Month: December 2012

Review: Heart of Atlantis by Alyssa Day

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: Mass Market paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Warriors of Poseidon #8
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Date Released: December 4, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

As a war wages between the immortals of Atlantis and those of the vampire realm, a Poseidon warrior fights to save his world—and the woman he loves. And no risk is too great.

The desires of a high priest.

Alaric, Poseidon’s High Priest, has made a vow to Quinn, the woman he loves and the leader of the Resistance: to save her friend Jack before his last bit of humanity has been drained. Should Alaric succeed, there’s one intimate danger: he may lose Quinn to the love of the man whose life he saved. But damn Atlantis to the nine hells, he’s willing to put Quinn’s wishes first, regardless of the consequences.

The warning of a threat reborn.

The final jewel of Poseidon’s trident has turned up in the hands of mysterious Ptolemy Reborn, who claims to be descended from Atlantean royalty. He’s about to reveal to the world that Atlantis is real, positioning himself as king. But this magical terrorist is bent on chaos. The only warrior who can stop him is following his own path, driven by the even more powerful force of love. Atlantean powers over the sea could prove just as cataclysmic—for Quinn’s love, Alaric might drown the entire world.

My Review:

Alaric has been Poseidon’s High Priest for over 500 years. It’s a very, very powerful job, with one tremendous drawback–the High Priest has to be celibate. As bad as that sounds, he managed to get used to it, well sort of used to it, by walling himself off from his emotions. (It turns out you really can channel all that energy into power, at least if you’re a Warrior of Poseidon!)

Then Prince Conlan brought home his human bride, Riley, and Alaric met Riley’s sister Quinn, the leader of the human resistance against the vampires. Quinn was his soulmate, but as the High Priest, Alaric couldn’t claim her.

Que up 7, count ’em 7 books of angst for Alaric and Quinn, while all the other Warriors found their soulmates. Even the one who was cursed not to feel any emotions at all! Talk about torture…

Heart of Atlantis is Alaric and Quinn’s chance at a happy ever after. But, since there is a very real fear that if Alaric gives in to the temptation that Quinn represents, he’ll lose his power, their HEA is wrapped up in the resolution of the series.

They need to find the final stone for Poseidon’s trident, and Atlantis must rise from the depths of the oceans to take its place among the nations of the world.

Of course, there are obstacles. Not just their old enemy Anubisa, queen of the vampires, but there’s a new guy on the block. He calls himself Ptolemy Reborn, and he outs the Atlanteans before they are ready, and exposes Quinn as the leader of the resistance. But the good guys don’t know who he is or even what he is. He’s not vampire, and he’s not demon. So where did he come from and why does he care about their squabbles and their gods?

Meanwhile, Quinn’s best friend, Jack, has retreated to his tiger form and refuses, or is unable, to turn human again.

Can this universe be saved? Before the dome over Atlantis cracks completely and everyone drowns?

Escape Rating B-: This wasn’t quite as much fun as I hoped it would be when I saw that Day was wrapping up the series. The individual stories have been tons of fun, but there were too many plot threads in the air for this last book, and the story felt scattered.

Ptolemy Reborn’s origins came out of nowhere. His obsession with Quinn, and with this world, was never fully explained. It would have made more sense plot-wise if Anubisa were the driving force again, or at least one of her kind. His cannon was a little too loose, in more ways than one.

Alaric and Quinn spend the whole story running all over the place and debating whether they should or shouldn’t. Then they get interrupted just as they’re about to make love. It’s funny the first time, maybe the second, then it gets annoying. Also, they’re adults and they never seem to have a rational discussion about the elephant (maybe that should be pod of whales) in the room.  And when they finally do manage to consummate their relationship, what should be the epic love scene of all time gets rather short shrift.

It was great to have all the Warriors come back to Atlantis for the final raising of the continent. That was cool. What was not cool was the way that Jack just walked off alone at the end, alone and lonely. I need to know that there’s someone for him in the future.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Like Hearts Enchanted by Kathleen Tudor and Cecilia Tan

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 3 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read:ebook provided by the publisher
Number of Pages:74 pages
Release Date:May 31, 2012
Publisher:Circlet Press
Genre: Fantasy romance
Formats Available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Author’s Website | Publisher’s Website

Book Blurb:

Love is a universal ideal transcending time and place and occasionally even dimensions. Anyone who has ever been in love knows that there is something magical about it, but what happens when real magic gets involved in matters of the heart? From love spells, to the ability to open the eyes and the mind, to a special little something that can make you downright irresistible, anything is possible when magic and love mingle.

Prepare to be enchanted and aroused as these five original short stories help you answer the important questions, like “What if love is right in front of you, and all you need to do is let it in?”, “What happens when you mix steampunk, love potions, and a sexy strip tease?”, and of course, “What’s the best course of action if you accidentally summon a demon of lust into your living room?”

