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Bluebonnet Texas #2
Once in a Blue Moon
At eighteen, Ty Boudreaux married his high school sweetheart and planned to live happily ever after on the family ranch. But after twelve years in a volatile, one-sided marriage, this newly divorced cowboy is struggling to put his life back together.
At eighteen, Bettina Blanchard’s goal in life had been to shake the dust of Bluebonnet, Texas off her heels, and with her baby sister now safely in college, that dream is within her grasp. But underneath Bad Betti’s tough exterior beats the heart of a woman with hopes and dreams, and she’s loved Ty almost as long as he loved his ex-wife.
When fate drops Ty in her lap, one night of passion leaves them dealing with a pregnancy and a marriage both have reservations about. Can a girl from the wrong side of the tracks and Bluebonnet’s favorite son find common ground outside the bedroom? Despite the interfering in-laws, a jealous baby sister and a holiday no one wants to remember, Betti and Ty discover that even though their happily ever after doesn't come easy, anything worth having is worth working for.
****
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2005 BY LIQUID SILVER BOOKS
At eighteen, Bettina Blanchard’s goal in life had been to shake the dust of Bluebonnet, Texas off her heels, and with her baby sister now safely in college, that dream is within her grasp. But underneath Bad Betti’s tough exterior beats the heart of a woman with hopes and dreams, and she’s loved Ty almost as long as he loved his ex-wife.
When fate drops Ty in her lap, one night of passion leaves them dealing with a pregnancy and a marriage both have reservations about. Can a girl from the wrong side of the tracks and Bluebonnet’s favorite son find common ground outside the bedroom? Despite the interfering in-laws, a jealous baby sister and a holiday no one wants to remember, Betti and Ty discover that even though their happily ever after doesn't come easy, anything worth having is worth working for.
****
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2005 BY LIQUID SILVER BOOKS
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
24 people are currently reading
446 people want to read
About the author
Amie Stuart
20 books183 followersAmie Stuart is the last of a dying breed: a Native Texan. She writes sexy, emotional contemporary romances set in small towns. In the past, she's worked as a receptionist, a daycare office manager, delivered pizzas, and was even a hairdresser for five years--all fodder for the writing gig. That and all those Barbara Cartland romances she cut her teeth on.
None of those careers can compare to her favorite job: writer. She's a storyteller through and through, even when she's keeping tabs on her almost-grown sons and many pets, or organizing promo and planning trips for her day job as a personal assistant. She smokes, she drinks, she writes, she curses--sometimes at the same time.
You can reach her online at www.amiestuart.com
And copy/paste the link to sign up for her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bo1GNT
None of those careers can compare to her favorite job: writer. She's a storyteller through and through, even when she's keeping tabs on her almost-grown sons and many pets, or organizing promo and planning trips for her day job as a personal assistant. She smokes, she drinks, she writes, she curses--sometimes at the same time.
You can reach her online at www.amiestuart.com
And copy/paste the link to sign up for her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bo1GNT
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 28, 2016
You know that one person you had a crush on for forever but it went unrequited? This is a wish-fulfillment for that scenario. Bettina has been in love with Ty for forever and a day, but right out of high school, he ended up marrying his long-time girlfriend, Rhea. Bettina, though heartbroken, put that part of herself away and decided to move on with her life, meeting other people and also becoming a successful business woman who runs her own salon. However, twelve years later, she gets the opportunity to spend a night with Ty, who's just coming off a divorce, and she snaps it up all too quickly. Now, three months later, she's pregnant, and the love of her life is asking her to marry him and make a family together. Of course she accepts.
I was really excited to see how this would go. I have such a weak spot for second chance romances, but they usually leave me irritated because it's the same old guy-fucks-around-while-the-woman-stays-celibate shit. This relationship dynamic, however, is a flip on the usual. In most cases, it's the h with a lukewarm/terrible sex life, while the H had enjoyed himself. In this case, the H, has only ever been with one woman, Rhea. Bettina, however, is referred to as "Bad Betti," and she rather enjoys sex, uncaring of what people have to say about her. She owns a salon away from there and is now trying to sell her place so she can get out of this little town.
And oh, man...such a good combination of tropes for me! I love second chance romances, unrequited love, beta H, non-virginal h, marriage of convenience...so what went wrong, right?
Well, the book started off very strongly for me. I liked how it was in the beginning, even with Ty's rejection of her post-sex. After they spend the night together, his brother, Tim, hints to him that he'd been the one to put Betti on his trail. And now Ty feels like shit because he thinks that he'd simply been a "pity fuck" for Betti. He's hurt by it, especially since he'd been originally so elated. He reacts, imo, in a realistic manner. I was even down with it after she finds out she's pregnant and they decide to marry. I was hoping there'd be a bit more resistance from her here because well...the guy doesn't love you (which he admits to twice in the book) and he's only asking you to marry him because you're having his kid. And you're in love with him. Girl, think this the fuck through! (At least make him sign a damn prenup!) I thought things went more than a bit fast here, but whatever.
However, I was fine with it after that as well because Ty was the sweetest, muddling through this new marriage after having just gotten out of another. He also has to charter new waters as he tries to reconcile the fact that this relationship won't be like his last; that she won't punish him at every turn, or that she won't abuse him in any way, and certainly not by emotionally or sexually depriving him. I loved that they had to work through that. I was down with that. But then that's kind of where things ended for me.
Their relationship, after this point, had way too much sex and too little anything else. Most of their scenes consisted of them having sex. And at first I was fine with Betti's motivations for it (trying to show him love and affection physically, which he was previously deprived of) but then it didn't make for good reading. I was waiting for them to connect without it having to do with sex, but almost every interaction devolved into sex. And then the family drama got thrown in there and I think that the novel just lost focus.
