GRR Reviews Cowboy SEAL Homecoming by Nicole Helm

Alex left Montana behind a long time ago with his bad memories, and became a navy SEAL, an elite warrior. But when injuries forced him and two fellow teammates to retire, there is no place to go except back home... and meeting Becca who now lives there... a step-sister he never really knew. Becca will help Alex turned the family ranch into an equine therapy center to help wounded veterans, but will she also rope Alex's heart?

While this is technically a step-sibling romance, the two are so estranged they may as well be strangers. Romance is slow simmer. This is a series starter, and the setup is good. 4/5

GRR Reviews Rough Around the Edges by Laura Westbrook

Chloe just started her job as an assistant bookkeeper at Jackson's construction equipment company, while keeping a secret: she inflated her resume a bit. She hoped to learn the rest on the job under supervision. Jackson is a hands-on kind of boss... When Chloe arrived, he had his head through the ceiling installing a network cable for her computer, that Chloe mistook him for a contractor at first. Jackson also commutes on his motorcycle and kept up his physique that all females appreciate, including Chloe. When Jackson's bookkeeper quit, Chloe found herself the head bookkeeper, in way over her head, and keeper of a secret... Jackson may be contemplating selling the company. In order to save her job (and everybody else's jobs too), Chloe has to do something about her growing attraction to her boss...

A couple minor things stood out for me... a) Generally a network cable install goes through the walls, not through the ceiling tiles, and doesn't involve drills, esp if one can use those adhesive cable anchors to the walls. b) I don't quite understand Jackson's personality... he's either the strong and silent type (toward Chloe, almost embarrassing her), or the wonderful boss helping his employee out type (that she found out later). The two don't really mesh... But Chloe's solution and the slow-buildup is pretty good. 4/5

GRR Reviews Lessons from a One-Night Stand by Piper Rayne

Austin is the teacher and baseball coach at the Alaskan high school for the town of Lake Starlight, for the past nine years, having given up on his dreams and moved back home for his family. Holly is the interim principal taking on a job for just a few months. Unfortunately for Austin, Holly was also his one-night stand, steaming up his jeep windows two nights ago. Austin can't believe he liked his boss, but she's not staying around. Then he finally got the news he dreamed of: being a professional baseball assistant coach for a college. But can he leave his family behind, when Holly may be staying?

Both Austin and Holly are on a quest to find themselves and what they wanted in life. Both are surprised to realize what they really wanted... is there all along! Nice character arcs. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Trusting His Heart by Jen Peters

Cat, building contractor, is in Oregon doing a high-end restoration. She left her childhood behind and didn't want to talk about it again... ever. She didn't expect her client to saddle her with a co-contractor, Justin, who will be doing all the electrical work. // Justin did rescue Cat from a ditch earlier, but that didn't earn him any points when he started questioning her judgment. Justin is also under stress when he needs some money to help his mom keep the family home, but Cat refuses to compromise on any details. When thieves hit the construction site, and made off with lumber and wires, and more, the two will have to unite to thwart the trespassers, but when one of them is found, Cat wants to give him a second chance (because someone saved her that way), while Justin is all about harsh punishment... And Cat's leaving when the project's done... right?

Good twists and turns, and good wedge issue between the two characters adding to opposites attract / enemies to lovers trope. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Christmas Like This by Carina Taylor

Marla and Trey both work at the same marketing firm but are mortal enemies... They were ordered by their boss to learn how to work together... Or else. In fact, they are both assigned to the Christmas party planning duty. But they are always verbally sparring with each other before... Each sees the other as aggravating... But it seems when Marla got a bit closer, Trey's protective... OVER-protective side comes out... and when Trey's not being a jerk, he's actually quite handsome...

Pretty good enemies to lovers kinda story. 4/5

GRR Reviews Hope for Christmas by Rochelle J Christensen

Anika is a single-mother that barely gets by. She can't even afford a christmas tree, muchless gifts under it. Her daughter's medical bills had wiped out any savings she may have had, but her health is fine now. Working in Wentworth's department store and getting some overtime may help her catch up on her bills. That puts her next to handsome Carlos, the store handyman, on a project to restore the store's old soda fountain. Carlos wanted to help her, but she's not taking "charity".  When she was the recipient of many gifts (some she even wrapped herself) from the store giving tree, she immediately suspected Carlos...

Uh... this is supposed to be a Christian novel, yet it seems Anika has way too much pride... Which she managed to grow out of by the end. Of course, it's sweet, but it also felt a bit off. And the "heavy" was really shallow. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews Christmas Dreams and Santa Schemes by Barbara Lohr

Sarah is a recently widowed single mother and the bakery she runs is slightly behind in taxes. She's already working all the time and raising two sons but she's worn out and needs help. And the only one available is her brother-in-law Ryan, her husband's "loser" brother, already working full-time as a motorcycle mechanic across town, after a motorcycle accident did give him an epiphany. But Ryan also made a promise to his brother to take care of his Sarah in case anything happened to him. So every day, after washing the smell of motor oil off his hands, he learned to make lemon bars and chocolate cookies and more beside Sarah. There is a growing attraction, but both denied it.. despite Holiday magic...

