Category / Forbidden Love

Falling in love between hero and heroine considered forbidden within society or in the hero or heroine’s perspective.
Eg: During the colonial times, love between an aristocrat and an ex-convict was considered forbidden.

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Should’ve Been Home Yesterday by Inez Kelley

Format: E-bookshouldvebeenhomeyesterday
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Country Roads, #3
Publisher: Carina Press
Hero: Webb Hawkins
Heroine: Molly McCreedy
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: July 21, 2014
Started On: July 18, 2014
Finished On: July 30, 2014

Ever since I started reading Inez Kelley’s Country Roads series, I’ve been hankering to read the story of the enigmatic Webb Hawkins, CEO of Hawkins Hardwood. The hint of a past entanglement between himself and Molly McCreedy, the owner of McCreedy’s Diner suggested a story that could prove to be explosive at best. And though Should’ve Been Home Yesterday didn’t live up to all my expectations, it nevertheless managed to give me a story well worth my while.

Should’ve Been Home Yesterday starts twenty years prior to the present day and highlights the relationship that exists between Webb and Molly. Webb and Molly’s older brother Clay had been inseparable during their childhood. Webb being ten years older than Molly never sees her as anything more than a sister even though Molly considers Webb hers even at the tender age of ten. People might call her love for Webb a childhood crush or a fascination that would fade away as she would grow older, but for Molly, in the depths of her heart she had known even then that there would none but Webb for her.

Present day finds Molly pregnant with Webb’s baby and Webb wanting to do the right thing by marrying her. Webb might want to keep his distance where Molly is concerned, and he had been doing a swell job out of it until imbibing in too much alcohol had shattered his ironclad control and the inevitable had happened. Though Molly has her misgivings, she is the optimistic sort who would like to believe that Webb feels something more for her than he lets on and that it could grow into something wonderful and beautiful, like the love that blooms in her heart for him. And that is why, Molly finds herself entering into a marriage with the love of her life by shoving aside any apprehension about the union that she might have.

Webb has always found his solace in his work. Building up his business had taken his mind off of the terrible mistake he had made in his past, thinking that he could have a chance with Molly when she’d suddenly surprised him by growing up. The Molly that he is married to stirs up feelings that he would like to turn his back on. With the Eco-terrorist who had managed to make his life a living hell the past couple of months still continuing to haunt and taunt him, Webb believes that his attention needs to be focused on where it is important; on his business and the people who work for him rather than his newly wedded wife who moves him to distraction.

Molly understands only a trifle bit too late that Webb had never intended for their marriage to get real. But she certainly doesn’t make it easy on Webb to just ignore her and be, but rather Molly’s understanding of who Webb is thaws that control of his that Webb clings onto and makes him realize that with Molly, there is no detachment to be had when it comes to him. And what Webb doesn’t realize is that unbeknown to him or Molly, the danger that surrounds him has been closing in on the most important person in his life and that he might lose her before he can even declare just how much of a fool he has been trying to keep her at arms length all this while.

Should’ve Been Home Yesterday follows the pattern that has been set for the previous books in this series. Every chapter begins with an interesting fact or tidbit that is related to the setting and the story which I have absolutely enjoyed in each of these books. Molly and Webb’s relationship certainly had its moments. Webb’s deep reluctance to open himself up emotionally lent the story the right amount of angst, and of course the groveling that he had to do to win back the affections of his wife later on served to be the healing balm that their relationship required. Inez makes the story doubly interesting by working in tidbits of Molly and Webb’s shared past into the unfolding events which gives the reader just enough of a background to connect with Molly and Webb.

As I finished reading Should’ve Been Home Yesterday, I couldn’t help but want to read the stories of Finn, Bob and Zane Miner. They all show promise as characters well worth being given their own stories and I would definitely love it if at all there is a possibility of that happening. Dear Inez, please take that as a hint and write them happily ever afters? The one thing that continues to draw me when it comes to Inez is that her stories always provide beautiful quotes for my collection and Should’ve Been Home Yesterday was no exception to the rule. And though my favorite in the series by far has been Jonah and Zury’s story, Should’ve Been Home Yesterday is full of the good bits that makes it a great read! Recommended.

Final Verdict: Inez’s Country Roads series continues to deliver beautiful stories, well worth your reading time!

Favorite Quotes

“Molly.”
The hesitation in his tone speared through her and she spun, rising to her knees to face him. His hands stayed still, sliding in the soap film around her waist. Bared to the navel, with nothing hiding the rest of her but a thin layer of floating bubbles, she locked eyes with his. One wide black pupil nearly obliterated the brown iris, his real eye reacting to the desire he held back. His glass eye stared at her with sightless fixation. Beneath the collar of his shirt, thick cords stood out in his neck.

Molly reached up and circled his neck, stepping closer than she had when they danced, and brushed her lips against the corner of his mouth. The touch of lips on lips was like a summer lightning strike, all-powerful and shocking. His hands rose, settling on her hips, the sun-warmed skin smooth beneath his calluses. He forgot everything except Molly. He dipped his head and kissed her.
She melted. There was no other word he could think of.

Molly bucked as the crest of his cock’s head grazed her clit. “Holy shit.”
She added a wiggle to her swing and his control slipped. Holy shit was right. He’d never been so turned on and he wasn’t even inside her. Tongues swirling, lips sealed, their hips moved together. Friction had never been so intense, so hot and drugging. The muscles in groin grew tight as climax approached but he gripped her ass and rocked harder, driving against her clit faster, needing her to go with him. She whimpered as a quake bloomed. She drove down hard, grinding on his cock as she exploded.

A low groan rumbled in his chest, taking their kiss to high heat. He delved his tongue deep, sweeping along her lips, then plunging inside. He tasted of mint, a cool underlying accent to the intensity of his kiss. Beneath her knees, the plush couch was soft but her focus was on the firm thighs between hers. His hands slid up her legs, hooked around her ass and tugged her forward.
It was every Christmas, every birthday, every Valentine’s gift wrapped into one when he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. This was her dream, Webb sober, loving her openly, their lives entwined.

Molly had no breath to answer. She was trapped in a cycle of pleasure, of taking him over and over, wanting him deeper and never wanting to let him go. The rhythmic squeeze she kept around him drove her closer but she needed him to peak with her, to trip over that edge. She didn’t want to go alone. Together. She needed them to go together.
Yanking one hand from the cushion, she raked his back with her nails. Webb arched hard, driving so deep into her she shattered with a cry.

Her fingers tightened, pulling his hair but he ignored the pain, needing to taste her climax. Lightly, quickly, he fluttered his tongue across the hood then curled low and speared the pulse beneath. Easing his hands under her ass, he kneaded each globe and urged her knees further apart with his shoulders. Spread beneath his mouth, Molly was his for the taking and he took, without mercy, hungrily, and without relenting. He wished he could claim her heart as easily, was worthy enough to claim it.

