Longtime fans of Victoria Vane will be absolutely delighted with Slow Hand, the first novel in her contemporary romance series, Hot Cowboy Nights. This fast-paced and engaging love story is an excellent beginning to the series and will leave fans very eager for the next installment.

Wade Knowlton wears many hats (primarily lawyer and unwilling cowboy) but he is first and foremost, a gentleman. So when he notices a very sexy woman having a minor meltdown in the airport, he gallantly gives up his seat for the lovely, distraught lady. While Nicole "Nikki" Powell is grateful to get to her next destination, she is more than happy to see the backside of the sexy cowboy. However, unluckily for her (but luckily for him), Wade's duty as her knight in shining armor continues when she finds herself stranded in Bozeman, Montana.

Wade is a charming, loyal and sincerely nice man. Although he wants nothing more than to leave ranching behind and concentrate fully on his law career, he knows how much his family counts on his help, so he dutifully continues to fill in whenever needed. Wade is also very chivalrous and despite Nikki's very prickly attitude, he lends her a helping hand when she discovers her wallet is missing in addition to helping her settle her estranged father's estate.

Nikki is not only a fish out of water, she is also grieving her father's loss despite their long standing estrangement. Having sworn off cowboys after a string of ill-fated love affairs, she is determined to ignore her attraction to Wade. But when circumstances continue to throw them together, the couple find it impossible to resist their desire for one another.

Nikki and Wade's romance is a very entertaining blend of sexy banter and sizzling lovemaking. While neither of them is really looking for anything long term, Wade is more open to a lasting relationship. But Nikki is very resistant to pursuing a future with him and this becomes a major stumbling block for the couple. Nikki does eventually have a change of heart where Wade is concerned, but will it prove too late to salvage their relationship?

Slow Hand is a well-written novel with a lovely cast of fully developed characters. Wade is an outgoing, easy love hero whereas it takes longer to completely warm up to Nikki. The plot is fairly straight forward, and while it is sometimes a little predictable, this does not detract from overall story. Victoria Vane does an excellent job setting up the next novel in the Hot Cowboy Nights series with the introduction of Wade's brother, Dirk and his love interest, Janice. ( )

I’ve read every historical romance written by this author and let me tell you, she is good. I’ve loved all of them and highly recommend you read them all.

As always, when one of my favorite authors decides to ‘stray’ into the realm of contemporary writing, I’m all ‘aflutter’ and really need a ‘kick in the ass’ to finally read their work. Don’t ask me the ‘reasoning’ behind it as I probably won’t have a ‘reasonable’ explanation for it. I just hate it when they do a ‘switcheroo’ of genres on me. Yeah, yeah, I know what you’ll tell me. They need to ‘broaden’ their horizons, and refresh their writing skills and blah, blah, blah. Maybe. Maybe not. By the way, if I dreaded to read Victoria’s contemporary, you can only imagine how happy I’m going to be reading Grace Burrowes’ next one. One word. Hives. No joke.

This is book one in a three book series, Hot Cowboy Nights and I can honestly say that I liked the writing of ‘Slow Hand’ because Victoria Vane can write emotional and sensual story extremely well and her characters will jump off those pages easily. However, the main characters in this story took awhile to get used to and to like.

I actually warmed up to Wade almost from the start, but boy I had some issues with Nikki. She was just a bit too off-putting, too argumentative and stubborn and not much likable at the start of the story. But then maybe that’s what made the story more realistic? In any case, the more I read of her back story, the better I understood this chick, but I really had a hard time liking her.

What I did like was the way Victoria took her time in introducing me to the life on a Montana ranch. I’ve never been on one, but now I truly wish to go and stay on one.

Listen, if you like fast pacing, sensual romance with hot cowboys, you’ll need to read this story.

Melanie for b2b

Complimentary copy provided by the author ( )

Characters:
Wade is a lawyer, and a cowboy. Well he would not call himself that, but hey his folks have a ranch, he dresses like one ;)

Nicole does not like cowboys. She used to like them too much, so she had too many bad relationships.

