Tuesday 30 September 2014

BOOK REVIEW (32): Marriage with Benefits

BOOK REVIEW:
Marriage with Benefits


Told you I was coming back with some books and reviews!
Here’s #2 (or should that read #32?) from my have-been read queue.
But first FUN FACT about today’s book: Author Kat Cantrell’s debut, Marriage with Benefits, won Harlequin’s (you know that big romance publisher’s) first SYTYCW writing contest.
AND that contest happens to be happening again this year right now!*

Ahem. That business aside back to the review:
So I, umm, really liked Marriage with Benefits. I know can fully appreciate its win back in 2011.
Ms. Cantrell knows her stuff—and she knows how to write a really great tension-filled, sparks flying off the page, laugh-out-loud romance. And yet somehow it balances what I would expect from a “chicklit” read with the passion and heat needed for this particular category line from Harlequin. (The Desire® line is one of the sexier/racier category romances offered by the publisher.)

What I took away was a great story and time well spent. The hero and heroine felt real—like real people with real emotions and believeable problems, EVEN IF the scenario was utterly ridiculous. (Pfft! I mean do people really orchestrate fake marriages for other than green card-worthy marriages and then all you want is a sham matrimony with a guy who looks like Ryan Reynolds.)


Shower scene w/ said fake husband.

Yes, anyways, Lucas and Dulciana ‘Cia’ were lovable in their own ways, and they worked better together. Which is win-win because I expected, you know, chemisty and lovey-dovey stuff. Cia is a tough-as-nails kinda girl. All girt and very little of the ‘girly’, which I typically dislike but she actually really likes pretty things: diamonds are a girl’s best friend and all. She also likes talking parrots. Really pretty birds, those parrots are.

And if I’ve worried you about Cia’s attitude please don’t let this turn you off. She comes off exceptionally strong, and she reminds me so much of my most recent review’s heroine, Quinn Davis from The Truth about De Campo. Really I make her sound like a beyotch and she totally will come off in the first couple chapters like a total beyotch, but you know I think everyone has someone like this in their life. Someone who isn’t the best in their social game—like Cia is SUPER AWKWARD and that was refreshing given that she was constantly being pushed in social soirees to uphold her end of the deal which is to make Lucas look good in the eyes of his upper crust, charity-sponsoring social world.
Thankfully like Matteo Lucas is an easy personality to swallow. He’s a laid-back, cowboy-type hero. While he emulates the cowboy, he isn’t all talk and is quite the charmer. IRL we would totally get along (I mean it would be me – clothes, but we’d get along. *nods*)

Yet the ending through me for a bit of a loop…
I can’t really put my finger on it, which totally makes me sound unprepared—though TBH I usually am when it comes to these off-the-cuff reviews.

It’s just that Cia and Lucas kinda just fell in for the long run…and I don’t know. I think the timeline threw me off as well. The story covers about the first 3 months of a 6-month marriage of convenience contract, so I immediately knew there would be time skips. The time skips were marked by social occasions that the “fake” socialite couple would attend to keep up the appearance of wedded bliss, but it felt forced a bit. Like sometimes I realized a time skip happened—fast forward a few weeks or even a month and there would have been a problem that felt unresolved, and I wondered how it kind of continued on for that time without being resolved.

I’m being Super vague, but I don’t want to spoil the story too much for my own hang-ups. Small as they might be, hang ups nevertheless. I say this as a plural because I also didn’t really like the ending and there was a SPOILER! ... right here. --> death

—not the sort you’re thinking either. Trust me. We’re talking romance and HEAs (or HFNs) here, readers. Anyways. There’s that and the ending itself along with the pacing that don’t entirely make this a perfect star read.

But perfection is old news and despite the VERY minuscule problems (IMHO) I wholeheartedly recommend you purchase this book. Kat Cantrell is an author to watch out for…and if at the very least pick up this book in order to read Lucas’ brother, Matthew’s story, Pregnant by Morning. (Because, yes, pregnancy can happen that quick…can it? –runs off to do google search-)

Oh yes, my verdict:

✮✮

(4 stars)

*SYTYCW 2014 contest site AND Harlequin’s SOLD! blog for all your romance writing and reading-related jollies.
:)

Friday 26 September 2014

More reading, less writing, but more plotting. A lot more plotting. (Big Dreams Blog Update #12)


It’s Update Day!
(Check out the other progresses on our Big Dreams/Do You Have a Goal? blog hop as hosted by authors Misha Gericke and Beth Fred!)

