To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise

 

To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited**

Synopsis (written by me): When Olive was a child, her brother made friends with Jason, a new kid in the neighborhood. From the first time she saw him, her young heart was smitten. Unknowingly he broke her heart and Olive did her best to get over him. Fast-forward to both of them in their 20s, with Olive a recent college graduate who just wrote a book and Jason the star who is set to start in the movie adaptation of said book. Considering that Olive never really did get over Jason, this has the makings of an awkward situation.

I picked up this book after watching a glowing video review by Izzy (Happy for Now on YouTube). Normally, I avoid the "sibling's best friend" trope but I do enjoy celebrity romances and authors as heroines. I was hoping my likes would balance out my dislike, and for the most part, they did.

My biggest gripe about this book was that all the secondary characters were either bland or unlikable to me. This disappointed me because I enjoy stories where the main characters have their loyal tribe or found family that they banter with. Even the heroine's best friend Lucy annoyed me, which is unfortunate because she is at the center of the second book so I guess I won't be reading it. I could tell that the author wanted Lucy to come across as exuberant, goofy, and fun, but she just rubbed me the wrong way with her constant invasive questions.

I kept reading because I really enjoyed the relationship between the hero and heroine. A character who has been pining for someone since childhood usually turns me off, but it was well handled in this book. Watching the hero slowly come to the realization that he loved the heroine was satisfying, and I would recommend this book for that if nothing else.

View all my reviews

The Queen's Line (Inheritance of the Hunger #1) by Kathryn Moon

The Queen's Line by Kathryn Moon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Synopsis (written by me): Bryony is the next in line to become the queen of Kimmery. All the queens of this magical land have had something called the Hunger, a ravenous sexual appetite that is supposed to bring prosperity to the kingdom and its people. Unfortunately, Bryony is five years past the age of majority and still hasn't felt any stirrings of the Hunger yet. If she can't manage to find it within herself, her grandmother and younger sister are more than ready to take over and rule with an iron fist, to the detriment of the common people. So she picks a small group of men and retreats to the royal family's decrepit Winter Palace in the north, where she learns what is really going on outside the capital while trying to figure out how to keep her crown.

I'm not the biggest fan of fantasy or reverse harem, but Kathryn Moon writes in a way that makes me enjoy both. For her books, I ignore my general rule of no more than two sex scenes per book because she writes them well. Each male has a distinct place among Bryony's Chosen and they don't come across as interchangeable. As for the fantasy, Moon didn't make the world, the magic system, or the names so complicated that I got confused (something that often turns me away from fantasy and sci-fi). She also has the ability to write a story where I care about what happens outside the romance. I really am interested in seeing how Bryony saves the kingdom helps her people, so I can't wait to read the next book.

View all my reviews

Nicole by Sarah Monzon (Sewing in SoCal #3)

Nicole by Sarah Monzon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Received digital ARC from Netgalley

Publication date: 07 Jan 2021

Book 3 in the Sewing in SoCal series

Genre: Contemporary Christian romance

Synopsis (my own): Nicole is a plus-size single mom who is also an ultra-serious, save-the-planet, vegan do-gooder. Her circle of friends keeps trying to get her to date, and she attracts the attention of fun-loving Drew, who is the best friend of her friend's fiance. Of course, sparks fly 😊.

I started my Netgalley account ages ago, back when I still read a lot of inspirational romance. My tastes have changed since then, but whenever I revisit Netgalley I find that inspirationals are still the easiest ARCs to get. So that is how I ended up reading another one. Anyway . . .

On an objective level, this is a well-written book. I didn't run into any of the problems that I find with indie books, such as misspellings and grammatical errors. The pacing was nice and the characters were fleshed out well enough for the word count. The steam level matches what you would expect from a contemporary Christian romance: the hero and heroine didn't act like they weren't physically attracted to each other, but they didn't go any further than kissing. I would have no problem handing this to any of my aunties, my daughters, or my Christian friends.

My personal enjoyment is another matter. I found the heroine Nicole to be self-righteous and abrasive. There is more than one person in my life who has the "save the planet" mindset, but they are not in my face with it. After being confronted with Nicole's attitude right off the bat, every other political issue (and there were a few) introduced in the book got my back up a little, even if I agreed with the stance. It almost felt like the author included issues just to say that she was aware of what is going on in the world because they didn't move the story along. The one thing the book didn't get too preachy with, strangely enough, was the subject of Christianity. There were a few Bible verses but no "come to Jesus" moment like I've seen in most of the inspirational romances I've read in the past.

This is the third book in a series but it is meant to be a standalone. However, if you are anything like me, reading this out of order will bother you like an itch in an awkward spot. I can always tell that I have jumped into the middle of a series even if the author does her best to make each book stand on its own. In this case, I had the niggling feeling that I should know all the side characters and their personalities because they were in other books. This installment might be more enjoyable if readers hold off on picking it up after reading the first two.

