Hold Me by Susan Mallery

I have an ARC and I'm hoping that the population listed on page 8 (125,482) is a printing error. How in the world is anything over 10,000 considered "small town?" Hell, even just calling anything over 100,000 "a town" is pushing it. I live in a very small... well, let's call it a town... of under a thousand year-round residents. From the description of Fool's Gold, even in this book (only a few stoplights, one bar - soon to be two, everyone knowing each other, etc.) I've been imagining something around 2-3,000, 5,000 max. Up to this point, I've been ignoring any inconsistencies of small-town living because I haven't noticed any listings of population and the fact that so many of the former books H/Hs have to be wedged into the new books. It's interesting that my major peeve with this series has finally taken a back seat.

>>Reading more, there is both a community college and a 4-year college how is this a small town? Are both just really teeny?

>>Note: after really wondering about this for about half of the Fool's Gold series, and having it bother me to the point that I couldn't keep reading without at least checking the internet, I finally found a note on Wikipedia that the state of California considers "town" and "cities" to be synonymous. Okay, fine. But a good editor would figure out that it means something entirely different outside that state. A quick search on the internet has most folks agreeing that a "small town" is at least less than 10,000 and certainly less than 15,000. If Fool's Gold indeed has over 125,000 people living in it, it is a mid-sized city and there is NO way that "everyone would know everyone else." And there would be more than one bar. We have 3 that are open year-round in my town and 7 during the summer months when we have around 4,000 people in town.
And traffic regulations would sure as hell call for more than "a few" stoplights. The next town up, just over 4,000, has 6 or 7.
I realize that there is such a thing as suspension of disbelief but this done broke my suspension.

>>Okay, on to the rest of the review:
Finally, a story with a former Olympic-worthy athlete and he's NOT bitter about it. As a skier, Kipling Gilmore knew his career was limited and, after a career-ending injury is doing something else with his life instead of moping about it. I'm sure there are other books out there like this but I can't think of any offhand. His major failing is that he likes to fix things for people. Doesn't consider what they want or offer suggestions, he just fixes it. Which. Got. So. Annoying.
Destiny Mills is in Fool's Gold for a short time. She's helping to set up a new Search and Rescue (SAR) computer system. She doesn't like to make forever friends (or lovers). She prefers to swoop in, do her job and get out with a clean break (could that work in today's age of social media? I guess if you just unfriended people as soon as you left.
Her biggest problems are that she is the talented daughter of two country mega-stars and her half-sister has been dumped on her.

I did not like the unexpected pregnancy line. Yes, girls can get pregnant if they're virgins and it can happen only once. That was a nice touch. But it was just too much in an already full book.
I did like that Kipling's problem of getting excited about projects rather than people was addressed. It was getting so blatant and it was nearing the end of the book with nobody talking about it.
Another thing that bothered me- I get that Kipling might not have talked to Jo about opening another bar, but how come none of the other guys did? Or had their wives talk to her? They were nervous about it from the beginning, kept mentioning that the Man Cave might not survive without her support, so why did none of others ask anything?

Follows Fool's Gold #15.5 Yours for Christmas
Followed by Fool's Gold #17 Kiss Me (link will be live June 23, 2015)

First Time in Forever by Sarah Morgan

Oh, Sarah Morgan. I love your writing but your heroes... oof. If you don't mind your heroines apologizing because the hero lied to them and she got mad about that (which is is obviously a no-no for the heroine,) this is going to be an okay book.

First Time in Forever by Sarah Morgan

Emily Donovan is not in a good place. Her half-sister (an evil, evil character) has died and left Emily custody of her daughter. Emily knows nothing about children and she's terrified of the ocean so she decided to bring Emily to an island. Someplace to escape the paparazzi.
Ryan Cooper helped raise his siblings and doesn't want to have anything to do with any more children. So why is he so attracted to Emily?
I will probably try at least a few more Sarah Morgan stories because I really do enjoy her writing. But I wish I could connect with the heroes more. Not that wishy-washy Emily whose troubles with swimming seemed to clear up really, really fast.
It comes out next Tuesday.

Perfect Homecoming by Julia Lonon

Well. This is certainly going to be a divisive book. The heroine is not very likable. Correction, she's just not likable at all. She's confrontational, not a people person, and a kleptomaniac boot. Notice that I didn't comment on her sleeping with around. Frankly, her lack of feeling guilty attached to that was the thing I like most about her.
Yes, we know that she took the medal that Cooper Jessup is looking for but there's this prolonged dance around the subject.
Cooper... was okay. But a little too perfect. I do like a hero with flaws.
I generally like Julia London and I think that it's awesome that she took on the task of trying to create an unlikable character that we could relate to. But I just never really connected with either the hero or the heroine.

