Posted Tuesday, 13 April, 2021 by jorielov A Marriage of Inconvenience, Amy Vastine, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Stop the Wedding series 0 Comments
Acquired Book By: I’ve been hosting for Prism Book Tours since September of 2017 – having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. As I enquired about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. Oft-times you’ll find Prism Book Tours alighting on my blog through the series of guest features and spotlights with notes I’ll be hosting on behalf of their authors when I’m not showcasing book reviews on behalf of Harlequin Heartwarming which has become my second favourite imprint of Harlequin next to my beloved #LoveINSPIRED Suspense. I am also keenly happy PRISM hosts a variety of Indie Authors and INSPY Fiction novelists.
I received a complimentary copy of “A Marriage of Inconvenience” direct from the author Amy Vasinte in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I have been enjoying reading stories by Amy Vastine:
There was something wholesome and sweet about how this story resolves itself; as Vastine lets you take the adventure with Donovan and Kelly. In many instances, they were more caught inside the hours they spent with Avery and Graham; where they were laying down the foundation of a relationship but moreso to that, they were setting down a foundation for a family. Those hours were the most special of the story, as it is where you saw the barriers of grief and anguish starting to tumble down and where true healing could emerge. The kids needed someone as a mediator between themselves and their Uncle Donovan whereas where Kelly excelled at understanding what it was like to have a cop in the family, she also softened Donovan’s heart to accept that sometimes life brings unexpected circumstances that are good for the soul.
What I liked about this series is how its threaded and anchoured through a recording studio! I’ve been binge watching Chesapeake Shores this Summer (Seasons 1-3) and I must say, all the episodes involving the intricacies with Trace trying to jump start his career and help make the Trace Riley Band a success was placing me in the mood for more music industry stories right now! The Grace Note Records series has a lot of heart behind it and if your seeking a series where the characters become inter-connected and form their own ‘found family’, this is definitely one to earmark.
The only thing missing from this novel and the first were the recipes! I also felt that Vastine could make a pitch for writing for Love Inspired Suspense as this Heartwarming novel was a good fit for the other imprint as she had good instincts for balancing the mysterious with the romantic.
-quoted from my review of Falling for Her Bodyguard
(Book Four: Grace Notes Records series)
In case you missed it, during my 8th Blogoversary this March,
I re-celebrated why I love reading Harlequin Heartwarming stories as I had during my 6th!
A Marriage of Inconvenience
Subtitle: Stop the Wedding
by Ms Amy Vastine
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
She’s met the perfect man…
But he’s engaged!
Wedding planner Sophia Reed never imagined she’d meet her perfect man during a bank robbery. Evan Anderson is handsome and funny and makes Sophia believe in love at first sight. There’s only one small hitch—he’s engaged to someone else, and Sophia is planning his wedding! But Evan’s wedding is purely a business arrangement…and true love might just turn this almost-perfect wedding into a beautiful catastrophe!
Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 978-1335179852
Also by this author: Falling for Her Bodyguard
Published by Harlequin Heartwarming
on 13th April, 2021
Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)
Pages: 384
Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin
the Stop the Wedding series:
A Bridesmaid to Remember (Book One)
His Brother’s Bride (Book Two)
A Marriage of Inconvenience (Book Three)
Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance
+ #Harlequin OR #HarlequinHeartwarming & #StopTheWeddingSeries
About Ms Amy Vastine
Amy Vastine has been plotting stories in her head for as long as she can remember. An eternal optimist, she studied social work, hoping to teach others how to find their silver lining. Now, she enjoys creating happily ever afters for all to read. Amy lives outside Chicago with her high school sweetheart husband, three teenagers who keep her on her toes, and their two sweet but mischievous pups.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | LibraryThing | FantasticFiction
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Posted Tuesday, 13 April, 2021 by jorielov in #25PagePreview, Blog Tour Host, Contemporary Romance, Indie Author, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction
Posted Wednesday, 4 November, 2020 by jorielov Amy Vastine, Anna J. Stewart, Blackwell Sisters, Cari Lynn Webb, Carol Ross, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Melinda Curtis, Return of the Blackwell Brothers 0 Comments
a word about ‘waiting on Wednesday’:
I have decided to start participating in this book blogsphere meme with a few small changes of how it’s regularly blogged about by my fellow book bloggers. I will either be introducing my current reads of upcoming releases as I am in the process of reading them and/or I might be releasing a book review about a forthcoming title by which I had been blessed to read ahead of publication. The main purpose behind the meme is to encourage readers and your fellow book bloggers to become aware of new books being released which caught your eye and which held your interest to read. Sometimes if your still in the process of reading the books, its the titles which encouraged your bookish heart. I look forward to spending the next seasons of the year, talking about the books I have on hand to read, the books I’ve been reading and the books I might not even have a copy to read but which are of wicked sweet interest to become a #nextread of mine.
Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
If your a regular reader of Harlequin Romances or their other imprints, I look forward to your comments – seeing what you love to read by Harlequin and of course, if you know of any mini-series or authors I might enjoy seeking out – kindly let me know! My local library has a hearty collection of their stories and I love finding new Harlequin authors to read!
The series that started it all:
Return of the #BlackwellBrothers:
The Rancher’s Twins by Carol Ross → my review
The Rancher’s Rescue by Cari Lynn Webb → my review
The Rancher’s Redemption by Melinda Curtis → my review
The Rancher’s Fake Fiancée by Amy Vastine → my review
The Rancher’s Homecoming by Anna J. Stewart → my review
Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance & #HarlequinHeartwarming
& #ReturnOfTheBlackwellBrothers
Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin
I have a lot of fond memories of reading through the Return of the Blackwell Brothers series as this is a series which is full of heart, family, community and the brilliant backdrop of a Western Romance series set in the heart of the Rockies. You immediately connect to the characters, feel caught in the dramas of their lives and quite soon after you’ve met them – become one of their cheerleaders, hoping to seek the redemption and the turning tides you feel they deserve.
Through each installment of this series, we have the added benefit of ‘switching’ voices & styles of the series vision per each author who is penning the installments – they all collectively have given us such a tome of #bookjoy to discover and through their collaborative efforts the Return of the Blackwell Brothers and now the newely released #BlackwellSisters series is a wicked good treat of loveliness for today’s Contemporary Western Romance reader!
I had the pleasure of being on the review tours for the Return of the Blackwell Brothers – dipping in and out of this series with renewed affection for the characters and the curiosity of intrigue set round ‘Big E’ and the devious nature of how he was affecting the lives of his relatives by his quirky antics and his unorthodox choices on behalf of their lives. Through each installment you only gathered a snippet of clues towards understanding his methods and of knowing where in the world he actual had set his hat throughout the series itself. In many regards, this unknown fact about ‘Big E’ is what enouraged me onwards deeper into Return of the Blackwell Brothers because point of fact, he was enabling them to either sink or swim on their own. And, there was a strong allure within me as a reader to see how those boys would handle their adversities and work through the challenges facing them in the wake of Big E’s disappearance.
Fast forward – as I was reading the series itself – I was hoping there would be a ‘sequel’ series – never realising until Ms Webb revealled the news in the comments of one of my reviews for her novels there was indeed a sequel series forthcoming in 2020 and through my conversations with Ms Stewart I was able to set-up a date where *all!* five authors will be chatting LIVE during @SatBookChat on the 14th of November!! I cannot even describe how thankful I am to the authors – for giving us this new series and for giving me the joy in hosting them in a live Twitter chat this month!
Today, I am helping to announce both the series and to shine a spotlight on Carol Ross’s installment of the Blackwell Sisters series – which is ‘Montana Match’. As you might have noticed, Ms Ross kicked off the original series with ‘The Ranger’s Twins’ and within those pages of the very first novel I read about the Blackwells – you could say I became smitten for life about the family, their community and the ways in which you find yourself rallying behind them.
It is feel-good Western Romance – the kind of stories you could see as a sequence of Hallmark movies and/or a Hallmark series – wherein similar to Chesapeake Shores or NetFlix’s Virgin River or Sweet Magnolias – you can see yourself settling into the setting, the towne and re-falling in love with the characters as they shift off the page to the screen. I am not sure if these series will make that leap but if they do it would be wicked good news for all of us who’ve taken their journey with them through the pages of the novels these lovely five women have given us to enjoy.