Her hand turned, skating up his chest, delving through his chest hair. Every instinct he had begged him to drive home hard, to take her fast and deep, but he swallowed them. He needed this, this slow connection, this reconnection. He wanted to draw it out, gorge on it, grow drunk on nothing more than his wife. Teeth gritted for restraint, he pressed into her slow and steady until he could go no farther. A twitch bloomed along his cheek as he soaked in her velvet grip.
Molly’s fingers bit into his chest as her mouth fell open with a low exhale. “Oh God, I love how you feel inside me.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Carina | iTunes

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by mvbookreviewer

Requested ARC Review: A Cold Dark Place by Toni Anderson

Format: E-bookacolddarkplace
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Cold Justice, #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Alex Parker
Heroine: Mallory Rooney
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: April 1, 2014
Started On: March 30, 2014
Finished On: April 2, 2014

A Cold Dark Place is the debut book in the Cold Justice series by the uber talented author of romantic suspense Toni Anderson. Few authors out there manage to keep my interest when it comes to romantic suspense and Toni Anderson is one of those authors who always manages to hit the vital spots by keeping the romance and suspense factor balanced, which is the secret to writing highly readable romantic suspense novels.

A Cold Dark Place is quite the fitting title to this novel. Alex Parker is a man who prefers the darkness to do what he is entrusted to do. Employed by an organization known as “The Gateway Project” that is so deeply hidden in the layered complexities of the US government, Alex is an assassin who enacts justice by killing the worst sort of scum. Counting down the days until he would be free of his promise that binds him to his employers, his job becomes doubly dangerous when he realizes that someone on the inside is out to make him and that someone is the deliciously enticing FBI Special Agent Mallory Rooney to whom his instant attraction makes her a more than dangerous “adversary”.

Mallory’s life mission for the past eighteen years has been to become smart enough and tough enough to find her twin sister’s abductor and bring him to justice. The pain that she lives through every single day, blaming herself for not being there for the one and only person with whom she had shared an inexplicable connection with is what drives her, even when she meets the same dead end, time and yet again. Though her experience in hunting killers and analyzing their behavior is limited, her sharp intelligence and observation skills ends her up in the BAU and in the direct sight of the man who would do everything in his power to claim her as a replacement for his lost love.

Alex doesn’t want the complication that starting anything up with Mallory would bring his way, but he is as helpless as she in the face of the strong web of desire that binds them together, that finds them entwined in the most delicious of embraces time and yet again. And when Alex finds out that the killer they are all hunting, whose violence had all of a sudden started to escalate, has his sights set on Mallory, there is no stopping him from vowing to protect her at all and any cost, even if it means continuing with the pretense and charade that would continue to keep Mallory in the dark when it comes to who he truly is.

Toni Anderson does a splendid job in telling this story; it is dark, creepy and keeps you guessing and questioning your emotions when it comes to everything that takes place in the span of this novel. Alex Parker himself is reason enough to fall in love with the story, his tortured soul was one that touched me on a deep level. Betrayal on a level that most people would never be strong enough to live with makes Alex the man he is, and though each kill chips away at his already battered soul, the honorable man that Alex is refuses to back down from paying the debt he owes to his employers.

It is the pain, drive and determination that keeps Mallory doggedly working to unearth what had happened to her sister that made me respect and love her character as much as I did Alex’s. The guilt that threatens to consume her would not have been easy to deal with. Alex in her life means Mallory learns to live a little, and stop feeling the survivor’s guilt and in return she reaches out to the scarred bits and pieces of Alex’s heart and soul and puts it back together, piece by piece, without even realizing the fact that they are both headed towards a love strong enough to consume them both.

It was the killer that kept me fascinated and riveted to the edge of my seat and I think that is exactly what Toni was aiming for when she created him. I sometimes wonder at the cruelty in this world that breeds killers of the likes found in this book, the inhumanity they suffer as children and the loss of their innocence at the hands of those that should protect them from the rest of the world. It is hard not to feel sad thinking about the person he could have been otherwise, but in equal doses I found myself horrified by the extent of his depravity and violent nature together with his uncanny ability to have kept fooling people for so long. Toni also makes the reader question whether the laws and agencies that be are really enough to ensure that justice is done. Perhaps vigilantism does serve its purpose with the swiftness of with which it brings the victims the closure they seek. A book that always makes you question what you know to be right and wrong and casts you into that place shadowed by the shades of grey is in my opinion a book well done.

Though the lack of an epilogue was felt, knowing that there would be another book in the series on the way definitely helps. Recommended for fans of Toni Anderson and fans of dark romantic suspense. You’d definitely love this one!

Final Verdict: Ties you up in knots; A Cold Dark Place makes for a riveting read!

Favorite Quotes

His lips were surprisingly soft, his mouth tasting of whiskey and beer and really hot man. Suddenly he took control of the kiss, diving deeper, tongue tangling with hers with a possession that made her insides turn molten. She found herself pressed up against the glass facade of the building, Alex’s one hand still buried deep in her pocket, the other cupping the back of her head.

“Too much?” His voice sounded nothing like him. He’d heard this version before, in that prison in Morocco. His inner animal tearing loose, but this time it was from pleasure not pain.
She shook her head and her nails dug into his shoulders. “More,” she demanded. Then she kissed his neck, bit down hard enough to make him laugh.
She could put her mark on him anytime.

She shook her head, squirming to get closer. “More,” she demanded and nibbled his jaw. Her nails scratched his back, digging into his skin with the sort of pain that aroused him more than he’d ever imagined possible. He wrapped his hand around her other leg and locked them both around his waist. And then every pulsing inch of him was embedded inside her, blasted by the velvet clench of wet heat.
“Okay?” he asked. Okay didn’t even begin to describe what he was feeling. He was pretty sure the word for it hadn’t been invented yet.
“Oh, yes.”

“Condom,” he said between gritted teeth.
Crap.
She jerked open the bedside drawer, relieved to find a box. Alex scrambled out of his jeans, covered and buried himself deep. She locked her legs around his hips and then there were no thoughts, just sensation and pleasure and slick bodies, striving to get as close as possible, striving for that place where nothing else mattered.”

Sated and satisfied, she began to drift off to sleep. “You’re a good man, Alex Parker.”
He kissed the top of her head. “No. But you make me feel like I could be.”

“I still miss her.” Her voice cracked.
He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed. He could relate. He still missed his mother and his grandfather and his friends. But he knew they were dead and never coming back. You had to move on. “We’re supposed to miss them. That’’s their gift.”
Huge amber eyes met his. “Pain is a gift?”
He nodded. “It proves they meant something to us. That even years after losing them we still feel them. Here.”

With one hard thrust he was buried deep in her heat.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, nails bit into his flesh. “Harder.”
He drove into her, again and again, nothing but an animal who needed to satisfy a primal urge.

He took the condom from her fingers and covered himself. Eased her slowly over him and shifted her panties aside. He was big, aroused. She sank down just a little bit and he gritted his teeth. She looked down, the vision of him inside her, of the lace against pale skin, was such a turn on she came with a surprised shudder.

“We’re not dating, remember.” He thrust inside her and she sucked in a moan. “You didn’t go and do anything foolish like fall for me, did you, Mallory?” he asked.
Emotion welled up inside her. She shook her head and wrapped her legs around his hips. Watched his pupils dilate. “No, sir.”
“Good.” He swallowed. “Me either.”
But as she looked into his eyes she knew they were both lying and it felt dark and dangerous and wonderful.

