Legal Ease Tour Stop!! ~ Crystal's Many Reviewers

Jack Sutton is a man who's used to getting his way. So when his mother's will forces his hand, he does the only thing he can. Jack cuts a deal with the confident, sexy law school student who walks into his office with a proposition he can't refuse.

The deal may have kept Jack in control at Sutton Capital but his private life quickly spirals out of control. Just when Jack realizes that he wants more than a year with Kelly, his wealth puts her in great danger and he is left scrambling to save her life and their future together.

Warning: This title is intended for readers over the age of 18 as it contains adult sexual situations and/or adult language, and may be considered offensive to some readers.

“Jack, darling…” Jack’s Aunt Mabry breezed into the room. “I’ve decided to redo my kitchen and the downstairs floor of my townhouse. Chad has a friend staying with him right now so I need to stay at your place for a few weeks until my kitchen is completed.”

Jack had to work to keep from rolling his eyes. He knew perfectly well what Aunt Mabry was doing. She wanted to spy on him and Kelly. There was no way she’d be redoing her kitchen if she didn’t want an excuse to stay with him. And she would normally stay at the Omni downtown or at a spa by the water instead of with him. She had never stayed at his house before, not for a day in his life, even when his mother was alive.

She was spying. He was sure of it. His mind filtered through the excuses he could give her but when he quickly weighed all of the factors, he decided it was best to just let her move in for a bit to get her off their backs. Besides, if his aunt were around he and Kelly would have to pretend to be husband and wife a lot more often, and he liked pretending that where Kelly was concerned.

With unexpected enthusiasm, Jack smiled and said, “Sure thing, Aunt Mabry. You’re welcome anytime. When do you need to move in?”

“Right now,” she said with a Cheshire Cat grin. “I’ll just head over there right now.”

With that announcement, she walked out of the office as breezily as she had waltzed in. Jack stared after her for a minute when suddenly it dawned on him. Kelly and he didn’t share a room. Oh, hell. His aunt wouldn’t buy the happily-ever-after marriage if she found out he and Kelly didn’t share a room. He grabbed the phone to try to catch Kelly or Mrs. Poole in time to warn them.

***

Kelly whipped through the house and up the stairs, calling out for Mrs. Poole as she ran. “Mrs. Poole, come quickly! We have to move. We have to move.” Kelly continued yelling as she ran into her room and grabbed drawers full of clothes and piled hangers with slacks and dresses on them.

Mrs. Poole came up the stairs with a puzzled look on her face. “What on earth are you hollering about, Kelly?” she said as she tried to enter the room. She had to jump out of the way as Kelly made a mad dash to Jack’s room.

“We have to move all of my stuff into Jack’s room,” Kelly said, out of breath from her packing and running. “Jack’s Aunt Mabry is on her way here and she’s staying with us for a couple of weeks,” Kelly blurted out as she ran back down the hall to gather more of her belongings.

“Oh Lord,” Mrs. Poole rolled her eyes and followed after Kelly. She quickly grabbed clothes and toiletries and rushed down the hall to Jack’s room. She and Kelly repeated the trip half a dozen more times as they transferred everything and set it into place. Mrs. Poole cleared out half of Jack’s dresser and closet and made room for Kelly’s things while Kelly folded and put her clothing away to make it appear as though the two had been living in holy matrimony since day one.

Kelly put away the last of her things and took a deep breath. She turned to survey the masculine-looking room. There was a dark mahogany dresser and matching armoire against the deep green walls. Large windows looked out on the same beautiful waterfront view that her guest room windows had shared. She stopped suddenly and held her breath when her eyes landed on the king-sized bed in the center. Until that moment, it hadn’t occurred to her that she and Jack would now have to share a bed. Kelly’s smile fell away as she realized that keeping her attraction hidden from Jack just became a lot more difficult.

Legal Ease was an enjoyable read for me. The whole “marriage of convenience” storyline has fallen a bit out of fashion, especially in contemporary romance. Seriously though, what’s not to like about moving in with a rich, hot, shags-like-a-minx man? Sign me up! (Sorry real life husband…)

Kelly Bradley is a smart, competent woman who finds herself in a bit of a bind. She was accepted to law school but can’t afford the tuition (no kidding!). Enter Jack Sutton. An executive with his own set of problems, namely that he’s must marry by his 35^th birthday or his fairy Godmother will turn him into a pumpkin. Nah, just seeing if you’re paying attention. He must actually marry by 35 or lose control of his family’s company. Jennie, Kelly's friend and Jack’s secretary, plays matchmaker and introduces the two to save the day! They agree to marry for one year so Jack can keep his company and Kelly can pay for law school. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, right? Of course not!

This is more than an emotional romance

, it’s got a serious plot twist near the end that took this reader by surprise. I literally said out loud “Well, I didn’t see that coming” (and my dog looked at me kind of funny). This story also relies on a meddling aunt to further the plot line. She’s determined to out Jack’s marriage as a sham. For what she’s trying to do, Jack exercises some extreme patience and kindness towards her, which makes you just love him all the more.

I also really liked the characters in this story. Jack and Kelly just seem like people you could know in real life and would like quite a bit. They are honest and smart. What I really liked about the plot was that there wasn’t a bunch of drama in their relationship. In regards to the romance portion of this book, there’s very little angst. You simply read about the progression of two people getting to know one another and giving into an attraction that is very obvious. All the conflict is from outside of their relationship, so it didn’t follow the classic romance formula that you so often run in to. That was so refreshing for me since, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, Crystal and I read a lot. So, plots tend to run together. This one stood out. For that reason, and because it’s a fun, quick and interesting read, I give it 4 stars.

Amazon

Lori stopped by for a visit!!!

Top Ten Things You Can Do For Your Favorite Author

Do you ever wonder if there’s something you can do to support your favorite author? Especially if the author you want to support is new? Here are ten things you can do to help a new author.

1. Post a review of their work. Reviews on Amazon.com and on Goodreads.com are a huge deal for authors. A huuuuge deal. If you want to support your favorite author, write reviews often and early.

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4. Loan our books to a friend. I know. If you loan it, how do we make money? Well, we won’t. But, we may gain a new fan and that’s gold to a new author. So, if you like one of our books, shout about it and loan the book as often as you can.

5. Add our book to a Listopia list on goodreads.com. Don’t have a clue what that is? Go to goodreads.com and click on the arrow on the top menu bar where it says “Explore”. Then select “Listopia.” From there, you can search for lists that match some aspect of our books. So, if you like Legal Ease, you can add it to the list for marriage-of-convenience stories. Or if you like The Baker’s Bodyguard, you can add it to the list for romantic novellas. If you haven’t played around in Listopia before, give it a try. You’re going to love it.

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Thank you all for the support! I can’t wait to hear from you.

Lori is an award winning author and stay-at-home mom. Her second book, Penalty Clause, won first place in the romance category in Lcuky Cinda Publishing’s Annual Global Writer’s Contest in 2013.

Lori has had a number of careers before embarking on her newest adventure of writing novels. After graduating from the University of Connecticut School of Law, she practiced law for three years, working primarily in the areas of utilities law and intellectual property litigation.

More recently, Lori owned and operated a dog training business in Austin, Texas, where she specialized in aggression and became an expert in the field of dog bite analysis. Lori sold her dog training business in 2013 and is now a full time writer and mother of two.

Lori still lives in Austin with her husband -- who is endlessly supportive of her changing career paths -- and her two children, one cat, and three dogs.