Stories in the “Rough and Ready” Series: The Camerons Book 1: Silk and Spurs Book 2: Lace and Lassos Book 3: Champagne and Chaps Book 4: Satin and Saddles Book 5: Roses and Rodeo Book 6: Lingerie and Lariats Book 7: Lipstick and Leather (3 short stories)
Jessica Porter finds herself in southern Arizona on the Cameron’s Bar C Ranch ready to photograph the ranch and the oldest Cameron’s wedding. When Jessie meets Zane Cameron, she finds herself wishing the tall, dark, and gorgeous cowboy was free.
Lately, Zane has had the feeling that things aren’t as they seem with his fiancée. When she shows her true colors, he calls off the wedding.
Zane feels it’s too soon to fall for another woman, but when he meets Jessie, he just can’t get enough of being around her. It’s not long before the pair gets together and it grows hotter between them than an Arizona summer.
But Zane’s ex-fiancée threatens Jessie and everything takes a dangerous turn…and Zane could lose her forever.
Cheyenne McCray fell in love with reading and writing early, deciding in kindergarten that one day she would become an author. Today, she is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling fiction author who’s sold millions of books worldwide. Having published more than 100 novels and novellas in contemporary and paranormal romance, urban fantasy and romantic suspense, she is now also writing cozy mysteries as Deb Ries.
Chey grew up on a ranch in southeastern Arizona and delights in creating stories of suspense, love, and redemption with characters and worlds her readers can get lost in. Chey and her equally geeky husband live with their two dogs, six ducks (the neighborhood celebrities), and a small flock of chickens in a small Arizona town where she enjoys gardening, crazy quilting and, of course, writing.
Photographer Jessie comes to her friend Danica's older brother's ranch on assignment. She's been hired as wedding photographer for said older brother Zane's wedding to his widowed neighbor. The instant these two see each other there is an attraction and over a course of a few days Zane realizes that he genuinely likes Jessie and that the woman he planned to marry, the very cliched villainous widow Phoebe isn't really as great as he'd once thought. Apparently everyone including his brothers and sister can see that Phoebe is a witch but never in front of a very gullible Zane.
Zane eventually breaks it off with Phoebe and pursues Jessie. Its revealed that Phoebe is a black widow, having killed her last few husbands shortly after the wedding and running off with their money. Phoebe along with her boyfriend/accomplice plot to take out Jessie so that Zane will take Phoebe back. What follows is a kidnapping, foiled murder plot and a really fast declaration of love and a HEA for the MCs.
This is insta-love but i found it off putting that they both constantly flirt and check each other out knowing full well that Zane is days away from tying the knot with another woman. Plus the fact that he started "spending time" with Phoebe a week after her husband died and proposed to her five months later was just ewwww!
To be fair, right from the start of the book, we are told that Zane has been having reservations about marrying Phoebe. That he doesn't feel right about a permanent relationship, but the fact is he obviously liked this woman enough to marry her - he even mentions the fact that it was time for him to settle down and have kids to carry the Cameron name. So he cared enough about her to consider fathering his children with her. And yeah he was probably just thinking with his pecker but that doesn't leave a good impression of him as an honorable or likable H.
This was a romance fail for me and tbh a bit boring. I would not recommend. Luckily is was free on the Kindle and a quick read. On to the next.
After having read the entire Rough and Ready series, as I wanted to be fair, I say if you need a hot, sexy cowboy series try Lorelai James Rough Riders series or Vivian Arends' Six Pack Ranch series. Ms. McCrays' writing needs work, spelling and grammatical errors aside, she can't keep track of time passing and how old her characters are, in the last book of the series her heroine is 39 , then later in the book she is 29, which doesn't work with the other events she has mentioned. Her bad "guys", of which there was at least one in each book, are so stupid I spent my time trying to figure out how they got away with their crimes until now. They were always out to get the heroine. Each book was basically the same with only a change of characters. Sorry Ms. McCray, I am moving you to my Do Not Read list.
Jessie is a photographer hired to take pictures of the huge ranch owned by Zane Cameron. Zane is getting married to Phoebe in a few months. That's a fact he keeps reminding himself as he finds Jessie extremely attractive .. inside and out. Jessie is immediately attracted to Zane but keeps her distance. Her last boyfriend cheated on her and she isn't about to become the 'other woman' in any relationship.
When Phoebe starts showing her real colors ... those ugly things like acting like a fishwife ... kissing another man no one knows about except Jessie... when she berates the ranch hands when they don't show her enough respect...Zane calls the wedding off, leaving Phoebe one mad woman.
