@debbiereadsbook, @Totally_Bound, @AliyahBurke96, #Contemporary, #Erotic, #Romance, #Men_in_Uniform, #MultiCultural, 5 out of 5 (exceptional)

Temporary Home

Sometimes past demons need to be faced before one can embrace what the future offers, and who better to slay them than a Marine?

Gunnery Sergeant Sam Hoch travels to the Pac Norwest upon receiving word his mentor and the closest thing to a father he's had, has taken a turn for the worse and is in the hospital. Once there he meets a woman who is unlike any he's ever met before. A former Marine herself, she opens up her home to him so he can be near his family.

Roxi Mammon isn't positive it's smart to allow Sam to stay with her, not with her immediate physical reaction to him. She's heard tales of him from her best friend, his sister, and now having met him she is even more impressed by the man the Corps has turned him into—a silent, strong type. Passion grows between them and soon she finds herself falling for the Recon Marine. And falling hard.

As things escalate between them, Sam has to accept his past doesn't control him if he plans on keeping Roxi in his future. Can he understand that this is the one woman who can give him something more? Will he silence the fear within him and tell Roxi she's the one for him? Will he realise that he deserves more than just a temporary home?

Alone With You

A construction worker and a security expert tangle beneath the heated skies of San Antonio.

Pierce ‘Tuck’ Carter has been in love with his neighbour across the hall pretty much since she moved in over there. They’re good friends and do many things together but he wants to take it to the next level. Friends with benefits for starters, then beyond.

Ariel Greene is secretly crushing on her neighbour. One night after drinking she wakes the next morning in his bed and flees. Has she just crossed a line they can’t recover from?

Tuck pursues her, wanting more, however one of his exs, each of their jobs and his intense dislike of her putting herself in danger doesn’t make the road an easy one. Will Ariel and Tuck learn to work it all out before something else happens, or will it take the near loss of one to make the other realise what had almost been lost forever?

Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore

Sometimes a stranger isn’t a stranger at all, but the one you’ve needed all along.

Brent ‘Killer’ Agers is on leave. He needs to heal up and is tired of dealing with stuff around him so he takes a drive, ending up in Haversham, MT, deciding to rent a cabin and recover that way. Little does he know that the woman he couldn’t get out of his mind will be in his life once more.

Maya Brennan is content with her life running the local Bait & Tackle shop. Everything was going according to plan until the day he walked into her office looking to rent a cabin.

She’s never forgotten the man she had the fling with in Hawaii but by his reaction, he doesn’t recall her in the slightest. Once he figures it out, Brent is ready to find a way to prove they’re not strangers any longer. This Recon Marine may be facing his greatest battle yet.

Patience truly is a virtue.

As the baby of the family, veterinarian Mary Meyers is used to being overlooked and overshadowed. Back home, she indulges in a one-night stand with her eldest brother’s friend. He’s more than she thought he would be, but she isn’t sure she’s ready for another commitment.

Ron Glennon falls hard and fast for the youngest Meyers child. He wants more than just a clandestine relationship with her but she’s hesitant. He backs off and lets her have her way even though it’s killing him inside. Finally, the time comes for her to choose. Will he get to keep her after she’s returned to The Edge?

When I was 18, I took a train trip around the United States on my own. I was gone for about 3 months. I would stop in various places and visit friends and family. I spent a lot of time back East and in the South where it is very green. 

On my return leg of the trip, when the sunrose over New Mexico, I began to weep. I was homesick. I grew up in the desert and missed the sky, the dirt, and the distance.

Enjoy this wonderful Comtemporary Romance Novels set in New Mexico.

My lists are never in any particluar order. 

1. Walk in Beauty by Barbara Samuel

Once, Luke Bernali’s proud Navajo blood and strong carpenter’s hands made genteel Jessie Callahan love him with youthful abandon. But, to his endless regret, Luke faltered and he let Jessie down. Hurt, Jessie left, with a broken heart…and unaware that she was pregnant with Luke’s child. 

Now, eight years later, Jessie was back—with a darling daughter in tow. Luke was older—and wiser—and determined to recapture the beauty lost. Could a fierce, desperate long-ago love soar anew on the delicate wings of a child?

