Wild Iris Ridge

Wild Iris Ridge

By RaeAnne Thayne

Publisher: Harlequin HQN

Release Date: June 24, 2014

Lucy Drake has returned to Hope’s Crossing. It’s certainly not what she planned to do, but when her high-powered career as marketing director of a top software company crashed as spectacularly as it had risen, she had nowhere else to go. Subleasing her condo and packing up all her worldly belongings, Lucy left Seattle for Hope’s Crossing and Iris House, the silver baron mansion and home of her great-aunt that had sheltered a rebellious teenager seventeen years ago when Lucy’s emotionally distant father and stepmother had been delighted to find someone else to accept responsibility for a troubled adolescent. Annabelle opened her home and her heart to Lucy, and Jess became not just Lucy’s cousin but also her best friend. Annabelle and Jess are gone now, and Iris House belongs to Lucy. Maybe she will fulfill Jess’s dream of turning the house into a bed and breakfast, or maybe she will sell it. Either way, the house will give her a bolt-hole while she figures out what to do with the rest of her life, that is, if she doesn’t burn it down first.

Fire Chief Brendan Caine is astonished to see Lucy Drake when his department answers a call to Iris House late one April night. He’s grateful it’s only a chimney fire that his team can contain. Somehow chaos seems to follow in Lucy’s wake plus Brendan always feels stupid and awkward around her. She may have been his late wife’s relative and best friend, but even though Jess has been dead two years, Brendan can’t forget that Lucy thought Jess could have done better than tie herself to a “dumb jock.” Then there are his kids, Faith and Carter, who adore their Aunt Lucy. Brendan has no doubt that Lucy loves them as well, but he also has no doubt her presence will disrupt their peaceful routine. But he takes comfort in the thought that Lucy’s stay will be a short one in Hope’s Crossing will be short.

Lucy is unsurprised to find Brendan less than welcoming. Despite their shared love for Jess, animosity has always simmered between the two of them, with Lucy telling herself Brendan was more muscles than brain and Brendan telling himself that Lucy is a self-important, career-centered city girl who likes to boast of her achievements. Lucy is surprised the next morning when she confides in Brendan about her job loss, and Brendan is surprised at his impulse to comfort Lucy. These are just the beginning of the surprises in store for them.

Their mutual love for Faith and Carter forces them into one another’s company often enough for them to get to know one another better, often enough for a powerful attraction to grow. But Brendan is uncertain if he’s ready to make a commitment, and there’s the question of whether Lucy can settle in Hope’s Crossing. Of course, the citizens of Hope’s Crossing are not shy about expressing their opinion about the twosome. Lucy’s situation is complicated by an extended visit from her half-sister Crystal who is a near-clone of Lucy’s attitude-burdened teenage self. Throw in a couple of puppies who need a loving home, and you have the makings of a new family--or an emotional disaster.    

Wild Iris Ridge is the seventh book in the Hope’s Crossing series. There is nothing groundbreaking in this book, but it offers the likeable characters and warm, realistic setting that have made Thayne a favorite with many readers. Brendan is one of the sons of the appealing, large-hearted Dermot Caine, whose own romance moves forward in this story. Lucy has long been a favorite with Dermot, so predictably he approves of a relationship between her and Brendan.  

I have grown weary of the commitment-phobic hero who runs away from the heroine only to have an epiphany that his life without her is worthless. I found it refreshing that Brendan’s reluctance to commit is rooted in his lingering grief over Jess’s death and in his conviction that Lucy will never settle in his small town, a conviction based on a decade of her largely avoiding said town. I also appreciated that Lucy’s return is not a flight from the evil city to the perfect small town. Hope’s Crossing is not perfect, and Lucy’s return made sense because home is where many people instinctively head when their life falls to pieces. Thayne not only makes me like Brendan and Lucy; she also makes me believe in them.

Nine-year-old Faith and five-year-old Carter are not paper-doll kids. They too behave in believable ways, and each has a distinct personality. Teenage Crystal is an interesting character in her own right, and helping her is part of Lucy’s growth. Readers who have followed the series will likely enjoy the glimpses of other Hope’s Crossing characters, whose appearances seem more organic than contrived.

Although Wild Iris Ridge is not my favorite book in this series, it is another satisfying visit to one of my favorite fictional small towns. It can doubtless be read as a standalone, but I recommend that you read the series.

