Category / Review

by mvbookreviewer

Review: On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Format: E-bookontheisland
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Thomas James Callahan (T.J.)
Heroine: Anna Lynn Emerson
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 4, 2011
Started On: March 6, 2012
Finished On: March 9, 2012

Never have I been so grateful for a recommendation received from the romance discussion forum on Amazon as I was when I finished On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves. By reading the book, you won’t feel that it is a debut novel, such is Tracey’s prowess and mastery with the words that you just want to go on reading, without taking any breaks in between if you can help it.

Thomas James Callahan (T.J.) is sixteen years old and three months into remission from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He is on his way to the Maldives with his 30 year old tutor Anna Lynn Emerson who is to help him catch up on the months of missed school while T.J. had been undergoing treatment.

Tragedy strikes when the sea plane that is supposed to take them to the island which is their final destination crash lands, leaving Anna badly hurt and T.J. with the task of getting them safely to shore. Saying that it is a tough time that Anna and T.J. both undergo, especially during the first couple of days would be an understatement. Being from the Maldives myself, I understand how primitive conditions would be in an uninhabited island, how totally alone you can feel with nothing but the blue skies and the endless seas surrounding you. With no source of fresh water on the island, Anna and T.J.’s main problem lies in the depleting amount of fluids from their bodies. But somehow, part  through luck and partly through trial and error, T.J. and Anna make a life for themselves on the island when being rescued seems like an option that is no longer available for them.

From June 2001 till December 2004 when the devastating tsunami that wrought havoc from Indonesia to Africa serves to be the reason why they get rescued, Anna and T.J. depend and rely on each other and a relationship forms between the two, not surprising given the fact that T.J. had crushed on Anna even from the very start. Anna is the one who remains at first oblivious, for many a reason, one being the fact that she is 13 years older than T.J. For Anna, the protective instinct she has when it comes to T.J. surprises her but she doesn’t make much of it until after T.J. turns 18 and she too starts feeling the stirrings of desire when it comes to T.J. 

The way Anna and T.J.’s relationship progresses is a natural one. No lightning bolt moments in their relationship but rather it is one that is built on mutual affection, trust and a whole lot more than just a simple case of lusting for each other because it is the convenient choice. Both T.J. and Anna are characters who feel real, ones that you can relate to, ones that tug at your heartstrings as you read along. You can’t help but be invested in the outcome of their relationship, their time on the island that subjects them to the harsh reality of life and survival when there remains nothing but each other to look out for.

Being rescued brings along with it its own fair share of doubts and insecurities though both Anna and T.J. know that for them there would always be no love like the one that they have found with each other. The period of separation that they both go through was a much needed one to make their love that much more meaningful and profound and I was deeply moved through everything T.J. and Anna go through, both together and individually as well.

I loved T.J.. No surprises there. He is the kind of hero that you fall in love with immediately because there are no pretenses when it comes to him. He is the what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy and the way he grows into manhood, takes on responsibilities that would otherwise have been foreign if not for the circumstances just made him that much more appealing. He has a protective instinct that naturally comes into play with Anna, a woman he admires and crushes on from afar for far too long. When T.J. realizes the course of change Anna’s feelings towards him has taken, T.J. grabs the opportunity like everything else he does, with a zeal and zest for life that is so charming that you just fall in love with Anna right along with him.

Anna was such a lovely character as well. She is the type of heroine who doesn’t fuss around trying to become someone she isn’t. She is comfortable with who she is. Her regrets in life are ones that had driven her to take the job of tutoring T.J. in the first place. She doesn’t talk down to T.J. just because he is much younger than herself but rather treats him as an equal from the very start. Their coping mechanism for what they both go through are different, but in it lies that desolateness that is a result of the hope that diminishes as the months and years pass on by.

If I am ever to crash on an uninhabited island, I want a T.J. by my side, a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to lay his emotions on the line to get what he wants. When the epilogue and the beautiful fitting ending for these two lovely people came about, I was more than ready to embrace it, reveling in the blessings that life had bestowed upon two people who would remain with me forever. 

I have to warn readers like myself who are squeamish with books written in first person that this is indeed written in first person. But Tracey makes it worth your while by giving both characters equal amounts of attention to show you both their viewpoints. A nice touch I must say and I loved T.J.’s take on things. With characters I loved wholeheartedly, this gushy review is a testament to just how much I loved the story. And the story taking place in Maldives? The icing on the cake. 

Beautiful, poignant and real, On the Island is a novel not to be missed! I smiled, I laughed, I cried and I sighed with everything that is in me. There is nothing more you can ask from a book. Grab yourself a copy and indulge – I dare you!

Favorite Quotes

[T.J.] If she had gotten sick, the only thing I could have done was watch her suffer. Bury her next to Mick when she died. I didn’t know if I could make it without her. The sound of her voice, her smile, her– those were the things that made living on the island bearable. I held her a little tighter and thought if she woke up I might tell her that. She didn’t though. She sighed in her sleep, and eventually I drifted off.

[Anna] In February, I woke up from a nap. A bouquet of flowers gathered from the various bushes and shrubs scattered around the island lay on the blanket beside me, a small length of rope wound around their stems.
I found T.J. down at the shore. “Someone’s been checking the calendar.”
He grinned. “I didn’t want to miss Valentine’s Day.”
I kissed him. “You’re sweet to me.”
Pulling me closer, he said, “It’s not hard, Anna.”
I stared into T.J.’s eyes, and he started to sway. My arms went around his neck and we danced, moving in a circle, the sand soft and warm under our feet.
“You don’t need music, do you?”
“No,” T.J. said. “But I do need you.”

[T.J.] I pulled my arms out from underneath her body and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I love you, Anna.”
The surprised look on her face told me she hadn’t seen that coming.
“You weren’t supposed to fall in love,” she whispered.
“Well, I did,” I said, looking into her eyes. “I’ve been in love with you for months. I’m telling you now because I think you love me too, Anna. You just don’t think you’re supposed to. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. I can wait.” I pulled her mouth down to mine and kissed her and when it ended, I smiled and said, “Happy birthday.”

