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In case anyone missed it, we are quite excited about the upcoming Heart.Wants.Books virtual book club on Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. CST. Click here to read the full details about why we picked Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (and a bonus pick for re-readers) and here to register.

Oh darling readers, let me tell you how this usually goes.  A new month rolls around and Ashley is much more diligent about reading emails than I am, so she opens the Amazon First Reads email, grumbles, and forwards it to me with some delporing comment about how it’s more WWII fiction and series starters and nothing that is remotely exciting.  (Side note – we’ve only read a few selections from this service, so we could be misjudging books by their covers and marketing copy, but our reaction to the list stands.)  HOWEVER, this month, her email comment was “JENNIFER PROBST Fo’FREE” and I promptly ignored the rest of the titles (sorry authors) and “purchased” Love on Beach Avenue for $0.00 (because I’m an Amazon Prime member) a month before it releases on May 1.  THANK YOU ASHLEY! [Ashley says You’re Welcome.] If you don’t have Prime or selected another option, you can pre-order this delightful title.  

As we’ve mentioned before, if you are an Amazon Prime member, you can get one (sometimes two) pre-release editor’s pick title from the for free each month through Amazon’s First Reads program.  There are usually about six to choose from across multiple genres.  I can’t say I’ve read many, but I’m definitely happy to have a free book in my library!  

On to the title, friends, Love on Beach Avenue by Jennifer Probst is an open-door enemies-to-lovers romance that comes out on May 1.  (Yes, it’s a pre-release, and Amazon Prime members might still be able to get it if they have not already selected their April First Reads book.)  Our leading lady, Avery, is a wedding planner in New Jersey beach town and runs the family business with her two sisters.  Allie, her best friend/college roommate, calls and wants a quick destination wedding, planned by Avery.  No problem!  Her best friend’s brother, Carter, is the Man of Honor and is spending the summer with his sister and Avery to help with the wedding.  The complication – Carter and Avery don’t see eye to eye.  Drama and hilarity ensue and I adored it!  

Let’s discuss what this book is and is not.  If you are looking for a meets expectations, modern romance, Love on Beach Avenue is for you.  If you’re looking for a title that will knock your socks off, leave this one on the shelf for later.  Don’t get me wrong, this was the perfect weekend read for me in the middle of the pandemic and I’m very interested in the rest of this series (and you know where it’s headed before the end of the book).  That said, I give it a solid 3 stars and I even might reread it before reading Temptation on Ocean Drive (The Sunshine Sisters #2) because it was fun and nostalgic.  What’s nostalgic about this you ask?  Well, I worked in bridal and formalwear for six years, have helped numerous friends [Ashley points to self enthusiastically] as their wedding planner, day of coordinator/assistant, or bride’s right hand, and seriously considered starting a wedding planning business with a friend (we decided the hours did not align with our family goals), so I LOVED this glimpse into the business!  I do, however, disagree with how the dress shopping scene was handled.  Avery should have known to try on a greater variety of dresses with Allie, and it’s not uncommon for one person to find the dress and others to question their sanity before they see it on the bride (hint for brides-to-be: try on any serious suggestions from the staff and from your trusted 1-2 people who come with you – y’all if I had a dollar for every time someone thought I’d lost my mind and I found the dress…but I digress).  I’m also planning to add more from Probst to my TBR list!

~Nikki 

A not so long time ago, in a land far, far away (November 2018, California) I read a book entitled Write Naked. Nikki and I had just started REALLY getting into the buddy reading groove, and I had just learned about the glory that is the Overdrive app with Los Angeles County Library’s almost 65,000 available kindle books to check out [Nikki says you’re welcome]. I was challenged to attempt to write a little romance-y something by the aforementioned buddy [who has yet to see the little something], and I thought, hey why not read a book on the craft by a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling romance author? Is it strange that the first book I read by Jennifer Probst was her one and only nonfiction title? Yes, yes it is. But, I am not remotely ashamed. I got to meet HER, the author, within those pages and how she puts so much of herself onto the words on the page. She challenges all novelists to write naked, to put all of themselves and all that their characters can be on the page for the world to see, to hold nothing back. [For clarification, I have written some romance-y, schmexy somethings. It’s just not been in the near past, and it’s not for public consumption. I do not post fan-fiction on the interwebz, even if I consume it. You get enough of my sass on this blog. For the second time this post, You’re welcome.] I’m so glad I held nothing back when I told Nikki to purchase Love on Beach Avenue fo’free.

I really don’t have anything constructive to say that Nikki didn’t already cover. Solid 3. Maybe a 3.25 for a sassy Yorkie named Lucy who reminds me of a precious teacup Yorkie named Pepper, short for Princess Peppercorn. Except instead of nipping at strangers like Lucy, Pepper loves EVERYONE and wants to jump on you, but she’s not able to jump much higher than mid-calf on anyone except her smallish human family members. Do not get excited, dear readers, Pepper does not live with me and neither do I have any smallish human family members that live with me. #AuntLife But, I love Lucy the Yorkie for another reason, she is the required four-legged companion that Jennifer Probst places in every single one of her novels. She talks about in Write Naked how she tries to have every book have a rescue pup of some sort, even if the story has nothing to do with the rescue, and I’m so here for rescuing the puppers! And the kittehs. RESCUE ALL THE ANIMALS, save them from human stupidity. 

Just also remember to rescue yourself from overwhelming emotional quarantimes and get lost in a great beachy romance read. I’d put Love on Beach Avenue on your summer reading list fo’sho. What do you prefer to read at the beach or the pool with the sun shining?

~Ashley