I hope you and your children (if you’ve got em) have a wonderful and safe Halloween!
Happy Halloween!
Tagged: Halloween
Month: October 2013
Tagged: Halloween
Guest Review: Take Me, Cowboy by Jane Porter
Ames‘ review of Take Me, Cowboy by Jane Porter.
When Jenny Wright’s fiancé leaves her standing at the altar in a Vera Wang bridal gown she can’t afford, she’s humiliated and heartbroken. To have Marietta hero bull riding champ Colton Thorpe witness her shame – makes the rejection even more devastating. Jenny and Colton grew up in the same rough neighborhood and they both left home right after school to pursue big dreams. Now they’re both back, with Colton as the celebrity chair for the 75th Copper Mountain Rodeo, and Jenny in disgrace.
Sexy, rugged Colton didn’t get to be a national champion by chance. He’s a man that takes risks and goes after what he wants. During the rodeo weekend, Colton makes it clear he wants Jenny. Flustered but flattered, Jenny finds it difficult to resist his charm. But what happens when the rodeo ends and Colton leaves town? Will she dare to dream again?
Take Me, Cowboy begins with Jenny’s wedding day and her groom, a stuck up ass named Charles, ditching her before the ceremony even begins. He’s a rich jerk and seeing Jenny’s humble beginnings shakes him and so he cries off. Jenny is devastated and embarrassed and just hits the road, walking away from the church. When Colton spots a woman in a wedding dress walking down the street, he’s unable to resist the urge to help. He offers to drive her home, thinking she lives in the good part of Marietta, but learning she’s from the wrong side of the tracks, like he is, making him realize that he knows Jenny. She’s his younger sister’s childhood friend.
Jenny had the biggest crush on Colton when she was younger. And on this day, the worst day ever, she realizes she still has feelings for him. And over the next week, Colton is going to realize Jenny is all grown up. But he doesn’t do commitment…and he definitely does not care for golddiggers.
I liked this one until I read the ending. LOL This novella definitely suffers from being too short. The story was going along and then BOOM it was done.
But first the good stuff. I thought it was an interesting choice of the author to have Jenny start getting over her non-wedding the day of! When Charles called off, Jenny was hit with some hard truths about their relationship and the choices she had made up until that point. She sacrificed love and passion for security and dependability. Her parents had a loving marriage but a tough life. She wanted better and thought she got it. But Charles calling things off was actually a springboard to Jenny discovering who she was and what she really wanted.
Colton was bitter about marriage. He realized too late that he married a gold digger. So even though running into Jenny after all this time and realizing he was attracted to her, he was worried that she was a golddigger. Which couldn’t have been further from the truth. So I like that these two developed a friendship first. Yes, it was fast, but they had a shared past, so its not like they were total strangers.
Now what bugged me was the ending. Colton had a good reason for wanting to avoid commitment and even though he realized Jenny wasn’t a golddigger, I thought he changed his mind pretty darn quick. I would have liked to have seen some internal dialog from him about his switcheroo at the end.
But overall, this was a cute, quick read. 3 out of 5.
This book is available from Tule Publishing. You can buy it here in e-format.
Tagged: 3.0 Reviews, Ames Reviews, Contemporary, Guest Reviews, Tule Publishing
Guest Review: (Never) Again by Theresa Paolo
Tracy’s review of (Never) Again by Theresa Paolo
Just when she had finally moved on…
…He moved back.
When college freshman Liz Wagner hears her ex’s voice for the first time since he moved clear across the freaking country, she does what any respectable girl would do: Dive into the girls’ bathroom.
Zach Roberts—the Zach Roberts—is back. And he’s everywhere Liz looks—infiltrating her friend group, buddy-buddy with her brother. It’s enough to ruin college altogether. But what choice does she have but to put on a happy face and pretend he didn’t leave her vulnerable and alone in a pile of emotional wreckage?
