Love is a multi-faceted emotion. There are so many words that can describe this one feeling from anger to lust, pain to happiness, attraction to hatred. So many feelings are wrapped up in this one word, therefore it's fitting that Fool for Love explores the effects of love both good and bad. A trio of talented authors give glimpses into the emotional havoc we can LOVE.

His Valentine's Secret by Beverly Oakley - From a painful breakup to a plot for revenge. The road to happily ever after leads Lisette on a journey of darkness and hurt pride. Can she let go of the pain of the past for a second chance at happiness?

Truly, My Love by Donna Cummings - A sham of convenience, has a surprising Twist. Ms. Cummings lightens up the mood with this adorable couple.

A Husband for Mary by Heather Boyd - A mysterious kiss leads to an all to familiar emotion. Can a leopard change it's spots? Or will risking her heart turn into Mary's biggest heartache?

Heather Boyd, Beverly Oakley and Donna Cummings approach this complex emotion with a hint of humor, a ton of mystery and a wealth of wisdom. Fool for Love is a wonderful ode to romance.

Heartbreaker's Bet by Donna Cummings
Published by Selfpublished on 8 December 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 78
Format: Kindle
Source: Kindle Purchase


Reading Challenges: 2015 New Release Challenge

I need someone to help me become a heartbreaker. And I've picked you.

Bettina Knox's dating life was a disaster. What she needed was some expert instruction on becoming the love-'em-and-leave-'em type. Luckily she found the perfect man for the job - a professional-grade flirter, adored by every woman he encountered. It was all fun and games, until she started falling for her way-too-sexy teacher.

So you want me to give you all my secrets for breaking hearts. Even though I'm not convinced I've ever broken any.

Troy Callahan thought he'd heard it all in his years of owning a popular sports pub. Then this sweet, sassy woman waltzed up insisting he was going to teach her how to break hearts. He'd been a wingman forever, so why not help her unleash her inner bad girl? There was just one problem: turning Bet into a heartbreaking assassin had somehow put his own heart at risk.

Heartbreaker’s Bet is set in the same universe as Back on Track, and it is a light, sweet, humorous and sassy romance!

 

My Heartbreaker’s Bet review:

While Heartbreaker’s Bet is short story, Cummings still managed to have enough character development to reel me in, and the humor had me laugh out loud in several places. Both Troy and Bet just wanted something more… something they hadn’t been able to find in their lives before, and while their relationship started out with Bet picking him to help her become a heartbreaker, their chemistry rocked right off the charts from the beginning! Add in a little rivalry between Troy’s bar and another bar, plus some sassy dialogues, and you have the ingredients for a great story!

 

Between the flirting and getting to know each other better, Troy and Bet changed in subtle ways, and I enjoyed being taken along for the ride. I’m also happy to have a great drink recipe to use in my Thursday feature soon, as Troy’s bartending skills are definitely up to par.

 

Written in third person point of view, past tense, the omniscient narrator knew exactly what to share about the characters to make Heartbreaker’s Bet a fabulous story. If you’re looking for something with a good pace, and that you can read in an afternoon (or in a morning, or an evening) you should definitely pick this one up!

 

Some of my favorite Heartbreaker’s Bet quotes:

Bettina picked up her purse, ready to leave the bar. Another date, with another seemingly great guy, but with the same predictable ending. There was never a second date once they found out she was a kindergarten teacher. For Pete’s sake, it wasn’t like she had given birth to twenty kids. There wasn’t a busload of boisterous five-year-olds outside, eager to join her for a restaurant “field trip”.

 

Troy glanced at his watch once more, although he wasn’t sure why. He was early. At least five minutes early, although when he’d checked his watch five minutes ago, he was ten minutes early.

 

When he’d had this bright idea of hiring Bet, she had been a sweetly sassy school-teacher who needed some remedial help with her flirting skills. Now she was a sweetly sexy woman who needed to jump into his arms and get his heart restarted with some long-term mouth-to-mouth action. 

Delia gets dumped after an awkward day when they were supposed to celebrate their anniversary, and a string of bad luck strikes her when she tries to get back on the dating arena. It must be a Bad Ex karma.
Even with help from her friends it doesn´t let up, until she meets the gorgeous chef Jonathan. Dare she take the chance again?
Fast paced read, contemporary romance and giggles, with smutty fluff in a great combo.

Bad Ex Karma - Donna Cummings
Published by: Selfpublished, on 10 June 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Author
Reading Challenges: 2015 New Release Challenge

The dating gods must be crazy.

I'd thought my five-year anniversary would include a fancy dinner, some great sex, and maybe fending off a marriage proposal. Instead, it was the worst sex ever, and at the restaurant, my boyfriend broke up with me.

It's like I've been cursed with Bad Ex Karma. Whenever I try to date a new guy, he ends up with a concussion or a trip to the ER.

My internal "disaster consultants", the What Ifs, completely missed the clues leading to the breakup, so now they're working overtime to protect me from another potential heartbreak. My two best friends set me up on dates while assuring me it won't put men on the endangered species list.

There's one man who seems completely immune to the curse: a sexy chef named Jonathan. He keeps popping up in my life, and he stirs up the most delicious feelings. Maybe Bad Ex Karma isn't such a bad thing after all. . .

Bad Ex Karma has Cummings’ trademark humor that I love so much, that, and the female friendships, the love of wine, and the hot male lead all made it a spectacular read!

My Bad Ex Karma review:

The beginning of Bad Ex Karma was both sad and very emotional, because Bradley actually broke up with Delia at the restaurant where he had taken her to celebrate their five years anniversary! What a douche, right? He had even taken her quite far from home so she couldn’t just stomp out of there and leave him to his own devices. She did manage to buckle up and order the most expensive wine on the menu, though, along with a side of lobster.

