Playboy's Challenge

Challenge #3

by Jo Barrett

Adam Sutherland thought he knew his parents. They were like any other couple who were head-over-heels in love with each other. It was sickening to witness, to be honest, but he never dreamed that their devotion to one another began in the sixteenth-century in the Highlands of Scotland. And more importantly, he never thought he'd see for himself just how a trip into the past could profoundly alter his future

Genres: Time Travel, Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Time Travel Romance, Historical Fiction, Novella

136 pages, ebook

First published April 30, 2013

About the author

Jo currently resides in North Carolina with her patient and supportive family while she juggles her writing career and her position as a programmer analyst.

She has won numerous awards and continues to write whenever she can.

Someday, she hopes to take off her programming hat and write full time.

So many of her dreams have already come true. What's one more?

For a list of Jo's books, visit The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

Email: jobarrett@jobarrett.net

Reviews

[Ruthi Kight · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I had NO idea that this book was actually part of a series (yea, I don't pay much attention, lol) but I grabbed it earlier today because it was free. I do that a lot...but anyway. I read it in one day. I have been reading a lot of "New Adult" lately, which basically just means a certain age group with a lot of raunch. But it was nice to go back to something I used to love: Pure Romance. None of the gory details of the love making, but the actual LOVE on display. It was nice to be back to that.

Plus, I'm a sucker for anything that has to do with time travel. Now that I know this book is part of a series, I'll be grabbing the others as well. I've never heard of this author before today, but she officially has a new fan on her hands. The book was well written, engaging, and fun. Also, the part that I absolutely loved, was that she stayed true to the Scottish dialect. That's a hard one to master, but she did it quite well. While I'm no expert on the language, I DID feel like I was there just from the dialogue.

I would definitely recommend this book to those out there that still enjoy a good, clean romance. As well as the bad boy who finds his true love. That one never gets old! :)

[Barbara ★ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one wasn't as good as Highlander's Challenge which was really wonderful. Playboy's Challenge is book three in the series and the weakest of the three. Adam Sutherland is the grown son of the hero and heroine from Rogue's Challenge. He has watched his parents love and instead of wanting a love just like theirs, he wants no part of love. Well he has been burned once so it's understandable. Adam also feels that he is a disappointment to his family - he's a playboy and kind of shiftless. When his mother pushes him into the fountain and into the 1600s, he's disbelieving of time travel until his parents friends (hero/heroine from book one) get kidnapped.

I did like the interaction between Deidra and Adam. As childhood friends, Adam tortured Deidra and she's holding a grudge and Adam feels that she is practically family. Regardless the sparks are flying and when Deidra gets kidnapped he knows that family or not, Deidra is the one for him.

Each book in this series is under 200 pages and doesn't have the depth that is required to fully explore love and the situation each has found themselves. Though I did like the three books, more fleshed out characters and plots would definitely have made this series stand out. On a side note, this book definitely needed an editor to catch all the different spellings of the main characters last name (Southerland, Southernland, Sutherland, etc).

[Leanne Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable!

Adam traveled back to the 17th century and found love with Deidra and his identity. Enjoyable read combining nowadays with the Scottish highlands. I didn't realize it was time travel but it was done believable enough I could go with it and enjoy the journey.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 3 in a series. Another great read. A few oddities though, in regards to the names. In Jenny and Ian's story Tuck had her twins and I seem to recall the girl's name was 'Heather' but in this book it was 'Deidra'. Ian, Jenny and Adam's surname kept changing too from Southernland, to Sutherland and something else. I think there were at least three different versions I read. I overlooked this as figured it could be illustrating how surnames subtly change over time or are sometimes deliberately altered to fit in with the era and political happenings, but Heather to Deidra was just a mistake perhaps?? Apart from this though I thought it was a lovely read.

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honest to God that was not a book.

That was a stream of words placed together. Not even a coherent stream, most of the time. There was 0 plot, 0 character development, 0 romance. I'm so disappointed I spent $3 on this book. What a waste.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy read with a simple plot. Main characters were too repetitive with their hang ups, "I'm a big disappointment" and "no man will ever want me". The short story did not provide enough depth to the characters and everything was presented in a direct manner.

[Melissa Gervais · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just couldn't invest in the main characters and it seemed as though the writing style was similar to someone tossing random items into a grocery trolley. I do hope others enjoy it. Sadly for me I don't think I will read anything else in the series

[Michelle Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful read. I couldn't put it down!

Romance readers should definitely have this in their personal library. I felt like I floated back I time with Adam.

[♡ Sassy ~ Amy ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rich boy who doesn't appreciate his father or his empty life has a conversation with his mom who gets ticked off & pushes him into a fountain. He comes to after going unconscious back in 1600 Scotland. He finds his parents good friends that he visited as a child, but never realized they were back in time.

This story was cute. It could have been longer with more suspence. His inner turmoil of possibly not doing a better job or screwing up made him seem whimpy... But all in all it was a good read. I would read more if all of the stories were free or extremely cheap, but for such a short predictabl read, not much more. Cute & enjoyable but not epic...

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good number 3, but it was way too short. I wished that there was more. Jo brought back characters from previous books that we had already grown to love and introduced more. With the knowledge from the other books it was easy to grow to love the new ones meaning their children. I would be curious to know whether she will write another about Erin. Hmmmm I would so read that.

[Linda Denison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam is a typical rich playboy son, who thinks he's a disappointment to his parents. He then gets unexpectedly pushed off onto family friends so he can straighten out and learn a few things. While he is there he not only finds himself but who his father is as well.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice change to the norm. Mix of past and present, lots of interesting and varied characters and great settings and well placed atmosphere. I enjoyed the time i spent reading this, I often caught myself smiling. I loved how far it was from a time travel romance. Very good.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a quick read - really it should be classified as a novella. If you enjoyed the first two stories I'm willing to bet you'll like this one. Yeah it's not as in depth. I recommend thinking of it as a novella.

[Skye Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although time travel isn't really me thing. I quite enjoyed this free read!