GRR Reviews Stay by Tia Louise

Emmy gave Stephen her V-card in a party one night. While she did get an orgasm out of it, he just left in a hurry afterwards. And Emmy swore she hated Stephen ever since. Ten years later, Emmy is a divorced single mom working at a dry cleaner with a son that has a seizure disorder. And the ex-husband Burt? Completely ignores Emmy's parenting ("I want my boy to grow up to be a man") and takes him to contact sports despite warnings not to (head hits may exacerbate the seizures!). Then Stephen showed up. He's out of the Navy and his tech startup is doing great. He's rich, and getting richer. And Stephen knew he wanted Emmy back in his life, and he wanted to help her son. Can Emmy work through her hate to allow Stephen to help, and even marry him, supposedly a marriage of convenience?

One part of it, the sass, is good. But the hate is all emotion, no logic. And this was pointed out to her, MUCH later, how silly the hatred was. And it's ROFL funny. "Magic p****". Muahahahaha! OTOH, I find the ex-husband just doesn't work as a credible threat to Stephen and Emmy's happiness. EVERY TIME he showed up, it's ONLY with bluster. He NEVER follows through with his threats. The ONLY time Burt managed to land a real-blow was to embarrass Stephen at his wedding reception (held long after the fact) by ambushing Emmy with a question, and Stephen managed to land a few good punches before he's hauled off.

4/5

GRR Reviews When We Touch by Tia Louise

Emberly and Jackson were secret lovers, because Emberly's religious family despises Jackson's poor family. Jackson promised to come back for her, but due to other people's interference, he didn't come back until 10 years later, needing some time off after a grueling case as a trial lawyer. But his return to his hometown was met with shock... Emberly was still there in Oceanside, raising her daughter, believing Jackson left her behind, but Jackson only did so after receiving letters claiming Emberly did not want him back. Jackson wanted back into Emberly's life, but their respective families intervened again. And he has to go back to the city for his job... Right?

Ah, the typical "evil family intervention that destroyed young love gets second chance" plot. While the touches are good, there really is very little new ground covered in this novel. Everything is pretty much, as expected. 4/5

GRR Reviews Make Me Yours by Tia Louise

Ruby is a half-Korean counselor whose practice hadn't taken off. When she got an offer as a live-in nanny for a 4-year old, she was in no position to turn it down. Keeping her hands off her boss... that's a completely different problem, esp. with the entire town, even her own parents are commenting about the arrangement... often with snide comments like "geisha" (which is totally the wrong country...) // Remington is a retired billionaire who is raising his daughter alone after the death of his wife. Clashing with his mother-in-law is not helping the situation. A 4-year-old is supposed to be having fun, not being a "proper lady". Ruby is beautiful, and without thinking, he offered her 500 a day to help him raise his daughter. Now, if he can just keep his hands off her...

Good push-pull, a bit on the light and comedic side. The Asian stereotypes used in the insults are quite thorough... and obviously, all the wrong type. Folks in town are jealous, and you know Remi and Ruby will be together at the end, if she doesn't run away due to her inadequacy issues first. A bit trope, but still, hey, it has an Asian American co-star. :)

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 4/5

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