Short Rides by Lorelei James

Short Rides (Rough Riders book 14.5)

By Lorelei James 

Book Blurb:The stories included in the Short Rides anthology are:

King of Hearts* -- Deputy Cam McKay deals with a murder/suicide case on Valentine's Day.

Rough Road -- Chassie, Trevor and Edgard Glanzer spend a romantic weekend away from the ranch and kids celebrating their anniversary...only to return home to face their biggest challenge yet.

All Knocked Up -- Keely and Jack Donohue are having a baby. Given Keely's raging pregnancy hormones, will Jack need to wear a cup in the delivery room?

Lorelei James is an auto-buy author for me. I didn't even know what these stories were going to be about. All I knew was that Short Rides was a collection of updates from the Rough Rider series' characters. 'nough reason for me! 

What a treat it was to have updates regarding some of my favourite Rough Riders characters. These are not stand alone stories. In fact if you have not read the previous books, you would be lost. I look upon Short Rides as a gift from Lorelei James to her fans. She makes us all fall in love with her characters and that she takes time to write updated snippets is pure joy. 

King of Hearts - Cam and Domini's updates
Cam is one of the McKay brothers that are not ranchers. He is the area deputy and unfortunately his job often entails gruesome and unpleasant circumstances. King of Hearts allows the reader to peak into situations that Cam has to face and then follows up on how he in fact does deal with it. Cam and Domini have a brood of adopted children and I love how their stories always touch on the fact that adopted children are just as precious and loved as biological children.

Rough Road - Ed, Trevor and Chassie's update
Rough Road deals with the "gay" issue and the "perverted" lifestyle that the loving triad's children encounter. Now that their first son is in grade 1, he is now starting to get teased at school about having "faggot" fathers and an immoral home life. This story made me spitting mad. I loath "good Christian people" who hide behind their faith to dictate what should or should not be. The hurt. The pain. My heart was in my throat when other kids bullied their kids about something that they cannot control. 
In the end, Rough Road demonstrated how powerful a strong supportive family can be. I almost teared up at the end with happy tears. 

All Knocked Up - Keely and Jack's updates
Keely and Jack are one of my favourite couples. I LOVE the way they talk to each other. So real. Keely's smart ass mouth and with Jack never putting up with her shit makes this pair one of the most realistic couples I have read about. This story made me want to re-read All Jacked Up all over again. 
Keely and Jack have big news on the baby front. I was laughing at them and I was so pleased that I was not them. YIKES!
Once again, a heavy loving family message was at the fore front. 

1000 thank yous Lorelei James for these updates and if you continue to publish outstanding bits of updates like this grouping, you can be sure I'll be right there to snatch them up!