The second instalment of Donna Michael’s “The Men of At Ease Ranch” continues the saga of a group of returned service men, with fractured souls, hearts as big as Texas and a determination to help others like themselves with demons on their shoulders and bitter memories of war torn countries.

Brick Mitchell earned the name “Romeo” through his ‘love `em once and leave `em’ policy, and has never apologised for his ways. But when the woman who claims his lips on a random dare turns out to be his weekend tryst from two weeks earlier, Brick is smitten. Beth Brannigan thought she’d never see the hunky Cowboy again, however the chemistry that was so all-consuming weeks ago has not abated, and letting this handsome man go may be harder than she realises.

Ms Michaels has penned a wonderful, heartfelt and sometimes frustrating account of two people drawn together, doing nothing wrong, but inevitably ripped apart by an inane Brotherhood code that forbids your buddy from fraternising with your female relative. 

The first two stories in this fabulous series are the Mitchell brothers, Stone and Brick, but there’s still so much more to come and Cord Brannigan better watch out, as he is definitely on Ms Michaels` radar!

This book was really hot!  I loved the interactions between Brick and Beth.  There was a bit of mystery during the first part of the book when the reader realizes the common link between the two before Brick and Beth know.  So you know fireworks are going to fly at some point.  And boy do they, not just the hot sparks between Brick and Beth, but the tension between Beth and her brother.  Can they all work it out or are they destined to never know how amazing true love can be?
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book provided byNetGalley.

By-the-book event planner Beth Brannigan’s best friend dared her to kiss a cowboy. She should have said no. Instead, she said please…again and again. If her brother finds out she’s dating—okay, kissing—okay, sleeping with—one of his military buddies, he’ll kill her. Assuming he doesn’t kill his friend first.

Former Army Ranger Brick Mitchum isn’t a relationship kind of guy. But then he meets Beth and starts to wonder if maybe it’s time he settled down. She’s mysterious. Unpredictable. Curvy in every way he needs… And hiding something. He’s just got to figure out what.  

Brick is one of those guys that keeps everything close and that includes friends and family.  Beth loves her brother, who also happens to be Brick's best friend and one of his Ranger buddies. A good part of this book is spent on some lovin' and I'm the type of person who likes some plot to my book, so this was an okay read for me.  I must be in a book slump because lately all I'm reading is books that have nothing but sex and no plot.  I want a good book with a plot.  Throw in some sex and I'm good but if every other page is nothing but sex then I am like an ADHD kid hopped up without their meds...I'm skipping pages and jumping books back and forth.  So why the 4 stars?  I liked the writing overall and I can overlook the fact that it was overrun with sexual content.  What I couldn't overlook was all the pouting Brick did because he couldn't date/sleep with his best friends sister when he thought she wronged him by keeping it a secret that she was "the secret sister."  OH MY GOD MAN!!! Grow some man balls and grow up!!  It's not the end of the everloving world or maybe it is because you're not getting your 20 times a day sex!  LOL.  All-in-all, if you want military turned cowboys in a sex-romp - this is the book for you.

I was given a copy of this ARC from the publisher on Netgalley for a honest review. All of the above comments are my express opinions and no one else's.

Her Secret Ranger is the second in the series.   It's as sweet and sexy as the first. 

Brick is an Army Ranger who, along with his Army buddies, have  dedicated their life to help those struggling with PTSD and returning from war.   

Brick and Beth have an immediate connection and don't waste time starting their relationship. They can't keep their hands off each other despite Beth knowing she shouldn't.   

While  I enjoyed the book I thought it could have used a stronger storyline in the beginning.  It didn't have the same cuteness as the first book however the ending was perfect.   

I was able to read an ARC for a honest review

This was a lighthearted, easy read. The cast of characters is interesting and promises plenty of stories to come. I liked the two main characters and enjoyed their interactions. I did find myself skimming the scenes where they weren't together, though, particularly where Beth was dealing with event planning stuff. I went back and read Stone and Jovy's story (the first book in the series), and I look forward to reading Cord's story, which sounds like it will be even better.

a well-developed romance. Good plot. Excellent writing.

I loved this! A great feel good romance with just enough drama not to be sappy. 

When Beth, an event planner, had to travel back to her hometown for her friends wedding, she decides to throw caution to the wind and has a weekend affair with a handsome cowboy. No strings attached. 

When she and her friend grab lunch at to county fair and runs into her brother, Cord, and is reminded why she doesn't do that ever. Because he is supremely overprotective and am ex  Ranger. But he friend had picked up on a little something that she has kept secret. Therefore, a little game of truth or dare ensues and she ends up taking the dare. That's how she finds her way back into this cowboy's arm in a very heated kiss. His name is Brick. 

