MUST LOVE COWBOYS

MUST LOVE COWBOYS                         CHERYL BROOKS

Shy computer specialist and amateur chef Tina Hayes travels to Circle Bar K ranch to scatter her father’s ashes in the Tetons of Wyoming. Once there, her father’s old army buddy and his cast of cowboy ranch hands persuade her to stay on as the ranch’s cook for a while. It’s not a hard decision, especially when she meets Wyatt McCabe, a man who makes her heart gallop like no one else. But with so many cowboys to choose from, can Wyatt show Tina that he’s the only one for her?

MY REVIEW:
     Tina Hayes was asked by her grandfather via his will to spread his ashes in the Tetons.  Then she was to bring some boxes to his old Army buddy Calvin Douglas.  They were in boot camp together and continued to active duty.  Calvin was a cook and her grandpa a combat soldier.  It was during Vietnam and Agent Orange, leaving a marking on her granddad that never ever went away.  Her grandma was pregnant with her mom when he left, an only child, they only lasted as a couple for five years he came back with what we know now as PTSD.  They just didn’t know it then.  Her grandma couldn’t deal with who he had become when he came back.
     In all that time though she came to find out later after his passing that Calvin was the one constant in his life beside her.  They continued to write to each other often.  On an old typewriter that her had forever.  And she was carrying back to him all the love and memories these two friends had for one another as friends and family but most of all brothers in arms. 
     Being shy beyond words her whole life she didn’t know what to expect.  Especially being from Kentucky and driving all that way with her dog, his ashes and those letters to Wyoming.  So, when she arrives after a very long emotional day and the first person she comes in contact with is a big, tall, good looking, surly cowboy who doesn’t even crack a smile, well she wanted to run.  Nobody ever called Wyatt McCabe cuddly and friendly that is for sure.  But when asked where Calvin is he gave good Intel.
     When she found Calvin he was more than excited to see her and he seemed to know way more about her and her granddad than she did about him.  He was so friendly and appeared to be the cook.  So he asked her to dinner.  She was not okay with that she said she was just there to drop off the boxes.  He said he would not take no for an answer.  That her granddad would skin him alive if he knew he didn’t make her stay.  He said he was shy just like she is and he understood but not to worry that the guys would love her. 
     So thankfully he let her help get things ready to be served up because the only other option was go into the mess hall alone and wait.  No Way!  Was her thought.  When all the ranch hands come through to eat they are all very friendly except guess who?  There is Joe, the foreman, Bull the one who never stops talking and has a foul mouth, Sonny the second to the youngest, Nick the youngest, and Dean the charmer.  But all, every last one, with a kind heart.  She knew this because they did everything they could do to get her to stay.  When she said yes they were all so excited.  Company must be in short supply way out where they are she thought.
      Being there for dinner she was able to see the men in a different light and realize she could let her guard down around men a little.  No matter how she looked at it she was still inexperienced when it comes to men.  She had never dated one let alone kissed one.  But that night after fixing Nick’s computer boy did he kiss her.  And Dean was not happy because he was saying he was too young and he was the one flirting openly with her at the time.  Yet, she kept stealing looks at Wyatt and caught him looking at her too.  Her fantasies had never been about cowboys more like firemen but found out by accident that is what Wyatt used to do was he was a fireman.  Her life just got interesting.
     This was a very cute story full of plot twist to make it fun.  And most of all raining men, not just any men, cowboys.  Men that will make you laugh, that is for sure.  There is an attempted murder, a love twist, and a marriage proposal.  All the things to keep you interested and wanting more.  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by netgalley.com.  Follow us at:

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THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY                  A.J. PINE

How far will one man go for the woman he's loved since high school?

Jamie Kingston has been Brynn Chandler's best friend since middle school. Only once was their friendship tested—when Brynn gave Jamie a single kiss. Since then, they've had an unspoken agreement never to cross that line again, and she’s ready to let go of the past and move on.

But Jamie has loved Brynn for as long as he can remember, and now that he's ready to tell her, she has her sights set on someone else. Knowing this is his last chance, he asks Brynn to go on a two-week road trip. But their time alone brings old hurts to the surface, and Brynn has to decide if the one that got away lies at the end of the journey or if he's been by her side all along.

