Review: A Sicilian Engagement by Rachel Lyndhurst

Title: A Sicilian Engagement
Author: Rachel Lyndhurst
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: September 28, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 3
Sexual - 3

Money buys the perfect woman …

Billionaire Sicilian, Lorenzo Ferrante, needs a fake fiancée, and fast, in order to close a deal that will set him free from ties to a sordid past he never wanted any part of. Starting fresh somewhere else is all he wants for himself and his little girls...

Lora Pryce-Howard has been conned into playing Ferrante's fiancée thanks to her low life brother. And if she wants to keep her business, a roof over her ailing mother's head, and her brother alive she'll play along. She refuses to be seduced by a luxurious Mediterranean lifestyle, but Ferrante's soft words and burning kisses make leaving all the more difficult...

This book had a lot of really good elements to it, but it also had some things that just didn't sit right with me as well.  Both of the characters were very well written and I enjoyed them a lot - but parts of their development just didn't feel a whole lot like a romance to me.  Perhaps I've read too many stories with lust at first sight and the no-strings-attached sex arrangement, but it just didn't fit for me this time.  Lora didn't seem to evolve much, and a love a character that has some important changes in themselves by the end of the story.  Lorenzo changed a lot by the end, but you just don't see it until he starts talking about it at the end.  I wanted to see and feel his change throughout the pages and I didn't get that.

There was a little excitement between the pages.  Lorenzo isn't a bad person, but he comes from some pretty shady roots.  Trying to cut ties with that can be dangerous and he is well aware of it - there are bodyguards everywhere.  They were constantly mentioned, but didn't really have enough to do to justify their constant presence.  I didn't really feel like I saw them fall in love.  The most interesting part of the story was Lorenzo's business deal and some of the details surrounding it that are revealed slowly throughout the book.  I loved that part of the story, but it definitely wasn't a romance.

The ending seemed to be a bit contrived.  We do have a happily ever after, I guess, but the way the final declarations are stated you have to wonder if they are really sincere - especially giving Lorenzo's background.  I just didn't feel very satisfied with this one.  All the right elements were in place at the beginning and they just didn't pan out well.

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Review by Jasmyn: Blackmailed by the Billionaire Brewer

Review: Blackmailed by the Billionaire Brewer by Rachel Lyndhurst

Title: Blackmailed by the Billionaire Brewer
Author: Rachel Lyndhurst
Source: Entangled - Indulgence
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: May 19, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 3
Sexual - 3

Piper Reilly is in trouble. She needs a cash infusion, and she’s just left a scorching hot man
in Florida to get her life in Colorado back on track. Then her surfside one-night-stand turns out to be her new boss, billionaire Matt DeLeo, with an offer she can’t refuse – agree to be the face of his brewery’s newest concoction or lose her job. A few weeks modeling for the billionaire playboy and her money worries are over, and she can definitely resist Matt’s gorgeous smile and muscular, tattooed arms. It’s strictly business. Right?

Matt DeLeo is in trouble. He’s found the perfect woman to sell Passion Creek Brewery’s newest brew, but if he wants her on his posters, he’ll have to keep his hands to himself. His problem? All he wants to do is drink in Piper. It will take more than blackmail for Matt to get his way.

I almost didn't pick up this one to read.  The title seemed a little extreme and I wasn't a big fan of the cover (yes I do judge books by them - especially if I'm on the fence about the blurb).  I'm glad I decided to give it a go because there was a lot of good stuff in these pages.

Piper was a riot.  She was sarcastic, opinionated, artsy and had a soft spot for stray kitties - just my kind of girl.  Piper and her pregnant cat have quite the adventure with billionaire Matt DeLeo - and I loved that the cat actually played a minor role in helping push the two together.  I wish I could talk one of my furry ones into finding me a billionaire.  Of course, Piper doesn't see it as such a good thing.

Matt is an obnoxious rich boy snob that thinks he can somehow buy whatever he needs in life.  I really didn't like him at first - but his good will toward kitty made me willing to give him a chance.  It let him show a small bit of his softer side that kept me hoping he would turn out all right.  Throughout the story he seems more concerned with keeping Piper at arms length and promoting his new beer than anything else.

Their relationship was an odd one.  I'm still not sure how they ended up falling for each other eventually.  There were parts of it I loved and parts that I either didn't get or didn't like as well.  I'm very glad I decided to pick it up though, the ending was one of the sweetest I've seen in a long time - just ask kitty, she was there, too.

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