Category / Outstanding Read

Rating of 5 stars!

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Dream Man by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Dane Hollister
Heroine: Marlie Keen
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: November 24, 2009
Started On: June 15, 2010
Finished On: June 17, 2010

This book signifies romantic thrillers at their best. Linda Howard has done an awesome job in creating the story of a vicious serial killer who targets female victims, rapes them and butchers them up like nothing Detective Dane Hollister has seen throughout his career. With no forensic clues left behind by the killer, Dane and his partner Trammel are at a loss on how to proceed.

Help comes in the form of psychic Marlie Keen, who has had a troubled past with her gift. Six years has gone by since she has had a vision, and though she knows the drill of coming out to cops as a psychic, she can’t help herself but show up at the police station to describe the heinous crime committed which she sees through the eyes of the killer.

Dane who is a pretty smart detective, a little bit rough around the edges bristles and scoffs at the mere idea of the psychic business. But chills run up and down his spine and a fierce unwanted longing for Marlie crops up within him right from the first moment he lays his eyes on her. Though Marlie is accustomed to hostility from the police force before she is able to prove her abilities to them, she can’t set aside the burst of anger within her at first the dismissive way Dane treats her and then as a suspect the next.

After searching up on Marlie and learning about the her violent past, Dane sets aside his doubts and starts believing in Marlie and decides to give into the intense feelings he feels for her. Though Marlie is resistant at the idea of starting a relationship with anyone, she is no match at resisting the fierce heat that is between the two.

Before long, Dane realizes the toll each psychic vision has on Marlie and though the second murder doesn’t yield any clues to who the monster might be, the third murder yields a sketch of the killer. Without Marlie knowing, Dane sets her up with the media to grab the attention of the killer, which Marlie attracts in spades. Devastated by the ultimate betrayal by the man she has come to love, Marlie refuses to move to a safe house but reluctantly agrees to move into Dane’s house where the killer comes into finally end Marlie’s life once and for all.

This book is intense, creeping me out at certain scenes where the thoughts of the vicious killer made chills run up and down my spine. The characters are well developed, the passion scorching HOT and the romance just the right level that it made me feel like I was actually reading a romantic thriller and not just a thriller.

Great read the second time round. Loved the epilogue! And loved the larger than life Dane Hollister! Sigh!!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Open Season by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Jack Russo
Heroine: Daisy Minor
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: July 17, 2001
Started On: June 13, 2010
Finished On: June 14, 2010

Daisy Minor, small-town librarian has just turned 34 years old. She is single, frumpy looking at best and well on her way to attaining spinsterhood when she realizes that she wants more out of life than living with her mom and aunt. So Daisy decides to change everything about her, from her appearance to moving out and getting her own place.

Chief of Police Jack Russo was a brusque, hard-nosed Yankee who had served in the SWAT in New York and Chicago when his great-aunt back in Hillsboro dies leaving him her place, a place where Jack had spent his summers as a child. Suddenly tired of all the pressures of working as a cop in the city, Jack moves to Hillsboro and finds himself smiling at the verbal sparring matches he has with the town’s frumpy librarian.

Once her make-over is complete, Daisy decides to hit the night clubs to scout for a husband, and is delighted by the appreciative attention she receives. However to Daisy’s  horror she becomes the source of the start of a brawl in the club and in a matter of seconds finds herself being escorted out of the club by Jack who continually seems to invade her personal space.

The second night Daisy decides to visit the club, she unknowingly witnesses the murder of a man and this puts her in grave danger to which Jack is alerted to when he receives a suspicious call from the mayor who is  involved in the business of smuggling young girls into the country to sell them at a high price to prostitution rings.

Explosive passion and romance are intrinsically woven together with a plot of danger with an interesting cast of characters that makes this book one you cannot put down. The witty banter between Daisy and Jack right from the beginning makes you smile and the ease with which they fall in love will remain with you for a long time.

