Kate Clayborn - Love at First

Sixteen years ago, a teenaged Will Sterling saw—or rather, heard—the girl of his dreams. Standing beneath an apartment building balcony, he shared a perfect moment with a lovely, warm-voiced stranger. It’s a memory that’s never faded, though he’s put so much of his past behind him. Now an unexpected inheritance has brought Will back to that same address, where he plans to offload his new property and get back to his regular life as an overworked doctor. Instead, he encounters a woman, two balconies above, who’s uncannily familiar . . .
No matter how surprised Nora Clarke is by her reaction to handsome, curious Will, or the whispered pre-dawn conversations they share, she won’t let his plans ruin her quirky, close-knit building. Bound by her loyalty to her adored grandmother, she sets out to foil his efforts with a little light sabotage. But beneath the surface of their feud is an undeniable connection. A balcony, a star-crossed couple, a fateful meeting—maybe it’s the kind of story that can't work out in the end. Or maybe, it’s the perfect second chance . . .

Comment: This is the fourth story I read by the author, the first which is a standalone. I liked the other three I've read before, which were a trilogy, but I had high hopes for this independent one, especially after seeing positive reviews by several people whose taste is similar to mine.

Will Sterling is a doctor whose uncle recently died and left him an apartment. Will only wants to solve this so he doesn't have one more worry on top of his already busy professional demands, even if it means to sell a place where he lived one of his best teenager memories. However, he is certainly surprised to learn the girl he heard years ago and who is still on his mind, still lives in the building and is the main voice against him turning the unit into a temporary rental. As they get to know each other while battling it out for who has more rights about the way of life in this building, they also cement their attraction and feelings. Is there any hope for them after all?

This story had everything to be a sweet contemporary romance and the elements were certainly there. I also had some expectation because I had enjoyed the other books, but I will be quite honest, this story was very boring to me, and the plot seemed a bit ridiculous, even if it's meant to be seen through comedy lens.

The story felt more dramatic than what the cute covers of the different editions imply, and I was not sold on the funny scenes nor on the apparent comedy of some situations. Why would Will need to deal with the other neighbors' wants, he really should be able to do what he felt was best for him, even despite having a physical attraction to Nora. The way the set up between them and the secondary characters was presented made me think everyone was playing a part, and I cannot imagine any real life similarity being this childish. I get it, I know what the point was, but I just could not be convinced to go with the flow.

Perhaps if Will were to live there himself, but as someone who wants to rent out, the plot made no sense to me. I just cannot see how such flimsy connections would develop the way they did and having Will remembering Nora's laugh from sixteen years ago was a little far fetched, even for a romance. This means, I could never really get into the story and the quirky people and what they do in order to convince Will to not sell or rent the apartment, as if they should have any say!

I mean, I also understand the idea of small, cozy, close communities and, ideally, all those people would make for a great sense of belonging, but I don't think the execution was the most upheld in the situation the author created. I also think it was a little boring to go through all the uncertainties the characters faced regarding the apartment and in their lives. I mean, perhaps my interpretation of this would have been better if I hadn't already been let down by the beginning of the story, which wasn't inspiring to me, but in the end, I've found this book to only be average.

I could not connect with the main characters, therefore not with their romance either. I did like that they slowly developed their relationship, that they had reasons to be wary, to do things carefully, and I liked some of the "romantic" situations they shared. I wasn't a big fan of the drama, but I did like how this made them both rather cautious and aware of what they were doing. It was also captivating to see their conversations on the things that affected them the most as children. However, the romance pretty much was take or leave and their romantic scenes were simply okay to me.

All in all, an interesting effort, some good elements and ideas, but the execution didn't convince me, and the characters didn't impress me. I might still try another book, just to compare and see if the trilogy was the highlight of this author's efforts to me.

Grade: 5/10

Kate Clayborn - Best of Luck

Greer Hawthorne’s winning lottery ticket doesn’t just bring her wealth, it also means her chance at a long-postponed education. She’s finally on the cusp of proving to her big, overprotective family that she’s independent—until a careless mistake jeopardizes her plan to graduate. Lucky for her, there’s someone in town who may be able to help . . .
Alex Averin plans to show up for his sister’s wedding, then quickly get back to his job as a world-renowned photojournalist. But when gorgeous, good-hearted Greer needs an assist with a photography project, he’s powerless to say no. Showing Greer his professional passion ignites a new one, and rouses instincts in Alex he thought he’d long set aside.
Can a ceaseless wanderer find a stopping place alongside a woman determined to set out on her own . . . or are Alex and Greer both pushing their luck too far?

