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Men of Courage #1-2

All Riled Up: Trapped! / Riley

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New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster turns up the heat with these two timeless tales 

TRAPPED!

Firefighter Ethan Winters may be his hometown's new hero, but he's played a starring role in Rosie Carrington's fantasies for years. And Rosie has had just about enough of waiting patiently for Ethan to get over the past and see what's right under his nose. She'll do whatever it takes to fan the flames between them...but will Ethan prove too hot to handle?

RILEY

Regina Foxworth has no clue why an unknown assailant is out to get a small-town reporter like her. Or why the police won't take her concerns seriously. So Regina gets a guard dog - make that a four-pound "guard" Chihuahua! - and signs up for self-defense classes. But defending herself is the last thing on her mind when sexy instructor Riley Moore has her pinned to the mat.

311 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

112 people are currently reading
744 people want to read

About the author

Lori Foster

419 books11.7k followers
Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. Lori has published through a variety of houses, including Kensington, St. Martin’s, Harlequin, Silhouette, Samhain, and Berkley/Jove. She is currently published with HQN.

Lori hosts a very special annual “Reader & Author” event in West Chester, Ohio. Proceeds from the event have benefited many worthy causes, including the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, the Animal Adoption Foundation, The Conductive Learning Center for children with spina bifida and cerebral palsy, and The One Way Farm, Children’s Home.

Each year Lori donates all proceeds from one book to charity. You can see the benefit romance books here: http://lorifoster.com/benefit-books/

Career Highlights
•In 2001, Lori received the prestigious Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Series Romantic Fantasy.

•In 2002, Lori’s book Too Much Temptation was the top-selling romance title for Amazon books.

•In 2003, Say No To Joe was the second “Bestselling Original Contemporary” romance title for Waldenbooks.

•In 2004, Lori Foster was a clue in the New York Times crossword puzzle.

•In 2004, The Secret Life of Bryan was the “Bestselling Original Contemporary” romance title for the BGI group.

•In 2005, Lori received the prestigious Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Contemporary Romance.

•In 2006, Jude’s Law was the “Bestselling Romantic Comedy” romance title for the BGI group.

•In 2007, Lori launched a new “urban fantasy” series under the name L.L. Foster. See more on her “dark side” at www.llfoster.com.

•In 2007, Causing Havoc was among Amazon’s Top Ten Editor’s picks in Romance.

•In 2008, Hard to Handle made #2 on The New York Times.

•In 2009, Servant: The Acceptance was Amazon’s #1 Editors’ Pick in Romance.

•In 2010, Lori was a clue in the USA Today Quick Cross puzzle.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
Profile Image for Lauren.
2,516 reviews159 followers
September 12, 2020
All Riled Up
3.5 Stars

Series note: This contain books #1 and #2 in the Men of Courage series.

The first book is a novella focusing on firefighter Ethan Winters and his childhood friend, Rosie Carrington. Months after the betrayal of his fianceé and best friend, Ethan is still reeling, but Rosie has had enough. She is set on seducing Ethan and showing him that true love has been right under his nose for ages.

Ethan and Rosie are cute together, and they have great chemistry. It is fun seeing Ethan realize that Rosie is the woman he has loved all along.

The second book is slightly longer and focuses on small-town reporter, Regina Foxworth, who has been the victim of a series of seemingly random incidents. She feels threatened and signs up for self-defense classes with former SWAT member and current martial arts instructor, Riley Moore. Riley has his work cut out for him getting past Regina's defenses, but he is certain she is worth the effort.

While the minor suspense plot has a solid twist at the end, and Riley and Regina have great chemistry, their romance falls a bit flat. The main reason for this is their dynamics. Riley is quite overbearing and domineering, and Regina has some annoying doormat tendencies. The tiny Chihuahua, Butch, steals the show.

I will definitely be on the look out for the rest of the stories in the series.
Profile Image for Susan.
4,809 reviews126 followers
March 14, 2013
Trapped!
Fireman Ethan Winters ran headlong into a burning building to find Rosie Carrington.

For Rosie, the heat in Ethan's eyes was enough to start a three-alarm blaze!

