Tag Archive | love story

Maid in the USA

MAID in the USA (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) by Judy Angelo ♥♥♥

As the story begins, Celine is a maid who is content to clean a room of a luxury hotel. Her first view of Pierce was when he got out of the shower. If this were real life, she run screaming calling him a freak and probably mace him. But this is a romance novel so she was slightly shook up. Once she was over the shock of seeing all of his glory and he was dressed, he made her an interesting proposition: become a nanny for his cousin’s four-year-old daughter.

That seems really random.

He claims it has something to do with her eyes. Once again, if this were real life, she would turn down his offer assuming that he was some kinky freak. But in Romance Land, Celine has an open mind and goes to his house to meet his niece. When Celine meets Kylie she agrees to be the child’s nanny. From there it is the usual romance along with her helping Kylie deal with the grief of losing her mother.

There was not anything about this story that caused me to be annoyed (like some other books by Judy Angelo). Celine was a tenderhearted leading lady for this story. Pierce was conflicted as most men usually are when they are trying to come to terms with the fact that they are in love.

I do wonder what is it about romance novel plots where the uber-rich man falls for the maid/nanny and we assume they will live happily ever after. I guess that is what we wish would happen. In real life, we have Arnold Schwarzenegger who fell for his maid, had a “love child” with her, broke up his marriage, and I do not think he is still with the homewrecker. So maybe that was not true love. But then again, the demise of that relationship might have had something to do with the fact that he was still married at the time of the affair. But I have digressed way off topic.

Overall this was a good story. MAID in the USA (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) was worth the money for relaxing feel-good romance.

Forevermore is so cute

May30

Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥♥

In this novella, Cameron sets his sights on Clarice when he met her while visiting for his cousin’s wedding. He was a man who knew what he wanted and was confident that he would succeed. Clarice was a widow who did not have good experiences with men. In short, even though she was attracted to Cameron, she did not think she was worthy of his intentions.

Cameron was a man with little time before he had to return home, so he had to make the most of every opportunity to show Clarice how he felt. It was love at first sight. All perceived barriers would not prevent him from having the woman with whom he fell in love.

I loved the story. Clarice was full of reasons why it would not work. Cameron shot holes through everyone. I particularly liked how it ended. Yes it is a given that it is a happy ever after ending, but Cameron’s finesse was top-notch. I loved his attitude. Even though this is a novella, I thought the characters had enough depth for the story.

It is rare that I rate a novella so highly, but I loved everything about this book. Buy this book!!!! You will not be disappointed.

You can buy Forevermore: A Jewel Trilogy Novella on Amazon by clicking any of the links in this post

The lure of love

May20

The Lure of Love by Mona Ingram ♥♥♥

This story is about three friends and their individual love stories. I am not usually a fan of multiple love stories in one book but since these all happened concurrently it was okay with me. The setting for this story takes place at a fishing lodge in British Columbia.

Couple number one Craig and Jamie
Craig is a widower and documentary film director. Jamie is the owner of the lodge where Craig has come to visit to possibly film a documentary.

Couple number two Billy and Brooke
Billy is a baseball player with a reputation for being a ladies man. Brooke works at the lodge as sort of a office manager.

Couple number three Matt and Leeza
Matt is married and a real estate agent who won a trip to the fishing lodge. Lisa is the chef for the lodge.

The author did a good job of keeping their stories individualized, but intertwining them enough to create a cohesive story. As a novella, the book moves fast. That being said, each of the three couples have connections which is the reason for sharing very intimate personal baggage (and there was a lot of emotional baggage with these three couples) very quickly. The more that they share about each other provides the rationale for why they fall in love with each other so quickly. In some of Mona Ingram’s other books, I have found the stories to be lacking some feeling. However in this book, I think the characters’ story really comes out in a way that conveys the emotional situation of each person.

As a side note: I feel that I have to say something about the fact that Matt is married in the beginning of the story. His marriage is only a technicality and as you read the story you understand.

Overall, The Lure of Love was a sweet book and an enjoyable read. I finished it in a couple hours and was satisfied with the outcomes of each couple.

A Knight’s priorities can change

Apr13

Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Knight’s Desire is set in medieval times. Arian has a pitiful existence: Her stepfather has relegated her to living in her father’s house designed to eat the floor food scraps that the dogs consume. Wishing for happier days when she was loved by her parents, Arian is determined to find a way to restore Creswell castle, her family home, to its rightful owner: HER. She does not know exactly how she is going to do that, but she seems very optimistic that she is going to be able to find a way.

