Star Crossed Sweethearts / Secret Prince, Instant Daddy!

One great story, the other disappointing

3 Stars

Star-Crossed Sweethearts – Jackie Braun

Hot shot baseball star Angelo Casali is back in Italy to simultaneously recover from a serious injury and meet with his estranged father. The last thing he expects is to find Hollywood starlet, Atlanta Jackson, hiding out from the media and a future he never contemplated.

I have come across Jackie Braun before and really enjoyed the emotion and understated passion of her writing. This was no exception as the story of Angelo and Atlanta grabbed me from start to finish. Both characters were rich and had good depth. I was surprised to find myself really rooting for the pair and really liking them both individually and as a couple. With this being from the Cherish line we only get a few kisses rather than anything more descriptive and while that’s not what I usually like, it worked with this story and didn’t take away from the romance and sensuality of the story.

Overall, excellent writing and a sweet, enjoyable love story that I very much enjoyed. 5 stars.

Secret Prince, Instant Daddy! – Raye Morgan

David Dykstra has big plans to reclaim his rightful place as prince of the small country of Ambria and doesn’t have time for distractions. Unfortunately, Ayme Sommers’ arrival with her neice Cici makes things complicated. And even more so when she claims that the baby is his!

At first, I was really enjoying this book. It was fast paced and I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened, especially regarding the lost kingdom of Ambria. But after a while it got quite monotonous and we only ever heard about Ambria rather than about David and Ayme. Even then, there was zero spark between the couple and I felt no emotion or romance whatsoever. The baby might has well have been a sack of potatoes for all the point she played to the storyline and in the end the Ambrian storyline was left wide open which I’m assuming means that this is the first book in a series.

Interesting to begin with but seriously fizzling out in the end – a little disappointing. 2 stars.

It seems a shame to have to star this book so low as I very much enjoyed the first story. As it is, combined, I can only give the book 3 stars. Worth it for the first story alone.