GRR Reviews Chasing Forever by Susan Coventry

Callie is a romance writer that hit a serious writer's block after her beloved grandma's death, and a breakup of her 7-year relationship. But her grandma left her a gift... An extended vacation on the island of Kauai... Eight weeks to get her mojo back. // Chase had enough of his life. As a divorce attorney he makes a good but uncomfortable living, and finding his girlfriend cheating on him was the last straw. He took a leave of absence and went off to Kauai. // Callie and Chase met and found they are beach neighbors. But she's not here for a fling (but to write), and he's running away from betrayal, and not ready to test the waters yet. But when they find out they were actually both from Michigan, they became friends. Can they be more... even after this vacation?

Good, though the darkest hour was, IMHO, a bit on the lame side. Basically, Callie was a bit of hypocrite, claiming Chase had known all along who she was (a romance writer) and didn't say anything when she had googled him and didn't say anything either. 4/5

GRR Reviews All Roads Lead to You by Jennifer Probst

Harper is single and likes it that way; her life's busy enough running her rescue farm of various animals, including a rescued thoroughbred racehorse Phoenix. When a handsome stranger living at the B&B adjoining the farm found Phoenix, he revealed himself to be renowned horse trainer Aidan, who left Ireland under a scandalous cloud (probably involving a racehorse). Harper understands that Phoenix has the potential to be a race winner, maybe not the Triple Crown, but even one or two of them would provide a ton of money and recognition for her rescue farm. And Aidan saw a way to redeem himself... And as they get closer to the big race days, they also developed feelings for each other. But they have to keep their eyes on the ultimate goal... and if necessary... say goodbye...

The horse-racing scenes are good, as is the slow simmer romance, the "scandalous cloud", and so on. However, there are a couple things that made no sense. I know the way I explain it won't make sense unless you read the book, so it could sort of serve as a spoiler, so be warned.

SPOILERS

AHEAD

Anyway, Aidan threatened to blow the whistle on the horse owner for doping the racehorse. So they turned it around and not only threaten to frame Aidan for the doping, but also threaten to never let the horse race again, to force him to stay silent and leave the operation. This really made no sense, except maybe to a horse lover. Owner wants to make money on the horse, so the threat to never race it was an obviously empty one. And the frame job would not likely stand up to deep scrutiny, as an unethical operation that resorted to cheating would likely have a lot of OTHER shady details in the dark (see "cockroach theory"), so that should be an empty threat as well. Yet Aidan just packed up and left for America "to find himself". Phooey.

And the darkest hour was basically Aidan getting offers left and right to go back to Ireland, and he needs to decide whether to stay or go. Meh. 4/5

GRR Reviews Heartstruck and Heavensent by Kari Trumbo

Madison is a very private librarian. Nobody knows her well, and that's her choice. She based her life on her parents, who are Christians with zero public affections, that love is something to be shamed. So much so, she left Kansas behind and went to New York City. She's even more ashamed because she has a secret side job: romance writer. And she's actually quite decent at it... Until she hit a writer's block. When three of her best online friends roped her into a week at the Broken J Ranch in Wyoming as sort of a writing retreat, she accepted, as anything would be better than writing nothing. Which is where she also met a quiet wrangler by the name of Randall... // Randall has land in Kansas, and he's just working in Wyoming to save up some money to outfit his own ranch. Randall was drawn to Madison, but Randall's leaving soon, and Madison, even sooner. Madison knew that Randall is a Christian, and is strong and good-hearted. But she can't do long-distance, and she didn't like being Christian... or did she misunderstood what being a Christian meant all along? And is there really a chance with Randall, if they can both go back to Kansas?

Okay, this is Christian / Spiritual, but not too obviously so. It doesn't beat you over the head with Bible quotes and such. You can even say it kinda broke the 4th Wall, albeit circumspect, by having characters that are romance novel writers discussing what constitutes a spiritual romance, and even made threw some shade at traditional publishing vs. indie publishing. 4/5

GRR Reviews The Conflicted Maid of Honor by Sharon Sue Thorn

Sammie is supposed to be the maid of honor for a cruise ship wedding of her best friend. But after a heated argument and waking up late, she decided to shore leave alone on the island of St. Lucia... only to get robbed of nearly everything and scammed by criminals who don't think twice of taking advantage of tourists. Can she ever make it back to the ship for the wedding? Which is when she ran into Dominic... // Dominic was getting a bit tired of his life as a bar owner on St. Lucia. While meeting beautiful women and have plenty to drink and beach view is nice, it's also getting boring. Then in all the bars on St. Lucia, she walked into his... Dom found himself attracted to Sammie and will do everything to help her get back to her ship... AND catch the ones responsible. But is she the right woman to give up his life on the island for?

