Making It by Christine d’Abo
3 of 5 stars

An MMA fighter and a phlebotomist are estranged husbands who come back together after three years apart. There’s a secret baby, there’s a hero who seems beyond redemption at the beginning after walking away from his husband on the night of their surrogate mother’s second miscarriage, and it somehow all works in less than 300 pages. How? I don’t even know, dude, I don’t even know.

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Permanent Ink by Avon Gale

This was really good. Deliciously so.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first because Poe, one of the main characters, seemed to be a little, immature pain-in-the-you-know-what, but the character growth is so fantastic it’s worth putting up with his tomfoolery. Not only does the younger main character in this May-December romance grow exponentially but the older character has some of his own growth moments as well. (By the way, the two of them together is like whoa. I’m not really a fan of the particular kink these two get up to, but that chemistry.)

I was pleasantly surprised by what the conflict ultimately ended up being about. And the way it was resolved worked so well. This is what I need contemporary romance to be: realistic conflicts that resolve because the characters act like adults. Also, I really liked the different interpretation of the second chances trope in this.

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Wake Up Call by J.L. Merrow
4 of 5 stars

This is the first book in Riptide’s Porthkennack series, and what a great start it is.

Dev Thompson is a young mechanic from South London visiting the fictional Cornish town of Porthkennack to meet someone he’s dreamed about meeting for a long time. He meets Kyle Anthony when Kyle suddenly collapses onto a bench, and no one goes to help him except Dev. Turns out everyone in town thinks Kyle’s an alcoholic, including Ceri, a server whom Dev befriends at a cafe. Ceri is cynical and sardonic, and their banter is entertaining.

Kyle is not an alcoholic. He has narcolepsy with cataplexy, a terrible sleep disorder that Merrow adeptly demonstrates is largely misunderstood. He has fled to Porthkennack after receiving his diagnosis and lives as a recluse from his former life as a barrister with a partner who left him.

Dev and Kyle are instantly attracted to each other, but they dance around each other a bit before giving in. There isn’t a lot of steaminess, yet their sexy times are believable and passionate. Their chemistry is palpable. The development of their relationship is marked by a lot of emotional disagreements. Both of our heroes are enduring different stresses that fuel these disagreements as well as serve as the sources of their hang ups about pursuing a relationship beyond a vacation fling.
There is miscommunication, but it’s not the type that usually makes me roll my eyes; it’s believable.

Merrow also writes the secondary characters, including the town of Porthkennack, so well. The world really comes to life and feels like a place where real people exist and struggle to live. I wouldn’t call this a light read at all, although there is humor and Britishness aplenty. The humor keeps the book from actually becoming dark, despite the heavy subjects it tackles.

I hope the rest of the Porthkennack series is as good as this. Merrow knocked it out of the park.

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Rainbow Sprinkles by Anna Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cooper is an average guy spending his days working at an ice cream shop called The Dreamy Creamery and his nights working at a dive bar to pay his probably astronomical L.A. rent. Drew is the hot guy who likes to order weird ice cream combinations each week and always asks for rainbow sprinkles. He’s also a real-life Disney prince. No, really; he works as an actor at Disneyland.

This is Martin’s entry into Dreamspinner’s States of Love series, and it doesn’t disappoint. As the cover and title suggest, it’s sweet and cute. Cooper and Drew’s relationship develops in a believable, ordinary way. Their strong feelings for each other are clear from the beginning, but the differences in their approaches to life are what cause the central conflict. Twenty-four year old Cooper’s approach to life is particularly believable in someone so young, and it was satisfying to see his growth as a character.

I wish this had been a bit longer so we could’ve gotten more of the characters’ backstories and a longer epilogue. But these are minor niggles. If you like rainbow sprinkles (who doesn’t?), you’ll like this.

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Working It by Christine d’Abo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this so much more that I thought I would. Based on the reviews, I was a little doubtful if it would be for me, but boy was it for me. I didn’t realize that boss/secretary–or boss/admin assistant as it were–is some of my catnip.

Nolan Carmichael is still recovering from a terrible event that left him with PTSD and physical scars when he goes to an interview for an executive assistant position. He gets the job, but it’s as the assistant to the notorious CTO Zack Anderson, who has run his last four assistants off with his sterling personality. Nolan proves to be the competent, organizational force that Zack didn’t know he needed, and Zack finds himself attracted to Nolan despite himself.

Nolan and Zack are opposites, and it is delicious (more of my catnip, apparently). The push and pull works, especially when Nolan draws the line at the amount of disrespect he’ll take from Zack. Their chemistry is palpable as they go from a strictly professional relationship to tentative friendship and then to lovers. This arc works so well because the characters are so well drawn; they’re complex and flawed, and each have their own fears to overcome.

I look forward to reading the next installment in the series, and I definitely recommend this if you’re looking for a smartly paced, skillfully-written romance.

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Soufflés at Sunrise by M.J. O’Shea

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is another light read from O’Shea, this time with Anna Martin. The premise is a cooking show competition. Chase Christiansen and Kailua Chin are both competitors on Burned, a Top Chef style show. They experience instant attraction upon meeting, but the producers of the show expect Kai and Chase to have an on camera rivalry. Meanwhile, their romance blossoms steadily over the weeks of filming.

What I liked about this was the development of the relationship. There are no big conflicts keeping them apart at the beginning. They pursue a relationship off camera, and it’s pleasant and sweet. The real central conflict comes from the characters’ internal hang ups.

The plot and pacing were well done, but I wish there had been more focus on the challenges themselves. (That’s only because I eat up cooking competitions.) The emphasis was always on the relationship, which is how it should be in a romance.

If you want a light, fun read that heavily involves food, check this out.

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