Comment: This is the third book in the Chance of a Lifetime trilogy by author Kate Clayborn. I have read and liked the previous novels and, of course, I'd want to read this one too, and now I can know I have completed this trilogy.

In this story we finally have Greer as protagonist. Of the three friends, she has been the most discreet one, shy, and now we get to understand why her personality is more reserved. Greer has gone through a terrible time, she has a medical condition and this affected much of her experiences and relationships with her family and others. Winning the lottery with her friends helped her to give back to the family who supported her, yes, but is also the way for her to graduate and finally have independence.

Alex is the older brother of Kit and he is a modern nomad, never in the same place for long, going everywhere his job and his interest takes him. He is back in town for Kit's wedding and since Greer has a college task she has to fulfill, he is the right person to ask for help, considering his wonderful career as a photojournalist, But Alex has had some issues lately and Greer sees right though them. As they spend time together for her project they become friends, but can they be more than that?

I think the intention of writing about three friends winning the lottery wasn't as predictable in this trilogy as one would imagine. In reality, the girls don't place themselves in situations in which winning the lottery could be a motif for conversation or serious change in their lives, and they acted as I imagine many people who don't win ridiculous amounts probably do, meaning they solve the most pressing worries in their financial life but they don't become vain or glamorous or different overnight.

Greer uses part of the money to help her family - how not to respect that - and part to go to college, so she can graduate, be able to apply to a job already waiting for her. She has everything planned and she is taking care of herself, health wise, she has everlasting friends, what else is there? Obviously, a romance and Kit's brother does appeal to her, but she is aware he is not the settling down type, so she doesn't dream high. However, spending time with him shows her there's more to him and his choices than simply selfishness or a need to not compromise, and I liked this in the novel, this notion they got to know each other at a slow pace while talking and dealing with one another without second intentions.

I say this because while we can expect the romance to deepen, their connection to become stronger, it isn't obvious the path for them has to be a sexual one. This isn't a story where the secondary details about their lives exist just to present a conflict. This story does feel - perhaps a bit more than the others - as a mature, solid read about two people who have had certain experiences in life, how they shaped their perspective and by pure chance they seem attracted. I kind of liked that the author didn't write this in a glaring way where we would only needed to wait until they had sex. 

Well, their relationship does get intimate but I never tog the feeling that was the most important part of why they were good together. I think the story focused more on what else is necessary for a couple to succeed, namely peace of mind and finding pleasure in simple things, while trusting someone to be there for you. At the same time, they for each other so well, especially with all the support and friendship and understanding between them, that I also felt they could have been simply friends, you know, that while is cute they are a couple, if not, no harm done.

There are certain conflicts they need to deal with, certain things from their pasts are now front stage in their lives and in how they connect with others - mainly Alex and his need for therapy and to deal with panic attacks he has had - is key for us to see how they improve and why they should evolve or be "worthy" of a romantic HEA. I liked how the story progressed, because despite being a bit predictable in how things went, it was still cute to see. I also think there's this sense of competency in how the author included certain information and how much more realistic some things were. I'd say, perhaps, the books - this one in particular - miss a bit of a lighter tone here and there and most of the stories feel too intense, more dramatic than balanced.

Despite the things I'd like to see a bit different, I liked reading the book and seeing what the characters would do next. To be fair, perhaps i won't re-read these books much but I certainly appreciate the professionalism of the writing, of the content, of the presentation. I'll certainly read other books by the author at some point.

Grade: 7/10

Kate Clayborn - Luck of the Draw

Sure, winning the lottery allows Zoe Ferris to quit her job as a cutthroat corporate attorney, but no amount of cash will clear her conscience about the way her firm treated the O’Leary family in a wrongful death case. So she sets out to make things right, only to find gruff, grieving Aiden O’Leary doesn’t need—or want—her apology. He does, however, need something else from her. Something Zoe is more than willing to give, if only to ease the pain in her heart, a sorrow she sees mirrored in his eyes...

