Written with sassiness and style, Ally Blakes romances are among the best in the business. Hannah couldnt wait to get back to Tasmania for her sisters wedding. But its hardly a holiday to research a new TV show, her boss has decided to come with her! Hannah doesnt want the gorgeous Bradley Knight anywhere near her crazy family! How can she act professional with karaoke as the wedding entertainment? And what if mojitos and slushy wedding songs prompt someone (her mother, sister or herself) to get the wrong idea? Under no circumstances should Bradley be considered Hannahs wedding date. Even if hes incredibly charming. Even if her disobedient legs wont do the sensible thing and walk away
Australian romance author Ally Blake loves reading and strong coffee, porch swings and dappled sunshine, sparkly notebooks and soft, dark pencils.
She also adores writing love stories. Having sold over four million copies of her Harlequin Mills and Boon novels worldwide, she is living her dream.
Alongside one husband, three gloriously rambunctious kids, and too many animal companions to count, Ally lives and writes in the leafy western suburbs of Brisbane.
Wonderful warm fun cute read,adored Bradley-Hannah both were very well developed,enjoyed the chemistry,tension,attraction & the suspense which Hannah was surrounded cause of Bradley's behaviour,really liked the fact that Hannah decides to start her own production company,enjoyed their journey towards HEA
So the hero and heroine are Bradley and Hannah. Bradley is a well known TV show producer and Hannah is his hard working assistant, whom has had a crush on Bradley for a while. Bradley, unaware of this, knows that Hannah is invaluable to his work and worries that during her upcoming sisters wedding in her beloved Tasmania she may realise that she wants to stay closer to home, or even meet someone. Bradley goes with Hannah under the guise of wanting to scope out Tasmania as a potential location for the TV show. Much to Hannah's bemusement he also manages to muscle his way into being invited to her sisters wedding, although she is secretly glad to have Bradley there with her as a shield since she doesn't have an easy relationship with her mother. The attraction between them becomes hard to ignore and they both agree to a fling, with the 'What happens in... stays in...' idea. Bradley is not interested in love and relationships whereas Hannah is looking for ever lasting love, so it's not long before feelings grow and tension mounts between them.
Almost from the first line of this book the dialogue sparkles with wit, especially between the hero and heroine. Very few authors can write dialogue with humour and sass and still manage to deal with emotions without it feeling like a joke, Ally Blake has done this spectacularly here. Both of her characters felt very real and had real issues, I love a feisty heroine and that's exactly what I got with Hannah. And Bradley, well he was complex, but in a good way and I liked how a lot of his thoughts a feelings were held back from the reader and although this made his development 'slower' it kept me reading and interested. Just like the characters I also felt the development of the relationship was very real and believable. I liked the setting, as a clueless Brit I know nothing about Tasmania and I was on the Internet while reading looking at photos of the countryside, and I think Ally described it beautifully and with passion.
I have read quite a few RIVA's now and if someone asked me for recommendations to show what this series is all about then this book would be one of them. The story and characters are modern and written with wit and sass, sparkling dialogue and great chemistry. This is a great book that had me laughing out loud and left with that all important warm fuzzy feeling!
I was talking to a friend the other day (who also uses Good Reads) and compared to her my ratings are harsh....worse than harsh, they are down-right mean. So I need to preface this 2.5 rating with 1) According to Good Reads 2.5 is "ok" (hover over the stars!). It means I didn't like it. I didn't love it. But I also didn't hate it. It was just Ok. 2) As someone who has attempted to write and has about 3 different projects floating around on her PC - I take my hat off to anyone who has the drive, talent and skill to finish a book and get it published. So my 2.5 stars is not a slap across the face as come on...you published a book. It is just that the book didn't speak to me the way I needed it to to rate it higher.
Now on to this book. A friend of mine entered an online competition for this book. You had to suggest a Karaoke song for the lead male to sing and the winner chosen would get the song included in the book (well that was my understanding). My lovely friend won with a really cool Hunters & Collectors song and she was excited as she is a big Ally Blake fan. When I saw this book, I GRABBED it as I wanted to see the song section. But....it wasn't there. The Author had left it out and instead got the male lead singing....wait for it......keep waiting as it is really bad and tacky......."You are the One that I want" from Grease. Seriously!!! How you can take a male seriously who sings that....anyway, I think the whole leaving the song out was really disappointing and BAD BAD BAD PR. Don't run the comps unless you are serious.
As for the book itself, well it was my first Ally Blake and putting aside all the song issues it was not a great introduction to her for me. My friend who likes Ally also agreed it was not one of her better books. The usual formula (which we know and love) is there and the dialogue is quite witty - but it left me feeling a little cold and not overly invested. It hit the "quick reading fix" requirements of short, sweet, hot guy, gorgeous girl and a happy ending - but lacked something.... I won't be reading it again and I will pass my copy onto my Mum who will hopefully appreciate it more than I did :-). Just Ok I say!
I really enjoyed this book and again, I will try to write a review without spoilers.
This Riva story contained sexy and sensual scenes, not behind closed bedroom doors!
The story starts off slowly, the relationship side of things, but this wasn't a bad thing, it felt realistic, letting the pressure build up between the two of them - and that doesn't mean it 'read' slowly. But initially the hero doesn't reveal too much his motives. Though reading between the lines, you kind of guess it - why else would he gate crash his assistant's holiday, her sister's wedding? Hannah is teased to frustration, unsure of why her boss is acting the way he is - and so are we!
