Tag Archives: contemporary romance book reviews

Review ~ This Changes Everything – Gretchen Galway

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There’s more than one way to ruin a beautiful friendship.

Tech entrepreneur Sly has a portfolio of lucrative San Francisco Bay Area start-ups, but while his financial options are unlimited, his romantic options are anything but. Bored with the same old, same old, he finds himself spending more and more time with Cleo, his former piano teacher and current pizza-eating, binge-TV-watching partner.

Already divorced at only twenty-nine, Cleo’s not looking for love. Certainly not with a gorgeous workaholic who usually dates high-powered, MBA-toting supermodels. Although, come to think of it, Sly hasn’t dated anyone in a long time. And Cleo isn’t the only one to notice he seems lonely…

An unexpected weekend trip to Las Vegas forces Cleo to confront her past while Sly slams into his own demons and realizes he’s his own worst enemy. What happens when they cross the line? And then move it, jump over it, trample it, zigzag across it, and forget where the line was in the first place?

What can I say about Sly and Cleo? I read the other books in this series, particularly Mark and Rose’s story, so I already had a bit of a crush on Sylly—though I prefer Sly…a lot—and I was eager for him to have his own story. Gretchen Galway did Sly proud, giving him a worthy heroine both in strength and in baggage.

What I truly loved about This Changes Everything is their genuine friendship. I loved that they just hung out, drinking beer and eating pizza instead of clubbing. The fact that they were great friends added a layer to this story that had me smiling most of the time. Some of those times were heartbreaking but they are few and far between.

There wasn’t much outside drama or angst and really, this kind of story doesn’t need it. Both Sly and Cleo had enough personal baggage, never mind fear of ruining an amazing friendship that provided more than enough drama. Watching them struggle with their emotions was funny at times, cringeworthy at others and really damn hot most of the time.

It was nice to see Mark and Rose and Bev and Liam, plus the tiniest little foot fetishist, Merry! And Trixie is back with her meddling, but Sly and Cleo do a bit of meddling of their own!

Bonus, This Changes Everything is two love stories in one!

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 ~ 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