This series of books by Mary Connealy is one of my all time favorites. I recently re-read the series and thought I’d do a review here of them, since I didn’t have my blog the first time around. Honestly, Mary Connealy is such a wonderful writer. I fell in love with her books when I started reading her cowboy comedies. The woman will have you rolling in the floor with laughter. With this series, she switches genres and does it effortlessly. She proves she is quite a dab hand at suspense, too. And are these books ever funny!! If I had to pick a favorite, I think I’d choose ‘Loving The Texas Negotiator’. I very highly recommend these books. I bought them in digital form and then decided I had to have the physical copies for my keeper shelf. Please give them a chance. I’d love to know your thoughts on them. Mighty good reading, they are.

Loving The Texas Lawman:

Garrison’s Law begins. A family of alpha Texas lawmen (and women) bring their own brand of justice to law and order in Texas.Trudy Jennings is a college professor with a string of bestselling pop psychology books about answering all of life’s troubles with love.Ben Garrison is her student. He’s a hardened cop who needs this class to get his degree, but he can’t keep a straight face. He tells her she’s right, as long as she lives in her cushioned, safe life. But for him, using her philosophy, he’ll be dead by the weekend.A stalker is coming after kindhearted Trudy, and Ben is there to protect her. Trudy faces her first true challenge to turning the other cheek. Her stalker keeps coming despite her kindness and she feels like a failure that she can’t help the confused and frightening man.Ben has to keep Trudy safe until the escalating stalker can be stopped. As Ben gets to know Trudy better, he recognizes his own callus behavior at the same time he finds out everyone in Trudy’s life takes advantage of her.She’s got to get tough.He’s got to find a kinder way.Together they have to take down a wealthy, obsessed man who knows how to play the system, because he’s done all this before.

‘Even if Trudy could force herself to love, forgiveness was another matter. She couldn’t find it in her heart, but God didn’t give her a choice.’

I love Mary Connealy’s books. Her cowboy comedies have brought me many hours of enjoyment. Now she heads in another direction and switches genres. She does it well! I loved every single minute of this book. Ben Garrison is a detective with a Texas police department and he is taking one of Trudy’s classes to complete his degree. He doesn’t agree with a thing she teaches, though. She espouses the turn the other cheek philosophy, even when she’s in danger. Ben comes to her rescue when a disgruntled person accosts her. From then on, he must protect her from this man.

Connealy delivers intrigue, suspense and her trademark dry comedy in double doses. This book had me laughing, worrying and coming away with a valuable spiritual lesson. Highly recommended. And there is MORE because this is #1 in a series! Fans of Mary Connealy, you will love this and so will everyone else.

About Loving Her Texas Protector:

Garrison’s Law book #2

Loving Her Texas Protector

Jacie Moreau is a tough-as-nails security specialist who works with the Long Pine Texas police. She takes care of herself and doesn’t ask for help from anyone.

Brett Garrison is an odd-man-out in the Garrison family. He’s a soft-hearted veterinarian from a family of daring Texas lawmen.

Jacie runs afoul of a hired killer and no one is there to step between her and danger but Brett.

Brett’s good-hearted plan to care for the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen draw an assassin’s attention.

Jacie never needs help, but Brett’s kindness when she is so vulnerable sneaks past all the emotional walls she’s built around her heart.

The killer keeps coming and their only hope is to run. And as they run they try and figure out who’s hired a killer, and why, and how to stop him.

If they hide well enough and live long enough, they might make it to the day they can fall in love.

‘Quit being such a wimp.’ She lifted her head with visible effort and turned it to look at him. ‘I hate whining men. I’ll bet you go to the doctor for a hang nail.’

Prepare to be entertained and roll in the floor laughing when you read this book. I have always loved Mary Connealy’s books and especially her Cowboy Comedies, but she had completely outdone herself with this book. In my opinion, it’s her best EVER!!! I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a book so much. I howled in laughter nearly all the way through it. Seriously. I really did.

