Title: Chasing Christmas Eve
Author: Jill Shalvis
Series: Heartbreaker Bay
Pages: 384
Genre(s): Contemporary
Hot Buttons: / 

Run for the hills temporarily. That's Colbie Albright's plan when she flees New York for San Francisco. Wrangling her crazy family by day and writing a bestselling YA fantasy series by night has taken its toll. In short, Colbie's so over it that she's under it. She's also under the waters of a historic San Francisco fountain within an hour of arrival. Fortunately, the guy who fishes Colbie out has her looking forward to Christmas among strangers. But she's pretty sure Spencer Baldwin won't be a stranger for long.

Spence's commitment to hiding from the Ghosts of Relationships Past means he doesn't have to worry about the powerful - OK, crazy hot - chemistry he's got with Colbie. Just because she can laugh at anything, especially herself...just because she's gorgeous and a great listener...just because she gets Spence immediately doesn't mean he won't be able to let Colbie go. Does it?

Now the clock's ticking for Colbie and Spence: Two weeks to cut loose. Two weeks to fall hard. Two weeks to figure out how to make this Christmas last a lifetime.

Jill Shalvis is my spirit animal - she’s just so funny and that completely translates into her books. She writes people you want to know and worlds that you want to jump into and live there. For me, her books are a happy place.

This is the 4th full-length story (5th if you include short stories) in the Heartbreaker Bay series. These have a continuing cast of characters, a group of friends, who find their perfect match thanks to a wish made into a fountain. This story, however, completely stands alone. Having said that - I highly recommend that you read the books in order because you’ll love the characters even more having done so, and you’ll understand the background characters a bit better, too.

Having read the previous books, I was already half in love with Spence. A sexy geek? Yes, please. But from the first, I fell all the way in love and he’s my new book boyfriend. He’s still a sexy geek but he’s also so much more - he’s sweet, kind, damaged and seeing him fall in love was just wonderful.

I also fell in love with Colbie, too. She is a little bit of an introvert, a little bit frazzled but 100% sweet, kind and positive. She was Spence’s other half and they couldn’t have been more perfect for each other if they tried. Perfectly imperfect soulmates.

As I mentioned above, I’m a huge fan of Jill Shalvis’s writing style. It’s funny - I laughed out loud on many an occasion, upbeat and, without sounding cheesy - it was really a inspiring tale of how to be yourself and live for yourself. And it was a great advert for San Francisco, too - I want to go now!

Oh and yes, this has Christmas in the title and yes, there is a slight sprinkling of Christmas in it - but I would never call this a Christmas book. So long as you don’t pick it up thinking that you’re in for snowflakes and Santa and mistletoe, you’ll be alright. And I’m saying all that as someone who loves Christmas.

If you’re looking for love, laughs and positivity then I would recommend that you read this book. And all the other books in the series, too. 5 stars.

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Title: Misadventures of a Good Wife
Author: Meredith Wild and Helen Hardt
Series: Misadventures
Pages: 200
Genre(s): Contemporary
Hot Buttons: Anal Sex

Kate and Price Lewis had the perfect marriage—love, fulfilling careers, and a great apartment in the city. But when Price’s work takes him overseas and his plane goes down, their happily-ever-after goes down with it.

A year later, Kate is still trying to cope. She’s tied to her grief as tightly as she was bound to Price. When her sister-in-law coaxes her into an extended girls’ trip—three weeks on a remote island in the South Pacific—Kate agrees. At a villa as secluded as the island, they’re the only people in sight, until Kate sees a ghost walking toward them on the beach. Price is alive.

Their reunion is anything but picture perfect. Kate has been loyal to the husband she thought was dead, but she needs answers. What she gets instead is a cryptic proposal—go back home in three weeks, or disappear with Price...forever.

Emotions run high, passions burn bright, and Kate faces an impossible choice. Can Price win back his wife? Or will his secrets tear them apart?

