Category / Harlequin

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: A SEAL’s Kiss by Tawny Weber

Format: E-bookasealskiss
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Uniformly Hot, #4
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Aiden Masters
Heroine: Sage Taylor
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: March 18, 2014
Started On: March 18, 2014
Finished On: March 18, 2014

A SEAL’s Kiss by Tawny Weber is one of the best Harlequin romances that I have read in a long while. And I believe this to be my very first Tawny Weber as well. I found myself impressed with the way Tawny drew me into the story right from the very beginning, entertaining me with a wit that I found irresistible, a hero that I could have drooled over forever and a heroine that spoke to me at every single level.

Sage Taylor is a free spirit if ever there was one. A single child, Sage has always been confident of her wanderings that it would someday lead her to the contentment and bliss that she has been seeking for her whole life. One by one her friends get hitched and Sage who shivers at the mere thought of tying herself down to one man much less settling down somewhere, finds herself at odds with her matchmaking friend when her friend’s determination to find Sage someone makes her blurt out that she is already engaged, and to none other than her lifelong friend, Chief Petty Officer Aiden Masters.

Aiden is a Navy SEAL to his very core, discipline stamped on every noble piece of his soul. Highly intelligent, Aiden had been Sage’s college professor father’s protege until Aiden’s career choice had meant that he lived long periods of time away from home. A man who seldom finds any logic to emotion, Aiden finds himself continually surprised by just how much Sage has always disturbed him on a level that he would rather not acknowledge. And suddenly with a fake engagement to the woman he has always held at an arm’s length starting to feel more and more real by the minute, Aiden knows that his control being shattered is a foregone conclusion with the fire burning hotter and brighter between him and Sage than he has ever felt it with anyone else.

Two equal opposites finding out that there had always existed between them a fire of the sort that can never ever completely burn out, finds more than they bargained for in a fake engagement that brings forth emotions and feelings all too real that they both cannot just brush aside. Each with their own versions of cold feet and hangups to deal with, Aiden and Sage provides two very well rounded characters that made the story that much more appealing.

I so so loved Aiden. He is broody, a little bit grumpy and a helluva lot sexy that I didn’t know whether to sigh or just start whimpering in agony over the fact that he would never materialize from the book itself and just sweep me off of my feet. Yes, Tawny did a splendid job out of breathing him into life, a character that practically leaped out of the pages and straight into my heart and certain other unmentionable zones of the body too! As you can guess, I just flat-out adored him to pieces.

Sage too turned out to be the exact version of heroines that I tend to love. Giving, courageous and sassy which is a combination that I find hard to resist, Sage was exactly what Aiden needed to snap out of that rigid control of his and take a breather every now and then. Sage might be the one that comes off as flaky with no direction in life, but her courage is an unwavering factor to her character that allows her to take chances that could bring even someone like the big and tough Aiden to his very knees. Without each other, Aiden and Sage makes for two halves that are enticing in their own right, put together they are combustible in every single way that makes them hard to resist.

I loved the sensuality interwoven into the story, not too much but just the right amount, that sizzling sexual vibe between Aiden and Sage kept alive throughout. Though the lack of an epilogue was sorely felt, especially when I loved both Aiden and Sage so much, A SEAL’s Kiss nevertheless turned out to be a beautiful read that put a huge smile on my face. Recommended!

Final Verdict: A little bit of grumpy, a whole lot of hot with just the dash of sweet; Aiden is one sexy SEAL to fall in love with!

Favorite Quotes

Then, before he could push her away or even demand an explanation for the crazy public behavior, she planted that full, usually babbling mouth on his.
And Aiden forgot everything.
His demand for information.
His reasonable argument.
Her tongue slid, hot and tempting, over the seam of his lips.
And he straight-up forgot his own name.

Always willing to give her body what it wanted, she curled her fingers tighter around the back of Aiden’s neck. She slid her tongue along the crease of his lips, tasting.
Testing.
He tasted damned good.
For a second, she thought he was going to just stand there. Stoic and sweet, simply tolerating the move but not rejecting her so as not to hurt her feelings.
Then he gave a low growl.
The sound sent those tingles into high gear. Sage’s heart sped up. His mouth opened over hers.
Hot and swift, his tongue swept in. Took over.

His hand shifted. It only needed to move an inch, and he had her breast beneath his fingers.
God, she felt good.
Full, soft, her nipple beaded and hardened against his palm.
Their kiss exploded.
Hot, wild, it went over the edge, taking Aiden with it.

Still holding her, he carefully, as if she were precious treasure, laid her on the edge of the bed.
His eyes met hers.
She was so damned beautiful.
He slid into her wet heat, her body gripping him so tight he almost cried with the intensity of the pleasure.
This, he realized as he plunged, was home.He’d finally come home.

