Under Her Skin (Lone Star Sisters) download epub

Cliff-hanger. Unfortunately this story stops before the reader knows how and if the person trying to take down the family is stopped. Otherwise, it is a great story with believable characters. The dialogue is enjoyable and informative.

Dialogue examples:
“Soon, Lexi,” John told her, standing and shaking her hand. “You only have three weeks to come up with the money or you lose everything.”

Having the ability to sum up the disaster of her life in a single sentence was quite the gift. She hoped John appreciated it.

“You gotta be tough if you’re gonna be stupid.”

Dana ignored the menu. “What happened?” she asked. “Someone rip you the wrong way during a bikini wax?”

Dana looked as if she wanted to argue but instead she said, “I’ll help you move and I’ll be the one driving my truck.”

"Because you don’t trust me with your baby?”

"Damned straight.”

"But it’s just a truck.”

Dana winced. “That’s why you can use it but you can’t borrow it.”

“Every guy is warm-blooded,” Izzy said before taking a bite of her burger. “He just needs the right woman,” she mumbled.

"We’re not talking about sex,” Skye said.

"That’s because you’re not getting any,” Izzy told her.

I will re-read this story and always look forward to works by this author.

Lexi is a daughter of a uber-rich, father. She broke off from under his wing to start her own business; a full-service spa.
She has a $2million callable loan that she must pay within a few weeks, or lose her business.
In comes sexy, uber-rich, Cruz.
Cruz and Lexi have a one-night past when they were kids. Cruz came from modest to poor means, and is now one of the nouveaux riche. And what do the uber-nouveaux riche always want? To be validated by the old-money crowd. So Cruz and Lexi strike a bargain so that Cruz can be accepted by the old-money crowd and Lexi can get her $2million so she doesn't have to go crawling to daddy. (who by the way, is a total tool)

I lost a bit of respect for Lexi when she took the deal. She was basically prostituting herself to save her business. Can understand it if she had children to feed, etc. But a spa business? Ugh.
So when you get past the whole premise of the deal (from her side), the book is great to read.

Susan Mallery does a great job peeling away the layers of the male character. The walls come down and the 'alpha tough guy' is really sweet, kind and vulnerable. The endings are a bit too quick for me. I like a more drawn out ending. Definitely love epilogues too. But these books don't have them. (insert sad face here). I loved reading about Cruz and watching him change, page by page in this book. Lexi works effortlessly, but tenaciously, to break down his brick walls, open him up to being loved, and loving someone in return. It's not overt. But fluid in the chapters. So that makes the book more fun to read. It's not an 'in your face' situation where the heroine is working hard to break down the hero's walls. It happens naturally. So she redeems herself by being the person that teaches him to love.

There are lots of characters in the books (guess since many of them are going to get their own book later in the series)?
They are not over the top - they are different, fun and add to the book in a positive way.
The villains stay villains. No one turns over a brand new leaf here. Which is great. Don't like it when villains suddenly turn good.

I like that this book doesn't drag out various problems, "ohhhh, I don't think I am capable of loving anyone.blah blah blah" there is a bit of it, but it doesn't go on and on and on - so that you want to throw your Kindle across the room.
No big misunderstandings.
no cliffhangers.
HEA.

The characters are likeable and interesting.
The internal dialogues are not boring, nor totally unbelievable.
The dialogue between characters flows well and is funny at times.

Lexi is sharp, sassy, funny and realistic. (remember, ignore the reason that she took the deal and move on)
Cruz is a product of a very dysfunctional family, yet is still a strong, kind person.

Yes - there is sex in this book. I think a couple of hot and heavy scenes. But it is not the focus. It just adds to the passion that is undeniable b/w the two characters.

I like how different the three sisters are. It's believable to me since I see it a lot in families with multiple sibs of the same gender.

There is one villain that is not 'dealt with' and so you know that there is another book to be read..but you can read this book and still feel closure and a HEA.

Interesting story.
Fun dialogue.
Interesting and fun characters.
yes - predictable -but who says that has to be a negative?
Light - not a heavy book.
Some nice steamy scenes
HEA
No cliffhanger

Enjoy!

Audible version.
Excellent story. I gave 4 stars because of the narrator, Julie Francis. I don’t care for her narration altho better than Tanya Eby. I thought Susan was doing well with choosing narrators, but seems not. At least that I like, Therese Plummer is excellent.
The audibles are too expensive to have to listen to someone’s voice and inflection we don't like.
I won’t be listening to the rest of the Lone star series because of this.

the Underlying theme of this book is men who can not get past their father’s disjunction to give and accept love and women who are determined to get past the shields to receive love.from the men in their lives. This is not my favorite Susan Mallery’s book, but her characters and scene building are as outstanding as ever. The developing of all the relationships is fun to read about.