This novel marks the end (at least temporarily) of a series I have enjoyed without exceptions, and I’m sad to leave Hope’s Crossings. However, I’ve already read Snow Angel Cove, the first book in Thayne’s new series by the same title, and the hero is Aidan Caine, brother to Charlotte (Willowleaf Lane), Dylan (Christmas in Snowflake Canyon), and Brendan. Hurray for connections even amid change!

Thayne, like Robyn Carr with her Grace Valley, Virgin River, and Thunder Point series, links a popular series to a new one. Some call it good world building; others call it smart marketing. What do you think?

Home to Stay

Home to Stay

By Terri Osburn

Publisher: Montlake

Release Date: May 1, 2014

Willow Parsons thought Anchor Island would be just another out-of-the-way spot that would offer a temporary refuge in her journey to outrun her past. She never expected it to feel like home. But with the Dempseys treating her more like family than like just the assistant manager of their bar and grill and Beth Chandler and Sid Navarro teaching her just how great it is to have best friends, Will is beginning to feel as if she belongs in this place. She is even wondering if she dares to stay. Only Randy Navarro makes her uneasy. At first, it was that his size made her uncomfortably aware of things she would rather forget, but she’s has slowly come around to accept that Randy is indeed the gentle giant his sister proclaims him and poses no threat to Will’s physical wellbeing. Now it’s the effect he has on her brain, her libido, and maybe even her heart that has Will reminding herself of all the reasons she can’t afford the complications that a romantic relationship would bring.

Randy Navarro, owner of Anchor Adventures, which provides watersports instruction and equipment to tourists, and Island Fitness, Anchor’s only gym, is an adrenalin junkie, a super-size knight with a protective streak to fit, a big brother who changed his life to take care of his kid sister, and an all-around good guy. He’s straight-talking, tender-hearted, patient, and tenacious, and he uses all of those qualities to persuade Will that she is safe with him, safe enough to take down her walls and open her heart.

Just when an HEA for these two who really deserve one is within their grasp, an ambitious reporter exposes Will’s identity, and Will reverts to a familiar pattern of behavior—she runs, leaving behind Anchor Island, the friends she cherishes, and Randy. Can Will learn that some things are worth taking a stand and fighting for? Can Randy forgive that she left him with only a note?

I loved Anchor Island from my first glimpse of it, and I have only become fonder of it with each book in the series. The setting has a warmth and a realness that only the best small-town series attain, and the characters are people with whom I enjoy spending my time. Home to Stay is my favorite. Will is a phenomenal heroine who demonstrates that love can heal even the deepest wounds and give the wounded warrior the strength to fight and win the necessary battles. But Randy is the reason this book is my favorite. He is true to type and yet distinctly individual—and a testament to Osburn’s talent. Only a third of the way into 2014, and I’ve read an unusual number of books with extraordinary beta heroes. Randy tops my list. In fact, I rank him right up there with Quinn Hunter (Till the Stars Fall, Kathleen Gilles Seidel), Blue Reynard (In the Midnight Rain, Ruth Wind) “Preacher” Middleton (Shelter Mountain, Robyn Carr), and Cam Early (Red’s Red Hot Honky-Tonk Bar, Pamela Morsi) as my five favorite contemporary beta heroes.

If you like contemporary romance that blends a generous serving of sweetness with just the right amount of spice and wraps it in genuineness and likeability, you will love Home to Stay. And although readers can’t stay on Anchor Island, they can return at least one more time. I just hope Randy Navarro is around when I make that return trip.

Let’s talk betas. Do you like beta heroes? If so, what contemporary heroes are on your list of favorites? If not, I’d love to introduce you to some that I bet can change your mind.

Taken with You

Taken with You

By Shannon Stacey

Publisher: Carina Press

Release Date: March 25, 2014

Hailey Genest may think longingly of the shops, restaurants, and other perks of city life, but she loves her hometown of Whitford, Maine, and her job as librarian in the small town’s only library. But the sudden rash of weddings and babies among her friends have made her newly conscious of her single status and the limited dating pool Whitford offers for a woman who just hit 40. When a new, single friend suggests they celebrate their singleness by joining a wilderness adventure expedition, Hailey, who is so not an outdoors type, stays calm and buys hiking boots. She’s not really surprised when she and her friend get lost, but she is unprepared for the bearded, dirty, smelly Grizzly Adams type who shows up to lead the two lost women back to civilization. He might offer an excellent rear view, but he is the very opposite of the man Hailey is looking for.

