Romancing the Rumrunner by Michelle McLean

"If God had meant for us to go barreling toward each other at forty miles per hour we'd have been born with wheels on our feet."


It's a lady running a speakeasy and a P.I. determined to haul her in...thinking that she's really a he named The Red Phoenix.

She needs to keep her show running in order to pay off her dead father's debts, and he needs to bring her down to get in the Police Force's good graces again. What a conundrum!
Is there really any way for either one to come out on top?

I liked this story. It was an easy, uncomplicated read. I think there could have been more meat to it though. And I did expect a lady rumrunner to be a bit tougher.

What I liked was how the heroine realized being sexy/sensual is okay. She becomes aware of her own power.

"There was something incredibly empowering about striking a man dumb."

She grows in confidence too, thanks to singing onstage. I'm not sure if this was intended to be a big deal, but for some reason this really came off the page for me.

As the story continued though, some things began to irritate me or not sit well with me. Some of the things she does are just not explained, make no sense. Letting Tony into her booze room. How incredibly stupid. Her continuing to sing at his club when it becomes obvious she's not going to get anything out of it as far as "scoping the competition".  On the contrary, she's hurting her own business. Her apparent unconcern with money one moment, then slumping with exhaustion the next because she's doing too much in order to pay back a mobster.

But what I really hated above all is how Tony got on her case for singing too sexy. To me, he implied that because of her sexy, sultry singing--which he'd warned her not to do--is the reason a man nearly attacks her. Like she's asking for it. He even warns her not to sing that way anymore, or he'll react.

Until that point, I actually liked Tony. This was a hero-killer for me.

Also disappointing to me is...well, she's a singer and she's up there singing sultry tunes... WHAT is she singing? I personally love the music and lyrics from the twenties and would have loved to have known what she was singing. Lyrics from those days, they are public domain, so share them with us! If you can't for some reason, make some up!

It also didn't have a strong twenties feel to it. Yea, they wear dresses with fringe, headbands, and sing in speakeasies, but beyond that...

I bought this on Amazon.

A Bandit's Betrayed Heart (Blood Blade Sisters #3) by Michelle McLean

I loved book one of this series and liked book two, but this one somewhat annoyed me.

The third Blood Blade sister is chasing after their former butler, whom she's been pining for for seven years. It's like this chick can't take a hint. He left you and never came back. He persistently pushes you away. I think it's time to move on, girl.

Despite all her bravado and heroic acts in the past as a vigilante/bandit, I found her to be weak, whiney, and well, bratty. When the object of her affections pushes her away--and trust me, she throws herself at him constantly--she begins dallying with a dangerous politician to make him jealous. Seriously? What are you? Fifteen?

On top of that, there were lots of unexplained things that bugged me as I kept reading. 1. How is Finn covering the tribal tattoos on his face? They didn't have laser surgery back then. Is he wearing makeup? *It's later revealed he is, but considering the makeup options they had back then...* This takes place just after the Civil War. They didn't have the makeups we have now. 2. If he can cover them so easily, why did he not cover them back when he needed legal employment? Or when he worked on a ship and had to avoid certain people because of them? If he can cover them now, he could have covered them then, and thus, avoided a life of crime. It just doesn't make sense. 

I also have to add that the romance between these two was underdeveloped, perhaps because it happened in the past. We just know they love each other. We don't know why, what connected them in the first place, etc.

Though I disliked the first 35% of this, I finally began to like Lucy as the book continued--but I still think she's a stalker. I mean, she does stay here and harasses poor Finn. That is stalking. Anyway, she connects with Lilah, a former slave (Lilah needs her own book!) and starts a school for those less fortunate. Naturally, the Southerners aren't pleased with this and Lucy has to take on the Klan.

Lucy pulled out a shotgun and then reached up again for the ammunition. "I'm not letting anyone terrorize me on my own property. Let alone a bunch of cowards running around in their night sheets."

