Category / Harlequin

by mvbookreviewer

Review: A Natural Father by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Superromance, #1551
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero:  Dominic Bianco
Heroine: Lucy Basso
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: March 10, 2009
Started On: March 27, 2010
Finished On: March 27, 2010

I seem to be on a Sarah Mayberry marathon after starting with her latest novel Her Best Friend which I reviewed around two to three days back. Though her novels are short contemporaries there is always something extra that Ms. Mayberry adds to the mixture that makes her books hard to put down and harder to forget once you have finished reading them.

This story from Harlequin Superromance is also an enchanting piece of work. The story focuses on two families who live in an Italian community in Melbourne, Australia. Lucy finds herself pregnant and Marcus her long term boyfriend of eight years and the father of the baby had abandoned her and moved onto greener pastures with his yoga instructor. With an unforeseeable future, Lucy is determined to do right by her baby. Her sister Rosie and her husband Andrew together with their mom Sophie tries to help Lucy along.

Lucy’s own business which just barely started off which dealt with delivering fresh groceries to restaurants around the neighborhood brings her into contact everyday with Dom, the son of the owner of her wholesaler. Dom has always had an interest in Lucy but the timing had never seemed to be right for him to show his interest in her. Dom had just recently being divorced and was finally thinking about approaching Lucy when he finds out that she is pregnant.

Problems with Dom’s father on the business front ends up Dom asking to be a partner in Lucy’s business since Lucy seemed to desperately need the capital needed to boost her business. Though Lucy and Dom are both very aware of one another, Lucy doesn’t want the added complication of another man in her life. But Dom and his patience, care and attentiveness all pretty soon convinces Lucy to give him a chance.

However things are far from over when Andrew and Rosie have troubles in their marriage which nearly drives them apart, which in turn causes Dom to pull away thinking that its the best thing he could do for Lucy rendering them both heartbroken. In the end its a happily ever after for all of them which never fails to put a smile on my face.

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

satisfactoryread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Back To You by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Hot City Nights Anthalogy
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero:  Cal MacKenzie
Heroine: Becky Taylor
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: July 8, 2008
Started On: March 26, 2010
Finished On: March 27, 2010

This was a title released in a collection of  short novels bundled up as “Hot City Nights” together with two titles from two of my other favorite Harlequin authors Emilie Rose and Sandra Marton. I haven’t read the other two novels in this collection but am thinking I might give it a go since Sandra Marton and Emilie Rose do write wonderful romances.

Becky Taylor and Cal MacKenzie had the hottest and wildest time of their lives for four weeks when they were at the university together at the tender age of 20. Cal had broken things off with Becky quoting that he wasn’t ready to jump into another serious relationship when he had barely managed to step away from the first serious relationship of his life.

Ten years later, Cal and Becky meet again during a reunion. Becky is at first shocked to find Cal there when he is supposed to be in London with his wife. But unknown to Becky, Cal has been back in Sydney for over a year and is divorced. What happens to  be a chance encounter for Becky isn’t necessarily that for Cal. Cal had come to the reunion wanting to see whether Becky would show up and whether she could still make him feel the same way as he did when they both were 20 years old and going hot and heavy.

Ms. Mayberry has done a splendid job I would say in creating a short story such as this one intense enough so that I as the reader didn’t feel like I had been cheated out of something that could have been better. The intense connection between Becky and Cal burns stronger than ever and before they both know it, they are going hot and heavy with each other once more.

Becky thinking that she and Cal would never get their happily ever after decides to cool things off when she finds out that she is pregnant with Cal’s child. And Cal proves to Becky once and for all that he is committed to loving Becky for the rest of their lives if given half the chance.

A sweet and hot read you wouldn’t want to put down.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

favorableread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Her Best Friend by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Superromance #1626
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero:  Quinn Whitfield
Heroine: Amy Parker
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: April 1, 2010
Started On: March 25, 2010
Finished On: March 25, 2010

Sarah Mayberry has woven her magic once again with this beautiful story of two best friends who after a long period of time find love and happiness with one another. The story of Amy and Quinn centers around three best friends. Amy and Quinn both grew up together as neighbors. Liz moves in to the neighborhood much later and the three of them were inseparable during those years.

Amy has loved Quinn since she was fourteen years old. However, Liz and Quinn seemed to find love in one another long before Amy could do anything about her feelings and one thing leads to another, and before long Liz and Quinn are married and living in Sydney, both high profile attorneys whilst Amy stays behind in her hometown with her dreams of restoring the local theater to what it was before when her great grandfather owned the place.

