Category / Endearing Hero

by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: All of You by Dee Tenorio

Format: E-bookallofyoudee.jpg
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Lonnigans, Book 1
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd
Hero: Kyle Wellem Lonnigan
Heroine: Jessica Saunders
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: April 6, 2010
Started On: October 22, 2010
Finished On: October 23, 2010

Reading All of You by Dee Tenorio, the first book in The Lonnigans series certainly entertained me on all fronts. Wickedly sensual with a touch of the trademark Tenorio humor in all the right places (which I came to identify and fall in love with after reading Betting Hearts) and characters who just leaped right out the pages certainly made for an unforgettable read. A huge thanks to Ms. Tenorio for providing me a copy of this story filled with several laugh-out-loud moments together with enough passion to curl my toes inward all the way!

Storyline: Jessica Saunders has been seeing Lucas Lonnigan (twin of Kyle Lonnigan) for the past 4 months in the most platonic relationship she had ever had. Solely focused on her career as a financial lawyer, Jessica is a woman who has sworn off all sorts of things to do with emotions and making herself vulnerable enough to feel anything for anyone apart from herself. When she agrees to see Lucas the fateful night that everything changes, the only thing that Jessica wants is to break things off with Lucas, until in walks a version of the man himself that seems to have personified every wild and wanton craving that Jessica has ever had.
When Kyle who works as an investment banker switches dates with his twin Lucas he has no idea that he is about to meet the one woman who would irrevocably change his life. Kyle who plans everything to death so that his life would go according to his whim finds himself poleaxed by the need to claim and possess his brother’s date as his own, a need that seems to be reciprocated which concludes the night in Kyle having the most fabulous sex of his life – before he is able to tell Jessica (Jess or Jessie as he calls her tenderly) who he really is.
What follows is the story of how Kyle who six months back had suddenly found his life lacking decided that marriage and 2.5 kids were what he needed, tries to convince Jessica that together they could achieve his dreams of a happy home and family. But Kyle finds out the hard way that the woman who rocks his world on so many levels, the woman he wants to claim as his wife and the mother of all his babies, is the one woman on the planet who has no intention of committing herself to a life as the one he has envisioned.

The First Meet: Kyle and Jessica first lay their eyes on one another when Kyle shows up in his brother’s stead for the date which Jessica is determined would end the relationship between her and Lucas Lonnigan.

Time period: This romance has a contemporary setting.

Awareness between the two characters: From the first moment itself, the atmosphere fairly sizzles whenever Kyle and Jessica are in the same room. Regardless of the fact that Jessica doesn’t want anything to do with Kyle who has love and forever written all over his face, the need that sears through her, a need to touch and to be touched that spikes out of control whenever Kyle is around makes it hard for Jessica to lock away her heart and emotions and throw away the key. The harder she tries to push him away, the more relentless becomes the desire within her to feel Kyle’s caress that always soars them away to places they have never been to before.

How the relationship grows: Kyle basically has his work cut out for him when he decides to woo the emotionally skittish woman who has captured his heart so effortlessly. Enlisting the help of Jessica’s less than conventional secretary Dory Pierson, Kyle refuses to let Jessica shut him out and neatly send him into her past. Jessica who has severe abandonment issues and bolts at the merest hint of vulnerability in her well placed armor doesn’t know whether to scream in frustration or to give into a need that has grown inside of her regardless of how much she doesn’t want to acknowledge her changing heart. Jessica thinking she would be able to have a purely sexual affair with the man who rocks her universe by the merest kiss embarks on one with Kyle who determinedly works for a future which he envisions is what they both need.

The turning point: The first pivotal moment in Kyle and Jessica’s relationship comes when they have heart jolting sex the night they first meet. With the first searing kiss, Kyle is a goner and though Jessica too feels the jolt that shakes the very foundation of everything she has so doggedly worked for till that moment, that night changes everything for better or worse. The final turning point comes in a moment of clarity for both Jessica and Kyle when a certain chain of events nearly ends Kyle’s life as he knows it lending both of them to understand that what they feel for one another cannot be ignored nor denied any longer.

Likes: At first I thought that I would end up hating Jessica  for what she puts Kyle through by being so emotionally unavailable – yes, I haven’t read about any heroine who gives out that impression more than Jessica does. But she definitely surprised the hell out of me with her vulnerability and the need that she has to love, to be loved and to be wanted – a need that she ruthlessly tries to tamp down on at the merest hint of its existence. Kyle’s patience with Jessica and how he determinedly works for a future that he thinks is what they both need had me rooting for him all the way through. I liked the fact that overnight solutions weren’t provided for the problems that seemed to hold back these two from attaining their happily ever after. And of course who wouldn’t love a man like Kyle Lonnigan who definitely knows the secrets to keeping his woman happy. *wink*
And ooh yes, I am definitely very much interested in reading about the grumpy, anti-social twin aka Lucas Lonnigan. He promises to make a very good story!

Dislikes: None.

Recommended for: Romance lovers who love a sassy heroine, a hero who knows what he wants and is not shy about going after it, and for those who love romances with a high dosage of sensuality in the mix. I pretty much loved the book from page 1 till the end.