A bit of "awwwww", it's basically mutual denial angst. The two kids are used sparingly though the "Santa's wish" was done right on the money. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Chasing the Ball Girl by Trish Williford

Ryan Cruz is a man-whore, and being the star pitcher of the Blue Birds means he gets plenty of female attention anywhere he goes. Until he noticed their ball girl at the annual ball...  // Ball Girl Sammie just wanted to finish college (in pharmacology) and there are only a few months to go. She cannot afford any distractions, even though she has a crush on Ryan for years. When Ryan noticed her, she declined, knowing his playboy ways. So what does a player have to do, to prove he's no longer a player?

Kinda sweet, kinda stupid and lashing out at the wrong moment, with the right amount of groveling for the grand gesture. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews A Best Friend's Proposal by Layla Holt

Anesthesiologist Josh makes a good living, but being a single father is wearing him down when his wife left them to chase her own love. Five-year-old Noah is acting out in school, and it seems he does need a female in his life... And he does have one... platonic best friend and ER nurse Emma. So his plan was to ask her to be his fake fiancee. And it seems she liked the idea too. It also happens that she needed a place to stay when her lease expired, and he has a guest room. It's all for Noah's sake... right?

Ah, the plot has been done before, but this has a good polish. 4/5

GRR Reviews Loving the Boss by Agnes Canestri

Eleni took the furthest job she can find: dance instructor at a remote tropical resort, to get away from the heartbreak of her cheating fiancee. While Matteo, the dive manager, is handsome, she's not ready for another relationship. Besides, while she can dive, she never wanted to again... Not after what happened to her mother... // Matteo wants his own diving school, and he needs to both ace his job AND find "The Pearl" a fabled dive spot that all signs pointed to being nearby, but no one had found yet. Finding that would cement his reputation. He had no time for distractions such as Eleni.  // When Eleni was transferred to work with Matteo, they can't avoid each other anymore. But when the rich Russian guest Nikolai wanted Eleni in his bed, what will she do? And what will Matteo do about it?

Was this translated? A lot of word usage is really weird, like "animation team" for staff that deals with the guests, or use the term "rubbish" which is more Brit-speak (Americans prefer the term "garbage"). The characters are nicely layered, but the plotting and pacing could use a little help. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews Balancing Act by Danica Dawn

Desi, paralegal, is in love (lust?) for her boss Eric. She wanted to be a lawyer, but she flunked LSAT so she's going about the roundabout way: one more year as a licensed paralegal, and she can take the bar exam without it. But balancing her work, her dream, and her love life is not so easy, when she found a hot cop to drool over, only to have him turn into a stalker, and her boss confessed his love for her, only to sic an LSAT tutor on her, in order to make her a partner...

The problem with romantic suspense with a stalker is the bad guy tends to end up as jack-in-the-box pop-up horror, have him show up in the middle of nowhere. It starts to read a bit like the movie Unlawful Entry. The emotional beats feel... off. Instead of everything building to a crescendo for the climax, it felt as if the author merely substituted one problem with another, just to have the stalker reappear at the end for the climax. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews A Doctor's Promise by Laura Scott

Shelly is a flight nurse for Lifeline Air Rescue, and she's worried about her son, who may have kidney failure, and is awaiting tests. She is attracted to the new flight doc, Jared O'Connor, who may or may not be related to her late husband, but that can't go anywhere, as she's too busy...  // Jared promised his family to search for his dead brother's fiancee and child, who disappeared after the funeral. Jared found himself attracted to the strong yet vulnerable Shelley and her son. Then he realized Shelly is none other than Ly, the fiancee he had been searching for. But he also found out what really happened that day that caused her to run...

Slightly over-dramatic, but all the emotional beats are met and no obvious plot-holes. 4/5

GRR Reviews Close to Her Heart by C J Carmichael

Dani is a professor, so an affair with a tenured professor wasn't a good idea, but the widower father Adrian was so compatible and swoon-worthy she succumbed to his charms. Yet Adrian always claimed to be protecting his daughter and won't commit to Dani. Then Dani found she's pregnant. She was the woman of the house raising her siblings after death of her mother. Is she ready to be a mother... esp. with the possibility that her baby may be suffering from Down's syndrome? And what about attention from her neighbor Elliot, who always wanted her, but it never seems to be the right time?

Nicely handled unrequited love with betrayal, aka A secretly loves B, but B is involved with C...  Elliot is one of the nicest guys around, and there's also a bit of "everyone but you" trope going on. Nice mix. It's just that you kinda feel that Dani is just too... weak. 4/5

GRR Reviews Another by FIona Cole

NOTE: This is technically a sequel to "Lovers", but can be read separately.

