THE TENTH CIRCLE

THE TENTH CIRCLE                             JON LAND
Posted:  Aug. 7, 2014

The Tenth Circle (Blaine McCracken #11)Blaine McCracken races to stop terrorists from unleashing an ancient weapon of unimaginable power at the president’s State of the Union speech

Blaine McCracken pulled off the impossible on a mission in Iran, but his work has just begun. Returning to the US, he faces another terrible threat in the form of Reverend Jeremiah Rule, whose hateful rhetoric has inflamed half the world, resulting in a series of devastating terrorist attacks. But Rule isn’t acting alone. A shadowy cabal is pulling his strings, unaware that they are creating a monster who will soon spin free of their control.

Finding himself a wanted man, McCracken must draw on skills and allies both old and new to get to the heart of a plot aimed at unleashing no less than the tenth circle of hell. A desperate chase takes him into the past, where the answers he needs are hidden amid two of history’s greatest puzzles: the lost colony of Roanoke and the Mary Celeste. As the clock ticks down to an unthinkable maelstrom, McCracken and his trusty sidekick, Johnny Wareagle, must save the United States from a war the country didn’t know it was fighting, and that it may well lose.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This is the first time that I am reading this author and his character Blaine McCracken. I have to say that the story was very entertaining and moved from different characters but he did it as it went with the story and everything would come to the end. I don’t know if all of his books are like that but for me it worked for this story and these characters. Bringing all of these characters together and making them work is really a good piece of writing. I don’t want to give the story away but if you have never read any of his books give this a try I think you will enjoy it like I did. An excellent and fast pace moving story with plenty of action, a good book. I got this book from net galley.

COP A FEEL

COP A FEEL                                               ROBYN PETERMAN
Posted:  Aug. 7,2014

Cop a Feel (Handcuffs and Happily Ever Afters, #3)When you get time off for bad behavior, romance is the last thing on your mind--but good old-fashioned lust is a whole different story. . . 
Life undercover isn't exactly one big party--not when you're a DEA agent--but it sure beats a desk job. Except when you screw up big and someone has to go in and clean up after you. In that case, even paper-pushing sounds better than babysitting an erotic romance writer with as many enemies as there are euphemisms for "throbbing manhood." 
I've been taking down drug dealers for so long, playing bodyguard to a woman named Shoshanna Lehump sounds like nothing more than a giant pain in my ass-- and being partnered with the gorgeous egotistical jerk I never should have slept with in the first place just makes a bad situation even harder--especially when he pursues me as diligently as we're supposed to be chasing the bad guys...What's a girl have to do to get a happy ending anyway?
HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This is a story about a female DEA agent who is looking for sex but not for a relationship. She also is carless with her job in that she puts herself into situations that she could be killed, but she ends up being saved. She justifies this this by getting the criminal or drugs off the street. Her last job she went a little too far again and had to be rescued from a drug cartel in Mexico. Facing either time at home or at the desk, she is given an assignment to guard a professor at a local college who has been receiving threating letters. While there she is introduced to anther agent who is attracted to her but all she wants to do is have sex no relationship. The story then goes into her reasons why and him not backing down. It is a good story in that you find out why she does not want to have a relationship and how he peels the layers away to make her feel. For the most part I really like this story, it was funny, exciting, and the characters were different than most books that I read. The only part of the story I had a problem with was two of her friends who were also agents and though they were experts with weapons at one point they shot up the DEA office. I don’t think that would have happened. But that is just me. They are still two strong and powerful women who were capable to handle any type of weapon, I think that is what the author was trying to get at. Overall a good book. I got this book from net galley.

