I’ve read – or, rather say listened to, 10 books in the last 10 days…and I’ve never felt more in love with reading!
Let’s back up a bit… This year started badly.. war and all that, remember? Inexplicably I felt the need to read a bunch of apocalyptic books – and they were absolutely amazing! Can’t wait to talk about them! But… they also let me in a weird state of “waiting for a big end of the world crisis to happen” … Why? Well… rationally, of course, it’s stupid, but I’m not that rational when I read. I go all in… if the world is about to end in a book, you better know that I’m hoarding cans at home.
Well… I read “Station Eleven”, “The Road”, “Project Hail Mary”, “The Parable of the Sower” series..so yeah..things turned grim. And then I stumbled upon the books of Victorine E Lieske. She has all her books as audiobooks on her youtube channel and they are perfect to get out of a dark state. They had an incredible effect on me! They brought back all the feelings I felt when I first fell in love with my husband. They made me giddy and energetic. They made me feel Christmas is coming – cause they’re all like those Hallmark romantic movies we get at the end of the year. They are like fairy tales – happy end is included, of course, and they were refreshing because there were no sex scenes at all and no bad language. They are all appropriate for any age and I absolutely loved that!
They follow what I believe is now a classic contemporary romance recipe – the guy is very rich, the girl, not so much. They are stuck together due to some weird, funny and usually pretty unbelievable circumstance, but the situation gives them the opportunity to get to know each other better and fall in love. Of course, they don’t realize they’ve fallen in love or assume the other one hasn’t, but in the end find a way to get out their feelings and live happily ever after.
The thing extra that Victorine Lieske provides is an epilogue …this brings a really satisfying closure.
The single, unique thing I found bugging me ..and mind you, not at first, but after twio books… yeah..it gets kind of annoying, is how the two main characters feel electricity each time they touch. I get it once, twice..but to mention the electricity at absolutely EVERY touch, seemed a bit silly to me.
But that’s it…that’s all the bad things I have to say about these books! They are too cute and funny and put me in too great of a mood to say otherwise.
So… I spent the last 10 days listening to one book a day and I still feel I’m addicted! I won’t stop until I read all her books! Let’s discuss those I already read:
1. Accidentally Married
…is the story of Madison Nichols, an aspiring actress who needs a job. When she thinks she goes to an interview to apply for one, due to a misunderstanding, she is put in the position of pretending to be Jared’s, the CEO, girlfriend. This goes too far…and they are bound to be pretend marrying soon. I loved the premise and everything was funny enough. I loved that his family recognizes they are good for each other and helps them get together…all in all, a good read.
2. Reluctantly Married
…is the story of Megan Holloway and her local morning show co-host, Adam Warner. Adam usually teases Megan on the show and her responses measure up. the audience loves their on air fights, so the producer encourages them until they go too far. The audience gets to think they have feelings for each other so they agree to go on a live date, just to increase their viewership. Now that is a very believable premise. I believe most reality shows start as staged shows so… it’s possible, right? Well… sure enough the dates have the desired effect, even gaining them a real reality TV show bought by a network, of course ..with a catch.
3. Mistakenly Married
…is one of the books whose premise is extremely unbelievable – I didn’t appreciate it at all, but I loved the humor in it a lot more than in the others (and I suppose it doesn’t really matter how believable things are)…so…I would still very much recommend it. Penny and Harrison marry by mistake. She thought he was someone else. He thought she was someone else and also needed the marriage to get his inheritance. So.. he convinces her to stay married to prove his family the marriage is real.
4. Blissfully Married
…is the story of Sidney and Blake. Sidney has a matchmaking business, Blake is her childhood friend who becomes her client, just to be closer to her. I liked the two already knew each other and I loved how the author brings back memories from their childhood together. It creates a very homey atmosphere and makes the love between the two develop naturally.
5. Acting Married
…is the story of Tara and Rick. Tara is a single mother, cleaning houses to pay bills. Rick is a Hollywood bad boy that needs to cleanup his image and Tara’s employer. What better to cleanup an image than to marry? Nothing…so the two agree to a marry, Tara receiving a good sum of money in exchange for her cooperation. What I loved about this book is the way Rick approaches Tara’s daughter. It highlights how important it is for a single mother that the one who dates her be a good father figure. Also, it’s quite different – all the other romance books have young single people as main characters. I loved the added complication of a child. It seemed a lot more realistic.
6. Her Big Fat Fake Billionaire Boyfriend
This is the first book in the Billionaire series – what I hate about all the books in this series is the name. It seems very ridiculous, but don’t let that deter you from reading – the books are quite good. This is the story of Kenzie and Camden. Kenzie doesn’t want to attend her sister’s wedding alone and mistakes Camden for her date-for hire. The premise is of course ludicrous, but do go on. I had a wonderful time watching the two fall in love. The book tackles a bit the subject of assumptions and I really loved how Kenzie realizes she misjudges based on first impressions.
7. Her Big Fat Foxy Billionaire Best Friend
…is the story of Miranda and her childhood best friend Drew. Drew has always been in love with her, but Miranda will just now notice it. This is one book where I found the lead female character really unlikable. I actually rooted for Drew to move on and find a better person to fall in love with. She takes advantage of him at every turn. Their friendship is completely one-sided. She doesn’t appreciate anything he does for her and only searches for him when she needs him, leaving him as soon as she gets an opportunity with another guy. She may have learned her lesson in the end, but it still left me with a sower taste.
8. Her Big Fat Hunky Billionaire Boss
…is the story of Katherine Fox and Damien Warren. She is the secretary for a local small-town newspaper, he is the boss the recently inherited the paper from his father and plans to shut it down. I loved the premise and loved how Katherine shows him the pleasures and the downsides of living in a small town. I really appreciated the details here – they were very realistic, especially Kathrine dealing with a sick parent, it made her more relatable.
9. Her Big Fat Dreamy Billionaire Ex
…is the story of Felicity and Aiden. Felicity is hired to take pictures of an exclusive resort in Belize, only to discover the resort is owned by her ex boyfriend, Aiden. What I found less believable here is the story of how they separated years ago, but it didn’t really matter. I enjoyed their love story rekindling and how they grow to love each other in a more mature way, learning to communicate better as well. It felt good.
10. A Marriage of Anything but Convenience
…is the story of Nara and Derek. They were friends growing up and now they are forced by Nara’s father to marry for at least 2 years, so that he can preserve his company in the family and insure the future of both Nara and Derek. While the premise is a little out there, I didn’t really understand Nara’s aversion to Derek at first. It seemed a bit forced, especially since she goes past it to better feelings in just two days. But, in the end, I loved their falling in love as well as the way Derek helped her grow closer to her father.
That’s it! I listened to all these books in just a few days and they all made me feel wonderful! I highly recommend all of them. I will certainly continue with the others Victorine Lieske has published.
However, I’m looking forward to finding a romantic novel where the two aren’t rich though..is there such a thing? Do you know any?
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