Review: Hot as Heller (Aster Valley #3) by Lucy Lennox

The man asked me to valet his damn car

Rating: 3.5 🌈

Hot as Heller by Lucy Lennox is a new release I happened to grab up as it’s tag line caught my attention.

Of course, it’s a middle book in a series. But I found this time that really didn’t make a difference for me understanding the characters or for getting a feel of place and community. Lennox does a good job of laying out her foundation universe. It’s folded into this story so well that it includes enough of all preceding storylines and history that the reader doesn’t feel lost when past events or people are mentioned.

Also each book represents a different couple so while minor threads appear from previous novels, each story can stand somewhat alone, with a support cast you can become familiar with if this is your first book. Or one you already know because you’ve read their stories. Either way, it works.

I enjoyed this story and felt that one of the elements was excellently on topic , especially given the timing. I’m talking about the current tragedy on the now shut down movie set of “Rust”, and the intense and much needed movie industry discussions going on about safety, stunts .and overall actor/support control.

I wonder if the author knew how on point and current this aspect of the story would be.

It was excellently written and the suspense almost made the romance take a backseat for me. It did have the effect of making me care about a character I was having trouble connecting with.

That would be Finn Heller, the child actor who’s the lead in this action movie being filmed in Aster Valley. Finn is/was a very problematic character for me. Most doormat personalities are. For the majority of this book , Finn let’s everyone make decisions for him. Whether to go to a bar when he doesn’t want to. He says no and goes anyway. He says no and does it anyway. For everything.

While the author is doing her best to explain his actions, that very personality is turning into white noise for me. Not good when he’s half of a main romance.

Better is Sheriff Declan Stone. Recently of LA’s PD, a corruption scandal involving his partner and just sick of Hollywood and its denizens, he’s relocated to small town Aster Valley for a saner, better lifestyle.

I liked this character immediately. He comes across as realistic, competent. At home in his skill set and person. He’s, in short, believable and someone we can connect with.

Which begs the question as to why he’s attaching himself to a doormat, however attractive. Finn does find himself undergoing a sea change before the story ends but I still found him not as fascinating a person. Oh well.

What I did fall in love with? The small town community of Aster Valley. I need dispatcher Penny to finish filling me in on the romance drama between Charlene Candy, her ex wife Clara Corn ( yep you see that coming), and her new love Clara’s brother. Plus there’s that thing with Colman and his wildlife…

Never a dull , funny , or just small town human moments. This book and the Sheriffs time of full of them. Those made it for me

The town, it’s people, the secondary romances, as well as other interesting , warm-hearted aspects to Aster Valley pulled me in and engaged my imagination to make me want to explore the rest of the series.

This has so many different terrific elements that I can definitely recommend it as a contemporary romance people will enjoy.

Aster Valley Series:

◦ Winter Waites #0.5

◦ Right as Raine #1

◦ Sweet as Honey #2

✓ Hot as Heller #3

◦ Thick as Thieves #4 – coming 2022

Synopsis:

The man asked me to valet his damn car.

Look, I left LA for a reason. I’ve had my fill of big Hollywood stars and their even bigger egos. I want something genuine. Something real. And it doesn’t get any realer than being the new sheriff of Aster Valley, Colorado.

That is, until entitled Finn Heller appears on the scene, handing me the keys to his convertible like I’m his personal servant.

The former child star and wannabe action hero is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. He’s also a snarky party animal with legions of adoring fans and attitude for days.

Or so I thought.

The longer the film crew stays in town, the more I begin to wonder if Finn is hiding his true self, one that’s as beautiful inside as out. He’s a star alright, but the kind that shines bright enough to light up the night sky… the kind I want to make a wish on.

A wish Finn will find a way to make things work with me, even if it means his next role is my very own leading man.

https://www.goodreads.com › showHot as Heller (Aster Valley, #3) by Lucy Lennox | Goodreads

◦

Review: Trial By Fire by B.A. Tortuga

Rating: 2.75 🌈

Trial By Fire is another cowboy n’ kids story similar to that group of books I recently talked about when I reviewed another similar novel by this author.

Two cowboys, this time one is from a large cattle station in Australia. Kid element is a baby who’s parents were the siblings of both cowboys, also a frequent pairing. And the siblings have just died in some accident, in this case a plane crash.

