Tag: Samhain Publishing

Review: Back on Track by Donna Cummings

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | book reviews> C Reviews
Back on Track by Donna CummingsFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: contemporary romance
Series: Strangers on a Train
Length: 55 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date Released: April 2, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

What’s a little lie between strangers?

A Strangers on a Train Story

Allie Whittaker is in a dating slump, too busy getting her fledgling marketing company off the ground to have a personal life. All that could change, though, if she can get baseball superstar Matt Kearns on the cover of a charity calendar. Except Matt won’t even talk to her.

Matt is in a slump, worried his career might be over. A Napa Valley wine tour isn’t enough to take his mind off his troubles–until sexy, funny Allie plops into the adjacent seat and tells him three things about herself. One of them, she says, is a lie.

Matt can’t resist playing along, and soon the afternoon getaway becomes an interlude with lies, truths, and desire flowing as fast as the wine. Then Allie lets slip one truth too many…and they both realize they’re playing for keeps.

Warning: A handsome hunk, a determined lady and a few glasses of wine. Throw in a little on-the-run action, and what more do you need to while away an afternoon?

My Review:

What do a dating slump and a pitching slump have in common? Allie Whitaker hasn’t had a date in too long to think about, and Matt Kearns is coming off an injury and looking at the end of his professional baseball career. They shouldn’t have much to talk about.

The one thing that there is a LOT of on a Napa Valley wine tour, especially a train tour where none of the guests have to drive is, well, Napa Valley wine! Allie’s friends dare her to chat up a stranger on the train.

She’s so nervous that instead of using the line about telling him “three things about herself, and one of them is a lie”, she says she’s telling him three lies. She lies by omission, she pretends not to recognize him.

They spend a fantastic couple of hours, getting to know their fake selves, exploring the possibilities of being just two people who might be fooling around, or maybe two people who might have a future. It’s the most fun either of them have had in much, much too long.

Until a fan reveals the unavoidable truth, and Allie has to confess that she’s known all along. Then Matt believes that she’s just like everyone else in his life–out for what she can get from him. In Allie’s case, a photo shoot for her charity calendar.

How much misery will it take for Matt to realize that he was wrong?

Escape Rating C+: This short story was cute, frothy and fun. Matt and Allie have terrific chemistry together from the very beginning, and I enjoyed their banter. A lot. Since they both knew from the beginning that they were playing a game, the story would have been better if they had skipped the misunderstandammit near the end.

***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.

Dual Review: Take What You Want by Jeanette Grey

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | 5 Stars> book reviews> Dual Review> Originally published at Book Lovers, Inc.> The Latin Lover> The Rocket Lover

Format read: ebook copy provided by the author for review
Release Date: 12 March 2013
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Number of pages: 113 pages
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author’s Website, Amazon, Samhain, B&N, Read an excerpt

Blurb:

She needs an escape…and he’s exactly what she had in mind.

College senior Ellen Price spends every spare minute studying to get into medical school. Until spring break yawns before her, as empty as her wallet.

With no money to hit the beach, she fills her empty to-do list with a plan: for just one week, she will become the kind of take-no-prisoners woman she secretly wishes to be, starting with the hot guy at the bar. It’s a no-risk situation: at the end of break, he’ll head back to his campus, and she’ll go back to hers. No muss, no fuss.

At first, Josh Markley isn’t sure what to think when the quiet, intense beauty from his pre-med classes approaches him for a night of casual sex. Even more mystifying, she doesn’t seem to return his recognition. But if she wants to play “strangers in a bar”, he’s game.

Their passionate night is a welcome respite from life’s stress, but afterward, Josh realizes he wants more—from himself, from life, from Ellen. Except she still thinks he’s a one-off she’ll never see again. Confessing the truth now—before she figures it out on her own—could shatter the fragile beginnings of just what the doctor ordered. A forever love.

Warning: Contains mistaken identities, a sometimes-glasses-wearing hottie, deep questions about figuring out what you want from life, and a red-hot college romance.

Our Thoughts:

Stella: Take What You Want was my first story by Jeanette Grey but definitely not the last! Her storytelling sucked me in and I gobbled it up in no time, closing my ereader with a happy and contented sigh. 🙂

Marlene: Take What You Want is a sex-into-love story. This is a trope that may be more difficult to pull off in real life than it is in fiction. YMMV. Or it’s difficult to pull it off in fiction and make the switch seem reasonable. The characters in this story manage to do that.

