Review: Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb

Posted on February 10, 2015February 9, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | A Reviews> book reviews

Format read: print ARC provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, audiobook
Genre: mystery
Series: In Death, #40
Length: 405 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Date Released: February 10, 2015
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Eve Dallas has solved a lot of high-profile murders for the NYPSD and gotten a lot of media. She—and her billionaire husband—are getting accustomed to being objects of attention, of gossip, of speculation.

But now Eve has become the object of one person’s obsession. Someone who finds her extraordinary, and thinks about her every hour of every day. Who believes the two of them have a special relationship. Who would kill for her—again and again…

With a murderer reading meanings into her every move, handling this case will be a delicate—and dangerous—psychological dance. And Eve knows that underneath the worship and admiration, a terrible threat lies in wait. Because the beautiful lieutenant is not at all grateful for these bloody offerings from her “true and loyal friend.” And in time, idols always fall…

My Review:

The case that begins when Eve starts receiving dead bodies as presents from an unknown admirer is one of the best books in this series in a long time. It is a particularly marvelous story for long-term fans, as the case forces Eve to look back at all the people she has let into her life, both her friends and her enemies. The case gives her a chance to reflect on the woman she might have been, which adds extra chills and thrills to a fascinating and deadly case of hero worship, without taking too long a trip to the angst factory.

It’s not the first crime scene that chills Eve down to her boots, it’s the note that the murderer left on the scene, labeling the victim as an enemy of Eve’s struck down by her “true and loyal friend”. Anyone who really knows Eve would know that she wouldn’t want a dead body as a present. Eve stands for the dead, bringing justice to those who have been murdered. While she has killed in the line of duty and for self-preservation, she wouldn’t want someone else doing it for her, even if the victim deserved it.

Which this one didn’t. She wasn’t even a real enemy, just a high-priced defense attorney who did an excellent job for her clients, even if those clients were wealthy scumbags. She and Eve had faced off on a couple of cases, and while the attorney scored points in the media, Eve mostly won. Even if she had lost, Eve wouldn’t consider an enemy someone who was doing their job the way it was supposed to be done.

But the mash note at the scene is a sign that the killer, no matter how organized they were in committing the crime, is actually emotionally deranged. (Think of the guy who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in order to “impress” actress Jodie Foster for a real life example.)

As the bodies left for Eve start to pile up, Eve and Dr. Mira work on a profile of the killer. Eve and several experts comb through all the “fan mail” that Eve has received over the years, looking for patterns and repeat correspondents.. Some of it is sweet, some of it is sexual, and a few bits are just plain sick. It turns out that there are quite a few people out there who think Eve would be their best friend ever (or more) if they just arranged to meet.

But some of the strange ones are sure that if Eve just got rid of all the people in the way, her best friend could finally get close to her. While Eve wants the killer to turn their attention from people who have crossed her over the years to Eve herself, Eve isn’t emotionally prepared to think about all the people in her life that she cares about who might become the killer’s next target.

As bad as Eve thinks it can get, and as much as she hates putting the lives of the people she loves and works with in danger, even Eve can’t quite manage to think her way into the mind of a killer who doesn’t care how big a body count she racks up in order to make Eve pay for not being the best bud that the killer thinks she should be.

When the killer drops Eve off that pedestal they’ve created, the killer wants to make sure that Eve goes out with as much collateral damage as possible when she crashes.

Escape Rating A-: I really enjoyed this one, and it was back on track as a mystery in a way that the last few books have not been, but it is definitely a story for long-time fans of the series. The killer’s motivations force Eve to take a look down memory lane at all the people who are now a part of her life, and that trip has much more resonance for people who have followed the series.

At the same time, the killer’s motivations, while chilling and made more personal if you know Eve, still track as something that makes (admittedly bad and deranged) sense. There have been real-life examples of people who kill or attempt to kill to gain the attention of some media star who they only think they have a relationship with. That Eve, in the context of her high-profile cases and her marriage to Roarke, would attract exactly this type of psychotic admirer is all too believable, which is what makes this story work so well.

Eve has a case to solve that touches on her personally and makes her feel just a bit guilty. Not that she has or hasn’t done anything to the killer, but that people are dying because of her and she can’t find who is doing it fast enough. She is putting the lives of the people she loves, and even those she just likes, into danger. And as the noose begins to tighten around the killer, Eve is even more guilt-ridden as they figure out that the murderer must be someone within the police department circle, either a cop or a clerk or someone at the morgue or the forensics lab. It’s a face that Eve has seen before and didn’t pick out of the crowd. Now that person has picked her out instead.

For long-term fans of the series, this one is a return to the under-pressure case solving that has made the series so much fun, while at the same time giving us more peeks into Eve’s life and the changes she has made. And we get to visit all the members of Eve’s “family” and see how everyone is doing.