I wanted to give this novel a good rating simply for the H, Ty, but I had several issues with it that're keeping me from doing so. First is to do with the sex. Like I mentioned, it was waaaay too much sex for me. Even if I loved everything about this book, the most I'd have been able to give it would've been a four because it was too much sex and too little emotional development for me. But, to do with the sex in specific, also like I've mentioned, I did like the flip on the usual manwhore H-virgin/inexperienced h trope.
With Ty, he's only ever been with one woman previously. Although there're not specific mentions of what he did do with her, it's made pretty clear that it wasn't anything wild or crazy. He loved Rhea, which he admits to openly. However, she abused him, assaulting him physically, while also using emotional and sexual means as a way to hurt him further. She controlled him sexually, making him feel ashamed for having sexual thoughts or feelings, and humiliating him for having desires. And she was also the type to not do anything but the ordinary. It's noted that his first experiences of giving or receiving of oral sex is with Bettina. (There's even one hilarious scene in which he has to ask his manwhore brother, Tim, how to go down on a woman.)
With Bettina, it's not mentioned what she has done, but she is experienced. When Ty and Rhea got married, I loved that the author didn't write what authors regularly do with second chance romances. I love that even though Betti admits to having always loved Ty since the fifth grade, she didn't sit around and wait for him to break up and finally notice her, pining away for him all that time. She loved him, sure, but she didn't put her own life, love, and sex on hold, standing in a corner, waiting for him to finally glance her way. Faaaar too many books have these situations and it pisses me off so much, especially since, more often than not, this isn't the case IRL.
The only issue I had here was with Tim, Ty's adopted brother. In the first chapter, it's made pretty clear that Betti's slept with Tim. It wasn't in your face throughout the book or anything, with the only mention of it in the very first chapter, but I didn't like reading about it regardless. I'm not really down with the whole getting-down-with-one's-siblings thing (biological or not). At first, I didn't let it bother me because, I dunno...maybe it's par for the course when it comes to small towns? She says it's a town of 5000, which is much different from what I'm used to, which is a city of millions, so I guess I can see how it'd be slim pickings? I dunno. (I just don't think it'd be fair of me to impress my big-city thoughts and views on small-town living.) I also found myself being slightly relieved because Ty and Tim aren't biological brothers.
However! When I got to the end of the book, I didn't understand why the author even bothered to include it. It doesn't play a part in the rest of the book, it has no other mentions other than the beginning, it doesn't add or take away anything from the book at all...so why did the author even include that...? So while I didn't have an issue with it at the beginning, I did by the end, since there'd been no discernible reason for that to have been part of the book at all.
Next, OW/OM drama. This book has that, though I don't see how the plot of this book could've been written without its inclusion. Ty does think about his ex-wife, Rhea, quite a bit, especially in the beginning, but it's not done in an omg I miss and love her so much I want her back kind of way. She abused him when they were together, and now he's in therapy. Plus, they'd been together since literally forever, from the second grade all the way up until the age of 30, with twelve of those years spent married. So it's not a surprise that he can't excise her from his life so completely. And speaking just to the abuse, I can see how Ty wouldn't just be able to get over and forget it so quickly, even three months post-divorce. It can be hard to reconcile the fact that someone who you loved so much abused you, and I can see how it'd be a part of one's life for a good, long while.
However, that wasn't my issue with the OW drama. My issue was that I don't feel it was properly resolved. The book had so many subplots involved that I don't think it properly focused on a single thing all that well. I felt the stuff with Rhea was left pretty unresolved. Yeah, he told her off the last time they saw one another, but it felt as though we'd see her again. But we don't, which made me feel that there was no closure there. There aren't going to be more books with this couple (at least not that I think0, so this is something that's left dangling.
The book should've maintained focus, but in the end it went off to the bigger family stuff, which is a thread running through the series. And while it felt like it was going to be stuff surrounding Rhea that would be the major conflict, it's actually stuff to do with Zander, the estranged brother, who is kind of the villain in the end. This kind of really pissed me off, tbh, because it felt more like the author dropping the important aspects of this book in order to plug her next one, which is Zander's book. This was obviously meant to lead in to his story, so it felt like she was just selling something else to me there instead of resolving the issues to do with the book and the couple.
There was also a scene that some may find objectionable. Ty usually has nightmares to do with his ex-wife. He doesn't tell Betti what they're about, but it's pretty obvious they're to do with his ex-wife. Just over halfway through, he has another nightmare about her. This one ends up being different, though, because, while he's sleeping, Betti initiates sex with him (they're both always down for sex whenever, so it wasn't an issue of consent). Sooo...while he's having this nightmare, he suddenly thinks it's his ex, Rhea, who's performing oral sex on him. And he says her name.
Now, I was able to move past it because I felt it'd be understandable that he'd think it's his wife of 12 years rather than Betti, a woman he married not too long ago. Plus, he's shown plenty of times throughout the book how much he cares for her over his ex, who he's completely over. I never felt he had any lingering feelings for her, just regret with how it'd all turned out. And I could understand how something happening to you IRL could commingle with a dream or nightmare you're having, making it difficult to discern what's what and who's who. I also felt that he'd fucked up bad enough that it was dire, but not so much that I felt it went into unforgivable territory. (And he'd been great in so many other ways that I didn't feel it was enough to discount him as a whole because of it.)
