Category: Romance Books

Title: Erik
Author: Sawyer Bennett
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Romance
Where I got it: Public Library

Goodreads Summary

I’m having the time of my life with my new brothers on the Arizona Vengeance. We may be an expansion team, but after notching some big wins, the entire league knows to watch out for Erik Dahlbeck. That’s me.

The only person who doesn’t seem to think I’m so great? Blue Gardner, the hot-as-f*** flight attendant on our team plane. I sure wouldn’t mind joining the mile-high club with her, but besides bringing me lukewarm coffee, she won’t give me the time of day. Whatever I did to rub Blue the wrong way, my teammates think it’s hilarious. After all, we’re used to women flocking to us. #puckbunnies

When I run into Blue back on land, I’m shocked to learn how she spends her time off: taking care of her handicapped brother. There are layers to this girl I never imagined, layers I can’t wait to peel away. And that’s a new feeling for me.

But first I’ve got to find a way to melt that ice-cold stare. Because as much as I try to pretend I don’t care what Blue thinks of me, how can you not care when you’re falling for someone?

Review

I LOVE hockey romances. Book two in Sawyer Bennett’s new Arizona Vengeance series picks up right where book one ends off. 

Erik Dahlbeck is a defender on the Vengeance. He has a crush on Blue Gardner, one of the team flight attendants (on the team private plane), but Blue won’t give him the time of day. Once he finds out why, he’s pretty bummed, but it has a good, positive influence on Erik.

Blue is taking care of a handicapped brother. He’s all she has and she feels very protective of him. Her brother, Billy, lives in a home, but she goes to visit him all the time. Once Blue finally forgives Erik and they form a friendship, part of that is Billy, and I have to say, Erik is great with him. I loved this aspect of the story.

I love the Vengeance guys. There is a lot of build up to Legend’s story, which is next and it’s going to be good!!!

Overall, this was a good story and I would recommend.

Title: Game On
Author: Kelly Jamieson
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Romance
Where I got it: Public Library

Goodreads Summary

Cam Brickley and his pro hockey teammates bet on everything: who can win five faceoffs in a row, who can do forty pushups in less than a minute, who can eat a ghost pepper without puking. But when his buddies bet him he can’t date the same woman—like, say, the hot blonde over at the bar—for two months and not fall in love, he’ll take that bet all day. Then he’ll laugh all the way to the hockey arena, where they’ll be washing his jock straps for the rest of the season, because Cam’s never giving up his bachelor lifestyle.

Olivia Lockwood, heiress to the Lockwood Industries fortune, is used to people using her for her money and family connections. When Cam Brickley hits on her in a club, Olivia’s first instinct is to brush him off. But he couldn’t be using her for her money, since he has more than enough of his own. Cam’s gorgeous and built, and it would be no hardship to go out with him . . . besides, he’d be the perfect spokesperson for the children’s charity she works with. Maybe it’s time for her to start using people.

Cam and Olivia are both in it for something. What they don’t know yet is that they’re playing for keeps.

Review

I LOVE hockey romances. I’m not sure why; oh, yeah, because I LOVE hockey. Add to that this book took place in Chicago (my town) and added a lot of actual Chicago history and landmarks, and I’m sold!

Cam Brickley is a hockey player on the Chicago Aces. Olivia Lockwood is an heiress to Lockwood Industries, but branched out from the family business and started a not-for-profit to help kids get moving. When Cam hits on Olivia after making a bet with his friends that he could date someone for two months without falling in love, Olivia decides to see if she can get Cam to be the celebrity spokesman for her charity.

Their relationship started off rocky. I won’t give a bunch away, because this book has some really funny moments between Cam and Olivia.

Olivia has some lingering self-doubt from her childhood, but feeling she could never measure up to her siblings, and Cam’s most serious relationship ended very badly. Watching them fall in love was sweet. It was obvious they were in love to us, even when it wasn’t to them.

Hopefully this isn’t the last of the Aces. I’ve enjoyed those I’ve read. And I would recommend this one.

Title: Real Deal
Author: Piper Rayne
Rating: 5 stars
Genre: Romance
Where I got it: Kindle freebie

Goodreads Summary

Red Flags…

Too loud.
Too clingy.
Too much make-up. 

I could go on and on. The other guys in the Single Dad’s Club would say I’m obsessed with finding them. But none of their kid’s mothers call a maximum-security prison home either, so their opinions mean shit.

Caterina Santora has her own list of red flags…

She’s too young.
She’s my client’s daughter.
She’s my five-year old’s camp counselor.

Even after repeating this mantra to myself every morning on the way to Lily’s summer camp, guess what happens the moment I see Cat? Yeah, that mantra turns into ride me, doggie style and reverse cowgirl. 

Every. Damn. Time.

The fact that she doesn’t remember me from six years before grates on me until I don’t have it in me to leave her alone any longer. I have to have her. But our lives are opposites in every way. In no way compatible.

When we’re together all the complications fade away and I have to keep reminding myself, even if I can have her— I can’t keep her. 

Review

I found this as a Kindle Freebie and I am SO glad I gave it a try because I absolutely LOVED this story.

Marcus is a single dad to five-year old Lily. He signs her up for summer camp and runs into Caterina Santora, a woman who hit on him when she was 18 and he turned down in a rather cruel manner. He’s found that Cat is all grown up and quite beautiful. But his daughter comes first.

Cat comes from money, but she’s an artist, and determined to make it on her own. She signs up at the camp as a way to get kids interested in art. She is Lily’s counselor, and of course, she remembers Marcus, but pretends that she doesn’t.

