Tag Archives: Contemporary

Contemporary books are ones where the events take place at or near the time the book was written.

Review: Her Naughty Holiday

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Review: Her Naughty HolidayHer Naughty Holiday (Men at Work, #2) by Tiffany Reisz
Series: Men at Work #2
Published by Harlequin Blaze on October 18, 2016
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 224
Goodreads
four-half-stars

FINAL DECISION: I loved this book. Clover and Erick are so incredibly sweet together, and yet, at the same time, the book is really hot. The story merges really hot with small-town sweet so well.

THE STORY: Clover Greene is tired of her family haranguing her about her lack of a romantic partner. This year she is hosting Thanksgiving and needs a fake boyfriend to attend with her. Her teenage assistant suggests her own father, Erick Fields. There is something between Clover and Erick, although neither has acted on it. Suddenly there is much more than a charade for the benefit of Clover’s family. Erick agrees to play the role but is certain that everything between them should not be pretend.

OPINION: This book took a completely different path than I expected. There is something wonderful between Clover and Erick from the first moments they are on the page together.

This story had real depth and complexity that I didn’t expect. Clover is a woman who owns her own successful business, and while she has family problems, Erick respects her, and the two talk. The adultness of the romance here was so special as I enjoyed the two getting to know one another.

I expected more gimmicks in this story, but it felt like a book that takes the trope and makes it more real rather than bananas. This is a small-town book but updated with really hot moments between Clover and Erick. At the same time, Clover finds out things about herself in the relationship, especially that she can

There is also quite a bit of humor in this book as Clover and Erick have witty conversations and funny moments together.

WORTH MENTIONING: This is a category romance, and thus, it is shorter and much more direct than a long-form romance. Sometimes a book like this is exactly what I need. I can finish it in a few hours and the story has a great pace that keeps the pages turning.

CONNECTED BOOKS: HER NAUGHTY HOLIDAY is the second book in the Men at Work series. This book is only slightly connected with the first book in the series, as the couple there is mentioned here. This book can be read independently of that book.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4.5 stars.

four-half-stars

Review: Her Halloween Treat

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Review: Her Halloween TreatHer Halloween Treat (Men at Work, #1) by Tiffany Reisz
Series: Men at Work #1
Published by Harlequin Blaze on September 20, 2016
Genres: Contemporary
Goodreads
four-stars

FINAL DECISION: Sexy and very hot, the romance here is really sweet, which makes an interesting contrast and definitely not what I was expecting. Very enjoyable and easy to read. I finished it quickly in a couple of hours.

THE STORY: Joey Silvia is back in Oregon after discovering that her boyfriend of two years was actually married. Joey is heartbroken and angry, and her best friend tells her to find a guy for fun to forget about the cheater. When Joey gets to her family’s cabin, she discovers Chris Steffensen at work. Chris and Joey went to high school together, and her brother’s best friend is now an incredibly hot handyman. Joey decides that the boy who gave her her first kiss is a great way to get over a broken heart. But Chris has had feelings for Joey for years and wants to be more than the rebound guy.

OPINION: This book begins with a bang in both ways. The story has great energy. What I really enjoyed about the book is how what is a sweet relationship between these two is punctuated by hot, hot scenes. The story of two people who knew one another in high school meeting again after ten years and having a hot “temporary” relationship just worked here.

The conflict here is best expressed by Joey’s brother, who gives her the advice that the good guys should not be used for rebound relationships but kept for relationships that matter. Ultimately, Chris and Joey are just so perfect together that it messes with what Joey feels she needs after her messy breakup.

I really enjoyed this book. It isn’t as deep or complex as a long romance, but this book is a great category romance. Fun and engaging, with great characters and a conflict that is resolved at the end.

WORTH MENTIONING: This is a category romance, so it is on the shorter side, and everything happens quickly.

CONNECTED BOOKS: HER HALLOWEEN TREAT is the first book in the Men at Work trilogy.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

four-stars

Review: Hana Khan Carries On

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Review: Hana Khan Carries OnHana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin
Published by Berkley on April 13, 2021
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 348
Goodreads
four-stars

FINAL DECISION: I almost DNF’d this book at about 55% because the book seemed more interested in Hana’s family restaurant, her radio career, her visiting relatives, and just about everything except the romance. I continued reading, and it got somewhat better, but too much about her and not enough romance for me. The final quarter of the book was great the characters and story came together well. I might try it again with my expectations in check.

THE STORY: Hana Khan is balancing a lot is things. Her family restaurant is on a decline just as a new competitor is opening in the neighborhood. She has an anonymous podcast about her life and an online friendship/relationship with a follower. She is trying to establish a career in radio broadcasting but worries about the compromises she may be making. And the owner of that new restaurant is a man that she can’t seem to forget.

