Helen R. MyersReviews

Campbell Cody twice experiences the strike of lightning and both times prove to be deadly portents. The first time she loses her friend and her job as police officer. The second time Maida Livingstone, the dear old woman she was hired to protect, disappears. Jackson Blade has also lost someone--a teenage girl he was tracking as part of a drug investigation, an investigation that uncovers a connection to Maida...and Campbell. With the sexual tension sizzling, can Jackson and Campbell work together to solve the mystery of so much misfortune before lightning strikes again?

I loathe and despise the way this book went.. I honestly had high hopes for it! The writing was witty, characters had potential, but honestly half way through chapter two I was ready to slap the heroine... I get sadness and death, but 4 years later, I felt like she was just in denial or simply being mean. and no one likes a pushover I wanted the hero to grow a pair!! LIKE for real though!! I really disliked the heroine like so much, like the author forgot she was writing a romance and I felt the late husband was this huge insurmountable object that just wouldn't move... Honestly I dislike widow/widower storylines because sometimes it loses something!!! BUT THIS WAS TORTURE!

I loathe and despise the way this book went.. I honestly had high hopes for it! The writing was witty, characters had potential, but honestly half way through chapter two I was ready to slap the heroine... I get sadness and death, but 4 years later, I felt like she was just in denial or simply being mean. and no one likes a pushover I wanted the hero to grow a pair!! LIKE for real though!! I really disliked the heroine like so much, like the author forgot she was writing a romance and I felt the late husband was this huge insurmountable object that just wouldn't move... Honestly I dislike widow/widower storylines because sometimes it loses something!!! BUT THIS WAS TORTURE!

I re-read this anthology all the time. I especially love The Monster in the Closet by Anne Stuart.

Much better book than I thought it would be at the beginning, because Noah really ticked me off. But he redeemed himself quite nicely. Rylie is a sweetheart and has been a bright addition to the vet clinic. She has a soothing way with both animals and people - except for Noah Prescott. Noah has been stuck bringing his mom's dog to Rylie for grooming a couple times and he hasn't been happy about it. There's something about Rylie's perkiness that bugs him.

I loved Rylie. You know right away that her cheerfulness is a way of dealing with something else. She had been a veterinary student who had quit during her last year to become a dog groomer. She moved to Sweet Springs to be near her uncle, one of the old guys who hangs around the vet clinic. She plans to get her vet tech license so that she can be of more help at the clinic when she's not grooming dogs. I loved seeing her deal with the old guys and also the various animals she comes into contact with. I also enjoyed the way that she didn't take Noah too seriously. She could see that he was super serious and tried to lighten things up with him, but he wasn't cooperating. She was also attracted to him but felt that he was way out of her league and was determined to ignore it.

Noah is a very serious guy. He returned to his hometown after his father's death and mother's injury in an automobile accident. Now he works as an ADA and sees a lot of the worst parts of people. His encounters with Rylie have him feeling very off-center. He's attracted to her and doesn't want to be. He feels that her constant cheerfulness has got to be an act and that she is hiding something. So he takes steps to find out what she is hiding and when he finds something that proves his suspicions he acts on it, hurting and humiliating her. And when he gets "the rest of the story" he is ashamed of himself and admits that he was trying to protect himself from the feelings he is beginning to experience. I loved everyone's reactions and how much they supported Rylie. I also enjoyed seeing their reactions to Noah and what he did, especially that of his mother.

Now that Noah has admitted to himself that he wants to get to know Rylie better, he has to figure out how to get back in her good graces. I loved seeing his attempts at grovelling and all the help he got from Brooke. Once he gets over himself, he turns out to be a really nice guy. It was great to see him get more involved in Riley's world and start to see things from her perspective. At the same time, Rylie is really enjoying her time with Noah. She knows she's falling for him, and for her part she doesn't care whether he has money or not. But she doesn't feel like she can ever belong in his world, and when she hears his boss putting her down she realizes she doesn't want to be the cause of Noah losing out on his own dreams. So now Noah has to show Rylie that their love can overcome everything. I loved the ending and Noah's "go big" moment.

rabck box from bookstogive 11/09; Harlan and Woody are old friends. Now if they could just come with a plan to get their kids together, maybe some grandchildren will be in their future.

