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Romantic Reads and Such

~ thoughts on romances

Romantic Reads and Such

Monthly Archives: August 2021

Spotlight – Redeemed by His New York Cinderella

31 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Sneak Peek

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Jadesola James, Redeemed by His New York Cinderella

Redeemed by His New York Cinderella

by Jadesola James

Available September 28

Harlequin Presents

Blurb:

What if the man from her past is the key to her future? Don’t miss Jadesola James’s thrilling romantic debut for Harlequin Presents!

She could save him…

If only he’d let her!

Kitty Asare will do anything for the foundation inspired by her tumultuous childhood. Including charming her way into Manhattan’s most exclusive gala…then sparring with the man from her past who catches her there!

To land his next deal, Laurence Stone needs a stunning woman on his arm. Kitty agrees to the ruse for her foundation, but the electricity between them is more than make-believe! After breaking away from his family, Laurence vowed never to need anyone. Yet could Kitty be the exception to his rule?

Add Redeemed by his New York Cinderella to your Goodreads!

Buy Redeemed by his New York Cinderella by Jadesola James

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335568090_redeemed-by-his-new-york-cinderella.html

*****

Excerpt:

Laurence was relieved to see that the dining room was empty, except for a young woman seated alone at a table in front of a large stone fireplace.

“Do you mind, sir?” A harried-looking waiter ushered him to a table close to the young woman’s. “We’re short on staff right now, as there’s an event taking place in a couple of hours. They’ve closed off most of the dining room.”

“Very well.”

It mattered little to him, and as the waiter fussed about with clean linen and water glasses, and a long, rambling recitation of the wine list, he found his eyes lingering idly on his dining room companion. She was tucking into an enormous meal with so much enjoyment he stifled a smile. She hadn’t skimped on quality, either. On her table he identified the remains of a caviar starter, oysters, and a steak smothered in fresh mustard greens.

“Sir?”

He blinked, looked up. “A glass of whisky and water, please. And those oysters—” He gestured at the young lady’s table. “Are they grilled?”

“Rockefeller style, sir.”

“I’ll have those, and the new potatoes in cream.”

“Very good, sir.”

The waiter swanned off, and Laurence was left to feel annoyed at the fact that he’d have to log into his email manually, since his rarely used personal phone had none of the many apps he used to keep his work organized. He hadn’t used it in a couple of weeks, and he felt a rush of physical relief as he switched it on and began to scroll.

He was halfway through a report on viewing statistics for a motorbike ad when the waiter came back with a bread basket, dropped it off with little ceremony, and headed over to the young woman’s table.

“Are we all set, then, ma’am?” he heard the waiter say solicitously.

Laurence listened with half an ear; he was curious to hear what such a voracious eater’s voice sounded like.

“I am, thank you.”

She spoke quietly, almost inaudibly. Her voice possessed a low husk that, despite himself, made him look up. It was familiar, in that elusive kind of way that nagged until finally the brain identified it. He registered wide eyes in the clearest shade of brown he’d ever seen, a full, bow-shaped mouth painted berry-red, and a dimpled chin before he looked back down at his phone.

Pretty, he thought idly. He’d look up again when she stood, see if the body matched the face. And there it was again—that sense of déjà-vu. Who could she possibly be? He’d gone to university abroad, so that was out. She looked far too young—and too broke—to be a client. Perhaps one of the many interns who filtered in and out of Laurence & Haddad each summer? No, it couldn’t be that; he avoided them like the plague.

“Shall I charge it to your room, ma’am?”

“Oh, yes, please.” Again, in that soft, cultured voice. “I’m in Suite 700.” 

“Ah, the penthouse. Very good, ma’am.”

At that, Laurence did look up. He knew for sure that the woman wasn’t staying in Suite 700, because that was his room.

Brazenly, she signed the bill with a flourish, and took a long, last sip of champagne with every indication of pleasure before looking up. She had the gall to shoot him a shy smile and lowered her lashes, touching the napkin to those soft, full lips.

*****

Author Info:

Jadesola James loves summer thunderstorms, Barbara Cartland novels, long train rides, hot buttered toast, and copious amounts of cake and tea.

When she isn’t writing, she’s a reference librarian and a scholar of American romance publishing. Her hobbies include collecting vintage romance paperbacks and fantasy shopping online for summer cottages in the north of England.

Find Jadesola and news about her upcoming books on Twitter at twitter.com/JJ_Nicola!

*****

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Spotlight – A Very Intimate Takeover

27 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Sneak Peek

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A Very Intimate Takeover, Devereaux Inc. series, LaQuette

A Very Intimate Takeover

Devereaux Inc. series

by LaQuette

Available September 28

Harlequin Desire

Blurb:

Falling for the enemy never felt this good in the debut novel of LaQuette’s Devereaux Inc. series.

She’s ruthless in business,

but vulnerable in his arms.

Trey Devereaux is out to prove her corporate mettle to her skeptical father. When she sees a chance to take control of Devereaux Inc. from her estranged grandfather, she pounces. But Jeremiah Benton, his second-in-command, is fiercely protective of the Devereaux patriarch…and absolutely enticing. The intensity of their attraction overwhelms her defenses, and Trey even finds herself warming to her grandfather under Jeremiah’s influence. Can Trey maintain her resolve—or is Jeremiah winning this high-stakes merger? The fate of a billion-dollar Brooklyn legacy lies in the balance…

Add A Very Intimate Takeover to your Goodreads!

Buy A Very Intimate Takeover by LaQuette

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335735201_a-very-intimate-takeover.html

*****

Excerpt:

The envelope was smooth yet had enough texture that she took her time sliding her finger across it. The deep sandalwood beige, trimmed in a dark mahogany and gold foil, had enough flare to let you know the sender cared about making a good impression, but not so much that it was gaudy. 

She opened the envelope and pulled out the folded paper carefully. She was curious to see what this J. Benton had to say.

Dear Mr. Jordan Dylan Devereaux,

I’m Jeremiah Benton, the COO at Devereaux Incorporated.

Please forgive my forwardness in sending you a physical letter. However, I needed to confirm delivery of this message while ensuring our communication remained private. What I have to say is too important to risk getting lost in your spam folder or intercepted by prying eyes. The elder Mr. Devereaux has forbidden me to share this with you, but I felt that as his son, you needed to know. I regret to inform you that Ace has fallen ill. Ill enough that his physicians have determined he may have less than six months of life remaining. I know I am a stranger, and this is a personal topic, but your father and his business need you now as his next of kin. If left to his sister, Martha Devereaux-Smith, Devereaux Incorporated will suffer. You are the only person who can stop her. Please don’t delay. For your father, and his legacy, I beg you to return to Devereaux Manor immediately.

Sincerely,

J. Benton

Trey rose in one quick movement, heading for her father’s office. When she arrived, she immediately paused. The grandfather she’d seen nowhere but on television and in business magazines was dying. She tried to process what this new knowledge made her feel, and all she could identify was numbness. But her father, having spent the first twenty-two years of his life at his father’s side, might feel something more than the nothingness that spread through her veins.

The door was slightly ajar. She was about to knock when she heard her parents’ voices.

“Destiny, she’s too quick to act. I’ve told her she couldn’t rely solely on her usual tactics, and she ignored everything I said and did it her way instead. Now, she can’t make this right.” Her father’s words cut deep, like a heated blade. He was still angry with her, his focus so fused to her failure, he couldn’t see her ability to get this job done.

“Deuce, practically from the moment we found out I was carrying Trey, you have demanded greatness from her. You used to place your head on my belly every night when she would kick me so hard I couldn’t sleep and say the same thing over and over until she calmed down. ‘Trey, you are Deuce Devereaux’s daughter, and there isn’t a man or woman that can stand against you.’ You believed that then, and in all this time she’s never given you reason to doubt her.”

“This is different, Des. This was her test, to prove to me she could handle everything I’m leaving to her. Now, after this disaster, I can’t retire. I can’t leave DD Enterprises until I know she’s ready. I’m so tired, baby.” The hitch in his voice yanked at Trey’s heart. His lack of faith in her might have raised her blood pressure, but hearing him this way, so fragile, so hopeless, felt like something crushing her from the inside out. “I’ve been fighting this fight with Ace for over thirty years. It’s taken so much away from my life with you. I’d thought I could retire early and leave it all to her, but now…”

“Don’t doubt her, Deuce. She will find a way.”

*****

Author Info:

An activist for DEIA in the romance industry, LaQuette writes bold stories featuring multicultural characters. Her writing style brings intellect to the drama. She crafts emotionally epic tales that are deeply pigmented by reality’s paintbrush.

This Brooklyn native’s novels are a unique mix of savvy, sarcastic, brazen, & unapologetically sexy characters who are confident in their right to appear on the page. Find her at LaQuette.com & at LaQuette@LaQuette.com.

Website: https://www.laquette.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaQuetteRomanceAuthor  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/laquettewrites 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/la_quette/

*****

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Spotlight – Manhattan’s Most Scandalous Reunion

26 Thursday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Sneak Peek

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Dani Collins, Manhattan's Most Scandalous Reunion

Manhattan’s Most Scandalous Reunion

by Dani Collins

Blurb:

He can’t turn her away, and it has nothing to do with the media storm outside his penthouse! Enjoy this sizzling romance from USA TODAY bestselling author Dani Collins.

