Category / Brooding Hero

by mvbookreviewer

Requested ARC Review: Office Affair by Jess Dee

Format: E-bookOfficeAffair
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Bandicoot Cave Anthology
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd
Hero: Ben Cowley
Heroine: Melissa Sparks
Sensuality: 4.5
Date of Publication: May 1, 2012
Started On: April 29, 2012
Finished On: May 2, 2012

Jess Dee is an author who continually surprises me with how good her books turn out to be. Jess’s books always delivers a scorching hot read, and I mean scorching HOT! And together with that she also delivers that unbeatable combination of well developed characters that totally call out to you and mixes it all up with enough emotion to really make the story worth your while. And let me assure you, Office Affair is no exception to that rule!

Office Affair tells the story of the no-nonsense, one hundred percent goal oriented Melissa Sparks who has lusted after her sexy as sin colleague Ben Cowley from afar for far too long. Ben is a changed man, a man who has had his heart destroyed. Ben doesn’t know what else to do but bury himself in his work and ignore the gaping hole in his heart that hasn’t seemed to heal. And then Melissa turns up at his doorstep, offering herself to him, a strictly no-strings attached sex fest which should have been a dream come true for a guy like Ben who likes his relationships short and without any complications. But then, neither Melissa nor Ben takes into account that strange feeling that takes a hold of you and gives you something worth to hold on to and that is exactly what happens to both of them as their affair burns hotter and brighter than the burning sun.

Office Affair revolves around a lot of sex scenes, all of them top notch and over the top hot that I couldn’t get enough of them. That is why I keep repeating like a broken record that Jess certainly knows what she is doing when she delivers readers with erotica that goes straight to your blood! Ben is such a sexy, sexy, sexy man! He turned my insides to mush with his possessive streak, turned me on far more than I can remember being turned on by a book and left me wanting more, which is exactly how I love my heroes. And Melissa turned out to be such an endearing heroine, whose inner vulnerabilities called out to me and made me yearn for her happily ever after as if it were my own.

Beneath all the searingly mind blowing sex scenes lies the story of two characters who are broken in their own ways, both of them finding that healing touch that makes their future one filled with promise and happiness. For those who are squeamish, there is a menage scene tossed into the story which proves to be a pivotal point in Ben and Melissa’s relationship. And as always Jess handled everything so well that even I, who stay away from menages loved what took place when Ben gave Melissa everything she would ever want and more during that one night of unbeatable passion.

If you are a fan of Jess Dee, I don’t think you would require any further urging on my part to read Office Affair. If not, give Office Affair a go. You would not regret it if you love your sex melt-your-panties-off-hot and the story with enough emotional punch to leave you with a huge smile on your face once the ultimate conclusion is reached. Recommended!

Favorite Quotes

The next time she caught his cockhead between her pussy lips, he couldn’t hold back. He thrust once, hard, seating himself deep inside her body.
So good.
Fucking amazing.
Tight. Wet. Slippery.
Perfect. So fucking perfect.

The orgasm slammed through him, hauling the breath from his body. He could no more have prevented it than he could have pulled away from her. He came hard. So hard he couldn’t keep his eyes open. Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.
Couldn’t…
Oh, God. Oh, fuck. So good. So fucking good.

Gasping, searching for breath and inhaling only the heady scent of musk and sex, Ben realized one thing. He had just had the most powerful orgasm of his life—with his colleague.

“Ben!” She called his name, begged him.
“Right behind you, sweetness.”
And just like that a pair of hands wrapped around her hips, legs pressed close to hers, and something hard brushed the sensitized lips of her pussy.
Hard. God, so gloriously hard.
It didn’t vibrate. Not even a little bit, but with one clean thrust, that something hard filled her. Filled her, stretched her and delighted her like the toy would never have been able to.
Ben.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Samhain

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Virgin Territory by Cari Quinn

Format: E-bookVirgin territory_MD
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Decadent Publishing
Hero: Vincent Armand Buonfiglio
Heroine: Katherine Julia Wyatt
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: April 13, 2012
Started On: April 20, 2012
Finished On: April 29, 2012

Ladies! The days of stereotyping geeks are over. Meet Vincent, the geek of MY dreams and please take note of the ‘my’ in the sentence while you are at it *winks*. Cari Quinn has a talent for creating geeky heroes that appeal to all your senses and Vincent was no exception to this rule.

Vincent Armand Buonfiglio is a network specialist by day and an erotic romance writer by night. Oft late, his muse has sort of disappeared leaving him in a dry spell in more ways than one. Vincent needs to find something to jolt start the words that needs to flow in order for him to finish his book and Katherine Julia Wyatt (Kiki) seems like the best bet when she has been occupying far too much of his thoughts ever since he had seen her around 5 months back.

Kiki is determined that her crush on Vincent remain just that, a crush. She has no intention of getting entangled with a man who is notorious for leaving bleeding hearts in his wake and Kiki knows that although her girly bits would love nothing more than to jump his bones, her heart and other emotions are more wary of laying her heart on the line ever again.

But somehow, through a quirky set of events, both Kiki and Vincent find themselves in each other’s company, saying yes to that undeniable desire that courses through them whenever they lay eyes on each other. For Vincent, Kiki is someone who tests and pushes his comfort zone and tests his boundaries when it comes to his emotional involvement. Kiki has no doubt in her mind that when it comes to Vincent, everything between them is temporary and she is determined to not put her heart on the line.

But sometimes, the best of intentions are waylaid, and through all the chaos that reins, two people do find that special something called love that is worth holding on to, and that is exactly what Cari gives her readers with the story of Vincent and Kiki.

Vincent is such a fabulous hero. I swear. He is broody, a bit tortured and possessive enough to make this girl melt in all the right ways. I loved how possessive Vincent’s thoughts turn when it comes to Kiki, a foreign concept for a man like himself. And his ‘surliness’ as a result lends him that edge that I find extra appealing when it comes to heroes that I love. And yes, Vincent wins any contest in that department hands down.

Kiki was a wonderful heroine, everything that Vincent needs in his life and more. She is beautiful inside and out and her giving nature is what drew me to her and kept me a fan until I turned the very last page. She has her own issues when it comes to relationships and giving her trust, understandable after what she has gone through. But her willingness to put it to test with Vincent who makes all her senses hum just by being in the same room made her win my affection. I love a heroine who doesn’t dilly dally and Kiki is someone who is gutsy enough to go after what she wants and I loved her wholeheartedly for that.

A little toned down in the sexual aspect than what Cari usually delivers, nevertheless Virgin Territory makes for an awesome read, a book that is worth your time and money if a good, emotional contemporary romance is what you are itching to get your hands on.

Favorite Quotes

He threaded his hand through her hair, tugging her closer. Her body strained toward him, her breasts all but bursting the buttons of her flannel pajamas. She swallowed the last of the candy cane as he lowered his mouth to hers.
He didn’t ravage, as she’d expected. His mouth was soft and warm on hers, and the scrape of his stubbled jaw added to the thrill. She moaned and clung to him, her mind emptying like sand tumbling from a bucket.
Resist? Absolutely not. She wanted this. Him.

He tugged her over the threshold with his good arm, barely cognizant of her startled squeak before his mouth swooped down to cover hers. She tasted pepperminty, as if she’d been sucking on a candy cane again. He swept his tongue between her lips to taste more of her while her arms locked around his neck.

