Crítica: “Just one more moment”, de Carly Phillips

Sencilla pero resultona

 

Imagen tomada de Fiction DB

Just one more moment

 

Por CARLY PHILLIPS ‧ Fecha: febrero de 2024

 

Este verano, gracias a una newsletter de Mira Lyn Kelly, me apunté a una especie de reto veraniego: Summer Romance Reading Challenge.

Había que leer diez novelas, de entre un montón que las autoras ponían a tu disposición en Book Funnel.

Luego, simplemente, contar que lo has hecho y se supone que te mandan luego una pegatina «Romance & Pizza». Ya os diré si me llega o no.

Como siempre estoy buscando autoras nuevas que me puedan enamorar, le di una oportunidad. 

Al final leí unas trece, y es mi idea comentarlas aquí en las próximas semanas.

Esta fue la primera.

Raven Walsh se enrolla con su jefe, Remington Sterling, pero los dos saben que lo suyo es algo más profundo. Ella, dadas las cosas tremendas que le ocurrieron en el pasado, desconfía de un posible final feliz, y quiere dejarlo en un «amigos con beneficios».

Él lo tiene todo, ex militar, magnate, con empresa de seguridad y otra serie de empresas, o sea, amontona más clichés que otra cosa. Lo de su peculiar nombre, que recuerda tanto a Remington Steele, es al parecer intencionado por algo que dicen en la novela y no voy a destripar aquí. Tiene su gracia.

Lo que ocurre es que Raven tiene un hermano delincuente algo tarado que en cuanto salga de la cárcel, irá a por ella. Y claro, acaba saliendo más pronto que tarde y ahí se lía la cosa, poniendo el toque de suspense a la historia. Es el momento en que, según la sinopsis, ella debe decidir si el coste potencial de confiar en Remy es más de lo que está deseando pagar —y Remy necesitará descubrir cuán lejos está dispuesto a llegar por amor».

Una novela bastante anodina, no os lo voy a negar. Ahora, es muy agradable de leer, aunque no tenga nada. Él es sexi y millonario, ella tiene una mala historia familiar. Y ya.

Creo que le falta garra porque estos dos se conocen desde el principio, se gustan desde el minuto uno, se enrollan a la de tres... O sea, no ves cómo se conocen, ni el enamoramiento. Hay, por tanto, poca tensión romántica. Se trata sólo de ver cómo Remy convence a Raven de que pueden ser algo más que «amigos con roce», que se confiesen su amor y, sí, claro, que queden libres de la amenaza que representa el hermano malo de Raven. Para ser tan poca cosa, sin embargo, se lee muy fácil y por eso le doy un punto más.

Como alguna otra que he leído de Carly Phillips, le lastra un poco eso de ser la primera de una serie. Los secundarios están ahí no al servicio de la historia, sino más bien para anticipar nuevas entregas. O sea, son autoconclusivas, y eso está bien, pero entra y sale gente solo para que los conozcas.

Mi experiencia: buena, 3 estrellas.

 

eBook / audio / trade paperback, 204 páginas

CP Publishing LLC eBook (febrero/2024)

Parte de una serie: The Sterling Family #1 [The Kingston Family #11]

ISBN13: 9781685593025

 

Jo Reads Romance, 5 estrellas. 

 

NO TRADUCIDA AL ESPAÑOL

Crítica: “Just one dare”, de Carly Phillips

Tópico tras tópico y sin embargo, funciona

 

Just One Dare

 

Por CARLY PHILLIPS ‧ Fecha: enero de 2022

 

Yo pensé que no había leído nada de la autora y resulta que sí, que suyo era un relato navideño de una antología (Santa, Baby) que compré por el de Jennifer Crusie.

Releyendo la crítica que le hice, (aquí) no me extraña que no recordara aquel romance de oficina. Era uno de chica enamorada de un chico que besa al mellizo y como es la que los sabe diferenciar, pues está claro que lo suyo es de verdad, porque eso es lo que pasa en Romancelandia. No me dejó la menor huella y le di dos estrellas.

Aquí también es un poco tópico todo. Es una de esas novelas que, aunque por el formato, parece contemporánea sin más, en realidad no deja de ser novela genérica tipo harlequín, solo que publicada en Kindle.

Tiene todos los tópicos que puedas pensar, chica pobre / chico rico, secret baby...

