Category / Review Requests

by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: Visiting Paradise by Jess Dee

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Aspen Mountain Press
Hero: Joseph Bastion
Heroine: Beth Brown
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: October 4, 2010
Started On: November 19, 2010
Finished On:  November 19, 2010

Originally published as part of the Boys Down Under Anthology, Visiting Paradise is a delightful read, one that I am glad that I got the opportunity to read and review. This has definitely whetted my appetite for more from Jess Dee as it did when I read her novel Photo Opportunity and I need to bump up her titles in my to-be-read pile to get more of her delightful stories.

The Hero: 33 year old Joseph Bastion (Joe) is a family lawyer and works at his own law firm which he shares partnership with his friend and foster brother Simon Sieves. Joe hides a wealth of hurt and loneliness behind his otherwise sunny nature, something which he keeps well hidden until it comes to his current legal secretary who has been driving him nuts with desire to possess and be possessed.

The Heroine: 28 year old Beth Brown has had her heart trampled upon once by the one man who had wooed her into a heady affair only to find out 2 months later that he was married. The result of the affair had been Gemma, her now 3 year old daughter who means everything to Beth.

Storyline: When Beth lands a job working for the handsome and utterly charming Joseph Bastion as his legal secretary, the relationship that develops between them is always fraught with desire and longings that neither of them has voiced till the trip that Joe engineers to bring them both to the shores of paradise and beyond. Beth knows that spending a week aboard the company yacht with only Joe to keep her company is inviting trouble in more ways than one.

The First Encounter: Joe and Beth’s first encounter takes place when Beth first starts working for Joe as his legal secretary.

Time Period: This story has a contemporary setting and takes place aboard a yacht that sails around the Whitsunday Islands of Australia.

Awareness between the hero and heroine: From the first moment that Beth steps into his life, Joe knows that she is his happily ever after. The simmering attraction that flares between them right from the very first moment scares Beth more than she is willing to let on because she doesn’t want to end up getting hurt and vulnerable once again. Aboard the yacht, for the first time in 4 years, Beth lets go of the tight rein on her emotions and gives into the heady attraction that fairly sizzles whenever Beth and Joe are in the same room.

The turning point: The walls that Beth has erected between herself and Joe as she realizes her feelings are escalating beyond that of the professional kind comes crumbling down with the first sensational kiss between the two. As Beth says yes to what only Joe can offer her, so closes the distance that Beth had put between them to keep herself from giving into an attraction that has been keeping her awake more nights than she is ready to admit. With the first kiss that takes place, there is no turning back for two people who are definitely two halves of one whole.

Likes:

  1. Visiting Paradise is a very short novella. What surprised and delighted me most was the depth of character development that Ms. Dee brought into the story which made it so much more appealing to read. If it had just been about kinky sex and a rushed happily ever after, I would not have felt for the characters and cheered for the happy ending as I did when I finished reading this beautiful novella.
  2. Joseph Bastion. He can steer my ship towards paradise any day! *winks*
  3. Loved the delightfully sensuous scenes that unfolded within the story. Tastefully done erotica is always a major turn-on for me. *wicked grin*

Dislikes: None!

Recommended for:

  1. Fans of contemporary erotica romances.
  2. Those who love their erotica with a story that is worth sinking into, as it is the case with this yummylicious read!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Aspen Mountain Press

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: All or Nothing by Dee Tenorio

Format: E-bookallornothing
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Lonnigans, Book 2
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd.
Hero: Lucas Lonnigan
Heroine: Belinda Lynn Riggs
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: May 29, 2010
Started On: October 23, 2010
Finished On: October 24, 2010

When The Lonnigans series first caught my roving eye, it was this book that I knew would deliver everything that I crave for as a romance reader. Lucas Lonnigan definitely took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions that refused to let go long after I finished his story. Even when I was reading All of You (the 1st book in this series) before this, it was the glimpses of Lucas that held my attention and deep down inside I just knew that his smoldering intensity would demand nothing less than the ultimate surrender of all my emotions – and he certainly did that and more.

Older than Kyle by just ten minutes, Lucas is perceived as the reserved and quiet one compared to his happy-go-lucky twin. Having made a career for himself analyzing numbers, no one would have believed that beneath the brooding facade that he presents to the world lies a heart that had jumped right out on its own and gone ahead and fallen for his neighbor and childhood friend Belinda Lynn Riggs when he had just been six years old.

Belinda is one of the most complex heroines I have come across in the hundreds of romances that I have managed to read till now. She is prickly as a hedgehog, has deep rooted issues about commitment, trust and love as a result of a turbulent childhood spent with parents who had had a violent sort of love for one another that had taken its toll on the family of seven, more so on Belinda who is the eldest and who took care of the younger ones. When the Briggs move in next door to the Lonnigan’s suburban home, in Lucas Belinda finds someone who understands her and someone who really sees who she is beneath the persona she presents to the rest of the world.

Their friendship certainly takes on a new meaning when at the age of 18, on prom night, an innocent touch erupts into a passion that refuses to be denied, a passion that ties Lucas and Belinda forever struggling to come to terms with a love so fierce that it refuses to be tamped down and ignored, and accept the fact that they are made for one another. However, Belinda’s past always keeps on haunting any attempts on Lucas’s part to show her how good that they can be together until finally Belinda drives Lucas away with her stubbornness that prevents her from letting go of the past.

This story is so very good that I didn’t want to put it down regardless of the fact that I had to wake up early morning for work today. At work, I was antsy the whole day, missing Lucas and his smoldering sensuality that kept the pages turning until my eyes couldn’t focus any longer from the need to slumber. There were times that I really wanted to hate Belinda for what she puts Lucas through, but she made up for all of it so beautifully in the end. If I hadn’t already been half in love with Lucas before, the way he calls Belinda Belle would have sealed the deal for me.

I absolutely loved  the epilogue which was the one thing that was missing from book 1 in this series. However Ms. Tenorio has redeemed herself in my eyes by providing a most fitting and beautiful epilogue which couldn’t have made me anymore happier! A great two book series, each one of which can be read as a standalone title without much hassle is highly recommended for those who love their romances with a touch of humor and a high dose of sensuality that goes a long way in making the story a memorable one.

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

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: All of You by Dee Tenorio

Format: E-bookallofyoudee.jpg
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Lonnigans, Book 1
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd
Hero: Kyle Wellem Lonnigan
Heroine: Jessica Saunders
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: April 6, 2010
Started On: October 22, 2010
Finished On: October 23, 2010

Reading All of You by Dee Tenorio, the first book in The Lonnigans series certainly entertained me on all fronts. Wickedly sensual with a touch of the trademark Tenorio humor in all the right places (which I came to identify and fall in love with after reading Betting Hearts) and characters who just leaped right out the pages certainly made for an unforgettable read. A huge thanks to Ms. Tenorio for providing me a copy of this story filled with several laugh-out-loud moments together with enough passion to curl my toes inward all the way!

Storyline: Jessica Saunders has been seeing Lucas Lonnigan (twin of Kyle Lonnigan) for the past 4 months in the most platonic relationship she had ever had. Solely focused on her career as a financial lawyer, Jessica is a woman who has sworn off all sorts of things to do with emotions and making herself vulnerable enough to feel anything for anyone apart from herself. When she agrees to see Lucas the fateful night that everything changes, the only thing that Jessica wants is to break things off with Lucas, until in walks a version of the man himself that seems to have personified every wild and wanton craving that Jessica has ever had.
When Kyle who works as an investment banker switches dates with his twin Lucas he has no idea that he is about to meet the one woman who would irrevocably change his life. Kyle who plans everything to death so that his life would go according to his whim finds himself poleaxed by the need to claim and possess his brother’s date as his own, a need that seems to be reciprocated which concludes the night in Kyle having the most fabulous sex of his life – before he is able to tell Jessica (Jess or Jessie as he calls her tenderly) who he really is.
What follows is the story of how Kyle who six months back had suddenly found his life lacking decided that marriage and 2.5 kids were what he needed, tries to convince Jessica that together they could achieve his dreams of a happy home and family. But Kyle finds out the hard way that the woman who rocks his world on so many levels, the woman he wants to claim as his wife and the mother of all his babies, is the one woman on the planet who has no intention of committing herself to a life as the one he has envisioned.

The First Meet: Kyle and Jessica first lay their eyes on one another when Kyle shows up in his brother’s stead for the date which Jessica is determined would end the relationship between her and Lucas Lonnigan.

Time period: This romance has a contemporary setting.

Awareness between the two characters: From the first moment itself, the atmosphere fairly sizzles whenever Kyle and Jessica are in the same room. Regardless of the fact that Jessica doesn’t want anything to do with Kyle who has love and forever written all over his face, the need that sears through her, a need to touch and to be touched that spikes out of control whenever Kyle is around makes it hard for Jessica to lock away her heart and emotions and throw away the key. The harder she tries to push him away, the more relentless becomes the desire within her to feel Kyle’s caress that always soars them away to places they have never been to before.

How the relationship grows: Kyle basically has his work cut out for him when he decides to woo the emotionally skittish woman who has captured his heart so effortlessly. Enlisting the help of Jessica’s less than conventional secretary Dory Pierson, Kyle refuses to let Jessica shut him out and neatly send him into her past. Jessica who has severe abandonment issues and bolts at the merest hint of vulnerability in her well placed armor doesn’t know whether to scream in frustration or to give into a need that has grown inside of her regardless of how much she doesn’t want to acknowledge her changing heart. Jessica thinking she would be able to have a purely sexual affair with the man who rocks her universe by the merest kiss embarks on one with Kyle who determinedly works for a future which he envisions is what they both need.

The turning point: The first pivotal moment in Kyle and Jessica’s relationship comes when they have heart jolting sex the night they first meet. With the first searing kiss, Kyle is a goner and though Jessica too feels the jolt that shakes the very foundation of everything she has so doggedly worked for till that moment, that night changes everything for better or worse. The final turning point comes in a moment of clarity for both Jessica and Kyle when a certain chain of events nearly ends Kyle’s life as he knows it lending both of them to understand that what they feel for one another cannot be ignored nor denied any longer.

Likes: At first I thought that I would end up hating Jessica  for what she puts Kyle through by being so emotionally unavailable – yes, I haven’t read about any heroine who gives out that impression more than Jessica does. But she definitely surprised the hell out of me with her vulnerability and the need that she has to love, to be loved and to be wanted – a need that she ruthlessly tries to tamp down on at the merest hint of its existence. Kyle’s patience with Jessica and how he determinedly works for a future that he thinks is what they both need had me rooting for him all the way through. I liked the fact that overnight solutions weren’t provided for the problems that seemed to hold back these two from attaining their happily ever after. And of course who wouldn’t love a man like Kyle Lonnigan who definitely knows the secrets to keeping his woman happy. *wink*
And ooh yes, I am definitely very much interested in reading about the grumpy, anti-social twin aka Lucas Lonnigan. He promises to make a very good story!

Dislikes: None.

Recommended for: Romance lovers who love a sassy heroine, a hero who knows what he wants and is not shy about going after it, and for those who love romances with a high dosage of sensuality in the mix. I pretty much loved the book from page 1 till the end.

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

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