Jen

I've had this book sitting on my shelf for years and finally decided to read it.  And now I know why it sat so long and I remember why Presents was never my favorite Harlequin line.  I had a hard time liking either Estella or Ramon and the romance was non-existent.  The two of them fought like cats and dogs and while there was lust, all of the sudden they were in love.  I didn't enjoy 99% of their interactions and mostly pushed through to see if it could redeem itself... and it didn't.  Really not my cup of tea, but I do thank the author for sending me the book all those years ago.

  After reading Caught by the Cowgirl by Tanya Agler, I was ready to continue the Rodeo Stars of Violet Ridge series. And so I dove into Snowbound with the Rodeo Star, and it was a wonderful continuation of the series.

Both Ty and Sabrina appeared in Caught by the Cowgirl. At that time, Sabrina was nursing a broken heart following the recent breakup with Ty. Jump ahead about seven months, and Snowbound with the Rodeo Starbegins.

Ty is in Violet Ridge to tape a commercial, and he runs into Sabrina working at the ranch where it is being filmed. Ty thought he was doing the right thing by breaking up with Sabrina but seeing her again, he has second thoughts. Ty then realizes Sabrina's pregnant, and things change. He never wanted to be a father, but now that the reality is facing him, he's jumping in with both feet and has to convince Sabrina that he wants them to be a family.

I will be the first to admit I'm not a fan of the secret baby trope. For me, it's super hard for the male lead to prove that he's all in with the mother and child since it is a romance, after all. And Snowbound with the Rodeo Star really leans into that aspect of the trope. Ty spends the days leading up to Christmas convincing Sabrina that he wants her and the baby. But he is sending her mixed signals, and she thinks he just wants to be a father and doesn't want a relationship with Sabrina. I found this part of the relationship development very well done, and it kept me turning the pages.

With strong characters and wonderful romance development, I really enjoyed Snowbound with the Rodeo Star. I could have used a bit more of the “snowbound” part since I was really looking forward to it, but nonetheless, it was a good story. It had me laugh and cry, and in the end, I want my emotions touched within a story. I can't wait to continue this series. 


My review originally posted at Novels Alive.

If you're looking for a sweet Regency romance, I'd totally recommend What Would a Duke Do?. I really enjoyed this book from Ms. Cameron. The plot was unlike any I'd read before, which was a nice surprise, The twist in the plot caught me off guard, which was wonderfully unexpeted.

Ms Zimmerman has great pacing and a great British accent to help bring the characters to life. I appreciate how much emotion she pours into her performance.

I won't hesitate to pick up another book from Ms Cameron or one narrated by Ms Zimmerman. Well done.

This was a cute fast read. Andrew was met in previous novels as he's one of the Whittaker Brothers this series is about. He's the PR face for his family's drilling company. And Becca starts out as a protester, but ends up working for Andrew as his press secretary.

Since we're talking about a romance, there are sparks happening and of course there has to be some sort of tension and that comes from miscommunication.

I'm not usually a huge fan of the romance with the boss trope, but this one actually worked for me. I'll admit that I'm not sure I would have picked it up if it wasn't part of a series I'd started reading, but in the end it was done well.

This does have light inspirational tones. There's prayer and church going, but no preaching and hitting you over the head with religion. And it's sex-free, if you're concerned about that sort of thing.

This book was a middle of the road read for me.

The plot itself wasn't bad. Throw two writers who used to be writing partners, as well as in a relationship, back together due to the fine print in a contract. It's interesting concept. But things just got a little too muddled for me. I could have used more character growth and definitely more for the romance. So much time was spent dealing with the situation the characters were in, the romance wasn't really developed. And then all of the sudden they're engaged... it didn't work for me.

The real let down was the narration. I haven't listened to anything by Ms Li before. I appreciate that she moderated her voice to differentiate between the characters. But the pacing (or maybe editing) was just off. There weren't any sort of good breaks between scenes. I was thrown multiple times when the scene or POV changed and there wasn't a pause to help with the switch. And outside of some emotion within the dialog, the rest of the narration was too emotion-less for my tastes. I wanted more feeling.

I was given a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

I met Ms Morgan at a book conference and while talking she was raving about her narrator for her Holiday Mail Order Brides series. When she heard that I hadn't listened to any of them, she offered me a review copy. After listening to this story, I devoured the rest of the series, which were available to listen to via Amazon Prime (at the time of this review, I don't know if that is still the case).

This is book four in the series and while there were a couple parts and characters from prior books, it stands on it's own quite well. As always with series, it works best if read in order, as it enhances the story.

Let's start with the narration. Mr Rahhal is awesome. He does voices for all the characters and infuses so much emotion in his performance. I would not hesitate listening to more books narrated by Mr Rahhal, as he was quite entertaining.

On to the story... Adaline needs to escape New Orleans and her elderly aunt suggests becoming a mail order bride. And so Adaline is on the train to Oregon to marry Lorcan, a book store owner. Lorcan doesn't know that his mother has sent for a mail order bride for him, but is drawn to the woman and so begins their romance.

There are a few twists and turns in the story to make it interesting and to allow the characters and their romance to grow.
All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I'm definitely a fan of Ms Morgan and Mr Rahhal.

This book was given to me for review, but all opinions are my own.

It was an interesting short read. Most of my problems came from an editing standpoint. At least twice the male lead was called by a different name (Nic instead of Kade) and it just jerked me out of the moment, doing a double take to read back a little to make sure I didn't miss anything.

All in all, not bad for a 30 something page novella.

Stranded for the Holidays is a sweet, inspirational, Christmas romance. I read it in one sitting and was moved to tears at the end of the book. Jonas and AnnaBeth both had insecurities they needed to overcome in order to find their happily ever after. And Jonas's son, Hunter, was so cute! Although, I admit that reading his lisp (“Dat's the only ding I want for Christmas, Santa.”) got a little annoying. And it seemed to come and go. But all in all, it was a pleasant way to pass the time.

Not as good as book 1

I read this book right after finishing book one. They're in no way connected. No characters in common. Different locations. Only similarity is the fake relationship.

I had a harder time believing this premise. A country music star is getting a bad reputation so his music label and manager decide that a fake marriage is the thing to turn things around. And of course things aren't all as they seem.

I liked Callie and Tucker. The chemistry was there as was the character growth and development. They were good people in a weird situation. I was cheering them on and curious how they were going to get their happily ever after. It did seem too get resolved a little too easily for tastes.

All in all, it was a nice clean read.