Review - - Twins for the Rancher

Twins for the Rancher
By Trish Milburn
Publisher: Harlequin Western Romance
Release Date: March 6, 2018
Reviewed by PJ

TV chef and baker, Lauren Shayne has come to Blue Falls, Texas to start a new business, not a new relationship. Lauren has little trust left for the male half of the population after her louse of an ex-fiancé tried to steal half of her business, ruin her reputation, and publicly disavowed paternity of their twin daughters. The only male she needs in her life is her grandfather, Papa Ed, the man behind the idea to open a restaurant in Blue Falls where Lauren will feature Papa Ed's award-winning barbeque recipes, and who has come along to help take care of the babies while Lauren whips the building she's purchased into restaurant shape. But then along comes Adam Hartley. He stops by to pitch his family ranch's branded beef for that delicious barbeque and stays to help. Multiple times. The more Lauren is around him the more she likes him. Everyone says he's a good man. Her grandfather likes him. Her babies adore him. His family seems welcoming and genuine. But Lauren still has those trust issues.

Adam Hartley has a good life and a good family. One of five adopted children, he's known nothing but love and support from the Hartleys. Now he's searching for the right way to give back to the family ranch - as his siblings are doing - to ensure it's stability and prosperity for future generations. The Rocking Horse Ranch Collection - including branded beef - is his idea. If he can secure Lauren's business for his family ranch it will go a long way toward the establishment of that dream. He never anticipated that he would want to "secure" the woman herself. He's smitten from the get-go but, once he learns her background, he knows he has to take it slow if he's going to earn her trust. Will she be able to overcome her fears enough to trust him with her business? With her heart? If she's only willing to choose one, which will it be? Adam knows what he would choose but what about Lauren?

Trish Milburn returns to Blue Falls, Texas for another heartwarming story in this long-running series. I've read, and enjoyed, each one of these books and always look forward to another visit when a new book is released. Milburn really captures the essence of this part of the Texas Hill Country and the essence of the community represented in her fictional town of Blue Falls. While characters from previous books are featured in this one, it doesn't lessen the appeal for readers who haven't read those stories. If you're a fan of the series, it will feel like a visit with old friends but if you're new to Blue Falls, Milburn writes in such a way that you'll feel like you're meeting these characters for the first time, not an outsider looking in on a reunion of people you don't know.

The sizzle factor is low (but not non-existent) in this one and toward the end of the book. The sexual tension, however, builds throughout, making it realistic and heightening the anticipation. Adam and Lauren are both likable characters, deserving of a happy ending. I enjoyed their banter, their close relationships with their respective families, and the way Adam immediately embraces Lauren and the twins as a unit. His scenes with the twins melted me into a puddle or, as Lauren puts it, "her ovaries struck up a lively tune and started tap dancing."

The secondary characters in this book aren't just window dressing. They help to move the plot along while not distracting from the main couple. There is, however, a surprise secondary storyline that should delight fans of the series. I really hope we'll find out more about that down the line along with a story for Adam's sister. I'm also intrigued with Lauren's sister, Violet. Maybe we'll see more of her as well?

If you're looking for a fun, heartwarming romance from the heart of Texas that makes you laugh, sigh, and maybe causes your ovaries to do a little two-step, do give this one a try.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday Special: One person who leaves a comment on this post before 11:00 PM (Eastern), March 12, will receive a print copy of Twins for the Rancher (U.S. only)

Do you enjoy cooking or baking? What's your signature dish?

If you opened a restaurant, what kind would it be?

Who is the last fictional hero (books/TV/movies) who made your ovaries strike up a lively tune?

Today's Special - - Trish Milburn

It's my pleasure to welcome Trish Milburn back to The Romance Dish today. Those of you who have been with us from the beginning know the important part Trish played here, both in helping us get the blog off the ground and as a monthly contributor. 

Trish is a Kentucky native who spent many years living in Tennessee before recently relocating to Florida. She's been a reader and writer since childhood, working as a magazine editor/writer before leaving to write romance full-time. She was a Golden Heart finalist eight times -winning twice - before selling her first book in 2007. She's since published books in a variety of sub-genre, including young adult, contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and women's fiction. When she isn't busy writing, Trish is a self-described "National Park junkie," amateur nature photographer and enjoys cosplay and attending fan conventions such as DragonCon in Atlanta.

Welcome back, Trish! It’s such a pleasure to host you today. We’ve missed you around here. Harlequin recently released the 12^th book in your Blue Falls, Texas series: Her Texas Rodeo Cowboy. Please tell our readers what they should expect from this story.

Thanks for having me here today, PJ! It’s great to be back.

While Her Texas Rodeo Cowboy is officially the 12^th book in my Blue Falls, Texas series, it’s actually the 16^th story set in Blue Falls. The Teagues of Texas trilogy that pre-dated the Blue Falls books are actually set in Blue Falls, too. And there is a Christmas e-novella titled A Cowboy in Her Stocking. As for Her Texas Rodeo Cowboy, it’s the third book about the five adopted Hartley siblings. This one is about the oldest sister, Sloane.

Sloane Hartley is deeply rooted to her family’s ranch in Blue Falls, Texas. So she isn’t about to risk falling for a tempting tumbleweed like Jason Till. To Sloane, Jason is a handsome heartbreak waiting to happen. Like all rodeo cowboys. If she ever let herself love again, she certainly wouldn’t pick someone like him!

