His Stolen Bride - Barbara Dunlop (HD #2459 - July 2016)

Series: Chicago Sons (Book 4)

To love, honor and abduct a beautiful bride…

"Will you take this woman?" Yes. As a favor to his estranged father, investigator Jackson Rush agrees to kidnap Crista Corday from her high society wedding. His job is to stop her marriage to a con man, not seduce the alluring Crista himself. But two days together, on the run from her fiancé's shady family, obliterate every rule…

Crista has no idea of the danger drawing near. Jackson can't reveal it without divulging who really sent him. And that's a risk that could cost him everything…unless Crista will put herself under his passionate protection forever.

Good book with ups and downs of emotions combined with a bit of suspense. Jackson is a PI who gets a call from his incarcerated father. Jackson hasn't seen his father since he was thirteen and his father was imprisoned for embezzlement. His father's cellmate, Trent Corday, needs Jackson to stop his daughter's wedding. He claims the man only wants Crista for the diamond mine shares she owns - shares that she knows nothing about. His plan is to see her, tell her about it, and leave her to decide. Once he sees her, all his plans fly out the window.

Crista is a jewelry designer who fell in love with the romantic man who courted her. When Jackson kidnaps her from her own wedding, she refuses to believe the wild tales he tells her, about her fiance's cheating and plans to steal her shares. However, she can't deny the attraction she feels to Jackson. Returning to her fiance the next day, the reception she receives causes her to rethink her engagement. But her fiance isn't ready to let her go. Panicked by his attitude, she relies on Jackson to get her away.

I enjoyed seeing the relationship build between Jackson and Crista. As Jackson tries to protect Crista from her ex, he discovers that she has become more than a job to him. I liked seeing the lengths he went to in order to protect her and his determination to keep her safe. But he also knows that if she were to find out that it was her father who sent him, she would be furious. He struggles against his growing feelings for her, and it was fun to see his friends' reactions. Crista's reactions to Jackson are all over the place at first. Initially of course, it's fear and anger over the kidnapping, with a bit of unwilling attraction thrown in. Once she's convinced she's in no danger from him, the anger grows, especially when he tells her the things he's learned about Vern, and then about the diamond mine shares. While I understood her anger and distrust of her father, and her desire to believe in her fiance, her flat-out refusal to believe the evidence that Jackson produces really irritated me. She even tried to convince herself that Vern wasn't behind the attacks on her. However, she can't deny that she is starting to feel things for Jackson that are far stronger than anything she had felt for Vern. When they give in to the attraction the strength of their connection scares them both. Crista's discovery of her father's involvement adds to her confusion, and sends her running. A last ditch effort by Vern puts Crista in danger and both Crista and Jackson have to face their real feelings. There are still the diamond mine shares to deal with, and that whole issue is pretty amusing to see them handle. I liked the ending.

The suspense was pretty good with the whole idea of keeping Crista and her shares out of Vern's hands. He definitely wasn't the man she thought he was. There was an increasing amount of danger as shown by each attempt to get her back. I enjoyed seeing Jackson and his security coworkers as they dealt with each threat and uncovered more information. There was an interesting twist involving Crista's father. The resolution at the end was effective, but not necessarily satisfying on consequences for Vern.

There was a fun secondary relationship between Jackson's friend/coworker Mac and Crista's best friend Ellie. I enjoyed the back and forth between the two and their relationships to Jackson and Crista.

A Bargain with the Boss - Barbara Dunlop (HD #2440 - Apr 2016)

Series: Chicago Sons (Book 3)

With her boss, it's all work and all pleasure!

For years, Tuck Tucker has played the role of carefree billionaire. Yet when his brother goes MIA, Tuck takes over the family empire. He knows what he has to do -- and who he needs. Getting his brother's dedicated assistant to help, however, is tricky. Amber Bowen is smart, sexy and determined to keep his brother's whereabouts a secret. But everyone has a weakness, and Tuck won't lose a fortune…or an opportunity with Amber. He's found the perfect way to tempt her into making a bargain with the boss.

Good book. Tuck has been the playboy billionaire for years, leaving running the family business to his older brother and father. Then his brother disappeared and his father had a heart attack, leaving him the only one to take over. Feeling completely unqualified, Tuck knows that if he's going to succeed he's going to need the help of his brother's assistant.

Amber has watched Tuck skate by, doing the least amount of work possible. She doesn't know if he has it in him to do the job, but she owes it to her boss to try. She does know that Dixon desperately needed to get away, and she refuses to give up his location, which means she has to cooperate with Tuck.

