Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Length: Novella

POV: 3rd Person

Sensuality: Burning

Violence: N/A

Format: Digital (available from Decadent Publishing)

My Grade: B

For the Love of Mollie is the first story I’ve read by K.T. Grant, the writing pseudonym of blogger extraordinaire and newly-published author, Katiebabs.

In an effort to win the heart of J.C., her best friend and secret crush, Mollie embarks on a fitness regime to lose a few pounds and tone up. To her surprise, she attracts the attention of her new gym’s sexy owner, Conner Bean.

Conner thinks Mollie is gorgeous just the way she is. Although he’s extremely fit, he’s never been attracted to super skinny women and prefers them to have curves. In this respect, Mollie is his ideal woman. Now all Conner needs to do is to convince Mollie of this, and hopefully cure her of her crush on J.C.

Despite her reservations, Mollie and Conner embark on a passionate affair. In order for them to find true love, Mollie needs to shed her insecurities and realise she doesn’t need to be thin to be beautiful.

For the Love of Mollie is a cute story. I’m a sucker for romance heroines who don’t embody the physical “ideal” of beauty, yet who still manage to attract a hot guy. K.T. Grant’s next novella will feature J.C.’s story and I definitely plan to read it.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Setting: Sugarville, Washington

POV: 3rd Person

Sensuality: Hot

Violence: N/A

Format: Digital

Source: A digital ARC courtesy of Harlequin via NetGalley

Why I Read It: I saw it on the list at NetGalley and recognised Susan Andersen’s name as being one of those authors I’d always meant to read, but somehow never did.

My Grade: B

Although she left the small town of Sugarville straight after high school, Macy O’James lives on in infamy. When her cousin, Janna, is badly injured in a car accident, Macy returns to help look after her and her young son. Macy hopes the town has forgotten her past reputation, but naturally they have not.

Gabriel Donovan is the new fire chief in Sugarville. While he’s building his house, he’s one of the residents in Macy’s aunt’s boarding house. Sparks fly between him and Macy as soon as they meet, and not necessarily in a good way. Macy is everything Gabe despises in a woman: flamboyant and a practised flirt. Gabe is looking for a woman to settle down with, preferably someone like Grace, the timid school teacher he’s currently dating.

Naturally, Macy is not what she appears. She uses clothes and make-up to hide who she really is, especially in the town which hates her guts. Once she lets her guard down with Gabe, he realises she’s not the person he assumed her to be and might just be the woman of his dreams.

Meanwhile, someone is keeping Gabe and his fellow firefighters busy. An arsonist has been setting fires in and around Sugarville. Gabe suspects the arsonist is one of his own team, and faces the difficult task of unmasking the culprit before someone gets hurt.

Burning Up is a simple story well told. Macy is a bit over the top at the start of the book, but she calms down as the story progresses. I loved the subplot involving Macy’s rock star friend, Jack Savage, and the shy school teacher, Grace. Jack is Irish. I groaned when I saw this as I’m always ultra critical of the portrayal of Irish people in stories by non-Irish authors. However, Susan Andersen does a good job of making him credible.

Gabe and Macy take a while to realise that they’ve each made incorrect assumptions about the other. When they do get together, they make a strong couple. I liked how Gabe stood up for Macy when some of the townspeople were rude to her. I just wished Macy had stood up for herself sooner rather than letting them treat her badly.

I hope Susan Andersen writes Janna’s story. She deserves a happy ending. In the meantime, I want to check out some of the titles from Donovan’s impressive back list.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Setting: Fool’s Gold, California

POV: 3rd Person

Sensuality: Warm

Violence: N/A

Format: Digital

Source: A digital ARC courtesy of Harlequin via NetGalley

Why I Read It: I enjoyed the previous book in Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series, Almost Perfect

My Grade: C+

Finding Perfect continues a story arc which began in the first book in the series, Chasing Perfect. Pia O’Brian is the event planner for the town of Fool’s Gold. She’s currently mourning the death of her close friend, Crystal, from cancer. Pia is shocked when she learns that Crystal left her an unusual bequest in her will: the three frozen embryos which were to have been Crystal’s children with her husband, Keith, who was killed in Iraq. Pia expected to be left Crystal’s cat, not her babies!

