Allison Ashley - Would You Rather

Noah and Mia have always been best friends, and their friendship is the most important thing to them. Life is going great for Noah and he's up for a promotion in a job he loves. But Mia's life is on hold as she awaits a kidney transplant. She's stuck in a dead-end job and, never wanting to be a burden, has sworn off all romance. So when the chance of a lifetime comes to go back to school and pursue her dream, it's especially painful to pass up. She can't quit her job or she'll lose the medical insurance she so desperately needs.
To support her, Noah suggests they get married-in name only-so she can study full-time and still keep the insurance. It's a risk to both of them, with jobs, health and hearts on the line, and they'll need to convince suspicious coworkers and nosy roommates that they're the real deal. But if they can let go of all the baggage holding them back, they might realize that they would rather be together forever.

Comment: This is the third book I read by this author. Although her books are clearly stand alones, the previous two I've read had some element in common, as does this one. The characters know each other, from a common place, even though the connection isn't a big deal in the plot development.

In this story we meet Mia, a young woman who is waiting for a kidney transplant, and who still dreams of having a degree in her dream nutrition field. When the chance to apply to an adult scholarship to do that, the price to pay is she cannot keep working full time, but that would ruin her finances, since she has many hospital bills and her current job offers insurance. She is lucky to work for a firm where her best friend Noah also works and when he knows about the scholarship, he encourages her to accept and makes a deal: they can marry and she will have his work insurance. She is reluctant but believes her degree will make her be able to pay him back for his help...the problem is that another co-worker listens in to their plans and he isn't one to stay quiet...

From the start, I could feel I would not find this story to be as appealing as the previous ones had been. The issue is very simple, I'm not a big fan of the friends to lovers trope and the fact that this book had that was already a minus but the execution didn't help and only seemed to exacerbate the main reasons why I prefer other tropes instead.

Mia and Noah have been friends since they were children. They have been used to be together and to send messages to one another and many other little things that makes them best friends. One could argue that any couple should be friends too, but it's usually difficult to me to stop seeing the characters are friends and suddenly moving on to be lovers, the dynamics and the relationship always changes and ends up affecting the story, such as here. the fact there's a "marriage of convenience" should be a good element, to bring in specific situations between them, but not really.

First, the marriage of convenience idea is quite a good tactic for this type of situation. It does boggle the mind that so many Americans (such as Mia) have these hospital/medical bills and their lives are practically on hold so they can find ways to pay them, but it is what it is. Such a plot should not even be a possibility in contemporary times, but it is a fact. Thus, I'd expect Mia and Noah to have to deal with the lie and how this would affect their dealings with other people. But their families accept the sudden marriage easily, as do their co workers - except one - and they don't even explain why they are doing it.

Insurance fraud is certainly a big deal and I can see how this would work as a strong reason why they would need to keep things quiet, but the co worker knowing and blackmailing Noah was a bit... unnecessary, if only they had told those they trusted, like the reasonable boss they both had, instead of keeping a secret from him. Perhaps other solutions would have been chosen instead. Therefore, the plot was muddled and we didn't even have the new dynamics between them being something to focus on when they were with other people.

In private, they were also polite to one another but this did star becoming heavy for their friendship to endure. I think the author wrote the tension well, as did the doubts and the issues they faced, but I felt the romance was not romantic. Things between them were so set on their friend status that I simply did not believe they were falling in love. Well, that Mia was, because we are told Noah has always been in love with her. I think this choice wasn't a good one... if they were to start seeing each other differently, going through the same situation would have balanced things between them.

This started to make me think that the two tropes were just not mixing up well and the author had done such sweet romances before... I was not convinced. Then, at some point, we learn why Mia didn't seem to be in contact with her parents, despite she having an illness and we being told they even went into debt to pay for her bills. When we learn why, it was so... well, I think the author had too many ideas for one single story... perhaps less distractions would have made for a better edited but more consistent plot and, ultimately, a stronger romance.

As expected, things end well for Mia and Noah but the road leading there had many cringe and unlikely scenes, which made the story feel contrived. I kept reading, hoping to see an evolution, a click in things, but not even the obvious reprimand they are given regarding their personal decisions in the whole scheme made for the weaker situations. 

I'm still hopeful for another book by the author ,being released this year, whose blurb feels very promising, but this one was definitely one I could have skipped.

Grade: 5/10

Allison Ashley - Home Sweet Mess

Charming NFL marketing manager Logan Davis has a major crush on his best friend’s sister. Despite the fact that pursuing her would be a Bad Idea, she makes him want to abandon casual dating.
Sassy social worker Jeni Bishop has lost faith in love. She can’t stand Logan or the NFL team he works for, but can’t help thinking he could help her scratch an itch.
When Jeni’s brother and Logan’s closest friend is diagnosed with cancer, they unexpectedly find themselves on the same team. With Logan interested in a relationship and Jeni ardently avoiding them, they resist their growing attraction even as their lives continue to intertwine in unexpected ways. Can a man who has never experienced love convince a woman hardened by it that romance isn’t dead?

Comment: Last year, I liked a book by this author and I saw there would be another one in the same universe, featuring characters we've glimpsed in that book, so I was curious to try this one as well. It was cute that this one works more or less at the same time, meaning that we get to see some of the same events through a different POV.

In this story, the focus is on Jeni, she's the sister of Andrew from the other book and we learn she works at the social services and has recently moved which means she hasn't many people she knows in the new city. We learned in the other book Andrew is diagnosed with cancer and Jeni is, of course, very affected and even more so since they are twins. At the same time, her brother introduces her to his friend Logan, whom she immediately labels as a womanizer and, worse, he's working for a NFL team Jeni isn't a fan of. However, they become closer, especially since they have Andrew in common and both want to see him recover. At the same time, it's difficult to not see in each other someone they care about and the more time they spend together, the closer that relationship is...but will they overcome their personal issues to embrace a life together?

