Possessive protection:
This was a fairly enjoyable and intense romantic suspense.
Sallie was hiding from a dangerous past and when her path collided with Jacob's, she was shocked and disappointed that he didn't remember her. One thing that still existed was the intense attraction between them. It was a steamy read and I would have personally preferred more of a build up. It was also quite repetitive and instead of being able to feel the emotion and chemistry between the characters, we were just told it existed.
I enjoyed the mystery aspects and was desperate to find out how it would all unfold, however not everything was fully explained.
Whilst technically a standalone, I did feel as if I missed out a bit not having read the first book in the series.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

"Strong, Silent Cowboy" A Moving Violations Novel by Lora Leigh; Veronica Chadwick
A really good story embedded with more explicit sex scenes than I wanted to read. So, I skipped most of those scenes. Meanwhile, it is a really good contemporary suspense story with a trace of romance. Happy Reading ! !
Note: I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley.
This review expresses my honest opinion of this story.

Strong, Silent Cowboy (Moving Violations #2) by Lora Leigh, Veronica Chadwick

This is Sallie Hamblen and Jacob Donovan's story they spent 3 hot days together and then he ghosted her.. or so she thinks. She has been running for her life and ends up in his town. He doesn't remember her but he can't resist her. She is brokenhearted that he forgot her but she can't stay away from him. This story has all the feels, terror, violence, angst, mystery, laughter, tears and plenty of steam to get us to a HEA and leaves us wanting more.
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Wonderful characters Witty Romantic Scary Great world building Action-packed Tragic Steamy Unpredictable Page-turner Tear-jerker Easy-to-read Happily Ever After Entertaining

Strong, Silent Cowboy
Book 2 in the Moving Violations Series
Rating: 2 stars
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC given through NetGalley for review. All opinions are my own.

****SPOILERS****

Strong, Silent Cowboy was a big no for me. I was bored and lost for most of the book. It has a dual POV but it was not clear transition between them. I was looking forwards to reading this romantic suspense, but it fell flat for me. I really didn't care what happened between Sallie and Jacob. They were boring. The sexy times between them were very hot between them but to be honest I was bored. It seems that most of the time all Jacob did was lust after Sallie. To me those where all his thoughts lead to. I don't see how they fell in love when there was no romance between them.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for hot sexy times, but give me some romance too! I want to see the two leads fall in love and that their physical relationship complements their emotional one.
And that ending?!? I kept going back because it just ends with so many unanswered questions about why and who was involved in Sallie being chased for so many years.

I can always count on Lora Leigh books being hot, and this one is beyond hot! I could NOT put it down and only did so when I had to! Strong story, alpha male and a strong female lead. Twists and turns that I certainly did not see coming, and what wonderful bedroom scenes! So sad to hear of Veronica Chadwick's passing, hoping the series will continue even with her gone.

This review is based on an ARC from NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Perfect as always, I love this duo. They hooked me with the first book and now with this one i am just in awe. I just really like books like this.

As much as I enjoyed book 1 in this series, this one just didn’t meet my expectations.
1- Sallie/Kyra Hamblen and Jacob Donovan met and had a whirlwind three day affair in Switzerland when she was an innocent eighteen year old that grew up in a boarding school with nuns. Really?
She fell in love and didn’t see him again.
2- We are told it was a 3 day affair, later we are told it was one night and then back to three nights.
3- Sallie comes face to face with him three years later, while she’s on the run and living in the same town as Jacob . But it took three additional years for them to see each other again? Not likely in the small town.
4 - I am all for the intimate scenes, but this one felt more like an erotica story with a plot thrown in for good merit.
5- As a reader, I would have preferred an epilogue that would tie up the story.
It seems to me that the book needed some editing , more of the plot , less of the intimate scenes and more character development to make it a successful book.
I respect the author, and though for me it was more of a 2.5 stars story, I am giving it 3 stars.
I was entrusted a copy of this book by Netgalley and St. Martins. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

Both are haunted by their pasts…

This is the first book in the Moving Violations series that can be read as a stand-alone.

Now a cowboy, former CIA Agent Jacob Donovan runs a ranch and protects what’s his. His last mission for the agency didn’t end well and he’s haunted by vague dreams of a woman he’s never met. With a gap in his memories, he wonders if the dreams are fantasy or lost memories. When a strange woman comes into town, one he has never met, he finds himself more than a little intrigued. When he finally decides to pursue her, he opens up a Pandora’s box that takes him back to that last mission and the magnitude of what he truly lost.

After a failed marriage and on the run from an unknown man who would harm her, Sallie Hamblen settles in Deer Haven, California until she’s found and forced to run again. Seeing Jacob, the man she’d known years ago under another name was shocking, that he showed no recognition upon their meeting was devastating, worse than the pain of heartbreak that she’s known since he abandoned her years ago. She was a naïve eighteen-year-old at the time she knew him and thought she’d found the love of her life. She avoids him as much as possible and finds she has no willpower when he does pursue her.

