Book Review: Maybe This Christmas by Sarah Morgan

At First Sight: Tyler O'Neal was used to life in the fast lane as a pro-racer in the skiing circuit, but he has not settled into domesticity at his family resort following a bad fall during a race and his teenage daughter move to live with him permanently. 

He still misses racing - perhaps a lot more than he lets on - but he loves his daughter Jess and likes doing what he can to help bring up business for the resort.

What Tyler is none too happy about - at least not lately - is working so close to Brenna Daniels. Not because he doesn't like her, in fact, Brenna is one of his favorite people in the world and his best friend since childhood... which is why it annoys him to work closely to him when he's starting to notice her as more than a friend.

Brenna has been in love with Tyler since they were children, but long ago came to terms with the fact that he sees her as one of the guys and not as a girl. But when they are thrown in together thanks to some scheming by her friends, his mother and daughter, things begin to change. 

Living in the same resort was hard enough, but sharing Tyler's house might send things into overboard. 

Second Glance: Maybe This Christmas was a fun Christmas read. After meeting and seeing both Brenna and Tyler in past books, I was quite eager to get to their stories and it didn't disappoint. 

I really liked that they were really good friends first and foremost and that they both put his daughter first - yet they didn't jump into a relationship just to make Jess happy - and in a way that justified why they were so reluctant to get together (and hadn't before the start of the story): Neither of them wanted to risk their friendship, but it just wasn't enough anymore. 

I appreciate when characters make sense like that. 

Now the book did have some problems, like the drawn out situation with between Brenna and Jess's mother, which for me took to much of the book. Also, the lack of support from Brenna's mother bothered me a bit too.

But in the end, like I said, it was a fun read. I enjoyed seeing Sean and Jackson and their partners around, and seeing the dynamics of the family from another perspective. And I really liked Jess. As far as book moppets go, she was very nice. 

Bottom Line: I do recommend Maybe This Christmas as a cozy Christmas read, it's breezy and fun and I liked the people involved. Plus, it has a wonderful wintery feel to it.  I only kind of wish the author would do a book about the sheriff guy because he sounded really sweet. 

2/3

Book Review: A Night of No Return by Sarah Morgan

The Deal:  Emma Gray is a professional and takes lots of pride in her work, which is why she finds herself driving in the snow to reach her boss, Lucas Jackson, and deliver to him some important documents her forgot and that he will need for his upcoming trip. Sure, she's supposed to be off the clock but the documents are too important to be trusted to anyone else.

Lucas Jackson is a wealthy architect and a demanding boss, and there is one night a year when all he wants it's to be left alone. It was bad enough that he had to shoo away a surprise party (and publicly break it off with the 'girlfriend' in turn), and now he has his secretary showing up.

As they get snowed in for the night, one thing leads to another and before the night is through they have had sex all over the place. Emma is ready to quit - though she likes her job just fine and it's very good- but Lucas isn't so inclined.

But before anything can happen, they find themselves in business trip together, staying way too close for comfort.

My Thoughts: You know what? Once again, I really got into Night of No Return. Lucas is often annoying and autocratic, Emma often over reacts but they are pretty likable all in all and the writing just pulls you in from the story.

I do recommend it, it's not long at all but the characters feel developed and though the story is a bit predictable, it was fun to read.
2/3

Burned by Sarah Morgan

Not a fan of this cover, I keep thinking
 she's gonna bite her tongue off.

The Deal: Rosie Miller is a martial artist and trainer living in London with her sister and trying to enjoy her life. Having gone through a rough childhood, Rosie took refuge in martial arts and in being strong, but there is one thing about that whole world that always brings her down: Hunter Black. 

Hunter Black was an older guy at the gym where she trained as a teenager, and they became friends and, eventually, lovers... and then he left her. And Rosie hasn't been able to have an stable relationship ever since. So Rosie is horrified when - in the middle of her latest breakup - she notices Hunter sitting on the next table at the restaurant she's at. 

Rosie tries to run away, but Hunter won't let her... and things get even more complicated when she finds out that he's her new boss. 

My Thoughts: When I read Ripped - the novella that features Rosie's sister Hayley - I was very intrigued by Rosie and what had happened to her in the past, as it's mentioned that she had gotten her heart broken before. So I was excited to read Burned... but sadly, this wasn't the greatest novella. 

For one, you never really know what the hell went down between Hunter and Rosie years before when he left, a few things are implied but most of it was guess work, and the only thing that was clear to me was that Rosie was clingy and Hunter left because they she was getting too serious of something. But, as I said, nothing is really explained (or at least it wasn't explained to my satisfaction). 

And most of the page time is taken up by Rosie and Hunter either contemplating their sexual chemistry or actually having sex. But there was little development otherwise. 

So, yeah, not a big fan of this novella.

 1/2

Book Review: Suddenly Last Summer by Sarah Morgan

At First Sight: Dr. Sean O'Neil is the go-to-guy orthopedic surgeon in Boston, and perhaps the world, he's good at what he does and specializes working on athletes; and he's pretty darn good at putting things back together and making them work... except when it comes to his family.

