Just Like Heaven audiobook

5 stars – Historical/Regency Romance Warning: May cause fits of giggles resulting in inquisitive stares if in public, an irrepressible smile to stay on your face, and cavities from too much sweetness. This is such a cute, fun, charming, witty, feel-good read, and it was the perfect cure for my stressful, crummy week. It made me erupt with laughter several times, smile broadly throughout, and sigh in sheer delight at the romantic, sweet ending. The Bridgertons hold a special place among my historical romance favorites, and the Smythe-Smiths promise to be another entertaining family with comical and romantic antics galore. Just Like Heaven is a heartwarming addition to my Julia Quinn keeper shelf. 5 sweet, heavenly stars!

Lisa told me to read this, so of course I dropped everything and read this! This is a spin-off of the Bridgerton series and I FREAKED when Gregory and Colin made appearances! The Smythe-Smith performances were hilarious in the Bridgerton books, so I was excited to meet that family. Honoria and Marcus have known each other since they were young because Marcus was best friends with her older brother. He was always kind to Honoria and now he's around a lot after Daniel, her brother, runs out of the country after participating in a duel. The premise of this book is that Marcus falls ill and Honoria nurses him back to health and they slowly fall for each other. I loved their friendship and their dancing around each other. The nursing-back-to-health trope was so fun and I loved how Honoria saw Marcus in an intimate environment that she normally wouldn't be able to. Marcus is such a sweetheart and it was so freaking cute when he confessed his feelings for her! I smiled so much throughout this book and already can't wait to pick up the next book!

★★★★½ This book is a delight! Ms. Quinn has managed to take an amusing inside joke from her Bridgertons series, change it into a charming anecdote, then transform it into an enchanting love story, plus make it the start of a developing series. Wow!After eighteen years, no one attended a Smythe-Smith musical without some inkling of the horrors that lay ahead.Sure, it is a light, fast, fun read. However, the illness Marcus Holroyd, Earl of Chatteris, contracts is no laughing matter. Honoria Smythe-Smith dithers a bit too much for me before she discovers his problem. Not fair? True. Due to my experience as an ICU nurse who has dealt with patients who don’t survive this, I knew what was developing and time is of the essence; for despite today’s technology, intravenous fluids resuscitation, and antibiotics, this is one of the hardest things to cure. (Did you notice JQ’s dedication to Paul – it is always Paul, BTW – where he told her, “He has to die.”) The following spoiler contains IMHO medical ramblings: (view spoiler)[Not that I didn’t believe Marcus could survive; he could. It is just would have been a miracle rarity in that day and age. But, how Honoria and her mother go about saving him would work. So that met with my approval; though, if I had time-traveled to back then to help (**sigh**), I would have put a bandage on his leg and irrigated the wound a few more times. (hide spoiler)] stolen treacle tart But, back to the 1820’s and stolen treacle tarts. I loved Marcus. He’d spent his life being a perfect gentleman. He’d never been a flirt. He’d never been a rogue. He hated being the center of attention, but by God, he wanted to be the center of her attention. He wanted to do the wrong thing, the bad thing. He wanted to pull her into his arms and carry her to her bed. And I loved Marcus and Honoria’s sweet love story of childhood friends turned to lovers. It is a book that just keeps getting better and better with each turn of the page. I found myself laughing over delicious dialogue, and sighing over the discovery of tender feelings.A good read. I can't wait for the next in the series. ["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>

I'm late to the Julia Quinn bandwagon.... this was my first time reading her and this book was just perfect and everything I wanted! I love brothers best friend trope and it had a lot of forced proximity. This was very sweet and heartwarming and I loved every moment from start to finish! This had me smiling and laughing while reading and I'm very excited to pick up more of this series and more of JQ!

4.5 stars

A reread from my earlier high school days. I cried so much. Marcus is my favourite Julia quinn hero.

Pero qué historia tan tierna, por favor 💜. El título sin duda le viene como anillo al dedo, es absolutamente adorable.Marcus es el mejor amigo del hermano de Honoria, que tuvo que huir del país y le encargó a su amigo velar porque su hermana no acabara con un marido indeseable. Aunque de niños la diferencia de edad creaba una brecha importante, ahora que ambos son adultos, su relación empieza a cambiar… De verdad que me ha parecido una historia muy bonita y he adorado a este par.Como siempre, hace uso de los típicos clichés, como el de el mejor amigo del hermano y luego el de que uno de los dos se ponga enfermo y el otro se desviva por cuidarlo, que me encanta. Y aunque la historia puede ser predecible en esos términos, los diálogos ingeniosos y chispeantes y la ternura que le despiertan a una los personajes consiguen mantenerte enganchada al libro como si no hubiera un mañana.La aparición estelar de Lady Danbury y un par de los hermanos Bridgerton también me ha encantado, y es que como fan adoro esos cruces entre las sagas de Julia. De hecho, mi primer contacto con la velada musical Smythe-Smith fue en los Bridgerton, y me ha encantado ver la perspectiva de una de esas chicas con nulo talento musical que se ve obligada a tocar en público año tras año. La lealtad y el amor que siente hacia su familia me han gustado muchísimo, como todo en el personaje de Honoria, la verdad.Sin duda ha estado más que a la altura de lo que esperaba, y la prueba de ello es que esta segunda vez solo lo iba a leer "en diagonal" porque ya me lo leí a principios de año en la edición antigua, y al final no he podido evitar leérmelo de pe a pa, ¡hasta la última palabra!

