Tag Archive | three hearts

Synopsis
When Sabrina’s father dies soon after her wedding to Sheikh Adham, she is told that it is custom in her husband’s host country to allow time for bereavement. Considering how Adam was before they got married, Sabrina cannot understand his cold attitude as if he is not really attracted to her.

Sheikh Adham’s attitude has nothing to do with respecting her time for bereavement but thinking that Sabrina was deceitful, calculative, and manipulative.

Opinion
While Sabrina thought she found the love of her life, Adham gave mixed signals. His hot and cold demeanor towards her had confused me also. Even though he explains his reasons, I was still confused. He was very affectionate in public as if he was the dutiful, loving husband. However, in their home when it was just the two of them, it was the opposite at times. I would have been less confused if he had not been overly lovey-dovey in public while in private acting as if he was disgusted that he was so attracted to her.

Initially, I agree that Adham had reason to feel that he had been wronged and tricked into marriage. But he was so distrustful of her that he did not see the truth about her actions. At that point, it was not a matter of miscommunication but rather he let his emotions cloud his judgment. If he had looked at things logically, he would have figured it out sooner.

I did like the ending though. Sabrina showed that she was made of strong stuff. She was not going to allow herself to be at Adham’s mercy or whim, yearning for his affection and melting at his touch when decided to bestow it upon her. I wanted to yell, “You GO GIRL!” She had enough respect for herself not to permit Adham to treat her any kind of way. That was the only way for Adham to come to his senses and see error of his actions.

Book details from Goodreads
Kindle Edition
Published January 21st 2014 by Harlequin K.K. / SB Creative Corp.

Available on Amazon

Surprise billionaire in BBW romance

Jul30

Make You Mine (A BBW Romance) (Fifty Shades of Romance (Curves)) – ♥♥♥

Synopsis:
Daryl works for a dating agency and it is her job to sign rich, single guys for mixers to meet single ladies. Tevin has an unassuming look about him but there are clues that he has money. Since he is good looking and rich, Daryl wants to sign him up with the agency. He agrees if she will agree to date him. That is not what she had in mind, but she does want to keep her job.

Opinion:
Daryl is a sweet girl that is in a catch-22 situation. She really likes Tevin and the more she gets to know him, the greater her feelings for him. But at the same time, she is thinking about her job. She needs him to sign up so that she can keep her job. Tevin outmaneuvered her into dating him. That was okay with me since he was a cutie.

If only all uber-rich guys could be as nice as him.

This is a cute novella. I like the fact that Daryl is a BBW who is not whiny about the fact that she is curvy. The love scenes are tame, not graphic. I previously read several books that were not so great, so I was not anticipating that I would like the book that much. Plus the title said “Fifty Shades of Romance” so I lower my expectations even more.

You ask “Why did I read it?”

I am addicted to reading, I guess. I wanted to occupy some time with mindless entertainment. Some people watch reality TV.
I read trashy romance novels. But I digress…

Since I had rock bottom expectations, I was delightfully surprised with this book. It was not trashy at all. The fact that I was expecting so little made the ending much sweeter. You know from the synopsis that the leading man is rich, but there is a surprise at the end that makes you want to say “Awwwww” and read the book all over again. I will not say anymore because I want you to buy Make You Mine (A BBW Romance) (Fifty Shades of Romance (Curves)) and read it yourself.

Overall, this short story is a great purchase when you have some free time.

Can’t buy me love

Apr10

Can’t Buy Me Love (The Eligible Billionaires) (Volume 1) ♥♥♥

Synopsis:

Meg is Cole’s executive personal assistant and the lead working on closing a deal that would be a major win for Cole’s company. Due to an unstable childhood because of a mother who was not discerning with her bed partners, Meg has a rule not to engage in a physical relationship with her boss.

Cole is CEO and his executive assistant has been getting under his skin. Although he suspects that he might be in love, he does not want to succumb because of his major trust issues. Yes, they are justified concerns, but he cannot assume every person is out to get him.

