Month / June 2011

by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: The Dome by Nova Sparks

Format: E-bookthedome
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: The Dome trilogy, Book 1
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: NA
Heroine: NA
Sensuality: NA
Date of Publication: April 30, 2011
Started On: June 18, 2011
Finished On: June 20, 2011

What would you do if you knew that the entire world as we know it is coming to an end and know exactly when it is going to happen? That is the dilemma faced by Sam Tucker when he starts getting realistically visual dreams of an apocalypse that is just around the corner.

Fearing that he is losing his mind, Sam does what he thinks is all that he can do in the short period of time available and tries to save as many people as he can without alerting them to what was going on. The only other person who knows the truth is his best friend Mark who is apprehensive about everything that takes place right from the very beginning.

When the annihilation begins, their savior comes in the form of an alien race who seemingly go out of their way to make their planet Syri habitable by the humans. The lucky escape from a certain death makes Sam rethink his priorities in life; a life which he had been taking for granted until now.

For Emma, Sam’s daughter, Syri opens up the possibility of a new love which she tries to embrace in her usual take-charge attitude. But on a planet where everything is not what they seem to be, Emma finds that even falling in love has its price which could get deadly with one wrong turn.

Told on first person basis by both Sam and Emma, the 1st book in The Dome trilogy is one intense, edge-of-the-seat read. Ms. Novak does a brilliant job on capitalizing on the emotions as well as the nature of us human beings, whose instinct for survival always comes into play when that is all we are left with.

Mark’s instinctive distrust with anything that has got to do with Syri certainly rings true with our inquisitive natures and our need for absolute freedom from any sort of shackles that may bind us. For Mark, the truth that he finds out turns out to be a deadly and costly one, leaving Sam a changed man, a man on a mission on the quest for truth and a way out of picture perfect Syri.

For someone who mostly reads and enjoys romances, this one was certainly a delightfully riveting surprise. With a nightmare inducing kind of prologue that reeled me in, I couldn’t help but be fascinated with the story as it unfolded and all my gratitude lays with Ms. Sparks who approached me for a review which otherwise would have had me missing out on this great sci-fi installment. I am definitely looking forward to the next book in the trilogy which cannot come out soon enough as far as I am concerned.

Recommended for fans of the genre. You won’t be disappointed.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Smashwords

amazingread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Grace Under Pressure by Melissa Schroeder

Format: E-bookgraceunderpressure
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Hero: Renaldo Morello
Heroine: Grace Beatrice Michael
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: February 1, 2007
Started On: June 19, 2011
Finished On: June 19, 2011

I am someone who always loves a good romance between a warm, sexy and accident prone heroine with a bit of an aloof and controlled hero who finds his hard earned control shattered all around him. As I read Grace Under Pressure, I couldn’t help but think to myself that I have read this earlier in my pre-review phase. Even if that were the case, I am really glad that I picked this up and enjoyed it, a story that left me wanting more of all the characters that cropped up as it unfolded.

33 year old Grace Michaels lives in the small town of Cannon, Texas and is a history professor at the local college. Accident-prone by nature, her first encounter with the town’s new and sexy as hell Chief of Police Ren Morello happens with her ass up in the air stirring up Ren’s amusement and his libido as well in the process.

Ren is a man who has closed and bolted the door on any sort of relationship with the opposite sex that requires his commitment ever since his divorce from the wife from hell. When Grace comes into the picture, even though his over-active libido begs him to bury himself deep within her, his emotions that are a bit more in control than his libido warn him to run the other way and never look back.

When Grace’s home is ransacked and it is clear that her life is in danger, all protective instincts that Ren harbors deep inside comes out demanding that he keep Grace safe at any cost. Being at such close proximity to a woman whose mere existence befuddles his thinking cells plays havoc with the rigid control that Ren exerts on his baser emotions until it all explodes in his face in the most sinfuly delicious ways possible.

