A cowboy romance full of cowboys, a ranch, a former lawyer, suspense, and two characters that need to resolve their own issues. With a bit of spice and a story that flows you can dive in and discover a world that appears to have more characters with stories to share.

Jackson by laquette
I was new to this Authors work when I originally read the book. Texas Ranger Jackson Dean was supposed to be helping Aja Everett and her Uncle figure out who burned the farm at her ranch in a small Texas town. Aja spent most of her adult life practicing law in New York, until two years prior when she traveled to the refuge of her family’s ranch to mourn her younger sisters death. She’s on a mission to restore the ranch for a rehab facility for parolees getting their life together.

Jacksons brewing attraction to Aja made it hard to stay focused. He had to think of mundane tasks to keep his head on straight. Both Jackson and Aja’s attraction drew them together pretty quickly. The story had layers. Both of the characters were focused on who was terrorizing the ranch. As far as their personal lives, they also blamed themselves for things that happened in both of their pasts. In the midst of that, they succumbed to their physical feelings for each other. Despite their best efforts to spend just one night together, it blossomed to more. This was an interesting romantic suspense novel, and I enjoyed it.

When I think of thrilling reads, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels, thrills and can satisfies just about every reader's heart. This is a perfect books to snuggle up with on any day.

Jackson by LaQuette (contemporary romantic suspense, steamy) is a sexy romance laced with tension. Jackson is a Texas Ranger sent to investigate the vandalism occurring at Restoration Ranch owned by Aja. The ranch is a haven for those seeking a second chance and a safe place to heal. But ever since Aja bought the site, someone has been trying to scare her off so she would return to New York. Aja was reluctant to accept help as she thought it wasn’t serious. In steps Jackson and his team. Of course, there is chemistry between Aja and Jackson. But Jackson doesn’t do relationships, and he wants to concentrate on the job. However, as he spends days on the ranch with Aja, they can’t help getting under each other’s skins. There’s no doubt Jackson will catch the culprit. But what will happen once the case is solved. Is he willing to put his heart on the line?
I enjoyed this steamy read with a good balance of romance and suspense.
Enjoyment: 💖💖💖💖
Angst level: 😩 😩
Heat level: 🔥 🔥 🔥

LaQuette... ma'am.

This book was so damn hot that I had to put it down a few times, fan myself, get something cold to drink and then come back to it. Aja and Jackson are so complex but they work so well together. I also appreciated the curvy rep. But the plot twists??? I need the second book to get here ASAP.

All Aja Everett wants is to renovate the ranch that has been in her family since the Reconstruction era and turn it into a bed & breakfast. However, she is plagued by accident after accident as she tries to reach her goal. It's clear someone wants her to fail. When the local sheriff ignores her umpteenth complaint that someone is trying to hurt her and her project, her uncle contacts his friend, Ranger Jackson Dean, to find out what's going on. Aja doesn't count on the sparks that fly between her and the gruff, no-nonsense Texas Ranger.
Jackson is used to being in control. Therefore, he finds strong-willed Aja incredibly infuriating - and irresistible.
When yet another incident comes too close to being deadly and is so obviously not an accident, he is on the case, determined to find the evidence needed to put the saboteur away before the unthinkable happens.

Jackson is a complex protagonist, burned by his mother's abandonment and his ex's betrayal. Aja is plagued by guilt and unhappiness so great, she is her own worst enemy. There is so much hurt between them, but also a sizzling chemistry they can't deny. They both have to find a way to overcome their deep wounds to fulfill the promise of their attraction.

I'm not one for cowboy romances or suspense, but ever since I read LaQuette's Under His Protection, I have been eager to read more. LaQuette creates strong, independent leads full of passion and agency. Aja is capable, beautiful, and willing to take on the impossible, whether in her work as an attorney, the renovation of her ranch, or in trying to find love with the skittish Jackson. She's also plus-sized and the representation is absolutely perfect. I might have guessed the perpetrator by the end of the novel but it was a fun adventure nonetheless.

A wonderful start to a new suspense series.

My thanks to NetGalley for a review copy of the novel.

I enjoyed this start of this series, and look forward to the rest of them getting that HEA. It took me a while to get into this one, as the start was slow for me with so much background. It set it up for a while but it just took me to get to the juicy parts to keep reading. Aja is a high power lawyer who comes home to start over on her family's ranch. Jackson is a Texas Ranger that comes to figure out who is trying to kill her dream and later her. The sparks start to fly once they get in the same house. The steam comes next along with a lot of danger, twists and turns in this romance suspense novel.
This was my first time reading this author and can't wait for more of her. Steamy and powerful women!!


