GRR Reviews Slim To None by Freya Barker

Emma's daughter is all grown up, and she decided to move to Cedar Tree and start her life alone. Being disabled and needed to use a cane or walker, she is nonetheless beautiful and active, doing freelance bookkeeping and bake pies for her best friend's diner. Until a strange phone call in the night stirred her blood like never before... // Gus, private investigator, is on the trail of bail jumper who may have info on a mob boss he wanted to take down. Links took him to Cedar Tree, where he is supposed to find a bookkeeper... like the Red-headed Emma. When someone tossed Emma's house, and Emma's clearly in danger, Gus steps in as Emma's protector, and love bloomed. But someone from Gus' past is watching... and waiting for retribution...

Good romantic suspense with a couple of good twists and turns, plus enjoyable main characters. Gus is protective without overbearing and a disabled heroine? An unusual but inspired choice. 5/5

GRR Reviews her Generous Billionaire by Juliette Duncan

Marcus is still grieving over the death of his one true love and wife. He doubts he will ever love again. In the meanwhile, he provides for his disabled mom, but he's busy and he needs to hire a caretaker... // Tiffany is a single parent raising two kids after an ugly divorce, and a caretaker job is perfect for her. Meeting Marcus... well, he's her boss. She can't get involved with him... But when he had to choose a date for a charity ball, and a sticky (and icky) ex wanted to be his date, he quickly decided Tiffany would be a much more suitable choice after all. But that dance soon turned into something more. Yet are either of them ready for love, much less with each other?

Pretty standard hot for boss, albeit as a nanny/caretaker role with senior instead of kids. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews Not Until Christmas Morning by Valerie M Bodden

Austin lost his leg, his friend, and his faith in Afghanistan. With his brother also serving, he's determined to go back, but with the decision on his discharge in the air, and moping at home is not an answer, he decided to visit Hope Springs, where his parents came from... and met a neighbor having her own problems. // Leah has plenty of heart to give, but after betrayal, she decided to remain single, even as she decided to foster a teen problem child. But Jackson, who found his mother dead of OD, is determined not to let anyone ever hurt him again, and has been bounced out of multiple foster families. Yet Jackson formed a bond with their new neighbor, Austin. Leah had to be nice to Austin, but Jackson's sake, But can three broken souls make one happy family as Christmas nears?

VERY Christian, plenty of mention of Bible and faith, but NOT heavy-handed (as some Christian writers tend to sprinkle Bible quotes throughout), and great character arc for all three. I have a little problem with Jackson, whose behavior is conflicting. Seems he ONLY EVER eats a PBJ sandwich... which he later explained that it was the last thing his mom made for him, yet he also hates his mom for leaving him for drugs and OD death... But the story overall, is still quite uplifting. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews My Little Rock Airman by Brittany Fichter

Jessie is a pre-school teacher and one of her favorite students is Jade, a young girl with Down's syndrome. At the last day of school, she got an intriguing offer... Jade's mother offered Jessie enough money to finish her master's degree if Jessie will be Jade's nanny for the summer. And Jessie quickly agreed. However Jessie didn't know that she'll be sharing her duties with Jade's big brother, airman Derrick, who pulled strings to be moved back home to Little Rock due to an incident a year ago. And the two developed a hostility to each other... and a cold prank war ensued... Until a truce is called... and understanding is achieved... they both actually want the best for Jade. But is Jessie has rules about love... and #1 is NEVER date an airman... Even as she secretly likes Sam, a fellow teacher. However, Derrick is tempting her to break her rules...

Oooh, VERY nice, a military romance without suspense or special operators, nor terrorists and such. Just regular citizen-soldiers dealing with family and life and its struggles. There is not too much angst, and whole thing is rather light-hearted, even as it deals with some heavy issues. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Healing Her Cowboy by Kay Lyons

Grace had to leave Seth to deal with her own past. But when news arrived that Seth is paralyzed from a riding accident and in a deep depression, she had to come back... as she's now a physical therapist... and may be the only one who can heal his broken body and soul... if he'll let her in... but she had to bare her soul first...