Hmmm... Pretty good. The reluctance is normal, but Sammie's hesitation seems to be more about "what happens in the Caribbean should stay in the Caribbean", even if the guy was nice and wanted to see where this can go. Call it 4/5

GRR Reviews Falling For You by Leeanna Morgan

Natalie is burned out after six years of hard work. She went back to her grandparent's lakeside cottage in Sapphire Bay, only to find that she has a house guest... // Gabe was an NYPD detective, retired to become a crime novelist. He's successful now, with multiple bestsellers. But being a private person, he has also picked up a stalker... who is sending increasingly disturbing messages to the publisher... He's hiding in Sapphire Bay, and Natalie is a disturbance he didn't need. But when threat seems to have arrived in town, Gabe will have to become the cop again... to serve and protect.

Finally, this book managed to put the threat PROPERLY. The author was known to have fizzled out the villain multiple times before (in other books), or to have "faked out" threats multiple times. Still, this one is not THAT good as romantic suspense. 4/5

GRR Reviews Her Fake Billionaire Boyfriend by Laura Ann

Hazel is a quiet romance author who just hit a writer's block. Looking for inspiration, she decided to book a camping trip at the new castle resort operated by the "Overnight Billionaire Bachelor Brothers". Turns out Nelson, the youngest of the three billionaire brothers, is handling the group personally. // Nelson knew "balls and chains" (aka wife) like his brothers already found are not for him. He enjoys adventure and did not want to settle down yet. He likes Hazel's calm demeanors, and when another camper refused to leave Hazel alone, Nelson stepped up to protect her, even went as far as proclaiming to be her boyfriend (fake, of course). It's what any guy would do... right?

Sweet, with the creepy suitor that was overly aggressive, but not in the physical sense, basically an over-the-top sorta-alpha manner that was definitely anti-trope. That can be thought of as throwing shade on the "alpha" types. The ending was one of those "I thought... wrong" tropes, but it was handled well. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews A Caribbean Christmas by Olivia Noble

Cate is a single mom who got fired just before Christmas. Going on blind dates with zero chemistry didn't help. When her sister decided to take her along to a Jamaican vacation, she can't really refuse esp. when the child would be with the father at camp. Running into Derek in Jamaica, who rescued her from that bad blind date back in the US, was a pleasant surprise... Until he made a shocking proposal... // Derek is the heir apparent to a restaurant empire, but his stern father wants him to get married ASAP... Or he'll be disowned and restaurants given to a cousin to run instead. Derek can only think of finding a fake fiancee, and after meeting Cate in several locations, it's clear fate is telling him that she's the one. But Cate's relatively poor, unemployed, and single mom... and Derek's father quickly dismissed her as a golddigger, even as Derek and Cate fell for each other. Can their relationship survive?

These threats never really make sense, and serves as a 'weird will'. The part about "Your sweat and tears and years you put into the business means NOTHING unless you get married and produce a child" always sounds so stupid and unreasonable. This book didn't do much to explain the why, and thus didn't deviate much from the formula.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 3/5

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

GRR Reviews Freedom by Mary Crawford

Phoenix Wolf is a high-functioning Aspie. He prefers computers to real people, prefers known to the unknown. When his boss told him to take a month off (since he NEVER took a vacation in 3 years), and visit Oregon and look into a promotion there, he decided to take a motorcycle road trip, but the trip barely started when he had to rescue a dog... And met Zoe. // Zoe works for a rescue dog training service and is not a vet, but when the call came in, she had to perform a dog rescue for Phoenix. Her brother had been accused of unspeakable crimes against women, and she had been subpoenaed. She planned to tell the truth, but her parents refused to believe her and all but threatened to disown her if she testified... and her brother had threatened her. And Phoenix cannot walk away, from either "his" dog... or Zoe. But when her brother escaped custody, what will happen to this star-crossed couple?

The threat didn't quite work. Police are obviously incompetent to let an accused kidnapper escape, even if it's in a courtroom. And cops don't seem to take witness tampering seriously. And the ending was way too simple and neat. But the bits about aspie in relationship is good, and didn't resort of aspie tropes (i.e. Spock in Love, or "literal Data").

Category: Contemporary / Romantic suspense

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews Chance Encounter (Chance and Hope) by SJ McCoy

WARNING: Happy for Now Ending, with an extra chapter that changed it to cliffhanger if you choose to read it.

