Just Kiss Me by Kathleen O'Reilly

This hero-centric story is a little darker than O’Reilly’s previous novels, but with enough room to display the sexy humour I so love in her work.

The set-up of this novel is a little convoluted. Amanda Sedgewick is desperate to discourage the attentions of Avery Barrington, so she turns to his brother, Joe, to act as a decoy. When it becomes clear that Avery just won’t get the hint, Joe reluctantly agrees to help. Little does he know that Amanda’s always been, well, interested in him—but it doesn’t take him long to figure it out.

Meanwhile, Joe has feelings of inadequacy, having lived in his brother’s shadow all his life, and he can’t quite convince himself that he can give Amanda everything she needs.

The story is a little darker than O’Reilly’s previous novels, but there’s enough room to display the sexy humour I so love in her work.

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A Snowball's Chance by Nikki Rivers/A Christmas Carol by Kathleen O'Reilly

This humorous, sexy friends-to-lovers romantic comedy is an excellent debut in category romance.

I love the friends-to-lovers theme in romance, especially in category novels. During my deepest Mills & Boon addiction, this was my absolute favourite type of couple. Probably it was because I was in high school at the time.

Unlike your typical friends-to-lovers pairing, the couple in Kathleen O’Reilly’s first category romance don’t suffer from a lust imbalance (where one person has always harboured a secret crush on the other). Carol Martin has been best friends with Mike Fitzgerald since they were kids. Strictly platonic. She’s looking for someone more sophisticated; he’s not willing to risk the wrath of her mother by so much as thinking inappropriate thoughts.

But all it takes are some suggestive comments from Carol’s Aunt Eleanor to get those thoughts going. And once lust gets in the way of their friendship, Carol and Mike have to sort out what they’re willing to live with … and whom they can live without.

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Spontaneous by Brenda Jackson/Long Summer Nights by Kathleen O'Reilly

It’s a labour of love to hunt down the local Blaze release by my favourite contemporary romance author, but it was definitely worth the wait.

I love Kathleen O’Reilly’s writing voice. Love. So if you’re looking for a non-fangirly review of her latest Blaze release, you’re reading the wrong blog.

But stay with me. I wouldn’t recommend the book if it wasn’t good.

Times journalist Jenn Dale is facing the sack—her biggest rival is sleeping with the boss—and she’s on the hunt for a big story to save her dream job. Except she’s stuck in possibly the worst cabin accommodation, to cover a festival that has no hope in hell of making headlines.

Meanwhile, she meets the tortured writer—‘Mr Habitual Scowler’—staying at cabin number three. And discovers that he has great finger technique. Must be all that frantic typing.

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Too Much Temptation by Lori Foster

Because who can resist a story about an overweight 25-year old virgin and an attractive, successful hero, who want each other in every hot, wet and dirty way?

Grace Jenkins has been attracted to her elderly employer’s grandson, Noah Harper, for years, but he’s been oblivious and engaged to someone else. When his engagement ends under mysterious circumstances, Grace knows he doesn’t deserve to be disowned by his grandmother over the break-up. She visits him to offer her support and ends up in his bed, knowing he isn’t interested in a relationship. Noah and Grace soon realise that they want more, but Noah’s grandmother wants him back with his fiancée and Grace back on the payroll and away from Noah.

This was a book that made a huge impression on me when I first read it about 6 years ago (when I was new to contemporary romance) and one that I’d meant to reread long before now.

Grace is an overweight, shy, 25-year old virgin but has a lot of spine, loyalty and the ability to let go of her self-consciousness over her weight and nudity at those crucial

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Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins

(Otherwise known as OMG, Wandergurl is reading a contemporary that is not also a paranormal and is not written by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.)

Grace Emerson is history teacher and civil war buff whose ex-fiancé is now dating her baby sister whom she loves and adores. Tired of the pitying looks and parental nagging, she invents a hot boyfriend to appease her family. In the meantime, Callahan O’Shea, a rugged bad boy with Irish heritage, moves in next door. Now … should she or shouldn’t she?

We all know what happens next, but Kristan Higgins does a good job of reinventing the (bad) boy next door and making the whole story appealing. Too Good To Be True is a hilarious mix of well thought out characters—including a cute West Highland terrier—in an easy to read page turner that kept me grinning.

The upside

Grace is a very relatable character. As a history nerd with an equally nagging family. (Mum asks me if I’ve met Anyone Interesting no matter where I go.

