Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Kasey Chang
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished Falling for Tender Heart by Katie Lane FREE

Emery came to Bliss Texas in search of the fabled "final novel" in the Tender Heart series. The author died hinted at the final book, but it had not been found. After getting a hint from someone in town, then lost it, Emery, a real book reviewer and editor, decided to get her two other friends to visit Bliss together, and see what inspired the author to write about all the mail order brides that left readers enchanted. Encountering a brooding cowboy who looked almost exactly like one of the heros in Tender Heart was just a bonus. How can a girl not swoon when a fantasy came true? // Cole is tired of the ranch. He and his cousins have buried their hatchets despite family feud that tore the holdings into thirds, but he's thinking about leaving altogether. He owed her step-sister that much... He after all, put her into that wheelchair, and she needs rehab. But Emery threw that plan into chaos. Cole hated these fortune-hunters... There is no final novel... They looked very hard. And Emery, while tempting is just using him for information. Right?

Nice use of mail order bride trope and context to setup the persent day romance. I can see where the twist was going to be and was not disappointed, but it was a nice twist. Not like SUPER-nice, but good nonetheless. 6/8

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Finished Breaking the Fall by Vanessa M Knight

Brice's life is unraveling. She had to divorce her husband when he cheated on her and got a different woman pregnant. When her mother needed some help to run Camp Falling Pines, Brice took her son and moved back home for the summer... Or forever? But her son seems to hate the place. And meeting the man that broke her heart way back when didn't help... // Jason left his high-pressure law career behind to help the camp. It was where his best memories are made... With Brice. But when Brice ran away with no explanation, his heart was broken. He thought he was healing, until Brice stormed back into town, with her son Connor in tow. Jason knew he wanted Brice back, but he should stay away, because Jason ran away for a reason... and Brice will bolt when she learned it, just as she did last time...

Angst-y, but somehow, the motivations are not that well polished, as if both characters are just stupid? Stubborn? Pig-headed? Brice ran the first time
because Jason was comforting another girl who's homesick and having family issues (parents divorcing), but Brice obviously concluded that Jason cheated on her. And for that, they cut contact for like, 10 years, and hold grudges? What sort of shallow f*** mindset is that? 5/8

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Finished Lie Next to me by Candy Lynn FREE

Aurora "Rory" Sinclair was rescued by Ian Braxton when she was brutally attacked... by her own schizophrenic brother. Ian took her back to his place and helped her recover. But Ian has his own problems. His father is a misogynist and hates all woman, esp. his mother... who basically left. Ian has friends... and friends with benefits. Rory fell for the enigmatic but rich Ian, who wants Rory... but only as a bareback (no condom) sex partner. And the sex is good... even as Ian helped commit her brother to a treatment center. But when Rory confessed her feelings to Ian, Ian replied he has no feelings for anyone...

The rescue scenario barely makes sense. The rest is meh... Way too much angst. 5.5/8
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished Sundog Comanche by Ash Lingam Western Adventure

Ridge Creek got his name from the small town of Ragged Ridge Creek, Texas. He was the only survivor of smallpox and he became an apprentice to general store owner... and a former gunfighter and lawman. The man taught him all he knew, and told him that it's time for him to seek his own adventures when he was 16. So he went off to Austin to join the Texas Rangers, claiming to be seventeen. It is the year 1848, and young Ridge Creek was posted to Laredo Texas after some training. He ended up doing battle with Chief Iron Jacket, Lopez the Outlaw, and more, and eventually was named "With Dead Eyes" by the Comanche he fought, and this is his story.

Nice adventure, lots of gun battles, lots of losses of good men. Apparently Chief Iron Jacket wears a chain mail that deflected most small bullets. So guess what? Ridge Creek brought a buffalo gun (50 cal). You can guess what happened next time they met. Nice authentic details, like the fact that the rangers are armed with revolving carbines (short rifles with revolver mechanisms so they are almost semi-auto). 6/8 for sure.

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Finished Nothing More to Lose by Kathryn Shay

Ian Woodward lost his legs in 9/11, and was one of the few survivors of his company. In his darkest hours, he rejected everyone, including his one love, Broadway star Lisel Loring. But she won't let him go. Ian recovered and started teaching at the fire academy, but he's not ready to love again. When a crazed stalker latched onto Lisel, Ian called for help, and got ex-cop Rick Ruscio, who lost his badge when he had to expose a scandal within the police department. As he was protecting Lisel and doing his own community service, Rick met teacher Faith McPherson, who saw past Rick's rough exterior and guilt. Both have to struggle with their own crisis of the heart and deal with the love of the strong women... whose love can redeem them...

Kathryn Shay wrote a whole series on this fictional fire department and it's very good. All the details are authentic as she apparently rode along with the ladder company for a few years to get all the lingo right and found scenarios that made sense. It's VERY good. 6.5/8

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Finished Burn by Shey Stahl

Milena Wellington, GM of Wellington Plaza Hotel, grew up with money, but she worked hard for her own success, having worked through almost every position in the hotel (including dishwasher, laundry, and more) before taking over as GM only in her twenties. However, after catching her BF doing another woman, her BF kicked HER out (she paid the rent, but it's his lease) so she's couch-surfing at her friends. Her colleagues saw her as young tyke not worthy of being GM. With no home per se, and refused to take a room at the hotel as her own, she's technically homeless, which cuts down on her love life, except that hot one-night stand with the scorchingly handsome firefighter... // Caleb Ryan was destined to be a firefighter, and he did so, serving with his brothers. His own love life is lousy... His one girl he thought he could get serious with turned out to be a stripper (and his ladder mates won't ever let him live that down). Except this one girl Mila he had a one-night stand with... he can't get her out of his head...

It's fated mates, with a LOT of sex. The escalation and threat to relationship were kinda lame, with a lot of threats of blackmail. And it sorta ended in a deus ex machina.
Spoiler:
Mila did a lap dance on Caleb as a dare with other firefighters, and apparently the video got out. Caleb's engine mates were joking about releasing the video so he'd share stupid chores (it's a joke, right?) But then Mila's enemy, the one rich guy who'd want her, but she only ever seen him as a platonic friend) suddenly wanted more, tried to blackmail her. Then tried to sabotage her relationship. The darkest hour was the rich guy suddenly turned psycho, started a fire, sabotage sprinkler, tied Mila to a chair, and left her to die in the fire "if I can't have you, neither can he". She got rescued with burns, and aftermath says he got disoriented in the stairwell and died of smoke inhalation. ONE guy was able to start a fire that consumed most of the floor without any one getting suspicious? This is a HOTEL?
The book is also very long (almost 500 pages), with an EXTENDED afterlogue that ran VERY long. 6/8
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished Lust for Life by Maggie Dallen

Kat Jones needed a drink after putting up with her condescending bosses the whole week at a corporate retreat. He found hunky Bryce at the bar serving. They shared a few drinks. She's leaving soon. What she didn't know is Bryce actually owned the lodge she's staying at, and a lot more. Listening to Kat made Bryce falling for her, hard, and his instinct told him to buy the company... and fire the bastards that mistreated her (that's the real reason for the corporate retreat, to negotiate!). But when Kat found out that Bryce is her new boss, her first instinct is to run... Bryce is too sexy and she does NOT want someone to fight her battles for her. Now Bryce has 24 hours, technically, ONE night, to prove their attraction is not lust, but love...

It's ALMOST plausible, and the polish was well done. Call it 5.5/8

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Finished At First Light by Suzanne Pascheke FREE

Cheryl Prescott, after escaping her abusive husband, took on a new identity, after inheriting a fortune. After her car broke down in the small town of Mt. Kiernon, and decided this place is where she belonged, she, now known as Sarah Walker, came to known the mechanic Jamie. Feeling a connection with the town, she chose to settle there, bought a house, and opened a new cafe, and allowed Jamie to court her. But will love survive when her past threatened to undo all she achieved?

Ends on a cliffhanger, the wooing was slow, and the intro EXTREMELY long. And this is already almost 400 pages! 4.5/8

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Finished The Texas Meets His Match by Wendy Vella

Annabelle Smith lives in Lake Howling, one of the small towns in Texas, and has her support network of friends, but with a mother who died young, and an alcoholic father, she ended up raising her baby brother by herself. When her baby brother fell to the dark side in Las Vegas, and fell into drug and gambling, she bailed him out twice and tried to get him to treatment. She just learned that her brother just cleaned out her bank account, money she saved up to pay mortgage on her house, and maybe start a business some day. She's so angry, she refuses to take any calls from him, because he always somehow cajoles her into forgiving him. It was just then Ethan Gelderman came back to town. Ethan was the womanizer, the alpha whose little black book overflowing with girl's numbers. But the war had changed him. Ethan never wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, because his father had been grooming him since he's ten to take over the family business, and he resisted every way, including running off to join the military when he's 18. Now a self-made man with a fortune, he's back to attend a wedding. Seeing Annabelle brought feelings back, and Ethan will not resist a challenge. But Annabelle cannot let news of her misfortune spread among her circle of friends... She does not want her pity. When she found out her brother was in MUCH MUCH worse trouble than she ever suspected (the 25K he stole from her barely made a dent in what he owed to the mob) she had no choice but to accept Ethan's help...

The pivot into romantic suspense at the end was way too abrupt. Though it's nice they did explain he's ex-army and he does know how to use a gun. 6/8

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Reading Marriage Material by Barbara Samuel FREE

Tamara Flynn knew how sexy Lance Forrest really is. She has a daily reminder... a child named Cody... though she wasn't his birth mom. That would be her cousin Val, who was a little mentally unstable, and Lance left her pregnant, then disappear again for years. Val drove herself off a cliff one day, leaving Tam to raise Cody on her own... derailing Tam's life plans. Now Cody's five, and Lance is back in town. At first Tamara wants revenge on Lance for breaking her cousin, then she's worried about the future of Cody and how Lance can make him set for life... then as she found out more about Lance, she wondered if Val was really a victim as she made out to be... And whether Tamara herself is in love with Lance... But Lance is quite sure about which woman he wants in his life...

Now that's a good variation on secret baby. Though the revenge idea died a quick death. It's mostly about misconceptions, and discoveries. At least there wasn't too much angst. 6/8 at least.

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Reading In Love's Territory by Lucy Evanson FREE

Katie Taylor was a girl enjoying a life on the East Coast when her father suddenly announced that due to his brother's death out in Wisconsin, they are all moving out to Wisconsin. Now with no friends except pen pals, Katie is despondent, even as she came to know to eligible bachelors... Edward Carter, a local educated and rich businessman who had taken a liking to her, and Sam, a half-Sioux farmhand who has big plans for himself and had been learning about how to better his life. Katie liked Edward well enough, but was angry when Edward forced her hand when announcing their engagement when she wanted to think about it some more. But the more she come to know Sam, the more fond of Sam she is... Now she had to choose between two bachelors... and became collateral damage when one side resorted to dirty tricks to remove the other...

Nice adventure, no sex, but it does have foul language and suggestive situations. Though the characters are a bit shallow, IMHO. Edward was just nasty, with no redeeming qualities, while Sam's all good, almost NO evil qualities. It's a bit too... obvious? Like it's written for kids. 5/8
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Total Read So Far: 68, counting "multi-book collections" as 1 each. If you count them separately, it's 74.

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Finished Love Notes by Susan Coventry FREE

Sophia and Drew were best friends... and nothing more. They've been that way since high school, really. Both had wondered, but neither dare to ruin a good thing. They have dinner every week, but he's a roaming sales rep, and she's a librarian. When Sophia needed a date to attend a friend's wedding, with no current boyfriend, the only candidate was Drew. Besides, he owned her one after she pretended to be his GF back in high school when a girl got a bit stalker-ish. Drew is charming, smart, and sexy, but also a bit of a manwhore, with a lot of notches on the bedpost, so to speak. So Sophia has no plans to cross the line with Drew. But as they say, no plan survives the moment of contact... Now Sophia have to decide whether taking it over the line will be worth the risk...

Reads a lot longer than it feels. It says 230 pages, but it feels like a 400 page tome, probably because it did spend a lot of time kissing and caressing but falling a bit short, until the end. No major angst, but Sophia did spend a lot of time fretting with inadequacy tropes, and the darkest hour was kinda lame compared to the slow-boil tension. 6/8

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Finished Fake Fiancee Truly Angel by Claire Angel

Angelique "Angel" is a secretary/assistant. She met an enchanting man who also saved him from someone who got a bit too hands-on at a masquerade ball. He turned out to be a hot CEO, who really really wanted her, and he started by asking to borrow her from her boss, then made her his fake fiancee, which didn't stay fake for long...

Really, that's about it for the plot. It's boring as heck. 3/8

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Finished The Wrong Todd by Donna McDonald

Sabine was doing a favor for his gay best friend (who happens to be his douchebag ex's brother, but that's no fault to her friend) by bidding on a bachelor name Todd at a charity auction. Not being a fan of TV, she didn't realize she bid on the wrong Todd... Todd Lake, hottest bachelor chef from Polynesia. She spent 6000 bucks on one very expensive dinner... but it'll be exquisite... from a professional chef... and the most amazing part is... he seems to be just as enchanted with her... But she couldn't be the lover of the hottest chef in town, as she's a "chubby" divorcee whose ex cheated then married a girl half her age...

Not bad, but as the soul-baring part about weight problems was interesting. But the attraction between them was a bit unexplained. Still setting the MMC being a Polynesian is good. 6/8

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Finished Love by the Slice by Heather Young-Nichols

Bianca Russo is back to help her grandpa with the family restaurant, a well-liked place with the family special sauce. Many corporations wanted to buy the place... but Papa Russo ain't selling. One of the new help is Gio Diamati. He knows his way around an Italian kitchen (expected when he's Italian), and he's sexy and charming. But Bianca can't date a co-worker... until they do. Then she learned he's keep a dark secret... // Gio Diamati was supposed to work in the place, ferret out the secret recipe, work his way into the inner circle, and influence the vote to sell. But his plan flew out the window the moment he met Bianca. He can't keep doing what he was doing... and soon the secret can no longer be kept. Will there still be love if he comes clean?

While the food references aren't too bad, the part about he and his cousins turning in their parents was really stupid. Legally it made no sense at all. What exactly was the crime? Hmmm? Conspiracy to what? 5/8
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished Love Letter Collection by (multiple)

Anthology of clean romances where each had something to do with a letter, three contemporary and three historical, whether it's love by correspondence, letter kept from long time ago, surprise letter from a stranger, these are pretty good. Not like super-good, but good. 5.5/8

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FInished Knowing You by Maggie Fox

Faith broke it off with her old boyfriend when he's too much of a wandering heart... (and dick) and they were quite serious, engaged and all that. Now she just wants to run her bakery in town. She fell for the new sports store guy, Zane, only to realize his partner is her ex, now going by his middle name, Matt. While Faith got pretty serious with Zane, Matt was there to tempt her... Why? Will Zane understand there was nothing there any more? But both Zane and Matt are keeping secrets... and Faith have to ferret them out to find out if she has a chance with Zane...

