Category Archives: book reviews

Review ~ Sweetly, Deeply, Absolutely – Kira Archer

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Hello, Mr. Right…for Now.

With a month off from culinary school, Jenny Boyd has some serious party plans. Especially when the hottest guy in the club literally lands in her lap. He’s 6’2” of cocky, sexy, man-candy, and just as commitment-phobic as she is.

She’s definitely off limits…

Graphic designer Jared Crew is shocked when his best friend’s sister-in-law doesn’t remember him right away. Luckily, she is more than willing to let him jog her memory, no complications required.

It’s all fun and games…until the condom breaks.

Yes, I liked this story. I love Kira Archer and more often than not, her books offer me a really good time for a few hours and Sweet, Deeply, Absolutely was no different.

Mostly.

It took me some time to warm up to Jenny. I mean, I love a hard partying chef in training as much as the next girl but…it seemed a little over the top especially considering we got to see NONE of that in the book. It was as though they were talking about someone different altogether. But other than that Jenny seemed like a cool and capable chick that I wouldn’t mind knocking back a few with. Again, mostly.

The buildup, watching Jenny and Jared dance around one another and fight the attraction was entertaining. Normally this is part of the story that turns me off because—hello, adults use their words—but here it worked well. Although I wondered if they both loved casual and she wouldn’t be around long, why not have a fun and sweaty fling? Then they came together and holy smokes! These two are hot as hell and burn up the pages even when all they do is kiss.

And when the sh*t hits the fan, I love that these two seemingly immature people are able to only mildly freak out and deal with life as it happens. Instead of going from the bedroom to a walk down the aisle, they actually got to know one another which made the read more realistic and a lot more enjoyable. A broken condom is no sane person’s ideal method of achieving a happy ending, and I loved that Jenny and Jared became friends first because hey, just in case.

Sweetly, Deeply, Absolutely was a fun read and I have no actual complaints about the story because I adored it. The only thing that really got to me wasn’t a ‘writing’ issue but another Jenny issue. She kept claiming that Jared was too immature and that he wasn’t ready for responsibility because of how he chose to live his life. From his job to his living arrangements, nothing was ever good enough. FOR A CHICK ON SUMMER BREAK!!! I just felt like she was the pot calling the kettle black when he had his life perfectly situated for his current circumstance. It got really annoying and there were some points where I just wished he would tell her off and remind her of her own sh*t.

This is an older read, about a year old, but it was sitting in my Kindle just waiting to be read which means I must now go back and see if books 1 & 2 are hiding from me!

Review ~ Dirty Book Club – Lisi Harrison

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M.J. Stark’s life is picture-perfect—she has her dream job as a magazine editor, a sexy doctor boyfriend, and a glamorous life in New York City. But behind her success, there is a debilitating sense of loneliness. So when her boss betrays her and her boyfriend offers her a completely new life in California, she trades her cashmere for caftans and gives it a try. Once there, M.J. is left to fend for herself in a small beach town, with only the company of her elderly neighbor, Gloria, and an ocean that won’t shut up.

One afternoon, M.J. discovers that Gloria has suddenly moved to Paris with her friends to honor a fifty-year-old pact. And in lieu of a goodbye, she’s left a mysterious invitation to a secret club—one that only reads erotic books. Curious, M.J. accepts and meets the three other hand-selected club members. As they bond over naughty bestsellers and the shocking letters they inherited from the original club members, the four strangers start to divulge the intimate details of their own lives… and as they open up, they learn that friendship might just be the key to rewriting their own stories: all they needed was to find each other first.

Dirty Book Club was an interesting read for me. It was a slow start for me, meeting the women involved in the story and specifically the Dirty Book Club. We meet four different women, though the story undoubtedly belonged to MJ, who’d given her life a complete overhaul after being passed over for a promotion she thought was hers.

The women of the DBC have all arrived at different points in their lives when we meet them, so we can learn right along with them, why they were invited to be part of the club. Lisi Harrison has written a beautiful story about female friendship—real female friendship—completely with brutal honesty, support and love. More than anything this was a story about how the right friendships can go a long way in help you achieve your goals, personal, professional and romantic.

But with all that being said, I didn’t love Dirty Book Club. It had all the elements that usually get to me, but for some reason this book didn’t hold my attention and I didn’t really feel anything for the characters. Despite the well written story and well developed characters.

There’s definitely a lesson in this story, but the story itself didn’t really light my fire. A solid effort.

RELEASE DAY Review ~ 69 Million Things I Hate About You – Kira Archer

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After personal assistant Kiersten Abbott wins sixty-nine million dollars in the lotto, she suddenly has more than enough money to quit her impossibly demanding job. But where’s the fun in that? She decides to stay and exact a little revenge on her insufferable ass of a boss.

