Reviews for Straight from the Hip (Lone Star Sisters Series #3)

The average rating for Straight from the Hip (Lone Star Sisters Series #3) based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-04-25 00:00:00 Dustin Mason It's hard not to gush, but I just loved this fantastic book, and the whole series so far. I never realized before what a terrific story-teller Susan Mallery is, even though I've read quite a few of her books. This one was my favorite of the still running series (Lone Star Sisters), and I'm wondering if she'll be able to top it. Her characters are so expertly drawn, you feel like you've known them all your life. The pace was fast, fast, fast...I had a hard time finding a place to stop when I needed to put it down. But I never once wanted to put it down--in fact, I didn't want it to end! There's been a few books that I've felt that way about--you want to find out what's going to happen, but then again you don't want it to end--you want to savor it and drain every drop of enjoyment out of it! This one is about the youngest Titan sister, beautiful, free spirited, daredevil Izzy. Izzy's the most unconventional of the three Texas sisters, with a free and easy/no strings lovelife, dangerous and unusual jobs (she's an underwater welder on an oil rig) and full of sassy attitude. Recently Izzy's been injured when there was an explosion on the oil rig where she was working, and has lost 70% of her vision. She retreats to her bedroom, withdrawing physically and emotionally. There's a good chance her vision could be restored if she has an operation, but there is also a (small) chance that she could end up permanently blind. But Izzy's afraid to take that chance of being permantly disabled, so she's sort of in limbo, just hiding out in her bedroom. Her sisters are beside themselves with worry for her, and hate to see her retreating from life. So they do the only thing they can think of--they place her in the capable hands of someone who comes highly recommended-- Nick Hollister. Nick has a ranch that specializes in corporate survival training. Companies send their employees on an outing to Nick's ranch to bond and to learn how to work as a team. On the weekends he voluntarily takes in kids who have suffered a traumatic loss or been victims of a violent crime, and they come to his ranch to ride horses and just to get away from their troubles. Izzy's sisters want Nick to take her in for a few weeks to help her adjust to being blind. It's their hope (and Nick's) that she'll gain enough confidence by helping out around the ranch and with the horses that she'll be able to face having the surgery she needs. Well, the extremely reluctant Izzy and the gruff, tough, green-eyed hunk Nick soon lock horns, with Izzie refusing to cooperate with Nick's ideas that will help her adjust and build her confidence. Nick dishes out some tough love and Izzy digs in her heels. There's lots of verbal sparring and sexual chemistry to spare. Eventually Izzy sees that she's not as bad off as some other people, and loses the self pity and adjusts her attitude. Of course it helps that she starts to have some feelings for sexy geek (graduated from college and got a Master's and half way to a Phd. by age 19) Nick, who as it turns out, has had some tough times of his own. But having real feelings for someone is something new for Izzy, and she's not quite ready to admit it or knows how to proceed. And Nick is the same about not wanting to care for someone, although his reasons are rooted in him feeling that he doesn't deserve happiness. Nick harbors a couple of guilty secrets, and his need to constantly punish himself may come between him and any future happiness with Izzy. And when it looks like Nick has been conspiring with the person who has been trying to bring down the entire Titan family, Izzy has a decision to make--does she trust Nick and his feelings for her or does she throw in the towel on her first real love relationship? I loved the relationship that Izzy had with Nick, of course--they were one sexy hot couple, with lots of snappy dialogue and some hot bedroom moments. Loved the sexual tension between them and their obvious chemistry. You could see that they truly cared about each other too, but I wasn't sure if Nick was going to be one of those heroes who ruined his chance at love because he was just so stubborn about feeling 'undeserving'. I also loved Izzy's relationship with Nick's right-hand man, the obviously gay and quite funny Aaron. That guy was a riot, and had some great and funny scenes. And I loved when he set stubborn Nick straight about Izzy--way to go, Aaron! It was hard not to feel sorry for Izzy, as she tried to cope with her near blindness and finally dealt with her feelings about the parents who basically ignored her. At times (in the beginning) it seemed that Nick was being too rough on her, but there was a method to his madness, and it worked. I also enjoyed reading about Nick's surprising (and horrific) background, and just what his relationship was to the man who was determined to bring down the powerful Titan family. I would be remiss if I also didn't mention that Izzy's father Jed is still the a**hole he was in the previous books, and I sure wouldn't mind seeing him get taken down. This guy would never win "father of the year". So, if you're looking for an emotional, fast paced read with an adorably feisty heroine, and a quiet, sexy somewhat tortured hero, this is the book/series you'll want to try. I can't wait for the next installment, featuring an unlikely couple I'm anxious to read about. So far, this was my favorite of a great contemporary series. 5 stars.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-06-03 00:00:00 Jeffrey Pollack Another piece of the puzzle has snapped into place. Garth doesn't seem to want to hurt the sisters just Jed and if he has to use the sisters he will... But I think there is more to the story. The Nick/Garth connection was interesting and how he wanted to help Izzy makes me think he isn't all bad. The concertation with Garth and Jed blew me away as well as the one with Jed and Izzy she surprised me in the best way how she stood up for herself. He is going to push all his kids away and where will that leave him with his big house and his big pile of money how lonely that would be. Why Garth can't just let it frustrates me. Izzy and Nick together made sense and I liked their story. The narration was great.