Snowed In by: Jessica Calla ~ A holiday romance book review

Emma Ballard, a retired supermodel, has been the acting CEO and face of her family’s clothing business for the past five years, living the busy corporate life in New York City. She meets the Jersey branch IT supervisor, theater-nerd Andrew Mooney, when she gets stuck in a snowstorm after an office function.

Getting to know widower Andrew, his grumpy vet father, and his adorable six-year-old twin girls opens Emma’s heart to the possibility of having love and family in her life. Andrew’s opinion of Emma, the “viper CEO” gossiped about at the water cooler, quickly changes as he discovers Emma’s wit, intelligence, and giving heart.

Although neither Emma nor Andrew are quite ready for a relationship and canoodling is against company policy, the holiday spirit of Manhattan is magical and contagious. As fate and Mother Nature would have it, Emma and Andrew keep finding themselves snowed in together, as they face their pasts and fall in love.

Yes, we are counting down to Christmas with another holiday read. Don’t judge me, it’s the time of year I get my elf on.

Jessica Calla is an author I am always excited to read, even when she steps out of the romance genre. While I adore her Sheridan Hall series (I’m a sucker for NA as we all know), Ms. Calla has also written a gripping and deep women’s fiction Maple Summer Wallace that has stuck with me long after I closed the book.

But let’s get back to Snowed In. Obviously I am in the holly jolly mood myself and as an avid Hallmark Christmas movie watcher, I am giddy to find books that are, essentially, Hallmark movies on paper.

One of my favorite tropes in general is a single dad trope. Typically when the single mom trope is done there is so much struggling included you don’t always feel like the woman is a strong person, but rather just one in need of saving. While I’ll never call single motherhood easy, I think that sometimes it’s overdone and exhausting. Throw a little gender bendy single dad at me and I am putty in your hands.

Enter Andrew.

Yup, I am a sucker for this leading man. He is a fabulous character all around and, I’ll fully admit that his single dad skills are mad on point and make me completely swoon.

And then we have Emma.

Now, I’ll be honest, from reading the blurb I was expecting to dislike Emma. Remember I am a Hallmark movie fan and typically if you’ve got a character who is a “big city ex-supermodel” she is a bit of a diva and needs a reality check that comes through the course of the story. That is not the case with Emma. She is so sweet and caring and just… absolutely precious. While Andrew and Emma manage to be portrayed so perfectly as opposites, they are both equally as likable and have you rooting for them to find their HEA.

Snowed In is EXACTLY the sweet romance you need to put you in the holiday spirit. Especially in 2020, this is the kind of read we need in our lives because I think this year has managed to give all of us a little extra dose of Grinchy attitude. Banish that green fella by grabbing a copy of Snowed In today. You will NOT regret it.

Where to find Snowed In

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple

Goodreads

Wrapped Up In Christmas Joy ~ A Holiday Book Review

When Sophie Davis sorts through a box of donated books to her church, she’s surprised to discover a soldier’s journal. As the daughter of a veteran who watched her father struggle over the years, she feels a deep connection to the man who wrote the emotional entries.

Former Marine Cole Aaron battled to find peace after returning to civilian life. He’s always needed to protect others. Now, fighting fires in Pine Hill, Kentucky helps him put out the demons within him. When Sophie shows up at the fire hall with his journal from when he’d first returned stateside, Cole can’t believe it was in the box he’d donated. Not wanting to face painful memories, he tells her to trash it.

Sophie and Cole are drawn together as they both volunteer for their community, but it’s hard for Cole to let down his guard, and he doesn’t need anyone’s pity. After all he’s been through in the past, can he find faith in a more hopeful future…one touched by joy?
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The Debt by: Amy Rose ~ Book Review

What do you do when you’re given away to someone you don’t know in payment of a debt?

Rebecca Kennedy always thought she had the perfect life. Growing up wealthy, she never had to do anything she didn’t want to, travelling the world as a successful art blogger, having complete freedom to make any decisions she wanted to. Until the night her parents made a decision that changed the course of her future forever.

Alexander Black enjoys the finer things in life, collectable antiques, private aeroplanes and never being told no. His empire is large, and his reach is long, known in the world he frequents as being powerful and frightening. When a debt is paid in something other than money, it changes the game.

Will these two manage to enter the murky waters of the new life they are entering and come out unscathed? Or will this change the both of them, forever? 
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A Girl Gone Crazy by: Becca Baldwin ~ Book Review

Haley O’Brien spends her days working for an ogre that can’t be bothered to remember her name, running everybody’s errands, and gossiping over coffee with her best friend. Her nights and her fantasies belong to the hottest chef in the world. Too bad he doesn’t know she exists…or does he?

Joel Alexander has sworn off women. After a disastrous relationship that nearly ruined his career, Joel certainly wasn’t looking to fall in love, until he saw her…

​After an unfortunate accident brings them together, Haley and Joel set off on a blazing trail of love, passion, sex, and friendship. However, someone close to them wants to tear them apart. Someone who will do anything to separate them. Someone who’s determined to let nothing stand in their way.
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JOINT CUSTODY by: Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Book Review

The Man has custody Monday through Friday, The Woman has custody on the weekends. But that’s not enough for Gatz, who will do anything to bring them back together–even if it kills him. And it almost did. Of course he knows chocolate is bad for him, especially two whole pounds of it, but it’s the risk he’s willing to take to get them back together.

