Category / Harlequin

by mvbookreviewer

Requested ARC Review: The Return of the Rebel by Jennifer Faye

Format: E-bookthereturnoftherebel
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Jax Monroe
Heroine: Cleo Sinclair
Sensuality: 2.9
Date of Publication: July 1, 2014
Started On: June 30, 2014
Finished On: July 1, 2014

Cleo Sinclair is in for the surprise of her lifetime when her newly promoted position brings her face to face with her one time childhood crush Jax Monroe. Any hope that Cleo would be immune to the man Jax had become is crushed from the minute his very presence sets her senses on high alert, even when on Jax’s part the feelings do not seem to be reciprocated.

Jax might want to be indifferent where Cleo is concerned but the childhood memories of both of them together had always stayed with him. Having always been off limits, Jax’s mind would like to continue thinking along the same lines where Cloe is concerned but her beauty and kindness even back then doesn’t make things any easier.

A little bit of danger and mayhem sets the ball rolling and sets the course for the journey of discovery that both Cleo and Jax take towards finding the love of their lives in each other. Low on sensuality, The Return of the Rebel is recommended for those readers who likes “clean” romances with a dollop of an ex-bad boy hero!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Book Depo | B&N | Kobo | HQ

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Housebound by Anne Stuart

Format: E-bookhousebound
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Noah Grant
Heroine: Anne Kirklan
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: 1985
Started On: May 19, 2014
Finished On: May 19, 2014

Housebound by Anne Stuart is one of her earlier novels, first published in the 1980’s. I must’ve been toddler then. The magic about romances that are well written is that they stand the test of time; no amount of development that comes about or technology advances that change the world can diminish the glow that is left behind in the wake of a romance that touches you deep inside.

Housebound starts in off in an ordinary enough manner. Nothing in particular stands out at first. 34 year old Anne Kirkland is the heroine that pours her heart and soul into her home, co-owned with her two siblings, older brother Ashley and younger sister Holly and their father. Though none of the members of her family are enthusiastic about the big heap of a building that practically swallows money as a whole with the humongous amounts needed for its repair and upkeep, Anne remains stoic in her belief that she would be able to save her beloved home, somehow.

When 32 year old Noah Grant comes visiting, as Holly’s companion for the weekend, Anne doesn’t expect everything Holly has said about him to be true. The dreamiest and sexist man alive that Anne has set eyes on, the instant connection that springs forth between them makes it doubly harder for Anne to remember that she is an engaged woman who should not swoon in the face of a beautiful man, but oh what a beautiful man he was to her senses, in more ways than one.

Noah has his own agenda for coming to Anne’s home, and though it makes him feel a trifle bit guilty at first, Noah is willing to do this one last favor for his father in law to exorcise the ghosts of his past. His helpless attraction towards Anne certainly doesn’t help matters along and though Noah continues to lie to himself and anyone else who asks him about his feelings towards Anne, there is no hiding from the fact that she affects him every bit as much as she’s reluctantly affected by him.

Reasons that I fell in love with the story are many. First and foremost, I think this is the most laid back hero by Anne Stuart that I’ve had the fortune of reading. Though Noah hides a secret that could break Anne’s very spirit, he is not hard edged and ruthless like the usual heroes that Anne Stuart pens, all of whom I adore. He even had me thinking to myself that this story would probably not work for me. But then, I should’ve trusted Anne Stuart a bit more that she would never lead her readers on a path that would not be fulfilling.

Though Noah is not the ruthless kind, he is every bit alpha as the Anne Stuart heroes that I have fallen countless times in love with. Noah’s troubles come from a past that he can’t or rather won’t escape from, the need to keep the memory of his wife alive, lest he forget how he failed her. And though Noah is truthful enough with himself that Anne is the first woman to have affected him as such since his wife, Noah remains stubborn in his is attempt to prevent any sort of commitment on his part from happening.

