In hindsight, maybe I should have known my biggest nemesis would end up locking up my heart.Believe it or not, running a fertility clinic in Auburn Hill, located right next to a prison, isn’t the worst thing. Nope, the worst thing is the infuriatingly sexy warden of the new prison – who doesn’t care that his newly-released inmates are stopping by my clinic on their way out of town to make a … clinic on their way out of town to make a “deposit” for some quick cash. Sure, it’s his circus, but according to him, those clowns aren’t his responsibility once they walk out the door.
Until one of them pulls a gun on me in a desperate robbery attempt and I realize I have to be a little more…ahem…persuasive with the warden. Stumbling upon him in a compromising position is just the leverage I need, and I’m not above a little blackmail. Turns out, he’s not above pushing me up against the door and kissing the hell out of me either.
Adding in ex-lovers, magical goats, scheming mayors, gossiping mail carriers, a man-hating mother, and nonstop seagull shenanigans makes me realize one thing.
Don’t bank on love developing here in Auburn Hell.
Love Bank is a laugh out loud small town RomCom featuring a prison warden who barks orders and a bumbling business woman with more sass than sense. Love Bank is book one in the Jobs From Hell series.
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This story started a little slow for me, but once I got into it I really enjoyed it. The characters are all well written and interesting. Lucy and Bain’s story was fun to read. Lots of things happening.
I received a free copy of this book and this is my voluntary, honest review.
Loved this!!
This steamy, enemies to lovers RomCom was hilarious and sexy and FUN. It had me smiling and laughing and swooning!
The characters were lovable, the sexual tension delicious, and the shenanigans highly entertaining.
Bain is a sexy AF warden who doesn’t want to be attracted to the uptight, long wool skirt-wearing, fertility clinic owner Lucille. He tries hard not to be. But the chemistry can’t be denied. I loved these two together! She’s quirky, he’s bossy. The tension, the irritation, the banter…so much fun!
From cumshots to aggressive sea gulls to gossiping mail ladies to magical goats to old scraggly cats named Ethel, this story had me turning the pages and enjoying every single word.
This was my first book by this author and I can’t wait to read more!!
A definite 5 star +++ read. I loved this book entirely from beginning to end. I laughed so much at Bain and Lucy (Lucille) and their bickering back and forth. A sperm bank owner and a Warden at a prison right next door to the sperm bank, now what could you imagine? You knew that they would fall in love but both of them kept denying their feelings for one another. It was hot, comical, challenging and a page turner. I would recommend this book to everyone as well as Marika’s other books. She is a great writer that gets you hooked from the beginning right to the end.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Marika Ray? Because I SERIOUSLY love Marika Ray. Her books never fail in filling me up with joy. Having a bad day? Marika Ray’s writing will fix it. Feeling down? Marika Ray’s writing will fix it. Just need to escape into something that will make you smile and laugh? You guessed it, Marika Ray. Every book is like a brand new adventure in laughter, love and friendship and Love Bank has all that in spades.
I was cracking up at Lucille and Bain’s little war (that’s right, enemies to lovers y’all!) it was both hilarious and honestly, pretty dang brilliant the jabs they took at each other. And don’t even get me started on the residents of Auburn Hill, AKA Hell. Every new face I met was better than the next.
And can we just talk about the sisterhood in this book? One of my absolute favorite things about Marika’s writing is the strong sense of women supporting women in every book. Where this could have easily gone the route of mean girls vs shy “nerd” it was the total opposite. Taking her back, being true supportive friends. Absolute beauty.
Of course there’s no shortage of swoon here either. Bain and Lucille have scorching hot chemistry that ramps up until it explodes into some magnificent heat. Hand in hand with that heat was a sweetness that really made me fall completely in love with this couple. Every tiny detail of their story comes together creating a super fun, hilarious and adorable romance I couldn’t get enough of.
Lucille’s opened up a fertility clinic (aka spank bank) in Auburn Hill (otherwise known as Hell), and her life is looking up. Oh sure, she’s still a virgin, but everything else is great. Until the prison next door’s inmates keep coming to her place of business and one tries to rob her. What should a woman do? In this case, she decides to blackmail Bain, the prison warden, and their lives are never the same after.