She left him.

That doesn’t mean she’s forgotten him.

When paparazzi mistake Nina Menendez for a supermodel, she takes refuge in her ex’s New York penthouse. Big mistake. Guarded Reve Weston is incapable of emotional intimacy—and is intensely seductive…

Reve has had enough of scandal. To keep his name out of the tabloids, he insists Nina stay with him. But as their spark reignites and she shares the mysteries of her past, Reve realizes his cynicism has a downside. If he can’t give Nina the fairy tale she dreams of, he’ll have to let her go…for good!

Add Manhattan’s Most Scandalous Reunion to your Goodreads!

Buy Manhattan’s Most Scandalous Reunion by Dani Collins

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335568953_manhattans-most-scandalous-reunion.html

*****

Excerpt:

Dear God, they were everywhere. She was surrounded. Her airway tightened and her wild gaze swerved every direction, seeking a path of escape.

A blue-and-silver awning struck her eyes. She had walked in this direction unconsciously on purpose because, deep down, she was a masochist.

Normally, she would have stayed on this side of the street and glared upward as she walked by, but in her agitation, she darted straight for the entrance, not computing that she was running into traffic.

A car squealed its brakes and stopped on a dime right before it would have struck her. The driver laid on the horn, then honked again as the horde of cameramen chased her, all of them batting and bumping into the car in their haste to get around it.

Nina brushed past the startled doorman and ran inside, straight to the security desk where Amir sat today.

“I’m sorry. Please, can I stand here a few minutes while I figure out what to do? They won’t leave me alone.”

She was quivering with reaction, breathless and barely able to speak. She looked back to see the doorman holding out his arms while he ordered the men, “Back off! No entry.” 

Amir frowned at her, then at the disruption outside. One of the men evaded the doorman and pressed his camera lens to the window, clicking and flashing through the glass.

Amir picked up his phone and dialed.

Was he calling the police? Nina’s scrambled brain tried to decide whether she should involve them.

“It’s Amir, sir. Ms. Menendez is here in the lobby.”

“What?” she whispered. “I didn’t come here to see him.”

Her stomach began to churn. She held her breath in dread-filled anticipation.

“Yes, I understand, sir. But she seems upset.”

Her heart stalled out. How humiliating. After seducing her and leading her on, Reve had dumped her when she had asked if he wanted to meet her father. Three months later, he didn’t even want to see her.

She covered her face, turning her back to the windows so she had a shred of privacy while she tried to think of where she could go or who she might call. The few friends she’d made in New York had fallen away when she’d been fired and moved in with Reve. And the friend who’d gotten her today’s interview lived in London. The one who was loaning her his studio was backpacking in Australia.

She didn’t know what to do. She was upset by more than the fact those men had chased her. It was everything that had happened lately. Her ears were rushing with the sound of her galloping pulse. Her life was falling apart at the seams, but she couldn’t crawl home this time. Where was home? Who was she? 

“Miss…” Amir’s voice was loud enough to make her jerk her head up. His frown told her he’d had to repeat himself to get her attention. She saw he had opened the doors for Reve’s private elevator.

“Mr. Weston will see you. Would you like me to come with you? You seem unsteady.”

She stared into the elevator, longing to see Reve even though she knew he only pretended to rescue damsels. Deep down, he was more of a dragon who lured them in and ate them.

Still, she could hear the doorman arguing with the men outside. She had to leave the lobby so they would disperse. She desperately needed to be transported out of her entire overturned, mixed-up life, and, God knows, Reve’s world was the furthest thing from her own.

*****

Author Info:

When Canadian Dani Collins found romance novels in high school she wondered how one trained for such an awesome job. She wrote for over two decades without publishing, but remained inspired by the romance message that if you hang in there you’ll find a happy ending. In May of 2012, Harlequin Presents bought her manuscript in a two-book deal. She’s since published more than thirty books with them and is definitely living happily ever after.

Website: https://danicollins.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaniCollinsAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaniCollinsBook

*****

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Spotlight – Secrets of a One Night Stand

24 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Sneak Peek

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Billionaires of Boston series, Naima Simone, Secrets of a One Night Stand

Secrets of a One Night Stand

a Billionaires of Boston romance

by Naima Simone

Available: August 24

Harlequin Desire

Blurb:

She said yes to one night with a stranger… Now she’s pregnant and that stranger is her boss! Only in this Billionaires of Boston romance from USA TODAY bestselling author Naima Simone.

She told herself it was one night. Nothing more.

But her heart knew the truth…

Finding out her previous one-night fling is her new boss is the shock of Mycah Hill’s lifetime. She can’t say no to being VP for software CEO Achilles Farrell—she’s finally made her career dream come true. But knowing he’s so close… It’s only a matter of time before she’s back in his arms. It can’t end well. Achilles’s tortured family history means he’s not up for sticking around long-term. But Mycah’s surprise pregnancy is about to change everything…

Add Secrets of a One Night Stand to your Goodreads!

Buy Secrets of a One Night Stand by Naima Simone

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335735119_secrets-of-a-one-night-stand.html

*****

Excerpt:

He propped his elbows on the bar top and ground his thumb and forefinger into his eyes. What he wouldn’t give to be back in Tacoma, Washington, in his cabin less than a mile from the Cascade Range. So far away from affluent Beacon Hill, Massachusetts. And not just in location.

But as he’d stood in that mansion’s ridiculously huge library with its hardwood floor, leather furniture, fireplaces large enough for even him to stand in, spiral staircase and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, it hadn’t been just his black thermal shirt, faded jeans and battered brown boots that had differentiated him from the other men in the room.

Cain Farrell—his older brother, the heir, the son Barron Farrell had kept and acknowledged. Kenan Rhodes—the youngest son, biracial and the other bastard besides Achilles. But both men hailed from the same world. Boston’s elite. It was in the razor-sharp yet elegant cut of their suits. The cultured speech. The arrogant demeanor.

Achilles had encountered people like them. And had ended up despising every one of them.

Now he had to call them brother.

Life should really offer him a cigarette when it decided to fuck him.

Again.

“You starting a tab or paying for these now?” The bartender set a mug filled with dark, cold brew topped with a creamy head that spilled a little over the rim. Next to it sat a short, smooth glass of amber whiskey.

Perfect.

“A tab.” Because yeah, he was just getting started. The whole purpose of this trip entailed not thinking. And several rounds should accomplish his mission.

“I’ll be back, then.”

She cocked her head, running a dark blue gaze down his frame. He’d hit six foot his sophomore year of high school and had kept growing. He’d become used to that glint in a woman’s eyes. And he didn’t shy from it. The only thing better than losing himself in alcohol was hot, dirty, nameless sex.

His height, his build and his eyes—those were the only things his worthless sperm donor had passed down to him, and women seemed to eat that shit up. He picked up the shot of Jameson and knocked it back, never breaking visual contact with the pretty brunette. The corner of her lips lifted, desire flickering in her gaze as it dipped to his mouth.

“Let me know if you need to order food. Y’know, to balance all that alcohol. Can’t have you too wasted just in case you have later…plans.” She smirked before sauntering off to the other end of the bar.

“Hmm. That was subtle.”

Achilles stiffened.

That voice.

Like a fire beating back the coldest winter winds.

Like fingernails on a chalkboard.

As silken and sexy as skin sliding over bare, heated skin.

As jarring as crashing cymbals directly in the ear.

He longed to curl up against it, roll around in it.

He wanted to snarl at it, hurl himself away from it.

His heart smashed against his rib cage like a caged beast. His pulse, in sharp contrast, a sonorous warning at the base of his throat. Something primitive inside him warned that he should go find that bartender with the invitation in her eyes, pay for his drinks and get the hell out.

But the impulsive, destructive streak that had brought him to Massachusetts must have still been alive and kicking because he didn’t heed that warning. Instead, he slowly turned around on his barstool.

*****

Author Info:

USA Today Bestselling author Naima Simone’s love of romance was first stirred by Johanna Lindsey and Nora Roberts years ago. Well not that many. She is only eighteen…ish. Published since 2009, she spends her days writing sizzling romances with heart, a touch of humor and snark. 

She is wife to Superman–or his non-Kryptonian equivalent–and mother to the most awesome kids ever. They live in perfect, sometimes domestically-challenged bliss in the southern US.

Connect with the Author 

Website: http://naimasimone.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naimasimoneauthor/?ref=bookmarks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Naima_Simone

*****

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Spotlight – It Takes Heart

20 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour

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It Takes Heart, Tif Marcelo

It Take Heart

by Tif Marcelo

Release Date: August 10, 2021

Publisher: Montlake

Blurb:

Heart Resort, a private resort in the Outer Banks, is a romantic getaway for couples but a hotbed of family drama for its proprietors, the Puso family. Brandon Puso, the youngest of the four siblings, prefers life on his own as a licensed contractor in DC after a falling-out with his eldest brother.

