Max (7 Brides for 7 Brothers Book 5)

I recently binge read the entire 7 Brides for 7 Brothers series while on vacation in Hawaii. To me the island of Kauai is one of the most romantic places in the world. So, what better place to read the collaborative romance series of some of my favorite romance authors! I know some of you might be thinking you could find other things to do then read when in Hawaii. But really between the river cruise, and sunset catamaran cruise, snorkeling and trekking through beautiful tropical gardens, there is plenty of time to eat breakfast on your patio, sit at the three tier pool at your resort or just soak up the sun on a not so crowed beach on the island. This romance series by Roxanne St. Clair, Joanne Ross, Christine Ridgeway, Melody Anne ,Ruth Cardello, Barbara Freethy and Lynne Raye Harris, is the perfect island vacation companion (second to my spouse of course!) I admit I might have skipped a few sunsets just to keep reading, much to my brother and sister-in-law’s dismay! After all this was supposed to be a romantic couple get away. Oh but no one writes melt your heart romance like these authors!I first encountered this series in one of the authors’ newsletters and was immediately intrigued and ordered the entire series right then. It is available on Kindle Unlimited and can be read with your subscription but as my Unlimited was full at the time, I purchased the whole set. Something I rarely do! However, I was anxious to have this set for my vacation.Two things attracted me to this series. First, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers has to be one of my all- time favorite musicals. My millennial uber-feminist daughter just can’t see the romance in being snowed in on a mountain with 7 men who pretty much kidnapped you in order to “trap” you into marriage! But having been snowed in with her very sexy mountain man father, I can see how love can blossom in some not so great circumstances. I couldn’t resist seeing how these authors handled 7 ultra-independent billionaire brothers finding their true loves in some less than perfect situations.The second factor that I found interesting was the idea of seven authors collaborating on one series. This is not an anthology of these romance writers novellas or short stories. This is a collaboration where these authors with different writing styles, characterization and romance genres (contemporary, suspense, chick lit etc.) agreed to a specific plot line , characters and how settings, personalities were all going to fit together. I have had personal experience with collaborating with other authors on a novel and the result was less than satisfactory. Of course, I was a young Honors English student and the collaboration was on a school assignment, so my income and career were not at stake. Still it requires a lot of time, interaction and communication between authors. In order to get the plot to be consistent, the interactions between different characters (the one you are responsible for and the others your fellow authors are writing about)to flow seamlessly and the timing between chapters correct can take months of meetings, conference calls, endless sleepless nights and a few strained friendships to get it right. These ladies not only did that flawlessly, they have gone on to collaborate again in 7 Brides for 7 soldiers. And if you can believe their newsletters, they still admire each other and are willing to continue to work together! My own experience with collaboration left me traumatized and afraid to write for years!The novels are complete with no cliffhangers and thus could be read as stand- alone. I think it is best if you read the series in order starting with book 1 Luke by Barbara Freethy and ending with Finn by JoAnn Ross. Each of the 7 Brannigan Brothers has his own personality, lifestyle and own brand of sexy manhood. Yet, they all share love for their siblings and a brokenness from an early family tragedy. As I said the flawless consistency in the interactions between the brothers from book to book as well as a smooth timeline that is adhered to by each author is amazing. There is more than enough steamy romance in each book without overwhelming the storyline. Each brother comes to terms with his roadblocks to love in a different way and a different setting from Yosemite to Italy. I can see how this allowed each writers’ special style to be showcased. The descriptions of the settings made the books come to life for me and made me feel like I was experiencing the scene with the characters.Being able to get lost in a book, leaving my own fears, problems and insecurities behind even for an hour or so a day was heavenly. That feeling of timelessness, escape from reality, is to me a mark of great romantic fiction. The authors of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers achieve that in this series! I hope you keep reading this series because Max has 6 sexy brothers..Yum!

When Former Navy SEAL Max Brannigan gets the news his billionaire father has died and left him a horse farm in Kentucky, he’s too busy going on missions in a war zone. He finally has some downtime and flies back to the States with the intention of disposing of this farm as soon as possible. He has no idea why his father would leave him a horse farm of all things.Elinor Applegate loves for her horses and her life on the farm. The past few years have been a struggle and she is desperately trying to revive the once-thriving Applegate Farm. An influx of cash from her mother’s old friend Colin Brannigan enabled Ellie to keep the family operation going. She has all her hopes set on a champion colt that she is training.But when sexy, ruthless, infuriating Max Brannigan shows up, Ellie realizes her troubles are far worse than she thought. Max was expecting a farm of racing horses not "prancers", as he calls them. He thinks they're useless and doesn't see how they can possibly bring in an influx of cash. Max's and Ellie's first meeting will be full of zingers that builds to a steaming chemistry.Max, just like his brothers, will learn that their father really did know each of them.

This is book #5 in the 7 brides for7 brothers series which I LOVE!!! Each book so far has been equally as good as the others, which is unusual in a series where each book is written by a different author. This was a new author to me so I was anxious to read the book and I was not disappointed! Each of the brothers so far have receive odd legacies from their recently-deceased father, so Max is sure his will be equally strange. He's right - he receives a deed to a horse farm. There are also conditions to his legacy - he must visit the farm and he can't sell it for a year. After his career in the military, he's ready to move forward with his own dreams, which can be funded when he sells the farm. So he visits...and meets Ellie. Her mother was the founding force behind the farm and a very good childhood friend of Max's mother. Ellie is struggling financially after her mother's death but has her own dreams of rebuilding the farm to its former glory with her championship horse, Champ. Max and Ellie are at opposite sides of the issue, but greatly attracted to each other. Max moves in while looking over the farm and books and they end up falling for each other. After some minor angst (the norm for romances it seems), Max realizes that Ellie and the farm are exactly what he needs. My only complaint with this book was that the ending was fairly abrupt, but that still didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story!An interesting aspect of this story was that the horses on the farm were not racehorses but saddlebreds, which I had never heard of.

I enjoy the stories from Lynn Raye Harris and her Hostile Operations Team books and HOT SEAL books so I was looking forward to another book from her. It did not disappoint. Each book in the series is written by a different author, some of whom I had not come across, but they blend together really well and Max is one of my favourites. The characters were well written as were their interactions. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a contemporary romance story.

This is my first time reading any of Lynn’s books and can’t wait to read more.I love this series.I loved this book from start to finish.I love the characters and the story.

Big bad Ex Seal & a horse trainer, they have absolutely nothing in common so how will they meet in the middle.

Loved this! Cannot wait for the next in this series and the.denouement which I have anticipated, but if it doesn't happen I have still enjoyed a fabulous series#

Loved this series of books plus the novellas so will continue to purchase further stories.