Now Anne, she practically made the story for me. She is so strong, feisty and knows when to give in. In other words Anne knows which battles to pick and fight in her life. Growing up as the middle child whose siblings had all turned out to be prodigies in their selected fields, Anne has a hard time accepting the fact that she is talented in everything that she has set her mind to undertake. Her attachment to her home stems from a deep emotional craving to love something that’d never disappoint her, and when that is taken away from her, well, let’s just say the emotional roller coaster reaches its peak by then.

Housebound is a novel where groveling is done to a fine art by the hero. Realizing his mistake had come when shit had practically hit the roof and I loved Anne for being strong enough to just up and leave when everyone that she’d trusted to do right by her had failed her miserably. Anne Stuart’s acerbic humor always makes any novel of hers a treasure to read. One cannot dwell on sad emotions for long; she has those no nonsense characters embedded into her stories that always gives the hero or heroine that well deserved nudge or if that fails, a slap in the right direction.

Well rounded secondary characters give the story a wholesome edge to it. Ashley turned out to be the most intriguing secondary character in the story. His projected indifference to everything that goes around him hides a far too astute mind that sees altogether too much. Too bad we’d never know what his story is about because I don’t think Anne Stuart has the intention of ever writing a gay romance and as fascinated as I am by his character, I don’t think even he’d move me enough to read one if ever written. But then again, perhaps I am underestimating the effect Anne Stuart novels have on me.

One more aspect of the story that made me treasure it all that more is the fact that the ending of the story really does see Anne and Noah through. Readers deserved that after going through such an emotional upheaval and healing period together with them. Well, readers deserve that in a lot of Anne Stuart novels but then her fans are almost used to the fact that she tends to end her novels a tad abruptly. So it was more than nice to say the least that the way Housebound ended put a warm glow deep in my heart. Now who wouldn’t glow when a story ends like this:

A few hours later Holly sent a telegram to Ashley Kirkland, care of the Sangre de Cristos Monastery in New Mexico.
ANNIE GAVE BIRTH TO BABY GIRL LILLIAN THIS A.M. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER DOING FINE, FATHER STILL RECOVERING. MUCH LOVE, HOLLY.

Needless to say, I was grinning. From ear to ear!

Recommended!

Final Verdict: Beautiful and splendid in all the ways that matter.

Favorite Quotes

She could tell herself it was the cold that hardened her nipples against the slowly rotating massage of his fingertips, the pad of his thumb brushing wickedly against the peak that shone darkly through the thin material. And she could tell herself it was the cold that made her lean back against his warm, strong body as if to absorb some of his heat.
But it wasn’t the chill that made her push her soft, straining breast up against his teasing hand, it wasn’t the cold that had her pressing her rounded buttocks against the iron-hard arousal directly behind her. And it wasn’t the cold that made her turn readily in his arms at his gentle pressure.

His control was absolute. Ignoring the cost, he began to move, rocking back and forth with a slow, steady rhythm. And each time he filled her it seemed a little deeper and a little fuller. A light film of sweat covered her skin, and shudders began to shake her body beneath his. And still he moved, seemingly intent only on pleasuring her, as he varied the force and the tempo of his thrusts.
The white-hot flames were building now, licking her body, and she clung to him like a boat adrift in a storm-tossed sea. And then suddenly, unexpectedly, it happened, and she was flung out into the sky in a shower of stars, and in that explosion of glory she felt his body stiffen in her arms, heard his strangled cry, and she wept, for the joy of being alone no longer.

His hands still firm on her hips, he began to move, arching up into her, then slowly pulling back, and then again, each time filling her more completely. She could feel her body shivering atop his, feel the rigid control in his arms and legs as he tried to slow the pace, to bring her along with him. But she was far ahead, her body shuddering with spasms of need that were rapidly taking over.
And then abruptly his tenuous control abandoned him, and he arched into her as her body went rigid in his arms. And he followed her, locked together through a mindless eternity, his breath hoarse and rasping in her ear as she sobbed against his damp, heaving chest.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | AbeBooks

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Wild at Heart by Susan Fox

Format: E-bookWildAtHeart
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Kane Langtry
Heroine: Rhea René Cory
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: August, 1997
Started On: May 16, 2014
Finished On: May 16, 2014

Would you guys believe it if I were to say that there is this harlequin or mills and boon romance that I read like 12 years back, which is haunting me till today? Wait. I bet that is something most avid readers have faced a time or two in their reading life. This book that I am talking about was one that I read when I first discovered the abundant stash of goodness that was harlequin romances back then. The memory of the intense emotions this book evoked in me I still remember to-date, the barebones of its cover teases the tendrils of my memory and yet I fail to recall the author or the title of the novel.

