Tag: Entangled Publishing

Review: Don’t Bite the Bridesmaid by Tiffany Allee

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Don't Bite the Bridesmaid by Tiffany AlleeFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Sons of Kane #1
Length: 209 pages
Publisher: Entangled: Covet
Date Released: May 27, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Alice Shepard needs one thing: a date for her sister’s wedding. And not just any date. A hunk who will make her fiancé rue the day he left her for her best friend. Her drop-dead gorgeous neighbor fits the bill—even if he is a bit quirky and never comes out during the day—and Alice has downed just enough appletinis to ask him. But she makes it quite clear that there will be no funny business.

Spending a week on a cruise ship full of humans while sleeping close to his sexy next-door neighbor sounds like a helluva bad idea to vampire Noah Thorpe. But his friends need time to get him out of a shotgun wedding—a vampire bonding that will tie his fate to a female vampire he’s never met. And Alice’s offer comes at just the right time.

What could possibly go wrong?

My Review:

Don’t Bite the Bridesmaid was a lot of fun to read, and it also had a couple of surprisingly deep points along with the cute love story (and I’m not just talking about the hero’s fangs, either!)

Of course Alice wants a date to her sister’s wedding. And not just because she doesn’t want to spend a week on a wedding cruise as a pitiful single (yuck!). The groom’s brother is her lying, cheating, scum-sucking ex-fiancé. Pride requires that she rub his face in how much better off she is without him.

Especially since they broke up because she caught him with his pants down, screwing her ex-best friend.

Now that their relationship is dead and gone, Alice is certain she’s better off without him (he had other bad habits) but that doesn’t mean she wants to be alone on that wedding cruise. Six appletinis later, she’s next door asking her hunky neighbor to be her “plus one” for a week on a boat.

Lucky for her Noah Thorpe needs an excuse to get out of town and out of touch. The Vampire Council (yes, you read that right) wants him to bond with some newly fledged vampire to keep whoever-she-is grounded until she learns control and supposedly to keep him from dying of ennui.

But Noah’s nowhere near that jaded yet, unlike his brother Alex, and he needs to disappear for a week so that his other brother Charles can lobby the Council, or their father Kane.

Besides, he likes Alice. Or rather, when she comes back the next morning, chastened and sober, to present her proposition a second time, Charles thinks its a great idea and Noah gets a visit from the green-eyed monster.

Noah thinks it will be easy to hide from the Council, and hide his secret vampiric identity, on a cruise ship with the most tempting woman he’s met in centuries.

He has absolutely no idea what he’s let himself in for. Or that it might be the best worst idea he’s ever had.

Escape Rating B: Don’t Bite the Bridesmaid was so much fun because it takes a bite out of so many tried-and-true romantic themes. Alice doesn’t want to go alone on that cruise, but she absolutely does not want her ex back, and with excellent reasons.

There are always convoluted vampire politics. I swear. That never changes. But the whole vampire bonding to keep both parties out of different kinds of trouble was a new twist. (We never do find out who the would-be bonded mate is. Her identity doesn’t seem to be important for the plot. Or this plot. After meeting Kane, I smell red herring)

Unlike the usual variations on this theme, Alice and some of her family already know about vampires. Her brother almost married one, but his vampire ex-fiancé left him at the altar. (I wish we had that story.)

I like Alice; she’s someone I’d want to meet. Based on Noah’s description of her neighborhood activism, she’s definitely someone I’d like to have in my town! Her family, especially her mom, are lots of fun.

Based on the ending I have hopes that there will be stories about Noah’s two brothers, Alex and Charles. Don’t Bite the Bridesmaid was such a delightful little treat, I’d be happy to read more about the Sons of Kane. I wouldn’t mind reading Kane’s story, either. His Mr. Mysterious thing at Cindy’s wedding was awesome.

***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: Hold Me Down Hard by Cathryn Fox

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 3 1/2 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Hold Me Down Hard by Cathryn FoxFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 13, 2013
Number of pages: 48 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website | Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Publisher’s Website

When Eden Carver, Iowa farm girl turned NY actress, decides to seduce the sexy cop next door, she begins to wonder if she’s bitten off more than she can chew.

The last thing Officer Jay Bennett wants is to cross a line with the sweet and innocent country girl—no matter how much he’d like to help himself to a nibble. Not only are they in the friendship zone, a naïve girl like Eden doesn’t belong in his dangerous world.

But when she asks him to help her rehearse lines, and things go from simmer to boil, he finds himself doing the one thing he swore he’d never do. He knows he needs to walk away from temptation, but when sweet little Eden bites back, it tilts his world on its axis.
Because biting back changes everything.

My Thoughts:

File this one under “extra short and extra steamy”.