Purchase Links: Amazon

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Sempre by J.M. Darhower

Format: E-booksempre
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Forever Series, #1
Publisher: Pocket Books
Hero: Carmine Marcello DeMarco
Heroine: Haven Isadora
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 29, 2012
Started On: February 22, 2014
Finished On: February 26, 2014

Sempre is book 1 in the Forever Series by J. M. Darhower. The story begins when Haven Isadora is just seven years old, present at a “child auction” of sorts where no act of violence seems to be taboo for the people who hold several young girls captive. The opening act of this book is horrific in the sense that it opens up the world of modern day child slavery and the unspeakable acts these children are forced to perform in order to survive.

Story continues 10 years down the line, when Haven is “rescued” from the clutches that holds her a captive by a Dr. Vincent DeMarco who whisks her away to his home which marks the beginning of the sort of life that Haven has never dared to dream of for someone like herself. And when she comes across Vincent’s youngest son Carmine, the connection that forges between these two is instant and electrifying.

Carmine is the epitome of bad boy hero, angry and sullen at the world with a ton of attitude. Carmine exists by doing everything else but what is expected of him, partying and sleeping around just for the heck of it. Though Haven stirs his interest, Carmine finds it hard to tone down his abrasiveness which has been a part of him for so long. But as time goes on and a bond is forged between these two unlikely souls, there is no stopping the love that unfurls in their hearts.

Both Haven and Carmine have no idea what life has in store for them. With Carmine more or less destined to follow in his father’s footsteps by being “obliged” to belong to the Mafia family, it is a tough future that awaits both of them. Vincent was the hero in my eyes, the man who tries so hard to keep his children away from a life that is filled with treachery and one in which the soul is never ever free from the darkness that taints it once you become one of the Family.

Having never watched or read much on stories involving the Mafia though I had picked up bits and pieces on the lives they lead along the way, I don’t think I actually had any clue as to just how much power the head of the Family holds on the rest of the members. There is a “code of ethics” that the Family lives by, once crossed one has to face the dire consequences or die trying to flee from whats coming. Vincent was the truly enigmatic character in this novel that actually stirred my interest, the mix of Jekyll and Hyde in him making him one of the most contrasting characters I have come across of late. Vincent tries to do right by his children, though its far from easy. While one side of Vincent finds it as easy as breathing to give free reign to the ruthless killer in him, there is the other side that heals and saves lives, the one part of his life that gives him solace and peace to the soul, be it even for a little while. The fact that Vincent could look beyond the anger, hurt and pain of his past to take Haven under his care was something that deeply moved me.

While Haven’s character impressed me with her ability and strength to overcome the countless horrors she had been subjected to while growing up, Haven herself doesn’t know her true power in the hierarchy of the Family, a secret if found would be worth shedding the blood of the many the Family wouldn’t hesitate to take out. I liked Carmine’s character well enough, but I found his emotions to be all over the place, sometimes rightfully so. But in the maturity aspect, Haven wins hands down, not surprising given spoilt life Carmine had led till then. However, Carmine does turn himself around for the woman he loves more than his own life, a love that turns out to be the pivotal reason behind the basis of the next book in the series.

Though I am not wowed enough to pick up the second book, nevertheless, Sempre did provide me with an entertaining read, albeit a trifle bit of a long one, some pages of which I skipped as I reached towards the end of the book. Perhaps I am right in avoiding young adult romances, the few I have read haven’t really impressed me all that much. But if you are a lover of new adult romances with the interesting facet of being part of the Mafia thrown in, then I would recommend that you pick this up. It just might be what you’re looking for.

Final Verdict: An intriguing mix of romance & the politics that govern the lives of those indebted to the Mafia.

Favorite Quotes

Yanking her to him, he eagerly kissed her without another thought.
It was passionate and messy, seventeen years worth of kisses rolled into one stolen embrace. Haven kissed him back, her lips parting as they moved with his. Running her hand along the back of his head, she laced her fingers in the hair by his neck as she trembled, but whether from nerves or excitement, Carmine wasn’t sure.

Love was the fluttering in her tummy whenever Carmine was near, the twinkle in his eyes when he laughed, the heat in her body from his words. Love was happy. Love was safe. Love was green.
Love was him—the beautifully flawed boy who made her glow. He stared at her, those words hanging in the air between them.

“I didn’t hear you come out of your room.”
“You aren’t the only one who knows how to be quiet, Ninja.”
She replaced the book on the shelf. “Hmm, well, maybe we should get you a bell.”
“Hey, at least I don’t almost give you heart attacks. You used to startle the hell out of me. I thought for sure you’d need to give me CPR a few times.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Don’t be so sure. You make my heart race every time you come near me.”
He strolled over to where she stood and leaned down to kiss her. He nipped at her bottom lip as he pulled back, pressing his palm against her chest. “How’s the heart?”
“Feels like it’s going to explode.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BookDepo | Kobo | ARe | iTunes

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh

Format: E-bookheartofobsidian
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Paranormal/Futuristic Romance
Series: Psy-Changeling, #12
Publisher: Berkley
Hero: Kaleb Krychek
Heroine: Sahara Kyriakus
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: June 4, 2013
Started On: January 14, 2014
Finished On: January 18, 2014

With Heart of Obsidian, Nalini Singh has outdone every single book in the Psy-Changeling series, giving fans a whole new meaning to the term explosive, which renders this book the best addition to the series so far. One of the reasons that I think the story worked so well was the fact that Nalini decided to take a step back from the Changelings and focus on the intriguing world of Psy for a change. Added to it is the fact that Heart of Obsidian is the book that presents the most pivotal turning point in the series to date, thus it is no wonder that Heart of Obsidian practically turns the pages by itself with the sheer scale of entertainment it has to offer.

Kaleb Krychek, cardinal telekinetic is the man who had risen to power and attained his place in the Council at the young age of 27, the youngest to have secured a position as such. The sheer, raw and unadulterated power that he holds inside of him is one that kept me in awe from beginning till end, the scale of it one that I don’t think I would ever be able to completely wrap my head around. The plans he has for his race, a race that assumed Silence almost 100 years back to keep the madness at bay is one that only he is privy to. And all the while, Kaleb’s search for the woman who is the deepest flaw in his Silence had continued until finally, 7 years on, Sahara Kyriakus is found and returned to her rightful place beside him.

This spellbinding novel is the culmination of so many events that has continued to happen since the beginning of the series, the fact that Silence wasn’t what the Psy had assumed it would turn out to be made altogether more evident by a faction of the race who demands absolute Silence which would allow them ultimate control of the minds of every Psy. For them, it is absolute Silence or nothing else, even if it means the destruction of their whole race altogether.

Kaleb is an enigma, a man who makes your heart race, just because. Brought up as the protege of one the most evil of the Psy, no one knows for certain where Kaleb stands. The darkness that walks right along with him or rather inside of him is one that he had embraced a long time back, knowing that he’d been forged in the darkness, with his hands tainted in blood, his soul leeched dry of whatever emotions that would have made him even remotely hesitant in executing the plan he has in mind to take over the reins of a race that has been left floundering with their leaders in conflict with one another.

