It's a marriage of convenience neither wants to end . . . Garret James doesn’t need a woman tying him down. Not when the number of buckle bunny notches on his belt and his position in the pro bull riding standings are both on the rise. But just when he learns he’s close to blowing out his bad shoulder, Silver Jordan roars into his life straddling a Harley with her long, leather-clad legs and offering him the health insurance coverage he needs for his operation. Hell, he might not mind being tied to one woman, if that woman was Silver. There’s two problems however—one, she’s his friend Aaron’s sister and two, this union they’d promised would be temporary and only on paper ends up in the bedroom, making their marriage feel all too real. Flanked was originally released by Samhain Publishing under the same title. This is a reissue, reedited and recovered but without any substantial additions or changes to the story.
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It all started in first grade when Cat Johnson won the essay contest at Hawthorne Elementary School and got to ride in the Chief of Police's car in the Memorial Day Parade...and the rest, as they say, is history. As an adult, Cat generally tries to stay out of police cars and is thrilled to be writing for a living. She has been published under a different name in the Young Adult genre, but released her first romance in 2006.
Today, she is a NY Times & USA Today best-selling, award-winning author of contemporary romance. A promo ho, she's sponsored real live bull riding cowboys and promoted romance using bologna.
Flanked was not my favorite book in the series, but you know how it goes: Different strokes for different folks! It was written well but I could not connect with the characters at all.
Garrett was written as the typical Cat Johnson male is. Hard to love and tough to hate. He is stubborn and independent and has a bit of a quiet side. Not to mention he is a very sexy virile male ;). That last part never hurts. But what I realized is that the wide range of female characters that Miss Johnson pens are really who shape the story. The men are constant, the women are all very different. So in this case, our leading lady screwed the book for me.
Wow. Where to start with her... "Silver", or really Susan is an immature, demanding, annoying, nagging, cold, selfish little tramp... Well what would you call a grown woman who wants to change her name to a damn noun much like a 5 year old does when they determine that their given name wasn't "cool" enough. Or someone who wants so badly to be different and be recognized for being different. She goes against the grain just so people will pay attention to her and the fact that she's going against the grain. Take her parents for example: The first encounter we had with Silver she was a royal BITCH to her parents. She lost me right then and there. The bike, the tattoo, the piercings... all efforts to be noticed for being "wild". Kind of pathetic when you put it out there like that, isn't it.
Oh yeah... and she's a total tramp.
But what really got me was how selfish she could be! Here is a guy who just got hurt and needed surgery and all she could think about was her own sexual needs. In fact, almost every encounter they had, it was all about HER needs. Yeah... I didn't like her.
Besides "Silver", the other reason this book didn't really do it for me as it did for others was the underlying political debate that it held. The underlying theme was based around the health care system. Obviously a very hot topic. So naturally I checked the publication date and as I had assumed it was an election year. Some people really go for that kind of thing, but I'm not one to debate religion or politics with anyone other than my own conscience. It's safer that way...
The ending was a book saver! Cat Johnson has a great way with endings. She never leaves you hanging. THANK GOD! I hate that! Without giving it away, I can tell you that it is happy and not too sappy. It matches the characters and the flow of the book nicely. Even I had a big smile at the end.
Well, unfortunately, that's it for Studs and Spurs for me :( It's all over. For now...
This series has really developed into a favorite of mine. It has really grown from the first book and although this one felt a little rushed, it was the best one yet.
Part of a series that I had on my Kindle forever, very cute and fun series I might add!
The bull rider group is traveling and family meets up with them from time to time. Garrett's best friend's sister, Silver, a school teacher, meets them for a weekend event - they expect some school-marm type, but sparks fly when they meet. Same day Garrett and Silver are having some sneaky hot sex in Garrett's pickup after everyone is asleep. Young hormones y'all. It's actually funny, the gameplaying and sneaking.
Garrett suffers an injury that finally needs surgery, but has no insurance. Silver suggests a quickie marriage and divorce, her obtuse brother goes along with the idea and it ends up causing Garrett and Silver more separation than the initial sneakiness.
It's a very fun story, moves at an odd pace which is the reason for 4 instead of 5 stars, but I still really enjoyed it. It's sweet and you'll finish the book with a smile on your face.
"This was a great introduction for me to Cat Johnson’s work. I felt a part of each character’s life, I got to know a bit about how the rodeo circuit works and I got to watch two strong, independent people fall in love without them even realising it.
There’s plenty of hot action and amazing chemistry between Silver and Garret. So much so that you know they’re meant for each other way before they even admit it to themselves, far less to each other..."
I LOVE SILVER! A strong, kick-ass woman who knows what she wants both sexually and out of life and goes after it with everything she has. So refreshing with all the virgin-falls-for-billionaire storylines out there right now. Silver is a motorcycle riding, band member, sexually liberated woman and Garrett is blown away from the second he meets her. She offers marriage to get him health coverage for surgery, and they fall for each other over the course of their marriage. No insta-love, no magic force drawing them together. Great story!
I loved Silver and Garret's story! It was a super hot read! Silver and Garret start out with a very sexual relationship. They then get secretly married so that Garret can have surgery that he needs in order to keep bull riding. He doesn't have health insurance and Silver does. The plan is to stay married until Garret is completely healed. But once married, the attraction goes beyond just sexual. I love how their story evolved!
Who knew Garrett would end up being my favorite out of this series?...ok well top three at least! You have to love Mustang and Luke and Slade and Chase oh crap thats all of them! Ugh, love this series
A bull rider and a teacher who is his best friends sister. What could go wrong? A wonderful story.
