Review: Boy Toy

Boy Toy by Sarina Bowen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Whew, what a relief!

I enjoyed the first book in this series but really could not get into the second book (Man Card) at all so I approached this third book with trepidation - I loved it.

Sadie is a divorced mother of three year old twin girls. After her divorce she has had a crisis of confidence as her husband said he found her unattractive after giving birth (charmer). Then she runs into Liam, a guy she used to babysit when she was 20 and he was 14 years old, he's now 29 years old, fit, and working at the new daycare centre she is leaving the twins.

What follows is a glorious romance between a gun-shy divorcee and a too-good-to-be-true younger guy who still holds a flame for his first true love (the babysitter). Liam was glorious, Sadie was sweet, the twins were the cutest moppets ever. I might even have rated this higher if it weren't for Sadie's friends Ash and Brynn who were super annoying.

View all my reviews

Review: Irish On The Rocks

Irish On The Rocks by Magan Vernon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

So, this series is based the premise that in this day and age a father can leave his multi-million euro pub and whisky business to his three sons on the proviso that they must each be married within six months (and stay together for at least six months), otherwise the business will be offered to the highest bidder by the board.

Jack Murphy is the oldest brother, the CEO, he has a bad reputation of being an exacting boss and can't keep an assistant for more than a few weeks, ever since his brother Connor married his best assistant Fallon. As a child he was cocky and obnoxious, especially to his younger brother Sean and Sean's best friend Grace. At a charity ball he meets Grace again, looking somewhat different to the short frizzy -haired girl with glasses he remembers. Things are going well, they flirt and then it all goes horribly wrong and Grace accidentally knocks a full glass of champagne all over him. Words are spoken and both Jack and Grace take offence.

Of course it turns out that Grace, a book editor who has recently been made redundant, is perfect for the job of assistant and despite their initial animosity it seems as though there are major sparks between them. But Jack needs a wife and Grace has vowed never to marry after her parents' acrimonious divorce left her mother heartbroken and destitute (although Grace's grandfather is a millionaire).

I really struggle to get my head around this series. The men are too young to be running a multi-million euro business and the board are all too old and cliched. The big misunderstanding between Grace and Jack I just can't get my head around at all. I don't understand why he was angry/ upset. Overall, everyone felt like a caricature.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.


View all my reviews

Review: The Bull Rider's Return

The Bull Rider's Return by Joan Kilby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Cody Starr has a reputation on the rodeo circuit as a bad boy, tats, drinking, stupid stunts, love 'em and leave 'em. He's the youngest son in a family of businessmen and over-achievers, content to waste his rodeo winnings on booze and gambling.

Then one day he takes pity on a struggling waitress in a diner with a sick son and hands over his $65,000 winnings (prize money plus a lucky streak gambling) to help pay for her son's heart operation. When his family ask how he's going to invest his winnings he lies and says he blew it all gambling.

Single mom Kelly Reid can't believe the change that Cody's generosity has made to her life and the life of her son Ricky. The two of them have travelled to Marietta to the 79th Copper Mountain rodeo to say thank-you in person, but soon one gossipy old woman creates a media storm about Cody's generosity and suddenly he might not be the no-good, unreliable bad boy that everyone thought he was.

Cody's harshest critic is himself - can he see himself the way that Kelly and Ricky do? Can he take a chance on himself?

I liked this but I had conflicted feelings about Kelly and Cody. I get that Cody is the youngest son and has never really grown up, even though he has been supporting himself since he was 16 years old, but his constant need to run away got tired. Kelly on the other hand was the romantic stereotype of the perfect single mom, except she dragged her son backwards and forwards on a whim following/ leaving a man and putting him and out of different schools. I think, maybe, I would have liked this better if Cody had had his epiphany earlier because neither of them came out of the last few chapters well (in my opinion).