I read and enjoyed the first book in the Misadventures series (Misadventures of a City Girl) and was looking forward to this second offering. Each book in the series stands completely alone from the other and offers a sexy tale that are perfect for a beach or bedside read.

I was looking for something light and hot when I picked up this book and for the most part that’s what I got - but it just felt a little lukewarm for me.

I liked Kate, understood her motivations, feelings and felt she was completely believable. I even could get behind the reaction when Price reappeared in her life. Who knows what anyone would do in that highly unlikely event?

The initial sex was sweet yet sexy and made for an enjoyable read. Just when I was getting a little fed up of sex and then Price keeping secrets, sex, secrets etc. the book picked up pace with a little bit of tension from the ‘big bad’ of Price’s past.

I think my main problem was that I didn’t really like Price. To my mind, there was no good reason why he couldn’t just have come home and informed the police of his problems - job done. Putting that aside, I still didn’t really like him. He had left Kate for over a year - rightly or wrongly - but when he came back he still kept her in the dark, was quite controlling of her and kept secrets including some he’d done before he was ever in trouble.

Perhaps it was due to that, that the sex became a bit samey for me. After every scene there were some sort of shenanigans and I got over it fairly quickly. There was the obligatory anal sex for these kind of stories - which is so not my thing - but it was short so I was fine to skip over it.  I did feel that they were laying it on a bit thick with the whole “it’s the ultimate trust” and “the most connected two human beings could be”. You either like it or don’t - don’t oversell!

The story picked up again towards the end as things started to get sorted out. That was interesting and I liked the way the story was wrapped up. The ending was cute and I do enjoy a satisfying epilogue. Not my favourite of the two Misadventures books I’ve read but it was still well-written and a pleasant way to pass a couple of evenings. 3 stars.

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* I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

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Title: Tell Me
Author: Abigail Strom
Series: Love Me
Pages: 254
Genre(s): Contemporary
Hot Buttons: Death

Shy bookstore owner Jane Finch grew up hiding in the margins of her own life while her vibrant, adventure-loving sister, Samantha, dominated every plotline. She’s made peace with it, unlike Sam’s business partner, Caleb, who’s always nudging Jane to go after what she really wants. Why should she care what blunt, brash Caleb thinks? They’ve never had much in common, except for Sam.

After tragedy strikes, they don’t even have that.

Caleb can’t quite remember when Sam’s little sister stopped being like a surrogate sibling to him and became just…Jane. She’s the most intriguing woman he’s ever met, and so much sexier and stronger than she thinks. On the emotional journey to honor Sam’s memory, the spark they’ve tried to deny becomes an inferno. This journey was meant to be an ending, but will they discover an unexpected new beginning?

I try to avoid stories - even romances - that contain tragedy of any sort. For me, reality should be reserved for real life, not for my books. So I feel like I took a little bit of a chance by choosing this book - but boy am I glad that I took that chance as I really loved this book.

Both Jane and Caleb caught my attention from their first interaction with each other. It was intriguing, sweet and Caleb was just annoying enough to Jane for me to start to root for them almost immediately. I loved how the pair bantered with each other and were almost falling in love with each other before either of them realised it.

Sam’s passing was almost like a shoe waiting to drop. We know from the blurb that it’s going to happen (and thank goodness for that) but it was just a case of when. In the end it was fairly low-key but it did make the book one of two halves. The first half was dominated by Jane and Caleb and focussing on their relationship and their personal hangups. The second half was more complex with more emotions and more difficult conversations and thoughts. Still none too heavy although I was a wee bit emotional when Jane and Caleb went up Owl Mountain. Who am I kidding? - I was bawling like a bloody baby!

I wondered how they would get to their happily ever after and they were made to work for it - but it was so satisfying in the end. As always, I prefer to have an epilogue but the lack of one doesn’t make this book any less enjoyable. There were laugh out loud moments (“I hope a kangaroo kicks you in the head.”), emotional bits, frustrating bits (normally with Caleb being a dumbass!) but they all came together to create a really enjoyable, well written romance with a lot of heart. I would highly recommend this one. 5 stars.

