Trouble with the Fake Boyfriend by Holly Renee

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After getting through another book club book, I jumped back into Holly Renee's Rock Bottom series and read the latest book in the series, Trouble with the Fake Boyfriend. Now, before getting to much into the review I did want to do a little update. This book is 5-stars for me. I couldn't think about anything that bothered me enough to dock it all. However, I definitely enjoyed the first book more. I am also now considering Trouble with the Guy Next Door 5-stars (and will update that post).

This book focuses on Brooke and Liam, the roommates and best friends of Tucker and Kennedy (from book 1). They have had great tension in the first two books and I was excited to finally get to their story. The prologue is during Kennedy and Tucker's wedding in book 2, and they finally crack the seal a little bit on their attraction. However they get interrupted and Liam takes that chance to not go further. The main part of the book is a little while afterwards and Kennedy and Tucker are moving out into their own house. Liam's cousin is also getting married soon and his mother is very much marriage and baby-minded when it comes to Liam. To get her off his back, he says he has a girlfriend and is bringing her to the wedding. 

This book mostly covers the week that Brooke is Liam's fake girlfriend during the various festivities. I really loved the tension that Holly Renee created between them. There was also a little bit of mutual pining, but Brooke's was a lot more obvious. It was really nice that Liam was able to see Brooke as she actually was and saw past the front she shows to world. I loved how welcoming his parents were to Brooke and that they both saw the true feelings they were trying to hide to each other. I loved when Brooke was trying to sleep in the guest room and Liam's mom kept pushing her to staying in Liam's old room with him. It had me cracking up. Especially because we usually see the opposite. 

Once they kissed (again) and broke the seal so to speak the sexual chemistry was so great. Liam is definitely more on the dominate side which was a fun surprise. I did wish that they were a little more open with their feelings nearing the end of the week, but I totally understood both of their timidity based on their previous hurts. I also loved that when his ex Katie tried to cause issues, she didn't really outside of Brooke assuming what their conversation was and freaking out. Another part I liked is that we had a little bit of a time jump so didn't have to see too much angst and wallowing once they got home and separated. 

I really enjoyed this series so far, and after seeing Ryan more in this book I really hope Holly gives him an HEA too. I don't know if he'll be paired with Chloe, but if not she deserves one too! I checked into her other books recently and noticed they were more new and/or young adult, which I usually don't read too much. I absolutely love Holly Renee's writing though, so I'll probably check them out at some point. I say that, but I usually don't read too much contemporary but here I am with this being the 11th contemporary of the year. 

Have you read Trouble with the Fake Boyfriend?

Bookishly Yours, 

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Trouble with the Fake Boyfriend, Holly Renee, 5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 264 pages, published in 2020

Trouble with the Hotshot Boss by Holly Renee

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With a little bit of free time before getting to a book club book, I wanted to continue with a series I had already started earlier this year. After going through my reads, I decided to go with contemporary and went back to Holly Renee's Rock Bottom series. The second book is Trouble with the Hotshot Boss, but was originally titled Double Shot when it was originally released. The first book in the series was also retitled, but it looks like they were both retitled and got new covers to match the third book when it came out last year. 

I was a little nervous about this book being that the main trope of this is second-chance romance, which is one of my least favorites. However, the "first chance" wasn't quite as pronounced as I was expecting and it more fell along the lines of brother's best friend and office romance. This book focuses on Sophie, the younger sister of Tucker from book 1, and his good friend Jase. We got a little bit of animosity between them in the first book, and it all stems from Sophie's 18th birthday party. She had been in love/serious crush with Jase since she was 10 years old and decided that she wanted to lose her virginity to Jase. As they start getting hot and heavy in the woods (her party's at a cabin), Tucker calls out for her and Jase runs and hides, rejecting her. 

One thing I absolutely loved about this book was that the "hate" between them was resolved very quickly. I loved how once they put aside their dislike, all those old feelings came back to the forefront. What led this to a 4-stars for me and not 5-stars is how quickly they fell into bed together. And also how often they go it on in the office. Don't get me wrong, I loved all the sexy times. It just seemed a little unsafe for how often they were at work, especially knowing they worked in a fairly small architectural company. That's another interesting thing, they are both architects. I don't read about that profession very often so it was very unique and fun. It would've been nice to see a little bit more "competence porn" in that aspect and see her really excel at her job. There's also the drama with Tucker and Kennedy's wedding, but I really enjoyed seeing everybody hanging out together. 

This misunderstanding was pretty obvious, but I did get a little frustrated with Jase that he didn't even try to talk to Sophie before yelling at her and assuming the worst. It felt so out of character for him and I really didn't like that instead of just being rude or yelling at her, he went the worst route and completely ignored her. I absolutely hate that and it always makes me cry. I did like that Sophie immediately chased him down and told him how he was wrong before breaking it off herself. It really helped that after the shock it wasn't her moping but trying to move on (and failing).

I am definitely planning on reading the third book soon and can't wait. There's been hints throughout both books so far and I'm really excited to see how it goes down. I also am interested if the 4th friend Ryan will get a book, only the first three have been posted on goodreads so far. I usually don't read full length contemporary novels, but I am really enjoying Holly Renee's writing and will definitely see what else is on her backlist. 

Have you read Trouble with the Hotshot Boss?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Trouble with the Hotshot Boss, Holly Renee, 4-stars, 2 days, eBook, 260 pages, published in 2019

Trouble With the Guy Next Door by Holly Renee

Update: As of 4/6/2021 I have changed my rating to 5-stars!

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After finishing Bad Boy Best Friend and feeling unsettled with my reading experience, I went for another similar read with Holly Renee's Trouble With the Guy Next Door. Little did I realize this wasn't quite as quick as a read as expected. I'm not complaining. As a side note, I have listed under the new title and cover, but when it was originally published in 2017, it was under the name Bottoms Up. This is the first in her Rock Bottom series.

I absolutely loved this book and plan to at the very least read the rest of this series. This evolves around new neighbors Tucker and Kennedy. Tucker and his friend Liam move in next door to Kennedy and her best friend (really chosen family) Brooke. Tucker and Kennedy kind of hit it off right away and start dancing around each other. She's more denying her attraction to him (at least more verbally) and tries to be enemies and then friends. I loved Tucker. He really saw Kennedy for who she was and knew exactly how to read her. Oh, the swoony feelings I got when with one glance he knew something was wrong despite her brave face. 

The reason I went 4-stars instead of five is the third act conflict. First off, I knew immediately that the girl that he was with was his sister. When Kennedy sees this though, she's reeling from her horrible family and runs. Then she decides to hurt Tucker in return instead of being an adult and communicating with him. I feel like it they confronted each other pretty quickly, but I didn't like how long their separation lasted, especially with them obviously pining after each other. Kennedy was very relatable and I loved that she was a plus-sized character. She had insecurities, but it was so well written that they weren't specifically on her weight, but more that and everything else she was and not feeling good enough to her family. I also loved the smattering of humor spread throughout the book. Holly Renee really hit a good balance of humor, steaminess, angst and cozy feelings for me. 

I'm also super intrigued by the next couple books, which will focus on Tucker's sister and his friend Jase and then Brooke and Liam. I hope the fourth friend in his group gets a book too. Maybe with Chloe? Even though I was knee deep in fantasy romance for FaRoFeb, I really enjoyed this sojourn into contemporary and can't wait to get to the rest of the series soon! Plus I really enjoy the look of the covers. The font is so gorgeous.

Have you read Trouble With the Guy Next Door?

Bookishly Yours, 

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Trouble With the Guy Next Door, Holly Renee, 5-stars, 2 days, eBook, 304 pages, published 2017