Category / Grand Central Publishing

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Lethal by Sandra Brown

Format: E-booklethal
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Leo Coburn
Heroine: Honor Rosemary Gillette
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 20, 2011
Started On: September 23, 2011
Finished On: September 24, 2011

It feels like its being ages since I have been invested in a story, its characters and its final outcome as much as I did when reading Lethal by Sandra Brown. And it has been quite sometime since I picked up a Sandra Brown, who always manages to keep the reader glued to the pages, whether it be because of the strong elemental connection she manages to make with the reader or because of the suspense element in her later novels that always manages to entice the reader to put everything else on hold and indulge.

Lee Coburn is a federal agent deep undercover going on 13 months when all hell breaks loose and he is forced to flee for his life after being implicated in the mass murder of 7 men which had initiated a nationwide manhunt for him. His destination is one that will either help him make or break the case of a wide ring of smugglers who dabbles in transportation of young girls to drugs to weaponry.

When widow Honor Gillette’s 4 year old daughter Emily discovers the wounded man outside of their home, Honor has no inkling that her whole life is about turn upside down when the dangerous man with menace emanating from his very pores makes her regret the impulse to check on him. But what Lee brings home to light makes Honor question the circumstances surrounding the seemingly innocent death of her husband Eddie two years back and place her trust in Lee to keep Honor and her daughter safe when everything familiar seems so murky in comparison. 

Lee with his ingrained mistrust for everyone tries hard to not be disarmed by a pair of hazel-green eyes that entices and beckons at the same time. With everyone involved in the manhunt with unclear agendas of their own, Lee trudges his way through with the woman and her child in tow, knowing that anything else would mean a swift death for both of them which he just cannot fathom having on his conscience. And all the while, the awareness that singes through both Honor and Lee’s blood grows with every passing minute, practically making the very air between them electrifying.

Sandra Brown takes the reader on a harrowing journey told from multiple viewpoints, the story’s impact a much more profound one because of the fact. The villain when brought to light towards the end proved to be a shocker which is a testament to Ms. Brown’s ability to spin a well effectuated thriller.

Both Lee and Honor, who serve as the main protagonists are reason enough to bow down to Ms. Brown’s superior talent when it comes to delivering on heroes and heroines a reader can relate to and characters that you want to open up your heart to.

Lee is the version of a dying breed of heroes that few authors have the gumption to write in the present times. Lethal and dangerous, Lee is a former Marine who had a tough childhood, whose days in the military had honed his skills of killing to the extent that he practically feels nothing until Emily and Honor both pierce through the fog of nothingness that has surrounded him all his adult life. With a delicious barbed wire tattoo on his bicep and a straightforwardness to his manner that is both exhilarating and alluring at the same time, Lee is a hero who raced towards my shelf of favorite heroes before I had the time to blink!

Honor is a worthy heroine for a man like Lee. A second grade school teacher who is a total babe in the woods when it comes to the likes of Lee, Honor nevertheless has a backbone of steel that propels her to make the right decisions even when everything else tells her otherwise. Her attraction when it comes to Lee is a visceral one that has her falling hard and fast before she even has the time to gather her wits around her.

Emily was just plain adorable I say and I think my heart just practically turned over during the first couple of chapters which brought to light her cherubic character. I knew then and there that if nothing else could get through to a hero of Lee’s caliber, Emily could, with her innocent and trusting nature that could heal even the most wounded heart.

When it comes to the suspense aspect of the novel, it is how Ms. Brown manages to keep the reader on tenterhooks about her characters, wondering which one’s the ally and which one the foe that makes this one hard to put down. With the turn of one page, you think you have learnt a bit more about the characters that constantly keeps you on your toes. But then at the turn of the next page you realize that you might not know as much as you think you do, which makes this an instant page-turner!

My one teensy bit of disappointment stems from how the story ended, though there were elements that makes the reader draw the conclusion that there is a happily ever after in store for both Honor and Lee. But then again, I guess it was because of the ending that Lethal would remain in my heart for a long time, the riot of emotions that coursed through me at that very moment being one I wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Final Verdict: A game of cat and mouse timed to perfection & flawless in its execution, Lethal by Sandra Brown is another winner by master storyteller Sandra Brown.

Momentous Scenes:

  • The moment Emily places a kiss on Lee’s cheek. Had me going all Aww! because of how much it affected the stoic Lee Coburn.
  • The moments during which Lee holds Honor in his arms, just wanting the moment to linger on, a first for him. Such a sweet and throat tightening moment.

Favorite Quotes

His entire aspect was menacing, starting with his chilling eyes and the pronounced bone structure of his face. He was tall and lean, but the skin on his arms was stretched over muscles that looked as taut as whipcord. The backs of his hands were bumpy with strong veins. His clothes and hair had snagged natural debris—twigs, sprigs of moss, small leaves. He seemed indifferent to all that, just as he did to the mud caked on his boots and the legs of his jeans. He smelled of the swamp, of sweat, of danger.

Doral asked if Coburn’s neighbors had been interviewed.
“By me personally,” Fred replied. “Everybody in the apartment complex knew him by sight. Women thought he was attractive in that certain kind of way.”
“What certain kind of way?”
“Wished they could fuck him, but considered him bad news.”
“That’s a ‘way’?”
“Of course that’s a ‘way.’ ”

She shook her head slowly. “I don’t believe you. You can’t be a cop.”
“Not a cop.”
“Federal agent?”
“FBI.”
“Even more unlikely.”
“J. Edgar rolls over in his grave every day, but that’s the way it is.”