Here the story deviates as the men squabble over rights to the children (versus pulling together), warring parents, and almost immediate action and angst brought on by plot threads that seemed to arise out of nowhere. This on top of a surplus of storylines that just didn’t feel smooth and relatable.

That includes the romance between Holden Sheffield and Aussie Lachlan McCoughney. While both characters, indeed all the characters here are finely crafted, the author never really developed any real chemistry between the men. I never believed in an immediate attraction, let alone a “love at first sight’ dynamic.

I’m not sure if the issue was that Lachlan was a Aussie and missing that bone deep knowledge Tortuga has of her Texas/New Mexico/western cowboys .That entire Australian section,, from people to tiny things meant to be “Aussie “ fell flat against a Texas sky.

Especially since some of the other secondary characters were fully realized, including one who’s death and funeral elevated this story for its sheer poignancy and depth of feeling.

That romance? It felt rushed and unrealistic, while there were so many other elements piled on top almost as distractions.

Another real issue for me was the nonchalant way the author treated the characters future plans. The 6 months in Australia or in US, with a baby who’s a US citizen with one openly gay parent who is the legal guardian. Then casually mentioning marriage and adoption for the Aussie boyfriend/partner. All without taking into consideration Australian visas, LGBTQIA marriage laws with regard (and consideration for) the LGBTQIA community there. Were there any then considering this is a re-release?

LGBTQIA marriage, adoption, and Australian laws has been written about more widely and in depth by Australian authors. Usually accompanied by pain, frustration, waiting, and angst. Same about visas. So this lack of research was puzzling and seemingly showed a lack of care towards this serious topic imo. Realistically not going to be the “smooth sailing “ it’s made out to be here, even for the wealthy.

This story has some solid elements, some wonderful characters but together it’s never solidified. Just felt forced.

I love this author and have other books of hers to recommend. I’m just not sure this is one of them.

Great cowboy funeral though.

Synopsis:

One Aussie. One Texan. One baby. One hell of a fight.

When his sister and her husband are killed in an accident, Aussie cattle station owner Lachlan McCoughney rushes to Texas to rescue their infant daughter, Chloe. He expects to find his niece living in squalor with the Sheffields, a rodeo family.

Instead, Lachlan finds Holden Sheffield, a salt-of-the-earth cowboy running a huge business operation. They want to explore their mutual attraction despite the many problems thrown their way, and together, they must find a way to give Chloe a new family and find a love that spans thousands of acres and two continents

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsTrial by Fire by B.A. Tortuga – Goodreads

Review: Tide of Tricks (Shadows of London #2) by Ariana Nash

Rating: 5 🌈

I’ve been thinking about this book, it’s elements, and my review.

Why? Because it contains that one element guaranteed to bring me back to a basic argument I have, as a reviewer and for myself as a reader. Simply put, it is how do I feel about the cliffhanger?

Yes, Tide of Tricks, book 2 of Shadows of London, a fantastic tale of magic and mystery, has the most outrageous of all cliffhangers and THE key series/story revelation all at the same moment. Right at the end of the story! DO NOT READ the ending first. You won’t even understand it anyway.

This is a heartbreaking, mindblast of a problem for several reasons, at least for me. I trust it will be for you all as well.

And I can tell you , if we were talking over tea or coffee? The expletives would be flying!

So let me dive into the why this cliffhanger is going to be so mind boggling awful.

It starts with Ariana Nash’s character of John “Dom” Domenici. His character, his personality and background is so densely layered, like a “bloom in’ onion’ as it were. The author has crafted Dom’s past with bagged filled hidden years that get revealed only through times of immense stress or threatened violence, that the reader and his associates never know what’s coming. Dom is a man who’s means of escaping his crime-filled East End childhood was to join the Army. That also turned out to be something far more torturous and disturbing (I’ll leave that to the book). Tragically from his start in Pretty Twisted Things , we now watch a man we’ve come to greatly care about, slowly destabilize. With devastating results. And someone has planned this.

Nash has written a terrifying authentic example of a man being driven almost to the brink by forces unknown. We will feel every bit as helpless as Dom is to stop the events around him.

The people who work with him who we “think” care for him realize the dangers but there’s multiple targets. No one knows who’s the mastermind. And those who are acting on the mastermind’s orders?

A shock or two there.

