Elle Amery has grown up a fighter—her late mother's bad-boy-loving reputation was not the best inheritance….

So when smooth-talking Sean McElroy turns up with a pink-and-white ice cream van called Rosie that's apparently hers, Elle tries to ignore the traitorous flicker of attraction!

Family-oriented Elle is the last girl Sean should want, but as they embark on a journey filled with unexpected twists, these two misfits may discover they are the perfect fit for each other!

Title: TEMPTED BY TROUBLE
Author: Liz Fielding
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Category
Publisher: Harlequin (Romance) and Mills & Boon (RIVA)
Year of release: 2011, June 7
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Source: Received from the author for review

First line:
Life is like ice cream: you have to take it one lick at a time –Rosie’s Diary

Memorable Scene:
- Sean removing a ladybug from Elle's hair > sweetness!


Elle Amery is a responsible young woman who puts others' needs and wellbeing before her own. She’s determined not to follow in her mother's promiscuous footsteps. She’s also independent and sensible and self-sufficient.

Sean McElroy is an illegitimate son who bares the emotional scars of being unwanted. He sees himself as an outsider and though he’s very direct and blunt, he’s guarded when it comes to showing emotions.

Without any explicitness but with plenty of sizzle I was pulled into the chemistry between Elle and Sean. The attraction between them was palpable throughout the book. They meet and are thrown together through unusual circumstances and the undeniable chemistry is what draws them towards each other constantly. This built up the kind of sensual tension I love to read in my romance novels.

I really liked how the back-story and characterization was slowly given form by giving little tidbits at a time. This made it very intriguing and kept me reading, just to find out what the deal was with Sean, Elle and their families. And also after finishing the book I really had the feeling I knew Elle and Sean.

Though the story is very character driven, the plot of the ice-cream van and the mystery surrounding Elle’s great-uncle formed a very nice change to the emotional and romantic focus throughout the book.

Liz Fielding's writing is such a joy to read. Fluent, easy and clean it made me fly through this book. There's a subtle humorous undertone throughout the entire story, despite the emotional stuff going on, that makes you smile without even knowing you're doing it.

TEMPTED BY TROUBLE is a cute story that's filled with emotional depth and sizzling chemistry. Excellently written it held my attention from start to finish and every time I had to stop reading I didn't want to. I really loved the quotes at the start of every chapter. They were funny and spot-on. If you're an ice cream lover, you should read this book for these quotes alone. Even I, a non-lover of ice cream loved them!

Favorite Quotes:
“Who wants to know?” she asked.
Her hormones might be ready to throw caution to the wind –they were Amery hormones after all– but while they might have escaped into the yard for a little exercise , she wasn’t about to let them go ‘walkies’.
“Sean McElroy.”
His voice matched the looks. Low, sexy, soft as Irish mist. And her hormones flung themselves at the gate like a half-grown puppy in a let-me-at-him response as he offered his hand.

She should object. Tell him to keep his hands to himself. Except for that she’d have to be able to get her lips, tongue and teeth in a row to form the words. And then make her mouth say them.

Falling in love wasn’t hard. Compared to not falling in love it was a piece of cake. That required concentration. Lose it for a moment and love slipped unnoticed under your defenses as sweetly, as effortlessly as an ice cream sliding down a parched throat on a summer’s day. No drama or noise. Just a smile, a touch, a kiss was all it took to bring down even the most powerful fortifications, so that without warning you were falling, with nothing to grasp hold of.

Lucy Bright can't believe it when she's plucked from secretarial obscurity and transformed into the pampered fiancée of a slick retail guru. But then she discovers it was all a publicity stunt! Rushing away from the media frenzy, she bumps—literally—into the arms of delicious tycoon Nathaniel Hart….

Spooked by their instantaneous chemistry, Lucy flees—but Nathaniel is determined to find his barefoot beauty. Though all he has is one very expensive red designer stiletto to help him!

Title: MISTLETOE AND THE LOST STILETTO
Author: Liz Fielding
Series: Standalone, Mills & Boon Cherish imprint
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited
Year of release: 2010, November 9
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Source: Received from the author for ARC-review. Unfortunately due to several circumstances I’m only just now getting around to writing and posting the review and was not able to post the review before release.

First line:
Rubbing at the base of her engagement ring with her thumb so that the huge diamond sparkled, Lucy Bright made an effort to shake off the feeling that things weren’t quite as fairy tale as media coverage of her romance with Rupert Henshawe would suggest.

(Reviewer’s note: decided to go with the first full sentence of the book as everything before was a calendar/diary entry)

Memorable Scenes:
- Nat and Lucy's very first encounter > wonderfully written as I felt like I was right there with them.

Quickie Review:
Lucy Bright’s whirlwind romance and plans for a fairy tale wedding to her boss Rupert Henshawe come to an sudden end when she finds out she's been used as a publicity stunt and her Prince Charming turns out to be the ugly frog.

The heroine Lucy is a survivor. She’s impulsive, passionate, resilient and bubbly yet with substance. I really liked her as the heroine of this book. Nathaniel Hart, Lucy’s knight in shining armor is a very intriguing character. There’s lot more to him than meets the eye and he has a tragic back-story.

The romance in this short book was very nice. It was subtle despite the immediate chemistry between Nat and Lucy and very fitting the line and story. Liz Fielding has a lovely and agreeable writing style that pulls you in immediately. There's subtle humor and she also almost imperceptibly adds the characters' back-stories into the rest of the story. It's fast-paced without unnecessary information or descriptions.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first encounter with Liz Fielding's work. MISTLETOE AND THE LOST STILETTO is a very cute story that gets you in the mood for Christmas and Christmas shopping (I know, I know...it's frigging April/almost May but there were circumstances that prevented me from ARC-reviewing this book, to my utter shame...).

Favorite Quotes:
His world was reduced to the pounding of his heart, her breath against his cheek, her gold-green eyes peering up at him over a voluptuous cowl collar that was sliding, seductively, off one shoulder.
She smelled like a summer garden, of apples and spice and as he held her, a rare, forgotten warmth rippled through him.

Lucy was drowning in raw sensation, Lying in the arms of a total stranger, drowning in the quicksilver heat of his eyes, his touch, parting her lips to gasp in air, struggling to breathe as she went under for the third time.
What was she thinking? What was she doing?