...life just makes that decision for you. That’s what happened when I got asked if I wanted to review the audio book for ‘The Prince and His Bedeviled Bodyguard’ by Charlie Cochet. I figured why not…author who writes one of my absolute favorite series and a narrator who has never failed to provide me with anything less than an excellent audio experience…how could I lose? So, right there I was off to a good start. But what I didn’t count on was getting a story that was just simply so cute, entertaining and simply adorable that I would basically smile and laugh…in all the best possible ways from start to finish.

Prince Owin is an ocelot shifter…he’s also a little bit vain, somewhat self involved and about to embark on the most important quest of his life to prove himself worthy of the crown for Ocelot shifters and not the slightest bit attracted to the annoying oversized canine shifter that he can’t seem to divest himself of.

Grimmwolf had no idea what he was in for when the King of All Shifters asked him to be Prince Owin’s bodyguard. Piece of cake, right? I mean really how big of a problem can it be for a big alpha werewolf to keep an adorable little Ocelot shifter Prince safe? Even if he is a bit crankier than your average cat shifter.

I was already fairly certain that I was going to get an enjoyable and entertaining story going into this one, but what I didn’t realize was that I’d get a story that would have me smiling and laughing from start to finish.

Had this been a longer story I might have found the constant snipping and snark between these two characters to be less than entertaining but that was not the case here because most of the time I was just too busy enjoying how much Grimm’s calm and unflappable nature seemed to contribute to both Owin’s annoyance and his attraction. Grimm on the other hand sees right through Owin’s vane, arrogant and somewhat self-absorbed persona. Grimm sees the kind and caring person that Owin thinks he’s got so well disguised and Grimm knows that there’s something special between him and Grimm and he also knows that making Owin see this is going to be his biggest challenge.

Greg (Tremblay) Boudreaux is the narrator for this light and entertaining shifter tale and once again he’s done an excellent job of capturing all of the snark and humor contained in this story. I can honestly say that without a doubt this is my most listened to narrator and that’s not allowing for the numerous times I’ve done a replay on an audiobook, whether he’s working under the surname of ‘Tremblay’ or ‘Boudreaux’ I know if Greg (Tremblay) Boudreaux is the narrator, I’m not going to be disappointed with what I hear.

‘The Prince and His Bedeviled Bodyguard’ is the first book in Charlie Cochet’s latest series ‘Paranormal Princes’ and until I listened to this first book in the series, I admit I was seriously considering taking a pass on things since paranormal and shifters aren’t genres high on my reading list but quite honestly I’ve revised that decision and I’m looking forward to finding out what the King of All Shifters has in-store for the rest of his shifter princes.

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An audio book of ‘The Prince and His Bedeviled Bodyguard’ was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

I first read this story last year and found it to be a delightful holiday story about pretend boyfriends who fall in love. I was going to attempt write an entirely new review for this one but when I revisited my original review I found that much of what is there still very accurately reflects my thoughts about this sweet story so I'm just going to borrow some of what I wrote before and add my thoughts on the audio component of this story...

Derek feels like his life is spinning out of control. He’s feeling like the job he has is neither the job he was supposed to get or the one he wanted, he’s at odds with his parents and feels like they’re constantly trying to marry him off. If he could just catch a break, put a little distance between him and the rest of the world.

 

Derek finds his buffer in the form of Luke…a former fireman who’s in need of twenty thousand dollars to finish paying or the renovations to on Halligans, his family’s bar in NY’s Financial District. So, when Luke’s friend asks him for a favor…a favor that will bring in Luke’s much needed money. Luke finds himself reluctantly agreeing to be Derek’s pretend boyfriend for the holidays…4 dates that’s all he needs to get through and then he’ll have the money he needs…what could possibly go wrong with just 4 dates?

 

What neither Derek or Luke is prepared for is that things would go right…so much righter than either man is prepared for as they find that not only is there a definite attraction between them but as they get to know each other they’re also finding that they like each other.

 

I admit I was fairly certain that I was going to enjoy this one before I even opened the book…the author’s R.J. Scott and for me that pretty well makes it a done deal. For me Luke was the perfect person for Derek. He saw past Derek’s exterior with his pretense of confidence in an effort to cover his insecurities. Luke saw a talented man that he knew he could both like and respect. For Derek, Luke was his dream man come to life.

 

One of the things about this story that really capture my attention was the relationship dynamics between Derek and his parents. So often in stories the relationship between adult children and their parents are portrayed as either being good or not good but for Derek and his parents that’s not the case. Derek loves his parents and they love him and are supportive of him, but Derek doesn’t see it this way and that’s largely due to a communication issue or more accurately a case of miscommunication. Which for Derek is a more common event in his life than it needs to be because of the defensive barrier he’s built around himself.

 

Luke’s efforts to get past Derek and his façade of confidence has a trickle-down effect on Derek’s life allowing him to re-evaluate his interactions not just with Luke but a lot of the other people in his life…colleagues, friends and his parents.

For me the fake-boyfriend to boyfriend premise of this story was well done. It was sweet, and not only did we get to see the relationship develop between these two, but we got to find out a bit more about each of them, their past, their present and what they wanted for their future.

