Book Review: Hot Alphas (Wounded Warriors #3) by Lora Leigh, Laurelin McGee, Shiloh Walker, Kate Douglas

Hot Alphas (Wounded Warriors #3)
by Lora Leigh, Laurelin McGee, Shiloh Walker, Kate Douglas
Paperback, 368 pages
May 19th 2015 by St. Martin's Griffin
In Erin’s Kiss by Lora Leigh, ex-Marine Turk has become Erin’s sworn protector. The consistent target of her CIA-operative brother’s deadly foes, Turk is the only port Erin has to cling to in a storm. He promised her brother long ago never to touch her—but how can he resist a woman who aches to be with him as much as he burns for her?

In misTaken by Laurelin McGee, Jaylene Kim is a strong independent woman whose feminist values run deep. Even though attractive men are her weakness the last thing she wants is one telling her what to do. Until she meets her mysterious new neighbor. He makes her realize that you can still be strong and relinquish control . . . in the bedroom. But as their passion consumes them both Jaylene isn't so sure he is who he says he is.

In Burn for Me by Shiloh Walker, Tate longs to spend his nights with Ali, a woman he’s loved for years. But while Ali’s heart pines to be with Tate, her head has reservations. Ali knows that Tate has never forgiven his father for the fight he had with his mother right before she left the house—and was never heard from again. Tate's unresolved anger is a force to be reckoned with . . . but the heat that blazes between them is undeniable. Now both Tate and Ali are left to wonder: Can love really conquer all?

In Tangled by Kate Douglas, Nate shows up to work at Tangled Vineyards ready to do all the things he loves best—work with his hands, grow the grapes, and craft award-winning, full-bodied wines. But when something better comes along in the form of Cassie, the winemaker and former owner of the vineyard, Nate becomes completely love-drunk. Getting involved with Tangled’s number-one mixologist is a bad way to start off a new job, but with Cassie as a constant temptation, Nate doesn’t stand a chance.

I don’t read a lot of contemporary romances because they don’t appeal to me, unless they are gay romances. Can’t tell you why either…they just don’t. But every once in a while I find one, so when I was given the opportunity to review Hot Alphas I thought Hey, I love alphas and I’ve never read anything by these four authors. Win-win! But it was not to be…

Erin’s Kiss- This was your basic troupey romance. Big-alpha-Special-Forces-type group of guys and one little bitty feisty woman bringing one of the men to his knees. In this story everyone was barely holding in their anger the whole time. Grrrr….Arrrrg! Internal thoughts were too repetitive. I know lots of people enjoy the overboard Grrr…sex stuff, but this just wasn’t for me.

misTaken- And yes, this is how the title is spelled, which is clever. But I didn’t care for this story either. It went overboard on the character's personalities. One big feminist cliché after another. It seems the author might have intentionally made the heroine extreme to give the story a silly sort of humor. I just couldn’t buy it. So, again, not my cup of tea.

Burn for Me- I enjoyed this story a little better. I liked the story line, but I think having all the events happen is such a short story made it hard to emotionally connect to the characters and I didn’t like the emotional abuse the heroine endured until the meathead got his s*** together. Maybe if there weren’t kids involved. Again, not my type of story.

Tangled- Win! This story redeemed the whole anthology for me. The mystery, action and romance were well paced within the confines of the short length. Most of the conflict came from outside forces and the conflict between the hero/heroine was more realistic and kind of sweet. It was refreshing to see the other men in the story were good guys too, except the bad guy of course. There was no crazy contrived angst. Grab a glass; you will savor the romance and be surprised by hints of mystery and suspense.

You should take my opinion of the first three stories with a grain of salt, remembering my bias of contemporary romance. All four stories are completely different so if you are looking for variety this one could make you happy.

Overall I give this anthology 2 Sheep

But Tangled gets 4 “pass the bottle” Sheep

What I’ve been up to…Kate Douglas + giveaway

What I’ve been up to… Kate Douglas

First of all, thanks to Sharon Stogner for her invite, and those wonderful stinky little sheep who are letting me play in their pasture today. I love the name of this blog—I Smell Sheep is so perfectly graphic, especially for those of us who have ever spent nights during lambing season helping ewes deliver their new babies. (You’d think they’d have figured it out on their own by now, but Nooooooo….

They’re so cute and tiny and they fluff up really fast, though they don’t always come out all that easily. Because my hands are small, I was often the one who had to reach inside Mama Ewe and turn a baby or even pull its little legs to get it through the birth canal. My sister-in-law actually lost her wedding ring inside a ewe one time. She went back in and found it after the baby was born, but I digress…

I’ve been working on copy edits for Intimate, the first novel in my new romantic suspense series, Intimate Relations, from St. Martin’s Press. I just finished those this morning in time to start gearing up for the release of the prequel to the series, Tangled. The novella releases Tuesday, May 19 in the Hot Alphas anthology.

This first story is set in the Sonoma County, California wine country town of Healdsburg where we live now, with much of it taking place in Dry Creek Valley where my husband and I lived on a 160 acre vineyard with our two kids for over sixteen years. I’ve never set a story where I’ve lived before, and it’s been fun to have a reason to be back out in the beautiful vineyards and tasting premium wines—all in the name of research, of course!

Tangled’s winemaker, Cassie Phillips, has always known the family vineyards and winery would be hers—until her father’s poor business decisions due to his advancing dementia result in Cassie working as the winemaker for a new, absentee owner. Vineyard manager Nate Dunagan is brought in to oversee the vines, but the beautiful winemaker is keeping his mind on everything but the grapes. Chemistry notwithstanding, when Nate and Cassie disagree on one too many aspects of vineyard management, it’s obvious something or someone has to give.

But there’s another issue that has Cassie and Nate concerned, and it’s tied to a very persistent stranger intent on getting inside the wine cave where the barrels of premium wine are aging. By the time Cassie realizes her father is somehow involved, the situation has turned from irritating to deadly, and it’s all more than a little bit tangled. I’ve got a first chapter up at http://www.katedouglas.com/hot-alphas.html

The first novel, Intimate, comes out December 1, followed by Redemption, on December 29. I’m just getting ready to start writing Awakened, the third and final story, which is tentatively scheduled for June 2016.

And I guess, my publisher doesn’t think I have enough to do, so they’ve contracted me for three erotic werewolf stories featuring ménage relationships and big, beautiful women. The first one, Feral Passions, releases as part of a digital “duet” on September 15, paired with a story by A.C. Arthur. The combo release is titled Claimed by the Mate. It will be out in trade paperback in January with a third story by Eve Langlais, but the print version is going to be called Growl.

These are not the angsty, sometimes violent tales like my Chanku stories—Feral Passions is the name of a resort a bunch of lonely werewolves have built in order to entice women to their community in the hope of finding a mate.

It’s not like the old days when a lonely guy could just haul off a sexy wench from the closest village…modern women expect more from a man, and it’s really tough when you can’t tell them what you are until after you’ve bitten them and turned them into a werewolf.

It can get real ugly if they’re not into the furry stuff. Needless to say, I’m having way too much fun with this series—the stories are short and sexy, and the first one is done with two more to write. There’s an excerpt up at http://www.katedouglas.com/feral-passions.html

But, after I finish Awakened I fully intend to write the next Spirit Wild story I promised five months ago. Really. This is what happens when life gets in the way and contracts have to be dealt with and deadlines met. And no, I’m not complaining a bit. Who wouldn’t love this job? I go to work in my jammies, write about kick-ass women and hot guys all day, and it’s my frickin’ JOB!

Life is good. But, I was thinking of something I wanted to ask you, and it has to do with heroes in books—I’ve reached the point where I’ve written so many stories now with so many guys that I have trouble remembering their names. The one who is always in my mind, the one I can’t forget, is Anton Cheval, my uber alpha from the Wolf Tales series.

What heroes have stuck with you? And no, not from my books, from any books. Who are the guys whose names are always easy to recall, the ones you’ve thought about long after the book ended. I’m really curious, and wondering if any of them are the same ones I tend to recall. (Kate will be stopping by through out the day to comment)

Leave a comment and you will automatically be entered into a contest for a copy of any of my Wolf Tales books from Wolf Tales VI to 12. I had hoped to give away a copy of Hot Alphas, but I don’t have my author copies yet and have no idea when they’ll show up.

And thank you for stopping by!

About the Author:

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My husband is still putting up with me after well over four decades, though I'm convinced it's got to be hell living with me when I'm on deadline...which is most of the time. We've got two grown kids and a total of six perfect grandchildren. Doug and I have recently moved out of the mountains and are now back in the small wine country town of Healdsburg, California. And, as always, I'm usually in my office, working on the next book.
http://www.katedouglas.com/feral-passions.html
http://www.katedouglas.com/hot-alphas.html
http://www.katedouglas.com/intimate.html

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