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

greatread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley

Format: E-bookmadness
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Highland Pleasures, Book 1
Publisher: Leisure Books
Hero: Lord Ian Mackenzie
Heroine: Beth Ackerley
Sensuality: 3.5
First Published on:  April 28, 2009
Started On: October 1, 2010
Finished On: October 2, 2010

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie lived up to and exceeded all the expectations I had before I started on this novel. A lot of romance readers on Amazon seem to unanimously agree that this is one of the best historical romances that has been published of late and the awards that this book has received is testament enough that this story is a favorite amongst many romance readers.

This story is the first title in a series entitled as Highland Pleasures by Jennifer Ashely of which the second book in the series has already been published on July of this year. The Mackenzie family is Scottish in its origins and was one of the most powerful families in the region during the 1800’s. Hart Mackenzie who is the Duke of Kilmorgan is the eldest followed by Mac, Cameron and Ian who is the youngest.

Ian Mackenzie is a genius (who was suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome?) who was gravely misunderstood during his childhood. With a father who was driven to rages and drinking, Ian had always been the odd one who had stood out from his siblings. With his analytical genius mind which would remember everything he has read or heard verbatim and the ability to play music that he has heard once flawlessly though he never understands the normal modes of behavior always lands him in trouble. When Ian witnesses the murder of his mother at his father’s hands during one of his fits of rages, Ian’s father has him declared insane and locks him up in an asylum where he spends his childhood until his father’s untimely death ends in Hart attaining dukedom. Because Ian is misunderstood, he has always been labeled as the mad one in the family. The Mackenzie’s though powerful has always been considered wild and uncouth and it was considered unfit for a lady to be in the presence of a Mackenzie without a chaperon.

Ian and his tendency to collect Ming porcelain items lands him in the company of Sir Lyndon Mather who has got himself engaged to Mrs. Thomas Ackertey (Beth Ackertey), a widower who had come into a considerable fortune on the passing of her employer Mrs. Barrington.  Beth’s father had been a Frenchmen who had seduced her mother, a daughter of an English squire into marrying him which had ended up in her mother being disowned. Her father had died when Beth had been quite young leaving them both destitute which had resulted in both mother and daughter having to seek refuge at a workhouse. When Beth’s mother had died when she had been 15 years old, Beth had managed to acquire a teaching position at the workhouse and when she had turned 19, Thomas Ackerley the vicar newly in charge of the workhouse had married her. A year later, Thomas had died of a fever and Mrs. Barrington had hired her as her companion whom Beth had looked after for the past 9 years.

When Beth first lays her eyes on Ian, his massive height, width of his shoulders together with his dark hair and amber eyes that always seem so restless take her breath away.  The heat that slowly starts to burn within her in the presence of Ian is something that Beth had almost forgotten that her body could feel. Having agreed to marriage to Mather had been Beth’s way of making sure that she would never be lonely during the years to come and also the route to having her own children someday. What she never expects to happen is for Ian to warn her of Mather’s rather unusual sexual preferences and the fact that Mather was actually interested in her money rather than herself. Ian knows something worth protecting when he sees one and he so badly wants Beth. And before the first encounter between the two is over, Ian thoroughly kisses the delectable Beth and proposes marriage to her as well the latter of which Beth refuses though she is more than tempted.

Ian wants to protect Beth from all the rumors and the darkness that surround his family. The murder of a whore named Sally Tate that had long gone unsolved which Detective Inspector Lloyd Fellows was trying to pin on the Mackenzie’s with a vengeance; particularly to send Ian back to the asylum where he supposedly belongs to is something that Ian would rather Beth doesn’t find out. When another whore who named Lily Martin is viciously murdered Fellows swears that he wouldn’t stop his quest for justice until the Mackenzie’s pay for their crimes. Beth however has a mind and a will of her own that Ian has no idea how to predict or control and before long Beth has it in her mind to find out who actually committed the murders so that her beloved husband would finally be free of the nightmares that haunt him day and night.

I absolutely loved reading this story. Ian is a hero so very worth drooling over with his eccentric and unusual behavior. What he fears most is looking Beth in her eyes because it is the one place in this world that Ian fears he might lose himself in. Ian who doesn’t know how to express emotions like normal people do has a hard time believing that he has the capability of falling in love, something which Beth disproves so beautifully before the story is through. I loved Beth for her courage and unwavering belief in the man she comes to love, and for the fact that she understands Ian better than anyone else. The love scenes are beautifully done with a hero whose unwavering focus on what he is doing is a delight in itself. I am so very interested in reading about all the Mackenzie men because Ms. Ashely has definitely whetted my appetite for more.

All in all, recommended for all romance lovers. This is a MUST read!

Favorite Quotes

She heard the echoes of Ian’s screams in her head. Beth pressed her forehead to his hands, her heart wrenching. Ian’s hands were large, sinews hard under his kid-leather gloves. Yes, he was strong. In the Tuileres Gardens, it had taken both Mac and Curry to pull him away from Fellows. That didn’t mean others could try to tear at that strength, try to defeat him. The doctors in the horrible asylum had done it, and now Fellows was trying to.
I’m falling in love with you, she wanted to say into their clasped hands. Do you mind awfully?