The aftermath of the break-up was also quite sad, but Bad Ex Karma still included so many humorous scenes it was hard to choose my fave quotes! Carly and Brooke were truly amazing friends to Delia, even if they might have taken the meddling to a level I would have personally been uncomfortable with. First helping Delia move in, which was awesome, then starting to pester her to start dating again, they were truly relentless – just like best friends should be. The first blind date they sent Delia on didn’t really work very well, though, especially because Delia noticed that both she and her date were checking out the handsome waiter…

Little by little, Delia got out of her funk, and actually managed to meet someone special by chance at a farmer’s market. And this new romance between Jonathan and Delia was both delicious and very funny! Delia was a hoot of a main character, even when she was heart-broken, she was able to find something to laugh about, and she showed her inner strength at more than one occasion. Between the friendships, the wine-tasting business, Jonathan’s job as a chef and the romance sprinkled with humor, I had such a great time with Bad Ex Karma I will possibly read it again!

Written in first person point of view, past tense, I got to know Delia pretty well, and through her eyes I got to know the other characters as well! A perfect read for a hot summer day, if you enjoy romantic comedies, Bad Ex Karma is the book for you!

Some of my favorite Bad Ex Karma quotes:

Done? It wasn’t possible. We were just getting started. I slumped in my chair, blinking back tears, not wanting him to know just how much he had wounded me. I also wanted to yell, “This is so cliché! Do you know how many books on my nightstand start out this exact way!”

When the wine splashed into the glass, it was a beautiful dark ruby hue, the exact color of my battered heart. I swirled the glass and gave the contents a quick sniff before taking a sip, rolling the rich liquid around my mouth.

Three flights of stairs later, and I was cursing Bradley for having the audacity to continue drawing breath every day.
“Jesus,” I said. “I don’t know how I’m going to do this.” My voice sounded piteous, on the verge of an emotional toxic leak, But Carly either ignored it or didn’t detect it.
“You’re so clever, Delia,” she marveled, waiting for me at the top of the stairs. “You found a lace with a built-in exercise program.”

Lord Wastrel - Donna Cummings
Series: The Curse of True Love #2
Published by: Selfpublished, on 2 November 2014
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance
Pages: 167, Format: eARC
Source: Author

When Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, plays matchmaker, true love can seem like a curse. . .

Lord Wastrel--the most notorious rake in London--has a child? Clearly he knows how to sire one, but he has no idea how to actually raise one. He has to learn quickly, since he is the little girl's only surviving parent, and he's determined to find a wife who can be a suitable mother. All he needs is someone demure, and biddable, and most importantly, scandal-free.

Lady Felicia Selby is no stranger to scandal, thanks to her numerous failed elopements and Society's insatiable curiosity about her misadventures. She has devoted many years to finding her one true love, desperate to escape the consequences of the family curse if she fails. But she has begun to give up hope.

Then, one evening, a chance encounter with Aphrodite changes everything.

*I received a free ARC of Lord Wastrel from Donna Cummings in exchange of an honest and unbiased review*

 

Filled with Cummings’ trademark humor, her penchant for naughty heroines and converted rakes, Lord Wastrel hit exactly the right spot!

 

My Lord Wastrel review:

Delightful, humorous, filled with stubborn characters and a Goddess of Love who needs to seek amends, Lord Wastrel appealed to me on all levels. Very well written, in third person past tense, I got to know Felicia and Hugh very well, and the supporting cast of characters was amazing as well. Cummings always manages to tickle my funny bone, she has such a way with words, it’s just impossible not to fall in love with her characters, flaws and all.

 

Felicia and Hugh both were fighting against what they thought they were cursed with, and they did it in such a way that they found themselves in almost impossible situations. Felicia was sure she only had a few more weeks to find her one true love, so she eloped with various gentlemen only to leave them high and dry on the road. Hugh suddenly found himself the sole parent of a daughter he never knew existed, and so he decided to put his days as Lord Wastrel behind to become a doting father. And to do so, he thought he needed a demure, quiet woman to become his wife. Fate, and Aphrodite, had other plans…

 

Needless to say, a demure woman was not what Hugh needed, and Felicia had actually known her one true love her whole life.  The way she went about getting Hugh to accept her as his future wife rather than ‘flighty Felicia’ did make her work harder, though. But she soon managed to take up a big place in his heart. The hotness between these two characters was scorching, too, and I had to fan myself both when they were on a carriage ride, and when they finally got naked together in bed.

 

If you’re looking for a different take on historical romance, where the heroine is definitely unconventional, and where the hero is so reluctant he seems to be the one who protests too much, you should hurry up and get your own copy of Lord Wastrel ASAP, it’s only $0.99 for kindle. And so is the first book in the series, Lord Rakehell’s Love. If you’re hesitating, my review is for the first book is here.

 

Some of my favorite Lord Wastrel quotes:

She bit back a laugh, especially when she saw her aunt’s face flushed with excitement. “Great-Aunt Uproar” loved nothing more than gossip and scandal, no matter who was the source of it. Fortunately Felicia had managed to provide a great deal of enjoyment for her beloved relative.

 

He was nearly swamped with an unexpected feeling of betrayal. Even stranger, it felt as though he was betraying Felicia, not the woman who would soon be his wife.

Realization slammed into him. Dear Lord. He had fallen asleep. On his wedding night. This was much worse than his reckless wastrel days. He had become much too dull if he could not remain awake while a seductive woman was in his bed.

 

“Felicia, confound you. I cannot even apologize without you being entirely contrary!” “And I was about to say the same of you. You are impossible, Hugh. You always have been. It is beyond me how you found a woman to marry you.” “I am fortunate my wife proposed to me.”