ONE TOUGH MARINE - PAULA GRAVES

Title: ONE TOUGH MARINE

Author: PAULA GRAVES

Line: HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

Release month ( North America/ UK / Australia): North America - AUGUST

The S-Factor: ( Sizzling! / Simmering / Sweet) Sizzling

Back-Blurb:

Threatened by masked men making an impossible demand of her, Abby Chandler runs to Luke Cooper for help. She knows it's been three years since he vanished after their blazing one-night stand…and that she might be forced to reveal the secret that he's her little boy's father.

Abby has no idea that the former marine has also been keeping a painful secret—that his disappearance was the only way to keep her alive. Luke knows Abby came to him for protection, but earning her trust isn't going to be easy. Nor will keeping his hands off her. But admitting their once-forbidden attraction still exists could be risky. And deadly..

Review: ♥♥♥♥♥

Ms. Graves creates a heart pounding read with ONE TOUGH MARINE.

Abby Chandler comes home to be accosted by two masked men in the shambles of her apartment. They demand that she turn over what her deceased husband stole or something will happen to her son. The only thing wrong with that, Abby has no idea what it is Matt took that these men want. There's only one man she can turn to for protection—a man who doesn't know he's the father of her son.

Luke Cooper hasn't seen Abby Chandler in years, not since he left her bed without a word years ago. But when she shows up unexpected in his house with her young son in tow, Luke's self imposed exile from those he cares for is about to go out the window to protect the two of them. He knew Matt as well as anyone and he and Abby have to work together to figure out what it is that these men want, before they make good on their threats towards Abby.

Abby and Luke are a wonderful couple. Fighting an attraction between them isn't easy, especially being on the run from possibly more than one group of dangerous men who are willing to kill to get their hands on what they want. Close quarters lead to an increased awareness of each other and memories that neither want to deal with. Abby's fear that Luke will find out her secret about her son's paternity before she's ready to tell him forces her to try to keep her distance, something that grows impossible the further they run.

Ms. Graves does an excellent job keeping the tension up as Abby and Chandler race towards the only safe place Luke's aware of: his family home in Alabama. With the bad guys seemingly closing in on them at every turn, the reader is left to wonder if Luke and Abby will make it to safety in time. And just what is it that her husband took that is risk all of this. I have to say I truly loved this book. Abby's son stole every scene he was in. Definitely a read that earned it's spot on my keeper shelf.

Reviewed by: Lis

Hero Hotness Factor ♥♥♥♥♥

Heroine Lovability Factor ♥♥♥♥♥

Awww Factor♥♥♥♥♥

Stickability Factor (will they have a happily ever after) ♥♥♥♥♥

Humour Factor♥♥♥♥

Weepy Factor ♥♥

CHICKASAW COUNTY CAPTIVE - Paula Graves

Title: CHICKASAW COUNTY CAPTIVE

Author: PAULA GRAVES

Line: Harlequin Intrigue

Release month: February

The S-Factor: Scary and Satisfying

Back-Blurb:

WHO’S AFTER HIS CHILD?

When someone tries to kidnap his daughter, Jefferson County D.A. Sam Cooper sees red. He wants little Maddy protected, at any cost. Even if that cost includes working with a distractingly attractive detective, Kristen Tandy. He knows Kristen wants to solve the case…so why does she try so hard to stay distant from him and his little girl? Remaining professional is something he fully understands, but the emotional—and physical—scars Kristen tries to hide make Sam deeply interested in turning things personal. And the more protection Kristen offers his daughter, the more her closely guarded vulnerability draws him in. Before long, as the truth of her past is slowly revealed, Sam realizes just how desperate someone is for her to remain silent. . .

One family determined to do what’s right. COOPER JUSTICE

Review: ♥♥♥♥♥

I thought the first book in this series was exciting. This book is even more intriguing. After all, who wouldn’t find a child’s abduction heart-wrenchingly agonizing.

The first attempt at Maddy’s abduction leaves her cousin in a coma in the hospital. How does Maddy escape detection? What causes her to try this again?

Sam is beside himself with worry when it appears that Maddy has been kidnapped. What does Kristen remember from her childhood that helps her figure out where Maddy is?

Kristen does not want to remember her childhood, but it seems like remembering is the only way to figure out how to keep Maddy safe, and she loves that little girl like she was her own. Who’s arrival causes even more turmoil – and causes Maddy to hide again?

Paula Graves is a master at intrigue. The twists she brings into this story almost make your heart stop. She does such a wonderful job of masking the real villain that you don’t figure out who it is until the very end. An excellent second book for the Cooper Justice series, Chickasaw County Captive also stands alone beautifully.

Hero Hotness Factor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Heroine Lovability Factor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Awww Factor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Stickability Factor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Humor Factor:
Weepy Factor: ♥♥♥

Reviewed by: Donna B

CASE FILE: CANYON CREEK, WYOMING - Paula Graves

Title: CASE FILE: CANYON CREEK, WYOMING

Author: PAULA GRAVES

Line: Harlequin Intrigue

Release month: January

The S-Factor: Scary and Sensuous

Back-Blurb:

Her lips were sealed until the long arm of the law cracked them wide open.

What was supposed to be a quiet vacation in scenic Wyoming turned deadly when Hannah Cooper became the target of a serial killer. Although she survived the attack, the ordeal was far from over. But she wasn’t alone. Not when Riley Patterson appointed himself her protector.

Beneath Riley’s strapping, solemn exterior hid a hard-driving sheriff who would stop at nothing to catch a killer. He promised Hannah safety, but it was the danger he posed that drew her in. Riley was as much a mystery as the man who sought to take her life. Trapped on his ranch, with no one but each other to trust, only justice could set them free. . .and possibly separate them forever.

Cooper Justice. One family determined to do what’s right.

Review: ♥♥♥♥♥

Hannah Cooper was on vacation. She’d gone to Wyoming to do a little fishing with her friends. . . (and maybe get away from her six brothers for a bit?) So why would someone try to kill her? What advice from her brother does she make use of to get away from the killer?

If she wasn’t even attacked in his district, why was Riley called when the facts of Hannah’s attack became known? Why was he so interested in what Hannah had been through? Who was Jack? And why was his opinion so important to Riley?

Here we have a hero and heroine who have real human faults, yet they also have common sense, and they use their common sense to help them find the solution to the horrifying set of incidents that happen to Hannah with increasing regularity.

Paula Graves’ expertise in writing intrigue is second to none. From the first page to the last the story unfolded with one heart-stopping, dramatic, occurrence after another. Not only does Paula write excellent intrigue, she also has some top notch advice for women who travel alone.

This is the first book in her miniseries Cooper Justice. The second book is also already out, entitled Chickasaw County Captive. If you love Case File: Canyon Creek, Wyoming, then you will surely also love Chickasaw County Captive.

Hero Hotness Factor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Heroine Lovability Factor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Awww Factor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Stickability Factor: ♥♥♥♥♥
Humor Factor: ♥♥
Weepy Factor: ♥♥

Reviewed by: Donna B