And then he pressed into her. First his thighs, then his middle, his chest, and finally his mouth. She made a whimpering sound, but its definition was unclear even to her, until she realized that her arms had gone around him instinctually, and that she was clutching his back, his shoulders, her hands restless and greedy for the feel of him.
He kissed her openmouthed, using his tongue, and when she kissed back, she felt the hum that vibrated deep inside his chest. It was the kind of hungry sound she hadn’t heard in a long time. Masculine and carnal, it thrilled and aroused her.

Moving between her thighs, he stretched out above her, then thrust into her. Once. Because, as he did everything, he acted without hesitation or apology to claim her entirely. Her eyes went wide and her breath caught. Holding her gaze, he pressed himself deeper, barely easing back before pressing deep again.

(Coburn)“Honor.”
Gasping, she lowered her arm from over her eyes and looked into his face.
“Put your hands on me. Pretend this means something.”
With a whimper, she wrapped her arms around him and clutched his back, then slid her hands down over his ass and drew him even deeper into her. He groaned, buried his face in the hollow of her neck, and rocked his body against hers. An orgasm burst through her at the same time he came.
She pretended nothing.

The intensity of his expression caused her to tentatively ask, “What?”
“I’ve never been a big fan of the missionary position.”
Not quite sure how to respond to that, she said simply, “Oh.”
“I preferred making it any other way.”
“Why?”
“Because it didn’t have anything to do with getting off.”
“What didn’t?”
“Looking into the woman’s face.” He murmured the statement as though puzzled by it.
Her throat grew tight. She reached up and stroked his cheek. “You wanted to look into mine?”

(Honor)“You had told me that if you didn’t return within a few minutes of ten o’clock, I was to drive away and get as far from Tambour as possible. So, for all you knew, that’s what I had done. After nearly dying in that explosion, with a burn on your shoulder, and your hair singed, you could have run in any given direction in order to get away, but you didn’t. When you found me on the railroad tracks, you were racing back to the garage. To me.”
He didn’t say anything, but his jaw tensed.
She smiled and moved closer to him, aligning her body along his. “You don’t have to give me flowers, Coburn. You don’t even have to hold me.” She laid her head on his chest just below his chin. Her hand curved around his neck. “Let me hold you.”

He had to admit: She’d got to him. This demure second-grade schoolteacher, who’d been faithful to her husband, but who had fucked him with the same fervor with which she’d fought him two days ago, had crawled under his mean ol’ hide.

If he turned his hand into her and began stroking her there, she would wake up smiling and drowsy and ready for him again.
They would kiss. Erotically. Her mouth would be so damn enticing, he’d dip into it again and again to gather the taste that was now familiar to him. He would touch his tongue to her nipples, and she’d rub her thumb around the tip of his cock and feel that he was about to burst, and then he’d be inside her, moving.
Or maybe not. Maybe he would do something he’d never done with a woman. Maybe he would just… be. […]
No, maybe this time, he would just savor being joined to another person as tightly as two people could be. He would savor being joined with Honor.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Re-Read Review: Wild Orchids by Karen Robards

Format: E-bookwildorchids
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: John Roberts “Max” Maxwell
Heroine: Lora Susan Harding
Published on: March 15, 2001
Started On: August 28, 2011
Finished On: August 28, 2011

Reading Wild Orchids by Karen Robards for the 3rd time doesn’t seem to have diminished my enjoyment factor of the novel by even one iota. Call me crazy but even with the massive amount of books I have on my review pile, I just had to pick this one up and read it in one sitting yet again because the magic that is Max and Lora is an unbeatable one for me.

37 year old John Roberts Maxwell (Max) is a man hardened by the reality of war that had been his way of life when he had been enlisted in the Vietnam war. Leaving a piece of his soul behind due to the decisions he had been forced to make, Max comes home a changed man, a man incapable of giving what his innocent wife had demanded of him. A cynic to the core, Max doesn’t realize that life as he knows it would cease to exist the moment he kidnaps the prim and proper Lora in his attempt to evade the authorities of Mexico.

27 year old Lora Susan Harding is finally a free woman with the right to while away her time as she pleases. Having spent most of her life trying to put others needs first, Lora is ecstatic with the thought of exploring the exotic Mexico, the first vacation she has ever taken in her life. However, from the very start, her vacation refuses to proceed along as she envisoned it and being kidnapped at gun point by a disreputable looking man with an American accent just seems to be the icing on the cake.

At first, Lora is scared out of her wits at the thought of the less than savory acts her captor might try and force on her. A lady through and through, Lora hardly accepts herself to find her captor ridiculously sexy to the extent of ogling him and eating him up with her eyes every chance she gets. No stranger to the world of intimacy, Lora however has no clue that the uninhibited creature that emerges from deep within her that just wants to lick her delectable and broody captor from head to toe is a side of her that exists.

After Lora’s multiple attempts to escape which falls flat on her face every single time, Lora comes to the disturbing conclusion that she has a bad case of the Stockholme’s syndrome if judging the way all her emotions go haywire around Max is anything to judge herself by. Through a chain of events, Lora finds herself stranded in the midst of a Mexican jungle, depending on Max for her very survival. As the proximity heightens the already taut live wire of sexual tension between them, both Max and Lora find themselves to be no match for its heady power.

