@GoddessFish Review: The Marine's E-Mail Order Bride by Cora Seton

The Marine's E-Mail Order Bride

The Heroes of Chance Creek, #3
Cora Seton

Genre: Contemporary Military/Western Romance
Publisher: One Acre Press
Date of Publication: January 6, 2015
Number of pages: 212

Available at the following retailers:
Amazon     BN     Kobo

Review: The Navy SEAL's Christmas Bride by Cora Seton

The Navy SEAL's Christmas Bride

The Heroes of Chance Creek, #4
Cora Seton

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Holiday
Publisher: CrushStar Multimedia LLC
Date of Publication: December 16, 2014
Number of pages: 91

Available at the following retailers:
Amazon     BN     Kobo

Review: The Soldier's Email Order Bride by Cora Seton

The Soldier's E-Mail Order Bride

Heroes of Chance Creek, #2
Cora Seton

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: One Acre Press
Date of Publication: July 21, 2014
Number of pages: 309
Word Count: 98,470

Available at the following retailers:
Amazon     BN     Kobo     ARe     Smashwords

Staff Sergeant Austin Hall has a brilliant record in the Special Forces—except for one disastrous decision that cost his best friend’s life. Now he’s heading home to Chance Creek, Montana, where he’d like to spend the rest of his days in the obscurity of his family’s ranch. Too bad Great Aunt Heloise won’t hand the ranch over unless all four of the Hall brothers marry and one of them produces an heir within the year. Austin is too broken to marry for love, so he places an online ad for a fake wife. What could possibly go wrong?

Ella needs to leave Hollywood—fast. It’s bad enough another actress stole her fiancé—on national television. Now she’s ruined her comeback by decking her ex on a morning talk show. Pursued by paparazzi, Ella needs a new life, a new name and someplace to hide. When she reads Austin’s ad for a stand-in wife, she knows she can act this part perfectly. To the rest of the residents of Chance Creek, they’ll be a happily married couple. In private, they’ll just be roommates. In a year when she’d old news and the Hall brothers secure the ranch, she and Austin will quietly divorce and she’ll go on her way.

Or will she?

Austin’s already finding it hard to remember his promise never to love again. Ella’s finding it hard to keep her hands to herself. But when they’re asked make a back-up baby, Ella realizes she may have stepped into a lifetime role.

Can this pretend marriage go the distance?

Back in May, I reviewed the first book in this series, The Navy Seal's E-mail Order Bride.  I had seen other books by Cora Seton, specifically her Cowboys of Chance Creek series, but hadn't read one yet. Mostly because, hello, the series is on book 8. That's a lot to catch up on. So the chance to read the start of a new series was good. And I loved the book. Then I saw book 2 on Netgalley and was thrilled to get to jump back into the Hall brothers lives once again.

Here we have the story of Austin. He is the next brother to leave the armed services and head home. Since Austin doesn't really want to find a wife, he believes that he doesn't deserve one after letting his best friend die in combat. So he posts an ad proposing a marriage of convenience, a business arrangement, and pretend to be his wife for 1 years time. After the flood of angry and crazy emails, he find one that makes him take notice. From a woman named Ella.

Ella is an actress in Hollywood struggle to make it onto the A-list. Her fiance has made it, and she figures that if she can only win this Oscar for her latest role she can be right there beside him. Not only doesn't that happen, but the woman who wins announces to the world that she is pregnant with Ella's fiance's child. Ella is devastated and retreats to her family's home to recover. On her first interview back, in an attempt to garner rating, she is surprised with the new couple showing up. When she cold cocks him with her coffee mug, she decides that it might be best to lie low for awhile. In Ella's mind getting back to the lifestyle she had as a child and hiding out on a ranch sounds just about perfect. Maybe she can figure out if her old childhood dream of Equine Therapist is still viable.  Neither one of the planned on their mutual attraction.

Whereas the issues in the first book mainly dealt with family and the problems of getting the house in order, this book dealt with the issues that many military men face when back from combat assignments. Austin had some PTSD and survivor's guilt issues. Both the characters dealt with what it means to let go of some dreams and how to start over with their lives. This book was as good as the first, but in a whole different manner. I can't wait to get my hands on book 3, about Austin's twin brother, the marine. A 5 star read for me.

@GoddessFish Review & Giveaway: The Navy SEAL's E-Mail Order Bride by Cora Seton

The Navy SEAL's E-Mail Order Bride

The Heroes of Chance Creek, Book 1
Cora Seton

Genre: Contemporary Western Romance
Publisher: One Acre Press
Date of Publication: May 18, 2014
Number of pages: 175
Word Count: 56,750

Available at the following retailers:
Amazon     BN     Kobo     ARe     Smashwords

Mason Hall, Navy SEAL, has fought insurgents and terrorists, but his current mission is one for the records. Not only must he find a wife—and get her pregnant—or forfeit the ranch his family has prized for over a hundred years, he also must convince his three brothers to marry, too—before the year is up. Who knew one city girl and three wayward brothers could put up such a fight?

Excerpt: 

Her phone rang. Regan jumped, then laughed at herself. It wasn’t like Mason Hall could call to check up on her. It could be Jack, though—still angry she’d walked out on him yesterday. Her stomach sank at the thought. When she found her phone, though, she didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?”

“Regan?” It was a man’s voice, deep and husky and confident. It couldn’t be Mason. There was no way it could be Mason, but somehow she knew without a doubt it was. A spasm of happiness shot through her—a feeling so unexpected and alien it caught her completely off-guard.