Definitely a win.

***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 or borrowed from a public library 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: The Promise by Robyn Carr

Posted on February 9, 2015February 8, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by the publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook, large print
Genre: contemporary romance
Series: Thunder Point #5
Length: 363 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Date Released: June 24, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Scott Grant has a bustling family practice in the small Oregon community of Thunder Point. The town and its people have embraced the widowed doctor and father of two, his children are thriving, and Scott knows it’s time to move on from his loss. But as the town’s only doctor, the dating scene is awkward. That is, until a stunning physician’s assistant applies for a job at his clinic.

Peyton Lacoumette considers herself entirely out of the dating scene. She’s already been burned by a man with kids, and she’s come to Thunder Point determined not to repeat past mistakes. When Scott offers her a job, at a much lower salary than she’s used to, Peyton is surprisingly eager to accept…at least for now. She’s willing to stay for a three-month trial period while she explores other options.

Scott and Peyton know the arrangement is temporary—it isn’t enough time to build a real relationship, never mind anything with lasting commitment. But love can blossom faster than you think when the timing is right, and this short visit just might hold the promise of forever.

My Review:

The Promise in the title of this book is a promise that Peyton Lacoumette makes to Thunder Point’s only doctor, Scott Grant, that she will stay in Thunder Point as his physician’s assistant for three months.

Scott’s growing practice needs Peyton’s skills as a PA very badly, but the small town general practice can’t afford to pay the kind of salary that a top-notch PA with a stellar reputation like Peyton can command in either Portland or Seattle. Or anywhere else that Peyton might want to go.

But Peyton’s large and boisterous family owns a farm not-too-far from Thunder Point, and Peyton has come back to rural Oregon to recover from a relationship that strayed from the professional to the personal, and went horribly wrong.

When your lover is also your boss, when you break up with the former, it’s impossible to stay around the latter. Particularly after you discover that he’s been playing around with one of his nurses while he’s left you to attempt to deal with his spoiled, over-indulged, and even criminal teen-aged children, as well as managing his practice.

Peyton is broken-hearted half as much as she feels deceived, not just by her ex but by her own willingness to ignore all her reservations and sacrifice some of her self-esteem to keep trying to save a relationship that was never what she thought it was.

Peyton let herself be taken advantage of for three years, and she’s mad at herself. Also seriously questioning her own judgment about men, and possibly even about jobs.

Scott’s small-town practice seems like a perfect place to do good work, recover herself a bit and then see where she wants to go and what she wants to do.

What she doesn’t want to do is get involved with her new boss, or find herself taking care of his two young children. So on her first day on the job, Peyton is stuck babysitting little Will and Jenny while Scott rushes to the scene of a church-bus accident.

She expects to feel put-upon, and stuck in the same position she was with her ex, but the situations are nothing alike. Not just because Scott Grant is a widower and doesn’t even have a divorced ex to take care of the children, but because Scott has paid attention to his kids and given them both love and boundaries. Where Ted’s kids were deliberately terrifying, Scott’s kids are well-behaved and openly loving.

Peyton finds herself settling in to the warmth, charm and open-hearted friendliness of Thunder Point, while Scott can’t help but fall head over heels for his intelligent, beautiful and caring assistant. It doesn’t help his slide that his kids adore Peyton to pieces.

But Peyton faces doubts on every side. Or nearly every side. Scott’s kids really are adorable, well-behaved, and they definitely love her. While it may be easier for them to be more adorable at ages 4 and 5 then they will inevitably be as teenagers, Will and Jenny have a much better grounding, and a much better chance of turning out to be decent people, than Ted’s nightmare children.

It may help that Will and Jenny can’t hope for a reconciliation with their parents. With their mother dead, the best that they can hope for is a new mommy to make their dad and them happy.

Peyton also doubts whether the small-town life and small-town pace (along with the small-town salary) is really for her. Although she grew up on a family farm, she has loved her life in the big city. At the same time, Scott offers her the chance to be a real partner in his practice, doing good medicine, and she can’t help but be tempted.

And sweet and loving Scott, along with the welcoming town of Thunder Point, steal her heart.

Escape Rating B+: Unlike some of the earlier entries in the Thunder Point series, the romance in this one is front and center. Peyton and Scott both try to resist their attraction, but as the days turn into weeks, they slowly, inevitably, succumb.

In this love story, the reasons that they might resist are all issues that they can overcome, if they just open their hearts and minds.

Mostly that opening is on Peyton’s part. Scott’s only reservation is that Peyton keeps saying that her stay in Thunder Point is temporary. It’s up to him to convince her that life in this marvelous little town will satisfy her personal and professional goals.