Aiden exploded.
His body. His mind.
His heart.
Every piece of him blew to bits as he lost himself in her body. He lost track of time. Black edged his vision but he never lost sight of her face. Of those eyes.
He loved her. Dammit.

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

awesomeread

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: The Perfect Match by Kristan Higgins

Format: E-booktheperfectmatch
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Blue Heron, #2
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Thomas Jude Barlow
Heroine: Honor Grace Holland
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: October 29, 2013
Started On: October 28, 2013
Finished On: October 29, 2013

A Kristan Higgins book is like that favorite dogeared pillow that you hug yourself to sleep with, it is just like having that cup of coffee you have been craving for all day long; yes a Kristan Higgins definitely raises your spirits, gives you a ton of stuff to laugh about and also leaves you with that glow of being satisfied from a well spun romance that few authors manage to deliver time and yet again.

The Perfect Match is the second book in the Blue Heron series, the first one which I seemed to have missed out on. Honor Grace Holland is 35 year old, celebrating her birthday with a pap smear when her doctor has “the talk” with her which propels her to take action to save her dying eggs which would definitely mean the end of the road on her dream of having her own family someday. A botched up marriage proposal and a cat fight later, Honor is very much determined to get back on track for she is a woman who gets things done if nothing else.

Thomas Jude Barlow (Tom Barlow) is from Britain, has a wicked and wild accent that drives the ladies crazy and a professor of mechanical engineering. Tom is desperate for a way to stay in the US when a twisted sequence of events brings Honor and him together. A very hot and memorable night of sex together, Honor proposes a way out for him which would tie them both together in a marriage of convenience. Although neither Honor nor Tom believes that they are on the right track, both of them agree to a relationship that seems more difficult to make into a reality than it should have been.

Honor has her reservations about letting her heart get away from her a second time round. Having her heart crushed by the man whom she had loved and yearned for for the past 17 years is a bit too much and Honor knows deep down where it matters that Tom with his wicked smile, those deep gray eyes and panty melting accent of his not to mention the smokin’ hot body which makes her melt practically anywhere is hazardous to her heart. And of course there is the way that Tom doggedly keeps trying to win the affections of the one person who turns him away time and yet again, the reason he is marrying Honor for which practically makes falling for him that much easier.

Tom reserves a huge part of himself from the world, has a part of his heart sealed off which would never see the light of day if he has anything to say about it. Though Honor tugs at certain places in the left region of his chest which seems to have been left hollow for far too long, Tom knows that he has nothing in reality to offer to a woman like Honor who deserves so much more than a jail sentence for helping him out in time of his need. But every kiss they exchange tends to break down a little bit of the walls that Tom has built around his heart, Honor’s honest, and giving nature crumbles his resistance away until Tom has no choice left but to run away from himself when it all gets to be too much.

The Perfect Match was right about just perfect in every way. I loved the fact that this was told in third person and included both Honor and Tom’s points of view, something you usually miss out on when you read a Kristan Higgins because she mostly tends to write in the first person, mainly from the heroines point of view. I loved Honor’s larger than life family, each and every character in the story lending a rich vividness to the story that kept me turning the pages. It wasn’t just Honor and Tom’s story that kept me glued to my e-reader every spare minute I could find, but rather the whole brood that comes together that created a magic that totally washed over me and kept me enthralled till I turned the very last page.

Honor is one of the most swell heroines. You have to read the book to understand what I mean. Best way to describe her is to say that she is the one that keeps everything firmly glued together in her family and the whole story, the one who continues to give in that gentle way of hers, a woman who stands up that much quicker than she falls down; because life certainly does punch her in the face a time or two, hard enough to really knock her flat on her face. Enter Tom who is all kinds of sexy and appealing that half of his students tends to be women who just wants a piece of him, a man with whom she clicks right from the very start turning the sensible Honor into a woman of sensual cravings that is so unlike her.

I loved the fact that Kristan included more romance in this novel than any other novel I’ve read from her to-date. In most of her stories, the heroes and heroines tend to spend a lot of time apart before they do come together eventually. But The Perfect Match I think struck just the right balance and gave just enough amount of steam and romance to keep me all warm, happy and aglow with the wonderfulness of it all.

Along with the laughter, Kristan certainly knows how to deliver the gut wrenching emotional aspect that practically gobsmacked me with all those tears my eyes refused to shed and the throat tightening which went on for quite a while. Wait, I think I’m still suffering from some of that. Sigh, which practically means that I had one hell of a time reading The Perfect Match and so would you. So just find yourself a copy and take a peek. If nothing else you’d get a couple of unforgettable laughs and a happy jiggle in parts of your body better left unsaid here, just from the sheer experience that is Tom Barlow.

Definitely recommended!

Final Verdict: Laugh out loud funny, sexy and full of heart. Kristan Higgins is an incomparable force in the genre.

