The Fiction Enthusiast: August 2012

Title: Blame It On Texas
Series: Hotter In Texas #2
Author: Christie Craig | Website
Available: 8/28/2012
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Source: Received from publisher in exchange for my review

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Zoe Adams has always been content with her quiet nights at home, watching TV alone-until her life turns into a real-life episode of Unsolved Mystery Hunters. The story of a kidnapped girl triggers unexplained memories, and Zoe is dead-set on figuring out why. Her search leads her to one of the Lone Star State's richest families-and to sexy PI Tyler Lopez.

Tyler has sworn off women, especially redheads with killer curves who poke their noses into his clients' private lives. Still, he can't deny the attraction any more than he can deny that some of Zoe's crazy story makes sense. But when she becomes a hit man's target, this cold case starts heating up. Suddenly, Tyler will do anything to protect Zoe-even risk his heart.

My thoughts:

As I've mentioned numerous times before, contemporary romance is not one of my "go-to genres". I'm unbelievably picky, but yet again Christie Craig has managed to seriously rock my socks. I love the world she has created in Texas. I love the three hunks that make up the private investigating team, Only In Texas. And I love the women she created to win their hearts.

Blame It On Texas was just as wonderful as its predecessor, Don't Mess With Texas, if not better. Christie Craig has combined mystery and romance to create a book that will keep you reading way past your bedtime. Tyler is a character with so much depth. Now that isn't something you can typically say about love interests in a romance novel. I admired his intelligence and compassion for others (especially his strong family values). And he likes cats. Like likes them enough to save them from becoming road kill. Having been called a crazy cat lady more than once; I'm a sucker for any man who has a soft spot for felines. His love match, Zoe, was unbelievably sweet with a wonderful sense of humor (and another cat person, Yay). I couldn't get enough of these two together.

Blame It On Texas also contains a secondary romance that focuses on the relationship between Rick and Ellen, who we met in the first book of the series. I enjoyed catching up with Ellen again. I was intrigued by her in the first book and just knew she had a story to tell. I will admit it took a bit for Rick to win me over, but eventually he did. His character really seemed to evolve the most over the course of the story.

The mystery behind Zoe's identity was a great one. I had to fight the urge to skip to the end and unravel all the mysteries. Thankfully patience won, and I was able to hold out. It was so worth it! Now my only complaint is waiting for the next book in the series. It sounds like it is going to be another great read!

Cover thoughts: Hmm. So I only seem to weigh in on covers when I have an issue. This version of Tyler really doesn't fit my imagined Tyler. I can't recall if Tyler's father's background was mentioned beyond his abusive nature, but I'm pretty sure Tyler is of Hispanic decent. He speaks Spanish and his last name Lopez. Yet, cover guy appears to be Caucasian. Maybe Tyler is half white? I'm not real sure, but would have loved to see a hottie Latino on the cover. Being married to a hottie Latino has perhaps made me a tad biased. Just saying.....