Racked and Stacked

RACKED AND STACKED is the ninth full-length instalment in Lorelei James’ contemporary, adult BLACKTOP COWBOYS erotic, cowboy romance series. This is thirty-year old, truck driver Larissa ‘Riss’ Thorpe, and forty-year old, former cattle broker Ike Palmer’s story line. RACKED AND STACKED can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary. Told from dual third person perspectives (Riss and Ike) RACKED AND STACKED focuses on the contemptuous relationship between thirty-year old, truck driver Larissa ‘Riss’ Thorpe, and forty-year old, former cattle broker Ike Palmer. Ike Palmer is the bane of Riss Thorpe’s existence since the day, two years earlier, Ike supposedly got her brother Lloyd fired. For the upcoming wedding of Tobin and Jade, Ike and Riss have agreed to call a truce in their mutual disdain for one another until an accident finds Riss in need of round the clock care, and Ike offers up his services for the foreseeable future. What ensues is the building but acrimonious relationship between Riss and Ike, and the potential fall-out as a distinct lack of communication, snark, misunderstanding, and risks to one another’s independence threatens the growing love and limited peace that as developed throughout the weeks. Larissa Thorpe is a bit of a ball-buster; a hard-nosed, stubborn, in your face heroine who refuses to ask for help especially where is concerns any threat to her long-fought independence. Finding herself laid-up for close to twelve weeks is a slap in the face for both her financial and personal life but coming face to face with the man who was once the target of every nasty word and thought pushes our heroine into a friend zone that slowly develops into something more. Ike Palmer raised his three younger sisters, and didn’t think anything about helping Larissa Thorpe on her long road to recovery but Ike never expected to find himself falling in love with the foul-mouthed red-head who was currently starring in his fantasies and dreams. The relationship between Ike and Larissa is an enemies to friends to lovers romance that struggles with misunderstanding, a lack of communication, and Riss’s fear of losing her independence. Ike’s fear of failure pulls him closer to the brink of bankruptcy and unemployment, and Riss’ downtime forces her to confront the direction of her life. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic, intense and seductive but I dislike the use of a certain four-letter word I found unnecessary in a romance story line. There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including Larissa’s brothers-Lou, Lonnie and Lloyd, as their Aunt Beatrice; Ike’s sisters Lea, Jen and Kay, as well as Tobin and Jade (Hang Tough #8). RACKED AND STACKED is a story of family, friendship, misunderstanding and forgiveness. The premise is energetic and encouraging; the characters are lively and animated; the romance is fated and sassy. RACKED AND STACKED is an engaging and delightful addition to the Blacktop Cowboys series.

Racked and Stacked is Book 9 of Lorelei James' Blacktop Cowboys series. While you can probably pick it up easy enough and follow along, I do recommend reading at least the book prior as Tobin and Jade do make some appearances in this book as well. Ironically, I found myself reading this in the car at the start of our family vacation to none other than the South Dakota/Wyoming area. The author did such a superb job of bringing the story to life that I half expected to look up and find myself right in the middle. After driving in the mountains, I can certainly appreciate Riss and Ike's truck driving skills. I can't even imagine driving a big rig on those steep slopes. This book was simply amazing! Even though they started off as enemies, the heat leaped from the pages between these 2. It was great how they agreed to put their differences aside for their friends and found love along the way. It was also refreshing for the author to include financial and employment struggles. It seems like everyone's been jumping on the billionaire bandwagon. Overall this was an excellent addition to the series and I look forward to the next!

After two years of relentless squabbling, Rhiss Thorpe and Ike Palmer had come to the conclusion that a truce was in order, at least until their best friends were married. It would not do to fight each other when you are respectively bridesmaid and best man. Little did they know that it would come in handy when one of them got hurt! A friend of mine had recommended I read Lorelei James’ books. While I implicitly trust her, I was a tad concerned that RACKED AND STACKED would consist mostly of sex scenes with a flimsy story to hold the steamy bits together, since it was the impression I had got from reading some reviews of the author’s past work. I am overjoyed to admit that my fears were entirely unjustified, as RACKED AND STACKED is absolutely brilliant! I adored Rhiss, her foul mouth and unrepentant independence and her hold-no-prisoner attitude; she’s someone I would love to call my friend. Ike’s character is unlike anyone I have ever read about, and this is due entirely to Ms. James’ extraordinary writing skills at fleshing out her characters. Watching Ike and Rhiss go from enemies to more, was positively enthralling! Ms. James made me go through the wringer, as RACKED AND STACKED is all show and no tell. At all! Which is nearly a novelty with this sort of trope; the author’s storytelling skills simply blew me away! Gripping from the very beginning, I was hanging on to every word, almost nothing predictable happened, and it was glorious! I also liked the fact that both Rhiss and Ike are blue collars, and have normal money worries; no over the top drama, no rescuing of damsels in distress – Rhiss would have had a fit – everything was just perfect! Lorelei James was a new-to-me author who, with one book, vaulted to the top of my contemporary romance author list. If you like a romance that is entertaining, intelligent, with characters who behave like adults, not teenagers, I could not recommend RACKED AND STACKED and Lorelei James any higher! This is truly a remarkable book!