Searching For Series by Jennifer Probst | Audiobook Review

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It’s pretty obvious that I have been hooked to Contemporary Romance for the last month. I blame Sophie Jordan for this! Not, that I am super mad or anything but I am feeling the LOVE!

To be honest, I haven’t been reading a lot of contemporaries. The first ones I read were a few chick lits and some thriller/romantic suspense (that was more on the romance side), and of course contemporary erotic romances. But honestly, I wasn’t really hooked. Well, until NOW!

I honestly am NOT looking back! And yes, I have read quite a few contemporaries since I finished reading this series!

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Don’t want to read the whole review?  Click to jump to the Skinny Review.

Searching for Someday is the first book in the series BUT it is actually the second book that I read! This is the story of a matchmaker and a divorce lawyer. I mean WOAH! That is an awesome pair, right?

Divorce lawyer, Slade Montgomery, is furious that his sister signed up for a matchmaking service. He is hell-bent on proving that Kinnections is a scam, but when he meets Kate, he decides to sign up for the service in the hopes of finding the dirt. Soon, he realizes that he is falling for his matchmaker.

Kate and Slade’s story really touched a cynical part of my heart and made me fall in love! The surprising thing about Searching for Someday is that Kate has “the touch” and can feel a surge of electricity when two people are meant to be together. She hasn’t felt it for herself, UNTIL Slade. YES! Sparks literally fly between these two!  And HELL YEAH, Slade is an ALPHA! I absolutely love alpha males and he is one guy who does talk dirty. Ahem*

The epilogue really made me cry, though. Only because it was written in Robert’s POV. I know it was a bit corny BUT I LOVE DOGS and Robert is paraplegic so…

Recommendations

Overall, Searching for Someday is a cutesy hot rom-com that is the perfect summer read! This should be a quick read as well, which makes the whole series easy to binge on.

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Don’t want to read the whole review?  Click to jump to the Skinny Review.

I followed up my binge with the second book of the series, Searching for Perfect, which I loved, but not as much. It features a rocket scientist and a matchmaker – Kate’s best friend, Kennedy. She does all the make-overs in Kinnections and when she sets eyes on Nathan Dunkle, she decides to take him under her wing. I mean, this guy lacks all social graces, especially in talking to women. AND he is in search of a wife.

This story does remind me a lot of She’s All That, minus the high school bullies. Anyway, Kennedy really rubbed me the wrong way, though. And even if she turned into someone really sweet, I felt bad for Nate. But I honestly can’t see guys devour Cosmo or Playgirl or girly magazines. I also felt that it was a bit too unbelievable for Beta Ned to suddenly be an Alpha.

The touching thing about this romance though is Kennedy’s backstory. And there is a little bit of a trigger warning her because of the flashbacks.

Recommendations

Similar to Searching for Someday, this is another sweet hot rom-com with a beta/alpha male. Also, we get a glimpse of WOLF! (OMG I AM SUPER IN LOVE WITH WOLF!) This is another quick summer read.

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Don’t want to read the whole review?  Click to jump to the Skinny Review.

I honestly don’t know what made me READ Searching for Beautiful. HONESTLY. I can’t even remember when I marked this as to read and reserved it from the library. I just thought that the blurb was very interesting. AND I WAS RIGHT!

Searching for Beautiful was hard to listen in so many ways. But first, let’s talk about the plot. Genevieve is a runaway bride. And who helps her escape on her wedding day? Why her hot underwear model turn hotel CEO best guy friend, Wolf! I am such a sucker for the best friend turn lover trope, so I gobbled up this story like candy! The hardest things to listen to in this book is because there are a lot of trigger warnings: abuse and rape. As with

The hardest things to listen is the abuse and rape. As with the majority of Jennifer Probst’s books that I’ve read, there are a lot of trigger warnings: mental and physical abuse, and rape. [spoiler]Genevieve is mentally abused by her surgeon (who is also her boss) ex-fiance and Wolf was physically and sexually abused by his druggie mother’s boyfriends.[/spoiler] Wolf’s backstory is really hard to listen to.

What I didn’t like about this is that one of the abusers, [spoiler]Genevieve’s ex-fiance[/spoiler] didn’t get punished for his wrongdoing. There was some obvious abuse going on, not just in private BUT ALSO in the workplace. AND THE WORKPLACE IS A HOSPITAL! I MEAN! COME ON! I don’t understand why the hospital would NOT do a thorough investigation of the alleged abuse. EVEN if there were reports to HR. Doesn’t HR investigate allegations of mental instability, not just believe the accuser’s story?! And not just work – BUT THE FAMILY?!

Recommendations

I definitely recommend Searching for Beautiful. It is a heart-wrenching story of love and romance and family. Especially family.

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Don’t want to read the whole review?  Click to jump to the Skinny Review.

Searching for Always is the last book in the series (well, not counting the novellas) and it’s about Arilyn and Officer Stone Petty (who we met in Searching for Beautiful). Arilyn is into yoga and does anger counseling on the side – where she teaches Stone how to control his anger. This story features the hate at first sight trope that I absolutely love. There is also some awesome banter here, and the chemistry is just mind-boggling.

I love the two side characters here, Arilyn’s grandfather and Mrs. Blackfire, the nosy next door neighbor. Also Robert and Pinky (the rescued Chihuahua). Trigger warning here, there is abuse (human and animal), but not as much as Searching for Beautiful.

Recommendations

This is another quick hot rom-com read that is perfect for the summer.

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Series Review

 

I honestly enjoyed the whole series. There is a little bit of whimsical feel to all four stories because of the Book of Spells where all four ladies prayed to Earth Mother so they can find their soul mates. I thought that was a very nice touch.  I also love that all four females were very strong and capable women.

I also love the focus on family. We meet almost EVERYONE’S family here, especially the MacKenzie’s who are also featured in the Marrying a Billionaire series.

The only complaint I have is that after I binge read all 4 books (in less than 2 weeks, too!), I felt that the plots were very, very similar. It almost felt like each character had an abusive backstory that, although significant, I felt that it was used too much as the root-cause of all the romantic conflict.

What do you think about abuse used as a plot point of a story? Do you think it is used conveniently to create conflict?

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