Tag: 2012 Reading Romance Challenge

Review: The Devil’s Thief by Samantha Kane

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: The Saint’s Devils #1
Length: 293 pages
Publisher: Loveswept (Random House)
Date Released: November 12, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

The daughter of a reformed jewel thief, Julianna Harte knows a thing or two about stealth. When the foundling home she provides for finds itself in dire financial straits, Julianna is forced to do the unthinkable. In a bit of misguided Robin Hood derring-do, she slips through the window of a wealthy rake to search for a treasure she knows is there: an invaluable pearl. But when the towering and very naked occupant of the moonlit bedroom ambushes her with a bargain—a night in his bed in exchange for the pearl—Julianna doesn’t know if it’s masculine heat or sheer desperation that makes his terms so tempting.

Alasdair Sharpe had no intention of keeping his end of the bargain. Planning to offer his little cat burglar carte blanche instead, he promptly loses himself in the delights of unexpected pleasure. But when he awakes the next morning to find his family heirloom gone, fury quickly replaces sensual languor. Of course, Alasdair is more than willing to use seduction to reclaim his stolen pearl—and find the key to Julianna’s heart.

Midnight burglars either have to be very, very good, or very, very lucky. Julianna turns out to be a little bit of both, and neither.

She also seems to have forgotten that some, maybe most, of her father’s skill rested on his ability to charm the petticoats off a number of his marks. Julianna gets off easy in one aspect of her first foray into the family business–her first mark isn’t wearing anything at all.

The Devil’s Thief is a romance, and a comedy for the most part, of misunderstandings. That’s what makes it so much fun.

While Julianna steals the pearl in order to pay the rent on the foundling home she supports, her reasons for not asking her father and step-mother for assistance turn out to be a misunderstanding.

But then, so does her father’s misunderstanding of his new wife’s issues with the foundling home itself, which are the reasons he is less supportive than he used to be.

Alasdair thinks Julianna needs the rent for herself. When he finds out she is his neighbor, he is mortified to realize that they have met, and that he totally overlooked her. That she dressed and acted in a manner designed to cause that very reaction makes him feel even more deceived.

Her determination to remain independent, and his to protect, keep them dancing around their feelings for each other until the very end. Almost to the very bitter end.

These two lovers require the help of all their friends, and even some of their enemies, to figure out if they can find a future together-one without too many misunderstandings.

Escape Rating B-: I read this all in a single froth-whipped gulp. It’s fun. The plot runs from one charming misunderstand-dammit to the next, but it’s meant to. The reader, and all the side-characters, are too busy watching in amused horror as these two lovers careen past each other in increasingly insane attempts to steal back the original pearl without putting the other in danger, and all in vain. Meanwhile discovering that both their original reasons for this mess might have been unnecessary, except as a means to get their lives on the track they should have been in the first place.

The most interesting character in this story might be Wiley, the gang-leader who helps Julianna. I can’t wait to see what he turns into.

We get some very teasing hints that every single one of these men is a “gentleman” in name only. And that all of them have something that they are either trying to forget, or otherwise are looking to replace something in their past that they lost.

They’re all very bad boys, but they seem to be bad for a reason. I can’t help wondering what those reasons are. Hopefully, we’ll find out in the rest 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: Moonlight & Mechanicals by Cindy Spencer Pape

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: steampunk romance
Series: Gaslight Chronicles #4
Length: 176 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: October 22, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance

London, 1859

Engineer Winifred “Wink” Hadrian has been in love with Inspector Liam McCullough for years, but is beginning to lose hope when he swears to be a lifelong bachelor. Faced with a proposal from a Knight of the Round Table and one of her closest friends, Wink reluctantly agrees to consider him instead.

Because of his dark werewolf past, Liam tries to keep his distance, but can’t say no when Wink asks him to help find her friend’s missing son. They soon discover that London’s poorest are disappearing at an alarming rate, after encounters with mysterious “mechanical” men. Even more alarming is the connection the missing people may have with a conspiracy against the Queen.

Fighting against time—and their escalating feelings for each other—Wink and Liam must work together to find the missing people and save the monarchy before it’s too late…

Moonlight & Mechnicals, even without being part of Cindy Spencer Pape’s awesome Gaslight Chronicles (see reviews of Steam & Sorcery and Kilts & Kraken) just by itself matches up what has to be one of the ultimate steampunk couples: the hero is a werewolf and the heroine is an engineer. Talk about awesome.

But the story does this pairing proud, as well as the previous bits we’ve seen of the Hadrian family-by-love that engineer Wink is very much a part of. Although that would be Lady Winifred Hadrian to the likes of you or me. But in Steam & Sorcery, Sir Merrick Hadrian rescued her, and the rest of her adopted siblings from the worst part of London, in the middle of fighting vampyres.

Wink’s ladylike exterior is just that, an exterior. She’s seen the worst that life has to offer. And just because she could become an idle society twit, doesn’t mean she’s constitutionally capable of it. Wink is still a genius engineer. And even though women can’t become actual Knights, she’s very much a valued employee. Her skills are too valuable to waste. But just because Wink has a career of her own doesn’t mean she doesn’t also want a home and family of her own. The only problem is that she’s been in love with Inspector Liam McCullough for years. Since the day he and Merrick rescued her, in fact.

Wink thought that Liam was waiting for her to grow up. That wasn’t it. She’s 24 now. Definitely grown up. Liam is swearing that he’ll never marry. A childhood filled with nothing but beatings, combined with the strength and temper of a werewolf, have left Liam afraid to let anyone close. Especially Wink.

Liam should have seen his protectiveness as a warning sign that it was already far too late for him. Instead he tries to help another man court her. And if this sounds like Cyrano de Bergerac, it should, and with similar results.

But while Liam is trying to avoid romantic entanglements with Wink, there is Order business that they must deal with together. People in the poor districts of London are going missing in alarming numbers, at the same time as mysterious sightings of mechanical men. It’s either magic or machinery, and that means trouble. There’s also a plot against the Crown, and the two things may be connected.

Can they solve the mystery of the missing citizens, discover the plot, save the Queen, and figure out what’s stopping them from being happy together, before it’s too late? The race to solve the mystery is every bit as enthralling as the romance in this adventure.

Escape Rating A: A werewolf, an engineer, a mechanical dog, and shades of Cyrano de Bergerac courting Roxanne. How much more fun could this story have gotten? Add in a dastardly plot to bring down Queen Victoria using mechanized men that sound a lot like something straight out of Doctor Who, that’s how!

The love story is the plot, and it goes from sad to happily ever after so, so well. Liam’s reasons for not wanting to marry do make sense from his perspective. He’s totally wrong, but completely understandable. And Wink’s attempt to settle for something less is heartbreaking for everyone, but necessary to provide Liam with the appropriate kick in the arse.

The anti-Monarchist plot makes a terrific mystery. Very convoluted, and kept me guessing right up until the end on some of the particulars.

This story ends on an absolutely lovely note. The point about the family that you make being as much, or possibly more, important than the one you are born to, particularly for Liam. <sniffle>

 

***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: Night Thief by Lisa Kessler

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Format read:ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available:ebook
Genre:Paranormal Romance
Series:Night #1.5
Length: 109 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Date Released: September 28, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

After the fall of the Mayan civilization, Kane, an immortal Night Walker, has taken refuge in France for over 800 years. The modern world holds little interest for him until the night he meets the Golden Thief and is robbed of much more than his pocket watch.

Marguerite Rousseau is living a double life. By day she is the assistant to an eccentric French artist, Antoine Berjon, and by night she dons elegant evening gowns to woo French dignitaries before lifting their wallets.

Sparks ignite when Kane captures the thief, but Marguerite harbors a dark secret that could ruin them both.

Night Thief is both a prequel and a sequel to Lisa Kessler’s Night Walker, the first published book in her Night series. I’ll say up front that I loved Night Walker (review here), and I read Night Thief because I was eager to learn more of her mysterious creatures who are, but are not quite, vampires.

Night Thief takes place earlier in history, Paris in the 1840s instead of San Diego California in the present, but we read it after Night Walker, so we know the Night Walkers. Also, the hero of Night Walker was made, while the hero of Night Thief was born. Kane has a much longer history.

But the love story doesn’t.

The greatest enemy of the immortal isn’t a weapon, it seems to be boredom. Or ennui. Kane is getting bored. In Paris!

Napoleon has just died and Kane is watching the funeral procession when he spots Marguerite. Not for the first time. They’ve been stalking each other. She wants to rob him, and he wants to catch her. Not because he cares about her thefts, but because the thief known as the Le Voleur D’or shakes him out of his doldrums.

Marguerite is more than just a pretty face. She’s even more than just a pretty thief. She already knows that the world holds more terrors than even the recent Revolution could have imagined. And that not all those terrors are human. Or at least, not human any longer.

Kane sees a spirited woman who has been harmed, and wants to protect her. Needs to protect her. His spirit cries out that he must.

Marguerite knows that any man who does not appear between the hours of sunrise and sunset is something otherworldly. Her experience of such is that he must be a monster, just like her master. She has no experience of the otherworld that is not monstrous.

It is only when Kane trusts her enough to let her see what he really is, that she discovers that not all who hunt the night are evil. Some protect. This one wants to protect her. At all costs.

Even against the vampire who once saved her.

Escape Rating B+: Marguerite’s dilemma is what catches the reader. She knows that there are things out there, she lives with one. He abuses her every night. Her master is a vampire. She steals in order to get enough money to escape him. Not just for herself, but also for her cousin. The ocean might be enough distance. She doesn’t know the bastard is toying with her.

Kane is her rescue, but only if she can believe in him. The worst part, for Marguerite, is that Antoine, the vampire, used to be her rescuer. Her father beat her, and Antoine got her out. But that was before he went vampire, of course. Now he’s the bad guy, and she needs another white knight. Maybe that should be a red knight. She’s aware that being rescued isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, that rescuers can become victimizers in their turn. Rescuing herself was a better idea, if she could have pulled it off.

In some ways, Night Thief doesn’t have the depth that Night Walker did. Calisto loved his love for two centuries, he just had to wait for her to be reincarnated. Kane has been around for much, much longer, but his history, stretching back to the Mayan Empire is only hinted at. I’d like to know more about how the Night Walkers came to be, and came to be scattered to the four winds. There’s a tragic story in their background, and I want to read it.

Guess I’ll have to wait for Night Demon to learn more. Darn.

***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: Wild Encounter by Nikki Logan

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: romantic suspense
Length: 196 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Date Released: September 9, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

A wildlife release mission in Africa turns deadly when the convoy is hijacked by smugglers, and veterinarian Clare Delaney is taken hostage. Terrified for her life and her animals, the intrepid Clare establishes a rapport with the man she believes is the criminals’ leader, and reluctantly finds herself under his protection…and falling hard for the enigmatic man.

Alpha-to-the-max Simon deVries sees right through his sexy captive’s attempt to seduce her way to freedom. So when their simmering attraction flares into true passion, it takes them both by surprise. Now he’s torn between completing his secret mission and letting her escape without telling her his true identity. He knows if he lets her go, he will be risking his career, his life…and his heart.

Most people know about “Stockholm Syndrome”, where hostages “have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them.” The syndrome is all about mistaking the lack of abuse from their captors, or, in the case of Clare and Simon in Wild Encounter, a particular captor, for an act of kindness. Or possibly more.

At least, that’s what the shrink tells her after it’s all over.

There’s an inverse syndrome, the “Lima Syndrome.” That’s the version where the abductors develop sympathy for the hostages, sometimes to the point of letting them all go. Or, in the case of Wild Encounter, letting just the one hostage go.

And that’s what Simon’s superiors tell him he has after it’s all over.

But what if they’re wrong?

As romantic suspense, the start of this story is both amazing and slightly uncomfortable. Simon and a group of seriously bad dudes kidnap Clare by accident in order to get at the wild dogs her group is planning to release. She’s just collateral damage. So are the dogs.

Can either of them be sure the attraction they feel for each other is real, and not a product of the situation?

Clare only knows that Simon is the only one of the crew who treats her half-way decently. He protects her from the others. Throwing her lot in with him, throwing herself at him, is her best chance for survival.

Until she can rescue herself. Which is exactly what she does. With wits and skill and intelligence. Brains over brawn. Whatever she feels for Simon, she takes him down, too. And escapes from ALL her captors. Including the one she’s just spent an entire day in the sack with.

She drugs him comatose, along with the rest. His last act is to give her his gun. She drives far enough away before she brings back rescue that he has a chance to get away, she hopes. But that’s all she can do for him, whoever he was.

Six months later she’s back in Africa, because the dogs have been found on the wrong nature preserve, and she and her team have to relocate them after all. While she’s happy to know that they survived, she’s still emotionally scarred.

Then the British government sends  a team to guard them, to prevent a repeat of the “embarrassing events” of the previous transfer, and there’s Simon again. Clare finds out who he really is, and she’s both stunned and angry. He’s MI6 and her kidnapping nearly ruined his undercover case.

All she knows is that in 6 months he never contacted her to let her know that he was alive, or who he really was. Or what their last night together might have meant. Or not.

His case isn’t over. He can’t even tell her what it’s about. Or that he’s not sure what their last night meant either. Was it all part of one syndrome or another, or was what they both did, part of something they both really felt? And will they survive long enough to clear up all the misunderstandings?

Escape Rating B: The pages absolutely fly by in this romantic suspense tale. The author conveys both the romance and the danger of her veterinarian-heroine’s love-affair with her job and the places it takes her too, with deft insider knowledge.

It was terrific to see a woman rescue herself, not by muscle, but by brains. We need more heroines like Clare in romance. (Heck, we need more heroines like Clare as role-models in general!)

But, we’re all left wondering how much of what Clare (and Simon) feel in the initial situation is real, and how much is part of the situation. The sex is jungle steamy, but are the emotions real? Those syndromes exist for very valid psychological reasons.

The angsting after Clare and Simon get back together is a bit, well, much. The misunderstandings are huge, and go on way too long. Either he can talk about it, or he can’t. If MI6 says he’s compromised, than he shouldn’t be there. Or he’s all there. Also, the nameless/faceless nature of the superiors who  said he couldn’t/shouldn’t be involved with Clare took a bit away from the reasoning on that one. I wanted to see his memory of that actual dressing-down, if not the event itself to give that more punch.

Where would spy stories today be without the invention of the micro-chip? (I’m just saying…)

But all things considered, I liked these characters. A LOT. I wanted them to find a happy ending, and I was happy for them when they did. And the plot did keep me very much in suspense. I did not know who the bad guy was, or even why the bad guy was, until Clare figured it out. I love it when the suspense works as well as the romance.

***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: The Moonstone and Miss Jones by Jillian Stone + Giveaway!

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> Book Giveaway> book reviews> Giveaways
Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: Mass Market Paperback, ebook
Genre: steampunk, paranormal romance
Series: Phaeton Black, Paranormal Investigator #2
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Kensington Brava
Date Released: September 25, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

A master of paranormal deduction—and paramour seduction—Phaeton Black has a knack for bumping into things that go bump in the night, from ghoulies and ghosties to long-leggedy beauties…

Mooning For The Moonstone

Barely escaping the clutches of a succulent succubus, Phaeton Black returns to London only to get sucked into another unearthly scheme. Professor Lovecraft has been tinkering with the secrets of life and death, replacing body parts with the latest mechanical marvels. To succeed, he needs to tap the power of the fabled Moonstone—and he needs Phaeton’s help. Of course, Phaeton would prefer to investigate the more interesting body parts of Miss America Jones. Perhaps, bringing his lady friend along for the ride won’t be to too much trouble…

Shanghaied In Shanghai

The bewilderingly beautiful and bountifully gifted daughter of a Cajun witch, Miss Jones is always up for an adventure, especially with Mr. Black as her traveling companion. But when Phaeton is mysteriously shanghaied in Shanghai, America thinks he’s run out on her. Stranded in the Orient—and steaming mad—she’s prepared to look under every stone for the missing detective. The case has put them both in the most compromising positions, but this time, Miss Jones is on top and Mr. Black is at the bottom…of a truly infernal plot.

Pardon me while I have a screaming case of “middle book syndrome”. ARRGGHHH!

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s talk about the book. The Moonstone and Miss Jones is another darkly seductive delight in the adventures of Phaeton Black and American Jones. The difference between this story and their first adventure, The Seduction of Phaeton Black (see review here) is that in this second story the emphasis is more on the steampunk, the darkness and the mystery.

Don’t get me wrong, Phaeton and America are still very much taken with each other, but in this story they finally figure out that they are actually in this thing together, and are not mere ships passing in the night. The story is still steamy, but Phaeton’s finally figured out where to moor his boat. So to speak. His problem is going to be keeping things anchored. Literally.

Those visions of strange beings and and dangerous fantasms that Phaeton has had all his life? They are sendings from a parallel reality, and that reality is starting to come unraveled. Along with our own. Of course, Phaeton is the key. Along with a little present that the Egyptian goddess Qadesh gave him at the end of his previous adventure. Everyone thinks this “Moonstone” will solve all their problems.

Too bad for Phaeton that he’s the only one who can use it. Precisely because he doesn’t want a damn thing from it except to be left alone with America and their ‘pea in the pod’. There is much too much power at stake for that to happen.

But in the process of chasing after the evil-doers, keeping the world from unraveling, and guarding America, Phaeton discovers something that he never expected. He has friends. Real, honest to goodness friends. And a life worth fighting back from hell for.

Escape Rating B+: The Moonstone and Miss Jones is a completely wild ride into not just steampunk, but also parallel universes, the potentials of H.G. Wells time-machine, a little homage to H.P. Lovecraft, and the value of friendship, all wrapped into one. And it’s a cracking good adventure.

Read The Seduction of Phaeton Black first. This story starts pretty hard on the heels on that one, at least as far as continuity is concerned. Phaeton and America had a romantic idyll in between, one that’s interrupted by Phaeton being shanghaied in Shanghai, but the stories crack straight on from one to the other.

