RATING 4.5 STARS

Seducing Abby Rhodes is the first book I’ve read by J.D. Mason. I would classify this book as a mixture of romance, suspense, with a touch of paranormal which is what attracted me to it. Since I’ve never read anything by Ms. Mason before, I didn’t really know what to expect. What a surprise this turned out to be. It has a complex plot with plenty of romance to keep me invested. If I had one complaint, it’s that there were several players involved and it took me awhile to get everyone straight.

Abby Rhodes is a house flipper living in Blink, Texas. She is thirty seven years old and has never really been in love. From an early age, all she wanted to do was play with tools. She does most of her work herself and takes great pride in what she does. She’d been driving past the little house in Blink for so long and finally couldn’t deny the pull it had on her any longer. She bought it with the full intention of fixing it up and selling it but the longer she was in the house, the more it felt like home. The house was long rumored to have some ghostly inhabitants. There was a history to the house, a murder occurred there.

Abby wasn’t the only person who felt the pull to that house. Jordan Gatewood is a multi-millionaire who inherited his late father’s business and has since grown it ten fold. Jordan’s father led a life of prestige and power in Dallas. But he also led another life, a simpler life with the woman he truly loved, in a tiny house in Blink. This was ultimately the house that he died in tragically. For some reason, Jordan feels the need to reconnect with his father. It has been thirty years since his death. Jordan is nearly fifty years old and his company is on the brink of the biggest business deal of their lives. A deal that would change everything. Somehow his car found it’s way to the front door of the house that day and that’s when he saw her, Abby. That’s the day that everything inside of him shifted.

“Sweet Abby Rhodes, country and funny. Kind. Pretty woman. She had no idea of the effect she was having on him. Abby changed him, brought him back to life, gave him a new sense of desire and purpose that had nothing to do with Gatewood Industries or money or power.”

With Abby, Jordan could be the man he wanted to be, the man she deserved him to be. Abby didn’t want him because he was rich or important. She wanted him because she liked who he was, how he made her feel.

“I will be your refuge, Jordan.”

But there are more players in this story. Jordan had been seeing the corporate attorney at his firm, Robin. He made it known from the start that he was making no commitments. It was a casual relationship. But Robin saw things differently. And when Jordan ended things and she found out it was because he was seeing someone else, a simple country girl from a nowhere town, she was livid. And she wanted revenge. Jordan has many, many skeletons in his closet. Things that could ruin him, ruin his company. And Robin will rattle every one of those skeletons to get what she wants.

There were so many players in this twisted bunch of characters. And I don’t believe any of them were free from malice, except perhaps Abby. She was the innocent in all of this, the pawn so to speak. Oh, and maybe Jordan’s personal assistant. I loved that woman. Even with all the darkness of his past, I still couldn’t help but to love Jordan. He wanted so much to have this second chance, this chance to be a better man.

I really did enjoy this book. It kept me guessing from beginning to end. As I said, there were a lot of players in this and especially the first twenty percent I had a bit of trouble keeping them all straight. But it all fell into place and I was all in. This was really a page turner and I’m so glad I had the chance to read it.

“He’d been searching for her his whole life. And he’d found her. And he was never letting go.”

Was posted on my blog June 9, 2017

My Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of this book by the author's representative. I am providing an honest review for which I am receiving no compensation of any kind. All opinions are fully my own.
~ Judi E. Easley for Blue Cat Review

My Review:
This is an excellent love story! Abby and Jordan are so sweet together. They are also sexy and in love! But mostly they are meant to be together, and anything else is just fighting nature.

Ms. Mason uses repetition to strengthen her story in this book. The larger one is the father and son situation. Back in the 70s, it was Julian who fell in love with a good woman who lived in that little house. Now, it's his son Jordan who is in love. The parallel is obvious and is what helps validate the ghost story.

The more subtle one is later on when Robin is ready to do almost anything to have Jordan in her life, paralleling the situation Jordan had with his late wife Claire.

Another repetition is the existence of the "good woman" in the life of a man considered to be an uber rich, fast playing man. I always like this theme in a book.

A well-paced story with some really well-written scenes. The characters are very well written, too. What isn't presented up-front, you get as the story goes along.

Blink, Texas is supposed to be just a quiet little town, but it has several books to its credit already and I expect at least one more is possible. It's not difficult to imagine running into several of these characters in the next book by this author. I think I might need some town history. Maybe it's a good idea to add a couple of Ms. Mason's Blink Texas books to my TBR shelf while she's at work writing the next one. Why don't you read this one and see if you think you might need to do the same thing.

Other books by this author include: Beautiful, Dirty, Rich; Drop Dead, Gorgeous; Crazy, Sexy, Revenge; The Real Mrs. Price; Hart Breaker; Stormy Knight; and Stone Cole

A beautifully written slightly different love story. Sometimes people are destined to be together and some love lasts a lifetime. A book to put your feet up with and enjoy. This is the first book I have read and I would definitely read more.

Jordan is rich,has secrets and history seems to keep repeating itself.First his father is shot,then he is thirty years later.
Abby is a career led woman , devoid of a romantic attachment and just bought the house where Jordans father was shot.
What follows is a chance meeting,paranormal happenings and some 'what goes around comes around' experiences for Jordan.
This book has some strong characters, some characters that you can identify with and a general mix of the downright crazy. In all, this leads you through a story which you want to keep going with to know the outcome and whether romance and love will win through.
At times I struggled to know who's perspective this was written in and would say that in the first few chapters this was the most difficult but to persevere with this and all becomes more straight forward.
An enjoyable read.
3.5 stars

I loved the first book in this trilogy, and the second did not disappoint! Seducing Abby Rhodes tells the story of Abby, a home contractor who is working on redoing a house that happens to be haunted. Don't let that turn you away, however! The story is much more about love, lust, betrayal, and coming to turns with the past. The ghosts just make it that much more fun! A super easy, great beach read!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

What a good book!!!! The main characters are Jordan and Abby. They have a connection even though they have never met before. The connection? A house and Jordan's father Julian. Throw in a few ghosts, one spiteful woman who wants to be the next Mrs. Greenwood and Jordan's mother. This book grabs you from the first page and never lets go. What is the connection and how does it end? Read the book to find out!!! I have read some other works by J.D. Mason but I must say, this one has moved to the top of my list as one of my favorites. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review. Excellent read!!!