THIN ICE

THIN ICE                                                   NICK WILKSHIRE
Posted:  Aug. 7, 2014

Thin IceCurtis Ritchie is the only news in town when Ottawa takes the young hockey sensation first overall in the annual spring draft. But the media frenzy over the signing and the controversial trades made to secure the team's marquee player is eclipsed by news of his murder on the eve of Ritchie's rookie season. As Ottawa Major Crimes Unit investigator Jack Smith reassembles Ritchie's life, he is surprised at how much it differs from the fledgling star's clean-cut image and a list of suspects soon emerges, any one of whom had good reasons to want Ritchie dead. But there's something else about the young phenom — a secret so profound that its revelation to the wrong person could only mean Ritchie's end.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This story takes place in Canada and is a murder mystery. It starts with the first draft pick in the hockey draft being murdered and then two detectives being assigned the case. People from the city are all concern since the hockey player was supposed to help the team in the new season and all of the players and picks that were given away for the pick. The younger detective is the one that is the guy that kind of gets them in trouble for the way he does some of his investigation. Overall though this was a good story and I really was surprised at who was the person who did the deed. I enjoyed the story very much. I got this book from net galley.

THE SMOKE AT DAWN

THE SMOKE AT DAWN                          JEFF SHAARA
Posted:  Aug. 7, 2014

The Smoke at Dawn (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater, #3)Jeff Shaara returns to the Civil War terrain he knows so well, with the latest novel in the series that started with A Blaze of Glory and A Chain of Thunder. In The Smoke at Dawn, the last great push of the Army of the Cumberland sets the stage for a decisive confrontation at Chattanooga that could determine the outcome of the war.
 
Summer, 1863. The Federal triumph at Vicksburg has secured complete control of the Mississippi River from the Confederacy, cementing the reputation of Ulysses S. Grant. Farther east, the Federal army under the command of William Rosecrans captures the crucial rail hub at Chattanooga. But Rosecrans is careless, and while pursuing the Confederates, the Federal forces are routed in north Georgia at Chickamauga Creek. Retreating in a panic back to Chattanooga, Rosecrans is pursued by the Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg. Penned up, with their supply lines severed, the Federal army seems doomed to the same kind of defeat that plagued the Confederates at Vicksburg. But a disgusted Abraham Lincoln has seen enough of General Rosecrans. Ulysses Grant is elevated to command of the entire theater of the war, and immediately replaces Rosecrans with General George Thomas. Grant gathers an enormous force, including armies commanded by Joseph Hooker and Grant’s friend, William T. Sherman. Grant’s mission is clear: Break the Confederate siege and destroy Bragg’s army.  Meanwhile, Bragg wages war as much with his own subordinates as he does with the Federals, creating dissension and disharmony in the Southern ranks, erasing the Confederate army’s superiority at exactly the wrong time.
 
Blending evocative historical detail with searing depictions of battle, Jeff Shaara immerses readers in the world of commanders and common soldiers, civilians and statesmen. From the Union side come the voices of Generals Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and George Thomas—the vaunted “Rock of Chickamauga”—as well as the young private Fritz “Dutchie” Bauer. From the Rebel ranks come Generals Bragg, Patrick Cleburne, and James Longstreet, as well as the legendary cavalry commander, Nathan Bedford Forrest. A tale of history played out on a human scale in the grand Shaara tradition, The Smoke at Dawn vividly recreates the climactic months of the war in the West, when the fate of a divided nation truly hangs in the balance.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This is the battle of Chickamauga and for whatever reason General Rosecrans gives up the high ground and retreats to Chattanooga. By now President Lincoln has decided to put Grant in charge of the army and the first thing does is relives Rosecrans and puts General George Thomas who is already there in command. He then orders Generals Sherman and Hooker, to Chattanooga. When Grant arrives the first thing he sees is that they must open a supply route plus a line that will flake the Confederates that have the high ground. The only way is by building a floating bridge which gets started. On the opposite side General Braxton Bragg, is really not doing anything except watching the North digging in, in front of Chattanooga. It is like he does not want to come off the mountain but now his problems are greater because his Generals are protesting his non action to Richmond. He ends up fighting with two of the strongest Southern Generals in Longstreet and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Their point of view is to attack before more Northern troops arrive. They still have an advantage. Bragg is content with doing nothing and really the best he did was get Longstreet and Forrest removed from the area. Once Grant is there it is just a matter of time before he will attack. The way the story is told is done nicely once again by Mr. Shaara, using historical facts and others records to make for an interesting story about another battle that was lost because a General did not want to act. Thinking he could out wait someone else, not listening to his other staff. Take Longstreet, he was Grants best man at Grants wedding yet not many people asked him how he would fight. When they did he would say he will continue to attack until he has victory. Vicksburg should have told these men, for they said it could not be done and though it took him mouths trying it finally paid off with success. This battle would be the same but a good way to tell the story. a very enjoyable read. I got this book from net galley.

