Quick reads: Rules for dating a Romantic Hero by Harriet Evans, The escape by Lynda La Plante

When I said I was doing a read 52 challenge someone asked me if all the books I read this year would be full length. I thought they probably would – but at least one has already been really long.

And sometimes I’m not in the mood for a hefty book. Or I’m going on a train, haven’t charged the kindle and want something lighter 😉 There are lots of reasons that people might want to pick up a Quick Reads book, and this video shares a few of them.

What’s more, these are excellent books. I was sent two to review, and I enjoyed them both although they were very different.

You can see Lynda La Plante’s The escape in my picture, along with the rather lovely bar of chocolate that arrived with the books. (It didn’t last as long as the books. Shame.) This is the first La Plante book I’ve read, although I’m sure I’ve seen some of her TV series. It’s set in a prison, and tells the story of an expectant father desperate to make it out to be there for the birth of his first child.

Now, I’ve never been in prison, so I can’t speak as to how authentic this story is. It reads well though, and goes along at a good pace. There’s plenty of tension, although it’s not as dark as the TV series I remember.

By contrast, Rules for dating a romantic hero is a light and mainly cheerful book. There is a certain amount of emotional tension – is it on, is it off? Will Laura get the hero and become the Lady of the house, or will it all fall apart along with her dream job? but nothing that’s going to cause any sleepless nights. I really enjoyed it though – and certainly didn’t feel like I’d been short changed – the story is beautifully paced and it’s a satisfying experience.

I was interested to see that it’s a sequel, and I’ll definitely be looking up the first book about Laura as I really liked the character.

So, what have you been reading this week? Feel free to let us know by sticking your post in the linky, and grab the badge from the challenge page if you’d like.

Disclosure – books were sent by Quick Reads for review, they also supplied chocolate which didn’t influence my opinion or review. Links to Hive are affiliate links.