[T.J.] I kissed her as soon as we were inside her apartment, and I wasn’t gentle about it, holding her face firmly in my hands and pressing my lips hard against hers. She wasn’t anyone’s to own – I knew that – but right then she was mine.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Envy by Sandra Brown

Format: E-bookenvy
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Hero: Parker Mackensie Evans
Heroine: Maris Matherly-Reed
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: August 1, 2002
Started On: March 2, 2012
Finished On: March 2, 2012

This is the 2nd book that I have chosen to read because fellow book reviewer Brie seemed to recommend the book so highly. And I have got to believe the girl and take her recommendations to heart because for the world of me, I couldn’t seem to put down this book once I started to read. Envy makes for such a compelling read that I resented every single minute I had to be away from the story that unfolded, bringing home the fact that when it comes to thrillers of the romantic suspense variety, there is none like Sandra Brown who can deliver on every aspect of the story.

Parker Mackensie Evans is a man who has been biding his time, plotting and planning the perfect revenge for his best friend turned foe Noah Reed. Parker has got the bait that would draw Noah’s wife, Maris Matherly-Reed in, and use her in his plot for revenge and vengeance that he has been waiting for for the past 14 years. A man with enough scars on the inside and the outside to last him a lifetime, Parker’s story is one of pain, heartbreak and eventually one full of lessons for anyone willing to read between the lines.

Maris Matherly-Reed is the ultimate heir to Matherly Press, one of the most renowned publishing houses in the country. Maris’s marriage to Noah Reed is going on 22 months and though Maris feels those twinges of unease about her husband and his inattention towards her oft late, she manages to brush it aside and go on with her daily life. Maris adores her father, and rightfully so when Daniel Matherly had brought her up single-handedly, given her all the love and affection in the world, taught her how to be true to herself and all that she believes in. Maris though is the senior vice-president of Matherly Press, she craves for those days when she had been an editor involved in the nitty-gritty process involved in shaping up a good book and delivering it to readers. So when she comes across a manuscript entitled “Envy” that draws her in with the characters and the story that it hints at, Maris trusts her gut instincts and seeks out the author who lives in the remote island of St. Anne.

Little does Maris know that when it comes to Parker, nothing is as it seems and that Maris is merely a means to an end that Parker wants so badly, even if it means that he has to forgo the only chance he would ever have at love and maybe finally peace from all those nightmares that continues to haunt him night and day. Parker’s manuscript with two characters Todd and Roarke that span the years of the 80’s is a story of two best friends whose competitiveness to outdo each other as the first one to land a publishing contract goes horribly wrong when one of the characters involved continue to harbor a darkness deep within his soul, intent in going through any means to achieve fame and fortune which he believes to be rightfully his. It is up to Maris to dig deeper in order to unravel the truth behind the story, to find out whether the story is indeed fiction or a true story which could have dire consequences on her life and those whom she holds near and dear to her if left unheeded.

Envy is one of those stories that I seem to have missed during the days in which I positively devoured every Sandra Brown book that I could get my hands on. And as I mentioned at the beginning of my review, Envy turned out to be a story that I couldn’t get enough of, Parker’s multifaceted character reason enough to dig deeper into the story. Parker is the brooding, cynical, manipulative hero and all rightfully so based on all that he has gone through in life. His careful plotting and planning doesn’t get him far when he encounters Maris in flesh, the woman who in the end turns his life and best laid plans all around. Suddenly things don’t seem to be as clear cut as Parker wants them to be, but the fire of vengeance that burns and taints his soul is one that refuses to be denied, and Parker pays the price of letting go of the one woman who could have brought that much needed light into his otherwise dark and bleak existence.

Maris was a character that I simply adored. She is such a true romantic at heart that it is hard not to fall for her even as the story begins. Maris is a woman who cares, perhaps a bit too much, but a woman who nevertheless defines fairer sex as they should be. She is strong, patient and loving and has that innate kindness inside of her that reaches out to those around her. Her reaction towards Parker is an alien one, one that confounds her and makes her question her vows to a man who seems to have bedazzled her with his charm and wit beneath which lies cruelty and a will to hurt that surpasses anything that Maris has ever encountered before in her life. The one thing Maris learns is that nothing is as it seems and to trust no one but her instincts that have guided her until now.

The twists and turns the plot takes are endless, ones that leaves you reeling from one twist to the next. Sandra Brown is definitely a master at what she does and Envy is a testament to her ability to deliver a good mystery/thriller with elements of romance in the mix, recommended for fans of Sandra Brown and fans of the genre.

Favorite Quotes

[Parker] “We know why I kissed you last night, Maris.”
“To frighten me off.”
He frowned. “That doesn’t even merit an argument. I kissed you because you braved Terry’s and showed up everybody in the place, including me. I kissed you because just looking at you made me ache. I kissed you because I’m a rotten son of a bitch and your mouth looked so goddamn kissable. Simply put, I kissed you because I wanted to. It’s something I admit and you damn well know. But there is one question that’s driving me fucking crazy.”
His eyes focused harder on hers and, by doing so, penetrated. “Why did you kiss me back?” 

He gathered a handful of her hair, then wound it around his fist and drew her closer until their faces were inches apart. He hesitated for several heartbeats, then settled his lips against hers, tested the angle, readjusted. He was moderately controlled until he heard a small whimper from her. He backed off, looked down into her eyes, and recognized a desire that equaled his own.
Control was abandoned. He covered her face with wild, random, artless kisses and she was doing the same to him. Then mouths melded and tongues touched, and they kissed with carnal greed.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Book Depository

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Bluestone Homecoming by M.J. Fredrick

Format: E-bookbluestonehomecoming
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Welcome to Bluestone, Book 1
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Leo Erickson
Heroine: Trinity Madison
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 31, 2012
Started On: February 17, 2012
Finished On: February 25, 2012

M. J. Fredrick has a talent for creating characters that one can always relate  to. The romance that sizzles is always an added incentive to seek her books out because I for one am always certain that if the book is written by M. J. Fredrick, I wouldn’t ever have a reason to regret my purchase.