Sheesh, way too many mindgames. 5/8 "I was just testing you." WTF?!

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Finished Make Me Love You by Adele Hart

Lila has a broken heart and can't show her face at the office after being publicly dumped. She dragged her best friend for a vacation to St. Lucia island to forget her troubles... and ran into gorgeous ER doc "Ben Stone". Ben left the dreary city of Boston behind and lived a beautiful life on the beach. Hours are grueling, but it's fun, and upon seeing Lila, he knew what was missing in his life: Lila, of course. But can he convince her to stay, or at least, come back?

Insta-love, older guy (30's) younger woman (20's). Lila is also a bit of a BBW and was apparently fat-shamed by her previous BF. Ben obviously didn't care about any of that. Not much plot here. 5/8

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Finished Cupid's Possess by Josie Litton

It's a short (42- pages) more like a bonus chapter / teaser for one of author's other novels. A bit of meh, 5/8

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FInished Doctor's Fake Marraige by Amy Brent

Playboy doc wanted the volunteer subject in his bed. When she's randy with a hormonal implant contraceptive (volunteered for it too), he nudged her into his bed. When they got caught, his only solution was to marry her. But it'll be merely a marriage of convenience. But in the meanwhile, she'll live at his place... and take care of his daughter (he's a widower and single parent) with help of a babysitter. But can there be real feelings there?

The premise was really... dark, as it's almost rape, she's not really capable of making rational decisions at that point. Is she? That's practically forcible rape. Argh. 3.5/8

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Finished Tara (Beach Bride series) by Ginny Baird

Billionaire banker Heath Wellington was about to propose to his socialite girlfriend, when he found a message in a bottle on the beach from a woman asking to be rescued in terms of love, and abandoned the proposal. Later he found that his girlfriend had been seeing other people, and he decided to see if the girl in the bottle message may be a better candidate... // Tara, leader of the Romantic Hearts Book Club, took 11 friends to Enchanted Island, and as sort of a group dare, they each threw a message in a bottle into the ocean. One already met and married the guy who found her message. Now Tara's message had been found, and correspondence started. And Heath was everything Tara could dream of... and vice versa. But Heath's job soon interfered with his love life when he found he may have to deal with Tara's father's bank... and he's caught between revealing secrets or letting down his love.

The darkest hour was trope... "I'm not listening to a word you say! you liar!" "But..." But at least the plot made sense. 6/8
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished The Marriage Trap by Diane Fraser FREE

Gemma Winter walked away from her life in London, her life under strict control of her boyfriend Paul, who seems to have underworld connections. He gets insanely jealous of her even talking to any other men. She fled to the ends of the Earth... ALL the way to New Zealand, when her friend promised she can stay at a hut that she hadn't seen in a decade. She hope to start anew. But just hours after landing, she was forcibly rescued by a hard cowboy Callum Mackenzie when a flash flood washed away her rental car and most of her belongings she managed to bring. And Gemma is allergic to controlling alpha types now... or is she?// Callum's wife died and since then he had not desired love, prefering solace on his land. He dreamed of reclaiming the land gambled away by his great-grandfather, but there's a weird will on it that prevent it from being sold. When the woman he just rescued mentioned that land and that she wanted to live on it, it immediately intrigued him, even as the storm forced them to stay together in the cottage, and they succumbed to their attraction. But the consequences of spending those passionate hours together will last a lifetime... to joy and sorrow... to relief and regret... as they both needed to face their worst fears in order to find what they truly want from life.

The psychopathic BF was written nicely, not the physically abusive kind, but enough to scare you into complying, that you're conditioned to obey when the tone turned sour. The complicated will and the tortuous path the two had to dance around each other for the rest of the book was interesting. And obviously the psycho ex showed up for the end. I guess I don't really understand the weird will, or the reconciliation. But I like the push-pull. Call it 6/8

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Finished Take a Chance by Natalie Ann

Rene had been a shy klutz that was always clumsy about Cole. But that had been decades ago. Accepting a position back in town after getting her degree is good, esp. when it brought her back to Cole, who still seems to have that effect on him. Cole is a local cop who came back from the war intact (he's Air Force) after his father died in the line of duty (he's a cop too). He always liked Rene, but Rene was just too shy. Will her older self be just as why, or will she have matured? Will she want to date Cole? Add some family angst, sibling problems, small town gossip, and it's clear this couple will have to fight for their happiness, esp. when they accidentally got her pregnant...

pretty good twists and deeper family issues, but at times it feels almost a bit TOO long? 6.5/8
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished LaClaire Nights by Dori Vavelle

Grace saved her V-card for the man she wanted, and he wanted her back... and the happy marriage lasted right up to the point he took over V-card. Ashamed of her "failure" in bed and ability to "keep" her man, they divorced 3 months later, but her mother kept believing they should get back together. To get away from it all, Grace took a massage therapist position on a cruiseliner of LaClaire Cruises in the Carribean, hoping to lick her wounds alone... Until Bryant LeClarie came into her life. // Bryant LeClaire, heir to the cruiseline fortune, is used to women hoping to seduce him, so Grace's shyness was something very different. Byrant enjoys a challenge, and when he learned Grace's heartbreak, he vowed to put her back together, and teach her that she did not fail... It was her husband that failed. But he's not the kind of guy a plain country girl can aspire to... or is he? And what secret was he keeping from Grace despite his charm and his prowess in bed?

Not bad, but the ending was basically a fake-out, and somewhat disappointing. 6/8

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Finished Billionaire's Escort by Claire Adams

Mercedes Johnson finished her post-grad degree, but she can't find any jobs in her field, and entry-level positions don't want to hire her. With her father's cancer treatment threatening her family and her mom already at breaking point, working three jobs, Mercedes need a job fast, and her cousin recommended her for "Sexy Package Delivery". Mercedes' first client was Jake, and she soon realized she's actually in an escort service (she's so going to kill her cousin for this) but Jake, despite his sexual appetite, and rich beyond sin, is a kind man. What turned him into a generous sex fiend that had to use money to buy women's services for sex? Does Mercedes even care as long as she get the money? It's JUST money and sex, right?

Plot is trope, and character is pretty much cliche. The names came out of random name generators, it seems. And the "cause"? He was sexually abused as a kid, of course. And his rich family decided to keep quiet instead of getting him therapy. *sigh* That's so trope. Obviously he fixed everything for her, because she kinda fixed him. *sigh* 5/8

The bonus stories seem to be all from author's earlier works, and some of them contain non-sense plots. EX: Firefighter is actually a silent partner in a Security Firm (bodyguards, etc.) that makes him among the city's richest people. (Nothing wrong with that). Then his friend, who's actually running the company, told him the company's in trouble and have to take on the slimiest politician in town as a client. Despite company in trouble, the guy has no problem paying off his girlfriend's student loan AND her back rent (back rent's easy, but her student loans, really? ) Some of the plot points are really forced and just did not flow smoothly. 4/8 on the bonus stories.
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished Delicate Ink by Carrie Ann Ryan FREE

Sierra Elder moved to Denver and opened her own boutique. which was one of her immediate goals. Her other was to get a tattoo... a large one that can cover her horrific scars from that one thing she... doesn't want to talk about. It happens that her place was across the street from Montgomery Ink, a tattoo parlor operated by Austin Montgomery. But their first meeting was not a happy one... // Austin Montgomery is over thirty, and not married. being a guy who owns a tattoo parlor, inked sleeves, and scruffy beard didn't help him in the dating scene much. And his previous woman is getting too clingy (and the one before that was... ten years ago). When Sierra walked through the door, Austin was not a happy man, but there was something between them. For Austin was a dom in the BDSM scene and he recognized a sub when he saw one... But this sub had been hurt before... but by who? But even as Austin drew Sierra out of her shell and learned about her own trauma, the Montgomery family is facing its own crisis, and Austin got his own surprise later. Will the couple share their burdens, or drive each other away, believing it's better to shoulder the burden alone?

Some of the plot is trope, but the way emotions played with each other, and how each reacted to new developments, and how those developments are from each's past made the story well above average. Not quite a "must-read", mind you, but certainly 6.5/8 There are some D/S games, but no ropes, just nipple clamps and light spanking.

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Finished On the Edge by Brittney Sahin

Young American Anna wanted to get out of her family farm in Kentucky to get away from her neighbor boyfriend, who is insanely possessive in private, but nice in public. After being choked almost to unconsciousness twice, not even apology would be enough to keep her in town. An internship all the way in Dublin, Ireland is perfect for her needs, and she's on her way across the Atlantic after negotiating a room with Leslie. Finding a hot guy in the house was not a part of her plan... finding out later the hot guy was her boss Adam McGregor definitely made it... weird. // Adam McGregor sword he would never step into the Octagon again, after almost killing a man in a blood rage, and almost certainly putting him in a wheelchair for life. But the mob boss, after five years, is pushing him to get back into the ring, by threatening everyone around him; his friends, his kid's rec center, even Anna. Adam must keep everyone near him safe, but is giving in the answer? Can the young vivacious American cool his blood rage instead of spilling someone's blood? How can they get away from the mob boss's grasp?

The ending was a total let down, despite the nice build-up. Anna was a total babe-in-the-woods kind of innocent, stranger in a strange land and all that. And the attraction to Adam was a star-crossed-lovers kind of slow simmer. The fact that she kept the abuse from her ex quiet only made it worse to deal with later, as everyone sorta wanted them to get back together... Nice character developements, as I said. But the ending, argh. Sorry, totally unrealistic. 6/8 (if the ending made sense, it'd be 7.5 out of 8)

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Finished Contemporary Cowboy Box Set by Amelia Rose FREE

3 book, each start of its own series

Learning to Love: Miranda had to get away from her life. She had a dead-end job, a crummy apartment, and an abusive boyfriend. She saw no way out until her sister found a wife wanted ad... on the other side of the state. See that as a way to at least get away from her situation even temporarily, she jumped at the chance... and arrived to find cowboy Casey who did not want to be wed, a successful and sprawling 800000 acre ranch... 7 more hunky siblings... and an older patriarch of the family playing matchmaker. It's practically modern day mail order bride... but can a city girl adapt to ranch life? Or will the uncouth cowboys scare her off first?

It's sweet and cute, but not much else. There really isn't much stopping them from being together, other than whatever's in their heads. 4.5/8

Mending Fences: Curtis had been working as a ranch hand on the Circle O for a while, and he had a secret crush on the boss's daughter Marlene. In fact, he had a secret. Way back when he's but a young lad on a neighbor farm about ten years ago, he stole a few fence posts just so he could see Marlene and his brothers come out and fix the fence. But Marlene left the ranch and hadn't been back a while. When her horse thrown her, Curtis was there to rescue her. But her family was dead set against her getting involved with a ranch hand, even on a temporary basis, and she is just here for the summer... right?

Angst-y, and the pun about mending fences was cute. 6/8

Stranded, Stalked, and finally sated: Clara fled across the country chased by a hacker out to destroy her, and she does not know why. Her bank account disappeared. Bogus criminal records mean she can't work. When her truck died on a country road in rural Oklahoma, she was rescued by a local cowboy. Does she want to see if she can stay off the grid here? // Shad knew Clara was running from something... she's way too jumpy and also... very innocent. Shad opened his home and his heart... and found love. When Clara's past caught up with her, Shad and Clara will confront the threat face-on...

Was this written back in the days of Sandra Bullock's "The Net" or something? The villain's identity sucks (basically, he's the company IT geek who feel that Clara cockteased him and he wanted revenge). For this perceived offense, he ruined her life, then chased her across country, committed assault, kidnapping, impersonating an official, grand theft auto, just to scare her? Into what exactly? WTF? WHERE did he get all these skills? 4/8
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Finished The Mackenzies Boxed Set 1-5 by Liliana Hart

Five novella collection, each of which is actually pretty good.

Dane: Bad boy Dane is back in town. He left behind Charlotte Munroe to make a name for himself. He's back to claim her. But Charlie has no intention to take him back... His betrayal cuts deep... and she has a reminder every day... their son. She was sure Dane is going to leave again... But their attraction to each other can't be denied...

Angst-y, but the secret baby trope can only carry the story so far. 5/8

Thomas: Doctor Thomas Mackenzie had rescued damsels in distress before, but usually not right in front of his family farm, when a car, dodging a cow, smashed right through the fence his brothers had just fixed. The woman's hurt, and bleeding from a gunshot wound. Who's she, and how did she get here? Thomas knew this is the woman for him, but will she accept that? Esp. when it's clear she's keeping secrets?

It's a bit of insta-lust here, the attraction isn't that well explained. 4.5/8

Riley: Maggie is in trouble. Her boyfriend sent her an artifact, then disappeared off face of the Earth. He told her to go find Riley MacKenzie, an Egyptologist, and the artifact, allegedly cursed, has people all over the world fighting, and perhaps, killing for it. Maggie saw Riley, and he's everything she'd dreamed of in a man. And a snowstorm will test their resolve... but when bad guys close in, they'll see what they're truly made of...

Good twist on the romantic suspense short 6/8

Cooper: Sheriff Cooper Mackenzie is also a BDSM player. He was surprised to see Claire, 10 years his junior, in a BDSM club he was doing a stake-out, sitting on a mobster's lap. Claire wanted Cooper for a very long time, and being a librarian, she researched the subject extensively before embarking on his attempt to seduce Cooper... by becoming his perfect sub... And Cooper has no choice but to claim her for his own... if only to keep her out of trouble...

As a BDSM novel, it's actually not bad, but nothing that special either. 5.5/8

Mackenzie Christmas: Grant Mackenzie wanted a family, but the woman he wanted didn't reciprocate. But it's the Holiday season, and miracles can happen...

Kinda meh here.

All in all, I guess I can give this 5.5/8 Some of the shorts are pretty good, some of that are just... trope.

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Finished The Playboy Next Door by Christina Tetreault

Catrina was stood up by her blind date, when she was rescued by resident playboy Tony. Cat knew all about Tony's reputation, but she's lonely, and she invited him back to her apartment... Tony never tried any moves on Cat because she's his best bud's little sister... and his coach's daughter. Tony's sweetheart passed away, and he felt isn't not up to love someone deeply, that's why he kept things light and casual. Tony and Cat agreed to keep things light and secret, but secrets always get out, and Tony needs to decide whether to risk his heart again... or lose the woman that came to be much more than just friends.

Resorted to trope "I hurt you because I love you (therefore I just drive you away, because I think it's better for you)" which basically instantly turned to regret. Meh. 5/8

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Finished Wrong then Right by Jodi Watters

Hope Coleson is rich, but she left it all behind rather than submit to the controlling life that wealth demanded. Unfortunately, she's having a rather bad day. As wait staff at a hotel, she went to visit a guest in the off-hours, and had a very memorable night with a hot guy who doesn't talk... then was wrongfully terminated. Which lead to her being evicted from her dumpy apartment. Her savings account also mysterious vanished. She had no choice but to sleep in her car and take up waitressing a class-y strip-joint. One morning, when she was parked near her favorite house she dreamed of buying one day on her own money, she was startled away by knock on the window... It was that guy who bedded her! When he learned he sorta caused her losing her job, he offered up his guest-room... He had plenty of space, and she... needed a place to stay. Then he learned her surname... Same name as his boss. He just slept with his boss's step sister. This is not going to end well, esp. when Beckett can't trust another woman after the previous one betrayed him. Not that he can allow the situation to continue...