Resulta que Aurora Michaels es una huérfana que, cuando llega la mayoría de edad, se tiene que buscar la vida. Encima de estar sin un duro, se queda preñada en un rollo de una noche, un chico rico con el que intercambió fluidos corporales pero no el nombre o el teléfono y, claro, luego no lo pudo localizar.

No pasa nada. Pronto ella fue rica también. Supongo que pasara en algún libro anterior de la serie, que Aurora fue reconocida públicamente como un retoño ilegítimo dentro de un clan riquísimo. Así, esta Cenicienta, y su hija, pasan a tener una posición acomodada.

Cuando el retoño tiene seis años, Aurora se reencuentra, en una reunión llena de ricos y famosos, con aquel tipo con el que pasó una noche inolvidable. Es el megamillonario Nick Dare, alguien que no tenía ni pajolera idea de que era padre. Ahora, es cosa de ver a Aurora, y a su nena y, en vez de salir corriendo en dirección contraria, se da cuenta de que aquella chica le robó el corazón y lo quiere todo, a ella, a la pitusa y la proverbial casita con white picket fence.

Lo de la rapaza es todo tan dulzón y cursi, tan repollo con flores, que te sube el azúcar en la sangre solo con leerla.

Pero bueno, que estos dos se siguen gustando, a él le encanta eso de ser padre y sigue por ella, totalmente, así que es solo cuestión de convencerla de que son el uno para el otro.

No me digáis que no es todo ya muy visto y trillado. Pues sí.

Pero incluso siendo novela con niño, no me digáis por qué, me ha gustado leerla. Me sorprendo yo a mí misma cómo a veces algo que no tiene nada, salvo tópicos de millonarios y niños siendo adorables, está escrita de tal manera que me engancha.

Eso sí, admito que parte de mi disfrute es que me llegó como freebie, o sea, regalo promocional. Si tengo que pagar su precio real pues no, entonces no merece la pena.

Es uno de esos regalos que agradeces, pero que no adquirirías por ti misma. De los que, una vez leído el libro, elimino de la app, para que no ocupe sitio, y así minimalizo mi vida un poquito.

Y no, no ha servido para querer leer más de la autora o los Dare.

Mi experiencia: buena, 3 estrellas.

 

eBook / audio / trade paperback, 284 páginas

CP Publishing LLC (enero/2022)

Parte de una serie: The Kingston Family #5

ISBN13: 9781954166103 (del trade paperback)

 

Simply Love Good Reviews, 4.5 stars. 

NO TRADUCIDA AL ESPAÑOL, PERO SÍ AL ALEMÁN (Nur ein Dare) y al ITALIANO (Un azzardo e niente più?)

TBR Challenge: SANTA, BABY, by Jennifer Cruise and others

The topic of this month is Holiday Themes (Christmas, Valentine's Day, any holiday!)

Published: Nov-2006

Genre: Contemporary

My Rating: 5-1-2 stars

In December we have to choose something related to Holiday. And as it’s December an obvious book was this Christmas anthology.

It was in my TBR pile because, as I have already written here, Jennifer Crusie is one of my favourite authors. And step by step, little by little, I’m trying to read all her backlist.

OK. Disclaimer. I’m not a very Christmas person. I enjoy the holidays, of course, and drinking and eating, and children & husband not going to school/work –remember, in Spain Christmas goes more or less from 22^nd December up to 7^th January, so I’m talking about a fortnight here. But these are stressful times –the gifts, who is going to host the party, the relatives you didn’t want to see –or they didn’t want to see you- in the whole year so why have I got to smile at them now and pretend we care for each other when we don’t? I’m one of those people lucky enough to have a job that can make me work at Christmas times so I’ve got the perfect excuse to avoid people I don’t want to be with. And apart from that, my significant other and I prefer to travel with the children if I can manage a few job-free days. So if I have to get social, I prefer to share my good and jolly times with those wonderful people that have been with us in the hard times. And this has been a bad year for us, I can tell you.

So, I bought this Christmas anthology and let the dust settle over it, because –I’m just not a Christmas person. Thanks to the TBR Challenge, I took it from the pile and hello! I loved the Jennifer Crusie’s story, ‘Hot Toy’. I’ve seen that this story won the 2006 All About Romance Reader Award in the Best Short Story category, and I can tell you, it deserved it.

