Category / Berkley Trade

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Beat of Temptation by Nalini Singh

Format: E-bookbeatoftemptation
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Psy-Changeling, #0.5
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Hero: Nathan Ryder
Heroine: Tamsyn Mahaire
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: October 2, 2007
Started On: July 12, 2013
Finished On: July 13, 2013

29 year old Nathan Ryder (Nate) is one of DarkRiver’s top soldiers, who is soon on the way to becoming a sentinel.

19 year old Tamsyn Mahaire (Tamsyn) is DarkRiver’s healer who assumes her position at the tender age of 17, taking on a responsibility that would have broken a woman of lesser strength and maturity.

Few Changelings get to recognise and meet their mate so early in life. A bond that can never be broken, much less ignored without being slowly killed on the inside, Nate and Tamsyn recognise the fact that they are mates the day Tamsyn turns 15 years old. But Nate resists taking what’s rightfully his, leading Tamsyn to think that he might actually not want her as his mate unlike her who wants him and all of him with everything in her being .

This novella is set at the very beginning of the series, much earlier than even Lucas’s story, ‘Slave to Sensation’ that is the 1st book in the Psy-Changeling series. Set in San Francisco, Beat of Temptation is told from both Tamsyn & Nate’s points of view.

Anyone who loves this series would have an innate sense of curiosity to learn about the stories of the various couples you encounter in the series that have already settled down and lend considerable fodder to the story as secondary characters. Tamsyn and Nate are one of those couples that you always come across and it was while reading ‘Mine to Possess’ that I was actually thinking along the lines that I would love to know about them too! And to my delighted surprise, there it was, the story of Nate and Tamsyn, tucked inside the anthology ‘An Enchanted Christmas’.

Beat of Temptation is quite the angst-ridden read, much more so than any other book in the series I have read to date. Nate resisting a bond that is a visceral part of both of them is painful in the extreme. With the sexual need as well as the need to be held which is an aspect of Changelings that is essential for their survival, Tamsyn feels torn on the inside and the animal inside of her breaks with too many rejections to count.

Though Nate’s reasons for holding back are quite understandable given his past, the fact that he makes his mate believe that she is not important enough in his life in his misguided attempts to keep her at arms lengths lends that gut wrenching quality to the story which I absolutely loved.

I fell in love with Nate, just like Tamsyn did, when he buys her violets, a flower so delicate which is symbolic of the love they share more than anything else. Loved the little epilogue tucked at the end which just made me want my own Changeling hero to pet and stroke and to be petted in return.

The only thing that disappointed me was the fact that there wasn’t even one good solid sex scene in Beat of Temptation. The sexual tension between Tamsyn and Nate is one that can be cut through with a knife and to not get anything out of all that honest to goodness tension was a bit of a letdown.

Recommended for fans of the series & those who are curious about stories of other secondary characters already settled down with their mates.

Final Verdict: Beat of Temptation echoes like a beat of want in your body. Nate & Tamsyn are a must-read!

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Addicted to You by Bethany Kane

Format: E-bookaddictedtoyou
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Series: A One Night of Passion, Book 1
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Hero: Rill Pierce
Heroine: Katie Hughes
Sensuality: 4.5
Date of Publication: June 7, 2011
Started On: July 1o, 2011
Finished On: July 11, 2011

Addicted to You by Bethany Kane is one of those titles that I stumbled upon quite accidentally whilst hopping through Twitter. Upon seeing the cover I was tempted and seeing the “friends-to-lovers” tag scream at me, I was sold and within minutes I pushed everything else aside and loaded up with this delectable piece of erotic contemporary romance, I let myself be swept away on the heady journey filled with all sorts of body tingling moments towards Rill and Katie’s happily ever after.

36 year old Rill Pierce is a brilliant, widely acclaimed writer and director who seems to have lost his way after the death of his wife Eden. Ever since the untimely demise of Eden which had shocked him with the news it had brought forth, Rill retires to the secluded town of Vulture’s Canyon in Illinois where he has been holed up for the past 18 months, licking his wounds which keeps on festering rather than healing. Tortured with the thoughts of how he has failed his wife whom he had adored with his very soul, Rill is a man who seems to be drowning himself in the oblivion that drink seems to bring him when his best friend’s little sister storms into his life, forcing him to face the demons that seems to hound him.

30 year old Katie Hughes is a tax attorney from Beverly Hills who quits her lucrative job because of the feelings of discontentment that seems to be lingering with her of late. Having always had a huge crush on her brother’s best friend who married her best friend Eden in the end, Katie is determined that she would save Rill from the darkness that he seems to shroud himself in. But once Katie turns up to find a drunk Rill who seems to be hell bent on seducing the “Angel” that has turned up on his doorstep, there is no stopping the flood of longing that manifests itself in one of the most explosive one night stands I have come across.

Rill finds that with Katie around, his self imposed exile and attempts to keep his baser nature reined in is a lost cause as his libido awakens with a bang and continues to tempt him beyond anything he has ever experienced before. With each explosive and sizzling hot encounter after another, Katie shatters his already frayed control where she is concerned until at last Rill surrenders knowing that there is no turning away from Katie and the intense connection between them. Though mind-blowing sex is the only thing Rill thinks that he has left to offer to Katie, the consequences of their first night together forces both Katie and Rill to explore their deeper emotions, to let go of Rill’s hold on a past that seems to lessen with Katie in the picture.

