Author: Susan Donovan

Throwback Thursday Review: The Girl Most Likely To… by Susan Donovan

Posted February 22, 2018 by Casee in Reviews | 10 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: The Girl Most Likely To… by Susan DonovanReviewer: Casee
The Girl Most Likely To... by Susan Donovan
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: December 30th 2008
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 340
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars

Kat Cavanaugh was sixteen when she hitchhiked out of Persuasion, West Virginia and vowed never to return. Who could blame her? She'd just stumbled upon her father's adulterous affair, found out she was pregnant, got dumped by her boyfriend, and kicked out of her house and school . . . all in a single afternoon. Twenty years have gone by and Kat's back—gorgeous, rich, and looking for an apology from everyone who'd turned their backs on her. First on that list is Riley Bohland, the boy who broke her heart before she could tell him about the baby.

But Kat didn't count on Riley having his own axe to grind, or that he'd be just as delicious as he was at sixteen. She also didn't count on her heart opening at the sight of him. When their anger ignites a passion intense enough to burn through two decades of secrets and lies, Kat must question everything she thought she knew about her past. And what about her future? The only place to find the answers may be in Riley's arms…

***Every Thursday in 2018 we will be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books.

This review was originally posted on December 29, 2008.

I adore Susan Donovan. She writes some of the best contemporaries I’ve ever read. He Loves Lucy and Take a Chance on Me are a few of my favorite contemps of all time. That’s why I was so disappointed when I read that this would be Susan’s last contemporary. I mean, wtf?

Kat Cavanaugh left home at sixteen, alone and pregnant. When she went to tell her boyfriend that she was going to have a baby, he dumped her before she got the chance. Kat left town that night and has never returned. Until now, twenty years later. After coming into some unexpected money, Kat decides to return Persuasion to show her parents and Riley Bohland that she made it just fine without them. Little did she know what she would find.

Riley never knew that Kat was pregnant that long ago night. Being pressured by his father to break-up with Kat, he only did it to appease his father and fully intended to get back together with her. He had known that Kat was the one for him years ago, but everyone said that they were too young to know that. So when he found out that Kat left town without a word, he was devestated. That’s until he found out her secret a little more than eighteen years later.

Kat is stunned at Riley’s anamosity toward her. What right does he have to act like he was wronged? She was the one that was dumped, pregnant and alone at sixteen. To Kat’s dismay, the explosive attraction between them at sixteen was even more prominent at thirty six. Even with all the unsolved issues between them, Riley and Kat can’t stay away from each other.

While this book wasn’t up there with He Loves Lucy and Take a Chance on Me, it still had Donovan’s trademark humor. There were a few things the book could have gone without, including Kat’s psychotic father. There was already Riley’s stalker ex-girlfriend and the Bed-and-Breakfast owner who decided that she wanted Riley’s brother, even though he was already taken. Any one of these things by itself would have been okay, but all three together was a tad over the top.

Another thing I think Donovan did a great job on was the confrontation between Kat and her son, Aidan. Finding out he had a father after twenty years is not something that Aidan easily accepts. Especially since the mother he has loved so deeply lied to him. The book wouldn’t have been as good if Aidan would have easily accepted that Kat lied to him. Also, the reunion between father and son is “awwww” inducing.

Overall, I loved this book which makes me that much more disappointed that it will be her last contemp. Boo. and am so excited that she’s coming out with a new trilogy next year. w00t!

Rating: 4.25 out of 5.

four-half-stars

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Review: The Girl Most Likely To by Susan Donovan

Posted March 21, 2009 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: The Girl Most Likely To by Susan DonovanReviewer: Rowena
The Girl Most Likely To... by Susan Donovan
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: December 30, 2008
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 340
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars

Kat Cavanaugh was sixteen when she hitchhiked out of Persuasion, West Virginia and vowed never to return. Who could blame her? She'd just stumbled upon her father's adulterous affair, found out she was pregnant, got dumped by her boyfriend, and kicked out of her house and school . . . all in a single afternoon. Twenty years have gone by and Kat's back—gorgeous, rich, and looking for an apology from everyone who'd turned their backs on her. First on that list is Riley Bohland, the boy who broke her heart before she could tell him about the baby.