It was my pathetic cry on twitter to find out the title of this novel that found me purchasing Wild at Heart by Susan Fox, the fact that this had a similar storyline making me hope in my heart that my search for the novel that had eluded me all these years had finally reached its fruitful conclusion. But then to my deepest regret, turned out that this wasn’t the case as I knew within the first chapter or so that this wasn’t the novel that had been haunting me for quite some time now.

23 year old Rhea René Cory (Rory) was brought into the folds of the Langtry family when she had been a frightened 11 year old who had just lost her mother and her drunken mess of a father had become the ridicule and scorn of the town. Rory has worked since then to make a name for herself, to remove the stigma of her family name that has practically defined her and people had never let her forget all throughout the years.

Kane Langtry is the rightful heir and son of Sam Langtry, the owner of B. J. Hastings and Rory’s guardian since that day. Rory’s feelings towards Kane is far from platonic, she has been in love with him for a long while. Though Kane makes his disdain for her clear in more ways than one, Rory knows that as long as Sam is alive that she’d always have a place in her childhood home. But all that changes when Sam dies leaving behind Rory and a confused Kane who doesn’t like the maelstrom of emotions that Rory invokes in him and has been invoking in him for far too long to suite his peace of mind.

There’s a lot of hostility on Kane’s part towards Rory, something he lets loose every now and then towards the woman whose feelings are all but out there for everyone to see. Rory has always been in Kane’s bad books, deemed as the troublemaker in the home especially with his stepmother and her daughter in residence. And when Kane is finally ready to acknowledge his feelings towards Rory, along comes a problem of the variety that neither ever foresaw.

While I enjoyed the first couple of chapters in the story, the angst and the sexual tension thick enough to cut through with a knife, I had several problems with how the story proceeded then onwards. I could understand Rory’s need to keep the peace at home when Sam had been ailing and on his way towards a slow decline but I couldn’t understand nor put up with how she let herself be trampled upon over and over by the vicious widowed wife of her guardian, the snubbing on her daughter’s part and the way Kane tended to put her down time and yet again. I want a heroine with a backbone who knows which fights to pick and then fight to win. For me, Rory just wilted every time someone said something at her and then continued on that waning existence towards more than half of the story. It’s hard to respect a heroine of the sort.

And then there’s Kane. I knew that it was his reluctance towards facing his emotions and feelings towards a woman whom he has no respect for, on account of I do not know why, that makes him the grouchy meanie he tended to be. And then suddenly, all of that changed towards one very pivotal event in the story and everything suddenly seemed to be all sunshine and beautiful rainbows in the sky. I couldn’t buy that. People talk about Anne Stuart writing heroes of the irredeemable kind. I say these are the type of heroes that are actually hard to swallow. Rory fleeing at the first sign of trouble was another bit of the story that just made me sigh in resignation towards a book that frustrated me and I didn’t enjoy overly much.

As I stated earlier, the sexual tension in the story was quite thick, and the author managed to keep up the tempo even towards the latter part of the story, though by which time I’d become disengaged from the characters entirely. I found it a bit of a letdown that the author didn’t deliver on all that subtle and the not so subtle sexual tension in the story. I hate it when that happens. It’s like your lover leaving you hanging dry after a furious bout of foreplay.

Even though there were bits I liked & enjoyed, I’d recommend you to read this at your own risk.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: House of Glass by Michelle Reid

Format: E-bookhouseofglass
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Mills & Boon
Hero: Dane Norfolk
Heroine: Lily Norfolk
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: June 11, 1993
Started On: April 26, 2014
Finished On: April 27, 2014

Every now and then, I like to revisit the classic harlequins that practically kick started my love for romances. There are few authors whose books I painstakingly go through to find one I might’ve missed out on and Michelle Reid’s House of Glass turned up on my book shelves just like that.

