JoAB

Susannah is crossing the country to marry Jesse when her stagecoach is robbed. During the robbery she misbehaves so Jesse gives her a bare bottom spanking. When Susannah meets Jesse she recognizes him as the robber. They get to know each other, marry and have quite an unusual relationship.

Susannah had been raised to be a proper lady and expects that Jesse is looking for that in his wife but she finally sees that the frontier is no place for a high born lady. She realizes that Jesse is not the gentleman she thought he was from his letters but an outlaw. As she gets to know him better, Susannah sees that Jesse will do anything for those he loves. He protects his brother and sister-in-law from a brothel owner, Doyle, who is after Jesse's sister-in-law, Rose and thinks he owns her. Jesse works on a plan to get Doyle to leave Rose alone. One part of that plan was robbing the stagecoach that Susannah was on.

I liked the plot but didn't like their sex life. There was a warning about spanking at the beginning of the synopsis so I was prepared for that. I thought it meant spanking once as a disciplinary measure not spanking in a sexual way. I didn't like the rough sex and pain/pleasure sex scenes. This was more BDSM which I don't read so this book was not for me. During the erotic sex scenes I didn't feel anything sexual - just a man beating a woman - and she took it and said she liked it. I don't think so.

This story is about Hope who lost her sister in an accident two years earlier. She just can't get over the loss. Her fiance, Brad, doesn't help with his attitude of "Just get over it" and his constant criticism of her. When she finds him in bed with another woman she throws the engagement ring down the toilet (priceless moment). Hope's best friend, Amber, drags her to a rodeo where she meets Wesley - a bareback bronc rider. He's taken with Hope right away and won't let her turn her back on him.

I enjoyed this well written story. I love stories with cowboy heroes. Add in a baby and it couldn't be better! I really liked Wesley. He was so kind and caring but almost too understanding. Hope was strong enough to get through the terrible things that happened in her life but I didn't like the way she wouldn't talk to Wesley about her concerns and always imagined the worst. I didn't like that she kept running away when there was something she didn't want to deal with. By the last quarter of the book I was pretty annoyed at her. I really liked Amber and thought she was the greatest best friend. I'd like to read her story.

I'm giving this 3.5 stars mainly because Hope irritated me.

Reed Tucker and his SEAL team are stationed in Afghanistan and work with helicopter pilot Delaney O'Connell. Tucker and Delaney work well together and get to know each other quite well. Tuck doesn't have relationships because of his career and parents (who have been married several times). After Delaney lost her fiance she sworn to never again get involved with anyone in the military. Since neither wanted a relationship, a one-night-stand worked for both of them. Until they started to have feelings for each other.

Things got complicated when Tucker's best friend, Reaper, decided Delaney was perfect for him and asked her to marry him. She said no but he kept asking until she finally agreed.

This was a good story with exciting missions the SEAL's went on. There was a lot of conflicting emotions between the three main characters that kept me wishing Tucker and Delaney would just speak up. Reaper didn't know that Tucker and Delaney had been together because didn't know how to tell him.

This story starts with Tucker going into the church to attend Reaper and Delaney's wedding so I was frustrated while reading it feeling like I knew the ending at the beginning. So that I don't give anything away I'll just say there were lots of twists to this story.

Mac Coalson wanted to help the people in his hometown who lost their homes in a flood so he rebuilds them with his construction company. But when vandals ruin many of the houses he wants to catch the culprits. When he sees some teens trespassing on one of his sites he's sure they are the ones vandalizing the houses and wants to press charges. Dixie Harris is called to the police station because her brother is one of the trespassers. She is a tiny woman with a big mouth who doesn't hesitate to tell Mac what she thinks of him.

When Mac and Dixie work together to find out who's vandalizing the houses, sparks fly between them.

I loved Dixie and her never-back-down attitude. People were constantly surprised to hear what came out of the mouth of such a small woman. I couldn't help but like Mac. He did want a relationship and tried so hard to keep his distance from Dixie but he failed.

This was an enjoyable humorous, romantic suspense with great characters.

Unfortunately, it had lots of typing errors and generally the editing was not good. I even had trouble thinking of the word that was suppose to be there sometimes. I did love the cover and wanted to pick it up right away.

Meg's best friend is a possible suspect of the murder of her boyfriend but Meg knows she didn't do it and investigates to prove her innocence. Since she owns a donut shop, she isn't an experienced investigator but she wants to help her friend anyway. Meg comes from a family of witches so she knows she can use magic to find answers but nobody knows they are witches and she has to keep it a secret which is tricky especially since her boyfriend, Connor, is a cop.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery with it's well developed characters. Meg is a good friend that is willing to put herself at risk of being found out in order to help her friend. Connor is a good detective and boyfriend. He clearly thinks a lot of Meg and her donuts. Can't forget the cat. Yes, the cat. It's actually Meg's grandmother who's soul was transferred into a cat just before she died.

This is a fun story, even with the murder involved. I liked the writing that made this a quick but easy to follow read. The addition of Meg using her magic while investigating the murder was a nice twist. Doing this without Connor knowing she was investigating or using magic was comical.

