Category: Romance Read

Romance Read Thursday: One Night with her Boss

9/29/2016

One Night with her Boss
by Noelle Adams

Synopsis

Anne has worked for her sexy, ex-surfer, businessman boss for seven years, and she’s been in love with him for two. Jake doesn’t think about her as anything but his ever-efficient assistant, though. She’s been trying to get over her feelings by dating other men and interviewing for other jobs—which doesn’t make Jake very happy. But Anne is determined not to put her life on hold for him.

When she gets a new job offer, Jake will do anything he can to keep her, but he still only seems to want her as an employee. Anne might find him irresistible, but she’s learned to resist. There are lines that he’ll just never cross.

But then everything changes in only one night...

Review

Anne has been in love with her boss, Jake, since she started working with him. Now, three years have passed by and Anne has realized that nothing will ever happen between the two of them. So, she's decided to move forward by accepting a new job offer. She thinks Jake will be indifferent to the situation, but he's anything but.

This was an interesting novella to get through and it's fast pace did work in its favor. It's a good read when you want something quick and satisfying to read. The chemistry between the two characters is palpable. I would normally feel uncomfortable with that chemistry and the fact that they are employee and employer - except that Anne is Jakes ONLY employee. Ha, for some reason, that made it easier. As always, I do wish it would have been a teensy bit longer - but novellas are called such for a reason, right?

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Romance Read: A Negotiated Marriage

9/22/2016

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A Negotiated Marriage
by Noelle Adams

Synopsis

Sex wasn't supposed to be part of the deal.

Three years into a marriage of convenience, Molly's high-powered CEO husband wants to add a new term to their marriage agreement. Sex--without any messy emotional entanglements. But weekly sex with Luke, despite their carefully negotiated terms, is likely to get messy eventually.

Content in a mutually beneficial arrangement, Molly isn't going to fall for Luke the way she fell for an old lover, only to be crushed in the end. She vows to stay strong, no matter how much intimacy develops between them in bed. When her old lover returns, finally wanting a real relationship, Molly has the chance to give her heart to a man who will accept it.

It's too bad she now wants to give it to her husband, who has never admitted her heart is what he wants.

Review

As regular readers of this blog know - I have a thing for stories involving marriage of convenience or contract marriages. Well, A Negotiated Marriage puts a great spin on those tropes.

In this story, the couple is already in a contract marriage. It was truly a fun read with quite a different perspective. Both Luke and Molly are already getting something from each other, but after living like a marriage couple, Luke decides he'd like to introduce sex into their contract. Molly has been burned in relationships before and she doesn't want her fake one to succumb because of her feelings.

The only thing that would have made this book better would be if the reader was given Luke's POV in alternating chapters. I really love that in books. Molly's POV was written just fine - the alternating POV just adds more substance in my opinion.

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Romance Read Thursday: The Fix Up

9/15/2016

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The Fix Up
by Tawna Fenske

Synopsis

Uncovering this sexy geek’s charm is easy. Keeping her hands off of him is impossible.

While he may look like the love child of a movie starlet and an NFL linebacker, Ben Langley has the people skills of a half-drowned porcupine. Why socialize when there are chemistry labs and bad sci-fi flicks? If he has any hope of taking the helm as CEO of the family business, Ben needs an image makeover. Pronto.

Enter Holly Colvin, owner of First Impressions public relations and branding firm, and the woman who just saved Ben from the clutches of an over-attentive sales clerk. Holly’s rebranded hundreds of companies in her career, but she’s never rebranded a person. The guy clearly needs help, though, and she’s just the woman for the job.

With the clock ticking for them both, Holly and Ben face off over wardrobe malfunctions and business jargon that sounds a lot sexier than it should. But can Holly make Ben into the man he thinks he should be without losing the man she’s starting to love?

Review

I'm back!

Ok, now that we got that out of the way - The Fix Up is a cute contemporary read that could very easily be made into a Thursday night 30 minute sitcom or run-of-the mill rom com. This is not an insult at all as I am quite the fan of such sitcoms and movies. The idea of someone who should be considered an alpha by the standards of romance novels, who actually turns out to be quite the geek who needs the help of someone else to "fit in."

I loved the geek's geekiness and the overall romance. Maybe it's maturity (her her), but the unprofessionalism of employee and employer (technically) really got to me! I could have easily forgiven that part (fictionally at least) if it weren't for the fact that story is super short and moves super fast. All in all, however, a cute story and I don't regret taking the time to read it.

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Review: Her Fantasy Husband

8/11/2016

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Her Fantasy Husband
Things To Do Before You Die novel
by Nina Croft

Synopsis

Security Company CEO Josh Slater put his life on hold when he said “I do” to protect a stranger. While his marriage was never meant to be real—he hasn’t even seen his wife in five years—Josh can’t shake the idea that he’d be cheating if he moves on. Now he’s a man with a mission: chase down his “wife,” get an annulment, and finally indulge in a little no-strings sex.