Was it a coincidence that Sallie found herself in the same town as Jacob? This reader found it suspicious. This story had an interesting suspenseful premise: a CIA mission gone bad, an agent still suffering partial amnesia, a dedicated stalker who thinks the heroine knows where to find someone they are after, and a broken romance, yet the execution of the premise failed for this reader because of the abundance of sex scenes that overwhelmed and detracted from the plotline. This reader started skimming through those scenes just to get back to the action which could have been more developed without the constant distractions which this reader cannot equate to a romance, just steamy repetitive sex scenes.

An advanced reading copy was obtained from the publisher via NetGalley.

2.5 stars

I could not get into the book. It started almost immediately with a super steamy scene. I normally would not mind that , except that I did not even have a chance to care about the characters yet. And from there i just could not connect with the characters. It just felt like there was more focus on the steamy scenes and not character development.
I really wanted to like it but I just couldn't.

Even if I liked the style of writing I didn't like the characters and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Old skool Lora Leigh is back! Okay, there are no barb-spouting shifters here, but she's back with her tried-and-true formula of alpha male, sexual ESP, amnesia, crazy names like Rancor, unprotected sex as a form of branding, secret identities, and bizarre dark conspiracies. Wanna know how freaky it gets? Try the phrases, "former CIA agent turned cowboy" and "Swiss terrorists".

It was refreshing to get old skool Lora Leigh because I was frankly baffled and bored by the first in this series (One Tough Cowboy). Here, as much as I was bewildered by Jacob's angry blindness and Sallie's masochistic desire to be near (but not with!) the guy who took her virginity and then forgot her, I was completely entertained by the absolute twisty bananas plot. After falling for Jacob, Sallie was so mortified and hurt that she was made to marry a guy recommended by her diplomat step-father. That guy conveniently didn't touch her and then mysteriously skedaddled, leaving poor Sallie to move to, gasp!, the same town as Jacob. Now, Jacob can't figure out Sallie; all he knows is that he has to have her but my gosh is he ever pissed that he can't figure out why he wants her...so super cowboy sleuth believes Sallie must be up to no good.

Confused? Me, too! But still entertained...because Jacob is 100% committed to his alpha asshattery and Sallie is 100% the martyred ingenue. And when bullets start flying, Jacob summons all of his super powers, including that infamous Lora Leigh style sexual ESP, to protect Sallie from the unknown baddies.

And of course, it wouldn't be a Lora Leigh romance without epically relentless, unprotected sex everywhere. This book should've been titled, "Glove Up If You Love An Amnesiac Cowboy" because Jacob is obsessed with "breeding" Sallie.

Okay, maybe a better alternative title could be, "Strong, Silent Caveman". Old Skool Lora Leigh romances may not make sense but as always, are endlessly entertaining.

Eighteen-year-old Sallie Hamblen met Jacob Donovan and had a whirlwind, three night steamy romance while with her parents on a diplomatic trip some years ago. After promising to return to her, Jacob disappeared leaving Sallie with a broken heart and no explanation as to what happened. Since then, she has basically spent her life on the run from an terrorist group that continues to hunt her. After moving three times, Sallie ends up in the small ranch town where the man who left her lives. It is clear when they meet again that he has no idea who Sallie is or any knowledge of their past relationship. Jacob seriously was injured in a CIA mission that went wrong. The explosion left him with a big hole in his memory where Sallie is concerned.

For three years, Sallie avoided Jacob until one night, she gives into long held emotions, and they spend the night together. Jacob knows there is something special about his feelings for Sallie and realizes she has been haunting his dreams as he remembers her on a subconscious level. Jacob finds out is her life endanger vowing to protect Sallie with the help of others in his community who also worked for the government as well. When the cat is finally out of the bag of who Sallie was and is to Jacob, he is determined not only to protect her but not let her go again. Jacob is definitely one of those alpha males although Sallie is not one to back down despite the fact, he is trying to keep her safe.

The are several layers of secrets and lies to unravel as well as determining who are the enemies and who are the good guys. It is no coincidences Sallie and Jacob ended up in the same rural community or that trouble has come to find her once again. Besides being a romantic suspense with a complicated and, at times, a very convoluted plot, this story has a heavy side car of erotica which depending on the reader’s preferences, may or may not be desirable. Some of the math of how many years ago when things happened in the story gets wonky at times which I hope will be addressed in the final edit of this book. The are some other oddities and inconsistencies that are not particularly well explained but do not necessarily take away from the story as a whole. This book is the second in the Moving Violations series.

This book brings you into the story from the start, keeps your attention and thrills you there entire read. I loved this book!

Sallie is hiding out from several threats on her life. She's shocked to discover that the mysterious man she had 3 incredible days with in Switzerland is living on a ranch, has a different name, and didn't seem to know her at all. Heartbreaking. So for 3 years Sallie keeps her distance, stays away from Jacob and also tries to lay low and not get close to anyone in town. Her friends aren't having it and keep bringing her in, this time to the bar and a chance encounter with Jacob. These two are got and steamy and soon Sallie thinks a one night stand gone off the rails has happened with Jacob. Only Jacob feels more, runs scared and can't shake the familiarity he feels with Sallie.

Jacob is obsessed. He feels something for Sallie he can't explain and when trouble stirs up he will do all he can to protect her. He has some secrets of his own and enough power and force backing him to take care of Sallie.

