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Southern Romance Books
Episode 102 • 19th July 2024 • Reading Under the Covers: A Romance Novel Podcast • Under the Covers Book Blog
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In this episode of Reading Under the Covers, a romance novel podcast, we have some of our favorite southern romance books. If you're in the mood for a small town romance but full of southern charm, community, found family and sometimes meddling family/neighbors/friends, then these are the books for you.

If you want even more romance books set in the South USA, check out our list: https://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/southern-romance-books

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Transcripts

Francesca:

Welcome to reading under the covers a romance novel podcast.

2

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I'm Francesca from under

the covers book blog.

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And today I am bringing you more

summer book recommendations and we're

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talking book tropes today ' because

I feel like summer is one of the

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best times to dive into book tropes.

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There are so many fun, fun books

that you can read in the summer.

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And we kind of always think of the

classic beach reads and the romcoms.

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And while those are perfect for

the summer, maybe there are some

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lesser known tropes that you

could be picking up in the summer.

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And I've got one here for you today.

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And for that, I'm excited to talk to you

guys today about Southern romance books.

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Those are the books that are

set in the quaint Southern

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towns in the United States.

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And they have this very laid back

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kind of everybody knows

your business vibe.

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A lot of sense of community found family.

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A little bit of quirky humor as well.

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And overall, I just have a

ton of fun with these types of

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books, especially in the summer.

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I think summer is actually the

perfect time to be reading them.

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If you haven't picked up a Southern

romance book yet, definitely stick

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around for some recommendations.

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And who knows, maybe you've

already read one that has that

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vibe and you just didn't know.

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It could even be classified

as a Southern romance book.

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If that is the case, and you've

got some recommendations,

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definitely send them my way.

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If I didn't include them in my list.

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So why don't you just grab your

nice tall glass of sweet tea.

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And we dive into some fun

and sweet romance books.

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Now a little bit of backstory here.

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I am not from the United States and

when I did move to the United States

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for the first time I moved to Florida.

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And not the Miami, Florida vibe, but

like deep Florida kind of territory.

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So I definitely got.

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First taste of Southern United States.

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When I moved here

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I never even knew what sweet tea was

until I started going to the restaurants

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here and they were asking me if I

wanted my tea, sweet or unsweet.

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And I'm like, what are you even doing?

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Drinking cold tea.

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But I can actually say that since then.

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I have learned to make Sweet tea at home.

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I haven't made it in

the longest time though.

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And if you have to ask, I'm a sweet

tea kind of person, not unsweet.

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That being said, though, the vibe that

comes from a Southern romance book.

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It's kind of nostalgic for me.

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So I really, really enjoyed

when I first found a book that

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really captured that essence.

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And I have been on the lookout

for books like that ever since.

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So today I'm going to share some

of my favorites and we even have

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some that you can actually watch

the book to screen adaptation.

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So let's just jump right into the books.

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The first book that I have on my list is

the sweet gum tree by Katherine Allred.

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I had no idea what this book was about.

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I'll be honest, when I first read

this book, it had a different

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cover and it was published by a

small press kind of publisher.

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And it was a horrible, horrible cover

I put it off for the longest time.

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There were a ton of people

recommending this book online.

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And I just kept getting

put off by the cover.

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So I wasn't reading it.

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And then one Saturday morning, random

Saturday morning, I was like, you

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know what, let me just pick it up.

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And when I tell you that there are

very few books that just consume me

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and I just have to continue reading.

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I didn't do anything else that day.

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I read the whole book.

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I went through a whole array of emotions

too, because when I tell you that

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this is an emotional rollercoaster.

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It's a doozy.

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This book will take you through ups

and downs and it will just really make

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you connect with these characters,

we start off with them as children.

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And it's not a pretty back story either.

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So you definitely go through all of

those emotions with these children.

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They're best friends.

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He's the boy from the

wrong side of the tracks.

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But the connection that they develop

is just so strong and so powerful, but

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as things happen, they're separated.

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He moves away from town.

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And they both just move on and have their

separate lives until many years later

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when we do get that second chance romance.

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And I would say that this

book is divided quite well.

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in giving you a bit of

both of these storylines.

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Of when they were children and

their beginning of their connection

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and they're reconnecting as adults

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and it's beautiful and it's raw and it's

heart-wrenching, and it's just so sweet

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at the same time and so romantic and

it's endearing, and you're just going to

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really fall in love with these characters.

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So if you want a book, that's going

to take you through the ringer.

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You're going to be

prepared with some Kleenex.

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Uninterrupted reading time as well.

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And maybe even a tub of ice cream,

so you can just eat your feelings.

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Then it's the perfect time to

pick up the sweet gum tree.

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I would say that it's probably

still to this day, one of my

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favorite books that I've read.