So... because it's JD Mason, I snatched this book up at Netgalley and shoved my nose right into it, despite the fact that I generally don't enjoy books with spirits and psychics and what-not. It's just not my bag. I had the same issue with The Real Mrs Price, but as always the story and the author's skill at telling the story trumps what I don't like and keeps the pages turning.

I felt, though that this was an okay read. I had a hard time picking up the story from the trilogy (that I ATE UP, by the way)... I remembered Jordan as... well I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't read the trilogy-- you really should, though-- but this kind man desperately in love with innocent Abigail Rhodes isn't the Jordan Gatewood I know, we all know.

When he becomes mixed up with Robin, a beautiful but diabolical temptress/ coworker who thinks she has something to hold over him regarding the murder of journalist Lonnie Adebayo and uses this information to come between him and his new love Abby... well, I expected a more explosive outcome. Let's just say I was disappointed in how Jordan dealt with the issue. I was expecting something a bit more murderous. *shrug* Sue me, I like drama.

The writing is excellent, happy to see this story continue, this was still a GREAT read... but I expected, wanted more action from Jordan. Maybe the scene is being set for the next book? Perhaps.

The characters work well together.
I wont go into the synopsis as you can read that elsewhere.

I thought the story was great. I am more into reading action and dialogue which I feel it needed more. It seemed to me there were pages of just what the characters were "thinking" and not what they were "doing"
It took me a couple chapters to realize when the Ghosts were there rather than the live characters but once i figured that out it was a smooth read.
The story was in depth and catching. It kept me up reading until about 2 am, that's why it got a 4 star rating
I have read other reviews about how this is the 2nd in a trilogy and some say you need to read the first. I don't feel like I lost anything by not reading the first story. I don't feel that there was some big piece of the puzzle that I was missing.

This book is great for anyone who loves multiple twists and turns. Although I gave it a three star I still had my own issues with the book.
At times there was just too much happening all at once and I found it hard to keep up, without getting bored or distracted. I hated how Jordan jumped from one woman straight to the next . It was that close it boardered on cheating. Abby was a real ditz and at times plan stupid and annoying. Jordan was the only thing that kept the story worth reading. His back story and heartache make it worth it. I'm not sure if I will pick up another book from this author or not. I love when the author adds a lot to keep you interested but this had too much. The information overload was head spinning and full of fillers that, lets face it weren't needed.
The reason for the high star rating was the unusual plot line. I mean ghosts helping find love. It was unusual and great.

Seducing Abby Rhodes, J. D. Mason

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Multicultural Interest. 

I saw the synopsis for this, thought "romance" and as it had a great prospective nasty B itch female - I love those - I requested. It wasn't until writing this review I saw the Multicultural Interest tag. 
I did notice after the first couple of chapters that Jordan isn't the usual white, well connected, Alpha male and thought then how refreshing it was to read of a male coloured lead. We see ladies of colour in romance, almost always gorgeous Latino types ;-) but I can't recall the last time I read one with a male lead. That's a shame, and bad in that it certainly doesn't fit reality. I was pretty ashamed too, that until then I'd just made the assumption that he was white. Says much for today's stereotypes and how they lead to unconscious bias. I'll try to work harder at avoiding it in future.

I loved Abby, a real Lady and so hard working. My type of lead lady. She's not afraid to get her hands dirty, join in and work with her construction crew on the pull down and build up of her projects. As someone who loves to garden and usually has somewhat dry and scrubbed hands and nails, rather than elegant manicures that was good to read.
The romance between her and Jordan takes place pretty quickly, and was really believable. Even though they are very different sorts of character, very contrasting backgrounds I could feel the pull between them. And of course when Robin got involved that was perfect for me.
Characters like hers add so much fun to a story. I do wish there were more like her! Educated, gorgeous looking and determined to hang on to her catch, to do whatever it takes to me the next Mrs Xyz. 

Of course there are always things in people's pasts which could be misinterpreted, and Jordan has a few more issues than most people. I really wanted to know the connections, the real story, and little hints kept being teased out but determining what was real, what actually happened wasn't easy and I didn't get it til the reveal. 

The biggest problem for me in this story was when things did play out they felt almost anti-climatic, after all the big build up. It felt like there should have been more consequences, stronger reactions somehow, it just felt kind of faded, muted to me.
Still, that's me, drama all the way is what I love, and I did like the way when things went wrong for Abby and Jordan that it was stretched out, given a good working over, not a two-pages-later-and-all-is-well solution.
I like breakups to be solid, heartbreaking, to really wring at my emotions.

I hadn't read any of the earlier books, and maybe if I had the revelations of the past would have worked better for me, knowing what happened, or some of it. I had a little trouble remembering who was whom at first too, and if I'd met the characters before that would have been easier to follow. Never the less this can be read as a complete read, a stand alone in its own right.
One day I'd like to read the earlier books, I really like JDM's writing style and the types of characters she creates. 

There is a very slight supernatural element here, a little ghostly action, people from the past interacting with those in the present, and that was fun, but a very minor part of the story. 
 
 
Stars: Four, a enjoyable story with some solid plots and intrigues...

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

a good solid read. I liked

loved the book cant wait until book two, and loved the cover