Tag: 2012 Reading Romance Challenge

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

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

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

ROOM AT THE INN by Ruthie Knox

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

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

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

ONE PERFECT CHRISTMAS by Stefanie Sloane

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

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

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

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

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

Escape Rating for Room at the Inn: A-

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

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

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

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

Escape Rating for One Perfect Christmas: B

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

Review: Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review: Broken Promise by Tara Fox Hall

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> book reviews> C Reviews

Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: Trade paperback, ebook
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Promise me #2
Length: 222 pages
Publisher: Melange Books
Date Released: September 23, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Shocked at Danial’s betrayal, Sarelle returns to her old home to consider her options. Yet even as Sar plans a reconciliation with Danial, Terian arrives, confessing his desire. When Theo witnesses Terian and Sar kiss, he angrily confronts Sar, leading to startling consequences. Will Sar’s heart choose Danial, Terian,…or Theo?

Broken Promise picks up right where Promise Me, the first book in the series, leaves off. (This is a hint that this review will contain spoilers for Promise Me. It’s difficult to review book 2 of a series without revealing a few things about book 1.)

The title is also a hint and a half. Danial broke all of his promises to Sar. Over and over and over. Have you ever heard the old joke about the three biggest lies? Number 1 is the one about the check being in the mail. Danial, even though he’s a vampire, managed to break number 3. The one that goes, “I can’t get you pregnant”. He took some really magic potions so he could. The big problem was the he forgot to tell Sar. She found out when she miscarried. Then she left his lying arse. Of course, this was after she gave him her oath of loyalty. It figures.

And the vampire is possessive. Of course he is. It’s all part of the power trip. He may actually love her, but his definition of love is very last millennium. And then there’s Devlin the Vampire King, who just so happens to be his brother. And a little bit too bwahaha crazy into the bargain.

So Sar and her oath to Danial, along with Danial’s lying to Sar, get caught in Danial’s power battle with his crazy brother. A battle that’s been going on for centuries. They’re vampires.

And even though Sar has given her oath to Danial, she realizes that she made a mistake in more ways than one, because she either doesn’t love him or falls out of love with him.

All along, she’s had a terrific, bantering friendship with the head of Danial’s bodyguards, Theo. Except that the banter has been concealing some feelings that are much more than friendship. And Theo isn’t a vampire. He’s a were-cougar. Sar seems determined to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.

At least were-cougars are not immortal. Of course, that means that Danial might murder his former bodyguard. Unless the vampire king kills them all in a crazed fury first.

Escape Rating C+: For a widow who spent a year keeping to herself, once Sar got back into the game, she really got back into the game. That’s not a criticism of her deciding not to stay home and mourn, but she does have a tendency to leap before she looks.

Danial was a mistake, and Theo, while he may be a much better guy, she’s still staying in the supernatural world where she keeps putting her life in extreme danger. Adrenaline-junkie, maybe?

Then there’s the half-demon, Terian, waiting in the wings.

While Darian’s conflict with his brother, Devlin, created a lot of the external tension, and ratcheted up the suspense factor, Devlin’s motives, or Devlin’s insanity, seemed a bit too over-the-top for this reader.

I did like seeing how Sar helped Theo resolve his issues with being a were-cougar. There was a lot of healing in their relationship that worked well. I enjoyed their banter from the beginning of the series.

***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: Promise Me by Tara Fox Hall

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: Trade Paperback, ebook
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Promise Me #1
Length: 269 pages
Publisher: Melange Books
Date Released: May 25, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

When young widow Sarelle McGarran finds the vampire Danial Racklan unconscious and hurt in her woods, intuitive concern quickly becomes passionate love. Together Danial and Sar work to overcome their own past heartbreaks, their vastly different lifestyles, and Danial’s relentless enemies. Yet Danial needs more; an Oath of forever. But can Sar give Danial his greatest desire?

The interesting thing about Tara Fox Hall’s Promise Me series is that the story of Danial and Sar points out one of the underlying problems of a relationship between vampires and humans–the power is always unequal.

You know that old saying that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”? Well, it’s true. Think of Eric and Sookie if you need another example.

It’s not that things start out badly, it’s that these two people have very, very different expectations. Sar expects equality. And trust. Although it’s terrific being swept off her feet, she knows that it won’t necessarily last. She’s a young widow because her husband died in a climbing accident. She knows all too well that life can change in an instant.

But Danial seems perfect. And perfectly overwhelming. Except that he’s a vampire. He tells her exactly whatever she wants to hear in order to get what he wants. A lifelong pledge of loyalty from her. The length of her life, of course, not his.

The only problem is that her love for Danial is based on the lies he has told her, and not on the truth. Because he only tells her the truth when he has no choice.

The reader knows their relationship is doomed. The questions are how long it will take Sarelle to figure it out, and how badly Danial will react when she does. And just how deep a hole Sarelle will dig herself before she starts having to dig herself out.

Escape Rating B-: I was glad that this wasn’t the typical vampire romance, although it started out that way. Danial seemed perfect to Sarelle, and she kept buying into it. Every time he did something that should have sent her running for the hills, she forgave him. Even worse, she got in deeper. She should have known better, and the warning signs were all there.

Of course, if she’d listened to her better self, there wouldn’t be a story.

***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: There’s Something About Lady Mary by Sophie Barnes

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by Edelweiss
Formats available: Mass market paperback, ebook
Genre: Regency romance
Series: Summersby #2
Length: 270 pages
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Date Released: November 13, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Mary Croyden lives a simple life . . . and she likes it. But when she inherits a title and a large sum of money, everything changes. Forced to navigate high society, Mary finds herself relying on the help of one man—Ryan Summersby. Determined not to lose her sense of self, she realizes that Ryan is the only person she can trust. But Mary’s hobbies are not exactly proper, and Ryan is starting to discover that this simple miss is not at all what he expected . . . but just might be exactly what he needs.

The outline for There’s Something About Lady Mary has some similarities to the first book in the Summersby series, Lady Alexandra’s Excellent Adventure. A man who thinks he is quite conventional but actually isn’t falls in love with a woman who is very unconventional. But because he thinks he is conventional, he spends much too much time trying to change the reasons that attracted him in the first place. Sparks, tension, and misunderstandings ensue.

The role reversal in Lady Mary’s story is that the conventional male is Lady Alex’s brother Ryan Summersby. After having grown up with Alex, he really should have known better than to think that a simpering society miss would actually suit him in the first place!

Ryan is tasked by a friend, the head of the Foreign Office, to keep an unofficial eye on Lady Steepleden, by any means necessary. Meaning that if he has to fake an affection, that’s just fine with Lord Percy. Lady Steepleden might be in danger.

The problem is that until Lady Steepleden returned to London, she had no idea that she was Lady Anybody. As far as she knew, she was just Mary Croyden, the daughter of an exceedingly excellent surgeon. She never knew that her father was the Marquess of Steepleden, or that he’d petitioned to have her inherit his title and his estate. All she knew she’d inherited was his medical instruments. Her father had taught her all he knew, even if she couldn’t be licensed as a surgeon in England. On the battlefields in Europe, no one had cared that she was female, only that she could save their lives. And she had.

But her father had more secrets than she knew. He was a member of the aristocracy. A wealthy and titled member of the aristocracy. And someone had murdered him for a secret that he kept, using the confusion of Waterloo to cover their tracks. Whoever killed him, now they sought Mary.

And Ryan discovered that his assignment was less onerous, and more dangerous, than he ever expected. He thought he’d be protecting some society chit he wouldn’t be able to stand to be around.

Instead he found a woman who challenged him at every turn. But one who couldn’t see through her own insecurities to believe that he might find her attractive, especially not when their initial relationship began on a foundation of lies

But before they can find a future, they have to figure out the past. If they live that long. And if they can keep their misunderstandings from tearing them apart.

Escape Rating B+: The author was very careful to include her historical precedents for Mary’s medical practice in her notes. She knew that the first question that would crop up would be whether a woman could or did practice during the Napoleonic era. Apparently the answer is yes. Along with a whole slew of other medical precedents. Just because something wasn’t regular practice didn’t mean it wasn’t known.

About the story, again, this was fun to read. The suspense angle kept the pace cracking along. Trying to figure out what Mary’s father had been investigating that had gotten him killed, and who had betrayed him, heightened both the drama and the pathos, as it was his friends and colleagues who  had turned on him.

Watching Mary and Ryan negotiate their relationship formed the core of the story. Ryan has to change his conventional attitude, but Mary has to compromise. Unlike Alex, Mary can’t continue doing exactly what she’s been doing–London is not a war zone. But Ryan has to find a way to bend, a lot, to make it work. The solution they find seems realistic, in the circumstances. They fit.

I’m looking forward to older brother William’s story, The Secret Life of Lady Lucinda. I can’t wait to see what sort of woman turns out to be his match!

***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: Lady Alexandra’s Excellent Adventure by Sophie Barnes

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: paperback provided by the publisher
Formats available: Mass Market Paperback, ebook
Genre: Regency Romance
Series: Summersby #1
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Date Released: June 5, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

It’s going to be a wild ride…

Lady Alexandra Summersby is not your average society miss. Not only is she more likely to climb a tree than she is to wear a dress, but she has also sworn off marriage. Alex loves taking chances, which is how she finds herself embroiled in a secret mission as she races across the country with the Earl of Trenton. But Alexandra is about to discover that the real danger lies not in duels, but in her completely unexpected reaction to Lord Trenton’s company.

Michael Ashford, Earl of Trenton, is a man of duty. Honorable, charming, and a hit with the ladies, he’s never had trouble staying focused—until now. Lady Alexandra is like no other woman he’s ever met, and suddenly the prospect of marriage seems far more appealing. Now, to convince Alexandra that a life together could be an adventure like no other…

Sophie Barnes specializes in creating Regency heroines who seem improbably larger-than-life, and then making their square-peg-in-the-round-hole characters seem, not just reasonable for their particular circumstances, but absolutely the right woman for whatever normally staid and conventional male starts out attempting to shave off the edges of their unique charms.

Take Lady Alexandra Summersby for example. Every male in her entire family seems to work for the Foreign Office. In other words, she’s the one female in an entire family of spies. Her mother is deceased, and if it wasn’t tragic, I’d say the poor woman died of fright.

But Alex was raised in the trade, so to speak. With every single member of her family in the secrets business, it is somewhat logical that she be able to defend herself. If anyone’s cover is blown, she’s a target. The only problem is that Alex is much too good at it. She’s a much better with the sword than either of her brothers. She’s much better at most of the “trade” than her brothers.

So when her oldest brother, William, is accused of colluding with Napoleon (instead of being the spy for the English that he really is), Alex gets herself attached to the investigation, with her father’s consent. Her younger brother Ryan goes along as chaperone.

The man leading the expedition, Michael Ashford, Earl of Trenton, thinks he is taking the two younger Summersby sons to France to investigate the case. Only when the party arrives in France does Alex reveal that she is Alexandra. Michael is angry, not only at the deception, but at the danger that a woman brings to the investigation. He does not see the possibilities.

Alex does not see that there is danger. She can defend herself. Very ably, too. But she has never dealt with the possibility that men will attack her, and in numbers, simply because she is a woman with a sword.

Michael tries to force her back into a conventional role, one that Alex cannot occupy. She loves herself as she is. She will never be a demure miss. No matter how much she has discovered she wants to attract Michael’s attention.

Alex is afraid to love. And it turns out that Michael will settle for nothing less. In the middle, there remains the question of Alex’s brother William. Exactly who is he working for in Napoleon’s court?

Escape Rating B: Spies never occupy a conventional role in society. So the idea that Alex might be as unconventional as she is in this story, while surprising, isn’t all that hard to swallow. It just made her more interesting to watch. Her naivete that her sword would protect her from all the problems of being a woman travelling as a man did seem just that, a bit naive.

In so many recent Regencies, in order to make the heroine a person that modern readers can identify with, the authors have resorted to using bluestockings as heroines. While I enjoy the bluestocking heroine as much as the next reader, being one myself, it is refreshing to see a story where the heroine is a woman of action. It’s a tad unconventional, but it works. There are always non-conformists. And spycraft is one of the oldest professions, one in which women have always taken part.

The emotional center is the relationship between Alex and her family, and then between Alex and Michael. Alex is afraid to love because her father sincerely loved her mother. He slid into a deep depression when she died, and left Alex to her own devices. Something that contributed to her tomboy tendencies. Alex is afraid to love anyone that much.

Michael needs a wife, but he also needs a partner. Someone who won’t bore him. Someone who understands his service with the Foreign Office. Alex challenges him. Her family also serves the Foreign Office. They can work together, if she can get past her fears, and if he can get past his conventionality to figure out that her very unconventionalness is what he really needs.

***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: Tudor Rose and Tudor Rubato by Jamie Salisbury

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook
Genre: contemporary romance
Series: Tudor Dynasty #1
Length: 114 pages
Publisher: Jamie Salisbury
Date Released: November 28, 2011
Purchasing Info:Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance

Amadeus Tudor is rock star royalty. Tudor is part of a musical dynasty, who has risen to a level of fame usually seen once in a lifetime. He’s the front man for Tudor Rose, one of the top selling, most beloved rock bands in recent memory.

Zara Middleton, long time former manager and publicist to Tudor Rose has been brought back into the fold, this time as Amadeus Tudor’s personal body guard. Someone is out to harm Amadeus, the question is who. And why would someone want to harm him? He has no known enemies, his fans as well as his business associates adore him.

As the new tour gets underway, unsettling things begin to happen and Zara wonders who among Amadeus’s new management team she can trust.

The tour also finds Amadeus and Zara inseparable. As Zara becomes aware of long ignored feelings and emotions toward her former client, Amadeus takes charge, determined not to lose the only woman he’s truly loved again.

Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook
Genre: contemporary romance
Series: Tudor Dynasty #2
Length: 100 pages
Publisher: Jamie Salisbury
Date Released: November 9, 2012
Purchasing Info:Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Having survived a near-death experience all Amadeus Tudor wants to do is escape to the countryside of Scotland with his wife Zara so the two can have some much needed down time together as a couple and work on rebuilding their relationship. Life for the past couple of years, however has been “a long, strange trip (it’s been)”* for the internationally acclaimed rock star, with no signs of stopping.

But before the couple can even get away, tragedy hits close to home forcing the couple into almost delaying their new adventure. Grace Tudor, the family matriarch insists the two embark on their new adventure and recommitting to each other immediately.

The change of scenery proves exactly what Amadeus needs to reboot his songwriting and his all encompassing bond with Zara. Together they embrace their new adventure as slowly Amadeus, with the guidance of music icon, Peter McNichol embarks on what promises to be another notch in Amadus’ career.

The road is full of twists and turns for the pair as one moment finds them frolicking in the meadows outside Edinburgh to the next learning the shocking and sinister side of one of Amadeus’ own brothers.

Jamie Salisbury’s Tudor Dynasty is one long and winding road, with all due apologies to Lennon and McCartney. And it’s also a rock and roll fantasy. At least a rock and roll fantasy love story. But that’s what makes it so much fun. How many of us haven’t had at least one daydream about marrying a rock star?

In Tudor Rose Zara Middleton lives that dream, and discovers there’s a nightmare at the heart. Not with the love of her life, Amadeus Tudor, but with someone in the shadows around him. Zara used to be Amadeus’ manager, but she left. Working with him wasn’t enough when all they could be was friends.

When she returns, she discovers immediately that what she felt wasn’t one-sided. But the threat she’s there to combat is also real. Zara came back because someone is sending threats, and it seemed easier to find out the truth from the inside of the tour. So while Amadeus’ band, Tudor Rose, tours, Zara goes along as his girlfriend, and later his wife.

The attacks escalate, someone is sowing dissention among the other band members, causing friction on and off the stage. Then things get violent, and the story ends in a near tragedy. Amadeus is attacked by stealth. Someone poisons him at a party.

Tudor Rubato picks up six months later. Amadeus is finally out of a long coma, but the cost was dear. Zara lost the baby she was carrying. Their marriage and partnership are in trouble.

While their situation is in turmoil, the attacks continue, on the personal and professional fronts. The perpetrator turns out to be much closer to home than anyone could have suspected, or even feared.

No amount of money or fame in the world can protect someone when their family betrays them.

Escape Rating B-: Tudor Rose gets off to a very fast start. There’s so much history between Amadeus and Zara, it almost reads as if there was a story that took place before Tudor Rose that we haven’t seen. (If there isn’t, the story before they get together might make a great prequel.)

The rock star who helps move Amadeus’ career to the next level, seemed so familiar, I actually googled him to see if he was real. He’s not, but he ought to be. The band fracturing read as if it were ripped from an issue of Rolling Stone, although the reasons behind it turned out to be much nastier.

It’s hard to rate these separately. I read them back to back, and they read as a single story. That being said, Tudor Rubato ends on a terrible cliffhanger. I hope it’s not another year before we find out what happens next!

***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: Ice Cold by Cherry Adair

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: Trade Paperback, ebook
Genre: Romantic Suspense, Action Adventure Romance
Series: T-FLAC #17
Length: 348 pages
Publisher: Adair Digital
Date Released: October 14, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

T-FLAC operative Rafael Navarro will never allow another woman to suffer the consequences of his dangerous life. But in a world where a terrorist can do more damage with a keyboard than a bomb, he needs the expert help of a cyber-geek. And fast.
Fellow operative and cybercrimes specialist Honey Winston prefers computers to people. But when a serial bomber threatens the world’s financial infrastructure, she’s forced to work closely with Navarro, whose notorious skill in the bedroom is as legendary as his dexterity defusing bombs.
Honey and Rafael must fight sparks hot enough to melt their resolve, and push beyond fear itself, as they join forces in a bid to race the clock before a sinister and lethal bomber proves just how much they both have to lose.
T-FLAC is back, and the timer is counting down in the most pulse-pounding explosive op yet—

Only in the 21st century do you get action-adventure by mixing a cyber-geek with a bomb expert. Last century it used to just be fists, knives and guns. Not that there weren’t plenty of those involved in Cherry Adair’s Ice Cold. And the action, between the sheets (when there were any sheets) and otherwise, was anything but cold.

Ice Cold is Adair’s 17th foray into the operations of T-FLAC, the secret agency that she created to tell her stories of action, adventure and romantic suspense. Even though it was my first trip, I didn’t feel left behind by the plot or the set-up. I was immediately immersed in the story. Parts of it felt like a good TV or movie spy plot. But I like those. It used just enough of the familiar tropes to pull me right in.

T-FLAC is like any secret agency: it has special ops, and it has special operatives. Many live their jobs to the exclusion of any other life. Some go rogue. Eventually, those two types come into collision. It makes for edge-of-your-seat suspense hoping that the “good guys” are going to win.

And that not too many of them are going to go down in the line of fire along the way.

Ice Cold starts out with a loss. Honey Weston, the cyber-geek, loses her boss, and ends up taking his field assignment. Rafael Navarro is the bomb expert. They are chasing a serial bomber who seems to be bombing banks, and the surrounding city blocks, for no particular good reason.

Chasing down that reason is the suspense part of the story. Watching Navarro pursue West is the romance. Because he only does casual sex, and she doesn’t bother with sex at all. She sees a player, and he sees a woman under the ice princess exterior she cultivates.

And while they are distracted with each other, someone is targeting them.

Escape Rating B-: I found myself wondering if Honey Weston was an intentional homage to Honey West, or if her name just accidentally sounded like a girl from a James Bond movie. It took me a while to take a woman named “Honey” seriously as an agent. Maybe that was the point. Honey Weston is deadly serious, even if she looks like a supermodel.

Until the very end of the story, I never felt like I was missing something by not having read the rest of the series. It probably would have added depth if I had, but I didn’t feel lost. This is terrific! There’s always some hesitation at breaking into a series in the middle.

But at the end, the villain, who had been so incredibly clever up until that point, came off as extremely bwahaha crazy. Some of her crazy was personal to both Navarro and Weston, and I wondered if it had come up in earlier stories, but mostly, she just went too far into crazytown. How could she have planned so meticulously up until that point and then gone so far off the deep end just at the sight of Navarro and Weston? It was a bit much.

However, I had a lot of fun with this. I could see the whole story playing out in front of me. It would have made a terrific movie. All I needed was the popcorn.

***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: Reflected in You by Sylvia Day

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Format read: Trade paperback provided by the publisher
Formats available: Trade Paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genre: Contemporary romance, Erotic romance
Series: Crossfire #2
Length: 432 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Date Released: October 23, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Gideon Cross. As beautiful and flawless on the outside as he was damaged and tormented on the inside. He was a bright, scorching flame that singed me with the darkest of pleasures. I couldn’t stay away. I didn’t want to. He was my addiction… my every desire… mine.

My past was as violent as his, and I was just as broken. We’d never work. It was too hard, too painful… except when it was perfect. Those moments when the driving hunger and desperate love were the most exquisite insanity.

We were bound by our need. And our passion would take us beyond our limits to the sweetest, sharpest edge of obsession…

Most reviewers are going to talk about the sex. And yes, there’s a lot of it.

The main characters in Reflected in You, (and in the first book in the Crossfire series, Bared to You) are both survivors of sexual abuse. Eva was abused by her stepbrother for four years, from when she was ten until the age of fourteen, when she had a miscarriage. Nathan, shamed her into keeping it a secret from her mother and his father. She was ten, she was a child.

Eva still has nightmares and she’s still recovering. She probably always will be. But she’s healing.

Whatever happened to Gideon, we don’t know. But he was definitely sexually abused by someone in some way. He just won’t talk about it. He certainly has the nightmares to prove it happened. The one thing that is clear is that no one believed him at the time. Not even his parents.

Unlike Eva, Gideon was betrayed by the adults who should have stood by him without question.

This is the crucial difference. Eva does trust some people. She has a damn hard time trusting men in relationships. Those go wrong for her. And she sabotages them because her history confuses sex and trust and pain in a lot of understandable ways.  But she does know how to have other kinds of relationships that involve love and trust.

Gideon doesn’t.

Reflected in You is the angst book. Everything in their relationship seems to be going wrong. These two broken people are addicted to each other. Emotionally and very definitely sexually. They seem to need to be together to be functional.

Except that Gideon has always kept secrets. He can’t or won’t tell Eva much about himself, and certainly nothing about what happened to him. Then he pulls away from her. Almost completely.

And Eva spends a good bit of the book going not so quietly nuts. She learns to function. She does her job and starts healing all over again. But we see a lot in her head and it’s an extremely angsty place.

It’s only at the end of the book that we find out why Gideon pulled away, and what he was taking care of while he was emotionally offstage and driving Eva crazy.

And the story ends in the middle of Gideon just barely beginning to finally tell his story to Eva. Just barely beginning to tell. And then it ends.

Escape Rating B: Reflected In You spent way too much time angsting and not nearly enough time doing things. Most of the book followed Eva dealing with the shock of Gideon pulling away from her. While it was important for her psychological health, it wasn’t as fascinating as what Gideon was actually doing, which we don’t find out until the very end.

What bothers me is that the real action in this story is offstage, and wraps up in relatively few pages. It becomes anti-climactic by the way it’s handled, and it unfortunately needs to be, because of what it is. There is too much that can’t be confessed. Reflected In You would have been a lot more interesting (and suspenseful) to this reader if it had followed what Gideon thought, or particularly did, instead of just Eva.

And if Eva is really going to be the heroine of her own life story, and not the protected princess, she needs to hear about the actual dangers that surround her when they happen, not after the fact.

***Disclaimer: I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are my own.

Review: Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: Trade Paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Series: Crossfire #1
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Date Released: June 12, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Our journey began in fire…

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness—beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I’d never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily…

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other’s most private wounds… and desires.

The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn’t tear us apart…

There’s a temptation to call Bared to You a grown-up version of Fifty Shades of Grey, but that’s not quite the right metaphor.

Yes, I read the Fifty Shades Trilogy, and I enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, or the greatest romance since Romeo and Juliet (probably a good thing, considering the way that one ended) but it was fun to read. It did read a lot like good fanfiction, but that’s okay. I like good fanfiction. Sometimes quite a lot.

One of my pet-peeves about Fifty Shades revolved around the character of Ana. I couldn’t imagine someone Ana’s age being quite as innocent as she was, and yet, managing to deal with Christian’s demands as well as she does. The opposites don’t quite gel into one person. Either she knows what she’s doing or she doesn’t.

In Bared to You, Eva is no innocent. She’s young, but she’s been battered by life in some of the worst ways possible. Also, even though Gideon Cross, like Christian Grey, is mega-rich, so is Eva. Whatever seductive qualities Cross has, the ability to support her in the style to which she wishes to become accustomed is not one of them. Eva’s already lived that life with her succession of rich stepfathers.

The other way in which Eva and Gideon are equals, and where Ana and Christian were not, is that both of them have demons in their past. The difference is that by the end of Bared to You, we know what Eva’s are, but Gideon is still hiding from his, and hiding them from Eva.

In Bared to You, a lot of the edginess in the relationship comes from both of them knowing that what they are is co-dependent. They are obsessed with and addicted to each other. This is not necessarily a good thing. Or a healthy thing. It has the potential of working for them because it’s the first time either of them has had a relationship where they’ve taken off the masks they wear to the rest of the world.

It’s the first relationship they’ve had where they both admit that they are broken. It’s also the first real relationship that Gideon Cross seems to have had at all. Whatever his successes are in the corporate world, on the inside, he is one very messed-up man. The question that remains at the end of the book is what made him that way?

And can he let Eva in close enough for their relationship to work? Or will his damage derail the healing journey that she has managed so far?

Escape Rating A-: To me, this works better as a story than Fifty Shades, because Eva and Gideon make more sense as characters. There’s still a certain amount of wish-fulfillment, in that both of them are young and gorgeous, but that’s often true of romance in general. (I do wonder about the trend for über-rich and specifically 28-year-old mega-rich entrepreneurs, but that’s a minor quibble.)

While it is less clear at the beginning why Gideon is so instantly attracted to Eva that he will change all of his coping mechanisms for her, she is an adult in this relationship, and reasonably equal. They’re both rich, and they’re both damaged goods. They’re also both controlling, obsessive and scared of real relationships.

The difference is that Eva manages to have real relationships. Maybe not romantic ones, but other kinds. Her best friend Cory, with whom she shares a different kind of co-dependency. Her mother and stepfather. Her dad. She is healing.

Gideon is just covering up what’s wrong with him. And that’s the tension in the relationship. She’s trying to get better. He hasn’t been. Now they’re either going to go down together, or get up together. Two steps forward and sometimes three steps back. Sometimes only one.

***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.