This is a veritable Minotaur’s labyrinth of a plot and series arc. Bodies are falling, shadows are everywhere, magical objects of destruction of appearing all over London to destabilize people like Dom, and revelations about the primary characters start to pop like narrative gun fire. Nothing can be counted on except that everyone is in danger. And we have no real idea who everyone truly is.

Cliffhanger. In a beautifully written, outstandingly executed and almost flawless book.

Second stories are almost always a bridge book. They carry the plot and characters safely over from the foundation novel to the third book, which might be the end or even penultimate story in the series. Here Nash not only shoots out the lanterns our characters are carrying to light the way across the bridge but Nash is stranding them there before they reach the end. The bridge is going to break and all is darkness.

The third book in the series? Trial by Fire? Doesn’t come out until next May 2022. Ffs. Yup. Next year.

So back to my ongoing dilemma. When it comes to series and cliffhangers, do you (if given advance notice, clearly not here) wait until you have the entire series and read right through?

Or do what I’ve done, repeatedly, give in and read the book 1 in series after series, hopefully not to see a cliffhanger, and just go with it.

Knowing full well that come next May I’ll have to reread books 1 & 2 before diving back into this series, because the author has made it just that involved and convoluted. My mind will just not be able to hold onto all the details of this arc and plot and multiple characters until May 2022.

Sigh. It’s a old argument. I’ll probably still plow onwards. This author has me so hooked it’s unreal.

So yes… absolutely read this book and series. You decide when. If you want to wait until the series is complete, then read all the stories go for it. Read them as they come, waiting along with me? Ok we’ll suffer together.

Either way, put it on your TBR list. I’m highly recommending it.

Shadows of London series:

◦ Twisted Pretty Things #1

◦ Tide of Tricks #2

◦ Trial by Fire #3- coming May 31st, 2022 argh! The wait will kill me!

Buy link:

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsTide of Tricks (Shadows of London, #2) by Ariana Nash – Goodreads

Synopsis:

A darkness runs deep beneath London …

Reeling from recent revelations and forced to lie for Kempthorne, the unthinkable happens: Dom fails the latent competency test. One more strike and he’ll be deemed unstable, have his registration stripped, and the life he’s come to love at Kempthorne & Co will be over.

If that weren’t bad enough, someone is stalking him, taunting him. Someone who knows what Dom did all those years ago.

While Dom juggles Kempthorne’s lies and his own shady past, latents are being murdered. The police won’t help, so it’s up to Dom, Kempthorne & new-recruit Kage (Hollywood) to find the killer, before they strike too close to home.

Dom soon finds himself at the heart of it all with his control slipping, his trick breaking free, and the shadows rising.

He’s coming undone. And for unstable latents, there’s only one way out…..

Please note, this is an adult urban fantasy, so there are multiple swears, some darker themes and scenes, and on-page sex.

Review: Twisted Pretty Things (Shadows of London #1) by Ariana Nash

Rating: 5🌈

I have long needed another urban fantasy author (can never have too many) and now I have one. And a great new series to boot!

I stumbled upon Ariana Nash when I found this urban fantasy story, Twisted Pretty Things. It’s the first book in her Shadows of London series and it’s a grand adventure and showstopper of a stage to a series.

It has a overall series arc of maze like proportions, continually looping back onto itself, then threading through the most obscure of narrative keyholes to keep the reader’s mind throughly boggled and trying to see where this intriguing plot and deeply layered characters will lead us next.

Ah these insanely wonderful characters. All smoke and mirrors, deceptions laid upon deceptively clever and devious personalities. Just when you think you have one completely figured out, wham, there’s a complete turnaround in what you perceive in character.

I love that. Pull that emotional rug out from all of us repeatedly.

All it does is deepen our connection in an odd empathetic way to the people in front of us instead of pushing us away. We need to know more about these obviously tormented individuals and the paths that brought them here.

And the horrors that are about to come. For they are indeed coming.

All the main characters such as the cockney born John “Dom” Domenici who now, through a convoluted journey, to his boss he works for , the elegant, wealthy Alexander Kempthorne , everyone here is fascinating and evolving.

The company, Kempthorne & Co, the main jobs revolve around retrieving magical objects imbued with dangerous powers. However, nothing is even that simple, as serious as it seems.

This story is steeped in British history and culture, including some of its most brutal and painful historical eras.