Once again, I have enjoyed a book by this author. I don't think it's the most complex or passionate story ever, but I liked knowing these characters and seeing what they were up to and how they learned to trust one another with their secrets. I think the path to love wasn't easy, but was believable enough for me to root for them.

The pace is pretty much the same as we had on the other book. We often see Andrew but only because he is someone both protagonist know. Nothing about him gets center stage but it's certainly nice to read this or that and think about his own story. Jeni and Logan seem to be one way - he seemed to be a ladies' man as soon as Jeni saw him for the first time, and she seemed to be a more quiet and unassuming female lead - but as the story develops, it was fun to see their roles switch a little bit, namely Logan becoming enamored with Jeni more quickly than she did with him.

Jeni is an intriguing heroine, she is clearly a soft-hearted woman but she has had a disappointment in love, with a relationship which ended badly. This colors how she sees other potential relationships, which added to what she thought about Logan at first, makes her doubt they could ever be a couple. However, the more she got to know him, the more special he looked, and she discovers first impressions can be deceiving, he does look like a ladies' man but he hides a heart of gold and a wonderful personality. His main flaw is the NFL team he supports.

Of course I found it funny how they were antagonists because of their teams but it was all fun and Logan does prove to be a great hero. Perhaps some of his behavior at first might have seemed unappealing but as the plot moved along, the more of an amazing guy he turned out to be. His reasons for some distance at first are valid but it was very romantic to see him falling in love with Jeni and his personality was very likable, as well as how he acted in his relationship with his mother, with Andrew...

I think there were some moments it felt things could have been done better, perhaps more poignancy in some key scenes, but overall, I felt this was a sweet story, where people overcome some issues, where the characters have to think about why they have certain opinions, where we get to see them evolve or improve themselves by being friends or by having close relationships with others and this, in a way, sort of happened here, thus why I liked most of the book.

I'm curious to read more about this author. I see there will be a book coming out this year and I will want to read it, hoping it will be as entertaining and sweet as this one.

Grade: 8/10

Allison Ashley - Perfect Distraction

Lauren Taylor isn't thinking about love, especially not with the impossibly attractive man she accidentally spilled coffee all over. He's out of her league and she's focused on finishing her oncology pharmacy residency. She's sworn off men who are too handsome for their own good, anyway.
Andrew Bishop can't stop thinking about the gorgeous redhead who crashed into him and then disappeared, even though he should have way more on his mind - like dealing with his Hodgkin Lymphoma diagnosis and finishing out his last year in law school. When Andrew and Lauren run into each other at the cancer center where she's working and he's being treated, they try to keep it professional. They can be friends, and nothing more. But sometimes life has other plans…

Comment: I decided to read this book because it would feature someone going through the treatment of an illness. It might seem quite morbid, I know, but I'm always on the hunt for something different in the contemporary romances I might try and I was interested in seeing how the author would treat this subject.

In this novel we meet pharmacist Lauren as she is about to get a coffee and after noticing the good looking guy behind her, she gets flustered and when turning she spills her coffee on him, which is awkward and even worse it gets when she realizes he is a patient at the clinic where she works at because he has cancer. It seems obvious they feel attraction for one another but although Lauren only gave Andrew information and went on to a different specialty she feels conflicted about spending time with him. However, she can't ignore he is someone she likes to talk to and she feels she has a duty to help anyway. But what will happen when they both seem to be falling in love?

This was a sweet story. I liked reading it, although closer to the end, it seemed the conflict got heavier for plot reasons and not as much because the characters really followed that path but this didn't ruin the experience for me.

The story isn't complicated, it focuses on Lauren, a pharmacist who doesn't have such a good relationship with her father and she prefers to stay at the clinic instead of having to go back to work at her father's pharmacy. She is still hoping a place can be created for her and that means dedication and professional behavior, which also means hands off the cute patient whose type of cancer thankfully has good chances of being cured. Most of the conflict is centered at the doctor-patient issue and how much Lauren allows herself to love someone she might not end up close to (especially if the job doesn't pan out).

Andrew, the hero, is characterized as a good guy, and he has some traits I found endearing. I liked how he liked his family and how they were there for him, although he too has problems with his father because of expectations regarding careers. Like Lauren's, his father also hoped he would carry on the family business but Andrew really wants to be a lawyer. One could suppose, with such similar family issues, that the protagonists would bond over this too but I was happy to see there was more to them than just background.

I liked how they were as a couple, how carefully they seemed to take things at first, and nothing improper happens that I would feel Lauren was being unprofessional or that Andrew was forcing her into such a position. I think their relationship went a careful but steady pace and the often presence of Andrew's family members and Lauren's friends made things seem more realistic as opposed if they were always together alone.

Another factor I feel was done well enough - for the type of knowledge I have, which thankfully isn't much since I haven't anyone close to me in the same situation - was how the cancer treatment Andrew goes through is portrayed. There are several scenes with tubes and drugs used and when this happens and that happens to make me believe the author has studied or followed the procedures and when they are supposed to happen, so that what Andrew lives through can be seen as realistic. I can't really know, it's true, but it feels that way.

This is a romance, so the story ends well and despite some scenes which felt a little bit sugary, I was happy with how things turned out for Lauren and Andrew. I think their bond was portrayed as well as it could, they shared many cute moments, shared tastes, inner jokes, stressful situations... I think, even if one ignores the less than good elements, the romance really worked out here.

I might try something else by the author in the future.

Grade: 8/10