Powerless by Elsie Silver | Book Review

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Title & Author: Powerless by Elsie Silver

Genre: Romance

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Piatkus

Publication date: 6th April 2023

Blurb:

Two childhood best friends. Two broken hearts. One impromptu road trip to get away from everything.

I've been living in the friend zone for years now.

To Jasper Gervais's fans, he's just the hockey heartthrob on TV. But to me, he's still the lost boy with sad eyes and a heart of gold. The man I've loved in secret for years.

So when my life falls apart on my wedding day, it only makes sense that he's the one to swoop in and save me. And when his world comes crashing down around him, I'm there to return the favour.

But the more time alone we spend together, the more I start to realise that Jasper isn't looking at me like a friend anymore. And he isn't touching me like one, either.

He acts like he wants me.

But after years of turning me away, he's going to need to prove it...

Review: 

I loved both Flawless and Heartless so ended up speeding my way through the series. Usually I wouldn't be a big series reader, but I have just loved all these characters so much and never want to say goodbye! 

Powerless follows the story of Jasper, a childhood friend of the Eaton boys. He is an NHL player and we learn about how he came to live with Harvey and his family following Jasper's troubles with his own parents. Sloane is a prima ballerina and is a cousin of the Eaton's so Jasper has known her since she was ten-years-old.

From what we have seen of Jasper in the previous two books, we know he is very quiet and reserved so I was excited to see a bit more of him. In Heartless, we learned that Sloane had recently gotten engaged but didn't seem happy about it so I was eager to learn more about that.

Sloane's father is a businessman and her engagement to Sterling was essentially a business transaction. She has been in love with Jasper since she first laid eyes on him at ten years of age but she was under the impression that Jasper didn't feel the same way.

I don't usually like a childhood friends to lovers trope but this was beautiful. It was so wonderful to get into Jasper's mind and for both he and Sloane to overcome things together. I thought no one could beat Cade but Jasper Gervais is up there!

The Christmas Swap by Talia Samuels | Book Review

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Title & Author: The Christmas Swap by Talia Samuels

Genre: LGBTQIA+ romance

My rating: 4/5

Publisher: Penguin Michael Joseph 

Publication date: 21st September 2023

Blurb:

It's the perfect Christmas love story.

Margot Murray is a newly single, high-flying businesswoman with no interest in a cutesy seasonal romance.

Ben Gibson is an unlucky-in-love sweetheart in need of a woman to bring home for the holidays.

Together, they make a pact: Margot gets a blissful week away from London in a picture-perfect manor, in exchange for posing as Ben's girlfriend.

The story can only go one way. Margot is sure to fall in love for real.

And she does.

With Ben's sister, Ellie.

What could possibly go wrong?

Review:

I am loving festive romances at the minute and I'm sure we have all read our fair share of the fake dating trope where they go to one of their families homes for Christmas and end up falling in love for real.

The Christmas Swap is a slight twist on that. Ben is one of Margot's clients and she plays the role of doting girlfriend at Ben's family's country estate over Christmas. Ben doesn't want to be dealing with the questions about why he is still single in his mid-30s and Margot was due to go on holiday with her girlfriend but they have since broken up.

When they arrive at Ben's family home, his sister Ellie instantly thinks Margot is lying. She's heard hushed conversations and thinks that Margot may be a gold digger, not that they aren't really in a relationship. A romance does blossom between the two women and the whole story is just so interesting to read. Ellie's sleuthing and misunderstanding was brilliant to follow because you could absolutely see how it all made sense to her but was totally off the mark.

There is so much depth to both Ellie and Margot, and Margot's emotionally abusive past relationship was tackled really well. This is a really refreshing take on the fake dating trope!