Review: 'Love Connection' by Camilla Isley (2016)

Have you ever wondered what might have been?
Gemma Dawson is at the airport, staring at two plane tickets to two different cities. Two different weddings. Two possible futures. She’s at a crossroads.
Be maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding or crash her ex’s?
Gemma’s decision, unknown to her, hinges on a delayed flight and a chance meeting. Now her life is about to go down two parallel tracks—will Gemma fly toward a life with her first love or a future with a man she’s not even met yet?
I love it when I get to discover authors that are still completely new to me and I end up really enjoying their novels. Last year this happened to me when I was asked by author Camilla Isley to read and review her novel 'A Sudden Crush' (click here to read my review). I thought it was a great and especially promising read and was definitely curious to see what Camilla would come up with next. Luckily, once again Camilla was so lovely as to provide me with a review copy of her latest release and I straight away loved the cover of 'Love Connection.' This is actually the start of a whole new romantic comedy series and I was really excited to check it out!
Gemma Dawson is at the airport and needs to make one of the most important decisions of her life: will she fly to her ex-boyfriend Jake's wedding to crash it and tell him how much she still loves him, or will she attend her best friend Amelia's wedding where she is the maid of honour? As readers we are invited to join Gemma on parallel tracks: what would have happened if she had taken one flight, what if she had taken the other? And is it really true that fate always knows what it has in store for us in the end and will make sure we ultimately go into the right direction, or can certain obstacles really alter our course and change our destiny forever...?
I was really in the mood for a feel-good romantic comedy read when I picked up Camilla Isley's 'Love Connection' and I'm happy to say the book was exactly what I was hoping it would be. I've always had a soft spot for books with parallel storylines, focusing on the idea of someone's life being changed by certain decisions they make and how fate/destiny plays a role in this. Sometimes this is a topic that just doesn't work, but Camilla Isley definitely found her own way of writing about this and I really enjoyed both storylines focusing on different routes of Gemma's life, and how everything was brought together again at the end of it, without things getting confusing at any point, which is also quite an accomplishment when writing something like this!
While I really enjoyed this read I unfortunately didn't really connect with any of the characters. I liked Gemma and easily warmed to her best friend Amelia and some of the other secondary characters, but I think I missed a bit of background information and emotion to really connect with any of them. Yet, let it be clear that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and I already can't wait for the second part of this new series by Camilla Isley. 'Love Connection' is a sweet feel-good chick lit read about the idea of fate; a lovely read!

Rating:9/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads
Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: 'A Sudden Crush' by Camilla Isley (2016)

Joanna Price is a city girl with the perfect life. She loves her job as a book editor, she just married Liam, high profile bestselling author and the man of her dreams, and she’s headed to the Caribbean to enjoy two weeks of paradise for her luxurious honeymoon. 
Connor Duffield is a gruff, grumpy rancher from the Midwest. He is a country boy who has a no-nonsense approach to life, more scars than he’d like to admit, and he hates city girls. 
So it’s just a misfortune they have to sit next to each other for a six hour plane ride. Even more so when their flight is caught in the perfect storm and Joanna wakes up stranded on a desert island with Connor, the very man she hoped she would never have to see again. 
Why are they alone on this forsaken island? What happened to Joanna’s husband? 
When her dream honeymoon turns into a hilarious tropical nightmare, Joanna’s first thought is survival. However, she and Connor will quickly discover just how boring paradise can be. As the days turn to weeks, and then months, this mismatched pair will have to learn how to coexist and how to resist the sparkles of an attraction they weren’t prepared to feel. 
When they are finally rescued will Joanna’s marriage be saved as well, or will the life she knew and loved be in ruins?
Several months ago I was looking around on some other book blogs and found a lovely book cover that immediately caught my eye. It was the colourful cover of a book by author Camilla Isley and after asking the book blogger about it, she highly recommended it, especially to chick lit fans. So, when I recently came into contact with Camilla herself about reviewing her latest release 'A Sudden Crush' both for my own blog and for Chick Lit Club, I got really excited. It provided me with a great chance to check out Camilla's work and I was really curious to pick up 'A Sudden Crush'!
Joanna Price, a book editor from the big city, cannot wait to start her married life with her true love Liam, one of the country's best-selling authors. Their two-week honeymoon to the Caribbean can't come soon enough, even though they can't sit next to each other on the plane because they arrived too late. Joanna tries her very best to focus on her new husband instead of the incredibly annoying Connor Duffield who is sitting next to her, but when the plane gets into some trouble and crashes, it is Connor whom Joanna finds herself stuck with on a deserted island. With no idea of whether Liam is still alive, Joanna is forced to make the best of it with Connor. When after several months on the island, the pair is suddenly rescued, Joanna can't wait to get back to Liam and their life together. But a lot of time has passed and Joanna soon discovers things have changed, including herself...
'A Sudden Crush' is a great escapist novel to make you forget about the cold winter days. Partly set on a sunny deserted island, the story focuses on book editor Joanna who, after a plane accident while on her honeymoon, ends up stuck on an island with a stubborn man named Connor whom she hardly knows. I thought this was a great plotline and really enjoyed seeing how Joanna and Connor dealt with things and formed a friendship. The story is really fast-paced and covers a lot more time than I initially expected; I don't want to give too much away about the story, so I won't go into detail, but it was great to follow Joanna and see what happened to her after she was involved in the plane crash.
I wish there would have been a bit more background story and detail about the characters. I couldn't help but feel I didn't really get to know Joanna or Connor, so I didn't really connect to them, which was a shame. However, the novel had an entertaining storyline, I liked the author's writing style, and am already looking forward to checking out more of her work in the future. I also want to give a special mention to monkey Manny, who was just the cutest thing and made me smile each page he was mentioned on! Overall, I think 'A Sudden Crush' is a fast-paced, fun and light-hearted read; a read chick lit fans will enjoy and a promising novel by author Camilla Isley!

Rating:8/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.