Jasmine Guillory

I've been reading romances lately as they're relatively light: great things to have around when your mental health breaks down and then you get Covid-19. However, I think I may have reached the end of my tolerance level with books that are just romances, and lacking in other plot lines.

Alexa and Drew meet when they get stuck in an elevator together. They fall into bed together at the first opportunity, enjoy each other's company and all the sex, and start travelling back and forth between L.A. and Berkeley on the weekends. However, Alexa finds out from a bevy of Drew's exes that he's a great guy to date but that he runs shy every time committment looms. So Alexa, in love with Drew, runs first in order that she not get hurt. Will they find their way back to one another?

It wasn't a bad story for what it was, but as I say, I'm tired of romantic novels and want to read something else, and this story suffered under my wishes for meatier novels.… (more)

Royal Holiday is a sweet and fluffy romance about a mid-50s woman who accompanies her daughter Maggie to England, where Maggie has a temporary job styling a member of the British royal family. (It is quite obviously Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, whom she is styling, although she is never named.) Vivian and Maggie stay with the Duchess and Duke on the Sandringham estate, where Vivian meets Malcolm, the Queen's private secretary. Vivian and Malcolm are immediately taken with each other, love and passion fighting for first place, and Vivian lets down her guard and lets Malcolm into her life.

It's a holiday fling, which Vivian enjoys very much, but the reality is that Malcolm lives in England whereas Vivian lives in Northern California. Neither of them wants to uproot themselves. Vivian goes back to her life in the States while Malcolm stays in London. And unless you want me to spoil the remainder of the book, I'm going to stop there.

The book was bright and breezy, and just what I needed to read. It was warm and amusing and happy for the most part. If you're looking for a good beach read or a seasonal book over Christmas, this is the book for you.… (more)

3.5 stars

Jasmine can write one hell of a romance book. But this one fell a little bit flat in the romance aspect. For some reason the romance did not seem believable.

Even when the romance was not making my heart sing, the writing was so wonderful and well done. It kept me hooked the entire time.

The first half of the book was sooo good! I enjoyed it so much but then in the second half, everything felt rushed and it ended up making the book very lackluster.

One last thing to note, Jasmine basically yells at us in this book to embrace kissing and I endorse this message a bajilion times!!
… (more)