Book Review: My Phony Valentine by Courtney Walsh

My Phony Valentine
Author: Courtney Walsh
Series: Holidays with Hart
Publication: Sweethaven Press; 1st edition (February 8, 2023)

Description: A chance meeting. A hunky hockey player. A fake romance.
Hardly an ordinary day in the life of Poppy Hart.

My days usually consist of agonizing over my failing restaurant, worrying about my mountain of debt and nursing my broken heart.

Everything changes when I bump into a man in the coffee shop and claim him as my new boyfriend. To my absolute horror, he turns out to be hockey’s most renowned bad boy, Dallas Burke. To my absolute delight, he goes along with my story. />When his no-nonsense manager and meddling grandmother jump in the picture, they see a win-win solution for my failing restaurant and Dallas’s less-than-stellar reputation.

A full-fledged fake romance complete with contract negotiations, pretend dates and phony PDA.

But as I get to know the real Dallas Burke, who is not the man the press says he is, it becomes clear that if this isn’t real. . . someone better tell it to my heart.

My Thoughts: Middle sister Poppy Hart makes a rash decision while standing in line at a coffee shop. Tired of being bullied by local mean girl Margot who also happened to steal Poppy's sister Raya's boyfriend, she claims the guy standing in line in front of her is her boyfriend.

Dallas Burke, right wing for the Denver Comets hockey team and famous hockey bad boy, is quite willing to play along. 

That simple event leads to a fake relationship to help Poppy build up business at her restaurant and Dallas to clean up his reputation. It comes with a contract, a rehabbing Gram - Dallas's, and Dallas's agent who also wants to rehabilitate Dallas's reputation. 

And their fake relationship seems to be going great despite conflicting advice from her older sister Raya who keeps telling her to look before she leaps and her younger sister Eloise who is all for leaping - thinking optional.

It doesn't take long for both Dallas and Poppy to want to change fake dating to real dating but neither is quite ready to tell the other about their change of heart.

This was a sweet romance filled with engaging characters. I loved the small-town setting and its juxtaposition with the world of professional sports. 

I bought this one February 12, 2024. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: My Phony Valentine by Courtney Walsh

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not.  

Beginning:

I don't know why I did what I did.

I mean, I know why I did it--I just can't believe I did it. 

Friday 56:

Dallas reaches out to take a tote, but I step back. "This is like Jenga. If you pull the wrong bag, it's all going to come down."

This week I am spotlighting My Phony Valentine by Courtney Walsh. I added this one to my TBR Stack on February 12, 2024. Here's the description from Amazon:

A chance meeting. A hunky hockey player. A fake romance.
Hardly an ordinary day in the life of Poppy Hart.

My days usually consist of agonizing over my failing restaurant, worrying about my mountain of debt and nursing my broken heart.

Everything changes when I bump into a man in the coffee shop and claim him as my new boyfriend. To my absolute horror, he turns out to be hockey’s most renowned bad boy, Dallas Burke. To my absolute delight, he goes along with my story.

When his no-nonsense manager and meddling grandmother jump in the picture, they see a win-win solution for my failing restaurant and Dallas’s less-than-stellar reputation.

A full-fledged fake romance complete with contract negotiations, pretend dates and phony PDA.

But as I get to know the real Dallas Burke, who is not the man the press says he is, it becomes clear that if this isn’t real. . . someone better tell it to my heart.

Book Review: Until We Touch by Susan Mallery

Until We Touch
Author: Susan Mallery
Series: Fool's Gold (Book 16)
Publication: HQN; Original edition (June 24, 2014)

Description: After a family tragedy, former football hero Jack McGarry keeps the world at arm's length—a challenge now that his PR firm has moved to neighborly Fool's Gold, California.

Larissa Owens knows where she stands—Jack sees her as just another one of the guys. No matter what her heart wishes, Jack's her boss, not her boyfriend. But then Larissa's big secret is revealed…by her mother!

When Jack discovers the truth about Larissa's feelings, her touch suddenly becomes tantalizing, and he's not sure he wants to resist. But if he gives in to desire, heartache is sure to follow. Friendship or true love—will Jack go for the ultimate play?

My Thoughts: Jack McGarry and Larissa Owens are friends. She works as his assistant and is constantly involving him in her rescue operations. From chiweenies to kids needing transplants, no cause is too much for Larissa to get Jack involved with. Larissa does the work and Jack writes the checks. This works just great for Jack since he prefers keeping the world at arm's length. After losing his twin to heart disease at seventeen and being abandoned by his parents who head off to Africa to care for the sick, he's used to being alone and used to those he loves abandoning him.

Things are going just great until Larissa's mother comes to town and tells Jack to fire Larissa because she's in love with him and won't try to find a love that includes a husband and babies if Jack doesn't convince her to go. When Jack tells Larissa what her mother said, it changes things for both of them.

Larissa is big into denial until she realizes her mother was right. Now she has to come up with a plan to get over Jack with Jack's reluctant agreement. Only having an affair with Jack doesn't work out quite the way she planned. She's falling deeper and deeper in love and he's feeling too much pressure. 