Neatly tying in with the main story is the story of Julia, Grace’s best friend and that of her brother Gabriel that served as an equally interesting romantic interlude in this wickedly good romantic suspense of the erotic variety. Though the scenes of passion are erotic in nature, there is none of the overly kinky stuff taking place in the story. Grace Under Pressure is a hot little addition for your TBR pile if you love a steamy romantic suspense in a small town setting with all the antics that go along with small town life. Loved every single minute of this delectable story and I am definitely going to wade through Ms. Schroeder’s back list and see what I can come up with to keep me entertained in the future.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Samhain

amazingread

by mvbookreviewer

I-Review: Iron Seduction by J.K. Coi

Format: E-bookironseduction.JPG
Read with: Kindle for I-Pad
Length: Novella
Genre: Chinese Steampunk
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: Jian Denzen
Heroine: Lady Jane
Sensuality: 4
Published On: June 3rd, 2011
Started On: 18th June 2011
Finished On: 18th June 2011

Visitor: What made you pick up Iron Seduction?

MBR: Ever since I read Morning After and flat-out loved the short & hot story, J. K. Coi has been an author of interest to me. But somehow this one slipped through the cracks until I found this on a list of recommendations on a blog post of author Maya Banks which had me running on an immediate shopping spree to acquire my first romance of the steampunk category.

Visitor: Tell us a little bit about the hero Jian Denzen.

MBR: *Huge sigh* Jian Denzen, otherwise known as Dance is the strong, silent and uber-sexy type of hero that just takes your breath away. Well-versed in the art of Lin Kuei, China’s more circumspect version of Japanese ninja, Jian is a hero I can sit and read about all day long because he is so very well worth it.

Visitor: Now tell us a little bit about the heroine Lady Jane.

MBR: Lady Jane is  a heroine who belongs in the kick-ass-heroine category. She commands a contingent of British soldiers who stay in China and is someone who guards her heart fiercely fearing that she might be betrayed yet again.

Visitor: How does Jian and Lady Jane meet for the first time?

MBR: Lady Jane and Jian’s paths cross during the battle for freedom waged against Empress Cixi. Lady Jane saves Jian’s life for which she earns Jian’s undying loyalty and exasperation as well.

Visitor: What was it that drew you into the story with Iron Seduction?

MBR: I delved into Iron Seduction expecting Ms. Coi’s way with the words to reel me in and it did just that. For a Quickie, Iron Seduction has got everything going for it, a well balanced story line, a hotter than sin hero and explosive scenes of passion that just took my breath away. And I loved every single delicious minute of it.

Visitor: What was it that you liked about Iron Seduction?

MBR: I loved everything about Iron Seduction from its sleek man-titty cover to the red-hot attraction between Lady Jane and Jian. For me, Jian and his unwavering loyalty and strength made this novella, and the way he thoroughly commands Lady Jane’s senses (which she tries utmost to keep sensible and do the “right” thing) made this an awesome read for me.

Visitor: What if anything would you want to change in Iron Seduction?

MBR: As a Quickie, the story is well done and delivers on all counts. But for someone who always loves longer stories, I would love to see what Ms. Coi can do with a full length novel. With Iron Seduction, I would have loved to learn more about both Lady Jane and Jian and their interactions together which happens prior to the start of this novella.

Visitor: Any memorable scenes/quotes from Iron Seduction that you would like to share?

MBR: I loved the scenes where Jian’s intensity comes into play.

Visitor: Who would you recommend Iron Seduction to?

MBR: Those who love stories by J. K. Coi. And for those who love their erotica with something a little bit different.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Kobo | Ellora’s Cave

amazingread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Secret Wife by Lynne Graham

thesecretwife

Format: E-book
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Constantine Voulos
Heroine: Rosalie Waring
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: November 28, 1997
Started On: June 16, 2011
Finished On: June 17, 2011

The Secret Wife by Lynne Graham is a novel that I seemed to have missed out on previously. It tells the story of how Rosalie Waring’s world collides by a twist of fate with that of the ultra rich Greek tycoon Constantine Voulos brought about by the conditions set aside on the will of Anton Estrada, adoptive father of Constantine.

Rosie is stunned when after a period of blissful happiness of four months with Anton, he dies suddenly leaving her bereft and alone once again. When Constantine jumps to the worst of conclusions about her relationship with Anton, Rosie’s bitterness towards Constantine, who has had a lifetime of moments with her own father lets her keep the explanations under wraps until Anton’s will forces Constantine to ask for her hand in marriage.