Wild Orchids would always remain by far my most favorite novel by Karen Robards. For some, Max might not be the stuff dreams are made out of. But when push comes to shove, Max is a man who delivers and Lord does he deliver! A man who is leery of commitment and relationships, Max cannot believe himself when he starts lusting after the prim schoolteacher who lands in his life. The harder he tries to shove her thoughts and presence out of his mind, the more tenacious her hold on him becomes and its a match that Max loses, rather ungraciously at first. Vital, sexy and the ultimate dangerous hero is how I would describe Max.

Lora’s character is an endearing mix of innocence and practicality all laced into one with a body that practically drives Max to the brink of insanity. It is the way she reaches far deeper than just his baser emotions that has Max struggling to shove her away with all his might, a man reluctant to share his demons with a woman Max thinks would be just as incapable of handling reality as his ex-wife had seemed to be.

Though towards the end, I definitely want a bit more grovelling from Max every time I read this one, I think the ending itself might be growing on me as I didn’t find it that sorely lacking the third time around. It seemed a fitting ending based on both Max and Lora’s characters and my bet is Lora loves Max too much to even give him enough leeway to do much grovelling even if it were to come to that.

The best thing about this book, hands down is the raw, explosive and primitive passion between two people that just serves as one whole session of sensory overload from start to finish.

Highly recommended!

Favorite Quotes

(Max) He shook his head impatiently. “You’ll be all right. I’ve got to go. Lora…” he hesitated, then with a muttered, “Hell!” swooped over her. Before she knew what was happening, he had her pinned back against the seat and his mouth was on hers, hard and hot and almost brutal in its demand. His hand was rough and warm on her breast. Lora’s senses exploded. She forgot the men outside the car, her anger with Max, everything as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with a hunger that had been building inside her forever…

“Lora…” Her name was a tormented whisper as he kissed her harder, fiercer than before, as if he was starving for the taste of her mouth. She twisted in his arms, not trying to get away but to work her arms free… She managed to push them up through his crushing hold and lock them around his neck. He groaned deep in his throat, and she groaned too in protest as his mouth suddenly left hers. He was looking down at her, his breathing heavy, a wild glitter in his eyes. Lora lifted one hand from the corded nape of his neck and lightly stroked the rough, wet edges of his hair.

He smiled then, a slow smile that sent the blood racing through her veins. Lora felt the throbbing inside her intensify until she was sure she would not be able to stand it another second as he slowly, oh, so slowly, lowered his head. His target was her left breast. Lora felt his hot mouth close on the straining nipple, felt him tug the crest of her breast into his mouth to rub it with the rough wet surface of his tongue, and cried out in a frenzy of need.
And in that instant he took her.
She climaxed at once as he squeezed inside, enormous and hard and fiery hot and filling her to bursting.

Lora followed his eyes to the subject of their conversation. He was such a masculine man, tall and strong and sure of himself, cocky almost. A male chauvinist to his toenails, she suspected, as incapable of admitting to feeling hurt and lonely and afraid as a pig was of flying. But he was vulnerable too, enormously vulnerable. More than many people who openly asked for it, he needed love. He needed someone to hold him in her arms and convince him that what he had done was not so bad, was not unforgivable, did not put him beyond the pale of normal society. To convince him that he was lovable. And loved. And she meant to be that someone.

Funny, she had always thought that thin, bespectacled, intellectual types like Brian attracted her. Lora had to smile at her own naivete. Who would have guessed that she, Lora Harding, would buckle at the knees over a hunk of male beef?

E-book Purchase Links: ReaderStore | Barnes&Noble | Amazon

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Reviewers Note: From time to time, I get a hankering to re-read my favorite novels and sometimes I find myself with the urge revise the review that I had written down previously. Since I feel that revising a review that had been published a long time back is not something that ought to be done, I have resorted to start a new reviewing process aka the Re-Read Review. Books that rate a Re-Read Review would mostly be books that I am quite gushy about and cannot recommend highly enough!

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Beg for Mercy by Jami Alden

Format: E-bookbegformercy
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Trilogy, Book 1
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Cole Williams
Heroine: Megan Flynn
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: June 1, 2011
Started On: April 26, 2011
Finished On: April 28, 2011

If I were asked to describe this book in one word, Intense is what comes to mind. Beg for Mercy is a title that sums up what romantic suspense is all about from the very beginning till its very last pages.

Beg for Mercy features the very sexy, rough and tough 37 year old Seattle Police Detective Cole Williams and the beautiful 29 year old Megan Flynn who meet one another 3 years prior to the start of the story. Megan is on her way to spinning dreams of happily ever after with her broody and silent Cole when the stuff that nightmares are made of comes true. Megan’s older brother Sean Flynn is arrested for murder by none other than Cole himself and sentenced to death by lethal injection and in the process shatters whatever fragile bond that has been forming between Cole and Megan.

The story continues 3 years later with Megan the only one who is convinced of her brother’s innocence, trying to find even a shred of evidence that might shed light onto her belief that her one and only remaining family in the world, that the brother who had sworn that he would protect her with his life could not have killed someone in cold blood. Megan’s search for the truth catches a break in the most unlikely manner when she gets up close and personal with the work of the Seattle Slasher, a killer who has been brutally slaying women in the Seattle area. What Megan is not prepared for at all is to once again meet Detective Cole Williams, the man whom she fell in love with 3 years ago only to have her heart crushed and her hopes and dreams shattered by the indifferent manner in which Cole killed their budding relationship upon the arrest of her brother.