Actually better than I thought. How stubborn is this step-sister, that she rather work at a strip-joint than take her family's money? But the multi-layered angst works pretty well. 6/8

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Finished Orphaned, Betrayed, and Cherished by her Foreign Artist by Faye Sonja FREE

Book 1 of 3 book series, three orphan sisters, and their adventures.

Zelda, Grace, and Elizabeth were sisters. When their parents died, she trusted the wrong man, only to be captured and separated. Zelda ended up in the West, as worker at a brothel, essentially a slave, but swearing to reunite her sisters. One day, she was suddenly told she'll be set free. Then she was dumped onto a wagon, blindfolded, driven to the desert, then dumped. Then another man found her, dragged her onto the horse, then dropped her at someone called Charles, and yelled the debt had been settled. It was clear that Zelda has been traded like property to a man who "won" her at a Poker game. Zelda must work on saving her sisters, as one of them was not far from her. She was also in the wagon with her... But she can't take Charles' help... He's a gmabler and God knows what else... but he seems to be the only man kind to her...

The story doesn't make a lick of sense when you think about it. What sort of crazy gang would bother keep ing the sisters together but separate for TEN YEARS? What are the chances all three ended up in Thornward, Utah within a few days of each other? 5/8
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Finished Love Handles by Gretchen Galway

Beverly Lewis is a kindergaten teacher. When she suddenly got named as the new owner of Fite Fitnesswear after her estranged grandpa passed away, she just wants to sign it away to her aunt Ellen, who's already running things. After all, she hates the gym, she shops at discounters like Ross, and she's way too nice for the corporate world. Liam Johnson is a former Olympic swimmer and Fite's executive VP. He dedicated his life to the company after retiring from sports and made most of the daily decisions, when he's not being contradicted by the temporary president, aka aunt Ellen. When Beverly was manipulated by Liam into NOT giving up the company, Beverly went all in, moved to San Francisco, and dove into her new ownership responsibility with much gusto... to people's shock and horror. But the world may not be ready for Beverly, esp. Liam...

The book was handled in rom-com sort of way, as Beverly don't like to be pushed or manipulated. There's also quite a bit more family drama in the back ground as different people all take an interest on what would this woman do with this brand. It's got twists and turns and drama and laughs. 7/8

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Finished Twelve Days by Teresa Hill

Rachel took in three kids 12 days before Christmas. The kid were found left at a motel, and refused to give up their surname. Their mom promised to be back 2 days ago. Social worker (and Rachel's aunt) knew Rachel always wanted kids, but after losing their previous child and several failures in adoption, Rachel and her husband Sam may not be ready, but there is literally NOWHERE for the kids, 11 year old girl, four year old boy, and a baby, to go this close to Christmas, esp. if they can't be split up. Rachel's world was further rocked when she overheard that Sam may be moving out. They had dreamed of a life together full of children, until that one night that changed everything. The failures in adoption had them drifted apart... and these... children will either break their marriage for good... or heal it. But these children are only there temporarily... and is it proper to ask for a miracle? Is it right to pray they can keep the children, even though their mother is out there? What happened to her?

Wow, this book has some emotional punch to it. And EVERYTHING flowed together properly. It's often difficult to get a "on the rocks" romance right, but this one managed it by layering the reasons and motivations, and the mistaken assumptions and secrets that each kept from the other for years, perhaps decades. He was actually bounced from foster home to foster home and lost his brother to another family and split up, and she admit to him she got pregnant to force them together, even though love should be enough. The end was sad AND happy. They found the mother... beaten half to death and left to die, and she was in a hospital in a coma for two weeks by her evil ex. And she... won't live very long, her organs are shutting down. But she wass able to wake up, get some justice, and closure before resigning to her fate, knowing her kids will go to a good home. It's a real tear jerker. 7.5/8
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Finished Country Heaven by Ava Miles FREE

Country star Rye Crenshaw loves food, and he always goes to the smallest diners, as they are often hidden gems. When he found the chef to be the delectable Tory Simmons, he hired her on the spot to be his tour private chef, as it's honestly, the best food he'd ever tasted. The fact that he needs an image makeover after a PR disaster was, well, probably secondary. But Rye Crenshaw has a past that he shows nobody, not even his private chef... // Tory Simmons needed the money, and she's not the sort of girl that puts out or fall for a megastar. She sure does NOT appreciate being used for PR purposes. But the more time she spends with Rye, the more she realized Rye is just a public front... an invented persona. When a REAL family emergency summoned Rye back home, Tory volunteered to go with him to keep him grounded... and perhaps, they may have fallen for each other, even as they deal with their own crises...

The idea she can just walk away from the diner job was hard to believe, but the rest of the relationship slow simmer as they deal with their respective personal crises was nicely done. 6/8

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Finished It Happened One Night by Christine S Feldman

Paisley is trying to get her business off the ground, and is way too busy to date. Joe is too busy with his family auto repair shop to date. The two should have never met, except for one mutual apprentice "kind" old lady who won't take no for an answer. The problem is they met before, where Paisley got thoroughly humilated. Then the date went steadily downhill from there... through no fault of theirs... in an all night adventure that involved muggers and high-speed dash to the ER...

Good rom-com. 6/8

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Finished The Sand Dollar by Maggie Christensen

Jenny was about to be downsized. She decided to leave Australia and visit her Godmother in Oregon, US to clear her head. But there, she found a family secret that turned her life upside down... She was adopted... and as she struggled to put pieces of her life back together, she will need some help from her reclusive neighbor...

Interesting revelation, but I think the "puzzle" aspects could have been handled better, and indeed, I've seen handled better before. 5/8

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Finished Declan: Blackthrone Brothers #1 by Amanda Torrey

Declan and his brothers are back on the farm where the family got its start. They each made a name for themselves, but they hadn't been back for eight years. News of their father's disappearance brought them all back... Only to encounter mystery upon mystery. Why were vegan activists protesting their organic dairy farm? Who was the intruder with a camera that stalked their barns? What do their stepmother and stepsister have to do with everything? What really happened to their father, as there are signs of foul play? As Declan deal with the camera stalker, who turned out to be Rylee, the protest leader, they can't help but feel some intense chemistry between the two, but with them on separate sides of dairy industry issue, is there any room for love?

This book, as start of a series, has to leave a lot of big mysteries unsolved. Though I admire the way the "enemies to lovers" angle was handled. It actually do make some sort of sense. 6/8
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Finished Count the Roses by Jackie Weger FREE (momentarily)

Jennifer Dewitt was betrayed and jilted by a man she thought loved her, but turned out only to need her connections to her father to get a job. She was also tired of her mother trying to set up her life, forcing her to go into acting. She departed the East Coast for a brand new life in New Orleans, and worked her way up from ground level in a hotel, and got to catering manager, but she's still barely making do. That is, until she encountered Adrien Merrill. Adrien Merrill is Cajun Royalty... he still has a plantation, and he actually owns the hotel Jennifer works at. An encounter between Adrien and Jennifer at the hotel had Adrien intrigued, but Adrien was commitment shy after his previous wife hated plantation life ("boring") and actually had an abortion after their divorce, made him weary of "city girls" and "northerners". But Jennifer was nothing like that. But Jennifer's life experience had taught her to rely on no one, and Adrien's southern charm seems so... smothering. Yet they can't get over each other...

The southern charm was nice, and the intrigue worked pretty well. 6/8

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Finished The Wedding Trap by Adrienne Bell FREE

Beth Bradley is attending her best friend's wedding... Sans her plus one... Because "Charlie" doesn't exist. Her imaginary boyfriend, with more and more embellishment over the years, obviously can't attend the wedding. And her ex will be there to complete her humiliation, in front of everyone she knew. // Alex Tanner is at the Kensington Hotel in search of a traitor who was selling out to a foreign nation, that nation's rep is using this wedding as a cover to meet with the traitor. He needs an inside connection to the wedding, even as he searched for more intel. When he was busted by Beth checking out one of the guest cars, Beth blackmailed him into pretending to be her boyfriend "Charlie". Alex smiled, it's exactly where he needed to be... close to the wedding as a bridesmaid's BF. But when Beth stumbled into seeing the traitor's face (she didn't know it at the time), she became target for assassins... and the only one who can keep her safe is Alex/Charlie...

Not too bad as romantic suspense. The plot near the end is a bit simplified and too fast, IMHO. But workable. 6/8

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Finished Falling for You... Again by Kathy Coatney FREE

Clare and Ethan built a family and life in Paradise Falls, Idaho. Ethan is a school teacher, while Clare is an outdoors photographer. They had a great marriage despite their respective upbringings (she's actually filthy rich, but she didn't want the money even as her parents tried to steer her back to her 'destiny', while his father is an alcoholic and his mom is the enabler, leaving him to raise himself and become provider of the family). Then a tragic boating accident took the life of their daughter, left him seriously wounded, and nothing's the same ever again. Both grieved but in very different ways... and they drifted apart. She had to ask her parents for help to keep the family going while he recuperated, but they grew apart instead of closer. It's now two years later, and Clare had drawn up divorce papers, as it hurts more to stay than to leave. But when Clare was lost in the wilderness ahead of a snowstorm, Ethan will move heaven and earth to find her... but will they learn to love each other again?

"On the rocks" plot, but way to many flashbacks, from when they met, when they fell in love, when they marry, when they got the dog to guard her on her hikes, ... These flashbacks breaks up the narrative momentum, but they do set the context of the mood and memories. On the other hand, they are kinda jarring. I don't think I agree with the narrative voice, though the emotions are pretty raw. 5.5/8
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Finished Southern Spice by Jeanette Winters FREE

Derrick Nash lost his wife and child that one stormy night. He was in NY to wrap up a business deal, she's back on the farm in Honeywell, and her car was swept away when the dam broke. Derrick knew the dam was shoddily built, but when FEMA report absolved the builder, Derrick is determined to see justice done, and turned into a recluse, refusing to live on. When tornado hit Honeywell, Casey Collin was sent by FEMA to help by explaining the FEMA programs available to help rebuild. A thunderstorm sent her car tumbling down a ravine, near Derrick Nash. Derrick had to rescue the damsel in distress, but he didn't know she's from FEMA, his nemesis. When Casey invited the town to the recluse's house, Derrick didn't know whether to kill her or kiss her. And Casey, struggling to understand the enigmatic Derrick, called in a favor to pulled the original FEMA report...

The story threads just did not come together. There *was* a conspiracy to cover up the dam bursting but the danger to Casey was way overblown and teased, as if people will send assassins after who looked at the file as if it's "Death Note". And then Casey called in her big brother, who's a "contractor" (as in mercenary) with helos on call. And the way bad guy got the karma? All tell, no show. What as waste of good slow simmer. 4.5/8

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Finished Billionaire's Second Chance by Claire Adams

Austin Harris knew he had to get out of the small town of North Reed and make his fortunes in New York, even if he had to leave everyone behind, including his high school sweetheart, Rebecca. And he did exactly that. He made his billions, and he lived the lifestyle of rich and famous in the glitter... but when his father fell sick, he had to go home... And ran into Rebecca, who's now the town hair stylist, just as she said she would. And it was clear they are not over each other. But when Austin's cling-y model ex showed up in town, intending to take him back, will Rebecca reject Austin just on principle "you dn't belong here"? What can Austin do to convince Rebecca she's the one?

Now up to the usual polish by the author, this one just feel trope and the "threat" just didn't feel serious enough. 5/8
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Finished Operation: Hail Storm by Brett Arquette FREE

Marshall Hail is a bazillionaire by solving the world's energy crisis by inventing the standing wave nuclear reactor AND solving the nuclear waste problem. But now, he has but a single purpose: exact justice upon the people who took away his wife and his twin daughters on the event known as "The Five", when a coordinated strike by 5 separate terrorist groups on five different continents shot down five different airliners with portable SAMs within five minutes of each other. Over 1000 people lost their lives that day. Hail was son of a soldier, but he doesn't want to lose anyone, so with his vast resources and some whiz kids in R&D, he has created the most sophisticated drone fleet in the world, from bio-mimicry eagle for surveillance to drone carriers carrying other drones into LZs, but also armed drones, and even microdrones size of a fly or a hummingbird. To demonstrate his effectiveness, he took out North Korea's defense minister, a man believed to be untouchable. (He did it by sending a microdrone to drop poison into the guy's orange juice), and he demands cooperation from the US government to take out all the top terrorists by sharing intel. US government ask him to perform a mission: stop the ICBM parts being shipped into North Korea now, and saddled him with a CIA liaison, who was used to a different sort of liaison, i.e. "sparrow school". And the mission got a name: Operation Hail Storm... and the war against terrorism will never be the same...

Actually, a pretty good technothriller. If a guy has unlimited budget and full communications capability around the world, the war may conceivably look a little like this. Obviously, not all targets can be "easily" attacked by a drone, at least not making it OBVIOUS that it was done by a drone, but these guys are ingenious and they have other ways. 6/8
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Finished A Perfect Lie by Shirley Wine

Jace is on the trail of an international smuggler who is also fond of torturing women. However, at the New Zealand museum, he can't stand by to allow the criminal to capture the museum curator Ashlyn. So he grabbed her and ran. Ashlyn had no choice but to trust the man to keep her safe, but she did not know about his past... with her father. And in family secrets get exposed, Ashlyn will question everything about her life, as well as her love for Jace, even as Jace tries to find the traitor that ruined the company built up by his mentor... and threatened his life.

Tight thriller, with secrets and lies, and high adventure. All the plot fits, and I can see no obvious wholes of truth-stretching. I think the part about "phone bleeping" as clue was really forced. But this is definitely a 7/8 as romantic suspense.

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Finished Brazos Bride by Caroline Clemmons FREE

Hope Montoya knew someone is poisoning her. She suspected her mother was poisoned as well. Her father was shot not long ago, and the suspect, Micah Stone, was acquited by a jury. Who wanted to kill her entire family? The one with most to gain would be her uncle and aunt. The ONLY way around this is to get married... and gain control over her family holdings now. And the only one who she can push into a marriage of convenience... Is the man most likely to hate her... Micah Stone. // Micah Stone would love to woo Hope Montoya, but being accused of her father's murder puts a damper on this, and the town did not believe he's innocent, esp. not the sheriff. Micah's ranch is failing as the Montoya ranch blocked him from the river and the water for his cattle. Hope's proposal surprised him... and it may be the ONLY way to save his ranch, as it also gave him access to the river, and some cash for some repairs on the ranch. But Micah doesn't want a marriage of convenience... but the real thing. And in the Montoya household... can anyone be trusted? When Micah called in his two brothers AND two aunts to run the Montoya household, Hope saw it as trying to control her, but when multiple attempts to kill them, from rifles to snakes, many even came close, perhaps some protection would not be so bad...