At the time, I was fine with the scene because I felt it wasn't done for shits and giggles or that it had no reason or purpose for having been included. It felt as though it was being used as a part of the narrative in order to trigger more events, particularly a conversation that they needed to have about his abuse and resulting trauma, which I felt she had a right to know because they're married, and live and sleep together. (And hey, what can I say...it made for great angst.) But, that's not what happened. It felt as if it were going to go in that direction and finally have them talk about his abuse, but Ty ended up avoiding the conversation again. And they ended up making up after he told her he had no feelings for his ex. This left me disappointed because, after that, it felt as though the scene was included for no reason. Nothing changed between them, imo, and the conversation I was hoping it'd trigger was left unspoken. Hell, I was hoping that maybe she'd even just question this entire relationship with Ty, with how she's totally in love with him but he doesn't love her. He cares about her, sure, but that's not love. But that doesn't happen right. And they continue on, going back to sexsexsex, and nothing more.
And see, that kind of encompasses my issue with the book as a whole. A lot of things felt as though they should have some sort of impact, but they never really delivered. I felt Ty's withholding of his secret went on for way too long (being dragged well past the four-fifths mark). And when something is dragged out so long, it feels as though it should have a giant impact once it does hit. But it doesn't. Instead, the reveal of his past abuse is made completely about Betti. She screams about it and cries and faints. And then Ty ends up being the one to comfort HER! What the fuck. It was TY who'd been abused, so why the fuck is he consoling HER? And then Angi, Betti's sister, is shown as a peripheral figure throughout the book. Betti's hurt that Angi's been keeping her at a distance. And then Angi shows up and things are resolved. And then at the very end And like I said, a lot of the conflicts felt like that. There was no impact to them, imo.
There were other issues I had with this book too, but they were fairly minor in comparison to the above. One, I got so damn sick of reading about Betti crying. I swear this woman is a damn watering pot, crying in almost every scene! It was chalked up to pregnancy hormones, but come the fuck on! I also got annoyed with how Ty and Betti slept in the same bed that he'd used with his ex-wife. Just...eww, first of all. And second, there was no reason for it! I excused it away at first because Ty had mentioned he'd just blown his life's savings on buying wedding and engagement rings for himself and Betti. (Aww.) However, at the end, they end up bringing Betti's bed over from her place. Well, why the fuck couldn't they have done that from the beginning??? There was no reason for them to have shared this bed for how many weeks when they could've gotten Betti's bed from her place all along! And then
I also had an issue with one of the subplots. This was a carry-over from the previous book. Ty's parents, Maggie and Jerrod, had some relationship issues decades ago. Jerrod cheated on Maggie and ended up impregnating the woman (from that one-time cheat). This subplot honestly put a damper on the whole book for me, on top of the other issue I had. To put it bluntly, I absolutely hated it. Jerrod and Maggie had previously had a daughter, Gabby, who died before she turned one. It's revealed that Maggie was so grief-stricken that she pushed Jerrod away time and again. And then the night of the funeral, he cheated on her with some woman. Throughout the book I knew there was infidelity (because Delaney, who's the result of the infidelity, is now in their lives) but I really didn't need those fucking details. At first, it was just a thing that was part of the story, that I really didn't care for one way or the other, because Jerrod and Maggie aren't the MCs, but knowing that he did so on the day of the funeral really fucking pissed me off. And that's what clinched the two star rating (when I'd been hovering between it and a three), tbh. And if I didn't like Ty so much, I don't even think I'd have given it a two. The subplot really ruined things for me.
Anyway. I'll leave it to anyone reading this to decide how they feel. I went into this book really liking it, so I'm disappointed with how it ended. (And also disappointed for Ty because I thought he was a super fab H.)
(Also, it's written in both first- and third-person. Betti's scenes are written in first POV, while Ty's are written in third. I really don't understand that because I felt it was more Ty's story than Betti's, with most of it having to do with his ex, his abuse, his family, etc.)
I was really excited to see how this would go. I have such a weak spot for second chance romances, but they usually leave me irritated because it's the same old guy-fucks-around-while-the-woman-stays-celibate shit. This relationship dynamic, however, is a flip on the usual. In most cases, it's the h with a lukewarm/terrible sex life, while the H had enjoyed himself. In this case, the H, has only ever been with one woman, Rhea. Bettina, however, is referred to as "Bad Betti," and she rather enjoys sex, uncaring of what people have to say about her. She owns a salon away from there and is now trying to sell her place so she can get out of this little town.
And oh, man...such a good combination of tropes for me! I love second chance romances, unrequited love, beta H, non-virginal h, marriage of convenience...so what went wrong, right?
Well, the book started off very strongly for me. I liked how it was in the beginning, even with Ty's rejection of her post-sex. After they spend the night together, his brother, Tim, hints to him that he'd been the one to put Betti on his trail. And now Ty feels like shit because he thinks that he'd simply been a "pity fuck" for Betti. He's hurt by it, especially since he'd been originally so elated. He reacts, imo, in a realistic manner. I was even down with it after she finds out she's pregnant and they decide to marry. I was hoping there'd be a bit more resistance from her here because well...the guy doesn't love you (which he admits to twice in the book) and he's only asking you to marry him because you're having his kid. And you're in love with him. Girl, think this the fuck through! (At least make him sign a damn prenup!) I thought things went more than a bit fast here, but whatever.
However, I was fine with it after that as well because Ty was the sweetest, muddling through this new marriage after having just gotten out of another. He also has to charter new waters as he tries to reconcile the fact that this relationship won't be like his last; that she won't punish him at every turn, or that she won't abuse him in any way, and certainly not by emotionally or sexually depriving him. I loved that they had to work through that. I was down with that. But then that's kind of where things ended for me.
