Good story. Great plot. In my opinion, there was too much sex; unrealistic. Sex should be used to enhance the story not take it over. A good rule of thumb is that if it doesn't make the story better, you don't need it. This one had strong characters and a good storyline so it wasn't needed.

This book was gifted to me by the authors and the publisher in return for an honest review.

This is the first book in a new series and i liked the blurb and cover so i wanted to give it a try. It started out interesting with backstory and Samantha coming back to town for her aunts funeral. It's just slowly started falling apart from there. There's all this stuff going on in the area, drugs, trafficking and terrorists and yet these two are having sex every other page. Hunter is supposed to be the law and he's screwing around in the police station with Sam. To many people in the story and we don't know who they are. Lots of loose ends and after what happens to Samantha at the end of the story she's suddenly hunky dory the next day? No way.



Find out more about Lora Leigh and this series here www.loraleigh.com

I have read Lora Leigh in the past but it has been several years since I've read her so I was excited to see what new stories she has written and stumbled upon One Tough Cowboy co-written with Veronica Chadwick. The premise of this book sounded really interesting. There was a mystery and murder to be solved with some romance between childhood friends. Sounded like a great story. However I am saddened to say that this story was just not for me. I never thought I would ever say this but there was just too much sex in this story. Lots and lots of explicit sex and not that much detecting or crime solving for my liking, especially considering the hero is the sheriff and the heroine is a cop. I expected more action and I don't mean in the bedroom because there was enough of that to last me a lifetime. And here's a bit of a spoiler so stop reading if you don't want to read this but the one thing that pushed it over the edge for me was the explicit attempted rape scene, on the heroine no less. It was just too much for me. My heart couldn't handle it.

*I voluntarily read an advance copy of this book*

Normally an author I would read in a heartbeat but I could not find any interest in this book. I'm sure other will find it delightful..

Thank you.

This was an irritatingly stupid book. Hunter is the sheriff of a small town in Northern California. Samantha, a Detroit policewoman, has returned to the town where she grew up because her beloved aunt died. There have been three mysterious deaths recently in this town including her aunt and an uncle whom Hunter dearly loved. So they have a lot to investigate. Add in the ominous signs of drugs and human smuggling including terrorists that they run into. So do they focus on all that? Of course not. Why spend time on investigations when they can indulge in hot, smoking sex anywhere and anytime? I’d say that the ratio of pages devoted to sex versus those devoted to investigating the terrible crimes in their community is about 10:1. No exaggeration. They even have sex out in the open when they’re staking out the bad guys. Yeah, and then the authors try to convince us what great police officers these two are.

Add in that the title says he’s a cowboy, but the only connection to being a cowboy is that his family owns a ranch and he knows how to ride a horse. So if you’re reading this book because you like cowboys, just forget about that. And then there is this stupid commentary referring to people in the town talking in southern drawls and talking about outsiders as Yankees. In Northern California? Hmmmm, I don’t think so. It’s as if the authors aren’t even trying for any sort of verisimilitude. Why bother that when they can have sex every few pages? I’m up for a good sex scene as much as any romance reader, but I’d prefer a sprinkling of plot in my romances.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

Lora Leigh’s trademark OTT sex scenes with lots of nipple tweaking and headboard banging are all in evidence in “One Tough Cowboy”. I rocketed through it in one night, and enjoyed it overall with a few caveats. The book is set in northern California, but the book is larded with southern drawls and colloquialisms. I got the feeling that maybe there was a last minute set change that didn’t quite sync up? Anyway, here in northern California we don’t drawl, we don’t call people sugar, and yankees are a baseball team. The action felt a bit rushed at the end; what happened to the bad guys who didn’t get shot and killed in the action-packed ending?

Shocking as this may be but this was my first Lora Leigh book and definitely my first Veronica Chadwick. Who knew? That totally caught me by surprise when I went to good reads to confirm that fact.

Lately I've been craving more suspense because generic romance angst is growing tiresome for me. And this book totally fit the bill.

