Alphabet Soup Challenge: Catherine Bybee - Fiancé by Friday

Gwen Harrison:
The beautiful, high-born daughter of an English duke came to America to take over her sister-in-law’s matchmaking business. But just because she’s the boss doesn’t mean she can’t fantasize about making her own perfect match with bodyguard Neil MacBain. Will the enigmatic man who haunts her dreams cost her more than she bargained for?
Neil MacBain:
The retired Marine can’t deny the effect blue-blooded Gwen has on his troubled soul or his battle-hardened body. But as a client, Gwen is off-limits—until a threat from Neil’s past returns…and Gwen is caught in the crossfire. Now to keep her safe he will risk it all: his career, his life…and his heart.

Comment: This is the third installment in the Weekday Brides series by this author. I liked the previous two enough to want to read this one despite neither being such an amazing read. They were average good and interesting enough, so I've picked this one too.

This is Neil and Gwen's story. Neil is the friend and bodyguard of Blake, hero from book #1. Gwen is his sister. She has had feelings for Neil for a long time and since being in the US she hasn't been able to get him out of her head. Seeing her two friends Sam and Eliza marrying the man of their dreams makes her realize Neil might never acknowledge her feelings so she looks and looks but nothing happens.

Neil has had fantasies about Gwen but she's the sister of his boss and friend so he tries to see as a job. But now someone from his military past is trying to send him a message and Gwen might be in danger. But who's behind the dead ravens he finds and Gwen finds too?

The previous books weren't perfect but they had content amusing and entertaining enough to keep me interested in reading them. I hoped the same for this one but that didn't happen.

First of all, one thing about the author's style: this author is one of those who sets the next story in the current one, meaning we see many scenes with the next main character and a bit of the setting up of their story. This happened to Gwen and Neil on the previous book and when this book begun w already knew all about the looks they sent each other when the other wasn't looking and how it seemed there was something between them.

As another character feature so much in this story, obviously the next book will be about her.

Now, why does this matter, well, it's a good tool to make the reader interested in reading more because then we'd know the character and there would be something engaging that makes us want to read. It's actually smart but in this author's case, twice I've seen how promising the next story will be, there are scenes that are done well enough to be captivating but then the actual story isn't as good as that. A bit of a letdown to be honest. So, I don't know if I'll read more and if i ever do it won't be so soon.

Anyway, the key plot of this book is Gwen and Neil's relationship and the problems around Neil's past experience with the military.

The plot surrounding Neil was a cliché and honestly I wasn't that interested because somehow it didn't strike me as that emotional. Maybe the way it was told or my state of mind, but the truth is, I was bored with the story and didn't really care about it. The bad guys weren't that hard to figure out and their motivations same old.

As for the romance, I also expected much more. The way they acted in the other books I expected fireworks and more challenging takes on what was happening between them but their romance lacked excitement, a little more angst and heartfelt emotions. I don't know, it wasn't mesmerizing and again, I found it boring. Their intimacy also didn't seem the finally moment all the scenes before would indicate and after all things considered neither personality seemed strong enough to support their romance much less the overall plot.

After such a reading experience I don't find myself eager to read more so soon like I said. I was a bit disappointed in how this book was told, how things happened. I don't know, but it felt like a weaker story for me.

Still, in terms of series, it has its positive details like the appearance and importance of secondary characters, those know and those to know.

Grade: 5/10

Catherine Bybee - Married by Monday

Carter Billings:
Sandy blond hair and Hollywood good looks, Carter Billings could have any woman he wants. However, when he makes his bid for the Governor's seat in the state of California, he needs to settle down and become a family man. Eliza, the woman he secretly adores, embodies the perfect amount of spice and passion to suit his marital needs, but she's not interested in becoming Mrs. Billings. She can't even stand to be in the same room with him.
Eliza Havens:
It's much easier to drive Carter away than to give into desire. Matching couples is how she earns a living, but getting married isn't an option. The secrets she carries are too dangerous to entangle anyone else. When her hidden identity and past threaten her future, she's left with little choice. Carter is quick to offer solutions to both their problems, but saying yes could mean endangering the man she's growing to love. 

Comment: This is the second story on the Weekday Brides series by the author. I've read the first book months ago and it was a story good enough to keep me interested in the sequel, so here are my comments about it.

This is Eliza Havens story, she's Samantha's business partner from book #1. Eliza is a very reserved person because she has a secret. She thinks her life is god enough but after meeting Samantha's new husband's best friend Carter Billings, her life isn't the same. If they had their arguments was only to hide a mutual attraction and now that Carter's career is at risk, Eliza takes a chance on living without fear or restrictions...

Carter has liked Eliza from the start but didn't realize how much until he realized she's the only one he sees himself getting married to...

I think this story is sweet and easy enough to be quickly read, it's not overly dramatic nor full of silly characters that we wish could go away.

However, this story keeps having a little issue which didn't seem to matter as much on the first book but which I now realize might be part of the author's writing style. I'm talking about the way the story is often told and now showed. It didn't seem to matter much but then if one thinks about it it's rather obvious. At least for me, as soon I had that thought, I couldn't not think it again and it seemed so present. 

The thing is, Carter and Eliza have been attracted to each other and we don't see that, we didn't have many scenes where this was shown, not in this book which already starts with the premise they do, and not on the first book where they were secondary characters and even if we were told they were attracted, we didn't really see it that much.