Their relationship, after this point, had way too much sex and too little anything else. Most of their scenes consisted of them having sex. And at first I was fine with Betti's motivations for it (trying to show him love and affection physically, which he was previously deprived of) but then it didn't make for good reading. I was waiting for them to connect without it having to do with sex, but almost every interaction devolved into sex. And then the family drama got thrown in there and I think that the novel just lost focus.
I wanted to give this novel a good rating simply for the H, Ty, but I had several issues with it that're keeping me from doing so. First is to do with the sex. Like I mentioned, it was waaaay too much sex for me. Even if I loved everything about this book, the most I'd have been able to give it would've been a four because it was too much sex and too little emotional development for me. But, to do with the sex in specific, also like I've mentioned, I did like the flip on the usual manwhore H-virgin/inexperienced h trope.
With Ty, he's only ever been with one woman previously. Although there're not specific mentions of what he did do with her, it's made pretty clear that it wasn't anything wild or crazy. He loved Rhea, which he admits to openly. However, she abused him, assaulting him physically, while also using emotional and sexual means as a way to hurt him further. She controlled him sexually, making him feel ashamed for having sexual thoughts or feelings, and humiliating him for having desires. And she was also the type to not do anything but the ordinary. It's noted that his first experiences of giving or receiving of oral sex is with Bettina. (There's even one hilarious scene in which he has to ask his manwhore brother, Tim, how to go down on a woman.)
With Bettina, it's not mentioned what she has done, but she is experienced. When Ty and Rhea got married, I loved that the author didn't write what authors regularly do with second chance romances. I love that even though Betti admits to having always loved Ty since the fifth grade, she didn't sit around and wait for him to break up and finally notice her, pining away for him all that time. She loved him, sure, but she didn't put her own life, love, and sex on hold, standing in a corner, waiting for him to finally glance her way. Faaaar too many books have these situations and it pisses me off so much, especially since, more often than not, this isn't the case IRL.
The only issue I had here was with Tim, Ty's adopted brother. In the first chapter, it's made pretty clear that Betti's slept with Tim. It wasn't in your face throughout the book or anything, with the only mention of it in the very first chapter, but I didn't like reading about it regardless. I'm not really down with the whole getting-down-with-one's-siblings thing (biological or not). At first, I didn't let it bother me because, I dunno...maybe it's par for the course when it comes to small towns? She says it's a town of 5000, which is much different from what I'm used to, which is a city of millions, so I guess I can see how it'd be slim pickings? I dunno. (I just don't think it'd be fair of me to impress my big-city thoughts and views on small-town living.) I also found myself being slightly relieved because Ty and Tim aren't biological brothers.
However! When I got to the end of the book, I didn't understand why the author even bothered to include it. It doesn't play a part in the rest of the book, it has no other mentions other than the beginning, it doesn't add or take away anything from the book at all...so why did the author even include that...? So while I didn't have an issue with it at the beginning, I did by the end, since there'd been no discernible reason for that to have been part of the book at all.
Next, OW/OM drama. This book has that, though I don't see how the plot of this book could've been written without its inclusion. Ty does think about his ex-wife, Rhea, quite a bit, especially in the beginning, but it's not done in an omg I miss and love her so much I want her back kind of way. She abused him when they were together, and now he's in therapy. Plus, they'd been together since literally forever, from the second grade all the way up until the age of 30, with twelve of those years spent married. So it's not a surprise that he can't excise her from his life so completely. And speaking just to the abuse, I can see how Ty wouldn't just be able to get over and forget it so quickly, even three months post-divorce. It can be hard to reconcile the fact that someone who you loved so much abused you, and I can see how it'd be a part of one's life for a good, long while.
However, that wasn't my issue with the OW drama. My issue was that I don't feel it was properly resolved. The book had so many subplots involved that I don't think it properly focused on a single thing all that well. I felt the stuff with Rhea was left pretty unresolved. Yeah, he told her off the last time they saw one another, but it felt as though we'd see her again. But we don't, which made me feel that there was no closure there. There aren't going to be more books with this couple (at least not that I think0, so this is something that's left dangling.
The book should've maintained focus, but in the end it went off to the bigger family stuff, which is a thread running through the series. And while it felt like it was going to be stuff surrounding Rhea that would be the major conflict, it's actually stuff to do with Zander, the estranged brother, who is kind of the villain in the end. This kind of really pissed me off, tbh, because it felt more like the author dropping the important aspects of this book in order to plug her next one, which is Zander's book. This was obviously meant to lead in to his story, so it felt like she was just selling something else to me there instead of resolving the issues to do with the book and the couple.
There was also a scene that some may find objectionable. Ty usually has nightmares to do with his ex-wife. He doesn't tell Betti what they're about, but it's pretty obvious they're to do with his ex-wife. Just over halfway through, he has another nightmare about her. This one ends up being different, though, because, while he's sleeping, Betti initiates sex with him (they're both always down for sex whenever, so it wasn't an issue of consent). Sooo...while he's having this nightmare, he suddenly thinks it's his ex, Rhea, who's performing oral sex on him. And he says her name.
Now, I was able to move past it because I felt it'd be understandable that he'd think it's his wife of 12 years rather than Betti, a woman he married not too long ago. Plus, he's shown plenty of times throughout the book how much he cares for her over his ex, who he's completely over. I never felt he had any lingering feelings for her, just regret with how it'd all turned out. And I could understand how something happening to you IRL could commingle with a dream or nightmare you're having, making it difficult to discern what's what and who's who. I also felt that he'd fucked up bad enough that it was dire, but not so much that I felt it went into unforgivable territory. (And he'd been great in so many other ways that I didn't feel it was enough to discount him as a whole because of it.)
