― Falling for Her Fiance

by Cindi Madsen

(Accidentally in Love, Book #1)

Can't Help Falling In Love by Erika Kelly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Something about an Erika Kelly romance gives me the warm and fuzzies in my heart. Even through the inevitable heartache, I never lose that sense of hope I feel inside. From second chances to bad romances, there is always a sense of beauty in the recklessness. Coco and Beckett keep up the heart tingles with a love story that will leave you breathless. One night changes everything for two strangers looking to have a bit of fun. When the morning comes, the surprises roll in. Life moves on and heartbreak awaits, but can one unexpected twist help reunite these strangers in the night? Temptation packs a sweetly, addictive punch.

Dani had about thirty emails in her work inbox about the upcoming retreat. Of course people were excited they got to take their significant others and get in good with the boss. While the company would never call the retreat couples exclusive but the one they had a couple of years ago proved that being part of a duo meant more time with the boss and his wife. Wayne Bridges always bragged about how Bridges Marketing, Inc. was family friendly business.  Medical bills for her grandmother were expensive. Mama was living in Florida and took over Dani’s grandmothers physical care as well as working long hours. DAni was helping as much as she could. When even her scholarships didn’t pay for college family had all chipped in but her grandmother Morales ad put in the most. Wes called and told Dani to tell him he didn’t have to go but they both knew he would even though his sister was having Wes’s ex fiance as a bridesmaid. Wes agreed to go to the retreat with Dani as her fiance if she went to his sisters wedding as his fiance. Wes was Dani’s best friend since college. It had been a long time since they seen each other. Of all the stunts they had pulled this one would take the cake. Dani was Wes’s favorite person to hang out with . Being with Dani was effortless. They liked the same jokes- she just him in a way no one else did. When something good or bad happened Dani was the first person Wes wanted to call, and it had been like that pretty much since they he’d met her. Dani had left North Carolina to be with Steve- her boyfriend and now they weren’t together, He had hurt Dani . Wes had felt the urge to punch Steve from day one, but he’d tried to get along with Steve for Dani’s sake. All of a sudden Dani seemed to be noticing Wes’s body and she always knew he was good looking. Dani decided whens he got back home it was time to put herself out there again and find someone to date. She had been alone to long. Wes borrowed an engagement ring from his friend Paul who’s girlfriend had left him before he could propose. Paul acted a little interested in Dani. Wes had never really liked any man looking at Dani in that way.

I loved this story. It was a fun, easy, read, with just enough angst in it. I loved Dani and Wes together and how they interacted together. Not sure why their kiss in college was so bad yet they had such hot chemistry maybe had something to do with Wes ‘s experience as well as they alcohol. I loved how close Wes was to his family and how Dani was determined to help her mom and grandmother. I loved the pace and plot of this story. I loved the ins and outs of this book as well as the characters and I highly recommend iit. But there were a lot of errors that should be corrected.

A bump on the head becomes a shot to the heart for the star athlete and the hidden in plain sight nurse. Can't Help Falling in Love is a modern fairy tale with hard hitting romance and emotional drama. Mike and Evvie begin with a gaff that has lasting results for the rest of their lives. Will their foray into romance survive the secrets that they hide? Shay chose the perfect title. I Can't Help Falling in Love with these two.

There be spoilers. I'm pretty pissed off at the moment. What a waste of time this was.

CW: Homophobia, racism, cheating, and sexual assault.

I only liked Holden. And even he was an idiot. But I could empathize with this struggles - coming to terms with his feelings for another boy, figuring out that he's bi-sexual (though I'm not sure why he'd think that, since he hasn't even had a girlfriend), and dealing with being bullied at school, on top of living with an asshole father and a doormat mother, unable to live up to his Golden Boy older brother, who was much less an asshole than I expected based on how his character was initially set up. Holden's best friend of 14 years (Tiffany) is abandoning him for a boy, though I'm honestly not even sure why Holden thought of her as his friend in the first place - she was nothing but a bitch to him. 

All the characters in his book are one-dimensional card board cutouts. You have the rich boy jerkface who thinks he can throw his daddy's money in everyone's face, the bitchy-only female, the pedophile principal (ew, ew, ew, what the fuck was that shit, touching Holden inappropriately, talking about blow jobs to make a record go away, and then comparing his dick to Aaron's whose dick he presumably knows NOTHING about), and the cheating daddy fucking Holden's best friend, who's - you guessed it - suddenly pregnant.

None of the characters, including Aaron, the love interest, made any fucking sense with their actions. Not a single one. Not Holden thinking he can just go to the city and enroll in college, and find a job that will pay him enough to cover his cost of living, not Aaron, whose pillow talk was the most ridiculous thing I've ever read in a romance novel, not Jeff, the jerkface, not Tiffany, the bitch, not the principal (what the FUCK was that shit), and not Holden's parents. 

At one point Aaron's father leaves for a conference of some sort in Seattle - which, super convenient, amirite, so Aaron and Holden can have a sleepover and sex it up (virgin ass and all), and we're supposed to believe that a small town mechanic goes to a conference, leaving no one to work on the cars in the shop? 

This book was an utter mess, and I don't just mean the stilted, unrealistic dialogue and ridiculous plot. The editor was MIA, and the proof-reader took a vacation, I guess. Grammar seemed optional. 

Men don't have a g-spot. A virgin like Holden, never having even CONSIDERED gay sex, has likely not heard of the prostrate. And he sure as fuck wouldn't call it a g-spot. 

At one point, Aaron says "Open Says Me". I suppose the author meant OPEN SESAME. How was that not caught? Then a few pages later, Aaron opens the condom and puts it on, with HIS TEETH. On himself. Uhm, sure, whatever floats your boat. I guess you're super bendy. Never mind the holes you just made with your teeth, you moron, which sort of defeats the purpose of putting on a condom in the first place. 

And to top off the editorial proof-reading fuckery, in one instance HOLDEN is called AARON. 

And, and, and... there's no HEA, not even a HFN - the couple has broken up at book's end because Holden is leaving town and Aaron isn't. We get a "To Be Continued" as if that isn't something you should tell your readers up front.

Not recommended. Possibly the worst book I've read this year. JFC. Yeah, I know it's YA, but young adults would like to read good books. And this isn't a good book. 

I'm so sorry, Secret Santa. I was swayed by the blurb and the positive reviews, and I now regret putting this book on my wishlist. I kind of hate that you wasted your money on this, even though I truly appreciate you getting it for me. 

Not recommended.