Sweet Surprise (Sweet, Texas #4) by Candis Terry

Welcome to Sweet, Texas, where neighbors are friends, friends are family, and family is everything!

Description...

Playing naughty or nice...

Fiona Wilder knows all about falling in lust. Love? That's another story. Determined not to repeat past mistakes, the single mom and cupcake shop owner is focused on walking the straight and narrow. But trouble has a way of finding her. And this time it comes in the form of a smoking hot firefighter who knows all the delicious ways to ignite her bad-girl fuse.

Can lead to heartbreak...

Firefighter Mike Halsey learned long ago that playing with fire just gets you burned. He's put his demons behind him, and if there's one line he won't cross, it's getting involved with his best friend's ex. But when fate throws him in the path of the beautiful, strong, and off-limits Fiona, will he be able to fight their attraction? Or will he willingly go down in flames?

Or a sweet surprise!

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Sweet Surprise is the fourth installment in Candis Terry's Sweet, Texas series, a series I absolutely adore. Each book is fun, romantic, and sexy, and gives me exactly what I look for in escapism reading.

In this book we finally get Fiona's story, and what a story it is! I have to honest, I'm not sure I really bought her being 100% happy with her ex husband, Jackson, finding his happily ever after with another woman, but after reading Sweet Surprise... well, there's no doubt in my mind that she is definitely that kind of awesome. She and Jackson, both. They care for each other, so much, in fact, that when it became clear to them both that they married for the wrong reasons, they divorced but remained close friends. That's a tough storyline to pull off, but Candis Terry does it with flying colors!

As I said, I adore this series. Ms. Terry never fails to deliver characters we can't help but fall in love with, whether they're the leads or the supporting cast. Mike and Fiona are great people with pasts they're trying to leave behind. And even though both have their demons, they're not needy. They are strong, intelligent, hard working people who want the same things we all want; health and happiness and love. And it's their normalcy that makes them people I believe in and relate to and cheer for and, truth be told, wanted to smack when they were being too dense to realize and admit the depth of their feelings for one another.

If you're like me and enjoy the close knit feel of small town romances that come with fun, quirky small town folks and just the right amount of passion and steam, then you absolutely need to read this book! I do recommend reading in order so you get get the whole back-story, but trust me, once you read Sweet Surprise, you'll want to go back and read them all, anyway. So save yourself the trouble and start from beginning. You won't regret it!

An eARC was generously provided by Avon Books. In appreciation, I'm giving them an honest review.

Say Yes to the Marquess (Castles Ever After #2) by Tessa Dare

Description...

Your presence is requested at romantic Twill Castle for the wedding of Miss Clio Whitmore and . . . and . . . ?
After eight years of waiting for Piers Brandon, the wandering Marquess of Granville, to set a wedding date, Clio Whitmore has had enough. She's inherited a castle, scraped together some pride, and made plans to break her engagement.

Not if Rafe Brandon can help it. A ruthless prizefighter and notorious rake, Rafe is determined that Clio will marry his brother—even if he has to plan the dratted wedding himself.

So how does a hardened fighter cure a reluctant bride's cold feet?

● He starts with flowers. A wedding can't have too many flowers. Or harps. Or cakes.
● He lets her know she'll make a beautiful, desirable bride—and tries not to picture her as his.
● He doesn't kiss her.
● If he kisses her, he definitely doesn't kiss her again.
● When all else fails, he puts her in a stunning gown. And vows not to be nearby when the gown comes off.
● And no matter what—he doesn't fall in disastrous, hopeless love with the one woman he can never call his own.

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Tessa Dare's Castles Ever After series is just so much fun! She's given historical romance a refreshing twist while staying true to what we love most about the genre.

Say Yes to the Marquess is the second book in the series, and tells the story of two of society's less...acceptable...peers - Clio Whitmore who has been given the nick name Miss Wait-More thanks to her eight year engagement to Piers Brandon who seems in no hurry to tie the knot, and Rafe Brandon, Piers' black-sheep brother who prefers the title of Champion Pugilist to any he'd carry due to his bloodline.

But eight years have given Clio enough time to realize that she wants more from life than to be the property of a man who doesn't care for her. She wants to be independent, to make her own choices. And if she ever does decide to marry it'll be to someone like Rafe, a man she loves.

Rafe knows he's been a constant disappointment to his family, so when it comes to watching over Clio until his brother returns from his wanderings to claim his bride, he's not going to let anything, not even Clio's decision not to marry Piers, stand in the way of holy matrimony.

There are only a handful of authors who can pen a tale guaranteed to sweep me off my feet, and Tessa Dare is one of them. Rafe and Clio are proof that opposites attract, and attract with a chemistry that burns up the pages. The supporting cast is made up of great characters, but Phoebe, Clio's sister...that is a girl I adore and want to see her find her happily ever after with a man who will love her for all her...quirks.

An eARC of this story was provided by Avon Books via Edelweiss. To show my appreciation I'm giving them an honest review.

All Lined Up (Rusk University #1) by Cora Carmack

Description…

In Texas, two things are cherished above all else—football and gossip. My life has always been ruled by both.

Dallas Cole loathes football. That's what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.

But life doesn't always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.

Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It's obliterated.

Dallas doesn't know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn't know that Dallas is his new coach's daughter.

And neither of them know how to walk away from the attraction they feel.

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All Lined Up is the first in Cora Carmack’s Rusk University series. It’s a New Adult story and because I am not a fan of that genre, I didn’t think I’d enjoy it much. Was I ever wrong!

My review…

My biggest beef with the New Adult genre isn’t so much about the stories themselves but about where I am in my own life and what I want to read. Though I suppose I do fall into the New Adult age group of early 20s to 30s – having been 27 years old for far longer than I want to admit – I just can’t cope with the angst and the drama and the relationship hogwash that seems to go hand in hand with these stories. That said, yes there was some of that here, but there was also something so sweet, so fun, so romantic, so sexy, so inspiring, so, so right about All Lined Up that I couldn’t help but love it!

Dallas and Carson are great characters who stole my heart! They live and love like people who have their hopes and dreams laid out before them, theirs for the taking if they only reach for them, work for them, earn them - because they are those people! How could I not love them?

The bottom line…

The New Adult genre gets a lot of grief from readers but the truth is, it fills a very important niche in romance reading. If you’ve stayed clear of it because you just don’t want the relationship garbage and added angst in your escapism reading, I urge you to give this story a try. In a genre filled with too much of the same old, same old, Cora Carmack is an exciting, fresh voice and her Rusk University series promises to be a winner!

An eARC of All Lined Up was provided by Avon Books via Edelweiss, and in return I’m giving them an honest review.