I love Love Bank! It hits the perfect note, blending witty, funny dialogue with as deep an emotional connection as the physical. Add in the spectacular cast of Lucille and Bain and all the crazy, well-meaning friends who surround our couple.This is really the very best kind of romantic comedy.
This has plenty of laughs, cringe worthy moments, fantastic characters, a bit of action and a good dollop of steamy times. Lucy and Bain are the perfect enemies and they way they try and get at each is so much fun to see, you can’t help but really like the friends they meet and you enjoy seeing them try and fight the attraction they have. I soo can’t wait to read more in this series and get to know the towns folk even more!!
I love reading about characters I can kind of relate to. Lucille was all sorts of awkward and I loved that. I also loved how she found friends that got her to loosen up a little. This book was awkward and funny. It was also sexy, fun, with a little crazy small town filled with crazier characters mixed in. I loved the fact that Lucy ran a sperm bank. It was a little weird, but I liked the concept. I also liked the fact that hot, alpha Bain was next door and that there was conflict and sexual tension between the two. I loved that as alpha as he could be, Lucy cut him down quick with her quirkiness.
Love Bank by Marika Ray is book 1 in the Jobs from Hell series. This is Lucille and Bain’s story. Lucy is a nurse practitioner whose running a fertility clinic while Bain is a smokin hot warden. The moment they laid eyes on one another, the chemistry between them was electric. I enjoyed the plot, the secondary characters, the feels and steam, the feels and the amazing story. I liked how the story came together. I look forward to the next story in this new series.
My Rating: 4.5 stars *******
A unique romantic comedy that will have you laughing and loving every minute. The context, characters and their situations are unlike anything I’ve read. A bossy prison warden and an upright owner of a fertility clinic…need I say more. Bain and Lucille’s hate for each other makes their encounters even hotter. This is going to be an amazing series that you do not want to miss out on.
This was a fun and unique story-line with a lot of humor and great characters. It’s a modern day of who dun it….
I had a hard time getting into this one, but I think it was just me, not the book. Once I got into it, it was just silly. Fun and goofy in a good way. Then it got all sweet and took an interesting turn and I couldn’t put it down. It was a great mix of romance and I can’t wait for the next one
A hilarious read from beginning to end. I live the way Marika Ray has so much humor thrown in throughout the book. Bain and Lucy both have unique careers and meet in the most unusual way. So many twists in this book, I couldn’t put the book down until I was finished.
OMG! This book had me dying! I’m #dead.
I was cracking up from the first page to the last.
Marika Ray has a way with words and this book is no exception. The banter between Bain and Lucielle is amazing. It adds to the enemies-to-lovers theme but it’s so hilarious you’ll be laughing through all the angst until they get their together. Add in the residents of Hell, California and I know this is going to be another amazing series.
I can’t wait to find out what else happens in Hell!
I was SUPER lucky to be a Beta reader for this book. I am so excited it’s finally released into the world!
I especially loved this book, because I saw my husband in the hero and myself in the heroine. Grumpy/bossy and quirky/picky. SO us! And Lucy’s level of awkward when nervous rivaled mine.
Love Bank is over-the-top funny, which is RIGHT up my alley. As usual, Marika makes up the most hilarious nicknames, and her humor took me by surprise and had me snort-laughing MANY times.
Let’s talk about the hilarious use of animals in this book, too. Goats, seagulls, cats… Amazing. Ever been challenged by a goat? It may spur your own romantic comedy!
The secondary characters are AMAZING, and I can only hope we’re set up for all of their stories, as well. Both the men and women are hilarious!
And, as usual, there’s a twist I never saw coming. I don’t know how Marika adds these unexpected twists in her rom-coms, but I certainly appreciate them!
If you love strong heroes and heroines, enemies-to-lovers, ridiculous antics, the best of best friends, and over-the-top Pippa Grant-esque humor, this book is for you!!!
“He dropped his weight onto me. His fully naked body on top of mine felt like that first bite of chocolate after a long day. I couldn’t really breathe, but that didn’t seem important.”
I have loved each of Marika’s books a different way but man when I need a good Rom Com I know I can count on this author. I laugh so much with her books that I know if I am having a bad day, I will definitely read any of her books because my spirits will be lifted automatically.
