CURVES BY DESIGN: BIG GIRLS AND BAD BOYS #3 BBW ROMANCE

CURVES BY DESIGN                            J.S. SCOTT
Posted:  Feb. 26, 2015

Curves by Design (Big Girls And Bad Boys, #3)Pediatric Nurse Molly Whitney is crushed when one of her best friend's older brother, Devon Richards, starts to show a passionate interest in her in spite of her plus sized body and then rejects her. Between the rejection and her mother's constant nagging about her weight; her self esteem hits at an all time low.

Architect Devon Richards has been completely enchanted with Molly since their first encounter, but he misunderstands the relationship between his brother and Molly and is forced to keep his amorous interests in the beautiful nurse to himself. Even though he desperately wants her...she belongs to his brother and he just can’t cross that line.

By the time Devon realizes that he misunderstood the relationship between Molly and his younger brother, six months has passed, but she’s haunted him continually since their brief encounter. Now that he knows she’s free and he can pursue her…she doesn’t trust him or his motives. Can he convince her that she’s the one woman he’s ever truly wanted? He’s determined to storm her defenses and get her into his life and his bed…no matter what it takes to achieve that goal.

18+ Only. This is an EROTIC BBW Romance. It includes graphic sex, graphic language and other subjects meant for mature audiences only.   

MY REVIEW:
    For a free read this was a very engaging BBW ( Big Beautiful Women) romance short. The characters were so very likable. Molly & Devon are star crossed alright. So, crossed all the wires are mislabeled. Molly has a mother from HELL who talks in her head even when she hangs up from their awful phone calls. She has her mother weight issue tapes playing in her head that Devon really has his work cut out for him if he stands a chance at winning her affections. This is a book that follows true to life with a HEA (Happy Ever After).

TOO HOT TO HANDLE

TOO HOT TO HANDLE                         KATIE ROSE
Posted:  Feb. 26, 2015

Too Hot to Handle (The Boys of Summer, #2)Nikki Case is no fan of baseball. Her ex gambled away a fortune on the sport, and now her PR firm has tasked her with cleaning up the league’s most notorious bad boys. The New Jersey Sonics are known for wild womanizing and booze-fueled brawls, so Nikki expects the worst. Her first stop in the battle to win hearts and minds is star hitter Jake Baldwin—a legendary ladies man so smokin’ he threatens to melt her tough-girl armor.
 
Although his teammates prank her without mercy, Jake admires the way Nikki gives as good as she gets. She may be the queen of frost, but there’s kindling beneath those sultry curves—and he’s just the man to ignite it. But when a PR nightmare lands the Sonics in headlines across the country, Nikki is ready to walk. Only then does Jake realize how important she is to the Sonics’ success—and that winning the love of a good woman is no game.

MY REVIEW:
     When you have a winning team who has begun to believe the hype about their greatness what then?  You know the wild off hour parties, drunken behavior, and barroom fights.  Not the image you want your team to portray.  You go looking for the best person for the job and that just happens to be, Nikki Case, PR rep.
     She has been brought into change the image of the team to make them a team parents would want their kids looking up to.  On her first day on the job within 5 minutes of talking to the team she managed to get their best pitcher Chase suspended for sounding off during her shpill.  Then, she got Jake Baldwin their shortstop benched for being late.  Things were going to change Mr. Caine, the GM, had given her full rein of the team.
     When Jake did arrive they found out he had over slept due to the flavor of the girl, from the night before, he was so tired.
That’s when Ryan came up with the bet before telling him. 1.) He was benched. 2.) Who the visitor is.  The bet being that he couldn’t get a date with any woman like he said he could.  Because they knew of a woman it would never happen with.  Jake said no way.  He took their bet even with the high stakes and they pointed out the woman and said not only did he have to get a date with said woman but make her fall in love with him.  He said not a problem.  He said, now who is she?  They all pointed to the new PR rep Nikki Case…?
     This is one sweet, funny story.  I enjoyed it a lot.  I enjoyed the interaction between Jake and a young youth he befriends, very endearing.  The relationship between Nikki and Jake hot and steamy but the team as a whole was funny just mean at times.  I loved Pete the head coach and his backbone and kindness to back Nikki’s play for the good of his team.  There were a lot of slow transitions between scenes compared to the first book.  I give this 4 stars.  Provided by Net Galley.
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TALKIN' SPORTS WITH PAT 7:30-8:00pm PST LIVE CHAT