Delancey: A Man, A Woman, A Restaurant, A Marriage

DELANCEY: A MAN, A WOMAN...           MOLLY WIZENBERG
Posted:  Aug. 7, 2014

Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a MarriageIn this funny, frank, tender memoir and New York Times bestseller, the author of A Homemade Life and the blog Orangette recounts how opening a restaurant sparked the first crisis of her young marriage.

When Molly Wizenberg married Brandon Pettit, he was a trained composer with a handful of offbeat interests: espresso machines, wooden boats, violin-building, and ice cream-making. So when Brandon decided to open a pizza restaurant, Molly was supportive not because she wanted him to do it, but because the idea was so far-fetched that she didn't think he would. Before she knew it, he'd signed a lease on a space. The restaurant, Delancey, was going to be a reality, and all of Molly's assumptions about her marriage were about to change.

Together they built Delancey: gutting and renovating the space on a cobbled-together budget, developing a menu, hiring staff, and passing inspections. Delancey became a success, and Molly tried to convince herself that she was happy in their new life until in the heat and pressure of the restaurant kitchen she realized that she hadn't been honest with herself or Brandon.

With evocative photos by Molly and twenty new recipes for the kind of simple, delicious food that chefs eat at home, Delancey is a moving and honest account of two young people learning to give in and let go in order to grow together.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
I found this book to be what I was hoping it to be. A good honest look at a couple and the ups and downs of the restaurant life. I think this book shows some of the struggles, with finding a location, remodeling, picking menu items, hiring people, permits etc. Also how what worked for them and what did not for them. How the stress of the business put a strain on their marriage and how they found that she is good with the books, money etc. and he is good in the kitchen. For me them getting to that point was huge and really like any partnership, weather marriage or business you need to find the strengths of each other and focus on those. Once they did they not only strengthen their marriage but also their business as well. The book is also filled with recipes that I thought was a nice touch. Overall a good book about the ups and downs of restaurant life, not all restaurants make it , so hats off to them. I got this book from net galley.

DANGEROUS TERRITORY

DANGEROUS TERRITORY                   EMMY CURTIS
Posted:  Aug. 7,2014

Dangerous Territory (Alpha Ops, #0.5)A SEXY STRANGER

Flirting with danger is reporter Grace Grainger’s modus operandi. But she’s learned the hard way not to grow attached to the soldiers she’s embedded with in Afghanistan. To escape from her pain and loneliness, she fantasizes about the hot night she spent with a gorgeous stranger three years before in D.C. Grace never thought she’d see him again—let alone need him to rescue her . . .

AN EXPLOSIVE NIGHT

Air Force Master Sergeant Josh Travers knows journalists are nothing but trouble. So when he has to risk his team’s lives to save some reporter who’s been separated from her patrol, he’s not happy—until he recognizes her stunning eyes and delicious curves. Josh has never wanted a woman like he wants Grace. He needs her—even in an Afghan cave with a sandstorm and enemy troops closing in. This might be the end for both of them—or one hell of a beginning.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This story opens up with a man starting a conversation with a women at a bar. He catches her in a lie about what she does for a living, but they still feel an attraction to each other. After some more drinks they go upstairs to her room and after some kissing, she wakes up alone and lives out of suitcase and only has a storage locker in D.C. for the few big items she has for she is mostly away on assignment being that she is a reporter. Her friend keeps trying to get her to stay in the states but she comes in for a few days and then goes back out. You really don’t know what is going on with the guy, until three years later. You are in a vehicle in Afghanistan, Grace the reporter is with a unit and has been with for over a few months, she has built a friendship with them and they are joking a little. When one of the vehicles behind them is struck by a rocket and now all of the vehicles are under attack and the soldiers are fighting to get to the first vehicle that was hit, while all of this is going on air strike is being called in, men are trying to get to the wounded while fighting, she is feeling bad for she knows some of the soldiers hurt they call in for a rescue. Here is where Josh the man she meet three years before and both have been thinking about each other, he is a pararescuer. His team was in the rec room on base when the call came in, and just like that they grab their gear in the helicopter and when they got their helping with the firefight and rescue of personal until mechanical problem and he jump out of the helicopter. Now the only two people left were Josh and Grace, who had not seen each other in three years but were on each other’s mind. As they worked through their issues and how to get rescued themselves. This turned out to be a good book and a very fast read. I will say that for the most part I liked the story and I felt that the author did a good job with the two characters and their descriptions. Also with some of the issues that they needed to work out, but the way she had them do made the story I think a better one. A good and enjoyable read. I got this book from net galley. 

