An unusual heroine, Des is open and honest, going for what she wants, revealing what she feels. Many strong women in modern romances but haven't met many who are cast in this light - it is refreshing. Of course Logan is the perfect counterfoil, the brooding cowboy. I liked the emphasis on acting as a profession as being hard work rather than ego and glamour. I wish I could write a lot more about this but words fail me this morning, so I will simply sum it up - inadequately - as an all-round satisfying escapist romance novel! ( )

It was good, in the way that all of Jaci's books are, but I wish she wrote something different than the meet and greet with sex on the side. Don't get me wrong, her books are always fun and steamy hot to read, but little changes would do a lot of good in my opinion.

Now to the book itself: the characters were very entertaining and I loved Des, she totally kicked some butt. Logan was this great rugged beast of a rancher that just left me breathless. Colt was absolutely adorable and kudos for Jaci on pointing out the sexuality thing. Ending was predictable but entertaining as well. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Can a rancher who doesn’t trust women, and an actress find forever in a small town?

Opening Sentence: “Logan McCormack had to have been drunk or out of his goddamned mind to have agreed to let a movie crew film on his ranch.”

The Review:

Logan McCormack doesn’t turn down extra ways to make money, which is why he agreed to rent land out for crew to film a movie on it. However, he has zero interest in any of it until Martha pushes him to go out and check on the crew. Des is the leading lady, and she is taken with Logan from the moment she meets him. As they begin to spend time together it soon becomes clear that they are attracted to each other.

Des and Logan aren’t looking for forever either, but soon both of them find themselves wanting more from each other. The downside is Logan’s mother abandoned him when he was young and he doesn’t trust city girls to be truly interested in his way of life. He thinks they will always leave, and how can he compete with the Hollywood lifestyle anyway. Will they find a way or will mistrust tear them apart?

The first book in this series features Logan’s brother, Luke, and he does make an appearance in this book. However, that being said, this is a series that so far it appears you can read in any order you like. You won’t miss anything if you start with this one. These are good solid romances. I am not blown away, but I don’t read too much romance these days, so don’t take that as I didn’t like it at all. I enjoyed both the first book and the second book. They are easy to read with good characters, and a good romance.

I liked Logan, and the majority of the book is told from his POV. However, I will say he often comes across as a grumpy old man. Des, loved her, not sure if she was a realistic Hollywood actress, but since I don’t know one personally, I won’t get hung up on that issue! She was down to earth, great sense of humor and all around wonderful female lead. Together they were just right and the sizzle was there for sure!

Notable Scene:

That part she didn’t want to think about, not when she and Logan had spent every single night together.

As soon as she finished on set each day, she’d head over to the ranch and would either spend time with Martha until the guys came in for dinner, or if they wrapped filming later, she and Logan would spend the evening alone.

She’d slept in his bed every night had gotten accustomed to wandering around the big ranch house she’d grown to love so much. Martha had become as much a mother as she had always been to Logan. What was she going to do with Martha’s advice? What was she going to do without Martha’s awesome food?

FTC Advisory: Jove/Penguin provided me with a copy of Hope Ignites. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

Very good book. Logan has rented part of his ranch to a movie studio so they can film on it. He's not really interested in what they are doing until he meets Desiree, the female lead in the movie. He's attracted to her, but their lifestyles are worlds apart and he doesn't plan to get involved with her. But Desiree is just as attracted and has no trouble letting him know about it.

Logan is a loner. He has his family and a few close friends and that's the way he likes it. He doesn't particularly care if people like him, so he doesn't go out of his way to be nice to people. I enjoyed his first meeting with Des, as he was surprised by how normal she seemed. I liked the way that he thought about his housekeeper Martha when Des invited him to the set. When Des and Colt came to the ranch for a visit, Logan's attraction to her became quite a distraction for him. He was surprised by her straightforward speech about being attracted to him too. Logan doesn't get involved with women, especially women like Des, who he sees as too high maintenance for ranch life. His mother had hated life on the ranch and made no secret of it. When Logan's dad died, she left and never came back. Now he sees all women the same way.

Desiree has been an actress for seven years. Though she likes what she does, sometimes the lifestyle really gets to her. There are times when she would really like to have a place to go where she can really relax, away from photographers, gossip columns and all the trappings of Hollywood. The peace and quiet she finds on Logan's ranch is just what she's looking for. Her attraction to him is just icing on the cake. I liked the way that Desiree is really a nice person under the star surface. She's a really good friend to her costar Colt. She makes friends with Martha and Logan's family members easily, thanks to her childhood as an army brat. She's also not the type to play emotional games, and she lets Logan know that she's attracted to him.

The interactions between Logan and Des are pretty interesting. Physically there is a whole lot of heat that gets generated between them. They have no trouble at all communicating there. Outside the bedroom it can be a little rougher. They have agreed to a no strings relationship, which starts out suiting them both just fine. Logan sees the differences between them as too great for anything else, but Desiree sees far more in common between them. She also sees that his issues with his mother make him completely unwilling to see any potential between them. Logan has a really bad habit of thinking about Des as if she were just like his mother, which makes him treat her really badly. Des sees what he is doing when he does it, and has no trouble calling him out on it.

I loved seeing Des get really involved in life on the ranch and in the town of Hope. She gets along really well with Logan's friends and family and they quickly make her one of them. I really enjoyed the day out she had with the ladies, right down to the dinner and drinking with them that had Logan's brother Luke having to drive her back to the set. She knew she was falling in love with Logan and really wanted to see what may come of it, but Logan kept being an ass about their differences.

Logan was in real trouble and he knew it. Des got to him in ways no other woman had. He can't stop thinking about her and picturing her staying at the ranch, but he's too afraid of making the same mistake his father did. Every time he feels himself getting closer to her, he does something to piss her off and drive her away. The day after the Fourth of July was a prime example. He flat out treated her like dirt and everyone saw it. I liked the way that Des saw it and was sure of why he was doing it, and also didn't let him get away with it. She wasn't going to give up and let him prove his point, and when the day was done she looked him in the eye and told him exactly how she felt about it. Logan spent a lot of time apologizing for being an idiot, but couldn't seem to stop himself from doing it. He let his fears stop him from going after what his heart wanted. His treatment of Des after the wrap party was terrible and he deserved every bit of misery he got from it. I loved the way Luke finally made him see how much of an idiot he was. I loved Logan's "go big" moment at the end, and how he and Des worked things out. I'm looking forward to seeing more of them in later books.

I also enjoyed the secondary story with Des's costar Colt. I loved the friendship and loyalty they had for each other. Des was great support for Colt and encouraged him to go after his own happiness. I also had fun with Logan's feelings of jealousy, knowing that there was really no reason for it. When he finally knew the truth, his own support of Colt was fantastic. ( )

4 Stars for this grumpy, yummy cowboy! ( )