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Bikers and Pearls

22 Thursday Aug 2013

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*****

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Who said tempting a sweet Southern belle would be easy?

When rebel biker Bullworth Clayton gets tangled up with pastel-and-pearls-clad April Church, sparks fly. Sure, April would clearly rather work with anyone else, but if teaming up with Bull means a successful charity event for a sick little boy they both care about, then so be it.         

April is baffled at how drawn she is to the leather-wearing, tattooed Bull—he just doesn’t fit with her simple, safe, country-club life. And as much as the handsomely rugged man tempts her, she still can’t shake the images of the tragic motorcycle accident from her past, which left her scarred and her father broken.

Bull tempts her to don a pair of leather pants and go for a ride with him, while April desperately tries to resist her attraction to the wild side and keep her exploits hidden from her small town. Will they be able to navigate their differences and find a middle road to love?

I have to be honest – I didn’t like April all that much at first … but I’m not sure I’m supposed to.  She’s timid, meek, and kinda shallow.  I understand that she had a terrible thing happen in her past, but she’s even afraid of spicy food … I know there are people like that out there, I even know a few, but it doesn’t necessarily make her an appealing heroine.  Which, for me, made her transition all the sweeter.  Working with Bull and the other bikers showed her a brand new world and exposed her to new things, so that by the time the book was over I really liked her.

Bull is your typical big, bad biker hero.  He works with his hands, loves his Harley, and is comfortable with his place in the world.  But he’s got some growing of his own.  Meeting April allows him to let go of some long held guilt and see his past in a bit of a better light.  I’m not sure everyone will like how much he pushes April, trying to get her out of her comfortable little world, but I thought he was fantastic.  He’s got a big heart, he just had a little baggage to get rid of first.

There’s a quick, fun little secondary story between one of Bull’s friend and April’s best friend and although most of it happens off the page, I liked them together.  I don’t think there is enough drama to give them their own story, but it was a good catalyst for April to reevaluate her priorities and what she wants out of her future.

If, like me, you find yourself a little put out with April, don’t give up – Bikers and Pearls is definitely worth it.  With a satisfying resolution and fun characters, it’s got a great mix of heart and depth, making April’s journey one to enjoy.

Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?

08 Thursday Aug 2013

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*****

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Daniel and Casey first get together in high school and try to date during college but it just doesn’t ever click so they go their separate ways.  Though they can’t make a go of a relationship, their connection is undeniable, as is their ability to write amazing songs together.  Years go by and life hasn’t turned out quite like they expected.  Can seeing an old friend remind them of their dreams?

Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not? is a sweet story about the paths we take in life and the ones we don’t.  About two people who meet time and again but the timing is wrong and they just can’t connect.  Daniel is intriguing as a man with big dreams that just aren’t working out and his struggle to decide whether to let go or keep on dreaming.  Regardless of whether your dreams are big or little, you can find something to relate to in Daniel’s plight.  Casey is the woman who gave up her fanciful dreams for those that are more realistic and has a lot to deal with when those dreams fall apart.  Now she’s got a second chance but she has to decide what she really wants for her future.

My only problem with the story is the non-linear story telling … and that’s only because I’m not a patient person.  It’s all about the tease as we bounce back and forth between today and the past, but it just made me anxious to learn all of their secrets.  I’m sure most people won’t mind it but if you like to read the last page first, like I often do, there’s a good chance this one isn’t for you.  If the idea of a slow build intrigures you though, definitely pick this one up.

Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not? is based on married music duo Thompson Square’s hit song and they’ve turned it into an interesting book, one full of angst and emotion and dreams and second chances.