View all my reviews

Someone by Kendra Danielle

Someone : A Novella by Kendra Danielle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Read 01 Jun 2020

Synopsis (from Goodreads): When retired NFL star Colton Rivers takes over his father’s business and becomes the CEO of Rivers Digital Solutions, he quickly develops the hots for Whitney Jones, the company’s most valued application developer. After learning of her resignation, Colton uses the company’s Dating App to woo her back into his arms. Their time together reopens a past that explains why she hates his guts.

**I read this book with my Kindle Unlimited subscription**

I enjoyed this story a lot more than I expected to. Normally, I shy away from romances where the characters knew each other in high school or college and get back together years later because they usually smack of small-town memories. I think this one was saved by the fact that it is set in NYC so the characters aren't visiting all their old haunts and such.  

The author did a great job of not overloading her limited word count with sex scenes. I have to say that the sex that IS in the story is SPICY! Readers might want to keep a glass of iced tea handy :-). The couple is interracial, but thankfully the author shied away from describing their contrasting skin colors in an almost fetish-like manner that some authors do. I'm looking forward to reading more of Kendra Danielle's work.

View all my reviews

Series on Hold: Kaitlyn and the Highlander by Diana Knightly

Kaitlyn and the Highlander by Diana Knightly
Ongoing series (10 books so far)
Read Books 1-4 in January 2020

**WARNING: SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!**

The majority of my reading over the past year and a half has consisted of romance series. Whether a series has a continuing storyline or standalone stories within the same universe, I have found that binge-reading long series isn't the same as binge-watching TV shows. I tend to get tired of the series after about three books and have to take a book to read something else. Often I go back, but sometimes I forget about the series only to run across it later and wonder why I didn't continue reading it. The latter is what I thought when I ran across the Kaitlyn and the Highlander series again this week, so I took a quick look over my Goodreads notes to figure out why.

The Kaitlyn and the Highlander series starts off with Kaitlyn, a young woman who had a promising career as a lifestyle vlogger, only to have her boyfriend break up with her on video in a truly embarrassing manner. So she moves back home to lick her wounds and try to find a new job when she crosses paths with Magnus, who turns out to be a Scottish time-traveler from 300 years in the past. 

The balance between comedy and tragedy was slightly uneven in the first book and the silliness of the 20-something characters tended to be a bit jarring to my old-lady sensibilities. I kept reading, however, because I did enjoy how Magnus and Kaitlyn built themselves a tribe among their friends. Each book ends in a cliffhanger and that, along with the strength of the romance between Magnus and Kaitlyn. 

Unfortunately, my enjoyment screeched to a halt with the fourth book. The tone was getting darker with each book, but it was downright violent about 50% into the fourth installment, Begin Where We Are. I'm talking sexual violence, which I don't need in my romances. Add in the fact that it looked like the plot of each story going forward was going to be a variation of "Who's got the device?," and I knew I had to stop reading it. 

Lately, I have been tempted to give the remainder of a series a go. As of this writing, there are six books that I haven't read yet, which would make for a good binge. A long series always appeals to me. However, rereading my notes for the fourth book reminds me that I probably won't enjoy the fifth.

Out of the Past by Dana Roquet

.

Synopsis (written by me): Torie Mills is a successful author and genealogy buff who buys her family's 150-year-old ancestral home in small-town Iowa as a quiet retreat from her hectic life. She hires Dave Cameron, a local renovation expert to help her make the house livable again while respecting the original design of the house. Once the renovation is complete and Torie moves in, she discovers a portal to the past. Soon she is taking Dave along with her and they discover a dark side to their trips into the town's history.

This is one of those books that has been hanging out on my Kindle for a little while, although not as long as some others; I think I found it for free on Amazon about a year ago. Since I'm always on the lookout for a good time travel story, I'm sure that is why I picked it up. Anyway . . .

I made it to the 29% mark before I gave up. The style of writing was uneven to me, what with the heroine's chapters being written in the first person and the hero's chapters being written in the third person. There was a lot of unnecessary details that dragged the book down. The history and genealogy parts, in particular, droned on, a bit like the "begats" in the book of Matthew in the Bible.

The scenes where the author describes the attraction between the hero and the heroine were just good enough to feel like they were written by someone else, especially in comparison to the other scenes. Several reviewers on Goodreads said that the sex scenes in this book made them blush, but the few scenes in the part of the book I read weren't that graphic to me. I later learned that this book has an original version and a PG-13 version where all the sex is toned down. Either I have the clean version or I'm just too accustomed to steamy books!

However, the part that made me abandon the book was the time travel. My favorite style of time travel story is when a person gets dumped into a different time and doesn't know what is going on, so there is a "fish out of water" aspect to it. In this book, the heroine actually inhabits the bodies of different people in her family, so there was definitely the potential for that but the way it was written didn't allow for it. Instead of letting the reader watch the time travel scenes unfold, the author has the heroine give us a synopsis of a few of her trips. It was like a coworker telling you about her latest vacation.