This wouldn't have to be a problem, had it happened differently, but as it is, it feels like we are told they have the hots for each other which is very convenient so from this book on they can start to work on it.

My issue is, I don't feel enough time was spent on preparing them to be a couple. I also know the idea behind this is the quick decision to marry propelled by an outside need, but I still wish we could see more of them before they make that decision. Sure after the marriage the situation would be different, but before that, something more to cement their views of each other would have been nice.

The plot offers quite the different issues to be dealt with. 

Carter has his intended government career and what that entails, the kind of money one needs to have before starting something like that. In a superficial kind of way it was interesting. Also interesting were the themes on his background, social differences, money matters, love matters more, and so on.

Eliza had a different background and issues to present. She has a secret which I won't tell but that is told quickly during the story, which controls her life in a way she can't ignore, only work around it. I think that this also presented interesting ideas of how people in real life with the same life experience she is portrayed having here can exist and how they might manage.

The romance, as soon as they get married becomes what one would expect and sincerely, nothing amazing happens on that front, they do get their HEA but for me they're personalities never really were highlighted as I imagined.

The secondary characters had a pertaining role and, most likely, we have the beginning of the set up for the next story. I will read it and see if the author's style is a trademark or a "spur of the book".

Grade: 7/10

TBR Challenge: Catherine Bybee - Wife By Wednesday

Blake Harrison:
Rich, titled, and charming…and in need of a wife by Wednesday. Blake turns to Sam Elliot, who isn’t the businessman he expected. Instead, Blake is faced with Samantha Elliot, beautiful and feisty with a voice men call 1-900 numbers to hear.
Samantha Elliot:
Owner of matchmaking firm Alliance and not on the marital menu…that is, until Blake offers her ten million dollars for a one-year contract. And there’s nothing indecent about this proposal. The money will really help with her family’s medical bills. All Samantha will need to do is keep her attraction to her new husband to herself and avoid his bed.
But Blake’s toe-curling kisses and sexy charm prove too difficult for Sam to resist. It was a marriage contract that planned for everything…except falling in love.

Comment: This book was recommended to me by one of my friends on GR. As this month's theme is exactly recommended reads I thought about picking up this one which seemed to be a sort of book you read fast and with a lighter tone. I was totally right and this proved to be one of those stories you read between darker or more serious ones.

This story features Samantha Elliott, she has a matchmaking firm and matches men and women looking for a wedding, for whatever reason. She plans to grow her company into the top. Her newest client is the wealthy Blake Harrison, a man who is also a British duke, so she knows publicity will be enormous should she be successful.

Blake Harrison has to be married in order not to lose the land that goes along with his dukedom. His father's will has said so clearly. Blake meets Sam and the more he thinks of her a the perfect wife, putting aside the other candidates' names. But what should be only a marriage of convenience develops into something more...

These kind of stories don't seem to be the ones most romance readers get nowadays. Still, I was curious over how the author would play this along and how it would work without looking silly or too much fantasy-like.

The main premise is a marriage of convenience which sounds pompous and unlikely to the kind of society we live in but maybe it's not that unfeasible, if one considers any circumstances that could make it the only option. Still, it's harder to accept it these days but the author uses this idea as a business deal and Sam had good reasons to accept it.

I think the author had to go the only path good enough to make this more believable and it added to part of the relationship's details, but deep down it still feels too weird on a book out of Harlequin, for instance.

Sam is a pragmatic woman and she works fairly and in order to help her younger sister Jordan, who is hospitalized. Her past makes sense and it's the explanation to her attempts to work hard and have an uncomplicated life once more. I think her past was a good tactic to shape her character but I think a deeper take into her life and emotions would suit this story a lot, I also think more pages wouldn't hurt either, for despite everything having a place to work, there's still a slight feel of rush and more pages with some more time delving into the character's path in life could accomplish a deeper meaning into everything, My opinion, of course.

Blake is powerful but he still feels he needs to follow his father's wishes because he wants to keep his estate not only for him but mostly out of his cousin's hands. I get the ideas and the reasons but one again, it's something a bit more hard to accept these days, even more so considering he was rich on his own. On the other hand, he tried to keep a tradition, something people these days don't seem to pay much attention to, so it was good to see how he wanted to keep things in a way that would respect the whole meaning of what it was like to be part of aristocracy and to maintain place he was fond of.

So, both characters were in unusual places in life, dealing with things they wanted to preserve so they joined forces to reach their goals. When one thinks about it, it can be justified so, not so unlikely as I imagined at the beginning. I guess this is me looking for clues where they weren't meant to be - did the author have this aim? - but overall, I must say, this worked for me in the end.

Sam and Blake's relationship started as a partnership but evolved into something more. I guess I would find it more romantic if they were a bit more reluctant to change the relationship, which I found was done too easily and too fast. It almost felt like this was staged all along and this was it, but I think some more surprise and sexual tension before they got together would suit this a lot, would make the romance more passionate and true. Once again, my opinion.

In the end, I gave this a good grade because I surely was entertained and I am curious to read the following story, at least. This one had many great elements, it had a satisfying conclusion and interesting details, although I confess it also has all the expected clichés in this sort of story, jealous exes, secrets and friend's advices and so on. Still, I enjoyed it and in the end that's what matters.

Grade: 8/10