Garret and Silver sneak around to have awesome sex but then end up in a fake marriage so he can be added to her insurance and get the shoulder surgery he needs. The only problem is Silver is his best friends little sister and he doesn't have a clue that they are having sex, so why time they are together they have to sneak around to have sex. The plan was to get divorced after he was completely healed and done with therapy. What will happen when they both start to have real feelings but don't say anything? When he goes back on the road to be with his friends until he is cleared to compete again, she shows up but is it with divorce papers like he thinks?
This dragged for me. I love all the characters, so I kept reading, but this one didn’t grab me like the others. And still, my number 1 favorite cowboy is Mustang. Lol
Flanked: Studs in Spurs, Book 5 by Cat Johnson is a welcome addition to this bull rider series. Ms. Johnson knows her bull riding. She writes with an accuracy that does not need to be skewed for the sake of fiction. I greatly appreciate this.
When we first meet Garret, he’s having a really bad day. I found him bratty and wanted to smack him a little. But, as with all of Ms. Johnson’s great characters, I looked forward to him redeeming himself. And he did just that. Silver is a force to be reckoned with. A tad bratty too, she endeared herself to me quickly.
Deception was necessary for everything to work, but lie after lie sure added up. Silver’s tendency to come up with these elaborate lies saddened me. She was an adult that had to live her life covering who she really is to avoid conflict. It all kind of tired me out at times. That is not a happy existence.
Garret had to come to terms with his father’s new situation. I was glad to see how he grew up in this story. Silver needed to find someone to love her for the real her. And she finds that in Garret. They are perfect for each other in all of the right and honest ways.
I love catching up with the characters from the past books. We get to see most of them and they are all doing great. Who is next? I don’t know, but hopefully Adam. Skeeter needs to get a little older yet and he’s such a sweetie I can’t wait to see him fall in love.
Cat Johnson’s Studs in Spurs is a great series that I recommend.
The author does it again with Flanked. I have loved every book in this series, but this cover - oh my!
I think it's awesome that she shows how much 23 year olds would feel when their living parent first starts dating after losing their spouse. I think it would be hard for anyone to watch your dad start dating after you lost your mother (whom he was married to for over 20 years). I couldn't imagine.
I love they way everyone but Aaron knew they were hooking up and no one but Aaron knew they were married. I found that factoid hilarious.
Now, there was some sizzling chemistry between these two and once they finally figured it out and grew some enough to tell each other, they were good as gold. I loved reading them get to there.
I've really enjoyed every book in this series...but this is the one that's getting a rare 5 stars from me. I love how every one of these has been a bit different. This one, with its hilarious heroine, Silver, had me laughing out loud and then sighing at the romance. And OMG...the scene where Garret walks in on his dad and Molly - I was ROTFL!! Maybe just the mood I was in, but so funny!
Lastly, I'd like to say thanks to Cat for giving us an epilogue! My one complaint with her writing is that the stories end abruptly. An epilogue gives a reader some closure, and I definitely appreciate it.
Garret is one of the youngest of the group of Bill riders, he's very immature, which seeps out of the pages. Silver is not the typical school music teacher. They knock the stuffing out of each other when they first meet, finding their attitudes on many levels changes and they grow up pretty fast.
So much was made about how Aaron and her parents would take the news of their marriage and yet when the time came it was hardly mentioned and ended like a damp squid, rather spoilt it for me. Because of this week ending I had to drop a star. Sorry.
I really enjoyed this one. The other books in this series didn't really grab me like this one did. Silver is so funny and outrageous I loved it. Garrett is just... ahhh... Garrett. I laughed so hard when he walked in on his dad and Molly and he totally freaked out. I did wonder if all the lying and deceit was going to take its toll on Garret and Silver's relationship, but in the end it didn't really matter much in that regard. All in all it was good and I'm looking forward to the next in this series.
If you have been looking for a book to hand a young women that will tell her many reasons for not getting married...give her this book. Lies, deception, none stop sex, is about it. Hated the selfish oversexed heroine and hero better developed as a character but rather spineless for a bull rider.
As a rule Johnson's books are right at the top of my to buy list. Maybe she wasn't feeling well when she wrote this one.
Wow, for the first time since the UnRidden, this book was hot! Garrett and Silver spark right off the top and both act on that. Silver's openness is refreshing and Garrett is lost the moment she shows attention to him! My only complaint about the book is that they don't spend enough time together, but Garrett's drunken antics at the end more than make up for it, as does Aaron's indignity, ah laughing just thinking about it!!
I enjoyed this book quite a lot...my first read of Cat Johnson and the first in this series (yes, out of order, I know...). Only issue I had was some of the writing seemed juvenile to me. Not in a completely negative way, just sort of unexpected and not really enjoyable. I really enjoyed the characters and story line. And I really am excited to read more of the series :)
I love this series and this book is a fantastic addition. A key reason why I love series books is the chance to revisit past characters and this book did that very well. Luke, Mustang, Chase and their girlfriends are back and it's nice to see them again.
Garret and Silver start their relationship on her needing an itch scratched and her wanting to help Garret with his surgery issue...tattooes, piercings and a fun time had by all...great read and funny twists keeps the pages flying and have me falling for another rider...onto the next
Wow! I don't know how this book got its high rating! The writing is amateurish and the plot is as predictable as they come. It was so cheesy, I skimmed the entire book. It wasn't awful, so it's getting a deserved two stars.
Writer needs to learn how to break up her chapters. I find she goes from one subject to another and then a new chapter. A few times I had to stop and re-read to be sure I understood the change in topics. I love all the characters.
I don't know - they didn't even live together. Seemed like all they had was sex but not really a relationship. Garret was quite the immature brat. Not a reread.
3.5 Overall I liked this book. I was a nice easy read. Silvers character was fun. I liked how she would shock Garrett. I felt like the end wrapped up a little too quickly.