Review: Playing the Part by Robin Covington

Posted on July 18, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Playing the Part by Robin Covington Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 10, 2013
Number of pages: 175 pages
Publisher: Entangled: Brazen
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Publisher’s Website

The harder they play . . . the harder they fall.

After publicly self-destructing over a heartbreak a year ago, bestselling romance writer Piper James is now making nice with her publisher by agreeing to teach Hollywood’s favorite action star how to act like he’s in love. Only playboy Mick Blackwell has no clue what love looks like.

When a seductive heat ignites between Piper and Mick, she jumps at the chance for a bit of fun between the sheets, but with two stipulations: she’s kept out of the public eye and things end when she returns to New York. Only Mick keeps changing the rules on her. Tempted by America’s favorite bad boy, Piper is wondering how far she’s willing to bend…

My Thoughts:

First of all, this was the third book in a row I read where the heroine wasn’t a tall size two, and I really want to see this trend continue! I want more heroines for the rest of us! More curvy women need to get the hunky guys!

Back to our regularly scheduled review…

Playing the Part was a whole lot of fun. For one thing, we have the Hollywood tinseltown fantasy of an actor who needs the writer to figure out how to play the character from the book. I think I’ve read that they send the author of the book a check and hope never to see them again, so we’re already into fantasyland, but it’s a nice fantasy.

And we have a sex-into-romance story, with a very bad boy of the love-em-and leave-em type, and a woman who is not supposed to get her name into the tabloids again. This last bit sort of tripped my willing-suspension-of-disbelief meter a bit. No one recognizes authors on sight enough to get them in the tabloids.

Although in this particular case she did have a breakup and public meltdown from a scumbag actor just before the wedding. Of course, he cheated. While filming a movie of one of her books. With his co-star and her best friend. Former best friend.

Dragging myself back from digression.

In Playing the Part, star Mick Blackwood is fine in the action scenes of Regan’s Gift, but his acting in the love scenes is terrible. He’s never been in love and has zero experience to draw on. Piper James, the author of the romance novel, is brought in to coach him on the emotional side of the story. The problem is that she hasn’t been in touch with those emotions since she broke up with the scumbag.

Of course they fall for each other. The fun and the amazingly hot love scenes are in watching the way they fall for each other. This book is scorching!

Then it gets to the sweet and gooey center, because the course of true love never does run smooth, especially between two people are aren’t willing to call it what it is. When pictures of their fling get plastered all over those tabloids, Piper loses whatever trust she has, not only in Mick, but also in herself.

Mick has a betrayal to investigate, as well as the depths of the heart he didn’t think he had. Then he has to figure out how to win Piper back–if that’s even possible.

Verdict: A story with a romance writer hasn’t been quite this much fun since Romancing the Stone, and that was a long time ago. Although I’ll confess that this one had me when Mick described Piper as a sexy librarian because of her glasses. It may be a stereotype, but it’s still one of my personal favorites!

Mick and Piper have smoking hot chemistry that practically steams off the pages (or electronics). Piper loves bad boys and that’s exactly what Mick is. They start flirting from the second they meet and it never lets up. This is not insta-love, but it is very much instant sexing. She knows she probably shouldn’t, but he’s just too tempting. The love comes after a 10-day vacation in Hawaii.

The one thing I didn’t quite buy was Piper not understanding, or not expecting, that dating a Hollywood star meant a loss of privacy. Not the first time and not the second. She loved the attention when it was positive and was surprised when it turned on her after it went negative, even though she was the one who had the public meltdown. Um, not realistic. While it’s hateful, it doesn’t seem like something you could have both ways. My 2 cents.

But I loved this story and hope there are more in the series. Mick shared a house with a soulful rock musician named Linc who is just begging for an HEA of his own.

4-Stars

I give Playing the Part by Robin Covington 4 glittering 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: An Affair with Mr. Kennedy by Jillian Stone

Posted on July 5, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

An Affair with Mr. Kennedy by Jillian Stone Format read: ebook purchased from Amazon
Series: The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard, #1
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: Jan. 31, 2012
Number of pages: 400 pages
Publisher: Pocket Books
Formats available: ebook, mass market paperback
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK) | Publisher’s Website

London, 1887. Part stoic gentleman, part fearless Scotland Yard man, Zeno “Zak” Kennedy is an enigma of the first order. For years, the memory of a deadly bombing at King’s Cross has haunted the brilliant Scotland Yard detective. His investigation has zeroed in on a ring of aristocratic rebels whose bloody campaign for Irish revolution is terrorizing the city. When he discovers one of the treacherous lords is acquainted with his free-spirited new tenant, Cassandra St. Cloud, his inquiry pulled him unexpectedly close to the hear of the conspiracy — and into the arms of a most intriguing lady.

Cassie is no Victorian prude. An impressionist painter with very modern ideas about life and love, she is eager for a romantic escapade that is daring and discreet. She sets her sights on her dour but handsome landlord, but after she learns their meeting was not purely accidental, she hardly has a chance to forgive her lover before their passionate affair catapults them both into a perilous adventure.

My Thoughts:

Somewhere in my apartment there’s a print ARC of this book. That’s not the copy I read.

