Wendy the Super Librarian‘s Duckies Do Series Review of The Sons of Chance by Vicki Lewis Thompson
Contemporary romances released by Harlequin Blaze Jun – Aug 2010
After taking time away from her category roots to write single title contemporaries and paranormals, I was happy to see Vicki Lewis Thompson return to Harlequin Blaze with a new trilogy. While my experience with her backlist is hit or miss, she can always be counted on to write sexy banter and hello? I’m a girl who can’t say no to a cowboy. Yes, I am that easy. Given my current reading backlog, I settled in to read these books back-to-back-to-back.
Wanted!
1 Jun 10
Photographer Dominique Jeffries has come to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to lick her wounds. This Chicago gal reined in her fun-loving, impulsive tendencies to please a stuffed-shirt boyfriend who ended up cheating on her. She’s taking pictures of the pretty scenery when she sees a prettier shirtless, sweaty cowboy digging fence posts. That cowboy is none other than Nick Chance, the middle son of the family whose ranch house she’s staying at. But she doesn’t know that….
This story started out fun and sexy with a sizzling sexual encounter. However it all slides south quickly thanks to the heroine who adds a few new definitions to the term “wishy-washy.” She was all hot to trot to act “impulsive,” having sex with some anonymous cowboy, but when said cowboy turns out to be a Chance boy – well, no can do. Somehow that made him suddenly unavailable and unattractive to be impulsive with. Then halfway through the story the author introduces a Big Family Secret. The problem with that is that we only have half a Blaze book to resolve that issue, and it’s serious enough that I had a hard time believing everyone would be that well-adjusted by the final chapter. Call me crazy, but I didn’t entirely buy it.
Grade: C
Summary:
Photographer Dominique Jeffries has come to Wyoming to find herself – her creative self, her sexual self. After escaping the engagement from hell, she’s dying to break loose and live a little. And seducing a shirtless, sweaty cowhand looks like just the place to start!
Nick Chance isn’t exactly a cowhand but, hey, he’ll be whatever the lady wants! Only he soon realizes that this is more than just a quick roll in the hay. There’s something about Dominique that calls to him, something about her that completes him.
There’s only one problem. Dominique wants a fling, not another relationship.
Little does she guess how easily she’ll be persuaded to take a Chance – again and again and again!
Ambushed!
1 Jul 10
Baby brother Gabe Chance has come home from the rodeo circuit with a injured horse he saved from the slaughterhouse. It’s while he’s home helping with the horse that he runs into old high school chum, Morgan O’Connelli. Sparks fly, and these two crazy kids can’t stay away from each other. The fly in the ointment? Morgan is the new real estate agent in town, and the Chance family doesn’t think too highly of the profession ever since the family patriarch passed away suddenly. Real estate agents practically beat a path to their door. Oh sure, the house is great – but it’s the land that’s prime. But are Morgan and Gabe really going to settle down and be an item? Or is this just a temporary fling?
This story was really great…for a while. Morgan is sassy, spunky and not afraid to speak her mind. Gabe is charming and flirtatious, and even though he’s the baby of the family, he’s not spoiled or coddled. The banter is sizzling, the romance is engaging, the conflict works well. So what happens? The ending. Suddenly in the last couple of chapters the author decides to have Morgan waffling about if she ever wants to have children. How this tacked on conflict is resolved was incredibly insulting and so infuriating that I almost chucked my Sony Reader across the room. Ugh!
Grade: C-
Summary:
Morgan O’Connelli hated the restless lifestyle she’d had as a child. All she wants now is to create a real home in small-town Wyoming. So first she hangs up her real-estate agent shingle…then she promptly borrows the horse of the hottest cowboy in town!
Cutting-horse champion Gabe Chance is blown away by the feisty redhead who unexpectedly lands right in his bed…and, soon enough, his heart! Morgan’s perfect for him in every way. Until he realizes that while she’s turned out to be everything he never knew he wanted, he’s got everything someone in her profession has ever wanted…his family’s ranch.
And that’s a legacy he’s just not willing to give up—not even for the sexiest woman he’s ever fallen for….
Claimed!
1 Aug 10
Oldest brother Jack Chance has been running the family ranch ever since his father died in an accident. Jack blames himself for that accident, and the fall-out resulted in him dumping bar owner Josie Keller. But now his youngest brother Gabe is getting hitched. He wants Jack to be the best man, and his blushing bride wants Josie to be the maid of honor. Will Jack and Josie be able to get along for the sake of not ruining the wedding day?
This book is the pay-off book. The one that I had been waiting for. Jack is surly and a pain-in-the-ass in the previous two books, so I was looking forward to him groveling and mending his ways. He has to come to terms with his father’s death and learn how to shoulder the ranch responsibilities without making everyone else crazy. I liked Josie a lot. She’s smart, she’s funny, and she gives as good as she gets. However, given the awful way Jack treated her, and the fact that he truly broke her heart, I thought she should have been better at controlling her hormones. Hey, I don’t care how hot the guy is – if he treats you that badly, the last thing you’re going to do is rush right back into a fling with him. Just sayin’. However, that aside, it was nice to see Jack catch a clue and I think in the end, he’ll do right by Josie. Lord knows he was a jackass, and she deserves to be treated like a queen.
Grade: B
Summary:
Following a dream brought Josie Keller to Shoshone, Wyoming. Following her heart brought her plenty of great sex with good-time cowboy Jack Chance! She was head over heels for him… until he left her.
Stay with one woman? Not a chance! Then why does Jack miss Josie like crazy? Had their relationship been more than just incredible sex?
Little do Josie and Jack know that a plan’s afoot to get them back in the saddle…together. And once there, it’s not long before they’re burning up the bedsheets again!
But the past is never far away. Before it catches up with them, Jack has to decide if he’s going to stake his claim on Josie, or lose her forever….
I found this trilogy to be a bit of an uneven affair, but it did deliver on several levels. If you’re a reader who is a sucker for hunky cowboys? Yeah, these guys perform admirably. Thompson continues to show her flair for sexy, fun, banter and she does a great job of hooking and investing me in the series. I wouldn’t be surprised if she decides a return trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming is in order. Heck, Josie has a newly divorced brother ready and waiting.
Overall Grade: C+
