Posts Tagged: Romance Reviews

Friday, October 06, 2017

Romance Mini-Reviews #2: The good and the okay

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A Taste of Honey
Rose Lerner

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Fire and ice cream…

Robert Moon risked everything, including his father’s hardwon legacy, to open his beloved Honey Moon Confectionery on the busiest street in Lively St. Lemeston. Now he’s facing bankruptcy and debtor’s prison.

When a huge catering order comes in, he agrees to close the sweet-shop for a week to fill it. There’s only one problem: his apprentice is out of town, so his beautiful shop-girl Betsy Piper must help Robert in the kitchen.

Betsy’s spent the last year trying to make her single-minded boss look up from his pastries and notice that she would be the perfect wife. Now the two of them are alone in a kitchen full of sweet things. With just one week to get him to fall in love with her, she’d better get this seduction started…

She soon discovers that Robert brings the same meticulous, eager-to-please attitude to lovemaking that he does to baking, but can kisses—no matter how sweet—compete with the Honey Moon in his heart?

At this point, it should surprise no one that I am a huge fan of Rose Lerner’s HRs so when I was approached to review A Taste of Honey, I was all over it. A romance b/w a shy baker and his assistant was more than enough to tempt this reader with a ginormous sweet-tooth.

As always, Rose Lerner’s romances distinguish themselves because they are so down to Earth. They aren’t about annoying aristocrats (although, lets be real, I also adore my aristocrats) but about the ordinary peeps who are having a jolly good time with their lives.

A Taste of Honey tells the story of Robert Moon & Betsy Piper. They have a huge order to complete within a week but things heat up..

A Taste of Honey may just be a novella but it is jam packed with swoons, character development arcs and BAKED GOODIES. It’s definitely worth the read if you need a quick pick-me-up or if you, like me, also have a giant sweet tooth.

The Corner of Forever and Always
Lia Riley

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Fairy tales aren’t ever what they seem . . .

Tuesday Knight’s dream of Broadway stardom has flopped, leaving her unemployed and brokenhearted. Ready to quit kissing frogs and make her own happily-ever-after, she takes a job as a princess in Everland, Georgia’s historical amusement park.

Mayor Beau Marino lives an unenchanted existence-all work, no play-which is fine by him. After his marriage ended in disaster, the last thing he wants in his life is more drama. But Everland’s new free spirit has a talent for getting under his starched collar.

When the town’s beloved but bankrupt park might be shut down, Tuesday and Beau face a choice. Can they join forces, save the day-and each other? Or will their fierce battle of wills destroy any chance of a fairy-tale ending?

I’ve only read one other book by Lia Riley so while I had some expectations when I dove in, I wasn’t entirely sure what I would be getting. But hey, if I had had higher expectations, I might have been even more disappointed.

This book has cute banter and a cute romance but also, the writing wasn’t the greatest? This could partially be because I read an e-arc as opposed to the finished copy but I felt like a lot of the sentences were awkward and could have been reworded.

There were also minor details that I got nit-picky about because they seemed bizarre and like the author hadn’t actually thought through the details. The MC, for example, was broke when she had lived in NYC but had lived in Hell’s Kitchen??

I would definitely say that The Corner of Forever and Always was enjoyable but also, the poor writing definitely took away from the cute banter and the also cute plotline involving the amusement park.

3 Hot Espressos