Story.
Nicole comes to settle her father's estate. Wade is the lawyer. He likes her ass (well he does ;) She should not, but who can resist those tempting lips.

Drama:
He is a cowboy, she shouldn't! He has a bit of family issues.

Other characters:
This is their books, but in the background is his brother (now that guy has a chip on his shoulder!) and Nicole's sister. She needs a HEA.

Conclusion:
Lots of passion as sparks fly. Romance and a man that does the chasing. ( )

Well, well, well... Often times I come across writers who can write western romance like nobody's business. They manage to make us dream of the hot cowboy stud, coming to tip his stetson at us, sweep us off our feet, and then start convincing us how great living the life of a rancher's wife can be - in a rather... practical and hands-on way.

Victoria Vane proved to be one of those authors.

But I admit she's the first one to ever write about a cowboy NOT willing to save his family's ranch no matter how much he will roll in debts!

Wade Knowlton is that kind of cowboy. A lawyer with a stetson, he's been hurt by his dead wife too much to seek another woman to settle down. His brother's obsession with their family's ranch is not helping either, when all Wade wants is to sell and be done with it. But when Nicole Powell, whose dead father named her his sole heir, visits Wade's hometown to sort her father's will out, Wade will find himself wishing for things he never thought possible. But what happens when a cowboy pursues a girl who runs for the hills the minute she spots a stetson? And how long till Nikki decides she has to return home, away from Montana's clear air?

While the plot was certainly not original, the characters playing the story out weren't. Sure, we've heard of the woman who hates cowboys and has a bad past with men and her estranged father, but there were parts of Nikki that seemed different from all the heroines falling in these categories. Not that it was because of her personality alone - God no! The woman was annoying to hell! She could never decide what she wanted, she always blamed Wade for acting as she directed him to according to her desires, and she always tried pushing the poor man in the same category as her ex-lovers - to the point where she nearly got mad if Wade didn't behave the way she expected his "type" to! She didn't want him to cheat, but she expected him to tolerate a long-distance relationship because it was emotionally convenient for her. She didn't "want" romance, but she was disappointed in the way Wade treated her when she voiced that - lady, if you tell a man you don't want to be with him, then don't expect anything more than a rough roll in the hay! She hated when he flirted with her and hit on her, but she kept dressing in a way she KNEW would affect him (and hoped for it, too!), and kept following him around instead of leaving him alone. That's like, wiggling your ass in front of a bull and expect not to be stabbed with a horn!

Not to mention, she hated country music - ok, enough said!

What made both Nikki and the whole book interesting, then? Wade! Yup! Wade was a unique kind of cowboy. The kind that wants something more from life than just ranching - without leaving the simple pleasure of a family out. He was sweet, he was flirty, he was funny and hot. He was considerate enough to let Nikki lead their relationship, but he never lost a bit of his Alpha personality. Instead, he calmly tried to make her see the potential of them as an item - too bad the girl is as dumb as they come and couldn't get it... While he was steady in what he wanted, he kept trying to tame his desires for the sake of hers. And heck, his dirty mouth and love-making rituals were something to behold, a true piece of art in words!

Now I'm moving on to his brother's book. Finally! I swear, Dirk is not that bad, he's just antisocial and gruff - just my kind of guy~

***I was given an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinion stated in this review is solely mine, and no compensation was given or taken to alter it.*** ( )

This was the first book by Victoria Vane and I enjoyed it for the most part. The story involves Wade, a lawyer and part time rancher, and Nikki, who's father's death has brought her to Montana. Each has some baggage that they are trying to deal with and end up turning to each other for comfort. Wade was kinda too much in the beginning. He was putting the moves on his client, which is very unprofessional, but Nikki wasn't exactly offended so what do I know. It was a pretty good story and I'll probably read the next book in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. ( )