Category / Great Read

Rating of 4 Stars

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Kiss Test by Shannon McKelden

Format: E-bookthekisstest.jpg
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Carina Press
Hero: Christopher Treem
Heroine: Margo June Gentry
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: October 11, 2010
Started On: October 11, 2010
Finished On: October 12, 2010

My first Shannon McKelden was certainly a delightful surprise. This title caught my eye when I received my usual Books On Board newsletter of the month. The cover and the title were enough to catch my eye that I found myself going through the book synopsis and lo and behold a best of friends turning into lovers story was just too hard to resist for me. I was watching out for its release date and as soon as yesterday got here I quickly purchased the book, and regardless of the fact that I have over 200+ books in my to-be-read pile yet to be conquered, I found myself sinking into this wonderful quirky story that entertained me with its wonderful set of characters and left me quite happy and satisfied in the end.

Margo June Gentry thinks her life to be perfect. Living with Kevin Timber, her boyfriend of almost two years who never demands more than she is willing to give and puts up with her obsession for anything Elvis there is  nothing more a girl like Margo who is commitment phobic could ask for. With a job that she loves working as a DJ for the a.m. show at WKUP, a country radio station with all her close friends and Christopher Treem, her best friend of more than 20 years living close by Margo is happy as a clam – that is until everything comes crashing down one by one. First she receives the news that her mother is getting married for the eleventh time and wants her to come down for the wedding. And next thing she knows, her radio station is taken over by South Koreans, she is out of a job  and finds herself faced with a marriage proposal from Kevin who was no longer satisfied with their give and take arrangement. Before she knows it, Margo ends up jobless and homeless within the span of a week.

Margo has always remained independent to a fault, never willing to give up her independence for any man. Margo likes being in control of her life and emotions and doesn’t believe that true love does exist. So when she finds herself jobless, homeless and minus a boyfriend she decides to take on an Elvis road-trip of sorts. But since she has hit one of those unlucky streaks that people talk about, she finds herself having to shack up with Chris and being taken care of by him when a concussion of sorts ends up with her being advised not to strain herself which included practically everything except for lying in bed. With Margo determined that she would go on her Elvis sabbatical regardless of the fact that she can’t walk a few steps without clinging to the walls, Chris bargains with her that he would drive her around if she promises to be present at her mother’s wedding, something Margo wants to avoid at all costs.

As the road trip progresses, it takes the reader on a journey of discovery of how Margo has ended up the way she is. With a father who had walked out on the family when she had been 10 years old, Margo’s mother with her genteel Southern upbringing had taken to bed, her brother Rob had turned completely into an introvert and she and her brother’s best friend Chris had adopted one another as each others best friend. The many step dads of the moment that had passed through their lives some to which she and Rob had started feeling an attachment towards only to be jerked away once the harsh reality of divorce sinks in, Margo has learned to shield herself and run from the slightest indication that her partner of the moment might need something more.

There were lots of things that I liked about this story. Since the story is narrated in first person from Margo’s point of view, it was certainly a refreshing change not to know how Chris feels about Margo for the major part of the story. Most of the time stories such as this one are wholly focused on the sexual aspect of the forbidden desire each feels for the other. Seeing Chris carrying out his famous kiss test on women he meets during the road trip and reading about Margo’s jealousy which she doesn’t even know that she feels was certainly entertaining. And though the one sexual encounter between the two is not detailed on every aspect, it certainly was hot and contributed towards making this a wonderful read. And the glimpse into Margo’s happily ever after with Chris one year on certainly put a broad smile on my face as the book ended. And you’ve just got  to love the fact that all chapters in the story are song titles from the great man himself around which Margo’s obsession revolves.

Favorite Quotes

“And lastly, before we take off, I want to remind everyone about the Manhattan Beach Surf Party tomorrow night, sponsored by KCLA and X-Treem Sports West Coast. Need a new suit or board for the event? Head down to X-Treem Sports today and ask for the owner, Chris Treem. Tell him his best friend, Margo, sent you, and he’ll give you ten percent off your purchase because he loves his wife and will do anything I say.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Carina Press

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Shoot to Thrill by Nina Bruhns

Format: E-bookshoot
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Passion for Danger, Book 1
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Hero: Kyle Jackson (Kick)
Heroine: Lorraine Martin (Rainie)
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: August 4, 2009
Started On: September 19, 2010
Finished On: September 20, 2010

My first Nina Bruhns is one that I certainly would not forget anytime soon. I am so very glad that the hot cover art that caught my eye had me searching up on the book and in the end succumbed enough to keep my TBR pile as it is before sinking into this adrenaline packed story. This is the first book in the series Passion for Danger, and boy am I glad that the next two books in the series have already been published, cos I don’t think I would have found it in me to be patient for a period of time to find out what will happen to the rest of the interesting stories that had cropped out of this one.

Kyle Jackson (Kick) had formerly worked for the CIA NOC-Ops (Non Official Cover) Unit, which is a top secret and highly covert branch of the CIA. Kick had been 17 when he had joined the Marines, and even back then he had been damaged goods. Throughout the story, his childhood is hinted to have been a difficult one, though not much light is shed on his former life apart from the fact he had escaped from home when he had been only 14 years old. All the rage inside of him had driven him to be the most lethal kind of Marine and had led to the CIA recruiting him to their Zero Unit, which had sent him off to war torn countries like Afghanistan and Sudan on suicide missions. One gets the feeling from reading between the lines that Zero Unit is not something one escapes from, as Kick is relentlessly hunted down 16 months after he had nearly ended up been blown to pieces by a land mine in Afghanistan and watched his best friend Christopher Alexander Zane die.

The months of therapy that had followed had made Kick more determined that he would not return to his old life ever. Dodging the teams sent out to bring him back seems to be all Kick has been doing lately. And when the last attempt to take him back tells him that they mean business, Kick manages to escape knowing that with his current addiction to oxycontin, a severely addictive painkiller which his doctor had stopped prescribing but Kick had found a means to get  from a dealer. Knowing that the time has come to get detoxed from the drug, Kick walks in on a speed dating event held for the medical staff of Bellevue Hospital impersonating his friend Dr. Nathan Daneby who works for Doctors for Peace in godforsaken countries.

