GRR Reviews The Billionaire Bargain by Lila Monroe

 Aussie billionaire Grant Devlin is an impulsive man who jets off with supermodels and, blows 500K in Monte Carlo casinos, exercises shirtless in his office, and basically lives life to the excess, leaving Lacey, the PR girl, to clean up his mess in his wake. As a result, Lacey understands the charm of Grant Devlin, and how he's utterly undependable. When Grant is forced to present a calmer, more refined image and settle down to soothe the investors, he chose Lacey as his future wife...

Not really feeling much about this one, as Grant is alternately reckless and dreamy, and Lacey is alternately charmed and sometimes broken from the spell. A bit of "meh" here. 2.5/5

GRR Reviews The Wonder of Now by Jamie Beck

Peyton is a survivor of breast cancer, but an emotional wreck, with her BF abandoning her at the time of need. However, when her memoir combined with her brother's frank photographs of her taking off, she needs to do a book promo tour with her publisher PR whiz Mitch. While Mitch is efficient, he's also very cold, yet with moody moments and flashes of pain beneath his implacable exterior. As the two slowly got to know each other, they gained an understanding into each other... and themselves. But is there love?

Nice job portraying a breast cancer survivor, living in doubt, tattered self-image, without letting it destroy her. Mitch has a shallower character arc, but not by that much. His motivations are simpler, but no less deep... sort of childhood promise and trauma. Though it is slightly less understandable how did his promise lead him to being PR guy... 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Where You Go by Claire Cain

Alex(andra) can't believe she ran into Luke, her first love, after ten years away. And it was clear they are not over. Luke had enlisted, then changed the deal so he can go through ROTC and become an officer. He's now mostly in a staff position stateside, but he goes where Uncle Sam sends him. And they will be an hour apart, when both he and she moved jobs. Alex can't deny their chemistry, but Alex also feels that being an "army girlfriend" will destroy any stability and roots she craved. Can this relationship ever work?

Nice, a proper military romance WITHOUT any suspense elements, nor involve special operations like SEALS and such, nor exotic setup. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews The Perfect Lap by Sedona Hutton

AJ is a great racer, but also a loose cannon. He tweets himself chowing down on steak and burgers, but his sponsor is a vegan food supplier. He may have won the driver's cup, but his team chose to rein him in.. with an "image consultant". Enter Ella. // Ella, image consultant to a bad boy rockstar, thought she was just sending a photo (of the said star, in a VERY compromising position) to her BF that knew not to spread it around, as they are in the same profession. The photo leaked, and Ella was fired and slapped with NDA to NEVER mention it to ANYONE. Forced to go home, she found herself given the job of rehabbing AJ's image. And AJ doesn't seem to be anywhere CLOSE to being the "bad boy" rep he got... When Ella needed to temporarily foster three children (their mother was in jail), AJ offered up his house (it's much bigger than Ella's) and agree to pretend to be a couple with Ella to help the process along. But the longer they pretend, the more like a real couple they feel...

Nice handling of relationship, where BOTH MMC and FMC learned not to judge a book by its cover. Surprisingly, Ella had to learn it TWICE, first on AJ, then on the kids' mom. There's some new-age stuff that sounded hokey, but the principles are sound (just maybe not the explanations).  5/5

GRR Reviews Crush on You by Amelia Wilde

Jenny is down and out, after quitting her job. When sleazy Connor offered her a job to sabotage someone else, she can't say no, esp. if the job is at Bliss Resort, and she can see Roman again, her one-time crush. // Roman can't believe Jenny (who used to be Genevieve) is back in his life, now as his social media manager. And he needs more buzz for the resort... and that means social media. But Jenny is a temptation he can't ignore... but must. But what happens when she confessed she's originally there to sabotage him?

Okay, this sorta makes sense, and sort of doesn't. What sort of sleazy PR pays someone to go work for the competition and do only a mediocre job? And there really doesn't seem to be ANY reason for Jenny to NOT reveal the whole thing to Roman except "shame". 3/5

GRR Reviews Misunderstood by Katy Kaylee

Ryder Malloy was the star quarterback of his high school team, and best friend of Katie's brother, and practically second son of Katie's family. Until he wasn't. Katie gave up her V-card to him, only to learn later that Ryder had betrayed her brother, and apparently had sex with her brother's fiancee. Years later, Katie is now a PR agent, and her latest client is none other than the bad boy quarterback Ryder Malloy. Ryder apparently had a history of brawling and desperately needs an image makeover to land some endorsement deals. Katie found herself physically attracted to Ryder, but she can't reconcile the fact that Ryder betrayed her brother, and the Ryder she came to know... What if Ryder was simply... misunderstood?

While I like both characters, I have some problem empathizing with "stoic masochist" characters, i.e. the character who simply sit there, accept abuse s/he do not deserve, all the while staying silent, muttering "why fight, what's the point..."  And Ryder here is one such character. OTOH, the darkest hour and grand gesture are great. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews The Playboy's Publicist by Harper Ashe

Carrie is a California girl, and while down and out, she had a one-night stand with a gorgeous guy she was sharing a hotel suite with. Several days later, on an interview, did she find that her one-night beau was none other than her CEO boss, Trevor. She's even more surprised he hired her to be his personal publicist. She's determined to keep her professional and personal lives separate, but he obviously wants her back in his bed. Can they have an HEA, or will their jobs tear them apart?

I honestly don't feel much chemistry between them two. Sure, that one-night stand was hot, but the rest? Trying to mix business and pleasure? Not really working for me. And the darkest hour is the cliche "how could you betray me, don't bother to explain it" moment. 2.5/5

GRR Reviews The Ex Effect by Karla Sorensen

Ava was always the 'second daughter' of the family... Her older sister went into her father's profession... She went into PR, specifically, sports PR, and no one in the family cared... It's always "why can't you be more like your sister"?  Now working for the Washington Wolves as their social media manager, she's in her element... Until she got the latest news... Matthew Hawkins is coming out of retirement to play for the Wolves... She had a crush on Matt for ten years... It should be a dream come true... Except Matt was once engaged to her sister.  And this Matt is grown up, bigger, stronger... and now that she's all grown up too... There's nothing stopping them from coming together... Except PR person is not supposed to sleep with players... and just imagine what her family would say about them together, esp. when her sister wants to do a 9th-anniversary "vow renewal" celebration... (and she showed up with him...)

The family is a bit too... one-sided to the point of being caricatures.

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Overall Rating: 4/5

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