GRR Reviews Chasing the Ball Girl by Trish Williford

Ryan Cruz is a man-whore, and being the star pitcher of the Blue Birds means he gets plenty of female attention anywhere he goes. Until he noticed their ball girl at the annual ball...  // Ball Girl Sammie just wanted to finish college (in pharmacology) and there are only a few months to go. She cannot afford any distractions, even though she has a crush on Ryan for years. When Ryan noticed her, she declined, knowing his playboy ways. So what does a player have to do, to prove he's no longer a player?

Kinda sweet, kinda stupid and lashing out at the wrong moment, with the right amount of groveling for the grand gesture. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews Luck is No Lady by Amy Sandas

NOTE: Historical / Regency

Emma knew she's considered a spinster, but she can accept that, as long as her two younger sisters find good husbands. However, her father's death revealed a mountain of gambling debt, and a debt collector well known for violence. This forced Emma to risk her own reputation to seek a bookkeeping job at the only place that will hire her... a gambling hall ran by the rogue Roderick, the bastard son of an Earl. // Roderick knew that the upper class accepts him only for his usefulness... and the hypocrisy is something deals with every day. His rogue reputation was because women want him because of his undesirability. He knew Emma from a previous chance encounter, and he was surprised to see her seeking employment by falsely claiming to be married. He gave her the job when she found a discrepancy in his books where no one else did. // Roderick and Emma slowly got to know each other's secrets, but not all of them. Emma can never ask Roderick to pay her father's debts. But when the debt collector executed drastic measures for reasons of his own, Emma has no choice but to ask Roderick for help... and risk her heart.

Some parts I do like, but the swoon-y bits are a bit too... cute?  Pompous? I guess it fits with the regency period, when language is... grandiose. But the escalation was a bit "out of nowhere", and solution feels a bit too much like deus ex machina. 4/5

GRR Reviews Heart of Mine by Caroline Fyffe

Beranger is the illegitimate son of a British Duke who decided any fate would be better than living in a household that will never accept him as an equal. He ran away, and eventually made it to the US, and after learning all sorts of skills, found himself as a mine whisperer, with the ability to determine a mine's viability. He's also a notorious "rake", or so the gossip says. His latest client was Emma, the most eligible bachelorette in town, and along with her sisters, are about to inherit a mine. She needs him to make her operation a success in the small town of Eden, Colorado, and that means she can never fall for him. But someone is riling up the town, buying the property out from under the occupants. And Beranger wants Emma to take a chance on him... as a lover... and a husband.

Caroline Fyffe's stories rarely disappoints, even though they are usually epic in scope, with a lot of characters and plots that wanders all over the place, and huge backstories. This is no exception. The way Emma falls for Beranger is gradual, the way it should be done, and there is a bit of a darkest hour with a slight bit of deus ex machina solution, though it fits.

Category: Historical Western

Overall Rating: 5/5

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

GRR Reviews If I Loved You by Mary J Williams

Rose is a songwriter with a broken past, full of loss and pain. She has two besties, but no lover. When another date bombed, she was about to go on a man-fast, until her friend insisted that she find a one-night-stand instead... and Jack seems to be the perfect guy for that... // Jack is a well-to-do business owner who plays the field, and always show the girls a good time. But he's on a stupid bet to stay celibate for a month, blame his besties. // When Jack meets Rose, it's sizzle time. Rose wants Jack to show her a good time (in bed), and Jack seriously wanted to, but due to the bet, he wants to slow things down with Rose... As he doesn't want Rose to go to anyone else. But how far can you go to keep a girl dangling like that?!

Oh, that's a fun ride. Let's just say, Jack has serious challenges ahead.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

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

GRR Reviews Billionaire Desire by Lauren Wood

Hail is an excellent salesman, a ladies' man, and named most eligible bachelor in the city. But he's getting older and feeling a bit of emptiness in his life. Until he started to notice his assistant Evony... Who wears lingerie at home, but may be a virgin, judging by how she blushes at the innuendos. But she's also very competent... and he recommended her to be promoted to partner and work with him. Now, he just needs to tread carefully... for he wanted to claim her... And after one taste, both are hooked...

First of all, he's NOT a billionaire. Sure he's rich, but not billionaire level... He's even got a boss on top of him. While I like the slow seduction of Evony (let's just say it started with a handjob given to her) it's a little bit... not quite enemies to lovers, and not quite friends to lovers. But I still have some problem with this "one touch and she's hooked" trope. Still, not bad.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews The Proposition (Vol 1 of 3) by Katie Ashley

Emma Harrison came from a big family, and she wanted one of her own, but she's approaching 30, and seems to only attract losers. When even her gay best friend backed out of donating sperm for her IVF, and she's refusing to pick from the sperm bank, she's out of options... Until Aidan intervened. Aidan is the company's resident womanizer, and no one ever refused him... except Emma at the company Christmas party. When Aidan heard about Emma's "problem", he offered up himself... with a requirement... He'll be the sperm donor, but the conception must occur naturally. Yes, he will make love with Emma. Emma was initially horrified at the idea... this is basically unmarried sex, but soon she decided why not, Aidan is that charming. And Aidan proved to be a consummate lover. But as they spent month and more together, they've basically fallen for each other... if they can admit it to themselves...