Lorraine Martin (Rainie) a nurse practitioner is dragged to the speed dating event by her best friend Dr. Gina Cappozia a medical doctor and a tenured professor who headed a genetics research project at Colombia University and did a stint of pediatrics at Bellevue every week against Rainie’s better judgment. Working in the ER and dealing day in and day out with blood, drugs, violence and senseless deaths left no time or inclination on Rainie’s part to be interested in dating. Having witnessed the brutal murder of her parents by a carjacker when she had been a mere twelve years old, Rainie battles with fear of random violence and hates chaos, disorder and situations that she is unable to control. Rainie has never used any means of transportation since her parents murder though she yearns to be able to be bold enough to experience the wild adventures that Dr. Nathan Daneby must face in his day-to-day life, someone Rainie has always admired throughout the years.

Gina and her tendency to date younger men who are willing to show her a good time with none of the macho Neanderthal stuff that she abhorred, had been practically salivating over the feast of young studs before her eyes with a bored and restless Rainie by her side. That is until Rainie eyes the dark and dangerous looking man who meets her eyes across the room, sending a frisson of awareness through her unlike anything she had ever experienced before starting to move through the roomful of people towards her.

Kick had gatecrashed the party wanting two things. A woman who was needy enough to let him use sex as a means to stay with her for a couple of days until he is able to deal with his addiction better, so that he wouldn’t be as weak as a newborn babe out of the woods when he had to face his old unit. But his plans go so delightfully wrong when Rainie arouses him beyond compare, and in a moment of sheer panic when his old life had flashed in front of his eyes, Kick accidentally blows the cover he had been using and kidnaps Rainie at gunpoint.

Rainie can’t believe that a moment ago she had been letting the man with the wicked looking gun trained at her kiss her senseless and feels immensely betrayed by her body when it still yearns for his touch. Before the night is through, Rainie gives in the urge to touch and to feel with the man who sets her senses on fire, before learning that Kick was an addict looking for help to deal with the withdrawal stage. And when Kick’s former unit comes in blazing with their guns and takes both Kick and Rainie, Rainie is given no choice but to tag along.

Kick is summoned by his previous commander Colonel Frank Blair, to kill Jalil Abu Bakr, the person who was the most notorious of the two leaders of al Sayika terrorist organization which was hellbent on bombing the US embassy in Khartoum, the British, the French and the UN diplomatic mission. Kick knows that he would not be able to turn his back on getting his revenge on the man who had killed his best friend and thus amidst the withdrawal symptoms that racks his body, agrees to the mission in Sudan. Meanwhile Rainie is coerced into monitoring a rapid detox procedure which was still in its experimental stages which takes nearly 72 hours to rid the body of the effects of a drug.

With the unit operating on a tight time schedule, Rainie who has never flown anywhere in her entire 30 years of life finds herself forced to accompany Kick to Egypt from where he would be transferred to Sudan, the place of his mission. And with the withdrawal symptoms still attacking Kick’s body, Rainie forcefully accompanies them on the FedEx plane that is to airlift them to Sudan from where she would say her goodbyes to the man who had lit up her world in fireworks.

But things go awfully wrong when Rainie and Kick barely escape with their lives intact when their plane is blown into pieces over the Sudanese desert. From there, its a game of cat and mouse to evade the terrorists who had been tipped off somehow, and it is Kick’s vow that he would protect Rainie from the horrors and dangers of being captured by a vile organization such as the al Sayika.

It is on this mission that the reader is introduced to STORM Corps (Strategic Technical Operations & Rescue Missions) and Marc Lafayette who belongs to this elite organization who barely escapes with severe injuries from the blast. The three of the survivors make their way to the medical camp set up by Doctors for Peace and seeing Dr. Nathan Daneby, Kick’s long term friend and the one who evidence points towards as been the traitor nearly makes Kick seethe with anger enough to kill his friend with his bare hands.

Somehow, with Marc injured, Rainie is the only one left to accompany him on his dangerous mission and against all the misgivings that Kick has, he lets the woman he loves tag along with him. It is at the camp that Kick finds out that his best friend had not been killed, but might as well have been when he comes face to face with the shrunken skeleton of the man Alex had been, with filth and pus oozing scabs and evidence of severe beatings covering his whole body with no memory of who he is with his eyesight nearly gone.

Alex’s story is an intriguing one, one which had me more intrigued than the actual story at times. Alex dreams of a red haired woman, who comes to him in his dreams, tempts him beyond anything he has known and keeps him sane throughout the 16 months of torture he endures. When the story finally ends, Alex finds out that he is engaged to be married to a woman who he does not recognize whilst the one who walks in with her supposedly fiance, his FBI friend according to her, is the woman who had been haunting his dreams all throughout! Man, Nina Bruhns certainly knows how to keep a reader guessing till the very end and keep them begging for more, much more!

Whilst all this is happening, back in the states, Gina is relentless in her attempts to find out what had happened to her best friend. Finally her attempts yield fruit when she comes face to face with the mouth wateringly handsome and larger than life and older than herself Captain Gregg van Halen. Gregg made me go weak at my knees a time or two, with his rough and tough loving that Gina craves and ultimately struggles to give into. In the end, Gregg betrays her and leaves her at the mercy of God knows what before the story ends. Talk about leaving us hanging! But the good thing is the 3rd book in the series is Gregg and Gina’s story, and boy I can’t wait to sink into that one! And that supposedly contains Alex and his mysterious lady Rebel’s story as well. *Drools!*

Fast paced, filled with enough heat to keep you warm through the coldest night, this is one book that fans of romantic suspense should NOT forgo! Kick and Rainie gets their happily ever after with both of them learning a thing or two about themselves and rising above all the hurdles to embrace the fierce love that they have for one another. Highly recommended; if you haven’t already read this series, keep your TBR pile as it is and start on this one ASAP! Yes, it is that good!

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

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Forbidden Fruit by Anne Rainey

Format: E-bookAnne Rainey - Forbidden Fruit_pic0001
Read with: Adobe Reader
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Red Sage Publishing Incorporated
Hero: Luke McGiffin
Heroine: Ava Sweet
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: April 2, 2008
Started On: September 20, 2010
Finished On: September 20, 2010

I read my first Anne Rainey book ages ago. Ever since I joined Twitter and found Ms. Rainey there as well, I have had a hankering to read one of her books. And because there is nothing like a short novella to spice you up in every way possible, I chose to go ahead with this book which features a hot as sin hero and a heroine who is more than his match in bed and out of it.

Ava Sweet has had a hankering for the dark haired, leather jacket wearing Luke McGriffin ever since the McGriffins had moved into her town when Ava had been a senior in high school. Luke had been every girl’s hottest dreams personified and though Ava who had always been a tomboy and been more comfortable as a track star and basketball MVP of Green Valley High School and scoffed at the idea of women swooning all over Luke, secretly she too had yearned to be taken in his arms to experience the hard, fast and hot loving that Ava knows only Luke can give her.