Favorite Quotes

She didn’t realize she’d launched herself at him until she was kissing him, and hell, it’d been what, almost two minutes, possibly more, since he’d last kissed her, and she missed it. He landed on his back with an ooph, but she didn’t really care.
“Hallo, what have we here?” he murmured, and she kissed him again, sliding her tongue against his, dying to kiss him, taste him, feel him.

She tugged his shirt from his waistband and slid her hands up his back, feeling thick muscle and hot skin, and pulled his shirt over his head. Something metal brushed against her—a medallion, dangling from a silver chain around his neck.
He pulled back a bit, looking down at her. His own breath was ragged, and though his face had been gentle earlier, he now looked somewhat…fearsome. Down Under clenched at the word.

He tossed down the scrunchy and kissed her. Hard. “You fucking terrified me,” he muttered, and kissed her again, this time more gently.
She was alive. She was safe. She was wet and naked and warm.
Then, before he took her right here in the shower, he left, streaming water, sopping wet.
Because the last thing he wanted was to feel all this.

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

fantasticread

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Driving Her Wild by Meg Maguire

Format: E-bookdrivingherwild
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Wilinski’s, #3
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Patrick Doherty
Heroine: Steph Healy
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: October 22, 2013
Started On: October 21, 2013
Finished On: October 22, 2013

She punched the button for the lobby.
And when the door slid open again, there he was.
The exactly wrong sort of man, with that smile that made her feel so damn right.

Meg Maguire is an author who writes the not so your usual variety of romances for tropes that you might have read a time or two. In Driving Her Wild, retired cage fighter Steph Haley makes her way to the Wilinski’s Fight Academy, taking those first steps towards a future that she has already mapped out for herself. It certainly doesn’t include the blue-eyed Patrick Doherty kissing her senseless and making mincemeat out of her well laid plans towards a financially secure future with a sophisticated man who would make her feel like a lady rather than just a casual tumble between the sheets to scratch an itch.

Patrick is good with his hands when it comes to carpentry but not so much when it comes to doing electrical jobs which is what he does to keep his head above water in these economically uncertain times. And when Patrick comes across the sexy Steph with that glint in her eyes from all the bodily harm that comes her way due to Patrick’s clumsiness whenever she’s around, Patrick knows that he has found that essential ingredient that has been missing from his life for over more than a year.

Steph is driven and knows what she wants and denies to herself her need for Patrick’s overly capable hands roaming all over her body, inciting pleasure of the likes she’s never had, all  because she believes in her head that Patrick doesn’t fit the mould that she has clearly made out for what her perfect partner would be like when she nails him. But every man she comes across in her perfectly well ordered dating life doesn’t come close to giving her the zing and the connection that springs forth between the two of them. And without Steph somehow being aware of it, Patrick worms his way into her heart and shows her that sometimes what seems like the the worst fit for you just might end up being the one.

To be honest, I actually didn’t know what to make of Steph’s character. Yes, she is strong, physically and emotionally and knows what she wants. Patrick on the other hand seemed mellow when compared to Steph and perhaps that’s what makes them tick together. However, Patrick has no qualms about being a bit bossy as required in the bedroom which is what Steph seemed to want out of that aspect of their relationship.

Patrick might be what you call a beta hero in the sense he doesn’t go macho all over the place, but rather it is his sweetness and open honesty that wins him the bonus points, not to mention his good looks that earns him a second glance from women. Patrick is open about his feelings as they come, there is not even an ounce of pretense and the fact that he doesn’t resort to the games that people play when they do not know how to navigate the treacherous waters of what we call the beginnings of a relationship. But what Patrick wants, he too goes after, perhaps not with as much tenacity as Steph does, but nevertheless as effective or more so when it comes to winning the affections of the woman who makes him feel alive after so very long.

Steph’s misgivings about Patrick and the lack of security that their joint lives would have stems from her childhood, but somehow there seemed to be another factor which involved a cousin who made her feel insecure throughout her adolescence years. Though that in essence provided the pivotal turn in the relationship between Patrick and Stephy, somehow I failed to see how that contributed to making the story any richer or how it made the developing feelings between the two any more real than it was prior to that. Not a bad read but certain bits and pieces in the story just didn’t work for me while the rest worked very well.

Recommended for fans of Meg Maguire and fans of the series.

Final Verdict: With a bite of sexy, Meg Maguire delivers a beta hero that you’d adore!

Purchase Links: Amazon | BookDepo | B&N | Kobo | Harlequin

favorableread

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: What The Bride Didn’t Know by Kelly Hunter

Format: E-bookwhatthebridedidntknow
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The West Family
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Adrian Sinclair
Heroine: Lena Aurelia West
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: October 22, 2013
Started On: October 19, 2013
Finished On: October 21, 2013

What the Bride Didn’t Know by Kelly Hunter is a novel from the Harlequin’s KISS line, novels that are fraught with sexual tension of the sizzling kind that melts you on the inside. Thankfully, this one didn’t just create the sexual tension, but delivered on it to appease readers like myself just enough so that we would finish the book with a smile on our face rather than a frown which would have been the case otherwise.

