Tag Archives: contemporary romance

Rhythm and Bluegrass (by Molly Harper)

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Contemporary Romance

As an historian working for the Kentucky Commission of Tourism, Bonnie Turkle lives a transient life.  She spends a few months in a town, before moving onto the next town and the next job. When she hears about an old music hall which is slated for demolition to make way for a factory, she immediately goes to Mud Creek to try and save as much of the heritage as she can.

Mud Creek is a town fallen on hard times and desperately needs the hundreds of jobs the factory will bring. The mayor of Mud Creek, Will McBride will do just about anything to ensure the factory is built so when Bonnie threatens the very future of the town they butt heads. And when they aren’t butting heads, they’re fighting to keep their hands off each other.


Rhythm and Bluegrass is cute a quirky romance with characters that you want to get to know. It’s a laugh out loud funny story, which occasionally delves into the more serious issues facing small towns across the U.S..  A lot of love for this book.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and Pocket Star Books for providing me with this ARC.

The Hero (by Robyn Carr)

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Contemporary Romance

After escaping from a secretive cult, Devon finds herself walking along a back road with her young daughter. When Rawley sees her on the side of the road he knows she is running and offers her a lift and a safe place to stay until she can decide where to go next.

Recently widowed, Spencer is still in mourning over the death of his wife.  Thunder Point is a chance for a new beginning as the coach of the local high school football team. So when Rawley helps Devon to find a job and start building a life in Thunder Point he immediately pushes thoughts of the beautiful blonde from his mind.

But as the weeks pass he finds himself drawn to her and they take some tentative steps towards a relationship. But both have baggage. Both have children. And Devon has a controlling and manipulative cult leader on her trail.

The Hero is what readers expect from Robyn Carr.  It is a well written contemporary romance which is about more than just Devon and Spencer.  Stories from previous books are revisited and characters are introduced who will appear in future books. The Hero reminded me a little of Shelter Mountain (Virgin River Book 2).  That’s not a bad thing, Shelter Mountain is probably my favorite in the Virgin River series and I enjoyed this book almost as much.

Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Love Overdue (by Pamela Morsi)

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Contemporary Romance

DJ is the poster girl for prim and proper librarians. She is conservative and staid, she wears muted tones and safe shoes. That is who she is and it’s who she wants to be. Except for one night, eight years earlier when she decided it was time to see what she was missing. She went out for a night of drinking and dancing with friends and ended up in the bed of a stranger.

Now in her late twenties she has accepted the job of Library Administrator in a small rural town in Kansas. But when she arrives she finds things are not going to go as smoothly as she had hoped. The acting librarian is recalcitrant in the extreme; she is living upstairs from her landlady; and the landlady’s son is the stranger she hooked up with eight years earlier.

DJ is trying desperately to avoid Scott. He’s a player who cheated on his wife and had an affair with a married woman. But those things don’t quite gel with the man she is getting to know. Still she needs to fight their growing attraction to each other and hope he never remembers that one night eight years earlier.

Love Overdue is cute and quirky small town romance which every now and then becomes something a little more. The characters in this story are wonderfully odd and just a little broken.
It doesn’t always work. The repeating of the same events from the different points of view of the heroine and the hero got a little confusing and I’ve never been a fan of flashbacks as a plot device. I actually thought I had missed something when I got to the end and went searching for a few missing pages. Only after rereading the ending did I realize I hadn’t missed anything.
But those are small things and I enjoyed this book a lot. Enough that I’ve bought a couple of other books by Pamela Morsi.

Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Home to Whiskey Creek (by Brenda Novak)

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Contemporary Romance (with a dash of Suspense)

After one traumatic night, a night when she was gang-raped by a group of young men from the school’s baseball team, Adelaide left Whiskey Creek and the grandmother she loved. Now 15 years later her grandmother is too old to care for herself so she must return to the town where the men who raped her still live as respected members of the community.

When Noah finds Adelaide at the bottom of a mineshaft his protective instincts take over. But he can’t understand why Adelaide is so hesitant in sharing the details of her assault. As their relationship develops, the men who attacked her are watching nervously.

Home to Whiskey Creek is contemporary romance with a little suspense thrown in for good measure. There were a couple of missteps…I think Baxter’s story which has been bubbling away in the background for the last couple of books didn’t really add anything to the story. The conclusion felt a little rushed and I can’t help but think those pages devoted to Noah and Baxter would have been better spent fleshing out the ending.

But overall I liked this book a lot and those small criticisms don’t make me like this book any less. It’s probably my favorite in the series so far.

Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

Wallbanger (by Alice Clayton)

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Contemporary Romance

Caroline’s O (orgasm) has deserted her. It happened six months earlier after a less than impressive bedroom encounter with “machine-gun f_cker” Corey Weinstein. Now she has a new apartment, a faithful cat, good friends, but no O.

On her first night in her new apartment she is woken in the early hours by thumping. She quickly realizes her neighbor is getting himself some and the thin wall which separates their bedrooms is copping the brunt of his exertions.

Simon is not short of female company. He has three very different women who will keep him company on a cold night, and none of them want any strings which suits him just fine. When Caroline, sick of his very loud late night liaisons pounds on his door in her pink nighty he immediately knows she is a woman who will need more than he can offer. But she is so damn sexy that he just can’t stay away.

Wallbanger is great fun and completely addictive. In a market that is filled with books that are all trying to grab my attention, this one is somehow a little better. It’s a laugh-out-loud funny romp that manages to take a storyline I’ve seen a dozen times and make it refreshing and entertaining.