Sweet love will take you by surprise in “Violets” by Annabeth Leong. In “Summer’s Breath” by Deb Atwood, love, magic, and need intertwine and show you a hidden world. Heart’s desire is not always what it seems in “Knight of Her Dreams” by Kathleen Tudor. “By the Book” by Elizabeth Thorne takes us on a laugh-out-loud journey through lust, and delivers us to Ann Foster’s “The Captain,” a steampunk romance with a twist.

True love, red-hot sex, enlightenment, salvation, or anything in between; when matters of the heart and matters of magic collide, watch out! Love is in the air, and these five tales of love, sex, and enchantment will capture your senses and whisk you away to a world (or worlds) where anything is possible.

My Thoughts:

This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.

Although the subtitle of this collection is “Erotic Tales of Love and Magic” the stories didn’t seem like erotica. They were very definitely love stories, I’m just not sure that they all fell into the erotica category. As they say, your mileage may vary.

What they all have in common is that the magic involved in each story is pretty much magic of the witchcraft variety. Magic of the more homely sort. There are no dragons here. Nothing showy happens. There are only two otherworldly creatures in this collection, a fae and an incubus, and even the incubus gets caught up in a simple love spell.

The thread that binds these stories together is that the magic of love, or when someone involves magic spells in dealing with love, surprising things happen.

My favorite story in the collection is Elizabeth Thorne’s “By the Book”. Catherine summons a gorgeous naked man into her living room using a spell from a library book. When he looks bored inside the summoning circle, she unsummons him, really, really fast. He may be gorgeous, but she’s tired of being with men who don’t want to be with her. 20 minutes later, he’s back. Clothed this time, and at the front door. He’s not bored anymore, either. He’s annoyed.

Nobody’s ever turned him down before. He’s intrigued. It’s the most interesting thing that’s happened to him. He wants to talk about it. The talk leads to a pillow fight. And an explanation of why love spells don’t work. Except this one that did.

The other really good story in the collection is Annabeth Leong’s “Violets”. Helen desperately wants to keep her best friend Silvia from returning to her boyfriend Jared, who has just given her a black eye. Again. She wants to help Silvia find a good man this time, and not another loser. So she goes to Silvia’s aunt. Why? Because Silvia’s aunt is a bruja, a wisewoman from Puerto Rico, who can provide both a love spell for Silvia, and maybe a curse for the bastard who gave her the shiner.

But there’s a catch. The love spell must be prepared by someone who loves Silvia. Who better than her best friend, Helen? And maybe the preparation and application of this love spell will finally let these two women realize that the best person for them, the one who really loves them, is each other.

Verdict: Like most collections, there are hits and misses. The two stories highlighted above are definitely the hits in this collection, at least as far as I am concerned.

“Knight of her Dreams” by Kathleen Tudor and “The Captain” by Ann Foster were both pretty good stories as well. “Knight” was a bit predictable, but the story was well-told. “The Captain” is the steampunk story in the collection. The steampunk aspects were minor, but the interesting part of the story was the way the tables got turned on the main character.

Unfortunately, one story didn’t work at all for me. That was “Summer’s Breath” by Deb Atwood. A summer fae comes to earth and needs to submit herself to someone before the winter solstice or she will be lost. I got that part. It was the ending. I think this story might have been bigger than the format. It sounded interesting, but there just wasn’t enough to figure out everything that happened. Too bad, too.

I give Like Hearts Enchanted 3 stars.

 

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Naughty & Nice by Ruthie Knox, Molly O’Keefe and Stefanie Sloane

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> B Reviews> book reviews> C Reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the publisher through NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Holiday Anthology
Length: 210 pages
Publisher: Loveswept (Random House)
Date Released: November 5, 2012
Purchasing Info: Ruthie Knox’ Website, Molly O’Keefe’s Website, Stefanie Sloane’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance

’Tis the season for romance with three original holiday-themed novellas! Unwrap this festive eBook bundle and discover why these authors are quickly becoming the biggest names in the genre. Ruthie Knox tells a heartwarming contemporary story of first loves given the gift of a second chance; Molly O’Keefe releases the ghosts of Christmas past with a prequel to her novel Crazy Thing Called Love; and Stefanie Sloane weaves an irresistible Regency tale of fiery passion that burns deep on a cold winter’s night.

