Category / Satisfactory Read

Rating of 3 stars

by mvbookreviewer

Short & Sweet Review: Strangers When We Meet by Rebecca Winters

Format: E-bookwhenstrangersmeet
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Superromance #737
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Nicholas Marchant Armstrong
Heroine: Rosie Gardner Armstrong
Sensuality: 2.9
Date of Publication: March 1, 1997
Started On: October 25, 2010
Finished On: October 25, 2010

Harlequin Super Romance always delivers heartwarming stories of love and family life interwoven together. My first experience with this series came when one of my favorite authors Sarah Mayberry wrote for this series. Even then I usually refrain from Harlequin books these days, unless I actually know the author well enough like I do for Ms. Mayberry. I picked up this novel from a discussion thread on Amazon opened up for book suggestions on the theme where military heroes who are presumed dead by their wives suddenly return back from the dead leading to the dynamics that make up a great story. This story played with all my emotions; I felt heartache, happiness, anger and betrayal at times and I say that a romance author has done his/her job well when you provoke all sorts of emotions be it good or bad from your readers. So on with my review.

Storyline: Rosie Gardner Armstrong had married her high school sweetheart Nicholas Marchant Armstrong and never looked back. They had been happy as two people who are as tuned into one another as they are can be. It is when Nick gos off to Iraq during the war to be presumed dead for the past six and half years return from the dead to find that his wife Rosie had met Zachery Wilde and had gotten engaged less than 24 hours ago to the man the story starts. The only thing that had kept Nick going during the long hours of torture during his captivity had been thoughts of his beloved Rosie and son Cody who had now grown into a sixteen year old boy. Even though Nick’s doting parents nor his son shows any hint of knowing about the new man in his wife’s life, the moment Nick holds Rosie in his arms and kisses her, he knows that Rosie had changed and that her soul no longer belonged to him. What follows is a story seeped in heartache and misery for Rosie with all the guilt that surfaces whilst she tries to come to terms with her feelings for the two wonderful men in her life, and the inevitable choice she has to make, either way hurting a man she loves.

The First Meet: Rosie and Nick had first meet one another during a high school sponsored carnival in a pie throwing contest. Nick had been paired with Rosie and from the moment that he sees Rosie amidst all the pie stuffing, peeking out with her green eyes, Nick’s young heart leaps right out and offers itself with undying love for her.

Time period: This romance has a contemporary setting.

Awareness between the two characters: Though there are no steamy interludes between Nick and Rosie, one can’t help but be drawn into the web of awareness between these two characters. It is gut wrenching to read about the confusion and guilt that Rosie goes through because she is engaged to one man whilst married to a man who starts divorce proceedings because he wants her to be happy. Through flashbacks into what their life together had been like, Ms. Winters shows the deep connection between Nick and Rosie, a connection that refuses to go away even with distance and time.

How the relationship grows: Nothing that happens within this story is easy to read about – and I don’t mean that in a bad way. When Nick returns from the dead, Rosie who ends up in a state of shock doesn’t know to whom her loyalties lie with. It is Zach who is the ultimate hero in my opinion because he refuses to put Rosie through so much pain and heartbreak and gives her the choice to work things out with her husband who thinks the best thing he can do for Rosie is to let her go completely from his life so that she can start anew with Zach as her husband.
It is to Zach that Rosie runs back to when she realizes that her husband is serious about obtaining the divorce, and it is because Zach who has already lost so much in his life loves her more than his next breathe that he takes her back and resumes their courtship though Rosie is unable to let go of Nick and their shared memories together.
Nick on the other hand tries to smooth out the way for the couple to be because he believes that it is what Rosie wants and needs. Amidst all this however, the connection between Nick and Rosie grow, because both of them still love and yearn for each other as much or more so than ever since the first time each had known the other. There is a lot of drama and angst involved whilst Nick’s parents consider Rosie’s love for Zach a betrayal, whilst Cody tries to adjust to accepting Zach as a permanent part of his mother’s life.

The turning point: There is no sudden revelation that happens within the story to guide Rosie on who to choose in the end. The decision comes to her gradually as she realizes that her feelings wouldn’t change and that it would be wrong of her to choose Zach whilst she was still in love with her husband.