Jack has to get what he's been asking for before he realizes that it isn't what he really wants before he and Larissa can find their own happy ending. 

This was an entertaining episode in the Fool's Gold series. I liked the main characters and I liked catching up on characters who have starred in earlier books in the series. 

Favorite Quote:

Larissa smiled. "Don't be impressed. What I mean is I'm going to figure out how to fall out of love with Jack and that involves sex."

Bailey put down her latte. "I always thought I was one of the brighter bulbs in the chandelier. I guess that not true. Where does the sex fit in?"

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Before We Kiss by Susan Mallery

Before We Kiss
Author: Susan Mallery
Series: Fool's Gold (Book 15)
Publication: HQN; Original edition (May 27, 2014)

Description: New York Times bestselling sensation Susan Mallery returns to Fool's Gold, California, where it's true that sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs…

Former pro-football kicker Sam Ridge has notoriously bad luck with women—from cheaters to fame chasers. Still, the gorgeous brunette at the bar in Fool's Gold looks harmless—until she takes him home and he discovers a room devoted to securing a man, for life.

Dellina Hopkins never guessed that storing gowns from a friend's bridal boutique would chase away her first and only fling. After her parents died, she skipped her "wild youth" to raise her sisters. She doesn't want forever from Sam, but one night—all night—would've been nice.

His clean getaway gets messy when his firm hires Dellina to plan an event. As long hours lead to late nights, the two succumb to temptation again. Has Sam's luck finally changed? Or this time, will Dellina be the one to run?

My Thoughts: This was another entertaining episode in the Fool's Gold series starring Dellina Hopkins and Sam Ridge.

Dellina is a party planner. She was orphaned at seventeen and at eighteen took custody of her younger sisters. Now all of them are grown. One sister is a professional chef and married. The other is Fayrene who is a girl-of-all-work and in a secure relationship. Though Fayrene is obsessing about getting her boyfriend to propose after she'd told him that she wanted to wait a couple of years to marry. Dellina isn't looking for a relationship. She feels she's already done the parent thing and doesn't really want to take any emotional risks.

Sam Ridge is a famous football player who has had bad luck with women. His high school girlfriend turned into a stalker. And his ex-wife wrote a scathing tell-all about him after their divorce. Raised by parents who didn't recognize any barriers, Sam has become a very private person who really believes that any woman he falls in love with will undergo a personality change after marrying him and betray him.

When Sam's company decides to throw a three-day party for their customers, Dellina is the only game in town for party planning. But he had a one-night stand with her and fled the house when he saw she had a room full of wedding gowns and a whiteboard listing ways to get a man to propose. Note: She was storing the gowns for a friend and the whiteboard belonged to her younger sister Fayrene.

Now, thrown together to plan this big party, they get a chance to really get to know each other and fall in love. But their Individual hang-ups don't make the path to true love run smoothly. Luckily, Fool's Gold is just the place to help them get their lives in order. 

Favorite Quote:

In the scheme of things, he had it easy. His big complaint was that his family loved him too much. And his parents had sex on the brain. Poor, poor him.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Kiss Hard by Nalini Singh

Kiss Hard
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Hard Play (Book 4)
Publication: TKA Distribution (May 3, 2022)

Description: New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh brings you a sinfully playful contemporary romance between two sworn enemies turned partners in crime...

Daniel Esera is a young god on the rugby field, a sexy and charming man who's got the world at his feet. There's just one problem: his sudden potent attraction to his number one nemesis--Catie River. No. Just no. Not happening.

Catie River is on her way to Paralympic gold, and she's not about to allow Danny "Hotshot" Esera to derail her plans. Too bad her body isn't cooperating. Even worse? Her heart might be coming along for the ride. No. Nope. Never.

The pair are united in their desire to remain enemies... until a stranger's reckless action threatens both their careers. Now, the only way out for Catie and Danny is to pretend to be in a relationship. How bad can it be? They're adults in full control of their hormones and their hearts. There will be no kissing. No PDA. And definitely no falling in love.

Let the games begin.

My Thoughts: KISS HARD was an engaging sports romance. Catie River is preparing for the Paralympics since she lost her lower legs in an accident when she was a young teen. Danny Esera is a champion rugby player. They have known each other since her sister began her relationship with his brother when both Catie and Danny were young teens.

Catie and Danny have always been frenemies. The delight in teasing each other. Neither could imagine thinking of the other as any sort of romantic interest. Or at least, that's what they try to tell themselves. But when Danny is drugged at a club and Catie manages to rescue him, the optics seem to show that they are in a relationship. 

To preserve their reputations with their sponsors, they have to continue to pretend that they are the newest, hottest item. The only problem is that the pretense soon becomes real though neither wants to admit it to the other. 

After Catie's history with her neer-do-well father, she has difficulty trusting any man with her heart. Danny has been raised in a family where love and trust are natural. He needs to convince Catie that she can trust him.

This was an excellent addition to the Hard Play series.