But overall I still enjoyed this, there was more of the rodeo which I appreciated, no point in a series set around a rodeo if there's no bull-riding!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: Cowboy Come Home

Cowboy Come Home by Sinclair Jayne
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Boone Telford is the only child of Taryn Telford not to make a mark in the world. One of his brothers, Rohan, is a decorated special forces soldier, his brother Witt is a doctor, his little sister Riley is a successful country singer, all he is is a semi-successful cowboy on the rodeo circuit. His father was a mega successful bull rider who went on to save the family ranch, he wants Boone to work on the ranch but Boone doesn't want to be known as Taryn's son or Witt's younger brother, or Riley's older brother, he just wants to be known for his own achievements.

Boone has been dating/ travelling with Piper Wiley for four months. Polar opposites in temperament, careers and lives they are inseparable until the rodeo comes to Marietta, Boone's home town, and Boone gets paralysed by his need to prove himself which is in direct conflict with his desire for Piper.

I have to be honest, although I loved Kane, this book left me cold and just a little frustrated. Cold, because I thought Piper was a spineless Stepford wife running around crying that no-one liked her and Boone was flailing around in the dark wanting to be someone but having no idea what he wanted to do. Also I have zero tolerance for men who can't bear to have a difficult conversation but have no difficulty in having sex with the woman instead. Frustrated because somewhere in there was a plot I wanted to read but it was buried deep beneath sexual acrobatics and hand-wringing 'emoshuns'.

Overall, not enough rodeo, too much navel-gazing, and I didn't like the hero or the heroine.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Edited: annoyingly I reviewed a rogue version on Goodreads - now attached to the right one!

View all my reviews

Review: The Rodeo Cowboy's Baby

The Rodeo Cowboy's Baby by Heidi Rice
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Evie Donnelly is an Irish journalist with a relatively successful blog, in a local New York newspaper, called Evie8 which started out as a single woman's musings on life in New York and the vagaries of the dating scene. Then she met 'the one', got married and tried to have a baby, and tried, and tried. Her blog became about IVF, infertility and disappointment and the disintegration of her marriage. The cherry on the cake? Her ex-husband has got his new girlfriend pregnant 'by accident'.

Her pit-bull editor tells Evie that her blog has become too sad and depressing and needs new blood - and what screams new blood more than riding a cowboy? Not as off-the-wall as it sounds, Evie's BFF Charlie is a photographer and she lives in Marietta which just happens to be hosting the 79th Copper Mountain Rodeo. She's invited Evie to stay and cover the rodeo.

Evie is too emotionally battered to think about an affair, when Charlie tries to pimp one of her husband's cowboys Flynn as a fantastic guy who only does one-night stands Evie is horrified and gives Charlie her opinion of farm boys/ cowboys with extremely colourful language. Unfortunately Flynn is outside in the corridor, in turns furious at being judged by a total stranger (and of course being lumped together with farm boys as if they were remotely similar to cowboys) and turned on by the husky Irish accent.

Flynn is the sort of guy who gets on with everyone, so the antagonism he feels for Evie is unusual, but he is determined to make this beautiful, ethereal woman eat her words.

But when the rodeo is over, Evie and Flynn can’t forget those three stolen nights together in Marietta–especially when their wild, wonderful ride turns out to have even more unforgettable consequences.

I'm reading this series all out of order but I have to say this is the best one I've read so far (of three). It's earthy and funny and sassy and hawt. Phew-ee, Evie and Flynn have so much chemistry it just jumps right off the Kindle screen.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: Cowboy Come Home

Cowboy Come Home by Sinclair Jayne
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Boone Telford is the only child of Taryn Telford not to make a mark in the world. One of his brothers, Rohan, is a decorated special forces soldier, his brother Witt is a doctor, his little sister Riley is a successful country singer, all he is is a semi-successful cowboy on the rodeo circuit. His father was a mega successful bull rider who went on to save the family ranch, he wants Boone to work on the ranch but Boone doesn't want to be known as Taryn's son or Witt's younger brother, or Riley's older brother, he just wants to be known for his own achievements.

Boone has been dating/ travelling with Piper Wiley for four months. Polar opposites in temperament, careers and lives they are inseparable until the rodeo comes to Marietta, Boone's home town, and Boone gets paralysed by his need to prove himself which is in direct conflict with his desire for Piper.