There were so many ways he could have answered her snarky question. But sometimes, direct worked best. Leaning forward, he hooked a finger in the waistband of her pants and tugged. She stepped forward without hesitation and met his mouth hungrily.
Well, hello.
[…]
She wound her hands into his hair, arching against him so that her thighs pressed against his. With the added height from her heels, everything lined up perfectly. Center to center, mouth to mouth, heart to heart.

Soft. She was so soft, and warm. So giving as she moved with him. Rising to take him in, the covers shrouding her back as she arched.
His lips clasped her nipple and she cried out, her fingernails dragging down his hips. She clamped around him. Squeezing. Taking. Giving more.

She surrounded him. Wet, hot. Indescribable. Spasms rocked her, and she lost herself in their rhythm, riding him so fast she was nothing but a blur. But as much as he wished it would never end, no times tables and no images of grungy linoleum floors could keep the flood of her orgasm from inciting his own.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Decadent Pub

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by mvbookreviewer

Score Sheet Review: Uncaged by Lucy Gordon

Format: Paperbackuncaged.jpg
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Silhouette Desire, #864
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Detective Inspector Daniel Keller
Heroine: Megan Elizabeth Anderson
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: October 28, 1994
Started On: April 4, 2012
Finished On: April 6, 2012

CATEGORY SCORE GRADE
The hero 80 A
The heroine 75 B
Story line 80 A
Emotional Intensity 70 B
Suck me in Factor 70 B
Heat & Sensuality  75 B
Conflicts 80 A
Writing Style 75 B
Quotable Factor 60 B
Ending 75 B
Overall Grade 74 B

Score Sheet Summary

Uncaged by Lucy Gordon is a novel that has a promising and different premise that sucked me right in. Rather than the hero who has been wronged, it is the heroine Megan Elizabeth Anderson who finds herself accused of a murder that she did not commit and jailed for a period of 3 years until a technicality overlooked during the investigation sets her free. During the time that she had lost from her life, it had been the thoughts of her son Tommy and her burning hatred for the man who had been relentless in his belief that she was the murderess and set about to proving it without any thought or feeling that had been the focal point of her thoughts and dreams.

What makes Uncaged different is that it is the hero Detective Inspector Daniel Keller who makes the biggest mistake in his career when he wrongfully convicts and sends an innocent woman to jail. Daniel’s life had been far from perfect when the case had come to his attention and he had heeded advice from well meaning friends to take a break and grieve as he deserved to before trying to bury himself in work.

Thus circumstances, guilt and a whole lot of other conflicting emotions brings Daniel to Megan’s door, Megan who wants nothing more than to make Daniel as miserable as she is feeling. But as mistrust and other hostile feelings give away from both ends, there comes to light a desire for each other that surpasses any other emotion that they both have known, a desire that blinds them both into accepting the reprieve and emotional high that only they both can give each other.

Daniel is a hero who awakens so many emotions deep inside of you. You feel for his suffering, his anguish and empathize with what he was going through when he had made the worst mistake of his life. His guilt is an almost tangible one, that never ending grief in his eyes one that reaches out to you from the very start. Megan is quite the heroine who belongs in my list of unusual heroines. She is bold, vivacious and has a temper that fires up quite easily and she is a beauty that drove and continues to drive men crazy. Both Megan and Daniel have suffered so much in the past and the way they are able to see beyond their own suffering to empathize with the other was what made this book unforgettable.

Though the execution of the story could have been better, nevertheless I enjoyed the story and would recommend this read to those who love romances based around female convicts.

Favorite Quotes

With a low growl from his very depths, he pulled her against him and smothered her mouth with his own. There was madness in the passion that swept over him, engulfing him in its pounding urgency. Everything about this situation was insane. He knew that, but he was helpless in the grasp of sensstions that he’d never experienced before.

Through the roaring of her senses she managed to murmur, “Daniel…”
“Yes,” he said hoarsely.
“We shouldn’t do this…I know we shouldn’t….”
“Then tell me to stop.” She looked up at him helplessly, and with a groan he covered her mouth again. “Tell me to stop,” he repeated in a voice that was half command, half plea.
“I can’t…you know I can’t…”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | AbeBooks

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Breaking The Rules by Barbara Samuel

Format: E-bookbreakingtherules1
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Silhouette Intimate Moments, #587
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Zeke Shephard
Heroine: Rhetta Madeline O’Neal
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: July 1, 1994
Started On: March 30, 2012
Finished On: April 2, 2012

Once in a while, you are lucky enough to come across a novel that calls to you, that feeds your senses and tantalizes you, that just makes you wish that the magic would continue. Breaking the Rules by Barbara Samuel was a novel I got off of Amazon for free from the bestselling lists for Kindle books. And boy, was I blown away with the story that unfolded, getting myself completely tangled up in the story that was just sheer magic to experience.

Rhetta Madeline O’Neal (Mattie) is on the run and finds herself in the nondescript town of Kismet in Arizona where she barely gets settled before the rough, tough and rugged Zeke Shepard strolls in and completely unhinges her and throws her emotions haywire. At a passing glance, Mattie might not be the type of woman that catches your eye but for Zeke right from the very beginning that he lays eyes on the drowning pools of her brown eyes, instinct tells him to turn his back and walk away and never look back.

Mattie knows that if she were to stay around much longer, she would risk blowing the cover that she has worked so hard to muster up and that Zeke could make all the bonds that holds her cards unravel and come crashing down. But fate plays a hand when the very men that Mattie is running from turns up in Kismet and it is Zeke who rides to her rescue on his big and mean Harley like a dark fallen angel who would do everything in his power to keep her safe from the woes of the killers that are after her.

Zeke might tell himself that he is hardened enough to turn his back on a woman in need but when push comes to shove, Zeke is just the type of softie that would make any woman’s heart melt. Zeke has numerous scars on his body that tells a story of a nightmarish childhood and the walls of steel around his heart remains impeccably strong until he gets tangled up in Mattie’s life. Zeke takes her away to the one place he considers as his home, his cabin up in the mountains that is surrounded by tranquility and peace if nothing else.

But peace and pure thoughts are the furthest thing from Zeke’s mind as he wages an internal war with himself, his desire for Mattie which continues to grow by the minute that unsettles him and shreds away at his control that has never failed him before. As the recipient of abuse at such a tender age, control is what Zeke thrives on, and being throttled by an overload of emotions is not what Zeke considers to be his forte.

But Mattie is a woman who has an abundance of patience, understanding and a soothing quality to her very touch that arouses, inflames and comforts all at the same time. Zeke might tell himself that he doesn’t want nor need any of what Mattie is offering but deep down inside Zeke knows that it is a losing battle that he fights with himself when the innocent hunger that blazes into life in Mattie’s eyes is one that he wouldn’t be able to turn away from.

I don’t think I can adequately describe what this novel did to me. I was taken away on a journey that was pure magic right from the very moment that Zeke takes Mattie away into the mountains, the way that Barbara brings to life the beauty of their surroundings one that charmed me in all the ways that matter. Zeke might tell himself and project that attitude that he is a mean son of a bitch, but the home he has built with his own hands from scratch and the sensual beauty of the place that he calls his home tells a story of its own.

Zeke is a man who sets the pages afire just by setting his foot in the scene. He is the larger-than-life type of hero that gets to me every single time, his intimidating size at odds with the way that he holds Mattie close to him and gives her shelter in his embrace. He is the type of man that as you read along you wish were yours to call your own, the type of man that can fuel your fire for quite some time to come. I can go on rehashing all those qualities that made me drool over and got drawn towards Zeke and I don’t think I would be able to do justice to his character even then.

