Review: Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas

He answers to no one...

No one has ever truly touched Jack Travis's heart or soul...until Ella Varner comes along. She appears one day on his doorstep with fury in her eyes and a baby in her arms. Her troubled sister is the mother and, according to Ella, Jack Travis is the father. But when Ella demands that Jack take responsibility for the first time in his life, he ends up taking much more than that....

She trusts no one....

Ella Varner is responsible and controlled. Her childhood taught her that love is fleeting and best avoided. That is, until baby Luke appears on her doorstep after her reckless sister, Tara, abandons him. What Luke needs now is stability, and Ella's determined to do what is best for him. As her bond with the helpless child grows stronger every day, Ella goes to Houston in search of the father. What she finds there will change her life forever...

And when things heat up between these two, the time for talking is long gone...Lisa Kleypas lets the sparks fly once again in a novel featuring the larger-than-life Travis family. Full of sizzling sensuality and undeniable heart, her storytelling will grab hold of you from the very beginning.

I finished this book last night wanting more. This was my first book ever by Lisa Kleypas and it won’t be my last.

This book had a lot of real life issues and that is what I liked about it the most. So many things that Tara and Ella went through as a child you see happening today. From her mother’s numerous lovers/husbands, having a step father interested in you in more than one way, having your mother more worried about her looks, reputation and men over your health and safety to a baby being abandoned because the mother just can not handle it. That is what I liked the most.

Ella's sister Tara decides that she is not fit to be a mother and abandoned her son with their mother, who was more worried about her young boyfriend finding out that she was a grandmother. Ella puts her life on hold to take care of this baby and help Tara out by finding the father and getting them on track. That is where she meets Jack Travis. The super hunk who owns his own business and did I mention hunk?

Once Lisa Kleypas introduces Jack into the story you just want more and more of him. Ella reaches out to Jack because of her cousin Liza who said that Tara claimed he was the baby's father. I felt that the way the relationship between Jack and Ella developed was perfect. They became friends because of the baby, Jack took an interest in helping Ella with her situation, they were not afraid to say what was on their mind and nether one pretended to be something they were not. So from the very beginning they got to know each other for who they really were.

Ella was the type where she did not care for marriage, kids, or traditional type relationships. One of her fears was to be like her mother or live the kind of life her mother did. She refused! Because of her childhood Ella never really cared to fall in love. She had a relationship, but it was more of a friendship than relationship.

Jack was the type where he grew up rich with daddy expecting him to follow in his steps only Jack had other ideas and interest and refused to let anyone control his life and turn him into something he was not. He grew up with his brothers and sisters and they were really close with each other. Jack was once hurt by an ex-girlfriend and did not think love was coming his way, though he did want it.

There were some parts of the book though (that didn’t include Jack of course) that I felt I could have lived without in the book. I was actually finding myself peeking ahead to see how many pages I had to go before Jack was back in the picture lol. It was not hard at all to fall in love with Jack. And thanks to baby Luke everyone's life changed. Luke slowly changed Ella's and Jack's life in ways they did not see coming. Let me not even start on the romance scenes in this book. My cheeks were bright red a couple of times.

I am really happy I read this book and I am looking forward to other books by Lisa Kleypas. I definitely recommend this book.