Category / St. Martin’s Press

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Emerald Rain by Maggie Osborne

Format: Paperbackemeraldrain
Read with: NA
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Hero: March Addison
Heroine: Eulalie Pritchard
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: June 5, 1991
Started On: December 30, 2013
Finished On: January 5, 2014

Emerald Rain by Maggie Osborne is one of those romances that reaffirms my belief in the reason why romance would always be my preferred genre to read. I had almost but not quite, forgotten just how good a Maggie Osborne romance could be and why I had actually spent a small fortune in acquiring these out of print titles of hers for my collection. Even those novels that can be considered lackluster when it comes to Maggie Osborne are titles that still gives you a read to remember. This being otherwise I would say made a wonderful start to my reading for the year 2014!

24 year old Eulalie Pritchard (Lalie) makes her way to Brazil to follow her fiance’ to Hiberalta, a journey that would take her through the perilous Amazon jungle and the river that runs through it. Lalie lives by the strict rules of English society, her prim and properness a facet to her character that irritates March Addison from the first moment he lays eyes on her. The son of Earl of Addison, March has carved a name for himself in the Amazon as a renowned businessman in the booming rubber industry in Brazil and Lalie believes that nothing of the gentleman she had encountered 10 years back lives inside of him now.

Lalie expects the rough around the edges March to ferry her up to Hiberalta as quickly as possible and March in return expects fluff of her kind to depart from the country within a week. Both Lalie and March have surprises in store for the other as a trip that takes 3-5 months to complete bares everyone aboard down to their very basics. Living primitively does the one thing that wouldn’t be obvious while living in polite society, and that is to bring to light all the characteristics, good and the bad that drives a person. And that is exactly what happens when March takes Lalie on board despite all the misgivings he has when it comes to the most infuriating, beautiful and enticing woman he has ever come across all his life.

Lalie is determined if nothing else to live, to never be labeled as the woman who never lived a full life. Her infatuation with her fiance is seemingly what drives Lalie to seek the trip on her own but as the days fade into weeks, just like the rules of propriety that Lalie was determined to stick to at the beginning of the trip are stripped away one by one, feelings of the most wanton and unexpected variety seems to fill her heart, body and soul where March is concerned.

As swift as the currents in the Amazon that propels their vessel forward, so does the desire that explodes to surface where March and Lalie are concerned, a desire that is as primitive as the Indians that live amidst the jungle that surrounds the waters. Maggie Osborne always does a remarkable job in creating her heroes and March Addison is another exemplary specimen. One can almost imagine the sinewiness to his musculature, his sensual lips and the totally alpha male vibe that just seems to cling to him. His strength of character is one of the many things that made him an appealing hero and his honor one that made me fall irrevocably in love with him.

Lalie’s character makes me remember a friend of mine whose sheer determination carries her through a lot of hurdles in her life. Lalie who has had a privileged upbringing, is in short, a dreamer. Having seen her fiance through the eyes of infatuation, Lalie had missed out on the crucial aspects of his character to which she is brutally made aware of as the time of reckoning draws closer. While her heart, mind, body and soul yearns for the touch of the man who should be all sorts of wrong for her, Lalie is determined that she keep her word where her fiance is concerned. There were many a times that I literally burst out in laughter due to Lalie’s sometimes innocent and yet honest to God nature that she tries to hide behind all the rules of propriety. Lalie has the sort of hidden sensuality that would drive any red blooded man insane with wanting and that is the kind of wanting that leaves March reeling from the sheer force of it all.

The sexual tension wrought in the novel is top notch, one that made me sigh, squirm and want to prolong the read as much as possible. And one reason I love Osborne novels so much is that she is not afraid to deliver on the said tension when the time comes. And believe me, all that sexual tension Osborne puts the reader through was worth every nail biting moment of it and I was sighing all throughout every beautiful second of it.

Highly recommended!

Final Verdict: Sensuous and a whole lot of adventurous; Maggie Osborne delivers a tale as steamy as the Amazon itself. Not to be missed!

Favorite Quotes

A moaning sound came from her parted lips. Her breasts were thrust against his chest as her head fell backward and her eyes closed. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and her legs wrapped around his, pulling him more tightly against her until his erection throbbed between them, a rigid strength pressing against her soft, yielding body.

