Karla Doyle

This was a fun valentines romance. I love that Eden was running the event and wasn’t easily swayed by Harrison’s attempts. Harrison was asking for karma to step in with how poorly he was speaking about the event and love, it’s no wonder a romantic matchmaker is the one who caught his eye. He owes Greg a dinner for sending him, considering how quickly he changed his mind about dating. They have such great chemistry, and their banter is top-notch. Karla Doyle always brings the steam and the best couple dynamics and this one does not disappoint. Enjoy this sweet Valentine’s treat.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.… (més)

May all your silver fox dreams come true. Cricket might just get hers when her best friend’s dad agrees to marry her so she can get his insurance and the medical help she will need. She’s had it bad for him for years and swears he feels it too, so she can convince him they belong together before it’s over. Read to find out. I promise you will find an awesome BFF, a strong female MC and an adorably frustrating silver fox. Plus swoony and steamy scenes to make you wish for your very own Troy.
Karla Doyle knocks it out of the park again and gives exactly what we need in a marriage of convenience, age-gap romance for the ages.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.… (més)

Cup of Sugar was a light, fluffy read. I had high expectations based on the blurb, and a few friends have enjoyed other books from this author. Ms. Doyle is a new to me author, but the story of Nia and Conn didn’t reel me in like I had hoped it would.

Nia had a long history of choosing the wrong men. Every one of them seemed to have some lame complaint about her as a reason for breaking up. It seemed to have left such an impression on her that long after they’d come and gone, she turned into the type of woman they would have wanted versus being herself. That was sort of tragic, but even more so when words spoken to Conn’s ex were so full of conviction about them deserving a man who would love them exactly as they were. I was sad to see that Nia never took her family’s advice, much less her own. I really wanted to like her and kept reading because I wanted her to have that moment, the epiphany that the way she was going about things was not a plausible solution for her problems. She wavered too much and too often between wanting to have sex with him and going out of her way to avoid him. I’m also not a fan of conflict that is being driven by a lack of communication.

I liked Conn because he was cheeky, easy-going and sexy. When he really pulled out all the stops to make her feel special, especially the scene with the skates…cue the swoon. Aside from her good looks, I couldn’t see what else attracted him to her. Instead of a blossoming romance, I felt like he saw her skittishness as cute and a challenge. She jumped to conclusions about him often which showed just how little trust there was growing between them. One particular conflict (involving a misplaced cell phone) comes to mind that was more than a little predictable.

At the end, it made no sense that she couldn’t see the problem – she’d already fallen in love, but walking away would have still left her with the same problem: being his neighbor. So why not take a chance on dating him and seeing where it would lead? They hadn’t known each other that long (eight months aside) so it felt a bit too rushed that she was pushing for a binding promise rather than taking his issues into account. Between the two, I felt that Conn underwent more character growth than Nia did.

I wish they would have made an attempt to communicate more with one another instead of sleeping together and then moving on to avoidance. The best moments in this story were the scenes with her family, and the introduction of Sara, Nia’s vivacious sister. It’s quite telling that I liked her more than the heroine.

The Bottom Line

The story had its ups and downs, but there were parts that were enjoyable. The sex was a mix between sweet and sizzling. The heroine seemed surprisingly juvenile for a twenty-seven year old restaurant manager, and the hero was so besotted that he basically let her call all the shots. I didn’t feel they were ever on equal footing with one another. I liked sassy Sara a lot, so I will definitely stick around for her story. In the mean time, I think some of the books this author has written for Ellora’s Cave might be more up my alley.… (més)