Claiming Felicity

Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)- Susan Stoker
Montlake Romance/Amazon Digital Services
Release Date: February 27, 2018

Warning: Potential Spoilers!

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Former mercenary Ryder Sinclair’s stunning discovery that he has three half brothers in Castle Rock, Colorado, is giving them all the chance to color in the spaces of their tragic pasts. For Ryder, establishing roots is made all the more desirable by Felicity Jones. But if Ryder’s instincts are correct, this breathtaking beauty is in trouble.

Castle Rock isn’t Felicity’s home. Like her false identity, it’s just a cover. All she wants is enough cash to keep moving to another temporary hideaway—to stay on the run from a secret that’s haunted her for years. As safe as Ryder’s strong embrace makes her feel, she fears that falling for him, and staying in Colorado, will put everyone she’s come to love in danger.

The more Ryder learns about Felicity, the more determined he is not to let her go. It’s time for her to stop running—even as a relentless danger closes in, threatening their love and their lives.

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When Ryder Sinclair discovers he has three half brothers, he knows his life is going to change.  What he doesn't expect is to meet the woman of his dreams at the same time.  Felicity has known the Anderson brothers for years and joked that it was too bad there weren't four of them so she could have one too.  Now it seems there are four of them and the newest one has declared himself hers.  The timing couldn't be worse for Felicity, who's just discovered the stalker she thought she'd outrun has caught up with her. Ryder convinces her not to run again, but can he and his new brothers keep Felicity safe from her past?

Anyone who's read the rest of Stoker's Ace Security series has been hoping for Felicity's story and now here it is.  We get to see behind the tough exterior to the Felicity underneath: a woman so afraid of the ghosts of her past that she is constantly ready to run, lives off the grid as much as possible, and tries never to get close to anyone.  But she's been in Castle Rock for five years and become close to the Anderson brothers and their wives.  Leaving them would break her heart, but when threatening notes from an old stalker show up, she's ready to do it to keep them safe.  Ryder is a tough enough mercenary that he makes her feel safe, like she might have a chance staying in Castle Rock.  He's refreshingly honest about himself and his work and lays it out in a way that makes you like him even more.  You would trust Ryder even as you feel badly for the things he's seen and done over the course of his career. He doesn't brag, and there's nothing macho or testosterone fueled about who he is or what he does.  

While the insta-love Ryder feels for Felicity struck me as being more what I'd expect from a paranormal romance case of true mates than a contemporary romance love-at-first-sight, somehow Stoker makes it work. The reader accepts it as easily as Ryder does- though Felicity understandably has a few doubts.  Similarly, the relationship between the Anderson brothers and Ryder develops in a very natural and realistic way.  Neither side accepts the other completely at the beginning, and both sides are a little uncertain how to separate their parents's past actions from the present.  Felicity's stalker, Joseph, was a deeply creepy nut job and after learning a bit about how he's attacked her in the past it's much more understandable that Felicity would try to run than to turn to friends for help- even security expert friends. 

Claiming Felicity may be one of Stoker's best books to-date.  The emotions are raw and intense, the action is fast-paced, and the bad guy is terrifying. The book is stand-alone, although having read the other Ace Security books helped me with fully understanding the brothers and their interactions with Ryder.  There are a few brief cameos from some of Stoker's other books (Shelter for Sophie) but again, they were more cases of smiling when you realized who they were than people who's books you need to have already read.  And we get some tantalizing teasers of the group who will be a future series! All in all, a great book and one that leaves you wanting to read past series while you wait for the next one.    

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Shot on Gold

Shot on Gold (Play by Play series)- Jaci Burton
Berkley/Penguin Group
Release Date: February 13, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚

Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis:  Will "Mad Dog" Madigan is making his second trip to the Winter Games, and he couldn't be happier. Hockey is his life and playing for the U.S. team is a privilege. Then he meets U.S. figure skater Amber Sloane. She's beautiful, ambitious and driven--everything Will desires in a woman. He would love to show Amber how hot life off the ice can be. 

Amber has skated her entire life, sacrificing everything in the hopes of one day winning gold. Now she's competing for the third and final time. She intends to win, and nothing's going to get in her way--until she meets Will. He's an irresistible charmer, and before long Amber is wondering if this sexy hockey player is the perfect guy to show her some moves outside the rink.

But after all the medals have been awarded, Will and Amber will have to decide if what they have together is just a fling or a real shot at true love.

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Amber Sloane has focused on figure skating her entire life.  At 24, she knows this year's Olympics will be her last and she's determined to do things differently.  Instead of closing herself off she begins making friends and emerging from the isolated cocoon her mother has forced her to stay in her whole life.  Romance has never been in the plans, but hockey player Will Madigan may just change her mind.

