My rating: 3 stars

Title: Ripped (The Miller Sisters #1)
Author: Sarah Morgan
Date of publication: 26 Nov 2013
Genre: Romance, Novella, Cosmo Red Hot Reads

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads
Purchase Links: Amazon / B&N / iBooks

My rating: 3.5 stars

It's a nice fairytale Christmas romance where I loved the first half and was disappointed by the second. The story started rather promising - a wardrobe malfunction at a wedding led to scorching hot, yet confusing encounter between the hero, Nico and the heroine, Hayley. 

I liked Hayley a lot initially, she was smart and funny and her musings on life, love and men read a lot a cute chick-lit. Hayley was a professional woman who bad luck with men since they were usually intimidated by her brains and didn't appreciated her career-oriented lifestyle.

Nico, on the other hand, was just perfect from the start, too good to be true. We see him through Hayley's eyes and even though she finds him irresistible but believes he disapproves of her. All this leads to a lot of misunderstanding and some very hot loving between the two of them.

It was at Christmas dinner and what followed where things lost their balance for me. From then on the story read just like a rather simple a fairy tale cliche. The hero is in love with the heroine but she fights it because she doesn't believe he can love someone like her. The smart and funny Hayley lost all her common sense and self-confidence and she couldn't believe someone like him could actually fall for someone like her. She insisted on her New Year resolution for no-strings-attached sex, even though she knew it was not working for her. It was a magic reunion at Midnight on New Year's Eve led to fairytale happy end. 

It was a nice hot romance but I was definitely disappointed with Hayley - her transition from a smart, witty and self-confidant woman to a self-conscious, immature girl who is afraid to admit her feelings didn't sit well with me.

The story was quite predictable but there were a few good laughs there and Nico was just yummy, making this an enjoyable quick read for a rainy afternoon or a day on the beach.

Title: Suddenly Last Summer (O'Neil Brothers #2)
Author: Sarah Morgan
Date of publication: 1 July 2014
Genre: Romance 

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads
Purchase Links: Amazon / B&N / iBooks

My rating: 3.5 stars

Being back in Vermont—even temporarily—is surgeon Sean O'Neil's worst nightmare. For Sean, returning home to the Snow Crystal Resort means being forced to confront the reasons and the guilt he feels about rejecting his family's rural lifestyle years ago. But discovering that Élise has settled in Vermont and still sets his blood racing is a very welcome distraction! Thinking he can persuade her into a replay of last summer is tempting, but remembering how good they are together is going to make walking away more difficult than he could imagine…

This is the second book in the O'Neil brothers series. I loved the first one, Sleigh Bells in the Snow, (my review) which for me was the perfect Christmas read, and had high expectations about this one as well. Overall it was a nice enough romantic story which I enjoyed but it lacked the magic of Kayla and Jackson's romance in book 1. 

We saw very little of Elise and Sean (more of her than him) in the previous book so this really introduced them to the reader. She is a top chef from Paris who was working for Jackson and came with him when he returned to Snow Crystal. There she fell in love the place and with the O'Neil family. 

Sean, Jackson's twin, is a successful orthopedic surgeon in Boston who doesn't like going back home and although he loves his family deeply, their expectations of him feel like a burden. He is strong, focused on his work, determined no to make compromises and to live his life the way he wants.

On the surface, they don't have much in common except irresistible sexual chemistry and a no-relationship policy. Gradually, though, they both realize that things between them are more than a casual, no-strings-attached affair.

As can be expected, there is some drama in Elise's past and the O'Neil family interferes with Sean's life all the time, all this leading to a very HEA end. 

My main complaint is that I didn't really feel the love between the characters. They had great sexual chemistry and some good times together but their views about life and love were so different. For most part of the story neither seemed willing to change things between them. She was determined to keep their affair casual and the idea that it might be love didn't even enter his mind. 

Elise loved deeply the whole O'Neil family and I felt she cared more about them than about Sean. Her focus was too much on the other members of the family and she didn't really allow Sean into her world. She was intense, passionate, always giving her whole heart to everything she did which pretty much made their casual arrangement  doomed from the start.

Sean loved spending time with her, but for the most part of the story he had no intention of changing his way of life for her. His realization that he actually loved her came a bit out of the blue.

It's a nice romantic story, perfect for the beach. Tough it wasn't as good as book 1 for me, I'm glad I read it. Now all I have to do it wait for Christmas when Maybe This Christmas (Tyler's book) will be released.

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules: 

• Grab your current read 

• Open to a random page 

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

• Be careful not the include spoilers! 

• Share the title & author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers. 

I have modified them slightly for my Teasers. It will not be two sentences from a random page but two, usually more, sentences from the pages I have read so far that have struck me as most interesting, original or that I just happen to like a lot.