Lily Norfolk and her brother in law Dane Norfolk has always had a tumultuous relationship at best. When her husband Daniel dies after a horrific accident, it is Dane that comes striding into her life, the all powerful male who has the ability to render her into a quivering mess every time their eyes clash with one another’s.

Dane doesn’t trust Lily all that much. He perceives her to be a liar, the woman who continued to cuckold his brother by living in sin with another man right under his brother’s nose. Dane only sees the version of truth that he is ready to accept, the convenient perception of the truth which should make it easier for him to turn his back on the need that practically eviscerates him whenever he is in Lily’s company.

All the hate, derision and the need that Dane tries to deny comes to a brutal end with the death of his brother, the self disgust that he feels which runs rampant every time he gives into the hot flare of wanton need that consumes them both every single time one that cuts him to his very knees.

House of Glass brings forth a hero that might not sit well with some. But I understood him and accepted the continuous struggle he underwent with his desire for his brother’s wife and the self recriminations that must’ve made his life a living hell. The fact that Lily seemed to respond to his advances and couldn’t help but give into his caresses seems to fuel the anger as well as the passion between them but for both of them to have even a possibility of a future together, Dane would have to come face to face with the actual truth and make peace with everything.

Lily tended to wilt every now and then, understandable I suppose under the sheer pressure that she must’ve been under with the continued barrage of contrasting emotions that she must’ve been undergoing. But I liked the fact that she had enough strength within her to put the distance that was required between herself and Dane, and her ability to stay away until Dane took that first step towards her.

I think the ending makes up for the ass that Dane pretty much made himself out to be through the first half of the book. It suffices to show the change love has wrought in him. I fell in love with the terse fax massage that Dane sent Lily’s way. Even though it wasn’t an undying declaration of love or a grand gesture of the likes of showing up on her doorstep, for a man like Dane it was a monumental step in my opinion and that made this book worthy of the four stars that it earned.

The sexual tension in the novel is thick enough to cut with a knife; there’s sensuality that an author can bring into a story without going all out and explicit and that’s what makes authors like Michelle Reid and Susan Napier such a treasure in my opinion. Recommended for fans of Michelle Reid and fans of old school harlequin romances.

Final Verdict: Intense & ruthless on the emotions, just the way I like em’.

Favorite Quotes

He dragged in a strangled breath as his heart began to thunder out a command older than time itself. One of his hands lay along her silken thigh, his chest, heaving against the pressure building inside his lungs, could feel the twin thrust of her aroused breasts pressing into him. The T-shirt had ridden up around her waist—a waist so slender and firm that he was almost choking on the desire to span it with his hands, caress her warm skin, feel her respond—respond to him as she had never responded to any man.

They were both shaking, the air around them throbbing with a high tensile stress which matched the tensile throb of his heart. He clenched his teeth together, stared angrily into her beautiful eyes, then down at her inviting mouth. Then with a raking grasp at his self-control he rolled away from her. And left the room.

And he took her mouth again, smothering it as he grasped one of her restless hands and dragged it down his body until he’d placed it where he wanted it most to be. She gasped, shocked to her very roots by the sweet, pulsing intimacy. But before she could even think of pulling away his own hand had slid along her thighs and she became lost in more sensation— the kind that made her cry out his name, arch, then go tensely still as tiny coloured explosions began hurling themselves at the backs of her eyes.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BookDepo

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by mvbookreviewer

Score Sheet Review: Savage Courtship by Susan Napier

Format: E-booksavagecourtship.jpeg
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Benedict Savage
Heroine: Vanessa Flynn
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: May 1, 1995
Started On: April 5, 2014
Finished On: April 6, 2014

CATEGORY SCORE GRADE
The hero 80 A
The heroine 80 A
Story line 60 B
Emotional Intensity 75 B
Suck me in Factor 70 B
Heat & Sensuality 70 B
Conflicts 65 B
Writing Style 80 A
Quotable Factor 50 C
Ending 70 B
Overall Grade 70 B

Score Sheet Summary

Benedict Savage is a successful architect, going on 34 when that vague sense of dissatisfaction that has been plaguing him for quite sometime makes him seek refuge in Whitefield House, a property that he had inherited from an uncle who had left it to him, a property that had come along with his deceased uncle’s female butler Vanessa Flynn.

