11. Fiance for Hire by Nina Strych

read on my iPhone (Kindle Unlimited)
2016 self published?
183 pgs.
Adult romance
Finished 1/25/2019
Goodreads rating: 3.79 - only 42 ratings so far
My rating: 2.5 (Sizzle factor 3/4)
Setting: Contemporary Washington, DC

First line/s: "Gianna's phone buzzed with the ring-tone that belonged only to her mother."

My comments:  Ha ha - I love that the end of the Goodreads summary it says that these Escort books are "a series of stand-alone contemporary romances, each featuring a new woman and her escort as they take their unique path toward love."  Crack me up!  Unique path towards love!  You've read one, you've read them all...but I keep on reading them, lol, for light, humorous pleasure! (It WAS free, after all...)

Goodreads synopsis:  Gianna’s family has almost driven her to insanity. On her thirtieth birthday, things went too far when her mother wore black and cried over Gianna’s single state. Her career in bustling Washington, D.C. is all she wants to focus on for the moment, so she develops a plan that should stop all the pressure for good. If they want her to marry, she’ll get that fiancé they crave for her...and won’t they be sorry she did.
           As a fake fiancé, Logan is ideal. Handsome, bright, funny, and up for the game. The only problem? He’s too handsome, bright, funny, and a match for every game Gianna can devise. As he quickly escalates from escort to co-conspirator, Gianna finds herself far too eager for every appointment. Whether at dinner with the parents or swimming in the sea, every glance or touch sends her body into overdrive. As the game intensifies, so does the electricity between them…and Logan might be just the live wire she’s been waiting her whole life to touch.

7. Accidental Romeo by Nicole Snow

read on my iPhone (free on Kindle Unlimited)
2019, Ice Lips Press
440 pgs.
Adult romance Xrated
Finished 1/13/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.33 - 796 ratings
My rating: 3

First line/s:  "Of course, I'll deliver the cake."

My comments:  Geez, once you start reading some of these romance (or should I say, smutty) stories, it's hard to stop!  I'm not sure where the title comes from, it doesn't seem to go along with the story at all, lol. Whoever wrote the synopsis for Goodreads must have read a different version than I did, too!  It's a very cute story with a bit of tension here and there, the bad guy is such a bad guy and we all know he's a bad guy except for the good guy-his closest friend.  Oh well, no one's perfect!  Love that the female protagonist is a baker and cake decorator.  Hate that the bitchy, horrible sister magically becomes pretty much a different person at the end of the book --which is less than a month later.  I loved her as a bitch.  For the most part, this was fun to read.  Sizzle level: 4

Goodreads synopsis:  Accidentally his. Fun fact: Fate is a four letter word.

A perfect stranger just kissed away the worst day of my life.
Emphasis on perfect.
Hunter Forsythe is so far out of my league I can't even buy tickets.
And now he's insta-date to my stuck up sister's wedding?!

Brace for everything to go hilariously wrong.
But my mysterious new hero is no flipping joke.
Rich as sin. Knockout eyes. A snarlypants single dad. Muscle, muscle everywhere.
Too good for the quiet baker girl no one ever noticed.

Then I find out what – and who – put him up to this insanity.
I'm so mad I could spit nails.
Imagine my surprise when Romeo keeps coming.
Hear my door slamming in his face.
Witness my jaw hanging when he starts wooing me for real.

Dream dates, family dinners, and soul-branding nights.
I'm in full Juliet mode before I see the crack in his world.
The longing. The loss. The secrets. The danger.
Does love even fit in Hunter's jagged heart?
Or is a Shakespearean tragedy in our stars?

From Wall Street Journal bestselling author Nicole Snow – a tale of pretend love turned way too real. See the sparks fly when tight wound alpha protector gets a taste of his ultimate Sugar and Spice. Full length romance novel with a Happily Ever After roller coaster! 

102. The Rule Breaker by Cat Carmine

read on my iPhone
2018 Createspace Independent
268 pgs.
Adult romance
Finished 12/17/2018
Goodreads rating: 4.19 - 461 ratings
My rating:  3.5

First line/s:  "Eight inches of wood has never looked quite so terrifying."

My comments:  I guess I'm going nuts.  I'm getting soft, too  Or perhaps I'm just in the mood for something different, light, fun, and sexy because this is the second one like that I've read in the last 24 hours!  So ridiculously unreal and deliciously fun.  However, it does get particularly tiresome that all the heroines have incredible bodies, are absolutely gorgeous, and are as smart as whips.  AND one or both of the protagonists are usually extremely wealthy (I'm not going to complain about the rock hard abs or the ultra-superior....other....parts....)  Bad me...

