Tag: Janet Chapman

Throwback Thursday Review: The Stranger in Her Bed by Janet Chapman

Posted September 19, 2019 by Rowena in Reviews | 3 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: The Stranger in Her Bed by Janet ChapmanReviewer: Rowena
The Stranger in Her Bed by Janet Chapman
Series: Logger #2
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: January 30, 2007
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 354
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five-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

In The Seduction of His Wife, USA Today bestselling author Janet Chapman introduced the Knights, an ambitious logging family whose fortunes and hearts are tied to the rugged mountains of Maine. Now, Ethan Knight is drawn into the family business . . . and deep into temptation.

When Ethan agreed to work at a sawmill his family is purchasing, he didn't foresee getting fired on his first day. He should be mad at the fiercely outspoken female foreman, but something about her seems disconcertingly familiar -- even though Ethan is sure he'd remember meeting a stunning beauty like Anna Segee before.

Anna has never forgotten Ethan -- or the schoolgirl crush she had on him before her father whisked her off to Canada. Now the shy, gangly girl is grown up and back in Oak Grove with a new name, new confidence, and a newly inherited mill of her own. Her superb reputation in a male-dominated industry hasn't come easy, but even harder will be ignoring the sexy man Ethan has become. . . .

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

This review was originally posted on May 14, 2012.

So Anna Segee comes back to Oak Grove after many years away getting to know her long lost father and facing the life that she walked away from. The life her Grandfather, Samuel Fox left behind in his car accident.

Fox Run Mills is her inheritance, the one thing that her Grandfather left behind for her. Against her Father’s wishes, Anna returns to Oak Grove to make a life of her own, one that didn’t involve her over protective Father and pesky brothers making every decision for her, fixing every little aspect of her life for her. She came back to make a name for herself and live on her own two feet.

It should have been easy but Ethan Knight, her long ago Knight in Shining Armor keeps putting a cramp in her style. You see, he’s living in a spare cabin on her land and she’s his landlord. But the cabin isn’t up and running to his liking so he’s taking it out on her, which means he’s sleeping in her bed and she’s sleeping on the couch because she was in a car accident that Ethan saved her from. He drives her home, sets her up on the couch and he, himself shacks up for the next couple of nights while she’s recuperating from her ordeal, sleeping in her bed. He takes care of her and becomes the kind of man that she ran away from. The kind that boss her around, makes decisions for her, tells her what’s good for her and she hates it…

…almost as much as she kinda likes it.

When these two get into it, they really get into it. It was funny to see them yelling at eachother and arguing just because they love to be going at each other. They had fun razzing eacho ther and I enjoyed reading all about their little squirms.

At the beginning of this book I wanted more Ethan. I wanted to see what happened to him in the past (which was talked about in The Seduction of His Wife) that made him the way he is today. I wanted to know why he was so cynical where women were concerned. I wanted all the mysteries of TSoHW brought to light and I wanted to love Ethan more than Alex…why? Because even in Alex’s book, I knew I was going to love Ethan more. He was more mysterious, held my attention more than Alex did and I loved me some Alex.

Janet Chapman didn’t disappoint me at all because I DID love Ethan more than Alex.

Anna Segee was a capable heroine, it was great to see her making a life for herself apart from the family that babied her from the time she was brought into their family. She did well enough with the rebuilding of her Grandfather’s Legacy and I loved her friendship with Jane. I loved seeing her make Ethan jealous with the men at the dance, I loved it all the more because Ethan wasn’t all that jealous, he was so sure that she’d be going home with HIM that night and well, after all that, it was just so great. I love Ethan’s Knight in Shining Armor complex. It suits him well.

It was so good to see Ethan’s family in the book and meeting and seeing Anna’s family was a great addition to the book and i was super happy with the entire book.

I know that Nicole liked Alex’s book better than this book (only slightly but still) but I didn’t. I loved Ethan and Anna’s story better than Alex and Sarah’s. It might be because I have forgotten a lot of A&S’s story and E&A’s story is fresh in my mind, but I liked the depth of this story, the flow of this story and the overall presentation of this book.

