Tag: J. L. Langley

Throwback Thursday Review: His Convenient Husband by JL Langley

Posted January 9, 2020 by Tracy in Reviews | 14 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: His Convenient Husband by JL LangleyReviewer: Tracy
His Convenient Husband by J.L. Langley
Series: Innamorati #1
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Publication Date: September 4, 2009
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Genres: M/M
Pages: 134
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

A temporary arrangement? Don't bet the ranch on it.

Innamorati, Book 1

At the tender age of seven, newly orphaned Micah Jiminez lost everything and got lucky. The Delany family opened their hearts and their home, treated him like one of their own. One Delany in particular, though, became more than a brother to Micah. The handsome and protective Tucker is the man to whom he wants to give his love.
But after a single passionate night together, Tucker rebuffs him and hightails it to Dallas to pursue his dreams. Leaving Micah to pick up the pieces of his broken heart and feeling like a fool.

The impending death of the Delany patriarch brings an unsavory relative out of the woodwork, threatening Micah's beloved adopted family. They're going to need all hands in the fight to keep The Bar D from being pulled out from under them all including Tucker. Micah steels himself to convince the man he can't forget to come home.

To his everlasting surprise, it's Tucker who comes up with the perfect solution: a marriage of convenience to Micah. His gut tells him Tucker's motivation involves nothing more than saving the ranch. Now he just has to convince his fragile heart.

This title has been revised and expanded by more than 10,000 words from its original published version.

*** Every Thursday, we’ll be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books. Enjoy! ***

This review was originally posted on January 9, 2010.

The blurb tells us a lot about what’s going on so I won’t go into too much detail. Micah, who’s had a thing for Tucker for most of his life, goes to Tucker because he’s in a bad spot. The Bar D is in financial trouble and Tucker’s grandad, owner of the ranch, is dying. Micah needs Tucker to look over the will that Micah found to see if anything can be done about saving the ranch from the hands of the oldest son, Duncan. Tucker decides to help the ranch out by marrying Micah. You see in the will it says that the first person to marry gets the ranch – even if the marriage is between two men. The marriage only has to be legal somewhere not necessarily in Texas, which is where the story takes place.

I think this story was a bit old school in the fact that the marriage was of convenience. I didn’t mind that so much as I minded the fact that Tucker thought of it and acted on it so quickly. I realize that time was a wastin’ but it happened so fast I was a bit surprised.

At first I thought that Tucker was a complete bastard. The way he was treating his current man-interest was a bit shocking but I soon came to see that it was his way of dealing with men that he truly didn’t want to get too involved with because he still had a thing for Micah – even though he wouldn’t admit to it. He changed his tune once he was back on the ranch and became a much nicer guy. A bit stifling for Micah but with good intentions.

I enjoyed Micah’s character’s strength. He did what needed to be done around the ranch and the Delaney men listened to him. When Tucker came back to the ranch and tried to take over a bit I was happy to see that Micah stood up for himself.

That said, I wish that the story had been a bit longer. I would have liked to have seen a bit more time taken in making the decisions that were made and maybe delving into a few more characters a little deeper but what was there, I liked. I understand this is an extended version of a shorter story that was previously published. Maybe I can hope for an even more extended version? lol I won’t hold my breath. 🙂

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars

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What I Read Last Week

Posted November 5, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 3 Comments

Hey there!

This was an all around quiet week at home once Halloween
passed.  I did attend my friends funeral
on Saturday which was really difficult but that was ok too.  We have a memorial garden here at the church
I work at and he was buried there and that was nice. I told his sister I can now go bug him whenever I want. 🙂 Here’s my favorite picture of the garden –
its very serene.

So on to what I read:

I started off the week with Never Seduce a Scot by MayaBanks.  As you’ll see if you read my full
review I saw this on Nath’s blog and just HAD to read it.  It was really good and I’m so glad I
did.  Warring clans, a deaf mute heroine,
hot highlanders – what’s not to love? 
You can read my full review here. 
4.25 out of 5