Judson arrives, sent by Arian’s great grandmother to confirm the Arian is indeed dead as Arian stepfather claims. If this is the case, Judson will become the owner of Creswell Castle. Judson is a night without property and desires to have his own land since land equals power and wealth.

Therein lays the problem for Arian.

How much does Judson want the land?
To what end would he go to obtain it?
Her great-grandmother sent him on a quest to find Arian, but does he care enough about her to report the truth?
Or would he kill Arian in order to take possession of her family’s land?

Not knowing if she can trust Judson, Arian decides that it is in her best interest to deceive him from knowing her true identity and try to figure out a way to get him out of the picture.

Her evil, malevolent, worse than devil incarnate, stepfather conceals her identity because of his own selfish reasons. <Grrr I hated him so much> He knows that if Judson finds Arian, he is out of a home. He has his own sinister plan to ensure the land becomes his property.

Amidst all the lusting after property, Judson thinks Arian is a servant girl named Jane. Even in her dirty state, he has some unexplained couple attraction to her. Suspicious of the viciousness with which her stepfather wants to treat her, Judson says that he would like for her to be his servant, attending to him in his sleeping quarters. This gives them both the opportunity to get to know one another.

Spending so much time with Judson creates inner conflict for Arian. He is considerate and kind to such an extent, she could almost forget the intense desire he has for her land. Fortunately for her, Judson knows just what to say to snap her out of any romantic mood – calling Creswell Castle his own. Talking about one day owning his property has the opposite effect since the woman he is talking is reminded that he is, yet another, interloper. Meanwhile, he is confused trying to figure out what he said incorrectly. Heh heh 🙂 I like irony in a story.

The novel for the most part involves lack of communication between the two main characters. I understand that Arian did this mainly out of self-preservation. Her stepfather, his wife, and son were evil, horrible people that were content to take what did not belong to them and do it by any means necessary. Since she was living on her own for so long without anyone who loved or care for her, it is difficult for her to decide if she can trust him with her life by confessing the truth. She knows that if he is not a truly honorable person, he will likely kill her for her family’s land.

Arian had some good ideas to help her cope with her bleak situation. She tried to protect herself as best she could. Although she was not trusting until the end, she loved Judson and that was good enough for me. The author created a strong female character that suffered a great deal of wrongs, but never gave up hope that everything was going to turn out okay. She knew that failure was not an option if she was going to devise a plan to survive and be victorious in the end.

I enjoyed reading the transition of Judson from a knight whose only desire was to have land to a man in love questioning his need for land. As the reader, I could visualize his change in priorities as he developed his relationship with Arian.

I would definitely recommend Knight’s Desire to anyone, especially those that like romance set in medieval times. There is nothing better than a story about a knight coming to the rescue of a woman who is the victim of many injustices. By the end of the story I was very satisfied with the way that everything turned out. Arian and Judson belong to each other. Justice was served and I trust the couple will live happily ever after.

Click Knight’s Desire to buy on Amazon

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

If all teenage crushes ends this simply

Apr4

Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥

Charlotte had a crush on Alex for years. At 15, she was all arms and legs, as a gangly teenager. At 22, she has grown into her arms, legs, and features.

Alex was not expecting the graceful, flirty, pretty young woman when he agreed to go to Almack’s and dance one with Charlotte. While his sister Lucy thinks it would be great for Alex to marry her best friend, Alex is trying to avoid marriage altogether.

Surprised with his attraction to Charlotte, Alex is trying to come to terms with seeing her as the object of other male attention. Of course, his jealousy is revealed in a humorous way. As for Charlotte, she went from timid mouse to temptress in a hurry.

As a novella, Dancing with the Duke (Landing a Lord) was short and sweet. She is a girl with a serious crush who is trying to gain the attention of the object of her attraction. She does put a lot of pressure on him by revealing her years long love for him (which would have creeped me out). Most men who were trying to avoid marriage probably would have seen that as a warning sign. So I am guessing that Alex was probably crushing on her when she was an awkward, clumsy teenager, but did not want to admit it.

Overall, everything ended with a happy ending. The story was too short to have much in depth character development. That was fine with me because I just wanted a quick, fun read to pass some time before I went to bed.