I enjoyed this one. The author did an excellent job with the characters of Brette, her son and his troubled best friend. The storyline was strong, too.½

Fun book. No major conflicts, but a sweet story of love and dreams. Brooke spent part of her life in Sweet Springs, until her mother died and father moved them to Dallas. When her aunt needs her, Brooke drops everything to go help her. While her aunt is in the hospital Brooke is running the florist shop and trying to take care of Humphrey, a handful of a basset hound. Brooke finds herself getting plenty of help from next door neighbor Gage. Gage has heard a lot about Brooke and discovers that the reality is even better.

Brooke is dealing with her worry about her aunt, a dog that seems to have it in for her, and worry about her own future. She lost her job when he financial firm reorganized and hasn't found a new job yet. She never had a pet while growing up and Humphrey's antics have her at her wit's end. She's getting lots of help from Gage, the really nice and very good looking veterinarian who lives next door. He's made his interest in her obvious, but she expects to be going back to Dallas in a few weeks. I really loved her devotion to her aunt and how determined she was to make sure everything went well at the shop and with the dog. She's been so caught up in the rat race pushed on her by her father that she has had no real time for a personal life. Now she has Gage bending over backwards to do everything he can to make her life easier. She's reluctant to get involved at first because she doesn't plan to stay. But as the days go on she gets more involved in the business and enjoying the slower pace. It also gives her the chance to know Gage better. I loved seeing their relationship build slowly as they get to spend time together. I liked seeing Brooke really start to get involved in her aunt's business and put her own talents toward improving it. The more time she spent there, the more I could see the possibility in her future. Her feelings for Gage also grow, but she is more cautious there, afraid to risk her heart before knowing how he feels too. She also spent most of her life trying to measure up to what her father wanted and finds that her wishes and his don't match up. Being with Gage gives her the courage to go after her own dreams.

Gage is a very busy vet, but has never been too busy for his neighbor Martha. He's heard a lot of stories about Brooke, but is cautious about believing them. It doesn't take long for him to realize that Brooke is exactly who he's been looking for, if he can get her to stay. I really loved seeing his pursuit of her. He wasn't creepy or arrogant about it, he was just there for her. He also knew that he couldn't rush her, as much as he wanted to make sure she knew how he felt. It was terrific to see him give her the support she needed. I especially liked the way he was there for her when he father was being such a pain during one of his phone calls, and the support he gave her during Marsha's hospital stay. He's shown as the terrific, sensitive guy that he is. I absolutely loved the ending.

I loved the part that Humphrey the basset hound played in the book. He is totally adorable and his antics are what get Gage and Brooke together at first. As the author has stated that animals will be a large part of this series, I can't wait to see what comes next.

I'm really looking forward to more of this series. We've already met some of the really fun people of this small town. Aunt Martha looks like she can be a real hoot and I'm hoping there will be more of her in future books. The older gentlemen who hang out at Gage's clinic are lots of fun and seem to have an opinion on everything. I love small town books and this looks like it will be fun.

I really liked certain parts of this story, but the main conflict bothered me. It seems rather contrived and could have been cleared up in short order, if the characters - especially the heroine - had just opened up.

Hope's reasons for keeping Lyon at arms-length didn't make a lot of sense. The way she kept unintentionally hurting him by saying insensitive things started to bother me as the story wore on. I understood her reasons for wanting to marry him, but why she pushed him away is beyond me.

Partners for Life is the first romance novel by Helen R. Myers. It involves Braden Manning and Kendall North (what’s with the weird names? I’m not going to reveal which is which, you read the book!) who were police partners until she ran away from their budding relationship: he was married at the time, if not happily. Then a man they’d helped put in prison is back on the streets and vowing revenge, so he goes looking for her to protect her. Things hot up as they are confined together in her house, waiting for the villain to turn up. Some humour, some hot sex and a bit of action.

Creepy murder mystery. Multiple points of view made this a little jumpy, but it read more like a mystery than a romance.