Category: Contemporary Romance

The Second Chance Cafe by Alison Kent

Posted August 26, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Series / 0 Comments

Title: The Second Chance Cafe
Series: Hope Springs #1
Author: Alison Kent
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Montlake Romance
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: Borrowed, Kindle Unlimited
Cover Description:

Kaylie Flynn was luckier than most children left to the Texas foster care system, blessed with a foster mother who taught her the comfort of home…and the healing power of baking the perfect brownie.

Now, Kaylie has journeyed back to Hope Springs to open a café in the charming Victorian she once shared with her foster family — and to finally find answers about her past and where she came from.

Yet Kaylie’s carefully laid plans quickly become complicated. The house needs far more work than she realized, and Tennessee Keller, the carpenter Kaylie hires, stirs up feelings she hasn’t felt in a long while. When an unexpected crisis threatens to unravel her dreams, Kaylie seems to have all the ingredients for a perfect disaster — or quite possibly the perfect love.

Read on for my thoughts on The Second Chance Cafe. No true spoilers, promise.

Love On St Barts by Emme Cross

Posted August 26, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Series / 0 Comments

Title: Love On St. Barts
Series: St. Barts #1
Author: Emme Cross
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: June 5, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: Borrowed, Kindle Unlimited
Cover Description:

Everyone says he’s wrong for her, but she doesn’t care.

Sunny O’Hara young, pretty, and terribly innocent returns to her childhood home of St. Barts, an idyllic island in the West Indies. She meets Sven Larson, a movie star with a bad reputation for breaking women’s hearts. She falls in love with him and begins a journey of emotional and physical discovery. But has Sven really changed? Can a good woman redeem a very bad boy?

This is the first book in the St. Barts Romance series by Emme Cross. Set on the island of St. Barts, eight square miles of gourmet restaurants, designer shops, yachts . . . and secrets.

Read on for my thoughts on Love on St. Barts. No true spoilers, promise.

The Billionaire’s Temptation by Katherine Garbera

Posted August 26, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: The Billionaire’s Temptation
Series: Amalfi Night Billionaires #1
Author: Katherine Garbera
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: August 17, 2015
Publisher: Tule Publishing
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Rocco De Luca lives and loves in the fast lane. A past Formula 1 champ, he has been jetting around the world arranging celebrity charity races and partying with the world’s elite. Coming home to Isola del Fiori and filling in for his older brother for a few weeks sounds…well, boring. Until he meets Steffi Harlan.

Steffi Harlan is sophisticated, elegant, and way too smart to fall for a tanned chest and a bad-boy smile, or so she thinks, until she’s put in charge of keeping the jet-set playboy out of trouble while he’s gone. Sure, no problem. Except Steffi isn’t immune to Rocco’s charms.

They burn up the nights they spend together, and the last thing Steffi wants is to crash out and end up with a broken heart… Can they both survive love in the fast lane?

Read on for my thoughts on The Billionaire’s Temptation. No true spoilers, promise.

French Roast by Ava Miles

Posted August 25, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: French Roast
Series: Dare Valley #2
Author: Ava Miles
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: August 9, 2013
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: Owned, Kindle Edition
Cover Description:

Small-town biz wiz Jill Hale has been in love with her childhood best friend Brian McConnell for as long as she can remember. A falling out led to years of estrangement, but when Brian returns to Dare Valley after trying to make it big as a chef in New York City, Jill’s determined to make amends. She’s convinced that starting a restaurant together will be the perfect win-win situation, allowing her and Brian to work together and play together.

After a series of missteps sliced and diced Brian’s career in the Big Apple, he came home to regroup and find himself. He’s convinced that reestablishing his connection with Jill, the girl who got away, will put his life back on track. And when she approaches him with her plan for going into business together, he’s certain it’s the one way he can have it all-his dream job and his dream girl. Jill and Brian are falling for each other all over again when Brian’s ex sashays into town, intent on sabotaging their reunion. Add in a mysterious investor who’s determined to get Jill on board with his project, and the bond between the couple is tested to the limit. Will their second chance at love implode, or will they find their own recipe for a happy ending.

