The Professional/The Player (Men Out Of Uniform #13 & #1)

This book was read as an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) provided for free by the publisher and NetGalley.com

Two books were combined into one double book The Professional: The Professional/The Player.

Book: The Professional (Men Out Of Uniform series #13)

Author: Rhonda Nelson

Rating: M (for Mature Audiences – nothing that you would find in your run of the mill romance novel)

Bookshelves: 2012, fiction, Georgia, military, romance, USA,

Begun: December 12, 2012

Finished: December 15, 2012

Media Type: eBook (read on the Kindle app on a Nexus 7)

Setting: Georgia, USA

Characters: Jeb Anderson and Sophie O’Brien

Synopsis: Someone is stealing valuables at a very pricey and very exclusive old age community. This place is the place to retire to and someone is running around exploiting the elderly and taking valuable jewelry out of locked safes. Jeb Anderson is a retired Army Ranger whose twin brother, Judd, is also in the service and is currently stationed overseas but is on leave. Jeb has taken the job of finding out who is stealing the valuables and his first suspect is Sophie O’Brien, a vivacious and pretty massage therapist who owns her own farm and makes soaps that are sold at the retirement community. But, Sophie’s not his thief and there are dark secrets hidden in her closet. Can the two come together to find the jewel thief in a retirement community where the residents act like it’s spring break all year long?

Review: This was a very cute, quick, and well written read. I loved the backstory on both main characters and how Rhonda Nelson really pulled you in to the plot from the very beginning. Sophie’s back story kind of came to an abrupt ending which I think might have been a little more dramatic is it had been drawn out and played with a little more, but, overall, it was a good book.

  

Book: The Player (Men Out of Uniform series #1)

Author: Rhonda Nelson

Rating: M (for Mature Audiences – nothing that you would find in your run of the mill romance novel)

Bookshelves: 2012, fiction, Maine, military, romance, USA,

Begun: December 12, 2012

Finished: December 15, 2012

Media Type: eBook (read on the Kindle app on a Nexus 7)

Setting: Maine, USA

Characters:  Jamie Flanagan, Audrey Kincaid

Synopsis: Jamie Flanagan owed Colonel Garrett a favor. How else would he have ended up at a “distressing” camp in Maine called Unwind? No on his own, that’s for damn sure. This tough as nails ex-US Army Ranger would rather be back on the battlefields than painting pictures and talking about his feeling. And the only thing he’s feel right now is hot for the girl he’s supposed to be guarding, Audrey Kincaid, owner and proprietress of Unwind … and Colonel Garrett’s granddaughter. A raven haired beauty, Audrey left the world of financial analysis after having a heart attack at age 26. Now she’s stuck with an emotional vampire of a boyfriend who is asking her to marry him (with the ultimatum that he will dump her if she says “no”) and a hot, hot, hot colleague of her grandfather that is having trouble getting over the death of a battle buddy. What’s a girl to do?

Review: This was another well written, great, quick read. I was kind of hoping to get Judd Anderson’s (Jeb Anderson’s twin from The Professional (the first part of this book)) story but Jamie’s story was very good also. After reading these two stories, I do plan to go out and get the rest of the books in this series.

 In my opinion, this book gets:

The Stranger (Just One Night series #1)

This book was read as an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) provided for free by the publisher and NetGalley.com

Book: The Stranger (Just One Night series #1)

Author: Kyra Davis

Rating: X (explicit sexual content)

Bookshelves: 2012, ARC, California, cheating, erotica, fiction, Las Vegas, romance

Begun: December 18, 2012

Finished: December 18, 2012

Media Type: eBook (read on Kindle app on Nexus 7)

Setting: Las Vegas, Nevada and California

Characters: Kasie Fitzgerald

Synopsis: Kasie is about to enter into a boring, bland, and vanilla marriage with a man who hasn’t even asked her to marry him yet. But, he’s discussed the feasibility of finding the perfect diamond for the perfect girlfriend who will, undoubtedly, make him the perfect wife, too. But the problem is Kasie has been dragged off to Vegas but her adventurous friend who wants her to go out and flirt with men and drink with a stranger. Until she starts playing the tables and a gorgeous hunk of a man invites her back up to his room. How can she say “no?” When she gets back to California, what will happen when she finds out her mystery man is a new client at her firm?

Review: I’m not a huge fan of “cheating” stories, even when the cheating is justified away. Kasie is so wishy washy. I completely forgot that her name was something as different as Kasie. Kasie’s should be exciting and vibrant but this Kasie was just as vanilla as her horrible sounding boyfriend. And she can never make up her mind. Sometimes I found myself flipping back in the pages because I felt like I missed something. Details that seemed like they would be important were glossed over and forgotten.

Davis’s writing was good but not extraordinary. And the novella just seemed to … end. There was really no good conclusion and instead of it seeming like a cliff hanger, it was more like a door slamming in your face.

I’m not sure if I would read a second book in this series if I didn’t get it for free or from the library.

In my opinion, this book gets:

Just ... ok.

Babycakes (Cupcake Club series #3)

This book was read as an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) provided for free by the publisher.

Book: Babycakes (Cupcake Club series #3)

Author: Donna Kauffman

Rating: M (Mature audience) sex scenes but not overly explicit

Bookshelves: 2012, romance, fiction, Georgia, ARC,

Begun: September 12, 2012

Finished: September 15, 2012

Media Type: eCopy (read on iPhone 4)

Setting: Sugarberry Island, Georgia (USA)

Characters:  Kit (Katherine Mary Margaret) Bellamy, Franco, Lilly Westlake, Morgan Westlake

Review: Kit Bellamy had it all: her family around her, her longstanding family business was a huge success and pie, delicious peanut pie. What more could a girl want? How about family who doesn’t rip the business from her hands and turn it over to a conglomerate? How about a job to return to every day? How about sisterly love?

When Kit’s world dissolves around her, she decides to take a friend up on an offer to begin a new business, Cupcakes sold over the internet. Kit jumps at the chance to start fresh but the ghosts of the trail that brought down her family’s business keep her gun-shy.

The Westlakes are known for their ruthless tactics in the courtroom and their business acumen. But Morgan Westlake disassociated himself from his family’s practice from the beginning. He’s recently moved to Sugarberry Island with his niece following the accidental death of his brother and sister-in-law. Can time near her maternal grandmother start to heal some of Lilly’s wounds? Can cupcakes help? What will happen with Kit meets up with a Westlake?

Personal Review: Babycakes was a good read. I don’t know that I would have put down other books to ensure I read this one but it was enjoyable.

The characters could have used more development. They weren’t exactly flat but they also weren't well rounded. I didn’t even think Morgan had any guts until the last 10 pages of the book (or so). It was like the author was trying to pass him off as an alpha male but he’s just a beta (at best).

Recommend to:  romance genre fans.

In my opinion, this book gets:

3 out of 5 stars (good but not great/not terrible)