Pia has no idea what she should do. She doesn’t think she’s responsible enough to be anyone’s mother, let alone three children. In the midst of Pia’s crisis, she receives support from an unlikely source: Raoul Moreno, a former professional quarterback and a new resident of Fool’s Gold.

Raoul had a tough childhood and made good thanks to his talent and some timely guidance from his high school football coach and his wife. Raoul came to Fool’s Gold to open a football camp for disadvantaged kids. A veteran of a bad divorce, he has no interest in settling down, but he finds Pia O’Brian impossible to resist. He’s drawn to her by her sense of honour and self-sacrifice. When Pia confides that she’s decided to go through with the IVF, Raoul impulsively offers to be her pregnancy buddy. When Pia becomes pregnant, Raoul upgrades his offer to one of marriage.

Pia is flattered by Raoul’s offer to help her through her pregnancy and be a father to the babies. However, she’s not sure she can settle for a marriage of convenience with Raoul, especially now that she’s fallen in love with him.

The premise of Finding Perfect is a very modern dilemma. I felt bad for Pia that she’d been landed in a difficult situation without prior warning. One aspect of the story I found refreshing was that the author allowed Pia to be angry with Crystal for manipulating her from beyond the grave.

I found Raoul’s marriage proposal a little hard to believe, but I thought they worked well as a couple, so I could overlook that. Raoul’s character was almost too good to be true at times, and there was a subplot involving a neglected foster kid which was too saccharine for my tastes. Unfortunately, the story ends while Pia is still pregnant. This really bothered me as I wanted to know what happened to Raoul and Pia after the babies were born.

Despite my quibbles, Finding Perfect is a quick and entertaining read. Susan Mallery is a great storyteller, and she manages to make her characters come alive. Given the abrupt (for me) ending of the book, I hope she plans to write more stories set in Fool’s Gold so that we find out what happens to Pia, Raoul and the babies.

Other Books in this Series:

Chasing Perfect (2010) by Susan Mallery

Almost Perfect (2010) by Susan Mallery

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Setting: Georgebury, Vermont

POV: 1st Person (heroine narrates story)

Sensuality: Subtle

Violence: Some, but most of it occurs off page

Format: Digital

Source: A digital ARC courtesy of Harlequin via NetGalley

Why I Read It: I’ve enjoyed other books by Kristan Higgins

My Grade: B+

Although Kristan Higgins’ last book, The Next Best Thing, didn’t do it for me, All I Ever Wanted sees her back on top form. It’s probably my favourite of her books so far.

Callie Grey is an advertising executive. On her thirtieth birthday, her boss, Mark, and the love of her life, announces he’s seeing another woman. To add insult to injury, the other woman is Muriel deVeers, the daughter of their biggest client. As part of the deal with Bags to Riches, Mark has agreed to hire Muriel to work in their team despite her lack of experience in advertising. Then Callie learns that the venue for her thirtieth birthday party has fallen through and it will now be held in the family funeral home.

Desperate to escape the office, Callie uses the excuse of needing to get her driver’s license renewed. While waiting in line at the DMV, she sobs down the phone to her sister, earning the contempt of the moody man behind her. He accuses her of having emotional diarrhea in public. Callie is offended but reasons that she’s not likely to see the horrible man ever again. Unfortunately for Callie, the moody man from the DMV turns out to be Georgebury’s new vet!

Ian McFarland moved to Georgebury following his divorce. He’s an excellent vet and wonderful with animals. Unfortunately, his people skills are lacking. When he realises he’s losing business because he can’t compete with his gregarious predecessor, Ian hires Callie to come up with an effective PR and advertising campaign. As Callie and Ian get to know one another better, they realise they might be just what each other needs to recover from their respective broken hearts.