Six years have gone by since Quinn and Liz got married and moved to Sydney and Amy is just about to have her dream realized. Amy has tried her best to move on and forget about Quinn and the intense feelings that he arouses in her. However a bit of legal problem regarding the sale of the theater ends Amy in calling Quinn up never realizing that during the period that she had tried to distance herself from their lives, Liz and Quinn were proceeding with getting a divorce.

Quinn hasn’t thought of Amy other than as his very best pal since he was fourteen years old and he and Liz had started dating. Now feeling as a failure with his marriage and future uncertain, Quinn feels that he has finally come home when he returns back to his hometown and starts to help restore the theater with Amy.

The close proximity within which these two work together on the restoration project makes them face their intense attraction head on and other feelings that they may have buried deep inside for the sake of their friendship.

To complicate matters, Liz is back, with the intention of winning Quinn and his love back. Its a pretty sweet and happy ending for Amy and Quinn and I enjoyed reading each and every bit of their story, as much as Ms. Mayberry must have enjoyed writing their story.

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

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Shadow Hawk by Jill Shalvis

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Harlequin Blaze #329
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: JT Hawk
Heroine:  Aby Wells
Date of Publication: June 1, 2007
Started On: February 4, 2010
Finished On: February 5, 2010

This was a  book that I stumbled upon by chance during one of my forays into surfing through FictionDB.com. There is a feature on the website that displays books under “featured author”, and I have come across many a good reads this way. Readers on Amazon too seem to have given this book great reviews. Although I do remember reading books by this author in the past, she has not been one who has made a deep impression on me as a reader. However after reading this book I would have to say that this author has got what it takes to write yummy romances.

Both Hawk and Aby are ATF agents. Hawk has been working on a case of known as Kiddie Bombers. Someone or a group of someones have been teaching young kids to assemble bombs and blow them up as well as making them well versed with different other sorts of weaponry. Hawk has his suspicions that moles in the ATF organization were more than responsible for the difficulty they have been facing in apprehending the culprit. Aby too had been working on the case of the Kiddie Bombers when she had been taken hostage and held captive for two days when one of the head agents of the ATF had come to her rescue with guns blazing. Though she has been working in Hawk’s unit for more than six months after the incident, she refuses to let Hawk realize just how susceptible she is to Hawk’s brand of charm.

Things finally take a turn when Aby and Hawk are handed the same assignment, bust up a gathering of the Kiddie Bombers being held at some remote location. Although Hawk senses “setup” right from the beginning, he and his partner Logan still go through the motions before it all blows up in their faces. Logan gets hospitalized with severe injuries whilst Hawk barely escapes with his life intact. Now that Hawk has come face to face with the top manager of the Kiddie Bomber’s organization, he knows that Aby, himself and Logan are loose ends that wouldn’t survive if Hawk doesn’t take matters into his own hands.

Framed as the head of the Kiddie Bombers organization, Hawk has no choice but to take Aby hostage whilst he tries to find enough evidence to point towards the right man. Aby, a reluctant hostage at best got on my nerves at the beginning with her distrustful attitude. However, she does redeem herself later in the novel which otherwise would have made me extremely disappointed in this book.

More than Aby and Hawk’s story, I found myself fascinated with Logan and Callen, the nurse whom Logan meets when he is airlifted to the hospital to treat his injuries. I found the chemistry between these two characters more intriguing than the lead characters, though they didn’t do a bad job themselves in burning up the pages of the book. I feel this book would have been better suited in the Harlequin Intimate Moments series, cos for me a Blaze book is all about intense chemistry between two characters who just can’t help but fall insanely in love with one another at the end.

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

satisfactoryread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Burning Up by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Blaze, #380
Publisher: Harlequin
Sensuality: 3.5
Hero: Lucas Grant
Heroine:  Sophie Gallagher
Date of Publication: February 1, 2008
Started On: January 21, 2010
Finished On: January 23, 2010

Lucas Grant, famous movie star and notorious playboy needs to recuperate to recover from a torn ligament on his knee. One of his friends offers him their place up on the Blue Mountain and its just him and his personal chef Sophie Gallagher all alone for the next four weeks.

Sophie is the exact opposite of Lucas. Being dumped by her boyfriend of fourteen years which had propelled her to take the job in the first place, Sophie isn’t one who takes risks or rushes headlong into things without thinking them to death first. However things get interesting for Sophie when its lust at first sight for her with Lucas.

At first, Lucas thinks he might go stir crazy if he has to stay around the quiet place for four whole weeks. However, with Sophie around and the anticipation of working and wooing a woman into his bed for the very first time, Lucas rises up to the challenge to get more than what he bargained for.

Their relationship was supposed to be strictly about sex and nothing more. Until Sophie went ahead and confessed her love for Lucas which didn’t bode very well for Lucas as he was scared shit about love. A childhood tragedy which had landed up Lucas in the state ward care, and Lucas’s refusal to face his past demons eventually break these two apart until Lucas finds the strength to lay his past to rest and really and truly love and be loved by the only woman who means everything to him.