This was fast paced, action packed, and sex filled, and amazing! Highly recommend.

Wow! I wasn't prepared for the smoking hotness of this book! This is book 2 in the moving violations series. I had not read the first book, but it did not lessen my enjoyment of this one. Former CIA agent turned cowboy? Yes please! I highly recommend this one if you are looking for a hot, sexy, romance!

Buyer beware, good story but you must filter through detailed descriptions of both male and female body parts working together and filled with the slang language of said body parts in action. I was invited to read this book and thought it would be just a simple cowboy meets girl love story. It sort of fits that bill with a great mystery intertwined, but I had no idea it was close to soft porn or just plain porn, I'm not sure of the difference. Not prudish,but there were way too many detailed descriptions of doing the deed,with heated bedroom and everywhere else explicit scenes and they make up a large portion of the book. The storyline itself is very good, it just didn't need all those descriptions to make it a book. I received this book as an arc and was under no obligation to provide a review. The opinions expressed are my own.

I enjoy a hot steamy book if it has a strong plot line. I don’t however enjoy if most of the book is steamy and the plot is weak. That being said this lends itself to relying on the sex and the plot line is a little on the week side. Although it was enjoyable it is not a would read again for me.

Honestly I’m not really sure what to think of this book. You have Jacob who is an alpha male and Sallie who isn’t a pushover and has been handling things on her own. When they met in town Sallie remembers Jacob from some year back but Jacob doesn’t remember her. It jumps 3 years to the moment Jacob finally makes a move on Sallie and the story takes off from that point. I do believe that this needed a little more character development but it was a decent read. I did find myself finishing pretty quickly but I feel a little short changed with the ending. It wasn’t as suspenseful as I thought it would be and it ended abruptly. Maybe it was on of those book where you needed to read the first in the series to get the entire experience of the book.

It's been a while since I've read Lora Leigh, but I remember really liking her solo books. Strong, Silent Cowboy, though, just didn't work for me. It felt rushed, had a lot of gaps and inconsistencies, and there was virtually no character development.

Time is off in the book. It starts with a prologue in which Sallie comes face to face with Jake. It's been three years, she thinks, and he doesn't remember me even though we spent three full days having hot monkey sex in Switzerland. (Those three days come up a lot, but sometimes they morph into "that one night" or "the weekend.") Then chapter one leads off saying three years had passed. They lived in the same town for three years and all but never interacted? Weird. I thought at first I'd misread and kept swiping left to reread. But yeah, three years where he apparently lusted after the young woman but was too busy to do anything about it.

Let's go back: Three days of hot monkey sex in Switzerland when she was EIGHTEEN and convent-worthy naive. But it seared her soul so much she mourned his disappearance for three years, two of which were spent running from some danger I never really fully understood. But the supposed abandonment was harder on her than the life-threatening attacks? A guy she knew for three days (or one), and then only from a horizontal position.

Anyway, now she's in her early twenties, which is still a baby to me (but full disclosure: I'm AARPy) and which is why it creeps me out that Jake's preferred pet name for her is "Baby." Yick. But I digress. So she's six years older and is running a big feed store, in spite of having no apparent post-secondary education or real-life job experience. And finally Jake has time to pick her up in a bar (he doesn't remember her, but he's in lust and has just been too busy to act on it, you'll recall) and present day hot monkey sex ensues.

Everything happens both quickly and slowly at this point. The pair are either having excessively steamy (but to me, impersonal) sex or they are, well, having more monkey sex. There's this subplot about people being after her (which maybe was supposed to be the main plot, but it is never fully explained and is rather listlessly solved), but it's secondary to the sex. I'm not sure if they ever have a decent conversation or share any coupley jokes. It's just sex and freaking out for Sallie and sex and alpha-protector smoldering for Jake. As a result, I remained unconvinced as to why they liked each other so much.

This book could be really good, but I think it needs a lot more cleaning up and probably some parts need a significant rewrite. Sallie shows potential for being a strong female lead, but she needs more seasoning. Jake needs to stop with the the dom routine and actually spend time getting to know more about Sallie than just her girl parts. And then the holes need to be filled so that the suspense plot makes sense.

I gratefully received an ARC of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks!

The title really is misleading for this book. I swore I was reading a Harlequin romance from the 1970s. Jacob is surly, dominant, commanding, and autocratic. Sallie, for all her protests and posturing is putty in his hands. About every five pages there were intimate scenes using graphic terms and descriptions, I even blushed. I don’t know how to categorize the story. I did tire of the incessant repeated dialogue. I kept thinking I got it. The backstory was murky and difficult to arrive at a full picture. This book kept my interest, but there lots of salacious scenes.

Lora Leigh and Veronica Chadwick’s Strong, Silent Cowboy is rife with a plethora of emotions, as well as intrigue and tension woven seamlessly together with an explosively palpable chemistry between Jacob and Sallie. As the pages turned, the puzzle of lost time and a murky memory kept the story moving at a brisk pace.

Other than the abrupt ending to the story, I thoroughly enjoyed Jacob and Sallie’s journey to the rediscovery of their lost love.

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.