Review: Bargain Reads - Game, Set, Match - Nana Malone

Off the court, tennis star Jason Cartwright's playboy image is taking a public beating. On the court, he's down forty-love. A knee injury is shutting down his game, and the paparazzi are splashing his love life on every magazine. A comeback is in order, but the makeover he needs to save his faltering career is in the hands of the woman he loved and left fifteen years ago. 

While single-mom, Izzy Connors, sees people for who they really are through the lens of her camera, even without it, she knows Jason isn't the star he appears to be. Although his charm and good looks haven't dimmed since he broke her heart, all she sees is his wasted talent and playboy lifestyle. 

Can Izzy put the past behind her and help Jason get his game, and his image, back on track? Or will the click of her camera shatter his world as well as his heart?

"Free book" - are there any sweeter words? I say not. Anyway, this month's bargain read is Game, Set, Match by Nana Malone available free on the Kindle. This month is a bit of a tight one so a free book was more than welcome. Initially I was a bit weary I must admit, it didn't really sound like my kinda thing at all but a free book is a free book.

Review: Emma: a latter-day tale - Rebecca H Jamison*

NOT Looking for Love: Single woman (23) seeks best friend to chat on the phone, shop the clearance racks, watch chick flicks, try out messy cooking projects, and eat Dove dark chocolates.
Emma isn’t so good at the whole life-coaching thing. Her first client ended up with a broken heart and is threatening to relapse into bad habits. Now Emma has problems of her own to deal with, and they all start with one name: Justin.
Justin is her best friend, so it’s hard for Emma not to feel betrayed when she suspects he’s falling for her childhood rival. And she knows she’s losing him despite her best efforts. How is she supposed to help other people when she’s drowning in her own failures?
Fans of Jane Austen’s Emma will love this modern retelling of the classic romance novel. Fall in love with Emma’s latter-day tale of redemption, forgiveness, and the quest for true love.

Now, I know some people immediately distrust any sort of re-telling of Austen but I honestly think these books have their place. While I understand part of the appeal of Austen is the richness of language and the immersion in the historical era, sometimes you do just want the story and I've known many people who have read a modern version of Austen and only then been tempted to read the original. With that in mind, I thought I'd give Emma: a Latter-Day Tale a go.

Review: His Wicked Heart (Secrets & Scandals #2) - Darcy Burke*

It’s hard to be respectable… Jasper Sinclair, Earl of Saxton, made a bargain with the devil—his father—to marry in one month's time. But instead of declaring his intentions for an acceptable debutante, he indulges his long-buried baser needs by joining a fighting club and pursuing a delectable woman who may not be what she seems. Soon he finds himself battling addictions that threaten his already wicked heart. 

When you’d rather be wicked Orphaned seamstress Olivia West wants the chance to lead an honest, respectable life, but the arrogant Earl of Saxton launches a daunting campaign to make Olivia his mistress. Destitute and desperate, Olivia agrees to one night with the dangerous peer, and draws upon her mother’s courtesan experience to seduce him. After binding and blindfolding him, she brings him to the edge of release, only to switch places with an actual prostitute. However, Jasper detects Olivia’s deception and vows to claim what he's owed— not his money, her

Darcy Burke is yet another new author to me and I must say that I wasn't disappointed. Of late I've been having some difficulty getting into books but His Wicked Heart got my attention from the off.

Review: Any Duchess Will Do (Spindle Cove #4) - Tessa Dare

What’s a duke to do, when the girl who’s perfectly wrong becomes the woman he can’t live without?

Griffin York, the Duke of Halford, has no desire to wed this season—or any season—but his diabolical mother abducts him to “Spinster Cove” and insists he select a bride from the ladies in residence. Griff decides to teach her a lesson that will end the marriage debate forever. He chooses the serving girl. 

Overworked and struggling, Pauline Simms doesn’t dream about dukes. All she wants is to hang up her barmaid apron and open a bookshop. That dream becomes a possibility when an arrogant, sinfully attractive duke offers her a small fortune for a week’s employment. Her duties are simple: submit to his mother’s “duchess training”… and fail miserably.

But in London, Pauline isn’t a miserable failure. She’s a brave, quick-witted, beguiling failure—a woman who ignites Griff’s desire and soothes the darkness in his soul. Keeping Pauline by his side won’t be easy. Even if Society could accept a serving girl duchess—can a roguish duke convince a serving girl to trust him with her heart?

Review: England's Perfect Hero (Lessons in Love #3) - Suzanne Enoch

Lucinda Barrett's best friends ended up married to the men to whom they delivered their "lessons in love." So Lucinda decides to choose someone who definitely needs lessons, but someone who will not complicate her life. And that person is definitely not Robert Carroway.
Robert is nothing if not complicated, and though he is the brother of a viscount, he rarely goes about society, and finds the weather and hat fashions ludicrous subjects for discussion. Robert is attracted to Lucinda's unpretentious ways, her serenity and her kindness. When she chooses someone for her love lessons, Robert offers to help her deliver her lessons, but sets out to convince the woman he has fallen for to take a chance on love...and on him

Review: Rose Harbor in Bloom (Rose Harbor #2) - Debbie Macomber*

Hailed as “the reigning queen of women’s fiction” (The Sacramento Bee), #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber is renowned for her novels of love, friendship, and the promise of fresh starts. Now Macomber returns to the charming Rose Harbor Inn, where each guest finds a second chance and every room comes with an inspiring new view.

 Since moving to Cedar Cove, Jo Marie Rose has truly started to feel at home, and her neighbors have become her closest friends. Now it’s springtime, and Jo Marie is eager to finish the most recent addition to her inn. In memory of her late husband, Paul, she has designed a beautiful rose garden for the property and enlisted handyman Mark Taylor to help realize it. She and Mark don’t always see eye-to-eye—and at times he seems far removed—yet deep down, Jo Marie finds great comfort in his company. And while she still seeks a sense of closure, she welcomes her latest guests, who are on their own healing journeys.

Annie Newton arrives in town to orchestrate her grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration. While Annie is excited for the festivities, she’s struggling to move on from her broken engagement, and her grandparents themselves seem to be having trouble getting along. Worse, Annie is forced to see Oliver Sutton, with whom she grew up and who has always mercilessly teased her. But the best parties end with a surprise, and Annie is in for the biggest one of all.

High-powered businesswoman Mary Smith, another Rose Harbor Inn guest, has achieved incredible success in her field, yet serious illness has led her to face her sole, lingering regret. Almost nineteen years ago, she ended her relationship with her true love, George Hudson, and now she’s returned to Cedar Cove to make amends.

Compassion and joy await Jo Marie, Annie, and Mary as they make peace with their pasts and look boldly toward their futures. Rose Harbor in Bloom is Debbie Macomber at her heartwarming best.

Review: Get a Clue - Jill Shalvis

All in one day, city girl Breanne Mooreland gets left at the altar, takes the flight from hell to her honeymoon--alone--loses her luggage, and ends up snowed in at a Sierra mountains lodge run by the kookiest staff this side of the Addams Family. Oh, and there just happens to be a gorgeous naked man taking a shower in her suite who says he isn't going anywhere. 

Burned-out vice cop Cooper Scott is in serious need of this vacation, and he's not about to give up the only available room during a bad snowstorm just because an upset, okay, make that insane, woman is having a conniption fit. They'll just have to make the best of it--her side of the bed versus his. But when Cooper wakes up kissing the long, leggy Breanne, he has other thoughts. Part of him wants to prove that not all men are scum, and another part of him entirely wants to show her exactly what that honeymoon suite is intended for. But that will have to wait, because a screaming Breanne has just stumbled on a very dead body.