Sean Crisden was the narrator for this story, so along with revisiting a story I liked by an author I really like. I get to listen to one of my favorite narrators read said story. Sean Crisden is one of those narrators whose voice has this laid back tone to it that just draws me into a story allowing me to relax and just enjoy what I'm listening to. For me the whole choice of what audio narrators a person likes is such a personal and subjective issue because it's not just a matter of the narrator it's also about the right narrator for the right book and when it came to this book, I'm not saying that another narrator couldn't have also done a good job but I am saying that for me...Sean Crisden did an excellent job in capturing the characters and the spirit of the holiday season contained within the pages of this story.

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An audio book of 'Love Happens Anyway' was graciously provided by Signal Boost Promo in exchange for an honest review.

Could you please, kindly stop making me cry first thing in the morning...yep, once again I started my day in tears because of you.

But while we're at it thanks for making some of them happy tears that helped a lot...

full review to follow soonish!

‘Second Chance Ranch’ is the 5^th book in R.J. Scott’s Montana series and for me it was also the ultimate in 2^nd  chance stories. While I’ve enjoyed all of the stories in this series and this may have been the 5^th book in the series it’s absolutely #1 as my favorite book of the series so far.

We’ve seen glimpses of Rob in some of the previous books he was a part of the Justin’s life during his missing years…a part that Justin never wanted to see again, but things have changed for Rob and he’s in desperate need of help and with Justin being the closest thing he has to a friend…where else can he go?

And we’ve seen glimpses of Aaron in previous stories as well…Aaron is one of the Carter brothers, there are 5 in total…there’s Sheriff Ryan Carter, we met him as one of the MCs in ‘Snow in Montana’, along with Jason the fire fighter, Karl the owner of Carters (the local bar/pub) and Eddie the accountant. I know after 3 adrenalin junkies and the owner of the local night life hotspot…an accountant seems a bit bizarre, but it is what it is. You’re probably thinking so why does this matter but trust me on this one it matters because all of these people matter to some degree, at some point in one or more of these stories and as well as being Aaron and Rob’s story there’s another story playing out in the background for another one of the Carter brothers.

Overall in this series we actually have 4 families who are central to this series the Todds, the Allens and the Strachans, the 3 families that founded/own/manage ‘Crooked Tree Ranch’ and the Carters whose family may not be a part of the ranch but are very much a part of the Crooked Tree family all the same.

In each of the books in this series we’ve been given the answers to a bigger mystery one that began when the men in these stories were very young and now with this 5^th installment in the Montana series we get a story that’s come full circle…what started on The Crooked Tree Ranch has come back as Rob comes to the ranch looking for help for himself and his nephews.

Rob’s plan is to make sure his nephews have a home, a place where they’ll be safe and then his list is finished, and he’ll be disappearing for the last time, except by the time he’s ready to go it’s to late and all Aaron wants is for him to stay…ok, that pretty much sets the scene now for the important stuff…

This book…I don’t even know where to begin with this one. I was neither expecting nor was I prepared for how many feelz were in this story. I’m not even going to go into the how’s or whys of it but this one kind of crept up on me with how much it made my heartache. I really liked both Rob and Aaron from the minute they first met. Their interactions felt good, right…natural.  There was snark so much awesome snark…sorry, I’m a fan of this and with these two if it had been any different I think I would have been disappointed.

While I’ve enjoyed all of the stories in this series with ‘Second Chance Ranch’ R.J. Scott has brought this one to life for me in a way that hadn’t happened yet and she made me cry…seriously there was me lying in bed early in the morning thinking I don’t feel like getting up yet, I’ll just quietly lie here and read. I can be nice and let the hubby sleep and that’s what I did…until…that’s right until the tears started the big ugly, gulping sobbing tears that I had to try and stifle so that I wouldn’t wake people up and then when I’d almost got them under control the other tears started…you know the ones I mean, the ones that are streaming down your face while you’re sitting there holding your breath whispering ‘yes, yes, thank you so much.’ because the author…that person who could have left you broken with your sadness has fixed you…so, thank you R.J. not for making me cry those ugly tears but for remembering to fix me.

‘Second Chance Ranch’ is for me the best one yet but only if you read it last.

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An ARC of Second Chance Ranch was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest

and let's just say it's same old, same old...I'm loving it and the story's every bit as good as I remember and Greg Tremblay's just making it all the better and even more enjoyable than I remembered...so in a nutshell...I'm lovin' it!!!

Ok, so once again it's Cole McGinnis by Rhys Ford and narrated by Greg Tremblay. So the e-book was a exuberant 4 star read and the audio has just bumped it up to 5 stars. I loved it do much that I of course just dove into book #4...well, actually I did dive into book #4 and I'm currently listening to book #5 because I admit it this lady has decided the best thing to do for the holidays is be sick so I don't really have the where-with-all to do much more than listen to an audio book and do a bit or reading...thankfully I'm all ready for Christmas and I hope you all are too...Happy Holidays!!!