I finished Ms. Stone’s Miss Education of Dr. Exeter, and wasn’t quite ready to let go of the author. Because that particular entry in her paranormal/steampunk Phaeton Black series clung somewhat more closely to the definitely romantic than earlier entries in the series, I wanted to see what she did with something less eerie and more strictly gaslight-Victorian, and remembered The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard.

Enter Mr. Kennedy, and the copy fortuitously on my Kindle app.

The fascinating thing about the The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series in general is that Ms. Stone is featuring an agency that presages James Bond and his famous license to kill. The men of Mr. Kennedy’s Special Branch hunt for bombers, traitors, spies and agents provocateurs. Because of the era they live in, the agents in this particular story are fomenting both sides of the Irish Home Rule issue. With incendiary, or shall we say explosive, results.

Mr. Kennedy himself, Zeno Augustus Kennedy, Zak to his friends, is the number two man in Special Branch. He is a younger son of the aristocracy, but as he has to make his own living, he’s simply chosen a somewhat unorthodox way of doing so.

His investigations of an upper-crust ring of possible Irish radicals, or maybe upper-class lords willing to take advantage of the resulting panic from Irish radicals, leads him to a beautiful artist with ties to two potential suspects. Unfortunately for Zak, once he meets Cassie St. Cloud, suspecting her of anything other than distracting him from his goals is the last thing on his mind.

Unfortunately for Cassie, she is already a pawn in the game. Involvement with Zak merely raises her position on the board from pawn to queen.

Verdict: An Affair with Mr. Kennedy is a terrific start to The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series. It sets up the Special Branch as a whole, and provides a great introduction to the men who become the heroes of the next several books. Which I was swept into one after another.

Zak and Cassie are a great pair, because they are equals. One of the fun things about this book, and the series as a whole, is that the heroes and heroines are not dukes and earls or lords and ladies, although Cassie has a title by marriage. Everyone works, and it makes the characters, both the men and the women, easy for us readers to empathize with.

Cassie is a professional artist. She’s no lady of leisure. She has a career that is every bit as important to her (although not normally as bloody) as Zak’s. Her expertise helps him save the day. They are, in very real ways, partners.

The history blending into the story was also a hoot. Cassie has very real parallels in Mary Cassatt, and, of course, Irish Home Rule was very hotly debated during this period. The idea that there would be unscrupulous people attempting to both create chaos and take advantage of it makes too much sense.

Mixing this with the birth of criminal forensics makes things a load of fun. I’m so glad there are more in the series. (I’ll confess that I immediately dove right into the next book, A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis, with barely time for breath in between.)

4-Stars

I give An Affair with Mr. Kennedy by Jillian Stone 4 stars!

Review: The Outcast Prince by Shona Husk

Posted on June 27, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

The Outcast Prince by Shona Husk Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Series: Court of Annwyn, #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: July 2, 2013
Number of pages: 320 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Formats available: ebook, mass market paperback
Purchasing Info: Author’s website | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK) | Publisher’s Website

Caspian Mort can feel the history in anything he touches, a gift he inherited from his father, the Crown Prince of Annwyn. Devastated over his ex-wife’s infidelity, Caspian has withdrawn from human contact except when working as an antiques dealer.

While assessing the contents of the historic Callaway House he encounters the beautiful Lydia Callaway and senses that her home is haunted by a banished fairy. But what does the dangerous exile want? Unbeknownst to Lydia, she’s the owner of the last remaining portal to Annwyn—a mirror hidden somewhere in the house. To keep Lydia safe, Caspian will have to divulge the secrets of his heritage, and risk losing his heart again.

My Thoughts:

Like Shona Husk’s previous Goblin King series, The Outcast Prince takes us back to the darker side of the fairy tales.Very much the grimmer side of Grimm’s. You know what I mean, the legends that say don’t eat or drink anything when you’re in the fairy kingdom or you’ll be stuck there.

In Shona Husk’s version of the tales, Disneyfication of what should be very powerful and scary magic has just taken away what used to be useful knowledge and defensive strategies. Fairies in this tale are not tiny, cute and helpful sprites. Well, not unless they chose to be. and not unless they’re bargaining for something. Like your soul.

Fairies are more like Niall Brigant, Sookie’s great-grandfather in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Immortal, otherworldly, and mostly coldly calculating. A being who is playing a long and convoluted political game where humans are beneath notice if they are lucky, or easily sacrificed pawns if they are not.

The machinations of the fairy court in The Outcast Prince seem a lot like those in Yasmine Galenorn’s Otherworld series, Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey, or even the sheer bloody-minded backstabbing of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry series, without the indiscriminate sex.

I digress. Yes, I know. Frequently.

The outcast prince in the story is actually a half-blood fairy who was born in our world. It makes him a slightly magical person with some talent and a little more grace than he would otherwise have. Caspian Mort is also more handsome that he might naturally have been. (It clearly helps to have a fairy prince for a father).

And that’s the problem. His natural father was a real fairy prince who “glamoured” his mother into having sex with him. His already married mother. So even though dear old dad could have maintained that glamour and brought Caspian and his mother to the Fairy courts, he didn’t. He seems to have loved the woman just enough to let her be happy with her husband.

He’s loved his unacknowledged son enough to give him a literal fairy godmother and keep him safe by keeping him secret. Being the son of the prince would make Caspian a political target of forces he doesn’t have the power to defend himself against.

