Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Rough Riders, Book 9
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd.
Hero: Kane “Buck” McKay
Heroine: Ginger Paulson
Sensuality: 4.5
Date of Publication: June 29, 2010
Started On: November 6, 2010
Finished On: November 7, 2010

Raising Kane is my second book by Lorelei James and as it turns out, the second book that I tried out from her famous Rough Riders series. Since I am not much of a fan of menages and such and tend to stick to plain old m/f romances, I haven’t read most of the books in the Rough Riders series. The one book that I read though, All Jacked Up definitely whetted my appetite for more of Ms. James writing and I am pretty much looking forward to her November release Cowgirls Don’t Cry which is to feature Brandt and Jessie McKay’s story since the foundation of the story was laid out in this book which definitely has piqued my interest. So onto my review of Raising Kane I go.

The Hero: Kane McKay, identical twins to Kade McKay has had his fair share of running on the wild side. But gone are the days that he let his wildness define him and Kane is a man who is ready for the domestic scene regardless of the fact whether he is ready to admit the fact to himself or not. Kane has a chip the size of Mount Everest on his shoulder because he barely managed to graduate from high school and has always managed to measure himself on the short side when it comes to comparing himself with others intellectually. Kane’s description is a tantalizing one, depicted as having a body to die for, an angular jawline with a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee and kissable lips with dark blue eyes. Oh my! Nobody had thought that Kane would stick to the Big Buddies/Little Buddies program he joins to mentor little kids growing up without the influence of a male presence in their lives. And it is here that Kane gets paired up with Hayden whose mother makes Kane forget every sensible thought ever to reside in his brain.

The Heroine: Ginger Paulson is a single mom, a lawyer and caretaker of her wheelchair bound father Dane and Ginger wouldn’t have it any other way. 37 years old, Ginger has a streak of independence within her a mile wide which prevents her from asking for help even when she is desperately in need of it. Having been burned badly in the torrid affair that had taken place between her and Hayden’s father, Ginger keeps to herself and hasn’t dated since she moved from Southern California to take over her dad’s law practice in Wyoming. Ginger is not one of those dainty women who most of the time take the leading role in romance novels but rather she is six foot of curves in all the right places with red hair and hazel eyes that just drives Kane nuts – all in a good way. *wink*

Storyline: When Ginger falls down the stairs of her office building and ends up hurting herself badly, it is Kane who rides to her rescue upon Hayden’s request. Though Ginger is the star of every wicked and wanton fantasy that Kane has had for the past two years, she is strictly off limits because he is Hayden’s mentor in the Big Buddies/Little Buddies program. But that doesn’t stop him from wanting to kiss and claim every luscious inch of stubborn independent woman that Ginger is. Ginger is no more immune to Kane and his wonderfully wicked sensuality than she is to her body’s wanton desires to claim Kane as her own. The vulnerable position Ginger ends up in begins the ride of her life with the wonderful Kane by her side which opens up both their eyes to the possibility that what they have found in each other could be so much more, if given half the chance.

The First Encounter: Though there is not much detail into how Ginger and Kane had first met, the description of a memory that Kane still has of the time they had met makes  me draw the conclusion that Kane and Ginger had first got acquainted when Ginger had taken her son Hayden for his first meeting with his mentor from the Big Buddies/Little Buddies program which had turned out to be Kane McKay.

Time period: This story has a contemporary setting and takes place in Wyoming.

Awareness between the hero and heroine: With the first kiss that takes place between Kane and Ginger (which is long before this novel), the attraction between them is white hot and always at a simmer, ready to explode given the chance. Though its hard for Kane and Ginger to get together with Ginger living with her son and father with a full-time job as well and Kane busy with his ranch work, both of them have to get really creative to appease their undeniable hunger for one another which blazes out of control from the first heady experience with one another. Ms. James surely lights up all the fires with her characters and leaves no avenue unexplored with at times raunchy and wall-banging encounters and at other times scenes filled with tenderness and much love that just makes this a perfect read.

The turning point: Falling down the stairs proves to be the best thing that happens to Ginger in a long, long time as it opens up the avenue for her to see firsthand just how wonderful a person Kane is, not just when he lights up her bed with fireworks, but in the tender way that he takes care of her needs in bed and out of it. The love that slowly blossoms in Ginger’s heart whilst Kane’s heart is already at the point of no return is something beautiful in this otherwise hard and fast story.

Ending: A happily ever after with Kane getting everything he wanted and so much more from the woman he loves more than life itself.

Likes:

1. The wonderful cover. I have got to say that the one thing that always draws me to Ms. James’s books are the wonderful covers that always beg to be stroked, petted and opened up to unearth the wonderful delights that the story has in store for the reader.
2. ♥Kane McKay♥!! I was halfway in love with him before the first couple of pages and the way he totally cares for Ginger when she is in need of it just clinched the deal for me. His wonderful wickedness and sensuality and bad boy tricks in the bedroom totally goes with the tender and giving side of him out of it which just makes him the yummiest kind of hero ever!
3. Ginger for understanding the complexity of the man behind Kane’s wild reputation and loving him enough to accept him as who he is, giving him all the love she has and more makes Ginger the type of heroine who I can connect with. And I always love that in a story!
4. And oh those raunchy hot lovin’! Makes a girl sweat and want some of that lovin’ for her own! *wicked grin*

Dislikes: None

Recommended for: Fans of the Rough Riders series, fans of cowboy romances that feature raw and hot loving in the mix.

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