It is a blazingly resentful Constantine who calls Rosie a gold digger and much worse that turns up for the wedding along with our prickly as a hedgehog heroine whose instinctive reactions of self protection is the tendency to lash out and give as good as she gets, an aftereffect of being in state ward care since the tender age of nine, that makes the joining of holy matrimony of these two a volatile one at best.

Though Rosie tries to come clean with who she is, Constantine is not one to believe a word that comes out of her mouth and this charade continues throughout the book, each of them insulting one another blinded by the fury at the inconvenient desire that they feel for each other.

For me, The Secret Wife didn’t make for such a great read. The premise of the story which promised to deliver an angsty read failed to do that when Constantine refused to listen to whatever Rosie had to say and Rosie refused to try and make Constantine see the light after his initial rejection. For me, I would gladly take Rosie’s side because Constantine just grated on my nerves with his inability to see beyond what he wants to see, and even when eventually the truth does come out, he is quick to lay the blame at Rosie’s feet rather than accept his own doing in complicating matters.

This story is told from Rosie’s viewpoint and I for the world of me cannot understand how it is that Constantine falls in love with Rosie. For someone who loves finding the hero’s feelings via his reactions towards the heroine; I just didn’t feel the love in this one.

Recommended for those who love the marriage of convenience theme and fans of Lynne Graham.

Final Verdict: Blazing sexual heat, jealousy, angst, and a motherlord of misunderstandings signifies this story making it memorable!

Favorite Quotes

‘Let go of me, you caveman!’ Rosie splintered breathlessly.
Constantine gazed down at her, blazing golden eyes intent, and splayed hard fingers to the curve of her hip and forced her up against him. That close to that lean, muscular male frame, Rosie froze, bright eyes bewildered as the heat and the scent of him washed over her in a heady, disorientatingly pleasurable tide. A tiny little muscle deep down in her stomach jerked, making her legs feel oddly weak and hollow. Her heart started slamming suffocatingly fast against her ribcage.
‘You were trying to flirt with me,’ Constantine murmured with a slight frown, his deep, dark drawl sending the most peculiar little shivers travelling down her taut spinal cord.

‘Your mouth is bigger than you are,’ Constantine growled, his deep voice thickening in a manner that sent Rosie’s self-preserving instincts shooting to full power. ‘Why not kiss me instead?’
‘Because I don’t want to kiss you!’
‘No?’
‘Do I look that dumb?’ Rosie spat.

‘It won’t work… I’m naturally argumentative’ Rosie asserted even more tautly.
Golden fire in his molten appraisal, Constantine swept her up into his arms to carry her into the bedroom. ‘Christos… of course it will work. And once we have made love, once you have lain in my arms and tasted the pleasure we can share, you will never mention the throwback again. I may not be perfect but I’m way beyond him in the reliability stakes.’

Constantine smiled. Rosie’s heart flipped. He withdrew his finger, dropped his dark head and traced the fullness of her lower lip with the teasing tip of his tongue. She wanted him to kiss her. It was an instantaneous need and she shifted beneath him, all of a quiver with helpless impatience, her body taut with sudden screaming tension. Her hands flew up of their own volition and her fingers sank into his black hair to try and drag him down to her by force.
With a husky laugh, Constantine resisted her urging and instead let his tongue dip between her readily parted lips. ‘Foreplay,’ he whispered provocatively.

‘You told Anton that you were pregnant,’ Constantine contended in a ragged, dark growl as he drew inexorably closer. ‘It was a cheap trick but that is why he demanded that I marry you.’
‘I don’t play cheap tricks,’ Rosie told him breathlessly, struggling to hang on to her wits as her skin heated and her breasts swelled into throbbing sensitivity. She pressed a betraying hand to the pulse flickering a crazy beat at her collarbone.
‘Christos … you play me like a witch casting a spell!’ Constantine countered with sudden glancing rawness. ‘I want you even more now than I wanted you last night—’
‘Tough,’ Rosie said with tremulous bite, a quiver of deep overpowering longing sheeting over her with the efficacy of a mind-blowing drug, leaving her more dizzy and disorientated than ever.

