Tempted by the Badge follows the misadventures of Joanna Barnes, the straitlaced schoolteacher who gets accused of sexually assaulting one of her pupils and the investigations of the private investigator, Mingus Black whose job it is to find the evidence to clear her name.

The romance - 💕
From the moment these two met on the page, there was never any doubt that they would get together. Their attraction to each other was obvious the moment they clapped eyes on each other. And Mingus believed she was innocent so there really was no conflict. The only thing that kept them apart were the accusations levelled against her and his dogged need to investigate and clear her name.

So the romance was pretty easy and sweet. Mingus was a stand-up guy and her rock to lean on when things got too much for her to cope. I did wonder, though, for a guy that was billed as the rebel of the Black family, Mingus never broke any rules when it came to his relationship with Joanna. I mean they didn't even share a first kiss until almost 60% into the story.

The suspense  - 🗡🗡
I was pretty intrigued by the premise of a female teacher being accused of sexual deviancy. The story line was solid and hooked me from the first chapter. Things heated up quickly as the rug was pulled from under Joanna's feet. The story line flowed steadily and felt realistic.

However, things took an unrealistic turn when Joanna did something stupid. Then members of the Black family had to step in and like the wave of a magical wand she got away with her actions without any repercussions. A similar 'wave of the wand' situation happened when Mingus confronted the villains at the end of the story with more Blacks coming to the rescue, making it all kind of anti-climactic for me. Where was the black moment?

The family - 👪
The Black family reminds me a lot about the Reagans from the Blue Bloods TV series. I love stories with characters that have a strong family background and in this story the Blacks provide the foundation from which everything works. Mingus has a great relationship with his siblings and parents. In contrast, Joanna is an only child and her relationship with her mother is strained. So it was great to see the contract between the Blacks and the Barnes.

On the whole, this is a solid romantic suspense. The intrigue is well done and the pacing to match. The romance is sweet and Mingus is a great guy to have in your corner any day of the week. 🙂

Anyone who was absolutely anyone knew the story of how Julie Anne Baptiste’s parents met: the blue-blood Union cavalry officer and the freed woman on her way North fell madly in love at first sight, all in the midst of the Civil War. It was legendary within New York City's Four Hundred, and from girlhood, Julie daydreamed of her finding own true love match. But now, as a well-seasoned debutante of twenty-one years, Julie only dreams of teaching and much prefers the vibrant world of her books over the company of society’s most eligible bachelors.

Julie is content to perform the role of affluent debutante until she realizes all of her tomorrows have horrifyingly become occupied by a gamut of social engagements, and they will remain so until she marries. Desperate and knowing only a wedding will put a stop to the madness of living as a debutante, Julie does the unthinkable: she responds to a mail order advert in the Heart and Hand Matrimonial Times. No longer a girl fantasizing of love, Julie did not anticipate forming a genuine romantic connection with the man she corresponds with, but when ex-Union soldier Forrest Wickes writes her, Julie loses her heart.

All seems well with Julie’s plan to leave the city and marry, until the society pages intercept one of her letters and within the hour all of New York knows of Julie’s decision to become a mail-order bride. However, the New York City society pages don’t know they only reported half the truth about Julie Baptiste. The debutante intends to marry not only Forrest Wickes but also his best friend, William Barnes. Her secret of taking two husbands safe, Julie sets out for the Montana Territory before the papers can learn the truth. But how will a debutante-turned-teacher manage frontier life with two husbands?



I was intrigued by the premise of this story--an heiress of mixed ancestry travels from New York City out into wild Montana to become a mail-order bride after corresponding an falling in love with her husband-to-be. Except it isn't just one man she'd going to marry but two.

Julie is a bold character for travelling across country to meet two men. But Forrest for his part was a man worth falling in love with. I was less enamored by Will and even less convinced that Julie would be truly happy with him in the picture.

I expected more smexiness than what was actually between the pages. But there's plenty of drama as Julie contends with competition for her men. All in all, a lovely and fun western historical romance. 