TALKIN' SPORTS WITH PAT TALK LIVE 7:30-8:00PM pst TONIGHT

Talkin’ Sports
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Talk Live 7:30-8:00p.m. PST
Tonight!!!


1.)  The other day the San Antonio Spurs Hired Becky Hammon as the first female assistant in NBA history.  She played 16 seasons in the WNBA & was a 6 time all-star.  A good move by the champs.
                                    

                 
2.)  I noticed a lot of people talking about the injuries of footballs with their knees.  Mainly the ACL.  But a player may be out a year but his career is not over.  Gale Sayers career was cut short because of a knee injury.  For me the big injury that I have noticed are neck injuries-The Packers had 3 players before retire just in the last 3 years and the other day the Giants had a player retire because of a neck injury to me this is more of a concern.




3.)  Hats off to New Texas coach Charlie Strong dismissing five players from the team.  He has now dismissed 7 players since taking over the team in January.  I liked what he said, “We have 85 guys on scholarship.  If you look at it and 80 of them are doing it the right way, why can’t the rest of them?”  Finally someone making college athletes accountable.  Hats off.


THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PILLOW

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PILLOW         ZANE
Posted:  Aug. 7, 2014

The Other Side of the PillowThe New York Times bestselling Queen of Erotica, Zane is back with a new novel about a testy love affair that emerges between a woman who’s had enough and a man who’s had it all.

Jemistry Daniels is a bitter woman and not trying to hide it. Even though she is beautiful, intelligent, and makes six figures a year as a high school principal in Washington, DC, one man after another has failed her. So she decides to give up and join the party by adapting the entire “friends with benefits” mentality with a couple of men that she beds on the regular but refuses to hold any kind of real conversation with, in fear that she might actually catch feelings. 

Everything is going according to plan until she meets Dr. Tevin Harris, a prominent vascular surgeon, one night at a poetry slam. Tevin listens to her deliver her male-bashing poem and instead of steering away from her like most men with any common sense would do, he asks her out. Tevin has been casually dating for years, ever since his failed marriage to Estella. They had suffered several miscarriages and the emotional pain had become too much for either one of them to bear and still wake up with each other every morning.

Opening up, gaining trust, tearing down barriers, and ultimately, having the audacity to love again is not easy for either Jemistry or Tevin. It takes a lot of transparency, emotional honesty, and patience to even begin to build a life together by helping each other rebuild what has been broken. The Other Side of the Pillow examines, explores, and exposes what it means to truly fall in love. It proves that true love stories do not have a happy ending. True love stories never end at all.