After a hurricane plows through the Outer Banks, Brandon has a change of heart. He returns to the resort to help with the grand reopening but encounters his big sister’s best friend, designer Geneva Harris, who’s there to do the same thing. But Geneva and Brandon have a secret. Years ago, they had a secret romance that ended in heartbreak.

With the resort’s future at stake, Brandon and Geneva decide to put the past aside and to keep peace with the family. But as their mutual attraction heats up, they have to decide if history will repeat itself—or if this time, love gets a second chance.

*****

Author Info:

Tif Marcelo is a veteran US Army nurse who holds a BS in nursing and a master’s in public administration. She believes in and writes about the strength of families, the endurance of friendship, and the beauty of heartfelt romance—and she’s inspired daily by her own military hero husband and four children. She hosts the Stories to Love podcast, and she is also the USA Today bestselling author of In a Book Club Far Away, Once Upon a Sunset, The Key to Happily Ever After, and the Journey to the Heart series. Sign up for her newsletter at www.TifMarcelo.com.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TifMarcelo/ 

Twitter – https://twitter.com/TifMarcelo 

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tifmarcelo/ 

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16298074.Tif_Marcelo 

*****

Giveaway:

Enter to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card & A Digital Copy of Tif Marcelo’s IT TAKES HEART

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/07c2363f271/

*****

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Review – The Slider

13 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Book Review, Sneak Peek

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A.M. Williams, Book Review, Boys of Summer series, The Slider

Jacob Vaughn represents everything I could ever want in a man, until he makes the wrong assumption about me. He says he’s sorry, but the damage has already been done. Can Jacob convince Zoe that he deserves a second chance? Fans of the Brentwood Baseball Series by Meghan Quinn will devour The Slider by A.M. Williams, a mistaken identity, single-parent romance.

*****

The Slider

Boys of Summer series

by A.M. Williams

Blurb:

How do you recover when a first impression goes wrong? 

Zoe

Meeting Jacob Vaughn wasn’t what I expected when I went out with my best friend to celebrate my new job. Jacob was kind, funny, and easy to talk to.

He represents everything I want in a dream man.

But then he assumes something about me and makes comments that my nephew overhears.

He says he’s sorry, but it’s hard to let go of the hurt when I’m not the only person impacted. He hurt Noah, and that’s just not something I can easily forgive.

Jacob

Zoe Atkinson is the breath of fresh air I didn’t realize I needed. After saving her from a handsy drunk, I discover how amazing she is and can’t get her out of my mind.

Except, I’m coming out of a bad divorce and can’t think about anyone other than myself for now.

Then I ruin things by running my mouth, upsetting someone close to her, making me realize that I like her a whole lot more than I should.

I’ve got to figure out how to get us over this hump so I can show her that I’m serious about her and Noah.

We have to decide if we’ll let first impressions ruin what could be the best thing to happen to us.

The Slider is book five in A.M. Williams’ Boys of Summer baseball romance series. It’s a mistaken identity, single-parent romance with a recently divorced baseball player and an aunt that is now struggling to raise a teenager.

If you love men in tight pants and the sassy women they fall for, this series is for you.

Add to Goodreads!

Goodreads →https://bit.ly/3fv9hhG

Read Now!

Amazon → https://amzn.to/3jAGPxh

*****

Excerpt:

It was rude to stare. I knew this.

I knew this, and I didn’t care.

Want to know why?

The hottest man I’d ever seen in my entire life just walked into The Splinter.

It felt cliche to say that it was like that slow-mo entrance you see in the movies, but it really was like that.

A group of guys came in before him and he trailed them. It was like God smiled down on me when he did, too.

It was raining, so his hair was wet. Once inside, he reached up to run his hands through his hair, shaking the water out of it.

And his hair was gorgeous. This thick, lush brown color that was begging me to go over and help him shake the rest of that water out.

I didn’t because that would be weird. Much weirder than me being a creep from across the bar as I watched him join his friends at the table they’d claimed near the pool tables.

Those same pool tables I was sitting at with my friend and her friends. Though I wasn’t sure how good of a friend she was with them because there was something off about some of them.

They were nice, but catty. I’d never had many female friends growing up because I was a little awkward and lived in my head. So I also wasn’t the best at reading people.

Maybe my read was wrong.

But I didn’t think so.

They smiled when Cass introduced me, and they tried to include me in conversation initially. But then I was quickly forgotten by everyone except for Cass.

I was okay with that. I liked people watching.

Hence me noticing Mr. Good Looks when he walked in.

And I wasn’t the only one to notice him, either. The Cat Pack had as well.

“Did you see who just walked in?” one girl, a redhead, breathed.

“I did. I’ve never known him to come out before,” a brunette responded.

Cass sent me a look, nibbling her bottom lip, before looking back at her friends.

What was that about?

I sucked on my straw, it making the awfully slurping sound to tell me my drink was empty. That was my cue.

While the women were caught up in discussing Mr. Good Looking and his hot friends, I slipped away. Instead of going right for the bar, I veered toward the jukebox. I wasn’t too interested in picking a song to play, but I wanted some time away from Cass’s friends.

I flicked through the selections before digging a dollar from my pocket and feeding it to the machine and picking my songs.

Knowing I’d have to wait awhile, I turned toward the bar.

As I wound through the thickening crowd, I couldn’t help looking toward Mr. Good Looking to get another fix.

I caught sight of him and did a quick scan before forcing myself to look in front of me and not at him.

He would star in my fantasies later tonight.

Copyright 2021 A.M. Williams

*****

Review:

Zoe has had a rough few years and she’s doing her best to raise her nephew & figure out what she wants to do with her life. Overall, she’s doing quite well. Then a night out has her meeting Jacob in a bar and even though nothing comes of it then fate will keep bringing them together.

Jacob is fresh off a difficult divorce and not looking for anything during a night out with friends. He saves Zoe from a troublesome drunk because it is the right thing to do, not knowing that it will mean he won’t be able to forget her. Luckily he runs into her again a few months later … only to stick his foot in his mouth. It’s time to salvage his reputation, prove that he’s a better man than she thinks, and maybe discover a new love.

I will say there are a few issues. The sex scenes weren’t as smooth as they could have been and they felt a little awkward compared to the way the rest of the book was written. There are also quite a few times when things don’t match – people who have met before don’t react like it or conversations are held but a few pages later it’s like it never happened. The copy I read was due for at least one more edit and I’m hoping they caught some of these. But I would definitely say that the love story is more than worth it even if these things aren’t fixed.

The romance between Jacob and Zoe is sweet and I enjoyed watching them move past some early stumbles, get to know each other, and fall in love. Jacob is awesome with both Zoe and her nephew Jacob. Together they grow into a wonderful, supportive family unit.

*****

Author Info:

A.M. Williams is just a simple girl from the south that found herself living abroad. When she’s not annoying her cat or reading, she’s spending time with her husband and traveling as much as possible. She has a serious case of wanderlust and wants to go as many places as possible while she can. She loves Cheerwine, sweet tea, and North Carolina (eastern style) BBQ as well as those crystal clear waters on the North Carolina coast.

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Reader Group | Goodreads | BookBub | Website | Amazon

*****

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Spotlight – The Wildest Ride

09 Monday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Sneak Peek

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Marcella Bell, The Wildest Ride

Marcella Bell delivers a bold, uplifting romantic novel in THE WILDEST RIDE (August 10; $16.99). Rodeo meets reality-TV with this never-before-seen Closed Circuit competition, where an undefeated city-boy champion goes head to head with his world-class, kick-ass female rival. Romance ensues as they battle for the million-dollar prize.

*****

The Wildest Ride

by Marcella Bell

ISBN: 9781335773227

Publication Date: August 10, 2021

Publisher: HQN Books

Blurb:

At thirty-six, undefeated rodeo champion AJ Garza is supposed to be retiring, not chasing after an all new Closed Circuit rodeo tour with a million-dollar prize. But with the Houston rodeo program that saved him as a wayward teen on the brink of bankruptcy, he’ll enter. And he’ll win.

Enter, Lilian Sorrow Island. Raised by her grandparents on the family ranch in Muscogee, OK, Lil is more a cowboy than city-boy AJ will ever be. It shows. She’s not about to let him steal the prize that’ll save her ranch, even if he is breathtakingly magnificent, in pretty much every way going.

The world watches on as reality-TV meets rodeo in a competition like no other. In front of the cameras they’re each other’s biggest rivals. Off screen, it’s about to get a whole lot more complicated…

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*****

Excerpt:

One

On their own, the sheep weren’t that bad. It was the goats that were the problem. They gave the sheep ideas.

And what the hell sheep needed with ideas, Lilian Island did not know.

The dogs, Oreo and Carrot, had gone in opposite directions, each pulling wide to flank the scattered sheep on the left and right while Lil and her horse harried them from behind. As they picked up speed, her heart caught the rhythm of her horse’s hooves thundering against the ground as they chased the lead ewe together, two beings becoming one in motion.

The wind whipped across the shaved sides of her head, drowning out all other sounds beneath its gusty whoosh. It deposited traces of prairie dust in the loosely braided column of black hair that trailed back along the center of her head to hang down the midpoint of her spine.

