GRR Reviews Romance Reset by Kay Lyons

 Amelia is 38, single, and wants a family. She wants it so much, she had an appointment at a sperm bank. So her bestie mounted an intervention... By hiring a matchmaker for her. Her bestie insists that Amelia needs a romance reset before embarking on single parenthood. And guess what fate had in store for Amelia? A blind date reunion with her first love Lincoln... // Lincoln is a widower and empty nester now that his twins are off to college. But online dating is not for him. Hiring a matchmaker seems to be a great idea. When his first date in 20 years turned out to be his first love... // It all seems to be a match made in heaven, but is Lincoln ready to be a dad again? 

Pretty good. The serendipity is heavy, and the odd deadline (for the sperm bank) feels a bit overdramatic but works within the context. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews Fierce Bryce by Natalie Ann

Bryce is a certified genius, but he prefers to teach, even if he has to deal with parents who think grades should be "flexible", and students who think blackmailing teachers is tolerable. But he refused to be used... which is why he thought his ideal match would be an intellectual equal. So why was his mind fixated on a blonde bombshell baker? // Peyton had gone all her life without anyone taking her seriously... because she's a blue-eyed blonde with a beach body. Having dyslexia doesn't help. Even her parents told her to use what she's got and she refused. Instead, she's operating a cafe and making simple food people love. She's nowhere NEAR Bryce's league, so why can't she forget about him?

VERY nicely done opposites attract trope story, with nice character arc for both. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews The Exiled Patriot by Jennifer Youngblood

Jayden, reporter, was assigned to interview some eccentric billionaire Lillian Yates about a hidden treasure she's hidden away for someone near her town of Remember near Christmas. But when her quest resulted in her falling into a freezing river, she was rescued by Cannon, a mountain man, and that is clearly not his real name. And then she's snowed in with him. Just who is Cannon, and what tragedy has he witnessed? And while Jayden's curiosity was piqued, she found the truth.... Can she break the story... and betray the man she came to love?

A bit deeper than the usual, the setup seems to be some "meddling", albeit good-natured. The betrayal, however, was trope as heck. 4/5

GRR Reviews The Billionaire's Mistletoe by Gigi Marlowe

Roger's wife died, leaving him a widower and single father to a little girl. Not even his fortune can help. Tiffany was betrayed by her ex and decided to concentrate on her career as a lawyer. Both were too busy for love, until matchmaker Valentina matched them together. But to work past their grief... would be up to themselves... And some Christmas magic.

Quite a bit of angst, about how each is wounded they should be alone forever. Meh. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews About Face by D E Haggerty

Frankie, a high-powered event planner, suffered severe injuries in one leg and a permanent scar on her face. Forced to take a long break from her third-floor city apartment (and wardrobe, and girl-friends) she went to live in the suburb with her grandparents. Unfortunately, her grandma kept trying to set her up with (loser) grandsons of her friends. Fortunately, her extremely handsome physical therapist, Brody, agreed to be her fake boyfriend, to help stop her grandma's horrible matchmaking. But she didn't know that her assistant, Jackson, has the hots for her, and Brody wants to take their fake relationship into the real category...

Can be subtitled as "How Frankie got her groove back", Frankie basically had to decide whether her city life is actually worth living, after being forced to take a break. But the story also took a couple meandering turns, like Frankie decides whether to slap down the evil ***** substitute who wanted her job permanently, and how her new bestie secretly has the hots for Jackson, but that's actually a setup for the next novel in the series. 4.5/5

GRR Reveiws The Memory of You by Jamie Beck

Ryan had to move home when his wife left him and their little girl behind. Living with his mother is a bit weird. His mother hiring his ex, Steffi, to remodel her house is... REALLY weird. Because Steffi broke his heart a long time ago. But Steffi herself is working through a lot of problems. Having been assaulted, she moved home for a do-over... only to end up in a squabble among friends... and being hired by her ex's mother is awkward... but the old feelings came back. Is his mother playing matchmaker? Do they really have a chance, when Steffi's secrets are still in hiding?

