The Horsemaster’s Daughter a romance novel by Susan Wiggs

The Horsemaster’s Daughter by Susan Wiggs makes you believe that love can conquer all. This is a beautifully written book that really makes you feel like you are there. The scenes are still vivid in my mind even though I finished the book about a week ago.




The story takes place in Virginia during the mid 1850’s. Hunter Calhoun has turned his plantation into a horse breeding farm and has purchased a stallion from Ireland that seems to have gone crazy on the boat ride to America. He takes the horse to the horsemaster, hoping to not have to put him down only to find that the horsemaster has died. Eliza, the horsemaster’s daughter, helps him save the horse. Eliza was raised on an island and has had almost no contact with the outside world much less knows how society works. Hunter sees the strength, understanding and caring that Eliza has for everything and wants to take her home with him because he is a better person with her. Hunter has 2 small children, his wife passed away a few years earlier. Eliza and Hunter have to face many serious issues such as his drinking, taking care of the kids, upperclass society in the south, and slavery. Hunter and Eliza fall in love on the island and then try to fit into society. This book teaches us, even now, that sometimes you just have to look at the world through a different perspective.

This is a serious book. I typically like the fun carefree books but this one I just could not put down. Susan Wiggs reminds us that what is important in life is not always what we think and that loving someone makes everything brighter and better when shared with that person. Bad times are not so bad and the good times are even better! I highly recommend this book. I also got sucked into the sneak preview on her book Just Breathe, it looks to be also great and thought provoking.

Happy reading!

The MacGregor Grooms a romance novel by Nora Roberts

I have yet to find a Nora Roberts book that was bad. The MacGregor Grooms is just as good as the MacGregor Brides and all of the other MacGregor books (a favorite of mine is The Perfect Neighbor). Like the MacGregor Brides book this one is composed of 3 different stories with 3 different cousins. All of the MacGregor characters have their own story so there are quite a few of the MacGregor stories starting with Daniel MacGregor and Anna. If you’ve read any of the MacGregor books you know that Daniel MacGregor is a meddling old man in his nineties that sets up his children and now grandchildren with the person that they are meant to be with. Even though their perfect mate is dropped in their laps they still have to work it all out to reach the inevitable outcome of marriage.




The first story involves DC, an artist, and Layna, someone who tries to be perfect. They are set up on a date to a charity event and are instantly attracted to each other. The next story is about Duncan, a riverboat owner and Cat, the vocal talent for his boat. The last story is about Ian, a well connected lawyer, and Naomi, a bookstore owner more comfortable with books than people. The 3 men are good looking and confident yet the 3 women in their lives have issues in their past that they have to get beyond before they can commit to the future.

As always Daniel MacGregor, the patriarch, plays a role in all of the stories and is quite character. If you like Nora Roberts you will like this one.

Happy reading!

Weddings Can Be Murder a romance novel by Christie Craig

I had never heard of Christie Craig but this book caught my attention so I picked it up. Then this poor book sat at the very bottom of the pile. Once I finally picked it up I had a horrible time trying to put it down to get anything done at work or around the house, it is just that good. It is hilarious!




In Weddings Can be Murder, Katie Ray is engaged to be married to Joe Lyon but they are having second thoughts about marrying each other. Katie accidentally flushes her engagement ring down the toilet. Carl Hades, a PI, is hired by the wedding planner to catch a serial killer, who is killing brides and has targeted Katie as his next victim. After Katie witnesses a murder, her and Carl get locked in a closet together for hours. Sparks start flying immediately between these two.

Funny scenes include Carl wearing a pink boa, Carl trying to be metrosexual, and his dog named Precious that he is embarrassed to own. There are several cases of mistaken identity when Katie flings herself at Carl’s brother. Katie’s best friend Leslie plays a prominent role and has many funny scenes of her own which include her grandmother who starts taking off her clothes at all the wrong times. There are a lot more hilarious scenes that I would ruin if I told you about them.

This book is one that I look forward to rereading, it is that good.

Until next time...

Coming Undone a romance novel by Susan Anderson

I picked up Susan Anderson’s Coming Undone simply because it looked like fun, and it turned out to be a fun book. I know, I know, don’t judge a book by it’s cover but I wasn’t led astray this time.




PJ, an up and coming country western singer, fires her mother/manager for embezzling, but doesn’t want the world to know what a sleaze her mother is. Her record label figures her to be unreliable and hires a PI/bodyguard to keep an eye on her and make sure she gets to her concerts. Jared Hamilton is a blast from her past. They were once best friends 15 years earlier, but that all fell apart under stress and self doubt. PJ is understandably pissed about having a watchdog and Jared finds it hard to have only a professional relationship with PJ.

Some fun things in this story include PJ’s band members all living in a motor home together, PJ sneaking past Jared in silly ways, and Jared stuck shopping with the ladies. To top it all off, PJ has a stalker. It’s fun seeing PJ and Jared work through their past and present problems. They learn to stick by each other and in the process fall in love.

Enjoy!

Truly Yours a romance novel by Barbara Metzger

Truly yours by Barbara Metzger was one of those books close to the bottom of my pile of books to read, but ended up being great.