Bluestone Homecoming is the debut novel in a series centered around the small town of Bluestone. Leo Erickson is the hotshot war correspondent that had always felt the need to get away and had done so as soon as he could from his hometown Bluestone. And now Leo is back, the first step he takes in making amends towards his son Max whom he had left behind, too taken up on his own grief after the death of his wife to take care of his son’s needs. 

Trinity Madison is the Bluestone Elementary School counselor and is the daughter of a Reverend, still paying for her one indiscretion during her youth, one which her family still hasn’t forgotten and won’t let her forget or forgive herself. When Leo comes into town, her emotions take a leap in a direction it hasn’t for the past 8 years and Trinity is both scared and in anticipation of what could come out of a brief fling between herself and Leo with Leo uncertain of how he wants to proceed with his future.

Leo never takes into account how he well he might settle into small town life, especially with the way Trinity makes him feel deep inside as if he could once again be happy and have a second chance with his son with whom he has a difficult time at first. But Trinity’s secret when it comes out, would it have the power to drive them apart or would Leo be the man Trinity believes him to be deep in her heart, the man who would save her from her endless guilt and give her the love and support that she needs to move on with her life.

Bluestone Homecoming starts out a bit slow, laying down the foundation of the series, introducing the reader to the wholesome and charming and sometimes intriguing characters of Bluestone. Once the story picks up pace and things start happening, Bluestone Homecoming definitely pulled me in and charmed the socks off of me. Leo and Trinity both being likable characters made for an endearing couple, the attraction between them somehow sweet and sizzling hot at the same time. Leo’s relationship with his son Max was one of the most beautiful aspects of the story. That initial awkwardness and the pain both of them have never let out since the death of the woman who had meant the world to them is one that had my heart going out for them. 

Bluestone is a town that has been hit hard by the financial climate and it was heartwarming to see all of them band up together to find a way to generate more income for their small community. Leo finds his footing and his place in Bluestone through this process of helping the town remake its image, in getting involved with ordinary day-to-day life that somehow ends up being moments that he starts savoring once he gets into the groove of things.

Though the ending was a bit rushed, I decided to forgive M. J. because she has got the next book out already and Quinn and Lily’s book which I am counting on to be explosive and already my most favorite couple from the series would be out latest somewhere in March. Couldn’t ask for a better birthday present for myself if Lily and Quinn’s story turns out to be everything I expect it to be and I am certain M. J. won’t disappoint.

Great introduction into a heartwarming series whose characters, the scene and the setting worms their way into your heart before you know it.

Favorite Quotes

He closed the door behind her and turned, blocking her view of the surprisingly neat room to crowd her against the door. “I’ve wanted to do this all week. Even dreamed about it this morning.” And he touched his lips to hers.
She curved into the warmth of his body, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her fingers tunneling through his hair as he dipped his tongue between her parted lips, stroking, playing, teasing. 

The next thing she knew, he’d turned her so her back was against one of the wider trees. He stroked the hair back from her jaw and kissed her, his mouth hot and hungry. She returned the intensity, her arms around his shoulders, her fingers in his hair, her body pressed against him as if just that could ease the ache coursing through her. His hands molded her waist, bringing her closer, his tongue stroked between her lips in a rhythm that made every nerve sing.

He lifted his head and looked into her eyes as he tugged at her shirt, pulling it from beneath her, pulling it over her head until she lay beneath him in her bra, and an insubstantial one at that. His nostrils flared as he took in the sight of her in the dim light, and he trailed his fingertips over the slope of her breast to touch her extended nipple. She held her breath in anticipation as he paused, then rolled it between his fingers. When he bent his head, she closed her eyes, and let the heat of his mouth become the focal point of her world.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Once a Good Girl… by Wendy S. Marcus

Format: E-bookonceagoodgirl
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Medical Romance
Series: Madrin Memorial Hospital, Book 2
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Kyle Karlinsky
Heroine: Victoria Forley
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: February 1, 2012
Started On: February 19, 2012
Finished On: February 19, 2012

25 year old Victoria Foley is a perfectionist when it comes to everything that she does. Always the good girl whose childhood had been the furthest thing from ideal, Victoria’s only rebellion as a teenager had come when she had gotten involved with the bad boy of the town and ended up pregnant at the age of sixteen.

26 year old Kyle Karlinsky left home under duress and is now back, partly with the intention of showing those who had thought he was good for nothing that things had turned out quite well for him in the end. Holding a doctorate in Physical Therapy, Kyle is surprised when he encounters Victoria at the Madrin Memorial Hospital working as a nurse and not as the doctor that she had dreamed of becoming ever since he had known her.

The biggest surprise of all comes from the fact that Kyle is a father to an 8 year old boy and the fact that Victoria had never deemed it important enough to seek him out to let him know. Naivety and mistakes on both sides in believing the lies that had been fed to them both to drive them apart comes out into the open to clear up the air, but would Kyle be able to convince the prim and proper Victoria that his wild and impulsive nature is just what she needs in her life forever and ever?

Wendy has a way of writing heroes that are heartwarming, sweet, sexy and endearing and Kyle is no exception. Kyle has a lot of hurt bottled up inside of him, anger at the double standards that had existed in his hometown that had always found a reason to blame him for anything bad that happened. I loved him for his innate kindness, that inner strength that refuses to back down from a challenge, and of course his understanding of the woman who brings a whole new meaning to the word complex, but whom he loves with every fiber of his being.

Victoria is a heroine who is a bit hard to get into. She is ambitious, there is no question about that, but her love for her son surpasses any other ambition she might have and it is her desire to give him a sound future that has her juggling a hectic career amidst the hurdles of being a single parent. She is fiercely loyal and independent and has a painful past from which she still suffers, something that Kyle with his gentle yet searing touch heals and that was indeed one of the defining moments of the story. I loved the beautiful marriage proposal tucked inside the epilogue and cannot wait for the 3rd book in this series to come out.

If you loved medical romances with heart, give Wendy S. Marcus a try. She is an author who definitely knows what she is doing.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BoB | Harlequin

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst

Format: E-bookthemarriagebargain
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Marriage to a Billionaire, Book 1
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Hero: Nicholas Ryan
Heroine: Alexandria Maria McKenzie
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: February 14, 2012
Started On: February 18, 2012
Finished On: February 18, 2012

All romance lovers out there, make way for the superbly talented Jennifer Probst who has succeeded in earning herself an auto-buy spot on my already long list of authors whose books I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase. Not only do I immediately purchase Jennifer Probst’s books, but I stop everything I am reading at the moment and plunge into her books with an enthusiasm that tells a story of its own.

27 year old Alexandria Maria McKenzie (Alexa) is in a bit of a dilemma. She needs a husband, preferably with $150,000 to spare and she needs it fast. Brushing aside her ideals and her image of the perfect husband to share her life with isn’t easy for Alexa. But she will do it because she is willing to do everything in her power to rescue her family home. And so Alexa casts a little love spell, all the while feeling a bit silly but nevertheless hopeful that Mother Earth would send her way, a man who would meet all those qualities that she wants in a man together with that wad of cold hard cash to give as well.

30 year old Nicholas Ryan (Nick) is in a bit of a fix as well. Nick has a fortune at his fingertips, but his Uncle Earl had changed all the rules of the game at the last minute and left him hanging. His dream of owning Dreamscape, the architectural firm that brings out all his emotions and creativity in one stride would belong to him, only if gets married before the stated time is up. Nick is a man who doesn’t believe in happily ever afters, large families and the strength of a love between two people that defies all odds and logic. And he is certainly the direct opposite of what Alexa envisions as a husband for herself and nor is he too thrilled to know that his only viable option of a wife for a year is none other than his childhood tormentor Alexa herself.

14 year since that humiliating experience that had broken Alexa’s heart, she meets an altogether more controlled and formidable Nick, whose cold and hard way of looking at a marriage leaves a lot to be desired. But Alexa is desperate enough and thus she enters into a bargain which would give them both a marriage in name only, merely a business transaction on both sides, cold and aloof right from the onset until the 1 year period is up and both parties go their separate ways. But neither Alexa nor Nick thinks of those messier emotions that could botch things up, or those tendrils of desire that slowly erupts, leaving them both wanting more and brings in the possibility of that elusive thing called love that could last a lifetime.

Jennifer Probst surprised me with The Marriage Bargain. I was already in high anticipatory mode when I started on the book, knowing that Jennifer would not disappoint me. What surprised me, and all in a good way I must add, was the thread of humor that was introduced into the book right from the very beginning. Humor and red hot passion is an unbeatable combination in any romance novel and I was a goner from the first chapter itself.

Alexa was a character I loved right from the very beginning. Her sense of humor, her loyalty and kindness, the way that she gives everything she has got with no expectations of gaining anything back in return were some of those traits that drew me towards her in the same way way that Nick continued to be as the story progressed. Alexa is a woman who is comfortable with who she is, a woman who is helplessly drawn towards her husband as she had been when she was much younger and more naive, already in love with a man who had no illusions about love and happily ever afters. And Alexa’s well rounded family certainly makes for a heartwarming addition to an already character driven story that proved to be of the unputdownable kind. 

Nick *sigh*, Nick is a character I am going to be remembering for a long, long time. He is a man torn between the desire he feels for his altogether too alluring for her own good wife, a woman who confuses and befuddles him as no other woman ever has and his need for control that remains to be a thing of the past when Alexa steps into his life. He has no intention of staying around after the one year period is up  to see where  their relationship could go, already convinced that he would never make a good husband, a conviction born out of a childhood that had seen the endless battles of war waged between his parents.

The sexual tension that Jennifer so cleverly weaves into the story is of the scorching variety, the tingles and jolts that the reader experiences right along with Nick and Alexa one of the best parts of the story. Jennifer has a talent for building up the tension until it is an either do or die impasse that the characters reach, and the reader cannot help but be drawn towards the magic that unfolds that just left my throat parched, in dire need of a cool, tall glass of iced water to smooth things over. Without gushing further on this aspect, I will just let my quotes section do it for you.

And don’t let me forget the verbal warfare between Nick and Alexa, Nick finally meeting his match in every way. A woman who doesn’t back down, a woman who brings those little bits of color to his otherwise stark and empty life, showing Nick that life as he had known it is no longer an option for him. It is Alexa’s patience when it comes to Nick, the way she draws the inner soul inside of him that years to embrace those emotions which Nick is afraid to name that just makes this one of the best romances I have read in a long while.

A passion that is explosive as the love that unfolds is tender, a beautiful happily ever after that encompasses everything; Jennifer Probst delivers a fiery and wild romance that goes straight to your heart.

Highly recommended!

Favorite Quotes

[…] Some parts were totally inappropriate. The corded length of his arms. The broad shoulders and chest that stretched and molded the fabric. The deep bronze of his skin as if he had been lying in the sun for hours. The animal litheness of his movements. He had grown up, and he was no pretty boy. Nick Ryan was all hot-blooded man—and still looked at her as Maggie’s little playmate. 

“Your mother’s coming,” he said.
“I know—she probably heard us arguing. Do something!”
“What?”
“Anything!”
“Fine!” He grabbed her around the waist, dragged her body flush against his, and ducked his head. His lips crushed hers as his hands wrapped around her tightly so they were plastered against each other, hip to hip, thigh to thigh, breasts to chest.

She expected a precise, controlled kiss to calmly show her mother they were lovers. Instead she got hot testosterone and raw sexual energy. She got warm lips melded over hers. His teeth nipped. His tongue burrowed inside and plunged in and out with sheer command, bending her back over his arm to take every last drop of her resolve.

