Tag Archive | love story

Speed dating works sometimes

Speed Dating (Harlequin NASCAR) – Nancy Warren

Main characters Dylan Hargreave and Kendall meet under crazy circumstances. Dylan is a NASCAR driver with an ex-wife who thinks they are destined to be together. So when Dylan goes to her wedding, he knows that he had to bring a date and appear to be in love to prove to Ashlee the ex that he has moved on relationship wise.

Kendall is an actuary (sidenote: before reading this book I had no idea what an actuary was) having a pretty good life until her fiancé tells her that he cheated on her with a co-worker, the woman is pregnant, and they are breaking up. To make it worse, he tells her this on the night when she is supposed to be getting a prestigious Actuary of the Year award. Her life went from good to bad to worse in a matter of minutes. Since analyzing risk and weighing options is something that Kendall does for a living, she kind of flips out and decides not to play it safe. Making conservative choices seems to have brought misery to her life. It was during this mini breakdown that she met Dylan and decided to be his date to his ex-wife’s wedding. Throwing caution to the wind means her life will never be the same.

I can empathize with Kendall. I am not an extreme risk taker. That being said, I don’t know how I would react if everything that I thought to be true came crashing down around me in one swoop. I probably would have went cray cray too. The chemistry between Dylan and Kendall created a believable story. There are many different layers to the playboy Dylan that he keeps hidden from the public in order to market his image. And the more that Dylan and Kendall learn about each other, it brings them closer together.

I guess he can thank his crazy ex-wife for helping him find his true love.

Overall: Nice story!

Rating Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥♥

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Destiny’s Disguise

Jan24

Destiny’s Disguise

In this medieval romance, Lord John, earl of Farleigh, was a landless knight until the death of his family to sickness. He had no expectations of ever being titled, but now he is earl with many responsibilities. He has to marry and protect his family lands from the evil baron Elwood of Eye. Lady Gwyneth is a widow who suffered greatly at the hands of her first husband when he married her at 14 years old. When she hears that Lord John is to marry her 15 year old sister, she devises a plan to prevent that from happening. Knowing that her sister is in love with a young man closer to her age, Gwyneth is ready to sacrifice herself because she does not want her sister to experience the horrors of marriage to an old brute.

At first, I was annoyed with the author for the very similar names she gave Gwyneth and Gwendolyn (her sister). There were times that I could not tell the two sisters apart. But it started to make sense, when I realized part of went deceit had to do with the fact that she was changing places with her sister. It made the story even more believable that John would not be able to keep the two sisters names straight as well. Then I started thinking of the author as somewhat of a genius. I get it! There was a method to her madness.

Gwyneth endured so much abuse at the hands of her father and her first husband that she could not begin to understand how to do to take John. He was a man, so she expects him to mistreat her as all the other men in her life did. But after marrying John, she experienced many new pleasant sensations **wink wink**. Since married life to John was nothing like she thought it would be, she was suspicious. She wanted to enjoy it, and, at the same time, did not want to let down her guard. There were times when John was trying to be considerate, and she mistook his actions for some type of devious behavior to demean her. At times it was a little exasperating to me as the reader, but then I would remember she had already been through a lot from a very young age and who knows how I would have reacted in the same situation. If the author had not spent so much time on Gwyneth’s character working through her trust issues, it would have not seemed as realistic. Plus the story would have been less interesting.

John, on the other hand, had fewer internal issues to deal work through. I really did like John’s character. He was a true knight in shining armor. He went into the marriage with the expectation that if he treats his wife well, everything will be okay. Granted, he thinks she is her younger sister who he imagines is delicate and inexperienced. I thought it was sweet nonetheless. I admit that I concerned how long Gwyneth would wait until she told him the truth about her deception. They were getting along so well and I knew there would be some fall out once everything was revealed. I was hoping that there would not be a rush at the end to wrap up the story. When John finds out the truth, I found myself reading and holding my breath trying to imagine the heavy tension in the scene.

Overall, I think the author did a very good job with this story. The characters were so developed, I felt like they were real people. I was totally engaged in the story that I could not put the book down until I reached the end. I am happy that Gwyneth found someone to love and care for her. John needed a strong woman by his side that would be loyal no matter what. With all they went through, I am convinced they had a happy-ever-after ending.

Rating Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥♥♥♥

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The heir (the Duke’s obsession)

Jan17

The Heir (The Duke’s Obsession)

In The Heir (The Duke’s Obsession) Anna is a housekeeper for Westhaven (Gail Wyndam) and she is very good at her job. Westhaven is a Duke in need of a wife to beget an heir. His father has become so obsessed with getting him married, it is common knowledge around town.

