GRR Reviews Broken by Kelly Elliott

Broken shows some good parts, but some of the plot is rather idiotic, with some of the characters who only seem to exist to mess with the MMC and FMC.

Layton and Mike Morris grew up with nothing in their house in Llano, TX and no parents. But they survived. When Mike died in an accident, and Layton's girlfriend Olivia left him too, Layton swore he will never let anyone else into his heart. Elsewhere, Whitley Reynolds grew up in a prosperous household in New York and married his high school sweetheart Roger. But Roger turned abusive. When Whitley ended up in the hospital from Roger's latest abuse, Whitley called her best friend Courtney and they ran off to Llano TX to start over, as an event planner. However, Whitley's first gig did not go as planned when her car died on the road and Layton came to her rescue... on a horse. The two damaged souls clicked, but neither was quite ready to let each other in just yet. But with Olivia determined to get in between Layton and Whitley, despite her own impending wedding to someone else, and Roger still out there, will these two ever learn to love and trust again... or stay broken?

The book felt as if it just went into too many directions. Olivia is still around messing with Layton, and you can guess Roger will show up intending to mess with Whitley being a rich and possessive SOB. Courtney in this book also ended up in a triangle with Reed and Mitch. The idea of two girls who just run off the Llano seems a bit improbable, but I guess if they have enough of savings, it may be. But the plot just feels... off, as if you have to stretch logic to make it make sense. In the end, I think the questionable parts balanced out the brilliant parts for me to give it an average rating.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Wounded guy meets new wounded girl in town... will their creepy ex's ruin their plans to happily ever after?

Tropes: small town, evil ex, fish out of water, different worlds

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews Stay With Me (With Me Book 1) by Kelly Elliott

Stay With Me is basically My Big Fat Greek Wedding written as a standard serious romance instead of a rom-com, complete with far more... angst-y backgrounds for the two main characters.

Thano lost his fiancee on their wedding day. She collapsed while walking down the aisle, moments away from getting married, and died of a congenital heart defect even she didn't know about. He did not want to move on... Even though his entire Greek family wanted him to, preferably to a Greek girl, preferably set up by one of mom's various friends. That is until he met Kilyn O'Kelly, a thoroughly Irish girl with the most charming green eyes, and something stirred within him... While Kilyn was flattered, she was sure that Thano, with his Greek god looks, should have women flooding him, and she doesn't do one-night stands. But as he hired her to redesign and redecorate his cabin, that lead to knowing each other a bit more... But will they let each other into their hearts?

As I said before, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, swap the genders (the guy is Greek) and add a long of angst-y background to both MMC and FMC, and you pretty much have this book. It's the details and proper polish that raised it above mediocrity.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Can a Greek guy charm an Irish girl when both of them had suffered much in life and love?

Tropes: Different worlds, scars, family pressure

Overall Rating:  4/5