Tag Archive | romance

Wife by Wednesday

Nov30


Wife by Wednesday (Weekday Brides Series) ♥♥♥♥

Synopsis

Blake is an English Duke in need of a wife or he will lose his family fortune by his next birthday. Those were the requirements of his father’s will to manipulate Blake from the grave. Samantha is a matchmaker for wealthy men looking for the right women to their business requirements. Her business is about logical sensible choices for marital relationships instead of choosing for love. A win-win for all parties involved.

After employing her to find his perfect match, Blake decides that Sam is the woman for him.  Sam is understandably wary, but he makes her an offer that she cannot refuse. Considering that she has others she needs to think about, his proposal seems like the answer to a prayer. Blake is determined that he will outwit his father’s legal requirements and have a pleasurable time while doing it.

Opinion

The story was somewhat predictable, but entertaining and really funny. The supporting characters will add to the story and the entertainment factor. No romance would be complete without the half-truths and slight misunderstands along the way. Blake and Sam make a business deal in the beginning of their relationship and both knew that love was not supposed to be part of it. In the end, trust, not love, is the issue that decided the fate of their relationship.

Buy this book!!!!  I loved it. Wife by Wednesday was such a cute story. This is a modern day simple girl-becomes-duchess story. And the funny thing about it is that the “simple girl-becomes-duchess” premise actually happens. I think England’s own Princess Kate is a good example of that. There might not be enough royals to go around for all the girls to have their own duke, but it goes to show that the storyline of this book was not too farfetched.

She gives geek girls a bad name

Oct20

Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl ♥♥

Jamie is video game playing geek girl that gets transported 200 years into the past landing in Micah’s house. Micah is an Earl that is courting a woman who he thinks is respectable enough to draw attention away from the fact that one of his mistresses died from poisoning. It seems the sole reason for Jamie to be transported back in time was for her to love Micah the way he deserved to be loved.

That is the whole book in a nutshell. I did not read the blurb about the book, going solely on the cover to choose my purchase. My mistake. I was ill prepared for the time travel aspect. Getting over that, I proceeded to accept that and try to enjoy the book as best I could. No biggie.

The more I read, the more annoyed I was with Jamie.

  1.  She gave everyone a nickname. She insisted on calling Micah “Mike”. I do not like it when people do that. I think it is disrespectful.
  2. I could not understand how it was that she did not like Micah one minute and then, just as quickly, she was in love with him.
  3. She knows she is 200 years in the past, but she keeps making a big deal of the vast cultural differences as if she never read a history book. She wants Micah to treat her as a modern woman like that would not be as much of a cultural shock to him as it was to her.
  4. Even though she was called a geek girl, she did not seem all that smart to me. Being a self-proclaimed geek (also part of a local Geek group), I want to say that being a geek is more than just playing video games all the time with no discernible social life.

I was not as annoyed with Micah but there were some holes in the story

  1. Micah seemed to be too straitlaced to be considered scandalous
  2. How he decided he was in love was another mystery for me. Halfway through the book, he declared in effect that would marry for duty and not love.

Jamie was an uncouth, brash, loser girl who needed to get her life together before she could think about falling in love. In my opinion, she was not over the breakup with her ex-boyfriend. Micah was an uptight earl who was unlucky in love because he was so stubborn. It is not that he was unlikable, but he was not that likeable either. By the time the story finished, I was indifferent to whether or not they would be happy.

Keeping secrets makes for lonely times

Oct5


Nicholas: Lord of Secrets ♥♥♥

After reading Darius, I was interested in the story of Nicholas (Nick) and Leah.

Nick has the obligation to do his duty to marry as an earl’s legitimate heir. His father is ailing and he promised to wed soon. Meanwhile, Leah is suffering the wrath of her father who intends to sell her to any depraved lecher with funds.

Knowing of her plight, Nick sets in plan motions to extricate Leah from her father’s control. Leah is grateful but wary of Nick’s assistance. He makes it very clear that he could not have any type of physical relationship with her. He was attracted to Leah but I was confused as to why he was so adamant not to do the deed with her.

The story was interesting enough to keep my attention. I liked Leah because she was a strong resilient character with common sense. She was forthright and asked questions. On the other hand, Nick’s decisions at times left much to be desired. He withheld a lot of information in hopes of evading rejection. His efforts had less than the desired effect because his actions came across as confusing.

Overall, I liked the story. It shined because of all the great supporting characters that helped Nick to see how ridiculous he was being. In the end, revealing his well kept secrets cleared up a lot of the confusion. I begrudgingly admit that I understand why Nick did what he did, although I do not agree that was the best way to go about it. Fortunately for him, Leah was a very understanding wife.

I recommend reading Nicholas: Lord of Secrets. It is long, so be prepared to spend the entire afternoon reading. The story stands well on its own, but read Darius: Lord of Pleasures first to get a better picture of the people involved.

Fallen Angel – Mona Ingram

Sep20

Fallen Angel ♥♥♥

Laura, addicted to prescription drugs, is in rehab. After weeks of therapy, she gets a job at a local hotel and winery. Bradley is there helping as well. He has his own problems. Once a fighter pilot, he suffered the loss of his voice because of a trauma related to a friendly fire accident. The attraction between them is palpable. Since he lost his voice, Bradley communicates with Laura using his cell phone to type messages to her.

In a nutshell, Fallen Angel follows two previously broken individuals who pick up the pieces of their lives and find love. The ending was satisfactory but unexpected.

I have found that Mona Ingram’s style lacks a little something for me. After reading her books, I was not filled with feelings of disgust as though I wasted my time. But I was not gushing about how sweet the romance was either.

The lack of emotional reaction on my part made me try to figure out why. What I can determine is that Mona Ingram gives a lot of detail to paint a picture for her reader. She gives the facts. She spends a great deal of time creating the scene but less time on the emotions feelings, and points of view of her main characters. I liked the plot, I was not drawn into the characters as real people. Their personalities remained 2-dimensional for me.
This is not to discourage anyone from reading this book. I think that her writing style does not enthuse me as it might for someone else.

Gigolos get lonely too

Sep5


Darius: Lord of Pleasures (Lonely Lords) ♥♥♥

Darius is, for lack of a better term, a gigolo/male prostitute. As the impoverished second son, he cannot afford to have many morals, especially since the bills will not pay themselves. Vivian’s husband goes to Darius with a proposition: get his wife pregnant so there is an heir to carry on his life when he dies. Darius thought about turning down the offer, but the amount of money was too much to resist. Prepared not to like Vivian, he was in for a surprise. Suddenly his job as a stud got a lot more interesting.

Vivian’s marriage was one of convenience after her husband’s first wife died. He only married her as a protection for her. As her husband is old enough to be her grandfather, he is trying to look out for her the best way he knows how.

I was prepared not to like this book because the hero was a gigolo and his love interest was married. Prostitution as a story is not usually my preferred plot line. I kept an open mind, and actually, the story was not too bad. In time when heirs were required and there were no sperm banks, the women had to get impregnated the old fashioned way when their husbands were unable to perform the task.

Unlike other authors who have a formula so the reader knows what to expect, Grace Burrowes’ plots are so unpredictable that every book is like a different author’s work. In this book, she explores how the predicament affects each character. The reader has empathy for their seemingly impossible situation. I will not say how it ended, but I was satisfied with the turn of events.

I recommend reading Darius: Lord of Pleasures (Lonely Lords). It is long, so be prepared to spend the entire afternoon reading.