Sue Child

Comfort read and love scene masterclass

Lynne Graham is a comfort-read voice for me. Reading her is slipping into memories of previous favourites with echoes of  Lynne Graham heroes and heroines that enhance the reading experience.

That same voice kept me turning the pages--despite not being a fan of the playboy-trope--when I was suspicious of Rio’s motivations for thinking the worst of Ellie, who isn’t my favourite Lynne Graham heroine, but holds her own with other Mills and Boon Modern/Harlequin Presents’ heroines.

If voice and character carry the beginning, then I also loved how she delivers un-skippable love scenes....

The first love scene felt like an extension of how gorgeous the hero is and who’s going to say no to a Lynne-Graham hero…? SPOILER I loved how Ellie tells Rio to just get it over with and he’s affronted. END OF SPOILER

So we have triple helpings of backstory/conflict, misunderstanding and suspicion, overridden by high emotion and sexual tension, and a love scene where SPOILER Rio discovers that Ellie’s a virgin END OF SPOILER

A lovely emotional mess. *rubs hands together gleefully*

The second love scene almost made me *peer through fingers* and think: Oh, no, I’m afraid this is going to be page-filler and skippable. But it isn’t. It comes in the angry aftermath of falling out during their wedding. I won’t go into details as there’ll be more spoiler tags than review if I’m not careful! And it ends on an emotional low note. Low note for the relationship, not for the writing.

Third love scene--I’m definitely going to skip this, aren’t I? but thought with a lot more uncertainty and a lot more willingness to read on and be proved wrong again. This time we’re eased into it with dialogue and see a different side of their relationship. A what-their-marriage-could-be-like side. Again, the love scene ends on an emotional turning point, making it impossible to look away.

The flipside of reading a writer whose previous characters still share the pages with you, is that it creates high expectations and I found myself measuring this not only against the Modern/Presents’ line, but against other Lynne Graham’s, one of the authors who IS the line.

And I think The Italian’s One-Night Baby meets the expectations of readers already in love with her books, but there’s enough of where the line is at now to satisfy newer readers. Such as, the areas that I’d been suspicious of being too older-Presents (misunderstandings shoring up conflict and the trigger for the black moment) but which are borne of the hero and heroine’s pasts, particularly the hero’s.

Four out of five Lynne-Graham stars

Hot hero whose past casts dark shadows over their future

I love Bella Frances’ voice–the dialogue, the tight writing, the pace. You can’t help but feel for Lady Lucinda, aka Lucie, aka Dante’s “Princess,” who’s strong and vulnerable all at the same time. The emotions and descriptions are original and not generic. 

I love that there’s no initial deal or bargain struck—If you do this, I’ll do that--before the relationship is allowed to start. It just starts. As though they, and it, can’t help themselves. 

And we already know there’s something Dante needs….

I love both the polo playing and English nobility backdrops and the fleshed out families and friends who surround them--including the heroine’s family from hell who actually kind of grow on you, and add to the conflict and the central relationship and make the hero and heroine even more well-rounded in context. 

The writing is contemporary, unique and fresh, which is lovely, but at the same time, if I measure this against my expectations of the Harlequin Presents/Mills and Boon Modern line, then Dante, as hot and gorgeous as he is, and he is, isn’t quite Presents’ alpha enough for me. Shrugs I know! So it’s a bit light on the Presents’ alpha male. And, even though I loved the cast of dysfunctional families and hero-material polo players, and I really did, it does dilute the intensity and emotion slightly in places. It’s also a bit heavy on the love scenes, which felt more Tempted than Presents.  

But, measuring the story against my line-expectations aside, Bella Frances delivers a fast paced, emotional, sexy read with fab dialogue and lovely lines with a hot hero and easy-to-empathise-with heroine.

