Critiques en avant-premièreRenée Gendron

Bro Code meets the Bra Code in a vacation romance.

Valérie has been planning this vacation for years to celebrate the end of her best friend, Mélodie’s, gruelling divorce. Seven glorious days of sun-soaked beaches, limitless strawberry daiquiris, and some all-important time away from her children, job, and responsibilities. This vacation will be restful and recharging.

Except, Mélodie meets a perfect man on the way to the resort, and the bra code steps in. Valérie watches out for Mélodie and her budding romance with Chris. Valérie has had it with men but is introduced to Chris’s best friend, Henry.

A friendly volleyball tournament exposes Henry’s dark side, and Valérie decides she wants nothing to do with him. Valérie jumps to block the shot. Henry is caring, intelligent, and fun run to be around off the court, but after the tournament, can Henry’s words land on her heart?

* * * * * * * * *

Henry was looking forward to spending a vacation with his best friend, Chris. Henry had been put through the wringer at work and through a brutal divorce, and all he wants is a week where he doesn’t have to think, plan, organise, project manage or go over spreadsheets.

On the way to the resort, Henry’s best friend meets the woman of his dreams, and Chris turns all starry-eyed for her. But Chris has a habit of choosing the wrong women, and there’s no way Henry is going to ignore the Bro Code—protect your best friend at all costs.

Chris and Mélodie get it in their heads to participate in a beach volleyball tournament, and Henry teams up with Valérie. A friendly tournament turns into so much more when Henry falls for Valérie.

But when Chris and Mélodie break up, Henry must decide between the Bro Code and his future with Valérie. He can charge the court to protect Chris, or he can rally in defence of Valérie.

Which will he choose?

Three Volleys to Love is a contemporary sports romance that contains swearing but no sex. It is a double date, friends to lovers, vacation romance. The author uses British spelling.

Truth and love at all costs...

A crime reporter gets her big break and is moving from her hometown to Toronto to pursue her dream job. On her last hike in her favourite provincial park, she crashes into an old friend and teams up with him to investigate a series of arsons. Twenty years earlier, she was on the verge of falling in love with him, but their families hated each other. Can their love survive the answers they find?

*****

The author uses British spelling. The book contains explicit sex and explicit swearing. This is a childhood sweethearts trope combined with a families hate each other, forcing them apart. This book also contains a firefighter male main character and a female reporter main character.

Intelligent and industrious Princess Calanthe Traenu is stunned when her duke-of-a-husband Lord Sanders Persungen abandons her after their wedding feast without so much as a note. Convinced that her remote yet handsome husband’s work relates to the security of her uncle’s kingdom, she discovers the secret location of Sanders’ camp and journeys across a continent to him. Taken aback by the harsh conditions, constant threats from raiders, and the exhausted state of her husband, the resolute Calanthe breaks free of Osmiran social constraints and carves out a place for herself. Sanders begins to trust her, and she falls in love with his dedication to his workers and undisclosed mission, his love of history, and his smile when she snorts with laughter. Calanthe set out to secure Osmira’s future and found so much more.

A Gift of Stars is a high heat (explicit sex on the page), second-world fantasy romance with an arranged marriage trope. The book contains mild swearing, and the author uses British spelling.

Vernon Marshall travelled across Canada to start a new life. When his train was hijacked and crashed into a train station, it left Vernon with more bruises than he could count and a constant headache. He meets Alberta Jepsen and is taken by her, but is she strong enough to love him despite his family secret?

Alberta—Bertie—Jepsen had a whirlwind romance when she was seventeen with Lief Persson. She married him two weeks later, only to be abandoned by him. Lief joined a gang of outlaws and was murdered, and half of Prosper thinks Bertie killed him. When she meets Vern, a charming and cheeky man ten years her junior, his handsome smile warms her heart, but she’s determined not to fall into another love-hazed folly.

Bertie’s investigation into Lief’s murder unravels the fabric of Prosper.

Every town has secrets. Prosper, Alberta, has more than most. Will Bertie and Vernon’s secrets tear them apart, or can they join forces and finally discover the truth?

Golden Hearts is a December-May Canadian historical western romance with mild swearing and sex on the page. The author uses British spelling.

Carlotta Moretti’s teenager is driving her bonkers, and pile on the demands of running her business, and the non-stop drama from her sister, a relationship isn’t on Carlotta’s radar. As Carlotta works on the largest event management contract of her life, an athlete’s name from her past jumps out. But a bad day spirals into a business-tanking disaster. Can she trust this newly rekindled flame, or will everything she has worked for go up in flames?

Brandon Jenkins hoped his long-awaited vacation with his dad would be a time to relax. A doubles tournament and some sight-seeing in Montreal should be fun. Between struggling to meet father’s high expectations, fending off a colleague who’s trying to steal a big commission from him, and reconnecting with Carlotta, the weight of it makes the two weeks less—and more—than he’d expected.

Can Brandon balance his new romance with the demands of his dad and his job?

Two Hearts on the Backspin is a second chance romance between lovers in their 40s with moments of humour and heart.

Contains swearing.

After a disastrous relationship, Officer Manner Pereira has one thing on his mind: get his career back on track. He comes across the stunning and dogged Sylvie Pelletier on patrol investigating burned vegetation. Hounded by a reporter looking for her next scoop, harassed by wealthy interests, and under pressure from his boss, Manny must shift through a series of complicated relationships to catch the culprit.

Manny puts his career and life on the line to solve the case. Will his gamble pay off?

This is a high heat contemporary mystery romance with swearing.

The Ninth Star is a historical supernatural folklore low-heat fantasy romance laced with humour and is Novella 1 in The Wild Hearts & Hunts Duology. The second novella is this duology is The Wild Hunt by David M. Simon.

***

Manon Fortin has her heart set on finding true love, heeds her grandmother’s words, and follows the ninth star. Instead of finding a handsome French beau, she finds an Irishman hunched over a damaged cart.

The lying stars keep leading her back to Arthur Osborne, a recent Irish immigrant who establishes a smithy in Sandwich, Upper Canada. Their relationship is tested by prejudice and events during the War of 1812.

Manon and Arthur are at the edge of an empire but on the frontlines of war. Across the Detroit River, the Americans prepare for an invasion.

Leprechauns, the Devil, and the Wild Hunt threaten Manon’s farm and the town of Sandwich.

Faced with impossible odds, Manon does what any woman would do to save Arthur, the love of her life, and her brothers: she makes a deal with the Devil.

Mail-order bride Ruthanna Helms travels to Prosper, District of Alberta, to marry Bertram Milligan. Determined not to repeat her mother’s mistakes, Ruthanna will only say “I do” once her papa’s debts are repaid and the jade mine she prospects is in production.

Bertram is a family-oriented man with a quiet presence. He keeps his younger brother, Mack, on the straight and narrow and cares for an ailing father. But when Bertram’s past catches up with him and threatens Ruthanna’s jade mine, Ruthanna is faced with a hard choice. Will she choose independence or love?

What’s a woman to do when her future is snatched from her? Fight for it.