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Posts by mvbookreviewer

A lover of all things romance, from Maldives.
by mvbookreviewer

Authors, Publishers, E-books and Piracy

ebook-piracy-300x411Living in a corner of the world where reading is not everyone’s favorite past time, also hindered by the fact that little variety is available to voracious readers like us who tend to read a lot and that also costing an arm or a leg to acquire a book you covet, needless to say, reading can become quite an expensive habit out here in the Maldives. And reading through a discussion thread on a forum the other night, I found that we Maldivians are not alone in this. There are other countries out there who do not have many book sellers willing to furnish their stores with an abundance of paperbacks or hardcovers, maybe because of the fact that a very small percentage of the population actively take an interest in reading and continue with it long after they finish school and start working.

When I first discovered the concept of e-books and that they existed back in 2006 (yes, we are kind of slow on the uptake over here) needless to say I was ecstatic. I first stumbled upon a collection of e-books whilst googling out of boredom at work on a slow day. It was as if I had struck gold, and to this day I can still feel the buzz of excitement I felt upon the discovery. Back then I didn’t give much thought as to whether people sharing e-books over the Internet was right or wrong, I was just a happy book lover, ecstatic over the endless supply of books to read.

But as the buzz started to fade off, I realized that actually very few books are freely available on the market, and that as technology progressed, e-book readers that worked on the computer such as Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket Reader protected the content that was purchased by making it available only for the owner of the e-book. As with any sort of restriction that is laid out in terms of technology or otherwise, workaround solutions that enabled users to strip the protective features and share their e-books with whomever they pleased cropped up as well – a nightmare for authors and publishers likewise. What struck me as the most ironic thing when it comes to the sale of e-books is the fact that certain e-book sellers restrict the sale of e-books region wise. Somehow, I always managed to find another seller who is not so picky and managed to obtain the book I wanted, but it was cumbersome as hell to always look for an e-seller who wouldn’t discriminate based on the region where I was purchasing my books from.

Then came the reign of e-book readers, handheld devices on which books published in the e-format could be read. When Amazon released its Kindle, I was practically drooling over here on the other side of the world. But as usual, like as with most good things in life, Amazon preferred to sell its Kindle to American users alone. And when Amazon announced that it was releasing Kindle’s International version, I was almost about to jump up and down with joy; until I found out that Maldives wasn’t international enough for Amazon.

Somehow, knowing that all I needed was a USB cable and a computer even if we didn’t have Whispernet over here, I managed to purchase a Kindle from a seller on Ebay who wasn’t so picky with the region stuff. After much nail biting and worrying over the late delivery, I finally received my Kindle and I don’t think you would have found a happier person on Earth at that very moment!

With the large content of e-books on Amazon, I was happy and content with the fact that I was set for life with my Kindle. Never would I have to worry that such and such book was not available for me to buy and download and sink into. But then, as all good things do tend to end, this particular euphoria abandoned me with a feeling of futile hopelessness in its wake, when Amazon refused to sell me their e-books, because once again I was attempting to purchase their content from Maldives – God forbid!

I was quite pissed off to say the least because compared to other e-book sellers, Amazon tended to sell at the lowest prices imaginable. I made a note of complain and received the following reply from their customer service. “Since publishers give us eBook rights on a country by country basis, availability and pricing of titles from the Kindle Store can vary by your home country or region. We are actively working with publishers to get the rights to all titles for every country and adding selection every day.” This was back in June and to this day, I haven’t managed to purchase any content from Amazon for my Kindle.

When publishers open up their mouths and complain or talk about the legal ramifications of piracy and its effect on their income and that of the authors, I believe this is one critical point that they ought to ponder upon as well. I am all for paying up and actively owning what I read, but if I meet these kinds of restrictions from every e-book seller website that I come across, I wouldn’t want that to stop me from reading what I want now would it? Any techno savvy person would needlessly search for other avenues, and maybe even come up with ways on their own to share whatever content that they have with other fellow readers. Maybe its the wrong way to think but discriminating e-book buyers by region – yes, I would call it discrimination, is not actively helping curb piracy and its aftereffects. I for one hope that this discrimination stops here and now, and that we readers in regions unknown (it’s not like we come from another planet or something!) would also be able to access and buy content at equal prices as those who are lucky enough in this instance to live in the US, UK or other developed countries.

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O’Connell

Format: E-bookeyes
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Cord Bennet
Heroine: Anne Wells
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: April 9, 2010
Started On: September 13, 2010
Finished On: September 14, 2o10

Rarely do we come across books on Amazon that have received an average rating of 5 stars. This is one such book that has achieved this status, which caught my eye once again whilst browsing through a discussion thread. Reading the synopsis, I immediately knew that this would be my kind of story and I immediately fell in love as soon as I started on page 1.

Anne Wells, has always shamed her family in one way or the other. Having never really bided by the conventional rules of the society and not being a real beauty to make men swoon at her feet, Anne had always stood apart from the rest of them. Elroy Turrell had been the first man who had taken an interest in her and Anne had been whisked off to Chicago to live with her aunt since her father Edward thought that a farmer’s boy was really beneath them. Then had come Richard Tyler, a banker’s son whom she had met in Chicago. Engaged to the  man for 4 years, Anne had broken things off with Richard because she had finally seen the light and knew things would never work between a woman who wanted her independence and freedom from the restrictive rules of the society whilst Richard was of the opposite mindset. The broken engagement had enraged her father much more and eventually he had brought her back home. And then trouble had started when George Detrick, a widower, older than Anne’s father started pursuing her, a man who was fat and greasy with beady eyes and smelled worse.

Edward Wells was delighted by the fact that his daughter could be married off even though Anne made her refusal to wed him pretty clear. Driven into a rage beyond anything Anne had witnessed from her father before, Anne was locked up in a boarded room, given little food than what was necessary, her father’s plan to get her to agree to marriage with Detrick or starve to death. Anne finally manages to escape before she is driven to do just that, and hitches a ride unbeknown to the owners of the carriage. When the storm that had been raging had driven her to seek shelter in a farmstead, little does Anne know that she would sleep through the night to wake up and find herself at the home of Cord Bennet, a man despised and feared throughout her hometown.

Cord Bennet, a man with an unusual shade of light brown eyes, jet black hair with a bronze face that was all angles and plains who emanated a fierceness with his stillness has a soft spot for Anne though he doesn’t admit it. Cord had been the first child of Jamie Bennet’s shocking second marriage to an Indian woman named Song. Though Cord and his sister Marie had been protected from the vicious tongues of the townspeople who didn’t take too kindly to the mixed blooded children, they had been tolerated because the Bennet family had been richer than anyone else in town. But it hadn’t taken long for Cord and his sister to wise up and face the fact that they would always be treated differently than their step siblings.

