Synopsis

Miguel is a confirmed bachelor but decides to marry the surrogate of his brother’s children so that he can take them to Chile. His mom is extremely sick and he thinks that she needs grandbabies to give her the will to live.

Sheri was planning to give her twin babies to her best friend since she was the surrogate. When an unfortunate accident claims their lives, Sheri raises the children as her own. No one is going to take them away from her. Not even their wealthy, handsome uncle. She cannot let him find out her secret; otherwise he will have the leverage he needs to potentially win custody.

Opinion

This book is all about misunderstandings. There was one major misunderstanding from the beginning that affects the way that Miguel treats Sheri. She reacts to his treatment in a way that would logically be expected.

Sheri had no illusions of romance in the beginning. In fact, Miguel strong armed her into marriage but then tried to dress up the proposal by saying:

“Just so you know I find you very attractive.
I’ll be the best husband I know how to be if you’ll be upfront with me about your wants and needs.”

All he wanted was honesty. Sheri has a secret. She did not lie per se, but she was feeling guilty for withholding all the facts.

Considering how he was acting, I can understand why she was worried about coming clean. In a similar situation, I probably would have kept the secret too.

Should you buy? This is a cute romance. As the elements of the conflict are revealed, you see how both the hero and heroine draw to some erroneous conclusions.

Book Details
Print Length: 199 pages
Publisher: Sarna Publishing; 1 edition (November 16, 2013)
Publication Date: November 16, 2013
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Tempted by her Innocent Kiss by #MayaBanks #pregnancyromance

Apr10

Tempted by her innocent kiss

Synopsis

Ashley’s dad has picked Devon to take over his company and marry Ashley.

Only Ashley does not know she is part of the “package”. She finds out the horrible truth on the first night of their honeymoon.

Wedded bliss turns into marriage hell.

Opinion

Ever since the first book in this series, Devon has been wining and dining Ashley and I knew of her from his point of view. He made her sound immature and flighty. The reality was that she had exuberance for life and appreciated showing love to others.

On the other hand, the more I read about Devon the more I thought he was a materialistic jerk whose sanity was on borrowed time.

Every phone call from Ashley saying “I love you” made me cringe because I know when the truth came out…it would not be pretty. He was trying to maintain the pretense but he would have ended up with ulcers eventually from the overwhelming guilt.

I thoroughly enjoyed her speech after her A-HA moment.

Take that Devon!

I still cannot decide how I feel about the ending.

I think she let him off too easily. I’m more of an on-your-knees-grovel-some-more type of girl.

Should you buy? There was some realistic drama even though it was predictable. Out of the books from this series that I have read, I think this is the one I liked the least. I did not like Devon and I thought Ashley was too sweet for him.

Plus, her dad threw her under the bus because he loved her so much? It all works out in the end, but still.

With family like that, who needs enemies?

Book details from Amazon
Print Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases (February 10, 2014)
Publication Date: February 10, 2014
Sold by: Harlequin Digital Sales Corp.

Available on Amazon

The Baddest Virgin in Texas #cowboyromance

Mar30

Synopsis

Jessi is the youngest sibling and only girl in the Brand Family. With sights set on ranch hand Lash, she is determined to make him love her.

Lash grew up in a foster home and was determined to be a loner when he grew up. When Jessi starts making eyes at him, he sees it as a bad idea for them to get involved. Never mind the additional fact that she a host of overprotective brothers.

Opinion

This romance should come with a disclaimer, “Do not try this at home.”

The title is misleading too. It should be “The Most Naive, Foolhardy Virgin in Texas“.

The story was okay enough as stories go with predictable villains. A part of me could not get over how many times Jessi said that she was going to her man since she set her sights on him. She was going to convince him that he loved her. That sounded kind of bratty to me. Plus, the first guy she did not know her whole life is the one she picks to fall in love with. I do not think her standards were too high.

Lash was an emotionally mess from childhood foster home hell. Anything resembling family scared him because his memories were not pleasant.

