Monday 8 December 2014

Miniviews #19: Mistletoe and Mr.Right & Mai Tai'd Up

Mistletoe and Mr.Right by Lyla Payne
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: November 20th, 2014
Pages: 150
Source: Netgalley/Publisher
Rating: 3/5
My first Christmas read of the season. I may not have the most holiday spirit but there's something about reading Christmas-y books around this time of year that just feels right. Mistletoe and Mr.Right ticks off the Christmas and cutesy boxes. And being only 150 pages you can read it in a couple of hours one cold night. So yes a cute Christmas read that takes place in Ireland, but holy crap is the MC annoying. Jessica is very type A. She has her life planned out, including when she's to get married and have kids. Jessica is in college, she needs to take a chill pill. But because Jessica has plans, she decides it's a good idea to surprise her boyfriend, of 4 months, and fly to Ireland to be with him(and his family she's never meet) during the holidays. Totally smart idea, Jessica. She thinks after 4 months they should be moving at a faster pace and this will spur him on. Get him thinking about marriage. Clearly upon arrival at his parents B&B he's not totally excited to see her. SURPRISE! And it just goes from there. Jessica makes a fool of herself a few times but being type A she has to have control and the situation she's thrown herself into means she's lost control.
It's clear that Jessica doesn't really love her boyfriend-side tangent; she continually calls him her boyfriend. I couldn't even tell you his name because we hardly get it. It's so freakin' annoying. I know he's your boyfriend, but he has a NAME- but she has a plan and she needs him to fit into it. Jessica needs to belong is what I get from her. Of course a hot farm hand, Grady, throws a wrench into her plans when he sees through her schedule. Grady is a good guy. There's a lot of misunderstandings going on between characters, but Grady is the only one that sticks up for Jessica and makes her feel welcome. He's also tries to get her out of her shell. Which Jessica needs desperately. She's like 21, have some fun girl.
Mistletoe and Mr.Right sets the perfect Christmas backdrop in the hills of Ireland. It has a sweet love story. Unfortunately Jessica is an extremely annoying and antsy girl for half of this short book. So it took me way to long to warm up to her. But once she started to let go of the things she can't control and laugh a little at herself she became a much more likable girl. Meeting Grady didn't hurt either.

Mai Tai'd Up by Alice Clayton
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: December 2nd, 2014
Pages: 320
Series: Cocktails #4
Source: Netgalley/Publisher
Rating: 4/5
I will just reiterate what I constantly say about Alice Clayton's books, she writes the perfect romcoms. Mai Tai'd Up is absolutely no different. Chloe is the perfect lead. She's a pageant girl who comes from a family where appearance is everything. Chloe is set to marry a guy she doesn't love. But he's safe and is what her mom expects from her. Than Chloe does a runner the morning of her wedding. She's finally doing something for herself and her dad(who is awesome) backs her up and gives her the keys to his vacation home in a small town outside Monterey. Chloe is finally on her own. But having never worked a day in her life she's left a little confused as to how she's going to find a job with no experience.
Because this is a romcom, Mai Tai'd Up is full of humorous situations. Chloe is a smart girl, but a little clueless having had her life micro managed up to this point. So being on her own is exactly what needed to happen to her. Chloe needs to grow up and learn to take care of herself. She's done some volunteer work in the past for rescue dogs. So she gets in touch with her contact about being more involved and possibly setting up a shelter where she is. This is where Chloe meets Lucas. His dad and him own the local veterinary clinic. So yes, Lucas is a hot doctor. Chloe and Lucas have instant sparks, but seeing as both are just coming out of relationships and don't want to be each others rebounds they decide to just be friends. It's a super cute friendship. They're pretty much dating minus the physical aspect. Chloe and Lucas spend ALL of their free time together. Lucas is there for Chloe for everything she needs. I totally shipped them. They have the cute banter and friendship happening. And I'm a total sucker for relationships that start as friendships. I think they're the most sincere and solid and lead to the most epic love scenes. Clayton knows how write the slow intense burn. So that means when Chloe and Lucas finally kiss you're shouting "YES! FINALLY!" with them. Of course there's also a falling out. Because I was expecting it and knew what it would be about it I wasn't as annoyed by it. And how Chloe handled to situation totally made me LOL. It was so cringe worthy and the poor girl totally embarrassed herself. But that's what a good romcom is about.
Chloe had good character growth and I was totally routing for her to succeed. Lucas was a totally sweet and adorable hot vet. Plus Clayton adds in some crazy and hilarious side characters that makes Mai Tai'd Up a perfect addition to her Cocktails series. I really hope there's quite a few more books to come in this series.

Happy reading!

Brittany


2 comments:

  1. I definitely want to try the Alice Clayton books but I'm going to give Mistletoe and Mr. Right a pass. The setting sounds so perfect but I'm not sure I could get past being annoyed at Jessica. She annoyed me in the review so I'm thinking the book would definitely be a no-go! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Christmas in Ireland sounds amazing!
    Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings

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