Book Review: “Roping the Cowboy” by Kennedy Fox

Hello again!

EDIT: I didn’t really have a good time of figuring out the best way of publishing my posts – I do hope you enjoy this review just as much though. Don’t worry tomorrow, we’ll carry on as normally!

April was productive but not as much last month…

I was able to finish six books. I have never done this before; my usual quota is three to four books each month, but I was able to convert the majority of my reads into audiobooks or they were a part of my second list of books I am keeping track of this year. If you are curious about this, you can click here to be transported to that blog post.

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Originally on the Read Me Romance podcast. This eBook release is a novella set in the world of the Bishop Brothers with bonus chapters & an extended epilogue!

An unforgettable one-night stand filled with heat and passion starts the unraveling of a love-hate feud between a small-town baker and an arrogant cowboy.

When Katarina shows up at the Circle B Ranch Bed & Breakfast to serve her new gluten-free, sugar-free, organic pastries, Braxton decides to make her life hell for kicking him out the next morning and then pretending he never existed.

First step, make fun of her tasteless muffins.
Second step, get revenge.

Soon the duo are at each other’s throats, getting even until things go too far and the chemistry burns too hot.

Kat claims their night together meant nothing.
He’s determined to prove her wrong.

taken from Goodreads.

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If you didn’t know, I absolutely love the ladies of Kennedy Fox and I’ve actually had this book for a few months now. Anytime they have multiple books out for free, I am taking an advantage of the opportunity and I had just finished a great month of reading and wanted to basically sink my teeth into something juicy so I thought I could get a move on with the Circle B Ranch series, since I have quite a collection piling up on my Kindle, and I just thought if you needed a nice and sexy short story, you could look into these books soon!

“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady.” I smirk. “You know I’m immune to that cowboy Casanova bullshit, right?”

This quote is exactly something I’d say prior to reading any cowboy-ish books. I thought I would only fold for Vanessa Vale’s stuff since she loves to discuss dirty cowboys, but oh no, apparently Kennedy Fox is taking me for a ride as well!

Honestly, this was a great way to start the entire series. You rarely see novellas at the top of the series–or at least I don’t!–but I think the main reason why it worked so well is because not a lot of women out there enjoy cowboys. I live in the Midwest and I can personally tell you that I’ve found country dudes somewhat fake. There’s a difference between acting the part and actually being a cowboy, like Ree Drummond has herself a true cowboy, with husband Ladd. He works on many different areas on the ranch and not a lot of guys who want to be like that can do it physically.

I will be diving into the other books of this series this summer as a little treat to myself. Here are the ones that have been sitting in the depths of my e-reader for way too long: Catching the Cowboy and Kissing the Cowboy. There are many reasons why I absolutely love Kennedy Fox books but the one thing I love the most is that all of their books (until said otherwise!) are standalones! They may belong in a series and some characters from the other stories can join in through background scenes, and this makes me feel better for not having the exact order to know everything. Jasinda Wilder writes her books in the same way, or at least the Badd Brothers series can be read out of order too, which has helped me get over my insecurities for not knowing certain players and stories.

Are you reading the ‘Circle B Ranch’ series by Kennedy Fox too? Which book or couple do you love the most? How are you about the cowboys involved too?

January Playlist

Howdy!

I know I always say “January is a dull month for music” and for the last five years, it’s been very true in that sense. I’ve always thought it should have the opposite effect since it is the beginning of a new year, people need some fresh tunes to boost themselves to get going on their resolutions. It’s still a slow month for newer music but I did have better luck listening to the older stuff than anything else.

For January, I created two very different playlists. I made my standard monthly playlist usually a day or two before the previous month ends. The other is my “sexy” playlist, which proved to be a smart idea, considering the amount of songs included! In a challenge I started at the beginning of the year, and the day I came up with this idea, I quickly realized how many Drake and The Weeknd songs were in it, not to mention how many that were featured on the Fifty Shades films too!

As I was busy working on that, I started thinking of songs that I hadn’t heard in a while, and it happened while I was busy trying to go to sleep at night. It was awful! Anyways, I thought I’d give you my Top 10 songs from both of those playlists for you today!

Say You Love Me by Jessie Ware
Vengeance On My Mind by G-Eazy
Bom Bidi Bom by Nick Jonas featuring Nicki Minaj
The Hills by The Weeknd
One Time by Marian Hill
Zipper by Jason Derulo
Candy Shop by 50 Cent featuring Olivia
One Track Mind by 30 Seconds To Mars featuring A$AP Rocky
Suffer by Charlie Puth
Billie Jean by The Civil Wars

Finisher by Vo Williams
Can You Hear Me by UNSECRET featuring Young Summer
Damn by Livvia
Rainbow by Kacey Musgraves
Not Alone by Linkin Park
Obedear by Purity Ring
Up All Night by Rachel Crow
This Is Me by Kaela Settle
Shoulda Let You Go by Keyshia Cole featuring Amina
Yummy by Justin Bieber

There is another playlist that I have been loving lately, especially when I am reading my books. I always tend to want something light whenever I am sitting up against the wall of my bed and something that is kind of interesting, I don’t want to learn the words because that’s when I tend to lose where I’m at in my book and it just becomes a big mess. The playlist is called “Lush + Atmospheric” on Spotify. I also love to listen to another one “Creamy” too, but the first is usually my go-to, especially in those early morning reads!

