So basically, this is your typical vows-never-to-love-again widower father meets ex-rodeo princess turned ex-famous movie star turned wheelchair-using recluse story. Unnecessarily complicated backstory aside, I had surprisingly high hopes for this book. I mean, how often do you actually find a book on Amazon with a 4.9 out of 5 rating–much less a series romance? Unfortunately, due to its lackluster plot and problematic main characters, the book didn’t even meet my relatively low expectations, much … Continue reading Back in the Saddle by Karen Templeton →
Cute but frustrating. Aubrey (Bree) Dunbar and Daniel (Danny) MacGregor were childhood sweethearts. With their parents living across the street from each other, it’s the idyllic hometown romance. After graduating high school they head off to college together, with Danny on a baseball scholarship. At the end of their Freshman year Danny flunks out and loses his scholarship. Danny’s way to solve the “what happens now?” problem is to enlist in the Army; unfortunately he … Continue reading Once and For All by Cheryl Etchison →
I don’t normally read too much contemporary romance. I waded into the waters a few years ago and through blind luck managed to routinely pick novels featuring an overabundance of angst. And while I can certainly appreciate authors tackling modern issues, I was walking away from these novels more depressed then when I started. But when I read the summary of Off the Hook I was pretty confident this book wouldn’t fall into that category, … Continue reading Off the Hook by Laura Drewry →
As the book opens, we’re introduced to Zach Talbot, a veterinarian who lives in Whispering Pines, a small town in New Mexico, and Mallory Keyes, formerly an actress and now a paraplegic woman hiding from everything and everyone. Zach is a widower, he has two boys that are 3 and 8, and while he’s kind of lonely and overwhelmed, he’s doing okay. Mallory bought a house in Whispering Pines in order to hide out from the paparazzi, … Continue reading Back in the Saddle by Karen Templeton →
Carolina Dreaming is the fifth book in the Dare Island series, and I did feel like there was some character backstory I was missing by not having read previous books. People are introduced by name and it felt like those names should mean something to me. Jane, our heroine, played a minor role in a previous book, but that story is summed up in this book since our hero, Gabe, is new to town. Both Jane … Continue reading Carolina Dreaming by Virginia Kantra →
Updated March 2018: Since this review was posted, allegations have been made about Santino Hassell specifically about abuse, manipulation, and the hiding or concealing of the actual identity of the author of the books published under that name. You can read a complete summary of everything at The Salt Miner’s three part series: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. This guest review as part of the RITA Reader Challenge project, was written and posted more … Continue reading Fast Connection by Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell →
