GRR Reviews Chasing Shadows by Catherine Bybee

Avery was haunted by an attack that put her in the ICU for days that she can't remember. She believed the attacker was dead (see Half-Empty). Determined never to feel vulnerable again, she took up krav maga as self-defense, and she's quite good at it. But there's only so much she can do in the classroom and sparring. That's when Liam, krav maga classmate, volunteered to "attack" her (with padding, of course) to let her practice her defense moves. Liam is well-to-do, and when he saw Avery, he was instantly smitten and wanted to learn EVERYTHING about her... in a nice not-stalker way. But he will be her punching bag if that's the only way to get close to her. But when a visit to a club together triggered a recall of her attacker, Avery abandoned EVERYONE to return to the scene of the crime, determined to find the culprit and close the chapter in her past. Can the rest of the First Wives Club help her, and will love from Liam heal her?

The book basically is about "obsession'. He's obsessed about her, and she's obsessed about her past that she only recalled in hazy details. it's just that the ending feels a bit of deus ex machina... Someone swooped in and basically saved them both (not literally), even though it was a twist. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Say It Again by Catherine Bybee

Sasha was trained by Richter School to be the best in all forms of combat... but her own origins were hazy that she sought answers. // AJ was also looking for answers... His sister, also graduates of Richter, is dead, as are SEVERAL of the ex-students. And he fears that Sasha may be next. They agree to look for answers together, and their own passions... must be denied, at least temporarily. For the past they dug up are secrets decades old, and may yet bury them...

Interesting background, trying to mix in a bit of Salt and Le Femme Nikita into romantic suspense and adventure.  4.5/5

GRR Reviews Seduced by Sunday by Catherine Bybee

Meg is a matchmaker for Alliance, a matchmaking firm that specialized in marriages of convenience. She wants to investigate a secluded island resort operated by Valentino Masini, a sexy businessman. A secluded island with very discrete employees can be very good for Alliance's clients, and even though Meg considers herself off the market, she does notice Valentino's charm... and attempt to woo her. But Valentino and Meg soon found themselves in the middle of a mystery... Valentino's sister is being wooed by a winemaker, and someone wants Meg and her entire party off the island. What did Meg get too close to?

Again, the pivot from romance to romantic suspense was done almost seamlessly and all the plot points flowed properly. There was even a perfect karma payoff at the end.  What's even more amazing, it sets up the next and final novel in the series. 5/5

GRR Reviews Taken by Tuesday by Catherine Bybee

Judy is just a college graduate, except for a very famous brother, actor Michael Wolfe. She moved to LA and lived in her brother's mansion, working an internship hoping it will lead to a long-term job, but so far she's doing secretarial work. However, one bright spot in her day is Rick, one of her brother's bodyguards that would like to court her. Rick likes Judy's spitfire attitude. But when a stalker attacked Judy in her parking garage, and Rick became the primary suspect, it's clear the stalker isn't done with her, and Rick may have to risk everything to save her...

Nice handling of the threat, trying to narrow down the suspect pool, and so on. Police procedural was nicely handled, and the pivot from romance to romantic suspense was again, handled very nicely, which is this author's forte. No obvious plotholes. 5/5

GRR Reviews Single by Saturday by Catherine Bybee

NOTE: To get the full effect, please read the series starting from book 1.

Karen is the perfect Hollywood wife, except she's keeping a huge secret... She's in a fake marriage of convenience. Her husband, blockbuster star Michael, is actually gay, but needs a wife to stop speculations. She'll get a nice payout after a year and a divorce. And that's only a few months away. Until Michael's brother, Zach, crashed their anniversary party... Karen was not ready for the feeling when she's around Zach. And when Michael was guilted into taking a trip to see the whole clan back in Utah, Karen has to keep Michael's secret... and her own infatuation with Zach. But when Karen and Zach decided to help a teenage couple escape abusive parents... Things went side-ways very quickly...

