Blame it on Texas (Hotter In Texas)

by Christie Craig

[Rowena]

I read and enjoyed the first book in this series enough that I wanted to read the second book. When it came up on NetGalley, I had a smile on my face because ever since I finished Dallas’ book, I wanted to read Tyler’s book. Tyler was the smart one, the bookish partner that made lists of questions for every case they took on. Tyler was the sexy Mexican guy that I wanted to know more about and I was super glad to finally get his book.

And I’m glad that I read it.

This book was cute and fun and I enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed seeing Dallas and Nikki again and Tony and LeAnn, Ellen and Austin and Rick and just, well, everyone. They’ve got that huge, chaotic dysfunctional family thing going and it totally works for them. I ate every scene with everyone in it up, it was great.

Tyler meets his heroine when she’s in his office, peeking through the files on his desk. Her name is Zoe Adams and she’s from Alabama. She’s in town to find out if she’s the long lost grand daughter of some rich dude in Texas who was kidnapped when she was a little girl. She was watching one of those unsolved mystery shows on television and came across the story of Caroline Bradford from Texas. Caroline’s story triggers memories that Zoe can’t understand but remembers anyway so she takes herself to Texas to get some answers. When Zoe first approached Tyler about her story, he thinks she’s crazy but when unexplainable things start to happen to Zoe while she’s in Texas, he starts to think that maybe her story has some truth to it.

The attraction is there between both Tyler and Zoe but they’re not going to act on it (ha!) because Zoe is going back to Alabama and Tyler doesn’t do relationships. Zoe doesn’t want to be Tyler’s bangable toy girl and Tyler isn’t into long term commitments. But they hook up anyway. The more time they spend with each other, the more the feelings start to grow between the two of them.

The romance between Tyler and Zoe was cute and sweet because they knew that they wanted each other and they knew that the other wanted them but they wanted to avoid the awkwardness of “after” the lust fades away so they tried to keep it professional. Ha! Like that was going to happen. But as cute and sweet as their romance was, the romance that I was most drawn to while reading this book was the romance between Rick and Ellen.

Now, I’m not sure if it was because I love kids and I liked seeing Rick trying to be a good father to his son. Seeing him try to make things right for him and give the kind of home that Ricky deserved endeared Rick to me and I loved the heck out of him. I liked seeing Ellen come out of hiding from her ex and really get into being with Rick. When she finally gave him a shot at a relationship, I squeed for joy. I really enjoyed their page time and was happy when things worked out for them. I really enjoyed the way that they came together.

Tyler was everything I knew he was going to be. That strong, protective man who would move heaven and earth for those that he loved. He would hurt anyone who tried to hurt the people in his life and I ate all of that up. I loved the way that he was with his sisters and the way that he was with his niece Anna but most of all, I loved the way that he was with Zoe. The solid way that he was always there for her and the way that he made sure she was protected at all costs made me all swoony for him.

Zoe was a good heroine. She was a straightforward woman who had a mission to accomplish so that she could move on with her life. She had a lot of questions and she went after the answers with courage and I liked that about her. The back and forth way that she was with Tyler, telling him one thing (no!) and then confusing him by her actions (yes!) was something that I could have done without but it kept her from being that cookie cutter heroine that romance novel heroines are thought to be. I think my favorite part about Zoe though was how earnest she was in Tyler’s defense when they went to the police station. I wanted to hug her when she walked out of there with Tyler. It was great.
I’m really looking forward to reading Austin’s book now. I had totally forgot all about the part of the first book where they were digging for something to get the guys that set them up for their big arrest. I’m glad to see that even though Dallas and Tyler seemed to have other things on their mind, that Austin was still looking for answers and his book seems to be all about getting those answers that will help them all move on from their lives. It looks like it’s going to be a good one and I can’t wait! If you enjoyed the first book then I’m almost positive that you’ll enjoy this one too.