Customer Reviews

Somebody's Lover

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This is an anthology that will make its home on a readers keeper shelf instantly. Before the first story was over, the first chapter, I was hooked into the lives of the Jackson's and the excitment between Taylor and Jace in Somebody's Lover. Jace is a hero who swaggers his way right into the reader's heart. He wants his woman but his love for his family comes first -- of course that is until he just can't take it anymore -- but it's not an easy decision for him. I felt for Taylor, for trying to move on after her husband's death. This is the hottest and sexiest story of the three, and starts the antho off with a bang...

Somebody's Ex -- is as tension-filled as the previous story, but I found also a bit more whimsical and comical. Randi is a delightful woman who also wants to move on, but she's swept away by the appearance of David Jackson in her life. She's more fanciful than Taylor, whose much more down to earth, but Randi is simply a heroine who is who she is. Her companion as well, adds a sparkle to the story that gives it a light-hearted feel. Randi works her way into the readers heart just the same. David is more straight-laced (for lack of better word) --- first impressions are not always accurate -- and David surprises his reader. A delightful second story in the anthology that keeps the heat rolling...

In Somebody's Wife -- we meet Mitch and Connie in the first story of course, and the curiosity of what is happening in their marriage gets the mind rolling and the heart thundering. In their own story, Connie surprises her husband, as well as the reader, and makes darn sure that she goes after her man -- who has drifted away since his brother's death -- and won't stop until she gets what she wants. Mitch and Connie are hot, strong and determined. Neither really wants to back down from the other...how they work things out, makes a reader sigh and smile.

The anthology as a whole is a pure delight. Reading three amazing and sweltering-hot tales from the same author, I couldn't ask for more. Ms. Haynes writes erotic tales with power, tension and keeps her readers coming back for more. The Jackson family has dealt with tragedy, pain and tries to overcome it. There is misunderstanding, anger but above all, love.

This is one anthology to be read over and over again. Jasmine Haynes is at her best yet with Somebody's Lover!

I have the blues because I've finished reading Somebody's Lover and don't have it to look forward to at tomorrow's coffee break.

This exceptional book tells the stories of four brothers and their women. One brother, Lou, is dead at the beginning but he looms large over the Jackson family, affecting the remaining brothers and how they view love and marriage, and themselves. Jasmine Haynes weaves Lou throughout the book in such a masterful way, you feel you know him at the end almost as well as the other characters.

And what characters they are. The brothers are charming and sexy as heck. A cold beverage and fan might not be enough to keep you cooled off while reading this book, but you won't be able to put the darn thing down.

I've loved everything Jasmine Haynes has written, but Somebody's Lover is my favorite--so far.

The Jackson family is changed forever when the eldest brother dies unexpectedly. In the wake of Lou's death, the remaining three Jackson brothers find new love, awaken a long-buried unrequited love, and renew an old love.

~Somebody's Lover~

Widowed three years earlier, Taylor knows the Jackson family can never accept another man in Lou's place as her husband and she accepts that. Still, she is still young, and three years is a long time. She longs to be something more than somebody's mother - she needs to be Somebody's Lover, if only for one night. Dropping her kids off to spend the night with their Grandparents, she drives out of town to a singles bar, where she wastes no time in both getting drunk and meeting someone.

When Jace sees Taylor in the bar wearing a leather mini-skirt and high heels, no less, his jaw drops. And when he sees a strange man putting his hand on her knee, the red he's seeing is not just her lipstick! He has loved her from afar from the first moment he saw her, but hid his feelings for his brother's wife for years. But she'll turn to another man over his dead body!

Although I loved each of the stories in this collection, Somebody's Lover is probably my favorite. Taylor was a wonderful leading lady, trying to balance single parenthood with her needs as a vibrant woman. Her resignation to live the rest of her life without a husband, out of respect for her husband's memory and his family was admirable, if somewhat misguided. Lucky for Taylor, the answer was in her own backyard, so to speak...