I have to be honest, although I loved Kane, this book left me cold and just a little frustrated. Cold, because I thought Piper was a spineless Stepford wife running around crying that no-one liked her and Boone was flailing around in the dark wanting to be someone but having no idea what he wanted to do. Also I have zero tolerance for men who can't bear to have a difficult conversation but have no difficulty in having sex with the woman instead. Frustrated because somewhere in there was a plot I wanted to read but it was buried deep beneath sexual acrobatics and hand-wringing 'emoshuns'.

Overall, not enough rodeo, too much navel-gazing, and I didn't like the hero or the heroine.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: The Chase

The Chase by Elle Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dean Di Lauretis' little sister Summer has been kicked out of Brown for burning down her sorority and her father has pulled some strings to get her into Briar University. Unfortunately for Summer her sorority sisters refuse to let her join at Briar, citing her bad behaviour, so she is suddenly homeless just before term starts.

Dean arranges for her to take his room at the townhouse he used to share with Hollis, Hunter and Fitzy which is great, if Summer hadn't been dissed by Fitzy and retaliated by kissing Hunter at a New Years' Eve party - awkward!

Colin Fitzpatrick has spent most of his childhood and all of his adult life as a pawn in his parents' acrimonious divorce, he daren't tell anyone how he actually feels for fear it will be used as a weapon in a divorce battle that has never truly ended.

Summer may be the daughter of two successful lawyers and obscenely wealthy by anyone's standards but that doesn't mean she's had it easy. A form of ADHD means she finds studying difficult and writing essays a herculean feat, when the rest of your family are hot-shot lawyers it can be devastating when you are failing a fashion course for the written work. Self-esteem issues aside, Summer is Colin's opposite: outspoken where he is reserved, gregarious where he is a loner, fashion to his jock. Yet neither of them can deny their attraction.

I liked this, but I didn't love it. It was funny and sweet and sexy, yet I'll be honest, three hours after reading the book I couldn't remember the heroine's name.

View all my reviews

Review: Butterface

Butterface by Avery Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gina Luca is a wedding planner, she is also related to the Esposito family of mobsters, her grandfather was Big Nose Tommy who disappeared 20 years ago. She has become accustomed to the fact that she has inherited her grandad's nose as well as his Victorian house and she is comfortable with who she is, until a wedding cam catches her and one of the sexiest police detectives at Waterbury Police Department, Ford Hartigan. Ford is a by-the-book kind of guy, a rule-follower, the only thing he ever did outside the lines was to become a police officer instead of a fireman like the rest of his family.

Ford is attracted to the curvy, sexy wedding planner but he could never date someone related to organised crime, Gina's brothers are known to skirting the edges of criminality and he can't be associated with that kind of thing. Until his captain orders him to get closer to Gina in order to find out if her brothers are involved in a big drugs shipment expected to arrive soon. His bog opportunity when Gina discovers what seems to be her Grandad Tommy's remains in her house and Ford moves in 'for her own safety'.

Attracted to a woman who might be involved in criminality, Ford is torn between doing his job and falling for Gina. On her side, Gina knows a hottie like Ford isn't interested in her, she just can't quite work out what his angle is. Ever since she was labelled Butterface (good body, but her face!) Gina has known she's been hit by the ugly stick. So we've got a by-the-books cop lying to a woman with non-existent self-esteem.

This was a fun read, I liked Gina and Ford, and Ford's big noisy family. There's house renovations and cannoli and family dinners and insensitive jerks and bitchy women. A lovely funny romance.

View all my reviews

Review: The Cowboy Meets His Match

The Cowboy Meets His Match by Sarah Mayberry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

CJ Cooper is one of the first women to qualify as a pro bronc rider and her first competition is in Marietta, Montana. She meets a tall good-looking cowboy, Jesse Carmody who is her main competition but she can 't afford to get distracted or to get a reputation as a buckle bunny.