All I Ever Wanted is a fun read and made me laugh out loud on several occasions. As usual with Kristan Higgins’ work, Callie’s family play an integral role in the story. I especially liked her grandfather, Noah, with whom she lives. The difference between Callie’s family and Ian’s is poignant.

Callie is warm, funny and deeply insecure. She worries about her weight and about never finding Mr Right. She’s the middle child. In many ways, she’s the glue which keeps her family together. Despite her parent’s divorce, Callie insists on organising monthly get togethers for her family. She’s also the driving force behind Mark’s advertising company, yet she rarely gets the credit unless it suits him. Now that Muriel is working there, Callie has been effectively demoted. I really wanted Callie to stand up for herself. It takes a little while, but she eventually does just that.

Ian is moody and withdrawn, a sharp contrast to Mark’s charisma. Callie brings out the best in him. Despite his lack of social skills, Ian genuinely cares about Callie and grows fond of her family. Callie comes to appreciate Ian’s frankness and knows his compliments are worth a million of those bestowed upon her by the smarmy Mark.

I enjoyed All I Ever Wanted. It’s an amusing story well told.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

POV: 3rd Person

Sensuality: Hot

Violence: N/A

Format: Digital (so far, there is no print edition available)

Source: A digital ARC courtesy of Carina Press via NetGalley

Why I Read It: I enjoyed Shannon Stacey’s Taming Eliza Jane

My Grade: B-

When Keri Daniels’ editor discovers she was the high school sweetheart of the reclusive author, Joe Kowalski, she insists that Keri score an interview with him – or face the axe.

Keri left her small hometown eighteen years previously and headed for the bright lights of L.A. She’s worked hard to achieve success in the cut throat world of entertainment journalism, and doesn’t want to jeopardise her career. Left with no choice but to comply with her editor’s wishes, Keri finds herself back home in her parents’ house, and scrambling round town in search of Joe Kowalski’s phone number.

Joe’s heart was broken when Keri left town all those years ago. He’s curious to meet her and see if the old chemistry is still there. When they do meet, he decides the chemistry is stronger than ever, but Joe isn’t about to make things easy for the one woman he’s never been able to forget. Knowing Keri’s dislike for the Great Outdoors, Joe agrees to answer one interview question per day on the condition that Keri spend the next two weeks camping with his family.

The camping trip is fraught with tension. Also present is Joe’s twin sister, Terry, who happens to be Keri’s former best friend. Terry has just split up with her husband and is in no mood for a reunion with Keri, particularly as she’s looking so good. Various other Kowalski family members have their own issues to deal with, making for a very interesting two weeks.

As Joe and Keri rekindle their romance while ATVing through the woods, Keri realises she’s faced with the same dilemma as she was eighteen years previously: return to her career in L.A., or stay with Joe and give their relationship a chance.

Exclusively Yours is a cute, sexy romance. I liked Joe and Keri and I thought they made a good couple. Joe is essentially the same guy he was in high school, but older and richer. Keri has changed a lot, but not as much as she’d like to think. I thought their characters fit well together. Shannon Stacey is particularly good at creating sexual tension in her stories, and Joe and Keri certainly had an abundance of it.

Another aspect I enjoyed was the description of the camping trip. Camping is my idea of hell, so I was definitely in Camp Keri. However, ATVing sounds like a ton of fun, even if it seems to involve a lot of mud.

My criticism of the book is the amount of time devoted to secondary characters and their storylines. The secondary characters were very well done, but their stories resulted in fewer pages devoted to Joe and Keri. As the book is quite short, I would have preferred more focus on the main couple.

Exclusively Yours was the first contemporary romance I’d read by Shannon Stacey, and I’ll definitely look for more.

