Training Her Heart: Olivia (The Wishful Hearts Collection Book 2)

Olivia Nelson is a successful baker in Hollywood. When she was fourteen, her and her friends made wishlists of their perfect guys. Now grown up, Olivia still searches for that elusive Mr. Right. When Hollywood’s Ms. Perfect visits her bakery and gives Olivia a verbal slap about her weight, Olivia recoils. Already suffering from low self-esteem and weight issues, she decides to head to the gym and lose the excess pounds.  Too bad her personal trainer is sexy, buff, and a major flirt to all women. Cristian Reyes is ready to settle down. He’s part of a great family and wants to get started on building his own. Problem—the women he deals with are all just shaping up for their next Hollywood role. Enter Olivia, with her total hotness, her ability to ignore his sincere attempts at charm, and her ridiculous teenage Mr. Right wishlist.

Beauty is more than skin deep, and finding love is more than a wishlist. Ms. Ford deftly and carefully shows Olivia’s low self-esteem and weight issues. She pairs Olivia with a wonderful, albeit polar-opposite man who only sees the good inside her, even when she fails to see it herself.  Her business partner, Dion, is a welcome comic relief. The story could  be stronger if the settings and characters are fleshed out a little more. Olivia clings to her adolescent wishlist with juvenile tenacity, which can be construed as infuriating. Apart from Olivia denying her attraction to Cristian, and him trying to worm beyond her wishlist wall to her heart, there is not much conflict.  The pacing is good, and the creativity and technical writing are all superb.  This is a clean, kissing-only, HEA guaranteed, feel-good story that will satisfy almost any wholesome romance reader.

Emerson Matthews