Apr 14, iamkindle rated it it was ok. Beginning was good but then dialogue and writing got bad. Apr 09, Emma rated it liked it. Not bad but just ok - 2. Kate is hiding out after a bad experience with a stalker back at home. Koti is a super good looking playboy who instantly rubs her the wrong way. They end up trying to be friends and eventually fall in love.
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Dec 06, Tina rated it really liked it. There are 5 books in all, and each one tells a unique story of a relationship blossoming from first introduction on. It is arguably the slowest of the 5, providing the New Zealand setting and the Rugby football instruction. While the slowest of the 5, it is in no ways a negative on the book itself. In book one, Hard working Hanna meets hard working Drew, and together they learn that sometimes it is ok to relax a little bit and to have someone to share the down time with. This review is about Book 2 - the story of Koti and Kate.
They can barely stand each other, her strong Italian personality a unique experience for him, as well as the fact that she is completely unimpressed with his celebrity status. They have a rocky start, and only begin to like each other when they begin to leave the preconceived notions on the wayside, and take each other at face value. It was refreshing that this couple were together for over 6 weeks before anything happened, and in the end they both end up losing the bet.
Book 3 tells of Jenna and Finn. She is a nanny to his children. His love evolves from watching her with his kids, watching her maternal instincts, her strong character. They bond over failed marriages and feelings of unworthy, to learn that it was only because they needed each other to heal. Again, a relationship that develops first as friends over the course of several months before it becomes anything more. Book 4 is about Nic and Emma. One week six years ago was the best of their lives, but when they split apart to go their separate ways, something was left behind, something neither one ever forgot — for him it was a week of his life where he felt unconditional love for who he was, not what he could do on the field.
For her it was a son, a son she is unable to let Nic know about even though she tries several times over the years.
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Chance brings them together again, and while Nic is getting to know his son, Emma and Nic are getting to know each other, too. Emma has to learn how to trust Nic again, even as outside forces try to make her doubt him. Kristen and Liam are secondary characters, though their story only gets slightly less development than Nate and Allie.
Kristen is a woman who has been used and hurt and is recovering from past failed relationships and he a recovering alcoholic recovering from a past failed marriage, learning to be strong on their own, and strong together, as this recovery takes place. I came across this series with book 1, a free kindle download. I did not expect to like it, especially when I realized it had a foreign setting. I expected the book to be step 1. Meet at the beach. Have wild passionate relationship for 2 weeks. I was so pleasantly surprised that that wasn't the case with book 1, or with any of the books in the series actually.
You got to see the relationships develop over realistic conversations and realistic events.
The books that Rosalind James writes for this series all have this formula. It is refreshing to read a book that doesn't have a couple falling madly in love after 4 days together and living happily ever after. Some of these couples have real problems they have to overcome. Each of these characters stick with you long after the story is over, and it was such a pleasant surprise to have past characters pop up in each new book I read.
Rosalind James made believe characters, with believable lives, in a memorable setting that made me want to learn about New Zealand and the world of Rugby Football. And as a nice little bonus, each book comes with a dictionary of common New Zealand terms so that you can see just what it is that these handsome Rugby players are saying.
Jul 20, Malinda rated it really liked it Shelves: Kate and Koti are great characters and I had fun seeing them become friends and then more. This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked it well enough that I'm planning to read more probably the rest of this series. I will mention that this book takes place in New Zealand and has a lot of slang, some is easy to figure out and some not so much. There is a glossary at the end of the book D Kate is an accountant and a nice person 4 stars This was a very good story. D Kate is an accountant and a nice person that can be a bit feisty.
She made a mistake with her choice of boyfriends and ended up with a psycho stalker that decided to attempt to kill her once she wouldn't see him any more. After going through some horrible stuff, Kate is forced to flee and ends up running away to New Zealand, where an old friend lives and can help her get a job. She figures she'll live there for a while until her stalker gives up and she can move home. The last thing she plans is to get involved with a man.
Koti is a pretty good guy. He's a player when it comes to women but in general he's nice. He's a professional rugby player and since he's gorgeous he get a lot of attention. His looks actually tend to hide the fact that he's pretty smart He's not the sort to have female friends though and he's not prepared when he ends up propelled in to a friendship with Kate because of a bet. When Koti and Kate meet they don't get make the best first impressions on each other. She's actually still freaked about the stalker thing and reacts badly to him and Koti, not understanding her issue, reacts badly to her freakout.