Carina was a pretty wild and adventurous young woman... Enough so that she invited her boyfriend, Jake's best male friend Jackson into bed to have a threesome. It was memorable. But that's also when Jake realized he's really gay and wanted to marry Jackson and regrettably, dump Carina. Carina met a mystery man in a bar, who reassured her she's lovable. Months later, on a blind date, Carina met the mystery man again, at a "blind date boudoir photo session". His name is Ian. It was clear they have a real passion for another, and when the photographer had to leave temporarily, they had a quickie, but then she felt ashamed and did not leave a surname or contact info. Only two months later did she realize she got pregnant... A few months later, Carina found that Ian was actually quite close by, which is also when he found she's pregnant. He obviously wanted to take care of his baby mama, but Carina isn't the kind of woman that lets an alpha guy do what he wanted... Can they make peace for the sake of the baby?

Nice, complex personalities, an alpha guy making mistakes but is so lovingly making them you'd want to forgive him. Carina covers her vulnerability with sass and bitchiness that occasionally goes a bit overboard, but it's perfectly understandable. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews The Billionaire's Reckless Marriage by Tami Dearen

Finn is a billionaire philanthropist, who can't help but antagonize Laurie with caustic wit. Finn has cystic fibrosis, which will likely kill him before he turns 40, and that means only a few years left. He doesn't want to make anyone a widow, so he avoided all romantic entanglements. Laurie can't stand Finn, but his company, Limitless, seems to be a good fit, despite her lack of actual work experience. When one partner had to drop out of an event due to personal reasons, Finn is forced to with directly with Laurie, and they achieved a truce... and understanding about each other. But is that enough to sustain a relationship, even when he's opposed to the idea, and she's not sure if she hates or loves him?

Interesting details about CF and how one can live with the circumstances. It's also clean and sweet (no sex). 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Saved Kisses by Ella Goode

Amethyst aka Amie, felt extremely betrayed... when she found her supposed boyfriend shagging... her mom. She left it all behind, and went to a different city to seek a little help from a brother-in-law. She didn't expect to find an gruff alpha that will sweep her off her feet... // Greyson is busy expanding Sokolov Security and onboarding the rookies. He has no time to babysit boss's sister-in-law and the new office manager, but helping her get started would free him from the desk work he detested. He wasn't ready for Amie, or the protective feelings she evoked from him... or how he wanted to make her his forever...

Eh... didn't feel much.  3/5

GRR Reviews My Best Friend, the Billionaire by Serenity Woods

Izzy is physically scarred from an accident in her youth, and her family had always been poor. But she has great friends, including Hal King, one of the King brothers, whom she met back in high school. And Hal's rich and handsome and everything an (unwanted) girl can ask for, a great platonic friend. And now, they both work at Noah's Ark animal sanctuary. Izzy believed Hal will NEVER want her... but Hal is tired of holding back... He wanted to woo Izzy... forever. But can Izzy believe in him... and herself?

Okay, Izzy is in self-denial ALMOST to the point of being masochistic, and this is NOT a sweet romantic. There is sex, and there's drama because Hal's ex (another employee) is creating drama. And Hal has super-human patience, but then, it's almost like he's coaxing Izzy much like he coaxes a mistreated dog into accepting his help. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews For One Night by Leaona Luxx

Lola spent years in a loveless marriage with Carter, but she finally got out of it. When out celebrating with her girlfriends in Vegas, she met Lennox, there for business. They had a memorable evening... then she left him (first ever for him). Imagine to their surprise that they met again only a week later, as this time, she's his business consultant, just hired to expedite his transition back into the business he founded (but have to let his brother do a turnaround with). And it'd be TOTALLY inappropriate for them to date...

I have some problems with this novel. Some parts are very good. But some parts are just wordy as ****. There was too much "prequel material" (i.e. how did Lola and Lennox get to be what they are today) that the two characters didn't really meet until almost 1/3rd of the book (not that I really counted). The two characters are swoon-worthy, but the book needs some serious trimming as it has too much fluff. 3/5

GRR Reviews Fresh in the Kitchen by Olivia Burke

Aubrey, the best mixologist in the state, is about to have a mental breakdown due to her nosy family and her sister's wedding. Questions about "why don't you get a real job" and "why are you still single" are driving her insane. She came up with this insane plan: claim that Tommy, the award-winning chef, is her boyfriend, to get at least one problem out of the way. Little did she know that Tommy had been eyeing her for a while. When his own famous chef father said he will attend one of his own awards, Tommy asked Aubrey agreed to also be his date in return. But why does this fake relationship feel so real?

Good polish on the standard "fake to real" trope. Tommy can't ever seem to stand up to his old man, but Aubrey can. And vice versa. On the other hand, being co-workers can be a bit of a problem due to gossipers. But overall, it's a sweet relationship. 4/5

GRR Reviews Extreme Devotion by Cami Checketts

Jex is an extreme athlete and in love with his manager/agent Pearl for years, but he never dared to show it, just some teasing language before each stunt. Pearl yearns for Jex, but she's also terrified of losing him at every death-defying stunt he pulled. And something inevitably did. After a stunt gone horribly wrong, Jex almost lost his legs. Now forced to stay still and contemplate his fate, will he conquer his own demons... or will he push away everything and everyone he loved?

The build-up is good, but as you can probably guess, the darkest hour will last a bit so his own family can talk some sense into him. The grand gesture is nice. 4.5/5