Tag: Country Roads Series

Review: Undressed by Shannon Richard

Posted September 16, 2015 by Holly in Reviews | 3 Comments

Review: Undressed by Shannon RichardReviewer: Holly
Undressed by Shannon Richard
Series: Country Roads #5
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: February 3rd 2015
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 224
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She knows the rules of the game . . . but she can't resist his moves
Publicist Abby Fields's career is on the rise. And with failed romances in her past, she has no time for men. When a job opportunity opens up with a sports team in Florida, Abby eagerly packs up and heads south. Yet after a work event in Mirabelle, Florida, Abby finds herself in the arms of a hockey player whose heartstopping smile leads her to the steamiest night of her life . . .
Logan James is hot on and off the ice. With his team on an epic winning streak, life couldn't get better . . . until he meets Abby, the fiery redhead assigned to protect his team's image. Now Logan's finding it difficult to concentrate on anything other than getting Abby undressed. But after a secret is leaked to the press, the taste of betrayal opens old wounds. If they can't learn to trust each other, they may risk losing more than their hearts.
(50,000 words)

I haven’t read any of the other books in this series. I was kind of hoping to get a feel for the author’s writing by testing out a novella first. I enjoyed it enough to search out the first full-length book.

Abby recently moved to Florida and accepted a position in PR for the Jacksonville Stampede, a professional hockey team. Career-wise, this a great move for her. It’s also a good move for her on a personal level, since she recently had a bad breakup and wants nothing more than to be away from her ex and to focus on her career. All is going well except when it comes to star player Logan James. They rub each other the wrong way on a personal level, and professionally Logan blocks her attempts at promoting him at every turn. He wants his private life to stay private, which makes Abby’s job very difficult.

There’s an undercurrent of attraction and desire neither acknowledged until they ended up snowed in a small cabin on their way to a publicity event. They start drinking and playing a game and …well, it wasn’t long before they spent the best night of their collective lives together. Abby has a no-fraternization policy in her contract, so she pushes to keep their night quiet and a single thing. Logan understands why, and he’s all for keeping it quiet since he’s a very private person, but he doesn’t want it to be a one-time thing. He realizes there’s more to Abby than he first thought and he wants more of her – both in bed and out.

When the reason for Logan’s private reserve is made public, Abby and Logan have to take a hard look at their relationship and decide if what they have is worth fighting for.

I liked both Logan and Abby. Their antagonism toward each other in the beginning was kind of fun, and I liked how much chemistry they had. The main conflict – the no-fraternization clause in Abby’s contract – seemed believable given her profession and his position with organization. It was easy to see they had physical chemistry, but they formed a deeper connection as the story progressed. Their solid connection early on helped see them through their tribulations.

This was a sweet, well done romance. I fell right into the story and look forward to finding more from Richard.

3.75 out of 5

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Review: Unstoppable by Shannon Richard

Posted July 5, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Rowena’s review of Unstoppable (Country Roads #3) by Shannon Richard.

“Funny, sassy, and sexy. Reading Shannon Richard is pure pleasure!” — Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author

Some things you don’t dare let go . . .

Melanie O’Bryan knows life is too short to be afraid of taking chances. And former Air Force sergeant Bennett Hart is certainly worth taking a chance on. He’s agreed to help her students with a school project, but she’s hoping the handsome handyman will offer her a whole lot more. Yet despite his heated glances and teasing touches, Mel senses there’s something holding him back . . .

Bennett Hart is grateful to be alive and back home in Mirabelle, Florida. Peaceful and uncomplicated-that’s all he’s looking for. Until a spunky, sexy-as-hell teacher turns his life upside down. After one smoldering kiss, Bennett feels like he’s falling without a parachute. But with memories of his past threatening to resurface, he’ll have to decide whether to keep playing it safe, or take the biggest risk of all.

This is the third book in the Country Roads series and by far, the one that I enjoyed the most.  This book follows Melanie O’Bryan and Bennett Hart as they fumble their way toward true love.  Melanie is a high school teacher and Bennett works in construction.

This book takes place a few months after Melanie was shot in a robbery gone wrong (that we saw in the second book, Undeniable).  Bennett has been a really great friend to Melanie as she tries to get her life back on track and it doesn’t come as a surprise that she develops a huge crush on the guy. A crush that she’s hell bent on ignoring because Bennett doesn’t seem to be returning the crush. As far as she’s concerned, he’s completely happy with the arrangement they have in place as FRIENDS ONLY. So she lets things ride and then things start getting interesting.

Bennett is always around. He’s hanging out at her house until late at night, watching movies and having dinner with her and then he’s around at work, helping her with a huge construction project that takes a lot of time and energy. When she’s just about had enough of the sexual tension that she thinks is all one sided, Bennett steps up to the plate and things heat up.

I think what I like about this series is that it’s different from the other series out there. There isn’t a huge complicated plot going on here, it’s just two everyday people falling in love with each other. There aren’t any huge monsters to conquer or bad guys to out to get them. It’s just Melanie and Bennett fighting their inner battles standing in the way of something that could be pretty great.

Melanie was a great heroine who had a heart as big as the world and was just an all around good person. I loved the relationships she had with her best friends and the relationship she had with her family, especially her younger brother. She wasn’t overly complicated, she was a simple woman who was content with the life she led. She was real and she was honest and I really liked her. I liked that she wasn’t a pushover and when things got to confusing and when Bennett was being a complete dummy, she let him know. She wasn’t one to suffer in silence and she knew her worth and that was great to read about.

Bennett had more of the internal battle going on and while some of the times, I wanted to shake him up (especially when he pushed her away at the hospital) but when he finally gets his head out of his ass, he made for one sexy stud of a hero that I really came to love.

