Category: Contemporary Romance

Review: Animal Prints by May Williams

Posted June 15, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Animal Prints
Series: Michigan Moonlight #1
Author: May Williams
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: June 15, 2015
Publisher: Penner Publishing
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Photographer Ian Kroft’s dream is to finish his book on fellow veterans. When his father offers him the funds he needs in exchange for persuading a family to sell their farm, it sounds simple. Then Ian meets Colette and in a flash everything changes.

Cherry Ridge Farm is home to Colette’s family—and to her animal rescue center. The slim, gorgeous veterinarian has no intention of selling. Soon Ian’s chasing after her runaway dog and laughing at her jokes, and he knows that if he lets slip his real purpose, she’ll never forgive him. Ian’s torn between his book and his new romance…all while his father is clamoring for him to seal the deal.

Colette can trust a dog to come back when she calls, but a man? Colette’s been burned more than once. Then a sweet, athletic photographer pops into her life and makes her wonder if it’s time to picture a new future.

Read on for my thoughts on Animal Prints. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Deadly Strain by Julie Rowe

Posted June 15, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Deadly Strain
Series: Biological Response Team #1
Author: Julie Rowe
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Military Romance
Published: June 15, 2015
Publisher: Carina Press
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Major Grace Samuels, a trauma surgeon deployed to Afghanistan, spends her life helping her fellow soldiers overcome disease and combat injuries. But her own wounds are harder to heal. Wracked with guilt over the death of a fellow soldier, she finds comfort in her only friend and appointed bodyguard, weapons sergeant Jacob “Sharp” Foster.

Sharp feels more for Grace than a soldier should, more than he wants to admit. When the team discovers a new, quick-to-kill strain of Anthrax, he tries to focus on the mission to find its source. He knows he can help Grace defeat her demons, but first they must defeat the deadly outbreak.

Sharp is Grace’s most loyal ally, but in close quarters, he starts to feel like more. She can’t watch someone else she cares about die—but she might not have a choice. The closer they get to finding the source of the strain, the closer it gets to finding them.

Read on for my thoughts on Deadly Strain. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Filtered Through Blue by Jennifer Bramseth

Posted June 14, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Filtered Through Blue
Series: Bourbon Springs #2
Author: Jennifer Bramseth
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: June 14, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 5 star
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Hannah Davenport, the blonde bombshell belle of Bourbon Springs, Kentucky, and part owner of Old Garnet Distillery, catches her husband cheating in the marital bed and promptly dumps him. But new hope flows into her life in the form of an old flame, Craig County Sheriff Kyle Sammons. Their last relationship, a college summertime romance, ended in disaster. Kyle has never revealed the reason for the breakup, nor has Hannah, although Bourbon Springs has always been filled with rumors–rumors which both Hannah and Kyle know are wrong.

Hannah and Kyle strive to move beyond a painful past, but it will be difficult if she goes to work for the distillery, as her brother and co-owner, Bo Davenport, begs her to do after two key employees leave. Hannah takes up her brother’s challenge and the mantle of the Davenport name as she becomes a working owner of the legendary distillery, and crucial to growing the brand her late father had worked himself into an early grave to build.

But as her romance with Kyle deepens, so do her conflicts with her brother at work. And caught between her brother and her lover, she fears that the truth will come out about what happened years ago—a secret she’s buried and carried for years, unable to think about it because of the pain it still causes to this day…

FILTERED THROUGH BLUE is the second book the Bourbon Springs Series, a nine-book series of smooth, sensual, sexy, slow-burn contemporary romances set amidst the lush and rolling Land of Bourbon and Bluegrass of central Kentucky.

Read on for my thoughts on Filtered Through Blue. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Secret Blend by Jennifer Bramseth

Posted June 14, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Secret Blend
Series: Bourbon Springs #1
Author: Jennifer Bramseth
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: June 4, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: Owned, Kindle edition
Cover Description:

Sexy secrets have serious consequences in Bourbon Springs, Kentucky—in the heart of the Land of Bourbon and Bluegrass…

When longtime courtroom rivals Rachel Richards and Brady Craft get appointed to the bench in Bourbon Springs, Kentucky, tempers flare as they are forced to share chambers.

Working closely with the obstinate-yet-sexy Brady is not an attractive idea to Rachel—although she has to admit that Brady himself is pretty damned attractive.

Rachel doesn’t have to run for office to keep her judgeship, but Brady does. He draws a formidable opponent, Hannah Davenport, a wealthy co-owner of Old Garnet Distillery, where some of the finest Kentucky bourbon is crafted north of town along Old Crow Creek and near the historic springs which gave the town its unique name.

And Hannah just happens to be Rachel’s best friend.