Okay, angst-y, but nicely handled. There's a HEA, sure. 4/5

GRR Reviews The Billionaire's Temporary Marriage by Tamie Dearen

Cole Miller is well known for his green mechanical arm and face of Limitless, the company launched by four friends, each with a disability. But people, esp. women, only see him as a billionaire, and his "iron-clad" contract to appear on TV show "Billionaire Matchup" didn't help, where he's supposed to marry a contestant or forfeit a million dollars. When he spilled Brooke's coffee at a local cafe, a solution presented itself... // Brooke can't believe she's finally pregnant... her now ex-husband divorced her because she couldn't... except that "one final time" somehow cinched the deal. But as a counselor to unwed mothers at a religious charity, she had to be married. When Cole heard about her circumstances, he proposed a temporary marriage. He can get out of marrying some TV contestant (since he's already married!) and save a million bucks (minus whatever Brooke gets), and she gets to keep the job which she desperately needs so she can get her counselor certification. Love's got nothing to do with it... Right?

Great plotting, as the escalation just keeps squeezing them tighter and tighter, without relying on tropes such as "weird will". Like the darkest hour (the hospital stay) and the grand gesture (tearing up the report). AND it's clean. 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 Mommy Loves the Doggy Doctor by Deb Kastner

Ashley became a widow when her husband and her daughter had an ATV accident. Her daughter Gweny was left wheelchair-bound for life. But that didn't stop them from bringing happiness to other people's lives, esp. nursing home visits with fresh cookies. And that's when they ran into the Luke and Grandma Bryant, who brought a whole litter of Dalmatian puppies to cheer up Luke's dad (dementia) and the rest of the nursing home. Luke is a bachelor veterinarian, and very shy, preferring animals to people. But when Grandma Bryant, seeing that Gweny has a connection to Pudgie, one of the Dalmatian puppies, offered the pup to her. And Ashley can't refuse anything that makes Gweny happy. That also brought the families closer, esp. when Pudgie needed some medical help... And Gweny wanted to put her mom and the handsome vet Luke together... With a little help from Grandma Bryant, of course.

Sweet, good use of the dog, and even training the dog to be a service dog for the disabled. Sweet shy love. The kind I like. No sex. 5/5

GRR Reviews The Billionaire's Secret Marriage by Tamie Dearen

Branson "Bran" is totally blind, but a lifetime of adaptation means most people don't even notice his blue eyes aren't real. He's now rich and he has the perfect PA Stephanie "Steph", and possibly a fiancee too, but that's just a business deal. Bran knew most women don't care about him, only his wealth. Bran also knew that Steph doesn't see him that way, and he hired Steph partly due to her daughter's disability, needing her job and health insurance to keep her well. But he's not in love with Steph, right? // Steph had a crush on Bran for a long time. He's strong, sweet, and jaded. And Bran's new fiancee is both jealous of any woman near Bran (esp. Steph) and trying to coerce Bran into a quickie marriage, in Las Vegas Elvis Chapel if necessary. Can Steph stand by while the devious fiancee succeeds? Or will she speak up, and risk losing her job and her life as she knows it?

VERY nice description of a blind MMC, definitely inspirational. Though I can't imagine such a guy be pushed around by a socialite with an agenda. And the reason he's going for a fake marriage to the socialite was for her stocks for a stock swap? Without a pre-nup? I know it's doing good, but somehow, this doesn't sound that... "dire", not a "do or die" situation. 4/5

GRR Reviews Finding Liberty by Bridget E Baker

Billionaire heiress Brekka was ready to win medals at the Winter Olympics when a car accident left her without use of her legs. To cope with her loss, she entered the business world with her brother Trig. When Trig fell in love with Geo, but Geo has a platonic male best friend by the name of Rob who seems a bit too close, Trig was too nice to say anything, but Brekka will not stay silent. So she went to confront Rob... and Rob was nothing like she expected... // Rob has happy to have survived Middle East... He actually had his back broken, but he somehow made a full recovery. He didn't enjoy selling cars for his family car dealership franchise, but he'll make do. When Brekka confronted him, he's smitten... So he asked her to dinner. // The two can't be more different. Rob never graduated high school. Brekka has business degrees. But Rob wasn't a marine for nothing, and Brekka may be ready to venture outside her carefully constructed shell...

