Unwrapping a Review of ONLY HER, a K2 Team novel by Sandra Owens

I love the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens and it’s coming to an end with the fifth and final book, ONLY HER. I thought that would be enough to make me cry but on no, this book is so emotion-filled that I was in tears nearly from the beginning. Oh, I still laughed on occasion but this is one to be experienced. I’m still sad to see the series end and can’t help wondering if you haven’t read any yet, why not? Check out the other 4 books because they are currently on sale. 

***eARC provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unscripted review

Blurb for ONLY HER:

Former SEAL sniper Cody Roberts has returned from Afghanistan with too many demons and a simple wish: to be left alone. Working for K2 Special Services, caring for the war dogs he rescued, playing his guitar—that’s all he wants to do. But Cody is as protective as his nickname, “Dog,” suggests. A man like that can’t sit back when he realizes the beautiful veterinarian next door is being targeted by an unknown enemy.

Riley Austin is desperate to find out who’s poisoning her animal patients, and she’s stunned by her mysterious neighbor’s suggestion that it’s personal. But Cody makes her feel something else, too: a powerful attraction. He insists he’s no good for her, but those haunted eyes and that chiseled body tell Riley that surrendering to their mutual lust is worth the risk. And despite his conditions—no falling for each other, no regrets once it’s over—she’ll fight to love him just as fiercely as he’ll fight to save her.

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Cody Roberts has joined the K2 Team at a time in his life when he needs purpose but he worries that his past will destroy him before he can become a true member of the team. Nightmares from his last deployment plague him nightly even though he tries to ward them off with liquor. Constant worry over his missing dog, Layla, doesn’t help even though he has the comfort of Sally and Pretty Girl. His natural talent with dogs earned him the nickname Dog. When his ability to control his dogs is questioned by the beautiful and intriguing woman living across the street, he can’t resist getting to know her, even though having a relationship with her is not in her best interest.

Riley Austin has a past that keeps her from getting too close to anyone. She has her own ghosts to deal with so when she quickly surmises that her sexy new neighbor has his too, she tries to resist his magnetic pull but can’t. With more than enough on her plate dealing with her animal patients being poisoned, she tries to put the sexy guitar playing man out of her head—without much luck.

When Riley is assaulted, her home invaded, and her cats attacked, Cody goes into full force protective mode despite his own troubles. With the help of the K2 Team, he is determined to make sure Riley is protected at all times, and solve the question of who is trying to hurt her and why. Pulling together, Cody and Riley discover that as a team they are comforting, calming, and good for each other in more ways than either expected.

ONLY HER by Sandra Owens is the final book in the K2 Team series and I am very sad to see it end…not only the series, but this book. I have loved every one in this series and after reading each one, thought Sandra couldn’t get any better but I was wrong. ONLY HER is amazing from page one straight to the end which will have you clutching tissues just as you will too many times throughout—especially if you’re an animal lover like me.

Cody and Riley are two damaged people, drawn to each other by lust and need but fall in love with a passion that you feel emanating from the pages. They become a family with their pets. It’s natural, it’s real, and the emotion is strong with this one. Cody is a romantic at heart and Riley has a hard time accepting attention or acquiescing control so he has his work cut out for him, but he succeeds where none has before with her.

ONLY HER, book five in the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens is filled with intrigue, lots of good guys, and one really off the wall crazy bad guy. There are adorable animals, angst galore, heart-wrenching scenes, steamy sexual tension plus more sexy action, plus an abundance of romantic gestures that will have you grabbing for more tissues so make sure you have them available. I highly, highly recommend ONLY HER by Sandra Owens, along with the previous four books in the K2 Team series, because this one, as well as the others, is story about falling in love, friendship, brotherhood, compassion, healing, and fun. This group is always fun. Perfect couple stories.

If you haven’t read any yet—do, and then I dare you to pick your truly absolute favorite. I can’t.

Happy Reading Everyone!

ONLY HER, a K2 Team novel by Sandra Owens, Montlake Romance, release date, July 19, 2016 and will be available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Unwrapping a Review of LOST IN HER, book four in the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens

I love the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens and each time I read one of her books, I think she can’t outdo herself but she always manages to win me over in a big way some way, somehow…just as she has with LOST IN HER.

***print copy provided by author in exchange for a honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for LOST IN HER:

It’s been a year since Ryan O’Connor buried his wife. He was in Afghanistan as a SEAL medic when the call came that she’d been killed during a robbery. In that time, he returned home, nursed his grief, and joined his former brothers-in-arms in the K2 Special Services.

After a bad breakup with her ex, Charlene “Charlie” Morgan finds happiness only when flying the friendly skies—as an aerobatic stunt pilot. But the skies aren’t so friendly when her plane troubles turn out to be the work of sabotage.

Looking to forget their worries, Charlie and Ryan run into each other at a bar. The chemistry is instant and intense. It’s only supposed to be a one-night stand. But the memory of their passionate kiss lingers, and when Ryan shows up at Charlie’s flight school, their romance takes off. Yet the route to love has its own turbulence—secrets, lies, and danger. Can one night lead to something lasting?

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Ryan, known among the K2 Team as Doc, carries a secret buried deep but not so deep as to not continually burn away at his insides. When he meets a tiny cherub of a woman who manages to get under his skin with just a kiss, he knows it’s time to open the wounds, find out the truth, and live again. His only worry is that his sexy little stunt pilot cherub might not be around by the time he finally does.

Charlie carries her own festering guilt over tearing apart her family and being responsible for her best friend’s suicide. Her luck with men isn’t all too great either. Not having much experience with romance or sex, she prefers to disappear into the clouds rather than keep her feet on the ground…until she meets a sexy man one night, whose kiss fills her with a need to spend time with him even as she worries that it will end any moment. Of course, it doesn’t help that someone is out to get her and keeps sabotaging her plane so she never knows when her next flight to the heavens might be a permanent one.

Whereas LOST IN HER by Sandra Owens might not have had the level of suspense, and edge of the seat thrill as the first three books, it certainly was as good when it comes to Ryan as our bunny loving, sweet, caring, and oh, so protective romantic hero. He’s definitely a K2 Team member. He carries some anger, regret, and isn’t always as smart as he looks when it comes to Charlie but he makes up for it in so many delightful ways. He’s as inexperienced in love and sex as Charlie, which makes them very compatible and fun together. Charlie is who I’d love to be…not just, because she gets the sexy, romantic Ryan but because she’s a pilot—a stunt pilot yet. I love to fly so I quickly related to Charlie and her love of being in the clouds.

Don't get me wrong, there is some excitement, a bit of thrill and adventure, even danger in LOST IN HER…Ryan and Jake (SOMEONE LIKE HER) go on a mission that even though it’s serious one, it has its moments with some great camaraderie banter between the two and a new guy. Not saying anything more. You’ll have to read it to understand why poor Mr. Bunny sits waiting at the door for Ryan to come home. It’s a good thing he doesn’t know about the poodle. Nope…zipped.

Sandra gives us light, funny, serious, a little nerve wreaking, and certainly romantic in LOST IN HER. I highly recommend reading this even if you haven’t read the first three, although if you love great characters, funny teasing and banter, and really sexy former S.E.A.L. men, you should. They each work well as stand-alones, but why do that? Read them all, but if you must start with one that will have you saying, ‘Awww’, more times than you expect, read LOST IN HER, book four of the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens, and fall in love with Ryan like I did.

I don’t normally quote books, but I just can’t let this one pass with mention:

There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him and she’d bet her small savings account that naked, he’d look just like those hot guy pictures women posted on Facebook, the ones where the guy had the V-line that women called sex lines.

Happy Reading Everyone!

LOST IN HER, a K2 Team novel by Sandra Owens, Montlake Romance, available now in print, audio, and ebook formats at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Unwrapping a Review of FALLING FOR HER, book 3 in the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens

I adore the K2 Team novels by Sandra Owen, and had already fallen a bit in love with ‘Saint’ after getting to know him better in book 2, SOMEONE LIKE HER so when I got the chance to read FALLING FOR HER, I knew I had to…immediately. So very worth squeezing in.

***print copy provided by author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review

Blurb for FALLING FOR HER:

Known to the K2 Special Services team as “Saint,” Jamie Turner lives by his own strict rules to compensate for his past sins and the two-ton boulder taking residence in his heart. He doesn’t drink or smoke. He never swears. And he only dates nice, safe women until he meets Sugar Darling, the fill-in receptionist at K2. She’s as sweet as her name, but this wild woman is definitely trouble, with something to hide. He knows he should avoid her…but can he?

Sugar isn’t hiding something—she’s hiding everything. And K2 seems like the perfect place to lie low, thanks to the big, protective guys who work there. The drop-dead-handsome Saint makes her heart race, yet he keeps his distance. When Sugar’s traumatic past rises up to haunt her again, she desperately turns to Saint for help, and he has to decide what’s more important: playing it safe or risking everything for love.

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Jamie Turner carries a boatload of guilt and regret. Of course, rather than face his demons, he tries instead to live a life of good, kindness, loyalty, and unencumbered by drink, smoke, or foul language. You got that right…this man does not cuss. He says things like ‘blue butter’ and “pink pikes’…yep, you read that right. However, the more he’s around the beautiful, not too bright, trouble with a capital T, Sugar Darling, the more dollar bills go into his swear jar because “Saint” is starting to lose his control.

Sugar Darling carries secrets too…big secrets! Sugar’s not her real name, and she’s far from not too bright but if she’s going to stay safe and hidden from an abusive and insensitive, thieving and murderous husband, she has to play the game. When she takes a temp job at K2 Special Services, she likes it a lot more than working at the Booby Palace so when Maria offers her a full-time job there, she can’t be happier especially since there’s a member of the team she can’t seem to get out of her head. Getting involved with any man is dangerous enough, and somewhat terrifying after what she’d been through as Rodney’s wife but there was something, about Jamie Turner, that kept drawing her to him.

Sugar is far from what Jamie believed his ideal woman but there was just something, about her, that called to him. So when trouble started brewing and it seemed to circulate around Sugar, Jamie was determined to keep her safe even if it meant he might be the one to hurt her in the end. Even as he couldn't resist her, he wouldn’t allow her to get too close because everyone who gets too close to him gets hurt, or dies. What he begins to wonder is whether she might just be the one to save him.

I love these two characters. I love their strengths, their vulnerabilities, their baggage, and their interactions. I love that Jamie is tough as nails but teddy bear gentle. I love that Sugar is way smarter than anyone has any idea, especially Jamie, but that she plays it down so brilliantly and humorously. I love the honesty that exists between these two even while they are holding back truths and lying to themselves about what they want and how they feel.

Sandra writes full-bodied characters but Jamie and Sugar are my favorite ones so far. Yes, I know I said that about Jake and Maria but then again, I might say it about the next pair too. Sandra Owens gets better with each book. Her stories are unique, suspenseful page-turners, with team chemistry, humor, and most of all, falling in love romance.

There are times when this one is corny funny but also runs to a darker side that I truly appreciated in Jamie and Sugar’s story. Even when Sugar decides to take off on her own so as not to endanger her new friends, she learns the greatest lesson regarding loyalty among friends and family. As Logan Kincaid reminds her more than once, K2 takes care of their family and Sugar is now family.

I highly recommend FALLING FOR HER, book three in the K2 Team series by Sandra Owen, not because I love the series but because this story is about strength, self-reliance, unselfish loyalty, and perseverance when it seems like there’s no escape. Take a ride with a man who thinks he deserves nothing and a woman who feels like nothing worthy of a good man, and fall in love.

And Sandra, thank you again so very much for allowing me the pleasure of reading this amazing story.

Happy Reading Everyone!

FALLING FOR HER, a K2 Team novel by Sandra Owens, Montlake Romance, available now in print, ebook, and audio formats at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

***click on links above or cover below for purchasing information, remember even pennies per sale using my links help keep this blog alive. Thank You.

Unwrapping a Review of SOMEONE LIKE HER, book 2 in the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens

I hope everyone read the first book in the K2 Team series, CRAZY FOR HER by Sandra Owens from Montlake Romance. It was a great introduction to this amazing series filled with action, romance, and great characters. Coming tomorrow, January 6^th, is book two in the series, SOMEONE LIKE HER, and my darlings, this one blows the first one out of the water, which I didn’t expect to have happen because I really enjoyed the first one. It’s usually hard to beat a first in a series but yes, this one is that good.

***eARC provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for SOMEONE LIKE HER:

Known to the K2 Special Services team as Romeo, ex-Navy SEAL Jake Buchanan may spend his downtime living up to his nickname, but there's one woman who sets his heart racing like no one else can: Maria Kincaid. Unfortunately, his boss - her brother - has made it crystal clear that she's off-limits. Jake doesn't do commitment, while Maria is the type of woman who deserves a promise of forever. Yet Maria finds herself drawn to Jake, the man who stares at her with a desire she wishes he'd act on.

Still haunted by her horrific childhood, Maria goes searching for the father she's never met and stumbles into a nightmarish experience. With her life in grave danger, she reaches out to Jake, her brother's second-in-command. Jake figures he can help Maria without giving in to temptation. But some things are easier said than done.

~*~                 ~*~                  ~*~                   ~*~                   ~*~

Maria Kincaid is eager to finish up her law school exams and get to work as a partner in K2 Special Services with her brother, Logan, and the rest of the team, especially Jake Buchanan, the man who makes her blood heat up just being near him. When she decides to hunt down the men mentioned in her mother’s stud book, hoping to find her father, she stumbles into something that her brother cannot be allowed to know about so she calls the one man she trusts to help her, Jake.

Knowing Maria is extremely off limits, going to Maria’s rescue isn’t the smartest thing for Jake to do but when he has no choice but to stay with her for protection, he fights an internal battle to keep his hands off her and her hands off him if he wants to survive Logan’s wrath, and keep his job. The only problem is that he discovers Maria is different from every other woman he’s ever taken to bed, and now he isn’t sure he can resist her or even if he wants to.

I fell in love with the men of the K2 Team in CRAZY FOR HER by Sandra Owens…Logan Kincaid, Jake Buchanan, and Jamie Turner. We felt the attraction that was happening between Jake and Maria, and already know Logan’s thoughts on his sister being involved with any of his former S.E.A.L. buddies, but especially the one known as Romeo. For Jake, his sister was beyond off limits, she was in locked down mode, and he swore he’d pound his second-in-command to pulp if he ever hurt her. So in SOMEONE LIKE HER, when Maria calls upon the one man she shouldn’t after being beaten up by the man she had hoped was her father, Logan is far from thrilled when he learns the truth. Sorry, I couldn’t help but cheer Maria on as she works diligently to seduce her Romeo/Tiger Toes.

Sandra Owens takes us on quite a rollercoaster of emotions in SOMEONE LIKE HER. It’s an action-packed, edge of the seat, steamy hot romance with its share of ups and downs, moments when we laugh and several when we need a tissue. I’d love to give you some examples, but then I’d ruin the story for you. Trust me, if you read this one, you will find yourself trying to read blurry-eyed through sad tears, excited tears, and truly smile inducing happily-ever-after tears.

Sandra’s writing is honest and tight. She gives us so much to experience, backstory that pulls everything together but allows us deep within her characters’ minds and hearts so we will feel their joy, their angst and their fears. These are complicated characters, and it’s one of the things, which I love most about SOMEONE LIKE HER. Jake and Maria are perfect together and just when you think Jake is the ultimate hero, it’s Maria who rescues him from the brink of his own despair.

I highly recommend SOMEONE LIKE HER, book two in the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens because you will be glued to this story from the first page to the last. It’s an amazing story, which features incredibly three-dimensional characters, and shows us how love can soothe the most pained hearts, boost the most fragile egos, and heal wounds that go so deep, some are hard to find. Read it, even if you haven’t read the first one, I promise, you won’t regret it.

Happy Reading Everyone!

SOMEONE LIKE HER, a K2 Team novel by Sandra Owens, Montlake Romance, release date – January 6, 2015, available in print and ebook formats at Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

***click on links above or cover below for purchasing information, remember even pennies per sale using my links help keep this blog alive. Thank You.

   

Review Stop on the CRAZY FOR HER, book one in the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens Blog Tour + #Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the CRAZY FOR HER, book one in the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens blog tour. I’ve never read any of Sandra’s regency romances but I will say, if she writes them as well as she does this series, I’ll be adding them to my TBR list. Please read my thoughts on this exceptional series debut, and then stick around for a giveaway!

***eARC provided by author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for CRAZY FOR HER:

When his best friend and fellow Navy SEAL, Evan Prescott, died in his arms on the battlefield, Logan Kincaid gave his word to watch over Evan’s widow. But for two years he kept his distance…torn between honoring his solemn vow and succumbing to his secret love for his fallen comrade’s wife. But when Dani Prescott desperately reaches out to Logan for the help only he can give, he rushes to her side—determined to fight for her safety as fiercely as he fights against his own buried desire.

Someone claiming to be her husband is stalking Dani and her infant daughter, making them virtually prisoners in their remote country home. Logan’s elite military training and high-risk security expertise have outmatched more dangerous enemies. But the real challenge will be the burning temptation that threatens to overcome Logan whenever Dani is near…especially when she reveals her own hidden passion.

*                    *                   *                   *                   *

Logan Kincaid lost his best friend, and fellow Navy SEAL in a mission to retrieve one of their own. As a man of honor, he’s unable to get past the guilt for not keeping Evan Prescott safe and bringing him home to his wife and unborn child. When Evan, in his last breath, made Logan promise to take care of his family, he never expected how far that promise was going to take him. What made things more difficult for Logan was for as long as he’s known Danielle, Evan’s widow, he’s been in love with her. Feeling responsible for making her widow was painful enough to keep him watching her from afar but when she needs his help, he can’t turn away but must remind himself she belonged to Evan and always will.

Dani Prescott is a regency romance novelist, single mother of a darling little girl named Regan, and just when she thought she was tough enough to handle most anything thrown at her after losing her husband, now she’s terrified. She’s getting strange phone calls from a man who eerily sounds a lot like her deceased husband, and even claims to be him. Her brain tells her it’s impossible but her fear has cringing with dread. She calls the one person she knows will be there for her, or so she hopes – Logan Kincaid. He’d been a friend to her since the night she’d first met him and Evan. Perhaps had things worked out differently, it might have been Logan who’d won her heart instead of Evan but right now, she needed someone to tell her she wasn’t going crazy.

Logan’s expertise is what’s needed to uncover the mystery of the phone calls and someone pretending to be her husband, but Logan’s heart keeps pulling him into thoughts of Dani in his arms, his bed, and forever in his life. Logan wonders if he should tell her how he feels and fears her response even as Dani desires Logan in her bed and can't help but wonder if he was the one she always loved.

CRAZY FOR HER, book one in the K2 Team series by Sandra Owens rocks as a series debut from an author who normally writes regency romance. I love military-based heroes and heroines so I was immediately drawn to this story and I’m so glad I read it. I always love the honor and brotherhood felt between the men and women of military units but when it comes to Navy SEALS, it’s unique and never ending. The connection between Logan and Evan extends beyond life and it’s what Logan struggles with every moment in regards to Dani and Regan. As much as he loves her and wants to be part of their lives, he feels a betrayal to his fallen brother every time he allows himself a moment of surrender to his desires. Dani is torn between her loyalty to her deceased husband and the friendship she has for Logan. When she discovers the angst he carries from his youth, she recognizes him as a tortured hero just like the ones she writes about in her novels. Like any good heroine, she wishes to rescue him in the same way he rescues her.

I highly recommend CRAZY FOR HER by Sandra Owens to anyone who loves a good hero saving the day romance, but which is truly a tortured hero rescued by the love of a good woman second chance romance with action, angst, and more twists and turns than you’d ever expect. Hooked from the start then glued to the pages, I was eager to see what happened next, and then surprised at what did happen. Looking for something to drag you away from the same ol’ - same ol’, read CRAZY FOR HER by Sandra Owens, you won’t be disappointed. In fact, I think you’ll be as excited as me about what comes next in the series.

Happy Reading Everyone!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A native of Florida, Sandra once managed a Harley-Davidson dealership, before switching from a bike to an RV for roaming the open road (though she’s also chased thrills from sky-diving to upside-down stunt-plane flying). In addition to Crazy For Her—a 2013 Golden Heart Finalist for Romantic Suspense—her works include the Regency Romance novels The Letter, winner of the Golden Quill Award, and The Training of a Marquess, winner of the Golden Claddagh Award. A member of Romance Writers of America, and potential cat owner, she lives with her husband in Asheville, North Carolina.

If you’d like to learn more about Sandra and her books, please visit her website, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

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CRAZY FOR HER, a K2 Team Novel by Sandra Owens, Montlake Romance, available in print and ebook formats at Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

***click on the links above for purchasing information, remember even pennies per sale using my links help keep this blog alive. Thank you.