Finding a mystery woman in Benedict’s bed is what kick-starts the story, a woman who disappears by the next morning leaving Benedict flummoxed by the whole thing until he discovers who it is that had been gracing his bed that night. Thus follows a series of twists and turns, a lot of advancing on Benedict’s part and retreating on Vanessa’s part which culminates of course in a happily ever after.

Susan Napier has some very good Harlequin romances out there, in fact she is one of those Harlequin authors who is on my auto-buy list. The aspects that worked for me includes the hero; his intensity is hard not to take notice of. Then there is the novelty of a heroine who is taller than the hero in the story; as most romance readers know, that is something that rarely happens in a romance.

The sexual tension though was a vital presence in the story, I got a bit tired of the continuous back and forth drama that was happening and in the end skim read through chunks of the story later on. Recommended for die-hard fans of Harlequin romances.

Favorite Quotes

“Say it.’ He took off his glasses and threw them away in a gesture of reckless intent that made her heart pound.
‘All right, damn it—Ben!’ she retorted wildly. ‘There, I’ve said it. Ben, Ben, Ben—’
Her provocative chant was suddenly smothered. There was no tentativeness, none of the explorative gentleness that had characterized his last kiss. This time he was all aggressive, dominating male. The kiss was hot and hard, swallowing her anger and feeding it back to her piece by defiant piece.

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

favorableread

by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Her Kind of Trouble by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-bookherkindoftrouble.png
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Seth Anderson
Heroine: Vivian Walker
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: April 1, 2014
Started On: March 28, 2014
Finished On: April 5, 2014

Vivian Walker and Seth Anderson sets their eyes on each other the night of the rehearsal dinner of the wedding that had tied the knot between Vivian’s sister and Seth’s brother. Their attraction towards each other had been instantaneous, both understanding the other quite perfectly to come to the arrangement that their one single sexual encounter that night would remain just that – a one night stand that they would both enjoy and walk away from.

10 years down the road, Vivian is back home in Australia and runs into Seth, who has a baby on the way and doesn’t seem to be able to catch a break where life was concerned. Though Vivian knows that a relationship between her and Seth would be the last thing that can happen under the circumstances, neither of them can help when the force of the blazing hot attraction that had swept them away all those years back seems to be stronger than ever, the strength of which takes their breath away.

There is a striking balance between the heartbreaking variety of tragedy and the lighthearted factor in the story that worked really well for me. Seth has his work cut out for him when he has to face the sheer daunting prospect of parenthood all alone. The fact that his beautiful daughter would never know her fun loving and vivacious mother is a pain that chokes him with its intensity all throughout. And then there is that one spot of brightness through all that darkness, the unwavering strength and support from Vivian who steps up in a way that leaves Seth reeling with the sheer beauty of Vivian in the depths of her soul.

It is a catastrophic event that pushes Vivian and Seth together long enough for them to learn more about the other, which cements the connection that had been forged between them ten years back into something harder and tougher to brush aside. Every moment Vivian and Seth spend together sheds light on just how well they fit with each other, the understanding and respect that they have for the other. I loved how Seth and Vivian went out of their way to be there for each other when the going got tough, how they took care of one another and lent that crucial support during those tough moments that made their relationship essentially that much more beautiful. And one of the most impressing aspects to the story was the role reversal of the hero being the one saddled with single parenthood, trying to make things work and the heroine stepping in to save the day!

I’d definitely say that Sarah Mayberry has come back with a bang with Her Kind of Trouble, bringing along a massive dose of her variety of angst; and my goodness there is plenty of that to go around, and love and sensual connection of the kind that only she can bring into stories. For that reason alone and the fact that I loved the story from Seth and Vivian to everything in between is why I would recommend this to everyone who loves a good contemporary romance with good emotional depth to them.