Good story, novella length, only 104 pages, but there was a lot packed into those pages. I loved both Rosie and Ethan. Ethan and Rosie had known each other for a long time and had been friends forever. They had stayed friends even when her brother ran off with Ethan's fiancee. Rosie was tired of watching Ethan waste his time with one night stands since then. She had been in love with him for years and finally decided to do something about it. Meanwhile, Ethan suddenly started noticing her as something more than a friend but didn't want to risk their friendship by making advances to her. I loved her interactions with the guys. She was honest and uncomplicated and had no trouble lighting into them. I loved the way she kept Ethan off balance with her comments and actions. When Ethan finally realized that he wanted Rosie he didn't waste any time going after her. He had some issues to deal with from his jilting but Rosie did a great job of helping him with those. I really enjoyed the way that he was so modest about his hero status, but it was so obvious that he was exactly that. The ending of the story was great with the way he surprised Rosie. This story was also an introduction to Regina and Riley and the background of their story.


Riley
THE BAD GUY
Regina Foxworth has no clue why an unknown assailant is out to get a small-town reporter like her. Or why the police won't take her concerns seriously. So Regina gets a guard dog -- make that a four-pound "guard" Chihuahua! -- and signs up for self-defense classes. But defending herself is not on her mind when sexy instructor Riley Moore has her pinned to the mat.

THE GOOD GUY
With Regina vulnerable beneath him on his gym floor, Riley breaks out in a possessive sweat. He wants her, but first he has to protect her. She needs more than her "don't-muss-my-hair" style of defense and that ridiculous so-called dog. Riley is ex-SWAT -- and his new life as an evidence tech hasn't softened his lethal training one bit. But Regina isn't quite the princess she seems, and she's about to catch him off guard!

Very good story. Regina doesn't know why she is being attacked. She has tried the police but they don't take her seriously so she goes to Riley at his gym for lessons in self defense. As a former SWAT cop and current CSI he understands her fears and wants to help her. He also wants to get a lot closer to her.

I loved Regina and Riley. Because of a chaotic childhood she is now very precise and proper. Being around Riley seriously messes with her calm but she knows she needs him. In spite of her fears I really liked her strength of will. She wasn't going to let anything stop her from doing her job. I also loved the way that she seemed to really understand Riley. She also had some confidence issues from having a crappy ex-fiance. It didn't take too long to overcome those when Riley really turned his charm on her. I loved her little "guard" dog and the way she picked him out at the shelter. The dog played several key roles in the story.

Riley was great. He was definitely a big, tough macho kind of guy with some really awesome skills. I really liked the way that he actually listened to Regina's concerns and took them seriously. I loved watching him struggle with his attraction for Regina as he tried to do the right thing first before he gave in. He had some issues in his past that he was really struggling with and I really liked seeing the way he was able to open p with Regina about them. His protectiveness towards her was sweet and I loved his confrontation with her ex. I really liked the way he was so good with the dog (once he stopped laughing at it). He had some great scenes with it. He had great interactions with his friends and his dealing with their teasing about Regina was wonderful. Loved the final confrontation scene and the slight twist it had. I definitely want to read about the other two guys.
229 reviews38 followers
February 1, 2013
I'm a bit new to Lori Foster, so I'm glad that her back list is slowly being re-published. I loved the first story more than the second, but that's because it involved a firefighter. And well, we all know I'm a sucker for a good HEA story with a firefighter. Awesome friends to lover story in the first novella with some suspense and action that lead seamlessly into the second story of two people who fall in love while trying to move on from their pasts and figure out a mystery in the present together. Even though these were novellas in a previously released anthology, I like that you felt you were reading a whole book. Everything was tied up neatly at the end.
Profile Image for starsaga.
772 reviews8 followers
October 24, 2013
Cute.
The first story about Rosie and Ethan was short and sweet, I had questions about this book being part of a series, because the beginning seemed like I should already know more about these characters than I did.

The second story was adorable, with Butch the guard Chihuahua, he made the story sweet and the humans more interesting. I liked that Riley was super-possessive and although the story was not long, I believe they will be happy. With the dog of course. So with a gentle sense of humour and some decent smexing, this second story was a good read.
Profile Image for Cherie.
189 reviews12 followers
March 8, 2016
I usually like Lori Foster a lot. I haven't read one of her books in a while, so I thought I would pick this up as a quick read...

This story is probably the first by Lori Foster that I didn't like. In fact, I disliked it so much that I didn't finish the first story and didn't even start the second story. The story felt slapped together, as though minimal effort was made to weave it together in to a smooth, seamless telling. I didn't get the sense of any connection between Ethan and Rosie. I get that they have a past, but they didn't have chemistry.

Then there's how Ethan is fighting his feelings for Rosie, until suddenly and inexplicably he's not. One page he's telling his friends and himself that she is only a friend, the next page he's telling her he wants her. From there things move at warp speed, and not just because I was flipping pages, skipping the love scene and trite dialogue.

Overall the story lacked finesse, so the characters came of as clumsy relationship wise. I didn't read Riley and Regina's story... I couldn't bring myself to turn another page in this book.

I will say that though I did not like this story, Ms. Foster has several other books that I really enjoyed, so I'm definitely not writing her off.
Profile Image for Stormy.
430 reviews29 followers
February 5, 2013
Alright, so Lori Foster is a little hit or miss for me and this double story was sorta like that for me. The first story "Trapped!" was SHORT (and I rarely dig short). But it featured a hot fire fighter and a spunky little thing. It was sort of uncomplicated and mostly an okay read.

Then it rolled into Riley's story...and Riley's my kind of guy. Strong, got his own code, etc, etc. Red's got some issues, but the source is pretty obvious from the get-go, though it takes quite a while for the characters to get there (or I guess there wouldn't have been much of a story). For me, this was almost a continuation of the Rock Chick series (though that's by a totally different author AND the cast of characters isn't nearly as zany), which I totally ate up, so it gets a thumbs up from me.

The real question is...did I love it enough to read it again in the future? Only time will tell.
Profile Image for Lindsey.
368 reviews5 followers
February 5, 2013
I picked this book up the day it came out and finished it within a couple hours, it was that good! I saw Trapped as more of an introduction to Riley and Regina's story, but I loved Ethan and Rosie. Rosie never acted the way I expected her to and I loved her for it. She kept both me and Ethan on our toes! They also introduced us to Regina and Riley and gave a little preview into what the second story would be like. Riley was awesome and I loved seeing him bring Regina out of her shell a little at a time. I started to guess what was going on as the story progressed, but I was still surprised at the end with who was after Regina. You just got to love books that keep you guessing, even when you think you figured it out. Another great read from Lori Foster.
Profile Image for Victoria (nocturnalintimacy).
2,256 reviews1 follower
Want to read
May 17, 2015
May 2015:
Trapped! Is a short story in the beginning of this book. I greatly disliked Rosie's handling of Ethan. She basically shows up on the scene and decides to give him her virginity and demand marriage. He agrees. It is just too surreal for me. That alone has turned me off from reading the ACTUAL book, so it's been in limbo for a week already. I'm hoping to gather up courage to start the book.

Couldn't do it. This one goes back on the TBR shelf.
Profile Image for Cindy.
1,885 reviews13 followers
February 18, 2013
2 contemporary romance stories with protected sex in both.

I gave this book 3 stars, mostly because I felt I'd read these stories before. They're well written, but follow the same plot as others LF has written. I thought the 2nd story, "Riley" was the better one. Regina DOES get her money's worth out of her "attack" dog, by the way!
Profile Image for Arshia.
370 reviews24 followers
April 30, 2013
The first story "Trapped" was short & cute. A guy stuck in a rut & making himself miserable finally realizes that the love of his life has always been in front of him. Ethan was sexy but Riley was scorching hot! He reminded me of Trace & I love Trace. Sometimes I really wish I could meet fictional characters; I would really like to meet Lori's guys.
206 reviews
May 25, 2014
2 short novellas that were really not that good. I like Foster's long books, but these did not do justice to her other work.
Profile Image for Maura.
3,883 reviews113 followers
July 6, 2018
Trapped - This story, about Ethan and Rosie was my least favorite of the anthology I read it in. There's hardly even a rescue here and Rosie irritated the hell out of me. It's one thing to be straightforward about liking a guy, but its another to be so pushy about it. And how long has she been obsessing about this guy anyway? Its a wonder she didn't claim him right after his first fiance failed to show up for the wedding.

Riley - 3 /5 - This picks up with a miniseries started in an anthology focusing on local heroes. This one involves Riley, a CSI, ex-SWAT member and gym owner. He's loving and lusting after Regina Foxworth, or "Red" who he knows is in trouble and he wants to be there to help her, so maybe he can finally get her to see that he's the one for her. She's oblivious though, until Riley lays a kiss on her and tells her point blank they're going to bed together. After that, she's on board, but still hesitant because of her past. When Riley realizes that Regina's life is being threatened, his protective instincts kick into gear and he'll do anything to get to the bottom of this, so he and his woman can have their HEA.