This week's teaser comes from a book I actually finished a couple of days ago - Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan. It is a sweet holiday romance which I greatly enjoyed (my review). It is a love story unfolding over the Christmas holidays in a traditional small town/winter resort setting. This is the first book in a new series by Ms Morgan and the next one is coming some time in 2014. 

Here is the teaser: 

"The large friendly kitchen had been part of his life forever. Now it was the closest he had to a boardroom and his infuriating, exasperating, interfering, lovable family were his management team. Two octogenarians, a grieving widow, his daredevil brother and an overexcited puppy with training issues."

Sleigh Bells in the Snow - Sarah Morgan

Goodreads Blurb

Once upon a time, Christmas was Kayla Green's favorite time of year. Now all the workaholic wants for Christmas is for it to be over—as fast as possible! So when duty calls her to snowy Vermont to close a deal with a new client, Kayla is grateful for an excuse to avoid the holidays for another year. 

Jackson O'Neil left a thriving business behind to return home and salvage his family's resort—it's in his blood, and he can't let it fail. Now that he's got marketing whiz Kayla Green working with him to put Snow Crystal on the map, success is on the horizon. The fact they strike enough sparks off each other to power all the Christmas lights in Vermont is just an added bonus. 

Kayla might be an expert at her job, but she's out of her depth with Jackson—he makes her crave the happy-ever-after she once dreamed of, and it's terrifying. As the snowflakes continue to swirl, will the woman who doesn't believe in the magic of Christmas finally fall under its spell?

Title: Sleigh Bells in the Snow (O'Neil Brothers #1)

Author: Sarah Morgan
Date of publication: 29 Oct 2013
Genre: Romance / Holidays

Author's links:
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 4 stars



Once upon a time, Christmas was Kayla Green's favorite time of year. Now all the workaholic wants for Christmas is for it to be over—as fast as possible! So when duty calls her to snowy Vermont to close a deal with a new client, Kayla is grateful for an excuse to avoid the holidays for another year. 

Jackson O'Neil left a thriving business behind to return home and salvage his family's resort—it's in his blood, and he can't let it fail. Now that he's got marketing whiz Kayla Green working with him to put Snow Crystal on the map, success is on the horizon. The fact they strike enough sparks off each other to power all the Christmas lights in Vermont is just an added bonus. 

Kayla might be an expert at her job, but she's out of her depth with Jackson—he makes her crave the happy-ever-after she once dreamed of, and it's terrifying. As the snowflakes continue to swirl, will the woman who doesn't believe in the magic of Christmas finally fall under its spell?


If your are looking for the perfect Christmas romance read, look no further, this is the right book for you. I haven't read any holiday romances before but after reading lowing praise for this one on Dear Author and Smexy Books, I decided to try it. And it was so worth it. I really enjoyed this feel-good heart-warming fantasy romance of gorgeous characters celebrating the true magic of Christmas.

The story is rather typical - PR city girl who hates Christmas has to work with a nature-loving guy who desperately tries to save his family-run ski resort. The setting is nothing new but the execution is really good and it makes it an enjoyable holiday read. It is fun and heart-warming, setting the right Christmas mood of family togetherness filled with shared love and the unavoidable bickering.

The small town romance is shaping as a favourite of mine and this worked really well for me. I liked all the characters - the main and supporting ones - they fitted well together creating an engaging romantic story.

The heroine, Kayla, was a wonderfully complex character and she was the focus of the story.  I was worried how authentically her hatred of Christmas could be justified but her family history provided a viable explanation of her character and actions as a whole. At the beginning of the book she was your typical workaholic city girl who avoided personal relationship. Her stay at Snow Crystal and her interactions with the O'Neils family gradually brought out another side of her character - she discovered her love of the outdoor and appreciation of nature, she found herself in immersed in this crazy family life full of warmth and care for one another and she slowly embraced it, overcoming her fears and letting people close and ultimately letting herself love and be loved.

Jackson was the perfect guy - strong and sexy, smart and determined, yet gentle and understanding, supportive and honest. I admit I have a weakness of nature-loving hunks, who enjoy life outdoors. His love for his family and his care and respect for his friends and employees just made him even more attractive.

The love story developed at the traditional Christmas backgrounds - cooking, baking and decorating. I loved how the winter sports and entertainment offered in ski resort like skiing and skating, going on dog-sleighs and snowmobiles, were used to highlight the quickly-developing relationship between Kayla and Jackson.

The secondary characters, the O'Neils' family and friends were essential to the story. Each of them was unique and had a background story of his/her own. Jackson's brothers, Tyler and Sean will be getting their told in separate books some time next year and I can't wait to read them as well.