HIS CHRISTMAS GIFT

HIS CHRISTMAS GIFT                               SARAH MAYBERRY

His Christmas Gift by Sarah MayberrySince tragedy estranged defense attorney Jenna Macintosh from her family, she’s done her best to pretend Christmas doesn’t exist. Not so easy this year when she needs to work with client Lacey Gallagher, who is living on her brother Sawyer’s Christmas tree farm. All those fragrant pines dripping with twinkling lights are bad enough, but when disaster strikes, Jenna is stuck alone in a wooded cabin with Sawyer, the hottest man she’s ever met.

Experience has taught Sawyer Gallagher that smart city women like Jenna don’t want men like him, but when Jenna falls ill, he must abandon his plan to keep his distance and soon he’s trying to work out ways to make her his—and not just for Christmas.
MY REVIEW:
Lacey Gallagher was sent to prison for three years for transporting illegal drugs she had no clue were on her train.  You see she was a rare bird she was a conductor.  Not knowing that the guy she had an on again off again relationship with was part of a gang.  He had been stowing the drugs on her train making her a mule.
     Jenna Macintosh is a lawyer in a firm that chose to take on her case pro bono.  One of her clients told her about Lacey.  On the day she was to be released her brother Sawyer couldn’t make it due to it being so close to Christmas and their rush season for their Christmas tree farm.  So, Jenna picked her up which was a six hour turn around for her.  Jenna and Sawyer had only met via email.
     When Lacey got home Sawyer was swamped with customers but also he was standoffish.  She was so nervous she didn’t fully notice.  So, she called over her lawyer to introduce them to one another.  When she came over and she was the young beautiful city girl, like the one that left him behind saying he wasn’t enough, it wasn’t computing.  He thought she was an older lady by the way she talked in her letters so he didn’t know how to act.  He told Lacey to get herself acclimated so Lacey offers to get Jenna a cup of coffee.  When Sawyer panics for the house is a mess so he runs ahead of them like his ass was on fire. 
     There is almost a full pot of coffee but he didn’t want her to have it for he said it was too old.  He started a fresh pot.  Started loading the dishwasher too.  Lacey would ask questions and he would give one or two word answers.  When Lacey finds the cookies from her granny's recipe that he baked her.  Lacey became so animated and wanted to go share with the customers.  You wouldn’t guess she was 31 years old.  Leaving Sawyer and Jenna all alone.  Jenna hated it.  She was left with her “Lumber Sexual” brother and his hostile personality.  She even wondered how bad she would get burnt if she drank the coffee he gave her all in one swallow.  But she didn’t.
     The next time she comes out is to work out some great news for a court date to get her case overturned.  Lacey hadn’t told Sawyer so when he hears Jenna mention it he blows.  He goes to do grunt work  doesn’t pay attention and gets hit by a customer backing out of a parking space.  Breaking his leg pretty badly.
     From this point on the feel of the story changes there are so many funny moments because Sawyer is so pigheaded.  There are so many heartbreaking moments because Sawyer is thoughtful and pigheaded at the same time causing grief for himself and others.  As for Jenna, you find the pain that mars her life and keeps her from love and true friendships.  Lacey finds her north again and sets her course to finding her new happy.  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by netgalley.com.

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THE CHRISTMAS SECRET

THE CHRISTMAS SECRET                        JEANNIE WATT

The Christmas SecretTrapped in a cabin in a raging blizzard with the one man on earth who could turn her world upside down…this Christmas holiday was not playing out at all the way Lil Reynolds had planned. Not even close.

