Day / June 17, 2010

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Bluebird Winter by Linda Howard

Format: E-bookbluebirdwinter
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Spencer-Nyle Company Series, Book 3
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Derek Taliferro
Heroine: Kathleen Fields
Sensuality: 2
Date of Publication: November 1987
Started On: June 17, 2010
Finished On: June 17, 2010

This is a short story by the author, a story that once I started to read I had the inkling that I had read it previously. Anyhow this book is good for a quick read where not much thinking on the reader’s part is required.

The story starts off when Kathleen goes into labor prematurely during a snow storm. Kathleen lives in a remote ranch where the nearest clinic is around fifteen miles away which in the rough weather that breaks out seems like an impossible task to reach. However for the sake of her unborn child, Kathleen tries to drive through the ferocious weather only to land in a ditch whilst the contractions get worse by the minute.

Derek Tallifero is a doctor specialized in neonatal care who is on  his way back to the city after visiting his mother for Christmas. Derek is also caught up in the storm and barely makes out the truck  Kathleen is in and it is he that rescues her, assist her in the birthing process and fall in love with her all in the same night.

Derek knows that the woman he had so hopelessly fallen in love with has to be wooed and courted so that she would lose that haunted look  in her eyes. The only solution that he could come up with was to propose marriage to Kathleen in the name of taking care of the baby. Kathleen though she doesn’t know it, is seduced into loving the warm and vibrant man that Derek is and slight misunderstandings on Kathleen’s part which is quickly resolved give this little family the happy ending they deserve.

Sarah and Rome, two of my favorite characters from one of my most favorite Linda Howard’s novels Sarah’s Child appear in this story which made it more endearing to me. My only problem with the book was it being too short to enjoy for a bit longer.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Dream Man by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Dane Hollister
Heroine: Marlie Keen
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: November 24, 2009
Started On: June 15, 2010
Finished On: June 17, 2010

This book signifies romantic thrillers at their best. Linda Howard has done an awesome job in creating the story of a vicious serial killer who targets female victims, rapes them and butchers them up like nothing Detective Dane Hollister has seen throughout his career. With no forensic clues left behind by the killer, Dane and his partner Trammel are at a loss on how to proceed.

Help comes in the form of psychic Marlie Keen, who has had a troubled past with her gift. Six years has gone by since she has had a vision, and though she knows the drill of coming out to cops as a psychic, she can’t help herself but show up at the police station to describe the heinous crime committed which she sees through the eyes of the killer.

Dane who is a pretty smart detective, a little bit rough around the edges bristles and scoffs at the mere idea of the psychic business. But chills run up and down his spine and a fierce unwanted longing for Marlie crops up within him right from the first moment he lays his eyes on her. Though Marlie is accustomed to hostility from the police force before she is able to prove her abilities to them, she can’t set aside the burst of anger within her at first the dismissive way Dane treats her and then as a suspect the next.

After searching up on Marlie and learning about the her violent past, Dane sets aside his doubts and starts believing in Marlie and decides to give into the intense feelings he feels for her. Though Marlie is resistant at the idea of starting a relationship with anyone, she is no match at resisting the fierce heat that is between the two.

Before long, Dane realizes the toll each psychic vision has on Marlie and though the second murder doesn’t yield any clues to who the monster might be, the third murder yields a sketch of the killer. Without Marlie knowing, Dane sets her up with the media to grab the attention of the killer, which Marlie attracts in spades. Devastated by the ultimate betrayal by the man she has come to love, Marlie refuses to move to a safe house but reluctantly agrees to move into Dane’s house where the killer comes into finally end Marlie’s life once and for all.

This book is intense, creeping me out at certain scenes where the thoughts of the vicious killer made chills run up and down my spine. The characters are well developed, the passion scorching HOT and the romance just the right level that it made me feel like I was actually reading a romantic thriller and not just a thriller.

Great read the second time round. Loved the epilogue! And loved the larger than life Dane Hollister! Sigh!!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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