Casee‘s review of Real Men Last All Night by Lori Foster, Lora Leigh, Cheyenne McCray, and Heidi Betts.
Luring Lucy by Lori Foster
All Lucy was looking for when she went to her vacation home was in innocent fling to quell the yearning she had felt since her husband died four years ago. She never expected her longtime friend Bram to lure her into a love affair so hot.
As I was reading this first story in the anthology, I had a major case of déjà vu. I could have sworn that I had read a book by Lori Foster about someone named Lucy years ago. I blamed it on the pain pills and continued. I didn’t get much farther before I realized that I HAD read it before and that Luring Lucy is in fact a re-print. That annoys me. Especially when the back of the books says “In this hot new collection”. Notice the word new? I almost decided not to continue, but I really like the other three authors.
In Luring Lucy (first published in the Hot and Bothered anthology), Lucy has returned to the beach house where she caught her husband cheating. At 39, Lucy is determined to get her life back; to start she’s going to have a hot affair with her lawn boy. That’s before Bram shows up and throws her plans all to hell.
Bram has been in love with Lucy since the moment he met her. When she married his best friend, David, he stepped aside, never revealing his true feelings. When he learns that she’s on a mission to have an affair, he races to the beach house to inform her that any affair she’s going to have is going to be with him.
My annoyance about the whole reprint thing aside, I really liked this book.
4.25 out of 5.
Cooper’s Fall by Lora Leigh
Former ranger turned bar owner Ethan Cooper never expected to get an eyeful of prim Miss Sarah Fox from his attic window one hot summer afternoon. But now his blood is on fire for the delicious little minx.
Cooper’s Fall begins in typical LL fashion. Ethan Cooper is in his attic (it was never really revealed why he’s in the attic) and see’s his hot next door neighbor, naked and touching herself down by her pool. When he sees some interesting body piercings she has, Cooper starts thinking that “Miss” Sarah may not be the good girl she portrays herself to be.
Sarah Fox moved into a small town hoping to fit in. After a tragedy in her past, all Sarah wants is peace and a little happiness. She thinks she can find it the small Texas town she moved to. After two years of living there, Sarah has almost no friends. When she goes to the bar, she gets hustled out like she’s someone’s kid sister. She’s enraged when she finds out that Ethan Cooper is behind her getting snubbed. She decides that the town is not for her, but before she leaves, she’s going to give him a piece of her mind.
Cooper felt protective of Sarah from the moment she came into town. He put the word out that she wasn’t a conquest for any of the men that were only looking for that. When she confronts him, he realizes that his initial order has gotten way out of hand.
Sarah was a good heroine. Cooper was one of those heroes that had to have a heroine that would stand up to him. Sarah would take any of his crap. I also appreciated how she made no bones about her feelings for him.
4 out of 5.
The Edge of Sin by Cheyenne McCray
Zane Steele lives a life of extraordinary danger as a government agent and has never let anyone get too close. Then he sees the one woman who changes his life forever.
When Zane first see’s Willow, he’s instantly attracted to her. Though he has no plans to approach her, he can’t keep his eyes off her. What he doesn’t realize at first is that she has noticed him too. He also learns what a force Willow can be.
On the day they meet, Zane and Willow have sex in a restaurant they’re at for their first date. It sounds totally sleazy, but it was hot. They just had this instant attraction to each other that they can’t deny.
As they get closer, Zane continues to ignore the problem at hand. As a top-secret government agent, anyone close to him can be a target by people like the mafia, terrorists, etc. He doesn’t want Willow to get hurt b/c of him, so he’s kind of stuck. On one hand, he doesn’t want her hurt. On the other hand, he doesn’t want to let her go.
I enjoyed this story. I really liked Willow at first, but as the book went on, I found myself thinking “Seriously?”. I mean really, who acts like she does? And it wasn’t the sex in the restaurant that did it either. It was any number of other things. It just seemed that a girl like Willow wouldn’t have lasted long in the world. She seemed too good to be true.
3.5 out of 5.
Wanted: A Real Man by Heidi Betts
Claire left her high school sweetheart Linc, in search of a better life. Ten years later she needs his help as a U.S. Marshal to find her missing daughter…Linc’s daughter. Reeling with the knowledge of a daughter he’s never known, Linc sets out to claim what’s his.
This is my favorite story in the whole book. I love reunion stories; I can take or leave secret baby stories. In this novella, I had both. And they worked very well together.
Claire left her small Pennsylvania town when she was 18, determined to not fall in the footsteps of everyone else in town. The hardest think she ever did was leave Linc, the boy she loves and always thought she would marry. She just doesn’t want to restrict herself to small town life.
What she didn’t know when she left was that she was pregnant with Linc’s baby. I never really did understand why she didn’t go back. She hadn’t been in California for very long before she realized she was pregnant. Instead, she married some guy who said he would take care of her. That was the only part that I didn’t really get.
When Claire decides to divorce her husband after 10 years, he takes her daughter and leaves town. His family is uber powerful, so Claire is convinced that they’re going to falsify DNA documents so Jonathan can get permanent custody of Sara. Scared and worried, Claire tracks Linc down who is now a US Marshal.
Linc has never forgiven Claire for leaving him the way she did. When she comes and tells him that he has a daughter, he is floored. And furious. He didn’t think there was any other way Claire could betray him, but he finds out there is. When she tells him what’s going on, he agrees to help her, albeit unwillingly.
Linc and Claire have always had an undeniable connection. When they travel back to San Francisco, they can’t ignore the pull. I loved the relationship between these two. You could just tell that no matter what happened, they were meant to be together. I loved it.
