Book Review: One Perfect Night by Bella Andre

 

Series: Book 1 in ‘Seattle Sullivans’.

“As a little girl, I used to believe in love at first sight. I think every girl does. But then, slowly at first, and then faster and faster as I grew older and made bad choices, I lost that belief.” ~~ Bella Andre (Book: One Perfect Night)

I’m aware of it that ‘One Perfect Night’ is a novella ever since I have downloaded it.

My impression of novellas isn’t a favorable one, irrespective of who writes them.

Last one I read was: The Viscount’s Christmas Temptation, remembering that I was enough to stop me from reading ‘One Perfect Night’.  

But I could not remove the ebook without at least reading the first chapter.

Let’s see how the story of ‘One Perfect Night’ is….

Genre: Contemporary Romance.

Main Characters: Noah Bryant, Colbie Michaels.

‘One Perfect Night by Bella Andre’ ~~ Synopsis:

Colbie goes on a holiday with her closest friends once a year to catch up and unwind.

This time she’s trying to forget about her cheating ex and how she’s scared to take a chance on her dream of starting her own business. But in the end she decides to give her dream a chance.

Now that she’s decided to open her store, there’s no way she’d stop before seeing if she’d make her dream venture a success. She’s busy trying to navigate her way around without the help of her friends when she runs into Noah.

No matter how sizzling the chemistry between them Colbie decides not to take any chances and stick with their ‘no men allowed’ rules of their vacation.

And she’s also taking a break from dating, after the recent heart-break, for a while. Her sole focus is on her business and not trying to find the elusive happy ever after. She’s no longer sure if it even exists.

But she does accept Noah’s offer to teach her how to ski without falling face down into the snow every time she tries. He seems like a kind guy, but Colbie is wary of believing him, more than necessary.

The vacation ends and they go back to their lives, not able to forget the one that got away.

Noah couldn’t believe it that he didn’t ask for Colbie’s last name or her phone number. Now he can’t keep her out of his thoughts and there’s no way to contact her.

He remembers his good friend & private investigator Rafe Sullivan and asks Rafe to find Colbie. Rafe’s reluctant to find someone who probably doesn’t want to be found.

On the other side, Colbie’s regretting not taking the risk of following her heart. When her friend Mia pushes her, Colbie agrees to call Mia’s brother Rafe with her strange request.

Colbie’s call solves Rafe’s predicament to find or not to find someone who didn’t provide their number or last name, for a friend. Now the only question is would Colbie believe Noah when he tells her that they are meant to be together.

Review:

I liked Colbie & Noah’s characters and wished it were a full novel than a novella. The rushed pace of the novella is what I do not like. And if you have read even one of Ms. Andre’s books then you know how sweet the story could get.

Which I discovered after reading some of her books, I have no problems with that. If I had issues with instant love, then I would have stopped reading romance years ago.

These books make for a good light weekend reading for me.

But in a novella, it all comes across as fake. Noah’s character does not have much trouble in his past or present life, meaning he’s not a tortured hero. So he has got nothing to get over – Meaning low drama.

Colbie does have issues to get over, which she gets over within a day or two of meeting Noah just because he keeps saying he loves her.

I couldn’t fall for their instant love this time around. To me the characters seemed one dimensional and there’s barely any story.

Still, it’s a pleasant experience reading ‘One Perfect Night.’

 

“Ideas came when it was their time, business flowed when it was meant to be.” ~~ Bella Andre (Book: One Perfect Night)

Hit or Miss: Hit.

Ratings: 3stars/5.

Buy: Amazon  |  iTunes

Happy Reading!

 

 

 

Book Review: The Mermaid's Pearl by Brooke Kennedy

Series: Book 1 in the 'Tears Of The Deep'.

"Things cannot go back to how they used to be. Things happen for a reason. Even the worse of things do. Don't waste all your time wishing for a past that can't return." ~~ Brooke Kennedy (Book: The Mermaid's Pearl)

All it took to make me want to download this book was the word: mermaid!

I quickly downloaded it after reading the blurb, which seems interesting enough. I even left one of the books I was reading to start this one.

I just hope it doesn't disappoint me. Let's see how ' The Mermaid's Pearl' is.....

Genre: Fantasy-Romance-New-Adult.

Main Character: Raewyn; Captain Aiden Flynn

'The Mermaid's Pearl by Brooke Kennedy' ~~ Synopsis:

The Merfolks are on the verge of extinction. To combat the grim situation, their King decides to introduce arranged marriage system. This would hopefully make sure their species survive.

Raewyn is a princess, expected more than others, to follow the new set of rules. But she’s an adventurous princess and a romantic.

Her mother used to tell her stories of true love and how it changes one's life. She wants to find true love and not marry as per her stepfather's edict.

She does care for her kind’s survival. But she has no interest in marrying anyone, if it's not for love.

She longs to find the one her mother always talked about. But she's ready to settle down with her good friend Tristen, even if she knows that her father wouldn't approve of the match, as he’s a commoner.

