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Dylan by C.H. Admirand

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Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel

 

Dylan by C.H. Admirand
ISBN: 978-1402258077
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Release: Dec 2, 2012
Source: I received a copy of this book to read and review from Sourcebooks

sugarbeats books romance novel romance book reviews dylan CH AdmirandDesperate times call for desperate measures…
When Tyler Garahan said he’d do anything to save his family’s ranch, he never thought that would include taking a job as a stripper at a local ladies’ club. But the club’s fiery redheaded bookkeeper captures Tyler’s attention, and for her, he’ll swallow his pride…
And one good turn deserves another…
Emily Langley feels for the gorgeous cowboy. It’s obvious that he’s the real deal and wouldn’t be caught dead in a ladies’ revue if he wasn’t in big trouble. And when he looks at her like that, she’ll do anything to help…
Working days on the ranch and nights at the ladies’ club, Tyler is plumb exhausted. But could it be that his beautiful boss needs him just as much as he needs her…
Dylan is the middle book in the latest trilogy by C.H. Admirand.  The first book Tyler was released last March and the last book Jesse, is due to be released in July of this year.  These three books form the story of three Garahan brothers that are brothers who grew up ranchers and now run the family ranch.  Times are tough and each brother does what they can to keep everything afloat.  This book is about Dylan’s story.

Dylan has taken some work as part of the stage show in the bar in town.  He’s part stripper, part dancer, part carpenter and part rancher.  Emily meets him when she is lassoed as part of her birthday celebrations.  Dylan hasn’t met Emily before, but knows that she will be blindfolded and easy to pick out of the crowd.  He’s surprised to be so attracted to someone he’s never met before, and can’t resist stealing a kiss when he pulls her close enough.  She isn’t very appreciative of his kissing and manages to get in a few kicks to his shins before he lets her go.  The crowd in the bar goes wild!  What she doesn’t realize is that he’s the man going to show up the next day to fix the damage vandals did to her store.  She’s far too hung over from her birthday celebration to deal with him again so soon without kissing him.

Dylan is young and has the tenacity of the Irish, not to mention their ability to charm.  Emily is out of a bad marriage with a man who strayed, and not interested in dipping her toes in the relationship pool again so soon!  The problem is her grandmother claims that she is destined to marry an Irishman and have twins. She try to outsmart her destiny by marrying an Italian man first time around, but now finds herself confronted by an Irishman that she can’t seem to resist!

This is a great steamy story!  The characters are well written and work well together.  The interaction between them has enough conflict to keep the reader entertained and moving forward with the story.  I’ve been reading alot of historical lately, and enjoyed the change up with this contemporary romance.  I’ve always been a sucker for a story with cowboys and horses and this story did not disappoint.  Although it is part of a trilogy, I didn’t have any trouble reading this book without having read the first book in the series.  I am looking forward to reading both the first book and the third book so stay tuned for more reviews from this author.

 

Amazon Purchase Link for Dylan (The Secret Life of Cowboys)

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Interview & Giveaway with Shana Galen, author of The Rogue Pirate’s Bride

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Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel

Today we are welcoming Shana Galen to the blog!  She will be here to talk about her latest release “The Rogue Pirate’s Bride”.  She’s also going to give away 2 copies to two lucky visitors!  Just fill out the form at the bottom of the post to enter.

Just to preface Shana’s interview, I must say that I loved this book!  It’s been a while since I read a good swashbuckling pirate adventure, and one filled with a yummy man  and kick-butt heroine who wields a sword is even better! (see cover below!!!)  I’ll post my review for this book next week, but make sure you find your self a copy of this book, this series and sit back and enjoy!

Without further ado….here’s Shana:

Barb: Tell us a bit about yourself and your writing.

SG: First of all, thank so much for having me back! I’m excited to be here.
I’m a wife, a mom, a former English teacher, and now a fulltime writer, if one considers writing after bedtime and during naps fulltime. I write fast-paced adventurous Regency historicals, and The Rogue Pirate’s Bride is my eleventh published novel.

