Romance Books Reviews & Treats

Newly-widowed heroine is stunned to see her 1st love 18 yrs after their passionate r/s during their senior year in high school. After their secret personal wedding ceremony, heroine expected a real wedding to take place soon after high-school graduation per their plans. But hero takes off to Europe for an indeterminate time & heroine is told by hero's wealthy & snobbish parents that he is engaged to another girl. Pregnant & poor, heroine accepts marriage proposal of her much-older boss & doesn't tell hero about her pregnancy. So, seeing hero again after all these years shakes her well-hidden but still strong feelings for him & strikes her fears about keeping his paternity a secret from him & their 17yo daughter. Hero is likewise rattled that heroine still holds such a powerful impact on him. Their affair is quickly re-ignited but their past issues & secrets make their future a question.

This was an exciting read. Taylor's book drew my emotions from the get-go & I couldn't read it fast enough. I was eager to know how the main character's relationship issues were going to be resolved. Both hero & heroine made mistakes in their youth, which caused their separation for 18 years. Heroine was foolish & prideful about not informing hero about her pregnancy or to confront him about his engagement to another girl, especially since he did write to her but she didn't even read them. Heroine also made a cowardly decision to marry a man 25+-yrs her senior who she didn't love just b/c she was pregnant. She had a job & was used to hard work so I didn't understand why she couldn't continue working hard to support her & her unborn child. Hero is also to blame for their separation b/c he didn't inform her about his trip to Europe until it was too late. He took heroine for granted by making her wait for him, knowing that heroine's life was tough financially & personally. I like how their issues are resolved bit by bit as the book goes on, instead of quick sweeping statements at the end..

The intensity of hero & heroine's feelings for each other as teens & as adults was palpable. It made their sexual tension & love scenes sizzle.

Recommended.

British heroine finally visits her estranged dad's Tuscan villa 2 yrs after his sudden death. She faces off with villa's previous owner(Hero) who demands she not sell the villa. As much as she's irritated by his demands & his questionable r/s with his son's beautiful nanny, she's attracted to Hero but doesn't think he returns her feelings b/c he appears to still feel much for his deceased wife.

My 1st Fox book & it was a pleasant read. It was different than other Harlequin Presents books b/c the dialogue carried most of the story/romance. Through the main characters dialogue, I'm able to experience their witty camraderie, cruel arguments, and traumatic past issues. The characters showed depth. The sexual chemistry was good & love scenes were ok. Heroine sometimes acted self-pitying & came to some dumb conclusions but that's par for the HP course.

Recommended.

Engaged secretary is appalled at her new Italian boss' apparent attraction towards her & her fiance's easy agreement with his overseas job offer. After she breaks of her engagement, she takes the temporary work transfer to Italy & tries to fight her attraction towards hero since she thought that he was only sexually interested in her while engaged to be married to another woman.

Aside from some 80s' view on marriage & career for women, this Wilson book was decent. I liked that heroine was independent & thought for herself. Hero was a typically-80's type alpha male who manipulated & played games with heroine. At least he wasn't abusive towards her. As obsessive as he supposedly was for heroine, I didn't understand why he was distant towards her at work. Dialogue, sexual chemistry, & pacing were good.

Recommended.

Widowed Brazilian heroine is in desperate need due to her family's ranch's dire financial straits. She reluctantly agrees to Hero's marriage proposal even though she knows he's doing it out of vengeance. She cruelly rejected his marriage proposal 6 yrs ago without telling him her real reasons & instead married a much older man per her father's business arrangement. Later, an unexpected financial help comes from a man who rescued her when she was child & who hero recently found out was his biological father. And the secrets begin to unfurl.

Reid's writing is good. Her writing pulls my emotions, keeps the pace quick, & dialogue interesting. Sexual tension & love scenes are passionate.