Lil transferred the reins to her left hand in order to wrap them around the pommel of her saddle, steadying herself with her thighs as she did.

With her right hand, she reached for the rope coiled at her hip.

Her tornado-gray eyes, both narrowed beneath two thick black eyebrows, locked on the sheep like a missile on target.

Woman and horse flanked the sheep. Lil uncoiled the rope with a snap of her wrist while releasing the pommel with her other hand, letting her body tilt down the side of the horse until she was level with their quarry.

This close, she recognized the sheep as BB, or Bossy Betty, the herd’s matriarch.

It just went to show: a fierce woman could be counted on to keep everybody in line, but watch out when they got wild.

Lil surprised herself by laughing out loud as she leaped from the side of her horse to tackle the sheep. Catching three of its legs in her left hand, she quickly roped them off with her right.

She might not be quite as fast as she once was, but there was no denying she still had it.

After a few half-hearted attempts at resistance, BB heaved a huge sigh and slumped against the ground. To the tune of the occasional disgruntled bleat, Lil freed the defeated but unharmed animal.

She made the rope into a makeshift lead and tied the wayward leader to her saddle, giving her a consolation pat along the way, making a mental note to tell Piper that the herd was coming due for shearing.

Still smiling, Lil said to the sheep, “Inconvenient, BB, but it’s been a long time since I did any mutton bustin’.” With a final pat and chuckle, she added, “A damn long time.”

The lingering rush of the chase was familiar—once it got you, the thrill of the ride never really let go—but the wish to do it again, that was unexpected. She was a grown woman, well past her rodeo days.

Sharp barking approaching from her right signaled that Carrot and Oreo were on their way back with the rest of the flock.

Soon they would have the whole herd of them back in the yard, and then Lil could start her actual workday.

Feeding the barn stock was supposed to be her meditative morning ritual.

One that might need reconsideration, she thought as she hooked a foot into her stirrup and swung onto her horse.

The horse was the same stormy gray color as Lil’s eyes, with a black mane and tail matched to the inky midnight tone of Lil’s hair. Fanciful, Lil had named her Aurora, the most beautiful thing she could think of at the time, but everybody called her Rory.

Rory had been Lil’s twenty-fifth birthday present from her granddad. The last one he ever gave her.

Leaning forward, she pressed the side of her face against Rory’s warm neck, breathing deep that unique-in-all-the-world scent that was horse.

Oreo and Carrot brought in the remaining six sheep, and Lil led the group back toward the yard.

The coyotes could have the goats for all she cared. They had been the ones to open the fence.

She turned to Oreo, on her left, “With my luck, they would just eat the coyotes, and then we’d still have the stupid things, plus an enormous vet bill, to boot.”

Oreo gave a cheerful whuff, and Lil tried not to wonder what it meant that the response satisfied her.

Lil led the sheep and dogs back into the barnyard and tied the gate shut with the backup rope. The broken lock needed replacing—another task she added to her mental list. Once a goat figured out the mechanism, you had to get a whole new style lock. 

Shaking her head, she unsaddled Rory, brushed the horse down, gave her a pat of hay, and tossed her a handful of oats.

Wrapping up her morning routine, Lil spread feed out in the yard for the chickens. They’d eat bugs and other bits around the farmhouse throughout the day, but it was always a good idea to start the day with a hearty breakfast. Besides, there was comfort in the action of spreading feed, especially after the chaotic morning.

The familiar action finally brought her heart some of the calm she typically found in doing the morning chores. She might spend her days chained to a desk running the business end of things, but she was still a hands-on rancher at heart.

The chickens settled into contented clucking and rooting just in time for Lil to hear her grandmother shriek from the kitchen.

Lil was across the yard in four seconds, up the stairs, and into the kitchen in another two.

Her eyes and muscles worked faster than her mind. Before she knew what she was doing, her rope was out, its tail end lashing out to snake around the delicate wrist of the arm raised against the woman who had raised her.

A flick of Lil’s wrist and the stranger—a woman, after a second more processing—flipped into the air before landing hard on her back on the kitchen floor.

“Lil.” Gran’s voice was cross.

Lil crossed the kitchen in three strides, crouched at the stranger’s side, and rolled her over.

The woman’s face had gone pale and sweaty, all the more unfortunate for being paired with a green three-piece skirt suit with a little too much square in the shoulders. She was probably in her midforties and had a tight perm shorn close to her head. Based on the faint traces of grow-out, the woman was a natural sensible brown that she had dyed an even more sensible brown.

Lil considered the woman for a second longer before saying, casually, “I could shoot you, you know.” Granddad had always said calm was scarier. “You’re in my home, uninvited, and this is Oklahoma.”

“Lil.” Gran’s voice turned up a notch, breaking through the cold rage in her mind. “Apologize.”

Lil’s chin angled up, and her heels dug down, “I’m not saying sorry to this stranger. She was about to hit you.”

Gran’s face cracked with a smile that had a hint of bite in it. She patted the front pocket of her apron before pulling out her mace key chain. It was the color of a purple highlighter. “I might have said a few provoking words about her mother… But that’s beside the point. I had the situation under control. I’ve got my mace. Carry it everywhere since Granddad passed.”

Lil groaned, her mind filled with images of Gran spraying innocent fools in the face, all of which were more comfortable than knowing that carrying mace around was just another sign that Gran felt a little less safe in the world without Granddad around.

“Gran. You know that doesn’t make you any safer. And were you planning to wait until after she hit you to use it?”

The woman cleared her throat, the disapproving sound instantly transporting Lil back in time to her second grade teacher’s class, Mrs. Donkin. Students in Mrs. Donkin’s class were guests in her realm and were expected to act accordingly.

Lil hadn’t liked the sound coming from her teacher, and she certainly didn’t like it coming from a stranger in her own kitchen.

“I’m with the Bank of—”

Lil cut her off with a raised hand. “We all know you’re from the bank—” There were certain professions a person couldn’t hide, no matter how hard they tried—cops, bankers, lawyers, teachers, pastors, and cowboys—each one was obvious a mile away. “As modern bankers aren’t known for door-to-door recruitment, it then seems pretty safe to assume you’re from the bank we do business with, the Bank of Muskogee. Now, we don’t have much in our accounts, so we wouldn’t be the kind of clientele they’d send a representative out all this way to for a friendly check-in. That means you’re here about our larger investment, this ranch. I run the books here, so I can think of a whole host of reasons you might be interested in paying us a visit regarding the ranch. What I can’t think of, though, is a single damn reason you would be in my kitchen, in my home, lifting a hand to my grandmother. I find that so stupefying that it seems only natural to assume you’re capable of anything, moving me toward my only recourse—the use of force to protect myself from attempted injury.”

The woman huffed at Lil’s words but refrained from commenting until she’d risen to her feet, straightened her skirt, dusted off her suit jacket, and patted her hair.

Then she said, “I am with the Bank of Muskogee, and Miss Lilian—I assume you are the Miss Lilian described in my file—I would be happy to explain myself to the authorities, including how you assaulted me, so go ahead and call them.” She had patted her file when referencing it and now stood tapping her foot on the tile flooring. Lil and Granddad had spent weeks one achingly hot summer installing the incredible discontinued turquoise tile. Gran had gotten them for a steal, importing them direct from a Jamaica-based tile maker she’d met in an online forum about beading. The labor had been hard, the result worth it. No one else in Muscogee had a kitchen floor like Gran’s, which was just how she liked it.

The woman’s tapping was becoming irritating, so Lil smiled her mean smile and said, “Nobody said anything about calling anybody. I rather think I’d drive leisurely down to the station to let everyone know what happened after-the-fact if you understand what I’m saying.”

The woman’s mouth made a little O of outrage, and she clutched her file in front of her. “I assure you, I will make a note of this hostility in my file.”

Lil rolled her eyes before crossing her arms in front of her chest. “What’re you here for?”

The woman lifted her nose in the air. “As I was getting to before your grandmother verbally attacked me—”

Lil let out a low growling noise, and the woman stopped talking to take an audible gulp.

“As. I. Was. Saying. The Bank of Muscogee sent me to deliver the news that your bereavement grace period has ended. I am also to remind you that, as per the terms of the agreement, you, the heirs of Herman Island, may, without a down payment, begin making adjusted mortgage payments beginning November of this year. Alternatively, with a new down payment, an adjusted payment set at a rate equal to that of the average final six payments of the previous mortgage is available to you. If none of those options are feasible, you are free to leave the ranch and all of its associated troubles—my file indicates difficulties securing improvement permit approvals and equipment rentals, as well as challenges with making timely mortgage payments—to the bank.”

“Now, what nonsense are you talking about?” Lil asked, eyebrows and nose screwed up in genuine bewilderment. “That file of yours might paint a part of the picture true, but without a doubt, this ranch has one thing going for it, and that’s the fact that it’s paid for.”

The woman shook her head, the movement mechanical like a clock, her expression a blend of smug and pleased that Lil’s mind immediately coined smleased. “Not for the last six and a half years since your grandfather walked through the doors of the central street branch and applied for a reverse mortgage.”