Next up was My Regelence Rake by JL Langley.  This is the newest in the Sci-Regency series
and while I didn’t find it quite as good as books 1 & 2 I still really
liked it.  This is Colton’s story and has him pining after the
Captain of the Guard at the palace, Sebastian. 
Sebastian is also a Lord in his own right and though Colton has made no secret of the fact that he
wants Sebastian, Seb has pretty much brushed him off.  When Colton
finally decides to move on as he feels he’ll never get the man, Seb finally
notices him.  Now this was a good story
but there were a few things that bothered me. 
The main one was the fact that Colton
and Seb had to get married to avoid scandal. 
While this always adds a bit of angst, this is the 3rd book
in this series that’s had that happen. 
Really?  Three boys married from
the Royal family and all of them had to get married to avoid scandal?  I’d like to see just a plain ole romance with
some other angst involved.  Not that this
one didn’t have “other” angst.  We also
got a bit of Raleigh/Steven page time and I enjoyed that immensely.  3.75 out of 5

Some Like it Wicked by Carole Mortimer was my next
read.  This is the story of a Pandora who
is a widow and is being cut by the ton after she gets out of mourning because
her husband supposedly died in a duel with her lover.  She is saved from being attacked at a ball by
a man the ton calls Devil and has a horrid reputation himself but yet never
gets cut.  He saves Pandora and then won’t
go away and eventually ends up asking Pandora to marry him for his own
reasons.  This was a cute book and was
pretty entertaining.  You can read my
full review here. 3 out of 5

Next was a re-read called Kiss and Kin by Kinsey W.Holley.  I wanted to read book 2 in the
series but couldn’t really remember book 1 so I dragged it out again.  I remembered what happened almost immediately
after I started reading but re-read the whole thing anyway.  The story is about a wolf shifter, Taran, who
is in love with his brother’s cousin by marriage, Lark, but she’s a woman who
was basically raised by his parents so it’s a bit weird for him, and her.  Lark’s in love with Taran but has no idea
that she’s his mate.  He’s a cop and
investigating the disappearance of some women in town and when Lark is almost
abducted he has to protect her and one thing leads to another, etc.  I gave this book a 3.75 after the first read
and a 3.5 after the second.  The ending
wasn’t quite as satisfying this time around. 
Yes, the “bad” guy was caught but he wasn’t the only bad guy out there
so the fact that everything seemed A-ok was a bit annoying.  3.5 out of 5

Next in the series was Yours, Mine and Howls by Kinsey W.Holley.  This story is pretty unrelated
to the people in book 1.  The characters
are vaguely connected but it can definitely be read on its own.  The story is about a 30 year old woman who is
bringing the son she raised from the age of 5 to his uncle’s house to meet him
for the first time.  Ally and Cade, the
Uncle, don’t get along but yet their mates. 
Ally actually died and was brought back to life by a deity of
sorts.  The story is about Ally and Cade’s
romance as well as several other things. 
While a good book I thought there was way too much packed in to just one
story.  Too many bad guys for sure, and
when they started getting into the history of Cade’s family it was nuts.  Good, but a lot to take in.  3.5 out of 5

My Tracy’s
TBR Challenge read and last for the week was The Rebuilding Year by KajeHarper. This is the story of 2 basically straight men, John and Ryan who become
friends, then roommates, then lovers. 
The story centers around their romance and the way they deal with their
feelings toward someone of the same sex, as well as issues that come up with John’s
ex-wife, her husband and his kids.  There’s
also something funky going on at the college that Ryan attends and John works
at that causes angst as well.  I really
liked the story a lot.  I thought that the
issue of the problems on campus pulled me away from the romance a bit too much
but it all tied in nicely in the end.  I
really liked how Harper set this up so that Ryan was 30 but just starting med
school and John 37 and starting over without his former family.  It added a depth that wouldn’t necessarily
have been there had the men been younger and not “lived” yet.  I liked the writing and will be reading more
from Harper in the future. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted since last week:
A Cowboy for Christmas by Lori Wilde
Stygian’s Honor by Lora Leigh
Midnight in Your Arms by Morgan Kelly
Her Highness and the Highlander by Tracy Anne Warren
Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted October 29, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 7 Comments

Hello again!

I hope you had a wonderful week last week and a great
weekend.  Mine was definitely an up and
down week.  It started off well but then
I got the migraine from hell and wanted to shoot my head off.  I didn’t want to die, just get rid of the
pain! lol  It took a couple of days and
lots of darkness and quiet but it finally went away.  Things went up from there but then down again
when I found out that a friend of mine who has been battling cancer died.  He was so young at 48.  If you pray, please send a prayer up for Rey
and of course his family, thanks.
This weekend was a running errands nightmare but kind of fun
I a way.  My oldest and I spent a lot of
time with just the two of us as my youngest spent the weekend with a
friend.  My youngest went to Magic Mountain’s
Fright Fest and went on the Drop of Doom which is 400 ft. high. 
She’s a brave little shit cuz you wouldn’t see me on that ride….ever.  Here’s the picture that her friends’ mom took
while they were waiting in line. 
Wow.  Uh, no…just no.

