Today we have the blog tour for Gabrielle G’s Trouble! Check it out and be sure to grab your copy today!

Title: Trouble

Author: Gabrielle G

Genre: Contemporary Romance

About Trouble:

There are three things I have to protect: My heart, my scars and my life. Even from my best friend.

Some secrets have the power to change lives.

Or ruin them.

What I didn’t expect was for my best friend to walk away when I needed him most.

I made the only decision I could.

And I have no regrets–even if Lars Trouble can’t handle that.

Now I just have to convince my broken heart it’s better off without him.

***

I don’t do secrets, I hate deceivers and I’m not in love with my best friend.

Or so I thought.

As the man in the shadows, the drummer of the Darling Devils, the person I rely on most is my best friend.

That is until I discover Naomi is a liar.

If walking away from her was hard, learning she isn’t mine to love feels impossible.

And just when I think it’s all finally coming back together, fate steps in and proves me wrong.

But when you love someone, you do the only thing you can. You fight for your love story to begin.

A friends-to-lovers romance to the beat of the Darling Devils – the legends of music.

This novel contains chapters with difficult scenes that might trigger some readers. Please reach out to me for specific details.

Get Your Copy Today!

Trouble by Gabrielle G.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book can be read as a standalone novel. To avoid spoilers, and to fully understand the series, I recommend reading the series in order.

Naomi and Lars have history. Serious chemistry of heat and sexy history. Only the choice for her was about friendship. Since she could have gotten serious about a man who uses her looks as a type. She instead, chose to be his friend, the best of friends.

Lars is all in with his best friend. Until the worst happens. Then they split apart, and that is it. Being in the limelight, having someone to care about who he really is was a real treat. Now, she looks at him with such shame and disgust. Can this be fixed?

I love the friends to lovers trope, I have been pretty vocal about that. I just really did not feel the connection with this story and its MC's. I tried at separate times. I found the story solid, the pace nice and fast, and the chemistry just was not working for me. All around it is still worth the read. Lots of our favorites make an appearance, and I am still eager to read the next installment in the series. The book is still a good read.


***This ARC copy was given in exchange for an honest review only.

View all my reviews

About Gabrielle G:

Gabrielle G will do anything for a hot cup of tea, still celebrates her half birthdays and feels everyone has an inner temptuous voice. Born in France and having lived in Switzerland, Gabrielle currently resides in Montreal with her husband, three devilish children and an extremely moody cat. After spending years contemplating a career in writing, she finally jumped off the deep end and took the plunge into the literary world. Writing consumed her and she independently published her work. Gabrielle's style is fiercely raw and driven by pure emotion. Her love stories leave you out of breath, yearning for more, while at the same time wiping away tears.

Connect with Gabrielle:

Reader Group | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Enewsletter | BookBub | Twitter | Website

This book is #2, in the Darling Devils series.  This book can be read as a standalone novel.  To avoid spoilers, and to fully understand the series, I recommend reading the series in order.

Naomi and Lars have history.  Serious chemistry of heat and sexy history.  Only the choice for her was about friendship.  Since she could have gotten serious about a man who uses her looks as a type.  She instead, chose to be his friend, the best of friends.

Lars is all in with his best friend.  Until the worst happens.  Then they split apart, and that is it.  Being in the limelight, having someone to care about who he really is was a real treat.  Now, she looks at him with such shame and disgust.  Can this be fixed?

I love the friends to lovers trope, I have been pretty vocal about that.  I just really did not feel the connection with this story and its MC's.  I tried at separate times.  I found the story solid, the pace nice and fast, and the chemistry just was not working for me.  All around it is still worth the read.  Lots of our favorites make an appearance, and I am still eager to read the next installment in the series.  The book is still a good read.  I give this a 3/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

***This ARC copy was given in exchange for an honest review only.

Today we have the cover reveal for Gabrielle G’s Trouble! Check it out and be sure to pre-order your copy today!

Title: Trouble

Author: Gabrielle G

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: May 12^th

About Trouble:

There are three things I have to protect: My heart, my scars and my life. Even from my best friend.

Some secrets have the power to change lives. Or ruin them. What I didn’t expect was for my best friend to walk away when I needed him most. I made the only decision I could. And I have no regrets–even if Lars Trouble can’t handle that. Now I just have to convince my broken heart it’s better off without him.

***

I don’t do secrets, I hate deceivers and I’m not in love with my best friend.

Or so I thought. As the man in the shadows, the drummer of the Darling Devils, the person I rely on most is my best friend. That is until I discover Naomi is a liar. If walking away from her was hard, learning she isn’t mine to love feels impossible. And just when I think it’s all finally coming back together, fate steps in and proves me wrong. But when you love someone, you do the only thing you can. You fight for your love story to begin.

A friends-to-lovers romance to the beat of the Darling Devils – the legends of music.

This novel contains chapters with difficult scenes that might trigger some readers. Please reach out to me for specific details.

Pre-Order Your Copy Today!

Exclusive Excerpt:

Lars and I were kissing, and it was delicious.

As delicious as a spoonful of Nutella. You know you shouldn’t indulge, but at the end of the day, you can’t resist. And why would you?

He detached his lips from mine, dove back in, kissed me some more.

It was hot.

Nutella with sparkles.

But then he stopped, looked at me with fire in his eyes and dropped the bomb that would define our relationship.

“That’s why I love your kind of girls so much.”  

It wasn’t a cold shower. It was an Arctic Tsunami.

I was just another preconceived notion, and this manslut of a rock star might have had an Asian fetish. (…)

Asian wasn’t a type.

It was the continent I came from. It was an ocean of misconception.

It was a melting pot of cultural mishaps of western minds.

