Tag: Cat Johnson

Guest Review: Midnight Ride by Cat Johnson

Posted August 7, 2015 by Whitley B in Reviews | 2 Comments

Midnight Ride by Cat Johnson
Whitley’s review of Midnight Ride (Midnight Cowboys #1) by Cat Johnson.

One bucking bronco…
Oklahoma ranch hand Tyler Jenkins is too young, too sexy, and too damn wild to be tied down by any single woman—for more than a few steamy hours…

One hard-working widow…
Widowed rancher Janie Smithwick is too busy paying off her debts to play rodeo with a reckless young cowboy like Tyler—no matter how hot he gets her…

One midnight ride they’ll never forget…
As a rule, Janie should be dating a man her own age, like her handsome neighbor Rohn—not the twenty-four-year old ranch hand he employs. But once Tyler gets Janie alone—held tight in his arms, pressed against his hard muscled body, burning with desire—the widow realizes that some rules, like broncos, are meant to be broken…

Okay, so, I was at work one day (I work in a library) and someone turned in this book. It was just sittin there on the counter, looking up at me, all hot and sexy and wearing a too-small t-shirt.

“Hi.”

“How you doin’?”

“Yeah, you need to come home with me.”

Literally all this book had to do was give me a hot 23 y/o cowboy and then get out of the way. Let’s face it, my motivations were not the most literary.

I swear, this was a short-story that someone decided to turn into a novel by adding in every single inane thought that they could think of. There was so much padding, so many descriptions of every little action and item. Do I really need to know every step of this lady baking a pie? Or exactly what’s involved in cleaning up for dinner? No, no I don’t.

But I was willing to pay my dues and put in the time to get to shirtless sexy 23 y/o cowboy. And when it came time for the sexins? When I finally got my shirtless sexy 23 y/o cowboy? Still with the padding! This is not a good time for a two paragraph detour into talking about boots! Let the man take his damn pants off! I was so annoyed by that point that I just had to call it quits.

(And he kept wearing his hat indoors. The book kept specifying that he was wearing his hat indoors. IDK why that annoyed me above all else, but it got me downright twitchy.)

Rating: DNF

This title is available from Zebra Books.  You can purchase it here or here in e-format.


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Guest Review: Texas Two-Step by Cat Johnson

Posted February 20, 2011 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Judith‘s review of Texas Two-Step by Cat Johnson

Londoner Maryanne Morrisey finds the companionship she’s missing by making friends on the Internet with fellow rodeo fans in the United States.  Her fiance Robert doesn’t understand her new obsession.  His mocking is just one more thing in a long list of things that convinces her that he is no longer the man for her.  Perfect timing, because Maryanne is flying to Texas  where two rodeo cowboys are waiting to show her the ropes.  


Annoyed that he has to pick up his sister’s British online buddy at the airport, tie-down roper Wes Griffin drags his best friend Shooter with him.  Misery loves company until they see Maryanne getting off the plane.  When her sexy accent makes his heart do the two-step, Wes begins to wish he had kept Maryanne all to himself because Shooter is just as intrigued.  After the nasty end of Maryanne’s engagement, she is more than willing to take on both cowboys, but is Wes now willing to share?


Let me say right from the outset that again this is one of my favorite authors.  When I first discovered ebooks I downloaded a couple of Cat Johnson rodeo cowboy short novels and immediately was captivated with her story telling style.  That is not to say, however, that I think all her writing is on the same plain.  As with all authors, especially those whose portfolio contains lots and lots of publications, there are bound to be less appealing stories, or those that are not as well written.  I think this novella falls somewhere in the middle.

There is no doubt that in all her short stories, novellas, and short novels, Cat Johnson has proven her ability to tell a very good story.  Whether or not a reader likes the subject matter is beside the point.  Her erotic fiction often has a menage at the core.  Here that is the case with Maryanne, Wes and Shooter.  Wes’ sister is really the contact on the Internet that has been corresponding with Maryanne for months.  Yet Wes’ sister really does not have a major role to play in this story.  Neither does the fiance Robert, a British attorney who has been ragging about one thing and another, being hyper-critical of almost everything Maryanne wears, does, says.  That he turns out to be a schmuck is no surprise.  I think she would have broken off with him when she returned to the UK without any doubt.  However, it was an inadvertent call to his office at a time when he supposedly was too busy to go to lunch with her most days–that she finds out that he has no problem going to lunch with the “other woman.”  It turns out that he is still living with Maryanne as a matter of convenience.  Nice guy!

