MERRY CHRISTMAS

To our readers who celebrate, Merry Christmas!

To those reading us who celebrate other holidays, we wish you the very best!

Melissa & Laura

DESIRE BY SIMONE SOWOOD - ARC REVIEW

Sometimes fate lands on your lap...

Leo:

A stunning woman approaches me in my hotel lobby.
She's dressed for sin. And I'm a sinner.
I brush past her and, the next thing I know, she flings herself across me in the backseat of my cab.
I didn’t want an escort tonight, but the look of her lying in my lap is impossible to resist.
Except she's not what I thought. They never are.
Young. Beautiful. Innocent. I can't get her out of my head.
She's not to be trusted. But one night in my bed won't do any harm.

Grace:

Leo is way hotter than I’d anticipated when my boss dressed me up and sent me out to lure him into saving our company.
Sure, he’s arrogant and rude but the air around us is electric. Unable to resist, I wear the red dress and give him my virginity.
It’s just one time but there’s something more between us, something real, I’m sure of it.
Until I end up pregnant and Leo disappears off the face of the earth.

Leo and Grace are an insta-love story...sort of.  They meet, they go their separate ways, they meet again and then go their separate ways again...but this time, he is out of touch and she finds out she is pregnant (this is all in the blurb, so not a spoiler).  So, the attraction is instant, but not really acted on until later, but, not for lack of trying on their part.

There is a lot here already.  Throw in that he thinks she is an escort, her family is nothing but drama, her employer is going under and has no issues pimping her out to the (hopefully) highest bidder, Leo's drama with his brother and wanting to sell the company, and Grace's stress about her job.  So, the plot is busy and at times it does jump a bit from point to point, which keeps it moving.

This book was busy and, while this meant that it moved quickly, I felt a little like the relationship with Grace and Leo took a little bit of a backseat to the myriad other things that were going on it the story.

I did enjoy it overall.  I liked the characters and this was a fun, lighter read.  I do recommend this title.

THE CHRISTMAS COWBOY HERO BY DONNA GRANT - ARC REVIEW

’Tis the season for ex-Navy SEAL Clayton East to come home for the holidays―even if the mood at home is anything but festive. His father is ill. The East Ranch is in financial trouble. And now it’s on Clayton, the prodigal son, to make sure his family doesn’t lose everything.

Headstrong Abby Harper is like a mother to her younger brothers, who she’s helped raise since she was a teenager. Keeping them in line is no small task while she’s also working toward her college degree. And now that one of her brothers has been arrested for stealing cattle at the East Ranch, Abby is at her wit’s end. But there is a silver lining: Clayton East. He believes in second chances, and is willing to give one to her brother this Christmas. Letting beautiful Abby―and the inescapable longing in his heart―off the hook, however, is a whole ’nother story. Could it be that the woman of this local hero’s dreams has been back at home all along?

Abby and Clayton meet after her younger brother is accused of stealing cattle from Clayton's ranch.  The sparks are instant, as is the wariness Abby feels toward Clayton and the fact that he holds the future of her younger brother in his hand.

Clayton isn't really that happy to be back on the ranch, it isn't as successful as it has been in the past due to the lack of attention to detail of his family and a shady accountant, and he has had to give up his career in the Navy to come home.

There were parts of this that I really enjoyed and I thought the relationship with Abby and her brothers and Clayton and his family were wonderful.  I liked the hero worship of Abby's brothers toward Clayton and the willingness of his family to make them feel welcome.

All of this, though took away from the relationship with Clayton and Abby and I felt that there was a slight opportunity missed for their relationship to build while the focus was on the other characters in the story. 

This book felt more like an ensemble holiday story than it did a romance with a central couple and some side characters.

I do recommend this title.  It's a great, warm family holiday romance.

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VAN BY SAWYER BENNETT - ARC REVIEW

Score one for the Carolina Cold Fury hockey team as a stone-cold badass melts for a woman who makes his blood run hot.

As one of the league’s toughest enforcers, Van Turner is ruthless on the ice. He plays hard because it’s the only way to channel the rage boiling inside, and a reputation as an A-hole is better than everyone knowing the truth. Van has spent his entire life running from a secret that’s kept him from getting involved in relationships—or accepting lucrative deals with East Coast teams. Then the Carolina Cold Fury makes him an offer he can’t refuse . . . and Van meets a woman he can’t resist.

Simone Fournier is the stubborn one in her family—and that’s saying something, considering her brothers are two of the Cold Fury’s biggest stars. Simone gets what she wants, and what she wants is Van. Still, there’s a part of him Simone can’t reach, no matter how hard she tries. In private, he’s all fire and passion. In public, he freezes her out. Van may want to push her away, but Simone won’t let him go that easily. Because this time, she’s playing for keeps.

Once this book got going and we got to the relationship with Van and Simone, I absolutely loved it.  The push and pull between them, the attraction he tried to fight (not very successfully) and the glimpses of Simone behind the woman who was trying to drive Van absolutely crazy.  All of this was great.

But, what I didn't love was the Simone we meet at the beginning, the Simone who shows up at her brother's house and moves herself in, seeming to feel that what was his (including his roommate) was hers for the taking.  I did not like this Simone, at all.  And, there were a few times where I considered putting this book down, as I was not sure I was ever going to like the heroine.

I did, I must admit, come to really like her, and to see that Simone and the person she brings to the relationship is the exact person Van needed her to be.  Van has a past he doesn't like to talk about, one that he hides from, and that he allows to control him.  He needed someone like Simone, someone to step into his life and want him enough to be able to move past the things he was not able to move past himself.

By the end of the title, I was really a fan of Simone and of Simone and Van.  I liked their relationship and I liked where they ended up, with a new life that they were starting.

I recommend this title.

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INTO THE NIGHT BY CYNTHIA EDEN - ARC REVIEW

Two FBI agents are caught in a merciless vigilante’s crosshairs in New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Eden’s electric Killer Instinct series

Lives will be ravaged as two FBI agents confront a mastermind serial murderer in New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Eden’s new Killer Instinct novel

Sheltered in the shadows of the Smoky Mountains is the suspect who’s summoned FBI agent Macey Night’s fears to the surface. Every day that the “Profiler,” a vigilante serial killer, escapes justice is another day she’s reminded of what it is to be a ruthless predator’s prey. Capturing him is a craving deeper than anything she’s felt in a long time. But Agent Bowen Murphy, equal parts sexy and volatile, seems hell-bent on changing that. Working together—needing, living, and breathing each other—they’re entwined to distraction.

Bowen’s used to operating on impulse: act, don’t feel. Now Macey and the controlled terror behind her beautiful eyes has him rethinking everything, including his rule to never get close to a colleague. He’s willing to fight for a future with Macey, but the consequences of love could be deadly.

Romantic suspense are hard books to review. Discussing the plot can be a spoiler as a twist that seems obvious to one reader will totally surprise another and vice versa, but not discussing the plot leaves for a review in which you aren't able to say much of anything.

Macey and Bowen are partners. And, they are attracted to one another. There are some clues at the beginning to how much Bowen actually cares for Macey, but he has kept things professional and has made sure that he puts their career with the FBI first.

When Macey needs comfort as her past and her present start to connect, Bowen is there, and they make an agreement, eventually, to be professional during the day, but to reserve the night for them to be together. This works, for a little while. Until the relationship starts to bleed into the day, and they have to deal not only with a killer, but with their developing relationship.

I enjoyed this overall. There were points that I thought moved a little too quickly, and some of the relationship seemed to be skipped over. I wanted a little more of the development at the beginning, but I did enjoy it overall.

I do recommend this title.

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