Aiden doesn’t know what possesses him to ask his family’s enemy to be his fake fiancée. But he needs a bride if he hopes to be the winning bid on the campground he wants to purchase as part of his beloved brother’s legacy. Skilled in the art of deception, the cool beauty certainly fits the bill. Only Aiden didn’t expect all the humor and heart Zoe brings to their partnership—or the desire that runs deep between them. Now he’s struggling with his own dark truth—that he’s falling for the very woman he vowed never to forgive.

Comment: Last year I've read the first book in this Chance of a Lifetime trilogy and liked it. Reading my comment on it, though, I see I'd have liked to see some elements done better, but thankfully enough time has passed that I remembered only the basics, and going into this one was almost as if I hadn't read that one, so I could appreciate it as if it was a standalone.

Zoe, Kit and Greer won the lottery, not one of those numbers that allow one to not work ever again, but enough to help with their lives or plans they put on hold. Zoe is a lawyer and has worked to fill in the steps her late father would have liked to see her in. However, her last case before the lottery win was one she doesn't feel proud of and now, an year after, she is still thinking about the people she needs to solve things with in order to ease her guilt feelings. She tries with the older couple she believes weren't treated fairly on that last case but when she rings their house, it's their son there instead.

Aiden is angry still, and mourning the loss of his brother, and he doesn't want anything to do with Zoe but since she wants to make amends he says she can help him with a business deal he wants to make, owing the summer camp where his family spent so many wonderful years. The problem is the current owners only want to sell to a family man and Aiden is single, unlike his competition. Will this "deal of convenience" work for the two of them?

I don't think it's any surprise to say this story isn't as simple as the blurb indicates but it is true the tone of this story is a lot more serious than what the expected shenanigans at the summer camp might suggest. Although this is primarily a romance and there is a highlight on how romantic feelings can help people unblock other feelings they might need in their lives, the actual core of the story is Zoe and Aiden's need to let go of their losses and feelings of inadequacy.

I'd say this story more obviously stays at that middle ground between romance and woman's fiction and, of course, sometimes I wasn't too certain if I liked one or the other element the most or that the one left wasn't done as good as it could. I had a good time reading this most of the time but there were scenes that I feel weren't as well used as they could, yes.

Zoe is a good character in the sense she feels she hasn't respected her father's memory well, she hasn't always been the kind of person he might have wanted her to be. Of course anyone can see how this is unfair, how can someone ever measure up to an impossible ideal of perfection, which often isn't expected at all by whoever we place in a pedestal, but I could see how this would affect Zoe's actions now so much. Aren't we all engineered to feel guilt, how some never have it seems quite a feat...?

Anyway, Zoe decides to be proactive in solving her issues and the money is a way to make it easier. That old cliché is real, money might not buy happiness but it certainly helps going after it. However, apart from solving her sense of a bad deal with the O'Learies, she also wanted to do other things and I'm not sure we got to see her actually take steps about it, since the plot is totally focused on her acceptance to help Aiden and how their relationship develops.

I think the romance was believable enough, subtle and unassuming. What starts as a favor, a way to downplay feelings of guilt turns into genuine care and, at some point, romantic feelings too. I think the fact this was a slow paced plot and romance helped me accept that they were falling in love, and also that they would be spending longer time together on the camp, sort of "bonding" too, was interesting to follow. Of course, part of this slowness notion is because Aiden is very reserved and sort of aloof.

I do think Aiden is the most intriguing of the characters, harder to read on the page but more interesting from a psychological POV. He is mourning the loss of his twin to an overdose and that is why he wants to make summer camp a way to help people recovering from addictions. His plans are well intended but his heart isn't truly in it for he isn't doing it for his own, he is doing it for duty, as expiation over what he perceives as not having been present enough for his brother. I could see his conflicting sensations over everything and part of me liked him more for it, another wished he had been able to understand whatever he had to in a quicker way.

I think I'm ending up having the same kind of thoughts about this book as I did about the first one. There is some romantic passion missing to elevate the story, to make it more intense and heartfelt. I hope the last one is more captivating but I think it is more likely it will be just like these two as well. 