This is the first book of a trilogy and I was really hoping to immerse myself in this world, but I can't do it. As of this writing, the first book is still free on Amazon if you want to give it a try yourself, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Roomies by Christina Lauren

Roomies by Christina Lauren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Expected publication date: 05 Dec 2017

**Received free ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Christina Lauren (actually the writing duo of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) keeps popping up in BookTube videos and other sites where I get book recommendations, especially with the title Beautiful Bastard. Being the contrarian that I am, I usually put off reading the very authors that are suggested to me. So you know that me requesting a Christina Lauren book from NetGalley was an accident. Anyway ...

Roomies by Christina Lauren is a modern marriage of convenience romance with something of a women's fiction element. Our heroine Holland has a crush on our hero Calvin, a street musician who doesn't know she is alive. She is so impressed with his guitar playing that she gets him an audition with her uncle, who happens to be a successful music director on Broadway. Calvin is perfect for an opening in the uncle's latest show but there is a hitch -- Calvin is in the country illegally. So of course, Holland asks Calvin to marry her and the adventure begins.

I thoroughly enjoyed the romance. A marriage of convenience is one of my favorite romance storylines but it is difficult to pull off in a contemporary story. Many times the reason why a couple has to get married feels contrived, but the reason Holland and Calvin got married felt believable. I am also a sucker for an Irish accent, and Lauren did a great job of helping me hear Calvin's Irish accent in my head without making it a caricature. The passage of time was handled well; there were plenty of scenes of Holland and Calvin getting to know each other in different ways so that when they fell in love it was believable. I liked the banter between the hero and heroine and how the attraction between them felt strong without being too angsty.

Outside of the romance, Holland was grappling with trying to figure out her worth, why her life seemed to stall after college graduation, and whether she was holding on to things that were no longer helping her. This was the part that felt like women's fiction to me, in a good way. It made the book a little more well-rounded and not just about the relationship.

AUNTIE TEST: I would say this book was hotter than warm but not scalding. The book is written in the first person, so there is a lot of descriptions of Holland lusting after Calvin's body but the language used isn't as graphic as it could have been, even in the open-door sex scenes. I'd say you could hand this to your maiden aunt and pretend that you forgot the sex was in there; it's mild enough that she probably won't call you on it :-).



View all my reviews

Love Hacked by Penny Reid

Love Hacked by Penny Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary, from Goodreads:

Sandra has difficulty removing her psychotherapist hat. Of her last 30 dates, 29 have ended the same way: the man sobbing uncontrollably. After one such disaster, Sandra--near desperation and maybe a little tipsy--gives in to a seemingly harmless encounter with her hot waiter, Alex. Argumentative, secretive, and hostile Alex may be the opposite of everything Sandra knows is right for her. But now, the girl who has spent all her life helping others change for the better must find a way to cope with falling for someone who refuses to change at all.

I don't know why I don't hear romance fans singing Penny Reid's praises more loudly. When it comes to contemporary romance, she is my favorite author and Love Hacked was difficult to put down. It has the perfect balance of light and dark elements; Reid knows how to give me a tortured hero without making me feel melancholy at the end of the book. This story of a psychiatrist and the one broken man in her life who doesn't want to be fixed is funny and fast-moving.

I've commented in previous reviews that the books have very little yarn in them for a series called Knitting in the City. Love Hacked is the first book I've read that lives up to the series name. As usual, Reid managed to get the balance just right. She featured enough yarn talk to appeal to the knitters without making it feel unnatural. I appreciated the amount of time she gave us with the knitting group. In a couple of the books, the knitting group felt shoehorned in, but in this book, the group felt more like a part of Sandra's weekly routine.

As for my "auntie test": this book, as with all the other books in the series, should be reserved for your more liberal auntie, the one who lives to say shocking things at the Thanksgiving dinner table. There isn't an abundance of truly coarse language (no F-words that I can recall), but the sex talk is as plentiful as I have come to expect in any contemporary romance novel published after 2010.

This is the first series I've read where I feel the books are truly standalone. You can feel free to dip into the series at any point and see how you feel about it. I recommend Love Hacked as a great example of Reid's writing style.

View all my reviews

Stuck with You by Anna Premoli

Stuck with You: A fun, feisty romance by Anna Premoli
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Expected publication date: 01 Nov 2017

**Received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Stuck with You is a story about two students in Milan, Lavinia and Sebastiano, who are required to work together on a project in their last year of university. Neither one wants to do the project, but it will give Lavinia some much needed extra credit -- if only she can get Sebastiano, with his superior attitude and rigid schedule, to cooperate.