Opinion:

Both main characters are emotionally damage, but Cole’s distrust is almost the downfall of the relationship. At least in the end, he addresses those issues in the correct romantic way. Meg was a good, strong female. She was spunky enough to stand up for herself and walked away when she needed to do so. She might have been crying when she left, but she made her exit with her head held high. She was the ultimate professional and thought a lot about safeguarding her reputation.

Overall, I totally liked Meg. She had her principles and she stuck to them so that she would not be accused of ending up like her mother. Cole was okay, but even better once he realized that what a gem he had in Meg. For most of the book, he was the stereotypical alpha-male who did not know what to do when love had his life spiraling out of his control. Plus, Cole’s lack of empathy for the position he put Meg in was slightly annoying to me. While he might have lost money if she was a gold-digger, Meg would lose her professional reputation, and possibly future career opportunities, if people thought she was sleeping with her boss.

In many ways, Can’t Buy Me Love was your typical boss-secretary romance. The story was entertaining and the conflict was well played. I gave the book 3 hearts instead of 4 because it took a while for Cole to learn his lesson.

Roll the Dice

Jan30

Roll the Dice: Book #2 (Hot Romance & Powerful Suspense – Vegas Series) ♥♥♥

This book picks up where Partners left off. Kai and Aurora have their individual reasons for catching the serial rapist. While they deal with the stress of knowing the monster is out there, they have to address their feelings toward each other. It becomes obvious that their friends are trying to set them up.

Kai does not think they have a future together. I did not totally agree with his logic. Aurora is putting on a tough girl act to hide the fact that she wants to be loved and start a family. I felt sorry for her. She has to pretend in public that she does not want the main thing she really desires to have. Kai is so perceptive to the real “her” that the potential commitment scares him.

I found this book under the genre of romance. As a romance, I found the story lacking an ending. It does not give any indication of the future of them as a couple. I would consider this to be more of an action suspense story with some romance elements.

I was relieved to know that the catch the rapist. By the end, I was wondering how many more victims would be defiled by this sicko before he was caught. I could not figure out if he was really good at staying two steps ahead of the police or were they inept. The ending was anticlimactic for me given the pace of the book. Others might find it satisfying though.

I guess the romance elements of Roll the Dice are truer to life than others because Kai and Aurora had so many personal demons to contend with in order to decide what they wanted to do. There was not a convenient set of circumstances that allowed for love to blossom for the couple. In the end, it was still seemingly undetermined what was going to happen. Coming to the end of the book was more like reading end of a chapter. I thought, “Really? She is going to end the book like that?” The author sucked me in so that I would be forced to buy the next installment. I do not like be sucked in for anything. I begrudgingly bought the next book so that I could see how their story ended.

Reader, take notice. This series of books is written in such a way that you have to read them in order AND read all of them to get the whole story. That is something I wish someone had told me before I chose the book.

If this sounds like something you would like, click any of the links to buy on Amazon.

The Tycoon’s Convenient Wife

Oct15

The Tycoon’s Convenient Wife – The Tycoon’s Convenient Wife ♥♥♥

Divorced Guy needs a wife to help him look like a family man while he is brokering a major business deal. Of course, he calls on Emily, his friend from university. Although she has been in love with him for 15 years, she initially was undecided about helping Guy in his situation. As she should be.

I like how Emily set boundaries for the relationship since she was trying to guard her heart. Guy seemed so adamant about never loving again. Emily made some snippy comments in a passive aggressive way when Guy was trying to convince her that a physical relationship would not hurt anything. Considering her emotional turmoil, I think she handled herself well.

The story is about Guy’s journey to figuring out that Emily had always been the woman for him. He took a 15 year emotional detour that armed his with enough baggage that helped him appreciate her even more. His cheating, but jealous ex-wife and two darling children also helped to add to the conflict of the story.

Overall The Tycoon’s Convenient Wife was a sweet story. The one thing that bugs me is that the story is this: Why is it that in these types of romances does the woman seem to put her romance life on hold since she cannot have the man she desires, but the man has relationships, gets married and has kids? But then he feels with some satisfaction that she held out for him. At least she was not a pushover to let Guy have is way because of her feelings for him. By the end though, I was okay with how everything turned out considering he was a basically a good man and great father who deserved to have a woman worthy of his trust and love.