Quick reads: Love on Location by Claire Baxter

ISBN: 9780857984524

Publisher: Random House

Amazon

A deliciously fun rom com about a girl who has big dreams and just can’t stop herself from falling in love.

Shayna is this close to getting her dream job as a location manager for a new TV soap, she just needs to find the right house to film it in, and the job is hers.

Luckily, she’s found the perfect place. Unluckily, the owner – who is tall, blond and more handsome than is fair – is stubbornly refusing to let her use it unless she goes to dinner with him. No harm in that, right?

Lachlan swore he’d never go back into show business – not after his heart was broken – and the last thing he wants is a film crew traipsing through his house, but there’s something about Shayna that’s making it hard to say no . . .

He won’t let anyone near his heart, and she’s not looking for love – what could possibly go wrong?

My review

This is a romance novella, and it should be noted, I generally don’t read a lot of novellas. I find it hard to get into them because I long for the depth of plot and characters only a full length novel can provide. With this in mind, I was very impressed with Baxter’s lead characters. Shayna is bright and bubbly and a very likeable heroine, and she had unexpected depth beneath her sunny personality. Lachlan? He’s not so likeable. At least not at first anyway. I quite enjoy a moody lead male, it makes for interesting reading. Lachlan however errs on the arrogant side, and at one stage I found myself genuinely concerned. How was Baxter going to turn things around so the readers (and Shayna) fall for him? Fortunately she manages it, which I considered no small feat given the restrictions of a novella format.

The show business setting gives this novella extra interest and the plot was engaging, with a pace that kept you keen to read on. While the sexual chemistry is great between Shayna and Lachlan, this novella will leave those who like some steam with their romance disappointed, because the action stops at the bedroom door. I also found it a little hard to adjust to how quickly everything was resolved at the end, but this says more about the format than the story itself. Overall, this is a fun, enjoyable read and a great example of how shorter stories can deliver on both characters and plot.

About the author

Claire Baxter writes contemporary romantic fiction of all lengths. Her short stories have been published in commercial women’s magazines around the world, while her novels have been translated into 20 languages, and have finalled in the Romance Writers of Australia’s Romantic Book of the Year Award, the Booksellers’ Best Awards, the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Awards, and the Cataromance Reviewers’ Choice Awards.

Before following her passion to write full-time, Claire was an award-winning corporate communications manager. Earlier, she worked as a translator and a PA.

Claire grew up in Warwickshire, England, but for more than 20 years has called Australia home. She considers herself lucky to live near one of Adelaide’s beautiful metropolitan beaches where she loves to walk and think up stories.