Matt Barnett is enjoying the final days of his vacation before moving to Whitford and taking up his new position as game warden for the area. He’s much more interested in the beer waiting for him back at his cabin than he is in playing savior for two lost women, but he’s too much good guy to ignore their plight. The pretty blonde catches his eye, but he recognizes that a woman who wears full makeup and new hiking boots for a trek through the woods is definitely not his type. That feeling is reinforced by her obvious distaste for his unkempt appearance. Matt has had his fill of women who turn up their noses at the dirt and sweat that are an inevitable part of his outdoors vocation and avocation.

Neither Hailey nor Matt think they will ever see one another again, so the reluctant attraction each feels toward the other is not an issue. But when Hailey sees Matt in her library teaching an ATV safety course, she knows that she’s going to see more of him than she’s comfortable with, and when Matt finds out that his new next-door neighbor is the blonde from the woods, he knows she is not going to be so easy to dismiss from his mind. Despite the chemistry between them that is too powerful to ignore, Matt and Hailey know they are too different for the long term, but they agree to enjoy the moment with each other, exploring all the facets of their incomprehensible connection with no promises for tomorrow. They forget that the heart is no organ of reason, and soon what was supposed to be just a lusty friendship turns into love. But those very real differences exist, and they may be too great for even love to overcome.

I’ve been addicted to Shannon Stacey’s Kowalski series since I read Undeniably Yours and upon finishing it, immediately bought Exclusively Yours, the first book in the series. Taken with You is not a true Kowalski book since neither of the lead characters belongs to that family, but it takes place in the Kowalski world, and most of the Whitford branch makes an appearance. More importantly, these characters have the same genuineness, humor, and layered lives that made me a fan of the earlier books.

Anyone who has ever been in a long-term committed relationship learns that compromise has a necessary role, but it’s not an element given much attention in romance. I really liked seeing Hailey and Matt learn that love doesn’t melt essential differences but that, as the old Diamond Rio song says, “ain’t no road too long when we meet in the middle.” I also loved that Hailey is an unabashed forty and still believing in the possibility of Prince Charming—and that when he arrives, he is so unprincely and uncharming that she almost fails to recognize him.

Although Taken with You is officially Book 8 in the Kowalski Family series, it can easily be read as a standalone. If you like your contemporary romance with a generous serving of heat, likeable characters whose lives and loves have an appealing verisimilitude, and connections of family and friendship that plausibly bring former characters into new stories, Shannon Stacey’s Kowalski series is among the best. I highly recommend it, and Taken with You can serve as an introduction. Once you read it, I bet you’ll look for Stacey’s backlist. After eight books, my addiction is still going strong. I’m now eagerly anticipating Falling for Max (July 29, 2014); it’s the story of the mysterious Max Crawford and Hailey’s wilderness adventure partner, Tori Burns. I’m hoping to see more of Hailey and Matt in it and, of course, more of the Kowalskis.

The attraction of opposites is a popular theme in romance fiction, but it is one that often fails to convince me of the HEA. Taken with You is an exception because it shows the role of compromise. Do you believe opposites attract? What is necessary for you to believe in the HEA of opposites?

Tuesday Review: Come Home to Me

Come Home to Me

By Brenda Novak

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: March 25, 2014

The Presley Christensen who returns to Whiskey Creek after a two-year absence is a responsible adult, not the scared, angry, rebel who ran away from her scarred childhood, her mother’s death, and a man who couldn’t love her as much as she loved him. She found a dangerous escape in drugs, but she is clean now and committed to giving her young son Wyatt a safe, secure, love-filled life very different from her experience.  Now a certified massage therapist, she is struggling to get her yoga/massage business started and looking forward to spending more time with her sister, Cheyenne Amos (When Snow Falls).  The last thing she expects or wants is to see Aaron Amos back in Whiskey Creek too. His presence makes it harder to keep a secret she is protecting.

Aaron Amos has also changed in two years. The Amos brothers’ hard work has paid off with a body shop business successful enough to expand, and Aaron is looking forward to moving to Reno and setting up shop there. He is looking forward to the challenge and to a new life in a place where everyone is quick to write him off as one of those wild Amos boys. Guilt has plagued Aaron ever since the night Pressley left town, guilt for hurting her and for failing to be what she needed him to be. He’s pleased to see her back and doing well, but he wants a chance to voice his regrets and seek her forgiveness. And the more she tries to avoid him, the more determined he is to have that conversation.

