Birthday Month Reading Challenge: The Mackenzies Series by Linda Howard

Birthday Month Reading Challenge: The Mackenzies Series by Linda Howard

It's been a few months since I have participated in the birthday month reading challenge hosted by you me and a cup of tea.  It was fun to revisit this older series.  I reviewed book one (Mackenzie's Mountain) separately but decided to combine the last four into one review, so voila!  Enjoy!

Mackenzie's Mission: Joe Mackenzie has accomplished his dream of being in the Air Force...indeed, he is one of the best pilots they have ever seen.  He is currently heading up a top-secret project testing out the newest fighter plane: The Night Wing.  Caroline Evans is a top-ranked physicist who has been brought in to replace another scientist experiencing health problems.  As soon as Joe sees Caroline he decides to make her his.  

Caroline was always ahead of her peers intellectually but her skipping grades put her at a disadvantage as she never learned to deal with guys until they all had a lot more experience than she did and their heavy passes would scare her.  She developed a very prickly exterior as a defense and Joe is intrigued and delighted with her "hedgehog" behavior.  Unfortunately, problems have begun to develop with the Night Wing project and the clues are all pointing at Caroline.

Watching these two strong personalities come together is a lot of fun.  Joe makes some big mistakes and Caroline does not hold back in letting him know it!  But he will also protect her with his life and she will have to learn that she is no longer the only person to take into considerations while living her life--Joe is determined to be a huge part of it!

Mackenzie's Pleasure
Zane Mackenzie is one hacked-off SEAL dealing with two critical injuries to his team sustained during a training exercise which was supposed to be weapon free.  He is busy making his displeasure clear when a call comes in that his team is needed to rescue a kidnapped ambassador's daughter being held in nearby Libya.  

Barrie is frightened, naked, and tied to a cot when a moving shadow transforms itself into a man introducing himself as her rescuer.  She is completely out of her depth but does everything she can to aid in her own rescue earning the respect of Zane.  The rest of the SEAL team has to leave them behind as part of a diversionary tactic so Zane and Barry are on their own for a day or two.  They find themselves attracted to each other and act on that attraction.  During their extraction from the country, Zane is shot but Barry is unable to follow him to the hospital due to the sensitive nature of Zane's work as a SEAL and her father's overprotectiveness.

Two months later Zane shows up on Barry's doorstep as she is figuring out a way to run away--she is pregnant and has overheard some compromising statements from her father that make it sound as if he may be a traitor to his country.  He proposes, she accepts, and they are now stuck with how to hide from her father, the original kidnappers who still want her, and a possible mole working on their behalf.  Couple this with some of the funniest morning sickness scenes written and you have another winner.

Mackenzie's Magic
Maris wakes up in bed with a hunk and can't remember how she got there or who he is.  Come to find out she has stolen a million-dollar horse from the stables where she is head trainer and the man is Mac--a drifter who has been working there.  Mac is actually much more than that but it takes a while for Maris to remember her own reality as well as unraveling the cover-up story that Mac has created.  Between recovering her memories, falling in love, and rescuing Sole Pleasure, this is a fast paced and very enjoyable novella.  

A Game of Chance
Chance was adopted at fourteen when Mary found him on the side of the road raging with fever and fighting pneumonia.  All grown up he now works for a shadowy dangerous government group taking down the worst of the world's bad guys.  His sites are set on terrorist Hauer when he gets a lucky break-- Hauer's daughter.  Chance figures he can use her to get to her father.  

All is well with the plan until Chance realizes that Sunny has successfully hidden from her father most of her life and wants nothing to do with him.  Sunny is brave and gutsy and has worked hard to make a life for herself away from her father.  Chance adapts the plan to use her as bait but all hell breaks loose when it works.  Can Chance repair the damage he has done to their budding relationship?  This was a fabulous series wrap up!