Adrian Sinclair or Trig as he is known as is Lena’s next door neighbor and they have a history that spans both their childhoods and beyond. Though Trig has always had a thing for Lena, and that is to put it mildly; the one thing that has held him back is the fear that Lena might not want the same thing when it comes to him. Of course there is also the fact that Trig is best friends with Lena’s older brother Jared which means that there is the darned bro code to adhere to as well.

Fast forward their relationship to a couple of years down the line and the dynamics of the relationship between Trig and Lena seems to have shifted, Lena having been injured while on a mission and Trig taking on the task of sticking to Lena’s side no matter what. It is Lena’s sheer dogged determination to search for her brother that finds both Lena and Trig in Istanbul facing a situation that neither Trig nor Lena ever thought they would find themselves in.

When a series of events ends up in Lena suffering from temporary memory loss that renders her to believe that she is married to Trig, well lets say all hell breaks loose between these two as both Trig and Lena tries to do things right by what they believe, Lena hellbent on seducing her seemingly reluctant husband and Trig trying his darnedest not to take advantage of the fraught situation they both have landed in.

What the Bride Didn’t Know has a lot of elements that made it the swell read it turned out to be. There is that undeniable thread of humor interwoven into the fabric of the story that made the book hard to put down. I kept smiling through even what you would call the most serious situations in the book because Kelly demanded no less with characters like Trig and Lena who have both got that sarcastic humor thing down to a pat.

Trig is an adorable hero, and I am certain Trig would skin anyone who dares say that out aloud. He is the larger than life variety of hero whose gentleness might be found at odds with his size, but that is what in effect makes Trig such an endearing hero. His love for Lena is as unwavering in strength and as immovable as he is in his determination to stick to Lena even when the going gets tough. And that in essence proved to me even without the whole story seeing its way through, the sheer beauty of Trig’s love for the woman whom his heart had claimed as his a long, long time back.

Lena’s character prior to her amnesia wasn’t one I liked overly much. She was prickly, overly sensitive, and I could understand her reasons for it because she had always been someone who could keep up with Trig and her brother no matter the circumstances. While I am leery of most books that resort to using the amnesia plot to bring the hero and heroine together, I found that this one had a fresh twist to it in the sense that Trig doesn’t try to use the lack of memories on Lena’s part to show her just how good they can be together. In fact, Trig goes out of his way to not get into any situations that would in the end slap him on his face once Lena gets back her memory and that to me showed that Trig was an honorable man, a man who would wait out an eternity if it means convincing the love of his life to share their tomorrows might not prove to be a piece of cake once she is in a sound frame of mind.

I especially loved the honest conversations that to took place between Lena and Trig, especially Lena who might never have resorted to opening herself up to that extent where Trig or anyone else is concerned. I believe that the lapse in her memories truly gave her the opportunity to face her fears and insecurities and really heal from the emotional scars left behind by the physical injuries her body had suffered and gave Trig a fighting chance in proving to her that when it comes to Lena he would always be there for her, no questions asked.

The bit that cinched the deal for me? The epilogue that made everything come together. Because everyone knows I am a sucker for a good epilogue!

Recommended for those who love sizzling sexual tension, an adorable and sexy hero and a gutsy heroine who makes you smile all throughout.

Final Verdict: Loved the snazzy humor and the sizzle! No wonder Trig and Lena makes for such a fantastic duo.

Favorite Quotes

Trig smiled at that and she reached forward and covered his hand with her own. ‘Don’t give up on me.’
‘Never.’
This was why she’d married this man.
‘I feel as if I’m in a place where I don’t have to run to keep up any more,’ she confessed. ‘I can’t run any more. Best I can do is hold my ground and stumble along, and you know what? You’re still there for me, and my family is still there, because it was never about me keeping up. It was about me believing that I belonged and I do believe that now. I’m happy now. I married you, which I have to say is probably the smartest thing I’ve ever done.’

‘You love this room,’ he said with a crooked smile as she rose from the table, caught hold of his hand and tugged him towards the pianola.‘I really do. It’s a little bit beautiful, a whole lot fascinating, and kind of cracked when you look up close. I’m hoping it might be the way you see me. Because, newfound sense of belonging or not, I’m still trying to figure out what you see in me.’

