Series: Westmoreland series

Guest Review: Breaking Bailey’s Rules by Brenda Jackson

Posted April 6, 2016 by Judith in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: Breaking Bailey’s Rules by Brenda JacksonReviewer: Judith
Breaking Bailey's Rules by Brenda Jackson
Series: Westmoreland series #30
Also in this series: Bane
Publisher: Harlequin
Publication Date: November 3rd 2015
Add It: Goodreads
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four-half-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

Rule number one for Bailey Westmoreland: Never fall for a man who would take her away from her tight-knit family's Colorado home. So why is she following rancher Walker Rafferty all the way to Alaska? Bailey tells herself she owes the sexy loner an apology, and once she gets there, it's only right to stay and help him when he's injured…isn't it? Before long, Bailey realizes home might be where you make it—if Walker is ready to take all she has to offer.

Any lover of romance who has also come to appreciate interracial stories knows about and appreciates Brenda Jackson.  Her Westmoreland Family series has gone on now for years, and while some reviewers have panned her stories as formulaic and predictable, I still like to read her work.  Ms Jackson is a writer who is unashamedly open about her interest in human relationships and family dynamics.  She has covered the full spectrum of emotion as well as the situations people either cause or in which they find themselves victims.  She is also not subtle about her heroes being alpha males, many of whom are unwilling to settle down to one woman.  Money, opportunity, careers, and a long list of other variable make these men challenges in and of themselves.

However, in this story, the challenge is a young woman who is comfortable in her skin, who wants to be appreciated for who she is, who enjoys her independent ways along with the full involvement in a family that is energetic to say the least.  Her one requirement for anyone looking to become involved with her romantically, long-term partner or permanent significant other, is that she will never leave Colorado.  It is her home in more ways than just geographical.  She is connected to the land, the environment, the mountains’ majestic presence, the sense of “home” she shares with her Westmoreland family.  She believes there is someone who will be the passionate partner she is seeking and who will want to keep her happy in the land she loves above all other.

Now there pops up another possible branch of the Westmoreland clan, and the connection is not a happy one or acceptable in many ways.  To acknowledge this family is to accept that there was hurt and infidelity in the past, and that is so not OK.  Walker Rafferty is a close family friend and one that is sent to investigate the possible connections between previously unknown relatives and it is meeting Bailey that throws a wrench into his life.  His efforts to interest her in some kind of romantic liason are rebuffed—that’s probably too mild a descriptive—and in good conscience Bailey realizes that she has some fences to mend after Walker returns to Alaska, a very long way from Colorado.

As always, Ms Jackson draws her characters with a deft and sure skill, giving readers a full imagination of what these characters look like, how they think, what they yearn for, and how they go about finding ways to reach their personal relational goals.  Bailey is a woman that can be lovely and kind, but she has the ability to be as uncomfortable as a thorn bush.  The slow progress that Bailey and Walker make toward some sort of connection is the core of this story, and while it is certainly a movement toward “happily ever after,” it is not a comfortable story.  I always find a Brenda Jackson a good read.  It is balanced between the need to keep a story line clean and moving forward and the erotic content.  It is not just about their sex life but rather how all the elements of their humanity gradually merge to make it possible for these two to connect on a deeper, more lasting level.

It’s a good book, a fun read in many ways, and a nice way to spend an evening.  Just the kind of experience a lover of good romance enjoys.

I give this book a rating of 4.5 out of 5

four-half-stars


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Guest Review: Bane by Brenda Jackson

Posted February 25, 2016 by Judith in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Bane by Brenda JacksonReviewer: Judith
Bane by Brenda Jackson
Series: Westmoreland series #31
Also in this series: Breaking Bailey's Rules
Publisher: Harlequin
Publication Date: December 1st 2015
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
five-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

After five years, navy SEAL Brisbane Westmoreland is back home on his ranch and ready to reclaim the woman he left behind. But when he tracks her to Dallas, he's in for a shock.

Crystal Newsome isn't ready to forgive Bane for saying he loved her then vanishing from her life. Only now the beautiful chemist needs his protection. As their own irresistible chemistry takes over once again, can Bane keep Crystal safe and convince her they can have the second chance they both deserve?

It appears that with this 31st book in the Westmoreland Family Saga, Brenda Jackson is finally leaving this clan behind.  Yet she is bringing that era to a close with a bang.  Those who have read previous books in this long, 13 year series, have met most of the characters in her books many times over.  She is always careful to give sufficient context so that readers can keep track of these various people.  Lovers of this series and of Jackson books in general have been waiting for this book for quite some time.  And it is not a disappointment.  There is love and laughter, dismay and disappointment, deep love and anger, history and yet a future that is in doubt, especially when Chrystal’s own personal safety is on the line.

I doubt that there is a woman alive who would wait patiently for a spouse from whom only one contact was received in five years.  Yet Bane comes home ready to resume his life with Crystal and finds a wife that has no open arms of love spread for him.  Instead he finds anger and upset and becomes quickly aware that he is going to have to work hard to once again find himself accepted in the regard and love of a woman he has loved all his life.  His reasons for seeming to abandon Crystal and her present need for Bane’s protection are all strands in a story that is complicated and convincingly realistic.  The threads of the story weave in and out and form a story that will hook the reader’s imagination from the first.  Bane and Crystal have never lost that chemical magic that sustained their early love.  Finding a new foundation upon which to rebuild is challenging and very much a part of how this all plays out for these two.

Brenda Jackson is, quite simply, one of my favorite authors.  I have read her books for years and whenever I see a new one I am on it like white on rice.  This book was no exception and whether one has read all the books in this series or just a few, the energy level, the consistent skill and evident expertise have never wavered no had Ms Jackson ever disappointed her fans.  She uses the best kind of language, full of descriptive words and  a much appreciated balance between dialogue and monologue.  Her characters are people of deep family loyalty and in spite of how they choose to live their lives, each has a clear inner core of morality and integrity.  This is a fine piece of writing and a credit to its creator.  It is well worth the time and effort to read and enjoy.

I give it a rating of 5 out of 5

five-stars


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