One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: N/A
Line: Harlequin Romance
Rating: 3 Stars
Length: 192 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Harlequin via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.





Easy and Sweet

A year of Megan Briggs' life has passed, a year away from her family and friends, living in Calgary to be close to the doctors as she fought the cancer that took her breast and damaged her self image. She went through the treatments, the pain, the sickness, and the loss on her own. And it left more than physical scars.

Now Megan has returned, ready to pick up her responsibilities and help her family as they struggle with the ranch in a bad economy. She has a plan, and dreams. What she doesn't have is a way to convince her family she is healthy and well enough to do her part. And that is starting to get on nerves frayed by returning to a small hometown feeling less a woman than she was when she left.

Clay Gregory knew Megan was back but the echoes of the horrible things he said to his best friend's little sister before she took off for treatment still haunt him. It had been fear, he knew, that had goaded him into taunting her decision to leave home, fear of losing one of the most important people in his life like he lost his father. But she beat the cancer...for now...and she's back. He knows he owes her an apology. He doesn't know how he can afford trusting that she won't get sick again. And he has no idea what to say to her when he sees her again, shoveling out a stall on a brisk morning.

Megan thought she was over her childhood crush, thought that a year away from Clay would've tamed the need for him she'd had as a child, or that surviving cancer would have built up her resistance. But one stilted conversation later and she realized that some things were immutable. Her body isn't one of them. It no longer matters that he will always have her heart, she would never force her damaged body on him, even if she didn't know full well that her cancer would always be a sore subject between them. Some things just aren't meant to be.

But when an opportunity arises to show Clay that she is no longer the little kid he calls Squirt, Megan pushes aside her worry about her scarred and ravaged body and the concern over what Clay is able to handle and seizes it with both hands. It's a decision that will change everything for them both - forever.

This slightly too-sweet romance offers one of my favorite themes in the genre, the friends-to-lovers theme, but in this case that wasn't the big draw for me. Instead, I found myself enjoying the depth and layers of conflict that Megan's cancer cause in the evolution of the relationship between her and Clay. It posed psychological and traumatic physical ramifications of the disease and treatment that was realistic, and as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, timely.

I wish those aspects had been even further developed, though. Megan was very young to be struck by the disease and I wish some mention had been made that addressed that or that her age had been a point of contention given all she lost. In fact, I don't recall if her age was even broached or if it was, how old Megan is or was when she was diagnosed. The book starts with her back from the treatment, so much is assumed about her remission and the future outlook, but never clearly stated.

Still, I credit Alward with the realism and genuine concern that Megan reflected as a woman who required a full mastectomy of one breast. Clay's issues as someone who lost a family member to cancer also felt genuine and added a sense of tragic realism to his backstory and character development that appealed.

The issues that I did have with the book didn't have anything to do with the disease or its aftereffects. It was the romance storyline and the character development beyond that which is touched by cancer that gave me some doubts. What had begun as a pleasant, if not largely complicated romance, got a bit turned about and fell victim to cliché. I've read so very many Cinderella-story romances in which the hero gets a look at the tomboy all gussied up like the sexy woman she is and realizes she's his destiny that scenes like that have started to leave me cold. It wasn't a bad scene as far as it goes, I'm just no longer a fan of them in general. That's personal reading preference, though, not a condemnation of the author's choice to include it as the fulcrum of relationship evolution.

What turned me off more than that, really, was a sequence of events later in the book in which Clay acted horribly, knew and admitted he was at fault to his aunt, said he was going to apologize, yet waited days for Megan to come to him before even attempting to do so. On the heels of that is an instance in which Megan calls quits to what's going on between them, then blames him for accepting her at her word. I loathe that sort of hypocrisy in life and in fiction.

My issues with the book being what they are, most of the things that bothered me are strictly subjective. Overall I came away thinking it was a sweet romance that touched on some serious and relevant issues. It didn't do enough to wow me, had a few too many preference-based issues for me to truly like it, but too few to actually dislike it. It was okay, and it had more meat on it's story bones than I was expecting. I particularly appreciate the issue of breast cancer and how it was addressed.

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: N/A
Line: Harlequin Romance
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Length: 192 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Harlequin via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.



Deeply shaken by her divorce and the bad judgement it implied, advice columnist and inveterate fixer Zoe Hamilton has taken a step back, returning to the small vacation island off the coast of Cape Cod where she'd summered with her parents when she was a little girl. She planned to do a little wound licking, a little healing, and a little home improvement on the cabin she bought from her mother. Little being the operative word, of course.

An unpleasant confrontation with her handsome but surly neighbor gets the first two plans off to a rough start, and the third becomes nothing but wishful thinking when she realizes neither the number nor the severity of the repairs needed on her beach house are anywhere near little. Fortunately, the island has a handyman/contractor who handles all sorts of repairs for the few residents who live there.

Unfortunately, that handyman/contractor is the surly neighbor who hates her dog, doesn't hold any higher regard for polite conversation, and seems to resent the concept of friendliness on principle. That could be a problem.

Jake Meyers still wakes up screaming, the scents and sounds and agony of combat seared into his subconscious like a brand of hellish misery. The former Army captain lost his entire squad in an ambush half a world away. He survived, barely, but will never be the same. Now all he wants is solitude as he battles the night terrors and the flashbacks, the pain and the misery. He certainly doesn't want his perky and persistent neighbor Zoe butting in and pushing at secrets better left unspoken, wounds better left unexposed.

He'd fix her damn house because it needed it and he was the only one around who could do it. But he had every intention of being as standoffish and unapproachable as he could, because one look at the pretty, sunny Zoe and Jake knows. If he were to let her under his skin, he'd never get her out, and he might just start thinking his soul deserves the hope of happiness and peace she brings with her.

