Category / Emotions Wrencher

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

Requested ARC Review: Tactical Deception by J.L. Saint + Giveaway!

Format: E-booktacticaldeception
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Silent Warrior #2
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd.
Hero: Lt. Col. Roger Weston
Heroine: Maryam Dalton
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: March 13, 2012
Started On: March 12, 2012
Finished On: March 13, 2012

It feels like I have spent ages pining for the release of this much awaited second book in the Silent Warrior series by J.L. Saint. Book 1 in the series Collateral Damage was an eye opening novel filled with drool inducing yummy military heroes and depicts the constant battle that they and the world at large fight in combating terrorism and its ill effects on the whole world. J.L. Saint is one of those authors who gets the details right, someone who doesn’t ‘judge’ in the way she presents a story that is bound to be gone over with a fine-tooth comb by those that would have a hard time believing that any author would be able to paint ‘terrorists’ in a way that doesn’t offend someone who is a Muslim. Having read book 1 in the series, I trusted J.L. Saint to handle the story of Lt. Col. Roger Weston and the beautiful Maryam Dalton (Mari) with the same grace and poise as she did for Collateral Damage and she did just that, leaving me wanting more of the same as I read through the last pages.

39 year old Roger Weston is still paying the price for the hit his team had taken in Lebanon, the guilt of what had gone down and rendered 24 year old Maryam Dalton (Mari) a pregnant widower something that Roger can’t shake himself loose from. Making the situation doubly dangerous is the fact that he desires Mari above and beyond any reason, something that he berates himself for over and over again knowing deep in his heart that if Mari were ever to find the truth behind her husband’s death, she would never look at him in the same way again.

Mari might be pregnant and devout in her faith that had been her way of life even long after she had escaped the land where she had grown up in driven to escape the injustice of being blamed for something she had no power over, but the fact that she desires a man she has no right over is one that continues to taunt her. Mari would like nothing better than to bury her head in the sand and forget that Roger Weston exists, but it seems easier said than done as Roger and his piercing blue eyes continue to haunt her in dreams of the vivid and erotic variety, and it doesn’t make things any easier when Roger sticks by her side to protect her from an enemy who is relentless in his need to see Mari take her last breathe in this world.

When shit hits the fan in more ways than one, Roger and his team are scrambling left and right trying to make sense of a series of sniper attacks which occur simultaneously at different locations in the US, leaving an abject terror gnawing deep inside of everyone. Amidst all the attacks and confusion, Mari’s estranged family makes an appearance, throwing both Roger and Mari into a situation that is fraught with danger from all sides, and it is through sheer luck, God’s will and a whole lot of prowess on Roger’s side that these two find themselves free from their captives, ready to surrender to the desire that is always such a visceral part of their relationship.

Tactical Deception is a complex novel comprised of multiple layers and characters that lend a richness to the story that just begs you to keep on reading. There are few authors in my eyes who can juggle so many characters effectively without the book sounding like a narrative of each and every single attribute of the multi-faceted characters that are introduced and play a vital role in the story. And I believe J.L. Saint to be one who is able to deliver on all accounts and I couldn’t get enough of each and every character that I came across and learned to love as I was pulled deeper into a story that was filled with action, angst and red hot loving till the very last page.

Tactical Deception is not just the story of how Roger and Mari, two very different people in their upbringing as well as their beliefs and culture find that special someone in each other to spend the rest of their lives with. It is a story that shows the true meaning of the word “terrorism”, the terror that one can instill in your heart if you plan that carefully, if you let hate encroach and encompass the whole of your heart until it is just sheer madness that controls all your actions and emotions. It is a realistic portrait of the condition that J.L. Saint creates so vividly that I always found myself holding my breathe in, unable to believe what was happening, but at the same time knowing deep inside of me that this could indeed turn out to be the reality of tomorrow.

I would say this now and I would say this tomorrow, but I do appreciate how well J.L. Saint paints the picture of a devout Muslim who is torn between her beliefs towards Allah and her desires for a man that goes completely against the teachings of a religion that preaches modesty of the self above everything else. But reality in life is that even the most devout when tempted beyond anything they have ever faced before succumbs, and there was a beauty in the way that Mari gives herself over to Roger, a man who above everything else respects the woman he would lay down his very life for.

Roger is a hero that would be hard NOT to fall in love with. He is a warrior with a deep sense of always doing the right thing ingrained in him that it is with a heavy heart that he faces his unrelenting desire for the very last woman he should be lusting after. Even when Mari and the way she covers her beauty from him drives him crazy, I fell irrevocably in love with him the moment Roger showed just how much he respected the woman he loves above anything else in this world. Roger recognizes the woman who hides herself in the shrouds of her abaya, her wants, needs and the desire that burns deep inside of her to embrace freedom, to give her unborn babies all that she had been deprived of when she had been growing up.

Woven into the story of such complex emotions is plenty of action to pump up one’s adrenaline levels and J.L. Saint pulls no punches in delivering scenes that practically explode all over the page, that drives you to the edge of your seat time and yet again and I loved and reveled in every single minute of the experience.

As much as I loved Roger and Mari’s story, I absolutely adored the secondary romance that took place between Angie and Rico that burned up a few pixels on my iPad and a few of my brain cells while they were at it. Their explosive chemistry, the way Rico could not think straight whenever Angie was around, and the bittersweet ending that Angie and Rico faced at the end of this novel just made me want to cry and howl at the injustice of it all. I don’t think I can adequately put into words just how much I want their story next, and yes this goes out as a plea to you Ms. Saint to hurry along and give readers their story before we all get into a tizzy from all the anticipation and waiting around.

As I said earlier, so many fascinating characters that I have a feeling would make for unbelievable stories of their own and I can’t wait to see the journey that Ms. Saint would take us on in a series which I hope and pray would continue to have a lot more books than just these two. With non-stop action, red hot scorching passion that revs up your engines unlike anything else, there is nothing more you can ask from a novel such as this one.