Mattie was such a wonderful heroine. When a writer gets the heroine right in a story, that’s when I really admire the author’s talent. Mattie is the type of heroine who is comfortable in her skin, who doesn’t need to go out of her way to prove her mettle and worth to everyone she meets. She might not have been the world’s best judge of character when it had come to her ex-fiance but her instincts are spot on when it comes to Zeke and his lethal effect on her senses and heart that could prove more dangerous to her in the end.

The passion between Zeke and Mattie is scorching hot, brought vividly and so beautifully to life amidst the tranquility and beauty of the Colorado mountains where it seems as if Zeke and Mattie are the only souls who live on this Earth. That cocoon of well being is however intruded upon when reality comes crashing down and Zeke does what he does best; push away anyone that can lay siege on his heart and emotions. But Zeke underestimates the power of the love that courses through him, shaking the very foundation of his existence and giving him the explanation he has been seeking all the while for the way he has broken every single rule that has governed him for most of his adult life ever since he met Mattie.

There is nothing more you can ask from a romance when your whole self is immersed in the story, when all your emotions are engaged and I found myself in tears so many times throughout the novel that I think my ophthalmologist appointment today is not going to go down very well. There was this moment in the story when Zeke holds a baby in his arms and sways to the music, all the while whispering to him to calm him down. And then there was the moment when Zeke goes to visit his horse Orthello, the connection between man and horse an almost physical one that just makes you ache deep in your heart. And towards the end, I just cried from all the emotion overload that happened to me when Mattie once again turns up in Zeke’s life, giving him that opportunity to profess his feelings for her and make her stay a permanent one this time around.

The only thing that would have really made this book an outstanding one would have been a beautiful epilogue to wrap it all up, maybe 5 or 6 years after the last chapter takes place to show how Zeke and Mattie had faired as a married couple. I would have loved to see my Zeke all happy, without any of those shadows that haunts him surrounding him and only sunshine and happiness lurking in those beautiful green eyes of his.

Breaking the Rules is a novel that made me cry and one that made me smile deep within my heart because the sheer beauty of the storytelling and the emotions that it invoked demanded no less.

I cannot recommend this novel highly enough to anyone and everyone who loves a good dose of romance. 

I am definitely getting myself acquainted with each and every single title by Barbara Samuel. If the rest of her stories are half as good as this one, I would remain a very happy reader for the time to come.

Favorite Quotes

Yesterday in the restaurant, she’d seen his sex appeal and roughness. At her house, she’d seen his danger. This morning, at the river, she’d seen his beauty and teasing, and again that danger.
Of all of them, the tenderness she saw now was the most compelling. And terrifying.

His mouth. It touched hers lightly, just touched at first. And it seemed every nerve in her body suddenly rushed toward her mouth to join the explosion of sensation his lips brought. He moved his head and his mouth slid one way, then the other, and his fingers tightened around her neck, pulling her closer.

She wanted him. Not in the sweet way of poetry, though there was that music in the symmetry of his body, in the careful meshing of bone and sinew and flesh that made him.
Her want was raw. Physical. She felt it in the palms of her hands and the flesh of her lips and the heaviness of her breasts.
In her life, she’d been hungry, and thirsty. She’d needed sleep. She had never, in her life, needed to touch a man.

He kissed her before he knew he would do it. Cupped her small head against his hand and bent to touch her lips with his own, lightly tasting that sensuous mouth. He closed his eyes to feel it better—the moist plumpness of unseasoned lips, flavored with coffee and sugar and something that belonged only to her. And like an exhausted man sinking with gratitude into the down of a pillow, he sank into the softness, losing himself as he explored the edges and corners, the sensitive inner edge. He suckled gently and heard her sigh as she inclined her head to take him more fully.

He kissed her violently, wanting to somehow inhale her into himself, unable to stop the fury of his reaction, the trembling rocking hunger for her—so vast and all-encompassing, he couldn’t stand it.
Mattie, flowing all around him, met his savagery. He clasped her hips hard against him, found himself biting her neck, laving her breasts with his tongue. He felt such unblunted, furious desire he thought he might die of it.

The man was in his late thirties, with coarse black hair and a powerfully angled face. The horse with him made a sudden noise, a high whining sound, and its graceful head tossed, jerked. The man let the reins go, and the horse galloped to the fence where Zeke stood waiting.
Mattie glanced at him. He’d climbed onto the fence and leaned over the top, softly whistling a series of notes. On his face was an expression Mattie had never seen—equal parts joy and sorrow. 

His mouth was wet and hot and intensely demanding, so sharp and piercing with need that it broke through Mattie’s defenses the way nothing else could have. A burst of excruciating hunger made her almost frantic with wanting him. She shifted in his arms and met his kiss wide open, giving as furiously as she took.
“Oh, Mattie,” he said against her mouth. “I’ve never wanted a woman in my life like I want you. You’re driving me crazy.”

She came apart, and Zeke let go, driving into her without restraint, thrilling to the cry that escaped her throat. Her body convulsed around him, a roaring filled his ears.
He splintered into a billion pieces.
His heart, made of thinnest glass, shattered.

He looked up at the rain and closed his eyes, his hands still wrapped around her back. Mattie knew with an acute awareness that she would always remember this moment: both of them nude in the falling twilight of a mountain summer, sated and yet still hungry, Zeke’s strong face tipped to received the gift of rain, his broad hands warm on her. 

Mattie watched him cross the clearing with long-limbed ease, his movements loose and calm. His hair shone in the sunlight. Her heart caught. Strider.
Yes, she loved him. It wasn’t logical or sensible or anything of those other things. He was not the kind of man she’d daydreamed about all of her life, safe and stolid and dependable, but he was the one. The One.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Kobo 

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Hot in Here by Sophie Renwick

Format: E-bookhotinhere
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: NAL Trade
Hero: Bryce Ryder
Heroine: Jenna McCabe
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: June 2, 2009
Started On: March 29, 2012
Finished On: March 30, 2012

Hot in Here by Sophie Renwick is a title that has been sitting like forever in my to-be-read pile. Somehow I ended up reading a couple of pages into this romance penned by author Sophie Renwick aka Charlotte Featherstone that managed to grab my attention and hold on to it just because of the hero Bryce Ryder of whom I could not get enough.

27 year old Jenna McCabe who is to turn 28 that very night is a woman on a mission. That is the mission of making the man who has been in her heart for 10 long years fall in love with her. But Jenna knows in her heart Bryce would not be a man who would succumb that easily to happily ever after, given the number the one woman he had trusted had done on him.

Bryce might want to lump Jenna his childhood friend into the category of women he considers as sisters. Even though Bryce would rather die than admit that his attention towards Jenna had veered off course every now and again, Bryce is steadfast in his belief that nothing good would ever come out of tangling with the likes of Jenna who would want much more than he is capable of offering.

What surprises Bryce and Jenna both the night she turns 28 is the way their passion for each other practically sets both of them afire, leaving them both wanting more. But Jenna has a plan, a plan that would draw Bryce towards her and finally accept her as his one and only and it doesn’t include her being available for Bryce at the drop of a hat.

Bryce is confused as to the hows and whys of the way he cannot get enough of his long time friend Jenna. The way her body seems to respond to his every caress and touch drives him crazy and for the first time in 5 long years Bryce considers the prospect of turning his life around and settling down. But the new Jenna that emerges after their night of feasting on each other is one that has no resemblance whatsoever to the woman who appeals to his senses and who owns his heart more than he lets on.

