A TRUE grumpy/sunshine!! I have such a soft spot for Marines (I’m married to one), so Liam stole my heart right away even though he was super grumpy. I think Tessa’s cheerfulness would even get under my skin sometimes, so I related to Liam in that way! His willingness to go way outside of his comfort level for Tessa is what truly sold me on him!

3.5 stars
This is one of those stories that touches a part of your heart. Liam and Tessa are interesting characters who are affected by their pasts and grow through the course of the story. They are relatable, as is the story. I enjoyed the romance and the various family relationships.

This is a story that explores various emotional aspects of relationships. It also tackles grief. For those of you reading this, who are experiencing your own grief journey (as someone who is on theirs) I such that you read this story when you are in a good emotional place, as it will pull at those ever-present emotions.

I listened to this book on audio and enjoyed it. The narrator is good and easy to understand regardless of the speed at which I listened.

Trigger Warner: this story deals with grief.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tempt Me is the perfect Christmas romance!
There's a Grinch hero and a Christmas loving heroine that steals your heart from the first moment you meet them. Tessa and Liam are complete opposites but they find common ground and begin to fall for one another.
What ensues is a fun, romantic, holiday cheer tale that melts your heart.
The audiobook for this is just as delightful. I really felt like the characters came to life.

LOVE this book! Liam is back from the Marines and decided to settle back in his home town but he is having a hard time getting back in the groove. He has bought a house but his next door neighbor is perky and decorates for the holidays to the extreme. Add to that, she is the woman he met at the wedding he attended and was a groomsman and they didn't hit it off. Tessa is still recovering from the death of her husband three years ago and even though she has a sunny disposition to the point of if there is a song in her head she will start singing it, she cannot understand how Mr. Grumpy next door is that way. These two are perfection! What starts off as Liam trying to coax Tessa back into the land of the living and dating turns into sex and more sex but somewhere along the way both develop feelings and then break up. Try to keep up because it takes the Donovan family to pull Liam out of his funk and Tessa's mother-in-law to talk some sense into her. Will they find their way back together. I truly love this family and cannot wait to see who is going to fall next!

The cold shoulder has addiction written all over it. Liam and Tessa turn emotions inside out. With an ironic sense of humor and a depth of emotion that washes over the soul, Tempt Me turns spicy attraction into heartwarming romance.

4.25⭐

This is book 2 in The Donovans series ~ not sure why it says book 3 on GR. Yes a standalone, but more enjoyable if you've already met the crazy Donovan clan in Dare Me.

Featuring ~ dual 3rd person POV, grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract, neighbors to lovers, veteran, teacher, small town, closed door romance, no steamage

Liam & Tessa
Liam spent over a decade in the military and has just purchased his first house next door to the overly cheery Tessa. They don't have anything in common, but become friends with benefits. It's not long before they catch feelings, but could they really make something work when they are so opposite?

Liam is the oldest with 4 siblings and is used to be in control with a 'my way or the highway' attitude. I'm not too sure I liked Tessa's past relationship or how Liam puts his nose in it, but all works out like we knew it would.
Tessa was both outgoing and somewhat shy. She really pulled the grump right out of Liam and turned him into a sweet fella. Oh man with his grand gesture ~ I wish I could've seen the YouTube video for that.

Overall, a delightful read. I'm looking forward to the next book following Ryleigh, I just hope her mom isn't as hard on her as she was in this one.

I was lucky enough to also receive an audio copy. It was narrated by Carly Robins for 7 hours and 38 minutes, easy to follow at 2x. She did a great job, but I do wish there was a male narrator for Liam's parts.

I usually enjoy Samantha Chase's books, but this series is not for me. This book was a DNF at 30%. The narrator did a nice job, but the whole thing was too syrupy sweet for my tastes. I couldn't connect with the characters.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Grumpy/Sunshine

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape media for the opportunity to listen to and review this book.

Liam is GRUMPY. He is former military and just moved back home, he wants to get to know his family again and become part of their every day lives since he has been gone so long and missed so much.

Tessa is HAPPY. She is the schools music teacher and full of light, love, happiness and ALL the holiday cheer. She is also grieving the loss of her best friend/husband.

When Liam and Tessa meet at a mutual friends wedding they do not hit it off, they do not get along and he is not very nice. As he is moving into his new house he discovers that the neighbor with the OVER THE TOP Halloween decorations is...you guessed it, Tessa. He is not happy and neither is she but she decides to be the good neighbor and welcome him like he isn't a grumpy jerk. It's so cute because Liam knows he is being an ass but he just can't seem to stop. Once he finds out that Tessa is a widow and decides she is having trouble moving on he offers to help her come out of her shell. He offers her sex...he offers to help her get back into the dating world by having sex with her. Do I have to tell you where this leads? FEELINGS, of course.