Cole feels as if he has been sucker-punched real and good when he comes face to face with the woman who has been haunting his dreams ever since he had walked out on the best thing that had ever happened to him. Though it is hatred for what he did to her brother that shines in Megan’s eyes whenever she looks at him, Cole can’t deny that Megan still has the power to bring him to his knees because whatever that had brought them together in the first place all those years back still simmers good and strong between them.

With Sean’s impending execution looming closer, its a race against time for Megan who leaves no stone unturned in her quest to free her brother. What Megan slowly begins to uncover is the work of a killer who is well versed in the art of deception, a killer who is depraved enough to get off on the hurt that he inflicts on the women that he kills, a killer who is closer to Megan than she can even comprehend.

As the race to the finish line draws closer, so snaps the control both Cole and Megan exerts on the desire that binds them together, lending an extra richness to a story that already has enough moments of heart pounding variety packed into it. The scenes of passion between Cole and Megan are borderline erotic and very tastefully done that I couldn’t get enough of the very sexy Cole who had my heart racing doubly hard whenever he entered the picture.

There are so many things that rate Beg for Mercy as a solid 5-star read. For me the pace that Jami Alden sets with the story is the best thing about this romantic suspense. I love it when stories are intense, barely letting me take a breather before the next scene comes plummeting through which makes for very compelling reads. Of course let me not forget the impact the very intriguing Cole Williams who makes the story come alive just by his mere presence in it. He is the broody and silent warrior  type who feels so much deep inside, but shows an impeccable facade to the outside world until his hard earned control shatters around him in the most sinfully delicious way possible. His protectiveness when it comes to Megan is what endeared him most to me and Megan is a heroine who matches Cole in every way possible. I loved Megan for her unwavering faith in her brother when everyone else believed him to be the worst sort of killer possible and for Megan’s undeniable need for everything to do with Cole even when she tries so hard to tell herself otherwise.

Even as I loved so many things about the story that makes this a memorable read for the year, I was still a teeny weeny bit peeved because it was quite easy to figure out who the villain is even before halfway through the story. I like a bit of suspense in novels such as this, for the author to keep me guessing towards the end which makes the game of figuring out who the heinous killer is a lot more fun!

As I said earlier, Beg for Mercy is intense, graphic and details the gruesome bits involving the killings which makes this book that much better. If a fast paced thriller is what the doctor ordered with a healthy dose of romance between a sinfully alluring hero and a delicate yet spunky heroine then you should definitely go buy this one. For fans of Jami Alden, I am sure you would need no further convincing. Now, I can’t wait for book 2 in this series which is to be Sean’s story to come out on November this year entitled Hide from Evil.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Deadly Fear by Cynthia Eden

Format: E-bookdeadlyfear
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Deadly, Book 1
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Luke Dante
Heroine: Monica Davenport
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: August 1, 2010
Started On: March 4, 2011
Finished On: March 5, 2011

Wow! What an intense, suspenseful, edge-of-the seat ride was that! And I loved every minute of it. Cynthia Eden’s Deadly Fear has been sitting prettily in my TBR pile for ages now and right now I am kicking myself for being so slow in becoming a fan of the Deadly series which has earned quite a lot of rave reviews during the short span of time that has passed since the debut of the series, which happens to be this book. Being my first Cynthia Eden, I am definitely joining the throng of the millions of fans she must have acquired if the way this one reeled me in and glued me to the pages which required my sheer force of will to leave the book aside for anything else is any indication of how the rest of the series is going to turn out.

Deadly Fear is the story of Special Agent Luke Dante who joins the Serial Services Division (SSD), the only unit in the FBI that is solely dedicated towards tracking and trapping serials. Keith Hyde, the agent in charge is the brains behind the unit and has handpicked each and every member of the team. Luke Dante was offered the job because of his ability to hone in on the victims, because of  his ability to empathize and glean useful information in their darkest hours which is essential in any serial crime investigation. Tall and well muscled with bright emerald eyes and sun streaked blond hair with a dimple in his chin, Luke demanded my whole attention as he made a memorable entry into the story. Luke has a protective streak a mile wide and can never stand it if a woman is hurting on his watch; the remnant effects of witnessing the murder of his own mother.

Special Agent Monica Davenport known as Ice amongst her colleagues is already a legend in being one of the best profilers, one who has a reputation of getting inside the serial’s head, to think like they do and bring them down. Monica has a painful past that she keeps well hidden from the rest of her team and the rest of the world apart from Keith who gave her the chance to become what she is today. The only chink in her armor of ice is Luke who Keith insists on bringing in as their newest member regardless of her misgivings and protests. Six years back, Monica and Luke had shared nights of intense passion from which Monica had walked away as she fears that no one would be able to love her after learning about her less than ideal past.

SSD’s newest case comes from the small town of Jasper in the South where a serial has emerged who attacks women in their twenties and early thirties, focuses on what scares them the most and gives them a taste of their worst nightmare as the last thing they experience before leaving this world. From the minute Monica and Luke sets foot in Jasper, memories that Monica has been keeping at bay for a long time break out onto the surface as the killer taunts her with bits and pieces from her past, trying to find out what it is that Monica fears the most.

As the body count continues to rise, Monica and Luke home in on clues that lead them towards a devious killer who might be too close for comfort than either of them ever thought possible. A killer who has no intention of giving up till he has completed what he has set out to do, to become a legend in the world of serials, to wreak havoc on a small town where everyone knows the other and to destroy his victims with what they fear the most.