Heiress Alexia Slater entered into a marriage of convenience straight out of high school to gain control of her inheritance before her not-so loving family squandered the whole thing. She doesn’t want the marriage to be real—she’s fought hard for her independence—but that hasn’t stopped her from spending the last five years fantasizing about her gorgeous husband.

Then he shows up.

Josh wants an annulment. Lexi needs to stay married. When the chemistry explodes between them, there’s no stopping the battle of wills only one of them can win…

Review

I had forgotten about this little gem in my NetGalley account (Yes, I have a lot that I've requested...). I thought this book was well-written, and I ended up enjoying both the heroine and hero.

Lexi and Josh have been married now for 5 years - except they're mostly complete strangers to each other. Theirs is a marriage of convenience because Lexi needed to get married quick to someone that wouldn't try cheating her out of anything due to her family wanting to get their hands on her inheritance and squander it. Enter Josh, a man with no interest in being in any relationship who is focused on creating his own company/business. The agreements works for both of them until Josh experiences an almost-close-to-death-experience and realizes he needs to stop being married so he can have some sexy times without any strings. And yeah, that isn't gong to work for Lexi because it opens up the opportunity for her grandmother to hound in and squander Lexi's inheritance. So - how to convince stubborn Josh to think twice about staying married?

This wasn't exactly an enemies to lovers story (my fave!), but it was a strangers to lovers stories with a marriage of convenience which is just as good some times. Lexi is a billionaire with a heart of gold, using most of her money to help people and animals. Josh is the strong, silent type who starts feeling protective of Lexi. Together, they form an agreement within an agreement *SPOILER* and decide they can add sex to their marriage as long as they stay married for 6 more months - and then they can get a divorce and each move forward in their lives.

Nothing wrong can come of that, right?

Ha! Yeah right. Feelings and sex are just the mix for everything to go wrong - especially in a romance read.

The characters are just well-rounded enough for me to care about them and want them to work things out. There are instances of them both feeling hurt (am I sadistic because I like it when the romance leads get hurt/jealous/possessive?), and enjoying each other. OH! and my other favorite thing - we get the story from both POVs. I love reading the guy's thoughts heh.

I think romance readers that are in for a quick read will enjoy this story. Unless you have a thing against marriage of convenience stories...

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Review: Catch a Mate

7/21/2016

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Catch a Mate
by Gena Showalter

Synopsis

How to catch the love of your life…with his pants down

Jillian Greene is always getting caught in the act—it's her job! Working at Catch a Mate, Jillian gets paid by suspicious wives to smile, flirt and prove that no man can be trusted around the opposite sex. But she never gets physical—until a heart-stoppingly gorgeous male walks in….
Marcus Brody has just been hired to test female fidelity. But the last thing Jillian needs is a partner…especially an infuriating, irresistible man who's got her fantasizing about tearing off his clothes!

Review

I'm torn, dear reader. I really am. So far, I've truly enjoyed Showalter's books, and even though I did like some parts of this book...it kind of annoyed me.

Let me explain. Oh, and spoilers!

Jillian is a jaded woman who works for a Catch the Cheater-type business in which she plays the "bait" and semi-persuades the man to show that he will cheat. Marcus is the new guy that turns out to be the new owner who introduces the male "bait". The two seemingly hate each other at first, and then realize they are actually more alike than they are different. Both have been hurt, and both have trust issues. Refreshingly, it is Marcus who gets over those issues first

Now - here are my gripes. I thought this would be funny. And, yes, parts were funny, but I could only laugh for so long. I mean, we're talking about infidelity here, and I found it really hard to push through the fact that these people made a business from being the "others." Even though I knew it was fiction, it still hampered my fun.

Also, Marcus and Jillian in the beginning annoyed me to no end. It took the last third of the book for me to actually like them as characters. Here's my reasoning: from the moment Jillian and Marcus meet each other - all I read was how much they wanted to tear each other's clothes off. All this even when they were being horrible to each other! I really love when the two leading characters hate each other and then fall for each other - but that usually involves witty banter that can turn somewhat mean, and then the person regrets it. This was like, I hate you so much, but I still want to **** you. I just found it a little crude, and it made me dislike them very much before I actually got to know them. In hindsight, this might be the point - but I still didn't like that in the beginning.

If you're a fan of Showalter's, I suggest you read the book and then tell me what you get from it. If you're looking for a romantic comedy-type of read, may I suggest Showalter's The Stone Prince? I felt that one read more like a funny movie than this one. This one made me kinda sad.

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Romance Read Thursday: One Night with her Boss

Romance Read: A Negotiated Marriage

Romance Read Thursday: The Fix Up

Review: Her Fantasy Husband

Review: Catch a Mate

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