Reading On The Train: "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off" by Cara North

If you have been checking in from time to time, you know that hubby and I are on our BIG annual train trek, spanning the United States, moving from train to train, and having a ball doing it. Lugging suitcases around can be tiring, but at our age we don't get enough exercise anyway, so that has been all to our good. Moving from West to East, arriving in Boston, trekking North to Portland, Maine, then journeying South to Washington, D.C. and visiting friends who live nearby in Virginia, moving into my home state of Georgia and renewing friendship with long-time friends (that we met and got to know 49 years ago) near Atlanta, and now we are sitting a spell in the home of our oldest daughter who lives in Alabama. Hubby and daughter conspired to drive me to Nashville where we explored really old and unusual cars at the Lane Automobile Museum--absolutely a hoot and trip down memory lane--and an afternoon at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Special displays highlighting the talents and careers of Chet Atkins and Hank Williams, Jr were only a small part of the fun and really encountering a music genre that is uniquely American.

All that train riding makes time for computer games (that's hubby's thing), knitting afghans for church and friends, and, of course, READING!! As many of you have come to recognize, I like some of the older publications I missed out on in years past, and the two novels of Cara North I recently discovered were a treasure uncovered, to be sure. The titles caught my eye be

cause I really love country music and particularly liked the fun titles of these quirky songs.

Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off is a fun contemporary erotic romance about two people needing each other for different reasons and finding out that together they are one insatiable force. Bethany Dodson is running from her past and her fiancé. She needs a new last name and to get lost fast! Jack Johnson needs to marry a woman to get his inheritance so he can stop working on other ranches and rebuild the one he shares with his two older brothers and younger sister. When he meets Bethany, his goal is basically to get some action then get on searching for a wife. But Bethany kills two birds with one stone and the next thing he knows he's the one getting drug down the aisle! What they discover is more than just surface needs. They take each other to new heights in and out of the bedroom, push boundaries, and even fall in love!

What's a girl to do when she has everything money can buy, enough money to float a boat in her underwear drawer, and absolute certainty that she means nothing at all to her parents or the man who is "scheduled" to marry her? Why, she goes to Las Vegas, of course. She needs someone to marry her, give her a new name, let her begin a new life, and then he will be free--that is, if he wants to be free. In the same way, Jack Johnson needs a woman to marry, one who isn't a gold-digger, who can "put out" for at least three months, and who will gladly divorce him in three months--that is, if he is willing to let her go.

Thus the story of Bethany and Jack begins, tossing back shots of tequila, allowing their physical attraction to draw them into each other's sphere, daring one another to marry, and signing on the dotted line--temporarily, to be sure. Yet as life has a way of snookering us into surprises, so the attraction that these two explore and enjoy becomes the hook that seems to keep them connected as their respective stories unfold.

This story explores the healing power of love for a woman who knows her own mind, who has a killer education and plans to use it, and a curvy, voluptuous body she thinks of as fat. Yet Bethany is typical of many women who have incredible talent and learning but who are stunted by the disregard, disrespect, and actually be used rather than appreciated by the people who should have loved her best. Just the simple hugs Jack is willing to share, the fact that a gorgeous man seems to really be turned on by her body as well as her mind, has Bethany beginning to believe that she is loveable and can be valued for herself alone.

I found this novel to be so enjoyable, not really light-weight as it deals with some substantive issues that are unfortunately alive and well in the experience of a multitude of today's women. The loving is warm and inviting, the sex is incredible, and the story of how a relationship that began under less-than-optimum circumstances all combine to make a novel that is a joy to read and, might I add, re-read. Published in 2007, Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off is still contemporary and pertinent to the world of today's women. I highly recommend it as a novel that will warm your heart, massage your libido, and engage your mind as well. Don't miss this one. I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5.