“What?” Lil’s mouth dropped open this time. “You mean those things sleazy banks use to prey on lonely old folk without kin?”

The woman had the gall to look affronted. “Reverse mortgages are an important mode of financial freedom for seniors without traditional options!”

Lil shook her head, amazed. The woman moved like a clock and spoke with all the heart of a robot. “You’re telling me that the Bank of Muscogee somehow fooled my granddad into signing his land away?” Heat built in her chest, making its way upward toward her neck and face.

“The Bank of Muscogee was merely the facilitator. Your grandfather walked in, submitted the appropriate paperwork, and walked out with 1.2 million dollars.”

Lil laughed. “$1.2 million? Lady, you had me going. You truly did. But you lost me at 1.2 million dollars. I spent nearly every day of the last two years of his life with my granddad. If he’d have had a million dollars, I would have known about it.”

Gran, having been quietly observing the exchange, chose the moment to reenter the conversation. “She’s telling the truth, Lil.”

Lil’s head whipped around to face her gran. “That’s crazy, Gran. Where’d the money go if he did it?”

“I found the money.”

All the heat building inside abandoned Lil as swiftly as it’d arrived, leaving her shivering in the morning warmth of the kitchen.

“He set up a separate account. Most of it’s gone. Spent on the ranch before you go worrying,” Gran said, looking severe and firm. “Your granddad was a good man. I haven’t worked it all out yet, but the secret was his only sin.”

Some of the tightness left Lil’s chest at her gran’s words, but she mumbled, “It’s a big enough sin.”

“Lilian Island, I’ll not have you speaking ill of the dead.”

“How could he have done this?”

For a moment, it was as if the bank representative had disappeared, and it was just the two of them, a bewildered granddaughter trying to understand the world from her weary widowed grandmother.

Gran shook her head, the motion small for all the volumes it spoke. “He must have had a good reason.”

The woman from the bank cleared her throat. “Yes. Well. Your grandfather’s motivations notwithstanding, it is my task to get your signature on this paper, which states I’ve informed you of the terms of the reverse mortgage.” She held up a multipage form, the top few pages folded back to reveal a signature line at the base of a long page, which she jabbed with a finger Lil knew had done more than its fair share of pointing.

Gran’s eyebrow ticked up, and Lil’s stomach tightened on reflex—years spent under the woman’s watchful eye had taught her to be wary of that look.

Gran was irritated and through with the woman’s presence in her kitchen.

Without speaking a word, with barely even a glance in the woman’s direction, Gran’s arm flashed out and signed the paper, the whole motion eerily like the one she had so often reached back and used to smack some sense into her old fool cowboy of a husband.

Lil wondered if the millions of tiny memories she stumbled into each day on the ranch would always hurt. This deep into them with no sign of abating, she’d nearly reconciled herself to the fact that chances were they would. 

On a groan, Lil said, “Gran, you can’t just sign like that. You didn’t even look at the document.”

The bank woman virtually salivated. “Thank you, Mrs. Island. I’m sure the bank will be pleased with your response.”

Gran scoffed, still not looking at the woman. “I’m sure they will be SherriDawn Daniels, but, as I was saying before you so rudely lost your temper after I invited you into my home, it won’t get you any closer to knowing who your real daddy is.”

Lil grimaced, and SherriDawn—old enough to be Lil’s mother and, who had, according to Gran, been one of the wild girls Lil’s mother had palled around with as a teen—actually growled.

Lil’s hand tensed at her side, ready to repeat the scene from earlier if need be.

But this time SherriDawn held her temper, instead, plastering a broad smile on her face, saying through clenched teeth, “I’ll just be on my way, now, Mrs. Island. It was nice seeing you again.”

Gran cackled. “Don’t you lie to me, SherriDawn. I’ve seen right through you since you were fifteen years old, and don’t pretend like it isn’t true.”

The growling sound moved lower down into her throat, but this time SherriDawn took the wise course: she shut her mouth, clasped her briefcase, and swiveled narrowly to the door.

Watching her walk away, so prim and proper that it seemed anally uncomfortable, it was hard to imagine SherriDawn might have been wild enough to ride with her mother. In Lil’s mind, her mother represented all that was wild and dangerous, as well as what happened when you chased after it. She’d been wild enough to run around and have herself a baby by a mystery man she refused to name at sixteen. Wild enough to run off and never come back, leaving that baby to be raised by her grandparents.

SherriDawn didn’t seem like she had the balls for all of that.

After the door slammed shut, the old screen let to fall without care by SherriDawn on her way out, Gran gathered herself with a shuddering breath, which she then let out on a long theatrical sigh.

Lil’s Spidey senses tingled.

Given what Gran already seemed to know about things, the whole scene with SherriDawn now seemed put on. And Gran’s long sigh was telling. That meant that all of it—goading the bank woman, the dramatic reveal, perhaps even the sheep and the goats, now that Lil was thinking about it—was part of one of Gran’s plots then.

If she knew her gran, and she did like the back of her hand, this one would be related to the reverse mortgage but would be no less outrageous for being grounded in their real problems.

Gran put on a sober look before sighing. “Everyone ought to be here—I only want to say this once.” Then she opened her mouth and hollered at the top of her considerable lungs, “PIPER! TOMMY!”

Piper, their petite red-haired farmhand, came running in first, clearly having grabbed the closest thing at hand to use as a weapon if needed—a horseshoe.

Tommy, Lil’s live-in cousin from Granddad’s side, had a rifle.

Steady, dependable, Tommy.

“What’s going on?” they asked in unison.

“You’re all going to want to sit down for this,” Gran said with an arm toward the kitchen table and more weariness in her voice than the unveiling of a scheme usually allowed.

Following her grandmother’s gesture, Lil noticed for the first time the plaid thermos of coffee that sat in the center of the round table.

It wasn’t the new stainless steel one.

Gran had taken out the plaid one. She reserved the plaid thermos for tough conversations.

Four chairs sat around the table, each with an empty coffee mug in front of it.

Lil’s seat, where she sat now that she knew what was going on, was the east point of the compass of their table.

Gran sat in the north, Tommy the south, and Piper the west.

Granddad had always been in the northeast, a steady anchor between Gran and Lil.

Without him, they held each other as best they could, but both had become more prone to drifting.

Gran waited for everyone to pour a cup before she spoke. “I’ll start with the good news. We have each other. We have our stock, and, for the moment, we have the land.”

“Not a promising start, Gran,” Lil observed.

“It is when it might be all we’ve got,” Gran said simply. “Unbeknownst to me, Granddad took a reverse mortgage on the ranch in the years before he died. I received a letter informing me of this in the mail last week.”

Lil frowned. That Gran had sat on information this critical for a week settled about as well as lemon juice in cream.

Gran continued, “After some digging, what I can piece together is this: about five years ago, Granddad lost the Wilson drive contract.”

Lil shook her head. “That’s impossible. He went right up until he died. That’s half the reason he got sick in the first place.”

Gran placed a hand on Lil’s wrist, just below where the hand attached to it had clenched into a fist.

Gran, never one to pull her punches, said: “He didn’t go. He kept a separate bank account for the money, and he tracked his expenses. He spent the time in Tulsa at a hotel renting movies and ordering room service.” A half smile broke through the frustration. “Greedy old cuss.”

But it wasn’t an endearing foible to Lil’s frame of mind. He had lied to them, and, in his own words, like all lies, it had spiraled into an avalanche of deceit.

“In the agreement, he included a provision to give us extra time before we had to make a decision, but that time is up. We have sixty days to come up with a down payment for the ranch, following which the bank will establish monthly mortgage payments. Every way I’ve looked at it, it’s our only option. We would never be able to afford the payment the bank offered without the down payment. But nobody is going to evict us from land my husband’s family has held on to, hardscrabble as it’s been, through hell on earth.” The last she directed specifically to Lil and Tommy. Through their granddad’s line, Tommy and Lil were Muscogee Creek Freedmen, the descendants of enslaved people under the double burden of being property during the relocation and later forced removal of the Muscogee from their homelands in the southeast. And after the tribe disenrolled the freedmen in the seventies, their citizenship revoked in a blow her granddad had never quite recovered from, this land, this dry patch of Oklahoma allotted to their family after the Civil War—insignificant dust mote of a ranch that it was—was the only proof they had left, the only hint as to how their family had ended up in Oklahoma in the first place. Tearing folks from their history was one of the ways to break them, so Lil’s family had held on to theirs through their land—through cultural hostility, the dust bowl, outright deception, attempts to steal, and everything else that time and life had thrown their way.

They had refused to sell even when their neighbors, cousins, and relatives packed up and left, seeking the green of other pastures and the heat of other suns. The Islands had stuck it out, and the reward was being able to say they’d held on to the first and only thing they’d ever been given.

Until now.

Lil was glad she had taken Gran’s advice to sit down. The floor had become somewhat less substantial beneath her boots.

It occurred to her that they were nice boots. She could probably sell them for some quick cash. It wouldn’t be anywhere near enough if what she thought might be true was true.