It was a good read and I’m so glad that I finally picked it up. For those of you that read and loved Alex’s book, I would totally recommend this book for you to read as well.

Grade: 4.75 out of 5

Logger

five-stars

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Guest Review: From Kiss to Queen by Janet Chapman

Posted July 5, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: From Kiss to Queen by Janet ChapmanReviewer: Tracy
From Kiss to Queen by Janet Chapman
Publisher: Jove
Publication Date: July 5th 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance
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four-stars

Jane Abbott knows that she's nobody special, so instead of looking for romance she's hunting partridge in the Maine woods when a plane crashes into a nearby pond. Diving in to save the pilot, Jane instinctively gives him air by way of a lifesaving kiss, and leads him to safety through a barrage of gunfire.

The handsome stranger returns the favor by kidnapping her.

Clearly no ordinary man, and insisting Jane's life is in danger, Mark spirits his stubborn guardian angel to an aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean. Only then does she discover that the mysterious Mark is actually Prince Markov Lakeland.

Soon to be crowned king of the young country of Shelikova, can Mark persuade Jane that she has what it takes to be his queen?

Jane Abbott is out partridge hunting in the woods of Maine when a plane fly’s low overhead.  She is a bit annoyed but doesn’t think much about it until another plan follows after plane 1 and is shooting at it with a machine gun.  Plane one ends up crashing into the lake and she jumps in to save the one person in the plane.  She gets him to safety but they’re not safe at all.  Plane two comes back and starts shooting at them again and then when they hear a blast the pilot lets Jane know that it was more than likely her car that they blew up.

Jane has no clue what is going on with this man named Mark (no last name) but she’s determined to get him to safety and to a phone.  She helps him trek to a small camp within two days but not before she gets horribly sick and Mark ends up taking care of Jane instead.  When Jane and Mark head to the Maine coast to meet a contact of Mark’s Jane is excited because she’ll be free to move on with her life.  Yeah, that doesn’t happen as Mark kidnaps Jane.  From boat to submarine to aircraft carrier to plane they finally land in Shelkova, a relatively new country that has recently won its freedom back from Russia.  It turns out that Mark (no last name) is actually the heir apparent to the King of Shelkova and he’s heading home to become king as his father is stepping down.

Jane wants nothing more than to go home because she knows she doesn’t belong in a palace.  She’s just an orphan that nobody has ever wanted.  Mark, however, has fallen in love with Jane and won’t ever let her go.

This was another sweet story from Janet Chapman.  She really does the sweet very well and you definitely know what you’re getting when you pick up one of her books.  This one didn’t disappoint.

In this story Mark was a bit of a bossy guy but that was kind of how he was raised.  He wasn’t always a prince but he was definitely a dominating man.  Despite that he was a nice guy who truly cared about Jane.  Yes, he fell in love with her quite fast but it was one of those things where when you know, you just go with it and don’t question things.

Now, Jane was a lady to be reckoned with, I must say.  She was her own person and did what she wanted, to the chagrin of Mark and his family. She was a bit annoying at times but I couldn’t help but like her overall.  She was a good person and truly cared about people.

The book was a good one and a nice start to what I think will be a good series.

Rating: 4 out of 5

four-stars

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Guest Review: The Highlander Next Door by Janet Chapman

Posted November 10, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Highlander Next Door by Janet ChapmanReviewer: Tracy
The Highlander Next Door by Janet Chapman
Series: Spellbound Falls #6
Also in this series: The Heart of a Hero
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: August 26th 2014
Genres: Time Travel
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three-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Birch Callahan has seen the trouble men can cause. After witnessing her mother’s four marriages, Birch now runs a women’s shelter and doesn’t want a man in her life. But there’s something about her neighbor, Niall MacKeage. Birch can’t figure out how the cop can be so big and gruff and yet so insightful and compassionate—and sexy. Or how she’s falling for a man who acts like someone from the twelfth century.