3 stars
4 steam

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Aja is trying to turn her family ranch into a resort unfortunately it appears either someone doesn’t what that to happen or they want to kill her.... maybe both. The fact that her two trusted employees are former convicts makes the local police a bit shortsighted when it comes to the goings on at the ranch. What started as small acts of vandalism and accidents has only grown to increasing danger when the barn is blown up right before Aja could walk in. Her overprotective family decide it’s time to get done serious help with the situation...

Jackson, a Texas Ranger, had been called in to investigate what’s going on at Restoration Ranch and protect its residents. Him and his small team go in undercover as ranch hands to figure out exactly what is going on and who is behind it. Is someone just after the land? Does someone not want Aja to succeed? Or is it something more personal?


From someone who grew up in New York and is a lawyer I found Aja to be rather naïve. She was also unnecessarily defensive a lot of the time. The instant attraction between her and Jackson was kind of annoying because they let it distract them from the start. I don’t mind it existing but they are two people way too old and too grown to act like that. His behavior was a bit childish at times. I’m also not a big fan of ye olde insta love and that was all over this. And Jackson had a whole lot of baggage. How he didn’t notice his father was seeing some one for soooooooooooooo long is ridiculous even if the father wasn’t initially making a big deal of it. Really though how you gonna say that your dad is seeing a new lady friend when he’s been seeing her for 25 years! A bit of a personal pet peeve of mine is people who taken the weight of unnecessary and undeserved guilt and Aja is one of those. She needed therapy like sooo much therapy.

I wanted to like this book but I just didn’t it wasn’t bad it just wasn’t great either. I did like the story of how the ranch came to be part of Aja’s family and why it was so important to her. And desire to give people second chances and her willingness to protect those she cared about. But the overcompensating for things in the past and just the behavior of the main characters... it just wasn’t great. And truth be told Aja is rather aggravating and Jackson is only a tiny bit less irritating. Honestly if I didn’t have to read it I wouldn’t have bothered sticking it out to the end. And I actually regret that because the end was so stupid and there was never an explanation for why this person did what they did or anything it was just they did it and end.

My first book by the author and it wasn’t a bad story it wasn’t great either. Until the last couple of chapters it was 3-4 but after that? 2 stars and a waste of time.

I started the story and read quickly, skimmed a bit, and then read the end and a bit more in the middle. I did not feel drawn into the story and had trouble relating to the characters. I am sorry but this was not a good match for me. I hope it will do well and be enjoyed by many. Thank you for the ARC though I will not be writing a comprehensive review as I did not read every word.

This book was so entertaining. I was drawn into the story from the beginning and was involved until the end. The characters were complex and interesting. I found the story to be well paced and engrossing throughout the whole book. I was invested in the couple throughout the book and felt all the emotions through both the highs and lows of the story. The chemistry of the hero and heroine is off the charts. Also there is suspense involved and I was genuinely surprised by the protagonist. It’s my first time reading LaQuette and I will now be going through her backlist. If you want an entertaining and well written book this is it for you.

Okay, when does book two come out? I am the queen of no patience. I didn’t realize Jackson was book one in a series. I cruised through this book loving life, then the end came and I panicked – I looked for more pages to turn. I was at the end already?!! While I loved the romance between the hero, Jackson, and the heroine, Aja, and I appreciated they achieved a happily ever after, I was not tickled that a major plot thread was left open to continue in book two. Although, I do recognize that making me crave for more is what makes a thrilling series. I’m already hooked on the Restoration Ranch series.

I’ve never read a book by LaQuette nor have I read a multicultural book, but I was head over heels while reading Jackson. With all those amazing plot twists, the writing style was riveting. I didn’t see the ending coming and being able to pull that off makes me classify this story as an original, well-done, unpredictable mystery. I was on the edge of my seat a few times during the action scenes.

The romance between Aja and Jackson was sizzling to boot. Jackson’s natural instincts to protect and Aja’s desire to help others often crossed hairs, but each had the best of intentions at heart.

The other characters in the story were well developed and I look forward to meeting with them all again when the second book comes out.

In conclusion, I can with good conscience enthusiastically recommend Jackson with the warning it might leave other readers like it left me, wanting the next book to be released as soon as possible.

Jackson appears to be the first book of the Restoration Ranch series. The author gives us a romantic suspense set in a small town in Texas. Aja Everett and Jackson Dean both have baggage they weren't ready to unpack, but as fate would have it, they are thrown together under an extreme circumstance; murder attempt/s on the owner of Restoration Ranch.