OPINION: I liked a lot about this book, but I expected a romance and got women’s fiction instead. Perhaps my mistake, but the book’s blurb emphasizes the romance, which is not true in the book itself. Enough about that.

I thought the book depicts well Hana’s life and community. I enjoyed learning about her as a character,  and I thought she and the other characters had integrity and real identity in the story.

Because I wasn’t interested in Hana so much as the romance, I almost gave up on this book about 50 percent in. The romantic interest is introduced by then, but they have almost no page time. The last third of the book is much more focused on the romance which I really enjoyed, but there was too much other stuff to get through to enjoy that part. The final 25 percent of the book was really good. The plot and the characters fell together so well. I wish the setup had been better, but I really enjoyed that final piece. Indeed, I was prepared to give the book three stars (others might enjoy it much more) but pushed it up once the final acts of the book were done.

Hana and Aydin’s relationship was really enjoyable in the last half of the book, as they are the focus, and I loved how respectful they are to one another, how Aydin listens to Hana and how things are resolved between them.

I remain ambivalent about his book. I might try this book again after understanding the balance between Hana’s journey and the romance. The ending was so good that I might like it better next time.

WORTH MENTIONING: For readers who are interested in Hana’s journey rather than romance, this book is well-written and explores many contemporary issues of race, religion, immigration, gender, and a woman establishing herself.

CONNECTED BOOKS: HANA KHAN CARRIES ON is a standalone.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

four-stars

Review: Just What I Needed

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Review: Just What I NeededJust What I Needed (Stage Dive, #4.9) by Kylie Scott
Published by 1001 Dark Nights Press on 2022
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 88
Goodreads
three-stars

FINAL DECISION: This story was okay. I liked Jude and Dean, but there really wasn’t any content to their relationship. I liked seeing the characters from the series, but I didn’t really get any sense of what brought Dean and Jude together other than attraction.

THE STORY: Jude is the nanny for David Ferris and his wife. When music producer Dean Jennings arrives to work with the band, Jude senses something between them. The Stage Dive women decide to help her catch Dean.

OPINION: I really wanted to love this novella, but I only liked it — and that was mostly from seeing my favorite characters from the series rather than the romance here. I liked both Jude and Dean, but there really isn’t much to their relationship. Perhaps they are both too nice.

The story nicely gives Dean his happy ending after being cast off in LEAD. I wanted to know more about him, but what I learned didn’t really go to his personality. Instead, I still wondered about what attracted him to his ex and what was the nature of their relationship.

I think this story needed more time because the two main characters are too nice on the surface. Perhaps learning more about what makes them who they are and what conflicts could arise in their relationship.

The story feels really abbreviated, but what is here is a nice little story.

WORTH MENTIONING: I loved seeing the Stage Dive group. The best part of these novellas is seeing them as the people around them get together.

CONNECTED BOOKS: JUST WHAT I NEEDED is book 4.9 in the Stage Dive series. This book can be read as a standalone, although there are a lot of characters from the series that you might need to know more about to enjoy here. The hero and heroine from this book have appeared in other books in the series, but you find out everything you need to know about there here.

STAR RATING: I give this book 3 stars.

three-stars

Review: The Rhythm Method

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Review: The Rhythm MethodThe Rhythm Method (Stage Dive, #4.8) by Kylie Scott
Series: Stage Dive #4.8
Published by 1001 Dark Nights Press on November 9, 2021
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 82
Goodreads
four-stars

FINAL DECISION: Very enjoyable story. It is really an epilogue to David and Evelyn’s story, and I really loved how the two of them approached their conflict and worked it out. The presence of the other band members made this a comforting story.

THE STORY:  David and Evelyn have been happily married for seven years. They have been a stabilizing force as the first couple in the Stage Dive band. When an unexpected pregnancy occurs, everything seems to be turned upside down. Now Evelyn and David need to redefine their relationship and build a family together.

OPINION: I don’t want to spoil the story, but in short, an unexpected pregnancy causes problems for Evelyn and David’s marriage. I thought that this was a great little story with such an adult resolution to the conflict. There is some romance and some sexy time, and I enjoyed seeing David and Ev’s relationship change and grow. The premise of the story is a little crazy, but I totally was willing to just go with it.

WORTH MENTIONING: This book ends with a suggestion about the next short novella in the series.

CONNECTED BOOKS: THE RHYTHM METHOD is book 4.8 of the Stage Dive series. This book should be read at least after LICK, as it is a type of epilogue to that couple’s book. I think this book is better for fans of the series because knowledge of all the personalities of the characters and their backstories is assumed.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

four-stars

Review: Love Song

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Review: Love SongLove Song (Stage Dive, #4.7) by Kylie Scott
Series: Stage Dive 4.7
Published by Dark Nights on October 20, 2020
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 79
Goodreads
three-half-stars

FINAL DECISION: Enjoyable story, but it lacks the depth of other books in the series because we don’t get a real reason why these two broke up and now can be together.

