Category / Toe Curler!!

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Silver Lining by Maggie Osborne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Italian Doctor’s Wife by Sarah Morgan

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Medical Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Nico Santini
Heroine: Abby Harrington
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 20, 2010
Started On: May 30, 2010
Finished On: June 2, 2010

Although I read romances of various genres, medical romance is one that I tend to stay away from. I remember that the last time I read a medical romance was way back in the 90’s when I first started reading romance books. Back then, maybe it was because of my reading preferences at the time, I found myself bored with the whole aspect of medical romances where doctors fell in love with nurses.

I picked up this book with that thought at the back of my mind, that most probably I would give up reading this book halfway through. But to my pleasant surprise I found myself intrigued by the various medical literature to be found in the book, which might have something to do with the author having being a nurse herself.

This story is about nurse Abby Harrington who chooses to have a baby through an anonymous donor at an insemination clinic. To Abby’s shock, Nico Santini, the eldest brother of Abby’s best friend Lucia, who is one of the most successful pediatric heart surgeons, seeks her out and drops the bombshell that he is the father of Rosa.

Nico thinks that he donated the sperm to a couple in their late thirties and instead is angered to find out that he was betrayed into thinking that by his own sister and thinks Abby to be in cahoots with Lucia in deceiving him. Nico plans on filing for custody of Rosa thinking Abby to be an unfit mother to raise a child of his, when he is  ultimately proved wrong by just how loving Abby is with Rosa.

However the tabloids somehow find out that Abby and Nico have a baby together which propels Nico’s proposal for Abby to marry him. Abby agrees to the marriage in terms of it being a marriage of convenience but to her immense surprise and pleasure finds out that Nico has other plans in mind.

I found this story to be a charming one where misunderstandings were resolved by conversing like rational adults rather than swimming in a pool of them until the reader is ready to scream in frustration. And of course the vivid details of open heart surgery procedures carried out proved to be quite informative and made this story though short an interesting read.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Wed by Deception by Emilie Rose

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle & MS Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Payback Affairs, Book 3
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Lucas Daniel Stone
Heroine: Nadia Kincaid
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 9, 2008
Started On: May 20, 2010
Finished On: May 21, 2010

This is the third book in the payback affairs series by Ms. Rose and features Everett Kincaid’s third child and only daughter Nadia Kincaid and her believed to be dead husband for eleven years Lucas Daniel Stone.

Everett Kincaid is a man who has wronged all three of his children in one way or the other. And Everett has laid out his will in such a way that all three of his children had to fulfill certain “tests” that he had set aside before they all could be secure in the vast inheritance that Everett has left for them.

Nadia’s task was to live in Dallas on a limited budget, without holding a job and with none to look after her. Learning to survive on her own is supposed to be Nadia’s challenge and she is in for the shock of her life when her neighboring tenant returns home and Nadia finds him to be none other than Lucas, the husband she thought had died right along with her son in the accident that had left Nadia scarred for life.

Though nothing can bring back Nadia’s ability to have children, her life had resumed with some sort of normalcy until the shock of what Nadia’s dad had really done behind their backs to keep them apart comes to haunt her.

Lucas doesn’t want to feel small and helpless, the way he had felt eleven years ago when he  thought his wife had wanting nothing to do with him anymore. During his weakest moment he had grabbed what Nadia’s father had offered and built himself an empire that rivals the Kincaid’s. On a personal vendetta of his own to rub Kincaid’s face in his success by literally buying out every piece of business the Kincaid’s own, Lucas never thought what happened eleven years ago was by no means any fault of Nadia, the only woman who had ever made him succumb to love.

Nadia and Lucas both have to learn to trust one another amongst all the lies they have been made to believe for the past decade and give in to the intense passion that has always been within them before they are able to find ever lasting happiness with one another.

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

favorableread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Unfaithful Wife by Lynne Graham

Format: E-book
Read with: Microsoft Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Nik Andreakis
Heroine: Leah
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: November 1, 1995
Started On: May 6, 2010
Finished On: May 10, 2010

Lynne’s Graham older romances contributed a lot towards me becoming the avid romance book reader that I am today. Likewise, this book published more than a decade back has the element that is missing from most of the Harlequin novels that are published today, even by my most favorite authors such as Ms. Graham. Thus it was a rare treat to read this romance by Ms. Graham which I didn’t want to put down once I started.