Tactical Deception is a story that goes straight to your blood. Its chills, curdles, pumps and revs it up in equal doses and you just wont get enough!

Favorite Quotes

… war fucks everybody without discretion …

She [Angie] looked at the plate he’d set down. “You’re not hungry?”
“I’m starving. Hungrier than I’ve ever been in my entire life.” He’d waited for weeks for the right time and even though it was the worst timing possible, he couldn’t wait a second more.
Her jaw dropped as he took her plate from her wobbly grip.
“I, uh, am in desperate need of a shower.”
“Me too,” he whispered, then leaned in and pressed his mouth to her lush lips. She opened immediately for him, inviting his tongue and more as she sighed and sank closer against him. He thrust deep into her mouth, tasting the spicy sauce, tasting her, and plundered for more as pleasure washed over him like a benediction from heaven.

Looking down she arched her back, giving him more. His tanned complexion against her milky, slightly freckled skin was visually stark and sexually exciting. She watched as his mouth claimed her other nipple, stroking it with his tongue, and her vision blurred as he rhythmically rocked his erection against her sex.
Hot, damp, desperate, she braced herself with her hands on his knees behind her and met him thrust for thrust, pushing hard. Breathing as heavy as he was, she trembled with the flash fire of passion overtaking them both.

The waistbands of her jeans and panties only made it to her knees before Rico spread open her sex and planted a tongue lashing right on the swollen nub of her core. Wave after wave of fiery pleasure burned through her in an explosive rush to an orgasm that rocked her world because it was so good, but it wasn’t enough. She didn’t have Rico inside her. She didn’t have his arms around her. She couldn’t look into the drowning depths of his eyes. She pulled on his good arm, feeling his body trembling with his desire. “I need you now. More than ever before I need you inside me now. Please.”

Her sheath clamped his erection like a burning fist as her body demanded he follow her over the edge. Physically that was already happening. Big time. He was buried all the way in with his balls kissing her sweet ass as the biggest orgasm of his life blew his mind. He literally saw stars. But it didn’t end there. Emotionally and spiritually she was sucking him into her and he was driving harder and harder to get there himself as his gaze locked with hers. She grabbed his heavy necklace and pulled his mouth to hers, demanding and claiming, giving no quarter. They rode out the pleasure, wave after wave, milking every drop of it together with moans, touches, tiny thrusts, and sealing it all with an endless kiss that left him breathless—soulless—everything-less. She stole it all.

[Roger] “Do you know how amazingly beautiful you are to me?”
“As beautiful as you are to me.” She slid her gaze down then back up with one of those secret smiles that played havoc with a man’s mind.
He shook his head. “Nah, I couldn’t be, because you’d be insane with your need to just watch me. You’d ache every moment to just touch me. Your nights would be consumed with dreams of me and you’d live every moment just to love me.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BoB | Samhain

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GIVEAWAY!! GIVEAWAY!!

Author J.L. Saint is giving away an e-copy of Tactical Deception to one lucky commenter on this post. All you have to do to enter is to tell us who your most favorite fictional military hero is. So easy right?

Please state a valid e-mail address as a way to contact you if you are the winner. And remember, this is open INTERNATIONALLY, so don’t be shy ;-)

If you can help spread the word, you do earn extra points. Tweet about it and earn 5 extra entries, recommend this review and giveaway on Facebook and earn another 5 extra entries. And if you do either, don’t forget to leave the link of your tweet or recommendation on Facebook for me to verify.

Giveaway will open at 00:00 hours on March 14, 2012 Maldivian time and ends at 00:00 hours on March 16, 2012 Maldivian time. Maldivian timezone is GMT+5!

If you love action packed romantic suspense with larger than life military heroes, I dare you to enter. This is one book that won’t disappoint.

by mvbookreviewer

Review: On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Format: E-bookontheisland
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Thomas James Callahan (T.J.)
Heroine: Anna Lynn Emerson
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 4, 2011
Started On: March 6, 2012
Finished On: March 9, 2012

Never have I been so grateful for a recommendation received from the romance discussion forum on Amazon as I was when I finished On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves. By reading the book, you won’t feel that it is a debut novel, such is Tracey’s prowess and mastery with the words that you just want to go on reading, without taking any breaks in between if you can help it.

Thomas James Callahan (T.J.) is sixteen years old and three months into remission from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He is on his way to the Maldives with his 30 year old tutor Anna Lynn Emerson who is to help him catch up on the months of missed school while T.J. had been undergoing treatment.

Tragedy strikes when the sea plane that is supposed to take them to the island which is their final destination crash lands, leaving Anna badly hurt and T.J. with the task of getting them safely to shore. Saying that it is a tough time that Anna and T.J. both undergo, especially during the first couple of days would be an understatement. Being from the Maldives myself, I understand how primitive conditions would be in an uninhabited island, how totally alone you can feel with nothing but the blue skies and the endless seas surrounding you. With no source of fresh water on the island, Anna and T.J.’s main problem lies in the depleting amount of fluids from their bodies. But somehow, part  through luck and partly through trial and error, T.J. and Anna make a life for themselves on the island when being rescued seems like an option that is no longer available for them.

From June 2001 till December 2004 when the devastating tsunami that wrought havoc from Indonesia to Africa serves to be the reason why they get rescued, Anna and T.J. depend and rely on each other and a relationship forms between the two, not surprising given the fact that T.J. had crushed on Anna even from the very start. Anna is the one who remains at first oblivious, for many a reason, one being the fact that she is 13 years older than T.J. For Anna, the protective instinct she has when it comes to T.J. surprises her but she doesn’t make much of it until after T.J. turns 18 and she too starts feeling the stirrings of desire when it comes to T.J. 

The way Anna and T.J.’s relationship progresses is a natural one. No lightning bolt moments in their relationship but rather it is one that is built on mutual affection, trust and a whole lot more than just a simple case of lusting for each other because it is the convenient choice. Both T.J. and Anna are characters who feel real, ones that you can relate to, ones that tug at your heartstrings as you read along. You can’t help but be invested in the outcome of their relationship, their time on the island that subjects them to the harsh reality of life and survival when there remains nothing but each other to look out for.

