Kaetrin's Musings

Musings on Romance

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After We Fall by Melanie Harlow

shirtless dark-haired, stubble-beared hot guy with full abs on display, wearing low slung dark jeans against a golden backgroundWhy I read it:  I picked this one up recently for the bargain price of 99c. Go me.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads)  Jack Valentini isn’t my type.

Sexy, brooding cowboys are fine in the movies, but in real life, I prefer a suit and tie. Proper manners. A close shave.

Jack might be gorgeous, but he’s also scruffy, rugged, and rude. He wants nothing to do with a “rich city girl” like me, and he isn’t afraid to say so.

But I’ve got a PR job to do for his family’s farm, so he’s stuck with me and I’m stuck with him. His glares. His moods. His tight jeans. His muscles.

His huge, hard muscles.

Pretty soon there’s a whole different kind of tension between us, the kind that has me misbehaving in barns, trees, and pickup trucks. I’ve never done anything so out of character—but it feels too good to stop.

And the more I learn about the grieving ex-Army sergeant, the better I understand him. Losing his wife left him broken and bitter and blaming himself. He doesn’t think he deserves a second chance at happiness.

But he’s wrong.

I don’t need to be his first love. If only he’d let me be his last.

What worked for me (and what didn’t):  Margot Thurber Lewiston is a rich white city girl from old money. She is the very definition of privilege. She knows it. She’s also awesome, compassionate, funny and smart, good at her job and quick to laugh at herself. I pretty much loved her from the first chapter when she was throwing scones at her shitty ex-boyfriend at a fancy social function. Her uptight WASPy mother basically banishes her from “polite society” until the “scandal” dies down. So she heads to the country to help a farm with a marketing issue and there, she meets grumpy farmer, Jack Valentini.
Continue reading

Review at AudioGals

I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Best Man For Hire by Tawna Fenske, narrated by Carly Robins. Ms. Fenske is good at humorous set pieces which don’t belittle the heroine. Good fun.

torsos of a couple in an embrace, faces not visible

Review at Dear Author

I’m over at Dear Author with a review of All I Want for Halloween by Marie Harte. I was iffy at first but I ended up liking both the hero and heroine and their romance.

Face pic of a dark-haired girl with an updo and a black lace eye mask with a black-gloved finger of red-lipsticked lips

Review at AudioGals

I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Blind Date by Bella Jewel, narrated by Maxine Mitchell, with Joe Arden. Okay romantic suspense with solid narration even though it didn’t wow me.

Close up of lower faces of a man and woman about to kiss. The cover is washed in red and black.

September Round Up

Monthly Mini Review

rainy/snowy street/cityscape in purple tonesSecrets in Death by JD Robb, narrated by Susan Ericksen – B I always enjoy In Death books to one degree or another so I’d pre-ordered the audiobook and started it the day it downloaded. Secrets in Death is less gruesome than some of the other installments. Sure, Larinda Mars bleeds to death but there is no sexual violence done to her and the villain isn’t quite as twisted as some of them have been.

Susan Ericksen’s narration is always stellar in this series. Her characterisations inform my reading even in print and I hear her voice in my head, especially the Irish lilt she gives Roarke. Continue reading

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