Niall knows that Birch is attracted to him, even if she seems to distrust all men. Yet he also knows she has a secret—something that drives her to place herself in harm’s way for the women of her shelter. Niall would gladly rush to Birch’s side to protect her from harm, but with their secrets standing between them, he’ll have to reveal his own truth if he wants to keep her…

 

Tracy’s review of The Highlander Next Door (Spellbound Falls #6) by Janet Chapman

Birch and her mother have moved to Spellbound Falls and Birch is running the local women’s shelter. She doesn’t get along so well with her neighbor, the new police chief Niall, but that’s more because every time she sees him she wants to jump him. She decides that they need to have an affair and she’ll get him out of her system but that has its ups and downs as well.

Niall knows that one day Birch will be his permanently but he needs to step lightly. He’s a warrior from the middle ages who was brought through time. He is now running the local police station and that has its good days and bad. When he finds out that Birch and her mother are the targets of a family of con artists Niall is determined to keep them both safe.

This was a cute story. I have to say that I really enjoyed Niall’s character a lot. He was pretty funny without trying to be. He knew right from wrong and he had a wonderful sense of self. Unfortunately I didn’t like him with Birch and that put a damper on the whole book for me. I also had a problem with the details of his life weren’t discussed at any time with Birch. I think before they had their HEA that he should have shared the fact that he came through time. I would have loved to have been privy to that conversation.

Birch was prickly and downright bitchy at times. I’m not sure what caused her to be that way but it wasn’t endearing in the least. She treated Niall badly at first and then claimed to lust after him. I found this strange as those people I don’t like I don’t find attractive – their personality drives down their appeal so the fact that Birch wanted to have an affair with Niall when she didn’t even like him threw me for a loop. Birch did loosen up a bit during the book but I never really warmed up to her.

The suspense portions of the story were decent ones and I thought those parts of the book were well done. This book also continued the story of a new character that was introduced in the last book (which I didn’t finish). I have to say that I’m not all that excited to read about him. I think I might have had my fill of Spellbound Falls. It was a good relationship but I think it’s time for me to move along.

Rating: 3 out of 5

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

 

three-stars

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What I Read Last Week

Posted March 11, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Happy Freaking Monday!

How’s tricks? Do anything fun this past week?

My week was pretty bland…as usual. 🙂

I completely forgot to share a picture from the week before last. My youngest was in her 5th grade performance of “Internal Organ Hall of Fame” and she played the heart which got a Lifetime Achievement Award. Too funny. She got the only solo in the whole thing and she did really well if I do say so myself. Here’s her solo (sorry about the poor quality) and of course her hamming it up afterward.

 

So on to what I read this past week:

Is started off the week with Son of the Morning by Linda Howard. This was a wonderful book that I just loved. You can read my review on the story here. 5 out of 5  

 Next up was Mating Instinct by Katie Reus. The story is about Jayce who is the Enforcer for the Werewolf Council. He and Kat had been dating but then broke up 9 months ago when Kat left Jayce. Now he’s in her new town and she’s a newly turned werewolf. He is there on other business but he decides that he’s not going to let Kat get away this time. This was another great story in the Moon Shifters series. Reus does shifter stories well and this one was no different. 3.75 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

And the Miss Ran Away With the Rake by Elizabeth Boyle is the next book in the Rhymes with Love series that comes out on the 26th. The story is about Daphne and Henry. They have been corresponding under pen names and have fallen in love. They don’t know, however, that they are from rivaling families who can’t even stand to hear the others name. They fall in love again as Daphne and Henry without knowing that they are each others pen pal. It was a good story that could have been tighter. I thought the fact that their identities didn’t get revealed sooner was a bit much but it was good. 3.5 out of 5 

Along Came Trouble by Ruthie Knox is the second book in the Camelot series. This story is about Ellen who is fiercely independent after having been under first her mothers then her husband’s thumbs. She meets Caleb when he is hired for security by her famous brother and sparks fly. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5  

Pestilence by TA Chase was a free book on ARe not long ago. The story is about a man who is a doctor who’s wife and son die during the black plague. He is devastated and guilt ridden and kills himself. He is brought back though by Death and charged with spending his life as the First Horseman, Pesitilence. Centuries later he meets a dying man in the Amazon and they fall in love. The story decent, if a little stilted. Bart who was the dying man seemed a bit dim as he couldn’t figure out that there was something “other” about men named Pestilence and Death. Entertaining. 3 out of 5 

