Tag: Bluebonnet series

Review: The Virgin’s Guide to Misbehaving by Jessica Clare

Posted June 5, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: The Virgin’s Guide to Misbehaving by Jessica ClareReviewer: Tracy
The Virgin's Guide to Misbehaving by Jessica Clare
Series: Bluebonnet #4
Also in this series: The Expert's Guide to Driving a Man Wild
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: June 3rd 2014
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Playing innocent is easy.

After being the quiet, shy girl her whole life, Elise Markham is ready for a mental makeover. She’s done keeping to herself and staying out of trouble—it’s time to break out of her shell and maybe meet someone intriguing in the process. So, on a photography trip to Bluebonnet, she has a whole lot more on her mind than snapping photos, especially when Rome walks into the picture.

Playing dirty is fun.

The newest instructor at Wilderness Survival Expeditions has a colorful past, to say the least. Having come from a family of notorious con artists that destroyed his credit and reputation, all before his eighteenth birthday, Rome just wants a decent job and a quiet life in a town where no one knows his name. He’s exactly the kind of bad boy that an innocent girl like Elise should stay far away from.

But Elise is tired of doing what’s right. She’s ready to throw caution to the wind—and let Rome show her just how exciting being bad can be…

Elise Markham has absolutely no self-confidence. She once had a large port wine stain on one of her cheeks and was once chosen to attend a dog party (bastards!), so besides being painfully shy she doesn’t think she’s worth looking at. Though she had the port wine stain lasered off she still sees it every time she looks in the mirror. On top of that she feels she’s one step away from the Hunchback of Notre Dame because of her scoliosis. Sure she had surgery but her hips don’t line up and she has one shoulder higher than the other – who would want someone so freakish?

Well, Rome Lozado would. He’s quite taken with Elise but thinks she’s scared of him as she won’t ever talk to him. He doesn’t understand it at all and wishes he could ease her fear. Rome is out getting a drink when it starts to storm. His attempt to get home on his motorcycle fails and he ends up seeking shelter at the local B & B. Elise is there alone but is happy to let him stay until the storm passes. They start drinking beer and eventually Rome discovers Elise isn’t scared of him, she has an almost debilitating shyness. He manages to loosen her up with a question and answer drinking game and they discover they a lot about each other.

The next day Elise heads out to her brothers Survival Expeditions ranch to see Rome. She ends up asking him to take her virginity (brave girl). Rome agrees and they decide to meet. What started out as a sex date turns into a real date – with more dates to follow. The more time that Rome and Elise spend together the more they like each other. Too bad Elise’s brother Grant wants Rome to stay far away from Elise and threatens Rome’s job. Grant judges Rome by what he sees on the outside without getting to know the man inside. Because of this may just end something beautiful between Rome and Elise.

What a sweet book this was. I just loved Elise’s and Rome’s characters and together they were on fire.

Elise – with her painful shyness and lack of self confidence made my heart hurt. She seriously thought she was horribly ugly and because she was so sheltered all of her life she sometimes couldn’t even talk to people. Elise thought Rome was incredibly hot with his piercings and his tattoos but she just couldn’t talk around him. I was so happy when he finally figured out that she wasn’t scared of him and he so gently brought her out of her shell. I though Elise was perfect for Rome who had had such a horrible life up until that point.

Rome was…oh man, I’m not sure I can come up with enough adjectives to describe how wonderful he was. He was kind, thoughtful, hard-working, hot, sweet, gentle & sexy to name a few. He is amazing with people and Elise in particular. Despite his horrible parents he is an honorable man, though a tad bit self-sacrificing. I was so happy when Elise didn’t give up on him when her brother tried to scare him off. He was worth it in the end.

This was a great story that had wonderful characters, was written well and was fun to read. What more could I ask for?

Rating: 4 out of 5

Jessica Clare 

four-stars


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Guest Review: The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male by Jessica Clare

Posted July 25, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

13516163Tracy’s review of The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male (Bluebonnet #2) by Jessica Clare

Beth Ann needed a hero…

Beth Ann Williamson has finally had it with her on-and-off fiancé of nine years. The problem? No one in town seems to believe her when she says it’s really over. Now Beth Ann is determined to show the small town of Bluebonnet, Texas, that she can take care of herself. That means opening her own salon and not taking the help that her ex-fiancé seems determined to offer.

Of course, even the best laid plans go awry when she’s stranded in the woods in the middle of a downpour. Some independent woman she is. She can’t even find her way out of the woods without the help of a handsome, but scowling, Marine.

She got more than she bargained for…

A die-hard survivalist, Colt Waggoner’s none too pleased when he’s sent to find the town’s pampered princess. He’s even more annoyed when Beth Ann isn’t grateful for the rescue. Fine, then. He’ll just have to teach the sexy blonde a lesson–a weekend of roughing it out in the wild. Just the two of them, alone, in muddy, wet clothing that needs to come off…

But Beth Ann isn’t the spoiled princess he thought. And when she propositions him for a one night stand, he knows he should turn it down. Because this alpha male might need more than just one night in her bed to satisfy him…

Beth Ann was with her boyfriend for 9 years but during that time he cheated on her multiple times. She would break up with him, he would woo her back and then he’d eventually do it again. Why she stayed with him for 9 freaking years was beyond me. She finally got the balls to break up for good 10 months earlier. She’s started her own beauty salon in the town of Bluebonnet but no one knows why she broke up with Allan. The townspeople are constantly asking her when she’s going to marry that nice boy Allan, etc. and it goes on and on. Beth Ann is darned sick of it but no matter how many times she says she’s not getting back together with him the people just smile and move along, acting like they hadn’t heard her at all. Even Allan doesn’t believe that it’s for good – the slime.

One night Beth Ann is asked by her mother to go find her 17 year old sister who apparently has snuck out of the house to attend a Questmaster tournament. Beth Ann heads out into the rainy night but can’t find Lucy. The tournament eventually gets evacuated because of the rain but Beth Ann has no idea. In steps Colt who is a volunteer evacuator and a survivalist. He recognizes Beth Ann’s car and plans to go into the forest and teach her a lesson – apparently the two have never gotten along. (I didn’t read book 1 so I never actually saw them not getting along.) Colt tells Beth Ann that there’s no way out of the woods and they’ll have to spend the night. After one night though Colt realizes that he actually likes Beth Ann – he’s just lusted after her before this – because she’s got a backbone and goes with the flow – not the prissy girl he believed her to be at all.

After the first night they end up sleeping together and that pretty much starts the relationship. Throughout the book Colt is loving and caring and thoughtful and Beth Ann just soaks it up. The problems start when Beth Ann finds out that Colt lied to her about their first weekend together because trust is a big issue in her life as she never had any in Allan.

The story was pretty easy-going with Colt and Beth Ann relationship. The conflicts arose mainly from Beth Ann’s ex, issues with Beth Ann’s business and of course the whole trust issue. I really liked the story so much but I have to say there was just too much sex in the book for me. I enjoy sex scenes in books if it furthers the story but for me a lot of the scenes in TCaFoaAM were superfluous and I found it a bit annoying. I had a real issue with Beth Ann not standing up for herself with the people in the town and Allan himself – although she did tell him no repeatedly. I also would have liked to have seen Beth Ann’s parents reaction to Colt as they considered him to be poor white trash. Beth Ann’s mom said to Lucy that if Lucy were ever with one of “those Waggoner boys” it would give her father a heart attack. But then we never saw what happened when the parents found out about Colt and Beth Ann.

In the end though I thought it was a good story that I enjoyed very much. I definitely recommend this one if you’re up for a sweet sexy story.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Series:
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This title is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


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