CBR18 Book 37: "Let's Make a Scene" by Laura Wood

Page count: 352 pages

Rating: 5 stars

Cynthie Taylor needs some positive publicity, fast. Once it was revealed that not only was the film director she recently broke up with married, but his wife is pregnant, former good girl Cynthie is now seen as a manipulative home wrecker (the cheating director is obviously not getting the same negative press, what with being a man and all).

Fired from a high-profile superhero movie, Cynthie may have found a new and unexpected career rescue. The writer and director of Cynthie's first-ever movie, A Lady of Quality, the one who made her a breakout star, wants to make a sequel, as in the thirteen years since it was made, it has become a cult classic on streaming, and now the funding is in place to make a follow-up. Most of the original team will be in place to make it, and filming in the UK will take Cynthie away from the most aggressive press attention. It would also mean working closely with Jack Turner-Jones again, a man Cynthie has a complicated past with. 

Thirteen years ago, Cynthie was a relatively unknown actress selected for her role in A Lady of Quality in a series of auditions. Jack Turner-Jones was the son of two acclaimed and beloved British actors, who had very high career expectations for him. He's worried she's going to ruin the whole movie with her stage fright and inexperience. Cynthie overhears him complaining to one of the directors that he wants her fired, and finds his arrogance infuriating. They start off on the wrong foot and keep getting more antagonistic as the shoot progresses. The studio execs, however, want Cynthie and Jack to pretend to be a couple to drum up publicity for the movie. So while they privately loathe each other, they not only have to pretend to fall in love in the movie they're filming, but off-screen as well. 

Now Cynthie's PR people think it would be very beneficial for her reputation if she rekindled this fake romance with Jack, which will also create advance publicity and excitement for A Lady of Quality 2. Jack Turner-Jones is up for contract negotiations for the next season of Blood/Lust, and wants to make sure his character isn't killed off. Fake dating Cynthie will raise his media profile considerably. Since the world already thinks they used to love each other back in the day, selling the relationship now should be easier. There is the added complication that the streaming service that's funding the movie wants there to be a behind-the-scenes documentary accompanying the release, so Cynthie and Jack would have to pretend to be affectionate a lot more of the time.   

Career-wise, Cynthie is now basically where Jack once hoped he would end up. She's starred in a number of prestigious films, been Oscar-nominated, won several other major acting awards, and until she was unfortunate enough to get romantically involved with a man who chose not to divulge that he was married, she was box office gold. Jack, on the other hand, is a constant disappointment to his exacting parents, being perfectly happy as an ensemble player in a supernatural TV show about vampires. 

As is the case with every fake relationship story in romance, especially because this is ALSO a second-chance romance, there's no way that Cynthie and Jack don't fall madly in love with each other. The book alternates between the present day and thirteen years ago, so the readers first get to see the older actors meeting again (and being instantly smitten with one another), but also get the whole complicated backstory of how the filming of the first movie and their fake relationship back then ended so catastrophically. 

One of my favourite things in Under Your Spell was the supporting cast of characters, like Clem's mothers and sisters, and Theo's micro-managing personal assistant. Here, Cynthie has a wonderful team of people taking care of her, including her best friend Hannah, who has been her personal assistant from the start. While Jack's parents are the absolute worst, he, too, has a lot of supportive friends, and then there's the crew of the movies, who also provide a lot of entertainment.

I literally bought this for my e-reader as soon as I finished Under Your Spell, and ended up liking it even more, possibly because a lot of different scenes in this reminded me of several of Lucy Parker's London Celebrities books, which remain some of my favourite contemporary romances. There were also references throughout to several of my favourite rom-coms, including While You Were Sleeping. Laura Wood is an author I will be eagerly searching for new releases from, based on the two books I read these last few days. If she writes another one as good as these, she may be a new auto-buy author for me.

Judging a book by its cover: This one has a much more traditional romance cover than Under Your Spell, and it gratifies me to see that the little cartoon people are actually wearing outfits as described in the book (that is so often not the case). 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR15 Book 16: "I Love You, I Hate You" by Elizabeth Davis

Page count: 288 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Official book description:

Of all the decisions brilliant lawyer Victoria Clemenceaux has made in her life, an unforgettable one-night stand with her opposing counsel Owen Pohl is either the worst...or the best.