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And maybe one day I'll actually

make like a top 50 list or top

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100 list or something like that.

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I can't say right now where it

would fall, but it's definitely

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in one of those lists for sure.

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Now this book does have a

much better cover right now.

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So I think that that should help a

little bit for you to pick it up.

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But even if you think that this cover

is very unassuming and you may not

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think too much of this story, put

that aside and pick it up because

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trust me, you're going to love it.

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Another book that is an

absolute favorite of mine.

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And it's probably also going to

be in one of those, like best

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I've ever read kind of lists.

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And it's completely different

because this one is more of a romcom.

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It's actually Hollywood

dirt by Alessandra Torre.

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This is an opposites attract story.

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The hero is a movie star.

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He just went through a divorce.

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The heroine is from a very small town.

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She's a total Southern belle.

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And a location scout actually thinks that

her place is perfect to film a movie.

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So that's what ends up happening

this big Hollywood celebrity comes to

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film this movie and they have to kind

of work together sort of in a way.

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As you can imagine these two

could not be more different.

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But this book has everything that I love

in a romcom, it has plenty of banter.

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It's very steamy and sexy there's

even a quirky little pet animal.

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There's so much chemistry and

there's so much tension between them.

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I absolutely adore them as a couple.

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I love the humor in this story.

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It is actually one of my favorite

books by Alessandra Torre.

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And I have read a lot of her books

and really enjoyed them as well.

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So if you're into celebrity romances,

opposites, attract and you're ready

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for all those cute Southern vibes,

then definitely check this one out,

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especially if you love a feisty heroine.

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And now, as I mentioned before, you can

actually watch some screen adaptations.

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Hollywood Dirt has been adapted by

PassionFlix, I actually think they

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did a good job adapting the storyline,

even though the characters may not

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necessarily be the ones that I would

have envisioned so keeping in mind that

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yes, a lot of the PassionFlix movies

are a little bit more lower budget

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and that's going to come with all the

limitations that that will bring, but

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definitely this was a great adaptation.

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If you are the type of reader

that wants to see the book

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exactly translated to a movie.

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I think they did great.

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in keeping the story flowing while

incorporating some of those scenes

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that I really wanted to see as a fan.

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And even if you don't have a PassionFlix

subscription, they do have a day pass.

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So you can actually binge a

couple of different movies.

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With just a day pass.

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So that might be also a way

for you to add some romance and

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book to screen adaptations to

your viewing for the summer.

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The next book recommendation

that I have is actually a series.

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I have only read the first book though.

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So if you want to read more than you

can definitely continue exploring that.

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And that is sweet tea and

sympathy by Molly Harper.

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And I originally picked up this story

because I have read Molly Harper before.

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And she usually adds a touch

of humor to her stories.

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And while this book in particular

is a little bit less humor than I'm

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used to from her, it still gave me

that kind of a fun vibe in the story.

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At the same time, I would say that

while I can call this a women's fiction

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novel, it definitely straddles more of

that line of women's fiction and romance

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yes, there is romance.

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Yes, there's happily ever after, but

the story is really about the journey

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that our heroine is going through.

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And that is because she's at

a point in her career when

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things are just not doing well.

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She's trying to figure out what

she needs to do with her life.

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And she gets an opportunity

from her father's family and

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they're kind of estranged.

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Which then basically makes her move to

Georgia and reconnect with those roots

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that she didn't really have any relation

with meaning connecting with her father.

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Her father's family and just

rediscovering herself in a new

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profession a new job a new place.

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So lots of changes for her.

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Lots of life changes as well.

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And I think that this book did a

great job of dealing with that all in

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this very charming Southern setting.

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So when we talk about that small

town vibe, The neighbors and the

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friends and all of that kind of

like getting in the middle of your

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relationship and your business this

book definitely gave me all of that.

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And like I said, we still also have a

romance and that is with a single father

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of two and the principal of the school.

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Really sweet, really fun.

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And I think a perfect summer read.

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The next one is also a series

that you can dive into.

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And I've also only read the first book

and it's called Ain't He Precious?

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by Sawyer Bennett.

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This was originally released

under a different pen name.

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It was released as Juliette Poe.

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And that is kind of this

sweeter side of Sawyer Bennett.

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If you've read a Sawyer Bennett

contemporary romance, you know,

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that she writes really steamy

contemporaries and when I read it,

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it was published as Juliette Poe.

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So I don't know if this was revamped under

the new pen name to add some more spice.

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But rest assured that it was

still a really fun story.

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It's also really short and quick read.

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And a second chance romance.

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So we have our heroine.

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She's a Harvard law grad.

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And she was dating the hero at

the time, which was 11 years back.

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They had made plans.

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They were going to get married.