When Cord hears of the circumstances that had landed Anne at his home and needing his help to get to Chicago to see whether her aunt Clara would once again put up with her, Cord knows that he would help her regardless of the outcome. But when Edward comes looking for Anne with a mob crowd rather than a search party and slaps Anne around to make her admit that the savage and brute that Cord was rumored to be had taken advantage of her and raped her and Anne refuses, all hell breaks loose. Cord who is rumored to have special skills in fighting, acquired during his days living with the Indians is unable to do anything to protect Anne or himself. Beaten to the point of death until he agrees to marry Anne since Detrick refused to wed a “soiled” woman, Anne and Cord make their vows amidst violence that had me reeling. Even afterwards, Cord has to helplessly watch on whilst Anne’s father watches on with the judge whilst the group of bullies Anne’s father had rounded up try and rape her.

It is by a miracle that these two survive the unjust violence that was unleashed on them. Thinking that Cord would die during the days that follow, Anne still stubbornly nurse him through, a man who is black and blue all over and bleeding in his urine. The doctor’s prognosis isn’t good either and its by sheer force of will of Anne that Cord comes through. Thus starts a fragile relationship based on an acquaintance that had been made when the both of them had only been 10 years old, when Anne had come to the rescue of Marie who was been bullied by other girls in class with whom Cord had not known what to do with.

This story is so beautiful on so many levels. Cord, a man who is hated even by his own family and of whom everyone expects and always believes the worst of finds himself with a woman who puts her undying trust in him and his character. Whilst Cord had always expected to live in a quiet corner of town until the end of his days, the unexpectedness of having Anne in his life shakes him to the very core. Sweet yearning and desire unfurls in a man who would sell his soul to keep Anne by his side through eternity, though he knows a woman like Anne is too good for a man like him.

Anne blossoms under the strong and patient man that her husband is. The awareness which Anne has of her husband which she doesn’t even know, slowly kindles and burns into something beautiful that made every scene with Cord and Anne one worth a lot of sighing over. Anne and her zealous for life paints Cord’s otherwise bleak life in colors. A future that had seemed endless with no joy insight is suddenly filled with laughter and joy and togetherness as these two tackle life, its everyday challenges, and taming Cord’s family and the townspeople all in one go.

But Edward Wells, who is seething at the mere thought of her daughter being “forced” to live with that “savage” is livid when Anne refuses to come home and annul the marriage to which Edward had forced her into. His cunning plans rips Anne apart from Cord, just when Cord had come to accept the fact that things between Anne and him were meant to be and was not a temporary arrangement. I so fell in love with Cord, for his gentleness which was his innermost strength that everyone else refused to see, but was so clear to his wife and partner for life. Beautiful ending for a beautifully done story, which makes me yearn and wish for another book by the author sometime very, very soon!

Very highly recommended for lovers of historical and American Western romances. This is a book that is a definite winner, one not to be missed!

Favorite Quotes

(Anne)”Do you know that every time you look at me like that you erase the hurt of at least a hundred times someone said I wasn’t ladylike enough? You make me feel so – female. I think to myself that must be the way a hungry wolf looks at a lamb.”
He moved then, walked to her. She found herself thinking maybe topaz, maybe his eyes are like smoked topaz. This kiss was not tentative, but sure and certain. For months she had dreamed of kisses, but the sensual magic of the firm lips was sweeter than anything she had known to dream about.

Cord fought sleep, wanting to savor this moment and the memories of the day. Anne’s breath fanned across his throat sweetly. I wanted you so much it hurt. She made him feel like the king he was sure she had been born for. He thought of her face as she ran into his arms after the race, the feel of her in his arms dancing in the summer night. Perhaps there would never again be such a day, but he had this one. And he had her – now.
As he finally stopped fighting sleep, he wondered if maybe just occasionally the gods designed a woman fit for a king or a prince and then gave her to an ordinary man. Maybe they did such a thing once in a while, knowing an ordinary man would treasure her more, love her better. Maybe they even let him keep her – for a while.

Whirling in Cord’s arms, Anne was aware of nothing but the floating sensation and the eyes of gold so close to her own and so somber.
“You know, Annie, a long time ago an old man told me beauty doesn’t mean much in a woman. It disappears with age. But he said some women have something better. They have a special glow that lasts all their life and just gets richer. You’re like that. You really shine.”
She could feel her eyes growing moist.
“Don’t cry.”
“I’m not.”
Her hand slipped from his shoulder to his face without conscious thought. He rubbed his cheek lightly against her fingers and kissed her palm. The scandal would last a hundred years, she thought, and willed her hand back to his shoulder. The smile started then, a real smile, teeth flashing oh so white in his bronze face. Her heart soared, and in truth, that night Anne Wells Bennett was not the only one who saw beauty in her fierce, dark man.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Smashwords

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Bodyguard by Suzanne Brockmann

Format: E-bookbodyguard
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Hero: Harry O’Dell
Heroine: Alessandra Lamont
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: February 23, 2004
Started On: September 12, 2010
Finished On: September 13, 2010

My first Suzanne Brockmann certainly entertained me enough that she definitely makes an author of interest from this point forward. Though this by far isn’t the best romantic suspense novel I have read, I certainly enjoyed the different characters that made this book a pretty swell read.

Harry O’Dell, an FBI agent lives like he has got nothing to lose. Working on bringing down organized crime, his job had finally taken its toll on his family when his ex-wife and eldest son Kevin had been killed in a car crash as a result of a shooting that had only meant to be a scare tactic by the mob to scare Harry off his current investigation. Though his son Shaun and Emily the youngest are both alive and need him more than ever, he hands them over to his stepsister Marge who has been taking care of them for the past two years. The pain that he feels whenever he sees Shaun or Emily prevents him from visiting or spending any quality time with either of them. As a result, Shaun is sick and tired of telling his sister Emily that their father’s job in protecting the President is too important to be left alone to come and visit them for any length of time.

