Thoughts: That's Amore!

That's Amore! -- anthology

Authors include: Janelle Denison, Tori Carrington, and Leslie Kelly
Book 2 of Santori Stories

~ Goodreads ~

Average Rating:  3.1 Stars
(Includes personal rating:  3.0 Stars)

It's way too late to elope....

Meet the Parents by Janelle Denison

Like all dutiful Hawaiian daughters, Leila Malekala is expected to marry a Hawaiian groom handpicked by her parents.  But guess what, Mom and Dad?  Leila has wedding plans of her own.  The groom is California bad boy Jason Crofton... and the bride is pregnant.

I Do, Don't I? by Tori Carrington

Efi Panayotopoulou is about to marry her childhood sweetheart Nick Constantino.  Everything should be perfect.  But their families seem hell-bent on turning the wedding into a farce-or Greek tragedy.  And Efi is about a baklava flake away from running off... without her groom.

There Goes the Groom by Leslie Kelly

Luke Santori is engaged to "a nice Italian girl" from his Chicago neighborhood.  But wedding plans get tossed-like unbaked dough at his family's pizzeria-when Luke falls for blond-haired, blue-eyed Rachel Grant... the dressmaker designing his fiancee's bridal gown.

I'm really not a fan of the romantic Valentine's holiday, but I'm also a hopeless romantic and love to love some sweet, fluffy contemporary romances.  What better way to celebrate the holiday than an anthology of contemporary romances called That's Amore! that is based around three wedding novellas.  One of which was written by an author I like!


Meet the Parents by Janelle Denison
Rating:  3.5 Stars

This novella was cute, and I found a lot of the Hawaiian traditions quite interesting as well.  I liked that there wasn't a whole lot of angst in this sweet love story, even if there was a bit of a conflict involving the groom-to-be and his in-laws.  I wish I could say that I found Leila's parents a bit frustrating in their disapproval of her chosen husband... but the truth is, it doesn't surprise me, because I've seen more than my fair share of the same behavior among my own Asian relatives.

It's tiring, and yes, also frustrating.  But something that happens.  But we get a Happily Ever After in this novella, which is what counts.  That's probably more than I can say for other stories I've seen with the same, stubborn types of parental units who are more concerned with tradition than seeing how happy their children are.

A nice little read.  And while I'm a little reluctant to say that it was also a little boring... well, it kind of was.


I Do, Don't I? by Tori Carrington
Rating:  2.5 Stars

This novella was really full of crazy.  And while I loved seeing all the Greek wedding traditions, and reading about the loud, raucous actions of all of Efi's and Nick's relatives, and just overall witnessing a week full of partying and celebration... I couldn't help but feel extremely frustrated with both sides of the family.  This is why a lot of couples end up eloping...

And then maybe I was a bit frustrated with Nick as well.  It probably didn't help that we mostly followed Efi's point of view up until one small scene at the end of the novella.  I honestly would have liked to have seen more of the entire affair from Nick's point of view.  Because without his side of things, the story just felt like Efi was bearing all the stress of the wedding planning and the family crazy... while Nick just skated by and waited to get married.

Nonetheless, this story was a fun one, even if a little over-laden with angst, conflict, and made-for-television antics.

I would have liked to have seen a show down between Efi and Aphrodite, though I suppose it wouldn't really have been in good humor.  I would have liked to see more mature understanding from Nick--the fact that he seemed to be oblivious to everything, including cousin Aphrodite's attempts to seduce him made me cringe a little bit.  The fact that Nick had even entertained thoughts of doing anything with Aphrodite at all made me a little wary of how this marriage will be going forward; especially when Efi's confrontation didn't even seem to get through to his thick, ignorant head.

The fact that Nick has no idea that Efi had dreams of her own that shouldn't have been impeded by wedding vows felt a little immature.  In fact, neither of the two seemed to know what the other wanted, or had been expecting out of this marriage at all.  It got to a point where I was wondering if they were just getting married because it was expected for the two high school sweethearts--that they were in love with the idea of being in love and getting married, more than they were in love with each other.

Anyway... fun as fun was, this story turned out more like a family affair of crazy rather than a sweet romance.  It certainly DOES bring a realistic tone to all the crazy events that usually lead up to a wedding day.  Especially when family and relatives tend to get a little too involved.


There Goes the Groom by Leslie Kelly
Rating:  3.5 Stars

The premise of this novella could have gone in all sorts of bad directions--with an engaged man and his fiancee's dressmaker falling for one another, this could have been a disaster.  Fortunately, our lovely author managed to handle the events quite well, and we simply end up with a case of two people marrying for the wrong reasons.  Our hero sort of works through his own issues with the help of the heroine, as well as his brothers.

Simply put, this novella was a sweet one.

One of the things I DID NOT appreciate were the little comments here and there from our heroine that came off a little judgmental about random people in the story.  Some of those comments, honestly, I felt were uncalled for.

Meanwhile, this story also made me want a pizza...

Thoughts: Bare Essentials

Bare Essentials

-- Naughty But Nice by Jill Shalvis
-- Naturally Naughty by Leslie Kelly

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.5 Stars

Naughty But Nice

Lingerie model Cassie Tremaine Montgomery intends to have her revenge on the citizens of her hometown—starting with seducing the sheriff, Sean "Tag" Taggart. Tag, however, isn't cooperating.  He's more than willing to set the sheets on fire with her, but he's asking for more than just sizzling sex….  He knows Cassie's not as tough as she pretends.  And he knows she cares about him—even if she won't admit it.  So he'll just turn up the heat until she concedes there's more between them than this red-hot passion.

