Love Over Lattes

**This review will be published on the blog on my website - www.randeegreen.com. It will be published on February 4, 2018, and it will remain posted on the blog. **

You’re going to need to take a cold shower after reading this steamy contemporary romance novel by Diana A. Hicks. LOVE OVER LATTES is the first in the Desert Monsoon Series, and it is also Diana A. Hicks’ debut novel. (Published February 7, 2018 by The Wild Rose Press, Inc.)

Valentina is a single mom and a recent college graduate. She is trying to get her life back on track with a college diploma, a new job, and a fresh start for herself and her son. Cole is a self-made man who is on the verge of losing the company that he started from scratch and built into an empire to his conniving, cheating ex-wife. Neither Valentina nor Cole is looking for a romantic attachment – they’ve both got too much going on in their lives to add another complication – but when they meet the person that makes their life complete, there is nothing to do but hang on for the ride. Valentina and Cole watch each other from across the local coffee shop for six months before Cole finally approaches her. Because Valentina was turned down for the rental house that she had hoped to get so she and her son can finally have a home of their own, Cole offers her the cottage that is in the backyard of his massive compound. Valentina is reluctant to take Cole up on the offer, but she breaks down and signs the lease when she realizes that she’s not going to find a better deal. Close quarters leads to intimate encounters, and a romance quickly blossoms between Valentina and Cole. Problems also arise as Cole’s ex-wife, Valentina’s son’s absentee father, and a couple of their scheming friends try to come between the two lovebirds.

What makes LOVE OVER LATTES so great is that Valentina and Cole are such engaging characters. It’s fun to watch their relationship bloom and grow stronger as they both face their separate past heartaches and betrayals so that they can move on to their combined future. Hicks presents the novel in alternating perspectives, taking us into both Valentina’s and Cole’s heads. The reader knows what both main characters are thinking and feeling as the initially fight their feelings for each other, and then battle against the forces trying to keep them apart. The witty banter between the two characters is just as engaging as their chemistry. LOVE OVER LATTES is a well-written, enchanting romance novel that shows love can find you when you least expect it, and that it is worth fighting for.

My only complaint is that there needed to be more of Pirate the cat.

Who willingly exercises, and in the rain? Freak.

Turd homeowner.

His ex sounds just lovely.

Yeah, I'm definitely not neat. Wonder what that says about me.

He has a company, but he doesn't work?

His housekeeper doesn't seem to respect him.

Sheesh, I want to work for him!

This is a really small town.

Wait, he didn't get to have sex on his honeymoon, but he still stayed married to the witch for ten months? He's a saint.

I'm glad she told him about Bridget's threat before the sex.

Does Nikki have a key or something? Why is she always at his house?

Geez man, haven't you ever heard of "innocent until proven guilty"?

She let him off the hook too easily.

Yikes, her father is definitely lucky to be alive!

Wow, what a wonderful, fabulous surprise! I started reading Love Over Lattes and could not put it down! This is an awesome debut (I'm assuming because I can't find anything else written by her and believe me, I looked!) I loved every. single. thing. about this book -- the visual she creates, the emotions she evokes and the depth of the characters she writes -- this was the perfect read for me in all aspects. I loved Cole and Valentina and I adored them together even more. The storyline is emotional and intense at times and funny and sweet at other times, and steamy and sexy all the time! I can't wait to see what this author has in store for us--I'm guessing it's going to be magnificent! I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC for NetGalley.

Valentina, a single mom after a teen pregnancy, wants to give her son, Max, a good life. When her credit is ruined by bills from an expensive surgery Max required, she has trouble finding a place from them to live. Enter computer magnate/playboy Cole who offers to rent her the art studio behind his house. Once she’s on his property, sparks fly. A blend of the class warfare and playboy romance tropes, Lover over Lattes is a cute, sexy contemporary romance.

I struggled with Love Over Lattes, by Diana A. Hicks. I really liked the premise but I had trouble connecting with the characters.