The Heart of a Hero by Janet Chapman in book 4 in the Spellbound Falls series. This was Nicholas story and has him courting Julia who is a housekeeper at the resort that was started by Nicholas’s friend Mac Oceanus. The story is about Julia’s struggle with her attraction to Nicholas as she was burned in her first marriage but a cheating and nasty husband. Nicholas was a great hero and I liked the book. You can read my review here at The Book Binge 4 out of 5 

Last for the week was The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. This was a re-read for me but it’s the Book Binge’s Book Club book of the month so I dug it off the shelves and devoured it. I’ll post my review this week.

 

My Book Binge reviews that posted since last Monday: 
Going Under by Lauren Dane 
The Song Remains the Same by Allison Winn Scotch 
The Heart of a Hero by Janet Chapman

Happy Reading!

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Guest Review: The Heart of a Hero by Janet Chapman

Posted March 11, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Heart of a Hero by Janet ChapmanReviewer: Tracy
The Heart of a Hero by Janet Chapman
Series: Spellbound Falls #4
Also in this series: The Highlander Next Door
Publisher: Jove, Penguin
Publication Date: March 5, 2013
Format: eARC
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Originally from the ancient mythical island of Atlantis, Nicholas has spent the last year deep in the mountains of Maine, serving as Director of Security for the Nova Mare and Inglenook resorts. Fully embracing his life in the twenty-first century, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to a trouble-prone employee, and is determined to keep her safe.

The last thing Julia Campbell needs is a man with a hero complex, especially one as handsome and imposing as Nicholas. All she has to do is keep it together until her younger sister turns eighteen, and then she can focus on her own life. But strange things have been happening at the resort—and it’s Nicholas who keeps coming to her rescue. When Nicholas is suddenly the one in trouble, Julia realizes he’s not quite what he seems—and that she’ll do anything to help the man who’s stolen her heart…

Nicholas was raised on Atlantis by foster parents as he had washed up on the islands shores with no identification. He is now working as head of security at Nova Mare, the exclusive resort run by his friend Mac Oceanus and his wife Olivia. He is alerted to an issue by one of his employees and decides to take action.

Julia Campbell works as a housekeeper at Nova Mare. She has some transportation issues because she’s been riding her bike to work but now it’s winter and she can’t ride in the snow. Her brother Reggie is being a bear about having her drive his truck and Nicholas tries to intervene. She’s stubborn and starts walking her bike home but Nicholas is a gentleman and gives her a ride. This begins a series of interactions that has Nicholas deciding that Julia is the woman for him. Julia, however, is determined that she will never get married again after her first husband turned out to be a complete ass. She tries to keep her distance from Nicholas but she finds herself drawn to him again and again.

I’ve been waiting for Nicholas story as I liked him from the first time he was introduced in this series. He just seemed like the best of the best – a great warrior and a true gentleman. When he decides to pursue Julia he’s a bit confused by her stubbornness but he refuses to give up. When Julia decides to try and scare Nicholas away by acting like a sex crazed maniac she finds that rather than frighten him it makes him like her all the more.

Julia is a strong woman. She has a reputation as the town slut because of her ex-husbands rumor starting but she has only ever been with one man. Her father is considered the town drunk so she’s had to be strong both emotionally and physically in order to take care of her family. Nicholas sees her inner strength and admires her for it but he also gets frustrated at her on again off again attitude. I had to agree with the man because she’d have sex with the guy and then crawl out the bathroom window afterward! Not once, but twice! Who does that? I know she was afraid of what she was starting to feel for him but come on, act like an adult.

Despite Julia’s childishness post sex I really liked the woman. She seemed like she really had her head on straight and was incredibly intelligent. I liked how Chapman made Julia and Nicholas so compatible both intellectually as well as physically.

There was another part of the story that had to do with who exactly Nicholas IS and while I found that interesting I found it just an ok part of the book.

The overall story was very good and I thought it was a nice addition to the series.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Series:

Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover Book Cover

four-stars

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