At right around 50 pages, this is a short story. Let’s call it a sexy interlude. What makes the story work as erotic romance, instead of just porn-without-plot, is that the Eden and Jay know each other before the first page.

They’re neighbors, and they’re friends. Unfortunately, they are friends without benefits.

Jay is a cop, and he’s decided that sweet and innocent country girl Eden couldn’t possibly want to do the dark and wicked things he knows he’ll do to her if he lets her out of the “friend zone”.

Of course, he’s never asked Eden what she wants! He has no clue that all of Eden’s dates end up running away, because they decide she’s a pervert when she asks to be tied up.

Did I mention she has a uniform fetish?

Are these two made for each other, or are they made for each other?

Verdict: The story is a quick and very enjoyable read. The problem is that it is too short. We don’t learn anything about how they met, or how their friendship developed. It’s clear they’ve been interested in each other from the beginning, so how have they managed to get so easy with each other? And by easy in this case I mean get together for pizza and a movie every weekend easy, not the other kind.

The problem is that they both want the other kind of easy, with each other, and have managed to become close friends without figuring out clue one about each other. I’d love to have seen how that worked out.

And I’d love to know more about how they manage to get past the whole “he decides what’s good for her” thing in a longer story, and therefore longer relationship, but if you’re looking for something very short and hot with a happy-ever-after, this might be just the ticket.

3-one-half-stars

I give  Hold Me Down Hard by Cathryn Fox 3 and 1/2 uniform blue stars!

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

Review: Chasing Mrs. Right by Katee Robert

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | book reviews> C Reviews
Chasing Mrs. Right by Katee RobertFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: Come Undone, #2
Length: 151 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Date Released: March 25, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

It was only supposed to last one night…

Roxanne Stokes doesn’t believe in love. She does, however, believe in the sexy-as-sin stranger who literally knocks her off her feet in front of a nightclub. The chemistry sparking between them takes her breath away, and she’ll do anything to ease the pain in his eyes…until she realizes the handsome stranger is her best friend’s older brother who’s just come home from war.

Ian Walser had no idea the gorgeous woman he slept with the night of his homecoming party was his little sister’s best friend—or that she’d be gone before morning. Roxanne’s touch soothes him in a way nothing else can, and he’s not ready to walk away from that yet. Not when spending time with her gave Ian a glimpse of everything he’s ever wanted.

When his sister unwittingly pushes them together, he sees his chance. But convincing a woman who doesn’t believe in love that she’s his Mrs. Right might be harder than any mission Ian’s undertaken. Good thing this soldier likes a challenge…

My Review:

Ian and Roxanne are two people with serious issues. He comes home from two military tours with serious PTSD. She has commitment issues to the point that whenever she begins to get close to a man, she hears her mother’s voice in her head telling her how many different ways the man is going to disappoint her.

Needless to say, this is a sex-into-love romance, because that’s the only way that Roxanne could manage a relationship with anyone. She tries to derail any budding romance with sex at every single turn.

And Ian, for some reason that he can’t figure out, just touching her keeps him grounded. Not necessarily sex, but simply holding her hand keeps his panic at bay. It doesn’t calm hers, but it helps his.

She only wants a one-night-stand. That’s all she ever lets herself have. But her BFF is his little sister. It’s not possible for her to walk away from the reaction he sparks in her. And they are combustible, every single time they get near each other.

His problem with Roxanne is keeping that incendiary reaction from burning out of control long enough to forge a real connection, because she’s so scared that she tries to sabotage every attempt he makes to reach her heart.

Are they too damaged to have a chance?

Escape Rating C: This was not a good book to read Mother’s Day weekend. The messages in Roxanne’s head from her mother do not endear the reader to that woman. We do meet Ian’s mother, and his mother is a real piece of work. I wanted to slap her right through my iPad.

The insta-lust was a great way to open the story, but the insta-love connection was never explained. Why did this relationship work outside the bedroom? She didn’t want to need him (or anyone) and he needed her because of an inexplicable connection. Then the loose ends were wrapped up in a huge hurry to make the happy ending.

Ian made progress on his issues through the book, but Roxanne just miraculously seemed to stop having hers because he was so yummy, or because the sex was so good, or something like that. The build up of their relationship didn’t quite work for me.

***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: Wife In Name Only by Hayson Manning

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Wife In Name Only by Hayson ManningFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary romance
Length: 169 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Date Released: April 1, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Trapped in a loveless marriage, Zoe Hughes escaped to make a new life for herself on the tiny island of Tonga. Now she runs a successful boutique honeymoon resort. Selling true love is easy. No one needs to know she’s married in name only. At least until America’s premier honeymoon magazine wants to publish a feature on her perfect marriage. Now she must convince her estranged husband to rip himself away from plotting corporate takeovers in LA to save her island paradise.