4.5 out of 5.
Overall, I would have to say 4 out of 5.
This book is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can buy it here.
Leave a comment for a chance to win Real Men Last All Night!
I hadn’t heard of this one before – I’m in!
Sounds great. Count me in please.
Sounds good all of them !!
Great review. Sounds like a hot, hot book. Count me in.
All the stories sound good.
Count me in!
This sounds great!
Ooh,I love all those ladies, please enter me.
Great review Casee 🙂
wonderful review Casee!
this books sounds pretty good!
Great review. They all sound great.
I’ve heard great things about this book. Please enter me. Have a great day.
this book is in my wish list. Would love to win it.
I haven’t had a chance to read any of Heidi’s books yet, but Lora Leigh, Cheyenne McCray and Lori Foster are 3 of my favorite authors.
I’m really looking forward to read this book, Heidi’s piece in particular !!
hot love these authors
have nto read hot and botered
so that sounds good to me
very hot cover
kh
This sounds really good. I would love to be entered.
This anthology sounds great. I love Heidi Betts and was happy to see her novella get a 4.5 out of 5.
I’d love to be in the running for this one.
Cheryl S.
This looks so yummy! Count me in!
bjwaldron@gmail.com
I am so with you on the reprint in the anthology. I had been looking forward to this one every since I first heard about it. It has 3 of my fav authors in it, what is not to like.
Then I read that Luring Lucy was in it and was a little bit disappointed. I loved Luring Lucy…when I read it the first time.
It seems like they are doing this more and more. Spice (Naughty Bits) had an anthology with Sarah McCarty and a bunch of other writers, and I got it for her short story, only to find out it was a reprint. Was very disappointed by it becuase her story was the one I bought the book for. I HATE it when they do that!!!!
However, I would love to win a copy of Real Men. I don’t have Luring Lucy and REALLY want to read the Leigh & McCray stories and am intrigued that you liked Betts story the best
cldivineATyahooDOTcom
Don’t count me for the giveaway I just wanted to say I agree that it is so annoying when an anthology has a reprint for an author you really like. I don’t know why they can get away with it. I seems like such a lie, because you’re not getting all 3 books you are paying for.
Count me in please.
Sounds good, i do wanna read more anthologies.
oooo I wanna read this. I hate re-prints if they don’t say that’s what they are, bleh. I haven’t read Hot and Bothered though so it’s all good with this one lol
Definitely a book that I want to read. It’s got 3 of my favorite authors in it. I also hate when there’s a reprint in a book if I’ve already read it, luckily I haven’t read Luring Lucy yet.
I loved Luring Lucy…when I read it the first time.
I agree exactly. It was good the first time. If I wanted to re-read it, I would have gotten Hot and Bothered out.
Enjoyed to the review, count me in!
I’m SO sorry that you thought my story was new. Mine is the only one that isn’t, I think.
I guess the publisher can say it’s a new “collection” since the books have never been grouped up before. But yeah… I hate misleading readers – even though I had nothing to do with it. LOL
Thanks for having nice things to say about the story anyway.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Lori
Looks like a good book, please enter me into this drawing.
Thanks for hosting this giveaway.
jake.lsewhere[at]gmail.com
Please count me in.
Rose G.
this sounds good,please enter me in the giveaway
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net
gotta love the title – count me in
msboatgal at aol.com
Love the sound of all the stories so count me in too please.
I enjoy reading all those authors so its great to have one anthology of them all together! I think I remember that book of Lori Foster’s too. Count me in, thanks!
cathiecaffey(at)gmail(dot)com
Sounds like a great book! Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
With a great review like that I have to enter!
Oooh, please enter me! I love these authors, and have enjoyed their other writing. Anthologies are fun, when you get a taste of each of them!
I enjoy Lori Foster and Lora Leigh’s work, so count me in.
Diana
This sounds so good!
Sounds like the perfect beach read! I love the short stories so I can read and people watch at the same time. lol
I don’t remember reading that particular Lori Foster. She’s one of the author’s I decided to start with the first book and work my way to the most recent because I’ve loved so many of her books. The other authors are also some of my favs. I started Lora Leigh and Cheyenne McCray when they where only in ebooks. Please count me in!
lynda98662 at yahoo dot com
Sounds great I have read 2 of the 4 authors and really liked them and want to read more of their stories -haven’t read the one that is a reprint – that would have bothered me to.
budletsmom at yahoo dot com
I would love a chance to win this book. Count me in please 🙂
This sounds great, I would love to read it!
marielay@gmail.com
The stories sound great. I would love a chance to read this Book. Casee your reviews are really great
I really been wanting to get this book. I want to read The Edge Of Sin because of Zane. I really enjoy The First Sin and been looking forward to this book.
An anthology sounds great about now. I want something to read, yet I don’t want to commit to a full length book.
rsgrandinetti@yahoo(dot)com
Can’t wait to read this one! Please count me in for a chance to win.
leann-28@hotmail.com
thanks for the chance to have 4 great authors/stories together in one book. Count me in.
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
I love all the authors so please count me in.
justanothermusing @ yahoo .com
Loving the cover, the authors and now your review has decided it for me: please count me in for the giveway, thanks!
Great giveaway. Please add me too.
I have added this one to my TBR list. I am always looking for different authors to read.
JOYE
JWIsley (at) aol (d0t)com
I love short hot stories – something to go with the morning coffee before work! Count me in please.
Miranda
mdwartistry at yahoo dot com
This giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced this week.
Thanks to everyone who entered!