Alessandra Lamont is in a shit load of trouble. First her marriage of more than 6 years had come crashing down when her husband Griffin Lamont had traded her in for a newer younger version of a trophy wife. The one thing Alessandra had been darn happy about was the fact that Griffin had given her everything she had asked for, the house and the cars, and only asked for his mother’s azalea bush the one right outside the kitchen door. And then she had found out that the house had been triple mortgaged to the hilt, the cars were all leased and that Griffin had applied for bankruptcy. The next thing Alessandra knows, the police is knocking down her door wanting to know where Griffin was in association with a drug deal that had gone south. And then to top it all off, she had received the news that Griffin had been found hands tied behind his back with two shots to his head, killed in classic gang slaying style. And her troubles had been far from over even then. Alessandra being unable to bear children had set her heart on adopting Jane Doe, a baby she had come across at the Northshore Children’s Hospital where she did fund raising work. Jane had been labeled as not likely to be adopted because she was severely handicapped and had been born with a heart defect. Now with all her finances and stability in shambles around her, the Social Services had turned her down as a potential parent for Jane and that broke her heart more than anything else.

Though Alessandra doesn’t have much of an idea on how her soon to have been ex-husband had met his demise in such a fashion, she has an inkling that it had something to do with Micheal Trotta allegedly hip deep in illegal drug sales, prostitution and graft. Alessandra is more than shaken when she returns home one night after a visit to the hospital to find the whole place trashed with nothing left untouched. And then she receives the bone chilling phone call that requests her to find the money or she is next on the list. It is into this mess that Harry and George Faulkner, Harry’s partner for the past 8 months walks into. Although Harry’s melting brown eyes and rumpled look makes her want to launch herself at him and sob her heart out, Alessandra knows that she cannot rely on anyone to protect her.

Harry when he first lays eyes on Alessandra with her movie star good looks, softly lidded blue eyes, thick blond hair and perfectly proportioned body sends an unwanted arc of red hot need through him for the first time in 4 years. Harry despises himself for the fact that he could crave a woman who looked as warm as the North Pole in freezing temperatures. And to top it off in Harry’s mind she had deserved what had landed in her lap by marrying into the mob for the money and luxuries that life would bring.

When Alessandra is threatened within an inch of her life by none other than Micheal Trotta himself who is livid that Griffin had had the balls to double-cross him and steal a million dollars from him and is ready to make an example out of his wife gives her 48 hours to come up with the missing money. Alessandra barely makes the deadline and thinks she has got away scot free, that is until her house is blown up with the sole intention of killing her.

No matter how much Alessandra protests, she is taken into witness protection though the FBI’s main aim is to use her as bait to lure in Michael Trotta and convict him once and for all, a fact which is kept from Alessandra. Though Harry is prepared to keep himself away from Alessandra no matter how much she tempted him on so many levels, it proves to be harder than he realizes when Harry gets to know the actual woman underneath all the layers that Alessandra had perfected during her marriage to Griffin.

Before long, Michael’s thugs take the bait and Alessandra is livid when she finds out the role that the FBI had made her play unknowingly. Determined to strike out on her own and run away though the threat to her is quite large with the bounty on her head increasing by millions each day, Alessandra nearly does so until Harry convinces her that it would be better all around if he went along with her. Thus, with Alessandra in tow, Harry finds himself making his way to Colorado where his children were, in the hopes of sorting out the court order he had received that Marge wanted to adopt his children.

It is during the last leg of the trip that Harry and Alessandra both give into the obvious desire they have for one another. And it is in Colorado that Harry comes face to face with just how much hurt and anger and resentment that Shaun had stored away the past 2 years, and the fact that his sweet little Emily really had no recollection of who he was whatsoever. And it is Alessandra that stops Harry from giving up on his family, who patiently and stubbornly makes him see reason and in the end to whom Harry turns to when he sees just how much he had been willing to give up for his dead son when his children who were alive deserved so much more from him.

Intensely emotional at times and gripping with action at other moments, this is a book that makes you race through the pages until the very end. The ending which shows life 4 years afterwards for the O’Dells was a heartwarming one which I loved.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Another Love by Ann Jacobs

Format: E-bookAnother Love
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Black Gold, Book 6
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: James Blake Tanner IV
Heroine: Erin Winters
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: December 1, 2005
Started On: September 11, 2010
Finished On: September 12, 2010

I picked up this book on the basis of its storyline, where the hero has been previously married and wife had died. The love story that unfurls is most of the time between a reluctant hero who idolizes the memory of his dead wife which prevents him from seeing the heroine who is a much better match for him all around. This book takes things a step further, such that the heroine is the surrogate mother of the hero and his dead wife’s child.

Another Love is the 3rd book in a series called Black Gold by the author. The story kicks off when Erin Winters receives the news that she has successfully become pregnant with the sperm provided by the father-to-be James Blake Tanner IV whom she had never met. Though Erin has serious reservations about the fact that whether she would be able to let go of the baby that will keep on growing inside of her and is a part of her, Erin has no choice with all the tragedies that life had inevitably dealt her with. With her husband Bill killed in a hideous car accident 3 years ago, rendering Timmy their son unable to walk had taken its toll on Erin’s life and her finances as well. Erin had quoted a sum of 50,000 dollars for the baby she would bear for the Tanners so that her son Timmy could go ahead with the surgery that is his only hope of ever being able to walk again. And then tragedy strikes once again when at the 5th month of her pregnancy she receives word that Glenna Tanner had died in surgery after being shot by a deranged maniac going on a shooting spree at the infant department at Neiman Marcus.

James Blake Tanner IV (Blake’s) world comes crashing down all around him when his beloved wife, best friend and soul mate dies a senseless death leaving him reeling in the aftermath. James and Glenna had grown up together, Glenna being brought up by grandparents who had taught her to love and live life to the fullest, with Blake being brought up by the servants hired by his workaholic lawyer of a father. Glenna had brought joy and color into his otherwise mundane life. At the tender age of 10, a solemn little boy then, Blake had professed his love for Glenna and proposed to Glenna on the Christmas after they had graduated from college.

Blake and Glenna had been married for more than 14 years and survived a bunch of miscarriages. Glenna’s need to have a baby of their own had finally ended up in Blake agreeing to surrogacy though Blake would have happily foregone having a child if it meant Glenna would be by his side for all time. Blake knows that there is no way that he would want the baby that is a part of him now, since he knows that he would resent the unborn child because it had been the reason that fate had so cruelly snatched away the only person who meant the world to him.

When Blake requests through his friend and gynecologist Greg that Erin obtain an abortion, Erin is livid and informs Greg that she wouldn’t do any such thing and wants to talk to the father of the child she is carrying. Blake doesn’t want anything to do with the woman who in his opinion had stooped so low as to request a large sum of money in exchange for her baby. But when Blake against his better judgment goes and meets Erin, Blake knows that he cannot turn away from the woman who carries his child and the dire situation she is in. In the end, Blake resolves the situation by inviting Erin and her son Timmy who captures his heart from the very first moment to move into his home.

