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Holiday Ever After by Jill Shalvis – a Review

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Holiday Ever After by Jill Shalvis – a Review

 

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Description:
Three fan-favorite Jill Shalvis novellas are together for the first time in this holiday anthology!

One Snowy Night
It’s Christmas Eve and Rory Andrews is desperate to get home to her family. Problem is, her only ride to Lake Tahoe comes in the form of the annoyingly handsome Max Stranton, her long-time crush, and his big, goofy, lovable dog. A long road trip in a massive blizzard might be just what they need to face their past…and one steamy, snowy night is all it takes to bring Max and Rory together at last.

Holiday Wishes
When Sean O’Riley shows up for his older brother’s bachelor weekend, the last person he expects to see is Lotti Hartford, the woman he lost his virginity to a decade ago. As the weekend continues, Sean realizes he wants to leave his hook-up life behind, but can he convince Lotti to open her heart to him again?

Mistletoe in Paradise
Years after their secret fling ended, Hannah isn’t eager to see James during their families’ annual joint holiday-themed yacht adventure. But when they’re the only people who show up, James and Hannah are stuck together on the high seas for days. As the former lovers try to make the best of the Christmas snafu, they soon realize the best things in life can’t be planned, and sometimes love is sweeter the second time around. 

 

 

Review:

Holiday Ever After by Jill Shalvis is a holiday bonanza with three novellas (from Heartbreaker and Wildstone series).

One Snowy Night
We meet our heroine, Rory Andrews, as she needs a ride home for the holidays, and is surprised when her friend asked Max Stranton to give her a ride home, since he doesn’t live far from Lake Tahoe.  She reluctantly accepts the ride, and Rory gets a kick out of Max’s dog, Carl; since she is a dog groomer and she knows Carl loves her. Cute.  Rory did see Max lately, as he worked in the same building as her, and she usually groomed, Carl.
 
Rory and Max were friends in high school, but though she had a crush on him, nothing ever developed, and she left home at the age of 17, rarely coming back.  Along the way home, they run into a blizzard, which will allow them to get to rekindle their friendship, and get know each other more. In a very short time, the chemistry between them heats up.  I found it nice that Max stood up for Rory when they arrived at her home, especially since she hasn’t been home for a long time.  This was a fun cute story, and a couple we rooted hard for to stay together.

 

Holiday Wishes
Sean O’Riley had planned his brother’s bachelor/bachelorette weekend, and the entire group of friends (boys and girls) arrive at the Bed and Breakfast to enjoy the weekend before the wedding. Sean is surprised to recognize the person in charge of the Inn. Lotti Hanfield runs her family’s B&B, and is shocked to meet the boy (now man), who broke her heart, and has never seen him since then.  When she ignores him, his brother and friends tease him that this woman wants nothing to do with him.  Sean has always been a playboy, but lately when seeing all his friends begin to settle down, he feels the change in wanting to find someone to spend forever with.

Lotti has been hurt before, and is not interested in Sean’s attempts to show her that he is a changed man.  Lotti has made plans to close the B&B for two weeks for a vacation, but the nasty blizzard will change things.  Everyone is very pleased with how Lotti has arranged everything for the group (events and food). But now that no one can leave, Sean convinces Lotti to help him set up an impromptu wedding at the B&B; but with a food shortage, she was able get some stuff from local neighbors, and they all worked together to decorate the wedding.  Being stuck at the inn for a couple of more days, was just perfect for them to fall for each other, as they had great chemistry.  This story was lots of fun and enjoyable, and also great to see so many of our favorites from previous books. 

 

Mistletoe in Paridise
Hannah Banfield, our heroine, is a workaholic as a health care advocate, with little time to spare.  But with Christmas close, she agrees to join her father on their annual Caribbean yacht trip; but she also knows her mother is not coming, and Hannah needs to give her father her mother’s divorce papers.  To her surprise, her father also invited James, who was Hannah’s love years ago. 

James Webber, our hero, was happy to see Hannah, but both are surprised when the yacht starts moving with only the two of them (James’s family also used to attend the annual trip), as well as her father and another person.  While stuck together for a few days, James and Hannah talk about their lives, and how both are buried in their work.  They talk about the death of James’s brother, and how it changed their lives.  James sees Hannah constantly interrupted on her cell for work, and learns how she is now working in health care, especially since the death of Jason.  James also explains he needs to change his life, as he has his own business (expedition company), but also works overtime to handle his father’s company.  He plans to tell his father that he is quitting and work only on his business. 

When Hannah’s father leaves them at a stop for a day or two to spend time alone, both James and Hannah realize that they still love each other.  It was sweet and wonderful to see them work past the issues that have kept their lives at a standstill, and needed to open themselves to being happy.  I really loved James and Hannah together, and their eventual happy ever after.