He had a thing about her hair, winding his hands in it as he grasped her head and deepened the kiss. He had a thing for wrapping his arms around her, one hand between her shoulder blades and the other palming her buttocks. He had a thing about kisses, deep and dirty.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Meant to be Married by Ruth Wind

Format: E-bookmeanttobemarried
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Men of the Land
Publisher: Harlequin Treasury
Hero: Elias de Jesus Salimento Santiago
Heroine: Sarah Greenwood
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: July 15, 2011
Started On: October 18, 2013
Finished On: October 18, 2013

‘Absence is to love what air is to fire. If it is small, it soon goes out. If it is great, it burns stronger.’

Ruth Wind is an author who has an amazing way with words. It is evident in the style of writing that she uses to bring her stories alive with the different nuances and colors that makes her books the vibrantly haunting reads that they are.

Meant to be Married is the story of the love affair between Elias Santiago and Sarah Greenwood, a love that had blossomed from friendship between two people whose families have been warring for decades. Their love had been an all consuming one that had left them with no room but to give it their all. But then Sarah’s father wouldn’t have his only child marrying one of the enemy and that is how these two find themselves torn apart from each other until 12 years later Sarah returns home which once again stirs up things between them.

Elias is a proud man, his pride evident in the way he holds his head high, has made a name for himself and proved himself a successful man capable of a lot more than people would have given him credit for. And when Sarah strolls back into town, the well ordered life that Elias had been living for a long while now comes crashing down at his feet, awakening all those emotions that had made him the adolescent who had been drunk on the love that had pretty much devoured them both.

Elias might want to enact his revenge on the man who had almost ruined his life 12 years back by using Sarah as the tool to achieve that, but that is not exactly how things turn out when both Sarah and Elias realize that for both of them, the other had been what had in actuality made their lives complete. But for them to have even the slightest chance at happiness, Sarah would have to stop running from her past and Elias would have to let go of his pride in order to go through that final stage of acceptance and love that would lead them through the rest of their lives.

While I loved Elias as a hero, I found that even towards the end he was a bit too stiff and unrelenting for me to really believe that Sarah and the love he has for her had won over the fire of hatred that has burned through him for far too long. Sarah had a way of running from everything that made things overwhelming for her and not without reason too, but at least she tried to do what no one else has had the courage to do; to heal the rift between the two families by finding out the actual truth about what had happened a long, long time ago.

All in all, I wouldn’t say that this is a bad read but rather a story that failed have that wow factor because I couldn’t really believe that in the end Elias would accept the truth and move on based on the history of the enmity between the families. Perhaps an epilogue would have done wonders to convince readers like myself who remains a wee bit skeptical even after the happily ever after.

Recommended for fans of Harlequin romances and fans of Ruth Wind.

Final Verdict: Ruth Wind is an author who takes you deep into the heart of any book she writes.

Favorite Quotes

It was Eli who stood there, his hair dripping, his face wet. The white cotton shirt stuck to his chest and arms, transparent against his dark skin, and his eyes burned as he stared at her.
A bolt of pure, undiluted hunger filled her, rushing through every cell, making her body ache. She might even have made a little sound, part fear, part need.
Without a word, he came in, put his cold hands on her face and kissed her.

“His clothes were wet, but they warmed as he pressed into her, warmed with the heat of his flesh and the heat of her own, and Sarah arched into him, put her arms around him, pulled him closer overwhelmed at her need to absorb the taste of Elias, remembered and not remembered, darker than it had been, seasoned with years and lost dreams and a thousand moments of yearning.

She held him fiercely as he met his release, and clasped his head between her hands and whispered his name, over and over.
Elias. Elias. Elias.
And then she was set free, her soul tangling with his, as she soared into the completeness that she had found only with him. She held him as tightly as she could, her arms and her legs wrapping him close, wanting to somehow make him part of her, so he could never be torn from her again.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Harlequin

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by mvbookreviewer

Requested ARC Review: Snowbound With The Soldier by Jennifer Faye

Format: E-booksnowboundwiththesoldier
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Mills & Boon
Hero: Jason Smith
Heroine: Kara Jameson
Sensuality: 2
Date of Publication: October 1, 2013
Started On: September 29, 2013
Finished On: October 5, 2013

Jason Smith returns to his hometown of Pleasant Valley as a scarred man, willing to do whatever it takes to put his family legacy that happens to be the Greene Summit Resort to rights. What he doesn’t count on is to find out that Kara Jameson, the woman he had broken off their engagement with seven years back happens to be none other than the go-to person when it comes to handling things at the resort. And on top of that, the ferocious sexual attraction that had been between them that comes zinging back to life not to be denied is not something he contended on dealing with.

Kara still hasn’t forgotten the way Jason had walked away without a second glance. The way he had broken her heart which had eventually led to the conception of her beautiful daughter Samantha and the hard years that had followed plus the sacrifices that she had made along the way. Its not easy for Kara to trust Jason once more and to put her heart and that of her daughter Samantha’s on the line while the past still continues to haunt both of them over the way things had ended.