MY REVIEW:
     This is a very interesting concept for a story I get it.  I love sex as much as the next woman but I have a problem with the aggressive undertone of this whole story line at the beginning of the story.
     I understand that Jemistry Daniels, 37, has been wronged by men.  Not one or two but hello in the teens.  Which I have to say is a problem for me to understand.  Especially since she is a highly educated woman, who does some harsh smack talking where she rubs the noses of parents in the sand that come in there all high and mighty acting all skanky when she is walking the same walk and putting up with the same thing.  This all started with the first guy back in 2000, Wesley. who beat her numerous times sending her to the hospital. 
     Now mind you she is already a social studies teacher by that time.  So, from that guy where she finally hits him over the head with an iron skillet in 2000 to now 2013 in the book.  She continues the same pattern of men beating on her.  I assume beatings, but if not that at least the mistreatment and abuse of the spirit.
     So, her solution is to have sex with a couple of men which from what I can tell they don’t know about each other, (Anthony & Gregory.) She is on the friends with benefits plan.  She just doesn’t want the socializing part you know being a friend is even to much.  She wants SEX PODS.  Because “GOD FORBID YOU CATCH FEELINGS” as she puts it.
     She to me as a character is just not very likeable because to me at this point she is no different than any of the men that she was with, emotionally I am speaking.  For her really it’s all about payback.  What really makes me laugh is that she gets on the moral high ground with her roommate for being a “bisexual sex bunny.”
     She meets Tevin Harris, 34, a divorced vascular surgeon.  He got her poem and he got her pain that emanated from the poem.  He was willing to open himself up if she was.  Her mind kept telling her don’t do it you might like him and you might get trapped in another bad relationship because you are jumping in to soon.  He is willing to take it as slow as she needs to. She wants to, his job, his intelligence, his personality, his looks and his sex appeal make her want to go forward.  At the end of the second date when he says it had been months since he had had sex and he asked her how long it had been for her she lies.  It had been that day not a half hour before their date, yet she wants to talk about how she’s been burned.  A part of me gets it she’s on a power trip thing, she’s a principal of a high school and governs teachers and staff.  So, with her background with men it’s her way to keep control but she’s a skank I’m sorry to say, up to this point, my view starts to change about her at about chapter ten.
     Tevin has a profound effect on Jemistry and how she was now starting to look at males as a whole.  All he was asking was to be able to prove himself before she made a snap judgment.  He ends up taking her away for a weekend which is even a surprise to her that she said, “Yes that she would go.”  She knew she wanted to bed him but not ready for a love fest but for a show stopper Tevin speaks from his heart saying he loves her.  Being the nice guy he is, let’s her know he will not pressure he to say it back to him.  He wants her to say it only when she is ready if she ever is.
     Now Tevin has lost a patient on the table and needs a self-pity party.  Jemistry wants to be there for him so goes to his place and cooks him dinner, gives him a massage, and watches a movie with him.  Then sexual heat starts to fly…
     Watch as these two start evolving as a couple.  As individuals and see how it effects those around them.  I didn’t think I would enjoy this as much as I did especially after the shaky beginning we had.  Jemistry being such a skank at the beginning I think both men and women could benefit from this book to see what not to do in a relationship because it was a sure fire way, at the beginning, for how to end up in the toilet.  Then, when I thought there was no way to save this woman she is saved for sure.  I give this book 4 stars.  Provided by Net Galley.  This book tells it like it is be prepared.
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Worth The Trade

WORTH THE TRADE                            KRISTINA MATHEWS
Posted:  Aug. 7,2014

Worth The Trade (More Than A Game, #2)A ballplayer and a team owner would give anything for a championship—even their hearts… 

After inheriting majority ownership of the San Francisco Goliaths baseball team, Hunter Collins wants to prove to herself—and the rest of the league—that she’s got what it takes to build a champion. Her first move is to trade for a hot left-fielder. He’s got it all, speed, power, and a desire to win. Not to mention undeniable charm. 

Marco Santiago is tired of being the new player in town. After four teams in six years, he’s facing free agency at the end of the season. He wants nothing more than a long-term contract and a World Series win. Hitting on his new owner probably isn’t the best way to get it, but love may be the most powerful challenger either of them has ever faced... 
Warning: Strong language, consummated love scenes, and some baseball clichés.
77,606 Words