One night when another ball's going on, where she's expected to choose the suitable guy to settle down with, Raewyn decides enough is enough. Despite her sister's pleading to not leave, Raewyn leaves on one of her treasure hunts with Tristen.

Her treasure hunt is the only time she feels free and as if her life still belongs to her. Also, Raewyn craves adventure, something no one in her family understands.  

But the treasure hunt goes wrong when a giant squid begins to hunt Raewyn & Tristen. To save her friend, Raewyn makes sure the creature chase her.

Before she'd fool the creature and safely return to the safety of her home, she's captured. Lucky her, it's a full moon night and she wishes on the moon to give her legs.

She gets her wish, but she's still in trouble as she's aboard a pirate ship of one of the most notorious pirates roaming in the sea -- Captain Aiden Flynn.

Aiden's reputation is so bad that even sea creatures know about him. Raewyn is sure, she would not survive. Chances are the pirates would guess what she's and then they'd want her to fulfill their wishes.

But when Aiden keeps Raewyn safe on his ship from her own reckless behavior and his crew, she wonders if he's the man everyone believes he's or someone else. Is she really safe on his ship?

Even if she's safe, she needs to leave as soon as possible before either the humans around her finds out her true identity or she falls for the charming pirate.

Review:

I found the first few chapters uninteresting and slow. I couldn't get into the story at all. That I'm blaming on the reckless princess in the story. She’s so boring.

The dialogues between Raewyn & Aiden are 'stilted' at best and not witty or flirty. It's as if both have no idea how to flirt.

This one complaint is a bias of mine! The idea is good, but the first person POV created proximity to the princess, who I didn't like at all. This made me wonder if, the story would have sounded better in the third person POV.

You care about the whole story if you care for the characters. I didn't care what happened to either Raewyn or Aiden. Aiden is one of the most uninteresting pirates I have come across in fiction.

The characters are one dimensional. To add to all this chaos, I found the writing style tiresome too.

Now I'm wondering why I left a book in the middle to read this one. There was no need to leave a perfectly good one in the middle for this one. If only you'd tell which one would disappoint you in advance, life would be easy.

The story has potential and is interesting after a few chapters.

I didn't like Raewyn's much. But when I finally paid attention to the little detail that 'she's 18'. That made her childish behavior tolerable a bit and that she's a spoilt princess.

Since she's 18 and the hero is 25, I think, it's safe to say that it's a New Adult Fantasy novel.

The way it ends, it seems there’s going to be a sequel; after all, it’s in fashion these days, even if the story is anything, but interesting.

 

"Most of the children don't remember what it was like but I do. If I close my eyes, I can see everything as it used to be." ~~ Brooke Kennedy (Book: The Mermaid's Pearl)

 

Hit Or Miss: Read it at your own risk.

Ratings: 1.5 stars/5.

Buy: Amazon 

Happy Reading!

 

Book Review: Married to the Tycoon’s Empire by Abby Green

Series: Book in the ‘Brides for the Billionaires’.

I have good memories of reading “When Da Silva Breaks the Rules”, so I thought let’s read another one of Ms. Green’s stories.

Let’s find out a bit about “Married to the Tycoon’s Empire ~~Abby Green”….

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Mills and Boon Novels.

Main Characters: Julianna Ford, Benjamin Carter.

‘Married to the Tycoon’s Empire by Abby Green’ ~~ Synopsis:

Ben likes to keep his past as hidden as possible. But when it comes to hiding his present from the tabloids, he’s having no success.

Whether he does something or not, the tabloids find something to write about. Their favorite subject is his commitment free love life and his rivalry with some of the best in the business.

All of it never bothered him enough to take action, until the media created Casanova image of his, started getting in the way of his business.

So he invites three of his so-called rivals to discuss their bad press situation. Turns out, the tabloids are having a field day speculating about them as well.

After a long discussion, they come to a conclusion that they need to clean their allegedly playboy image. To do that successfully, it’s high time they get married to women who would fit into their world.

One of them suggests the name of a reputed matchmaker who helps people like them find long-term partners.

Ben meets with the matchmaker and his eyes stops on someone who looks familiar. It doesn’t take him long to remember why the picture of the woman looks familiar.

It’s the picture of Julianna Ford, the daughter of one of the businessmen, whose business Ben intends to buy. So far his efforts are not successful. But if he manages to woo Lia, he may be able kill two birds with one shot.

After the disastrous end to her engagement, Lia decides not to date to please her father again. So when she finds out that her father has created her profile on a matchmaking site, she’s angry.

She tells the matchmaker to take her profile down. But in the end Lia agrees to go on a one date with the man who has shown interest in her.

Ben’s not even the last person Lia expected to find on the matchmaking site. Why he’s there is not her concern. She’s sure that there’s only one reason he chose her to date: to get to her father through her.