Now a veterinarian assistant, Ava is called to Luke’s place because he had found a cat on his front porch and didn’t know what  to do with it. Ava overhears her best friend’s brother and the star of her wicked fantasies respond to his best friend Pete Redding’s observation that Ava is hot with incredulity. Ava is shaken to the core to hear her worst fears confirmed – that Luke would never see her as a desirable woman with her own needs and desires. Before she knows it, Ava stalks in, claims the cat, kisses Pete senseless and agrees to a date with him next Friday and knees Luke in his balls before stalking out.

Jen McGriffin, Ava’s best friend and captain of the cheerleader team in high school can barely contain her glee when Ava plans to get a makeover to show Luke what he has been missing all these years. Jen is going to make sure that before the night is through, Luke would be down on his knees begging Ava to come home with him. But Luke isn’t as immune to Ava as Ava thinks he is. Having wanted her from the first day he had walked into high school and seen her, and knowing Ava to be quite the headstrong and independent woman she is, Luke had steered clear of her and sowed his wild oats elsewhere always thinking that Ava would wait around till he is done and ready to commit to her. But knowing that Ava, the woman who is the most prominent figure in his wildest dreams is about to go on a date with his best friend makes Luke livid with jealousy.

The coming together of Luke and Ava is searingly hot and I enjoyed reading every minute of their encounter. It’s always good to see the bad boy lose control of his emotions and fall in love. Since this is a novella, I didn’t expect much from the storyline, but even then, if this story could have been a bit longer, I bet it would have completely knocked my socks off! Now who wouldn’t want a bad boy like Luke McGriffin I wonder! ;)

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

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Bond of Hatred by Lynne Graham

Format: E-book~Cover01
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents #1758
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Alexis Terzakis
Heroine: Sarah Hartwell
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: July 1, 1995
Started On: September 18, 2010
Finished On: September 18, 2010

It is rare to come across a Harlequin romance that has received 5 star rating for the story it presents, mostly because the stories almost always revolve around the same theme, and the character development and story just doesn’t seem to make the cut. But this story from Lynne Graham, one of my favorite Harlequin authors I have to add, has surprisingly made the mark and received 5 star rating, and I just had to get myself a copy and find out whether this book could deliver that “high” that I usually get with a good Harlequin romance.

The story kicks off when Sarah Hartwell is grieving the death of her younger sister Carrie who had died of a massive coronary. Since Sarah’s parents had been killed in a car crash when Sarah had been seventeen and Callie had just been eleven years old, Sarah had assumed responsibility for her younger sister and given up the hope of ever attaining any further education and focused all her energies in providing Callie with a stable and loving home. Callie had been a beautiful girl with the natural golden looks of a Californian blond, and had seemed to thrive under the nurturing care that Sarah worked through double jobs at a time to provide for her. Callie had made her way through Alevels and had started university to study languages when she had met Damon Terzakis and then on everything had changed.

Sarah had been quite apprehensive of the fact when Callie who had never really been in a serious relationship had started gushing about the new Greek guy who she was seeing. And when Sarah had met Damon and understood that they planned on getting married, Sarah had been dismayed to think that Callie would give up her education and everything Sarah had worked for to give her a better life. And when Damon had stated rather nervously that marriage would have to wait until he manages to convince his elder brother Alexis Terzakis of his intention to make Carrie his wife, Sarah had been a little relieved and then a trifle bit alarmed to think that such barbarity existed in this age and time.

And then Callie had turned up pregnant, refused to return to classes and Damon had returned to Greece on a business trip from which he had returned quite shaken and stated that his brother had been immovable about his decision to marry Callie. Things had gone downhill from there onwards when Damon had abruptly returned back to Greece, and a fortnight later, Callie had been served an eviction notice from Damon’s apartment in Oxford where she had been living. Sarah had been furious at the turn of events that had taken place, and the final straw had been when she and Callie had gone to meet Alex, to convince him that Callie deserved to be married to his brother Damon, only to be met with derisive hostility on his part as he had been convinced that Callie was just a gold digger and Sarah was helping her along.

Alex had realized that Callie had in fact been pregnant with Damon’s child when she had requested that Sarah call Damon upon her deathbed. Sarah is furious to say the least with the Terzakis family and is appalled that Alex approaches her to claim that his nephew Nikos belonged with them rather than with Sarah. Clouded in her grief, pain and anger, Sarah had flat out refused to let Alex claim Nikos and had been seething with anger when Alex had tried to buy Nikos from her for any price she had been willing to name. Ultimately, Sarah had thrown the challenge at Alex’s face that she would be willing to share Nikos with Alex if he would marry her and make her his wife.

Sarah’s only intention had been to shock Alex and drive him away, which she is happy that she has done so when she doesn’t hear from Alex for a week afterwards. But then, Alex returns and in a whirlwind of activities that follow, marries her and makes her his legally wedded wife whilst Sarah is still reeling from the shock of it all. Somehow, through the course of events that come about, Sarah’s perception of Alex changes and she realizes that she hasn’t entirely been fair in judging Alex and his actions.

A bond which was forged between two opposites on nothing more than hatred and resentment suddenly changes into something else the minute Alex takes Sarah in his arms and shows her what she has been missing in her life until now. It is a reluctant Alex that seeks out his wife, as he is determined that the marriage he has been forced into would only play out on his  terms.

The verbal sparring matches between Sarah and Alex are invigorating to read, and the undeniable passion that is unleashed from the moment Alex and Sarah sets eyes on one another obliterates everything else. This story is as good as a Harlequin romance can get with two forceful characters who in the end find their happily ever afters with each other.

Recommended for all Harlequin romance lovers and those who love books by Lynne Graham. This book is a treat from start to finish, one not be missed.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Abe Books

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Just My Type by Erin Nicholas

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Bradfords, Book 3
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd.
Hero: Jason MacDonald Gordon
Heroine: Sara Bradford
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: September 14, 2010
Started On: September 16, 2010
Finished On: September 17, 2010

My first Erin Nicholas book was certainly a delightful surprise. I came across this title when I entered the Samhain Publishing website on a whim. The hot cover itself made me salivate over the book, and in the end the book synopsis was enough to lure me away from my HUGE to-be-read pile and indulge in this tale which enchanted me on so many levels.

