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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I don’t have a great literary background story for you on how my book hit the big time, or any “awe” love story that pushed me to write it. To be honest, I’m a bartender at a local hole in the wall in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, and I just get to hear and see a lot of shit.

What I didn’t expect was a cult-like following of women to read my book of words and start a hateration on dead-beat men.

I don’t dance. Mainly because I don’t know how to, so this game of who can make who jealous more, quickly starts blowing up in my face, since I look like I’m having a seizure over trying to get hot and heavy on the dance floor.

My love got so messy, it should have come with a cleaning kit. To say it was a bit turbulent at times was an understatement.

My Review:

No matter how carefully I shop, I often come home with a new carton of eggs only to later notice an obvious fissure in one of them.   Love Broken was my twelfth J.D. Hollyfield read, and my least favorite of the otherwise crack-free dozen.   I started off with a smirk and high expectations, anticipating writing up another 5-Star review for the crafty author I had previously experienced to be cleverly amusing, but my smile and projected rating started to slip, bounced a bit, then plummeted with a grimace for an uncomfortably long stretch while I actively sighed, before finally resuming to a habitable level again shortly before I ran out of pages and optimism.

My chief source of consternation was my lack of appreciation for the irritable main character of Katie, and all the brooding, conflict, and angst she mired herself with. I had adored previous readings of Ms. Hollyfield’s amusing work and had aspirations of liking this one as well, so I expended a considerable amount of energy while endeavoring to find some admirable traits in the cowardly Katie.   However, other than her witty snark and euphoric sexual chemistry with the cut, buff, and swoon-worthy character of Charlie/Chase, I found Katie rather tedious and exasperating; the annoyingly cranky and immature type of personality I actively avoid in real life.   Katie was bitterly insecure, bitingly bitchy, irresponsible, and tiresomely stubborn. I couldn’t fathom why the besotted Charlie/Chase would bother with her, other than the explosive sensual gymnastics they performed. Sizzle and snap! They scorched the sheets!

Don’t get me wrong. Love Broken was not a bad book, just not as balanced or engagingly entertaining as I have come to expect from the talented wordsmith. Despite the periodic sparkles of clever humor, I read with a darkening sense of personal disappointment that blossomed into dire discontent, which then morphed into disenchantment and near despair, but I ended on a higher note of relief with the desirable destination of a satisfying HEA conclusion. Could I have possibly added more d-words to that sentence?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

…the air was filled with a scent that seemed to be synonymous with the elderly. Sage tried to figure the smell out, but the closest thing she could ever come up with was Bengay for arthritis mixed with contraband candy.

She confiscated the candy and reminded David Lark that a man with diabetes shouldn’t feed his disease. “Come on! I gave up women. I gave up alcohol. I gave up swearing. I’m dying.” He watched her tuck the candy bar into her pocket.

When Sage opened her mouth, the man popped a Life Saver from its wrapper straight into it. The cherry flavor coated her tongue. She wasn’t sure if it was supposed to ease the pain or shut her up. It did both.

I work for peanut butter cups and Skittles… I’m cheap, but I’m not easy.

She’d arrived and disrupted his status quo, making him realize it had been status woe.

My Review:

I adored this sweet small-town romance as I have every other Kelly Collins book I have ever picked up. Her characters tend to be flawed, wounded, endearing, and doing their best in a difficult situation and the main characters of this entertaining tale, Cannon and Sage, fit this description as well. The storylines were fresh, relevant, emotive, and thoughtfully observant with hits of humor and steam. I am excited about this new series of stand-alone stories and am already looking forward to the next installment.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Guys often approached her, but she was painfully shy and socially awkward. The last time a hot guy spoke to her, he asked if he could buy her a drink and she just looked at him, then blurted, “I put make-up on dead people.” Yes, Alesha was a beautician at a funeral parlour—a fact I kept advising her to save for at least the second date, but her awkwardness always beat out her common sense.

I, on the other hand, was short and a little on the round side. Growing up, my aunt used to assure me that I was like a caterpillar, eating my way through all the leaves until I spun my cocoon and emerged a beautiful butterfly. She lied. I’m still a chubby caterpillar.

Um… please tell me that’s a tube of tennis balls you’re carrying in your pants… I, uh… think a baby elephant is missing a trunk somewhere…

Why would I be afraid? I stand in a refrigerated room and put make-up on corpses for a living. This is the most excitement I’ve had in years.

We’d gone to see the ballet at the Opera House and ridden the ferry to the zoo. I’d thrown up over the side and she’d laughed it off, telling me the fish would be grateful for the extra treat. I’d cried harder because we’d been eating fish and chips. I didn’t want the fish to be cannibals.

My Review:

I am conflicted about how to evaluate this book. On one hand, it had a sweet and highly erotic love story with an interesting premise, and the writing was often humorous and witty enough to bring a smirk to my lips, but… I struggled with some of the storylines as well as the characters. Nate was an erotic, filthy talking, porn-star worthy lover with a huge sacred member that was ultimately and aptly named Goliath. Yet Nate and his peculiar family were unapologetic criminals with a complicated family dynamic. They were sexy, crass, spoke with prolific profanity, and had a callous disregard for their victims or working people in general. I had initially liked the feisty Holland until a night of earth-shattering sex seemed to have the pernicious effect of obliterating all rational sense, as she devolved into an addled moron.

After their night of porn-star worthy sex, Nate had drugged her and stripped her apartment bare of all her worldly possessions while she slept, even took her purse and ID, and stole her car. The best sex she had ever had turned out to be costly on every level. But honestly, who would give a man a second chance after that? Or, a third chance after he did it again? But she did and he did, and then they oddly ended up married. Holland loved her husband and wasn’t afraid of him, but she feared his family, and for good reason. Most women often feel as if their mother-in-law would like to kill them off or see them gone, but this steely mother-in-law was no small menace, she informed the hapless Holland, more than once, exactly how she would slit her throat – yikes. I think I would have made tracks well before but most certainly would have after that, Goliath or not!