And being Japanese, I hated men thinking I could become a Geisha once in their bed.

I liked sex. I liked men but not because I was born in Japan, not because I could become a mistress, and not because porn had made “Asian girls” the ultimate tight pussy to fuck.

I liked sex because I was me.  

So, coming out of the bathroom, I rejected Lars.

(…)

Unfortunately, I had to talk to him later that night, and when he thought I came for more, I burst his bubble.

He had never heard of an Asian fetish and was convinced it wasn’t a thing.

I told him to check it out.

I explained why I didn’t have sex or date men who fell in this category.

He listened.

He learned.

And we ended up talking all night, and then some more on the phone the next day and around coffee after that.

We talked about who we were, who I was, where I came from, what he liked, how he became a rock star, how it changed his life. We were spilling all of our secrets.

Or almost all of them.

We learned everything and anything there was to know about one another.

We spent nights together, talking for hours, falling asleep next to each other.

We were together for most of our free time, even if we barely had any.

We were always attached at the hip whenever we could be, wherever we would go.

It all started with a hot kiss, but Lars Trouble had become my most beautiful story.

He had become my best friend.  

About Gabrielle G:

Gabrielle G will do anything for a hot cup of tea, still celebrates her half birthdays and feels everyone has an inner temptuous voice. Born in France and having lived in Switzerland, Gabrielle currently resides in Montreal with her husband, three devilish children and an extremely moody cat. After spending years contemplating a career in writing, she finally jumped off the deep end and took the plunge into the literary world. Writing consumed her and she independently published her work. Gabrielle's style is fiercely raw and driven by pure emotion. Her love stories leave you out of breath, yearning for more, while at the same time wiping away tears.

Connect with Gabrielle:

Reader Group | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Enewsletter | BookBub | Twitter | Website

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

August might be a duke now, but he spent two years surviving on the streets while his father was in debtor's prison. He now can't make enough money and after he acquires a prime location that has a girl's school on it, he wants to buy Strathmore Shipping. The family is in dire straits, so he doesn't foresee a problem of them wanting to sell.

Clara is used to feeling ostracized, deemed a bluestocking and therefore of ridicule, she's ran the Haverhall School for Girls. Her family's money issues have forced her to sell and now the one man to ever catch her eye, is starting to show her attention again.

He had danced with her on a dare.

A Duke in the Night starts off showing the readers how a young, trying to fit in August asked Clara to dance on a dare. The dance and conversation they share ends up leaving quite an impression on both Clara and August and many years later they both still think about it. While this one waltz was a sparking way to start the story and their relationship, hinging so much of their initial feelings for one another on it created a lack of other emotional building moments. Our leads do a good job of talking and listening to one another, August especially has great growth moments, but they didn't crackle and jump off the pages as much as I would have liked.

His eyes crinkled at the corners as he grinned at her, and Clara felt rivulets of longing run down her spine. No man had the right to look that handsome when he smiled.

Clara was a great heroine, she's a bluestocking and experiences some of the consequences (shunned for friendship and romantic relationships) of her choosing to follow her heart and teach. In order to keep her school running, she must also keep her reputation in good standing. I thought the author did a great job giving us a strong-willed, intelligent, and courageous heroine that felt true to the times and honored her with also showing the difficulties. I would have liked more scenes with her siblings to get some emotional impact from those relationships, they seemed like such a wonderful supportive family. I did think her closed off actions and emotions toward August in the middle and end lasted too long and gave a bit of a dragged on feeling.

“I don't want the woman you're supposed to be,” he said, his voice low. “I never have. I want the woman you are, and everything that that encompasses. I wanted her ten years ago, and I want her now.” He stepped closer to her, his hand coming up to toy with the ribbon at the front of her bodice. “A woman who knows her own mind. A woman who can make a man lose his. Make him do reckless things.”

The details of August's character were compelling but his background of having to survive on the streets just didn't completely emotionally come through to me; his supposed ruthlessness wasn't felt. His growth arc felt more centered on allowing his sister her agency and realizing she didn't want a quiet life of glitz and glamour. I thought his excuse for not wanting to marry, his parent's had a horrible marriage and he doesn't want to marry someone he “thinks” he loves. I think concentrating on his years of trying to survive and build his empire (workaholic) would have better served his character makeup; the whole not marrying for love theme fades away so much I almost forgot about at the end when he was still struggling with his feelings.

August and Clara were both intrigued by each other and I thought it was cute how the author showed them liking the other and having moments of feeling stupid because they thought they said the wrong thing, sweet beginning relationship stages of insecurity. Angst is brewing under the surface because the reader knows August bought Clara's school and that he wants to buy her family's shipping company, the school plot I liked simmering under the surface but the resolution was left to the very end and kind of emotionally dealt with quickly. The shipping company felt more clogging up as the predictability of Clara ending up thinking August was only paying attention to her for the company.

This was a good start to the Devils of Dover series, Clara's siblings are showcased enough to entice readers to want to know more about their storylines. August was a great hero in that he actually listened to Clara and took her thoughts to heart and Clara trying to help woman in the capacity she could was lovely to read. There were some arcs that I thought clogged up more than adding, especially the villain of a man felt he was done wrong by August and we get a whole kidnapping danger but oh wait, everyone is fine. A Duke in the Night had two characters that even years later were intrigued by each other, the power of one waltz.

Sometimes my food pairings are elaborate shrimp meals and sometimes they are milk dyed green.

It’s a Monday, folks!
A Duke and a bluestocking who can’t forget about the waltz they once shared and Grinch hot chocolate.
Happy new reading week!

A Duke in the Night by Kelly Bowen purchase link

Grinch Hot Cocoa recipe

If you like minty cocoa, this is for you