Hunter is town sheriff and not sure whom he can trust or not when suspicious deaths keep happening in his town. The latest death brings back Samantha to town. Sam and Hunter knew each other as kids. Samantha always had a crush on Hunter but he was older than her. While Sam was away she became a cop and now back, she wants to get to the bottom of how her precious aunt died, because she doesn't think it was an accident and Hunter agrees.

This book had a few layers and depth which kept me reeled in. Then there was the chemistry between Sam and Hunter which kept me hooked. It was steamy and suspenseful and I can't wait for more from this series.

Review by 2shay..........

Smokin’ Hot!

Wow. Just...speechless. The story sizzles while not ignoring the plot. This is one of those rare books that would have still been a 5 Star story without the sex. With the sex? ***still fanning ***

It’s not merely hot sex, it’s a sense of intimacy and a relationship blossoming into love. Very well done.

Samantha Jolene Ryder, Detroit, Michigan police detective, returned to her Deerhaven, California hometown for the first time in 10 years. She came back to attend the funeral of her Aunt Dottie. Aunt Dottie had killed herself. Nope. Nope, nope, nope! Sam didn’t believe that for a second. When combined with the sudden accidental deaths of her Aunt’s two best friends, all of Sam’s cop instincts were blaring out alarms.

More alarms were screaming at Sheriff Hunter Steele. His Uncle and the former sheriff, Zachariah Steele, was one of Aunt Dottie’s friends who suffered a fatal and “accidental” gunshot wound. Nope. Hunter wasn’t buying that particular load of posts, either.

Two cops. Both have lost much-loved relatives in a short period of time. Neither believes the official coroner’s reports. Something bad is happening in Deerhaven. They’re about to find out how bad.

Hunter and Sam have history, of a sort. Sam had a school girl crush on him, he liked her, but considered her a trouble making pest. Their chemistry sizzles right off the pages. If you love a great story with a hot romance, this is the book for you. Pick up a copy and...

Enjoy! ARC graciously provided by St. Martin’s Press and NetGally for an honest and voluntary review.

Amazingly, the sex scenes were what killed this book for me. The timing was so weird every time! They are in his office, she's upset, and he starts taking off her clothes and fondling her. In a police station. Where literally anyone could walk in any moment. Not to mention she is telling him it's not a good idea, but he literally won't take no for an answer. Her body says yes, apparently that is good enough (I know she's enjoying it but he should still respect her feelings on the subject). In another scene, they're on a stakeout and that seems like a good time to have sex...right? This book just seemed all about sex with a side of plot, which I like in erotica but not in a romance that is supposed to have a nice balance.

One Tough Cowboy by Lora Leigh and Veronica Chadwick is a sexy romance.

Hunter is a sheriff, a cowboy, and a sexy one... Sam is a cop and has had a crush on him for as long as she can remember. They meet again and it gets hot and steamy!
Also deals with terrorism, sex trafficking...

3,5 stars. Interesting, well written, but a bit slow at first.

Thank you for the ARC of this book for an honest review.

Hunter is the sheriff and is faced with a possible murder in his small town. Samantha a tomboy as a kid comes back for the funeral and finds that the the man who would constantly get her out of trouble as a child is the sheriff and investigating the case and is now attracted to. Samantha is a police officer in Detroit and wants to help figure out what’s going on which is more then anyone thought. The chemistry between these two is hot along with the quips

First in a new series of tough sexy cowboys who really turn up the heat. Samantha returns to her home town of Deerhaven to find Hunter with who she had an unresolved passion has become Sheriff. Sam is here to solve her aunt’s suspicious death and Hunter is having his own investigation of his Uncle’s equally suspicious death. The passion and desire get hotter but the mysteries surrounding this small town come to a life changing shattering conclusion.
I was given an ARC of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

RATING 4.5 STARS

One Tough Cowboy is book one in the brand new series, Moving Violations by Lora Leigh and Veronica Chadwick. This is my very first book by both of these authors and what a way to start the New Year. This had pretty much everything I love in a book. Sweet romance, smokin smexy times, and intense suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Samantha (Sam) Ryder spent her first eleven years in the small community of Deerhaven, California before her family moved away. She had known Hunter Steele her whole life and in her young mind, she loved him. She constantly got herself into trouble, just so he would save her. He was her hero. Now Sam is a police officer for the Detroit PD but has to come back to Deerhaven after the death of her dear aunt. One look at Hunter and her entire body wakes up. Hunter is about eight years older than she is. He has definitely changed. He is no longer the young carefree man he used to be. But so has she!

