WhiskeyintheJar Romance: The Romancies

Friday, January 8, 2021

The Romancies - Part 3: Favorite Scene

*Books eligible could be published in any year, they just had to be read by me in 2020.

Clicking on book cover brings you to my review

Nominees:

1, 2, & 3. Bliss by Judy Cuevas

I really try not to do this, because one of the goals of me doing The Romancies is to highlight as many different books as possible and the ones that maybe didn't get as much as the spotlight. However, it's also great restraint by me that all ten of the nominees doesn't come from Bliss, so I give myself a pass for only nominating three.

Making Nardi go to rehab

Our hero Nardi is addicted to ether and his family decides that it is bad enough that they have to take action. The anger, pain, fear, and love in this scene from all the characters was felt and my heart ached for all of them.

"Do you know what he brought me?"

"No."
"Ether." When she said nothing, he asked, "Shocked?"
"Yes. At the direction of your anger. You're the one who drank it."

My god, this scene, I gasped so loud. A reveal in this scene added a whole new dimension to a secondary character's emotions and actions and raised the heroine up in my eyes. She doesn't let the hero try to push the blame off himself for his addiction and puts it front and center that he needs to start taking ownership of his own actions.

At the top of the rise, the edge of the trees, she turned. "It will take you," she shouted. "It will take you and your humanity."

Oof, this scene, just oof. Our hero sure likes to say how awful he is but he sure doesn't like to hear it said back to him. The whole scene was dramatic but rooted in real fear, anger, and hopefulness but still kept out of overly Thee Drama. When the hero drinks the ether after this I just crumbled. Gawd, this scene.

*Honorable Mention - The auction dance scene. Our hero and heroine's attraction and romance is finally given a moment to breathe and flourish out from under all the emotional upheaval.

4. Parasite by Darcy Coates

Jen couldn't take her eyes off Carly as the woman leaned against one of the walls, panting and shivering. It seemed incredible that she could have made it back. More than incredible, actually. Impossible.

My love of this scene and moment is completely tied in with my love of horror movies. I was screaming at Jen to "DO NOT LET HER IN!" It had that creepy shiver going up your spine and scary edge of danger as Jen's mind was telling her the truth of Carly while her heart was lying to her.

5. A Trace of Deceit by Karen Odden

Reveal of heroine's brother and murder

For a book that leaned more into the mystery and art theft, the last 10% sure had an incredibly emotional ending scene that had my eyes watering. The slow, steady movement to some of the reveals had great emotional payoff.

6. Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey

Rosie and Dominic dancing in the kitchen

Overall, this story kind of disappointed me, I wanted more teeth gritting cognitive emotional upheaval between this long-time married couple going through a separation but Bailey is who she is and this had more sexual lusty vibes. However, this quiet moment in their kitchen gave me what I was craving, two people who have loved each other for a long time but are finally seeing one another.

7. Forever and a Duke by Grace Burrowes

"You seek to be silly?" Ellie did have a devious turn of mind, no need to take offense at the truth when the same quality kept a roof over her head.
His Grace's expression remained utterly serious. "Dukes are never silly."
This duke was. "Good to know. Auditors are never frivolous." Ellie shared a smile with Elsmore, which felt both silly and frivolous, also slightly dangerous.

Inject this kind of interaction between leads into my veins. I love how they both hint/acknowledge their public masks and tease their true selves. There's also the beginning of attraction with that fear and excitement.

8. Highland Sword May McGoldrick

With one sweep of his hand, he cleared the desk. Books and papers crashed fluttered to the floor. He lifted her onto the edge.

I mean, do I even need to explain how this made the list? Spontaneous wild papers flying desk sex is always going to make the list. Putting the "O" into romance.

9. The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Lizzie Shane

She laughed, stepping out in the wintry softness of the night, and turned to face him, hooking one finger into the lapel of his coat. "You can pretend to be as curmudgeonly as you want. I see you, Ben West."

He met her eyes---and that thing came alive again, that spark that always seemed to be lingering between them, waiting to be ignited. "I see you, too."

I can be a seasonal reader and I greatly enjoy my holiday reads. I love this scene because of how that seasonal element is felt and helps to create that snuggly, crisp, and brisk feel. Her finger hooking in his coat lapel is a small additive but its flirty playful and I love it. This scene was just cute romantic all over the place.

10. Scot Under the Covers by Suzanne Enoch

The hallway scene

This couple had such good chemistry and I wish we could have gotten more of them together. This scene simmered and heated up the pages and I was all locked into these two. I love when you can feel the emotion bubbling under the surface between leads that is just waiting to erupt.

Winner:

The only shock here is probably only what scene I picked from Bliss. The scene where Hannah confronts Nardi. I will never be able to explain how emotional this was, just oof. The pride I had in Hannah and the devastation in Nardi, Cuevas puts you through the emotional wringer.

2018 Winner