As the judicial race heats up, so does the relationship between the judges—so they decide to keep it a secret.

But can any secret be kept in little Bourbon Springs, Kentucky?

SECRET BLEND is the first book in the Bourbon Springs Series, an upcoming nine-book series of smooth, sensual, sexy, slow-burn contemporary romances set amidst the lush and rolling Land of Bourbon and Bluegrass of central Kentucky.

Read on for my thoughts on Secret Blend. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Again, Alabama by Susan Sands

Posted June 12, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Again, Alabama
Series:
Author: Susan Sands
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: June 12, 2015
Publisher: Tule Publishing
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Cammie Laroux is back in Alabama—again.

Dragged back to her small town to help her mother recover from surgery while rescuing the family event planning business should be a cinch. Even for a disgraced television chef, right? Wrong.

Among the many secrets Cammie’s family’s been hiding is the fact that their historic home is falling down. Oh, and the man hired to restore the house, Grey Harrison, is the same high school and college love of her life who thrashed her heart and dreams ten years ago. Yeah, that guy.

Grey, a widower with a young daughter, has never stopped loving Cammie, and when they are face to face once again, the chemistry is off the charts. Cammie may be in full-blown denial, but letting go is no longer in Grey’s vocabulary, even when winning Cammie’s forgiveness and renovating their love may seem like an impossible build even for a master architect and carpenter.

As Cammie finds herself forgetting all the reasons she can’t trust Grey or love again, he finds himself remembering all the reasons he wants her to stay with him in Alabama… forever.

Read on for my thoughts on Again, Alabama. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling

Posted June 12, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: The Ugly Stepsister
Series:
Author: Aya Ling
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance, Retelling
Published: June 12, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

When Kat accidentally rips apart an old picture book, she’s magically transported into the world of Cinderella–as Katriona, one of the ugly stepsisters!

Life turns upside down now that she’s a highborn lady and must learn how to survive the social season, including how to get through the door in a huge metal hoop skirt.

To get back, she’ll have to complete the story, right to the end of happily ever after. But the odds are huge: the other stepsister is drop-dead gorgeous, the fairy godmother is nowhere to be found, and the prince, despite being insanely hot, openly dislikes balls. Can she ever return to the modern world?

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

Review: Midsummer Dreams by Alison May

Posted June 12, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 3 Comments

Title: Midsummer Dreams
Series:
Author: Alison May
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Retelling
Published: June 12, 2015
Publisher: Choc Lit
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Four people. Four messy lives. One night that changes everything.

Emily is obsessed with ending her father’s new relationship – but is blind to the fact that her own is far from perfect.

Dominic has spent so long making other people happy that he’s hardly noticed he’s not happy himself.

Helen has loved the same man, unrequitedly, for ten years. Now she may have to face up to the fact that he will never be hers.

Alex has always played the field. But when he finally meets a girl he wants to commit to, she is just out of his reach.

At a midsummer wedding party, the bonds that tie the four friends together begin to unravel and show them that, sometimes, the sensible choice is not always the right one.

A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Read on for my thoughts on Midsummer Dreams. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Breaking Love by M J Summers

Posted June 11, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Breaking Love
Series: Full Hearts #2
Author: M J Summers
Genre: Erotica, Contemporary Romance
Published: October 28, 2014 – May 27, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Luc Chevalier is a satisfied man – or so he thinks. His businesses are thriving, he has all the excitement, money and beautiful women any man could want. He dines at the best restaurants and stays at the most luxurious hotels as he makes his way around the globe. So why does he suddenly find himself so restless?

Megan Sullivan is a single mom with a rather ordinary life. She is comfortable with things just the way they are. She has a six-year-old son, Elliott, a cozy house in Boulder, Colorado, and a photography business to put food on the table. Her ex lives hours away in Florida, providing enough space for him to feed his drug addiction without exposing Elliott to his father’s illness. Megan is on her own and she intends to keep it that way.

Megan is convinced by her best friend to take a trip to Paris for a few days. Little does she know she is about to be thrust into the arms of Luc Chevalier, the sexiest man to ever set foot on the Eiffel Tower. They agree to one night together and no more. In those few short hours he manages to draw out the passionate woman that Megan has carefully hidden way for years. Once she has a taste of what she’s been missing, she finds it almost impossible to go back to her life as it was.

Will two people who don’t believe in happily-ever-after manage to put aside their doubts and find their forever?

Join Luc as he discovers that everything he never wanted is the only thing he will ever need.