Connealy has begun her 6 book series, or is it 7, called Garrison’s Law, featuring the Garrison siblings, whose mother’s name, by the way, is Hangin’ Judge Janet. They are all in law enforcement to some degree. Or were at some point. We met Ben Garrison in the first book, a detective, and now we meet his brother Brett, a veterinarian, a mild mannered, some might say wimpy, man. But there is a side to Brett that is not visible to the casual observer.

Brett is leaving the hotel where he stayed for his brother’s wedding when he sees a woman flying out a third floor window into a swimming pool, having been blown out by a bomb. Jacie Moreau, former gymnast, is working as a security specialist when she spies a bomb in the room where she is guarding someone. She comes to full consciousness with a stranger giving her mouth to mouth. She tries to kill him. This is how their relationship starts. Soon they figure out there is a mean as a snake crook after not only the ones she has been guarding, but they themselves are on his radar and he will stop at nothing to take both of them out of the picture. A total nut case bent on destruction with a full skill set to kill them both and anyone else who gets in his way. So on the run they go.

Mary Connealy has the most uproarious sense of humor ever. Dry wit, roll in the floor laughter that makes you go back and reread the funny parts over and over again. These characters were so greatly formed that I felt they were right in the room with me. I loved them so much! And seemingly wimpy Brett was a doozy of a hero. Phew! The man has charm he doesn’t even know about. I loved every single minute of this book and already I want to read it again! Highly recommended.

About Loving The Texas Negotiator

Not all the Garrisons are guys.Beth Garrison is the top hostage negotiator in Rocky Ridge, Texas. She’s called to serve on a task force to investigate a killing that is a copycat of her first bust as a rookie.Tate McCade has a reputation for steamrolling anyone who gets in his way and he’s had a run-in with Beth and her oversized ego before. He’s got a bruise on his face to prove it.They have to work together and sparks are flying that aren’t all about the job.

‘Don’t think you can pat me on the head and tell me to file my nails while the big boys solve the nasty old crime.’

Beth Garrison is one mean detective. Real mean. She’s a hostage negotiator because she can’t keep a partner. Nobody can stand her long enough to work with her. Then Tate McCade grabs her from a hostage situation when she’s tide up and as soon as she gets untied, she walks up to him and slugs him hard enough to knock him backwards. Beth Garrison is not someone anyone wants to fool around with. She has a reputation as a take charge, bull your way into everything and make everybody hate you. Tate McCade has had his share of partners, too, and now they must work together on a really bad case. Along with 4 other cops who can’t stand Beth.

I thought Mary Connealy wrote great Cowboy Comedies. She can do that and do it well, but she has completely proven herself to be even more talented with this series. I have all her books and these are the absolute best. EVER!!! And this one in the series is the BEST YET!! I mean, just get down in the floor as soon as you start reading cause you’re gonna end up there rolling in laughter. And not just once in a while, but every little bit. She will make you cry with laughter! THEN….she switched to all serious and gets down to the business of some really great police drama, Criminal Minds worthy, if you ask me, and you’re just in awe of this lady’s talent with the written word. I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed a book so much. I loved it! Every. Single. Minute. Highly recommended. Go to your computer…run, don’t walk…and order this book. And get the digital version so you won’t have to wait on the mail. You will not be disappointed. Mary Connealy had me right there in the midst of this action. I didn’t want to get shot but I didn’t want to leave. GREAT book!

Just reread this again in March 2021. So good! Read several passages many times. Loved it even more this go round. I will definitely read it another time. LOVE this book. Mary Connealy at her very finest!

