When He Returns by Amelia Smarts - 5/5 stars

It’s time to one click – Amelia Smarts has a new book out. I enjoyed When He Returns so much, I’m changing my format for this blog spot. For the first time, I’m adding my review of the book later in this post.

Blurb:

Wade Hunter didn’t want a family. Between dodging his drunk father’s blows and watching his mother die, he knew at the age of eleven he’d be better off alone. He lived on the run for a couple years—hungry and cold often, but at least he was free. Then the local marshal caught him stealing and gave him only two choices: Spend time in jail or join his family.

Sadie Shaw, the marshal’s eldest daughter, had enough brothers and sisters, and she wanted another sibling like a dog wants fleas. She’s dismayed when her kindhearted pa once again brings home a lost child, and it doesn’t help that this one is surly and arrogant. Worse, he thinks that because he’s older, he’s under no obligation to mind her household rules.

Wade and Sadie battle wills often as they grow into adulthood, burgeoning both their dislike for each other and their grudging respect. When faced with a problem that requires their unity, will they be able to set aside their differences, or will the strife they face only tear them apart?

Publisher’s Note: When He Returns is a coming-of-age, enemies-to-lovers romance with adult spanking and sexual scenes. If you don’t like these themes, please don’t buy this book.

Buy links: AmazonKoboBarnes & Noble

Excerpt:

“I’ll only punish you for today’s sins, how about that?” he purred, bringing his hand down in a splat across both cheeks. “And we’ll go backwards. First, your refusal to come over my lap when I first asked. Ten for that.”

He delivered ten firm swats, and Sadie bore them stoically, her mind still barely caught up with what was transpiring. When he finished punishing her for that, he rubbed out the sting in firm circular strokes around her bottom.

She let out a moan of pleasure, having never felt anything so wonderful in her life. She found herself wishing he would stroke lower and touch her between her legs.

“You have such a beautiful bottom, Sadie,” Wade remarked. “Perfect for spanking, unfortunately for you.” He let out a low chuckle.

Sadie’s stomach fluttered happily. Knowing that Wade appreciated the sight of her bottom was flattering. She almost forgot she still had more punishment coming until he reminded her. “Next round is for your lie. I asked if you needed a spanking, and you said no, when clearly it was exactly what you needed. Twenty swats for that,” he declared, and resumed spanking her.

The swats were harder than before, and Sadie couldn’t suffer them quietly. By the time he was halfway finished, her bottom felt like it was on fire, and she yelped while twisting in his grip. He carried on as though she hadn’t made a sound, ensuring that every inch of her bottom was warm and toasty.

“Good girl,” he murmured when he was finished, and resumed stroking her bottom.

She slumped down over his lap and enjoyed his touch. She thought she could lie forever in his lap getting her bare bottom rubbed. The spanking was more painful yet even hotter than her fantasies. She clenched her legs together, feeling on the brink of exploding with pleasure. The physical part of discipline mixed with the scolding was a combination that brought her need and desire straight to the surface.

“Now, darlin’, this last set is for your worst sin of all today. Can you guess what that might be?”

She wouldn’t have been able to guess the color of the sky. “No,” she moaned.

My review:

Miles and miles of heart – 5 / 5 stars

A warning: before you open your copy of When He Returns, turn off your phone. Clear your calendar. You won’t want to be distracted from this charming story of the old west.

The tension starts on the first page with Wade Hunter, a hungry and desperate orphan. Hunter is the perfect name for this lost boy who is trying so hard to be a man. When he’s caught stealing food, widower Marshal Clyde Shaw surprises him by offering him choices rather than immediate retribution. Wade chooses to join the swelling ranks of the children in Clyde’s home. Clyde has two biological children and three adopted ones.

Wade arrives at the humble Shaw house only to find it disappointing. Worst of all is the oldest of Clyde’s children Sadie.

At twelve years old Sadie is already a drudge. She’s swamped with all the responsibilities of a grown woman and only a smidgen of the authority. Ever since her mother died, she has been the child head of the household in Clyde’s absence. Technically the kids are supposed to do what she tells them. Results vary.

Wade makes it clear right off that he has no intention of being bossed around by Sadie.

To Sadie, Wade is little more than another mouth to feed, more work to do, and more competition for her father’s thinly-spread attention.

To Wade, Sadie is a prickly autocrat who is impossible to please.

Then the Marshal is killed in the line of duty. Sorrow swamps the children and destroys the precarious unity in the home.

Wade convinces himself that he never wanted to be part of that family in the first place and leaves in the middle of the night. He takes with him a few personal possessions, a load of grief for the man who treated him kindly when his life was at its lowest point, and a heart blackened by the knowledge that one of the other children in the house betrayed him in the most loathsome way imaginable.

Five years later he returns, longing to forge a lasting peace with the people he once took for granted. After a bittersweet reunion, Wade and Sadie join forces to face a difficult problem.

If you want a rip-tearing book full of raw sex and lots of spanking, keep looking.

If you want an intelligent well-written book with a story that stays with you long after you’ve turned the final page, look no further. Amelia Smarts has a gift for creating likeable, complex characters. Wade and Sadie are two of her best.

Read the first chapter for free: https://ameliasmarts.com/when-he-returns-an-enemies-to-lovers-romance-by-amelia-smarts/

More about Amelia Smarts

Amelia Smarts is a #1 Amazon bestselling author who has received some awesome accolades for her naughty western romances, including:

* Best New Spanking Romance Author in the 2016 Spanking Romance Reviews Reader’s Poll

* Golden Flogger Award Finalist for Best BDSM Book of 2017

* Voted #1 Favorite Historical Romance Author in The Bashful Bookwhore's 2017 Poll

Amelia writes kinky stories containing domestic discipline, spanking, and Dominance/submission. Usually her stories involve a cowboy, and they always involve a man’s firm hand connecting with a woman’s naughty backside. She believes it’s important to tell a good story in addition to portraying hot sex and discipline scenes. For each book, she endeavors to write complex, flawed heroes and heroines who struggle, but eventually succeed, in their journey to love and happiness. A long-time lover of the written word, Amelia holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in creative writing and English. She loves to read, which allows her writing to be influenced by many different genres in addition to romance, including mystery, adventure, history, and suspense.

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