Shot on Gold is a sweet romance out just in time for this year's Winter Olympics.  Burton captures the excitement and camaraderie of the athletes and readers get as caught up in the excitement of the games as they will watching their winter sport of choice.  Amber is a sweet girl who is experiencing many things for the first time- despite this being her third Olympics.  With a domineering stage mother pushing her nonstop, she's spent her whole life working towards a gold medal.  There are plenty of times you just want to slap her mother for her attitude, but Amber somehow manages to be friendly and normal despite her mother's example.  When Amber begins to fall in love with Will, she discovers that friendship and romance complete her and make her a better skater instead of distracting her as her mother fears.  But a relationship in the bubble of the Olympic village is different from in the real world and Amber isn't sure that will work.  Will is a guy with a refreshing attitude towards life: live hard, work hard, play hard, but be open to the idea of love because it's real.  He's seen it in his parents and is sure he'll find it for himself some day.  It frustrated me at the end that it looked like Will might not be willing to fight for a relationship with Amber, despite all his big talk.  When she gets cold feet, he accepts that and walks away instead of pushing back.  I was glad Amber was brave enough to (eventually) give them a chance, because they had a great chemistry between them and really brought out the best in each other.  

While a good story, Burton's writing was often repetitive and I found myself skimming some sections because of that. I also kept waiting for more of a conflict than ever really came up.  However,this was still a fin book.  Despite being part of a series, this is a stand alone book and readers won't need to have read any other books in the series to enjoy this one (I haven't, yet).  Shot on Gold was fast paced and fun, a light romantic read perfect to get readers in the mood for this year's Winter Olympic Games.  

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Shelter for Sophie

Shelter for Sophie (Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Book 8)- Susan Stoker
Amazon Digital Services
Release Date: August 15, 2017

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: She’s shy, he’s stoic…not the hardest personality traits to overcome, but Sophie Carson and Roman “Chief” Proudfit have their work cut out for them.

Sophie has a crush on the silent-but-studly firefighter next door. She’s been pining away silently while secretly helping the hardworking man by mowing his lawn—which he thinks is being done by her nonexistent husband and/or boyfriend. He’s definitely not big on neighborly chitchat, but with her stutter, that suits Sophie just fine. But now a misunderstanding at a bar has put him even further out of her reach.

Roman’s difficult upbringing on an Indian reservation is a sore spot, so when he thinks Sophie is taking advantage of poor people for medical trials at her workplace, he lets her know exactly what he thinks. But when he discovers he misunderstood, he’s man enough to admit it…and also that he should have opened his eyes to his beautiful, sensitive neighbor sooner. 

As the couple gets closer, each helping the other overcome lifelong pains, for the first time in years, Roman has something to live for other than his job. And, as he discovers when Sophie puts herself in danger, something even bigger to lose… 

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Opposites attract when Sophie and her next door neighbor Roman "Chief" Proudfit connect.  Sophie's had a crush on her neighbor since he moved in a year ago but is too shy and insecure to do anything about it.  A lifelong stutter makes her self-conscious about meeting new people and she can't imagine why anyone as good looking as Chief would be into her.  Chief pretty much ignores his neighbor until he misunderstands something he overhears her say in a bar.  Sparks fly but can they overcome misunderstandings and danger to reach a happy ending?

Sophie is a sweet, likable woman who you can instantly relate to.  She's shy, and is convinced that no one could like her because she stutters. But she goes out of her way to help everyone she meets, from cutting her hot neighbor's grass when he's not home to buying food and blankets for homeless people who stay near her work.  I also really liked Chief, although in the beginning I wanted to smack him upside his head.  A firefighter who grew up on a reservation in New Mexico, Chief is sensitive about others being taken advantage of- and is convinced he's right all the time.  A misunderstanding about Sophie's work brings home to him that he might be more judgmental than he wants to be, and that he owes Sophie a big apology!  But he mans up and not only apologizes, but finds he wants to get to know his shy neighbor a whole lot better.

Shelter for Sophie was a great book, with delightful chemistry between Sophie and Chief.  Stoker obviously did her homework about Navajo culture and seamlessly blended pieces into the novel.  Both Sophie and Chief changed for the better as the book went on, becoming more comfortable not only with each other but also with themselves and their place in the world.  

Susan Stoker (Rescuing Kassie) is becoming a go-to author for me, and Shelter for Sophie didn't disappoint!  A part of the Badge of Honor series that follows a group San Antonio firefighters and law enforcement officers, but like most of Stoker's books it can be read as a standalone book.  If you like your firefighters hot and your heroes hotter, this is one for you!

I received this book from Instafreebie in exchange for an honest review