Book Review: McKettrick's Heart by Linda Lael Miller

McKettrick's Heart
Author: Linda Lael Miller
Series: McKettrick Men (Book 3)
Publication: HQN Books; Reissue edition (August 14, 2017)

Description: She’s the last woman this cynical rancher thinks he needs in his life… a beloved classic from #1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller!

Keegan McKettrick has learned the hard way that trust results in betrayal. The only light in his life these days is the young daughter he sees all too rarely, and his sole passion is for his job overseeing his family’s corporation. Until beautiful but mysterious Molly Shields comes to Indian Rock on a mission—and keeping a suspicious eye on her becomes Keegan’s full-time hobby….

Molly doesn’t know why she’s attracted to a man who’s determined to dig up dirt on her, even if he is gorgeous. But cynical Keegan might be the one person who can truly understand her shadowy past—and if the two can risk opening their hearts, they just might forge a brighter future.

My Thoughts: Molly Shields has come to Indian Rock at the request of Psyche Ryan. Molly is hoping for a glimpse of the son she gave up for adoption to Psyche and her husband - who was formerly Molly's lover now deceased. She arrives to find that Psyche is dying of cancer and wants to have Molly adopt and raise her son Lucas which was much more than Molly could have hoped for.

But Psyche's childhood love - Keegan McKettrick - isn't willing to have Molly anywhere near Psyche's son since he knows about her affair with Psyche's husband. His attitude isn't much changed when her learns that Molly is Lucas's biological mother. Psyche has asked Keegan to manage her estate for Lucas after her death. 

But then Psyche has another idea: she wants Molly and Keegan to marry and form a family to raise Lucas. Keegan has already been part of one loveless marriage and has a ten-year-old daughter that his ex-wife uses as a hostage against him in order to get money from him. She is threatening to take their daughter with her to Paris where she will cavort with her lover while the daughter attends a boarding school. 

And while all this is going on: his ex-wife's threats, his childhood love dying, Keegan also has to deal with the company he has devoted his life to going public. He is going through some major life changes. Molly life isn't exactly stable either. She desperately wants to raise her son, but it means closing her successful career as a literary agent in Los Angeles, selling her house, and moving away from her alcoholic father. 

But somehow their pretend marriage becomes real, but not without trauma. I really enjoyed this story about two strong people who found a way to make a life together. 

Favorite Quote:

Joy, in her experience, was a Siamese twin to sorrow, conjoined at the heart.

I bought this one in 2007. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: McKettrick's Pride by Linda Lael Miller

McKettrick's Pride
Author: Linda Lael Miller
Series: McKettrick Men (Book 2)
Publication: Hqn Books; First Edition (January 1, 2007)

Description: The only wide-open space Rance McKettrick wants to see in his future is his hometown in his rearview mirror. The down-to-earth ex-rancher is determined to make a fresh start with his two young daughters—and leave his heartbreaking loss and family's corporation far behind. He sure doesn't need Indian Rock's free-spirited new bookstore owner, Echo Wells, confusing his choices…and raising memories he'd rather forget. But her straightforward honesty and reluctance to trust is challenging everything Rance thought he knew about himself. And when their irresistible attraction puts their hearts on the line, Rance and Echo must come to grips with who they really are in order to find a once-in-a-lifetime happiness.

My Thoughts: Echo Wells is heading for a new start in Indian Rock after a bad break-up in Chicago when she finds an abandoned dog at a truck stop in New Mexico. She can't leave the dog; she reminds her too much of herself - lonely and abandoned. 

Almost the first persons he meets in Indian Rock is Rance McKettrick, scion of the famous and very wealthy McKettrick family. They don't exactly hit it off. Rance is still grieving for the wife he lost five years earlier and is using work to fill up his time which leaves his seven and ten-year-old daughters in the care of his wife's mother more often than not. 

Echo and Rance have had very different pasts. Echo was orphaned at four and reluctantly raised by an aunt and uncle who already had four children of their own. She hasn't seen them since she left for college at eighteen. Her loneliness wasn't eased when her fiancé abandoned her at the altar of a wedding chapel in Las Vegas. She's hoping for better in her new life in Indian Rock, but it is starting with her adopting a dog that likely belongs to someone else. 

Rance was raised surrounded by a bunch of cousins and other family. He has suffered loss; his sister Cassidy died of leukemia when she was seventeen and he was in college. He also lost his wife to a horseback riding accident. 

I liked the way the two of them grew to like and trust each other. There were a bunch of interesting side characters from Rance's cousins to his mother-in-law and other townspeople who both welcomed Echo and encouraged her relationship with Rance. 

This was a nice contemporary romance from a very prolific author. 

