Sunny Chandler's Return by Sandra Brown

Hero: Ty Beaumont
Heroine: Sunny Chandler
Category: Contemp
Page Count: 209, HB
Grade: B-
Buy It: Here, here or here.

Sandra Brown has won over fans and critics throughout
the world with more than fifty New York Times
bestselling novels. Her early works were hailed by
Rendezvous magazine as stories with “larger than life
heroes and heroines [who] make you believe all the
warm, wonderful, wild things in life.” Here is
the unforgettable story of a woman who returns to
her small hometown in the South—and finds
that the sins of her past are right where she left them.

Never. Sunny Chandler always said she’d never go
back to the tiny town where she grew up. It was just
three years ago that she was at the center of a notorious
scandal—and the good folks of Latham Green,
Louisiana, made it clear they’d never let her forget it.
So Sunny packed up and headed for New Orleans, and
now she wouldn’t give up city life for the world. But
when she’s invited to her best friend’s wedding, Sunny
has no choice but to go home. And with her return
come the whispers…the looks…the rumors she tried
to escape. It doesn’t take Sunny long to see that
Latham Green has nothing new to offer. Except
maybe Ty Beaumont.
The moment Ty and Sunny first meet at a party, he can
see she’s no ordinary woman. With her dazzling hair,
and eyes the color of gold, she’s a flesh-and-blood
fantasy—and Ty vows he’ll have her in his bed before
the week is out. Yet even when he turns on his southern
charm, Sunny makes it clear she’s not interested.
Sure, a night with Ty would be wilder than Bourbon
Street at Mardi Gras. But Sunny’s not in town to
become some good ol’ boy’s latest conquest, no matter
how sexy he is. Little does she know that Ty
isn’t used to taking no for an answer—and he isn’t
about to start now.

Soon what began as an innocent flirtation becomes
a tantalizingly slow, skillfully deliberate, and
overwhelmingly seductive pursuit that even Sunny
finds hard to resist. But resist him she will. For
Sunny is harboring an agonizing secret—the painful
truth of why she left Latham Green the way she did.
What she really needs now is a friend—and that’s when
she discovers there may be more to Ty Beaumont
than meets the eye. Despite his roguish facade, Sunny
comes to see he has a heart of gold. Still, she doesn’t
know if she can trust another person with her secret
heartbreak—not even the one man who may
be able to heal it.

I love Sandra Brown, especially the way she can write anything from a spine chilling thriller to a plain and simple romance. Well not really, cause there isn't much plain and simple about Sunny Chandler in this book.

Sunny's finally returned home after the scandal she caused all those years ago. And for nothing less than a wedding, her best friends. Quite ironic since a wedding is what caused the scandal to start with. Most likely it didn't help that she refuses to tell anyone why she did what she did, not her parents, not her best friend no one. So why one night, when the man that has been pursuing her since she came back to town, does she pour out her soul bearing all her secrets? Well no other reason except Ty makes her defy all reason. He's openly told her he wants to sleep with her, and in much more detail, that he's even bet on it with a buddy. So why can she not stay away from him? The more things turn against her in her home town the more she shares with him, and he really seems to understand. He's not judging her, and he believes in her. The more she gets to know him the harder it is to resist. And the more Ty pursues Sunny and the more she resists he realizes that there just might be more to it than getting her to bed, he just might be falling for her. And wouldn't that be bad with the secret she's holding on to.

This was a cute book, it was funny and a little sad. I was a little surprised with the scandal. Not the why of it, that's fairly easy to figure out. But the way she did it and her reasons for not telling. I liked Ty too, he was pretty arrogant but it worked as Sandra Brown has a way of doing with her hero's. It was a light fast read, nothing spectacular but still a good read.

Seduction by Design by Sandra Brown

Hero: Tyler Scott
Heroine: Hailey Ashton
Category: Contemp
Page Count: 183
Grade: C+
Buy It: Here

Hailey Ashton projects an image that she's on top of everything, but no one realizes that she lives a life of quiet emptiness -- not ready to have a relationship, not willing to give herself body and soul to a man. Never able to compete with her younger sister, the thoughtless beauty of the family, Hailey opted to be the "good girl." But when she meets Tyler Scott -- her rich, attractive new boss -- she longs to be anything but good.

Let me start off by telling you all I LOVE Sandra Brown. I've never hated a book by her. I mean of course I like some more than others, but a trait I love of hers is that she can make me like the most unlikable. Also this particular book was published back in the early 80's so some of the ways the characters act and dress are off. But in saying that.....

Haily has been managing at a theme park for four years now and loves her job. She is efficient and dependable. She never has viewed herself as beautiful, passably pretty maybe but beautiful? No that's for her younger sister Ellen. Ellen has never had to stick with a job, or be very smart her looks and personality have always gotten her by. But Haily has always been the one to go to, the dependable one. Even as her parents were sick and passing away she took care of them and they asked for Ellen.

So imagine her shock when there is a young girl at the theme park that needs her help and the girls father ends up being her boss that she's never met. And further more he tells her straight out that he intends to seduce her.

Now this is not normally a set up for a book that I would like. The hero actually says "I am going to seduce you" during the second conversation they have and then goes on to tell her how great he is and that he is attracted to her so what's the problem.

Throw a young girl in the mix, 11 years old. She has never lived with her father but her mother just passed away so she is adjusting to loosing her mother getting to know her father and needing a woman to go to for motherly things.

This is our story in a nut shell. And although SB wrote the book well enough for me to get over the blunt way Tyler starts off with Haily I could not get over the way the daughter talked. I mean she was 11 years old and I personally don't know any 11 year olds that say "Gee" before or after everything they say. Uggg, drove me up the wall.

But over all? I liked. I mean come on it is Sandra Brown did you expect anything less from me? lol.