But what made this story work for me was the way that Ellen decided not to sit around and mope when her friends took their expensive Spring Break to the Bahamas, but instead that she tried to take a “vacation from herself”. Her inner dialog showed how difficult it was for her to step outside her comfort zone, but she still did it. She tried to become a new person for just a little while.

Then her emotions got engaged, and she wanted something real. And for that, she had to be the real Ellen and not new Ellen.

Stella: I concur, Ellen despite having such an ordinary name was anything but boring. I loved how such a serious and relatable young woman created this alter ego to live out her fantasies and experience things she only read/dreamed of. I found that exactly because she was such a girl next door she was a heroine the reader could identify with and feel as if her story could have happened to anyone. It was also moving to see that besides being a serious, dedicated and ambitious pre-med student there was an insecure, vulnerable side to Ellen.

Marlene: Even though Ellen was the one who was supposedly pretending to be someone else, Josh was also pretending quite a bit too, and not just because he was going along with Ellen. The first night, he was perfectly willing to go along with her just to get laid, and why not? She was the one who picked him up, after all.

But he knew who she was all along, and pretended that he didn’t. Why she didn’t recognize him says something about how much she kept her nose to the grindstone, or how big those lecture classes were. Or both.

The real issue for Josh was that he was pretending in most of the rest of his life. His father had big plans for him, plans that Josh knew he wasn’t going to fulfill. Josh had his own dreams, and hadn’t worked up the courage to disappoint his father.

Stella: Well actually, if I remember correctly, Josh was convinced that Ellen knew/recognized him, but pretended not to know him for some roleplay. But yes, both Ellen and Josh were pretending to be someone else and both had some major things on their minds regarding their future. But it was interesting to see how they were exact opposites to each other in the sense that Josh was more confident and sure in his own feelings for Ellen and their relationship, he had to take decisions regarding his studies and future career; while Ellen was sure about her career and completely clueless and vulnerable about her private life and her relationship with Josh.

I loved Josh. *sighs* He was lovely and wonderful. A guy, who despite being described as sexy and handsome, what you remember about him is how tender and warm-hearted and funny he is. I loved how he was the “girl” in the relationship, that is how he was the one who wanted much more than a meaningless fling right from the start.

And wanting more wasn’t just about wanting her body. He wanted the seductress in the high heels and short skirts, all right, the one that oozed sex and confidence. But he wanted the girl in the plain sweaters with the loose waves that fell over her face, too. The one that hid in the last row of the lecture hall but who always knew the answers. The one that dissected a pig all by herself, looking kissable even in a rubber apron and goggles and gloves. He wanted her to want more than a fuck from him. He wanted her to remember him. To know him.

And I absolutely have to comment about the sexual attraction, chemistry between Ellen and Josh: it was off the charts! Their love scenes were incredibly hot, sexy and tender, emotional at the same time. You’ll need a fan with this story! 😉

Marlene: So, in addition to the smoking hot love story, a love story where the guy is trying not to let the girl know he’s in love with her until she’s ready for it to be love, we also have a story of two people on the verge of adulthood who need to figure out who they really are, and not just who they are pretending to be.

Verdict:

Marlene: I loved this one. The story just plain worked for me. Ellen deciding to try being someone else, screwing up her courage, and thinking that no one would know if she completely embarrassed herself. Josh finally being noticed by the girl of his dreams, waking up in the morning and knowing that one night wasn’t enough. Then trying to figure out how to get her to that same realization, because she’s so not there. At the same time, they both have all those end-of-college decisions weighing on both of them.

And their chemistry practically set my iPad on fire from the very first page.

I give Take What You Want by Jeanette Grey 5 fiery stars!

Stella: I completely agree with Marlene, I LOVED Take What You Want and Jeanette Grey became a must read author for me. Not only was Take What You Want a thought-provoking and emotional journey of self- and love discovery for the characters, it was a sensual, sexy and addictive story I couldn’t put down until the very end. At the beginning I was reluctant to read Take What You Want fearing that due to the characters being in college it would be hard to relate to their problems, but take it from me, that concern was for naught. Thanks to Jeanette Grey’s gripping writing I felt invested in Ellen and Josh’s life and relationship and those two are characters as well as their story is one I will long remember.

And oh boy was their story sizzling! *fans herself* 😉

So yes, I also give Take What You Want by Jeanette Grey 5 scorching stars and urge you all to pick it up! 😀

***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: Thank You For Riding by Meg Maguire

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Thank You for Riding by Meg MacguireFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: contemporary romance
Series: Strangers on a Train
Length: 64 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date Released: April 2, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

The last train of the night might just be the start of something good.