Linda Howard can always spin a tale where her male characters are to die for and Jack Russo is no exception to the rule. Reading this book the second time round was as good as the first and readers who love romantic thrillers wouldn’t be disappointed in this tale.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Miss Congeniality by Shelly Laurenston

Format: E-bookwhenhewasbad
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Magnus Pack, Book 3.5
Publisher: Brava
Hero: Niles Van Holtz
Heroine: Professor Irene Conridge
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: June 1, 2008
Started On: June 13, 2010
Finished On: June 13, 2010

Oh my god! This has to be one of the most hilarious and witty romances that I have ever come across. Van, a wolf shape shifter, who would one day become the Alpha Male of his family’s pack doesn’t understand the reason why he has always hunted after Professor Irene Conridge ever since he had locked onto her scent seven years back.

Van’s family being one of the richest families in the area, frequently turns up at the fund raising functions for Irene’s university and even the opening dialog itself had me smiling. Irene is a genius physicist who has no time whatsoever for the frivolities in life. She couldn’t be any more different from the sexy and compelling Van even if she tried. Though she had always found Van a trifle bit annoying to say the least since the guy seemed to turn up at every function she attended to discuss her choice of undergarments, one of her experiments puts Irene in danger and it is Van and his pack that rescues her from being devoured by a pack of lions and hyenas.

Van has no choice but to mark her as his mate, though Van doesn’t believe in the folklore that surrounds the concept of marking a mate for life. Currently as happy as a clam with his mission of screwing anything that stands around long enough, Van all of a sudden finds himself uninterested in the plentiful female company that seems to surround him.

Its hilarious to read how these two try to stay away from one another but the simmering and oh so hot attraction that is unleashed right from the very first kiss is enough to keep you warm for all winters to come. Van is the type of hero you cannot go wrong with, someone who is tender, caring, protective and possessive to the right extent whilst understanding the complex genius of a woman Irene is.

With interesting side characters and a bit of danger that crops up every now and then, this is as good a romance can get. I couldn’t seem to put this book down once I started and I am definitely going to check out other books by the author. Her writing style is something you don’t come across every day.

A hot, funny and sensual read that makes for a beautiful romance, and an epilogue that I absolutely loved, this book is highly recommended even for those who do not read paranormal romances.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: A Place to Call Home by Deborah Smith

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Hero: Roan Sullivan
Heroine: Claire Maloney
Sensuality: 1
Date of Publication: May 4, 1998
Started On: June 8, 2010
Finished On: June 11, 2010

Bearing a strong resemblance to the storyline of Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred, this is a story that captures the essence of the ties of a loving family, how tragic mistakes can unravel even the most close knit of families and how love triumphs over in the end.

The first half of the book focuses on the childhood of Roan Sullivan, the boy from the wrong side of the town with the drunk whoring father and Claire Maloney, the girl who has got everything. Claire comes from a large family, the richest in town. Though Claire and Roan couldn’t be more further apart from one another in social standing, Claire takes an uncanny liking towards the dirty boy with the grey eyes who stands steadfast through all the ribbing and torture dished out by his father as well as other boys in the town.

The author cleverly spins the tale as told by Claire, as to how she falls in love with Roan at the tender age of 10 or so, a love that captures the reader’s heart right from the very beginning. Roan doesn’t trust anyone apart from Claire and one mishap after another leads to Roan living with the Maloneys.

However, a tragic incident involving Roan’s father and Claire which ultimately ends up in Roan killing his father, makes Claire’s parents decide to send Roan off to a church home for a month and Roan disappears thus destroying an essential part of Claire which strains the ties she has with her family.

Claire never stops searching for Roan all throughout the twenty years that they spend apart. Meanwhile Roan too has been keeping tabs on Claire and the Maloneys and a tragic accident involving Claire finally propels him to return to Claire while she recuperates at home.

Now a rich and successful man, Roan has never forgotten how quickly hope can be extinguished by those for whom you care for, and though he is not bitter about the Maloney’s decision to send him away, Roan has turned into a man who has locked away his emotions, except for those that he feels towards Claire.

With secrets of his own to keep, Roan and Claire start off 20 years later to revel in the love they have had for one another, a love that can only last once the previous hurts have been healed. An engrossing tale, this is one story even non-romance readers ought to try, because this is definitely a book of the can’t-put-down variety.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Silver Lining by Maggie Osborne

Format: E-book
Read with: Mobipocket Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Ivy Books
Hero: Max McCord
Heroine: Low Down (Louise Downe)
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 4, 2000
Started On: June 1, 2010
Finished On: June 2, 2010

I have to say its been a while since I read a romance that truly touched my heart. This book is that and so much more. I have always loved romances where the characters slowly find themselves falling in love with another by identifying qualities within one another deserving of their love and devotion to the other. This novel by Maggie Osborne offers all that and more in the story of how Louise Downe nicknamed Low Down for the luck she had had in life finds herself hitched to the blue eyed Max McCord who is in love with his fiance back home.