Being rescued brings along with it its own fair share of doubts and insecurities though both Anna and T.J. know that for them there would always be no love like the one that they have found with each other. The period of separation that they both go through was a much needed one to make their love that much more meaningful and profound and I was deeply moved through everything T.J. and Anna go through, both together and individually as well.

I loved T.J.. No surprises there. He is the kind of hero that you fall in love with immediately because there are no pretenses when it comes to him. He is the what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy and the way he grows into manhood, takes on responsibilities that would otherwise have been foreign if not for the circumstances just made him that much more appealing. He has a protective instinct that naturally comes into play with Anna, a woman he admires and crushes on from afar for far too long. When T.J. realizes the course of change Anna’s feelings towards him has taken, T.J. grabs the opportunity like everything else he does, with a zeal and zest for life that is so charming that you just fall in love with Anna right along with him.

Anna was such a lovely character as well. She is the type of heroine who doesn’t fuss around trying to become someone she isn’t. She is comfortable with who she is. Her regrets in life are ones that had driven her to take the job of tutoring T.J. in the first place. She doesn’t talk down to T.J. just because he is much younger than herself but rather treats him as an equal from the very start. Their coping mechanism for what they both go through are different, but in it lies that desolateness that is a result of the hope that diminishes as the months and years pass on by.

If I am ever to crash on an uninhabited island, I want a T.J. by my side, a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to lay his emotions on the line to get what he wants. When the epilogue and the beautiful fitting ending for these two lovely people came about, I was more than ready to embrace it, reveling in the blessings that life had bestowed upon two people who would remain with me forever. 

I have to warn readers like myself who are squeamish with books written in first person that this is indeed written in first person. But Tracey makes it worth your while by giving both characters equal amounts of attention to show you both their viewpoints. A nice touch I must say and I loved T.J.’s take on things. With characters I loved wholeheartedly, this gushy review is a testament to just how much I loved the story. And the story taking place in Maldives? The icing on the cake. 

Beautiful, poignant and real, On the Island is a novel not to be missed! I smiled, I laughed, I cried and I sighed with everything that is in me. There is nothing more you can ask from a book. Grab yourself a copy and indulge – I dare you!

Favorite Quotes

[T.J.] If she had gotten sick, the only thing I could have done was watch her suffer. Bury her next to Mick when she died. I didn’t know if I could make it without her. The sound of her voice, her smile, her– those were the things that made living on the island bearable. I held her a little tighter and thought if she woke up I might tell her that. She didn’t though. She sighed in her sleep, and eventually I drifted off.

[Anna] In February, I woke up from a nap. A bouquet of flowers gathered from the various bushes and shrubs scattered around the island lay on the blanket beside me, a small length of rope wound around their stems.
I found T.J. down at the shore. “Someone’s been checking the calendar.”
He grinned. “I didn’t want to miss Valentine’s Day.”
I kissed him. “You’re sweet to me.”
Pulling me closer, he said, “It’s not hard, Anna.”
I stared into T.J.’s eyes, and he started to sway. My arms went around his neck and we danced, moving in a circle, the sand soft and warm under our feet.
“You don’t need music, do you?”
“No,” T.J. said. “But I do need you.”

[T.J.] I pulled my arms out from underneath her body and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I love you, Anna.”
The surprised look on her face told me she hadn’t seen that coming.
“You weren’t supposed to fall in love,” she whispered.
“Well, I did,” I said, looking into her eyes. “I’ve been in love with you for months. I’m telling you now because I think you love me too, Anna. You just don’t think you’re supposed to. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. I can wait.” I pulled her mouth down to mine and kissed her and when it ended, I smiled and said, “Happy birthday.”

[T.J.] I kissed her as soon as we were inside her apartment, and I wasn’t gentle about it, holding her face firmly in my hands and pressing my lips hard against hers. She wasn’t anyone’s to own – I knew that – but right then she was mine.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Score Sheet Review: A Very Sinful Valentine by Charlotte Featherstone

Format: E-bookSinful
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Historical Erotic Romance
Series: Sinful
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Matthew Wallingford
Heroine: Jane Rankin
Sensuality: 4.5
Date of Publication: February 2012
Started On: March 5, 2012
Finished On: March 5, 2012

CATEGORY SCORE GRADE
The hero 100 A
The heroine 100 A
Story line 100 A
Emotional Intensity 100 A
Suck me in Factor 100 A
Heat & Sensuality  100 A
Conflicts 100 A
Writing Style 100 A
Quotable Factor 100 A
Ending 100 A
Overall Grade 100 A

Score Sheet Summary

Sinful by Charlotte Featherstone is one of those novels that I ended up loving to death. A hero that I could not get enough of, a heroine who was his match in every single way and sensual scenes penned so vividly and erotically that it took my very breathe away, needless to say, Sinful is a novel that I would remember till the end of time.

So it was to my delightful surprise that a friend on Goodreads alerted me to this delicious number released I guess in time for Valentines Day and I am so thankful that Charlotte Featherstone like myself hasn’t forgotten the impact that Matthew has on the female senses.

This little novella finds Matthew basking in wedded bliss so to speak with that untamed wildness within him roaring its head because his beloved wife Jane has been avoiding him for the past 3 months. A man who has a voracious appetite for anything and everything to do with carnal desires of the flesh, Jane had been the woman to bring him down to his knees and possess his heart for all eternity. So it is a brooding Matthew we find ourselves with, dangerous and turbulent emotions swirling deep inside of him, all the while wrecking his brains trying to think up the reason why his strong and brave Jane suddenly seems to be without the very fire that stirs him up.

Jane has her own reasons to be shy around Matthew. Giving birth has put its own toll on her body and needless to say a woman who thinks of herself plain when compared to a husband whose dark vivid good looks is the talk of the town has Jane hesitating to give herself over to her husband, even when she aches to do so.