Three Little Words

06 Tuesday Aug 2013

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*****

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Isabel Beebe is back in Fool’s Gold to run her family’s bridal store while her parents are on vacation and to help get it ready to sell.  But she’s heading back to NYC as soon as she can, whe has big plans to start her own fashion business.  When Ford Hendricks was dumped by his fiance weeks before his wedding, he joined the Navy and hasn’t been back since.  Now home to help run the “bodyguard school”, he’s having problems settling in … especially considering his mother’s match-making attempts.  Isabel may have been the little sister of his former fiance and the girl whose letters kept him sane as a SEAL, but she’s all grown up now.  What seemed like a simple plan to use their friendship to fool his mother into thinking there is more going on quickly turns into something more.  But what can a man who doesn’t think he has the capability to love give a woman who already has one foot out the door on her way back to the Big Apple?

I can have more than one pretend boyfriend in Fool’s Gold, right?  We’ve had some great guys before and now there’s Ford … he’s just oh-so-yummy!  He’s sweet, sexy, thoughtful and caring.  He loves his mother so he talks Isabel into a fake relationship just so that he doesn’t have to hurt her feelings with his refusal to date any of the women she suggests.  And of course everyone knows where that is going to lead … yup, things stop being quite so fake.  I loved both of these characters.  They are fun and complement each other wonderfully.  I was hoping for a happy ending for them from the first chapter and of course, since this is Fool’s Gold, you know they’ll get it … with a few bumps along the way.  I think the ending is one of my favorites – there’s angst without being too angsty and things resolve themselves quicky but satisfyingly.

Oh, and I can’t forget the secondary storyline between Consuelo and Ford’s brother Kent.  Full of heart, even if it didn’t take up a bunch of pages, it too was super sweet and satisfying.  Kent is just as caring and sexy, without being quite as rough as Ford.  He’s had a softer life but Denise Hendricks raised good boys who turned into fantastic men.  (Is it ok to have both brothers as my fictional boyfriend?)  I almost wish that Consuelo had a chance at her own book because she has such an interesting past that leads to some unusual romantic troubles.  She’s tough but vulnerable and Kent finds all those soft, scary parts inside her.  It’s such a treat to watch her fight falling in love.

And of course we are given sneak peeks into the next books in the series coming in 2014 – more football players, people!  WooHoo, bring ’em on!  They are described as three gorgeous guys who have always been able to get or buy what they want … so they are a little spoiled.  I can just imagine what kind of trouble they are going to get themselves into with the lovely ladies of Fool’s Gold.  Luckily, to help us wait, we’re going to get Noelle’s story as a Christmas romance in a few months and she takes on Gideon’s twin, Gabriel.  I just know it’s going to be another winner.

If you’ve never read a Fool’s Gold book, or anything by Susan Mallery, pick up Three Little Words.  You’ll get a wonderful love story and a great introduction to the fantastic world Mallery has created.  (Of course if you have read any of her books, you’ve probably already got a copy of this one.)  As I’ve said over and over and over again, I absolutely love Susan Mallery’s books.  She always makes me smile, laugh, sigh and even occasionally cry.  And her stories never fail to delight – full of characters that are witty, touching and sexy, and dialogue that is smart, funny, flirty, and sweet.  It’s an irresistible combination that makes me happy every time.  So pick up any of them, all of them, it doesn’t matter.  Just go out, get one of her books and prepare to be hooked.

A Prior Engagement

05 Monday Aug 2013

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cover24402-mediumAfter two years, Juliet Browne is finally putting her past behind her and moving on to a new relationship . . .  then she gets the call that changes everything.  The man she thought dead was instead a prisoner in Afghanistan and has now been found.  Won’t he be surprised when he finds out that he has a fiancé that he knows nothing about?

A Prior Engagement has so much heartache to go with the joy.  Lee Davis suffered immensely while in captivity and his world has changed so much while he was gone – his father is dead, his friends have new lives and loves, and the woman who turned down his proposal is now wearing his ring.  He has health problems and emotional issues to deal with, as well as trying to figure out how to adjust to everything else that changed while he was gone.  It’s a long road and definitely not an easy one.  So, being all Alpha, he tries to do it without help – you can figure out how well that goes.  I can’t imagine what he went through but it hurt so much seeing him struggle.  It’s a moving story, at times hard to take, but definitely one worth reading.