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Posted Wednesday, 4 November, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, Contemporary Romance, Farm and Ranching on the Frontier, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction, Waiting on Wednesday, Western Fiction, Western Romance
Posted Tuesday, 31 December, 2019 by jorielov Amy D'Orazio, Amy Maroney, Amy Vastine, Andrew Lam, Anna J. Stewart, Beth Carpenter, Cathy Gohlke, Chris Thorndycroft, Claire McEwen, D.K. Marley, Diane Burke, Dianne Freeman, Emerald Dodge, H.L. Burke, Heidi McCahan, J.S. Monroe, Jeannie Wycherley, Jennifer Silverwood, Jina Bacarr, Karalynne Mackrory, Leanne Leeds, Lisa Harris, M.J. Logue, Maggie Lynch, Mary Higgins Clark, Morgan L. Busse, Rebecca Connolly, Rose Chandler Johnson, Sabrina Jeffries, Seanan McGuire, Tracey J. Lyons, Virginia McCullough 23 Comments
[Official Blurb] Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature / weekly meme created by The Broke & the Bookish. The meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke & the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your Top 10 Lists! In January, 2018 this meme is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
[Topic of New Year’s Eve, 2019:
Went OT & turnt the Top Ten Books Read in 2019
into Mogsy’s Top Ten #NewToMeAuthors List
which technically builds off Jorie’s unpublished Mid-Year Freak-Out Tag!]
Why I wanted to give one last Top Ten Tuesday for 2019:
I’ve been wanting to participate in the *Mid-Year Freak Out* tag for quite a number of years now – being a Six Year Book Blogger one would have thought I could have joined this tag *years ago!* – however, for whichever reason, the timing wasn’t right for me until *2019!* Except to say, my Summer was wrecked by more than *one!* plumbing fiasco which led to some seriously EPIC floods in the flat which nearly broke my spirits and my readerly blissitudes! In essence, I never did release the Mid-Year Freak Out tag when I originally wrote it in July!
I earnestly attempted to keep this list limited to a Top Ten List – however, as you will soon realise, I er, loved a bit more than 10x #newtomeauthors in 2019!
This is over and beyond the joy of being able to read more new stories by already beloved favourites – especially within the Contemporary Romance & Suspense categories – I’m looking at you Harlequin Heartwarming and Clare Chase! Whilst I loved revisiting a beloved series of mine (Anna Blanc) and other such lovelies throughout the year which will be happily cheered over once I sort out my final of the best favourites which will be presented in-line with my 2019 *End of the Year Survey* which has been horridly overdue for the past few years,…
I divided my list into my Top Read Genres for 2019 which are as follows:
Historical Fiction → featuring six authors
Speculative Fiction → featuring eight authors
Contemporary Romance → featuring seven authors
& an Eclectic Sampling of the other Genres/Themes I regularly read
→ featuring ten different selections of stories!
For a grand total of being Jorie’s Top 32 #NewToMeAuthors of 2019!
DUE NOTE: all the books featured on this Top Ten Tuesday were books sent to me for review consideration and/or were part of my participation on blog tours wherein the book itself was featured and reviewed. With the exception of the following: Christmas Once Again by Jina Bacarr; Rosemary & Rue by Seanan McGuire; Mount Vernon Love Story by Mary Higgins Clark; A Changed Agent by Tracey J. Lyons; Deadly Exchange & Taken by Lisa Harris andThe Amish Witness by Diane Burke – all of which were borrowed through my local library. Christmas Once Again was also a purchase request of mine which was accepted and added into the card catalogue.
A note of connection: Of all the authors listed on this List – Jennifer Silverwood and I have become friends betwixt and between the blog tours I’ve hosted on behalf of her stories. We simply hit it off due to a mutual passion for SpecLit stories and the fantastical realms we both love to immerse our bookish hearts inside.
Some of the authors represented on this list were also featured guests and/or are upcoming featured guests on my @SatBookChat. View the Archived List of Guests for the Chat and the Winter 2020 Schedule of Guests. The archives for these chats are still under construction but quite a few are found in @SatBookChat’s Moments.
Thanks to Mogsy for inspiring me to fill out this topic which I happen to tweet about
throughout the year(s) as I use the tag #newtomeauthor quite a heap!