For a woman who professes to have loved Bryce almost half her life, Jenna surely has a funny way of showing it to him. The reason I lowered the book’s rating to 4-stars was because I just couldn’t handle the way Jenna acted towards Bryce for the most part of the book. While Bryce is the person who is portrayed as the guy who loves to sleep around, who doesn’t empathize and doesn’t want to forge a deeper emotional connection with any woman, it is Jenna’s character that seemed shallow to me.

Yes, Bryce might want to indulge and immerse himself in the heady sensation of being thoroughly satisfied in the sack. But that doesn’t mean he is not sensitive towards others. He might be a tad arrogant and pushy but the love he has for the food that he cooks up is just to die for. What I had a problem with was how ready Jenna was to lump him with men who wouldn’t understand or give two cents about her emotions when she has known Bryce for far longer and knows who he really is. If I had been Jenna, I would have grabbed Bryce with both my hands and never ever looked back!

For me, the best thing about the novel was Bryce Ryder. He has that undefinable quality that makes a hero worth your time and the desire that he feels for Jenna is a vivid and all encompassing one that just left me breathless at all times. When Bryce steps into the picture, you know instinctively that you are in for the ride of a lifetime and Sophie Renwick has done such a swell job in bringing his character to life.

As soon as I finished Hot in Here, the question that popped into my mind was what happened to Trey and Sarah who definitely needs their own story. They have got so much pent up desire for each other that I would dearly love to see what Sophie can do with their story.

Recommended for those who love highly sensual and erotic contemporary romances with a hero who can cook up a storm. 

Hot in Here is a sumptuous feast for all your senses. Trust me on that.

Favorite Quotes

She could hardly believe it, not after ten years, but they were finally making out on her couch. And Holy Mother of God, Bryce Ryder could kiss!
He was slow and lazy with his kisses, but masterful. His tongue and fingers were thrusting forward and back, in and out, mimicking sex, winding her up so tight until she was rubbing her pussy against his hand while clutching his hair. More . . . she had to have more.

Parting her sex, he stroked her clitoris with the tip of his forefinger. She moaned and twisted, but he held her in place with one hand on her hip as he penetrated her deep and slow. Over and over he stroked her clit, finding the rhythm she liked, and soon she was riding him hard and wanton, just as he hoped she would.

“Bryce!” Jenna heard the arousal and need in her voice as Bryce thrust into her. His breathing was harsh, and she looked over her shoulder and saw that his gaze was fixed on his c#ck entering her. In that second she knew she’d never see anything as sexy as Bryce taking her like that.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BoB

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by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: Uncross Your Heart by Taryn Elliott

Format: E-bookuncrossyourheart
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Plus-Novel
Genre: Erotic Contemporary Romance
Series: Untitled Series, Book 1
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: Nathan Patrick Cross
Heroine: Miranda Jayne Lyons
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: March 23, 2012
Started On: March 24, 2012
Finished On: March 25, 2012

Yep. That’s right people. If you haven’t already heard, I have officially updated my version of the English dictionary to equate the meaning of the word “Temptation” to “Nathan Cross”. And I tell you, I am not kidding! 

Nathan Patrick Cross is a tinkerer whose one invention keeps him afloat enough to pursue his day job as a FedEx delivery guy while he tries to come up with a new innovative gadget whose design keeps eluding his best attempts. The one woman he meets along his delivery route, who manages to get under his collar and leaves him all hot and bothered doesn’t even realize he exists. Every single day that had taken him her way on delivery routes leaves him wanting her to look at him and see HIM just once and Nathan is about  to become cross-eyed with wanting and frustration on how to go about winning himself the woman he desires.

Miranda Jayne Lyons is a woman on a mission. She wants to bury her past deeper than anyone can dig it up and throw it in her face and she does it with a ruthless efficiency that leaves her little time to mingle with other people, to socialize and put her face out there. Through the not so gentle nudging of her co-worker and friend Max, Miranda decides to step into a club even if its the last place she wants to involuntarily go to. 

The man that catches Miranda’s eye turns out to be none other than Nathan and Miranda is more than surprised and a bit appalled to say the least when the man whose touch she craves just after one indecent dance turns out to be her FedEx delivery guy. There is no stopping Nathan from the path he weaves towards Miranda and for Miranda, Nathan poses the biggest risk on her heart and emotions as he slowly wields that magic of his around her and brings those walls of steel around her heart tumbling down until she is left reeling from it all.

But the secrets that Miranda hides are far too many, and her hesitancy in sharing them with the man who quickly turns out to mean everything to her breaks the fragile connection and the burgeoning feelings between them until this time it is Miranda who must face her fears and pursue Nathan to show him that with him she becomes the Miranda that she wants to be and loves.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that Taryn Elliot won’t woo you with Uncross Your Heart just because it is her debut novel. Far from that. I was pulled into the story from page one, heck, lets just say from the minute I met Taryn and learned that she is the critic partner of many other great authors out there, I knew instinctively that she would be someone to keep an eye out on. And I was proved right when Uncross Your Heart turned out to be a novel that delivered on every aspect of what I look for when I read a contemporary romance.

Nathan Cross. I can’t even say his name without going into an endless sighing session. He is the best thing about this story and believe me, there were so many good things about this whole novel. The way Taryn brought him to life, adding those little nuances to his character, his charming and easy-going manner, that bottomless gray eyes of his that I won’t mind staring into for a couple of centuries or so – needless to say Nathan charmed my socks off right from the very minute he entered into the story. His utter focus when it comes to Miranda and above all his patience – someone out there should give out Nobel Prizes for patience and I am sure he would come out a winner and with flying colors too! There is not a single thing I would change about the man, maybe except wish for him to turn up as my birthday present tonight at 00:00 hours sharp? Sigh! Well, a girl can always hope.

There were so many fascinating characters that brings life to the story as it unfolds. Miranda’s colleagues and Nathan’s whole family and believe me, if you read Uncross Your Heart, you would want to read all their stories. I am especially keeping my eye on Noah and his broody character – he seems like a guy who would give this old heart of mine a jolt or two if he ever were to get his own story. And yes, I am looking right at you Taryn. You can’t leave a gal hanging after creating so much havoc with my emotions and all.

Miranda is one complex character and she is the driving force behind the story, the secrets that she keeps close to her heart the cause of the rift between herself and the man who as she puts it is her worst nightmare and fondest wish all wrapped up in one. From the minute she is forced to open her eyes and look, and I mean really look at Nathan, she is a goner. And for someone like Miranda whose past makes her susceptible to all sorts of wild behavior, or so she thinks, needless to say Miranda would rather bury her head in the sand and forget that Nathan Cross exists.

But her desire for a man who kisses her senseless, a man who holds himself back because he wants just more than mindless fucking from a woman with whom he would like to base his future on is a temptation that is too hard for even Miranda to resist. The passion that burns between them is of the scorching variety and my God, can Taryn turn on the heat? I couldn’t get enough of the many a variety of scenes, all with that emotional pull that just makes you go all gooey on the insides and warm in places that one would rather not mention. And I loved it all!

What drew me in the most and held my attention was how real both Nathan and Miranda were as they tried to forge a path together towards their ultimate happily ever after. There is no easy road for someone like Miranda to take when she tries to flee from her past, to forget that she ever was that person she is so ashamed of rather than accepting that her past would always be a part of herself and the person she has shaped up to be. Through a lot of soul searching and a painful period of separation from Nathan she does eventually get there and I believe that Nathan and Miranda’s love for each other to be that much stronger because of the fact.

A FANTASTIC debut novel from an author who shows remarkable talent – I simply could not get enough!

Give Uncross Your Heart a shot if you love emotionally gripping and sensual contemporary romances. This is a book that definitely caters to every whim and then some. And if you are like me, you would not be disappointed!

