Synopsis
Eleanor (Ellie) is from Chicago but is hiding in Oregon from her drug trafficking ex-boyfriend and the dirty cop making threats against her life.

Tyson is the sheriff in the small town in Oregon where Eleanor ends up staying. He is attracted to her but is suspicious because her story does not add it.

Opinion
The story was okay. The trope girl-on-run-falls-for-law-enforcement was overdone. Maybe I am jaded because I read a lot of books, but there was nothing new.

Tyson is so intrigued by her secrets that he cannot keep his hands out of her pants…

This turns to love a few days later.

It is funny to me that in these types of books, the policeman is so sure of his judgement of the heroine’s character. The girl is acting suspiciously and her story seems like she invented on the spot.

Dude, you are blinded by lust.

Another thing, I did not like Tyson. He was supposed to be the law-abiding man who could get kinky with his lady. I do not mind kink, but something about his character put me off, like he was too grimy for my taste. I actually read the book twice because I was trying to identify what exactly it was that I did not like about him. Logically, it would seem that I should have liked him especially when he said stuff like:

“I can go from vanilla to red velvet in under ten seconds.” -Tyson

Maybe it was the insta-love. After 1 day, he is already taking her to meet his family?

Should you buy? If you can get it on sale, it is not terribly bad. It is a time filler but do not expect too much in relationship development. If you like the girl-on-run-falls-for-law-enforcement trope, then this will appeal to you. The love scenes were (to borrow Tyson’s expression) more red velvet than vanilla. That might appeal to you.

Book details from Goodreads
Kindle Edition, 105 pages
Published July 20th 2010 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (first published July 17th 2010)
Series Holding Out for A Hero #1

Available on Amazon

F is for Fall #atozchallenge #ABCofRomance @AprilA2Z

Apr7

Fall Hard: Navy SEAL contemporary romance (SEALs Undone series Book 2) ♥♥♥

Synopsis

Jared is a Navy SEAL and Cassie is a divorcee living next door. They are good friends that like hanging out with each other.

“She was in a man-free period in her life and happy for it.”

After a while, Cassie began to see things with Jared differently.

“She’d started to want him to play with her.”

Jared wants her too, but thinks that his secret might turn her off. **NO SPOILERS**

Opinion

This seems like your typical friendship turn lover scenario. Jared’s secret put an interesting twist to the whole story. I had to read the sentence twice. Trust me that his secret was unexpected to say the least.

At any rate, his secret does not mean the end of the relationship. This was a good thing in my opinion because Jared was a sweet guy. Cassie deserved some happiness as well.

This is a short novella, so there was not much character development or fluff to the story.

As with all books with SEALs as main characters, there was a lot of profanity.

Also, the loves scenes were very detailed.

Should you buy? Yes. I say read for Jared’s secret alone! I do not know why this fascinated me so much but it did. Plus I have a soft spot for SEAL romances. The story is short enough that you will finish in an hour or two.

Book details from Goodreads
90 pages
Published December 26th 2014 (first published December 23rd 2014)
series SEALs Undone #2

Available on Amazon

E is for Embattled #atozchallenge #ABCofRomance @AprilA2Z

Apr6

Embattled Hearts (Military Romantic Suspense) (Lost and Found Book 1) ♥♥♥

Synopsis
John is an ex-Marine who is now wheelchair bound due to an injury. He now works at an investigative agency with other veterans.

Shannon is the office manager for the same company. When a stalker begins terrorizing her, John moves in to watch the house and her feel safer.

Opinion
This was cute in the sense that John and Shannon both had crushes on the other person. Shannon tried to be nice to John, but he was so surly all the time. She lusted after him from afar.

“The man was sex on wheels, literally, and it was all she could do not to jump into his lap.”

“The man was too sexy for her peace of mind.”

John was a total grump because he wanted Shannon but thought that she deserved better. He would rebuff her niceties but still put out the vibe to all the other guys in the office that she was his. In a way, it was good that she had a stalker terrorizing her, because it gave John something else to do than feel sorry for himself. The conflict allowed his alpha-male to manifest itself. While he maybe have been in a wheelchair, it did not prevent him from fully taking care of business.

The villain in this book was off the charts crazy. When it is revealed who all is involved, I was surprised that I did not figure it out sooner. There were a few red herrings that the author threw in along the way.

Should you buy? I think this is a good book to buy if you like suspense romance. The suspense is not too intense or gory but I think you will still be entertained. If you can figure out the villain before they are revealed, let me know in the comments. There is explicit language (should be a given considering John is ex-Marine).

