Tag Archives: Friends To Lovers

Holding On (Colorado High Country # 6)

By Pamela Clare

Synopsis

A hero barely holding on…

Harrison Conrad returned to Scarlet Springs from Nepal, the sole survivor of a freak accident on Mt. Everest. Shattered and grieving for his friends, he vows never to climb again and retreats into a bottle of whiskey—until Kenzie Morgan shows up at his door with a tiny puppy asking for his help. He’s the last person in the world she should ask to foster this little furball. He’s barely capable of managing his own life right now, let alone caring for a helpless, adorable, fluffy puppy. But Conrad has always had a thing for Kenzie with her bright smile and sweet curves. One look into her pleading blue eyes, and he can’t say no.

The woman who won’t let him fall…

Kenzie Morgan’s life went to the dogs years ago. A successful search dog trainer and kennel owner, she gets her fill of adventure volunteering for the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team. The only thing missing from her busy life is love. It’s not easy finding Mr. Right in a small mountain town, especially when she’s unwilling to date climbers. She long ago swore never again to fall for a guy who might one day leave her for a rock. When Conrad returns from a climbing trip haunted by the catastrophe that killed his best friend, Kenzie can see he’s hurting and wants to help. She just might have the perfect way to bring him back to the world of the living. But friendship quickly turns into something more—and now she’s risking her heart to heal his.

Review

I don’t know if it was me or the book, but I found HOLDING ON to be just an okay read. I’ve read and enjoyed many books from Pamela Clare, but when I got to the end of this one, I realized that I had not been invested in the story or its main characters.

That being said, I did like the sweet and emotional ending. I also liked Kenzie, who was ballsy and laughed in the face of danger when she was terrified.

HOLDING ON is told in dual POVs and while it is part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone. However, when Meg was updating Harrison about everyone back home, there were a lot of names thrown out and even though I’ve read the previous five books in this series, I felt confused trying to remember who everyone was.

While I didn’t love HOLDING ON, I would gladly read more from this series.

Holding On (Colorado High Country # 6)

My Rating:

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Colorado High Country Series

Hot as Puck (Bad Motherpuckers # 1)

By Lili Valente

Synopsis

The NHL’s biggest bad boy is about to fall for the virgin next door…

I am the world’s biggest dating failure. We’re talking my last date went home with our waitress kind of failure.

But I have an ace in the back pocket of my mom jeans–my sexy-as-sin best friend, NHL superstar forward, Justin Cruise.

Justin owes me favors dating back to seventh grade, long before he became a hotshot with a world famous…stick. So in return for my undying platonic loyalty, all I want is an easy-peasy crash course on how to be a sex goddess.

How hard can it be?

***

I have never been so hard in my life.

The things I want to do to my sweet, kindergarten-teaching, mitten-crocheting best friend Libby Collins are ten different kinds of wrong. Maybe twenty.

But I’m a firm believer in teaching by example, and by the end of our first lesson, we’ve graduated to a hands on approach to her education: my hands all over her, her hands all over me, and her hot mouth melting beneath mine as I prove to her there isn’t a damned thing wrong with the way she kisses.

Give me a month, and I’ll transform Libby from wall flower to wall banger, and ensure she’s confident enough to seduce any guy she wants.

Problem is… the only guy I want her seducing is me.

Review

One of my favorite authors said that HOT AS PUCK was one of the best hockey romances she’s read, so with that glowing endorsement I thought I’d be in for a good and enjoyable read. Sadly, I struggled with this book from beginning to end, unable to get into the characters or their story.

I didn’t feel any connection between Justin and Libby at all, who suddenly go from a decade long friendship, to friends with benefits, to being madly in love in the span of about a week. I couldn’t get over the fact that Justin was suddenly attracted to Libby just because she wore tight and revealing clothing one night, which made him shallow in my opinion. It was the same with Libby, who was suddenly attracted to Justin just because he touched her that same night; something I’m sure he would have done many, many times over the course of their very close friendship.

HOT AS PUCK is listed on Amazon as being a romantic comedy, but I don’t remember finding any part of this story funny or chuckle worthy. Apart from some make out sessions, some sex and some knitting/crocheting, not much else happens in this book. The conflict was a little on the weak side, and while I found the resolution to be somewhat cute, it was also a little cheesy.

