A cute bodyguard romance

Franco’s Fortune (Redemption Book 2) ♥♥♥

Franco is a businessman whose life is in danger. Someone wants him dead. His brother-in-law sends Jo to be his bodyguard. They are supposed to be pretend to be boyfriend-girlfriend so no one will guess that she is protecting him. Jo has had a huge crush on Franco but believes she is out of her league. As Jo begins to play (and dress) the part of his girlfriend, the player in Franco notices her more feminine attributes.

Even though Franco knows that someone is trying to kill him, he spends an inordinate amount of time trying to guard his privacy. That aspect of his personality was infuriating to Jo and me both. France put on a bravado act most of the time to hide his fear. Despite Franco’s consistent efforts to hinder the investigation of the attempts on his life, that mystery was solved in a way that was not too corny. The villains, suspense, and action were believable.

It is good to know that even though he was player, he had twinges of conscience when it came to how he treated Jo. He knew there were certain boundaries that he could not cross because he had to think about her feelings. But there were a couple of times I wish I could have hit him in the back of the head for some of his thoughtless comments. I granted him some leeway since he had been putting on a front for years without letting most people see who he really was.

Overall, I could have been annoyed with Franco, but his redeeming qualities won me over. Jo was an emotionally damaged individual because of her childhood, but she was able to overcome all of that and find family, home, and happiness.

I received ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Sexy dragons are HOT

Aug12

Dead Sexy Dragon (Dragon Heat) ♥♥♥♥

Stig is a dragon but has a human body most of the time. During certain phases, his body morphed into the dragon form. In an effort to control his inner beast, he chains himself in his basement. Cora is the little sister to Stig’s best friend. Although his friend died, Stig still considers Cora to be off limits for a number of reasons.

With her life in danger because of poor decision making on her part, Cora needs Stig’s help and hides out at his remotely located house. She feels safe with Stig. He is the strong silent loner type. While she is attracted to him, she is also frustrated because she seems to be stuck in the friend zone as his best friend’s “little sister”. Meanwhile, Stig is concerned that having Cora in close proximity will test the boundaries of his human control over his inner beast. It seems to be harder and harder to convince his subconscious that getting with Cora is a bad idea.

I loved this book. It was a steamy novella. The story was full of tastefully done love scenes, real and dream sequenced. That was to be expected considering Cora has the hots for him for years and Stig was in beast mode. The novel’s cover created an expectation that the story delivered (I’m a sucker for six pack abs—yum).

Even though it seems to be the popular thing, I do not like any paranormal story with demons, witches, vampires or werewolves. To me, this story’s genre is more of a fantasy romance than paranormal. That being said, I have not read many romances that deal with other worldly creatures because they can be cheesy. I read an alien-woman romance a while back, and it was painful how corny it was. But I digress… I was thoroughly entertained by this story because of the characters and their love connection. Plus, the story was fun.

I totally recommend Dead Sexy Dragon if you want something outside of the normal romance or if you like fantasy romance. I cannot wait to read more dragon series books from this author.

I received ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I don’t recommend rebound romances in real life

Aug9

The Rebound Guy (Harlequin Kiss) ♥♥♥

The premise of this story is that a cancer survivor whose ex-husband was a philanderer falls for a guy who is a known player. Kelly is not looking for a relationship because she knows how much she can be hurt. Jason is of the opinion that life is a game. Or at least that is the way it seems from the way he treats his women. While she is trying to protect herself from his charms, he is struggling not to flirt openly with her.

Despite all that she has went through by surviving cancer and getting over the fact that her first husband left her in her moment of need, she still tries to remain positive. And this is part of the reason she entertains a possible fling because her well-intentioned sister-in-law wants her to have a little fun. But this does not mean that she’s going to leave herself open for another man to break her heart. Jason has to convince Kelly that he is worthy of the risk. Because of the seeming similarities between him and her ex-husband, she had every right to be cautious. I was glad she was suspicious of him from the beginning.

For part of the book, Jason had several affairs with nameless women while he casually flirted with her as they worked together. That did little to engender me to his character. Why should love come easy for him? He always had been love-them-and-leave-them. Now that he wants a relationship, everything is supposed to fall into place? I do not think so.

Overall, it was an okay story. For most of the book I did not like Jason too much. I am not used to reading book in which the hero is sleeping around in the time he is talking to his love interest. I have a weird morality that guides what is acceptable behavior for romance novel heroes and heroines. For me, his behavior: NOT ACCEPTABLE. In contrast, I thought that Kelly deserved happiness in her life. I was rooting for her happy ending since she had a hard life with more than her fair share of heartbreak.