Please note I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

In this story we met Tesla who had developed software that would help protect our troops. Her brother, Harry, was a SEAL who died as a result of an EID and she didn't want others to suffer the same fate. Unfortunately the bad guys wanted this software so they were trying to steal it, kidnapping Tesla to get it.

Mason and his team of SEALs were sent to rescue her not knowing who she was or that she's Harry's sister. He had heard about her many times and was half in love with her even though they'd never met.

I really liked this great fast paced story. It's got everything I like in a book - SEALs, action, romance and suspense. We see a lot of action when the bad guys just won't give up their pursuit of Tesla and keep kidnapping her. That may have gone over the top a bit with the number of times she was abducted. I liked the constant questions of will she make it to the presentation of her software? Who is after her? Will Mason tell her how he feels?

The characters were well developed and likable. Tesla is a strong, intelligent woman who does go missing a lot but there really wasn't anything she could do about that. Mason's a SEAL so what can I say about him? He's able to do just about anything (like a SEAL is suppose to) so he, and his team, save Tesla time and time again. He's also a big, handsome man so that helps us like him even more.

I'm so glad to have received this book in exchange for an honest review and want to read the rest of the series.

Isa has just graduated from community college and expects to be discovered. The problem is she doesn't have any talents to discover. That issue aside, she gets a job at Shizzle, Inc. by winning a contest that gets her a job as the personal assistant of Mr. Hue, the eccentric billionaire owner of the company. Since so many of his clients were celebrities, Isa thought that would be the perfect place to be discovered.

When Isa graduated she was broke and her boyfriend dumped her because he expected to be drafted to the NFL and he wanted someone flashier than Isa on his arm. Isa thought that not only would she be discovered at Shizzle, Inc. but the job would help her pay her bills and show Brad what he's missing and want to come back to her.

I was looking forward to reading this book because many of the reviews called it "laugh out loud funny". It had some humorous spots but I didn't find it overly funny. The characters and their antics were not realistic but entertaining none the less.

This story is about Isabel who is in her third year of her law degree. She knows many languages and has a full-time job as a translator so is doing her courses part-time in evening classes. Isabel is very intelligent and has a knack for remembering law cases. At school, she meets Tarek who is also very intelligent and knows the law well. He's also handsome so that and his law knowledge makes Isabel attracted to him.

The first half of this story consisted of legal cases and precedents which I didn't find to be an interesting story. Clearly the author knew a lot about the law which we saw from all the arguments and case facts presented.

Isabel was not likable in the least. She thought she was better and smarter than everybody else and didn't socialize much. She actually went out of her way to make sure nobody liked her so they wouldn't talk to her. Tarek was interesting and very smart but I didn't see how he was attracted to her since she was so mean to everybody.

While this story wasn't for me, if you are interested in U.S. law cases and politics, you will like this book.

Please note, I won this book in a giveaway.

Cade needed to find out who her father really was so she moved from New Jersey to Vancouver to find the man she believed to be her father. That man was Mac who owned Mackinley Security. He treated Cade very badly but gave her a job anyway. He finally gave her an assignment to be the bodyguard of a rock star's daughter. She was so happy to get the high profile assignment that she didn't let the idea that she was more like a babysitter than bodyguard bother her.

Cade was a bodyguard to Harley - a very, very mature 8 year old of the famous rock star, Jax Clark. Jax had just gotten full custody of his daughter and didn't know how to raise a child but he wanted to learn. Harley was glad to be away from her mother since she treated her more like a personal assistant than a daughter and was a terrible person who was constantly going off the deep end when things didn't go her way.

Even though Cade had no experience with children she got along with Harley great and they formed a strong bond. She understood Harley better than her father did so she was soon able to bring her out of her shell so she acted like herself - an 8 year old girl.

I loved the characters, especially Harley. It was nice to see her get to be a child and have a friend to confide in. Jax was happy with his rock star life with the fame and women but he was ready to be a father to his daughter an settle down. He was a kind and thoughtful man. Even though Cade was going through her own problems she put them aside to be there for Harley and be her bodyguard.

I smiled and cried while reading Harley but I also laughed. This is a wonderful story that's well written and fast paced. It wasn't what I expected from a rock star romance at all but I really enjoyed it. I also liked the way Jax and Cade's relationship built up.

I liked Harley and glad I won it in a giveaway. You should read this book. You won't be disappointed.

This unusual story tells about a mix-up at a fertility clinic where Claire wasn't impregnated by her husband's sperm but by a complete stranger's. Claire's husband died when she's 5 months pregnant, not knowing that the baby isn't his. Once Luca finds out that he has a child he wants to be involved in her life. Claire knows he is a wealthy CEO and is worried that he would get his lawyers involved and she might lose her daughter.

Luca had cancer as a young teen so his mother suggested he donate sperm so it could be used when he got married since the treatments he was about to go through would leave him sterile. He actually thought he would never marry or have children so when he learned he had a daughter he'll stop at nothing to be part of her life.