“Lalie,” he whispered. He slid one hand to the small of her back and held her pressed against him, his other hand moved slowly to cup her breast, teasing the hard nipple. Her breath was as rapid and choked as his when she met his eyes with a look filled with helpless urgency.

With tormenting slowness, exercising a patience and tenderness he had not known he possessed, he moved his month and tongue over her throat, teasing upward toward the swollen promise of her lips. His hand slid up her back go cup her small head.
“Oh my god March… March..”
Her words emerged part sob, part plea, and her body tightened around his.

Then she raised her face to his clenched jaw, his hard mouth, and finally defenseless, she surrendered to the dark eyes burning down into hers. Their stared locked and held. Her breast rose and trembled on a dry, scorching breath. A yearning sound almost like a sob caught in her throat.
And she wanted.

Her body moved against his; her hands rose and she buried her fingers in his thick hair as her mouth opened beneath his to receive his plundering tongue. Gasping, almost sobbing with the bliss and relief of finally knowing his kiss, Lalie clung to him, pulled him closer, closer, as if she could absorb him, as if by holding him tightly she could make this feverish moment last forever.

“On those nights when sleep won’t come, I’ll lie in my bed and remember the softness of your breast, the sweet curve of your waist. I’ll remember the lagoon, the sunshine on your eyelids. I’ll remember the taste of your skin and the scent of your hair… and I’ll wonder.”

“I’ll make love to other women, Lalie, but they won’t be you. I’ll feel that loss and wonder. All my life I will remember you and regret that I didn’t have you. All my life I will wonder at the feel and touch and scent of you. I will wonder if you would have cried my name. I will wonder if I would have given you pleasure. I will wonder and mourn my loss.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | AbeBooks

fantasticread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Lady Reluctant by Maggie Osborne

Format: Paperbackladyreluctant
Read with: NA
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: St Martins Press
Hero: Thomas Edward Montmorency
Heroine: Blusette Morgan
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: November 15, 1990
Started On: March 6, 2013
Finished On: March 9, 2013

18 year old Blusette Morgan is the one and only daughter of the notorious pirate Beau Billy. Having grown up in a pirate’s cove, the only life Blu has known is that of a world where the fittest of all survive. Well versed in the art of self defense, there is not a bit of ladylike mannerism instilled in Blu, something that her father regrets enough to come to the decision that Blu would be sent off to her mother in England so that she could become a lady in the truest sense and perhaps find the sort of life that he would never be able to provide for her on Morgan’s Mound.

When Blu sets her sights on the 29 year old Thomas who comes to Morgan’s Mound, the one and only thought that crosses her mind is that he would be the one upon whom she would bestow upon the honor of divesting her of her state of virginity. And when things go hardly according to the plan she sets and Blu finds herself on Thomas’ ship on the journey that would take her towards the woman who had abandoned her and never looked back, Blu more than butts heads with Thomas, whose appeal though never seems to fade away even when Blu would love nothing better than to turn her back on him and of course prove him wrong on all aspects.

It would seem that when Blu reaches her final destination that Thomas would become nothing but a mere memory of a man who had appealed to her on levels she would never admit. But fate has other plans when their lives cross each others and a love most forbidden blooms between the two of them, a love that seems most impossible against the insurmountable odds that stands in their way. Through a lot of moments of the laugh out loud variety – and I am not kidding on that aspect, and a lot of heart wrenching moments of agonized longing, Maggie Osborne once again proves that she is unbeatable in providing readers with stories that never gets old, especially in a genre where no stone is left unturned by the various authors who try their hand in creating stories that their readers would never forget.

The one aspect of Osborne novels that never changes is that she is always brutally honest in depicting the lives people would lead during the times which she bases her stories on. For instance, if it were any other author, I am almost 100% certain that even though Blu had grown up in a pirate’s cove, she would end up being the one innocent flower amongst all the thorns, refreshing in her ladylike manner for which Thomas would have certainly fallen in lust and love with once he sets sights on her. But Osborne doesn’t make it that easy on either Blu or Thomas. Rather she depicts Blu as a woman who grows up under the circumstances would end up being, femininity a totally foreign concept, something she abhors with everything she is.