HOT AS PUCK is told in dual POVs and comes with a HEA for Justin and Libby. While this story didn’t do much for me, I would give this author another go.

Hot as Puck (Bad Motherpuckers # 1)

My Rating:

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Bad Motherpuckers Series

Brooklynaire (Brooklyn Bruisers # 4)

By Sarina Bowen

Synopsis

You’d think a billion dollars, a professional hockey team and a six-bedroom mansion on the Promenade would satisfy a guy. You’d be wrong.

For seven years Rebecca has brightened my office with her wit and her smile. She manages both my hockey team and my sanity. I don’t know when I started waking in the night, craving her. All I know is that one whiff of her perfume ruins my concentration. And her laugh makes me hard.

When Rebecca gets hurt, I step in to help. It’s what friends do. But what friends don’t do is rip off each others’ clothes for a single, wild night together.

Now she’s avoiding me. She says we’re too different, and it can never happen again. So why can’t we keep our hands off each other?

Review

Like every other Sarina Bowen fan out there, I have been waiting for Nate and Becca’s story since we met them in the very first Brooklyn Bruisers book, ROOKIE MOVE back in September 2016.

Nate and Becca are both very easy characters to like. Becca is sweet, loyal, friendly, fun-loving, outgoing, giving and hardworking. She’s very well respected by everyone in the Bruisers organization, from the players to the office staff. Nate is intelligent and generous, but also a little socially awkward, which is absolutely adorable. Although, I will say he seemed more take-charge and less socially awkward in this book than I remember him being in the previous books.

The sound of her voice occasionally gives him goosebumps. When she laughs, he feels it in his chest.

After trying to ignore their attraction to each other for the past seven years, you will definitely be rooting for them to finally get their happily ever after. But therein also lies some frustration, because a lot of this book involves watching them circle around each other as they try not to cross that line, and then circle around each other again after they do finally cross that line. Which I understand. I really do. Because Nate is Becca’s boss, so not only does she have to deal with a power imbalance, she also has to worry about how her co-workers will see her if she starts sleeping with the boss.

BROOKLYNAIRE is told in dual POVs and while some of the events in this story take place in PIPE DREAMS—the previous book in the series—it can be read as a stand-alone. It also includes flashback chapters that give us glimpses into how Becca came to work for Nate, and how they became friends before he was rich and famous, which I really enjoyed. I especially liked the way those chapters were written, as though the characters were speaking in a slightly medieval tongue. Overall, Nate and Becca’s story is a slow build, friends-to-lovers romance, that is a wonderful addition to the Brooklyn Bruisers series.

Brooklynaire (Brooklyn Bruisers # 4)

My Rating:

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Brooklyn Bruisers Series

Wicked Choice (Wicked Horse Vegas # 4)

By Sawyer Bennett

Synopsis

Rachel Hart and Bodie Wright are nothing more than teammates. As mercenaries for hire with the elite Jameson Group, they have each other’s backs in the most dangerous of circumstances. But after a mission gone deadly wrong, Rachel does something she’s never done before. She crosses the professional line and takes comfort in Bodie’s arms.

One night of passion turns their lives upside down with a pregnancy neither of them expected, and one that Rachel was too terrified to ever want. Bodie, however, is a family man through and through, and he’s determined to raise their child alone if necessary.

The only common thread Rachel and Bodie have is their membership at The Wicked Horse, a sex club that lets them both fulfill their dirtiest fantasies with each other. As they become more intimately entwined, the strong, steady man with a heart of gold makes Rachel question everything she ever thought she knew about herself. Their wicked nights together make them so much more than teammates and Rachel is about to discover the choices she thought were the most difficult are actually the easiest ones to make.

Review

I have to admit, I was a little unsure about how I’d like WICKED CHOICE. A friends-to-lovers romance with an unexpected pregnancy thrown in sounded great. It was the fooling around at a sex club on top of that, that I was unsure about. After finishing the story, I felt the same way. I loved the romance side of this story, but not the club scenes.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. There was one club scene between Bodie and Rachel that I really liked. The scenes I didn’t like were the ones that took place in front of their coworkers. I just couldn’t get my head around believing Rachel’s coworkers—men that she leads and commands—could see her as anything other than a sexual plaything after watching Bodie dominate her right in front of them. On purpose! This was the only part of the entire story that I didn’t like.