Naturally Naughty

Kate Jones, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, is home.  And she's got an agenda.  To get revenge on the man who humiliated her mother, Kate's going to seduce that man's son—the town's golden boy, John Winfield Jr.—and then leave him drooling in a puddle of lust.  However, when she finds herself seduced by a sexy stranger named Jack, little does she guess that the tables have just been turned….

Interesting premise with the adult women's store.  Standard premise of small town girls living a crappy life, wanting to get out and make something of themselves to show their town up.  The revenge story doesn't really build up all that well, and some of the revenge points aren't exactly resolved; however, in it's own way, that kind of creates a different story based on two women's need to take their revenge on a town that always treated them terribly.

Instead, we get a sweet set of stories with a love story and a journey to self-discovery.  Sort of.

Naughty But Nice

by Jill Shalvis
-- 3.5 Stars

Naughty But Nice is a typical Jill Shalvis type story--witty, fun, sexy... with just enough story for it to be enjoyable, and just enough drama for it to be thought-provoking, even while being a bit too angst-ridden for my liking.

Cassie is a great character, with all the sass and outrageous personality to make her stand out.  Unfortunately, Tag is a little boring, but he's at least not a broody alpha and makes for great boyfriend material.  The romance is sweet, but might have come off a little juvenile at times, and yet quite predictable as it was.  Cassie might have been a bit too stubborn; Tag might have been a bit pushy.  The romance itself might have gotten a bit cheesy.

And other characters were in line with a typical Jill Shalvis small-town-set, all with their interestingly unique personalities and a potential worth of back story.

The conclusion still seemed open-ended, with the issue between tag and his father quite unresolved.  The issues concerning Cassie's revenge plot kind of loses wind, and it would have been nice to see at least one person from Cassie's past eat their words, or get walloped with some sort of repentance or even get shown up.

But we make this story more about Cassie's own self-revelations, with some life-altering events... and then we move on.  The open ended resolution is probably apt as a way of showing that life just moves on whether or not you get your revenge.  There are always going to be people you treat you fairly, and others who will never see past their pre-judgments.

I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned here; but I'm not entirely sure I can put my finger on what it is.

Naturally Naughty

by Leslie Kelly
-- 3.5 Stars

I found that I liked Naturally Naughty more than Naughty But Nice, if only because the romance felt a bit more down-to-earth.  I mean, sure there's a big "lust and first sight" factor going on here, but it's pretty standard, and not completely unbelievable.  HOWEVER, when we throw in the "meant to be at first sight" deal more towards the end--that whole "I think I've loved you since that first time I saw you" nonsense, I always roll my eyes.  Had that been left out of the story, I might have been more inclined to give it a higher rating.

The revenge story that slowly develops into another self-revelation story feels a bit more realistic in this second Bare Essentials story than the first had been.  Truth, it's not that Naughty But Nice wasn't a believable romance, it just felt too cheesy to be more than a sweet contemporary romance.

On the other hand, Naturally Naughty progresses at a more banal pace, skipping over certain points of the story that had already been told in the previous; but at the same time, it gives more of a feel for Kate's little self-discovery journey as she comes home to Pleasantville and begins to see things in a different light.

Kate and Jack make a great couple, with a nice lusty friendship that slowly builds into more of a loving intimacy as they work around their problems--a semi-feud between each other's family, and a secret hanging over each other's heads.  I find it kind of amusing that both Kate and Jack are holding onto the same secret, unwilling to tell the other for the same reason: they don't want to hurt each other from finding out about a loved one's betrayal.

This story, unlike the first, was more about a self-revelation for both Kate and Jack, and in that sense, I really liked it.  This story is a little bit better resolved, with some old hates and hurts being forgiven and forgotten readily after some reflection by each character.

Once again, I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned here as well.  Once again, I'm not entirely sure I know what it is.

Series Review: Extrasensory Agents

Extrasensory Agents
by Leslie Parrish (Leslie A. Kelly)
Book #1: Cold Sight | Goodreads | Rating:  3.0 Stars -- Previously Reviewed
Book #2: Cold Touch | Goodreads | Rating:  3.0 Stars
Book #3: Cold Memory | Goodreads | Rating:  3.0 stars

Average Series Rating:  3.0 stars


First of all, this only bugs me a little after staring at the covers and realizing that they're not of the same set.  Cold Sight and Cold Touch were written a few years prior to Cold Memory (six or seven years, I think), and if you go to the Amazon pages, the first two books have new book cover illustrations that are a bit more cohesive with the newest book.  The covers I have chosen to display for the first two books are from the original paperbacks.

HOWEVER, unless you really care to look, you don't really notice the differences, aside from where the series' title is situated, the font type, and the author's name (Leslie Kelly used to write under the pseudonym 'Leslie Parrish' for her romantic suspense novels, but has recently chosen to simply add an 'A.' to her name for this genre instead.).

Otherwise, it's a cover illustration of a person standing in front of a dark background.  So... no biggie... if I don't stare at it for too long, because it will probably, eventually bug me into just changing out the cover illustrations so they all look like they're from the same set...

In fact, here you go:

I can't really say which covers I like better, or if there really is much of a difference aside from the cover models.  But I'm anal retentive enough to care about aesthetics on my blog.


Anyway....  Onto the actual review...

To be fair, I don't know if this series is finished yet or not (Leslie Kelly's author's note at the end of Cold Memory promises more books, but we'll see), so the average series rating is only for these first three books.  Almost two years ago, I stumbled upon Leslie Parrish's Extrasensory Agents and found the concept very intriguing.  But there hadn't been word on the continuing of this series, so I thought it was finished as a duology, even though there's room enough for even more expansion into this world--there are still other characters who have great potential for story.

About two or three months before the publication of the third book, Cold Memory, I stumbled across its existence and was quite pleased.