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They were going to have

this amazing life together.

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And all of a sudden she decided that

she was just not a big city girl and

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she wanted to move back to her small

town, move back closer to her family.

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And just open a small law practice

in that small town and just

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their life plans didn't match.

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So they ended their relationship.

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She's basically gone ahead and done that.

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So for 11 years, that's where she's

at and that's what she's been doing,

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but now she gets a case and she needs

his help so she calls him out of the

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blue for him to come and help her.

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And this is the first time that they've

seen each other after the breakup 11

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years later, but he gets on a plane

immediately to come to her rescue.

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This is definitely super sweet.

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I love the relationship between

the characters, but not only the

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romantic relationship between

our hero and our heroine.

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But also the family members

and the town and all of that.

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So I think that you're going to

get all of those really Southern

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vibes from this, especially when

it comes to the community aspect.

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If you're in the market for a

shorter book, then definitely

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this one is one to watch out for.

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Another series that I think you

definitely need to put on your TBR.

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And I will talk about the first book

more because it's the easiest one to

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talk about without giving you spoilers.

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But I love the whole series and the

first book is sugar daddy by Lisa Kleypas.

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This is the Travis family series

and we do have a series guide for

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this on the blog, which I can leave

linked in the show notes down below.

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So you can check it out.

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It is.

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Probably the most well-known

contemporary series by Lisa

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Kleypas and don't be fooled.

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The first book slightly turns a little bit

more women's fiction than contemporary

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romance, but the rest of the books

are just pure contemporary romance.

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Gold.

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Like I said, the first one is not

necessarily my favorite, but it was

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still the four-star read and in this

one, we get to really see a journey for

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our heroine it's a rags to riches story.

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Also an age gap romance.

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Now, when it comes to the romance,

I don't want to give too much away.

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And I highly encourage you to try to

skip reading the blurb for book two,

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because there is a bit of a push and

pull and love triangle in the first book.

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And you definitely will enjoy it more

if you don't know who she ends up with.

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Trust me on that.

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And then something else that I think

it's important to note when it comes

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to Lisa Kleypas, especially if you have

read some of her historical romances

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is that this book actually has not

a ton of sex scenes, but they are

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more explosive and steamy, I think.

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And it's not necessarily because suddenly

she's writing more explicit scenes, but

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I think it's because she really captured

the yearning in these characters.

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Especially when it comes to our heroine.

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The heroine in the story is half Mexican

living in a place where being half

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Mexican was not necessarily a great thing.

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She also was not born

to a lavish lifestyle.

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She grew up with her mother living in

a trailer park and overall, she was

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just dealt a bad hand of cards at life.

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But in this story, we actually get to see

her from a very young age, grow persevere.

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Really develop and show us that

inner strength, even through

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some really tough times.

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I'm telling you, you're going to want

to trust the process with this one.

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It really is worth it.

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Everything makes sense.

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In the end, even when you thought

that some of those things were

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not really developing into

that strong romance connection.

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And then once you've finished

reading the book, definitely dive

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right into book two blue eyed devil.

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It is one of those top books that

I have on my, whatever it is.

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Top 50 top 100.

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Absolutely loved that book.

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You know how sometimes you have those

books where you remember exactly what

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you were doing when you were reading it.

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Blue eyed devil is definitely

one of those for me.

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So you can't really go wrong with

reading the Travis family series.

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There's a total of four

books in the series.

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They're all siblings.

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I guess you could also consider

them kind of billionaire romances.

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But the billionaire romances of like old

vintage type of contemporary romance.

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Especially with that Southern flair.

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The next one that I'm

excited for you guys to read.

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It's also a whole series

recommendation and I did also

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really enjoy the whole series.

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The book is called the secret flying

by Gena Showalter it's the first book

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in the original heartbreaker series.

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It used to actually be

called the closer you come.

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So you might have seen it back then

published under that title, the

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setting for this one is in Oklahoma,

which I guess there can be some

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question whether it can be considered

Southern or Midwest or Southwest.

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But the vibes that you're getting

are definitely Southern small town

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vibes so rest assured it will fit

the vibe that you're looking for.

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Now in this book, we have

the hero who is an ex-con.

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And when I say ex-con,

I mean, true bad boy.

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He was in jail, he just got out of jail

and it was for a crime that he did commit.

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So we're not going to sugar

coat, anything with this one.

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There's no wrongful imprisonment.

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He did commit the crime.

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And he has to work through those feelings.

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And some of that also comes with him

wanting a good girl, which is our heroine.

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And knowing really that

he doesn't deserve her.

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But he still wants to help her out.

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So he hires her as his assistant.

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Now as you can imagine, it's going to be

a great dynamic opposites attract story.