Kaleb’s most fascinating aspect turns out to be his “obsession” with Sahara, a term he would not have used to describe his relentless search for the woman for whom he would destroy everything and anyone who stands in his way and paint the world in blood red if required. Sahara when he finally finds her, is merely a shell of the 16 year old Sahara that was snatched away from his world, a woman who holds inside of her the sort of power that is enough make a man an Emperor, a power that in the wrong hands could be exploited for just that.

Kaleb’s plans for Sahara and that of the fate of the world takes an about turn when the Sahara he had known starts to return to him bit by bit, completely undoing his every intention and destroying every notion that he has held about himself when it comes to intimacies of the heart, body, mind and soul. With every searing kiss that is exchanged, Kaleb knows that its only a matter of time before Sahara realizes the darkness that swirls deep inside of him, ready to consume him and the rest of the world, if he were reach out and embrace the totality of it.

The things I loved about the Heart of Obsidian are many, and I am finding this review equally hard to write because I am afraid that I might not be able to do justice to the sheer pleasure reading this novel brought for me. I absolutely adored just how into each other both Kaleb and Sahara were; there were no pretenses to be had, no holding back and it worked beautifully for them with their entwined past making the connection between them that much more real. The heat and fire between Kaleb and Sahara was actually what I wanted for Hawke and Sienna, which unfortunately failed to materialize, the deep abiding connection between them something that I would carry in my heart always.

The telepathic dirty talk between Sahara and Kaleb was one that was enticing and arousing in equal doses, the scenes of passion between them hot enough to flatten down entire buildings with the raw power of it all. Beneath the icy cold exterior that is Kaleb lies the darkest of passions and deepest of desires, centered around just one woman who could bring him down to his very knees, the woman who would always be the game changer when it comes to him. Sahara’s adoration, love and deep seated protectiveness for all that is Kaleb was what made me fall in love with her, totally and irrevocably and I just might have to go ahead and say that I don’t think that I have ever fallen in love with a heroine that hard and fast. I definitely cannot wait to find out what Nalini is planning next for this incredible world that she has created, a world that is as enthralling as the stories that she spins around it.

Most absolutely recommended for everyone who loves romances, dark heroes, passions that run deep and obsessions that brings to light the most abiding of love.

Final Verdict: Stupendous in every single aspect, Heart of Obsidian is nothing short of a spectacular work of art!

Favorite Quotes

She couldn’t look away from him, his skin a sun gold that belied the cool lack of expression on his face. If he’d kept his distance, she might have resisted the temptation that had been riding her since the bedroom . . . but he crossed over to her, didn’t say a word when she ran her fingers over the tensile warmth of him, her nipples tight points against the thin fabric of her sleeveless lilac shirt.
His own hand was big, warm against her cheek as he cupped her jaw. “Don’t be afraid of me, Sahara.” Bending his head, he spoke with his lips against hers, the contact igniting a thousand tiny lightning strikes in her blood. “I’d line the streets with bodies before I’d ever hurt you.”

“I,” he murmured, “can never permit her freedom. She would find a way to harm you.”
Sahara’s eyes were haunted when they met his. “Am I so important to you?”
“Yes,” he said. “You’re everything.” The entire reason for his existence.

The caress felt raw, unpracticed, but no less addicting for it. The realization that he’d done this act with no other, that it was as new a pleasure to him as it was to her, was heroin in her bloodstream, a shocking punch of sensation, the world a study in passionate red. Stretching her body upward, her weight balanced on her toes, she kissed him with a wild desperation that lacked any sense of finesse.

Kaleb wasn’t cold now, his skin hot enough to burn, the arm he’d braced over her head trapping her in a prison she had no desire to escape. Thrusting her hands into his hair, she held him to her, sinking her teeth into his lower lip in a feral act of passion that should’ve shocked her.
It didn’t. Not in the madness.

A pause before he shifted to face her, one of his hands lightly cupping the side of her jaw, his eyes a black inferno. “I want more.”
Caught off guard at the realization that his arousal hadn’t been tempered by the interruption, Sahara’s lips parted in a gasp. Kaleb took the silent invitation, his mouth on hers as he pressed her back to the glass, his erection pushing into her abdomen in hard demand. Moaning, she sucked on his tongue as his hand came up to cover her breast . . . and the world turned to shards of glass, the windows exploding in a glittering shower of deadly snow.

Gripping her jaw in silent answer, he braced himself with his free arm beside her head, and then he branded her mouth with his own. You are mine. It was a statement telepathed along the private pathway that had formed years ago. Mine to touch. Mine to look at. Mine.

Sliding a hand from under her back, he gripped one breast with a firmness that felt like a brand and lowered his mouth to her flesh again. Her mind went red, her back arching as if to thrust her breast farther into his mouth. Kaleb, I need—
Tell me. Another scrape of teeth that scattered her neurons, her nails clawing the earth, crushed grass under her palms.
Touch me, please. I can’t—
Here? He cupped her between the thighs in a raw intimacy, pushing up with the heel of his hand.
And the world splintered.

“Teach me what feels good on your body.” She ached to kiss and pet him as he was doing her, burned to see those cardinal eyes drenched in the same storm that had sucked her under.
Watching you orgasm gives me extreme pleasure, was Kaleb’s unvarnished answer as his lips sought hers once more. Feeling you sticky and damp against my tongue, my fingers, your body soft under mine, your aroused nipples rubbing against my chest, that’s what feels good.

Sahara screamed, her body clenching around Kaleb’s in an orgasm that felt as if it would tear her to pieces . . . and that was when Kaleb’s control snapped. There was nothing practiced about the way he pounded deep into her over and over again, nothing restrained about the way he wrenched her head to the side to kiss and suck at her throat, nothing calculated about the way he bent her thigh upward then pushed it wide to facilitate a deeper taking.
It was primitive; it was rough; it was spectacular.

Kaleb came in violent silence, his breath harsh against her ear and his body rigid. The hot wet of his possession as his semen pulsed inside her made her erotically abused muscles spasm again, clenching tight around him. Jerking, he raised his head, eyes of obsidian holding her own as he drew back one final time, then thrust deep past her clenching muscles.
“Mine. You are mine.”
They were the last words Sahara heard before Kaleb’s kiss tore her apart, his body locked with her own as they fell.

“Make me yours, Kaleb.”
The throaty request, falling from lips plump and wet, snapped the ring of black ice. Slipping his hand under her thigh after repositioning his own, he spread her further and, tearing away her panties with a negligible use of his Tk, pushed inside her. She was tight. He was slow, deliberate. Moaning, Sahara dug her nails into his nape, her breasts flushed, her nipples lush beads he wanted to roll against his tongue.

“Kaleb!” Sahara convulsed around his erection, her entire body shaking with the strength of her orgasm.
Kaleb had intended to continue the slow pace that was an exercise in erotic control, but his brain short-circuited at the possessive clenching of Sahara’s intimate muscles. Pushing her onto her front, her face turned sideways on the pillow, he fisted one hand tightly in her hair and slammed into her in a brutally deep and fast rhythm, her body tight and slick and of the woman who was and had always been his. It felt like madness, creeping red on the horizon.

Punching her fist on the pillow, Sahara undulated her lower body toward him. Move!
The feminine demand was the only thing he needed to hear. Pounding into her, he saw her fingers clench tight on the sheets, her lips part on a breathless cry, and then she was coming around him once more, the pulses harder, more viciously possessive. Caught in the vise of her pleasure, his back arched as white lightning tore through his spine.
The bed slammed back to the ground.
Hard.
So did every other item in the room.

Sahara’s fingers tightened on his arm. “You’re mine.” Simple, quiet words that were a punch to the chest. “I will fight for you, today, tomorrow, and all the tomorrows to come.”

“You do not let that monster destroy the life we are going to have together. You are mine, not his. You have always been mine.”
The claiming was so absolute, it dared him to fight. Kaleb had no intention of doing so. Shuddering, he crushed her to him. “Yes,” he said, battling the rage because if he gave in to it, he would lose Sahara. “I’m yours. I will always be yours.”
Her lips on his jaw, on his cheek, her love fierce. “Remember that. Each action, every action you take, it has my name on it.”

“Kaleb.”
He flipped her onto her back on that breathless moan, making sure she never touched the wood. Her legs locked around his hips, her arms around his neck, her passion as wild as the rain that had turned hard, pounding against his back. Taking her mouth, tasting her with his tongue, he broke the kiss to thrust in and out of her in a driving rhythm, the water dripping off his lashes to hit her cheeks.
“Everything, Kaleb,” she gasped, her nails the sweetest pain on his shoulders, “give me everything.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iTunes

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: His Convict Wife by Lena Dowling

Format: E-bookhisconvictwife
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Hero: Samuel Biggs
Heroine: Colleen Mary Malone
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: December 1, 2013
Started On: January 13, 2014
Finished On: January 13, 2014

His Convict Wife by Lena Dowling is loosely tied to The Convict’s Bounty Bride published in March of 2013. His Convict Wife tells the story of quite the unusual couple, a recently widowed Samuel Biggs who makes his way to Australia to make a new life for himself and a convict bride.

It is during a moment of desperation that Colleen makes an attempt to impress upon Samuel to take her away from the hell she has to live in, not because she is looking out for herself but rather for the baby that she carries in her womb, whom she would not be able to keep if she were to live out the rest of her sentence in prison.

Samuel wants to stay true to the memory of his beloved wife but Colleen proves to be someone who is much more than the person she seems to be, something that makes it tough for Samuel to ignore her and designate her to the safe role of the companion that he wants her to be. Colleen sets out with one goal in her mind when she starts to seduce her husband with every trick she had learnt at the whore house, that is to secure a father’s love for her child. But what Colleen in the end gets is more than what she bargains for as feelings she had never encountered before makes themselves known, something that becomes harder to ignore as the days pass on.

Although I believe that the premise of the story and the characters were quite adequate for the story, I just felt that there were loose ends that needed to be tied up to make the story more wholesome than it ended up being. I liked Colleen’s character, her gumption and her attitude even under the most trying of circumstances. The life that she had been subjected to would have made a bitter woman out of someone with lesser character and I would say the woman she turned out to be earned her my admiration in spades.

Samuel was a bit tough for me to fall for. I felt that he was a bit too rigid at times, too judgmental of everyone and everything. The conflict that pushes Samuel and Colleen apart was one that was understandable at first but I felt that everyone involved didn’t truly get the closure they deserved. Perhaps it was the author’s way of keeping the story realistic because it is seldom in life that anyone gets the proper sense of closure from events that take place. However, I believe that perhaps an epilogue or a chapter that shows the couple somewhere down the line in the future would have appeased readers like myself, knowing that all that the couple had gone through had not been in vain.

One thing that I did like was the subtle heat that existed between Samuel and Colleen. The aspect of Colleen being way more experienced in carnal pleasures was a bit of a novelty when most novels that we come across tends to tell stories where the hero is the one who has a mountain of experience when it comes to women.

Though The Convict Wife could’ve been much better, I still managed to enjoy what the story had to offer. Recommended for those who love romance novels in an Australian setting.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Escape | Kobo

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Emerald Rain by Maggie Osborne

Format: Paperbackemeraldrain
Read with: NA
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Hero: March Addison
Heroine: Eulalie Pritchard
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: June 5, 1991
Started On: December 30, 2013
Finished On: January 5, 2014

Emerald Rain by Maggie Osborne is one of those romances that reaffirms my belief in the reason why romance would always be my preferred genre to read. I had almost but not quite, forgotten just how good a Maggie Osborne romance could be and why I had actually spent a small fortune in acquiring these out of print titles of hers for my collection. Even those novels that can be considered lackluster when it comes to Maggie Osborne are titles that still gives you a read to remember. This being otherwise I would say made a wonderful start to my reading for the year 2014!

24 year old Eulalie Pritchard (Lalie) makes her way to Brazil to follow her fiance’ to Hiberalta, a journey that would take her through the perilous Amazon jungle and the river that runs through it. Lalie lives by the strict rules of English society, her prim and properness a facet to her character that irritates March Addison from the first moment he lays eyes on her. The son of Earl of Addison, March has carved a name for himself in the Amazon as a renowned businessman in the booming rubber industry in Brazil and Lalie believes that nothing of the gentleman she had encountered 10 years back lives inside of him now.

Lalie expects the rough around the edges March to ferry her up to Hiberalta as quickly as possible and March in return expects fluff of her kind to depart from the country within a week. Both Lalie and March have surprises in store for the other as a trip that takes 3-5 months to complete bares everyone aboard down to their very basics. Living primitively does the one thing that wouldn’t be obvious while living in polite society, and that is to bring to light all the characteristics, good and the bad that drives a person. And that is exactly what happens when March takes Lalie on board despite all the misgivings he has when it comes to the most infuriating, beautiful and enticing woman he has ever come across all his life.

Lalie is determined if nothing else to live, to never be labeled as the woman who never lived a full life. Her infatuation with her fiance is seemingly what drives Lalie to seek the trip on her own but as the days fade into weeks, just like the rules of propriety that Lalie was determined to stick to at the beginning of the trip are stripped away one by one, feelings of the most wanton and unexpected variety seems to fill her heart, body and soul where March is concerned.

As swift as the currents in the Amazon that propels their vessel forward, so does the desire that explodes to surface where March and Lalie are concerned, a desire that is as primitive as the Indians that live amidst the jungle that surrounds the waters. Maggie Osborne always does a remarkable job in creating her heroes and March Addison is another exemplary specimen. One can almost imagine the sinewiness to his musculature, his sensual lips and the totally alpha male vibe that just seems to cling to him. His strength of character is one of the many things that made him an appealing hero and his honor one that made me fall irrevocably in love with him.

Lalie’s character makes me remember a friend of mine whose sheer determination carries her through a lot of hurdles in her life. Lalie who has had a privileged upbringing, is in short, a dreamer. Having seen her fiance through the eyes of infatuation, Lalie had missed out on the crucial aspects of his character to which she is brutally made aware of as the time of reckoning draws closer. While her heart, mind, body and soul yearns for the touch of the man who should be all sorts of wrong for her, Lalie is determined that she keep her word where her fiance is concerned. There were many a times that I literally burst out in laughter due to Lalie’s sometimes innocent and yet honest to God nature that she tries to hide behind all the rules of propriety. Lalie has the sort of hidden sensuality that would drive any red blooded man insane with wanting and that is the kind of wanting that leaves March reeling from the sheer force of it all.