Ian closed his eyes. Beth watched emotions flicker across his face, the uncertainty, the stubbornness, the raw pain he’d lived with for so long. He didn’t always know how to express his emotions, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel them deeply.
When Ian slowly opened his eyes, he guided his gaze directly to Beth’s. His golden eyes shimmered and sparkled, pupils ringed with green. He held her gaze steadily, not blinking, or shifting away.
“I love you,” he said.
Beth caught her breath, and sudden tears blurred her vision.
“Love you,” Ian repeated. His gaze  bore into hers harder than Hart’s ever could hope to. “Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you…”

Ian cupped her chin and turned her face up to his. Then he did what he’d been practicing since the night on the train – he looked her fully in the eyes.
He couldn’t always do it. Sometimes his gaze simply refused to obey, and he’d turn away with a growl. But more and more he’d been able to focus directly on her. Ian’s eyes were beautiful, even more so when his pupils widened with desire. “Have I told you today that I love you?” he asked. “A few dozen times. Not that I mind.”
As a young woman who’d been starved for love much of her life, Beth lapped up Ian’s generous outpouring of the words. He’d surprise her with them, catching her as she walked down the hall, pushing her up against a wall, breathing, “I love you.” Or he’d tickle her awake and tell her while she tried to hit him with a pillow. The best was when he lay against her in the dark, fingers tracing her body. She treasured his whispered, “I love you.”

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

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Amidst a Crowd of Stars by Megan Hart

Format: E-book
Read with: Mobipocket Reader & Amazon Kindle
Length: Short Novel
Genre: Futuristic Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Amber Quill Press
Hero: Keane Delacore
Heroine: Marrin Levy
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: January 1, 2005
Started On: September 21, 2010
Finished On: September 21, 2010

I have always come across rave reviews of books by Megan Hart and I think I did start out with one of her books sometime back which I never got round to reading more than a couple of pages. But after reading this book, I have the mind to hunt down the book I left hanging because Megan Hart writes a poignant story that really touches something deep inside of the reader.

Amidst a Crowd of Stars is a futuristic romance set on a planet called as Lujawed, a planet where the sun always shines relentlessly. The planet is harsh desert all around, the water hidden so deep within it that bringing forth water on such a dry land was a back breaking task in itself. Marrin Levy and her husband Seth with their two young girls make their way to Lujawed with her husband’s idealistic and unrealistic dreams to change their lives for the better. Lujawed had been one of those rare planets which had been settled without war. The native Lujawedians weren’t really forward minded people and didn’t give much thought to changing their lives for the better with irrigation, sanitation, roads, medical care and other such services Earthlings had come to depend on as the necessities in life.

When Seth had contracted a virus and died, leaving her with two girls and one more on the way with a mountain of debt in his wake, Marrin had been devastated to say the least. Many a time she had nearly given up and she would have returned back to Earth if they had had any money left, and nearly after 3 years of struggling in poverty, hunger and backbreaking labor had forced Marrin to send for what the Homesteaders called a “field-husband” with whom she had to enter into a contract which gives the husband conjugal rights in exchange for his labor.

When Keane Delacone steps onto Lujawed and smiles upon Marrin and her three daughters Aliya, Sarai and Hadassah and wins over the affections of the elder two right away, Marrin is taken aback even though she knows that Seveerans who didn’t reproduce where science had replaced childbirth, procreated solely via artificially inseminated and cultivated embryos, do not age like those from Earth. Technology had advanced so much for Seveerans that they had obliterated the aging process and their lifespans were limited only by accident or choice. Even then, Keane who had been 40 Earth years old when he had stepped onto Lujawed had looked younger than Marrin who had been 26 Earth years old then. But even then, Marrin had been taken in by the beauty that shone on the surface as well as deep within him, which she had come to acknowledge and love as one full rotation had passed with them living together, but never coming together as husband and wife.

With Keane by her side, life had prospered all around them. As love had  blossomed between the two, a love that had grown stronger with time, so had come about the realization of Seth’s dreams. The harsh desert landscape now yielded them with flowers and grass all year round, and Ashco their company had been borne, which currently was the largest supplier of fresh udeji melons in the entire county.

On a planet that rotated twice as fast around the sun as Earth does, the years had doubled for Merrin, but not her lifespan though her beloved husband does not look a day older than when he had first stepped onto Lujawed. I don’t think I can adequately describe the emotions that flitted through me whilst I was lost in the magic of the love between Merrin and Keane, a man so gentle and kind, the kind of man who knows what his partner wants and needs even when she doesn’t know how to voice her wants and desires. A man who is so patient as to wait for her to fulfill all that she wants in life and then some, to stand beside her in her victories and share every little thing in life that is important to her. Now, why can’t men like Keane exist in real life I wonder? *Huge sighing session begins*

The ending left me undoubtedly with tears in my eyes, made all the better with the unusual style in which the story is represented. Starting from the present day, Megan Hart takes us back through the years or rotations as they are called, beginning with a Merrin who was in her last days on the verge of death with an unwavering Keane by her side mistaken by the nurses at the hospital as Merrin’s grandson. Megan Hart then takes us on the journey of their life together which spans around 120 plus rotations during which her three children get married, start their own lives, Merrin retires on the request of her husband who has never asked for anything from her till then so they could spend whatever little time Merrin had left together. The ending which was bittersweet couldn’t have been more perfect than what it was and I am so very glad I read this short yet meaningful novel. My only wish as always is that this could have been longer.

