Review Tour - - A Tall, Dark Cowboy Christmas

A Tall, Dark Cowboy Christmas 
by Maisey Yates
Gold Valley - Book 4
Publisher: HQN
Release Date: October 1, 2018
Reviewed by PJ

It’s Christmas in Gold Valley, and this wounded widower is about to get another shot at love…

Grant Dodge didn’t expect to find a woman sleeping in an abandoned cabin on his family ranch. Or to find her so intriguing. Unlike every other woman in town, McKenna Tate doesn’t know Grant’s a widower. There’s no pity in the looks she gives him. McKenna wants him, and Grant has forgotten what it’s like to feel like a man. A no-strings fling for Christmas might be the kind of holiday cheer Grant needs…

With only a suitcase to her name, McKenna came to Gold Valley to confront her birth father. She didn’t plan to work at the Dodge ranch or fall for the gorgeous cowboy who keeps his heart roped off. But there’s no denying the way their broken pieces fit together. Hope brought her to Gold Valley—but will it be the gift that could finally heal Grant, and McKenna’s own wounded heart?


My Thoughts:

I knew as soon as I met grouchy, closed off, emotionally wounded Grant Dodge in an earlier book that I wanted to read his story. I also knew that the woman to bring him back to life would need to be strong, sassy, and unwilling to take his crap. McKenna Tate is all that and so much more.

I loved these two together. Life hasn't been kind to either of them though the experiences that brought them to this point in their lives were very different.  Those experiences have toughened them but they have also left them vulnerable and hesitant to reach for happiness. McKenna is prickly and defensive while Grant has become an emotional hermit, finding solace in a bottle all too frequently. McKenna's inability to give up hope in the face of too many rejections endeared her to me while Grant's struggle to find an identity apart from the sympathy and pity tied to his past struck a chord of realism in light of my own life experiences. The attraction between Grant and McKenna is potent yet both resist its emotional pull initially and Grant, for much longer. Yates does an outstanding job of guiding them along their sizzling sexual and heart-tugging, emotional journey and I was with them every step of the way.

Maisey Yates has created an intriguing community of characters within her Gold Valley series of books, many of whom weave in and out of this story. The book is written in such a way that a new reader shouldn't be lost but I do think readers will have a deeper understanding of all characters, and their actions, if they have read the three previous Gold Valley books. I loved each and every one of them. The books, in order, are: Smooth-Talking Cowboy, Untamed Cowboy, Good Time Cowboy, and A Tall, Dark Cowboy Christmas.


Have you read any of Maisey Yates' books? 

Do you have a favorite Gold Valley couple?

A Tall, Dark Cowboy Christmas is my first Christmas romance of the season. When do you begin reading holiday romances?



Giveaway:

One randomly chosen person who leaves a comment before 11:00 PM (EST), September 25 will receive a print copy of A Tall, Dark Cowboy Christmas.
U.S. / Canada only

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

About Maisey Yates

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit.

In 2009, at the age of twenty-three Maisey sold her first book. Since then it’s been a whirlwind of sexy alpha males and happily ever afters, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate category romances set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy contemporary romances set practically in her back yard. She believes that she clearly has the best job in the world.

Connect with Maisey

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Instagram tour:

Monday, September 24th: @girlandherbooks

Tuesday, September 25th: @booknerdingout

Wednesday, September 26th: @book_hangover88

Thursday, September 27th: @oddandbookish

Thursday, September 27th: @jesssiereads

Friday, September 28th: @brokenteepee

Saturday, September 29th: @radbabesread

Sunday, September 30th: @remarkablylisa

Review tour:

Monday, September 24th: The Romance Dish

Tuesday, September 25th: What is That Book About – excerpt

Wednesday, September 26th: Book Fidelity

Thursday, September 27th: Reading Reality

Thursday, September 27th: @dreaming_of_stories

Friday, September 28th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Monday, October 1st: Moonlight Rendezvous

Tuesday, October 2nd: Written Love Reviews

Wednesday, October 3rd: omg.kacie.reads and @omg.kacie.reads

Thursday, October 4th: A Holland Reads – excerpt

Monday, October 8th: Books & Spoons

Tuesday, October 9th: Into the Hall of Books

Wednesday, October 10th: Stranded in Chaos

Thursday, October 11th: Book Reviews and More by Kathy – excerpt

Friday, October 12th: Crystal Blogs Books

Friday, October 12th: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Monday, October 15th: From the TBR Pile