Pretending works, until tragedy strikes and the only person available for comfort is the one person she wants to stay away from. When Zach turns out not to be the jerk she convinced herself he was, but the boy she used to love, Liz needs to decide whether to open her heart again to the boy who tore it out.
Liz Wagner is having a great freshman year. She’s got great friends and a great boyfriend and all is well – until she sees her old boyfriend standing in the hall near one of her classes and realizes that he’s a student at the same school.
You see Liz and Zach had been incredibly in love and inseparable during their junior year of high school. Then Zach’s dad took a job transfer and he ended up moving across country. Liz was devastated but dealt with it all in her own way. She was managing until Zach stopped calling and she never heard from him again. She eventually found out that Zach was still in contact with her brother but that didn’t mend her broken heart.
So it’s been over a year and Liz thinks she’s way over Zach and tries to deal with having him back in her life but everywhere she turns, there he is. She doesn’t want to be jealous of the girls showing him attention but she soon realizes it’s because she’s still in love with him. Of course where does that leave the boyfriend, Joe, that she supposedly loves and is about to give her virginity to?
This is the story of two kids who were once in love and have reunited – not necessarily in a good way. I had some mixed feelings about the whole book and while I really liked parts of it, others just kind of left me cold.
I think the major part of the problem was that I really didn’t connect with either Liz or Zach on a deep level. The story was told in first person from Liz’s point of view and I frankly got tired of her really fast. I wanted Zach’s thoughts in there as well and Liz just seemed so very whiney and immature that it was hard to like her. The other major issue was the depth of the love between Liz and Zach that they supposedly had. Maybe I’m just cynical and don’t think that 16 year olds know whether they’re in love for a lifetime or not. I just don’t see that intensity happening in high school. Sex? Yes. Abiding love? Not so much.
The one part of the story that I really liked was Zach. Now, granted, I saw him strictly through Liz’s eyes but I thought that guy was smart, funny, had his head on straight and didn’t let his peers run his life. His major flaw, IMHO, was that he wanted Liz. I know, ouch. Sorry, but that’s just my opinion.
In the end I thought this was a “good” read. Not great, not horrible but good.
Rating: 3 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This title is available from InterMix. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Tagged: 3.0 Reviews, Contemporary, Guest Reviews, Intermix, New Adult, Reviews, Theresa Paolo, Tracy's Reviews
Guest Review: A Simple Twist of Fate by HelenKay Dimon
Tracy’s review of A Simple Twist of Fate (Hanover Brothers #2) by HelenKay Dimon
The Hanover brothers are doing their best to live down the legacy of their con artist father…but they still have a knack for getting in trouble where romance is concerned.
As the lawyer of the family, Beckett Hanover ought to be sorting through the many claims filed against their family estate—which the brothers have recently inherited from their grandmother. But something about the housekeeper, Sophie, keeps stealing his focus…
Little does he know, as he flirts, what else she intends to steal. The truth is Sophie took the job with one purpose in mind: to help her aunt. But she never expected to find a man like Beck or get sidetracked by the handsome hottie’s sweet talk and broad shoulders. Between her secret and Beck’s past, the two are headed for one risky romance.
Sophie Clarke is the cleaning lady for the Hanover brothers but she’s not much of a cleaning lady. She spends a lot of time at their house but doesn’t do much cleaning. She’s actually there to try to find some jewelry that her aunt was conned out of by the Hanover brothers father. Beck doesn’t know this, not that it would chance much, and he’s falling for Sophie in a big way. Fortunately for him, Sophie’s falling for him as well.