A Strangers on a Train Story

Stung ego or not, Caitlin’s relieved her fizzling relationship is over, even if she’s just been unceremoniously dumped between the copier and a dead ficus tree. At least she has an excuse to ditch the lousy office Christmas party in time to catch the last subway home…to her cat, and early-onset spinsterhood.

Instead of a lonely, chilly ride, she gets an unexpected holiday treat in the form of a nearly familiar face—a handsome stranger she encountered last week at the blood drive.

At the end of the line, neither can seem to let their chance meeting end—until their extended flirtation finds them facing the prospect of spending a frigid winter night locked in an unheated subway station. And they wonder if keeping each other warm is merely a delightful form of rebound therapy…or a memorable first of many more dates to come.

Warning: Contains dorky, harmless flirtation that heats up into some spicy, third-base action.

My Review:

Caitlyn and Mark meet, not across a crowded room, but across a crowded Red Cross donation center. They’re both giving platelets. There’s some rather adorable eye contact, but otherwise, they don’t communicate. Caitlyn resists temptation because she believes she’s still in a relationship.

Her supposed boyfriend dumps her at the office holiday party shortly thereafter. So much for the relationship. Of course she meets Mark again on the train going home. Sometimes there is a karmic reward for good behavior.

But in their mutual desire to get to know each other, Caitlyn and Mark linger much too long in the very-late night MBTA station, and it closes around them, locking them in. In late December. In Boston. Brrrr!

Of course they have to snuggle together to keep warm. All night. And if all that snuggling, not to mention the very mutual attraction thing they have going on, leads to more active ways to keep warm, well, neither of them is complaining.

As long as this turns out to be more than just a one-night phenomenon.

Escape Rating B: This should be squicky. Really. And it’s so not. Instead it ends up being a completely hot fantasy ride. I think because (thank goodness) they don’t do the nasty on what has to be the totally disgusting floor of the MBTA station. That’s what keeps it in the realms of an adorable fantasy making out session with more to come later and away from “hells no”.

Caitlyn and Mark are both very likeable. Their banter is sexy and sweet. I did find some of Caitlyn’s internal dialog a bit over-the-top, but I still liked her, and I was rooting for her to find her HEA with Mark. He seemed like a way, way better man than what’s-his-name who dumped her by the dead ficus.

***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.

Guest Review: Slam by J.L. Merrow

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews> Guest Review
Slam by J.L. MerrowFormats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 275 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date Released: April 9, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Limericks, lies, and puppy-dog eyes…

Jude Biggerstaff is all the way out and loving it—mostly. The Anglo-Japanese university graduate is a carnivore working in a vegan café, an amateur poet with only one man in his life. His dog, Bubbles.

Then there’s “Karate Crumpet”, a man who regularly runs past the café with a martial arts class. Jude can only yearn from afar, until the object of his affection rescues him from muggers. And he learns that not only does this calm, competent hunk of muscle have a name—David—but that he’s gay.

Jude should have known the universe wouldn’t simply let love fall into place. First, David has only one foot out of the closet. Then there’s Jude’s mother, who lies about her age to the point Jude could be mistaken for jailbait.

With a maze of stories to keep straight, a potential stepfather in the picture, ex-boyfriends who keep spoiling his dates with David, and a friend with a dangerous secret, Jude is beginning to wonder if his and David’s lives will ever start to rhyme.

Warnings: Contains a tangled web of little white lies, a smorgasbord of cheesy limericks, a violin called Vanessa, some boots that mean business, and the most adorable little dog ever. Poetry, it’s not…

Guest Review by Cryselle

After that blurb, the question isn’t what happens, it’s how. And it’s fun.

Stream of consciousness barely contained, that’s Jude. He’s flamboyant, funny, and when he bleeds internally, he bandages it with another joke. He’s head over heels for David, but what doesn’t go strange in one way goes strange in another. JL Merrow has “frequently been accused of humor” and this story earns her the shaky finger again, in the best way.

Opposites—Jude looks like Gok Wan, only prettier and gayer, and David’s so butch Jude’s not sure he’s gay—the man hasn’t seen a musical in years, and likes watching football. David’s got reason—he works construction in the management end of the business, but he’s not out at work and doesn’t plan to be any time soon. We don’t have any scenes from his POV, but that’s okay, Jude can rattle along for three.

Emitting limericks at irregular intervals to express his anxiety or frustration, Jude keeps us smiling, even when we’d like to whap him for withholding pertinent information from David. Granted, it seems rational at the time, but it does create a sequence of Big Misunderstandings. I can’t summarize better than this brief sequence, where Jude and David have gone on their first real date. Rescuing Jude from some gay-bashers isn’t exactly social life after all.

