Don’t you hate it when you read a bunch of books by an author and love them, and then you hit on one that makes you feel completely underwhelmed. It’s such a bummer, and that’s kind of how I feel about Hope Ford’s Virile. BEWARE! THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!
Virile is book one of the Whiskey Run, Savage Ink Series and definitely has potential. The story line is about Gracie, who is the eighteen year old daughter of the Mayor of Whiskey Run. Gracie has been kept under lock and key her entire life, so when she turns eighteen she is looking forward to the freedom of making her own choices. The first choice she makes is to sneak out and get a tattoo at Savage Ink, the best tattoo parlor in town.
Aiden Savage is the owner and operator of Savage Ink and he has seen a lot of women walk through his doors, but none as compelling as Gracie. He decides the moment he sees her that she is going to be his in that insta-love move that we all love so much. Gracie practically falls into his arms and then aft er their one incredible night, she runs away, determined to protect Aiden from her father’s threats.
This story has got really good bones. It has insta-love, a rich girl who falls for the boy on the wrong side of town, and a surprise pregnancy. See? Good bones. Unfortunately I wasn’t crazy about the execution of this story. The novel mentions characters that must have featured in the original Whiskey Run series, but since I have not read that series, there were several points where I had to reread and really just infer who some of the characters were as well as their importance. The other thing that kind of bugged me was the problem with Gracie’s dad. She mentions in the beginning that he is evil, but other than being a controlling bully there is no evidence of that until the end, and then for me, the kind of evil he is just kind of came out of nowhere. There was no lead up, no foreshadowing. It was just here’s her dad, oh by the way he’s a (SPOILER!! BEWARE!!) human trafficker.
Despite the negatives of this book, I will definitely read more of Hope Ford and I hope you will too.
Merry, merry friends. May your holiday be bright and all that jazz. Let’s cut to the chase. This holiday season has sucked. S.U.C.K. sucked. There are a lot of reasons I sound like the Grinch and I won’t bore you with any of them. Needless to say, I have been on a mission to find me some Christmas spirit and that includes Hallmark movies and of course Christmas romance books.
There are a plethora of holiday stories out there guaranteed to give you warm fuzzies and I have stumbled across a some on Kindle Unlimited that are awesome. Hope Ford, my friends. Hope Ford. She has a bunch of novellas on KU that are positively yummy and will bring a glimmer of Christmas spirit into your life, yes, even mine 🙂
This book gives you all the feels. It’s got a BBW for a heroine; a tall, dark, and broody military man for a hero; letter writing (so sweet!), and instant love. What could be better than that?
Sweet, curvy Cassie has been pen-pals with soldier Gavin for the last year. Letters back and forth have built their relationship and she knows more about him than maybe she knows about herself, and one of the things she knows is that he has never had a real Christmas. When he gets out of the military and moves to Mistletoe, Montana, a mere 3 hours from Cassie’s house, it’s obvious what she has to do.
Gavin treasured every letter he received from Cassie, but despite the closeness he felt, he knew that when he was stateside once more their correspondence would be finished. Resigning himself to a lonely holiday, he is shocked when Cassie shows up at his door dragging Christmas spirit along with her. But it’s not the tree or the snowman or the gifts that has him dazzled. It’s Cassie herself. She is everything he thought she would be and more and now that she has driven right into his arms, he is never letting her go.
I loved everything about this book! It is super short and one of those insta-love affairs, so if you are looking for more ups and downs with the plot, this is not the book for you. Hope Ford does an awesome job orienting the reader and providing enough backstory that you don’t feel like you are missing any of that character development and it’s so sweet and steamy that you feel like you’re reading one of those Hallmark movies, but you know, with sex 😉 I totally recommend!
The next one I read (because who can just stop at one?) is Christmas Delivery. This is Alison and Ben’s story, both of whom were mentioned in Her Christmas Soldier. This one is even shorter, truly a little bite and it’s good because it takes place concurrently with Gavin and Cassie’s story. While Gavin and Cassie are getting cozy in Gavin’s cabin in the mountains, Alison and Ben are spitting fire at each other back in the city. This is a forbidden romance where Alison and Ben (and Cassie) are step-siblings. Alison and Cassie’s mother married Ben’s father when Alison was sixteen and Ben was seventeen, and Alison has been in love with Ben ever since. She has no idea, but he has been feeling the same way and on Christmas, thanks to an encouraging phone call from Cassie, he shows up at Alison’s house to tell her and make her his once and for all.
This story is super short and super sweet (and steamy!) and I love the overlap of the characters. Alas, this story is not free on Kindle Unlimited, BUT you can click on the link at the end of Her Christmas Soldier and get Alison and Ben’s story for free. **As of December 21**
Then there is Totally Smitten, and this might be my favorite one so far!
This is sort of an office romance. I say sort of because the culmination doesn’t happen in the office and it’s not really an office to begin with, more of a trailer for a construction company. Totally Smitten is a story in the Cozy AF Christmas series, which is comprised of a lot of different authors all writing holiday based stories. Let me just tell you, it wasn’t just the storyline or the fact that I had already read a couple stories by Hope Ford that had me picking this up. It was the fact that it is part of the Cozy AF Christmas line. Cozy AF (hehehe). I’m smiling just typing it. This book is definitely a cozy and steamy Christmas story.
This one is about Tara the sweet, round, administrative assistant who is in love with her boss. Baker, the foster brother of you guessed it, Gavin from Her Christmas Soldier, fell hard for Tara the moment she arrived for the interview. He loved her big eyes blinking at him innocently from behind thick glasses. He loved the way she never swore and used crazy old fashioned phrases. He loved her thick hips and round a— Well, you get the picture. When he comes into the office a few days before Christmas and sees Tara in tears he is all in to help.
Tara can’t believe it when her sexy boss offers to be her date to get her out of a bind, if only he were offering for real. When she takes him back to her childhood home for Christmas and they have to make things look real for her family, she is both elated and terrified, especially when her mother expects them to share a bed. For Baker, this is the perfect opportunity to show Tara that he’s been into her all along.
I love, love, love everything about this. I love that Tara has a fat crush on her boss and that her boss is secretly crushing right back. I also love that while Tara thinks they are pretending, Baker absolutely isn’t. He is all in to get her to realize that she is meant to be his.
These short little snippets are perfect holiday binge reads. They take no time at all and leave you feeling warm and fuzzy when you are finished. I will definitely be reading more by Hope Ford in the future!
amberlynnmyers 