Monday, February 21, 2022

If the Boot Fits by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Can an assistant and a big-time star find true love? After a one-night stand? According to this book, they can. And it is insta-lust, insta-love... how many more tropes got stuck in here? A lot. I enjoyed the first book in the series more than I thought I would and this book, which should have been my catnip, was a little less enjoyable. I think it was the timeline of Amanda and Sam being just a little too fast. I enjoyed seeing a lot of the other characters in this series and I would have enjoyed this book more had the romance been on just a little bit of an extended timeline.

Three stars
This book came out October 27th, 2020
Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Sunday, February 20, 2022

The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox

The tagline on this is a little deceptive. It says they wanted a different life but that's not exactly true, Charlie and Cass switch places because Charlie gets hit on the head and needs Cass to step into her role as a TV baker when she loses her sense of smell. I'm not entirely sure why it had to be a secret that Charlie was filling in for Cass but I guess in the digital age it's possible someone could have leaked their secret. I also am not a fan of insta-love and we got this times two. I mean, the two couples pair off in less than two weeks. Cass and Miguel's romance was sweet, the fake star and the physician's assistant meeting and him thinking he had already met her. They are able to work through their issues a little more easily. For Charlie, however, she is pretending to be Cass and that is an issue because Cass only just broke up with her boyfriend but he doesn't seem to be acknowledging that fact.
The "falling in love" was just a little two fast for me. It was an okay read and I just had too many questions. 

Three stars
This book came out October 5th, 2021
Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Saturday, February 19, 2022

A Cowboy to Remember by Rebekah Weatherspoon

I wasn't sure that I wanted to read this book but all three books in the series were available at my local library and Weatherspoon is an amazing author so I grabbed this one too. And I really enjoyed it! Yes, there was an amnesia plot but it was fun to see Evie and Zach get to know each other again after she gets pushed down the stairs by a jealous rival. The ending was a bit abrupt but overall a fun ride.

Three and a half stars
This book came out February 25th, 2020
Followed by If the Boot Fits
Ebook borrowed from Libby
Opinions are my own

Friday, February 18, 2022

First Impressions by Nora Roberts

I'm hoping that this is an early book of Nora Roberts (I looked, it is). While eminently listenable, it contains a prototypical nineties Alpha male. Vance Banning is trying to get away from it all. When Shane Abbott (the ubiquitous sunny heroine who's trying to making it on her own and fix the world around her) mistakes him for a carpenter, he decides to go along with the charade. He helps her fix up her grandmother's old house, weathers the emotionally-charged scenes with her cold, emotionless mother, but neglects to tell her that he's really a very wealthy business man who was hurt by (who else?) his first wife.
Not the best of stories but nowhere near being a wall-thumper.
Re-read twelve years later and didn't remember a single part of this story. Same frustration with the alphamale who just didn't want to share his feelings and Shane who is just a little too sweet.

Three stars
This book originally came out April 1984
Ebook borrowed from Libby
Opinions are my own

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Flash by Jayne Ann Krentz

Olivia Chantry has recently inherited 49% of her late-uncle's business. This is a problem for her and the rest of the family are nervous about an outsider joining the company. Jasper Sloane is slightly more excited about inheriting the other part of the company. He's been out-of-sorts lately and this job seems like it will be a good challenge, one he's looking forward to. If only he can get Olivia to see things his way... and work on figuring out who a murdering blackmailer is.
One of Krentz's works from the late 90's that I re-read every couple of years. Of course, some of the technology is dated but the love story holds up pretty well.

Four stars
This came out in 1998
Hard copy I didn't keep
Opinions are my own

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Sure Shot by Sarina Bowen

Oh. I was so disappointed in the ending of this book. The rest of it was fine and a nice addition to the Brooklyn series but the ending was so out of place with the rest of the book and could have been skipped.
Years ago, Bess Beringer fell into some pretty good insta-lust with Mark "Tank" Tankiewicz. She ended it when another sports agent told her that it wasn't good optics for female agents to sleep with male clients. Tank wasn't her client but she still decided to break it off. Now, he's been traded to the Brooklyn Bruisers and he's met Bess again. She is the only bright spot in his trade since he just came from the arch-rival Houston team and his style of play is very different from the man he is replacing. But they're just going to keep things light. Right?

Three stars
This book came out May 12, 2020
Follows Moonlighter
Followed by Bombshells
Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Matchmaking Mischief by A.R. Casella, Denise Grover Swank

I liked Willow, the sunshine-y baker, and I liked Alex, who was maybe a little bit of a grumpy/brooding writer, but I missed any sense of chemistry between them. Like most of the Bad Luck Club series, this book was fast, fun, and fluffy but the enjoyment was more in the friendships and the matchmaking than in the romance.
Alex met previous heroine Molly at a writer's retreat and she convinced him to come down to Asheville and live with Bear. She assured him that his writer's block would be solved. Instead, he gets caught up with Willow and her matchmaking antics.
Willow left her hometown and her family's legacy but can't help herself in trying to match up couples. Alex accidentally distracts one of the matches and she yells at him. Of course, out of character for the sunshine one. He is bemused at first but then decides to join Team Sunshine and starts working to get at least two of our favorite characters from the series together.

Three stars
This book came out
Followed by new series starter Matchmaking the Billionaire
Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own