COLD FIRE

COLD FIRE                                                  DUSTIN STEVENS

As a DEA agent, Jeremiah “Hawk” Tate was one of the best at taking down drug traffickers. Then the cartels struck back—and destroyed everything he held dear.

Five years later, Hawk has retreated from society and is living a quiet life as a Montana wilderness guide. He’s done with the DEA, done with the criminals, and done with the pain left over from his past. But his past isn’t done with him.

When a mysterious woman offers him an enormous amount of money to find her lost brother, Hawk knows he should walk away, but, with a flash of gunfire, he gets pulled back in. Surrounded by old enemies and allies, he must face off with a new player planning to flood the market with a lethal drug. This may be the chance for revenge Hawk never thought he’d get.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:

Cold Fire starts off slow with a guide by the name of Jeremiah “Hawk” Tate. Who is ready to close down his service for the winter, but as luck would have it he receives an offer of about one years’ worth of pay for one last guide to a lake. The women says she is looking for her brother and though he feels that the story does not make sense he ends up taking her. When they get there the man is someone from his past and she is actually a hit person, who shots the guy and then shots him as he falls into the water. He survives but is pissed and on his way out finds her body frozen because a storm came through. Once he makes it out and back to his car. He travels to his former bosses place in New Mexico, and tells him what has happen and the DEA puts him back on the old case along with a new agent that he did not know. But every time they get a lead the person is already dead before they get their and then an informant dies. He knows someone inside is working for the revival drug cartel, so besides trying to stay alive he must find the mole at the same time also. This book starts a little slow but then takes off and is full suspense, action, murder and an ending with actually two different twists that really surprised me, but made for a fantastic story. This was a good book. I got this book from net galley.   I give this 5 stars.

DARE TO DESIRE

DARE TO DESIRE                                       CARLY PHILLIPS

Quarterback Alex Dare, had it all -- an all-star football career with the Tampa Breakers and his choice of willing women -- until a severe injury forces him into early retirement. When he is offered a ground-breaking position with a rival team, he’s intrigued, but there’s a catch. He’ll be working alongside the same woman he hasn’t been able to get out of his head for too long. 

Social worker Madison Evans grew up in foster homes and knows first hand what it means to have-not. She isn't impressed by Alex Dare’s wealth or charm. Not since she fell hard for him once before, only to discover she was just one of his too-easy conquests. This time around Madison refuses to succumb to Alex so easily. 

But Alex wants Madison. And if there is one thing Alex does well, it’s to get what he wants. The playboy athlete must prove he’s got game in more places than on the field. He means to prove that he’s a changed man but no sooner does he begin to break through Madison’s defenses when a new opportunity comes knocking and threatens her new-found trust. Can he make Madison take a risk and dare to love?

HUBBY'S REVIEW:

Alex Dare is a Pro Quarterback at an all pro level. He is injured and his career is over, and so is most of the people that were in his life. After kicking everyone out and just being a …. He offered a job from another team to work in a rival he agrees but the catch is he is working with Madison Evans. The history they have goes way back and she was the first person he took his anger out in the hospital and neither want to see the other one, but she really wants this new program to work so she is willing to work with him just for this reason and this reason only. She knows her friend and his sister in law had a hand in this but if it works so be it. What starts off as auguring slowly turns into him remembering the person he was and wanting to make up for what he said and what he did. She is making him work for everything. Once it looks like they are back on the road to being a couple again he is offered another job at playing quarterback and she tells him she is through, for the doctors already told him one more hit and over for good no walking. His choice now. The girl and job he agreed to or blow everything for wanting to play a game one more time. A good story full of passion and suspense even for a love story. Read the book to find out what happens. I got this book from net galley.  I give this 4 stars.

