Category: October 2013

Book links:

Tempting the Cowboy: A Paint River Ranch Book (Entangled Indulgence) (Amazon)

Barnes & Noble  ~  Goodreads

Synopsis:

After taking a job on a quiet Montana dude ranch, ex-cop Rylan Frederickson finds herself surrounded by unbelievably sexy cowboys. Too bad the one she wants is her boss…and the single dad of a four-year-old. It doesn’t matter anyway, because after a recent tragedy, there’s simply no more room in her heart.

Letting a new woman into their life is the last thing Cole Haywood wants for him and his daughter, Birdie. But as Rylan’s presence at Paint River Ranch breathes new life into his family he can’t ignore his growing attraction.

When the sparks between them turn into fireworks in bed, Rylan’s torn between the family she’s lost and the one she may have found. Now she must decide if something that feels this good is worth the risk.

My review:

Tempting the Cowboy is the first book in a new series from author Elizabeth Otto, and oh my, what an amazing start!

Rylan Frederickson has had too much of her life taken away by tragedy and is looking to make a fresh start.  It’s that desire that leads her to Paint River Ranch.  Certain that a more simple life working as a housekeeper on the ranch is exactly what she needs to start to heal her hurt.  What she’s certain she doesn’t need is to deal with the gorgeous, sexy, yet ornery, co-owner of the ranch.  He’s an attraction she really can’t afford and even worse he’s a single dad of a beautiful four-year old little girl.  The combination of a handsome, doting father and an adorable, loving little girl represents what was taken away from her and what she could never have again.

Cole Haywood is a busy man these days.  Running his family’s ranch and being a single dad take up all of his waking hours, but he wouldn’t change a thing….except maybe adding the love of a good woman into the mix.  On second thought, maybe not.  He’d tried that route before and it didn’t turn out well.  It did, however, lead to a new section to the Paint River Ranch employee handbook.  No *ahem* relations with the staff.  Now, after meeting Rylan, the new housekeeper, he’s thinking that maybe that handbook needs another revision to remove that section.  Unfortunately there’s more than just a policy keeping him away from Rylan and he’s reminded every time that he looks at his little girl.  He can’t afford to make any mistakes and his focus needs to remain on his little girl, Birdie, and his ranch.  The question is, how long can the reasons to stay away from Rylan hold up?

The paths that Rylan and Cole have gone down lead them both to this crossroads in their lives and it seems like fate has led them here together.  Both equally wounded by love and life in the past, they don’t realize it right away, but eventually they will…that they can help each other heal and learn to love again.

I devoured this book.  I read it in just one sitting and loved every minute.  It starts out with Rylan and Cole not liking each other one bit and turns into a passion fueled romance that I adored.  Rylan’s story absolutely broke my heart and I wanted nothing more than for her to have a happy ending.  She deserved it more than I can say.  As a police officer, she was as tough as nails, but in her personal life she wasn’t strong enough and she’s paying for it now.  I really enjoyed seeing her emotional journey through this story and I cried through so much of the last part of this book…but, you know I love that!  Cole is an equally amazing character.  He is gruff and rugged with a gorgeous body and killer looks.  He carries around so much weight on his shoulders but carries it with dignity.  His loyalty to his family and his love for his little girl made him even more delicious than just a sexy cowboy.  Together, Cole and Rylan are a match made in heaven.  They rise above the lows life has given them and in the end, realize they have found love and another chance at a happily ever after.  Now, I will tell you that it isn’t an easy road and the last few chapters had me sobbing and my chest was aching but don’t worry, you’ll love the ending.  I promise!

Thank you, Elizabeth, for a fabulous story.  I am SO looking forward to more from this series and the Haywood boys!

Five Loves

About the author:

I’m a small town girl, writing about small towns and country boys. I grew up riding my Appaloosa, Dreamie, bareback and barefoot, in cut-off shorts. Running through the thick Northwoods forests and swimming in weed-thick ponds was the perfect fodder for a beginning writer’s mind.

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Beautiful Player releases TODAY!

Book links:

Amazon  ~   Barnes & Noble  ~  Goodreads 

Synopsis:

In the third book in the Beautiful Bastard series, an agreement between a venture capitalist and a bookish woman quickly becomes a very NSFW version of My Fair Lady.

When Hanna “Ziggy” Bergstrom moves to New York City for graduate school, Will Sumner thinks his responsibilities to his best friend’s nerdy little sister will be limited to the occasional dinner and check-in. Little does he know that Ziggy is ready to break out of her bookworm academic shell and move more into bombshell territory. Of course she figures the gorgeous womanizing venture capitalist Will is the best person to help mentor her in this new field of study: dating.