Grade: 7/10

Kate Clayborn - Beginner's Luck

Kit Averin is anything but a gambler. A scientist with a quiet, steady job at a university, Kit’s focus has always been maintaining the acceptable status quo. A sudden windfall doesn’t change that, with one exception: the fixer-upper she plans to buy, her first and only real home. It’s more than enough to keep her busy, until an unsettlingly handsome, charming, and determined corporate recruiter shows up in her lab—and manages to work his way into her heart...
Ben Tucker is surprised to find that the scientist he wants for Beaumont Materials is a young woman—and a beautiful, sharp-witted one at that. Talking her into a big-money position with his firm is harder than he expects, but he’s willing to put in the time, especially when sticking around for the summer gives him a chance to reconnect with his dad. But the longer he stays, the more questions he has about his own future—and who might be in it.
What begins as a chilly rebuff soon heats up into an attraction neither Kit nor Ben can deny—and finding themselves lucky in love might just be priceless...

Comment: I added this book to my TBR soe years ago not only because it had been well recommended but also because of its premise: three friends win the lottery. I was curious to see how the author would use this in the story but, as it happens, it wasn't such a big deal after all...

In this book we meet heroine Ekaterina "Kit" Averin, a genius lab tech who likes the simplicity of her life, even though big companies keep wanting her to join them since her published work is brilliant. However, Kit likes roots and her group of friends, and her work and her boss... one day, another agent, Ben, approaches her with a proposal and although he is good looking, he doesn't seem to be very familiar with her work, and Kit easily dismisses him. However, he is living nearby, helping with his father who has been ill and they meet again when she visits his family's salvage yard. As they get to know one another, his job isn't something they forget but it's true what makes them spend time together while Kit renovates the house she bought isn't only professional courtesy...

This was a sweet romance. The main characters face some personal issues but globally, the focus is the relationship between them and how much they both want to invest in it. I liked both protagonists, it feels as if the author thought about their personalities a lot and she tried to convey them as unique as possible, and I felt I was spending time with interesting people (as opposed to more of the same in romance novels), which was definitely a plus for me.

The premise, as I've said, is based on a different type of idea. I mean, I bet there are more books with the "winning the lottery" idea but I think it's still seen as uncommon and, for me, it made it sound unique enough. I really imagined the plot would focus more on this, since it's not something one sees happening everyday, but the truth is the focus was more on the characters themselves and their personal emotions, rather than the external impact of what it means to be a millionaire. I mean, perhaps it shouldn't matter, but if it's special enough to change lives....

Kit is a brilliant scientist/expert on metals and her work means big companies want her ideas for their products but she prefers to be in the background. Winning the money only cemented this position for her. Her personal life is one of quietness, she has two best friends and a small group of people she is comfortable with, she has her adventurous older brother and a father she sends money to but with whom she hasn't a steady relationship. I liked her and the fact she seems to be introverted but yes, her past traumas, mostly dut to her family life as a child, really shape her personality.

In comes Ben, someone with a complicated past too, who has been neglected by his mother and that caused him to react as a young boy, now he is a mature adult, has a good bond with his father and the dream to have a company with his best friend but after meeting Kit, falling for her, perhaps these dreams can change. I liked him too, he was complex without being a cliché in how he behave with others and I was rooting for his romance with Kit.

I think that part could have been done better. I liked the overall feel/tone of the story, but despite it being obvious they were attracted and would, at some point, become involved, I also wish that the auto had included more sexual tension scenes or moments where they were pondering their attraction. I knew this was something they shared but it would have been nice to have this in such a way I would have to think "finally!" when they got together but what it felt like was more "oh, the setup is now". It wasn't thrilling nor exciting and I believe the story would have benefited from that.

There's a certain highlight in the secondary relationships the protagonists have with those surrounding them, I liked this aspect. I think there were enough details to make it sound as if these two were creating something which could develop roots, which could help them validate not only their feelings but their position in the community... It felt cute and cozy at the end.

Globally thinking about this book, it had all the necessary elements to make it work for me, yes. I would change a few things but I can't ignore I had a good time reading the book. I see the next installment in the trilogy is about Kit's fellow lottery winner, the blurb seems very intriguing, hopefully the end result will use the premise better than what happened in this one.

Grade: 8/10