I liked Rachel, who is strong and doesn’t take shit from anyone, but I also liked that she could let go with Bodie and really let him in. As weird as it sounds, I enjoyed watching her struggle with her decision not to raise their child because she didn’t want to give up the job she loves. I think I liked it because while she struggled, she was always honest and was never afraid to talk about her feelings.

“I think you would be a fantastic mother. Our child will lose so much without you in its life.”

I liked Bodie, although I had a hard time with his name and kept wanting to call him Brodie instead. I loved that when Rachel told him she was pregnant, he immediately stepped up to the plate and was willing to be their child’s sole parent since Rachel didn’t want to be a mother. He was an all-around great guy, calm in any situation and would put his child before anyone or anything else. In short, he’s a catch.

WICKED CHOICE is told in dual POVs and comes with a sweet HEA for Bodie and Rachel that left me smiling. It’s also the introduction to a spin off series that will launch in early 2019 that is being written by Sawyer and another author. It will focus on the members of the Jameson Group, and I’m hoping through that series we’ll see more of Bodie and Rachel, and we’ll hopefully find out if it’s a boy or a girl.

Wicked Choice (Wicked Horse Vegas # 4)

My Rating:

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Wicked Horse Vegas Series

Time Out

By Jill Shalvis

Synopsis

NHL coach Mark Diego’s plan to spend his offseason volunteering in his hometown goes awry when he learns that not only is he coaching teenage girls, but that the program is coordinated by energetic (and five feet two inches of trouble) coordinator Rainey Saunders, his childhood friend—and the woman he could never stand to see dating any other guy…

When their tempers flare, Mark and Rainey discover their fireworks don’t just burn angry— they burn very, very hot! But that’ll just sweeten the victory. Because Mark always plays to win. And with Rainey, he’s planning on playing very dirty, too…

Review

Sadly, TIME OUT was a DNF for me. I don’t like starting a book and not finishing it, but I found I just couldn’t continue on after chapter seven. I tried to get into it, but I wasn’t feeling the characters, their chemistry or their story. Despite that, I would try reading from this author again.

Time Out

My Rating:

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Close To Heaven (Colorado High Country # 5)

By Pamela Clare

Synopsis

She has nothing…

Rain Minear has fantasized about finding herself in Joe Moffat’s arms for years. It’s just her luck that the night it finally happens, he’s carrying her into the emergency room. It’s Joe who steps up to help her when a tragedy brings her life crashing down. He gives her a place to stay, helps her get back on her feet, and even tries to save her Christmas, though he’s never cared for the holiday. But he’s far too ethical to sleep with a member of his staff, holding her at arms length despite the long-simmering attraction between them.

He has everything…

Haunted by ghosts from the past, Joe Moffat moved to Scarlet Springs to repay a debt. He’s struggled for years to keep his hands off Rain. She’s the general manager of his brewpub, and he is not that kind of boss. But, oh, she turns him on. More than that, she has the biggest heart of any woman he’s ever known. He’d do anything to see her smile again, even put up a Christmas tree and listen to carols, things he normally never does.

A season that changes two lives forever…

When a Rocky Mountain blizzard leaves them snowbound and alone together for days, they can no longer ignore their feelings for one another. As their passion turns to something deeper, it becomes clear to them both that this will be the most important Christmas of their lives.

Review

Luckily, the author didn’t mention in the blurb exactly how long Joe and Rain had secretly been in love with each other, because if she had, I probably wouldn’t have read it. Why? Because I’d just finished reading another book where the main characters were secretly in love with each other for twenty years, and it left me very frustrated. Thankfully, and despite that similarity, CLOSE TO HEAVEN was a nice, easy and enjoyable read.

I liked Joe, who moved to Scarlet Springs two decades ago to try and pay back the town for his great-great-grandfather’s misdeeds. He’s a very wealthy man, but he’s down-to-earth and he doesn’t act like he’s better than everyone else just because of his money. The only thing that bothered me was his main reason for not pursuing Rain. There’s a big difference between using your position of power to take advantage of women in your employ, and taking what is being freely offered by a woman in her thirties.

I liked Rain, who’s been working for Joe since she became a single mother at seventeen. She’s been in love with him since almost the beginning, but she never made a move because she was afraid of being rejected. What I liked most about her is that she truly did not care that Joe was rich, and that she finally got the courage to put herself out there in her attempts to gain Joe’s attention.

