One More Kiss by Samantha Chase

Two years ago Vivienne Forrester went to visit Matt Reed at the height of his fame and the height of his drinking. At first, he didn't even recognize the gorgeous woman standing in the door as his friend's sister all grown up but then he (having just been chugging from a Jack Daniels' bottle) immediately starts kissing her but it is broken up by the band's manager who thinks that Vivienne is just another groupie.
Time has since passed and Matt's vanity project, a Broadway play fronted by himself, failed miserably in three days and now public opinion is very, very against him. So he goes to hide in his best friend's brand new house. And who's living in the little garden house behind? Vivienne! And Aaron (the friend/brother) is about to head out of town so Vivienne and Matt are forced in to close proximity.
I didn't love this book because there was quite a bit of wallowing. Oh, I don't begrudge Matt's feelings toward his father, it's the more recent stuff. And I didn't really feel the two of them clicking in a forever-after sort of way. I think most regular Chase readers won't be disappointed in this story though.

Three stars
This book comes out February 7
Followed by One More Promise

This Is Our Song by Samantha Chase

Riley Shaughnessy is a big time rock star. He recently stepped back from his band to prove that he could handle a solo career. But... he's recently hit a brick wall on his song writing. His label is about to dump him but agree that he can have another chance as long as he participates in a month-long interview that will put him back in the public's eye. And not for being known as the least-talented of his band mates.
Savannah Daly is the reporter picked to do the interview. She's peeved because that means she's going to be bumped from a Cold Play article that she's been researching for the past month. Her first meeting with Riley is an accidental one when he quite literally bumps into her at a restaurant. Then she saves him from a rabid group of fans. When he finds out who she is, he assumes that their meeting wasn't accidental. And this is a continuing theme in their relationship. He assumes that she's all about the job, cools off and acts like a jerk, and then eventually figures out that he's being a jerk. And that was sort of boring. To see Riley make the same mistake over and over again and having Savannah apologize because he's hurt....
I think most regular Chase readers will not be disappointed but I was hoping for a little better from Riley.

Three stars
This book comes out December 6
Follows Always My Girl
Followed by Sky Full of Stars

Always My Girl by Samantha Chase

We know from the first two books in the series that Quinn Shaughnessy has been willfully blind to the fact that his best friend Anna has been in love with him pretty much forever. But she's finally making a move to get on with her life. Quitting her regular job and starting to wear girlier clothes. And yet, now is when Quinn finally starts to notice that she's a woman.
Quite frankly, I didn't like Quinn all that much. The man used Anna most of his life and then got upset when he got called on it. And Anna was so wishy-washy, wanting Quinn then not wanting Quinn. Not my favorite book in the series but I'm certainly not going to stop reading them because of these two.

This book comes out July 5
Two and a half stars

Previous book Love Walks In
Followed by This is Our Song

Friday Night Brides by Samantha Chase

It's an interesting book that can weave together the stories of four women (three just falling in love, one in a long-time committed relationship). Of course, it did mean that some relationship issues were skated over rather quickly and the characters weren't super-well developed but for what it was, it wasn't a bad book.
Hailey, Becca, Ella, and Angie have been friends since they were five years old. And since that time, they've participated in the Friday night shows (ranging from intimate to conference size) that Hailey's mother, a bridal shop owner has put on. They've grown through flower girls to attendants and now brides. Each has her own set of issues concerning romance (that would have been fun to see developed in a full-size or at least novella length for each). Hailey has been infatuated with one of the groom models for over a year but hasn't made a move. Becca's just been dumped by her high school crush after six months of dating (cruelly, and in front of a hipster(!)). Angie met a fantastic man who she had been hooking up with until he ghosted months ago. Ella has been dating her dream man since sixth grade, they're just having problems getting to the wedding of their dreams.
Some grammar issues which I didn't count against the book since it was an ARC but I hope it gets fixed before it's printed. Also didn't love the ending which suffered because of trying to wedge four HEAs into the end of one book.
Three and a half stars
Book comes out on May 3

Love Walks In by Samantha Chase

For me, Samantha Chase can be uneven. Some of her stories I really enjoy, others I can barely finish. The book before this one, Made for You, I didn't enjoy so much. This one, I liked.
When we meet Hugh Shaughnessy, he's a rebellious teenager whose biggest act coincides with the night his mother dies. That completely changes him and he swings to the other extreme, becoming very rigid.
When we meet him again as an adult, he's the owner of twelve resorts and in a panic because his events planner (the same person for all twelve) has just left. No two weeks notice. Just gone. And Hugh does NOT deal well with change. He is definitely not amused to find pink luggage not attached to a person on the resort's immaculate lawn. Nor is he later amused to see a woman with a proclivity for tiny underwear.
Aubrey is a Runaway Bride who has just had the luck to meet the man who is about to make Hugh a LOT of money. The man, an eccentric, immediately decides he loves Aubrey and he demands that she be the new point person for the events he is having at Hugh's resorts. An immediate reason for Aubrey and Hugh to spend more time together without being gross because he's not really her boss.
I wish we had seen Hugh open up to Aubrey about his OCD (though we didn't really see any evidence of actual OCD except with the dinners, mostly he just talks about having it). It was almost like love magically cured him of all his issues with the past. So, either his issues were overstated or we have a magic hoo-ha situation here.
There were issues, as I've noted, but the pacing was nice, I liked both Aubrey and Hugh and this was a sold "OK" book for me.

