Playing With Trouble (Desire Bay) Paperback – March 21, 2017

I won a KINDLE copy of this book through a giveaway the publisher had for it on GoodReads and the following is my honest opinion.Going home had been something Laura Baughman never had in her mind, especially since she couldn’t wait to graduate high school to leave Yachats, Oregon for the outside world in order to start living. But being able to release herself from a horrendous marriage with a divorce, Laura desperately needed to start taking her own life back, and what better she felt would be able to help her do this, than return back to her roots and the town she’d left.If you’ve ever gone back to your hometown after being away for a few years, then you can easily remember how she must have felt doing it. On the downside she now had to take over her late mother’s flower shop which found to be in shambles due to years of neglect. This happened, as she found out, because her father had formed a construction partnership with Jake Lock, who had been a former high school nerd and ex-lover of Laura; but who is now an undeniably sexy hunk and quite successful in business; even though there’s some seriousness going on in their relationship, like oil and water, any romance between Laura and Jake can easily be ruled out. And why not, she’s has now sworn off men due to the disastrous marriage she’s just ended with a divorce.The clock is ticking away as Laura only has a month to prove she’s capable of making her mother’s flower shop a successful enterprise. But after the failure of a possible busy deal with Jake, Laura’s seriously thinking about leaving again, possibly for good this time. The only thing which might prevent this from happening is depended upon Jake’s ability in convincing her to stay.While this story has some very good points in its favor, I feel it lacking a certain level of depth which would have made it great. Still as a contemporary romance novel, I find this endeavor by the author to be an enjoyable reading experience which is why I’ve given it 4 STARS.

Laura Baughman came home after her divorce. She needed to rebuild her self-confidence. Her ex continually belittled her. She won't let these problems stop her. I liked her spunk. She'll honor her mother by opening her old flower shop. Jake Lock has worked hard to make his dream of owning Baughman Home Goods come true. He respects Walt Baughman who gave him the chance, but Laura is a thorn in his side. He wants her. However, he doesn't want to. He's been left behind by a woman he loved before. He hides a soft heart behind a tough attitude. What a pair! They can't stay away from each other and when they're together they constantly fight. I was hoping they would realize how they felt and do something about it. This was a passionate romance that I enjoyed. Joya Ryan's writing and her characters pulled me into the story. I enjoyed Playing With Trouble.

Playing With Trouble by Joya Ryan......Another amazing book from this wonderful author. Joya Ryan knows how to suck the readers into the story and we become one big happy family. I loved seeing Laura and Jake's story being told and you have to work hard for what you want. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book by publisher via NetGalley.

Although I liked Jake and Laura, the constant tug of war over her family business became a little tedious after awhile. It would have been interesting to discover what exactly happened between Laura and her ex-husband. Why did it take her 10 years to finally walk away? I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. Thank you!

I could not put this book down. Joya Ryan knows how to tell a story. Love it!

This book is close to being good. It just misses the mark. There are too many pieces where the author took artistic license to the breaking point, making the book unbelievable.How exactly does one get their Jimmy Choo stiletto high heel stuck in a pothole? I’m not sure of the physics there. By definition, it’s a hole. It’s part of the hackneyed trope of the protagonist falling down/breaking their shoe.In the fantasy world made entirely of cheese that does not exist, rain hasn’t fallen in 10 years in Los Angeles (I’m guessing the author doesn’t know that mudslide season follows fire season in SoCal), so the female protagonist equally ends up soaked through to the skin. Thus, the male protagonist gets to ogle her to his wee hearts content.Speaking of the male protagonist, he worked for the family business for 10 years, so he feels like he owns it and, boy, howdy, does he let the heroine know that she’s not welcome - except as a bed warmer. Her father sold her family home without telling her, gave a house to his son-surrogate, hasn’t been to work in years, plays candy crush all day, and lets his newly returned daughter know that he could not possibly care less about her since, unlike the male protagonist, he doesn’t want to have sex with her.The male protagonist proceeds to use the female protagonist for sex and sabotage her at work. Readers are supposed to find resonance with a story wherein the female protagonist just got out of a marriage that featured emotional and verbal abuse, then immediately takes up with someone who uses her and actively wants to cause harm to her.