Where Have I Been Since July 1 AND . . . Love Is Better The Second Time Around: "Turning Thirty-Twelve" by Sandy James

Yes, the Independence Day rush is over and we are now well and truly putting away the flags, the fireworks, etc. and moving on into the summer heat. We always have a town parade in the small rural community outside Los Angeles where I live, and it is an absolute hoot. Lots of pick-up trucks decorated, "royal courts" of queens from various localities around--some with so few population that I am astounded that they can find enough teenage girls to even enter the Miss Wherever contest. But they are in our parade, for sure!! Lots of antique tractors, horses, hay wagons with local guitar bands, church groups advertising Vacation Bible School, community organizations, and the local dance studio brings all its students to do what is usually a very creative dance routine all the way down Crown Valley Road--about two and a half miles. By this time every years, the celestial thermostat has gone up and we are looking at some hefty temperatures--90-100 degrees by noon. This year we have the Southern California monsoons that come up from the Baja California area of Mexico, and we endured about a week of AWFUL humidity. We are used to

12-20% humidity throughout the months of June through November. Having the 70-80% humidity that we had this past week makes us all feel like we are carrying a bag of bricks on our chests. Needless to say, hubby and I sneaked home afterward, just in case anyone in our friend circle or our family circle saw us and suggested we come celebrate with them. No Way!! I went home to my cool house and put my feet up and that is how I celebrated July 4th. I was still tired on the 5th and the 6th, but that is not unusual either.

Later that day I began reading another wonderful Sandy James novel that turned out to be one of my favorites of those she has recently published. Turning Twenty-Twelve deals realistically with the experiences of two 40-plus individuals who have both suffered significant loss. Jackie has had her husband of 20 plus years declare that he has finally found his "soul-mate" who happened to be his nubile young secretary and who is now pregnant with his baby, so of course, he has to marry her. The marriage was probably in deep doo-doo anyway, as he was the kind of person who

really wasn't interested much in Jackie's level of satisfaction with any aspect of their marriage, and she was just about done. Mark was a widower whose wife had died recently of cancer and whose daughter is one of Jackie's high school students. Both Jackie and Mark have kids in college. They meet because some of Jackie's friends are insisting she have "one more" blind date--almost guaranteeing that this one will not be a total bust--before giving up on the dating thing. The spark is definitely there, and yet there are a truck-load of problems facing these two.

Ms James has written a novel that is very open about dealing with the issues that face individuals who are past society's best age and who, according to many, have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. They both know they are young enough to crave a real love relationship with all its expressions, but they also face the censure of their kids, the opinions of friends, the worries about getting old and losing looks and figure (men as well as women), and trying to also let go of the past. This was a significant problem for Mark--far more than for Jackie. In her case, it was the ex who found out that he had made one whopper of a mistake. After all, Jackie "took care of him" whereas the new spouse took care of herself. This is a novel that has, in my opinion, hit the ball "out of the park" in facing what may be the realities of second love relationships. It is also about trust--and in Jackie and Mark's case, their situation is made even more complicated when their two children meet at college and begin dating. That's a real shocker that comes into the story as do some other happenings that almost derail them, even after they end up married.

Far too many people live in the mythic hope that "love conquers all." It doesn't! Dealing with the difficulties--the emotional potholes, if you will of bringing two people together as they drag along their personal habits, being "set in their ways" as many are, their grown-up kids, their differing views on parenting, etc. can be challenging--that is the nicest word I can think of. And as one who must encounter these kinds of situations professionally in real life, I was particularly interested in reading how Ms James worked through these challenges and brought Jackie and Mark through some pretty deep waters.

This is a really great read. I hope that even though it has been around for a couple of years, you will go back and find this one. It is definitely "a keeper." It will challenge your mind, entertain, and in many ways, warm your heart. I give it a rating of 4.5 out of 5.

He's the Man of Her Dreams: "Heavenly Angel" by Heather Rainier

Angel Martinez has worked patiently for months to draw the fragile beauty out of her shell, wooing her with gentle kindness and falling for her delightful two-year-old in the process. She can barely handle one. Now she has two Martinez brothers after her. Can she forget the past and fall for both her heavenly Angel and his handsome, devilish brother?