What Matthew does is breathtaking in its eroticism, beautiful in the way that it brought everything female deep inside of me alive and had my senses humming all throughout. Every woman, and I mean every single woman deserves a man like Matthew who can love like he does, without reservations, without conditions, for time and eternity, until death does them apart. Let the sighing fest begin!

Cannot recommend this highly enough for those who love Matthew. He is the man!

Favorite Quotes

[Jane] “You know how I feel about you. About what we share. I did not mean it in such a way.”
“No?” he whispered wickedly, his gaze finding hers, latching on with strength and determination. “I don‟t believe you. I think you had better show me, Jane.” 
She kissed him, slow, lazily, her lips moving over his mouth, slowly winding, becoming deeper, sensual, and then slowly her tongue penetrated his mouth, touching his tongue, flicking around the tip of his. He groaned, wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her up against his bulging phallus that felt so large and hard. Her core ached, needing that deep inside her.

“I’m a hedonist, and you, Jane, my wife, should know that about me. You’ve shared my body and bed, you know things about me that no other soul on earth does. Who can I not be a sensualist with than, you, Jane? Who else to act out my wicked fantasies, than the woman who inspires them? There is no shame in fantasies, in pleasure. Who other than us needs to know what we’ve done, what brings the other pleasure?”

[…] “But Jane, tonight I’m going to watch–and so are you. It will not be dark when I look upon you. There will be no clothes–only your skin. There will be no wiggling and squirming away from me. You will lie still and let me look. I will take as long as I want, gorge myself on the sight of you, and you will not resist. You will not utter one word to the contrary. You will accept everything I give you. And you will be loved, Jane. Loved so that you never forget that you are the only woman for me. You always have been. And you always will be.”

“Don’t” be shocked, Jane,” he murmured as he lifted her higher, and poised her at the tip of his cock. “Don‟t be embarrassed. Not with me. You‟re gorgeous, and everything about you is perfect.” 
She nodded, met his gaze, and they held each other as she sunk down slowly upon him, impaling herself.  
She cried out, her hand flying to her lower belly. 
“Feel me all the way up there, do you my love?” 
She nodded, began to move, and he let her, just felt her body move and undulate beneath his palms.

“Jane, look at me,” he asked, and when she did, he knew she was seeing what she needed in his eyes. 
“You are the only woman for me–it‟s only ever been you. I told you once before, that I have never loved before you, and I will never love again. Jane,” he said, forcing her face to down to his. “There is no condition on my love. No end to my desire. Don‟t put them there, my love.”

“Jane,” he whispered as the streaks of dawn broke through their bedroom window. “Once more. In the daylight, so I can see you with the sun upon your skin.”
And she rolled over, smiled, and held open her arms to him, welcoming him home at last.

Download Link: Mystic Castle

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Score Sheet Review: Flash Point by Shelli Stevens

Format: E-bookflashpoint.JPG
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Series: Holding Out for a Hero, Book 3
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd.
Hero: Todd Wyatt
Heroine: Caitleen (Kate)
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: March 8, 2011
Started On: March 5, 2012
Finished On: March 5, 2012

CATEGORY SCORE GRADE
The hero 90 A
The heroine 90 A
Story line 90 A
Emotional Intensity 90 A
Story’s ability to suck me in 90 A
Heat & Sensuality  95 A
Conflicts within the story 90 A
Writing Style 95 A
Quotable Factor 60 A
The Ending 80 A
Overall Grade 87 A

Score Sheet Summary

Flash Point is a novella that I have been meaning to read for quite sometime. Almost a year to the date that it was first published, I managed to find some time to squeeze this novella in between some of my heavy reads and I enjoyed the escape that Shelli Stevens provided with this red-hot novella which combines elements of friends turning into lovers with a hero who is commitment phobic to the extreme and a heroine who is sunny, bubbly and vivacious as they come.

Todd Wyatt might want to go on thinking of Kate as a younger sister. But something vital in their relationship seems to have shifted after that tentative kiss that Kate had placed on him 5 months back and for the world of him Todd cannot seem to get the kiss out of his mind.

Kate has been half in love with Todd almost all her adult life, no wonder when Todd is the type of man that every woman in the vicinity wants to tame and call their own. But Kate knows that Todd is not the type for a long term relationship, but even that doesn’t stop her from staking her claim and taking anything and everything that Todd is ready and willing to give, even if it means that Kate would have to walk away nursing a broken heart when all is said and done.

I loved this installment of the Holding Out for a Hero series. Todd is a fireman who has got his own set of insecurities to deal with and the best thing about him was his possessiveness when it comes to Kate, which even he cannot explain. Kate was just lovely, a heroine that I utterly adored in all the ways.

Highly recommended, this is a novella best read after at least reading book 2 in the series, Command and Control which was the book that intrigued me to look up Todd and Kate’s story.

Favorite Quotes

[Todd] “There isn’t a woman I’m trying to impress with baking. I made that up.”
Kate frowned, stilling in her efforts to free herself. “Why did you say that then?”
“Damn it, to keep this from happening.” His head blocked out the light as it dipped, and then his mouth crashed down on hers.
Shock ripped through her as his lips masterfully parted hers, his tongue plunging inside to taste her.

She teetered to catch her balance, but his arm still held her, kept her from falling. And then his mouth crashed down on hers and her balance went wonky for other reasons.
Kate clutched his shoulders and moaned, parting her lips to his fierce kiss. The smell of his familiar, spicy cologne filled her senses. His tongue explored every inch of her mouth, his hands roving over her body. It was deliberate. A man staking his claim. Every female instinct inside of her could sense it.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Samhain | BoB

awesomeread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Envy by Sandra Brown

Format: E-bookenvy
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Hero: Parker Mackensie Evans
Heroine: Maris Matherly-Reed
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: August 1, 2002
Started On: March 2, 2012
Finished On: March 2, 2012

This is the 2nd book that I have chosen to read because fellow book reviewer Brie seemed to recommend the book so highly. And I have got to believe the girl and take her recommendations to heart because for the world of me, I couldn’t seem to put down this book once I started to read. Envy makes for such a compelling read that I resented every single minute I had to be away from the story that unfolded, bringing home the fact that when it comes to thrillers of the romantic suspense variety, there is none like Sandra Brown who can deliver on every aspect of the story.

Parker Mackensie Evans is a man who has been biding his time, plotting and planning the perfect revenge for his best friend turned foe Noah Reed. Parker has got the bait that would draw Noah’s wife, Maris Matherly-Reed in, and use her in his plot for revenge and vengeance that he has been waiting for for the past 14 years. A man with enough scars on the inside and the outside to last him a lifetime, Parker’s story is one of pain, heartbreak and eventually one full of lessons for anyone willing to read between the lines.

Maris Matherly-Reed is the ultimate heir to Matherly Press, one of the most renowned publishing houses in the country. Maris’s marriage to Noah Reed is going on 22 months and though Maris feels those twinges of unease about her husband and his inattention towards her oft late, she manages to brush it aside and go on with her daily life. Maris adores her father, and rightfully so when Daniel Matherly had brought her up single-handedly, given her all the love and affection in the world, taught her how to be true to herself and all that she believes in. Maris though is the senior vice-president of Matherly Press, she craves for those days when she had been an editor involved in the nitty-gritty process involved in shaping up a good book and delivering it to readers. So when she comes across a manuscript entitled “Envy” that draws her in with the characters and the story that it hints at, Maris trusts her gut instincts and seeks out the author who lives in the remote island of St. Anne.

Little does Maris know that when it comes to Parker, nothing is as it seems and that Maris is merely a means to an end that Parker wants so badly, even if it means that he has to forgo the only chance he would ever have at love and maybe finally peace from all those nightmares that continues to haunt him night and day. Parker’s manuscript with two characters Todd and Roarke that span the years of the 80’s is a story of two best friends whose competitiveness to outdo each other as the first one to land a publishing contract goes horribly wrong when one of the characters involved continue to harbor a darkness deep within his soul, intent in going through any means to achieve fame and fortune which he believes to be rightfully his. It is up to Maris to dig deeper in order to unravel the truth behind the story, to find out whether the story is indeed fiction or a true story which could have dire consequences on her life and those whom she holds near and dear to her if left unheeded.

Envy is one of those stories that I seem to have missed during the days in which I positively devoured every Sandra Brown book that I could get my hands on. And as I mentioned at the beginning of my review, Envy turned out to be a story that I couldn’t get enough of, Parker’s multifaceted character reason enough to dig deeper into the story. Parker is the brooding, cynical, manipulative hero and all rightfully so based on all that he has gone through in life. His careful plotting and planning doesn’t get him far when he encounters Maris in flesh, the woman who in the end turns his life and best laid plans all around. Suddenly things don’t seem to be as clear cut as Parker wants them to be, but the fire of vengeance that burns and taints his soul is one that refuses to be denied, and Parker pays the price of letting go of the one woman who could have brought that much needed light into his otherwise dark and bleak existence.

Maris was a character that I simply adored. She is such a true romantic at heart that it is hard not to fall for her even as the story begins. Maris is a woman who cares, perhaps a bit too much, but a woman who nevertheless defines fairer sex as they should be. She is strong, patient and loving and has that innate kindness inside of her that reaches out to those around her. Her reaction towards Parker is an alien one, one that confounds her and makes her question her vows to a man who seems to have bedazzled her with his charm and wit beneath which lies cruelty and a will to hurt that surpasses anything that Maris has ever encountered before in her life. The one thing Maris learns is that nothing is as it seems and to trust no one but her instincts that have guided her until now.

The twists and turns the plot takes are endless, ones that leaves you reeling from one twist to the next. Sandra Brown is definitely a master at what she does and Envy is a testament to her ability to deliver a good mystery/thriller with elements of romance in the mix, recommended for fans of Sandra Brown and fans of the genre.

Favorite Quotes

[Parker] “We know why I kissed you last night, Maris.”
“To frighten me off.”
He frowned. “That doesn’t even merit an argument. I kissed you because you braved Terry’s and showed up everybody in the place, including me. I kissed you because just looking at you made me ache. I kissed you because I’m a rotten son of a bitch and your mouth looked so goddamn kissable. Simply put, I kissed you because I wanted to. It’s something I admit and you damn well know. But there is one question that’s driving me fucking crazy.”
His eyes focused harder on hers and, by doing so, penetrated. “Why did you kiss me back?” 

He gathered a handful of her hair, then wound it around his fist and drew her closer until their faces were inches apart. He hesitated for several heartbeats, then settled his lips against hers, tested the angle, readjusted. He was moderately controlled until he heard a small whimper from her. He backed off, looked down into her eyes, and recognized a desire that equaled his own.
Control was abandoned. He covered her face with wild, random, artless kisses and she was doing the same to him. Then mouths melded and tongues touched, and they kissed with carnal greed.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Book Depository

fantasticread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Bluestone Homecoming by M.J. Fredrick

Format: E-bookbluestonehomecoming
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Welcome to Bluestone, Book 1
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Leo Erickson
Heroine: Trinity Madison
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 31, 2012
Started On: February 17, 2012
Finished On: February 25, 2012

M. J. Fredrick has a talent for creating characters that one can always relate  to. The romance that sizzles is always an added incentive to seek her books out because I for one am always certain that if the book is written by M. J. Fredrick, I wouldn’t ever have a reason to regret my purchase.

Bluestone Homecoming is the debut novel in a series centered around the small town of Bluestone. Leo Erickson is the hotshot war correspondent that had always felt the need to get away and had done so as soon as he could from his hometown Bluestone. And now Leo is back, the first step he takes in making amends towards his son Max whom he had left behind, too taken up on his own grief after the death of his wife to take care of his son’s needs. 

Trinity Madison is the Bluestone Elementary School counselor and is the daughter of a Reverend, still paying for her one indiscretion during her youth, one which her family still hasn’t forgotten and won’t let her forget or forgive herself. When Leo comes into town, her emotions take a leap in a direction it hasn’t for the past 8 years and Trinity is both scared and in anticipation of what could come out of a brief fling between herself and Leo with Leo uncertain of how he wants to proceed with his future.

