Category / Harlequin

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.

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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 

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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

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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

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Reckless by Tori Carrington

Format: E-bookReckless
Read with: Stanza
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Harlequin
Series: Indecent Proposals, Book 1
Hero: Kyle Trapper
Heroine: Heidi Joblowski
Date of Publication: November 1, 2008
Started On: October 28, 2009
Finished On: October 28, 2009

Kyle and Jesse, Heidi’s boyfriend since high school are best friends. Kyle has had the hots for Heidi like in forever although Heidi has no clue. Heidi has a strict plan to which she tries to adhere every moment of her life. Wanting to prove to the world that she is different from the family that she comes from, although her family ain’t half bad, Heidi never thought for a moment that even the best laid plans could meet glitches and fall apart within mere seconds.

Heidi realizes her attraction to Kyle quite unexpectedly, and these two burn the sheets one night with moments of sizzling passion. Guilt stricken that she had in a moment of weakness betrayed her long term boyfriend Jesse, Heidi tries hard to keep anything else from happening between her and Kyle, and plans to spill what happened to Jesse as soon as she could get her affairs sorted out.

Of course the cheating part was easier to digest when readers come to know that Jesse had been cheating on Heidi throughout their relationship and Kyle had always covered for Jesse at these moments. In the end, Heidi is forced to acknowledge that somewhere along the way, she had forgotten how to have fun, how to love and how to enjoy life and works towards resolving issues both with her family and Jesse, who finally gets together with his old-time flame.

Its a happy ending for Kyle and Heidi in the end. I have to say Tori Carrington doesn’t disappoint with this novel since it was a pretty interesting read with a good story line. And the forbidden moments between Kyle and Heidi heats things up just the right amount for the reader. All in all a good book for a light read.               

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

favorableread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: A Few Good Men by Tori Carrington

Format: E-bookA Few Good Men
Read with: Stanza
Length: Short Stories
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Harlequin
Series: Uniformly Hot, Book 1
Hero: 4 heroes
Heroine: 4 heroines
Date of Publication: January 1, 2009
Started On: October 2009
Finished On: October 28, 2009

Tori Carrington is one of my favorite authors of the Blaze line in the Harlequin series. When I first found this author, I was surprised to know that Tori Carrington is the name used by Tony Karayianni and Lori Schlachter (husband and wife) who write these delectable books together. Their books are totally hot and tend to give great story lines as well.

A Few Good Men is a collection of four stories about men who serve in the military and their lives back in their home country. Each story is relatively short, thus wasn’t as enjoyable as it could have been, though issues were hastily resolved so that it wasn’t a total waste of time to read these four short stories.

The four absolutely hot men in these novels are Corporal Eric Armstrong, Corporal Eddie Cash, Lieutenant Matt Guerrero and Captain Brian Justice. From the four of these stories, I didn’t read Brian’s story because it didn’t seem to interest me that much. Of the three that I DID read, I would have to say I loved Eric’s story the best.

Eric, while on duty in Afghanistan/Iraq, starts meeting up with a woman online. And it turns out to be his best friend’s wife. His best friend was killed whilst on duty. This story, if it had been a long one, would have made a very satisfying read, although it wasn’t half bad as a short story.

Corporal Eddie has an affair with a woman whilst on leave, and goes back on duty to find out that she is pregnant with his child. Eddie’s story is pretty sweet considering how he tries to woo the mother of his child, without really knowing how to go about it, except for the fact that he is a pretty decent guy and wants to do everything according to his well laid out plan, which tends to backfire on him at moments. This too could have made a great story, but I wouldn’t wanted to have read it as a long novel.

Finally Matt’s story is slightly different, such that he is married and has three kids of whom two are teenagers. I felt that Matt’s story was too rushed, and there was really no resolution of the problems that both Matt and his wife had actually being having.

All in all, this book is a good read to pass the time. Could have been better if all books could have been published as full length novels.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: You’ve Got Male by Elizabeth Bevarly

Format: E-bookyouvegotmale.jpg
Read with: Stanza
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Spy Quartet, Book 1
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Dixon
Heroine: Avery Nesbitt
First Published on: October 1, 2008
Started On: October 2009
Finished On: October 21, 2009

Being the first book that I have ever tried from this author, I would have to say that it was a pretty good read.

Avery Nesbitt, the heroine is this genius computer buff who created a virus that would have halted all cyber traffic across the world, and this too when she was a teenager by accident, her motive being to teach her cheating boyfriend a lesson he would  never forget, ends up doing time in jail. Her family, the overly wealthy Nesbitts, cut her off from that day onwards. After 2 years, being released from prison, Avery sets up her own techie firm and has been living alone with her cat, and suffers from agoraphobia i.e. the fear of being out in open spaces. Then she meets Mr. Supposedly prince charming online, whom she finds to be cheating on her again.

Unknown to Avery, Dixon, who works in this un-nameable organization set in the US government after 9/11, has been tracking her online activity without much success, because the one agent who went rogue on them is actually the Mr. Supposedly Prince Charming that Avery has been in contact with. Avery is taken into custody, a deal made with her, so that Dixon and Avery has to work together to bring this rogue agent to justice by luring him to meet Avery out in the open.

The story that follows is pretty charming and romantic as well. I got to learn a lot about this new phobia (since there are so many, one can never keep track of all of em’). Dixon is the super sexy type of hero that any heroine would fall in love with immediately. And throw into the mix the crazy Nesbitt family, you’ve got a hell of a novel on your hands.

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

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