GRR Reviews Winning His Wife by B B Hamel

Kayla thought she got lucky when she was chosen to attend Gradus Unversity. She didn't know she was part of a draft, chosen and sponsored by Reed. The sponsor can choose to woo the girl he sponsored, and perhaps, marry her when she graduates. But Reed is a rebel... He just participates, because he needs his father to release the trust fund he's funneling into his tech company and charity. So he picked the most independent girl of them all, Kayla, who didn't care or want the special privileges of being a "sponsored girl". In fact, she doesn't even know what being sponsored entails. She's too busy handling queen bee bullies. Kayla did find Reed attractive, and vice versa. But when she learned what being sponsored REALLY means...

Eh, didn't feel much for the setup. Bullying was idiotic. Three students set an entire backpack full of content on fire, and nobody gives a hoot, not even staff and custodians? But when a sponsor intervenes, he gets called out for "breaking the rules"? Kayla is so simple-minded she never thinks of a way to get back at the bullies, just react, or let Reed "save" her somehow. The whole premise was kinda creepy, but secret worlds are kinda like that. But the characters? Reed is okay. Kayla? Lame. And no karma on those bullies? Meh. It doesn't really make me want to read the rest. 2/5

GRR Reviews His Dream Baby by B B Hamel

Connor lost his son Ryan when the mother Harper simply disappeared one day with him. Only years later did he find that Harper had died in a different city... and he immediately travelled there. Which is where he met Leah.  // Leah was asked by Harper (her cousin) to be the legal guardian for little Ryan. But Harper is a Gallo, and Gallo is known to be a crime family, and they want little Ryan to be "raised right". When Connor also showed up, Leah had to accept Connor's help, even as she fear that Connor is there to take Ryan away from her. But the Gallos are not giving up to make Ryan theirs...

Uh... For supposedly career criminals and crime family, the Gallos are a bunch of hamburglars. A WRITTEN warning to the couple that outright states that they will DIE if they don't hand the kid over? WTF?! And despite having multiple vehicles and dozen men surrounding the couple, they somehow let them get away? Sure, it's kinda sexy, but enemy is just flat out STUPID. 2/5

GRR Reviews Second Chance Husband by B B Hamel

Jace was a bad boy that got a bit too full of himself. He got addicted to drugs, and had to drop out of sight into rehab. Now he's doing a travel show as his comeback, and his producer... Was the one girl he let got away... having kinda broken her heart way back when, even though they never hooked up. Piper was not doing well and this show may be her last chance to make it big as a producer. So why is Jace still the a-hole? When the segment was about Elvis wedding in Vegas, and the model didn't show up, Jace convinced Piper to step in as a pretend bride... Then someone, as a gag, produced a real marriage certificate, and Piper signed it... thinking it was something else. Now Jace and Piper are married... sorta? Are they going to keep fighting... Or will they finally develop feelings for each other? When the show production ends, will that be the end?

Hmmm... I'm not too sure about this one. I find the handcuff (forced proximity) to be rather ingenious, but the marriage certificate? Kinda mean, though there's a twist to that later. I guess I really don't understand Jace, who's a "bad boy" on the surface but in reality a nice guy... Now that's a trope. Still, I like the variation.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 (rounded up)

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

GRR Reviews His Miracle Baby by B B Hamel

Elias is the "bad boy" son of mayor who builds custom motorcycles for a living. Alexa is a junior clerk in mayor's office. She was told she can't get pregnant, so she had a one-night stand with Elias. Two months later, she found she had somehow gotten pregnant, even as problems surrounded Elias... The mayor had racked up a huge debt with the mob, and they are out to collect... on anyone related, and that includes Elias, Can Elias keep Alexa and his unborn child safe, and extricate himself from the mess?

The buildup works only partially (why wreck the shop at all? That just cost more money on the long run. And isn't the shop insured?) but the solution didn't work for me. Neither did the ending.

Spoiler:

Turns out, mayor does have enough assets to pay, if he liquidated everything, so the mob boss killed him, Elias signs away everything as the then heir, and leave with Alexa and unborn child to start over somewhere else. This really makes no sense.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 2/5

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

GRR Reviews SEALed Bride: A Bad Boy Romance by B. B. Hamel

SEALed Bride is a "marriage of convenience" novel that happened to feature a Navy SEAL. Fortunately, there is no "SEAL abuse" in this novel (sending SEALs to do things they'd never do, like babysitting witnesses, or hostage rescue on US soil, or such) Instead, what you have was two barely sympathetic characters shacked up with each other and he realized this marriage ain't so fake after all.

Nash Bell has a best-selling war memoir based on his SEAL days, and women are practically throwing themselves at him daily, bad enough that his publicist is having conniptions trying to control his public image. Chafing at the control, Nash Bell decided to do one thing nobody expected... He's going to marry a girl named Selena in a marriage of convenience. Selena needed the money... Her father has cancer. And this "fake" marriage would only last a few months. And Nash needs to have a more... "wholesome" image. But Nash is having a hard time keeping his hands off his "wife"...

There are several factual problems, but they are rather minor (such as sudden "twist" at the end that Nash's publicist is not only a lieutenant, she's a SEAL team commander? Uh... SEAL team commander is an O-5 COMMANDER, not a lowly O-3 lieutenant, and there are no female members in Navy SEALs as of now ) The main problem here is Nash was portrayed as a "bad boy", but he's just... annoying and pushy. Is that what "bad boy" was supposed to be? As for Selena... she comes across as... to borrow another author's term... "white bread" (bland). She's sad (this is going to be over soon, her father is dying...) or just passive almost all the time, except when she's in bed sharing sexy times with Nash (which wasn't that often!)

In the end, I had a mild dislike for the book. I would have given it 2 stars, except I think a book featuring a SEAL but did not commit "SEAL abuse" should be rewarded, and I rather like "wag the dog" backstory (which I don't mind, and you'll know what I mean once you read the book). So I decided on the 3/5 rating

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Bad Boy SEAL on publicity tour enters marriage of convenience with bland girl, and they fall in love anyway

Tropes: marriage of convenience, different worlds

Overall Rating: 3/5

GRR Review: One Night SEAL by B B Hamel

One Night SEAL by B B Hamel is a generic "bad boy" romantic suspense where the protagonist can be any alpha guy with some fighting experience. Making him a SEAL is just a fetish. With that said, the story is actually not too bad. The bonus story is also similarly "generic alpha labeled a SEAL".

Travis, navy SEAL went home to find his brother when he found three men taking Hayley out of a bar, intending to collect her family debt out of her body. He rescued her only to he had incurred the wrath of the "Dixie Mafia". Travis, who had navigated these gangs before, had to find a rival gang and work them against each other, if they are to survive, and have some sexy times together as well. 

As I said, while the romantic suspense is quite good, the MMC could have been ANY generic alpha bad boy.  There's nothing here that defined him as a SEAL.

The bonus story is about a young woman from rich family fell for her stepbrother who's a SEAL. Again, the guy could have been any generic alpha bad boy.

While I find the general plot okay, the "SEAL trope" cause a bit of rating drop for me.

Category: Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Bad boy rescued girl from Dixie Mafia, now must help a different gang take care of the problem to survive and love

Overall Rating: 3/5