MY REVIEW:
     One kiss the week before graduation changed the course of this friendship, well not really.  Actually, Jamie Kingston didn’t want his longtime friendship to end the way his parents’ marriage did.  So the day after that fantastic kiss with Brynn Chandler he told her it couldn’t go anywhere that she was just too important as his friend and he couldn’t lose her.  Never giving her a choice in the matter.  Crushing her heart and mixing her up even more.
     You see if Brynn hadn’t gotten sick she would have made it to the party that the guy she had been crushing on all school year was going to be at and he had asked her if she was going to be there.  They were finally single at the same time and he seemed interested in her.  She was so excited to be going when it was time to go she was ill and her parents were out of town and Jamie took care of her.  Making her miss the party.
     Fast forward ten years class reunion time.  They are having it at Jamie’s “Kingston Ale House on Southport.”  Believe it or not she was not seriously dating but Jamie is or “James” as Elizabeth his new girlfriend calls him.  Oh yes lest I forget it is “Liz” but only for Jamie when it comes to Dr. Elizabeth.  Yup! He scored himself a doctor.
     They have been dating 3 months which has been hard on Brynn since he had always been her plus one but not anymore and it just feels wrong without him.  But for the reunion they will take a taxi together since Elizabeth will be working.  Jamie will have to be attentive to business, the Reunion and see to his own emotions this night is brings up.  Like his true feelings for Brynn.
     Brynn too has feelings for Jamie but what can she do?  He’s in a relationship.  So she is focusing on the one guy she didn’t get to kiss and hoping to change that to another outcome and memory.  As Jamie starts to catch on he gets snippy with her and she backs away.  See if these two can work out what should have been talked about long ago.  Are they friends, will they be friends with benefits, or a couple?
     These two come to a long realization about their hearts that caused hurts.  They didn’t talk about it ten years ago but now with their class reunion fresh wounds are appearing on the old scabs.  Not to mention the question of “was it real?”  “Should I have fought back then?”  “Am I still lying now?”  I give this 5 stars.  Provided by netgalley.com.  Follow us at:

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THE SEAL'S SECOND CHANCE #3

THE SEAL'S SECOND CHANCE              ANNIE CALHOUN

The third in the Alpha Ops novella series that features an alpha Navy SEAL and the girl he thought he'd lost forever.

In high school, basketball star Charlotte Stannard and Navy SEAL Jamie Hawthorn were everything but lovers. They shared a ruthlessly competitive spirit and relentless drive, but Charlie, afraid of the consequences of an unplanned pregnancy at seventeen, drove Jamie away. But now Jamie's back in town for the banquet to honor the basketball coach, and finds Charlie, newly home from a successful career in the European leagues and coaching the girls' team. The flames between them are hotter than ever, but Charlie believes Jamie just wants what he couldn't have when they were kids. Jamie's not just playing to win. He's playing for Charlie's heart, forever.
 

MY REVIEW:
     This was a very interesting story of two athletes one male and one female.  From two different sides of the tracks.  Charlotte (Charlie) Stannard from the East Side and Jamie Hawthorn from the Hill.  Her mom was always getting married and being picked up for shoplifting and his father was the Chief of Police who arrested her.
     Jamie and Charlie would meet at a park at the bottom of the Hill at the court and play a very heated and competitive game of basketball, one on one.  Just about every night.  Sometimes their 17 year old selves would allow it to end in a kiss but nothing more.  Charlie would never let it she had plans and goals.  She had a list of them and they would be met no matter what or who.  Play a mean game of basketball and get good grades to be offered a scholarship to college then hopefully the WMBA.
     Ten years later with both her dreams met she is back to be the basketball coach at their old high school.  The old coach was having to retire due to medical issues.  It would be a major send off at a Banquet thrown by Charlie’s girls who were a championship team.  And the quest speaker would be Jamie a real life Navy SEAL and ex-basketball player.
     Both their hearts were excited with anticipation to see one another yet fear that what they built up in their heads, hearts, and dreams wouldn’t fit reality.  They both knew they never once stopped loving the other no matter what partner they may have laid with.  Since they had never taken it that far with each other and they both wanted forever their idea of that is where this story starts or does it unwind?

     Well, since these two fought out everything on the court can they even make it past center court to start a real relationship?  You will have to read to find out.  I would have liked to have seen a more drawn out ending to see how the accomplished their goal, for it seemed unfinished to me, since there was no plan.  It just felt more like a teaser book than a full length book hence the chapter at the end the when on to a totally different character.  I give this 4 stars for that reason.  Provided by netgalley.com.  Follow us at: www.1rad-readerreviews.com.

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