While Westhaven is coming more attracted to his housekeeper, who is supposedly a widow, it is becoming more and more apparent all is not what it seems. The more that Westhaven presses for Anna to trust him, the more resolute she becomes in her plans to leave his house.

It becomes evident to the reader that Westhaven indeed loves Anna, but he bungles his words so that she is confused to his intentions. Either he is too ambiguous or sounding quite arrogant. Hence he proposes to her several times. I found this quite funny because I knew what he was trying to say, but he just made a mess of it. There were times that he should have just stayed quiet. Most romance novels, there is not enough communication. In this story, there was communication, but it was not done very well on his part. Anna was hiding a secret and could not really be sure if she could open up to Westhaven for support. I think that character Anna acted the way she did mainly because she was confused.

As the book progresses, Anna’s past catches up with her and gets resolved. Westhaven’s father finally gets what he wants only after leaving well enough alone. Westhaven finally finds a woman that he feels is worthy of his title and to be the mother of his children. Read the book to understand how it all comes together.

This is the author’s first novel. Good job! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although it is a Victorian historical romance, the social activities did not play a major role. Considering the fact that Westhaven was courting his housekeeper, it made sense. I would recommend this novel to anyone that likes historical romances. It was a nice story and it had funny parts too.

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Ask for it (Georgian #1)- Sylvia Day romance novel

Jan13

Ask For It

Marcus is a spy assigned to investigate the murder of Elizabeth’s husband because of reasons having to do with espionage. Elizabeth and Marcus were engaged four years ago. She saw him in a compromising situation with a woman, and she ran off and married another man. Now a widow, Marcus has set his sights on engaging Elizabeth in a discreet affair.

I was super annoyed with both characters in Ask For It for these reasons

I believe that no means no. The first love encounter, Elizabeth was really playing hard to get by telling Marcus is no. But he insists. I get that she was giving mixed signals. But she is tied up at one point. Not cool! If I as the reader have confusion about it being consensual, I am uncomfortable. I continued reading to make sure it all turned out okay. Marcus showed some concern after the fact, as if he wanted to make sure she really wanted it. But he should have stopped when she said no the first time.
Elizabeth wants/loves(?) Marcus. She learns that she misunderstood the events that fateful night that changed their lives, leading her to wed another man. That being said, why does she give him grief about his love life while she was married? She did not even seem apologetic that she jumped to conclusions. Somehow it was still his fault.
Once they were married (and this was no way near the end of the story), I would have thought Marcus would have been happy. But then he started acting like more of an emotional jerk. Hot. Cold. It gave me a headache.

Overall, Ask For It was not for me. Maybe some will like the back-and-forth between the main characters. And others might like the steamy love scenes . But as for me, I found it too tiresome. And a note of caution if you decide to read this book: it contains a lot of F-bombs . Is that how they talked back then? I would not know since I am not a historical linguistics expert.

Unfinished Business – Nora Roberts

Jan12

Unfinished Business (Silhouette Intimate Moments) – Nora Roberts

Vanessa is a world renown piano player who returns to the town of her youth. Brady was her high school sweetheart, but he broke her heart when he stood her up on prom night. After her father dies, she returns to her home town for some time for reflection and to decide what she wants out of life.

As usual, for romance novels like these, Brady still loves Vanessa. She has feelings for him too, but she is upset with him for what he did to her all those years ago.

I think that there was not enough communication in this story. Brady should have told Vanessa earlier in the story the REAL reason why did not take her to the prom. And maybe I am so used to external forces causing havoc in young romances, but I could tell straight away that her father has something to do with it. He was too controlling and demanding.

And that seemed to be the elephant in the room. No one wanted to tell Vanessa that her father ruined her relationships in order to isolate her. They just made comments like “That’s odd” and dismissed it. Her father made sure that she thought he was all she had. I am sure he did it to make sure she stayed focused on her career, but it was in the attainment of goals he wanted, not necessarily the life that she would have chosen for herself.

The bright point of this story for me was that Vanessa finally got her mother’s side of what happened. She was able to deal with the bitterness she felt towards her mother and repair that damaged relationship. This also helps her to make decisions about what she wants out of life in order to be happy. The grudges she held for so long were based on distortions of the truth.

Even though Unfinished Business (Silhouette Intimate Moments) was a romance novel, I think that it was more a story about learning to forgive past transgressions and love family. It is a good, predictable book for a Saturday afternoon.

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