Jason only has eyes for one prize—the steer-wrestling

championship. And he can’t afford any distractions. Certainly not a blonde beauty with trust issues like Sloane. She represents everything a cowboy on the circuit can’t have anyway—home, family, a real relationship. Everything he thought he didn’t need. But when he’s with Sloane, Jason can’t remember why winning at the rodeo seemed so important.

When you conceived this series, did you have any idea it would still be going strong? How many more books do you have planned for Blue Falls?

I had no idea, but I’m really happy that readers seem to enjoy them

and Harlequin continued to publish them. With Harlequin, there will be two more books set in Blue Falls. One will be out in March, but I don’t have a date of release on the last one. As you know, the Harlequin Western Romance line is ending next June, and my final Hartley sibling book was slated to come out in August. Harlequin is currently working to give all of us that have contracted books a way to get out those books to readers. All that said, my plan is to continue publishing Blue Falls books myself. I have lots of ideas for other stories, and I’m working on a series bible that has revealed as I’m going back and re-reading the books just how many secondary characters I’ve forgotten about and who could have their own story. One fan favorite is Greg Bozeman, the local mechanic, so I have to find the right lady for him. J

You’ve done a wonderful job of creating a sense of place in these stories. What is it about this area of Texas that calls to you? Have you ever lived there?

Thanks! I’ve not lived there, but I’ve been to the Hill Country several times, first with a friend who was at UT-Austin for grad school a number of years ago, and more recently with fellow author and dear friend MJ Fredrick, who lives in Texas. The Hill Country has a rich history and it doesn’t look like so much of flat, flat, flat Texas. It has a rugged beauty to it. It’s an interesting mixture of ranches, vineyards, tourist destinations, mom-and-pop businesses, German heritage, etc.

I fell hard for Jason. I was drawn especially to his patience with both Sloane and the foster children who attended her camp. Who’s the last hero (not written by you) that you fell for? What made him special?

I really liked Levi Cooper in The Best Man by Kristan Higgins. While externally he could be grouchy, there were very believable reasons for why he became the man he is. And it was really fun to see the real Levi emerge and the unexpected romance between him and Faith develop. I want to be Kristan Higgins when I grow up. J

You recently moved from Tennessee to the Florida coast. Will we see any beachy romances in your future? I really enjoyed your Starfish Shores novellas.

I do plan to write some more stories set in Starfish Shores, especially since beach research will be super easy now since I live about two miles from the beach. I think they will be a nice break from my cowboy stories. But don’t worry, I don’t plan to abandon the cowboys.

With Harlequin closing their Western Romance category line, where should readers look for future Blue Falls, Texas books?  

As I mentioned above, I’ll have two more Blue Falls books after this month’s release with Harlequin. After that, I plan to continue the series on my own as well as a spin-off series. I’ve got lots of ideas percolating, so stay tuned. If readers would like to keep up on the latest book release info, I do a periodic newsletter I’d love to share with more readers. You can sign up here: http://www.trishmilburn.com/about-trish/newsletter-sign-up/

What’s next?

                                          

Twins for the Rancher will be out in March of next year. I also hope to be able to share some good news soon, but nothing is finalized yet.

Where can readers find you online?

www.trishmilburn.com

@TrishMilburn on Twitter

https://www.facebook.com/trishmilburnauthor

https://www.pinterest.com/trishmilburn2/

Would you like to add anything else?

Thanks again for having me on the blog today. It’s always great fun hanging out with you, and it was so wonderful to see you at RWA this summer.

Thanks for visiting with us today, Trish! Would you like to ask our readers a question?

The Blue Falls spin-off series I’m planning is in a little town that is known for its antique/junker stores. I’d like some fun names for these stores. Any ideas? 

I’ll give away a signed paperback copy of one of my backlist Blue Falls, Texas titles to two different commenters. (U.S. only)

Get Swept Away with Trish Milburn

Trish is here!  Trish Milburn is one of my favorite people as well as being one of my favorite authors.  She's been a huge supporter of the Romance Dish from the day we first decided to embark upon this blogging journey and her visits are always a pleasure.  Trish joins us today to talk about a new venture of her own:  a Christmas anthology that takes holiday romance to the sunny, sandy beaches of southern Alabama.  Who needs snow when the balmy breezes and hunky heroes of Starfish Shores await?  

An award-winning author, Trish is multi-published in romance, young adult and women's fiction.  Visit Trish's website for more information about her books and for links to the many places where you can connect with her online.  

Please give Trish a warm welcome!

Welcome back, Trish!  Thanks for stopping by today to talk about your new Christmas anthology, Swept Away for Christmas.  Who are the other authors joining with you in this anthology?

Thanks for having me back, PJ! You gals are always so awesomely supportive. My fellow authors in this anthology are two of my best friends, MJ Fredrick and Tanya Michaels. MJ is a multiple Golden Heart finalist and EPIC award winner, and Tanya is a multiple RITA finalist and also one of my fellow authors at Harlequin American Romance.

I really enjoyed your story, “Crusin’ for a Kiss.”  (Love that title!)  What would you like readers

to know about your hero and heroine? 

Thanks. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. When Avery Phillips loses her magazine job right before Christmas, she heads back home to Starfish Shores to spend the holidays with the grandparents who raised her. The plan is to hit the job search hard so that she has a new position when the New Year arrives. What isn’t part of the plan is heading up a remodeling effort at her family’s beach motel or falling for the man helping to save the business into which her grandparents put a lifetime of work. As Christmas draws closer, will Avery stick to the original plan to leave town again or take a chance with Luke Taylor and a new life she never expected?

I love friends-to-lovers stories, so this one was a lot of fun to write.