PARADISE SKY

PARADISE SKY                                         JOE R. LANSDALE

 Young Willie is on the run, having fled his small Texas farm when an infamous local landowner murdered his father. A man named Loving takes him in and trains him in the fine arts of shooting, riding, reading, and gardening. When Loving dies, Willie re-christens himself Nat Love in tribute to his mentor, and heads west. In Deadwood, South Dakota Territory, Nat becomes a Buffalo Soldier and is befriended by Wild Bill Hickok. After winning a famous shooting match, Nat's peerless marksmanship and charm earn him the nickname Deadwood Dick, as well as a beautiful woman. But the hellhounds are still on his trail, and they brutally attack Nat Love's love. Pursuing the men who have driven his wife mad, Nat heads south for a final, deadly showdown against those who would strip him of his home, his love, his freedom, and his life.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This book is loosely based on a real cowboy named “Deadwood Dick”, who actually won the rope, throw, tie, bridle, saddle, and bronco riding contests. The fans of the rodeo gave him the nickname. The author takes this story of a boy Willie, who on his way into town after the civil war stops for a short time to look at a women’s behind as she is bending over. She of course is white and her husband comes out and sees Willie who is African American, and starts to chase him and this will go on for the rest of the story. But along the way he lives with a man named Loving who teaches him how to ride and shot and other things for survival. He comes across other people along the trail that are friends and some who are not. He finds love only to have this ripped from him and the hated he feels he must overcome if he wants to survive. This is a fast pace story but also done with a lot of emotion and you feel like he is on a porch somewhere talking about his life and the people who passed through some famous some just friends and some that just wanted to kill him because of the color of his skin. How he survived and overcame the deaths of his mother and father. Then mister Loving, and then people he just meets. He then goes through the men that he had to kill or be killed realizing some of the lessons that mister Loving told him were not so difficult. He also had to overcome the loss of love when the women he loved was taken from him but still alive she was really dead because she never came back and then her body left, but her soul had already gone. That is what I got out of this book was the soul of the old west, written about an African American cowboy which is true there were more “black” cowboys than white and this story was a fantastic story. The real Nat Love (1854-1921), “Deadwood Dick” died in Los Angeles, in 1921 after being a slave, cowboy, rodeo performer, Pullman porter, and author. Anyway this is a great western tail fabulously written and I am glad I found a good western for a change. i got this book from net galley. I give this 5 stars.

SHARP SHOOTIN' COWBOY

SHARP SHOOTIN' COWBOY                       VICTORIA VANE

TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT, COWBOY…

A Weary warrior… After eight years as a Marine sniper, war-scarred Reid Everett is back in his native Wyoming. He knows and loves this rugged land, so working for wildlife services to reduce the booming wolf population suits him to a T.

A Caring crusader… Wildlife biologist Haley Cooper is desperate to make a difference. Leaving the world of academia behind, she accepts a position as a wolf advocate to protect the animals she loves.

Raw attraction… Their jobs set them on a collision course, but chemistry sparks like wildfire between Reid and Haley. They’ll have to brave some rough territory if they hope to reconcile their polarizing views with a passion that won’t be denied.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:

A story that goes back and forth between the two main characters who met at a bar outside of San Diego and because he is being deployed they only write each other. Reid Everett is from Wyoming and is a Marine sniper and while he is deployed the letters stop because he is in an area where they are not allowed to write or make any type of contact with home. Haley Cooper takes this as he has moved on and now so has she. When he comes back to her grandparents’ home he finds out that she is going to a different college and studying something different as well. It takes a while but he tracks her down through a friend and talks to her but over the weekend when she has a bad experience on a ride at Disneyland she bails and does not tell him anything. A few years goes and they run into each once again she is still working for a wildlife program in studying wolfs and is also on again off again dating her one time professor. He ends up going home to his families’ ranch and becomes a guide and during one of the trips a client shots a wolf. This wolf being tagged sets off a signal but also he must report it to the authorities. When getting into town he finds out that she has been hired as the new wildlife protection overseer. Which causes for some acquired moments and as time goes on they still have feelings for each other but the wolfs are coming between them. When she pulls his license to hunt they go out to find any evidence of a wolf killing when her ex comes in and takes the photos out and turns them around to use for donations instead of the truth she must now decide if she wants the job or to find her guy to have a family if he will still have her. This story is more than just a love story it is also about ranchers and the wolf that have been put back into the wilderness, and the pros and cons of both sides. Overall I found this to be a very good book. I got this book from net galley.  I give it 4 stars.

AGAIN, ALABAMA

AGAIN, ALABAMA                                   SUSAN SANDS

Cammie Laroux is back in Alabama---again.

Dragged back to her small town to help her mother recover from surgery while rescuing the family event planning business should be a cinch. Even for a disgraced television chef, right? Wrong.

Among the many secrets Cammie's family’s been hiding is the fact that their historic home is falling down. Oh, and the man hired to restore the house, Grey Harrison, is the same high school and college love of her life who thrashed her heart and dreams ten years ago. Yeah, that guy.

Grey, a widower with a young daughter, has never stopped loving Cammie, and when they are face to face once again, the chemistry is off the charts. Cammie may be in full-blown denial, but letting go is no longer in Grey’s vocabulary, even when winning Cammie’s forgiveness and renovating their love may seem like an impossible build even for a master architect and carpenter.

