Real Men Do It Better: Four Steamy Novellas

The only bad thing about reading books like this is that you start to want to meet men like the characters in the book. It's crazy, but true. However, this is such a good read and I think one of the best anthologies I've come across. I most liked the story called siren's call, but all of them were excellent. Don't pass this one up if you love real men! They do, indeed, do it better! I also liked Husband Swap and Roughing It: Two Dirty Stories.

The third Tempting SEALs is a novella, "For Maggie's Sake". Maggie, a new widow who was introduced at the end of "Dangerous Games" (Tempting SEALs #2), had once dated Joe Merino, the top DEA agent who led Morganna's team in "Dangerous Games". After months of recently divorced Joe telling Maggie that he would never commit to or love a woman again, she finally took him seriously when he showed up at a society event she was covering for her newspaper with a stacked blonde female stranger on his arm. Maggie hadn't even known he was planning on attending. She got the message, and removed herself completely from his life -- even though he wasn't done with her yet. But she stood fast, trying to protect her broken heart, and six months later she got married, even though she doubted the wisdom of that step when her fiance told her a couple of days before the wedding that Joe Merino was his best friend. She was very lonely, though, and she felt she could come to love the nice man her fiance had portrayed himself as, so she went through with it. It was the biggest mistake she ever made. She couldn't even leave her husband; she found that out three months into the marriage when she tried to and discovered he had damaging information about her father from his youthful years, and her husband was more than willing to blackmail her into staying with him. Now, two years later, with her husband dead and proven to be a U.S. traitor, she found herself under suspicion of being her husband's accessory -- because he had left journals behind saying that she was. Unfortunately, not only was Maggie completely innocent of all the suspicions being held against her, she also discovered, after a week in Joe's company in a remote safe house, that not only did she still love Joe, but she had never stopped. And Joe was one of the agents who thought she was lying about her lack of involvement with her husband's treacherous activities. To put the icing on the cake, the cartel to whom her husband had been feeding information thought she was lying, too...and they desperately wanted to get their unfriendly hands on her. Note: Although, as usual, this is a sexually explicit Lora Leigh story, Joe is not into BSDM, unlike Clint in Tempting SEALs #2. Check out the others in the Tempting SEALs series: The novella "Reno's Chance" in Honk If You Love Real Men (Tempting SEALs, Book 1); the novel Dangerous Games (Tempting SEALs, Book 2) and the novel Hidden Agendas (Tempting SEALs, Book 4).

All four of these stories are wonderful. I bought the book because of Lora Leigh. Love the Tempting Seals Stories, Love her books. The other 3 stories were an added bonus, all great.

HIS BODY ELECTRIC by Carrie Alexander Karen's moved from the city to a farmhouse in Iowa. She's an artist who makes sculptures out of metal. To make ends meet she works from home as a virtual service representative selling various products for companies over the phone. Gabe is staying at a friend's cabin a few miles from Karen's place. He's taking time to assimilate recent events that have left him a little rattled and makes living a normal life difficult for him. After getting all the farm animals tucked safely into the barn for the night, Karen makes a mad dash through a violent lightning storm to reach her house but collides with a man before she reaches safety. The last thing Gabe expected when he went seeking shelter from the storm is for Karen to use her sexy voice to seduce him. There's just no way she can pass up the opportunity to be with a man who positively makes her body tingle. Carrie Alexander will delight readers with this sizzling novella. The characters and plot are exciting and fresh with thrilling interactions that will keep readers enthralled in the storyline. BED AND BREAKFAST by Susan Donovan A series of unfortunate occurrences have city girl/corporate dynamo Kate Dreyfuss stressed out to the breaking point. Her boss has ordered that Kate take a vacation to Windwalker Lodge, a spiritual retreat, where Kate will supposedly have some life-altering change by communing with nature. Jorey Matheny is the proud owner of the Windwalker Lodge. He's easygoing and practices the natural lifestyle for which his lodge is well-known. Jorey's own past history makes it easy for him to understand Kate but getting her to stay long enough to be helped may be another story. The pilgrimage that Kate had been signed up for was last month, she missed it. Now the lodge is under complete renovation. Only one room is furnished - the one where Jorey's been sleeping. He gives her his room and sleeps elsewhere but that doesn't stem her anger and resentment at the whole situation. It'll take an act of mother nature for Kate to accept Jorey's help - and everything else he has to offer. I love the spiritual feel that Susan Donovan incorporates throughout this novella. Kate and Jorey are polar opposites and their interactions are fascinating and fraught with tension. FOR MAGGIE'S SAKE by Lora Leigh Maggie Samuels is in a world of trouble! Her husband whom everyone believes adored her is killed. He left behind evidence implicating her as knowing all about his illegal dealings with the Fuentes famly that resulted in the death of some Navy SEALs. Joe Merino has been in love with Maggie for years. Certainly long before she met and married Grant. He desperately wants to believe in her innocence even though the mounting evidence says otherwise. Despite Maggie's insistence that she doesn't know anything about Grant's illegal doings there is a price on her head. There is evidence that would seal the government's case against the

It's been two years since Joe Merino's best friend married Maggie; two full years that Joe has struggled to forget that Maggie was his, if only briefly. Assuming that Maggie loved her husband, Joe fought to accept and support his friend's marriage and push his love for Maggie from his mind. Now, everything has changed. With all of Joe's prior beliefs crumbling to dust, he has to re-examine everything he thought to be true. It is up to him to find the truth buried deep beneath the lies and betrayal. Because no matter which way the evidence points, he can't believe that Maggie is guilty of committing the heinous crimes of which her now dead husband has implicated her of doing in his diaries. Maggie Samuels' life has become one continuous nightmare from which she can't seem to wake. While her marriage was dead long before she was widowed, Maggie can't believe the extent her husband went to in order to make her look like she was part of his criminal operation. Now, Maggie finds herself at the mercy of the one man who betrayed her love, Joe Merino. Though she has never stopped loving Joe, she lost faith and trust in him long ago. She must search inside herself to trust the one man capable of proving her innocence. I adore Lora Leigh's Navy SEALS series! I've been following the lives of these exceptional men through Reno's Chance, Dangerous Games, and now with FOR MAGGIE'S SAKE. Joe Merino is power personified. I was humbled at his willingness to let his best friend find happiness, even at the sacrifice of his own. His strength in the face of such abject betrayal by his best friend was amazing to read. Maggie's bravery in the face of adversity and her willingness to confront danger head-on kept me on the edge of me seat dying to know what would happen. And when these two multi-dimensional characters came together, it was pure pop and sizzle! FOR MAGGIE'S SAKE is reverently filed on my keeper shelf with the rest of my Lora Leigh library. FOR MAGGIE'S SAKE is part of the four novella anthology, Real Men Do It Better which is releasing from St. Martin's Griffin in February, 2007.