GRR Reviews Fierce Sam by Natalie Ann

Surgeon Sam Fierce chose early on to close his heart to serious entanglements, knowing that he will fail at times, through no fault of his own, and it is better to not get too attached. So he acts carefree and charming, and women flock to him. // Dani lost her little sister and she still felt guilty a decade later, even though it was a car accident. She went through a wild rebellious phase, but she's done with that now. // When Dani met Sam (through his mother's scheming), there is an attraction, but he won't get close to anyone, and she still feels guilty... can they work past their wounds, and toward each other?

I don't get the part about closing oneself off yet still be compassionate. That sort of cognitive dissonance manifests itself in mental stress, and being a surgeon is stressful enough. It just feels like a VERY amateur psychological profile that doesn't make sense. Survivor's guilt, I do get. The rest of plotting and the back-and-forth is pretty good. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews Sparrow by Emma Nichole

Grayson loved Amelia, but they were too different. He gave her a sparrow pendant, and she had never taken it off since... Even after her father died, she got married, was abused, and finally broke free after more than a decade. She went home, hoping for a do-over... only to find Grayson there, now a single father, raising his daughter, looking for his own second chance...

While it did provoke all the right feelings, the author's style just didn't jive with me. The writing just feels a bit detached, and some scenes could have been written tighter. 3.5/5

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 Cake A Love Story by J Bengtsson

Jake was famous for TWO reasons: he survived an unspeakable ordeal at the hands of a serial kidnapper and murderer, and he also became a famous musician in spite of his ordeal. He had turned himself off emotionally to survive the first and remained aloof for the second. He rarely forms personal connections... Until now. // Casey was just a college student who agreed to be a bridesmaid for a friend. She didn't expect to be paired with the famous performer Jake. They are polar opposites: He's a musician, she's practically tone-deaf. She talks a lot, he's mostly silent. Yet when they finally met, they seem to be a perfect complement to each other. But can their love help him heal?

A bit longer than you'd expect (600 pages!), Jake and Casey actually have FOUR MORE books about their love and ordeals (for a total of 5 books). The characters are nicely nuanced, and the opposites attract trope was used very nicely. Jake was a guy that just wanted to be treated as "normal", while Casey can't do anything except being herself. It's her slowly drawing out the details of his ordeal and bonding over those moments that'll jerk your tears. This is NOT your typical "rockstar seduces ingenue" book. 5/5

GRR Reviews Unbreak This Heart by Betty Shreffler

Alexandra aka Alex was attacked. She survived, but she shunned all male contact, so much so that her fiancee Todd left her. It's been more than a year, and she's slowly coming back to life, that she didn't flinch when her best friend bought her physical training and self-defense lessons from Carter, who also wanted to date her. And Carter is definitely swoon-worthy, being a hard body and a semi-pro MMA fighter. But Todd, the man who abandoned her at her darkest hour, now wants her back, and the feelings are still there. Both of them want her heart, but only one can save her soul and unbreak her heart.

Survival from the attack and bitter flashbacks are very good. But using retrograde amnesia in the middle feels almost like cheating.  4/5

GRR Reviews Body (A Trinity Novel) by Audrey Carlan

Body has good dialog and good scars for the two main characters, but the darkest hour was, IMHO, a too-stupid-to-live moment.

Gillian is a fundraiser for the Safe Haven Foundation, and she dedicated her life to the cause because she was an abuse survivor herself, having finally put her abuser in jail and fled to the opposite coast. She found 3 great female friends in San Francisco, but she craves a man in her life that can give her some hot sex, and her current BF is so vanilla, he cringed at her request for doggy style. She came to know Chase Davis, the alpha billionaire with his own dark past and the biggest donor to the foundation at a gala, and he swept her off her feet. Their chemistry is undeniable, but he also hit her trigger points about her prior abuse with his alpha personality. When her evil ex started stalking her, can Chase keep her safe?

The dialog is above average, IMHO, and the triggers plausible. However, I find the darkest hour a total letdown. Let's just say Gillian didn't appreciate certain things that Chase did for her, and she responded by cutting off the relationship. Talk about cutting off the nose to spite the face! Youch! Still, a better than the average tale.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman desiring a lover found one hot billionaire, but his alpha personality also triggered her PTSD from prior abuse...

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews Marking Time (Treading Water) by Marie Force

Making Time is a love story about letting go, and while this probably may not make sense, let me go over the plot and you'll probably get it...

Clare Harrington woke up from a three-year coma against all odds after a horrible car collision. She should celebrate her lucky stars, but the world had left her behind. Her husband had fallen for a different woman, Andi, while she's out of the picture and gotten her pregnant with twins. Clare divorced him to let him start a new family, but it still hurt. Their oldest daughter Kate, with musical talent, went to Nashville, getting a year to explore her talent... and fell in love there with a much older man... a college buddy of her father, even as she had a brush with her destiny. Clare in the meanwhile left her home with too many memories behind, and moved to her brother's cabin in Vermont, and came to know a gruff carpenter there... who harbors his own pain... Will Clare find a new love? Will Kate meet her success? What will they have to let go for love and family?

Marie Force managed to wring out some genuine conflicting emotions about letting go, betrayal, trust, and more from the characters. Clare loved her husband by letting him go. They both have to let Kate go, and trust her to choose right when she chose an older man, even though it seems to be a betryal. But this story is about Clare letting go of her past and embracing her own future. While the plot lines seem disparate, Marie Force skillfully jumped among plotlines with skill rivals that of Tom Clancy's technothrillers. And what's even more important, I had NOT read book 1, and this book is still enjoyable. Highly recommended.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman woke from coma to find her husband fell for someone else and daughter spreading her wings; can she move on with her life?

Tropes: survivor, scars, May/ September, mountain man, small town, betrayal

Overall Rating:  5/5