If you would like to check out the rest in the playlists I’ve listed above, click here for the January playlist and/or Sexy now! Hope you have enjoyed this post!

What have you been listening to lately?

Music Video Review: “Good For You” by Selena Gomez

What was the last song you listened to that when you heard it the first time not only did you get chills up and down your spine, but you couldn’t stop listening to it?

Well, the new track by Selena Gomez was mine. I literally heard maybe a few days ago while I was flipping through my music channels on my television and when I heard it. It was like I was in a damn trance. I can’t even explain to you what exactly happened. I couldn’t get over how sexy the whole thing sounded, between the light beat and her soft vocals, it’s like a match made in heaven! I was so in love with it that I had to rewind the song and play it again. So I listened to it twice that night and I was thanking god that when I woke up the next morning I found the song (although with A$AP Rocky) on my Spotify. Now I don’t have to wait to hear it unless our internet goes off for a couple of days. I do feel like I will run this song to the ground though, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard it over 20 times now.

I finally broke down and watched the music video. I was mainly going to send it to a friend of mine and ultimately forgot about that. I literally watched it with my eyes glued to the laptop screen. Miss Gomez is no longer this cute, little girl we remember watching on the Disney Channel a few years ago. She’s definitely grown up from those days and I’ll be honest I have never thought she was all that sexy, until I watched the music video and that went right out the window! Technically there are 3 different versions of this song, because the version included in the video is different from both ways I’ve originally heard it. It’s more simple, the tempo stays the same throughout the song; matching her nice and easy vocals beautifully! I was really impressed that for once a music video matched the vibe of the actual song. It was sexy and delicate. I loved it!

What do you think of Selena Gomez new single?

What Defines A Song As Sexy?

Can you name one or more song(s) that is sexy? I’m serious.

I don’t think many listeners of different genres can choose just one song. It’s kind of like picking out your favorite song of all-time. You can’t just pick one song and that’s it. You usually get asked a hundred times and you ask if you could have three or five more choices just so you don’t feel bad for not choosing the other song in the back of your mind. It is hard to pick a sexy song because nobody really listens to songs to find it to be in that way honestly, but somehow I have found a good amount in the last two years. Surprisingly, they’re not all rock and metal songs even though that’s how it all got started. A lot of people hate the crap out of Canadian rock band Nickelback and I’ve never understood why, because I feel like they’re what everybody is asking from their other favorite bands. To me, Nickelback is an awesome band but they mean a little more to me than they probably should. I find their sexual based songs extremely sexy. I know. I hated all of these different hip hop sexual songs but I’m okay with the rock and roll ones. I’ll explain why I’m more accepting on the rock part than the hip hop.

When I got into rock and metal, I knew there wasn’t that big of a difference as far as topics go. I felt that both sides have had problems with degrading women in their lyrics. When I got out of rap music and went into dubstep, I started paying more attention to how the sound of the song went instead of the words, because at that time majority of the dubstep songs being released on the radio had no words to go along with the actual song. So when I made the transition again into rock and metal, I wasn’t paying attention to how the band looked and what they were saying in their songs. It all started to make me feel better and comfortable that I could listen to different bands who might’ve had masks, makeup, etc I wasn’t paying attention about what they were saying either, that’s how I came to love more and more screamo bands because you can barely understand them anyways. Once I was over that hurdle I grew to appreciate the sound, I learned how to block certain parts while I was listening. After that it was like I was going backwards, I liked the sound, read the lyrics and found the meanings, but the stuff that I normally hated wasn’t issue anymore because I had found a way to get over it.

Now that I’ve explained that, I can get back to my original post. Nickelback and another band called My Darkest Days and country male singer Brantley Gilbert have the power to make me feel very beautiful in my own skin. It’s not their voices that do the trick for me, it’s the sounds of their songs. A certain song can bring back tons of memories – both good and bad, but a sexy song can make you love yourself and you start to turn into another person as they say. Songs can be sexy, even in the sweetest and slowest melody, it can be the sexiest thing in the world. Since I’ve learned to block out different parts of songs I have realized that I have a lot of songs that I think are sexy.