This third story in the Divine Creek Ranch series brings together two people who have been greatly injured by life and by people who they initially trusted. Teresa was a single mother who worked in the local department store to support herself and her son. She barely made ends meet, but she was a responsible woman and a hard-working provider, and she managed to keep her head low so that the father of her son didn't find her. While they weren't married at the time of her pregnancy and while he essentially threw her "under the bus" as unworthy of marriage, his family were a danger to her and had already threatened to take her son away, citing their wealth and prominence socially as having greater weight in family court. Thus, when Angel Martinez began to show definite interest in her, Teresa backed away for months, in spite of her attraction to Angel and in spite of her trust that he would never hurt her.
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Angel Martinez was a complicated man who worked hard as the ranch foreman on the Divine Creek Ranch and who was tired of being used and hurt by the women he trusted and brought into his life. His last girlfriend was running around on him constantly during the last six months of their relationship even while she was living with Angel and sleeping in his bed. He finally told her to move along and even moved all her things to a friend's house where she was staying temporarily. In a fit of anger at being dislodged from her domicile-- she was more upset at losing the roof over her head than losing Angel--she came to The Dancing Pony Club where she knew Angel had gone that night, and shot him along with one of the owners of the Club who had shown her the door earlier. It was during his hospital stay that he and Teresa began to become closer friends but she still would not admit to having any romantic feelings toward Angel. Angel, however, wore her down and they became a couple, but their physical involvement was not immediate. Angel determined that he would build their friendship and trust between them before they ever hit the sheets. The development of the menage configuration in their "family" came a bit later in Teresa and Angel's affair. Both Angel and Joaquin were born into a polyamorous family--they had the same mother with multiple fathers. Thus this kind of family configuration did not seem unusual to them. But it was a real stretch for Teresa--very conservative Hispanic Catholic upbringing--and she really struggled at having strong romantic feelings and attraction to two men.


This is not a simple "boy meets girl" novel. Rather, it is the merging of two lives that had been upended by distrust, jeolousy, and disrespect. In some ways it is painful to watch Teresa trying so hard to find a way to be happy. Her fear for herself and her son, for their future together in the face of his father's family and their threats, is worrisome, and as a reader who really got drawn into the emotion in this story, I felt that kind of dread we feel when we are worried that a mother and child will be separated by cruelty or evil obsession. The author has also not backed away from the ethnic issues that affected both Angel and Teresa. In a part of the United States where there has been Hispanic presence almost from the beginning of our country, there is still tremendous prejudice and it is a burden most Anglos can't even imagine having to handle.


My observation about this author's writing and her story development is that she is more apt to bring in challenges from outside a love relationship rather than a lot of conflict between the lovers. In this story there was lots of emotional baggage from past relationships, but once these two main characters admitted and acted on their attraction, their love bloomed and grew into a beautiful connection that gave safety and security to both Teresa and her son. And because Angel was connected to the Divine Creek Ranch, all the people who had been a part of that friendship circle became a sort of family for Teresa and her son. Angel's brother Joaquin entered the relationship almost unexpectedly--a Christmas visit, love at first sight, an almost immediate sense that destiny had brought them together, and now they were three. Teresa's son Michael absolutely adored both his dads and for the first time since Michael's birth, Teresa truly began to believe that she would be surrounded with love, care, and safety.


I liked this book a lot and found the romance to be very erotic and heart-warming. The solid nature of Angel's love for Teresa was the significant factor in grounding Joaquin and moving him from the happy rodeo stud to a man who desired to claim a place in Teresa's life and who wanted to be a source of security and happiness for himself and for her and her son. It also brought these t wo brothers back into the close relationship they had once shared before Joaquin decided to live the transcient life of a rodeo cowboy. There's lots to like here for the lover of erotic romance fiction. And Ms Rainier is really a very good writer and should be congratulated on her ability to craft a series of love stories that really "make the heart glad." I give this novel a rating of 4 out of 5.

Meet The Author -- She's a Good One -- Kat Martin

Currently living in Missoula, Montana, Kat is the highly acclaimed, best-selling New York Times author of over fifty (50) historical and contemporary romance suspense novels. Before she started writing in 1985, she was a real estate broker. It was suring this time that she met her husband, Larry Jay Martin, author of more than twenty books, both Westerns and mysteries. She is a graduate of Univ. of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in anthropology as well as studying history. "I've always loved books. I was an avid reader, with any number of my own stories rolling around in my head. Writing them down seemedlogical ."

"I love anything old," Kat says. "I love to travel especially to places where my stories are set. My husband and I often stay at out-of-the-way inns and houses built in the past. It's fun and it gives a wonderful sense of a by-gone era."

Kat began with historical novels and is currently writing romantic suspense. She is published in twenty foreign countries.