But fate forces everyone’s hand. A magical artifact is missing. One that could change the balance of power in the courts. The fairy gift that Caspian has manifests is psychometry; he can see the history of any object he touches. The object is lost in our world and Caspian is the only one who can find it.

Caspian’s reinvolvement in the world of the fae is our introduction to the dangerous kingdom. As he is drawn further in, we understand both why he is so reluctant, and what makes the fae so tempting to mortals and half-bloods alike.

Caspian is both compelled to become involved, and saved, by falling in love. His gift of psychometry has led him to the appraisal of one of the coolest historical houses ever, and the owner of the house is a woman he discovers that he might be able to tell the truth about himself.

She should run far away from him. When she stands by him, she grounds him to the human world. It might even be enough to save his soul.

Verdict: The love story between Caspian and Lydia develops slowly. Not that they don’t have heat together from the very beginning, but they are wary of involvement. He can’t reveal what he is, and she’s been burned by too many people who are just interested in the notorious history of her family. They both step out of their comfort zones to get close to get sexually involved with each other (and it’s hot!) but trusting each other emotionally is way more difficult.

The story works well in that they both have extremely unconventional family histories that are slowly revealed, not just to the reader, but also to themselves and to each other. There are multiple voyages of discovery that they share and it helps them understand and reach toward each other.

Husk’s version of fairy is dangerous and fascinating. The courts are in turmoil, and that turmoil is affecting our world. Caspian’s princely father is the heir to the throne, but he can’t inherit unless he marries. His father is ready for him to inherit, but his mother is scheming and backstabbing to prevent it. It is her traitorousness that causes, not just this story, but scores of plagues that have arisen in our world.

Caspian’s father can take over if he finds a woman worthy of being his queen. She must be human, because the fae are only fertile with humans. The interesting thing is that he doesn’t want to pick just anyone to end the current problem, because that’s what his father did. 500 years from now, give or take, he’s afraid the woman will just hate him the way his mother hates his father, and look how that ended up. Felan is hoping for a better way. Meanwhile, he schemes.

I enjoyed Husk’s introduction to the Courts of Annwyn and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

4-Stars

I give The Outcast Prince by Shona Husk 4 dark stars!

▲

Review: South of Surrender by Laura Kaye

Posted on June 3, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

South of Surrender by Laura Kaye Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Series: Hearts of the Anemoi, #3
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Number of pages: 400 pages
Publisher: Entanged Select
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Purchasing Info: Author’s website | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK) | Publisher’s Website

Chrysander Notos, Supreme God of the South Wind and Summer, is on a mission: save Eurus from his death sentence and prove his troubled brother can be redeemed. But Eurus fights back, triggering vicious summer storms that threaten the mortal realm, dangerously drain Chrys, and earn the ire of the Olympic gods who ordered Eurus dead.

Laney Summerlyn refuses to give up her grandfather’s horse farm, despite her deteriorating vision. More than ever, she needs the organized routine of her life at Summerlyn Stables, until a ferocious storm brings an impossible—and beautiful—creature crashing down from the heavens.

Injured while fighting Eurus, Chrys finds himself at the mercy of a mortal woman whose compassion and acceptance he can’t resist. As they surrender to the passion flaring between them, immortal enemies close in, forcing Chrys to choose between his brother and the only woman who’s ever loved the real him.

My Thoughts:

South of Surrender falls somewhere between north and west. Yes, I know the compass points aren’t laid out that way.

However…

I’m talking about Laura Kaye’s Hearts of the Anemoi series, and the way the books feel/read, at least to this reader. YMMV.

North of Need was positively luminous. Sunlight sparkling on new-fallen snow shiny. Not just original, but absolutely awesomesauce (review at Reading Reality). And it set the bar incredibly high for the rest of the series.

West of Want left me (actually us, see Stella’s and my dual review here at BLI) definitely wanting. Insta-love, not enough world-building or relationship-building, and very much of a multiple deus-ex-machina ending.

Now that we’ve reached Chrysander Notos, the god of the south wind and summer, the story and the storm are both starting to come to a climax.

Something is horribly wrong with Eurus, the god of the east. He’s responsible for all the bad stuff that has happened in the story so far. The question is, what’s the matter with this dude? It sounds like he has one heck of a lot of “daddy issues”, but we don’t get much of an explanation. What we do know is that the pack on Olympus have sentenced him to death for his evil in West of Want.

Meanwhile, the story starts with him pounding Chrys into godlike bits, the same thing he’s been doing all summer. Eurus has managed to steal a ring from their father that has power over all the wind gods. The fact that their father Aeolus created such a ring may be a tiny part of the explanation for the aforementioned “daddy issues”.

Aeolus is not a candidate for father of the millennium, or even the year, let’s put it that way. But we don’t quite get enough to explain Eurus’ brand of bwahaha evil. He’s pretty far out there.

We do get a love story between Chrys and Laney Summerlyn, because he falls unconscious through her barn roof at the end of one of his epic stormy battles with his brother.

Two things are different about this, Laney has retinitis pigmentosa, so she’s nearly blind (see Tanya Huff’s Blood Ties for the last time I’ve seen this used in paranormal romance) and Chrys has lost so much control he crashes as a Pegasus.

Laney may be mostly blind, but she knows that the horse she cared for during the night had wings, and that when she woke up in the morning in the horse’s stall, she lay cuddled with a man. A man who disappears when her ranch foreman comes to check on the damage.

