An Unexpected Love Story: a second chance romantic comedy

An Unexpected Love Story by Ellie Hall is a part of the Falling into Happily Ever After Rom Com series. Catherine Kittredge has always played it safe when it comes to love. Preferring book boyfriends to real ones even though she dreams of love, marriage and a family. It doesn’t help when a ghost from her past appears in her path. Kellan Connolly, her nemesis and former love of her life, is the newest client at the publicity firm where Catherine works as a coffee-girl. When her roommate finds her old Boyfriend Book, she makes a dare with Catherine: go on five dates and pick one to be her Valentine. Catherine reluctantly agrees. However, each date fails to be her one true love and Kellan won’t go away. In fact, he has a secret. When he writes her a love letter, she has a decision to make. Will she take a risk and give him a second chance? 

I love second chance romances and I loved this book’s cute cover, so I was looking forward to a cute, sweet romance comedy. However, from the first chapter, I could not stand Catherine. I thought she was whiny and childish and it didn’t get better. Even with her “growth” by the end of the novel seemed off. The mystery to why she disliked Kellan dragged on for far too long that by the time it was revealed, I didn’t care anymore. While the reveal should have been emotional and an “oh my gosh” moment, it just wasn’t there. Even Kellan’s character was lacking and I couldn’t see why Catherine would care so much. Overall, I was bored and did not care for the characters or their love story. It was not the rom-com I was expecting. I will not be reading the other books in this series. I do not recommend An Unexpected Love Story. 

An Unexpected Love Story is available in paperback and eBook

Summer with the Marine: a short but sweet second chance romance

Summer with the Marine by Ellie Hall is the first book in the Blue Bay Beach series. Eisley Higgins needs a fresh start. She moves to her mom’s cottage in the retirement community in the coastal town of Blue Bay Beach. With a new job for a local restaurant, she is tricked into asking out the first male customer. With a twist of fate, she comes face to face with the one who broke her heart. Ford Armstrong spent the last ten years serving his country with the Marines. Now, he finds himself a civilian and a single dad to a two year old daughter. The last thing he expected to see is the one who got away. Despite the decade apart, they realize their secret feelings were still there. Will they reveal their true feelings and create a future together? 

A clean, sweet and wholesome romance, Summer with the Marine is a fast paced, short but sweet story. I was able to read it in an afternoon. A friends to lovers romance, Eisley and Ford were childhood friends who secretly fell in love with each other. As life took them on different paths, fate or kismet, brings them to the same small town as they both at a crossroads in their lives. I enjoyed their romance as they reconnect and confess their feelings. I would have liked to see more of Eisley’s new friends from the restaurant, I suppose we will in the rest of the series. Overall, I enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more stories in this series. If you enjoy small town, second chance romance, I recommend Summer with the Marine. 

Summer with the Marine is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

Dare to Love My Grumpy Boss: fun, sweet, clean romance

Dare to Love My Grumpy Boss by Ellie Hall is the first book in the Forever Marriage Match series. Cora Albright has found her perfect guy, Mr Right, if you will. However, she doesn’t know his real name. They met online and exchanged rather nerdy, flirty messages and it was leading to possibly meeting in real life? Before she can think about it, Cora learns her company is merging with another and the two companies are hosting a wilderness survival retreat. A series of events, she is left behind with Shaw Dawson, Mr Wrong. Shaw had worked his way to the top and after a series of betrayal, he found it hard to trust. As the merger goes through, Cora learns that Shaw is now her boss. Mr Grumpy and Ms Sunshine learn that they met before, not just in real life. Can Mr Wrong become Mr Right? 

Dare to Love My Grumpy Boss is a sweet, fun, clean romance. It was a quick read. Cora and Shaw were fun as people and together as a couple. They were sweet, flirty with a bit of sarcasm and nerdiness that I appreciate and relate to. The story also gave me You’ve Got Mail vibes with the fun and flirty messages between Cora and Shaw. I loved Cora’s friends who will probably have their own romances in this series, which I look forward to reading. There were a lot of laugh out loud moments. Warning though! Do not read while hungry. Cora is a foodie and she discusses food a lot and it was making me hungry. This story is a great quick romance to read during a lazy afternoon. If you want fun, sweet, clean romance, I highly recommend Dare to Love My Grumpy Boss. 

Dare to Love My Grumpy Boss is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook