GRR Reviews Seaside Heartbeats by Stacy Claflin

Lana has just finished getting her architect license despite her heart problem (that can be managed). But a flareup in Kittle Falls, where she's spending a vacation with her family, sent her to the office fo cardiologist Brayden, one of the Hunter brothers. // Brayden left behind his practice in Dallas to be closer to his parents in Kittle Falls, which also meant leaving behind his GF. Meeting Lana made him want to try for love again...  Brayden also was intrigued by the legend of the founder of the town, Kittle, that disappeared. The pair agreed to try to solve the 160-year-old murder mystery and stumbled into a coverup that lasted generations... and may claim their lives...

Interesting pivot into romantic suspense, but I'm surprised they didn't suspect the cop earlier. 4/5

GRR Reviews Bayside Wishes by Stacy Claflin

Freya is a fashion model making a great living in NYC, but she does go home to Enchantment Bay every year. And this year, she ran into Nico, a local police sergeant, hot on a case of a murdered cop. And they develope a friendship that could lead to more. But Freya's modeling career has her hiding her eating disorder from everyone, including herself, and Nico's crazy ex showed up in town, insisting she won't leave without him (he left the big city to get away from her!) Will the two ever get together?

WTF, is this a real cop? Nico was so easily emotionally blackmailed. When his evil ex showed up at a party uninvited and started destroying Freya's family treasures to make a scene (an heirloom mirror, a famous painting...) Nico, as a cop, should have arrested her, call in the patrolman and have her escorted to jail, where she'll sit and stew for a few days. Instead, he agrees to leave with her to a hotel, while apologizes profusely for her actions. This is not a cop. This is a WIMP! Other parts of the books are okay, but this major flaw sank it for me.  2/5

GRR Reviews Seaside Surprises: A Sweet Romance (The by Stacy Claflin

Seaside Surprises turned out to have surprisingly horrible plot and an FMC who's just too stupid to live, and a villain that simply made no sense.

WARNING: The following summary will

SPOIL THE ENTIRE NOVEL

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

FMC's scary ex who never was violent did not try to chase her down, so FMC was able to get away cleanly, but the ex was looking for her. Suddenly he escalated by poisoning her grandpa to draw her out of hiding, and she obliged by immediately fly back to the city just to see Grandpa wake up. Grandpa, upon waking up, was furious and immediately demanded she go away. FMC flew back to the small town she was hiding, where she was falling in love with a local shop owner. Her evil ex followed. Her new beau dialed 911 then had a fight with the evil ex on the beach. Then cop arrived and magically knew who to arrest and who to leave alone without even checking what's going on. The end.

This plot doesn't even make sense! Why would an ex that's scary but never violent suddenly escalate to assault (by poison) or attempted murder just to draw her out? And why was she so accommodating? How did he find out where she went? How did the cops know who to arrest?

Category: Contemporary / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Woman fled her hometown from her evil ex. She settled in small town and fell for the shop owner there. When her grandpa was poisoned, she flew back, only to realize it's a trap to draw her out of hiding...

Tropes: protector, triangle, evil ex

Overall Rating:  2/5

GRR Review: Seaside Surprises by Stacy Claflin

Seaside Surprises by Stacy Claflin started fine as a "woman in peril" contemporary romance. This is a 'sweet romance', so no sex. But the further it went, the further it seems to go off the rails. The ending fight was a total let down when the bad guy arrived. But first, the recap.

Tiffany Saunders is on the run from her evil husband, and with her well-connected grandpa's help, she left town leaving no traces except for one phone that links to grandpa. She was just passing by this seaside town in California when she met the handsome local shop owner Jake Hunter.  Jake had spent years caring for his little sister, who finally succumbed to cancer. Now he's still running the family store, but he wanted his life back. When the pretty brunette who's obviously hiding something walked into his store, he found himself drawn to her.  But just as they got to know each other, Tiffany's past caught up with her. Will Tiffany and Jake let down their guard long enough to confront the danger together? 

While the first half of the book was quite good as Jake and Tiffany slowly circled each other, neither wanted to commit, yet drawn to each other, the escalation of tension really makes no sense. The evil ex was portrayed as nasty but never described as violent.

WARNING

SPOILER

AHEAD