Tag Archive | contemporary Romance

G is for Going #atozchallenge #ABCofRomance @AprilA2Z

Apr8

Gisfor
Going Down (Holding Out For a Hero Book 1) ♥♥

Synopsis
Eleanor (Ellie) is from Chicago but is hiding in Oregon from her drug trafficking ex-boyfriend and the dirty cop making threats against her life.

Tyson is the sheriff in the small town in Oregon where Eleanor ends up staying. He is attracted to her but is suspicious because her story does not add it.

Opinion
The story was okay. The trope girl-on-run-falls-for-law-enforcement was overdone. Maybe I am jaded because I read a lot of books, but there was nothing new.

Tyson is so intrigued by her secrets that he cannot keep his hands out of her pants…

This turns to love a few days later.

It is funny to me that in these types of books, the policeman is so sure of his judgement of the heroine’s character. The girl is acting suspiciously and her story seems like she invented on the spot.

Dude, you are blinded by lust.

Another thing, I did not like Tyson. He was supposed to be the law-abiding man who could get kinky with his lady. I do not mind kink, but something about his character put me off, like he was too grimy for my taste. I actually read the book twice because I was trying to identify what exactly it was that I did not like about him. Logically, it would seem that I should have liked him especially when he said stuff like:

“I can go from vanilla to red velvet in under ten seconds.” -Tyson

Maybe it was the insta-love. After 1 day, he is already taking her to meet his family?

Should you buy? If you can get it on sale, it is not terribly bad. It is a time filler but do not expect too much in relationship development. If you like the girl-on-run-falls-for-law-enforcement trope, then this will appeal to you. The love scenes were (to borrow Tyson’s expression) more red velvet than vanilla. That might appeal to you.

Book details from Goodreads
Kindle Edition, 105 pages
Published July 20th 2010 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (first published July 17th 2010)
Series Holding Out for A Hero #1

Available on Amazon

A is for Accidentally #AtoZChallenge #ABCofRomance

Apr1

Aisfor

 

Accidentally Flirting with the CEO (Books 1-3) (Whirlwind Romance Series) ♥♥♥

Synopsis

Alexa accidentally sends a racy email to her hot boss Jesse (Jess).

“Jess was four things. Tall. Dark. Lean. Sexy.”

 Jess is attracted to Alexa but as his employee and knowing it violates company policy, he does nothing to act on this attraction.

“As long as Alexa was his employee, any type of personal relationship was out of the question.”

 That does not stop him from fantasizing though.

 “Jess wanted her is more positions than just his account manager.”

From the accidental email, it was a surprise to know that she felt the same way. This changes things and he is trying to figure out how they can explore the relationship without causing problems at work. Adding to the complexity of the situation, Jess’ sister has an instant dislike towards Alexa.

Opinion

Have you ever accidentally send an email to wrong person?

Not that you should try this if you have a crush on your boss, but it made an interesting story nonetheless. While the story was short, I thought it was evenly paced to keep my interest.

I liked Alexa and wanted her to have a happy ending. Learning her back story was somber, but it said a lot about her as to what type of person she was.

I understand why Jess wanted to hide the relationship. People would get the wrong idea as to why Alexa got promoted. Office gossip can be brutal.

Jess’ sister annoyed me. She was so overbearing like she was his mother.

It was a while before I realized that the book was the first in a series. That is a good thing. While the story continues, the author gives me the choice to decide if I want to read more without ending the book on a cliffhanger. I am surprised they said “love” so soon.

Should you buy? Yes. While cliquey, it was fun and the hero/heroine had great interaction. I might get the next book in the series to see if Jess’ sister gets a man. I believe that a little love in anyone’s life will mellow them out.

Book details from Goodreads
Kindle Edition, 48 pages
Published May 2012 by Shadonna Richards
Original title Accidentally Flirting with the CEO
series Whirlwind Romance #1
Available on Amazon (link is for the complete set since I can’t find the link for that one book)

 

 

 

Hard to love a model #modelbehavior

Feb15

Model Behavior ♥♥♥

Synopsis

Ben and Olivia (Livvie) have been friends for a long time. He is a wealthy businessman. She is a model. Ben decides to drop the gauntlet and start the 24 hours he has to complete 7 tasks in order to sleep with Olivia.

While Livvie is content to friendzone Ben, he is determined to do what it takes to prove that he is in for the long haul. He wants a long-term romantic relationship.

Opinion

The book…two words: EMOTIONALLY CHARGED

From the synopsis, I was expecting Livvie to be an ice queen. In the beginning, I thought that I did not like her. She makes out a crazy list of things that Ben has to do before she will sleep with him. Who does that? And when he is having success with the aforementioned list, she tries to sabotage him?

Why Livvie? Why?

Ben tries to make his case:

“I’m reasonably attractive.
I like to think I can make you laugh even when you’d rather throw me out a window.” – Ben

Throughout the book, I thought he explained everything adequately and was sincere. I could not understand why Livvie would continue to be a jerk. Here was a guy that was trying to show her how much he cared.