Peyton is rightly gun-shy. When her ex barges onto the scene to demand that she come back, she completely rejects him. He’s a selfish bastard, and she finally sees that in all its glory. But she can’t help but be drawn back in when one of his daughters reaches out to her in an hour of desperate need.

Scott finds himself afraid that Peyton will return to Ted’s cushy practice and high-living lifestyle. He compares his small-town practice and low-key life and feels like he comes up short. He pushes Peyton away just at the point where she’s sure of her priorities.

The push-pull of their relationship feels real. They’ve both been independent for quite a while. They are both afraid to need and to trust. It takes a return to their roots for both of them to figure out that their future is together.

***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 or borrowed from a public library 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 2-8-15

Posted on February 8, 2015February 8, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Giveaways> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

Last weekend I was in Chicago for the American Library Association Midwinter Conference. Yes, Chicago in January. And it snowed. The 5th largest snowfall in recorded Chicago history. I used to live in Chicago and let me tell you, Sunday night the streets were as deserted as I’ve ever seen them. Next January in Boston. OMG.

One of the reasons I went to the blizzard was to participate in the ALA Notable Books Council. We spend two or two and a half days locked in a room together picking the 25 or 26 best books of the year, at least according to the collective us. Although the timing of the awards program couldn’t have been worse (in the middle of the blizzard and just as the Super Bowl was kicking off) the books we selected are awesome. If you enjoy literary fiction and excellent non-fiction, you might find something on the list for you. I hope so.

Coming Next Week:

The Promise by Robyn Carr (review)
Obsession in Death by J.D. Robb (review)
Death of Yesterday by M.C. Beaton (review)
The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki (blog tour review)
Death of a Liar by M.C. Beaton (review)

Stacking the Shelves (121)

Posted on February 7, 2015February 6, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Stacking the Shelves

The real problem with going to a conference with 6,000 or so of my nearest and dearest friends is that I inevitably come back with a cold, or something of the flu-ish persuasion. All those people cooped up in an airplane with recycled air does it to me every time. On the plane flying home, I could just feel the crud creeping over me. Yuck.

The fake problem with going to the ALA conference is the temptation to pick up a print ARC of every interesting book in the Exhibit Hall. But then, I have to get them home somehow. Actually, just carrying them around the conference floor has become enough to disabuse me of that notion fairly quickly. Books are HEAVY!

p.s. When I did the Amazon look ups for these books, I discovered that Dead Man’s Reach (actually Deadman’s Reach) is also a brand of coffee.

last american vampire by seth graham smith

video game storytelling by evan skolnick

For Review:
After Snowden by Ronald Goldfarb
Anatomy of Evil (Barker & Llewelyn #7) by Will Thomas
Blood for Blood (Zytarri #1) by Darcy Abriel
Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew
The Curse of Anne Boleyn (French Executioner #2) by C.C. Humphreys
The Dead Assassin (Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle #2) by Vaughn Entwistle
Dead Man’s Reach (Thieftaker Chronicles #4) by D.B. Jackson
The Fellowship by Philip and Carol Zaleski
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The Kill List (Jamie Sinclair #1) by Nichole Christoff
Love After All (Hope #4) by Jaci Burton
Speak Now by Kenji Yoshino
Time Salvager by Wesley Chu
Video Game Storytelling by Evan Skolnick
Witches be Burned (Magic & Mayhem #2) by Stacey Kennedy

Picked up at Conference:
The Grace of Kings (Dandelion Dynasty #1) by Ken Liu
The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith

Borrowed from the Library:
Death of a Policeman (Hamish Macbeth #30) by M.C. Beaton

Share the Love Giveaway Hop

Posted on February 6, 2015February 5, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Giveaways> Share the Love Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the second(?) annual(hopefully) Share the Love Giveaway Hop, hosted (and conceived by) Herding Cats & Burning Soup. We’re Sharing the Love this week and surprise bombing bloggers and authors we adore with a little love! Hop by all of the blogs for chances to win great prizes at each stop and find out which authors and bloggers we think are so darn special!

In honor of the upcoming Valentine’s Day (card & flower & chocolate fest) holiday, we are all sharing our love of some of our favorite book blogs, in the hopes that readers will find more books (and book bloggers) to love.

Since I’ve been catching up on my science fiction romance reading this month, and absolutely loving it, I’m going to share some of my favorite SFR blogs with you.

1. The Galaxy Express: Heather Massey is the captain of this fantastic jaunt into the space lanes. She publishes any and all SFR news, as well as cover reviews, interviews with SFR authors and SFR giveaways. Her analysis of SFR and how it gets promoted is always fascinating, and her list of new SFR releases adds much too much to my TBR pile.