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Home for the Holidays by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Single Father, # 27
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Joe Lawson
Heroine:  Hannah Napier
Date of Publication: November 1, 2009
Started On: January 21, 2010
Finished On: January 21, 2010

I don’t know how she does it, but Sarah Mayberry is one author who never disappoints. In this Harlequin Super Romance, Sarah Mayberry explores the story of a single father Joe with his two children Ben and Ruby and the second chance at love this family is given, with a few surprises thrown in at the end.

Joe’s wife Beth dies in a car accident. It has been two years since then and Joe moves their family to Melbourne to start over afresh. On his first night at their new place, Joe encounters his neighbor Hannah which leaves both of them with mistakenly bad impressions of one another.

Joe, still in love with his dead wife, who hasn’t even thought about a woman in ages and Hannah who was jilted by her fiance for her sister who has the dream of travelling all over Australia and fears giving away her heart to another when she is still reeling from the shock of the immense betrayal she faced, never thought for a moment that they both might find in each other what they have been missing.

However, with a family to consider, things do not go as smoothly as one might think. Although Ruby is delighted with the idea of Hannah and Joe dating, Ben doesn’t warm up to the idea and goes out of his way to make Hannah’s time together with the family a miserable one.

Sarah Mayberry has created such heartwarming characters in each of the lead roles in this novel. I absolutely fell in love with Joe’s daughter Ruby, she is such a delight teaching Hannah the highs and lows of the current fashions when she is just 8 years old.

In the end, working through a lot of hurdles fate throws their way, this family triumphs in all the ways that matter. A good read, recommended for those who love a good romance with a dose of family life and second chances thrown into the mix.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Her Secret Fling by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Blaze , Book 517
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Jake Stevens
Heroine: Poppy Birmingham
Date of Publication: January 1, 2010
Started On: January 12, 2010
Finished On: January 12, 2010

Aaah! Finally a book that has left me satisfied on all aspects after a long time. Sarah Mayberry is one of my favorite Harlequin Blaze line authors and it does help that her book titles do not make me cringe, and the fact that they contain believable stories of men and women who fall in love with each other.

Poppy Birmingham an ex-star swimmer who has gold medals  to her name, takes up a job offer on writing for the sports column of one of the most prestigious newspapers in Australia. There she comes face to face with Jake Stevens, someone whose style of writing Poppy has admired from the very start.

However, Poppy is left with the impression that Jake is hardly what she has pictured him to be. Callous to  the point of being rude, Jake lays it out that Poppy doesn’t deserve to just walk in and attain a job that takes journalists years of studying and experience to claim.

However, Jake is proven wrong when Poppy proves to be persistent in what she does, and a quirk twist of fate ends both of them together alone on a road trip back from Melbourne. Pitted together with nowhere else to go, Poppy and Jake reluctantly come to realize that rather than the initial dislike that they thought they felt for each other, both of them were coming to find qualities that they liked in each other immensely. Not to mention the scorching hot passion that flares between them when Jake offers to teach Poppy the wonders of sex.

Quirky dialogues between the two characters kept the pages turning and when Poppy finds herself inevitably in love with Jake, with no sign whatsoever from Jake to show that he might feel the same way, and Jake but all pushing away Poppy without really trusting her and letting her in makes Poppy realize that their no-named relationship had been doomed from the start.

Jake has his own reasons, with a failed marriage on his conscience, which has made him into someone who absolutely has nothing left to give. However, unknowingly, the time spent with Poppy slowly works its magic on Jake and ultimately Jake and Poppy get the happy ending which they both deserve.

I loved this book. Sarah Mayberry sure knows how to pen a fantastic story. Highly recommended to those who love Blaze line stories.

Purchase Links: Amazon | BooksOnBoard 

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Ruthless Magnate, Convenient Wife by Lynne Graham

Format: E-book
Read with: MS Word
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Pregnant Brides, Book 2
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Sergei Antonovich
Heroine: Alissa
Date of Publication: November 2009
Started On: January 11, 2010
Finished On: January 11, 2010

Apart from the cringe worthy title, this story is okay for a light read. Packed with the essential ingredients of a Harlequin romance, Lynne Graham has spun a mildly interesting and yet the usually predictable type of story that the Harlequin line is famous for.