There is a certain awkward charm in this book. From what I've read, Anna Premoli has several popular Italian-language novels. I don't know if she enlisted the help of a translator for the book (I didn't see any reference to one), but I'm willing to bet that she wrote it in English herself. There is a stiltedness to the writing that makes it clear that English is not Premoli's first language. She mixed British and American slang with what sounded like Italian slang translated into English. There was also word usage that didn't seem to fit at all. For instance:

"No, but it's your fault that you insist on not pushing the beds closer together. If we accosted them, we would have a bit more space."

The word "accosted" does have an ancient definition of "side by side" but most English speakers wouldn't use it this way. Once I started reading this book with the same mindset I use to watch Korean dramas (with all their delightful foreignness), I started to enjoy the book more. Even using my Kdrama lens didn't make the sex scenes easy to read, though.

Even with the stiltedness, there was some charm to this book. My interest in the situation itself kept me turning the pages, despite the awkwardness in the writing. Some of the banter between Lavinia and Sebastiano was cute, and I kept rooting for Lavinia to break through his defenses.

This can be an enjoyable romance, as long as the reader remembers that it is not written in the average American or British style. That can be refreshing sometimes, can't it?

View all my reviews

Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders

Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read for stress relief and escapism, so it makes sense that I avoid something as dark as Under Her Skin. The whole "tortured souls" trope is popular among many fans of contemporary romance, but I've avoided it until now because it sounded depressing to me. It is a testament to Adriana Anders' writing that I was able to appreciate the hero and heroine's experience of pleasure with each other without feeling overwhelmed by the darkness of the subject matter.

Under Her Skin is the first book in the Blank Canvas series, but it is a standalone. Without giving too much away, Uma is on the run from a hideous situation when she meets Ivan. He can sense that Uma has gone through something bad and all he wants to do is protect her. Well, that's not ALL he wants. This is a contemporary romance, after all.

Anders does a good job of revealing the background of each character bit by bit without making me want to scream, "Get to the point!" Uma's attraction to Ivan despite her background felt realistic and not at all "insta-love". I was not tempted to skim any of the sex scenes; again, a testament to Anders' skill. When the bad situation comes back to haunt Uma, the resolution didn't feel contrived.

This book wouldn't pass my "auntie test" unless your auntie is a big fan of the TV show Criminal Minds. Other than that, this was a good book that kept me tapping my Kindle (I rarely turn pages these days) until the end.

View all my reviews

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm always a little wary of reading books written before 1950. Because there are things that polite people simply did not say back then, there is a worry that the language will be too vague and I will have to work hard to understand what is going on, a bit like reading Shakespeare. With this book, first published in 1926, I needn't have worried.

The Blue Castle is my first and only experience with L. M. Montgomery's writing, and I can see why people have become enamored of her better-known work, Anne of Green Gables. This story of Valancy, a 29-year-old spinster who finally decides to live a little, is at turns melancholy when describing how stifled she was and joyous when she broke free. The passages describing how clueless Valancy's family members were made the book for me.

The only downside for me was the extensive descriptions of nature. Again, this is just a downside for me, not a slam against the book. You know how some readers skim past the sex scenes in contemporary romances or complain about the repeated descriptions of food and cooking in pioneer romances? That's what I do when authors wax rhapsodic over trees and flowers and the moon. I recognize that Montgomery did a good job creating a mood with her descriptions of Valency's natural surroundings and how they made her feel, so I'm sure the nature lovers out there would enjoy them much more than I did.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book that did not feel as corny or melodramatic as one might expect.

**NOTE** The link in the Goodreads entry for downloading the free ebook leads to an incomplete file. You may want to go to Project Gutenberg Australia directly.

View all my reviews

Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid

Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book does double-duty as book #4 of the Knitting in the City series and as the lead-in to Reid's Winston Brother's series. It is the story of the Winston boys' only sister Ashley returning home after being gone for nearly a decade. She has to deal with a family tragedy, get reacquainted with her brothers, and sort out her immediate attraction to Drew, the stranger who became a trusted family friend in her absence.

I started and finished this book in one day because there were several aspects of it that kept pushing me to turn the page. Despite the serious subject matter, Reid managed to include lighter moments that kept the overall tone of the book from becoming maudlin. The intelligent conversations between Ashley and Drew made me want to read Nietzsche and e. e. cummings for myself. The scenes with Ashley's knitting group were fun and reminded me to seek out other books in the Knitting in the City series, especially Alex and Sandra's story. Reid's descriptions of the TN mountains were vivid enough to make me recall my few visits to the mountains here in NC.

I read the first book of the Winston Brothers series and the first two books of the Knitting in the City series about eight months ago. I really enjoy Penny Reid's writing and regret waiting so long to read more of her work, especially from these two series. I will be rectifying that shortly!

