Review: A Case for the Cookie Baker (Ainsley McGregor, #5) by Candace Havens

 It’s all fun and games until the last cookie crumbles…

Ainsley McGregor and the entire town of Sweet River, Texas, are preparing for the annual summer celebration. And thanks to the extra tourist traffic, Ainsley’s shop, Bless Your Art, has never been busier. Good thing her new friend, Lizzie, has opened a bakery nearby and provides Ainsley and her staff with tasty treats and daily sugar rushes. It’s all cookies and fun, until someone ends up dead in the bakery and her new pal is the prime suspect.

Ainsley is convinced Lizzie is innocent. Unfortunately, her brother, the town sheriff, and her boyfriend, Jake, have some not-so-secret suspicions. With a town full of strangers who just might be suspects, Ainsley finds herself targeted by a killer. Even as her world crumbles faster than a cookie, she’s determined to prove her friend’s innocence—if she can stay alive long enough.

 

My Review:

An entertaining cozy mystery.

Ainsley McGregor, owner of Bless Your Art, in the charming town of Sweet River, Texas, is known for more than just her shop.  She is also known for solving crimes even before the police can do it.  In this book, someone is killed in the bakery and Ainsley teams up with her friends and dog, George Clooney, to find the killer before he/she strikes again. 

I always enjoy reading the books in this series to see what Ainsley and her friends are up to.  George Clooney is such a fun part of every story and always brings a few laughs.  This writer really knows how to keep you guessing until the very end.  I am always surprised to find out how the killer is.  Even though this is a series, each book can be read on its own.

Review: Cowboy Honor (Tangled Up in Texas #5) by Michelle Beattie

This time he wants it all...

Hudson Granger’s family has been estranged since he was a boy. Sixteen years later, not much is different. Or so he thought. After an eighteen-month deployment, he arrives home to his family’s Texas ranch and is shocked by how much life has changed. His brothers are mending fences and have found love. Their father is slowly recovering from a massive heart attack. The kick to Hudson’s chest—learning he has an infant daughter.

Nurse Avery Collins never planned on telling Hudson their vacation fling had resulted in a child. He’d made it clear he wasn’t looking for anything serious, and after her dad ran out on her and her family, she didn’t want to rely on a man for anything. But when her daughter has a serious health scare, Avery’s hand is forced.

Despite their sizzling attraction, Avery is determined to keep Hudson at arm’s length, co-parenting only. But Hudson wants everything—a wife and a family. And he’s determined to get it.

 

My Review:

A welcome addition to the Tangled Up in Texas series. 

Eighteen months ago, Hudson Granger lost his best friend.  To numb the pain, he hooked up with Avery Collins, a girl he met on South Padre Island.  He never expected to see her again.  But when he returned from his deployment in the middle east, he discovered Avery had his baby.  Now, Hudson has his job cut out for him learning to be a father and trying to convince Avery they could be a good family together. 

I enjoyed seeing how Avery and Hudson put their emotional pasts behind them in order to trust enough to give love a chance.  This book answered a lot of questions I had as I read the previous books in the series.  I would definitely read this series in order.   

Review: Capturing the Texas Rancher's Heart (The Tremaynes of Texas #1) by Debra Holt

She thought she’d protected her heart…

After a tumultuous childhood, nurse Jamie Westmoreland craves the comfort of predictability. She loves her quiet life in a small Texas ranching town and finally feels in control until a handsome rancher becomes her newest patient. He challenges her at every turn, but Jamie is too stubborn to admit she enjoys their sparring, and that he makes her heart race. But when his charming little cowboy son starts following her around, her long-neglected heart opens.

Thomas Tremayne, the eldest son of a well-respected local ranching family, is both mom and dad to his young son and has no plans to change. When a ranch injury requires an in-house expert, the nurse who called him out on his attitude is sent to help him heal. She’s even harder to resist on his ranch than she was at the hospital, but Thomas is determined to try—except he’s out-numbered. His son decided he wants a mom, and nurse Jamie is his choice.

Can two stubborn adults let down their guard long enough to let love in again?

 

My Review:

A sweet small-town romance.

Jamie Westmoreland and Thomas Tremayne first met in the hospital where he was recovering from an injury that required surgery.  Neither one of them really liked the other.  Jamie soon finds herself in the position of caring for Thomas at his ranch, as a private-duty nurse.  Taking care of a stubborn cowboy was definitely not what she signed up to do.  

Thomas is a single father and a hard worker.  He isn’t going to let this injury keep him down.  He has a ranch to run and a son to raise.  Then he finds out the prickly nurse from the hospital is going to be staying with him to help him through the rest of his recovery.  Little did Thomas or Jamie know, they would soon find themselves falling in love. 

I enjoyed seeing Jamie and Thomas let their guard down enough to get to know each other and finally fall in love.  I really liked Andy, Thomas’s son, a lot.  He sure did steal a few scenes.  This is the perfect start to a new series that I look forward to catching up with.