So where did  I leave
off with my ereader saga?  Let’s
see.  Mine previous Kindle crapped out and I bought
another new to me but used 2nd Gen Kindle.  That one sucked and I sent it back for a
refund.  I bought another one and that
FINALLY showed up on Friday and it’s WONDERFUL – works perfectly!  I wasn’t without an ereader for long but that
time I was?  Sucked.  Lol  I
was dragging my laptop around so I could read my ebooks and, yeah, I wouldn’t
recommend that but it got the job done.   
So on to what I read this past week:

I started off the week with Her Highness and the Highlander
by Tracy Anne Warren.  This is the story
of a foreign princess who has been attending school in Scotland.  She’s on her way to London when her carriage is set upon.  She escapes but when she ends up in a village
looking worse for wear no one believes that she’s a princess.  One man who is at the tavern feels pity for
her and gets her a room, food and a dress but refused to accompany her to London as she asks.  He eventually succumbs and they fall in love
along the way.  The story was cute but
improbable.  Not impossible but I just
didn’t buy it.  Yes, it’s fiction but
this particular story didn’t sell me on the princess falling in love with the
poor highlander.  3 out of 5

Next up was a re-read of The Englor Affair by JL Langley.  Payton who is a prince from
another planet is on Englor undercover. 
He’s trying to hack into computers and decipher messages to see if the
Englor Prince, Simon, is working with the IN. 
Payton is told to stay away from Simon but when he meets a hot hunk of a
man in the locker room on the base he doesn’t think that the two Simon’s are
the same guy.  They are.  Payton’s head over for Simon and Si really
likes Payton but on Englor homosexuality is really not accepted.  Not punishable by death but highly frowned
upon.  When Si and Payton are found in a
compromising position and Si finds out who Payton really is he offers to marry
him but that opens its own can of worms. 
The Englor Affair was a great book. 
I didn’t think that it was as good as My Fair Captain, the first book in
the series, but it was excellent in its own right.  5 out of 5

Miracle in New Hope
by Kaki Warner is a novella about a man who keeps to himself but is hearing a
little girl’s voice who asks him to come for her.  He figures out who the girl is and then
confronts her mother who tells him that the girl is dead.  He doesn’t believe it and strikes out to find
her – while falling in love with her mother. 
This novella doesn’t come out til early December but I couldn’t wait to
read it.  It was very sweet and I loved
Daniel’s perseverance.  I’ll post my
review closer to the release date. 4.25 out of 5

Next was The Second Seduction of a Lady by Miranda Neville.  This story was about Eleanor
who fell in love with Max five years earlier. 
She then found out she was part of a bet and never spoke to him
again.  Max was in love with Eleanor
despite the bet and when he meets her 5 years later he makes it his goal to get
Eleanor back.  You can read my review
here. 3.75 out of 5

My Tracy’s
TBR Challenge read for the week was Her Best Worst Mistake by Sarah Mayberry.  I think this is my favorite
Mayberry yet.  The story is about Violet
who does NOT like her best friends’ boyfriend, Martin.  When her friend leaves London
for Australia
after breaking up with Martin, Violet takes pity on Martin and takes him a
bottle of alcohol to soothe him.  One
thing leads to another and Violet and Martin are in a sexual relationship.  But Violet is horribly guilty because she
hasn’t told her friend and when the relationship turns serious she knows she
can’t keep it a secret any longer.  While
this story definitely wasn’t as lighthearted as some others of Mayberry’s I’ve
read it was just so good.  The tension in
the story was so thick but I loved seeing Martin and Violet trying to figure
out what the hell was going on.  I
thought for being such opposites (he’s stuffy and she’s…not. At all.) they were
wonderful together.  I definitely
recommend this one.  4.25 out of 5

Rescue My Heart by Jill Shalvis is the 3rd book
in the Animal Magnetism series and this story was about Adam.  Adam has some serious PTSD and he’s just
trying to get back on his feet while battling the nightmares he experienced
while a soldier.  He helps his old flame
Holly when she asks for his help finding her father and their relationship
reignites – even though he’s not sure that’s a good idea.  The story is good and I loved Adam to
pieces.  Read this one for Book
Binge.  3.75 out of 5

