#BookReview- The Good and the Not So Good #Romance #Reading

This week I read a book I had a hard time setting aside, and one I had a hard time picking up.

There’s nothing better than a book that can make you forget where you are. Karen Robards has that talent. Her stories are fast-paced, action-adventure over-the-top suspense with a good dash of romance.

The other story I stumbled through this week is a romantic comedy I received through NetGalley- normally, one of my favorite genres, but this one fell flat.

Let’s get down to the details.

Description via Amazon.com

A heart-pounding romantic suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author and “one of the most popular voices in women’s fiction” (Newsweek).

Samantha Jones is the best damn repo woman on the books. The streetwalkers, the drug pushers, the bands of looking-for-trouble punks haunting the mean streets at midnight don’t intimidate her. These are her people. The guy she finds bound and bloodied in the trunk of a flashy new BMW is a different breed entirely.

Daniel Panterro knows he hasn’t seen the last of the vicious drug runners who kidnapped him from protective custody and left him for dead. His only recourse is to take his pretty savior and her four-year-old son hostage and force her to help him. With ruthless killers stalking their trail, Sam must trust this handsome, menacing stranger. But as she relinquishes control, she feels an unmistakable desire. What is the price of falling in love with a man who operates on the edge of danger—her heart, her life…or both?

About the Author

Karen Robards is the New York Times, USA TODAY, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than fifty books and one novella. Karen published her first novel at age twenty-four and has won multiple awards throughout her career, including six Silver Pens for favorite author. Karen was described by The Daily Mail as “one of the most reliable thriller…writers in the world.” She is the mother of three boys and lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

My Review

FBI Special Agent Danny Pantera is deep undercover as U.S. Marshall Marco turned thief, who has the Zeta Cartel out to kill him before he can spill the beans on their enterprise. Danny is captured from a safehouse and tortured by the Zetas, then dumped in a trunk to be moved to another location.

That’s when his guardian angel arrives in a ratty tow truck.

Samantha Jones spends her nights working repo so that she can take EMT classes to give her four-year-old son, Taylor, a better life. When she hooks onto the fancy black car in a dark, creepy neighborhood, her only thought is to get out of there before trouble in the form of the vehicle’s owner arrives. She doesn’t expect to get clouted over the head and end up in the trunk next to a badly beaten man in cuffs who’d been… shot?

The trunk felt hotter and more airless than ever. It was dark as the grave and cramped as a womb. Besides the faint odors of exhaust and oil and sweat, the raw meat smell of fresh blood was inescapable.

Shiver- Karen Robards

Sam and Marco/Danny are forced to work together to escape their captors and stay one step ahead of the Zetas, including a pulse-pounding rescue of Taylor, until the real Marco can turn state’s evidence against the cartel. Trouble is, Danny’s job is to maintain Marco’s skeevy persona, even though he has growing feelings for the spirited Sam and her son.

As the danger builds, the plot thickens. Who’s snitching on the snitch?

I love Karen Robard’s books! She has such a way with mixing suspense and romance together, it makes her books impossible to set down.

Description via Amazon.com

Sometimes tying the knot gets complicated.

Whip-smart, heartfelt and joyful, Alison Rose Greenberg’s Bad Luck Bridesmaid is a celebration of complicated women and a power-anthem to live your truth.

It’s official: Zoey Marks is the cursed bridesmaid that no engagement can survive. Ten years, three empire waist dresses, and ZERO brides have walked down the aisle.

After strike three, Zoey is left wondering if her own ambivalence towards marriage has rubbed off on those she loves. And when her building distrust of matrimony culminates in turning down a proposal from her perfect All-American boyfriend, Rylan Harper III, she and Rylan are both left heartbroken, leaving Zoey to wonder: what is it exactly about tying the knot that makes her want to run in the opposite direction?

Enter Hannah Green: Zoey’s best friend, who announces that she’s marrying a guy she just met (cue eye roll). At a castle. In gorgeous, romantic Ireland, where Rylan will be in attendance, and Zoey will be a bridesmaid. It’ll be fine.

Okay, the woman definition of fine (NOT FINE).

Determined to turn her luck around, Zoey accepts her role and vows to get Hannah down the aisle—all the while praying her best friend’s wedded bliss will allow her to embrace marriage and get Rylan back.

But as the weekend goes on, Zoey is plagued with more questions than answers. Can you be a free spirit, yet still want a certain future? Can you have love and be loved on your terms? And how DO you wrangle a bossy falcon into doing your bidding?

About the Author

Alison Rose Greenberg is a screenwriter who lives in Atlanta, but is quick to say she was born in New York City. While attending The University of Southern California, Alison took her first screenwriting class and fell head over heels. A journey from screenwriting led to marketing jobs, before coming full-circle back to her first love. Alison speaks fluent rom-com, lives for 90’s WB dramas, cries to Taylor Swift, and is a proud single mom to her two incredible kids and one poorly-trained dog. Bad Luck Bridesmaid is her first novel.

My Review

Cynical Zoey is disheartened when three of her good friends’ relationships end on the way to the altar. She begins to wonder if it’s her own attitude on the sanctity of marriage that’s jinxing their unions.

This book has such a cute cover and engaging premise, I expected more than what I got. While there is a character growth scenario, it’s not without an excessive amount of unnecessary swearing and jaunts into Joey’s negative attitude about love.

Rylan is amazing and definitely deserves better than what he received from Joey. She comes across as rather unlikeable and self-centered.

This one fell flat for me.

“I voluntarily read an ARC of this book which was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.”

Have you found any books you couldn’t put down, or vice versa, couldn’t get into this week?

It is well to read everything of something, and something of everything.

Joseph Brodsky