There are several interesting side-stories that I would love to see developed revolving around some of the Nightshades guarding America. The smoldering romances there have tons of potential.

I can’t believe I’m going to have to wait until next summer for book 3, The Miss Education of Dr. Exeter. I want to magic it up from the future and read it now, dammit!

~~~~~~TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Win Phaeton’s most charming charm bracelet. And find clues to the Moonstone’s hiding place in this modern, edgy take on the traditional charm bracelet created by Ana Karolina, a 19-year-old Mexican born designer who made her debut at Nordstrom at the ripe old age of 17. This silver-plated chain bracelet makes skulls and bugs look oh-so cool!

Win one of five copies of The Moonstone and Miss Jones (ebook or print-winners choice)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

***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: Until There Was You by Jessica Scott

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook
Genre: military romance, contemporary romance
Series: Coming Home #2
Length: 250 pages
Publisher: Loveswept (Random House)
Date Released: October 8, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance

Though he plays by the rules, she’s not afraid to break them. Now these two strong-willed military leaders will prove that opposites attract . . . even under fire.

A by-the-book captain with a West Point background, Evan Loehr refuses to mix business with pleasure—except for an unguarded instance years ago when he succumbed to the deep sensuality of redheaded beauty Claire Montoya. Since that brief lapse in judgment, Evan has been at odds with her. But when he is asked to train a combat team alongside Claire, battle-hardened Evan is in for the fight of his life.

Strong, gutsy, and loyal, Captain Claire Montoya has worked hard to achieve her high military rank. In Evan Loehr, Claire sees a spoiled commander who puts the rules before everything else—including his people. Army orders force them together and Claire soon discovers that there is more to Evan than meets the eye. He too has dark secrets and deep longings. For all their differences, Evan and Claire share two crucial passions: their country and each other.

Not all scars are visible. And no one can be changed unless they want to change. Jessica Scott’s Coming Home series isn’t so much military romance per se as it is romance featuring men and women in the military or attached to the military and the struggles they face at re-integrating into civilian life.

The absolutely fantastic Because of You (see my review for full scope of fantastic) looked at the difficulties an ultra-responsible First Sergeant faced when he was forced away from his men due to a severe, and probably career-ending, physical injury. It highlighted the struggles that soldiers face when they return home with shattered or missing limbs.

The story of Until There Was You turns to a different aspect of coming home. The couple in this story,  Captains Claire Montoya and Evan Loehr, are both still in the fight, but currently are not deployed. Hence the problem. They’d both rather be downrange instead of training others to go. Even worse, the commander who drew up the training plan is more interested in making sure his lieutenants know how to conduct a flawless power-point briefing than escort a supply convoy with a minimum number of casualties.

Also, Claire and Evan has been verbally sniping at each other for three years, ever since one ill-advised but oh-so-delicious kiss at the end of a “hail and farewell” that Evan almost didn’t attend.

Evan’s approach is totally by the book, and Claire’s is completely by the seat of her pants. She came up through the ranks and OCS, in other words, a mustang. Evan graduated from West Point. He’s never been anything but an officer. Their approaches never match.

But they do. They’re even the same rank. The non-frat rules don’t apply. It’s just a horribly bad idea. Evan doesn’t date within the military. And Claire tries to pretend she’s just one of the guys.

But when they are thrown back together as part of an insane training operation at a ski lodge, in the snow, training unprepared troops for Iraq, in the desert, it makes both of them re-think a whole lot of things.

Both Evan and Claire have dark demons in their pasts that make them push each other’s buttons, and push each other away. They’ve both learned that losing control, not having control, causes nothing but pain.

But they need each other a lot more than they need to hang onto the old scars. The question is whether they will realize it in time to save anything; their soldiers, their careers, or each other.

Escape Rating A-: The commander who creates the cluster-snafu training exercise that forms the backdrop to this terrific romance doesn’t ever make much sense. He may be all too real, but he doesn’t become enough of a real character to be more than just a paper tiger.

The romance between Claire and Evan is hot, sweet and threaded with pain. Once you see into Claire’s background, you also get an understanding of what brought her to this point in her life, and where the third character in this story fits in. Claire has an enlisted friend, Reza, who she is protecting from rehab. Protecting him not just because he’s her friend and he’s a terrific soldier, but because she’s repeating a childhood pattern that she can’t break, but must break out of to heal. Claire’s father was an alcoholic, and not all of Claire’s scars are physical. The Army gives her control because she had none growing up.