Hunter Steele is now the sheriff of Deerhaven. There have been three deaths in an eight month span of time in his town, all declared accidents. But Hunter knows better. He knew Sam would come back to settle her aunt’s affairs. One look at the woman she had become and Hunter knew she was going to be his.

First let’s talk about Hunter and Sam. These two were like a match to gasoline. They ignited each other. They practically set my kindle on fire they were so hot. They tried to fight their chemistry. But it was just impossible. And talk about stamina!!! I’ll just leave that there!

Then there is the suspense part of this book. There have been three suspicious deaths. There are some very obvious slimy things going on in the town but Hunter doesn’t have proof. The closer he and Sam get, the more he just wants to protect her but she’s not having it. She wants to help to solve the death of the aunt she loved. Add into the mix an unwelcome visitor from her past and I was biting my nails.

This story builds and builds to a peak and then has the sweetest ending that just topped it all off perfectly.

I do want to make one important note here. There is an attempted sexual assault. I feel like this fact should be made known in case this is a trigger for any readers.

I really did enjoy this book. What a great way to get to know these new authors! I am very intrigued by Hunter’s friend, Jacob Donovan and look forward to reading his story in the next book.

I have had this on be TBR pile to read for a little bit but once I got started I flew through it! Hunter is sheriff of Smalltown, USA (and of course a cowboy - hence the title!) but he meets his match when Samantha comes back to town.

I enjoyed this book and there was enough drama and romance to keep it interesting (although the drama was wrapped up very quickly and the end).

We are introduced to Samantha Ryder and Sheriff Hunter Steele in the small town America of Deerhaven, CA. Sam returns to Deerhaven to resolve her aunt’s estate, and to dig into the mystery of her aunt’s death and the other unexplained deaths occurring around town. Sam and Hunter become inseparable as the story develops, with many sexual escapades interspersed throughout the book. It was a difficult book to dig into as the protagonists continued to dance around their attraction more than their attempts to solve the crimes. The murders and mayhem of the town’s issues were seemingly resolved within 2 chapters of the book’s conclusion.

There was not much character development beyond the title protagonists, nor as much world building as previous books by Lora Leigh and Veronica Chadwick. We are introduced to numerous other characters without much understanding as to their roles in the book. The obvious villainy of certain characters was just as flat as their descriptions. Overall, One Tough Cowboy has potential but becomes lost and disjointed in its final resolution.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me review this book.

One Tough Cowboy is a hot, steamy, sexy romance with a captivating mystery. To me, the mystery was the attraction. The plot was fast paced & action packed. I really enjoyed how it played out. Sam & Hunter are both skeptical of the deaths of her aunt, his uncle & a friend of theirs. It’s awfully coincidental that they all suffer “accidental” deaths. The coincidences & bear misses continue to add up. As Sam & Hunter start to investigate, their attraction is sparked & their lives are put in jeopardy. This is obviously more than they expected!

Samantha comes back home to northern California from her job with the Detroit police department because her aunt is found dead. They say it is a drug overdose, but Sam doesn't believe that. Neither does the sheriff who was her childhood hero and crush.

Hunter is already suspicious because Samantha's Aunt Dottie was the third person to die suspiciously in town. The mayor's wife, an excellent swimmer, was found drowned in a fish pond; Hunter's Uncle Zach died in a hunting accident except he never hunted; and now Dottie. All three were life-long friends.

After serving in the Special Forces and in Iraq, Hunter has come home to take over his uncle's job as sheriff. He doesn't trust the mayor or two of the deputies the mayor forced on him. He is sure something criminal is going on.