When you pick up a Maggie Osborne novel, you always know that you would get your money’s worth as she fashions stories that are made to entertain in the truest sense. The only thing I wished was a bit more of Thomas and Blu, something I craved for especially during the last couple of chapters of the story. Final verdict? I cannot recommend Lady Reluctant highly enough.

Favorite Quotes

Brooding, she turned her dark eyes toward a cluster of sails, picking over the bones of a Spanish wreck just north of the reef. There were days when she was depressingly convinced she would go to her grave a virgin. Her stone would read: “Here lies a woman no one wanted.”
“And to think I wanted that rat dropping to be my first! How right were you, Monsieur! I was spared a disgrace of the first water.” Raging, she paced and turned, paced and turned, her sword banging against the cot, the trunk, and Monsieur’s dodging knees.
“I advise we shift this turn of events to advantage.” Monsieur lowered his head and examined her over the rim of his splintered goggles. “I suggest we employ the next weeks to our profit.”
“We bring the crew over to our side and seize the ship?” Blu inquired hopefully. “We instigate a mutiny?”

Then, as her knees were about to collapse, his arms were suddenly around her, his body tight and hard against her own.
Because she could not have done otherwise, because she had dreamed of and longed for this moment, she lifted her mouth and gave him her lips. A shock of lightning jolted through her flesh as his mouth claimed hers. Fire erupted in the pit of her belly and flamed through her limbs, scorching flesh and bone and igniting her mind. She wanted him. His tongue penetrated her secrets and she wanted him as a starving man wants food and drink.

Purchase Links: Abe Books

awesomeread

by mvbookreviewer

Short & Sweet Review: Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Hero: Calvin Morrisey
Heroine: Minerva Dobbs
Sensuality: 2.5
Date of Publication: April 1, 2007
Started On: April 7, 2010
Finished On: April 11, 2010

Storyline: Calvin (Cal) just got out of an intense relationship where the woman wanted more than he could give. What he just wants for now is some peace and quiet in his life. He doesn’t think its too much to ask for and one night he finds himself and his friends Roger and Tony in the company of David who just broke up with Minerva (Min) that very night at the bar. David knowing that Cal is a man who bets to win, bets Cal 10,000 dollars to get frumpy and overweight Min to sleep with him within a month’s time. Though Cal doesn’t agree to this bet, Min overhears David betting Cal and thinks Cal has agreed to the bet. Since Min desperately needs a date for her sister’s wedding in three weeks time, Min decides that she would play along so that Cal would be her date for the wedding.

The first meet: Cal and Min first meet at the bar that they all hang out after work. Cal the almost sinfully handsome hero and Min who needs a crash course in building self confidence and attitude due her mom constantly harping on about her being over weight, these two seems to be the opposites in every way.

Time period: No specific time line given in the story, just that the story takes place in the present day.

Awareness between the two characters: The zing of electricity between the two characters is built up right from the first. Though neither Min nor Cal wants a relationship at the moment, nor do they want to get involved in any other way with each other, they keep bumping into each other and through these chance and not so chance encounters, Miss Crusie keeps the sexual tension and awareness between the two at an all time high which makes the book quite enjoyable.

The turning point: The turning point in the relationship of Cal and Min comes gradually. Since they both do not want to be with each other, but do end up spending time with one another, they do find out that first impressions do not really tell the whole story about a person and that there were layers to each of them that inexorably drew them to one another. With their quirky group of friends and dysfunctional families they are a couple who have got all the odds against them, but somehow, fate tends to work in mysterious ways to bind these two together and before they know it, they are half way in love with one another.

How the relationship grows: Cal and Min’s relationship grows in no ordinary fashion. With David and Cal’s ex-girlfriend Cynthia (a relationship psychologist) who has an axe to grind and wants him back plotting against these two who are reluctant to be with one another in the first place, there doesn’t seem to be much room for their relationship to grow. However, a few well placed bets here and there and a few chance encounters and not so chance encounters somehow bind the lives of these two together and in the process both Cal and Min find stuff about one another that draws them closer to one another. The continuous heat and attraction between the two makes things interesting whilst this goes on.