2. Just Before Dawn by Rochelle Alers

After prosecuting the biggest case of her career, New York district attorney Sara Sterling was looking forward to relaxing amid starry desert nights in her childhood home in New Mexico. Then she met enigmatic neighbor Salem Lassiter, who inspired an inescapable hunger…and made her reassess everything she thought she valued.

3. Chayton's Tempest by Aliyah Burke

Tempest Burnell was content with her life in the Southwestern desert until the day she came face to face with her past. A tall Native American, blessing him with jet black hair, obsidian eyes, and bronzed skin covering a body packed in muscles. James "Maverick" Lonetree heads to New Mexico because of a vision. When he lays eyes upon a sexy bartender, new life pours into him. He longs to know more about the dark-skinned, curvaceous woman and yet she seems to hate him.When the past comes out, Maverick is faced with a hurdle more crucial than anything he's ever faced in his thirty-six, even recent years as a SEAL. He is however, determined to break through the wall erected around Tempest's heart and earn forgiveness for past transgressions. SEALs are known for many things, giving up

4. How to Rope a Real Man by Melissa Cutler

Against all odds, the Sorentino sisters saved their family's rundown New Mexico ranch, but the youngest has a dream that just may ruin their hard-earned peace--unless a certain sexy cowboy lawyer changes her mind. . .

Jenna Sorentino is as independent as they come. Despite her wild past, she's grown up enough to keep quiet about the identity of her baby's daddy, go to night college--and hide her plan to escape tiny Catcher Creek. She's also stopped dreaming of happily ever after--except in the case of gorgeous, rugged, Santa Fe native Matt Roenick. Too bad the oil rights attorney acts like he barely knows she's alive. . .

Matt knows only too well that Jenna's alive--in fact, she's driving him crazy with desire. But Matt's got his reasons for resisting her. And when her son's father shows up, those reasons multiply. Trouble is, Jenna's secrets are more complicated than he imagined, and forgetting her isn't as easy as he'd hoped. Matt knows life can be messy as hell. For Jenna, maybe it's time he got dirty. . .

5. The Hungry Heart by Brenda Gayle

Child advocate Nora Cross doesn't have time for the private cooking lesson her sister won at a charity auction. Hunter Graham, the young chef, is the last person she needs telling her she's forgotten how to have fun. So why can't she get the very hot, very eligible man off her mind? After a stellar debut in New York City, Hunter's back in Santa Fe to open a new restaurant. He lives a charmed life and he knows it. He isn't interested in a workaholic who's glued to her smart phone. So why is he trying to convince Nora to relax and enjoy life--with him? When Nora's apartment and office are ransacked, Hunter comes to her rescue, surprised to find himself playing knight-in-shining-armor to the uptight executive. But when it becomes clear Nora is no random target, Hunter realizes he'll do anything to keep her safe.

6. Welcome to Last Chance by Cathleen Armstrong

The red warning light on her car dashboard may have driven Lainie Davis to seek help in the tiny town of Last Chance, New Mexico, but as she meets the people who make this one-horse town their home, it's her heart that is flashing bright red warning lights. These people are entirely too nice, too accommodating, and too interested in her personal life--especially since she's on the run and hoping to slip away unnoticed.

Yet in spite of herself, Lainie is increasingly drawn into the small-town dramas and to a handsome local guy with a secret of his own. Could Lainie actually make a life in this little town? Or will the past catch up to her even here in the middle of nowhere?

7. Enchanting Baby by Darlene Graham

She'll do anything to protect this baby

When TV personality Ashleigh Logan became pregnant by artificial insemination of her deceased husband's sperm, she ignited a media frenzy and attracted a stalker. So she's sequestered herself in the mountains of New Mexico, under the watchful eyes of the midwives of The Birth Place. Here she can be safe until the baby arrives.

And so will he

Greg Glazier doesn't have an easy time tracking down Ashleigh. And when he finally finds her, he can't tell her his news—not until she's further along in her pregnancy. Because what he's got to say might come as a bit of a shock—he's the real father of her baby. 

8. Almost Perfect by Julie Ortolon

A Free Spirit and a Reformed Bad Boy -- a Perfect Match? 

Maddy was always the artistic one of the group, alive with color and mischief from her saucy red curls to her vintage hippie skirts. Her challenge, the friends decide, is to get her artwork accepted at a gallery. A job as arts director at a summer camp near Santa Fe—with its multitude of galleries—seems like a start in the right direction. 

