Up A Dry Creek

UP A DRY CREEK by Avery Flynn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A great book - first in a series.



Claire lives in a small town with her close family near. A family that includes three brothers that want to take care of her. She is enjoying being the owner of a successful restaurant even though there are always problems.



Her life changes when she finds the body of a women in the dumpster, a women that spent the evening at her restaurant. Jake Warrick is a private investigator trying to find out what happened to woman for the her family.



Things spiral out of control when Claire starts getting death threats and her home is trashed. Everyone seems to want the same thing and Claire has no idea how to find it. Jake becomes protective of Claire while investigating the murder and their relationship heats up as their attraction to each other grows.



I really enjoyed this story, the chemistry between Jake and Claire was great and I loved the interaction between the family and the small town.







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A Dry Creek Bed

A Dry Creek Bed by Avery Flynn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Another great story in this series.



Hank Layton is the Sheriff of Dry Creek County and has known Beth Martinez most of his life. They even tried to see if they had a thing going several years ago but it did not go far. However Hank has been looking at Beth differently lately and although she denies it, Hank thinks she feels the same attraction.



Beth had a rough time early in life, her parents were killed in a car accident that she survived and she has always felt it was her fault. Recently she has been getting threatening phone messages and her grandparents home was trashed all because she is the last holdout of a land purchase. Although it is in a different county, Hank wants to step in to help when he finds out about her trouble.



Hank and Beth are both in Las Vegas for different reasons when her life is threatened and things heat up romantically between them.



A great story with humor, suspense and romance.









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Margot's Lawman

Margot's Lawman by Debra Kayn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a great series. Margot’s Lawman is the third in the series about the McDougal sisters in small town Montana.

Margot is the area veterinarian and has lived here her whole life, only leaving to go to school. She loves the area but knows what happens with gossip around a small town so chooses to keeps some things in her life private. Roy Lee Harding also has lived here his whole life and his family farm bordered the McDougal's farm, and he would often run around with the sisters while growing up. Roy Lee and Margot share a huge secret, they have been dating for a year and although he wants to tell the world, Margot does not.

Margot is still dealing with the death of her father and feels guilty that she never told him she was in love with Roy Lee. It was her father’s wish to have all his daughters ready to move on with their lives and settle down with the right man before he died. Margot and Roy Lee did end up telling their sisters but they have agreed to keep the secret for awhile.

Keeping everyone else in the dark about their relationship had not been a problem before Margot hired a new veterinarian assistant to help her growing business. Ryan is from the city and having a hard time fitting in and the fact that Roy Lee does not trust him does not help. Roy Lee believes Ryan wants to date Margot and that he is hiding something that is threatening to the town.

Margot finds out about Ryan’s secret about the time she and Roy Lee decide to share their news with the town, she is afraid of how Roy Lee will handle the news so she respects Ryan’s wishes to keep quiet. What she does not realize is the damage it may do to her relationship with Roy Lee.

Margot’s Lawman is a wonderful romance full of humor and tears; I love the family and small town interaction. The chemistry between Roy Lee and Margot is believable and I enjoyed watching their relationship grow even with some bumps along the way.




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Beauty and the Feast

Beauty and the Feast by Julia Barrett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book immensely.
Eva Raines works for a company that makes life easier for others, her specialty is creating amazing food. She has worked for several restaurants in the San Francisco area but likes the feel of working for this start-up company in the Napa Valley. Eva’s joy in life is making wonderful food for others and did not like working where she felt unappreciated and could not showoff her talents.

Gabriel Abbott is a wealthy business owner who grew up on the mean streets of Chicago. He is a self made millionaire and enjoys the finer things in life including a beautiful woman that will accompany him to events. He does not stay with the same woman very long, although many women want to be the one he selects for a lifetime. He has his eye on a lovely wealthy lawyer named Stephanie and decides to entertain her with an exquisite meal and a night at his cottage at the vineyard he owns.

Gabriel’s assistant hires a new company called All Things to All People to cater the evening. Since he wants to impress this new woman, he personally calls the chef to settle on the details of the dinner. While on the phone with Eva, he becomes intrigued with her manner and voice and wants to know more about her. As the day approaches all he can think about is how to get out of the evening with Stephanie and meet Eva. Eva is prepared to give this new client everything needed for an evening meant to seduce, she goes over early, takes a tour of his home and meets the caretaker to get extra details. That night while she is imagining how well they are enjoying the evening, Gabriel is driving Stephanie home without getting out of the car. His excuse at the time much is to say he does not want to expand on the relationship now. Not wanting to waste the wonderful dinner, he sits down to enjoy the meal while thoughts of Eva go through his mind.