The characters in this story were well developed and very likable. Claire was a strong, protective mother (understandably) who cared deeply for her child. Luca was used to getting his own way in business but not so much in his personal life. He came from a large Italian family who didn't think about him as a CEO - just part of the family. Everybody stuck their nose into everybody else's business so he couldn't say anything to them about his daughter until he had everything straightened out. Turned out because of his big family he was very comfortable with babies and small children. Claire was surprised with this, expecting him to hire a nanny and not have much actual contact with the baby.

Andrea's polished writing really shines through in this unique tale. She took a difficult subject and made a wonderful story out of it without confusing the reader along the way.

I really liked this book and glad I won it from Andrea Laurence in a giveaway hosted by HarlequinJunkie.

When Beau heard someone being beaten he went to investigate. He found a man beating a woman, knocked the man out and took the woman to the hospital. He then took her home with him to recuperate.

After I read the blurb for this book about an ex-military man who was declared dead and given a new identity I was anxious to read it. Unfortunately, the book I imagined was not the book I read. I couldn't connect with the characters and found Jenni to be particularly foolish and annoying.

While this book wasn't for me it did have some good ratings from others who obviously liked it.

Callie's business partner, Anna, signed them up for pole dancing classes. Callie felt very uncomfortable about going because she was self-conscious about her weight thanks to her boyfriend just dumping her because he thought she was too heavy. Both Anna and Ben (a police detective who has been asking Callie out for a year) tell her she isn't over-weight and is beautiful but she doesn't believe them.

The pole dancing instructor is so rude and obnoxious that Callie doesn't plan on returning after one lesson. But when the instructor is found murdered and Callie is the prime suspect, she keeps going in order to find the real killer. Callie is also a professor of German Literature at the nearby university but they threaten to fire her unless she can prove her innocence before the start of the semester in two weeks. So this puts more pressure on her to find the killer fast and without Ben's help or he could loose his job.

I knew I would like this book on the first page and was laughing out loud in the first chapter! D.E. Haggerty's books are always enjoyable reads and the Death by Cupcake series looks like it's going to be just as good as her other books. The lines at the beginning of each chapter are hilarious. I especially liked "A recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it."

Callie was an amazing woman that was intelligent and beautiful - even though she didn't think she was. And Anna was the perfect pushy side kick. I was surprised that Ben AKA Detective Hottie kept asking Callie out for so long and didn't give up.

Seriously, this was a great book and I can’t wait to try more from D.E. Haggerty! Obviously, I'm glad I received a copy of Never Trust a Skinny Cupcake Baker in exchange for an honest review.

Kat had a very rough and poor childhood so she planned out her life completely and stuck to her carefully laid out path, never allowing herself to be distracted. She has one more semester to go to graduate with her degree in social work and her plans won't allow anything to get in her way. At Christmas vacation her very wealthy best friend, Lemon, talked her into going on a skiing vacation to Monterra.

She met an attractive man, Nico, but tells him she's not interested, even though she finds him very attractive. The first time Kat went skiing she started out on the easy slope but accidentally got on a difficult hill, going very fast and out of control. The man she rebuffed saved her. Nico turns out to be Prince Nicolas of Monterra and he takes her and Lemon to his palace to recuperate.

I just loved this book and will definitely be reading it again. There are lots of Prince and the Pauper type stories but this one was done so well that I got totally engrossed in it. I liked the characters especially Nico. He wasn't just a prince but handsome and thoughtful too. I felt sorry for Kat's troubles earlier in her life but because of that she didn't know how to behave around royalty and that made it funnier. I liked the romance between Nico and Kat and how they each wanted to be with the other all the time because each of them felt better when the other was with them. Nico's little sisters were cute and added a lot to the story.

Chelsea went back to her family's ranch, Three Rivers Ranch, after her fiance killed himself. He suffered from depression and she thought the could fix him but she couldn't. He had been verbally abusive to her as well so she thought the ranch would be a safe place for her to heal.

When she got there she saw signs for Courage Reins. Her brother had let a military buddy, Pete, open a therapeutic riding program where he used horses to help veterans, or anyone else, overcome their traumas whether physical or mental.

Pete could see that Chelsea could benefit from the horses but she refused to believe that she was "broken" and wouldn't accept help. She did help train the horses, get funding and set up a website for the business though.

I enjoyed this book and even though it dealt with many difficult topics such as PTSD, the author handled them well and had me thinking more about the positive parts like how the horses helped people rather than the negatives of war and it's side affects.

The characters were well developed and likable. While I liked Chelsea and Pete with their determination to make Courage Reins successful, I felt sorry for them at the same time because of the pasts they suffered through.

I don't hesitate to recommend this wonderful inspirational romance.

An ex-private eye moved to a retirement community in Palm Springs for a peaceful retirement. But he finds out that the man who lived in his condo before him died and he suspected was murdered. Because of his profession, he had to figure out who the murderer was. That wasn't easy to do when he learns that most of the women in the community had slept with the deceased.

Murder aside, this is a funny story about life (sex life) in a retirement home. Everybody there had sex with everybody else. I kept wondering how old the people were in the retirement home because they were all so sexually active. Everybody (men and women) had a stash of "little blue pills". What a hoot.

This is a fun read that made me want to retire.