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

Review: The Cinderella Body Club Boxed Set

Posted June 9, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: The Cinderella Body Club Boxed Set
Series: The Cinderella Body Club
Author: Jennifer Conner, Angela Ford, Sharon Kleve, Amber Daulton
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: May 27, 2015
Publisher: Books To Go Now
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

The boxed collection of the best-selling series, The Cinderella Body Club a new romance series of the timeless Cinderella story re imagined where four girlfriends make a wish on a locket. They all wish they were beautiful, and look like the girls they’ve always wanted to be. The belle of the ball.

Cinderella Had it Easy – Jennifer Conner
Cami works in the basement of a television station which airs history documentaries. With scars on her face that she acquired in a car accident as a child, Cami finds it easier to be by herself. She gets into a heated debate with the handsome new host of the show she’ll be working on. Is Lance the knight in shining armor who can drag Cami out of her safe zone?

With no carriage and no helpful mice, she has to rely on the magic from her grandmother’s locket. Cami only has 24 hours in her Cinderella body, what will she do with it? Will she keep hiding or can she learn how to live life?

Spellbound Cinderella – Angela Ford
Tess Andrews lacked self-confidence. She believed she was ‘Plain-Jane’. Her last date ended before it began when he asked if she’d set him up with one of her model clients. Tess owned a small employment agency. Some of her clients were models, which only made her insecurities worse.

Internationally-famous model photographer, Parker Walsh, always left Tess speechless and in a rush to run and hide. She attempts to spark up a conversation but with no success. Her business dealings were even dealt with through his assistant.

Her savior—Girls Night; once a week Tess got together with her friends who were all in similar situations with no luck in love. One night they wished on a magical pendant to be that perfect girl they would like to see in the mirror. They wake up in their ‘Cinderella Bodies’ – sexy and better looking but they only have until midnight to make the most of it.. Her ‘Cinderella Body’ boosts her confidence to invite Parker to lunch. He surprises her with an invite to his charity fashion show. Tess has everything for her magical night – her Prince, the dress, the shoes but she worries when the clock strikes twelve if he’ll like the ‘real’ her.

Second Chance Cinderella – Sharon Kleve
Raven St. James is a Phlebotomist in a prominent Portland, Oregon hospital. She is petite, with jet-back hair, green eyes, and extremely shy. She dreams of being like the nurses on the daytime hospital shows—perfect. Tall, blond, blue eyed, with big breasts.

Dr. Quinn Taylor admires Raven’s skill, and the caring she shows with her patients, but can’t get her attention. Until the day she winks at him.
Raven only has 24 hours in her Cinderella body. What will she do with it? Will she become the confident, strong, flirty girl she wants to be? Will she get the guy she’s always wanted? Quinn.

Cinderella’s Enchanted Night – Amber Daulton
Annalise Gallagher wanted Elijah Burleigh. Plain and simple. She’d watched him from afar for months, her friends called her ‘his own personal stalker’, and then she made a wish on a magic pendant for a full-body makeover. Transformed into the gorgeous knockout she’d always wanted to be, she asked Elijah out on a date and wore a haute couture gown straight from Paris to his friend’s wedding.

With just twenty-four hours on the clock, her enchanted night faded into the morning hours and everything crashed down around her. Annalise harbored a shameful secret and Elijah demanded the truth with the veil of magic gone. The truth, however, could destroy her fragile confidence and push him away forever.

Read on for my thoughts on The Cinderella Body Club Boxed Set. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Break in Two by M J Summers

Posted June 9, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Break in Two
Series: Full Hearts #1
Author: M J Summers
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotica
Published: November 5, 2013 – May 27, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Thirty-one year old Claire Hatley is running from Seattle having just discovered that her live-in boyfriend has traded her in for a twenty-two year old hostess. Devastated and alone Claire must make a fresh start.

She answers an ad for a chef at a guest ranch just outside Colorado Springs and finds herself face to face with Cole Mitchell, quite possibly the sexiest man to ever ride a horse. Common sense tells them to stay away from each other, but their attraction is not to be denied. He gives her a glimpse of what love should be, but just as she starts to trust him, the past comes back to tear them apart.

Join Claire and Cole as they embark on the stormy love affair of a lifetime.

Read on for my thoughts on Break in Two. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Married in Montana by Kirsten Osbourne

Posted June 9, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Married in Montana
Series: At The Altar #1
Author: Kirsten Osbourne
Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance
Published: April 16, 2015
Publisher: Unlimited Dreams Publishing
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Savannah is tired of the dating scene, even though she wants to get married and have a family. She knows her mother will never move on with her own life as long as Savannah is single. Savannah goes to see a matchmaker, specializing in setting up couples who meet at the altar. At first, she thinks Scott is a dream come true, but his blundering soon makes her crazy.

