Short & sweet romances by Sharon Kleve

In January earlier this year, I reviewed Sharon Kleve‘s short story Christmas Kisses & Wishes. I really enjoyed it and when she sent me more of her short and sweet romances to read, I dug in!

The Wedding Switch from the Four Weddings and a Fiasco Universe series was published in August 2015 is about wedding planner Abby who has dreamt of her own perfect wedding for years. She’s been seeing a guy for a few months and is over the moon when he proposes, already dreaming of her wedding. When her fiance hires Hunter to trick her into planning her own wedding ASAP, things go awry. Abby doesn’t know why her fiance is pushing her into marrying so quickly, so she pulls away and gets closer to Hunter. They end up kissing but of course, since they are both (supposedly) engaged, it gets complicated. Eventually, Abby realises she’s not into her fiance, she breaks it off and gives things with Hunter a go. Her fiance does end up getting married, within his timeline, to one of Abby’s friends and bridesmaids. Making the fiance end up with Abby’s friend was a little bit too much for my taste and the entire set-up was a little weird, but all’s well that ends well I guess.

The Wedding Day came out in May 2016 in the same series and is about a wedding planner who no longer believes in love (at least for herself). Cora is in the middle of planning and running her boss’ wedding when, she meets Kane, the groom’s brother. Cora’s parents divorced and she was cheated on by her ex-boyfriend so she has sworn off men. Kane had some love troubles himself, but when he sees the timid Cora in her sexy red shoes he’s smitten. He’s ready for love and commitment and wants it with her, but she’s gun-shy. So Kane needs to romance Cora, be there for here and sweep her off her feet. He manages to do so in a realistic, cute and lovable way. I love how he manages to get her to open up to love again and the red shoes are a lovely little detail.

Second Chance Cinderella is the third part in The Cinderella Body Club series, and this short story romance was released in May 2015. The set-up of this series is that a group of girls make a wish to have their perfect bodies for 24 hours. During that time they feel so much more self-secure and decide to go after what they want? Raven, the star of this one, is a shy petite nurse that dreams of being, basically, a big, blond bimbo nurse. One of the doctors at her hospital is kind of in love with her but because she’s so shy, he’s never been able to get close to her. During the 24 hours in her “Cinderella Body”, she decides to wink at him and even go out with him. But she regrets it the next day, when she’s back in her own body because she’s realised she really likes him and fears he only liked her blond bimbo body. However, it turns out that only she could see herself in her ideal body, and that doctor Quinn really likes her too. Let’s say it together: oooooooooh! Anyway, they end up together obviously. I liked their relationship, but the focus on the “Cinderella bodies” was a little bit too weird for me. And the clue of the entire thing was also so obvious. But even with that, this was a fun, sweet and romantic love story that’s worth the read.

I’m normally not really a fan of short stories, when I read I love to really invest time and discover all I can about the characters and storylines. And for both these 3 stories, there was easily enough material to stretch it out into a full-length romance novel. But all the essentials were there, nothing was missing and it was a complete, though short, story. So, if you are looking for a short read, something sweet and romantic, these are the stories for you! Whether you don’t have a lot of time, or you’re on the train going somewhere, or even if you just want a little something to read right before bed, go nuts! Sharon Kleve’s romance short stories are perfect for that!

Happy reading,

Loes M.