Cattleman Bran Turner is left shorthanded during busy calving season when a bull tramples his hired hand. Rural Wyoming isn’t exactly a hotbed of qualified candidates, and the only applicant for the position is the pampered town beauty, Harper Masterson. The curvy cowgirl gets under Bran’s skin at every turn, but with no other options, he reluctantly hires her.

When sexual sparks ignite, down-on-her-luck Harper enjoys convincing Bran that not only is she capable of pulling calves, feeding live-stock, and handling backbreaking ranch chores, but she doesn’t mind getting down and dirty, either. Harper also discovers the hot-bodied cowboy isn’t all work and no horseplay…and he’s got more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Bran will learn quickly that Harper is no country mouse—and that she might just have what it takes to stick around for the long haul.

Title: SADDLED AND SPURRED
Author: Lorelei James
Series: Blacktop Cowboys, book 2
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Publisher: NAL Publishing
Year of release: 2011, March 1
Format: Trade Size Paperback
Source: Bought via The BookDepository

First line:
"You're firing me?" Harper Masterson stared at her boss.

Memorable Scenes:
- a tanning salon called TAN YOUR HIDE and a nail salon called GET NAILED > hilarious!
- the goat incident > I died laughing and still chuckle when I think of that scene
- Bran listing all the things he loves about Harper > I could hardly read as my eyes were filling up with tears

Harper Masterson is sweet and caring and she gives her all when she commits to things. I loved her as the heroine of this book. Underneath her girly-girl, beauty-queen veneer there's a headstrong, selfless woman who keeps to herself because of stuff her wayward mother's done.

Bran Turner is a rugged, gruff and sometimes grumpy rancher with a heart of gold. He’s straightforward and laid-back and a man who knows what he wants and knows how to get it.

I really liked the initial reluctance in both Bran and Harper and how they slowly but surely gave in to the sizzling and undeniable chemistry between them. Because I loved that part of the romance so much I'm a bit ambivalent about the sex scenes though. No question they were hot and of the usual Lorelei James standard but the speedy way the sexual relationship between Harper and Bran evolved from vanilla (with a disappointing first encounter for Harper) to full-out spanking wasn't consistent with Bran's character for me.

SADDLED AND SPURRED is a character- and romance-driven story, there’s practically no plot except for a little story involving Harper’s youngest sister Bailey but that was so small and secondary I can’t even really call it a plot.

Though my favorite of the two books out in this series is still CORRALLED, which probably has a lot to do with the ménage setting that book started out in, Lorelei James once again made me a happy reader with another one of her books. It had everything I love and though not as impressive as CORRALLED, I must say SADDLED AND SPURRED was a worthy successor in the series and upon finishing it I am more than anxiously awaiting the next Blacktop Cowboys novel because WRANGLED AND TANGLED is going to be another winner. I'm absolutely convinced of that.

Easy, fluent, with awesome dialogues and effortlessly blending in of back-story, banter, humor and heat Lorelei James' writing never fails to please me and turn me into a gushing mess. SADDLED AND SPURRED was no different. From the moment I started it, I just couldn't stop reading and finished it in 24 hrs!

Favorite Quotes:
The stunned expression on Bran Turner’s face might’ve been comical if it hadn’t filled Harper with dread.
His mouth tightened. His dismissive gaze swept over her as if she’d coated herself in skunk oil. “You’ve got to be f#ckin’ kiddin’ me. You’re my new hired hand?

Good Lord. The woman had worn a miniskirt, a silky shirt, and hooker boots to apply for a job…as a ranch hand. Didn’t she realize that most days she’d be covered in cow shit, mud, and hay?

She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t believe she was turned on by Bran’s chest-thumping declaration. Any part of her feminist side bowed to the primitive part of her makeup that wanted to be taken by this man –every way imaginable.

“You cannot hang me upside down like I’m a slab of meat, Bran Turner!” Her head bounced with Bran’s every confident footstep.
“Sweetheart, your indignity would mean a helluva lot more if I could understand what you’re sayin’ but bein’s your words are muffled against my ass, I can’t.”

“You were amazing, Harper. Flat-out amazing.”
“Really?”
“A winner for sure. And you can tell Becca to bity you, but darlin’, that’s my job.”
“I like the way you bite me. Makes me all tingly.”
“I live to make you tingly.”