Review – Hearts on the Rocks by Terry Newman
Synopsis
Fake dating wasn’t part of Cagney Adler’s plan to earn her PhD before she’s thirty. But neither was a rash of blind dates. When fictional characters, Alex Zurich and Blake Teesdale, leap out of the romance novel she’s reading into her world, they’re determined Mr. Rock Nerd would not only make a great fake boyfriend, but her happily ever after. The only way get them to leave her alone is to accept the offer. But she draws the line at happily ever after.
Brad Townsend, geology doctoral student, knows Cagney Adler is the perfect fake girlfriend to help him avoid blind dates. Sure, they have nothing in common, but that’s what makes her ideal.
There’s no way they’ll fall in love.
As friends and events throw them together in unexpected ways, they reconsider their compatibility.
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Review
This was such a fun romance to read! I really liked Cagney and Brad, who are fake dating, so they aren’t set up on any more blind dates by their friends. I can’t blame them! Sometimes, you just don’t want to be out in the dating world, but other people force the issue. The plus side is that they got to know each other over time while fake dating, which helped them realize that maybe they are meant for each other.
This book also brings back some of the characters from the first book, Rewrites of the Heart. In the first book, we meet Alex and Blake, a fictional couple that leaps from the pages to real life. In the first book, they are helping their author find love. This time around, it is helping Cagney and Brad realize they are meant for each other. They are a fun character, but Alex did get on my nerves a little bit. She thinks everyone should have a romance like her and Blake, but she doesn’t know how to factor in life and feelings. What she knows is written for her.
There are lovely side characters that round out the story. The owners of the Physics Cafe, Brad’s grandmother and sister, and even Brad’s parents, but they take a little more time to become likable. Even the best friends, Molly and Logan, add interest to the story.
If you enjoy the fake dating or friends-to-lovers tropes, you will enjoy this book! We give it 4 paws up.
About the Author
Two things you should know about me: I have an offbeat sense of humor and characters are constantly talking to me, trying to get me to tell their stories. Other than that, I’m a normal person.
I’ve spent most of my adult life writing in some fashion, from small-town reporter, to editor-in-chief and ghostwriter for a national natural health publishing firm. The last decade and a half I’ve worked as a freelance writer, penning ebooks that range from starting a doula services business to Native American herbs.
I’ve finally took the plunge to fiction after pushing, oh, so many doubts aside. My first novel with The Wild Rose Press, Heartquake, won a 4.5 crowned heart review with Ind’tale Magazine.
All my books are set in fictional towns in northeast Ohio, where I grew up, and I write about things I love—like coffee.
I have a daughter, a son-in-law, and a grandpuppy, and live in North Lima, a real town in northeast Ohio with all my characters. Yes, it does get crowded.