One thing leads to another and she figures out that he's not a new stalker and he figures out that she's got reasons to freak and isn't crazy. They stumble in to a discussion about whether Koti could be friends with a woman and end up in a bet. They have to spend time with each other for 2 months and see if they can make it as friends or not.
Things don't start off the best but after they get together a few times they actually find that they enjoy each other's company. They go on like this for a while, spending platonic time together and enjoying it but eventually they both start feeling the attraction to each other and Koti starts pushing for more. Kate's unsure how smart it is to go further with Koti and resists at first but eventually she decides to take a chance. Kate and Koti start spending more and more time together and mesh well. She's actually very good for him and wont let him hide from stuff and talks over things with him.
This helps when he's having some issues with his team and getting chosen for the All Blacks this is the all star team for the rugby teams in NZ and she's very supportive of him. Koti does pretty good at being in a relationship with Kate and doesn't freak as they start to get closer and spend loads of time together. When Koti has trouble in the rugby area he considers moving to a new team and this causes issues because he doesn't tell Kate.
When she finds out through rumors and not from him, things blow up, she doesn't take it well and Koti doesn't take her reaction well. They split up and are both left sad and lonely. Koti has some decisions to make and fortunately he gets some good advice and a talking to by a friend that helps.
He comes around and goes to see Kate, managing to be there when she really needs him. I really liked this book. The characters are great and I couldn't help but like them and want to see how they manage their way through to get to the end together. I'm planning to read more of this series. I'd recommend this book.
Mar 03, Serena rated it it was ok Shelves: This is actually a 1. I was let down. I'd like to offer you a description but I'm not sure I can. All I can tell you is that apparently the heroine thought that the hero was gorgeous, something she told him more times that I can count at this point. I don't think I've ever struggled so much with a book before and by struggle I mean actually understand what the characters were saying. It was such a task to the point where I'm not sure I understood the whole plot as well as I was supposed to.
The problem lied in a number of areas. Firstly, there were many major punctuation issues that I was left speechless. There were full stops in the middle of a sentense far too often and commas out of place or absent when they were needed. Then there were big chunks of dialogue that would go on forever while at the same time you had no idea of the characters' physical situation. You didn't know if they were smiling, angry or whatever else the situation called for. You had no idea where they were in the space they occupied.
The heroine starts talking. You have no idea whether she's angry or if her emotions are escalating, where she is the room, if she's moving around or shouting or anything for that matter. Meanwhile you don't know what the hero is doing because through all that big chunk of a dialogue you have no description of him. And this brings me back to punctuation. In this case, it's called creating paragraphs, using quotation points to take some time to describe the physical surroundings, etc.
Add to that, that the dialogue itself had no fluency, that one sentense would be repeated just two sentenses after that and all the previous punctuation errors and you have a big mess that makes no sense. Another frustrating issue was what I assume was an attempt at using NZ slang. I never mind a little slang. It's a part of everyday life in every country and every language. However, when you're going to use slang that isn't as popular as others then you either need to cut down on it a bit or at the very least use slang that is easily understandable. To be fair some slang was explained through the hero, however, it wasn't enough to even out the field.
And then we have the Maori language mixed up with English which is also fine. I didn't mind this. However, it was too often, too much and thus resulting to the whole thing being off balance. Another annoying thing was the Maori history lecture in the middle of what was supposed to be a romance book.
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I felt as if I was back in a classroom trying not to fall asleep as the history lecturer was going on about fact in a boring way. And history isn't a boring subject at all. I've had history teachers that got me into history and then I've had history teachers that made me want to leave the room. Guess which one this falls into. But that isn't the only point.
It was in the middle of the book which felt out of context. It was as if the author decided that she was going to take a break and introduce us to Maori history and then after that short break go back to the story. It just didn't work at all. I don't really recommend this. It was more a struggle than worth the effort. Jan 14, Franjessca rated it it was amazing Shelves: I fell in love with Koti from Just this Once and now I am even in more love with him.
