Tag Archive | amazon

The title should be “Convincing Clay to learn how to trust”

Hailey Lambert needs a job so she can settle down. She does not know what she is getting into when she goes to the job interview for the business manager position at Clay Cardell’s ranch. Her mouthiness gets the best of her on more than one occasion, but that is not necessarily a bad thing considering Clay Cardell orneriness.

Clay does a good job trying to keep up his guard around Hailey because he has learned from experience that the people who are supposed to love you most often leave with a great deal of hurt and pain. Plus most women have an agenda to get what they want. Once the get it, they are done. No matter what Hailey did, he had to be put it all into context since she was foremost a woman.

As the reader finds out, the book gives some of the history that made Clay into the sad, lonely person he is the way he is. Constant emotional abuse is bound to leave lasting scars. Trouble is that those scars make it difficult for the person coming with true love to be accepted. So many times when Hailey would make progress, something would happen to plant another seed of doubt in Clay’s mind and have him questioning her motives all over again.

This story is about trust, patience, and the ability of love to heal invisible wounds. These are two imperfect, dysfunctional people who have enough in common with their core beliefs to make the relationship work. In the end, it is good for the both of them that Hailey did not give up on Clay because that would have made them both miserable. They were two of kind that were meant to be together.

That being said, this book is SUPER long. I read on my Kindle so I have no concept of book lengths these days. When I read a regular book, I average 100 pages a hour. I don’t know if that is speed reading but that is my average. When I started reading, Amazon said this book is about 400 pages. So I am thinking this would be about 4 hours of reading time. I ended up finishing 6+ hours later so I would estimate that the page count would be close to 600 pages. Unfortunately for me, I was reading this book on a work night and by the time the book got really interesting I should have been going to bed. It has always been hard for me to put a book down so close to the end, so I kept reading until I finished (late nights and early morning don’t mix well). So keep this in mind! It is best to read this on a Saturday afternoon if you are like me and want to read the whole book in one sitting.

If you like Western romances, I suggest reserving the afternoon to read Taming Clay

***Additional side note*** there are quite a few f-b0mbs in this book, if strong language offends you. These are cowboys and cowgirls whose language can be coarse. Not everything will be “Aw shucks” and “Darn it”

He is a cutie in a coma

Aug6

Sleeping Handsome – Jean Haus

This the story of a young, rich girl (Paige) with so many insecurities regarding her social status that she uses her money to keep fake friends. But when her supposed friend throws her under the bus metaphorically for cheating at school, she is forced to deal with the duplicitous nature of her friend.

As part of her punishment, she has to read to a young boy who is in a coma. This task becomes more interesting when she finds his journal.His journal of unfettered thoughts provide a window into his view of life and the issues that affect him.

Her conversation with him, through responses to his journal entries, is equally uncensored because he cannot hear her since he is in a coma. While the reading is thought to be therapeutic for him because it stimulates his brain activity, it helps her to develop and mature emotionally to have healthier relationships with the people who are most important in her life.

The story was short and sweet. I liked the way that it ended. This is a good read for a young adult because it emphasizes the importance of being true to oneself. Only then will a person be able to be happy.

This wary widow gives me mixed emotions

Jul30

The Wary Widow – Jerrica Knight-Catania

Chloe is a widow in London to be with her cousin’s Elizabeth “Lizzie” acting in the capacity chaperone. Lizzie is engaged to Andrew. But things to do not turn out as expected, when sparks fly between Chloe and Andrew. Chloe is in a situation where her heart and mind are waging war because she knows that whatever she chooses, there will be definitely casualties.

I do not usually enjoy stories where one person is already in a relationship at the beginning of the story. I know it should make me feel better to know that two people married for love instead of settling for a lackluster mediocre union. I was also annoyed at what all it took for Andrew to finally decide on an socially acceptable way to marry Chloe. I think he was playing with fire by indulging his desires to be with Chloe before he had things totally worked out with her cousin. He should have thought about the implications of his actions.

If I am reading a story where there is some sort of love triangle, I like it better knowing that the person who is cast aside so the two main characters can follow their heart is a very unlikable character. In this case, I felt sorry for Lizzie. She was an unsuspecting victim in this situation who ended up with hurt feelings. Although in time she will see that everything happened was for the best, she has a lot of feelings of hurt and betrayal to deal with first.

That was the only negative of the story for me. I thought Chloe was a sweet girl who deserved to find someone special since she lost her husband. Her and Andrew’s romance might not have started in the best way, but I think that they could possibly have a stronger relationship because of all that they went through to be together.

I realize that I am talking about these characters as if they are real people. I think that says something about the author’s ability to weave a story that seems so real that the reader is at the point of emotional involvement.

Check out the book for yourself and let me know what you think – The Wary Widow: The Wetherby Brides, Book 3

Romance Novel Review: Hot Westmoreland Nights – Brenda Jackson

Jul11

Introverted, sheepherder Ramsey Westmoreland is more interested in his sheep than a relationship. He was emotionally detached because he was burned years ago by an unfaithful woman. So when he is approached by a successful woman’s magazine, Simply Irresistible, to be their fine, sexy front page model, he says no. Chloe is the editor of the magazine and decides that she will not take no for an answer. She travels out to his ranch with the intentions of changing his mind. Because of a case of mistaken identity, she does not get to tell him about that and ends up working for him as a ranch cook for two weeks.

It may sound really farfetched, but once you read how it happens, you can understand how Chloe got in the predicament. And then it is funny, but you know the time is going to come when the truth is going to come out.

While struggling to deal with the issues that made them both previously swear off relationships, Ramsey and Chloe have to come to terms with the fact that they have more than a passing attraction. And they do, it makes for some hot and steamy nights!

For more about my thoughts on author Brenda Jackson, check out post http://wp.me/p1P7gt-3U

Romance Novels: This is not REAL life people!

Jul2

Since I like to try to read books in a series, in the future, I will be reviewing several romance novels by the author Brenda Jackson. This post about the author is to give you an idea of what to expect when you read her books.

I like to say that Ms Jackson’s books are short novels (about 200 pages) since the books I usually read are double in length. I have read one book from her Kimani series and several more from her Westmoreland series. The Westmoreland series feature members of the super-rich Westmoreland family. Each generation of the family likes to have a lot of children. Even though they are born into a wealthy family, they have all appreciated what advantages they have had financially to work in various fields of expertise from professionals to sheep farmers. As a result, they are no strangers to hard work and they are down-to-earth (insert your daydreamy “Ooooo” here).

Ms Jackson’s books follow a simple formula:

Guy meets girl.
The intense attraction and desire between them is immediate (they cannot explain or deny their lack of self-control).
For whatever reason, one or both of them do not want a long term relationship
They usually fall in love in a matter of weeks. (from the books I have read so far, I think the quickest was 2 weeks)

Some readers who have bought Ms Jackson’s books have complained in their reviews about the lack of realism. To that I reply, “Whatever!”. I do realize that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but people have to be reasonable. By choosing a romance novel, I think that a reader has to suspend normal belief to think that all of these short, passion filled relationships are going to lead to a long term, lasting happy marriages. I am sure it is possible, but the odds are not very likely. With inventive and fanciful storylines, these books are contemporary fairy tales, not to be confused with real life. Knowing the predictability of Ms Jackson’s books does not detract from the entertainment value for me.

If you are looking for real life romance stories, look it up in the encyclopedia. If you want an amusing diversion in the form of a romance novel, Ms Brenda Jackson will not disappoint.

That being said, as I read her books, I will be summing them up and reviewing them on here.