Ending: Cal and Min’s happily ever after doesn’t come that easily. Both of them have issues to work out, and some grovelling to do and a bet to win or lose before they could both assume the roles of their happily ever after. Wonderful ending though! Loved the stories of all the side characters in the book who made this novel a much more fun and a wonderful read. Reading how their lives turned out in the end made the book a solid hit with me!

Likes: All the cast members in this book were wonderful. The whole time I was reading this book, I was imagining it as a movie which would generate some serious laughter from the audience. Ms Crusie never ever fails to amuse!

Dislikes: None for me with this book!

Recommended for: Those who love romantic comedies, those who would love a story where the chubby girl meets the hot hunk and they fall in love, and for those who love novels by Ms Crusie. You cannot go wrong with this one!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

goodread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: On the Steamy Side by Louisa Edwards

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Recipe for Love, Book 2
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Hero: Devon Sparks
Heroine: Lilah Jane Tunkle
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: March 2, 2010
Started On: April 2, 2010
Finished On: April 3, 2010

This was a read I picked up due to the fabulous reviews this book seems to be getting on Amazon and I would have to say that I wasn’t disappointed. Having never read a book by Louisa Edwards previously, I was glad that I loved her writing style from the beginning of the novel.

This is the second book in the series “Recipe for Love” and although I never read the first book in the series, the characters from the first book come up here and there in this second book of the series. Devon Sparks is a star through and through. With a father who never believed in his son’s ability to whip up extraordinary dishes and never understanding that Devon was different had made him work towards climbing the highest rungs of success a chef could ever hope to achieve. Devon has never looked back ever since he said goodbye to his old life and his family after high school. Now years later, Devon is the star of his own reality cooking show with a string of restaurants to his name with a playboy lifestyle any man would envy.

Lilah on the other hand is fresh out from country life and new in the big city of New York. Having lead a boring staid life for as long as she could remember, Lilah wants to spice up her life and bring excitement into it. Quite by chance she meets Devon at the local bar that Devon goes to chill out at and from the first moment these two lay their eyes on each other, its crash boom and bangs all the way. A bout of anonymous sex with one another was supposed to remain what it was, just a night of spectacular sex to be tucked away in the deep corners of their memories, never to be repeated.

However fate has other plans when on the next day Devon walks in to take over the restaurant from Adam (hero of the first book of the series “Can’t Stand the Heat“) for a period of two weeks whilst he and his girlfriend Miranda take a vacation and travel to Europe, and finds his anonymous sex partner, the woman who had rocked his world the night before in his kitchen.

Devon has so much to deal with on his hands and though the sight of Lilah warms his heart in ways it shouldn’t after a one night stand, Lilah is starting work at the restaurant that very same day. Though everyone sees Devon as the ultimate golden boy in the kitchen its been ages since Devon had really had to supervise and play his role as the head chef in a restaurant and the thought of all that has him in jitters all day long. And it doesn’t help matters much when his long estranged son of 10 years is suddenly at the doorstep with his mom in state mandatory rehab with nowhere else to go. Though Devon has had nothing to do with his son for so long and at first says that he can’t take his son in, its Lilah who steps up and lands them together.

Before Lilah knows it, she is fired from her job at the restaurant and hired on as Tucker’s nanny. Though Devon is the most stubborn headed man Lilah has ever met, Lilah knows and hopes that deep down inside Devon would do right by his son. And before long, Lilah is cooking up schemes to bring father and son together and let both of them bond with each other.

Whilst Devon makes a mess of things at the restaurant, he slowly comes to realize that fame and fortune aren’t the best things in life but it is love that makes living worthwhile. Before the story is through, Devon learns a thing or two about life, love and best of all cooking from Lilah the country pumpkin which makes this story all the more worthwhile.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Blue-eyed Devil By Lisa Kleypas

Format: Paperback
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Series: Travises, Book 2
Hero: Hardy Cates
Heroine: Haven Travis
First Published on: March 25, 2008
Started On: August 16, 2009
Finished On: August 17, 2009

Yep, I have been bitten by the Lisa Kleypas bug that’s been going round! I guess it’s been going round only in the areas that I tend to move around.  But ladies, if you do start reading this fascinating novel, I assure you that you wouldn’t want to put it down and miss even one delicious bit of the novel. I think this is the second contemporary romance that this author has written. And unlike other authors who tend to mess things up by foraying into contemporary romance after writing historicals, I would say that Kleypas has clinched the deal well. Although I am not much of a fan for stories written in the first person, I would say that this novel didn’t present any such difficulties when reading.