The story actually ended up a cliffhanger and continues in Volume 2: The Proposal when Aidan, basically messed up. There's a reason he's the way he was... a womanizer, and he's yet to reveal why. He thought he can never commit to any woman, and Emma almost changed him, but not quite. I am not spoiling the cliffhanger, which is rather fun. I'd given this 4/5 except for the cliffhanger.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 4/5 -1 for cliffhanger = 3/5

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

GRR Reviews My Only - Alex & Jamie (Crossroads) by Melanie Shawn

Alex Sloan is an ex-SEAL turned firefighter. He works hard and plays harder, and there were plenty of women who appreciate his looks and charm. However, when he's injured on the job, high on meds, and saw nurse Jamie Miller, he said he loved her, asked for her hand in marriage, and passed out. It was just the drugs talking, right? // Jamie knew she could depend on no one in the world except herself. She has a son to remind her of that every day. She works both in the hospital and at the diner to make ends meet, and that leaves her no time for sexy distractions like Alex Sloan. When Jamie was assigned to guard/attend to Alex and to keep the "fan club" away, Jamie ends up falling for Alex's charm, even though she still resists. Moreover, Alex found himself, after that injury, to be a shallow person, and love Jamie's independence and resilience, and the kid too. Can he convince Jamie to give him a chance?

Nice dance between the two, Alex... didn't quite shift, as he's charming as ever, but his mindset did change quite a bit. You can say it's all about Jamie doing a bit of hard to get, but not on purpose. Good polish overall.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Firefighter rake falls for his nurse when he's injured on the job, but she's a single parent working two jobs, and too busy for love, but after a fling, they can't stop...

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews Mail Order Bride - Montana Christmas by Linda Bridey

Sal Terranova had fun after negotiating deals for his family. But when his liaisons ended up with him and a married woman (who lied about being single) and was spotted by one of the family's business partners, his parents gave him a choice: reform, or get written out of the will. Sal was ready to move out until his brother came up with a plan... why not a mail order bride? And there came Lulu Johansson... who's beautiful and exciting, and Sal forgot all about other women, but then his reputation came back to haunt him. in the meanwhile, the other characters in Echo Canyon, assisting a covert government agent, ran into even more trouble...

This is a part of the author's Echo Canyon historical western series, where existing characters find love, old characters get into even more trouble, and so on. The language seems to be REALLY MODERN instead of historical, but it's fun.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: Can a man really fall for his mail-order bride, when he's a proven rake? What will his new bride say about it?

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews One Night with her Roommate by Noelle Adams

Meg and hot guy East are roommates. Well, East is technically her landlord. East flirts, but Meg knew East wasn't for her... She can't deal with immature playboys or wannabes, even though he's sexy and available. It didn't help that he's a slob. However, deep down, she knew she wanted him, even if just for one night. // East knew flirting with Meg is fun, but he has his reasons to be flirty... He has secrets he'd rather keep to himself. Until big news from friends forced him to reveal a piece about himself to Meg... and everything changed.

One of the better novelettes I've read, with a lot of hidden angst, lust, unrequited love, and stuff.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Fling with the landlord/roommate may be fun, but can it be permanent?

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews Sunset Thunder (Caliendo Resort) by Shannyn Leah

Sunset Thunder is about a woman who thought she couldn't love again, vs. a man who wanted her for a long time. However, the ending made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The motivation for the nemesis is mud. I initially wanted to rate this higher but ended up giving it average.

Violet Caliendo is the wedding coordinator for Willow's Valley's five-star Caliendo Resort, and she puts on perfect events no matter what, that she's known as the "Ice Queen". However, her latest wedding to coordinate was her ex marrying someone else... Even if it's an ex she no longer loved, but got pregnant with. Despondent in private, Violet fell for the suave charms of Ryder Carlex, a well-known womanizer, and her ex's best man. She figured she just needed it one time, to get it out of her system. She hadn't had someone for years... But Ryder wanted Violet for a long time... Not that he'd ever get between his friend and wife... But Violet's single now, and available. Ryder and Violet got into a torrid relationship, but he has his own dark secrets to keep. And Violet's one indiscretion would come back to haunt her in a way she never imagined... Will their (lack of) trust doom their relationship?

The ending left me exasperated as in "what was the author thinking? This made absolutely no f***ing sense!"

SPOILER

ALERT

I WARNED YOU!

Couple years ago, Violet fell for Joel the rebel, but Joel's really after her family fortune. Joel got Violet pregnant. Violet's father paid off Joel's debts with one proviso: marry Violet, because the kids will not be born as bastards. On the night before the wedding, Violet realized she was stupid but the wedding must go forward. In a drunken haze, violent had a one-night stand with Ryder... and Joel somehow got video of them bonking.