The hero’s conflict is summed up in one line which made me well up. LOOK AWAY NOW TO AVOID SPOILER  “I got lost Lucie. I’ve been lost. For years.” END OF SPOILER. It was lovely to see some closure with Lucie and her mother, Lady Viv, too. Actually, I could quite happily read more of this family and their relationships and step into this Presents’ world again as this book left me wanting more. Here’s hoping!

Gorgeous romance – emotional and evocative keeper!

The intense hero and heroine interaction of the first half--together with the intense conflict--held my attention and I didn’t want to put it down even then. Raul, the tortured hero, is gorgeous and yummy and I fell for him the same way Lydia does. The heroine, Lydia, is lovely and easy to identify with and root for.

Oh, and Rome!

Marinelli’s gorgeous voice is showcased to perfection; from how the love scenes are un-skippable and unique to the characters, and how they’re interwoven with emotion, conflict and characterisation; from the deep emotion and how the universal emotions experienced have to resonate at some level with the reader; and her unique take on conflict, and....

One of my pet peeves is where the hero and heroine are about to do or say something important. And are only prevented from doing so by interruption of the phone or another character arriving at a vital moment. I think heroes and heroines should decide to stop or not stop etc without the decision conveniently taken out of their hands to serve the dictates of plot. So I LOVED when the telephone isn’t allowed to interruptus and how Marinelli plays with it and then when it does, it doesn’t get in the way of their decisions/motivations.

Oh, and the Venice scenes sigh are romance personified. Atmospheric Venice, Murano glass, gondolas. Lydia and Raul’s romance matches the romance and sensuality and atmosphere of the setting and the one enhances the other.

One of only a couple of slight blips for me was SPOILER the discovery of the photograph of herself and Raul on the net delivered by her stepfather. This felt a bit of a Presents’ cliché (or classic depending on your viewpoint) but it does fit. And it is kept low key, even if a classic Presents key to be turned to detonate the relationship. END OF SPOILER

But this, and suspending my disbelief everso slightly over another crucial plot point, didn’t tarnish any of the stars of this five star plus read. Even when Lydia and Raul are apart it doesn’t affect the perfect pacing or fail to hold my attention, which was riveted on how they would be able to remake something so precious, their relationship beautifully embodied in the work of art that SPOILER got broken but was better because of it END OF SPOILER. If I haven’t already mentioned, I adored the deep emotion, characterisation and the uniqueness of their romance, and cried as Raul confronted his past, because of Lydia, and when they were mending their relationship.

Starts off well with a lovely contemp/fresh vibe that maintains the Presents’ feel/tone.

Fab first meet where you can’t help but identify with Aleksandra. She and Aristos are apart for about 10 pages after this but the writing is compelling enough for it not to be an issue...here. 

Aristos starts out as a yummy alpha that being told not to get involved with the princess starts to chip away at. Aleksandra’s emotional conflict is, at times, hard to pin down and the intensity diluted. 

The royal court of Akathinia is entertaining and I’m looking forward to more in Carrying the King’s Pride.

Engaging and fast-paced beginning with an empathisable-with heroine and Presents’ alpha male. Lots of lovely dialogue and the pacing of the first half is perfectly pitched.

Romance is at the heart of this keeper-shelf Modern

A Melanie Milburne is a safe bet for me. I've always loved her books, and this totally delivered on my expectations and some.

I was immediately engaged by her writing, and immersed in the world of the lovable heroine and gorgeous hero. I loved the 3D characters, the personality in the characterisation that brings them to life, the sexual tension and the pacing is on point. 

I particularly loved how the romance is kept front and centre.

Can't wait to set foot in the Ravensdales' world again so that I can get to know the other characters better and still have a window on Jake and Jaz's relationship.

Fun first meet. The garden, the sensuality, the dialogue and the lovely voice and writing meant I was deeply immersed pretty quickly.

Nine Months to Redeem Him by Jennie Lucas 

Hero to die for, heroine to cheer for, love story that made me cry, moody moors and rugged ruthlessness, writing with warmth and personality

4.5 stars