The Australian Bestseller Box Set by
Sarah Mayberry
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
Almost a Bride by Sarah Mayberry
Tara Buck and Reid Dalton are cops in the small town of Marietta, Montana. Reid only returned about a year ago after his father took a nasty fall in their orchards and took longer than expected to heal. Reid is shocked one day, on his way home from a basketball game, to see Tara's fiancé Simon leaving a motel with a woman that is defined rely not Reid's partner Tara. After he breaks the news to Tara she realises that she has got engaged to a 'safe' man to avoid the devastation her mother suffered when her father left - that didn't work out so well.
When Tara decides to do all the things she was afraid to try before, because she was playing it safe, her twin Scarlett gets concerned and calls Reid worried she might have crashed her motorbike or be in trouble at the rough bar with bucking bronco ride.
Tara and Reid as on the unspoken chemistry between them, but with Reid set to leave Montana soon and Tara with her family and roots firmly in Marietta it can only ever be a fling, or can it?
Sweet, sext romance with a man in uniform not afraid to strip off for a good cause.
The Honeymoon Trap by Kelly Hunter
As I think I said about the second book in this series of books about the Jackson brothers, the blurb for the book is totally misleading.
Eli Jackson, the youngest of three brothers who own a family boat building business is a bit anti-social, His girlfriend died five years ago and he has never got over it, Every Friday night he plays some role playing game with a group of friends, including a girl whose name is Fuzzy. On this Friday the other two players haven't turned up so Eli gets his brothers to help out. Soon they have wheedled all sorts of information out of Fuzzy, or Zoey as she is really called and laughingly presided over a mock wedding in the game (to get free weapons upgrades or something).
A few days later Eli's brother tells him that he has asked Zoey (pretending to be Eli) if she wants to join him at a gaming conference for a week - 'apparently' he has a spare ticket and bed in a twin room because one of his friends dropped out.
Of course when Eli and Zoey arrive at the hotel they discover that his brothers couldn't resist meddling and have booked them into the Honeymoon suite!
This is a short book but packed full of humour. I loved the gaming references, the steampunk costumes and the constant eating (hey, it's New Year's Day I've been eating solidly for a week). Zoey is a feisty character, full of fun and life. Eli is a bit angsty and there is a wonderful line when his brother says "Sounds like she has enough on her plate without you and your emo bullshit making it worse" - love that someone finally calls fictional characters on their angst.
Oddly, the first two books are actually part of two different series - Kelly Hunter seems to get involved in series where different authors write books in the series - this is the third one of hers I have read which is part of a multi-author series.
Some Girls Do by Amy Andrews
loved this book. For the first in a series it absolutely zings from the very first page.
Cooper is sitting in a Brisbane bar, a former police officer he has become a mechanic after being shot twice in the line of duty. Across the bar he gets the come on from a beautiful woman, Tracy, she seems to be suggestion a quickie in the toilets but he sits tight and they end up spending the night together.
A few days later, Cooper meets his best friend Ethan in the same bar. Ethan asks Coop to look after his baby sister, Lacey, who is in college in Brisbane. When Ethan asks why Coop is distracted he replies that he thinks he might have met "The One". Of course we know where this is going, Tracy is actually Lacey and instead of being 25 as claimed is actually 19.
A couple of years pass. Lacey occasionally asks Coop for help, usually of the "my car broke down can you give me a lift" variety, but sometimes of the "I'm drunk and made some bad decisions" variety. After her long time boyfriend turns out to be very married, Lacey turns up at Coop's door, cold, wet and distraught. After this latest catastrophe Lacey is determined to move back home - no matter what her domineering older brothers have to say.
Of course it all goes wrong as expected when Lacey's three older brothers try to guilt trip her into finishing college. When Ethan says the only way she is coming home is with a degree, married or pregnant Lacey lies and says she is pregnant. Coop assumes that the father must be the married low life and jumps into the breach when the shouting starts by saying he is the father.
Soon Coop and Lacey are living together in a hotel suite above the pub, pretending they are a couple whilst trying to keep their hands off each other.
I loved Coop, Lacey was sweet as a young woman who had made some silly life choices and whose brothers wouldn't listen to what she wanted. Of course what she wants is Coop, but he is adhering to the bro code that you never sleep with your best friend's little sister. Until he's not!
Although everything is a foregone conclusion I loved the way it got there and this was just as good as the last book (which I read first!).
The Bride Who Wouldn't by Carol Marinelli
Three and a half stars.
Read as part of the Australian Bestsellers Box Set.
This reads like an old fashioned category romance complete with fake relationships, marriages of convenience and a virgin bride. And yet, I did love it!
Kate entered into a bizarre contract with an elderly Russian millionaire called Ivor, a fake relationship including a marriage of one year, in return for three million pounds. Unfortunately, Ivor died before they could get married and under the terms of the contract she must repay the million pound downpayment to his nephew Isaak - money that her family has already spent/ wasted.
At first Isaak thinks Kate must be a bimbo fortune hunter but once he meets her he finds her very different to what he expected. In order to take press speculation away from his brother's recent bereavement and his own playboy lifestyle he offers her a deal. The same contract that his uncle offered her - a one year marriage. But the joke is on Isaak because Kate and Ivor had no intention of consummating their marriage and she has no intention of having sex with Isaak. Kate believes herself frigid and incapable of a normal sexual relationship, she thinks Isaak will demand an annulment once he discovers he is to remain celibate for one year or pay Kate in full - but she doesn't know her new husband that well.
As Isaak takes Kate to Paris for a romantic honeymoon and 'Pretty Woman's her in glitzy shops could they be falling in love?
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Home For Christmas by Tracey Alvarez