In the present day, Violet divorced Joel and is having a fling with Ryder even as Joel is about to marry someone else. Suddenly, Joel blackmailed Violet... "break up with Ryder, or I'll release this tape of you f***ing him just before our wedding night". Violet can't let her family business be shamed, so she puts on a brave face and broke up with Ryder, and Ryder, having figured out what Joel did, confronted Joel, and Joel just basically handed over the footage without a struggle. The end.

WTF?! What's Joel's motivation for this? This is a LAME villain who's ONLY around to mess with the hero/heroine, for no particular reason!

Add to some bits about her mom and uncle knowing something (and did nothing), the dead daddy always manipulating people, even after he's dead, I honestly can't tell whether it's redemption or douchebaggery. At least the slow seductions made up for some of it. I really was tempted to rate this a 2/5 for a while.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Hotel heiress and even planner fell for the best man who wanted her, but her evil ex (who's getting married) has evil plans...

Overall Rating: 3/5

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

GRR Reviews So Good by Darcy Burke

So Good is basically a two-reluctant-lovers story, each reacting to their own heartbreak with opposite reactions, that came together. However, the story somehow doesn't quite grabbed me.

Cameron runs a winery with his brother, and he put everything into it, and after 2 full years, it's bearing fruit. He also did so after a heartbreak. He didn't mind being called a player, but it's time to find someone. When he spotted the new wine distributor Brooke, he's interested in something long-term... Except she isn't! // Brooke had a bitter divorce and moved to Ribbon Ridge for a do-over. While she's tempted by Cameron, she can't fall for a playboy, even though he does make her feel... oh so good. But how do they get past each other's walls?

Reluctant lovers, each with heart-ache, but I honestly didn't feel something REALLy special with this novel. The two stories are similar enough to be clones of each other. Kinda meh for me.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman can't fall for the playboy after her bitter divorce, but what if he's really trying to mend his ways?

Overall Rating: 3/5

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

GRR Reviews Love Me, I Dare You! (Hell Yeah!) by Sable Hunter

Love Me, I Dare You sets up an very interesting pairing... a retired champion cowboy... and a blind bartender girl. The threat to their relationship however, is really vague and there's a logistical problem.

Joshua Long, World Champion Cowboy, suffered a career-ending injury and is back in Kerrville, TX. He had been dubbed "cowgirl whisperer" because he had a fan club of former flings who always leave satisfied... except for one evil biatch who wanted to ruin his reputation forever and started a website talking **** about him and his old man. With little money left after bills, Josh ended up in his old friend's HARDBODIES bar, and a lot of friends who can help him with a second chance, when he laid eyes on a beautiful blue-eyed redhead behind the bar, who's blind. Emma Zachary lived her life on a dare. She has been blind since age 10, and her nearly didactic memory helped her cope. Having heard of Josh's reputation, she chose him at a bachelor auction... so he can show her something she never had before. And they both found once is not enough. But when external threats arrive, things may indeed get dicey for the couple... and their friends.

I find the problem facing the couple really nebulous, and the guards practically useless. The relationship is pretty good too. The part about coping with blindness was very good, but one observation begs the question... How does she keep it "neatly trimmed" down there... if she's blind? In the end, I enjoy the book so I had to rated good, though consider it a "low" good.

Category: Western

Primary Plot: Former champion cowboy (with a lot of buckle bunnies and evil ex) fell for a blind bartender girl who wanted someone experienced for her first time

Tropes: disabled (blind), cowboy, fling to a thing, auction (bachelor), evil ex, virgin, reformed rake, protector, woman in peril

Overall Rating: 

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

GRR Reviews Cassie (Brides of the Rockies Book 1) by Carré White

Cassie is a Western Romance that falls back to the basic reformed rake/enemies into lovers formula, and the attraction was a bit vague.

Cassie Bjorn had always hated Nathan Carroll since they were kids. He dipped her blonde braids in ink, poured honey in her school bag, and more. When he grew up, he was a womanizer and drunkard with appalling manners. Unfortunately, he's also son of the sheriff, and their mothers were best friends, so despite Cassie's utter hatred for Nathan, their families want them to marry. When a shootout caused an unexpected kiss between the two, the town soon was flooded with rumors... But if Nathan is willing to change for Cassie, can Cassie change her mind about Nathan?

Frankly, with the amount of hatred that Cassie displayed toward Nathan (and how her parents were discouraging her other suitor) Cassie should be piping mad refusing all contact with Nathan. Instead, she seems to be secretly enjoying the attention of the alpha male / reformed rake, and there really was not much of a hint of this half-sweetness and conflicting emotions in the first half of the book (she's too busy running around being mad). Being left with only one choice is not a choice. It's being forced into it. And the "jail wagon" idea was the most stupid thing ever.

The whole thing just felt too long, the chemistry is unexplained, and thus, the romance feels... forced.

Category: Western historical

Primary Plot: Woman HATED the man she was paired up with since they were kids. When a shootout caused to to kiss him (fearing imminent death), can she change for him, and he for her?

Tropes: reformed rake, enemies to lovers

Overall Rating:  2/5