CATCHING HEAT

CATCHING HEAT                                    ALISON PACHARD
Posted:  March 12, 2014


   Life has taught Angie DeMarco that all baseball players are womanizers, and her incredible one-night stand with sexy San Francisco Blaze back-up catcher J.T. Sawyer seemed to prove it. Determined not to give in to their sizzling chemistry a second time, she’s kept her distance ever since, focusing on her accounting job with the team. But now she’s laid off…and pregnant.

J.T. was hurt by Angie’s rejection, but with one more year with the Blaze, he has no time for love. He needs to spend the off season training hard so he can negotiate a better contract with a new team at the end of the year. But when Angie shows up on his doorstep, he‘s overwhelmed by wanting to not just do right by her but pursue a relationship with her. Hoping for a second chance, he proposes.

Angie agrees to marry J.T. on one condition: the marriage will be purely a business arrangement. But as Angie spends time with him and his family, and J.T. neglects his training to spend time with her, what begins as a union in name only slowly grows into something more—something that looks a whole lot like love and friendship.

MY REVIEW:
  Angie DeMarco works for the Blaze Ball Club, a pro baseball team, or at least for the next two weeks.  J.T. (James Taylor) Sawyer is a Relief Catcher for the team, when they saw each other it was love at first sight, just don’t tell them they are fighting it.  There was just one minor problem, Angie does not date ball players.
     Which has the umpires calling foul ball, when after two years they end up hooking up in a one night stand.  When J.T. wakes up the next morning though she is long gone.  Then, she processed to avoid him at all cost.  Now the seasons over they won the World Series and J. T.’s going home for R & R and some intense training for the new season.  At the team apartment that he uses he finds Angie waiting for him outside his door in the hallway.  Waiting to talk to him…She needs to tell him something, she’s pregnant and it’s his.  Woo! Woo! Woo! Hold the phone!  To say he’s surprised is an understatement.
     Find out where Angie and J.T. take their relationship.  Can they make it work?   Will they marry or will they just walk away?
     Totally enjoyed this book.  The conflict of their relationship is so right on right there in your face and theirs too.  You see how they so want each other but are so afraid of getting hurt and really not seeing that by not making a real commitment they are hurting each other so much more.  Angie needs to get rid of her fears from the after affects of her parents relationship and move on and find true love with J.T.  She can’t look at her marriage through the tainted eyes of her mother or she will never see the true loving man J.T. is.  J.T. can’t listen to the ramblings of his family like Justin or he will get caught up in words and then he will say things he doesn’t mean for he will be taking so fast he will not even know he says it.
     Provided by netgalley.com Find us at: www.1rad-readerreviews.com

STRIKE OUT (TEXAS TITANS) BOOK ONE

STRIKE OUT (TEXAS TITANS)                   CHERYL DOUGLAS
Posted:  March 12, 2014

Strike Out by Cheryl Douglas  When professional baseball player, Zach Foster, agreed to go into business with five of his best friends, he didn’t expect their little sports bar to evolve into a national chain, spanning fifty states, but it did. The business helps to fill the void in Zach’s life during the off-season, but when he closes his eyes at night, he still can’t forget the girl who left that gaping hole in his heart when she left him standing at the altar. 
Lauren ‘Rennie’ Alexander would do anything to fulfill a sick child’s wish. Not only is it her job, as director of the Sky’s the Limit Foundation, but it’s her passion. So when her assistant brings her a letter scribbled in crayon, complete with an application from the little boy’s loving parents, Rennie is ready to make another dream come true. Until she realizes that sick little boy’s dream is her worst nightmare. He wants to meet his hero, baseball player, Zach Foster. The same lying jerk who broke Rennie’s heart. It’s seems she has no choice but to take one for the team.