2. The SFR Station is a new face on the SFR barroom floor, but it has something that will make readers stand up and cheer. If your love isn’t just for SFR, but for a particular stripe of the genre, SFR Station categories their reviews and features by series, author and most interesting, pairing type and sub-genre. So if you only want cyberpunk, or only want abduction, this is the place to find exactly what you’re looking for.

3. Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly is more than a blog. The SFRQ is a quarterly online magazine of SFR reviews, features and original content. (Full disclosure, I am one of the reviewers). If you are interested in exploring the full range of what SFR has to offer, the Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly is a great place to start.

4. Smart Girls Love SciFi because, well, smart girls do! (They also love a bit of paranormal romance!) In addition to terrific reviews of both SFR and Paranormal Rom, the Smart Girls also get into general geekery about TV and movies, everything from The Jetsons (where’s my flying car?) to Guardians of the Galaxy.

5. The Book Pushers: Last but not least. We do great reviews, especially our joint and group reviews, which are generally awesome. We push books. (And full disclosure, I’m also one of those book pushers)

GIVEAWAY

For my part of the giveaway hop, I’m giving away a $10 Gift Card to the winner’s choice of Amazon or B&N. All you have to do is fill out the rafflecopter below. The more of my friends’ blogs you follow, the more points you get towards the giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
For more chances to win more great prizes and discover more great blogs, visit the other hosts on the hop:

Review: Beneath a Trojan Moon by Anna Hackett

Posted on February 5, 2015February 4, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | A Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook purchased from Amazon
Formats available: ebook
Genre: science fiction romance
Series: Phoenix Adventures #4
Length: 85 pages
Publisher: self-published
Date Released: November 26, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

A flirtatious fortune teller + a sexy, single-minded marshal = a sexy, fast-paced sci fi romance

Fortune teller Relda Dela-Cruz is a woman with a secret. One she’ll do anything to conceal. She hides in plain sight on the market world of Souk, content with running her profitable fortune-telling business and never letting anyone too close. But when assailants attack her in pursuit of a powerful artifact, Relda collides with the city’s handsome, new marshal. A man who leaves no stone unturned and no secret covered.

War has left former Galactic Special Forces Captain Hunt Calder tired and empty, but one look at sexy Relda–with her wild curls and lush curves–brings him back to life. When she’s threatened over the mysterious Trojan Moon, Hunt will let nothing stop him from protecting her. Even Relda herself.

As they face alien attackers and killer droids, Relda can’t resist her burning attraction to Hunt. But she knows he’s the most dangerous threat of all, because he doesn’t just want her body, he wants her trust and her secret, too. A secret with the power to destroy Hunt and Relda, the city, even the planet itself.

My Review:

Unlike yesterday’s book, Beneath a Trojan Moon reads very much as a standalone, in spite of being book 4 in Anna Hackett’s Phoenix Adventures series.

In this short, sweet and sexy story, the home base of the famous or infamous Phoenix Brothers is a moon orbiting the planet Souk where this adventure takes place. While the Phoenix Brothers are mentioned (their moon is actually a repeating pun) the brothers (and their assorted cousins) only appear briefly as very much secondary (maybe tertiary) characters. The Phoenix Brothers provide setting and worldbuilding, but do not underpin the story.

In other words, if you are looking for an entry into this marvelous series, Beneath a Trojan Moon is a good place to start. Almost as good as the excellent first book in the series, At Star’s End (enthusiastically reviewed here).

Instead, we have the story of one of the last survivors of a powerful and persecuted race, in possession of an artifact that has ties to old Earth (our Earth) but with extra added provenance and power.

The Hope Diamond is still dazzling, and it is still spreading its curse around the galaxy. It is also a powerful artifact that enhances the psychic powers of whoever holds it. In other words, it is still beautiful and precious, and it still leaves death in its wake.

Relda is one of the last of her people, and she is also the keeper of the Trojan Moon, a blue diamond that once graced the head of a goddess, and was once part of the French crown. Relda’s Trojan Moon is sought by collectors and would-be psychics, especially those with too much money and no scruples whatsoever.

Relda has been hiding in plain sight on Souk as a fortune-teller.Most people believe she is a talented faker, but in fact she is one of the last of the Vega-Lyrans, and seeing the future is just one of her many talents. Also just one of her many secrets.

Former Galactic Special Forces Captain Hunt Calder is the law on Souk. He’s also a Predian, which means he has a few extra-special talents up his rather muscular sleeve. One of those abilities allow him to sense a person’s heart and respiration rate. Unless someone is very, very good, and very, very heartless, Calder knows when someone is lying.

And he’s absolutely certain that Relda is lying through her beautiful teeth about why so many people are after her and the Trojan Moon, whatever that might be.

Putting her into protective custody in his own apartment allows Hunt and Relda to finally explore the chemistry that has been simmering between them, in spite of the necessary evasions that have kept them apart.

It also makes Relda a much easier target for the bad guys to find. The question is whether she can rescue herself before Hunt finds her, and whether or not that rescue just paints and even bigger target on both their backs.

Escape Rating A-: This one is short, sweet and sexy, more of an appetizer for this series where the novels have been main courses.

I’m writing this at lunch time, so I may be a bit hungry, but I think the analogy still holds up. The novels in this series, At Star’s End, In the Devil’s Nebula and On a Rogue Planet include a heaping helping of adventure along with the sc-fi romance. Beneath a Trojan Moon is all about the romance between Relda and Hunt. The story just uses (and uses well) a science fictional setting that the author has already done a marvelous job setting up.

Hunt has quit GalCom and become a local lawman because he felt that the work he was doing for GalCom was turning him into an emotionless robot. But falling for Relda, someone he knows is hiding some awfully big secrets, is more of a stretch than he planned on.

Relda tells herself that Souk is just a temporary stopover in a life of running and hiding, but in 4 years she has put down more roots than she expected. She has made herself a home and isn’t quite aware of it.

Her surface awareness is that people who were afraid of the Vega-Lyrians have made all members of her species personae non grata on every planet, and that frightened people hunted her people, including her own parents, to death. Not for anything they actually did, but for what they were capable of.

Relda has the power to level the entire planet. Any planet. She’s rightfully afraid that if she reveals herself the mob will come for her too.

At the same time, she is constantly looking over her shoulder because there are collectors (just like The Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy) who will spend any amount of wealth to add both The Trojan Moon and Relda herself to their private collections.

This story comes to a marvelous head when Relda has to choose which is more important – revealing herself and while saving Hunt and her friends on Souk from a ship crash, knowing that the people of Souk may turn her in later themselves, or hiding and letting go of any chance of happiness, or even a future.

Beneath a Trojan Moon packs a lot of sci-fi wallop into a short story. I loved this little aperitif, and can’t wait to dive into another full-course story in the Phoenix Adventures.

***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 or borrowed from a public library 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: Rough Rider by Victoria Vane

Posted on February 4, 2015February 2, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by the publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genre: contemporary western romance
Series: Hot Cowboy Nights #2
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Date Released: February 3, 2015
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Two loves …
Janice Combes has two loves, bucking bulls and Dirk Knowlton. But Dirk only has eyes for a dazzling rodeo queen. How can Janice ever compete while mired ankle-deep in manure? Exchanging playful banter with Dirk is all Janice can expect-until the stormy night he knocks on her door dripping wet and needing a place to crash.

Different Dreams…
Dirk Knowlton is living the cowboy dream. Life should be good-roping, branding, backing broncs, riding bulls, but there’s a void he can’t seem to fill. After getting hung up by a bull, he wonders if this is really the life he wants. Restless and rebellious, he bolts…but there’s a certain cowgirl he can’t forget.

When a battle-scarred Dirk returns to his Montana ranch he’s determined to hang on at any cost. Janice has come back home to lick her own wounds. When old dreams turn to dust, can two wary hearts take another chance on love?

My Review:

While I enjoyed this story, as usual a lot because it’s Victoria Vane, I will say that this is definitely one of those books/series where you really need to have read the first book (Slow Hand, reviewed here) before you start this second one.

Having read both, it feels like Slow Hand takes place in the middle of Rough Rider. Literally in the middle. Half the action in Rough Rider is in the past, and shows us some of the reasons that Dirk and Wade’s relationship is so fraught at the beginning of Slow Hand.

Wade married Dirk’s just-barely-ex, way back when, because she was using the two brothers to get at each other. But she’s dead and since they can’t settle it with her, they keep beating up on each other.

In Slow Hand, Wade is finally able to make peace with his past, which makes it possible for him to work things out with Dirk.

In Rough Rider, we get both the story of how Dirk got to be his curmudgeonly self at the beginning of Slow Hand, and how he finally gets beyond it by going back to some of his own unfinished business.

Ironically, it was never about Rachel, the rodeo queen who was looking for some cowboy arm-candy and a way to just keep on getting what she wanted. Dirk always had someone else in his rear-view, and the regrets that were eating him alive were all about Janice Coombs and not about Rachel Carson.

What we get in Rough Rider is the story of Dirk, Janice and Grady, Dirk’s rodeo circuit roommate. Janice was not one of the rodeo queens. Her father bred bulls for the events. She fell for Dirk way, way back, when she was just a little girl and he was a seemingly grown-up teenager. But she never grew out of that love, even though she felt she had no chance against the prettied-up Rachel. Janice was just one of the stock hands around the rodeo, and half the time the cowboys didn’t even see her as a girl.