The sexual tension wrought in the novel is top notch, one that made me sigh, squirm and want to prolong the read as much as possible. And one reason I love Osborne novels so much is that she is not afraid to deliver on the said tension when the time comes. And believe me, all that sexual tension Osborne puts the reader through was worth every nail biting moment of it and I was sighing all throughout every beautiful second of it.

Highly recommended!

Final Verdict: Sensuous and a whole lot of adventurous; Maggie Osborne delivers a tale as steamy as the Amazon itself. Not to be missed!

Favorite Quotes

A moaning sound came from her parted lips. Her breasts were thrust against his chest as her head fell backward and her eyes closed. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and her legs wrapped around his, pulling him more tightly against her until his erection throbbed between them, a rigid strength pressing against her soft, yielding body.

“Lalie,” he whispered. He slid one hand to the small of her back and held her pressed against him, his other hand moved slowly to cup her breast, teasing the hard nipple. Her breath was as rapid and choked as his when she met his eyes with a look filled with helpless urgency.

With tormenting slowness, exercising a patience and tenderness he had not known he possessed, he moved his month and tongue over her throat, teasing upward toward the swollen promise of her lips. His hand slid up her back go cup her small head.
“Oh my god March… March..”
Her words emerged part sob, part plea, and her body tightened around his.

Then she raised her face to his clenched jaw, his hard mouth, and finally defenseless, she surrendered to the dark eyes burning down into hers. Their stared locked and held. Her breast rose and trembled on a dry, scorching breath. A yearning sound almost like a sob caught in her throat.
And she wanted.

Her body moved against his; her hands rose and she buried her fingers in his thick hair as her mouth opened beneath his to receive his plundering tongue. Gasping, almost sobbing with the bliss and relief of finally knowing his kiss, Lalie clung to him, pulled him closer, closer, as if she could absorb him, as if by holding him tightly she could make this feverish moment last forever.

“On those nights when sleep won’t come, I’ll lie in my bed and remember the softness of your breast, the sweet curve of your waist. I’ll remember the lagoon, the sunshine on your eyelids. I’ll remember the taste of your skin and the scent of your hair… and I’ll wonder.”

“I’ll make love to other women, Lalie, but they won’t be you. I’ll feel that loss and wonder. All my life I will remember you and regret that I didn’t have you. All my life I will wonder at the feel and touch and scent of you. I will wonder if you would have cried my name. I will wonder if I would have given you pleasure. I will wonder and mourn my loss.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | AbeBooks

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Way Home by Dallas Schulze

Format: Paperbackthewayhomeds
Read with: NA
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Dell
Hero: Tyler Douglas McKendrick
Heroine: Meg Harper
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: December 1, 1994
Started On: November 16, 2013
Finished On: November 18, 2013

Margaret Harper or Meg is the heroine from the wrong side of town. Hailing from the small town of Regret in Iowa, Meg is four or five years old when her path crosses that of 14 year old Tyler McKendrick, his kindness alone during that fateful day earning him a place in her heart forever.

Tyler might not even remember the day that he had encountered Meg, but time and yet again their paths cross until for the last time when Tyler is home recuperating from an injury and runs across the altogether too beautiful, now 17 year old Meg.

Meg knows it’s too good to be true to even contemplate thinking that Tyler would be interested in her in the way that she daydreams about him. Her mother warns her of the consequences, but Meg’s heart knows no limits as such when it comes to Tyler and wanting him.

Their friendship was supposed to only last until the summer was over, but then fate had other plans in place when Tyler finds Meg on his doorstep, broken in a way that makes his blood run hot and cold with rage towards the man who dared to do that to her. Consequentially, Tyler finds himself and Meg entering a marriage of convenience which might’ve worked if his young wife wasn’t appealing enough to drive him slowly insane.

One thing leads to another and Meg and Tyler finds themselves traversing through the ups and downs of their marriage, through the good and the bad, making sacrifices along the way which ultimately brings closure to all aspects of the story but one, the secondary romance that takes place between Tyler’s best friend Jack and Meg’s sister Patsy.

The Way Home by Dallas Schulze could’ve turned into a swell read if not for the fact that the story became too bogged down with unnecessary details that made going through certain parts of the story a bit of a challenge. I managed to skim read through the bits that didn’t work for me and I think I still managed to get the gist of the story quite well. In my opinion there were parts of the story that could’ve totally being eliminated and perhaps the story would’ve been much more of a hit then.

Like most romance readers, I’m someone who loves a good marriage of convenience themed romance. I liked the subtle sexual tension that existed between Tyler and the virginal Meg and I think that is one aspect of the story that the author could’ve explored a bit more. Somehow the buildup to it all seemed to be missing in action when the actual deed happened, perhaps owing to Tyler’s super sensitive nature and Meg’s inexperience in the area.

Subtract some of the mundane details, zap the romance with a bit of heat and meanwhile if Meg could grow a spine or two in certain parts of the story, this could’ve turned into a memorable read indeed. The way things ended in the secondary romance that was partly the focus of the story makes me wonder whether Dallas came up with Jack and Patsy’s story. I bet that could prove to be an explosive read if the author manages to get all the elements right.

Recommended for fans of the author & fans of romances of the trope marriages of convenience.

Favorite Quotes

He ignored the voice that warned him he was stepping over the line he himself had drawn. One kids, he told himself. A simple kiss. What possible harm could it do?
Her mouth was just as soft as he’d imagined it to be, soft and yielding and his. He threaded his fingers deeper into her hair, cupping the back of her head to tilt her face up to his, deepening the pressure of his mouth on hers.

He felt the shudder that ran through her as his mouth touched hers. Five years, he thought. Five years and she still tasted of sunshine and mint. And then he stopped thinking at all but only felt. Felt the half-forgotten fire race through his veins, felt the familiar pressure of her body against his as she melted into his embrace.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | AbeBooks

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: The Way Home by Cindy Gerard

Format: E-bookthewayhome
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: One-Eyed Jacks, #2
Publisher: Gallery Books
Hero: Tyler Brown, Jeffery Robert Albert
Heroine: Jess Albert, Rabia
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: October 29, 2013
Started On: October 28, 2013
Finished On: November 6, 2013

If only he knew where home was.

The Way Home by Cindy Gerard is my very first read by the author. Book 2 in the One-Eyed Jacks series, book 1 of which I didn’t know that even existed until I delved into the story; The Way Home can be read as a standalone though there were bits in the story that makes you feel a teensy bit like you should have read the first book before venturing down the road of The Way Home.

The Way Home is a story that takes place in one of the rural villages of Afghanistan where a woman named Rabia tends to a wounded American soldier, harboring him in the secluded safety of her own home which puts her and her father in grave danger. Simultaneously, the story continues in Northern Minnesota where a woman who has lost her husband while fighting a war that had made little sense to her to begin with, takes those first tentative steps towards moving on with her life, falling in love all anew and embracing the joys of life.