Leo never takes into account how he well he might settle into small town life, especially with the way Trinity makes him feel deep inside as if he could once again be happy and have a second chance with his son with whom he has a difficult time at first. But Trinity’s secret when it comes out, would it have the power to drive them apart or would Leo be the man Trinity believes him to be deep in her heart, the man who would save her from her endless guilt and give her the love and support that she needs to move on with her life.

Bluestone Homecoming starts out a bit slow, laying down the foundation of the series, introducing the reader to the wholesome and charming and sometimes intriguing characters of Bluestone. Once the story picks up pace and things start happening, Bluestone Homecoming definitely pulled me in and charmed the socks off of me. Leo and Trinity both being likable characters made for an endearing couple, the attraction between them somehow sweet and sizzling hot at the same time. Leo’s relationship with his son Max was one of the most beautiful aspects of the story. That initial awkwardness and the pain both of them have never let out since the death of the woman who had meant the world to them is one that had my heart going out for them. 

Bluestone is a town that has been hit hard by the financial climate and it was heartwarming to see all of them band up together to find a way to generate more income for their small community. Leo finds his footing and his place in Bluestone through this process of helping the town remake its image, in getting involved with ordinary day-to-day life that somehow ends up being moments that he starts savoring once he gets into the groove of things.

Though the ending was a bit rushed, I decided to forgive M. J. because she has got the next book out already and Quinn and Lily’s book which I am counting on to be explosive and already my most favorite couple from the series would be out latest somewhere in March. Couldn’t ask for a better birthday present for myself if Lily and Quinn’s story turns out to be everything I expect it to be and I am certain M. J. won’t disappoint.

Great introduction into a heartwarming series whose characters, the scene and the setting worms their way into your heart before you know it.

Favorite Quotes

He closed the door behind her and turned, blocking her view of the surprisingly neat room to crowd her against the door. “I’ve wanted to do this all week. Even dreamed about it this morning.” And he touched his lips to hers.
She curved into the warmth of his body, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her fingers tunneling through his hair as he dipped his tongue between her parted lips, stroking, playing, teasing. 

The next thing she knew, he’d turned her so her back was against one of the wider trees. He stroked the hair back from her jaw and kissed her, his mouth hot and hungry. She returned the intensity, her arms around his shoulders, her fingers in his hair, her body pressed against him as if just that could ease the ache coursing through her. His hands molded her waist, bringing her closer, his tongue stroked between her lips in a rhythm that made every nerve sing.

He lifted his head and looked into her eyes as he tugged at her shirt, pulling it from beneath her, pulling it over her head until she lay beneath him in her bra, and an insubstantial one at that. His nostrils flared as he took in the sight of her in the dim light, and he trailed his fingertips over the slope of her breast to touch her extended nipple. She held her breath in anticipation as he paused, then rolled it between his fingers. When he bent his head, she closed her eyes, and let the heat of his mouth become the focal point of her world.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

greatread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst

Format: E-bookthemarriagebargain
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Marriage to a Billionaire, Book 1
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Hero: Nicholas Ryan
Heroine: Alexandria Maria McKenzie
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: February 14, 2012
Started On: February 18, 2012
Finished On: February 18, 2012

All romance lovers out there, make way for the superbly talented Jennifer Probst who has succeeded in earning herself an auto-buy spot on my already long list of authors whose books I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase. Not only do I immediately purchase Jennifer Probst’s books, but I stop everything I am reading at the moment and plunge into her books with an enthusiasm that tells a story of its own.

27 year old Alexandria Maria McKenzie (Alexa) is in a bit of a dilemma. She needs a husband, preferably with $150,000 to spare and she needs it fast. Brushing aside her ideals and her image of the perfect husband to share her life with isn’t easy for Alexa. But she will do it because she is willing to do everything in her power to rescue her family home. And so Alexa casts a little love spell, all the while feeling a bit silly but nevertheless hopeful that Mother Earth would send her way, a man who would meet all those qualities that she wants in a man together with that wad of cold hard cash to give as well.

30 year old Nicholas Ryan (Nick) is in a bit of a fix as well. Nick has a fortune at his fingertips, but his Uncle Earl had changed all the rules of the game at the last minute and left him hanging. His dream of owning Dreamscape, the architectural firm that brings out all his emotions and creativity in one stride would belong to him, only if gets married before the stated time is up. Nick is a man who doesn’t believe in happily ever afters, large families and the strength of a love between two people that defies all odds and logic. And he is certainly the direct opposite of what Alexa envisions as a husband for herself and nor is he too thrilled to know that his only viable option of a wife for a year is none other than his childhood tormentor Alexa herself.

14 year since that humiliating experience that had broken Alexa’s heart, she meets an altogether more controlled and formidable Nick, whose cold and hard way of looking at a marriage leaves a lot to be desired. But Alexa is desperate enough and thus she enters into a bargain which would give them both a marriage in name only, merely a business transaction on both sides, cold and aloof right from the onset until the 1 year period is up and both parties go their separate ways. But neither Alexa nor Nick thinks of those messier emotions that could botch things up, or those tendrils of desire that slowly erupts, leaving them both wanting more and brings in the possibility of that elusive thing called love that could last a lifetime.

Jennifer Probst surprised me with The Marriage Bargain. I was already in high anticipatory mode when I started on the book, knowing that Jennifer would not disappoint me. What surprised me, and all in a good way I must add, was the thread of humor that was introduced into the book right from the very beginning. Humor and red hot passion is an unbeatable combination in any romance novel and I was a goner from the first chapter itself.

Alexa was a character I loved right from the very beginning. Her sense of humor, her loyalty and kindness, the way that she gives everything she has got with no expectations of gaining anything back in return were some of those traits that drew me towards her in the same way way that Nick continued to be as the story progressed. Alexa is a woman who is comfortable with who she is, a woman who is helplessly drawn towards her husband as she had been when she was much younger and more naive, already in love with a man who had no illusions about love and happily ever afters. And Alexa’s well rounded family certainly makes for a heartwarming addition to an already character driven story that proved to be of the unputdownable kind. 