While Snowbound with the Solder started out on an upbeat note, I found that the story waned a bit towards the middle and managed to lose its wow factor towards the end. At the beginning the sizzling tension between Jason and Kara was alive, something that I felt every time I turned the pages. But towards the middle the story lost its focus on that aspect and moved towards the familial bit where Jason wins over the heart of the adorable Samantha and in the process manages to rekindle the love that had never been totally lost when it had come to Kara and him.

The secret that Jason holds close to his heart, the bitterness of it all which had led him to break off his engagement and enlist in the military was one that touched me. I don’t know what I would have done under the circumstances but I felt my heart go out to him on the burden that Jason had carried on his shoulders all throughout the years, obliterating whatever happy memories that he had had of his childhood. It takes a lot for Jason to forgive and move on and that was one aspect of the story that I liked.

I wanted to see more of Kara and Jason in terms of their emotional intimacy being built up enough for Kara to trust him once again. Jason does go for the grand gesture towards the end but somehow I felt that there was something missing when it comes to the couple in question. I also would have dearly loved to see the dreams Jason had for his resort materialize but the story ended right before any of that could happen.

All in all I would say not a bad read but this story could have turned out into a wonderful one if closure had come to all facets of the story that unfolded.

Final Verdict: A scarred ex-military hero who returns to his hometown to find that when it comes to love, sometimes people do get second chances.

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

averageread

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Whose Bed Is It Anyway? by Natalie Anderson

Format: E-bookwhosebadisitanyway
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Men of Manhattan, #1
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: James Wolfe
Heroine: Caitlin Moore
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: October 1, 2013
Started On: September 16, 2013
Finished On: September 26, 2013

Whose Bed Is It Anyway? by Natalie Anderson tells the story of medic and rescue man James Wolfe who comes from a rich family, who works in disaster-ravaged countries, a man paying his penance for his past. The demons that haunt him are many and James refuses to stand still or rather stay in one place for far too long unless of course he is working. Work is his salvation, the only time when he feels at ease with himself. Considered a hero by many, James nevertheless shies away from the limelight, the hero status something he feels he is unworthy of.

Caitlin Moore is running from the present; the spectacle that her life had become in the past couple of weeks. When a friend offers her a place to crash, Caitlin doesn’t hesitate to take him up on his offer to seek refuge in the welcoming blanket of anonymity she’d find out of her home country. What Caitlin doesn’t bargain on is ending up sharing a room and a bed with the most devastatingly sexy man to ever stride into her life.

With an attraction that won’t quit, and with James confined to his home for the duration upon which his supervisor forces him to take a couple of days off, both James and Caitlin decide to do the sensible thing and indulge in a little holiday fling that would give them both a whole lot of fun with no expectations on either side. But the kind of searing hot attraction that James and Caitlin shares does come with a price; the price of emotional entanglements that neither factors into the equation of their holiday affair.

I loved Whose Bed Is It Anyway? from its pretty cover to the couple in the story and the very tantalizing and toe-curling variety of scorching passion in this story. Most of all I loved the hero James, his grumpy and albeit sexy as sin persona which made me salivate a bit and then some over him. His utter focus and intensity is off the charts and adds that extra layer to his character which made James a hero to covet. I loved the fact that though his only aim was to have a holiday affair, the way he is taken unawares with just how much Caitlin comes to mean to him sends him on a tailspin which served to be one of the best bits about the story. And the passion, oh dear lord the passion between Caitlin and James was so well done that I couldn’t have asked for more!

Caitlin turned out to be a beautiful character, on the inside as well as the out. With an inner core of vulnerability from growing up with a family that had been too engrossed in performing their different roles in pursuit of an acting career, Caitlin has lived a life not of the kind that she wants for herself, but one that had been required of her from her father. Scars of the emotional variety lingers in Caitlin’s heart, her wounds never having completely healed over needing an outlet due to the latest fiasco in her life. In James’s arms Caitlin finds that she is safe, treasured and wanted all at the same time, a heady combination for a woman who has never been wanted for herself in her entire life.

I loved the ending of this story which brought a smile to my face and delight to my heart. There is a playfulness to the story, the witty banter and the smouldering passion between James and Caitlin just topnotch and the right amount in my opinion.

Recommended for fans of Harlequin romances and fans of Natalie Anderson. I am definitely going to be sampling more of Natalie’s work in the time to come. And the good news? There are two more books lined up in this series if I am not mistaken. Hoping for just as delicious stories for the other two brothers as this one!

Final Verdict: Snazzy fun, heat, laughter and love. You gotta love the smouldering goodness to this story!

Favorite Quotes

Given her gasp, her mouth was already parted. So was his. Hot, hungry, he lashed out with his tongue, claiming her with no hesitation.

It was all kiss. And not gentle. Not tender. Just raw, rampant hunger.