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Excerpt

“God, woman, where are you in all this lace?” he huffed, making sure to get the entirety of her train safely up on the bench next to her.
“It’s the height of fashion,” she informed him primly.
Will snorted, still shoving swaths of silk satin up next to her. “Seems like a waste.”
Julie stiffened at his casual comment and looked down at her hands, even though she knew he couldn’t see the hurt in her eyes, not with the near darkness they were in, relieved only by the bright light of the moon.
Noticing that she’d gone still, Will sighed, “I didn’t mean—Julie, you looked beautiful today.”
“Thank you,” she said, her voice small. She kept her eyes on her lap and, working to keep her voice even, began to ask about Forrest when Will spoke.
“Darlin’,” he tried, one of his hands coming to rest over both of hers, which were tightly clasped in her lap. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I speak before I think. Y-you were the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life today.” He picked up a fistful of her skirt and gave it a gentle shake. “This wasn’t a waste. Not an inch of it.” He was whispering now, voice low and husky. She could hear the sincerity in his voice and she swallowed hard at the raw emotion she heard.
“Will,” she whispered, touched at his words. She opened her mouth to say more but Will surprised her when he surged forward and caught her lips in a kiss. For a moment, Julie didn’t move, far too stunned by the kiss to think, but then, under his adept and coaxing lips, she relaxed. A little moan caught in her throat, her mouth finally parting under Will’s ministrations. Their kiss deepened, his hands tightening on her as he tentatively explored her mouth. When Julie reached out to run her fingers through his hair, he pulled back to swing himself up beside her on the wooden bench of the wagon. He pulled her into his lap with eager hands and kissed her again once she was settled against this chest. The kisses were a soothing balm to the early sting of his dance with Rosemary, and were a step in the right direction at looking past his inattention.
“So sweet,” he whispered against her lips. The soft tone in his voice prompted Julie to whimper and wiggle in his lap in search of more contact. The firm planes of his body could be felt despite the layers of lace and silk between them. Her corset, already a troublesome garment, was suddenly more constraining than normal and she cursed the item’s designer. Her fingers slid down to brush against the buttons of Will’s shirt, which prompted her to decide she also hated buttons. Damn the little monsters for keeping her husband’s skin from her touch during their little rendezvous.
When Will’s fingertips brushed the top of her neckline she squirmed. All of this was new and heady to her, the passionate kisses, the heated touches and breathy gasps. She was frantic to feel his calloused fingers on her body in far more intimate places. Her friends at finishing school and again at Vassar had told her numerous stories about their stolen moments and trysts with their beaus, but until this moment Julie had never been in such a scandalous or compromising position in her life. Yet, how compromising was her perch in Will’s lap when they had married not an hour before? Wasn’t this how they were intended to enjoy the other’s body? After his perceived coldness during the reception, Julie found the closeness soothed her nerves. She wondered suddenly if that was Will’s intention, but Julie barely had time to consider the fleeting thought before a sudden cough broke the frenzied embrace the pair had been locked in.
Will lifted his head up with deliberate slowness. “Forrest,” he grunted out, sounding annoyed, though his hands were still gentle on Julie’s sides.
“Should have known I would come back to this,” Forrest’s voice floated to them from the dark. Julie pushed at her hair, which had started to come loose from the pins Alice had used to secure her curls.
“I-I,” she stammered, already pushing herself off of Will’s lap, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“What? Didn’t mean to enjoy a moment with your husband?” Forrest asked, swinging himself up on the bench next to them. Now that he was closer to her, Julie could see his features in the moonlight. And there wasn’t one thing about him that didn’t scream arousal. He bit his lip before darting forward to press a kiss to her lips. “Nothing wrong with what you were doing, Julie.”
She gave him a quick nod, breathless at being kissed by not one but two men in the span of so many minutes. Before tonight her romantic history had consisted of nothing more than a few rides in a caleche to park outings and socials. There had been a picnic here and there but always with a chaperone, never alone, and not once had Julie allowed any of the gentlemen to take liberties. So small was their social circle that Julie knew better than to fall for the besotted fanciful words men spewed in order for a few moments of pleasure. She almost laughed at the thought, because before now, there had hardly been a handful of words spoken between them other than ‘I do.’ Though Julie supposed in the grand scheme of things, those two simple words were the ones that mattered the most.

