Review: Tougher in Texas

Tougher in Texas by Kari Lynn Dell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another winner. Cole Jacobs is the autistic cousin of Violet, the two of them have worked together at rodeos but now she's pregnant he's been forced to work with a series of substitutes. After he runs off yet another cowboy Violet invokes her worst punishment - Shawnee Pickett.

Shawnee is a straight-talking roper, one of her favourite things is winding up Cole with his lists and his regimented view of life, but weeks on the road working cheek by jowl shows both of the them that there is more to the other person than meets the eye.

Wow, this book tackles some really tough issues and doesn't shirk from the unpleasant truth but it also shows the complete joy of working together doing a job you love.

I was surprised because I was hoping for Shawnee and Wyatt - that man is going to be a difficult one to match - but Cole and Shawnee was a good match.

On to the next one, even though I have a ton of ARCs to review - only sad that I got turned down by the publisher for the latest ARC - boo hoo.

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Review: Tangled in Texas

Tangled in Texas by Kari Lynn Dell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

THis is fast becoming an addictive series.

This book features Delon Sanchez, the father of Beni from the first book. He has been badly injured at a rodeo and generally feeling sorry for himself. He also can't believe that he is following in his older brother Gil's footsteps even now. Learning to bronc ride, falling for a rich girl way out of his league, and destroying a promising career with a stupid accident. Now he's working for the family trucking business and realising that Gil has taken control.

Tori Patterson was the rich girl that got away, the shiny daughter of the state Senator, now she's back but a whole lot different. Gone is the bronco Barbie with the bleached blonde hair and electric blue eyes, now she's quieter, less dramatic looking and Delon's new physiotherapist.

But as the mistakes of the past are brought to light can Delon and Tori make a new future under the spotlight of the press, or will pride and prejudice keep them apart once more?

I didn't think much of Delon in the first book, nothing bad, just not much personality but ho-boy he comes into his own now. I loved his drive and determination and love for his son.

Recommended for anyone who likes a slow-burn romance with lots of rodeo-style action (even though Delon can't compete because of his injury), great characters and believable storylines.

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Review: Sin and Ink

Sin and Ink by Naima Simone
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 41%.

First off, let me say that this is my fault, I failed to see that this book was labelled as erotica (okay I just saw that gorgeous cover and hit the request button so hard I damaged my finger!).

Knox used to be a famous MMA fighter until the day his younger brother Connor died after a fight. Now he owns a tattoo parlour and employs his sister-in-law, Connor's widow, Eden as a receptionist. Eden is everything he isn't: clean; pure; perfect, and he has lusted after her since the first moment he saw her.

Eden loved Connor but he has been dead for a while now and she needs to move on with her life, she wants to start by moving out of her mother-in-law's house. She also has started to have lustful thoughts for her brother-in-law but the only time she even sort-of made a move he shut her down and leapt away as though he'd been scalded, but nevertheless he's been there for her.

This was typical NA/YA fare. Lots of plump lip biting, swearing, tattoos, angst-angst-angst etc. Also lots of push-me, pull-me back and forth between wanting each other and feeling inadequate.

Disir is someone whose reviews I trust (don't always necessarily agree with) did a brilliant review here and I think it sums up my feelings far more eloquently than I can. Having read that the rest of the book was more of the same I decided to bail.

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

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Review: A Gift from the Comfort Food Café

A Gift from the Comfort Food Café by Debbie Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Delicious holiday romance set in the glorious village of Budbury.

Katie Seddon is a single mother of a three year old boy called Saul. She moved away from her parents in Bristol to get away from their constant fighting only to find herself copying their behaviour with Saul's father so she moved to Budbury where she has kept herself aloof from the rest of the villagers.

But as Christmas approaches she decides that maybe it's time to let other people in to her life, to let them help her with Saul, to join in with the activities at the Comfort Food Cafe, maybe even to let Auburn's brother Van get close.