Much love for this book.

Recommended to me by Aurelija

The Newcomer (by Robyn Carr)

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Contemporary Romance

Mac is a single father of three children. Since his wife ran off with another man many years earlier, life has been one of financial hardship.  Now, though still not well off by any stretch of the imagination, he has finally found a measure of security for him and his family.

As a teenage girl Gina fell pregnant to the local bad boy. When she told him he ran off leaving her alone to raise their child. Money is tight but through hard work and determination she has managed to find a place for herself and her daughter in Thunder Point.

After many years of putting their families first Mac and Gina have finally taken the first steps towards a future together. But just when things are starting to look good for them, Mac’s ex-wife returns to Thunder Point and wants to reconnect. Adding to the dramas, Gina’s daughter Ashley has been dumped by her boyfriend for another girl and falls into a deep depression.

Robyn Carr writes in a mosaic style. Characters are introduced whose stories will be told in future books. Some stories are concluded within the pages of a single book while other stories will be revisited in future books. It’s a style that works well for Robyn Carr. I thought book one, The Wanderer felt a little busy, perhaps even clunky, but with The Newcomer Robyn Carr has definitely found her mojo.  It’s entertaining and polished and augurs well for this series.

Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Lingerie Wars (by Janet Elizabeth Henderson)

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Contemporary Romance

When former soldier, Lake Benson finds himself the owner of a lingerie shop in a small Scottish town, he sets about destroying the competition. The competition being the lingerie shop just across the road owned by Kirsty Campbell.

Kirsty’s career as an international model was ended when she was involved in a serious car accident.  Left penniless and with both physical and mental scars she returns to her home town to rebuild her life.  Her small lingerie shop is her last roll of the dice and when Lake threatens her business she needs to learn to fight or lose everything.

Lingerie Wars is cute and quirky contemporary romance, about a woman who has been kicked to the curb but with a little help from her rival starts to regain her confidence. It’s light, fluffy and good fun.

Many thanks to Janet Elizabeth Henderson and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Meant to Be (by Terri Osburn)

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Contemporary Romance

Beth Chandler has spent her entire life putting the hopes and dreams of others before her own. When her fiancé decides it’s time she meet the family, she bravely crosses the ferry to Anchor Island despite the fact that she has been scared of the water ever since a childhood boating accident. Then Lucas, her fiancé returns to the mainland on business leaving her in the care of his parents, and his brother Joe.

Beth and Joe are attracted to each other from day one, but spend most of their time skirting around the issue. As time passes, and Beth becomes more enmeshed in Island life the sparks become harder to deny but both are willing to lose love rather than betray Lucas.

Just have to say, ‘Squish up Robyn Carr, move over Jill Shalvis! Make some room for Terri Osburn’.  This book is perfect.  It really is as good as the best from the Virgin River and Lucky Harbor series’.  I can’t think of a better Contemporary Romance I’ve read in the last twelve months and a full cast of background characters who almost steal the show will keep us returning to Anchor Island for quite a few books to come.

A must read for fans of contemporary romance.

Neanderthal seeks Human: a smart romance (by Penny Reid)

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Contemporary Romance

He looked lost and a little vulnerable. Smash, smash, smash.
I took this opportunity to rapidly pull on some sweatpants and a sweatshirt from my suitcase. The sweatshirt was on backwards, with the little ‘V’ at the back and the tag in the front, but I ignored it and grabbed a jacket from the closet behind me and soundlessly slipped it on too.
He walked to the window and surveyed the view as I hurriedly pushed my feet into socks and hand knit slippers, given to me by Elizabeth last Christmas.
I was a tornado of frenzied activity, indiscriminately and quietly pulling on clothes. I may have been overcompensating for my earlier state of undress. However it wasn’t until he, with leisurely languid movements, turned toward me that I finally stopped dressing; my hands froze on my head as I pulled on a white cabled hat, another gift from Elizabeth.

On the worst day of her life, Janie discovers her boyfriend had sex with another woman; she was fired from her job; found herself in a toilet cubicle with no toilet paper; and was escorted from the building by the security guard she has been secretly lusting after.

Quinn, the aforementioned security guard isn’t just a guard, he owns the company. He makes stone faced stoicism an art form and nobody is able to break through his tough shell. Until Janie that is. With her insecurity and habit of spouting odd trivia she manages to   draw him out and get him talking. He starts sharing things with her that he has kept hidden from everyone.

Neanderthal Seeks Human is everything I expect from contemporary romance. It’s cute and quirky with likeable characters. The story isn’t overly complicated but it’s told well and is a lot of fun. A book you can’t put down.

 

On the Plus Side (by Tabatha Vargo)

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Lilly is young, plus size woman. She is wealthy and has close friends but on a deeper lever she is lonely and has resigned herself to being the woman men don’t see.

Devin desperately needs to find $8000. The bank is threatening foreclosure on the home and business he shares with his father and young sister, and if he doesn’t pay up they’ll be on the street with nothing. When Lilly’s mother offers to pay the loan if he’ll date her daughter it’s an offer he can’t refuse.

As he gets to know Lilly he realizes she is the woman for him, but for there to be any hope of a future he needs to come clean.

On the Plus Side is cute and quirky contemporary romance with a bit of a sting in the tail. It deals in part with issues of self-image, of bullying and violence against women but it manages to address those issues without ever getting bogged down in them. It is a light and fluffy read and well worth the effort for fans of contemporary romance.