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Los Lobos Series, Book 2

I didn’t know about this series and for some reason, my library didn’t get the first book so I’m starting here. (But I might have to buy it, I really liked this one!) Susan Mallery has become one of my favorite contemporary romance writers. Her characters are always interesting, she writes good sex scenes, and I love her sense of humor.

Gracie was just fourteen years old when her father died and she fell madly in love with the 18-year-old hottie next door, Riley. At that age, four years makes a huge difference and Riley was not interested. But Gracie was nothing if not persistent, and the stunts she pulled to get his attention and to keep him from marrying his pregnant girlfriend were legendary. So much so that a series of newspaper articles about her kept the small town of Los Lobos enthralled but completely embarrassed her mother, who sent her off to live with an aunt and uncle.

Gracie never came home until fourteen years later, when her youngest sister was about to get married. The aunt and uncle died, leaving Gracie their home, and she started an uber-successful wedding cake business. Her sister is determined to have biggest, most ostentatious cake, and wedding, for that matter, even though she keeps calling it off every time her fiance does something she doesn’t like.

Alexis is the middle sister and the family drama queen, and she is convinced that her husband is cheating on her. He is managing Riley’s campaign for mayor, and Alexis convinces Gracie to spy on Riley’s house to see if her husband is really there. Of course Gracie gets caught, Alexis takes off and abandons her, and Riley demands an explanation of why his former stalker seems up to her old tricks.

Riley got divorced a few months after his marriage when he realized he was duped and his wife wasn’t pregnant. He left town after that, made his fortune and traveled the world. Unbeknownst to most of the town, his uncle, who owned the bank and left an estate of almost a hundred million dollars, left it to Riley with one proviso; he had to take over at the bank and become mayor of Los Lobos. Election season is underway but the standing mayor doesn’t mind playing dirty politics to keep his seat.

Gracie and Riley end up spending some time together, trying to find out what Gracie’s brother-in-law is up to, and find they enjoy their time together. They fall in love but there are obstacles in the way, not the least of which is someone tries to derail the mayoral campaign and destroy Gracie’s cake business.

There are a lot of laughs, some steamy sex scenes and a happy ending in this terrific contemporary romance. I read it in one night and highly recommend it.

10/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

FALLING FOR GRACIE by Susan Mallery. HQN Books (April 25, 2017). ISBN 978-0373801954. 384p.

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Happily Inc, Book 2

This is second book in this terrific new series. I loved the first book, You Say it First, and this one as well.

Happily, Inc. is a small town in the desert of California, not too far from Los Angeles. It is a destination wedding town, and almost all the businesses in Happily, Inc. cater to making brides happy. In the first book we met the owner of the major wedding planner and venue, and this book is about one of her friends, Carol Lund.

Carol is the local game keeper. Her father and his brother opened a recycling center that is the envy of everyone, and part of the land they purchased they turned over to Carol. They’ve brought in some endangered grazing animals, like zebras and a giraffe. But the giraffe is lonely, the females generally live in herds, so Carol is trying to raise the money to bring in more animals, but it’s slow going.

The Mathias brothers are all artists that live in town, too. And they’re gorgeous, of course. Originally from Fool’s Gold, (another series) they’ve moved here to get away from their overbearing, abusive father. One of the brothers, Mathias, lives next door to Carol. She is well aware of his penchant for bridesmaids and his love ’em and leave ’em lifestyle. But they become friends, and eventually much more than that.

Malley creates a somehow believable fairy tale world in her books, and that speaks to her writing. Her characters are flawed and real and her plotlines always interesting. And occasionally steamy! This is another terrific read in what is becoming one of my favorite series.

10/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

SECOND CHANCE GIRL by Susan Mallory. HQN Books (September 26, 2017). ISBN 978-0373799350. 384p.

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A Small-Town Wedding Romance, Happily Inc. Book 1

Happily, Inc. is a small town in the desert of California, not too far from Los Angeles. It is a wedding destination town, and most of the town’s businesses cater to brides and their wedding dreams.

Pallas Saunders has recently inherited the premier wedding venue in Happily, Inc. She worked there as a wedding planner, and the owner had no family who would want the business. Nonetheless, she is shocked to have inherited it and really wants to make a success of it. The finances are shaky, however, so it will take some ingenuity to keep it going.

That ingenuity comes in handy when a video game designer wants their wedding to be held there, and in a very short time frame. Every other wedding planner has passed, but Pallas needs the money and her heart goes out to the bride; the time crunch is because her father is dying.

Nick Mitchell is a sculptor and woodworker who has moved to the town along with his artist brothers to escape their abusive father. Nick likes Pallas, and wants to help her succeed. She doesn’t realize how famous he is, so when he offers to help restore some wood panels she has, she takes him up on his offer. Spending time together leads to a hot romance, and their happily ever after.

This was a fun read with lots of emotional drama as well as laughter, and so is the next book in the series, Second Chance Girl.

9/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

YOU SAY IT FIRST by Susan Mallery. HQN Books (August 22, 2017).  ISBN 978-0373804160.  304p.

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Heller Brothers Hockey, Book 1

I recently read and reviewed Dancing in the Rain by this author, so when BookBub had an offer for this book for free on my Kindle, I grabbed it. And I was very glad I did.

I recently learned that sports romances are a subgenre of the whole romance thing, which I like a lot. I feel like I am always learning about romance books since I haven’t been reading them that long. Susan Elizabeth Phillips has a series based around football players, and Jamieson has hockey. I’ve also learned that Jase is a very popular in contemporary romance.

This Jase is a hockey player with a fictional Chicago professional hockey team. He has several brothers who also play and they are from Canada.

Remi is a teacher who lost her parents as a young woman, and basically raised her younger siblings. The youngest has just moved out and her friends think she should go out clubbing, find a guy and live a little. She’s not sure about all that, but she agrees to go. While at the club, she escapes a few creeps and meets Jase when she asks him to do her a favor. She’s not really his type but all she wants is to talk for a few minutes so everyone else will leave her alone.

The next thing you know, they are back at her place and she is having major fun, and so is he. He promises he’ll call but a few days later, Remi is in her classroom waiting for the hockey stars who agreed to help with the after school remedial reading program. Of course Jase is one of them. Remi knows nothing about hockey but her students do, and she really cares about them. On the other hand, Jase had a lot of trouble in school and really hates teachers, so he is over Remi in a heartbeat.

Of course working together for several weeks keeps throwing them together and they start seeing each other, just for fun. But fun eventually turns to love, but not before they have to overcome some obstacles along the way.

This was a fun, sexy read and I will be looking for more from this author. These appear to be self published, but I’d bet there was a professional editor involved with Jamieson’s books – they are too good.

9/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

BREAKAWAY by Kelly Jamieson. Kelly Jamieson; 2 edition (April 24, 2015). ISBN 978-0991853274.  234p.

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