THE STORY: Adam Dillon is the new hot rock star who has been singing rage songs about his ex. Then his ex, Jill, comes back into his life, intending to give him a piece of her mind and return the large check he sent her. The two discover that perhaps they never got over one another and more love was involved in their relationship than they thought.

OPINION: The story was nice, but if this weren’t a Stage Dive story with appearances from characters from the series, I probably would forget it as soon as I read it. Adam and Jill are sweet together, but for a couple that broke up, there wasn’t enough drama or working through their issues for me to believe that they had a great happy ending in store. That being said, I really liked Adam and Jill. It seemed like the two just didn’t communicate with one another or share their feelings until things fell apart. I liked the characters and thought that they seemed young and working things out. The book suffered from the length. I needed more from their story. With the addition of the Stage Dive crew, however, I really enjoyed the story.

WORTH MENTIONING: Loved seeing the Stage Dive band and their wives!

CONNECTED BOOKS: LOVE SONG is book 4.7 in the Stage Dive series. Characters from the series make appearances here, but the couple is new so a new reader won’t miss anything.

STAR RATING: I give this book 3.5 stars.

three-half-stars

Review: Tangled Lies

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Review: Tangled LiesTangled Lies by Anne Stuart
Published by Harlequin Books Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 255
Goodreads
three-stars

FINAL DECISION: I enjoyed this book as an early Anne Stuart hero. I understand that some people might be offended by the heroine having feelings for her “brother” but as it was obvious that he wasn’t, I wasn’t bothered. I like the ambiguity of whether the hero is good or bad. The negative is that the heroine is not as well developed as later Stuart books.

THE STORY: Rachel Chandler comes to Hawaii to find her brother she hasn’t seen for fifteen years. Her brother, however, is a haunted man to whom Rachel feels an unnatural attraction. (Of course, the man is not her brother, which one might expect from this being a mainstream romance). Dangerous events threaten Rachel, and she needs to figure out who to trust.

OPINION: This is Stuart experimenting with another hero who has ambiguous motivations. She perfected this in the Ice series, but here the story is not as well developed, and neither are the characters. At the time this book was published in 1984, it would have been so different from other category romances. Stuart is an author who broke boundaries, and this book is attempted to go into the darker parts of romance.

Many of the taboo books now are from the Anne Stuart tree of writers. But here, she is interested in messing with the expected narrative of category romances. For much of the book, neither the heroine nor the reader knows the hero’s motives and who he is in the story. In subverting the trustworthiness of the hero, the book allows the reader to question whether it is a good idea for the heroine to get involved with him.

I liked how Stuart upends the expected story, but I didn’t think the heroine was strong enough here. She was a bit meek for my interest. Later Stuart books had stronger heroines. This book can have benefitted from Rachel being more assertive earlier in the story. The book is a bit bonkers, but I liked the twists in the story.

WORTH MENTIONING: TANGLED LIES is one of Anne Stuart’s early books. She perfected the hero who has ambiguous motives and might be the villain as sh

CONNECTED BOOKS: TANGLED LIES is a standalone.

STAR RATING: I give this book 3 stars.

three-stars

Review: More Than Desire You

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Review: More Than Desire YouMore Than Desire You (Reed Family Reckoning, #8) by Shayla Black
Series: Reed Family Reckoning #8
on November 1, 2022
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 322
Goodreads
three-half-stars

FINAL DECISION: I enjoyed this book, but my interest in this series is beginning to wane a bit. I’m hoping that we will move on soon to a new group of people. I didn’t feel that the story between these two was as deep as others in the series.

THE STORY: Xavian Costa has decided to get revenge on his best friend who slept with the woman Xavian planned to marry and then made a movie that painted Xavian as the villain. The form of Xavian’s revenge is his ex-best friend’s sister, Corinne, who has come to Xavian for help manipulating her brother to get her inheritance. Xavian proposes that the two of them fake an engagement — but Xavian also plans on using Corinne for his own pleasure. When Xavian just begins realizing that something between the two of them might be real, his plans completely unravel.

OPINION: This book is really hot, but I wanted a bit more of the relationship development. Corinne wasn’t as interesting a character to match Xavian. I would have liked him to have a real contrast. There was something about the relationship that never seemed to be grounded in the couple. I would have liked to have more conflict between them. At the same time, the book fits well in the series. Xavian wasn’t as much of a jerk as I had expected because he falls pretty fast for Corinne…perhaps that is what feels a little off. Xavian is so quickly falling for Corinne that the stakes of the story never feel that high.

