REVIEW: Accidental Tryst by Natasha Boyd

Title: Accidental Tryst (Charleston #1)

Author: Natasha Boyd
Publisher: Natasha Boyd LLC
Publication Date: March 2018
Genre: Chick-Lit / Romantic Comedy
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: Meet Trystan Montgomery. Suit monkey, commitment-phobic serial dater. No more than three dates, unless he hasn't ... you know.

Emmy:
What a disaster! I only just made my flight to New York to help my uncle, and the phone I’m holding is not mine! It seems to belong to some commitment-phobic serial dater who’s never made it past four dates (according to the constant notifications he's getting from his fake dating profile...) And worse? I have a sinking feeling it’s that hot suit-monkey with the arctic grey eyes I just had a run-in with at the airport. Somehow, I have to persuade him not to get a new phone until I get back. My whole life is on that phone. It’s only a few days. Surely, we can handle it.

Trystan:
This is a joke, right? My life could not get more f*cked up. I’m in the middle of selling my company and on my way to a funeral and that hot mess hippie-chick stole my freaking phone. I’m not sure how she convinced me not to immediately walk into a smart phone store and get a new one, but now she’s going to have to play stand in and distract me while I deal with my long-avoided and estranged family. I don’t have my dating apps after all, and frankly she’s pretty funny. And sexy. And why can’t I stop texting her? And now we’re talking. And … look, I’ll admit that I usually run for the hills the morning after, but the morning after phone sex? That’s not really real, right?

My Thoughts: Equal parts cute and hilarious, new to me author Natasha Boyd delivers a keeper-shelf book that I highly recommend to readers who enjoy an entertaining story with relatable characters and hilarious situations. I thought Emmy and Trystan were amazing characters and their chemistry really sizzles, but funnily enough they don’t actually meet in person until the story is nearly over.

Thanks to the amazing technology of cell phones, Emmy and Trystan find themselves with each other’s cell phone and over 500 miles separating them. After a run-in at the airport, Emmy picks up Trystan’s phone by accident before boarding a flight to New York and now they have to share emails and text messages with one another to ensure they can each take care of what they need to do. The intimacy they create with one another through emails, texts and phone calls was really endearing for me and so fun to see, I honestly could not wait until they met in person.

My Final Verdict: As this is the first book in a series, I am hopeful that this won’t be the last we see of Emmy and Trystan.

REVIEW: The Misadventures of a Playground Mother by Christie Barlow

Title: The Misadventures of a Playground Mother (A School Gates Comedy, #2)
Author: Christie Barlow
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: September 2015
Genre: Chick-Lit
Buy The Book: Amazon  | BN | Audible

Description: New term. New dramas. New friendships. And that’s just the parents…

After a year of country living, Rachel Young is finally getting into the swing of things. Her four kids are happy and content at the village school, and she’s managed to navigate the choppy (shark-infested) waters of the playground mafia.

Or… so she thought.

When playground mum Penelope Kensington moves herself and her kids into Rachel’s home, after discovering husband Rupert has been having an affair, Rachel knows she must ask them politely to leave. The problem is, Penelope never takes no for an answer.

As Rachel tries to deal with Penelope, she also meets new school mum Melanie. Melanie is a breath of fresh air, but her arrival sends ripples of gossip through the playground. Melanie has a few secrets in her closet, and it seems she’s not the only one…

My Thoughts: When I started this book, I had no idea it was the second book in a series. When I began reading, there was a slight struggle as the “getting to know you” bit the reader gets with meeting the characters already happened in the first book. Having said that, the author does an excellent job of bringing the reader up to speed so I didn’t feel I missed out on too much. This story picks up not long after the first book and centers on Rachel Young who has adjusted fairly well to her surroundings and found her place amongst all of the other school mothers.

I have to say that I’m not surprised that Rachel tries so hard to extricate herself from all things Penelope. I absolutely could not stand the woman and was surprised that Rachel spoke to her, much less interact with her on any level. The author does a fantastic job of giving the reader a good sense of Rachel’s irritation and frustration with Penelope throughout the story and there were some moments that made me roll with laughter. I love it when the villain gets their comeuppance.

I enjoyed the side relationships with the other couples and though I didn’t care for him at first, Penelope’s ex, Rupert turned out to be pretty decent. The story moved at a decent pace and once I got through the initial confusion was very easy to follow and stay entertained.

My Final Verdict: I really like this author’s voice. She has a wonderful ability of creating characters that are easy to like as well as dislike and stories that draw the reader in so completely, the reader can easily lose themselves between the pages for several hours. I recommend this story to fans of the chick-lit genre as well as readers who enjoy reading about the underdog beating adversity and coming out on top.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of The Misadventures of a Playground Mother from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.