What made it a 3-star for me is the heroine's convoluted self-sacrifice. It didn't make sense & made the problems much bigger than it should have been. All heroine needed to do was tell Hero about her miscarriage as soon as it happened & save them so many complications. She didn't have a good reason to not contact him as soon as she could, like when she was at the hospital. I just didn't see what her reason was for not doing so & why that wasn't the 1st thing she talked to him about as soon as hero came back from his dad's funeral. As strong & independent as she is, heroine kept making such dumb mistakes by keeping her big secret a secret from Hero. She took away his choice by not being honest with him from the beginning & when she saw him again. She acted like a self-effacing martyr. Ugh. These self-sacrificing heroines drive me nuts! It didn't make sense to me either that she agreed to marry her 1st husband. Yes, her dad needed the money for the ranch but she didn't even struggle & find another solution, which seems so unlike her character. I felt so bad for the hero who was so in love with her & was completely baffled as to why she cruelly rejected him. Poor guy. Heroine needed to grovel for Hero's forgiveness. She's the 1 that started the whole mess.

Partially recommended.

Photojournalist heroine is surprised at the offer to visit Brazil from the son of her mother's old boyfriend & takes him up on it. She thought that he wanted to bury the hatchet from their inimical parting years ago due to his misconception of her part in breaking up his dad & her mom's love affair. When she arrived in Brazil, she realized that he only followed his recently-deceased dad's suggestion to have her visit Brazil & that he still holds the same misconception about her. Despite their initial tension, their attraction to each other leads them to an affair which ends up being longer than they both expected.

This is my 1st Oldfield read & it was average. The writing was good. There's a lot of info about the culture & people of Brazil. Dialogue was good. Sexual chemistry was & love scenes were only ok. Overall, the book lacked emotional intensity & depth. The characters acted like normal people. They were attracted to each other but not in a "you're the One" way. Hero & heroine had other relationships & felt more for each other than their other companions but not much more. They got the know each other & enjoyed each other when they became intimate but they didn't have that zing that I like to read about in my romance books. Even heroine's big secret was handled without much fanfare. They discussed it thoroughly & soon enough they say their I-love-yous & the end. I like my HPs dramatic & emotionally intense & this one wasn't.

Recommended if looking for emotionally-light reading.

Dowdy librarian has been pining for her best friend & playboy computer-whiz Hero since they were teens but he only attends to his computer business & sexy women. She gets a makeover to attract his attention per her friend's advice & his as well, not knowing that that he is the Mr X she's telling him about. Her makeover works at catching his & other men's attention & it bothers him. It disturbs Hero even more that she's in love with some mysterious man, which thrills heroine. But is he bothered enough to reciprocate her attraction & not get back together with his sexy GF?

The writing, pacing, & sexual tension were good. It was also sometimes funny. What troubled me about this Lee book was the 1-sided romance. The heroine pined, chased, got a makeover, & made the moves. Hero, although he was portrayed as somewhat dumb in the love department, was not convincing in his love for heroine. I did not believe that he became strongly attracted to heroine & then fell in love with her that quickly. He knew her for years & treated her only as a friend. It wasn't until she lost weight & had a makeover that he saw her as a woman. And it wasn't until she told him about her Mr. X & dressing sexily that he became physically attracted to her. He was a dog to sleep with her & it was pathetic for heroine to invite him to do so, knowing that he was getting back together with his GF of 6 months the next day. Heroine's pining for him all those years & doing what she could do be close to him was pathetic. It was also pitiful for heroine to never admit to hero that he was her Mr. X b/c she wasn't secure about his love for her. What was even sadder was that Hero found out that he was Mr. X from her friend but didn't tell her he knew b/c of her insecurity with him. She only finally believed that he loved her when she was giving birth to their son. How pathetic is that!

If you can stomach the pitiful heroine pursuing clueless hero, then read it.

Hardworking 19-yr-old heroine has been running the run-down ranch for her ailing granddad for the past 2 yrs since his finances dwindled. Hero buys their ranch & hires heroine as his housekeeper as he allows her grandfather & her to live in his ranch. Heroine's been in love with him since she was 14 when he worked as a shearer for their ranch & she's trying to hide her love for him b/c she sees that he doesn't return it, despite some kisses they shared. Her unrequited love becomes especially evident when he told her to leave after her grandfather died. She tries to move on with her life & goes to college & expand her social life. But, 3 yrs later, when she sees him again she realizes that she is far from over him.