Last for the week was Midnight in Your Arms by Morgan Kelly.  This is a story set both in 1866
and 1926 and has a time travel aspect to it. 
The story goes that Laura inherits a home that was willed to her in
1866, before she was ever born.  She has
been dreaming about the house since she was small but being a psychic she didn’t
think too much about it.  When she gets
to the house she ends up meeting a man who is in 1866 and the walls of time
seem to crumble from time to time – especially around midnight.  The story is about the couple falling in love
and trying to find a way to be together. 
It was a darker novella and a bit confusing at times – as it’s said that
time is basically a continuous loop and the life they’re experiencing has
happened before – but it was good.  3.5
out of 5

My Book Binge Reviews that posted last week:
Bouquet Toss by Melissa Brown
Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted October 16, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 4 Comments

Happy Monday!

Well, I wish I could say that it’s a happier Monday than it is. I’m in mourning as my Kindle died a horrible death last night. Actually it was more a matter of it dying in its sleep. It was fine yesterday afternoon when I stuck it on my bedside stand but then last night when I went to get it the screen was dark with horizontal and vertical lines on it and apparently that’s a death knell. It lived a good life but now I’m without an ereader as I lent my EZreader to a friend of mine. Oy. Imagine, I had to actually pick up a print book today! Luckily it was the one I planned on reading next anyway so it all worked out. I’m in the process of getting another Kindle – hopefully I won’t have to be in withdrawal too long.

Other than that it was a pretty quiet week. There was one day that I was so tired that I left work early, went home, crawled into bed at about 5pm and didn’t wake up until 6:30 the next morning. Wow.

On to what I read this past week:

First up was Deadly Silence by Victor J. Banis. This is book 5 in the Deadly Mystery series and it was another great book. Now, I wanted to beat Stanley a bit in this book as he was annoying me a bit but other than that it was definitely worth the read. Stanley and Tom are hired by a woman to find out who is trying to kill her father and the suspects are many. 4 out of 5

A Deadly Kind of Love is book 6 in the Deadly Mystery series by Victor J. Banis and as far as I know the last one written. In this story Tom and Stanley head out to Palm Springs, CA to help their friend Chris when he finds a dead body in his bed at the hotel he’s staying at. This one was a bit more on the tense side for me but good. I wanted more from Tom and Stanley’s relationship after what happened in the previous book but we didn’t get too much insight into that, unfortunately. 4 out of 5

Next I picked up Untamed by Sara Humphreys. This is a paranormal /shapeshifter story about a woman who is half shifter/half human and the full blooded shifter that is her mate. I got about halfway through the story and was not into the book at all. I was a little bored and didn’t care for the heroine so unfortunately this ended up being a DNF.

Hot and Haunted by Lauren Hawkeye, Megan Hart and Saranna DeWylde was a three story anthology with some far out stories. There was one with a girl trying to seduce a man whose car is stuck in a ditch, one with a US Marshal who’s hunting a serial killer and one with a girl, her two men and a zombie apocalypse. You can read my review on this book here. 3.5 out of 5

Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas is book 2 in the Fitzhugh trilogy series. This is the story of Millie and Fitz. Fitz is just 19, has just come into his title as an Earl and finds that he’s forced to marry as the title is destitute. Millie is just 16 and had been engaged to the previous Earl before he died. Millie falls for Fitz immediately but Fitz is in love with a woman with no money and their love is not to be. Millie and Fitz make a pact that they won’t have marital relations for 8 years and Fitz can live as if they are friends and not married. The book takes us through current times with Fitz seeing his lost love again and also through periods of time from their past 8 years. The book was well written and utterly heart-wrenching as I read about the couple’s years together. I wanted to kick Fitz in the balls and tell him to open his damned eyes but it all worked out. A painful (literally my chest ached!) and angst ridden book but very good, imho. 4 out of 5

Hunter’s Season by Thea Harrison is a novella in the Elder Races series and I think it’s my favorite novella so far. We get these wonderful stories in between full length novels and this one just worked for me so well. The story is about a commoner and palace guard in the Other lands who guards the Dark Fae queen. She ends up falling for and then protecting the Dark Fae Chancellor and they fall in love. I loved the setting, the solitude the couple had and, I guess, the normality of it all. Yes, the Chancellor was powerful but other than being in the Other lands no magic was used – just 2 people falling in love. Good stuff. 4 out of 5