As an aside, I got my review rejected from Amazon for using the word 'dumbass'! *Giggles*

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Title: Duke of Desire
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Series: Maiden Lane
Pages: 336
Genre(s): Historical, Georgian
Hot Buttons: Child Abuse (flashback)

A LADY OF LIGHT

Refined, kind, and intelligent, Lady Iris Jordan finds herself the unlikely target of a diabolical kidnapping. Her captors are the notoriously evil Lords of Chaos. When one of the masked-and nude!-Lords spirits her away to his carriage, she shoots him . . . only to find she may have been a trifle hasty.

A DUKE IN DEEPEST DARKNESS

Cynical, scarred, and brooding, Raphael de Chartres, the Duke of Dyemore, has made it his personal mission to infiltrate the Lords of Chaos and destroy them. Rescuing Lady Jordan was never in his plans. But now with the Lords out to kill them both, he has but one choice: marry the lady in order to keep her safe.

CAUGHT IN A WEB OF DANGER . . . AND DESIRE

Much to Raphael's irritation, Iris insists on being the sort of duchess who involves herself in his life-and bed. Soon he's drawn both to her quick wit and her fiery passion. But when Iris discovers that Raphael's past may be even more dangerous than the present, she falters. Is their love strong enough to withstand not only the Lords of Chaos but also Raphael's own demons?

This is an intriguing romance with a hint of a mystery and darkness that I really enjoyed. It takes a strong story and compelling characters to grip me as this book did. I found myself sneaking away to read this as I really just wanted to find out what was going to happen next.

I absolutely loved both Raphael and Iris. Who doesn’t love a story of a man who is convinced that he is destined to always be in the dark, finding that through the love of a good woman, he can come into the light and live a happy life he’d thought impossible? Raphael was so damaged - poor man - and he just didn’t think he deserved Iris. Iris just wouldn’t give up on him, or their love, and she was strong and feisty while still being vulnerable. Brilliant character. Their love story was believable and that made me root for them even more.

There was also the ongoing revenge storyline about bringing down the Lords of Chaos. They were a vile group of people! We were kept guessing about the identity of the leader of the group - I kept changing my mind about who I thought it was out of the three characters we had. Having said that, I felt I had to suspend belief that Raphael or Iris wouldn’t have been able to guess at their identity - especially since the first scene of the book saw everybody (except Iris) buck naked. Even with a mask, I think you’d know! ;)

The implications (and reality) of child abuse by the Lords of Chaos made me feel physically sick. I’m not berating the book by saying that, as it was a significant part of Raphael’s back story and his reasons for so many of his actions, it was just uncomfortable to think about despite not being written graphically.

I also didn’t like what happened to Raphael’s servant, Ubertino and didn’t understand the reasoning behind it. It didn’t drive the story forward, and didn’t provide a further motivation for Raphael’s drive towards bringing down the Lords of Chaos. I know that it’s a real life situation but I’m honestly not looking for real life when I read romance.

And oh and for goodness sake - British people call it autumn!!

After reading I realised that this is the 12th (!) book in the Maiden Lane series. I’ve not read any of the other books but having scanned through their blurbs, it seems that this book really only connects to the previous book, Duke of Pleasure. Hugh makes an appearance in this book and there is talk of his first wife (a surprisingly loose woman called Katherine) and his current wife Alf. Did this book make me want to read that one? I’m not sure, to be honest, although I’ll admit to being curious. We’ll see.

I really enjoyed this book and it kept me interested from beginning to end. If you’re looking for a hero who is damaged and in need of the love of a good woman - and a good woman who just won’t give up on him - then I would highly recommend this book to you. So very nearly a 5 star read.


This is nothing to do with the author - or the book - but Raphael is scarred on his face - it’s a huge part of the storyline and his character. I’m not sure why the bloke on the front cover (as lovely as he is) does not show that. Bizarre! Still, it’s better than the horrible cover they used for the British version - so bloody boring!

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