Book details from Goodreads
Kindle Edition, 262 pages
Published December 13th 2013 by J.M. Madden (first published February 1st 2013)
series Lost and Found #1

D is for Dangerous #ABCofRomance #a2zchallenge @aprila2z

Apr4

Dangerous ♥♥♥♥

Synopsis
Prudence is 25 (old maid by Victorian standards) and meets with Sebastian in the middle of the night to request that he not fight her brother in a duel. Sebastian is intrigued that Prudence has such a lack of regard for social conventions, that he grants her request. Additionally, they share an interest in investigating mysteries.

It seems that Prudence is constantly getting into precarious situations and Sebastian feels obligated to stick close to her in order to help her. Prudence has nothing but confidence in Sebastian’s abilities to protect her because she thinks he is a gentleman despite his supposed reputation.

Opinion
Before I begin, I must preface this opinion by saying that I have loved Amanda Quick’s writing style since I was a teenager (all her heroes are my book boyfriends). Even though a lot of her books have a very consistent formula using a surly, but honor bound hero and a very independent, sometimes rash thinking heroine, I find her books very entertaining. This book met expectations and did not stray from the proven base formula.

One of the things that I most enjoyed about this book is the dialogue between Sebastian and Prudence.

“My dear, there are occasions when I don’t know quite which it is that I admire most about you: your cleverness or your passionate response to me in bed.” – Sebastian

Prudence’s reply, “I know it is a difficult choice.”

Of course, Prudence rarely listened when Sebastian told her to stay in one place. This led to many potentially risky situations. Sebastian took it all in stride. He knew his woman.

“I had a hunch you wouldn’t follow orders” – Sebastian

He only had himself to blame for marrying a woman who shared his enthusiasm for investigation.

Prudence was not my favorite heroine of all of the books that I have read by Amanda Quick because at times I thought she seemed to be shrewish. However, I think that Sebastian’s personality was so strong that it didn’t matter as much that she was too bossy because he’s only going to let her get her way when he wants her to. The most important aspect is how she made him feel and that was all that mattered.

She was so warm and he had been cold for so long.

Should you buy? Yes! Especially so if you are a Victorian romance fan. I think you will laugh out loud at some of Prudence’s antics.

Book details from Goodreads
Paperback, 339 pages
Published April 1993 by Bantam Books (first published January 1st 1993)

Available on Amazon

On a Rogue Planet #netgalley #arc

Mar5

On a Rogue Planet (Phoenix Adventures Book 3) ♥♥♥♥

Synopsis

Malin is a salvage mechanic who has not had the best success in the romance department. Of course, previous lovers blamed her for whatever problems there were. This leads to her insecurities.

While on a business trip, she inadvertently is placed in the middle of a planetary coup. Xander is the security cyborg who needs to find an ancient artifact that will help him to restore order to his planet.

Along the way, Malin and Xander explore their chemistry for each other, even though it is questionable how vested in a relationship Xander could be since he is a cyborg.

Opinion

How did I feel about this book?

Why did I love this book so much? Mainly, I think it was because of the characters. Malin was a mechanic and she falls for a cyborg. The first story where the heroine could actually “fix” her guy.

I like that she was a strong female lead character. She had her sensitive moments, but she saves Xander quite a few times. Xander was as much of an alpha-male as a character can get, but even he had to admit he needed help.

“He told her he didn’t follow orders, but he followed hers just fine”

Secondly, the energy of this book was high packed from the first few pages. They are on the run from people who want them dead. To get the relic to save Xander’s people, they have travel all over the galaxy. It was so interesting, I was anxious to see how they would get out of each perilous situation.

Thirdly, the supporting characters (good and bad) added another layer to the story giving more depth. The reasons the villain had for wanting to destroy a race of people – totally twisted. That guy was insane.

While On a Rogue Planet (Phoenix Adventures Book 3)is a standalone book, it is the third book in the series. Now that I have been introduced, I need to find the first two books.

Should you buy On a Rogue Planet (Phoenix Adventures Book 3)? YES! This story is part “Indiana Jones”, part “Star Wars”, and part “MacGyver”.

There is plenty of action.

There is a cyborg who finds his humanity.

“Malin Phoenix brought out the best in him”

There is a woman who is no damsel in distress.

“You look pretty in bare feet and that ripped dress.”

It is a trifecta of a story. There is so much to the plot that appeals to me. If you like high energy sci-fiction, I think you will enjoy the action-packed romance as much as I did.

I received ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Click this link to buy on Amazon On a Rogue Planet (Phoenix Adventures Book 3)

As a side note: As explained on IMDb, MacGyver was an agent for the Phoenix Foundation devoted to righting the wrongs of the world and thwarts the enemy with vast scientific knowledge. In “On a Rouge Planet”, Malin’s last name is Phoenix and she is just as talented as MacGyver with her mechanical knowledge.

Coincidence? I think not.