(This is part of a series, Lee’s other teammates have their own stories, but it really isn’t necessary to have read them first.)

Home to Whiskey Creek

01 Thursday Aug 2013

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*****

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Adelaide Davies has come back to Whiskey Creek to take care of her ailing grandmother and help run the family restaurant, but home is the last place that Addy wants to be.  Fifteen years ago a terrible thing happened and she wants nothing more than to be able to leave the past, the town and everyone involved with that night behind.  But until she can decide what her future holds, she’s going to do her best to avoid the men responsible for the event that changed everything all those years ago.  After all, they all have something to hide, including her.  Noah Rackham is stunned when Addy rebuffs his overtures of friendship, but he doesn’t know that for Addy he’s a living, breathing reminder of what she’s trying to escape.  Noah isn’t easily deterred, though, especially once he realizes that he may have finally found a woman he wants to commit to.

The story in Home to Whiskey Creek is so heartbreaking.  The secrets that Addy has kept all of these years, the load she’s had to carry, could easily have broken her.  But she’s survived – maybe not thrived exactly, but she definitely showed how strong she is.  You feel for her every step of the way as she tries to go about her day to day life in Whiskey Creek without making waves and disrupting the lives of those around her.  But she just can’t resist Noah …. and honestly I’m not sure anyone could.  He’s smart, sexy, charming and caring.  He’s also very self-assured and never met anyone that didn’t like him, so Addy’s avoidance is a challenge to him.  Then she turns into something more.  I don’t know how he finds it in himself to handle everything that is thrown at him before the book is over but his strength is just one more thing that makes him so appealing.

I honestly don’t know how Brenda Novak continues to give readers books that just keep getting better and better.  I’ve said it before with When Lightning Strikes, When Snow Falls and When Summer Comes, and I’m going to say it again here:  every time I read one of her “Whiskey Creek” books I think that she can’t top it …. and she proves me wrong with the next one.  Highlighting a close-knit small town and an even closer group of friends, Novak’s latest deals with some potentially life-alterring secrets that could shatter a community.  How will they deal if the truth comes out?

Home to Whiskey Creek is the fourth book in the “Whiskey Creek” series (not counting her When We Touch novella) and returning readers will get a little more in the Baxter/Noah drama plus a few updates abut the couples that have appeared in the previous books.  But unfortunately we don’t really get too much about what is coming next, just some broad hints.  With this group of friends though, and Novak’s incredible skill as a writer, it is sure to be another emotional powder keg.  If you haven’t read any of Novak’s other books, go out right now and pick them up.  You will not be disappointed.

The Temporary Wife

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

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*****

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Megan Rossi is raising her best friend’s orphaned daughter, Molly, much to the dismay of the girl’s grandparents.  But the wealthy Campbells have the money and power to fight her for custody and as a kindergarten teacher Meg doesn’t have the means to face off against them in a lengthy legal battle.  She will do anything for Molly, though, even accept an unusual offer made by the girl’s uncle (and her ex-boyfriend) …. marriage.  Jason Campbell is well aware that his parents don’t have the little girl’s welfare in mind and making sure her daughter is cared for by Meg is the least he can do for his deceased sister.  A short-term, name-only marriage will take care of everything.  Except he didn’t count on the attraction to still be there between them all these years later.

The Temporary Wife is Jeannie Moon’s first novel and it is a definite winner.  She does a fantastic job of giving readers likable characters in both Meg and Jason – they have some issues that they have to work though but they are believable and the resolution is quite satisfying.  Jason has scars from growing up with his uncaring parents and Meg understandably has concerns about falling for Jason again.  It may have been years ago but the way their relationship ended is still definitely in play between the two of them.