MY REVIEW:
     If you are a fan of baseball, love stories, and humor this is the book for you.  It is the second in the series for Kristin Mathews.  Here first being “Better Than Perfect” which I also gave 5 stars too.
     This story revolves around Hunter Collins the daughter of the late owner Henry, who just passed from cancer at the beginning of the baseball season.  Everyone knew, that was close to the team, that Hunter had been running it pretty much full time since graduating college, Stanford by the way.
     You see her daddy bought the San Francisco Goliaths for her when she came to live with him after a long period of time of them not talking to each other.  You see Hunter blamed him for her mother’s passing.  Since he took her everywhere with him even business meetings when he took some important clients to a baseball game and it lite up Hunter’s face and he and she had something to talk it gave him his in.  That is when he bought it for her.  She soaked up everything about the game and in the locker room (until she got her boobs that is, which totally pissed her off.)  He taught her in and out of the boardroom and the rest came from college.  With the exception of love, romance, and relationships.
     Marco Santiago was a player her dad had seen great potential in, a great character in, and felt he could be a great asset to the team.  He just never seemed to be able to acquire him.  So, that is what Hunter fought for and got.  Except no one told Marco until he was on his way to his stadium in St. Louis that he had been traded.  Now he is on his way to Frisco.
     He is met by Hunter and admits he doesn’t want to be there they meet a wall.  He also doesn’t know that she is the boss and even though he hasn’t been with anyone in over 6 months he can feel the sexual tension between them and starts flirting and being a real smart ass.  She gives him just enough rope to hang him because she is enjoying the sparing and flirting. 
     Too many of the guys are scared of her or they look at her as a little sister.  So, when she tells him he only backs down a little.  She drops him at the stadium and calls it good.
He finds himself in a slump and he figures out it is her.  He confronts her by telling her that with her sitting behind the dugout watching in those grandma cloths making him wonder what’s hiding under them and all…
     From here it just gets into more funny sparing, secret times they can get together, team escapades, and a lot more.  It’s a fast read with just enough with each character to keep you interested.  I look forward to another I hope.  I seems like there may be something in the works with his teammate Bryce Baxter so we’ll have to wait and see.  I give this book 5 stars.  Provided by Net Galley.
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HOW TO MARRY A COWBOY

HOW TO MARRY A COWBOY                CAROLYN BROWN
Posted:  Aug. 7,2014

How to Marry a Cowboy by Carolyn BrownRancher Mason Harper’s two little girls want nothing more than a mama of their own. So when a pretty woman appears on his front porch in a tattered wedding dress, while Mason’s looking for a nanny, he can’t help but wonder if it’s fate.

Annie Rose Boudreaux is in a downright hellish mess. She’s just a few steps ahead of the low-life ex who’s been hot on her heels, but she’s tired of running, and nannying Mason’s two sweet girls may be just what she needs. As her days on the ranch fly by, and the night’s with Mason get hotter, Annie Rose decides that she’s going to stay…for a lifetime.

MY REVIEW:
     I loved, loved, loved this story line.  Okay end of review. Not!  Oh my-gosh! Ms. Brown totally captures you with her ability to make her character jump off the pages.
     Mason Harper a ranch in Texas, who is a widower for eight years now and is the father two 9 year old twin little girls.  They are little spitfires.  One alone can make you shake in your boots but if the two of them have their heads together they can make you leave screaming from a room.
     Just ask any nanny in a 50 mile radius and 3 agencies later.  So, can you just imagine how excited they were when they found Annie Rose Boudreau asleep in a tattered wedding gown on the front porch?  Especially after praying for years for a mama.  Even if Mason wanted her gone when he did the girls adopted her with no ifs, ands, or buts.
     He knows she’s running from something or someone and he needs a nanny he ask to see her license and tells her he will check out her story and he calls the doctor to have her checked out.  She can’t let her past catch up to her.  Can she work here and make things work?  Mason’s worried for his daughter’s safety and his heart because he sees she’s scared of something and that puts him in protect mode and she is a tiny woman compared to his wife and that’s another thing.  Something she does reminds him of Holly then makes him feel guilty because it stirs feelings he hasn’t had for anyone since her passing until now…
     I loved Lily and Gabby, Mason’s little girl’s.  They are spunky and they have potty mouths especially for their ages.  But from day one when the girls started calling her “Mama Nanny” she has whipped them in order.  Yet, the three of them has done the same for her.
     I found myself with a huge smile a number of times or I was flat out laughing out loud.  I fell in love with this totally dysfunctional family that fall in love with each other.  I give this book 5 stars.  Provided by Net Galley.
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ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED ON PURPOSE

ACCIDENTALLY  MARRIED ON PURPOSE   RACHEL HARRIS
Posted:  Aug. 7, 2014

Accidentally Married on Purpose (Love and Games, #3)One ring plus one wild night equals one crazy love

Sherry Robicheaux loves men. She loves love. And she loves an adventure. So when she meets a mysterious man while working backstage at a country music concert in Vegas, she’s all about what’s happened in Vegas staying there.