One thing is certain: these long-standing rivals aren't going to let their searing attraction stop them from winning the biggest case of their careers. Thankfully Victoria and Owen have someone to vent to about their nemeses. But they have no idea that their online 'friends', Nora and Luke, are the very people they hate in real life.

As Nora and Luke grow closer online, and Victoria and Owen find their undeniable attraction harder to resist, the lines between love and hate blur. When the truth comes out, will their online chemistry work in the real world, or will their constant rivalry sever their connection?

I seem to find myself drawn to enemies-to-lovers romances with a You've Got Mail influence, despite the fact that I don't particularly like the romantic comedy much. I've mentioned in reviews before that I find the emotional infidelity that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks' characters commit while flirting and falling in love online, while both are still in committed relationships, icky. However, most contemporary romances (be they YA or not) take the communicating with someone online and developing a friendship/attraction with someone they loathe in real life (but secretly want to bang) aspect, and thankfully most have the protagonists be single while this happens.

In some enemies-to-lovers romances, there isn't all that much enmity. One party perhaps kind of dislikes the other, but the other actually always found the other one attractive. Or there's been some sort of misunderstanding that gets cleared up pretty quickly. In this book, the protagonists really do despise each other, stemming from a long-running professional rivalry (he's a prosecutor working for the public good, and she's the defense attorney for a large, soulless corporation) and constantly trying to one-up one another in court. Little do they know that they're each other's closest confidantes online.

The friendship on social media aspect of this book, reminded me a lot of the online friendship between Bee and Levi in Ali Hazelwood's Love on the Brain. The actual hate-f**king aspect of the book (because Victoria and Owen REALLY still hate each other the first few times they hook up) was very reminiscent of Kate Canterbary's The Worst Guy. Because the dislike between the characters is so genuine, the author has to do more work to convince the reader that all that hate is actually just sublimated lust and longing. It's not an easy feat, but I think Elizabeth Davis managed it well here. The fact that this seems to have been her debut novel (Goodreads tells me she's written short stories in the past) makes it even more impressive. Her next romance features a fake relationship between seeming opposites, and while I'm less fond of that trope, I'd be willing to give her a chance based on how well she pulled off enemies to lovers in this book. 

Judging a book by its cover: Not exactly fond of either the pink and blue background here or the rest of the cover design. Also, the little cartoon that's supposed to be Owen should have had redder hair. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR15 Book 15: "The Worst Best Man" by Mia Sosa

Page count: 368 pages

Rating: 4 stars

When wedding planner Carolina "Lina" Santos was mere moments from her own wedding, the best man, the groom's younger brother came to tell her that his brother had cold feet and would not be showing up to the ceremony. Since that moment, Lina has kept a very tight check on her emotions and is now proud of her reputation as trusted, efficient, and very unflappable  She obviously doesn't want anyone to know about her own wedding disaster a few years back.  So it's not all that surprising that she panics a bit, when offered a very lucrative and potentially life-changing opportunity, and finds herself face to face with her former fiancée and his brother, the best man. She lies and claims never to have met either of the men before, and agrees to work with Max Hartley (the best man, she really can't even contemplate having to work with her ex) for the next few weeks. 

Max was looking forward to a chance to really show the client (the managing director of a very successful hotel chain) that he is better at marketing and promotion than his brother. For years now, Max has felt like he's basically doing all the work, with his brother keeps getting most of the credit, since their boss, who also happens to be their mother (no, it's not a good look), keeps insisting that they work together. So when their client insisted that she wanted two teams, with each of the brothers working separately to prepare a presentation with different wedding planners, it should have been Max' sure win. Except the person he has to work with to land the deal that might secure his career, is a woman who (quite rightly) hates him. 

Lina starts out determined to make Max' life difficult, but he seems to so gamely accept that it's her due to gently torment and blame him, and before long, she can't really make herself stay too angry with him. Once she discovers that Max isn't exactly his brother's biggest fan and that he feels awful about possibly having influenced his brother into jilting Lena, she tries her best to make their partnership work. Of course, the more time they spend together, the more their chemistry sizzles. Of course, Lena is determined to stay single, and she certainly has no plans to ever fall for a Hartley again, while Max, for all the attraction he feels towards Lena, can't forget that she was with his brother first, and can't stand the idea of being in his brother's shadow.  