This series is getting a series review because I just never got around to reviewing Cold Touch.  As a matter of fact, I didn't even realize I'd reviewed the first book, Cold Sight, until I randomly fell onto its Goodreads book page and found that I'd written a few sentences about it.  You can click on the above link to see the original review, transferred to this blog.

Then the publication of Cold Memory was announced, and suddenly the idea of an individual review of Cold Sight, a review of Cold Touch as part of a bundle of other book highlights, and a subsequent, possible individual review of Cold Memory sort of felt unbalanced.  (Don't ask, my mind works in ways that I will NEVER understand myself, so everyone else need not try.)

Long story short, I really still don't have much to say about these books individually.  Once again, the concept of a group of psychic investigators holds much potential, and as many will know, is one type of plot device that I absolutely love!


Cold Sight was already reviewed, and had been really good if I could remember anything about it without consulting my previously written thoughts--again, see the link above.  If I get a chance, or even if, maybe this book is released as an audio, I might reread it.  According to Kelly's author note at the end of Cold Memory, both Cold Sight and Cold Touch were edited and re-released with some new short story content at the end of each book.  Even though these books only netted a mediocre 3-Star rating from me, I'm curious enough to go back and see what might have changed... if I even remember what was in the original to begin with.

Aiden McConnell is a straight-up psychic, is how his teammates describe him; and he was burned by the media and law enforcement on his last case, prior to the beginning of this book.  He's on sabbatical to recover his own peace of mind until investigative reporter Lexie Nolan stumbles into his life with a plea to help her uncover what she believes to be a serial killer targeting teenage girls.  No one in town believes her, so she turns to Aiden as a last resort.

As I recall, the pairing was a great working team, and I also loved that, while an investigative reporter, Lexie truly feels that something sinister is going on.  She's more interested in trying to save the teenagers than getting her next big story, because if what she suspects is true, then another girl will disappear soon.  Although since I really don't remember a whole lot about this book other than that I enjoyed, it, I'll leave my thoughts here for now.


Cold Touch was an enjoyable, dark and gritty read with a character who has an interesting, if depressing psychic ability--Olivia can touch a dead body and experience the last few moments of that victim's life before death.  So if said victim had been murdered, then Olivia will experience that exact murder.  Needless to say, it's obviously a trying skill to have--to die multiple times, in multiple ways, for the sake of investigating the truth of someone's death.

While I feel like Olivia could live without this kind of skill, and feel bad for her, I didn't like the way Detective Gabe Cooper goes about trying to tell her what she needs to do with her life.  I get that he's concerned about her mental health, but it's none of his business how she lives her life.  I found him a bit of a hypocrite and a jackass, even if I DID like Olivia, as well as the rest of her psychic team.

This particular story got very personal, as it also delves into some of Olivia's childhood, specifically a time when she'd been kidnapped, and would have died if not for a young boy whom she believes risked his life to save her.  And, once again, this book, much like the first, wasn't all that memorable, even if it was quite enjoyable when I read it.


Cold Memory is a study in conflicted feelings for me.  As enjoyable as the book was, and as much as I liked our main characters, the few things that stood out about this book included how bloody and gory the murders were, and how many grammatical errors and typos I found scattered throughout the book.  I'm not intentionally picky about typos--they happen and I usually ignore them... until they become abundant enough for me to notice and start caring.  Because this is a finished product, and I expect a more complete finished product.

But this is Leslie Kelly, and I'm willing to overlook some of these errors in publishing.  Because at least the book was still quite enjoyable, even if a little bloody and gory--goodness the murders in this book were bloody and gory.

Secondly, I found the mystery pretty predictable once the ball got rolling.  Members of a carnival community start dying--very gruesome deaths--and the killer decided to leave behind a vague clue at the first crime scene: a black feather.  Somehow, it gets missed, so the killer takes pains to point out that this piece of evidence got missed.

Meanwhile, Police Chief Gypsy Bell and eXtreme Investigations agent Mick Tanner have teamed up to find out who would want to kill an old man who was dying of cancer.  And as they continue their investigation, a few dark underbelly secrets of the carnival start to surface.

I hate to say that this book was predictable because of how obvious our author makes the clues; but it's true.  Specifically, a lot of the clues come from our killer, himself, via his POV of the book narration.  Because as soon as the killer gets his first scene, I had pretty much figured out who he was and why he was killing, even if there was a slight twist that, while I didn't really guess, I wasn't surprised about.

The romantic relationship between Gypsy and Mick was sweet and nice, if a little too quickly progressed.  The "I love yous" seemed a bit premature, yes, even after all they went through.  Though it helps that they were attracted to each other first, and completely honest with each other throughout their interactions about their feelings, and also that they knew each other as kids.  So I have little complaints about the romance, but it DID feel kind of bland.

Finally, the conclusion felt a little loose.  The murder mystery was solved, but felt a little forced.  Other loose ends weren't really tied together.  I'm not sure how I feel about the open-ended-ness of tangential story lines, such as the ordeal between Mick and his grandfather--maybe it was never meant to be resolved, despite the fact that there might have been a hint that something could potentially happen.


Nonetheless, this series has a great concept, and Kelly's writing can be enjoyable.  The truth is, I really DO look forward to the next book, and will hope that we get Derek's story first.  Because, the truth of the matter is, Julia's story is going to be a hard one for Kelly to create.

What I DID find a little disappointing, however, was the outcome of a certain character in Cold Memory that I hadn't been expecting, if mainly because of the build up Kelly gave to said character, that gave great potential for a future book.  A pity, that one.


***

Roll #34:  Last roll!
Cold Memory was read for this game space
--the book involves a carnival.

Page Count:  260
Cash Award:  +$6.00

Updated Bank Balance:  $274.00

Fairly Brief Review: Cold Sight

Cold Sight

by Leslie A. Kelly (a.k.a. Leslie Parrish)
Book 1 of Extrasensory Agents

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

Leslie Parrish introduces Extrasensory Agents, a band of psychic investigators interested only in the cases nobody else wants--the coldest ones...