Sixty days wasn’t enough time at all. Lil frowned. They had a cash reserve of five thousand to keep them and the stock fed through a pinch, and they had the value of their stock itself, which could bring in another eighty thousand in a quick sale at auction, but as far as she knew, they didn’t have any other assets.

Her 1980s Toyota was too beat up to be worth anything, and she didn’t own any personal items of value.

Finally, she found her voice. “But why would Granddad do something like that?”

Gran sighed. “I don’t think that he could admit he was too old to do it all himself anymore. Looking at his paperwork, in addition to withdrawing the amounts it took to look like he’d still been going on the drives, it looks like he’d been dipping in those funds rather liberally.”

“Rory…” Lil grimaced. She had wondered where he’d scrounged up the money for a papered Arabian filly.

Now she knew.

Gran nodded. “And Gorgeous,” she said, referring to the brand new Subaru station wagon that sat in her driveway, souped-up with every safety and luxury feature available.

Lil brought her fingers to her temples and rubbed. “So how much is left in his secret pot then?” she asked. 

Gran shook her head. “Just ten thousand.”

“What?” Lil gasped.

Whining wasn’t her usual way, but, as the woman from the bank had gone, and there was no one left to throttle, it was the only option available.

“Don’t be theatrical.” Gran’s comment was automatic, so much so that Lil wasn’t even sure the woman noticed she’d made it, nor that, as far as statements went, it was the pot calling the kettle. “They want twenty percent for the down payment. We don’t have that.”

Lil groaned. “Nor enough for the mortgage payments after that. We’re barely making it by as is.” Lil couldn’t tell the truth: they weren’t making it. She had been contemplating selling equipment to stretch the final distance to make ends meet. Every month it was a struggle, but Lil had been somehow managing, just eking it out of the red. A mortgage payment, any mortgage payment, would break them.

Gran waited a beat after Lil’s interruption, punctuating the unspoken admonishment with a lifted eyebrow and communicating clearly without words: Are you done yet?

Lil blushed.

“But—” Gran continued. “We have each other. And we have Lil.”

The way her gran said her name made the hair stand up on the back of her neck, but when she opened her mouth to question, her grandmother lifted her palm to her, a signal to Lil to hold her tongue.

Out of respect, she did.

“Lil. You’re on temporary reassignment.”

“What are you talking about?” Lil asked.

“I’m the owner, aren’t I?” she asked.

“Yes, but we agreed that I was in charge of daily operations.” 

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“Gran.”

“I can do your job. Nobody but you can do what we need you for now.”

Here was the plot then. Lil’s skin crawled with a warning, but she asked anyway, “And what is that?”

Gran handed her a glossy quarter sheet flyer in response. Lil read the largest print and then set it facedown on the table and brought her fingers to her temples.

Gran’s voice was soft when she next spoke. “We need the money, Lil. I don’t see any other way.”

Lil groaned.

Gran added, “You’re the best there’s ever been.”

The old woman wasn’t pulling any punches.

Lil’s voice flirted with the edge of hysteria. “Says a nobody’s grandma with a stopwatch and pasture.”

“‘Nobody’s grandma?’ Excuse you.” She pointed to the third line of the flyer, “Did you see the prize? There are no points required, just a qualifier. It’s part of the whole thing. Like American Idol.”

Lil went ahead and dove fully into hysteria. When she spoke, her voice squeaked high to low like a pubertal boy. “American Idol?”

Gran’s next words had the same effect as being hit by a bucket of cold water: “You could ride a bull.”

Lil’s body froze and tingled at the same time.

She hadn’t stepped foot in an arena in years and never competed in a PBRA-sponsored rodeo.

She had walked away a junior champion and ridden pro a few times in the Indian National Rodeo rodeos. Still, the world of rodeo mostly had forgotten about her—except for the few administrators who would always remember her as the girl who had tried and failed, over and over, to get women into the PBRA’s, the Professional Bull Riders Association, rough stock events. Because in Lil’s mind, what did it matter if she won every other event if she couldn’t win on the back of a bull?

She was skilled enough to have made a good living between women’s events in the PBRA and the Indian rodeos, but if she couldn’t ride a bull under the banner of PBRA, she didn’t want any of it.

So she rode for a college scholarship and then quit when she graduated instead. And then she’d come back to the ranch. End of story. And that was good enough for her.

Since her retirement, rodeo had opened up a lot, and she was happy for the younger generation. A handful of girls had even been allowed on top of bulls. None had made it far, but Lil knew it was only a matter of time.

She shook her head with a sigh. “I can’t, Gran. I’m rusty as an old nail, and there’s just too much to do around here. Besides, the ranch is too much for Tommy and Piper to run on their own.”

Gran snorted. “You work in the office most of the day, anyway.”

“Gran, you don’t have the energy for it,” Lil insisted.

“Energy? Hell, after more years of doing it than you’ve been alive, I could do the ranch’s books half asleep—and have! I just let you take over because it’s a snoozefest.”

“Snoozefest? Gran, do you hear yourself?” Lil turned to Piper and Tommy for help, “You don’t support this, do you?”

Both shrugged.

Piper said, “We trust Gran.”

Gran crossed her arms in front of her chest and lifted a brow. “They trust me.”

“It’s a lot more work,” Lil tried.

Tommy said, “We’ve been doing more and more of it while you’ve been up there pinching pennies.” 

Lil’s cheeks heated, but she didn’t contradict him. He and Piper had been pulling more and more of her weight as she tried to do the impossible.

The impossible that she wasn’t very good at. The impossible that Gran could do in her sleep—which was true. Gran ran a tight ship, whatever ship she came to, and she had been far more organized in running Swallowtail Ranch than Lil could ever hope to be.

They had supported her through the last sad and stumbling years. Participating in this crazy scheme was what they were asking of her in return.

Mentally sweating, Lil pushed her chair back, its legs screeching across the floor, and stood up. Turning around, she headed to the door without saying another word.

“Where are you going, Lilian?” Gran only used her full name when she got stern.

Lil stopped mid-step. “I’m going to clear out my desk,” she said.

Behind her back, Gran smiled. Lil didn’t have to see it to know it was true. Gran always smiled when she got what she wanted, and she always got what she wanted.

“Don’t worry about that now. You’ve got training to do. Gotten a bit out of shape, if you ask me.”

Piper erupted in a fit of witchy cackles as Lil stormed out of the kitchen. Ignoring them all, Lil went to her office.

On the second floor of the farmhouse, the room used to be her gran and granddad’s bedroom, but she and Gran had turned it into the office after he passed. Gran said she couldn’t bear to sleep in there alone.

It made a lovely office—wide and bright, with delicately framed French doors that led to a weight-bearing balcony. Weight-bearing because Lil’s summer project last year had been to reinforce the support beams, replace the decking, and weather coat the whole thing.

She figured that should get her five years’ worth of good use of Muskogee’s extreme annual mood swings before she’d need to do any repairs. That is if she kept up on refinishing it every year, which she had planned to, since walking out on the balcony had preserved her sanity after a long stint of pushing paper many a time.

She walked through the doors and stood there now, enjoying it while she could still call it hers. There were bills to pay, orders to fulfill, and emails to respond to, but that wasn’t her job now. Now her job was to enter a rodeo contest and try to win some money to save the ranch.

And to think she’d thought the goats were bad. 

Excerpted from The Wildest Ride by Marcella Bell,
Copyright © 2021 by Marcella Bell. Published by HQN. 

*****

Author Info:

Marcella Bell was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She is a registered yoga teacher, an avid reader, a honeybee enthusiast, and a lover of travel, corvids, and karaoke. A wife, mother, and child of a multicultural household, Marcella is especially interested in writing novels that reflect her family history, as well as the people and places she’s known throughout her life. 

Social Links:

Author Website

Facebook: @MarcellaBell

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*****

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Spotlight – Big Witch Energy

06 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour

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Big Witch Energy, Kelly Jamieson

Big Witch Energy, an all-new hilarious paranormal romantic comedy from USA Today bestselling author Kelly Jamieson is available now!

*****

Big Witch Energy

by Kelly Jamieson

Blurb:

Life’s a witch, and then you fly.

Romy Larson

The tequila made me do it—throw caution to the wind to take a DNA test. Now I know why “who’s your daddy” is a dangerous question. Dad’s a witch, with a whole magical family I knew nothing about.

Discovering I have magic isn’t the only shock (though it explains a lot). There’s a familiar face among the noisy, joyful Candler clan. A fostered son named Trace—the only other time in my play-it-safe life I did something crazy. A night of madcap fun and sizzling kisses.

Trace Holcomb

For years, I’ve been trying in vain to find a spell to bring my family back after they died. I’ve given up on magic. What good is it if I can’t do the one thing I want so much? 

I mistook Romy for my blind date, and it was the best mistake I ever made. Or maybe it’s the worst. When the other shoe—more like the hammer—drops, I learn she’s part of the Candler family, who opened their big hearts to me when my family died.