This was my favorite book in the series and I was so glad to have read it. If you’re looking for a sweet, small town romance than look no further than this one. It’s great, I promise.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

This book is available from HQN. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: Undeniable by Shannon Richard

Posted May 14, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Undeniable Shannon Richard
Rowena’s review of Undeniable (Country Roads #2) by Shannon Richard.

“Funny, sassy, and sexy. Reading Shannon Richard is pure pleasure!” -Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author

THEIR LOVE WAS UNDENIABLE

Grace King knows two things for certain: she loves working at her grandmother’s café and she loves the hunky town sheriff. She always has. As she bakes him sweet treats, Grace fantasizes about helping him work up an appetite all night long. But whenever she thinks she’s finally getting somewhere, he whips out some excuse to escape. Growing up, he never looked twice at her. Now Grace won’t rest until she has Jax’s undivided attention.

Jaxson Anderson can’t deny that his best friend’s kid sister is the sexiest woman in Mirabelle, Florida. Unwilling to burden Grace with his painful past, Jax keeps the sassy blonde at arm’s length. Yet one heated kiss crumbles all of his carefully built defenses. But when a town secret surfaces, threatening to destroy everything they believe in, can the man who defended Grace from bullies as a child protect her now?

Undeniable is the second book in the Country Roads series by Shannon Richard.

Grace King has been in love with Jax Anderson for as long as she can remember.  Their relationship started back when they were kids and Jax would protect her from the bullies in school.  Grace’s home life was always talked about in their small town and her older brother Brendan King spent a lot of years protecting Grace from the talk and from getting hurt.  He had a lot of help protecting Grace from his friends, Jax and Shep.  While Grace has grown up feeling loved and has been happy for the most part, she longs for the companionship of a man and she’s always wanted that man to be Jax.

There’s history between Jax and Grace.  They grew up together, Jax’s best friend is Grace’s older brother but there’s a bond, a connection between Jax and Grace that goes beyond anything she’s had with anyone else.  Grace knows that Jax is it for her and she’s tired of waiting for him to figure it out.  They’ve been battling wits for years and he’s still holding her at arms length.  In this book, Grace takes the gloves off and goes after what she wants.

But with Jax, things are so complicated.  Growing up the way that he did, he thinks that Grace deserves so much more than he can give her.  She deserves everything that he’s not good enough to provide, even though he wants to.  Jax has a nightmare of a father and his father has gotten into Jax’s head time and time again and it’s hard to listen to everyone else when he’s been told over and over again how worthless he is.

Jax and Grace’s story is one of those childhood friends, best friend’s little sister stories that I adore.  I liked both Grace and Jax in Undone but I liked them a whole lot more in this book.  It was nice to get in both of their heads and see where they were coming from with the things they thought about their situation.  I liked that it wasn’t dragged out and kicked to death.  It was dealt with over the course of the book and the story was still interesting enough that I wanted to continue reading.

The thing about this series is that it’s not an in your face series with stories that jump out and grab you by the throat.  It’s more of an ice cold glass of coke after a long day in the hot sun kind of read.  It’s a slow build kind of story that unfolds slowly but everything in the story is cute that you don’t mind.  I thought this romance was sweet and I wanted to cuddle it close.  Jax and Grace aren’t perfect characters but their imperfections made me like this story more.  It’s probably not for everyone but I liked it and I’m glad that I read it.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

This book is available from Forever. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: Undone by Shannon Richard

Posted January 22, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Undone
Rowena’s review of Undone (Country Roads #1) by Shannon Richard.

Things Paige Morrison will never understand about Mirabelle, Florida:

Why wearing red shoes makes a girl a harlot
Why a shop would ever sell something called “buck urine”
Why everywhere she goes, she runs into sexy-and infuriating-Brendan King

After losing her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend, Paige has no choice but to leave Philadelphia and move in with her retired parents. For an artsy outsider like Paige, finding her place in the tightly knit town isn’t easy-until she meets Brendan, the hot mechanic who’s interested in much more than Paige’s car. In no time at all, Brendan helps Paige find a new job, new friends, and a happiness she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel again. With Brendan by her side, Paige finally feels like she can call Mirabelle home. But when a new bombshell drops, will the couple survive, or will their love come undone?

This was a sweet romance from cover to cover. It was one of those romances that is slow to unfold but not necessarily boring. There isn’t any big plot that is drama filled or anything like that. There’s just a man and a woman who meet and fall in love with each other. They learn to care for each other and then from the friendship, a love grows. I thought it was a cute story. It wasn’t one of those stories that is filled up to the brim with drama and bogged down with everything under the sun. It’s just a romance novel that is really big on the romance.

For me, this book was one of those stories that will probably not be popular because not a lot is going on except two characters growing close with each passing page but it worked for me.

Paige is down on her luck.  She lost her job, moved in with her boyfriend and when he breaks up with her, she moves back home to her parents house.  Only, they don’t live in the same house that she grew up in.  They moved to a small town and she’s not feeling welcome.  She’s gone on multiple job interviews with no call backs and after months of putting up with everything, her car breaks down…and she finally catches a break.

When Brendan showed up with his tow truck to pick up Paige’s car, he wasn’t expecting to find such a beautiful woman to come along with it.  After that meeting, Brendan finds that he can’t get her out of his mind and he embarks on a full pursuit of her and his pursuit was too freaking adorable.

The meeting, the attraction and the build up made this book such a cute story and I enjoyed it.  It’s a little on the light hearted side but it was perfect for what I was in the mood for and I definitely recommend this book.

3.25 out of 5

This book is available from Forever. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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