Max becomes honor bound to marry Louise when she nurses him and all the other men who were in Piney Creek to hunt for gold from smallpox taking all their lives. The men promise amongst themselves that Low Down would have anything that her heart desires for not turning her back on them in their hour of need. To their discomfiture and surprise, Low Down announces that her heart’s desire is to have a baby of her own to love and cherish. For someone who has never had a family of her own it has always been Low Down’s dream to one day have a loving a family of her own.

Its not surprising that none of the men present are too keen on the idea of bedding the bedraggled creature standing in front of them. Although Low Down has on her mind to just get the act over and done with which would plant the baby inside her, the priest present convinces the man who draws the marble with the scratched cross on it to marry Low Down. Though Low Down has got plenty to say against being united in marriage to a man, her protests go unheeded as the men are determined to do right by her.

Max McCord has never shied from responsibility in his life and he isn’t about to start now. Though his angelic bride-to-be Philadelphia is waiting for him back home and their marriage is to  take place within two weeks time, Max doesn’t want to be labeled as the guy who turned his back on repaying a debt he owed. And he can’t believe his bad luck when he is the one who ends up getting hitched to Low Down, when the mere thought of bedding her sends shivers up and down his spine.

Though neither Low Down nor Max wants to be married to one another they have no choice but to go on ahead with the marriage as Max takes his responsibilities to head and Low Down really wants that baby badly. Coming to an arrangement that they would stay married till Low Down became pregnant with a child, these two set off to make a temporary life for themselves in Max’s hometown where Max has to face the music of facing his jilted fiance and her all powerful father.

Max cannot believe his ears when Philadelphia professes to be pregnant with his child, and Wally Max’s brother has to step up and marry Philadelphia to save both families from being ruined by scandal. The story that ensues is one that would stay with me for a long time to come. How Low Down is slowly transformed into Louise Downe, a woman who doesn’t fully understand her self worth, a woman who hopelessly falls in love with her husband against her will and who slowly steals the hearts of all those that surround her.

Very highly recommended as a book that cannot be put down easily once started.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Last Oracle by James Rollins

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Adobe Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Sigma Force, Book 5
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Hero: NA
Heroine: NA
Sensuality: NA
Date of Publication: July 1, 2008
Started On: May 22, 2010
Finished On: May 25, 2010

Yes, I do deviate from reading romances now and then and read other types of books too. James Rollins has always been a favorite of mine ever since I picked up his novel Amazonia sometime back and found myself intrigued in the concepts he weaved so well in the book. Though I found myself a bit disappointed at the endings in certain books of his such as Deep Fathom, I  have always looked forward to reading his novels for the adventure and the interesting wealth of well researched information available in his books.

The Last Oracle is in no way an exception to the amazing talent Mr. Rollins has in weaving tales of a mixture of religious and scientific intrigue with a bunch of mean bad guys thrown in, to make it all more read worthy. The Sigma Force series started with the book Sandstorm which I haven’t read, but I have to say that Mr. Rollins has done an excellent job in developing the characters of  Sigma, an elite team of ex–Special Forces soldiers who had been retrained in scientific fields to serve as a covert military arm for DARPA, the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency. The story of Sigma’s commander, Gray Pierce is one I follow closely in each of the novels of the Sigma Force series that I have had the pleasure of reading.

The Last Oracle is about bioengineering of the next world prophet. Its about achieving the ultimate power in today’s world by whatever nefarious means possible. The Sigma force is thrown into this harrowing adventure when a homeless man dies in the arms of Commander Gray Pierce near their Sigma headquarters, the homeless man who is later known to be Professor Archibald Polk the person who invented Sigma.

Unraveling the clues as to how the Professor ended up with a lethal dosage of radiation that would have killed him within a week if not for the sniper who targeted him begins to reveal a story that goes back to the ancient times when the ancient Greeks used to rely on those who could see the future to change the course of the world. The clues lead Gray Pierce, Dr. Elizabeth Polk, daughter of Professor Archibald Polk and Kowalski to India and then to Russia where autistic children with incredible abilities are harnessed to create the next world prophet. The Sigma together with their allies are in a race against  time to stop the ultimate destruction from taking place that could end the world as we know it.

Simply put – damn incredible right from the very start!

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

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: True Love & Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson

Format: E-book
Opens with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Chinooks Hockey Team, Book 4
Publisher: Avon
Hero: Ty Savage
Heroine: Faith Duffy
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: April 28, 2009
Started On: April 27, 2010
Finished On: April 28, 2010

True Love and Other Disasters is the first novel that I ever tried from the list of novels by Rachel Gibson. And this book has stayed with me for a long time afterwards as a book that should be read time and time again.

Although I am not much of a fan of ice  hockey and don’t know much about it, this book is based on an ice hockey team called Chinooks whose ownership is bequeathed to Faith Duffy upon the death of her quite old husband Virgil Duffy who owned the Chinooks Hockey team. Like everyone else, former stripper Faith is surprised by the turn of events and is on the verge of selling the team to Virgil’s son Landon when Landon insults her in front of everyone that matters in the Chinooks team.

Faith comes across Ty Savage, the Chinooks handsome as sin captain during Virgil’s funeral. A man with a larger than life presence, Faith distrusts Ty from the first moment onwards and it seems as  though the feeling is mutual until these two start to rub sparks off each other upon each and every encounter.

Ty can’t get the beautiful and sexy Faith out of his mind regardless of what he does. And suddenly the idea of him and Faith together doesn’t seem that bad when one hot encounter between the two leaves them both begging for more.

Meanwhile, Landon a man who doesn’t forget and forgive easily tries to drive them apart by hitting them where it hurts and nearly succeeds until Ty as the true alpha hero he is portrayed to be saves the day.

This book is a great read, the kind I love the best with a belligerent hero and a wonderfully sassy heroine who knows how to stir things up whenever and wherever they may meet. Highly recommended for all contemporary romance fans!

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: Nick Anderson
Heroine: Alix French
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: May 12, 2005
Started On: April 24, 2010
Finished On: April 25, 2010

This is one of the best love stories I have come across. Though narrated in the first person which I dislike mostly, Ms. Katherine has done a wonderful job in creating characters that will stay with you for a long time once you are done with the story.

Once I started reading Alix and Nick’s story I couldn’t for the life of me put it down till I really had to go to sleep since I had work the next morning. I am glad now that I took the recommendation to heed and read this book which I would recommend for even non-romance readers to take a look at. Yes, its worth every second you spend reading the book!

Alix comes from old wealth and abundance of family love. Whilst her father was non-existent when Alix was growing up, she had never felt the lack of fatherly love since her grandpa known as Judge fulfilled that role quite adequately. Been on the receiving end of motherly love from her mother and two sisters who never got married and still lived with their father (Judge) this is as good as family life gets. Nick comes from the wrong side of town. With a drunken father who beats the crap out of him whenever he can, Nick is a defiant little boy of ten when eight year old Alix takes into her head to rescue him.

From then on these two are inseparable bound by ties that go beyond normal friendship. However Nick’s steadfast protection of Lindsay, a girl from the wrong side of town as well keeps these two from fulfilling the destiny of belonging to one another. Now fifteen years later, Alix is is finalizing her divorce from Hugh whom she married once Nick left town with a murder charge on his back and is a woman with a tough wall around her heart after her and Nick’s daughter Katie died from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

All of a sudden Nick is back in town with his son Daniel who looks so much like Katie that the armor that Alix has put up all these years starts to fall apart one by one. However the truth of what actually took place that fateful night 15 years back is what would make or break these two people who are destined to be together if they can both forgive, heal and move on.

Wonderfully moving story that clutches at your heart. Loved it from the beginning till end!

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: MacKenzie’s Mountain by Linda Howard

Format: E-bookmackenziesmountain
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Mackenzie Family, Book 1
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Wolf MacKenzie
Heroine: Mary Elizabeth Potter
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: April 1, 1989
Started On: April 23, 2010
Finished On: April 24, 2010

This is the first book of The MacKenzies series and the only book of the series that I liked. Though I didn’t try the 3rd and 4th book of the series, I did start to read the 2nd book in the series, i.e. Joe MacKenzie’s story & it never did make the impact this story made on me for the very first time which is why I ended up re-reading this story all over again after reading through a discussion thread on Amazon’s romance discussion forum.