At the time, I was fine with the scene because I felt it wasn't done for shits and giggles or that it had no reason or purpose for having been included. It felt as though it was being used as a part of the narrative in order to trigger more events, particularly a conversation that they needed to have about his abuse and resulting trauma, which I felt she had a right to know because they're married, and live and sleep together. (And hey, what can I say...it made for great angst.) But, that's not what happened. It felt as if it were going to go in that direction and finally have them talk about his abuse, but Ty ended up avoiding the conversation again. And they ended up making up after he told her he had no feelings for his ex. This left me disappointed because, after that, it felt as though the scene was included for no reason. Nothing changed between them, imo, and the conversation I was hoping it'd trigger was left unspoken. Hell, I was hoping that maybe she'd even just question this entire relationship with Ty, with how she's totally in love with him but he doesn't love her. He cares about her, sure, but that's not love. But that doesn't happen right. And they continue on, going back to sexsexsex, and nothing more.
And see, that kind of encompasses my issue with the book as a whole. A lot of things felt as though they should have some sort of impact, but they never really delivered. I felt Ty's withholding of his secret went on for way too long (being dragged well past the four-fifths mark). And when something is dragged out so long, it feels as though it should have a giant impact once it does hit. But it doesn't. Instead, the reveal of his past abuse is made completely about Betti. She screams about it and cries and faints. And then Ty ends up being the one to comfort HER! What the fuck. It was TY who'd been abused, so why the fuck is he consoling HER? And then Angi, Betti's sister, is shown as a peripheral figure throughout the book. Betti's hurt that Angi's been keeping her at a distance. And then Angi shows up and things are resolved. And then at the very end And like I said, a lot of the conflicts felt like that. There was no impact to them, imo.
There were other issues I had with this book too, but they were fairly minor in comparison to the above. One, I got so damn sick of reading about Betti crying. I swear this woman is a damn watering pot, crying in almost every scene! It was chalked up to pregnancy hormones, but come the fuck on! I also got annoyed with how Ty and Betti slept in the same bed that he'd used with his ex-wife. Just...eww, first of all. And second, there was no reason for it! I excused it away at first because Ty had mentioned he'd just blown his life's savings on buying wedding and engagement rings for himself and Betti. (Aww.) However, at the end, they end up bringing Betti's bed over from her place. Well, why the fuck couldn't they have done that from the beginning??? There was no reason for them to have shared this bed for how many weeks when they could've gotten Betti's bed from her place all along! And then
I also had an issue with one of the subplots. This was a carry-over from the previous book. Ty's parents, Maggie and Jerrod, had some relationship issues decades ago. Jerrod cheated on Maggie and ended up impregnating the woman (from that one-time cheat). This subplot honestly put a damper on the whole book for me, on top of the other issue I had. To put it bluntly, I absolutely hated it. Jerrod and Maggie had previously had a daughter, Gabby, who died before she turned one. It's revealed that Maggie was so grief-stricken that she pushed Jerrod away time and again. And then the night of the funeral, he cheated on her with some woman. Throughout the book I knew there was infidelity (because Delaney, who's the result of the infidelity, is now in their lives) but I really didn't need those fucking details. At first, it was just a thing that was part of the story, that I really didn't care for one way or the other, because Jerrod and Maggie aren't the MCs, but knowing that he did so on the day of the funeral really fucking pissed me off. And that's what clinched the two star rating (when I'd been hovering between it and a three), tbh. And if I didn't like Ty so much, I don't even think I'd have given it a two. The subplot really ruined things for me.
Anyway. I'll leave it to anyone reading this to decide how they feel. I went into this book really liking it, so I'm disappointed with how it ended. (And also disappointed for Ty because I thought he was a super fab H.)
(Also, it's written in both first- and third-person. Betti's scenes are written in first POV, while Ty's are written in third. I really don't understand that because I felt it was more Ty's story than Betti's, with most of it having to do with his ex, his abuse, his family, etc.)
May 14, 2015
I received a copy of this book from the author in return for an impartial review. Thanks.
So, I read the blurb for Once in a Blue Moon (Bluebonnet Texas #2) by Amie Stuart and was intrigued. I thought I would be getting one of the usual cowboy romances where boy and girl knew each other and meet again and slowly fall in love and overcome some little obstacles, but boy this one was different.
To start with, in the blurb, we learn that Ty was in a ‘volatile one-sided marriage’. Well, let me tell you, this description doesn’t do justice at all to what he experienced. The book deals with a topic that is dealt with heaps in stories from a female perspective, but this is the first time I have encountered it in a story where the male is the victim and it just blew me away.
Bettina and Ty sort of have a history but he married his high school sweetheart and she was stuck in Bluebonnet raising her sister and running her hairdressing salon, hoping that she could eventually leave the town she had grown up in and they just existed in different circles that rarely intersected.
I really liked both characters. Bettina has her set of rules when it comes to dealing with men, which have served her well, up until now. She is a very strong female who hasn’t had the chances everyone else has had but she has made the most of the opportunities she was given and has made her way successfully in life, despite being from the wrong side of the tracks. She has loyal friends and she is in turn a loyal and trustworthy friend. To top it all off, she doesn’t scare easily and she gives as good as she gets. I loved the scene with Bettina and Ty’s ex in the supermarket but I am getting ahead of myself. Ty himself comes across outwardly as a strong, typical cowboy, but that is actually far from the truth.