Now it’s up to me to run Romy through a crash course in remedial magic before she loses it forever. That’s the last thing I want to do. As the smoke clears from her first disastrous spells, something else becomes clearer. Our attraction wasn’t a fluke. And she could be the key to making my impossible dream come true…

Grab your copy today!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2SuRdvq

Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/bigwitchenergy

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3vWcrQp

Nook: https://bit.ly/3qohkQW

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3x7FQZv

Add Big Witch Energy to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3wQiVS6

*****

Author Info:

Kelly Jamieson is a USA Today bestselling author of over fifty romance novels and novellas. She writes the kind of books she loves to read–sexy romance with heat, humor and emotion. Her writing has been described as “emotionally complex”, “sweet and satisfying” and “blisteringly sexy”. She likes coffee (black), wine (mostly white) and shoes (high!). She also loves watching hockey. She is the author of the popular Heller Brothers Hockey series, Aces Hockey series, and the Rule of Three trilogy. 

Connect with Kelly

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3oqDFet

Instagram: https://bit.ly/37x0pTe

Amazon: https://amzn.to/33MTofY

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/33Njsb2

BookBub: https://bit.ly/39LQaxm

Website: https://www.kellyjamieson.com

*****

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Review – Sweet, Sexy Heart

04 Wednesday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Book Review, Sneak Peek

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Amber & Dash, Book Review, Melissa Foster, Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls, Sweet Sexy Heart, The Bradens & Montgomerys

For this sweet bookstore owner, avoiding the charms of a famed-football-player-turned-author was supposed to be easy… Funny, sinfully sexy, opposite-attracts romance.

*****

Sweet, Sexy Heart

The Bradens & Montgomerys

by Melissa Foster

Releasing Aug 4, 2021

World Literary Press

Blurb:

Amber Montgomery is perfectly happy with her quiet life. She loves running her bookstore, taking long walks with Reno, her Labrador retriever seizure-response dog, and spending time with her close-knit family. She’s never needed thrills the way some of her sisters have. In an effort to control her epilepsy, she tries to avoid anything that creates too much excitement or stress—including relationships. When Amber hosts a book signing for famed-athlete-turned-author Dash Pennington, he’s everything she’s spent her life avoiding: loud, aggressive, and far too handsome, as proven by the hordes of women who surround him everywhere he goes. Amber can’t ignore the sparks flying between her and Dash, but this is a no-brainer for her: Ignore their chemistry and hold her breath until he leaves town.

Dash Pennington has spent his life running. Running the ball in for a touchdown, running from town to town to appease his public relations reps, and for years, running into the arms of too many women to count. He’s also an expert at protecting—his reputation, his family, and lately, his sanity. But he’s ready to make a change. When he comes to the sleepy little town of Oak Falls, Virginia, and witnesses the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen living the life he craves, she refuses to have anything to do with him. But now that Dash has found the one thing he doesn’t want to run from, he’ll stop at nothing to win her over.

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39329375-sweet-sexy-heart  

Goodreads series link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/151180-the-bradens-montgomerys-pleasant-hill—oak-falls

Buy Links:
➜KINDLE: http://smarturl.it/SSH_Kindle
➜APPLE: http://smarturl.it/SSH_Apple
➜NOOK: http://smarturl.it/SSH_Nook
➜KOBO: http://smarturl.it/SSH_Kobo
➜GPLAY: http://smarturl.it/SSH_GPlay
➜PAPERBACK: http://smarturl.it/SSH_Pb
Available in audio (Narrated by Tim Paige and Meg Sylvan)
➜AMAZON: https://smarturl.it/SSHa_Amazon
➜APPLE: https://smarturl.it/SSHa_Apple
➜AUDIBLE:  https://smarturl.it/SSHa_Audible

*****

Excerpt:

Read Sneak Peek here, https://melissafoster.com/sweet-sexy-heart-sneak-peek/ 

*****

Review:

Ya know, the biggest complaint I’ve seen so far for Foster’s newest is that her hero is just a little too awesome. And … well, I kinda get it. Dash is charming, attractive, smart, and caring. He comes to town, is charmed by Amber’s awkwardness with him, and starts an assault to get her attention that is so adorable. He also starts wooing the people of the town just because he’s that darn awesome. There’s very little fault to find with him so, while that makes a great romance hero, it does make him just a tad too perfect to be real. That doesn’t stop him from being a great book boyfriend though!

Amber is also pretty great on her own. She’s a central figure in her town and takes the time to show people that someone cares. She’s a little nervous about Dash because he’s so big and she needs (or so she thinks) someone a little more quiet. But it doesn’t take long for him to show her she’s wrong and they make a great (and giving) couple.

There’s very little drama to be found here but a lot of heart and heat. Dash and Amber together are sweet but they also set the bed on fire. If you like big characters, small town charm, and a lot of spice on your way to finding HEA, Foster always delivers.

Sweet, Sexy Heart is a stand-alone in an interconnected series but can be read by itself. You’ll likely find hints to a few stories that you’ll want to add to your TBR pile though so this is your warning 🙂

 *****

Author Info:

Melissa Foster is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, & USA Today bestselling author. She writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance and new adult romance with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Melissa’s emotional journeys are lovingly erotic and always family oriented–perfect beach reads for contemporary romance lovers who enjoy reading about wealthy heroes and smart, sassy heroines.

Website:  http://www.melissafoster.com/

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/MelissaFosterAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Melissa_Foster

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3023973.Melissa_Foster

Newsletter: http://melissafoster.com/newsletter/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/melissa-foster

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissafoster_author/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@melissafoster_author

 *****

Series Links:

💕EMBRACING HER HEART (Book 1)
➜KINDLE: http://smarturl.it/EHH_Kindle
➜APPLE: http://apple.co/2vDGJbO
➜KOBO: http://smarturl.it/EHH_Kobo
➜NOOK: http://smarturl.it/EHH_Nook
➜GPLAY: http://bit.ly/2gLs8IZ
➜PAPERBACK: http://smarturl.it/EHH_Pb
Also in Audio book (narrated by Andi Arndt and Sebastian York)
➜Amazon: http://smarturl.it/EHH_Amazon
➜Apple: http://smarturl.it/EHH_iBooks
➜Audible: http://smarturl.it/EHH_Audible

💕ANYTHING FOR LOVE (Book 2)
➜KINDLE: http://smarturl.it/AFL_Kindle
➜APPLE: http://apple.co/2wkOgQ2
➜KOBO: http://smarturl.it/AFL_Kobo
➜NOOK: http://smarturl.it/AFL_Nook
➜GPLAY: http://bit.ly/2gr852M
➜PAPERBACK: http://smarturl.it/AFL_Pb
Also in Audio book (narrated by Ava Erickson and Zachary Webber)
➜Amazon: http://smarturl.it/AFL_aa
➜Apple: http://smarturl.it/AFL_aib
➜Audible: http://smarturl.it/AFL_aud

💕TRAILS OF LOVE (Book 3)
➜KINDLE: http://smarturl.it/TOL_Ki
➜APPLE: https://apple.co/2FU6RoA
➜KOBO: http://smarturl.it/TOL_Ko
➜NOOK: http://smarturl.it/tol_n 
➜GPLAY: http://bit.ly/2HPyRKF
➜PAPERBACK: http://smarturl.it/TOL__Pb
Also in Audio book (narrated by Virginia Rose and Aaron Shedlock)
➜Amazon: http://smarturl.it/TOLa_Amazon
➜Apple: http://smarturl.it/TOLa_Apple
➜Audible: http://smarturl.it/TOL_Audible

💕WILD, CRAZY HEARTS (Book 4)
➜KINDLE: http://smarturl.it/WCH_Kindle 
➜APPLE: http://smarturl.it/WCH_iBooks 
➜KOBO: http://smarturl.it/WCH_Kobo 
➜NOOK: http://smarturl.it/WCH_Nook 
➜GPLAY: http://smarturl.it/WCH_GPlay 
➜PAPERBACK: http://smarturl.it/WCH_Pb 
Also in Audio Book (narrated by Savannah Peachwood and Brian Pallino)
➜Amazon: https://smarturl.it/WCHa_Amazon 
➜Apple: https://smarturl.it/WCHa_Apple 
➜Audible: https://smarturl.it/WCHa_Audible

💕MAKING YOU MINE (Book 5)
➜KINDLE: http://smarturl.it/MYM_Kindle
➜APPLE: http://smarturl.it/MYM_Apple
➜KOBO: http://smarturl.it/MYM_Kobo
➜NOOK: http://smarturl.it/MYM_Nook
➜GPLAY: http://smarturl.it/MYM_GPlay
➜PAPERBACK: http://smarturl.it/MYM_Pb
Also in Audio book (narrated by Andi Arndt and Jason Clarke)
➜Amazon – https://smarturl.it/MYMa_Amazon
➜Apple – https://smarturl.it/MYMa_Apple
➜Audible – https://smarturl.it/MYMa_Audible

💕SEARCHING FOR LOVE (Book 6)
➜KINDLE: http://smarturl.it/SFL_Kindle
➜APPLE: http://smarturl.it/SFL_Apple 
➜NOOK: http://smarturl.it/SFL_Nook
➜KOBO: http://smarturl.it/SFL_Kobo 
➜GPLAY: http://smarturl.it/SFL_GPlay
➜PAPERBACK: http://smarturl.it/SFL_Pb
Also in audio book (narrated by Brian Pallino and Savannah Peachwood)
➜AMAZON: https://smarturl.it/SFLa_Amazon
➜APPLE: https://smarturl.it/SFLa_Apple
➜AUDIBLE:  https://smarturl.it/SFLa_Audible

