GRR Reviews Sweet Liar by Laurelin Paige

NOTE: HFN ending, not exactly a cliffhanger, but read book 2 also.

Audrey is pretty, young, and romantic... well, not romantic enough to want an ever-after, even though she believe in the stuff. But she wants to learn sex first. And the teacher she picked is a much older ad exec by the name of Dylan. He's busy, he's been betrayed, he's experienced, and he's NOT looking for love, Exactly what both of them needs, right? But she's too young, practically half his age... and he can't say no... But can he keep his heart after tasting her innocence?

That's a VERY masterful narrative to make the "teach sex" trope dramatic and tasteful at the same time. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Irresistible: What He Wants by Elizabeth Nelson

NOTE: Cliffhanger, you may want to read "Irresistible Complete Set" via KU instead.

Hillary needs a job when she was recruited by Brad for a very special club... No sex, just flirt and tease, and MAYBE touch... But behind Brad is Adrian, a mysterious boss with his own intentions toward Hillary. And Maxwell, a hunky TV star, seems to be monopolizing Hillary's time...

This is 1/3rd of a book, and it shows. Hillary started as an innocent ingenue, and even on her first night out, turned into a master cocktease, but she can't decide who she wanted to f***... Brad the charmer, Maxwell the TV hunk, or Adrian, the mysterious alpha? Frankly, reading a cliffhanger doesn't make me want to buy the next 2 books, as not much here really happened. In fact, there is no sex, just a lot of heavy petting and making out. (Technically, there is ONE sex scene, but it's NOT with Hillary, our FMC). 1.5/5 (includes -1 cliffhanger penalty)

GRR Reviews The Playboy by Madeline Ash

Alexia knew Parker was a playboy... He was an entitled and rich SOB, and almost pressured Alexia into giving up her v-card. Years later, Alexia has a TV role and possibly a movie role as well... But she can't do the sexy scenes... She doesn't look confident on camera. In fact, she still has her V-card. The movie producer told her to find some confidence before the shooting starts in a month, or the role's going to someone else. Desperate for inspiration, she went back home to Australia... and found Parker, still there on Byron Bay. But she just want someone to teach her how to love, at least on camera... without actually falling in love... it doesn't have to be Parker... but the more time she spend in Byron Bay, the more she realized Parker has changed. But she's on a strict timeline... She's going back in less than 3 weeks. And Parker is ready to make amends... By her using him for practice... if just for penance...

Now that's an interesting combination: "learn sex" trope combined with "reunion" and "return", and there's definitely a character arc for Alexia. Some parts gets really angst-y, and I'm not sure I quite like the ending, but it's good. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Just Dessert by Kelly Collins

Katarina "Kat" is just a student, but when her friend accidentally double booked herself escorting two gentlemen to a black-tie event, she can't turn her down. That's how she met Damon, nightclub owner, as his "arm candy". Damon was a total gentleman, but he admits he's too broken to date... because he kept offering her money for another date, and she kept refusing. But when they discover they were reading the same romance book, they decided to give some of the taboo fantasies in the book a try. However, can Damon ever move on from his wounds?

I was loving the book right up to the darkest hour, which felt VERY VERY contrived. Basically, she saw his ex put a move on him, and she ran. ARGH!!!!!!! Her excuse? "If I can't have all of you, I don't want any part of you."

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews Take Me There by M C Decker

Ashlynn is a couples counselor, but despite having been married (and divorced) and is currently 35, she had never experienced the... big O. She never told ANYONE about this. Until... Dr. Carson Foster came. He's a famous sexologist who does everything by the book... Until he saw Ashlynn, and he wanted her, and will toss the book away if that means he can have her... But can you really date a colleague in the same clinic?

Strangely, as a couple of counselors, they sure don't seem to spend much time at their jobs. And her recovery was... miraculous! Meh.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 3/5

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

GRR Reviews The Slam by Haleigh Lovell

Ender and Edric Hemsworth are tennis semi-pros and notorious playboys living in their retired aunt's house in Northern California. When their aunt, currently residing in Australia, sent them Adelaide, who would be attending UC Berkeley, they were not prepared. When they departed Australia years ago, Adelaide was a tomboy who will get into the mud with them. Adelaide is also a high-functioning Aspie. But the Adelaide that arrived at SFO was both same, yet different... she's a beautiful young woman whose lack of social grace is both charming and frustrating... // Adelaide never let her condition stop her from life. She will study the situation ahead of time and prepare adequate responses, which more often than not, goes off script with unintentionally hilarious results. Things got a bit awkward (but not for her) when she enlists Ender as her social coach while she'll be Ender's tennis coach. When she wants something, she will go after it, social graces notwithstanding, and that includes... sex. After all, that's what college kids do, right?