Nice romantic suspense, through historical. Fun story. It's a mystery, and there were lots of red herrings. Like it a lot. 7/8
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Finished Deep Under by Lisa Renee Jones

Myla is beautiful, and trying to make her way in the world as a waitress when she was snatched up by a vicious and powerful man... a crime kingpin. Not even her sister in the FBI can help her, and she simply vanished. Then came the news of her death (allegedly). // Kyle, ex-FBI, was hired by a man who paid generously... a million bucks for protection of a very important person. That person turned out to be Myla, still very much alive. Kyle was told his job is to "test" Myla's loyalty to the kingpin, while protecting her from any threat... including her FBI sister. But Kyle is not who he seems. He is indeed ex-FBI, but he's actually working for Walker Security, a private contractor that has contacts in high places. He had been looking for Myla, but now that he found her, can he trust her? Which way does her loyalty really lie? Is she Stockholm'ed, or merely acting compliant? Can he get her out safely and get the kingpin? Did he fell for her already?

For romantic suspense, this is one heck of a book. 7.5/8

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Finished The Gamble by Kristen Ashley FREE

Nina Sheridan realized there is something wrong with her engagement. Her beau, Nial, appears to be completely oblivious to her, as he can't even remember how she takes her tea or coffee. To get some distance and perspective, she booked a small cabin in Colorado for two weeks, to be spent alone. She did not expect to find hunky man there at the cabin... or that he would turn her away... // Holden "Max" Maxwell is the silent and brooding man who is "wealthy", but can't tap into the wealth, because he owns some of the prettiest land in Colorado, and he can't sell any of it. Instead, he does rent out his cabin from time to time, but apparently, his buddy Slim messed up. When Nina fell ill, Max spent some time to nurse her back to health, and it's sure there's some heat between the two. But Max has his own heartbreak and dirty laundry in the past he doesn't want to talk about... and will Nina give up her life in the UK?

At 660 pages, this book is WAY TOO LONG! And the book almost felt it should have ended in several places (remember the movie The Abyss? Kinda like that). While I did enjoy the characters, the pacing and some of the plot points need a bit of trimming. 6/8

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Finished Rose's Destiny by Rosie Attwood

Rose grew up on the Wingate Farm out West. But she had spent her years growing up in Boston. Her grandpa wanted her to visit, but her father had refused each time. At 23, Rose can't find any one local to marry, as it's after the Civil War. Then everything seems to fall into place: Her grandpa died and left her the farm... If she will marry a "local boy" within 6 months. And the farm is VERY profitable indeed. But marry someone after knowing them for a few months or less? Became known as "Heiress of Santa Rosa, NM"? What caused the split between grandpa and father any way? As Rose settle into her role as the heiress, she will find information about her origins, the farm, sold a mystery of her premonition, and find the man worth of her love.

At only 150 pages, there's really not too much in this book other than "fish out of water". It's mostly adventure, not too much of a romance. 5/8
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Finished This Time Forever by Mona Ingram

Lexie Swinton had toiled for five years at a premier Vacouver restaurant as the head chef under a manager that's cutting corners for profit. When the manager unilaterally cut the wine and cheese pairing without consulting her, she quit in disgust and decided to take some time finding herself. She didn't get very far... she ran into a quaint little diner in a remote location on Vancouver Island, and helped the harried waitress serve the work crew renovating the place. And she liked the place and attention so much she was contemplating staying on as head cook. Then she met the owner Jesse Cooper... someone she had fantasized about, for Jesse's also a pilot that landed near the docks on the amphibian plane. But Jesse is far more than just a pilot, besides owning the diner. Jesse is a kind-hearted guy that wanted to help the community, but he's also keeping a secret... He actually owns the airline AND owned the restaurant Lexie used to work at. And he liked Lexie a lot. But it never seem to be the right time to tell her... And if so, will she decide to run... again?

Long Novella (about 130-140 pages), I like the characters a lot, though the complications near the end was a bit forced. It's basically FMC having self-inadequacy issues, something she didn't seem to have before. 6/8

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Finished Wishful Romance Box Set 1 by Kait Nolan

Book 1: To Get Me To You -- Norah was betrayed by her fiancee and her company. She thought she closed the deal for the betterment of the town. She ended up doing the exact opposite. When she confronted her BF and his father, the company head, she was escorted out the door. She ended up in Wishful, MS, hoping to redeem herself, and ran into Cam. She fell for the town's charm, and Cam, the local hunk, as Cam needed to keep the big box store away from the town. But Cam wasn't sure a city girl like Norah will ever stay in town...

I guess I don't quite understand a big box store can move in and just "destroy" local businesses with no gain. What happens the big box store later? 5/8

Book 2: Be Careful, It's My Heart -- Tyler ran the hardware store in town for several generations, and always performed in the town theater when there was a chance. But several years ago, her performance partner and BF, Brody, left town to pursue something else. She had not performed since. But now, the news of the theater may be closing for good (and possibly be changed into something else) brought Tyler out of 'retirement' for one last-ditch effort to raise the money... just as Brody came back to town... as her co-star. And what secret was he hiding this time?

Almost a deus ex machina, at least it kinda feel that way. But it works with that last minute twist, but relied on her overhearing something that reached the wrong conclusion. 6/8

Book 3: Know Me Well -- Riley has been living alone for a while... she's very self-reliant, esp. when her mother seems to be looking for a man to save her all her life. She bought the town pharmacy, but she's forever juggling bills and barely staying solvent. She had a crush on Liam, her best friend's older brother, but Liam left to join the Marines. Now SSGT Liam is back, but Liam wants to fix things, which irked Riley to no end. When one disaster after another hits the pharmacy, and Riley's mom asking for help, Riley will have to make some painful decisions...

Riley's independent to the point of abrasive, where ANY attempt to help... (heck, she doesn't even ASK for help, even in form of advice from the previous owner!) is rebuffed out of "principle". That's just... masochistic. The part about her mother finding herself is good, but did she find herself? It's kinda annoying. 5/8
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Finished Lone Pine Bride by Sylvia Damsell

Seth was waiting for his mail order bride along with couple other townfolks at Lone Pine. The brides were just getting off when an earthquake struck the area. While most of the buildings in Lone Pine survived, the neighbor town Middle Pine did not fare as well as their houses are built of adobe bricks. One of the brides, Hannah, took charge and asked for Seth's help, and Seth went along, but Seth was actually waiting for a different girl, younger, not this hard-charging adventurous girl. She said she came to marry Seth... but the older more respectable Seth... the OTHER Seth in town. But as they spent the day few days together, digging people out of collapsed buildings, helping people cope with aftershocks, they started to behave like a married couple, even though they were not promised to each other...

There's a bit of deus ex machina / gift of the magi twist at the end. Aside from some possibly anachronistic details, like having extra bits of steel around, enough to make a bathchair (wheelchair) and even the milking stand is made of steel (really?!) used to prop up a door before the house collapsed, it's actually not a bad tale. 6/8

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Finished Trouble in Texas by Eve Gaddy FREE

Mark Kincaid was on a leave of absence, recuperating in the town of Redfish, Texas, trying to fix up the house his uncle left him... that nobody wanted to buy. He was shot in the line of duty as a special agent of the Texas Department of Game and Wildlife, investigating a smuggling ring that deal in exotic birds. Imagine to his surprise that he was awakened by a cacophony of bird calls... at 6AM by his neighbor, the wild bird rehabilitator Cat Randolph... not by her... by her birds! Then Mark's partner stumbled into a lead... the smugglers are bringing in a shipment into Redfish... very soon. And who better to ask than Cat? But as Mark cozied up to Cat, then realized he's got too close and cooled off, Cat decided to escalate by switching seduction mode to high... But things took an ugly turn when Cat's brother's boat was implicated in the smuggling...

Nice, very nice. The end struggle was over a bit TOO quickly, IMHO, but it worked well enough. 6.5/8
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Finished Landry's Back in Town by Margery Scott FREE

Historical Western: Landry Mitchell went to prison for robbing a bank. He didn't, but try explaining that to the sheriff. He went back to the town after his release to earn his living as blacksmith, but his town Rocky Ridge CO wasn't ready to forgive him. Olivia Harding wants to help people, but she got burned out. Now she cares for the orphans and the less fortunate. Landry saved her from two mean drunks when they caught her out at night. When she saw Landry was rejected by the town, she wanted to help. But Landry doesn't want her help. He's tainted, and he had nothing to offer Olivia... Then his no good brother came back...

Cute, feels a bit forced. 5.5/8

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Finished Forever Yours, Sweetheart by Roxanne Snopek

Sweetheart MT's photographer has a problem... Carrie Logan's website got hacked, and her boudoir photos leaked. She need a cyber security fix fast. Enter Ethan Nash, the gorgeous guy with a bad reputation around down... He has big dogs, and bigger attitude, but he's the only guy who can contain the scandal for her. For she's practically town royalty, and this will destroy her business for sure. Ethan consults cybersecurity for Fortune 1000 corps, not small town photographers, but Carrie's panick brought out his protective side, when his dogs aren't scaring her to death. But a meeting or two showed Carrie Ethan wasn't as gruff as the town seems to think, nor were his dogs. In fact, it seems to be the mayor and town gossip spreading rumors. Carrie knew Ethan was not charging her as much as he should, so she decided to embark on a PR campaign to improve his image at the town fair... Even as they finally figured out who were behind each of their problems...

Cute, but not excessively so. 6/8

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Finished Blacksmith's Mail Order Bride by Cindy Caldwell Historical Western

Olivia Blanchard had been helping her father do hog ranching for all her life. Her father had passed on, and all that's left was an old ranchhand and her. With a lot of work, the hogs are slaughtered and bacon are in the smokehouse. She's ready to sell the stock to the mercantile in town and get ready for the winter. She came back from town to find her smokehouse burned down, and the fire spread to her cabin. She lost nearly everything she owned. Only her few friends in town kept her going. Elsewhere in town, Joe Stanton, the town blacksmith, has been under increasing pressure to marry the vacuous girl his mother and aunt picked out for him. He can't leave, as blacksmithing was a business from his father. He was contemplating a mail order bride when he heard about Olivia's misfortune. Why get a mail order bride when there's a perfectly single woman here? So they get hitched. But Joe's mother was angry and determined to break up the marriage, while Joe's determined to solve Olivia's misfortune as he was sure it wasn't an accident, and indeed, there was NO BACON in the burned remains of the smokehouse...

Nice twists and all that. 6.5/8
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FInished Billionaire's Runaway Bride by Claire Adams FREE

Molly was an American girl living in London, and was about marry Harry, after moving across the ocean for him. But night before their wedding, her best friend (and bridesmaid) Peyton caught Harry cheating in a local pub. Molly decided she won't marry Harry after all, two years wasted. But where could Molly go? Enter Harry's bestie Alfie... who's tired of seeing Harry turned into slug. He knew when he used to be such a slug back in college... and Harry was the responsible one. The roles have switched. Alfie offered up his place for Molly to hide out, and they fell for each other. But Molly needs to find her own place in life...

The darkest hour seems to over something EXTREMELY trivial, and was really stupid, IMHO. And it was over just as fast. 5/8

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Finished Making Time by Marie Force FREE

Clare Harrington woke up from a three-year coma against all odds against a horrible car collision. She should celebrate her lucky stars, but the world had left her behind. Her husband had fallen for a different woman, Andi, while she's out of the picture and gotten her pregnant with twins. She divorced him, not wishing to hold him against his will, and let him start a new family. His oldest daughter Kate, with musical talent, went to Nashville, getting a year to explore her talent... and fell in love there with a much older man... a college buddy of her father, even as she had a brush with her destiny. Clare in the meanwhile, had to leave her home with too many memories behind, and moved to her brother's cabin in Vermont, and came to know a gruff carpenter there... who harbors his own pain... Will Clare find a new love? Will Kate meet her success? How about love and family?

7/8 for this sort of love is about letting go, rather than holding on for all its worth. It managed to do good jumps between plot lines and keep each interesting. This is a series, so things happens before and after, but this is a standalone book.
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Finished A Bid for Love by Rachel Ann Nunes FREE

Cassi is a buyer for art galleries in California. Jared is a buyer for a gallery in New York. Both went an auction to bid on a Buddha, but Jared was told by his beautiful boss... don't come back without it. At first Cassi found Jared to be unbearable smug *** and when bidders got anon notes warning them not to bid, Cassi suspected Jared... Then thugs went after Jared, while Cassi had to deal with her best friend's pregnancy (and she's just weeks from her due date!) Just what's wrong with this Buddha? Then FBI, thugs, and others got involved... even as Jared and Cassi fell for each other... But with betrayal around the corner and no one to trust, just who can they depend on?

Not bad for romantic suspense. 6/8 for sure.

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Finished Alaskan Dawn by Edie Claire FREE

Haley is a young and strong attorney, but being the person everybody depended on: by her needy but already married sister, by her widowed and perpetually worrying mother, and her team of junior lawyers, she had to get away. It didn't help that she's also her sister's surrogate... she's carrying their baby. When her crazy uncle died in Alaska and left her some cabins, she saw it as the perfect chance to get away from a week or two, away from the stress, the guilt-trips, the constant nagging. While the adventure didn't unfold quite exactly to plan, Haley did find the surrounding beautiful... and it sure didn't hurt her renter is a handsome boat tour captain, Ben, who understood her like no one else. But Ben had a secret... he can tell Haley's pregnant, but she didn't offer, and he didn't ask. For he can tell this woman has the weight of the world on her... and she had to leave soon. But it was clear it's not over between them two... but how does an attorney settle down with a naturalist who divides his time between Alaska and Hawaii?

Nice, very nice, as the relationship was a slow burn that developed naturally, and Ben, while nice, didn't come across as "too nice". Authors tend to write either "bad boy alpha", or "nice milquetoast", and fortunately, this guy was not just "nice". 6.5/8

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Finished Yield by Lilia Moon BDSM / FREE

Emily is Seattle's best wedding planner with superpower to handle all details and not leaving out a single one. When one of her clients wanted a wedding in a BDSM club, she didn't bat an eye. And her preparations lead her to Club Fettered, owned by Damon Black, the most "notorious" dom in Seattle. Damon knew Emily was way too innocent to play in his world, he hoped he can scare her away with a demonstration... 24 hours with him, BDSM for dummies. But she... didn't react the way he thought. Now he can't stay away...

Nice, very sensual way to do BDSM, just spanking and light toys. Though it's basically a fantasy... an experienced dom found a noob that's practically the ideal sub and gently groomed her. Still, not a bad tale. 6/8

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Finished Seduction On the Cards by Kris Pearson

Kerrigan "Kerri" Lush was assigned to interview an anti-gambling crusader at the last second when the regular reporter had to go to the hospital. Kerri was expecting an older grandpa in a suit. What she got instead was a handsome stud in motorcycle leathers: Alex Beaufort, who's also an incorrigible flirt. Kerri falls hard for the Frenchman, and learned his past was bitter enough to make him the man he is today. Alex found Kerri to be tempting, but when he also found she carried a debt AND has a minor gambling addiction, and her happy facade hides some deeply buried sadness, is she someone to stay away from... or spend forever with?