The fact that Jason and Meg had a previous relationship is of course the driving force for the story, but it also plays into the idea of getting that second chance with your first love.  It’s a classic romance theme, but it’s a classic for a reason, and Moon does a great job of keeping it fresh and interesting.  My only complaint, and it is a small one, is that I occasionally got a little confused about the timeline.  There didn’t seem to be enough details on how and when time passed, but it wasn’t an enjoyment killer – it only popped up in a couple of places and was easily overlooked.

The Temporary Wife is a fantastic first go for a new romance author and one I highly recommend reading.  I’m intrigued by the idea of a sequel with Jason’s brother – actually there are a lot of opportunities to make more books out of the supporting characters.  They are varied and interesting and would make fascinating leading characters in their own books.

Here’s hoping that Moon has a long and successful writing career.

Meant to Be

29 Monday Jul 2013

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*****

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In Meant to Be, Beth finds herself all alone on a ferry, going to meet her fiance’s family for the first time . . . only she’s scared to death of water.  Luckily, a nice (and oh-so-sexy) stranger helps her through her panic attack – giving her butterflies while doing it – then things go from bad to worse when she finds out that her rescuer is her fiance’s brother, Joe.  Abandoned for her two week vacation while Lucas works, Beth finds Joe more and more tempting, but nothing can happen between the two of them because of Lucas … right?

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this one.  There’s just something a little icky about being engaged to one brother then ending up with another, but Osburn does a fantastic job of giving readers an engaging story and warm characters.  Beth is a people-pleaser, always has been, but the two weeks she spends on the island with Joe, his parents and their neighbors start her thinking about what she wants for herself.  Joe has his issues with his brother that simmer just under the surface, never to be looked at directly.  Then time with Beth causes him to look at his feelings a little more closely.  Not biological brothers – their parents married when the boys were young – there’s always been a bit of a strain between the boys, although they love their parents deeply.  Thanks to Beth, Joe does a little growing during her visit, learning to look at things a little differently.

Both Beth and Joe fight their feelings – they don’t take the situation lightly – and they understand the repercussions of their decisions.  Meant to Be turned out to be a much more heart-warming and sweet story than I thought it would be at first.  I must say that Osburn surprised and delighted me with this one.  And readers are going to get a chance to experience Lucas’s story too and it looks like he gets his HEA in a most unexpected way, for him anyway.

Bedding the Wrong Brother

27 Saturday Jul 2013

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cover31656-mediumScience professor Melina Parker is better with bugs than with men.  After she’s told by another boyfriend that she’s no good in bed, and with dreams of a family, she enlists the help of her childhood friend, Max Dalton, to help teach her how to please a man.  Since Max and his twin brother, Rhys, have never wanted for women, he’s the perfect choice.  Only she finds herself getting a lesson from Rhys instead – the man that Melina’s loved for years but who she believes is out of her league.  Rhys has had a thing for Melina for as long as he can remember but she’s always been much more comfortable with his twin.  Plus his life as a successful stage magician means that he’s always traveling and in no position to offer her the white picket fence that she longs for.  Now he has the chance to spend a few days showing Melina the pleasures of the bedroom, but will he be able to let her go when it’s over?

Bedding the Wrong Brother just about sizzles the pages.  Rhys and Melina have a lot of fire and passion between them and DePaul doesn’t hold that back.  But along with the steam, she also gives readers a delicious romance about two people who have had feelings for each other for years but a comedy of errors have kept them apart.  Neither of them want to take that chance of putting their heart on the line only to have it rebuffed.  You know that things are going to work out for them but it is still a little stressful to see them fumble their way to their happy ending.

This is actually part of a series and Max has a story of his own and he’s such a scoundrel that I’m looking forward to him getting his comeuppance.

