Thursday, April 8, 2021

Sweet & Sassy: Rom Com Series Starters by Bria Quinlan, Bridget E Baker, Kat Cantrell, Kristen Ethridge, Maggie Dallen, Michelle MacQueen, Tari Lynn Jewett

 57500247. sy475 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance
Content: Clean

 

7 fabulous Sweet & Sassy Romances-


The Last Single Girl by Bria Quinlan

Finding Faith by Bridget E Baker

Fake Marriage to My Best Friend by Kat Cantrell

The Right Resolution by Kristen Ethridge

The (Not So) Perfect Day by Maggie Dallen

Jesse and the Ice Princess by Michelle MacQueen 

#PleaseSayYes by Tari Lynn Jewett



This is a collection of clean contemporary rom com stories. Maybe I don't know what rom com means, but I thought that meant funny romance, and mostly these were not really funny. Mostly these stories reminded me of Hallmark channel romance movies. That doesn't mean they weren't good to read though. For the most part I enjoyed this anthology. It's rare for me to read complete anthologies. I usually just read the stories that are included by my favorite authors, but this time around I almost read the whole thing. I guess I was in the mood for some light romance. There was only one book I skipped and that was book 6. I've never been interested in the "ice skater meets hockey player plot" so I decided not to read that one. Overall I enjoyed escaping into this book so I'm giving it as a whole 4 stars, but I'm also going to include my individual ratings and comments on each book.

 



46138602 

The Last Single Girl by Bria Quinlan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

  

After Sarah assures her friends she'll be bringing a plus-one to their New Year's party, she has just a month to find Mr. Right. Will one bad date after another convince her to give up the ruse - or could the perfect guy be hiding right under her nose?

 

I really loved how the main character kept trying to meet someone online for a date and how badly they all end up. This was the book that I thought was the funniest out of the collection. I also loved the guy she ends up with. This romance was sweet and I want to read more of this series. 

 



56939947. sy475 

Finding Faith by Bridget E Baker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

Thanks to lousy parents, Mary swore off ever having kids and threw herself into charity work instead.

When she meets hunky Luke, sparks fly.

But she won't discover he's a widower with two kids for three more days.

What then?


 

I had already read this book and it's still a favorite contemporary romance of mine. I like how Bridget Baker adds inspirational and emotional touches to her stories. Luke is a favorite male romance character of mine. I've already read this whole series and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

 




52853967 

Fake Marriage to Her Best Friend by Kat Cantrell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

Nomi Hannon is sick of losing. She's not about to lose the city council election. Too bad she just accidentally starred in a compromising photo her squeaky-clean opponent is all too willing to use against her. Surely marrying ex-CEO Malone DuMar, the guy in the photo—her best friend—will solve the problem…right?

It's a simple plan. Only pretend. But that was before the kiss that changed everything.


I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice, sweet, best friends to lovers story. The premise may have been a bit of a stretch, but that's often the case with these kind of books. It really didn't bother me because I thought the book was sweet, romantic, and even a little sexy with those kisses. There was so much chemistry and I loved Malone. I do think that the book title could be better though. 

 



57620449. sy475 

The Right Resolution by Kristen Ethridge

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

 

When the clock strikes midnight at her beachside cottage on New Year's Eve, Eve Larson plans a fresh start following a year of heartbreaking disappointments. But when an enemy from her past tracks her down, will he stand in the way of rebuilding her dreams? Add in a treasured royal heirloom, New Year's resolutions, and sweet kisses on moonlit beaches to make the start of one unforgettable year.

 

This is a reunion type romance, and there are things I loved about this story. I enjoyed the back story of the couple and how they end up falling in love. I also enjoyed the growth that they both had, but I had a hard time getting past some weird descriptions and comparisons in this story. I know I've mentioned this kind of thing in other reviews, but it's a real pet peeve of mine. Maybe I should start calling it the "Paolini syndrome" because Christopher Paolini is the first author I really noticed do this. Poor Christopher. He just can't catch a break from me! One example from this story would be this sentence:

"Spencer shifted and dropped his finger, then pulled his arm back to himself, the cotton of his borrowed sleeve sliding across the thin knit of her own cotton shirt like the glide of a ballroom dance, deceiving in carefully choreographed simplicity."

Ok, first why are we focusing so much on things like their shirts? Their shirt fabrics sliding together are being compared to a ballroom dance. That's kind of weird, and there is too much emphasis being put on something that doesn't matter. If it was his touch on her skin it would have been better, but this mostly just distracted me from the story. There are a few other examples of this in the story, but I think you can get the point.

That being said, overall I still liked this book and found the story compelling. Eve and Spencer were both easy to like and I could feel the grief that Eve was feeling over the loss of her mother. I also appreciated the inspirational parts of the story.

After reading some other reviews of this one it appears that this is a retooled version of the story. I'm not completely sure, but it sounds like there are some elements that other reviewers had problems with that seem to no longer be the same. Like in the original version the love interest was a lawyer maybe? But he isn't in this version. And apparently there are health problems that are addressed more in this version. It also looks like the author is retooling the whole series, as there are two versions of the series. In one version this is the second book and in the newest version this is the first book. 

 



45456022. sy475 

The (Not So) Perfect Day by Maggie Dallen

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

 

Ellie's planned the perfect wedding, just…with the wrong groom. The clock is ticking to Ellie's big day. There's only one thing missing—her best friend. As a travel photojournalist, Ian's often off the grid, so she's not worried--much. After all, he's always there for her when she needs him. When Ian finally arrives mere days before the wedding, he's not content to play best man. He's back to claim her heart. But can he prove what they have is true love before she walks down the aisle with the wrong man?

 

This was a cute best friends to lovers story that I liked a lot. I felt like the characters were a little too obstinate and oblivious to their feelings at times, which felt a little contrived, but I liked the characters and their love story was sweet.

 

 

 

Jesse and the Ice Princess by Michelle MacQueen

My Rating: I didn't read it so I didn't rate it.


An ice princess doesn't fall for the hockey captain's charm unless said captain has a habit of always getting his way.

Charlotte wants nothing to do with Jesse. Not when he shows up to watch her skate. Not when he orchestrates her detention. And especially not when he convinces the principal to force her into helping the no-win hockey team change their record.

What if he's more than charm and semi-okay hockey skills? Is the boy with no rules worth breaking all of hers for?

 

 


43924882 

#PleaseSayYes by Tari Lynn Jewett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

  

Lucy, wakes on New Year's Day to find a message from a secret admirer on her favorite social media site!

Each day he posts a photo with a clue to his identity, a message letting her know he intends to ask her out for Valentine's and the hashtag #PleaseSayYes. Before she can decide what to do, the posts go viral, and the whole world weighs in.

Should she take a chance? Will social media bring them together, or keep them apart? Only chocolate, wine and girlfriends can help her now. 

This was a super cute read. I liked the main character Lucy and the love interest a lot. It was impossible not to smile at the social media post that goes viral and all the ensuing drama that snowballs after it.

A had a couple of problems with Lucy's girlfriends though. They were rather pushy at times, and also did a couple of things that kind of bothered me. One involved taking and posting photos of Lucy on social media without her knowledge, and the other involved one of her friends profiting off the whole social media thing. But I don't think these things would have bothered me if they had just asked her before they did them.

Despite that I liked everything else about this story. I could just see this as a Hallmark Channel movie. I especially loved the way things ended up playing out with the date and some of the subterfuge that was involved.

 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment