Review: Stabled by Penny Lam

Synopsis

A new dark romance from the author of Amazon bestseller "Struck Down"

"Don't go in there. Ever."

Maple is a smart, quiet, meek girl who, after a failed stint at college, takes a job at Deyton Ranch. The job is perfect. Free room and board, good pay, and most importantly, no one there knows her face or past. It's a place where she can hide-- even from herself.

Except some people are impossible to hide from. Her boss, J.B. Deyton, is a cowboy with money, serious sex appeal, and a secret. With tousled black hair and a commanding attitude, he's both terrifying and irresistible.

When he becomes not only her boss but also her savior, he brings forth the dark, quivering desires she keeps hidden beneath her milquetoast exterior. The job he's given her was supposed to offer her shelter, but soon Maple is in danger of running wild.

Now Maple needs to finds a way to rein herself in, or risk making the same mistakes twice. But when she opens the door to his secret, the blinders are lifted and something in her threatens to break.

She needs this job. She needs to not go in the stable. She needs to keep herself locked down.

But she isn't sure she can control her desires...or her heart.

_________________________

My Review

4 Stars!

I started reading this and could not stop so I was sneaking off to quite corners when I was forced to attend a family gathering, this really kept me going! I finished it half way through the day which sucked and I've just got home and started this review because I will end up forgetting how i felt and yada yada, so here goes..

'All monsters look peaceful in their sleep'

Stabled is book 1 in a trilogy and ends in a cliffhanger, it's not for those who don't enjoy darker elements in books or one who likes to stick to the 'norm'.This is the first book I have read by Penny Lam and lets be honest it's probably not going to be the last.

Maple is a quite, sort of shy woman with a dark past, one that she can't seem to run from.When hired by a rich cowboy called J.B. Deyton things end up getting worse instead of better.It's like her she just can't escape her dirty little past maybe it's time to embrace it. Her curiosity ends up getting her in to a lot of bother,secrets are revealed and there are some things you just can't come back from.

I'm so confused about how I feel about this book, like uhm wow this was soooo not what I had expected.I'm still trying to kind of get my head around it. I started this and thought it would be a cowboy romance, I missed out the part where it was a dark romance. I see how it is, there are quite a few dark elements to it which I usually try to stay away from. I've read books with the whole hardcore pain and pleasure element of it and it's fine when its a little bit but too much and it puts me off the book. If I know it will be in the book I usually avoid the book, it's just not my thing but..this worked.

I'm so intrigued with what will happen next, never have I read the whole 'pony girls'thing which you will understand what I mean when you read it. I don't want to give anything away.It's just a book you have to read to understand, even though I don't even fully understand this.Like whaat? When did this become a thing? Its weird yet I want to carry on and see how things go.

My thoughts on Maple are confused,I don't get her kind of kink, I want to see J.B's reaction when she tells him of her past.J.B is a bloody mystery. What are you? I would love a chapter in his POV just to get more insight to his character and past.I can't wait for book 2!

*Arc provided by the author for an honest review*

Blog Tour: Make Mine a Cowboy By Sandy Sullivan

Book Blurb:

Mesa Arraguso writes about hot cowboys for a living. Being a romance writer has it perks and its drawbacks. She spends a lot of time alone in front of her computer, but she gets to fantasize about incredibly hot men wearing cowboy boots and Stetsons. While visiting San Antonio, Texas for a writer’s conference, she finds herself stranded on the back roads of Bandera only to be rescued by one of the most gorgeous men she’s ever encountered, be it fantasy or for real.

Joel Young is a cowboy. From the top of his Stetson to the tip of his dirty cowboy boots, he’s cowboy through and through. Along with rescuing women when they do silly things like running out of gas miles from town on a dirt road, he spends his days herding cattle, fixing fences and breaking horses.

Can one handsome cowboy and a city-girl from LA find common ground is the Hill Country long enough to see beyond a quick fling?

Teaser #1

A moment later a tap, tap, tap on her window startled her out of her thoughts. She jumped and screamed as a face appeared near her door. Blue eyes with long lashes stared back beneath a black cowboy hat. Black hair ruffled slightly with the wind.

“Ma’am? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“You need to get this car out of the water. You’ll be washed away. It’s rising fast.”

“I can’t. I’m out of gas.”

“Open the door.”

“Hell, no. Do I look crazy to you?” she asked, her voice shrill with terror.

“Trust me. If I were a serial killer, I wouldn’t be out in this shit trying to find women to abduct. I’m going to help you, but you need to get out of the car first before we’re both swept away.”

Mesa bit her lip. Should she trust him?

“Ma’am?”

“All right.” She eased open the door to find the water almost reached the bottom of the car. The cowboy pulled the door the rest of the way as she grabbed her purse.

“We have to hurry,” he said, offering her a hand to help her from the car. “Let me help you. This water is rushing pretty fast.”

A red horse stood patiently several feet away with its head down, riding out the storm the only way horses knew how. A cowboy on a real horse out here in the middle of nowhere? Surely, it’s safe. I mean serial killers don’t ride horses, right?

Teaser #2

They continued chatting about mundane things as they plodded along. The constant shift of the horse’s rump made her realize how long it had been since she’d ridden. How far was this place anyway? “Joel?”

“Yeah.”

“How much farther?”

“A mile or so.”

“Hell.”

“Somethin’ wrong?”

“I’m gonna feel every step this horse took tomorrow.”

A deep laugh started beneath her fingers and rumbled up his chest until it burst from his lips. “You are too much, Mesa.”

“I’m glad I could make your day,” she grumbled, a little put out by his laughter. “I haven’t been on horseback in ages. My thighs are already screaming mercy.” She felt his body quiver from laughter again. “How do you ride all day without dying?”

“I’m used to it. I ride all day everyday so it doesn't bother me.”

“You live on a working ranch?”

“Yep. Longhorns and city folk.”

“Huh?”

“We have what most folks call a dude ranch. We let people come and stay on the ranch. Do ranch work, ride horses…you know, play at bein’ a cowboy for a while.”

“Really? That sounds like fun.”

“How long are you in town for?”

“The conference is over in a couple of days.”

“So you’re flyin’ or drivin’ home afterward?”

“Flying, yes.”

He got quiet for several minutes as the horse continued to walk along under his expert guiding hand. “What kind of books do you write?”

There it was. “Westerns.”

“Oh yeah? Like cowboys and Indians? Louie L’Amour type stuff?”

She shook her head and almost unseated herself from the back of the horse. A fistful of his shirt kept her in place. “No. Like cowboys and the love of their lives. I write erotic modern westerns.”

Teaser #3

Her reflex was to pull her hand back, but Joel grabbed it in his before she could. “You’re a beautiful woman. Other than guests, which are normally families with young kids, we don’t get a lot like you around here. Prepare to be overwhelmed.”

He kissed her fingers before he let his grip slacken on her hand so she could pull it free. The zing that raced up her arm bothered her. Those things only happened in her novels, not in real life. “Um, okay.”

As they rounded the doorway, the volume of noise increased tenfold. Several people either sat at the picnic tables chatting away or they were lined up at the serving area with plates in hand. One long table she hadn’t noticed before took up an entire wall. When she did a double take she noticed nine people, eight men and Joel’s mother, who sat there chatting while they waited for the others to be served. Holy shit! How many freakin’ brothers does he have again?

“Eight. There are nine of us boys.”

“Stop reading my mind.”

“Sorry. I can tell by the look in your eyes what is running through your head. You have very expressive brown eyes.” Joel tugged her hand and brought her to the spot where there were two empty seats. “Hey, ya’ll. This is Mesa.” A chorus of hellos echoed through the room, shushing the rest of the conversations going on around them. Joel quickly introduced the brothers around the table and that’s when she noticed two more who looked like…ohmigod. There are three of him? Yes, you could tell they all were brothers by the similar features, but…

“We’re triplets,” he whispered next to her ear with a chuckle.

Ah, hell! One gorgeous hunk to tantalize my senses is enough, but nine of them? And two who look just like him? I’m so screwed!

About the Author:

Sandy Sullivan is a romance author, who, when not writing, spends her time with her husband Shaun on their farm in middle Tennessee. She loves to ride her horses, play with their dogs and relax on the porch, enjoying the rolling hills of her home south of Nashville. County music is a passion of hers and she loves to listen to it while she writes.

She is an avid reader of romance novels and enjoys reading Nora Roberts, Jude Deveraux and Susan Wiggs. Finding new authors and delving into something different helps feed the need for literature. A registered nurse by education, she loves to help people and spread the enjoyment of romance to those around her with her novels. She loves cowboys so you'll find many of her novels have sexy men in tight jeans and cowboy boots.

Contact the Author:

http://romancestorytime.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sandy.l.sullivan.7?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/sandys37