“He’d spent the past five years of his life looking for ways into her life.”- Ben

“I hate men like you.” – Livvie

Not the response I was hoping to hear from Livvie. I kept reading because I really hoped there would be a HEA ending. However, once Livvie elaborates, I felt sorry for her and wondered how this all would end. She protected herself emotionally the best she could. Her modeling career left her so jaded that she was blinded as to what could be happiness.

Livvie thought she knew him, but she had a lot to learn about his complexities instead of pigeonholing him in the simple “rich guy” category.

Ben struck me as a true romantic. While he does not know the full extent of Livvie’s emotional damage, he truly believes his love for her can overcome any barrier. As sincere as he was, to really love Livvie, he has to understand the reasons behind her reluctance. As he developed in that way, my heart fell for him a little bit more.

My only critical comment was that the ending seemed sudden. After all the buildup, I wish there had been an epilogue. I wanted needed more page time for the happy couple.

Should you buy? Yes. This not your standard fluff Harlequin romance. For me, I enjoyed the way that my initial view of Livvie changed throughout the book as I got a fuller picture of who he was. It has some steamy parts but not a lot. Ben is trying to bridge the gap from friendship to lovers while Livvie avoids him at every turn. The author does a fantastic job of giving the render insight into the characters. I think that there is enough depth of character development but not in a melodramatic way. I think you will be entertained.

As a side point, there is some crude language, not excessive, but it is there.

I received ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Red Hot compilation – MEGA review time

Dec20

Red Hot Obsession (10 book compilation)

I cannot rate the whole book with one rating because the ratings for the stories varied greatly. Plus, there were a few that I did not even waste my time reading. Most are full length novels- meaning between 100-200 pages. I bought the whole collection on sale for 99cents one weekend. I thought that if only one book was entertaining, that was still a good price.

These are the books that I thought were worth reading ♥♥♥

That First Kiss (Night Calls Book 2) (J.C. Valentine) – favorite book of this whole compilation. It was not anything outstanding but the story was cute. Piper and Tate have a quickie is a club bathroom (ick!) Friday night and find out Monday morning that they are working together. Oh joy! As you can imagine, hilarity and much sexual tension ensues. (writing a post about this one later)

His Wicked Games: A Cunningham Family Novel (His Wicked Games #1) (Ember Casey) – Lily has staked out Calder’s mansion because she wants to force him to honor the agreement his father made regarding a donation to their non-profit organization. Calder is not moved, but then decides he will play a game where the winner takes what they want. They are both dealing with some things.

In the Meh category ♥♥

 

Stories in the compilation that I did not Read ♥

 Layers Deep (Layers Trilogy Book 1) (Lacey Silks)– no happy ending until book 2 – at least the author had the consideration to tell me before I spent my time reading it. Thank you Lacey Silks!

His Indecent Lessons (Sky Corgan)– synopsis: Professor’s carnal knowledge lessons with a student. My opinion: Not for me. I tried to read it but the heroine was annoying and immature sounding. She was a college student so that probably has a lot to do with it. The professor’s lesson (the one scene I read as I tried to finish) sounded clinical instead of romantic.

Sorority Pledge Collection: Steamy Books 1-5 (Sorority Pledge Saga)(Daizie Draper) – six novellas and no happy ending until book 10? I’ll pass. I’m not buying another 4 books for a potentially lackluster story.

Billionaires in Disguise: Rae (Complete Series, Episodes 1-9): A Romance Novel(Blair Babylon) – synopsis: Part one of the story about a college girl romance with billionaire. Started reading it but did not finish because (1) the last 3 books (see above) were strike outs (2) I was tired of reading first person point of view stories and (3) the heroine seemed to be making some unwise choices. On a separate but kind of related note, I read another book by the same author (part of the same Billionaires in Disguise series) and I was indifferent towards those characters as well.

So this is how I felt for most of the compilation.

That was fine though because from an economical point of view, I spent 50cents each on two books that I liked. I got 8 mostly rubbish books but I choose not to focus on that.

Revenge is best served from a hottie billionaire

Aug5


The Tycoon’s Revenge: Baby for the Billionaire ♥ ♥ ♥

Synopsis

Derek and Jasmine have history. They were once so in love as teenagers that they were going to run off together. They did not and years later they meet under very different circumstances. Both are very jaded individuals who feel as if the other person betrayed them. While the attraction between them is still is very palpable, both are trying very hard to safeguard their hearts. Once all the secrets are revealed, both of them have to make the decision about their future.

Opinion

This is my type of story. Derek is a billionaire who does not forget where he came from and his humble beginnings. Jasmine grew up in a less than loving environment, but she does not allow that to taint her outlook on life.

Not much to say about this but that it is the typical alpha-billionaire-male-reunites-with-his-first-love story, but it works. I liked everything about the story. I especially like the interaction between the two of them. I like how they handled seeing each other once again. Even though Derek was intent on exacting revenge for the way that he thought Jasmine mistreated him, he was sensible and enough to examine the facts and make a decision that was best for the both of them.

The ending was very sweet. Not sappy, but tender.

Overall, The Tycoon’s Revenge is the type of story that I like to see from Melody Anne. She wrote one book (Surrender (Volume 1)– a FSOG knockoff) that almost put me off of her books altogether , and then I read this one. I am a fan once again.