MY REVIEW:
Neighborhood friends turned high school and college sweethearts.  Lauren “Rennie Baldwin” Alexander and Zach Foster had an intense romance from day one.  Rennie was intensely in love with Zach and she thought he was with her too.  To the point where they had sex like rabbits, talked endlessly about their futures and about Zach hopes of being signed to a pro baseball team. 
     When Zach was signed he asked Rennie to marry him.  Of course she said yes their lives were going according to their hopes and dreams.  As well as their parents who were best of friends too. 
     Up until the night before the wedding and Rennie’s world came crashing down all around her.  You see Zach was out having drinks with his brother Kevin and Zach “butt dialed” Rennie on his phone without knowing it.  Rennie expecting to talk to Zach hears Kevin’s voice asking basically, if Zach was ready for the marriage thing and Zach says, “Yeah basically I guess.”  Then, Kevin says something like, “What do you mean, yeah you guess? You want to get married don’t you?”  Zach pauses for a long time then says something like, “Well, you know Rennie she gets what she wants when she wants it.”
     Rennie gasp at that thinks, “Did I force him into this?  Does he not want this?”
     “What are you going to do when she wants kids?” Kevin asks.
      Zach says, “Oh, No!  No kids for us!  At least not until after I win the World Series or closer till the end of my career.”
     “What if she just stops taking the pill one or two days?” Kevin says.
     “Oh, Hell no!  I don’t leave that up to her I always wear protection she can’t take the pill.” Zach says.
     “You know that’s not full proof?” Kevin says.
     “Don’t worry, got it covered.”  Sounding angry.
     Rennie is feeling ill on their honeymoon she planned on surprising Zach with the news that she was pregnant.  Now what?  What should she do?
     “Zach?  Do you Love Rennie?”
     There was a very long pause I am sure it was maybe only 30 seconds but it seemed longer.  He finally answers, “Yes, I love her!  I have loved her for as long as I can remember.  I just wish we could slow everything down.”
     At that Rennie disconnected.  She sees her life pass before her and it is not pretty.  Was their whole relationship a lie?  Want to know what happens?  You’ll have to read the book you won’t be sorry…
     I really enjoyed this story.  There were a lot of issues posed in this storyline that could have been real downers but were handled nicely.  The characters were believable and down to earth.  I liked how Rennie stood up for herself, can’t say how I agreed with her original decision but once it was made up she stood up and did what needed doing.  I just felt bad for Nathan, like he was used, but he knew what he was getting into, too.  I also like that Zach took half of the blame for Rennie’s original decision because he didn’t man up.  Very good story 5 stars.  Provided by net galley.  Find us at: www.1rad-readerreviews.com 

HERO'S HOMECOMING

HERO'S HOMECOMING                           REBECCA CROWLEY
Posted:  March 12, 2014

Six months ago, being snowed in at Christmas with the amazing woman he met on R & R at Fort Riley would have been a dream come true, yet now, as a blizzard swirls outside Beth Tate's house, Captain Chris Walker knows he shouldn't be there. Blinded in combat and emotionally scarred, he never wanted Beth to know the man he's become—but stranded by the storm, he had no one else to call.
Hurt and bewildered when Chris abruptly ended his faithful contact from Afghanistan, Beth tried to put him and their whirlwind romance out of her mind and prepared for a quiet holiday alone—until the phone rang. Now that he's here, she's more confused than ever, torn between love for the man she once knew and anger at the one who broke her heart.
A life with Beth was everything Chris wanted, but the wounds of battle are nothing compared to the agony of heartbreak. It will take more than mistletoe, but perhaps this holiday season Chris will find his way home.
33,000 words