But Kat didn't count on Riley having his own axe to grind, or that he'd be just as delicious as he was at sixteen. She also didn't count on her heart opening at the sight of him. When their anger ignites a passion intense enough to burn through two decades of secrets and lies, Kat must question everything she thought she knew about her past. And what about her future? The only place to find the answers may be in Riley's arms…

First off, big ups to Holly for forcing me to read this book. I have so many books to read right now that I was going to save this book for a rainy day but for the past couple of days, Holly kept on bugging me to read it and I’m glad that I finally listened to her and picked it up.

I really enjoyed it.

Susan Donovan did a great job at telling this story because at first, I wasn’t sure how to react to the kind of storyline that it was. The secret baby plot. This kind of storyline never fails to make my stomach twist in knots because I knew it was going to blow up in her face and I knew that there was going to be plenty of drama and I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about it but I’m happy to say that Susan Donovan did a fantastic and realistic job of writing out this secret baby story.

Kat was a good heroine. She was normal and I say normal because she reacted the way that normal people react to everything. Her boyfriend breaks up with her, she gets good and pissed and runs away, her Mom tells her to run away to her aunt’s house and she gets good and pissed and runs away. She holds on to her mad attitude for 20 years and believe it or not, I know people that have held grudges for that long. It’s pretty crazy but it was a believable storyline, at least for me. I enjoyed getting to know Kat, I enjoyed getting to know the people in her life and seeing her rekindle her relationship with Riley knocked me on my ass in the sweet category because it was too cute.

Riley was a fine ass hero. He was a doctor and he had a crazy psycho ex but he was still oh so hot. I really enjoyed getting to know him and I loved seeing him get to know his son, Aidan and I loved seeing him interact with his brother Matt and I loved seeing him as a teenager, in love with Kat. I loved the little sayings they used to say to each other when they were holding each other and I loved seeing them reunited and feeling so good. It was too cute for words.

The villain made me roll my eyes. I didn’t see the villain as scary or anything, she was just so damn annoying. She made me roll my eyes down the street more than once and I thought I knew where the story was going to go with that but SD didn’t take the usual route that most romance novels usually take which I’m happy with.

One of my favorite things about this book was the way that SD handled the whole secret coming out all these many years later. I loved the way that everyone reacted to it and I loved that SD didn’t skim over everyone’s reaction. I’m glad with the way that it was handled.

Overall, the story was good. It was one of those ooh what’s going to happen next books that keeps you turning the pages and hoping that good things will happen to the characters. I’m happy with the way that it ended and I’m glad that everything ended in a neatly tied bow because that’s how all romances should be. I definitely recommend this to anyone wanting to read a well written contemporary novel.

This book is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can buy it here.

four-half-stars

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Review: Take a Chance on Me by Susan Donovan.

Posted May 17, 2008 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Take a Chance on Me by Susan Donovan.Reviewer: Rowena
Take a Chance on Me by Susan Donovan
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: August 18th 2003
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 337
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars

They've Got Nothing In Common...

For animal behaviorist Emma Jenkins, romance has been at the bottom of her daily "to do" list since making it through a messy divorce. But everything changes the day six-feet-of-gorgeous Thomas Tobin walks into her office with a quivering Chinese Crested named Hairy, a canine that looks more like an underfed rodent than a dog. Sure Thomas is sending her mixed signals-but that charming smile just sent Emma's dormant sex drive through the roof...

But Animal Attraction-

Thomas isn't looking for a fling. In fact, he wants nothing to do with women. He just wants to know if Hairy witnessed his owner's murder. But something tells him that asking Emma to help him with the case will spell nothing but trouble-trouble in the form of serious temptation.

And the Willingness To Take A Chance On Love

Thomas knows that relying on Emma's expertise-and her soft touch with a weird dog that has somehow become his-may be a crazy way to track a killer. Especially when Emma's down-home warmth makes him want to believe that anything is possible-even true love.

