Texas Rose Always by Kay Graykowski

Graykowski always has a light touch with humor and this book, Texas Rose Always, is no exception. She’s made an interesting switch on the whole secret baby plot by introducing a couple, Daisy and Houston who meet up only once a year at the Burning Man Festival. And wouldn’t you know it, but Daisy ended up pregnant and no way to tell Houston since they didn’t exchange real names or cell phone numbers. When they meet up the next year, she hints that she wants something more permanent and he resists her as he does for her her hints for the next several years. And he is adamant that he doesn’t want children. So she keeps silent and finally decides not to return to Burning Man.

And then Daisy, who is really Justus Jacobi, gets the contract in her own business as a landscape architect to pretty up the family ranch where, of course, Houston “Rowdy” Rose is one of the sons. She brings her wonderfully appealing son, Hugh, with her to the ranch where she falls in love with his family and they love her right back. The scenes with her son hanging out with the men no one realizes are really his uncles and grandfather are just so endearing as they swap bits of strange trivia.

Then Rowdy returns and everything becomes clear as to Hugh’s paternity. There are misunderstandings as Rowdy doesn’t react well to not having been informed that he has a son, but it all will eventually reach a HEA.

I found I just couldn’t find too much sympathy for either the H or h. Rowdy’s hangup is that is secretly a great artist but doesn’t want to tell his family because he figures a bunch of ranchers would be fine with his becoming an award-winning winemaker, but wouldn’t love him if they found out that he paints? That’s just not believable, especially when we meet his family who happen to be simply the kindest and most loving people anyone could imagine. It’s not clear where his hangups come from so it’s hard to buy that he could be falling for a woman he meets for one week out of the year and yet he is too much of an emotional coward to even get her phone number. And Justus has hangups because her mother abandoned her and is a selfish witch, but she also had a loving father and stepmother. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to tell Rowdy/Houston that he has a son. She’d prefer to deny her son a father and relatives simply because she can’t find the courage to tell her lover about her son. If he flipped out and didn’t want anything to do with them, that would be tragic, but at least she’d know. Instead she hooks up with him year after year without telling him.

I enjoyed the book, but I found the behavior of the two lead characters so irritating; I just wanted to shake them. I’d take the son and grandparents any day over those two.

I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Meet Me Halfway by Kim Carmody

In this second book in Kim Carmody’s Off Field series about players on a fictional New York football team. I really enjoyed the first book, Lexington and 42nd, about a young Australian woman who came to New York to work for the team and ended up falling for the star quarterback. This book, Meet Me Halfway, is about a hot sports journalist, Olivia Callahan, who is shooting a documentary about a young first-round draft pick to the NY football team. She goes to interview Nate Sullivan, the new player as he graduates from college and prepares to play in the NFL.

Olivia and Nate fall for each other while she’s filming the documentary. She’s five years older than he is and a true city gal when he’s never been to the city before. They don’t seem to have much in common and I just couldn’t buy that this sophisticated professional woman was falling for a football player who just graduated college. I’m not a big fan of romances when the woman is several years older than the guy - I guess I’m old-fashioned like that, but I find the five-year gap when the guy is 22 years old. The differences in age when they’re older are not as stark as when a guy is basically just a college kid. Of course, he’s the nicest guy and a serious young man. In fact, he’s more appealing than Olivia who is a bit too driven and seems willing to use Nate both sexually and professionally.

I found a lot of the plot predictable. As soon as they came together halfway through the book, it was clear that her documentary was going to come between them. There is some mystery about a fight that Nate got into when he was a freshman, but it was pretty obvious what the story was behind that story.

I actually enjoyed the glimpses of the two characters of Emma and Will from the first book more than I did the romance between Nate and Olivia. I still enjoy the author and the team and would read another book in the series. This one was just a bit disappointing from the first book.

Thank you to Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Valentine Seduction: Love Comes Later Book 3 by Serenity Woods

This is simply a lovely book. My Valentine Seduction is the third book in Woods’ series, “Love Comes Later,” about three thirty-something friends running a software business in New Zealand and how they found love. This book concerns Teddi who is blind and depressed on New Year’s Eve remembering her former boyfriend who had died four years ago. She ends up talking with Ethan whom she knows online since he plays the game that had made Teddi’s business a fortune. He doesn’t know that she’s one of the heads of the company or that she’s blind. He’s also depressed that New Year’s Eve thinking of his beloved wife who died two years ago leaving him to figure out how to be a good father to their two daughters.