This book comes out April 5, 2016
Three stars

Followed by Always My Girl

I'll be There by Samantha Chase

I was SO looking forward to the story of Zach and Gabby. Wounded hero and dedicated assistant? And the glimpses of their story in the previous book? HAWT. But then... came the last 60 or so pages. Why? Why were these included. We've seen Zach being an alphahole. We've seen him do it a LOT. So why one more instance? Why not explore more with Gabriella and her family instead of wrapping up a rather large story line in two paragraphs? This was a definite three-to-four star book for me and then... yet ANOTHER Big Misunderstanding. Blergh. Just Blergh.
After a climbing accident leaves him in a long recovery, Zach Montgomery is cranky. So cranky that his family is threatening to remove him from his position in their company (but of course, they wouldn't, they love him but want to try and knock some sense into him.) They also want to hook him up with his assistant, Gabriella. The two have been circling around each other for years.
Gabriella isn't sure why Zach went from being a friend to being an asshat and she's tired of putting up with it. But she doesn't want him to lose his job so she decides to help out, just one more time. (and one more time and one more time...)
Two stars.

The Christmas Cottage / Ever After by Samantha Chase

Three stars, two stars for the first and second story respectively. Rounded up for the good communication and pragmatism of 3/4 of the characters. Good god, I wanted to take Ava by both ears and just shake her until the stupid fell out. Would I have finished this book if it weren't an ARC? MaybeThree stars, two stars for the first and second story respectively. Rounded up for the good communication and pragmatism of 3/4 of the characters. Good god, I wanted to take Ava by both ears and just shake her until the stupid fell out. Would I have finished this book if it weren't an ARC? Maybe. But you better believe there was a LOT of skimming going on.

The Christmas Cottage
Lacey Quinn is ready to help her friend, Ava Callahan, do anything. Even get married to the wrong man. Even when Ava turns into a Bridezilla. Even when Lacey's long-time crush, Ava's brother, comes back into town... wait, what? Yes, it's been a long time, but Lacey was never more humiliated than when she threw herself at Ean and he threw her back.
But Ean has never forgotten that girl. And he's impressed with the woman she's become. Once they've spent the night in the enchanted family cabin (which, admittedly, neither actually believes in), it's destined to be true love forever.
Ever After
This story was just painful. So painful. I didn't see a copyright date from earlier than 2013 which makes it that... much.. more... painful. 
Ava's a twit. Quite frankly, not someone I'd want to ever meet. She was so self-involved, I was surprised she had time to notice how hard Brian McCabe was chasing her.. But you better believe there was a LOT of skimming going on.

Made for Us by Samantha Chase

Who-ee. I got a pre-pub version of this book and I can only hope that the editors they get to review this deal with the POV issue. Good God. I counted up to three different points of view on single pages. We jumped around to each character so much I had trouble keeping up with who was thinking what and what was going on. It made me as seasick as Zoe ostensibly was by the wavy painting in the entryway closet. Better editing would have bumped this up to at least a two-and-a-half book for me. Probably more but it was so bad in the beginning of the book... hopefully this gets straightened out before it goes into print.
Anyway, Zoe has moved to North Carolina to get away from Arizona and to live by the beach. She's just had all of her clients summarily taken away so that she could work with the firm's big client, Aiden Shaughnessy. See, he's the kind of man who wants things done his way and only his way. Good thing that Zoe's able to stand up to him. Except when she's not. Zoe never  really became a full character. I think she was supposed to be this strong business woman, a match for Aidan, but she was mostly fairly wishy-washy. And Aidan. Well, Aidan was a jerk. A big one. And I didn't see any indication that that was really going to change.
If this were my first Samantha Chase book, I probably wouldn't read any others in the series. But, luckily, I have read Wait for Me. Also, the friends-to-lovers trope is like catnip and I really want to see what it takes for Aidan's brother, Quinn, to realize that his best friend, Anna, is in love with him.

Stay with Me / More of Me by Samantha Chase

Yargh. I just didn't like "Stay with Me" as much as the first two books in the series.  Mac was fine, but I just didn't feel like there was a good connection to Gina. There was certainly hot sex, but a true connection? Especially in light of all of the drama with Gina's father dying? I just didn't feel it. Mac felt vaguely bossy, even when he was trying not to and Gina came across as a little bit of a pushover.
The novella introducing the Montgomery cousins was more enjoyabe. Casey and Ryder had dated in college but he had abruptly dumped her thinking it was for the best. He went to the West Coast to run that branch of the family business. But he's been thinking lately that he needs something more. And seeing Casey on the beach reminds him of what he was missing. And learning that he was in line to help her plan his cousin's wedding? A perfect time to recapture something he had lost. Perfect sense of remorse, recrimination, and reuniting between these two.
This book will be coming out on April 21st.