Tuesday, October 16th: Becky on Books

Wednesday, October 17th: Jathan & Heather

Thursday, October 18th: Evermore Books

Friday, October 19th: Books and Blends

Review - - Wildflower Wedding

Wildflower Wedding:  A Cricket Creek Novel
By LuAnn McLane
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: April 1, 2014

Romances set in small towns are all the rage now. It is a trend that I’ve quite enjoyed reading. Luann McLane’s WILDFLOWER WEDDING is no exception. It has all the classic ingredients that make these romances such pleasures to read. It takes place in a small town hit hard by the recession but that is determined to pick itself up, brush itself off and stand tall once again. I live in that kind of town. WILDFLOWER WEDDING’s heroine Gabby Goodwin is determined to make her mark in the town she grew up in by owning her own business. I happen to be a small business owner. Gabby runs a flower shop. My family owns a gourmet food store. Lucky me, I already have my happily ever after. Lucky Gabby, she’s about to get her’s. If she’ll open herself up to it. From the very start, you can’t help but want as much for her.

Enter Reese Marino, the town’s bad boy (and Gabby’s secret crush when they were younger) who went away to live with his Uncle Tony in Brooklyn. (Score another point for me. I love Brooklyn having lived there myself). Reese has returned to town having straightened himself out and become a success in his own right. He and his uncle own the newly opened pizza place. It’s a second chance for both of them. He delivers Gabby’s pizza and she just thinks he’s nothing more than the delivery guy. A hot delivery guy but just the delivery guy; nonetheless.

One of the many things I enjoyed about this book was that it was all about second chances. Gabby’s desire to get a second chance in her hometown at going from being from the wrong side of the tracks to being right on track. Reese coming into her life and getting a second chance at love with her. Recovering from the sting of a painful divorce, Uncle Tony gets a chance at finding love once again. Even Reese’s mom seems to get her second chance, too. 

For some, having so many secondary characters in one place removes something from the story.  I would beg to differ. A small town - any small town - is made up of the sum of the people who live and work there. I know that everyone who lives where I do contributes a little something special to the makeup of my town. Cricket Creek is no different. All the characters in this book and everyone else from the other books in this series make it a vibrant, very real, very special place. Just like anyone else’s town they may live in. Just like mine.

Yes, you can cue John Mellencamp if you like.

Still, and all, what I loved most of all about WILDFLOWER WEDDING was how Gabby and Reese opened themselves up to the possibility of love - to the certainty of their own love.  To me, the journey to their happily ever after keys into how deeply their love runs and how as beautiful as a field of wildflowers it can truly be.

I highly recommend going out and getting your copy of WILDFLOWER WEDDING. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. I know that I will be looking for the other books in this series, as well. Did you know they have their own baseball team? You know what’s coming, right? My town has our very own baseball team, too! 

~Santa

Santa Byrnes has been in love with the written word for as long as she can remember. Romances provide reaffirmation that love is for anyone who opens themselves up to their own happily ever after. Santa lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley in New York along with her marvelous husband and three amazing teens. An aspiring romance writer, she is ever grateful to have found her own happily ever after.

Readers, do you enjoy small-town romances?  Do you like to read about second chances at love?  Do you - or have you - ever lived in one of those small towns where "everybody knows everybody?"  Does your town have its own baseball team?  

Review - - The Newcomer

The Newcomer
Thunder Point - Book 2
By Robyn Carr
Publisher: Harlequin Mira
Release Date: June 24, 2013

Say the words "small town romance" and one of the first authors that comes to my mind is Robyn Carr.  I first discovered her when the (original) cover of Virgin River captured my attention from the shelf of a local book store.  She leaped straight to my auto-buy list with that book and, while I've enjoyed some of her stories more than others, none of them has ever left me dissatisfied.  The Newcomer is the second book in Carr's new Thunder Point series set on the Oregon coast.  I'm already invested in the lives of the residents of this small coastal town and looking forward to many more visits to Thunder Point!