As Cammie finds herself forgetting all the reasons she can’t trust Grey or love again, he finds himself remembering all the reasons he wants her to stay with him in Alabama… forever.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This story begins with Cammie, returning to her home town of Ministry Alabama, to take care of her mother and the business that she runs through their home. She had left years ago and had become a chief and was working on a cooking T.V. show as an assistant when something went bad and the star of the show wanted her gone. Now home for the first time she finds out that her mother hired her one time boyfriend who married her best friend to fix up the place and that her niece is his daughter’s best friend. Now having to deal with the past because every day she sees Grey Harrison. His wife has passed away from a car accident but there are rumors around town that make her daughter think otherwise. Plus with Cammie back the small town is talking up a storm. Then she finds out about the real story between the two of them and a secret that her mother did not tell her. While there she also wins a pie contest and gets her reputation back in the food niche. This is a good book full of emotion and the characters have depth to them. A good story. I got this book from net galley.  I give this 4 stars.

SEAL'S PROMISE

SEAL'S PROMISE                                        SHARON HAMILTON

Special Operator T.J. Talbot had watched from afar as his best friend married the love of his life. Raised in and out of the foster care system and nearly ruining his chance to become a SEAL, he figured his Happily Ever After would never be. But Dr. Death plays a heartbreaking trick on him and he winds up being the man’s father confessor, where he makes a promise to the dying SEAL to look after his friend’s wife and baby.

Back in the states, Shannon Moore is grateful for the baby she is carrying, though she is a constant reminder of the man who no longer lives at her side. She is not ready for the attention from the community she receives, especially from T.J. She’s decided to honor her fallen husband by giving her whole life to the child he left behind.

Recovering from his wounds, Talbot is plagued by the depth of the wounds he still carries inside him, as he tries to perform a mission he wishes he was not given. Rebuffed at every turn, he struggles but understands his promise might not be able to be fulfilled. He does not want to take what was never given to him in the first place.

But what starts out as an improbable love story begins to bloom and grow. When Shannon and the child are endangered, he will not quit fighting for the family he now knows he was meant to love forever. 

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This story begins with a wedding where the bride is upset with the best man because the man she is marrying has a hangover and needs to be held up. She is upset with him but at the same time a little bit attracted to him by the way he lives his life. T.J. her husband’s best and a Navy Seal team mate are sent on a mission soon after the wedding and during the mission he is shot and as T.J. is with him he asks to promise to take care of Shannon his wife and their child who is not born yet if he should pass away. He does pass away and T.J. is full of remorse because he has no one in his life and felt he should have been the one who should have died. When he finally gets the courage to go to her house he decides that the baby needs a play house though the baby is not born yet. But he pushes on and with the help of his friend’s father they get it done. He slowly starts showing up at the house every day and eventually they become more than friends and he tells her of the promise he made to his friend and her husband. He being raised in foster care and not having a family he at times gets frustrated with things but she starts to notice how he works through these problems and overcomes them and he is willing to take chances something her husband was not so much willing to do. They begin to rely on each other when her mother shows up and she ends up moving up north. He now must decide if she is worth the fight for a life of a family that he never had or stay the same by himself. This is a good story full of emotion and the characters are full of depth. I got this book from net galley.  I give this 5 stars.

COMMANDED

COMMANDED: CLUB SIN                        STACEY KENNEDY
Posted:  July 13, 2015

A dedicated cop, Sawyer Quinn blows off steam by immersing himself in his role as a Master at the hottest club in Las Vegas. But when Sawyer goes after the perp who brutally beat his sister, he teams up with Chloe Nash, a sexy private investigator who awakens a sweet new need: to keep her to himself, away from the dungeon of Club Sin. Chloe is beautiful, smart, and too innocent for the BDSM lifestyle. Sawyer’s never wanted a woman like this before. Is her love worth swearing off the one thing that keeps him sane?
 
There’s something different about Sawyer: a commanding strength that pulls Chloe into a vortex of heady desire. But when she learns about his double life as a Dom, she’s shocked—and afraid she could never complete him. Then he saves her life, and just like that, Chloe knows she will be able to give him anything he desires. She is his—wherever and however he wants to take her.
 