After being made a scapegoat in a botched investigation that led to a child's death, Aidan McConnell became a recluse.  Still, as a favor to an old friend, Aidan will help on the occasional XI case.  But under his handsome, rugged facade, he keeps his emotions in check--for fear of being burned again.

Reporter Lexie Nolan has a nose for news--and she believes a serial killer has been targeting teen girls around Savannah.  But no one believes her.  So she turns to the new paranormal detective agency and the sexy, mysterious Aidan for help.

But just as the two begin forging a relationship, the case turns eerily personal for Lexie--and Aidan discovers that maybe he hasn't lost the ability to feel after all...

Well written with well-developed characters.  The story wasn't bad either.  Aiden is the typical brooding male, but Lexie is a breath of fresh air (blunt, head-strong, no filter... SO not the usual girl-next-door type); so she was a lot of fun to follow.  The rest of the characters were their own even if they didn't particularly stand-out too much, but still well-developed.

The psychic/paranormal aspects were pretty back-seat for a story surrounding a group of psychic investigators, so there wasn't a good balance between the paranormal, the romance, and the suspense.  Nonetheless, the concept is very intriguing and I found the different abilities of the eXtreme Investigations team as something I'd like to see more of in future books of the series.  And while the mystery was good (it took me a little while to figure out the killer's identity, but I still figured it out nearing the end) there were still a lot of questions left unanswered.

For instance,

I'm still wondering how Chief Dunstan was going to handle the twisted, dark secret of Granville and its finest, while dealing with his corrupt money-dealings of being paid to stay quiet and be a good lap dog to these people.  He might have grown a back-bone by the end of the book, but that doesn't discount the fact that he was indeed receiving money to maintain that Granville is a peaceful, safe town with no illegal or evil activities happening.

This is a good romantic suspense novel to read on a rainy day, as it is enjoyable and entertaining, though not quite outstanding or memorable.

---

This review was originally posted at Goodreads in June 2014.

---

Brief Thoughts: Heat Wave (anthology)

Heat Wave

-- 'Rex on the Beach' by Stephanie Bond
-- 'Getting Into Trouble' by Leslie Kelly
-- 'Shaken and Stirred' by Heidi Betts

~ Goodreads ~

Average Overall Rating:  3.4 Stars

A little con

Investigator Lucy Bell is looking for a runaway groom.  Fortunately, the almost-best-man (who's tastier than a double chocolate cheesecake) likely knows where he is.  All Lucy needs is a little deception--and a whole lot of hot 'n' sweaty persuasion!

A little magic

Single mom Allie Cavanaugh has played nice with others for too long.  Then Allie finds herself kissing a powerfully magnetic hypnotist at a carnival--in front of an audience!  Sure, maybe she's mesmerized, or maybe the 'real' Allie is finally waking up....

And a little late-night mischief!

Abby Weaver abandons the cool haven of her pharmaceutical basement for a girls-only week of sun, sand and fruity drinks.  That was the plan--until Abby finds herself going solo.  But the beach is a funny place--you never know just what (or who!) will wash up onshore....

It's pretty typical that novella-length stories are usually only good for a fast and breezy enjoyable taste of what an author is capable of.  The three stories in Heat Wave are entertaining, but don't really feel all that interesting, and probably not stories I'd come back to because they aren't entirely memorable.  And maybe a little cheesy to boot.

The beach theme was nice though--it made me want to take a little vacation to relax on a nice, sunny beach myself... despite the fact that I've never really been fond of beaches.

But hey, this sounds kind of nice:

"We'll get a great room with an ocean view, go shopping for sexy new beach outfits and laze around on the sand all day, reading steamy romance novels and sipping umbrella drinks."

Rex on the Beach -- 3.0 Stars

by Stephanie Bond

I have a lot of problems with the premise of this story, if only because I'm not entirely comfortable with how quickly our couple lusts after each other even when they each have their own commitments--one of which is a possible marriage.  But if you can get past that, the development of our main couple had a pretty good amount of potential to make a fun romance.

When two characters carrying secrets hop into a relationship, you're bound to have all sorts of juicy twists and turns to work with.  So maybe if this story had been a little bit longer, it might have been more intriguing.   But otherwise, even the characters as individuals were a little flat.

Getting Into Trouble -- 3.5 Stars

by Leslie Kelly

Leslie Kelly is always hit or miss with me, and I've read enough of her work to keep her on my radar.  But a lot of her older work, or mainly some of her contemporaries are laden with dated romances, and an underlying sense of judgment towards females and their sexuality--akin to slut shaming, I'd say, but not quite so blatantly.  I say 'dated romance' because it's quite typical to find these themes in older romance novels: a sense that good girls don't talk about sex, don't think about sex, and don't have sex.

Which is in full contradiction of the main female characters in her contemporaries, because they are cast as very sexual people--they DO think about sex, the DO talk about sex, they DO like sex.  Except that there's always that unofficial disclaimer of "I don't always do this."  Because it's quite alright for a woman to have sexual needs and express herself sexually... if she doesn't announce it often, or if it's not in her normal behavior.  I'm not even sure Kelly realizes she does this, because I've read other works by her that don't have this underlying tone of a qualifying a woman's open sexuality.

It bugs me, if only because, even in this day and age, women are hesitant about expressing themselves in a sexual way, because society has taught us that women should not talk about sex nor even like it--that it creates gossip and makes you look bad.  Even though it's perfectly acceptable for men to joke about, talk about, have, and/or even be crass about sex.  On a regular basis.

I have a friend who can't even say the word 'sex' without turning pink and whispering it like it's an evil mantra.

