While contemporary romance isn’t my cup of tea, I absolutely loved Loebel’s paranormal/urban fantasy novels. So I decided to give her contemporary romance novel a try. I did enjoy it even if it didn’t wow me like her other novels.

Brideacuda! Ha! I love that phrase. Anna finds herself entered into the contest by her best friend but it means she can leave the Milwaukee winter for the tropical beaches of St. John’s island. Plus, she can bring one ‘stylist’ with her and she chooses her dad who has recently survived cardiac surgery. So right away I liked Anna.

Meanwhile, on St. John’s, the Andersons have cooked up this crazy idea of how to boost interest in their vacation hotel (the Paradise Resort) – host a contest to win the hand of the handsome Ryan Anderson! Chris Anderson isn’t too thrilled about it. He rather stay in the background and keep on fixing air conditioner units but he also knows that the resort needs the promotion. Ryan ends up eloping with the shows producer, Bobbie, so Chris gets stuck being the stand-in groom. He was none too pleased.

This story borders on being a romantic comedy, which I liked. There’s no slap stick comedy or totally ridiculous situations yet there still is humor. After all, we have these potential brides doing crazy stunts for each stage of the contest. Then there’s Chris with his Danish ancestry, humor towards Ryan, the secret Danish p0rn stash, and a tragedy that left him a bit scarred. I liked Anna’s character too but I felt we got more background on Chris.

So not all the potential brides are witches. Loni right away does Anna a favor and the two remained friends throughout the trials and tribulations of the show. Yay! It was good to see that not all the female side characters were horrible people.

There’s obvious sexual attraction between Chris and Anna right from the beginning and I really liked how it built and built. I didn’t care so much for the misunderstandings and apologies, etc. but that seems to be a requisite for this genre. I was a little sad that we didn’t get any sex scenes. Sigh… But I imagined that they had a very good time.

The ending is sweet and charming. All told, I did enjoy this story despite it being a contemporary romance. 4/5 stars.

The Narration: Emily Beresford did a great job with this narration. She’s perfect for Anna. I also liked her voice for Tiffany (the evil brideacuda). Her peppy, professional, commanding voice for Bobbie the show producer was spot on. Her male voices were masculine and all her character voices were distinct. She sounded engaged throughout the entire novel. There were no technical issues with the recording. 5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Vicky Loebel. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Anna Williams best friend has signed up to be on The Vacation Bride reality internet show and won a spot. Problem is she broke her leg and had to have surgery to repair the break. There is no way she can go on the show. She gives her spot to Anna. Anna has no desire to go on the show but she does love the idea of an all expense paid vacation with her Father. Her father has recently had heart surgery, and she is excited to get him out of the Milwaukee winter.

Chris Andersen is a secret billionaire. He was raised as a resort Brat. Now that he is an adult he wants to make his resort the Paradise Resort. His cousin Ryan Anderson has agreed to be the bachelor on Vacation Bride, and internet reality series. Chris has agreed to host the show at Paradise Resort in order to pay for some improvements he wants. Sounds cut and dry right? Nope!! Ryan has eloped and now he cannot be the bachelor. Ryan talks Chris into taking his place.

Anna and Chris have a chance meeting. Anna plays off she is just a resort guest, and Chris plays as the Maintenance man at Paradise Resort. When they both realize they have been deceived by the other they try to be done with each other, problem is sparks have already flown.

Chris is now looking for a way out of being 1st prize in Vacation Bride. Anne and Chris come up with a plan. Where they will all win.

Vicky Loebel has done a great job with this book. I really liked th though and backstories she put into her characters. The book was sweet and clean. There were no strong sex scenes and no strong language. This is book one her new series Brides of Paradise. I will be watching for book 2.

Emily Beresford has also done a great job with the narration of the audiobook. She really brought the characters to life. You could hear the smiles and frowns in her voice. It was a pleasure to listen to her narrate this book. She kept the story flowing nicely and did not bore me with mechanical reading. If felt like she was getting into the story as much as I was.

I was gifted my copy of this book from the Author and AudioBookWorm for review purposes. The thoughts are my own.

Set in Arizona, this adult urban fantasy is full of surprises! Felicity, a dog trainer, recently lost her mother and is going through a messy divorce. She’s the oldest of three children, having mostly raised her baby-sister Hannah, who is now in college. Her brother, Alton, isn’t so grateful of her efforts to ‘mother’ her younger siblings. Then in steps Max, a demon on assignment to recover a magical relic, the Minsk Homunculus. It’s been in Felicity’s family for generations, but she isn’t aware of it’s magical abilities nor what it means in regards to the powerful demon Roxashael (Rocky).

This was a very, very fun book. The mix of serious adult situations, witty banter, demonic entities in moral crises, and an unknowing witch who just inherited a bowling team makes a great read! Max has used his powers of seduction in the past to rev up his karma, which in turn he uses as a power base to get other things done. His demi Kate, a minor demon tied to his phone, is, by turns, a useful or irritating side kick. For this assignment, she is constantly reminding him to keep his eyes on the goal – the Minsk Homunculus. Yet he can’t help but be drawn into Felicity’s initial drama and later her life as she figures out her family history and the past deals her mom Rose made with the demon Rocky.

Felicity herself started off caught up in her own little drama, a little too much  for me. I wasn’t sure I was going to like her character at first. Then as things get explained –  the ugly divorce, her mom dying, her inheriting this odd coven with it’s bowling team, and then Max coming in saying he has to recover the artifact (Minsk Homunculus) or the equivalent dollar amount (think 6 digits), I could see why she was on the verge of having a melt down. It’s apparent from the beginning that she has tried her best to do what she thought was best for her younger siblings, but they don’t fully appreciate it. So that gets tossed in her face as well later in the story. She has a lot of stresses and Max provides a handsome distraction and also gives her something to focus on (the hunt for the artifact).

This book also contains a fair smidge of romance, which I normally don’t go in for but it’s done so well with the plot and doesn’t weigh down the pacing, that I found myself rooting for Max and Felicity. They each find the other indebted to them and their ties continue to grow as the story marches on. The make-out sessions, and later the sex, are steamy and sweet. Sometimes there’s a bit of humor mixed in, sometimes it’s intense. As a side note, this book also references some sexual abuse situations, but I felt they were in keeping with the plot and the characters and weren’t there for shock value.

The humor really brought the whole book together for me. Sometimes the humor was a little dark (which suits me fine) and sometimes it was a little slapstick, like Felicity falling off park benches or such. There was plenty of witty banter, but also certain situations the characters ended up in were funny, especially since I didn’t have to live them. All around, it was a very entertaining book with enough wit and a sharp edge to keep me engaged for the entire length.

I received a copy of this book at no cost from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Narration: Emily Beresford and Nick Podehl did a great job teaming up on this book. Beresford made a great Felicity and a jaded Kate. Podehl was a wonderful Max and quite the evil Rocky. There were plenty of secondary and minor characters and this team made them all distinct.

This book was a HUGE disappointment! It not only was incredibly confusing but disjointed and lackluster to boot. I had no affinity to ANY of the characters and the writing was spectacularly Meh. I tried to read it 3 times and all three times my attention repeatedly drifted elsewhere (what should I make for dinner? Did I put out an outfit for my daughter to wear tomorrow? Was that crash a burglar come to rescue me from this confusing monotony? etc) I even fell asleep a few times. I REALLY hate giving a negative or low star review, that's why I normally only read things with a star average of 4+, but it sometimes can't be helped. Sorry folks, this one did nothing for me besides helping me get some welcomed shut eye.