It was a funny and quick read; I just fell in love with the characters. It’s about a young woman, Trudy, who is desperately seeking for ‘the toy’ of that year. If you have children you know what that means –looking for it everywhere, asking family and friends to look for it in their owns towns, going crazy over the Internet searching for a place that can send it to you on time... Here that toy is a MacGuffin –literally, that’s its name. And of course, it acts like one, as the thing everybody is looking for, and you cannot care less for it, but for the things they do and think and feel in order to get it.

So here we’ve got a very courageous Trudy. Her sister and her nephew are coping with the disappearance of the husband & father –who went away to the Caribbean with the young nanny. Trudy feels she is the one who has to give them a real Christmas, so she will do whatever is necessary to find this damned MacGuffin and she does not give a shit if the whole CIA or FBI or NSA or anyone else wants it too.

Not even Nolan, that sexy man who went away with Trudy a couple of times and then did not call her again. When she finds him in a store looking for the same toy, she thinks she’s over it –but she isn´t. He wants the toy and a second chance with Trudy. He’s so sorry he didn’t call.

‘Work got crazy’ –he said.

“You’re a literature professor,” Trudy said. “Chinese literature. How can that get craz-“

There were moments of laughing out loud, because Trudy is a real no-nonsense woman, and she needs the toy. And how this ends up being as the blurb says ... Mayhem ensues under the mistletoe as a determined shopper grabs the very last hot toy action figure off the shelf, only to find herself plunged into the middle of a real-life spy game--in the arms of a sexy secret agent... Well, I’m not going to tell you, you just have to buy it.

This Crusie’s story is exactly what a novella should be. It’s got the rhythm, the short but accurate development of characters, they know each other before the story begins so their happy ending is believable, it’s funny, and you cannot stop reading until the very end. Who can expect anything better in this format? That’s a 5 stars novella for me.

If you want to read it, you’re fortunate, as I’ve seen that this story can be bought in Kindle now separately.

So you don’t have to buy the old book –as I did- and read the other two stories. I didn’t like them. They are not worth the price. Both of them are office romances, so if that’s your catnip, then these could be for you. Both of them have been written by authors I had never read before, and although it’s very unfair to judge anybody from just one book -moreover, a season novella-, there was nothing in those stories that made me curious to try anything else by these authors.

Lori Foster wrote ‘Christmas Bonus’ a story that had previously appeared in All I Want for Christmas in 2000. Maggie is the very young owner of the firm, which she has inherited from her father. And Eric was her late father’s right hand. Eric expected to get the firm when the father died but it passed to Maggie so Eric does not want anybody to think he would marry for money therefore he feigns a disinterest towards the firm and the girl that he is far from feeling. The thing is, they both have been lusting for each other for many years -Six? Seven? A decade? But of course, none of them has done anything about it. Considering they met when she was sixteen and he was close to thirty, well, I just ground my teeth - I just couldn’t stand it. I was thinking about my children and someone from my office and I said no way! I’d go for their eyes; I wouldn’t leave the firm to the girl in order to let her have the man she wants. Apart from that it was quite a boring story because there was nothing else but both of them wanting each other. And that made me think about my personal tastes. I usually favour romances with something else, apart from the love story. I need something to drive the plot forward. There was nothing here. Add a very contrived lost paper and a cheesy end and voilà, this is what I rate as a 1 star story.

Carly Phillips wrote ‘Naughty Under the Mistletoe’ a story that had previously appeared in Naughty or Nice? in 2001. Another office romance. Toni wants Stephan. Both of them work for the same firm. But under the mistletoe, she ends kissing Maxwell, Stephan’s twin. And she can tell both of them apart just from that kiss because that’s what happens in Romanceland, if you are a twin and there’s only one girl who can tell you apart from your brother, then she’s the one. And that’s it, I forgot the rest of the story. I have read this book a week ago and I just don’t remember how the rest of it goes! So I guess that makes this story quite forgettable. I just know that I liked it a little bit more that the Lori Foster’s story so that’s why I put a 2 stars rating.

This is the last TBR Challenge of this year. It’s been a little bit difficult writing all these reviews in my broken English. But I’m ready to keep on doing the same next year. Because it’s fun, you know. I would recommend anyone to try it. Hope to see you next year.