Review by Ronny
Romantic Hero is a fun and slightly bonkers romcom that I absolutely adored.
Favourite Quote:
There is a strange man on my sofa.
A cowboy.
A shirtless cowboy, no less—think, sun-burnished muscles on full display, marked with bruises and what look to be a smudges of charcoal.
Book Synopsis:
Gertie Bickerstaff writes happily-ever-afters for a living. . . . Or she did, until her own love life fell apart. Now her ex is thriving, her deadline is looming, and she can’t write a single word.
The last thing Gertie needs is more drama—like waking up to find a confused and rugged cowboy on her sofa. And not just any cowboy, but River Oakley, the villain from her unfinished novel. Somehow very real . . . and very shirtless.
River wants to go home. Gertie wants her life back. So they strike a deal: he’ll use his cunning ways to help her win back her ex, she’ll finish the novel, and, surely, he’ll return to whatever world he rode in from.
But as River Oakley proves to be so much more than just the bad guy, Gertie has to choose: the ending she thought she wanted . . . or the plot twist she never saw coming.
Review:
Could you imagine waking up to a shirtless, gorgeous cowboy on your couch and then only to quickly realize that this cowboy is a secondary “villain” from the romance series you are writing? How could I not pick up this book based on that synopsis? I do love Kirsty’s books; they always have such fun and delightfully unique plotlines, and this book is no exception. Right from the first page, I was hooked. How could I not be when our heroine finds a mysterious man on her couch? Romantic Hero could have fallen into that typical plot of a romance writer who loses her writing mojo when she is dumped by her ex and finds herself in a race against the clock to finish her book before the deadline. It also could have fallen into that stereotypical plotline that solely focuses on the heroine spending the whole book trying to win her ex back. That’s what I was kind of expecting from this book, and I am so glad it didn’t.
First, let’s chat about the author, aka Gertie, who needs to get her damn book written by the deadline, plotline. Gertie is stuck; her ex dumped her, and now she can no longer write. There are a lot of interesting and very unique elements when it comes to Gertie’s writing and being a romance author. There is magical realism to the whole book-writing aspects in this story. First, you have the fact that one of Gertie’s characters has somehow made it to her world. He is a real boy…sorry, he is a real man. He isn’t a figment of her imagination, and he has come from a place that is far more vast and complex than the one Gertie has written in her book. Then you have how Gertie has drawn inspiration for her cowboy romance series. She feels this very strong connection to the main female lead from her series. This connection feels magical in its own way. I adored all of the magical realism bits in this book. It was such a clever way to take a typical contemporary trope and put this one-of-a-kind spin on it.
Now let’s chat about the “I’m going to win my ex back” plotline. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of this plotline. This is because it’s pretty obvious right from the start that the ex is usually not that great of a person or just not the right fit for the FMC. And I guess it blows my mind that the FMC can’t see this with her own eyes or that it takes them most of the book to realize that they are far better off without their ex in their lives. I thought that this was what was going to happen in this book, and the first bit of this book does tee up exactly like I expected it would. Gertie and River decide to work together in order to get Gertie back together with her ex so she can get her writing mojo back. The events that unfold shortly after are pretty standard. River helps to create a situation where Gertie will draw the attention of her ex, using the method of making him jealous. However, this plotline ends about halfway through the book, which surprised me. The rest of the book focused on Gertie’s journey and growth as a person. Gertie is carrying around some emotional baggage and is also too much of a softie (she never stands up for herself). With the help and support from River, Gertie goes on this “quest” to find herself with the hopes that when she does, she will be able to write again. The second half of this book has so much heart and warmth. There were some big emotions and emotional scenes. It was just wonderful.
The romance was delicious and perfect. I love a gruff, rugged hero and River Oakley had that in spades. He was perfect, and I loved the fact that he acted a bit like a devil. He is that no-bullshit kind of guy, and even though he is perceived as the villain by Gertie and the heroine in her book, he actually is a good guy. Gertie has this misconception of River, and why he acts the way he acts in her book series. I thoroughly enjoyed watching as her eyes opened up, and she got to see River for who he actually was. The banter between Gertie and River is fun, flirty, and just the right amount of snarkiness. There is plenty of humour with a very British flair. The chemistry between Gertie and River is sweet and spicy. I loved watching these two go from dislike to friends to something much more. The romance was really wonderful and very typical for a Kirsty Greenwood book.
Romantic Hero has all the zany quirkiness that I absolutely love, and I would highly recommend this book to any romance bookworm.
