The Language of Love (and Flowers!)

The Playboy’s Plain Jane

By: Cara Colter   

The Setting: The 90s (judging by the fashion sense), Hillsboro, Ontario, Canada

The Happy Couple:

Katie Pritchard: divorced, overall-wearing (think Andie McPhee circa Dawson’s Creek) florist

Dylan McKinnon: former Blue Jay, current playboy 

The Set-Up: Katie’s got a crush…and on the most unsuitable person. Dylan is the best looking guy in Hillsboro with the worst reputation. Every time he comes into her flower shop she can’t help but swoon, even as he buys flowers for his newest conquest(s).

The Issue: Dylan grew up believing in true love, but the dream died the day his dad put his mom in a nursing home. Love was supposed to conquer all, but it couldn’t conquer Alzheimer’s. Dylan decided then and there he wasn’t looking for commitment, only casual flings. Katie is just trying to put her life together after miscarrying a baby and getting a divorce. She thinks Dylan’s cute, but she sees the steady stream of girls on his arm.

Happily Ever After: When Dylan asks Katie out, she vehemently opposes. She knows his playboy ways and doesn’t want to be another notch in his belt. It takes several woo-ing attempts and a few grand gestures before she agrees to a date. But it’s when the pair babysits Dylan’s baby nephew that Katie really begins to see Dylan’s sensitive side. Could it be truly be love? 

Scandalous Scale: Tame

The Verdict: If you want to learn a lot about flowers and what they mean, than this book is certainly for you. If every time you kiss someone you feel like they’ve “unlocked the wild call that had been tamed” and you feel like “an eagle, soaring, proud, hungry, fierce” than you will probably like this book. If not, I’d pass; it’s a bit of a snooze.

Canadian Cowboy

Her Lone Cowboy

By: Donna Alward  

The Setting: Modern times, Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada

The Happy Couple:

Lily Germaine – beautiful brunette, hell-bent on helping people

Noah Lamarie – wounded army Captain, turned cowboy

The Set-Up: Noah’s brother Andrew and Lily’s best friend Jen are getting married, and guess who they’ve asked to be best man and maid of honour?

Thrown together in wedding planning, Lily volunteers to help Noah as he re-adjusts to life on the farm with only one arm.

The Issue: After a tragic accident in Afghanistan, Captain Noah Lamarie has returned home without an arm and with a wounded sense of pride. How could anyone ever love him now? Lily, still stinging from being left at the alter years ago, is not sure she can ever love again. 

As the pair helps Andrew and Jen with wedding plans, it’s best if they just stay friends…right?

Happily Ever After: After a series of lingering glances, intimate dancing lessons and a teasingly erotic tuxedo measurement scene, Noah and Lily definitely cross into ‘more than just friends’ territory. Lily falls hard for Noah’s strength and his ability to beat the odds, and Noah can’t help but love a woman who sees past his stump and into his soul.

Scandalous Scale: Tame

BONUS: Casting the Cowboy

Definitely sexy Jake Gyllenhall (circa the Brokeback Mountain years) as Noah.

They could totally figure out how to make Jake armless, look how well Hollywood’s doing with Dr. Arizona Robbins on Grey’s Anatomy.

    Who do you think would make the sexiest cowboy?

Romance Down Under

Uh oh! Fiona Donner has some serious 

competition: this mysterious brunette who appears 

on the cover…but not in the story

Australian Boss: 

Diamond Ring By: Jennie Adams

The Setting: Modern times, suburbs of Sydney, Australia

The Happy Couple:  

Fiona Donner – tall, blond, blue-eyed, graphic designer/artist

Brent MacKay – tall, green-eyed, millionaire landscape designer

The Set-Up:

Brent hires Fiona to his landscape company as a graphic designer and their mutual attraction is instant. 

She falls for his ‘aura’ of strength, he appreciates her ‘peaches and cream complexion’ and her ‘curvy in all the right places’ figure.

The Issue: Initially their working relationship keeps the pair apart, but nothing can stop their passion from brewing. Though Fiona melts every time Brent comes in the room, she’s insecure about her height and weight. 

Brent wants nothing more than to hold and protect Fiona, but his dark family past and his acute autism threaten to spoil his newfound love.

Happily Ever After:  An overnight trip to the mountains and a slow dance bring the pair ever closer, but it’s not until a near brush with death in a snowstorm that Fiona and Brent realize their love can beat all the odds. 

Brent proposes on their favourite hiking trail and the pair lives happily ever after.

 

Scandalous Scale: Tame