Other Reviews of Exclusively Yours:

Smart Bitches Trashy books – B+

Janet at Dear Author – B-

Holly at Book Binge – 4.25 out of 5

Pearl’s World of Romance – 10 out of 10

The Book Girl – 5 out of 5

Genre: Contemporary Romance

POV: 3rd Person (multiple points of view)

Sensuality: Hot

Violence: N/A

Format: Digital

Source: A digital ARC courtesy of Harlequin via NetGalley

My Grade: B-

Crazy for Love (July 2010) is author Victoria Dahl’s latest contemporary romance. When Chloe Turner’s fiancé fakes his own death to avoid marrying her, Chloe finds herself labelled the ultimate Bridezilla by the American media. Desperate to escape the paparazzi, Chloe and her best friend, Jenn, retreat to a remote island in the hope of a few days of peace.

Max Sullivan and his newly-divorced brother, Elliott, are also sojourning on White Rock Island. Max is a professional treasure hunter and travels the world exploring shipwrecks. Although he’s fit and handsome, Max is riddled with phobias and insecurities. He has an almost pathological need to rescue people. The result is a series of failed relationships with beautiful but disturbed women. Max longs for a normal, average woman, someone who is free from emotional baggage.

When Chloe and Jenn spy their handsome neighbours, they decide their few days away might be more fun with a little male companionship. Neither of them are looking for a relationship, but they find themselves spending increasing amounts of time with the Sullivan brothers.

Just as Chloe and Max are getting close, the paparazzi discover her whereabouts and she’s forced to flee to the mainland. Will their fling develop into something more? And is Max prepared to take on yet another women with a ton of baggage? As this is a romance, naturally the answer to both of these questions is a resounding “Yes”!

Crazy for Love is a fun story with engaging characters. Max’s paranoia and phobias make him an unusual romance hero, but he and Chloe work well together as a couple. She’s one of the few people who is prepared to tell him he’s being ridiculous and doesn’t take his over protectiveness too seriously.

My criticism of the book is the amount of time given to Jenn and Elliott’s romance. While I liked them, I wanted more pages devoted to Max and Chloe, and to the resolution of Chloe’s paparazzi nightmare.

While Crazy for Love isn’t my favourite of Victoria Dahl’s books, it’s still a strong, sexy contemporary romance filled with her trademark humour. As the cover implies, it would make a good summer read.

Other Reviews of Crazy for Love:

Pattepoilue – 4 out of 5 stars

The Book Girl – 5 out of 5

Love to Read for Fun – 4 out of 5 flutters

Genre: Contemporary Romance

POV: 3rd Person

Sensuality: Warm

Violence: N/A

Format: Digital

Source: A digital ARC courtesy of Harlequin via NetGalley

My Grade: B

Almost Perfect is the second book in Susan Mallery’s new series set in the fictitious town of Fool’s Gold. It tells the story of Liz Sutton, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, and her former love, the wealthy Ethan Hendrix, a descendent of the founder of Fool’s Gold.

After being publicly humiliated by her boyfriend, Ethan Hendrix, Liz Sutton left Fool’s Gold at the age of eighteen. She returned a few week’s later to inform Ethan that she was pregnant with his child. Discovering him in bed with the girl who bullied her in high school, Liz fled without telling Ethan her news.

Liz moved to San Francisco and lived in poverty with her baby son. To escape the harsh reality of her life, she started to write. A decade later, she’s an NYT bestselling author with several successful mysteries to her name. Her son, Tyler, is eleven years old and her pride and joy. Despite a difficult start, Liz has carved out a decent life for them. With the notable exception of a brief visit to Fool’s Gold six years previously, Liz has never been back to her home town, and has no contact with her family.

Liz’s comfortable existence is thrown into turmoil when she receives an email from the fourteen-year-old niece she never knew she had. Her estranged brother, Roy, is in prison, and his wife has walked out on his two daughters, leaving them to fend for themselves. Melissa and Abby have run out of money and are desperate to find some way of staying together. They don’t want to end up in the foster care system and run the risk of being separated. Acting on instinct, Liz packs her bags, collects Tyler from school, and heads to Fool’s Gold to look after the girls.

