Her Favorite Rival

by Sarah Mayberry

After reading hundreds of romance books, I have to confess I'm a little bit jaded. Not quite over it I would say, but it's become harder to be impressed. As all romance fans would know, they all follow a certain same formulaic structure. First meeting, adversarial interactions, conflicting attraction, sexual tension, mating, blissful period, big misunderstanding and then making up and ever after happiness. The trend now is to add some types of mystery into it, but I never find one that is satisfying in this genre. I don't think a good romance needs it anyway since all are pretty much in balancing/pacing all those sections, believability of each transition and dialogues. Rarely did I find a book hit those trifecta though. Sarah Mayberry's books are miss-and-hits for me. When it's good, it's really, really good. When it's not, it's just another generic forgettable romance. Her favorite rival falls in the latter category. I was excited when I first read the blurbs because I'm a sucker for this trope, enermies-turn-lovers. The book start out promising too, up until the point the protagonists jump into bed together then it's not quite 'Favorite Rival' anymore more like 'My Perfect, Sappy, Perfect Boyfriend'. The workplace dynamics that have been set up so well are completely abandoned. Quite a disappointment because I so hoped this book would pull me off my romance funk. No such luck.

3/5

Read it yourself.

Any Duchess Will Do

by Tessa Dare

Quite an apt description made by a reviewer, Any Duchess Will Do is a blend of Cinderella and My Fair Lady with an erotic twist. The strength of the lead characters, not only carry, but sweep me through the whirlwind of this book. The majority of the story takes place over a period of one week, but I don't feel like so. The way the relationship is developed is so believable and heartfelt I thought they're at it for a year. I've been told the characters fell in love spectacularly, eternally in many romances I've read, but rarely have I been shown how. I think this is one of the hardest parts of creating a good romance, believability. With all the improbability of the premises (duke hero and serving girl heroine for one), this book has the believability in abundance.
I love Tessa Dare's debut book. The follow-ups, not so much. I wasn't going to pick up this book at all if not for all the lofty reviews I saw here and thank you all for it. Although, I feel the ending is overlong and loses focus a bit, the book is beyond 'good'.

4/5

Read it yourself.

Tangled

by Emma Chase

First up, I can't state enough how much I find this book entertaining. I've been suspecting for a while that I become too jaded for this genre, that I wouldn't ever feel excited about any of it again. This book at least breaks the spell for me. It's pure one POV book, the hero's. That's quite rare enough, but the author went full out to try to make it not at all like a woman's holding the pen. I personally think she even went over the top because no guy could be such a pig, could he? I mean I, as a female, have my own imagination of what a cad would be like, but this hero is just too outrageously right on the money he is almost cartoonish. At least he is in a good kind of way, abated by a very smart, smooth and insightful delivery. The romance doesn't do anything much for me. The marathon love scenes are hot, but take too large portion of the pages to establish believability for the strong devotion of the characters. This is a new author I'll keep an eye on for sure. But with her nack of witty dialogues, I think she's capable of doing much better by establishing their relationship through them rather than the bed scenes.

3.5/5

Read it yourself.

True to the Law

by Jo Goodman

What can I say? I love Jo Goodman. I've been waiting for this book. I loved loved loved the previous books in the series. I hope this is just an aberration. Actually, I really hope this is not hers. It doesn't read like hers, especially after Andrew Mackey showed up in town. It is fine until that point and then it's like I'm reading a totally different author's. Something is really off. The dialogues, the love scenes, everything. Again, I love Jo Goodman. I threw away a book I was reading while in the middle of it because I'd just got this one. In the end, I'm just gonna forget it ever happened.

2/5

Read it yourself.

Risk the Night

by Anne Stuart

The novella is very very erotic in Anne Stuart's standard. It accounts for a one-night encounter between a formidable assassin and a newspaper reporter. The thing with Anne Stuart that keeps me coming back to her books is her heroes. Uber-alpha seems almost inadequate to describe some of them. Her Archilles' heel however is her heroines. They're usually described as strong and smart women while they oftentimes act to the contrary. Maddy, the heroine of this story, is no exception. In a way to show how smart and perceptive she is, the author makes her do things that are fatally stupid. Fortunately for her this is just a novel. In real life, she'd be dead. And deservedly so.

3/5

Read it yourself.