Stygian’s Honor is book 27 (yes, you read that right) in the Breed series by Lora Leigh. The story is different as the Breeds look for 2 girls that have not been heard of for many years. They’re protecting 2 girls that the Genetics Council wants and the Breeds want to know why their after them. Stygian falls for Liza but the whole romance and mating heat and the woman wanting her independence thing was just too similar to other books to be exciting. It was a good book but nothing spectacular, imho. 3 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

Last for the week was a re-read. My Fair Captain by JL Langley is still one of my favorite m/m books. It was one of the first ones I read and I love it still. The latest book in this series just came out and I bought it almost immediately. I think thought…ya know, it’s been so long since I’ve read the other books I should probably do a re-read. (Easier freakin said than done with the Kindle gone – waaaah. Ahem) The story of Nate and Aiden is so great. I usually don’t like historical m/m but the fact that Regelence accepts the gay men changes everything for me. If you haven’t read this series yet I highly recommend it. Of course we had to wait 4 years in between books 2 & 3 but hey, anticipation is good for us, right? lol 5 out of 5

And I thought I had this lovely picture that I once got from Lisabea aka LB Gregg of what Nate looks like – or at least what he looks like in our heads, but I can’t locate it.  Too many computers to check.  I’ll post it if I find it. 🙂

My Book Binge Reviews that posted last week:
When the Duchess Said Yes by Isabella Bradford

Happy Reading!

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TBR Challenge & DFRAT Review: The Tin Star by JL Langley

Posted June 13, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 5 Comments

James Killian learns the hard way that smaller towns are full of bigots. When he comes out to his father he is not only kicked out of his home but off the Quadruple J where he works as the ranch foreman. With nowhere to go and little money, his savior comes in the unlikely form of his older brother’s best friend, the man he’s been in love with for over half his life.

Ethan Whitehall is a successful rancher and a well respected man in his community. His ranch the Tin Star has been in Ethan’s family for generations and affords him a certain prestige and power in the small town he calls home. Ethan knows without a doubt that all of that could shatter if his sexual orientation were to ever become public. But when he learns his best friend’s younger brother’s banishment and the reasons behind it, Ethan can’t help but get involved. He’s always had a soft spot where Jamie Killian was concerned, and it may very well be his downfall.
Our book begins with Ethan at his home. His best friend, John, drives up and starts getting drunk. He eventually tells Ethan that his younger brother, James aka Jamie, told he and his dad that morning that he was gay. John really doesn’t have a problem with it but their dad, who never had favored Jamie anyway, kicked him out of the house.
Ethan is Jamie’s friend so he immediately calls Jamie and offers him not only a place to live but a job as well. Since he had been the foreman at his families ranch Ethan knows that Jamie is a hard worker and will do a great job at his place, The Tin Star. Jamie has more than a bit of trouble the first day with a couple of the other ranch hands and Ethan ends up moving Jamie into the main house rather than the bunkhouse.
Now, Jamie thinks that maybe he shouldn’t have come out of the closet but he knows that he shouldn’t have to hide who he is just to make other people happy. Ethan’s not sure he agrees with Jamie but eventually tells Jamie that he, too, is gay. One thing leads to another with the two men and they start a relationship. Ethan had always admired Jamie but couldn’t quite get past him as John’s little brother and since there is an 11 year age difference that was a bit of an issue as well. Jamie has always been a bit more than infatuated with Ethan but had absolutely no clue he was gay. Once the men start falling in love Ethan soon sees that Jamie is right and that he shouldn’t have to stay in the closet and live his life as a lie.
Many people in the town, including Jamie’s father, don’t believe that Jamie should even live in the same town as they don’t want to be “tainted” by his gayness. They’re very vocal about their thoughts and soon accidents and injuries at The Tin Star make Jamie and Ethan see that there’s more to this than just dislike – this is all out hatred and their lives may be in danger.
This is the first book in Ranch series and it’s a good one. I loved Ethan and Jamie together as they just seemed to mesh perfectly. There wasn’t a lot of inner angst in the relationship and the angst in the book came from other’s prejudices toward them – initially just Jamie and then Ethan. There was a lot of support for the two men as well and I really liked that Langley threw that in there to even things out.
I thought that the part of the book that dealt with Jamie’s father as well as the person who was wreaking havoc on the men’s lives was well done. I had a clue as to who was causing all the trouble but didn’t know for sure until the end. I love a good whodunit!
This was a lovely romance, a hot sexy story and a well done suspense story that I very much enjoyed reading.
Rating:3.75 out of 5

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