The author’s talent in using just a few phrases to telegraph something wordlessly barbaric is incredible. It’s used here to great emotional impact over and over.

The characters need to be read to be appreciated. Their growth, the revelations that are sprung on you as a reader cannot be put into a review yet it’s so much a part of them and this increasingly fantastic urban fantasy tale of romance and a fight for survival.

But against what?

That’s what’s coṃing…..

I was up late finishing this story and immediately grabbed up the next in the series. It’s plain addictive.

I can see several sleepless nights ahead.

I’m absolutely recommending this author and stories.

Start here! It’s a must read!

Synopsis:

Something wicked is moving in the shadows of London…

In the underground world of glitzy illegal auctions, fast cars, and stolen magical artifacts, John “Dom” Domenici knows he’s out of his depth. But he needs the job at Kempthorne & Co like he needs to breathe. The alternative—going back to the organized crime gangs of London’s East End—is unthinkable.

So when Alexander Kempthorne, boss of Kempthorne & Co Artifact Retrieval Agency, wants him on a special case to track down an illegal artifact dealer, Dom can’t say no.

It shouldn’t matter that Kempthorne’s world is full of deadly secrets. It shouldn’t matter that the billionaire is sexy as sin, and it really shouldn’t matter how there’s an American agent stalking Dom, an American who knows more than he should about Dom’s case, including the real reason Alexander Kempthorne hired Dom.

The only thing that really matters to Dom is solving the case and finding the artifact dealer. Because there are worse things in London than a conflicted billionaire and a trigger-happy American. Something wicked is stalking London’s streets, and if Dom doesn’t stop it, its shadows will rise and consume them all.

***

Twisted Pretty Things is the first book in the all-new Shadows of London MM urban fantasy series. Action, mystery, and MM romance combine in this fast-paced adventure from the author who brought you the award-winning Silk & Steel series and the best-selling Prince’s Assassin series. Coming August 2021.

Triggering content: mention of past mental and physical abuse.

Please note the Shadows of London series is set in London and the characters are all British (so is the author). Although the series has been edited in US English for the larger US market, to include US spelling and grammar, many English slang words and spelling remain as part of the character of the work

Shadows of London series:

◦ Twisted Pretty Things #1

◦ Tide of Tricks #2

◦ Trial by Fire #3- coming May 31st, 2022 argh! The wait will kill me!

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsTwisted Pretty Things (Shadows of London, #1) by Ariana Nash | Goodreads

Review: Gingerbread Mistletoe (Lighthouse Bay #2) by Amy Aislin

Rating 4.5

Gingerbread Mistletoe is a story who’s events and romance runs concurrently with those of the first book in the series, Christmas Lane. So yes, they really need to be read together and in the order they were written to understand the relationships and personal dynamics.

Ah, Christmas tales and loves stories! Honestly, I think they go together better than at Valentine’s Day, a holiday if I’m truthful I’ve never been on board with.

But Christmas? White snow? If you’re not Australian that is, holiday tunes to sing, candy canes, icicles, sleigh rides… magic! Fireplaces blazing and hot chocolate even. Yup. Romance.

While this story may have its earliest beginnings in LA, it’s heart and romance lies in the Christmas ready and heavily decorated town of Lighthouse Bay, Maine where both men have returned to. One , Mika Jones, seeking comfort, his family and a place to recover.after his diagnosis and treatment for cancer.

The other is lonely, and unsure what he’s seeking, and has returned to a town that used to be home after years of absence. Divorced, amazingly successful, his grown children spending the holidays elsewhere, loss and loneliness are driving Jeff Bellmoor, to return to his dad’s favorite place to discover why.

Mika Jones, hugely successful actor in LA was diagnosed with cancer and returned to the only place he knew he had love, family, and support… Lighthouse Bay.

There was enormous drama behind Mika’s return, a broken romance and two men left unable to trust, including himself.

Here Mika’s dealing with the aftermath of recovery, chemo after effects and the physical alterations to his system which are now permanent. He’s doing that while running Christmas events for the town and the shops.

Aislin does a beautiful job of realistically showing how undergoing chemotherapy and other cancer treatments has permanently affected Mika’s life and body, from issues with memory to joint pain. It’s not overly dramatic but with a plain acceptance of his new state. It made me love him all the more . Especially as Mika never refuses to take a hard look at the issues that have happened in the past to make him arrive at the state he’s at now.

