Author: Nicole Helm

Guest Review: So Bad It Must Be Good by Nicole Helm

Posted August 17, 2017 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: So Bad It Must Be Good by Nicole HelmReviewer: Tracy
So Bad It Must Be Good by Nicole Helm
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Publication Date: August 22nd 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Add It: Goodreads
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three-half-stars

Wrong guy. Wrong situation. Might be right.

Free of her overbearing family and their dreams, not hers, Kayla Gallagher is living for herself instead of for her clan's successful restaurant. Step One: finally make her move on Aiden Patrick, the bad-boy son of Gallagher's long-time repairman. Too bad Aidan’s taciturn older brother shows up instead . . .

As the “responsible Patrick,” Liam has always made a conscious choice to do the right thing. He likes fixing things for people—whether it be a broken appliance or a bad situation. Which means he can’t just brush off the quiet Gallagher. Clearly, she needs a shoulder to lean on. But suddenly a shoulder becomes so much more, and Kayla isn’t the quiet little girl she used to be. She’s a vivid, down-for-anything woman showing Liam several sizzling ways to put passion first . . .

As things heat up between them, Liam’s family threatens to come apart for good. The only way Liam can set things right means giving up Kayla. But she’s not about to take no for an answer—or let their chance for something sweeter than desire crash-and burn without a fight.

Kayla has always worked for her family but she decided she’d been treated badly one too many times and quit.  Unfortunately she’d not really done anything since then.  She sees her old crush Aiden Patrick one day and he’s excited to see her.  Aiden asks Kayla out but when it comes time for the date Aiden isn’t around – is supposedly dealing with something – and asks his stoic brother, Liam, to go tell Kayla that he can’t make it.

Liam heads to the bar and ends up talking to Kayla (who’s pissed about Aiden) and even though they don’t touch each other that night they eventually start a relationship.  They’re so good together but Aiden is pissed at his brother for taking “his girl” and complains to mommy – who asks Liam to give Kayla up to keep the peace in the family.  Liam has to decide if he will go with his family’s wishes or stay with the woman he loves.

This was a pretty cute book.  It seemed to be a pretty fast read as Liam and Kayla get together and things move along at a pretty fast clip.  I liked Liam and Kayla together so reading their romance was a treat.

I hated the way that Liam’s family treated him – mostly his mother and brother.  Kayla hated it too and it was really the only thing they got into arguments about.  When Liam’s mom asks Liam to give her up because of Aiden, I was madder than a hornet! What mother does that?  Ugh!

Anyway, the romance was cute and I liked the characters in the story.  It was a pleasant read and I definitely liked it better than book one in this series.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars


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Guest Review: So Wrong It Must Be Right by Nicole Helm

Posted February 22, 2017 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: So Wrong It Must Be Right by Nicole HelmReviewer: Tracy
So Wrong It Must Be Right by Nicole Helm
Series: Gallagher & Ivy #1
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: February 21st 2017
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-stars

It’s all fun and games until fantasy gets real . . .

At twenty-seven, Dinah Gallagher thought she’d have it all figured out. Instead, she’s having mind-blowing online sex with a man she knows nothing about and fighting for her rightful place in the family business. Part of that battle means expanding their century-old restaurant by getting the stubborn urban farmer next door to sell them his lot.

But Carter Trask is tired of being pushed around—especially by rich families like the Gallaghers. All he has left is the little farm he’s scratched out of his grandmother’s yard. At least he can blow off steam with the anonymous woman he’s been emailing for the past eight months, who makes his every sexual fantasy come alive—even if it’s only online.

When Dinah suddenly realizes that Carter’s gardens look just like some of her mystery man’s photos, she can’t resist trying to turn her dreams into reality. Against his better judgment, Carter joins in the game. But in real life, passion has a way of becoming very complicated, very quickly. And sometimes the wrong choice can turn out to be oh so right . . .

Dinah Gallagher has had one thing on her mind her entire life: be the Director of Operations at Gallagher’s Tap Room and all the other businesses that the Gallagher’s have their hands in.  Right now she’s working for her Uncle who is the DoO and he’s a complete bastard.  He wants to buys the house/farm nearby and turn it into a parking lot/farmer’s market but the owner refuses to sell.  Dinah believes that if she can get the owner to sell her grandmother, the matriarch of the Gallagher family, would make her DoO.  She heads over but Carter Trask is totally stubborn and refuses.

Dinah heads home looking forward to some online sex with the man she’s been having it with for the past 8 months.  They fool around as their alter egos D & C but something sticks in Dinah’s mind and she looks at his blog again – the way they hooked up in the first place.  She takes a look and realizes that the pictures that C has online of his farm look exactly like Carter Trask’s farm!  She heads to Carter’s and confronts him.  They are shocked but soon decide that they can have sex for real as D & C and leave Carter and Dinah separate.  That doesn’t exactly work and soon feelings are involved which muddles everything.  Can these two supposed enemies be able to work out a relationship when there’s so much against them from the start?

This book had a good premise.  Those who are supposed enemies but trying to make a relationship work.  Something always gets in the way and it did in this instance too.

Dinah and Carter dislike each other intensely but D & C are fine in the bedroom.  They tried so hard to have one or the other but of course no one can live their live their life like that.  Eventually the two parts of their lives had to come together and when they did they had to work out how what they were going to do about it.  I liked the compromise that they made and how they worked with each other to find a common ground.  I guess what I really didn’t like was Dinah.  They were good together but she made me absolutely nuts.  That woman needed a club to the head to knock some sense into her.  She lost her cousin/best friend because of her stubbornness and she still pushed forward to get what she wanted.  I couldn’t really reconcile her work self with her off-work self.  They were such polar opposites that it almost didn’t seem like the same person.  The ending of the book when we got the solution to everything wrapped up with a bow was completely rushed imho.  It was a decision made and then the end.  It definitely felt like there was something missing.

Overall I enjoyed the book but it certainly wasn’t fabulous for me.

Rating: 3 out of 5

three-stars


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