Book review: STEAL MY HEART, by Laura Pavlov

Rosewood River #1

Easton & Henley

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Incredibly delightful!  This is a brilliant first installment in another small town series, and I loved the characters.  Easton is Emerson’s twin, the woman who cancelled her wedding and ended in Magnolia Falls as their new general practitioner doctor. She’s also the one who stole Nash’s heart. We met Easton in that book when he came to Magnolia Falls to help Nash with his custody case against Cutler’s bio mom, and I was so eager to read Easton’s story.  And it was as good as I expected!

Easton is the manager of a law firm’s Rosewood River branch.  He’s given the assignment to mentor one of the partners’ daughter, just out of law school. And of course, he’s biased against her, thinking she’s a daddy’s daughter, using the privilege of her legacy.  And he’s in for a huge surprise!  The surprises kept coming as he deals with Henley Holloway the first few weeks.  She’s incredibly beautiful, competent, hard working, and the best of all, incredible at pickleball!  Because of course, Easton is a shark in office and an ace in the pickleball courts.  When I read this part, I knew I was in for a wonderful read.

The story is entertaining, and it has its undertones of issues; Henley has abandonment issues, Easton has a tragedy in his past that has affected how he deals with women.  Their carriers are important to them, hence the romance at work issue is a big deal.  And then we have Easton’s family who are a delightfully rowdy lot, Henley’s bestie Lulu, who is an irreverent woman with a huge zest for life.  The author used the group chats again, and it’s hilarious and informative.  We get to know all the men we’ll be reading about soon, in future books.  And I can’t wait, especially Bridger, the grumpy one.

The wonderful elements of small town are present here, with The Taylor Tea column, a gossip rag that chronicles the doings of the town citizens, and the businesses’ peculiar owners. It all joins together for a wonderfully entertaining read, with some sexy times and sweet times, funny parts, and emotional moments.  The story and the characters have certainly stolen my heart!

Purchase links

FREE with Kindle Unlimited

https://geni.us/stealmyheart1

Audible: https://bit.ly/3Dz4U3n

Narrated by: Andi Arndt & Connor Crais

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3C87dd2

About the author

Laura Pavlov writes sweet and sexy contemporary romance that will make you both laugh and cry. She is happily married to her college sweetheart, mom to two awesome almost-grown kids, and dog-whisperer to one temperamental yorkie and one wild bernedoodle. Laura resides in Las Vegas where she is living her own happily ever after. Be sure to sign up for updates on new releases. Laura loves to hear from readers!

 

Connect with Laura

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Book review: ALL OUR TOMORROWS, by Catherine Bybee

The Heirs #1

Chase & Piper

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely loved this story! It’s Catherine Bybee at her best!  Strong women characters with an inner core of strength and good values, men who are chivalrous, sexy and just the right amount of alpha, yum! 

Pregnant from a one-night-stand, Piper was fired from her job and wondering how she would pay her rent. Chase and Alexandrea Stone’s father died, they were estranged for many years so there was no sadness there, but to their surprise, they inherited his whole estate, together with an unknown brother.  They have one year to find the missing brother or they will lose everything.  Such an interesting premise for a story!

When Chase and Alex arrive at their father’s company headquarters, they know they’re in over their heads and need help soon.  When they learn that the assistant was fired under suspicious circumstances, they hire her back and hit the mother lode.  She knows a lot about their father’s business, schedule, sleazy habits, etc.  She’s invaluable as a help in finding out stuff they need to manage the company. She’s also beautiful, intelligent, and sassy so she sparks Chase’s interest. He loves that she says what she feels and takes no crap from him, gives it back just as snarky.

The love story is fantastic, the missing brother mystery is riveting, and the inheritance and boardroom shenanigans super interesting. The pace was great, the characters wonderful, the sexy times sublime. It’s a page turner that left me enthralled and desperate for the next installment. Superb!

Purchase links

🇺🇸: https://amzn.to/3VL2TYI

🇬🇧: https://amzn.to/45M4PUl

🇨🇦: https://amzn.to/4c3xXZf

🇦🇺: https://amzn.to/3z8cRdK

About the author

 

Catherine is a #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Indie Reader bestselling author. In addition, her books have also graced The New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. In total she has written thirty-nine beloved books that have collectively sold more than 10 million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in the hope of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full time and has penned the Not Quite series, The Weekday Brides series, the Most Likely To series, and the First Wives series. Learn more about Catherine and her books at www.catherinebybee.com

P.S.: YOU’RE INTOLERABLE, by Julia Wolf

The Harder They Fall #3

Elliot & Catherine

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You know how you should always leave the best for last?  Then, that’s what this author did when she wrote about this trio of friends, Weston, Luca, and Elliot.  As I was reading the previous stories, Levi always shone as the serious, collected, very efficient in a very cold manner type of guy.  You only knew he had feelings when his sister Eloise appears and gets married to his best friend Weston.  You discover he has feelings, he’s generous, he loves his sister above all things.  But, he’s always logical, cold, almost like a cyborg.  I actually thought that he might be in the Aspergers spectrum, since he’s brilliant and way too literal.  Then later in the book we discover the reasons why he needs to live in such an orderly existence.