Although I never read the first book in this series of sorts, Sugar Daddy, which I aim to rectify asap, Kleypas doesn’t make it too difficult to understand the Travis’s (heroines) family and the conflicts as well as the complex relationships within. Hardy the hero, too was first introduced in Sugar Daddy, when he won a business deal that could have benefited Travis’s family business. Hardy grew up in the slums, with an abusive father who was in and out of jail during his childhood. Growing up, wanting to be something more, he worked from the ground up to become a self-made millionaire whereas Haven grew up in the luxurious lap of family money. However, all was not roses in Haven’s life. Haven gets married to her first boyfriend Nick against her father’s wishes who cuts her off his will reasoning that Nick was only after her money. Haven moves to Dallas with her husband Nick who turns out to be a narcissist, who abuses her emotionally and at last physically throughout the marriage, until at last Haven leaves him.

Getting a divorce and moving on seems harder than Haven thought after the abusive relationship she had gone through. Then she meets Hardy once again, whom she had met at Greg (Haven’s brother) and Liberties wedding where Haven had accidentally made out with Hardy mistaking him for Nick in the wine cellar at her home. Fate brings these two people together again and both struggle with the demons of their past to conquer the feelings that they have for one another and at long last find love that could last forever.

This ain’t just a love story. This book details the horrifying circumstances a woman has to face in an abusive relationship and the strength and love it requires to overcome such scars in life. I believe that Kleypas has done a splendid job with this story. I will try and get my hands on the 1st and 3rd book in this ‘series’ and write down a review as soon as I can.

Sadly, there is only one more unread Kleypas novel in my collection at the moment. Better sink my teeth into it!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | MacMillan

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Seduce Me At Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas

Format: Paperback
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Series: The Hathaways, Book 2
Hero: Kev Merripen
Heroine: Winnifred Hathaway
First Published on: September 30, 2008
Started On: August 16, 2009
Finished On: August 16, 2009

I sort of hit a reading frenzy and addiction for another Lisa Kleypas novel that needed a quick fix. Since I had ordered a couple of her books from Barnes & Noble a few months ago, I found myself with this heart touching novel from her that I couldn’t put down until I had read each and every bit of Kev and Win’s story.

Kev Merripen is half gypsy, half Irish, who as a kid led a  brutal life, where he had to fight, and I mean literally fight for survival. His uncle who was his guardian, made him fight with kids his own age to earn money. Never knowing any love while growing up, Kev was found by Win’s father lying on the road with serious injuries left to die. Thus begins this heart wrenching tale of two people who from the very start had eyes literally for one another only.

Win’s family being a pretty eccentric family with 5 siblings who weren’t materiallistically rich by any means, was the first time that Kev experienced life with a family that wanted him and cared for him. Even from the beginning a special bond forms between Win and Kev. Tragedy strucks Win’s happy family when her father dies of a heart attack followed closely by the death of their mother who just gave up  the will to live after her husband died. The story doesn’t just focus on Win and Kev, but rather on tids and bits of Win’s whole family mainly Amelia and her husband Cam (who later turns out to be Kev’s younger brother), Leo (whose girl friend dies after succumbing to scarlet fever), Beartix and Poppy. (I would really love to read their individual stories as I am sure it would make an engrossing read!)

Win too gets the scarlet fever and later develops a condition of the lungs that hinders her from participating in any strenous physical activity. Determined to get better in order to be a proper wife to Kev (even though he would rather die than admit he wanted Win to be his wife because he felt so unworthy of her), Win journeys to France with her brother Leo and returns back after two years with her doctor (Dr. Harrow) in tow.

Thus begins the battle between Win and Kev. Win who tries to convince Kev that he is the only one that she has ever wanted, and Kev trying to convince Win that she deserved much better than what he had to offer. Kev makes for a strong, brooding and enigmatic hero that any heroine would swoon over. I feel that Kleypas did justice with the heroine as well. She is beautiful and strong and makes a worthy opponent in the battle to let Kev find that he really did belong with Win no matter what.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

goodread