Favorite Quote:

She and Danny might be frenemies at the best of times, but even she'd admit he was one of the genuine good guys. Smart, loyal, trustworthy - and irritating as all fuck. But when the shit hit the fan, Danny Esera would be the man you'd want beside you.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Hometown Hero by Liza Kendall

Hometown Hero
Author: Liza Kendall
Series: A Silverlake Ranch Novel (Book 3)
Publication: Berkley (July 7, 2020)

Description: A charming new contemporary romance set in Silverlake, Texas, where love throws old rivals a curveball. . . . 

Andrew “Ace” Braddock is a player in every sense of the word. The center fielder for the Austin Lone Stars, he’s also been at the center of numerous sports scandals involving beer, bars, and baseball bunnies. But when he takes the fall for a teammate, Ace wakes up in the hospital, injured and in serious trouble. He’s sent to lie low and recover at his family ranch in Silverlake, Texas, where he’s saddled with his worst nightmare: his high school nemesis—a beautiful nurse who refuses to play doctor with him.

Mia Adams has no time to fool around. The daughter of Silverlake’s high school baseball coach has three jobs and a pile of debt left behind by her missing ex. The very last thing she wants is to spend her time indulging hometown hero Easy Ace Braddock. If she didn’t need the money, she’d have nothing to do with the guy from her past who stole her dad’s time, attention, and love away from her before leaving for the major leagues.

As Mia does her best to corral the irrepressible Ace, keep a sense of humor, and fight her unwelcome attraction to him, he charms, sidesteps, and outmaneuvers her. Will the onetime enemies find love at home base, right in the town where they grew up?

My Thoughts: This romance is between two very complex people. Mia Adams is very busy. Her husband left her holding all sorts of debts when he abandoned her and left the country. She is trying to keep her problems secret from those people in town who would be very likely to help her. Meanwhile, she's working three jobs. When she gets a new job as the "sober companion" for a MLB star who was apparently driving drunk, she can't turn it down even though Easy Ace Braddock is not a favorite of hers.

Ace Braddock stole her father's attention from her when she was already abandoned by her mother who was always off traveling to take care of the less fortunate. Ace needed her father's attention as his baseball coach after his parents died in a head-on car crash. Ace comes across as an arrogant ass who feels entitled to all the adulation a popular and attractive athlete gathers. But inside, he is still trying to get over the guilt he feels for the death of his parents. He believes that they wouldn't have been out on the road if he hadn't manipulated them into taking him to a baseball game.

I liked the banter between the two characters as they gradually come to fall in love. Of course, there are lots of problems along the way as Ace does things that seem to be designed to take away Mia's agency and control. I didn't like how little Ace thought about how his actions would affect Mia and how readily Mia forgave him.

The story also concerned itself with family relationships as Ace has to deal with his three brothers and his sister who he more or less abandoned for his baseball career. And Mia's relationship with her father is also an important component of the story.

Fans of romances with depth will enjoy this story.

Favorite Quote:

It was bad enough tht he'd stolen her father from her, but at least, it had better mean something. To toss away his incredible opportunities - the ones her father had gifted to him - that was the cherry on top of the cow-patty sundae.

She was also extremely angry at herself for finding him hot.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Hometown Hero by Liza Kendall

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

The radio was still playing. That was the surreal thing. Andrew "Ace" Braddock, second baseman for the Austin Lone Stars, was suspended upside down, hanging by his seat belt...and AC/DC was still blasting.

Friday 56:

Mia squirmed and changed the subject, not subtly. "So how are you feeling?"

Jules gave a snort, making it clear she wasn't fooled for a second. Still, she followed Mia's lead. "Fat, tired, and spacey. With cravings for onion rings and strawberry ice cream at the same time, which is disgusting."

This week I am spotlighting Hometown Hero by Liza Kendall. It is a contemporary romance and one of the main characters is a professional baseball player. I really enjoy sports romances. Here is the description from Amazon:

A charming new contemporary romance set in Silverlake, Texas, where love throws old rivals a curveball. . . . 

Andrew “Ace” Braddock is a player in every sense of the word. The center fielder for the Austin Lone Stars, he’s also been at the center of numerous sports scandals involving beer, bars, and baseball bunnies. But when he takes the fall for a teammate, Ace wakes up in the hospital, injured and in serious trouble. He’s sent to lie low and recover at his family ranch in Silverlake, Texas, where he’s saddled with his worst nightmare: his high school nemesis—a beautiful nurse who refuses to play doctor with him.

Mia Adams has no time to fool around. The daughter of Silverlake’s high school baseball coach has three jobs and a pile of debt left behind by her missing ex. The very last thing she wants is to spend her time indulging hometown hero Easy Ace Braddock. If she didn’t need the money, she’d have nothing to do with the guy from her past who stole her dad’s time, attention, and love away from her before leaving for the major leagues.

As Mia does her best to corral the irrepressible Ace, keep a sense of humor, and fight her unwelcome attraction to him, he charms, sidesteps, and outmaneuvers her. Will the onetime enemies find love at home base, right in the town where they grew up?