Bluebonnet, Texas
By Jessica Clare
Publisher: Berkley
Release
Date: October 2, 2012
Beth Ann Williamson grew up in privilege as the daughter of
small-town Bluebonnet’s mayor. She has never wanted for anything—including during
her off and on relationship with her high school sweetheart, Allan—except for
maybe a little fidelity. That’s not too much for a girl to ask for, is it?
Apparently, it is. Beth Ann is tired of Allan’s frequent cheating and is especially
tired that the rest of the town does not believe that their relationship is
finally over.
No one knew why they’d
finally broken up, just that they had. Beth Ann hadn’t wanted to destroy his
character in town—that didn’t seem fair to a man she’d spent nine years with.
And she didn’t hate him, not really. She was just disappointed in him, and in
herself most of all for putting up with it for so long.
Beth Ann opened a salon, a long-time dream, and wants to
make it on her own. At a silent auction for the Bluebonnet Historical Society,
Beth Ann’s mother approaches her to ask a favor. She wants her to discreetly find
Lucy, Beth Ann’s seventeen year old sister, who her mother believes ran off for
the weekend to a costume group’s camp out with a guy nicknamed “Colossus”. By
the time Beth Ann gets to the site, it is raining cats and dogs. In fact, it’s
raining so bad that while she’s out searching for Lucy, the local fire
department comes to evacuate the campground.
Survival expert Colt Waggoner is one the volunteers helping
to evacuate the site. Everyone is accounted for except for whoever owns the VW
bug. Colt searches for the owner and discovers the town’s high and mighty
princess, Beth Ann Williamson, looking messy and bedraggled. The two have a
prickly relationship, at best, despite each of their best friends being
engaged. Beth Ann snaps at him when he finds her, thinking that her best friend
set her up. Colt decides to teach her a lesson claiming that they are stranded
and have no choice but to seek shelter for the night. As Colt helps her, Beth
Ann begins to soften toward him and he realizes that she isn’t who he thought
she was...which makes him feel a bit guilty about deceiving her. Soon, their
mutual attraction is difficult to deny.
Wouldn’t the town just love that, he thought with a wry twist of his mouth. Sweet, perfect Beth Ann,
stolen away from handsome Allan Sunquist by one of the white-trash, no-good
Waggoners.
The Care and Feeding
of an Alpha Male is the second book of Ms. Clare’s Bluebonnet, Texas
Colt and Beth Ann grew up in the same town, but on the
opposite side of the tracks. While in high school, she was the popular girl
with the popular guy, while Colt was one of the trailer-park-trash Waggoner
brothers. He left right after high school to join the marines in the hopes of
making something of himself...and he did. He is the quintessential alpha male
who is protective of what’s his. And once he and Beth Ann start dating, she
falls into that category. At first, Beth Ann doesn’t know what to think about
what is transpiring between her and Colt, but one thing she does know is that
Colt is definitely not Allan. Colt
doesn’t question everything she does, nor does he hold her back from doing what
makes her truly happy. I’m not sure if I could have done like Beth Ann and held
out on telling people why she and Allan broke up, but I chock that up to Beth
Ann’s good-natured character. These two had scorching chemistry and the love
scenes were smoking hot and plentiful. The secondary characters helped advance
the story and two in particular have me counting down the days until their
story is published.
If you enjoy super spicy small town romances, The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male is
one that I definitely recommend!
I've always been intrigued by novels about opposites from different sides of the tracks. That was a term used more often when I was growing up as I guess there were more class differences then. However, people who have manners, dress in clean clothes and are nice should be able to fit in. It sounds like Colt cared enough about himself to pull himself up by his bootstraps, so to speak. Good for him. Sounds like an interesting novel!
ReplyDeleteMe, too, Connie! There's just something sexy about a guy from the "wrong side of the tracks" making something of himself. And COlt is super sexy. ;-)
DeleteYou have me intrigued, Andrea. I'm going to give this one a try!
ReplyDeleteIt's a good one, PJ! I hope I can track down the first book in the series. ;-)
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