She and Brick continue with their hot  and steamy affair and are really enjoying each other and the fate drop kicks Beth for a loop when she finds out not only do Brick and her brother know each other but the served together and not only is Cord overprotective, but in no way would be be okay with her dating a military guy. 

This gets really interesting and the feelings grow stronger but so does the danger of being found out . 

I loved this book. It is a wonderful quick read. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars... This had a couple of themes happening and all of them seemed to take over the story at different moments...
Overall, Brick was the most interesting and likeable. Our gal had issues which caused her to fib/lie about who she was and relating to the brother/friend...so that made it difficult for me to like her.

This story is heartwarming, fun and HOT! Brick and Beth burn up the pages until they get busted! Oooops!! Highly recommended for all romance readers that enjoy a HOT cowboy/veteran with a big heart and a fun, independent event planner this story is for you!!

In need of something to read that would spike up body temperature? You might want to consider Her Secret Ranger. The heat-o-meter is certainly hot on this one! Now, I don't generally read steamy book (most likely skimming the heated steamy moments) but even I couldn't pooh-pooh at the heap of sexy times - and believe me when I say plenty, I mean: PLENTY - on the pages. Credit to the author, whose engaging writing made the experience enjoyable for me!

The book is the second entry to The Men of At Ease Ranch. Honestly, I haven't read the previous book and -although there were are a couple of remarks pertinent to book #1 - it didn't disturb the fun of reading this. Donna Michaels writes a couple of delightful characters; a bit too perfect in appearance to my liking, perhaps (both had gorgeous face and bod), but of whom I could empathize. 

So, the gist of the story was the stranger Beth had a relationship with turned not to much of a stranger anyway. Brick was her big brother's best friend cum Army Ranger teammate. Knowing her brother's brotherhood ethic code of don't mess with one's sisters while falling for one of said brotherhood member, what's a girl got to do? Keeping both men from finding out the truth, that's what Beth did. 

Well, the keeping the truth part didn't particularly sit well with me. But I get where the heroine came from. So expect a bit of cat and mouse hide and seek on the story. With the bulk of the scenes the heated tango between Beth and Brick I mentioned earlier. 

I wish the getting to know part between the MCs was slightly more than sexually as shown here. I also wouldn't say no to some additional brother/sister moments to back up that hint of closeness Beth and Cord had. As it is, Her Secret Ranger is quite an amusing, humorous, and steamy read of lust turned to love cowboy romance. 


Advanced copy of this book is kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay first of all why won't anyone dare me to kiss a cowboy if i could find one half as good as Brick i would do it.I really enjoyed this book in a sucker for Military/brothers best friend and cowboys so i was in heaven with this one it was a great read and very well written i would recommend it.Its the second book in the series and can be read on its own but read the first one its great too.

This is the second story in the At-Ease ranch series, and although it is book number two, it can be read as a standalone. I have not read the first book (yet), but that did not change my enjoyment of this at all. Some minor plot lines from the first book were spoiled, but again, not enough to make me regret reading them out of order.

Brick and Beth are two incredibly likable characters. Even though Beth keeps her true identity a secret from Brick, she does it for reasons that make sense to her at the time. I didn't agree with her choices, but I understood them. Granted, I have no clue how she thought that going to At-Ease with Brick before telling him who she was could even be in the same realm as a good idea, but it almost worked. 

Although Cord's protectiveness was a bit over-dramatic, it suited the purpose of this book, and led to Beth's best moments in the book. I also wonder if his extreme reactions to “breaking the buddy code” will be explained in his own book, but I'm not going spoil anything buy making assumptions here.

This was a quick but fun read with really great chemistry. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a light read with a whole lot of sexiness. 

I requested and was granted an ARC of this book by NetGalley. I wrote this review because I enjoyed the book.

Her Secret Ranger is the second delightful romance in The Men of At Ease Ranch series written by author Donna Michaels. It's sweet, funny, and sexy. Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled/Lovestruck Publishing for the advance copy. Love this series.

Her Secret Ranger is the second book in this series by Donna Michaels. I enjoyed this story although the characters left me conflicted at times. However the story was well written and came together in the end.

Beth and Brick hook up at a bar, hook up again, then meet a third time through an amazing series of coincidences.  Or is it a coincidence? 

The sole issue in this book is that Beth is the sister of Brick's Ranger buddy.  Yes, that's it.  As a reader, it was frustrating to have such a ridiculous problem.  

I'm not sure I would choose to read another in this series unless there is some real meat to the story.

Two and a half stars. I'm afraid this novel tried to be too many things to please too many people and ended up being an unholy mish-mash that, in my opinion, lost its identity.

Elizabeth Brannigan is an assistant events planner whose boss is a control freak who takes credit for all her work and blames her when things go wrong. Her older brother Cord and his former Ranger buddies run some kind of veterans refuge slash ranch called At-Ease in the small town of Joyful. They also have a construction business on the side. Some of this may have been explained in the first book. 

Cord has always refused to let his baby sister, Lizzie, or his family meet any of his ranger buddies, even now that they have left active duty, and has always referred to them by their (frankly ridiculous) nicknames. The entire group are suffering the after-effects of a mission gone wrong (I think).

Beth, as she prefers to be known, is so under her older brother's thumb and his controlling ways that she has barely dated. Even when he was deployed overseas she didn't date because she didn't want him to worry about the sort of guys she was seeing when he wasn't around to protect her! And yet, apparently she had hot monkey sex with a sexy cowboy she met at a club and knew nothing but his name.

A month later she sees the same guy and, as a dare from her best friend, who doesn't realise that this is the hot one night stand, she kisses him in a bar. The hot guy goes by the frankly ridiculous name of Brick (and that's not a nickname). Brick (and I'm sorry but after a while I read this as "prick") and Beth have both obsessed about that one night stand and so they start a relationship. Until Beth, Brick was a player, never brought a woman back to the ranch, never took a woman to his room, never slept in a bed with a woman, never spent the night. His ranger nickname was (originally enough) Romeo. At this point I feel compelled to say that his brother (the hero of the first book apparently) is called Stone (I kid you not, Brick and Stone - words fail me).

Of course, Brick is not only one of Cord's ranger buddies but also Cord's best friend. Despite guessing from his posture and attitude that Brick is ex-military, Beth doesn't realise/suspect that he knows her brother, even though he tells her he works on a ranch, until he takes her to the ranch and she realises it is the one where her brother lives. Of course they guys have a code - never mess with a team mate's sister (WTF?) and so Beth KNOWS that the burgeoning love affair will be terminated if either Cord or Brick finds out.

Now, reading the blurb I kind of knew what to expect and I was expecting this to be a read by numbers romance but there were just too many things going on, this was both a sweet romance and an attempt at a sexy novel - so we got LOTS of sex, but not much erotica. Volume but not much heat. A cowboy romance, a one night stand romance, a special ops romance, a bad boy converted romance, a setting up your own business ...

I think this could have done with less tropes and more real feelings. I felt that Donna Michaels was just running through a checklist of situations with little consideration for continuity or plot, I didn't feel engaged with either Beth or Brick.

I liked the first book.  This one not so much.  The supposed heroine Beth, was truly a selfish person, that bugged the hell out of me.  There were times that it felt like we were in high school, instead of her being an adult.  The minute she knew that Cord and Brick were best friends, she should have come clean. She should not have put Jovy and Leo in a difficult position, and those two should have been loyal to the Rangers. That was the decent thing to do.  Yes, Cord was a  over protected brother, but he did it out of love, and supported her, buy sending his checks, and was there for her.  She should have given  more respect.  And I really don't understand how Brick could forgive her so quickly, she was a liar, manipulatIive person.  If she truly loved, she would have told him..  I gave this a three, because of the supporting cast, was great to read about them.  And now we get Cord's story.. I truly hope the reason he is so messed up wasn't due to I infidelity.

This book was okay. I didn't love it but I did not hate it either. It is definitely a hot book with lotsa sex scenes. It really starts out as a sexual relationship between Beth and Brick until they start finding out more about the other.

It did have its fun moments like when Beth's bestie challenges her to kiss the next single cowboy and she does and it is Brick. I also liked the angle of Brick working with her brother and him calling her Lizzie while Brick calls her Beth.

What distanced me from the story was part of the plot. For one Beth does not live in the city where the story takes place. She is in town helping her friend plan her wedding. So she is staying in a hotel. The other thing I did not like is that Brick is very temporary too. He is planning on moving on to a job in Vegas. To me both of that made it a story I did not want to get invested in.

I also found it really weird how distant Beth was from her brother. She didn't know any of his Seal friends, never met them. They didn't even know her name or even saw a picture of her. And she had never visited her brothers ranch or home. It just was very weird. I understood it was for plot purposes but they were supposedly close. 

The writing was pretty good and HOT, I just felt distanced from enjoying the story by these factors in the story.

A quick read story with the usual Donna Ranger’s heroes: men who cherish their women and proclaim their love for them, in private and in public (this time, in front of hardened ex-Rangers).
As much as I like the dimpled hero and the struggling heroine, and their chemistry, and meeting the men of The At Ease Ranch, that buddy code thing to not put a move in a buddy’s sister is not convincing.
It’s hard to see grown people argue with the heroine’s bloodline or a code of loyalty in these conditions – it’s puerile and even a bit ridiculous. But, of course, common sense prevails.

good addition to the series. I liked it.