In The Newcomer, Hank Cooper, and Sarah Dupre begin to deepen the relationship they began in The Wanderer but there are obstacles to overcome. It appears that Cooper has finally stopped running and starts putting down roots at the same time that Sarah receives a promotional opportunity that will take her to the other side of the country.  As a Coast Guard search and rescue pilot, this is the chance for advancement that Sarah has been waiting for but accepting will not only endanger her relationship with Cooper, it will also have an impact on her younger brother, Landon, a star quarterback who would have to leave his team, his girlfriend and an excellent shot at a college scholarship to start over at a new school in his senior year.  Then a phone call from an ex-girlfriend sends Cooper's life in a direction he never anticipated.  Will all these changes bring Cooper and Sarah's relationship to an end just as it's gaining traction or will it strengthen the bond they've begun to form?

Single parents Mac McCain and Gina James have been close friends for many years.  Their daughters are best friends and the two have unofficially co-parented their respective children for a long time.  Just as they finally take the first steps into a deeper relationship, Mac's gorgeous ex-wife shows up out of the blue wanting to re-connect with the three children she abandoned when they were babies, sending Mac's family into turmoil and threatening his relationship with Gina.

It's not only the adults in Thunder Point who are having relationship issues.  Mac's daughter, Eve and Sarah's brother, Landon, rising high school seniors, grow closer and face the sexual "should we or shouldn't we" question that many teens have to deal with - a question that takes on new intensity with the reappearance of Eve's mother.  Eve loves Landon but knows only too well what can happen as a result of teenage sex as she was the reason her parents married too young.  And Gina's daughter, Ashley is having problems of her own. Her longtime boyfriend dumps her for a girl he meets at college and the new girlfriend uses social media to humiliate Ashley in a very public way...a humiliation that has potentially devastating consequences.

New characters are introduced, giving me just enough information about them to whet my appetite for their stories.  Hopefully, Carr will also continue to write stories that will allow me to experience the ebb and flow of the relationships between characters who have already secured places in my heart.

One of the aspects of Carr's writing that I most enjoy is the pace at which she builds the relationships in her books.  Those between Coop and Sarah, Mac and Gina, Landon and Eve and others are allowed to develop organically and while desire definitely plays an important part in the process, it's the friendship between each couple that gives me hope that their bonds will continue to strengthen over time, weathering the obstacles that life invariably throws our way.

For maximum enjoyment, I recommend reading the Thunder Point books in order beginning with The Wanderer followed by The Newcomer.  The third book in the series, The Hero will be released on August 27th.  I can't wait to find out what Carr has in store for Thunder Point's new high school football coach!

~PJ

Are you a fan of small town contemporary romance?  Have you read Robyn Carr's books?  Do you have a favorite?  Are you reading the Thunder Point series?

Review - - With This Kiss - Part One

With This Kiss
A Serial Romance - Part One
By Eloisa James
Publisher:  Avon Impulse
Release Date:  March 12, 2013




Lady Grace Ryburn has known Colin Barry her entire life.  Their parents are good friends; their fathers, cousins and former pirate partners. Grace, a quiet, intelligent and kind girl, has always held Colin in esteem but as an older brother or good family friend.  Until the summer twenty-year-old Colin returns from two years at sea:

The year Grace turned fourteen, Colin walked through the door in a uniform, and her heart gave one big thump and never beat exactly the same way again.

Colin Barry has always known he would need to earn his way in the world.  Adopted by Griffin and Phoebe Barry, Colin is not his father's heir but has always dreamed of following in Griffin's footsteps with a career at sea.  Four years in the Navy have taught Colin that while he loves the ocean, he has neither the heart nor the stomach for the fighting.  Grace determines to ease his time at sea by writing him letters filled with stories from home, many featuring Lily, Grace's two-years younger sister.  Where Grace prefers to be on the sidelines, Lily is the type of girl who loves being the center of attention, with a sparkling personality that draws people to her like bees to honey.  Her antics provide excellent stories to ease a young man's weary heart, especially when told by Grace, a young woman with a gift for writing and a special talent for drawing the sketches she includes with her letters.