Nick *sigh*, Nick is a character I am going to be remembering for a long, long time. He is a man torn between the desire he feels for his altogether too alluring for her own good wife, a woman who confuses and befuddles him as no other woman ever has and his need for control that remains to be a thing of the past when Alexa steps into his life. He has no intention of staying around after the one year period is up  to see where  their relationship could go, already convinced that he would never make a good husband, a conviction born out of a childhood that had seen the endless battles of war waged between his parents.

The sexual tension that Jennifer so cleverly weaves into the story is of the scorching variety, the tingles and jolts that the reader experiences right along with Nick and Alexa one of the best parts of the story. Jennifer has a talent for building up the tension until it is an either do or die impasse that the characters reach, and the reader cannot help but be drawn towards the magic that unfolds that just left my throat parched, in dire need of a cool, tall glass of iced water to smooth things over. Without gushing further on this aspect, I will just let my quotes section do it for you.

And don’t let me forget the verbal warfare between Nick and Alexa, Nick finally meeting his match in every way. A woman who doesn’t back down, a woman who brings those little bits of color to his otherwise stark and empty life, showing Nick that life as he had known it is no longer an option for him. It is Alexa’s patience when it comes to Nick, the way she draws the inner soul inside of him that years to embrace those emotions which Nick is afraid to name that just makes this one of the best romances I have read in a long while.

A passion that is explosive as the love that unfolds is tender, a beautiful happily ever after that encompasses everything; Jennifer Probst delivers a fiery and wild romance that goes straight to your heart.

Highly recommended!

Favorite Quotes

[…] Some parts were totally inappropriate. The corded length of his arms. The broad shoulders and chest that stretched and molded the fabric. The deep bronze of his skin as if he had been lying in the sun for hours. The animal litheness of his movements. He had grown up, and he was no pretty boy. Nick Ryan was all hot-blooded man—and still looked at her as Maggie’s little playmate. 

“Your mother’s coming,” he said.
“I know—she probably heard us arguing. Do something!”
“What?”
“Anything!”
“Fine!” He grabbed her around the waist, dragged her body flush against his, and ducked his head. His lips crushed hers as his hands wrapped around her tightly so they were plastered against each other, hip to hip, thigh to thigh, breasts to chest.

She expected a precise, controlled kiss to calmly show her mother they were lovers. Instead she got hot testosterone and raw sexual energy. She got warm lips melded over hers. His teeth nipped. His tongue burrowed inside and plunged in and out with sheer command, bending her back over his arm to take every last drop of her resolve.

He’d been ready to push her away, and then she’d grabbed him at her mother’s call. Wasn’t his fault he gave in to instinct to save their ruse.
Until her hot, wet mouth opened under his. Until her sweet taste swamped his senses, and the maddening scents of vanilla and spice made him want to howl at the moon. He finally knew she approached sex the same way she approached anger—no holds barred—no prisoners taken. Demanding. Punishing. Passionate.

She waited as he perused the room, skated over her, stopped, then came slowly back.
Their eyes met.
Alexa hated clichés, and what she hated most was becoming one. But at that moment, her heartbeat thundered, her palms sweated, and her belly dipped and plunged as if on a rollercoaster ride. Her body went on full alert, begging him to come to her, promising him surrender. If he told her to go home, get in bed, and wait for him, Alexa was sure she’d follow his instructions.

Nick stood alone and watched her.
A strange emotion bubbled up inside of him. Since he’d never experienced it before, he couldn’t seek out a name. There was little left in life that touched him, and he admitted he liked it that way.
Tonight, something changed.

Nick knew the moment she realized her robe had dropped. Knew when the knowledge she was naked hit her full force. Watched her lips purse a small circle of horror right before sanity hit to make her reach for the robe.
Nick used his two-second time span to make a decision.
Her fingers started to yank up the material when he blocked her motion, lowered his head, and stamped his mouth over hers. Shock held her immobile and he used the time to his advantage. One quick thrust parted her plump lips and allowed him entry—entry to every slick, feminine heated corner of her mouth. Drugged on the taste of her, he circled her tongue with quick, urgent strokes, begging her to give it all back to him.
And she did.
Full power.

He closed the distance another tight inch. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and her nipples were hard little points stabbing out of the scarlet material, begging to be freed. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her perfume swamped his senses. He grew hard, and her eyes widened as his full length throbbed against her leg in demand. 
“I’m calling your bluff, baby.” 
Pure shock registered on her face as he removed one hand from the wall to casually unbutton his shirt, slide off his tie, then grasp her chin with a firm grip. 
“Prove it.” 
He stamped his mouth over hers, not giving her a chance to think or back off or push him away. He invaded her mouth, plunging his tongue inside the slick, silky cave, then closed his lips around the wet flesh and sucked hard. 
She grabbed for his shoulders, and made a little moan deep in her throat. 
Then she exploded.

He tenderly mated his tongue with hers, stroking, tracing the swollen flesh of her lips in an action that bespoke pure humbleness. And when he opened his eyes and looked into hers, she sucked in her breath as he finally let her in, let her see it all, and gave her what she needed. 
The truth. 
“It’s always been you. I don’t want anybody else, I don’t dream about anybody else. It’s only you.” 
She cried out as he buried himself to the hilt inside of her. Her body opened and accepted his swollen length, hugged him deep and demanded more.

