Tag: CJ Carmichael

Review: Good Together by C J Carmichael + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews> ebook giveaway> Giveaways
good together by cj carmichaelFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: contemporary romance, western romance
Series: Carrigans of the Circle C
Length: 239 pages
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Date Released: February 3, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon

Mattie’s twin daughters have flown the nest, and she and her husband feel like strangers. The life she’s known is starting to fall apart. She can’t even count on her gorgeous neighbour, Nathaniel Diamond, any more. Nat was always there for her before, but now he’s suddenly started avoiding her. Is there something that he needs to tell her?

My Review:

I absolutely read Good Together in one sitting. I couldn’t put the story down, because I had to find out what was going to happen next. Although I could guess where the story was going to end up, I empathized with Mattie’s journey, even when I wanted to shake her about how she got into some of her pickle.

Good Together isn’t so much a romance as it is women’s fiction. The real meat of the story is in Mattie finding out that her newly empty nest is only the beginning of the number of ways she needs to re-invent herself.

Mattie always thought that when her twins went to college, she and her husband would have more time together. As much as she hated the thought of her girls leaving home, she was the one who encouraged them to explore new worlds. It was time for them to leave the nest and spread their wings.

But Mattie believed that the nest would always be there whenever they came home. Instead, almost the minute Mattie leaves her daughters at the airport, she discovers that her husband is leaving her for another woman. That’s not all, he’s selling everything–the ranch, the horses, the house. And he can do it, too. It’s his family’s place, and Mattie never got her name on anything.

It turns out that Mattie loved the place a LOT more than her husband did. He wastes absolutely no time in selling her beloved horses, and putting the ranch on the market.

Mattie doesn’t merely withdraw, she downright collapses. It takes her a while to pick herself, and even longer to “lawyer up”. She gets a lot of excellent help from Nat Diamond, her nearest neighbor. Once upon a time, he was in close to the same bad place that Mattie is now; he knows how she feels.

But Mattie doesn’t have a clue about the way that Nat feels about her. And has always felt. He tries to keep his feelings under wraps, because Mattie needs a friend, and he doesn’t want to be merely a rebound.

Just when Mattie is ready to think about forever with someone other than her ex, Nat decides that he no longer has a forever to give. It’s up to Mattie to change his mind.

Escape Rating B+: Although the side-characters are terrific, Good Together is Mattie’s story. The title is just a bit ironic, because Mattie first has to figure out how to be “good alone” before she’s ready to be “good together” with anyone else.

Promise Me, Cowboy by CJ CarmichaelWe’ve met Mattie’s family before, not her kids so much as her birth family. Mattie is the sister of Sage Carrigan, the heroine of the lovely Promise Me, Cowboy (reviewed here). Sage’s happily ever after was also a second-chance at love story. It seems like the Carrigan girls need a couple of tries to get it right.

The way that Mattie left herself legally unprotected after her ex leaves broke the willing suspension of disbelief for me a bit. I could understand (barely, I admit) why she hadn’t gotten her name on everything back when they first married, but after he left and started selling their stuff, not so much. Even as devastated as she was, that lack of self-preservation seemed more 20th century than 21st.

Although Nat is incredibly helpful, even at the beginning, it’s the women in this story that stand out. Seeing the girls becoming women who are strong and can help their mother find her strength again was awesome. Even better, the way that the Carrigan sisters pull together and support each other was the heart of the story for me. I’m looking forward to seeing how the other two sisters reach their happily ever after.

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

CJ and Tule Publishing are giving away an ebook copy of Good Together. To enter the giveaway, just fill out the rafflecopter below. If you want another chance at a copy, there is a book blast going on right now at Goddess Fish.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Promise Me, Cowboy by CJ Carmichael + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews> ebook giveaway> Giveaways
Promise Me, Cowboy by CJ CarmichaelFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Western romance; contemporary romance
Series: Copper Mountain Rodeo
Length: 120 pages
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group
Date Released: October 11, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Sage Carrigan never meant to be the other woman. Unfortunately, bronco rider Dawson O’Dell neglected to mention he was married the night he invited her to his bed after they’d both placed first in their rodeo events. When his wife walked in on them – Sage was deeply hurt and humiliated. After an accident in the ring the next day, Sage decides she’s quitting the rodeo–and cowboys—to become a chocolatier in her hometown ranching community, Marietta, Montana. She’s doing just fine, but then Dawson shows up —five years later, with a little girl in tow. He’s here for the Copper Mountain Rodeo hoping to win big. But he’s also got plans of settling down with his daughter and buying a house—the very same one that Sage has been dreaming about. He says he’s here for her and he’s making lots of promises. But can he keep them?

My Review:

Chocolate is always a good starting point for a romance, but running a chocolate shop is hard work.

Sage Carrigan has been running her own chocolate shop in Marietta, Montana for five long and pretty exhausting years. But they have also been rewarding years, because being a chocolatier is what she really wants to do.

The barrel-riding accident that tore her ACL may have ended her rodeo career, but it gave her the out she needed to start the career she really wanted, instead of staying with the rodeo because it was the one thing she did that seemed to earn some praise from her taciturn father.

She hasn’t gotten anything from him before or since except questions about when she’s going to give up her store and come back to the ranch, or why she let one little injury turn her into a coward.

Sage is all too aware that four girls were not what her father wanted. It’s too bad that he let them all know just how much of a disappointment they all were.

And into the middle of Sage’s life walks the other man who disappointed her, Dawson O’Dell. Dawson is a rodeo cowboy, and he’s in town for the Copper Mountain Rodeo. But that’s not all he’s there for. He’s finally come back for Sage.

Because the last time he saw her, his wife was standing over both of them with a shotgun. Dawson forgot to tell Sage he was married. And that’s the one lie that she simply can’t get over.

Not even if Dawson has come to Marietta to stay. Not even if Sage is forced to admit to herself that she still wants him. Because the stupid cowboy still isn’t divorced. Not yet.

Escape Rating B: So far (I still have one to go) every single one of the stories in the Copper Mountain Rodeo series has been one sweet ride after another. They use the town and the annual rodeo setting just perfectly to capture the essence of being parts of one event, without repeating each other. Very well done.

Promise Me, Cowboy is a “still waters run deep” kind of story. There’s not just the second-chance at romance story between Sage and Dawson, but the backstory about how the first chance was screwed up so badly and how much effort Dawson has put into redeeming himself.

Also a lot about the secrets that children keep to protect their parents, and parents keep to protect their children. I’ll admit I thought the big secret was worse than it was.

This story packs a delayed wallop. Sage takes a while to come around, and so she should! But there are lots of layers about parents and children, Sage and her father, Dawson and his mother, and how those relationships influence them in both good and bad directions.

And little Savannah steals every scene she’s in!

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

The author is giving away one ebook copy of Promise Me, Cowboy! To enter, use the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.