“M…Mason?”

A low chuckle sent tingles down her spine. “How’d you know?”

“Where are you?”

“Afghanistan.” His voice was amazing. She glanced at the photo she’d made into her desktop background. Mason gazed back at her with his serious eyes.

“You can make phone calls from there?”

“I pulled some strings. So, are you?”

“Am I what?” She bit her lip at the excitement coursing through her body. How could she be so turned on by just a voice? How could such a tenuous connection make her feel so alive?

“A big, hairy, 82-year-old man.”

She didn’t answer for a moment. She couldn’t believe he was on the other end of the line. How did she sound to him? Sexy? Or as squeaky as a preteen at a Justin Bieber concert? She struggled to control her tone. “No. Sorry to disappoint you.”

“I’m not disappointed. What are you doing today?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You quit your job, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Would I answer your ad if I did?”

“Maybe.” There was a pause. “I don’t know you yet, do I?”

Yet. Her breath caught. “No boyfriend. Not for a while.”

“Why not?”

Wow, he went right to the heart of the matter, didn’t he? “I guess I’m picky.”

“Or scared.”

She frowned. “I’m not scared. I’ve tried, believe me. I never met the right guy.”

“Or you don’t know you have yet.”

She didn’t know how to answer that. She should tell him right now she wasn’t interested in men. Had no intention of dating again for years. If ever.

“Regan? Did I lose you?” His voice was soft but demanding.

“You move awfully fast, don’t you?”

“When I see something I like, what’s the point in waiting around?”

He kept knocking her off-balance with that sexy, knowing voice. She tried to pull herself together. “Mason?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re paying a hell of a lot for this call.”

“We could Skype next time,” he suggested.

“Okay.” She bit her lip. Okay? What did she mean, okay?

“There will be a next time, won’t there?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

Review: 

I have been eyeing the Cowboys of Chance Creek Series by Cora Seton for awhile. But it seemed like every time I looked, she had come out with another book.  This is great for an ongoing fan. Prolific authors Rock! But not so much for someone like me, who is now being daunted by the shear number of books to catch up on. So I was thrilled to get a chance to start a new series with the author and maybe catch a glimpse of these Cowboys in her other series.  Let me say, there wasn't a whole lot of these other cowboys, but I wasn't missing them with this hot, hot, hot SEAL turned cowboy.

The book starts with Mason calling his 3 younger brothers, all in different branches of the armed services. They have the opportunity to reclaim their family homestead, but to do so they will need to get the ranch up to full working condition, all be married, and someone has to have a baby on the way - all within a year. Nearly impossible, but the brothers agree they want this chance to get back their family heritage that was taken from them when their father died suddenly when they were too young to take over. Since Mason is the closest to getting out of the service, and the oldest, it will fall to him to get the ball rolling, both on getting the ranch ready, but also on getting married and expecting. To facilitate this, he places an online ad for all 4 of the brothers.

Regan is a woman who is tired of her biological clock ticking away while slaving away at a job she no longer enjoys.  She has recently quit her job as a loan officer, moved into a very small apartment and set up an appointment for artificial insemination to get started on the child she desperately wants.  She plans on starting a small company that will help people with the planning and paperwork for buying a home or starting a business, thereby getting back to what she originally loved about her job - helping people realize their dreams.  On her first night in her new apartment, slightly tipsy from an entire bottle of wine, some tequila shots while playing a Pride and Prejudice drinking game, Regan answers Mason's online ad.

I so enjoyed the back and forth of Regan and Mason as they each got to know one another. First by emailing, then skyping and finally the face to face meeting.  The author does a wonderful job of showing Mason as a take charge Alpha male without turning him into a condescending asshat. Mason listened to Regan, valued her opinion, but managed to retain his air of command and leadership.  I'm not saying Regan was a push over, no way, no how.  Especially not with the sneaky, sexy, obstacle course race she totally cheated at and the way she gave Mason's brothers a chewing out when they totally needed it. I am looking forward to the second book in the series.  This was a 5 star read for me. Totally Loved It!!

Giveaway: 

Cora will be awarding a $50 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

So follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.

Book Tour Info: 
Don't forget to check out the other stops on the Book Tour:

May 19:

Books to Light Your Fire
The Crafty Cauldron
May 20: 

Crazy Four Books
May 21: 

Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
May 22: 

Reviews by Crystal
A Book, A Beer, and A Dream
May 23: 

Read Your Writes Book Reviews
May 26: 

Nana Prah
May 27: 

Queentutt's World of Escapism
May 28: 

Our Families Adventure
May 29: 

Kinky Vanilla Romance
Musings and Ramblings

May 30: 

Booklover Sue

Author Bio:

Cora Seton loves cowboys, country life, gardening, bike-riding, and lazing around with a good book. Mother of four, wife to a computer programmer/eco-farmer, she ditched her California lifestyle nine years ago and moved to a remote logging town in northwestern British Columbia.

Like the characters in her novels, Cora enjoys old-fashioned pursuits and modern technology, spending mornings transforming a neglected one-acre lot into a paradise of orchards, berry bushes and market gardens, and afternoons writing the latest Chance Creek romance novel on her iPad mini. Visit www.coraseton.com to read about new releases, contests and other cool events!

To connect with the author online:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Google + | Amazon Author Page | BN Author Page | Smashwords Author Page