Favorite Quotes

He stilled at her laughter. It was rich and sexy, dark and playful. Something he’d never heard out of her mouth. His vision blurred for a second when she dragged his shirt up enough for their skin to touch. Then she gave up on getting the shirt off and latched on to his mouth again. He groaned as the heat of her skin blazed against his.

A long, low moan reverberated through her chest and into him. He sucked harder, flicking his tongue around the tiny pink tip. She was in the shadows cast by the late-day sun, leaving him little choice but to learn her by touch. He found the water-soft curve of her breast, running his tongue along the heaviest part of her until she filled his mouth. “More,” he murmured, shifting her higher until his teeth scraped along her ribs.

She shut her eyes, digging her fingers into his shoulders as she slid herself down his length. He couldn’t quite stop the quick shout of pleasure as her knees clamped his hips, crowding around him with her warmth. He wanted to hold her there, to drown in her, but she was already moving. She lifted herself higher and he took the clue and sucked her elegant neck, drawing in her scent as she took him inside her again.

She twisted her hips in time to his rhythm, riding his hand. He couldn’t stop himself from dipping inside her heat, groaning when she coated his fingers, his palm—just, God, he wanted all that around him again.

He cupped her cheek, the muscles of his forearm burning with the slow thrusts inside her. “You’re beautiful.” Unable to have even a few inches between them, he caught her mouth, swallowing her moans. Cheek to cheek, he dragged in her scent. Murmuring her name, he held her as she broke. 

She turned into his mouth again and her taste bloomed on his tongue. His stroking gentled until he pulled his hand free, cradling her close. No ghosts, no false starts, just them.

He was her worst nightmare and fondest wish all wrapped up in a damn Boy Scout.

His hair was especially mussed. So much so that her fingertips tingled with the need to grab and plunder the curls and let her mouth work the wicked quirk of his lips that verged on a smile. But it was his eyes that hit her the hardest. A settled gray that would forever be stamped Happy Place in her mind.

 Instead of relying on technique she looked for cues that were individual to the man—her man—the quickening of his breath, a sighing moan and the grip of his fingertips on her hip. Her body listened to his and learned what was right instead of what her experience said should work. And in its place they became a dreamy roll of fluid exploration.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Ellora’s Cave

fantasticread

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Deadly Is the Kiss by Rhyannon Byrd

Format: E-bookdeadlyisthekiss
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Spin-off from The Primal Instinct Series
Publisher: HQN Books
Hero: Ashe Granger
Heroine: Juliana Sabin
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: March 20, 2012
Started On: March 19, 2012
Finished On: March 22, 2012

First of all, if you have never read The Primal Instinct Series by Rhyannon Byrd, you might not like Deadly is the Kiss. I say this because the hero and heroine in this novel are characters that you come across and become intrigued with as you read the aforementioned series. Ashe Granger, the vampire hero in this novel has always intrigued me and I have always wanted to know what makes him tick. When Rhyannon announced that Rush of Pleasure would be the last in the series, I wanted to cry out because Rhyannon is an author who brings scorching heat to her books with a shitload of emotion that I just love to indulge myself in. And so you can imagine my reaction when I learnt that not only Rhyannon was sort of continuing in a different line of the series and it was going to be the much awaited book of Ashe Granger!

Ashe Granger is a 2 century old Deschanel vampire and a member of the Förmyndares, an elite, highly skilled group of soldiers whose job was the protection of the Deschanel vampires. Ashe might have made it his life mission to screw through any woman that takes his fancy but ever since he meets the prickly 27 year old Juliana Sabin, Ashe has a feeling that his days of carousing and sleeping through a long line of women were about to be over.

Juliana is still paying for the fatal mistake she made in her youth; falling in love with the wrong kind of vampire. The guilt that plagues her for subjecting her whole family to live in the desolate compound of Wasteland is one that haunts her continuously. And when she receives the news that she and her family are once again in danger, this time the kind that would wipe them from the face of the Earth, she takes the lifeline that is thrown her way and embarks on a journey to seek out the one vampire whom she can’t forget, the one vampire whom she knows would help her out if she manages to convince him of her plight. 

The last vampire that Ashe expects to run into is the one vampire whom he would like nothing better than to get horizontal with and never get up. And through that haze of lust and resentment that Ashe feels, he manages to identify that although Juliana might not be telling him the whole version of her side of things, she is really in danger and Ashe knows that as long as he lives, he would protect HIS woman with every breathe he takes.

Thus begins the game of hide and seek where Juliana and Ashe barely manage to get rid of one group of assassins to run into another, all tasked with the mission of taking Juliana with them. Their grudge is not with Ashe and when he stands in their way to the ultimate prize, all bets are off and Rhyannon gives readers enough fist fights, blood and gore to keep the action alive throughout. With his senses heightened by the danger that surrounds them both, Ashe finds that it is an impossibility for him to keep his hands off of Juliana and he embarks on a mission to quench his thirst for his little convict, all the while thinking that he would be able to walk away, when all is said and done.

I don’t understand the reason why so many readers have taken a dislike towards Ashe’s character. For me, he was real, he was exactly how I envisioned him to be. Ashe is a vampire who has been cheated on by the one woman he trusted and as they say, once bitten twice shy. And for someone like Ashe who works tirelessly in enforcing the law amongst vampires, falling for someone who is nothing more than a convict in his eyes sends him into a whirlpool of conflicting emotions. Ashe fights it all, and oh does he fight, but the fiercest battle of all is one which he wages with himself, torn between the Burning he feels for Juliana and his need to walk away with his emotions intact.

I loved Ashe from his delicious and mouthwatering physical form to what he was deep inside. He might not like the deck of cards fate has dealt him with but above everything else he is a man who believes in justice and fairness and that is how he finds himself agreeing to help Juliana even when he knows that Juliana doesn’t trust him enough to divulge the entire truth. His desire and need for Juliana is a wondrous thing, it is an all encompassing one that refuses to back down, especially with Juliana within arms reach. Ashe’s insecurities are there for all to see, his fear of being cuckolded that plays into his possessive instincts bringing out the jealousy that gives him the extra edge which I just loved. I don’t know about anyone else, but I just flat-out loved Ashe and everything he stood for.

Juliana Sabin is a heroine who I fell in love with right from the very start. She doesn’t want Ashe knowing the truth of how her family’s banishment came about and her reasons are many. And in her own way, Juliana does what she does with the noble intention of protecting the man who means far too much to her than anyone else has in her life. Juliana knows that by giving up her body to a man who plays her like a master would be akin to disaster when she has to walk away from him when the danger is finally no more. Though the thought of leaving Ashe leaves her reeling, I loved Juliana because she takes her chance to indulge with Ashe wholeheartedly and gives herself up to him with everything she has to give.

The one thing you can always count on in novels by Rhyannon is that thread of scorching sensuality and heat that is abundantly woven throughout the story. There were times when my e-reader practically singed my fingertips for the amount of heat that Ashe and Juliana generates, their desire for one another the stuff that happily ever afters are made of.

Loved the sappy ending, giving that much needed happily ever after to two people who most definitely deserve it and I can’t wait to find out whose story Rhyannon comes up with next. Kudos to another book that kept me entertained, made me hum in all the right places and gave me a reason to smile when all was said and done! And as a reader, there is nothing more you can ask for!