Read on for my thoughts on French Roast. No true spoilers, promise.

Small Town Secrets by Roxanne Snopek

Posted August 25, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Small Town Secrets
Series: Secrets of Cherry Lake #0 prequel
Author: Roxanne Snopek
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: August 24, 2015
Publisher: Tule Publishing
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: Owned, Kindle Edition
Cover Description:

The graduating class of Cherry Lake High School is celebrating their freedom with the traditional camp-out in the Jackson Cherry Orchard on the banks of Flathead Lake, Montana. Among the revelers are four cousins, the grandchildren of town founder and patriarch Nate Jackson, a man who knows first-hand how a life can change on grad night and the personal sacrifices that may be necessary months later.

Joining him on his annual vigil as twilight descends is Pansy Oppenheimer, a free spirit, who left Cherry Lake after graduation to wander the world. She mysteriously returns years later when Nate needs her friendship the most. As they keep watch at the edge of the orchard, they reminisce about their lives and choices; none of them easy, but all of them necessary. Nate and Pansy feel that they are guardians of the town, its children and keepers of their secrets.

Little does anyone know that they harbor a secret of their own…

Read on for my thoughts on Small Town Secrets. No true spoilers, promise.

Just Say Yes by Alyssa Goodnight

Posted August 25, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Just Say Yes
Series:
Author: Alyssa Goodnight
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: August 25, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Select Contemporary
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Single mom Jade Moran isn’t ready for any big changes in either her horrible ’70s kitchen or her romantic life. Her ex did a number on her, and she isn’t interested in getting hurt again. But when she meets a super-hot contractor, she wonders if avocado appliances are on the way out and romance is on the way in.

Max Gianopoulis doesn’t have a clue why he’s so enchanted by Jade. She’s almost as big a mess as her kitchen, and he’s a guy who likes to keep things simple. But Jade has turned up the flirty heat – and he can’t keep his hands off her.

With everything moving too fast and coming too easy, Jade’s insecurities kick into high gear. She’s not sure she can trust another man again – and she definitely doesn’t believe in happily ever afters.

Read on for my thoughts on Just Say Yes. No true spoilers, promise.

Ever After by Rachel Lacey

Posted August 25, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 1 Comment

Title: Ever After
Series: Love To The Rescue #3
Author: Rachel Lacey
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: August 25, 2015
Publisher: Forever (Grand Central Publishing)
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Olivia Bennett is not having a happy birthday. Instead of blowing out her twenty-nine candles, she’s stuck in jail, caught red-handed in a graffiti incident that (perhaps) involved one too many strawberry margaritas.Worst idea ever. The only bright side is that she ended up in the strong arms of the most gorgeous lawman she’s ever seen.

Pete Sampson (aka Deputy Hot Stuff) faces intense pressure from the sheriff to find out who’s behind a string of vandalisms. And after her spray-painting spree, Olivia is suspect number one. Still, Pete can’t stop thinking about her. Wanting her. Now he’s torn between his duty and his overpowering desire for the vivacious waitress. But he may have to bend the rules because true love is more important than the letter of the law.

Read on for my thoughts on Ever After. No true spoilers, promise.

Because of You by Kristina O’Grady

Posted August 25, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Because of You
Series: The Copeland Ranch #2
Author: Kristina O’Grady
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: August 25, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 3 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

One sizzling night… One life-changing moment!

Beth Copeland has made a terrible mistake. She slept with her long time crush Mark Asher…the man she couldn’t get out of her head, the man she dreamed about…the man who recently broke up with her friend Kelsey Woods, who everyone thought he would marry!

Beth is consumed with guilt and is certain she will never let that one night of passion be repeated, but sometimes a gorgeous cowboy is hard to resist…

Read on for my thoughts on Because of You. No true spoilers, promise.