But as tensions rise can Katie overcome her instinct to run?

Lovely, just lovely addition to the Comfort Food Cafe series - great if you have read the others but I think it can easily be read alone. If you like cake and eccentric characters and romance you'll love this.

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

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Review: Reckless in Texas

Reckless in Texas by Kari Lynn Dell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Violet Jacobs is a single mom to a four year old, her family breed bulls and she and her cousin Cole are pickup men at local rodeos, she dreams of expanding but her father seems set on doing same-old same old. When their bullfighter is injured for the rest of the season she hires a new one with hopes he might make it permanent.

Joe Cassidy is one of the best bullfighters around but he has a testy relationship with Dick Browning, the owner of Browning Ranch and rodeo, who also happens to be Joe's boss. When Dick fires Joe, JOe's best friend Wyatt decides to get Joe away from Dick by getting him to swap assignments with the bullfighter who was going to work for Jacobs Livestock.

Sparks are flying aplenty between Violet and Joe but she has a history of mistakes with the hot shot bad boys and isn't going to make another.

This book contains more detail about rodeo and bull riding than many other books I have read, I still have to say I didn't understand much of it but that didn't take away my enjoyment - it's on me because I've never seen bull riding, not even on TV, so it's an alien world.

Anyway this is a slow burn kind of romance, more women's fiction, the characters are well drawn and interesting, I will definitely read others in this series.

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Review: Smooth-Talking Cowboy

Smooth-Talking Cowboy by Maisey Yates
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Olivia Logan broke up with her boyfriend when he didn't take the romantic opportunity of a family Christmas party to propose to her. She's hoping that time apart will make him realise that he does want to marry her after all. Olivia has had her perfect life mapped out in her head for years, very different from the wayward life her twin sister has adopted. Olivia wants a nice steady husband, a white picket fence and maybe some dogs, she certainly doesn't want someone as obnoxious as Luke Hollister. But when her car gets a puncture on the way to work Luke is the only person who stops and gives her a lift.

Luke sees right through Olivia, maybe he's been watching her just a tad too closely since she was 18 years old, especially since her ex-boyfriend is like a younger brother to him. Bit somehow he agrees to make Olivia's ex jealous by flirting with her and taking her on a couple of dates. Suddenly Olivia wonders how she could ever have settled for 'nice' when Luke makes everything sizzle and burn.

I liked this, I love a bad boy/ good girl trope and I also love the fake relationship to make someone jealous that turns into something more. Olivia had created an imaginary life and populated with a cardboard Ken-doll, then Luke came along and blew that dream out of the water. Luke on the other hand was afraid to go after what he wanted, afraid to rock the boat and take a stand, until Olivia shone a light on the dream he couldn't even imagine to himself.

My ARC came with a second novel - but this was the one I requested.

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

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Review: The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

What a brilliant, baffling, weird, intriguing novel.

Imagine a mash-up of an English country house murder mystery set in the 1920s. But also an old murder mystery from 20 years ago. A man who has 24 hours to solve the murder but eight different bodies in which to solve the murder. A Plague Doctor, a murderous footman and different players who have their own agendas. Oh, and a houseful of the nastiest group of people you could think of: rapists; blackmailers; murderers; drug dealers; and more.

Aiden Bishop first comes to awareness in the woods around Blackheath House, searching for Anna. He has no idea how he got there, who he is or who Anna is. What follows is a complex murder mystery where Aiden Bishop inhabits eight different bodies at different times during the same day, doomed to repeat the cycle over and over again until he uncovers who killed Evelyn Hardcastle, the daughter of his hosts.