When his father died a couple of years prior, Sean lost it and had a big row with his grandfather, which he hasn't told anyone about, but which has kept him more-or -less away from the family's Snow Crystal Resort in Vermont.

But when the call comes that his Grandfather has been rushed to the hospital after collapsing with a possible heart attack, he drops everything and rushes home... not that he things it will do much good, plus he'll be stuck in a place he never loved as much as

Elise Philipe has made her life at Snow Crystal over the last eight years, adopting the O'Neil family as her own and forming deep connections to everyone there, specially Grandpa O'Neil, who is old and ornery and likes to do things his own way.

Having escaped from a bad situation years before with the help of Jackson O'Neil, Sean's twin brother, Elise is in no rush to ever leave Snow Crystal, the only place she has ever been happy since her mother died. And she can't quite understand why Sean keeps away, at least not at first.

But as the summer wears on and Sean sticks around, she begins to understand, even if she's not quite ready to share all of her secrets herself

Second Glance: Suddenly Last Summer was a lovely book, I really enjoyed it and I liked it more than I liked the previous book Sleigh Bells in the Snow, which to me felt very much like a set up book, plus I didn't like the Grandfather in that one.

In this one, the world of Snow Crystal is already more or less stablished so we spend less time in the whole setting things up part and now we are just expanding on the characters we met before... for the most part. There is this bit of the story that keeps getting brought up over and over and over - about how much the Grandfather, whose name eludes me right now, loves Snow Crystal and how much Sean's father hated running the business (But mostly the first part).

And, like, that was a big part of the plot of the first book, we already knew that, but even if we hadn't known, with the first two or three times they said it was enough to make a point, yet it was brought up almost every other chapter.

Other than that, I really enjoyed spending time with Sean and Elise and figuring out why they were they way they were. Sean hated feeling tied down because he saw what that did to his father; and Elise had gone through a really bad relationship in her early twenties and felt adrift since losing her mother, so for her Snow Crystal and belonging there was wonderful.

UK Cover

Aside from the romantic relationships, there is a lot of how important connection is in this book; Elise loves that she feels like part of the O'Neil family and that she has great friends in Kayla and Brenna and that they trust her and love her. Sean on the other hand feels the burden of his family history and expectations, but loves them to death anyway.

Bottom Line: Like I said, I enjoyed Suddenly Last Summer, it was a lovely contemporary Romance and I believed the relationship between Sean and Elise, its also a book about family and I really enjoyed spending more time with the characters from the previous book and I'm really looking forward to book three Maybe This Christmas. 

Book Review: Ripped by Sarah Morgan

The Deal: Hayley isn't having a great day: she's at her ex's wedding, acting as a bridesmaid to a former friend - all to show that she's SO Over  the aforementioned Ex - and wearing the ugliest yellow dress in the history of Bridesmaid-hood. And Nico Rossi, the best man, is glaring at her from across the aisle with great disapproval.

Which doesn't improve once her too-tight dress splits, revealing that she wasn't wearing a bra and leaving her naked from the waist up. And forcing Nico to come to her rescue.

Nico and Hayley have never seen eye to eye... until they start making out out of the blue while he's helping her with her dress and chiding her for being at the wedding at all. 

My Thoughts: Ripped was a really fun holiday novella. What I described above was just the very beginning of the story - which culminates on New Years's Eve.

I really liked both of them, particularly when they were together: they were nice, successful - I loved that Hayley was an engineer and dreamed of working for NASA one day - and had a great relationship with their respective siblings.

It was just an all- around fun book, and there is plenty of Christmas/New Year cheer int it, without it being too much or too focused on the holiday spirit. I do wish the story was a bit longer, but that's mostly because I would have liked to spend more time with these two.

And I'm really looking forward to the next book on the series, about Hayley's sister Rosie. 

PS - Fair warning, though, the story is less than a 100 pages long (around 95)

Book Review: Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

At First Sight: Kayla Green doesn't like Christmas... in fact, she hates it enough to volunteer to work during the holidays, as the PR firm she works tries to land a new client. Said new client is Jackson O'Neil -owner of a luxury chain of hotels in Europe, who is currently trying to save his family's ski lodge in Vermont.

Jackson is surprised when Kayla agrees to spend a whole week in Vermont with him and his family and he really hopes that she'll be able to convince his stubborn grandfather to go along with Jackson's business plan - which includes hiring Kayla's PR firm to promote the lodge at s bigger scale-  so they don't lose the Lodge.

Kayla thought that by going to Vermont, she would avoid Christmas in the city, but she wasn't counting with the winter wonderland she found at the lodge, or with the fact that Jackson's family was totally Christmas obsessed. 

Second Glance: Okay, so I'm a little torn about this book. On one hand, I really liked it: the setting, the characters, etc. But on the other hand, the plot has so many holes on it that it does not bear thinking about it too much.

Kayla was very serious and capable, and had a genuine reason not to like Christmas, she feels a strong attraction to Jackson, but she mostly wants to do a good job. Jackson has a lot of family baggage but he's trying to do the right thing by his family. The O'Neils are a very close knit group, sure, but they also have a lot of issues - which I won't name because it would just be like a grocery's list - but they are good people.