Rory agrees to come for forty-eight hours, but only because he needs the positive PR. To his surprise, the wife he finds in Tonga isn’t the same woman he married. Now she’s so much more…

When a storm strands Rory in Tonga, will he win back his wife or leave paradise empty-handed?

My Review:

I wanted to read something quick and fun, so I picked Wife in Name Only from my TBR stack, and it definitely filled my need for something light, sexy and with a sweet HEA at the end. There was just the right touch of suspense to add spice to the mix!

Nuku Island TongaTonga sounds like the perfect place for a romantic getaway. It’s far, far away from everything, and even cell phone service is erratic. Internet, forget about it! The satellite connects, sort of. Sometimes. When it feels like it. On island time.

It’s the perfect place for Zoe Hughes to sell true love in her boutique honeymoon resort.  That is, until the premier honeymoon magazine contacts her wanting to do a feature spread on her perfect resort and her equally perfect marriage.

There’s one “hitch”–Zoe’s marriage is far from perfect. She came to Tonga to escape her “dead” marriage to “Ice Man” Rory Hughes, who had become so enmeshed in his mergers and takeovers business back in Los Angeles that he had forgotten when they used to be enmeshed in each other. She wondered how long it had taken him to notice that she was gone!

Now she needs Rory to come to Tonga for the photo shoot, and it turns out that he needs her. Being the “Ice Man” is having some negative business repercussions. It turns out that no one, not even in cutthroat LA, wants to make deals with a man who can’t even pretend not be a bloodthirsty predator.

So Rory agrees to come to Tonga, just long enough to do the magazine spread. He thinks he can talk her out of her “foolishness” and get her back to LA. Zoe knows that Tonga is her forever home. There is nothing for her back in LA, especially not the Rory that she left.

But it’s hurricane season in the Pacific, and Rory gets stranded in Paradise for 10 whole days (and nights) with the woman that he still desperately wants. A woman who wants the man he used to be, before L.A. turned him into a shark.

Can the islands work their magic, before it’s too late for their marriage? Or will the hurricane do them both in?

Escape Rating B: I liked Zoe a lot. She was a small town girl who married the man she loved and finally put on her big girl panties when she realized that he wasn’t that man anymore. She made her own dreams come true. She still wanted Rory, (he was gorgeous, who wouldn’t?) but she didn’t love the man he had become. So when she recognized that things weren’t going to get better if she stayed, she went.

On the other hand, I wanted to beat Rory with a “clue-by-four”. He was kind of a jerk. I know the point of the story was how hard it was for him to stop being a jerk, but maybe Zoe forgave him a little fast. Or something. I wanted to see him beg a little more.

Zoe and Rory were smoking hot together. Their chemistry was intense, and it was so clear from the beginning that they had serious unfinished business to resolve, not just sexytimes to play.

There was also a bit of a suspense element. While it provided the reason for Rory’s epiphany, I’m not sure it was otherwise explained enough. But I still enjoyed the heck out of Wife in Name Only, and I’ll be looking for more from Hayson Manning.

***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.

Interview with Author Robin Covington + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Author Interviews> blog tours> ebook giveaway> Giveaways

My special guest today is Robin Covington, celebrating the recent release of the delicious His Southern Temptation (read my review here). She’s also the author of the quite yummy A Night of Southern Comfort (reviewed at Book Lovers Inc.) Robin’s books do read just like steamy Southern nights!

Take it away, Robin…

Marlene: Robin can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

His Southern Temptation by Robin CovingtonRobin: Hi Marlene! I’m so incredibly average it isn’t even funny. I’m 44 years old, married for 19 years and the mother of two (10 and 8). I’m a lawyer for the Navy by day and I write romance at night and in my spare moments. (What are those?) And, I sing in a band. When I’m not writing I love to watch movies (comedies and action movies) and I’m a comic book geek.

Marlene: Describe a typical day of writing? Are you a planner or pantser?

Robin: My day usually begins very early. I’ve been getting up at 5 am to get in an hour of writing before the kids get up but I’m re-starting P90-X workouts and that will take over the sunrise slot. I take my laptop to work and I write at lunch and then I usually hit my office around 9 pm to write for a few hours before bed.

I’m a plantser. 🙂 I do have a very loose outline that I follow but I write free-flow and I take turns and changes as they come. I have to have some sort of outline because I’m too Type-A to just see what happens.

Marlene: What was your inspiration for The Boys are Back In Town series?

A Night of Southern Comfort by Robin CovingtonRobin: I grew up in the South in a town like Elliott, VA, and the Boys are all based on my cousins and the boys I grew up with. They loved to hunt, fish, drive fast cars, watch football and they were so tight. They had each others back. Many of the crazy things that happen or are mentioned about the Boys in my books are based on real-life events but I changed the names so that I can go home for Christmas!