He shrugged. “I’ve never really been into gay bars. I’d rather go to a normal pub. Uh, does that come off as a bit homophobic?”

I swallowed my last mouthful of saltimbocca. “Yeah, but I’ll let you off because (a) you’re gorgeous and (b) I think my mouth just had an orgasm.” Dreamily, I put down my fork. “Although on second thoughts, that’s not a great mental picture when you’ve just eaten. We have got to come here again.”

“If you like. I’m still hoping to persuade you to try the raw fish at TTY.”

Oops. That again. I bit my lip. Should I come clean and tell him it was all to do with Stinky Cheese Guy? He’d understand, and then we could have a laugh about it…

I grimaced. Yeah, right. Because it’s always so attractive, finding the guy you’re out with is still hung up on his Evil Ex.

David laughed. “Why do I get the impression I just missed a whole conversation taking place in your head?”

That last sentence—really important.

The supporting characters shore everything up nicely: best gal pal Keisha keeps Jude grounded and provides a sharp foil for his wit, and Mom is a hoot. Mom has a younger boyfriend and a couple of secrets, which slop onto Jude and incidentally demonstrate that he comes by his talent for complications honestly.

In fact, everyone seems to have some way to affect everyone else, and it’s to the author’s credit that this crazy quilt of plot points winds up so neatly. Secrets and confessions fall out of the closet like improperly stored skeletons, and it all winds up as a big AW! in several directions, in spite of the epidemic of foot-in-mouth disease.

The title applies to Jude’s participation in slam poetry fests, where poets recite their work as performance art and are graded by how they affect their audiences. It’s not a huge plot aspect unless it’s needed—this story is more character driven than plot driven, aside from the eventual boy-gets-boy. The limericks are spice rather than meal. I’m very partial to external plot, of which this is rather short: the external elements are subservient to the relationship, and the title theme is nearly invisible for most of the book.

All in all, this is a sweet feel-good-eventually of a story. The Brit flavor is undiluted, not impenetrable to American readers, and is a wonderful antidote to stories where the English charm has been genericized away. If you’re in the mood for flamboyant, funny, British characters and situations, this is the story for you.

Escape rating: B+

Cryselle can regularly be found blogging and reviewing at Cryselle’s Bookshelf.

Review: Big Boy by Ruthie Knox

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Big Boy by Ruthie KnoxFormats available: ebook
Genre: contemporary romance
Series: Strangers on a Train
Length: 57 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date Released: April 2, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo

Meet me at the train museum after dark. Dress for 1957.

When Mandy joins an online dating service, she keeps her expectations low. All she wants is a distraction from the drudgery of single parenthood and full-time work. But the invitation she receives from a handsome man who won’t share his real name promises an adventure–and a chance to pretend she’s someone else for a few hours.
She doesn’t want romance to complicate her life, but Mandy’s monthly role-playing dates with her stranger on a train–each to a different time period–become the erotic escape she desperately needs. And a soul connection she never expected.
Yet when she tries to draw her lover out of the shadows, Mandy has a fight on her hands…to convince him there’s a place for their fantasy love in the light of day.

Warning: Contains sexy role-playing, theatrical application of coal dust, and a hero who can rock a pair of brown polyester pants.

My Review:

For a relatively short story, Big Boy lives up to its name. It packs in a surprisingly large amount of storytelling in very few pages.

Mandy is an accidental single parent and the accident wasn’t even hers. Her sister and brother-in-law were killed, leaving Mandy as the single parent of their baby son just as Mandy took her first job as a history professor in Green Bay Wisconsin.

Being the lowest person on the academic food chain in a small college is the dictionary definition of overworked and underpaid, along with insecure into the bargain. Added to that Mandy has the need to cobble together child-care and the added expense of a baby. But she loves her son and feels blessed. Also exhausted.

She signs up for the online dating service with incredibly low expectations. But instead of normal, or even the usual run of whatever, she finds a man who has multiple, costumed profiles on the service.

Mandy picks the guy who will give her a vacation from reality. One night a month. Because that’s all the time that she can manage to slice out of her life with her son, and sometimes she feels guilty about that.

It takes a lot of those “one night a month” dates before she starts to want something more, and to wonder why her stranger on the train is willing to settle for so little. Can something that starts out as a vacation from reality be a bridge to a better real life?

Escape Rating A: We see this story from Mandy’s perspective, her exhaustion, her slight desperation, her need to carve out just a tiny slice of life for herself, but at the same time, her knowledge that she loves her son and that this unplanned life is terribly fulfilling, no matter how it came about. It’s just also isolating.