Valentina is a single mom who has graduated from school and is hoping to finally be a full-time parent to her son, Max. Since she got pregnant, she’s been relying on her mom and dad. She has a job lined up but thanks to some debt, she’s having trouble finding a safe, affordable place to live. Enter Derek Cole, the enigmatic stranger who gets coffee in the same café Valentina frequents. He overhears the conversation where she loses the house she had lined up, and offers up the cottage on his property. The attraction between them is clear, but Valentina wants to focus on her son, and after being burned by Max’s father, she has no desire to open her heart again. Cole is in the same boat. In the midst of a divorce, he’s less upset about his wife’s cheating than he is about losing his company to her. He’s satisfied by the string of women going through his revolving bedroom door, not interested in anything that involves feelings. The problem is that Valentina isn’t the kind of woman you get out of your system in one night.

I struggled with the pace of this story and the relationship between Valentina and Cole, and I struggled to connect with either one of them. The first 25% of the book sets up how Valentina finds herself at Cole’s cottage and setting it up for Max. I found it a bit slow. Their interactions were a bit stilted and awkward. I didn’t feel their attraction. In fact, I felt stuck in their thoughts, all their ‘buts’ and ‘if onlys.’ Yet Cole talks about how “having Valentina so close brought me peace,” at 18% and that felt way too fast to me. He’d spent time in the same coffee shop as her, but he didn’t know her. By 22%, she’d slipped her hands under his shirt during their first kiss, and this was after both of them swearing they would keep things professional. I should have felt as though they couldn’t ignore their connection, but what I actually felt was that they were incapable of self-control and selfish for ignoring their priorities. Cole was not only Valentina’s landlord but also her boss; she worked for the company he was fighting to take back from his ex-wife. Considering Max was the whole reason for everything Valentina was doing, he was missing for a significant amount of the book. I guess it just felt unrealistic to have Valentina fight for having him full time but then spend time with Cole and at work for so much of the story. I think I connected even less with Cole. He seemed cocky and incapable of any genuine feeling. Perhaps that was because of how his marriage to Bridget was framed, and the seemingly endless stream of women parading through Cole’s bedroom.

The middle of the book was filled with Valentina’s no kissing and no sex rules. I usually love push and pull but it didn’t have the right feeling for me. Rather than push and pull, it felt like both of them couldn’t control their impulses, almost as if they weren’t in control of themselves. It didn’t read like attraction. It seemed like they were weak.

The last third of the book was the most interesting, but even it had holes for me. When Cole and Valentina broke up, he acted like a child, telling her to leave and then getting mad when she did. The fact that he couldn’t give Valentina even an ounce of credit was maddening. Also, for a smart man, he didn’t seem able to think his way out of a paper bag since he couldn’t even fathom who might have been behind the betrayal he pins on Valentina. He should have easily figured who was behind things. His lawyer was able to get his hands on records he couldn’t possibly get, yet no one thought to look for records that might clear Valentina. The last straw for me was when Cole grants forgiveness to an ex-lover knowing that she’d ensured his betrayal, yet he gave the woman he loved zero credit when he knew the type of woman she was and everything she was fighting for. It just seemed incredibly convenient and yes, moronic. The guilty party pays, which was satisfying, but that person collapsed way too easily. Another case of a smart character doing something stupid.

I feel bad that I didn’t connect with the characters. I’ve seen the reviews on GoodReads from other readers and I am clearly in the minority. Don’t let my hang-ups stop you from giving this book a whirl and making up your own mind.

I received a copy of LOVE OVER LATTES on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author.

Five stars and here's why:

Diana Hicks had me at latte! This dual-POV story has all the feels, so I immediately got sucked right into the book with its perfect blend of fresh writing, well-developed characters, and a page-turning plot! Cole is swoon-worthy in his pursuit of Valentina, but she’s a commitment-phobe because she’s got her son Max and their future to consider. What happens next is an unpredictable story full of humor and fun, but at the same time, it tugs at your heartstrings. If you love a hella-sexy romance with a side of snarky friends plus an adorable cat and kid, this story is for you. Highly recommend.

This is a sweet love story about Derek and Valentina who meet in a coffee shop after silently seeing each other (seeing, not dating) every day for the last few months. Valentina needs somewhere safe to live for her and her son after graduating college, but loses the place she has lined up due to her credit. While crying, Derek comes to her rescue by offering his cottage.
Overall, I thought it was a sweet story. I thought it seemed a little slow, but I don’t know what should have been changed.
This is the first book I have read by this author and per Goodreads, it appears to be the first in a series. I look forward to reading Dom’s book.