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Three Reasons You Should Read This Contemporary Romance:
How to Survive a Modern-Day Fairy Tale by Elle Cruz is a really fresh look at the billionaire romance trope that allowed me to actually like the billionaire.
Claire’s family is amazingly imperfect, and you can really feel the love and affection among them even when they disagree or argue.
The way Claire and Nate meet is great – it’s funny, cute, and adorable. and they just get better from there.
Claire Ventura is nothing like the poised and perfect heroines she reads about in her favorite romance novels. She’s a quirky, people-pleasing bookworm with a loving yet obliviously intrusive family and a passion for cookie decorating—all rolled into a five-foot-two Filipina American fueled by chamomile tea.
Then she meets Nate, billionaire CEO of a global tech company, the modern-day Prince Charming who sweeps her off her feet. Though he does his best to convince Claire that he’s genuinely head over heels for her, she knows he’ll soon realize she’s more underwhelming Plain Jane than jet-setting socialite. And once he meets her family, if their initial questioning doesn’t scare him off, then their tendency to decide “what’s best for her” certainly will.
Between her whirlwind romance with Nate and her meddlesome family, Claire wishes she had a fairy godmother to guide her. But this is the real world in the twenty-first century, and the only way to get her happily ever after is by grabbing firm hold of what she really wants—and letting her heart be her guide.
Claire is an amazing character, but she isn’t perfect. And the balance between the good and not-so-good side of people is really highlighted with her family. We learn a lot about Claire and her extended family – and how they influenced Claire’s personality – through their interactions. She is especially close to her grandmother, and this relationship plays a huge role in her story.
The meet-cute for Claire and Nate was so great! And her not having any idea of who he was. Nate was pretty low-key at first, but as people started to realize who was around them, things got a little crazy. As much as I like Nate as a character, I didn’t always like him as Claire’s boyfriend. He didn’t always seem to act on what he said. He said he wanted Claire to pursue her dreams, but then kept dragging her away from them. It set up a great conflict, but it also made me like him a little less.
Things come to a head when Claire feels like she has to make a really big choice, and they both kind of freak out and overreact to everything. And I loved how Claire’s sisters and her best friend rallied around her to support and try to help, even though some of them were going through some pretty big things themselves.
This was a truly feel-good type of romance (with plenty of heat still) that really focused on family and how relationships are built, and it was a wonderful thing.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
As an affiliate at retail sites, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. See my disclosure for more details.
Three Reasons You Should Read This Contemporary Romance:
A Winter Rose by Amy Craig features some very strong and independent women that know their minds and what to do it all on their own – sometimes too much.
Julien and Eliza bump heads in a very fun way that only serves to add more sparks to their growing attraction.
Eliza’s daughter, Skye, steals the show as quite the engaging and adorable little girl that seems to care about the entire world.
Widow Eliza struggles to raise her young daughter and run her Washington state flower farm. Julien, a charming Southerner with a knack for business, stops his road trip to help her out of a tight situation. He has no intention of sticking around a sleepy farm town, but Eliza’s grit and dedication warm his wounded heart. Can they look beyond a business partnership and see the beauty of second chances?
I really wanted to enjoy this book. Hard-working single mom that runs her own business, a cute little girl that loves animals, the tortured man running from his past into the unknown. But unfortunately, this book fell a little flat.
Eliza was stubborn and hard-working, but she took doing on her own to an extreme. She seemed to think any offer of assistance was someone trying to take over her life and business. She knew what she wanted and how she wanted it done, and god forbid anyone has a differing opinion. The exception was her feelings for Julien. Where she waffled back and forth so many times I lost track. Instead of setting up tensions in the situation, it just made me dislike her for leading him and then pushing him away over and over again.
Julien was a better character. I felt like I could understand most of his motivations, except why he put up with Eliza. He truly tries to help her for no reason other than he wants something to do. I liked him – he deserved better.
Skye (Eliza’s daughter) and her mother play some very major roles in the story. Skye – I wouldn’t change her one bit. She is one of the most well-developed characters in the book. Recovering from losing her father, there are some things she struggles with, but deep down she’s a joyful child that loves just about everyone. Eliza’s mother was another character I think I was supposed to feel bad for and I didn’t. She was just plain old mean.
The romance is there, it’s just not one I would enjoy. There is also a mention of ICE and deportation at the beginning of the story – setting up a place for Eliza to need Julien. I think if you’re going to use this as a plot point, you need to do a little more than just say “Oh, he was deported,” and move right along. You don’t have to be political about it, but that has an effect on the surrounding community and doesn’t just poof go away.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
As an affiliate at retail sites, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. See my disclosure for more details.
Three Reasons You Should Read This Science Fiction Football Novel:
The Rookie by Scott Sigler is fast-paced galactic-wide football season with far more than just human players.
Scott Sigler maintains the delicate balance between team, personal, and galactic rivalries quite brilliantly – each playing their own part in the larger story.
You don’t have to be a football expert to enjoy The Rookie! You may not be imagining every move on the field 100% correct, but that won’t take away from the overall enjoyment of the story.
Set in a lethal pro football league 700 years in the future, THE ROOKIE is a story that combines the intense gridiron action of “Any Given Sunday” with the space opera style of “Star Wars” and the criminal underworld of “The Godfather.” Aliens and humans alike play positions based on physiology, creating receivers that jump 25 feet into the air, linemen that bench-press 1,200 pounds, and linebackers that literally want to eat you. Organized crime runs every franchise, games are fixed and rival players are assassinated.
Follow the story of Quentin Barnes, a 19-year-old quarterback prodigy that has been raised all his life to hate, and kill, those aliens. Quentin must deal with his racism and learn to lead, or he’ll wind up just another stat in the column marked “killed on the field.”
The Rookie by Scott Sigler is a great mix of science fiction, mafia story, and football. And it all starts with Quentin Barnes, who plays better football than any human has a right to. When he finds himself playing for the Galactic Football League – but this isn’t football as we know it. The teams are a mix of alien races with extreme strengths and what appears to be no weaknesses. And while the story at first seems to revolve around the game of football, there’s a lot more to it. (And don’t worry if you don’t understand football – plays and tactics are explained quite well – enough detail for people unfamiliar to understand, and not so in-depth that football aficionados will be bored.)
The science-fiction aspects of the book are phenomenal. The universe is well-developed and diverse. You just have to take one look at the football teams to see a variety of alien species interacting together – although not everyone is happy about that. There are plenty of humans (and aliens) that have some serious species hang-ups, and those play into several of the underlying (and maybe overlying) plotlines that weave through the story.
So for those non-sports fans out there, we also have the mob in space. They are fixing games, placing bets, and generally causing a lot of mischief. The mob bosses are all out to get their own wins and money, and that causes some problems that lead to some interesting (if violent) solutions.
I really enjoyed this story – and it was far different than anything I have ever read before. I’m curious to see where it goes as the series continues.
