reviews – Louise Reads

A Deal with the Devil:

Hayes Flynn is an arrogant jerk known best for his scotch habit and the way he spreads his British “charm” all over Hollywood, never with the same woman twice.

He’s the last person I want to work for, except he has a face I can’t look away from, and the longer we’re together, the harder he is to hate. Because under that smug exterior is a heart he doesn’t want to show—one that was badly broken a decade earlier.

Waking Olivia:

A failing farm.
His father’s debt.
And a struggling college track team.
Will Langstrom has too many responsibilities, and the last thing he needs is Olivia Finnegan, a beautiful but troubled new transfer student.

A smart mouth.
A strong right hook.
And a secret that could destroy her.
Olivia is her own worst enemy, with a past she can’t seem to escape, and the last person she wants help from is a cocky track coach she can never seem to please.
Refusing to be pushed away, Will is determined to save her.
And determined to resist an attraction that could destroy them both.

Ok, I don’t want to jinx it, but I think I found a new favorite romance author. I’ve been struggling with romance recently, finding the writing often very immature and the character development clunky and unnatural. I started with Waking Olivia which I enjoyed a lot! The characters didn’t feel forced, and Olivia and Will actually had chemistry. I was also interested in the plot and what Olivia wasn’t remembering. The thing that will really trip me up while reading a romance is a dual POV. I’ve said this before. I KNOW every romance reader seems to absolutely adore a POV from both love interests, but it really takes away from the story for me. I don’t want to know how the other person feels! I want to be able to guess through their actions as if I were the main character myself. Maybe that’s a bit too self-insert of me, but I really love the suspense and slow burn of not knowing what the other love interest’s intentions are. I know the two will end up together in the end, but I don’t want to have all the answers right away. Regardless, I evidently enjoyed this one enough to pick up another by O’Roark, and this is where she really shines, in my opinion.

I was really wary going into A Deal with the Devil. I had no idea how O’Roark was going to make me fall in love with a plastic surgeon of all people, but my god, she did it. I had to overlook the wardrobe (men who love to wear suits all the time are a huge ick, and I DON’T think they look better in them than in casual wear). This was such a sweet romance. I love a man who knows he’s not good enough for the woman he’s in love with. The chemistry between Tali and Hayes was so hot, and it felt so natural for these two to get as close as they did. I loved this book, and I’m honestly sad to have finished it. It helps that this one was a singular POV, too.