Billionaire Cole Harrington quickly figures out something’s afoot with his usually agreeable personal assistant. When he finds out about the office pool betting on how long it’ll take him to fire her, he decides to spice things up and see how far he can push her until she quits.

The game is on, with everyone waiting to see who will crack first. But the bet sparks a new dynamic between them, and soon they realize they just might have crossed that fine line between hate and love.

What can I say? I loved this story!

I admit that after the first scene I was more than prepared to spread a little bit of hate around for Cole, I mean seriously! Though I did warm up to Cole pretty fast, he was infuriating, high handed, bossy and a completely unreasonable employer. No matter how well the job pays, and Kiersten agrees almost from the beginning, just as she agrees that he is the hottest thing walking around the whole damn city.

If only he wasn’t her boss. And a total pain in the ass. Continue reading RELEASE DAY Review ~ 69 Million Things I Hate About You – Kira Archer

RELEASE DAY Review ~ Catching The Player – Diane Alberts

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It all started with a bet…

Kassidy Thomas decided to stop hiding behind her past, and start living, but she didn’t quite bet on that start including her singing a horrible song in front of the handsomest bachelor in the NFL, Wyatt Hamilton. She also doesn’t think he’d then consequently ask her out on a date, but turns out when you’re actually living life…crazy things happen.

He needs to win…

Wyatt Hamilton is a player in every sense of the word. Married to the game, he has no interest in relationships, love, or even second nights with the same woman. But from the second the girl-next-door beauty Kassidy knocks on his door to deliver a singing telegram, nothing goes as planned. He can’t stop thinking about her, and keeps showing up on her doorstep for more. That is, until the unthinkable happens…

And all bets are off. Continue reading RELEASE DAY Review ~ Catching The Player – Diane Alberts

Review ~ The Charmer – Avery Flynn

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Hot, filthy rich, and usually irresistible, Hudson Carlyle just met the one woman in Harbor City who’s immune to his legendary charm. Nerdy ant researcher Felicia Hartigan is the unsexiest dresser ever. She trips over air. And she’s in love with totally the wrong man. Hudson can’t stop thinking about her.

His regular moves won’t work here. He’s going to need a new plan, starting with helping her win over the man she thinks she wants. And if in the process she ends up falling for Hudson instead? Even better. Step one, charm her panties off. Step two, repeat step one as frequently as possible.

But what if the famous Carlyle charm finally fails him when he needs it most? Or worse, what if she figures out the one secret he’s kept from everyone, including his family, and walks away for good?

What can I say about The Charmer? Besides the fact that I had a great time reading this story between Hudson and Felicia, it was funny and well written and just…great. Continue reading Review ~ The Charmer – Avery Flynn

Review ~ The Real Thing – Melissa Foster

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Bakery owner Willow Dalton’s friendship with Zane Walker has always been a bit complicated. Now a scrumptiously hot A-list actor, Zane’s always had a reputation as a player. He’s arrogant, and he’s definitely not boyfriend material. Sure, he did Willow a favor by agreeing to take her virginity before college, but is that reason enough for her to go along with a fake engagement a decade later—even if it comes with a real diamond ring?

Zane should have known better. Nothing involving Willow has ever been easy. Still, he knows her better than anyone, and becoming America’s hottest new leading man means cleaning up his reputation. An “engagement” to curvy, sass-mouthed Willow is the perfect PR move…provided no one gets hurt.

Now Zane and Willow’s little white lie has turned into an irresistible recipe for sweet temptation. And soon no one will be able to tell the difference between their fake engagement and the real thing—including them.

I am so in love with Willow and Zane! It’s been awhile since I read a good Melissa Foster and The Real Thing was the perfect book to break the dry spell! Willow and Zane have had it bad for one another for a very long time so when he needs a serious girlfriend—a pretend serious girlfriend—he sees the perfect opportunity to make Willow his! Damn but I do love a man who knows what he wants and goes after it. Continue reading Review ~ The Real Thing – Melissa Foster

Review ~ Royal Pain – Tracy Wolff

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Being rich opens a lot of doors. When you’re rich and royal, those doors lead to a new bedroom every night. I should know. The tabloids call me His Royal Hotness, Prince Kian of Wildemar. Women across the world see me as a naughty fairy tale, an image I’m happy to indulge. As the spare to the heir, I’m the prince with none of the power . . . and all of the perks.

Then my twin brother is kidnapped, and suddenly I’m the one who could be king. The crown chasers start circling—and yet it’s a luscious waitress who catches my eye. With a smart mouth and the curves to back it up, Savannah Breslin is as brazen as I’d expect an American commoner to be.

