Double Review - Someone Else's Fairytale and Nobody's Damsel

Synopsis

Jason Vanderholt, Hollywood's hottest actor, falls head over heels for everygirl, Chloe Winters, who hasn't gotten around to watching most of his movies. She becomes the woman every other woman in America is dying to be, but it just isn't her fairytale.

Review

It's always ideal to start off on a high point.  Someone Else's Fairytale by E.M. Tippetts definitely fits the bill.  I was really excited to read this as I love stories where a celebrity falls for a down to earth, normal girl.  I thought this would be fluffy and fanciful but was surprised by how grounded (and even gritty) it felt. He picks her out of a crowd?  Sure, but because she looks like an old friend of his (not a lame pick up line, I swear!).  He relentlessly pursues her?  Well, she is a beautiful, intelligent girl with a good sense of humor who makes him feel like a human being again and has no objection to being his friend.  I can get behind that. There is more to this story though including a traumatic past that everyone seems to have some connection to in her relatively small town, lots of trust issues, a heartbreaking betrayal, and a personal choice to maintain her V card.  It wasn't a story where they met and everything falls into place and I appreciated it more for that.  I fell in love with the heroine who was strong, very intelligent, and appropriately cautious and the hero who was gorgeous, sweet, remarkably forthcoming and was grounded by an amazing family.

It also ends on the perfect note and doesn't leave you with the infamous cliffhanger anxiety (though that didn't stop me from jumping right into the next book in the series, Nobody's Damsel).  I'm glad I lucked out on my first review by discovering an absolute gem.

Try it for yourself! Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon UK

Nobody's Damsel (Someone Else's Farytale #2)

Synopsis

Chloe has finished her masters degree and taken a job as a forensic scientist back in her home town of Albuquerque, New Mexico, only the press will not leave her alone. They follow her to crime scenes and report on her every move, eager to show that her marriage to Hollywood A-lister, Jason Vanderholt, is on the brink of collapse. Millions of fans who dream of their own celebrity romance with him want this more than anything. This scrutiny comes at a particularly bad time as Chloe's first case is a crime against a child roughly the same age that Chloe was when she survived a homicide attempt.

Now that she sees the case from an adult's perspective, she realizes it's much harder than she ever dreamed. It's even worse for Jason, who is two steps removed from the crime. He must watch and try to support his wife as she battles with past demons and tries to keep up with a nameless suspect who evades identification and capture. Never has Jason been more frustrated with his job, its frivolities, and its lack of connection to the real world. When he storms off the set of his latest movie, the press goes wild with conjecture. Perhaps he never was anything more than a pretty face after all.

Together, Chloe and Jason must find their way past all the popping flashbulbs and through the dark maze of the criminal investigation to discover whether they can balance their professional goals with the demands of a celebrity marriage. The odds are entirely against them.

Review

Now onto Nobody's Damsel which is the follow up book.....after my effusive review of the first book you'll probably suspect that I have multiple personality disorder but bear with me.  

In Nobody's Damsel we're introduced to the new reality in their lives.  Chloe has a legit job and Jason is still working and is the subject of tabloid fodder.  A good part of the book revolves around the mystery of the big case Chloe is working on as well as the impact this case and similar cases have on the people associated with them.  I felt like this part was done well as it ties into Chloe's past perfectly.  The parts of the book that I did not enjoy were the intermittent scenes from some crime drama.  I REALLY did not like that as it made no sense until near the very end and it only made it difficult to keep track of the details associated with the "real" case versus those used in the fictional one.  I also didn't enjoy the fact that Jason went from refreshingly upfront in the first book to less than forthcoming in this book.  It made him more human since, let's face it, he was pretty perfect in the first book but it was frustrating considering they are supposed to be further along in their relationship and he's letting her hear about things from tabloids rather than directly from him.  Since I fell in love with the characters in the first book, I was still happy to get this peak into their lives even if the book itself didn't have nearly the same pull.  There were some clues as to what we will see in the future and I will definitely continue to follow their story.

Try it for yourself! Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon UK

Katie