Final Verdict: Should come with the warning “Tissues are required!”. A definite not to be missed by Sarah Mayberry!

Favorite Quotes

“These have to go,” he said, and she heard a rip as he tore her panties off.
A part of her wanted to laugh at how mad and desperate it all was—the cramped quarters, him tearing her clothes off, their harsh breathing. But then he found her with his thumb at the exact moment that he bit her nipple and she was too busy coming, her head dropping forward as she clutched at his shoulders, needing an anchor to keep her earthbound.

He moved over her, not saying a word, holding her gaze as he gripped himself and found her entrance. She lifted her hips to take him, and he slid in.
Yes.
He remembered this. How good she felt. How right. How on earth had he survived ten years without doing this again?

She tantalized them both with the potential, then plunged down onto him, biting her lip to stop herself from crying out.
It felt so good. So full. So hard and slick and right.
Seth arched off the bed, pulling a nipple into his mouth, the suction of his mouth so fierce, so forceful, it almost hurt.
Almost.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Waiting On You by Kristan Higgins

Format: E-bookwaitingonyou
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Blue Heron, #3
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Lucas Damien Campbell
Heroine: Colleen Margaret Mary O’Rourke
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: March 25, 2014
Started On: March 24, 2014
Finished On: March 28, 2014

Waiting on You by Kristan Higgins is the 3rd book in her Blue Heron series. All stories are based in the small town of Manningsport, New York and are fabulously good, at least starting from the 2nd book which is where I got my introduction into this series. Each of these stories can be read as a standalone, but then why give up on reading equally good and heartwarming tales of love that can leave you with a tingle or two in the right places and a smile deep in your heart, rather than wasting time on so many lackluster reads out there?

Waiting on You tells the story of 31 year old Colleen who has lived in Manningsport practically her whole life. Co-owner of the best and only bar in town with her twin Connor, Colleen is happy and well adjusted into her crazy life in which she finds the time to play matchmaker and considers half of the happily married younger couples in town to be her success stories. Though her own life could use a dose of all consuming love and lust, Colleen hardly lets it bother her until Lucas Damien Campbell strolls back into town bringing the memories of an entwined past that leaves her with little choice but to convince herself that she is so over Lucas.

Life and circumstances had kept Lucas away and he would be leaving once again when he finishes taking care of what summoned him back in the first place. Though seeing Colleen brings back all the yearning and memories back with a force that rocks and shakes his very world, this time around Lucas is prepared for the effect Colleen has always had on him ever since the very first time their eyes had met across the breadth of a classroom. There is desire and then there is the wanting of the heart which had never stopped clamoring for the one single time love and passion had consumed Lucas in his lifetime.

Colleen would like nothing better than to think of herself immune to all that Lucas is has been and will always be on her senses and her heart. But it is inevitable that with nothing holding both of them back that they would gravitate towards each other sooner or later, and oh but what a delicious way to surrender when it is with the man to whom no one else would ever compare with. But Colleen does put up a good fight, trying to save herself from a heartbreak that she knows is yet again as destined to happen as the two of them getting back together.

When you open a Kristan Higgins, it is not just a story of boy meets girl and they fall in love and lived happily ever after that you get. There is so much more to each of her stories, the heartwarming small town life that she practically brings to life in every single one of her stories part of the charm to a Kristan Higgins. And of course there is her characterization; each and every single one of the characters that appears in her stories has something to contribute towards making a well rounded story; some come with an edge to them while the rest fill in those roles that makes a story wholesome for the lack of a better word. And in Waiting on You, readers get to sample the full scale of just how beautiful a tale that Kristan can weave when she puts pen to paper and starts creating her stories.

One must not forget the fun factor in Kristan’s books and Waiting on You definitely had its fair share of laugh out loud moments. Trust me when I say this, I was laughing so hard during certain scenes in the story that I was starting to question my own sanity a time or two. There are very few authors who can do funny like Kristan does and that is always one reason that I would keep going back for her stories.

