Title: Shammed
Author: Bernadette Franklin
Series: Holiday Fun #2
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2019

Shammed is the typical laugh out loud, pure nonsense romance that I’ve come to expect from Franklin. And I absolutely loved it! I mean, who wouldn’t love a novel that careens from high jinx to high jinx? Nonsensical moment to nonsensical moment? Plus, this whole relationship and story line was instigated by prank wars. Something I’ve never actually taken part in, but would absolutely adore to observe (maybe not be involved in, because I’m not exactly great at thinking on my feet or pulling pranks…)

I love that for someone that gets overlooked frequently, and who had a pretty hard run of it in Claustrophobic, Alice is the ultimate prankster. Kind of. I mean, she starts off with a really strong and sassy prankster game. And then, when she realises how much she likes Lance, she ends up just… kind of giving him really sweet and kind presents. I mean, it’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also not as prank-based as I wanted. Though, kind of a nice courtship – one that involves being giving and truly knowing the source of your ‘pranks’.

Lance’s backstory was honestly a little bit difficult to read, particularly amongst the light-hearted nature of his and Alice’s courtship. But I love, that although it’s totally a feeding ground for angst and bitterness, Lance shows and feels none of this. He’s a far more balanced individual than I ever would be. Which, honestly, that also goes for Alice – she’s definitely entitled to a whole lot more bitterness about her past job than she shows. Ultimately, she’s actually an incredibly humorous and entertaining character. One who sky dives and has no fear of, well, gravity…

There was a lot less Juliette Carter in this story than I had anticipated. I was a lot less disappointed in this than I expected – mostly because there was a lot more Chloe and Julian as a result. Particularly Chloe – I love when she goes on the rampage and just decides to do something somewhat insane. Her and Alice together? Shammed was definitely a story of absolute insanity, led by two incredibly fun women.

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Title: Bat Out of Hell
Author: Bernadette Franklin
Series: Holiday Fun #3
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2019

Shirley’s obsession with her Prada is both funny, and not something I completely understood. I mean, it’s a damn dress. But, it did make for some entertaining scenes with Juliette, and I will forever have the image of rats nesting in her little black dress in my head. Which just made me laugh, continuously and somewhat excessively. Although, that tends to be my response to most of the works by Franklin – random laughter and much amusement.

I love that, although Shirley has multiple people trying to help her, she is determined to do things on her own. Sometimes it’s a little bit painful, and you just shake your head. But overall, it’s a great streak of independence. I also love that she’s so surrounded by people who adore her, that she has so many wanting to help. Even those who she doesn’t quite expect to want to help are willing to do so. I found it to be a great reminder that people like to help when they love you, and sometimes you should accept that love.

From his first introduction, I was kind of expecting Christopher to be super awkward. He really wasn’t anywhere near as awkward as I wanted him to be. However, he did have some kind of random and niche hobbies, and I love that both him and Lee were able to share their love of art and classics. Plus, this love lent itself to Lee playing a harp in a park in period clothing, so that’s a gorgeous image that I never want to remove from my mind’s eye.

Juliette Carter and her shenanigans are always fun and completely absurd. I mean, she is absolutely off her rocker, so it’s genuinely entertaining to read about her. However, unlike all of the other women in the series thus far, Lee is completely able to stand up to Juliette’s shenanigans. She manages to call her on her nonsense and weirdness, but in a completely loving way. I kind of want more of the two of them working together.

Image source: Amazon

Title: The Run Around
Author: Bernadette Franklin
Series: Holiday Fun #5
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Pace: Fast
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2020

I didn’t realise that this was technically the last book in the Holiday Fun series when I picked it up. I got about 2 chapters in before I realised that this was the case, and by that point I was already completely hooked and didn’t want to put this down. I mean, it starts off with a wedding with a runaway bride. Although, I’m going to use the term thoroughbride henceforth because I think that that’s a brilliant name! Which, considering this kind of stands on its own anyway, just means I have four other contemporary romances to jump into… ain’t life tough?

Everyone has their breaking point, within any relationship in their life. And, speaking from experience, that breaking point with family often comes much, much later than anyone else. But, I love that where this story starts with organising a wedding with a thoroughbride, it very quickly careens into the unknown. Hope reaches her breaking point with her brother, and rather than just getting annoyed with everyone, she just yells ‘f**k it’ and leaves behind literally everything. I can’t even imagine the bravery and strength it takes to completely start afresh, and I love that Hope does this with as much sass and attitude as possible.

There might be a great love interest and a beautiful period where the two love interests get to know one another before falling for one another. But, my favourite aspect of their relationship is their two dogs and cat. I’m a sucker for animals, and the fact that their relationship kind of starts to gain traction because of Hope’s obsession with Rick’s dog is beautiful. And totally understandable, I would be friends with someone just because of their adorable dog. Hope definitely says and does a lot of the things that I would want to do when striking up a new friendship, but I’m never quite confident enough to do so…

I love that Hope is an accountant who somehow gets wrangled into being a wedding planner. I found both aspects of her to be fascinating. I love the idea of being a forensic accountant, particularly when some of that involves male prostitutes, but I digress. Then there’s her ability to organise the wedding from hell, times two. Because both weddings she organises are completely insane. I honestly spent most of this story laughing and grinning. It is cute and funny. And definitely a story that I look forward to reading again… now I just have to go back to the beginning of the series…

Image source: Amazon