For Rabia, taking care of one of the “enemy”, though had started out as a sense of obligation, changes with the depth of emotion that unfurls deep inside of her for a man whose sheer bravery makes her admire him in ways she had never admired any other. A man with no memory of who he was or what he had been through, even though the countless scars on his body and the ravaged state in which he is in speaks volumes about the kind of torture that he had undergone.

For Jess, finding the man who had made an impression on her during one chance encounter standing on her very doorstep makes her cautious and wary and yet exhilarated with a sense of excitement that has been missing from her life for far too long. Ty awakens in Jess the woman she has lost a long time back, rekindles the spark that had been blown out by too many disappointments that life had turned out to be. And in Ty, Jess meets a man whose sheer determination to win her over is a match for her stubbornness and the walls that she tries to keep between them tumbles down under that relentlessness of his. And then, with the happily ever after just within arms reach, trouble comes calling.

For Jeff, returning home means facing a life that he no longer remembers being a part of, embracing a family that he no longer remembers. The only person that he wants by his side cannot be a  part of his life and that breaks his heart more than anything else. The heartache and pain that seeps through the last couple of pages in this story would make even the strongest of persons weep. The longing to be elsewhere but where each of the 4 protagonists find themselves in is almost tangible and that is what makes The Way Home such a darn good read!

I absolutely loved the bits of the story that took place in Afghanistan, the reined in longing that blinds both Rabia and Jeff. The constant danger that surrounds them is one that cannot be denied, and even then, under the canopy of stars, in the deepest and darkest hours of the night, Rabia and Jeff come together, defying convention, the accepted norms and cultural differences not to mention the religious beliefs that Rabia holds close to her heart. All of that is no match for the love that grows and strengthens inside of both of them and that was in essence what kept me glued to the pages of this story.

Jess and Ty’s story were equally appealing in the sense that I loved how easy it was to fall in love with Ty. He doesn’t make it difficult, not at all. There are no false pretenses to be had, no backing down from what he feels for Jess; it is all too evident from all that he does for Jess and more. It takes an indefinable kind of strength for a man to walk away from the woman who holds his heart because he wants to do right by her and that ladies, makes it near impossible for you to not fall in love with Ty!

Recommended for fans of Cindy Gerard, fans of romances with military aspects to it and fans of the series. And of course those who love tearjerkers. This one’s definitely for you!

Final Verdict: Cindy Gerard brings forth a tale of immense pain, heartbreak and joy – not to be missed!

Favorite Quotes

And then she moved. Taking him in. Taking him deep, until his hips rose to meet hers, and his hands covered her breasts, finessing her nipples into aching, hard peaks, and she became as caught up as he was.
“Jess.” Her name eased out on a whisper, a curse, and finally a plea as he gripped her hips and slammed her down over him one final time, coming on a low, throaty groan and tipping her over the edge with him.

Purchase Links: Amazon | BookDepository | B&N

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh

Format: E-bookbondsofjustice
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Psy-Changeling, #8
Publisher: Berkley
Hero: Max Shannon
Heroine: Sophia Russo
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: July 6, 2010
Started On: September 10, 2013
Finished On: September 13, 2013

Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh is the 8th book in the Psy-Changeling series. This series has come a long way and Nalini Singh has certainly managed to keep up the momentum and the pace of each of the stories in the series which is one reason why the entire set is so coveted by its legions of fans.

Bonds of Justice is the story of J Psy Sophia Russo, who at the tender age of 8 hadn’t been given much of a choice; to either become a J Psy or die. J Psy’s tend to have the shortest lifespan in comparison to either types of Psy in the fact that they have one of the most demanding sort of jobs on their minds and shields that is an essential makeup of Psy. J Psys are brought into retrieve memories of the most vicious criminals who need to remain behind bars for the rest of their life for the safety of the rest of the society. Sophia has always known that the time would come when one day she would have to give in to the fractured state of her shields which would mean her death, to be forgotten along with all the others just like herself.

Detective Max Shannon is one of the best detectives in New York Enforcement, a position that makes one of the most formidable Councilors of Psy, Nikita Duncan request for his services along with that of Sophia for a case of apparent suicides that has struck those closest to her. Already working on retrieving the memories of a psychopathic killer, a case on which Max is the lead the detective, Sophia knows that the fascination that she has harbored for Max just might be her undoing and bring death the inevitable death she is ready to face much closer than before.

Sophia is a scarred heroine if ever there was one. The horrors of her childhood, along with her abandonment issues together with that destructive career she leads makes her a disaster waiting to happen. The fact that the most innocent of touches may render her insane is a fact that hinders the burgeoning feelings that grow between Max and Sophia much more rapidly than either of them envisions. But Max is not a man to give up and neither is Sophia ready to do so on her cop, the only person who for the first time in her life is there for her, no questions asked.

Max is not a man who has led a charmed existence either. Having never known love from the woman who had given him life, Max carries a scar that has never properly healed in his heart ever since he was a child. Sophia and Max are two broken halves that make up a pretty darned fantastic whole and that is one aspect of the story that worked very well for me.

It is the makeup of the Psy along with the politics that governs their world that makes these stories so fascinating to sink oneself into. The NetMind itself is almost palpable in its reality, the treachery that is always a part of the powerful group of Councilors that oversees the affairs of the entire Psy a captivating aspect of every single one of these novels. Nikita is one of the most formidable Councilors, whose daughter Sascha becomes one of the first to defect from the PsyNet which causes the ripple effect that began the the sequence of events that seems to be the undoing of  the world of Psy. Bonds of Justice gives the readers insight into the worlds inhabited by Nikita and the rest of the Councilors, for all intents and purpose who have nothing but attaining power on their minds.

I found myself entirely way too fascinated with Kaleb’s character and Nikita’s too, a side of her that was revealed in this story that I would never have thought possible for a woman like her. While Max and Sophia juggle two cases that demands equal attention and focus from them, neither of them can ignore the heat, the oh so much heat that exists between them. It is almost as if the heat between them might result in them going up in a cloud of smoke; yes it was really that hot.

The villains provided the extra chills that managed to keep me hooked onto the suspense aspect of the story together with the romance and the politics that as always provided an unbeatable combination.

Recommended for fans of urban-fantasy/paranormal romances & fans of Nalini Singh.

Final Verdict: The intriguing insight into the Psy politics alone is reason enough to buy this! Recommended.

Favorite Quotes

Max felt Sophia’s hand tighten on his, wanted only to bend his head even farther and put his mouth on the unsteady beat of her pulse, suck hard. The possessive urge, the violent need to claim her to the core was a gnawing ache in his gut. He wanted the world to know she was his—make certain no one would dare lay a finger on her.

Shivering from the sensation, from the near-painful pleasure of the contact, she stood on tiptoe, trying to get closer. A raw male chuckle.
And then Max kissed her.
This was no brush, no teasing taste. He took her mouth with the contained intensity she could feel thrumming beneath her fingers, his muscles taut, his entire body held barely in check. And she realized he was savagely angry, a tiger no longer on the leash.

