GRR Reviews The Christmas Cookie House by Jennifer Griffith

Leela is back in Massey Falls, to grieve for her mother and care for her ailing father, as well as try to fill her mother's shoes for the local Ladies' Auxiliary Cookie House benefit gala. However, it seems that Mrs Coldicott is determined to sink the event (and make Leela look bad) by refusing to host the event at her house (even though it's her turn), and no other venue is available... Unless Leela can convince town stranger Jay to allow the use of his Layton Mansion. But Jay had been spending the last few months renovating the place anticipating a quick sale, and now, he absolutely must clean out the attic... as stipulated in the will, before he has the title, free and clear. When an offer came through... and want to close BEFORE the event, Jay can't possibly sell the mansion out from under Leela... right? Who'd pay cash for a mansion before Christmas anyway?

The motivation wasn't explained until the very end, leaving the "persecution" (Caldicott's unexplained hostility toward Leela) just "weird", I guess the author is going for "the entire family is nuts" explanation. 4/5

GRR Reviews Crushing on the Billionaire by Jennifer Griffith

Tatum is totally devoted to her boss, the brilliant but socially inept boss Dawson. She can't even fawn on him due to office by-laws prohibiting office romance. Not that Dawson ever notices her anyway. When Dawson's old nemesis had been secretly buying up company shares from vested employees for a hostile takeover, Dawson's lawyer discovered a bylaw that allowed Dawson's spouse to get 50% of the shares. But Dawson was divorced and can't trust anyone... So he came up with the perfect plan... have Tatum, the perfectly loyal woman he can't have, pick the perfect woman for him...

Okay, this "spouse get 50% of shares" by-law makes absolutely NO SENSE AT ALL. As all the existing shares are owned by others, the only way this can be done is to issue new shares, which creates a whole slew of other problems. I do like how the twist had been buried all along. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews Illegally Wedded by Jennifer Griffith

Piper opened the best restaurant in San Antonio as the only chef and they are about to survive their first year. She had an evil ex who stalked her with his official position as a Texas Ranger. Fortunately, he got caught. Her current BF Chad was nice but also neglectful. She was completely blindsided when she was notified by ICE that she is staying illegally and must leave the US within 30 days. And this was confirmed by her parents... who had moved to New Zealand to join a Hobbit cult. Just then, Chad decided to become an MMA fighter and ran off to South America... // Zach is the best performing attorney in his big respectable San Antonio lawfirm, except he's not being named partner... time after time. When he heard a rumor that only married associate can be named partner, and the last "old guard" partner is retiring, he decided to get married... // When he heard that Piper is in a desperate fix, Zach offered the simplest solution: they should get married.  But are they actually in love? Will the marriage save them both? How far will they go to save the other?

Wow, this novel has twists and turns that you don't see coming, and the darkest hour REALLY does seem to be the darkest hour, and there was no cheating. One could say there is not much of a grand gesture, but that doesn't matter that much. Though one of the threads IMHO wasn't tied up right.

 Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

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