Complicated is an understatement when it comes to the relationship between Pressley and Aaron. As if their own pasts and Pressley’s secret were not enough, there is the additional tangle of Cheyenne being married to Aaron’s brother and a new wrinkle there. It is clear as soon as Pressley and Aaron see one another again that their chemistry is as volatile as ever. But he can’t wait to leave Whiskey Creek, and she is finding unexpected pleasure in becoming part of the community. Pressley is also leery of risking her heart again. She has too much to lose.

Brenda Novak sets her Whiskey Creek series apart from the dozens of other small-town romances being published by creating darker stories with edgier characters with problems that are not commonly seen in romance. She stays true to the pattern and even notches the difference up several degrees with this sixth installment in the series.

Both Pressley and Aaron had troubled childhoods, and they both made some bad choices. Seeing their hard-won maturity and their on-going efforts to reclaim their lives makes it easy to like them and to root for their second chance to include reconciliation and a chance for the family life they both missed out on as children. I enjoyed their story.

I was less happy with the secondary story thread involving Cheyenne. I loved When Snow Falls, and it has continued to be my favorite book in the series. I’m being vague to avoid spoilers, but I was really bothered by Cheyenne’s actions in this book. My concerns kept this book from being a top read for me. Nevertheless, I am invested in the Whiskey Creek characters and particularly eager to see Eve arrive at her HEA.

If you enjoy small-town romances with a difference and applaud authors who are not afraid to take a few risks, I think you will like Come Home to Me.

One of the delights of reading series for me is confirmation that the HEAs from earlier books in the series are ongoing. This book ruffled my complacency about an HEA and left me an unhappy reader. What do you think about complications added to a previously established HEA?

Tuesday Review: All the Little Things

All the Little Things

By Heidi Sprouse

Publisher: Bell Bridge Books

Release Date:

December 11, 2013

Megan Taylor and Sam O’Malley have loved one another since they met when she was eight and a new resident of Cordial Creek, Vermont, and he was ten and the boy next door. For over twenty years, they have been together. They began as best friends, and when their relationship turned romantic, it just added another, albeit more exciting, layer to all the years of loving one another and sharing their lives. But at twenty-eight, Megan is unhappy and feeling trapped by the unvarying routine and predictability of her life with Sam, which seems to stretch endlessly before her void of the color and adventure she craves. One Sunday as she and Sam begin their regular Sunday afternoon drive, Megan demands that Sam stop the car—and, with no explanation, she walks away from him to keep a date with a tall, dark, and handsome stranger she had connected with through an online dating site.

Sam O’Malley is an all-around good guy: an architect who is considerate of his employees, a friend who loyal and supportive, a son who is caring and dependable, and a faithful lover anticipating a happily-ever-after future. He has loved Megan Taylor forever, and he is devastated when she walks away. Wounded, disillusioned, and angry, he retreats briefly from all the responsibilities of his busy life, but in that isolation, Sam comes up with a plan.

He asks Megan for twenty days, one day for each of the years that they have been part of one another’s life, twenty days to remind her of all to which she is saying goodbye, twenty days to prove to her that the love they share and the life they are building is all that she needs. Each day he will give her a tangible reminder of particular moments in their life together, and he begins with a bouquet of red roses, although this bouquet is from a florist, unlike the first bouquet ten-year-old Sam stole from his mother’s rose bushes to welcome Megan to the neighborhood. Will the memories Sam’s gifts evoke be enough to remind Megan of their once-in-a-lifetime love?

Since I believe the deepest, longest lasting love is most often rooted in a friendship based on a shared history, shared values, and shared dreams, I love romance fiction that presents such a relationship. I was easily captured by the description of this book, expecting a sweet, small-town story that would leave me happily sighing over the HEA. But only some of my expectations were fulfilled.