This is fairly fluffy, with a mild amount of suspense to kick up the action a bit. There isn't really any relationship angst between Riley or Regina - they kinda work out that they're in love and want to be married fairly smoothly. It's drawn out, but decidedly snag-free. But it's Regina's being stalked or threatened that keeps Riley in action, as he chases down burglars and basically does the police's job (for which he takes them to task too). Riley was pretty much a great hero. He's the first to fall in love (and I'm a sucker for stories where the hero falls first) and he's infinitely patient with Regina, which probably makes him a TRUE hero to me. Riley also seems to be a jack of all trades, with awesome fight skills, the analytical mind of a crime scene investigator and apparently the skills of a business owner. Where does he find the time?

Regina was quite a bit less enjoyable for me. She's your classic ditz I guess. Not too bright, painfully naive and a little slow on the uptake for some things. I'm pretty sure it was the moment that Regina says she's eager to go in her new home in the suburbs, all alone, without a security system or protection and she KNOWS she's being stalked and threatened by some mystery villain, that I knew I was in for a struggle with her. Most especially when Riley says he'll be staying with her to ensure her security and she gets all prudish and argues about propriety instead of considering her own fricking safety. RME. Hardcore. Then she agrees to get a dog, so she'll have some protection. And she ends up shelling out $600, which she says she didn't have, for a pure-bred Chihuahua because he's so adorable. Meanwhile, she later talks about doing a story on animal shelters and feeling so bad for those animals. Now, I presume she either went to a breeder or a pet store or something - didn't say anything about being at a shelter and she talked like she could have gotten a dog much cheaper elsewhere, so I want to know why she didn't. If she was so caring and compassionate, she'd adopt a mutt from a shelter, wouldn't she? But she takes this dog home and proceeds to spoil it rotten (and being a dog owner, gah, it made me so mad). He pees all over the place and she says, "That's not nice" and then holds him because he looks so remorseful and ends up reinforcing the behavior. She's one of THOSE dog owners. Granted, this was a small part of the story and I could get over her behavior to read more about Riley, but I wasn't really connecting to this heroine or dying for her to be with Riley or anything. I was very meh about her and somewhat annoyed by her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Christine Jalili.
2,193 reviews44 followers
Currently reading
September 23, 2022
Loved this book.

I really loved that this is two completed books on one. The main characters are in both books. The first story is called Trapped and it’s the story of Ethan and Rose. It’s a fun story. Now that Ethan is wondering what happened between him and his best friend Rose, he can’t stop thinking about her. The second story is called Riley and it’s about Riley and Regina (Red). Why is she in danger? The plot was surprising. Loved Riley and Regina together and happy everyone got a very happy ever after. I highly recommend this anthology.
Profile Image for Antonia.
58 reviews1 follower
June 20, 2018
This book took me quite some time to get into. I can usually read one of these books in a day. This one took me a couple of days. It didn't hold my interest at first. After the 1st couple of chapters I really started to enjoy it.
Profile Image for Kaile Kwan.
35 reviews
June 7, 2018
I only took a star off because I wasn’t fond of how rushed Ethan and Rosie’s story in “Trapped!” felt. Otherwise it was a good read 💕
213 reviews3 followers
July 2, 2023
Good book

I enjoyed these two books and will be binging Lori Foster, because who doesn't enjoy a good romance with mayhem thrown in .
12 reviews
October 16, 2024
Lots and lots of romance in both stories Hero police and fireman find romance and the love of their life.A quick and entertaining read.
Profile Image for Judyth.
1,742 reviews41 followers
September 18, 2014
~3.5-4/5

[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]

These two stories were very adorable, very easy to read, and definitely made me want more.

Trapped! is about Ethan, a firefighter, and Rosie, a friend of his. Rosie has always liked Ethan, and is now deciding to do something about it. Ethan doesn’t know how to handle this, but Rosie is insistent.

I found Rosie and Ethan very cute, and hot, together. I liked Rosie’s persistence, and how everything worked out for them. I like friends-to-romance stories, though, so this was an easy like for me.

The second story, Riley, was about Regina, a reporter, and Riley, who is teaching her some self-defense. Regina believes that someone is out to get her, and Riley quickly takes the role of bodyguard.

Their attraction is fast and hot, and very nice. I liked how they fell into staying together. This book also had a dog companion, who is just adorable, and easily makes the story even better to read. The dog also made me think that there need to be more pets in books, especially in Foster's books.