Barb: Tell us a bit about The Rogue Pirate’s Bride

SG: The Rogue Pirate’s Bride is the story of Bastien, who escaped the French Revolution as a child by fleeing the country and signing on with a ship’s captain. When the book opens, Bastien has his own ship and sails the Mediterranean operating as a privateer under the Spanish flag. He’s seeking revenge against the Barbary Corsair Jourdain, who killed his mentor. But Bastien is being hunted himself by Raeven Russell, who’s the daughter of a British admiral. She wants Bastien dead because he killed her fiancé.

Barb: I loved reading this book, and am looking forward to reading this entire series.  Can you talk about where this book fits into the series and where the ideas came from for this series?

SG: This is the last book in the Sons of the Revolution series. The other two books are about Bastien’s brothers. All the boys were separated during the Revolution and don’t know the others are still living, so readers have been waiting to see them reunited.

I got the idea for this series from one of my favorite literary classics, Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. Each brother is based, more or less, on a character in that book. There aren’t any pirates in Dickens’s book, but I really think there should have been!

Barb: Although I’ve only read 2 of your books so far, I’m impressed by your ability to create great dialogue between your characters.  Do you feel that dialogue is your strength in your writing, or do you feel that you are stronger in other areas of your story telling?

SG: I honestly don’t know if I think of dialogue as one of my strengths. When I’m writing, and I’m always writing, it never feels like anything is a strength. I suppose I wouldn’t consider dialogue a weakness. Plotting is a weakness for me. I’m not good at plotting. Writing action scenes is a strength. I’m always told I do those well and enjoy writing them.

Barb: What was your favorite part of this book to write, what was the hardest?

SG: My favorite part of this book was also the hardest. I loved writing the ship battles, but I didn’t know much about ships or naval warfare, so that made it tough. Fortunately, my dad does know a lot about that sort of thing, and he helped me a lot. It was fun working with him.

Barb: Do you create an outline before you begin writing or do you just let the characters tell the story?

SG: Outline? What’s that? The very word strikes fear into my heart. I let the characters tell the story and then bemoan my lack of an outline the whole time.

Barb: What book(s) are you currently reading?

SG: I just finished Joan Swan’s Fever. It’s her debut and comes out later this month. It’s fabulous.

Barb: What project are you working on now?

SG: I’m working on the second book of a new series about three glamorous courtesans in Regency London who get mixed up with some very dangerous diamonds and some equally dangerous men. The first in the series will be out in September, and it’s titled When You Give a Duke a Diamond

Barb: Where can your fans find you?

SG: Everywhere! I’m on Twitter (@shanagalen) and on Facebook. I have a profile and a fan page with contests and all the latest news. My website  is the best place to go for excerpts and to learn more about me and my books. I’m also on Goodreads, and I blog with the Sisterhood of the Jaunty Quills

Barb: Any last comments you wish to add?

SG: There’s been a little confusion because The Rogue Pirate’s Bride was originally titled The Making of a Rogue (and briefly Once a Rogue) and slotted for publication in April 2011. This is the same book, just with a different cover and title. My publisher pushed the release date back to make those changes. So if you wonder whatever happened to that book, here it is!

 

THE ROGUE PIRATE’S BRIDE BY SHANA GALEN – IN STORES FEBRUARY 2012

 

Revenge should be sweet, but it may cost him everything…

Out to avenge the death of his mentor, Bastien discovers himself astonishingly out of his depth when confronted with a beautiful, daring young woman who is out for his blood…

 

Forgiveness is unthinkable, but may be her only hope…

British Admiral’s daughter Raeven Russell believes Bastien responsible for her fiancé’s death. But once the fiery beauty crosses swords with Bastien, she’s not so sure she really wants him to change his wicked ways…

sugarbeat's books romance novel romance book reivews

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shana Galen is the author of five Regency historicals, including the Rita-nominated Blackthorne’s Bride. Her books have been sold in Brazil, Russia, and the Netherlands and featured in the Rhapsody and Doubleday Book Clubs. A former English teacher in Houston’s inner city, Shana now writes full time. She is a happily married wife and mother of a daughter and a spoiled cat and lives in Houston, Texas, where she is working on her next regency romance series! For more information please visit www.shanagalen.com, like her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter

I’d like to thank Shana for dropping by again!  I’m busy trying to work my way through the Sons of the Revolution series and I must say, this new series that is in the works looks pretty good also!  Drop back by next week for my review and make sure you fill out the form to enter the giveaway!