Talkin’ Sports
With Pat



 Jerome Kersey


     Who Played Pro Basketball from 1984-2001.  Mainly with the Portland Trail Blazers from 1984-1995.  He passed away February 18, 2015 from a blood clot after having surgery.  Surgery was out patient days before.  The clot they say went from his calf and moved up to his lungs.  I mention this because I have had two knee surgeries and on my second one my calf was starting to itch and looked like a bug bite.  I went into my family doctor who immediately said it looks like a blood clot is forming and had blood work done right away.
     I forgot the name of the test but my numbers were high and I was put on blood thinners right away.  Here was an athlete that this happened to and just a surgery that is done hundreds of times a day just in the U.S. alone.  So, if you think there is a problem go in I am glad I did. 


A DECEMBER BRIDE

A DECEMBER BRIDE                           DENISE HUNTER
Posted:  Feb.  26, 2015

A December Bride by Denise HunterWhat started as a whim turned into an accidental - and very public - engagement. Can Layla and Seth keep up the facade in Chapel Springs this holiday season - for the sake of her career . . . and his heart?

Under normal circumstances, Seth Murphy, the best friend of Layla O'Reilly's ex-fiance would be the last person she'd marry. But the news of their upcoming (and phony) nuptials convinces a big client that Layla may be high-society enough to work for his agency, a coup that would put her fledgling home-staging business on the map. Seth has secretly loved Layla for years, even when she was dating his best friend. Maybe she'll never forgive him for the way he hurt her back then, but he has to try. And Layla is willing to keep up their engagement farce until she's landed her client. For Layla, it's the chance to save her career. But for Seth, it's his last chance to win her heart.
 

MY REVIEW:
     How do you ever recover from a betrayal?  One is bad enough but three all in one failed swoop?  Well, that is exactly what Layla O’Reilly has had to live with.  You see her back stabbing Cousin Jessica used and now is marrying her ex-boyfriend Jack.  If that was not bad enough one of her best guy friends that she knew before Jack not knowing put them in the same path and then when the affair was going on didn’t warn her.  (Although states he was clueless.)
     The thing about it is that Seth Murphy has had a never ending crush on Layla.  So, when the breakup happened Jack got Seth, man coded.
     Jessica is her cousin and already thinks she’s better than Jessica for stealing her man.  Layla has to go to the wedding since her whole family will be there.  The way she see’s it arriving on the arm of a good looking man and showing Jack that she has moved on is the best revenge ever.  So, a friend of the family, her brother’s was going to take her.  Until 5 hours before the wedding when Cooper calls and says he’s got strep and is running 102* fever.  She’s sunk.
     In walks Seth and happens to sit at her station.  Not know she still worked there.  She waits on him long story short he’s going alone and it’s starting to snow and he offers to take her.  With a look of contempt she says yes.  Which only adds to the evening.  It only gets better as people start to think they are a couple but especially the bride and groom.
     Very cute story.  Short, enjoyable story line and characters keep you engaged.  I give this 5 starts.  Provided by Net Galley.  Follow us at:  www.1rad-readerreviews.com

THE PERFECT HOMECOMING #3

THE PERFECT HOMECOMING           JULIA LONDON
Posted:  Feb.  26, 2015

The Perfect Homecoming by Julia LondonEmma Tyler’s cool exterior and penchant for sarcasm keep most people from getting too close…and an unusual compulsion drives her to steal from the few men who do. When her trophy-collecting habit goes too far, she quits her ritzy event-planning job in Los Angeles and runs away to Pine River, hiding with her estranged half-sisters at Homecoming Ranch and caring for Leo Kendrick, her ailing friend.