Kate knew Hannah from where she used to work and needed to get away fast. Hannah helps her find a place to live which Drew her husband helps her get a job with one of his rugby teams doing bookkeeping. Kate has been warned about the rugby players and of course she is new girl to look at. She is not there to hook up with since she cannot trust anyone at the moment. She does not want the truth of what happened to her and truth of her hiding coming out.
Koti James's is about to meet his match. He is one of the most elgibile bachelors in the team and every girl wants to be his, but Kate does not want anything to do with him. He does not want anything to do with Kate, until he accepts the challenge she has to offer. Can he really be friends with a woman, or will it lead to something more?
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This book includes jealous models who think they are Koti's girlfriend, dangers of Kate's stalker, and some very heated moments between two characters who supposedly hate each other, as well as some trips throughout New Zealand, and you will have a hard time putting down this book. This is by far my favorite of the books. I loved Koti from Just this Once and I wanted to find out who would tame the player. He definitely found his match with Kate. Kate was definitely strong-willed and put Koti in his place, but she had many reasons why she did that.
She definitely had her own problems to deal with and why she did not trust any man to date. I would have a hard time as well, especially what she went through. I loved the moments between the characters the most. Koti definitely got Kate through a lot and even challenged her to do things she normally would not have done. The tension between the both and the intimate scenes Be prepared to have a glass of water on hand.
Rosalind James did an amazing job with this book and I had a hard time putting it down. Every time I thought Koti would man up with Kate, she would knock him down again. Koti definitely met his match with Kate and she made sure to jump him when she had the chance. How could she resist him for so long, especially the way Rosalind described his body? I think I was drooling on my Kindle every time, he took off his shirt or wetsuit and I was just imagining what he looked like.
I highly recommend this book as well as the first to readers who enjoy contemporary romance. Be prepared to want to read the next book though Apr 01, Jennifer rated it liked it Shelves: I enjoyed this book more than the first one. I did, however, like Kate, the h, more than I liked Hannah. I also think I'm getting used to the NZ lingo and James' writing style, which definitely contributed to my overall enjoyment of this story. Overall, this was a story with a traumatized h and an H who needed to decide if he wanted to grow up and become a man.
It was an oddly compelling story and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book more than the first one. It was an oddly compelling story and I was surprised by how much I did enjoy it. She wasn't perfect by any means, but I understand that she was traumatized. Her fear and paranoia felt real. She was trying to make the best of her situation and she tried to be so brave.
I'm also glad that view spoiler [ she decided to seek professional help. None of this love is enough to heal all wounds stuff. Maybe she was a little blunt, but she spoke the truth to him and I admired that. She wasn't some simpering or socially awkward h. She staved off his advances too, and I can really appreciate that as well. She gave reasonable answers to why she didn't want to get involved with him. How many stories are out there where the h just "couldn't resist him?
The h is the reason I'm giving this book the third star. He wasn't a malicious person, but he did live to please himself. If something he did pleased someone else too, that was fine, but he wasn't going to inconvenience himself to accomplish that. Wait, how did this turn into me criticizing this character? Maybe this should be in the What I didn't like section. There wasn't too much drama. Most of this book felt like reading an everyday love story, instead of one with a famous athlete and drama. Not some bubble gum chewing unicorn fairy tale, but the cold hard truth.
Why didn't any one tell him earlier? He was seriously living in a la la land of his own making. I enjoyed reading it even though I know a lot of it already. What I didn't like: He's a man in a child's body, a manchild, if you will. He's spoiled and used to getting everything he wants when he wants it.
Sounds like a great boyfriend, right? See what I did there? Anyway, when the MCs had their spat, he starts thinking to himself that he's better off and maybe he should go and seek "companionship" with someone who's easier to deal with. I honestly felt bad for the h that she loved someone like that. He has a lot of growing up to do if they're going to seriously have their HEA. Yeah, we get it already. I thought she didn't want him to get an even bigger head about it? Jan 19, Susan Lawson rated it it was ok Shelves: I think I read the reviews of a different book bc I was expecting such a great book.
There was absoluting no descriptions of anything or anybody. I know the h has dark hair and is short but that is it and we know only bc that is not the H's type. He is into blondes. That it was set in NZ I was hoping for some descriptions of the beach that she swam in every week. Or how about descriptions of what the characters look like. Or how they felt. He is saying stuff to her like "just as long as you don't get fat" and she's rabid, she's boring But the best is he joked about her stalker situation.