Girls of Mischief Bay by Susan Mallery

Oh, I do enjoy the Mallery books that tend more toward chick-lit than true romance. Yes, Shannon Rigg find love in this story, but there is so much more. We see a marriage wracked by devastation and another on the brink of disaster. Not only do we really get to know these characters (I like Fool's Gold well enough but do we have to hear about EVERY couple EVER mentioned in the series in EVERY book? It leaves little room for the main story) but we also get to see the gritty realities of life, not just the glitter and glamour. Don't get me wrong, I love my "fluffy-happy" romances but, in Mallery's case, I like her more serious books more.
In this book, we again see a group of three women who are at differet stages in their lives. Nicole, a pilates instructor, has a young son and a husband who decided to quit his job (without talking to her) and become a screenwriter. Sharon, wildly successful, is now in her forties and wondering if family life is for her. And Pam who is in a relatively happy marriage but feels restless nonetheless.
This book come out on February 24th, 2015.

Earls just want to have fun by Shana Galen

A pickpocket and housebreaker, Marlowe has dim memories of a time before. A time with a woman who sings to her and loves her. But she thinks that is just something she made up to comfort herself while growing up in her hard-knock life.
Lord Dane's brother is a private investigator who is currently trying to figure out Marlowe and he pulls Dane in. Now he's trying to help Marlowe, a girl who has spent her whole life trying to fig in with the boys, figure out how to deal with society.
A premise we've seen before, the lost heiress, but with an Oliver Twist...twist (sorry, couldn't not put that in.) Did we have read about her bubbies on ever other page? Drove me nuts. And, yet another heroine who eats a lot with impunity.
I think that Shana Galen's frequent readers will enjoy this book, even if it wasn't one of my favorites.

Followed by: The Rogue You Know

It Must Be Your Love by Bella Andre

Image linked from Goodreads

When this book started, Ford is being a rock star alpha-hole. He hooked up with Mia Sullivan five years ago and then dumped her fast when she refused to leave everything in her life to travel with him. Now, thanks to his biographer, Ford realizes that he still loves her and wants her back. So he sets up an anonymous house showing (she's a successful realtor) and thinks that he can win her back in the course of a conversation. Hell, he's even envisioning their kids in the house. He's ready to give it all up for her (well, he's tired of touring anyway, so it shouldn't be a big deal, right?)
I was really frustrated at this point. Andre is sort of uneven for me anyway with her heroes bordering on some really reprehensible behavior and I was ready for this book to be the one for me to be able to put it down and say, "I don't need to read this author anymore." BUT. But! Mia smacks him down! Yes, there's still all of the wildly annoying vacillating but she doesn't just fall into his arms. AND. And! Ford wises up and realizes that he's being and alpha-hole! There were still some problems

Ford was still very controlling, not letting their relationship progress physically because of HIS plan but at least Mia called him on his initial bullshit. Which means I have to keep this series on my list, if only to see how Ian and Tatiana turn out <spoiler>though with all of the references to his dark past and her innocence, I don't have high hopes for this book

Minor quibbles
Time with his parents was too short and really felt like the grown up version of plot moppets. Except they weren't young. Or cute.
Crap, I had some more but can't remember now.

Bottom line: if you like your Bella Andre (REALLY alpha heroes), you'll probably still enjoy this book. Mia was less wilting flower than some of Andre's heroines and that made for more enjoyable book.

If the Viscount Falls by Sabrina Jeffries

Image linked from Goodreads

Possibly my favorite story of the series. Dominic Manton arranged it so that he would be jilted by Jane Grey. His brother had disinherited him so Dom knew (oh, you foolhardy male) that Jane would be better off without him. But now George, his brother, is dead, and Dom has ascended into the title. Jane is newly engaged, but she still comes to Dom for help when her cousin disappears. The cousin who was married to Dom's brother. The cousin who helped orchestrate the jilting.

The cousin who might be carrying a baby that will disinherit Dom.

Great character development between these two. No Big Misunderstandings. And, yes, some of these could have been solved if they just talked, but a lot of it was gaining maturity.
This book follows How the Scoundrel Seduces, it comes out on January 27th.