Overall, Jessi is very spoiled and Lash was an extreme commitment phobe. How the two of them end up together was romantic but unrealistic.

Should you buy? If you like cowboy romances, this will entertain you.

Book Details
Print Length: 235 pages
Publisher: Thunderfoot (August 6, 2014)
Publication Date: August 6, 2014
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Solstice Burn by Kym Grosso #instaromance #RomanceNovella

Mar25

Solstice Burn by Kym Grosso

Synopsis

Penny is on vacation in a tropical location after breaking up with her cheating boyfriend. Chase rescues Penny when she gets a little claustrophobic while snorkeling. There is attraction, but they both know it cannot continue when they return home. He lives in San Diego and she lives in New York.

So what else is left to do?

Enjoy vacation and act out every fantasy.

Opinion

This is a typical vacation fling romance. Penny is done being safe and is throwing caution the wind by having a sleeping with a stranger on the first date (well little sleeping was actually done).

Chase is a thrill seeker trying to push Penny past her limits, supposedly for her own good. For the sake of the story line, the impression is that Penny was too cautious. Played it too safe. I agree she needed to work on her work-life balance, but what is wrong with wanting to look before leaping?

Chase wants Penny to trust him. Why should she? They just met. He is attracted to her body but that does not mean she should grant him so many liberties. At least they used condoms. If he had said something like “I’m clean”, I think I would have screamed and quit reading.

In the end, I was less than satisfied because I had already worked myself into a state of overly concern for Penny’s choices.

I felt that she was doing too much on the rebound. Without giving away the ending, I think some might find it romantic but I thought Chase needed to make more concessions. I have no idea what that might be, but I was grumpy by that point. He was not doing enough to prove his love to me.

Should you buy? I do not know. Others will probably say this book is fine. I think I am being overly critical. The last few books I have read have been cheesy and I think I am getting fed up with the insta-romance, falling deeply in love in a few days for no good reason.

Book details from Goodreads
Print Length: 110 pages
Publisher: MT Carvin Publishing, LLC (June 24, 2015)
Publication Date: June 24, 2015

Available on Amazon

Enticed by his forgotten lover #mayabanks #pregnancyromance #amnesiatrope

Mar15

Unforgettable: Enticed by His Forgotten Lover\Wanted by Her Lost Love (Harlequin Bestseller)

Synopsis

Rafael lost his memory after a place crash. Months later, Bryony shows up and tells him that she is pregnant with his child. She says that they were madly in love, but he cannot remember any of it.

Opinion

This is a Harlequin Desire book from Maya Banks’ series “Pregnancy and Passion”. I read another one Maya Banks’ books but in that story the pregnant woman had amnesia. I knew when Rafeal got his memory back, things would either go very well OR very badly. Considering the author, I was not optimistic. She puts a pregnant women through a lot of stress, but by the end, they amazingly still deliver healthy babies.

Harlequin might get in a snit about my next comment, but I do not expect much character development from their novels. It is a straightforward equation: HERO + HEROINE + CONFLICT = HEA

I could pick this story apart because it was predictable, but honestly, I needed this type of book. Over the last few weeks, I bought a lot of duds. Getting a book from a series and author that I am familiar with seemed like a good way to break the cycle of really bad books.

Yes, the story line was cheesy with the pregnant heroine trope but it works. It was not over the top ridiculous. Who can resist rooting for the pregnant woman to get with her baby’s father? Even if she gives him a black eye in the first chapter because she thought he was a total jerk.

I read “Wanted by her lost love” months ago. In comparison, this was not as angsty, but it has mild drama. Seems he needed the plane crash in order for him to reevaluate his priorities.

Should you buy? Sure! It is entertaining. The romance is predictable but there were not many times that I rolled my eyes because it was so bad.

Book details from Amazon (sold with Wanted by Her Lost Love)
File Size: 1107 KB
Print Length: 442 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases (January 19, 2015)

Available on Amazon