WORTH MENTIONING: The epilogue of this book introduces readers to one of the new main characters in the next book.

CONNECTED BOOKS: MORE THAN DESIRE YOU is the eighth book in the More Than Words/Reed Family Reckoning Series. The romance here is self-contained and can be read as a standalone, although there are relationships between the characters (apart from the main characters) that have developed over the series.

STAR RATING: I give this book 3.5 stars.

three-half-stars

Review: You Had Me at Hola

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Review: You Had Me at HolaYou Had Me at Hola (Primas of Power, #1) by Alexis Daria
Series: Primas of Power #1
Published by Avon on August 4, 2020
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 387
Goodreads
three-stars

FINAL DECISION: Sweet but average romance. Didn’t live up to the hype, but certainly an okay read. I enjoyed the telenovela setting, which felt fun and flirty, but the hero was a mess.

THE STORY: Jasmine Lin Rodriguez is starting the most important role of her career as the star of a bilingual romantic comedy. After a messy public breakup, Jasmine is determined to lay low until she meets her co-star, Ashton Suárez. After being dumped from his most recent telenovela, Ashton worries that he is past the prime of his career and hopes that this role will give him a chance to increase his visibility in Hollywood. Both Jasmine and Ashton have a lot of gain in this performance, so creating chemistry on screen is vital. But as the two work to improve their performance, they find out that everything between them is not acting.

OPINION: This story was enjoyable as a read, but quickly forgettable. It was a bit banal. I really didn’t get any emotional connection between these characters. Their relationship felt cold. They had sex and acted, and then there were performative lectures about how a relationship should be. But I really didn’t get much emotion or connection between these characters.

My real problem was with the hero. I really felt like he was a hot mess. And it seemed like the heroine needed to get him to act more responsibly. It seemed like he had things together by the epilogue, but I needed that before.

There were some fun and flirty moments. I enjoyed how parts of this book mirrored the telenovela/romantic comedy/soap opera format. The first part of the book is flirty and cute. Unfortunately, the story turned serious, and I didn’t like the obvious drama that pulled the couple apart. It was too contrived and didn’t work for me. Instead, the characters stayed disconnected.

There was a good book here, and it was almost good. Instead, it was just okay.

WORTH MENTIONING: I enjoyed how this book includes some episodes of the show which interacts in interesting ways with the “real” story.

CONNECTED BOOKS: YOU HAD ME AT HOLA is the first book in the Primas of Power series.

STAR RATING: I give this book 3 stars.

three-stars

Review: Blame it on the Billionaire

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Review: Blame it on the BillionaireBlame It on the Billionaire (Blackout Billionaires #3) by Naima Simone
Series: Blackout Billionaires #3
on January 9, 2020
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 224
Goodreads
four-stars

FINAL DECISION: This was my favorite of the series. I really liked these characters. The story was over the top, but it felt well within the expectations for series romances. I enjoyed this one and would reread it.

THE STORY: During a blackout, executive assistant Nadia Jordan takes the chance on a secret one-night stand with her crush, the owner of the company she works for, billionaire Grayson Chandler. Things explode, however, when Grayson is trying to avoid his matchmaking mother and sees Nadia and claims her as his fiancee. The two are soon involved in a fake relationship that seems awfully real.

OPINION: This book is short and sexy, and the trilogy’s best. The main characters are both nice people who quickly fall for one another. I thought the motivations for having the fake engagement worked in this one. I absolutely adored Nadia in this book. There is a beautiful scene where she tells Grayson that he is worthy of love which elevates my opinion of this book.

The book is filled with tropes: rich guy/girl from the wrong side of tracks, boss/secretary, fake engagement, Cinderella, and probably plenty more that I didn’t note. The story has energy because the layered tropes work in this book in a way that they didn’t for me in the prior two books in the series.

Admittedly, reading this book requires suspension of disbelief on many of the plot points, but that is not unreasonable for a category romance that takes place in fewer pages and thus is compressed. There is only one terrible character that makes an on-page appearance in this book, and luckily, she is quickly off the page. This book also managed to tone down the disapproving parents. These ones aren’t nearly as terrible as others in the series.

This book just felt right to me. What is a similar story feels more complex than the others in the series, with the rough edges filed off and characters that I really liked.

WORTH MENTIONING: All three books in this series are iterations of almost precisely the same story. This one is the best of the three. The family is less terrible, and the couple seems really decent.

CONNECTED BOOKS: BLAME IT ON THE BILLIONAIRE is the third book in the Blackout Billionaires series. The book can be read as a standalone because while the books all occur at the same place and time, there is no overlap of characters (except for a brief wrap-up in this book).

STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

four-stars