‘I don’t want to hurt you again.’
‘You don’t argue with me in my fantasies…you don’t stop…you don’t make me wait!’ Rosie sobbed in explosive frustration.
The silence thundered. She closed her eyes in horror. Oh, no, I didn’t say that … did I? she asked herself.
‘What do I do?’ he murmured.
‘What I want,’ Rosie mumbled.
Constantine vented a ragged laugh of appreciation. The velvet-hard thrust of him surged teasingly against her, gently probing the slick, damp welcome awaiting him.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Harlequin

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

Format: E-booklordofscoundrels
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Scoundrels, Book 3
Publisher: Avon
Hero: Sebastian Leslie Guy De Ath Ballister
Heroine: Jessica Trent
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: March 30, 1995
Started On: June 15, 2011
Finished On: June 16, 2011

Lord of Scoundrels is a historical romance that has earned its fair share of awards in the world of romance. Being at the very top of the AAR list of 100 romances is no small feat and I went in with high expectations when I started out with this book. True to the awards the book has received, I was totally enchanted and captivated with the story that unfolded and hopelessly and madly in love with both Sebastian and Jessica before halfway through, and enjoyed the third book in the Scoundrels series as much as I imagined I would.

Lord of Scoundrels tells the tale of Sebastian Leslie Guy De Ath Ballister, the son of the Earl of Blackmoor and his second wife. A man who is more besotted with his property than anything else, the Earl holds little regard for his young wife and even less so towards the ugly son that she bears him.

From a young age, Sebastian is a bewildered child because he doesn’t have the remotest clue as to why his father goes out of his way to avoid him. And the only source of warmth and compassion in his life leaves him at the tender age of 8 when his mother runs away with her lover, leaving a scared little boy with a resentful father. Its not long before Sebastian is sent away to boarding school where he learns to toughen up and where he learns to give back as good as he gets and earns the respect of his notorious peers. Needless to say between the merciless teasing and fights with fellow students and the continuous flogging sessions received at school, Sebastian has any figment of love, tenderness or hope beaten out of him long before he turns into an adult.

Twenty five years later, Sebastian is filthy rich and a man powerful in his own right who is still feared by the members of the respectable society towards which Sebastian feels nothing more than contempt. But when beautiful and feisty Jessica Trent invades his life and starts creeping under his skin, Sebastian tries the only trick he is left with; drive her away by being his most notorious self whilst inside his heart and very soul cries out for Jessica in a way he had long since forgotten.

Jessica is no wimpy female who finds her own fascination with Sebastian troublesome to say the least. Animal attraction she can supposedly handle, but marriage and the prospect of falling in love with the most hard headed male she has come across wasnt exactly what Jessica was looking for.

In Jessica Sebastian finds that for the first time in his life that he needs someone else to complete him and knows that if she ever were to leave him he would just wither and die away. You would think that once the man realizes that he would make things easier for his newly wedded wife. But pride and his vow never to let anyone close enough to hurt him has Sebastian trying to drive away Jessica albeit unsuccessfuly and the antics that follow make for quite an engrossing tale.

You can’t read Lord of Scoundrels without falling in love with both Sebastian and Jessica as they together make an explosive combination that just keeps you turning the pages, wishing that the story would just go on and on. I seriously loved the spunky and fiesty Jessica because she was insightful enough to know Sebastian inside out and strong enough to fight him fair snd square where their love is concerned. I especially loved the witty bantering between Sebastian and Jessica whose way with the words cannot help but invoke huge-ass grins all over. And Jessica’s attempts at seducing her husband and the resultant effect on her overly self-controlled husband is definitely one of the highlights in a story that definitely deserves and has more than earned its fair share of millions of fans all over the world.

Highly recommended for fans of romances.