Thrillseekers Anonymous founder Cooper Jessup has his hands full with work and his brother’s looming prison release date. But when a client asks him to track down Emma Tyler to retrieve a stolen memento, Cooper can’t turn down the money…or the chance to see the beautiful Emma again.

When Cooper comes to collect the item, Emma refuses to admit the horrible truth. This handsome man may see right through her steely veneer, but can he get close enough to show her how love and honesty can heal a troubled heart?

MY REVIEW:
     The things we do when we are trying to make a connection.  We will give or some may say sell a piece of our souls just to feel a sense of warmth, connection, or belonging.  Emma Tyler just took it one step further.  She figured she gave you a piece of herself so it was only right she took a piece of you.  Like a cuff link, a silk tie, engraved pen, a marathon medal, a military medal, or a tie clip.
     It was one of those items that was going to make Emma take an extremely hard look at the reason at why she does it.  Not to mention the men she took them from.  She’s missing something she knows it.  People over and over keep telling her how beautiful she is but that she has no tack or good graces with people.
     The thing is she never means to hurt anyone’s feelings at all.  She just doesn’t have an edit button.  Never ask what she thinks unless you really want to know.  The thing is she has the rep in Hollywood as the girl that sleeps around.  Especially, with married men.  So when she once again runs into Cooper Jessup at a bat mitzvah that CEM party planning is putting on she got nervous.  He more or less asked her out for a drink after the event.  She is not use to men who are available, attainable, or close to her age.
     From that night on an uneasiness comes over her and she quits her job.  Goes to Colorado to stay at the ranch she owns a third of with her two stepsisters, Madeline and Libby.
She’s there about two weeks when Cooper shows up on her door step as she is leaving for work.  She panics because she has not seen him in a year.  She knows him being at the ranch can’t be good.  When he wants to talk about an item that a client says that she has she says she can’t, she is on her way to work.  Then leaves him standing on the front porch with her sisters.
     Why can’t she just hand it over?  What causes her to hold back?  Cooper shows up at where she volunteering her time caring for Leo Kendrick’s a young man who has no use of his limbs.  She likes it because Leo is a lot like her no nonsense, it is what it is.  His dad Bob doesn’t like or trust her.  She’s okay with that because her whole like no one ever has.  And most of all because they both need her.
     I think Leo’s character steals your heart right off the bat.  He is just too funny in an obnoxious kind of way.  This had to be one of the most poignant, genuine, and dignified stories of a person with a fatal disease.  I do have to say it does feel like there should be another book to finish off some loose ends.  So worth the read.  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by Net Galley.  Follow us at:  www.1rad-readerreviews.com

THE BACHELOR'S BABY

THE BACHELOR'S BABY                       DANI COLLINS
Posted:  Feb. 26, 2015

The Bachelor's Baby by Dani CollinsYour date with Bachelor #3 includes champagne and chocolate in the limo that collects you, a helicopter tour or Marietta and the surrounding mountains and valleys, and dinner at a five star restaurant in Great Falls. While oil baron Linc Brady wines and dines you, a main service will completely clean your home. 

Who could resist this tempting offer, but Meg Canon plans to do just that. She is only home to clean out her childhood bedroom for her brother’s new step-daughter and then she’s outta her childhood small town and back to her life in Chicago, but when she meets the sexy, renegade millionaire while she’s stuck in the snow, sparks fly and Meg is tempted to maybe stay a little longer. 

Linc Brady is new in town and happy to help a kid in need, but this? Technically he doesn’t owe Meg a damned thing after she bids on him, after setting him up for the Marietta bachelor auction in the first place, but her high-class city polish is his fatal weakness and makes her impossible to forget. When she agrees to come home with him, he makes it clear he’s a confirmed bachelor. This is a one-night thing. One night that turns into nine months and maybe a lifetime...? 