The problem, like I said, is the plot holes: Kayla is too naive expecting that a place that advertises itself as a winter wonderland will be devoid of Christmas, the way the reason why she hates Christmas is dragged out was a bit bothersome because there isn't that much to it.  Jackson and Kayla's relationship progresses way too quickly (they go from "lets keep it professional" to "You're the Only One For Me" in less than a week), and so on and so forth. 

Bottom Line: While I was totally enchanted by the background of Sleigh Bells in the Snow, and I definitely plan to pick up the following books, I can't say that I Loved this book, but I did like it and while I was reading it it was fun, it was only later, as I thought about it that the flaws became all too clear. But I would still recommend it for some holiday fun. 

Book Review: The Twelve Nights of Christmas by Sarah Morgan

At First Sight: Evie Anderson thought it was a little weird when her creep of a boss told her she could stay at the penthouse of the hotel where she worked for one night, since she had to be on-site so early in the morning. She usually wouldn't have agreed, but she had just been kicked out of her apartment and had no other place to go.

Rio Zacarelli - a successful, ruthless and super rich billionaire - has a very important deal on the making and, at the advice of his lawyer, decides to spend a really quiet Christmas away from women and other distractions, as he needs people to believe he has a clean reputation.

He wasn't counting on finding a naked woman on his bed at the penthouse suite of his hotel in London,  or to have a photographer ready to pounce and capture the moment in film. Now Rio is forced to do damage control, and figures that maybe finding Evie wasn't so bad as she could help him to project a more wholesome image.

So they are spending the days leading to Christmas together, trying to portray a happy couple for the media and for Evie's elderly grandfather. And Rio finds himself enjoying her company and everything, he just wishes she would forget it's Christmas all together. 

Second Glance: Well, I'm a little torn about The Twelve Nights of Christmas... and not only because each time I read Rio's name I kept thinking about that blue parakeet from the movie.

It's a very "Harlequin-esque" novel - you got the billionaire and the poor ingenue virgin and a rather unbelievable situation - and it works well in that format, but there were a bunch of little things that kept me from getting into the story: we aren't told why Rio hates Christmas until the last quarter of the book, same with what the mysterious "deal" he's working on. And the whole thing with Evie. What smart woman thinks "Oh, creep-o manager who tried to feel me up says it's okay if I stay in this crazy, expensive suite tonight! Good! I guess I'll sleep naked!"?

Other than that, it was a fun book and Rio did have pretty good reasons to hate Christmas, but everything to solved way too easily. 

Bottom Line: I like Sarah Morgan's style, but this one wasn't my favorite by her, I think I like her medical romance books more. But if you can suspend belief a little better than me, then this is a easy to read, quick Christmas story.

Book Review: Wish Upon a Star by Sarah Morgan

The Deal: Wish Upon a Star is a compilation of two stories that have a lot to do with the Christmas season.

In the first one,  Christy is still reeling from the temporary separation from her husband Alessandro, which is starting to look like a permanent thing even though she never intended for things to turn out that way, she was just trying to give Alessandro a wake up call as to the state of their marriage - namely that he worked too much, took her for granted and that they only 'quality' time they spent together was in bed - but he didn't quite get the message she wanted.

Instead, Alessandro - a brilliant doctor - is gutted by what he sees as Christy's desertion and by the fact she moved with their kids to London. But, after 12 years of marriage, he isn't sure what he should do, specially after their two kids demand the four of them spend Christmas together.

Between being back under the same roof, their scheming children, the help of their best friend Jake and the general awesomeness of the season, Christy and Alessandro don't stand a chance.

In the second story, Jake Blackwell was trying to avoid spending Christmas in his big empty house or surrounded by his happily married best friends - Christy and Alessandro from the first story - when he came across a nearly frozen woman named Miranda, while hiking in the mountains near his home.

Miranda was just trying to find a way to quiet her despairing thoughts when she got lost in the mountain, and was quite glad to met Jake there, but wasn't so glad when he wouldn't leave her in peace. Still, the loneliness got the better of her and she ended up agreeing when Jake offered to take her to his house so she could get warm and so neither of them had to spend the day alone.

It had been a really long time since Jake felt true interest for any woman, and Miranda intrigues him, so he's none too pleased when he discovers her gone after one very heated kiss between them, and great is his surprise when he finds her again, a few hours later, and realizes that a) she's the new midwife working in his ward (he's an obstetrician) and b) that she's six months pregnant.

My Thoughts: I was sort of expecting Wish Upon a Start to be something fluffy and chick-lit-ish, but it was a bit different. This special release by author Sarah Morgan is actually a compilation of two previously released category romances, and they were very good in their own way.

Sarah Morgan has a style that pulls you in right away, and since I was in the mood for something quick, Christmasy and fun, this book worked very well for me.

Since the stories are rather short, there isn't a lot of character development but the characters still have enough depth even if Alessandro and Chisty are a little archetypical - him, hot blooded Spaniard, she a fiery red head - and comunication isn't their forte.

I admit that I would have liked more length in "Miranda" since I think the story had a lot more to give, but it was still my favorite of the two.

All in all, it was a lovely read, and great for this holiday season.

1/2