I love friends-to-lovers stories too.  This one was my favorite of the three stories in the anthology. While your three stories aren’t exactly ‘connected’, they are set in the same small town and have some overlapping people and places.  How did you all stay on the same page?  Did you meet to hammer out the details (I imagine the three of you dipping your toes in the Gulf while sipping fruity drinks and discussing plotlines) or accomplish the process in a different manner?

We actually all met at a condo we’d rented in Orange Beach, Alabama, this past June to do site research and hammer out the main details of how we wanted to approach the collection, characters, the setting, etc., as well as a basic framework for four different collections set in our fictional town of Starfish Shores. After we all came home to our three different states, we communicated online whenever we ran into something that needed to be brainstormed with the other two authors. Having the stories only loosely connected made it easier for us to write our stories independently, but having some characters make brief appearances in the other stories and using some of the same landmarks made the collection feel connected.

I’m a big fan of anthologies, especially at this busy time of year.  Do you foresee doing more collaborations of this type?  Do any of you have plans to return to Starfish Shores for future stories?

Yes, we are planning three more seasonal collections set in Starfish Shores. We’re in the early stages of brainstorming our spring break collection that will be out sometime in the spring.

This makes me a very happy reader!

Swept Away for Christmas is an e-book.  Will it be available in print format at any time? 

It’s already available in print via Amazon’s CreateSpace: http://www.amazon.com/Swept-Christmas-Starfish-Shores-Volume/dp/0989060381/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1384319678&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=swept+away+for+christmas

Wonderful!

Your characters spend their holiday on the beautiful Gulf beaches of Alabama.  Where’s your favorite place to be swept away for Christmas?

I’d have to say the same place, pretty much anywhere along the Gulf of Mexico. While I appreciate the beauty of a white Christmas, I hate being cold and get cold very easily. So I would love to eventually winter on the Gulf. I could so get used to decorating a palm tree for Christmas. J

What else are you working on these days?

Right now I’m writing the next book in my Blue Falls, Texas, series for Harlequin American Romance. This will be the fourth full-length book in this series but the eighth story set in my fictional Hill Country town of Blue Falls, Texas. The town was introduced in my Teagues of Texas trilogy, and it continued in the series with the town name on the books’ covers. I have a special e-novella out now in the series, A Cowboy in Her Stocking, and the third book, Marrying the Cowboy, comes out in January. The book I’m working on now has a working title of The Doctor’s Cowboy Prescription.

I've loved meeting the people of Blue Falls, Texas.  A Cowboy in her Stocking is a wonderful holiday story and I'm already counting down the days until Elissa's story in January.  

Thanks so much for visiting with us today, Trish.  Do you have anything you’d like to ask our readers?

Thanks to you, PJ! And I liked the question you asked me about where I’d like to be swept away for Christmas. So, I’d like to know where everyone would like to go for a special Christmas trip if money were no option.

Christmas isn’t always snow-covered with a frosty chill in the air. Sometimes it’s sandy beaches with balmy breezes.

And sometimes we find love in the most unexpected places, a place like Starfish Shores.

Here Comes McBride by Tanya Michaels

Shelby James has only truly loved one man — but Finn McBride broke her heart when emotional baggage from his past came between them. Now, Shelby is serving as maid of honor at a beach wedding where Finn is the best man. Will reuniting with Finn be a Christmas miracle, or the worst mistake she’s ever made?

Two Hearts a Leaping by MJ Fredrick

After a break-up with her high school sweetheart, Harley Blume retreats to her brother’s home in Starfish Shores to lick her wounds and figure out what she’s doing next. But her brother is in the Coast Guard reserves and heading out of town, leaving her in the care of Liam Channing, his best friend since they played college football together. She’s never been able to keep her tongue in her mouth when good-looking, easy-going Liam is around. How is she going to find her way if she can’t keep her balance?

Crusin’ for a Kiss by Trish Milburn

When Avery Phillips loses her magazine job right before Christmas, she heads back home to Starfish Shores to spend the holidays with the grandparents who raised her. The plan is to hit the job search hard so that she has a new position when the New Year arrives. What isn’t part of the plan is heading up a remodeling effort at her family’s beach motel or falling for the man helping to save the business into which her grandparents put a lifetime of work. As Christmas draws closer, will Avery stick to the original plan to leave town again or take a chance with Luke Taylor and a new life she never expected?

Proud of Our Honorary Dishes!

Romance Writers of America® today released the names of this years RWA Service Award recipients. Congratulations to Trish Milburn on being named one of the 2013 award winners! Trish has long been an active member of RWA and generous in her service to the organization as noted in the following from today's press release.  

Multipublished author Trish Milburn has been a member of RWA since 1996, and in that time, she has served on the RWA Board of Directors as PRO Liaison and Region 3 Director. Milburn was instrumental in establishing RWA University, the association's education program, and currently serves as Assistant Chair of the Leadership Development Committee. ~ Romance Writers of America®









Anna Campbell has been garnering her share of awards too.  At last weekend's Australian Romance Readers Convention, Anna swept the field with the following awards for her wonderful Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed: (If you haven't read this terrific historical romance yet, check out PJ's 5 star review then pick up a copy of your own!)

Best First Meeting Between a Couple
Best Love Scene
Favourite Cover
Favourite Historical Romance

And for the icing on the awesome awards cake, Anna was named Favourite Australian Romance Author of 2012!

The Dishes congratulate both Trish and Anna on their well-deserved awards.  We're so proud of you both!

