WhiskeyintheJar Romance: Emma Chase

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Monday, July 17, 2017

Review: Royally Matched

Royally Matched by Emma Chase
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.5 stars

I should have stopped while I was ahead.

This one magnified everything I didn't enjoy from the first. Our hero was such an immature I can't believe we're really calling him the hero guy. He never did redeem himself for me. Because of the Bachelor like show he is involved with, more than half of his time is spent with other women. Even though this time isn't really focused on or seen, you're still aware of it. The time he does spend with the heroine (also, this happens over a span of 6weeks) is rushed and we're told they talk all night but don't get to read about the sharing.
My shy book loving heroine is more of a badly done facsimile of one. Her painful background also felt sloppily done; in fact this whole story felt sloppy.
Shallow characters and shallow story line, I know, I should have seen this coming with the synopsis.
Even though we don't get a glimpse of the couple I'm looking forward to in the third book, I'm still going to read it and hope it gives me some of the cheesy charm from the first. The hero gives me more hope as he has to be more mature than this one was.

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Sunday, July 16, 2017

Review: Royally Screwed

Royally Screwed by Emma Chase
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to Lover of Romance for the recommendation. And has now cruelly added another series to my never ending stack :)

I'm...I laugh to myself…I'm Cinderella, stepping into her coach to go to the ball. And even if this night is all there is, I won't forget it; I'll hold this memory close. Savor it, cherish it. It will make the hard times just a little easier, the lonely moments just a little less cold. When Ellie leaves for school, when I'm making pies before dawn in the kitchen day after day, I'll remember this feeling and I'll smile. This will get me through.

Cotton candy, fluff, and cheese-fest. You could call this all of those and you'd be right but I couldn't help myself from eating it up with a spoon; even when I groaned and rolled my eyes. But hey, romance stories help get us through, don't they?

This is told is dual pov from our hero and heroine and had a bit of a New Adult vibe. Our hero danced across the boar line a couple times and was colored a bit too much with an overly cocky paintbrush, which I usually loathe. Look, I have no excuses.

I giggle again---feeling silly and light-headed. Possibly delusional.

The heroine says it perfectly. I'm American and would never dishonor my ancestors by bowing a knee to royalty, and that is possibly how they get into my naughty taboo, I know I really shouldn't and that is why it's now hot category. The author's writing and tone is immensely readable, if not challenging. This is royalty fan fiction with no surprises and not a lot of depth but god help me, I read this in 24hrs with a goofy grin on my face most the time.

Don't read quote if you don't want a sneak peek at ending.
(view spoiler)

If I had read this in my teens, I'd have worn out the spine in two years. Alas, I read this in my thirties, so while I probably won't re-read this into oblivion, my dopey grin will stick around for a while.
Predictable, gooey, Cinderella-ish, and sugary satisfying.

"Smell."
After a moment, Henry leans down and sniffs the pages distrustfully.
"What do you smell?" Sarah asks.
Henry gives it another sniff. "It smells…old."
"Exactly!" She smells the pages herself, deep and long. "Paper and ink---there's nothing like it. The only thing that smells better than a new book is an old one."

The heroine of the next in the series already has my heart. Usually, this kind of story and trope only works for me once in a series but a book loving heroine? I MUST read it! Also, I NEED book three and the couple that stars in that one. NEED.

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