Texas-Sized Secrets

by Elle James

At five months pregnant, Mona Grainger was facing danger on allfronts. With cattle rustlers driving her ranch to ruin, she neededa man ready for long hours and hard work. Enter Reed Bryson,who could ride, rope, kiss…and certainly handle a gun.His new boss may have depended on him more than she'd liked,but Reed wasn't hired to do her dirty work. She could do thatherself. He was there to defend her land and cool down thehot-headed sheriff, whose advances threatened everything Monaheld dear. Now the lone cowboy had more than his honor touphold—he had a petite, pregnant powerhouse running hissenses wild.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Romantic Suspense

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2008

About the author

Award-winning author Elle James grew up as an air force military brat. She received her work ethic from her rock-solid father, her creative streak from her artistic mother and inspiration from her writing partner and sister, Delilah Devlin. As a former member of the army reserves and a current member of the air force reserves, she's traveled across the United States and to Germany, managed a full-time job, and raised three wonderful children. She and her husband have even tried their hands at ranching exotic birds (ostriches, emus and rheas) in the Texas hill country. Ask her, and she'll tell you what it's like to go toe-to-toe with an angry three-hundred-and-fifty-pound bird and live to tell about it!

Her adventures in the army and air force reserves, and the wild antics of her life on a small ranch in Texas give her fodder for mystery, suspense and humor in her writing. Elle writes gothic, paranormal mystery for the Harlequin Intrigue line and paranormal romantic comedy for Dorchester Publishing. A former manager of computer programming and project management professionals, Elle is happy she now has the opportunity to pursue her writing full time.

Reviews

[Paula Legate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! Mona was the owner of her ranch. She was a strong independent lady. She may have been five months pregnant, but she worked hard, and didn’t let her pregnancy slow her down. She had cattle rustlers stealing her cattle, she had to stop them before her ranch went bankrupt. She posted a newspaper ad, needed to hire someone that could help with ranch security. She hired Reed on the spot, when he killed a wild boar with one shot.

This story was fast paced, with lots of suspense, action, and romance. Mona had more trouble surrounding her ranch, than anyone should ever have to deal with like murder, cattle rustling, fights, and dishonest people, and then there were the people trying to take her ranch away from her.

I loved that this book had an epilogue. It was nice to see Mona so happy and the changes that happened years down the road. Nice closure!

[Connie N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pleasant book, a good mystery, with an annoying heroine. The setting is a Texas ranch that is being overwhelmed with cattle rustling and other woes, with the owner (Mona) trying to keep things afloat. When she places an ad for a wrangler who also knows how to use a gun, Reed applies and finds a lot more than he bargained for. There's plenty of action, not to mention the fact that the boss is pregnant and keeping it a secret. Of course, he falls for her and becomes personally invested in saving the ranch (and her). The reader can certainly tell that there's something fishy afoot, but the secret isn't revealed until very close to the end. Reed was a great hero--strong, intelligent, methodical, using his police background to investigate. But Mona was constantly running off, getting herself into trouble, feeling the pressure of all of her problems building up and, understandably I suppose, going off halfcocked to try to solve things. But she seemed to cause everyone worry, never taking care of herself or her soon-to-be baby. I also thought it was a little farfetched to have only about 4 people working a 10,000-acre ranch, or whatever it was supposed to be. Isn't that unworkable? In any case, it was a quick read and fairly enjoyable when Mona was behaving herself. All's well that ends well.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was simply written (as expected), but had a compelling plot line riddled with murder, thievery, and secrets. I read it in almost one sitting.

[JoAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read. Enjoyed the intrigue and the mystery surrounding the cattle rustling. Didn't hurt to have a happily ever after especially with the epilogue to give it nice closure.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this in a day. A fun read, great for a day spent relaxing with a little light reading.