Favorite Quotes

With a hoarse curse on his lips, Ashe shuddered against her. The night felt warmer, the air heavier…richer, as it pressed in on them. Lust spilled through his veins in a thick, decadent slide, more potent than any narcotic as it poured through his system. His tongue flicked against the velvety softness of her lower lip, coaxing her to accept him…to kiss him back. She shivered, blinking, then relented, her lips parting with a sigh…inviting him in, and he couldn’t resist, sliding his tongue against hers in an explicit kiss that was wet and deep and hungry.

She cried out as he quickly shoved a hand into the front of her panties, the sharp sound becoming a breathless moan when he cupped her warm sex in his palm and gave a predatory growl. Her delicate hands were on the sides of his neck, clutching him to her, her tongue sliding against his in a way that made his blood boil. Heat poured off him in blistering, sweltering waves as he shoved two thick fingers inside the slick, narrow opening of her body, stretching tender tissues, surprised by how perfect and small she felt. By how tightly she gripped him.
“I knew,” he groaned, nipping her mouth with his teeth as he pushed his fingers deeper into that hot, melting honey. “I fucking knew you were going to feel like this.”

Keeping his fingers locked around her arms, he stared her right in the eye, his chest rising and falling from the jagged force of his breaths. “I want you in a bed, Juliana. I want hours on top of you, under you, beside you. Hell, I want it all. And I want to be able to drift off, knowing that I can roll back over at any time and sink right back into you.” His voice dropped even lower. “So stop arguing and get back on the damn bed.”

The next thing Juliana knew, he had her braced against the back wall of the shower, one hand under her bottom, the other tangled in the back of her wet hair, holding her in place as he took her mouth with what seemed to be an urgent, desperate craving, and claimed her body in the same way. His c#ck found her soft notch, his first thick thrust so hard and deep it shoved the air up out of her lungs, her thoughts fracturing beneath the violent surge of sensation.

He rubbed his thumb over the smoothness of her cheek, thinking she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. “You don’t think you’re worth killing for?”
Her laugh was brittle. “Hardly.”
For a moment, there was only the sound of their breathing and the wind gusting through the trees. And then he said, “I disagree.”
She stared up at him, trembling, her eyes filled with the questions she couldn’t put into words.
“I mean it,” he rasped. “I would kill for you. Easily. Without remorse. Again and again.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Harlequin | Book Depository

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Best Man by Maggie Osborne

Format: Hardcoverthebestman
Read with: Hardcover
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Dal Frisco
Heroine: Fredrick Roark
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 1, 1998
Started On: March 17, 2012
Finished On: March 18, 2012

The Best Man is a novel that is going to be hard to review, not because it wasn’t a splendid read in all the ways that counts. It is going to be difficult to put into words just how much the story affected me, how the characters that were brought to life in front of my eyes continued to worm their way into my heart and later on etched themselves onto my very soul to stay there for the time to come. As I have said before and I will continue to say this, Maggie Osborne is an author who is one of a kind. She delivers romances that takes you to place you rarely get to go and she gives you a story that you can sink your teeth into and cannot let go!

Joe Roark, owner of the King’s Walk Ranch dies leaving behind 3 daughters and his fourth wife a widow. Each of them grapples with the astounding will that Joe leaves which dictates that his daughters prove their mettle before they are to receive their due inheritance. If that fails to be the case, all the sweat and hard work that Joe had put into building his ranch would be in vain and would be handed over to a wife that he detested more than he did  his daughters.

A man who only wanted sons and got saddled with daughters, Joe refused to let his daughters forget their place in the world. Alexander Roark Mills (Alex), Fredrick Roark (Freddy) and Lester Roark (Les); the 3 daughters whom he had pampered in his way and each of whom had disappointed him in one way or the other suddenly finds themselves tasked with driving a herd of longhorns to the market in Abilene, Kansas. 

Dal Frisco is a man who is looking for a second chance, a chance to turn his life around and achieve his dream of owning his own spread in Montana. To do that, he needs cold hard cash and the news of the infamous will Joe left to his daughters pave the way for him to do exactly just that. What he doesn’t bargain for is to find daughters who look like the high strung type who carry smelling salts in their fringed wrist purses who look and behave as if they have never engaged in an honest day of work in their whole lives. But even then, Freddy with her dark hair and green eyes catch him unawares with the bolt of desire that strikes him upon the very first time their eyes meet.

For Dal, the success of the mission ahead hinges on his ability to prepare the 3 women to face and cope with the challenges of being on the road, to actively take part in delivering the herd in the exact number their father has stipulated in the will. But the number of foes who want nothing more than to see them fail work from within to bring chaos and mayhem to their venture. And through it all, the 3 sisters continue to discover the hard truths about themselves, become better women and go on to form a bond with each other that would remain unshaken till death does them apart.

Labeling The Best Man as the story in which Freddy and Dal discover each other and fall in love would not do justice to a story that is so very much more. The Best Man brings to life the characters of 3 sisters who had grown up trying to compete and outdo each other during their childhood, each resenting the other for one thing or the other. And later when adolescence had hit, the 3 of them had found themselves going their separate ways, never forging a connection befitting that of sisters. Alex elopes while Freddy sets off to embrace her dream of performing in a theater which drives a further wedge between the sisters. Les, the youngest is the one who stays behind, who feels betrayed when her father brings home a wife that disrespects everything they stand for.

For 3 people who have never tried working as a team or have never worked hard a day in their life, the training and the pace that Dal sets serves to be sheer torture. But Dal is the man who forces them to force out their inner strength, to straighten that backbone of steel that each sister has in spades, to embrace the true hidden characteristics within each of them that makes them such appealing characters. Each of them has their own fair share of faults, fears and dreams. And learning about each of them was a journey in itself and I loved every minute of it.

The men who enter into their lives are nor less appealing. Dal plays the most prominent role and he is the stuff that pure alpha men are made out of. He is strong, stubborn, has that inner qualities that makes him a good leader. But he is not without his fair share of faults either. A recovering alcoholic, Dal battles his inner demons day in and day out and the focus shifts from his desire for the drink to his need for a woman that sets his senses afire by merely just existing. Freddy drives him crazy in more ways than one and though Dal might try to tell himself otherwise, Freddy invades his heart and his soul before he is even aware of it happening.

Alex was one of the most complex characters in the story. With a past that portrays her as the most tortured soul in the story, Alex is a character that rouses equal amounts of sympathy and admiration in the reader. At first she comes across as a snob who later transforms into a woman who is able and willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that she and her sisters get what is entitled to them. How Alex discovers love, forgiveness and the courage to move on in one of the most unlikely heroes to crop up put a huge lump in my throat and made me ache in ways I cannot explain. If it is only to discover Alex and the magical transformation she undergoes in this story, it is worth getting yourself a copy of The Best Man.

Les is the sister who has problems with asserting herself. The one who enters into a relationship with an abusive fiance and believes it to be her due. The sister who has the hardest time in putting one foot in front of the other and taking the next step. The one who continually faces the dilemma of doing the right thing and choosing the easy way out. And hers was a story that I read all the while wanting to infuse her with the strength to move on, to be able to stand up and give as good as she gets. And she does get there eventually, surprising herself more than anyone else by just how far she has come by the time the story ends.

Freddy is the dreamer, the one who envisions life as a stage set for acting and she plays the lead role. One hard bump after the other and the tough lessons day in and day out teaches her to face reality, forces her to come crashing down into the world of living rather than continue to walk the Earth with her head up in the clouds. Her desire for Dal is one that catches her by surprise, her innocence the factor that lures her towards a man who shakes her up and tosses her into a maelstrom of desire that she cant shake lose from. 

