BEAUTIFUL CHAINS has the frustration of unrequited love being played out. Alexei is such a single minded, unapologetically morally gray character that I can forgive him anything because of his complete devotion to Alina.
So, Alina is fighting this same concept - how she can be so enamored with a man who has done so many bad things - because of his obsession with her.
You won’t leave this story unaffected. It’s a cruel cliffhanger, Anna Zaires.
TERRIBLE BEAUTY is not the typical mafia arranged marriage romance and I really enjoyed its unique elements surrounding Alexei and wonder if there is anything more he’s hiding from me, I mean Alina.
I would give it 5 stars were it not for the dual timeline. A dual timeline is like a dozen cliffhangers - I hope the second book has gotten past that.
Romantic comedies by Misha Bell are a taste I have acquired due to the stellar metaphors and other humorous elements. In BILLIONAIRE RAKE, the classic fake relationship for child custody gets a real boost with one of the most clever main male characters in recent history. I won’t spoil it by saying what is so special about him, but I so enjoyed reading about him and watching the romance unfold.
Honey is on of the Hyman sextuplets and THE LOVE DEAL is her over the top quirky and hilarious second chance Roman e with high school crush and nemesis Gunther.
The story requires suspension of disbelief because the chances of most of this happening is remote, but no less entertaining. From Honey’s professional expertise and unique gusto for life to her choice of tattoos, she had me laughing and shaking my head. There are puns, cheap laughs and clever thinking. Gunther is the straight man that patiently loves her “crazy”. It’s a good book!
One of Shakespeare’s best literary devices was the farce - a play with exaggerated humor, “buffoonery”, and “horseplay”. At first I thought BILLIONAIRE GRUMP: A FAKE RELATIONSHIP ROMANTIC COMEDY was a little too quirky, but as the story progressed, I really enjoyed it for daring to be different.
Lucius and Juno head up a cast of odd characters that made me laugh at their unique qualities. If anything, some of these characters just whet my appetite for more. The romance was fairly typical of a fake relationship trope with a memorable meet-cute and satisfying romance.
In DEVIL’S LAIR there is quite a bit of mystery surrounding Nikolai Molotov, his young son Slava and how he came to be in the Idaho wilderness instead of Russia. He’s every bit the dark, sinister and dangerous he looks like.
But Chloe has problems of her own. Someone is trying to kill her and already killed her mother. After being on the run for a month, she comes across Nikolai’s ad for a tutor for his son.
As you can imagine, sparks fly. Nikolai can barely control himself around Chloe. Chloe is finally feeling safe but Nikolai thinks there is something she’s not telling him. She finds Nikolai’s household to be rigid, foreign and at times not conducive to a young child of four years old.
So secrets, trusting the wrong people, controlling behavior and whatnot bring Chloe to the brink and she doesn’t know who is after her, why, or who to trust. Nikolai’s resources chip away some vital information, and at this point, part one of the duet ends.
I might have enjoyed this a little too much as a math teacher, but after reading Bella’s story in Hard Ware, I was primed for her brother Alex’s story. Holly did not disappoint as an irritating OCD heroine that made Alex seem all that much sweeter when he took care of her idiosyncrasies with every bit of attention he devoted to everything else giving Holly comfort.
The story had its humorous moments and its clever links to the Russian culture that is an integral part of this series. While nerd brain is in full force, our Alex and Holly bring it to a level of romantic connection. The VR environment Bella was working on primed the pump for some of the story’s more salacious moments.
Families are also a big part of this series and we are treated to Alex’s parents Boris and Natasha again but find Holly’s family are prime factors in their dating drama.
I was really looking forward to this book and enjoyed reading it immensely.