Although this wasn't an emotionally-intense romance, I liked Donald's writing about life on a New Zealand ranch. The romance development was slow, owning to hero & heroine hiding their attraction to each other & being busy with ranch life. I didn't like hero making decisions w/o heroine's input, although it was understandable b/c he wanted heroine to get some life experience & not regret being with him b/c she didn't know enough about the world. I liked that both hero & heroine stayed celibate during their 3-year separation. Sexual chemistry was ok. The kisses were ok & the sex scene occurred at the very end.

Recommended but be aware that there's a lot of info about ranching & romance had a slow pace.

Newly-impoverished heroine becomes a nanny for social-climbing parents on vacation to Barbados. She becomes attracted to their neighbor who is a reclusive writer. The attraction is mutual but heroine resists it. Hero happens to be the brother of the man her estranged mother left her dad for 18 yrs ago & who she eventually married. And her uncaring mother made it clear that she has her sights set on Hero.

Surprise, surprise. A Mather book that didn't leave me feeling frustrated. The writing, pacing, romance, sexual tension, & love scenes were good. Heroine was independent & practical & wasn't whiny about the negative changes in her life, especially given her pampered upbringing & recent downturn of her financial status. Hero didn't behave like some of the jerk Hero's Mather writes about at times but it bothered me that he was a bit weak-willed when it came to heroine's seductive mother. Although he talked & behaved rudely to heroine's mother, it was disturbing that he was at times fearful of succumbing to her seductive maneuvers. It may be due to his unresolved guilt & shame from being turned on by her when she tried to seduce him when he was younger. What I liked about this book that is untypical of Mather's other books is that hero & heroine actually discussed their issues at length & resolve things at the end, although heroine did tried to brush some things off but hero still explained himself.

Recommended.

Beautiful governess of Hero's 9-yr-old nephew responds defensively with Mexican Hero's romantic overtures. She is attracted to him but she has major her trust issues with men due to her her father's controlling & unfaithful behaviors with her mom. Her protective wall has served to keep interested men away from her but Hero is persistent & her growing attraction to Hero chips away from her defenses.

I've enjoyed other Brooks books ([[ASIN:0373120044 Baby Secret (Expecting) (Harlequin Presents)], [[ASIN:0373033788 Angels Do Have Wings (Sealed With A Kiss) (Harlequin Romance)]] but this one made me sleepy. Heroines like the one in this book who are so antagonistic & rigid usually get my ire up. But the way this book was written was emotionally distancing so, instead of getting me hot & bothered in a positive way, I got bored & sleepy. I didn't know why Hero kept on pursuing heroine who acted & talked so coldly & offensively towards him. He should've dumped her & shipped her back to England. But I didn't care enough about them to root for the outcome. The description of the book's setting was sadly more intriguing than the characters, romance, & dialogue. Now that's sad.

Setting sounded beautiful but not much else to recommend.

Caretaking heroine goes to Guatemala per her twin sister's urgent request to pretend to be her to her sister's former father-in-law. Heroine is accused of being a gold-digging whore by the father-in-law's former employer Hero. Her twin sister emptied out her father-in-law's retirement savings so he now he has to find another job instead of retiring. As much as she wanted to confess the truth, heroine couldn't tell Hero her real identity b/c she didn't want her sister to be sued by Hero for non-repayment of her debts. Also her sister was getting married again. So heroine tries to negotiate a more manageable repayment plan but Hero stubbornly adheres to his all-or-nothing demand. Even with her frustrations with Hero & complications from her pretense, heroine falls in love with him.

