GRR Reviews A Lot Like Christmas by Kait Nolan

Special Forces Medic Ryan left Wishful a long time ago to be all he can be. But when he heard that his cantankerous great uncle Percy's health may be failing, yet refusing help, he took his leave and went back. Meeting a sweet waitress wasn't a part of his plan... // Hannah had to retire from her interior decorating job due to health reasons. She's helping out her sister as a waitress, and offering to decorate houses in Wishful to get back into her true love, when someone offered to be secret Santa to decorate Percy's place. Meeting Ryan wasn't in her plans. // The two are opposites, yet fit so right. Ryan is cool and professional, Hannah is warm and cheerful. But Ryan is going back to the army soon... right?

Good contrasts, using Percy and the town to tie them together, at least temporarily, which also added a time limit. I'd thought a special forces soldier would know better than let just a phone call to destroy his mood, but it works for dramatic purposes. 4/5

GRR If I Didn't Care by Kait Nolan

Judd Hamilton had always protected his best friend, Autumn Buchannon. He even took a bullet for her when he was seventeen when her crazily religious father tried to kill them both for "sinning". Fourteen years later, Judd is lieutenant in Wishful Police Department, and a shoo-in for the next police chief... and Autumn is the town librarian, with a secret career as an erotic romantic suspense author under a pen name. And they still see each other as merely platonic friends, even though Judd had a girlfriend for two years. When news came that Autumns father had been released on parole, and Autumn's flat had been torched, and the manuscript of her 3rd book stolen, Judd is in full protective mode, even as they are both forced to confront their feelings... will they acknowledge that they have been in denial about each other for too long? Who is threatening her?

Deft plotting, even though it did feel a bit trope at times. I knew who the perp is right away, even though the exact reason escaped me until the reveal. And the reason was quite novel.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 5/5

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

GRR Reviews Wish I Might by Kait Nolan

Cecily Dixon went with her boss to Wishful, Mississippi and fell in love with the town, but her internship is over and she needs to spread her wings... somewhere else. However, what she didn't tell people is she's also a Davenport, one of the richest and most powerful families in the US. She wants to make her own way, and she's not sure where. // Reed Campbell is a Wishful native and proud of it, and even as his family bookstore struggles, he found Cecily irresistible, esp. when Cecily offered her services as a marketing consultant. But he said something that turned Cecily off, and now she's giving him the cold shoulder... If only he can recall what he said... And the clock is ticking... even as his bookstore started to take off, thanks to Cecily's efforts... When Cecily left in a huff, misinterpreting Reed's attempt to fend off an over-enthusiastic employee, will the two ever get back together?

A bit of rom-com with a lot of small-town charm, it's both trope yet warm at the same time. Author knows how to polish the plot, but the plot itself is nothing too special.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 (rounded up)

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

GRR Reviews Once Upon A Setup (Meet Cute) by Kait Nolan

Once Upon a Setup is actually a prequel to one of Kait Nolan's other novels,Just For This Moment: A Small Town Southern Romance (Wishful Romance Book 4), where you get the story of how Myles and Piper first met for the theater roles that will lead them to the story many many years later.

Myles was in town as a reporter and he's detected a story around Piper when she seems to have lied for a friend... So why is Myles now the lead for the play that Piper's acting in as her co-star?

It's cute, and it's fun read, but it's not much more than that.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 3/5

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

GRR Reviews Once Upon A Campfire (Camp Firefly) by Kait Nolan

Once Upon a Campfire is a short novella at only 70 some pages, but it packed a LOT of plot, a lot of tropes, and a lot of symbolism into those few pages and resolved everything properly.

Sarah Meadows is tired of covering for her wild twin sister Taylor, but when Taylor asked Sarah to help one more time, Sarah can't refuse, esp. when this job extension would give Taylor some money to pay down the debt her evil ex saddled her with. Sarah needed to get out of the city anyway. She's burned out finishing her master's thesis, in a field she no longer enjoyed... So here she is at Camp Firefly Falls, pretending to be her twin, and met Beckett Hayes, mountain climbing instructor, and climbing certifier. Beckett is burned out by his US Park Ranger job and needed to recharge. And while "Taylor" is athletic (she's practically a mermaid in the water), it's clear unlike the resume, "Taylor" has ZERO experience with climbing gear. And once confronted, she admitted to the deception. Beckett should turn her in, but, in probably a temporary bout of insanity, he agreed to train her, in less than a week, to be certified, and she agreed, hoping that Taylor would arrive in time. And as they trained, they got close to each other, even as they both wondered about that question... Am I on the right path for my life? What if there is another way?

The symbolism was great, about climbing and finding an alternate path to happiness. The deus ex machina to reach HEA was kinda annoying though. Sarah collects degrees (nutrition, photography, biochem, MBA...) but she has no idea what she REALLY wants. And Beckett wants a wilderness job that doesn't entail S&R and customer service like a park ranger does. Suddenly near end of the book, a guy offered Beckett a job in a nature conservancy, and they also needed a photographer. And the camp also happens to need a nutritionist... AND another climbing instructor.

Still, for such a short novella, everything fits together so well. And Camp Firefly Falls is a common setting for a whole series of romances by multiple authors I can't say all of them are of this quality, but this one is definitely worth reading.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Swimmer agrees to cover for her climber twin for this mountain climbing job, but she was discovered by hot instructor...

Overall Rating: 5/5

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

GRR Reviews Once Upon A Coffee (Meet Cute) by Kait Nolan

Once Upon a Coffee is a short story based on a meet-cute, basically a funny or cute way to meet. It's a short and fun story.

Avery Cahill had more than a few bad dates, that she finally found one guy online who's respectful. However, the guy did not put up a profile pix. They set up a meeting at a coffee house with a flower and a book. // Dillon Lange had to finish an MBA group project alone when his partner came down with appendicitis. He's under a serious time crunch, but his roommate is an X-box addict. he had to find a quiet place to work, and coffee house is perfect. He did not count on being interrupted by a beautiful stranger who sat down across from him, but she's too cute to turn away, even though it's obvious she's expecting someone else, not him. What happens when her real date showed up?

The story is fun to read, and short (only 40+ pages). Good.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Guys studies in a coffee house, and a girl sat down across from him, having mistaken him for her blind date...

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews Wishful Romance Volume 1: Books 1-3 ( by Kait Nolan

Wishful Romance Volume 1 contains three novels that will be rated separately below. While the characters are nicely drawn, some of the decision process or the plot doesn't quite make sense.

Book 1: To Get Me To You -- Norah was betrayed by her fiancee and her company. She thought she closed the deal for the betterment of the town. She ended up doing the exact opposite. When she confronted her fiancee and his father, the company head, she was escorted out the door. She ended up in Wishful, MS, hoping to redeem herself. She fell for the town's charm, and Cam, the local hunk.  Cam needed to keep the big box store away from the town, and Norah was perfect. Together they mount to campaign to sway the town council, but Cam wasn't sure a city girl like Norah will ever stay in town...

I guess I don't quite understand a big box store can move in and just "destroy" local businesses with no gain. What happens to the big box store later? Closing a location cost $$$ too. 3/5

Book 2: Be Careful, It's My Heart -- Tyler ran the hardware store in town for several generations, and always performed in the town theater when there was a chance. But several years ago, her partner and boyfriend Brody, left town to pursue something else. She had not performed since. But now, the news of the theater may be closing for good (and possibly be bought and converted into something else) brought Tyler out of 'retirement' for one last-ditch effort to raise the money... just as Brody came back to town... as her co-star. What secret was he hiding this time?