Aja has lived a life of luxury as New York's celebrity attorney. She has witnessed the good and bad of the system. Jackson, a Texas Ranger has vowed to serve and protect. But, when he's unable to save the one person he was in love with, it causes him to lose all faith in love.

It is long overdue for Aja to visit the ranch, and she doesn't hesitate when she is requested to come back. When she returns, she finds that there is a lot to be done.
Once there, she sees an opportunity to give others a redo on life by turning it into a place of all things restoration. This tribute to the land causes some unrest to some of the townsfolk. They seek to sabotage. Jackson was asked to go undercover to find out who is behind the mishaps at the ranch but, Aja and Jackson bump heads along the way.

I enjoyed getting to know this couple and seeing them get to a place of healing and putting the past experiences behind them. The supporting characters were an integral part of moving this story alone.

I am a newcomer to author LaQuette, but I plan to follow this series and other titles. The end left me with a few unanswered questions, which I hope we'll get in the next installment. If you love suspense and romance, you will want to check this out.

Jackson was a great start to LaQuette's Restoration Ranch series. I featured the book as Book of the Day on all of my social media platforms and interviewed the author for my blog.

This is a romantic suspense book about Aja who is trying to turn her family farm into a place for people to get second chances, like the one she is giving to her two workers who are ex-convicts.. Her place has been suffering from accidents but local law enforcement will just blame her employees instead of actually investigating. So when her barn is blown up she knows she needs to call in help. Enter Jackson who is a Texas Ranger and his two men Colton and Storm who are posing as ranch hands but are really under cover. I really tried to push through this book but after finding every excuse I could I decided that I needed to DNF. I always hate doing that but sometimes you just need to. I was really enjoying the writing style but I am just not a fan of insta love and thats where this was going. Thank you Sourcebooks Casablanca for my gifted copy for review.

He renamed it Restoration Ranch because the land that was once his condemnation to a brutal life became his redemption.

Aja Everett left her high powered lawyer job in New York to start Restoration Ranch, a project of her heart, on her family's land in Texas. It's supposed to be a place where people can get a second chance but as sabotage instances keep mounting, someone clearly doesn't want Aja to succeed.
When Texas Ranger Jackson Dean gets called in to work a case as a favor to a judge friend of his boss, he thinks the judge's niece is playing the spoiled princess card.
The danger turns out to be all to real though, along with the sparks between Aja and Jackson.

Jackson closed his eyes again as he tried to control his breathing. He’d hoped for short and simple. But this woman standing in the middle of his office, looking the picture of a poised, dominant professional mixed with a touch of down-home goodness, was as complicated a start to this case as Jackson could imagine.

Jackson is the first in the Restoration Ranch series and I loved the backstory the author created for the idea behind the Ranch. The backstory involves Aja's great-great-great-great-grandfather and his start as a free man, it grounded the setting for me and infused the purpose of what Aja is working to do, give parolees an opportunity for work and a second chance to succeed. We're plunged right away into the sabotage plot and I was a bit disoriented with what was happening as we don't get to see the scene that has caused Aja to be on edge, creating a feeling that I was missing some of the story. This doesn't last long however, and we soon learn that the town sheriff isn't taking Aja's concerns seriously, doesn't want convicts in his district, and in fact wanted to buy the ranch before Aja came from New York. These issues with the sheriff cause Aja's uncle to call in a favor and brings the Texas Rangers into the picture.

Why did a Texas Ranger with dusty jeans and boots make her mouth water and her mind wander to places it had no business going?

Jackson Dean (seriously, how sexy is that name?) doesn't take the case seriously until a bomb goes off in Aja's barn and she is injured. They decide to do an undercover case (only Aja knows they're TX Rangers) with Jackson and his two colleagues, Colton and Storm, with them pretending to be ranch hands while they work to uncover who wants Aja dead. After the bomb and Jackson is on the ranch, the focus shifts some from the mystery suspense and onto Aja and Jackson's attraction for one another. They have more than insta-lust but just by a smidgen, I would have liked to have more scope to their relationship. Obviously, a lot of the story takes place at the Ranch and I felt they weren't really growing beyond the just get to the bedroom depth. There were times that their sexiness did give me hints of Alisha Rai and Tessa Bailey.

Who would’ve thought Jackson Dean, the big, burly Texas Ranger, needed someone to make him feel safe?