Catherine Bybee has a knack of turning what started as a romance into romantic suspense and actually have everything make perfect sense. The darkest hour was masterfully handled and explained. The setup for Karen started at the end of book 1, was handled by book 2, and made references to book 3's adventures. So you really should read the series from the beginning. 5/5

GRR Reviews Fiance by Friday by Catherine Bybee

Gwen is the daughter of an English duke, and schmoozing the rich and powerful for the discrete matchmaking business Alliance (who arranges marriages of convenience for powerful people) is right up her alley. But she secretly lusts after her ex-marine bodyguard Niel, who's handsome, big, and protective. But Neil cannot reciprocate... She's a client, she's also from a different world. But when Niel's past caught up with him, he had no choice but to execute his own bug-out plan... with Gwen in tow. The enemy will target anyone to get to him, even Gwen... and he will have to risk everything to save them both, but will he trust the wrong people?

Interesting pivot from romance to romantic suspense, and kept the mystery and twists coming. Excellent plotting, with no obvious plot holes. 5/5

GRR Reviews Married by Monday by Catherine Bybee

Carter is running for governor of California and needs a wife to "settle down" his image. He's rich and handsome, but too many women just saw him as a conquest or rich sugar daddy. The "candidate" he had in mind is Eliza, his best male friend's wife's best friend, and a matchmaker. They seem to squabble, but in a somewhat flirting way that left both a little breathless. But Eliza prefers to be in the background for a reason... and if Carter wants her, there will be nowhere to hide her secrets...

Interesting pivot from mystery to romantic suspense, with all the proper karmic payouts done properly. 5/5

GRR Reviews Half Empty by Catherine Bybee

Trina had a marriage of convenience with her husband, to please his dying mother. Then he killed himself, and less than two weeks later, his mother also died, which is when Trina found she had inherited EVERYTHING, making her one of the wealthiest women in the world. Desperate to escape the attention, she hid out in Europe, swearing not to fall for any men, then she fell for the one Texas cowboy who doesn't seem to own much other than charm. // Wade is a country music super-star, and he's surprised and delighted that Trina doesn't recognize him. Now there's someone who may fall for him, not for his money. He was shocked to find that Trina is actually richer than he is. But new evidence suggests that perhaps Trina's husband's death was not a suicide... and Trina is still in danger. And EVERYONE near her, even Wade, may be at risk...

Whew, that's one way to build romantic suspense along with surprise encounter / disguise. 5/5

GRR Reviews Not Quite Dating by Catherine Bybee

Jessie is a single mom and waitress. She has no time to date, but a charming sorta-broke cowboy is starting to wear her down. She already shot him down several times, but he's persistent. But Jack is not who he seems... // Jack is the heir of a hotel empire, but so far he's finding one golddigger after another. So when Jessie didn't know who he is, he decided to pretend to be "just" a humble cowboy / waiter, and pretend to help her find her a rich husband. But it's that pretense that would come to bite him in the rear later...

Awwww, that's cute. While we've seen the plot before, rich guy pretend to be normal to woo normal woman, this one has excellent polish and enough twists to keep you reading. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Fool Me Once by Catherine Bybee

Divorce attorney Lori is a divorcee herself, and she's a part of a secret company called Alliance, that arranges "marriages of convenience" for rich and famous clients. She doesn't believe in happily ever after. When several of her clients are now single, and one of them was embroiled by controversy due to unexpected circumstances, she arranged a Caribbean cruise for the group and found herself tempted by one man: Reed. // Reed quit the police force when his superiors were more interested in a cover-up than justice. Becoming a PI seems natural, meeting Lori was definitely a bonus. And when Reed found out Lori's secrets, he found himself conflicted, as Lori was not the target (yet she unwittingly supplied the clue that allowed him to figure out the rest), but if he reported back, Lori will take the fall. And if he confessed, Lori would surely never wanted to see him again... Then the decision was taken out of his hands, for there are other players at play as well... And they all wanted Lori's secrets...