Free Read - Dress Me in Wildflowers

Dress Me in Wildflowers, a "coming home" contemporary romance from Trish Milburn, is available for FREE download for a limited time at Amazon.com.  Here's the blurb:

Farrin Taylor is a living rags-to-riches story, but it's not a story she cares to share with anyone.  To her, the rags part of her story is in the past and should stay there.  When she left Oak Valley, Tennessee, she had no intention of ever going back there, of ever being the person she'd been there.  She's no longer poor little Farrin with the outdated clothes and nonexistent social life.  She remade herself into one of the top designers in New York, specializing in wedding and special occasion gowns for starlets, royalty and those with fat bank accounts.  So when Tammie, her best friend from high school invites her to their fifteen-year high school reunion, Farrin can't think of anything she'd rather do less.  Only when Tammie's mother, who'd been like a second mother to Farrin, encourages her to come back to Oak Valley for a visit does Farrin relent.  She intends to be in and out in a day but that's not exactly how things pan out.  The next thing she knows, she's bought a historic inn to keep it from being demolished, learned her high school nemesis didn't have the perfect life she always thought and her teenage crush has grown up and just might like her back.  She also realizes that time and distance are funny things and that Oak Valley isn't as bad as she remembers.  In fact, it and the people there might be the things she's been looking for without realizing it.

The Teen Menu

Welcome to the May edition of The Teen Menu.

YA News

Though this isn't really YA news, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has launched a new website in anticipation of the release of her first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, this September.

The long wait is over. The Pottermore site for all things Harry Potter has launched. Check it out for all sorts of magical fun and info. It's been reported that more than $4.8 million worth of Harry Potter e-books have been sold in the first month via Pottermore, and more than 5 million new members have been added to the site since it opened April 14. And yes, I'm one of them.

The makers of the movie version of Ender's Game have started a Tumblr feed with shots from the production of the movie.

Director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Water for Elephants) has been announced as the director for Catching Fire, the sequel to the wildly successful The Hunger Games.

Three new photos of the main characters of Breaking Dawn Part II brooding were recently released.

Author Stephenie Meyer will be optioning the rights to Lois Duncan's 1974 YA novel, Down a Dark Hall, along with Fickle Fish Films. But first she has to wrap up her producer duties on the movie version of Shannon Hale's Austenland.

YA Reviews

Back in March, Romance Writers of America announced the finalists for its annual RITA Awards. I always try to read as many of the finalists in the Young Adult category as I can. So over the next few months, I'll be bringing you reviews of these finalists as I finish reading them. Here are the finalists:

Enclave by Ann Aguirre
Flawless by Lara Chapman
Hourglass by Myra McEntire
I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler
Warped by Maurissa Guibord
Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

The winner will be announced at the RWA conference in July.

First up is Janet Gurtler's I'm Not Her. While I love paranormal/dystopian YA, it was nice and refreshing to read a contemporary story about an everyday girl who is thrust into not a fight to save the world but an everyday fight to get through tough times. Tess, the younger of two teenage sisters, is the heroine of this book. She's the smart sister while her older sister, Kristina, is the popular, sporty one. And this isn't a typical tale where there is boatloads of sibling rivalry with the bookish sister desperately wanting to be like her older, popular sister. Tess is fine with who she is, until she is thrust into midst of the high school popular crowd when Kristina is diagnosed with cancer and all her popular friends are constantly asking Tess how she is.

I'm Not Her explores how Tess deals with not only concern about whether Kristina will get better, but also her new visible status at school, interest from boys, and Kristina's sudden desire not to see any of her friends. Tess suddenly not only has to make excuses for Kristina, but also has to step into the role of being the responsible one in the family when her parents don't do the best job of dealing with Kristina's illness. The story feels very real and doesn't fall into some of the cliches we often see in "cancer stories." It's well worth the read.

Watch for my review of another RITA nominee in next month's Teen Menu.

Category Catch-Up Reviews

Three of my favorite category authors have new books out so, of course, I hightailed it to the store to pick up copies as soon as they were released then snuggled up last weekend for a reading marathon.  I love categories!  There are so many wonderfully talented authors writing categories, they offer a range of story lines from sweet to spicy, cover most sub-genres and I can usually read one from cover to cover in a single afternoon.   Here are my thoughts on the three books I recently read.

A COLD CREEK REUNION
Cowboys of Cold Creek
By RaeAnne Thayne
Publisher:  Harlequin Special Edition
Release Date:  March 20, 2012

People deal with grief in different ways and ten years ago Taft Bowman dealt with the murders of his parents by shutting off his emotions and refusing to share what he was going through with his fiance, Laura Pendleton.  Unable to face a marriage to someone unwilling to share his  emotions, Laura called off the engagement a week before the wedding, moved to Spain and eventually married someone she met there.  Taft eventually emerged from his grief-induced tailspin but by that time it was too late to go after Laura.  He's dated plenty in the intervening years - enough to earn him a bit of a playboy reputation - but has never gotten over his first love.

When Laura's philandering husband is killed in an accident along with his mistress, Laura brings her children home to Cold Creek to regain her footing and help her mother run the family inn.  The last thing she envisions is getting involved with her first love but when her young son, Alex accidentally starts a fire at the inn, Fire  Chief Taft and his volunteer fire crew are first on the scene.  It doesn't take long for Taft to realize he still has feelings for Laura and her two young children quickly claim their own spot in his heart.  He's determined to show her how much the young man she left has matured and that he's worth taking a second chance on.  But Laura's experiences have made her slow to trust and Taft's (somewhat exaggerated) reputation as a ladies man doesn't help matters.  It will take a near tragedy to open her heart to the love he's offering, not just to her but to her children as well.

