Hero – Cowboy or rancher
Long, Tall Texans, Book #1
Heat Factor: There’s a little topless fooling around but no (extremely euphemistic) orgasms until wedding bands are exchanged
Character Chemistry: If I’m using my lizard brain, it’s awesome, but if I’m using my emotionally mature brain I have concerns
Plot: “How best can I manufacture drama to ensure that my hopeless, loveless vision for the future will actually come to pass?”
Overall: OMG this book is SO 80s and I love it
Cowboys of California, Book #2
(Review of Cowboys of California, Book #1)
Heat Factor: The characters talk freely and often but the action itself is not so lengthy or involved
Character Chemistry: Very natural and low key
Plot: Cinderella but with an Oscar-winning actor as the prince and a terrible employer as the steps
Overall: It wasn’t really a page turner, but it was very cozy
Heat Factor: Smoulder, smoulder my friends (but behind closed doors)
Character Chemistry: They just kind of systematically click on every level from the first moment.
Plot: Taylor is escaping an abusive marriage with her infant son when her car breaks down in Montana. When she’s rescued and hired by a local rancher, she ends up meeting the rancher’s wife’s brother, Owen, whose steady and secure nature is kind of exactly what she needs.
Overall: This book is SO well done–the worry over Taylor’s precarious and abusive situation, the warmth from the ranchers and the beauty of Montana…it’s really good stuff.
Continue reading “Review: Refuge by Willa J. Brand (2020)”Chestnut Creek #3
Heat Factor: It’s not like a bell pepper but I certainly wouldn’t call it a ghost pepper either.
Character Chemistry: It’s a slow dance with some initial foot stomping.
Plot: Lorelei West and Reese St. James learn their respective siblings died in a car accident leaving behind a surprise baby. Together they have to figure out how to navigate both their new responsibility and their budding feelings for one another.
Overall: It’s a classic “poor woman saved by rich guy” type situation with a lot of curveballs.
Cowboys of California, Book #1
Heat Factor: Definitely not closed door, but I wouldn’t say explicit either
Character Chemistry: I’m going to have to quit reading second chance romance because the “I’m so sexually attracted to you but I really can’t get over my emotional baggage” just does not work for me.
Plot: see above but toss in a healthy dose of amnesia
Overall: I’m not sure emotional maturity is a good fit for a second chance romance