Evan lost control once in his life, and he’s paid for it ever since. That’s why he needs the control the Army gives him. But to make a relationship together, both of them have to give up some control. Watching them battle their demons is the hard part of the story.

Going in, you think the issue is going to be PTSD. It’s not. That might have been less painful. Ms. Scott does an excellent job at making the readers feel her characters’ pain and grief, so this one almost hurts to read. But it is so worth it.

***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: Because of You by Jessica Scott

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews
Format read: ebook purchased from Amazon
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary romance, Military romance
Series: Coming Home #1
Length: 262 pages
Publisher: Loveswept (Random House)
Date Released: November 14, 2011
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance

Keeping his men alive is all that matters to Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison. But meeting Jen St. James the night before his latest deployment makes Shane wonder if there’s more to life than war. He leaves for Iraq remembering a single kiss with a woman he’ll never see again—until a near fatal attack lands him back at home and in her care.

Jen has survived her own brush with death and endured its scars. And yet there’s a fire in Shane that makes Jen forget all about her past. He may be her patient, but when this warrior looks her in the eyes, she feels—for the first time in a long time—like a woman. Shane is too proud to ask for help, but for Jen, caring for him is more than a duty—it’s a need. And as Jen guides Shane through the fires of healing, she finds something she never expected—her deepest desire.

Strictly speaking, this isn’t a military romance. It’s a contemporary romance where a significant number of the characters,  including the hero, are career military and their families who are dealing with the issues resulting from repeated deployments or from what happens when they stop.

For many soldiers, coming home is more difficult than going downrange. The military has rules and regulations. Families and civilian life, that’s something else again. And for some, the military is home, and there’s no place for them when they come home too physically broken by war to go back to the sandbox.

We know this happens in civilian life too, to people who take their identities from their jobs, and have nothing left when they retire. How much more so for someone trained to be a soldier? Trained to fight for his (or her) country. Who can’t go back to take care of the people they are trained to help keep out of harm’s way.

Shane Garrison is a Sergeant First Class. It’s his job to keep his men in line, train them, and get as many of them as possible home in one piece. His responsibility is all he has, all he knows. To the point that he sacrificed his marriage to it. (She probably wasn’t worth keeping, anyway.)

But on his last night Stateside, he meets Jen St. James. They only share one kiss, but it makes a sweet memory for him to hold onto during his deployment in Iraq. In 2007. During the Surge.

He comes home with his legs nearly shattered. And Jen, she’s the nurse who will be taking care of him.

But more than Shane’s legs are crushed. He’ll never go back downrange, and he knows it. The Army may find another job for him, but he’ll never go back to be with his men. He doesn’t have an identity beyond being Sarn’t G. If he’s not taking care of them, who is he?

He wanted to come back after deployment and see if Jen might want to take a chance on him, but not like this. He feels useless. He has men in the hospital that he can’t help, because he thinks he can’t help himself.

Shane believes that Jen couldn’t possibly understand what it feels like to lose control, to not be whole. He has no idea of the scars that she is hiding beneath her uniform. But first they have to trust each other. Something that is just as difficult for her as it is for him.

And Shane has to get his head out of his keister and figure out that his men still need him. Even more important, that the part of him that he needs to help them isn’t his legs, it’s his brain. Or maybe his heart. And both of those are still working just fine. More or less. Or at least they don’t need PT.

Escape Rating A: I read this one twice, once back in the Spring, after I saw all the recommendations, and again this week. I still remembered most of it, but it was more than good enough to stand up to a second read. Was it ever!

Not all battles are fought on the battlefield. Jen fought her own fight against cancer, and won, but she still fights every day. To feel whole, to feel normal, to feel worthy of being loved and wanted. It takes her a long time to let her guard down with Shane. Almost too long.

The most difficult struggles are the ones that the families fight at home. Waiting, hoping and not knowing. This one is embodied in Jen’s best friend Laura, the wife of Shane’s company commander Trent. Laura and Trent’s story is heart-breaking, because Laura gives up. I want to see their unfinished business get finished–Laura is a fantastic character in her own right and an awesome friend to Jen.

Because of You is a terrific story at showing the slow burn of love. Shane and Jen don’t jump into the sack when they first meet, and then, it’s simply not possible as Shane heals. What does happen is their initial attraction develops depth and trust, bit by slow bit. They earn their HEA. They fight for it.

***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: A Date With Death by Louisa Bacio

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook
Genre: paranormal romance, erotic romance
Series: 1Night Stand
Length: 36 pages
Publisher: Decadent Publishing
Date Released: August 21, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Death sucks. It’s boring, and there’s no chance of getting laid. Stuck in the waiting room of Heaven, Maise fantasizes about all the pleasures of the flesh she didn’t get to experience. When Maise discovers a business card for the dating service, 1Night Stand, she wonders if there’s still a chance.

Reece normally wouldn’t consider being set up, but after his brother buys him a certificate, he feels obligated. A romantic night on the Southern California coast, with the full-of-life Maise leaves him wanting more.

Will a 1Night Stand be enough to overcome death?

The trick, and sometimes it is a trick, with the 1Night Stand titles is to get the couple from meeting to happily-ever-after in the course (and definitely intercourse!) of one single night.

This doesn’t mean the couple can’t have met before, and it doesn’t mean that the HEA can’t be a work in progress at the end (the best 1Night Stand stories often use one or the other) but the story takes place in one night. And the author doesn’t have a lot of pages to work with.

Louisa Bacio uses one amazingly unconventional start for a 1Night Stand.

First, throw any preconception out the window. This is a paranormal, just barely. But there are no vampires, werewolves or any other creatures of the night involved, in spite of the suggestions sparked by that title.

The story opens with the heroine, Maise, finding one of Madame Eve’s brochures for her 1Night Stand service. What’s unusual is that Maise finds it while she is waiting for her number to be called in Limbo. Literally, Limbo, as in the waiting room for death. The last thing Maise remembers is the oncoming car, the one that killed her.

Cell phone service apparently reaches to this other-worldly waiting room, but only if Maise punches Madame Eve’s number before her own number gets called. Ironic, isn’t it?

Maise figures that she might as well take one last shot at living, especially since she’s already dead. What she can’t figure out is how Madame Eve manages to rescue her from Limbo, even temporarily, or what the absolutely gorgeous and definitely very much among the living man, Reese, could possibly need a 1Night Stand for. It’s all too obvious to Maise that Reese shouldn’t need a computer dating service.

But Reese’s life has gone into a grief-stricken tailspin for reasons that he isn’t willing to reveal to Maise, and a night of passion with a beautiful woman is exactly what he needs. He wants to feel and not to think. Not to think about the brother he just lost, the one who gave him this night as a present, just before he died.

But Maise and Reese have a connection, and not just the instant-lust that they feel for each other the moment they meet. It’s that real-world connection that will be the saving of them both…if they are willing to believe in what they experience in just one night.

Escape Rating B+: The author did an amazing job with this short erotic romance. She did a deft job of mixing the bittersweet sadness that begins the story for both Reese and Maise with the hot encounter of their one night that leads to the sweet ending.

I find Madame Eve’s powers occasionally beyond belief, but the story works beautifully. My only regret is that it wasn’t longer. I’d love to know how things worked out for Maise and Reece.

***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: Down for the Count by Christine Bell

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Dare Me #1
Length: 128 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Date Released: October 1, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Truth or dare…

When Lacey Garrity finds her groom in flagrante delicto in the reception hall closet with her bridesmaid, she’s saved by her best friend’s older brother—childhood tormentor, crush, and boxing bad boy Galen Thomas. Galen’s solution is both exciting and dangerous. What better way to forget the mess of her life than go on her honeymoon with a hot guy who can’t promise anything beyond today?

…or TKO?

Galen had been counting on Lacey’s wedding to put her out of reach—and out of his mind—once and for all, but their steamy Puerto Rican escape is testing all his boundaries. Now that Lacey’s embracing her inner bad girl, Galen is tempted to throw in the towel and claim her for himself. But with the biggest fight of his career on the line and an important business merger threatening to derail Lacey’s resolve, their romance might be down for the count before it even begins.

It’s not so much that Galen Thomas is a bad boy, so much that Lacey Garrity has been way too much of a goody-two-shoes for most of her life. Lacey has been so busy attempting to please her impossible mother, and everyone else around her, that she’s never let herself figure out what it is she really wants. She’s too busy being worried that something might go wrong, and that she’ll get blamed for it.

Lacey just knows that her mother (whom her friend Cat properly nicknames “The Admiral”) is going to blame her when she finds her just-married groom in the linen closet of their reception hall with her other best friend, Becca. And, oh yes, he was banging her bridesmaid.

Lacey’s marriage to Marty the bridesmaid banger is so over. And it should be. (Men named Marty are so seldom any good. The last decent guy named Marty was Marty McFly. Back to the Future was a LONG time ago.)