The story here is a pretty simple one. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, angst ensues. I actually like that formula so this book worked for me. Beck is a thinker and I think he thought about Sophie way longer than a lot of men would have. I think most men would have acted on their lust/feelings before Beck actually did. When Beck and Sophie finally kiss and she makes the move on him – he actually turns her down. Whaaaaaa? lol I know! That’s all explained later and it was a good explanation so I have to forgive him. :0)
Beck and Sophie finally get together and she explains exactly what’s up and why she’s searching the house. I thought Beck was very understanding and I admired the fact that he trusted her to not make a shambles of his family and to stop looking unless he’s around. Of course when Sophie is caught in a possibly damning situation and Callen gets all up in her business does Beck stand up for her? No. He lost major brownie points because of that.
He recovers though and he actually does it with the help of Callen who originally almost hated Sophie. Callen did the most growing in this book (especially with another blow he received) and I really liked him more because of it. He knew when he was wrong, admitted it and tried to help those he’d wronged. How could I not like him? I think I’m really going to like his book a lot, just sayin.
In the end the dust was turned up with all the family members and I’m looking forward to see how it settles in the next story.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
The Series:
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
The title is available from InterMix. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was received by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Tagged: 3.5 Reviews, Contemporary, Guest Reviews, Hanover brothers, Helenkay Dimon, Intermix, Reviews, Tracy's Reviews
Review: Once She Was Tempted by Anne Barton
Portrait of a Lady
…or is it? The risqué painting owned by Benjamin Elliot, the earl of Foxburn, features a stunning beauty with sapphire eyes, golden hair, and creamy skin. Ben recognizes this particular English rose the instant he meets her—though she’s wearing considerably more clothing. In person, the demure debutante is even more irresistible…
In desperate need of money for her sick mother, Daphne Honeycote had posed for two scandalous portraits. Now she must hide her secret to save the Honeycote family name. Ben’s possession of one painting makes him an insufferable thorn in her side—and yet he may be her best chance at finding the canvas’s companion. As she becomes drawn to the dark-tempered earl, can Daphne risk laying bare the secrets of her heart
Daphne Honeycote once sat for two portraits that her friend Thomas painted. One of his clients commissioned the portraits and they were never supposed to leave their remote home in the country. She benefitted by earning some coins that went to pay down some of her family’s debts. When Benjamin, the Earl of Foxburn tells Daphne that he owns one of the paintings, so therefore the other one may be out there, Daphne is mortified. She never worried about the consequences of her actions when sitting for the paintings – she would do it again if it saved someone she loved – but she was living in St. Giles at the time and never dreamed she’d be going to balls and getting to know the ton.
Benjamin – despite his crusty outer shell – has a thing for Daphne. He SO doesn’t want to admit it and even when he does he chooses to ignore it, but he offers to help her find the second painting. As they work together to find the painting – an attend a house party together – they have their ups and downs but they get to know each other and soon find themselves falling in love. The painting, however, is out of their grasp and it just might ruin Daphne in the end.
Oh this was such a cute book. I think it had me laughing and sighing and smiling throughout most of it. I think the main reason for that was Ben. Ben was a man who had been in the war and lost his best friend AND gotten shot in the thigh. He is in almost constant pain and he’s just miserable. His emotions are all over the place because he thinks himself as pretty worthless. On top of that he’s not one to keep his mouth shut just to spare someone’s feelings. He tells it like it is. He sounds like a jerk but he was really very kind and I wanted him to find love with Daphne if only for him to drag himself up from the emotional pit he was in. I was pulling for him and Daphne from word one and that didn’t stop throughout the book.
Daphne was a pretty great character as well. She could so easily have run to her new brother in law, the duke, and spilled her tale of woe and easily gotten out of her predicament but she saw the merit in taking care of it herself, with Ben’s help. This also put her in close and constant contact with Ben so that was an extra plus. At the end of the book Daphne is even more wonderful when she owns up to what she’s done and I admired her even more.
The story wasn’t too terribly intricate nor filled with spies, kidnappings and damsels in physical distress. What it was was just a wonderful love story about two people who were meant for each other and the road they took to find love. It was simply romantic and I loved that about it.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Tagged: Anne Barton, Forever Publishing, Review, Reviews, Tracy's Reviews