View all my reviews

Sexsomnia: Sleepless in Manhattan by Anya Omah

My rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Genre: Romance
Format: Free digital ARC from NetGalley
Publication date: May 2017
Heat level: Hot

Sexsomnia: Sleepless in Manhattan by Anya Omah is a contemporary romance novel that, from what I understand, fits squarely in the "billionaire alpha" subgenre. The alpha in question is Jayden King, a man who made his money as an owner of hotels and nightclubs. His status and his good looks have made him a desirable bachelor, and he has taken advantage of that fact so often that now he is bored with women and partying. He has turned the full force of his attention to expanding his business and he needs a good personal assistant to handle the many details. One applicant, Abigail Davis, seems perfect -- except they get off on the wrong foot with each other when they first meet. She tells him in no uncertain terms what he can do with his job, but instead of getting angry, Jayden becomes intrigued by Abigail and the chase is on.

Faithful readers of this blog know that I do something of an "auntie test" with the titles I review: can you hand this book to your aunt/grandma/neighbor lady without blushing? I would say, dear reader, that this book is best saved for the girlfriends you share champagne brunch with. The F-word and other sexual terms that some might find crude are used with abandon and the sex scenes (of which there are several) are definitely not behind closed doors.

My biggest issue with this book is that I didn't like Jayden, our hero. I've heard discussions among romance readers where they talk about alpha heroes who are "broken" and their brokenness makes them misbehave, but since I read mostly Christian historical romances I've never run into that archetype. Jayden was a jerk who acted like Abigail was a toy to be owned and that he didn't want anyone else to play with. Right up until the end I want him to suffer just a bit more for his bad behavior.

I had difficulty thinking of this as a romance, even though that is how it is categorized on Goodreads, NetGalley, and Amazon. Jayden and Abigail never really got to know each other. He decided after one meeting that he needed to own her. To her credit, Abigail showed more restraint, but there still weren't any scenes of them getting acquainted or even having a dinner that didn't end up with them tearing their clothes off before they even took a bite of food. They shared some secrets with each other towards the end but it didn't feel like enough to me.

One positive element was Abigail's strength. The story is told in alternating first-person perspective, and in Abigail's chapters we get to hear her inner fears but then she gives herself a pep talk and presents a strong front. Early on in the book, she calls Jayden out for flirting with her during a job interview:

"You know what, Mr. King? I actually do have a request. Stop flirting with me. I thought you were here to convince me to take the job, not to get me to go out with you. Anyway, you've got the wrong girl for this macho-man shtick of yours."

Throughout the book, there are instances where she stands firm when I expect her to give in to Jayden's power trip. There are also scenes where she shows that she genuinely is a smart woman who is good at her job. Wanting to know what Abigail would do and say next is what kept me reading.

I also felt that the author treated the sleep disorder and the therapy sessions with respect. With a disorder that centers around sex, it could have been easy to exploit it for kinky purposes. Instead, it is discussed seriously and represented as a hardship for the sufferer.

I gave Sexsomnia: Sleepless in Manhattan two stars on Goodreads and three stars, which represent "it's OK" on each service. The novel was well written and I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it, but I would say that it is geared more towards those who want to get their rocks off than someone looking for a romantic tale.

There is no affiliate link in this post, but you can find the book on Amazon and even read it free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

Review: Of Rags and Riches Romance Collection

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Christian historical romance
Format: Free digital ARC via NetGalley, offered in exchange for an honest review
Publication date: 01 Jul 2017
Heat level: None

Disclaimer: There is a Book Depository affiliate link at the bottom of this post. If you decide to buy your book through this link, it would really help my bank balance. Thanks!

The full title of this book is Of Rags and Riches Romance Collection: Nine Stories of Poverty and Opulence During the Gilded Age, and that mouthful gives the reader a good idea what she is getting. For those not familiar with the term "Gilded Age", it refers to the 25-year-period of US history (give or take a few years) following the American Civil War that is characterized by the extremes of booming economic growth and widespread social injustice. These novellas take the reader back to the days when inventions like the railroad and the automobile were new and exciting, but there were also people trying to escape poverty and disease.

I've mentioned in the past on this blog that I am a fan of Barbour Books' novella collections, and this one lives up to the standard of the others that I have read. The Gilded Age is one of my favorite eras for historical romance, and these stories didn't disappoint me. There were a few stories that I wished were fleshed out more, but only because I enjoyed the characters and premise so much that I wanted to spend more time with them.

As I have come to expect from Barbour Books, there is nothing in this collection (such as sexual content or violence) that would make me hesitate to hand it to a conservative relative. Some romance fans object to stories where the heroes are overly macho or where the main couple seems to fall in love instantly, but there isn't any of that in these stories, either. I don't think secular readers would find the Christian content intrusive.

Picking a favorite story from the collection was impossible because there were several that appealed to me. Even though I am not a sports fan, I enjoyed the fact that "The Right Pitch" was centered around a female baseball team. "Win, Place, or Show", a story about a socialite falling in love with her riding instructor, was written well enough to make me forget it was a novella; nothing felt rushed or left out. "The Gardener's Daughter" was an intriguing story about a resort town caught up in a trend of intellectual self-improvement that made me wish that the author had been given a few more pages.

