Review of ‘Ready for love’ by Catherine Maiorisi

I thought this was an okay read. I really like Maiorisi’s ‘Chiara Corelli Mystery’ series. The first book was good, the second was great, and now I can’t wait for the next. I think Maiorisi really shines at mysteries but I can’t seem to connect with her romances at the same level. There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed but I struggled with others. In total, I would say this was an average lesbian romantic read.

The story is about Renee who just had to watch the love of her life marry another woman. Renee realizes it’s time to get her life together and hopeful to finally move on from her broken heart. When Renee sees Constance for the first time since graduate school, Renee realizes this may be the universe giving her a sign. Can the two of them stand a chance to be together or will all their old baggage permanently come between them?

This book is technically a sequel to Maiorisi’s debut book ‘Matters of the Heart’. I have not read ‘Matters…’ before so I didn’t realize this book was connected. Had I known I probably would have read it first. While it did take me a little bit to understand the group of friends and their dynamic, Maiorisi gave enough background info that I had no problems catching up. My point, you can read this without reading ‘Matters…’ first.

I had some issues with the beginning of this book. It’s about a bunch of rich friends that call themselves the “Inner Circle” *gag*. I was worried about how pretentious this had the chance of being and it was a bit at times. Luckily, once the book shifted to being more about the romance between the two mains, I started to enjoy the book more.

The romance is pretty slow burn and I enjoyed it for the most part. Parts felt a little sappy at times, others a bit overdramatic. I did not like the forced angst at the end. There was enough angst in the book already that it wasn’t needed and the reason for the angst was pretty lame. It made the ending overly mushy but hey some mush is good for us. There were times I felt a little emotional, the book got to me which is always a plus in my mind, but there were other times I felt the book dragged and was a bit repetitive. I guess I can say that I had quite the ups and downs with this story so I have to grade it right down the middle at average/okay.

If you are a fan of Maiorisi’s book Matters of the Heart, I think you might enjoy reconnecting with some of those characters again. If you are new to Maiorisi I would recommend her ‘Chiara Corelli Mystery’ series over this. They are completely different and almost impossible to compare to this book, but they are really good reads. 3 stars.

An ARC was given to me for an honest review.