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In general, for this series, we do

have a group of friends that is the

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basis of all of these books, which

I absolutely loved all of them.

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I think that they're really great stories.

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And that thing that the hero

was in jail for is the thread

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that connects all three of them.

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So you're going to keep hearing about that

and going through all of those emotions

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that each one of them has to deal with.

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As it relates to the part that each

of them played in what happened.

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I will say though, as much as I've said

that, you know, it's a bad boy story

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and there is a crime and all of that.

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There's a bit of a silver lining

that really helps you to understand

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what happened in the past and why

he ended up where he ended up.

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So obviously read it for yourself,

but for me, it was enough for me to

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forgive him, look past that and just

absolutely fall in love with him.

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I think also that Gena Showalter

writes amazing alpha heroes.

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And JAse is just a true alpha.

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But as much as we've talked about the hero

up to now, we also have the heroine who

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totally just kicks ass and takes names.

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And I absolutely adored her.

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She has a sister that's a little

bit harder to deal with and she's

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had to go through some stuff.

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Her sister's definitely more interested

in having a good time and partying

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then helping her pay the bills.

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So all of that responsibility

of even putting her dreams on

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hold has fallen on our heroine.

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But she was the perfect mix of fun.

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Sassy.

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Strong independent and

just not a wilting flower.

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So I hope you try out this series.

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If you've read Gena Showalter definitely

give it a try and if you haven't yet,

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then maybe start here and then move on

to all her amazing paranormal romances.

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And the last book that I'm going

to be recommending here today.

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Even though it's not the last book that I

have on my list of Southern romance books,

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because we have a ton more on the blog.

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So I'm going to leave a link to

our blog post, where there's even

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more of these amazing Southern

romance book recommendations.

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I'm going to leave that linked

in the show notes down below,

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but let's get to the final one.

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And it is another series that

we do have a series guide.

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So you can go and check it out.

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It is only three books, it's a trilogy.

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It's complete.

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You can binge read them.

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And this is actually

my top recommendation.

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You're into more of the soap, opera vibe.

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And rich people problems.

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And that is the bourbon Kings by Jr.

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Ward.

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It is set in Kentucky.

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And it has all the glitz and

glamor and riches of a basically

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bourbon, royalty family.

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The three books are interconnected, but

they each have an HEA at the end of them.

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However you do need to read them.

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In order, because there is

also a kind of a murder mystery

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woven throughout the series.

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So you're going to miss a lot of

information if you don't go in order but,

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like I said, if you want over the top

drama, especially when it comes to rich

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people, then definitely this is going to

capture exactly that southern charm vibe.

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If you haven't read J.R.

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Ward's contemporaries before,

they're definitely different

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than her paranormal romances.

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And we do have a whole video

where we kind of talked about

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where to start reading J.R.

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Ward.

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What's the differences between her books.

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So I'm going to leave that link up here

and also in the show notes down below.

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And we've updated that a little bit

more, not on a video, but on the blog.

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So if you also want to

get started reading J.R.

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Ward and her massive backlist.

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Definitely go to our

beginner's guide to reading Jr.

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Ward post.

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Where I kind of talk about also

all of her contemporary romances.

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So don't go into this book expecting

BDB and more expecting dynasty.

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So there you have it.

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Those are the books that I really

think you should be checking out.

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If you want to add something different

to your summer reading, especially if

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you want a little bit of Southern charm.

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And also definitely let me know if

these recommendations leave you saying

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Lord have mercy or bless her heart.

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Now, if you didn't know that

Southern romance books was actually

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even a thing, maybe consider

downloading our book tropes list.

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It's completely free and we do have over

400 book tropes across romance, thrillers,

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and fantasy so that you can actually

have a list of material that maybe sparks

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your mood and it gives you some search

ideas to find your next favorite read.

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Simply go to booktropeslist.com

to download that.

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And also don't forget that you

can still download our summer

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insider with recommendations

for books to read this summer.

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Some are backlist titles, some

are book and drink pairings.

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You also get a bookish inspired

cocktail recipe recommendations for

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books that have come out in June and

July and will come out in August.

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And another book trope that you

should be reading this summer.

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You can download that at,

underthecoversinsider.Com.

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As always, you can find all

our recommendations on the blog

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at, underthecoversbookblog.com.

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Make sure that you

subscribe to our newsletter.

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So you don't miss any content.

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We'll be in your inbox

every single Sunday.

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Follow us on social media at

utcbookblog on Instagram Tik TOK.

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Twitter X and Pinterest.

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And under the covers book

blog on Facebook and YouTube.

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And tune in every Thursday at 7:00 PM.

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Eastern standard time to our

novel nights bookish live show.

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Thanks so much for tuning in guys, and

we'll see you again in the next one.

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Bye.

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