Claimed!

Originally posted at: [...] Take a rough and tumble cowboy with a chip on his shoulder and a sassy bar owner who won't let him take the easy way out and Claimed! ends up being wild ride. This is the last book about the Chance brothers and it can completely stand on its own. I will say that reading Ambushed!, the book prior, would actually help give a reader a bit more background regarding the relationship bumps between Josie and Jack but it's not necessary. Ms. Thompson does a decent buildup of the basics without it being an info dump. Josie is the one that got away. Well, more like she was let go. Her position is an emotional one because she never stopped loving Jack. The author has written her character as a good hearted soul, with plenty of pluck, determination, heart and a zest for life. But she's guarding her heart too although, her version of guarding it and mine are a bit different. I'd never let mine out but Josie is ever the optimist. Her love is so strong yet vulnerable; she's willing to give Mr. Jack Chance more chances than her brother Alex would give him. But the readers know more about Jack than even Josie knows and with that information a reader totally believes that Josie really is the gal for the hero. She simply has to stop horsing around. Jack is the one with major internal angst that just won't loosen its grip. He's tormented with guilt, fear of failure and abandonment. That's a fearsome burden to lay on a guy along with running a ranch, helping with a wedding, facing his real emotions and having a scheming matchmaking bunch of family members doing their best to get him to loosen up. Poor Jack is getting it from all sides and the only time he's happy is when he's with Josie. But he's messed up the best thing that's ever happened to him. To top it off, he's too prideful and so like a man that he won't grovel, no matter that he knows he should. Good thing his family loves him anyway. Heck, even I ended up liking Jack. I wasn't too fond of him in Ambushed! but once I got to know him, I understood why he was the way he was and I really rooted and cheered for him in this book. The best thing was his sense of fun. Loved the spoon trick. I wonder if the author has actually seen that done. Because I bet it'd be a hoot to see it in person. Another well done aspect of the story is when Jack and Josie get together in the physical sense. I bet learning how to ride is not this fun for everybody. Then again, the author's description of Josie trotting for the first time had me in stitches. That was way funny and the visual was so clear, it ended up being one of the funniest scenes in the whole book. I read it over quite a few times and every time I did, I laughed. I snickered over the horse trick. They always say what goes around, comes around and Jack sure found out that it's true. Oh, and the red light, green light issue. That was pretty clever. That's another thing about Ms. Thompson. Her books in this series have a great sense

CLAIMED! (Sons of Chance) - Vicki Lewis Thompson We've all been there and done that and I absolutely couldn't wait for each book in this mini-series Sons of Chance, by Blaze author Vicki Lewis Thompson! Hot cowboys who reside in Wyoming on the Chance Ranch and raised horses. Each brother handsome and unique and Claimed was the last book in the series, the oldest brother Jack's story. Honestly, I had a lump in my throat in the final three chapters, it was a real tear jerker! Plus a fabulous cast of secondary characters with a few secrets thrown in for good measure. Conflict, tension at it's best! In the first two books Wanted and Ambushed we learned quite a few things about the sons of Jonathan Chance. First of all, their father was killed while picking up a horse, a horse Jack Chance was supposed to take care of and one he asked his father to take care of so he could spend time with his lover Josie Keller, a woman his father wasn't too fond of his son dating. After the accident, Jack broke up with Josie and broke her heart. He also took over the operation of running the ranch, a duty he never wanted and he became a tyrant, working himself to death and he drove his brothers crazy. One also learned that Jack had some emotional issues and feelings. His birth mother gave him up and walked away from he and his father. His step mother Sarah Chance, even though he adored her, he kept her at a distance and while she wanted him to call her mom, he insisted in calling her Sarah. All his life, Jack had gotten away with shutting down his emotions. What Josie knew and why their relationship hadn't worked before and probably wouldn't work again, was that Jack built up walls so he wouldn't get hurt, like his mother hurt him when she walked, like his father hurt him when he died. He built them so high, he couldn't commit to past or presents relationships, that same wall that was keeping Josie out. Until he could tear it down she couldn't be in his life. And then there was the woman who drove him wild, Josie Keller, the woman who was going to be in his brother's wedding along with him, the woman he hurt. He ached for her, he missed her and his family offered him an opportunity to mend fences and see her again so he came up with the plan to teach her to ride a horse because his brother and future bride wanted to get married on horseback at the Chance Ranch. Let's just say eventually they took up where they left off. I loved Josie, how passionately she still loved Jack but was willing to walk away until he came to his senses. Claimed was a very emotional story for me and reading the final chapters I had tears rolling down my face; I didn't want the book to end. Talk about an amazing second chance love story. As I read all three books there was one clear message and that was the legacy that Jonathan Chance left to his sons. Life went on, and their father would have been the first to say it. He would have wanted his three sons to make the

Neither wants this, but former lovers Jack Chance and Josie Keller are named best man and maid of honor at a horseback wedding. Besides their past in which he dumped her, the only problem is Josie does not know how to ride. Jack is volunteered to teach her. On his Wyoming ranch near Shoshone, Jack trains Josie to ride a horse. However, they also ride each other as neither can keep their hands off the other. She knows she still loves him in spite of her expectation he will leave her again. However, he ran from her the last time out of fear of his feelings, but this time he plans to stay the course and prove to his beloved they belong together. This hot Sons of Chance romance (see Wanted! and Ambushed!) is a fun read due to heated outdoor acrobatics of the lead couple in spite of their doubts. With a touch of humor to lighten the torrid ranch romance, Vicki Lewis Thompson will claim a lot of fans with this strong second chance at love. Harriet Klausner