Cynthia Eden spins a tale that is hard to put down, where the scenes come alive right in front of your eyes, where the intense and hot passion between Luke and Monica sets the pages afire. Coupled with edge of the seat suspense that felt at times as if I were watching an episode of the Criminal Minds where its always a race against a ticking clock, Deadly Fear gives the reader every single thing they would want in a romantic suspense novel. I have heard that her books are similar to that of Karen Rose’s, and I will tend to agree to a certain extent. Yes, her villains leave you with the heebie-jeebies, but that’s where the similarity ends. Because with Karen Rose’s books, the romance and passion takes a back seat whilst the suspense keeps piling keeping you on the edge, but in Cynthia Eden’s stories, she delivers on all fronts making her one of my favorite romantic suspense authors even with this one book.

Right now I am on a mission to acquire the rest of her books in the Deadly series, books 2 and 3 which have already come out.

I recommend this title to those who love edge of the seat suspense combined with red hot passion that will leave you breathless and wanting more. Luke and Monica certainly did that and more for me throughout this very well done romantic suspense novel.

Things that worked for me:

1- Cynthia Eden’s ability to creep you out one second and then totally make you get lost in the heady passion between her characters the next minute. It is a testament to her writing ability that she is able to pull off both in such a fast paced read without leaving the reader feeling as if he/she has been cheated out of an important aspect of the novel. Just loved how the story rolled out.

2- Luke Dante of course. Who wouldn’t love a man who in all his glory is so focused on the one woman who is made for him? I am definitely a sucker for Luke’s type and fell in love with him from his very first entrance into the story. His protective nature is one of his most endearing qualities and it doesn’t come off as the suffocating type of protectiveness which was the best thing about him.

3- Monica Davenport. Her character is an intense mixture of brokenness and strength that left me in awe. What Monica was subjected to would have broken down a lesser woman and it is how she battles with her inner demons and comes out winning that makes me root for her big time. Her vulnerability which only Keith and Luke can see, makes her more determined than ever to push Luke away, but in the end, even Monica is not strong enough to push away from the lure of comfort, love and loyalty that is part of the package that Luke offers now and forever.

4- The villain who lent everything of the edge of the seat suspense material to this story. He made my heart race and fear for what might happen next, leaving me impatient to find out just what it is that drives his insanity. Definitely comes out winning in the heinous villain department.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: A Stranger’s Wife by Maggie Osborne

Format: E-bookstranger
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Quinn Westin
Heroine: Lily Dale
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication:  April 1, 2001
Started On: August 21, 2010
Finished On: August 22, 2010

When you curl up with a novel by Maggie Osborne, you certainly don’t end up reading the usual flavor of romances out there. A Stranger’s Wife certainly fits that category and more and I devoured up the book with the fascination that Ms. Osborne’s books always invoke.

Lily Dale spent the last 5 years of her life at Yuma Women’s Prison. Lily had been sentenced to prison for 10 years for partnering up with her then boyfriend Cy in robbing one of the gambling halls in Tombstone, Cy had convinced Lily with all his talk that he was doing this for Lily and their new born daughter Rose so that they could all start off with a better life somewhere else. But things had gone awfully wrong and Lily had ended up firing the pistol in her hand, which the prosecutors had been convinced that she had done deliberately. Whilst Cy had been hanged to death, Lily had barely escaped with her life and paid for her participation in crime with five years of her life inside the walls of prison where hard labor, torture, beatings and starvation had been part of daily life. The one thing that got Lily through was the hope of reuniting with her daughter Rose in Missouri.

When Lily is released from prison before her sentence is completed, little does she know that it has something to do with the recent visit to the prison by a Mr. Paul Kazinski who had spent a significant amount of time studying and watching her, which had made Lily pretty uncomfortable. And when Lily hears that Paul, who is a Kingmaker wanted to meet with her Lily knows that once again she is going to be coerced into doing something she doesn’t want to do.

When Lily steps inside the coach that Paul asks her to take a ride in with him, the last thing she expected was to come face to face with larger than life Quinn Westin. And when she hears the foolhardy plan that Paul proposes, that she Lily who had never played by the rules of the society pretend to be the wife of the magnificent man who sat in front of her sent shivers of foreboding up and down her spine.

Quinn Westin was a man who thought ahead of his time. With his idealistic views about how society should be shaped up and moved into the future, Quinn was hellbent on being the first governor of the newly created state of Colorado. Quinn was determined that nothing would stay in his path towards being governor. His long term friend and Kingmaker Paul was equally determined that even the disappearance of Miriam, Quinn’s wife wouldn’t cause any glitches in the campaign which had about seven months left.

Thus finding a woman who had an uncanny resemblance to Miriam was disconcerting to say the least. When Quinn lays his eyes on the rough around the edges convict woman who loves a shot of whiskey and smokes and cusses like any man, Quinn is surprised at the immense tug of attraction he feels for Lily. Likewise Lily cannot believe that the smoldering gaze of Quinn could turn everything she had believed in for so long upside down.

Backed into a corner, Lily reluctantly agrees to the plan and thus starts her journey from a commoner into a refined lady of the society. Paul coaches her in all the ways she needs to change in order to become the woman worthy of being Miriam. But what even Paul can’t tamp down is the sensuality and provocative nature of the woman who is to impersonate a woman who was shy and laid back at best.

From the moment Lily embraces the role of becoming Miriam, Lily craves to find out what actually happened to the woman she is pretending to be. The more she tries to pry information from her enigmatic pretend husband and Paul, the more they shut her out and when she does find out Miriam’s story, Lily at first detests Quinn for being the unfeeling man he shows to be.