Never Love a Scoundrel

24 Wednesday Jul 2013

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*****

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Lord Jason Lockwood has a horrible reputation, full of madness and vice.  A family scandal almost a decade ago has left him on the outside of society, left to find his own place in the world surrounded by those considered without respectability … like him.  He blatantly throws wild parties full of all manner of debauchery, uncaring that he will not be able to rejoin polite society.  Then he meets Lady Lydia Prewitt.  Lydia is also not well regarded by society, but for a different reason.  Thanks to her gossip-mongering aunt, she is feared instead.  Wanting to find acceptance and a husband to create a family with, Lydia sees the opportunity to improve her standing by helping Lockwood reenter society.  But as they spend time together, Lydia’s feelings for Lockwood grow … can she chance a relationship with him if it means being exiled as well?

Never Love a Scoundrel is the fifth book in Darcy Burke’s “Secrets and Scandals” series and delivers a nice mix of intrigue and passion that is guarantee to keep readers enthralled.  Her characters are wonderfully complex, with flaws and quirks that will draw you in and steal your heart.  Lockwood has scars, not only from his most recent family scandal but from his childhood too, that cause him to exist on the fringes.  He has his reasons, and they are good ones, but they definitely affect his dealings with Lydia.  And there’s a mystery surrounding his half-brother, Ethan, and his activities that are at the core of the book, and Lockwood’s reason for being back in society, that is very engrossing.  Readers of the previous stories will recognize Ethan and the good news is his story will finally be told in the next book.

This is the first of this series that I’ve read and there are some characters and plot points that move throughout the series (or at least from book to book), but I was easily able to keep up.  It does end with a bit of a cliff-hanger that will be resolved in the final book, Scoundrel Ever After (due out this fall), but there was enough of a resolution in this one to feel satisfying.  I’m definitely hooked enough to want to read the next one too … and get my hands on the previous four stories as soon as possible!

A Rogue’s Rescue

22 Monday Jul 2013

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cover30001-mediumDespite her vast wealth, Miss Ariadne Lambert, at the ripe old age of thirty-three, is a plain and aging spinster with little but a fading hope that a knight in shining armor will come to sweep her off her feet. Which makes her the perfect prey for the unscrupulous “Dapper” Dorsey, who would stop at nothing to seduce a needy and wealthy woman and then coldly fritter away her funds in the gaming halls of London. As Ariadne succumbs first to his wily charms and then to his kisses, will her need for affection rob her of her dignity—and her fortune?

Viscount Ingram, whose soiled reputation from one especially salacious incident has left him exiled to the sidelines of society, marks his time as a dark and brooding man, tolerated more for his title than his merit. But even he has his standards, and when he learns of a rival’s plot to seduce and then steal from a helpless spinster, he vows to stop him.

Ingram’s noble sentiments and uncharacteristic sincerity are in for a shock, however, as he discovers that the hopelessly gullible Ariadne is in fact a clever and shrewd woman who’s got more than a silly giggle up her sleeve. As the two team up in a devilish scheme to bring about the final undoing of Dorsey, cooperation turns to admiration and then attraction, and they discover that their last chance to repair their reputations may also be their first chance at finding true love.

*****

A Rogue’s Rescue is a fun little romantic double-cross.  Ingram thinks that Ariadne is a sucker, the perfect mark for a man looking to take advantage of her for her money.  But she’s actually savvy, smart and has a plan to show a rogue like Dorsey a thing or two.  She’s a little different than the average society lady but that’s perfect for Ingram because he needs someone a little different, someone who will see beyond the reputation that society has given him.  He may not have been an angel as a young man, but he’s definitely grown into a fine gentleman … people just choose not to see it.  Because of the charade that they both are living, the delusion they operate under is entertaining and it’s very sweet once they finally start to get to know the real people underneath.  I so love that these two found each other.  And the setup that they have for Dan is fun and adds that extra bit of sass and fun to a story of two people falling in love.

This is a fast read and comes in at just at under 100 pages, but it’s perfect if you are looking for a bite-sized regency romance.  A perfect way to spend a pretty summer afternoon, surrounded by lords and ladies and a little intrigue.