With a little help from his brother Tim, Ty and Bettina end up having a one night stand that has consequences that neither planned for. It was clear from the early scenes that Ty had some issues sexually and Bettina could sense something but there wasn’t anything she could really put her finger on. To be honest, I squirmed uncomfortably as I read the scenes and really felt for Ty. I wanted to slap his ex wife across the next county for what she did to him. It is unbelievable that such abuse – both physical and mental can and does happen to men, and yet it probably goes mostly unreported because of the shame associated with it.
I could sort of understand why he didn’t get out of the marriage earlier than he actually did, but then I also couldn’t. It is hard to imagine a relationship like this where a visually strong person who you would expect to be the protector becomes the victim and cannot retaliate because he was taught that men don’t hit women. This is great advice, but for a man in his situation, Ty needed some better advice, and I think it came too little too late. It wasn’t really made clear in the story how his family found out about what was going on between Rhea and himself, but in the story they did know and they did support him in his recovery, but it was still kept a family secret - almost a dirty little secret which had consequences later on that I won’t reveal.
It is very unusual to read about a character who is on the one hand a strong – physically strong, cowboy who works the family ranch, but who on the other hand is damaged both mentally and emotionally, almost to the point of thinking that what he is doing in his dealings with Bettina – mostly sexually, is wrong. His past and his ex have so coloured his experiences that he basically is a virgin in so many ways. Here the scene between Tim and Ty and advice on oral sex comes to mind and while it was sort of funny, it was also very sad to read because we know what Ty has gone through.
I had a hard time grasping this, not because it wasn’t well written but because it was something I had a difficult time getting my head around it and it did make me uncomfortable to read how badly it affected him, so Ms. Stuart did a great job with the emotional connection. There were times when I also wanted to shake Ty and make him open up to Bettina because his lack of disclosure was not really helping his relationship to thrive the way that it should have.
When Rhea the ex, did turn up, she was an extremely vile creature and the author did a great job of conveying the feelings Ty had when he encountered her. I really thought that there would be more issues with Bettina and Ty having to deal with Rhea, but that was one part of the story that was extremely anticlimactic and more than a little bit disappointing. I would have loved for her to get her comeuppance but it just didn’t happen.
It takes a while for Bettina and Ty to be a couple and also prospective parents and of course there are the usual family members and some issues that they cause, but mostly this book deals with the growth of Ty and Bettina as a couple and the reader gets a real insight into how detrimental abuse can be on any relationship, even one that is not affected by abuse at all. The lack of disclosure from Ty about his issues affects his dealings with Bettina and she really has no clue, so she sort of fumbles around in the dark and he has triggers like money and of course sex, but she doesn’t know that and they don’t really talk about things in depth.
I also had some issues with Ty jumping straight back into marriage with Bettina, especially given his experience the first time around. To me it was almost as if he was a glutton for punishment and perhaps wasn’t thinking straight. At this stage he didn’t really vocalize his feelings for Bettina at all, so there was just the attraction and for me that wasn’t really enough for them to tie the knot.
I really began to appreciate Bettina who, even though she didn’t realize it was helping Ty by just being herself and dealing with things in the way that she usually did, head on and directly. She was supportive and he blossomed under her care – and here I am groaning about my choice of words because men don’t usually blossom, but I am having a hard time finding the right words to describe a male who has suffered such intense abuse growing and moving on and developing into a mentally and emotionally strong male. I loved that she had a great sense of humour, but oh boy Ty the virgin in so many ways didn’t know how to deal with her sense of humour about sexual matters, his feelings or the sexuality in the relationship and his desires and ability to perform in the bedroom.
His family also didn’t help – we have a rather cool towards Bettina, mother-in-law, an interfering sister-in-law who I was a bit ambivalent about and then the mostly absent brother Zander who does turn up briefly. The scene with the brother Zander at Thanksgiving just blew me out of the water because of its raw intensity and the harm it caused. I was also a bit shocked at the intense reaction that Bettina had and wasn't sure if this was just a tad too extreme, or if it was just more emotionally driven due to pregnancy hormones, but it wasn't fully explained.
Obviously there were family issues which were probably covered in more detail in book one, which I haven’t yet read, that covered this. We do get some back story that reveals the parent’s issues and explains the illegitimate sister who now lives with the family, but the vitriol and the destruction Zander caused in a short space of time really shocked me. I know that his book is next and I for one cannot wait to read it because he almost seems to be a Jekyll and Hyde. His interactions with his wife and son are so different from his interactions with his family. That will be one book to look out for!
I was a bit disappointed that the book finished where it did. To be honest, I thought that it could have progressed a bit further as it seemed rather abrupt to end it where it did both emotionally for the characters and also for the progression of the story. Now, this is no cliffhanger, so don’t worry. The story does conclude, but I didn’t like where and how it concluded but that is just me.
I appreciate that the topic matter is a difficult one but Ms. Stuart did a great job and the reader gets insight into how abused males feel and cope and it is also rather confronting as well as uncomfortable to read at times, but this story was well worth it. Grab your copy and enjoy, but take my advice and start with book one!
So, I read the blurb for Once in a Blue Moon (Bluebonnet Texas #2) by Amie Stuart and was intrigued. I thought I would be getting one of the usual cowboy romances where boy and girl knew each other and meet again and slowly fall in love and overcome some little obstacles, but boy this one was different.
To start with, in the blurb, we learn that Ty was in a ‘volatile one-sided marriage’. Well, let me tell you, this description doesn’t do justice at all to what he experienced. The book deals with a topic that is dealt with heaps in stories from a female perspective, but this is the first time I have encountered it in a story where the male is the victim and it just blew me away.
Bettina and Ty sort of have a history but he married his high school sweetheart and she was stuck in Bluebonnet raising her sister and running her hairdressing salon, hoping that she could eventually leave the town she had grown up in and they just existed in different circles that rarely intersected.