But anyway, let me get back off of my soapbox, because this could go on for a long time.

Getting Into Trouble was the longest, most in-depth novella in this collection.  A lot happens that really DOES create a well-rounded romance, with conflict, angst, and fun.  I just got a little irritated with both of our characters:  Allie for being so wishy-washy with her actions; Damon for taking rejection so personally that he acts all butthurt and kind of douchy about it.

But in the end, everything comes together and it's a pretty nice and enjoyable romance.  My spiel about the whole 'dated romance' thing came mainly, because there were points in the book where Allie finds herself having to justify her attraction towards Damon, and it bugged me.  The word 'scandal' got tossed out there, and suddenly I'm thinking, "What is this, a historical?"  That people would disapprove of her getting close to a strange man because she's a single mom.  That it was okay when all the other women did it, but NOT Allie, because she's the virtuous main character.

That she feels she can't be attracted to, start a relationship with, or get to know this passerby in town, otherwise she'd get judged for it.

Of course, it might also have to do with the fact that Damon is traveling with a carnival, and carnies really do get a bad rep, more often than not.

Otherwise, the story was pretty good.

Shaken and Stirred -- 3.5 Stars

by Heidi Betts

The honest truth is that Shaken and Stirred was the better written of the three stories, with a cute and sweet romance, a slight amount of conflict, and a Happily Ever After™.  The relationship developed in a mature, fun, honest fashion, if a little too fast for my liking.  There was a cutesy, breezy feel to the story's progression.  And there weren't any overly complicated twists.

It was just a sweet little chick lit piece about a woman breaking out of her normal, shy and closed-in personality, and having a fun vacation; meeting a man, having a fling, and generally enjoying herself.

It was simply a contemporary romance, about a man and woman who meet during a summer vacation, have a fling, and start developing deeper feelings.  The sex might have happened a little too quickly, and the "I love you's" were flung out faster than I expected, but it seemed like a pretty decently outlined, down-to-earth romance.

If only it hadn't been so boring.  Which is probably why it felt like the shortest of the three stories.

But, nonetheless, it was still very enjoyable, and readily likable.


***

Roll #33:  "Read a book with water on the cover, or where someone turns on the waterworks (i.e., cries) because of an emotional event."

The cover features water from a beach and ocean.

Page Count:  320
Cash Award:  +$9.00

Updated Bank Balance:  $258.00

Very Brief Thoughts: Not Another Blind Date... (anthology)

Not Another Blind Date... -- anthology

Authors Include:  Janelle Denison, Leslie Kelly, Jo Leigh

~ Goodreads ~

Average Rating:  3.0 Stars
-- Personal Rating:  3.0 Stars

These Valentine's Day dates have all the markings of blind-date disaster! Or do they?

"Skin Deep" by Janelle Denison
Who says nice girls can't have fun?  And Jayne does--dirty dancing and a lot more!--with a hot bad boy one night.  Still, it was a onetime thing.  Really!  But when she's set up on a blind date with her sexy stranger, she realizes Cupid must have other ideas...

"Hold On" by Leslie Kelly
Shy Sarah Holt has a bad case of unrequited lust.  She's hopelessly enamored with a client--sexy Steve Wilshire.  So, when she gets the chance to impersonate the very kissable doctor's blind date, she takes it....and has the most torrid night of her sheltered life.  But will Steve still be "holding on" when the truth comes out?

"Ex Marks the Spot" by Jo Leigh
Oh, no.  Paige Callahan just got set up on a blind date--arranged by her ex-boyfriend!  But potential catastrophe turns into flirty fun--and then some!--when she meets sexy, very wealthy Noah Hastings.

-- Skin Deep by Janelle Denison | 3.0 Stars
-- Hold On by Leslie Kelly | 3.5 Stars
-- Ex Marks the Spot by Jo Leigh | 2.5 Stars

This was a cute little romance anthology to pass the time, especially when you're in a reading slump and you just need a fluff piece to keep you going.  Some of the ideals and scenes and dialogue in these novellas felt a little dated, but this IS a category romance from Harlequin Blaze, so I don't ever expect much from them aside from a cute little romance.  And that's exactly what I got, so I'm content.

Leslie Kelly's novella was my favorite of the three and showcased what I love so much about her writing.  It kind of reminds me of a romantic comedy movie, actually; especially the ending that's all giddy and cute and sweet, but not drawn out or cheesy.

Janelle Denison is a new author I've never read before, but I really DID enjoy Skin Deep, even if there were a few things I didn't quite care for, such as the drawn out angst.

I've read Jo Leigh before in another anthology, but I don't remember anything about what I'd read.  So she's still akin to a new-to-me author for me.  To be honest, her story felt boring.

Anyway...  Again, this is a nice romance collection to pass the time with, if you want so good fluff.


***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• COYER Summer Vacation 2016

Series Review: Walker Brothers

Walker Brothers
by Leslie Kelly
Book #1: She Drives Me Crazy | Goodreads | Rating:  3.0 Stars
Book #2: She's Got the Look | Goodreads | Rating:  4.0 Stars

Series Average Rating:  3.5 Stars


Written by Leslie Kelly, an author I started following after reading her Black CATs series and the first book of her Extrasensory Agents series (written under the name Leslie Parrish or Leslie A. Kelly), the Walker Brothers series is a very cute and breezy, excellently fun and sometimes humorous romantic comedy duology with enough substance to draw you in, though they are still light and fluffy in nature.  Each book covers the romance of one of the two Walker brothers:  Johnny Walker, the older brother (who was named for his Daddy's favorite drink) in She Drives Me Crazy and Nick Walker, the younger brother in She's Got the Look.