Red’s Hot Cowboy by Carolyn Brown

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Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel!

Today I’m hosting another giveaway!  I absolutely loved Red’s Hot Cowboy by Carolyn Brown and want to share it with another reader.  If you like the sound of this book, enter my giveaway by filling out the form at the bottom of the review!
Red’s Hot Cowboy by Carolyn Brown
ISBN:978-1-4022-5361-4
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release: Aug 2011
Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher to read and review

He wasn’t looking for trouble….
Wil Marshall is only looking for a place to say after a winter storm knocks out power at his ranch.  The sexy cowboy never imagined he’d get entangled in a murder investigation – or that events will ignite irresistible passion between Wil and the motel’s fiery proprietress…
But trouble was looking for them both…
Pearl Richland never expected to find herself in a middle-of-nowhere Texas twon as owner of her great-aunt Pearlita’s vintage motel.  But in the midst of chaos, this spitfire is about to learn a thing or two about fate and love, the silent majority that always has the final say….

Red’s Hot Cowboy by Carolyn Brown is the second book that I have read by Ms. Brown in the last few months.  This book seems to be loosely connected to the first book that I read, Love Drunk Cowboy as there are characters in common.  Wil Marshall is a rancher who meets Pearl when he checks into her motel when his power goes out one night.  Pearl has inherited this motel from her great aunt Pearlita and has given up her job in the big city to be her own boss.  Wil and Pearl set sparks off one anther right from the start.  He calls her “Red” which irritates her and his dog attacks her cat.  Their relationship takes off from there.  The first night at the motel, Pearl prevents some young girls from sneaking into Wil’s room and then she has to go fetch him in jail the next morning after he is mistakenly arrested for murder.  To her astonishment, he pays her back for her kindness by helping clean rooms at her motel the following day.  She’s pretty impressed by a man who doesn’t mind cleaning!

This delightful story rocks along at a good pace.  The humor is plentiful and most of it on the sarcastic side which appealed to me!  The author sprinkles in country music tidbits and being a fan of country music, I found this great!  Right near the beginning of the book there is a section where Pearl comments on being reminded of a Toby Keith song.

She was reminded of Toby’s Keith’s song “I Love This Bar.”  He sang about hookers, lookers, and bikers.  Well, if he’d loved her motel instead of a bar he could have added a bride and groom, a pissed off granny who was trying to corral a bunch of bored teenage grandchildren, and sure enough there was Santa Claus over there in the corner.  Pearl didn’t see anyone offering to sit on his chubby knees, but maybe that was because he’d taken off his fake beard.  He was bald except for a rim of curly gray hair that ended, of al things, in a ponytail about three inches long at his neck.”

The Texas twang comes through loud and clear in the speech of the various characters.  I found myself thinking in twang even when I wasn’t reading the book!  Although I absolutely loved the characters of Wil and Pearl, my most favorite character was Lucy.  Lucy was physically and mentally abused by her husband for years before she decided to fake her death and leave him.  She showed up at Pearl’s hotel covered in healing bruises needing a job.  Pearl gave her a job, somewhere to live, clothes, food and a start at developing her new life.  Lucy’s strength brought tears to my eyes.  She was a wonderful secondary character for this book and in  my mind, almost stole the whole show!

Yet another winner by Carolyn Brown!  A total delight to read and a book I would highly recommend!

Just a side note, I went to the mailbox today and found this waiting for me:

 

It’s obvious to me that this is a great book!  I mean, really, would they put such a yummy man on a book that isn’t good???  Stay tuned for that review – Closer to Christmas, I think.

 

Now for the giveaway.  Just fill out the form to enter.  US and Canadian address please.  I’ll have an international giveaway at the beginning of September!