Mini Reviews: Hope Ignites + Happily Ever After

HOPE IGNITES
Hope #2
Jaci Burton
Adult Contemporary Romance
304 pages
Jove
Available now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Logan McCormack likes his isolated life on the ranch, until a movie crew starts filming there. When actress Desiree Jenkins blows into his life, she wrecks it harder than the Oklahoma winds with her brutal honesty and soft touch. Des knows this is a temporary stay, but she loves the open freedom of the land, and for the first time in her life, Des feels like she might have found a place she can call home, with a man she might be falling in love with. But Logan’s heart is tougher than the soil beneath them—can she convince him that they belong together?

MY THOUGHTS
Hope Ignites is a fun and sexy reverse-Cinderella story (of sorts) wherein a gruff, set-in-his-ways rancher gets amusingly knocked off-kilter by a no-nonsense Hollywood starlet. Desiree, or Des as she prefers to be called, is initially a bit tricky, her openness with regard to what she wants from Logan coming across as pushy when she continuously tries to goad him into action by making references to them begin naked together, but once they do cross that line she quickly becomes the highlight of the story. She’s nothing if not completely honest with Logan at every turn, game playing something she has very little interest in and even less time for given she’s on location for only a few short months.

Whereas Des lays everything on the table from page one, Logan is much more reserved and so thoroughly convinced that no one could possibly love ranch life as much as he does that he's the one responsible for much of the push and pull in their relationship. Because Des is so anti-games however, she calls Logan on his behavior every single time, bringing a smile to our faces as we long to hug her for being who she is. Logan, to his credit, is not one to stew in his own righteousness, and after his temper quickly flares it dies right back down and he makes sincere, heartfelt apologies. The two of them together are cute and flirty, and their love scenes are as steamy as readers might expect from Ms. Burton, making Hope Ignites a quick and enjoyable escape from reality.

Rating: 4/5 

Find Jaci:

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HAPPILY EVER AFTER
Elizabeth Maxwell
Adult Contemporary Romance-ish
336 pages
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster
Available now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
At forty-six, Sadie Fuller’s life isn’t exactly romantic. A divorced, overweight, somewhat sexually frustrated mother of an eleven-year-old, she lives in the suburbs, shops the big box stores, makes small talk with her small-minded neighbors, and generally leads a quiet life. But while her daughter is at school, or when Sadie is up late at night, she writes erotic fiction under the name KT Briggs.

Then, during a routine shopping trip, Sadie runs into someone familiar…too familiar, in fact. She encounters an incredibly handsome man exactly like the one in her imagination—and her latest novel. Is Aidan Hathaway really one of her characters? And if so, what is he doing in Target? As Sadie tries to negotiate this strange new world, her eyes begin to open to romantic possibilities in places she never dreamed of looking... places where Happily Ever After might not be so far-fetched after all

MY THOUGHTS
While labeled a contemporary romance, Happily Ever After is more a genre unto itself, beautifully combining romantic and magical elements with a hilariously realistic heroine, and eschewing a traditional, predictable route to its titular end in favor of something a little different. In the beginning we get snippets from Sadie’s latest novel, a book with a more typical sweet and innocent heroine who falls quickly and easily for the commanding presence of an overwhelmingly beautiful businessman. While the length of these snippets is a touch frustrating given we’re instantly charmed by Sadie and want to return to her, they do prove vital in setting up the explanation for how Aidan suddenly finds himself in Sadie’s world.

The contrast between Lily (Sadie’s heroine) and Sadie is glaringly apparent in the opening chapters, Lily’s naivete making Sadie’s smart mouth and straightforward approach to life and love absolutely refreshing. Though we might expect the magical twist surrounding Aidan’s arrival in the “real” world to follow a standard romance novel path once he meets Sadie, we should have known just from our short time with her that she would not be one to get caught up in romantic craziness. She’s honest with herself and those around her, and she stands gorgeously on two feet in this story without anyone of the male persuasion necessary to prop her up. That’s not to say she’s not surrounded by a solid cast of secondary characters–because she is–but Sadie is a true delight in this story and the main reason the pages turn with such speed. I will definitely be on the lookout for more from the witty and entertaining Ms. Maxwell.

Rating: 4/5 

Find Elizabeth:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

These books were sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.