He’d been ready to push her away, and then she’d grabbed him at her mother’s call. Wasn’t his fault he gave in to instinct to save their ruse.
Until her hot, wet mouth opened under his. Until her sweet taste swamped his senses, and the maddening scents of vanilla and spice made him want to howl at the moon. He finally knew she approached sex the same way she approached anger—no holds barred—no prisoners taken. Demanding. Punishing. Passionate.

She waited as he perused the room, skated over her, stopped, then came slowly back.
Their eyes met.
Alexa hated clichés, and what she hated most was becoming one. But at that moment, her heartbeat thundered, her palms sweated, and her belly dipped and plunged as if on a rollercoaster ride. Her body went on full alert, begging him to come to her, promising him surrender. If he told her to go home, get in bed, and wait for him, Alexa was sure she’d follow his instructions.

Nick stood alone and watched her.
A strange emotion bubbled up inside of him. Since he’d never experienced it before, he couldn’t seek out a name. There was little left in life that touched him, and he admitted he liked it that way.
Tonight, something changed.

Nick knew the moment she realized her robe had dropped. Knew when the knowledge she was naked hit her full force. Watched her lips purse a small circle of horror right before sanity hit to make her reach for the robe.
Nick used his two-second time span to make a decision.
Her fingers started to yank up the material when he blocked her motion, lowered his head, and stamped his mouth over hers. Shock held her immobile and he used the time to his advantage. One quick thrust parted her plump lips and allowed him entry—entry to every slick, feminine heated corner of her mouth. Drugged on the taste of her, he circled her tongue with quick, urgent strokes, begging her to give it all back to him.
And she did.
Full power.

He closed the distance another tight inch. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and her nipples were hard little points stabbing out of the scarlet material, begging to be freed. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her perfume swamped his senses. He grew hard, and her eyes widened as his full length throbbed against her leg in demand. 
“I’m calling your bluff, baby.” 
Pure shock registered on her face as he removed one hand from the wall to casually unbutton his shirt, slide off his tie, then grasp her chin with a firm grip. 
“Prove it.” 
He stamped his mouth over hers, not giving her a chance to think or back off or push him away. He invaded her mouth, plunging his tongue inside the slick, silky cave, then closed his lips around the wet flesh and sucked hard. 
She grabbed for his shoulders, and made a little moan deep in her throat. 
Then she exploded.

He tenderly mated his tongue with hers, stroking, tracing the swollen flesh of her lips in an action that bespoke pure humbleness. And when he opened his eyes and looked into hers, she sucked in her breath as he finally let her in, let her see it all, and gave her what she needed. 
The truth. 
“It’s always been you. I don’t want anybody else, I don’t dream about anybody else. It’s only you.” 
She cried out as he buried himself to the hilt inside of her. Her body opened and accepted his swollen length, hugged him deep and demanded more.

He surged upward and paused at her entrance. 
“Look at me, Alexa.” 
Half drugged, she opened her eyes and gazed at the man she loved with every part of her being, waiting for him to claim her, waiting to take anything he could give. 
“It’s always been you.” He paused as if to be sure she heard and understood the words. Intensity gleamed within amber depths. He gripped her fingers, as if trying to speak beyond words. 
“And it will always be you.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BoB

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Nightfire by Lisa Marie Rice

Format: E-booknightfire
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Erotic Romantic Suspense
Series: Protectors, Book 3
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Hero: Michael Patrick Keillor
Heroine: Chloe Mason
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: February 7, 2012
Started On: February 11, 2012
Finished On: February 15, 2012

It seems like I have been waiting forever for the release of the 3rd book in the Protector series. If you like myself have read the 2nd book Hotter than Wildfire, you would know why. Hotter than Wildfire ended on a cliffhanger, leaving the reader in a serious state of anticipation for this book to come out. And though Nightfire didn’t live up to all my expectations, it still managed to deliver the sort of sensually charged read that only Lisa Marie Rice can deliver.

35 year old Michael Patrick Keillor (Mike) is one of the 3 partners of the RBK Security Inc., one of the most successful security companies in the country. While his two brothers and best friends Harry and Sam had found their happily ever afters with wonderful women, Mike remains single, wandering as the restless soul that hides a wealth of pain deep inside of him. His home while stark, antiseptic and empty are a contrast to Mike’s emotions remain chaotic though he manages to hide it well.

28 year old Chloe Mason makes her way towards the building that houses RBK Security not for the usual reasons women seek them out. She comes to find out whether Harry could be her long-lost brother, hopeful and a bit apprehensive at the same time. Chloe is beyond ecstatic when Harry welcomes her with open arms, his fragile younger sister who had suffered and gone through so much in her life already. 

The attraction between Mike and Chloe is an immediate and an all encompassing one that flares to life right from the very minute the two of them lay eyes on each other. Chloe though fragile and delicate with zero experience when it comes to the opposite sex knows instinctively that Mike would never hurt her. However, after one very explosive kiss that burns hotter and brighter than any usual kiss, Mike’s less than stellar activities the previous night proves to be the reason why Mike takes a step back, though he doesn’t completely step away from Chloe’s life.

Story continues six months later, at the point where Mike is ready to bring and end to a promise that has kept him from completely claiming Chloe as he would have liked to do from day one of their “relationship”. And when Chloe’s life is suddenly under threat from ex-Russian military personnel, nothing and absolutely no force on this Earth is going to prevent Mike from claiming Chloe as his, and protecting her from any sort of harm that may come to her.

Nightfire combines all the elements that makes a Lisa Marie Rice book so memorable. Mike is alpha hero personified and Chloe is the delicate, beautiful and serene heroine who just makes you think of flowers and sunshine right from the very minute that you meet her. And the fireworks that bursts forth right from the very start is trademark Lisa Marie Rice, the heat and the off the charts sensuality always a reason to keep coming back for more of her stories.

