Ranch Ambush (Marshals of Mesa Point, Book One)

 

BARB HAN

How acquired: Harlequin Reader Service Subscription

First line: Can you ever go home again?

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: I've only read one other book by this author, an older one published about ten years before this one, and I did not like it. I one-starred it, something I rarely do. So I've been hesitant to pick her up again, even though I have around ten of her books in my TBR. But boy, am I glad I took that chance. Sometimes I read a book from a new to me author and love it so much I grab everything I can find by them, and then I'm disappointed when the next one or two I read aren't nearly as good as that first one. I guess that can work in reverse!

RANCH AMBUSH was well written, and I loved both the hero and heroine. In love for a summer at sixteen, then separated about as many years, there's lots of angst as they both internally hash out their feelings when they see each other again and spend some time together. Plus Duke's grandparents both being in the ICU after a car wreck (which I'm guessing will play out over the course of the series), and the mystery of who is out to hurt Audrey. Considering all the plot, the story is still more character over action, which I am always here for.

Now I'm off to look for Book Two!

Synopsis from Goodreads: Fourteen years after the girl Duke Remington loved disappeared, the US Marshal comes home to discover that Audrey Newcastle is in mortal danger. Protecting Audrey, now a sheriff’s deputy, rekindles painful memories and unwelcome desire. But as secrets from Audrey’s mysterious past surface, Duke must find a way to earn her trust and stop a killer lying in wait to complete a final act of vengeance.

Cowboy Commando (Special Ops: Texas, Book One; Harlequin Intrigue No. 1123)

JOANNA WAYNE

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin, 2009.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: “Welcome home, cowboy!”

(For the Goodreads synopsis, scroll to the bottom of this post.)

My thoughts: I enjoyed this older Harlequin Intrigue. Cutter is a former Navy SEAL who misses his military days and feels a little lost now that he's back in Texas. He's half-heartedly job hunting and staying in his aunt's condo. She lives on the family ranch and would welcome Cutter back, but he isn't sure that ranching is for him. He comes home one evening to find Linney in his kitchen, with a small child who she admits that she “sort of kidnapped”.

This is an Intrigue, so there's a mystery – the child's mother, and Linney's best friend, recently drowned in her own pool, and Linney is convinced that her abusive husband killed her. Problem is, said husband is a cop, and Linney can't get anyone to take her seriously.

This is the first book I've read by Joanna Wayne, and I like her writing. Linney is a little foolish, determined to prove her friend was murdered but not going about it in a very sensible way, letting her emotions drive her. But she's goodhearted and worried about little Julie's safety. Cutter is reluctant to be pulled into Linney's investigation, but once it's clear that her life is now in danger, Cutter is all in, and not about to let anything happen to Linney, or young Julie.

There's a little history between them, a few days spent together several years ago, after which they didn't see each other again, and they both harbor bitterness toward the other for walking away. Those pesky misunderstandings, always driving a wedge between lovers.

The mystery was well plotted, with a surprise twist at the end. And of course, being a category romance, there's a happy ending. My only complaint is the cover photo. At no point in the book do I recall Cutter climbing over rocks shirtless. And why must cover models always have hairless chests?

Goodreads synopsis: On navy SEAL missions Cutter Martin had been a warrior. But when it came to Linney Kingston, he was just a red-blooded Texas cowboy with bad luck at love. Linney had walked out on him six years ago. Now she was back—with a motherless child and a crazy story.
Linney's theory of murder and scandal was as preposterous as her body's traitorous response to Cutter. Still, when she was shot at, the cowboy came to her rescue. Cutter—her hero. And the only man who could break her heart again. Trusting him a second time was more frightening than the killers stalking her every move….

Rancher Rescue

BARB HAN

Goodreads synopsis: When a little boy goes missing, rancher Caleb Snow steps in to help…and winds up falling for the child's beautiful–but mysterious–aunt in Barb Han's Rancher Rescue

Getting tangled up with another woman in crisis is the last thing rancher Caleb Snow needs. The handsome cowboy has been badly burned too many times. But this one feels different–Katherine Harper is injured and reeling after an ambush in which her nephew was kidnapped. Caleb wants nothing more than to protect the beautiful, headstrong woman and help her find the missing child. If only he could ignore the feelings she stirs in him. 

But as they search together, it's clear someone wants Katherine dead. Soon the two are running for their lives, dodging bullets, not knowing who to trust…or if they'll survive long enough to bring a little boy home.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin, 2014.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Katherine Harper pushed up on all fours and spit dirt.

My thoughts: I'm glad I only paid 49 cents for this book at a thrift store. Struggled to stay interested. I just didn't connect with the hero or the heroine. There was just no depth to them. Especially the heroine. And after all the trouble the hero goes through to get her to a safe place, she just blithely walks into danger and lets the bad guy capture her. The hero rescues her, of course, a mere three and a half pages later, and it was completely anticlimactic.

The hero also kept talking "deadpan", as did his best friend on one occasion. He would say something deadpan, or in a deadpan tone. But they're just making a serious statement, in the middle of a serious situation, in a serious voice. Maybe I don't understand the meaning of deadpan? I mean, isn't that where someone says something absurd and not in keeping with the mood of the current situation, but in a super serious voice to comedic effect?

But before all the above happened, this passage just made me groan:

"My first big sale was a beautiful paint horse. The man who'd sold him to me when he was a pony said he tore up the ground like no other."

Ugh.

A HIT AND A MISS

First the hit:

Romantic Notions, by Roz Denny (Harlequin Romance No. 3122)

Synopsis: When Sam Court came raging into Brynn Powell’s lingerie shop, Romantic Notions, to return the frivolous undies his thirteen-year-old daughter had bought, he was shocked to find himself attracted to the proprietor.

Sam disapproved of female vanity. Disapproved of women like his glamorous and unreliable ex-wife...a category that included former fashion models who “hawked filmy underwear.”

But despite appearances, Brynn was really a sensible home-and-hearth person. And she had to wonder if a one-time hockey great with a few too many bruises and an ex-model with far too many responsibilities could ever make a match of it.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback; published by Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 1991; 187 pages; purchased at a library book sale in February 2011.

My thoughts: At one of the annual library sales we go to they always have sealed boxes of books for sale, and I try to get at least one romance box. Some of the books will be good, some will so so, and some will be little gems, like this one. I'd never read a Roz Denny book until now, and what a wonderful introduction to a new to me author.

Brynn was a successful underwear model before coming home to care for her younger brother, who at age 15 needs a kidney transplant, after their parents passed away. But her real passion was design, and in addition to taking over the running of her late mother's shop, she sells her own line of lingerie. Before leaving New York, she had her heart broken by a man who she thought she was in love with at the time, and her focus in life now is to work and take care of her brother and the mounting medical bills. She's not interested in dating or being in a relationship.

Sam Court is a very well known hockey player who has left California (I think that's where he came from) in the hopes of providing a more wholesome life for his 13 year old daughter. He's a little older than the rest of the players on his hockey team, and starting to feel his aches and pains. His ex-wife was consumed by her looks and trying to become famous, and he overcompensates now by being too strict with his daughter.

Brynn and Sam clash from the moment they meet, which is standard fare for these older Harlequins, and which I have come to love and expect. The relationship builds up slowly, tentatively, almost grudgingly. It's a sweet story with wonderfully written characters, including the kids who are integral to the story and not just plot devices (see next review for example). Roz Denny, also known as Roz Denny Fox, is definitely on my radar now and I'll be snatching up everything of hers I can find.