Jake has no illusions. He should have died with his men in a fiery inferno of artillery and warfare half a world away from where he is now. Anything else - living included - just seems...offensive to the memories of good soldiers.

When Zoe catches a glimpse of the pain that Jake carries as his alleged due, her heart - already starting to feel for him - gets more involved with this wounded war veteran. She can't imagine letting the man she sees as a hero remain locked in a cycle of pain and regret. Even if she risks her future and her heart to free him.

Wallace's The Heart of a Hero is a sweet, uncomplicated romance that doesn't offer anything new to the genre, but it does provide a light, entertaining read about truly sympathetic and appealing characters. The plot followed a no-surprises formula (I was within a few pages on my estimate of when the ex-husband would show up) with predictable character conflict and resolution, but I wasn't expecting any wild bells or whistles, either, so I wasn't disappointed. It's a solid and classic Harlequin Romance, one that is timely and likable. I recommend it for fans and followers of the line.

It felt respectful of fallen heroes and mindful of the tragedy war can inflict on its warriors. Jake was a tortured victim of his time overseas, locked into the memories of loss and guilt, but he was a proud, good man of integrity and honor as well. He was my favorite character in the book and Wallace handled his inner demons nicely.

I do wish Zoe hadn't seemed so unaware of the existence and ramifications of PTSD and the effects survivor guilt can have on survivors of tragedies. Just about every movie, book, TV show, and magazine has at one time or another covered, featured, highlighted, or championed both psychological conditions in the last decade, so some laymen awareness of it would have been more appropriate, I think. I also thought Zoe's persistence to address Jake's issues, to "help" him, tread over the line a few times and became overbearing.

My tastes in romance lie a bit beyond what this book offered, so it wasn't a completely satisfying read for me. For the Harlequin Romance line though, it didn't disappoint. I still would have appreciated a bit more meat to the story; it was fairly straightforward and two-dimensional. For those readers, however, who prefer romances that focus on emotion and tones down/doesn't include many/any sex scenes beyond those euphemistically or briefly described, what I've seen referred as "clean" romance (though I dislike that terminology), The Heart of a Hero provides a heart-warming and timely romance and a light, engaging read.

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Romance
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Length: 192 Pages
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle
Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Harlequin via NetGalley. The rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.




She's been out of high school for ten years, but the moment Chloe McDaniels opened the invitation to her reunion, panic hits. Three girls had made those years the worst of her life, bullying her and ostracizing her. She never knew why they hated her so, but it left her scarred. If it hadn't been for Simon Ford, her best friend since third grade, she never would have made it through.

Relying on Simon for some much needed emotional support, she laid out her plan to improve herself in the six weeks until the dreaded reunion: lose weight, get buff, and get a gorgeous date, then sweep into the reunion with her head held high to show the three witches that she was over their years of torment. Problem is, Simon keeps insisting that she doesn't need to lose weight, certainly doesn't need to have her teeth capped or her hair straightened, and though he supports a healthy lifestyle, he keeps assuring her that she doesn't need to change to be lovely.

He's her best friend, though. He's supposed to say that. Um...his assurances aren't supposed to send a thrill through her that leaves her yearning...right?

Simon can't even begin to express his frustration. He's been in love with Chloe for years, so he's used to her being completely oblivious to his feelings, but she's also oblivious to her own worth, refusing to see how gorgeous and sexy she is. It's driving him crazy. And now she's asked him to set her up with a hot co-worker of his and the jealousy is killing him. There's no way he'd do anything to risk having Chloe in his life, but just once he'd like her to see herself as the perfect woman she is. Perfect for him.

Okay, I have a confession to make. I'm a sap. It's true. I love feel-good books with feel-good romances, where men and women are swept away by the awesomeness of their everlasting love. Yeah, yeah, I know...that doesn't always come across in my book choices or my reviews. It's a carefully guarded secret, believe me. It's the truth, though. Sap. Me. To make matters worse, I'm also a complete sucker for two particular themes in romance fiction, the friends-to-lovers and unrequited-to-requited love themes. And by 'sucker' I mean those themes are my kryptonite, robbing me of my ability to objectively review the books in which they are featured. If either one of those themes pop up in a book and are pulled off with anything remotely resembling competence, I love the story.

Mr. Right There All Along had not just one, but both themes, and Braun pulled them off far more than competently.

I loved it. I loved it even though Chloe's issues with self esteem would normally have annoyed me. Braun kept the tone light enough that it didn't bother me, and she injected a lot of humor into several of Chloe's improvement attempts that were...less than successful. I'm also a big supporter of books that don't peddle 'classic' beauty as the be-all-end-all, and loved that Simon was so staunch in his enlightened opinions of what makes Chloe sexy and desirable.

The only issue I had at all with the book was the end. It was very abrupt. The shorter length of the book may have been to blame, but the conclusion didn't give me the totally satisfied (*cough*sappy-happy*cough*) feeling I was hoping for. Instead, the characters had a complete reversal of situation without any explanation as to why there was an about face and the relationship leapt to the HEA with very little discussion and negligible development.

Eh, it's a minor complaint. Like I said - kryptonite. Braun's book was a delicious treat and I enjoyed it immensely. Her writing style is light, humorous, and fun. Her characters were likable and had great chemistry. The plot was quick to develop, well-paced, balanced, and entertaining. I enjoyed it immensely. Mr. Right There All Along was like a fudge sundae on a hot summer night...sans cherry, maybe, but still yummy and oh-so-good.