ROOM AT THE INN by Ruthie Knox

Carson Vance couldn’t wait to get out of Potter Falls, but now that he’s back to spend Christmas with his ailing father, he must face all the people he left behind . . . like Julie Long, whose heart he broke once upon a time. Now the proprietor of the local inn, Julie is a successful, seductive, independent woman—everything that Carson’s looking for. But despite several steamy encounters under the mistletoe, Julie refuses to believe in happily ever after. Now Carson must prove to Julie that he’s back for good—and that he wants her in his life for all the holidays to come.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU by Molly O’Keefe

Maddy Baumgarten and Billy Wilkins are spontaneous, in love, and prepared to elope the day after Christmas—that is, if Maddy’s family doesn’t throw a wrench in their plans. After all, Maddy’s barely out of high school and Billy’s a notorious bad boy. Maddy doesn’t care about Billy’s rough past—all she cares about is living in the here and now. But after Maddy’s mother stops speaking to her in protest, and a Christmas Eve heart-to-heart with her father leaves her with butterflies, Maddy starts to get cold feet. She loves Billy, but is she taking this big step too soon?

ONE PERFECT CHRISTMAS by Stefanie Sloane

After being jilted by her fiancé, Jane Merriweather turns to her dear childhood friend, the Honorable Lucas Cavanaugh, for support—and unlocks the smoldering desire simmering in the man’s troubled heart. Frightened by his newfound feelings, Lucas flees to Scotland. But when the Christmas season brings them together again, one glance is all that’s needed to reignite his yearning. If Lucas can convince Jane that his intentions are as pure as the falling snow, they’ll turn a dreary December into a joyous Yuletide affair.

‘Tis also the season for Holiday anthologies, as Loveswept gets into the swing of the holidays with this trio of Christmas themed stories. Unlike the Carina Press holiday bundles, these stories are not available separately, so if you want one, you have to get them all.

I say that because, as with so many story bundles, one person’s cuppa tea is another person’s day-old coffee grounds. But this holiday treat is priced as a virtual stocking stuffer at $1.99, so it’s not a big deal. Or it’s a great deal, take your pick.

Speaking of picks…the pick of this litter is Ruthie Knox’s contemporary story, Room at the Inn. It’s also the longest story, so Ms. Knox has the most time to develop her characters and her background. Inn takes the second-chance at love theme and really works it. Carson and Julie are on more like their tenth chance. Maybe their twentieth. Carson comes back to his small upstate New York home town as seldom as possible, because two things always happen; he fights with his father, who he feels like he always disappoints, and he falls into bed with Julie, who he always leaves. He knows he’s breaking her heart every time, but he can’t resist her. And vice-versa. But he can’t stay in Potter Falls. He has an important job. One that takes him as far away as possible.

Until his father manufactures a breakdown, and forces him back for longer than 10 days, and life wraps him back in the place he left behind. He finally stays still long enough to see that his home, his old friends, his old frenemies, and even Julie, are not quite the same people he thought they were when he was 20, not now that he’s 35. And neither is he.

Escape Rating for Room at the Inn: A-

Molly O’Keefe’s All I Want for Christmas is You is a prequel short story to the third book in her Crooked Creek Ranch series, Crazy Thing Called Love. And it felt very short and slightly incomplete to me. There was too much backstory that I didn’t know about the town and the people, and I didn’t feel for why Maddy wanted to rescue Billy quite so badly that they HAD to get married on her 18th birthday. Too many of the motivations behind the events were missing for me. Especially since I know that this is not a happily ever after, just a set up for a later story.

Escape Rating for All I Want for Christmas is You: C-

The last story in the group is Stefanie Sloane’s One Perfect Christmas. This one is a Regency romance, and also a friends into lovers story. This one drove me crazy! It wasn’t long enough. I could tell that there was oodles of backstory between Jane and Lucas, but we only catch glimpses of it. They were childhood friends, having grown up on adjoining estates. But she’s loved him forever, and he never realized it until recently. Now she needs to marry for money, and would love to marry him. He even has money. It would be perfect. But only if he also loves her, which he does. Misunderstandings abound. There’s even a wandering donkey for comic relief.

This is a case of the story being bigger than the format allowed. I needed more!

Escape Rating for One Perfect Christmas: B

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Format read: ebook purchased from Amazon
Formats available: Trade paperback, ebook
Genre: Contemporary romance
Length: 314 pages
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Date Released: November 25, 2012
Purchasing Info:Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O.

Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Each moan, spank, and–was that a meow?–punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O.

Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick…

In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight.

Caroline has great friends, a fantastic job, a terrific boss, and a truly lousy sex life. Not because she can’t find a guy (or girl, for that matter). Her lack of options isn’t the point.

It’s  her lack of orgasms. Self-love isn’t even doing the job. (Insert joke about not being able to find it with both hands and a map. This is the sort of story where that joke even fits) It may not help that Caroline speaks about her orgasms in the third person. And not just to herself, but to her friends. I’m not sure I’d want to be a party to that conversation with anyone. Ever.

Caroline’s new neighbor is giving plenty of women plenty of orgasms. Caroline is damn sure of it, because she can hear every moan and scream. And meow. His headboard banging exploits keep Caroline awake at night.

