Runaway Groomsman by Meghan Quinn

 I love this story! I am really into romantic comedies lately, and laughing is a great aphrodisiac!

Sawyer starts out in great form by ditching his agreement as best man in the middle of his best friend's and ex-girlfriend's wedding.  Along with the middle finger double salute, he runs back down the aisle, loses a shoe, jumps in his car, and heads for somewhere with a liquor license.

Fallon adores her home in Canoodle, CA.  It's her grandparents' resort, which is in need of repairs with a perfect spot nestled in the mountains within a village having a cat as its mayor.  

Fallon and the rest of the village adore the bar where her BFF, Jaz, bartends and serves waffles for dinner.  This is Sawyer's choice to drink himself into oblivion.

Fallon and Jaz feel sorry for him and drag him in his light blue suit to her resort to sleep it off.  Jaz, witty and always with her big knife in her back pocket, threatens him to behave along with giving him the nickname Julia, from Runaway Bride.

This is Fallon's second impression of Sawyer, and it's not any better than the first of which he doesn't remember.

Sawyer begins to like the tranquility of Canoodle, away from the hustle of being a screenwriter for romance and the betrayal of the betrothed.  It'll take a lot for Jaz to be nice, or maybe never, but when Sawyer sets his mind on Fallon he has to be a gentleman.  She has a boyfriend and he's actually a nice guy.

Maybe the peace in the mountains will be enough, but the heart keeps wishing.  Sawyer finds ways to secretly help Fallon with her remodels while he plans on how to get back to life.  Fallon's boyfriend loves her, but she can't force the reciprocation of the three magic words "I love you".  Could this be the chink in her current relationship to allow room for a change?

I can't put this book down, so I hope you try it!

Happy reading,

Dawn

Vicious (Sinners of Saint Book 1) by L.J. Shen

 L. J. Shen must be a greatly talented writer.  A reader can love a character and hate a character, but how can they change your opinion in a few hours of intense reading?

Emilia is the woman I love in the story.  She is artistic, loves to paint, will do anything for family, and works her behind off.  Originally from California, she relocated to New York City under the threat that her parents would be fired from their job and kicked out of their apartment if she didn't evacuate what she knew as her only home.

The hateful character has an appropriate name, Vicious.  That's what he is, and it appears impossible to make this rotten, evil person into a likeable part of anyone's life.  He's the one who made the threat along with teasing and acting mean to Emilia when she was a kid. 

 

Vicious and his childhood friends build a billion dollar business and it happens that he sees Emilia at her cocktail waitress job and lures her to temporarily work for his business.  She accepts under obligations to her sisters health.  Why else would she endure his horrible nature again?

The ironic thing is, they both fight their growing attachment to the other.  What could be right with Vicious making his evil layers peel off one by one?  What sob story can he have that will actually explain his couple of decades of torment to a woman?  How can Emilia, whom I constantly root for, let Vicious back into her life? It's not his money or connections.  

This romance is a page-flipper, and I dare you to put it down as L. J. Shen untangles a messy relationship!

Happy reading,

Dawn