Chrys just knows that Laney is the first person he’s been able to let touch him without panicking. And we’re never clear on exactly why he panics, only that he’s been doing it for centuries. So yes, we have the insta-connection thing going on.

Verdict: While it added more dimension to Laney’s character that she was dealing with her blindness, the romance still hinged on the insta-connection between Chrys and Laney as well as his issues with not being touched. Which weren’t explained. I liked them as a couple, but I just didn’t get what his original trauma was.

There was a lot more action and downright plotting and planning going on in South of Surrender than in either of the previous books. Chrys, Zeph (West) and Boreas (the actual North Wind) have to take care of Eurus before he either takes care of them or comes into his own season. Or before the Olympians just plain kill him. The whole god-plotting and double-crossing was more interesting than parts of the romance.

South of Surrender ends with a bang that pulls out all the stops, tissues and heartstrings. I am looking forward to East of Ecstasy, because I want to see whether Eurus goes down or gets redeemed.

I give South of Surrender by Laura Kaye 4 sunny stars!

Review: The Summer He Came Home by Juliana Stone

Posted on April 22, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Summer He Came Home by Juliana Stone Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Series: Bad Boys of Crystal Lake, #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: Apr. 2, 2013
Number of pages: 386 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Formats available: ebook, mass market paperback
Purchasing Info: Author’s website | Publisher’s website | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)

Sometimes the best place to find love is right back where you started…

Falling asleep in a different bed every night has made it easy for Cain Black to forget his past. It’s been ten years since he packed his guitar and left Crystal Lake, Michigan, to chase his dreams. Now tragedy has forced him home again. And though Cain relishes the freedom of the road, one stolen moment with Maggie O’Rourke makes him wonder if he’s missing out on something bigger than fame.

For Maggie—single mother and newly settled in Crystal Lake—love is a luxury she just can’t afford. Sure, she appreciates the tall, dark and handsome looks of prodigal son Cain Black. But how long can she expect the notorious hellion to stay?

The last thing either of them wants is something complicated. But sometimes love has its own plans.

My Thoughts:

The Summer He Came Home is part small-town romance, part second-chance love story and part, maybe mostly, a story about what happens when bad boys grow up and become men.

They were kings, and they didn’t know it, or so says one of the main characters, Raine, Jesse’s widow. The story starts with Cain Black’s arrival at Jesse’s funeral, his first time home after ten years.

Jesse and his twin Jake left Crystal Lake for Afghanistan. Only Jake came back. Mac left his home and his abusive father for a high-flying legal career in in the big city. And Cain left first, because his life was his music, and the only way he could find the fame and fortune he craved was on the road.

Jesse’s death found him on tour in Europe. He dropped everything to come back, burned out and almost completely used up. His marriage to a flashy model over in a bitter divorce, and his songwriting partnership finished with an onstage brawl in the middle of concert.

Cain Black arrives in the middle of Jesse’s funeral to celebrate his friend’s lost life, and finds his own. Cain thinks he’s leaving Crystal Lake in just a couple of weeks. Instead he decides that being with his remaining best friends, the men he knows in his heart are still his brothers, is the soul-deep healing that he really needs.

And he’s met one woman, one real woman, who isn’t interested in him for his music or his money. Maggie O’Rourke doesn’t want a bad-boy rocker in her life at all. And she certainly doesn’t want him in her son’s life. She just wants to keep her head down and scrape by.

Cain is too intrigued to stay away, in spite of his mother’s warnings not to hurt the shy young widow.

But he can’t get Maggie out of his mind, so he begins a cautious and careful courtship, not just of the beautiful Maggie, but of also of her precocious son, Michael. Cain’s deepening involvement brings him back into the life of the town, and back into the lives of the friends who need him.

He just brings Maggie back to life.

Then he discovers the terrible secret that she’s been keeping, and he almost loses everyone that is precious to him, just in the moment of discovery.

Verdict: You would think that starting the story with a funeral would be a real downer, but it actually isn’t. It turns out to be a terrific device for introducing all the characters, and explaining why Cain left Crystal Lake and his hesitation at coming back. It works.

Cain and Maggie start out from very different places. He’s a bit selfish about pursuing Maggie. Maggie has a huge secret that the reader figures out pretty easily. She doesn’t want a relationship and is clear about it. Because Cain doesn’t know what the secret is, he continues a gentle, non-threatening pursuit until she is willing to let a kind of courtship start. While he’s sweet about it on the one hand, there is an element that he isn’t clear until the end what he’s planning to do when the summer ends and he goes back to the band. Maggie has a child to consider who has become attached to him.

It is obvious to the reader what Maggie’s secret is. Her previous relationship was abusive. The only questions are whether the asshat is her husband, ex-husband, or boyfriend, and whether he is in or out of prison. It’s all too easy to see that Maggie is afraid of being found.

The development of the relationship between Cain and Maggie, and between Cain and Michael, her son, was slow and sweet, not that there isn’t a lot of simmering sexual tension between Cain and Maggie. A lot of this story is about healing, and it takes a while for Maggie to heal enough to let herself have a relationship with Cain.

However, the sudden arrival of Maggie’s ex and his capture seemed anti-climactic. There was no suspense, he just knocked on the door and started slapping Maggie around. Then Cain showed up and “boom!” the ex was arrested and locked up.

On the other hand, the friendships between the “bad boys”, Cain and Mac and Jake, make a big part of the book. The loss of Jesse is like the ache of a phantom limb, they all feel it. Painfully. I’m looking forward to Mac and Jake each having their own book, because in spite of the sudden ending, I really enjoyed The Summer He Came Home and want to read the rest of the series.

4-Stars

I give The Summer He Came Home by Juliana Stone 4 stars!

Review: The Cinderella Makeover by Hope Tarr

Posted on March 27, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Series: Suddenly Cinderella, #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 11, 2013
Number of pages: 146 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)

Fashionista Francesca St. James has agreed to work as a “fairy godmother” on the reality TV show Project Cinderella, taking contestants from geeky to dreamy. When Francesca’s archrival bets she can’t transform the awkwardly sweet CEO to hot in under eight weeks, Francesca accepts the challenge.
As CEO of a tech company, Greg may have billions, but what’s it worth without a woman to share it with? From day one on the show though, he clashes with his gorgeous fairy godmother—yet off-set, he can’t stop thinking about her. But this sexy woman is so far out of his league…and wants to change every single thing about him. It’s up to him to show her it’s more than clothes that make the man.
May the best man or geek win…

My Thoughts:

Do clothes make the man? Can magic ruby red slippers, (in this case, they’re stilettos) bring good luck and true love?

In The Cinderella Makeover there are a whole lot of tropes and myths that come out to play. Even when they’re turned sideways and set to dance, the way that they play off each other makes for a surprisingly good story.

Francesca St. James and Gregory Knickerbocker have met once, and it was not a “meet cute”. He’s one of those high-tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, young, geeky, fashion-challenged and eccentric. Make that extremely eccentric. He won’t pose for a photograph.

He tanks Francesca’s photojournalism career when he screws over her appointment to photograph him for GQ. Her polished Brit professionalism hit all of his awkward buttons, and he acted like a brat. A very wealthy and influential brat.

18 months later she’s still losing assignments and money. She’s also lost custody of her daughter in pursuit of assignments and her lost prestige. But Greg Knickerbocker is also hurting. He’s passing thirty and has been dumped by his 100th woman. Not a milestone to celebrate.

They both fall into the orbit of “Project Cinderella”, a new reality TV show. Greg becomes a contestant. He hopes that a new look and complete style makeover will give him the personal confidence boost he needs to finally find his soul mate.

Francesca signs on as a fairy god-mentor. The money she’ll earn is enough to let her spend the summer with her estranged daughter…without having to jet around the globe working.

But the moment that Francesca and Greg spot each other, the sparks begin to fly, along with the pasta sauce.

When Francesca makes a foolish bet with her arch-nemesis that Greg will win the contest, she breaks all the rules to turn the geek into prince charming. The more time they spend together, the more they realize that instead of loathing each other, they might be just what the other one needs.

Verdict: Francesca and Greg are both wounded when the story begins. Admittedly, some of that damage is self-inflicted, and a bit of it comes from their initial encounter. But most of what’s wrong with them is a lot deeper than that.

Greg may be rich, but he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He earned his money by being pretty darn obsessive. He loves what he’s doing, but he hasn’t had time for a life. Geekiness pays, but not in social skills. As an adult, he’s continued the pattern because it’s comfortable, and it’s defensive. But it’s also lonely. He knows happy marriages exist (his parents had one) but he’s afraid to come out of his shell.

Francesca is also obsessive about work. She’s so obsessive that she lost custody of her daughter. There was also some stupidity about self-absorbed boyfriends in that mix. But Francesca has the same knowledge that Greg does about loneliness and not taking care of the right things.

They’re good for each other if they can stop pushing each other away.

The story is a visit to troperville. Greg is more of an ugly duckling than cinderella, in spite of the title. Cinderella wasn’t a billionaire, or her kingdom’s equivalent. Or Greg is the Frog Prince. Is it my imagination, or is it common in stories when the “Cinderella” is male, is he usually wealthy?

About the shoes. The Suddenly Cinderella series (BLI review of Operation Cinderella here) is linked by the handing on of a pair of magic red stilettos that help each woman discover true love and happiness. So it’s possible that Francesca is the Cinderella in this story. She’s not wealthy and she does marry a prince who rescues her.

Francesca has her own fairy godfather in this story. You’ll laugh when you figure out who it is.

The Cinderella Makeover is a lot of fun. Setting the story during the filming of a reality TV show was very effective, and I don’t even like reality TV!

4-Stars1

I give The Cinderella Makeover by Hope Tarr 4 glittering stars!

Review: The Wanderer by Robyn Carr

Posted on March 25, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Series: Thunder Point, #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 26, 2013
Number of pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, mass market paperback, audiobook
Purchasing Info: Author’s website | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)

Nestled on the Oregon Coast is a small town of rocky beaches and rugged charm. Locals love the land’s unspoiled beauty. Developers see it as a potential gold mine. When newcomer Hank Cooper learns he’s been left an old friend’s entire beachfront property, he finds himself with a community’s destiny in his hands.

Cooper has never been a man to settle in one place, and Thunder Point was supposed to be just another quick stop. But Cooper finds himself getting involved with the town. And with Sarah Dupre, a woman as complicated as she is beautiful.