Favorite Quote:

All of a sudden, Echo wanted to break down and cry, right there on the sidewalk. Because little girls lost their mothers. Because their fathers were too busy to attend birthday parties. Because maybe no one cared enough about this dog to search the Internet and then come take her home, and because someone might do just exactly that. 

I bought this one when it was released in 2007. I'm seeing three different covers at Amazon. I chose the one on my paperback copy. You can buy your copy here.

Firday Memes: McKettrick's Pride by Linda Lael Miller

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

The dog, fur soaked, matted and muddy, sat forlornly on the rain-slicked pavement, next to Echo Wells's custom-painted hot pink Volkswagen Bug. Echo, rushing from the truck-stop restaurant with the remains of her supper in a take-out box, in hopes of not getting too wet before she reached her car, stopped cold.

Friday 56:

While the girls ran ahead to join the festivities, Cora wended her way from her own distant parking spot to walk with Echo. From the other woman's expression, Echo gathered she'd half expected Indian Rock's newest arrival to bolt for town without saying howdy to anybody.

Since she'd been tempted to do exactly that, Echo blushed slightly and bit her lower lip.

This week I am spotlighting McKettrick's Pride by Linda Lael Miller which has been on my TBR Pile since February 2008. I used to read everything Linda Lael Miller wrote but haven't read any of her books for years. 

Here's the description from Amazon:

The only wide-open space Rance McKettrick wants to see in his future is his hometown in his rearview mirror. The down-to-earth ex-rancher is determined to make a fresh start with his two young daughters—and leave his heartbreaking loss and family's corporation far behind. He sure doesn't need Indian Rock's free-spirited new bookstore owner, Echo Wells, confusing his choices…and raising memories he'd rather forget. But her straightforward honesty and reluctance to trust is challenging everything Rance thought he knew about himself. And when their irresistible attraction puts their hearts on the line, Rance and Echo must come to grips with who they really are in order to find a once-in-a-lifetime happiness.

ARC Review: Summer Nights with a Cowboy by Caitlin Crews

Summer Nights with a Cowboy
Author: Caitlin Crews
Series: Kittredge Ranch (Book 3)
Publication: St. Martin's Paperbacks (March 29, 2022)

Description: He doesn’t believe in love…

Traveling nurse Janie Atwood has come to Cold River to uncover old family secrets and maybe, if she’s lucky, find a new home. That the gorgeous, glowering sheriff next door thinks her caring for his elderly neighbor is a nefarious scheme is a bonus. Having never been anything but a good girl, Janie finds Zack Kittredge’s simmering suspicion an excellent reason to try being a little dangerous instead…

She doesn’t believe in squandering it…

Sheriff Zack Kittredge is okay with being… intense. He takes his loner status as seriously as he takes his responsibilities to protect Cold River. And he thinks cheerful Janie might be a threat to the town. But the more he gets to know her, the more he faces the truth―she’s brighter than sunshine and he’s like a moth to her flame. When Janie suggests he could use a few charm school lessons, he surprises them both by accepting. He doesn’t need help. But it’s clear he might need her…

Because the only thing hotter than the summer sun in the Rockies is the forbidden passion that burns between them…

My Thoughts: Caitlin Crews returns to Cold River for another engaging romance. Sheriff Zack Kittredge is from one of the founding families. He left the ranch where he had had a difficult childhood, moved to town, and became the sheriff. 

Janie Atwood is a traveling nurse who came to Cold River to look after a patient. She also came looking for her past. After being raised by her grandparents until their deaths, Janie finally had a chance to look for the part of her past that had been kept from her. It maybe led her to Cold River.

Janie doesn't make a good first impression of Zack when she trips and douses him with a coffee drink. In fact, she is humiliated at her characteristic clumsiness and embarrassment. But Zack, who has kept his emotions on a tight leash, is intrigued by this newcomer.

Through this story, love grows, secrets are revealed, and relationships are healed. While I thought the story could have been a good deal shorter, it was still a nice romance.

Favorite Quote:

And the trouble with Janie wasn't her. He couldn't get enough of her. The trouble with Janie was that being around her made him lose the grip he kept on himself, and he couldn't have that.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Her Renegade Cowboy by Lora Leigh

Her Renegade Cowboy
Author: Lora Leigh
Series: Moving Violations (Book 3)
Publication: St. Martin's Paperbacks (September 28, 2021)

Description: He will risk his life…

The oh-so-proper school teacher, Lily Donovan has learned, the hard way, that men are not to be trusted. Period. Until Levi Roberts, the new cowboy working at her cousin's ranch, tempts her carefully-built resolve and awakens an all-consuming passion she thought lay dormant. But when she discovers his deadly secret, and her own secrets come to light, Lily unwittingly joins the lethal cat and mouse race between Levi and the man he’s been hunting for weeks.