But Savvy’s not interested in playing Cinderella. As sexy as she is, she’s no stranger to heartbreak. Besides, a nice guy wouldn’t drag her into all the drama that comes along with royalty. Lucky I’m not a nice guy. And, as it turns out, I might not even be her first prince…

So I should tell you all right now that I have a hit or miss relationship with royal romances. Other than Marquita Valentine’s Royal series, I find that royal-centric romance novels are a little too over the top for my tastes so I was a little hesitant when I came across Royal Pain.

One of the things I had to get over when reading this story is the first person POV which honestly, made it very difficult to like Kian who is supposed to be our hero. I don’t have a problem with Kian being a playboy or just a hard partying spare heir, none of that bothers me. Hell, I believe he’s earned that kind of lifestyle with the kind of restrictions placed upon royals. But hearing his inner most thoughts made it very difficult to sympathize with him, to give a damn about him.

At the start of the story I honestly liked Garrett more and was hoping he would come back and take Kian’s place. But I digress…

The story itself was…okay. I didn’t feel any real pull to Kian or Savannah and I didn’t really care about them. I finished the story more because I just wanted to know how it all turned out. Let’s just say there were some mysteries within this story beyond Garrett’s disappearance that added a few layers to the story, but overall I just felt meh about this story.

It is well written and the story is developed but I think Royal Pain would have been more compelling written in third person.

Review ~ The Quiet Type – Summer Prescott

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Tim and Susannah have ordinary lives on the surface, he’s a mortician for whom death is a serious business, and she’s a chef who really knows her way around a knife, and if the neighbors in their small Midwestern town knew of her dark hobby, they’d run for the hills.

Raised by an apathetic mother and a cruel father, Susannah was bullied and pushed to her breaking point long before she met mild-mannered Tim, and learned to channel her murderous impulses into a strange form of art, which keeps her clueless husband safe…for now.

As strange events occur, and Susannah’s eccentric behavior becomes more dynamic, Tim starts to wonder about his wife. Will he be too perceptive for his own good?

This twisted, psychological, serial killer thriller will sear your psyche and rattle your soul. Buckle up, you’re in for a terrifying ride.

The Quiet Type starts out as a pretty interesting read. The set up was nice, a young girl with a difficult home life finding a way to take back some of the power she felt had been stolen from her at home and school. I wish we could have gotten more details about what happened to the bouncy bully, but that seems to be a theme with this story.

I know I mostly do romance reviews here because I am primarily a romance writer but a love and a hobby of mine is true crime. So when NetGalley offered me the chance to review Summer Prescott’s latest, I read the blurb and I was excited to dig in and get started. A mortician and a bloodthirsty serial killer meet…and at some point become husband and wife. It all just kind of happens but it sets the stage for the rest of the story in Pellman, MN. Continue reading Review ~ The Quiet Type – Summer Prescott

Top 5 Small Town Romance Series

As you know I really love a small town romance. There’s something about the quirky cast of characters, the charming local businesses and the uniqueness that comes with it that I crave. And sure it may (or may not) have inspired my own small town series, Mustang Prairie.

But I am squarely on the small town romance train and today I’m going to convince you why you should to. It isn’t just the homegrown hotties who protect the town as Sheriff or fight fires and gets beloved pets from very high spots, or the sassy small town girls who love them. Okay maybe it’s some of that. It’s also the opportunity it provides the author and the reader, to get lost in a fictional town and all the goings on of the people who live there.

If you haven’t read a small town romance or you haven’t found the town to capture your imagination and steal your heart, by the time this post is finished you will.

1 Fools Gold ~ Susan Mallery

This was the very first small town romance series that sucked me right in. I found one of the stories for free a few years ago and I systematically read all the ones that had already been published until I was all caught up. It was great and it was terrible, waiting for the next one to be released. Continue reading Top 5 Small Town Romance Series

Review ~ More Than Love – Ruth Cardello

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What happens when a normally reserved billionaire tries to be a regular guy and discovers he has a wild side? Grant Barrington is a quiet hero who is about to flex his alpha billionaire muscle.

Viviana Sutton is living in Boston after being swindled by her ex-boyfriend. She’s done with relationships and isn’t looking for forever. Giving in to one naughty, incredibly hot romp with a financially challenged stranger actually makes her feel better until she takes a pregnancy test.

To help his family, he’ll need to be the man she makes him feel like he can be.

For the sake of her baby, she’ll give him a chance to prove what they had was more than sex—and he’s more than just a regular guy.

I’ll tell you right now that I am a pretty big Ruth Cardello fan. I love her writing style with just the right amount of sex and cheese, which I love. And Grant and Viviana together in More Than Words, were delightful.

If you’re not familiar with The Barrington family, I won’t give away spoilers but I will say that one of their siblings, a twin, died at birth and there’s a big ol’ mystery surrounding it. Grant, the staid, logical financial wizard is the perfect person to pursue the investigation further because he’s not as emotional as the rest of the family. Continue reading Review ~ More Than Love – Ruth Cardello