GRR Reviews Double Trouble by Deborah Cooke

Maralys is the "bad twin" compared to her twin sister, Marcia. Maralys is single after divorcing her no-good husband who ran off with her money, and since her sister has a great family, she can spoil their kids, and don't need any of her own. Her brother-in-law James is a famous lawyer in town. it should have been the perfect family, so Maralys was surprised to find that family disintegrating. James was fired when he found that he wasn't the biological son of the law firm's founder after more than two decades of service. Marcia just ran off leaving James with the twin boys, and Maralys had to help. Maralys found she's attracted to James, but worried about being a substitute for Marcia. Then she found out what secret James had been keeping for so many years...

Ah, the twin-switcharoo, but with several good twists upon the theme. However, the ending was wrapped up a bit TOO neatly, IMHO, and forgiveness given too quickly. Yes, there's quite a bit of betrayal involved. James and Marcia knew they aren't right for each other, but apparently both are too ashamed to admit it and dragged it out for way longer than they should, but it **sorta** makes sense, once you read the story, which I am NOT spoiling.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: "Bad" twin falls for her sister's husband after her sister ran off and family disintegrating fast...  Was she just substituting?

Overall Rating: 5/5

NOTE: Tropes are now in the "Labels" below. 

GRR Reviews All Or Nothing (The Coxwells Book 4) by Deborah Cooke

All Or Nothing is a fake boyfriend to real love romance, with some sitcom-worthy moments.

Jen Maitland needed a fake BF to delay her mom's matchmaking schemes, but not a real BF because she was jilted by her ex-fiancee. She picked Zach Coxwell, a commitment-phobe who enjoys a challenge. Zach is definitely getting mixed signals from Jen the bar waitress, who turned him down for a date but invited him to family Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner went into an absolute disaster for Jen when one of her sisters offer to have Zach's child plus other embarrassments, but Zach's jokes managed to get Jen to crack a smile even as he had a time of his life. Zach may have found the one girl to make him change his ways, but can he convince her that he's sincere?

The characters are nicely drawn, though the trope about having a rake as a boyfriend and she happen to be the one woman to have him reform seems a bit... cliche. It's the family stuff that made this novel above average.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman not ready for love, but needs a rake to act as a fake BF to ward off matchmaking attempts... Can the rake reform for her?

Tropes: fake engagement, family pressure, reformed rake, jilted

Overall Rating:  4/5