I hadn’t thought I’d enjoy a book about a blind woman, but Woods handles Teddi’s blindness with such insight and care that I wondered if the author knows someone who is blind. Either that or she is overestimating how independently a totally blind person can live. Ethan is a totally real character. He’s a fireman and he’s having trouble coping with his nine-year old daughter who is still full of pain and anger over her mother’s death. He enjoys his late-night conversations with Teddi, but has honest worries about falling for a blind woman and the difficulties that might bring into his already difficult life. And he also isn’t comfortable being with a woman who is so very much richer than he is.

Their romance takes a long time to become a sexual one. Instead they take the time to become really good friends while they get to know each other. That seems so rare in romance books these days. But it also seems much more real than these books where the H and h take one look at each other and immediately fall in lust and love simultaneously. Real relationships don’t begin like that so it’s nice to see a relationship develop from late-night online conversations and to know that Teddi can’t see Ethan so she’s falling for the person he is rather than for his hunky fireman’s body. Of course, they do end up having a very satisfying sexual relationship, but that isn’t what binds them together.

Another thing I appreciated was Ethan’s lingering love for his wife. Too often with the H having had a wife who died, she is painted as someone with lots of flaw without whom he’s much better off. Instead, she seems to have been a wonderful woman and mother and he is lost without her. He also just misses the everyday comfort of being part of a couple. That seems a much more realistic portrayal of a widower’s grief. If anything, the book paints a much less sympathetic picture of Teddi’s former partner who was the twin brother of one the other owners of the company. In her memories, he comes off as a rather selfish, careless man.

I’ve really enjoyed this series. I was given a free review copy in exchange for an honest review, but I would have happily paid to read the book.

The Reluctant Cowboy by Kate Pearce

While The Reluctant Cowboy was mostly enjoyable, it was also a bit too long with the supposed conflict overdone. The hero is Chase Morgan, a multi-millionaire who has made his money from some sort of unidentified cyber invention, who has finally returned to the family ranch when his grandmother writes to ask for help. He has avoided the ranch because of his family’s tragic history when his mother disappeared and his father descended into alcoholism and abandoned his four sons. Chase is the oldest and hasn’t seen his brothers in years.

When he returns to the ranch, he meets January Mitchell, a history graduate student who is writing her dissertation on the Morgan ranch and its history while helping Ruth, Chase’s grandmother. Ruth and January want to preserve the ranch while Chase wants to sell it. But he also agrees to spend a few weeks helping out on the ranch which brings him in close contact with January. And guess what happens? They have to fight their irresistible sexual attraction. And what’s not to like about a brilliant, hunky guy who also has cowboy skills and is extremely rich to top it all off?

For someone who is writing a dissertation, January seems to spend most of her time riding around the ranch and helping out with chores. She doesn’t seem to have done much research until Chase arrives and rides around with her and helps her find a diary from his ancestor. Mostly what she does is stick her nose into Chase’s business. But, of course, that is all forgiven because he’s troubled and he finds her sexy.

There are hints about the Morgan family tragedy and what exactly happened, but it takes a long time until that is all explained. And there are hints about January’s past and her marriage, but that also takes a long time to figure out. There is the financial mystery that Ruth originally asked Chase to investigate, but that takes a long time to figure out also. Meanwhile, Chase and January spend a lot of time doing chores and riding around without much happening. There was a point when I figured that the book must be almost over since it seemed that I’d been reading for a long time and then I checked the Kindle register and I was less than 30% through the book. That’s not a good sign.

This is the first of a series of books about the Morgan brothers. Hopefully, without having to set up the family dynamic, the future books will not have such tedious stretches.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Love, Always and Forever

This is the third book in Morgan’s series, Sergeant Joe’s Boys, about three boys adopted by Joe and his wife, Marlene, and the men they grew up to become. All three boys had a very hard time of it as children until they were adopted by Joe and Marlene. From Joe they learned how to become good men and were inspired to join the military. From Marlene they learned how to treat a woman and what it means to love. I’ve enjoyed all the books in the series and this is no exception.