The author has truly done a outstanding job with this character.

Jeff Bellmoor, CEO, lonely and seeking… his father who’s recently died …is equally complicated. Angry , isolated at first….and then as the town and Mika works their charm on Jeff, the man changes. The memories start to flow as well as feelings for Mika.

We get a swirling rush of romance among the Christmas pageantry of a town putting together its holiday list of events, a new hockey tournament, a parade, and an overall sense of homecoming. For Mika, for Jeff …well , I’ll say no more.

The Magic of Family, of Love and of Christmas is alive and well here in Gingerbread Mistletoe.

This series and story is the perfect holiday reads! Grab up a Snickerdoodle or three, a cup of hot cocoa and settle in for a wonderful magical Christmas read!

I’m highly recommending it!

Gingerbread Mistletoe

Lighthouse Bay series:

Christmas Lane #1

Gingerbread Mistletoe #2

Synopsis:The last thing Jeff wants is to spend time with the man who totaled his car—the one he spent years restoring with his late father. But if he wants to resurrect his childhood town’s annual outdoor hockey tournament, he’s got no choice.

The last thing Mika wants is to work with the guy who took off right after the accident, without ensuring he was okay. And working together on organizing Jeff’s proposed tournament sounds like a complete nightmare. He’s got enough on his plate after surviving cancer.

Sparks fly as they’re forced to work together, but is that enough for them to set their differences aside and pull off the tournament in only two weeks? Or will they prove to be

immune to the magic of Christmas?

Review: As Big As the Sky by Amy Aislin

Rating; 4.25🌈

It’s Amy Aislin’s m/m hockey romances that normally I gravitate towards but that’s primarily out of habit. This author writes a great catalog of contemporary romances that shouldn’t be missed.

That includes this sweet HFN love story As Big As The Sky.

It’s one of those that combines several tropes into a engaging, totally satisfying heartwarming romance. It’s got enemies to lovers, a bit of hurt/comfort. Even quirky animals courtesy of a animal rehab/rescue center. Plus characters we absolutely connect with and wish we could get more of.

The relationship between Sam and Bo is so interesting because the potential for not just a great romance but an amazing one runs through this tale. There is just so many neat elements here. It cries out for a more substantial telling, fleshing out the families relationships, as well as theirs.

Indeed, Aislin has built such a marvelous universe here that I feel so much of what the author incorporates isn’t given its due.

But what we do see as far as the dynamics between Sam and Bo? Incredible and heartwarming.

I love this couple and would love to see the author revisit them and this world again.

I’m definitely recommending this sweet romance and couple.

https://www.goodreads.com › showAs Big as the Sky by Amy Aislin – Goodreads

Sam McAuley isn’t having a great start to the summer. Served with papers? Great. He’s being sued. Perfect, pristine yard overrun with chickens? What the—? Clearly, the new guy running the animal rehabilitation centre next door has no idea what he’s doing.

It’s one town to the next, one school to the next, one job to the next for Bo Novak. Everything is temporary. Even his current job—running his sister’s animal rehab centre while she’s away on a four-month leave—is temporary. And he does know what he’s doing, thank you very much. Sure, things don’t always run smoothly, but the stick-in-the-mud next door could be a little nicer about it.

One overheard conversation, an olive branch, and a baseball game might show these guys that being at odds isn’t really what they want, and that what they want might just be each other.

[As Big as the Sky was first published in August 2017. This new edition has a brand new cover but no content changes.

Review: A Rival for Rivingdon (The Lords of Bucknall Club, #3) by J.A.Rock and Lisa Henry

Rating. 4.5 🌈

I quite adore this Regency series. After the last romance with the intense and highly intelligent Lord Christmas Gale and several murders at the center, I wasn’t sure what awaited me here with this couple.

Yes we were given glances of the pair in book 2 but I wasn’t quite prepared for the dry and funny opening here. Honestly, it reads like a Tale of Two Twits, albeit very well dressed and well bred ones.

But this is Rock and Henry , so the twits at hand who are about to make their debut and have their first Season , have a rivalry that starts to spiral immediately into a story of personal growth, a bit of sexy romping about, some madcap adventures and finally true love.

Yes our lovely boyish twits of fashion and the Tonne become young vulnerable and often poignant men who, after some introspection and advice, find the lives they’ve lead a bit lacking in kindness and decide on a new path, together. Happily.