When Liz arrives, she’s appalled at the conditions the girls have been living in and furious at the people of the town who have once again failed to notice children in need. To add to her bad mood, she receives a disconcertingly cheery welcome from Ethan Hendrix, the man who supposedly wrote to her six years previously telling her he wanted nothing to do with her or their son. It transpires that the letter was forged by Ethan’s late wife, and he knew nothing of Ethan’s existence until Liz rolled back into town.

Ethan is livid to discover that Liz had his child and never bothered to inform him. He’s lost eleven years with Tyler, and he’s determined to make up for lost time. However, Liz never named him on Tyler’s birth certificate, so Ethan requires her cooperation if he’s to establish a relationship with his son. He wants Tyler to stay in Fool’s Gold, but it will take some persuasion for Liz to agree.

Juggling her nieces’  situation with the hostility of Ethan, his family, and most of Fool’s Gold’s residents, Liz is not having a good summer. She can’t wait to sell her brother’s house and move back to San Francisco. Unfortunately for her, life is not destined to be that simple. In desperation, Ethan has her served with a court order demanding shared custody of Tyler. When the judge orders her to remain in Fool’s Gold until she and Ethan can work out a plan for custody, Liz is obliged to prolong her stay in the town she hates and which she is convinced hates her. However, things are rarely as they seem. Over the course of the summer, Liz is forced to confront her past, and Ethan comes to realise he was far from blameless in his dealings with Liz all those years ago.

In Almost Perfect, Susan Mallery concentrates on what she does best: messy family relationships. Liz’s nieces are not easy to deal with, particularly the older one; Ethan’s mother is furious with both Liz and Ethan; Ethan and Tyler form a tentative bond which grows over the course of the book; and Liz realises that her brother takes after their mother and has no intention of being emotionally supportive of his daughters.

While I found Ethan domineering at times, I loved the fact that his mother and sisters were quick to put him in his place. His awkward relationship with Liz is well done, and I thought the slow development between them worked. Neither Liz nor Ethan was entirely innocent in the situation which developed between them all those years ago, and they come to realise that they owe each other an apology before they can move on.

Almost Perfect contains a good balance of  romantic escapism and gritty reality. I love the setting of Fool’s Gold. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.

Other Books in this Series:

Chasing Perfect (2010) by Susan Mallery

Genre: Contemporary Romance (Harlequin Blaze)

POV: 3rd Person (hero and heroine’s perspectives)

Sensuality: Hot

Violence: N/A

My Grade: C

I read Just Kiss Me by Kathleen O’Reilly as part of Keishon’s monthly TBR Challenge. I bought it as part of the Dear Author Blogger Bundle from eHarlequin, and it was my least favourite of the four books included in the bundle.

Amanda Sedgewick has been the reluctant object of Avery Barrington’s affections since elementary school. She’s a blonde and beautiful lawyer; he’s a handsome and successful surgeon. On the surface, they should be the perfect match, but Amanda has evaded Avery’s pursuit as she thinks they lack chemistry. Chemistry is something she definitely feels for Avery’s younger brother, Joe, whom Avery carelessly dismisses as being beneath her as he is merely an airline mechanic.

In an effort to get Avery to stop proposing and find a woman who will return his devotion, Amanda manipulates Joe into posing as her fiancé for a few months. Joe is exceedingly reluctant to go along with the ruse, not least because he’s harboured a secret tendre for Amanda for years.

Despite finding Amanda attractive, Joe doesn’t think they would make a good couple. Amanda, on the other hand, is bent and determined to turn their fake engagement into a passionate affair. She wants to shed her good girl image for once and for all and embrace her passionate side, and she figures Joe is just the man for the job. Naturally, Joe and Amanda are soon having hot sex and somehow fall in love, in spite of Avery’s best efforts to drive them apart.