MY REVIEW:
       Meg Cannon knows her subjects she does research on and Lincoln Brady was one of them.  So, when he asked her for a one nighter while doing a good deed for her she was put out.  When she was greeted outside the grocery store by Lily wanting to know if she thought her brother, Blake, would do a local fund raiser for a young man injured and now paralyzed.  Meg said no because he was now engaged.  Asked if she could think of anyone and well…
     Linc (Lincoln) came to mind.  He is new to town.  He bought the Circle H next to her brother’s place.  So, since he’s single and she feels payback is in order…Linc is not happy when he meets back up with her at the hardware store.  It’s foreplay for 6th graders really but with a sting at least on Linc’s side.  Now the gauntlet has been lobbed.  He promised she would regret not going out with him later with that said leaving with a teasing manner in his look.
     At the auction Meg felt bad so she started bidding on him.  Then he started bidding against her to the final tune of $2500.01.  She said fine no date he pays his money she would pay hers that’s when he realized he hurt her feelings and embarrassed her.  Forgetting he wasn’t in a boardroom taking over a merger or outbidding other men.  She was good at it too though.  He pays the total amount to her surprise and offers to drop her at home.  But when he finds out she has a stalker while they are talking his need to protect and possess is strong.
     He relates personal experiences if how serious a stalker can be.  But once he takes her home to his house for coffee and talks to her he realizes he wants her more than he has wanted anything in a long time.  She warns him he’s in charge of protection he says ok. 
     I really enjoyed this book a great deal it was a real depiction of what anyone who has an unexpected pregnancy goes through.  The questions, the worry, the denial, and the fear.  All the characters steal your heart even the ones that can make you mad.  There is a line that just stole my heart in this book that is a good indicator of what you will find, “Binding through love or binding through the soul we all need a connection.”  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by Net Galley.  Follow us at: www.1rad-readerreviews.com 

CAN'T WALK AWAY

CAN'T WALK AWAY                               MOLLY McLAIN
Posted:  Feb. 26, 2015

Can't Walk Away by Molly McLainFor the past year, barista Ally Barrett has been content to spend her weekends distracting River Bend’s hottest commodity—the sexy, too-serious sheriff. Their casual arrangement suits her independent nature just fine…until it doesn’t.

Sheriff and Army Guardsman Mark Dunn lives to serve the people of his community and his country. Ally is the only woman who’s never asked for more than his nights—and the only one he’s ever considered giving his days, as well. Too bad duty says otherwise.

When an unexpected pregnancy flips their no-strings understanding on its head—and tarnishes both of their reputations—Mark has a tough time proving he wants a real relationship and not just reelection. But if this sheriff knows anything, it's how to fight for what he believes in—Ally’s heart.

Warning: This book contains a hero who’s all business and no play…unless there’s a dress and a hot redhead involved.

MY REVIEW:
   When two hearts want the exact same thing but the owners of those hearts either don’t want to talk or know how to use their words it makes it difficult.  How do each handle a causal relationship that has now turned into a friends with benefits?
Then on top of that fear of commitment, fear of being hurt, fear of being left, or fear of not measuring up and a whole lot more.  You are talking relationship suicide.  Right?
     You see Mark Dunn is the Sheriff as well as an Army Guardsman with a true sense of duty.  The only thing is others at the beginning of his career put him under a microscope early so he felt a need to be careful.  So, when Ally Barrett came back home when her dad became ill and he finally asked her out he wanted to keep it on the down-low.  Which she was okay with until now.
     A year and a half later and several on and off again with nothing to bind them together.  But for Ally this last time was different four weeks had gone by with no calls, no coming over to her house or her work and no explanation as to why.  Then, when she got mad and at the local pool hall started dancing with a guy and doing shots with him then is when the good sheriff decided to acknowledge her there in the same pool hall.  Sending Ally into a tail spin putting their relationship in order, or as best she could until Mother Nature had a difference of opinion with her…Fireworks would fly.  Yet, someone very wise tells Ally, “Somewhere between wanting something to work and actually putting in the effort to accomplish it, the magic happens.”
     I loved how it shows this poor guy in such a clueless state until about halfway through.  Then, an accident occurs to make it more clear as to the feelings he had been holding back.  Is it too late for her though that’s the question?  Can her love hold out?  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by Net Galley.
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ROUGH JUSTICE