For those who steer clear of Kristan’s books because she almost always writes her stories in the first person, here is the chance to sample her stories as the Blue Heron books are all written in third person with both the hero and heroine’s viewpoints included. I would say Kristan has come a long way in terms of how she tells her stories. The level of involvement between her heroes and heroines that definitely takes up a larger chunk than they did in prior books. And then there is the sizzle factor in her books that used to be left mostly up to the imagination and creativity of the reader’s mind. Though even now there aren’t detailed scenes of lovemaking included in Kristan’s books, I’d say her novels of late are more well rounded even in that aspect.

I loved Lucas, no two ways about it. There is no way on this Earth that a straight woman would NOT be moved by the man that Lucas is, his intense gaze alone enough to render a woman into a puddle of goo. Yep, Kristan has created him that well. Trust me on that.

And then there is Colleen. At first, I thought that I wouldn’t end up liking her as much as I loved Lucas, but turns out she proved me wrong and I was in love with her and rooting for her as much as I was for Lucas. There is so much emotion interwoven into the story that I had this huge lump the size of a football field lodged into my throat. Yes, it was that angst ridden at times and that emotional too. I wept for the boy that was Lucas and the man who had to turn his back on the yearnings of his heart because that’s the sort of person he is. A man with a beautiful and loyal soul that refuses to back down, a man who owns up to his responsibilities. Add to that his gorgeous looks, oh well, Lucas practically speaks for his character himself.

Recommended to every single one of you who loves contemporary romances. There is humor, there is love and then there is the sort of emotional sucker punch that you would not be forgetting anytime soon! A good story is one that makes you smile, laugh and cry and then makes you smile from ear to ear through your tears. And that is the reason why Kristan Higgins remains a force to be reckoned with in the genre!

Final Verdict: Laugh inducing goodness & emotional wallop that only Kristan Higgins can deliver!

Favorite Quotes

He threw up his hands. “I don’t know whether to strangle you or kiss you.”
“Don’t you dare kiss me.”
He kissed her.
God.
God. It was a prayer, as in God help me, because Colleen’s whole body lit up with flares of light and heat and tiny pinpricks of shock. Lucas was hot and hard and strong, and she wrapped her arms around him and held him just as hard, her mouth opening under his, and yes, yes, this was what they were meant to do, this elemental, hard, thought-stealing kiss.

He was locked in from the second he kissed her, something he’d been thinking about doing from the moment he first saw her, something he’d vowed not to do because it was certain that even one kiss would bind him to her.
He was right. The second his lips touched hers, a word came into his head, a word from long ago when his mother was still alive, when Spanish was still spoken at home.
Mía. Mine.
Colleen was his.

Then he stood up, slid his hand around her neck and pulled her in for a kiss.
She didn’t see that coming.
Didn’t pull away, either.
It was a hard, authoritative kiss that seared through her. Good God, the Spaniard could kiss. His five- o’clock shadow scraped her just the right amount, and his mouth, oh, yes, that mouth of his, that fallen-angel mouth…and then it was over, and he stood in front of her, dark and sure and steady when she was lucky to be standing, her legs suddenly warm and wonderfully weak, her special places bursting into song.

He wrapped her in his arms and hugged her against him, tucking her face against his beautiful, smooth warm neck. “Thank you,” he whispered, and her en- tire side electrified.
“Oh, you know,” she said, her voice wobbling. She tried to pull back, but he just held her tighter.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow,” he murmured, his lips so close to her ear. “I promise not to break your heart.”

He sat on her bed and looked at her, his Spanish eyes black and unfathomable in the dim light of the fading day. Turned her hand over and kissed the soft side of her wrist, and looked at her again, his thumb sliding over the spot he’d just kissed, and suddenly, Colleen realized her eyes were full of tears.
“I missed you,” she whispered, and he stood again and kissed her softly, softly, then wiped her tears away and kissed her again.
“Oh, mía,” he whispered. “I missed you, too.”

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

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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

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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

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