To save her heart…

Former Ranger Levi Roberts has seen his fair share of deadly trouble during his years as a tough-as-nails operative. The ultimate expert in undercover investigations, he’s been tasked to find a man with a dangerous agenda in town. Routine work has been boring…until he runs into Lily, the prickly school teacher who tempts him like no other. Getting under her skin has been deliciously satisfying for his red-hot desire, but when Lily lands in the hands of the very man he’s been investigating, Levi will have to fight with every ounce of his heart and soul to save her―and to heal the heart he broke.

My Thoughts: This is the third book in the Moving Violations series. The main characters are Lily Donovan and Levi Roberts. 

Lily is now an elementary school teacher but, while she was a college student, she was groomed and assaulted by her psychology professor who was a serial rapist building up to be a serial killer. Lily was almost his second murder victim but escaped and testified against him resulting in his prison sentence. Her role was kept quiet. No one but her sister and a cousin's wife knows what happened.

However, now professor Graham Brisbee has escaped from prison and Lily refuses to go into protective custody. Former Army Ranger and current Deputy Marshal Levi Roberts is sent undercover to watch over her and be on the lookout for Brisbee.

The two fall in love and have lots of hot sex almost before they have a conversation. In between the very descriptive sex scenes both feel guilty about keeping secrets from the other. When Levi's identity is outed, Lily naturally feels betrayed and is determined to have nothing further to do with Levi. Meanwhile, Levi is willing to do anything to apologize because Lily is the first woman he has ever wanted to have a long-term relationship with. 

Then Brisbee shows up, kidnaps Lily's sister and demands Lily come to him. Levi has to find her before it's too late. 

If you like your romantic suspense filled with sex scenes, this is the book for you. 

Favorite Quote:

She'd been hurt, nearly killed, by one man, but she sensed that this man could break her inside, and that terrified her. Terrified her and drew her.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: My Favorite Cowboy by Donna Grant

My Favorite Cowboy
Author: Donna Grant
Series: Heart of Texas, Book 3
Publication: St. Martin's Paperbacks (February 26, 2019)

Description: New York Times bestselling author Donna Grant rounds up the hottest cowboys in Texas in her latest novel of no-holds-barred passion.

Audrey Martinez is a veterinarian who has devoted her whole life to the care and protection of horses—even if doing so leaves her little time for meeting a man. Who would have thought that a strange case of criminal horseplay would lead her to falling deeply, wildly in love? If only the man who makes her heart race faster than a wild mustang would let his guard down, that is. . .

Caleb Harper is no ordinary cowboy. Sure, he wears his hat, boots, and jeans like a second skin, and displays an easygoing charm that comes from years of working on the ranch. But with his military background, and Army buddies at his side, he is tried-and-true Texas tough. Audrey knows she can trust a man like Caleb to help her save horses. But can Caleb trust himself to resist his attraction to Audrey—or will the sparks of their desire end up getting them burned?

My Thoughts: This romantic suspense title was filled with melodrama and insta-love.

Audrey Martinez is an equine veterinarian who is called to a friend's auction yard when some of his horses are sick. Audrey loves horses and has a reputation as an excellent vet, but their illness baffles her. Audrey has been focused on her career especially since the death of her mother and her father's decision to leave the family. It is just Audrey and her younger sister Maddy now.

Caleb Harper is a local ranch owner who has made a name for himself as a horse trainer since he left the Army and came back to begin his ranch with his brother Brice. He was raised by his sister Abby after his mother deserted the family when Caleb was six and Abby had just graduated from high school. Times were hard for them until Abby fell in love with rich rancher Clayton who helped her raise her brothers.

Both Audrey and Caleb are relationship-shy. Caleb's sense of abandonment shows in his history of having one-night stands and not having any relationship last more than a day or two. Audrey has also had a series of short-term relationships. Maddy says that it is because she is looking for Prince Charming and no real man can measure up to her ideal man.

But Caleb takes one look at Audrey when he comes to the auction barn and is fascinated. When Audrey is attacked and has her office ransacked, Caleb and his whole family take her and her sister under their wings and offers their protection.

While trying to solve the mystery of who is poisoning the horses and why, Caleb and Audrey fall in love. Naturally, given their histories, there are bumps in the road.

This was a nice romance albeit a little melodramatic. It is also third in a series but stands alone quite well.

Favorite Quote:

She didn't know why they hadn't killed Maddy, but she was thankful for that at least. But the attackers had done enough damage to her sister. It wasn't just Maddy's face and body that were bruised, it was her spirit, as well. Her bright, shining soul was dimmed, and Audrey feared that it might never glow again.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.