With the whole town watching for his next move, Cooper has to choose between his old life and a place full of new possibilities. A place that just might be home.

My Thoughts:

There isn’t just “one” wanderer in Robyn Carr’s The Wanderer, there are actually two. Hank Cooper and Sarah Dupre. Sarah has some pretty good reasons for her wandering. Cooper, maybe not so much. He’s just one of those guys who has a hard time putting down roots.

And The Wanderer is kind of a “slow-build” romance, but that’s okay. In spite of what sounds like some pretty nasty weather, part of the point of the story is to understand what makes Thunder Point on the coast of Oregon a special town, and why Cooper finds himself staying, and staying. In spite of his original intent.

He falls in love with the town first. And so does the reader.

The usual type of romance comes later. And then there are two of those. One has been even longer in coming than Cooper and Sarah’s. And so it should be. Thunder Point seems to be a place where everyone gets a second chance.

Cooper is in Thunder Point because an army buddy has died just before they were supposed to meet up for a vacation. They’ve both been out for quite a while, but they kept in touch. Cooper wants to see where Ben ended up, show his friends that someone cared.

He discovers that there are suspicions surrounding Ben’s death, and that Ben left his property to him. A lot of property, and a cryptic message to take care of things.

Cooper discovers that Ben took care of a surprising number of things and people around Thunder Point, and now that Cooper has taken over his beachfront deli and bait shop, taking care of all of that has now become Cooper’s job. If he wants to take it on.

Starting with stepping between young Landon Dupre and a whole posse of football players who are planning to beat him up. Again.

Landon leads to Sarah. Looking into Ben’s death leads to the Deputy Sherriff. Taking care of things leads to getting involved with the people of Thunder Bay.

But the beachfront land he’s inherited is worth a whole lot of money. Should he take the money and run, just like he’s always done? Or does “taking care of it” mean it’s finally time for him to stay?

Verdict: It’s surprisingly easy to get involved with the small-town life of Thunder Point as Cooper gets involved. The slowly-building romance between Cooper and Sarah doesn’t even start until one-third or more through the book, and I was more than fine with that!

The introductions of each character as Cooper met them and then their stories spun off just worked. The secondary love story between Deputy Sherriff McCain and his best friend was almost heartbreaking at the beginning, but I was definitely rooting for Mac to finally get a clue!

Cooper’s involvement with Sarah doesn’t initially begin with Sarah. He starts out befriending her younger brother Landon, who definitely needs a friend. The portrayal of high school bullying and how Landon was trying to ignore it in the hope it would go away felt true to life. Also the unfortunate but highly likely scenario that the locals would side with the long-resident family against the new guy.

Sarah initially lashed out against Cooper because she was concerned about his motives. Why was a man in his mid-30’s befriending her 16-year-old brother? She had serious trust issues and with good reason, however mis-aimed they might have been.

Even as their relationship changes, Sarah continues to try to keep it as less than it is to protect herself. She’s been burned, and badly, before.

In addition to the romances, there is also a suspense subplot involving Ben’s death and Landon’s bullying that went just a bit over-the-top.

But I had a terrific time visiting Thunder Point, and I’m looking forward to more of this series, especially since I came in with Cooper at the beginning!

I give The Wanderer by Robyn Carr 4 lightning-struck stars!

Review: For the Love of a Goblin Warrior by Shona Husk

Posted on January 10, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Number of Pages: 352 pages
Release Date: January 1, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Series: Shadowlands #3
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Formats Available: Mass Market Paperback, ebook
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK) | Author’s Website | Publisher’s Website | Goodreads

Book Blurb:

Centuries ago, Meryn was thought to be utterly lost–all traces of his soul given up to the ravening goblin horde. But with the curse that enslaved him now broken, he must once again learn to walk in the realm of men.

Nurse Nadine Gilbert likes working the night shift to avoid her disturbing dreams, but her mysterious new patient looks hauntingly familiar. Meryn knows he doesn’t deserve a second chance, but Nadine brings out his long-buried human side. Telling her the truth about his violent past could destroy their fragile trust. Could she ever believe in the love of a Goblin Warrior?

My Thoughts:

If you’ve read Husk’s The Goblin King and Kiss of the Goblin Prince, then this book absolutely provides closure for the series. And if you like your heroes on the seriously tormented side, then this is a series you must try. The Goblin King (reviewed at Reading Reality) was a darkly sensual twist on Beauty and the Beast with a unusual twist on the beastly hero.

For the Love of a Goblin Warrior has the feeling of bringing everything to completeness. In Kiss of the Goblin Prince (also awesome, see review here at BLI), part of Dai’s journey to wholeness is to rescue Meryn from the shadowlands, but there’s this gaping hole left in the story, because we don’t know what happened to Meryn.

So it seems like the right way to end the series to find out what happened to Meryn.

Also, the three men’s stories, both before the rebellion all those centuries ago, and now their responses, show such different paths. The fitting end to the series is to read Meryn’s tale.

Roan was king. He led the rebellion. The curse on him pulled all of them into the shadowlands. Breaking his curse broke it for all. He had to be the leader, always.

Dai fought the curse through amassing knowledge. He never stopped learning. And he was always behind his brother. They were the royal family. Leadership was their life.