Addicted to You is an explosive dynamite of a read with enough sizzle to jumpstart all your nerve endings. Sensory overload is a fact and not just a mere say-so when it comes to the debut novel of the series entitled A One Night of Passion. A story that reels you in right from page one, Rill is a hero I fell immediately in love with, taking in his surly nature behind which lies a heart that is tortured by the events of his past. Katie is my favorite type of heroine; strong, nurturing where its needed and with a heart of gold that bleeds for the pain Rill finds himself in. She doesn’t give up, even when Rill is his meanest, trying to drive away the woman who is a match for him in every single way. Towards the end there is a swing smexing scene that any fan of erotica ought to read. Imaginative and mind numbingly hot is all I’m saying!

Recommended for fans of erotic contemporary romance who loves the friends-to-lovers trope and a high content & variety of sensual material in their stories.

Favorite Quotes

Something swooped up from his chest to his neck until it tightened like a clawed hand on his throat. It took him a second to recognize the sensation as blinding need.

“Don’t make me wait,” he whispered, leaning over and nipping at an earlobe. “I want you so bad I think it’s cutting at me from inside out.”

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Heartbreak Creek by Kaki Warner

Format: E-bookheartbreakcreek
Read with: Amazon Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: The Runaway Brides, Book 1
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Hero: Robert Declan Brodie
Heroine: Edwina Whitney Ladoux
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: July 5, 2011
Started On: July 8, 2011
Finished On: July 9, 2011

Heartbreak Creek is book one in the series Runaway Brides by author Kaki Warner. Recommended by my friend Jill on Goodreads, I needed no further urging as I am a huge fan of American Western romances. From the very start, the concept of 4 women who find love in the most unexpected places grabbed me and held me enthralled as each of the characters wormed their way into my heart, telling a story that would linger with me for the time to come.

Heartbreak Creek brings the story of 26 year old Edwina Whitney Ladoux from Southeastern Louisiana who makes her way towards Heartbreak Creek of Colorado as a mail-order bride for Robert Declan Brodie, a man she has never laid eyes on. Knowing that there was nothing worth staying around in war ravaged Louisiana for her and her half-sister Pru, Edwina makes the journey that brings her that much closer to the reality of marriage the second time round.

33 year old Declan is a widow who has his hands full looking after 4 children and managing his ranch which is a full-time job in itself. Knowing that his children require a mother’s touch, Declan is expecting a sturdy farm woman who can take charge of his family and instead finds himself married to the reigning belle of Sycamore Parish once upon a time.

Though Edwina dreads the thought of marriage to anyone and feels like fleeing from what she has gotten herself into, with Pru to help things along, Edwina finds herself drawn into the lives of her strong and silent husband and his children who tug at her heartstrings right from the very start. For a woman who has had a disappointing experience with intimacy, Edwina finds herself fascinated with how her body yearns for things it cannot voice, a desire that seems to be reciprocated by the man with whom she is bound to share her life till death does them apart.

For Declan, Edwina is the direct opposite of the mother of his children, who betrayed him and their children in the worst way possible, his heart and emotions encased in a block of ice afterwards which had begun to thaw in Edwina’s energetic presence. But peace and happiness in their lives seems to be elusive as an old enemy hunts them down with vengeance and death on his mind for all he has lost, a man that Declan knows wouldn’t give up until only one of them is left  standing. And when Declan’s dead wife turns up unexpectedly, both Declan and Edwina must fight harder than ever to truly win the battle of their hearts once and for all which lends this story that emotional wrangling quality that I just love.

Kaki Warner tells a great story somewhat similar in style to that of Ellen O’Connell whose American-Western romances are to die for. Heartbreak Creek introduces us to the very intriguing four ladies whose stories sound equally enticing with Edwina’s story laying the foundation of this delectable series. Declan is the strong and silent warrior type of hero beneath whose tough and stoic mask lies an endearing sense of humor which made me fall head over heels in love with him from the very beginning.

Edwina is the type of protective heroine who stands firm in what she believes in, who fights for those whom she loves and that makes for an appealing heroine all around. The sexual tension and awareness that slowly creeps into Declan and Edwina’s life is sizzling hot and well-done and though there aren’t much detailed love scenes included, it still manages to satisfy the cravings of the reader.

With heart pounding acts of violence thats the reality of life in the western frontier and tender scenes of love, Kaki Warner seems to have struck gold with this enticing series, book 2 of which I will definitely be stalking in the time to come.

Recommended highly for fans of the genre. This is one series you ought not miss.

Favorite Quotes

She drew in an exasperated breath, and suddenly her senses exploded with the essence of Declan, his heat, the smell of soap, horses … him. Her body instantly reacted – her heartbeat quickening, her skin tingling, her thoughts scattering like some addlepated adolescent sneaking her first kiss under the pawpaw tree.

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

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