Leah and Nik have been married for five years during which they have lived apart from one another. Leah doesn’t know the reason why Nik acts so coldly towards her once they are married. Nik has his own group of beautiful women with whom he spends his nights with and this propels Leah finally towards forming a relationship of her own, fed up with a life of utter loneliness and unhappiness.

The death of Leah’s father brings about the actual truth as to why Nik has been treating Leah so abhorrently. And it is this pivotal moment that brings these two together, Nik with his tendency to be distrustful of love and companionship that goes along with it and Leah afraid to hope for anything permanent with Nik with whom she fell in love with on the very first sight.

Filled with highly sensual moments which is trademark Graham, this novel stands to be the reason why I always look forward to reading a novel by the author, no matter how disappointing her recent novels have turned out to be.

Purchase Links: Amazon

favorableread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: No Longer Mine by Shiloh Walker

Format: E-book
Opens with: Adobe Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Hero: Wade Lightfoot
Heroine: Nikki Kline
Sensuality: 3
First Published on: April 27, 2010
Started On: May 2, 2010
Finished On: May 2, 2010

Originally published in 2006, Shiloh Walker recently re-released this title, this time with revisions from its original release. I remember reading this book when I first learnt of and became a fan of Ms. Walker’s books and back then somehow this book didn’t settle that well with me mainly because I thought the hero was too callous towards the heroine when she lost so much in her life. However I think with the revisions this story has become a much better tale with the ability to touch the hearts of those who read it.

Nikki is the girl who comes from the wrong side of town with two brothers who are hoodlums, an alcoholic father and a mother who committed suicide rather than face life head on. However the friendship which turns to love between Wade and Nikki is stronger than all the elements put  together. Nikki working on her way towards becoming a full fledged writer is on the verge of tying the knot with Wade when she finds out that Wade has impregnated Jamie Sawyer, the girl who has been after Wade forever.

Jamie was a drunken mistake Wade couldn’t bring himself to forgive. When Wade marries Jamie and moves on with her, it nearly kills Nikki. However the news that she is three months pregnant with Wade’s child is the only light at the end of the tunnel that pulls her out of the darkness and into the world of living. Things don’t go well for Nikki even after her son Jason is born. A freak accident during a thunderstorm kills her beloved son Jason when he is barely a year old. This time the pit Nikki falls into is too deep to find her way out of it on her own.

Her writing and her family are the only things that keep the bare shell of a Nikki going. And when she meets Wade and his daughter Abby the pain and betrayal Nikki feels is so intense that its as if someone wrenches her heart out and stomps on it. Wade not knowing all the trauma that Nikki has gone through actively pursues her because though he married Jamie out of a sense of duty, he had never ever stopped loving Nikki.

There is no happy ending for these two until they are both able to let go of the past, forgive, forget and move on, though its easier said than done when the hurt runs too deep for us even to start empathizing with.

I loved reading the improved version of this story. I guess as Ms. Walker herself has pointed out, this wasn’t one of her best works, but when revised this book does make for a decent read, one that I couldn’t put down once I started.

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

goodread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Truly Madly Yours by Rachel Gibson

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Avon
Hero: Nick Allegrezza
Heroine: Delaney Shaw
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 31, 1999
Started On: April 27, 2010
Finished On: April 27, 2010

When pretty hairdresser Delaney Shaw returned home to Truly, Idaho for the funeral of her stepfather, she  never planned on staying around for long. But the ten year estrangement from her mother and stepfather might as well have never happened when her stepfather’s will stipulates that she stay in Truly for a period of one year if she were to receive the property bequeathed to her worth 3 million dollars.

And Delaney never expected Nick Allegrezza, her stepfather’s son whom he never acknowledged when they were growing up to be part of the will. Nick and his brother Louie were property developers and Nick was to be the owner of some hot property if he could refrain from having sex with Delaney.

Though Nick wouldn’t admit it, the night ten years back when he had held a warm and willing Delaney in his arms has been etched onto his mind for eternity. Though he tries to act nonchalant and unaffected by Delaney’s presence in Truly, he can’t help but find ways to be near her and to appease the hunger that she arouses in him.

Before long the small town is once again bursting at its seams with the delicious gossip on how Nick heats things up with Delaney. From the eccentric customers that trickle in to the saloon Delaney opens up to the many squabbles that take place within Nick and Delaney’s family, this book is a special treat with humor, red hot passion that makes your toes curl up and a great ending that is rare in most of the modern romance novels that come out.

