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 Flawless (Manhattan Knights) by Sienna Parks

Flawless by Sienna Parks tries to write a "damaged girl" and a "strong protector" romance, but the characters felt like caricatures rather than real characters.

Lily Tate just wants to finish school but her life is tormented by nightmares of a fateful night, where she was almost raped and her father was stabbed to death saving her. She dares not love anyone, for fear of bringing harm to them. She managed to put the murderer away, but it did not assuage her guilt. But when she came to know Alexander Rhodes, her world was turned upside down. Xander is everything... intelligent, gorgeous, and wealthy, as well as generous and has a white knight complex. Unfortunately, women (and men) have taken advantage of that before, and he's far more careful now. But Lily simply takes his breath away. They broke through each other's defenses, but can they stay together when their pasts still haunt them?

Both Xander and Lily have conflicting personalities... He's both sophisticated AND potty-mouthed, generous AND suspicious. She's a virgin AND a sex kitten. She's responsible AND wanted her first time bareback!?!?!?! Sorry, these characters don't make a lick of sense. It seems as if the parts are written separately and thrown together without regard for continuity.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Haunted woman falls for white knight complex guy, but they both have problems... 

Tropes: scarred, protector, 

Overall Rating:  2/5

GRR Reviews The Governor's Half-Blind Scarred Bride ( by Faye Sonja

The Governor's Half-Blind Scarred Bride by Faye Sonja is a Western Histroical Romance that was just too heavy-handed with its "spiritual" message. Add to it the anachronistic conventions like stiletto shoes and expressions that showed up 50 years too early, and you have a rather below average novel.

To recap, Tara Whitter is blind in one eye, and a scarred face only made her worse. That's why she's still living at home at 28, despite her kind and noble countenance. She works as a waitress at the family diner with younger siblings who also treat her like dirt. Until one day someone showed her another way: become a mail order bride, not to just anyone, but then governor of Texas... and become a mother to the widower's son. She understands he may not want her, after seeing her in person. But he can change his mind... will he?

The theme about looking past the scarred exterior was way too heavy-handed. It is the year 1874 and the characters are saying stuff like "so sue me"... which wasn't documented until 1950's! There's also wearing stilettos, but that didn't debut until 1906! Even when these details are fixed, the story is still really boring.

Category: Historical Western

Primary Plot: Mistreated and scarred woman became a mail order bride... to the governor!

Tropes: mail order bride, different worlds, scarred

Overall Rating:  2/5

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 Scarred Hearts (Sand Hill Romance Book by Billi Tiner

Scarred Hearts is a historical Western romance between a scarred woman and a bounty-hunter. Things are angsty between the two, and both have *almost* enough reasons to stop their quest and fall in love instead. The suspense was not too bad but the bad guy was too one-dimensional. This 4/5 is really more of a 3.5/5.

Claire Montgomery is a survivor, having lived through the Civil War, but she was horribly disfigured in the fire that took her parents when Union soldiers raided her plantation. Her only companion was Tobias, a freed slave that was a friend (and former servant) to her. She learned to be a nurse in the Union hospital, and later, doctor's assistant. After the war, she and Tobias moved out west. On the way, they picked up a child, survivor of a bandit attack upon a convoy. Over time she became known as the local healer, and their boy picked up a one-eyed cat and a baby fox as pets. Their world changed when a gunfighter with four bullet wounds collapsed on their land. He barely escaped from the Bowler Gang after taking down one of two gang leaders that raped a rich businessman's daughter. He needed to recover and finish the job, but he was stuck at the farm until he recovers, and he came to love the little family. When another woman was brought in with severe head injuries caused by her husband (and her 3 kids as well), Claire tries to care for her and the kids, then the husband arrives intending to take his wife back by force... And attacked Claire (cracked several of her ribs) when she tried to intervene, and only the timely arrival of the gunfighter sent him running, vowing revenge for stealing his family...

The two wounded people falling for each other the push-pull is quite interesting, and the suspense was fine. The problem is the villain, i.e. the town gossip and the evil husband, are just too flat for them to be interesting.

Category: Historical Western / Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Bounty Hunter Falls for the Scarred Healer Who Healed Him, bu Can She Also Heal His Heart? Can He protect her when she's threatened?

Tropes: woman in peril, protector, scarred, law enforcement,

Overall Rating: 4/5 (rounded up)