Title: Once and Always
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt/Julia Harper
Genre: Romance
Blurb: IS THERE A PROBLEM, OFFICER?
Small town cop Sam West certainly doesn’t mind a routine traffic stop: speeding ticket, stern warning, and sayonara. With a whopper of a blizzard closing in, that’s all he has time for. But the lawbreaker he pulls over is anything but typical. From her mile-long legs to her razor-sharp wit, Maisa Bradley is like nothing Coot Lake, Minnesota, has ever seen . . . and she’s about to take Sam on the ride of his life.
BEING BAD HAS ITS BENEFITS
Whoever said blood is thicker than water probably wasn’t related to a former Russian mobster. But an innocent mix-up and rumors of stolen diamonds soon have the Russian mob taking an unusual interest in the sleepy little town-and Maisa facing heated scrutiny from a certain tall, dark, and handsome deputy. Sam’s dazzling blue eyes beg her to reveal all her secrets, but how much should she tell? Getting snowed in with the sexiest lawman in the frozen north may not be the worst way to decide.
Okay, this was a first to me. I recently began reading Elizabeth Hoyt books and I am starting to really like her. Now this book was a shock to my system, I knew her as a historical romance author, not this type. Intrigued I requested the book and was pleasantly surprised.
Sam West is a small town cop who always has the inkling to pull over speeders in town. This particular speeder however is the elusive Maisa Bradley,also known as May, the woman who he had an amazing one night with.
Sam had every intention of making it more, but she sneaked away in the middle of the night, and showed having no interest in doing it again. Sam has done his best to get time to talk to her, but she just blows him off.
Not one to give up, Sam persist until the holy grail of a misunderstanding ended up at his doorstep.
Maisa could not believe her bad luck. First she is pulled over, again, by the sexy cop that makes her feel things she shouldn’t. Then she made the mistake of mixing up her luggage where she found some illegal merchandise.
That was not the worst of it, apparently the merchandise belongs to the mafia and they want it back. Now the little town of Coot Lake, Minnesota, is riddled with bullets. Everyone is running scared, especially with a snow storm coming their way. To make matters worse, communication to the outside is impossible and the only way to get around are by sleds pulled by dogs.
Coot Lake seemed to have turned back in time, but with the treat of the Mafia in their town, the only way to get rid of them, is to do it themselves.
May feels guilty that because she blames herself for this mess. Having feelings for the Sam is not helping things and she knows that she has to get away. Would Sam allow the woman of his dreams to just walk right out of his life again? Or has May pushed him to far, for too long?
Find out in this new and exciting tale of Once and Only.
Elizabeth Hoyt surprised me with this book. Just judging by the cover, this looked like your typical love story, but boy oh boy was I wrong. Diamonds, mafia and guns, this book is right out of an action movie.
Sam was adorable. Yes I called a tall, muscular, ex-solider, adorable since that’s how he came across in the book. He got to have an amazing night with May, and been though she started to ignore him after that, and this has been going on for months, he still tried to get her attention.
May on the other hand was completely annoying. Only her uncle was ex-mafia, she did not have to act as if she was one too. If you were wondering, this is the main reason she distances herself from others. She puts people in two categories, them and us, and almost everyone is in the them section.
The characters love life was not that fun to read, mostly because May was a pain in the butt and Sam and May seem to have sex at the oddest of times; but as I was reading the book, for some reason I was confused about what was going on.
The first thing I was confused by was the weather? In my mind, it was sunny and it left a funny feeling in my brain everything I heard the word snow, ice and blizzard. May’s uncle was also confusing. He had to be the worst ex-mafia I have ever heard of. Of course he’s well into his eighties, but still.
There were many others but the main thing that got me was the mafia boss. What mafia boss actually goes out and do their own dirty work? I’m only basing this on news, books and movies I have seen, but aren’t mafia bosses suppose to sit nice and comfy in their mansions letting their “underlings” do the dirty work?
Besides the confusion there was also the humor. The one that made me crack up is when the roads were too icy to drive on so to get around, they had to used sleds pulled by dogs. I giggled every time I read those parts.
I enjoyed reading this book but I much prefer her historical romances to this.
Thoughts: Not as good as her historical romances.
Grade: C