There’s just one catch: The camp is run by Maddy’s high school flame, Joe, whose heart she broke—okay, smashed—and his anger towards Maddy hasn’t cooled one bit. But neither has their attraction. 

Old desires burn hotter than ever as Joe makes it clear there’s only one way back to his heart: She has to get serious about her art. But will falling in love help or hinder Maddy as she struggles to meet her challenge?

9. The Midwife and the Lawman by Marisa Carroll

If Devon Grant had her way, she'd turn her back on Enchantment. There's simply too much history in that small town. But her sense of honor has her returning to help her ailing grandmother run The Birth Place—even though she's still angry about her grandmother's past actions. And there's also Miguel Eiden, the man who broke her heart ten years before.

Then Devon uncovers a secret and must decide what to do and who to trust—because in order to help three innocent children she might have to bend, if not break, the law. Not so easy when the new chief of police is her old love Miguel.

10. Cloud Waltzer by Tory Cates

Meredith Tolliver has cast off her old gray life as an investment banker. Enchanted by the warmth and bright colors of sunny Albuquerque, she’s made a fresh, buoyant future for herself, turning her financial knowledge and her way with words into a new life as a reporter—far from the wintery secrets that weighted her down in Chicago.

She’s happy with being single, too . . . until she meets the mysterious tycoon Archer Hanson. The conflicting rumors about him intrigue her as a reporter. Is he a self-made man? Or did he inherit his father’s millions? Is he a fair boss? Or is he a ruthless tyrant? But when the handsome Archer takes her for a ride in his hot-air balloon—the magnificent Cloud Waltzer—it is Meredith’s response as a woman that threatens her hard-won peace. Dare she respond to Archer’s rugged charm and soar away into the unknown with him?

You have a recommendation? Let me know! Vote for the best of the best on my Goodreads list: Contemporaryl Romance Novels Set in New Mexic

Africa is a big place. Lots of love there.

Eygpt gets tons of action in Historical Romance but not so much all the other countries. 

Here are some wonderful Historical Romances set in Africa. May there be more!

My lists are never in any particular order. Enjoy!

1. Men of Valor Boxset: Books 1 - 3 by Kiru Taye

HIS TREASURE 
IN A TIME when men ruled their households with firm hands, can a quiet man tame his rebellious wife with persevering love?

HIS STRENGTH 
WHEN A WARRIOR seeks to claim a free-spirited woman, he soon discovers a tigress unwilling to be caged. Is the hunter about to be hunted?

IS PRINCESS 
WITH THE WEIGHT of a kingdom on his shoulders and his honour at stake, can a Prince truly love a slave? 

2. The Bargain by Vanessa Riley

ime is running out for Port Elizabeth. A missing chief and his daughter, tensions among frightened colonists, and the trembling of a difficult labor, threaten to break the fragile bonds of its survival. 

Precious Jewell will do what is right to protect those she cares for, even for the man she won't admit to needing. 

For Gareth Conroy, death doesn't matter anymore, and he purposes that his spilt blood will bring salvation for the colony, but will he realize too late that no single man of flesh and blood can bring redemption? 

Will the burgeoning hope of two stubborn, wounded souls fray or smolder in this exciting conclusion of The Bargain? 

3. Broken Wing by Judith James

4. Flawless by Carrie Lofty

Sir William Christie, ruthless tycoon and notorious ladies' man, is dead. Now his four grown children have gathered for the reading of his will. What lies in store for stepsiblings Vivienne, Alexander, and twins Gareth and Gwyneth? Stunning challenges that will test their fortitude across a royal empire . . . and lead them to the marvelously passionate adventures of their lives. 

Lady Vivienne Bancroft fled England for New York, hoping to shed the confines of her arranged marriage to unrepentant rogue Miles Durham, Viscount Bancroft--though she never forgot the fiery desire he unleashed with his slightest touch. And when the gambling man arrives on her doorstep for a little sensual revenge for her desertion, he is met with Vivienne's dilemma: She must earn her father's inheritance by profitably running a diamond business worth millions in colonial South Africa. Swept together in an exotic undertaking filled with heated passion and hungry temptation, will Vivienne and Miles discover that the marriage vows they once made are the greatest snare--or the most treasured reward?