There's some wonderful dialogue; Hannah Gillespie is no pushover, she's feisty, which keeps their relationship interesting and creates great chemistry between these two characters, but you just know her heart is in trouble.
Es una historia entretenida, divertida y llena de muchas situaciones vergonzosas para la pobre Hannah. Ella es la asistente del guapo y exitoso Brandley un productor de tv de programas de viajes de aventuras por todo el mundo. Hannah toma unos días de vacaciones para asistir a la boda de su hermana menor donde será su dama de honor. Brandley se ofrece para llevarla hasta casa, pero al ver la reacción de ella al ver a su familia, decide que lo mejor es quedarse con ella en vez de viajar a Nueva Zelanda para la realización de su nuevo programa. Pero la atracción que sienten al estar juntos comienza notarse y los llevara a vivir una experiencia única. Es una historia sencilla, divertida, llena de situaciones candentes. Los personajes son atractivos algunos secundarios no tantos pero la lectura es sencilla y se pasa un agradable rato leyendo.
I enjoyed this - the first time I’ve read this author but I’ll be looking for others by her. She has a distinctive voice which I I really liked. Warm, witty and emotionally engaging. Bradley and Hannah were a great pairing and I really enjoyed their realistic relationship as it developed into a real love story.
I thought the motivation for Bradley accompanying Hannah to Tasmania was really the weakest part of the plotting. It really seemed a strange, over the top thing to do and made little sense to me. However I suspended disbelief and just rolled with the story. The idea that she’d be able to set up her own company after being his PA seemed to stretch credibility as well. But I liked the underlying ambition.
Well written and with some lovely touches. No epilogue - that was disappointing.
I was lucky enough to win this book from a giveaway run by Mills & Boon. It sounded like my kind of read so I couldn’t wait to get started.
It didn’t take long to feel connected to Hannah and the gorgeous Bradley, they were both likeable in their own way and were easy to read about. It quickly became apparent that Hannah had a crush on Bradley and with him being her boss she managed to hide it well – the banter between the two of them was something I particularly enjoyed!
Hannah was anxious about going home for her sister’s wedding (there were clearly some family issues going on) and Bradley offered to give her a lift (in his private jet no less) on his way to New Zealand. It was at this point that I guessed he had some hidden feelings for her too, and when it switched to his perspective my guess was confirmed. Somehow he ended up staying for the wedding and they shared a suite at the hotel, it was obvious where things were heading but it didn’t affect my enjoyment, it only made me look forward to the inevitable even more!
There were a few favourite moments for me – an entertaining pre-wedding party, a mountain hike that revealed more about the characters feelings and finally Hannah’s inner imp (I think we all have one of those) which got a few mentions and I liked this idea.
This book contained some sexual scenes but they didn’t overwhelm the story in any way, however if you are likely to be offended by this then the book probably isn’t for you.
This was a fun, quick read that I really enjoyed, I will definitely be looking out for more from this author.
This was absolutely fantastically good fun to read. Ally Blake is one of my favourite category authors for the touch of humour and realism she brings to all her books.
I loved the Tasmanian setting and although the whole "fall in love at a wedding" trope is familiar, she managed to avoid cliche the whole way through.
I was also really impressed by how the story seemed so authentically Australian -- although international readers wouldn't have any problems reading or understanding it, the voice and descriptions and activities were very real. I could picture myself at the wedding!
I really enjoy category books that are down-to-earth like this one -- I'm much less fond of the glamorous CEO/sheik/international playboy. I like stories where "real girls" get "real men" (albeit a little more perfect than real-world men!). This fit the bill for me perfectly.
Hannah kann ihren Kurzurlaub kaum erwarten, denn endlich kehr sie nach Hause zurück. Vier Tage im wild-romantischen Tasmanien, wo die Hochzeit ihrer Schwester stattfindet! Dann taucht ihr sexy Boss Bradley Knight auf um sie nach Tasmanien zu nehmen. Jetzt spürt er langsam die Anziehungskraft zu Hannah und träumt nur noch davon ihr Lippen zu küssen.
Jetzt will ich nach Tasmanien, da die Landschaft sehr leidenschaftliche beschrieben wird. Die Geschichte war natürlich auch sehr gut. Bei so einem Chef kann man schon mal schwach werden. :) Eine super Unterhaltung für zwischendurch, mit einem garantiertes Happy End. Ich lese diese Geschichten immer wieder gerne.
8/10. Liked the story. Liked the the characters and their life stories which made them who they are. Didn't like the over confidence of the female character (Hannah). This story seemed like a role reversal to the average mills and boon where it's the hero in control. Here the hero was almost wimpy. Hannah was definitely not shy or unsure or lacked confidence in any way. She seemed the one leading the way in parts. Most certainly a differrent writing style to the average mills and boon in some parts with character speech. Hannah's "You Betcha" was a bit annoying. I did find myself zoning out now and then during the read however overall this book is not too bad.
A nice tale. Great to see Hannah work her way through her relationship with her mother, and how it helped her with Bradley and his own issues. Even a big, sexy guy can freeze up and need a little help to see the light.
Loved this! Fast-paced and full of romance and sensual sex scenes. No bullshit in over the top descriptions. It was all about Hannah and Bradley. Very nicely done.
I read this book under the title "The Rogue Wedding Guest". This was a nice read. The characters were normal enough - no sudden, unrealistic 360 degree turns! The dialogue is quite good as well.