Though Glenna maybe dead, her part in the story is far from over. Arriving as a ghost, knowing that her desire to have a baby had inevitably ended up with her being dead causing more hurt and grief than she ever wanted to the man she would love all through eternity, Glenna vows to make things right for Blake once again. Knowing that her Blake who always viewed life in a methodical and analytical way would rather commit himself into an asylum than acknowledge that his dead wife was haunting him, Glenna decides to work her way through with Erin by  her side.

A mild friendship develops between Erin and Blake and when Erin hurts herself before her due date, Blake is forced to face the fact that he doesn’t want his child to arrive into this world as a bastard. Thus with this practicality in mind, Blake offers to marry Erin though he informs her that he has nothing emotionally left in him to give and that he would always love his dead wife. Erin knows that the security that Blake offers her and Timmy is too good to turn down. Any misgivings she has is cleared away by Glenna and it is with all good intentions in mind that Erin agrees to marriage with Blake.

Though both Erin and Blake feel a mutual awareness of one another, Blake is too grief stricken to really acknowledge it, that is until the night Erin gives birth to their son Jamie and Blake sees Erin nursing their son. Desire and lust long denied unfurls which Blake tries to hide and keep at bay. But in the end, a seductive and alluring Erin proves to be too much of a temptation to resist. Though Blake may share his body with Erin, and feels guilty about it, he doesn’t give himself the chance to really see Erin as a woman who is more compatible for him in every way. Erin knows that the man she has fallen so hopelessly in love is never going to return her feelings, but Glenna keeps on urging her to move forward and work towards obtaining Blake’s love.

There is also a secondary story interwoven with Blake and Erin’s story. The story of Erin’s younger sister Sandy and her boss and Blake’s friend Greg who is the gynecologist who find love in one another and fights the obstacles in their merged lives to get married and start a life with one another. I didn’t care much for the explicit sex scenes between Sandy and Greg, maybe because I never really got into their characters. Some of the scenes between Blake and Erin were definitely smoking hot, though the rest left a lot to be desired. There is only so much smut a girl can read before it gets to be repetitive.

I enjoyed Blake and Erin’s story though not as much as I hoped I would. Erin’s son Timmy and the way he heroically suffered the rigorous treatments he has to undergo throughout won my heart over and over again. I could definitely use some of his courage over here in the real world!

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Darkest Hour by Maya Banks

Format: E-bookthe darkest hour
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Kelly Group International, Book 1
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Hero: Ethan Kelly
Heroine: Rachel
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: September 7, 2010
Started On: September 10, 2010
Finished On: September 11, 2010

First of all, let me just say WOW! This novel grabbed me and turned me inside out from page 1. I was kind of wary at first to pick up this book because the only time I had read a book by Maya Banks which was Seducing Simon, it kind of fell flat for me. But I am so very glad that I put my reservations aside and went ahead and read the book, because this story is so very very good!

This story promises the start of a great new series by the author. This series centers around the Kelly family, 6 sons of local hardware store owner Frank Kelly and his wife of more than 30 years Marlene Kelly who was now a retired teacher. Sam, Garret, Donovan, Ethan and Nathan and Joe who are twins makes up the Kelly family. One would have thought that with 6 rambunctious sons to raise, Marlene would have enough on her hands. But with her kindhearted nature, Marlene tended to take in strays as her sons affectionately liked to tease her, and mothered them as well, showering them with as much love as if she had born them.

The Kelly Group International is a covert super-elite family run business that takes on missions such as hostage/kidnap victim recovery, intelligence gathering and sometimes gets hired by the US government to handle tough jobs that they cannot handle. Since all 6 of the Kelly men had served in different branches of the military at some point, Nathan and Joe still serving in Afghanistan, Sam, Donovan and Garret were the ones who owned and handled the KGI business.

Ethan Kelly, is ex-Navy SEAL, and drinks himself to oblivion every day and night to escape his memories and pain. Since that fateful day on June 16 a year ago, when he had received word that Rachel had been killed in a crash that had taken the lives of a small group of relief workers flying in from South America, Ethan and his family had been devastated. Rachel had not been just Ethan’s wife. Rather, Rachel had been taken under Marlene’s love and care when her own parents had been killed in a car crash. Rachel who had always been a favorite student of Marlene’s had been like the daughter she never had and her death had affected the Kelly family in more ways than one.

On the 1 year anniversary of his wife’s death, Ethan receives a package that contains evidence that Rachel is very much alive being held captive in a drug cartel camp deep in the jungles of South America. Ethan who had been praying for a second chance and can’t believe it when it does happen, convinces his brothers to help him rescue the woman who bears a remarkable resemblance to his dead wife.

The Kelly’s storm the camp to find Rachel hooked high on drugs and scared out of her mind. The only thing that Rachel does remember and dream about is a man whom she craves to be her knight in shining armor and who she knows will keep her undoubtedly safe. When Ethan rushes into the small hut in which Rachel is kept captive, she knows that the man who she keeps dreaming about has finally come for her.

With all her memories of her past life gone, Rachel is more than scared out of her wits when she is rescued. The only men she seems to remember are Garret and Ethan. On top of that the craving she has for a fix by the needle exhausts her more than anything. Recovery is a slow agonizing process and her return back home is made as stress free as possible by the family that awaits her eagerly.

But as Rachel’s memories slowly return, so does a dream that frightens her beyond anything she had endured. An angry Ethan who looks as if he loathes her and hates her keeps Rachel in constant agitation. Ethan knows that he is living on borrowed time with his wife until her memory fully returns. Ethan had done Rachel wrong in so many ways in their marriage and unless he can get his wife to give him a second chance so that he could prove to her just how much she is worth to him, Ethan knows that life would have no meaning for him if otherwise.

Meanwhile, the threat on Rachel’s life is not completely obliterated. Attempts on her life more than once leave all of the Kelly’s reeling. And the story of greed, corruption and murder of a power hungry politician emerges as the story unfolds which kept the pages turning.

This story has so many facets to it that made it so interesting. I know that all 6 Kelly’s would make delicious heroes if the way Ethan treats Rachel is any standard to uphold. Rusty, the newest stray that Marlene takes in also promises to be an interesting addition to the Kelly brood.

