BOOK REVIEW- Playing Until the End by Stephanie Queen

 He’s on top of his game. Now he just has to keep it that way…

Trent Lockheed, a star football player, is aging out of the only life he’s ever had. He never bothered to think long term about his career—or his love life. Trent doesn’t know what comes after football, and he’s not ready to find out.

When a mutual friend suggests a meeting with Dr. Charline Morneau, Trent finds out she’s on the verge of a medical breakthrough, and he makes a dangerous bargain. He agrees to privately sponsor her struggling drug trial on one condition: he’s going to be a participant.

She’ll find a way to fund her research, no matter what it takes.

Charline “Charlie” Morneau is an ambitious physician and researcher, driven to find a cure for the degenerative family disease that afflicts her mother and younger sister. Short on funding, Charlie agrees to let Trent pay her millions for the privilege of being a research subject.

But it all has to be kept secret—for both their sakes.

The cover story to give her access? They’re engaged to be married.

It’s a devil’s bargain that could cost them both their careers.

Every day, it’s harder to keep track of the lies.
Every day, Trent and Charlie try to fight their attraction to each other.

The ruse was supposed to fool everyone else, but their hearts are what’s most in danger …
AMAZON LINK   
5 STARS

  I don't usually read a lot of sports stories but I liked the unusual story line that was part of this story's information. Plus, the fact that I've read other books by this author, I was pretty sure it was going to be pretty good. It was even better than I had hoped!  It had such depth, action and intensity.  Oh yes, there is also some sexual steam too!
Both Charlie and Trent were well drawn characters.  I couldn't help but like them and hope they overcome all the challenges that they faced.  And the emotions of both M.C.'s is easily felt.  A plus for me is that the medical science and the football information was easy to understand and follow.  
Charlie's boss Dr.  Hogart is a bully.   And I really dislike bullies so that part was kind of hard to swallow.  Especially bullies in positions of power. Although he was well written and made me wonder if he was also lining his own pockets. I just flat out didn't trust him.  Since, he was introduced fairly early in the story, you can tell I got pulled in fairly fast.  My emotions were already engaged ..I wanted to see him have an epic fail and Charlie win.  Although trying to get around Dr. Hogart was often like trying to nail jello to the wall.   The intensity kept me involved and on the edge of my seat all the way through.
I enjoyed  the ending and the Epilogue that was included. For me, a good Epilogue is almost a near necessity after being drawn into a story and it's people.


 “I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

 

BOOK REVIEW- Aiming for Love (Brides of Hope Mountain Book #1) by Mary Connealy

Description

Josephine Nordegren is one of three sisters who grew up nearly wild in southwestern Colorado. She has the archery skills of Robin Hood and the curiosity of the Little Mermaid, fascinated by but locked away from the forbidden outside world--a world she's been raised to believe killed her parents. When David Warden, a rancher, brings in a herd much too close to the girls' secret home, her older sister especially is frightened, but Jo is too interested to stay away.

David's parents follow soon on his heels, escaping bandits at their ranch. David's father is wounded and needs shelter. Josephine and her sisters have the only cabin on the mountain. Do they risk stepping into the world to help those in need? Or do they remain separated but safe in the peaks of Hope Mountain?   AMAZON LINK
                               5 STARS

This was a powerful story that I really enjoyed. It also had great people in the story too.  Jo and her two sisters all on their own had lived quite the unusual life.  And they had lived on their own for at least a decade.  The outside world was just that, outside.   The three sisters depended on each other and their skills to survive in a harsh world that they loved. Ursula, the oldest sister mainly kept things in their home safe.  That doesn't mean that she didn't have any skills outside the home though.  It's just that they each had their specialties.  The youngest sister, Ilsa's specialty is being like a medicine woman.  She's no slouch in the woods either though.   Jo was the hunter who kept them stocked with meat. It was interesting to read how attuned these three women were to nature and how they had pretty much run wild on that mountain top.
When Dave and his family show up, they add a whole good but different dimension to the story.  So does the attraction that grows between Dave and Jo.  This is a clean story with no love scenes but a deep abiding respect for God in both families.  
I gave this book a 5 STAR rating even though not all of the problems are solved. There is a lot of action going on that keeps things interesting.  There is also a few threads left hanging but the story was so rich I just couldn't give it any other rating.  A couple of those things not resolved yet had to do with recovering the Warden ranch, Wax Mosby, and Ursula to mention a few.  I have to say that I'm really interested in finding out more about how Wax Mosby is going to figure in.  Why?  Because it seem that this famous gunslinger has some things changing inside him.   And I want to see how that plays out. 