With Maggie Osborne, you never get a simple straightforward story. She takes you on a journey filled with twists and turns, ups and downs, traversing through roads that brings joy as much as peril comes seeking you out and later on at the end you emerge victorious from all the hard labor you have toiled in, which in the end transforms your reading experience into something wondrous that you won’t forget anytime soon.

Recommended for fans of Maggie Osborne. If you have never read a Maggie Osborne, you are definitely missing out!

Favorite Quotes

His mouth came down on hers hard and hot and deliberate. His kiss was so unexpected that Freddy went limp in his arms with shock. She didn’t fight or protest, couldn’t move or breathe. No one had ever kissed her like this, selfishly, unemotionally, taking with no thought of giving. This kiss was hungry, domineering, something that seared and scorched physically and left her mind reeling.

He kissed her then, not gently, not tenderly. He didn’t kiss her to comfort her. He took her mouth hungrily, almost savagely, wanting to punish her for having a body that tormented him, for telling him that his last kiss had meant nothing, needed to punish her for letting scum like Jack Caldwell call her honey, and for ever thinking about a man who wasn’t him.

He found her breasts with his hands and dropped his lips to her arching throat, tasting dust and woman sweat and a trace of something that reminded him of apples. She tore his shirt at the throat, ripping it downward, and slipped her hands inside, her fingers like brands of fire across his skin. One minute she was straddling him, the next minute he’d fallen on top of her. It was like a dam had burst within them both, releasing a flood tide of desire and urgency. And God help him, he would have taken her right there on the ground with a stampede winding down a hundred yards behind him.

For a long moment they gazed at each other, and Freddy felt her mouth go dry and her heartbeat accelerate. If the evening ended right now, she would still remember this moment for all her days. The music, the perfume of the flower baskets, and the hard look of desire in Dal’s eyes.

“Dal … Dal …” Mindlessly, she whispered his name as his kisses deepened and became possessive and deliberate. But slow. Exploring. Teasing. Never quite enough. Kisses that drank desire from her mouth and left her frantic with wanting, wanting, wanting.

Winding her arms close around his neck, she closed her eyes. To be embraced, safe in a man’s arms when she had never expected it to happen again, this would be enough.
Time sheltered their embrace, enfolding them within a summer scented capsule that felt endless and theirs alone. The fragrance of grass and sunlight and nearby water sweetened each breath. Theirs was the music of birds ans the lazy buzz of insects and the beating of two hearts. Yes, she thought, she didn’t need more. This would be enough.

This time his kiss was full and provocative, summoning sensations she had believed, had hop, were submerged too deeply to be awakened. But his fingers on her face, his mouth, his lips, stirred slumbering emotions and coaxed them to life. His hands moved to cup her head, to spread across her spine, and he crushed her against him as their kisses deepened.

He molded her body to his and another gasp tore at her throat. She had never expected to be held in a man’s arms again. Hadn’t dared to hope that she would ever stand chest to chest, hip to hip with a man who desired her. She had truly believed lovemaking was a pleasure she would never again experience in her lifetime. That was her choice and destiny.
His hands moved from her waist to her face, and he kissed the tears shining on her cheeks and eyelids. “I love you,” he whispered. “I have loved you from the moment I saw you.”

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed. Standing over her, rampant in the moonlight, he gazed down at her body. “You are as lovely and as perfect as I imagined you would be.”
Afraid to believe, afraid to trust, she dared a look at him and felt her heart wrench when she read his expression and understood that she truly was whole and beautiful in his eyes. She was a magnificent to him as he was to her.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Abe Books

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Shotgun Wedding by Maggie Osborne

Format: Paperbackshotgunwedding
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Hero: Jesse John Harden
Heroine: Anne Margaret Malloy
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: November 4, 2003
Started On: March 16, 2012
Finished On: March 17, 2012

The saddest feeling in the world as a reader is to know that an author whose voice beats any other writes no more. Every time I read a book by Maggie Osborne, this is a loss that I feel profoundly to my very soul. Lately I have been very discontent with the books lining my e-book shelves, something that happens to me every now and then. Finally, I decided to dust off my paperback edition of Shotgun Wedding which I bought from Abe Books a couple of months back, and let Maggie Osborne charm her way into my heart and soul and she did exactly just that with a story that kept me turning the pages even into wee hours of the morning.

Jesse John Harden works as the Sheriff of the small town of Marshall in Kansas. A man who prefers to keep to himself, Jesse might show a laid-back front to people but he is a man who gets the job done earning him more than the gratitude of the people of his now hometown.

25 year old Anne Margaret Malloy (Annie) finds herself in a bit of a fix when she discovers that she is pregnant and that she can’t continue to avoid the fact any longer. Annie is someone who has sworn off marriage a long time back, the independence that her parents give her one that she had taken for granted and landed her in the shitload of trouble she finds herself in. Annie likes to think of herself as a New Modern Woman like those who aren’t afraid to move ahead in a man’s world and show the world their worth. But the unexpected pregnancy brings all her dreams crashing down and forces her to face the consequences of the road that she had taken when she had met the father of her child.

Even though Annie’s beau agrees to marry her and do the right thing, she cannot accept the concept of living with a man who robs banks and trains for a living. The mere thought of feeding herself and her children from the profit reaped off by robbing other people of their hard earned wealth leaves a hollow feeling deep inside of her and that is how Annie finds herself the outcast of the town, living with her parents who refuse to let her take the coward’s way out and stay at home wallowing in self-pity.

Through a chain of events, the townsfolk arrive at the conclusion that Jesse is the father of Annie’s unborn child as Annie continues to hide the identity of the man who had fathered her child. Jesse had always had a soft spot for Annie, her unruly red curls a constant source that fires his libido unlike any other. But his plans of gentle days of courting Annie into his world fly out of the window when he reels with the news of Annie’s pregnancy, until he comes up with a plan that would effectively tie Annie’s life to his, all the while convinced that with time he would make Annie fall in love with him.

Shotgun Wedding was a story that was delivered in the classic wit and style that only Maggie Osborne can pull off. She is an author who can continue to juggle a hundred characters in her stories and never make you feel as if you are floundering around trying to pin down who is who. In Shotgun Wedding, Ms. Osborne manages to bring the whole town to life, exploring those little nuances that makes you feel as if you are part of the story that unfolds rather than a guest passing through.

I loved Jesse and clamored for him with everything female inside of me. He is the least “tortured” hero that I have come across by the author and there was a definite charm about his character because of that. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that Jesse won’t make your heart go aflutter because he definitely does that and more. He has that inner strength and formidability etched onto his character that would make your heart beat a tad faster when he enters into the picture. And he is the type of man you can count on to keep the nightmares at bay, to make you feel loved and cherished in those little ways that counts. I loved how Jesse begins to court his pregnant wife and that slow simmering seduction that he begins that just made me hum deep inside and curl my toes in anticipation.

I had a bit of a problem with Annie like most readers. Annie is not without her faults but I expected her to grow out of them and show me the backbone that would make her a worthy partner for Jesse till death does them apart. At first her selfishness in not thinking about the parents who had done nothing but love her and give her everything she had wanted grated on me. But later on, she did learn her lesson and accepted her faults and showed that she was made of better stuff. The one thing that continued to irk me was how Annie tried to shield the activities of the actual father of her child from her husband, putting Jesse inevitably in danger which is only then Annie realizes the blunder she has made. But I guess once again she does learn from her mistake but I found it a bit hard to forgive her and move on like Jesse did.