Favorite Quotes

The trouble was Jessica could not feel at all sensible. A magnetic current was racing along her nerve endings. It slithered and swirled through her system, to make an odd, tingling heat in the pit of her belly, and it melted her brain to soup.
She wanted to kick off her shoes and trail her stockinged toes up and down the black, costly boot. She wanted to slide her fingers under his starched shirt cuff and trace the veins and muscles of his wrist and feel his pulse beating under her thumb. Most of all, she wanted to press her lips to his hard, dissolute mouth and kiss him senseless.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Indecent Deception by Lynne Graham

Format: E-bookindecentdeception
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents, #1740
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Blaze Kenyon
Heroine: Christabel Hamilton
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: April 1, 1995
Started On: June 14, 2011
Finished On: June 14, 2011

This I think must be the third time that I am reading Indecent Deception by Lynne Graham. And that alone should be enough to tell everyone who wants to know that this is a favorite re-read of mine from the Harlequin line.

Christable (Chrissy) Hamilton is just twenty years of age and shoulders the responsibility of caring singlelhandedly for her half sister Rosie who is about two and a half years old. Barely making ends meet, Chrissy is fired from her only job that is responsible for keeping a roof over her and Rosie’s head; all because she lets her pride and anger at Blaze Kenyon’s sheer arrogance take the best of her.

Blaze is a man who has no intention of ever settling down and one whose sensational life as the rich playboy keeps the tabloids in a tailspin. Surprisingly it is Blaze who offers Chrissy a job which she grabs with both hands never knowing the twisted web she would weave in the coming days.

When her sister Elaine turns up claiming that she wants to get back together with Blaze, Chrissy does the stupidest thing she has ever done in her life which ends up with Blaze and herself walking down the aisle. However, once the truth comes out, Chrissy has hell to pay, making her fear that her burgoening love for a man who has become so vibrantly important in her life would never be reciprocated by the man in question, who only feels loathing for her misleading lies.

I just flat-out adore this story which is proven by the number of times I have read it to-date. And I love Blaze Kenyon for everything he is from his sardonic humor to the blazingly sexual side of him that just makes my heart go predictably aflutter each and every single time. Chrissy was a tough one to like because of the deceiving role that she plays in the novel, no matter how martyr-like she wanted her actions to be. For me, its Blaze who makes this novel come alive, who makes this book worth a revisit time and time again.

Recommended for fans of Lynne Graham and fans of Harlequin romances.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble 

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Best Man to Wed? by Penny Jordan

Format: E-bookbestmantowed
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Bride’s Bouquet, Book 2
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: James Carlton
Heroine: Poppy Carlton
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: May 1, 1997
Started On: June 13, 2011
Finished On: June 13, 2011

I can almost always count on a good old Harlequin novel to take me on an emotional roller coaster ride from which I wouldn’t want to get off. Penny Jordan is a favorite Harlequin author of mine and I am sure many fans of the Harlequin line are bound to feel the same. Though I have done most of my Harlequin crazed phase of reading prior to the start of my review site, this is one novel by Penny Jordan that I seemed to have missed, a fact I am glad that I have rectified when I started on this one on a whim today.

22 year old Poppy Carlton has had her dreams crushed when her cousin Chris Carlton who has been the man of her dreams since she had turned 12 years of age marries another. Forced to grow up and get her head out of the clouds, Poppy is horrified when her virginal body responds in an appalling manner to James Carlton’s caresses. James is her beloved Chris’s elder brother, the forbidding and formidable version to the sunny and easy going nature of Chris who occupies her thoughts night and day – or so Poppy tries telling herself.

8 years older than Poppy, James is a man who keeps his emotions close to himself apart from tearing into Poppy’s infatuation when it comes to his younger brother. When consequences of their nights of passion together forces Poppy to acknowledge her feelings towards the brother who is a match for her in every way, Poppy fears that she might be just a little bit too late in accepting that James is the one and only for her.

I love stories where the hero has always being in love with the heroine but somehow was overshadowed by the heroine’s infatuation with another man presumably a relative of the hero’s. James is a mouthwateringly alluring hero and Poppy though at first grated on my nerves with her self pitying nature made up for it beautifully when she freely expresses her need for James bringing the poor guy to his knees.