ROUGH JUSTICE                                   SARAH CASTILLE
Posted:  Feb.  26, 2015

Rough Justice by Sarah Castille


IT TAKES A GOOD, STRONG WOMAN

Raised in a motorcycle gang, tough, beautiful Arianne Hunter has always dreamed of a normal life. But no sooner does she escape her father’s domineering grasp than she wakes up to find herself in a rival gang’s clubhouse—at the mercy of the dangerously sexy Jagger Knight.

TO TAME A MAN WHO’S HELL ON WHEELS.

The alpha leader of the notorious Sinner’s Tribe, Jagger Knight is all muscle, all biker, and all man. But somewhere inside this hard tattooed outlaw, Arianne senses a kindred spirit—and she can’t ignore their tempestuous attraction. Can she beat him at his own game in a revved-up blaze of glory? Or will their passion spark a war that’s the end of the road for them both?

MY REVIEW:
     Being the leader of the dominate motorcycle club of all Montana is a full time job.  Between the caring for club business, rival clubs, and the club members and families well beings there is no time for a romantic life.  Jagger had been there before with Christel.  Not knowing she had been sent by a rival MC gang, to his club, they got tight you could say he fell in love.  Then, she went to give them the info they wanted.  They ended up beating her till almost dead and dropping her at Jagger’s doorstep.  She died soon after.  All those involved are now dead that small club trying to make a name no longer exist.
     Now there’s a new problem to deal with Jagger’s club house and one of his men are gone.  The club house burnt to the ground, the man Cole is dead, and the AK47’s are missing or at least half of them.  Wow, another day at the office.  Being that this MC group are all ex-military with PTSD is a sure thing so emotions run high.  So, when they find a downed rider with Axel a disgruntle member, and he has him at gun point to the head ready to shoot him without Jagger’s okay  new problems come on board.  What to do about Axel’s disloyalty to the order of the club and lack of disrespect to Jagger.
     Jagger arrives and makes Axel stand down especially when he sees Axel kick the prisoner who was knocked out at the time.  With a helmet on they have no clue who it is.  They did notice that the figure of this person looked like a very small framed man like a teen even.  When they take off the helmet it’s not even a guy at all but a beautiful young woman…wearing the patch of the Jacks! 
     See what happens once these two lock eyes.  Is it hate or something foreign to both of them?  Jagger thought he had it once but know now that couldn’t be true but can he allow himself to fall into that trap again.  Possibly endangering this woman more than her club had already?  See as Jagger had to make tough decisions for his club, his brothers, and his personal well-being.  Not to mention there is a traitor among them who is stabbing them in the back. 
     I totally enjoyed this book.  The characters were kick ass, funny, and even had a sense of a justice.  What I like is that the female character was not just a poor me victim.  She was a fighter who was going to not allow her friend, family, or foes to take her down yet if you were loyal and loving to her she had your back one hundred and ten percent.  The male lead, Jagger, had issues from his past like all of us do but he did have a form of right and wrong.  After all, he served in the military.  He served and treated his club of almost all ex-servicemen with that same discipline and respect.  But you crossed the line you paid a deadly price…But his softness and kindness to women was honorable throughout even when you thought it was not.  Take a chance I know you will enjoy this book if it’s a genre you enjoy.  I give this 5 stars.
Provided by Net Galley. 
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