In Walked Trouble by Dana Hawkins

 

⭐⭐⭐☆

This is a well-written light romcom. Though it can be called enemies-to-lovers, it's not exactly that. The rivalry is new and brief. So romcom is the best fit.

We have Remi James, a seasoned bartender with a chip on her shoulder, and Maya Marek, her new, annoyingly perfect and entitled (in Remi's opinion) surprise competition. Remi's prickly exterior hides a deep-seated vulnerability tied to her relentless ambition, while Maya's bright and cheerful demeanor conceals her own quiet struggles. 

There's a promised (hefty) bonus awaiting for one of them (depending on criteria set by the owner of the bar) at the end of a specified time period. Hawkins sets this part up really well — why the money is important to each of them. 

The other part really well done is the chemistry. It's no-so-slow burn, but not hurried either — though there's insta attraction. In addition to the chemistry, there's enough talking and sharing and baring (past traumas) to give convincing groundwork of more-than-just-lust.

As the story progresses, family emergencies and painful pasts come to light, serving as the catalysts for the relationship to move beyond simple rivalry. 

There is the prefinal act conflict here. While Hawkins takes pains to describe what is driving Remi's asshat behaviour... well, it remains asshat behaviour. Which Maya addresses (while Remi wallows). 

While the ending is satisfying, I felt like I wanted a bit more from the final act. I definitely need an epilogue, because as things stand, I feel that Maya is going to bear the entire emotional burden of their relationship going forward. That kind of imbalance always makes me uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, it's fun enough and light enough to live firmly in the I-don't-exactly-regret-reading-this reads shelf.

⭐⭐⭐☆

Goode Deal by JJ Arias

 

⭐⭐⭐

This is an age-gap, office romance with a little bit of rich-girl-poor-girl mixed in. 

Carmela Bravo is a successful real estate agent who loves her job. She has a great relationship with her boss, is driven and is aiming to break into new territory. Rhiannon Rodriquez is an ambitious young lady who took a few years of college before deciding it wasn’t for her. Now she’s become a real estate agent who works in a dubious set-up and is not above using dubious means to move forward. 

In their first meeting, Rhiannon uses her charms on Carmela to gather information about the house that Carmela is holding and open house for and subsequently torpedoes the entire deal for Carmela. Somehow, Rhiannon manages to get a job in the same company as Carmela. Almost the first thing Rhiannon does is to steal an opportunity that Carmela has been working hard for. 

Given this beginning, the interaction to develop into a romance is a little farfetched, but that is what happens. There is background about both the women that gives some context to their personalities. 

On the plus side, Carmela is really likeable from the start and Rhiannon also kinda grows on you as the story progresses. The interaction between the two is fairly nice and the attraction between them is also well done. 

On the whole this is…well, nice.

⭐⭐⭐

Christmas Gi by A. Emma Hollis

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Riley Bale, a Senior Analyst for a non-profit think tank, walks into a plexiglass wall and knocks herself out. When she gets up, she seems to be in a hospital but also seems to be hallucinating a green woman wearing green who keeps appearing and disappearing. To compound Riley’s confusion, the green being introduces herself as Gi and patters something (completely seriously) about Christmas Miracle and Super Bonus.   

Dr. LeAnn Jensen is not having a great morning, what with having a super-bumped up head. She attends to Riley, confirms that the latter is fine and releases her.

When Riley reaches home, Gi is waiting intent on helping Riley find happiness via finding Riley’s Christmas lesson and thus earning her own Super Bonus.

This long-short is the pinnacle of the hard-to-pin-down-yet-madly-funny absurdist (or surreal) humour. The premise is fantastical. The cast of characters are convincingly real and impossibly accepting of the fantastical in their lives.

The main protagonists are Gi and Riley, though they aren’t the romantic couple. There are a bunch of other characters and every single one is totally likeable. But in the whole sea of fun, nice people, Gi raises head and shoulders above everyone else on the adorability factor.

The writing is smooth, flowing, fluid and fun. Humour is difficult to nail but Hollis nails it with panache with the premise, the dialogues and all the scenes. For a short novella, this one packs one hell of an explosive humour punch.

This book is a perfect mini-break of a pocketful of fun.

PS: Senior Analyst for a non-profit think tank – definitely one of our dream jobs!
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Falling by Jade Winters

⭐⭐☆

Eons back there was a concept of pocket books. Simple but forgettable stories meant to appeal to the largest number of people. This is something that belongs to that genre. (There should be a term for this.)

Amelia works in a day job that she hates and designs clothes in her free time. She is a good, nay, great designer but suffers from serious self-worth issues. Her best friend Cecile fixes an interview for Amelia in the design house she (Cecile) works for – Styles. Styles is a hugely successful brand that any fledgling designer would be thrilled to work for. Unbeknownst to the world, Styles is floundering, practically on the edge of shutting down. The owner, Vogue, is putting everything on line to save her precious company. Vogue’s friends and partner, Bev, had passed off a student’s designs as her own and Vogue paid a million pounds to cover the controversy before it became public. Amelia’s designs seem to be the lifeline to rescue Vogue and Styles. Except that there is a dark force working tirelessly to destroy Vogue. A dark force that has made itself cosy right in Vogue’s inner circle.

There are a plethora of possibilities that could’ve made this book rise above being just adequate but it remains strictly in the ‘maybe-okay’ space. There are a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies (what is Cecile’s role in Styles? Why did she get Amelia an interview and then warn her off immediately? For all its success, a payout of a million pounds is enough to make Styles almost fold – aren’t top design houses much more solvent?...these are just a few questions that pop). The writing just skims the surface of everything including characters, characterisations, ideas and plot. Worse are mistakes like Melissa’s adoptive parents’ names just changing at will and incorrect language (for instance ‘trustworthy’ instead of ‘trusting’).

This is a book that doesn’t evoke strong enough negativity to DNF it but is eminently forgettable and leaves a regret of unrealised possibilities.   

⭐⭐☆

Demanding Boss by Clara Reese

⭐⭐☆

We’re not sure how to review this one. Just when we thought it was a Devil Wears Prada-esque mean boss – ingénue new employee pairing, it turned into something that was more erotica than anything else. So we settled into expecting erotica and bam! it turned into a Mexican telenovela with drama beggaring disbelief.

Patricia Monroe is owner of Weston Publishing who has been dumped by her girlfriend, Jessica, who also happened to be Weston Publishing’s best writer. Wanda Novak is Patricia’s new PA. Wanda nurses a secret desire to be a writer and had submitted a manuscript to Weston but was rejected. Oh! Wanda is also a unicorn – an impossibly sweet, guileless, sexy, beautiful twenty-five year old who has never been kissed.

So besides the MCs, some supporting cast and an antagonist in Jessica, the rest of the story is quite a jumble in terms of timelines of what’s happening, characterisations, events that are happening – just about everything. For instance, Patricia is supposed to be launching a new lesbian erotica imprint to save the company, but Jessica is already her most talented writer in that genre. We think that somewhere we also read that a book was ready for publishing in two days. Wow!

In fact, we read most of the book struggling against disbelief and combating a sense of what?!!?!!?

But then again, despite the jumble, the mediocre writing and frankly juvenile over-the-top drama that actually has very little to do with reality – we did finish this one. So that’s a win for the book.

What do we recommend? If you’re in a mood for telenovela type madness, definitely go for it. 

⭐⭐☆