When Lil’s former fiancé chose to marry on Christmas Eve—the day he and Lil had planned to marry one year ago—she knew she had to get out of town for the holidays. Heading to the isolated family cabin seemed like the perfect solution, until the blizzard came…and a man showed up at her door in the heart of the storm. Casey Lanigan. Her ex-fiancé’s brother. A man with whom she shared a secret summer romance many years ago. A man who’d betrayed her trust. A man who, despite everything, still made her heart beat a little harder…
So much for a Lanigan-free holiday.
MY REVIEW:
     When you grow up in a household filled with uncertainty you tend to have trust issues.  At least that was the case for Lil Reynolds and Casey Lanigan.  Yet, for two totally different reasons.  
     You see Lil grew up with a father who just didn’t give a damn about anything or anybody, except a good stiff drink.  He was better known as Cherry Lake, Montana’s number one drunk.  Which in turn taught her shame and how to not show fear by being an extravert which she totally was not.  She was a girl who was filled with fear of what her dad would do or what he was up to or at what he was up to next. The only time he ever slowed down, was when it was the Christmas season.  Always giving false hope that this time he would give it up and she and her mom would or could be a part of his life or at least and important part.
     As for Casey, he has a father who had and who could not find anything good in anything he did.  He was always riding his ass.  Letting him know he wasn’t good enough so he started to believe it. Once he started to act out to prove it to his father, right then, it was a downhill spiral. 
     Lil came to work for his father at the Lanigan Greenhouses.  She was assigned to work with him.  She was excited because from the minute she saw him she was in love but she was also scared for he was a risk taker.  Why he had been to Juvie and all the mischief he got into.  So far the first three weeks they co-existed.  Until one broke the ice then it was lunching together, talking, and secretly making out.  With the understanding she could not handle him being arrested and acting out.  He said okay.
     Then the worst happened Casey was arrested for the second time.  He tried to explain it away but she wasn’t having any of it and she said they were over.  He couldn’t believe it she wasn’t willing to give him a second chance.  So, he left town to make something of himself to prove he could for her.  She went off to grad school.
     Eight years later thing have changed and not for the good.  In those eight years he had come home once to tell her he had made it and she was dating his younger brother.  Then the next thing he hears their getting engaged due to marry on Christmas Eve.  Then he hears they broke up and she was the one that called it off and their grandmother had something to do with it.  Curtis was engaged now to another woman and didn’t have the balls to tell his fiancé that they were getting married on the date that he and Lil were to marry.
     Casey was already called home to work the Greenhouses for his father had a heart attack.  Therefore, he was available to be the best man and the duties needed to be done.  Then, the day before the wedding he and his father once again fight he quits the greenhouses and is going back to the business he sold.  He needs to get his gear from the cabin up at the mountains where he stored it all.  He didn’t know there was a storm coming in.  He’s able to get his stuff but he get stuck on his way down.  Just before he is passing Lil’s cabin.
     You see it so happens that Lil who never ever goes to the cabin in winter decided to go in order to get away from all the “Oh you poor girl looks.” The town people were giving her.  So she took her cat and headed to the cabin taking all the Christmas cheer she could with her.  She had music playing, she had cinnamon stick with cloves on the stove, and started decorating.  When she was sitting by the fire she hears something on the porch.  Not sure what it could be.  When she hears a faint knock.  “No way,” was her first thought because like herself no one would be out in this.  This storm wasn’t supposed to even come in their direction but it did.  So, who could it be?  She looks out and there is someone she opens it and in stumbles Casey.
     She left in order to get away from the Lanigan’s and the wedding stuff and now they were coming to her.  She was not a happy camper.  But he is wet to his waist.  So, she takes him in and things are strained.
     This is a very cute story.  How Lil and Casey work through the past hurts and mistakes.  There were some slow spots for me but overall it was good.  I would give it 3 ½ - 4 stars.  Provided by netgalley.com.  
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FLY ME HOME

FLY ME HOME                                             CANDI WALL

"He needs her for one reason but winds up wanting her for a hundred more."

"Home is Where the Heat Is," Book 4

Elizabeth McCarthy needs a scoop for her local newspaper, and the Fashion for the Future Ball is the perfect opportunity until Murphy s Law kicks in. But she s saved from public humiliation by the last man she thought would notice her. Ultra-sexy fashion critic Ian Malcolm.

Ian is tired. Tired of playing games, tired of people letting him down. Elizabeth is a breath of fresh air he didn t know he was missing. She even makes him laugh. On impulse, he makes her an enticing offer: she gets the story she needs, and he gets a sexy companion to keep the media vultures off his back.

It s a business deal. Easy as pie. Yet as their association takes them around the world, Ian remembers what it s like to experience everything for the first time and fills Elizabeth s neglected bag of sexual tricks to the brim.

Once the whirlwind trip is over, though, they re left with one unexpected hunger left unsatisfied the hunger for something more lasting than lust.

"Warning: Contains a sweet country girl steeped in small-town values, and a big-city man who doesn t hesitate to guide her through his bisexual and menage-a-licious world of sinful pleasures.""
 

MY REVIEW:
     First off you have to understand this is an erotica.  That said this is a very funny odd couple book.  The author takes two characters from completely different worlds and brings them together.
     You have Elizabeth (Liz) McCarthy a full out born and raised Texas girl with all the phrases and accent to go with it.  With a heart and personality bigger than Texas itself.  Now she has lived a very sheltered life only going out of Texas ones to check out a school in Florida.  Which by the way was her first plane ride ever.  Her second a twenty minute cropper sized plane that scared the hell out of her.  Never one since.
     She is putting herself through Veterinary school by working for a newspaper but since she has morals and a conscious she can’t seem to land that break out story.  She was due to interview Cash Dillon from Grumps Jeans Co.’s hottest model.  He missed his flight and couldn’t make it.  Now she tracked him down at the annual Fashion for the Future Charity Ball in San Antonio.  There is just one minor problem…
     Her boss didn’t secure a ticket for her and her press pass didn’t get her in for you had to be on the list.  So, desperate times call for desperate measures.  Like sneaking in the shadows on all fours under the heavy velvet curtains and getting stuck was not part of the plan though.  Only to be caught by OMG! Ian Malcomb!  Before she figures it out the guard that had turned her away sees the ruckus and takes her up by the arm to take her out when the man she can’t really see yet due to the shadows tells him she’s with him.  She’s shocked and pleased all at once.  She squeezes his arm and says, “I don’t know why you saved me from Deputy Dawg back there, but thank you.  Usually some well-shelved cleavage will do the job.”  He couldn’t help but to bust out laughing he was so taken by her.  As they got into the light that’s when she figures it out as to who he is.
     When she says, his eyebrows pull together as he looks around.  He tells her, “You are officially my date for the evening as payment for saving you.”  Then the bartering started and he loved it.  His spark for life had always been dark due to his upbringing but in the last 8 months worse since his break-up.  So, in the very short period of time she had made him laugh more than he could remember.  The life of Fashion Critic was a lonely one.  Filled with fake people.  His circle was very small of those he could trust.  For some reason he knew he could trust Elizabeth.
     He had a business agreement that could benefit them both but would open her eyes to a whole new world.  Only ever doing those things she wanted never ever being forced to do anything she didn’t want to do.  Travel and fashion for sure.
     I totally enjoyed this story.  It was highly erotic but the story was so endearing and yet extremely painful to see into the past of Ian’s beginnings.  Wonderful to see he was benefitting as much if not more, times three, from their time together even though he tried to say it was just business.  Or was it more you’ll have to read it and decide for yourself. 