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

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Promise of Jenny Jones by Maggie Osborne

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Warner Books
Hero: Ty Sanders
Heroine: Jenny Jones
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication:  April 1, 1997
Started On: August 22, 2010
Finished On: August 23, 2010

Maggie Osborne certainly doesn’t write about your conventional heroines. Her books always center around those women who are uneducated and shoulder the responsibilities usually carried out by men for survival’s sake. The story moves on in such a manner that you can see the heroine transform herself into something better because all along, even though the heroine may cuss and drink like the best of men, she always has redeeming qualities that shine in the end.

The Promise of Jenny Jones centers around one such heroine. Jenny Jones is a woman who had had to fend for herself from the tender age of around 8 when her mother had kicked her out of her home. Jenny had never shied away from hard tough work, because it was either that or starve to death. Big boned and reaching a height of around 6 ft, Jenny defies the convention of dainty figured women. Her one encounter with a man had soured her of having any sort of relationship with a man, and in Jenny’s mind, no man in his right mind would look at her twice. But the one remarkable quality of Jenny was that when she gave someone her word, she never went back on it. Jenny figures that being truthful was the only thing she had left in this world.

So it is this quality that lands her in a Mexican jail, sentenced to meet her maker by a firing squad. The stench, filth and the lice that seemed to have taken permanent residence in her long red hair almost made her long for the death that would inevitably arrive come morning. Salvation comes in the form of the hauntingly beautiful Senora Margarita Sanders who was terminally ill. She arrives in Jenny’s prison cell and proposes that she take Jenny’s place in front of the firing squad. In return, Jenny had to promise that she would take Margarita’s young daughter Graciela to her father and Margarita’s husband Robert Sanders in Northern California. Margarita feared for her daughter’s life, that her cousins would attempt to kill Graciela and remove the only obstacle that stood in their way of the family fortune, because Margarita’s father, who had disowned her on her marriage to Robert Sanders was filthy rich.

Jenny who had never had the responsibility of looking after a child before is skeptical at best. But a promise given has to be kept and thus Jenny finds out just how tiresome and irksome a six year old can be. Graciela hates Jenny on sight and keeps on praying to God for her death because according to Graciela her mother was killed because of Jenny. And Graciela wants nothing more than to return to what is familiar, unaware of the danger that her cousins now posed.

Ty Sanders had been asked by his brother Robert, upon the death of their father to travel to Mexico and fetch Margarita and his child. Ty unknowingly encounters Jenny and Graciela and Graciela’s two gun toting cousins who are hellbent on removing Graciela from Jenny’s keep. The first encounter itself, though Jenny looks less than flattering with her manly clothes and shortly cropped hair, Ty feels the first stir of awareness and a deep respect for the woman who fiercely guarded her child.

But when Ty finds out later that the woman who had been occupying his thoughts all too frequently since, might have kidnapped Graciela, he swears that he would rescue his niece and return her to her father, regardless of whatever misgivings  he might have about Mexicans.

Thus starts the encounters between these three. Graciela is hardly the docile child you would imagine a woman like Margarita would have reared. But she is spoiled, willful and wants her way or the high way. Graciela reluctantly starts to admire Jenny and Jenny too learns from the girl who slowly starts to creep her way into her heart. And Graciela’s uncle has the most unimaginable effect on Jenny, that she can’t believe that the blue-green eyed, lithe and handsome cowboy was really interested in bedding her, Jenny Jones that no man ever glanced at twice. But when Ty’s smoldering gaze rests on her, Jenny feels beautiful, sexy and all those things that she had never hoped she would feel.

The coming together of Jenny and Ty is explosive amongst the sultry heat of Mexico, amongst a journey that is fraught with danger for the threesome that try to make their way out of Mexico. In the end, Ty gets shot and has to be left behind so that Jenny can keep her promise to the woman who had been brave enough to die for the one person who mattered to her more than anything else.

The epilogue of the story is wonderful, describing the wedding of Graciela and how Ty and Jenny had weathered after marriage. Beautifully done story that kept the pages turning and kept me up into the wee hours of the night, just so I could immerse myself in the beautiful sensuality created by Ms. Osborne.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

fantasticread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Prairie Moon by Maggie Osborne

Format: E-bookpraire
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Hero: James Cameron
Heroine: Della Ward
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: October 29, 2002
Started On: August 19, 2010
Finished On: August 21, 2010

Maggie Osborne never fails to invoke a massive torrent of emotions in the reader with her books, and this book is in no way an exception to the rule.

Dell Ward, the widow of Clarence Ward who died during the confederates war, now lived in a rundown farm at the edge of a small Texas town. With the small number of animals she keeps and the garden she cultivates to give her a reason to get up each morning, Della is a mere ghost of the woman who married Clarence at the tender age of 16, with dreams of being the idyllic wife of a war veteran.

Lawman James Cameron has been carrying around Della’s photograph with him for the past 10 years. There was not an inch of the woman in the photograph he wasn’t familiar with, and he has once again come to see her so that she would finally know the truth about how her husband had died.