All of the witty words she uses as descriptions through out really have me laughing that my co workers and family might think I am crazy at time. The idea of a sperm bank next to a prison=PRICELESS!!! I love Marika’s stories as they are different from others I typically read and I can’t say it enough that it is a breath of fresh air.
Every book of Marika’s I have loved and Love Bank is no exception! Small town romance, enemies to lovers ……. animals! Love Bank has it all! It was such a fun read and had me laughing out loud and some of the things Lucy said! You think Lucy is going to be very serious but Oh my god at times she has absolutely no filter which I loved. Love Bank was a fantastic start to a brand new series and I can’t wait to read the next book.
Marika Ray made me laugh and swoon like crazy in Love Bank. It was just way too much funny and entertaining! It was the perfect rom com that just brightens my day!
Lucille runs a sperm bank in the small town of Auburn Hill. It’s a classy and swanky and already profitable venture. All was well and Lucille was perfectly happy with her no nonsense, no fun and strict personal life. Until the private prison started just by her establishment and the sexy as hell and cocky as hell warden Bain reaches the town! She does not need the prisoners crowding her business but Bain is not exactly cooperating even if she has some accidental blackmail material in her hand. They started as enemies but numerous pranks, one girl gang intervention and one gunned robbery later, the animosity turns into lust and then love. But is Bain ready to be committed? Is Lucille ready to leave her preconceived notions about male population behind?
The one liners in this story is pure gold! I loved the joy, happiness and warmth of a small town romance. Lucille is so amazing! She has been suppressed by her mother and the training of her mother whole life. But she is a vibrant, sassy and fierce woman. And Bain is PERFECT. He has a great sense of humor. He is sexy. He is charming. He is protective and caring. The full package. The humor quotient of this book is so high! The enemies to lover side was so freaking enjoyable and so was the making up part.
Love Bank by Marika Ray was a brilliant balance of steamy, funny and romantic. I had a great time while reading it! I want to come back more!
Received ARC for honest review
This is the first book in this series and the first book I’ve read by this author.
Jobs from Hell #1
Lucille runs a fertility clinic that’s located right next door to a newly built prison, she knew that this was not going to be easy.
Lucille thinks that running the fertility clinic in Auburn Hill isn’t that
bad it’s just the falls for the sexy prison warden is instead.
Bain is the prison warden and he’s glad to be there. He just needs to make the lady see that too. They both have alot of ban and weird moments. ( NO SPOILERS):
This book is full of humour and twists and is an enjoyable read.
Throw in ex-lovers, secrets, and and betrayal and it will have you hooked.
Although don’t bank on any sort of love happening here in Auburn Hell.
This book Love Bank by this author is a laugh out loud rom com romance book that will laughing and gasping.
This book Love Bank is book one in the Jobs From Hell series.
Thank you to the author and publishers for allowing me to read an early copy of this book.
ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
This book is Now Live.
This was a cute romance with twists, angles and surprises. Imagine a 38 year old virgin who’s the owner of a sperm/spank bank. Some things you just can’t make up. Lucille has seen lots of male parts and acquired lots of deposits for her clinic but it’s all been clinical to her. Her life’s never the same after she accidentally walks in on a client leaving a ‘deposit’. Thankfully he doesn’t realize she’s there. He ends up being the new guy in town and is the warden at the prison next door to her clinic. When they meet, they’re like oil and water. But you know what they say, opposites attract. Lots of drama, some anguish, plenty of interaction with the local sheriff, a robbery, a makeover, a woman out of nowhere who claims she’s pregnant, missing sperm samples, a mother who hates men and so much more. A good read and Lucille/Lucy were so perfect for each other and their chemistry was off the charts. Likable characters and a fun read
No words. I have none. I don’t have the foggiest notion of what to say about this book. I could say it’s funny, but that’s damning it with faint praise. I laughed so hard my ribs still hurt. I could say it’s cute or sweet or adorable, but again, none of those come close to covering what this story is. In some ways, this book makes me think of a small-town Hatfields and McCoys version of Romeo and Juliet. Lucy and all her social awkwardness is my new hero. She didn’t let anything stop her – not even good sense on occasion. Bain came awfully close to pushing this into ‘bully romance’ territory. Thankfully he has a lightness, a playfulness, of spirit that kept it from going quite that dark. This story is silly and sweet and some of the best time I’ve spent reading.
I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book from the author.