I recommend The Rebound Guy (Harlequin Kiss) if you are looking for something to read during a relaxing afternoon or vacation. The book can be finished in a couple of hours.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another fine Westmoreland romance!

Jul30

Canyon (The Westmorelands) – another Westmoreland romance!!! ♥♥♥♥

Canyon is an attorney that is determined to plead his case with his ex-girlfriend Keisha. She caught him in a compromising (very damning) situation with her best friend and was convinced that he was cheating on her. Canyon knows he was not cheating and he wants her to see reason.

Keisha knows what she saw and accepted her friend’s tearful apology. However, she will not tolerate being in love with a man who has been unfaithful. Her distrustful attitude towards men has a lot to do with the grudge she hold against her father for not acknowledging her when her mother told him about the pregnancy with Keisha. To her, it seems that men in her life continue to disappoint her.

Although Canyon would like to try to hate Keisha for not believing him, he cannot. He loved her then and still loves her. If only he could convince her to take him at his word. At some point in the story, I got the impression that he would probably still accept her even if she had those doubts about him. That is not the optimum way he wants the relationship to go, but he was borderline desperate to have her in his life. The attorney in him could not give up on the relationship without a giving closing arguments to wrap up his case.

All the while, Keisha is struggling with her own questions “What is truth?” “Could he be telling the truth?” “If he is, did she overreact?” “Could they have a future together anyway?”

I loved Canyon and tolerated Keisha. Canyon was an overall good guy. Keisha had so many trust issues that she was a little bitter. She is holding so many grudges that it colors her judgment. She made some bad decisions because of that but I am glad that she acknowledged her faults in the end.

Seriousness aside, there is also a lot of funny moments and conversation that add depth to the characters’ personality. The funniest part of this book to me was part where Canyon was trying to explain why following Keisha was not stalking. I was laughing out loud because he was bordering on creeper and trying to justify why it was a good idea. His brothers/cousins/friends were sure he was going to end up in jail. The only reason why I did not get annoyed (because I do not think any guy should force himself on a woman for the sake of a relationship) was that he prevented a crime from being committed and probably saved her life. But he was walking a fine line for a minute there.

I am not usually one to read so many books from the same series. Nevertheless, I have read many of the Westmoreland, Madaris, and Steele series books (15 so far) because Brenda Jackson rarely disappoints with the storyline. My favorite series is Westmoreland. The plots are variations on the same type of scenario but each has its own special twists that keep me entertained. I enjoy all of the books in this series, but I especially like it when the couple has history. The love-at-first-sight scenario can get played out. As in the case with Canyon (The Westmorelands), when the couple has history, one or both of the main characters have trust issues. Good thing there are enough Westmoreland family members around to talk logic and reason into them.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The divorce party is neither a party or a divorce- Discuss!

Jul30

The Divorce Party (Harlequin Presents) – ♥♥♥♥

Lilly wants a divorce. Riccardo is of the opinion that they are married and should just work out whatever problems they have. He has the right idea but with all the tact of a bull in a china shop. Needless to say, Lilly does not take too well to being railroaded.

I thought another name for this book could have been: Billionaire Romance – The rest of the story.

The sequel to the fairytale romance is called reality. He uses his money to wine, dine and sweep this girl off of her feet. Then daily life sits in. It is not all about wining and dining when he has to go to work. He might be the CEO of a successful billion dollar company, but it will not stay that way unless he goes into the office.

Sometimes it seems that love is not enough. Lilly and Riccardo had a whirlwind romance.

However, when it is time to live normal life, they have problems.

Plus, both of the characters had internal issues that they needed to resolve before there could be success in the marriage. In short, two people from dysfunctional families will experience some form of culture shock in what they consider to be a “healthy relationship”. Just because two people fall madly in love, this does not necessarily mean they will have a happy ever after ending.

The characters to this story were not one-dimensional. Lilly’s insecurities and Riccardo’s imperfections cause their personalities to the leap off of the page as if they were real people. Both had preconceived notions of what they thought the relationship would be like, but their partner did not meet their expectations. Since Riccardo was extremely arrogant, he did not question the fact that his will would always be done in the relationship.

The question was not if he loved her, it was could keep her?

They might love each other, but are they right for each other?

I loved The Divorce Party (Harlequin Presents) because it validates all the things that I have been saying about some of the love at first sight romance stories. The two people need to have a connection and a lot of common ground. A torrid love affair in which they spend more time in the bed than they do actually talking to each other means they’re probably not going to be together for very long.

The Divorce Party (Harlequin Presents) was a great story with great emotional characters. Buy this book!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.