An Outlaw's Christmas by Linda Lael Miller

Synopsis: With his wild heart, Sawyer McKettrick isn't ready to settle down on the Triple M family ranch in Arizona. So he heads to Blue River, Texas, to seek a job as marshal. But in a blinding snowstorm he's injured -- and collapses into the arms of a prim and proper lady in calico.  — The shirtless, bandaged stranger recuperating in teacher Piper St. James's room behind the schoolhouse says he's a McKettrick, but he looks like an outlaw. As they wait out the storm, the handsome loner has Piper remembering long-ago dreams of marriage and motherhood. But for how long is Sawyer willing to call Blue River home?

As the gray skies clear, Piper's one holiday wish just might bring two lonely hearts together forever. 

My Thoughts: This is part of Linda Lael Miller's historical romance McKettrick series and frankly I was completely underwhelmed by it. The characters were not fleshed out enough and there was little conclusion to the added conflict. The characters fell in love with each other in a matter of 2 days (never mind that the hero was unconscious a lot of that time) and they were marveling at the admirable character traits of the other that left me wondering if they were having riveting conversations that we readers weren't allowed to witness. I have read several other McKettrick books and liked them well enough to continue reading them but this one was so not up to snuff.

However there were some positives. It was a quick holiday read and parts were simply sweet. I enjoyed some of the additional characters including a woman who works in a brothel. Her daughter is one of Piper's students and I thought their part of the storyline was very good.

Overall not a book that I would recommend to newbies of Miller's work but if you have read her books before and are a fan you will probably enjoy this one too. On a side note this book is not labeled a McKettrick but a stand-alone. Sawyer's brother Clay's book was book #15 in the McKettrick series and this one follows it. Sawyer is definitely a McKettrick so I'm not sure why this is not listed as such on Miller's website.

Deadly Gamble by Linda Lael Miller

About the book....She's got an uncanny knack for winning at slots, but her home-sweet-home is Bad-Ass Bert's Biker Saloon. She'd love to go deep undercover with an irresistibly hot cop, but he's got baggage as big as his biceps. She's survived a mysterious tragedy, but Mojo Sheepshanks hasn't quite figured out who she really is or how to get on with her life. And now the wisecracking Mojo is seeing ghosts-the real, ectoplasmic kind-and turning up baffling clues to her real identity. Suddenly a wealthy man is claiming to be her long-lost uncle . . . and she's being shadowed by an ex-con brother with a talent for killer mind games. As Mojo races to finally uncover the facts, she'll need all her savvy and strange new talent to keep someone from burying her-and the truth-for keeps.

My thoughts....Having been a fan of paranormal for many years I have read tons of vampire/werewolf type books and although many are so wonderful they tend to spend all eternity on my keeper shelf I tend to have a soft spot in my heart for other types of paranormal books. The ones that center around some sort of psychic activity really intrigues me. I admit, I love shows like Medium and The Ghost Whisperer and reading books along the same lines is just right up my alley.

Mojo Sheepshanks wakes up one day (or night as it actually happened to be) laying next to her dead ex-husband. So starts her life as a person who can see ghosts. Understandably she is a little shaken and this book relives her emotions and experiences of that first contact. The story does seem a little out of whack a bit because it takes place in the first person where Mojo is actually telling the story of her first encounter with the dead. I was a little confused at first because although she is telling us about seeing dead people I couldn't figure out why seeing her dead ex was so traumatic. When I figured out this was her recap for the readers benefit the lightbulb came on and I really started to enjoy the book from that point on.

I was a little uncomfortable with Mojo's name....I kept reading it as...Mojo-jojo which is a character from the Power Puff Girls. But after awhile I got used to her name as I got used to the first peson narrative also.

The suspense of the book kept me reading as much as the paranormal woowoo stuff did. Mojo's background is unknown to her and the mystery of her childhood that she forgot is very intersting as is her adoptive family. She has two sisters who couldn't be more different from her. Both are as interesting as Mojo herself.

After a little bit of a rough start this book just took off and kept me reading late into the night. Right after having finished this book I immediately picked up the second in the series to read more about Mojo.

Although a great book I am not keeping this one, I might read it again at a later time but will get it from the library should I chose to do so. So, I would recommend that you find a copy either at the library or a used book store. Definitely a book you would like especially if you enjoy books like Victoria Laurie's Abby Cooper Psychic Eye series and her Ghost Hunter books.