Somehow I don't feel the connection between the two for this one. They are pretty much opposites attract, and the flirting is fine, but a connection between them two... beyond the lfirting... don't feel it. 5/8
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Finished Love Claimed by Mary Crawford

Jaxson Shepherd is an ortho doctor, and he's in love... He goes to work for coffee, and he's smitten with this one woman, on the same road, taking what's probably her son to school. When a teenager rammed her car by accident, he went into doctor mode and rescued her... But Donda Whitaker does not take kindly to doctors... Or being rescued. But Donda's son Gabriel reached out to Jaxson... His mom had been hurt before, and is worth the risk. But Donda was sure that Jaxson will be running away once he knew her past... Can Jaxson convince her otherwise when he has his own problems, including a vengeful sister? Can they teach each other about trust?

Ah, that's how a romance should be written. While it's obvious that the main characters are African-Americans (just by the names, I'm not even looking at the cover), the subject of race was practically invisible once you get right down to it. 7/8

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Finished The Sweetest Thing by Lilian Darcy FREE

Tully Morgan left the town of Marietta MT 18 years ago, at the night of the prom, after some serious revelations that send her world crashing down upon her, and sent her fleeing to California to go to school there, months early. She even stood up her date that night, Ren Fletcher, and she never explained why. Now, Tully is back, to face the revelations that shattered her that night, to take care of her... seriously ill mother, Suzanne "Sugar" Morgan. But Tully had been raised to think of Sugar as her sister, only figuring out that one night that her mother had given birth to her at 14 and her grandma Patty raised her as a daughter, not granddaughter. But Sugar has cancer, and before she passes, she has one last regret she needed to resolve, and she needed both Tully and Ren's help to do it. Ren's marriage is dissolving fast. They had tried so hard, but the passion had died long time ago. Ren often wondered what had happened that one night that lead him down to this loveless marriage, and what may have been. Now that Tully is back... and still single...

It's 75% family drama about Sugar's revelations, about all the mistakes she did, and how she tried to redeem herself, and only very little about Tully and Ren getting back together.
Spoiler:
Sugar actually had ANOTHER child, and she gave him up for adoption, and tried to raise him... addicted. She gave him up knowing it's the only way, and now dying, she wanted to make sure he's all right. It's a bit of a tear jerker. 7/8
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Finished The Cowboy and the Kid by Anne McAllister FREE

Eight-year old Becky Jones is the daughter of Ex-champion bullrider Taggart Jones, and she's on a mission: find a wife for her dad. Her mom ran off way back when after she can't deal with country life, and Tag simply doesn't want to get married again, period. But Becky, with her best friend, has a candidate in mind: their beautiful blonde teacher, Felicity Albright. Felicity is bemused, and Tag is handsome. But Felicity fled the cities for a reason: she's a widow that fled the farm town of Iowa with her husband to the city... where a drunk driver killed him. She fled the city AND her hometown, and Tag made her feel... something. Tag was frustrated... and scared of the feelings he had toward Felicity, but Becky is determined to bring the two together... even if she had to engineer a few situations to throw them together...

Slightly forced near the end, but nice plot wrap-around, when Felicity was challenged into taking bull-riding school... under Tag's instruction, of course!

7/8

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Finished The Barren Bride and the Abandoned Baby by Faye Sonja FREE / historical western

Sidney is barren due to a childhood disease. She thought nobody would want her, so she was suprised when the mail order bride agency matched her with someone who wanted her with no child (nor expect any). But moments before she's due to get on the train, she found a baby abandoned on her doorstep. As she already gave up her room, she was forced to take the baby along... // Isam and his best friend were mining gold in a small town in Texas. He already buried one wife and child, and his heart is dead. He needed wife, but did not want any children. When Sidney arrived with a baby, however, Isam can't turn her away. But what are the chances the baby will find its way to the real mom half way across the country?

I honestly don't understand this author. The plot just flows, as if it's adventure, not love. The guy just do things, not struggling much. And the woman's just fuzzing about the baby that's not hers. Then of course, the miracle happens... The mom ends up in the same town, and there's actually a THIRD baby out there! It's just way too "passive". 4/8

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Finished The Farmer's Wife by Lori Handland FREE

Kim Luchetti, youngest child of the family and the only daughter, returned to her Illinois family farm after her father's heart attack. Eight years ago, she left everything behind, believing distance is the only thing that will help her forget and heal from that tragic night, including that of her love, Brian Riley, the only one who knew her secret. Brian had always loved Kim, but also was hurt the most when she ran. When she appeared at his farm, he was so surprised he fell off the barn roof and broke both wrists. Kim was guilted into moving in with him to help him deal with his temporary disability while he heals, and they are forced to confront each other's unresolved feelings, and what was left unsaid that night eight years ago, or they will not be able to love each other fully...
Spoiler:
She lost their baby that night, premature, and Kim was ashamed that she had thought about losing the baby, while Brian wondered if he wasn't good enough for her which was why she ran, but she ran because she thought she was no good for him...
Angst-y, and the mystery was hidden pretty well. The "no good for you" was pushed a bit far to almost too dramatic, IMHO, and the FMC did the "run away to sort my feelings"... AGAIN, but it's good. 6.5/8
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Finished ST:Discovery Desperate Hours by David Mack

Prequel to the series. Lieutenant Michael Burnham has just been assigned as acting first officer over Saru when both the first officer and second officer are off to command another ship. Captain Georgiou knew Burnham has more initiative than Saru, even though Saru has more experience, but the assignment is probationary. When a Federation Colony's ocean drill team accidentally unleashed an ancient alien vessel, the colony administrator reluctantly called for assistance from Starfleet, and USS Shenzhou responded. But the alien vessel proved difficult to handle, as the capital came under attack. Soon, another starfleet ship arrived... USS Enterprise commanded by Christopher Pike, bearing orders from Admiral Anderson: the alien vessel must NOT be allowed to leave the system... and the colony is considered expendable. Just as the two starships face off, Michael Burnham reached out to the other ship's science officer, Spock, for a truce. She has a plan to infiltrate the alien vessel. As the two captains reluctantly agreed to let them try, discoveries at the colony revealed the colony administration concealed evidence of prior civilizations in order to gain the charter to exploit this planet. When first responders went down to treat the wounded, they were captured by colonial forces and held as hostages in a desperate attempt to force the two vessels to seek a way to stop the alien vessel without destroying the colony. But as the alien vessel grew ever stronger, while Burnham and Spock met increasingly more difficult puzzles to solve in order to reach the core, one wonders if the two starships are even enough to stop the alien vessel...

Tension ratchets up nicely, but I guess I didn't quite get the personality of Captain Georgiou, or Burnham. She's kinda like Spock, and yet not Spock. And there's an extended mindmeld scene where they basically understood each other's pain. Still, it's a good tale. 6/8

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Finished Down a Country Road by Inglath Cooper

Grier McAllister left her hometown of Timbell Creek, Virginia behind and never looked back. She went to New York City, and after a long struggle made it as an image consultant. When the TV studio wanted to cast some small town girls for a reality to "date a Duke", they picked Grier, with the stipulation that they must be from Grier's hometown, and Grier can't pass up the opportunity, even if she had to go back and face some ghosts of her past, such as her mother, who had changed a lot... and her old boyfriend... and his hot brother. But the hot guy comes with the baggage of a daughter and a divorced wife, and the daughter was one of the candidates (something daddy vehemently disagree with, but mommy approves). As Grier helps choose the candidates, and deals with ghosts of her past, she will come to realize that perhaps, this town wasn't just her past, but perhaps her present and future as well.

Sad story, as Grier had a hard time forgiving her mother, and there will be some everlasting regret
Spoiler:
Mom has cancer and will die before Grier can forgive her.
Lots of complex relationships, like it a lot even if it's a little slow. 7/8

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Finished Fire and Love by Melanie Shawn FREE

Eli Bishop left his town behind by joining the military, and eventually became a firefighter in his hometown, but he lost his girl that one night to his everlasting regret. Until his girl came back to town. Mackenzie Sutton left her hometown behind, after having her heart thoroughly broken. She achieved her dream of being a documentary filmmaker, but she always wondered what happened when her man left her behind. When her lastest project took her back to her hometown, it's inevitable Kenzie will run into Eli, and all the pain that came back. And this time, truth will be revealed, old wounds will bleed... and the two will finally learn what drove them apart... and whether they belong together after all.

Not the first time this plot had been used, but it's a nice delivery. 6/8
Spoiler:
Father decided boy from wrong side of tracks is not good enough for his daughter, and framed him for a crime, blackmailed him to leave her behind, then lied to daughter that he bribed him to leave.
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Finished Barefoot in Lace by Roxanne St. Clarie FREE

Destination wedding planner Augusta "Gussie" McBain has a crisis... Their wedding photographer just quit a week before the wedding, and the only photographer she knew, TJ Demille, does not do weddings. He's a high fashion photographer. But with her business on the line, she asked anyway. And was surprised when he said yes... If she will agree to one thing in turn: keep his niece entertained. Tom "TJ" Demille prefers to be alone, after having his heart broken by circumstances beyond his control. When his sister died and left the care of her 12-year old daughter to Tom, he did not know what to do. When Gussie came to ask him for help, and his niece took to Gussie like duck to water, Tom agreed to the unthinkable: be a wedding photographer. And as he gets to know Gussie, he found that Gussie's wigs conceal scars and deep hurt that resulted from an old injury. When he needed to take a job in France, he needed to take his niece with her, but she refused to go unless Gussie can come along too. Tom and Gussie had fallen for each other, but he believed he hurt people around him, after losing his parents, then his sister. Gussie thought her own stupidity lead to her injury that drove her brother away and broke up her family. Can these two get past their own wounds forgive themselves, and create a family?

A bit serendipitous near the end (her brother turned up) but it was a good explanation 7.5/8

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Finished Sea of Seduction by Jennifer Jones

Dominic Cortes was once the best surfer in the world, until he left the sports in infamy... after punching out a judge. He moved to the US and settled in San Diego with his 12-year old daughter, and do tarot card fortune telling. With hopes of winning the top surfer award smashed, his only goal was to surf ultimate wave off Cortes Bank in a tribute to his father. Until a young woman, Cordelia "Coco" Bennett blew into his life. Coco just wanted a reading at first, but there's a connection between her and Dom that even Dom's daughter Lola noticed. Coco is an herbalist that specialized in anti-aging spa treatments, and she and her partners had a bet... that Coco can bed the hot Dom, before their fifth appointment, even though Dom never puts out for anyone. But Coco had a trauma she can't talk about, and can't abide Dom surfing the Cortes Bank far from support... It is very dangerous, and Coco had fallen for Dom for real, it's not just a bet now. But what happens when Dom found out about the bet?

Much deeper than first suspected, the characters were drawn very nicely, with deep traumas forming each character's psyche, that it's never the right time to mention the trauma, which obviously would lead to the other forming the wrong conclusions, which lead to the darkest hour. The grand gesture was great, and very fitting. All in all good book for read. 7/8
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Finished Choosing You by Kris Jayne

Taryn is about to marry Jeff and adopt his daughter Olivia in a few months. In order to cut all ties to his past, Jeff got his PI to find his ex-wife Shannon and serve her papers to sever all custody to Olivia. Shannon became a druggie and disappeared, and had not cared about her daughter at all, so it should be a slam dunk. But Shannon suddenly appeared at Olivia's birthday party, and claimd she's clean and why won't anyone give her a chance. Taryn was not about to take her at her word, so when Jeff decided to give his ex benefit of doubt, Taryn rehired the PI to follow her, and it's clear Shannon had stolen stuff from Jeff, and is currently married to an ex-con with plans to squeeze money from Taryn and Jeff, through any means possible. But this causes a rift between Jeff and Taryn about trust... then Shannon's ex-con husband execute his own plans for a payday...

More family drama than romance, it's about trust and suspense. You can't quite be sure which way are each of the characters leaning. Is Shannon evil incarnate or just a battered "wife" by her ex-con husband? Is Jeff way too naive with his white knight complex coming to Shannon's rescue AGAIN? Is Taryn too suspicious and jealous? The answer is "yes and a lot more". 7/8

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Finished Forever Changed by Mona Ingram FREE

Ariana has breast cancer. She had already lost her mother, her sister, and an aunt to breast cancer. And she's still young. As a successful realtor, Ariana has NOT really had a happy marriage. And the cancer diagnosis brought an epiphany... What had she really done with her life, should she get a second chance after surgery and treatment? Enter Blaine, tattoo artist.

Short novella (about 100 pages), it's not quite insta-lust, but it's pretty close. And Blaine obviously has his own demons he needed to face. It's not about sex, but rather, deep emotional relationships of people in crisis. 6/8
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Finished Lacuna by David Adams FREE / Space Opera

Aliens came out of nowhere and destroyed 3 Terran cities: Tehran, Sydney, and Beijing. Fifty million died. Then they left, leaving only one message "never again attempt to develop this kind of technology". Except nobody can figure out what they were talking about. It's ten years later. Earth had rebuilt, and the first three starships, named after the three cities that were lost, are ready for their maiden voyages. The TFR Beijing will be commanded by Captain Melissa Liao, and her orders are simple: find out who attacked Earth, why, and stop them via any means necessary. What she'll find out there will surprise and terrify her, and the stakes are higher than ever... it may be the annihilation of Earth itself.

Book 1 of 6, this is actually a pretty decent start of a series with a lot of twists and turns, and ends in a big boarding action, and a lot of sacrifices. Typical space opera plot, but well executed. 6.5/8

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Finished The House on the Beach by Linda Barrett FREE

Laura McCloud lost her mom and her boyfriend, but she did win something: a fight against breast cancer, at least when her doctor say so. Her life and career was on hold, and she needed some time to regroup. She rented the Sea View House at Pilgrim Cove, calm, quiet, plenty of time to relax, and for her to find herself again. Then entered Matthew Parker. Matt has two young sons, and lived with his father. Both lost their wives several years ago, and are comfortable living the bachelor life. But when Matt, the "not quite" plumber in town meets Laura, who needed some help with the old house, he realized it may be time to try again. But Matt lost his wife to ovarian cancer. Can he bear the revelation that Laura had cancer (also)?

The darkest hour seems both kinda "O RLY?" and "OMG". Obviously it takes him a couple days to get over the shock and go ask her back. 6/8

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Finished Big Beautiful Bride for the Reluctant Preacher by Rosie Atwood FREE Historical Western Novella

Emily is a BBW and nobody wanted her in New York... except Rodrigo, who's after her family business and money. When her friend Katie who mail order bride herself out West wrote her, she decided she needed to get away for a while and visiting Katie is perfect. Maybe she can even find love there. Except the only guy who really grabbed her attention, Ray Benson, was a preacher who claimed to have no interest in Marriage, believing to serve God he needed to stay single. But is that really God's intended path for him?

