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Bayou Bad Boys

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Sensual delights and wicked desires run rampant in this trio of steamy romances that includes JoAnn Ross's "Cajun Heat," in which movie star Gabe Broussard returns home to Louisiana for some much needed R&R only to find himself distracted by voluptuous Emma Quinlan. Original.

314 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

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About the author

JoAnn Ross

240 books799 followers
New York Times bestselling author JoAnn Ross has written over a hundred novels for a bunch of publishers. Two of her titles have been excerpted in Cosmo and her books have also been published by the Doubleday, Rhapsody, Literary Guild, and Mystery Guild book clubs.

A member of the Romance Writers of America's Honor Roll of best-selling authors, she's won several awards, including Romantic Times's Career Achievement Awards in both category and contemporary single title.

Currently writing a new Honeymoon Harbor series for HQN set on the Washington peninsula, that will launch in April, 2018, JoAnn lives with her husband (her high school sweetheart, who proposed at the sea wall where her Shelter Bay books are set), in the Pacific Northwest.

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5 stars
120 (29%)
4 stars
124 (30%)
3 stars
129 (31%)
2 stars
25 (6%)
1 star
11 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Profile Image for Jennifer Niskanen.
191 reviews13 followers
December 8, 2012
When the devil did I put this on my elibrary hold list? What kind of a cheesy title is this. Was I drunk? Well maybe I'll try a few pages under the covers just to see how bad they really are.
Profile Image for Aurian Booklover.
588 reviews41 followers
January 5, 2016
"Cajun Heat" is written by JoAnn Ross.
Bad boy bayou movie star Gabe Broussard has come back to his Louisiana hometown for some peace, but things only heat up the minute he reunites with Emma Quinlan. With her lush body and hearty appetite, she's no Hollywood matchstick, and oh cher, does he like that. Emma just has to stop thinking about her former Cajun crush, so she makes a list of all the things she wishes he would do to her and buries it in a graveyard at night. Except it's the wrong list - Gabe finds the right one, and he intends to fulfill every blissful one of them...

As teenagers, Gabe Broussard was the boy all the girls wanted to be with. And Emma Quinlan was no different, but he never really saw her. Until that one night … after which he ran away to Hollywood. Emma has made a good life for herself, owning her own spa. But now Gabe has come back home to escape some scandal, and they are both still interested in the other. But will Gabe stay home or will he leave her, again, when the scandal has blown over?

This was such a good story, I enjoyed it a lot. I like that Emma is not a slender young thing, but a full figured woman, who knows what she wants. And she wants Gabe. Although she really should not want him, as he is nothing but trouble. But when he sets out to make all her fantasies come true, what is a girl to do?
Yes, lots of fun and hot love scenes in this book, and it certainly makes me want to read more books by this author.

9 stars.

"You Give Me Fever" is written by Nancy Warren.
Historian and amateur genealogist Lucy Charles is spending the summer in New Orleans tracing her Acadian family history, and she’s thrilled when she tracks down a distant cousin. Claude LeBlanc is gorgeous, a little rough around the edges, and very rich, having inherited a fortune. But Lucy’s research proves that no one in the family ever made a mint. So where did Claude get the money? This is going to take some research of a very different kind, and Lucy’s pretty sure the results will not make the family newsletter …


When Lucy arrives at the house of her distant relative, Beatrice LeBlanc she is relied that she won’t be staying in a hovel, as her mother fears, but she certainly did not expect this gorgeous mansion. Or the equally gorgeous “cousin” she did not know she had. At his mother’s orders, Claude takes her out to town, but Lucy’s days are filled with research. And as Claude is living next door, she can’t help but notice his stealthy midnight comings and goings. So when some extraordinary jewellery goes missing, what is she to think?
And when all is behind them, will Lucy go back to her life in Canada, or will she stay in New Orleans and make a new life for herself?


I loved this story, Lucy doesn’t back down from a challenge and she doesn’t give in to Claude when she thinks he is seeing someone else. But the most fun was the discovery of the real jewel thief and how they handled things. And Claude certainly could do with a woman who did not fall in his arms the moment he wants her to.

8 stars.


"In Good Hands" is written by E.C. Sheedy.
How does Esme Shane let her sister talk her into these things? Sketching a zillionaire's Gulf Island hideaway in exchange for a free vacation is turning out to be no day at the beach. Dane McCoy is just too distracting - and just too sexy for his jeans. She's about to meet him for beignets and cafe au lait on the patio. But breakfast in bed is a whole lot more tempting. Dane has to be the hottest man under the Louisiana sun...

Esme used to be a workaholic, married to another workaholic, but she gave it all up and became an artist instead. Her husband did not like the cut in money, as it interfered with the future he had planned meticulously, so he divorced her to find another like minded person.

Esme’s brother Leonardo is also a sex-therapist, and with his new girlfriend Marilee, they want to open up a luxurious spa to cater to tired bodies and minds. Marilee’s brother Dane McCoy is a multi millionaire, but he refuses to have anything to do with this “scam” and his sisters newest flame. And so Marilee concocts this scheme to send Esme to Dane to soften him up. Without either ones knowledge of course.

Esme and Dane fall hard for the other, but Esme refuses to have a relationship with a workaholic ever again. And Dane just can’t explain his business deals with her, and the fact that he is doing very different things than she thinks.

So they have a passionate affair, and then Esme leaves while Dane is “busy”. But will he just let her walk out of his life?

I really enjoyed this story, it was fun and original and made me want to go to the beach.

8 stars.