Wolf MacKenzie is a half breed, half Comanche and half Indian. For that alone he had led a pretty solitary life in the small town Ruth where he and his son Joe resided. And add to that a rape charge for which he did time and later was found not guilty of when the real culprit was found, Wolf & Joe had been paying the price of that unjustness of it all ever since.

Mary moves to the small town as a teacher, and finds out to her dismay that Joe who was the highest scorer in all the classes had dropped out of school. Mary vows to right the matter and in fact makes the trip to where the twosome lived up on the MacKenzie mountain. On the way Mary’s car breaks down and comes face to face with larger than life Wolf MacKenzie who manages to kiss her senseless and sets her senses whirling like never before.

Wolf doesn’t need the added complication of Mary in his life. However, he can’t help but feel a need for her deep within him that cannot be ignored. Meanwhile, Mary starts giving Joe private lessons so that he could catch up with the other students and fulfill his dream of being a fighter jet pilot, a dream which Mary helps him fulfill within no time.

However, forces within the small town who do not want Wolf and Joe to become a part of the town work towards framing Wolf for rape again, a fact Mary is convinced of, which leave the women of the small town agitated and scared out of their wits.

This book is heartwarming in so many ways. The way that Mary sides with the black sheep in town and makes the townsfolk regret the way they had snubbed them for so long, the undeniable passion between Mary and Wolf which makes the book a continuous sensual delight and how in the end Mary draws out the rapist with her wit and courage and of course the lovely ending of the book which makes me want to read the book once more.

The person who suggested this book as her absolute favorite romance book of all time has surely hit a winner with this one. This is one book that any romance reader who loves contemporary romance should read!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Ride the Fire by Pamela Clare

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Mobipocket Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Blakewell/Kenleigh Family Trilogy, Book 3
Publisher: Leisure Books
Hero: Nicholas Kenleigh
Heroine: Elspeth Stewart
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: March 6, 2005
Started On: April 18, 2010
Finished On: April 19, 2010

The first book that I tried from Ms. Clare certainly didn’t disappoint. This story has all the elements that make up a great romance. The web of sensuality that Ms. Clare so cleverly weaves is magical, one that I as the reader got myself lost in.

Ride the Fire is the story of beautiful Scots-Irish Elspeth Stewart and the sinfully delicious Nicholas Kenleigh. On the verge of death, Nicholas accidentally stumbles upon Elspeth, eight months pregnant and living in the harsh wilderness that wasn’t safe for anyone much less a defenseless woman. Somehow Nicholas convinces the skittish Elspeth that he intends her and her baby no harm and Elspeth cares for him until he regains his strength.

Meanwhile, the uprising of the Indians living around the area continues making Nicholas fear for Elspeth and her unborn babe. Though Nicholas has witnessed the evil side of life too many a time and lived through hell and beyond, he can’t help but feel protective towards Elspeth who feels restless and uneasy around his vicinity. Elspeth has always held the notion that men held little regard for anyone else much less the women in their lives. Having lived through episodes of sexual harassment by her step brother which eventually turned her own mother against her, Elspeth has always felt tainted and unclean and unworthy of belonging to anyone. Ever since her husband died her plans have included living alone with her child with no need for a man.

Nicholas changes everything Elspeth has believed in till now. Where Elspeth has associated intimacy with a man with pain, Nicholas teaches her that there is no shame and only joy in the act. Where Elspeth has always associated men with brutality, Nicholas shows her in the best of ways how tender and loving a man can truly be. Both Nicholas and Elspeth who have had so much suffering in their lives find in each other a joy none can turn their backs on. And Ms. Clare has done an excellent job on keeping the adventure going at full pace with the sensuality level at an all high! My my!!

This book is highly recommended for those who love their romances with a good dose of sensuality. You would definitely not be disappointed with this novel. I wanted a Nicholas for myself after reading this book. Yes ladies, he is that good!

Till next time then! I presume I would be catching up on reading all the novels by Ms. Clare pretty soon!!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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