroine who wears a headscarf and a dupatta!!!
And all of this has been truly, painstakingly, accurately researched, and it shows... I love it!

Having said that, I will admit that I empathised less with these two main characters than I did with those of her other novels. Maybe it’s because it was a verrrrrry slow burn romance and also, well... very ‘vanilla’. BUT I also understand that it needed to be, because of the cultural dynamics that determine the two main characters and consequently, their actions and doings.

Furthermore, I felt that some issues were left unresolved, specifically concerning Dev’s niece and Dev’s own job. But then again, the writer ‘teases’ us exactly with these questions at the end of the book. Also, I’m pretty sure that Lakshmi’s story is coming up next (HALLELUJAH!) and that will offer plenty of space to catch up on Jia and Dev’s life.

All in all: absolute love for Alisha Rai!