L-L-L-Little Reviews #27: 4 Adult Contemporary Romances

Posted December 22, 2020 by Lisa Mandina in Review / 0 Comments

So, I am trying my best to get everything from 2020 as wrapped up as possible! This is all the reviews that aren’t part of blog tours up to this point. Three are audiobooks I finished in November, and one is a paperback I won from an author earlier this year.

Well Played (Well Met #2) by Jen DeLuca:

L-L-L-Little Reviews #27: 4 Adult Contemporary RomancesWell Played by Jen DeLuca
Series: Well Met #2
Published by Penguin Audio on September 22, 2020
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance
Length: 09:59
Source: Purchased
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: three-half-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Barnes & NobleBuy on Audible

Another laugh-out-loud romantic comedy featuring kilted musicians, Renaissance Faire tavern wenches, and an unlikely love story.
Stacey is jolted when her friends Simon and Emily get engaged. She knew she was putting her life on hold when she stayed in Willow Creek to care for her sick mother, but it's been years now, and even though Stacey loves spending her summers pouring drinks and flirting with patrons at the local Renaissance Faire, she wants more out of life. Stacey vows to have her life figured out by the time her friends get hitched at Faire next summer. Maybe she'll even find The One.
When Stacey imagined "The One," it never occurred to her that her summertime Faire fling, Dex MacLean, might fit the bill. While Dex is easy on the eyes onstage with his band The Dueling Kilts, Stacey has never felt an emotional connection with him. So when she receives a tender email from the typically monosyllabic hunk, she's not sure what to make of it.
Faire returns to Willow Creek, and Stacey comes face-to-face with the man with whom she’s exchanged hundreds of online messages over the past nine months. To Stacey's shock, it isn't Dex—she's been falling in love with a man she barely knows.

My Review:

I loved the first book by this author, Well Met. I read a physical copy of that one. For this one I decided I’d fit it in by listening to it. Unfortunately, I think it was one I would have enjoyed more by reading. Maybe, maybe not. I honestly started out really enjoying it. In fact one of my first thoughts was when Stacey drunk texted her fling Dex, was that I was glad I wasn’t a drinker, because there were times I have an ex that I might reach out to in the same way she did with him. A lot of the story made me think of my own sad, sad single life. I also watched that movie, The Social Dilemma, right about the time I was listening to this, so there was part of the story that reminded me of that, with having to check my phone all the time and the disappointment when there were no updates. I had some issues with why Stacey got upset at the end, and even some issues with how the man she’d actually been falling in love with handled things. Probably the reason I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first is that there was a lot of repetitiveness in the how she acted about things or her thoughts, and if I was reading a book I could have skimmed that much quicker than having to listen to it all. It wasn’t bad, and I’ll go back if there is another book in the series, but I’ll probably read instead of listen.

These Walls Can Talk by Erin Mallon:

L-L-L-Little Reviews #27: 4 Adult Contemporary RomancesThese Walls Can Talk by Erin Mallon
Narrator: Joe Arden, Andi Arndt, Shane East, Tanya Eby, Teddy Hamilton, Emma Wilder
Published by Erin Mallon on June 10, 2020
Genres: Adult Romantic Comedy
Length: 02:07
Source: Purchased
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: five-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Audible

It's totally normal to fall in love with an audiobook narrator's voice, right?
Right. Just ask Vera, who listens to "her" guy whenever and wherever she can: while driving, working, parenting, cooking, cleaning, showering... you name it.
But now, she's bringing him into the bedroom. And her husband is less than pleased.
'THESE WALLS CAN TALK' is a raucous and heartfelt love letter to romance audiobooks: the authors who write them, the narrators and engineers who record them and the passionate fans who devour them.
RUNNING TIME ⇒ 2hrs. and 7mins.
©2020 Erin Mallon (P)2020 Erin Mallon

My Review:

I loved this short and sweet audiobook! I think I tried to listen to it at one point in the past, after it first came out, but when I finally started listening it was just so funny. All the bits about romance books and listening to them and how embarrassing it is if someone all of a sudden hears certain parts of the story. And then there was the audiobook narrator who was the “narwhal”. So, there are a couple of audiobook narrators that I know I’ve done my own googling and wanting to know what they looked like, such as Sebastian York, or in this case, Joe Arden, another one we don’t know for sure what he looks like. I also loved all the parts about the “inside” of the audiobook production world, that in itself was hilarious. And finally, the epilogue to this was so hilarious I was laughing so hard in my car as I drove that I hoped people around me didn’t see and think I was drunk or having a seizure or something.