5. What the Earl Desires by Aliyah Burke

Najja, a warrior, comes to England from Africa, with the sole purpose of keeping her charge safe. Finding love is not even in the equation, it’s an impossible dream. Colin Faulkner, the new Earl of Clifton doesn't see it that way. Damn Society’s rules, she is…What The Earl Desires.

6. With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin

Lt. Mellie Blake is looking forward to beginning her training as a flight nurse. She is not looking forward to writing a letter to a man she's never met--even if it is anonymous and part of a morale-building program. Lt. Tom MacGilliver, an officer stationed in North Africa, welcomes the idea of an anonymous correspondence--he's been trying to escape his infamous name for years.

As their letters crisscross the Atlantic, Tom and Mellie develop a unique friendship despite not knowing the other's true identity. When both are transferred to Algeria, the two are poised to meet face-to-face for the first time. Will they overcome their fears and reveal who they are, or will their future be held hostage by their pasts?

7. The Doctor's Mission by Debbie Kaufman

Medicine or marriage? For Mary, the choice was clear. Far away from the patriarchal medical community, she resolves to be of real service. She'll willingly go head-to-head with the handsome, opinionated missionary, even in the face of deadly danger. Yet the greatest tests lie in trusting God's plan--for the mission, and her future happiness in this untamed, beautiful land....

8. The Lacemaker by Sukey Hughes

The year is 1748. Feisty Dutch girl Saskia Klaassens, 19, flees from her abusive home to take a job as nursemaid, sailing with her young charges and Mistress to the Cape of Good Hope. When Saskia begins her new life at the beautiful wine estate in southern Africa, no one knows she hides a secret skill - making exceptionally beautiful lace. 
The willful and spirited Saskia feels compassion for the suffering of the slaves, one of whom is Titus, the handsome young stable master. As they grow close, Saskia finds that Titus has secrets of his own – dangerous secrets. Saskia struggles against the narrow-minded whims of her wealthy employers, especially their arrogant son, Pier. For solace, she makes lace; and finds mentors in two unusual older women. When secrets at the estate are uncovered, events spiral out of control, and Saskia must decide where her loyalty lies – with her increasingly violent Dutch kinsmen, or with Titus, the man forbidden to her, the one who ignites her deepest passion. 

Throughout, Saskia sees life through the prism of lace; and weaves what peace and beauty she can to the rhythm of her bobbins – while Africa weaves its primeval magic around everyone. 

9. Sentimental Journey by Jill Barnett

U.S. Army officer J.R. Cassidy is man known for his stealth, until he finds himself on the run in the deserts of North Africa with Kitty Kincaid, the daughter of a U.S. scientist he has vowed to protect, but who is destined to be used by anyone who wants to control her father. 

Barnstormer Charlotte Morrison follows her passion to the skies over England, where she and other women pilots choose to volunteer for the war effort. But ferrying planes for the RAF is not the only thing that strikes a sharp passion in Charley. When her path crosses with RAF pilot George 'Skip' Inskip and small town Texas patriot Red Walker, she finds her most difficult choices have nothing to do with duty and patriotism. 

From the battlefields of Europe to the blue skies of the English countryside, from solid hometown roots in the American West to the shifting sands of the Sahara Desert, five ordinary men and women risk their lives for honor and their country, and find themselves changed forever, not merely by the circumstances of war, but by the deepest trials of the human heart.

10. A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn

The daughter of a scandalous mother, Delilah Drummond is already notorious, even among Paris society. But her latest scandal is big enough to make even her oft-married mother blanch. Delilah is exiled to Kenya and her favorite stepfather's savanna manor house until gossip subsides.

Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz records, cigarettes and safaris. As mistress of this wasted estate, Delilah falls into the decadent pleasures of society.

Against the frivolity of her peers, Ryder White stands in sharp contrast. As foreign to Delilah as Africa, Ryder becomes her guide to the complex beauty of this unknown world. Giraffes, buffalo, lions and elephants roam the shores of Lake Wanyama amid swirls of red dust. Here, life is lush and teeming—yet fleeting and often cheap.

Amidst the wonders—and dangers—of Africa, Delilah awakes to a land out of all proportion: extremes of heat, darkness, beauty and joy that cut to her very heart. Only when this sacred place is profaned by bloodshed does Delilah discover what is truly worth fighting for—and what she can no longer live without.

Historical Romance Set in Africa