At first, when I started on the book I thought this would be the typical romance where the forbidden younger sister of your best friend is taboo forever, and the illicit longings that still continue to rage the hero no matter how much he tries to prevent those feelings finally take a turn and they would end up having wall-banging sex, some trivial problem would crop up now and again until they attain their happily ever after. But this story offered so much more than just your typical erotica romance. The sex scenes were hot but did not take the center stage of the novel, which made me appreciate the encounters between the two more.

This is the 3rd book in the The Bradfords series by the author. The Bradfords family comprises of Sam, Jessica and Sara of which Sara is the youngest and thus the child who was cosseted most by the rest and Sam’s best friends Jason McDonald Gordon (Mac), Kevin and Dooley. Sara’s mother had walked out when she had been a baby and her father had been killed when he had interrupted a burglary at Jessica’s apartment when Sara had just been 10 years old. Since then, Sara had been taken care of Sam and Jessica and Sam’s circle of friends who were as protective of her as they would be of their own family. Now 25 years old, Sara is determined that she is going to make Mac and her together forever a reality, even if it has to be her that has to take the first step.

Mac who is 12 years older than Sara and 7 years senior to Sam should know better than to make his best friend’s youngest sister the object of every erotic desire he has had for the past couple of years. Mac knows that he is not the type of man that Sara needs and he is determined that he would not betray the trust that his best friend has in him that he wouldn’t cross the line and do something stupid where Sara is concerned. But all his best laid plans go awry when a very determined Sara climbs into his lap and kisses him senseless at Sam and Dani’s wedding reception, a sight that doesn’t go unseen by a very pissed off looking Sam who Mac manages to convince that he is not looking to start anything with Sara. To drive home the point with Sara who is busily imagining all sorts of fun she could have with the object of her desires, Mac makes out with another woman and makes sure that Sara would walk in on them, a plan that works too well in driving Sara away when she ups and leaves to the Carribean, all alone for the very first time in her life.

When Mac hears that Sara has left and the letter that Sara leaves for him propels him to seek her out from where she is at. The letter drives home images of a wild and uninhibited Sara ready for his type of loving rather than the sweet and innocent version of Sara, a change that Sara is determined to bring about in her plans to entice the man who means everything to her in this world.

Somehow, Mac’s hands-off policy doesn’t seem to work very well where Sara is concerned. When Mac realizes that Sara would not give up on her aim of seducing him into her life forever, and no matter how many dirty tricks Mac pulled out of his sleeve she would not be thwarted, Mac does the only thing he believes would change her mind about him forever, marry her and show her just how unsuited they are for one another.

But as it is the norm with Sara, she manages to surprise him by adjusting well to life in Oscar, Mac’s hometown which is a far cry from Omaha where Sara had grown up and where all her friends and family resided. Sara who has always been a little bit spoiled, cocooned and overprotected all her life suddenly finds herself having to work hard at making friends, and in the process finds out a lot about herself and what she wants in life. Though Mac at first tries to stay away from Sara and what her delectable body offers, in the end its a battle that he loses when he professes to Sam that he is in love with Sara and plans to make her happy for the rest of her life.

In the end, what Mac thinks that Sara wants and needs are actually very different from what Sara actually wants and desires. Mac refuses to treat Sara anything less than the way she deserves to be treated in bed and out of it, though Sara craves to make Mac lose his iron-willed control over his emotions that makes Sara feel that she is missing out on a lot. Mac’s refusal to really listen and understand the desires of the one woman who makes his heart melt all over finally drives them apart, just like Mac planned before everything became so complicated and he wanted Sara permanently in his life.

What I loved most about this novel is the depth of character development that takes place throughout. Sara, who at first I imagined would live up to her princess image surprised me the most by being plucky, strong, sassy and being unafraid of going after what she wanted. The woman she grows into in spite of all the protective forces that surround her is a woman who ought to be admired. And Mac certainly makes for a yummy hero, who just needed a knock on his head now and then to let him know just how much he was missing out on by thinking that he knew what Sara needed and wanted. All in all I loved this delightfully surprisingly good story. Though the cover art is steamy hot, I just wanted to point out that Mac is described as someone who had shaved his head bald for as long as Sara had known him, but the guy on the cover has a shitload of hair on his head, if I am not blind! ;)

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

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy

Format: E-book9780425235942_Hot_Finish_MM.indd
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Microsoft Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Fast Track, Book 3
Publisher: Berkley
Hero: Ryder Jefferson
Heroine: Suzanne Hickey
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: August 3, 2010
Started On: September 9, 2010
Finished On: September 10, 2010

Finally, this is the story of Suzanne and Ryder which I bet most of the readers of the series have been craving for. I have enjoyed reading all three stories of the series out so far. What made these stories enjoyable was the fact that Tamara, Imogen and Suzanne are all so different from one another and find love with men who are all sinfully good looking as they are kind, generous and loving. Of the three women, Suzanne’s story is the one that starts out with a prior history between the two.

Suzanne and Ryder had met one another at Ryder’s cousin Brian’s wedding of which Suzanne had been the wedding planner. Ryder had then been just a rookie driver, a little bit full of himself. Having grown up as an only child with middle class parents who thought that he could do no wrong, Ryder was a happy carefree kind of guy. The instant attraction between the two inevitably ended with Suzanne becoming pregnant which prompted Ryder to propose and they both eloped to marry at Las Vegas.

Suzanne had never felt that Ryder had married her because he was in love with her, but rather because he wanted to do the right thing when she got pregnant. Having never established the proper channels of communication between the two from the very hasty beginning of their volatile relationship, when Suzanne miscarries neither Ryder nor Suzanne talks about their feelings when it both affected them so much. Having never talked about the subject of trying for kids again, Suzanne who craved for a family of her own when she had grown up as an only child dirt poor with grandparents when her mother had abandoned her, Suzanne had felt that their relationship would never grow into something more. And the fact that Ryder almost always never remembered to take care of everyday little things which in the end Suzanne had to take care of, made her feel like an assistant of Ryder’s rather than his partner and wife.

Inevitably, disagreements between the two had started with growing discontentment on both sides. The bedroom had been the only place where these two knew one another and Ryder had always thought that whatever problems or arguments or fights they had, they would never part. But when Suzanne has had enough and walks out on Ryder, he doesn’t know what else to do but let her go.

Now the two year alimony period was over and Suzanne who had spent the past four years working as a volunteer on the board of charity that funded children’s cancer research has no option but to return to work as a wedding planner, which the cynic she had become since her divorce makes the job doubly harder. But Suzanne is determined that she would earn her way through and not give into the charity that Ryder was willing to offer.