I really liked both characters. Bettina has her set of rules when it comes to dealing with men, which have served her well, up until now. She is a very strong female who hasn’t had the chances everyone else has had but she has made the most of the opportunities she was given and has made her way successfully in life, despite being from the wrong side of the tracks. She has loyal friends and she is in turn a loyal and trustworthy friend. To top it all off, she doesn’t scare easily and she gives as good as she gets. I loved the scene with Bettina and Ty’s ex in the supermarket but I am getting ahead of myself. Ty himself comes across outwardly as a strong, typical cowboy, but that is actually far from the truth.
With a little help from his brother Tim, Ty and Bettina end up having a one night stand that has consequences that neither planned for. It was clear from the early scenes that Ty had some issues sexually and Bettina could sense something but there wasn’t anything she could really put her finger on. To be honest, I squirmed uncomfortably as I read the scenes and really felt for Ty. I wanted to slap his ex wife across the next county for what she did to him. It is unbelievable that such abuse – both physical and mental can and does happen to men, and yet it probably goes mostly unreported because of the shame associated with it.
I could sort of understand why he didn’t get out of the marriage earlier than he actually did, but then I also couldn’t. It is hard to imagine a relationship like this where a visually strong person who you would expect to be the protector becomes the victim and cannot retaliate because he was taught that men don’t hit women. This is great advice, but for a man in his situation, Ty needed some better advice, and I think it came too little too late. It wasn’t really made clear in the story how his family found out about what was going on between Rhea and himself, but in the story they did know and they did support him in his recovery, but it was still kept a family secret - almost a dirty little secret which had consequences later on that I won’t reveal.
It is very unusual to read about a character who is on the one hand a strong – physically strong, cowboy who works the family ranch, but who on the other hand is damaged both mentally and emotionally, almost to the point of thinking that what he is doing in his dealings with Bettina – mostly sexually, is wrong. His past and his ex have so coloured his experiences that he basically is a virgin in so many ways. Here the scene between Tim and Ty and advice on oral sex comes to mind and while it was sort of funny, it was also very sad to read because we know what Ty has gone through.
I had a hard time grasping this, not because it wasn’t well written but because it was something I had a difficult time getting my head around it and it did make me uncomfortable to read how badly it affected him, so Ms. Stuart did a great job with the emotional connection. There were times when I also wanted to shake Ty and make him open up to Bettina because his lack of disclosure was not really helping his relationship to thrive the way that it should have.
When Rhea the ex, did turn up, she was an extremely vile creature and the author did a great job of conveying the feelings Ty had when he encountered her. I really thought that there would be more issues with Bettina and Ty having to deal with Rhea, but that was one part of the story that was extremely anticlimactic and more than a little bit disappointing. I would have loved for her to get her comeuppance but it just didn’t happen.
It takes a while for Bettina and Ty to be a couple and also prospective parents and of course there are the usual family members and some issues that they cause, but mostly this book deals with the growth of Ty and Bettina as a couple and the reader gets a real insight into how detrimental abuse can be on any relationship, even one that is not affected by abuse at all. The lack of disclosure from Ty about his issues affects his dealings with Bettina and she really has no clue, so she sort of fumbles around in the dark and he has triggers like money and of course sex, but she doesn’t know that and they don’t really talk about things in depth.
I also had some issues with Ty jumping straight back into marriage with Bettina, especially given his experience the first time around. To me it was almost as if he was a glutton for punishment and perhaps wasn’t thinking straight. At this stage he didn’t really vocalize his feelings for Bettina at all, so there was just the attraction and for me that wasn’t really enough for them to tie the knot.
I really began to appreciate Bettina who, even though she didn’t realize it was helping Ty by just being herself and dealing with things in the way that she usually did, head on and directly. She was supportive and he blossomed under her care – and here I am groaning about my choice of words because men don’t usually blossom, but I am having a hard time finding the right words to describe a male who has suffered such intense abuse growing and moving on and developing into a mentally and emotionally strong male. I loved that she had a great sense of humour, but oh boy Ty the virgin in so many ways didn’t know how to deal with her sense of humour about sexual matters, his feelings or the sexuality in the relationship and his desires and ability to perform in the bedroom.
His family also didn’t help – we have a rather cool towards Bettina, mother-in-law, an interfering sister-in-law who I was a bit ambivalent about and then the mostly absent brother Zander who does turn up briefly. The scene with the brother Zander at Thanksgiving just blew me out of the water because of its raw intensity and the harm it caused. I was also a bit shocked at the intense reaction that Bettina had and wasn't sure if this was just a tad too extreme, or if it was just more emotionally driven due to pregnancy hormones, but it wasn't fully explained.
Obviously there were family issues which were probably covered in more detail in book one, which I haven’t yet read, that covered this. We do get some back story that reveals the parent’s issues and explains the illegitimate sister who now lives with the family, but the vitriol and the destruction Zander caused in a short space of time really shocked me. I know that his book is next and I for one cannot wait to read it because he almost seems to be a Jekyll and Hyde. His interactions with his wife and son are so different from his interactions with his family. That will be one book to look out for!
I was a bit disappointed that the book finished where it did. To be honest, I thought that it could have progressed a bit further as it seemed rather abrupt to end it where it did both emotionally for the characters and also for the progression of the story. Now, this is no cliffhanger, so don’t worry. The story does conclude, but I didn’t like where and how it concluded but that is just me.
I appreciate that the topic matter is a difficult one but Ms. Stuart did a great job and the reader gets insight into how abused males feel and cope and it is also rather confronting as well as uncomfortable to read at times, but this story was well worth it. Grab your copy and enjoy, but take my advice and start with book one!
