Tag Archives: kat french

The MacGregor Brides – Nora Roberts

The Macgregor Brides book review

Writer: Nora Roberts
Genre: Romance
Released: 1997
Plot: The MacGregor clan’s patriarch is powerful, rich – and determined to see his three career-minded granddaughters married. So he hand-picked three unsuspecting candidates as worthy consorts… Now all he has to do is set his plans in motion.

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A wealthy old man wants great grandchildren, so he devises a plan to set up all three of his granddaughters with eligible bachelors.

Creepy? Maybe. But you can’t deny the perfection of this story. The characters are perfect, their lives are perfect. And everything works out perfectly. Sometimes you need one of these easy books to read without having to think – it’s not a crime, ladies! Feminism may be in full swing, but reading a book about falling in love and marriage is not yet illegal, and shouldn’t be discouraged.

They’ve meddled with Disney love stories, but they can never change my beloved Nora Roberts stories.

Laura the lawyer is successful and rich.

Gwen is a doctor who works tirelessly.

And Julia is the business entrepreneur who doesn’t like to get out of bed in the mornings.

It’s just… Perfection, isn’t it. I love reading books about perfect people with their perfect jobs and perfect hair. You can completely lose yourself in their world in a way that I don’t think you can with TV or movies.

Anyway! They all ‘accidentally’ bump into the men who they are to fall in love with and marry. They each have their own love stories with their own problems and scandal. The characters are mostly aspirational, but there are some traits in each character that you will be able to identify with.

It’s a book that is so easy to read and so easy to lose yourself in. It must be the way Nora Roberts writes – she’s discovered what people like and she knows how to make these characters’ worlds accessible. Brilliant.

It’s shallow and vain and absolutely glorious – the perfect stop gap between heavy thrillers.

If you would like a romance that is a little more realistic, I’d 100% recommend Kat French. Her love stories feature more recognisable characters and slightly more down-to-earth situations.

Jodie’s rating: 6/10

One Hot Summer – Kat French

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Writer: Kat French
Genre: Romance
Released: 2016
Blurb: Alice McBride’s husband Brad is super famous, totally gorgeous… and having an affair with his co-star. And now it’s splashed across all the newspapers. After kicking Brad out, Alice decides to rent out her beloved home for the summer, but the last person she expects to arrive at Borne Manor is a sexy cowboy called Robinson. Country music star Robinson has had his own share of heartache, and he’s come to Borne Manor to escape from it all. Neither Alice nor Robinson are looking for romance, but the spark between them can’t be ignored. Could a holiday romance help heal their broken hearts? And what will happen when their long hot summer together comes to an end?

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I’m no longer ashamed! I will read the books I enjoy, and I enjoy a cheesey romance.

I haven’t heard of Kat French before, but the gist of the theme sort of reminded me of Nora Roberts’ books (of which I’ve read one: The MacGregor Brides – review coming soon!).

I love how this book is set in an old English village. Alice lives in a manor and her best friends live in the smaller dwellings that she owns next door. It’s the perfect life.

But straight off the bat we are in the depths of a scandal! Alice is staring at her husband’s pictures splashed over the front pages of the newspapers: he’s banging his super hot co-star, and this is how Alice finds out.

Now, I was hoping she would live out everyone’s fantasy of slamming doors and throwing frozen Mars Bars at the unfaithful man’s head, but I guess this book is realistic in that way. Alice, in a state of shock, calmly shows him the door despite his pleading.

Her best friends are eccentric and quite funny, who help Alice get back on her feet. They are unrealistically supportive and attentive, but having such close friends who would jump in front of a bus for you is a warm and cozy idea to flirt with in this book.

Due to money issues, Alice has to rent the manor out while she stays in an old RV in the garden, and guess who becomes her tenant… A gentlemanly King of Leon-esk country singer named Robinson. He’s a brilliantly talented musician with a sultry southern accent, chiselled features, rock-hard abs and he love kids and animals. He too is nursing a broken heart, so what could possibly happen when a beautiful single man moves into the beautiful house of a beautiful single woman?

Apart from the fact that it includes a horse, my favourite thing about this book is that nothing really bad happens. It’s just a nice story about falling in love and the bumps along the way. It is such an easy read.

While I am usually up for a MASSIVE scandal with lots of heartbreak and backstabbing and bitchiness, sometimes it’s good to kick the summer off with a sizzling hot romance – no strings attached, no negativity.

It’s hard to not feel happy reading this book. It’s the perfect pick-me-up.

Jodie’s rating: 7/10