MY REVIEW:
     Captain Chris N. Walker was stationed at Fort Riley Kansas not to awfully far from his parent’s farm, about an hour to Stanfield.  At the age of 30, he hadn’t really met the one, by all rights he should have had his pick.  He is 6 feet plus, dark hair, and blue eyes truly handsome.
     But it wasn’t until 4 days before he was to leave on his 3rd tour of Afghanistan that he meets the women he had been waiting for all his life to meet, Beth Tate, 30.  She works at the college and was there at the Metal Cavalry Museum to do some work.  Chris was supposed to be on R & R but came in to catch up on something before he left and was asked to open for her and he did and he also asked her to dinner.  They made the most of those 4 nights and days before he left.
     While Chris was gone he emailed and wrote faithfully for four months with several calls thrown in.  They were both falling in love.  Neither telling the other since it was so soon.  Then, a tragic event happens and Beth gets a “Dear John” email with just a few words on it and then nothing.  The romance started in June, “Dear John” came in Oct., and now Dec. she gets a call, says that it’s him Chris he is stuck at the airport due to the blizzard can she please come and get him, because his parents are stuck on the farm? 
     Once the shock wears off with the shake of her head she rushes off to the airport.  Cussing herself the whole way for agreeing to do it.  She sees him standing by a pillar runs up to him and hugs him, he hugs her thinking she must not hate him totally, they both stiffen, she drops and then she slaps him.  Everyone stops and the small airport goes quiet, she slapped a decorated wounded Army war Captain.  If you want to know what happens you’ll have to read it…
     I really enjoyed this sorry you got to see the anguish the loved ones at home went through when one is at war.  This has a different twist in the way that they knew they loved each other but hadn’t declared it so basically no one knows officially.  Therefore, anything happens to the one in service the one at home waiting has no rights to information.  They can get injured, lost or die and you would never know.  What a sad situation.  This story brought up a lot of important issues to be considered yet a good story form. Provided by netgalley.com 
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TURN UP THE HEAT

TURN UP THE HEAT                               KIMBERLY KINCAID
Posted:  March 12, 2014

Turn Up the Heat (Pine Mountain, #1)  "It's not you."

There are only so many times a girl can hear those words before she believes that it is, in fact, very much her. Unexpectedly jilted by her locally famous boyfriend and haunted by a boss who makes Attila the Hun look like a lap dog, Bellamy Blake does what any self-respecting girl in her shoes would do. She rounds up her two best girlfriends and makes plans to get the hell out of Dodge.

But Bellamy's escape plan takes a nose dive on the side of rural route 164 when her transmission self-destructs, leaving her in the middle of a cell phone dead zone with nothing but her wits. Oh, and Shane Griffin, the hottest mechanic who's ever checked under her hood.

Yet this small-town man isn't all he seems. Can Shane and Bellamy prove that sometimes the most unlikely ingredients make the most deliciously sexy mix?

MY REVIEW:
     What a cute confusing story this was but in a good way.  You see Bellamy Blake gets dumped by her newscaster boyfriend Derek with the line, “It’s not you.  It’s me.”  If she never hears those words again “It’s not you” she’ll be happy because it seems every guy she’s dated has said them so now she is starting to believe it is her. 
     As if being dumped is not enough bosszilla from hell keeps piling on more work at the bank.  So she decides to take some extra days to get out of town and get away from all the calls about Derek moving out of town or them thinking that they are getting married and moving together.
So, when she sees an ad for Pine Mountain Resort she talks Holly and Jenna her BFF’s into going with her for the weekend or an extended weekend.  On her way there her car breaks down.
     Since she is in the middle of nowhere she has no cell phone reception and has to walk about a mile to a garage to get help where she runs into the local mechanic Shane Griffen.  She was on a gust of cold to the bone wind from a storm getting ready to blow through.  Shane sizes her up to be a rich, spoiled, demanding, city girl by her expansive clothes haircut and perfume.  She does sound kind of curt even Bellamy notices it and apologizes but it was from the cold and the long walk.
     Right away Shane is rude, condescending, and unfriendly.  Come see how these two rub each other friendly. J

     Shane has secrets that he keeps so it made me so want to find out what they were but the chemistry and the bantering kept me reading. 5 stars.  Provided by netgalley.com  Find us on: www.1rad-readerreviews.com

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