Thayne has written an emotional story in her Cowboys of Cold Creek series that's centered around family, lost love and second chances.  Taft is a wonderful hero; responsible, family oriented, kind, caring and sexy as all get out.  I especially liked his relationship with Laura's children, especially young Maya, a Down Syndrome child.  The interaction between the two melted my heart and added an additional dimension to the story.  It took me longer to warm up to Laura though I fell in love with her children right along with Taft. While it's usually the hero I want to whack and say, "Get over it already!", this time it was the heroine but she did eventually win me over.

I've been reading RaeAnne Thayne for years, both in category and single title, and she's never let me down

.

COWBOY TO THE RESCUE
The Teagues of Texas
By Trish Milburn
Publisher:  Harlequin American Romance
Release Date:  March 6, 2012


Returning home to the family ranch after suffering serious war injuries, Ryan Teague has healed physically but still carries the emotional scars of what happened overseas.  Serious minded Ryan has become even more of a loner, preferring to spend most of his time in his workshop building furniture and carving angel figurines.

When Brooke Vincent is hired by Ryan's mother as the new ranch cook, she not only wows the family with the best food they've tasted in ages but she intrigues Ryan enough to lure him out of his cottage.  Suddenly, he's not only showing up for mandatory family night dinners but popping into the kitchen at all hours.  And Brooke, who has good reason not to trust men, finds herself drawn to this handsome man with the unseen wounds.  They slowly grow closer, trust - and love - begin to form and Ryan finally shares his war experience with Brooke and the reason for the pain in his soul.  But Brooke can't bring herself to share her secrets with Ryan - and she has a very big one that could endanger not only her but her family and Ryan's as well.  Will he be able to forgive her for lying?  And, more importantly, when the danger from which she's been running finally catches up with her, will he find her before Brooke, or someone very close to her, gets hurt?

Milburn tackles two very sensitive and deeply emotional topics in this story:  Post Traumatic Stress and domestic abuse.  Ryan and Brooke are both dealing with PTSD and running from the sources of it, though Ryan is running emotionally while Brooke's solution is to change her name and physically disappear.  Both discover that the only way to fight the emotional wounds of their experiences is to face them head-on,  And to overcome them, they must find the strength and courage to open their hearts to love and trust one another enough to share their innermost secrets.

I love this family!  Ryan and Brooke's story is the second of three centered around the Teagues and their three sons.  You don't have to have read the first book, The Cowboy's Secret Son, before reading this one but I'll be surprised if you don't go looking for it once you meet the Teagues.  And you won't have long to wait for the third book in the series.  The Cowboy Sheriff will be released May 1st.

TALL, DARK AND DISREPUTABLE
By Deb Marlowe
Publisher:  Harlequin Historical
Release Date:  March 20, 2012


I don't know who the cover model is on this book but Deb Marlowe should request him for every book she writes.  I fell for him long before I opened the book and began reading!

Portia Tofton has been in love with Mateo Cardea since they were children but young Mateo, who valued her friendship, was oblivious to her tender feelings.  Then an ill-conceived plan by their fathers to marry them to one another was rejected by Mateo, unknowingly breaking Portia's heart in the process.  Portia, desperate to escape her overbearing father and brothers, married a man who turned out to be much worse than her male relatives.  But, after he has the decency to get himself killed while behaving recklessly with his mistress, Portia discovers he's gambled away the home and estate left to her by her aunt; the home, estate and gardens that she has lovingly restored and from which she now faces eviction.  The only person she can think of who can possibly help her regain her home is her childhood friend, Mateo and she's not above using blackmail to gain his assistance.

Mateo loves the sea and has devoted his entire adult life to his family's shipping company, knowing that one day it will be his but that all changes with the reading of his father's will.  On the verge of the biggest business deal of his life, he discovers that his father has left controlling interest in Mateo's family company to Portia Tofton!  Mateo travels from Baltimore to England to convince Portia to sell the company back to him as quickly as possible so he can salvage the business deal but she offers a trade instead.  Confront the man her late husband lost her home to and buy it back and she'll give him back the shares in his shipping company that she's inherited.  Sounds easy, right?  Not so fast!  First, Portia has no intention of being left behind.  She's had enough of being treated like a second class citizen and, determined to be an equal partner in the search, she dogs Mateo's every step.  Second, what first seems easy turns out to be anything but.  With twists and turns aplenty, Mateo and Portia are sent on one wild goose chase after another until they begin to wonder if they will ever find the mysterious person who apparently doesn't care to be found.

In the meantime, the enforced proximity gives them the opportunity to rekindle their friendship and, as adults, they begin to realize that what they feel for one another is something much deeper than just friendship.  But their lives are worlds apart.  Portia's roots are in the soil and her beloved gardens while Mateo longs for the freedom of the seas.  Even though their love is deep, they both know that there's no way they can be together.  Or can they?

I really enjoyed this story!  Portia and Mateo's journey is believable and both characters are likable and deserving of their happy endings. (And I found the happy ending particularly satisfying!)  I especially enjoyed Portia's individual growth throughout the story.  An intelligent, talented woman who has never been given encouragement or recognition for her accomplishments, it was wonderful to watch her grow into a confident, self-assured woman who doesn't hesitate to fight for what she wants.   And Mateo.  ::Sigh::  Let's just say I fell in love with him right along with Portia.  (Though there were times when I wanted to cosh him upside the head...same as Portia!  lol!)

There's one fascinating secondary character who plays a pivotal role in the outcome of Portia and Mateo's relationship but, to avoid spoilers, I won't say more than that other than I really, really hope that character has a story of their own coming!