An interesting part of the story was the reading Silas’ journals, where we learnt how despicable Joe’s great-great-grandather truly was, as well as the history of the town and its descendants, who still live there to this day. You’ll be surprised by how much hate you’ll feel for a man who’s been dead for a century.

CLOSE TO HOME is told in dual POVs and while it’s part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone. It comes with a beautiful HEA for Joe and Rain, and is a nice addition to the Colorado High Country series.

Close To Heaven (Colorado High Country # 5)

My Rating:

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Colorado High Country Series

Wish You Were Mine

By Tara Sivec

Synopsis

Five years. I would’ve stayed away longer if I hadn’t received the letter. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about her, haven’t missed her smile, haven’t wished that things were different.

The last time I saw my two best friends, I vowed to not stand in the way of their happiness, even if that meant I couldn’t be a part of their lives. Cameron James and her emerald-green eyes were too much of a temptation and I couldn’t stay and watch them together. Cameron deserved better than me. She deserved him.

But now that I am back, things are different. I’m not going to stand by and watch the woman I’ve always loved slip away again. I’m done living my life with regrets and I’m ready to tell her the truth. And I’ll do whatever it takes to show her that I always wished she was mine.

Review

I’m sad to say that I really struggled getting through WISH YOU WERE MINE. I found myself wanting to give it up several times, but I’ve read and liked this author before, so I kept going. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the end, my feelings towards this book did not improve.

WISH YOU WERE MINE is the story of Everett and Cameron, who have been in love with each other for about twenty years, but neither have had the courage to confess their feelings. Their inability to be open and honest with each other takes up the first 75% of the story, which I found very frustrating. What was more frustrating was that when they finally did get together, it did not bring about an end to the drama. In the final 25%, their relationship is endangered two times, which I won’t go into because of spoilers. Ultimately, it was just too much drama for me to take to get to the happy ending.

I also didn’t like that Cameron and her best friend called almost every other woman in this story a skank. Worse, Cameron thought Aiden’s manwhore ways were a part of his charm, yet the women who slept with him were all skanks. It’s a derogatory word that was used too easily and frequently throughout the story, and it’s hard to like a character who speaks about her fellow women that way.

WISH YOU WERE MINE is a friends-to-lovers stand-alone that comes with a HEA for Everett and Cameron. It is told in dual POVs and also includes flashbacks. In fact, the first half of the story is told in a mixture of the past and the present, and this did affect the flow of the story a little bit. However, the flashbacks into the past were informative and showed the times that Everett and Cameron had missed their chance to say something to the other.

Wish You Were Mine

My Rating:

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Wicked Envy (Wicked Horse Vegas # 3)

By Sawyer Bennett

Synopsis

The best of friends.
Two men. One woman.
A sinful playground called The Wicked Horse.

Entrepreneur turned millionaire, Dane Hawthorne, has been known to get his kicks at The Wicked Horse Vegas, and he has no shortage of beautiful women waiting for a shot at him. Driven to succeed, no matter if he’s in the boardroom or the bedroom, Dane never backs down from a challenge.

Avril Carrigan isn’t the type of woman to take risks in her personal life but after a broken heart and too much liquid courage, Avril decides to best way to get over one man, is to get under another. Looking to experience all the debauchery she’s heard about from her best friend and business partner, Dane, she requests one thing of him—take her to The Wicked Horse.

The request seems simple. One friend helping another in her time of need. But now that they’ve crossed the threshold, things aren’t as easy as they once seemed. Not only is Dane looking at Avril in a new light, but so is their other business partner and best friend, Andrew Collings. As Dane’s envy blooms, he wonders if he made the right decision when he agreed to show Avril his wicked world.

What happens when the lines of friendship are blurred and boundaries are crossed? Will their relationships survive or will jealousy tear them all apart?

Review

I’m just going to come right out and say it: I couldn’t really get into WICKED ENVY.

I love a good threesome as much as the next girl, and the sex between Avril, Dane and Andrew was some of the hottest sex I’ve read in a long time. As in it’ll give you tingles and make you want to reach for your husband/boyfriend/B.O.B. hot. That being said, I did find it a little unbelievable that Avril’s first time trying anal was during a DP and that she was able to handle it like a pro.