As the tale continues, with Lucy running after Finn, defending her school, and getting in the mess of all messes, she grows tougher and it all gets a bit more fun (especially when she fights bad men off despite the fact she's tied to a chair) and less irritating, but I stand by my previous complaints. I also hate how willing Lucy is to throw Lilah under the bus, 'cause that's what it is...

Conclusion: fun and entertaining, but not my favorite sister or tale. There's really no banditry.

I received this via Netgalley.

A Bandit's Broken Heart (Blood Blade Sisters #2) by Michelle McLean

What's a widowed woman to do when she leaves behind her banditing ways on a ranch and travels to Boston to be a society lady, her daughter and younger sister in tow?

How will she fight the boredom?

Why, help in a clinic...and do some banditing, of course!

A delightful read. McLean really knows how to present readers with strong heroines and solid story lines and doesn't need to fill the book with tons of sex scenes to make the word count or keep our interest. Her books are about the story and the love.

Brynne is just as spunky as her sister was in book one.

"Dr. Oliver, I am not some sort of animal that has been "bred" to anything."

At first, she's turned away from the clinic where the handsome doctor works, but she proves her mettle and worth and knocks his socks off. They fall in love. But when she resorts to her previous activities again--to help the doctor, actually--her past comes up. Can the doctor handle it?

I loved Brynne. I loved how she proved herself at every turn, how she actually saved HIM, instead of him saving her (fantastic!), how she doesn't judge others (like the tattooed butler) the way the rest of society does.

I liked the hero as well. No alpha male here who feels he has to establish his masculinity every five seconds. He's a man comfortable with who he is. He isn't without his flaws...but regardless, I liked this guy.

Lucy doesn't have a lot, but we'll see more of her in book three. Yet she has her parts and I love the hints of the woman she's becoming.

"Lying bastard! Steven Bartlett, that's who. I tell you, if we were back home, I'd have him hog-tied and strung up in the barn while I introduced him to the gelding shears."

Things get real intense in the last ten percent...not so much in the rest of the book. That's my only quibble. The thieving does start until a ways into the book and there isn't that much of it. This one lacks the constant excitement of book one. I still thoroughly enjoyed it though. I did get a bit tired of hearing how snotty, catty, judgmental, and standoffish the rest of Boston society was. Felt like I that was pointed out to me one too many times...but I recommend this and I'll be reading book three. Lucy's is going to be something. I can tell from the way this one ended.

This was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A Bandit's Stolen Heart by Michelle McLean

This is a hard review to write for the simple reason that except for a few moments I honestly found a tad preposterous/unlikely, I absolutely loved it. I could very easily leave it at that.


Loved it. It's a fantastic western adventure about three incredibly spunky sisters with a huge dash of romance and I can't wait for the next book.

You got a lady bandit playing Robin Hood, who bashes a handsome stranger over the head and forces him to marry her pregnant sister...only to fall in love with him herself...what a mess!

The villain is their very own half brother and the town sheriff. I loved the westerized version of this classic Robin Hood tale and I loved even more that the bandit is a woman/women.

Abandoned mines, stealing daggers and getting shot, love and honor, frame-ups for murder, secrets and lies, bossy women, heartache, dead bodies. It's all here.

The story is full of conflicts that keep one on the edge of their seats. She loves him, but he's married to her sister now and she won't dare cross that line cause her sister needs a man now that the father of her baby (the hero's brother) is gone, possibly dead. Their brother wants their land, but what for? What's going on? Why is he framing her? What's he going to do next?

The excitement never stops. There were a few moments my eyebrows rose...namely the train scene. (I couldn't even COUNT to 3,000!) LOL But it's fiction and it's moments like this that make a book fun and the reader wide-eyed. 

Otherwise, my only quibble is the very formal dialogue. I get it's a historical, but these aren't New York socialites and it's a western. I was distracted at times by the lack of contractions in dialogue. It made for oddly formal prose.

But that's me being nitpicky. This was a fun book and even better, it's not full of sex. The author didn't need to throw a bunch of nastiness in to keep readers hooked. It's nice to pick up a great adventure for a change.

Five bikes and I got this from netgalley.