GRR Reviews Perfect by Diana Fraser

Archaeologist Emily was doing excavation and restoration of an ancient Roman mural on the Italian estate of Count di Montecorvio when work crew started moving in, and the old count is nowhere to be seen. With nowhere to turn, she had to crash a party the count was allegedly hosting, and met the most handsome man: Alessandro Cavour, who promised to introduce her to the Count next day. She arrived at the appointment, only to realize Alessandro is the Count... She had negotiated with his father, who died two months ago. // Alessadro knew Emily was like no one he had ever met... smart... and had been hurt before (but she hid it well). But Alessandro lost his wife and child after a moment of rage cost them their lives, and he can't ever love another again... But they are drawn together, even as he needed to complete his father's wish: hire Emily to finish the mural... even as he had no wish to dig up the past...

The different threads did not come together. Emily was jumpy even though some simple Google search should have told her that her nightmare was nothing to worry about. And Alex... Bah. This guy seems to be awfully convenient in finding people's secrets... and keep mum about them. Sure, there's the ex, but again, the characters didn't feel that sympathetic to me.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 3/5

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

GRR Reviews The Marriage Trap (The Mackenzies Book by Diana Fraser

The Marriage Trap is a woman-in-peril / protector romantic suspense with a good amount of push-pull between the two characters. I find the weird-will trope a bit nonsensical, but overall it's a lot of fun.

Gemma Winter walked away from her life in London, her life under the strict control of her boyfriend Paul, who seems to have underworld connections. He gets insanely jealous of her even talking to any other men. She fled to the ends of the Earth... ALL the way to New Zealand, when her friend promised she can stay at a hut that she hadn't seen in a decade. She hopes to start anew. But just hours after landing, she was forcibly rescued by a hard cowboy Callum Mackenzie when a flash flood washed away her rental car and most of her belongings she managed to bring. And Gemma is allergic to controlling alpha types now... or is she?// Callum's wife died and since then he had not desired love, preferring solace on his land. He dreamed of reclaiming the land gambled away by his great-grandfather, but there's a weird will on it that prevent it from being sold. When the woman he just rescued mentioned that land and that she wanted to live on it, it immediately intrigued him, even as the storm forced them to stay together in the cottage, and they succumbed to their attraction. But the consequences of spending those passionate hours together will last a lifetime... to joy and sorrow... to relief and regret... as they both needed to face their worst fears in order to find what they truly want from life.

The psychopathic BF was written nicely, not the physically abusive kind, but enough to scare you into complying, that you're conditioned to obey when the tone turned sour. The complicated will and the tortuous path the two had to dance around each other for the rest of the book was interesting. And obviously, the psycho ex showed up for the end. I guess I don't really understand the weird will or the reconciliation. But I like the push-pull.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Can a woman who ran across the globe from her jealous BF find love in New Zealand with a handsome cowboy who saved her?

Tropes: woman in peril, protector, weird will, widower, forced proximity, triangle, scars, evil ex

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Reviews The Real Thing (The Mackenzies Book 1) by Diana Fraser

The Real Thing has some problems with the Chinese references, and both commitment-phobes ended up in HEA was a bit hard to imagine, but the rest was a lot of fun.

Lucia Rossi had a terribly lonely childhood. Her father is Italian, and her mother is Chinese. When her mom decided to leave for China with her little brother after her father was simply too busy to be around, she felt abandoned when she's moved to a boarding school. When her father died, she went to live with her mother in Beijing for a while, but the death of her brother send her fleeing again, this time to New Zealand, where she works as an art restorer. She wanted a real family for herself, including the white picket fences, and she refused to get involved with a commitment-phobe... and that included her last liaison... Dallas McKenzie. Dallas knew he can't be what Lucia wanted, but he thinks he knew who can... Guy Martin, a widower who has yet to recover from the loss of his wife. Guy is also a commitmentphobe, and Lucia would have never gotten involved with him, except they share that pain of loss... and when he invited her home, she noticed that a painting their family hung, what was supposed to be a forgery... may, in fact, be the real thing. But when the inquiry went out to find the owner of "the real that turned out to be fake", it set forth something in motion that may take Lucia and Guy to the one place Lucia swore she will never return to...

Somehow the Chinese references feel slightly off. Also, I can't see one commitment-phobe recommend a different commitmentphobe for a relationship. Still, the rest of the plot is okay...

Category: Contemporary / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Woman may have to return to a place she swore she never would when she discovered a "fake" painting may be the real thing ...

Tropes: commitment-phobe, family pressure, grief, ex's best friend, fish out of water, conspiracy

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Reviews Wanted: A Wife for the Sheikh (Desert Ki by Diana Fraser

Wanted: A Wife for the Shiekh is a mediocre fairy tale where a girl getting by as cleaning staff in a hotel gets hired by a sheikh to be his personal assistant and computer consultant, but also knew that they cannot love because he is in line for the throne and must marry a strategic partner rather than for love. The ending was achieved without any struggle.

Crown Prince Malek of Sumaira is an international lawyer, usually leaving his crown prince duties to his brother. However, his brother was somewhere in the Australian outback in a journey to find himself and when his father died, he must assume his duties to be crowned king and marry to create a queen to stabilize the country. When his team of assistants screwed up a presentation and the hotel cleaning staff, Sophie, managed to resolve the problem, he hired her on the spot as the royal IT consultant (which she's actually quite qualified for) for six months. However, Malek is fighting his mother, who did not want him to become king. Sophie was smitten with Malek, but she knew this romance can go nowhere, as he needed to marry politically and strategically, and there is no place for a British girl intending to travel the world. Malek is just as smitten with Sophie, so different from the local woman, and unsophisticated in palace politics, but he cannot hurt his kingdom, a post he did not want, yet no one else will take...

SPOILER ALERT

The ending sucked as neither resolved their problem. Someone else resolved the problem for them by finding Malek's brother in Australia and flew him back to be crowned King instead, leaving Malek to marry Sophie. NO STRUGGLE! The love angst was not resolved by the lovers! This is basically a deus ex machina! The author basically CHEATED to give the couple the happily ever after! Add this to a mostly "meh" romance, and you got a decidedly UNDERWHELMING one.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Arab prince hired a hotel maid to be his IT expert and fell for her, but he's destined to marry someone else for his kingdom...

Tropes: different worlds, royalty, family pressure, ugly duckling, fairy tale

Overall Rating:  2/5