These posts sneak up on me on the one hand, on the other I’m always eager to share what I’ve experienced over the course of the last month (or b/w these update day posts).

So what do I have to share?

In the writing sphere absolutely nothing.
By this I mean since finishing Bad-Blooded Billionaire 2.0 (or w/e it was called last) I haven’t started another project. I kinda jumped into school—so the immense reading load I had for my lit. classes and I made the conscious decision to act rationally and focus on school.

TL;DR the plan is to focus on schoolwork and in the meantime go the plotting route. Yes, all you pantsers, I am crossing over to the other side...(ohhh).
The one thing I learned since finishing two MSs this year is that I can write without plotting, but that I probably SHOULD be plotting/outlining to some extent.
So I’m going to plot for now, scratch off my reading list, do the dreaded essays and finals and yeah…who knows? I might even be considering NaNoing this year.

And where my reading is concerned I’ve actually finished the 30-book goal I set at the start of this year, but because I’m so cool—and my TBR pile is starting to be an eyesore—I decided to continue reading.
Why not, right?

That’s why I just posted book review #31. (You should definitely go check it out.)


Ummm.

Yup. As far as Update Days go I predict that the coming Update posts will pretty much be the same as this post: as in very little writing outside plotting and a smattering of book reviews as I lighten the load that is the omnipresent book stack.

Then again you never know, I might actually have something different to share.

In other randomness I suddenly remembered it’s that beautiful leaf-changing (depending on where you live) time of the year!



So how’s that season change coming along for you all? What are you all fall-ing into? School? Work? Books? Writing?

Thursday 25 September 2014

BOOK REVIEW (31): The Truth About De Campo (The Delicious De Campos #3)

BOOK REVIEW:
The Truth About De Campo


Since finishing my 30 book 2014 reading challenge I have awarded three books worthy enough of five stars (or a perfect score), and by perfect I mean “OMAGAHREALLY GREAT BOOKS”.

The Truth About De Campo is one of those reads this year.
The third (and final) story in the Delicious De Campos trilogy by Jennifer Hayward, this one follows the baby of the De Campo brothers, Matteo De Campo (who actually isn’t really a baby, but a full-grown, hunky-ass man in his mid-30s xD).

So yeah Matty finally finds his match. The little playboy who kept poking in and out of the other two stories is tamed by a larger-than-life Quinn Davis. As far as heroines go Quinn is my hands-down favourite of the two other ladies starring in this trilogy.
Which works because Matteo is my favourite of the De Campo guys—win-win!

What I liked about this book kinda matches with what I enjoyed about the second story (Gab/Alex) and what I felt lacked in the first story (Riccardo/Lilly).
There was more substance to this tale, and although the Harlequin Presents/Mills&Book Modern Romance line is the home of over-the-top financial fantasies complete with wealthy alpha males I still felt that Quinn and Matteo’s story wasn’t overwhelmed by all that…fantasy.

Like sometimes it could be too much and Ms. Hayward really avoided that by doing a number of things:
1)      Quinn isn’t useless. She isn’t a damsel-in-distress and she actually has a history and problems and dreams and a LIFE outside of the romance. Matteo doesn’t just come in like a (effin hot) fairy god…father and sex away all her problems.
2)    The internal conflict was totally plausible. I’m not going to ruin it because these category romances are pretty short (think ~50K), but trust me—some great conflict building! Taking away the wealth and the power of this couple, you’d still be left with a story that can be held together by the tantalizing pull-and-push of H/h’s motivation and goals.
3)     Usually I’m wary of the alpha male heroes of this particular category of Harlequin’s romances, and it was a huge problem with Riccardo from the first book. Matteo, unlike his older brother, is not an alpha a-hole. Ms. Hayward pulled off confidence without toeing the fine line into A-holelandia. Matteo knew his stuff, but he also knew how to shut his mouth. His flattery wasn’t cheesy and he wasn’t a sneak. The guy knows what he wants and he knows how to get it (and keep it).

Of course I could sit here on my comp and go Hulk-like on my keyboard gushing praises about Matty, but I’ll let you all read the story and prove me wrong…you know if you can.

And though at this point it seems redundant…
My verdict:

✮✮

(5 stars)