Posts Tagged: Jaclyn M. Hawkes

Review ~ Above Rubies by Jaclyn M. Hawkes

29 Oct, 2013 by in review Leave a comment

Above Rubies 
Rockland Ranch #2
by Jaclyn M. Hawkes
Paperback 
400 pages
Published April 20, 2013
by Spirit Dance Books
ISBN-10: 0985164824
Book Source: LDSBA
Adult Fiction
LDS, Romance
4 stars

His chivalry was strangling her.

He thought he was helping her—and in truth, he was. She was in desperate straits. But as honorable as he was, he was also breaking her heart.

Her attraction was drowning him.

When World Champion rodeo cowboy Rossen Rockland and his friends rescue a young runaway who has been abused by her foster father and take her home to his parents’ ranch, he expects her to turn out to be a pain in the neck. And sometimes she is.

It doesn’t take him long to figure out that she has way more than her allotment of troubles—and far more than her share of gifts. Lovely, talented, and ravingly brilliant, Kit Star is too young, unbelievably humble, and oh, so loveable. Knowing that she needs his protection and time to grow into her potential, Rossen also figures out that what she really is, is a pain in the heart.

Watch for more of the Rockland Ranch Series!

Review: Rodeo champion Rossen Rockland is on his way home from a world rodeo championship in Las Vegas with his adopted brother when he becomes witness to an attack on a young woman walking alone with her guitar. He is in the right place at the right time to rescue Kit and bring her home to Rockland Ranch where she will have a chance to heal and experience what family, love and loyalty really are. How can he help but become attached when he is there every step of the way through hospital visits, surgery, recovery and nurturing the child that is on it’s way?

Kit is 17 and though young in years, has grown up fast from her experiences in the world. She’s smart, gorgeous and talented in more ways than one. But is she ready to be a mother? How can she experience college life and “growing up” when there are so many complications that stand in her way…including Rossen?

I enjoyed book two in the Rockland Ranch series.  It openly explores a woman’s virtue as the victim of abuse: that Kit is worth more than rubies, pure and innocent. Despite what others may think, or find to gossip about, her worth is constant, and it is seen by her new family and Christ. There are messages about the atonement, prayer and hope in God when life seems to be leading away from what you want. At times the story dragged a little bit with a lot of “telling instead of showing”, but when rock star Nick Satori steps in about halfway through, things really pick up speed. He is the prefect addition and the catalyst that was needed to get this fairy tale ending moving in the right direction.

I had a bit of trouble with suspension of disbelief at how perfectly Kit’s life turns out and all the opportunities she is handed. There is also some codependency with she and Rossen which I wish would have been addressed. But overall, I truly enjoyed Above Rubies. I liked that the author teaches justice for the abuser and mercy for the victim. It’s a feel good book with a great message about agency and love. I recommend the series and have already breezed through book 3 🙂

Highlight with cursor to see content: teen pregnancy from abuse, drinking at a party, mention of a meth lab, mild violence from kicking to punching, kissing

                   

Jaclyn M. Hawkes
Photo copyright Heather Zahn Gardner

About the Author: Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up in Utah with 6 sisters, 4 brothers and any number of pets. (It was never boring!) She got a bachelor’s degree, had a career and traveled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being the mother of four magnificent and sometimes challenging children. She loves shellfish, the out of doors, the youth and hearing her children laugh. She and her fine husband, their family, and their sometimes very large pets, now live in a mountain valley in northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.

Find Jaclyn on Facebook/ Twitter/ Website/ Goodreads

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Clean Read Review -The Most Important Catch

12 Jun, 2012 by in Spirit Dance Books 2 comments

The Most Important Catch
by Jaclyn M Hawkes
Paperback, 318 pages
Published March 16, 2012
by Spirit Dance Books
ISBN: 0985164808
Source: Blog Tour
4 Stars

Summary from Goodreads: Run or die!
She knew too much, and she’d seen too much.
And the police refused to help.
Knowing that she was to be the next scheduled death, Kelly Campbell hid under head to toe black leather and a tinted motorcycle helmet and ran for her life.
When the weather turned cold, she turned south.
She ended up in North Carolina, home to one of the most famed and eligible NFL football stars in the whole league; only she didn’t know that. She thought he was a businessman. Not being a huge fan, all she knew was that he was incredibly attractive, kind, generous, and that she was safe with him. 

Or was she?

His brand of fame proved to be all but deadly, but his fame wasn’t nearly as lethal as his attraction.

He kept her safe and protected. All except for her heart.


Cathy’s Review: Kelly Campbell is just a normal, beautiful 23 year-old. She’s a nurse at a hospital for the mentally unstable. She is dating one of the doctors there. But one day a patient dies under very suspicious circumstances and it worries Kelly. She finds the patient’s file as soon as she can, but it appears to be normal and when her boyfriend, Peter Holmes, catches her looking at it, he makes a remark about not digging too deep if she wants to survive. Unfortunately, the same thing happens again, to another patient and Kelly knows that she can’t leave the situation alone any more. She has a date with Peter that night and she knows from the look that he gave her when he caught her reading the second patient’s file that she won’t be coming back alive from this date. She knows she has to run, so she fakes her own death and takes off on her cousin’s old motorcycle with just seconds to spare. Living on the run is so lonely, so she’s thrilled to meet a man named Robby in North Carolina that she can just tell by her feelings is trustworthy. She settles down for a while to be caretaker over an old house that needs a face-lift. Kelly and Robby start to fall in love, but she doesn’t know who he really is, Rocker Robideaux, famous NFL player. When she finds out, will she ever trust Robby again and what if Peter finds her??


This book was fun. I loved the action and the adventure of it. Not to mention the sweet romance between Robby and Kelly. I felt like I was riding that motorcycle cross country with Kelly and hiding from the bad guys. I love it when you can escape from the world you’re in and into a whole new world that you may have never even seen before in certain books, this was one of those for me.

Content: drug dealing

About the author: Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up in Utah with 6 sisters, 4 brothers and any number of pets. (It was never boring!) She got a bachelor’s degree, had a career and traveled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being the mother of four magnificent and sometimes challenging children. She loves shellfish, the out of doors, the youth and hearing her children laugh. She and her fine husband, their family, and their sometimes very large pets, now live in a mountain valley in northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.

Learn more about author Jaclyn M Hawkes: Goodreads/ Website/ Blog

Enter to win a copy of The Most Important Catch from Fire and Ice here.