Grady saw her as a meal-ticket. Her father owned a nice little ranch, and Grady was looking for a way to stay on the gravy train when he was forced to hang up his spurs. Dirk, on the other hand, saw a lovely young woman who needed protection from Grady’s not-exactly honorable intentions. He also saw a woman much more genuine and real that the always-made-up Rachel.

But Dirk doesn’t believe that men and women can be just friends. He’s sure that sex always comes into it sooner or later. And between himself and Janice, he’s right. Dirk turns to Janice for comfort, and then can’t figure out why he can’t stop thinking about the night they shared.

He also can’t make up his mind what to do about it until it is too late. He plays the “come here go away” game with Janice just a bit too long, and isn’t there for her when her father is diagnosed with cancer and her world falls apart.

Grady steps in and marries Janice, while Dirk takes his regrets and his empty heart to the Marines. On his second tour he steps on an IED, and loses his leg and any desire to he ever had for happiness. He retreats to the ranch to become an occasionally nasty recluse.

Janice has a child, loses her father and the ranch, and eventually loses the husband she never should have taken on. Or been taken in by. She comes back home, ten years later with a young son and a ton of regrets.

Her biggest regret is that she and Dirk never figured out what they might have together. But in spite of everything that has happened in between, it still might not be too late. They just have to start from who they are now.

Until one last secret threatens to break them apart – again.

Escape Rating B: As I said at the beginning, Rough Rider feels incomplete without having read Slow Hand. While there is a part of me that wonders if Rough Rider shouldn’t have been released first, I can also see why it wasn’t. Slow Hand has a very clear beginning middle and end. It is complete in itself. While it is interesting getting more of the background, the detailed backstory wasn’t necessary to enjoy Wade and Nikki earning their happy ending.

However, a big chunk of the impetus for Dirk’s turnaround is in Wade’s story. Not necessarily the details, but that Wade finally letting go of the past and Rachel’s death allows the brothers to relate to each other in the here and now and stop having the past continue to screw up the present.

The fascinating thing is that after reading the beginning of Rough Rider, it’s clear that most of what is eating Dirk is in his own head, and his own past, and doesn’t have a whole lot to do with Rachel after all. She becomes more the excuse for the brothers’ long-running feud than the actual reason.

Dirk is mostly just kicking himself for his own separate mistakes. He’s also a lot uncertain about his own worth after his disfiguring and disabling accident. The bear retreats to his cave and sucks his hurt paw, rather than letting anyone in to pull some of the painful thorns.

Because Dirk’s relationship with Janice starts in the past, when they go from zero to boiling hot in 60 seconds it doesn’t feel like insta-lust. More like the lid finally blew off a long-boiling pot. But Dirk’s redemption and turnaround would feel a bit too quick without the knowledge of what happened in the first book.

The story ends on a reveal that involves one of my least-favorite tropes. It also didn’t feel necessary for Dirk, Janice and Cody to become a real family for them to become a real family, but others may feel differently.

Still, for anyone who read Slow Hand and needs to see Dirk’s story get resolved, Rough Rider tells a good story of simmering love that finally gets its day.

***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 or borrowed from a public library 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: Ghosts of Christmas Past by Corrina Lawson

Posted on February 3, 2015January 29, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by the publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: science fiction romance
Series: Phoenix Institute #3.5
Length: 167 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date Released: November 25, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

As Christmas approaches in crumbling Charlton City, Detective Aloysius James and his partner, Noir, are at a crossroads. Figuring out how to reconcile their careers with their relationship is harder than catching the bad guys.

Now that Noir has learned to control her invisibility and is making a name for herself among the city s artist collective, Al senses there s something she s keeping from him. And he doesn t know how long they can remain partners. Or even lovers.

Noir isn t sure how Al would take it if he knew how deeply he has touched her artistic soul, or how he could react if he saw the secret drawings that have helped heal the wounds of her past.

When a murder lands them on opposite sides Al ready to arrest a suspect Noir insists in innocent they re going to need to unwrap all the ghosts of their pasts to make this Christmas the first of many. Or it could be their last.

My Review:

Ghosts of Christmas Past is a direct sequel to the earlier novella in this series, Luminous. It fills in some of the background gaps that were left at the end of the first book, and tells a lovely story about what happens to the hero and heroine after the supposed happy ever after. The journey to HEA is a bit rockier than anyone expect.

And the nod to Dickens is totally exploited. The scenes of A Christmas Carol do come into play in this story, in a way that is novel but totally in keeping with the season.

But don’t read Ghosts of Christmas Past without having read Luminous first. The Al and Noir stories feel like a separate sub-series in The Phoenix Institute. You know the Institute is in the background, but Noir and Al only have limited contact with it.