Marlene: Did you have any particular “boys” in mind when you envisioned Jackson, Lucky, Teague and Beck? Was there a cast list in your head?

Robin: Oh yes – I looooove to dreamcast my people. I have a Pinterest account where I have a board for each book so readers can stop by and check it out.

For me, Jackson is Joe Manganiello, and Lucky is Alex O’Loughlin. Teague is Jensen Ackles and Beck is Jason Behre. They grow them hot and lickable in Elliott.

Marlene: Tell us a little bit about the rest of the series? And what comes next on your schedule?

Robin: Book Three, Slow Southern Burn, is about Teague and his unexpected romance. The woman and the situation they find themselves in is completely unexpected. Book Four is about Beck and he is confronted by a woman from his past that he didn’t treat so well when he was young and well… young. The books are currently slated for October and December release.

I have a June release from Brazen coming up called Playing the Part – the hero is a fun, sexy movie star and the heroine is a romance novelist.

After that I am trying something brand new – a paranormal. It will be a fun, flirty contemporary set in Washington, DC. 2014 will also see a book in a wedding trilogy with two other Entangled authors and a book about assassins in love. After that…

Marlene: What is your favorite scene from the book and why?

Robin: My favorite scene is one on the staircase in Elliott House between Lucky and Taylor. I don’t want to give too much away but that scene is full of sexy anger and angst. Love. It.

Readers keep telling me that the scene makes them cry and my reaction is – “YES!”

Marlene: Now can you tell us 3 reasons why people should read your books?

Secret Santa Baby by Robin CovingtonRobin:

  1. They are about real, fun, people you want to hang out with.
  2. They are full of humor and just enough emotion to keep you turning the pages.
  3. They are sooooo sexy. Warning: I am not responsible for any 9 month party favors that result from reading my books! 😉

Marlene: What is your favorite thing about the writing experience and why?

Robin: It is so freeing. I get go anywhere and be anybody and do anything. And then I get to share it with awesome readers… that is the good stuff.

Marlene: Tell me something about yourself that I wouldn’t know to ask.

Robin: Dave Matthews and one of his bandmates slept on my floor in college. We booked them for a mixer before they became so huge and they needed a place to crash. I’m sure that whenever he writes a song about a kickass, gorgeous chick – he means me.

Marlene: What was the first book that made you love books?

Robin: Anne of Green Gables. I must have re-read that entire series a million times. I still love it and I cannot wait to read them with my daughter. Anne and Gilbert were my very first romance. Sigh.

Marlene: Name a book that you’ve faked reading.

Robin: The Iliad. I took Latin in high school and I totally read the Cliff’s Notes instead of reading it in Latin. Snore. I just couldn’t do it.

The Perfect Play by Jaci BurtonMarlene: And a book you’ve bought for the cover?

Robin: The Perfect Play by Jaci Burton. I mean…seriously… that cover almost made me pregnant just looking at it. I know my ovaries exploded at the very least. But is also a great book!

Marlene: And one book you most want to read again for the first time?

Robin: Psycop by Jordan Castillo Price. That book just blew me away–the premise, the characters and the mystery just made my brain sizzle. I still inhale the whole series at least once a year.

Marlene: Morning person or night owl?

Robin: Night Owl. I get a second wind at 10 pm and I’m up until 2 am easily. I think I think I’m being naughty…

Thanks so much for having me!

Robin CovingtonAbout Robin CovingtonRobin Covington, who NYT Best Selling authors, Robyn Carr and Carly Phillips, said was their new “auto-buy author”, writes sizzling hot contemporary and paranormal romance.A Night of Southern Comfort, her best-selling debut novel earned 4.5 stars and was touted by RT Book Reviews as bringing a “fresh, modern feel to the genre while still sticking to the things that get our adrenaline pumping — sex and danger”. When she’s not exploring the theme of fooling around and falling in love, she’s collecting tasty man candy, indulging in a little comic book geek love, and stalking Joe Mangianello.Robin is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Washington Romance Writers, a faculty member at Romance University, a member of the Waterworld Mermaids, and a contributor to the Happy Ever After blog at USA Today.

Robin lives in Maryland with her hilarious husband, brilliant children, and ginormous puppy.

You can find Robin on her website, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Robin is kindly giving away one ebook copy of His Southern Temptation to one lucky commenter. To enter, please use the Rafflecopter:

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His Southern Temptation by Robin Covington Blog Tour Button

Guest Post by Author Gina L. Maxwell on the Yin-Yang Relationship + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> Giveaways> Guest Posts

Today I’d like to welcome Gina L. Maxwell, the author of the recently published Hawaiian island escape romance Rules of Entanglement (read my review of it here) and the totally awesome Seducing Cinderella (reviewed at Book Lovers Inc.)