Very nice. Loving someone in a wheelchair is not an easy subject to write, and this story was well interweaved with previous novels. (Specifically Finding Cupid, previously reviewed) 5/5

GRR Reviews Not By Sight by Kay Lyons

Ian was a Navy SEAL and fought his own battle with claustrophobia from a childhood incident. When he went along with his brother's security company to rescue a hostage, he ended up getting shot in the head and lost his sight. Now he's blind, in permanent claustrophia, and deep depression. In desperation, Ian's brother hired a tutor... a BLIND tutor, Emma, who had been blind from a car accident since she was 14. Emma wanted the money to live independently since her family is a bit smothering, but her biggest challenge is not engaging Ian's interest... but not to fall for Ian... When there seems be someone stalking Emma... can a blind SEAL still protect his woman?

Very good touches on adapting to blindness, without beating you over the head with details, yet enough details to satisfy. I did guess who the stalker was pretty early. Romance is interesting, but nothing too outstanding.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 5/5

NOTE: Tropes are now in the "Labels" below. 

GRR Reviews The Crippled Bride and The Ambitious Miner by Faye Sonja

The Crippled Bride and the Ambitious Miner didn't have much of a plot. Things just happen, and the characters just feel so... passive.

Ava has a bad limp since she was 18 after a bad accident, which led to her being unmarriable. Her father was a politician, and appearance was everything. She was thirty-one when her father claimed to have caught her mother cheating, and kicked them out. Ava is unemployable with her limp, and her only way out was to mail order bride herself out West to California, where a miner, supposedly well-to-do, needed her to help the new community of Gold Creek. She can send back money for mom later. Upon arrival, the miner, Jackson, turned out to be co-founder of the town with political ambitions. However, the mine had not actually struck any gold yet. Jackson knew Ava was too good for him and the town, and worried about she is not ready for the rough life of the frontier town, esp. with that limp. Will they learn to understand each other?

This author's stories don't flow right. Things just happen, rather than being caused by character's actions and inactions. Farmer's complaint about the mine used too much water and ruined his crops was mentioned, then never again. An enemy of Jackson turned out to be stealing gold from the mine, but that's just a "sudden" deus ex machina revelation near the end. And there really wasn't much of a fight between Jackson and Ava after they acknowledged that both had lied to each other. the plot just doesn't flow.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: Can a crippled woman marry a miner as a mail-order bride when the town seems ready to throw them out?

Overall Rating: 2/5

NOTE: Tropes are now in the "Labels" below. 

GRR Reviews BLINDED (Elkridge Series Book 1) by Lyz Kelley

While the concept of Blind is good, the chemistry between the primary couple is confusing, and the romantic suspense didn't quite work. The big mystery was left up in the air as well, but that's to be expected.

Mara lost her sight and her family in a horrendous crash. She adapted and took over her mom's floral business, but there was little to no margin, even with help. She was not expecting Joey, her first love, back in town. Joey is back in his hometown after 10 years away. Someone gunned down his brother Sam, the sheriff. The local deputies seem incompetent... or clueless. He was needed back in Seattle PD, but something smells wrong in the area. As the two met, and got reacquainted, someone is stalking her... Is it related to his brother's murder? When the town offered the sheriff's position to Joey, will he accept or refuse? What will Mara say about that?

The chemistry between Mara and Joey is confusing, as I said before. Sure, it's reunion, but nothing too special there. There's a story arc about a giant conspiracy that killed Joey's brother Sam, the previous sheriff. And that conspiracy wasn't resolved yet. Mara's "fiancee" was introduced way too late to be a credible threat. All in all, the story just left feeling "meh".

Category: Contemporary / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Man's in town looking for her brother's killer, feel for the blind girl who's also his first love; will he stay around?

Tropes: reunion, return, conspiracy, stalker, evil ex, law enforcement, disabled

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews Love Me, I Dare You! (Hell Yeah!) by Sable Hunter

Love Me, I Dare You sets up an very interesting pairing... a retired champion cowboy... and a blind bartender girl. The threat to their relationship however, is really vague and there's a logistical problem.

Joshua Long, World Champion Cowboy, suffered a career-ending injury and is back in Kerrville, TX. He had been dubbed "cowgirl whisperer" because he had a fan club of former flings who always leave satisfied... except for one evil biatch who wanted to ruin his reputation forever and started a website talking **** about him and his old man. With little money left after bills, Josh ended up in his old friend's HARDBODIES bar, and a lot of friends who can help him with a second chance, when he laid eyes on a beautiful blue-eyed redhead behind the bar, who's blind. Emma Zachary lived her life on a dare. She has been blind since age 10, and her nearly didactic memory helped her cope. Having heard of Josh's reputation, she chose him at a bachelor auction... so he can show her something she never had before. And they both found once is not enough. But when external threats arrive, things may indeed get dicey for the couple... and their friends.