Scott, a Montana bison rancher, doesn’t have time to find a wife. His work is all-encompassing. Besides, he tends to have a hard time getting women to go out with him more than once. When he runs into a matchmaker he’s known all his life, he tells her about the problems he’s had to see if she can help him. When he meets Savannah at the altar, his heart stops for a moment. She’s exactly what he’s looking for. Will their diverse backgrounds keep them apart? Or will they be able to work through their differences to make their marriage a loving relationship?

Read on for my thoughts on Married in Montana. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Two Nights with His Bride by Kat Latham

Posted June 8, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Two Nights with His Bride
Series: Montana Born Brides #6
Author: Kat Latham
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: June 8, 2015
Publisher: Tule Publishing
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Wedding fever has hit the little town of Marietta…

Soap opera star Nancy Parsons is madly in love with Hollywood’s favorite leading man, and they’re getting married on her parents’ stunning horse ranch just outside Marietta, Montana. Actors, athletes, and politicians will be there to watch Hollywood’s most extravagant couple say I do.

There’s just one problem. The bride’s childhood friend Wyatt Wilder knows Nancy’s making the biggest mistake of her life. Sure, Jared’s got looks, money, fame, and—it seems—Nancy’s heart. But when her bridesmaids hire him to lead them on a girls’-only adventure, Wyatt has two nights in the wilderness along the Yellowstone River to show her what a real man looks and acts like. A rugged, tough, loving man.

But will he be able to do it before she says “I do” to the wrong man?

Read on for my thoughts on Two Nights with His Bride. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Too Charming by Kathryn Freeman

Posted June 7, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Too Charming
Series:
Author: Kathryn Freeman
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: September 18, 2013 – Reissue June 8, 2015
My Rating: 4 star
Source: NetGalley
From the Cover:

Does a girl ever really learn from her mistakes?

Detective Sergeant Megan Taylor thinks so. She once lost her heart to a man who was too charming and she isn’t about to make the same mistake again – especially not with sexy defence lawyer, Scott Armstrong. Aside from being far too sure of himself for his own good, Scott’s major flaw is that he defends the very people that she works so hard to imprison.

But when Scott wants something he goes for it. And he wants Megan. One day she’ll see him not as a lawyer, but as a man … and that’s when she’ll fall for him.

Yet just as Scott seems to be making inroads, a case presents itself that’s far too close to home, throwing his life into chaos.

As Megan helps him pick up the pieces, can he persuade her that he isn’t the careless charmer she thinks he is? Isn’t a man innocent until proven guilty?

Read on for my thoughts on Too Charming. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: How To Bake The Perfect Apple Pie by Gina Henning

Posted June 5, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: How to Bake the Perfect Apple Pie
Series: Home for the Holidays #3
Author: Gina Henning
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: June 4, 2015
Publisher: Carina
My Rating: 4.5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Blurb:

A scrumptious pie. A long distance guy. 4th of July fireworks guaranteed.

Lauren Hauser has it all…nearly. With a shiny new job and sparkly new engagement ring on her finger, the only thing she’s missing is her gorgeous new fiancé by her side. Should she be worried? Jack’s kisses are as sizzling as always and, sure, long distance is hard but, she and Jack are solid, right?

Of course the stress of planning a wedding—or not—is nothing compared to the stress of baking an apple pie. Because it’s not just any apple pie that Lauren must bake for the 4th of July contest; it’s her grandmother’s famous, award-winning apple pie! Yet Lauren is determined to make this pie her own and a little apple pie should be no problem for the Hauser clan dessert queen…!

But with her new job taking up so much time, a prize pie to perfect and the growing distance between her and Jack, Lauren begins to wonder if she can really have it all… Only one things for sure, there’ll be fireworks this 4th of July!

Read on for my thoughts on How to Bake the Perfect Apple Pie. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Never Refuse A Sheikh by Jackie Ashenden

Posted June 5, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance / 0 Comments

Title: Never Refuse a Sheikh
Series: International Bad Boys #7
Author: Jackie Ashenden
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: June 5, 2015
Publisher: Tule Publishing – Holiday Books
My Rating: 5+ stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Blurb:

When the sheikh claims a wife, she cannot refuse …

Altair is a man perfectly in control both of himself and the power he wields as regent of Al Harah. Yet in order to retain his stronghold on the country he loves, he must wed a princess wilder than the Bedouin tribe she was raised in. A princess who only has one word for him: no.

Princess Safira knows what freedom means and it isn’t a palace or a crown. Neither does it mean being told what to do by a man with more ice in his veins than blood. Safira is innocent in the ways of men, but the heat in Altair’s gaze calls to a deep, unclaimed part of her soul she cannot deny. Altair seems hell-bent on civilizing her, but she’s not so easily tamed. Especially not when she can sense the wildness that lives in him.

Read on for my thoughts on Never Refuse a Sheikh. No true spoilers, promise.