BOOK REVIEW

Yes, I love billionaire romances. Who doesn't dream about being able to stop worrying about their bills and being able to buy their own country? LOL. Anyhoo, I love the aspirational aspects of these stories and the pure indulgent escapism.

Ms Ryan delivers on my expected dosage of escapism but with a twist. Benji and Sloane were so cute together. By the way, have you ever met a billionaire named Benji? Yes, that got me. And another thing that got me was that Sloane was older. She is his older sister's best friend and he was the boy who'd had a crush on her. So sweet.

Years later they get together and have a steamy night together and they both have to deal with teh consequences of that night and so begins the story. Benji is a sweetheart and Sloane is a woman who knows her own mind. Together they try to build a new family in this romantic and heartwarming story.












Reese Ryan is a multi-published author of romantic fiction featuring complex, deliciously-flawed characters. She challenges her heroines with family and career drama, reformed bad boys, and life-changing secrets while treating readers to an emotional love story and unexpected twists.

Past president of her local Romance Writers of America chapter and a panelist at the 2017 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Reese is an advocate for the romance genre and diversity in fiction.

Tanner is a former army ranger who suffers from PTSD. He was captured and experimented on, turning him into a hybrid shifter. He worked as part of the DCO - Department of Covert Operations. But an incident where he lost control of his hybrid and nearly killed a colleague sent him running to live out in the woods.

Zarina is a scientist who was kidnapped and made to produce the drugs used to experiment on the people to turn them into hybrids. She hated what was being done and worked to help Tanner, especially with his bybrid. When Tanner ran away, she developed a serum that could reverse the effects of the experimentation. She decided to hike up into the woods to find Tanner and make him take the serum in the hope that it would cure him.

Meanwhile another DCO agent, Tate is tracking a rogue shifter/hybrid who has tortured and killed, in the hopes of stopping the person from killing again. Tate has to work with Chase who is a local deputy sheriff. The two of them stumble across is shifter who is on the hunt for a sadistic geneticist. 

There's a lot going on in this story. There are preppers and abductions and an illegal fight club. There's action. There's suspense. And of course, there's romance. But the romance kind of takes a back seat. 

Tanner and Zarina are already in love with each other when the story starts and we just have to wait for them to get their acts together and get together, which of course they do eventually.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and entertaining read. I loved Tate and Chase especially and I hope they get a story or two.




Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2300692.Paige_Tyler

BOOK REVIEW

Sometimes you read a book that makes you think 'what the hell have I just read?' and this story is one of those that leaves you wondering afterwards.

Angelica is a woman on a revenge mission seven years in the making and when she attends a masquerade ball at a mansion she, and the reader, is plunged into a psychological odyssey, of sinister opulence and decadence. She is immersed into Dante's seven circles with twists that take her to the edge of insanity.

Alongside, the event of seven years ago are revealed to the reader in a parallel narration so we understand her obsession with revenge.

This is a great quick read. The descriptions were amazing and every scene felt like I watched it on a cinema screen. However, the ending left me a little nonplussed and I had to re-read the last chapter. I suppose it was written that way on purpose.

Still, if you enjoy literary fiction or psychological suspense, then you will enjoy this one.

One of Iowa’s most prominent criminal attorneys, Joci Dorous is ruthless and devoid of emotion in the courtroom. It’s what makes her the best. Her most recent client allegedly committed murder and, despite a rocky start, Joci is determined to win Cameron Shearer’s case.

Since this is her first homicide, she has the support of a second-chair attorney—her ex who wants her back. To make things more complicated, her hunky cop of a booty call, Cameron’s arresting officer, isn’t quite ready to let her go either. Who knew being surrounded by three hot guys could be so deliciously exhausting?

As the mystery of the case unravels, she soon discovers the true reason behind Cameron’s impromptu visit to Iowa. It’s this knowledge that endangers all those she holds dear. Caught up in confusion, chaos, and criminal law, how will her heart survive the final verdict?