The Man Tamer by Cindi Myers

Enjoyable if predictable Blaze romance

4 stars

Popular columnist Rachel Westover is proud of her moniker The Man Tamer – there isn’t a sports-loving, self-absorbed, slobby male that she can’t turn into the perfect mate. But then she meets Ozzy lacrosse star Garret “Wild Man” Kelly and all bets are off. The gorgeous, rumpled man presents quite a challenge but Rachel never said her behaviour modification techniques were easy.

As an extra incentive, if she succeeds at domesticating Garret, she will land herself her very own TV show. The more time she spends with Garret, the more she begins to find his boyish, sports-loving ways charming and irresistible – so much so she’s abandoning all her strategies. But she’s determined that one of them will end up tamed – she just hopes it’s not her.

This was an enjoyable offering from the Blaze line with some enjoyable characters, good sex and fun situations.

The plot itself is fairly predictable in that you know where the majority of the conflict is going to come from, although what happens for the majority of the book isn’t by any means formulaic or dull. The premise is interesting and different enough to make it stand out from many other books in the line.

Rachel is a great heroine – strong and sassy yet believably insecure and personable. She’s really someone you can identify with or aspire to. Garret is equally a good hero – masculine, rugged and a real man’s man but with enough heart to make him irresistible. My only complaint is that with Garret being an Ozzy, we are subjected to quite a few awful clichés in his habits and speech for the first part of the book – but that settles down soon enough and it no longer becomes a noticeable issue.

The sex scenes are fun, sexy and plentiful and definitely help the book live up to Blaze’s tagline of a scorching hot sexy read.

Overall, this is a well-written, enjoyable book that is certainly worth a read. It may be slightly predictable, but the fun characters, interesting premise and great sex really make up for it. 4 stars.

Men At Work

Disappointing Blaze anthology

2 stars

Through the Roof – Karen Kendall

Socialite Marina Reston is heartbroken when her fiancé leaves her after he loses his business but Ben will not let her support him. But Marina is used to getting what she wants and she vows to win back her man by any means.

The characters in this story were so terrible that it was hard to dredge up even a tiny bit of sympathy or compassion for them. Marina was a spoilt brat with a love of plastic surgery and only thought of herself. I admit she was written like this but I could not identify with such a person. Ben too was hard to like – an alpha male taken one step too far – basically a chauvinist pig.

Taking His Measure – Cindi Myers

Samantha Delaney has landed the perfect job – photographer for a charity calendar full of delicious, naked working men. But then Josh Kitteredge – the subject of all her teenage fantasies - walks through her door. But now the pair are all grown up and all their fantasies are about to become reality.

I again had problems liking either of the characters in this story. A boyish girl and a former stripper – not my idea of a good romantic hero or heroine. The conflict in the story was also a little weak.

Watching It Go Up – Colleen Collins

Private Investigator Gina Keys has been assigned to follow a suspected thief – Hawk Shadow Bonaparte. But this hot man gets her pulse racing with his dangerous work on tall buildings – and with what he gets up to several stories up.

By the time I got to this last story I admit to being so fed up that I couldn’t even find one tiny thing that I liked about it.

I was looking forward to this Blaze anthology about delicious working men but I am sad to say that I was really disappointed in it.

Unfortunately I really can’t recommend this book and if you’re looking for a sexy, fun set of romance stories then I suggest that you try some other Blaze anthologies as there are many excellent ones out there. A disappointing 1 star.