The woman that greets him stirs everything deep within this strong, silent lawman, whom every outlaw in the West was gunning for. Cameron knows that he ought to tell Della outright that he was the reason that Della was a widow and that she had had to fend for herself for the past 10 years. But once Della receives the letter that Clarence had penned for her and never completed before his death, the guilt that Della had been harboring since her husband’s death comes rushing back. The guilt that the last words that her husband had ever read from her were “I hate you”. Della would give anything in her life to take back those words and prevent Clarence from dying thinking that she had hated him.

No matter how much Cameron wants to come out with the truth, he is a man bent on storing up memories for the long lonely life ahead of him of the one woman who had effectively managed to capture his heart. So Cameron comes up with reasons to delay telling Della  the truth and let Della go on assuming that he had been Clarence’s friend. When Cameron finds out that Della was forced to give up her baby girl Claire to the Wards, Cameron knows that returning Claire to Della would be the last thing he does for her before walking away from her life forever.

Della is at first resistant to the idea of going to find Claire, but a part of her can’t help but jump with joy every time she thinks about seeing her baby girl again. Thus starts the long journey these two take, a journey during which the sensual awareness that has always been there between these two bursts to the surface threatening the little control that Cameron has over his feelings when it comes to Della.

The road to happiness for Della and Cameron is not an easy one. Both Cameron and Della have to face their pasts, learn to forgive themselves and one another before they could embrace their happily ever after.

I absolutely loved Cameron as a hero. He definitely is one sigh worthy hero and makes a girl long for one battle scarred brooding war hero of her own. Della complements this strong silent man in every way and though  the immense betrayal she feels when she finds the truth devastates her, the love that she feels for Cameron triumphed over it which made me admire Della as the heroine.

Wonderful story once again by Ms. Osborne. Its a damn shame that she stopped writing romances. Damn shame indeed!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost

Format: E-booketernal
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Night Huntress World. Book 2
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Hero: Mencheres / Menkaure
Heroine: Kira Graceling
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: August 1, 2010
Started On: August 16, 2010
Finished On: August 17, 2010

Jeaniene Frost has penned another winner with the second book in the Night Huntress World Books series. Before starting out on reading this book, I did skim through reviews written to get a feel on what to expect in this book. But I should have known even then that when it comes to Jeaniene Frost and her tales, you never know what to expect and each page just keeps you riveted with the surprises that come along your way. Needless to say I completely fell in love with Mencheres, I mean who wouldn’t? So here is my take on this wonderful story, which had me glued to every single word, right from the very beginning.

Mencheres whose the grandsire of Bones from the Night Huntress series, is a very old vampire. So old in fact he was born in 2553 B.C. and was a pharaoh when he became a vampire. Mencheres is one of the most powerful or should I say the most powerful vampire we have yet come across in the Night Huntress series. His power is such that he can move a lot of things simultaneously, fly at speeds that amazed me and could foresee the future before he assisted Bones in killing his wife Patra.

Marriage to Patra and the knowledge that he shared with her about the ways of the dark magic has continued to be one of the biggest regrets of his life. Patra’s thirst for power and worldly riches had ultimately ended in her demise, and Mencheres had been shouldering the blame for all the havoc and disaster that she brought about, nearly destroying everything and everyone that Mencheres had held dear to him.

Radje or Radjedef is an uncle of Mencheres, and a Law Guardian of the vampire race. Being a Law Guardian meant that he was a member of the vampire ruling council, and being the power hungry and corrupt vampire he was, Radje had been after Mencheres for eons, claiming that the power Mencheres’s sire had shared with him upon turning him into a vampire, rightfully belonged to Radje.

With the cease of his visions, Mencheres feels adrift, and knowing that the centuries old feud between him and Radje would just eventually hurt those who belonged to him, and the fact that he kept seeing total darkness whenever he tried to look into the future made Mencheres come to the decision that death was all that awaited him now. Mencheres knows that as the co-ruler of his line, Bones would be able to handle whatever that could come their way, and Mencheres was determined that a personal feud between him and Radje wouldn’t harm those that belonged to him. So it is with this in mind that Mencheres decides not to wait for the sure death and eternal darkness that awaits him, but rather commit the vampire form of suicide and embrace death before its too late.

Kira works as a private investigator and has two half siblings Tina who was terminally ill of whom she was really protective of and Rick, who was a drug addict, always trying to leech off money from Kira on the pretext of turning over a new leaf and getting his act together. Kira is well versed in the art of self defense, having trained to become a cop. Kira’s ex-husband had definitely left his mark on Kira with the physical and emotional abuse that he had heaped on Kira during their marriage. Kira’s salvation had come in the form of an old cop friend of her ex-husband, Mack Davis whose motto in life had been to save one life, an advice that always runs through Kira’s mind.

So when during her walk home from work Kira hears a man in agony, she can’t turn her back on whoever it was that was in so much pain. Mencheres had walked in on the ghouls who were effectively butchering him up in order to put his plan of getting killed/committing suicide into action, when a beautiful human woman walks in, commanding his torturers to give it up. To say the least, someone who had presumed to have seen everything life has to offer is more than surprised when a woman who doesn’t even know him, walks into the danger that surrounded him willing to give up her life. And when the ghouls attack the woman, Mencheres knows that he has to save the woman and stall his plans for now.