Her Alaskan Hero by Rebecca Thomas

Posted August 25, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Her Alaskan Hero
Series: Alaskan Hero #1
Author: Rebecca Thomas
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: August 25, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

After being left at the altar, California girl Sabrina Tate needs to make a fast getaway. With her famous overbearing parents and the paparazzi hot on her heels, where else is a jilted bride to go to lick her wounds but Alaska? With only her tropical honeymoon clothes in tow, she makes her escape. For two weeks, she’ll live on her own and prove to herself—and her family—that she can make it without a husband.

Zak Forrester is a man on a mission. He’s turned his rugged yet luxurious Alaskan lodge into a hotspot for hunters, all in the hope to make up for a painful event in his past. But when Sabrina—one of the rare women to enter his rugged realm—stumbles into his world, he can’t get rid of her fast enough. He has no time for her yoga, vegetarian meal requests, or Scrabble.

Soon, neither can resist the other, and two hearts collide. With time ticking away, they have to decide where they belong. Is a life in a different world better than being a world apart?

Read on for my thoughts on Her Alaskan Hero. No true spoilers, promise.

Rescue Me, Maybe by Jackie Bouchard

Posted August 25, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction / 3 Comments

Title: Rescue Me, Maybe
Series:
Author: Jackie Bouchard
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance
Published: August 25, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

If you lost both your spouse and your dog to cancer within weeks of each other, but you were sadder about the dog, would you tell anyone? Maybe your closest friends. Unfortunately, Jane Bailey’s closest friends are on the other side of the country. That’s where Jane plans to go now that she’s free to leave Philadelphia, the too cold, beachless, street taco-deficient city her husband dragged her to six years ago. But with no job prospects in her hometown of San Diego, Jane is roped into helping out temporarily at her uncle’s southwestern small-town B&B.

En route to her new role as innkeeper and breakfast chef, she finds a stray at a rest stop. With her heart in pieces from the loss of her dog, she’s determined not to let this mutt worm its way into her affections. She’s also determined to have next-to-no interaction with the B&B’s irritating guests, and the even more annoying handyman who lives next door. Can Jane keep her sanity—and her secret that she’s not really a grieving widow—while trying to achieve her dream of getting back to the place she thinks is home?

Read on for my thoughts on Rescue Me, Maybe. No true spoilers, promise.

The Rebel by Victoria Purman

Posted August 22, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Series / 0 Comments

Title: The Rebel
Series: The Millionaire Malones #3
Author: Victoria Purman
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: August 20, 2015
Publisher: Tule Publishing
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Two people, who regret their missed chance, just might get another…

Sexy Australian pro surfer Cooper Malone lives his dreams on beaches all over the world. While surfing is his passion, he can’t quite suppress the longing for a permanent home with the one woman he let slip away.

World traveler Maggie MacLean first laid eyes on Cooper in a crowded bar on the island resort of Bali six years ago. The sparks and sizzle nearly scorched her bikini, but she never had a chance to explore that intense attraction. Later, when Maggie’s pregnant by a man who wants nothing to do with their child, she puts her passport away and heads home to California to be the best mom she can be.

But when a possible career ending injury sidelines Cooper from his beloved waves, he moves in with the one friend he’s been able to count on. Maggie and Cooper have ignored the burn of attraction for six years. Maggie’s not willing to risk their friendship or her son’s heartbreak when Cooper inevitably leaves to compete, but what if this time Cooper stays and Maggie allows their second chance at love to flame?

Read on for my thoughts on The Rebel. No true spoilers, promise.

Caught Between a Lie and True Love by Sheila Seabrook

Posted August 22, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 2 Comments

Title: Caught Between a Lie and True Love
Series: Caught Between
Author: Sheila Seabrook
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: April 24, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Paige Calhoun has spent years concealing the truth about her family. She’s got a new life now, centered around her daughter and her career, and there’s no room in it for anything—or anyone—else. But when instincts honed at the side of her con-artist dad warn her that her grandma is in trouble, she returns to Serendipity Island…where the web of lies she has told are in jeopardy of being uncovered.

