A delightful read about Cassie, a mailwoman, trying to find the perfect mate for her Grandma Jo. Instead, she finds the perfect mate for herself, Drew, the psychologist. This book has the romance and the sense of humor to make it very enjoyable.

Holding Out for Hero: Through Texan Men magazine, wealthy entrepreneur Tanner Jones found the prefect Texas woman-beautiful Dori Mae Fitzpatrick. But because he wanted to be loved for himself, not his money, Tanner neglected to mention the fact that he was filthy rich. Little did he guess that Dori was keeping a few secrets of her own...

Mail-Order Bridegroom Faced with bankruptcy, Leah Hampton needed a husband-fast. But despite her advertisement, her only candidate was Hunter Pryde. Their marriage would be a business arrangement-nothing more. Not that Hunter would want anything else-he'd made that clear eight years ago. And Leah was too smart to fall for the same trick twice, wasn't she?

Joan Johnston always writes a good book, wasn't too crazy about Stony Carlton but it was a good read. The reason to read this book is Single in the Saddle! What a hoot. Ms. Thompson could have left off the fung shue stuff or not referred to is so often but the story has so much hilarity that it is worth it. The trip to the grocery store and the installation of the waterfall are worth the whole thing! I've known guys like Stony Arnett and his ranch hands and they are great. I could really identify with them. Daphne seems like a bit of a ditz but she manages to rearrange their lives and has fun doing it. Great quick read.

From the moment you enter Jessica and Nat's world, you immediately become immersed in the story. The well developed plot coupled with highly sensual love scenes, makes for a winner. I hadn't read the 3 preceding books, but after completing this, I purchased them to find out about the sub-plot characters. The main characters are an heiress with a thing about independence and a real estate mogul back from a year long stint overseas who's been working with orphans. Nat who has issues from his own childhood, is unaware that he has fathered a child. This knowledge wreaks havoc on their relationship, but forces each of them to compromise, which is what life is ultimately about. Even though this book is a little longer than the average Harlequin or Silhouette publication, it doesn't contain a lot of nonsensical jibberish some authors use just to keep the storyline moving. I enjoyed the book and would purchase more from this author in the future.

I'm not sure how to describe something this horrible. I usually can't stand to not finish a book, but this was one that definately didn't get finished. The two stories I managed to read were cheesy and the characters pathetically desperate. At the end of both the authors suddenly tried to convince us that the pairs were heavenly matched and wanted to marry, but it rang hollow to my ears. I would have been satisfied, and it would have made for much better stories, if they just ended up in a serious relationship - marriage did NOT need to be mentioned.

So I guess my final says is - unless you find it for free on a trade book shelf and you like reading sappy novels with bad follow-through and dialog that makes you groan in misery, don't waste your money.

Anne Stuart is an unique author! She makes any plot feasible and realistic. Ms. Carrol's story is good also. And, I've liked Ms. Thompson in this story as well as others. However, the only one worth rereading is Ms. Stuarts.

Three Tales with Stuart being the strongest

Dangerous Love by Anne Stuart - has Emma wondering about her mysterious new neighbour, so with a little prodding by the super, so makes moves to get her noticed. And boy dies her notice!

Once Upon a Mattress - Vicki Lewis Thompson - is about a woman running a store selling mattresses - but suddenly having eyes only for the deliveryman. Only he is asking her how to win the hand of a woman - someone else!!

Special Deliveries - Marisa Carroll Has two kids playing match maker. They think their dad and their new neighbour would make a perfect couple so they begin a campaign of secret admirer notes - instead of getting them a new mom, it has her running for the police!

"Urban Cowboys" is a compilation of three short novels written by Thompson back in 1995. The three heroes are linked by an elevator accident and the subsequent purchase of a ranch. The three stories plot the development of romantic relationships for these three men, as well as the eventual solution of a mystery that runs throughout all three.

Thompson's most recent work is distinguished by humor, clear writing, and imaginative erotic scenes (especially in her Temptation/Blaze stuff). Since the stories in "Urban Cowboys" date back a few years, they don't have the same zing that I've enjoyed in her recent books.