When Catherine appears at Levy Developments to interview for a job, she collides with Elliot and accidentally spills her coffee on her blouse and his shoes.  She tells him she’s coming to interview but her clothes are ruined, he challenges her to overcome the problem and she would get the job.  And she does!  You need to read the story to find out her brilliant solution!  And she ends as Elliot Levy’s executive PA.  And then learns how exacting and demanding a boss he is.

Catherine is in a jam; she bought a house to flip, spend a lot of money on the property and contractor, she’s accidentally pregnant by her friend, and he abandons her with everything.  So, she needs this job badly, and she needs to deal.  She does, by writing little notes everyday, expressing how she feels about her cranky boss, then hiding them.

We are subjected to a beautiful story, we get to see the non-cyborg side of Elliot, we see his love for a beautiful baby girl that’s not his, but he treats as though she is, even celebrating her big burps, his generosity and protection for Catherine.  He’s still a little too logical and I got some laughs at his bloopers.  He’s new on this wooing business, after all!  The blooming relation between them is beautiful to witness, how he takes over the care of an infant in such a studious manner, investigating all aspects before diving in.  The author brings us a tender view of a man who needs order in his life, but can effectively open his heart and his life to the chaos that a baby brings, a woman who is a firecracker, and loves everything involved.  

“Having you as mine has calmed the storm I was unaware had been left behind by my past.”

Be prepared to have your heart melted, moved by the intense feelings behind Elliot’s cyborg manner, feel compassion for Catherine’s feelings of being unwanted, be charmed by her friends Davida and Raymond, who claim their place as the baby’s “daddies”, and Elliot’s friends who so staunchly stand by their friend, ready to defend him from unwise decisions.  It’s completely charming and riveting, and Elliot definitely melted my heart!

PS: I’ve seen a lot of Miles through all the books and he totally improves on each story.  I’m hoping he gets his own book and it should be a hoot, since he is a hoot.

Purchase links

Amazon: https://mybook.to/PSYI

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/45KqNoZ

About the author

Julia Wolf writes sexy rockers, broken bad boys, snarky heroines, and bad ass women. She's a firm believer in happily ever afters, no matter how rocky the road is to get there.

Julia lives in Maryland with her husband and three crazy, beautiful children. When she's not writing romance, she's reading it. Some of her favorite things are, in no particular order: goats, books, coffee, and Target.

 

Connect with Julia

Website: http://juliawolfwrites.com

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CRAVING DANGER, by Michelle Heard

Kings of Mafia #2

Franco & Samantha

 Michelle Heard does it again, another entertaining Mafia romance. It’s fun and steam with these Mafia capos! I’m always amused at these guys who are so fearsome but turn into complete putty when they meet the woman of their dreams.

Franco Vitale is the grumpy CEO of Vitale Pharmaceutical, and his overwrought PA is already thinking of resigning. She’s the fifth assistant he’s had so far, he’s that nasty. But then Samantha decides to win him at his game, reassesses her job and comes prepared for war. She leaves him gobsmacked and he can hardly keep up with her! Then she goes to the Paradiso club to start dealing with the issues that made her leave Houston in a hurry.

Since Franco also owns Paradiso, he gets to observe her and start obsessing about her. And when she has a bad experience, he jumps in and helps her overcome the situation and then stays to calm her. All employees at Paradiso wear balaclavas to protect their identity so she has no idea he’s her boss. Furthermore, he’s sweet and tender in Paradiso, in contrast to his gruff manner at work. 

So they start to fall in love, a la Beauty and the Beast sorta style, and he has a big conundrum to solve. How can he go from “mystery man” to dear Franco? And how can he stop Renzo from laughing his head off every time he hears the term?

“For some unknown reason, I like the idea that she’s a wildcat here and a wounded kitten at Paradiso.”

The plot is entertaining, we get the Mafia lords behaving like frat boys when they play poker together, then scary deadly in action. There are funny moments, and then gory ones like when they bury someone alive. I really didn’t need to read that one!  Some parts of the story didn’t feel believable to me, like employees wearing balaclavas all the time, but I understood the necessity for the story.  This one doesn’t have the magic of her other Mafia stories, but it was still fun to read and the characters were as enjoyable as ever.

Purchase links

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL3HP64R

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CL3HP64R

AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CL3HP64R

CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CL3HP64R

Add to Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62407714-craving-danger  

About the author

Michelle Heard is a Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling Author who loves creating stories her readers can get lost in. She resides in South Africa with her son where she's always planning her next book to write, and trip to take.

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