He surged upward and paused at her entrance. 
“Look at me, Alexa.” 
Half drugged, she opened her eyes and gazed at the man she loved with every part of her being, waiting for him to claim her, waiting to take anything he could give. 
“It’s always been you.” He paused as if to be sure she heard and understood the words. Intensity gleamed within amber depths. He gripped her fingers, as if trying to speak beyond words. 
“And it will always be you.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BoB

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Time Out by Jill Shalvis

Format: E-booktimeout
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Blaze Publisher Series
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Mark Diego
Heroine: Rainey Saunders
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: February 19, 2012
Started On: February 11, 2012
Finished On: February 17, 2012

I am finding out that whether it be a short length or a full length novel, if it is Jill Shalvis that holds the steering wheel, there is no wrong turn the story can take. Time Out which is set to be released sometime within this month is one wild and enjoyable ride, a romance that just completely reeled me in and I couldn’t have found a better way to drop off to sleep afterwards, dreaming of a Mark that was all my own to do whatever I please with. *sigh*

Rainey Saunders has just turned thirty years old and is single, looking for that special someone. She and her best friend Lena both work at the North District Rec Center in Santa Rey, a small mid-California beach town. Rainey is a bit of a control freak, has the frizzy hair thing going for her and has a heart of gold that shines through right from the very start. She might have a hard time connecting with anyone in her dating life the way she did when she was dumb and crushing so hard on the delectable Mark Diego when she was just 16 years old. But she is way past that crush, or so she tells herself until Mark walks in, more delectable than ever, tempting her to take just a little bite out of him to satisfy all those cravings that practically fall all over themselves trying to get closer to him.

34 year old Mark Diego is the youngest, most popular NHL head coach in the country. With fame and fortune in his hands, Mark doesn’t allow himself to feel those niggling bouts of “emptiness” that hits him once in a while. Mark has always been ambitious, wanting to rise above the poverty in which he had grown up. Wanting to teach two of his players a lesson Mark makes his way towards his hometown, not at all expecting his life to take a totally unforeseen turn when he butts heads with the altogether grown up and too alluring for her own good Rainey who pierces through the rough and tough armor of his to lay siege on his heart.

The story that unfolds is what only Jill Shalvis herself can deliver. Though Rainey keeps reminding herself that she doesn’t want anything to do with Mark, her hormones keep sending the opposite signal, and time and yet again, both Mark and Rainey finds themselves in one clandestine position after the other which serves to be such a feast for the senses. There wasn’t one part of me that wasn’t clamoring to swallow Mark Diego in all his glory in one big gulp or should I say I wanted to savor him in nibbling bites so that the whole feast would last for a lifetime.

The thread of humor that is always a part of a Jill Shalvis book is there in this story as well, and the underlying issues that are much serious in nature also makes their impact on the reader as Jill takes the reader through stories of families hard hit by ravaging forest fires, abusive fathers and all that is brushed under the carpet by people who are mostly at the receiving end of such violent physical and emotional abuse.

The only thing that I was a teeny bit peeved about was the abruptness of the ending of the story. Though Jill managed to deliver that happily ever after I was clamoring for right from the very start, Mark and Rainey’s story ended a bit too hastily for my taste. But apart from that, everything in this story, and I mean everything was top notch, the type of contemporary romance that is too far and few in between these days. 

Delivering a Harlequin Blaze as it should be, Jill certainly packs a punch with Time Out. Intense and sexy as sin with characters of the caliber that only Jill can create, Time Out comes most highly recommended from the sunny side of life!

Favorite Quotes

“It’s good to see you as well,” she said, her mouth against his ear, her lips brushing the lobe.
He went still at the contact, then instead of trying to pull free, merely folded her into his arms, trapping her against him. And damn if her body didn’t burst to life, as if all this time it’d been just waiting for him to come back.
“Yeah, you’re different,” he murmured, doing as she had, pressing his mouth to her ear, giving her a shiver. “The little kitten grew up and got claws.”

At twenty-one, Mark had been long and leanly muscled, not a spare inch on him. Rainey’s gaze ran down his thirty-four-year-old body and she had to admit he was even better now. In fact, the only way to improve on that body would be to dip it into chocolate.

Her hands tightened on him. “I mean it,” she said. “We’re not doing this.”
“Define this.”
“We’re not going to be friends.”
“Deal,” he said.
“We’re not going to even like each other.”
“Obviously.”
She stared into his eyes, hers turbulent and heated. “And no more kissing—”
He swallowed her words with his mouth, delving deeply, groaning at the taste of her. He heard her answering moan, and then her arms wound tight around his neck.
And for the first time since his arrival back in Santa Rey, they were on the same page.

“Mark.” She fisted her hands in his hair and pulled his mouth to hers, her entire world anchored on his finger. When it slid inside her, she thunked her head back against the door and panted. Then his thumb brushed her in a slow circle.
She cried out against his lips, arching into him, yanking his hair. She couldn’t help it. She was going up in flames. He merely pressed her hard to the door, locking her in place. Continuing the torture, he added another finger. She came hard and fast, the power of it sweeping over her like a tidal wave. 

His gaze swept over her, hot and approving, as he lifted her up. “Wrap your legs around me— There. God, yeah, like that—” His voice was a low command, caressing her as much as his hands. “Hold on to me.” Then his mouth crushed her own as he pushed her back against the door.
She threaded her hands into his hair as he thrust deep inside of her. He made a rough sound of sheer male pleasure, his fingers digging into her soft flesh as she rocked into him. Again he thrust, slowly at first, teasing until she was begging. It was glorious torment, hot and demanding, just like the man kissing her.

The kiss ignited like a rocket flash. Not that this surprised her. Everything pertaining to Mark seemed to burn hot and fast. Frustration, lust…
His mouth was rough, hot and hungry on hers as he pulled her closer, taking control. She heard herself moan, kissing him with helpless desperation. If dessert was her usual drug of choice, it’d just been replaced because she couldn’t seem to get enough of him.

With a smug smirk, he kissed her again, then slid into her. Pleasure flooded her, so intense it arched her back and had her crying out, clutching at him. The teasing and fun vanished in a blink, replaced by something so intense she could hardly breathe. Mark’s eyes were dark and sultry, and she reared up to press her mouth to his. He took control of the kiss, making her melt into him all the more as he buried himself in her over and over, deeper, harder, faster, the entire time holding her gaze with his, letting her see everything she did to him.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Harlequin

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