~PJ


Do you read categories?  What are your favorite lines?  Favorite category authors?  Read any good categories lately that you'd like to tell us about?  

The Teen Menu

Welcome to another edition of The Teen Menu. Due to deadlines, I didn't have time to review any books this month. However, there's a good bit of news as well as my impressions of The Hunger Games movie. In a word, awesome.

YA News

So, show of hands -- how many of you went to see The Hunger Games? Did you go opening night? Opening weekend? Did you go in costume? And what did you think? Personally, I went the Sunday of opening weekend with friends and I loved the movie. I thought they did an excellent job of casting all the roles. I know there were some people who thought they'd skipped important parts, but here's the thing -- movies and books are not the same thing. It is impossible to put everything from a book into a movie. They are different animals. And that's why Game of Thrones is a TV series on HBO and not a movie. And as if I wasn't in swoon enough with Katniss & Peeta before... By the way, I'm a native of Kentucky, so I love that both Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are from Kentucky, Josh not far from where my husband grew up.

Okay, in other news, here's a cool video peek at the upcoming Pottermore site. Looks like there will be lots of neat stuff to do on the site.

In other Harry Potter news, the new Making of Harry Potter studio tour opened March 31 in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, England. See some photos here.

Here's the newest teaser trailer for Breaking Dawn, Part 2, giving us a look at Bella as a vampire.

The first image of AnnaSophia Robb as a young Carrie Bradshaw in The CW's upcoming The Carrie Diaries has been released. Check it out here.

The Teen Menu

YA News

One of the best books I've read in recent years is Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief. So it's cool news that Fox 2000 is set to begin production on a movie version this summer. Deadline.com recently reported that director Brian Percival (Downton Abbey) will direct the film.

We are a mere 13 days away from the opening of The Hunger Games in theaters. I suspect it is going to have a huge opening weekend box office take. The artists on the movie's soundtrack were recently revealed along with the video of "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift with The Civil Wars. Among the other artists featured are Maroon 5, The Decemberists, Miranda Lambert, Kid Cudi, and several others.

More photos from the film were recently featured on the Entertainment Weekly website. Check them out here.

And here's a cool clip in which Katniss begins to impress the Capitol bigwigs with her archery skills.

In non-Hunger Games news, Austin Butler has been cast to play male lead Sebastian Kydd in The CW's television adaptation of The Carrie Diaries. The book and show chronicle the teen years of Carrie Bradshaw of Sex in the City fame. I'll have to check this out because it's set in the '80s, and that's when I was in high school. I wonder if parachute pants will make an appearance. :)

The Pottermore site from J.K. Rowling, which will sell electronic and audio versions of the Harry Potter books, will be out of beta testing and debut to everyone in early April.

YA Review

I realized recently while going through a list of the books I read in 2011 that I read a YA at the end of the year that I neglected to review here. Ally Condie's Crossed is the second in the trilogy that began with Matched. The series is set in a dystopian world, one in which the Society chooses everything for all its citizens (jobs, clothing, what people can read and do, even who one is to marry aka their match). The Society does this in exchange for safety. But the question central to this trilogy is whether guaranteed safety is worth giving up one's ability to choose. The books' central character, Cassia, has come to believe that choice is more important, including her choice to love Ky instead of Xander, the boy the Society has chosen for her who also happens to be her best friend.

Cassia's struggle is made more difficult by the fact that Xander is her dear friend, and had she not fallen for Ky she could probably be happy with Xander. But events in Matched have sent Ky to the outer reaches of the Society, and Cassia spends a good bit of Crossed moving from one work station to another in attempt to eventually get transferred to the area where she believes Ky to be. Even when they are eventually reunited, there is no time to rejoice. They're on the run, fleeing the Society and seeking out two different groups -- one a group of farmers that live in the canyons that Ky heard about as a child before his parents' deaths, another a group of rebels whose aim is to fight the Society and what it stands for.