Will takes on the challenge with more than a healthy dose of skepticism and humor, but soon finds that Ziggy just needed a tiny push, not a world of change, to reveal a woman every man seems to notice. Soon “Ziggy” is gone and the unfiltered, innocently seductive Hanna Bergstrom is hijacking his dreams, his moods, and even his orderly no-strings-attached dating life—beginning the night his mentoring activities move between the sheets.

My review:

Let me start by saying I’m a huge fan of Christina Lauren’s Beautiful Bastard Series.  I was so flipping excited when I got an early copy of Beautiful Player in the mail, but that excitement pales in comparison to the love I have for this book after finishing it.  Good Lord.  This book is by far my favorite in the series and has left me with a serious book hangover.

As much as she hates to admit it, Hanna Bergstrom knows her social life is seriously lacking.  She doesn’t need her family to point it out….but that’s exactly what they do on their latest visit to see her in NYC.  She’s too busy with grad school for a life and dating and all of the distractions that come with it.  Plus, she’s never really been good at the whole dating scene and hates the uncertainty of not knowing what guys like or what they want.  Her place was in the lab and with all things science related.  However, at the suggestion of her older brother, she reaches out to his childhood friend, and her first crush, Will Summer.  The thought of seeing Will again after all these years was slightly terrifying, if she’s being honest. He is tattooed, gorgeous, smooth, brilliant, successful, edgy, a combo that threatens to bring back all of those young girl crush feelings back to the surface.  Hanna was older now, and surely she could handle hanging out with a friend, right?  Maybe he could teach her the ropes of the dating world and help her gain her confidence with the male species.  Maybe she could lie to herself and deny she’s completely lost to Will the second she sees him….

Will Summer was happy to agree to see Ziggy, aka Hanna Bergstrom, after not seeing her for more than a few years.  Her family had been good to him since he was young and he owes them more than just a few casual meet-ups with his best friend’s younger sister.  He owes a lot of the man he is today to the Bergstrom family.  Things are going really well for him since he last saw her.  He’s successful and happy, not only with his career, but with his regular success with the ladies.  Being a fan of control and order, things are just the way Will likes them.  Imagine Will’s surprise wen he sees Ziggy and the woman she’s grown into and his immediate physical response to her when they meet early one morning for a run.  After spending just a short time with her, he realizes he’s reaction is not only to the beauty she has become but also to her amazing, honest, open, quirky and funny personality.  He may have made a promise to hang out with her, but can he make a promise to keep things strictly friend-zone only with her?  Not.   Freaking.  Likely.

My original review was going to read something like this:

   “Buy this book.  Buy this book. Buy this book. Buy this book. Buy this book.”

But I figured that although I really just want you to trust me, and buy this book, that I should probably write more than that.  Oh, I loved this story.  There were so many things I loved about this book.  Hanna is one of my favorite book gals ever.  She is brilliant, nerdy, funny, no, not just funny, HILARIOUSLY funny, open, real and just plain enjoyable to read.  Will is delicious.  The fact that he’s also brilliant and tattooed under a suit and tie was enough to have me swooning.  Together the relationship they have is enviable.  What starts out as something innocent turns into something so detectably scorching that I have complete sections of this book that moved to the top of my favorite scenes list.  Not only were the scenes hot, but also Hanna’s yearning to learn what makes sex so enjoyable added an honest and open aspect to their relationship that made things so intense. Hanna making Will tell her exactly what he wanted, or Will making her say exactly what she wants him to do….I just have no words.  I actually had chills reading some of their interactions.  Even the scenes with their clothes on had such an amazing feel.  I just loved everything about this book.  There wasn’t anything I didn’t like or even one paragraph that I didn’t savor.  Have I mentioned I have a serious book hangover right now?  *pout*

I also loved seeing our other Beautiful Bastard cast members….Max, Sara, Bennett and Chloe.  They were all there along the way and gave some great advice when Hanna and Will needed it.

Now, here we are at the end of my review and my final thoughts for you all are:  BUY.  THIS.  BOOK.   Thank you Christina and Lauren for my favorite book in your series and for giving us Hanna and Will, a book couple I won’t ever forget.

Five Loves

About the authors:

Christina Hobbs & Lauren Billings write under the combined pen-name of Christina Lauren. Separated by the pesky state of Nevada, these co-author besties talk several times a day, agree that Ruby Pumps is the best nail polish color ever, and would, if given the choice, spend all day staring at the ocean from the San Clemente pier.