This is the first in a trilogy involving three brothers who were raised in poverty in Wind Canyon, Wyoming. They were known at the "no account Raines boys" but they've grown in to successful, honorable men and everything they have they've fought for tooth and nail. Now each of the three brothers has one last obstacle to overcome to claim what's eluding them: love.

The oldest of the brothers has now returned to Wind Canyon and has used wealth he has gained through oil investments to purchase a beautiful ranch. He loves ranching. Along comes Sarah, a girl he knew in high school and one who ridiculed and humiliated him repeatedly. Now she is a widow who is running away from friends of her dead husband, a man who lived on the wrong side of the law unbeknownst to her. She has unknowingly rented a cottage that just happens to be on Jackson's ranch and wants to live quietly with her daughter in order to begin a new life. Needless to say, the sparks fly--the old wounds are still just as painful--and the appearance of those "friends" who believe she has something from her dead husband, something these "friends" are willing to kill for. They do indeed end up taking something very precious to her: her daughter, and it would appear that Jackson is just about the only one with the moxie and resources to get Holly back.

This novel was released by Mira Books in January, 2011, and it is a delightful and suspense-filled novel. The characters are colorful and unique, the descriptions of the Wyoming territory are wonderful word pictures, and the love story between Sarah and Jackson is not without its down times. Both of them have loads of old baggage they have to lay aside but we all know that is never easy. Yet Jackson is an honorable man, a man who is stubborn but still can be reached by the delight of a child and the love of a good woman. This is a very readable novel and Ms Martin has such a compelling writing style. I read this book in one sitting and was sorry when it ended. I was really delighted to know there were two additional books coming along behind it. I give this novel a rating of 4.25 out of 5.

Released in February, 2011, this second novel in the series featured Gabriel Raines, a successful builder/developer. He can't be sure whose setting the fires in his new real estate development. When two fires hit back-to-back, he knows it's personal, but any number of competitors or ex-employees could be the culprit. A local teen is suspected but Mattie Baker, a worker at the local Family Abuse Center does not believe that this youngster with whom she has been working is at fault. She also works very hard to get close to Gabriel in order to convince him that someone else is responsible. Their close association begins to turn into a fiery attraction. Solving the mystery of the arson is one thing; finding out where this attraction will lead is entirely another matter.

This is a riveting novel--the continuing string of fires, all aimed at damaging Gabriel and his business, cause the tension in the book to increase throughout. It is a wonderful romance with some very hot loving and some scary, suspense-filled moments. I was really delighted with the book. I give it a 4.25 out of 5.

The third novel in this trilogy is due to be released in March 2011 and features the third of the Raines brothers. At age 32, Dev Raines is "mostly retired" from Raines Investigations, content to run operations from his sprawling Arizona home. But Dev has never been able to say "no" to a beautiful woman, and when Lark Delaney comes to him for help, the former U. S. Army Ranger from Wind Canyon gets back in the game. Finding a missing child, especially her sister's child, is not easy, and as they uncover fact after fact, Dev and Lark uncover a shady adoption ring and find her niece's adoptive parents murdered. The more dangerous things become the more Lark needs Dev, but he can't ignore his growing attraction for her. He's been hurt in the past so doesn't trust his judgment where women are concerned. Lark also threatens to uncover emotions that Dev has worked long and hard to keep buried. But there's a chance, if Dev gets all this right, that he'll not only save Lark's niece but he might just end up saving himself as well.

This third novel seemed to be even more action and tension filled than the first two. Certainly there were some pretty shady characters, some who were willing to even kill a child to save themselves and protect their greed business. Dev, of all the brothers, seemed the most fragile. His past included hurts that he can't even talk about and so he keeps them buried along with the feelings that go with them. He's really wanting Lark, but at the same time he's unhappy that she keeps getting under the shields he has always been good at keeping between himself and the women in his life.

This is a very readable and compelling story, one that I just couldn't put down. I think this is a really wonderful book and felt that it capped off the trilogy so well. Dev was one of those guys that really knows how to treat a woman but he makes sure that none of his female companions get close to him--well in bed, yes, but close to his heart, no way! I think romantic suspense fans will like these three novels. I am so glad I had a chance to read them. This third book is also published by Mira Books. I give this novel a rating of 4.25 out of 5.