At first I found this heavy going, heck I downloaded this book five months ago, started it and put it aside. But I hate to leave a book that I have been given to review so I started again. Soon I was part intrigued and part put-off. Then I was just intrigued. Like an onion Aiden Bishop and Anna uncover plots within plots, murderers who are not murderers, secrets from all of the guests and the servants. Aiden shifts hosts when they fall unconscious, through sleep or less gentle reasons, he then jumps into another host, including those from previous iterations, so that the narrative bounces backwards and forwards from different viewpoints and in time, watch Aiden watch himself in another body, see him influenced by the characters of the bodies he inhabits. It's dark and mysterious and utterly beguiling. I am thrilled that I kept reading.

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

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Review: Sergeant George and the Dragoon

Sergeant George and the Dragoon by M. L. Buchman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Free in the Ides of Matt September 2018

A charming, if slightly inaccurate, romance between a wealthy British member of helicopter crew on a 12 month exchange programme with the Night Stalkers 5E and a french special forces soldier he helps to save. As the two of them recuperate in Aruba romance blossoms.

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Review: A Recipe for Disaster

A Recipe for Disaster by Belinda Missen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

This is like a typical English small town novel, but it's set in a small town outside Melbourne, Australia - so that's different.

Lucy Williams used to be a talented patissier and cake maker but after her equally talented husband (and childhood sweetheart) Oliver Murray left her to open a restaurant in Paris she has let all that slide and is now barely making ends meet as a school chef. She is also dating a useless lump of a footballer called Seamus.

When Lucy is asked to make a wedding cake for a friend after her professional baker died suddenly little does she realise that the couple have also asked Oliver to cater the wedding. When they meet across the wedding cake for the first time in three years it's as if he'd never left.

Lucy then discovers that Oliver isn't just back for the wedding, he's persuaded his investors to open a cafe/ restaurant in their sleepy little town, oh and he wants Lucy back, and he might want her to bake the cakes for the cafe.

This was a fun read and I really liked Lucy, the trouble was I didn't have the same warm fuzzy feelings about Oliver. Some of his behaviour seemed inexcusable and confusing. Why didn't he think to send money to his wife to cover the mortgage? His attitude also seemed a bit contradictory, at events he seemed to swan around networking with guests instead of doing the work but then Lucy sees him working alone late at night in the cafe cleaning floors etc. I think perhaps some of Oliver's behaviour was a plot device and not properly thought through.

Overall, I didn't buy the romance and I needed Oliver to grovel whereas it felt more that Lucy realised she had been an unsupportive wife just because she had her own career!

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Review: What a Girl Wants

What a Girl Wants by Angie Coleman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF after just a few pages (but I did jump around a bit to see if it got better).

I found the writing style really stilted, as if it had either been written by someone who wasn't a native English speaker or had been translated from another language. The first person POV didn't help. Or maybe the author was trying to make themselves sound better by using long words?

It felt like the main character was talking to the reader but not in a natural way. Long and short of it, I couldn't get into the writing so I can't comment on the plot.

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

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Review: Duty Bound

Duty Bound by Lindsay Buroker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Cutter and Master Grindmor have gone missing, 500 dwarves are travelling to Korvann to settle as part of King Targyon's attempts to make the country less xenophobic now that the war with the elves has ended.

Jev and Zenia have to deal with office politics from the captain they effectively demoted, Jev also has to deal with gossip about his private life and fears that his father will arrange a marriage to a high born Zyndari woman.

I liked this but I didn't love it, maybe it's swords and sorcery fatigue from devouring three books in as many days, I felt we covered a lot of the same dithering about Jev and Zenia's romance as we did in the second book, just man up and marry her NOW. Also Zenia dragon's tear is so powerful and can do anything that it obviates the need for cunning or bravery, it's a get out of jail free card all by itself. Finally, after what felt like a very long time in the swamp the ending felt a bit rushed and I had lots of unfinished questions.

So, we still don't know what Zenia's dragon tear IS, we don't know who is writing Zenia the cryptic warnings (I suspect it's the dragon tear somehow), will Jev and Zenia ever get together, will Rhi find romance? I hope that some of these questions are answered in the next book.

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