Jessie and Zane act on their mutual attraction and all seems headed for a happy ending. But wait ... we haven't got to the part where Jessie's life hangs in the balance.
If you've read any of Cheyenne's books and enjoyed them you will love this one. If you haven't and this will be your first one, it's a great read and a great place to start. It's a short, really intense love/mystery story (with some really graphic intimate moments).
My thanks to the author who provided a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Story Rating 4.5 Character Rating 4.5 Romance Rating 4.5 Heat Level 4 Overall rating 4.5
For a short book I have to say I really liked it a LOT! Loved Zane the hero and really liked the heroine Jessie too. The story grabbed me from beginning to end.
This reads like a cowboy soap opera where the mcs fall hard with insta-love and the OW is total loony tunes. It was a mindless way of spending a few hours but nothing special. He’s engaged when they meet so the beginning is a smidge boring with them skirting around each other.
Bottom Line- Ok, nothing special. There was some action from the OTT OW but no real drama. I picked it up as a freebie and won’t continue the series.
I enjoyed this book, and felt it is along the same lines as "the ROugh Rider" series by Lorelei James. The "Rough and Ready" series by Cheyenne McCray are shorter books but they pack a great story and steamy sex into a fast read. This series is about the Cameron family who consist of four brothers and one sister. Silk and Spurs starts us off with the oldest Cameron brother Zane. He is awaiting his wedding and his sister has sent her friend Jessie to the ranch to be the wedding photographer. Zane and Jessie meet and the attaction is instant fireworks. He has been having second thoughts about his wedding already but Jessie's arrival just adds more doubts. As the book progresses there are a few situations arise that put Jessie into danger and her life is put into danger. I loved these characters and found Zane was the typical alpha male. (the ones that I like!) He is loyal, honest and hard working. Jessie actually have the same traits and I think that is why they click. The only downfall to the book is I would have liked more sex!! The sex that was in it was hot and steamy!! I look forward to the next book of the series, where I can revisit the Cameron family!
I did enjoy reading this. Whoa, so sexy and dramatic. A great cowboy/ranch romance. Loved cowboy Zane and photographer Jessie. Good characters and storyline. Next up #2. A cool 4☆
Ok, at its base, the idea is good, but the execution fails so very badly. There's absolutely no soul to the story or the characters. It's just a brief speed walk thru the park with your eyes closed, followed by a several hour explanation of very thing you saw on your way. All crap.
Severe continuity issues that are so obvious, there's no way they were missed, so I can only conclude that CM never bothered to reread what she typed.
The main characters are just so blah, that I really just don't have anything to say about them. The support characters are so badly used as convenient plot devises that they just irritate me to think about them... sadly, most of them are in the running for their own books in the series, and the whole set up has me beyond dislike and forget, to actively avoid so I can stop grinding my teeth. And then we have the bad guys... OMG... CARICATURES. That is the only way to describe them. They are so over the top and beyond dumber than dirt. There's not even the slightest evidence of a brain cell in how this book was put together. No I'm not saying the author's brainless, I'm saying the book is brainless and it's insulting that the author would think that readers wouldn't notice. I can only hope that she's not had beta readers that she trusted to review it, because if she did, they have done her NO favours by grinning and nodding. It sounds like she's continued with the same premise and poor execution thru the rest of the series, and I can only imagine how many readers will never touch her again, even if it was with someone else's barge pole.
CM, if you have beta readers... ditch them, and ditch them fast. Either way, you need new ones who will tell you the truth and help you become a better writer. You've got the ideas, you just need better help.