Her interludes with Tyler start out as escapes. At first there’s a little fear along with the excitement; who is this guy really and why does he have access to the train museum at night? Is this dangerous? Why the costumes? But the role-playing adds to the escapism, and she needs that. Who Tyler really is, or isn’t, doesn’t even matter at first.

But as the months roll by, she starts to want something real. Her grief at the loss of her sister lessens, and she gets used to her routine. This is her life now. Tyler is fun, but what about the rest of her life? Who is he and why can’t they have a relationship? Then they meet in the real world and she starts to wonder why he needs the escape. Then she finds out.

The length of the story is just right. Normally I think that stories this short are either too surface or end too abruptly. This one is just right. All the way around.

***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: Border Lair by Bianca D’Arc

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
[Border Lair by Bianca D'Arc]Format read: ebook purchased from Amazon
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Fantasy romance
Series: Dragon Knights, #2
Length: 127 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date Released: September 25, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

As a young widow, Adora raised her daughter by herself, never dreaming that love could cross her path again. But now that her girl is married to a pair of dragon knights, Adora’s eyes are opened to all the possibilities the Border Lair has to offer…including two handsome men who catch her eye.

Lord Darian Vordekrais is about to turn traitor, giving up his title, his lands, and his home in order to warn the dragons and knights of his treacherous king’s evil plan. But after he meets the beautiful widow, his sacrifice seems worth the cost. Meanwhile, Darian’s old friend Sir Jared, who lost his first wife and child to treachery, is shaken by his own intense attraction to Adora. But Jared’s broken heart is frozen in solid ice. Or is it?

As war looms on the horizon, the knights and dragons of the Border Lair rise to the occasion. New allies rally to their side, and romance blossoms and grows even as evil invades the land. The knights and dragons must stand fast against the onslaught, the beautiful woman of royal blood bringing them hope, healing and love.

Warning: This book contains a couple of meddling, matchmaking dragons who won’t stop until two sexy knights realize the lady of their dreams can love them both separately and together. Ménage a trois and a bit of exhibitionism compete with the dragons for smoking hotness.

My Review:

Dragon Healer by Bianca D'ArcAfter The Dragon Healer (review here), I wanted to read at least one more book in this series, because I kept getting teased by the prospect of a romance between Adora and General Jaden, but not actually having it come to pass.

It’s always nice when you get your bookish wishes fulfilled.

In the case of this series, it was also good to get a helping of plot along with the hot ménage sex. This time out, we finally start to see some of the history and especially the politics of the kingdom of Draconia, and why they are at war with the Skithdron.

Since this series is fantasy, it helps to know why things are the way they are, at least for this reader!

Adora, and her daughter Belora, can hear dragons. They’ve been told before that this is a very rare and treasured talent, but when Prince Nico of the Royal House turns up in the Border Lair, they find out the full picture.

Adora is a lost princess. Nico calls one of the other dragons who is able to identify exactly which princess and how she and Nico are related. (The way the dragon does this is actually kind of cool) Adora is overwhelmed, especially when she learns where her talents come from.

Nico transforms into a black dragon before her eyes. All the royal house are part dragon. The males can shapeshift into dragon form. The females have the ability to hear dragons, and to heal both dragons and humans.

Meanwhile in the Skithdron Empire, one of the last honorable men of that country discovers that his emperor is trafficking in forbidden magicks–magicks that have transformed him partially into one of the skith-lizards. Also that the Emperor is stark-raving mad.

Darian leaves his home, his country, and everything he has known to warn the people of Draconia that Skithdron is breeding advanced skith that are tearing through the countryside like a herd of killer-beasts, heading straight for Draconia. He also has worse news to bring. He only hopes that he will be left alive long enough to tell someone what he knows.

Darian knows his mission is suicide. But he has never had a family or a home. And his country is no longer worth serving.

He barely makes it to the Border Lair alive, even under a flag of truce. But in becoming a traitor to all he once knew, Darian finds his true destiny.

Escape Rating B: This story hit more of its marks for me as a fantasy, compared to the previous stories. There was a LOT more worldbuilding.

The sex is still hot, by the way, but in this story there is way more plot, as opposed to the story being an excuse for the sex.

Finding out that the royal family can shape-shift into dragons is fascinating, although I do wonder why only the men? Will we ever find out why that is? But we do get much more of the history, and it helps make the story. I hope we find out about Adora’s stolen daughters, there was certainly foreshadowing in that direction.