I find the problem facing the couple really nebulous, and the guards practically useless. The relationship is pretty good too. The part about coping with blindness was very good, but one observation begs the question... How does she keep it "neatly trimmed" down there... if she's blind? In the end, I enjoy the book so I had to rated good, though consider it a "low" good.

Category: Western

Primary Plot: Former champion cowboy (with a lot of buckle bunnies and evil ex) fell for a blind bartender girl who wanted someone experienced for her first time

Tropes: disabled (blind), cowboy, fling to a thing, auction (bachelor), evil ex, virgin, reformed rake, protector, woman in peril

Overall Rating: 

GRR Reviews His Lady Godiva (Wounded Hero Contem by L.C. Giroux

His Lady Godiva is a charming contemporary romance that featured one guy who's in a wheelchair part-time. However, it soon resorted to "light kink" trope, and there are some ethics problems, as well as quite lame "darkest hour".

To recap, Dr. Michael Dennison is a skilled orthopedic surgeon bound to a wheelchair, who concentrated on fixing other people up so they can have what he can no longer have. He denied himself the distraction of romance... Until Violet Bellows came into his life. Violet saw the gorgeous Dr. Dennison for the man that he is, even in that chair, and she's determined to unleash that side of his passion... but is she ready to deal with that side of his passion?

The idea that a doctor (esp. one in a wheelchair) can get it on with a patient in a hospital (where she's staying) with no interference from the nurses was just fantasy. The light kink trope was a trope! The darkest hour was really lame as basically, they found both of them had lied to each other by omission: they both are quite rich. And the resolution was just as simple: change of heart.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Wheelchair-bound surgeon who swore not to be a burden, include love for anyone may change his mind for one woman who saw him for who he is...

Tropes: different worlds, disabled, doctor/patient, BDSM

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews His Perfect Bride (The Brides of Paradise) by Merry Farmer

His Perfect Bride (Spicy Version) is a historical Western "mail order bride" story that contains sex scenes (thus "spicy version"). It is better plotted than most mail order bride stories, and featured a good background of characters with room to add more brides in the future.

NOTE: Also available as "Corva: The Perfect Bride" which is clean.

To recap, Corva Collier had to escape her life in the East and mail order bride to a little town of Haskell Wyoming was her last chance. She was an artist, but her life in the East did not allow her to pursue that. She did not expect to find her husband a cripple who can barely walk and did not really wanted to marry her. But Franklin Haskell (yes, the town's named after his relatives) was an honorable man, and between marrying Corva to help her vs. sending her back and marry some other women in town (who has designs on his fortune), Franklin chose Corva, even though he surely does not deserve her. But Corva thought the same... surely a lowly painter does not deserve the richest man in town with a good heart... So in a way, they are perfect for each other...

While the plot is somewhat trope-ish (jealousy, inadequacy, etc.) the important part is the author was able to balance the inadequacy of both the MMC and the FMC. A lot of mail order bride authors made the FMC either too strong (super-woman who can do everything, from carpentry to housewife) or too weak (being rescued from various circumstances, like sold to a bordello or married to a mean drunk) or neglected to write an interesting MMC. This author managed to balance the MMC and the FMC with weaknesses *and* strengths and how they come to accept each other, in addition to the external conflicts like obligations and town gossip. And that deserves recognition.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: Female painter married herself out west as mail-order bride as last resort; found a rich man who can barely walk as her reluctant groom...

Tropes: mail order bride, different worlds, fish out of water, disabled, no good for you

Overall Rating:  5/5

GRR Reviews Paradise Found: That Second Chance by Mary Campisi

Paradise Found is a contemporary romance about second chances, about hope, and about trust, between a doctor and a patient.

Matt Brandon had wealth, power, looks, and talent... until a ski accident left him blind, but it seems to be a psychological problem, as they can find nothing physically wrong with his eyes. Matt's brother brought in several doctors, but none of them helped, until Dr. Sara Hamilton, who was so scarred herself she may be detached enough to help Matt. But as Matt and Sara explore the boundaries of trust and hope, they will come to learn that to get what they want, they must lose everything first...