Holiday Ever After was fun to read, as all three novellas were great.  No surprise here, as Jill Shalvis is one of the best at writing wonderful sweet romances. If you have not read her books, you are missing a gem of an author. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

 

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Heartbreaker by Inara Scott – a Review

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Heartbreaker by Inara Scott – a Review

 

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / iTunes / Google Play / BAM

 

Description:
Mistakes? She’s made a few…

Dropped out of high school? Check. Ran away with loser boyfriend at age sixteen? Check. Fell for every line from every guy? Sadly, check. But now, Tess Papion has started over. Juggling multiple part-time jobs while finishing her college degree, she’s not letting anything get in her way. Especially not a sexy angel investor with “one-night disaster” written all over him.

Mason Coleman just inherited a 200-pound invalid Mastiff—and an intriguing, unusual, and thoroughly infuriating dog nanny who turns his life upside down the moment she steps through his front door. No matter how she makes him feel Mason doesn’t do commitment—so what happens when he falls for her? And worse, what happens when she wants nothing to do with him?

 

 

Review:

Heartbreaker is book one of The Bad Angels Series by Inara Scott.

Tess Papion is a 26 year old college student who works several part time jobs to make ends meet. She has had a rough childhood, and has made her own fair share of mistakes in life. But she is finally beginning to get her life on track. One of the jobs she does is dog walker.  Twice a week she walks dogs from San Fransisco’s swankiest new high rise – The Stella. And that is where she met Mason!

Mason Coleman is 30 years old and is one of the founding members of one of Silicon Valleys hottest venture capital firms. He is handsome, wealthy and currently stuck dogsitting his sisters 200 pound Mastiff, Wick. Wick comes with his own issues, allergies, steroids and behavioral problems. Mason agrees to keep Wick while his sister gets her life together but he has no clue what dogsitting a 200 pound dog entails.  After missing an important business lunch and another event he realizes he doesn’t have time for this and needs some help!

That’s when he bumps into dog walker Tess, in the elevator of The Stella. 

When Mason makes Tess an offer she simply can’t refuse – she finds herself in his presence every day!  While they both have their own trust and commitment issues, they can’t deny the natural urge that is pulling them toward each other! 

Tess is determined to not mix romance with work. But for how long can she deny what her body, mind and soul wants?  Will Mason be able to lose his Heartbreaker ways and settle down I to new relationship territory with Tess? 

I also love the amount of dogs mixed into this book!  The cover was a huge attraction for me. 

I am first a visual reader and the cover pulls you in, especially if you are a dog lover.  Next the story was original and something new. The story was fast paced, the seduction and building of a budding relationship was wonderful and exciting! Not to mention steamy! I look forward to reading more in this series. 

Reviewed by Erin

Copy provided by Publisher

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Heartbreaker by Kat & Stone Bastion – a Review

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Heartbreaker by Kat & Stone Bastion – a Review

 

HeartbreakerAmazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / BAM

Description:
Kiki Michaelson wants one wild night to forget her starving-artist worries. Simple.

Only instead of Darren Cole becoming her one-night stand, he taunts her with a challenge. Then while she’s trying to best him at his own game, he turns out to be the last thing she’s prepared for: someone she wants to keep.

Which means all he can ever be…is a friend.

Darren Cole never allows a girl to get close—not close enough to matter.

Then storms in Kiki Michaelson, a beautiful, fearless temptation that rocks his world off-balance. But he fights their attraction, unwilling to gamble something physical with their close ties. Until the passionate sculptor exposes her heart and breaks his wide open.

In that moment it becomes clear: she could never be just a friend.

Sometimes what you run from…is exactly what you need.

Review:

Kiki is a starving artist who is terrified of relationships, she’s been hurt terribly in the past.  She is looking for a one night stand and decides that one nighter will be with the hot and sexy Darren. 

Darren just drips sexy.  He’s a musician, he works as a dj, he stays physically fit.  Darren has his own secrets and reasons for staying out of relationships but he doesn’t want to disrespect Kiki with a one night stand.  So they make a vow to be just friends. Kiki enlists Darren’s assistance to train for a 5k run and the closer they become, the more the sparks fly.

I loved Heartbreaker by Kat & Stone Bastion.  It was very romantic but not in a mushy, sappy way.  The storyline is in a modern setting and all the characters were interesting.  The writing switched back and forth from Kiki’s perspective to Darren’s and I loved being in each character’s head.  Both characters were strong, independent and intriguing.  

What I enjoyed is not every page of the book is about Kiki and Darren’s relationship.  I got to experience both of them individually, their work passions and their interests.  I got a real sense of them as people, and how they interacted in their lives with family and friends.  Their attraction to each other was electrifying, the sparks were flying all over! They deal with real issues like real people, the story wasn’t just about the big strong man swooping in on his white horse to rescue the damsel in distress. I love stories like that.  Now if I could just figure out how to get Darren out of that book and into a real life person I’d be one happy girl!

Reviewed by Tricia

Copy provided by Author

 

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