Both of these stories were cute and sexy, and definitely made me want to read more Lori Foster (if I hadn’t already). We also met two other bachelors, the leads in the next anthology, which I really hope to pick up soon.
Profile Image for Natasha Coburn.
193 reviews2 followers
May 26, 2015
So, there are two books in this one. I have just finished the first called Trapped and it also happens to be my first Lori Foster book. I must say I really enjoyed it. It was only 104 pages so it was quick but it was filled with so much. I am looking forward to reading the next book, Riley, tomorrow.

I have now finished Riley and am happy to announce I really liked that one too. In this book a side character from Trapped becomes the one of the main characters and I love stories or series that do that. It rounds out the story more and makes it just so much better. This one was also really interesting because there is a small mystery to it and throughout the whole story or at least for me I didn't really have a guess because no clues were really given. I liked that as well cause I never knew what to expect.

As I said above this book was my first Lori Foster book. I now want and will read more. There is nothing like discovering a new author!
777 reviews14 followers
March 14, 2013
Two books for the price of one! I loved it!
Trapped
Ethan is the angst ridden hero. He has loved and was betrayed in the worst possible way. Rosie is the “one of the guys” girl that everyone loves, just isn’t in love with. Rosie is tired of hiding her feelings toward Riley. She finally ups the ante, and boy does she. When Ethan wakes up from a drunken night next to a woman, he thinks… No big deal. WRONG! The woman is his best friend. Surely he wouldn’t.
Riley
Regina was being stalked. No one would believe her though, so she takes matters into her own hands and signs up for self-defense classes. Once Riley, her self-defense instructor see’s the nervous anxiety that plagues Regina, he realizes that she might not be crazy after all and starts watching out for her.

For my full thoughts go here: http://wp.me/p3a6Qw-1l
Profile Image for Marla.
508 reviews6 followers
July 23, 2014
New York Times" bestselling author Lori Foster turns up the heat with these two timeless tales TRAPPED!

Firefighter Ethan Winters may be his hometown's new hero, but he's played a starring role in Rosie Carrington's fantasies for years. And Rosie has had just about enough of waiting patiently for Ethan to get over the past and see what's right under his nose. She'll do whatever it takes to fan the flames between them...but will Ethan prove too hot to handle?

RILEY!

Regina Foxworth has no clue why an unknown assailant is out to get a small-town reporter like her. Or why the police won't take her concerns seriously. So Regina gets a guard dog-make that a four-pound "guard" Chihuahua!-and signs up for self-defense classes. But defending herself is the last thing on her mind when sexy instructor Riley Moore has her pinned to the mat

These were two great books.
Profile Image for Caro.
1,776 reviews42 followers
December 20, 2014
A super good book with tons of action, emotions, humor, great personalities and characters, two great stories, a little suspense, great heroes, HEAs, and pretty much awesomeness to read. I really enjoyed reading both these stories. I loved getting to know these characters and really clicked with this book. I was turning pages at super-speed and couldn't wait to see what would happen next. There were definitely some laughs, some steaminess, some breath-holding, and pretty much just a great time. A really good book and I can't wait to read more in this series. I got lucky in picking this off the shelf from the library and am definitely looking forward to reading more. Totally Enjoy...But not too much! ;)
Profile Image for Sammie.
844 reviews2 followers
March 26, 2016
it was ok .

The 1st story Trapped was ok .
Ethan was kinda a jerk at first but in the end he get's better ,I didn't mind Rosie ,the whole story kinda felt rushed and was a bit cheesed up.


The 2nd Story Riley was ok.
it felt a little eh ,I mean the Riley is a little too good of a guy and Regina was just annoying, I didn't like her at all.

overall this book was ok ,the stories in this book are kinda over played . at first I didn't realize I had read Riley's story before and I really liked it but after reading it again I don't know what I really loved about it .
Profile Image for Shannon.
2,752 reviews223 followers
April 19, 2015
Ethan and Rosie, friends to lovers.
Riley and Regina "Red", strangers to friends to lovers.

I like the friendship between the 4 guys- Ethan, Riley, Harris, and Buck.

It was fun to watch Ethan get all flustered over Rosie, who had been trying to get him to see her as more than a friend for awhile. He was gun-shy from being stood up at the alter, but Rosie was determined to make him move past that and get on with his life, with her.

Riley has staked a claim on Red, determined to find out who has been causing her harm while making sure she knew he wasn't going anywhere.
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