As much as I was simply expecting a breezy romance, I was surprisingly delighted to find that I had a ton of fun reading this series with some grinning, some smirking, some scattered laughs, and the usual fawning over the Happily Ever After.

Also, it didn't hurt to fall in love with the younger of the Walker brothers who is as alpha male as he is adorable--he has his moments, but it works for me.

She Drives Me Crazy

She Drives Me Crazy centers around a small town in Georgia called Joyful, and the backstory that we are immediately given is that a strip club is being built near the highway, a large billboard is sporting a huge pair of a woman's breasts, and Emma Jean Frasier is coming back to town.  You get a nice dose of small town rumor mill and gossip before the story even starts when one of the town's biggest gossips (as well as bitter old biddie with a chip on her shoulder, otherwise why the heck is she spreading rumors anyway) takes a perfectly innocent portion of Emma Jean's profession and makes scandalous assumptions about it.

By the time Emma Jean arrives in town, the entire population has already learned that she's an ex-porn star and is the owner of the new strip club and that the breasts featured on the huge billboard belong to her.

Except that Emma Jean is a financial adviser and used to work for a huge firm in New York investing people's money.  Those are NOT her bare breasts on the billboard; and while the land that the strip club is being built on belongs to her, she's not the person responsible for the development of said strip club.  In fact, she doesn't even know of its existence nonetheless realize that the land had been sold for that purpose--and then there's some conspiracy about how neither she nor her deceased grandmother had sold the land at all and there's falsified documents and a murder... the eleventh hour kind of crams a lot of plot twists into it.

But anyway...

She just happened to have been helping out with an artist's exhibition a while back and that artist happened to be displaying nude art in a gallery.  And Emma Jean happened to send the pamphlet for that particular gallery exhibition to her grandmother, Emmajean, and because of that innocent little pamphlet, now the entire town believes that Emma Jean is an ex-porn star.

Talk about an overly extreme version of a childhood telephone game.

It probably didn't help her case that she had left the town due to a completely different, equally embarrassing scandal (which was true, this one), when she was seventeen.  Something about her boyfriend running off to marry another girl on the night of prom, followed by her and Johnny Walker being found in a compromising position in a gazebo, with a lot of misunderstandings thrown into the mix.

But time heals, problems are resolved, misunderstandings are straightened out, and Happily Ever After.  I guess if the people in this book actually took the time to communicate with each other properly we wouldn't have much story to tell, but it doesn't hurt to hope, right?  While it can be a fun source of amusement that causes cute bickering, the case of miscommunications and misunderstandings sometimes can get to a point of frustration.

The progression of the story itself was kind of dragged out.  There were few scenes that were presented painfully deliberate in their attempts to keeping the secrets a Big Secret, despite being knowledgeable gossip around the entire town.  But since the Big Secret (That Isn't Really a Secret) as well as other secrets were all kind of predictable and extremely obvious, the anticipation behind the deliberate skirting of the issues ended up making me more impatient for the story to move on than anything else.

While amusing at first, when this same tactic is used too many times in a couple other moments just to drag out the Big Secret, it tends to get old.

Overall, this was a very entertaining and enjoyable book with lovable characters.

Kudos on how Emma Jean blows up at her fellow classmates during her reunion when she learns about the nasty rumors circulating about her being an ex-porn star.  Because these people she went to school with couldn't just come out and say, "Hey, why were you a porn star?" and then get the whole misunderstanding cleared up.  They had to go snickering behind her back and making crass innuendos about her.  And I also don't appreciate that the people who called themselves her friends didn't bother to tell her what the whole town was saying about her behind her back either--with friends like that, who needs enemies?

Pssh.  The rumors will die down on their own and the people will move on, my ass!


Conclusion:  Well written, amusing at moments with some flaws that might have come off a bit tacky. Fun and great characters as well.  I just felt like the whole "Emma Jean is a porn star" gossip got dragged out a little longer than it needed to be dragged out.

Also, I don't know if I can ever look at pecan pie the same way again... which is sad since it's the only pie I actually love...

She's Got the Look

She's Got the Look takes place in Savannah, Georgia, a larger city where not everyone knows everyone, unlike in Joyful.  There's quite the contrast from small town rumor mill gossip, to bigger city living where your chances of running into the same people by coincidence all the time only happens if you all get invited to the same big, rich person's party.  (Which is exactly what happens when Melody gets to meet three of the five men on her "Fantasy Sex List"--we'll get to that part later--when her best friend decides to invite them all to the same party.)

Melody Tanner moves back to her hometown of Savannah (from Atlanta) after an ugly divorce from her husband of six years.  To cut to the chase, he continuously cheated on her, never really treated her like a wife more so than some trophy to be shown off (due to her being a former child and teen model), and then when she retaliated by (untactfully) vandalizing his billboard to tell the world what kind of a douche-nozzle he is (really, if you're going to do something THAT dramatic you gotta learn how to NOT get caught), and then she gets sued for slander and loses everything to him in order to support him financially since, apparently, according to the equally douche-y judge, she ruined his reputation and cost him his livelihood.

And so, resigned to being a victim, hoping that giving all her money to her ex-husband would be good enough to get rid of him, Melody moves home to Savannah to recuperate and start her life over.  Unfortunately, this seems only to be the beginning of more chaos and trouble.

The actual story centers around a list that Melody and her three best friends had made right before her marriage.  As a joke, the four friends put together a list of five men as part of a fantasy "I'm Allowed to Have Sex With These Men No Matter What" type of deal.  In part, since Melody's friends didn't like the man she was marrying, I have a feeling they were trying to make a point by telling Melody that she has so much more to live for than marrying a douchebag with a drill (he's a dentist who ended up screwing a lot of his own patients, as the backstory goes).