Fast paced, witty and uproariously funny.

That’s this book wrapped up in five words. The pace of the book runs on the fast side, but that doesn’t take away from the goodness of the story, the storyline is simple enough but not boring. The characters are wonderful and the story is told with such ease that it was simple enough to fall in love with this book….y’all know that I’m a sucker for character’s and this one is ripe with one winner of a character after another.

Starting with Thomas Tobin, y’all also know that I was going to love the hero, right? haha…Thomas Tobin is a rugby player…so he’s already a winner for me. But he was so much more than “Rugby Boy” as Emma Jenkins liked to call him. He was insecure in himself after the last relationship he was in and he was left from that relationship not feeling whole and undeserving of a shot at true happiness….he learned better when he met, wholesome and pretty, Emma Jenkins.

Emma Jenkins, was a divorcee who inherits her best friend’s 12 year daughter after her best friend dies in a car accident, leaving little Elizabeth Weaverton orphaned, Emma struggles with learning to do right by Leelee and she struggles to try to keep her veterinary practice afloat after the mountain of debt, her ex-husband, Aaron leaves her with. She doesn’t think that she has time to date or even wants to date, but one look at Thomas Tobin and she can’t stop thinking about him…in between the sheets, and really, with a fine ass rugby player like that with washboard abs and thighs of thunder, can you really blame her?

sigh

Then there’s little Leelee…who is left all alone in the world until she’s turned over to her Mom, Becca Weaverton’s best friend to raise. Her Mom wasn’t the best of Mothers, with all the men she paraded around, young Leelee, she’s scarred from her experiences with her Mom, all of the moving, all of the men coming before her and what not and so between Emma Jenkins her new “Mom” and Emma’s laugh out loud father, Beckett Jenkins, her new “Grandfather”, Leelee struggles to find a place for herself in a new town and with a new family.

The story between the three people is one that makes me all oozing with gooey tenderness. It was wonderful to read and like always, Holly struck gold for me with this book because I just loved it to pieces. My favorite character was surprisingly, Emma’s laugh a minute, father, Beckett Jenkins. He had me rollin’ throughout the whole book, from the beginning up until the very end. He was just one of the funniest people I’ve read about in a long time and I’m so glad that I read this book. I even loved, little disco dancing, fruit flying, Hairy. It was just too hot damn funny when he called, Thomas “Big Alpha” and when he “talked” to them, his thoughts on everything was a joy to read and I’m sure that you’ll enjoy this book, immensely.

I’m sure that whoever reads this book will enjoy it like I did…I promise it even. This book was just the bomb diggity and I totally recommend it to all who want to read a light, funny and really really good book.

READ IT!

Grade: 4.75 out of 5

This book is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can buy it here.

four-half-stars

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Review: The Kept Woman by Susan Donovan

Posted June 20, 2007 by Rowena in Reviews | 3 Comments

Review: The Kept Woman by Susan DonovanReviewer: Rowena
The Kept Woman by Susan Donovan
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: June 27th 2006
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars

WHEN A GOOD-GIRL DIVORCEE
Playing by the rules has left Samantha Monroe with an AWOL ex-husband, maxed out credit cards, and the task of raising three children on a hairstylist's salary. It's time for a new game plan. When Sam learns that politician Jack Tolliver needs someone to play the part of his fiancee for six months in return for a generous paycheck, she's ready to sign up on the spot.

MEETS A BAD-BOY POLITICIAN
Jack needs Sam and her kids to help tone down his image from womanizing cad to dependable dad. But he was expecting Sam to be a frumpy single mom, not a wickedly smart, sexy redhead. Keeping nosey newshounds from discovering that his engagement is a charade is going to be a tough job, but one mind-blowing kiss from Sam and suddenly Jack is ready to put in all the overtime necessary...

LOVE WINS IN A LANDSLIDE...
Now, with scheming opponents itching to bring Jack down, Sam's ex returning to stir up trouble, one stubborn pre-schooler, two squabbling teenagers, a crazy dog, and some out-of-this-world sex, Jack and Sam are discovering that playing make-believe can be complicated--but not nearly as much as falling in love...