Eva and Gabriel meet soon after the dinner and the chemistry is instant. Gabriel wants to know everything about Eva and she is very interested in him. As their relationship progresses Gabriel has some family issues deal with and Eva seems to have an enemy that wants to destroy everything she has gained. The story is fun and flirty and the characters are interesting and you want to find out what happens to them. I also enjoyed reading about the food Eva prepares and loved the recipes and notes about some of the ingredients at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would look forward to reading other stories by Julia Barrett.




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The Cursed Clan: Callum

The Cursed Clan: Callum by Melissa Schroeder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A very enjoyable start to a new series.

Callum Lennon is an enigmatic leader of his family’s business and also the Laird of his clan. He works closely with several cousins to oversee the welfare of the family. Phoebe Chilton is an expert on archeology and languages that is hired by the Lennon family to help with an unnamed artifact.



Callum and family are hesitant to trust Phoebe with the artifact without her signing a contract and Phoebe insists she never signs contracts, so a stalemate seems to doom the project before it has started. Finally Phoebe convinces Callum that even though she is unwilling to sign anything, she can help the family with what is needed. Callum reveals that the artifact is an old diary believed to be owned by witches several centuries ago.



Phoebe has taken this job as a sideline to what she normally does, which is work with her parents (and in the past, her deceased husband) traveling all around the world on various archeological digs. She has decided to break free from her parents, much to their dismay, and follow a passion she has for Celtic legends. She has been promised a chance at an impressive grant from a Kenneth McWalter, a man she has never met. While dealing with McWalter, Phoebe gets an uneasy feeling and tries to find more information about him through her former assistant, Izzy.



As she translates the diary, Phoebe finds herself in close quarters with Callum. The initial attraction they felt only intensifies as they struggle to ignore and resist their feelings. As she learns the secrets of the diary she is also learning the secrets the Lennon family has been keeping for years, the curse that could one day destroy them or set them free.



An old enemy threatens the clan from outside and dishonesty threatens the clan from inside as Callum finds it hard to trust Phoebe. Twists and turns keep you guessing until the end and sets things up for future books involving the rest of the cousins.





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Impact

Impact by Cassandra Carr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Great start to the Buckin' Bull Riders series. Loved this one.



Conner Raub is a successful bull rider who has a secret. He is a Dom and is afraid that if those in the straight lace rodeo world find out about him they will condemn him for his choices. Jessica Talbot is a stock contractor liaison working with the NBT and has noticed Conner at various times while working on the tour. Jessica has decided she would like to explore a more interesting sexual side of her life and visits a local BDSM club where she watches Conner at work and immediately wants him for herself.



Since she is attracted to Conner, Jessica asks him to train her as a submissive while they travel together, however he does not want to get involved with someone who is new to the lifestyle. Conner believes he will not find anyone who can live the way he wants while on tour and thinks he will only find someone after he returns home to his local club.



As Conner fights the attraction for Jessica they find that outside forces are making decisions that will change their lives.



A great book with a lot of sexual fun and a love story too!



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Caught

Caught by Cassandra Carr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A wonderful short story about love and trust.



Callie is back in town for a few weeks over Christmas. While enjoying a holiday party, she sees Jack for the first time in 3 years. Several years ago Jack and Callie had a dom/sub relationship and while her feelings were intense, she ran from the connection they had believing Jack did not feel the same. When they see each other they immediately fall back into the same roles as before however they do not talk about what happened 3 years ago.



Jack is an intense Dom and although Callie sometimes pushes back, she is a true sub and wants only to please Jack. As they pick up where they left off Callie notices that Jack seems different this time, he seems to have changed in the way he treats Callie, almost like a boyfriend instead of just the dom/sub relationship they had before.



As their time grows short and Callie starts to think about going back home she realizes she has fallen in love with him again - or never stopped loving him however still believes he has not changed. It is not until he shows her how much he loves her that she finally believes.



A great story about love, trust and communicating your feelings with a little (a lot) of kink.





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