I love Sam! He is a wonderful beta hero, the kind of guy on whom every town relies, the steady caretaker every family needs, and the faithful, tender lover most women hope to marry. Cordial Creek is a pleasant place, and I was particularly pleased that it was not another Great Northwest or Texas setting (as much as I love some series with those settings). But for a book to reach keeper status for me, I want to love both the hero and the heroine. This time I didn’t. Megan irritated me. She hated the rootlessness of her early childhood. She chose to return to Cordial Creek after college. She had ample opportunity to explore a larger world and seek adventure if she so desired. Surely she realized at some point in more than a decade of dating Sam that she had never dated anyone else. At twenty-eight, she is old enough to have some sense and too young for a mid-life crisis. She says she hates to hurt Sam, but she handles the breakup in a cowardly, cruel manner. She redeems herself to a degree by book’s end, but it was too late for me to believe she deserved Sam. But if only deserving people inspired unwavering love, romance fiction—and life—would have fewer HEAs.

With that said, this is a highly readable novel, and the memory scenes of earlier times in Sam and Megan’s life are sweet and evocative. Some readers doubtless will find Megan less of a problem than I did. This one is well worth checking out, particularly for readers looking for romance novels with less sizzle and rich development of the H/H’s relationship.

Have you read books that left you feeling that the heroine or the hero didn’t deserve her/his beloved? Were you able to move past that feeling and enjoy the book?  

Tuesday Review: The Cottage on Juniper Ridge

The Cottage on Juniper Ridge

By Sheila Roberts

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date:

February 25, 2014

Jen Heath has lost all joy in her life. She is working two jobs in order to pay her mortgage, her car payment, and her maxed out credit cards. Looking back, she realizes she was crazy to buy the Seattle condo she fell in love with but couldn’t really afford and crazier to hit the limit on her credit cards for all the furniture and accessories she just had to have for her new home. Now she has no time to enjoy her home or her friends, and even finding time for her family is a stretch. A year after her divorce, she still can’t find time to date. Jen used to love Christmas, but now the holiday just means more tasks added to her must-do list. After a particularly difficult day, Jen goes home, calls in sick, and curls up with a book that her sister gave her—Simplicity by Muriel Sterling. As a result of reading the book, in an impulsive move to simplify her life, Jen quits her job, puts her condo up for sale, and moves to the small town of Icicle Falls, Washington, where she discovers the joys of life with fewer stresses, including a part-time job at a bookstore, and new friends who are kindred spirits, and begins writing a book. Learning to drive on snowy roads presents a challenge, but if only her landlord, sexy firefighter Garrett Armstrong, would stop jumping to conclusions about her similarity to his irresponsible ex-wife, life would be practically perfect.

Jen is only one of the women whose lives are transformed by reading Simplicity. Stacy Thomas’s motto when it comes to collectibles or sale items is the more, the merrier. When she decorates her home for Christmas, it is so cluttered that her guests can’t find a place to set a cup of coffee, and her husband complains that she has taken over their shared closets. Single mother, Chita Arness is stretched so thin with her job, her kids, and her volunteer activities that she has no time for herself. Even Jen’s sister Toni worries that her husband’s work which, thanks to the computer, infringes on personal time, her daughter’s constant texting, and her son’s video games are destroying the loving connection that once characterized her marriage and family.  Each of these women will discover ways to simplify her life, ways that will allow her to have a life that is richer and more satisfying than the one she has known.

 Although there are several romantic elements in The Cottage on Juniper Ridge, the primary one being Jen and Garrett’s relationship, the novel is more women’s fiction than romance. The focus is on the women and their friendships and individual journeys, and the romances are just one part of the women’s lives. As readers familiar with Sheila Roberts’s books will expect, there is a rich vein of humor, some of it quite broad and some of it wonderfully subtle. I found myself smiling a lot during the sisterly exchanges between Jen and Toni.  But there is also wisdom that most of us would do well to heed in the idea of simplifying complicated, overextended lives.

I’ve enjoyed all of the Icicle Falls books, but this one is my favorite. I liked Jen, and even though I could have shaken Garrett a few times, I liked him too. His stubborn clinging to clearly wrong-headed conclusions and his basic decency reminded me of men I know. I also liked that Roberts showcased women at various stages of their lives—from the single Jen to the older, twice-widowed author of Simplicity. This is the fourth book in the series, and while it can be read as a standalone, it is a more satisfying reading experience for those who have read the other books and are familiar with Icicle Falls.

I know people who are skeptical about the power of a book to change lives, but I’m a believer because I can point to several that changed mine. Can you point to particular books that changed your life in specific ways?