A novella collection like this is good to have on hand for those times when you want to start and finish a romance in an afternoon. If you've had your fill of Regency romance and want a different setting, give Of Rags and Riches Romance Collection a try.

Of Rags and Riches Romance Collection on Overdrive
Of Rags and Riches Romance Collection on Book Depository

Trade Me by Courtney Milan

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Genre: Contemporary romance, new adult
Part of a series?: Book 1 of Cyclone series
Format: E-book borrowed from local library
Publication date: Jan 2015
Heat level: Warm

Disclaimer: There is an affiliate link at the end of this post. If you click through and buy something, it will help me add a few coins to my grocery money. Thanks!

I recently made a somewhat spontaneous decision to devote the rest of 2017 to reading more of the well-known romance authors whose books I keep hearing mentioned by other bloggers and podcasters. Courtney Milan is definitely on that list. It is a bit strange that I didn't start with one of her historicals since that is my comfort zone. I read mostly Christian historicals, though, and I haven't been able to reconcile the presence of sex scenes in a historical setting. Anyway . . .

Trade Me is the first book in Courtney Milan's Cyclone series. Tina Chen and Blake Reynolds are college classmates who come from totally different backgrounds that still influence their life choices. Tina's family can barely make rent from month to month, while Blake spends the equivalent of Tina's yearly tuition without batting an eye. When they get into a heated debate in class about what it means to be poor, Tina tells him that he couldn't last a month living in her circumstances. Little did she know that he would seriously want to make that trade. Exchanging houses, incomes, and jobs puts them in closer contact than Tina expected and she is not sure she can handle the feelings that surface.

The one word that keeps popping up when I think about this book is "angst". I don't read a lot of contemporary or new adult romance so I don't know if that is a common element of these subgenres. The amount of time I spent in Tina and Blake's minds almost made me feel like I was reading literary fiction, which is something I avoid. Blake was constantly thinking about the particular problems inherent in what looks like an otherwise charmed life, while Tina kept reminding herself of the reasons why she can't let herself be attracted to Blake and why she didn't have time for love. Luckily, the novel had some positive elements to balance out all the agonizing.

One of the positive elements was the dialogue. The banter between Tina and Blake was fun to read, especially during the few times that Tina allowed herself to let loose and enjoy Blake's company. The way Tina consistently held her own against the brashness of Blake's father also made for some enjoyable passages. 

From what little I know of the tech industry, Milan's portrayal of Cyclone Technology (the company that Blake's father founded) felt accurate. On the flip side, the description of how Tina's family had to make choices between paying one thing or another because they didn't have enough money to pay everything definitely rang true. Errors seem to stand out more to me in a book that is set in a time period I actually lived through, but there weren't any obvious ones in this book.

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more of the actual trade in the book. One of my favorite tropes is the "fish out of water" scenario. There weren't enough scenes of what it was like for Tina to live in the lap of luxury or how Blake dealt with being broke. The trade was really used as a vehicle for Tina and Blake to spend more time together. That isn't necessarily bad, but I just wish there were more awkward mishaps resulting from living someone else's life.

I rated this book Warm as far as heat level because there wasn't much sexual content; this book was heavy on the longing and light on the action. However, there was enough cursing to give me pause if I were thinking of handing this book to some of my more conservative friends. At least three of George Carlin's seven dirty words are used in this book, a couple of them repeatedly. They weren't jarring to me, but I know that some readers don't even want the occasional "damn" in their books.

Overall, I think this book gave me a good sampling of Milan's writing. I'm not sure if I will read the next book in the series, but I am eager to check out one of her historicals. I don't know why I waited so long to check out her work.


Trade Me on Overdrive
Trade Me on Book Depository
Trade Me on Amazon

Heart on the Line by Karen Witemeyer

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Series: Book 2 of Ladies of Harper's Station series
Genre: Christian historical romance
Format: Free digital ARC obtained via Netgalley in exchange for honest review
Heat level: Sweet -- kisses only

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through and buy something, I will get a few coins to support my caffeine habit. Thanks!

Five-star ratings are a rarity, coming from me, but I felt this book deserved one. Even after a night to sleep on it, I still can't find anything I disliked about this book. What more can a reader ask for? Anyway . . .

Heart on the Line by Karen Witemeyer takes place in America in 1894. It tells the story of Grace Mallory, a telegraph operator who has gone into hiding after her father's murder. One night she receives word that her father's killer has found her and is on his way. This message is also heard by Amos Bledsoe, another telegraph operator that Grace has struck up a friendship with under the name of Miss G. After months of correspondence, Amos finally summons up the courage to go meet Miss G just as her life is in danger. He must figure out if he has what it takes to be her hero.

This story had everything I could ask for in a historical romance. The hero and heroine have a fun, light banter with each other in a more formal style than is found in contemporary language. The side characters are interesting and populate a town that I want to revisit. The plot was suspenseful but not so fraught with tension that I wanted to put the book down (that has happened a lot with me; I don't read to be stressed out).