Brody Jackson always thought of Paige Calhoun as the little girl next door. Three years her senior, his sights were set on a football scholarship, and fame and fortune as a pro quarterback. But now he’s back home, his career down the tubes, battling the grandma from hell for permanent custody of his teenage daughter…all because of one careless mistake.

Brody’s got no time for one hot woman who’s messing with his mind and his future. And Paige can’t afford to let one gorgeous man distract her from saving the residents of the island from her dad’s latest scam. All they both want is a life free from the past. Instead, they’re caught between the truth and true love.

Read on for my thoughts on Caught Between a Lie and True Love. No true spoilers, promise.

Caught Between an Oops and a Hard Body by Sheila Seabrook

Posted August 21, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Series / 2 Comments

Title: Caught Between an Oops and a Hard Body
Series: Caught Between #1
Author: Sheila Seabrook
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: July 5, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: Borrowed, Kindle Unlimited
Cover Description:

Stephanie Goodwin has never met a prince who didn’t turn out to be a frog, but she’s never allowed her personal feelings about men and relationships to interfere with her job as a wedding planner. Instead, she focuses on giving her clients their dream wedding, a magical day to get them through the trials and tribulations of the years ahead—before everything turns to dust.

Hotshot divorce lawyer, Stone Kincaid, has an aversion to marriage. His experience has taught him that wedding vows only lead to a broken heart that never really heals and an empty bank account. But when he returns to his family’s Serendipity Island estate to stop his irresponsible sister’s wedding, he encounters the wedding planner from hell—the gorgeous, sexy woman he met and bedded a month ago.

Can a woman with a history of picking the wrong kind of guy find a forever kind of love with a man who fears commitment almost as much as she does?

This story includes a marriage-phobic wedding planner, a hunky divorce lawyer whose attitude toward wedded bliss—and family—is about to change, one really big OOPS, afternoon naughtiness, peanut butter cookies, messy family relationships, and a battle-of-the-sexes secondary romance.

Read on for my thoughts on Caught Between an Oops and a Hard Body. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Hidden Treasure by Melody Anne

Posted August 21, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Hidden Treasure
Series: Billionaire Bachelors #9, Lost Andersons #2
Author: Melody Anne
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: May 19, 2014
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: Borrowed, Kindle Unlimited
Cover Description:

Brielle Storm inherits a dilapidated ranch in the wilds of Montana and she isn’t happy about her situation in the least. She may be moving to her new home, and she may be planning on doing whatever it takes to make her billionaire father happy, but she certainly won’t be doing it with a smile on her face.

No. Brielle plans on coming to Montana, hiring some ranch hand to do all the work, and then getting out of there before the first winter snow has a chance to hit.

Montana isn’t a state that offers predictable weather and Brielle is going to find out that the land isn’t the only thing she has to fear.

When her hotter than any city boy ever dreams of being, cowboy neighbor shows up on her doorstep, Brielle decides that maybe Montana isn’t so bad after-all.

That is until he laughs openly at her city girl ways. Then, she has something to prove.

Read on for my thoughts on Hidden Treasure. No true spoilers, promise.

Loving The Chase by Sharla Lovelace

Posted August 21, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Series / 0 Comments

Title: Loving The Chase
Series: Heart of the Storm #1
Author: Sharla Lovelace
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: August 25, 2015
Publisher: Montlake Romance
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Charming, adventurous Zach Chase has always craved the spotlight, and now he’s on the hunt for publicity for his family’s storm-chasing business. So when a reality TV network approaches him with the idea for a show profiling their work, he can’t resist. But the last person he expects to walk into the meeting is the former love of his life.

Production assistant Maddi Hayes was once engaged to Zach—until she was almost killed by a tornado he was out chasing. She walked away from her fiancé and their future together, convinced she’d always come second to his dangerous career.

Dreading the show and anxious over working so closely with Zach, Maddi also knows this project could mean big things for her career. If only Zach weren’t still so infuriating…and so infuriatingly sexy. Can they finally let go of their stormy past? Or will the passion still raging between them win in the end?

Read on for my thoughts on Loving The Chase. No true spoilers, promise.