He felt it the instant she reacted, modified his stroke to what brought her the most pleasure, lifting himself off her enough that he could stroke downward to rub at the sensitive entrance to her body as well.
She was wet, slick. He couldn’t resist the temptation to dip his finger within. That was all it took.
A choked scream. Her body arching bowstring tight.

He could almost feel the vibrating tension in her, every tendon held taut. “I know who you are,” he said, holding her gaze. “I’m not going to be scared away because of your ‘imperfections.’ ”
A sheen of wet in her eyes, turning the midnight iridescent.
“We fit, you and I,” he whispered looking into that haunting gaze. “Two broken pieces making a whole.” It wasn’t the most romantic of statements, but it was torn from his soul. “I am not losing you.”

That slow, slumberous heat flamed, burned, but she took a step forward, lowered the zipper and then—taking a deep breath—pushed down both the jeans and her panties. Leaning forward to pull them off her feet, she could barely hear anything through the thunder of her heartbeat. Max didn’t say a word until she straightened back to her full height. But then he spoke . . . and she melted.

She swallowed as his fingers went to his jeans, as he undid the snaps and peeled the denim down his legs, along with his briefs. Her eyes were riveted to the thick length of his erection . . . to the hand he clasped around it. He stroked once, and her body arched. She couldn’t explain it, didn’t understand it, but the sight of him stroking his own flesh was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen. “Max.” A shuddering plea.

Shaking, she wrapped her other leg around him. The sudden act opened her up, made him slide inside faster than before.
They both cried out, and Max froze above her. “Sophie?”
She ran her teeth up the line of his throat. “Yes.” Always, yes for this man.

Her panties were torn off her, his fingers urgent as he tested her slickness. Lifting a leg, she wrapped it around his hip. He swore, lowered the zipper on his pants, and then the hot, hard heat of him was thrusting into her, pinning her against the wall. She cried out, holding on, holding him tight.

Purchase Links: Amazon | BookDepo | B&N | iTunes

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: The Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins

Format: E-bookthenextbestthing
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Ethan Mirabelli
Heroine: Lucy Lang
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: August 27, 2013
Started On: August 26, 2013
Finished On: August 28, 2013

The Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins, though I got it off of Netgalley as an ARC is not an altogether a new publication. This book was first published in 2010 and has been on my to-be-read pile for quite sometime now. And though I didn’t figure this fact out until I was about to begin reading this, it just made me wonder a little why Harlequin hadn’t listed this as a republication.

The Next Best Thing is a book that bears all the hallmarks of Kristan Higgins. There is humor of course, weird and laugh out loud variety of family antics to go around, a hero and heroine who for all intents and purpose spend most of the book apart and yet find their happily ever after towards the end and a dog or a cat to complement the picture. However, there is a slight difference when it comes to The Next Best Thing because the protagonists, i.e. Ethan and Lucy have been sleeping with each other even before the story begins.

The synopsis that goes with the story is a bit misleading to say the least, perhaps not to give the story away? Lucy is a widow, and  going on 5 plus years in her current status quo. The thought of moving on and finding someone else to share her life with stresses her to the point that the panic attacks that she has held at bay for sometime comes calling again, but the children that she wants to fill her life with urges her to seek a husband who would be an emotional risk-free investment on her part.

Having brought to an end her mostly weekend trysts with Ethan that has been going on for two years, Lucy tries to find that someone who meets all her criterion, all of them falling short of the mark for one reason or the other. Lucy doesn’t want the complication of even thinking of Ethan as a viable choice to share the rest of her life with, but time and yet again, it is Ethan that she misses like a proverbial ache in her heart, his companionship that she seeks when she has something worthy of sharing, and the combustive chemistry that they had shared that makes her want to rip her clothes off and get down and dirty with him every time she sees him.

Underneath the veneer of laugh-out-loud humor, The Next Best Thing is a story that waged an emotional warfare inside of me. I hated Lucy for what she continuously put Ethan through, all the while wondering how she could have been so clueless. But I guess given the circumstances and the pedestal upon which she had placed her dead husband, it was hard to see past that and see Ethan, the man who had always stood with her and beside her, unwavering in his support for her, no matter what. There was  this part of me that absolutely sympathized and empathized with what Lucy goes through. I have survived tragedy of the panic-inducing variety and I know what its like to battle with it every single day afterwards. And change, is definitely a trigger and that is exactly what Lucy is subjected to when she sets out to get out of the “rut” into which her life had fallen into after the death of her husband.

Ethan is a character to absolutely die for. Ethan and his emotions never making it to the forefront is one of the reasons why I tend to steer clear of books told in first person from just one character’s point of view. I would have dearly loved to see things from Ethan’s point of view, the heartache and desolateness that is part of him that was evident to see even when his point of view wasn’t part of the story. Simply put, I loved Ethan and everything to do with him, his unwavering courage in standing by and letting the woman he has loved ever since he set eyes on her find her way on her own terms telling in itself. A lesser man would have walked away to restore the pieces of his heart but Ethan sees it all through even if it must have broken him from inside out. The fact that he has always been considered “the next best thing”, even by his parents was heartbreaking to see. And Lucy not seeing it for so long just made my hands clench and unclench every single time such an incidence came up in the story.

Perhaps, I might not put Lucy into the category of heroines that I hated by the end of the story, but she certainly is someone who was difficult to fall in love with because of her blind devotion to the memory of a man who was less than perfect but made otherwise by those who had adored him to the point that the rest had just paled in comparison and faded into the background. I had a pebble the size of Mount Everest in my throat by the time I finished reading this in the wee hours of the morning. But every emotion wrangling bit towards the end was so worth it! So very worth it. And the epilogue tucked in at the end certainly went a long long way into soothing my ruffled feathers where Ethan is concerned.

Recommended for fans of Kristan Higgins, those who love romances with a large dose of humor and books that invoke a shitload of emotion from you!

Final Verdict: Worth every bit of emotion it wrenches out of you! Ethan is a must have on your bookshelf.

Favorite Quotes

His arms tighten around me, and the hangers rattle again as we knock against them, and now his lips are on my neck, the gentle scrape of his beard contrasting with the warm silkiness of his mouth. My knees soften in an almost painful rush. Then his mouth finds mine again, and the kiss is not so gentle this time…desperate, hungry, hot and forbidden and utterly welcome.

My hands move to his chest, and his skin is hot, practi- cally burning me through the cotton, and I can feel the hard thudding of his heart. Without thinking, I tug his shirt and slip my hands underneath.
“Lucy,” he mutters against my mouth. “Honey, wait.” But I just kiss him again and slide my hands against the smooth skin of his back, his ribs, and pull him closer, wanting him against me. He shifts so we’re closer, his mouth hot and hard. Waiting is forgotten.

Then he leans in closer so that our foreheads touch. “You sure, honey?” he asks
“Yes,” I whisper, and his mouth is on mine. His hand slides under my T-shirt and cups my breast, and my breath catches. He tastes so good, feels like heaven and I can’t believe I’ve waited so long for this. His mouth moves to my neck, a hot jolt shudders through me, and I sink into the bed, the sun hot on my skin, and give my- self away.
And I realize that despite my intentions, I’ve fallen in love after all.

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