Goodreads synopsis:  He’s the bad boy … but I’m the one breaking all the rules. 
          I’ve always been the quintessential good girl. I don’t just follow the rules — I write them. As an advice columnist, I’m always telling people how to not screw up their lives. 
          So you’d think I’d know better than to bang some random guy in a bar bathroom. 
          But nope. Apparently not. 
          Now I’ve got even bigger problems, though. Because it turns out that wasn’t just some random guy. It was Tyler Grant. Rich. Playboy. Devastatingly gorgeous. Oh, and the publisher of my new dating advice book. 
          All my instincts are telling me to run like hell. It’s what I’d advise anyone else to do. 
          But nope. I’ve had a taste, and I’m hooked. 
          Now I’m calling him at ungodly hours and showing up at his house drunk and begging for sex and tacos. In other words, breaking every rule in my own damn book. 
          Of course, you don’t have to be an advice columnist to know a bad boy and a good girl are never going to work out. Someone’s going to get their heart broken. 
          And my guess? It isn’t going to be him.

101. Part-Time Lover by Lauren Blakely

read on my iPhone
2018, self published?
308 pgs.
Contemporary Romance
Finished 12*26*18
Goodreads rating:  4.03 - 2825 ratings
My rating: 3.5 (sizzle 4/4)
Setting: contemporary Paris & Copenhagen, but mostly indoors, lol....

First line/s:  "I'll say this about Christian - he made one hell of a first impression."

My comments:  It's cool to find a book that's just plain fun to read.  I've started to enjoy the romances I've chosen lately, a genre I've always fled, the ones that you know exactly how they're going to end but are fun and sassy and eye-rolling and sexy along the way.  This is the second marriage of convenience novel I've read recently and it was a great way to completely forget my own life for a bit and revel in someone else's.  And I love that it takes place in Paris and Copenhagen!

Goodreads synopsis:  A sexy new standalone romance from #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Lauren Blakely!
          I’ll say this about Christian — he made one hell of a first impression.
When I first saw the strapping man, he was doing handstands naked on a dock along the canal. His crown jewels were far more entertaining than anything else I’d seen on the boat tour, so I did what any curious woman would do — I took his photo. I might have looked at the shot a few dozen times. Little did I know I’d meet him again, a year later, at a secret garden bar in the heart of the city, where I’d learn that his mind and his mouth were even more captivating. But given the way my heart had been trampled, I wanted only a simple deal — No strings. No expectations. 
Our arrangement worked well enough until the day I needed a lot more from him…

***
Let me just say, this whole part-time lover thing was her idea. I’d have gone all-in from the start, but hey, when a gorgeous, brilliant woman invites you into her bed, and only her bed…well, I said yes.
But then, one hysterical phone call from my brother later, begging me to find myself a wife so grandfather’s business stays in the family, and I need a promotion with Elise. Turns out a full-time husband suits her needs too, and a temporary marriage of convenience ought to do the trick, until we can simply untie the knot…

As long as no one finds out…
As long as no one gets hurt…
As long as no one falls in love…

But our ending was one I never saw coming

94. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

read on my iPhone
2018 Berkley
336 pgs.
Adult CRF - Romance
Finished 10/23/2018
Goodreads rating: 4.02 - 26,123 ratings
My rating: 5

First line/s:  "I know you hate surprises, Stella."

My comments:  Read this in one big swallow.  A young woman with Asbergers hires an escort because she knows she is so afraid of sex that she is frigid.  A delightful story, really well written, lots of sex - quite explicit, actually -with two very likable protagonists, Stella and Michael.  You know - you absolutely KNOW - that everything is going to turn out like a fairy tale, which makes it even more fun to read. Got to give this one a five for pure enjoyment!

Goodreads synopsis:  A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.
          Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases — a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.
          It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice — with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan — from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...
          Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...

39. The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

read on my iPhone and Kindle (on the plane to SF)
2018, Berkley Books
320 pgs.
Adult CRF - really Romantic Fiction (yuck, I never learn!)
Finished 4/27/18Goodreads rating:  3.6 - 7112 ratings
My rating:  2.5
Setting: Contemporary California - Berkeley and LA

First line/s:  "Alexa Monroe walked into the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco that night wearing her favorite red heels, feeling jittery from coffee, and carrying a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne in her purse."

My comments: I’m not going to say this book was horrible, because it started out well. But after about halfway through it was pretty much the same thing repeated over and over again. And again. Could’ve skipped all the way to the last chapter after the first hook up!

Goodreads synopsis: A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel.
          Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist.
          On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend...
          After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other... 
          They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want...