Viscount Rexford (Rex), who is recovering from being injured in the war with France, has the ability to tell the truth from lie. Unfortunately for him, he cannot turn this off. This trait is passed on from father to son. His parents have marital problems that he believes stems from this strange trait, so he vows to never marry and have children.

Amanda Carville is accused of killing her stepfather. Of course, Rex can tell that she is telling the truth when she insists that she is innocent. Rex does all he can to clear her name so she doesn’t hang. While searching for the real killer, Rex and his cousin, Daniel, get themselves in sticky situations. Amanda pins her hopes on Rex finding the evidence to free her. In this novel, Amanda and Rex fall in love and work through their issues. Not only does Rex figure out the mystery but the situation forces his parents to work out their problems.

This is an interesting and fun story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Overnight Male a romance novel by Elizabeth Bevarly

Elizabeth Bevarly’s Overnight Male is part of a series. Each book may be read individually. I previously have read one other book in this series and really enjoyed it, but I have yet to read the others. Both You’ve got Male and Overnight Male have superspies trying to save the world from a rogue ex-agent.




In Overnight Male Lila, Moreau and, Joel Faraday work together to catch the criminal Adrian Padgett. Joel, a newcomer to international espionage, is trying to find the one person to share his life with. Of course that one person turns out to be superspy Lila, who relies on being a loner and intends to stay alone. Joel and Lila pose as a couple of graduate students to follow their leads in the case. The danger they get into fuels their adrenaline and draws them together.

This is a fun book that shows that forever and stability are important. Some fun scenes include Joel making rookie mistakes and college students being, well, college students. The villain, Adrian Padgett has his own romance brewing but I’ll let you read the book to discover how that turns out.

Happy reading.

Until next time...

Death Angel a romance novel by Linda Howard

Linda Howard, an excellent author, has another winner with Death Angel. This is not a cutesy love story but one with a lot of suspense. This is going to be a difficult one to write about so bear with me. It’s too good not to tell you about so I’ll just have to give it my best shot.




Drea Rousseau is content living with Rafael Salinas, a notorious crime lord, as his mistress and acts the part of dumb blond to keep the high living lifestyle that she has. Her life up to this point has little to no redeeming qualities. When Salinas betrays her to keep the service of an assassin, she sneaks away with his money to start a new life. When Salinas discovers the theft he sends the assassin after her. Drea, left for dead, starts a new and better life. Her conscience sends her to the FBI to tell them everything she knows to stop Salinas’s criminal activities and then she will no longer live in fear. During this time, she has to work with the most dangerous man she knows. Their love story is spread out over the course of the novel. They finally get the chance to trust each other and learn how to be better people simply because of the love that they share.

There are no hearts and flowers in this book but a simple connecting of souls. I really enjoyed this book, but then I think I’ve enjoyed everything by Linda Howard that I’ve read.

Until next time...

Thigh High a romance novel by Christina Dodd

Hello,

Christina Dodd has another interesting story in Thigh High. It has fun bank robberies and three elderly ladies that add spice to the book.




Jeremiah Mac MacNaught owns the banks being robbed. He shows up in New Orleans around Mardi Gras to catch the “Bearded Bandits,” the two cross-dressing thiefs who only take a small amount of money, give fashion advice to the teller they rob, and only strike once during Mardi Gras every year. Nessa, a people person, works for the bank and is told to help the insurance investigator, Jeremiah Mac. Due to a mistake Nessa made years ago, she will never advance in her job, but she needs the additional money to help her elderly aunts so they no longer will have to take in borders. In the course of working together, Nessa and Jeremiah fall in love. When it becomes known that Jeremiah Mac is the evil Mac MacNaught and that Nessa is a suspect, all hell breaks loose and Jeremiah has a lot of groveling ahead of him.

Some fun scenes include Jeremiah dancing with Nessa’s aunts, being locked in the vault, and you can’t forget the mice (you’ll understand when you read this book).

Until next time....

What looks like crazy a romance novel by Charlotte Hughes

Hello,

If you like Janet Evanovich, you’ll love Charlotte Hughes. What looks like crazy has the same feel as the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich (One for the money...). This book is a lot of fun.




Kate Holly, a psychologist, is in the middle of a divorce, yet she loves her soon to be ex-husband, Jay, but cannot live with his career choice. Its a case of the psychologist needing a psychologist. Kate has a whole slew of interesting clients, one who threatens to blow up her office with his insulin and another is claustrophobic. Her receptionist, Mona, has a huge inheritance so she works for free. Mona frequently offers unsolicited advice and business management ideas, such as letting an out of work nail technician work out of Kate’s office by offering free manicures for new patients. Besides the impending divorce and crazy clients, Kate has relatives who put up a pornographic sculpture in her front yard, a crazy neighbor, a stray dog, the taxi cab driver who thinks she is a hooker and a colleague/ex-lover who works with her on some cases but insists on her describing her underwear to him before he will help her. With all the crazies in her life, Kate just cannot catch a break

This book is a complete joy to read. It’s fun, lighthearted, and fast paced. I can’t wait to find out what happens next in her next book, Nutcase.