She’s determined to show him that he miscalculated his move. After meeting Ben, Lia makes it clear, she’s not interested in listening to him and he wouldn’t get easy access to her father.

Ben could not believe how fast their meeting ends up in a clash. But Lia intrigues him enough to want to woo her one more time.

So he attends a charity function Lia is attending. The tide of events turns his way when Lia agrees to play along and auction one kiss to the highest bidder.

This much is clear in Ben’s head that there’s no way anyone else is getting to kiss Lia, not even for charity.

Lia agreed to play along for the sake of the charity. And kiss a stranger not Ben, who makes her angry and at the same time stirs something else in her heart. It’s too dangerous a game to play when he’s being so nice to her and she’s running out of reasons to be angry with him.

Review:

The prologue reminded me of another series that started in the similar fashion: The Wager series ~~ Nancy Herkness.

I liked Lia and Ben’s character. They have their insecurities and fears, especially Lia. I wondered if all this would interrupt with the ending as insecurities don’t go away overnight.

But I liked the end and this time I didn’t feel as if it’s rushed. The credit for keeping my interest in the story goes to the author of course.

I was also planning to get the next books in the series. But after doing some research it’s clear that they are not written by Abby Green and on that front I’m risk averse. If I found them in the library, then good, if not, then it’s not worth the risk.

I hate this trend of stories written by different authors in the same series. What’s wrong with one author writing all the stories in the series?

Hit or Miss: Hit.

Ratings: 3stars/5.

Buy: Amazon   |   iTunes

Happy Reading! 

Book Review: The Pack by Kristin Coley

 

Series: Book 1 in “The Pack”

This one if I remember correctly showed up on my Kindle app in the recommendation section as I downloaded some shifter romance books.

So I checked it out and liked the blurb and the reviews were promising as well. But I didn’t want to read YA and the cover doesn’t even suggest it is. Possibly, New-Adult?

Anyways, let’s find out a bit more about ‘The Pack’….

Genre: New-Adult Paranormal Romance.

Main Characters: Jessica ‘Jess’ Carter; Dominic Navarre.

“The Pack by Kristin Coley’ ~~ Synopsis:

Jess moves to a small town, where her father is living after the divorce, after having a nasty clash with her mother. She has no plans to ever go back to live with her mother.

She’s sure living with her father is also temporary as she’d leave for the college next year after graduating high school. She loves her father, but she’s not planning to live in a small town that’s not even looking promising enough to stay for a year.

But there are no other options. She finds her father in a motel and less than pleased with their new living situation. She’s also not looking forward to joining the local high school, but it would do for now.

Right from the moment Jess steps into her new school, it’s like she’s been singled out somehow. Some of the kids and one handsome giant are keeping an eye on her.

She doesn’t know what their problem is, but she also doesn’t care as long as they would leave her alone. It seems they don’t want to as one of them, Caleb, approaches her and invites her to join their group.

Jess doesn’t and soon finds out from one of the girl’s she befriends that Caleb belongs to the group of students who stays together, invites no one to join their group and are called The Pack in the school due to their weird ways.

Jess thinks, but doesn’t bother thinking too much about Caleb’s invitation to join The Pack. She just wants to finish high school and if possible stop herself from getting into trouble and her father as well.

She most certainly doesn’t want to get involved with a teacher, even if the thought for some reason is too tempting. Despite her best efforts to stay away, soon Jess begins to get entangled in the web of The Pack.

It seems some nasty people want her for reasons she doesn’t understand and only people who could inform and protect her are the members of The Pack. They are surprisingly willing to help. She’s sure there’s something different about the members of The Pack and the ones chasing her.

But Jess isn’t sure she wants to know their why or those nasty people’s reasons to chase her around the town. She believes if she found out their secret her life would change and she’s not sure if she wants that outcome.

But for how long could she avoid knowing what’s staring right into her eyes?

Review:

Wow! What a surprise hit. I loved reading ‘The Pack’ and it’s good to know there’s a second one coming soon, but clearly not soon enough. Also, the end is open ended, and not HEA at all, considering Jess & Dom seems not be marrying anytime soon.

I’ve strong suspicion that ‘The Pack’ falls in the New Adult category, though it stopped mattering the moment I realized I couldn’t put down the book without finishing it. I found the first few chapters slow, but they quickly pick pace once the author builds up the story.

I would have liked to read Dominic’s POV as well. But I’m guessing when the author wrote this down, maybe not much was planned other than this story.

I liked all the characters, which is rare in my case to like even the secondary characters. But this story is interesting and I cannot say it enough times. I’m also biased towards Paranormal Romance Novels.

I’m still wondering if I have issues with the teacher student romance that ‘The Pack’ is or if it’s enough to, bad mouth the story as a whole.

So make up your mind if you have issues with this theme, though it runs out of its course before the story ends and certainly wouldn’t be much of an issue in the next one.   

 

Hit or Miss: Hit.

Ratings: 4star/5.

Buy: Amazon    

Happy Reading!