 Rules of Engagement blog tour button

The Yin-Yang Relationship
by Gina L. Maxwell

One of the best compliments I’ve received when it comes to Rules of Entanglement is not only that readers love how different my hero Jax is from my heroine Vanessa, but how well they work as a couple.  They are, for all intents and purposes, complete opposites. He doesn’t own a watch and she believes in being on time—always! To give away all of their differences would be to spoil the book for you, but penning their story really drove home the fact that the Yin-Yang relationship is one of my absolute favorite to write. Being able to develop characters that are so different and yet so perfect for each other is not only a challenge, but it’s also one wickedly wild ride. Often times, the Yin-Yang relationship seems to be the most interesting. Yes, compatibility with someone is amazing, but when it comes to “opposites” couples, there’s just a little something extra that keeps them going. It translates well on paper, but sometimes, there are moments of doubt when you think to yourself, “these people would never really be together.” In those instances, you only need to look to real life to verify your work.

Take this couple I know. Let’s call him Nick and we’ll call her Amanda. Nick likes to hunt and fish and would rather be in a tree stand than doing anything else in the world. Amanda listens to classical music, loves British comedies and does Yoga. Apart, it would never dawn on me to envision these two as a couple, but when they are together, it’s like they were meant to be. The same goes for Jax and Vanessa. I couldn’t have written any other hero for her and I for damned sure couldn’t have put him with any other woman. They fit together. For all of his surfer swagger and her DA discipline, one thing is for sure; in their case, opposites not only attract. They smolder!

Gina L. MaxwellAbout Gina L. MaxwellGrowing up in small town Fort Atkinson, WI, Gina L. Maxwell, formerly Bisbee, could often be found onstage in the latest theatrical production, performing with her high school show choir, or holding office in her local FFA chapter. She dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps in the entertainment business, of enabling her audience to forget about life for a few hours as they enjoyed the stories she told through her love of singing, dancing, and acting. It wasn’t until her sophomore year in college when she realized she had no acting talent to speak of and her dream needed some adjusting. Another ten years would pass before she discovered a different means to accomplishing the same dream.Within those ten years Gina married her high school sweetheart, had two beautiful children, and moved more times than she cared to count. In 2009 she started writing as a hobby while her kids were in school, and it quickly became an obsession she couldn’t stop, and then a dream to publish stories of love and passion for romance addicts just like her.

Three years later, her dream came true when she signed with Entangled Publishing for a total of seven books in two of their imprints.
Her Fighting for Love series with MMA heroes debuted July 20th, 2012 for the digital Brazen imprint with the first book, Seducing Cinderella, and reached #9 on Barnes & Noble’s best seller list in just seven days.

When she’s not writing or wrangling plot bunnies, Gina keeps busy with her wonderful family and their ever-growing extra-curricular schedules. Thanks to their immense patience and support, she’s able to do The Thing She Was Meant To Do and live her dream of bringing a little romantic fantasy to the world, even if only in the pages of a good book.

To learn more about Gina, visit her website or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads.

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Gina L. Maxwell Swag PackGina is giving away a Seducing Cinderella and Rules of Entanglement swag pack!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Gina is also giving away a Kindle Fire HD or a $200 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky winner on the blog tour. To enter, use the Rafflecopter below. For even more chances to enter, visit the other stops on the blog tour!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Rules of Entanglement by Gina L. Maxwell

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Rules of Entanglement by Gina L. MaxwellFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: Fighting for Love, #2
Length: 397 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Date Released: March 31, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Seven days. And seven rules to break…

District Attorney Vanessa MacGregor firmly believes that structure and order are the stuff that dreams are made of. Happiness can be planned—and it starts with the seven rules she’s laid out for her future. But as she’s organizing her best friend’s wedding in Hawaii, all of Vanessa’s best-laid plans are about to meet their match in a wickedly hot MMA fighter…

Jackson “Jax” Maris is focused on surfing, training, and fighting. That is, until he opens up his big mouth and finds himself having to pretend he’s engaged to his little sister’s best friend, Vanessa. When they’re forced to share a romantic bungalow, however, their little charade suddenly takes a turn for the seriously sexy. And while Jax is definitely not part of Vanessa’s long-term plan, he has seven days—and seven naughty nights—to turn her seven-rule plan upside down.

My Review:

Leroy Jethro Gibbs from NCISFor this reader, it’s hard for a story to go wrong when one of the main characters starts by invoking Gibbs’ Rules. (For the uninitiated, that would be Leroy Jethro Gibbs, from NCIS.)

Vanessa McGregor created her seven rules to live by as a way to create structure and order in a life that originally had none. It’s her way of coping. Her rules give her control.