Planning Nikki (Ty’s ex girlfriend who grated on everyone’s nerves with her flamboyant and dumb blond ways) and Jonas Strickland’s wedding was her first job in venturing back into the wedding planning business. The stress of having no money and taking care of the tantrums that Nikki made her put up with is taking its toll on Suzanne when she receives a letter from their divorce lawyer stating that Ryder and Suzanne weren’t actually divorced because Ryder had forgotten to give the lawyer power of attorney to appear in the court instead of him and had evidently never signed the papers. When Suzanne receives the news, its a foregone conclusion that with her volatile temper she would burst at the top.

However, Ryder is not much bothered by the fact since lately he had been having thoughts of Suzanne occupy his mind more than anything else. Though Ryder doesn’t have a clue as to why Suzanne finally walked out on him, he is willing to become a better husband all around and try and convince Suzanne that what they had was special enough not to walk away from.

With Ryder hellbent on showing Suzanne what she was missing, these two finally end up scorching the sheets, and my my! What an explosive combination do these two make! I was expecting their coming together to be volatile but the actual scene just took my breathe away!

Although Suzanne tries hard to deny her feelings for Ryder, she has to acknowledge the fact that she still loves Ryder but she isn’t willing to trust Ryder with her heart and open up to him, something Suzanne has no idea how to do because she had never ever been that person.

In the end, Suzanne ends up pregnant once again, and Ryder makes an ass out of himself whilst trying to profess that he still wants to be together and loves her which drives them apart once again. It is with Suzanne’s friends Tamara and Imogen’s help that she comes to realize that her marriage to Ryder had not failed only because of him but Suzanne was also part of the problem.

In the end its all good with a happy ending for the couple. I always love reading more about Elec and Tamara, my favorite couple by far from this series. According to the author’s website, there are two more books of the series to come out next year, Evan and Eve’s story, siblings of Elec Monroe. Am hoping those two stories would contribute towards making this series a favorite all the way through!

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

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Last Summer by Theresa Weir

Format: E-bookimage001
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Fanfare
Hero: Johnnie Irish
Heroine: Maggie Mayfield
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 1, 1993
Started On: September 5, 2010
Finished On: September 6, 2010

When it came for the time to post the review I somehow do not remember where I picked up this title from, but boy, am I glad I did! This story swept over all my emotions, tugging at my heartstrings, made me yearn to take Johnnie in my arms and comfort him like I have never comforted anyone in my life. Yes, his story is that tragic, not that the author goes on and on about how he was neglected and abused during his childhood, but a clue here and there makes  the readers sum up on their own how hellish his childhood had actually being, and that just put a perpetual knot of emotion in my throat that refused to leave even long after I was done with the story.

Johnnie Irish, born into the small town of Hope, Texas hated his hometown with a vengeance. Born to a mother who had whored her life away, beat him up and beat him real good if he even whimpered during the beating session, put him inside a closet whilst she entertained various men and often forgot that he was even there and when he had grown older, kicked him out of the house for the night where he lay on a cold dark slab of stone near his derelict house and much later got into all sorts of trouble running around town at night. It was only later that Johnnie had realized that his dead mother had actually being crazy and insane, and she had always blamed Johnnie for the way she had chosen to live her life in the end.One of her regular visitors was Brace Cahill, cop of Hope who was as mean as they come. Brace who was married wasn’t amused when Johnnie had walked in on him and his mother and though Johnnie had sworn that he wouldn’t say anything to anyone about Brace visiting his mother, before Johnnie knew it, he had been arrested over some petty crime, and driven out of Hope by Brace himself.

The only good thing about Hope that he remembered was his high school drama teacher Harriet Lundy whom he affectionately called Harry. Johnnie had landed in drama class because none of the teachers would take him in and give the belligerent boy a chance. Though Harriet had her misgivings at first, when Johnnie took center stage, she could see the immense talent that this sensitive boy contained in spades. Harriet had always believed in Johnnie and advised him that never to let anyone make him think that he is not good enough.

Now fifteen years later, Hope beckoned him in the form of an invitation to be the main attraction in Hope’s homecoming parade. Johnnie, a well known actor who had several hit comedies under his belt felt the lure of coming back home and showing its residents a thing or two too strongly to turn down the offer.

Maggie Mayfield though she had not been born and bred in Hope, she had come to love its barren land and its open skies. Maggie had moved to Hope with her husband Steven because of his emphysema (An abnormal condition of the lungs marked by decreased respiratory function; associated with smoking or chronic bronchitis or old age). Though Steven had passed on a couple of years ago, Maggie had stayed back rather than return to Ohio where  Steven’s family lived.

From the very start, Maggie had been dead against Johnnie being included in the parade. From what she has read and heard about Johnnie who lived his life in the fast lane, partying away long into the night and had the usual habits of celebrities, Johnnie had not sounded like someone who would appreciate Hope and its residents. And when Johnnie steps off the small plane that brings him to Hope, it is Maggie who is there to receive him. Though Maggie had not bothered with her appearance on behalf of Johnnie and had resolutely made up her mind that she would not be swayed by his good looks, in reality his looks does knock her out of her loop for a bit. But then Johnnie does something that lives up to his disreputable image and that fancy notions in Maggie’s head takes a flying leap.

Things had been going pretty well in the parade that is until Johnnie had brought out a beer and started drinking in the midst of the parade. Angered beyond belief, Maggie had abruptly stopped the car which had landed Johnnie on his butt rendering him unconscious for a bit. And when she spies the syringe that slips out of his pocket, Maggie is surprised at the disappointment she feels that Johnnie actually lives up to his reputation of drug abusing. After being treated at the local hospital for concussion, Johnnie makes his way to see Harriet and then Maggie. Johnnie has no idea why he wants to apologize to Maggie for ruining the parade, which in actual reality was something he had wanted to do. At Maggie’s home, Johnnie collapses and it is then Maggie finds out that the syringe that he carries is for insulin as Johnnie suffers from diabetes.

Johnnie goes back to his life in California and Maggie resumes her life in Hope. But the thoughts and memories of the brief encounter between her and Johnnie always stays fresh in Maggie’s mind. Though she knows that Johnnie most probably must have forgotten about her, Maggie can’t help thinking about Johnnie. When Johnnie goes back, he starts partying harder than ever and lands in a bit of trouble which in the end lands him in jail. When his agent and only close friend Sherman comes to pick him up he finds Johnnie nearly dead of insulin shock.