Eh... not feeling much. At just over 100 pages, the book also ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, when Rodrigo came to town, intending to take her back. Meh. There are 3 more books in this series documenting the same couple's trials and tribulations. 4.5/8

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Finished Exposed by Lyz Kelley FREE novella

Gwen had run away all over life. She may have to again. When pipes burst in her thrift store, it not only ruined her stock, her landlord just terminated her lease. Then her evil blackmailing ex-fiancee tracked her down too. Until someone offered a way out. Retired brigadier general Dale Bryant came home to repair his relationship with his daughter, and came to know Gwen, who's a friend of his daughter. Gwen needs rescuing, and this marine is up to the job. But he's 14 years older, and a widower. He can save her, but he can't love her... Or can he?

The book is shorter, but no less intense. There is even a twist at the end. But somehow, the evil ex-fiancee didn't quite get enough karma. I expected more evil from him, and didn't get any either. 5.5/8

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Finished The Barren Bride Claimed by the Big Wild Marshal by Faye Sonja FREE

It's 1905. Faith Coleman is barren. She moved out West to Perry Lake Kansas to be a seamstress after her first husband left her because of her... issues. She took in five children because they needed a home. She never expected to fall in love... to the former bandit, now marshal Joshua Reaper. Joshua found God and is mending his old ways. Faith is the woman he needs, but can he convince her of that?

Eh... didn't feel much here. 4.5/8

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Finished Nevada's Pride by Joann Baker and Patricia Mason FREE

Nevada Sanders grew up in a big family, running the Double Hart Ranch. She lost her parents at a young age, and her overprotective brothers had put a damper on her romantic aspirations for too long. She's about to turn 25, and just inherited granny's land as a separate ranch, and she's determined to make a go at running it by herself (with a ranch hand) and hopefully get out from under her brother's too-tight control. Enter Tanner Jessup, ex-con. Just released from jail due to a false accusation of rape by a rich rancher's daughter because he wouldn't put out. He was just driving through looking for work.. when Nevada offered him a job: make a go at it on her separate ranch. He knew his reputation would come back to haunt him, and he should never get involved with a rich rancher's daughter ever again, but their attraction was too hot to deny...

A bit short, and Nevada is supposed to be a BBW. Didn't feel it much. 5/8

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Finished A Perfect Fit by Heather Tullis FREE

Cami DiCarlo was forced by her father into heading up guest services at his five star hotel, even though she hated crowds (but she's good at it). Then he died. When his will was read, turns out Cami has no less than FOUR half-sisters... and they all know of each other, just not realizing they were sisters... Her father certainly gets around. But it gets "better"... He, from beyond the grave, wanted them to work together to bring the resort under construction to its grand opening. If they don't, they don't get any inheritance. The girls have certainly mixed feelings toward each other: legit vs. bastard, etc. But they each have a speciality that can make the resort a success... Until someone started leaking rumors to gossip rags, and Cami's ex Trent seems to be hanging around a lot, even as Cami met the new landscape designer, Vince Talmadge. Vince is rougher and prefers jeans, someone her father would never approve of, until he revealed he actually has a masters degree, and runs a 30+ person landscaping company, plus other qualities that made Cami swoon... Until he revealed that her father had encouraged him to go after her. Now she's not so sure...

The setup, where all the sisters come together, took a while to setup, I honestly don't feel too much romance. The part about Trent being the evil ex was barely there, though it's meant as a mystery. The sudden twist at the end seems to be a bit out of nowhere, though almost believable. I guess I can give this 6/8.

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Finished Seven Sons: Adam by Kirsten Osbourne FREE

Adam McClain and his six brothers run the McClain Boys' Ranch, where wayward boys, whose own parents gave up on them, finds redemption. What they don't tell people is each of them has special... talent. Father has occasional visions of the future. Adam is an empath... he can sense emotions. Other brothers have power of healing, power of green thumb (plants), animal whisperer, and so on and so forth. When they need a new fundraising coordinator, they interviewed Tiffani Simpson, who recently lost her job. What Adam can't tell Tiffani is he will marry her. It's in his father's vision. But when he left for his date with Tiffani, and someone happened back on the ranch (one of the kid's may be about to commit suicide), he's having seconds thoughts about romance...

Honestly, I dont' get this series. It's way too talkative, and the "darkest hour" was really dumb, and fixed with a simple change of heart. 3.5/8
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Finished When the Chips Are Down by Beth Rinyu Contemporary

Melanie Hanson divorced her cheating ex who traded her for a newer model. She is now raising her twin daughters alone. Her two daughters are great, but are polar opposites. Melanie had a one night stand with a cute guy in Mexico on vacation, and what happened south of the border, stays south of the border... Until she realized "Mexico Man" is her daughter's calculus teacher. In the meanwhile, Melanie found she has major plumbing problems in her house, and the only (not licensed) plumber is Ben Wilder, the boy she loved to hate back in high school, and he's still as charming as ever. Things got even more complicated when one of her daughters fell for Ben's son Jason... while the other daughter is getting into high school drama between the queen bee (read: bitch) and one of the jocks on the football team when she won't put out... and nasty rumors got started... Now Melanie and her daughters Carrie and Gia had to navigate life as they figure things out...

A lot of things happen in less than 300 pages, and the book does end on a good note, but somehow the family and high school drama almost feels as if the parallel plot don't really fold back on itself like some of the better-plotted stories. It's not bad, it's just not extraordinary. 6/8 (or 4/5 in AMZ terms)

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Finished Bettersweets: Terry and Alex by Suzanne Jenkins

Terry Kovac, junior lawyer but well on her way to partnership, had had enough of her ER Doc BF Arvin's immaturity. Arvin is "nice" to be around, but he's nothing really special, and he's just petulant when Terry disagrees with him, or called him out on his hypocrisy when he had 10 girls "they're just my friends" at his house party. But with no other prospects, Terry kept Arvin around... until a new law clerk was assigned to her, Alex Hawthorne. Alex is handsome, charming, and after a couple tequila shots and a hot one-night stand, a VERY good lover. Tery and Alex agreed to see each other again... and they can't stop. But there is an anti-fraternization policy at work. They kept it quiet, but when they were exposed, Terry and Alex have to decide whether their love is worth risking their career over...

Not bad. The "evil ex" ain't that evil (he gets his own book later in the series) and the good guy obviously has his own problems. 6/8
Last edited by Kasey Chang on Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Finished Montana Trails by Kari Trumbo FREE

Florence Henderson was fired from her teaching job in Missouri for merely applying for a position out West in Oregon (she hadn't even decided to go). Now left with no choice, she had to find a wagon train to go West... and engage with Alton Cutter. Alton had gone west several times. But this time, he's not coming back, but settle with his brother up on Montana territory. He did not need a schoolmarm to 'tag along', esp. when she can't even pay her own way, and it'll take MONTHS to reach Montana, muchless Oregon. But on the trip, they fell for each other... Can he convince her to stay and start a town in Montana, rather than go onto Oregon?

Short (not even 100 pages), the story is slow, and the build-up nice, but nothing special. There's complication about his niece marrying a no-good man and seems to have gone delusional and refuse to follow good advice. 5/8

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Finished A Cherry On Top: Cupid's Cafe #7 by Ashley Lauren FREE

Katy Cupid had been putting people together for a while... she had these feelings that are almost never wrong. When Faith Mason stormed into her cafe, Katy knew Faith needed... a little faith in love. She had been burned badly by Logan, who was so perfect. When he turned out to be a smarmy bastard who just wanted her family connections, she went into recluse mode having been thoroughly humiliated, and has yet to emerge from her walls, but her mother's decree that she bring a date for the July 4th family picnic barbeque sent her to Katy Cupid. And Katy knew just who to send her... Travis Waverly, a successful photographer, owes Katy a big favor when his caterer fell through. Being setup on a blind date is not his idea of fun, but he can't refuse. And he was surprised to find he found Faith's big and boisterous family a lot of fun to be around, having been alone most of his life. He wanted to date Faith, but after one encounter with Logan, Faith is despondent. Now Travis have to make the romance-worthy grand gesture to show that Faith can have... some faith in him.

Pardon the puns, but I can't help it. :) It's short (just over 100 pages) and it's a fun tale with quite a bit of plot. 6/8
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Finished Protecting the Billionaire by Christina Tetreault

Allison Sherbrooke works for her brother's Charitable foundation. Her family is rich beyond belief, and she's determined to help people. But she had been feeling uneasy, as if someone had been stalking her. On the other hand, she did dance with a nice marine Captain Rocco "Rock" Raimono, and she liked him a lot. Rock knew Allison "Allie" is special, and his combat senses tell him that there really *is* a stalker on Allison. As the clues started to pile in, like a shot through the window, anonymous gift delivered to office, and unexplained open deadbolts in the home, it's clear the stalker is much much closer than anyone suspected...

Nice, no obvious plot holes in this "bodyguard" romance. It escalated well, and the final reveal was pretty good. 6/8

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Finished Once Upon a Coffee by Kait Nolan 40-page short

Avery Cahill had more than a few bad dates, that she finally found one guy online who's respectful. However, the guy did not put up a profile pix. They set up a meeting at a coffee house with a flower and a book. // Dillon Lange had to finish a MBA group project alone when his partner came down with appendicitis. He's under serious time crunch, but his roommate is an X-box addict. he had to find a quiet place to work, and coffee house is perfect. He did not count on being interrupted by a beautiful stranger who sat down across from him, but she's too cute to turn away, even though it's obvious she's expecting someone else, not him. What happens when her real date showed up?

Awww, this is cute. And nicely delivered. 6/8

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Finished Changing Her Mind by Stevie McFarland FREE

Rebecca lost her family early on, and grew up with the O'Malleys. She wanted Mason O'Malley for a VERY long time, but he's always treated her as the surrogate little sister. But Becca is all grown up now, and she's determined to put her... womanly gifts to full use. But Mason will not accept one-night stands. he wanted forever, i.e. marriage and all that. And that, Becca is not ready for. But with a few spankings (Mason rather enjoys throwing Becca over his knees...) perhaps Mason can change Becca's mind...

Uh... I don't get this at all. The ending was a sudden shift to a sick/comfort scenario, and the whole idea of using erotic spanking as a compliance tool just smacks too much of... abuse. There's also a secondary plot between Mason's brother Nick, and a different girl, Maggie.

While I like the push-pull, the other elements left me with "WTF?!" feeling. 4.5/8

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Finished Crippled Bride and the Ambitious Miner by Faye Sonja FREE

Ava has a bad limp since she was 18 after a bad accident, which lead to her being unmarriable. Her father was a politician, and appearance was everything. She was thirty-one when her father claimed to have caught her mother cheating, and kicked them out. Ava is unemployable with her limp, and her only way out was to mail order bride herself out West to California, where a miner, supposedly well-to-do, needed her to help the new community of Gold Creek. She can send back money for mom later. Upon arrival, the miner, Jackson, turned out to be co-founder of the town with political ambitions, and the mine... had not actually struck any gold... yet. Jackson knew Ava was too good for him and the town, and worried about she is not ready for the rough life of the frontier town, esp. with that limp. Will they learn to understand each other?

This author's stories don't flow right. Things just happen, rather than being caused by character's actions and inactions. Farmer's complaint about the mine used too much water and ruined his crops was mentioned, then never again. An enemy of Jackson turned out to be stealing gold from the mine, but that's just a "sudden" revelation near the end. And there really wasn't much of a fight between Jackson and Ava after they acknowledged that both had lied to each other. the plot just doesn't flow. 3/8
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Finished Millie Marries a Marshal by Linda Hubalek

Millie Donovan arrived in Clear Creek, Kansas hoping to settle down with her groom, Sam Larson. She was instead met by Marshal Adam Wilerson, with grave news: Sam was killed in an accident before she arrived. Now Millie is in a strange town with no money, and a 2-year old son. When his own family scolds him for leaving a woman and a child alone and homeless, the decision was made for him by his ma: Millie and the kid will be living with Adam as his housekeeper for room and board. Adam soon realized Millie was running from something and admit he may have fallen for her himself. The town solidified around Millie, welcoming her and her wild child into their folds. When someone from Millie's past arrived in town, Millie is determined to protect the town... and her Marshal...

Nice twist at the end, but a couple bits feels a bit too modern. Still, a good tale nonetheless. 6/8, with a very good darkest hour.

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Finished Designs on Her by Shirley Penick

Kirsten Matthews is an artist who are not comfortable around people, and lived alone up in the mountains. When a wildfire forced her to evacuate, she's forced to at least temporarily move into town... and get to know the hunky cop who came to evacuate her... Nolan Thompson abandoned his art career after a personal tragedy and dedicated himself into law enforcement, but meeting Kirsten brought his desire for art back... and maybe he can learn to love again. Now only if he can figure out what's with the small burglaries around the small town of Lake Chelan... and who poisoned Kirsten's dog, but with no long term effects...

Good twist at the end, about the thief's identity, and there characters are certainly above average. 6.5/8

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Finished No Regrets by Ronnie Roberts

Darby Walker is a free-spirit. She roamed Canada in her camper, seeking the best photo opportunities of small town, nature, whatever that struck her fancy. She wanted to get a lucrative tourism contract, and was heading into Brennan Point when circumstances wrecked her camper, and she ended up living with the MacKinnon family, the guy who rear-ended her camper, totalling it. Joe MacKinnon lost his wife to cancer and is living with his two children. The teenage son is rebelling hard (which indirectly lead to the wreck), and did not want anyone to replace his dead mother. Then Joe realized why he felt a connection to Darby... and the relationships gets VERY complicated indeed... Is Joe really looking to replace his dead wife? Or does she love Darby for who she is? When Darby won the contract, is she leaving, or staying?

Nice complicated relationship with a twist which I will not spoil. It's soap-opera worthy. 7/8

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Finished Sunset Thunder by Shannyn Leah FREE

Violet Caliendo is the wedding coordinator for Willow's Valley's five-star Calendo Resort, and she puts on perfect events no matter what, that she's known as the "Ice Queen". However, her latest wedding to coordinate was her ex marrying someone else... Even if it's an ex she did not love, but got pregnant with. Despondent in private, Violet fell for the suave charms of Ryder Carlex, a well-known womanizer, and her ex's best man. She figured she just needed it one time, to get it out of her system. She hadn't had someone for years... But Ryder wanted Violet for a long time... Not that he'd ever get between his friend and wife... But Violet's single now, and available. Ryder and Violet got into a torrid relationship, but he has his own dark secrets to keep. And Violet's one indiscretion would come back to haunt her in a way she never imagined... Will their (lack of) trust doom their relationship?