She's a bitch to him right off the bat bc he was protective of his friend's wife?? It was all so petty and annoying. It felt like longer. One minute they're here having a conversation but you don't know where "here" is. But the next they are somewhere else. It was all dialog. Not one character was fleshed out. They were almost like stick figures in my brain. It was dialog, the whole book. I don't mean to be offensive, especially not to the author who I'm sure put her hard work into the book.
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However I need to warn readers, it felt like a book someone in their teens wrote. I was so disappointed, I was hoping to have found a new author. Mar 31, Tonileg rated it it was ok Shelves: Contemporary New Zealand romance with rugby players and an American woman escaping from her American stalker. Miss Kate Lamonica needs to find a completely new life away from America because her last boyfriend Paul has become a crazy violent stalker, she doesn't need to worry about her family because her dad is tough and will protect her mother, but she starts over with her friend Hannah from Just This Once who moved over to New Zealand a few years ago, so she will do the same to find a new life Contemporary New Zealand romance with rugby players and an American woman escaping from her American stalker.
Miss Kate Lamonica needs to find a completely new life away from America because her last boyfriend Paul has become a crazy violent stalker, she doesn't need to worry about her family because her dad is tough and will protect her mother, but she starts over with her friend Hannah from Just This Once who moved over to New Zealand a few years ago, so she will do the same to find a new life.
She does not want to date, but she does need a new friend network so she becomes friends with a rugby player and friend of Hannah's husband Drew. Koti James is a nice guy and a total lady player who never gets serious with any ladies although plenty fall in love with him. So he becomes friends with Kate and then more then just friends.
Kate is a tough smart cookie and dumps Koti as soon as she figures out that he isn't going to feel the same love as she has for him. She is really smart to get out before she invests even more of her heart in that relationship which lots of other people don't do and get even more hurt in the long run. Good story but a little too angst ridden for me to give it 3 stars. Feb 13, Jan rated it it was ok Shelves: I read this thinking it was the first in a series but after I read it I learned it was the second book.
I can't wait to go back and read the first book now. She was such a strong woman. Kate's past made her that way and her witty banter with Koti was hilarious. Koti being the handsome, famous rugby player that can get any woman he wants but meets his match when Kate doesn't show any interest in him. She isn't Koti's usual type because she isn't drop dead gorgeous or model material I read this thinking it was the first in a series but after I read it I learned it was the second book. She isn't Koti's usual type because she isn't drop dead gorgeous or model material and she has a brain.
She is an American, not from New Zealand, and is a short accountant that wears sheep pajamas. I love how she tells Koti like it is. She makes a bet with him that he can't JUST be friends with her. They eventually have lunch or dinner together and become friends. Kate tells Koti like it is and doesn't pretend to be someone she's not and Koti does the same. I love their chemistry together and how genuine their feelings are for each other.
They help each other grow and overcome their fears. There was tons to love in this book. Besides Kate and Koti, the supporting characters were fun and lovable. I also learned a lot about New Zealand's breathtaking landscape, culture and rugby. I can't wait to read the rest of this series! Read more Read less. Audible Narration Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible narration. Countdown to Christmas Sale. Sale ends on 24 December at Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1.
Rosalind James is the author of four books in the "Escape to New Zealand" series, all of which have been Kindle bestsellers. Rosalind is a former marketing executive who has lived all over the United States and in a number of other countries, traveling with her civil engineer husband. Most recently, she spent several years in Australia and New Zealand, where she fell in love with the people, the landscape, and the culture of both countries. Kindle Edition File Size: Bellbird Publishing 30 August Sold by: Amazon Australia Services, Inc. Customers who bought this item also bought. Share your thoughts with other customers.
Write a customer review. Showing of 5 reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I rarely read NZ novels. In fact, this may be the first, and it was so refreshing. I loved the tone, the obvious joy in the heritage, the honesty, the information about Maori culture, as well as the story.
Excellent story, loved it so much, glad I'm Aussie and knew what they were talking about, go buy it it's amazing. Another romance between an American girl and an All Black set against the backdrop of beautiful New Zealand north island and Maori culture. As hot as the thermal pools of Rotorua! One person found this helpful.