❤️ HOT FOR LOVE (Book 7)
➜KINDLE: http://smarturl.it/HFL_Kindle
➜APPLE: http://smarturl.it/HFL_Apple
➜NOOK: http://smarturl.it/HFL_Nook
➜KOBO: http://smarturl.it/HFL_Kobo
➜GPLAY: http://smarturl.it/HFL_GPlay
➜PAPERBACK: http://smarturl.it/HFL_Pb
Also in audio book (narrated by Savannah Peachwood and Aiden Snow)
➜AMAZON: https://smarturl.it/HFLa_Amazon
➜APPLE: https://smarturl.it/HFLa_Apple
➜AUDIBLE: https://smarturl.it/HFLa_Audible

❤️Pre-order today!
❤️ THEN CAME LOVE (Book 9)
➜KINDLE: http://smarturl.it/TCL_Kindle
➜APPLE: http://smarturl.it/TCL_Apple
➜NOOK: http://smarturl.it/TCL_Nook
➜KOBO: http://smarturl.it/TCL_Kobo
➜GPLAY: http://smarturl.it/TCL_GP
➜PAPERBACK: http://smarturl.it/TCL_Pb

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Review – Claimed

02 Monday Aug 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Book Review, Sneak Peek

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Book Review, Claimed, J. R. Ward, The Lair of the Wolven series

Ward’s fans are sure to be super excited to see her come out with a new series!

*****

Claimed

The Lair of the Wolven, #1

by J.R. Ward

Blurb:

Lydia Susi is passionate about protecting wolves in their natural habitat. When a hotel chain develops a tract of land next to the preserve, Lydia is one of the most vocal opponents of the project—and becomes a target.

One night, a shadowy figure threatens Lydia’s life in the forest, and a new hire at the Wolf Study Project comes from out of nowhere to save her. Daniel Joseph is both mysterious, and someone she intrinsically wants to trust. But is he hiding something?

As the stakes get higher, and one of Lydia’s colleagues is murdered, she must decide how far she will go to protect the wolves. Then a shocking revelation about Daniel challenges Lydia’s reality in ways she could never have predicted. Some fates demand courage, while others require even more, with no guarantees. Is she destined to have true love…or will a soul-shattering loss ruin her forever? 

*****

Excerpt:

Chapter 1

Town of Walters, est. 1834 

Upstate New York

Lydia Susi’s Destiny came for her in the veil, on a random Thursday in the early spring.

As she ran along the wooded trail, two miles into a loop that would take her through the preserve’s northeastern acreage, she was measuring the glowing line that topped the contours of the mountains. Soon, the stripe would expand to an aura, and after that, the sun would accept the handoff from the moon, and day would arrive.

Her grandfather had always told her there were two twilights, two gloamings, and if you wanted to find your past, you went into the pines in the evening as the sun went down. If you wanted your future to come to you, you went alone into the forest in the veil, during that sacred transition of night into morning. There, he’d told her, when the distinction between that which ruled the light and that which held domain over the dark was at its narrowest, when the moon and the sun reached for each other before the rotations of their orbits tore them asunder, there was when the mortal could brush up against the infinite and seek answers, direction, guidance.

Of course, that did not mean you got good news. Or what you wanted.

But life was not an à la carte buffet where you could choose everything that went on your plate—another words-of-wisdom from a man who had lived to be 101 years old still smoking a pipe and drinking a glass of sima after his dinner year round.

Why limit spring to just Vappu? he’d said.

Lydia had never believed in his superstitions. She was a researcher, a scientist, and the kinds of things that her isoisa had gone on about did not fit in with that Ph.D. in biology she’d bought on layaway from the federal government and was still paying off.

So no, she was not out looking for any prognosti-cation from the universe this morning. She was get-ting her workout done before she headed into her office at the Wolf Study Project. With the way things had been going lately, she was going to blink and it would be seven at night. Short-staffed and under-funded, everything was a fight for resources at WSP, and by the time she locked things up every evening, she was exhausted. So Carpe Cardio was her motto and why she was out in this misty darkness—

Lydia let her stride peter to a halt.

Her breath pumped in clouds that captured and held the moonlight, and as a breeze came across the trail, her body did the same with the chill, grabbing it out of the air and bringing it in under her wind-breaker.

As she shivered, she looked behind herself. The trail she was on was the widest one in the preserve, a highway rather than a street, but she couldn’t see much into the trees. Pines crowded up close to the shoulders of the packed path, and the fog wafting through the craggy trunks and fluffy boughs obscured the forest even more.

In a quick calculation, she figured she was a good three miles from any other human, two miles from her car at the trailhead’s parking area, and a hundred yards from what had caught her attention.

There, up ahead, something was close to the ground, moving.

Fight or flight, Lydia, she thought. What’s it going to be.

She reached around to the small of her back. There were two cylinders mounted on the strap of her fanny pack, and she left the Mace where it was. Clicking on her flashlight and bringing it forward, she swung the beam in a wide arc—

The eyes flashed over on the left, a set of retinas flaring the light back at her as pinpoints. The stare was about three feet from the ground and the pupils were set close together, as predators’ were.

Lydia looked around again.

“I’m not going to bother you,” she said. But like the gray wolf spoke English?

The growl was soft. And then came the rustling. The animal was prowling toward her.

“Oh, shit.”

Except . . .

Lydia kept the beam down on the fallen pine needles as she, too, walked forward. Something was wrong with the wolf, its gait wobbly and uneven. Yet the spirit of the hunter remained undeterred—and she was identified as its target.

She was about twenty feet away when she got a sense of the fully mature male. He was filled out, at a healthy weight of about a hundred and thirty pounds, and his mottled white, gray, and brown fur was thick and lush, especially at the tail. But his head was hanging at a bad angle, and he was dragging his back paws as he continued to close the distance between them.

It was obvious when the wolf was going to collapse. Though his head remained forward, his body listed to the side, his will staying strong even as his rear legs, and then his forelegs, gave out.

He landed on the soft bed of pine needles on his side, and the struggle was immediate, useless paws batting at thin air and ground cover. As Lydia drew a little closer to him, he snarled, flashing long white fangs, his golden eyes narrowing.

“Shh . . .” she said as she kneeled down.

Her hand shook as she got out her cell phone. As she called a number from her favorites, she tried to keep her breathing steady.

In the flashlight’s beam, she could see the grayness of those gums. The wolf was dying—and she knew why.

“God damn it, pick up, pick up—” Her words ma-chine gun’d from her mouth. “Rick? Wake up, I’ve got another one. On the main trail—what? Yes, it’s the same—enough with the talking, get your ass out of bed. I’m on the loop, about two miles into the—huh? Yes, bring everything, and hurry.”

She cut the connection as her voice gave out.

Letting herself fall back to a sit, she stared into those beautiful eyes and tried to project love, acceptance, gentleness . . . compassion. And something got through, the majestic male’s muzzle relaxing, its paws falling still, his flank rising and falling in a shuddering breath.

Or maybe it was dying right now.

“Help is coming,” she said hoarsely to the animal.

*****

Review:

^^^^Warning! This review is going to include spoilers!^^^^

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Last warning – spoilers!

If you have not read at least a part of Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I think that you might find yourself a little lost with this one. While it is technically the first of a new series, it is a connected series and characters from the BDB world do appear. And apparently will be a pretty big part of it going forward. I have read quite a few BDB books but stopped a few years back because, for me, there was just too much going on in each one. I felt overwhelmed but I loved Ward’s writing & characters, and I do here as well, so I was excited at the idea of something “new”. Unfortunately that isn’t quite what we get.

Buuuut, for those that are BDB fans, I think that this could be promising. Claimed delivers a world that is intriguing in all that is going on unseen. And, since it ends on a cliffhanger (upsetting quite a few reviewers, btw), there is quite a bit to look forward to uncovering. I think that we get spoiled with most romance series because we expect for the main characters to have a HEA type ending and then we move on to other characters in the world. But because it is open ended, Claimed feels more like an introduction than the first book in a series.

Going into it knowing that, I think, would help a lot of people feel better about the pacing. It’s a slow unfolding but I found myself caught up in finding out exactly what is going on. Understanding that everything doesn’t get wrapped up by the end of the book would probably have helped me settle down and enjoy how things develop.

So, reading this you might think that it isn’t worth picking up but I think that’s wrong. I enjoyed Lydia and her dedication to the area’s wolves. And while Daniel is kind of a typical man-of-mystery drifter, he makes a good match for Lydia and I was curious exactly how he fit into things. I loved Candy, the receptionist, and her quirky, mouthy, in your face self. And I’m super intrigued to she how the mysterious local sheriff fits into things.

Overall, I think that this one has a very specific audience that needs to go into being aware of what to expect to truly be appreciated. But if you can get past a few of the more common complaints, and just let things come when they are ready, I think that you’ll find yourself involved and looking forward to what’s next.

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