His fingers began to trail back up her leg, this time sliding under the tee. As he encountered the bare skin of her buttocks he groaned, his body flexing in automatic response—a powerful, passionate thrust that made her gasp even as he plundered her mouth with his tongue. For a long moment they lay locked—straining together, his tongue thrust deep, his blind cock seeking to drive deeper still, while she bore down on him, open and wet and willing.

She fell back on the bed. He fell with her, his lips connecting with hers. She closed her eyes as she sa- voured the glorious weight of him. His tongue stroked deeper this time, seeking knowledge. She let him find it—opening up to let him explore completely. She lifted her hands, exploring the breadth of his back, feeling the strength of his lean muscles. Oh, yeah, the guy was fit. Taut. Hot.

Slowly she looked from his face, to his shoulders and then down to where muscles tapered to slim hips and the trousers slung low. The front of his combats was taut. His hands went to his waistband, undoing the button with a teasingly slow hand. Caitlin tensed. He was getting to the good bit. He unfastened the next button, then rolled down the waistband—ex- posing skin.
Oh my.
Caitlin was entranced.

‘Show me how much,’ she asked. ‘Show me.’
This time he didn’t stop. This time his breathing roughened along with his movements. This time he swore pithy and crude as he told her again how good she felt. How he couldn’t stop. How he wanted more. And he took more. Pushed for her absolute acceptance of him. Driving into her over and over and over.

‘I want you,’ she said.
James swore, grabbing her wrist and striding out of the elevator the second the doors slid open. He un- locked the condo as quickly as he could, pulling her inside and slamming the door. He hauled her close and kissed her like the sex-starved animal he was. Furious satisfaction roared through him as she slid her arms around him and clung, opening instantly for him.

Purchase Links: Amazon | BookDepo | B&N | Harlequin | Kobo

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Cake by Lauren Dane

Format: E-bookcake
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Gregori Ivanov
Heroine: Wren Davis
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: September 15, 2013
Started On: September 5, 2013
Finished On: September 5, 2013

Gregori Ivanov is an artist whose bad boy image keeps at bay and hides his true nature from the clamoring fans who always seems to want one thing or the other from him. His marriage and the divorce that had followed suite, together with the destructive relationship he tends to have with his ex-wife seems to have driven up the walls that protect his heart and emotions with iron bars.

Wren Davis is an art student, working as a part-time messenger to pay the bills which brings her to the home of the ultra gorgeous Gregori who makes her want and crave for him in a way she has never craved anyone ever before. The friendship and the flirty relationship that has been going on between Gregori and Wren for the past year or so reaches its breaking point and tumbles over when Gregori is driven to take a bite of the woman who has been driving him slowly crazy for the past couple of months. Wren is determined that she would make Gregori give in to the heat and obvious connection that is way more than just physical between them. And Gregori finds out the hard and delicious way that he is indeed no match for a determined Wren from getting all that she wants.

Cake though a short read proved to be an explosively good one. There is of course the hero Gregori who made me practically salivate with that bad boy charm of his and that predatory soul that comes to life within him when Wren is in the picture. Gregori might want to resist Wren with everything that he is for all the wrong reasons and that is exactly what gives this story the edge it required.

Wren was a lovely heroine. I loved her for her independence and her resilience when it came Gregori which made her put her foot down and work for the man she had fallen for. While the sex was of the scorching hot and panty melting variety, it is the connection between them outside of the bedroom that made my heart melt and made me root for them big time!

With just the right amount of body tingling variety of scorching hot sex and a hero who slips to  muttering in Russian in the throes of passion, I couldn’t have found a better way to spend the one hour it took to devour this scorching goodie! Highly recommended!

Final Verdict: Sizzling chemistry and a Russian hero = Win!

Favorite Quotes

He tasted like…well like everything she’d imagined he’d taste like. The spice of the Turkish tobacco in the French cigarettes he smoked. A little bit of vodka. Some cinnamon, probably from the gum he’d been chewing. And something else she couldn’t define but was all his anyway.
Heat raced through her veins. She nipped his bottom lip and he groaned again. She laved the sting with her tongue and tasted the kiss, the need between them and it was her turn to groan.

She climbed into his lap and he drew a shaky breath.
“I felt just how much you wanted me then.” She rolled her hips, grinding herself against his cock. “I feel it now. Question is, Gregori, do you enjoy me as much as you enjoy cake? And how can you know unless you take a taste?”
She brushed her lips over his mouth and his eyes snapped open. “Indeed.”
His muscles, which had been tense, loosened and then he pounced. He wrapped his arms around her, hauled her closer and kissed her.