  “I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

BOOK REVIEW- Red Carpet Christmas Club Undercover Book 5 by Patricia Rosemoor *

Mystery & Thrillers, Romance

Description

No cover charged... no ID required... safety guaranteed...
No one knows club owner Gideon Maddox’s real identity until the woman he’d once loved walks into the Red Carpet Christmas fundraiser at Club Undercover. He hasn't seen recent widow Simone Burke for nearly two decades—since he testified to put her father in prison for killing his own father. The star-crossed lovers never forgave each other, but suddenly Simone needs his help—and Team Undercover—to prove she is innocent of a yuletide murder. Clearing Simone could reignite the past and a forbidden passion that still burns between her and Gideon, but she can’t let him discover the secret she’d kept hidden all these years. AMAZON
                                                                 3 STARS


This is a story that I have been waiting for as I read some of the other stories in this series.  Gideon has been quite the man of mystery all along.  That he helped people wasn't a mystery though.
What about Simone?  I found it pretty hard at times to like her.  Oh, I got how some things had changed her even understood some of her reasons but she's so rude to Gideon. And she keeps it up for quite a while and after a while it felt a bit juvenile. Hey, he's a good guy and I didn't appreciate that.  At times I even felt she was kind of stupid.  It's like, you are a high level suspect in a murder and you are going to fight against his help?  It's not the only stupid thing that she does that has me shaking my head. 
Of course reading both of their P.O.V.'s helped make me side even more with him.  
The Undercover Team was there and they helped but they were more in the background this time around.  
 Although, this book wasn't my favorite, it does have a fair amount of action and comes to a startling conclusion.   It has more than one twist too!

I had high expectations for the reveal into Gideon's life and didn't feel like it met all of them.  Still, I have liked other books by this author and will still be looking for them.

 I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

BOOK REVIEW- A Complicated Bride by Stephanie Queen *

 
I didn't want to be that runaway bride, but I didn't want to marry him either, or marry anyone, did I?
Maybe it wasn't the best way to uncomplicate my life, but when I ran away from my home, my job and my failed engagement to my cousin's Inn to hide, I didn't expect to run smack dab into the arms and charms of another man. And this one could be big trouble. There was no way this jet-setting playboy could possibly be anything but another complication...AMAZON LINK
                                                                                                         4 STARS

I really liked this quick, charming story.  Both of the main characters were running away for different reasons.  Both Lily and Brad share their P.O.V.'s which I enjoyed.  They also recognized "a kindred spirit" in each other pretty quickly. 
Brad had become jaded and he was both somewhat terrified and drawn to Lily's honest, joyful approach to life.  There was an attraction to each other.   It wasn't an insta-lust or insta-love attraction.  It was more of I see you and I get you.  I understand you.  I also enjoyed that and the humor that they shared. 
Yes, there are some typos but for me I just naturally auto-corrected it in my head and moved on.  

BOOK REVIEW- Redeeming the Badge by Dorothy F. Shaw *

Description

SHE WAS ALWAYS THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS

In high school, she was the girl most likely to live happily ever after—rich, popular, beautiful…and maybe just a little mean. But Heather Winters’ dreams of marriage and motherhood haven’t worked out as she hoped. Now she’s back in Arizona, trying to reinvent herself. She knows what she doesn’t want: a serious relationship. She doesn’t remember Robert Caldwell from high school, but the good-looking K-9 officer is everything she’s looking for in a short-term fling.

A routine traffic stop brings Rob face to face with the girl who fueled his teenage fantasies—and she’s even more ravishing than ever. The former homecoming queen didn’t know he was alive back then. Now she’s changed—and she’s hurting. Despite how great they are together in bed, Heather isn’t letting him anywhere near her heart. But he’s got a plan—and with a little help from his canine partner, Tricks, he’ll show Heather that together, they have all the happiness they’ll ever need…
AMAZON
3 STARS

Man, this book was NOT what I was expecting!  I also felt like although the book had potential that it didn't totally get there.  At least not for me.  
On the bright side,  Heather, and Rob were good main characters.  Even Tricks added to the story.  It had a few good moments but I like my story a certain way.  I don't mind a small amount sex scenes built around the story.  But I really don't like it when the sex scenes seem to be the main focus with a small amount of story added.  I began to feel like I was reading erotic material; not what I signed up for. I'm sure that the scenes could be considered well written but after awhile, I found myself flipping through those rather quickly.  And I feel like I got that  along with quite a bit of swearing.  I don't think I've read a book in quite a while that was so filled with the *F bombs.  And that wasn't the only language bomb.  
Towards the end it did get more personal dealings with emotional issues.  That part WAS good and I liked that Rob was always there for her.   

