Summer Nights by Susan Mallery

Annabelle Weiss is a librarian in need of a bookmobile. She has decided to raise money by doing The Dance of the Horse at the next town festival (they have one every (or nearly every) month).  She's got ten weeks to get it down but she needs some help. Because, well, she doesn't exactly know how to ride a horse and, really, she needs a horse that has been trained to dance.
Shane Stryker knows horses. He also knows that he's been burned in the past. His ex-wife was a flamboyant woman who loved attention, especially from men who weren't her husband. His first glimpse of Annabelle is of her dancing on a bar so he assumes that she is more of the same. But as he works with her, he starts to discover that's not true. Of course, that's only after he sticks his foot in his mouth a few more times.
We get some more mayhem with Shane's mother ordering all sorts of exotic animals including pigs, elephants, and ponies (Shane <i>hates</i> ponies).
I probably wouldn't recommend this book as a stand-alone (there are <i>way</i> too many characters for that, although Ms. Mallery has come up with a <a href="http://foolsgoldca.susanmallery.com/who.html">Who's Who</a> of Fools Gold that can be helpful. It's a fast and easy read that will delight Susan Mallery's Fools Gold fans.

Summer Days by Susan Mallery

Rafe Stryker has some troubles. His mother loaned a man $250,000 for a ranch that the man didn't own. She isn't really interested in prosecuting but it's his name on the line. To add to the troubles, the ranch is the one where he grew up with his two brothers and sister; they were dirt poor. It was a hardscrabble existence and Rafe doesn't want to be reminded of those times. But maybe some good can come out of it. After all, the swindler's granddaughter (the actual property owner)isn't hard to look at.
Heidi Simpson grew up with a carnival (different than a circus, no animals)and only wants to stay in one place. She has grown to love the town of Fool's Gold and her friends there. She loves her goats and she loves the land that she can barely afford. Now Rafe's threatening to take it all away. He's certainly a looker though. Can she manage to untangle her feelings for him long enough to save her ranch?
Update: Read my review for "Summer Nights" the next book in the series

Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis

Ty Garrison is the man that Lucky Harbor  is calling “Mysterious Cute Guy.” Apparently the town’s Facebook page is half reportings about seeing him out and about. He’s actually in town trying to recuperate from an accident that injured him and left four of his coworkers dead. Mostly he’s just trying to keep his head down and finish some car repairs.

Mallory is the town good girl. A nurse with an unending well of patience, she’s the “white sheep” in a family of children who liked to cross the line. She’s also working on opening up a health services clinic so that people in need, like her sister who died at eighteen, would be able to get the help that they need without having to pay Emergency Room costs. I like Mallory. She's a good heroine, but not <i>too</i> perfect (that's just annoying in a heroine.)

However, like any good romance heroine. Mallory is ready for a walk on the wild side (as we’re told more than once) and she thinks Ty might be the perfect man. Short-term and just a little dangerous, he’s not interested in setting up with a dog, 2.3 kids, and a white picket fence. “She knew he didn’t want to be her hero.” But she can’t stop herself from going back again and again.

Of course, he can’t either. He finds himself stopping at her car wash, going by her house, replacing her alternator. “Probably he needed to work harder on keeping his distance.” 

It could be such a trite story but Shalvis weaves humor with a good dose of common sense and reality checks (e.g. we can’t just let our veterans fend for themselves after they’ve fought to protect our freedoms.