The sexual tension between the two is palpable. Once they get together, it’s explosive. Marcus’s friends, Garrett and Dane, are the next two books and man, do I wish they were on Kindle Unlimited. I really want to read them! If anyone has them and will let me borrow, thanks in advance:)

Anyway, I loved this book. I loved the characters and the flow of the story. Highly recommend.

Title: Accidental Romeo
Author: Nicole Snow
Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Romance
Where I got it: Kindle Unlimited

Goodreads Summary

A perfect stranger just kissed away the worst day of my life.
Emphasis on perfect.
Hunter Forsythe is so far out of my league I can’t even buy tickets.
And now he’s insta-date to my stuck up sister’s wedding?!

Brace for everything to go hilariously wrong.
But my mysterious new hero is no flipping joke.
Rich as sin. Knockout eyes. A snarlypants single dad. Muscle, muscle everywhere.
Too good for the quiet baker girl no one ever noticed.

Then I find out what – and who – put him up to this insanity.
I’m so mad I could spit nails.
Imagine my surprise when Romeo keeps coming.
Hear my door slamming in his face.
Witness my jaw hanging when he starts wooing me for real.

Dream dates, family dinners, and soul-branding nights.
I’m in full Juliet mode before I see the crack in his world.
The longing. The loss. The secrets. The danger.
Does love even fit in Hunter’s jagged heart?
Or is a Shakespearean tragedy in our stars?

Review

Title: Hotshot Doc
Author: R.S. Grey
Rating: 5 stars
Genre: Romance
Where I got it: Kindle Unlimited

Goodreads Summary

Dr. Russell has a bad reputation around our hospital. The scrub techs say he’s cold-blooded, the nurses say he’s too cocky for his own good, and the residents say he’s the best surgeon in the world—really, just a swell guy!—on the off chance he’s within earshot.

I try to avoid him and his temper at all costs. It’s just as easy to admire his sexy, grip-it-while-he’s ravishing-you hair and chiseled jaw from a healthy distance, preferably from the other end of the hallway half-hidden behind a plant.

Unfortunately, my plan crumbles when my trusty ol’ boss decides to swap his white coat for a Hawaiian shirt. His retirement leaves me with two terrible options: switch specialties and spend months retraining, or take an open position as Dr. Russell’s surgical assistant.

That means I have to stand near him in the OR for hours on end and anticipate his every need without letting his biting words and bad attitude intimidate me. Oh, and as if that’s not difficult enough, my silly crush on him—the one I’ve tried to stomp on until it disappears—might just be reciprocated.

It’s fine.
I’m fine.

I take my job seriously. There will be no smoldering bedroom eyes across the operating table, no angry almost-kisses in the storage closet. (Well, no more of those.)

What’s the phrase? An apple a day keeps the doctor away?
Maybe I should go for a whole damn bushel.

Review

This has been sitting on my kindle since the day it came out and now I’m wondering why…..because this book was great!

Bailey is basically a single mom to her teenage sister, working as a surgical assistant. The doctor she has been working with retires, and she needs a new doctor. Dr. Matt Russell needs an assistant, but has an awful reputation. Despite her gut telling her not to, Bailey takes the job.

Matt is pretty much a giant ass for the first half of this book. We don’t really know why he is the way he is (a workaholic married to his job). He’s the antithesis of Bailey. She’s light and hope and happiness – he’s dark, moody and rude.

The characters in this book are really great. Bailey is a great heroine. She has put herself on the back burner for years, but it hasn’t charged who she is. She is raising her sister the best she can. Her sister, Josie, is hysterical. She is wise beyond her years.

Matt, while an ass at first, is a really good guy. His main goal is to help kids – he’s a pediatric spinal surgeon. How can you not like that? And he was so sweet to Josie once he got over himself.

This book was really great, and I highly recommend it.

Title: Until Nox
Author: Layla Frost
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Romance
Where I got it: Kindle Unlimited

Goodreads Summary

Not all heroes are good guys.

With a body count on his soul and blood on his hands, Killian Nox lived in the gray. Ruthlessly single-minded, if he wanted something, it was his. And when it came to the gorgeous lass with a fiery attitude, he didn’t just want her.

He needed her.

With southern-bred manners and a snark all her own, Augusta ‘Gus’ Allan was a connoisseur of cheap wine, delicious Mexican food, and good TV. Unfortunately, her taste in men wasn’t as well-developed. When her knight in shining armor turned out to be a douche in tinfoil, Gus never expected her real hero to be a sexy-accented, tattooed beast of a man.

But he was exactly who she needed.

Gus had no clue how comforting a monster in the dark could be…

Until Nox.

Review

I am loving this Kindle Alpha World, where I get to see the Mayson’s all the time (despite the weird time line where July is a baby).

Gus is about to move in (temporarily) with her boyfriend when she discovers he’s cheating. The neighbor across the hall hears all of this commotion and asks Gus to move  in to help take care of his dog, Nolan, because he’s going on a business trip for 3 weeks. Having no other options, Gus moves in to help Killian out.

Gus has relocated to Boston from school. She gets a call that her Meema has had a stroke. Killian pays for her to fly back to Tennessee – to see her Meema. And guess who her neighbors are? The Mayson’s!!!

In the meantime, Gus and Killian are developing a relationship over the phone and through text, though Killian knew the minute he saw Gus that he wanted her. Gus doesn’t really know what Killian does – and she’s surprisingly cool with it.

This was a quick read but I loved the characters, especially Meema. I would recommend all these Kindle Alpha books.