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Falling for the Marine releases today!

Book links:

Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble  ~  Goodreads 

Synopsis:

USMC helicopter pilot Michael McCade has two goals: Get his damn back into alignment and keep his nose clean until his commanding officer clears him to fly again. The doctor-recommended massage therapy seems like a necessary step toward returning to the cockpit, but when his too-hot-to-handle neighbor, Chloe Kincaid, turns out to be his masseuse, he strays from the straight and narrow in a major way.

Chloe Kincaid is looking for a simple, no strings attached, ego-boosting hook up. But when her positively panty-melting neighbor, USMC Major Michael McCade, (aka Major Hottie), shows up on her massage table, she lets desire get the better of professionalism. Now theyre pretending to be engaged to avoid a whole lot of unanticipated consequences of a momentary lapse in judgment. But can a girl who avoids attachments at all costs fake an engagement to a straight-arrow soldier without falling hard?

My review:

Falling for the Marine is the second book in Samanthe Beck’s McCade Brothers series and follows Lover Undercover, a book I freaking loved.  Well, Samanthe has done it again….I fell for the marine in the very first chapter!  This book was yummy goodness!!

Having a whole lot of not-so-great in her life, Chloe Kincaid is ready to turn her luck around.  Looks like lady luck has another idea in mind, however.  Chloe finds herself in a *cough* compromising position and is handcuffed to her bed frame…with the keys having fallen down her HVAC vent.  With no other option, she yells for help and is rescued by her hot and sexy neighbor.  After that debacle, she plans on avoiding him at all costs but when he shows up on her massage table to deal with an injury, clearly she realizes avoiding him isn’t an option.  Lady luck ends up having the last laugh when circumstances between Chloe and her hottie neighbor lead to faking an engagement….that in turn leads to some very NOT fake feelings between them.  Has Chloe’s luck finally turned around?

Never having had to deal with physical limitations, USMC Major and helicopter pilot Michael McCade is not happy being grounded after a lower back injury.  Things start to look up, however, after he walks into his therapy appointment and finds the delicious damsel in distress he rescued the other night as his massage therapist. But when things get too hot during their session, he has to rescue her again….apparently there’s only specific, above the belt touching allowed during a massage.  Feeling responsible for Chloe’s current situation, which involves a lack of a job and apartment, he invites her to stay with him until she gets back on her feet.  Unfortunately his chivalrous actions end up going much further when his CO finds out about his living arrangements.  Shacking up with a girl is kinda frowned upon…well, unless that girl was his fiancée.  Problem solved! If only it was that easy. Soon Michael starts to have dreams of Chloe being his real fiancée….can he convince her what they have may be real after all?

The undeniable and instant attraction between Chloe and Michael was intense and delicious.  Chloe had more than a few admirable qualities about her. She had great optimism despite being unlucky in love before.  She has a free spirit but in the end, knows she needs to put her heart on the line.  Michael is the ultimate loyal, responsible, big-hearted alpha male with looks to kill.  On the flip side, his vulnerability shows with his injury and it made me love him even more.  He figures Chloe out almost instantly and calls her out when she tries to shut down.  Their personalities work so well together and it was such a treat to be able to see their relationship grow into something very real.  There were more than a few fun peculiarities in their relationship that I adored and the very end was abso-freaking-loutley PERFECT!  I laughed and cried and was so happy with the way Samanthe wrote Michale and Chloe’s book ending.  Pure perfection for a couple that started out quite the opposite!

Samanthe has a way about her writing that pulls the reader in from the very beginning and holds that interest until the end….I love that.  I will be looking for more from her and can’t wait to see what else she has in store for the yummy McCade brothers!  Thank you, Ms. Beck, for another marvelous read!

Five Loves

About the author:

Beach bum, book junkie, and award winning author of sexy contemporary romances, Samanthe recently signed with Entangled Publishing to write three novels for their Brazen line!

Sam was transfixed from an early age with any tale featuring a handsome prince, a great dress, and, of course, the all-important kiss, and eventually aspired to write her own happily-ever-afters. Naturally, she became a lawyer. The legal world heaved a sigh of relief a few years ago when Samanthe retired from law to take the plunge as a writer.

When not living the glamorous life of a romance author (i.e., chained to her computer), Samanthe keeps busy with the care and feeding of her extremely patient prince-charming of a husband, a not-so-patient ball of energy known as their son, a furry ninja named Kitty, and Bebe, the trash talkin’ Chihuahua. Their love, support, and willingness to eat Pizza Hut three or more times a week enables Samanthe to pursue her literary dreams.

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