Commanded is intended for mature audiences.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This was a fast read for me and though the author notes this is about a sex club and (BDSM). There really is a story that is much more than the club. The book opens with a scene in the club and you meet one of the lead characters Sawyer, who happens to be a dominate in the club. He also is a police officer but you don’t find that out until a little later. The next main character you meet is Chloe. She and her longtime boyfriend are breaking up but it is mutual they both don’t feel a spark but they have been with each other since high school and after 8 years have decided to remain friends. Next Sawyer is called to the hospital to find that his younger sister was beaten by her ex-boyfriend and is unconscious. This is when the two of them meet for the next day Sawyer goes to his friends PI business and hires them for help in finding his sister ex because the police are coming up with dead ends. Porter, Sawyer’s friend owns the PI firm and puts Chloe on the case and it turns out that they had met about three weeks ago at a bar but she was still seeing Jason. After talking to the family at the hospital and the driving around they decide to take a break. This is when he finds out that she is single and she not only finds out that he is attracted to her, but he tells her about the club he belongs to and the life style. He realizes it is to much for her and they back away just for a short time. They then realize that they each want the other person and enjoy each other when they are together. They realize they each must make changes for the other person if they want to have a relationship. The same time they are searching for the guy who beat up his sister. When everything comes together at the end it works. This was more than a story about a sex club. This was a story of two people finding each other and finding a way to make what they have together work. A good book. I got this book from net galley.  I give this 4 stars. 

BROKEN

BROKEN                                                       LAUREN LAYNE
Posted:  July 13, 2015

When Olivia Middleton abandons the glamour of Park Avenue for a remote, coastal town in Maine, everyone assumes she’s being the kind do-gooder she’s always been. But Olivia has a secret: helping an injured war veteran reenter society isn’t about charity—it’s about penance. Only, Olivia’s client isn’t the grateful elderly man she’s expecting. Instead, he’s a brooding twenty-four-year-old who has no intention of being Olivia’s path to redemption . . . and whose smoldering gaze and forbidden touch might be her undoing.

Paul Langdon doesn’t need a mirror to show him he’s no longer the hotshot quarterback he was before the war. He knows he’s ugly—inside and out. He’ll do anything to stay in self-imposed exile, even accept his father’s ultimatum that Paul tolerate the newest caretaker for three months or lose his inheritance. But Paul doesn’t count on the beautiful twenty-two-year-old who makes him long for things that he can never have. And the more she slips past his defenses, the more keeping his distance is impossible.
Now Paul and Olivia have to decide: Will they help each other heal? Or are they forever broken?

HUBBY'S REVIEW:

This story has two people getting together that both need to be healed. Paul Langdon has been back from the war for two years but has isolated himself from everyone and everything since he has returned and will not allow anyone to see him except for his dad and the two workers at the house. He has gone through so many care givers that his father finally gives him an ultimatum and he finally agrees. Enter Olivia Middleton who has decided to take the job and not go back to NYU for her senior year. She does not realize how difficult this job is going to be but as much as they fight she does help him and he helps her. After the agreement is set and met from his father she tells him she is leaving because the healing that he needs now only he can do. After she leaves the few people that were still around him have all left as well and now being on his own for real he must decide to live in his castle or just to live among the living and be part of someone’s life. This was very good book and the story takes you on many different journeys. A good book. I got this book from net galley.  I give this 4 Stars.

Shout Out: An Author's Place: Sara Schoen Books: Suicide Mission & Waking Up Blank

 An Author’s Place

Sara Schoen

Books

Suicide Mission - Spy Thriller

Synopsis:
Sara Night lost her family three years ago in a car crash…
She tried to continue living a normal life, going to school, spending time with friends, and even trying to be a part of the family that took her in. She had almost gotten the hang of it, and moved past the suicide attempt.

Almost.

Then she was torn away from her new family, her old life, and thrown into a world of guns, knifes, criminals, and where every mistake could get her killed. She was needed for what seems like an easy in-then-out mission.

That was until she got caught.

Sara then had to form an uneasy alliance with a cartel member to escape, which reveals her family’s car crash wasn’t an accident after all.

Is her new life worth more to her than revenge?

Or will she die trying to figure out why her family was targeted?

Waking Up Blank- Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:
Chelsea Lerman wakes from a sixteen-week coma with a shattered memory.

Following the brutal attack that left her life in tatters, Chelsea learns her best friend Maddie Gray was murdered. Left with only fragments of memory—and none at all about the crime—she is certain she wouldn’t kill Maddie.

But the police aren’t looking for who did it, because they already have a prime suspect…Chelsea. The only way to prove her innocence is to figure out who she is, explore her faded past, and unlock her blocked memories.

The truth she seeks might be deadly.

Chelsea realizes if she didn’t kill Maddie, someone else did. If she has any hope of reclaiming her life, she has to find out who did it…and why. However, her friends, family, and the police aren’t convinced her memory loss is genuine, so she’s forced to undertake the dangerous search alone.

Plagued by a sense of being watched and a series of mysterious “accidents,” and unsure who to trust, Chelsea is running out of time. Can she unmask Maddie’s murderer before she becomes the next victim?

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSaraSchoen

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9790618.Sara_Schoen

http://www.amazon.com/Sara-Schoen/e/B00Q0DI93Q