After a promising start to my reviewing year, I'm now back trying to write reviews for books I read several months ago. Since reading this book, I've also read a LOT of romances, nearly all of them contemporary, so it can be a bit tricky to keep the various characters and plot lines straight in my head. This book purported to be about enemies to lovers (which is one of my favourite romance tropes), and while starting out, Lina absolutely considers both Max and his brother (I can't remember his name, and I certainly can't be bothered to look it up now - he's just the weaselly ex) her enemies. Max, on the other hand, always sort of liked Lina, and doesn't even blame her for her rather impulsive actions and pranks at the start of their partnership. Of course, he has a whole host of complicated feelings about his brother, so finding said brother's ex irresistibly attractive is a problem that he tries manfully to deal with until his and Lina's pants feelings take over and they can't keep their mouths and hands off each other anymore. 

What I remember liking:

- Lina's support network - her assistant and her family. They were fun and protective but never went too far.

- Lina and Max, separately and together. They feel like fully-rounded characters and the build-up of their relationship was good.

- The competence porn aspect. Lina and Max are forced to work together on a presentation that is extremely important to both of them. They have to set aside their differences and any old grudges because neither of them can afford for the other one to half-ass it. They are both dedicated to their work and good at what they do.

What I didn't like:

- Max' brother, Lina's ex. I get that Ms. Sosa possibly needed him to be extra weaselly so that there was no doubt that Lina wouldn't have any lingering feelings about him, and his actions would also cause Max to see that he wouldn't be overstepping by entering into a relationship with Lina - but the character didn't really work for me.

- I think I was annoyed at whatever third act obstacle that appeared in the path of our lovers' HEA, but having read so many romances in the past few months, I'm not entirely clear on the details of said complications.

This was a fun book that had been on my TBR for quite some time. I'm happy a couple of reading challenges finally gave me the push to read it. Ms Sosa has apparently written a follow up novel about Lina's cousin, involving another wedding. Not sure I liked this enough to check that out unless I find it in a sale, though. The premise doesn't sound as interesting.

Judging a book by its cover: Of course, it's another cartoony cover, that's just how romances look nowadays. At least this one is rather playful and funny. It definitely caught my eye and made me interested in the book in the first place. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR8 Book 94: "The Hating Game" by Sally Thorne

Page count: 384 pages
Audio book length: 11hrs 29mins
Rating: 5 stars

Lucinda "Lucy" Hutton is working her dream job. Well, sort of. Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to get into the publishing industry, and she's currently assistant to the co-CEO of Bexley & Gamin, two smaller publishing houses with vastly different business ideas, who merged to save both of them. She would love to be more involve in the day to day process of publishing the books, but her boss considers her too indispensable. She is bubbly, charming and well liked by absolutely everyone in the building, with the notable exception of the man who shares her office.

Joshua Templeman is the other co-CEO's assistant and he is pretty much Lucy's polar opposite. Toweringly tall where she is petite. Coldly efficient, rather ruthless, with absolutely no cares about whether his colleagues like him or not. He dresses impeccably and could very well be a physically intimidating robot subsisting on breath mints, as far as Lucy can tell. He is the only one who doesn't seem to like Lucy, and she loathes him right back. All her passwords are variations on how much she hates him. The two spend their many hours in the office playing a series of games, the object of which Lucy thinks is to make the other one crack a smile, or cry. There's the mirror game, where they subtly mirror the other's movements exactly. There's the Staring Game, the "How are you doing?" Game and best of all, the HR game, where they both keep a comprehensive log of the other's infractions.

For all that they seem to spend much of their long work-weeks one upping one another, Lucy cannot deny that Joshua is handsome. She would find it easier if he looked like some sort of warty cave-troll. When the CEOs announce that they are creating a new position, and that they both consider their assistant the best person for the job, the rivalry between Lucy and Josh really escalates. Lucy is determined that she could never have Joshua as her boss, and will resign if she loses. She makes Joshua agree to do the same if she wins. After an afternoon of trading barbs in their new game: "If I were your boss", Lucy has an exceptionally vivid erotic dream involving Josh, and it throws her off. The next day, she dresses intentionally provocatively, making Joshua question whether she has a date.