The love story between Jaden, Adora and Darian was more developed as an actual love story than the insta-love in the earlier stories too. Jaden and Adora have been dancing around each other since the moment they met, so that pot has been boiling for some time. Neither of them exactly rushed into anything, and Jaden had a ton of healing to do first.

Having a mama dragon for a matchmaker may have helped things along a bit!

Darian’s addition to the mix was a bit fast, but it didn’t feel that way because Jaden had been so reluctant for too long. He really needed a push, and Darian was it.

Maiden Flight by Bianca D'ArcAfter reading Border Lair, I’m probably going to get another book in the series and see if it’s as plot-filled as this one, or more like the first two (Maiden Flight (see review)and The Dragon Healer). If it’s as good as this one, I may go all in.

***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: Take What You Want by Jeanette Grey

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
16281074Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook
Genre: contemporary romance
Length: 113 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Date Released: March 12, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

She needs an escape…and he’s exactly what she had in mind.

College senior Ellen Price spends every spare minute studying to get into medical school. Until spring break yawns before her, as empty as her wallet.

With no money to hit the beach, she fills her empty to-do list with a plan: for just one week, she will become the kind of take-no-prisoners woman she secretly wishes to be, starting with the hot guy at the bar. It’s a no-risk situation: at the end of break, he’ll head back to his campus, and she’ll go back to hers. No muss, no fuss.

At first, Josh Markley isn’t sure what to think when the quiet, intense beauty from his pre-med classes approaches him for a night of casual sex. Even more mystifying, she doesn’t seem to return his recognition. But if she wants to play “strangers in a bar”, he’s game.

Their passionate night is a welcome respite from life’s stress, but afterward, Josh realizes he wants more—from himself, from life, from Ellen. Except she still thinks he’s a one-off she’ll never see again. Confessing the truth now—before she figures it out on her own—could shatter the fragile beginnings of just what the doctor ordered. A forever love.

Warning: Contains mistaken identities, a sometimes-glasses-wearing hottie, deep questions about figuring out what you want from life, and a red-hot college romance.

My Review:

Can you change who you are? Can you pretend to be someone else?

Take What You Want by Jeanette Grey is sex-into-love story about the power of positive thinking, or maybe that’s the power of turning lemons into very wicked lemonade.

Ellen Price has always been a good girl. Not in the sense of being a goody-two-shoes, but in the sense of being responsible. She’s a pre-med student and she’s barely making ends meet between financial aid and waiting tables.

She’s envious and pretty bummed when all her much-better-heeled friends (literally as well as figuratively) run off for senior year Spring Break to the Bahamas. Ellen can’t afford the trip.

So instead of moping around her apartment, she hatches a very cool plan. She takes Spring Break from herself. For one week, instead of being shy, retiring, studious Ellen in her fade-into-the-background clothes, she’ll be glamorous, sexy, take-charge Ellen in a new wardrobe. Bought on sale, of course.

New Ellen won’t be a student, she’ll just be a waitress. New Ellen goes to a bar, empty of students, and picks up the hottest guy in the place.

She doesn’t recognize Josh Markley without his trademark glasses. But Josh recognizes her. He’s been fascinated with Ellen since the first time he saw her, freshman year.

He thinks she’s playing a game. and he doesn’t care. He’s just fine with the idea of casual sex with the hottest girl he’s ever seen.

Until the next morning, when he wakes up and realizes that he wants more than just sex. And he can’t figure out how to stop the game they’re playing. Or whether Ellen wants to stop playing and reach for something real.

Escape Rating A-: This story just works! I could see Ellen just deciding that she wasn’t going to take it any more, and try to be different from her usual self. Her self-talk as she experimented made her experience much more plausible. It was hard for her but she kept trying, even as she got in deeper and deeper with Josh.

It also made the story richer seeing things from Josh’s point of view. At first it was just sex, but then he figured out that he wanted more and started to date Ellen instead of just going back to her place. It was difficult for him to switch from casual sex to a real relationship. That’s not an easy transition in real life.

These two had fantastic chemistry from the very first page! I expected my iPad to start sending out smoke signals, which would be very bad. But Ellen and Josh were on fire for each other, and stayed that way throughout the book. They were lucky, and Ms. Grey’s handling of their story was so well done, that instead of burning out, they lit something that could last.

***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: Million Dollar Mistake by Meg Lacey

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews
Million Dollar MistakeFormat read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook
Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: Million Dollar Men, #1
Length: 180 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Date Released: October 23, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance

Taking care of business may cost him his heart.

In addition to overseeing the financial affairs of the wealthy Kristoff family, Nicholas Demetrious specializes in hauling its rambunctious members out of trouble. Especially his distant cousin, Raven Rutledge.