The narrator, Carly Robins, does an amazing job and I will seek out other books read by her. Samantha Chase has writing a friggin' amazing grumpy/sunshine book and I think I could reread it over and over and still enjoy myself.

Thank you netgalley dreamscape media and author for the alc in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this enemies fake dating book. It felt a tad bit repetitive and i thought it would be a bit more spicy. Great sweet holiday read.

If you are a fan of very predictable, simple, “Hallmark Channel” type Christmas novels, you may enjoy this! Unfortunately for me it missed the mark. The characters were pretty one-dimensional, their respective grumpy/sunshine personalities being their only real personality traits. We zoom from Halloween to Christmas and I don’t feel like the two of them really do anything together without arguing, even to the very end. I was also really bothered by the family matriarch continually commenting on her daughters weight/ordering for her, and connecting that to the fact that she’ll never get married…I am just not a fan of this type of behavior in books, especially when that character is meant to come across as very likable otherwise. Perhaps this is a it’s not the book, it’s me problem. The narrator did a good job, but I will say the pace of speaking was quite slow. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

Oh, my! I loved the audiobook of the first story of this series which belonged to Arianna and Will, and this one is just as good.
The story of former Marine Liam Donovan and elementary school teacher Tessa Sullivan, is at times heartbreaking, at others funny as well as heartwarming and adorable.
Liam, the oldest Donovan sibling, has always been the serious one who also kept his heart shut. Tessa is always happy and a ray of sunshine. But below that facade is a woman who has also had great losses.
Though apparently opposites, these two develop a relationship. But their past becomes an obstacle.
Can Liam overcome his hang ups? Can Tessa let go of the past?
Another wonderful addition to this delightful and touching series.
I was entrusted a copy of this audiobook by Netgalley and Dreamscape Media.
The opinions expressed are solely my own.

I adore Samantha Chase romances - they're just the most swoon-worthy out there! I had meant to read the first book in the Donovan's series before picking up Tempt Me (Dare Me), but time got away from me and so I read the second book, Tempt Me, first. I don't think, or at least I couldn't tell, that I missed anything. It definitely read like it was a standalone, except for a couple mentions of a sibling being paired up. I will go back soon and read the other! I hate missing any of her books because they're all so good! One day soon I'll have read her entire catalogue.

This was one of the best neighbour romances I've come across in a long time - enemies to lovers, since they had the misfortune of meeting each other a few months before he moved in, and she didn't realize until she knocked on his door with a welcome basket just who had moved next door... her unfortunate new neighbour was the awful, broody guy she never wanted to see again.

Poor Tessa had been paired up with Liam in a wedding party about 6 months earlier, when he'd been substituted last-minute. She's always been sunshine, and he's the epitome of grump, now that he's back from overseas and the Marines. Tessa tries to see the bright side of life, after losing her best friend since school, who she had married because it was on his bucket list - a bucket list she helped him live out while he was dying from a brain tumor. She has had a hard time moving on in the few years since he had passed away, including having daily chats with him and a shrine in her house to his memory. Liam can't understand the sunshine attitude, the over-decorating for every holiday, and the shrine to the late husband who was only a friend. He's starting to catch feelings for the neighbour he can't understand, which he also can't understand, and it's driving him crazy. He might even want to sing!

Audio note - narrated by CJ Bloom! One of my very favourite ladies around. How could you go wrong? She's brilliant! Did a spectacular job, as always! 5-stars for CJ! The only thing I could perhaps suggest was because the book was told from both points of view, would be perhaps to get the dual narration - but CJ is so good, it didn't really make a difference that she did the whole book. I love her voice!

I absolutely, 100% recommend this book, especially the audio version, to everybody - if you haven't read anything from Samantha Chase before, this would be a perfect one to start with, and you'll become as hooked on her writing as I am!

I received an advance listen copy from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, and this is my honest feedback.

Cute but not memorable and the fat shaming from the mother that was supposed to be the sweet matriarch was jarring and enraging

Samantha wrote another great story. I have been loving this new series and couldn’t wait for Liam’s book. I love his love for his family. Tessa is great too. Now cannot wait for the remaining siblings to settle down.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of Tenor Me by Samantha Chase. This is a new to me author that I regret I never read. What an awesome romance!! I'm going to binge the other books.

This was a really fun holiday read. I enjoyed my time getting to know these characters, and thought that the problems they had were strong. Was the brother a bit of a drama lama? Yes. But overall I had no issue with the world, the characters, or the plot. It put me in the holiday mood,