Adelaide is very much like "Data" on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Both characters are innocent, with a lack of social graces, but enough to recognize the cues to silence or divert yet takes things very literally. And yes, both are, shall we say, "fully functional". I don't know if the description is "right on", as I don't know any high-functioning aspies myself (I could be one for all I know) but it sounds plausible. And that makes for a good rom-com.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 5/5

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

GRR Reviews Lucky Me by Kelly Moran

Declan O'Leary and his clan are cursed when 100 years ago, their ancestor chickened out and lost a 4-leaf clover, and failed to claim his love. Since then, every love affair in the clan had ended in tragedy, and Declan and his brothers keep things light. That is... Until Declan met Lily Durand... actually, met is the wrong word. She disappeared on him three times, like a leprechaun... then she walked into his brother's bar. Lily wanted to... step out a bit, and Declan seems to be the man who can help her, no strings attached. And Declan agreed... one week, all out, lots of sex, every position, total honesty. But when the week's up, will he be able to let her go... Will she be the one to break the family curse... or succumb to it?

Awww, that was a very tightly written novella, lots of plot, hot sex, with the context of the family curse behind it that added an extra dimension to the whole thing. I rarely give novellas a high score due to limited character development, but this will be an exception.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 5/5

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

GRR Reviews Love So Hot (The Lawson Brothers) by Marquita Valentine

Love So Hot is a "firefighter romance" mixed with the age-old question "can a man and woman just be friends"?

Sydney McKnight, a bank teller, has a strange relationship with Brody Lawson, fire captain, in the town of Jessamine. Brody wanted Sydney for years, but they forced themselves to be only best friends if such a thing was possible between a man and a woman. Brody even has a bombshell girlfriend, Cherry. When a rookie firefighter Davis wanted to put the moves on Sydney, Brody shut him down fast, because Sydney deserved better. But when Cherry sensed that Brody was really pining after Sydney, the girls conspire to force Sydney to win the Fireman's annual Auction for Brody's time... Brody thought he will finally get lucky... until Sydney asked for Brody's help to seduce... Davis the rookie. Now Brody had to pull out all his moves to show Sydney that he is all she needs...

Funny, poignant, and sappy at times, this rom-com will make you laugh and go "awww". My only regret is the plot twists are standard romance tropes.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Girl and Guy deny their attraction to each other until new factors forced them to confront their real feelings

Tropes: firefighter, friendsd to lovers, triangle, learn sex

Overall Rating:  4/5 (rounded up)

GRR Reviews The Secret to Seduction (The Fontaines) by Ember Casey

The Secret To Seduction is a story about a girl finally coming out of her shell and getting some self-esteem, but also how her love can be much closer than she expected rather than with her childhood crushes. However, it is also a trope, i.e. "I'll learn to seduce but I'll also fall in love with my teacher" story.

Felicia Liddle doesn't see herself as beautiful, and she'd gladly blend into the background to get the scoop for the gossip magazine she worked for. However, when the magazine changed ownership, Felicia found her job on the chopping block, unless she lands one major interview with one of the Fontaine Brothers, notorious for refusing interviews. Felicia has but one weapon: her female charms, as the Fontaine Brothers are known to never resist a beautiful woman... And Felicia had always an infatuation of the Fontaine Brothers but her seduction skills are, by her own estimation, negligible. But her new boss, Roman Everet, who gave her the one week to get her seduction tuned up, is willing to teach her... hands on...

In a way, this is also "alpha billionaire vs. ingenue" story, but the emphasis here is on the girl, not the guy, and that made it much better than the typical ones. 

And I like this new cover a lot better.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Young gossip reporter needed to learn seduction from a hands-on boss to land her biggest story ever...

Tropes: learn sex, teacher / student, different worlds, reporter

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Reviews A Modern Proposal by Emma Nichols

A Modern Proposal is a combination of "girl needs to learn sex from a reputed rake", "sex bucket list", and "enemies into lovers" tropes.

