The Groom Wore Plaid (Highland Weddings #2) by Gayle Callen

Blurb...

Maggie McCallum's dreams about her new fiancé aren't the romantic sort. It's not just that she was bartered to Owen Duff like a piece of property to end a clan feud. She's also haunted by premonitions of his death on their upcoming wedding day. Yet the exasperating Highlander won't let her call it off, even though his life and his clan are both in jeopardy.

Owen has wanted Maggie in his bed since he first glimpsed her years ago. If their union restores peace between their clans, so much the better. But while lusting after another chief's sister had its risks, growing to trust Maggie is far more dangerous. Owen is falling deeply in love with the one woman he cannot hope to claim . . . and survive.

This is the 2nd installment in Gayle Callen’s Highland Weddings series. Like the 1st book, The Wrong Bride, The Groom Wore Plaid is a fun story. The witty banter between Maggie and Owen made me chuckle more than a few times. Their passion - though it didn’t happen until later in the story, made this a steamy read! There’s also a mystery, a little poignancy, and overall The Groom Wore Plaid is an entertaining tale and a great addition to the series.

There are definitely characters I’d like to know more about, and I’m looking forward to what Ms. Callen offers up next in the series.

An ARC was provided by Avon Books. In appreciation I’m giving them an honest review.

Kulti by Mariana Zapata

Blurb...

When the man you worshipped as a kid becomes your coach, it’s supposed to be the greatest thing in the world. Keywords: supposed to.

It didn’t take a week for twenty-seven-year-old Sal Casillas to wonder what she’d seen in the international soccer icon—why she’d ever had his posters on her wall, or ever envisioned marrying him and having super-playing soccer babies.

Sal had long ago gotten over the worst non-break-up in the history of imaginary relationships with a man that hadn’t known she’d existed. So she isn’t prepared for this version of Reiner Kulti who shows up to her team’s season: a quiet, reclusive, shadow of the explosive, passionate man he’d once been.

Nothing could have prepared her for the man she got to know.

Or the murderous urges he brought out in her.

“Every single thing that has ever happened in my life has led me here, Sal. Destiny is a ladder, a series of steps that takes you where you’re supposed to go. I am the man that I am, and I have done the things that I’ve done, to get me to you.”

Kulti is one of those difficult-to-review books, not because there’s anything wrong with it but because there is just so much “right” with it. There are so many things to gush about, so many things I want to share with you, but I won’t deprive you of the enjoyment that’ll come as the story slowly unfolds revealing painful secrets from the past, and the peace that can come when you share those secrets with the people who care about you most.

I’ve seen some reviewers say that this isn’t a romance novel, and I might agree with them, but only to a degree. The relationship - both emotional and sexual - between Reiner Kulti and Salomé Casillas is slow to grow, but it happens in such a mature, believable way that it’s one of the things I love most about the story. But make no mistake about it, there’s most definitely a romance here, and it’s beautiful - and hot!

I’ll wrap it by saying that if you’re like me and not a big fan of the New Adult genre because of all the drama inherent in its stories, give this one a try. There's drama, yes, but it's not contrived and fits perfectly with this sports themed romance.

Kulti is a stand-alone novel and so well done that you can bet I’ll be looking for more by Mariana Zapata!

Click here to purchase Kulti from Amazon

Soul Deep (I-Team 6.5) by Pamela Clare

Soul Deep is a deeply romantic and incredibly sexy story. It was refreshing to read about Jack and Janet, a mature man and woman who don't play games, who know what they want, and do what they have to, to get it.

Blurb:

Rancher Jack West knows what it means to love a woman with all his heart and to lose her far too soon. A widower for seven long years, he thinks love and romance are a thing of the past, nothing more than cherished memories. He devotes himself to his grown son and his family, the horses they raise, and the land that has been theirs for three generations. He doesn’t know that life has a surprise in store for him in the form of Janet Killeen, the lovely FBI agent he threw off his land last winter.

The bullet that left Janet Killeen seriously wounded also tore a hole through her life. All she wants is a little peace and quiet in the mountains, a chance to feel like herself again. That chance comes to an abrupt end when she goes off the road in a snowstorm and winds up stranded alone in a ditch. The last person on earth she wants to see is that arrogant jerk Jack West, no matter how handsome he is. But from the moment Jack finds her and offers her his hand, she realizes there’s far more to this gruff cowboy than she had imagined.

But trouble is brewing at Cimarron Ranch. A deranged man with an inscrutable motive is moving in for the kill, threatening to end Jack and Janet’s romance before they can claim a love that is … Soul Deep. 

*****

Just a note: This novella is part of the I-Team series (I-Team After Hours) but works perfectly as a standalone.  

The I-Team reading order, so far:

1. Extreme Exposure
1.5 Heaven Can't Wait - a novella found in the out of print anthology Catch of the Day and on ebook
2. Hard Evidence
3. Unlawful Contact
4. Naked Edge
5. Breaking Point
5.5. Skin Deep
5.9. First Strike
6. Striking Distance
6.5. Soul Deep
7. Seduction Game
7.5 Dead by Midnight