While I thought Joe made a good hero, I wished he ended up with a more worthy heroine. I disliked Amanda and I couldn’t understand how she could be so manipulative of Joe on the one hand, yet seemingly incapable of deflecting Avery’s unwanted attentions on the other. I also found Avery creepy. The author did attempt to salvage his character later in the book, but I had already filed him under ‘Stalker’ by that point.

I’ve enjoyed several of Kathleen O’Reilly’s books for Harlequin Blaze but I didn’t feel the love for Just Kiss Me.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

POV: 3rd Person (heroine and hero’s perspectives)

Sensuality: Warm

Violence: N/A

My Grade: B-

Vision in White is the first title in Nora Roberts’ Bride Quartet and marks her move from mass market paperback to trade paperback for her contemporary romance releases. Although I’m not usually a fan of trade paperbacks, I have to admit that Nora and her publisher went all out for this series. The covers are a joy to behold. They have French flaps and deckle edges. They resemble wedding invitations and fit the tone and premise of the series perfectly. This was one of the rare occasions on which I didn’t resent paying more for trade as the gorgeous packaging enhanced my reading experience.

The Bride Quartet focuses on four lifelong friends who run a wedding business, appropriately named Vows. Mac is the photographer; Emma is the florist and decorator; Laurel is in charge of the cakes and food; and Parker is the wedding planner extraordinaire. Vision in White is Mac’s book.

For Mackensie Eliot, her friends are her true family. Mac’s parents divorced when she was young and have both remarried and divorced several times in the intervening years. Her father is affectionate but absent, while her mother is a user who frequently hits Mac up for money to fund her extravagant lifestyle. As a result of her childhood, Mac finds it difficult to trust men and form a commitment, even though she would love to settle down and have a family.

Unbeknownst to her, Carter Maguire has had a crush on Mac since high school. Back then, he was the quintessential nerd and painfully shy. He’s now a Yale graduate with a PhD in English Literature. He recently moved back to Greenwich to teach at their old high school. He reconnects with Mac when he accompanies his little sister, Sherry, to her bridal consultation at Vows.

Mac is charmed by Carter’s obvious interest and gentlemanly demeanour. He’s not her usual type, but there is something undeniably appealing about his clumsiness and old-fashioned manners. He’s already achieved something which still eludes Mac: self-confidence and a good-natured acceptance of who he is. Before love can blossom, Mac needs to learn to stand up to her mother and come to terms with her past.

Vision in White is as frothy and sweet as its lavish cover suggests. The story is formulaic and there are no big surprises here. I felt the chemistry between Mac and Carter was somewhat lacking. However, I found the story to be the perfect comfort read and just what I was in the mood for at the time. I particularly enjoyed the dynamics between the four friends – far more than the romance story – and I was simultaneously fascinated and repelled by the descriptions of American weddings. Vows –  the friends’ wedding business – is practically a character in its own right.

With the exception of a few of her romantic suspense novels, I’m not really a fan of Nora Roberts’ books. However, contemporary romance without paranormal elements and/or suspense subplots are hard to come by these days, and I was intrigued by Magdalen’s description of the series. Despite its predictability, I enjoyed Vision in White, and I’m looking forward to reading the other books in The Bride Quartet.

Other Reviews of Vision in White:

Errant Dreams Reviews – 5 out of 5

Rowena at The Book Binge – 4 out of 5

All About Romance – Grade B+

St. Krishna’s Books – 3.5 out of 5

Uncommon Jen at Babbling About Books – Grade D

Lawson at The Good, The Bad, The Unread – Grade B

The Books in The Bride Quartet:

Vision in White (2009) - Mac’s Story

Bed of Roses (2009) - Emma’s Story

Savor the Moment (27 April 2010) - Laurel’s Story

Happy Ever After (02 November 2010) - Parker’s Story