And this one certainly managed to be an emotion wrenching read and I loved the effect the story had on my emotions as I read along. Though this might not be a feminist’s idea of how a romance should be, this is romance in its most old-fashioned form, the reason why I fell in love with the world of romance in the first place. Recommended for fans of the Harlequin genre and fans of Penny Jordan.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Harlequin

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Midnight Man by Lisa Marie Rice

Format: E-bookmidnightman
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Midnight, Book 1
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: John Hunnington
Heroine: Suzanne Barron
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: November 12, 2004
Started On: June 11, 2011
Finished On: June 12, 2011

Midnight Man by Lisa Marie Rice is book one in her Midnight series. I have previously read and loved the third and final book in the series entitled Midnight Angel. This is my third attempt at reading Midnight Man, my previous two attempts halted somewhere in the midst of the first chapter due to one reason or the other.

Midnight Man tells the story of John Hunnington who is forced into early retirement from his career as a tough Navy SEAL. Known as the Midnight Man to his fellow comrades, John is a man well versed in the art of killing and now owns his own top notch security company known as Alpha Security International. It is his expanding business that makes him seek out Suzanne Baronn who is leasing out part of her building as office space, perfect for what he wants and in the process finds himself blindsided with the need to possess the classy and elegant beauty who stands in front of him.

Suzanne with her interior decorating business is the exact opposite of John. And the way John commands all of her senses right from the very first meet itself has Suzanne ready to flee from the intensity of her response to a man that she barely knows from Adam. However, from the moment John possesses her up against the wall during their very first date means that there is no turning back for Suzanne who has envisioned a very different process by which she would fall in love with the man she would share the rest of her life with. And when danger of the life threatening variety comes calling out of nowhere, it is to John that Suzanne turns towards who pulls no punches in ensuring that the woman who rocks his world in more ways than one would remain safe as long as he is capable of breathing.

The Midnight series tells stories of uber alpha males and the dainty yet strong heroines who are actually damsels in distress the said alphas race to rescue. With mind numbing passion of the explosive variety which is very well done, Midnight Man delivers on all counts and I loved reading every little bit of how two very different people find their soul mates in each other in the most unusual of circumstances.

I fell in love with John when I read the following part of the book where his burgoening feelings towards Suzanne is vocalized for the very first time in the story.

And I definitely loved the ending of the story though there was no epilogue in this one which somehow doesn’t end up feeling lacking.

Recommended for fans of Lisa Marie Rice/Elizabeth Jennings.

Favorite Quotes

The tree was pretty, she thought with satisfaction. It reached almost to the ceiling and the branches, thick and glossy, contrasted cheerily with the ribbons and apples and strands of fluffy white popcorn. The tree glowed with color. There were no store-bought ornaments on the tree, but that only made it charming, like something out of a Normal Rockwell painting.
“Pity we don’t have an angel,” she sighed. Her mother had a wonderful hand-made papier-mache white-and-gold angel picked up in Naples, which would have looked perfect on top of the tree.
John squeezed her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. His deep voice was quiet as he said, “You wouldn’t fit on top.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo | Ellora’s Cave

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Woman on the Run by Lisa Marie Rice

Format: E-bookwomanontherun
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: Sam Cooper
Heroine: Julia Devaux
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: October 1, 2005
Started On: June 10, 2011
Finished On: June 11, 2011

Julia Devaux finds herself in the mother of all fixes when she witnesses a mob hit and becomes a valuable witness who could put away the dangerous Joey Capruzzo behind bars for a good long time. However that also means that one seriously rich and pissed off Capruzo is after her pretty little head served on a platter which would mean another failed attempt by the US government  to indict him.

A book worm and film buff at the core, though Julia has lived a life of moving from one place to the other with her parents always on the move, she is not at all prepared to change into a Sally Anderson, a second grade school teacher in the middle of nowhere in Simpson, Idaho. With her life turned completely upside down, Julia is one step away from just simply sitting down and wailing at the winds when things take an interesting turn and she starts having an unholy fascination for anything to do with the tall, strong and silent Sam Cooper who turns up on her doorstep most unexpectedly.

Ex-Navy SEAL, Sam is a man who finds himself in serious trouble when the delectable new teacher in Idaho leaves him with a raging hard-on for the first time in almost two years. Sam’s past and the famous Cooper curse makes him a wary man on all counts. On top of all that, Sam is not a man who has much inclination to talk which has him sweating buckets when it comes to wooing and seducing the one woman whom he wants more than his next breath.

