contemporary

Most Likely to Succeed by Katie Davies

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Most Likely to Succeed (Girls Most Likely to..., #1)
Grade: C
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Novella
Series: Girl Most Likely to… #1
Reviewed by: Anne

 
Kelsey and Nathan were lab partners back in high school.  Despite having feelings for each other, they never acted on them and lost touch once college rolled around.  Because of this, Nathan doesn’t know that Kelsey didn’t end up going to college.  Instead, when her mother fell ill, she helped out in her mother’s flower shop and ended up staying there.  Now it’s class reunion time and Kelsey is ashamed to have her brilliant lab partner discover what she’s been doing.
 
Thankfully (for me, hater of BIG SECRETS) this big secret isn’t a secret for long.  That was a point in the story’s favor.  Unfortunately, it really took a while for this one to be enjoyable for me.  The first half of my copy of the novella is full of bookmarks with comments from me like:
“Wow, that’s an odd thing to do after years apart.”
“Hero seems to be a saint with no flaws.”
“Answers the door in a towel.  Really?”
“Awfully touchy with a stranger.”
“Whatever.”
The book also has one of my personal pet peeves… sex on top of the hotel comforter.  I just don’t trust that that those are washed every time!  PLEASE, fold back the comforter and have sex on the sheets!
 
Once I got past the midpoint of the book (and ignored the comforter sex) the story really grew on me.  Nathan is pretty perfect, but he makes some very real mistakes with Kelsey and things get kind of messy.  That was believable to me and I enjoyed seeing the two of them work through it.  By the end of the novella, I wanted it to be longer.  I wanted to see more of Kelsey’s transformation.
 
Interestingly, it looks like the books in this series (I’m going to guess there will be 3) are all taking place during the same 4 days of the high school reunion.  There were enough teasers to really make me want to read the second book, Cutest Couple, which comes out in April.  So, my overall grade is a C, but it’s a hopeful C.

Come Away With Me by Kristen Proby

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Come Away With Me (With Me in Seattle, #1)
Grade-C+
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-None
Series-With Me In Seattle #1
Reviewed by Kay

Luke Williams is a former actor turned producer who just wants to live his life without the paparazzi hounding his every move. He left Hollywood and moved to the Seattle area, near his parents. He keeps to himself pretty much and enjoys that.

Natalie Connor is a photographer who takes pictures of nature for the most part. She does do couple photos that can be considered erotic. She lives with her roommate, Jules. She is contented in her life as well.

These two characters meet when Luke assumes Natalie is trying to take his picture. Natalie thinks Luke is trying to mug her. They part ways and run into each other the next day at a local shop and from there, a romance is born.

I liked the story but felt it dragged in the middle. Luke was all in and that’s always a sexy quality in a hero. Natalie was a good heroine too. She had made mistakes in her past and had tried to move on from them. It was predictable but I was very okay with that. I loved that, at their wedding, Luke had two chairs decorated with her deceased parents’ favorite flowers in their honor. My eyes got very teary at that scene.

I will probably read more of this series but I wish there had been a little less sex. I know, I know, I can hardly believe I said that either. This book had copious amounts of sex in it. It was hot but gratuitous. Oh, and I LOVE the cover. Very sexy!

Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl by Gina Lamm

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl (Geek Girls, #1)
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, time travel
Series: Geek Girl #1
Reviewed by Kate

When Jamie, a video game junkie and self-proclaimed geek, touches an antique bureau, she is transported to 1816 and lands in the bed chamber of Lord Micah of Axelby, Earl of Dunnington. The bureau (unbeknownst to Micah) had been enchanted to bring Micah’s one true love to him. Jamie is quickly taken under the wing of the housekeeper Mrs. Knightsbridge, who knew about the enchantment and helps teach Jamie how a proper lady should act in 1816. Micah quickly believes Jamie’s story of being from the future after she shows him her smart phone. (After all, who can argue with Angry Birds?) But, can modern girl Jamie really fit in back in Micah’s time?

I found Geek Girl filled with lots of snort and snicker moments. I appreciated that the not-so-nice parts of living in 1816 (chamber pots, no tooth brushes, etc.) were not glossed over as they were in some other time travel romances I’ve read. By the time I finish reading a book, it is typically filled with tons of highlights and notes. Geek Girl sucked me in quickly and kept me so into the story that when I finished I only had 2 notes written. My only complaint is that the ending wasn’t the ending I was expecting. Yes, it is a HEA ending, just not what I was expecting (and that’s more of a reflection on me than on the book).