Two shattered souls, one small town. Good touches, hiding secrets in shame, etc. 4/5

GRR Reviews Treasured by Thursday by Catherine Bybee

Gabriella survived her ordeal (see book 6) and chose to start over as a new matchmaker for Alliance far away in the US. When her latest prospective client billionaire Hunter Blackwell refused to come clean about his reasons for a marriage of convenience, she rejected his application. However, he can't take no for an answer... for his own reasons. Instead, he applies leverage: his private investigator dug up about her past that she wanted to keep hidden... and two accounts she didn't know about on the other side of the world. She reluctantly agrees to the marriage... with some interesting additions to the pre-nup. In the meanwhile, she managed to log into those accounts from afar and changed the access code to them. Unfortunately, that also turned her into a target... as the real owner of those accounts is Diaz... the evil mastermind behind Gabi's suffering (in book 6), and he really wanted his money back, that he'll come to the US to deal with Gabi and Hunter personally... even as Hunter revealed the reason why he needs to marry ASAP...

I am not too sure about this one. While the premise sounded fine initially, Gabi seems to just fold with little reason when she has the entire Alliance to back her up, but somehow she wanted to "deal with it herself" (but it could be that she wanted to prove herself, it's almost plausible). Also, she somehow found accounts in foreign banks, and was able to gain login and password to those accounts just like that? That seems a bit far-fetched. These plotholes are pretty glaring when previous novels didn't have such problems. 4/5

GRR Reviews Lucky Suit by Lauren Blakely

Kristen is a nerd and proud of it. Her dates are so boring and bland, she will not accept grandma's attempt to set her up anymore. She'll try a dating app instead. Her grandma told her about Cameron, the guy who was always looking for a Ferrari, but sounds like a fun guy, but she's had enough. But when grandma told Kristen to chat with her online poker buddy "LuckySuit" online while she fixes up a car for a friend, Kristen can't refuse. And Kristen had a surprisingly good time with him, and he even figured out that it wasn't grandma chatting. But she also found a match online, that goes by "DeepThinker" that also caught her interest. Who should she pursue?

Ah, there's a twist or two there that was actually quite good. Not going to spoil the fun, but it's light-hearted rom-com. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Two Last First Dates by Kate O'Keefe

Paige had enough of her e-mail marketing job under her toxic boss and her previous "last first date" (i.e. finding Mr. Right) crashed and burned. She needed to find herself and quit her job, fast. Fortunately, her best friends are there to help, even as she found a temporary job at the Cozy Cottage Cafe. She met Josh, the friendly coffee delivery guy, and he's nice, but not really... sparkly. Her friends decided to help her by helping her choose Mr. Right for her, while she concentrated on finding a different job, even as she met Marcus, man of her dreams. Just about perfect, hot, charming, good job, likes her... She wanted to date him. But did her friends pick Marcus as her last first date?

Good chick-lit rom-com moments where the heroine has to find herself AND her love at the same time. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews The Handmaid's Billionaire by Gigi Marlowe

Mattie is a handmaid in Malibu, working odd service jobs while she tries to work on her writing. She would have never met Corbin, billionaire movie producer, and older guy, until Valentina, billionaire matchmaker, brought them together. They seem perfect together, but Mattie is unsure, as she was a runaway bride... left her fiancee at the altar, not ready to take that step. Does she deserve someone as handsome and rich and wonderful as Corbin?