But little by little, Lily finds out the truth, the truth of actually what went between Quinn and Miriam and how forces outside who wanted to see Quinn fail in the election had contrived to use Miriam’s vulnerability against Quinn and end his political career once and for all.

The epilogue is certainly different not because it was a letter from Lily addressed to Paul but because of how life shaped out in the end for Lily, Miriam and Quinn. Though many a people may not agree with what takes place in this story, Ms. Osborne makes it work with charm, wit and enough sensuality to knock your socks off.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Wives of Bowie Stone by Maggie Osborne

Format: E-bookwives
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Bowie Stone
Heroine: Rosie Mary Mulvehey
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: December 1, 1994
Started On: August 18, 2010
Finished On: August 19, 2010

This book has been on my TBR pile for quite sometime now. It landed on my pile after I came across Sliver Lining by Ms. Osborne and fell in love with her writing style. So after finishing up my last book, I was mulling over which book to start with when I read through a thread on Amazon discussing Maggie Osborne and Pamela Morsi. Readers were discussing which of the books by the two authors they liked and I suddenly had the urge to go through the list of books I have by Ms. Osborne and indulge myself in a wonderful story created by one of the most talented writers in romance.

As soon as I started reading this book the first thing that struck me was the odd title. Then I realized that the hero in question must have more than one wife in this book and it was as I expected. Bowie Stone is an ex-cavalry officer, wrongly convicted for murder when he had only killed in self defense. Dishonorably discharged from the cavalry for going against his superior’s orders which had entailed that he lead his officers and shoot down defenseless women and children in an Indian village whilst their men were out hunting, Bowie Stone had resigned himself to the death that awaited him.

In Gulliver County, Kansas, there was an ordinance that stated that men who were sentenced to death would escape their fate if one of the women in the county chooses the convict as her husband. This was due to the scarcity of available men in the county after the war had started. Desperate times called for desperate measures and this is how Bowie Stone escapes his unjust punishment when Rosie Mulvehey picks him up as her husband.

Bowie cannot believe his eyes at first when he lays his eyes on the woman who stands in front of him who looked and acted more like a man than a woman, reeking to the high heavens of whiskey, smoking and cussing all the way. All that Rosie needs from a man is someone to work on her derelict farm to harvest the crop that would serve as the revenge she has been seeking on her stepfather ever since his untimely death.

Rosie doesn’t expect things to change much just because she has taken on a husband. Going into town, getting drunk and raising a ruckus bad enough to land her in jail is a weekly occurrence for Rosie. Rosie lived with John Hawkins an ex-Indian and Lodisha an ex-slave to whom she was loyal to a fault and vice versa. Rosie relied on the steady intake of whiskey at night to keep her nightmares at bay, the nightmares of the sexual and mental abuse that she underwent when her mother died, leaving her stepfather in charge of her affairs. John and Lodisha had tried to help her, but the threat by her stepfather that he would have them killed if they so much as whispered what was going on in his household to the county effectively bought their silence. Thus Rosie hid from the world her femininity and strutted around like a man, wanting nothing more than to yield a profit from the harvest reaped from the harsh landscape that is her stepfather’s home, just so she could best him in the one thing he had failed during his life.

Bowie doesn’t realize that there are complex layers to the woman he has got himself married to. Though Bowie has obligations back home, like a wife and a son, he knows that he owes Rosie and vows to stay on to repay his debt to her for the one harvest season. So it comes more than a surprise to Bowie when he first lays eyes on his wife, minus the dirt and grime that continuously cling to her skin and the unflattering clothes she prefers and feels a tug of desire unlike anything he has experienced before. And when Bowie finds the truth about the abuse she underwent with her stepfather, a clearer picture starts to form of the woman who donates so charitably towards those more needful than her but never gets acknowledged for it, a woman who was fiercely loyal to those whom she considered hers and a woman who craved the bottle so that she would feel less and forget her dark past.

Unwillingly, Bowie falls in love with Rosie, knowing that his duty lay with his wife Susan and son Nate back at home. Bowie had taken Susan as his wife when his brother had died after a freak accident, eliciting the promise from Bowie that he would take care of his pregnant girlfriend. So Bowie had married Susan out of a sense of duty and left her in the care of his father, Senator Stone. Knowing that they would be well cared for, until Bowie can make his way back to them is the only consolation he has whilst he works the harsh fields trying to give Rosie the one thing she desires above anything else.

It was beautiful the way Rosie slowly comes to trust and admire the man she marries and how this vulnerable woman opens up to the possibility of love and fiery passion with a man who seems to understand her every desire. Little by little, Rosie changes her ways, earns the respect of members of her county and finally ceases to be the drunk she is, just so she could be the wife who is worthy of the man she married.

This story moves along side by side with the story of Susan, Bowie’s actual wife and son Nate. Susan is basically thrown out into the streets as per the will of Senator Stone, who blames Susan for all that had befallen his son. Susan who had always relied on a man to make the tough decisions in life, a woman who had never had to lift a finger in all her life suddenly finds herself ladled with the daunting task of faring for herself for the first time in her life.

Her lawyer upon her desolate cry advises her to head west and that is how Susan finds herself answering the ad placed by Gresham Harte from Wyoming for a wife. Appearing with her son in tow, garbed in mourning attire doesn’t win Gresham over, and when he finds out that Susan had never had to work a day in her life, Gresham regretfully turns Susan away, though her beauty captivates the man inside of him.