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Addition by Toni Jordan

Toni Jordan’s debut novel was a delight to read. It’s not often I come across unconventional protagonists, and this one has become a favourite.

“It all counts.”

So begins Toni Jordan’s debut novel about a woman with a peculiar problem: She counts—everything.

Grace Lisa Vandenburg lives by numbers—from the number of letters in her name, to the number of bites it takes to eat a flourless orange cake sprinkled with poppy seeds from her local cafe, she shapes her world using whatever unit of measurement presents itself.

So when she finds herself 1 banana short at the grocery checkout, what’s she supposed to do?

My shopping trolley has 2 trays of chicken thighs, fat and glossy,

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Courting Disaster by Kathleen O'Reilly (Southern Legacies: The Prestons, Book 6)

A virgin country singer paired with a playboy race car driver hero could’ve been a recipe for disaster, but Kathleen O’Reilly writes some of the best couple dynamics I’ve read in a category romance.

Courting Disaster is the sixth book in the Southern Legacies series, and this is painfully obvious in the first few chapters. The only mildly interesting event in the first 40 pages is a parking accident, which sets up the meeting between playboy race-car driver Demetri Lucas, a close friend of the Prestons, and country-and-western singer Elizabeth Innis, who’s part of the Prestons’ extended family.

Once O’Reilly gets through the series continuity info dump, the book picks up the pace and we’re treated to a romance that’s both somewhat traditional and yet unpredictable.

Old-fashioned romance with modern sensibilities

Elizabeth is a famous singer whose virginal reputation is part of her “brand”, if you will. O’Reilly gives her a back story in which this is plausible if not entirely believable.

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Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Glitter Baby is a reissue of Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ first novel, originally published in 1987, and is set in the 1950s, ’70s and ’80s. I think as a hangover from the 1970s bodice-rippers, romantic fiction from the 80s (the little I’ve read of it anyway) seems to require hard-edged and even harder-won sophistication and a loss of innocence, which can make the book quite heavy, especially for someone who discovered romance in the late 90s.

I can understand why this book has been out of print for so long: it’s a time capsule from decades past and is likely to sell again today primarily because of Phillips’ name on the cover. Or at least that’s why I bought it. But even the publishers seem confused as to how to market it for today’s readers. The front cover and spine describe the book as “fiction” or “women’s fiction”, but the quote on the back calls the book a “sweeping romance”.

It definitely doesn’t fit today’s typical structure for a romance novel. The first chapter shows Glitter Baby Fleur Savagar’s tentatively successful attempt to return to the spotlight after a mysterious fall from grace,

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Fit To Be Tied by Karen Kendall

Fit to Be Tied by Karen Kendall doesn’t begin like a conventional romance novel—it starts with a proposal. When Tom proposes to Jen, it should’ve been one of the happiest days of her life. But instead of ending the day having great monkey sex, Jen breaks the happy news to her parents just after they announce that they’re getting a divorce.

The story skips to the wedding where a frazzled Jen is trying her hardest to cope with various things going wrong on her big day—one of her shoes goes missing, her hair is horrible, she’s breaking out in hives … and Tom seems to be more than a little tipsy. But that’s nothing compared to discovering that Tom had been married before. And that his ex-wife is trying to crash the wedding party. And that he wasn’t actually divorced yet when he’d started dating Jen.

To cut a long story short, Jen decides she wants a divorce. While they’re on their honeymoon.

If you think the plot is ridiculous, that’s because it is. If it sounds a little funny, that’s also because it is

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The New Man by Janice Kay Johnson (Super Romance)

The New Man by Janice Kay Johnson isn’t my cup of Super Romance, but there’s a gentless in the story which may appeal to other readers.

Helen Schaefer lost her husband after a long illness and she’s wary of getting involved with Alec Fraser. She’s had enough of loss and is unwilling to let herself be vulnerable to that kind of grief again. Alec is a widower and knows all too well the devastating grief of losing a spouse. And while he’s open to starting a new relationship, he has his own issues to sort out with his family—particularly his son, Devlin.

The pace of this novel was too slow for me. Johnson fleshes out Helen’s character beyond the romance, but for the most part, I found those bits boring. More interesting is Alec’s home life and his struggle to communicate with Devlin. Johnson evokes the love, frustration and helplessness Alec feels when his efforts fail repeatedly, and his family situation comes across as real and honest. Disappointingly, the resolution of his conflict with Devlin is much too abrupt.

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