Almost a deus ex machina, at least it kinda feels that way. But it works with that last-minute twist, but relied on her overhearing something that reached the wrong conclusion. 4/5

Book 3: Know Me Well -- Riley has been living alone for a while... she's very self-reliant, because her mother is always looking for a man to save her. Riley bought the town pharmacy, but she's forever juggling bills and barely staying solvent. She had a crush on Liam, her best friend's older brother, but Liam left to join the Marines. Now staff sergeant Liam is back, but Liam wants to fix things, which irked Riley to no end. When one disaster after another hit the pharmacy, and Riley's mom also asking for help (again after getting into a fight with her boyfriend while out of town), Riley is overwhelmed and will have to make some painful decisions...

Riley's independent to the point of abrasive, where ANY attempt to help... (heck, she doesn't even ASK for help, even in form of advice from the previous owner!) is rebuffed out of "principle". That's just... stubbornly masochistic. The part about her mother finding herself is good, but did she find herself? 3/5

All in all, call it 3/5 due to averaging.

Category: Contemporary / Collection

Primary Plot: N/A, collection. Charming collection of three small-town romances, but two were flawed while one's above average

Tropes: betrayal, small town, evil enemies, different worlds, performer, return, reunion, best friend's sibling, family drama

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews Just For This Moment by Kait Nolan

Just for This Moment is a "hot for co-star / marriage of convenience" romance, albeit, with a twist or two.

Myles wanted to run a newspaper and he went to the town of Wishful, Mississippi and bought the local paper... with a heavy loan. He was doing okay, but the profit wasn't quite as forthcoming due to additional expenditures like new machinery and new hires. When the sponsor suddenly wanted to pull out (and it's in the contract) Myles has 45 days to buy out the paper... or see it go under. Piper really liked Myles, esp. when he and she had co-starred in the Christmas play that saved the town's theater not long ago. Piper, however, knew that on-stage love is not real love, but she'll do anything for Myles. When Myles realized he had a trust fund he can tap to buy the paper... provided he must get married... Piper volunteered for a marriage of convenience. After all, it'll get her infatuation with him out of her system, right? However, when the fake love turned very real, they have to decide just how far this will go... or how real their love is...

The "have to get married to inherit" trope is getting a bit stale, but the relationship was quite nice. And there's a twist at the end that was a bit of a surprise.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Can young woman help out a co-star by marrying him, thus giving him access to this trust fund, so he can save his newspaper? What if she's already crushing on him?

Tropes: performer, marriage of convenience, weird will,

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Reviews When You Got A Good Thing (The Misfit I by Kait Nolan

When You Got A Good Thing is a contemporary romance that featured a lot of misunderstandings, secrets, lies, and trust issues. There was a good twist about why the FMC had to stay away from her hometown.

Kennedy Reynolds had wandered the world for the past decade. Everybody thought she simply left town, even the boy she left behind... But she was keeping a secret, a promise that she will keep... Until news that her adoptive mother had passed away in a car accident, and she's going home. Xander Kincaid, deputy of the town, believed that he had driven Kennedy away ten years ago. Now that she's back, he wanted to apologize, to see if they can pick up where they left off... if that is even possible. Kennedy tries to patch things up with her adoptive family, but her abandonment for the past ten years was not so easily forgiven. As Xander help Kennedy through the ordeal, Xander found out what really happened ten years ago that drove Kennedy away... and the truth will devastate him... and he will have to make a choice...

I find Kennedy's naivete back at 18 to be... a bit unbelievable, but it's "almost" plausible that it didn't bother me too much. And that forced choice had truly devastating consequences. What I truly liked is there is an evil perp in this story, and that evil perp got karma. Maybe not as much as you'd like to have seen, but it is nonetheless karma. And that relationship was definitely "love interrupted", in a good way.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman who stayed away from ten years returned; the man she left behind will now truly know what happened that fateful night...

Tropes: family secrets, return, reunion, blackmail, fated mate, law enforcement

Overall Rating:  5/5