I would categorise this as a book of two plots. The first, shorter plot is abut CJ's first rodeo and the antagonism she faces from other competitors. The second plot is her insta-love with Jesse and his issues with his family, who live in Marietta. This longer second plot also seems to set up romances for each of Jesse's siblings.

I enjoyed this but I thought it was too light on plot generally, and rodeo specifically, and too heavy on the insta-love sexy times between CJ and Jesse. I was looking for a rodeo romance and this only half delivered on that.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: Anyone for Seconds?

Anyone for Seconds? by Laurie Graham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

I haven't read the previous book but this seemed easy to pick up. Lizzie Partridge was a TV chef on a morning TV show, when she was replaced by a one-trick pony chef who was sleeping with the producer she may have had a spectacular final show ... At the time she was too busy with her new romance to seriously look for more work and since then she has bumbled along quite happily, then her relationship with Tom broke down and so we see Lizzie at the start of the book, alone and jobless. Her mother relies on her brother and doesn't need Lizzie, her daughter Ellie has her career and her son to keep her occupied. Lizzie has never felt more alone. Sixty-four years old, overweight, jobless and surplus to everyone's requirements.

Lizzie decides the easiest thing to do is run away, she thinks that her friends and family will discover she's missing and the next thing it will be the front page of the tabloids - British celebrity TV chef goes missing, a bit like when Agatha Christie disappeared. Not having thought things through before running away, Lizzie doesn't have her passport so instead of a week in Spain she gets on a train to Aberystwyth and spends the week talking to soil conventioneers and furries.

I could totally see this as a Sunday night TV series, maybe featuring Dawn French (I know she's not that old), on Sky One or ITV. It wasn't laugh out loud funny but it was humorous, Lizzie has a dry wit and a habit of creating newspaper headlines from the things people do and say around her. I could empathise with the politics of parents and siblings and children and organising Christmas in October and trying to please everyone all the time and ending up with everyone hating it.

New love, new career prospects, babysitting her grandson, trying to connect with her mother, watching her BFF in panto, this was a fun read, with some serious moments and some poignant ones too - when Lizzie's father used to say he went to war and lived to tell the tale but as Lizzie recalls he never told any tales of that time - that really struck a chord with me. Overall I enjoyed it but I thought the ending was a bit abrupt.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: Tiebreaker

Tiebreaker by P. Dangelico
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I don't know where to start with this one. I have loved all the other books I have read by P Dangelico and I was super excited when I saw this had released. Unfortunately this felt like it was written by a different person.

Maren Murphy is a highly successful tennis player, dating her coach, she breaks her arm in the final of the US Open and discovers that her grandfather Rowdy has died and she is named as an executor of the will. Her grandfather's will has a number of stipulations, most of them involving the love of her life since she was 10 years old, Noah Callahan. Rowdy and Noah were business partners and if Maren is to inherit she must stay in her old home town and learn the business. Maren hasn't been back home for years, ever since Noah betrayed her most horribly. Now she is determined to come back a winner and rub his nose in it. According to the blurb Noah was a bad boy, he's reformed and he wants a chance to prove to Maren that he loves her. I have to say I saw very little evidence of any of that. Noah seemed to sulk and pout and be rude to Maren by turns, apparently she could see 'in his eyes' the feelings he isn't expressing. I call bulls&*t.

The previous books I have read (in the Hard to Love series) had endearing heroines and sparkled with humour. I have to say I didn't warm to Maren or Noah. I didn't see that either of them loved the other for the person they had become, their love seemed to be based on the teens they used to be. I certainly didn't find either of them loveable, or even likeable. I also have to say I am 'over' books where the main characters allude to 'something' which happened to change their lives and yet the reader is kept in suspense for most of the book as to what the 'something' is. Frankly by the time the secret is revealed I was (i) unimpressed and (ii) irritated beyond words. Also, it was a plot device I had read more than once before.

On the plus side, I want to read about Maren's sister Bebe - I see a twisted relationship between her and the dark and dangerous police chief as she tries to lose her pesky V-card in order to seduce Peter Perfect - some kind of sex guru romance.

View all my reviews