There's More To Me Than Just Being A Mother: "One Hot Mama" by Cara North

Rafe decides that it is time to make his move on Layla. Layla adores the man, but she has secrets too dark and too risky to let herself fall for him.

For a man who knows everything about women, he doesn't know anything about Layla and to earn her trust he has to do more than win over her children.

The is the third in the "Country Music Collection and a story which now features the third brother in the family--a man who has always been the peace-maker, the one who has stood in the gap when difficulties make family life uneasy and tense, and who now is drawn to a single mother with two kids. His efforts to draw her into any kind of relationship continually fall flat, and even the relationship he has established with the kids--they absolutely adore Rafe--doesn't seem to make much difference when it comes to bringing Layla and Rafe closer to where he would like to be.

As has been the case in the first two books, the story is edgy and real, the characters are not gilded with literary smooze, and the story smacks of contemporary life. The background characters are, in many cases, persons readers have met in the first two books, and their stories continue on just a bit. Certainly Layla is now in a quandry because the real stories of her past are in danger of being revealed. Yet she craves the relationship Rafe's brothers have managed to have and she wants security for herself and her kids.

This story is one of those novels that grabs your emotions and just doesn't let go until the last word is read. Even then I found it difficult to move away from the story and kept on thinking about the characters long after I had finished the book. I find that is true of the really good ones. If nothing else, the characters and their story connected with me on some level.

I think Cara North is a very accomplished writer and have enjoyed her style and her use of the language. Readers of contemporary romance fiction will like her writing and will find that her stories are compelling and worth the time and effort to read. I give this book a 4.25 out of 5.