I connected with Aja quicker as we get more of her character up front, how her relationship with her sister, family, and experiences have shaped her personality and drive to start Restoration Ranch. Jackson's story is doled out slower and if I had known about how his previous marriage and the issues that stemmed from it had went down and his mother's abandonment, I might have been more into or forgiving of his “I can't trust any women” very used hero trope. This might be another weird like of mine but I adored how Jackson said “Daddy” instead of father or dad, good father-son relationships are more in absence and this just added some love to theirs. In fact, I thought this author's strong point was in her familial relationships, added so much richness to her characters and story.

“All right, Ranger. I’m game if you are. But are you sure you can handle me?”
He pulled her into his arms, cupping her cheek, and leaning in close. “I can handle anything you’ve got.”

The pace of this was a little different, the mystery/danger plot seems to be wrapped up around the 70% mark and then Aja and Jackson start dating; when I would expect their relationship to hitting their climax of coming together, instead it feels like they're starting the build. The mystery/danger has it's obviousness and some anti-climatic as the villain is mostly off-screen and then some forced surprise as it ends in a cliffhanger to connect and lead into the next of the series. Jackson's friends and colleagues, Colton and Storm along with the two friends and parolees, Brooklyn and Seneca, Aja is helping, are obvious series set-up characters. The pacing didn't always work for me but the idea behind Restoration Ranch and the relationships behind and being built from it pulled me in and I'm curious to see where Colton's protectiveness of Seneca leads.

This was a first time read for me from this author. I immediately connected with her on social media. The writing in this book is superb, I really enjoyed the book. I think it did take me longer than I anticipated to get into the story but when I finally grasped the storyline- I couldn’t put it down. I am here for the representation of black love. Good work from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for the book. I'm not really much of a suspense/mystery reader, but this was good. I will say that it felt like the resolution took too long to get to, and I got a little bored trying to get to the end. However, I really enjoyed the characters in the book and would recommend to those who are usual romantic suspense readers.

Aja Everett longs to turn her family's ranch into a second chance safe haven for the formerly incarcerated, but some one wants it for them selves, and will do anything to get it, including murder.

Texas ranger Jackson dean was asked to do a favor by a prominent judge, who happens to be Aja's uncle. and that is to find out who is trying to kill Aja. He is attracted to her form the start, but his past is making him fearful of following his heart. The two of them must come to a decision to risk it all or leave each other alone.

This is my first read from this author, and I'd definitely would read another romantic suspense from her. This felt like a book that would do very well as a movie. There was not only romance, but excitement, danger and intrigue.. I am honored that I was able to read this book. The characters were also engaging. I'm hoping Jackson's team mates also get books.

Jackson starts out with getting to know Aja Everett, a ranch owner, a people pleaser, a woman with a mission. Aja is in trouble and the ranch that she owns is getting destroyed. Someone is after her and is willing to do anything to stop Aja from expanding the ranch and helping previous felons to reestablish themselves into society. In walks Jackson. a Texas Ranger, who is charged with helping figure out who is after Aja.
From the start, this story is very well written, The character descriptions really bring everyone to life and the author makes you feel apart of the story. Aja helps people and makes them feel at home, despite being in a constant struggle to keep herself and her ranch safe. The way the author portrays her selflessness is simply lovely, and makes you root for that happy ending. Jackson goes through a pretty big character arc where he is very set in his ways regarding love and marriage and then by the end you can see such a change in his way of thinking. Not just within his own life, but when looking at his dad's life too. It was nice to see the dynamic between Jackson and Aja and how their story played out. The ending had a little bit of a twist, that made me wanting another book.

Y'all there was so much that I loved about this book. Aside from the Black love, we have a full figured main character who embraces it and is portrayed as sexy and confident. Never did she say anything about how she wasn't okay with her body. Also, the damaged hero was so sweet and gentlemanly and never disrespected her. The writing in this was so good and binge-able. I read the most of it over a day because I needed to know what was coming next. The angst of them pining for each other through the book was amazing. I just wanted them to get together already. And the sex scenes were steamy as hell.

There was some Black history seamlessly woven into the story and I really enjoyed the discussion on Black land ownership and generational wealth. There is a mystery/suspense in plot in the story and I thought it was well done. The book was well balanced with the romance and the suspense plot line. The resolution of the mystery was interesting and not too abrupt either.

One con is that it took me a minute to get a good visual of what our heroine looked like physically. I couldn't get a good picture of her until about 30%. That's a minor thing but I felt it worth noting.

Overall, I highly recommend Jackson and I can't wait to see who the next books follow. I really want to read more from this author for sure.