April 11, 2019
I didn't really care for Ty and Bettina in the beginning of the book but once I learned about both pasts, they grew on me.
April 7, 2013
Emotional, angsty story that I enjoyed very much. Bettina and Ty's journey to become a couple was sweet and I was rooting for them both from the beginning. Bettina was a good balance of feistiness (not a quality I always admire) and common sense. Ty was so shy and wounded, but strong underneath - a couple that really balanced each other. The suspense of wondering how Ty would reveal what Rhea had done to him built gradually and the moment where it was revealed very climactic. One thing that bothered me was a large cast of characters - his large family and her circle of friends and colleagues was a little confusing.
November 15, 2017
I feel like this book ended abruptly.
so many questions left unanswered. other than that, I liked the story line.
so many questions left unanswered. other than that, I liked the story line.
February 28, 2013
This book was great. I normally don't go for beta hero's but this one just worked for me. I found myself cheering for the h and H and could not stop reading.
June 1, 2013
Well written and a cute story.
May 6, 2015
4.5 stars. I really liked this one. Good story that had me rooting for an HEA for the H/h.
April 14, 2016
Just yes
So very heart wrenchingly beautiful. Full of love understanding and family drama. This was a safe read with a HFN
So very heart wrenchingly beautiful. Full of love understanding and family drama. This was a safe read with a HFN
May 20, 2015
I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'd never heard of this author before but another author that I regularly read and review connected me to Amie Stuart. I had absolutely no expectations going into the book and didn't even have any idea what it was about. Within the first 10 pages I was completely hooked and loved the main female character. The book is set in a small town and she has a bad reputation but she doesn't let it get to her at all. She's strong, funny and has a very good sense of self that serves her well as she has a chance with a man she's been in love with since grade school. The main male character, Ty has a dark secret that I won't reveal here which the author handles perfectly. I really felt for Ty and his situation and it isn't one that is regularly discussed but you suspect happens more frequently than you would expect. The author manages to make him very sweet and vulnerable without losing any of his masculinity. There is one major plot situation that was a bit far-fetched in how easy it happens but if you just accept it and keep going you won't be disappointed. I loved all the characters and not all are easy to like which just somehow makes it all more realistic. This is a book with an interesting story line, characters with a lot of different personalities and great pacing. I loved it and will definitely read more books by Amie Stuart.
June 20, 2019
I really liked Ty... but, as a whole, found this all rather depressing. Am living in hope that the next will offer some redemption for the series... for me.
( also, really really didn't like Tim... he just came across as a little shady )
( and I am more than confused with the family tree... who is Rowdy in the scheme of things? Tim is adopted? Alexander is a dick... sighs. And Jessa was a completely different person in this one... her character was confusing... )
( also, really really didn't like Tim... he just came across as a little shady )
( and I am more than confused with the family tree... who is Rowdy in the scheme of things? Tim is adopted? Alexander is a dick... sighs. And Jessa was a completely different person in this one... her character was confusing... )
October 15, 2015
I enjoyed this story. It was cute and had some steam. At times it seemed like things didnt flow very well but it wasnt too distracting. I just really didnt like the ending. It really wasent and ending to be honest. Do the stories continue through the other books? If not then the ending truly sucked. Overall i enjoyed the book i was just left wanting with that ending....
March 21, 2017
Ty is so sweet and caring and Betti is a spitfire who knows what she wants. Throw in a bit of miscommunication and two stubborn people and we get an interesting start to their love story. A great addition to the series. Full of love, passion, a bit of heart break, healing, and strength!
January 1, 2014
Love the flawed characters. Such a good story.
July 18, 2015
Awesome book, can't wait to read the next one.
Looking forward to reading the next book. And hopefully many more to come. I do hope Tyler an Betti get pregnant again.
Looking forward to reading the next book. And hopefully many more to come. I do hope Tyler an Betti get pregnant again.
April 26, 2016
Even more sassy than the first book.
November 19, 2016
I absolutely loved it
OMG, what a story... I cried a lot and I couldn't put it down.. I can't wait to read the next few books...
OMG, what a story... I cried a lot and I couldn't put it down.. I can't wait to read the next few books...
January 31, 2017
It is a great book to read
February 21, 2017
Good
this series is one about a Texas family that has a lot of history and problems from the past.a good rea
this series is one about a Texas family that has a lot of history and problems from the past.a good rea
February 7, 2021
Once in a Blue Moon
This is the second book in this series. And an emotional one at that. He had just gotten his divorce from his long time wife, twelve years. But the scars of their time together was far longer and much damage than anyone knew or talked about. She has been loving him from afar since sixth grade. After their one night together she thought that they were not getting another chance. But fate has a way of changing that. He has issues stemming from his marriage. But he is willing to make a go with her. There was much drama and family secrets come back to haunt all. Will their own marriage work or will it go up in flames?
This is the second book in this series. And an emotional one at that. He had just gotten his divorce from his long time wife, twelve years. But the scars of their time together was far longer and much damage than anyone knew or talked about. She has been loving him from afar since sixth grade. After their one night together she thought that they were not getting another chance. But fate has a way of changing that. He has issues stemming from his marriage. But he is willing to make a go with her. There was much drama and family secrets come back to haunt all. Will their own marriage work or will it go up in flames?
April 7, 2020
I started with book 4 years ago, and have read it a couple times now...so I figured it would be a good series. This is my 2nd favorite! Love Betti, Ty and all the rest of the gang!!
December 23, 2009
Love the flawed characters. Such a good story.
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