Knowing that the one thing that all Law Guardians held in contempt was flaunting the fact that vampires existed to the human race, Mencheres knows that all he has to do is erase Kira’s memory and send her on her way. But her fatal injuries end in Mencheres feeding her his blood, and right from the get go, Mencheres is unable to read Kira’s mind or effectively manipulate her with his green-eyed gaze. Thus Kira becomes a captive, a captive that Mencheres treats well, earning Kira’s respect amidst the other feelings that Mencheres’s deep black eyes and his perfect bronze body evokes in her.

Mencheres yearns for the beautiful courageous woman Kira is. Emotions that he had controlled ruthlessly and tamped down on for more than 900 years suddenly burst into the surface, urging him to let go and succumb to the feelings that Kira roused in him. Mencheres, a vampire who has always been coveted by others for what he could provide for them, whether it be from his wealth or his undeniable powers as a vampire, has never been really wanted for the man he is. And it is this cynical viewpoint that prevents Mencheres from laying a hand on Kira no matter how much he comes to desire her within the week that she resides at his home.

But the time comes for Mencheres to let Kira go, when he knows that he would never be able to manipulate Kira’s mind like he can for most of the human race, and when Kira’s sister Tina is hospitalized, Mencheres knows that the time has come to let her go. Kira thinks that Mencheres would help save her sister’s life only in exchange for her captivity to him for life, and she is more than surprised and a little lost when Mencheres releases her and sets her free. Though she is freed, Kira’s undeniable feelings for Mencheres makes her seek him out and it is then that Radje puts his evil plan into effect to draw out Mencheres to finally get the power that he wants.

In the end, Radje’s harsh sentence ends Kira’s life as she knows it and Mencheres changes her into a vampire, refusing to let the one woman who stirred his senses after centuries die away. Someone reviewed that there wasn’t enough heat between Mencheres and Kira and it was all about control with Mencheres. Maybe that particular reviewer and I didn’t read the same book, cos I definitely felt the heat and seductive lure of the power Mencheres yields so effectively to make Kira his. And I wouldn’t say when you have ceiling banging encounters with the woman you love, you are in control. Definitely not!

With Kira in his life, Mencheres suddenly yearns to live and doesn’t want his vision of eternal darkness to come true. And Mencheres knows that he has to pull all the stops and use every bit of knowledge and power he has to beat Radje at his game and save Kira from his clutches before its too late for either of them.

Mencheres definitely made me sigh all over and Kira is definitely the woman for him. I absolutely fell in love with Mencheres’s sleek good looks, the way he tamps down his power and cares for those around him and who belong to him. Its not that Mencheres is a vampire who hasn’t made mistakes or is one without flaws. But the fact that with absolute power in his hands, Mencheres still manages to be the man he is definitely makes him a vampire to sigh over!

Needless to say, the longest review I have ever written so far is due to the fact that I loved this story so much and wanted to capture its essence in my review. This book is definitely very highly recommended for Frost fans as well as those who have never read anything from Frost before. Try it out. It might just be your cup of tea! And for fans of the Night Huntress series, its always a treat to see our favorite couple Cat and Bones from another hero or heroines’ viewpoint. Always good to revisit them.

My only peeve with the book was its cover art. Definitely doesn’t match the Mencheres that I envision in my mind.

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

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard

Format: E-bookmr.perfect
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Sam Donovan
Heroine: Jaine Bright
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication:  July 25, 2000
Started On: August 15, 2010
Finished On: August 16, 2010

OMG! Sam Donovan has shot up right into the #1 position on my absolute hottie alpha male list. I have no clue as to why I don’t remember this story as being a remarkable one. Maybe it has got something to do with the fact that when I first discovered Linda Howard as an author I just “gobbled” up all the books of hers that I could get my hands on. And boy, am I glad now that I re-read this one!!

Jaine Bright works at a computer related company called Hammerstead Technology. And it was a Friday ritual for Jaine and her three friends Marci Dean, Luna Scissum and T.J Yother to meet up at a local bar and grill called Ernie’s after work for a girls-only unwinding session. Out of the four, Marci was living in with a boyfriend named Brick whom the rest didn’t seem to think much of. Jaine who had been engaged three times and all three times the engagements had gone awry, was wary of men at best and steered clear of them. That is until her drunken looking neighbor who had the gall to suggest she quiet down in the middle of the day so that he can catch up on his beauty sleep whilst he comes home every night at the most odd hours banging and clanging his way through the street, making Jaine regret her decision to buy a house in the nice quaint neighborhood she was living in. And she had just discovered that her neighbor who seemed to vibrate with fury whenever she was around was a cop. Whilst T.J was the only one of them who was married, and that to her high school sweetheart, Luna was in an on an off relationship with a football star, who didn’t seem to have a faithful bone in his body.

So it was no wonder that on that particular Friday, when all four of them were bummed out about the men in their lives, as a joke, the four of them came up with a list of qualities that they require their Mr. Perfect to have. Things like being faithful, nice and dependable makes their way to the top of the list whilst the bottom of the list tended to get a little raunchy. A little harmless fun between friends on a Friday night turns into a nightmare when Marci during a moment of weakness shares the list with the editor of the newsletter of their company bringing all four of them into the limelight.