The Darkest Hour has all the essential ingredients in the right amounts that make up a great romantic suspense novel. Mouth watering hot men in combat gear is enough to shoot up any girls temperature right up. Added to the mix more emotion than my heart could handle at times with enough danger to keep the edge on the story made this book an instant winner.

Two more books of this series have already been announced on the author’s website. No Place to Run which would feature Sam’s story to be released this December and Hidden Away which is Garret’s story to be released in 2011 has me on tenterhooks already!

If you want to read romantic suspense that grabs your emotions right from the very start and delivers on all counts, this is a must-read!

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy

Format: E-book9780425235942_Hot_Finish_MM.indd
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Microsoft Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Fast Track, Book 3
Publisher: Berkley
Hero: Ryder Jefferson
Heroine: Suzanne Hickey
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: August 3, 2010
Started On: September 9, 2010
Finished On: September 10, 2010

Finally, this is the story of Suzanne and Ryder which I bet most of the readers of the series have been craving for. I have enjoyed reading all three stories of the series out so far. What made these stories enjoyable was the fact that Tamara, Imogen and Suzanne are all so different from one another and find love with men who are all sinfully good looking as they are kind, generous and loving. Of the three women, Suzanne’s story is the one that starts out with a prior history between the two.

Suzanne and Ryder had met one another at Ryder’s cousin Brian’s wedding of which Suzanne had been the wedding planner. Ryder had then been just a rookie driver, a little bit full of himself. Having grown up as an only child with middle class parents who thought that he could do no wrong, Ryder was a happy carefree kind of guy. The instant attraction between the two inevitably ended with Suzanne becoming pregnant which prompted Ryder to propose and they both eloped to marry at Las Vegas.

Suzanne had never felt that Ryder had married her because he was in love with her, but rather because he wanted to do the right thing when she got pregnant. Having never established the proper channels of communication between the two from the very hasty beginning of their volatile relationship, when Suzanne miscarries neither Ryder nor Suzanne talks about their feelings when it both affected them so much. Having never talked about the subject of trying for kids again, Suzanne who craved for a family of her own when she had grown up as an only child dirt poor with grandparents when her mother had abandoned her, Suzanne had felt that their relationship would never grow into something more. And the fact that Ryder almost always never remembered to take care of everyday little things which in the end Suzanne had to take care of, made her feel like an assistant of Ryder’s rather than his partner and wife.

Inevitably, disagreements between the two had started with growing discontentment on both sides. The bedroom had been the only place where these two knew one another and Ryder had always thought that whatever problems or arguments or fights they had, they would never part. But when Suzanne has had enough and walks out on Ryder, he doesn’t know what else to do but let her go.

Now the two year alimony period was over and Suzanne who had spent the past four years working as a volunteer on the board of charity that funded children’s cancer research has no option but to return to work as a wedding planner, which the cynic she had become since her divorce makes the job doubly harder. But Suzanne is determined that she would earn her way through and not give into the charity that Ryder was willing to offer.

Planning Nikki (Ty’s ex girlfriend who grated on everyone’s nerves with her flamboyant and dumb blond ways) and Jonas Strickland’s wedding was her first job in venturing back into the wedding planning business. The stress of having no money and taking care of the tantrums that Nikki made her put up with is taking its toll on Suzanne when she receives a letter from their divorce lawyer stating that Ryder and Suzanne weren’t actually divorced because Ryder had forgotten to give the lawyer power of attorney to appear in the court instead of him and had evidently never signed the papers. When Suzanne receives the news, its a foregone conclusion that with her volatile temper she would burst at the top.

However, Ryder is not much bothered by the fact since lately he had been having thoughts of Suzanne occupy his mind more than anything else. Though Ryder doesn’t have a clue as to why Suzanne finally walked out on him, he is willing to become a better husband all around and try and convince Suzanne that what they had was special enough not to walk away from.

With Ryder hellbent on showing Suzanne what she was missing, these two finally end up scorching the sheets, and my my! What an explosive combination do these two make! I was expecting their coming together to be volatile but the actual scene just took my breathe away!

Although Suzanne tries hard to deny her feelings for Ryder, she has to acknowledge the fact that she still loves Ryder but she isn’t willing to trust Ryder with her heart and open up to him, something Suzanne has no idea how to do because she had never ever been that person.

In the end, Suzanne ends up pregnant once again, and Ryder makes an ass out of himself whilst trying to profess that he still wants to be together and loves her which drives them apart once again. It is with Suzanne’s friends Tamara and Imogen’s help that she comes to realize that her marriage to Ryder had not failed only because of him but Suzanne was also part of the problem.

In the end its all good with a happy ending for the couple. I always love reading more about Elec and Tamara, my favorite couple by far from this series. According to the author’s website, there are two more books of the series to come out next year, Evan and Eve’s story, siblings of Elec Monroe. Am hoping those two stories would contribute towards making this series a favorite all the way through!

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy

Format: E-bookhard and fast
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Microsoft Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Fast Track, Book 2
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Hero: Ty Jackson McCordle
Heroine: Imogen Wilson
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: May 5, 2009
Started On: September 8, 2010
Finished On: September 9, 2010

The second book in the Fast Track Series tells the story of Imogen Wilson and Ty Jackson McCordle both of whom we get to meet in the first book of the series which I reviewed earlier. Imogen is assistant to Tamara Briggs, sociology professor and Imogen is racking her brains to come up with a research topic for her dissertation for her graduate degree. Imogen and Ty first meet at Tamara’s place when Imogen goes to Tamara’s place to drop off some papers whilst Ty and Ryder are at her place visiting Hannah and Petey who were down with the chicken pox. Right from the very first moment Imogen lays her eyes on the sexy stock car driver, she falls inevitably in lust with him.

Imogen knows that 22 years old bouncy, bubbly and blond Nikki Borden, who starves herself, and has breast implants and lip injections to enhance her beauty is more Ty’s type of woman than she is. Though Imogen and her friends Tamara and Suzanne can hardly stand to be in the same room with Nikki who seems to have attained her thin model like figure at the expense of frying up a huge amount of her brain cells, the fact that Ty was dating the girl proved that someone like Imogen who was smart, inquisitive by nature and academic would have no chance with the walking eye candy of a man that Ty was.

So it takes Imogen completely by surprise when she sees the desire she feels for Ty mirrored in his eyes when he gazes down at her after Imogen accidentally runs into him on the porch of Tamara’s home where they were holding a little dinner party. Ty had come outside to escape Nikki and her annoying chit chatter that was driving him up the wall. Ty had to acknowledge the fact that he had let things go for too long with Nikki. He was suddenly tired of getting together with women who had nothing to offer in the conversation department. Ty knows that the fact that he has severe dyslexia is one of the reasons that he doesn’t go for smart women like Imogen who was looking and sounding more appealing to him by the minute.