Country music superstar Tyler Blue just wants a weekend of anonymity…though there’s something about the spunky waitress with the streaks of purple hair that tempts him like no other. Until the next morning, when they both wake up with fuzzy memories…and rings on their fingers.

Convincing Sherry to maintain the ruse for his public image isn’t the hardest part—it’s reminding himself that their time spent playing husband and wife in her small town of Magnolia Springs can’t last. Tyler’s first love will always be music—and the road is no place for a sweet downhome girl.

MY REVIEW:
     I really loved this book.  There was just a hot steaming chemistry between Sherry and Tyler from their first look at each other.  Yet, you know that they are both out for a fun night out on New Year’s Eve.
     For Sherry Robicheaux it is her last big (pardon the pun) before she works on having a total boring life.  You see she is known for her crazy mixed up schemes, dates, and relationships, yet everyone loves her.  She wants to stop being the 5th wheel, the last one out, or not one to be fought for.  She wants to love and be loved, she wants to feel safe and finding a safe boring guy to date and marry will do the trick so she has this weekend to get this happily ever after crap out of her system and just do a one night stand.
     For Tyler Blue the headliner of his own country band he know marriage is not for him anymore either are one night stands.  He saw his dad have to put his marriage first over his career which was music the thing he loved so much.  So he knew he just could never do that to himself by getting married.  His record label was making him rethink that saying his fans were starting to question his manhood.
     Sherry’s family caters the concert benefit that Blue is playing at.  Since she doesn’t like country music she has no clue who he even is.  So, he runs with it giving himself a chance to just be himself Tyler.  She thinks he’s a roadie and he only gives his first name.  He comes into eat before the show when she was told that Blue never comes into eat until after his show so she had no way of knowing he was Blue.
     The concert starts she puts on her headphones and gets to work set up for after the show.  Blue never comes in after the show so she does clean up and goes to her room and Tyler picks her up at her room in the same hotel as where the benefit was.  He wines and dines her and asks for a second date for New Year’s Eve, she says, “Yes.”
     He picks her up early and surprises her with all kinds of things he says Blue was nice enough to set up for them to do. She believed him but knew somewhere in the back of her mind that he wasn’t telling all the truth.  The next thing they both know they are waking up with hangovers.  Him in bed her on the bathroom floor next to the royal throne.  When they both notice the gold round thing on their left hands…
     I totally enjoyed this fun fast read.  This couple was sexy as hell, hot, hip, and in love in a quirky way, their bantering made this story more appealing.  They got caught in their own web but it turns out to be a wonderful thing.  I give this 5 stars. Provided by Net Galley.  Find us at:
www.1rad-readerreviews.com

ALL RIGHT HERE

ALL RIGHT HERE                          CARRE ARMSTRONG GARDNER
Posted:  Aug. 7, 2014

Ivy Darling can't have children of her own, and her husband Nick's resentment is forcing them apart. And while Ivy has the support and love of her large, close-knit family, Nick's family has never welcomed her into the fold.When the three children next door are abandoned by their mother, Ivy and Nick take them in for the night. One night becomes several, and suddenly Ivy and Nick find themselves foster parents to the only African-American kids in the town of Copper Cove, Maine. As Ivy grows more attached to the children, Nick refuses to accept their eclectic household as a permanent family. Just as Ivy begins to question whether or not she wants to save her emotionally barren marriage, Nick begins to discover how much Ivy and the children mean to him. But is his change of heart too little, too late?

