“Somebody’s Lover”

Jace Jackson has spent the last three years since the death of his oldest brother doing his best to take care of Taylor, his brother’s widow.  Three years in which he has watched and wanted Taylor with every beat of his heart.  When he sees Taylor at a bar being hit on, enough is enough. Jace carries her out of the bar and into his truck where with one kiss, they become so much more than just friends.

“Somebody’s Ex”

Randi Anderson has managed her entire life to get herself into mishaps that make her father angry at her.  Finding herself stranded on the side of the road without gas, Randi realizes once again she has forgotten to do something. As luck would have it, David Jackson comes along and offers to drive her into town.  To repay his generosity, Randi offers to cook him dinner, and while the dinner she prepares is not as tasty as she hoped, the company is sinfully sexy and oh so naughty.

“Somebody’s Wife”

Mitchell Jackson’s life changed with the death of his brother.  No longer the happy-go- lucky man of three years ago, he worries and watches every penny.  Dreams he and his wife Connie shared are no longer feasible in his eyes.  His marriage has taken a downwards slide which Mitch is unsure of how to get out of.  Lucky for him, Connie knows just what to do to make their marriage new again. 

I love when authors write a compilation of stories about the same family.  The Jackson family consisted of four sons; Lou, the oldest, is now deceased.  Somebody’s Lover is not so much three novellas about each individual living brother but about the family as a whole and how each of the brothers copes in the aftermath of their oldest brother’s death.  In each separate story, Jasmine Haynes takes the reader on a journey of how each brother learns to cope, in his own way, with the loss of his older sibling. 

Jace felt guilt. David became angry and tried to take Lou’s place.  Mitch became so obsessed with providing for his family that he forgot life’s little joys.  It took strong women to bring these men out of their doldrums and back to the living.  Taylor, Lou’s widow, had her own guilt to contend with – she found herself loving Jace, Lou’s youngest brother, more than she ever loved Lou and that was hard for her to deal with.  It took the action of David, and his anger, to make her see that life is short and needs to be lived with the one you love.  And she loved Jace uncontrollably.  David was used to loving and leaving his conquests.  Randi became so much more in a matter of days that David almost didn’t know how to handle it.  When he sees her being treated a certain way by her father, his first instinct is to make her do what he wants her to and deal with her father in the way he thinks best.  When she balks, he has to soul search and come to realize that love is so much more when there are no stipulations.  Out of the three women in Somebody’s Lover, I think Connie was more emotional than the others.  She loved Mitch.  They had dreams for their family but somewhere along the way, when Lou died, those dreams died too and Connie refused to give them up. She was anything if not tenacious. 

Somebody’s Lover was excellent. Each story was sensuous, beautifully written and some scenes were combustible.  Jasmine Haynes did a wonderful job bringing real emotions to the characters.  Somebody’s Lover is definitely a keeper!