There is none who can make a reader sweat right along with the hero and heroine as they dance around the heat that is between them, succumbing to the deep pull that is a constant throughout the story. Every single sliver of desire between Mike and Chloe was one I felt to my very bones, the reason why I loved this story so much. There were certain aspects of the story I didn’t like overly much, like the constant re-telling of emotions that seems to grip both Chloe and Mike until towards the latter part of the story. Yes, Mike has a story to tell, an immensely sad one at that too, but I wanted more action on the suspense side as well as the relationship that was fostering between Mike and Chloe to be the center of the story.

Even with all those little things that didn’t work for me, I still enjoyed the story of how Chloe and Mike find that special something with each other, the epilogue at the end that put a smile on my face the reason why I would rate this as a great read, recommended for any fan of Lisa Marie Rice.

Favorite Quotes

Her hand lifted without any volition on her part, as if it were the hand itself that wanted to be held by his. He gently grasped it in both hands, instead of the impersonal handshake she’d been expecting. His hands were as hot as a furnace. Slowly, watching her every second, he brought her hand to his mouth and—oh my God—kissed it.
Something inside her, something she’d never even suspected existed, pinged to life. Heat, excitement . . . desire. 

She whimpered, the sound lost in Mike’s mouth. She was entirely his, completely without willpower or volition. His mouth ate at hers, his shoulders curved in to her like some powerful wall of flesh. He moved his hips against her in short, stabbing movements, hands lifting her hips against his.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BoB

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: In the Marshal’s Arms by Emma Jay

Format: E-bookinthemarshalsarms
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Historical Erotic Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Rhys Burgess
Heroine: Maddy Colby
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: December 15, 2011
Started On: February 6, 2012
Finished On: February 6, 2012

US Marshal Rhys Burgess is on the hunt to bring bank robber Edward Colby to justice. His search brings him to the somewhat derelict home of Maddy Colby, mistress to the brothers who had wreaked havoc with their penchant for stealing and being one of the most ambitious bank robbers of the past decade.

When Rhys meets Maddy, she is unlike the woman he has envisioned in his head. Maddy intrigues him with her intelligent mind, the way her hair seems to shimmer and shine with the most contrasting vividness and the way his senses start humming whenever Maddy is around.

For Maddy, Rhys is a temptation that is hard to deny. A woman who is completely comfortable in her sexuality, Maddy has no qualms about seducing and being seduced by Rhys who makes her feel desirable, cossetted and loved all at the same time. But then reality is not too far away and intrudes right at the moment where Maddy is willing to put her faith, trust and love in the one man who has broken down her barriers, the one man she wants to spend the rest of her life with.

In the Marshal’s Arms was a short and hot read that features a most refreshing heroine. Emma Jay has a way of writing her heroines bold, sexy and comfortable with who they are and Maddy is no different. Rhys is a bit shy and uncertain when it comes to expressing his desire for a woman who he has no intention of getting involved with at first. But the heart has an agenda of its own and that is how Rhys finds himself in the best kind of trouble he has ever gotten into in his life.

I loved the ending, the way Rhys wins over Maddy’s affections. In the Marshal’s Arms is a good read, recommended for those who love historical erotic romances. Emma Jay has a way with her heroes that just makes you want to sigh over & over again once you are done.

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: More Than One Night by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-bookmorethanonenight
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Superromance
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Rhys Andrew Walker
Heroine: Charlotte Long
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: February 1, 2012
Started On: February 4, 2012
Finished On: February 4, 2012

Trust Sarah Mayberry to take a plot that has practically been done to death in the world of romance and still give readers a story that is worth remembering. In my eyes, Sarah Mayberry is one of the few authors in the contemporary romance genre who can do no wrong. Each and every single story that I have read from her has always been memorable, and her latest release is no exception to the rule.

32 year old Charlotte (Charlie) Long leaves the army after 14 long years of service and is trying to find her place in civilian life. Her best friend Gina sees a cause for celebration her first night back and that is how she crosses paths with the handsome, charming and sexy Rhys Andrew Walker, who himself is celebrating the successful sealing of a business deal that means the world to him. Driven, determined and ambitious is what Rhys is all about, and when he sees Charlie and the spark and connection between them is an immediate and instantaneous one, Rhys convinces Charlie to indulge with him in one night of decadent passion.

However for Charlie, the light of the morning brings forth with a vengeance the insecurities that had been kept at bay in the darkness of the night and Charlie slips away, believing deep in her heart that someone as sinfully good looking as Rhys would never give her the time of the day. Eight weeks later the story continues, Charlie slowly and surely finding her footing in the uncertain waters that is civilian life. And then comes the scariest revelation of her life; that she is pregnant with Rhys’s baby.

More than One Night is a story that stands true to the remarkable talent that Sarah Mayberry shows whenever she puts pen to paper to create her vivid cast of characters and emotions that practically seeps through the pages. And in More than One Night I found a story that nearly had me in tears, a relationship that when it unfolded had me holding my breathe in just to see how Rhys and Charlie make their way through a situation fraught with the unknown and emotions that neither of them had never felt before.

Charlie is one of the most complex heroines I have encountered in the fact that she has so much pain and feelings of insecurity buried so deep inside of her. As a child, Charlie had learnt early on to keep her emotions in check, to show a calm and controlled front to the rest of the world. Having never received love or affection from her father, Charlie had set out to join the military as the last attempt at winning over his affections. But even that had not turned out as she had thought it would though the military had given her a sense of belonging she hadn’t ever felt before.

The pivotal moment in the story during which Charlie came out with all the fears and insecurities that had been bottled up deep inside of her for a lifetime, I seriously found myself with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat the size of a roadblock that refused to go away no matter how hard I tried. And I am not one to cry easily either at movies or over a book, and the fact that Charlie’s character invoked so much emotion from me surprised me all in a good way. Needless to say, I loved Charlie, her straightforward and pragmatic manner, her loyalty, the way she wants to do the right thing above everything else and the way she faces whatever challenge that she comes across with a strength and determination that astounded me at times.