Meanwhile, at the home front, Jaine’s sister Shelley was pissed off at Jaine because her mom had entrusted the care of Booboo, her parents pet cat to Jaine. And David, Jaine’s brother was pissed off at her because their dad had entrusted the care of his vintage car to Jaine rather than David. And when the list leaks out and becomes a national sensation, Shelley and David seem to be equally pissed off with Jaine. And to top everything off, Jaine sights her “detestable” neighbor Sam naked, and oh boy does she fall hard and fast in lust with every luscious inch on display! And it doesn’t help matters when Sam says stuff like if he starts kissing her, it wouldn’t end up being JUST a kiss, which has Jaine all hot and bothered.

The dialogues between Jaine and Sam cracked me up big time! The conversation they have right after Sam and Jaine kiss for the first time (and boy that was one of the HOTTEST kisses ever!) is one to be savored. Jaine has on her mind to torture the sexy cop who seems to occupy her thoughts throughout the day, but eventually the joke is on her when Jaine is as frustrated as Sam is to hit the sheets. And when they do get round to have wall banging sex for the first time, Sam’s reaction afterwards had me laughing so hard!

Things with the list create enough of a spectacle such that Marci’s boyfriend Brick leaves in a huff and T.J’s husband blames her for ruining his image in front of his work buddies. A rift that had been growing for the past two years suddenly become a gulf big enough that their marriage seems to hit the rocks for the first time with T.J unwilling to apologize for some harmless fun she had with her friends.

But the list brings out the worst of a psychotic killer and suddenly what started out as a bit of fun between friends ceases to be that. When Marci is murdered in her home, bludgeoned to death with a hammer and sexually assaulted, Sam’s protective instincts kick in and thus starts a race against time to find the killer who lurks so close by.

I loved every single minute of reading this book. A quick page-turner with witty banter between all characters, a spunky heroine who grabs life by its “balls” and a sexy hero who makes my toes curl just thinking about him with a villain who just managed to creep me out because I was all alone in my room was enough to make my day! Highly recommended for fans of romantic thrillers. You cannot go wrong with this one!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Rainwater by Sandra Brown

Format: E-bookrainwater
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: David Rainwater
Heroine: Ella Barron
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: November 3, 2009
Started On: August 13, 2010
Finished On: August 14, 2010

Sandra Brown has taken a leap and written a story that is so different from her usual books and this story has touched me so deeply that I can’t help but think about it every few seconds. I found myself unable to sleep long after I finished the book, a bittersweet pain that clutched at my heart and refused to let go.

The year is 1934, the period of a great drought together with economic depression that has hit the Americans hard. Ella Barron runs her boardinghouse in Texas and makes sure that life runs smoothly, as smoothly as it can under the circumstances. With an autistic son in tow, life is hard for Ella, during a time period when autism and its symptoms weren’t widely known. With a husband who had run out on them long time back, Ella makes do with what she earns from renting her home to boarders.

When the town’s doctor comes calling one day with a distant cousin of his in tow, Ella can hardly refuse to accept him into her home. And when she finds out that David Rainwater is terminally ill from cancer and is just biding away his time until death comes calling, she can’t help but look out for him. From the very beginning David shows an uncanny interest in Solly, Ella’s son and makes quite a progress with him, something Ella hadn’t been able to do which makes her at first jealous and then later thankful.

Things are hardly idyllic during a period of drought and economic depression. With hooligans ruling the town and employing scaring tactics to keep a stronghold on its residents, it is Mr. Rainwater who steps up and stands up to the group who intimidates and at last resort to murder. Meanwhile, no matter how hard Ella tries to keep Mr. Rainwater at a distance, nothing can prevent the deep awareness that crops up between the two, and the connection that these two establish during a few chance encounters after the rest of the household has gone to bed.

Throughout the book I kept praying for a miracle that would take away David’s cancer, and kept hoping that Solly would come to be a remarkable man with his uncanny aptitude for numbers. But the bittersweet ending in which David gives up his life for Solly when Ella and David had just professed to love one another kept the tears coming.

Reading the epilogue requires a healthy amount of tissues I have to tell you. Life after the death of Mr. Rainwater who leaves all his property to Ella who makes a name for herself in the business world, and Solly who dies at the age of 32 having never reached his full potential but having had a life as best as he could. And to find out that the antique store owner is none other than Mr. Rainwater’s son sealed the deal for me.

I realize after reading this why I am not so much of a fan of bittersweet endings, one of the reasons why I tend to stay away from books written by Nicholas Sparks. But I wouldn’t change even one sentence of this wonderful book, because this is a story that makes you think, makes you fall irrevocably in love and in the end cry for all the things that could have been. Highly recommended for all types of fiction readers. This is not just a romance, but a story about life, its hardships and its bittersweet offerings.

Until next time! *Sniff*

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Touch of Fire by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Microsoft Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Western Ladies, Book 3
Publisher: Pocket Books
Hero: Rafe McCay
Heroine: Doctor Annie Parker
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: October 1992
Started On: July 5, 2010
Finished On: July 6, 2010

I am almost done with my re-read phase of novels by Linda Howard. Her novels are so interesting that I just can’t seem to be able to set aside the book once I start reading. This novel is no exception to that and I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the tale of how Rafe McCay and Dr. Annie Parker found ultimate happiness with one another.

Rafe has been on the run for his life for the past four years. Framed for a murder which he didn’t commit, Rafe is a man who has an army of bounty hunters on his trail with a handsome bounty of 10,000 dollars on his head. Though at first Rafe had tried to clear up his name, the murders of the two men who tried to help him has long convinced Rafe that his life would always be spent on the run.