It was riveting to read of how Susan overcomes the obstacles in her life, with the support and help of the community in Wyoming. Through hard found courage, Susan manages to attain the teacher’s position and from there onwards, life becomes more meaningful for a woman who had had nothing more major to do most days than to pick out the menu for the day. Inch by inch, Susan manages to overcome her fears and in the process fall in love with Gresham who reluctantly feels a responsibility towards her and finally succumbs to falling in love with her as well. However tragedy strikes when Nate is killed in a boating accident on the July fourth activities which devastates Susan more than anything else that had happened in her life.

So it is the promise that Bowie made to Nate that has him walking away from the one woman whom he holds dear to his heart more than anything else in this world and trudging onwards towards a future which looked bleak at best.

The Wives of Bowie Stone is a wonderful story, made more so by the fact that this tale depicts the lives of two equally brave women and the men who irrevocably falls in love with them. I loved the way Bowie slowly erased whatever fears that lurked within Rosie, how he slowly seduces her to fall in love with him and ultimately surrender to be the passionate woman she is meant to be.

Susan’s story too is beautiful in its own way, and made me admire her for the reserves of courage she finds within herself to face the harsh realities of life and overcome them to become a woman much stronger and more desirable for the fact.

Needless to say, I loved this novel and am looking forward to reading more from Ms. Osborne.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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Maggie Osborne
by mvbookreviewer

Review: Night Magic by Karen Robards

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Jack McClain
Heroine: Clara Winston
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication:  October 1987
Started On: July 11, 2010
Finished On: July 12, 2010

I have always loved a good smashing adventure with a high dose of sensuality and romance in the mix. This is a testament as to why Wild Orchids by the same author remains a favorite of mine. Adventures where a hero and heroine who are as different from one another as night and day gets thrown in together to survive against tough as nails bad guys and the unforgiving conditions of the wilderness of nature that surrounds them. From the moment I found out about this novel on a discussion forum on Amazon I knew that this would be one of those romances that I wouldn’t be able to put down. And boy was I glad when I was proven right!

CIA Agent Jack McClain is as tough as they come. Having fought in the Vietnam war and then later working deep undercover in remote areas of the world and finally being the catalyst that brought everything to a disastrous conclusion earning him a stint in a psych facility and later a desk job at the agency, Jack never thought that he would be lucky enough to land a job within the intelligence community that would boost his career once again. Tim Hammersmith, Jack’s boss in many a deep cover missions sticks out his neck for Jack once again and assigns him with the task of getting Yuprov, a Russian KGB spy to spill his guts about a mole who was working deep within the highest ranks of the American intelligence.

Jack never thought that before he was through with the assignment that he and Yuprov would  be captured and tortured, and Jack barely escapes the fate of death at the hand of his captors by jumping ship into the murky churning waters of the ocean. Jack barely survives drowning and his rescue by two fishermen out at sea and his subsequent transfer to the hospital for treatment once again sets the Russian KGB goons after him from which he barely escapes only to be labeled as the raving lunatic who carried out a massacre at the hospital. Now its not only the KGB that is after his ass but the whole country who is on the lookout before the day is through.

Clara Winston, a romance author who just turned thirty, lives with her old gray Persian cat Puff and two cream and gray Siamese cats Amy and Iris. Clara has always been coached the ways of a proper lady through and through and though Clara yearns to settle down, start a family of her own, she has never been tempted by any of the men who have shared her life albeit for brief moments in time. Clara has always envisioned that she would find a noble and uncomplicated knight in shining armor and settle down and have normal uncomplicated kids someday. She has no inkling of the fact that her dedication in her latest novel to the “Magic Dragon” would land her in a whole different load of trouble and that before the night is through, her home would be invaded by Russian KGB agents and that she would barely escape with her life intact.

Clara first encounters Jack whilst running through the tobacco fields that surrounds her home trying to escape the Russian goons that invaded her home, and though at first Jack thinks that Clara is in cahoots with the KGB, to Clara’s surprise Jack finds the whole story of her book dedication a source of mirth and merriment and a dumbfounded Clara is advised by the roughneck who stands in front of her to take a vacation and get the hell out of the country.

Though Clara runs to the town Sheriff and complains, no one really thinks that her home invasion is more than just a burglary gone wrong. And Clara finds herself captured with her cat Puff and once again in the company of the man who was wreaking so much havoc in her life. These two barely escape and runs for their life for all its worth. The immediate dislike that these two have for one another makes for the best of simmering tension that explodes with no bounds before halfway through the novel. The unbelievable flare of red hot passion Clara feels for Jack, someone she doesn’t even like makes her wary at best, but that doesn’t stop her from succumbing to the raw sexuality that Jack effortlessly wields around her.

Before the story is through, Jack and Clara are captured once again, Clara tortured and Jack shot in the chest during their last escape from the Russian goons. My heart was pounding through most of the novel and I couldn’t for the world of me put it down and go to sleep without finding out how the story ends. And like Wild Orchids, I found myself unhappy with the way things ended, as Clara was the one who goes after Jack and yes, Jack welcomes her with open arms but doesn’t Clara deserve a bit of wooing other than a rough trek through the jungles dodging bullets and running for her life just because she unknowingly used Jack’s undercover code name as a dedication in her book? But then again, the story has me sighing all over the rough and tough Jack and wistfully yearning for a Jack of my own.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Short & Sweet Review: Dark Torment by Karen Robards

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Dominic Gallagher
Heroine: Sarah Markham
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: March 15, 2001
Started On: April 3, 2010
Finished On: April 5, 2010

I have been thinking about changing the format of my book reviews for quite sometime. So I think I will  give it a go with this review.