About Loving The Texas Stranger

An assassin takes a shot and hits two people with one bullet.
Natalie Brewster, a deep undercover agent for a group that doesn’t officially exist, saw the gunman aiming. He definitely waited, lined up the shot, and tried to kill both of them. Nat and Case Garrison hit the ground bleeding. They both come up shooting and kill the assassin—but that just makes him mad.
Now Case and Nat, who have never before met, have to figure out what they have in common to make them prey for a killer.
And they have to do it while running for their lives because, despite the two of them being highly skilled at keeping a low profile, the killer keeps finding them. They are running at break-neck speed, hiding with all the skill of long-time undercover agents, and falling in love with a passion that might be part of what brought a killer down on them.

“Quit fooling around and shoot back. Or take over and drive so I can do something.”

Mary Connealy has long been a favorite author for me and I absolutely love her inspirational cowboy comedies. But she shines in this new genre she has taken on and I have been totally captivated by them. Garrison’s Law features members of the Garrison family, a Texas based crowd who take law enforcement seriously.

Natalie Brewster and Case Garrison are both hit by a sniper/assassin in a public place with one bullet. A bullet meant to kill them both. They are both undercover, Case, an ex-Navy SEAL and about to be retired FBI agent and Nat so deep she doesn’t even exit. They hit the assassin but he lives and he is just angered and now comes after them with a vengeance. So do a lot of other assassins. They are being tracked and can’t figure out how or why. Both Case and Nat have some seriously deadly skills and know how to survive attacks. In the middle of all this, they figure out they kinda like each other. But in order to proceed further with their feelings, they have to stay alive and that doesn’t seem too likely.

This is not your typical Connealy book. She hits the ground running and the action never lets up until the very end. It will hold your interest till the very last word. Seriously full of action, a great crime drama that will stand up to any episode and beyond of Law and Order. I know there are two more Garrisons and I hope more will come out of the woodwork, maybe some cousins or something so this series can continue. Highly recommended.

About Loving The Mysterious Texan

Amnesia, murder, treasure and ghosts. Garrison’s Law goes gothic. A woman wakes up next to a dead man with no idea how she got there or who he is…..or who SHE is.Grey Devereau drags a terrified woman out of his cousin’s bed…his very dead cousin. It looks for all the world like she killed him. But then everyone who knows Victor wants to kill him eventually. Grey included.Lanny Cole, the young woman hired to research the history of the Devereau family, can’t remember a thing. Grey steps in with an alibi and Lanny realizes that if Grey is her alibi, then she’s his. She decides to trust him, but then she’s suffered a head injury. So she’s probably making one stupid decision after another. And then someone else dies. And a hurricane cuts them all off from help. And then someone else dies. Chills and thrills abound in an old island fortress built by a loathsome pirate.Grey isn’t a Garrison, but when he gets in trouble, he turns to his old friend Case Garrison for help.Garrison’s Law just got spooky.

‘A wail of wind whistled around the outside of the old house in a high-pitched moan that almost sounded like sobbing.’

When Lanny Cole wakes up in the bed beside a dead man, herself injured, she doesn’t know who he is or even who she herself is. Devereaux Grey yanks her up, cleans her and gives her an alibi before the police arrive. He actually just gave himself an alibi because the dead man is his cousin, who was so mean everybody would kill him themselves once they got to know him.

I purely love Mary Connealy’s books. Her cowboy comedies are awesome and when she brought out the Garrison’s Law book series, I was stunned at her talent for switching genres so easily. But this time, she enters the Gothic mystery realm and proves that her talent is just absolutely wonderful. This one is not strictly speaking a Garrison’s Law book since a Garrison only has a minor role, but there are a few more Garrisons left and I certainly and sincerely hope Connealy gives them a story.

So there you have it, folks. Garrison’s Law is one of the best and funniest series of books I have ever read. Honest to goodness, rip roaring fun. Go ahead and sit in the floor when reading them, because that’s where you’ll end up. You’ll laugh yourself out of a chair right down to the floor! I am a forever fan of Mary Connealy! If you read them, look me up on facebook or message me and let me know how you liked them. You can find me at https://www.facebook.com/susangibsonsnodgrass