One of the standards of "the list" had been that the men Melody chooses should be improbable, but not impossible.  As in, there was still a chance, even slim, that she would ever meet any of these men because they're local city folk or they're at least not Brad Pitt.  And, as fate would have it, without even knowing who he really is, Melody puts down, as number one on her list, "the Time magazine marine hero"... who just happens to be Nick Walker from his days in the military.

Fast forward about six years and Melody is on the brink of a couple breakdowns after her nasty divorce ending an equally ugly marriage and her ex-husband still harassing her.  Her best friend, Rosemary, wanting to help get the poor woman back out into life, decides to play set-up by hinting that "Oh my God, at least two of the men on your Fantasy Sex List--remember that list you made a long time ago?--have died.  There MUST be some connection.  You need to tell the police.  Let me call my police connection and set-up a meeting!"

Lo and behold, the police detective who shows up to the meeting (that Melody agreed to go to in order to placate her best friend despite how stupid the idea was), happens to be Nick Walker, Savannah PD, former "Time magazine marine hero", and number one man on Melody Tanner's Fantasy Sex List.  Yes, apparently Rosemary has been acquainted with this man for some time now (she's dating Nick's police partner, Dex) and decided that Melody needed to put her "list" into action.

Needless to say, there is a lot of muttering about murdering best friends, the couple gets off to a bad impression to start off their relationship due to the topic of "the list", and despite the sexual tension of lust clouding the air, Melody is resigned to NOT sleep with Nick Walker as dictated by her "the list", because he comes on too strong and is kind of being a cocky asshole about it.

Let the bickering begin.  But kudos to Melody for not falling right into bed with a good-looking man who is being a cocky bastard (even IF Nick was just doing it to push her buttons and meant everything in good humor rather than actually being a real jackass), and walking away from him with some self-dignity as she flips him the bird on the way out when he pisses her off.

I'm not sadistic, but I'm a little content that Nick had to put some work into getting Melody to even consider talking to him civilly after his display of teasing arrogance (much less getting her to sleep with him).  Too many romance novels make it too easy for a man to get the girl into bed simply by making him some sort of primal, sexy, being of perfection despite having a bad attitude and asshole tendencies.

So anyway, soon, the couple falls into a semi-lusting, semi-lovely, semi-sweet, semi-kicking each other's shins friendship, which quickly escalates into the typical Contemporary Romance novel Friends with Benefits stage... and ultimately start falling in love with each other.

Of course, then more antics ensue involving the "the list", a few more deaths (one of them a murder), stolen underwear of the Peacock Blue variety, Melody's ex-husband lurking in the background, a side romance story between Rosemary and Dex (which is equally as cute as the main romance), some angst, and then the heart-warming, yet somewhat cheesy Happily Ever After.

Now I know I haven't mentioned too much about Nick Walker (or even his brother, for the matter), but all I have to say about him is that he's attractive, hot, adorable, and I'm totally in love with him.  Even when he acts like a jackass to rile Melody up, he does it with such good humor and no maliciousness, and even APOLOGIZES to her about his crass behavior, that I don't mind it.  The point is, he knows he crossed a line with his teasing, and he actually apologizes for being a dickhead rather than using his terrible childhood and a subsequent nasty, yet short marriage (to a woman who then goes and turns his beloved family against him with lies) as an excuse to be a dickhead.  And he doesn't spend his time trying to manhandle her into submission or manipulate her with his sexy wiles.

And so the romance between Nick and Melody worked for me; it had a lot of "FEELS" moments that just make your heart squeeze and puts a big smile on your face.  Their relationship is sweet, lovely, and had so much fluff that you couldn't help BUT love seeing them together, whether as lovers, as friends, or just as is.

So despite some scenes where the story progression seemed to drag a little bit, I happily ignored all those little faults and decided that I love this book and I love the couple.  The real story was the love story, using "the list" as a spring board with a little murder mystery intrigue as a lurking background plot device, but ultimately, I think I enjoyed this story because of the romance more than anything else.  Nick and Melody are both excellent characters with hot chemistry and a pretty awesome relationship.


Conclusion:  Oh, so much love for this book.  Heart-warming, lovely, sweet, and adorable.

Overall Thoughts:

I think I'm going to miss the collective characters of the Walker Brothers series.  Despite how crazy the rumor mills got in the little town of Joyful, I still enjoyed the characters and each of their own little back stories and secrets.  Despite how much Melody's best friends managed to humiliate her with some tactless outbursts at a big party, I still loved their interactions as best friends.  And it's great to see female characters with best friends (plural) in these romances (since I had spent so much time watching K-drama and started wondering whether or not it was possible for female characters to have friends, period).

I don't often read contemporary romances, but sometimes you get lucky enough to come across a few really good, shiny gems that just make your day.

With this, I'm definitely going to continue to dig into more Leslie Kelly books... although she was a very prominent romance author and I'm more of the murder mystery/crime thriller action type with a side of romance.  It makes me wish she would either extend the Black CATs series, or write more similar books.

For a nice, heartwarming romance though (with lots of hot sex), at least I know she'll always be an option as a personal favorite.

---

This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in October 2014.

---

Thoughts: Behind the Red Doors

Behind the Red Doors -- anthology

Authors include: Vicki Lewis Thompson, Stephanie Bond, and Leslie Kelly

~ Goodreads ~

Average Rating: 2.8 Stars
-- Personal Rating: 3.0 Stars


Behind the Red Doors is the first in a five book romance series called Santori Stories as well as a collection of three romances surrounding Valentine's Day. The stories all take place with the setting of a high-end department store called The Red Doors that houses three boutiques: Heaven Scent sells items pertaining to aromatherapy oils and candles, perfumes, and so on; Diamond Mine sells jewelry and accessories; and Sheer Delights sells mainly lingerie and sexy women's clothing.