Meryn was just a warleader. His position was important, but he wasn’t royal. He had a full life in the past. A wife he loved, and children. He didn’t just lose his position with the rebellion, he was forced to watch the murder of his family.

Since he couldn’t turn to drink or drugs to numb his pain in the shadowlands, he went goblin. He gave in to the curse completely.

His quick submission inspired the others to fight the curse to the bitter end. But Meryn survived through the centuries, forgetting his humanity–until the day it all came rushing back. Breaking the curse made him human again, and the goblins knew him for prey once again.

Dai rescued him from the shadowlands, but Meryn couldn’t let the shadows go. He still needed to grieve for the family he’d left behind, and for the world that had passed him by. He was a stranger in a very strange land.

The police brought him to the hospital, thinking that he was homeless and psychotic. Something about the sword he was still carrying gave them the wrong impression. The nurse recognized that he wasn’t quite that bad off, but that the language he spoke was Latin. And she couldn’t figure out why a seemingly homeless man was speaking a scholar’s tongue.

That nurse, Nadine, was the most beautiful woman Meryn had seen in a long time, but at first he was more attracted by the gold crucifix around her neck. He hoped that if he stole her gold, he could find a way back to being goblin again.

It only took days to realize that there was no going back, and that he had no desire to. Not only was he human again, but that it wasn’t a bad thing to be.

Too bad that he seemed to have brought a piece of the shadowlands with him to this “Fixed Realm”, and that he had started his new life by stealing something precious from the one person he really wanted to see more of.

Little did he know that Nadine’s life had already been marked by the Shadowlands. Only the truth might have a chance at healing their scars.

Verdict: For the Love of a Goblin Warrior gets off to a much slower start than either The Goblin King or Kiss of the Goblin Prince. It’s right for this story, but as a reader you do want the author to pick the pace up just a bit.

Meryn’s story does require some set up. He’s lost in the 21st century, and he’s lost in the city of Perth. He thinks that any help he accepts from his cousin Dai is charity, where Dai believes that Meryn earned that help many times over.

Maybe if they’d just had a good knock-down fight it would have cleared the air quicker.

Nadine’s story is amazing. The Goblin King is a fairy tale book she inherited from her mother. A mother that she believes was killed by her father. Her father believes that her mother was killed by the goblins during the solstice hunt, but he couldn’t prove it. Nadine witnessed the whole thing, but she was 7 and totally blocked the memory. Talk about a nightmare! And yes, she has doozies!

Nadine and Meryn need each other to heal. But to do that, they both have to stop lying by omission, and they’re equally guilty. There are no major external enemies here, just the demons within.

One thing that did get me…there were several times when Meryn makes the shadowlands manifest on this side. I’m not totally sure that was adequately explained. Did he do that all on his own? If so, how and why? Then how was he suddenly able to stop?

But if you read The Goblin King and Kiss of the Goblin Prince, you must read the For the Love of a Goblin Warrior. Not just to see Meryn and Nadine earn their happy ending, but also to complete the Shadowlands saga.

I give For the Love of a Goblin Warrior by Shona Husk 4 darkly glittering stars.

ARC Review: How to Misbehave by Ruthie Knox

Posted on January 3, 2013December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Number of Pages: 96 pages
Release Date: January 28, 2013
Publisher: Random House Loveswept
Series: Camelot #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Formats Available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Author’s Website | Publisher’s Website | Goodreads

Book Blurb:

What woman can resist a hot man in a hard hat? Beloved author Ruthie Knox kicks off her new Camelot series with this deliciously sexy original novella, in which a good girl learns how to misbehave . . . with all her heart.

As program director for the Camelot Community Center, Amber Clark knows how to keep her cool. That is, until a sudden tornado warning forces her to take shelter in a darkened basement with a hunk of man whose sex appeal green lights her every fantasy. With a voice that would melt chocolate, he asks her if she is okay. Now she’s hot all over and wondering: How does a girl make a move?

Building contractor Tony Mazzara was just looking to escape nature’s fury. Instead, he finds himself all tangled up with lovely Amber. Sweet and sexy, she’s ready to unleash her wild side. Their mutual desire reaches a fever pitch and creates a storm of its own—unexpected, powerful, and unforgettable. But is it bigger than Tony can handle? Can he let go of painful memories and let the force of this remarkable woman show him a future he never dreamed existed?

My Thoughts:

How to Misbehave is not just the introductory novella in Ruthie Knox’ Camelot series, it’s also a short, sweet and sexy example of the kind of contemporary romance that Knox has made her own.

It’s the love story between two adults, one who did something wrong in his or her past and has been forgiven by everyone except themselves, and one who has spent their whole lives being good, to the point where they’ve lost track of what they really want. All they know is what everyone else wants isn’t satisfying them, and they aren’t even pleasing whoever it was they set out to place in the first place.

Someone who needs redemption, and someone whose life is on so tight that it’s starting to chafe. But who acts so “good” that they seem almost angelic to the other person. A former bad girl and a much-too-good boy.

Or vice-versa.

Tony Mazzara is the former bad boy in . He used to be really bad. Really irresponsible. But one incident made him change his ways, except that it was too late for a lot of things. Except regrets.

Still, Tony is now the responsible manager of his family’s construction business. He takes care of his parents and his brother. He’s the boss at the construction sites. He’s an adult and not the screw-up he used to be.