Adorable es quedarse corto 😍

“Yum! Who would have thought that sweet tarts and chocolates can make love so heavenly!” I have been reading so many historical romance novels that I must have read almost every one, mainly works from Lisa Kleypas, Teresa Medeiros and Jennifer Ashley. But, this is the first novel I have read from Julia Quinn and it is called “Just Like Heaven.” Actually, “Just Like Heaven” is Julia Quinn’s most recent book to date, so I had the pleasure of reading one of Julia Quinn’s books. The story starts off with Honoria Smythe-Smith meeting up with her childhood friend Marcus Holroyd, who is the Earl of Chatteris and the two of them just claim that they are only friends. However, when a terrible tragedy strikes Marcus, when his leg is affected in an accident and he is struck by a terrible fever, both Marcus and Honoria will soon discover their true feelings for each other!I have read many historical romance novels where the hero and the heroine had an attraction for each other throughout the book. However, this is the first romance novel I have read where the hero and heroine start off as good friends and slowly start to realize their feelings for each other, which was quite unusual for me. Julia Quinn has done a great job at writing this story as the story is extremely cute and playful. I loved the way that Julia Quinn set up the conversations between the characters, especially between Honoria and her cousins as the dialogue that goes on between them is hilarious and comforting, as you can feel the close relationship that these cousins share with each other. I also loved the dialogue that Julia Quinn sets up between Marcus and Honoria as they always have friendly and spirited conversations between them that always make me smile every time I read them! It was also really cute seeing Marcus Holroyd go head over heels for Honoria Smythe-Smith as he clearly cannot understand these “lovely” feelings he keep having and yet, he cannot stay away from Honoria. The story about Marcus’s life as a child was heartwarming and sad as he had a lonely life as a child since he did not have a loving family like the Smythe-Smiths did. However, when he became like a little brother to the Smythe-Smith family, my heart just filled with joy at seeing Marcus being happy with this family! I also liked Honoria Smythe-Smith as she is so kind hearted and understanding towards Marcus’s situation and the scene where Honoria was trying to help Marcus heal from his injury was probably the most emotional and wonderful scene in the entire book since it showed how much Honoria truly cares for Marcus.Notice that I have not mention much of a romance blossoming between Marcus and Honoria because this novel spends too much time with Marcus and Honoria trying to sort out their feelings for each other. That is not to say that this is a bad thing because I really did enjoy the friendly conversations that Marcus and Honoria had with each other, but as a fan of romance novels, it felt like there was not enough romance, fire and passion between the two of them to make me really believe that their love for each other is real. Marcus and Honoria’s love for each other does not really show up until towards the end of the book and it felt like their relationship with each other was being forced towards the end instead of letting it naturally run along throughout the book. Also, there were many slow moments throughout this book that I was finding it hard to keep up with the story because there were scenes that dragged on for too long before they got to the exciting part of the story. Overall, “Just Like Heaven” is a really cute story for romance fans who love stories where the hero and heroine start out as friends and then become lovers. Also, this novel is great for readers who are uncomfortable with sex scenes since this novel does not contain too many sex scenes. Now that I am interested in Julia Quinn’s books, I think I will check out her “Bridgerton” series!Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