     I give this 5++++ stars.  Provided by netgalley.com  Follow us at: www.1rad-readerreviews.com.

SAFE IN HIS ARMS

SAFE IN HIS ARMS                                      MELODY ANNE

Safe in His Arms by Melody AnneCan a California transplant survive Montana’s deep snows? New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Melody Anne breaks the ice between a sexy fireman and a brand-new teacher in this steamy holiday tale—originally published in the sizzling anthology Baby, It’s Cold Outside—which launched her popular Unexpected Heroes series.

Natalie Duncan is thrilled to get her first teaching job, but southern California didn’t prepare her for winter in Montana—or for gorgeous fire chief Hawk Winchester. For a man dedicated to putting out fires, Hawk really knows how to add heat to Natalie’s life, especially when he’s rescuing her from compromising situations. A man this strong and capable should know exactly what to do when a lady is trapped under the mistletoe. Suddenly Natalie’s blue Christmas is glowing red-hot...
 

MY REVIEW:
     The poor 23 year old California girl gets her first real teachers job.  Nope that’s not the bad part.  What is?  Well, she gets in Montana in November.  She did not do one ounce of research to see what type of conditions she would be living in.  But it’s Montana.  Yup I could hear you cuz that’s what I was thinking too.  Nope poor Natalie Duncan arrived in 4 inch heels, pencil skirt, and blouse with snow on the ground.
     She was tooling along through the airport daydreaming as she always seems to do.  When she gets to the doors leading outside. Wow!  It stole her breath from her lungs which stung because it was so cold.  Making her quickly run back in and take stalk of her clothing and what she brought with her clothing wise and what she brought to wear now. Yup, nothing near good enough to protect you.  New clothing and there goes some of that hard saved savings account she hoped to keep for those hard times.
     When she arrives at the house the school board had provided for her she hears the cab driver say, “Hawk is here as your welcome committee.”  As she looks up she sees this Adonis hunched over talking to the driver through the open window.  Her mind wanders again having an inner dialog again about her 10 year plan the one where a guy and family don’t come for at least another 5 years.  When all of a sudden the door to the cab opens and this Hawk person is extending his hand to help her out.  For what seems like forever to her she panics to have to touch him.  For this thing of love at first sight can’t at all be true right?  Nah!
     She reaches for his hand which is gloved and she can feel it tingle all the way up her arm.  By the smoldering look in his eyes so can he.  She drops it immediately.  They exchange names he is Hawk Winchester fire chief.  She says she’s glad to meet him then brushes past him to go to the porch. She notices the much older car she bought from one of the nice ladies on the school board for super cheap.  She’s happy to see someone had made a path through the snow so she could get to the door.
     But before Hawk could tell her to wait she was already going heels up and bracing to hit the snow.  Just before she was due to hit Hawk caught her.  Once again she was staring into Hawk’s thirsty eyes.  She curtly ask him to right her.  He does and she does get to the door.  She says she can handle it from there but he says she may need the keys.  She looks at him funny but then he tells her that he is her landlord.  Did Hawk feel it too?
     The next day these two have a run in that sets a whole set of things in motion.  The ladies of the town may have started the wheels moving but it was the wheels of love that keeps this story moving in the right direction.  Find out why Natalie has no clue it was Thanksgiving when their run in occurred.  See what has these two so spooked being around each other.  I really enjoyed this book.  Love family sagas with fun meddling town to add to the craziness of love.  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by netgalley.com
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THE ROMANCE EVENT OF THE HOLIDAYS



Authors and bloggers bringing you a brighter holiday with a month long event full of joy, cheer, book promo, and games! There will be a Rafflecopter with gift cards totaling $250. Invite your friends. Starting on November 23rd, the authors will be showing up randomly through the following month. Make sure to leave your notifications on so you don't miss any giveaways. Join our event  https://m.facebook.com/events/1670395253178643 
enter the rafflecopterhttp://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b6938c4255/



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