What I couldn’t get my head around, and what ultimately affected my enjoyment of this story, was the sudden sexual relationship between Avril, Dane and Andrew after seventeen years of friendship. Why? Because in all that time, they’d never really had any sexual thoughts about one another, nor had any of them been secretly in love with one of the others, but one day they all just decide to start sleeping together. All the while promising that it wouldn’t affect their friendship, while at the same time believing that their bond (a word that was overused throughout this book) would be even stronger because of the sex-without-emotions they were now sharing. It was just so out of the blue and I wasn’t feeling it at all.

WICKED ENVY is told in the POV of all three friends and does come with a HEA, though it wasn’t the ending I was expecting. I blame myself for that, because if I’d taken a better look at the cover and synopsis, I would have known in advance how this was going to end. WICKED ENVY is the third book in the Wicked Horse Vegas series, but it can be read as a stand-alone without any problem at all. While I may not have enjoyed this story as much as the others, that’s not going to stop me from reading the next book in the series.

Wicked Envy (Wicked Horse Vegas # 3)

My Rating:

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Wicked Horse Vegas Series

The Cinderella Fantasy (Playing The Princess # 1)

By Sara Jane Stone

Synopsis

A princess who has lost her faith in love . . .

Lucy Linden’s prince charming (a.k.a. her fiancé) disappeared three months before the Big Day. Determined to pick up the pieces, she dives into the world of online dating. But the only men interested in a woman whose day job involves playing Cinderella leave Lucy looking for an exit strategy before the main course. And the man rushing to her rescue isn’t the solution to her problems. Jared is a walking, talking fantasy—if Lucy’s daydreams began and ended in the bedroom. No one would ever mistake South Florida’s bored billionaire bachelor for a long-term prince.

A man willing to risk everything to prove he’s her prince . . .

Jared Mitchell pushes the limits, in the boardroom and in bed. When his best friend and business partner’s little sister sends up red distress flares, he’s thrust into the role of pseudo-big brother. He’s never had a thing for Cinderella. But now he’s fighting his desire to make the princess his—even if he has to risk his empire to deliver her happy-ever-after ending.

Review

I picked up THE CINDERELLA FANTASY because I was after a quick and lighthearted read, and that’s exactly what I got. I liked it enough, but after I finish this review, I will probably never think about it again.

My biggest dislikes were the excessive number of fairytale/fireworks/magic references made throughout the story, and that the ending comes up on you really fast.

My biggest likes were that Jared was upfront with Lucy’s brother about his feelings for her, and her brother was supportive of their relationship. Usually these relationships are kept hidden from the brother and it never ends well, so it was refreshing to see it play out this way and that everyone could be a grown up about it.

THE CINDERELLA FANTASY is told in dual POVs and comes with a happy ending for Jared and Lucy. It appears to be the beginning of a new series, one that sounds like it will follow Lucy and her two princess-playing best friends as they find love. If you like sibling’s-best-friend romances and novellas, THE CINDERELLA FANTASY will be right up your alley.

The Cinderella Fantasy (Playing The Princess # 1)

My Rating:

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Nineteen Letters

By Jodi Perry

Synopsis

What would you do if the love of your life had no memory of you?

The 19th of January, 1996 … I’ll never forget it. It was the day we met. I was seven and she was six. It was the day she moved in next door, and the same day I developed my first crush on a girl.

Then tragedy struck. Nineteen days after our wedding day, she was in an accident that would change our lives forever. When she woke from her coma, she had no memory of me, of us, of the love we shared.

That’s when I started writing her letters.The stories of our life. Of when we met. About the happier times, and everything we’d experienced together.

What we had was far too beautiful to be forgotten.

Review

NINETEEN LETTERS is a beautiful story about learning to live and love again after everything that makes you “you” has been lost.

I may have lost my past, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a wonderful future. I have the power to not only reinvent myself, but to write my own ending.

I loved Braxton, who could very well be the sweetest book husband I’ve ever read. He was kind and patient, and he did a great job of getting Jemma to fall in love with him again. His letters and gifts to her were beautiful and sweet, and I loved being able to see their entire relationship through his eyes, from the first day they met as children until the day of the accident.

When the accident happened, I worried she would never wake up, and I would lose her. Not once did I contemplate the possibility that she would wake up and I would lose her anyway.

NINETEEN LETTERS is a stand-alone told in dual POVs and comes with a nice HEA for Braxton and Jemma.