Chance felt guilty for a very long time... since he was 18, and she died. Eighteen years later, he felt he's ready to try again, after many of his friends gotten married. Vacation on an Oregon coast brought him Hope... and he knew she's the woman for him... but they will only be there for two weeks, and she has a life in LA, far from his Montana home. And she's famous and rich... // Hope is beautiful and rich, but her BF is a douchebag who cheated on her. Needing a break, she headed for Oregon coast with a bestie, and met a handsome cowboy on the beach whom she swoons for... and he doesn't know her fame. Can one fall in love in two weeks?

That extra chapter managed to twist a happy for now ending into a cliffhanger, which is masterful indeed. Even that happy for now was good, with a good mix of fish out of water, disguise, brush with celebrity, different worlds, etc. theme.

Category: Contemporary Western

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews A Kiss Beneath the Stars by S L Sterling

Autumn has suffered a miscarriage then her husband blamed her and had a messy divorce. After a horrible blind date, she decided to take a summer vacation far away at a beach, enough of her family trying to make her just "go out there and have a life". Then she met Hunter on the beach... // Hunter had a messy breakup from his clingy and crazy ex. Vacationing with his brothers brought him to the beach... and Autumn is stunning. But is vacation fling enough? When their respective pasts came back to haunt them, will they stand together... or drive away everything in desperate attempt to not be hurt again?

The twist was quite good (turns out her husband had NEVER been faithful) and summer vacation fling trope was used to good effect, as is Hunter's brothers and other friends. Good polish on the plot overall.

Category: Contemporary

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews Taming Him by Kennedy Fox

Alex is the sweetest cowboy playboy in Texas. He's a gentleman and his mama taught him manners. He worked on the family Bishop Ranch as a genuine cowboy and he can wine-and-dine girls with the best of them... and he's great in bed too. But he's not a commitment kind of guy... Esp. not when his brother and him ended up in Key West, Florida for a two week vacation... // River is a pediatric nurse who thought she found the love of her life, and carried a relationship for six months... Only to realize he's married and hiding a wedding ring from her. To get away from it all, she reluctantly tagged along with her BFF and her fiancee for a trip to Key West Florida. When Alex's best friend almost drowned after falling off a boogie board, River was there doing CPR and mouth-to-mouth. Alex fell for her right there... and was determined to show her a great time. And River was able, for a while to forget the troubles... and it will be only two weeks of bliss... Except they are getting a surprise that will make its debut nine months later...

While charming, the rest of the story didn't really follow the momentum. The fun was half the book, the rest was she moved to Texas and the how the rest of the Bishop clan accepted her. Not much conflict.

Category: Contemporary / Western

Overall Rating: 3/5

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

GRR Reviews The Christmas Catch (Holiday Brides) by Ginny Baird

Widow Christine worked hard as a copywriter, but is feeling burned out while taking care of son. When Christine's friends suggested a Christmas in Vermont, she decided she did need a break... // Professor John is a bachelor, but found romance too... stressful. He's happy to hang with his friends in Vermont. Then a woman almost ran him off the road in a snowstorm. And she's got a kid with her. So he and his golden retriever helped her out. So why can't he stop thinking about her, as they keep running into each other in town?

Sweet novella, about 100 pages. PG-13. Nice, but nothing that special.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Widow with son taking a vacation falls for bachelor professor

Overall Rating: 3/5

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

GRR Reviews Where I Belong by Claudia Connor

Charlotte was vacationing alone (her father could not make it back) when her vacation was interrupted by a cute boy with Down's syndrome. Charlotte was glad for the interruption when she came upon "Uncle Owen," a man visiting his family between construction jobs. Charlotte and Owen were smitten with each other, but Charlotte lost her mother to violence when young, and she didn't want to be hurt again. Owen has merely five days to convince her perhaps it is time to take a chance with her heart... What happens when her vacation ends? How far is each of them willing to go for love?

For a novella, this packs some good emotional punch.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Chance meeting at a beach... should a woman take a chance with her heart... or just have a fling?

Overall Rating:

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

GRR Reviews Alaskan Dawn (Pacific Horizons Book 1) by Edie Claire

Alaskan Dawn is a very interesting "opposites attract" romance setting up some nicely rounded characters with plenty of obligations binding them.