As is customary in inspirational fiction, the physical contact is kept at the kisses-only level. I think it conveyed the passion between the hero and heroine in a way that wouldn't make Grandma blush.  The faith-based content is more upfront that in other inspirational romances I've read recently, but there are no conversion moments. It consists mainly of characters who are already believers calling on God to give them strength.

I missed out on the first book of the series and the novella that came after, but you don't need to read either one to understand what is going on in this book. Of course, now that I've been reminded of how much I like Witemeyer's writing, I will go back and read the other books.

Heart on the Line on Book Depository
Heart on the Line on Amazon

Unplugged (A Portrait of a Rock Star) by J. P. Grider

My rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Genre: Contemporary romance
Format: Free e-book obtained from Amazon (no longer available as an e-book)
Heat level: Warm -- sex scenes are not overly explicit but parts are mentioned

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through and buy something, I will get a few coins to support my caffeine habit. Thanks!

The cover for this e-book looks like a blurred photo of Keith Urban. Maybe I watch too many country music videos. Anyway . . .

Unplugged (A Portrait of a Rock Star) by J. P Grider brings readers the story of Tagg Holland, a 90s-era rock star who went into hiding after the death of his wife and sank into a depression. In an effort to give him something to focus on other than his grief, Tagg's mother hires a personal trainer named Mara to get him in shape for a possible reunion tour with his band. Tagg falls for the trainer, but is he stable enough for a relationship?

One review on Goodreads described the writing as "clunky" and I couldn't have said it better. The book was written in the first person from Tagg's perspective. The flowery phrases describing Tagg's mental state sounded awkward coming from his own mouth. This was one of Grider's first novels, and she seemed to be striving to create something that was different than the average romance by using vocabulary that I would normally run across in literary fiction, such as "insentient", but then made poor word choices like using "sorted" instead of "sordid". There is no rule saying that romance can't be literary, but this book doesn't live up to that goal.

This book confused me with its direction in other ways, as well. Since it is labeled as the story of a rock star I expected debauchery, but about 70% of the book read like a sweet and secular romance, meaning no religious content but also no sex and the occasional curse word. Then the author threw in both sex AND Catholicism, and I was baffled. I'm not so innocent as to believe that people who believe in God don't have premarital sex in real life, but in most of my romance reading, sex and church are in different books.

There are certain elements one expects when reading a romance that follows the "celebrity meets girl-next-door" trope, but I have never read a book where they were as predictable as they were here. All the aspects of the stereotypical rock star lifestyle were included but it was like someone was checking them off a list. Drinking? Check. Paparazzi catching photo at the wrong time? Check. Intrusive fans? Check. The hero and heroine's eventual coupling had all the sexiness of a task being checked off the list, as well.

The predictability would have been tolerable if the hero and the heroine weren't so one-dimensional. Tagg was a sloppy mess and Mara was endlessly forgiving, no matter what. The attempts at lighthearted banter fell flat. The frequent descriptions of Mara as tiny and wide-eyed started to sound creepy toward the end, especially since they were in Tagg's voice. However, the worst thing was that I couldn't shake the conviction that Tagg and Mara were together for the wrong reasons. With most romances, after I turn the last page I imagine that the couple had a calm and happy life. With Tagg and Mara, I could only picture the problems that cropped up in their future.

I must mention that there is a note on Goodreads mentioned that this book had a third edition released from a different publisher in 2015 with a major update and complete re-edit. Supposedly people who had the original Kindle edition were to be pushed an update. Well, I've had this book in my Kindle app since 2012 and I have no memory of receiving an update. Furthermore, the book is no longer available in e-book format, and I don't want to pay $10 for the paperback version just to satisfy my curiosity. If any of you have purchased this book since 2015 and read it, I would be curious to know your opinion of it.

Unplugged on Book Depository

Unplugged on Amazon

Seven Brides for Seven Mail-Order Husbands Romance Collection

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Christian historical romance, novella collection
Format: Free digital ARC from NetGalley (no compensation for review)
Sweet or hot?: Completely sweet
Expected publication date: 01 Jun 2017

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through and make a purchase, I will get a few coins and my coffee budget will thank you. However, if you are skint and have to borrow the book from your library, I understand.

I've read quite a few of these historical romance novella collections but this is the first time I've actually written up a review of one. I'm not sure whether I prefer the collections that have a loose theme or the ones where all the novellas are set in the same town.  Anyway . . .

Seven Brides for Seven Mail-Order Husbands is a novella collection from Barbour Publishing. The premise that connects all the stories is that Turtle Springs, a small town in Kansas, has lost the majority of its men due to the Civil War. In order to revitalize the town, the women decide to place an ad in several papers around the country for husband auditions that will be held in May 1866. Each of the stories follows a different woman during the time period surrounding the auditions.