The one other problem I had with the story was how Jesse didn’t feature in the story as prominently as I wanted. The story was mostly dominated by Annie and the father of her child and though the anger that he harbors towards Jesse for snatching away something that he considers as rightfully his drives the story, I wanted the burgeoning relationship between Jesse and Annie to come into the spotlight and give me a couple of chapters to sigh over long after I was done.

It is the sheer feeling of magic that surrounds me when I start a Maggie Osborne that would always leave me coming back for more. Recommended for fans of Maggie Osborne and fans of marriage of convenience themed romances.

Favorite Quotes

If only. The saddest two words in any language.

Golden shadows shimmered and the musky scent of the candles dizzied every breath. They were on the bed now, an enormous bed with sheets of glowing satin. Clasped in an embrace they rolled together, drinking deep kisses from gasping mouths, hands stroking, teasing, chasing, bodies pressing against each other as if seeking to melt and become one with the other.

He bent his head, bringing his lips near her ear. “Talk of the future confuses you, I know. But I think about it all the time.
His hands moved slowly down her bare arms. “When the time is right, when it’s our time, I want to undress you – slowly – in front of the fire. Slowly, one item at a time. I want to roll down your stockings and unlace your corset. I want to slowly take the pins out of your hair and catch the weight of it in my hands. Then I want to learn the feel of every inch of you.”

[Annie] “I just wondered … is slowly a good thing?”
“Is slowly …” His fingers relaxed and she felt rather than saw his smile. He brushed his fingertips across her lips, then sank back to his pillow. “Oh yes, Annie love. Slowly is a very good thing.”
“Oh, my.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Abe Books

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: If You Know Her by Shiloh Walker

Format: E-bookifyouknowher
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Ash Trilogy #3
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Hero: Edward Lawson Reilly
Heroine: Nia Hollister
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: February 28, 2012
Started On: March 11, 2012
Finished On: March 16, 2012

If You Know Her, the 3rd book in the Ash Trilogy by Shiloh Walker is the conclusion to a series that started out explosively good. It was the need to know the identity of the killer that Shiloh had hidden so well in plain sight that made me come back for more every time. Shiloh Walker is an author who manages to disturb my slumber. This time it was a nightmare that I read the final book in the trilogy and STILL couldn’t figure out who the killer was which had me jerking back to wakefulness.

Nia Hollister is having a tough time out of accepting the brutal death of her cousin Jolene Hollister. Though the killer had been caught or rather had been killed, tying up everything in a neat little package, Nia doesn’t get the closure that she so craves. A photojournalist by profession, Nia had been away on an assignment when her cousin had first gone missing. The sheer amount of rage that unfurls inside of Nia upon seeing the bruised and battered body of the one person who had been like a sister to her leaves her reeling and at the same time gives her that determination to dig deeper, to find out whether Jolene’s killer had well and truly being caught.

34 year old Edward Lawson Reilly (Law) lives in the small town of Ash in Kentucky. Law is a writer by profession and has that brooding thing down to a fine art. 5 months or so later to the day that Nia Hollister had practically exploded into his life, Law encounters her once again, this time seemingly with her mind set on staying. Law knows deep inside that with that unrelenting glint in her eyes, Nia could stir up a shitload of trouble but that doesn’t stop him from craving for her with every breathe he takes.

What Nia does with her pricking and prodding is to stir up a killer who is more than happy to lay dormant for a while until the dust settles. But as it is usual with methodical serial killers, he too makes his fair share of mistakes and that is how eventually Nia ends up being the one who is able to unravel him, the one who is able to once again set on fire that burning need to hurt, kill and do a hell lot more, only if Nia were the type of person who would not cause a fuss if she went missing from the scene.

For me, it was the killer that Shiloh brought to life in book one that made this whole series. He was scary enough to give me the shivers every single time he came into the picture and my mind was frantically trying to piece together all the evidence to find out who it is that could be the killer. As most readers who have reviewed this already have stated that they had their fair share of suspicion on who could be the killer, I too had them but then Shiloh managed to throw us all off a bit with book 2 in which we didn’t get to see much from the guy.

Nia Hollister is a force to be reckoned with. She is totally bad-ass, drives a Harley and lives from one assignment to the next. But with Law in the picture, Nia starts picturing a life that could mean settling down a bit and dreams of that elusive thing called a happily-ever-after that few people ever seem to find in real life. 

Law is the type of hero that you envision in your mind with that five o’clock shadow darkening his jawline, a pensive faraway look hiding what he thinks and eyes that could drive a woman nuts because when he does focus on you, it would take a mighty force of the nature to pull your gaze away from his. As all the heroes we met through the trilogy, Law too is protectiveness personified. Even when Nia gives him a lot of trouble, Law sticks adamantly to his schedule of keeping his woman safe, even if it means that he is the one who has to carry the nightmares to bed with him.

The passion between Nia and Law was of the toe-curling variety with some scorching scenes tossed in between and I loved every minute of it. The one thing that I felt was missing from the story was the insight into the killer’s life once he was revealed. I wanted to know details about him that would have shed some light on why he had turned out that way. The killer was a mass of contradictions if ever there was one. The fact that he managed to lead a life that resembled normalcy, didn’t isolate himself from the rest of the town and goes about his daily life as a normal person would were bits and pieces that fascinated me. I wanted to know what makes him tick, what kickstarts and unravels that ball of need inside of him that gives him that creepy edge.

While everyone got their happily ever afters, I wanted an epilogue or just an extra chapter to see how they were all doing, how they were all dealing with the aftermath of a killer who had not just touched their lives for brief moments in time, but left a deep impact on all of them which would only heal with time.

Recommended for fans of Shiloh Walker and fans of the Ash Trilogy. 

Favorite Quotes

Swearing, he fisted a hand in her short hair, yanked her head back and slanted his mouth over hers. She opened for him, humming with delight and Law was cursing himself even as he gorged on her taste. Fuck, she was sweet—hot, sweet, and perfect.

Tipping her head, she stared into his tawny, hazel eyes, so intense, so burning-hot and all-consuming. Had she ever had a man look at her like that? Like she was all? Like she was everything? The center of his universe? Hell, screw the center … Law was looking at her like she was his universe.

Then he curled his tongue around her clit and Nia could have sworn she saw lights exploding. Her breath caught in her lungs, the muscles in her body went rigid. Nothing, absolutely nothing seemed to exist except for the way that man was teasing her closer and closer to climax, using his tongue in a way that was nothing short of diabolical.

Her breathing ragged, her body went lax under his. “We’re not done,” he rasped, fisting a hand in her dark, short hair. Law greedily took her mouth as he started to ride her again—deep, hard. So damned hungry, so damned hungry …
If she’d had the breath, she might have told him to give her a minute.
But even if she had had the breath? He would have stolen it away again.

When she reached the button of his jeans, his hips jerked and he squeezed his eyes closed, hoped he wouldn’t make a fool of himself and lose it the second she touched him. He hadn’t done anything like that in ages, not since high school, but Nia shattered his control like nothing else.
Nia shattered him.

He’d had a need to be gentle, had wanted this to be slow and lazy, as though something sweet and easy could take away the misery of the day. It wasn’t quite the sweet and tender seduction he’d hoped for, but as the climax rushed up on them, claiming them both hard and demanding, as she rested her forehead to his, their gazes locked, her mouth seeking out his … everything else fell away.
In those moments, nothing else existed but each other. 

Across the room, Nia said with a smirk, “Look at Tinkerbell going all mama-bear.”
Hope snapped, “Oh, shove the Tinkerbell crap up your ass.”
For about two seconds, Nia just stared at her. Then she started to laugh.

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