All of the characters are engaging, and the stories are obviously heavily linked and work well in an anthology such as this. I can see the roots of Thompson's later work in some of the more imaginative scenes.

But for the most part, these stories read like hundreds of other romances. Fans of Thompson looking for the complete collection will probably grab it and enjoy it. And there's nothing here -not- to like. I simply didn't enjoy this particular collection as much as Thompson's newer stuff.

Enjoy!

The basis for all three stories is an elevator accident in which a Wall Street commodities trader, an NYC cop, and an East Coast trucker meet and decide to change their lives by buying a guest ranch in Arizona. The men initially have nothing in common except for a basic dissatisfaction/disillusionment about the course of their lives. The trader is a widower who has never really gotten over his wife's senseless death; the trucker is trying to get in touch with an unforgettable woman with whom he had a one-night stand; the cop is trying to fight to prevent his son's stepfather from adopting him. Each one eventually travels out to the ranch for his own reasons - the trader to check out the investment and his plans to subdivide the property, the trucker to heal after his injuries, and the divorced cop to rebuild his relationship with his son.

Needless to say, each man finds more than he bargained for, both in personal growth and in love. All learn that the true value of the ranch is not necessarily counted in monetary terms. Running through all three stories is a mystery about sabotage that is occuring on the ranch, which is ultimately solved in the final story.

The stories were interesting because a good portion of them were told from the male viewpoint, which was a nice change of pace. All of the characters appear in each other's stories to one degree or another. Ms. Thompson's stories are always tightly written with good dialogue, scenes and characters, and this one was no exception. The romances were all different, and while the sexual encounters were not as explicit as in some of her other books, the sexual tension was nicely done. The location descriptions made the ranch seem real. At 664 pages, this was a great book to spend a day with.

this book along witht the author, Ms. Joanne Nicholson,m is the biggest bunch of Bull Sh--. I would not give my worst enemy this book. Scrach that, first of all I would never buy this book.

I found this book to be one of the best I have ever read so far on color and clothing matters.It is nearly the ideal book on the subject.I found out ,finally, after reading Carole Jackson's book and others,in this book,exactly WHY I didn't fit into any ONE category in the usual way; I am one of those "Cross-over types" according to this knowledgable book = a "Light-Bright/Gentle" type.That Intensity and Contrast levels are so important.With up to date pictures, and less confusing/too much information crowded all together, is would be the best book on this subject out there.I HOPE there is an updated version of this coming out...

One of the worst things to find in a romance is the fact that the emotional exchange and growth in a relationship winds up being all one-sided as is the case with this book. This romance is one of those almost forbidden kind of romances as the hero Douglas was once the history teacher (13 years ago) to the heroine Sheila when she was in high school. Obviously the taboo is no longer there about a relationship but the whole idea isn't really presented with a lot of believability. The romance is presented very simplistically as a case of "he was in lust with her when he was her teacher and she had a crush on him when she was his student (unbeknownst to each other), they meet again 13 years later and fall in love". Unfortunately I never believed that Sheila ever was really in love, rather just continuing in her crush as she never has credible real adult feelings conveyed in the story. When the inevitable conflict arises in the story and the "big argument" surfaces, Sheila continues in her rather insecure, emotionally-stunted fashion and lashes out very nastily and childishly with some extremely hurtful comments about Douglas. Afterwards she gets all whiney that Douglas walks out on her and goes after him only after prompting by her father, and when she catches up to him she never sincerely apologizes (at least I didn't believe it) for her comments. Another crisis turns up right afterwards (and anyone with half a brain cell would have figured out that this little scenario was going to happen as soon as they were introduced to the three main characters, Douglas, Sheila and Sheila's father) wherein the hero saves the day, forgives his childish love's ill-will and they live happily ever after. The book up to the big argument was a pretty solid 3-star fluff romance (not great but not bad) but fell to a 0-star afterwards and never recovered. Sheila never faces her own insecurities and never grows as a person at all while Douglas does face his own problems mostly and shows growth. I cannot really see a true happily-ever-after type of marriage coming out of this romance as only the hero really is showing any effort and the heroine would probably lapse back into her nasty behavior and there was no true closure to the heroine's background storyline.