Scrooged by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward:

L-L-L-Little Reviews #27: 4 Adult Contemporary RomancesScrooged by Vi Keeland, Penelope Ward
Narrator: Andi Arndt
Published by C. Scott Publishing Corp. on December 1, 2019
Genres: Adult Holiday Romance
Length: 02:47
Source: Purchased
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: five-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Audible

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHORS VI KEELAND AND PENELOPE WARD BRING YOU THREE SEXY SHORT STORIES TO HEAT UP YOUR HOLIDAYS!

SEXY SCROOGE

The Last thing I needed was to share an Uber with Scrooge - a cocky lawyer on a snowy Christmas Eve. It was bad enough I was on my way to court for the gift of eviction.
Although maybe today wouldn't turn out so bad after all.
The Sexy Scrooge and I started to connect as we trudged our way through a storm. Our ride was about to end. But would I ever see him again?

THE MERRY MISTAKE

Note to self: Ask Santa for glasses this year. When I accidentally mistook a gorgeous man resting outside my building for a homeless person in need of a lunch, we got into it. I'd only been trying to do a good deed around the holidays, but he called me righteous. I called him something far worse. If only I didn't have to see him again. But fate had other plans.

KISSMAS IN NEW YORK

It was just supposed to be a simple kiss with a stranger. I'd done it to prove a point - that I hadn't lost my sense of adventure. But you know what they about the best laid plans. Maybe I'd get something in my stocking after all this holiday season. . .

My Review:

So this was actually three short stories. And I didn’t realize it actually came out in 2019. But it was still fun. And I guess the first story, Sexy Scrooge was a movie that Passionflix made this year. I’m going to have to subscribe I guess so that I can watch it. I really liked the first two stories, even though the guy was kind of a jerk at first on the second one. The third one was also good, if not my favorite of all of them. Although I kind of want to taste the drink they had in that one. A fun listen, perfect for this time of year.

Fumble (Hall of Fame #1) by Eva Haining:

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

L-L-L-Little Reviews #27: 4 Adult Contemporary RomancesFumble by Eva Haining
Series: Hall of Fame #1
Published by Independently published on July 24, 2020
Genres: Adult Sports Romance
Pages: 226
Source: the author
Format: Paperback
My Rating: three-stars
Goodreads
Buy on AmazonBuy on Barnes & Noble

Faith Fairchild has a plan.Now, all she needs is the man.Hunter Vaughn was voted sexiest man alive four years running. He is mouthwatering in every way imaginable. A football legend - he's about to be entered into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. My job is to keep him happy no matter what.He has charm, class, money, and experience...Everything I want in the man I'm going to convince to take my virginity.Faith Fairchild is my new assistant and half my age, with no concept of just how sexy she is. I would love nothing more than to bend her over my desk and show her who's boss, but my golden rule is don't sleep with virgins. I want no strings sex with a woman who knows what she's doing.Just because I don't plan to score, doesn't mean I can't play the game... right?When challenged to a little bump-and-run, can the innocent virgin really play the ultimate player?FUMBLE is a sexy, lighthearted romance.STANDALONE FULL-LENGTH NOVEL

My Review:

So I won this from the author on a Facebook giveaway I think. It wasn’t bad. The story was a good one, but I had some issues with it. First it was very simple in a way, and actually made me want to get back to my own writing. But the book definitely got better with that as it went along, for the most part. Again, I think my own writing starts out maybe a little weak and gets better as you get into the story. There were some parts that bugged me a little, like calling it her Lady Jay over and over. It might have been funny the first time, maybe a second time, but it was at least one too many times by the end of the story. I also didn’t like how her dad reacted, although yes, the public humiliation totally sucked. But really, I still think he totally overreacted, and took way too long to get over it. I also have a tiny issue with the cover, I don’t like seeing the part that is totally control top pantyhose on her legs. It’s just kind of tacky, not sexy looking to me. But that’s my own issue. Not sure if I’ll read more by this author in the future. I’m not taking it totally out of consideration, just not one I have to search out and read everything by now.

Please follow and like us:
0
fb-share-icon0
Tweet 0
Pin Share20

Tags:


Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.