Jackson “Jax” Maris usually has too much control. His parents died in an accident when he was barely 18, leaving him to raise his baby sister alone. He held off on his dreams until Lucie was out of school, then he turned to MMA, mixed martial arts, and made his career as a fighter. Control, and again, control. It’s only when he takes a break on his island home in Hawaii that he lays back, a bit.

But his baby sister is marrying his best friend (see Seducing Cinderella, reviewed by Stella and me here) at the Hawaiian resort where Jax is a silent partner, so Jax has to host the festivities, and Lucie’s uber-controlling best friend Nessie. Even worse, Jax and Nessie have to stand in for Lucie and Reid in all the last-minute pre-wedding decision making while Lucie recovers from food poisoning.

It should be simple. He and Nessie should be able to work together well enough to take care of things for their friends. Except that he’s used to being in control, and so is she. And the first thing he does is break one of her “rules”. He’s late picking her up. And then, he expects to smooth it over with charm and steam-roller her into accepting his help, breaking two more rules in about two more minutes.

Nessie is so not having that. She acts more like a dragon than the sea-monster her nickname implies, and starts to breath fire. Jax, used to women falling all over themselves at his charm, is intrigued, and challenged. So he breaks the biggest rule of all. He lies to keep her with him, saying they have to pose as the lovebirds to get into the resort.

The love-bird posing becomes all-too-real, all-too quickly. Both Jax and Nessie are turned on by the challenge that the other one represents. And, they discover that what they have been looking for all along is not someone who fits their previous notions, but someone who stands up to them.

They also have chemistry hotter than an island volcano.

But can they get past Jax’ whopping big lie?

Escape Rating B: I enjoyed Rules of Entanglement, but it didn’t quite live up to the level of fantastic escape set by Seducing Cinderella.

Seducing Cinderella by Gina L. MaxwellNessie has created all those “Rules” because she’s afraid to let herself be happy. She feels guilty at not saving her little sister from probably being abused by one of their many stepfathers. That sounds awful, and it most likely was, but, we don’t get to empathize enough to really feel Nessie’s pain. We don’t meet her sister in the book, she remains a distant and mysterious figure.

Jax spends a lot of the story needing to own who he is. He found out just after his parents died that he was adopted, but never told his sister. He’s a silent partner in the resort, but no one knows. He lied to Nessie to keep her close, but doesn’t tell her the truth until it’s almost too late to save their relationship. At his sister’s wedding, he figures out a way to use his own version of “the Rules” to straighten everything out. It was very sweet, but he certainly took a roundabout way to finally get there!

***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: His Southern Temptation by Robin Covington

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
His Southern Temptation by Robin CovingtonFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: contemporary romance
Series: The Boys Are Back in Town, #2
Length:
Publisher: Entangled: Indulgence
Date Released: April 1, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Some women are bad. Some women are a bad idea. The best ones are both…

As a Black Ops assassin, “Lucky” Landon has had more than his fair share of close calls. Now he’s turned in his sniper rifle for the simple life of his small hometown. So the last thing he ever expected was to end up at gunpoint. Or that the woman holding the gun would be his best friend’s little sister and Lucky’s on-again/off-again lover.

Taylor Elliott is Trouble, and she likes it that way. And seeing Lucky again? Well, he’s been her dirty little secret for the past few years and everyone knows that secrets in a small town are almost impossible to keep. But Taylor has bigger problems on her plate. Like the local mob boss who wants her dead.

And right now the only thing standing between Trouble and disaster is a hottie named Lucky…

My Review:

Lucky Landon and Taylor Elliott meet again at gunpoint. Not that they haven’t met before in various compromising positions–this is just the first time that firearms have been involved.

And the first time they’ve entertained the possibility of hooking up in their home town. A typical small Southern home town where everybody knows everybody’s business the second there’s a whisper in the air.

A place they’ve both steered well clear of from the moment they were each old enough to see it in their respective rear-view mirrors.

But neither of them is an eighteen-year-old kid anymore. Lucky has spent more than a decade doing “wetwork” for the U.S. Marines. The special ops he’s been on are part of the shadow war that he can’t reveal to anyone, the kind that leaves a stain on a man’s soul.

The rare times he’s hooked up with Taylor over the years have been his only slice of heaven, his bit of redemption. He’s given the U.S. Marines all the soul that he can stand to give, and he’s come home to heal what’s left. He wants a real relationship with Taylor, instead of being just her dirty secret.

Taylor has spent her time as far away from the South as she could get. Her family wanted her to do something with her education. Instead, Taylor became a massage therapist and aesthetician. She’s on her way to owning her own business. In Hawaii. She’s also the wildest and most adventurous woman Lucky has ever met. What she won’t do is have a real relationship, not with him, not with anyone. She doesn’t want to let her emotions get involved.