Ah, nice twists and turns. Reed is definitely a conflicted character who wanted to do the right thing, and tries to ride that line between ethics. Lori's cynicism was tested again and again. Like this a lot. 5/5

GRR Reviews Faking Forever by Catherine Bybee

Shannon divorced her no-good husband, who married her for political reasons (to get elected governor) only. She wanted a family for herself, and she may settle for a "sperm donor" (just a fling) if the right one came along. Her photography business took her to Mexico to cover a destination wedding until the bride did a runner, and the jilted fiancee Victor accused Shannon of sabotaging his wedding. // Victor never thought he'd end up on a honeymoon for ONE, and who else did he ran into but the one woman who caused the whole thing... By asking the runaway bride is a wedding what she really wanted. But Shannon's words also got him thinking... and reflecting what he really wanted out of life. And between the water and sky of a Mexican beach and a lot of tequila, Victor and Shannon shared a kiss. But they know what happened in Mexico... should STAY in Mexico... So they came up with a pact to stay away from each other for 3 months, and see if they still want to get together... But as the deadline approaches, their professional and personal lives started to intersect, even as their respective pasts came back to haunt them via tabloids. Now, Shannon and Victor have to really decide whether they should be together...

Wow, that's an interesting twist on the storyline about jilted groom, and good character arcs on both. A must read for me.  If you have KU, you get the audiobook too.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 5/5

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

GRR Reviews Wife by Wednesday (Weekday Brides Seri by Catherine Bybee

Wife by Wednesday is a delightful tale of "marriage of convenience into real love" with enough twists and turns and proper motivation for both sides to make the marriage work for real.

Blake Harrison is British, but he prefers to live as an American businessman until he found that his father had set a condition in his will... Marry soon or the title of Duke and the estate will go to a cousin. Now he needed someone who can set him up with a marriage of convenience... And he turned to Sam Elliot. He didn't realize that is actually Samantha Elliott, who is very reputable but comes with her own dark past. Her father operated a huge Ponzi scheme, destroying hundreds of families, and went to prison. Her mother committed suicide, and so did her sister. Her sister survived but just barely, with diminished brain capacity that requires nursing home care to the tune of 100K a year. She hoped that Blake's marriage, which should clear her several million, would be enough to pay the medical bills and more. She did not count on Blake changing the deal... Blake did not want any of the candidates she sent. Blake wanted Sam herself to be his bride... for he was tired of manipulative *****es like his ex Vanessa. Sam reluctantly accepted... as she was indeed running out of money. Sam told herself that she can fake a marriage easily, then Blake found out that he also had to produce an heir to satisfy the conditions of the will, which he chose not to disclose to Sam yet... as they seem to be falling in love for real... Maybe bring it up later? But hiding things is very bad for relationships... especially when one of Blake's ex entered the equation...

The twists in this tale of a marriage of convenience are quite good. I have a little problem with why would Blake want Sam instead of the candidates she proposed. Is it because he can gain leverage over her? Once they cohabitated, then things got interesting, esp. when Blake's ex started showing up and sown distrust between them. Once the setup is complete, the story really took off to one heck of an ending.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Matchmaker became the new bride in a marriage of convenience to a British noble, but trust issues threaten their relationship

Tropes: different worlds, matchmaker, weird will, marriage of convenience

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Review: Doing It Over by Catherine Bybee

"Doing it Over" by Catherine Bybee was a sweet romance about a woman trying to settle down and regain her confidence in her hometown, and maybe learn to love again. however, the sudden crisis at the end seems to be really "tacked on".

Once voted "most likely to succeed", Melanie Bartlett is going home to River Bend, Oregon with no job, no degree, no husband... and no car (it died 18 miles out of town)... but now with a daughter in tow. Her only solace is her clique of friends: Jo and Zoe are still around... and Miss Gina is still running the B&B. Melanie finally settled down and reintegrated into town, and was introduced to the new builder, Wyatt, who fell in love with Mel and her daughter... Then Mel's crazy ex (who ruined her) came back into her life trying to get a divorce and started stalking her... what is going on?

The problem with this book is the book switched gear on us, going from a romance for most of the book, then at the end used a "third-party crisis" to force the pair to confront their feelings about each other and united in emotional turmoil. I can't say more without spoiling the story. I just feel the threat came too late to be effective for the climax. It just feels... off.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman limped back to down, now with daughter in tow, after being ruined by a man. She learned to live and love again... then her ex is back...

Overall Rating:  4/5