Reached, the final book in the trilogy, is set to release in November. I'm curious to see how Condie wraps up the story and what will be the eventual fate for Cassia, Ky, Xander and the Society.
~~~

Pardon me for a bit of self-promo. I just wanted to announce that my new paranormal YA novel, White Witch, is now available from Bell Bridge Books. It's the first in the Coven trilogy about Jax Pherson, who flees her dark witch coven in pursuit of a normal teenage life. This book, originally titled Coven, won RWA's Golden Heart award in the Young Adult category in 2007.

Coming Attractions

March is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only is it the month when my favorite flower (daffodil) is usually in bloom, but it is also the month full of birthdays in my family. My mother, my brother and I all share March as our birthday month. And fellow Dish Gannon does too! March is going to be a fabulous month here at The Romance Dish. We have a lot in store and hope to see you throughout the month. ~ Buffie



We kick off the month with New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin on March 1. Kat’s newest romantic suspense novel, Against the Night, was released on February 28.


March 2 is the day you need to show up with a pen and paper because that is when Andrea gives us the list of New Releases for March. There are quite a few fabulous books coming out this month.

Debut historical author Leigh LaValle stops by on March 6, the day her novel The Runaway Countess releases.


Ready for a sneak peak of books coming out in April? On March 8, Andrea provides that with her Make Your Reservation blog.


On March 10, Trish Milburn/Tricia Mills shares the latest news in YA publications and movies. The Hunger Games movie will be out on March 23 … anyone else planning to see it?


I am already in full blown *ahem* research mode for March 15 when I share my latest Hot Dish pick. So many options ….


Looking for several book reviews in one single day? Well, we have got you covered! Our Stock Up Saturday Reviews will be posted on March 17.



On March 20, multi-published author Lois Greiman visits with us.

Debut romantic suspense author Joan Swan blogs with us on March 21. Her debut novel, Fever, was released on February 28. I have read this book and it is a fantastic debut!! My review will be posted this month too.




On March 24, Anna Campbell returns with her monthly review blog. Wonder what Anna has been reading lately….




All of this AND reviews and giveaways throughout the month. I think March is going to be another great month at The Romance Dish.

~ Buffie

The Teen Menu

The past month has been crazy. I had to write two full books and revise another. As soon as that was over, I had to start in judging entries for RWA's annual RITA contest. So, as you can imagine, I haven't had time to read any YA books since before Christmas. However, that doesn't mean I don't have fun stuff to share from the world of YA. I did receive my copy of Beth Revis's A Million Suns, the sequel the awesome Across the Universe. So as soon as my RITA judging is over, I'm totally diving into that. Watch for that review in an upcoming edition of The Teen Menu.

YA News

We are only about a month and a half away from the premiere of The Hunger Games in theaters. Some friends and I are planning to see it together, and I can't wait! Everything I see about it looks awesome, including a new trailer and a cool behind-the-scenes look at the cover shoot with the cast for The Hollywood Reporter. And here's a cool Entertainment Weekly photo from right before Cinna lights Katniss and Peeta's costumes on fire, leading to Katniss becoming known as "The Girl Who Was On Fire". And Movie Web has some new photos from the movie.

Tomorrow is the release day for the DVD and Blu-Ray of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1. And to celebrate, about 500 Target stores are staying open late tonight to hold a release party at midnight. At 11 p.m., they will be showing an exclusive scene from the upcoming Breaking Dawn, Part 2. Read more here.

The Teen Menu

Welcome to 2012, otherwise known as the year The Hunger Games hits theaters! (Yes, I'm anxiously awaiting March.) I'm sure it's going to be another wonderful year here on The Romance Dish. I know we're going to have lots of great YA news and book reviews in my monthly Teen Menu posts. So let's get started.

YA News

Speaking of The Hunger Games, there's an awesome new movie poster out now. Lionsgate, the film's distributor, held an online scavenger hunt to find pieces of the poster. Once assembled, it's way cool. What do you think of it?

Universal Pictures recently acquired the rights to YA novel Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I've not read this book yet, but I've seen it in stores.

Paramount Pictures has acquired the screen rights to Colleen Houck's Tiger's Curse. This is another book on my to-read list. It got a lot of buzz at the beginning of 2011.


YA Reviews

This past month, I managed to read a very enjoyable YA book during all the holiday craziness. Ashfall by Mike Mullin is the first in a post-apocalyptic series about Alex, a teenage boy from Iowa, and what he endures after the supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park explodes, sending the planet into a prolonged winter with no sunlight. I've always loved stories of survival and that's what Ashfall is at its core. Alex, who was home alone when the volcano erupted, sets off on a journey to Illinois to find his parents and younger sister, who had gone to visit Alex's uncle. Along the way, he meets people who help him and others who are a threat to his very life.

When the way we are used to living is sent into chaos, man quickly descends into basic survival mode. With no electricity, dipping temperatures, air that's dangerous to breathe, no way to travel other than on foot, and the constant search for food and water, Ashfall is an edge-of-your-seat read. It's one part scary and one part hopeful, particularly when Alex finds people who haven't lost their humanity or kindness in the midst of the eruption's aftermath. He has to grow up fast and learns there's more strength in him than he ever knew. He also finds an unexpected friend, and perhaps more, when Darla, a teenage girl, and her mother nurse him back to health after he's injured by one of the people bent on taking whatever the want however they can.

The sequel to Ashfall, Ashen Winter, is scheduled to be released in October.

The Teen Menu

Welcome to the December edition of The Teen Menu. Hard to believe we're almost through another year, but it's been one full of wonderful young adult books. And I'm sure 2012 will be filled with even more.

YA News

The Hollywood Reporter recently offered up a deleted scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, which is on the Blu-ray disc. In this scene, Harry, Ron and Hermione are plotting to get into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts Bank.

In other Harry Potter news, Universal and Warner Brothers announced this week that a second Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park will be built in Los Angeles at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. This park will be a twin to the one in Orlando. No timeline for construction or opening was announced, but it should be good for the struggling L.A. economy. Officials said the construction alone should create about 800 new jobs.

Just in case you haven't seen it yet, the first full-length trailer for The Hunger Games has been released, and it's awesome! I cannot wait to see this movie.

Most people associated Stephenie Meyer with the Twilight saga, but she also released a very enjoyable book titled The Host. Casting is under way for the movie based on the book. Saoirse Ronan is set to play Melanie, and buzz is that Jake Abel is the frontrunner to play Ian and Max Irons will likely get the role of Jared.