I started this book yesterday because I just couldn’t finish Crazy Sweet, it’s gonna have to be a DNF read for me because I just couldn’t get into it. I hated the whole Red Dog crap and I’m still peeved that Jane isn’t Travis’ heroine, though I did like C. Rydell Smith sounds like a really hot character, but meh…I couldn’t be arsed to finish that story right now, maybe I’ll go back and read it later but I don’t want to right now.

Instead, I picked up this book from the hundreds of books that I stole from Holly the other weekend. And I read it all in one sitting. It was a fast read and just a really cute book. I enjoyed the characters, the storyline and the hero…man did I enjoy the hero, so much so that don’t be surprised if you see the hero featured in an upcoming Hero of the Month because I was totally over the moon for him.

You see, the story is like this….Samantha Monroe is a divorced mother of 3 who is trying to make ends meet day in and day out and though she loves her job, it’s starting to not be enough to pay her bills, keep her kids happy and a roof over their heads, one night while out for drinks with her friends, she muses out loud that she would gladly be a kept woman if she could find herself a sugardaddy.

Imagine her surprise when she’s given just that chance….for sexy politician, Jack Tolliver who has to clean up his image before the elections or the primaries. What better way to clean up his image then to start seeing a divorced mother of 3 who turns him into a family man, instead of the womanizing cad that everyone thinks him to be.

They set it up where he hires Sam and her family to play the role of doting fiance’ and family for Jack and as you all know, things get complicated because they are fiercely attracted to each other and Jack can kiss like no other and so they start to slowly fall for each other and of course, Jack’s ex girlfriend is a psycho journalist who won’t get over his callous dumping of her years ago. Then add a dead beat dad and gay ex husband who wants to make some money and you get one funny, witty and just all out cute stories ever.

I really enjoyed how this story came together. I loved how Sam and Jack fell in love and I loved Sam’s kids and the relationship that Jack built with all three of them. I loved the bonds he formed with all the kids and I totally loved his potty training game with Dakota, Sam’s youngest.

This book was a light funny read that had me laughing, sighing and saying, HOT DAMN! all throughout the story. There was so many things that I liked about this book, I loved Jack, I thought he was a fantastic hero, sexy, smart and hot damn sexy! His sense of humor made me laugh and the way he was so hung up on buying lingerie for Sam made me laugh, a lot.

I thought that Sam was a great heroine too, I loved her friendship with Monte and the love she had for Monte’s kid, Simon. I thought that it was sweet the way she had formed her own little family when Mitch, her gay ass husband left her high and dry with 3 kids, I loved how she built a life for her family and tried her very best to make them all happy. I loved how her kids weren’t just her kids who did what she said, but who were apart of her plans, she didn’t do anything without running her ideas by them, they were a team and I really enjoyed that.

One of my favorite laugh out loud scenes was when Jack and Sam came back from dinner at the steakhouse and they had that episode in the car and then one of my favorite awwww moments was when Jack made peace with his mother and everything was laid out on the table and they hugged…it was so cute!

One thing I hate to read in romance novels, is when the heroine lies to the hero to protect him, I hate when they lie because they think they can save him, like the hero isn’t strong enough to save himself. And it happened in this book and that was the only part of the book where I was like, “YOU IDIOT, JUST TELL HIM! Love him and trust him enough to help you!” But of course that’s not what happened and it all got just so stupid but Jack made everything all better and so I was a happy camper but goodness, through the part where Sam thought she was doing the right thing, I wanted to backhand her dumb ass!

Regardless of that little issue I had with Sam, I didn’t hate her. I thought she was still a great heroine and the story was great. You guys should definitely read this book because it’s just a great, light romance that will have you laughing at the same time you’re sighing with delight. The characters were fantastic, the storyline was easy to follow and it was just all sunshiny and happy go lucky fun and perfect for a beach read in the summer time…READ IT!

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

four-half-stars

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