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:

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)

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

Book: Agnes and the Hitman

Author: Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

Bookshelves: 2011, fiction, Georgia, mob, romance,

Begun: October 15, 2011

Finished: October 19, 2011

Media Type: Book on CD (downloaded to and listened to on iPod Touch)

Setting: Two Rivers Mansion in Keys, Georgia (about an hour outside of Savannah, Georgia)

Characters: Agnes Crandall, Rhett (the bloodhound), Taylor Beaufort, Brenda Fortunato Dupre, Joey Torcelli, Shane Smith, Lisa Livia Fortunado, Maria Fortunado, Carpenter

Plot: Agnes Crandall's life just got infinitely more complicated. On the hectic week before her bestfriend (Lisa Livia Fortunado)'s daughter's wedding to the Keys family heir (of KEYS, Georgia - where they live), a man (a boy really) shows up at Agnes's door looking to steal her lazy bloodhound, Rhett. Defending herself with a frying pan, Agnes hits the kidnapper (dognapper?) and he falls against teh wall and then ... disappears. Falling to his death, the boy fell through a boarded up door to a basement that Agnes didn't know existed.

In all the hubub of the police showing up and discovering the body and an entire entertainment room (resplendent with a pool table and a Venus Demilo (sans arms of course)), Joey (an old friend of Agnes's and owner of a local dinner) calls his nephew to come and help Agnes with her little ... security problem. Shane, the hitman, shows up and tries to help Agnes ... not die!

Protecting Agnes from those out to kill her for unknown reasons, Shane helps her plan for the big Fortunado/Keys wedding while Brenda Fortunado (the grandmother of the bride) does everything in her power to destroy the wedding and get her mansion back. (A provision in the sale of the wedding to Agnes was that they HAD to have the wedding of Maria Fortunado at Two Rivers).

Will Agnes survive her week with the mob family, the nutty Fortunados, and Shane, the hitman?

Another great Crusie novel!

Thorn's Challenge (Westmoreland series #3) (Silhouette Desire #1552)

Book: Thorn's Challenge (Westmoreland series #3) (Silhouette Desire #1552 - December 2003)

Author: Brenda Jackson

Bookshelves: 2011, fiction, Georgia, motorcycle racing, romance,

Begun: October 30, 2011

Finished: October 30, 2011

Media Type: paperback (library copy)

Setting: Collegepark, Georgia and Dayton, Florida

Characters: Thorn Westmoreland, Tara Matthews, Sheriff Alisdare Julian "Dare" Westmoreland, Rochelle "Shelly" Brockman, Stone Westmoreland (aka "Rock Mason"), Chase Westmoreland, and Storm Westmoreland

Plot: Dr. Tara Matthews has just about had it with men. Between a fiancé who jilted her at the altar to run off with her maid of honor (and best friend) and the married womanizing doctor at the hospital, where she was interning, who (when his advances were rebuffed he had Tara transferred out of his hospital to another in the Atlanta area), Tara has just about given up on ever finding happiness.

In walks Thorn Westmoreland. A motorcyclist who builds the coveted and beautiful Westmoreland bikes and rides them (and wins) all over the country. He's gorgeous and talented but dangerous to Tara's well being. She is falling for the moody, temperamental hunk who does everything in his power to sidestep the beautiful doctor.

There is just something about the gorgeous Dr. Matthews that causes Thorn to want to break his self-imposed, prerace vow of celibacy for one night with Tara. Finally, they make a vow that Thorn and Tara will share a week of passion after his race in Dayton Beach, Florida.

But what happens when Tara starts to fall in love? Will she be heartbroken like she was with her ex-Fiancé? Or could there be roses behind the Thorn...

Great third book in the series. Brenda Jackson knows how to write so as to capture emotion and make you feel along with her characters! I can't wait to get my hands on more books in this large and ever-expanding series!

A Little Dare (Westmoreland series #2) (Silhouette Desire #1533)

Book: A Little Dare (Westmoreland series #2) (Silhouette Desire #1533 - September 2003)

Author: Brenda Jackson

Bookshelves: 2011, fiction, Georgia, police, romance,

Begun: October 28, 2011

Finished: October 28, 2011

Media Type: paperback (library copy)

Setting: Collegepark, Georgia

Characters: Sheriff Alisdare Julian "Dare" Westmoreland, Rochelle "Shelly" Brockman, Alisdare Julian "AJ" Brockman Westmoreland, Thorn Westmoreland, Stone Westmoreland (aka "Rock Mason"), Chase Westmoreland, Storm Westmoreland, Delaney "Laney" Westmoreland Yasir (aka "Princess Yasir"), and Prince Jamal Ari Yasir

Plot: Sheriff Dare Westmoreland has just about had it with the little hooligan in his office. After throwing rocks at cars from an overpass, AJ was hauled into the police station to face the well loved and respected Sherrif that AJ feels nothing but contempt for (after growing up in LA and seeing his mother racially profiled and then harassed by a police officer someplace in Texas while driving all their belongings to their new home in Collegepark, Georgia).

Turns out, AJ is Rochelle "Shelly" Brockman's 10 year old son. Shelly was the one girl that Dare has loved all his life (since they broke up when Dare was leaving Georgia to become an FBI agent). Dare is initially upset that Shelly wasted no time after they broke up to go and get pregnant with some other man's baby.

Then he does the math when he learns the boy's birthday and demands AJ's full name: Alisdare Julian Brockman. AJ is Dare's son.

Initially furious, Dare decides that, with Shelly's assistance, they will overcome Dare's hatred of authority figures. Shelly will tell AJ that Dare is his father but she will lie to her son and tell him that she can't decide whether to tell Dare about AJ. Ultimately, she will leave the decision to AJ when/if he thinks that Dare should know about him.

Over the span of the book, Dare and AJ become closer and closer (without AJ knowing that Dare already knows that AJ is his son). AJ gets to know the entire, very large, Westmoreland clan and finially starts to have a sense of family.

But what about Shelly and Dare? Dare is almost instantly in love with his old flame but how difficult will it be to convince Shelly to come back to him?

Good book. I really felt the emotion and the writing is not forced like so many romance novels are. Looking forward to the next book in this series.