Storyline: This story takes place in Australia in the 1800’s, a time when convicts from Europe were shipped to Australia and made to work as slaves in the country. Dominic Gallagher is brought to Australia on such a ship to be sold to Sarah Markham’s father to work on his lands as a slave.

The first meet: Sarah and Dominic first meet on board the ship on which Dominic is brought to Australia. Sarah happens to walk onto the ship to fetch her father since her stepsister Liza was feeling poorly to hasten the journey back home and comes across Dominic been whipped within an inch of his life. Sarah puts a stop to this and pleads her father to buy him back onto their lands.

Time period: The time period in which the story takes place is such that convicts were treated as lepers and no association with them apart from them being put  to work was to take place. Due to the various ill treatments that these convicts suffer with different owners an uprising from the convicts take place during the time period of the story. One such convict who is on the run nearly manages to have his way with Sarah and its Dominic who rescues her from her fate, which makes them even in Dominic’s opinion.

Awareness between the two characters: Ms. Robards has done a splendid job in creating great vibes of attraction between the two. Dominic doesn’t understand why he is so attracted to bossy and prim Sarah who looks most of the time like a lad with her no nonsense looks and posture. And Sarah doesn’t understand why she suddenly feels the urge to look beautiful, wear pretty clothes and be in the vicinity of Dominic.

The turning point: The tremendous attraction between Sarah and Dominic comes to a conclusion on the night of Liza’s coming out party. Sarah gives her body and soul to Dominic that night. However as soon as the deed was done, the shame of having been with a convict returns with full force and Sarah rejects Dominic to the point that the air is fraught with tension whenever these two meet after wards. Then Dominic goes missing and Sarah thinks that he ran away but what actually happens make Dominic thinks that Sarah betrayed him.

How the relationship grows: Dominic kidnaps Sarah and it is during their journey in the hot wilderness that these two actually learn to love and trust one another, though none of it comes easy to either of them.

Ending: A happily ever after with an epilogue that shows life between Dominic and Sarah with a few good twists in the end. Loved the epilogue as I usually do.

Likes: The storyline is a bit different from your usual historical romances such that the hero doesn’t always have the upper hand by being filthy rich and being able to do whatever he pleases with his wealth and status.

Dislikes: None really. At the beginning I got a bit peeved at Sarah because she turns hot and cold with Dominic, but then thinking about the situation and the time period and how everything turns out in the end, it wasn’t much of a problem.

Recommended for: Readers who love Ms. Robard’s novels as well as those who love a good historical.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: A Kiss Remembered by Sandra Brown

Format: Paperback
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Grant Chapman
Heroine: Shelley Browning
Date of Publication: April 1, 2003
Started On: December 15, 2009
Finished On: December 16, 2009

This was a book that was published when Sandra Brown wrote using her pseudonym Erin St. Claire for the Silhoutte Desire series and is a classic love story. Shelley Browning meets Grant Chapman as her high school teacher during which time Shelley was infatuated with the handsome teacher with whom each and every girl in high school had secretly had a crush on. The student-teacher relationship between the two is shattered on a moment that takes both of them unawares and Grant kisses Shelley.

Grant leaves the high school teaching position and pursues a political career in Washington, whilst Shelley marries a man whose passion is to become a well-known doctor and wastes away 10 years of her life working towards fulfilling his goal when ultimately he divorces her citing that he has outgrown her.

Shelley once again meets an older, a more compelling and sexier Grant who pursues her with relentless passion to see whether the kiss that had been with both of them through the years apart could grow into something more.

As with most older romance novels, the problems are trivial, but the story is a great one to sink into, if a light romance is the order of the day.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Witness by Sandra Brown

Format: Paperback
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero:Dr. John McGarth
Heroine: Kendall Deaton
Date of Publication: May 1, 2007
Started On: December 12, 2009
Finished On: December 13, 2009

Kendall Deaton with her 3 month year old son Kevin is on the run for her life. Witnessing heinous murders committed by a group calling themselves The Brotherhood of which her husband Matt and father-in-law Gibb were prominent members of, Kendall has no choice but to disappear from the face of the earth so that the members of The Brotherhood, which had its members even in federal law enforcement agencies had no chance of finding them.

Kendall and her son are soon found by FBI agents Pepperdyne and John, who is assigned the task of delivering Kendall to the authorities as the key witness in the trial to convict the members of The Brotherhood. However, a fatalistic crash of the car they are travelling in lands John with amnesia giving Kendall the chance to once again flee and make her way to her originally planned hide out. In the process to waylaid the authorities, Kendall proclaims John to be her husband & John thwarts her plans of fleeing into the night when he demands that Kendall couldn’t leave her ‘husband’ to fend for himself especially while supporting a broken leg with the amnesia.

Amidst the mistrust between Kendall and John stirs the beginning of an attraction that the readers can’t help but feel to their bones. Sandra Brown does an excellent job of weaving the story of the magic that happens between Kendall and John while relating the horrific events that occurred  in Prosper, South Carolina where Kendall worked as a public prosecutor, that led to this tumultuous turn of events.

This is a highly fast paced read, one that I guarantee cannot be put down with engrossing characters and a great plot to keep you riveted to your seat till you read the last page.

This is actually a re-read for me. This was the second book that I read from this author and I have always remembered it to be the one that got me hooked on Sandra Brown’s books and I have to say the same magic wove itself on me this time too.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Half.com | AbeBooks | BooksOnBoard

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