One such bounty hunter, Trahera gets too close for comfort and Rafe is shot hindering his plans though he manages to slow Trahera down by shooting him in the leg. Ten days after Rafe gets shot, delirious with high fever and an infected wound, Rafe comes across the boom town Silver Mesa where blessedly he finds the home of Dr. T. A. Parker.

Annie whose father was a doctor is a woman who is determined that she would practice medicine even if it meant she had to live in towns like the one she was currently residing in. Born during a time when females were merely tolerated and much less when she dares to encroach on territories determined to be for the men, Annie is thrown for a loop when she finds Rafe residing in her home with the smell of infection wafting off of him.

From the moment Annie touches Rafe, though she tries to keep her thoughts professional and her touch brisk, Annie can’t help the jolt of sensation that slithers through her being by the merest touch. Rafe can’t believe it when the lady standing before him proclaims to be the doctor he was looking for and when though her touch soothes him and stirs a fire of longing in him at the same time, Rafe just attributes it towards the fever which is making him delirious.

When Annie proclaims that Rafe is not fit to do anything but rest for at least 3 days, Rafe kidnaps Annie at gun point and makes her leave with him and travels high up into the mountains where he would be able to recuperate without the fear of being caught. Though he knows Annie is frightened out of her wits to be forced to travel in the cold, Rafe admires the strength that keeps Annie from whining and complaining about her fate.

Thrust into the company of the man with the cold silver eyes who makes Annie burns for things she has no clue of, it is a battle that Annie loses when Rafe sets out to seduce the delectable doctor in his arms. Annie knows that she would never again love another man as she has come to love Rafe and surrenders her body and soul to the man who makes her senses sing from pleasure.

But danger is constantly lurking in the shadows and when finally Trahera stumbles upon their hideout by chance, Rafe knows its time to move on and return Annie to where he kidnapped her from. But Annie knows that she would never be able to return to the life as she knew it and Rafe knowing that her safety had also been compromised now decides to take Annie along with him.

Annie and Rafe’s journey through the unforgiving lands is one filled with taut sensuality and danger at every turn. The mystery of how Rafe is on the run for his life is a riveting one and with a hero and heroine you root for right from the start, this is an unbeatable book of romance and adventure.

I always love a good epilogue in any book I read and my favorite part of the book would have to be the epilogue which describes the happily ever after that Rafe and Annie finds with each other.

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

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: His Secondhand Wife by Cheryl St. John

Format: E-book
Read with: Mobipocket Reader & Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Copper Creek Brides, Book 2
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Noah Cutter
Heroine: Katherine Cutter
Sensuality: 2
Date of Publication: July 1, 2005
Started On: July 5, 2010
Finished On: July 5, 2010

I don’t ever remember trying out a book by this author previously. I gave this book a ago because this title kept cropping up on various threads in the Amazon discussion forums. Though this novel didn’t meet all my high expectations, it is a sweet and uncomplicated read that I enjoyed after the roller coaster ride of reading After the Night.

Noah Cutter is a man who has severe scars on the insides and the outside. Ever since an accident during his childhood scarred him for the rest of his life, Noah is a man who has resigned himself to living a solitary life till the end of his days.

Salvation comes when his step brother Levi who has always been the outgoing and cheerful one in the family ends up getting killed because of his hooligan lifestyle. It is then Noah comes to know that Levi had taken a bride five months back and that it is up to him to deliver his sister-in-law the news of her husband’s demise.

Katherine is a woman who had always led a hard life. With her father abandoning her mother whilst she was quite young, Katherine had always  been on the receiving end of her mother’s bitterness. Katherine had not known a life where she didn’t have to work all day long just to put a roof above her head and a warm meal on the table. When Noah turns up on her doorstep with the news of Levi’s death, it is as if all her hopes of a better life die along with him. But Noah seeing that she is pregnant with Levi’s babe and witnessing firsthand just how vicious Katherine’s mother was to her, Noah takes her along with him to his ranch so that Katherine and the babe would have a better life.

To Katherine, the world that awaits her is one filled with wonderment. The luxurious life that she finds in Noah’s home makes her realize that everything Levi had done and said were all lies. At Noah’s place, Katherine meets her mother-in-law Estelle to whom she takes an instant disliking to because of the abhorrent way that she treats her stepson.

Once Katherine enters into his life, Noah who has always craved solitude finds himself in need of hearing the constant chatter that Katherine keeps up whenever they meet. Noah is surprised by the fact that Katherine doesn’t find his scars in the least bit revolting and bit by bit starts to feel comfortable around her. Estelle, wanting to keep her grandchild in the family counsels both Katherine and Noah to get married to each other & thus Noah proposes marriage to Katherine.

Noah believes that he would never be able to give Katherine what she truly desires though he knows Katherine is a woman with simple needs. Katherine craves to be needed in the new life she embarks upon with Noah and it is a slow journey for these two towards a happily ever after.

This is a beauty and the beast themed book with an evil stepmother added to the mix who is eloquently put in her place by the beauty.

My favorite part of the book was just how tenderly Noah cared for his wife, unknowingly giving her his love, all the while thinking that he is not worthy enough for his beautiful wife.

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

goodread