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

BOOK REVIEW- It's a Christmas Thing by Janet Dailey *

Description

 The best gifts last a lifetime . . .

Veterinarian J.T. “Rush” Rushford isn’t looking forward to Christmas. It’ll be his first without his beloved four-year-old daughter, Claire. A year ago, Rush’s wife divorced him for another man—then broke his heart further by revealing that Claire was her lover’s child. The final blow was Rush losing all parental rights. Now he’s in Branding Iron, Texas, with his mobile vet practice, just hoping to get through the season—until something like a Christmas miracle happens . . .

Turns out Claire’s parents are going on an extended cruise, leaving Rush to take her for the holidays. It’s bittersweet, knowing that he and Claire will have to part again, maybe forever. . . . Until a smart, not to mention beautiful, lady judge with a pregnant cat and an aging mutt takes a liking to the vet and his little girl and gets involved. With her on their side, and love in their hearts, this Christmas just might be the most joyous of all   AMAZON LINK
                                                      4 STARS

This was a charming feel good story that would be good at Christmas of course.  To be honest, it would be good at other times as well.
The people came across as real, the community and close friends did as well.  The emotions were solid and things in the town and the Christmas holiday there were well written.  

Both Rush and Tracy (the lady judge) and even Claire deserved a H.E.A.  Keep watching, it's coming.  The twist towards the end I could see coming but still enjoyed it. 
Epilogues are always welcome and this book had a good one.

 “I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

BOOK REVIEW- Cam's Hope (MacLarens of Boundary Mountain Historical Western Romance Book 10) by Shirleen Davies *

A fierce, protective rancher.
A woman on the run from her father’s shadowy past.
Cam’s Hope, Book Ten, MacLarens of Boundary Mountain Historical Western Romance Series
Camden MacLaren is a rancher to his core, working long hours to continue the success of the family’s ranch, Circle M. Although a cattleman, his expertise is in training horses, breeding and preparing them to fulfill Army contracts. Yet, he yearned for something more—the love of a woman strong enough for the hard life as a rancher’s wife.
Evangeline Rousseau made one adventurous decision in her life. After her parents’ deaths, she’d packed her belongings and moved across country to settle in the frontier town where her best friend lived. Buying her own house and settling in, she found herself wondering how a city girl such as herself could find a future in a town of ranchers, men who made a living with their hands.
The attraction between them was immediate, yet Cam hesitated to express his increasing desire for a woman with no knowledge of cattle, horses, or making a living from the land. No matter the intense pull between them, a beautiful, sheltered woman such as Vangie would find little happiness away from the advantages of a town.
Cam’s reasons to keep his distance fall away when threats are directed at Vangie. Men from her father’s past are hunting her down, following a trail from Grand Rapids to Conviction. The reason for their search is simple. Collect money Vangie’s father allegedly owed them, and they’ll use any means necessary to get it.
Cam’s Hope, book ten in the MacLarens of Boundary Mountain Historical Western Romance Series, is a stand-alone, full-length novel with an HEA and no cliffhanger.
 AMAZON LINK 
4 STARS

This is a good family who work together so well.  They have been through some hard times and probably will go through more but they are there for each other 100%.  Some of the "boys" are finding good women to marry and have done that and started families.  It has made Cam yearn even more for what they have.
As attracted as Cam is to Vangie he's got some really big fears about courting her as well.  I kind of think that he was a bit shy to because more than once Vangie had to be a tiny bit bold in order to move things forward.   Even when a time or two he was about to say something after getting up his nerve they got interrupted.  There was some things going on in this town and the MacLaren ranch.  .  That made for plenty of interesting mysteries, action and dangers.  
The romance part wasn't real deep but it was charming.  
Vangie's childhood friend, Eustice was an unusual but good addition to the story.  
Get ready for some surprise twists, and a good Epilogue at the end.  

 “I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”