contemporary

Montana Reunion by Soraya Lane

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Montana Reunion
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Genre-contemporary
Trope-marriage of convenience
Reviewed by Kate

When Maddison discovers her fiancee is gay, she takes a break from her busy Los Angeles life and returns home to Montana. She runs across Jack right away. Jack was her childhood best friend whose father has recently died. In order to inherit the farm, Jack must marry within a year, or contest the will…a long and expensive process. Maddie offers a marriage of convenience. Both agree that their marriage is a good idea, but they disagree about children. Maddie wants kids as soon as possible. Jack refuses to have kids because he worries he will be a terrible father like his own dad. So what happens when Maddie ends up pregnant?

I really liked parts of this book. Jack and Maddie genuinely care about each other and their relationship reflects their prior friendship. The whole kids vs. no kids argument got old fast, though. Maddie decides to marry him knowing there won’t be kids, but she continually tries to convince him he would be a great father.

In general, I am a marriage of convenience kind of reader, but this one just didn’t do it for me.

Escorted by Claire Kent

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Escorted
Grade-B-
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-None
Genre-contemporary
Reviewed by Kate

Okay, I admit to being intrigued by the premise right off the bat. You just don’t run across too many male escort romances out there.

Lori, a successful romance author, is still a virgin at 26. She hires Anders, a male escort, to take care of that problem for her. Obviously, or it wouldn’t be a romance, they both fall for each other.

This story is told from Lori’s view point. You only hear Ander’s thoughts if he shares them with Lori. I typically don’t care for this style of narrative, but it worked here. I don’t think I could have liked Ander as much as I did if the story included his other “engagements.” There were two things that bothered me about the story:

1. The title. I kept thinking “oooh, you got escorted” in the same line of “you got served,” and

2. the pen name Lori uses in the story is Claire Kent, the name of the author.
Small things, I know, but that’s just me.

Worth the Scandal by Karen Erickson

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Worth the Scandal (Worth It, #1)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-None
Series-Worth It #1
Genre-contemporary
Reviewed by Kate

When Tessa started as CEO Alex Worth’s assistant, she was instantly attracted to him. When he asks her to accompany him on a ten day business trip in Europe, she knows she will have to work hard to resist temptation. What she doesn’t know is that Alex is attracted to her as well.

The story is pretty formulaic. They spend a few days trying to ignore their attraction to each other, they give in, he fires her when they get back to the office, she ends up pregnant and avoids him for a year, she gives in too easily when he finds her, they live happily ever after.

Because it reminded me a bit of the older Harlequins, I would rename it “The Tycoon’s Ex-Assisstant’s Secret Baby.”