Review: Wrapped and Strapped by Lorelei James

Wrapped and Strapped (Blacktop Cowboys #7) by Lorelei James

Publication Date: November 3rd 2015 by Signet

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

About the book:

In the new Blacktop Cowboys® Novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Hillbilly Rockstar strange bedfellows find common ground after the lights go down…

Flower child, vegetarian and humanitarian Harlow Pratt and gruff and strapping cattle ranch foreman Hugh Pritchett have been taunting each other for years. Hugh thinks she’s nothing but a spoiled rich girl, and he’s had enough of that life with his ex-wife. Harlow thinks Hugh is an ill-mannered trouble-maker who wouldn't know fun if it bit him on his tight denim-clad butt.

When they’re forced together at the Split Rock Ranch and Resort, everything changes. They might be polar opposites, but working out their differences skin to skin, in the dark, seems to help their incompatibility a lot. But when trouble from both their pasts comes calling, Harlow and Hugh have no one else to lean on. Can they trust one another enough to make it through the hard times together… or will their tentative truce fall apart?

My Thoughts:

Harlow has been involved in humanitarian operations for most of her life, having an inherent need to help people. Most just write it off as a guilt reaction to being the daughter of a very wealthy man, but it goes so much deeper for Harlow than that.  However, three years ago she took some time off to spend the summer with her pregnant sister, Tierney, at Split Rock Ranch, and met a sexy and very broody cowboy, Hugh. Unfortunately, their relationship didn’t end well and Hugh broke her heart. She doesn’t look forward to seeing him again, but that can’t be helped when her father suffers a heart attack and decides to recover at the Ranch with his daughters.

Hugh knows he screwed up big time with Harlow three years earlier. After a bitter divorce, he was plagued by cold feet and fear, and he let that creep into his feelings for Harlow. Now that Harlow has returned, he’s determined to show her just how much she means to him. What he doesn’t know is that in addition to being angry and hurt by him, Harlow’s also dealing with the nightmare she went through on her last mission. 

I love me a sexy cowboy, and Hugh fit that bill perfectly!  Well, present day Hugh did, anyway.  The story is told with flashbacks to the past so we know exactly what went down, and he definitely deserved Harlow’s anger.  The present Hugh doesn’t let his bitter divorce guide his actions anymore.  He’s a passionate, protective and supportive man, everything Harlow needs and deserves.  While Harlow was angry, it’s not long before their mutual intense attraction, and Hugh’s groveling, override her will to stay away from him. Please take note men: Never underestimate the power of groveling!  

Harlow was sweet and a naturally nurturing person.  She gets flack and snap judgments from people when they hear about her humanitarian endeavors, especially when they find out she comes from a rich family, and it was really unfair.  Even her sister and father were condescending over her choices, so I was happy they got some time together to sort out all of that out.  Her relationship with her father is rocky at best, but a healing and understanding take place with their time at Split Rock Ranch.  When I discovered what Harlow’s father did to get her out of the nightmare situation she was stuck in on her last mission, I couldn’t help but soften my feelings for the man. 

There were some fun times and a lot of them involved the Mud Lilies, a group of hot-to-trot older mature women.  These women were a riot from their fashion choices to their impulse control, and use of firearms.

“Reenact William Tell with a cantaloupe and a forty-five, just one time, and everyone looks at you sideways. It’s not fair,” Vivien complained.  “It wasn’t like I missed.”

Wrapped and Strapped was a second chance romance at its best: steamy and hot, but so much more. While Harlow and Hugh worked through their past, there were a lot of deep emotions unearthed.  They connected, and grew as friends in the past, but Hugh’s hang-ups always got in the way.  I enjoyed seeing the change from the past to present and they grew closer even still as they spent long hours working and sleeping together.

4 Suns