Highly recommended for those who love romantic comedies as well as a good romance with a hot hunky hero that takes your breathe away.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

awesomeread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: MacKenzie’s Mountain by Linda Howard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: One Summer Evening by Mary Lynn Baxter

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Mobipocket Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: MIRA
Hero: Austin McGuire
Heroine: Cassie Wortham
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: July 1, 1999
Started On: April 20, 2010
Finished On: April 21, 2010

On the night Cassie Wortham turned 18, she gives into the red hot desire that seems to churn deep within her every time her father’s best friend Austin McGuire is in the vicinity. That very night Austin gets engaged to Alicia, Cassie’s aunt, and Cassie hides the consequence of their one time together for 9 whole years until she returns home back to her roots once again with her 9 year old son, Tyler in tow.

If Cassie had thought that her infatuation and the fiery passion that kindled between her and Austin was a one time thing she couldn’t have been more wrong. Sparks fly between the two right from the onset though Cassie’s mother and father are oblivious to all the sizzle that goes on around them.

Cassie has a lot to lose if Austin or her parents were ever to find out who Tyler’s father actually is. Since Cassie had rushed headlong into marriage with her childhood friend Lester upon finding out she was pregnant with Austin’s child, an act for which Cassie had been paying for ever since, everyone has held the belief that Tyler was Lester’s child to begin with.

However with Lester finally in jail for the crimes he committed, Cassie felt safe enough to come back home. But danger once again threatens Cassie’s barely found stability when Lester is released from prison and returns to  haunt and taunt her with the knowledge that he could hurt Tyler to gain what he wants above all.

The sexual tension between the two characters could be cut through with a knife in this novel. Fast paced with no unnecessary jargon clouding the story, this novel packs one hell of a punch.

Highly recommended for lovers of contemporary romances with an edge of suspense thrown in.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

greatread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Loving Julia by Karen Robards

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Microsoft Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Warner Books
Hero: Sebastian, Earl of Moorland
Heroine: Jewel Combs / Julia Stratham
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: December 1, 1986
Started On: April 16, 2010
Finished On: April 18, 2010

Loving Julia is one of the best historical romances from Ms. Robards. Though the fact that a 30 something year old hero seducing a merely 16 year old girl was a bit of an icky factor for me, the romance, passion and suspense in the book made it a winner for me.

Loving Julia is the story of Jewel Combs, a common street thief who thieved for survival and lived amongst the roughnecks in the less savory neighborhoods in London. Fate brings Jewel into the homes of Sebastian, the Earl of Moorland. Sebastian is a man who for all eyes to see has everything a man might want in life. Rich and handsome beyond belief, he is a man haunted by a past he cannot undo. With a wife whose death has always been blamed on him, with a daughter who screams in utter fear at the very sight of him and a mother who loathes his very existence, Sebastian is the ultimate tortured hero.

Sebastian takes Jewel Combs under his guardianship as a means of entertaining himself. The prospect of transforming Jewel Combs, the common thief  into Julia Stratham a lady worthy of complete adoration of the ton seems to be a challenge enough for Sebastian to keep the boredom and the loneliness at bay. However, his best-laid plans take a turn he never expected when he ultimately finds himself ensnared by the wonderful woman Julia turns out to be.

Jewel who has always been starved for affection blossoms under the direction of Sebastian who for the world of him can’t figure out what it is that draws him to Jewel. As fate would have it, the combustive passion between the two finally forces Sebastian to acknowledge that no matter how cold and aloof he might try to act around Jewel, its a mission well worth giving up with all the emotions Jewel seems to be able to invoke in him with little effort.

When Sebastian takes everything Jewel has to offer and casts her aside like a piece of soiled cloth, Jewel vows that he would never lay a finger on her ever again. However love has ways of creeping into one’s heart and catching them unawares which is exactly what happens to Jewel. And from that moment onwards, Jewel vows to make Sebastian fall as much in love with her as she is in love with him.

The drama and antics that Jewel goes through to make Sebastian hers, the unfolding story of how Elizabeth, Sebastian’s first wife was killed and how Chloe, Sebastian’s daughter finally comes around makes this story an engrossing read. Glad that Ms. Robards didn’t paint Sebastian as a complete utter rogue who cruelly hurts his women emotionally as some of Ms. Robard’s historical romances are famous for.

Good romance, recommended for those who love stories of tortured heroes and the gutsy heroines that concur them in the end.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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