#retorita4 #RitaJulia4 Estrellas. Es la primera vez que participo en el #retorita4 y me alegro de haberlo estrenado por todo lo alto con un libro de Julia Quinn. Le tenía un poco de miedo a la serie de las Smythe-Smith porque las críticas no eran muy buenas, pero en el caso de ésta primera novela me alegro de no haber esperado gran cosa porque me ha hecho disfrutar mucho de la misma.Para quienes llevamos unos años leyendo a Julia Quinn, sabemos que las Smythe-Smith son unas damitas de la nobleza que todos los años durante la Temporada dan un recital de música, a la vez atroz y horroroso. No sé por qué, pensaba que eran todas hermanas, y aquí me encuentro con que no lo es necesariamente, si no que son una familia muy extensa en la que tocan en el cuarteto tanto hermanas como primas. La condición es que sean presentadas en sociedad y solteras, en el momento en que una Smythe-Smith se casa, otra debe suplirla en el cuarteto familiar; la pena es que por mucho que lo intenten, las pobres son horrorosas tocando y toda la alta sociedad lo sabe.Una vez tenemos esto, vamos a la historia. Nuestro protagonista, Marcus Holroyd, conde de Chatteris, fue un niño solitario hasta que conoció a Daniel Smythe-Smith en el colegio y se hicieron los mejores amigos. Marcus pasó muchos veranos y vacaciones en casa de los Smythe-Smith, y allá donde iban los perseguía un petardo de niña, Honoria, la menor de la familia. Siendo sinceros, Marcus y Honoria siempre se trataron como hermanos, y éste era tan fastidioso con ella como su propio hermano, así que en ningún momento podrían plantearse enamorarse.Pasados uno años, ocurrió algo que alejó a Daniel Smythe-Smith de Inglaterra, un infame duelo, por lo que éste tuvo que huir bajo pena de que lo colgaran, por todos es sabido que los duelos estaban prohibidos. Pero antes de su partida, Daniel le hizo prometer a Marcus que éste mantendría alejados a los posible pretendientes de Honoria que no considerase adecuados. Y sí ha sido durante los tres años en que Honoria ha estado en el mercado matrimonial.Ahora Honoria tiene veintiún años y quiere casarse, no por el hecho de querer casarse, si no por varios motivos, hace varios años que fue presentada y aunque tuvo pretendientes, nunca se enamoró de ninguno, por un motivo u otro estos acababan huyendo. Por desgracia los años están pasando y teme quedarse para vestir santos, pero el principal motivo es para salir del cuarteto musical familiar, sus primas Sarah, Iris y Daisy son sus mejores amigas y las quiere de verdad, pero sabe, al igual que toda la alta sociedad, que son horrorosas tocando y por mucho que practiquen nunca serán buenas. Honoria está harta de hacer el ridículo tras varios años y ésta primavera sí o sí, necesita un pretendiente.Todo comienza cuando las primas Smythe-Smith están pasando unos día en la casa de campo de otra de sus primas, Cecily, en Cambridgeshire. Casualidad es que Marcus, el amigo de su hermano es el vecino más próximo y están destinados a encontrarse más de lo que querrían. No es que Honoria y Marcus se odien, al revés, sí se consideran amigos, pero casi hermanos. Lo que hace que ambos se den cuenta de que se quieren más de lo tolerable es un accidente que tiene Marcus por culpa de Honoria, y ésta sin tener ni idea de cómo cuidar a un enfermo se erija en su enfermera.Si soy sincera, el libro no es que haya sido gran cosa, cuando quiere Julia Quinn tiene auténticos pestiñazos. Lo que es cierto, es que la autora maneja como nadie un estilo tan fluido y divertido, contado con tanta gracia, que prácticamente es única. En éste libro he reído más de lo que pensaba y me ha hecho pasar unas buenas horas.El romance no es lo de más, pero sí ha estado bonito. Me gustan mucho los romances donde ellos se conocen desde niños y cuando se hacen adultos se enamoran. Realmente no ha habido conflictos sobresalientes durante la novela, si no que ha sido más bien pausada.En general he quedado muy satisfecha con éste inicio de serie, y aunque seré prudente acabaré leyendo las historias de las otras primas. En principio creo que me huelo que la siguiente historia será la de Daniel, quizás con la institutriz de las primas, pues no creo que Daniel, como un Smythe-Smith acabe con una de las primas, la guapa institutriz me llama mucho más, y aunque nadie la conoce, a todos les suena de algo ¿Quién será?

Every girl loves a brooding bad boy! Marcus, the hero in this book, is a little Mr. Darcyish with his standoffish behavior and withering stares. But, then our heroine realizes that he is just shy and socially awkward. (see? Mr. Darcy) Imagine Mr. Darcy with a sense of humor. I love the dry sarcastic wit in these books.Aside from the romance is the extremely funny Smythe-Smith musicale jokes. From the Bridgerton series, these shows are already legendary, and it is super fun to read about them from the participants point of view. I love that Honoria knows that they suck, and yet finds it amusing, along with caring about the tradition. I would be among those mortified to be forced to play in them. Honoria is just a good sport about the whole thing!It was also very nice to have some of the characters from the Bridgerton series show up. Colin is a favorite of mine, of course, and he has a small part in this book, along with Gregory.The only thing that struck me odd was that there were a couple of sayings that are modern terms, such as "it is what it is" and "manse". They made me go, "huh?"

4.5 STARS She smiled as the warmth of his words slid through her like a kiss. “I was just thinking that this is just like heaven.” He was silent for a moment, and then, so softly she wasn’t sure she heard him correctly, he whispered, “Heaven couldn’t possibly compare.” This was delightful. I really can't think of anything bad to say about it. I adored both of these characters. And it was just so sweetly romantic. I have read better books by JQ, so I did leave off half a star. It was not a tumultuous or terribly emotional story, but it definitely had all the romantic elements that warm the heart. Looking forward to the rest of the series Loved the little cameos by Colin B, and Lady D. ;)