I honestly don't know what to think of the ending, which I have to spoil to explain. Call it 6/8
Spoiler:
Okay, it goes like this. Violet had a rebellious phase and fell for Joel, even though EVERYBODY said Joel's the wrong guy. Then she found out Joel's after her money (at least her father said so) because Joel basically spend his own family fortune away and took even more, and got Violet pregnant. Violet's father paid off Joel's debts with one proviso: marry Violet, because the kids will not be born as bastards. On the night of the wedding, Violet who realized the error, but had no choice to go through with the marriage, and in drunken haze had a one-night stand with Ryder... and Joel somehow got video of them bonking. And that's all just the setup. // Fast forward a couple years, Violet and Joel are divorced, and Joel's about to marry someone else. Ryder appeared again, this time wooing Violet. Near the end, Joel pulled a totally sociopath move on Violet: break up with Ryder, or I'll release the tape and destroy you AND the kids. Violet kowtowed under the shame. Ryder's going nuts because Violet won't say anything. He figured it out and found counter-leverage on Joel. He went to "rescue" Violet, and Joel basically said "Just kidding" (not in those words) and handed over the footage and insist there were no more copies. The end. // WTF?! What's the darkest hour for then, if it's that simple? What's the complication with mom and uncle knowing about it and did nothing? What's with dead daddy manipulating people all the time to what end? Is it really redemption or is it must more douchebaggery? I honestly can't tell!
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Finished Colorado Golden Sunrise by Jill Haymaker FREE

Kelly Charm can't stand her hometown of Prarie Nebraska anymore. She's divorced, and her ex has remarried and a new baby's on the way. She however, needs to stay in town and raise her teenage son Ethan. When an ad about a hardware / general store manager in the tiny town of pictureque Peakview, Colorado came across her search, she had to apply, and even make it a vacation with Ethan. // Jake Midnight is Peakview's EMT, and he had been alone for 20 years, after a horrible marriage. He gets by with his menagerie of horses, dogs, cats, and even two pigmy goats. When Ethan had an asthma attack in Peakview, not used to the thin air, Jake came to know Kelly and Ethan, and Jake was furious: how can a parent let an asthmatic kid come to 9000 ft up w/o an inhaler?! And Kelly was furious at Jake for making assumptions about a single parent. But they secretly admire each other... But when Ethan was not quite happy in Peakview, is there a happily ever after between Jake and Kelly?

The darkest hour was, IMHO, really lame and not up to the author's standards, because the darkest hour just wasn't that dark, and it was resolved by a double mind-flip. Still, the author managed to build up the romance slowly with enemies to lovers. The plot is trope though. It's more like 5.5/8
Spoiler:
Basically, Ethan has no personality. He ended up being an excuse. At first he's okay about the move, resigned "I want you to be happy, mom." Even though he had no friends in Peakview. Then upon a trip back to Nebraska the ex apparently promised a car and stuff, and after a breakup with a local girl in Colorado Ethan wants to go back, and Kelly's like "I have to move if Ethan went back". Then Ethan flipped again, "It's okay mom, I'll stay." ARGH!!!!!!
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Finished The Baby Doctor, by Bobby Hutchinson

Morgan is an OB/GYN that tries to take care of all others... except herself. Her house is big, but mostly empty, so she filled it with pets... but pets nobody else wanted. When a teenage mom Terri (15) needed a place to stay, she became a foster parent too. She liked almost everybody... except fellow baby doctor Luke. // Luke is a widower raising a teenage daughter alone. And the daughter is pregnant. He cut off all contact between his daughter Sophie with the baby's father, even though the kid wanted to do the right thing. Working with Morgan is almost torture, for they look at each other, only seeing the facade each put up and envy that, not seeing the pain hiding beneath. And the facade crumbled when Morgan's ex-actress mom India (who she can't stand) moved in... permanently. But India's hiding a huge secret, and when the two girls talked to the wrong people, two families will be turned upside down, and perhaps... unite in triumph against adversity.

Like how the threads all tied together near the end, and how everybody has a facade that hides what they really are. 7/8

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Finished Dance and Be Glad by Melissa Wardwell FREE

Jillian Matthews dedicated her life to raise her daughter alone after her husband died 9 years ago in the sands of Middle East. She teaches dance to girls, and she hadn't opened herself up for another romance... until her high school sweetheart reappeared. // Michael Emerson had a messy divorce when his now ex wife loved his income as a doctor, rather than the married life. He did ER rotation and charity mission work, but his life was empty, and he liked it that way. When tragedy struck his family, and he's suddenly left in care of his 9-year old niece, he's overwhelmed, but he'll do the best he could for the girl. That is, until the dead mother's mother decided to contest custody. But he's not giving up without a fight, even as the girls, settle in, became friends, and decided to play matchmaker to get Jillian and Michael (back) together...

The temp is really slow in this 350 page novel. I was expecting a marriage of convenience, but they never did go that way. Instead...
Spoiler:
Granny there, contesting for custody, suddenly decided to kidnap the girl and went to a remote cabin. it came out of nowhere.
While I like the back and forth between Jillian and Michael, that weird deus ex machina ending and constant talk about God left me a bit underwhelmed. 5/8
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Finished Double the Pleasure by Jasmine Haynes FREE

Kristin Prescott is quiet twin, unlike her sister Kirby. Kristin is reserved, has a crush on her boss Ross Sloan, and craves some hot sex. With the big three-oh coming on, Kristin was pushed by her sister Kirby into one daring plan... Pretend to be Kirby, and seduce Ross. // Ross wanted Kristin the moment she walked into his office, but he's her boss. When she seduced him while pretending to be her twin Kirby, Ross saw through the disguise (same fragrance, same nails...) but he'll play along, if he can teach Kristin to release her inhibitions...

Twin-switcharoo with a twist and mixed with a lot of sex. It's rather cute, I like it. 6/8

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Finished Once Upon a Campfire by Kait Nolan FREE / short novella (75 pages)

Sarah Meadows is tired of covering for her wild twin sister, but when Taylor asked her to help one more time, she can't refuse, esp. when this job extension would give her some money to pay down the debt her evil ex saddled her with. Sarah needs to get out of the city anyway. She's burned out finishing her master's thesis, in a field she no longer enjoyed... So here she is at Camp Firefly Falls, pretending to be her twin, and met Beckett Hayes, mountain climbing instructor, and certifier. Beckett is burned out by his US Park Ranger job and needed to recharge. And while "Taylor" is athletic (she's practically a mermaid in the water), it's clear unlike the resume, "Taylor" has ZERO experience with climbing gear. And once confronted, she admitted to the deception. Beckett should turn her in, but, in probably a temporary bout of insanity, he agreed to train her, in less than a week, to be certified, and she agreed, hoping that Taylor would arrive in time. And as they trained, they got close to each other, even as they each wondered... Am I on the right path for my life? What is there is another way?

The symbolism was great, about climbing and finding an alternate path to happiness. The deus ex machina to reach HEA was kinda annoying though. Basically Sarah collects degrees (nutrition, photography, biochem, MBA...) but she has no idea what she REALLY wants. And Beckett want a wilderness jobs that doesn't entail S&R and customer service like a park ranger does. Suddenly near end of the book, a guy offered Beckett a job in a nature conservancy, and they also needed a photographer. And the camp also happen to need a nutritionist... AND another climbing instructor.

Still, it's a VERY tight and satisfying short. 7/8 (or 5/5 on Amazon scale)
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Finished True Blue Texan by Linda Barrett FREE

Katherine Kirby lost her entire family one night. Ten years later, after some turmoil, she moved to a new city and a new job, intending to start over, but instead of teaching undergrads at a university, she's teaching GED prep at a local academy. She hadn't felt love for such a long time, that she's slow in recognizing any, esp. from the Nick, the tall dark Texan. Nick Martinelli never graduated high school. He had worked in the family construction business all his life. With his father's recent heart attack, and the need to create a bid for the local school district, he's getting overworked. This GED thing was to fulfill a promise, and a secret from the rest of family. He's not ready for romance Kathrine... or become friend with the kid Jeremy, who's both lost and hurt, and copes with being destructive and disruptive. With possibly the future of his company on the line, he had to put in more time, but his love for Katherine can't be denied. And Katherine longed for a family. But someone eager for a payday has his eyes on stealing the bid, and he doesn't care who to hurt to get it...

The romance was actually quite good, as it's got this reluctance to engage, they dance around each other a lot, and each went through "I can't possibly do my job and love him/her" phase, only to figure it all out later. The threat tension was also pretty good, with just enough evilness showing through, but not too much, that it made sense. 6/8

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Finished Spring Fever Box Set by Serenity Woods FREE

Series starter collection, will review each book separately.

As Deep as the Ocean -- Mac was very tempted to forge a document and keep the New Zealand vineyard for himself. After all, nobody would know... He's the expert and he put most of his life into viticulture and winery management. But his conscience can't let him do it. After all, the owner called him the son he never had, and his own father ran the place into the ground. So he contacted the only relatives the owner ever had, and they agreed to visit. What he got were three gorgeous sisters... And the oldest, Winifred, or "Fred", has a connection to him. But the three sisters, who did need a new start as well after their life in London (their bipolar mother destroyed all correspondence between them and their father) had ZERO experience in running a winery, bed & breakfast, and the restaurant. And they certainly don't have the money to make the place great again... Unless Fred gets married. So Mac found himself with the indecent proposal: marry Fred, let her get the inheritance, and put it toward the winery. But what happens when they finally acknowledge they had fallen for each other for real?

This is good, but not great. The dance between their guilt and shame vs. their obligations are pretty good, but the pacing felt a bit off. 6/8

An Uncommon Sense -- Grace is a skeptic, and a medium is just something to be avoided. But Ash Rutherford is too handsome to avoid, esp. when his daughter is in her class. And Ash was once a doctor... now a widower raising his daughter alone. He does occasionally have an event where he relays messages from the beyond... Something Grace can't believe. // Ash never gets involved with a skeptic, but Grace's love for frilly underwear when she flashed him by accident intrigued him, esp. when he found out she's one of his daughter's teachers. But Grace promised to never fall for a flake...

Good touch of the details, as this medium supposedly really does relay the messages from the beyond. Fictional, of course. 6/8

------

Mr. Insatiable -- Kit has a nickname bestowed by his ex's... "Mr. Insatiable". But to Enya, he's just Kit, best platonic friend. Enya had a very bad trauma when she was 15... She was raped. Eight years later, she still tenses up when she gets in bed with a man... And EVERYBODY is warning Kit and Enya to stay away from each other, keep things platonic. But Enya's desire to feel a proper orgasm led her to have a one-night stand with Kit. And that quickly turned into a torrid relationship. But Enya can't tell anyone about her last secret... the one thing that would never allow her to stay with Kit...
Spoiler:
She was told her STD, contracted from the rape, rendered her sterile, and Kit did want a family, with the right girl. You can guess at the ending.
Nice, this author gets the dance around each other quite well. 6/8

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Finsihed The Broken Trail by Christa MacDonald

Katherine Grant was burned out from her high-pressure jobs in the city (and a few secrets). She moved to the small town of Sweet River and take a position as the Sweet River Christian Academy as a consultant when the school suddenly had a spike of 6 dropouts. The school director is icily hostile (They're just delinquents, why should we waste money on them) and she had previously stuffed the school and vendors with all her family and relatives. She even rented the housing previously allocated to Katherine, forcing Katherine to take up a tiny cabin on the land of Captain MacAllister, the local cop. Mac had enough of woman with quick temper. He had no time to deal with any drama, not when poachers and narcotics are encroaching on his jurisdiction. But he can sense Katherine's quick temper is a facade that hides some deep trauma, and her intelligence and strength earn his admiration. But when a near tragedy forced them to confront their feelings, and each others secrets, will the secrets break them... or bring together forever?

Nice revelations, slow peel of old secrets and wounds to make the people the way they are. 6.5/8
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Finished Hard Irish Luck by Jennifer Saints

Jared Weldon, running Shamrock Construction with his brother, was sure that McKenna Construction was doing something underhanded to beat them in bids. Jared, not willing to losing his wild bachelor lifestyle, is determined to find something wrong with his enemy, and will even go undercover to do it. A chance encounter had him rescue a pretty girl in a bar. Only later did he realize the girl he rescued was no other than Roxanne "Rocky" McKenna, who took over after her father's stroke. When he rescued her again the next day and was injured, he misrepresented himself as a security agent in his (other) brother's Security company... // Rocky McKenna had a bitter divorce three years ago and is determined to run the company as a tight ship, esp. when her father is now in the hospital, in a coma, barely clinging to life. But that kiss and rescue by Jared awoke something in her that cannot be denied. When Jared rescued her again, Rocky denied her life is in danger, but Jared was too sweet to pass up. They continue their liaison, and Jared wanted to confess, but one threat after another threaten to kill them both... And the hints point back to the turbulent past of the Irish Republic Army... and some deep family secrets.

Nice, very nice. Long secrets, lots of hints dropping, the way a romantic suspense SHOULD be written. 7.5/8

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Finished Tempting Love by Melanie Shawn FREE

Haley Sloan should have it all. Her lingerie business is booming, but her heart is elsewhere... on the single father across the street. Eddie Thomas stepped up when he became a father, then a single father. He left his wild days behind a woman is the furthest thing from his mind... Until Haley entered his life. Will he realize that perhaps letting her in is the only way to heal the wound in his heart and complete his family?

Didn't feel too much for this one. 5/8

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Finished The Blogger vs the Bad Boy by Kellie McAllen

Jake is wealthy, gorgeous, popular, and bad boy to the bone. When his latest prank (dumping red jello on a girl at prom, leading to her slipping and breaking her ankle) sent him to community service, he ended up at a senior home serving meals to grumpy or forgetful seniors. Then he met Charisse, a half-angel. Charisse's motto is "kindness is the best beauty product of all", and her beauty blog already enjoys a big audience, but she can't stand "the biggest jerk on the planet". Jake found himself wanting the girl who won't have anything to do with him, and was definitely not impressed by him. When a devastating secret was revealed, Charisse will have to decide whether to use her one miracle in life to save him... from himself.

Cute. This is a paranormal romance, but the linked nature of the universe has a good consistency to it. Also, the books have been re-titled and new covers substituted to a more modern look, which is quite a bit better, IMHO. Speaking of which, I think I forgot to review one of the books in the series. I'll have to relink them later. 6/8
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished Noble Love by Te Russ

The Nobles have been running their natural hair product company for a generation, but the quadruplets, 2 sons and 2 daughters, went off to do their own things, and each found their own careers. Then a threat to the company brought Isiah, the oldest, back to town... and into the bakery shop of Tessa Everett. Tessa was the chubby one back in school, but now she's toned and curvy, thanks to the exercise habit, and ability to avoid the baked temptations she had to create daily. And Isiah swept her off her feet... and they quickly became a couple. But when tragedy struck the Nobles, will their relationship survive?