The tabloids love her bad-girl antics, sexy pout, and body made for sin. Nicholas would love to spank the bejesus out of her, but this time the situation is too serious to entertain such a fantasy. A lucrative business deal with the Exeters is in jeopardy, and Jackson Exeter Sr.’s ultimatum is clear: Remove this man-eater from my country house, or the deal is off.

Raven is in way over her head. She accepted the invitation to the Exeters’ Adirondack house party as a refreshing change from her jet-setting lifestyle—until she learns the guest list includes his entire family. His ex-girlfriend. And the junior Exeter’s intention to propose.

If ever she needed suave, sophisticated Nicholas’s persuasive powers, it’s now. Then he’s there with a plan to get her out of this tangle: sweep her off her feet. But their pretend passion turns all too real. And what started out as a weekend of fun threatens to shatter into betrayal and heartbreak.

Warning: Contains a tabloid sweetheart who loves to be bad, a sexy hero with little patience for mind games, and a game of strip pool that will make you rethink your weekend plans.

My Review:

Million Dollar Mistake is two love stories in one, and neither of them ends up being a mistake. But that’s not the way this story begins.

It begins with a boy-man bringing home tabloid trash because he hasn’t gotten over his need to rebel against whatever “Big Daddy” wants him to do.

That could have been the plot, but it gets way more complicated than that. A million dollars more complicated.

Tabloid-trash Raven Rutledge thought she was being invited for a skiing weekend with Jackson Exeter–not home to meet his family and their political ambitions for “Junior”.

Raven was just out for a little fun–she doesn’t want to get involved. And she’s not planning to be part of Jackson’s fight with his father. She has enough problems with her own “dear old dad”.

So when her old nemesis Nicolas Demetrius shows up at the Exeter family retreat, she throws herself at him. She climbs him like a tree the minute he comes through the door. Anything to get out of the mess that she’s landed in.

It’s a real mess. Jackson thinks he wants to marry Raven. Raven only wanted to play with him for a while. Meanwhile, there is a woman waiting in the wings who has been in love with Jackson for years, he’s just been too blind to see it.

And Nicholas, he’s really there to seal a business deal with Exeter Sr. A deal that is now contingent on his keeping Jackson away from Raven. He’s discovered he’s more than willing to take that one for the team.

Nicholas’ problem is that in the middle of the game, he realizes that he’s playing for real, and that the business deal he came for is not the most important stake on the table.

Escape Rating B-: The business dealings in this story are a bit convoluted, and they detract from the two romances. There’s Nicholas’ business with Exeter Sr., Nicholas’ business with Raven’s father, and Raven’s father’s own screwed up business.

Raven and Nicholas’ relationship is hot from the very first moment that Raven decides to use Nicholas’ arrival as her “out” from the pickle that she’s landed herself in. They’ve known each other forever, but have always rubbed each other the wrong way. Four years of age difference as kids is huge, as adults it’s nothing.

But because they have known each other a long time, this doesn’t feel like insta-love, and makes their relationship more believable. They’ve always struck sparks off each other!

The relationship between Jackson and Lorraine needed a bit more work. Lorraine probably thought so too. She’s loved him all her life, but he hasn’t been able to see past the idea that she’s the one his father wanted him to marry. Or he sees her like a sister. I wasn’t sold on that instant change quite as much.

But the character I loved was Nana, Jackson’s grandmother. She was a troublemaker of the best kind. Every story needs a matchmaking grandma like her to stir the pot.

***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.

Ebook Review Central, Samhain Publishing, July 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

I can always rely on the Samhain titles to present me with no lack of options for the featured titles. And this July 2012 list of Samhain’s publications is no exception.

Also, as usual, the retro romances didn’t get many new reviews.

But the books that did, really, really did.

The book that was on the most reviewers’ lists this month, by an absolute landslide (which makes it the number one feature this month!) was Dee Tenorio’s The Virgin’s Revenge, (book 4 in her Rancho del Cielo series). This one is a combination friends-to-lovers story, and a small-town romance. There’s also a major element of heroine needing to get out from under her overprotective family. Most reviewers remarked about how much they loved the humor of the characters, but with this many reviews (27!) there were a few reviewers who were less than enthralled. For the thumbs up, read The Book Pushers’ review; for the lukewarm take, see Dear Author’s take.

