Fair Trade – Sienna Waters

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Rating: 3 out of 5.
This is my fourth Waters book and whilst it wasn’t my favourite of the four I did find it to be an enjoyable read.

Leigh is an American lawyer working in London. She’s a very private individual and doesn’t get on with her boss, but knows that she doesn’t want to go back to America if she loses her job. Rosie is a gardener by trade, she loves spending her time getting her hands dirty but is struggling to make a living doing what she loves. They unwittingly find themselves thrown together in an unusual situation when they meet one day in a London pub. Rosie agrees to help Leigh out by entering into a fake ‘green card’ marriage in exchange for the one thing she’s always wanted.

I haven’t read many fake relationship books, so I don’t have a lot to compare this one too, but I feel like my enjoyment was hampered by Leigh’s character in this particular trope. Her private nature makes the fake relationship hard to believe, so whilst I thought Leigh was written well as a character, she just didn’t fit in the situation. I also found the fact that Rosie so openly discussed the arrangement to be quite strange.

I enjoyed the twists in the narrative and whilst I didn’t initially feel much connection with the two MCs, both had points that made them likeable, even relatable, but I just didn’t get a personal connection. It’s perfectly possible others will feel differently than I on this one though. I did like how both MCs grew within the narrative though and I found the ending very fitting.

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

Gray Matters – Dolores Arden

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
This is another book due out in October with a number of darker topics. Remy is an Inspector who has been tasked with finding what is likely to be a serial killer, we meet her after the second victim has been found. Giana is a forensic scientist who decides to up and move her life across the country from Philadelphia to San Francisco, where she meets Remy at work.

I like both characters for very different reasons and connected with them both. Remy is well written as an inspector, but also with regards to her interactions and loyalty to family and friends and with regards to how her past impacts her feelings and decisions. I enjoyed Giana as someone discovering herself and her feelings about Remy and I liked reading about her work as a scientist, although it’s brief.

The story has some turmoil, both with family and the underlying murder storyline and the relationship isn’t always easy either. I’m finding it hard to rate because I enjoyed the book – but it isn’t one I’d want to read again – so I’m settling for around 3.5 stars. I would definitely appreciate a sequel though as I feel the situations they encounter mean that there would be lots of opportunity to tell lots more interesting stories about the pair and their friends and family.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Something in the Wine – Jae

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
This is my first Jae book and whilst I don’t normally listen to an audiobook if I haven’t read the actual text first, I took a chance with this one as I had the opportunity to listen to a book when I could concentrate on it and I’m glad I did.

I really enjoyed both the storyline and the narration and can see why people enjoy Jae’s books so much. I loved the inclusion of a geek character in Annie and found the realisation of her feelings towards Drew to be written well. I liked Drew and enjoyed the way their friendship turned into a relationship. I also really appreciated that Jae didn’t rush the couple into situations that would have been very uncharacteristic for them.

I’ve only read one or two fake relationship storylines before – I think I’ve subconsciously avoided them, but this was the one I enjoyed the most out of all of them I’ve read so far. Would definitely recommend.

Providence – Leigh Hays

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
This book surprised me. I picked it up in readiness for Too Good to be True – the second part of the series as I don’t like to pick up a series in the middle. I remembered it receiving pretty decent reviews when it first came out so I didn’t read the blurb – just went for it and somehow it wasn’t what I was expecting.

Lindsey is a workaholic, working in wealth management as a partner in her own firm as a method of life avoidance. I really enjoyed the discussions of her work and the characters she encounters through her job. Rebekiah is a boudoir photographer – capturing the most vulnerable of moments through her lens. They are thrown together when Rebekiah needs someone to manage some newfound wealth.

Both MCs have reasons not to fall in love – which essentially makes them the perfect characters for me to get maximum enjoyment. There are some aspects that could have been dealt with slightly better but I enjoyed the honesty between the two and the slow burn of how they get together. There’s some family angst that adds to the character depth.

The sex scenes are steamy. They have BDSM components (we experience this with other characters as well as the MCs) and the scenes are written really well – emphasising the trust and respect between the characters.

There was one part of the narrative that I found disappointing that I’m going to discuss behind a spoiler tag so as to not give away one of the big reveals.

***Spoiler Started***

Lindsey gets screwed over at work – she’s arrested and bailed out by Rebekiah’s lawyer friend. There’s lots of discussion about her partner trying to blame her and how Lindsey needs to ensure she stays out of jail – but we never actually find out what happens to ensure she doesn’t go to jail. She was obviously innocent – but after the big angst arrest it just kind of gets swept under the carpet. I needed more detail, especially as I’d enjoyed the prior discussions of her work so much but that could just be a personal feeling and might not bother others.

***Spoiler Finished***

The ending came about too quickly for me. I wanted more – an epilogue, an extra chapter or two – anything, just to give me a little bit more about them as a couple in their new life. Perhaps we’ll get a little bit of a taste of this in the second book even though it’s going to be about different MCs.

I enjoyed this and I’m glad I finally got round to making time.

I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys a romance with angst, some deep characters and some steamy sex scenes.

The Girlfriend Sweater (St Brigid’s #1) – Jenny Parker

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
The first in a series this is a sweet small town romance novella about Eva and Katie. Katie is intent on living a small town life after leaving San Francisco. She’s a lawyer at the only firm in town large enough to need two lawyers but is deeply unhappy in her job. Eva is a knitting pattern maker and tutor on the side. They meet when Katie decides to take a knitting class that Eva is teaching.

This was a solid three and a half stars for me. The reason for the title of the story made me smile – it adds to the sweetness of the story. I enjoyed the storyline but once they’d got together as a couple I felt like too much of the relationship happened off page for my tastes. I’d have liked a bit more before the inevitable angst.

I thought the angst was done well in that it built up throughout the storyline and wasn’t a random turn of events. However how Eva dealt with the situation seemed out of character so I had some issues with that part of the narrative.

I enjoyed the story and it was definitely a nice way to pass just over an hour. I am definitely looking forward to the next part of the series.

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