Musings on Romance

Tag: contemporary (Page 57 of 122)

Review at Dear Author

I’m over at Dear Author with a review of House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick. Historical mystery with a bit of a time slip to keep things interesting. Plus, there’s a HEA for extra bonus points.

woman in a red dress with a suitcase walking up the gravel drive in between parterre gardens to a white 3 storey mansion with a gold roof

Review at AudioGals

I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Getting Lucky Number Seven by Cindi Madsen, narrated by Andi Arndt & Cooper North. Entertaining new adult romance with great narration.

Abs! Black and white pic of a guy's ripped abs framed by an open white button down shirt.

Falling from the Sky by Sarina Bowen, narrated by Tanya Eby & Aiden Snow

close up of a fair-haired woman and a dark-haired man (with a beard) about to kissWhy I read it:  I received a review copy via the publisher.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads)  She’s the woman he doesn’t remember. He’s the man she can’t forget.

Bad boy Hank “Hazardous” Lazarus used to have everything: a gorgeous girlfriend, a career as a freestyle snowboarder and a spot on the US Olympic team. Nine months ago, after a bad crash in the half pipe, he woke up in the hospital, unable to move his legs. Now he’s landed there again, but gravity is not the culprit. With his family pressuring him to try a groundbreaking treatment, Hank self-medicates with too much tequila instead.

Doctor Callie Anders has the courage to restart a patient’s heart with a thousand volts of electricity, yet she’s afraid to risk her own. So she doesn’t confess to her newest patient they they met just before the accident, an encounter that he doesn’t remember. Even as their friendship develops, she won’t admit that she regrets turning down his dinner invitation, or that her heart stutters every time those inked shoulders roll through the door of the therapy department.

With another Vermont winter coming again, Hank needs a hand out from under the avalanche of his disappointments. If only Callie were brave enough to take the job.

What worked for me (and what didn’t):  I’ve had the ebook version of Falling From the Sky on my TBR (of Doom) for ages but never found the time to read it. Tanya Eby is one of my favourite narrators and I’ve heard good things about Aiden Snow (although many of his romance audiobooks seem to be geo restricted for me so I previously had limited opportunity to give his narrations a try). My TBL is shorter than my TBR and I was motivated to bump this one up the queue.

As is commonly the case with audiobooks, I didn’t read the blurb before I started listening. I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t that the hero was going to be rendered paraplegic in the first chapter, or that he would not make a miraculous recovery. So the book went in a different direction than I thought it might. That’s not a complaint and really, if I had read the blurb I’d not have been surprised at all. Still, I did experience a bit of a gut wrench when I found out that Hank had been so seriously injured so there is something to be said for not reading blurbs first IMO. Continue reading

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

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