GRR Reviews Follow You Anywhere by Weston Parker

Nolan, single father billionaire boss, just hired executive assistant Lacey. But Lacey has ambitions. She applied for an internship, she got this gig instead. She has an MBA and wants to use it, not be a glorified secretary, though she's good at it. Nolan needs a second-in-command so he can spend more time with his daughter Karina. And Lacey likes Nolan and Karina, as there's definitely chemistry between them. Neither are really looking for love, but will they ignore what's there? Will that jeopardize her job and career? Or his custody battle?

A pretty typical single-father / hot for boss / evil ex / career not love mix. While the polish is quite good, the plot is a pretty standard trope. 4/5

GRR Reviews The Cowboy's Imperfect Plan by Hayley Wescott

Tyler used to be a rodeo champ, but he got married, had a kid, then the marriage turned sour, he went off the deep end, became a drunkard, and lost custody. But he is a foreman for a rancher who regarded him as the son he never had. And he's been years sober. When the rancher had a stroke, he found out about the will giving him the ranch... with a caveat... // Adaline just found out that her mother had lied to her all her life... Her father was not dead, and in fact, left her a ranch... with a caveat... She has to marry Tyler for a year. Adaline was a recovering addict herself, but less than a year sober. Would a marriage help or hurt Tyler's custody battle, when Adaline kept her struggles secret?

Baby custody battle and marriage of convenience is nothing new. But having it in the same novel with weird will, sudden family, and hidden past? That's at least an interesting combination. 4/5

GRR Reviews Cinderella Undone by Nicole Snow

Kendra always loved Knox from afar... Until Knox got his dad's business partner's daughter pregnant, got a daughter, then the other women simply disappeared. Not even lots of money and private investigators can find her. With death of Knox's father, Knox is supposed to become a full partner for Black Rhino, but Knox is instead sent to acquire diamonds, legal or illegal, in some of the douche-y-ist places on Earth with his team. Now the boardroom fight is getting ugly, when the other partner is threatening to take away Knox's kid to force him to accept a buyout. So Knox needs a plan... He'll engage and marry Kendra (a platonic best female friend), which should deflect any court attempts to re-evaluate custody. Kendra will help Knox even though he had not only broken but crushed her heart years ago, and Knox will make her a Cinderella, all her dreams come true, live with a prince, get her degree, whatever. But Kendra has her own enemies... and things took a seriously twisted turn when both enemies united to ruin both Knox and Kendra...

I'd say this may be one of Nicole Snow's worst novel to date. The plot is over-the-top and getting more impossible as the darkest hour approaches. The idea that the "bad guys" can suddenly get FULL custody of a child by (censored) and (censored) and two psychologists, neither have ever met the subject, is simply impossible. Not to mention the mother was (spoiler-censored). And who writes hand-written notes to lawyers nowadays? The end fight is a deus ex machina where the military and mercenary veteran failed to follow basic combat tenets: make *sure* the enemy is down and out. Sure it's emotional, but with all the holes in the plot it felt more like melodrama than drama. 2.5/5

GRR Reviews Snow Pup by Mimi Barbour

Deputy Shawna found the runaway kid Billy when a snowy white pup leads her to him, sleeping in the snow. He's a foster kid who ran away when his mother died, having never knew his father, and he knew he didn't belong there. Shawna, who already helps out at the community center, decided to step up and become a foster parent, even as John Reid showed up, claiming to be the child's biological father. // John was on a long-term assignment in South America, hoping to provide for his family when his wife refused to move. She actually took all the money he sent to get a lawyer and took away his parental rights, claiming he abandoned them. Finally back in the US after several years, he was chasing down leads to his son, when he met Shawna. // Shawna reluctantly accepted that John will be living across the street at the B&B and will get to know his son... WITHOUT telling him he's the father. But is what he said actually true? Did a vindictive wife set all this in motion? What about police reports of fights and alcohol abuse? Can the pup help meld this into a new family despite an overzealous social worker?

Not much for the pup to do after the initial introduction, but the rest of the dynamic works, with the despair of the people trying to overcome bureaucracy and people who really thought they are doing good but instead doing harm. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Choose me, Cowboy by Barbara Ankrum

Kate won't admit she never really gotten over Finn, even after six years. She just dates and never commits. Enough so her family wanted to run an intervention. After all, she's the kindergarten teacher in Marietta, Montana, and she needs to act prim and proper for her young students. She was shocked when she found that the new 5-year old twins in her class is none other than Finn's children, and Finn has been back in Marietta for a few months (and has been a single father for several years). Furthermore, Finn's ex Melissa, mother of the children, now wants to contest custody, after marrying a rich international tycoon. Kate offers herself as the logical solution: get married and present to the judge a proper family. It would just be a marriage of convenience, right?

While I like the tension, and the bull-riding bit was good, the end solution felt too much like a deus ex machina. 4/5