Thus Johnnie takes Sherman’s advise and goes to recuperate and it is to Hope he returns to that summer. Maggie was having the first day of play rehearsal with her students and was having all sorts of problems with the piano player who had stepped into replace the original piano player piano player who had fallen down and broken both her wrists. To her surprise, it is Johnnie who walks in and saves the day. Though Maggie knows better than to trust Johnnie with keeping his word, she has no choice but to accept him as her new piano player. With the time they spend together, Maggie slowly starts to see beneath the surface of the man who jokes away to keep his emotions at bay. When Johnnie professes that he wants Maggie and she turns him down, Johnnie is more than surprised because it was actually a first time for him.

Maggie comes to care about and in the end fall in love with the mass contradictions of a man that Johnnie was. But the nightmares that Johnnie tries so hard to keep at bay, nightmares that features his dead mother and her endless torture sessions, Johnnie is desperate to leave again and nearly does so 3 days before the night of the play. Maggie is furious with Johnnie that he had once again gone ahead and proven himself worthy of his reputation. But then Johnnie agrees for Maggie’s sake that he would stay behind until the night of the play. By then, Maggie had realized that no matter how hard she had tried not to, she had given her heart to the one man who was so ill suited for her.

Sharing a night of passion which ends in a tear stricken Maggie flying into the arms of Elliot, her brother-in-law, a scene that Johnnie witnesses and breaks something within him, he goes back to his life in California though thoughts of Maggie are never far from his mind. Meanwhile, 2 months later, Maggie finds out that she is carrying Johnnie’s child, a fact she decides not to share with the father to be, thinking he wouldn’t care.

Harriet’s letters bring Johnnie back for a visit, and it is then he realizes that Maggie is pregnant. Maggie deliberately misleads him to think that it is Elliot’s baby. Johnnie, whom women had always tried to trap into marriage through pregnancy, suddenly finds himself craving to be the father of the baby that Maggie carries in her womb. Broken in more ways than he realizes, he bids farewell and well wishes to Maggie and her life with Elliot and once again leaves Hope to turn up on Maggie’s doorstep once again when he receives word from Harriet (who suffers from Alzheimer and rambles on in her letters) that Maggie was working towards becoming a single mom.

Maggie on the verge of giving birth is not prepared for a confrontation with Johnnie who seems livid at the thought of Maggie going through pregnancy and parenthood alone. But when he realizes that Maggie is in pain it is Johnnie that stays with Maggie throughout her difficult labor which results in a C-Section. During the course of the hours, Maggie starts to have misgivings about how she has misled Johnnie and decides to come clean, though she knows that Johnnie would feel immensely betrayed by the fact. Johnnie who is enthralled by little Alex and takes to parenting like a pro, finds out the shocking truth before Maggie is able to confide in him and this drives Johnnie over the edge and sends him running back to California once again.

Later on, a year goes by and it is Harriet’s funeral that brings Johnnie back to Hope and back to Maggie and Alex. With his own demons to slay before Johnnie can find true happiness and serenity, it nearly looks as if Johnnie ends his life with his destructive behavior towards the end.

As I said before, I was thoroughly enraptured with Johnnie’s character. Long after I finished the book, I realized that it had always been Johnnie who had come after Maggie though Maggie is the first to realize how deeply her feelings run for Johnnie. In the end I realized that though Maggie had insight into Johnnie’s character, she never really believed in him as Harriet did and that didn’t sit very well with me. But in the end, it is with Maggie that Johnnie finds the peace that he craves for and I loved reading the story that depicted his struggles to find it.

Favorite Quotes

“I’m afraid,” she (Maggie) confessed in a wobbly voice.
“It’s okay to be afraid. I’m afraid all the time.”
She choked out a sound of disbelief. “What are you afraid of?”
“Everything.” A thoughtful pause. “You. You scare the hell out of me.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Abe Books

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Hunter’s Moon by Karen Robards

Format: E-bookhunter
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Dell
Hero: Will Lyman
Heroine: Molly Ballard
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: September 1, 1996
Started On: September 4, 2010
Finished On: September 4, 2010

Hunter’s Moon was the first book ever that I read from Karen Robards which made me ultimately fall in love with her stories and writing style. Though certain titles from Ms. Robards leaves a lot to be desired, most of her stories continue to enchant me and leave me wishing that there were more authors like Ms. Robards out there.

Hunter’s Moon starts off during the year 1982, when 12 year old Libby Coleman disappears on the night of 15th November never to be seen again. The story then continues 13 years later with Will Lyman from the FBI from Chicago who had worked on big time cases is assigned to chase the pettiest criminals he had the misfortune to come across in his career over in Kentucky. City born and bred, Will felt suffocated with the fresh air that he had to breathe in. Will knew that he landed with the assignment because his boss Dave Hallum was pissed off at him him for the fact that the criminals that he had been chasing on a case had blown up his cabin cruiser. For that alone, he had landed in Kentucky with John Murphy as his partner, who is as laid back as they come. Will who was naturally a quick talking, quick thinking and quick acting kind of guy found himself gritting his teeth with Murphy’s attitude. Will who was 39 years old, has an 18 year old son Kevin, and had been married to Kevin’s mother Debbie who had been killed in car accident two days after their son had turned 3 years old.

Will had been assigned to find out what was happening in the horse racetracks in Kentucky where Senator Paxton who bets on race horses suspected that something fishy was going on when his usual bets had turned up losses recently. Senator Paxton had asked his friend and Hallum’s boss to investigate and in turn the assignment had landed in Will’s hands. Will had found out that in fact, Senator Paxton’s suspicions were true and was laying down a trap to lure in Dan Simpson, the horse trainer of the Wayland farm, one of those suspected in substituting the actual racehorse with others and betting on them to draw in huge amounts of money. A burlap feed bag with 5000 dollars in cash had been placed inside the barn and Will and Murphy were monitoring what was going on when a woman whom neither Will nor Murphy has any clue who she is, finds the bag of cash and leaves with it.

Molly Ballard had quit her job at the Wayland Farm four days ago in a fit of fiery temper when Thorton Wayland, the obnoxious grandson of the stable owner had grabbed her butt. Molly knew that her family could not afford the loss of her job and she was determined that Dan Simpson, her boss would pay her the two week’s pay that he owed her. Knowing Dan and his ego, Molly knew that he might refuse to pay what he owed her. Thus Molly had come in earlier than usual before Dan came in so that she would have no chance of missing him. It is inside the barn that Molly finds the bag of cash and without thinking takes it and goes home.

