The Watson Brothers By Lori Foster

Summary

My House, My Rules - My House, My Rules is the first novella in Lori Foster’s series about the Watsons, three close-knit brothers from Indiana. This one tells the story of the oldest brother, Sam, an undercover cop who’s has it bad for a young woman twelve years his junior and whom he thinks is – or at least was – involved with his youngest brother. Between him being bothered by the age difference and not wanting to hurt his brother in case he still has feelings for her, Sam has been fighting his own attraction. Ariel is a woman who knows what she wants – and that’s Sam. She’s never been genuinely attracted to anyone else the way she is to him. Just to be sure, she went to a local bar to check out the guys, where unbeknownst to her, Sam happens to be working undercover. After nearly blowing his cover and getting bumped and bruised in the process, she gives him a ride home, where she basically propositions him.

Ariel is a virgin who saved herself for Sam, hoping that one day he would eventually take notice of her as something more than his little brother’s annoying best friend, but she’s also an outgoing sex kitten, which is always somewhat dicey for me. I guess I was mostly OK with it here, even though I’m not sure if most virgins would be up for Sam’s sexy hijinks right out of the gate. I suppose she’d been waiting for him so long, she was willing to do anything to get him in hopes of keeping him. Sam is a pretty intense alpha male, a little too much so for me at times. I understood that he was more or less trying to scare Ariel off with his red-hot sex play, so at first, he’s very much being the dominant. I’m sure many romance readers will eat that up, but for me he initially came off as a little too harsh. Later, he softened up some, and it was in those moments that I began to like him.

With the story being so short there isn’t much in the way of deep character or relationship development, but with Sam and Ariel already having known and been attracted to one another for a while, the connection was pretty good for a novella. The love scenes are scorching and borderline erotic with a little domination and light bondage. Add in a touch of suspense as Sam goes undercover a second time, a bit of family drama with Sam’s brothers, Gil (Bringing up Baby) and Pete (Good with His Hands), and a little humor, and voilà, you have this story. It might not have been absolutely perfect for me, but it was a pretty fun way to spend a couple hours of my reading time, and I look forward to seeing what’s in store for Gil and Pete as I continue with the series. My House, My Rules was originally published in the multi-author anthology, Bad Boys on Board, and was late reprinted in this single author anthology along with it’s two companion novellas. Star Rating: ****; Sensuality Rating: 4.5

Bringing up Baby - Bringing up Baby is the second novella in Lori Foster’s series about the three Watson brothers. This one is middle brother Gil’s story. In the previous novella he’d just gotten the shock of his life when he found out that he was the father of a two-year-old little girl he hadn’t known existed. The girl’s mother, a woman with whom he’d shared a business relationship and one weekend of steamy passion, has passed away in a car accident. But as it turns out, she hadn’t been much of a mother anyway. It’s her roommate, Anabel, who has been raising Nicole and whom she calls mommy. Gil has known Anabel for three years, from the times he visited Nicole’s biological mother on business. Although Gil was sexually attracted to Anabel, he always thought of her as little more than a tattooed, pierced free-spirit and not really mother material. But when Anabel shows up on his doorstep with his toddler daughter in tow, proposing a marriage of convenience to prevent Nicole’s grandparents from taking her away, Gil is forced to take a closer look at her and figure out if they could be something more.

Gil is a great guy. From the moment he finds out he has a child, he’s more than ready to take responsibility and become a father to her in every way. Even though he knows nothing about kids, he proves to be a natural and is wonderful with Nicole. I liked that he recognized Anabel’s place in Nicole’s life and that no matter what happened between the two of them, he couldn’t separate mom and daughter even though they aren’t biologically related. Also, once he realizes Anabel is the woman for him, he tries to prove it to her by taking care of her, too. The only thing about Gil that left me wanting is that it’s implied that he’s a wild lover with perhaps unusual tastes in the bedroom, but although the love scenes are hot, nothing particularly out of the ordinary occurs. If anything, I thought the first novella of the series was slightly spicier.

Anabel is a real stand-up heroine to have raised her friend’s child as her own. I admired that she wanted to tell Gil from the start that he was Nicole’s father, but it was the child’s biological mother who kept her from doing so. It’s obvious that she loves the little girl very much and is a mother to her in every way that counts. She’s been attracted to Gil for a very long time and was more than ready to give him anything he wanted in the bedroom. I especially liked that she felt that she could trust him to do the right thing. She may not have stood out to me in quite the same way that other romance heroines have, but I liked Anabel and there was nothing she did that bothered me in any way.

Because this is a short novella, there isn’t a lot of time to develop the romantic relationship. It helped some that both Gil and Anabel had known and been attracted to each other for a while, but it seemed that despite the attraction, they weren’t really what I would even call friends. If anything Gil had reservations about Anabel’s suitability as a mother. Granted he gets over it as he watches her with Nicole and realizes that he’s been unfair in his judgment, but because of his initial questioning of her, things seemed to move very quickly in the romance department. They hop into bed on night one for a “trial run,” and although the sex is great and I could feel a connection there, the leap to him being ready to marry was just a little too fast to suit me. Otherwise, though, I enjoyed Bringing up Baby and thought it was a cute story. Nicole is absolutely adorable and behaved exactly like a two-year-old should so that was a plus. I look forward to completing the series and seeing what’s in store for youngest brother, Pete. Bringing up Baby was originally published in the multi-author anthology, Bad Boys to Go, and was later reprinted in this single author anthology along with it’s two companion novellas. Star Rating: ****; Sensuality Rating: 4

Good with His Hands - Good with His Hands is the third and final novella in Lori Foster’s Watson Brothers series. In this one, we have youngest brother Pete paired with his good friend, co-worker, and next-door neighbor, Cassidy. Unbeknownst to one another, they’ve each been having lustful thoughts about the other for a while, but their mistaken impressions are getting in the way of them becoming more than friends. Pete is frustrated that Cassidy never gives him even a hint that she might be romantically interested in him and thinks that she only wants to be friends. Cassidy knows that Pete’s usual types are glamorous girls, while she’s anything but. Not to mention, she’s always thought she’d marry a guy in a suit who knows exactly where he’s going in life, while Pete plays things a little more loose and easy. Once they set their respective doubts aside, they discover a burning passion for one another no one else can satisfy.

Good with His Hands is a super-cute friends to lovers story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Cassidy is a no-nonsense girl after my own heart. I love that she’s no-frills and doesn’t spend hours primping. Between her and her sister, everyone thinks she’s the sensible one, which I could relate to as well. Pete is a real charmer and a total hottie, who has grown up a lot from his role in each of his brothers’ novellas. He realizes pretty quickly that Cassidy is the woman for him even though she’s not his usual type. The story moves very quickly with them going from friends, to lovers, to engaged in the matter of one weekend, which usually doesn’t work well for me, but this time, I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I think it was partly the fact that they’d had a very close, best friends type of relationship for quite a while before the story even begins, plus they work together every day and live in adjoining condos. This made the rapid progression more believable since they already know each other very well. Also, I could really feel an emotional and passionate connection between Pete and Cassidy. Lori Foster is masterful with writing hot, sensual love scenes, too, that helped to show just how compatible they are. This may have been a short novella, but for me, it packed a lot of feeling into a small package, making it my favorite of the series and ending it on a high note. Good with His Hands was originally published in the anthology, Bad Boys in Black Tie, and was later reprinted in this single author anthology along with it’s two companion novellas. Star Rating: *****; Sensuality Rating: 4
Review provided by The Hope Chest Reviews (http://www.thcreviews.com)