All in all a really good anthology, set in steamy hot Louisiana and New Orleans, one of my favourite settings in books. Great characters, hot love scenes and just fun stories. What more do you want? Perfect for a hot summer evening, or a cold winter evening, like I did.

8,5 stars.
Profile Image for Jennifer Wardrip.
Author 5 books518 followers
April 29, 2008
I like my bad boys any way I can get them, and Kensington Brava sure hit the nail on the head with BAYOU BAD BOYS. What could possibly go wrong with three stories featuring ultra-alpha males, southern drawls, and women with brains and beauty? With this book, the answer is not a thing!


I've always loved JoAnn Ross's writing style. She has a very distinctive voice, and it shines through loud and clear in CAJUN HEAT. For Gabriel Broussard, leaving his hometown of Blue Bayou was the answer to his prayers. He couldn't wait to hightail it out of there all those years ago, and he's certainly made the best of his time away from home. An actor with all the fame, fortune, and money a guy could ask for, he's been living his dreams-until two dates with a world-renowned actress somehow turned into an "engagement" and then was broken due to his quote-unquote "addiction to kinky sex." What was kinky were the pairs of underwear getting thrown over the gates of his estate, but Gabe can't really complain. What he can do is turn his back on the press who are hounding him and head back to Blue Bayou for some rest, relaxation, and recovery.

Except Blue Bayou still has one thing he's never forgotten-Emma Quinlan. As soon as Emma lays eyes on the man she's never stopped loving, she knows there's still something between them. Unfortunately, she can't decide if it's unfinished business due to Gabe's leaving all those years ago without a proper goodbye, or the heat and desire she still feels for him. Is there any way at all that a small-town girl at home in the bayou could have a future with one of Hollywood's darlings? She's determined, almost reluctantly, to find out.


Nancy Warren, one of my favorite authors, brings us YOU GIVE ME FEVER, a real humdinger of a story that burns up the pages. Lucy Charles is a history lecturer at the University of Toronto, where she lives. She'd recently began researching her own family's background all the way back to the 1700s, and with thorough investigation had tracked living relatives-however distant-to Louisiana. Determined to have more to include in the family newsletter than recycled recipes, she sets off from Canada to the New Orleans Garden District-and is struck speechless not only by the Tara-like mansion she arrives at, but also by the drop-dead-gorgeous man in the garden who's none other than her very-much removed cousin, Claude LeBlanc. Suddenly, vacationing with very distant relatives while researching family history takes on a whole new meaning-mainly, that of having a fling with the mysterious Claude, the first man in a long, long while to get her juices flowing.

Claude, on the other hand, isn't happy with his mother, Beatrice, who offered their home up as lodging to a virtual stranger. Sure, they're technically related, but to invite a stranger into your home and hand over family secrets seems a bit far-fetched. Until he meets the delectable Lucy, a woman full of passion, mystery, and a head for history. Suddenly, having her in his home is causing all types of complications, and mapping out the family tree is the least of his worries.


E. C. Sheedy brings IN GOOD HANDS to the Bayou-based anthology, and what a pair of hands it is! Dane McCoy lives on Delacroix Island as a personal choice-not too far from New Orleans, but far enough-because he values his privacy and solitude. Housing his sister Marilee's (think Paris Hilton) "best friend" Esme Shane isn't his idea of a good time. A book illustrator, Esme needs one last beach to complete her portfolio for her editor, and Delacroix Island is the perfect place to do so. Dane understands all of that, but he's not happy. Especially when his sister describes Esme as a "mouse", a quiet, unassuming woman who will stay out of his way. Funny, but the Esme Shane he meets when the plane lands is a thirty-nine-year old firecracker who's unbelievably hot.

Esme realizes right away that Marilee has launched another one of her plans. Her brother Dane is not the middle-aged super-nerd hermit with no time for sex that Marilee made him out to be. Dane McCoy is all hot-blooded male, and he's nobody's fool. Neither, for that matter, is she-and as soon as she finds out Marilee's true ulterior motive, that of getting Dane to invest in her latest hair-brained business venture, she plans to hightail it out of Dodge. Unfortunately, she never counted on the near-combustible attraction that would flare up between her and the enigmatic Dane, so she might just end up staying on the Island a bit longer than she'd originally planned.


All in all, BAYOU BAD BOYS is one hot ticket to Louisiana! You don't want to miss this winning collection of Southern stories-or the hotties that grace the pages!
Profile Image for Sara.
670 reviews4 followers
April 17, 2011
While i didn't like all the short stories, Nancy Warren's novela was pretty good. It at least has a storyline to it, which is something that I was really looking forward to after reading JoAnn Ross's story.
E.C. Sheedy's story was pretty boring and I can understand why she isn't a best-selling author, but again, it had a storyline, which was completely missing in Ross's novella.
Profile Image for Lesli.
1,882 reviews8 followers
July 15, 2010
Contemporary romance. Perfect beach read. Quick read. Easy way to pick up a new author or catch up on existing characters.
Profile Image for Julie.
553 reviews6 followers
May 12, 2013
You know what you are going to get with the 'Bad Boys' books and this is no different. Perfect for holiday reading.
Profile Image for Princess Thuy.
704 reviews9 followers
August 9, 2016
I love anthologies because you get multiple stories in one book. Three hot romances makes for one satisfying read. Loved all three stories.
Profile Image for Lynn Jenkins.
65 reviews4 followers
February 17, 2012
Love anything about bad boys. Love and lots of hot steamy sex southern style!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews

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