When Molly realized what she had done, the recriminations of her actions had slowly started to sink in. If she were to go to jail or if someone were to kill her for the money, Molly knows that there would be no one else to look out for her 4 younger siblings. Molly had been a baby when her father had walked out on them. Her mother being a manic depressive had born 4 more kids, each for a different man. Ashely who was 17, Mike 14 and Sam and Susan who were twins were 12 years old. With an unreliable mother, Molly and her siblings had all spent their early childhood in various foster homes until Molly had turned 18. Together with her mother, Molly had brought her siblings home and things had been good for a while until her mother had committed suicide in her newest boyfriend’s apartment. It was Molly who had found her with her slashed wrists and blood everywhere. Molly had never notified the authorities of the fact that her siblings were living with her and thus looked after the 4 of them and she wouldn’t have it any other way even though money was always tight and they barely got by.

When Will shows up on her doorstep, Molly fears that everything in her life is about to come crashing down. Mortified more than anything that she had indeed stolen the money and with Will having videotaped evidence of the fact, she is more than relieved when Will believes her version of what happened. But when the informant that Will and Murphy had been relying upon commits suicide, Will needs to work out another plan to make his case work. Thus Will approaches Molly again, this time offering her the 5000 dollars if she would help him nab those he was after. With Will holding all the cards, Molly knows that she has no choice but to do as Will has asked and she agrees to pose as Will’s girlfriend for the duration of the assignment.

Unwittingly, Will who has always maintained perfect control on his emotions and had never mixed his professional life with his personal one suddenly finds himself yearning to do just that with the delectable Molly. At first, Will had felt sorry for the hand life had dealt Molly and her family, but then the stirrings of attraction and awareness begins unlike any he has ever felt before. Will knows he is too old for a 24 year old woman who looks like a teenager at the best of times. Molly who has never had a lack of male companions and had always had the upper hand with the men she dated finds herself out of her depth with the intense emotions she feels for Will. Molly knows that if she is not careful, she would end up falling for a man who would leave them all when the case was over. Nevertheless, the careful control Will yields on his emotions breaks apart and both Molly and Will decide to give in to what they feel for each other.

When Molly falls in love with Will though she tries so hard to deny it and walk away from it, in the end it is Will who walks away when unknowingly Molly stumbles upon the evidence that supports Will’s case. After a final showdown in which both Will and Molly say things that they regret to each other, Will goes back to Chicago and life continues though the pain Molly feels is unlike anything she has ever known. And then 3 weeks later, on the 15th of November, tragedy strikes when a bunch of violent horse mutilations on various nights throughout October culminate in Susan being kidnapped whilst in bed asleep and it is this turn of events that brings Will running back to Molly. Will has to face the fact that what he feels for Molly and her package deal is the forever kind of emotions before its too late for all of them as the maniac killer who had laid dormant for the past 13 years is back with a vengeance and in a frenzy to kill.

Will is an intense hero who makes me melt all over and Molly and her family bring a heartwarming glow to this wonderful romantic suspense novel. The witty banter between Will and Molly always brought a smile to my face and the intense attraction that simmers between the two is always something to be savored. My favorite scene from the book is when Will loses his legendary control with Molly because he is so infuriated with her and they have sex on top of his car, right before he walks out of Molly’s life. That scene was HOT!

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

amazingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Walking After Midnight by Karen Robards

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Dell
Hero: Steve Calhoun
Heroine: Summer McAfee
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: October 1, 1995
Started On: September 3, 2010
Finished On: September 3, 2010

Walking After Midnight has the features that makes a romantic suspense novel a page turner. With unbeatable romance, a larger than life hero and a heroine who matches him in every way with mean as hell bad guys running after them, this book kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

Summer McAfee is 36 years old, divorced from Dr. Lemuel C.Rosencrans, a urologist who had left her to get married to his 22 year old nurse. Right after high school, rather than go to college as her parents had wanted her to, she had taken the money her parents had set aside for her college and left to make her way as a lingerie model. She had always thought there would be ample enough time left to study afterwards but life happened and before she knew it, younger models were replacing her and she returned home to Murfreesboro, Tennessee in Smoky Mountains. There she had met and married Lem, who had in reality married the model that she had been and not the woman she really was. Lem had tried hard to mold her into what he wanted her to look like and Summer had let him do that for 5 long miserable years during which she had developed bulimia as a result of starving herself to look good enough for her husband. When Lem had left her with no means to support herself, Summer had done the only thing viable and used the only skill that she had developed as a housewife and started cleaning for other people. And thus her baby Daisy Fresh Janitorial Services had been born.

One of Daisy Fresh Janitorial Service’s most important clients was the Harmon Brothers, a chain of funeral homes which required that the place be cleaned up during the night. Though Summer had hired a cleaning crew of two members who had not turned up for the 2nd time that month, in the end it was Summer who had to see the job through for the night. Being alone in a funeral home was making her skin crawl with her imagination going overdrive. With the toilets scrubbed to her satisfaction, Summer is about to leave when she spies the light that is switched on in the embalming room. Knowing that her client required her to switch off all the lights before leaving the premises, Summer makes her way into the room against her better judgment.  When she sees a second uncovered body in the room with bruises all over, and sees the body move, Summer knows that she wouldn’t be able to put the incident out of her mind until she checks whether the body is dead for real. Before she knows how it happened, the bruised and naked body on the table threatens her with a wicked looking scalpel and kidnaps her from the funeral home.

Steve Calhoun had served as a detective with the Tennessee State Police until scandal had ruined him and his career. Right after high school Steve had joined the Marines and later on majored in Law Enforcement. Steve and his buddy Mitch had always been tight and together since childhood. Whilst Mitch was taller, leaner, handsomer and smoother compared to Steve who no one would describe as handsome but has an impressive body with an enigmatic presence, Mitch had been the hell raiser whilst Steve had been the dependable one of the two. When Mitch got into all sorts of trouble, it had been Steve who had born the brunt of rescuing him from whatever mishap Mitch had gotten into. When Mitch and Steve meet Deedee at a local hangout during high school, Steve is immediately drawn to her but it is with Mitch whom Deedee hopelessly falls in love with and gets married to. Even during marriage, Steve had covered for Mitch when he had cheated on Deedee. Steve had met Elaine after he left the Marines and married her who had borne him his daughter Corey. Though Steve had gone through all his life based on the motto Semper fidelis – always faithful, on a night he was drunk, he had succumbed and had sex with the lonely wife of his best buddy. Two weeks into the affair, Steve had started to feel guilt creeping in on him and had broken things off with Deedee who later committed suicide in his office leaving behind a tape which showed steamy interludes between Steve and Deedee and a note on his computer that she was committing suicide because he had broken up with her to go back to Elaine.