The one and only time before she let herself fall for a man, she found out he was screwing the wedding planner. On the day of the wedding. She ran out of the ceremony and never looked back.

Her mother thought she should have forgiven the bastard. Which probably says all there is to say about Taylor’s relationship with her mother. And Taylor’s parents’ broken marriage.

Taylor left that ceremony by stealing Lucky’s car. He never pressed charges, because he loved her then. He loves her now, but the trick is getting her to deal with that. All while chasing a mobster who seems to have Taylor in his sights.

Just how Lucky is lucky, after all?

Escape Rating B: This sequel to A Night of Southern Comfort (reviewed at Book Lovers Inc) has all the chemistry and heat of the first story and all the fun with a slightly more plausible plot.

A Night of Southern Comfort by Robin CovingtonHis Southern Temptation also has the slightly goofball suspense element that characterized the story of Comfort, but the characters in Temptation are more believable, which made the story work better for me.

Lucky’s just plain done with the military. He’s served more than honorably, and has earned his peace. Working with his friend Beck to solve a missing persons case looks like a way of helping a friend using some of his skills. Then Taylor gets involved and everything goes pear-shaped.

Both Lucky and Taylor have problematic relationships with their parents that contributed to both of them leaving home, and in Taylor’s case, definitely factor into why she is so gun-shy about relationships. Her mother didn’t just give up everything to support her father’s career, she constantly needles Taylor to make sure Taylor doesn’t do the same thing. And intentionally or not, tells Taylor what a disappointment she is. Taylor feels compelled to succeed alone, to prove her mother wrong.

But Lucky is an addiction that Taylor can’t seem to give up. It just takes her a long time to stop listening to her mother and figure out why.

***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: Werewolves Be Damned by Stacey Kennedy

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Werewolves be Damned by Stacey KennedyFormat read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Urban fantasy
Series: Magic & Mayhem, #1
Length: 267 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Date Released: April 15, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Nexi Jones—part witch, part guardian, and wannabe kick-ass warrior—can’t throw a punch or conjure the simplest magic. But that doesn’t stop her from hunting the werewolves who slaughtered her human family. She’ll have her revenge, but only if Kyden, the elite guardian, would get the hell out of her way.

Kyden can’t decide if Nexi wants to get herself killed or if she just has no clue what she’s doing. But her father made it clear: keep Nexi safe…or else. Of course, the more Nexi runs toward revenge, the more she needs Kyden’s aid, and as she grows into her power and confidence, so does his desire to protect her. The only problem? She’d rather he dropped dead.

But when a vampire paints a bull’s-eye on Nexi’s back, she’s hard-pressed to deny Kyden and the help he’s offering. Even if it means getting her revenge will be a little bit harder. At least it will still be as sweet.

My Review:

The series title, Magic & Mayhem, might have made a better title for this story than Werewolves Be Damned. At least it would have made a little more sense. And this first story in Stacey Kennedy’s new urban fantasy series needed some. Or at least a bit more explanation in its worldbuilding.

Nexi Jones’ story starts with a bang. We find this 21st century woman in the middle of a fight between werewolves and medieval knights, both making sure she stays alive as the werewolves kill the people she believes are her parents. She’s confused and so are the readers. Or at least this reader. Especially when the prologue ends with a classic reveal…the victims were not her birth parents. One of those medieval knights was her father. Of course the poor woman passes out. Wouldn’t you?

From there, we’ve got three stories running more or less in parallel, and the race is uneven. The good thing is that any one of the three would be a kick-ass story. The unfortunate thing is that there may be one too many threads, and they don’t quite braid together evenly.

Nexi Jones isn’t who she believed she was, and the world isn’t what she thought it was, either. So thread number one is her search for identity. Guarding the human world that she knew are, well, Guardians, those medieval knights she saw before she passed out. And yes, Nexi, one of them really is your father. Lucky for her, they are the good guys, but one of them has a whole lot of ‘splainin’ to do.

Her mother was a witch, the other half of those ‘good guys’. And mom is really dead, though exactly how that happened and why that tragedy led dad to hide Nexi in the human world without her powers isn’t fully explained. But now that she’s been found, she has to put on her big girl supernatural pants and learn how to use those powers, fast. Again, Nexi’s journey-story.

There is something powerful about Nexi being the only Guardian/Witch half-breed, but not enough detail on the how and why.

Nexi wants revenge on the werewolves who murdered her adoptive parents, so she needs training in how to use her powers. The Guardian who signs up to train her, let’s just say that he does it because he wants to stick around Nexi and figure out whether being near her will get her out of his system, or whether he can turn their love/hate relationship more to the love side of that equation for both of them.