NOTE: 111 page short novel

Not bad, pretty sweet, but the darkest hour wasn't that dark. Basically, Mattie has to decide between another go with her first love, or Corbin, who already loved her. The choice is pretty obvious. 3.5/5

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 Mommy Loves the Rockstar by Shanae Johnson and Janae Ronniesha

Kiara is a single mother and nurse, raising pre-teen Camille. She's usually too tired to care. And she was surprised to run into one of her teenage idol and celebrity crush, Jett Anderson, temping as a substitute music teacher at her daughter's school... But he's only there for two weeks... // Jett used to be a part of a hot boy band and still has fans, but he's ready to settle down and get away from the tour life. When a friend visiting his gig was injured by rabid fans, he decided to take a two week break to help the friend out... by taking his place as a Middle School music teacher. But a music teacher isn't supposed to have fangirls... I mean fanwomen. Right? // Camille wants two things for Christmas... a new cellphone... and happiness for mom. When she realized her new music teacher is her mom's crush, she's determined to bring them together... even if she had to lock them in a room for them to work it out...

Okay, cute. You ALMOST don't realize Kiara is supposed to be black. I can't figure what ethnicity was Jett supposed to be, not that it really matters. 4/5

GRR Reviews How Daddy Got His Groove Back by Nathan Waqa

NOTE: The full title is actually "How Daddy got his groove back, with a LOT of help from me, Matchmaker Extraordinaire!!!"  You can see why I have to shorten that a bit.

Cassie loves her daddy. He makes the greatest pancakes, and he takes very good care of Cassie and sister Anna. But there is one thing missing in his life... mommy! When Cassie met Esmeralda, the substitute teacher for her class, Cassie knew she found "the one" for Daddy. Now... how to get them together... It just requires a plan, like her 272-step plan for world domination...

It is a fun read, mainly for amusement value as adults try to sit with a straight-face while Cassie enacts her naive plan. 4/5

GRR Reviews I'm With Cupid by Sarah Spade

Cole is a cupid (yes, no capital C). He was recruited by Eros to help mortals fall in love, yes, arrows and all that. And cupids are immune to the arrows (job security)  He was about to finish his quota for the year, just before the time window closes, when somehow, despite his invisibility shields, he was spotted peeping (just making sure the couple is together) by the female subject's feisty cousin Sheila. Which is then he found out he has ZERO powers. No wings, no arrow, no invisibility shield. Now a mere mortal, Cole's only hope was to convince Sheila that he needs help to go home to Philadelphia and report to his boss Eros... // Sheila has pepper spray in one hand and car keys in the other, and she's chasing down the peeping tom... When he stopped. His story is crazy... Cupid? Arrows? Magic powers lost? But somehow she believed him. Sheila is now on a quest from Salem to Philadelphia to get Cole back so he can get his cupid mojo back. Cole may not be able to fall in love... but Sheila found herself attracted to the wingless cupid...

Ahhhh...... cute! And you'll like the twist (i.e. the reason why Cole's magic vanished)  5/5

GRR Reviews Mommy Love the Banker by Sharon Hughson

Meredith was forced to reinvent herself when her twenty-year marriage ended. She went to help her daughter to raise her granddaughter and tries to get her custom lotion business off the ground, and she will need a loan to get through some tough times. Unfortunately, the bank manager, Donavan, found his hands tied when it comes to lending. Donavon doesn't want to say no to the grandmother, and when their respective granddaughters were bullied at local little league baseball, they unite. And the granddaughters also unite... To put them together! Are Meri and Don overdue for a HEA?

Sweet and heartwarming, yes. The problems in this book basically solved themselves. Meri turned out to have never needed a loan, and her cash crunch resolved itself. Don took some steps to resolve the bully situation. But overall, the tension just wasn't there. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews to Have and To Hold by Kristi Rose

Lottie and Bill have been together forever (since elementary school), but only as platonic friends. Now Lottie's a pastry chef, and Bill is a pastor. And Lottie is tired of waiting for Bill to "get a clue". So when someone offered to sell her cupcakes to a much wider area, and have her move to the city, she has a decision to make. // Elizabeth runs Meryton Matchmakers, and why would Willaim the corporate raider interested in her business? If Liz can't convince Will that her company means a lot more than just the tiny yearly profit, she may lose everything...