Love, Always and Forever is the story of Mikhail who has recently retired from the Marines and is now working as a fireman. He has his demons from his time in the military, but is learning to cope as he settles into his new life. Then he meets his very attractive neighbor, Amy Short. The two soon become good friends, working together on their neighboring gardens. Amy is eager to try new experiences such as learning to ride a motorcycle and adopting a pit bull puppy. And Mikhail is more and more attracted to Amy and wants to take their relationship beyond simple friendship.

It’s hinted throughout the book that Amy has moved away from her home in order to escape the smothering love of her family who are extremely protective of her because of a past unspecified health problem. We also know that Mikhail carries a load of guilt for not having been able to save his drug-addicted mother when he was a child and then not to be able to save civilians in Afghanistan or the victims of the fires he is fighting.

You know where this is going and how it will end up. But it is still a very pleasant ride to travel along with Mikhail’s and Amy’s journey to finding love. And I enjoyed the interactions between Mikhail and his brothers and the boy that his oldest brother adopted in the first book. Mikhail has his problems with his tempter and his PTSD, but he’s working through it and his brothers understand because they went through similar difficulties transitioning back to civilian life. Perhaps being a firefighter is not the best career choice for him; I’d think he’d do better in the family construction business, but I guess the reader doesn’t get to give career advice to fictional heroes.

I also enjoyed the relationship between Mikhail and his adopted mother. She is loving, but knows when to back off.

One thing that Marlene and Amy share is a love of cooking. Amy seems to cook up batches of cookies every day and then chows down on enormous banana splits when things are tough. I guess when you’re recovering from severe medical problems, you can afford all those calories without any noticeable way of working them off. But that’s just a minor complaint.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Raphael's Fling by Alix Nichols

Raphael's Fling is the second in Alix Nichols’ series featuring French brothers named Darcy. The first book, Find You in Paris, had a deliberate connection to Pride and Prejudice. I was hoping for another Austen tie-in, but didn’t detect it here. Our heroine, Mia, works at D’Arcy Consulting where she has been having an affair with the hunky, womanizing boss, Raphael D’Arcy. They have a meet-cute at a Christmas party where she is dressed as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and he’s come as Olaf the Snowman. They have a fun, flirty discussion on the balcony with her having no idea that the snowman is actually her boss. They get to know each other without having their attraction simply based on sexual attraction.

The book switches back and forth between current time and flashbacks. So we meet Mia and Raphael once their affair has already started. We just have to find out what complication is going to ensue and how they’re going to meet it. We need to find out if Raphael can get over his reluctance to get involved in a serious relationship and whether Mia where get over her reluctance to carry on an affair with her boss. She also is ashamed of her behavior because her parents are very socially conservative and apparently think that she and her sisters are virgins. That plotline was a bit unbelievable. And she seems to have an easy time finding jobs whenever the plot demands it of her. I somehow expect that jobs for specialists in medieval Europe aren't that easy to come by.

I was really enjoying this book through the first half. It all gets resolved rather quickly and easily. Given the plot complications that pop up in the latter half of the book, I would have anticipated a little more angst and difficulty with settling everything.

I always enjoy Nichols’ style and the contemporary French settings for her novels.

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Could've Said Yes A Thistle Bend Novel by Tracy March

Tracy March continues her series about romance in a small, mountain town in Colorado with Could've Said Yes. This one features an attractive artist, Ellie London, who encounters a nunky EPA inspector, Collin Cooper who is temporarily in town to investigate pollution leaking from a site in the area. The two meet up when he’s out mountain biking and she encounters him and takes his photograph. She has an art technique of painting in photographs that I really had a hard time picturing, but we’re assured that the touched-up photos are striking.

The two are attracted to each other and find that they share a lot especially in their love of nature. Then there is a terrible environmental accident that threatens the economy of the town and Collin seems to be at fault. Think of last year’s horrible Gold King Mine disaster in which the EPA truly was at fault. He has to fight to minimize the damage as well as the politicking from the EPA. I thought it was rather interesting that, for a book with a definite environmentalist focus, it was still very critical of the work by the EPA.

Collin has to overcome his own fear of serious romance since he’s coming off of a failed engagement to a woman who is nothing like Ellie. He’s rather chicken, but we know he’ll come around in the end. I’m not too fond of the plot device where one of the characters has such cold feet from a former relationship that he or she thinks the best thing is just to abandon the new love interest for her/his own good. Do people really do that these days? But the interactions between the two are basically enjoyable so, overall, I recommend this book.

I was provided a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.