There is no doubt that Maryanne finds a level of excitement and passion with Wes and Shooter that she has not experience for a very long time with Robert.  Once again I think Cat Johnson tells her stories in such a way that there is a bit of hero worship, star-struck kind of stuff such as Maryanne feels for rodeo and its participants.  Yet this is Maryanne’s opportunity to experience what they are about and while these two good ole boys start out enjoying her company much as they have numerous other female fans, something happens between them, especially between Wes and Maryanne that has far more substance.  I have noticed that this often happens in Johnson’s Western tales.

This is certainly not a literary “heavy” but it is very readable, highly enjoyable, and one that is not very long.  But I think Johnson gets the job done  in that the relationship between these three individuals is hot, erotic, but also becomes caring — deeper than the surface sexual encounter.  I’m not convinced this is her finest work, as I think a couple of her other short novels just stick out as really, really good examples of her writing expertise and I think the substance of the story is not quite as thin.  That being said, this is again a delightful Johnson creation and I am glad to have read it.  In the end, I think she made these characters come alive and that is the goal of every good writer.  I think Johnson fans will enjoy this piece.

I give it a rating of 3.75 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.

This book is available from OmniLit. You can buy it here in e-format.


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What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted March 30, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 14 Comments

Happy Sunday (night)!

I kept meaning to post this earlier today but real life got in the way. My oldest has her state project due tomorrow and we were putting the finishing touches on her display board and her speech. Hopefully she’ll ace this one…I think she will.

The hubby’s b-day gathering with my family was fun. Everyone was late so we were starving by the time everyone got here. I swear I need to tell my family to arrive at least a 1/2 hour earlier than everyone else. Of course when they’re the only one’s attending… What’s a body to do?

And I just opened my email and got one from Kelley Armstrong! Holy shit if that’s not enough to put icing on the cake of a great weekend, I don’t know what is! lol She was just letting me know I’d won one of her books on DIK but dang – that’s very cool! If you didn’t get a chance to read her posts this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday you should – they were great.

I didn’t post it last week cuz there was so much going on but if you want to read my review on Bound and Determined by Shayla Black you can do so here.

Ok – so I didn’t feel like I read that much this week but when I stopped and looked at the list I guess I did. 5 were short stories so they don’t really count as 5 – just 1 novella, really. lol


So my first read of the week was Coyote’s Mate by Lora Leigh. Book 112 in the Breed series…ok, not that many but the latest. I liked the story but yet I didn’t. It hurt my heart. Truly it did. I thought that the heroine held onto her anger way too long but she finally let it go and saved herself nicely. Then the hero did something uber retarded…and frankly the way his character was written he should have friggin known better. He knew the score on soooooo many things – things other didn’t – in fact he made it his job to know. The fact that he pulled this thing and supposedly didn’t know what would happen was too unlikely for me – and I’m a damned forgiving reader. It made it just an ok read for me in the end. I still liked the series though and I’m looking forward to Cabal’s book.


Next up was The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer for my re-read challenge. I’ll post my review on Tuesday. Oh and I’m only 2 weeks into the TBR challenge that I gave myself and I’ve fucked up already. This one has been on my shelf for so long I’m counting this as my re-read and my TBR. Yeah, I suck! lol (the book is so old I couldn’t even find a decent picture for it!)

Next were 4 short stories by Amber Kell…the Moon Pack Series – Attracting Anthony, Baiting Ben, Courting Calvin and & Denying Dare (all m/m stories). I read about these at Kris ‘n’ Good Books and since I like novellas and shorts I picked them up and read them quite quickly. While they weren’t the best shifter stories I’ve read…since out of the 4 shorts only 2 people actually shift, but they were cute. I had some issues with editing and words left out & giggling men (which is never my favorite) but other than that they were ok.


When I was buying the Moon Pack series from All Romance ebooks I got a free short called Friends with Benefits by Cat Johnson. A very short story about a couple who’ve known each other since 8th grade and just recently have become friends with benefits. However when one of them sleeps with someone else (they weren’t exclusive) then the female of the pair starts to look at her feelings about the relationship. Cute short read. Heroine a tad annoying but she was ok.


Gorgeous as Sin by Susan Johnson I read for The Book Binge. I’ll let you know when my review is posted.


Last but not least was Temptation Ridge by Robyn Carr. Good book. For the most part I really liked it. It was a little syrupy in parts but overall a good story with a lot going on…which is one of the things I love about the series. I have to admit that when I closed the book I said “awwwww” lol

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Happy Reading!


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