While the descriptions are okay, somehow the relationship just didn't flow for me that well. It's almost insta-lust, and none of the life problems really affect the relationship other than "I can't deal with you right now". None of the deeper psychological trauma and conflict the more masterful writers can pull off are here. All in all, while the background is okay, I can only rate this average. 5/8

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Finished Beyond Shame by Kit Rocha FREE Dystopian erotic romance

Noelle Cunningham wanted to rebel against her prim and proper role as councilman's daughter in a closed society, Eden, that turned against immorality so far, pre-marital sex is illegal. After a conviction for fornification, she was dumped out the gates of Eden, with just the clothes on her back, into the gang-controlled sectors that she only read about, and rescued by an unlikely savior... // Jasper "Jas" McCray is a bootlegger and cage fighter for Sector 4's boss Dallas O'Kane. He fought his way up from nothing to be the right-hand man of the boss, and sworn into the gang... all for one and one for all. He did not expect to deal with a sheltered innocent city princess who literally fell into his arms. And Noelle is so snow-white innocent... she's still a virgin, and intensely curious about sex. And soon she and Jas will explore every one of her fantasies, with a little help from O'Kane's band of misfits, including Lex, O'Kane's squeeze, to acknowlege her own power... and embrace it...

There sure were a lot of sex in this novel, and the world building is very interesting. 6.5/8

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Finished Stand by Your Man by Bobby Hutchinson

Maddie is a PI, meeting increasingly conflicting loyalties between her duty, her family, and her heart. Her sister Francie, seems to have fallen for a criminal, Sebastian, and wanted Maddie to help prove his innocence. Seattle Police was quite sure he's guilty. Then Seb's brother Finn hired Maddie to find the truth. Finn makes Maddie tingle in all the right ways, and Maddie loves Finn's daughter Zoe. So Maddie is totally conflicted as to how to go about the investigation... look for evidence to sink Seb... or to set him free? Can she play both sides while keeping Finn happy? Or will the whole thing just destroy her under an avalanche of conflicting responsibilities?

Now this is a rom-com mystery! All the stuff wrap around back together at the end, and the conflict is multi-layered and things keep escalating with a deadline. 7.5/8
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished The Contractors by Harry Hunsucker Thriller, NOT romance

Had this book downloaded for MONTHS, but never got around to reading it.

Jon Contrell is a contractor DEA agent. He carries a DEA badge, but he works for a private security company with contracts from the US government, patrolling Dallas Texas, one of the biggest drug hubs in the US. It's his only living after being drummed out of Dallas Police in an incident where doing the right thing embarrassed the brass. When he and his partner (and sometimes lover) Piper confiscated the wrong batch of drugs, they end up with an assignment that may get them killed... transport a star witness that can bring down the cartel. To get paid, they need to deliver the witness across half the state of Texas. In their way are rogue DEA contractors, corrupt Dallas cop, and cartel sicarios... and a witness that doesn't want to go quietly. And it gets really dicey as everybody seems to have a second or third agenda they are not sharing...

Wow, the twists just keep coming left and right. I'm not going to spoil the plot, but if you like narcos, action thrillers, even a bit of Jason Bourne and double cross and stuff like that, you'll like this book. I'm still kinda dizzy from the amount of twists in this novel, and they all made sense. 7.5/8 The only nitpick I have is this is 500+ pages long.

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Finished Switched at Marriage by Gina Robinson serial novella romance

Kayla was having a very bad day. Being served divorce papers by a someone when she was never married was making her day a Kafkaesque tragedy that she suspected she was getting punked. Except when she showed up at the lawfirm the next day, it was not a joke. Somehow, someone with her description and name married Justin Green, city's most eligible tech billionaire. She was even at the same hotel, and she did like him at one time. But she was sick in her room with food poisoning... That's when Justin made a truly outrageous proposal: he'll pay her a nice sum if she will STAY MARRIED to him for a year, and pretend to be married too. He need it for the tech deal to go through. But how did this come to be? What will it cost her at the end?

At only 100 pages, there is enough of a mystery that makes you want to keep reading, but as this is a serial, there are many additional volumes to follow, as there are many many more unanswered issues. I'd say this book ended at a proper moment, when they agreed to stay together at least for now. Obviously there are many more complications to follow in later volumes. It's an intriguing premise, but the semi-cliffhanger at the end makes me want to give this an average. call it 5/8 (or 3/5 on Amazon scale)

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Abandoning Dirty Deals by Michelle A Valentine

Alexander King inherited billions, and made even more. But as a result, he no longer trusted women, who all wanted to tame him. He just gets off on escorts, and never the same one twice. But his new assistant, Margo, he needed to keep around. He was taking over her father's business, and her father insisted that she get a job as terms of negotiation. But what he wanted to do was to bonk her... a lot. // Margo knew she's in enemy territory. And unless she can sabotage the deal King is making, her family legacy will be chopped up and sold off in pieces. Being assigned as PA to King himself is torture, as King taunted her, and she was sure King knew of her plans... Keep your enemy closer and all that. But she also can't deny that King can be a powerful lover, and that passion ignited in Las Vegas, the city of sins...

This makes no f***ing sense. I'm about 25% in, and basically she succumbed to lust in Las Vegas and didn't object when he started bondage play. It's as she was just playing "hard to get" just to cocktease him in all the bits before then. This is NOT romantic, it's CLICHE BDSM trope, a guy so hot he melted panties and woman will do ANYTHING to get that orgasm. It's really dumb. So far, the intrigue was barely there. And I'm bored. 3/8 (2/5 on Amazon scale)

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Finished Hello Love by Karen McQuestion

Dan and daughter Lindsey are still not over wife/mom Christine's death, even a year later. The only solace was Anni, the dog that Christine loved. When Anni was stolen from his front yard, both were devastated. // Andrea was still feeling the aftermath of her bitter divorce from Marco. When she illegally rescued a dog from an abusive tenant, her life changed in ways she never anticipated. She felt better at work, the dog walking caused her to lose weight, and she felt much better about herself that she'd speak up for herself and cut ties from Marco, even as he stalked her, wanting her back. // Dan and Andrea ran into each other again and again, but neither made the connection, as circumstances somehow prevented them from doing so each time. Will Anni's journey home bring these two lost souls together?

It's a great little adventure using the dog as the common thru-line through the plot. The ending felt a bit hurried, as it's at the 98% point. And there is even a darkest hour and a grand gesture, though not quite in conventional terms. Still, it's a great story, not a pure romance, but more of a fated mates story. 7/8
Last edited by Kasey Chang on Sun Jun 03, 2018 1:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished Conflict of Interest by Marie Johnston

Dillon Walker, one of the "Walker Five", brothers and cousins, of similar age, are the talk about town. Their farms and ranches are doing well, and they are a hit with the ladies. But Dillon has a problem: he refused to acknowledge his drinking problem. Only his father's plea sent him to one session with Elle Brady, addiction counselor, who had her own dark past with addicted people. But Dillon's reaction to Elle is trying to woo her, and Elle can't fall for an addicted person... or can she? But when various misfortunes and sabotages befell Dillon, like when his truck was stolen, and his barn burned down, is seems Dillon has a stalker, and who is the stalker after? And will Dillon face his demons to have a chance with Elle?

While the interaction is fine, the two plots didn't intersect that well. The "reason" for the stalker wasn't explained till end of the book and it turns out to be a "sins of our fathers" scenario with no clues dropped before then. I want to like this book, but it turned out aveage after all 5/8 (or 3/5)

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Finished Rancher's Brave Wife by Faith Crawford FREE historical western

Theresa Doe was an orphan raised by Sisters of Holy Mercy. She was sent out as a mail order bride to a widower out West. Henry Forth is a quiet rancher in Colorado. He needs a wife, a lady of the house, and mother to his 3 year old son. Can Theresa successfully make the transition?

BORING AS HECK. 57-page story where basically Theresa goes from frightened girl accepting her fate and fear if her husband would reject her, or "oh please come back to me" fearful wife when Forth was drafted for a posse to hunt down some bandits. And really, that's it. Add about 400+ pages of "bonus material" doesn't make the story any better. 3/8 (2/5 on amazon scale)

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Finished Once Upon a Setup by Kait Nolan FREE

A free prequel to "Just for This Moment" reviewed earlier. It's cute, as it documents how Myles meet Piper for the roles they'll play in the novel. It's fun, but nothing out of the ordinary. 5/8

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Finished Caught by Katie by Sherrie Dykes FREE

Katie Apple had a very bad day, week, whatever. She had been cast out by her aunt to be a mail order bride, after death of her parents, and nobody to marry her in the east. On the way to Texas, she was informed by telegram that her groom died. Then bandits robbed their stage coach and left her a lame horse. Then another desperado robbed her of the horse and left her with a donkey who won't go anywhere, leaving her in the middle of Appalachian mountains. Until providence brought her Jake Paxton. Jake is rich and well to do, and he can't leave this girl on the trail side. He brought her home, and his daughter immediately fell in love with her. But when a letter arrived from Texas bearing disturbing developements, will Katie stay with Jake? Will Jake WANT Katie to stay?

Eh, not felling too much here. At only 39 pages, it's actually not bad, but not too much there either. 5/8 (3/5 on Amazon scale)

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Finished A Baby for the Bride by Cassandra Michaels

Mary Kay feels plain compared to her sister, who's already married with kids. She really really wanted kids, but she need a husband first. She got the courage to put herself up in a mail order bride ad, only to find there's a new cowboy in town who is looking for a bride. And he looked forward to court her. And they had a wonderful courthship... Then he revealed a devastating secret that sent her reeling... Can she still have her happily ever after?

Short story. Maybe 60 pages at most.
Spoiler:
The secret? He can't have kids. She went moping for a while, finally decided she can't live without him, just as he adopted some kid and they had a family after all. Yeah, snore.
. 4/8


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Finished Tempt by Olivia Aycock

Single mom Carrie Nelson is... bored. Her boys are off to camp. Then she spied her neighbor's grandson, who's oh-so-yummy, and she doesn't stand a chance... and the hook-up is... thermonuclear.

Eh, it's more of a hook-up short than a romance. It's naughty neighbors. Not felling much here. 3/8

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Finished Opposites Attract by Zahra Habib

Aysa and Fahad had been pranking each other since they were five and neighbors. But time had sent them to different worlds. Aysa moved to London, and got engaged. Fahad became a traveling writer, and travelled around the world. When Aysa's fiancee died in an accident, Aysa was despondent and her parents relocated the family back to Pakistan, just as Fahad came back to recharge. And Fahad is willing to do anything to bring a smile back to Aysa's face... including some epic pranks... And Aysa will fight back, esp. when Fahad's parents arranged him to meet a different girl...

Actually quite good! The cultural references are great, and you don't need to be a Pakistani to get the references. 6/8

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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished Righteous Lies by Patricia Watters

Grace Templeton is a widow, who managed to save some of her husband's sperm before he died of cancer. Seven months later, she, two twin brothers, and another pregnant woman were summoned to the fertility clinic... There was a mixup in the sperm. Grace was actually pregnant with Jack Hansen's child, and the other woman has her dead husband's child. This was devastating news, as the other couple were hoping to make a baby and have the right match of placental stem cells to save their other child, but the husband's sterile and was using his twin's sperm. This mix-up of epic proportions left both couples reeling. Grace went into early labor due to shock, and when that was resolved, she ended up moving to Jack's working guest ranch where she can be watched 24/7 for any problems. Grace thought she can never love again, but Jack slowly worked his way into her heart, with his domineering but caring ways. But with Jacking hiding a devastating secret, how can she resolve her baby situation with Jack?
Spoiler:
Jack has PTSD because his ex-wife killed their baby and blamed it on post-partum depression. And the other couple is falling apart. The mother didn't bond with the baby at all. Grace and Jack ended up adopting him and decided to raise them as fraternal twins. They managed to get the right blood because Grace's dead husband somehow ended up a match, and so did the baby. The end.
Good twists and resolution. 7.5/8 (5/5 on Amazon scale)

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Finished The Baby Pact by Lexi Whitlow

Eliza was the homely good girl, and Macon was the nerd. They messed up at prom, Eliza got pregnant, and Macon was exiled to another state. Eliza had a miscarriage. They met again in college, but then Eliza was with a possessive nerd, who turned out to be an abusive psycho. Ten years later, Eliza's latest escape attempt from her psycho abusive husband sent her back to town, to work as a librarian while Macon's a billionaire. When they meet again, they picked up where they left off... and Eliza wanted desperately to have a child of her own, and Macon promised to pay for fertility treatments for her, and a full security detail. But Her psycho husband is still out there, taunting, waiting...

The scenario makes no f***ing sense. The girl can't do ****. She runs, her stalker husband chased her down. Yet she's never hurt enough to stay in a hospital, and somehow the cops NEVER got anything on him, despite she went to the police multiple times. Yet this stalker husband sends email threats from his own account? Also, how does one rent a car with cash only in modern times? You can't! You can't even do it with a debit card! So somehow her old BF found her, and when her stalker husband came looking for her, he set up him up for revenge using his vast resources. Basically, he got a bunch of hackers to add a bunch of bogus charges to his rap sheet, so he's arrested, then he bribes the judge and DA so they pretend to give him a deal: leave the US and he'll get paid 9 million bucks, and never to return. Except what he really did was once the stalker husband was on the plane he arranged for the Russian mob to nab him upon getting off the plane in Europe, then dropped him in a prison in Minsk with another fake rap sheet. Obviously, the bad guy ain't gonna survive that. But all this is was simply "told". It's not satisfying AT ALL. The relationship is just the woman having doubts, having bad PTSD flashbacks, and major beaten spouse syndrome (I'm no good for him, I'm crap, my husband was right...) For what's supposed to be romantic suspense, it's lame as heck. 2/8

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Finished The Beginning of Forever by Grace Fisher

Hope was groomed to be a pawn in her father's business dealings, despite she, being the only child, grew up fiercely independent. When her father died unexpected before she can be married off to a many she cannot love, she ordered his lawyers to liquidate assets and she went out west as a headmistress of a school. She fell for Jed, the sheriff of Yellow Creek, upon her arrival, but she's keeping her wealth a secret. Will Jed still like her when he found out?

Lame, trope, with no twists. Below average "frontier romance". 2/5 (or 3/8 on OO scale)
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Re: Kasey's Books Read 2018

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Finished Protecting Lily by Nicole Flockton

Lily lives by her todo every day. She can't work about it. Falling for her hot bodyguard was not on the list. Besides, she can't stand alpha guys. // ex SEAL Grayson needed the job after his partner ran off with half a million of client funds. He covered it up with his own money, vowing the hunt down his partner first chance he gets. Guarding Lily, the lingerie designer with a ton of diamonds for a show piece tempted him like no other. // Can Grayson show Lily there's more to life than lists?

Eh, not feeling much here. 4/8

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Finished Mr. Big by Nana Malone

Zach is now rich and comfortable after creating a whole series of clubs. He can have any women he wanted, but he only really wanted a woman he can't have, Emma, his best friend's little sister. Also, he had a deep dark secret he had yet to share. He can never deserve Emma. When Emma came to London to attend school, Zach was tasked to keep her safe. But Emma wanted Zach for a very long time...

Honestly didn't feel it that different from all the other similar "my bestie's little sister" stories. 5/8
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