Not just with the noise, but with envy, and a side-helping of annoyance. When she can’t stand it anymore, she runs across the hall to bang on his door in the middle of the night. Interrupting his night for a change. One good bang deserves another. The pink nightie she’s wearing doesn’t do much for her dignity. Especially since she can’t keep from staring at the sheet he’s almost wearing.

In spite of the fact that they drive each other crazy, they keep running into each other. Not just because they live in the same building, but because their friends are all tied up with each other. Her boss is married to his best friend. Her BFFs are dating his BFFs. They keep getting “coupled up” together as the only two singles.

And they don’t resist. They are having too much fun becoming friends. Not friends with benefits, just plain friends. Whatever sparks they feel, and there are tons of sparks, they each think friendship is best.

Simon is a photojournalist, and travels for work. He’s away more than he’s home. Experience has taught him it’s death on relationships. Caroline’s missing O has been absent so long that friendship seems safer.

But as they steer their friends toward more, they can’t help but wonder if it might be worth exploring what they might have together. Little do they know that someone has been steering them towards each other all along.

Escape Rating B+: This was lots of fun! It was great to see a romance that took its time with the building of the relationship, with the “chase”. It was cute to watch these two navigate from their rocky and wacky start towards something solid and new.

Caroline’s friends are terrific. Everyone should have friends like hers.

I did find Caroline’s inner dialog with her body parts and her third-person references to her missing orgasms slightly off-putting, but YMMV.

The banter between Simon and Caroline was great fun. These are two smart people trying to out-smart each other and taking the readers along for the ride. The way the relationship goes from cautious friendship to bantering friendship to love reminds me of Kate Beckett and Rick Castle on Castle.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand? 12-2-12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

I probably should should be writing about where my nightstand is, instead of what’s on it!

My nightstand, and the rest of our worldly goods, are probably pulling into Boise, Idaho tonight. At least, that was the driver’s next stop. Us, we’re in Seattle. Until the furniture arrives–hopefully Wednesday, possibly Thursday, we’re in a hotel.

Effectively being dissed by the cats. My promises of a future mega-cat-tree are falling on pointedly deaf ears. Or deaf pointed ears.

In spite of the kitty dissing, and other moving events, the blog went on. So what happened?

First, we have a winner! The winner of the Fall in Love Blog Hop is Katie Amanda. She’ll have her chance to fall in love with my favorite Chicago wizard, Harry Dresden. The prize was the winner’s choice of any book in the Dresden Files series under $10.

B+ Review: The Buzzard Table by Margaret Maron
B+ Review: Spectra by Joanne Elder
Echoing Walls
Comics Review: Kevin & Kell by Bill Holbrook
A+ Review: Cold Days by Jim Butcher
Hot Holiday Hop
Stacking the Shelves (24)

So what about next week? Seriously, there’s a next week? Yes, there’s a next week. And a next post, and a next review.

Because of the holiday season, there are a lot of blog hops this month. Isn’t it marvelous? So many different places to get a chance to win books and gift cards. On Saturday, Reading Reality will be participating in the Holiday Gifts of Love Blog Hop, along with over 200 other bloggers and authors.

But the rest of the week is wide open. And wildly open. I’m looking at putting together my best of the year lists soon, and my most anticipated books for next year list. That made me realize I need to get out my most anticipated list for this year, and whoa, there are some books on there I forgot to read! Whoops!

So many books, so little time.

Speaking of time (don’t you just love segues?) I have a question for all of the bloggers out there who have day-jobs? How do you do it? Do you have any words of wisdom you’d care to impart as I start my new full-time job on Wednesday?

I’m going to have plenty of time to read on the bus on the way to and from work every day. Finding time to write is going to be a challenge. But so worth it!

Stacking the Shelves (24)

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Stacking the Shelves

For once, a really short shelf stack, at least for me. Not so much because I was being sensible, as because I simply didn’t have time to look at either NetGalley or Edelweiss.

Even so, I still pre-ordered Cold Days and read it while the movers were taking stuff out of the house. Every so often, someone would pull me out of a Dresden-induced trance to tell me they had to load the chair I was sitting on. In the end, I was perched on the last stack of moving pads on the living room floor, happily reading on my iPhone.

I love technology!

Did you get any books that you absolutely love this week?

For Review:
The Damnation Affair (Bannon & Clare #1.5) by Lilith Saintcrow
Fear in the Sunlight (Josephine Tey #4) by Nicola Upson
Five Golden Rings: A Christmas Collection by Sophie Barnes, Karen Erickson, Rena Gregory, Sandra Jones, Vivienne Lorret
The Scandalous Dissolute No-Good Mr. Wright by Tessa Dare
Touched (Sense Thieves #1) by Corrine Jackson (print ARC)
The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma

Purchased:
Cold Days (Dresden Files #14) by Jim Butcher (review)