Likes: I liked the fact that this romance doesn’t cut any corners on the emotional upheaval the reader has to go through to reach the happily-ever-after. The character who was most endearing to me through the whole story was Zachary Wilde who really understood the woman he loved, and loved her enough to set her free not once but twice so that she would be able to choose who she wants to spend the rest of her life loving. It just flat-out broke my heart for Zach at the end. *sobs quietly* But I felt a little better once I saw that Ms. Winters didn’t leave Zach hanging high and dry for long as his story was soon published with his own happily-ever-after.

Dislikes: I really didn’t like the way how guilt-ridden everyone made Rosie feel throughout the story. Her in-laws, her son as well as Nick made Rosie feel as if she had betrayed all of them by trying to move on with her life and trying to find happiness with another man. At times, I felt like screaming in frustration at her in-laws because they were so devoted to their only child that for even a moment they never consider just how much of an emotional impact Nick’s sudden return back into her life must be on her. And Rosie refused to stand up for herself, because she felt too guilty at all times because she had believed her husband to be dead and tried to move on, whilst her in-laws and son hadn’t. Totally didn’t sit well with me!

Recommended for: Fans of Harlequin Super Romance publisher series and those who love a story with a love triangle that guarantees to play havoc on all your emotions.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Sweet Tempest by Helen Bianchin

Format: E-bookFront
Read with: Microsoft Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents #744
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Jake Stanton
Heroine: Stephanie Matheson
Sensuality: 2.8
Date of Publication: November 1, 1984
Started On: August 24, 2010
Finished On: August 24, 2010

I always come across books by Helen Bianchin though I have never given them a try before today. Having some free time and coming across this quite old Harlequin Presents romance, I wanted to indulge in a book where I wouldn’t have to think much and invest myself in the book. Surprisingly I found myself turning the pages quickly, fascinated in spite of myself in the drama that you can always find in a Harlequin romance.

Stephanie Matheson works as a secretary with her father who holds his own veterinary practice in Bacchus Marsh, south-west Victoria. When the opportunity to attend a conference which is to take place in Los Angeles for a month comes knocking on James Matheson’s door, he is more than excited. And when through an unexpected turn of events, Jake Stanton the son of one his long term friends, who has returned from the states recently agreed to look after the practice for the month whilst he was gone, it was a too good an opportunity for him to turn down. Entrusting the care of Jake to his daughter and making arrangements so that their housekeeper would take residence at their home for the duration, James leaves her daughter Stephanie with a feeling of trepidation ever since the moment she lays eyes on Jake.

Jake with his sardonic drawl and a cynicism that never leaves his eyes invades the thoughts of Stephanie far more than she likes. And when the housekeeper that was supposed to live in with them breaks her leg and has to be hospitalized, Stephanie knows that she would have to bear with Jake and his irritable presence.

When her boyfriend Ian, who lives with his mother and who in turn despised any male or female that might threaten her relationship with her son finds out that Jake is living with Stephanie, all hell breaks loose in their relationship front. Before long, a lifelong friend who turned into something more turns into a stranger who can’t seem to get over his jealousy of Jake and his presence at Stephanie’s home.

Though Stephanie denies that she feels anything for the ruggedly handsome Jake, her body betrays her every time Jake takes her in his arms. When Jake’s beautiful ex-wife Alana comes calling, Jake resorts to using Stephanie as a shield to prevent Alana from getting her claws once again into Jake and his fortune.

Stephanie doesn’t know how she ended up playing the role of a doting fiance to a man she despised. There were times when I wanted to hit Jake on the head for the cruelty he showed to Stephanie. And there were times that I wanted to shake Stephanie so that she would grow a spine or two. But all in all, the book served its purpose and gave me a light and fast read which was what I wanted in the end.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: White Out by Linda Howard

Format: E-bookwhiteout
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Upon A Midnight Clear Series
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Tanner Price
Heroine: Hope Bradshaw
Sensuality: 2.5
Date of Publication: November 29, 1999
Started On: June 17, 2010
Finished On: June 18, 2010

Believe me, once you get addicted to Linda Howard’s writing style, you would find it difficult to let go. It happened to me once before, when I first realized how great a writer she is. And of course the wonderful alpha male heroes that she creates with strong heroines who don’t grate on your nerves by their simpering idiosyncrasy or trying to prove that they are as good as the next guy bodes well with me.

