Running Wild

I enjoyed this book. A good beginning to a new series. Unfortunately, there hasn't yet been a follow up. In this book, the main character, Carlin, is running from a stalker ex. She lands in Battle Ridge at Zeke's ranch. There she finds a hiding place but also love. The only problem I had with the book was that the stalker ex seemed too extreme. Otherwise this was a well written enjoyable story.

Oh my goodness! This was flat out yummy! I loved Zeke and his inner thoughts were down right entertaining. When Carly arrives in Battle Ridge, she's hiding from a stalker. She meets Kat, Zeke's cousin, at her diner in town and takes a job as a waitress. They become fast friends, but Kat can't afford to keep Carly on during the winter months. So she takes it upon herself to find her another job. Meanwhile, Zeke's down one housekeeper and one wrangler at the ranch. Carly would be the answer to his Chief Cook and Bottle-washer problem if she was older and uglier.

This is a book that started off fast and the momentum never waned. The chemistry between Zeke and Carly was terrific. I love strong heroines. The good natured teasing between the show more ranch hands was endearing and I liked how they brought Carly into their extended family. Brad was pretty spooky and added a lot of suspense to the story.

I laughed, I cried, I worried and cheered the couple on. I'll be watching for more from this series! show less

In this really great opening book into a new series, you will get to meet the feisty, smart and scared Carlin Reed. And, yes she was named after George Carlin! She is being stalked by someone nobody would ever expect it of, and her stalker has already killed one person that Carlin cares about. Now she is on the run.

Her running takes her to an unlikely place by the name of Battle Ridge, Wyoming a very quiet ranching town that is sort of on the way out, with people moving trying to make a living elsewhere.

After working for a while for Kat the owner of The Pie Hole here in town, Carlin gets sort of coerced into taking a job for Zeke Decker, a cattle ranch owner who is just walking sex on a stick, if you know what I mean! He is gruff, show more blustery and the type of guy who wants to fix everything for almost everyone!

This was a wonderful romance, but even more importantly, it was a terrific suspense novel. This is something that Linda Howard is known for, and she really worked it. I had trouble seeing just where Ms Jones left her mark, as the writing was so seamless between the two women.

Some of the passages got to be a little too much with the inner angst but they were soon bypassed by increasingly suspenseful…well…suspense scenes.

Zeke does get around to eventually getting his own way and teaching Carlin just what she needs to know about saving herself if she ever finds herself in need to. And of course she will eventually need to. She makes for a great kick-butt heroine who also knows when to let someone more experienced take over in the kicking butt department.

This was written with a tight plot, great, well-rounded characters of different kinds all with their own voices. The scene descriptions where vividly written, the scenery descriptions made you actually see them in your mind. There was even plentiful humor to break up the fear factor. The sexual aspect took quite a while to come up and I appreciated that. I don’t always like a book where the couple has to fall into bed in the 5th chapter. I could actually believe that they took their time and really fell into love instead of it being simply lust disguised to look like love.

I loved this book and will be buying the next one in this series, and I will be keeping this on my to –be- re-read shelf!

*ARC SUPPLIED BY PUBLISHER* show less

When your stalker's a cop, it's hard to get law enforcement to take you seriously. After a co-worker is gunned down in the street while wearing her raincoat, Carlin Reed isn't taking any more chances - surviving means living off the grid, which is what brings her to Battle Ridge, Wyoming. A job as a housekeeper/cook in a remote cattle ranch seems like the perfect out-of-sight hiding place for the winter. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the ranch's owner isn't too hard on the eyes.

Zeke Decker's ideal housekeeper would definitely not be female, unattached, attractive, and wearing a comes-with-trouble sign a mile high. But he's in a bind, and beggars can't be choosers.

As the nights get colder, the struggle to keep the heat in the kitchen show more gets harder. But Carlin's leaving in the spring...

I'll admit, I was skeptical when I saw that Linda Howard had co-authored this with Linda Jones. Nothing against Jones, but I've found that a fair number of co-authored books end up being uneven and annoyingly choppy in terms of plot. This one was a very pleasant surprise. Carlin and Zeke are entertaining, the descriptions of ranch life are accurate enough not to be distracting, and the happily-ever-after is satisfying. The villain's one-dimensionally evil, but hey, that's what he's there for, after all. Had to laugh at the cover, though - the hunky cowboy showing off his chest would be a blue-tinted ice sculpture pretty darn fast given the weather in most of the book. show less

I enjoyed this book. A good beginning to a new series. Unfortunately, there hasn't yet been a follow up. In this book, the main character, Carlin, is running from a stalker ex. She lands in Battle Ridge at Zeke's ranch. There she finds a hiding place but also love. The only problem I had with the book was that the stalker ex seemed too extreme. Otherwise this was a well written enjoyable story.

I've been disappointed in most of Howard's recent releases. Though this isn't in the same league as some of her old favorites - Heart of Fire, etc - it was a major improvement over her other recent books.

The combination of Howard and Jones writing together works well, if this novel is anything to go by. For the first time in years I'm sorry the story ended.

Needing someplace to hide for the winter, Carlin Reed found a remote town and a private ranch to help out at. Zeke Decker wasn't wanting another woman in his life, after his housekeeper/cook left he wanted to hire an older woman or better yet a man for the job. Not finding anyone to fit the bill but becoming desperate, he decided to give her a chance. Only wanting to keep her head down and save enough money to survive when she has to move on, she was not looking for any connection that could end in more tragedy. Realizing that the help of a good honest woman was something he enjoyed made Zeke want to help Carlin whether she wanted it or not.

Book 1 ..... A new series by Linda Howard sounds like great idea to me. I really enjoyed these show more characters and this story. I liked how Linda Howard and Linda Jones took a timid young girl and made her learn fast how to get along and live with everything against her. Not sure how these ladies divided the story or work, but the combination created a really good story and I am eager to see what the next book has and who will be in it, especially who the main characters will be show less