She grabbed his waist, working his pants open. He swore when she took him in her hand, fisting, sliding up and a down a few times.
He muttered in Russian, drawing aside the straps from her camisole and bra, kissing the bare skin he left behind.
More muttering in Russian. Hearing it made her so hot.
“What? What are you saying? You’re giving me a complex.”
He snorted, tipping his head to look into her face. “I can’t get at all of you adequately here.”

“He’d better not fuck and dash.” Zoe sniffed as she cracked her beer open.
“He’s not what he tries to portray to the outside world. He’s a nice guy. Yes, he’s bossy and imperious and totally spoiled. But there’s more to Gregori than what you see at first glance.”
“Speaking of that. So… equipment wise you’d say? Standard? Deluxe? Premium?”
“Presidential suite.”

He drove her up fast. Relentless and when she came it was hard, rushing up from her toes to the top of her head as she clamped down around him. She heard the growl, a snarl of a sound as he followed, the hand at her hip tightening just shy of pain.

He watched the ghost of their reflection in the window, the way her lip caught between her teeth. Wanton. Even as he had her, he wanted more. He knew even as he came that he’d want her again within minutes.
She tightened herself around him and he growled. “Don’t think I didn’t miss this.” “You’d better have.”
She pushed back hard and fast, tightening up again and it was too much, he tumbled down, coming, his head back on a snarl of her name.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N 

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Her Favorite Rival by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-bookherfavoriterival
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Mathews Sisters
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Zachary Black
Heroine: Audrey Mathews
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 3, 2013
Started On: August 31, 2013
Finished On: August 31, 2013

Her Favorite Rival by Sarah Mayberry, though not up to par with the most recent releases from her still managed to be a romance that captivated me from start to finish. Some books require an effort to trudge through them, page after page, because its just difficult to give up when you have invested so much of your time in reading that book. But Mayberry’s books stand apart from this crowd as her books always manages to provide all those elements that makes a romance work on so many levels.

Her Favorite Rival is the story of work rivals Audrey Mathews and Zachary (Zach) Black. Audrey is the one who has made her way through the different levels through sheer grit and determination with a whole lot of experience at her back to support her. But Zach who joined just six months back seems to have what she doesn’t; the weight of college earned degrees that speaks volumes. Audrey knows that Zach is the only contender that she should be worried about regarding the upcoming promotion and she is ready to pull all stops into impressing the new management when an assignment pushes both Audrey and Zach together which forms the basis of their relationship.

Mayberry does quite an impressive job of bringing to the readers the pressures of trying to perform in an organization which really drives a hard bargain with its employees. Audrey and Zach are both ambitious and career-driven people, both for different reasons, but similar in the aspect that it is the demons of the past that drives them and has scarred them on levels that they are not even prepared to acknowledge when the relationship between them fosters into being.

Audrey makes the huge mistake of judging Zach based on his good looks and the charm he exudes, but she couldn’t have been more wrong even if she had tried. Mayberry brings to the table the “other side” of what its like to grow up with a drug addict as a parent, the pain of seeing the one person you love continue to go back and feed an addiction that never seems to cease. The shame that clings onto a person for not being able to stop loving that person no matter how destructive a force the person’s continued addiction becomes. Not an easy subject, but I think Mayberry did a splendid job in that aspect of the story.

Her Favorite Rival seemed to begin with a bang and waned a little towards the middle and then picked up again towards the latter part of the book. Even then, a Mayberry book is always worth the investment in time and money and if you love contemporary romances with deeper and in depth stories, this one’s definitely recommended!

Final Verdict: Mayberry delivers a great romance amidst the grit and realities that is life.

Favorite Quotes

“I tell you who won’t be going, though—Zach. Fifty bucks he gets a promotion out of all of this.”
Audrey reached for the fries. “He’s not that good.”
“Sorry, sweetie, but he is. He’s smart, he’s good at what he does and he could charm a snake out of its skin.”
Audrey rolled her eyes. “You’re only saying that because you have a soft spot for him.”
“Yeah, it’s called a vagina.”

He was already hard, his arousal a hot pressure against her belly. The ache between her thighs demanded that she rub against him, that she slide a hand around his waist and grip his backside and haul him closer still.
He muttered something urgent against her mouth, then his hands were on her breasts, cupping and squeezing them through the thin cotton of her shirt. She gave a small, inar- ticulate moan when his thumb grazed her nipple, and when he caught it between thumb and forefinger and squeezed she almost dissolved on the spot.

He was reaching for her before she could process his words. One second she stood on the doorstep of his house, the next she was inside, her back against the wall, his mouth and body against hers. He tasted of heat, his tongue stroking hers with demanding greed, his body large and powerful as it pressed into hers. Her hands found his bare shoulders, closing over warm, hard muscle, even as his thigh slid between hers, forcing the heart of her into intimate contact with his leg.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Harlequin | iBooks

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: The Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Favorite Quotes

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

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

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

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Harlequin | Kobo | Diesel

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