Spoiler Ahead This was a good read that I liked. Jessica Porter finds herself in southern Arizona on the Cameron’s Bar C Ranch ready to photograph the ranch and the oldest Cameron’s wedding. When Jessie meets Zane Cameron, she finds herself wishing the tall, dark, and gorgeous cowboy was free. When Zane's fiancée Pheobe shows her true colors he calls off the wedding. Zane and Phoebe got engaged 6 months after the death of her husband When Zane and Jessie start a hot and heavy romance and Pheobe starts threating her and Zane knows that he will do anything to protect her. This was my first time reading this author this was a good book. I liked both of these character's Zane is the hot sexy cowboy and Jessie is very sweet. I didn't like Pheobe and Zane should have took the hint when none of this brother's like her and have been telling him something seems off about her. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. This was the first book in a new series to me. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
*This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review*
3.5* stars
Jessica or “Jessie” Porter is a photographer who is hired to take wedding pictures at a ranch for Zane Cameron and his nice, sweet, and very beautiful fiancé Phoebe. As soon as Jessie gets to the ranch she’s in awe of how big, beautiful, and open the ranch is since she lives in the city. She’s also in awe of how sexy and attractive Zane is yet reprimands herself because she knows she should not be thinking those things. Zane is the oldest of 5 siblings and feels that it’s time to find a wife and settle down and have some kids to carry on the Cameron name, since it seems that no one else in his family wants to settle down yet. He’s dated Phoebe for 5 months before they got engaged, and has been feeling iffy about the wedding so he’s been putting it off for a few months. However, ever since Jessie came up to take pictures of the ranch he’s immediately attracted to her. He would never cheat on Phoebe but he realizes that his feelings for Phoebe may not be as deep or as strong as he once thought, and has to make a decision about if he’s truly ready to go through with his marriage. It also doesn’t help that as soon as Phoebe meets Jessie she’s immediately rude and standoffish with her which is very unlike her. Phoebe feels threatened by Jessie and makes it her mission to get her out of the picture, by any means necessary. This is a very short story and everything is pretty rushed from the characters meeting, to them being attracted to each other, to making completely life changing decisions. But some people do like stories like that, where it’s just a simple love story and there aren’t a million different story lines going on so if you’re looking for a quick little romance, I’d check it out. Some characters are not always as they seem so there is an added little twist that makes things interesting.
***Review has been done in conjunction with Nerd Girl Official. For more information regarding our reviews please visit our Fansite: www.facebook.com/NerdGirl.ng***
Jessie meets Zane when she is hired to photograph his upcoming wedding at his families’ ranch. She has to keep reminding herself that Zane is off limits because she is so drawn to him. Zane is momentarily attracted but reminds himself of his upcoming nuptials.
Zane’s bride to be is not well liked by his brother or most of the ranch employees as she is about as far from a nice person as you can get. Zane soon experiences this side of his fiancé first hand and confronts her,setting in motion a chain of events no one saw coming.
This book was an unexpected treasure, full of romance and suspense that makes you keep reading until the end. Am looking forward to reading more of this series!
She's a photographer and asked to take pics at her friends brothers wedding. He's the eldest sibling, a rancher, and engaged to be married. Turns out he doesn't really love his intended and she's bat crap psycho! Really predictable and lusty - love emotions far too quick. A little boring in places hence the skimming of a few pages. Finished around 84% for the first few chapters of the next book. Found it free.
I loved being hooked from page one. I felt the instant attraction between Zane and Jessie. But she’s the wedding photographer, is he marrying the wrong woman? Loved staying on edge, who is out to harm Jessie? I had some tears when something happens, but luckily they get a very happy ever after. I highly recommend this book.
'Silk and Spurs' was interesting. The 3.5-star plot focused on Jessie, a young lady photographer, and her interactions between Zane, the incredibly naive ranch owner in Arizona, and Phoebe, Zane's deceitful fiance. Unfortunately, one thing led to another, and Jessie ended up on Phoebe's radar. Moreover, the tension-filled plot provided suspense, some action, and love.
Good read, likeable characters and plot, Part of a series, but can be read as a stand alone Jessie met Zane when she was hired to take photos of his ranch and his wedding, they are instantly attracted to each other, after Zane calls off his wedding, can they find happiness together
Cheyenne McCray knows how we like our Cowboys. This was a steamy hot read and I loved Zane. Jessie is a strong woman with a quirky personality and just right for that sexy as hell rancher.
I would have liked this a lot more had the story been more fleshed out. Everything seemed very rushed which detracted from the romance though it was obvious Jessie and Zane had an instant attraction.
This is a pretty good story, but parts of it seemed a little off or rushed. It somehow didn't quite gel. I would have liked it more if it had been not so rushed. It has the possibility of being a truly great book with a little more work.
This was a good contemporary western romance. It's a bit racy in the romance parts but well worth the read. It also has intrigue throughout the whole story. You'll like it. The next excerpt sounds good also.
The story was good, kept my attention and made me want to continue reading. However, the book ended too quick. I was disappointed that the last part didn’t have more detail.
Really nice romantic story with a thrilling spin. Catches my mind from the first chapter and it's with difficulties that I put it aside. Well written and I would like to know the family better. To be continuing...
I don’t know I like a hot cowboy but this one not so much. He started dating and proposing someone who just lost her husband. Then breaks the wedding to start dating another right away. And the explanation of why she is not wearing a bra, twice, was ridiculous.
This is my first book by Cheyenne McCray, and I really enjoyed this story. It was a love at first sight story, lots of sexy times, and a crazy ex fiancé. Definitely a fun read!