My favorite story in the collection is "The Kidnapped Groom" by Susan Page Davis, which is about two kids who "kidnap" a man for their widowed mother so she won't have to go through the husband auditions. The author did a good job of giving the reader a full story within the limitations of a novella's length, which always earns high marks from me. My second favorite is "Louder Than Words" by Gina Welborn, and it is about a reporter who comes to town to write a story about the husband auditions and the local woman he becomes smitten by. Welborn does a great job bringing the characters and their conflict to life, but the story ended too abruptly for me.

As can be expected with Christian romance, the heat level on these books is zero. It is all sweetness and light. There isn't much Christian content, either. "Louder Than Words" addresses a crisis of faith, but the other stories get by with a few Bible verses being quoted at the beginning of the chapters. The lack of heavy sermonizing makes this a collection that can be passed on to a secular friend, but devout Christians might prefer more faith-based content.

This may not be the most well-rounded example of a novella collection, but it is worth checking out. It is just the type of volume to keep on hand when I need a historical romance fix between other books.


Seven Brides for Seven Mail-Order Husbands on Amazon
Seven Brides for Seven Mail-Order Husbands at Book Depository

Sex Appeal by Lori Foster

My rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Genre: Contemporary romance
Format: E-book borrowed from library
Heat level: Somewhere between warm and hot; sex is described but not at the erotica level

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post and if you click through and buy something, I'll get a few pennies to add tomatoes to my tacos. It doesn't even have to be this book. Thanks!

I don't know why this book was on my library wish list. I thought it might have been on that NPR list of 100 swoon-worthy romances that they posted a couple years ago, but it wasn't. Surely I must have gotten the recommendation from some romance review blog or podcast because I've avoided Harlequins since high school. Anyway . . .

Sex Appeal follows the nearly instant romance between Shadow Callahan and Brent Bramwell. The book is set during winter, and Brent takes a spill on the ice right in front of Shadow's novelty shop. She has an immediate attraction to him and tries to sign him up for a sexiest-man-in-town contest that all the shop owner's in the strip mall are participating in to drum up business. He is attracted to her, so of course, he pretends to go along with it -- for the time being.

This book is better than the Harlequin romances I read in high school, in that there was snappy banter between the hero and heroine that kept me turning pages. However, it does have the same problem that plagues many category romances, or at least the ones I've read. There isn't much real conflict keeping the couple apart. The B-plot that was supposed to add suspense was predictable and did more to push the couple together than to separate them. The characters just needed to wake up to what was right in front of them and then the story was over.

At 224 pages, Sex Appeal is a quick romance perfect for deck chair reading on your next cruise. It is part of Harlequin Temptation's Blaze/Heat line, so you may only want to hand it off to your more liberal cousin.

Sex Appeal on Amazon

The Second Chance Tea Shop by Fay Keenan

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Women's fiction, contemporary romance
Format: Free ARC obtained through NetGalley (no compensation for review)
Sweet or hot?: Medium; a few sex scenes, a few curse words

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through and make a purchase, I will get a few coins and my coffee budget will thank you. However, if you are skint and have to borrow the book from your library, I understand.

The Second Chance Tea Shop by Fay Keenan chronicles the courtship of Anna Hemingway and Matthew Carter. Anna is a widow with a three-year-old daughter who has returned to her hometown to run the local tea shop and finally get out from under the oppressive grief of losing her husband two years prior. Matthew is the managing director of the local cider farm, and he has a few issues of his own. The book follows them during a year of activities in their village of Little Somerby.

My first thought after finishing this book is that title is slightly misleading. The tea shop of the title does not play as big a role in the story as I expected. With books like The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Shop on Blossom Street, a lot of the action is in the shop or concerns various patrons of the shop. In this book, the shop really is just a place where the heroine works. The regulars are mentioned but they aren't fleshed out in a way that would make the book feel like it had an ensemble cast.There are a few times where Keenan seems to remember the title and makes a reference to the shop being Anna's saving grace, but I didn't get the feeling that it was central to the plot.

Other than that, there was plenty to like about this book. Keenan paints a picture of the village and the various events that makes you want to tarry a while. She gives readers a portrayal of Anna's grieving process that felt realistic without bringing the tone of the book down too much. The kids in the book add to the story without being annoying. Although there is a bit of drama in the second half of the book, it isn't of the nail-biting sort.

The only aspect that could stop you from recommending this book to your maiden auntie is the sex scenes. There isn't exactly the explicit detailing of Card A going into Slot B, but the scenes don't fade to black, either; the lights are on the whole time. It's nowhere near 50 Shades of Grey, but it is surprising considering the tone of the majority of the book.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley where the publication date is listed as 01 Apr 2017. However, it seems that the book was actually released on 10 Mar 2017. So if you would like to escape into a bit of light romance while the kids are driving you crazy over spring break, give this a try.

The Second Chance Tea Shop at Amazon (affiliate link)
The Second Chance Tea Shop at Barnes and Noble
The Second Chance Tea Shop at Kobo