Willow Stone wanted to write as a carer and vowed to win a position as a sex columnist in the publication.. except she kinda sucks at sex. And apparently her family is full of Vulcans who don't show emotion. She picked the playboy she knew... Wyatt, to "teach" her about sex, by going down this huge bucket list (cross out the couple really weird / gross ones). And the more items they ticked off, the more their mutual attraction grew. But is this a relationship that can last?

While the pair seems to fit, the guy was just... all too sweet! There was no rakish behavior! And the list is like "have sex outdoors", "try cosplay sex", etc. it's "relationship of convenience turned real", and it's just trope after trope, after trope...

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: woman needs to learn sex from a rake to become a sex columnist; they fell for each other

Tropes: learn sex from Casanova, bucket list

Overall Rating: 3/5 (rounded up from 2.5/5)

GRR Review: Imperfect Chemistry by Mary Frame

Imperfect Chemistry can be summarized as a female Spock meets a male Lothario and the female thawed. It is cute, but the delivery was a bit off, as the premise wasn't quite sustained.

Lucy London got a PhD in microbiology by age 20, but she has no clue about people. She does not understand emotions, so when she got a grant to study emotion as a pathogen, she jumped on the opportunity... and got completely stuck. She had no idea how to create study about something she does not understand. Enter Jensen Walker... Her neighbor in the duplex. Jensen's love life is a matter of campus legend... messy, emotional, complicated... the perfect candidate for her study. After wearing him down to participate, they found each other intriguing, and soon Lucy was feeling those emotions that she wanted to study... But can she study them while giving in to them? 

While the meeting and coming together was interesting, the relationship was basically mostly physical and sweet, but little else. We learned plenty about Lucy, how she'd loosened up after a little love, which can be seen as both sweet and empowering... or terribly trope-ish. I don't have much of a feeling for Jensen at all, don't feel his personality. The deadline about Lucy's project just feels forced upon the relationship as a problem. However, the author's writing style is quite easy to read.

All in all, there are enough pros and cons that I decided on a 3/5 rating, but I still suggest you give it a try, as I find the last quarter of the book a bit of a let down from the first parts.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Female Spock needed help from a male Lothario to learn about emotions of love to do a scientific project, but she doesn't know anything about that... can he teach her?

Overall Rating: 3/5  (But still recommended!)

GRR Review: Educating Elizabeth by Kate Pearce

Educating Elizabeth is a very good historical romance novel where the conventions of the day help to add to the seductive atmosphere instead of hindering it.

Elizabeth Waterstone, stepdaughter to the Forrester household, was often sent to do "favors" by her stepfather. When a gambling debt sent her into the household of the Duke of Diable Delamere, the most famous rake in the Kingdom (or perhaps, the continent) she was determined to ask him to teach her the skills to be a courtesan... So that she can support her invalid brother all but disowned by their family. The Duke, tempted by this strong young woman who can think for herself, asked for her help in thwarting an assassination plot against the prince regent by decoding some messages in addition to teaching her about the bedroom skills. As the two are ever drawn closer to each other, they are endangered by the plot that was closer than they ever suspected...

The intricate levels of conspiracy around them were introduced rather late, but the level of subterfuge as each character cannot afford to reveal all s/he knew made for some tense moments near the end of the book. I rather enjoy the book, though it sure seems slow at times.

Category: Regency

Primary Plot:  young woman sent as payment for gambling debt to rake of the continent was recruited by the Duke to help decode a plot of assassination against the prince regent

Overall Rating:  4/5

GRR Review: The List by Clare James

The List is an interesting variation on the sexy billionaire alpha trope with the kink only as a backdrop. There were a couple interesting twists in the story. It was a fun read.

Stevie Sinclair lost everything prior to her 30th birthday. Her boyfriend called a timeout in their relationship. She had tolerated bad sex for... years. She lost herself. She sulked for days until she came across "6 easy step to get sexy back" in Cosmos, and she chose to act on it, by moving out to a hotel, and encountered Gabe Shannon in the hotel bar, who's sexy, gorgeous, and perfectly willing to help Stevie with her quest... Including an introduction to the kink lifestyle. What can go wrong? 

The sexy scenes are sexy, and the kink scenes are... interesting without being too weird, just... potentially embarrassing. The emotional roller coasters are good, and I enjoyed the twist, even though how the book ends is pretty much foretold.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman who need a new start found a man willing to help her get her sexy back with a little kink

Overall Rating:  4/5