The two plots don't intersect that well. It's as if the author just basically bashed the two separate plots together. 3/5

GRR Reviews Matchmaking for Beginners: A Novel by Maddie Dawson

Marnie wanted an ordinary life... she already has a fiancee, now she just needs to get him to the altar and go for the HEA, then kids, suburban house, minivan... Until Marnie meets aunt Blix, her fiancee's eccentric matchmaking great aunt... who's dying... and Blix told her EVERYTHING will change... and they did. Marnie's marriage lasted only 2 weeks. Her depression led to a breakdown that got her fired from her teaching job.  Now she's back home, divorced, and living in her teenager room. She got back with one of her old boyfriends, and it was good... But she's not aware that life has other plans for her... or her own gift of spotting the right matches for other people. She was shocked when she got the news that Blix has died... and left her the Brooklyn Brownstone... and all the neighbors and tenants living there, for her to match. And it is there, perhaps, she'll recognize the greatest truth of all...

Awww, touching, but not too angst-y, sweet, but not sacchrine. Blix is unusual, but not to the point of totally weird or fall into stereotype of "wild oldster" (often found in romcoms, i.e. "grandma buys a Harley") and Marnie was both loving AND broken at the same time... a lot like Patrick. 5/5

GRR Reviews Restless by Paris Hansen

Savannah wanted forever with a man, even though she does have a bit of a crush on the bartender, Gabe, at her favorite restaurant. But she just agreed to be matched by a professional matchmaker. When Gabe approached her, she can't say no. Turns out Gabe was actually the owner of the restaurant and an excellent lover. But when Gabe's ex-fiancee returned after the death of her father (and his mentor), will Savannah be left broken-hearted?

Hmmm... I think Savannah is a bit too... "fragile ego", but Gabe's also a bit too quick to go to the bottle instead of talking it out. Some TSTL moments. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews Flirting in Flagstaff by Keira K Barton

NOTE: Part of At the Altar series by Kirsten Osbourne

Tess had fallen for too many 'wrong guys' that in desperation, she joined Matchtrimony with her three friends, and put her "fate" into the hands of Dr. Lachele, matchmaker extraordinaire. But Dr. Lachele specialized in "at the altar" matches... She won't see his groom until at the altar. // Levi wants to buy Mr. Earl's ranch, but the old man won't sell to a bachelor. But Levi doesn't know any one to marry... and signing up with Dr. Lachele wasn't the instant solution he needed, even when Dr. Lachele told him to move to Flagstaff, as his future bride is in the area. What he didn't know was he ended up working on Tess' ranch, and Tess is his intended match. They fell for each other BEFORE their respective weddings, not knowing they'll see each other at the altar... But he hadn't told her his plans...

Hmmm... Nice, short, sweet, but his plan to go back wasn't quite... well thought out. But the end was a bit of gift-of-the-magi mutual compromise. 4/5

GRR Reviews Always in Albuquerque by Kirsten Osbourne

Alexis has achieved everything she wanted... Except finding a life partner. She's a trained and certified life coach with an established clientele, but her training doesn't cover finding a date that she'd want a second date with, much less getting married. Desperate for a solution, she went to her old mentor, Dr. Lachele, who agreed to find her a match... AT THE ALTAR, much like a modern-day mail-order bride. // Dirk is a college professor (and vegetarian) who's way too serious about his image, yet he knew he couldn't date to save his life. Being matched to Alexis AT THE ALTAR seems to be an epic mismatch... She's way too... flamboyant for him, and he's too straight-laced for her. But can they see through their surface difference to their HEA?

Hmmm... this series is about some apparently epic MIS-matches that turn out to be... not mismatches at all, usually with some hidden truth revealed about why is each person the way s/he is. So it's deeper than it seems, but you're not going to find a surprising twist or super-angst-y emotion here. 4/5