It’s really a kind, sweet, story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Plus it sets up one I’ve been dying to read. That of Lord Soulden. That’s next up in A Sanctuary for Soulden.

This a just a remarkably great and romantic series, each story contains bits of the others and their characters who are truly noteworthy.

Read them in the order they are written for a simply splendid romantic Regency journey. I recommend all those releases to date.

Series – The Lords of Bucknall Club

A Husband for Hartwell #1

A Case for Christmas #2

A Rival for Rivingdon #3

A Sanctuary for Soulden #4. – coming soon

Synopsis.

He must marry well, to secure his fortune.

The Honourable Loftus Rivingdon is poised to make his debut into Society. He’s beautiful, charming, and quite the catch of the Season. If only he could find the right hat. With the zealous assistance of his doting mother, Loftus has one ambition only: to meet and marry a wealthy peer. And Loftus knows just the peer—the dauntingly handsome, infinitely fashionable Viscount Soulden. Good thing there’s nothing standing in his way.

He must also marry well, to secure his fortune.

The Honourable Morgan Notley is poised to make his debut into Society. He’s beautiful, charming, and quite the catch of the Season. And he has just found the perfect hat. With the zealous assistance of his doting mother, Morgan has one ambition only: to meet and marry a wealthy peer. And Morgan knows just the peer—the dauntingly handsome, infinitely fashionable Viscount Soulden. Good thing there’s nothing standing in his w—

Damn it all to hell.

Their ambitions collide.

When Loftus and Morgan both set their sights on Soulden, the rivalry of the Season begins. Their mutual hatred escalates into spite, sabotage, and scandal, as all of Society eagerly waits to see which diamond of the first water will prevail. Except the course of true loathing, just like true love, never did run smooth. The harder they try to destroy each other, the closer they come to uncovering each other’s deepest vulnerabilities—and the more difficult it becomes to deny the burning attraction between them.

A Rival for Rivingdon is the third book in the Lords of Bucknall Club series, where the Regency meets m/m romance. The Lords of Bucknall Club can be read in any order.

A Rival for Rivingdon (The Lords of Bucknall Club, #3)

Review: : Nailed (Four Bears Construction #2) by K.M. Neuhold

Rating: 5🌈

This series….it has really captured my heart.

I mean I have all these other books lined up…mysteries, romance adventures, SyFi … but I keep coming back to these guys and their clumsy, adorable journeys to HEA and true love.

Take Nailed, please. No , really, grab this one right up. Especially if you’re in need of laughter as well as romance.

And dogs. Such adorable dogs. I ❤️ Rudy. And Nerd Dog.

I laughed so much here.

One because Stone is one irresistible teddy bear of, well, a gorgeous bear of a man. Sweet, doesn’t understand why everyone wouldn’t like him, huge heart.

You’re going to adore him. I’m still cracking up over his understanding of traditional “sayings “. I won’t spoil them for you but they leave me in giggles even now, I just love him. I do. Soooo sexy too.

Then there’s the neighbor,Dare Maslow . A bit grumpy, solitary but all with good reason as we eventually find out. Layers with this one. He’s also the owner of the adorable Rudy.

This is such a great enemies to lovers story. I laughed so hard in places. I totally enjoyed their antics as they “fought” and pranked their way to love. To say that I was thoroughly entertained by every step of their tumultuous relationship is to put it mildly. From highly sexy romps to downright hilarity, this couple kept the story flowing fast and so smoothly I was at the end before I knew it and wanted to be.

Of course, all the other “bears” and partners are there. I’ve gotten so fond of them as well.

I’m actually jumping over to Screwed because I just need that story NOW.

I’ll come back to Ev’s immediately after. Honestly, these men.

Anyway, I’m staying the course. I’m reading all the stories here until I’m finished with the series. I need the happiness and laughter these men are bringing into my life at the moment.

It’s such fun and light hearted joy. I’m highly recommending them. Especially this one.

Synopsis:

My new neighbor is a total tool.

He hated me from the second he laid eyes on me, and I don’t have the first clue why… But, if he wants to hate me, I’m happy to give him a few reasons: mowing the lawn at dawn on the weekend, leaving garbage cans in front of his driveway, renting a petting zoo for my backyard…making a list of ways to drive him crazy is half the fun.