MY REVIEW:
     This story had so much going.  A lot of it dysfunctional.  Mainly revolves around Ivy Darling told from her point of view.  She and her husband Nick are unable to have child which only adds to stress of their marriage.  You see no one in Nick’s family cares for Ivy, they feel she is just not good enough for him especially since she has not produced a child for him.  She resents him for not manning up and telling them she can’t have children after 3 years of trying and also that they need to stop disrespecting his wife.  All of which she can count on him not doing.
     They are two people living in the same house him constantly taking small verbal swipes at her.  She over compensating to do things for him, to only be crapped on.  One day after work she’s leaving to go down to the beach when she sees the new neighbors kids sitting out on the porch in the hot sun.  But she doesn’t think anything of it, but several hours later they are still there.
     Ivy invites the kids in for a cold drink and something to eat.  Where she finds out their mom has taken off for days before.  She calls her cousin who is a social worker to see what she should do.  She and Nick were granted temporary custody.  Nick was not over joyed.  First days go by, then a month, and now a year.  All the time Nick is still backing away, not happy, saying the kids are not their kids and never could be.  Asking why he’s cutting loose, bringing up, and an old hurt, shame, and past that Ivy had told him about.  He said, Yeah he remembered he couldn’t forget, forgive, and he hated her for something she told she did in her past that now effected them.    
     A harsh truth that Ivy needs to hear because she had known she was so far away from Nick emotionally it was crazy that this was a sealer.  She needs to find her own voice.  She found a piece of paper that had classes from the adult school.  She enrolled in a pottery class that lasted 8 weeks.  Jonathan the teacher took an interest and offered private lessons and friendship…

     What I did like about this story is that it was Christian based but reality based as well.  With real family yet realistic in how they were handled and the problems were not sugar coated or made up ventures.  You have 3 bitchy sister-in-laws, a mean nosy bigot mother-in-law, 30 year old detached emotional brother, an all about me selfish twin sister, one over weight but loving sister, a sister who is scared to be out in the world and a sister whose is all academic, then you have a mom with her in the sand wanting them all to be and stay the Brady Bunch.  Most of all you have sexy as hell Jonathan who takes an interest in her and in her life more than Nick ever did.  See where this all goes…I give this 4 stars do to the abrupt ending with no epilogue.  Provided by Net Galley.  Find us at: www.1rad-readerreviews.com.

THE MAVERICK'S RED HOT REUNION

THE MAVERICK'S RED HOT REUNION   CHRISTINE GLOVER
Posted:  Aug. 7, 2014

The Maverick's Red Hot Reunion by Christine GloverCorporate Maverick Zach Tanner returns to North Carolina to rebuild his dying friend's resort. He's got the money, the power, and the will to transform Sweetbriar Springs into a premier spa for the glamorous, but he doesn't count on the woman he once loved…and lost…to handle the construction contract. Zach thought he'd buried his desire for Kennedy five years ago. He was wrong, and now he’s determined to satisfy his craving...
Construction company owner Kennedy Gibson is eager to restore Sweetbriar Springs, but when she realizes Zach is her new boss she's terrified he'll learn the truth about their breakup so long ago. She vowed never to hurt him again, but she can't deny the passion he reignites in her. She wants to believe she has a chance for a different future with him, but will her secret threaten to destroy their red-hot reunion?

MY REVIEW:
     Zack Tanner used to be a manager at Sweetbriar Springs Lodge 6 years ago when Kennedy Gibson and he were involved with each other.  Her father is the owner of the construction company that she grew up in and is now the CEO of.  Not just any CEO she is also hands on from wheedling a hammer, looking at blueprints, to picking out décor.  She does it all.
     You see six years ago Zach and Kennedy were so close they were due to get married.  But, when Kennedy miscarried the child they were due to have she out and out told Zach she couldn’t marry him. She couldn’t marry him because she didn’t love him or she said she was doing it to protect him from more heart ache.  He wanted a big family one thing she thought was not possible from what she was told.
     Zack being a fixer he knew she didn’t have it in her to go through all kinds of testing she couldn’t take it.  She was also protecting herself.  From this gorgeous man who was a take charge let’s find a solution and get it fixed.  No matter how far, long and at what cost to wallet or heart.  She had to protect them both.
     Not expect Michael their best friend that had brought them together to begin with would become ill with ALS.  With that he would throw them together to work as he fought for his life as well as thousands of others fundraising while he could.  Losing a child is devastating and he wasn’t around before or after and she resented him.  See how they work through it when brought back together.
     I really enjoyed the twist and turns and all the emotions of what it is like to lose a child.  They was it is to love someone so much and to do something that you think is for their own good and only to find out the only thing that happened was a lot more heartache.  I gave this story 5 stars.
Provided by Net Galley.  Find us at:              
www.1rad-readerreviews.com

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