YA Reviews

This month I read the final installment in Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy. Goliath lived up to its name at 543 pages. I was already a fan of Westerfeld's work, particularly his Midnighters series, before starting this trilogy. So the fact that I enjoy his stories added to the fact that I've liked every steampunk story I've read led me to the Leviathan series, which began with Leviathan and was followed by Behemoth and finally Goliath.

This book concludes the story, at least this chapter of the story, of airship midshipman Deryn Sharp, who poses as a boy named Dylan Sharp in order to fulfill her dream of serving aboard Britain's premiere airship, Leviathan. It turns out that she is a quite a good airman and has had one grand adventure after another alongside her unlikely friend and ally, Prince Aleksandar of Hohenburg, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Deryn is hiding more than the fact she's a girl, however. There's also the fact that despite the fact he's a prince and she's a commoner, she is falling for Alek. But she keeps that inside until partway through this final chapter because there is more at stake than her feelings. For instance, she and Alek are doing their part to try to bring the brutal First World War to an end. In Westerfeld's world, this war is being fought between familiar countries, but they are known as Clankers (those who depend on machines) and Darwinists (those who depend on fabricated beasts, such as Leviathan itself, a fabricated whale/airship).

In Goliath, Westerfeld weaves more threads of true history into this fantastical tale. For instance, Nikola Tesla plays an important role as does newspaperman William Randolph Hearst and a meteor impact in a remote part of Siberia. And perhaps most important of all, we find out whether Deryn ever reveals she's a girl to those around her and whether she and Alek can somehow make a relationship work.

The Teen Menu

It's here, release month for the first part of the movie version of Breaking Dawn. Chances are if you haven't seen some reference to it (trailers, magazine covers, etc.), you've been spelunking in a cave for weeks.

YA News

This isn't particularly YA-related, but it is important to many of us who have been readers for as long as we can remember. This month, Reading is Fundamental (RIF) celebrated its 45th anniversary. I can distinctly remember how excited I was whenever the RIF book fair came to my school each year. All those awesome new books fostered my love of reading which continues today.

Entertainment Weekly's website has some awesome new character posters from the upcoming Hunger Games movie. They're simple, and I think that's what makes them so beautiful. You see Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Rue, Haymitch, Cinna, Cato and Effie in profile.

YA Review

This month I finished reading Fury of the Phoenix, the sequel to Cindy Pon's wonderful Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia, which I reviewed here previously. In Fury, the heroine, Ai Ling, leaves Xia (based on ancient China) and stows away on a ship bound for the faraway land of Jiang Dao because she believes the boy she cares deeply about, Chen Yong, who is on board, is in serious danger. When Chen Yong and the ship's crew discover her, she and Chen Yong have to pose as brother and sister. Though that allows her to be close to Chen Yong, it's difficult to hide her true feelings from those around them.

They are on the way to Jiang Dao in search of Chen Yong's birth father, so this book has that same sense of adventure-on-the-road that Silver Phoenix had. It had less overall action and excitement, but it still kept me turning the pages to figure out exactly what was going on with the alternating stories. We had Ai Ling and Chen Yong's present story, but we also got to see the past of Zhong Ye, the ruthless man Ai Ling had been forced to marry and who she sent to the underworld. We see that he wasn't always so, that there was a reason he grew hard and cruel, a reason that Ai Ling has had unexplained powers that have allowed her to look into others' minds and control them.

Along with the unraveling of these mysteries, the relationship between Ai Ling and Chen Yong continues to grow, but not without its bumpy patches.

The Teen Menu

Welcome to the October edition of The Teen Menu. (BTW, how is it October already!?)

YA News

For those who have been waiting for e-book versions of the Harry Potter books, which were originally scheduled to be available this month on the Pottermore site, those releases have been delayed until the first half of 2012.

The Guardian ran a preview of what fans will see when the "Making of Harry Potter" exhibition opens at Leavesden Studios in England next year.

YA Reviews

This month I read Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley, a book I spotted while at a book signing for a friend earlier this year. It's the story of Corrinne Corcoran, a rich girl living in New York City until the recession puts her father out of job. Suddenly, her dad has to take a job in Dubai, she has her credit cards taken way (no shopping at Barney's!), and has to move, along with her mom and little brother, in with her grandparents in Broken Spoke, Texas (aka the middle of nowhere).

The book starts with a letter to the reader from Corrinne herself. In it, she admits that at the beginning of the story you might not like her a lot. After all, she's selfish and not always nice. But she asks that you stick with the story to see what kinds of changes she undergoes. When she arrives in Broken Spoke, she's got that turned-up nose attitude about her grandparents' small, modest home, the paltry shopping and entertainment options in the little town, and the hicks she has to go to school with. But gradually, Corrinne starts to fit into her new life, even seeing some positives along the way -- be it a unexpected but true friend or a boy she could have never imagined liking before the recession turned her life upside down.

The Teen Menu

Welcome to another helping of the Teen Menu, offering up monthly news and reviews from the world of young adult fiction.

News

We finally have a teaser trailer for The Hunger Games, which premiered during the recent MTV Movie Awards. Take a look.



The Hollywood Reporter has a slideshow of photos from Breaking Dawn, Part 1 on its site. Click here to take a look.

The CW television network is looking at possibly acquiring the rights to produce a TV series based on Candace Bushnell's The Carrie Diaries, the younger-skewing prequel to Sex and the City.

Review

I've always been a fan of survival stories, whether it's The Swiss Family Robinson or The Day After Tomorrow. Trapped by Michael Northrop is more like the latter than the former. Narrated by a 15-year-old boy, it's the story of how he and five of his classmates survive (or don't) when they are trapped in their rural New England high school by the biggest Nor'easter blizzard to ever hit the region. We know from the beginning of the book that not everyone comes out of the experience alive, so this gives the book an edge-of-your-seat quality. I read each page wondering if it held clues to who would perish.

When the storm first hits, the four boys and two girls aren't all that worried. After all, they've seen big snows before. But as the snow continues to fall day after day without ceasing, quickly burying the lower level access to their school, they begin to think they might truly be in trouble. Things just get worse as the power goes out, then the heat, and cell phone service. They are thrust firmly into survival mode.

Compared to a lot of the YA books I read, this was a quick read. And for those of you who are looking for YA that appeals to boys, add Trapped to your list.