Review: Fresh Brewed by Pamela Ford

Breanna Mitchell is on her way to a relaxing vacation at the ocean. Maybe she'll even have a beachside fling to help her get over a recent breakup.

But when a tropical storm makes her destination hotel uninhabitable, a chance encounter at continental breakfast delivers a fabulous option—with a catch. She and her friends can stay at a privately-owned, three-story oceanfront home—if she pretends to be the girlfriend of the owner's heartbreaker grandson, Ethan. Since he won't even be there, how hard could it be?

Everything is going swimmingly until Bree drinks too much wine and regales the family with romantic tales about her relationship with Ethan. His adorable brother Adam gets suspicious. His marriage-minded grandma gets engagement fever. The beautiful woman next door gets teary-eyed.

And then, Ethan unexpectedly arrives. Suddenly Bree is about to get everything she's ever wished for—but is it what she really wants?

Buy the book: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble

My Review

Fresh Brewed is the second in The Continental Breakfast Club and finds our three friends going on vacation to the ocean for some relaxing time.  This is also Bree’s idea fantasy of meeting “the one” at a vacation continental breakfast in a 5 star hotel resort.  However, things do not turn out the way any of the friends think or planned as a pesky hurricane by the name of Drake has sidelined them in Atlanta, Georgia.  Good news the next morning though, as Drake has gone out to sea with minimal damage to the coast.  The very busy layover continental breakfast brings them to a chance meeting with Kristin Caruso who is also headed to the Outer Banks for a family vacation.  Kristin also happens to have two single brothers. She and the three girls find they have much in common and hit it off.  As circumstances collide, Kristen comes up with a zany idea that will not only help her brother Ethan in a sticky family situation but will also benefit the three friends.  Bree agrees to be the pretend serious girlfriend of Ethan, who is not going to be at the family vacation so their grandmother, who has been quite put out with him, will be happy. 

Again relying on the lies that these four have concocted, Bree paints a picture of Ethan as a most romantic guy that has the whole family hearing wedding bells.  However, Bree did not realize that she would feel such a strong connection to Adam, the younger brother.  This story takes a ridiculous turn for the worse as Ethan surprises everyone and ends up showing up after all.

This was another laugh out loud adventure with a touch of bittersweet as Bree realizes she has actually fallen in love with the whole family and now her reputation is at stake.  This novel was reminiscent of the movie While You Were Sleeping starring Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman, which was fun to watch, hilarious, and bittersweet too.  Again I liked the seeing the three best friends have each other’s backs and adding Kristin to the mix will make for interesting future reads.

Content Warning: Like the first, this book is an adult read and has a sprinkling of bad language throughout; otherwise I would consider this one a fairly clean read.

I received a copy for an honest review through iRead Book Tours and the opinions are my own.

Author's Bio:

Pamela Ford is the award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance. She grew up watching old movies, blissfully sighing over the romance; and reading sci-fi and adventure novels, vicariously living the action. The combination probably explains why the books she writes are romantic, happily-ever-afters with plenty of plot - and often lots of laughter.

After graduating from college with a degree in Advertising, Pam merrily set off to earn a living, searching for that perfect career as she became a graphic designer, print buyer, pantyhose sales rep, public relations specialist, copywriter, freelance writer - and finally author. Pam has won numerous awards including the Booksellers Best, the Laurel Wreath, and a gold medal IPPY in the Independent Book Publisher Awards. She is a Kindle Book Awards finalist and a two-time Golden Heart Finalist. She lives in Wisconsin where she is working on her next novel.

Connect with the author:  Website   Twitter   Facebook   Goodreads

Review: Over Easy by Pamela Ford

About the book

Allie Parker's had enough. Just because she's a dog groomer, her overachieving family of doctors and lawyers treats her like a child. She's convinced that a successful husband is all she needs to change their attitudes. So when she and her friends come up with a brilliant new way to meet eligible men, Allie squeezes into her sister's stylish clothes and sneaks into continental breakfast at an upscale hotel to find herself the perfect guy.

Before Allie has taken her last bite of syrup-laden waffle, she's met the man of her dreams. But what she doesn't know is that he's a jewel thief who mistakenly thinks she's his contact—and so does everyone else who's after his stash of diamonds.

Suddenly Allie's world is crazily upended. And as she scrambles to prove her innocence and get back to her old life, she discovers happily ever after sneaks up when you least expect it.

Buy the book: Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble

My Review

Over Easy by new to me author Pamela Ford was a hilariously laugh-out-loud adventure.   The premise of this story is about three best friends who are trying to make love matches.  For instance, they joined a gym to try to meet some guys; however that didn’t work out so well.   So Megan, the lawyer comes up with an old idea of sneaking into the continental breakfasts at hotels to meet the loves of their lives.  And so The Continental Breakfast Club has begun.

Over Easy is really Allie’s story and she is an owner of a dog grooming business much to the chagrin of her parents, who would like her to finish college and become a veterinarian.  Allie is also the baby of the family and is always treated as such not only by her parents, but also her siblings.  She not only wants to meet the man of her dreams, but also be able to take him as a date to her parents 45^th wedding anniversary, in her own mind proving she is not such a screw up.  Let the shenanigans begin.

This is a comedy of errors, mishaps, and ridiculous lies.  There is mystery and danger as Allie gets more than she bargained for at the first breakfast and she ends up with some rather costly jewels.  I liked how all three friends stuck together through thick and thin, the dogs add a nice comical touch, and true love may come out of all this mess for Allie when she wises up and finally decides to tell the truth (however ridiculous and strange it may be).

I always enjoy a book that can make me laugh and this one had me roaring.  I would consider this a clean read except for the sprinkling of bad language throughout.  I believe there are about three instances of the (F) word and there is other crude language as well.  That language seemed especially rough for this mostly light hearted comedy.  You have been forewarned.

I received a copy for an honest review through iRead Book Tours and the opinions are my own.

Author's Bio:

Pamela Ford is the award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance. She grew up watching old movies, blissfully sighing over the romance; and reading sci-fi and adventure novels, vicariously living the action. The combination probably explains why the books she writes are romantic, happily-ever-afters with plenty of plot - and often lots of laughter.

After graduating from college with a degree in Advertising, Pam merrily set off to earn a living, searching for that perfect career as she became a graphic designer, print buyer, pantyhose sales rep, public relations specialist, copywriter, freelance writer - and finally author. Pam has won numerous awards including the Booksellers Best, the Laurel Wreath, and a gold medal IPPY in the Independent Book Publisher Awards. She is a Kindle Book Awards finalist and a two-time Golden Heart Finalist. She lives in Wisconsin where she is working on her next novel.

Connect with the author:  Website   Twitter   Facebook   Goodreads