The issue in this story is their contact with each other.

At the end of Luminous, Al hands Noir the results of his research into missing young women at the time she was taken. He helps her reunite with her parents, and gives her the information she craves about the person she was before the kidnapping.

Lucy was a 17-year-old artist. She was also a white girl from the middle-class suburbs. Al is a black cop in a corrupt city. Even though Lucy is no longer 17, Al is still about 15 years older than Lucy. Between those facts, and Al’s general lack of belief in himself and his ability to be anything other than a workaholic cop, Al is certain that Lucy will leave him sooner or later, possibly sooner. So he’s already detaching himself.

But Lucy isn’t just Lucy anymore. She suffered over 5 years of being a human guinea pig and then rescued herself with her own latent psychic abilities. Lucy may be part of Noir, and vice versa, but she is not the woman she would have been if the kidnapping hadn’t happened. She needs to find her way to being a synthesis of Lucy and Noir. While she loves her parents, and is grateful to have found them, she is very, very far from being the little girl they remember.

Lucy is her own woman, and that woman loves Al James, workaholism and all. She just has to get him to believe it. While they both help and work against each other to solve a murder and corruption case in City Hall.

They’ve always been good at solving crimes together. Now they have to figure out if they trust each other enough with all the other parts of their lives. And Al needs to finally develop some other parts to his life, before it’s too late.

Escape Rating B+: Ghosts of Christmas Past feels like it completes the story in Luminous. We find out a bunch of things about both Al and Lucy/Noir that we didn’t learn in the first book. It was not clear by the end of Luminous whether Noir’s talents were created in the lab, or whether it was something in her all along. It was good to see that question answered, and to discover that Noir’s talents were latent, but they were something within Lucy’s DNA. Doctor Jill (Frankenstein) was crazy but not that talented.

It also fits better into this worldbuilding that Lucy was a latent. So far, none of the gifted have been created in a lab, and I like it better this way. We have met the future, and it sometimes turns invisible. Or heals itself.

Lucy’s talent is also a variation on Marian Doyle’s talent in Ghost Phoenix. The self-healing talent seems to be surprisingly wide-spread in this relatively small group, so it is good to see that other talents are as well.

But the core of this story is about trust. Al can’t let himself trust that Lucy will stay. Lucy is having a difficult time trusting that Al will make room in his life for her, especially since he isn’t recognizing the way that she has and continues to make room in the life she is creating for him. Lucy is both Lucy and Noir, but Al seems to think that she has to make a choice, and that it won’t include him.

Lucy feels forced from all sides – her parents want her to be the girl she was, and Al wants her to be Noir and not Lucy. Meanwhile, Al has to solve a murder at the City Museum that involves corrupt officials, the lover of one of Lucy’s friends, Tiny Tim’s crutch and Snow White’s glass coffin.

Al needs Lucy and her new artist friends to solve the case. It just takes him a while to see that putting the case together is a metaphor for their relationship.

Originally published at Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly

***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 or borrowed from a public library 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.

Author Guest Post and Giveaway: Black Dog Blues by Rhys Ford

Posted on February 2, 2015January 28, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | blog tours> Guest Posts

Back in 2013 I reviewed Black Dog Blues by Rhys Ford, and I absolutely loved it. Loved it to the point that it made my personal best books list for 2013 and I fudged a bit and put it on my Library Journal Best E-Original Romances list for 2013, even though Black Dog Blues is explicitly NOT a romance. She’s now re-releasing it and I’m so happy; I hope that this new release with Dreamspinner will help even more readers find this terrific book. Meanwhile; please enjoy this guest post by Rhys.

A few years ago, I wrote an urban fantasy called Black Dog Blues. When the book simmered and boiled in my brain, there were a few things I wanted to have in this book: An elf who was unapologetically bisexual and raised human, blood, gore, guns and monsters. I’d released it into the wilds of self-pubbing—mostly because there wasn’t a place for him then—and Kai did pretty well.

Then, one day at a yarn store, Elizabeth North of Dreamspinner Press fame, started talking about a new venture they were trying out—DSP Publications, DSP’s boutique genre imprint. Long story short, Elizabeth asked if I’d submit Black Dog Blues, I did and now, here we are—with Kai making his way into the mainstream.

Repackaged and gone over again for red squiggles, Black Dog Blues is getting a re-release on February 3rd and I can’t be more excited. The story is the same but Anne Cain rocked me a new cover, more in line with the urban fantasy feel of that genre and I’ve had a chance to kick a few of the tires I wanted to kick in editing. The biggest thing about this re-release is that Kai is going out there again and I can put his sequel firmly into my queue.

