Trouble in a Stetson by Regina Carlysle

Story: 7.5
Presentation: 8.5
Total Score: 16
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Contemporary Erotic
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Blurb: Book two in the Sequins, Saddles and Spurs series.


Lola Lamont leaves Vegas with two pals, never imagining they’d break down in small-town Texas. So what’s a former showgirl to do when she runs smack dab into the hottest sheriff south of the Mason Dixon line? Why, jump his bones, of course!

Sam Campbell takes one look at the Vegas Bombshell and knows damn good and well she belongs in his bed. She probably has the words gold digger tattooed to her ass but he’s ready to take what the sexy blonde has to offer. Vowing to protect his heart, Sam rocks her world. Too bad she’s rocking his right back. Sam is more than ready to handle some sass, spunk and sex, but is he willing to gamble on love?
Review: When I say this one come across my in-box I was like a crazy woman jumping and clawing, needing to make sure that I was the one to get it. I’ve read another in the series and for me, if I liked the one I’d read, the others are a must.

Not a shadow of a doubt that Ms Carlysle is a talented author, this story followed the set-up that was introduced in the first story, the characters were pretty easy to relate to and over all the story was well put together. While maybe not quite what I expected, I think it was still a good read :)

Drilled by Regina Carlysle

Story: 8

Presentation: 8

Total: 16

Publisher: Ellora's Cave

Cougar Contemporary

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Blurb: A standalone story in the Cougar Challenge series.

Lori Donovan accepts the Cougar Challenge and pledges to snag a hot young stud, knowing it’ll be tough once she moves back to her Texas hometown. She expects barren plains and rattlesnakes but finds hunky Jackson Blue drilling for oil on her property instead. A driller. Hmm. Lori has a few ideas about that and just about all of them involve her poor, needy, sex-starved body.

Jackson takes one look at the curvy, sexy, older woman and puts his expertise into action. After all, drilling is what he does best. Against the wall, on the floor or in the middle of her bed, he’s the man right man for the job. It’s a hot time in Texas when a tough, sexy drillin’ man meets a sassy cougar, and playing it safe just isn’t an option.

Review: Let the kittens sharpen their claws. These Cougars are feisty, mature and sexy as hell. I loved this story. I related to Lori’s insecurities and cheered her ability to push through and go after what she wants. And if there was a Jackson drilling in my backyard, I’d have a dry mouth and wet panties too. He’s so hot, so sexy and under the rough and rugged cowboy exterior is a real man who knows how to treat a woman.

Just by the cover, you know there is going to be a lot of sex. Yee haw. It doesn’t disappoint. But the sex was more than bodies working up a sweat. Ms. Carlysle delivered an emotionally satisfying story as well. Reading Drilled left me in that happy place, great characters, great story, great happy ever. This is one to put on the top of your reading list.

Jaguar Hunger by Regina Carlysle

Story: 6

Presentation: 8

Total: 14

Publisher: Ellora's Cave

Erotic Paranormal

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Blurb: Noah Littlehawk and Aaron O'Malley have searched long years for the mate they will share, a jaguar female to fulfill their lives and ease their loneliness. What begins as a job soon becomes much more when they meet Violet. Her quiet intensity calls to them. Her body makes them yearn to claim her with the savage hunger of their species.

Death comes for Violet Carson like a speeding train. She knows the shift from woman to beast will rip her apart without the help of jaguar mates. As heat and lust overwhelm her, two men step from the shadows to claim her body and soothe the fire that consumes her. But a human predator waits and he won't rest until he possesses her, body and soul.

Review: I want to start off first by saying I normally LOVE Regina Carlysle’s work. She invokes emotion into her characters that will leave you aching when the story is over and you have to say goodbye because you feel like you really know them. And in Jaguar Hunger there is some of this characterization. The problem is that you have great characters in a story that just, for me at least, didn’t work.

I found Violet’s reason for being in the house unbelievable and imprudent. Staying in the home of a man who is dangerous and trying to establish an elicit affair is foolish. I understood her fears that came from her impending shift and that she might not survive. But why again would her boss’s home, an unsavory character, be the location she’d choose to go?

Noah and Aaron are sexy, Alpha and refreshingly, not into each other. They just want Violet. She’ll complete jaguar triad bond. All elements of the sexual relationship between the three are hot and satisfying, but a bit redundant in execution.

The story has a beginning that sets up the plot, a middle full of steamy sex and an ending that satisfies the problem of her boss, her shift and addresses Noah and Aaron’s initial deception but doesn’t satisfy the romance reader in me. Maybe it was all too easy and predicable. The story is entertaining, just not at the level that I’ve come to love and appreciate from this author. This will in no way keep her from my must read list of authors.