Last, and very definitely not least, those werewolves did not attack Nexi’s family at random. It was all part of a long-term plan on the part of someone who has had the Guardian Council in his sights for a long time. Nexi’s new-found powers are a key part of his nefarious schemes.

Escape Rating B-: I wish this one had decided to stick with Nexi’s journey, and saved the love story for a later book. The world that Stacey Kennedy is creating has the potential for a lot of depth, with tons of interesting background and cool stories, but I felt shortchanged on the fantasy side by having things go almost straight to the love story. Nexi (and this reader) needed to know more about who she was, where she came from and how the Guardians’ world meshed with the Earth she knew before she gave herself to someone. My 2 cents.

We also don’t know enough about Kyden (Lexi’s other half) to really understand who he is and why Nexi falls in love with him. There are depths there, but we don’t get the chance to learn them. The love story happens too fast and too soon.

Reading Werewolves Be Damned, I felt like I had been dropped into the middle of a much bigger story than the one that I got. Especially when I finished and discovered that even the title is a red herring.

***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: Private Practice by Samanthe Beck

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 3 1/2 Stars> book reviews> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Rocket Lover

Private Practice by Samanthe BeckFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Release Date: Feb. 28, 2013
Number of pages: 263 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website | Publisher’s Website | Amazon | B&N | Kobo

He’ll teach her how to bring a man to his knees…

Dr. Ellie Swan has a plan: open her practice in tiny Bluelick, Kentucky, so she can keep an eye on her diabetic father, and make hometown golden-boy Roger Reynolds fall in love with her. But Ellie has a problem. Roger seeks a skilled, sexually adventurous partner, and bookish Ellie doesn’t qualify.

Tyler Longfoot only cares about three things: shaking his bad boy image, qualifying for the loan his company needs to rehab a piece of Bluelick’s history, and convincing Ellie to keep quiet about the “incident” that lands him on her doorstep at two a.m. with a bullet in his behind.

The adorable Dr. Swan drives a mean bargain, though. If sex-on-a-stick Tyler will teach Ellie how to bring a man to his knees, she’ll forget about the bullet. Armed with The Wild Woman’s Guide to Sex and Tyler’s lessons, Ellie is confident she can become what Roger needs…if she doesn’t fall for Tyler first.

My Thoughts:

Dr. Ellie Swan comes home to her small town of Bluelick, Kentucky to open a private practice, finally reconcile with her neglectful, diabetic and alcoholic father and marry the man of her high-school dreams who just so happens to also be a lawyer.

This should be saccharine-sweet, and possibly also a contemporary Cinderella story–or a grown-up version of one of those “After School Specials” that used to run on TV. Except that Ellie Swan’s rose-colored glasses’ version of why she came home to Bluelick isn’t quite working out the way she planned.

Her high-school dreamboat has been freed from his ten-year engagement, supposedly because he’s interested in much kinkier sexcapades than his high-school sweetheart. That should have been a big clue for the romantically clueless Ellie but book-smart Ellie.

Instead, she tries to turn herself into a sexual adventuress by blackmailing the town bad boy into providing her with “no strings attached” sex lessons after he shows up at her house in the middle of the night with a buckshot wound in his very-nicely sculpted butt.

The ladies of Bluelick don’t call Tyler Longfoot “Tyler Footlong” without good reason. But that’s not all he’s good for. Ellie just turns out to be the first woman Tyler’s ever been with who makes him resent that it’s all that women think he ever might be good for.

Tyler should be thinking that a few weeks of “just great sex” with a beautiful woman is a terrific idea. Instead, the more time he spends with Ellie, the more he realizes that he finally wants more than just a good time.

Verdict:

seducing cinderelly by gina l maxwellMy first thought was that I’d read this story before. The whole “sex lessons story” plot is very similar to Gina L. Maxwell’s recent Seducing Cinderella (see the BLI dual review for deets), except that in Maxwell’s story, it’s not the heroine who is the doctor, it’s the guy she thinks she wants. But still, there are a LOT of parallels.

I liked both Ellie and Tyler. He’s a genuinely nice guy, which is kind of a surprise considering the reputation he has as the town’s bad boy. He’s even a responsible business owner.

Even the side-characters in this one have some interesting moments, especially Melinda, the ex-fiancee of Ellie’s dream guy. In a fun twist, Melinda becomes Ellie’s office manager and best friend.

What makes this story work is the changing dynamic between Ellie and Tyler. He figures out that he wants more long before she does, but he continues with her bargain that he is giving her “sex lessons” because he knows that’s the only way she’ll let him stay close.

The added element of Ellie’s messed-up relationship with her father, his health crisis at the end and their overdue reconciliation was just too much to throw into a sex-into-lovers romance that didn’t need any more plot threads.

3-one-half-stars

I give  Private Practice by Samanthe Beck 3 1/2 stars!

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