It is a rare circumstance for me to gush about a heroine in a book and totally forget about the hero. Rhys’s character was what made everything deep inside of Charlie better and stronger in the end. Rhys is the type of man who focuses on what he wants, goes after it and succeeds in his attempts to win over the goals he sets in his life. But all those things that had seemed so important to him before suddenly takes a backseat when he discovers he is going to be a father, a news that has him reeling at first. But slowly and surely, Rhys finds that becoming a father with Charlie in the picture is exactly what he wants and needs, if only he could convince Charlie to let go, to trust in him and their newfound love for one another.

It was a thing of beauty to witness the phases that Charlie goes through in order to come out the triumphant one in the end. Rhys works his brand of magic on her, like a soothing salve on those wounds that had festered away for far too long. As I said before, the emotional impact of the story is one that completely sucker punched me, from the sexually charged scenes to the beautiful proposal at the end that had me smiling through all the emotions that had bombarded me from all corners for the better half of the story.

If you want a story that would completely draw you in, characters that feel real, and go through honest emotions to come out winners with a love that is that much more beautiful because of the journey they take towards the ultimate happily ever after, this one’s for you.

Favorite Quotes

He leaned closer and she swallowed the rest of her words as he pressed a kiss to her lips. He lifted his head slightly and looked into her eyes. She stared back at him, stunned, her heart thudding against her breastbone. He palmed the nape of her neck, and then he was kissing her again, his tongue sweeping into her mouth this time, turning her legs to jelly.
She pressed her body against his, her skin on fire, desire beating a tattoo through her veins. His tongue stroked hers gently, provocatively, and she reached out and gripped his shoulders with both hands.
After a long, long moment he drew back. “Come home with me?” he asked very quietly, his voice a low husk.
Dear God, I thought you’d never ask.

Just when she was about to scream with frustration he flexed his hips and slid inside her. Her body welcomed him as he buried himself to the hilt. She let out a broken little sob, almost tearful over how good it felt to be filled by him, how hard and thick and hot he felt inside her.
He started to move, and within seconds she’d found his rhythm. Every clumsy sexual encounter she’d ever had, every second of self-consciousness over her body or her own needs, every doubt she’d ever experienced went out the window as she gave herself over to the moment.

He pulled her close and kissed her the way he’d been wanting to for weeks. There was the smallest of hesitations then she kissed him back, her body straining toward his almost desperately. She tasted of salty tears and need and he tightened his arms around her, wanting to take away the pain he’d caused her, needing to make things right between them. 

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N| Harlequin

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Sicilian’s Passion by Sharon Kendrick

Format: E-book
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Giovanni Calverri
Heroine: Kate Connors
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: October 5, 2001
Started On: January 26, 2012
Finished On: January 27, 2012

Released originally in 2001 and later re-released in Kindle in August last year, The Sicilian’s Passion by Sharon Kendrick is one of my favorite Harlequin romances. I remember re-reading this romance more than 3 times in fact, and its being around 3 years since I last revisited Giovanni and Kate’s tempestuous affair born out of their mutual attraction towards one another.

27 year old Kate Connors is an interior designer who is pretty much happy with who she is. Her clients are mostly the rich and sometimes the famous and that is how she crosses paths with Giovanni Calverri, tall, dark and with looks good enough to make the average woman swoon at his feet. The 34 year old Giovanni is used to women reacting towards him the way Kate does from the onset of their introduction. But the difference this time around is Giovanni feels as helpless as Kate in disguising the need that flares to life deep inside of him to claim the red headed beauty who tempts him unlike any other.

Furious with himself more than anyone else about the desire he feels towards Kate, it is a triumphant Giovanni that races towards Kate’s apartment to do his godmother’s bidding, secure in the knowledge that Kate had engineered the meeting that was about to happen between them. Things however go totally in the opposite direction as soon as Giovanni steps into the apartment, the desire that they both inexplicably feel towards each other refusing to be denied when there was nothing holding them back. However with the initial bout of lust sated, the self loathing that Giovanni feels starts festering, the truth about his relationship status driving him away as a thief would slink away into the dark night.

Though Kate comes to know of Giovanni’s betrayal, she cannot help but yearn for everything she felt in his arms, nor can she forget the answering need that had kept them locked in each other’s arms all through the night. And when Giovanni turns up at Kate’s apartment, now a free man willing to indulge in an affair that would satisfy his lust for the English woman once and for all, Kate takes what he offers knowing that she doesn’t have it in her to say no to Giovanni in any form.

Thus begins a most passionate affair that spans different corners of the globe until the inevitable happens and forces both Giovanni and Kate to confront their feelings of the more tender nature towards each other. The journey that they take towards the happily ever after is one that is filled with angst and lots of passionate, off-the-charts sexy moments that just makes my senses hum, no matter how many times I re-read this number. I love stories where the author doesn’t beat around the bush but gets to the heart of the matter which is why this book remains as a favorite of mine even after such a long time.

Giovanni is a hero who has got everything going for him from his good looks to his passionate nature that left me breathless every single time. A man who has always lived by the rules that had governed his life, Giovanni is a bit lost himself when he has to give in to the possessive streak that courses through him even from his first encounter with Kate. Kate is a heroine who is well matched to our Giovanni in her independent nature that asserts itself and makes Giovanni confront just more than his need for Kate’s body throughout their unusual affair. I loved how well they seem to complement each other, in bed and out of it, and loved seeing how Giovanni changes throughout the story. The epilogue tucked in at the end serves to be one of the reasons I will continue to re-visit this story time and yet again, because lets face it; a beautiful happily ever after is one of the major reasons why we love romances as much as we do.

Highly recommended to fans of angst filled Harlequin romances with a hero who has enough passion sizzling through his body to knock your socks off!

Favorite Quotes

‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this!’ she declared. ‘You’d been positively insulting about the fact that I knew nothing about Sicily—and just because I wanted to fill in a few gaps in my knowledge you make it sound like I had some kind of master-plan to ensnare you!’
‘You didn’t need a master-plan, Kate,’ he told her starkly. ‘Your eyes ensnared me from the first moment I looked into them.’