Jace. I could say so much about Jace. For me, he is what made this particular tale my favorite. His internal struggles are palpable, with his guilt over his brother's death, his anguish over the deep love he has long harbored for his brother's wife, and his torment at the thought of her turning to another man now that his brother is gone. I've said before that there is nothing better than watching a sexy Alpha Male clashing with a woman who can match him, but now I think perhaps watching him fight his own needs and desires in an attempt to do what he thinks is right is even better! Pair that situation with a woman who can stand up to him, and you have the best of both worlds, as with Somebody's Lover.

~Somebody's Ex~

David Jackson has never met anyone quite like Randi. She's beautiful, quirky, and completely unexpected. She has a way of catching him totally off-guard that reaches his guarded heart faster than he can blink an eye. But he's determined to keep their liaison at the level of `fling'. Too bad his heart doesn't agree...

In spite of the pain both of the lead characters have to work through in Somebody's Ex, this was an absolutely delightful story! Randi is truly a breath of fresh air, and it is easy to understand from the get-go just why David finds her so hard to resist, and even easier to understand why he falls so hard for her.

Throughout the story, each repeatedly brings each other joy in a variety of ways, both in and out of the bedroom. J But more importantly, each gives the other the strength to work out their most troublesome issues, proving that together they can get through anything.

~Somebody's Wife~

Mitch and Connie Jackson have been married for years. Mitch has always been a worrier, but since Lou's death, that worry has spun out of control. His concern over how to provide for another child has interrupted their love life for months now, as he fears they may accidentally conceive. Connie is determined to find a way to spice up the bedroom to the point where Mitch can't resist her, and finds some very creative ways to do it!

I'll just say it - I am not usually drawn to stories about a marriage that has gone stale, or is on the rocks. That said, I really loved Haynes' third story in this collection, Somebody's Wife. In fact, having enjoyed this one so much, I'll not be so hesitant to give other books with a similar theme a chance in the future.

Connie was ingenious in her efforts to seduce her husband Mitch. Her efforts are amply rewarded in the bedroom, but their problems lie deeper than that. Before the story is over, both Mitch and Connie learn that sometimes the goals in your marriage evolve and change, and that both members of the partnership must learn to adapt and compromise together if they are to keep their marriage alive.

"Somebody's Lover". Just outside of Willoughby, California, Jace Jackson is shocked to find his sister-in-law Taylor in a dive. A widow mother of two, Taylor wants the touch of a good man, something she misses since her beloved spouse Lou died. Though he has some doubts about the ethics Jace begins seeing Taylor. As they fall in love, they fear the reactions of her children and his family.

"Somebody's Ex". Jace's brother David is upset with his sibling for stomping on the memory of Lou. However while driving his pickup he stops to help divorcee Randi Anderson and her "family" dog Royal. They begin seeing each other as he wants an affair, but she thinks she has found her soulmate this time around.

"Somebody's Wife". Connie is worried that the third Jackson brother Mitch is having an affair so she decides to seduce him. However, her efforts fail to bring Mitch out of his funk as she does not realize he is obsessed with money and caring for her and their two children if he should die since she gave birth to their second child.

The Jackson Brothers, their women, their children, and their parents provide the audience with three delightfully torrid romances within a nurturing family drama as each of the couples has different critical issues to confront.

Harriet Klausner

With this collection of three stories about the wonderfully sexy Jackson brothers, Jasmine Haynes has made me fall in love with each of these amazing men, and added to my "Keeper" shelves.

In Somebody's Lover, Jace Jackson has loved Taylor for almost half his life. Though she married his eldest brother, Lou, and is now widowed three years later, Jace still suffers from guilt over his brother's death. He blames himself and therefore does not think he deserves a woman as beautiful and wonderful as Taylor. Until the night he spies her in a pick-up bar, Jace has never thought to do other than help care for her and his brother's children. Once he sees her trying to pick up a man, and tastes one kiss from her, all bets are off, and Pandora's Box is opened. He can't hide his feelings any longer, though he knows his family will never accept he and Taylor as a couple, he can't help but love her with everything he is.