I really liked Tuck. He had wanted to be involved in the business, but both his brother and his father had refused to give him any real responsibility, so he quit trying. By the time it was up to him, he had no confidence in his ability to keep the company out of trouble. But once he got Amber to start helping him, things started to get a little better. I loved seeing his confidence start to grow, especially when he was able to handle several crises at the New York trade show. I especially liked seeing him start to like what he was doing.

It took me a little while to warm up to Amber. She was just as guilty as everyone else of thinking that Tuck is incompetent. Even after he started handling things well, she kept waiting for something to go wrong. I loved her sense of surprise when she realized that he was actually doing a good job, and she started to see that everyone had underestimated him. It was really satisfying at the end to see her stand up for him. I also liked seeing her softer side come out when she was taking care of her sister.

From the moment they started working together, the attraction between them was strong. Amber is determined to resist, because workplace affairs never end well and she likes her job. She is also afraid of falling in love with him, knowing that they are too different to make it work. Tuck wants her, but is smart enough not to force the issue. However, he does take every opportunity to let her know just how interested he is. I loved his fascination with her shoes. Tuck has avoided any kind of serious commitments, and started out just wanting an affair. But the more time they spent together, the more Amber filled a gap he didn't know he had. In the end, both of them had to find a way to overcome their fears if they wanted to give their love a chance.

I also really enjoyed the premise of Tuck being thrown into the deep end on running the business, while trying to find his brother and drag him back. I understood Dixon's need to get away, and had fun seeing Amber protect his privacy. I was as frustrated with Dixon and his father as Tuck was because of their attitudes toward Tuck. I loved seeing Tuck get into running the business and coming at it with a different viewpoint, and how his changes impacted the business. It was fun to see Tuck stand up to Dixon over the changes he made, and Dixon encourage Tuck to fight for Amber. I hope that Dixon will get his chance for his own happy ending.

His Forever Family - Sarah M. Anderson (HD #2425 - Feb 2016)

Series: Billionaires and Babies (Book 66)

Found: one baby…and the boss's future bride?

Tiny and helpless -- the abandoned newborn that venture capitalist Marcus Warren finds during a morning run takes him by surprise. So does the sudden longing for his capable assistant, Liberty Reese, who reveals her tender side with the baby.

But Liberty must resist her gorgeous boss's advances. Her secrets could destroy his trust, her career and the chance to care for the foster child they are both coming to love. Even so, she can't deny the heat between them -- or the fear that her past will end their chance to create a forever family.

Good book, something of a Cinderella story. Liberty has been Marcus's admin assistant for three years, even going so far as to run with him in the mornings. On this morning they discover an abandoned baby while on their run. Marcus is amazed by the different side of Liberty that he sees, and it awakens unexpected feelings in him. 

I mostly liked Marcus. He came from money, but branched out on his own and made his own fortune. He has tried to distance himself from his parents, who are self-absorbed and concerned only with appearances. His father is also known for having affairs with his secretaries, which is the main reason that Marcus has suppressed his attraction to Liberty. I loved the way that fulfilling Liberty's wishes about the baby becomes so important to him.

I also mostly liked Liberty. She has worked hard to make a good life for herself, She grew up as the daughter of an African-American drug addict and hooker who ended up going to jail. Liberty then went from foster home to foster home. she thinks her father was white because she passes for white. She keeps her background very private, and has never told Marcus anything about it.

Their mutual interest in the baby brings them together as they hadn't been before. I loved seeing Marcus fall so hard for Liberty. She falls for him too, but is insistent that she "isn't good for him". There is a fair amount of conflict because of what she sees as the vast gulf between them. Marcus doesn't care about it, he's secure in his world and doesn't really care what anyone else says about him. It's interesting to see him admit that he really has no idea how the other half lives, but it shouldn't matter to the two of them.

Running through the story is a wedding that Marcus is supposed to attend. It is that of his ex-fiancee and his mother is insisting that he go and take a date, because it makes him look bad if he doesn't. He really doesn't want to go, and certainly not take any of the "suitable" women she suggests. I loved how Liberty tries to make him see that he doesn't have to cave in to her pressure. Instead he takes Liberty as his date because she's the one he wants to be with. There are rather nasty confrontations with the ex and his mother, but Marcus finally sees Liberty's point and grows a backbone when it comes to his mother. However, there are consequences that come out the next day, during a meeting that Marcus and Liberty attend. Marcus doesn't react well and Liberty gets all her fears confirmed.

In her last words to Marcus, in a note, she told him "If there's one thing life has taught me, it's that you have to save yourself. No one else is going to do it for you." That is an eye opener and game changer for him, and I loved the effect it had on him. It was great to see him fight for Liberty and I loved his big moment at the end. I also loved the appearance of Trish Longmire from The Nanny Plan, and the part she had in Liberty's own epiphany. The ending was really sweet and made me like Marcus even more.