The only thing stopping Imogen from jumping Ty is the fact that he is still with Nikki. But when Ty is suddenly back on the market, Imogen knows that she won’t be able to say no to the man who makes her senses hum just by being in the same room. Ty and Nikki embark on a hard and fast affair though for both of them what they have together is much more than just a good time in bed.

Things progress forward and Ty asks Imogen to marry him and it is then that Imogen who always thinks things through to death starts having little bouts of doubts about their suitability together. The conversation that takes place has Ty confessing his dyslexia which is quite a sensitive issue with him which shocks Imogen and in the end they both handle things badly which lead to a break up 12 hours after Ty proposes marriage to the love of his life.

This story though not as interesting as I found Elec and Tamara’s story was still a good read. The conversations that take place between Tamara, Suzanne and Imogen had me laughing out loud at several points. Suzanne’s outrageous nature must make her one of the favorite characters in this series. The 3rd book in the series tells the story of Suzanne and Ryder who have been divorced for 2 years, but the encounters between the two definitely shows that there are a lot of unresolved issues between them. Am pretty interested in reading their story though their story hasn’t received as rave reviews as the first two.

Ooh! And yes! I heart the cover!! Very much so!

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy

Format: E-bookflat-out sexy
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Adobe Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Fast Track, Book 1
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Hero: Elec Monroe
Heroine: Tamara Briggs
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: November 4, 2008
Started On: September 7, 2010
Finished On: September 8, 2010

I normally don’t like romances that deal with race car driving or anything of that sort. But seeing rave reviews of this series on a lot of book review sites and countless recommendations of these titles got my interest piqued enough to give these books a go. And I am so glad I did! Though I had reservations about reading a book by the author since her book Heiress for Hire kind of fell flat on the sensuality department, this book literally set my heart racing everytime Elec and Tamara got together.

Tamara Briggs, widow of the famous race car driver Pete Briggs who was killed in a wreck in Talladega is ready for the dating scene two years on. Though she has her reservations about her appeal after bearing her babies, Petey and Hannah both of whom she loved more than anything else in the world, Tamara needs to feel that connection and is so lonely of being alone since her husband died. A sociology professor and 32 years old, Tamara ventures into the dating world by going out with anthropology professor Geoffrey Ayers who couldn’t be less suited for her even if she tried. When her friend Suzanne points out that fact and some more, Tamara knows that she had thought wrong when she started going out with Geoffrey just because she wanted someone safe this time, who wouldn’t end up getting killed on the racetrack. Tamara had sworn that she wouldn’t date a race car driver again and that she didn’t want to put her or her kids through the pain of losing someone like that again.

Resolving to break things off with Geoffrey before the party is through and she has to fulfill the expectations Geoffrey has of them sharing a bed  together, she bumps into a guy spilling her wine glass all over him to look up and see a man who makes her go weak at her knees. The attraction that sizzles right from the very beginning is not one sided. 25 year old Elec Monroe feels like his world had tilted on its axis when sexy and beautiful Tamara runs into him. Elec who has been rendered infertile a couple of years back, dates women who wouldn’t want anything more than to live in the moment because he doesn’t want the pain of being rejected by a woman he has come to care about because he wouldn’t be able to provide her with children. But when Tamara bumps into him all his rules change in an instant and he is smitten right from the very beginning.

Tamara has a lot of valid reasons not to start something with the only man who is able to touch her in all the right ways and make her feel good about herself. For one thing he is younger than herself, she doesn’t want the hassle of getting together with a race car driver and putting her heart and emotions on the line again, and she has her kids to think about and her in-laws who have been together with her through every step of the way and helped her through adjusting to life being a single mom. The Briggs who were like family to the Monroes had had a falling out with them and Johnny, Pete’s father hated them with a vengeance which also gave Tamara a pause every time she thought of her and Elec getting together.

But reason always seems to fly out through the nearest window whenever Elec is within her sight. Red hot need obliterates everything else and Tamara knows that she and Elec share more than just fabulous sex with one another. Elec shows Tamara that he is not just after her delectable body but something much more and that he is with her for the long haul. Elec is kind, passionate, sweet and a very endearing hero and Tamara herself suites him to a tad.

I loved the smooth flow of the story, the passionate scenes which were done so tastefully and contributed towards making the love between Elec and Tamara richer. The side characters Ty & Imogen (whose story is next in the series) and Ryder and Suzanne (whose story is in the 3rd book of the series) all contributed towards making this book an instant winner with me. Can’t wait to sink into the next one in the series! Highly recommended for all contemporary romance lovers!

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Hot Island Nights by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-bookMSRCover
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Mobipocket Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Blaze, #566
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Nathan Jones
Heroine: Elizabeth Jane Mason
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 1, 2010
Started On: September 7, 2010
Finished On: September 7, 2010

What I adore most about novels by Sarah Mayberry is the fact that her books offer more than just a fabulous roll in the bed which the Blaze line of books are famous for. Her books open up a world of possibilities with in depth character development and there is always a story begging to be told from start to finish. This book is no exception to that fact. When one reads the back cover of the book, he or she might be lulled into thinking that this is just your average good girl gone bad story. But it offers so much more and I loved every bit of reading Nathan and Elizabeth’s story maybe as much as or more than Ms. Mayberry must have loved writing their story.

Elizabeth Jane Mason was on the verge of tying the knot with her fiance’ Martin St. Clair within 8 weeks, whom she had been with for the past 6 years. Amidst bouts of panic and  questioning herself on whether she was doing the right thing, Elizabeth was a mess which she attributed towards prewedding jitters. She had always felt that there was something missing in her relationship with Martin who worked for her grandfather at his prestigious law firm. Elizabeth had been brought up by her grandparents when her parents had been killed in a light plane accident 23 years back. Elizabeth had always been the good girl, never giving a reason for her grandparents to worry over, always giving up what she had wanted in life in favor of what her grandparents thought was what she wanted and needed.

All the tension and unease Elizabeth is feeling comes to head when she receives the shocking revelation that John Alexander Mason whom she had always known to be her father was in reality her stepfather. Her actual father was a man named Sam Blackwell of whom she had known nothing about, until she had requested for a copy of her birth certificate to be mailed over so that Martin could apply for their marriage license. The final straw is realizing that even Martin had known about it when her grandfather had taken him into his confidence right after Martin had proposed to Elizabeth. Feeling immensely betrayed by the fact that her family and her fiance had made choices for her that they had no right making, Elizabeth calls off the wedding and heads off to find her real father and to find herself whilst she is at it.