Needless to say, Steve had lost his job, his wife had left him and divorced him and requested for sole custody of their daughter. Steve had agreed to it all believing that he deserved it all as the punishment that befit him for what he had done. Steve had nearly lost himself in being a drunk, but the knowledge that his own daughter hated his guts had served as a splash of cold water on his face and he had  been sober ever since. Niggling doubts had arisen with his sobriety about how Deedee had died and following up on the investigation that he had been conducting when life had gone all shitty on him had ended up in him being beaten within an inch of his life and waiting to be embalmed on the table of a funeral home.

Thinking at first Summer to be in cahoots with the thugs who were after him, Steve pretty much makes Summer’s life miserable and forces her to ride along with him whilst he tries to escape the goons who were pretty much after his head. Stealing a van with two dead bodies inside it and riding off into the night with helicopters chasing after them, Summer has no choice but to go along for the ride unless she wanted to be killed. When Summer learns who Steve is and knows deep in her gut that he wouldn’t harm a hair on her head and gets more than fed up of being on the run, being the naive woman she is decides to cut her losses and go home. Though Steve warns her that the goons who were after him would probably know her identity Summer doesn’t listen and in the end they both barely manage to escape with their lives intact with the help of her mother’s dog Muffy.

Thus begins Steve and Summer’s journey for survival through the rough terrain that forms the Smoky Mountains with the whole country on the look out for them for double homicide. Things start getting interesting when despite everything that has happened, both Summer and Steve starts to feel the first stirrings of attraction between them which blazes out of control within no time. Steve who doesn’t want the hassle of a relationship finds himself more occupied with thoughts of Summer and her effect on him than clearing up his name and delving into the heart of the matter that had landed him in this precarious situation. When Summer realizes that she had fallen head over heels in love with her Frankenstein, all bets are off and she doesn’t stop until Steve too admits that what is happening between them is special.

Their plans to clear up their names go awry when the goons in question kidnap Steve’s daughter and ex-wife and hold them hostage. All along, it is the van that Steve and Summer stole in order to make their escape from the funeral home that the goons were after and the final showdown does reveal in the end the story of crooked cops and politicians who were benefiting from drug trading within the country.

Both Steve and Summer are two broken people who finds in one another the will to heal and love again. The dialogues between the two are witty and made me smile all the way through. The adventure was good enough to keep me on the edge and the romance and passion hot enough to curl my toes. Though I didn’t care much for the paranormal aspect in the book, this is an adventure worth sinking into with a few surprises in store to make it all worth towards the end.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Into The Fire by Anne Stuart

Format: E-bookintothefire
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Mira
Hero: Dillon Gaynor
Heroine: Jamie Kincaid
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: August 1, 2003
Started On: August 31, 2010
Finished On: August 31, 2010

My first Anne Stuart certainly didn’t disappoint. I have always wanted to try out one of her books since all her fans rave about the fact that she writes about the most cold heroes ever. Since I am a big fan of cold, aloof and tortured heroes I have been meaning to give her Ice series a try. I did start reading Anne Stuart’s To Love a Dark Lord, a book that seemed to be getting rave reviews but turned out I was bored after the first couple of pages. But this book managed to hook me from the very beginning and I just had to finish it or most probably I would have stayed up all night to do so.

Jamie Kincaid, the adopted daughter of Isobel and Victor Kincaid has always known that when it comes to the affections of her mother whom she loves dearly, she has always come at a weak second place to Nate Kincaid, Isobel’s nephew whom she had taken under her care when Nate’s parents had died a tragic death in a fire when Nate was 10 years old. Everyone had loved the charming feckless Nate with his glorious good looks and easy charm. For Jamie, the arrival of Nate had been a godsend. She had adored Nate and believed that he could do no wrong and had looked up to him like the older brother she would never have.

When Nate befriends Dillon Gaynor, the bad boy from the wrong side of town, no one approves of their wild ways and their relationship. Dillon who had been abandoned by his mother when he was 8 years old to a drunken father had dropped out of high school right before graduation had always had a wild streak in him a mile wide. Getting into fights, getting drunk and high on weed and the women that flocked around him who craved getting into bed with the dangerous looking bad boy he is, Dillon was every innocent girls wildest fantasy. Jamie wasn’t immune to Dillon’s dangerous charm and though she tried to stay away from Dillon, somehow she always ended up craving his attention.

And then one fateful night, on Jamie’s prom night, she gets a taste of what Dillon can offer in his arms right after which she is raped brutally by Paul Jameson, quarterback of the football team and president of the student council. Jamie doesn’t know that Dillon served 18 months of his life in jail for beating Paul up within an inch of his life. Now twelve years later, Nate has been murdered and the police had really done nothing to find out what had happened. With Isobel going deeper into depression everyday, Jamie was finally forced to seek out Dillon, the man she wants to avoid at all costs to get some answers and to get closure for all their sakes.

Dillon lives in a run down part of Wisconsin and Jamie’s first impression that although Dillon had become more handsome and rugged the past couple of years, nothing had really changed. Though Jamie helplessly responds to Dillon on a level that she has found impossible to connect with another man, Jamie doesn’t trust Dillon within an inch of her life. But when she is stranded with her car requiring repairs, her purse containing her identification lost, Jamie has no choice but to reside at the dismal lodgings that Dillon calls home.

Right from the beginning, Jamie feels an evil presence watching and waiting in the derelict building that served to be the deathbed of Nate. Though Dillon wants nothing to do with Jamie with whom he had been obsessed with since forever, and though he believes that he would never be good enough for Jamie, the invisible connection that seems to grow stronger with every minute they spend together finally culminates in Dillon having the best sex of his life. Dillon wanted nothing more than to bed Jamie and send her packing, but the best laid plans always have a way of getting screwed up.

Things start going awry right from the very beginning and though neither Dillon nor Jamie believes in ghosts, it feels as if they are being haunted and hunted by a ghostly presence who nearly manages to kill the one woman who means the world to Dillon. Like all reviewers have mentioned, this book certainly has a dark edge to it that I just loved. I loved the fact that Dillon though reformed somewhat, essentially remained the bad boy he was which made him real appealing as the hero. And Jamie though she does start out as a scared and witless woman, the way she fights for the man she loves won her my wholehearted approval in the end.

Needless to say I loved the book and will definitely be going back for more of Anne Stuart’s fabulous books.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

greatread