The second-place finisher this month happens to be book number three in Moira Rogers’ dark and gritty (also hot and sexy) post-apocalyptic and post-Civil War steampunk western series, The Bloodhounds. I’m talking about Archer’s Lady. The Bloodhounds series is a mix of good werewolves, bad vampires, and crazy chemical experiments conducted by mysterious forces that might be working for good. The Bloodhounds are lone wolves, until they find their mate, and Archer, well, he’s been sent to save a town, or die trying. If he dies,  as far as the Bloodhound Guild is concerned, that just eliminates a problem for them. The town schoolteacher helps him eliminate the vampire threat, but that schoolteacher is running from a past that’s just as checkered as his. For steampunk fans, this series is, pardon my very mixed metaphors, catnip.

The final featured book this week is a secret. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to tell you. That means Sierra Dean has done it again. Keeping Secret by Sierra Dean, the fourth book in her Secret McQueen series, has clawed its way into the third and final featured spot for this week. Secret is half-vampire and half-werewolf, and this story is all about her trying to get herself to her wedding to a werewolf king. But her royal werewolf uncle does not approve (in a major way). And there’s a love triangle involved. Well, there’s always a love triangle involved. Oh yes, and an assassin. Family dramas at weddings are standard. Assassins, not so much. Unless you’re Secret McQueen, and someone has a contract on you.

So this time out we have a very mixed bag of featured titles: a contemporary romance, a steampunk western, and an urban fantasy. The one thing they do have in common is that they are all part of ongoing series. Building an audience really counts!

And now, my ERC audience, I will bid you farewell until next week, when we’ll come back to take a look at all of the publishers in the Hexapost (Amber Quill, Astraea, Curiosity Quills, Liquid Silver, Red Sage and Riptide).

See you next week!

 

Ebook Review Central, Samhain Publishing, June 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

The wheel has turned back around to Samhain Publishing. This issue of Ebook Review Central features Samhain’s June 2012 titles.

When I collect the reviews for this feature, I always wish I could see the sales figures for the Retro titles. It seems as if by their nature they would be a contradiction in terms; any reader longing for the type of romance represented by the “retro” label would be the ones least likely to be an ebook reader. And I may be absolutely wrong.  But the lack of new reviews always makes me wonder.

Most of Samhain’s list did not suffer from a lack of new reviews. So much so that I was spoiled for choices of which titles to feature in this week’s list. In the end, there were three books “out standing in their field”. At least, this particular field!

The author of the first featured title has been featured on Ebook Review Central before. All the way back in December, Lorelei James’ Cowboy Casanova made the list. Her Rough Riders series is a guilty pleasure for a lot of readers, featuring hot cowboys, rough sex and happy endings along with a dose of small-town western ranching life. Her latest entry in the series, Kissin’ Tell, reads like a country and western song, with a woman coming home to face a high school reunion (and her cheating ex) only to find true love with a sexy cowboy and get the last laugh on the man who done her wrong. Even better, she gets that laugh with the one she let get away back in high school.

 

Howling in the number two position is Wolf Line, the fifth book in Vivian Arend’s Granite Lake Wolves series. Of course they’re werewolves, but who could imagine werewolves on a cruise ship? Even better, an all-shifter cruise!  The cruise director and the stowaway would normally make for a fun romance, but when you add in wolfish mating urges, it makes the whole thing even hotter. But before they can act on what their chemistry is telling them, Keri the cruise director has to solve the problem of some thefts on board her cruise ship, and unfortunately her stowaway mate is the most likely suspect. The whole Granite Lake Wolves series is just plain fun, so much so that reviewers say you don’t have to read them all, but you’ll want to!

Devil’s Gate by Thea Harrison is this week’s third featured title. This novella is part of her Elder Races paranormal romance/urban fantasy series, following after the novella Natural Evil. Both Natural Evil and Devil’s Gate are between the full-length paperback Oracle’s Moon and the upcoming Lord’s Fall. Harrison’s Elder Races series is about a very powerful, and very ancient, species of shapeshifters known as the Wyr, which began in May 2011 with Dragon Bound. The Wyr are ancient, which means their politics are convoluted as hell. Some of them seem to shapeshift into dragon-form, which means they hoard. To add to the politics, this world has vampires. Did I mention politics? This series has absolute legions of fans, but start from the beginning.

You wouldn’t think that modern cowboys would have much in common with werewolves or ancient dragons, but these three book do share one thing; they are all the latest entries in continuing, and very popular, series. The anticipation added up to increased attention, and more reviews.

Probably more sales, too.

But that’s it for Samhain for June. Ebook Review Central shifts its attention to a new target next week, the monthly six-in-one post. Does that make it a hex-a-post? A multi-post?

I have a question for you readers out there. What do you think about “retro” romances?