Four days later, Elizabeth arrives in Phillip Island in Victoria Australia, Sam Blackwell’s last known place of residence. When she knocks on the door, the man who opens up the door wearing nothing but a threadbare towel and looking like he had just got out of bed with bloodshot eyes, he literally takes Elizabeth’s breath away with his superb body on display.

Nathan Jones (Nate), is a man who is haunted by memories too painful even to contemplate. Drinking from noon to night till he achieves the perfect balance to embrace the oblivion offered by sleep until the next day, surfing and walking the beach around the island and hooking up with an available woman a night or two is how Nathan prefers to live at the moment. A horrible accident that had taken the life of Olivia his sister whom he had loved more than anything in his life had left him with scars on the inside rather than the outside. Giving up all management rights of Smartsell, the business he and his lifelong friend Jarvie Roberts had built from the ground up so that he could take each day as it arrives, Nathan doesn’t envision his life changing the pattern it had taken since the night that irrevocably changed his life 6 months ago.

When Nathan opens up his door to eye the beautiful woman who stands on his doorstep and finds out that she is looking for his buddy Sam, all Nathan offers Elizabeth (Lizzy as he calls her), is that he would let Sam know that she had come looking for him. Elizabeth is more than infuriated at the gall of the man and his disinclination to help her even when she professed to being the daughter that Sam had never even met. Resigned to the fact that she would have to wait around since Nathan had informed her that Sam was gone for the moment to participate in the Sydney to Hobart yatch race and would only return during new year which was nearly a month away, Elizabeth returns to her hotel and tries to make the best of her stay and loose her inhibitions a bit.

When the sleep that Elizabeth had been craving for after the long journey eludes her, with thoughts of Nathan and his beautiful body crowding into her mind unwittingly which annoys her to no end, Elizabeth decides to go downstairs and check out the beer bar which was full of people as night was settling in. It is there Elizabeth encounters Nate again, whom she can’t help but follow around with her eyes. The red hot attraction that blazes to surface seems to be mutual on both ends, and Elizabeth who has never done an improper thing in her life has wild mind blowing sex with Nathan on the beach before the night is through.

What starts out as an island fling with the only man who had the ability to rock her world slowly turns into something more as the days pass. Elizabeth’s first impression of Nate as a carefree beach bum slowly changes as she realizes the depth of intelligence that he keeps well hidden behind the facade that Nate puts up. Nate in turn faces the fact that Elizabeth and the time he spends in her company is more effective in keeping  those dark memories and dreams at bay than any alcoholic beverage. And though Nathan has nothing more to offer a woman than a fabulous time in bed, he finds himself seeking out Elizabeth and what her delectable body offers him. In true Blaze style Ms. Mayberry knocked my socks off with the sizzling steam these two generate.

When finally Sam makes contact with Nathan and Elizabeth gets to talk with her father, she knows from the unenthusiastic response that she receives that she is a complication that Sam wants to do without at  the moment. The hurt and dejection that settles on Elizabeth’s shoulders somehow reaches out to Nathan who doesn’t want to rescue any damsels in distress. Nathan offers to take Elizabeth sailing and in the end comforts her by conveying to her that Sam was a rather reclusive man who loved nothing more than sailing the vast oceans.

When Nathan starts to feel things are getting too serious betwee him and Elizabeth he decides to call things off, but in the end the powerful effect of the trauma that Nathan faces every day since the accident propels him to seek Elizabeth’s company. Elizabeth knows that even though they had spent just 5 days with one another give or take a few hours, she had found something she had craved all her life with Nathan and refuses to give up on him no matter how hard Nathan tries to push her away.

Slowly Nathan starts to heal though the guilt he stores deep inside him for surviving the accident and being unable to help his sister fills him with self loathing and anger. Ms. Mayberry doesn’t offer any quick solutions to Nathan’s problems which made this book a winner for me. When tragedy nearly rips the woman he loves from his arms, Nathan once again tries to close himself off of the possibility of being happy and loved and it is Elizabeth’s stubbornness that saves them in the end.

I definitely loved the epilogue which portrays their lives six months after, with Nathan slowly healing and mending with an unwavering Elizabeth by his side. The story ends off with the tale of Martin and Violet, Elizabeth’s best friend who had loathed each other and have got together begging to be told. But I guess it’s too much to hope for their own story even though I would love it if it were to be told. Kudos to Ms. Mayberry for weaving the magic she so effortlessly creates with her characters whom you can’t help but fall in love with before the story is through.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Last Summer by Theresa Weir

Format: E-bookimage001
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Fanfare
Hero: Johnnie Irish
Heroine: Maggie Mayfield
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 1, 1993
Started On: September 5, 2010
Finished On: September 6, 2010

When it came for the time to post the review I somehow do not remember where I picked up this title from, but boy, am I glad I did! This story swept over all my emotions, tugging at my heartstrings, made me yearn to take Johnnie in my arms and comfort him like I have never comforted anyone in my life. Yes, his story is that tragic, not that the author goes on and on about how he was neglected and abused during his childhood, but a clue here and there makes  the readers sum up on their own how hellish his childhood had actually being, and that just put a perpetual knot of emotion in my throat that refused to leave even long after I was done with the story.

Johnnie Irish, born into the small town of Hope, Texas hated his hometown with a vengeance. Born to a mother who had whored her life away, beat him up and beat him real good if he even whimpered during the beating session, put him inside a closet whilst she entertained various men and often forgot that he was even there and when he had grown older, kicked him out of the house for the night where he lay on a cold dark slab of stone near his derelict house and much later got into all sorts of trouble running around town at night. It was only later that Johnnie had realized that his dead mother had actually being crazy and insane, and she had always blamed Johnnie for the way she had chosen to live her life in the end.One of her regular visitors was Brace Cahill, cop of Hope who was as mean as they come. Brace who was married wasn’t amused when Johnnie had walked in on him and his mother and though Johnnie had sworn that he wouldn’t say anything to anyone about Brace visiting his mother, before Johnnie knew it, he had been arrested over some petty crime, and driven out of Hope by Brace himself.