Haley is a young and strong attorney, but being the person everybody depended on: by her needy but already married sister, by her widowed and perpetually worrying mother, and her team of junior lawyers, she had to get away. It didn't help that she's also her sister's surrogate... she's carrying their baby. When her crazy uncle died in Alaska and left her some cabins, she saw it as the perfect chance to get away from a week or two, away from the stress, the guilt-trips, and the constant nagging. While the adventure didn't unfold quite exactly to plan, Haley did find the surrounding beautiful... and it sure didn't hurt her current renter is a handsome boat tour captain, Ben, who understood her like no one else. But Ben had a secret... he can tell Haley's pregnant, but she didn't offer, and he didn't ask. For he can tell this woman has the weight of the world on her... and she had to leave soon. But it was clear it's not over between them two... but how does an attorney settle down with a naturalist who divides his time between Alaska and Hawaii?

The relationship has that "slow burn" feel where they start feeling a little fondness toward each other, then a little more, and pretty soon they are leaning on each other to deal with respective crises in life. This is a much more realistic way, IMHO to fall for each other than "I see her and I must have her" insta-lust that some authors rely on. Haley however, came across as a "pleaser", who basically decided she had to make EVERYBODY happy at her own expense, and realizing that she needed a vacation is a good first step. The author was able to avoid the "alpha male" cliche with Ben, without making him milquetoast either. So why not 5 stars? Length. It just feels too long.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: An attorney taking time out for herself fell for a naturalist in Alaska, but she had to go back to mainland soon...

Overall Rating: 4/5

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

GRR Reviews Make Me Love You: An Older Man Young by Adele Hart

Make Me Love You is a vacation fling to a thing story. There really isn't much beyond the typical plot to recommend it beyond others.

Lila has a broken heart and can't show her face at the office after being publicly dumped. She dragged her best friend for a vacation to St. Lucia island to forget her troubles... and ran into gorgeous ER doc "Ben Stone". Ben left the dreary city of Boston behind and lived a beautiful life on the beach. Hours are grueling, but it's fun, and upon seeing Lila, he knew what was missing in his life: Lila, of course. But can he convince her to stay, or at least, come back?

Insta-love, older guy (30's) younger woman (20's). Lila is also a bit of a BBW and was apparently fat-shamed by her previous BF. Ben obviously didn't care about any of that. Not much plot here.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman had a vacation fling with a gorgeous ER doc on the island; will she stay around?

Tropes:resort, vacation, fling to a thing, BBW, doctor/patient

Overall Rating:  3/5

GRR Reviews Billionaire's Vacation - A Standalone Nov by Claire Adams

Billionaire's Vacation by Claire Adams is another book in her billionaire series. While the plot is nothing really special, it's the polish that made the story rose above mediocrity. However, the ending was somewhat of a letdown.

Christian Wall, America's sexiest billionaire bachelor, is a manwhore. When his latest escapades got caught by a reporter, who was almost one of his flings, his business partners decided he needs to take a long vacation, and he picked Hawaii. On the island, he met Gretchen, a talented masseuse, someone who would never want to leave the island, being happy where she is, but she is intrigued by the sexy Chris, even as she recoils from an ambiguous relationship she ended with her ex. And Chris was... smitten, as he never had a woman who'd refuse him... But it's just a fling... right?

Little more emotional than I expected, but the ending's a bit of meh. Not going to spoil it, but it involves something giving up what that someone wanted for a very long time, just for meeting someone. Is that vague enough? :)

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: When playboy CEO was forced to go on vacation, he met a woman that made him reconsider his playboy ways...

Tropes: vacation, resort, fish out of water, different worlds, fling to a thing, triangle

Overall Rating:  4/0

GRR Reviews Emma's Dream (Morgan's Run Romances by M. Lee Prescott

Emma's Dream is a typical "secret baby" trope contemporary romance that shows some polish yet not that satisfying in reading.

Ben Morgan went home to his family ranch on his doctor's orders. He was totally stressed out from his business in California, but he can't wait to go back. Until he ran into Maggie Williams... Well, technically her car. Ben and Maggie had a one-night fling... Almost six years ago. And the feeling was still there... even as everybody in town wanted to warn him off of her... being a ranch hand on his family ranch and being a single mother... But soon Ben realized Maggie's daughter Emma... was his, and Maggie was determined to not let Ben break her heart again since he's surely heading back to California as soon as his doctor declare him fit, nor would Maggie take any charity. But Ben started to realize perhaps what he sought wasn't in California after all...

Family drama, small town gossip, and a lot of push-pull between characters, but there's really nothing special about this novel. Not the sex, not the setup, not the small town, not the secret baby. Nothing special in this novel after all.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Man returned to family ranch to destress, ran into his one-time fling, realized her daught is his, and tries to woo her back, but she's not falling for him a second time... or is she?

Tropes: vacation, fling to a thing, reunion, return, single parent, betrayal, secret baby

Overall Rating:  3/5