I actually decided to put the question up top on both my Facebook and Twitter profiles, because I wanted to see everybody else’s choices. My first reply was from Bloo ‘n’ Stuff she gave me the song “Sea Of Love” by Tom Watts. I actually listened to it and since I love bluesy and raspy voices, I kind of figured I’d like it and I did. I could see how she could think of it as a sexy song. After sharing one of mine, she gave me two others that would included in her list, “Transit Gloria” by Brand New and “Lover I Don’t Want To Love” by Bright Eyes. I found the song by Bright Eyes VERY sexy! I got two other suggestions from my Twitter from two other people. I got “Love Sex Magic” by Justin Timberlake from A South Wales Blog and I do have to say that JT has a LOT of sexy songs but I can’t say that I’ve listened to this song enough to find anything sexy about it, but I love the choice! My last was from Tiffy and she gave me was “Sure Thing” by Miguel and this is definitely a sexy song as far as both his voice and sound of it goes. My Facebook has (so far) three replies and I actually got a guy friend of mine to give me his pick. The songs that were given to me were “Kiss Me” by Ed Sheeran, “Body Party” by Somo, and “I Want You” by Kings Of Leon. First of all, most of Ed Sheeran’s stuff is very sexy! I couldn’t find the “Body Party” on my Spotify. The Kings of Leon song kind of took me by surprise as I thought it would be more slower almost like a quiet ballad, but nevertheless that was his choice! My sister had given me the song by The Weekend, called “Wicked Games” and she got what I was asking to a T, the beat is extremely sexy. Now that I’ve finished going through everybody else’s choices I thought I’d list mine. Some songs are sexy throughout, but there are a few were it’s just sections or intros that are sexy to me.

Adrenalize – In This Moment
Before I Met You – Banks
Fire Breather – Laurel
Jungle – X Ambassadors
Take Me To Church – Hozier
Tell Mama – The Civil Wars
Ballando – Enrique Iglesias
Decay – Sevendust
Rolling In The Deep – Adele
Deathbeds – Bring Me The Horizon
Breathe On Me – Britney Spears
Mercy On Me – Christina Aguilera
In The Darkness – Dead By Sunrise
Cry Me A River – Eklipse
Mirror – Ellie Goulding
Hungry Eyes – Eric Carmen
The Bleeding – Five Finger Death Punch
Dirty Work – Halestorm
Love Bites (So Do I) – Halestorm
The Promise – In This Moment
Move Your Body – My Darkest Days
Gone – My Darkest Days
Porn Star Dancing – My Darkest Days
Say It Right – Nelly Furtado
Heaven In This Hell – Orianthi
Buttons – Pussycat Dolls
Feed The Machine – Red
Cry Little Sister – Seasons After
Beautiful Dangerous – Slash
Gotten – Slash
La Tortura (Shaketon Remix) – Shakira
Badass – Saliva
Black & Gold – Sam Sparro
Drown – Theory Of A Deadman
Into The Night – Santana
Underground – Jane’s Addiction
Run – Matt Nathanson
Burn It To The Ground – Nickelback
She Is Love – Parachute
I Can’t Wait – Runner Runner
Sweet Sour – Band Of Skulls
Thank You – Dido
What Have You Done – Within Temptation
After Midnight – Dorothy
Down – The Birthday Massacre
Gone Sovereign – Stone Sour
Madness – Muse
Next Contestant – Nickelback
Follow You Home – Nickelback
S.E.X. – Nickelback
The Phoenix – Fall Out Boy
Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
Battle Cry – Imagine Dragons
Stompa – Serena Ryder
Hell On Wheels – Brantley Gilbert
Come & Get It – Selena Gomez
Come Along – Vicci Martinez
Stay Awhile – Ryan Star
I Had A Girl – The Civil Wars
Breaking Point – Bullet For My Valentine
Under Control – Ellie Goulding
Tessellate – Ellie Goulding
Silhouette – Active Child
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) – Nico Vega
Bottoms Up – Brantley Gilbert
Love Don’t Die – The Fray
Dark Horse – Katy Perry
Curbstomp – Meg Myers
Off To The Races – Lana Del Rey
Angel Eyes – New Years Day
All Of Me – John Legend
Dust To Dust – The Civil Wars
Sangre por Sangre – Hellyeah
Take Out The Gunman – Chevelle
Our Truth – Lacuna Coil
Kill Of The Night – Gin Wigmore
Beside Myself – Hesta Prynn
Seven Devils – Florence + The Machine
Drowning – Banks
2nd Sucks – A Day To Remember
The Beautiful Ones – Prince
Pretty Lil Thing – Robin Thicke
Lost Without You – Robin Thicke
You’re My Fantasy – Robin Thicke
You Will Become – Glen Hansard
Medusa – GEMS
Desire – Meg Myers
Go – Meg Myers
Here With Me – Susie Suh
Save Me – Moxi
American Woman – Lenny Kravitz
If You Want A Bad Boy – Brantley Gilbert
Take Outside – Brantley Gilbert
Kick It To The Sticks – Brantley Gilbert
Retrograde – James Blake
Out Of The Black – Royal Blood
Sick Like Me – In This Moment
West Coast – Lana Del Rey
I Can’t Get You Off My Mind – Miss Li
Mercy – Duffy
Shallows – Daughter
So High – Ghost Loft
Beside You – Phildel
Heroine – Dwntwn
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – Cary Brothers
Say You Love Me – Jessie Wire
Filthy Blues – Orianthi
Figured You Out – Nickelback
Because Of You – Nickelback
The Waiting One – All That Remains
Swerve City – Deftones
Bones Exposed – Of Mice & Men
This Is The Time (Ballast) – Nothing More