This too is a short story, pretty short I would say, in fact shorter than the book that I reviewed the last time. Anyhow this story is centered around Hope Bradshaw who has been widowed for five long years during which she has devoted most of her time taking care of her dead husband Dylan’s dreams.

The story kicks off when a fierce blizzard is brewing up and Hope is alone at home with her faithful dog Tinkerbell as a companion when a stranger shows up in the midst of the snowstorm barely alive. Hope saves his life and before she knows it, she has given into the quick and hot attraction that flares up between the two.

But news from the outside world intrudes in on the couple making Hope doubt that Tanner is who he claims to be. Scared that he might be one of the escaped convicts the media was reporting about, Hope takes matters into her own hands and finally figures out who  the villain and who the hero is before this short story is through.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Bluebird Winter by Linda Howard

Format: E-bookbluebirdwinter
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Spencer-Nyle Company Series, Book 3
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Derek Taliferro
Heroine: Kathleen Fields
Sensuality: 2
Date of Publication: November 1987
Started On: June 17, 2010
Finished On: June 17, 2010

This is a short story by the author, a story that once I started to read I had the inkling that I had read it previously. Anyhow this book is good for a quick read where not much thinking on the reader’s part is required.

The story starts off when Kathleen goes into labor prematurely during a snow storm. Kathleen lives in a remote ranch where the nearest clinic is around fifteen miles away which in the rough weather that breaks out seems like an impossible task to reach. However for the sake of her unborn child, Kathleen tries to drive through the ferocious weather only to land in a ditch whilst the contractions get worse by the minute.

Derek Tallifero is a doctor specialized in neonatal care who is on  his way back to the city after visiting his mother for Christmas. Derek is also caught up in the storm and barely makes out the truck  Kathleen is in and it is he that rescues her, assist her in the birthing process and fall in love with her all in the same night.

Derek knows that the woman he had so hopelessly fallen in love with has to be wooed and courted so that she would lose that haunted look  in her eyes. The only solution that he could come up with was to propose marriage to Kathleen in the name of taking care of the baby. Kathleen though she doesn’t know it, is seduced into loving the warm and vibrant man that Derek is and slight misunderstandings on Kathleen’s part which is quickly resolved give this little family the happy ending they deserve.

Sarah and Rome, two of my favorite characters from one of my most favorite Linda Howard’s novels Sarah’s Child appear in this story which made it more endearing to me. My only problem with the book was it being too short to enjoy for a bit longer.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: A Natural Father by Sarah Mayberry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Coming In Last by Shiloh Walker

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Sensuality: 4
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: Jamie McAdams
Heroine: Andi Morrow
Date of Publication: July 30, 2006
Started On: February 24, 2010
Finished On: February 25, 2010

Andi grew up in foster homes and other such state child care centers ever since she was abandoned by her parents when she was 5 years old. Growing up, Andi learnt the tough lesson of never relying on anyone but herself to see things through. Now a nurse working at the day care at a private firm, Andi is also an author of romance novels though no one knows about this secret career of hers.

Jamie is a private investigator whose godfather Jeb is one of the president’s of the firm at which Andi works. Jeb hires Jamie and his partner Mick to find out who has been embezzling money from the company. At first with the help of Art Letcher the money guy of the company, all clues point towards Andi been the one who had stolen money. But as Jamie and Mick dig a little further, they realize that Andi is innocent and that the real thief was doing a good job of framing an innocent whilst he/she was going to get away with more money than that had initially been identified as stolen.

Without Andi’s knowledge and Jamie’s heartfelt disapproval, Mick hatches a plan to catch the real thief by using Andi as bait. However, Jamie feels like a heel because he has fallen in love with Andi and he knows that Andi is the woman that he has been waiting for all his life. Andi too feels the intense connection and its not long before these two hits the sheets and burn their way through them with the intense passion and heat these two generate.

But once Andi finds out the extent of Mick’s and Jamie’s plans, Jamie’s worst nightmare comes true when Andi wants nothing to do with him. But in the end, everything works out and the bad guy is caught, and Jamie and Andi gets the happy ending they both deserved.

Not one of Walker’s greatest stories but enjoyed it.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Kobo

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Shadow Hawk by Jill Shalvis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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