With a whopping figure of two million on her head, Julia is far from safe even in a no name town such as Simpson when it brings out a killer most cunning who will do anything to find out and kill Julia, all for the luxury the money for the kill would bring.

Whe Sam finds out that Julia, the woman who has turned his life and that of his town around is a woman on the run, there is no stopping him from pulling out all the stops in protecting the one woman who means the world to him. Towards the end, the cunning killer almost wins in putting Julia six feet under until Sam arrives to the rescue with just seconds to spare.

I loved Woman on the Run by Lisa Marie Rice as this turned out to be refreshingly different from the rest of her novels I have read to date. I say different because of the take on humor this story has which had me laughing out loud in several places when Julia’s quirky sense of self-depreciating humor along with the small town life comes into play.

From the aspect of the hero and the trademark LMR sensuality, this book is another winner with Sam being the uber-alpha and the protective kind whose want and need for Julia goes beyond anything describable. Julia is an endearing heroine whom I loved from the start of the novel though she sounds a bit confused of what she wants and needs at the beginning of the story. The villain when brought to light turned out to be the biggest shocker rendering this as one of the most enjoyable romantic suspense by the author. For me the best part of the epilogue of the story which takes place 4 years later turned out to be how different a man Sam is towards the end. And I would love to point it out that the overly descriptive narrations that annoyed me in Hotter than Wildfire which I reviewed earlier were non-existent in this one, making it earn a whopping 5 stars from the sunny side of life!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo | Ellora’s Cave 

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Hotter than Wildfire by Lisa Marie Rice

Format: E-bookhotterthanwildfire
Read with: Kindle for I-Phone
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Protectors, Book 2
Publisher: Avon Red
Hero: Harry Bolt
Heroine: Ellen Palmer
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: April 5, 2011
Started On: June 7, 2011
Finished On: June 10, 2011

Book 2 in the Protector series didn’t wow me as much as its predecessor did. But nevertheless Lisa Marie Rice still managed to hold my undivided attention as I delved into the story of Harry Bolt, someone who has a very painful past from which he still has recurring nightmares.

34 year old Harry is one of the 3 “blood” brothers that own RBK Security. Having served in the army and with enough scars to last for a lifetime, Harry’s savior comes in the form of the sweet and sultry voice of the mystery singer only known as Eve. By a twist of fate it is Ellen Palmer i.e. Eve herself  who makes her way to seek the services of RBK Security who specializes in helping out beaten and battered up women fleeing for their lives with nowhere else to turn to.

For someone who believes that nothing in this world could surprise him anymore, that is exactly what Harry feels when he discovers that the scared red haired beauty in front of him who has awoken his dormant libido after two years is none other than the goddess whose voice it had been that had led him out of the shit hole his life had been in back then.

Once Harry claims Eve as his, there is no turning back for either of them as heady passion stronger than anything describable takes hold of them delivering sensuous scenes of love that is trademark Lisa Marie Rice.

As with most of her stories, the bad guys are vicious in their intent and actions and nothing short of Eve’s death would stop them. As the bad guys pull all the stops to find out where Eve is in hiding, Eve finds herself in a cocoon of love, warmth and friendship which she fears would shatter if she stays around too long. Its touch and go during the last showdown with the bad guys and once again Mike, Sam and Harry work together to save the one woman who lights up Harry in more ways than one.

As I said earlier, though I didn’t love this one as much as I did Sam and Nicole’s story, nevertheless I still loved Harry as a hero. Strong and uber protective, Harry is enough to melt any woman on the inside because of his caring nature. And I loved seeing glimpses of Sam and Nicole in this one and of course the two very beautiful epilogues at the end of the second one which takes place a year later hopefully signals the beginning of Mike’s story.

As some readers have pointed out, I too have problems with how Ms. Rice tends to go a tad overboard with her descriptions making it a bit tiresome to tread through the repetitive material to find the actual story beneath it. But, being a huge fan of Ms. Rice, I’m willing to look beyond that into the story and would rate this as a great read worth your time if you love Lisa Marie Rice or if you love romantic suspense with an all-out alpha who would literally make you swoon as you get to know him. And I have to warn you, this one’s got a pretty powerful prologue to it that may just require you keep a wad of tissues handy.

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