Lucky in Love is a riot. Brown had fun putting phrases together that read like classic stereotypical western and modern feisty romance rolled into one. You’ll find expressions like: “my hide tacked to the smokehouse door,” “she belongs like a horse apple in a church social punch bowl,” and “heartache bigger than Dallas” to name a few. They were probably my favorite part of the book and never failed to make me smile or laugh out loud when they appeared.

Anthony “Beau” Luckadeau is lucky at everything but not lucky in love. He plans to prove them all wrong by proposing to Amanda, though his heart has long been lost to Amelia Jiminez, a one night stand at his cousin’s wedding. When he does propose everyone forces a smile and shakes his hand but nobody is congratulating him (not that he notices) because Amanda is the worst wife Beau could have picked. She hates ranching, barns, his friends, his workers, his home, and his nickname. It’s not classy enough for her.

Amelia Jiminez on the other hand is none other than sassy Camellia “Milli” Torres. She’s in Oklahoma to help her Granny and Poppy out on their ranch while Poppy is healing from surgery. She and her toddler Katy would never have stepped a foot out of Texas if she’d known Beau was Poppy’s neighbor. If making him dance in the dirt under fire of a .22 rifle doesn’t force him to keep his distance nothing will… and part of her doesn’t want him to stay away which makes him all the more dangerous.

Rating: 4 Stars

Buy: Lucky in Love

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So far as a romance novel goes, Lucy Burns has the very broad requirements and none of the nuances. It ends happy. There is a guy. She ends up with him. The romance was nonexistent as no emotions or depth came across when I read it. The story primarily focuses on Lucy Burns finding salvation.

As a heroine, I wasn't particularly enchanted with her. I was unable to sympathize with Lucy past her little girl stage. She came across exactly as she thought of herself: shallow, empty, and not particularly kind or nice beyond the relationship with her neighbor, her neighbor's child, and Luke Marshall.

I suppose Lucy redeemed herself in the end, but I didn't really connect to those inner changes. She was obviously disenchanted with herself, her job working for the devil, and with people and life in general. There was no growth to her character.

Luke Marshall was vague as a hero. We learn he teaches creative writing at a university, is writing a manuscript based on his perception of Lucy Burns, and sings off key when drunk... oh and he's blind, which means he can't see the gorgeousness that is Lucy at all.

Things in the book that I didn't like at all:

• Lucy getting so wasted she urinated on herself in her hall closet during a Tupperware party. What romance novel could happen without that?
• Her pretty blasé attitude over an innocent man accidentally going to hell by walking down into her basement. If there was regret, it was a twinge and nothing more.
• Her blasé attitude over the coffee shop goth-girl (admittedly not the friendliest of people) finding herself going to hell by trying to escape the some unrobed KKK members by running down into the basement...
• Reading the lyrics/song titles of Teddy Nightingale and random excerpts from Luke's novel. One or the other happened in every chapter. It was overkill.
• The backdrop of two movies duking it out in theaters that also appeared every other chapter or so. The movies were Adoring JC (Jesus Christ) and Absolutely Adolf: What were you thinking?

Rating: 1 Stars

Buy: The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns

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