By the time Colin returns home in 1836, Grace, at nineteen, knows exactly how she feels and what she wants.  She's fallen deeply in love with Colin and has convinced herself that he feels the same. While Lily has taken the ton by storm, Grace, quiet and uncomfortable with the whole process, chooses to observe on the fringes, out of the spotlight.  She waits for Colin and is certain that this trip home will change everything.  It does, but not in the way she thinks.

He had been changed by the war, by the deaths he'd seen and the deaths he'd caused.  There was no going back, not when rivers of blood ran through a man's dreams.

Colin's soul is filled with darkness and Grace alone knows the anguish he endures.  When he arrives at the ball the Ryburns are attending, Grace waits in her most attractive dress but when he enters, it's the brightness, the gaiety, the sparkle of Lily that lights the darkness inside him and draws him to her like a moth to a flame.  This time, when Colin returns to sea, he unknowingly, in the way of clueless males everywhere,  leaves behind a heartbroken Grace.  He eventually realizes his stupidity as well as his true feelings for Grace but by that time, Colin is far at sea.  Grace has waited for him all these years and he hopes - prays - that she will continue to do so and that he will continue to remain injury-free to return home to her.  But Grace, whose love for Colin is deep and pure enough to want his happiness above her own, makes a heart-wrenching decision, stepping aside, giving her blessing for what she believes he most wants, and finally moving on.  She meets a Scottish lord who courts her, appreciates her for all her wonderful qualities and who never, ever gives her sister, Lily a second glance...to be continued.

From the very beginning, Eloisa James captivated me with this story.  The characters, Grace in particular, are so richly drawn that I felt as though I was right there at the Barry's summer home and, later, in London, living it with them.  The relationships are complex, with twists and turns that keep the reader engaged and the cliffhanger will have you counting the hours until Part Two is released next week.  I say this almost every time I read an Eloisa James book but it bears repeating.  Ms. James has a command of the English language that flows across the page like the notes of a beautiful song.  I don't so much read her words as feel them, such as in the following excerpt where Colin awakens to the difference between Lily and Grace:

It wasn't Lily's fault that she wasn't as intelligent as her sister.  Nor as witty and kind.  That wasn't fair:  Lily was kind.  But she was shallow compared to Grace.

She was a waltz, and Grace was a hymn.

Will Colin make it home in time to convince Grace she belongs with him?  Will Grace be happier with her Scottish lord?  What will happen with Lily?  We'll find out in Part Two!

With This Kiss is a serial romance, published in three weekly increments beginning March 12 and continuing with Part Two on March 19 and Part Three on March 26.  Each part can be purchased in digital format or readers may wait and purchase a print version of the entire story (all three parts) on March 26.

What do you think of the serial format?  Will you be giving it a try or waiting for the complete story in a print version?  Have you read Part One of With This Kiss?  What do you think will happen next?  I'm giving away three copies of With This Kiss, Part One to random commenters.  (If you already have Part One, I'll substitute Part Two when it releases on March 19.)

~PJ

Review copy received from Avon via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Marriage with Benefits

Marriage with Benefits
By Kat Cantrell
Publisher:  Harlequin Desire
Release Date:  February 5, 2013

Cia Allende has a flawless plan.  In order to honor her late mother's dedication to the abused women and children of their city, Cia needs access to her trust fund.  Only with the money can she build a new shelter but her very traditional grandfather has the money tied up with restrictions.  Cia can only gain access when she turns thirty-five or marries.  Fortunately, Cia convinced her grandfather to add one more stipulation to the trust.  If her husband divorces her after six months of marriage, all the money goes to Cia.  So now, all she needs is a man who is willing to be a husband in name only, divorce her after six months and go his merry way.  Enter the perfect candidate:  Lucas Wheeler.

Businessman Lucas Wheeler is feeling the effects of some bad decisions.  Known as the carefree playboy of the family, a recent public affair with a woman who turned out to be married has severely damaged his business reputation and that of his family's commercial real estate company.  It has also made Lucas start to question his lifestyle and what he wants from life.  What he does not want is anything to do with the crazy proposition Cia, a woman he's never met, brings to him even though he's attracted to her beauty, intelligence and sass.  But then she dangles the perfect carrot:  exclusive rights to the property her grandfather wants to sell and a chance to repair his tarnished reputation with a stable marriage.  For six months.