Not only did Jace and Taylor burn up the pages with their hot and steamy love scenes, the romance drawn by Jasmine Haynes was so beautiful, I found it hard to put the book down. Jace was a hero among heroes, and gave everything he had to Taylor. His guilt and self-condemnation was heartbreaking and brought tears to my eyes many times. Somebody's Lover is a lovely and poignant story that will live in my memory for a very long time.

In Somebody's Ex, Randi Anderson returns to Willoughby after a failed marriage, trying to pick up the pieces of her life and her self-esteem once again. Her father and her ex-husband have viewed Randi as stupid and treated her as if she can do nothing right. Running out of gas on the side of the road, she meets David Jackson, after he almost runs her over with his truck. A nice "normal" guy, she begins to fall hard and fast, but has no use for a man who wants to control her, like her father and ex-husband had done. David will have to overcome his feelings of anger over Lou's death in order to move on from always being "the careful one-the responsible one" in the Jackson family. It will take almost losing Randi for David to get his head on straight...

Somebody's Ex is a charming story of two people and their discovery of love and trust as well as their own self-worth in the most unexpected places. David and Randi were fabulous characters, both dealing with feelings long buried and denied. Using a mix of wit and laughter, the author transformed the initial lust they shared into a beautiful love story. Romantic and emotional, this story had it all; I loved it!

In Somebody's Wife, Connie is afraid she is losing her husband Mitch. She wants a baby in the worst way, while he is obsessed with pinching pennies. Though married for ten years, they are still in love, but lately they have been fighting much more than talking or making love. When Connie visits a sex toy shop in the neighboring town, she has plans to shake up her marriage and make Mitch unable to resist her any longer.

Though I started out not liking Mitch or Connie's characters from the previous stories, I soon began to see how Lou's death had affected Mitch as well as Connie. Connie was a very self-centered individual who seemed to be all about "me-me-me", while Mitch seemed like a money-obsessed cold fish. It soon became apparent how wrong I was; this couple as well as the other two really burned up the pages, and showed that even the most successful marriage can grow stale without a little freshness added sometimes, and how misunderstandings and not talking to each other can breed resentment and distrust.

Bravo, Ms Haynes, SOMEBODY'S LOVER has earned a place on my "Keeper" shelves. Running the spectrum of emotions, this book made me cheer for the underdog, cry for the heartbreak, and sigh over the sheer romance of the stories and characters. This is a beautiful and poignant book about a very realistic tragedy and its effects on those closest to the victim.

Lettetia Elsasser

Somebody's Lover is a collection of three erotic novellas surrounding one family in Willoughby, California. The Jackson family is headed by Arthur and Evelyn Jackson, a hardworking couple who own their own landscaping business and have four sons. These stories all begin a little more than a year after the death of their oldest son, Lou. Lou's death was hard on the entire family, but particularly on his brother's. Each of these stories deals with one of the brothers, and how he's reacting to Lou's death and the effect it has on his search for love and happiness.

The first story is Somebody's Lover. This tale begins with Lou's widow chatting up some guy in a honky-tonk bar near her house. Taylor loved her husband, but it's been more than a year and she needs to feel the weight of a man again. She wants to be more than just somebody's widow and somebody's mother--she wants to be somebody's lover. Unluckily for her (depending on how you look at it), the first time she tries to make that happen, she runs into Jace, Lou's youngest brother. Jace has always had a crush on Taylor, but since she was his brother's wife he stifled it. Still seeing her flirt with some stranger when she should be at home with his nephews gets Jace angry and he storms over to lead her away. Only Taylor comes on to him in the car and lets him know that she's more than just a mother, she's a woman and she needs a man. Taylor isn't afraid to voice her opinions or ask for what she wants. She loved her husband, and is initially worried about how the family will react to her relationship with Jace. But she also knows she has to do what's best for her so she's willing to face their criticism. And Jace is guilt ridden because he feels responsible for Lou's death--he's only making things worse by stealing Lou's wife. But he can't resist the attraction between himself and Taylor and refuses to deny himself something he's always wanted. This story is explicit, engaging, and a great beginning to this erotic collection.