All he sees is the man who made one horrific mistake.

Amber Clark, the manager of the Camelot Sports Center, sees the most gorgeous man she’s ever laid eyes on. But men like Tony never look at women like her. All they see is a mousy little goodie-two-shoes who fades into the background.

But even though Amber went to Bible College, she’s not really that kind of girl. She wants to break out of her shell. With hot Tony, even though everyone says he’s trouble.

But after spending her whole life in a shell, she doesn’t know how to step out of it. Out of people’s expectations. Just as Tony doesn’t know how to step away from his guilt.

Until the tornado traps them alone together in the basement of the sports center during a power outage. In the dark, they reveal their fears to each other. In the dark, they show who they really are.

And they each discover that without sight, they can see more, and be more, than they could in the light. But what they risked in the dark, they also have to risk when all the lights are on.

It turns out that the dark was a lot less frightening.

Verdict: I wish there had been a bit more story. This is too short! It’s a terrific introduction to the Camelot series (I’ve already started book 2, Along Came Trouble) but there definitely could have been more misbehavior.

How did Amber get to be so fixated on being “good”? Considering her relationship with her mother in this story, there’s some background here I’d love to have. We see more of Tony’s backstory, but I want to know about Amber.

How to Misbehave is a great example of a sex into love story. If that’s one of the flavors of your cup of tea, you won’t be disappointed.

Even though it was too short for complete satisfaction, this introductory novella for Camelot was great. I do wish I knew where in Ohio Camelot is. The town sounds so terrific, I want to visit.

I give How to Misbehave 4 short stars. They would be taller stars, and there would be more of them, if the misbehavior (and the story) had gone on a bit longer!

Review: The System by Heather Lin

Posted on December 26, 2012December 1, 2013 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | 4 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Format Read: ebook provided by the author
Number of Pages: 177 pages
Release Date: August 11, 2012
Publisher: Silver Publishing
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Formats Available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Author’s Website | Publisher’s Website | Goodreads

Book Blurb:

Capri is an alluring young prostitute with a painful past; Brody is a ruthless mercenary running with a crew of thieves who live on a spaceship called Gypsy Lass. When he enters her brothel, the attraction between them is instant, electric, and too much for him to handle. He leaves unsatisfied, never wanting to see the girl again for fear she might soften his hard heart.

But Brody’s captain has other ideas. The crew attempts to rob the brothel, and when things don’t go quite as planned, they take Capri hostage, forcing her and Brody to remain in close quarters until they see fit to drop her on another planet.

But Capri’s plight and the intense feelings between her and Brody turn out to be the least of their problems. Together–whether they like it or not–they uncover realizations not only about themselves but also about the world they live in.

My Thoughts:

The comparison between Heather Lin’s The System and Joss Whedon’s Firefly is not too far off the mark, with a few notable exceptions. The System is probably even darker and grittier than Firefly, and the backstories for our main characters, Brody and Capri, are even more tragic than their Serenity counterparts Mal Reynolds and Inara Serra.

Yes, I said more tragic. Even though there is no equivalent to the horrific Battle of Serenity Valley.

Brody is the muscle for a free-trader ship called the Gypsy Lass. And by free-trader I mean that sometimes the Gypsy Lass carries a legitimate cargo, and sometimes, she smuggles goods to places that the authorities don’t let legit ships serve. It’s a living for her crew.

And by muscle, I also meant shooter. The crew calls Brody “Shots”.

Capri is a prostitute in a fairly high-end brothel that the Gypsy Lass is supposed to rob. But the job goes horribly wrong. When Brody comes in to case the place, he and Capri connect on one level, but not on another. He can’t use her when he can tell she’s not remotely interested, and she’s honked off because he’s suddenly very not interested.

Then his crew comes back and fights off a rival gang of mercenaries. In the shooting, there’s only one survivor. Capri. Brody can’t stand to leave her there, so he takes her back to the ship.

She’s the only woman on the Gypsy Lass, but there’s never a moment when the Captain expects her to pay her passage on her back. Capri decides that it’s time to start her life over. To become someone she wants to be, instead of what she had to be. She’s only 19.

Capri and Brody are drawn to each other, even though they both know that they are wrong for each other. Whatever is happening between them, it’s part of the adrenaline of the escape. Part of being on the ship.

And for him, it’s a feeling he’s trying to fight, because he never wants anyone close to him again. People close to him get killed. And he’s not a good man. He never was.

But the crew of the Gypsy Lass, they all like Capri. Not just because she’s pretty, but because she’s trying so hard to fit in and make a place for herself. She wants to earn a place. To belong.

To become more like Kaylee, since she never wanted to be Inara. And it works. She’s freer as a mascot and grease monkey and occasional fifth gun on assignments than she ever was before.

And she’s happy.

If only Brody doesn’t screw things up. For both of them. Again.

Verdict: If you remember Firefly fondly, just get this book. But it is not for the faint of heart. The world of The System is very dark. Brody is right, he is not a good man. And he does some really stupid things to prove it to Capri.

Very harsh things happen on this world. There are scenes of rape and near-rape and murder. The happy-for-now is an HFN for certain fragile values of happy, but it feels like the right ending for these people.

There’s no white picket-fence subdivision in this universe. Surviving together is the best option. Figuring that out is the journey.

I give The System 4 blaster-shot stars

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