So to celebrate Black Dog Blues’ re-release, I’m holding a 12 stop blog tour where YOU can win a dragon. Well, a stuffed dragon. Who’s kind of goofy. And much less terrifying than the one Kai ran into. Leave a comment or use the widget the blog’s provided and enter to win one of these plush dragons! International welcome. Dragons for all. Mostly because man, they’re HUGE and take up a lot of space in the guest room.

As an added bonus, be sure to collect ALL of the Black Dog Blues trading cards and return to my blog rhysford.com at the end of the tour for a special giveaway. You’ll need the cards to enter. Winner will be chosen randomly from entrants with the correct answers.

Black Dog Blues Trading Cards

These fine collectibles showcase some of the many creatures and inhabitants of Kai Gracen’s world. Just like life, there are no true good or evil creatures. It’s just that some of them are more wicked and deadlier than others.

If you’ve already read Black Dog Blues, thank you. REALLY. Thank you. You rock and you’ve made Black Dog Blues a success and got it notice. I cannot say thank you enough. No need to re-buy the book but if you’d left a review on Amazon—and have the time—repost it onto the new listing. Unlike Goodreads, re-release reviews don’t carry over. *grins*

If you haven’t read Black Dog Blues, ah—Kai really is my special precious, growly kitten. I adore writing him. I adore writing his world and man, there’s so many places to go with his story. I’m really looking forward to digging in.

Thank you again for letting my snarling elf have a space on your ebook reader. You all rock. Thank you.

About Black Dog Blues

Ever since being part of the pot in a high-stakes poker game, elfin outcast Kai Gracen figures he used up his good karma when Dempsey, a human Stalker, won the hand and took him in. Following the violent merge of Earth and Underhill, the human and elfin races are left with a messy, monster-ridden world, and Stalkers are the only cavalry willing to ride to someone’s rescue when something shadowy appears.It’s a hard life but one Kai likes—filled with bounty, a few friends, and most importantly, no other elfin around to remind him of his past. And killing monsters is easy. Especially since he’s one himself.

But when a sidhe lord named Ryder arrives in San Diego, Kai is conscripted to do a job for Ryder’s fledgling Dawn Court. It’s supposed to be a simple run up the coast during dragon-mating season to retrieve a pregnant human woman seeking sanctuary. Easy, quick, and best of all, profitable. But Kai ends up in the middle of a deadly bloodline feud he has no hope of escaping.

No one ever got rich being a Stalker. But then few of them got old either and it doesn’t look like Kai will be the exception.

Purchase Black Dog Blues at DSP Publications

Black Dog Blues is also available on Amazon and other fine eTailers.

Tour Information

Jan 28	3 Chicks After Dark
Jan 29	It’s About The Book Boys in our Books
Jan 30	Joyfully Jay
Jan 31	TTC Books and More
Feb 1	Christy Duke—Christyloves2read Boy Meets Boy
Feb 2	Reading Reality
Feb 3	Love Bytes
Feb 3	The Novel Approach
Feb 4	Prism Alliance
Feb 5	The Blogger Girls

About Rhys Ford

Rhys Ford was born and raised in Hawai’i then wandered off to see the world. After chewing through a pile of books, a lot of odd food, and a stray boyfriend or two, Rhys eventually landed in San Diego, which is a very nice place but seriously needs more rain.Rhys admits to sharing the house with three cats of varying degrees of black fur and a ginger cairn terrorist. Rhys is also enslaved to the upkeep a 1979 Pontiac Firebird, a Toshiba laptop, and an overworked red coffee maker.

Rhys can be found at:

Her blog: www.rhysford.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rhys.ford.author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rhys_Ford

And at the Starbucks down the street. No really, they’re 24/7. And a drive-thru. It’s like heaven.

Her books can be purchased, folded and first chapters read at Dreamspinner Press.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 2-1-15

Posted on February 1, 2015January 30, 2015 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Giveaways> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

You may be planning to watch the Super Bowl sometime today. I’m at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference in Chicago, and wondering if the entire place is going to shut down at 5:30 pm CST. Probably not the city, after all, it’s been a long time since the Bears made it to the big show.

If you’re planning to read through the game, or at least the pre-game hoopla, I’d like to make a suggestion. Yesterday, the 3rd annual SFR Galaxy Awards were announced. If SFR is your thing, there are some great reads suggested for your delight and amusement.

If your preferences run to literary fiction and nonfiction, the ALA annual book awards will be presented at 5 pm on Sunday. While that may not be the best choice of timing for the program, the list will still be current after the game, and the books are all winners.

Current Giveaways:

The Marriage Charm by Linda Lael Miller

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card in the Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop is: Mira A.
The winner of Through the Static by Jeanette Grey is: Raymond S.