I like marriage of convenience stories and Cantrell has written a good one.  Both Cia and Lucas enter their "business" marriage with a firm idea of how it will go and, of course, neither one is exactly right.  Cia, who has lived with her successful, no-nonsense grandfather since her parents were killed when she was a teen has outstanding business acumen but no good role models for a happy marriage.  Most of the marriages with which she's acquainted are those of the women she helps at the shelter; marriages broken by abuse.  She's determined to have a non-romantic relationship with Lucas and walk away unscathed at the end with her heart untouched.  Lucas has other ideas.  He figures they're going to be married for six months.  Why not have some fun along the way?  What they both discover is that they are each more than they realized and, together, they are a perfect fit.  Of course, that realization does not come quickly or easily but in Cantrell's skilled hands, it comes with humor, romance and plenty of heart.

Judging from this debut, I'd say Kat Cantrell has a bright future writing romance.  The second book from the 2011 Harlequin "So You Think You Can Write" winner and 2012 Golden Heart finalist, The Things She Says from Harlequin Desire was released March 5th.  I look forward to reading it.

~PJ

Review - - Captain Durant's Countess

Captain Durant's Countess
By Maggie Robinson
Publisher:  eKensington 
Release Date:  February 21, 2013

Maris, Countess of Kelby loves her husband.  As the daughter of his secretary and best friend of the earl's daughter, Maris grew up on the earl's country estate and has admired him from a young age, sharing his scholarly passion for the archaeological treasures uncovered by him as well as the previous Earls of Kelby. Ten years ago, following her father's death, the earl married Maris to protect her. Though they do not have a physical relationship, they have a genuine affection between them and Maris would do anything to make her elderly, dying husband's dearest wish come true.  Which is how the sheltered and very proper countess comes to be standing in London's notorious Reining Monarchs Society, a private club where people can act out their sexual fantasies in private,  facing a very naked and uncooperative Captain Durant, and determined to stay until she has convinced him to carry out the task for which he took her husband's money.

Coming home after leaving the military to find his beloved younger sister in serious health,  Reynold (Reyn) Durant knows he needs a sizable sum of money to move his sister out of London and give her damaged lungs a chance to heal.  It could be her only hope of survival.  A vaguely worded advertisement in the London List gives him the means to help his sister but, after taking the money, Reyn's conscience intervenes and he decides he can't sleep with another man's wife for money..no matter how desperately that man needs an heir to save his estate - and his life's work - from his villainous nephew.  That's before he meets Lady Kelby; a prim, proper, starchy and surprisingly innocent thirty-four year old woman to whom the worldly Reyn is inexplicably drawn.

This storyline usually doesn't appeal to me but in Maggie Robinson's talented hands, it works.  She brings together a buttoned-up woman who has never known passion in her life and a charming, passionate rogue who shows surprising gentleness and vulnerability.  Then she throws them into a situation where a happy ending seems impossible but, as this is a romance, we know somewhere down the line a happy ending awaits.  I like that Robinson takes her time with these characters, allowing them to gradually come to know one another and us to know them.  I also appreciate the fact that she keeps their emotions tied to reality; showing the pleasure Maris experiences as she slowly opens her mind and heart to a physical connection with a man while at the same time dealing with the guilt in knowing that these wondrous feelings are a result of betraying her husband - not so much physically, but emotionally - even though he's been more of a father to her than a true husband.  Then there's Reyn; a surprisingly gentle and vulnerable man who finds himself developing genuine feelings for this woman who is beyond his reach, because she is married but also because of her station, her education and the fact that she is five years his senior.

There's plenty of sizzle in this book but it was ultimately the complexity of the characters, the emotional depth and tenderness that kept me immersed in the story.  The secondary cast of characters is richly drawn, especially Reyn's sister.  The villain of the story is dealt with in an interesting, and humorously fitting, manner though I felt he got off a bit too easy considering his crimes.  But, in the end, I was not as concerned about his fate as that of Reyn and Maris.  

Don't let the premise of this book or the fact that neither the hero nor the heroine is very likable in the beginning put you off.  Stick with the story and you will be rewarded with a hero and heroine who reveal themselves to be worthy characters with genuinely good hearts who deserve the tender, heartwarming and thoroughly satisfying romance that Maggie Robinson has given them.

~PJ