But Lacey needs a quick rescue from the reception, before Mother Admiral swoops down on her. Enter Galen Thomas, who is not just her best friend’s older brother, but the guy she’s had a crush on since she was about 10. Of course, she’s not 10 anymore, and what Lacey feels is a lot more than a crush. But she’s been so beaten down by failing to meet everyone’s expectations that she can’t see what’s right in front of her.

She is way better than Marty ever deserved, and that Galen sees her as a whole lot more than just his sister’s best friend. When Lacey was 10 and he was 13, that would have made him a perv. But they’re all adults now, and he hasn’t seen her as just a kid for a long time.

But hitting on your sister’s best friend is usually a way for a guy to end up dead, in a manner of speaking. So Galen has tried to just be friends.

In the moment where Galen has to choose between getting Lacey out of that awful reception, and breaking every bone in Marty’s body, Galen chooses to save Lacey. And that’s where Down for the Count turns into a marvelous friends-into-lovers romance.

It’s also Lacey’s journey out from under the Admiral’s command. Because she has to get all the horrible messages from her mother out of her head, as well as get rid of her ill-considered marriage, before she’s ready to be in love with the man who has always wanted her.

Escape Rating A-: Christine Bell has written a terrific friends-into-lovers romance in Down for the Count. The opening scene at the wedding reception, where Lacey finds her erstwhile groom in the closet, just made you feel for Lacey, and want to deck Marty. But you can feel Lacey start to grab her own life for the first time.

Lacey is a “poor little rich girl” character, but once she starts to break from the mold, she really breaks out. At the same time, you do see her struggle. It’s hard to stop hearing all those little voices that tell you people will judge you if you don’t do everything just right. The author has captured her internal struggle excellently.

The central core of the story is Lacey and Galen’s romance, and it’s both steamy and sweet. Lacey’s always had a crush but never felt good enough, lively enough, pretty enough for him. And until they were adults, that three-year age gap was a yawning chasm. But now the timing is almost right. Watching them work for a relationship makes this story sing.

***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: Of Blood and Bone by Courtney Cole

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the tour company
Formats available:ebook
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: The Minaldi Legacy #1
Length: 226 pages
Publisher: Lakehouse Press
Date Released: September 14, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Luca Minaldi is powerful, rich and mesmerizing. But he is also a reclusive enigma. He lives in Malta, a fairytale-like place filled with sunshine and sea, beauty and secrets. And Luca’s darkest of secrets is the best kept of them all.

Eva Talbot is spending the summer in Malta to finish up her doctoral dissertation. When she meets Luca, a mysterious and handsome shipping magnate, there is an instant attraction. He has a disturbing and beautiful energy that she has never felt before. But she senses the darkness that lives within him.

Eva is hired to care for his mother, a woman who suffers from dementia, but it is Luca who Eva will eventually risk everything to save. She desperately wants to reach inside of him and fix what is broken, while at the same time, she knows that she is falling for him. Her life becomes a swirling chaos of darkness and romance, of secrets and mystery. And the question that emerges will become the most important answer of all.

Can she save Luca from the darkness that plagues him without losing herself?

The answer is a matter of life or death.

Be prepared to be surprised. From the description, even from the title, I expected Of Blood and Bone to be a paranormal romance. It isn’t. Think of it as romantic suspense, but of the old-fashioned gothic school of suspense.

Except that the heroine is a psychiatrist. One who falls in love with her patient, even after he has slightly kinky sex with her, and then doesn’t remember it the next morning. But Eva’s not licensed to practice yet, so she’s not violating any rules.

And Luca Minaldi technically isn’t her patient. His mother is. If Eva Talbot could technically have patients. Which she can’t.

Luca’s mother says he’s evil. Luca believes that he’s a monster. That he’s fated to be a monster, just like his father, and his grandfather, and his great-grandfather. That he’s cursed.

Eva’s sure that there’s a scientific explanation for everything. Even the murders.

And she’s right. It’s just not the explanation that anyone thinks it is. And just when everyone thinks it’s over…it isn’t.

Escape Rating B: Luca compares himself and Eva to Heathcliff and Catherine, except that he’s sure that his monstrosity is a real curse and not just a character flaw. Eva names his problem Jekyll & Hyde syndrome, but is certain there’s a real disease behind it. There will be a point in the story where most readers will be certain Luca is a werewolf. It’s not that simple.

Even when you start to figure out who, and you get the glimmer of how, you won’t know why. That was the suspense that kept me riveted to my iPad. But Eva the psychiatrist should have figured things out long before I did, no matter how distracted she was be her affair-gone-wrong with her all-too-hot would-be patient.

But the series is off to a absolutely fascinating misdirecting start. I was so sure I knew what book 2 in the series would be, and then, on the last page, the author totally threw me into another direction. Again. Whiplash. Wow.

***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.