She shook her head, but it was too late, and he was pulling her into his arms and bending his head to hers and she supposed that she could have stopped him. Should have stopped him. But no power in the world could have prevented her lips from parting in a sharp little gasp of remembered pleasure as he drove his mouth down like a man who had been starved of kisses.

The feeling which rocked him took him completely off-guard, and her own corresponding gasps of pleasure as she spasmed around him made him tip his head back in a disbelieving kind of wonder as he came and came and came, his seed spilling uselessly into the condom.
And then he rolled off her and gazed unseeingly at the ceiling.
He hadn’t known it could feel quite like that.

Her big green eyes drove all conventional greetings clean out of his mind. Oh, what the hell? he thought savagely, and bent his head to kiss her.
‘G-Giovanni!’ The suitcase fell uselessly from her hand and her fingertips went straight up to his shoulders, biting into the sensually scented leather with an abandon which gathered momentum with each thrust of his tongue as he kissed her with shameless abandon.

‘You look like my every fantasy come to life,’ he whispered, his voice deepening.
‘How?’ she whispered back.
‘Wicked. Abandoned. And…’
She heard his hesitation, was intrigued by it. ‘And what?’
‘Here,’ he admitted. ‘Now. On my bed after too long. Waiting for me to make love to you over and over again.’

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

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Secret Admirer by Susan Napier

Format: E-booksecretadmirer
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents, #1554
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Scott Gregory
Heroine: Grace Blair
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: April 1, 1993
Started On: January 22, 2012
Finished On: January 24, 2012

With my second book by the author, Susan Napier has landed in my list of favorite Harlequin romance authors. Even with the 2 books that I have read, I have come to identify with the fact that her books have those elements that continually surprises the reader, which is no mean feat when someone like myself who has read and loved 1000’s of romances can pick up a novel and be drawn into the story because of the opening chapter itself.

Secret Admirer kick starts with seven month widower Grace Blair being caught in an elevator with the man who turns her orderly and well controlled life around. Grace cannot help but be equal parts horrified and fascinated with the turn of events that takes place in the elevator, nor can she forget the heat that had blazed into life in the stranger’s eyes, who continues to haunt and taunt her in vivid dreams of the erotic variety.

When Scott Gregory walks into her life as a potential business partner, Grace cannot believe her eyes nor her luck in meeting the man who keeps popping into her thoughts and dreams at the most inopportune moments. But years of practice and teachings that had been ingrained into her from her childhood itself lets Grace handle the meeting in her usual icy and reserved manner, or so she thinks until she realizes the ease with which Scott invades her life, turning her whole world upside down and making her face the inevitable truth of her changing feelings towards him.

Scott Gregory, hands down, was the best thing about this story. His passion for anything and everything to do with Grace, his utter focus and zeal when seducing Grace and of course the way his senses clamor for Grace’s touch and the desire that he so evidently feels for Grace was such a beautiful part of the story. Scott has a few surprises in store for Grace, one that leaves her reeling, with feelings of possessiveness streaking through her very core. The fact that Scott gives her the one thing that he has been holding off from giving to any other woman should have convinced Grace of his much deeper feelings for her, but Grace continually thwarts Scott’s efforts until towards the very end which pissed me off for a bit when it came to Grace. But nevertheless, the passion, the chase and the ultimate surrender of Grace proved to make this a titillating read that held my undivided attention all throughout.

Highly recommended!

Favorite Quotes

She wasn’t aware of the rip he made in the back of her dress when his shaking hands wrenched the zip down, only of the molten sensuality of his gaze as he steered her into a shaft of light near the window and studied her breasts, nestled in their cups of pure white lace.
‘Sweet…pretty…did you wear this for me?’ he asked thickly, roughly tracing the outline of the lace across the curving swells. ‘Did you want me to take off your dress tonight, Grace? To admire you like this?’
‘I…’ His arousal was so flatteringly intense that she couldn’t deny him the truth. ‘Yes…’ She closed her eyes, gasping as she felt the stroke of his thumbs across the seams, finding the rigid tips that were evidence of her own desire.

Scott stood by the bedside, looking down at her. Then he spread his hands, revealing the fine tremors there.
‘Look what you do to me. You make me weak.’ Grace reached out a hand and touched his ridged stomach. ‘You’re the strongest man I know,’ she said softly, feeling the shift and clench of muscle under her fingers as she stroked them down to his belt. She tugged at it. ‘I want you.’

She felt shy, like a precious gift being gloatingly unwrapped, but she didn’t resent his moment of purely masculine triumph. The glory of the moment was also hers, this beautiful man hers. He was giving himself to her and asking nothing but what she was willing to give in return.

Her mouth trembled and parted and she began to gasp in light, shallow breaths that made her flushed breasts quiver deliciously, invitingly… He bent and touched a stiff pink nipple experimentally with his mouth, very gently. She jerked and cried out, exploding beneath him in a series of violent convulsions that almost unseated him. 

The taste of him exploded inside her mouth, filling her senses with an intoxicating warmth and aroma that had nothing to do with the amount of brandy he had consumed. He made sounds-rough, greedy, indistinct sounds that vibrated through her tissues, his lips and teeth and tongue consuming her with his passion. 

Finally, when she was shaking so much that he staggered with the violence of her pleasure, he drove her back against the wall and took her as she stood, careless of the clothes that bunched between them, oblivious to everything but the primitive, driving force that had conquered him far more devastatingly than he had conquered her.

‘Use me, Grace. If that’s what we’ve been doing so far, I love it. I want to be used. Now.’ He stretched, a long ripple of pure muscle as he invited her in a throaty purr that wrapped itself around her heart and drew her irresistibly towards him, the craving stronger than anger or fear. ‘You can insult me, hurt me, hate me… test me any way you like. I’m strong. I’m not going to run away just because things aren’t perfect between us…’

Purchase Links: Amazon | Abe Books

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