Hunter and Samantha's investigation leads them to a drug smuggling, human trafficking network that has branched out into moving terrorists around the country. But both Hunter and Samantha are almost totally distracted from their investigation by the overwhelming sexual attraction that they feel for each other and the need to stop at many inappropriate times to have sex. I skimmed over the many too-graphic-for-my-taste sex scenes and couldn't help but find them really unrealistic based on the other things that were going on.

I had a couple of other issues with the book. First of all, it is set in northern California and the characters have Southern accents. I didn't know, nor do I believe, that California was a Southern State. Besides the many sex scenes, many of the other parts of the book were "tell" not "show." Check the quote below which states that "little backwoods country towns were also well known for corruption." Really?

Fans of spicy romances and romantic suspense may enjoy this one.

If there is one thing I can always count on from Lora Leigh, it's the heat. Lordy can that woman write sexual tension like no other! Honestly, she can write anything and I'll read it just for that alone.

This wasn't exactly what I was expecting. We do have a few cowboys and Hunter does own a ranch, but this was more of a romantic suspense story instead of a cowboy story. Hunter is the sheriff and Sam is a cop from Detroit. She came home for her aunt's funeral and gets embroiled into a scary situation dealing with sex trafficking and terrorists.

Hunter and Sam's relationship was the kind where they know they should stay away from each other but their attraction won't let them. You get the impression they never would have gotten together if she hadn't come back home. It at least made sense since Hunter is about 10 years older and only knew her as a kid he protected when they were younger. I was glad to see she didn't continue to treat her as a kid once they saw each other again.

Overall, the heat was high and the suspense was intriguing. Bonus, there were some hot eye candy on the side. Maybe we will get a few more books.

Holy smokes! One smoking hot read! 3.5 Stars
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This book took me by surprise. I’ve read others by Lora Leigh and thought I knew what I was getting into. But this story has a lot of pluses, which are awesome, but also some minuses as well.

I enjoy a great romantic suspense and that’s what this book really was. Very little on the actual cowboy aspect so I’m not sure why the title included “cowboy”. I think it would’ve been fine with sheriff because that is what this hot piece of man candy is. And oh, Hunter is so, so mighty fine.

There are parts of this book that were a little confusing to me. It’s set in California in the northern region just outside of Oroville, which I’m picturing in my head is in the area of Paradise. While it is the country with plenty of farm lands and mountains, most people here in California don’t speak with a southern drawl. Except for me because I’m actually from Virginia.

So when he was sweetening up with Sam, he would go into a southern drawl which was odd unless the author was trying to be humorous. Which could be; it just didn’t set right.

Another thing I didn’t get was the Detroit connection. It seemed odd that her family moved to Detroit and yet there’s a connection of the illegal activity between Michigan and California but it didn’t include her or her family. So I’m not sure how that even happened. - Oh and loads of triggers in one major scene too...

But regardless of the small inconsistencies, most of the book was very good. A ton of heat and sex throughout the story. In fact, we were even having sex at some very inopportune times, which did read very oddly.

Overall I totally loved Sam and Hunter together. I love the fact that they just knew they belong together. It was instantaneous and had been since they were younger. That makes for a beautiful connection and plenty of hot sex, which the authors did write very well.

An attention grabbing plot, plenty of steam and action that flies off the pages, and a sexy ass sheriff made this a read to remember.

3.5 stars rolled to 4 stars

Okay... I admit: I love cowboys. So when this title came along, I just had to request it. However, the story isn't very cowboyish. We do have a hot sheriff, Hunter, (from a cowboy family, so that is the only link to cowboys.. duh) and the little girl with a crush on the older guy. However, Samantha grew up and went to Detroit and became a police officer. So, now she doesn't need her childhood hero to defend her any longer.
When Sam's aunt is found dead, she returns home to investigate her sudden death. As the town's sheriff, Hunter doesn't want Sam to interfere with his investigation. But little Pixie Pest is all grown up now and she has a mind of her own. Sparks are flying and Sam and Hunter have to decide to give in to the attraction or to fight their mutual sparks. When more deaths and near-deaths occur, Sam and Hunter go on a mission to find out what is happening in their hometown.
The story is well written and the suspense is building up nicely. The constant attraction (and even sex during a stake-out??) is a bit too much. Therefore only three out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.