The second story in the collection is Somebody's Ex and features David, the second son and now the eldest. David quits his job at his parent's landscaping company so that he can do something for himself for once. He's sick of living in the shadow of Lou's death, and being at work is a constant reminder for him. He's driving home after telling his parents when he runs into a damsel in distress on the side of the road. With a short skirt and an unruly dog that smells like skunk, Randi Andersen is exactly what he needs to take his mind of things. Randi has just moved back to California after divorcing her husband and works in her parents' Norwegian grocery store. Randi has to listen to her father's constant belittlement and complaints that now all she'll ever be is someone's ex. But Randi wants more than that for herself, and when she meets David Jackson she begins to think she might get it. The connection between these two is instantaneous, even though they don't initially seem like it would work. Randi is a bit off the wall, lets her dog sleep in the bed with her, and is used to men treating her like crap. David, on the other hand, is terrified of commitment, doesn't really know what he wants, and is just trying to make his own way for once. But they latch on to one another and support each other through their problems, which makes it work. This is probably the lightest of the three stories, though it's still very good.

Finally, there's Somebody's Wife, which is about Mitch, the third son, and his wife, Connie. Mitch took Lou's death as a reminder that nothing is certain, and it made him neurotic in that he now scrimps and saves, complaining about ever penny spent, because he knows that nothing is certain and he doesn't want to leave his wife and child in lurch like Lou did. His neuroses, however, are beginning to affect his marriage. Connie wants to expand their family and even believed she was pregnant, which caused Mitch not to touch her for two months. In an effort to save her marriage, and convince Mitch to have another child, Connie visits a sex shop in a nearby town and buys some toys guaranteed to get her husband's attention. Connie and Mitch's story is a nice chance, because I think generally in erotica you don't get to read about couples who are already married. This is a story that shows that marriage isn't all sunshine and roses, it's hard work. The push and pull between Connie and Mitch made this story worthwhile, and it had me wondering if they could work it out.

As a collection, Somebody's Lover is well rounded, well written, and enjoyable. As erotica, it's full of passionate scenes, strong sexual tension, and vivid descriptions that will leave you physically hot. I really enjoyed this collection and look forward to reading more of Jasmine Haynes's work.

This is the first book that I have read by this author and it will not be the my last. First let me warn you this book is hot...okay hotter than hot...I thought my fingers were going to burn holding the book that's how hot this book is. Grab a cold drink because you're going to need it to cool yourself off. I read this book in one day...I could not put it down.

This book is about three brothers...one as sexy as the next and each story centers around a brother and theres a great ending that wraps up all three storylines.

I'm not going to get into the storylines other reviewers have done that already, but if your looking to read a burning anthology I highly recommend this book.

Jasmine Haynes is one of my all=time favorite writers of romance and erotic romance. I find her stories to be sensitive,emotional, enticing and multi-layered, especially for the erotic genre. I like her insights on her characters, the dialogue and the sexual tension/heat. I love all three stories in this collection- good to see something from slightly risque- the first story- to the ups and downs of a long-term marriage- the last story.

Can't help get involved with the Jackson brothers..., laughter, and tears .. And for a little twist great adult read.. Wish this boys were real.. Jasmine Haynes amazing writer right on target That is does take a real man to love a woman right..

The author did a nice job with hot and steamy details. Yet the rest of the story was well written. The characters' personalities were fully developed. You will wanna know what's going to happen to all of them. The book is excellen for everyone who loves romance novels and loves a litle "extra".