Unable to let Josh win this new, strange game, Lucy manages to scrounge up a date. That evening, on the way to the bar where Lucy is meeting her date, they share an absolutely scorching kiss in the elevator. Joshua is mortified when he discovers Lucy wasn't in fact lying, and for a while they manage to pretend that nothing happened, but the edge is off a bit in their games. After Lucy pretty much collapses from flu after a company retreat (where they impress the entire company by how fiercely they defend each other during paintball), Joshua spends the next forty-eight hours nursing her back to health. Can Lucy really hate someone who spent so much time taking care of her? Why is Josh so adamant they can never be friends? Could it be because he wants to be more than just Lucy's friend and colleague?

This romance has a perfect example of the "enemies to lovers" trope, or the "I hate you, I hate you, I can't stop thinking about your hair/dress sense/eyes etc". The whole book is narrated from Lucy's POV, but it's obvious when you look for it that Joshua's feelings for Lucy, even early on, are not really antagonistic, just highly reserved and controlled. Based on what we discover later, with regards to his family life, his last romantic relationship and his personality, he's just built a cast-iron shell around himself, never letting any hint of his true feelings for Lucy show. From a family where everyone else is a doctor, he's made himself vastly successful in the business world instead, and he's much too qualified for the job he's doing - staying in a job he detests mainly so he can see Lucy every work day. He despises his boss and doesn't give a fig for the opinion about anyone else in the place, he just wants them to do their jobs efficiently. He despairs at how often Lucy's kindness is taken advantage of by other employees and a lot of his snark is clearly just to try to make her grow more of a back-bone.

Lucy is really a very lonely person. Her mother was a successful journalist until she met Lucy's father and they now run a strawberry farm (that, and the fact that she's tiny, are the reasons Joshua constantly refers to Lucy as "Shortcake" all the time. There is a third reason, but I don't want to reveal exactly why, as it's part of his extremely touching and heart-warming declaration of love at the end of the book), seemingly struggling to make ends meet. Lucy lost her one real friend when Gamin merged with Bexley, as her friend was laid off, and felt that Lucy (despite knowing nothing of it in advance and would have been unable to stop it either way) had nothing to do with it. Her flat is empty and impersonal and she pretty much lives for work. She's not had a romantic relationship for as long as she's worked with Joshua, and even though she asks another colleague (who'll be leaving the company shortly to go free lance), her heart is clearly not in it. After Josh kisses her in the elevator, the day after she had an extremely graphic sex dream about him, she starts to ponder whether her hate is in fact just her fighting her attraction to him.

I pretty much loved this book and read the whole thing in less than 24 hours. It was only released at the beginning of August, but I saw it enthusiastically reviewed on all the various romance review sites that I follow. Because the description reminded me a bit of Act Like It, still one of my favourite romances this year, I determined that I needed to take a break from the Captive Prince trilogy to devour this. As I was reading, I found several similarities. The initially fairly malicious banter turned more affectionate as the couple admits their attraction to one another. The fact that he takes care of her while she's sick. Joshua's fairly dislikable personality (which unlike Richard is actually more of a front to guard his emotions).

As with Act Like It, The Hating Game isn't perfect. I would have liked some more *insert funky bass line here*. I guess that because this is a book published by a mainstream publisher, marketed as more of a romantic comedy than a full-on romance (oh, how I hate that that term is so unfairly stigmatised), they felt that too much smexy times would be inappropriate? I also saw the reveal at the family gathering of Joshua's coming a mile away, and would have preferred to be a little bit more surprised. These are very small niggles, and my first reaction after finishing the book was actually to just start reading it again. Even now, ten days later, I still find myself thinking about it constantly. I've already re-read Act Like It, and might have to re-read this again to try to get it out of my system.

This should absolutely be the next book that a prominent part of the regular Cannonballers reviews. Sadly, this book costs a lot more, but it is totally worth your money. Otherwise, put it on hold at your library ASAP. It's a delightful book and it deserves a wide readership. It's Sally Thorne's first novel, but I will absolutely be keeping a lookout for more books by her. Now if you excuse me, I may have to start re-reading this book from the beginning.

Judging a book by its cover: I like the cover, but it is unlikely that the cover and title alone would have been enough to make me pick up the book if I hadn't seen it raved about on so many different review sites. This is a book published not by one of the major romance publishers, and it's described as a workplace comedy on Goodreads, hence the cover avoids many of the pitfalls so common with other romances. I love that what is basically a straight up romance, with a little bit less smexy times, is being advertised as a romantic comedy in book form. Although it would make a pretty great movie, if they could get the casting right.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.