Russian billionaire Sergei Antonovich, complete with a football team under his name (which sort of reminds me of Chelsea’s owner) is the typical Harlequin romance hero, with billions to his name, complete with the adoring set of blonde bimbo’s who form an adoring circle around him with a hard childhood, rotten parents and a badly ended marriage which has left him with a cynical outlook of all women in general. However the one person that he holds dear to his heart is his grandma who turned his life around when both his parents died when Sergei was a sullen teenager looking for all sorts of trouble. Sergei’s grandmother, who refuses to bask in the countless wealth at her grandson’s fingertips yearns to see the day her grandson settles down and gives her a great grand child to dote on.

With a bitter first marriage that still leaves a bad taste in his mouth, Sergei decides to approach the task of  finding a wife who would bear him a child with the well intentioned plan of leaving the wife by gaining the sole custody of the child borne. One person who applies for the placement is Alissa’s twin Alexa. As typical in most Harlequin romances, Alexa is the ‘evil’ twin per se who takes advantage of Alissa, the sweet and angelic twin for whom the only thing missing is just a halo on her head. That being said, Alexa tricks Alissa into going ahead with the marriage, and Alissa finds herself of course captivated by the mesmerizing man Sergei is.

The desire and passion is scorching hot, and amidst the fragile relationship that forms between Sergei and Alissa, the actual story behind how Alissa got ‘tricked’ into this contractual marriage rears its ugly head and threatens to drive a wedge between both of them. However, as usual, Sergei finds himself unable to let her go until Alissa has appeased all the hunger he has for her, which in an anti-climatic ending turns out to be that Sergei falls in love with Alissa from the moment that he lays his eyes on her. So typical!

Anyhow, this was an okay read. Disappointed though that Lynne Graham doesn’t weave the magic she used to. With her previous short novels like Angel of Darkness that had the power to leave a gut wrenching ache in your heart and make you cry happy tears at the sappy endings, the novels that come out now tend to be total letdowns in terms of those stories.

Purchase Links: BooksOnBoard | Amazon | Barnes&Noble

fairread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Marriage on the Rebound by Michelle Reid

Format: E-book
Read With: MS Word 2007
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents, Book 1973
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Rafe Denvers
Heroine: Shaan Saketa
Date of Publication: November 7, 1997
Started On: December 18, 2009
Finished On: December 18, 2009

This book has all the ingredients that make a Harlequin romance a good one. This was the book that introduced me to this author and though I have read 2 or 3 books of hers afterwards, this book has stayed with me as a special love story which is why I went ahead and re-read the story all over again.

Shaan Saketa is jilted by Pier Denver, Rafe’s stepbrother on the day of their marriage. Rafe moves in to take Pier’s place and offers himself up as the bridegroom to salvage a situation Shaan thought would leave her humiliated and hurt beyond repair.

It was beautiful the way Rafe woos Shaan after their marriage in the city of Hong Kong which the author describes quite well, making the reader feel as if they are visiting the  busy and chaotic city themselves.

Anyone who loves a good romance with a strong, sexy and compelling hero with a heroine who doesn’t simper and grate on your nerves all the way through, this is a good read!

Purchase Links: Amazon | BooksOnBoard

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Mercenary by Cherry Adair

Format: E-bookmercer
Read with: Stanza
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: T-FLAC, Book 1
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Marc Savin
Heroine: Victoria Jones
Date of Publication: February 1, 2008
Started On:  November 2, 2009
Finished On: November 7, 2009

This was my favorite kind of romance novel. Throw in a strong alpha hero, a heroine who doesn’t get on the reader’s nerves and a bunch of bad guys who could just topple everything over for the blossoming romance between the hero and heroine, I would say that makes for a pretty good read.

Previously I have read other books in this author’s T-FLAC series and I would have to say this would have to be one of the best novels in the series. Victoria Jones leads a spinsterish life when her twin brother Alex, who is a T-FLAC agent goes missing during a mission and is declared dead by the T-FLAC organization.

Marc Savin, who brought Alex into the organization, trained him and was his partner for a couple of years, now lives a secluded life on a ranch looking after horses in Mexico. Betrayed by the woman he loved once who turned out to be working for one of the terrorist organizations that they were investigating, Marc doesn’t trust any woman to get close to him.

Victoria and Alex share a telepathic bond which allows her to know that her brother is not dead, but being held captive by one of the terrorist organizations that the T-FLAC was investigating, and seeks Marc’s help to bring her brother back to safety. Astounded at first to know that Alex even has a twin, and reluctant to believe anything Victoria was saying, Marc decides to drag Victoria along to find Alex and bring him back home.

Hiding in a cave in an island controlled by terrorists, Marc finds that he is not immune at all to the lady by his side. The romance and the exciting adventure that unfolds makes for a great read. Of course, happy endings always makes a book worth reading especially when a hero has to grovel his way back into the heroine’s graces, which is hard to come across in novels these days.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to readers who love a good romance novel with a bit of adventure tossed right into it.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

outstandingread