Gatz knows that The Man and The Woman are perfect for each other–how can they not see it too? She is an editor and he’s a writer. She’s a social butterfly and he’s as introverted as a guy can get. After the misguided death-by-chocolate attempt, Gatz thinks he still has time. But when New Man–so handsome, so nice, so perfect–enters The Woman’s life, he realizes he’ll need to step up his game. And you know what they say: drastic times call for drastic doggy measures.

A laugh-out-loud romance that will touch your heart and make you want a furry friend of your own.

Spoiler Alert: The ending is mentioned in, somewhat, detail as it greatly affects the tone of the review.

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LOVE & OTHER DISASTERS by: Terri Jones ~ A RomCom Book Review

Violet Murphy has just landed herself in a world of trouble.

One minute she’s out on the town with her best friend, and the next, there’s a hot guy offering to buy her a drink. Normally, a man like that wouldn’t look her way. So…she panics. After a case of mistaken identity, a fake name, and way too much alcohol, Violet’s only hope of saving face is to never see his again.

Too bad life can’t be that easy.

J.P. Harper never expected to find himself down on his luck.

After all, he’s always been at the top of his game, saving struggling businesses and being paid well to do it. But when his latest project turns into a nightmare, one with a half-million dollars missing, it’s his reputation that’s at risk of going under. But a familiar face among the staff sends him back to that night he can’t forget. Is that the same woman? With his career and heart on the line, J.P. sets out for answers.

Can J.P. trust Violet and set aside that night to work together…or will their sparks ignite another disaster?
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Book Review! HEX, LOVE, AND ROCK & ROLL by: Kat Turner

With a business skidding toward bankruptcy and bone-dry bank account, Helen Schrader is willing to do the unthinkable. But what will happen when she hires a witch to cast a money spell?

When the spell sets in motion her own latent magic and her inexperience causes her to accidentally hex her celebrity crush, rocker Brian Shepherd, all that good fortune she hoped for flies out of the window.

Now, Helen and Brian struggle to break the curse and tackle their growing feelings for each other. Problem is, the harder they fall for each other, the deadlier the curse becomes.

But as a dark magic cult with an unquenchable thirst for power closes in on them, the couple will have to face more than just their inconvenient desire. With time running out and danger mounting, can they beat the hex before Brian becomes its next victim?
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Book Review & Giveaway! ESCAPE by: Deana Birch

The only thing she has to give is exactly what they want.

The Covington Heights Crew has a funny way of protecting their own. With rapes from rival gangs and human trafficking riddling their poverty-stricken streets, they’ll keep the girls from their neighborhood safe—for a price. No money? No worries. They have quite creative payment plans.

Messed up? Yeah, they know. They’re criminals.

Twenty-one-year-old Fiona Thompson was happy to stay off the radar of the twisted drug dealers who encourage her mother’s habit. She’s sure that she can work her way out of Covington and find a better life for herself and her baby sister. But then she beeped. Loud.

Second-in-command Leo Ricci is a poser. The web of lies he’s spun for a life unravels every time he’s around Fiona—every day he’s trying to keep her safe and every second he’s avoiding his destiny.

When his missteps challenge the authority to which he’s pledged his allegiance and Fiona’s life is at stake, there’s only one solution—become the man he never wanted to be and leave the place that was saving him from a worse, but unavoidable fate. 
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Book Review! KILLING SONG by: Luna Joya

One more kill and she’s free. But only if she doesn’t fall in love first.

Love destroys. Zaida has lived by that motto for centuries as a siren and the faerie queen’s most lethal assassin. So keeping things strictly professional with the sexy human she’s working with on the FBI’s paranormal task force shouldn’t be a problem. Except it is.

Former Army Ranger Zimm isn’t a big fan of love either. Losing everything and everyone will do that to a guy. Keeping his hands off the badass, sword-happy siren who’s helping him track down a murderous demon should be easy. But it isn’t.

If Zaida and Zimm have any hope of claiming their happily ever after, they’ll have to catch a killer, outwit immortal royalty, and face off against an evil magical organization. And then there’s the little matter of the last hit the queen has ordered Zaida to carry out in exchange for her freedom. The target? Zimm.

Seems like everything’s about to get supernaturally complicated.
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Book Review! HIT & RUN by: Lori Matthews

Gage Callahan knew his latest assignment with Callahan Security was going to be a disaster. He traipsed around Europe to locate the computer programmer he was hired to protect only to discover she’s actually a hacker hiding in Alaska. Tensions mount when she narrowly escapes becoming roadkill as a vicious organization comes after her. It will take all his ingenuity to rush her to safety, especially when Gage’s primary objective…get her and the prototype to New York…becomes secondary to protecting his heart from a fatal attraction to the spunky woman.

Dani Pierce is used to working on the dark web but now she is truly scared because deadly trouble has arrived at her front door. The self-reliant hacker knows she’ll need help to survive her contract to build facial recognition software. The aggravating yet handsome man hired to protect her makes it clear he detests her, but that doesn’t stop her from developing feelings for him.

It soon becomes apparent to Gage that Dani’s in deeper than she’ll admit but her answers don’t explain why the deadly gang after her is always one step ahead. It will take his military skills and her hacking know-how to save not only their butts, but the budding love they’ve discovered in the midst of danger.
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