This was a fun read. Graham is such a good romance writer b/c she can combine humour with drama & good sexual chemistry. I liked her portrayal of this imperfect heroine--not too smart, clumsy, naive, codependent, self-accepting, somewhat insightful, & sometimes makes dumb choices. Heroine knew her imperfections & tried to work on them & sometimes not. I was rooting for heroine to wise up & stop caretaking others but she doesn't & Hero still loves her. I would've been annoyed about this but Graham writes her characters & stories so well that I just shrugged it off. I liked that hero & heroine discussed their misconceptions well enough & their HEA(happily ever after) was plausible.

Recommended.

Former all-girls-private-school career counselor has tried to turn her dad's failing oil company around base on her college business textbooks but to no avail. When experienced oil engineer Hero tries to save the company his newly-deceased dad recently purchased & tries to fire heroine, she puts up a fight & lies about a verbal contract in order to keep her job position. Hero keeps her own while he scrambles to right the major wrongs of the company. But heroine views it as chauvinistic manuevering & fights him about mostly everything including how he takes care of her when she got bitten by a scorpion. Their constant fighting leads to some passionate encounters but their fight for control detains them from emotional intimacy.

I liked the other Jordan books in this sequel ([[ASIN:026314593X Hollywood Wedding]], [[ASIN:0263145786 Guardian Groom]]) but I didn't care much for this one. My main problem with this book is the heroine. She is so defensive & easily offended by Hero that she fights him over every little thing he does. She's really silly about it b/c the company was in the red & she knew it & knew that she was inexperienced & not knowledgeable about business matters but, when Hero tries to save the company which his family now owns, she balks b/c he's not asking her permission or asks her assistance. Even though he let her retain her position b/c she lied about a verbal contract, she complains & blames him for the company's failings & is really negative about his business plans. Yes, hero is domineering & arrogant but he can back it up b/c of his successful business experience in the oil industry and his family now owns her dad's oil company and the company was in dire need of his business acumen. Although the writing is good & the sexual chemisty was even ok, I became more & more irritated with argumentative heroine as the book went along so much so that I was hoping that Hero dumped the ever-complaining heroine.

Read if you dont' mind argumentative heroines.

Attractive & buxom stewardess was left a mansion by one of the airline passengers she befriended. She's attracted to Hero but thinks he's just playing games with her & not really truly interested in the real her b/c she's not a stick-thin woman who easily acquiesces to his demands. Despite her rejection & active resistance to his pursuit, Hero continues to pursue her b/c of the unwelcome attraction he feels towards her & another motive that involves the inheritance left for heroine.

Another enjoyable Kendrick book. Emotionally involving from the start. Good romance. Sizzling chemistry. Likeable characters. I liked that heroine was independent, smart, & innocent but not in a naive or stupid way. When she had sex with Hero, she did it knowing what it meant for her & the possible consequences. Hero was arrogant & judgmental but, when he realized he misjudged heroine, he was sincerely apologetic & became more emotionally vulnerable to her.

Recommended.

Young wife of 2 yrs is at her wits end re: her marriage of convenience. She's been in love with her lawyer husband for years but he treats her like one of his kids. It doesn't help that his new coworker is being assertive about her interest in him & that there's a possible be a chance that he might want to reconcile with his ex-wife. She tries to test his usually-controlled demeanor by making him jealous of the attentions of another man & it seems to work but his ex-wife's presence in their lives again makes her doubt her hold over his heart.

This Armstrong book was an ok read. The premise of the book was good but it wasn't focused nor emotional enough to be riveting. The dialogue & way characters displayed their emotions skimmed the surface as if they or the author was afraid of delving deep enough to make sparks fly. This book would've been so much better if it was as dramatic as it could've been with 3 women vying for the hero's affections. Instead all we got was some humour & indirect snides.

Partial recommendation.

Heroine embarks on an affair with Hero soon after he comes back to her home. She rejected his marriage proposal 7 years earlier b/c he didn't say that he loved her. She protects herself by making sure she doesn't sleep overnight at his hotel. Hero made it clear their affair will last only until his work with her family's company is done & he's doing it for revenge b/c she rejected him before. Although their sexual appetites were well-sated, their affair increasingly brings disatisfaction as they both realize sex & control isn't all they want from each other.