Best New To Me Authors of
Historical Fiction
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Posted Tuesday, 31 December, 2019 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Top Ten Tuesday
Posted Tuesday, 8 October, 2019 by jorielov Amy Vastine, Anna Blanc series, Anna J. Stewart, AshleyRose Sullivan, Awesome Jones series, Beth Carpenter, Brenda S. Anderson, Cari Lynn Webb, Carol Ross, Catherine Lanigan, Cathy McDavid, Claire McEwen, Coming Home series, E. Chris Garrison, Hiro Hattori Novels, Jackie Gamber, Jennifer Kincheloe, Jennifer Lamont Leo, Jorie Loves A Story, K.B. Laugheed, Karen Rock, Kay Hunter Detective series, Larry D. Sweazy, Leland Dragon series, Marjorie Corrigan series, Marjorie Trumaine Mystery, Rachel Amphlett, Rebecca Connolly, Return of the Blackwell Brothers, Rocky Mountain Cowboys series, Seasons of Alaska, Shores of Indian Lake, Spirit Keeper duology, Susan Spann, Tara Randel, The Spinster Chronicles, Tipsy Fairy Tale trilogy, Virginia McCullough 6 Comments
[Official Blurb] Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature / weekly meme created by The Broke & the Bookish. The meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke & the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your Top 10 Lists! In January, 2018 this meme is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
[ Topic of 8th October, 2019:
Character Traits I Love;
Personality Traits I Love to See In Book Characters:
Things That Make Me Love a Character ]
→ Which works brilliantly into a Top Ten Tuesday post
I originally wrote to coincide with the Topic of 2nd July, 2019:
We needed to discuss *characters!* with an OPEN THEME/CHOICE:
Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More Recommendation
(and their characters I loved discovering!)
Today’s entry was inspiring to me for the following reasons:
As avid readers, we meet so many dearly incredible characters throughout our bookish journeys – it would make sense, somewhere over the score of time – we are going to come across authors & characters who leave imprinted impressions on our bookish hearts which not just effect us through time and space but they leave such a distinction of presence on our readerly lives. Sometimes they never quite leave us – as there is a part of them inside us still – all these hours after they’ve left our thoughts, because for each character we’ve met in a story, their life and their experiences have bled into our own; their memories are now our memories as for each story we read, there is a potential there to live another life, through another person’s shoes irregardless of their gender; their essence affects us because we’ve breathed in their life.
It is hard to even speculate which characters in the *six years!* I’ve blogged have staid with me the longest and which stories I ache the most to re-read and re-visit alongside – those are goals and dreams I have for Winters long spent by fireside cosy nooks of space where knitting needles, hot tea and scones await me as cats linger in dreamscapes and snow gently falls outside frozen windows. Until then, when I’m granted the joy of a seasonal experience outside of volcanic Summers and blink-you-missed-it Winters, I happily appreciate the hours I have to spend with the characters as their stories ‘greet’ me on the pages their writers left me to find.
As a genre dancer – it is even harder to pin down the characters I regularly interact with as they could be a fantastical creature, a science fiction adventurer, a Magical Realism time bender or they’re living Contemporary or Historical lives – they could be young, old, or somewhere between; sorting out their lives or re-defining a second career or tackling adversity inasmuch as they are giving love a second chance. I love stories and for all the lovelies I regularly read there are still so many more horizons out there in the literary realms I desire to explore further, read harder and read particularly closer to the eras of time I love exploring most.
Whilst at the same time, if I can disappear into my favourite eras such as the Victorian, Regency & Edwardian periods of England – the Highlands of Scotland and criss-cross through a time portal which skips round the historical past from Ancient times to present-day on all the continents of curiosity and interest; wells, you can see where the well of possibilities deepens greatly!
Narrowing down this list of choices was a bit of a curiously serendipitous experience – I went with the inspiration at the moment and as this was originally composed in July, I dearly had to break the 11 references into 12 as – oh, my dear sweet bookish heavens – those Spinsters have left me hungering for more of their stories! I cannot wait to re-invest into their lives as I move into the second novel having consumed (er, devoured?) the first and fourth!
It goes without saying but I will remind you: brew your favourite cuppa & get comfy as this is a seriously long post about the stories and authors I hope might encourage a few new choices on your TBR Lists!
DUE NOTE: all the books featured on this Top Ten Tuesday post were complimentary books sent to me for review consideration and/or were sent in exchange for an honest review at some point or another over the past few years. I received them from publishers, publicists, authors and/or blog touring companies. I was not obligated to feature them on this Top Ten Tuesday post but wanted to feature them due to how incredibly attached I became to their narratives, characters and the immersive experience I felt as I read their stories.
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Posted Tuesday, 8 October, 2019 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Top Ten Tuesday
Posted Monday, 7 January, 2019 by jorielov Amy Vastine, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Return of the Blackwell Brothers, The Rancher's Fake Fiancee 1 Comment
Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquiried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. I am unsure how many books I’ll review for them as most are offered digitally rather than in print but this happily marks one of the blog tours where I could receive a print book for review purposes. Oft-times you’ll find Prism Book Tours alighting on my blog through the series of guest features and spotlights with notes I’ll be hosting on behalf of their authors.
