Left at the Altar by Margaret Brownley

In Two-Time, Texas the local time depends on which jeweler you have decided to pledge your loyalty to.  Tommy Farrell and Meg Lockwood’s marriage is supposed to unite the two jewelers, turning Two-Time into a one-time town, but nobody sees it coming when Tommy leaves Meg standing at the altar.  Now Meg’s father is suing Tommy and his family for breach of contract and Meg’s pretty sure that nothing has ever humiliated her so terribly in her entire life.  Tommy hires Grant Garrison, a fancy Boston lawyer, to take his case.

Grant Garrison is supposed to take Tommy’s side in the matter, so why does he continuously find himself drawn to Meg and her unique personality?  Meg is trying to start over and wants nothing more than to forget the entire mess ever happened, but with the looming court case before her, and a handsome lawyer popping up at inconvenient times, she’s not sure she’ll ever get to move on.

Left at the Altar by Margaret Brownley is good, clean romance.  You’re not going to read any ravishing scenes or find the two characters having a private moment in a stairwell.  It’s innocent without being boring, sweet without being cliché, funny without being obvious about it. 

At the bookstore we’re usually brutally honest about books we’ve read.  There’s one sitting on our table in the breakroom with a note that says, “I will never get those three hours back.”  Left at the Altar wouldn’t have a note like that.  I would write something like, “Worth a read.  Adorable, witty, and quirky.”

I thought the idea of a two-time town was absolutely hilarious.  I would never have imagined something like that could exist, but Brownley did a wonderful job of really making the town come alive with her conflicts and secondary characters.  I loved the loyalty that the townspeople had for their jeweler. 

Meg and Grant certainly had chemistry.  I felt their attraction and their amusement; I suffered when they felt betrayal.  Meg’s inner struggle regarding the future she’d planned for herself and the future that was being forced upon her instead rang really true.  Grant’s conflict regarding his professionalism and his unexplainable draw towards Meg made me both giddy and reluctant to trust him. 

Left at the Altar was a wonderful, heart-warming romance.  If you’re the type of reader who prefers clean romance and innocent fun, with a dab of hilarity, then please check out Margaret Brownley’s newest novel (out November 2016). 

Wild by Sophie Jordan

Sophie Jordan’s Wild (the third book in her Ivy series) had my jaw dropping.  I typically read the dirtiest of the dirtiest as far as romance novels go.  I blushed while reading 50 Shades of Grey on a public bus (total mistake by the way), the Crossfire Series had me sweating a bit, but nothing as of yet has got me going like Wild. 

This book was given to me, in a bag of books, by a coworker of mine.  I grabbed Wild out not realizing that it was actually the final book of three.  Honestly though, it didn’t really make a difference because the book worked perfectly as a standalone.

Georgia is the perfect daughter, perfect girlfriend, and perfect student.  Too perfect, too boring, at least that’s what her ex-boyfriend said when he broke up with her.  Now Georgia is trying to prove to herself, and everyone else, that she isn’t the boring, predictable Georgia that everyone has come to expect.  Cue Logan.  Logan is her friend’s little brother, which puts him smack dag in the ‘friend’ territory.  When they run into each other at a… unique sort of party, sparks fly.  Now Georgia is stuck between staying in her safe little world or letting Logan show her there’s more to life than being perfect.

Normally I prefer books that have more too them than simply following the relationship of two characters.  I like crime, I like mystery, I like a lot of story.  Still, it’s nice every once in a while to read a book that’s basically sex, sex, sex, which is what this was. 

There was humor, drama (my favorite), and so many intensely sexual scenes that I had to take a couple breathers.  The book is short, so it won’t take you very much time to work your way through it.  I felt that there were a few too many “oh my gosh, I can’t be with Logan because he’s my friend’s younger brother” moments, but then again, I, myself, am an over-thinker, so maybe I would be doing that, too.  Especially if the guy I was interested in was younger than me to boot. 

I’m desperate to read the other two books in the series, and so grateful that my coworker remembered to put them in the bag.  I would recommend these books to anyone who loves fast, hot reads and doesn’t mind a teeny bit of eye-rolling drama from time to time.  This book will heat you up faster than a fire on a snowy evening.