Kate

Game of Hearts by Kate Donovan

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Game of Hearts (Happily Ever After Company, #1)
Grade-C+
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-None
Series-Happily Ever After Company #1
Genre-historical, mail order bride
Reviewed by Kate

Megan and Suzannah have been best friends since they were little girls. They promised each other that they would get married at the same time and live close enough to each other that their children would be able to play together.

They consult a matchmaker to arrange marriages for them. When they are unable to find two acceptable husbands that live close enough together, they decide Megan will accept a contract with Dennis Riordan. Suzannah will accompany Megan on her journey and then pick a husband at that point. I can’t see anything going wrong, can you?

While on their journey, Megan meets and falls in love with Ben, but she feels unable to marry him due to her marriage contract. Ben follows them to their destination and is there when the girls discover that Dennis is really Aengus Yates.

Suzannah has been in love with Aengus Yates since she was a little girl. But he has broken her heart twice already. Once when, at age 11, she asked him to wait for her to be old enough to marry, but her married someone else instead. The second time, when he left his wife and two young sons and never came back.

Aengus can’t marry Megan, despite their contract, once he sees how much she loves Ben. But can Suzannah marry Aengus after he has already broken her heart?

I think you can tell that the story is a bit involved. Definitely much easier to read than it is to summarize. What I’ve written about above is just the first half of the book. The scond half follows Suzannah as she adjusts to marriage and tries to help Aengus mend the broken relationship with his sons.

While I enjoyed the story, I don’t think I’ll be buying the other books in the series.

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.”

Just Ask by Mia Downing

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
Just Ask
Grade-B-
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-Low, some very mild D/s
Genre: m/m, contemporary
Reviewed by Kate
When tycoon Jordan Hill inherits half of an island resort, he wants nothing more than to sell it quickly. But first, he has to spread his uncle’s ashes and meet the other owner, Ryan McCale (you see where this is heading, don’t you?). His uncle wanted him to take a vacation and relax, but Jordan doesn’t do vacations or relaxing.

Jordan takes a horseback tour of the island looking for a places to spread the ashes, but finds himself looking at the male tour guide instead. Which is weird since he’s straight, right? When the guide turns out to be Ryan, Jordan knows they will be spending more time together.

Jordan gets the impression that Ryan might be interested in him and decides to throw caution to the wind. A weekend of sex sounds good to both Jordan and Ryan. Not wanting him to sell the resort, Ryan decides to use the lure of sex to force Jordan explore and really see the island as more than just a business. Both are surprised by their feelings in what was supposed to be a what-happens-on-the-island-stays-on-the-island weekend.

I liked the connection between Ryan, who is very secure in his sexuality, and Jordan, who is exploring this new side of himself. What pulled me out of the story a bit was the suddeness of their affair. One minute Jordan is wondering why he’s turned on by Ryan and the next minute they are romping naked in the ocean. There was no hesitation or second guessing on Jordan’s part. He jumped in with both feet, which seemed a bit unbelievable. Once I got past the suddeness I enjoyed the story.