The pace somehow just feels terribly slow as most of the journey is "cerebral" in nature. There was a cliche "let's stay apart for a couple months until one of us change our mind" period to resolve the final conflict. If that's supposed to be a grand gesture, it's exasperating. The push-pull, while the two were figuring things out, was good though.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Wounded doctor must help a blind man to regain his vision by working through his trust issues, by opening up herself...

Tropes: doctor/patient, disabled, scarred, family secrets

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews Julia: A Sweet Western Historical Romance by Ashley Merrick

Julia (Mail Order Bride Club) is a Western Historical Mail Order Bride Romance that is quite decent, but lack of copy-editing and consistency check across multiple books in the shared universe is troublesome. And the talk of modern problems in 1880's seems to be way ahead of its time.

Julia lost the accounting job when the owner had to take an early retirement and sold the company. Repeated interviews went nowhere, so she took a chance and went West to Wyoming to meet her friend Emma, who became a mail order bride and was now very happy and pregnant. And Emma's husband has EIGHT brothers... One of whom, Liam would very much like Julia to stay around, and perhaps help his family-friendly pub. Then she discovered his secret even as the competing pub's owner started to fight back...

As a suspense, this novel is rather lame. As a romance, it's a little better, but the talk of "depression" in the 1880's seems to be well ahead of its time. The antagonist was just too flat evil, IMHO. Also, it seems this book doesn't match a lot of the details from book 1 in the shared universe. Some names have changed, and background details revised so they don't match any more.

Category: Historical western

Primary Plot: Woman visited her mail order bride friend to frontier town, fell for the pub owner brother who has his own issues...

Tropes: mail order bride, disabled (psychological), bar owner,

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews A Lawman's Reward (Love's a Gamble Bo by Kay P. Dawson

A Lawman's Reward is is a Western Historical Romance set in Abilene Kansas, and is the third book of the series, and features continuing characters. Lydia the sister and Lewis the sheriff are the main characters this time, having been introduced in book 1 as secondary characters.

Lydia had gone off to get her teacher's credentials, and she's heading back to Abilene, Kansas to her family and her town, and to the only man she pined for... Lewis Kincaid, the local sheriff, even though she believed she had nothing to offer to a man. Lydia is physically handicapped having been dumped from a horse when young and the legs never set correctly, and a teaching job seems to be ideal for her, and going home was the logical choice when the last teacher didn't last long. But Abilene now has some unsavory characters and Lewis promised to keep an eye out for her... What Lewis didn't say was he had his eyes on her for a long time... But Lewis has his own problems, when his ex rolled into town on the stagecoach, intending to resume their relationship (after she ran off on him first to chase her own dreams), then after finally getting rid of her, after making certain she understood that he had ZERO interest in resuming that part of his life, his parents rolled into town, trying every which way to force him to go back east and be the rich heir of the family fortune... Can Lewis and Lydia's love survive these trials?

The twist ending was exactly what I expected, but that didn't make it any less delightful. The darkest hour was suitable, and the solution puts the perfect comeuppance on the person who created the darkest hour. It was a delight to read.

Category: Historical western

Primary Plot: Disabled teacher is going home; she and the sheriff have had unrequited love on each other for a while; can they be together despite his ex and his family arriving, and she believed she had nothing to offer him as a wife?

Tropes: disabled, law enforcement, evil ex, family pressure

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Review: Confessions of an Ugly Girl by Alice Wasser

Confessions of an Ugly Girl is a "diary novel" contemporary romance featuring an unusual pairing: an overweight Jewish girl, and a disabled guy. It'd make a perfect Valentine's day (or before) reading.

Matilda "Millie" Glockenfeld is in her 30's and overweight and her mother (stereotype!) is always on her case about when are you going to marry a nice Jewish doctor or lawyer or engineer or something, esp. when her sister Rachel is "much prettier" and already married a surgeon. So mom's always trying to set her up on blind dates with disastrous results, until she found a cute guy, new, working in the IT department... and Millie was shocked to find that the new guy, Sam, is in a wheelchair. But Sam liked Millie, and after one date, Millie was hooked. But Sam had an ex named Holly, and mom's still trying to setup more blind dates... 

There was the darkest night of the soul moment and a grand gesture, but they are so far back in the book (97%) that the ending felt extremely rushed, but that can be explained as saving some of the plots for the sequel. All in all rather enjoyed it. One nitpick: Why do so many people think actuary is boring, but accounting is less boring?

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Older overweight Jewish girl falls for sweet disabled guy in a wheelchair

Overall Rating:  4/5