This particular review is slightly different from my regular blog tours and hosting features for Prism Book Tours – as an opportunity came along this Summer to secure a spot on a ‘review tour’ rather than a ‘blog tour’ for a five-book series from Harlequin Heartwarming entitled “Return of the Blackwell Brothers”. This differs as each of the reviewers and book bloggers who are committing to this review tour are posting at different intervals as each of the five novels release which is also co-dependent on the format we are signed on to review.
My reviews will be showcased from August 2018 through January 2019 beginning with the first novel by Carol Ross. Only the first and second novel will showcase the book synopsis, author photograph and her biography as the rest of the tour will only feature the serial information which is also seen on this post. Each of us had the flexibility to choose when we are posting our reviews which was another added bonus to this particular review tour. I elected to post mine on Saturdays, as for the past four years Saturdays have been happily focused on Romances (previously strictly by ChocLit) and I am going to continue to expand this featured part of the week encompassing more Romances by both ChocLit and different publishers. Except for when I needed to post during the week in lieu of Saturday due to health issues or life in general.
I received a complimentary copy of “The Rancher’s Fake Fiancée” direct from the author Amy Vastine in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I continue to feel attached & connected to the Blackwell Brothers:
My first impression of Ben Blackwell was about a close cousin to Rachel’s – he was brass, he was full of himself and he had only put miles in distance between his past and the present; he never had actually taken the time to heal emotionally from how he was wounded. That in of itself was a bit telling – as he had a boiling temper under his persona of a city lawyer who hadn’t the time nor the inclination to deal with a country lawyer such as Rachel. The fact the two were interlinked in their past was just another spur in his boot to be frank!
Rachel had her fair share of hard knocks – the fact she had a louse for an ex was only half the story, her dedication to her daughter Poppy is what shined out of her will not to lose her composure. For Rachel, you could tell she was trying to make the best choices she could – not to focus on the choices she had regrets over nor on the prospects of what a future could yield. Everything was a bit too far away for those kinds of considerations when you have a custody dispute where your wings are clipped and your options are running on empty. You feel for her because she’s a hard-working single Mum who has the unfair disadvantage of having her daughter’s father more concerned with legalities than the actual duties of being a father! Aye.
The vexations mounting on Rachel’s spirits were reaching new layers of angst – especially as you could definitely feel the energy in her unravelling. Here she was trying to hold everything together – carrying the weight of the family’s ranch on her shoulders, inking out an honest trade as a lawyer and juggling her ex in her life to boot! Something had to give and it felt like this old timer ranch hand Henry was past his date of retirement! There is nothing worse than someone who doesn’t see the urgency in what is needed to get done and that is what was vexing Rachel the most. Here she was trying to make do with what she had – work an honest day and still sort out the ranch which hadn’t been properly managed since her father’s death. You had to just give the girl credit for not wanting to take the easier route out and sell.
The more we get to see Rachel and Ben interacting with each other, the more complicated it all feels as these are two best friends who had become jaded in life. It wasn’t entirely their fault, even Ben is being placed in a bad spot by his grandfather Big E (who hasn’t?) and that was leading into a nightmare of a situation involving Rachel as she was trying to defend her own ranch against the rights his family has had all these years. If you looked at it from the outside – they were two individuals caught in the quicksand of bad choices others had made but were now the only people who could attempt to put things back to rights. And, there’s the rub – how do you remain angry at your former best friend?
-quoted from my review of The Rancher’s Redemption
Return of the #BlackwellBrothers:
The Rancher’s Twins by Carol Ross → August 1st
The Rancher’s Rescue by Cari Lynn Webb → September 1st
The Rancher’s Redemption by Melinda Curtis → October 1st
The Rancher’s Fake Fiancée by Amy Vastine → November 1st
The Rancher’s Homecoming by Anna J. Stewart → December 1st
The Rancher's Fake Fiancee
Subtitle: Return of the Blackwell Brothers
by Amy Vastine
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Heartland Fiction, Ranches & Cowboys, Western Fiction, Western Romance
Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 9781335633859
Also in this series: Series Spotlight w/ Notes: Return of the Blackwell Brothers, The Rancher's Twins, The Rancher's Rescue, The Rancher's Redemption, The Rancher's Homecoming, Series Spotlight w/ Notes: Return of the Blackwell Brothers
Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)
Pages: 378
Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin
Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance & #Harlequin
& #ReturnOfTheBlackwellBrothers
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Posted Monday, 7 January, 2019 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Review (non-blog tour), Contemporary Romance, Farm and Ranching on the Frontier, Indie Author, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction, Western Fiction, Western Romance