Pacing, emotional pull, sexual tension, & love scenes were good. I liked heroine's self-confidence & inner strength. I didn't care for her chasing after Hero though &, more so, Hero wanting her to be emotionally vulnerable first. Hero was unforgiving, vengeful, controlling, & prideful which would've been ok if he was shown to be more vulnerable & humble later. But this book didn't really show that b/c heroine kowtowed to his unspoken demands (not because she was weak but b/c she was in love with him & willing to let her guard/pride down) so he got what he wanted & only became more open when she humbled herself first. That was annoying. It also annoyed me that Hero didn't seem to be so in love with heroine b/c he made it clear that he can easily move on to another woman & he actually had the next one in mind soon after they separated. It doesn't bode well for a HEA(happily ever after) for these 2 if heroine angers or humiliates him enough in the future.

Recommended with warnings re: not-so-great Hero.

Job-hopping heroine witnessed the boat her roommate sailed on blow up & decides to investigate further reasons for the boat's explosion by herself. Upon investigating one of the boats owned by the powerful businessman who owned the boat her roommate was killed, she finds herself trapped in it & on the way to South America with an ex-Special Force hero & 2 other men. Hero, who's covertly working for the US govt, pretends to be her lover in order to protect her from sexual intentions of the other 2 men & planned to fly her back to US when they get to their destination. But their plan goes awry as 1 of the men hear of their plan & takes them hostage. But they were able to escape as the plane they're on crashes into the jungle which conveniently leads them to the weapons' buyer who hero is setting up for a fall.

This Martin book irritated me for the most part. This romance-suspense was predictable & outlandish at times. There were many moments during the action-suspense part that were too contrived to be believable or realistic (e.g., civilian heroine had the right apparatus in her purse & the know-how to plug the bullet hole in the airplane to keep the oxygen level balanced). There were constant repetitions (every 10 pages until they had sex) of hero thinking he hated blondes & followed by a dumb-blonde joke. The dialogue was inconsistent also, where hero would talk out of character & sound like an encyclopedia or travelogue (e.g. when hero informs heroine about the poisonous snake they encountered). Although heroine was portrayed as smart & practical, she made some really stupid moves & decisions (e.g., going above deck alone despite repeated warning from hero not to & repeated threats/attempts of rape from the 2 other men, seducing hero in the same spot & right after he killed a poisonous snake that was aiming for her). It didn't help that this book was emotionally-distancing to read. The emotions were said & acted by the characters but it didn't draw me in as a reader. The sex scenes were passionate but didn't make the romance more endearing due to the overall lack of emotional draw of this book.

Can't recommend much except maybe the sex scenes.

Bridal-dress designer is attracted to her new landlord. She knows he returns her attraction but is resisting it for reasons she doesn't understand. Hero doesn't tell heroine that he has a fiancee whom he's marrying for convenience than love & has been staying away from.. When heroine finds out about his fiancee, she doesn't dispel his fiancee's assumptions that she & Hero slept together when she stayed at his house for 2 weeks. As a result, his fiancee leaves him. Hero blames heroine for what happened & finally gives in to their sexual attraction but the consequences are not what he expected.

I have mixed reviews about this Kendrick book. Overall it was a good, fast-paced,& emotionally-involving read as typical of her books. I liked heroine's independence & comfort with who she is. I had some problem with the Hero, on the other hand. Although Hero had his issues about mistrusting women, it was not a good enough excuse for why he kept his engaged status a secret from heroine. And he blames her for causing his fiancee to leave him even though it was primarily his fault. I didn't like how Kendrick resolved his mistrust of heroine & judging her as promiscuous. If she wasn't a virgin when they had sex, I don't think Hero would've treated heroine as well nor apologized for the offensive things he said to her while they were having sex. Kendrick also took the easy way out re: taking the fiancee out of the picture. The ending was too abrupt & didn't resolve the Hero's underlying problems with heroine well enough.

Recommended with limitations.