While this collection follows a promising premise for three love stories, it didn't escape my notice that there were quite a few things that triggered my frustration and "eye-rolling" issues. Yes, the stories were cute. Yes, this would make a nice little romance read for Valentine's Day. And it also seems that many others have enjoyed it. But I couldn't help that certain aspects in each story didn't quite sit well with me even as I enjoyed their cuteness. They are enjoyable love stories, but only if able to overlook a few quibbles here and there that weren't quite easily overlooked.

Also, it finally dawned on me by the end of the collection that each of these stories hinges on big secrets and lies to create conflict and propel the love stories. I'm not sure how to feel about that.


A Short Summary
Thanks to a nice financial windfall, courtesy of Dev Sherman, the two best friends Jamie and Faith have decided to invest all their money into a high-end boutique targeting gifts for women. What makes The Red Doors different from other boutiques are the specially programmed gift kiosks for men--a means of which they can input information about the women in their lives to produce a specially tailored gift order from one of the three Red Doors boutiques without the hassle of shopping in the store.

Each story begins a few days before Valentine's Day and progresses into the love story surrounding a certain couple. Meanwhile, a secret admirer is amidst our group of friends, leaving little gifts for widower and manager of Sheer Delights. Dixie Merriweather.

Heaven Scent by Vicki Lewis Thompson -- 3.0 Stars

Jamie has had a crush on Dev since before she could remember and looks forward to seeing him every morning as their small group gets together for coffee each day. Dev has started taking notice of Jamie for the past two years since The Red Doors has been in business. Thanks to the meddling of younger sister Faith, Jamie and Dev find themselves getting together alone for business research where neither can continue to deny the attraction brewing between them.

Heaven Scent was the easiest to like with the cuter of the three stories. Aside from the standard "cynical heroine who doesn't know how beautiful she is", I only had one other frustration about this story. Granted, the couple's interactions are cute, but at the same time, the consistent lack of communication and all the jumping to conclusions between the two made for a grand fest of frustration on my part. Really, if these kids would have just talked to each other and tried to be honest with each other... well, I guess there wouldn't be much of a story.

Enjoyable, nonetheless.

Diamond Mine by Stephanie Bond -- 2.5 stars

As the young daughter of the wealthy Sherman clan, Faith had been determined to make something of herself to prove her success with The Red Doors. But that's not this story's focus.

Faith and Carter broke up a year ago because neither were on the same page with their relationship: Faith wanted an actual relationship and Carter is the typical commitment-phobe broody male hero. He always showed up late or didn't show up at all to dates, and the last straw was forgetting Valentine's Day. Ending things on bad terms a year ago, Faith is not quite happy to see that Carter had been the police officer hired by her brother as the added security she needs for her newest diamond display. What she also hadn't expected was to find out that Carter was currently attached and in a committed relationship. Except that Carter really isn't... he just made one up to make a statement to Faith that he's not the man she assumed him to be and that she'd made a mistake breaking up with him; that he is not a man who is "not commitment material".

Except that he kind of is.

This story had a good premise to play off of. A second chance romance that went wrong because two people weren't in the same place at the same time. And while things were going quite smoothly and I even thought that the big secret reveal had all the potential to break into a huge angsty problem between the couple... turns out that the rest of the love story was just as rocky as Carter's lie.

As another reviewer had pointed out: I think I would have liked to have more honesty and truth telling before we started getting all lovey-dovey and naked. Otherwise, the story isn't too bad.

Sheer Delights by Leslie Kelly -- 2.5 Stars

Joe Santori draws his sister-in-law for their family's Secret Santa gift giving, and after a plea from his brother to get her something that will make her start thinking sexy thoughts again after her pregnancy, he ends up at The Red Doors to pick up a gift certificate. While there, he plays around with one of the gift kiosks and somehow creates a picture of the "woman of his dreams" after inputting several of his ideal details on a woman; for the next few weeks he continues to lust after this imaginary woman, even buying the lingerie gifts generated by his kiosk information input.

Meanwhile, Meg O'Rourke has discovered that her innocent photo posing had been used as part of the lingerie modeling program of The Red Doors kiosk gift generating program. While she's having an emotional breakdown over this problem, who should come to her rescue but Joe Santori, the perfect man, who realizes that his dream woman DOES actually exist.

I had so many problems with this story that it was hard to determine whether or not I actually enjoyed it. Because aside from Joe's strange habit of ogling a computer generated picture of Meg and buying all the negligees he ends up creating, and aside from a few other unflattering pieces of dialogue here and there... the story itself wasn't all that bad.

The interaction between Joe and Meg were sweet and cute, big looming secret notwithstanding. And if we could overlook Joe's strange, almost creepy activity as part of the backstory, the story itself would have progressed a little bit better. I mean, granted, like the second story, the big secret had big, delicious potential to implode with all sorts of revelations and angst... and it kind of did.

But what really made it hard for me to overlook was the fact that I would have liked a little bit of honesty in the relationship before anyone got naked. And on top of that, there were very casual off-hand comments here and there that came off kind of insulting to the female sex, including some indirect slut-shaming of no one in particular.

But I have a soft spot for Leslie Kelly, and while there were those few things that I didn't care for, the love story itself was still pretty cute.


Overall Thoughts:
I had been looking forward to this collection because it sounded like sweet, cute fun for hopeless romantics. I can't deny that I'm slightly disappointed that things didn't turn out the way I had hoped and that I had more quibbles about the stories than I expected. Just the fact that there's nothing else going for these stories outside of sweet and cute love stories makes it hard to overlook a couple flaws that really stand out.

Nonetheless, each story was written well and, in a way, still quite enjoyable to read.

***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• Bookish Resolutions Challenge -- New to me author #7
• Mount TBR Challenge

---

This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in March 2016.

---