Romance Roundup: October Edition

Welcome to “Romance Roundup”where I share mini reviews of  3-4 romance novels that I’ve read recently. This month’s edition includes stories of marriage reality show, a friends to lovers tale, and a steamy romance thriller. Hope you enjoy these reviews!

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Fool for You (Crush on You #1) by Rina Gray

Synopsis: Sports journalist Melanie Foster has achieved most of her goals: Bomb.com job—check. Tomboy-to-smoking-hottie makeover—check. Convince her best friend, Damien Richards, to slide a ring on her finger and father her two-point-five kids—not so much. When she activates Operation: I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, she never imagines her BFF already has plans to stroll down the wedding aisle with another woman.

Damien’s in the middle of crisis mode. The non-profit for young athletes at which he volunteers is in financial trouble. He’ll pull out all the stops to rescue the organization that saved his life after his career-ending injury—even if it means sacrificing his personal happiness.

But when he finally wakes up to love and the very non-brotherly feelings he’s long held for Mel, it just might be too late. Damien must convince her that he’s worth the risk and turn the tables to show her he’s the one ready to be a fool for love. (description from Goodreads) 

Review:

Fool For You has a friends -to -lovers theme in the story. Melanie is head over heels for Damien her childhood friend, but he still sees her as a little sister. This starts to cause a rift in the strong bond that they have had for so long. Both characters are forced to take a long look at the past, present, and future in order to confront their real feelings.

I appreciated that this story has sports, as both leads work in the PR part of the field. While I’m not the biggest fan of baseball like the main characters are it was nice to see a romance that tackles love and sports. Despite this being a cute, sometimes steamy, and dramatic romance I felt something was missing. Some of the drama felt thrown in for extra flair and parts of the story that I felt could have been resolved went on for far too long. At just 200 pages this book reads like a novella, plus everything moves at a very fast pace.

Final Verdict:

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Queen of His Heart (Queen Quartette #3)by Lena Hart

Synopsis: Judith Bell is comfortable with her quiet, predictable life. After a failed relationship left her emotionally—and physically—scarred, she tries her hardest to ignore Carlos Moreno’s advances. But the sexy, dark-eyed security chief is proving very hard to ignore. When fear and blackmail drives her to compromise her new position at Royal Courts, Judith’s serene life is once again disrupted. 

Carlos is captivated by his boss’ assistant. Beyond her beauty is a sweet, gentle woman needing desperately to be loved. But when an internal investigation points to her, he realizes Judith may not be the innocent she appears. Left wondering if he’s been duped by a pretty face and bewitching smile, Carlos finds himself torn between his obligations to Royal Courts or protecting the woman who’s already stolen his heart. 

On the run from her past and forced into hiding, Judith is faced with two choices—either let fear define her future or allow love to heal her wounded heart. (description from Goodreads)

Review:

Queen of His Heart falls into the dreaded insta-love category even it’s made known early in the story that Carlos and Judith have worked together for a while. The love at first sight/attraction is there, but I still felt like their relationship moved a bit fast for my tastes. While its full of plenty steamy scenes it also has its tender moments. Both main characters have troubled pasts, Judith still can’t escape the horrible memories of her ex and Carlos wants to leave his dangerous past in the dust.

What I most enjoyed about this book is that it’s a romance novel with lots of suspense and mystery factors within the story. I also like liked small moments between Judith and Carlos. They instantly hit it off with one another and showed deep affection for one another. Nothing about it felt particularity unique, but I still enjoyed it.

Final Verdict:

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Insert Groom Here (Unconventional Brides #1)by K.M. Jackson

Synopsis: Eva Ward has won a lavish wedding on the nation’s hottest morning show and can’t wait to kick off her happily-ever-after in style. Too bad her fiancé backs out on-air—and cameraman Aidan Walker makes sure her private meltdown goes viral, down to the last couch-kicking moment. The only way Eva can save face and keep her perfect nuptial plans on track is to star in a new “find-a-groom” reality segment. But finding Mr. Right in one month means ignoring her handsome new producer—none other than Aidan himself—and getting their instant, exasperating attraction out of her system…

Eva soon finds there’s a lot more to Aidan than freewheeling charm. But one glimpse of his caring side can’t make up for off-camera politics, Aidan’s own secrets—or Eva’s fear that they’re too different to ever trust each other. So it’s time for her to flip this script, write twists no one will see coming—and risk her heart to get the real thing…(description from Goodreads)

Review:

In Insert Groom Here the main character Eva is stood up on live TV after her wedding plans fall through. Chaos ensues, Eva’s  image plummets, until a sexy producer Aidan has an idea to save her reputation: a bacherlorette-esque TV show. The story is cute, fun, with plenty of sizzling moments. Overall it’s sometimes predictable, but a very enjoyable story.

The main character Eva comes off as a little to snarky for my liking in the beginning, but as the story went on I grew to like her. I felt for her constant stress to always live up to an image that her mom upholds for her. And Aidan also lives up to an image, but just wants to pursue his own career goals without pressure from his father. They both have something in common and come together to not only fall in lover, but help one another out.

It was very entertaining to read all the hijinks that happened on all of Eva’s dates. It had me laughing out loud. I liked that there is an immediate chemistry between the two but Jackson takes time to develop their relationship. Looking forward to book two in the series!

Final Verdict:

What romance novels have you read lately? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. If you have any recommendations feel free (particularly #ownvoices novels) to share those as well. 🙂