He deserves it with the way he’s driving me crazy right back without even trying— walking around without a shirt on, sweaty rippling muscles on full display, well-worn denim jeans perfectly molded to his…well, you get the idea.

My point is, if he wants a war, I’ll give him one.

***Nailed is an enemies to lovers, neighbors who can’t stand each other, omg the anger banging, drool worthy, low angst story, which happens to be the second in my Four Bears Construction series. It CAN be read as a stand alone. There are NO shifters in this series, only the OTHER kind of bears

Nailed

Stone

Rudy the dog

Four Bears Construction series:

🔵Caulky #1

🔵Nailed #2

🔵Hardwood #3

🔵Screwed #4

🔵Stud #5

🔵Stripped #6

🔵Drilled #7

🔵Goats Like Cake Too: Four Bears Construction Series Epilogue

(Four Bears Construction #7.5)

by K.M. Neuhold

Winter Cowboy (Whisper Ridge,Wyoming #1) by R.J.Scott

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Winter Cowboy, the first story in a new series by RJ Scott, has a full and varied narrative plot/theme list.

As the first book in the series, it’s required (and does) set in place the history and universe for Whisper Ridge and it’s foundation characters.

We start with Micah Lennox and his sister, Rachel, and her children. The Lennox ranch. The town and its people. Daniel, now the town’s doctor, along with Micah and Daniel’s deeply troubled past. A past that includes a traumatic accident, prison, death, and more.

That’s the past. Turns there’s the present with much for multiple characters to deal with on a daily basis. We see elements of PTSD, past evidence of domestic violence, child battery (never seen but referred to), cults, and murder. The aftermath all that takes on a person, no matter the age. As well as everyone, including Daniel’s family, dealing still with the ramifications of that car accident years ago that shattered lives.

I haven’t even mentioned therapy (thankfully and responsibly the author shows the importance of getting help for all involved).

And we haven’t we begun to talk romance yet. We can talk lovers reunited, enemies to lovers, second chance at love? All fav tropes of mine. Yep. All here. Even hurt/comfort. A bit of that too.

Yes, Winter Cowboy carries a full load but in the very capable hands of RJ Scott it all melds together in a cohesive and moving story.

If I had a wish , it would be that Daniel and Micah had more time as a reconciled couple in the story, well yes maybe more than a bit more. I really wanted to get more a feel of them as a couple as we spent so much time on the deep traumatized past that kept them apart and broke up their lives. It was brutal constantly revisiting that accident while no one had really moved on. When they finally forgave themselves and each other the story was almost over. And I wanted more of them new and exploring what it meant to have a “us” again.

There is a “bridge” chapter/prequel after the end of Winter Cowboy that leads us into Summer Drifter, book 2 , in the Whisper Ridge, Wyoming series.

After reading it, I can see we will be getting deeper into the past events mentioned in Winter Cowboy. Hopefully we will see Micah and Daniel too at the next stage in their relationship.

I’m now looking forward to the next in the series and more of the Lennox Ranch and the tantalizing glimpse I saw of one of the main characters.

Read Winter Cowboy, Daniel and Micah and all the friends and family that’s making Lennox Ranch home!

It’s a wonderful story.

Series: Whisper Ridge, Wyoming

Winter Cowboy

Summer Drifter

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/38770040

Review: Bite Me (Kitchen Gods #1) by Beth Bolden

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 5

Grab a great Chardonnay and a chocolate sweet of your choice before you settle in to read the delightful romance of pastry chef Miles and producer Evan.

Honestly, these stories of Beth Bolden’s just make you want to grab for a wine glass and a bite of something sinful to go along with her heartwarming romances such as Bite Me, Miles and Evan’s tumultuous road to HEA.

As with all of this series books, you get the entire circle of characters from the series included in the storyline as well as the main characters, their backgrounds, and current dynamics.

In this case, it’s the development of the online cooking show Pastry by Miles,with all the elements it takes to develop a successful show. Between that and the rough and tumble romance, Bite Me is a hugely entertaining story with a great couple at its center and recipes to make one drool.

I loved the ending and the epilogue sets up Wyatt for his story and romance while giving Miles and Evan a terrific ending for theirs.

Bite Me is a another winner is a series I can’t stop reading. Love this!

https://www.goodreads.com/series/224661-kitchen-gods

Go above for the complete series ~ all recommended

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: