Review: Moonlight Moments by Emily Bowie

Title: Moonlight Moments

Author: Emily Bowie

Year of publication: Out today! The author kindly gave me a copy to read and review

The heroine: Waitress Sloan Tate

The hero: Rancher Kellen Steele

The blurb: alling in love could be more dangerous than the past they hide

Criminal, liar, a fraud are all things that can be said about Kellen Steele. It takes all but three seconds for the notorious bad boy of Three Rivers to set his sights on Sloan Tate.
She is to be his distraction, to help him pull off his biggest lie, which is also his greatest achievement.

Sloan Tate knows how to handle herself. Not looking to settle anywhere never mind down with anyone. Her plan? Close up her late Granny’s estate and leave town as fast as she came. Sloan knows each day she stays in Three Rivers her past is bound to catch up with her.

Powerless against the chemistry wrapping them together, Kellen and Sloan must decide exactly what they’re willing to lose in order to win each other.

Standalone or series: This is book two in the Steele Family series. While it can be read as a standalone, it’s better to have read book one, Stolen Moments, first.

The review: This is the second in the Steele Family series, and the hero in this one is Kellen. I liked him a whole lot more in this book than I did in the first one, because the reasons for his behaviour in the first book were explained in this one.

After spending five years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, Kellen has grown up and turned his life around. After being released, he’s on his way to a wedding when he discovers a woman on the side of the road next to her broken down car. He stops to help, and his attraction to Sloan is immediate – she’s fiesty, sassy, and completely closed off to him.

Sloan is back in Three Rivers after the death of her grandmother to sort out the house and catch up with her cousin, Kiptyn. It turns out Kellen has worked for Kiptyn in the past, and Kiptyn’s business is not on the right side of the law. Sloan finds herself a part time job as a waitress, and everyone warns her about Kellen when they see him hanging around her, but they don’t know about Sloan’s past – she’s no angel, either.

Sloan has sworn off men after her ex, but something about Kellen draws her in and she can’t resist him. She sees a side to him that very few others do – but when his secret comes out and she’s caught in the crossfire, will she be able to forgive him for all the lies? Can she ever trust him again?

I really enjoyed the relationship between Kellen and Sloan. I love books where the attraction is immediate and overwhelming, and they simply can’t keep their hands off each other. Kellen was very much redeemed in this book, and I’m glad I read it.

 

 

 

Review: Stolen Moments by Emily Bowie

Title: Stolen Moments

Author: Emily Bowie

Year of publication: 2019. The author kindly gave me a copy to read and review

The heroine: Student Shay Steele

The hero: Student Luke Rogers

The blurb: One stolen moment. That’s all it took to change everything.

The sweet girl next door, Shay Steele, knows better than to set eyes on Three Rivers’ bad boy, Luke Rogers. With three alpha brothers determined to keep her from ever dating, it’s not like she would even have a chance with their best friend and local football hero. But when Luke starts paying attention to her, she thinks she may finally have her dreams come true.

Luke knows Shay is off limits, but he just can’t seem to stay away from the feisty brunette. Besides, a little secret—and a lot of kissing—never hurt anyone. Right?

Lies and secrets, however, never seem to stay hidden for long. When their newfound romance is discovered, not everyone is happy to hear about it and worse yet, they’re not afraid to pull the trigger.

Standalone or series: This is the first in the Steele Family series, but can be read as a standalone.

The review: Shay Steele is the youngest child and only girl in the Steele family, who is well known in their small country town of Three Rivers. She’s closest to her brother Kellen, who’s only ten months older than her, and she’s been in love with his best friend, Luke Rogers, since she was a little girl. But Luke will never look at her that way…

… except he does. Shay can’t miss the lust in his eyes when he looks in her direction. She makes it clear she feels the same way, and the attraction between them explodes into a fire neither can contain. But they are both wary of Kellen finding out, because he has some anger issues, so they keep it a secret, fearing his response.

The Steeles are a very dysfunctional family, with secrets and anger issues prevalent. I adored the budding romance between Luke and Shay, and I understood why they felt the need to keep it from Kellen because of his behaviour, which was never really explained in this book (but does become clearer in book two, which I’m reading now). The Steele siblings are loyal to each other to a fault, although they fight and ignore each other, as siblings are wont to do.

Luke is a good guy deep down, although the town continues to paint him and Kellen as the town’s bad boys because of the stupid things they do. But things take a sinister turn in a heated moment between Shay and another character, and she finds out just how deep her brother’s protection and loyalty to her lies. She’s plagued with guilt, and so heeds his pleas to leave town and go to college… leaving Luke behind.

Will she and Luke ever find their way back to each other? Will the truth about what happened that night ever come out? This is the first in the Steele Family series, and you’ll need to keep reading to get all the answers.