The only good thing about Hope that he remembered was his high school drama teacher Harriet Lundy whom he affectionately called Harry. Johnnie had landed in drama class because none of the teachers would take him in and give the belligerent boy a chance. Though Harriet had her misgivings at first, when Johnnie took center stage, she could see the immense talent that this sensitive boy contained in spades. Harriet had always believed in Johnnie and advised him that never to let anyone make him think that he is not good enough.

Now fifteen years later, Hope beckoned him in the form of an invitation to be the main attraction in Hope’s homecoming parade. Johnnie, a well known actor who had several hit comedies under his belt felt the lure of coming back home and showing its residents a thing or two too strongly to turn down the offer.

Maggie Mayfield though she had not been born and bred in Hope, she had come to love its barren land and its open skies. Maggie had moved to Hope with her husband Steven because of his emphysema (An abnormal condition of the lungs marked by decreased respiratory function; associated with smoking or chronic bronchitis or old age). Though Steven had passed on a couple of years ago, Maggie had stayed back rather than return to Ohio where  Steven’s family lived.

From the very start, Maggie had been dead against Johnnie being included in the parade. From what she has read and heard about Johnnie who lived his life in the fast lane, partying away long into the night and had the usual habits of celebrities, Johnnie had not sounded like someone who would appreciate Hope and its residents. And when Johnnie steps off the small plane that brings him to Hope, it is Maggie who is there to receive him. Though Maggie had not bothered with her appearance on behalf of Johnnie and had resolutely made up her mind that she would not be swayed by his good looks, in reality his looks does knock her out of her loop for a bit. But then Johnnie does something that lives up to his disreputable image and that fancy notions in Maggie’s head takes a flying leap.

Things had been going pretty well in the parade that is until Johnnie had brought out a beer and started drinking in the midst of the parade. Angered beyond belief, Maggie had abruptly stopped the car which had landed Johnnie on his butt rendering him unconscious for a bit. And when she spies the syringe that slips out of his pocket, Maggie is surprised at the disappointment she feels that Johnnie actually lives up to his reputation of drug abusing. After being treated at the local hospital for concussion, Johnnie makes his way to see Harriet and then Maggie. Johnnie has no idea why he wants to apologize to Maggie for ruining the parade, which in actual reality was something he had wanted to do. At Maggie’s home, Johnnie collapses and it is then Maggie finds out that the syringe that he carries is for insulin as Johnnie suffers from diabetes.

Johnnie goes back to his life in California and Maggie resumes her life in Hope. But the thoughts and memories of the brief encounter between her and Johnnie always stays fresh in Maggie’s mind. Though she knows that Johnnie most probably must have forgotten about her, Maggie can’t help thinking about Johnnie. When Johnnie goes back, he starts partying harder than ever and lands in a bit of trouble which in the end lands him in jail. When his agent and only close friend Sherman comes to pick him up he finds Johnnie nearly dead of insulin shock.

Thus Johnnie takes Sherman’s advise and goes to recuperate and it is to Hope he returns to that summer. Maggie was having the first day of play rehearsal with her students and was having all sorts of problems with the piano player who had stepped into replace the original piano player piano player who had fallen down and broken both her wrists. To her surprise, it is Johnnie who walks in and saves the day. Though Maggie knows better than to trust Johnnie with keeping his word, she has no choice but to accept him as her new piano player. With the time they spend together, Maggie slowly starts to see beneath the surface of the man who jokes away to keep his emotions at bay. When Johnnie professes that he wants Maggie and she turns him down, Johnnie is more than surprised because it was actually a first time for him.

Maggie comes to care about and in the end fall in love with the mass contradictions of a man that Johnnie was. But the nightmares that Johnnie tries so hard to keep at bay, nightmares that features his dead mother and her endless torture sessions, Johnnie is desperate to leave again and nearly does so 3 days before the night of the play. Maggie is furious with Johnnie that he had once again gone ahead and proven himself worthy of his reputation. But then Johnnie agrees for Maggie’s sake that he would stay behind until the night of the play. By then, Maggie had realized that no matter how hard she had tried not to, she had given her heart to the one man who was so ill suited for her.

Sharing a night of passion which ends in a tear stricken Maggie flying into the arms of Elliot, her brother-in-law, a scene that Johnnie witnesses and breaks something within him, he goes back to his life in California though thoughts of Maggie are never far from his mind. Meanwhile, 2 months later, Maggie finds out that she is carrying Johnnie’s child, a fact she decides not to share with the father to be, thinking he wouldn’t care.

Harriet’s letters bring Johnnie back for a visit, and it is then he realizes that Maggie is pregnant. Maggie deliberately misleads him to think that it is Elliot’s baby. Johnnie, whom women had always tried to trap into marriage through pregnancy, suddenly finds himself craving to be the father of the baby that Maggie carries in her womb. Broken in more ways than he realizes, he bids farewell and well wishes to Maggie and her life with Elliot and once again leaves Hope to turn up on Maggie’s doorstep once again when he receives word from Harriet (who suffers from Alzheimer and rambles on in her letters) that Maggie was working towards becoming a single mom.

Maggie on the verge of giving birth is not prepared for a confrontation with Johnnie who seems livid at the thought of Maggie going through pregnancy and parenthood alone. But when he realizes that Maggie is in pain it is Johnnie that stays with Maggie throughout her difficult labor which results in a C-Section. During the course of the hours, Maggie starts to have misgivings about how she has misled Johnnie and decides to come clean, though she knows that Johnnie would feel immensely betrayed by the fact. Johnnie who is enthralled by little Alex and takes to parenting like a pro, finds out the shocking truth before Maggie is able to confide in him and this drives Johnnie over the edge and sends him running back to California once again.

Later on, a year goes by and it is Harriet’s funeral that brings Johnnie back to Hope and back to Maggie and Alex. With his own demons to slay before Johnnie can find true happiness and serenity, it nearly looks as if Johnnie ends his life with his destructive behavior towards the end.

As I said before, I was thoroughly enraptured with Johnnie’s character. Long after I finished the book, I realized that it had always been Johnnie who had come after Maggie though Maggie is the first to realize how deeply her feelings run for Johnnie. In the end I realized that though Maggie had insight into Johnnie’s character, she never really believed in him as Harriet did and that didn’t sit very well with me. But in the end, it is with Maggie that Johnnie finds the peace that he craves for and I loved reading the story that depicted his struggles to find it.

Favorite Quotes

“I’m afraid,” she (Maggie) confessed in a wobbly voice.
“It’s okay to be afraid. I’m afraid all the time.”
She choked out a sound of disbelief. “What are you afraid of?”
“Everything.” A thoughtful pause. “You. You scare the hell out of me.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Abe Books

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