Clueless: Squad Goals Book 1, Willow Thomas

Lexi is the favorite of the duo in this one for me.  With his pining it was natural for him to brush off many flirty attempts by Ryder in the beginning and I can't say I was a fan of the way it came off as Ryder playing with him before they actually said all the words.  But I think it was Lexi's way of being present, being able to see Ryder, and his whole way of being there for his friends, family, their struggles, joys, and confrontations.  His whole being drew me in.  Even when he was being a little dumb about Ryder.

I wish Ryder were truly his match.  When he was on and good, he was good, but there were a bunch of moments that he both nearly and really did stuff it up that I couldn't love him.  I liked him, sure, because he did have times where his utter joy in everything that is Lexi brought him closer to the best version of himself.  What I didn't like was how he was so absolutely clueless about everything that he hurt Lexi, seemingly toyed with him, and then continued to almost punish him because he couldn't really open his eyes and get his head out of where the sun doesn't shine.

The resolution was a bit rushed, but with a shorter, low-angst story I don't think I can fault that too much, it just needed to hold more weight than it did.  It definitely felt like a young college kid book with some of its sophmoric humor, but again, with the setting being in college, it's not a true fault, it just made the book seem a little sillier than it could be.  None of those things are truly negative things, just observations.  Lexi was the star and his group of amazing friends are absolutely the draw to the series that I will most assuredly return to.

*$4.99 on Amazon or FREE on KU!

Single and Ready to Jingle, Piper Rayne

With no recourse but to be thrown together to make things work Mackenzie makes the most of Andrew's predicament after a rather disastrous meet-insult instead of a blind date of the meet-cute variety.  Coercing a grinch to participate in Christmas activities to save his pride and possible promotion is just icing on the cake for the holiday-loving elf.  This is absolutely not a recipe for disaster, is it?  More than likely it's the attraction of a forever with their complete opposites that neither of them are willing to admit to...

I have to admit, however, that I was prepared to be annoyed by Mackenzie.  Often I find holiday-loving characters go over the top and are the types of people even those of us who love the same holiday go out of our way to avoid.  But in the case of Kenzie I found myself drawn to her, her indomitable spirit, her brightness and positivity.  She wasn't over the top and she most certainly wasn't annoying or pushy either.  Unless it was for the right grump that needed the push.

It was Andrew that I was more annoyed with on occasion though.  He was unnecessarily secretive and the justifications were thin and more or less ridiculous.  His need for transparency once things started progressing completely mocked his own need for secrecy when the hesitations were his own.  But when he began coming out of his shell and reluctantly enjoyed the things Kenzie planned for them, when he started to thaw and find joy through her eyes and revel in her just being her, that was when I joined his team.

The big conflict moment that came wasn't entirely unexpected, but it felt like a juvenile write-in rather than something truly organic to the story.  What I will say for the moment was that the circumstances allowed the hurt to be less deep and severe, something that made the big gesture sufficiently appropriate for an apology.  The fallout from the moment was hurtful, for sure, but there were other elements that allowed it to not be truly devastating.  And then the epilogue was a short, sweet moment that really wrapped things up pretty well for being a quick read overall.

This was far better than I hoped for and has swayed me more in favor of this author, who I haven't read much from.  It could have gone the way of formulaic and cliche but it didn't cross that line and I was thoroughly delighted throughout the couple hour read time it took to enjoy Andrew and Mackenzie's story.

*$3.99 on Amazon or FREE on KU

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