It Seemed Like a Good Idea At The Time by Kylie Scott
Romance Contemporary
Grade: B-

Adele has come home for her father’s wedding after being exiled for making a pass at her friend, confidant, and father’s best friend.  Uncertain about what’s going to happen when she sees her first love and crush, Peter, the man she never got over, she is unprepared to have to stay with him during her time in town. As she and Peter try to reconnect, all her old feeling come rushing back but Peter is still stuck on their age difference and treats her like the child she no longer is. When a series of events place them on the path to no return, Adele must ask herself if Peter is who she really wants and what happens if he says no again.

Kylie Scott’s latest is a humorous abet bittersweet contemporary that features a slow burn romance between a young woman and her father’s friend/employee. Told entirely from the heroine’s POV, Scott seamlessly blends the past and present to show us the emotional range of Adele’s crush and the power it has over her years later. Overflowing with strong women, witty dialogue, and some nice steamy sexual tension, I found myself laughing throughout the book. Adele is hilarious with her internal musings and snarky comebacks. A slew of secondary characters helps to round the story out and offer some much-needed lessons in life for Adele and Peter. My only true qualm about this story is the lack of Peter’s voice. Though you felt their connection, the story would have really benefited from his POV. I never was able to understand his reactions and the reasons behind them because everything we see is through Adele’s eyes. A fun and engaging story that left me satisfied overall but only because of the heroine and the amazing women who stood at her back.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Literature/Family/Asian American
Grade: B+

When Rachel Chu’s boyfriend, Nicolas Young invites her to spend the summer in Singapore, she never expected to discover her boyfriend is A. is ridiculously rich, B. his ancestral home looks like an actual palace, and C. he is Asia’s most eligible bachelor. Now she must not only find a way to reconcile her Nick with the one he really is, she must also find a way to win over his family and friends before the proposal that hasn’t happened never does.

Kevin Kwan hits all the right buttons with his satirical look at the lifestyles of the rich and crazy as he takes readers on a deliciously decadent journey of the top families who rule Asia’s wealth. Wicked humor and biting narrative will keep you in tears as one couple attempts to fight their way to acceptance from family and friends. An interesting take on Pride and Prejudice, Kwan explores the various relationships we have with family, friends, lovers, and professional colleagues, and the problems that can arise when one deviates from the expected path. I’m more than ready for book 2, China Rich Girlfriend. 

From Here To You by Jamie McGuire
Romance Contemporary
Grade: D

Darby Dixon makes a run for the border when she discovers she’s pregnant on her wedding day. Unable to face being tied permanently to her abusive fiance, she leaves and reinvents herself as a young single mother in a small Colorado town. Picking up a job at a local hotel, she meets a man who reminds her too much of her fiance and vows to stay away but what Scott Trexler, former Marine and top security specialist wants…he gets. And he wants Darby. As Trex struggles to prove to Darby they were meant for one another, there is someone stalking Darby from afar. Someone who also wants Darby back and will kill anyone who gets in his way.

If you have read McGuire’s Maddox Brothers series then you almost for sure know how this story goes. The first in a new series, Crash and Burn, a beautiful troubled woman meets a gorgeous alpha male with a warrior complex who falls instantly in love with her and does whatever possible to make her his. I found myself torn while reading the book. I liked the subplots; Darby’s issues with her abusive ex-fiance and uninterested mother, her job at the hotel, and Trex’s secret new job. I just wasn’t a fan of the romance. Insta love bore me to death.  It was predictable, cliched, and overly melodramatic. The religion overtones felt like McGuire was trying to shove a square peg into a round hole and seemed more a way to assure us of Darby’s purity than anything else. Add in the clunky dialogue and obnoxious characters and I was left rather uninspired by it all.

In other news, I plowed through Bella Jewel’s Iron Fury MC. Not bad though I can truly say only book 1, 4 and book 5ive really had completely fleshed out romances and conflicts. The other two seemed rushed and only skimmed the surface. The MC lifestyle plays a very little part in the series, the focus so far on 4 main members though book five 5 deals with an outsider whose heroics got him patched in. Will I read book 6? Sure because now I have to know WTH happens. At $.99 cents each, I got what I paid for with no regrets.

Next week I will be reviewing Caroline Walsh Likes to Win by Jo Piazza and from another MC series-Ace & Rogue by Chantel Fernando.