Category / Tortured Hero

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Collateral Damage by J.L. Saint

Format: E-bookcollateraldamage
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Plus Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Silent Warrior, Book 1
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd.
Hero: Jack Hunter
Heroine: Lauren Collins
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: December 14, 2010
Started On: December 18, 2010
Finished On: December 23, 2010

Like any reader, I am a bit apprehensive when it comes to trying out new authors, though that doesn’t stop me from trying out books on authors that I have never heard of because just sometimes, delving into the unknown certainly pays off when you find a book such as this one where the pages literally turn themselves with the fast paced action, romance and adventure that this one delivers – in spades.

Sergeant First Class Jack Hunter with more than 20 years of military experience under his belt also known as DT i.e. Double Tap because of his accuracy with headshots, wakes up in the ICU at the Walter Reed Medical Centre when the last mission where he had led his team members Rico, Pecos and Neil into the terrorist ridden areas of Lebanon where a group had kidnapped and held hostage the daughters of the Israeli Prime Minister and the US Ambassador had gone totally wrong. With Rico and himself seriously injured and Neil dead in the strike that had taken place, Jack is a man torn apart by the nightmares about the mission gone wrong and pieces that don’t seem to fit together. The one thing that Jack who has a strained relationship with his 6 year old daughter Livy after the hellish nightmare of a 7 year marriage with her mother Jill had ended up in divorce knows is that there is more than what meets the eye in what went down in Lebanon. With all his senses screaming at him to make sense of the blond and blue eyed American he had shot dead whose body had not turned up makes Jack all twitchy on the insides and makes him push himself to the limits to get back to the field before the shit hits the fan.

Lauren Collins with her 6 year old twin sons Matt and Mitch is just a month away from finalizing her divorce from Bill Collins the one man she had thought had been her Prince Charming who had later turned out to be the stuff made from nightmares. Right after Bill had taken up a job at BioLogics, a company that deals with invention of green technology as their PR executive and turned all secretive, their marriage had hit the rocks only to plummet deeper into abysmal when Bill began a string of extramarital affairs that had finally decided the fate of their marriage. And when Lauren receives the dreaded phone call in the middle of the night informing her that her husband had been shot dead in what appeared to be a random act of violence right after which her home is invaded by a masked gunman hellbent on searching for something Lauren has no clue of whatsoever, she barely manages to escape with her and her sons lives intact.

When the rough and tough looking six foot Jack Hunter with his square jawed and chiseled looks turns up on her doorstep commanding all her bedraggled hormones to take notice and clamor for his attention, he turns out  to be her only savior from danger that lurks wherever she turns. Lauren has no choice but to trust Jack with her and her sons lives as they race against time and try to piece together the cutthroat world of murder and mayhem that Bill had thrust his family into. As red-hot passion burns strong and sure like wildfire between Jack and beautiful Lauren so does a mad man’s thirst for world dominance that knows no bounds as he would go to any lengths to thwart those who stand in his way to prevent him from executing the perfect plan which would give him total power served on a silver platter.

Likes:

  1. Jack Hunter. He is broody, tortured and hot as sin!! I always love myself a tortured hero who knows what to do with his God given talents in pleasing a woman! And that’s not the only thing that drew me to Jack. He is loyal and wants to do right by what is his though he has had a hard time of things for the last couple of years. And on top of all that, he is black ops military. *sigh* Jack is utterly swoon worthy ladies, I solemnly swear by this! *swoons*
  2. Lauren Collins. She is perfect heroine material for the rough and tough Jack Hunter. With her sons she is the fierce mother tigress protecting her cubs, with Jack she is vulnerable and strong at the same time and what makes her unique is she doesn’t stand down and let Jack take all the control but rather she is an equal partner where she and Jack are concerned. Loved Lauren to bits.
  3. This story opened up my eyes to a lot of things that can go wrong with the precariously balanced “peace” that we take for granted in this world. Just add to it bad guys who are unscrupulous enough and have the means to manipulate the West and  the Islamic world as that happened in this story and you would have a global catastrophe of major proportions on your hands. Being a Muslim myself, I was a bit apprehensive when I started out reading and encountered the scene where Muslims had kidnapped the daughter of the Israeli prime minister. And I thought to myself, please don’t let this story be something where Muslims are portrayed as less than human and I was really glad of the sensitivity with which Ms. Saint handled the issue. There is no overly judgmental stuff going on in the story which brings home the hard truth of a war that was started by the Bush administration which has already cost the common man a lot more just a pretty penny from his pocket. Kudos to Ms. Saint for pulling this off so well.
  4. I liked the secondary stories that were taking place as the story unfolded. I liked how Ms. Saint didn’t overly make the story about the secondary characters, which is sometimes what happens when an author tries to juggle too many characters and their stories in one novel. She has laid the foundation nicely for this new series the rest of the books which has already landed on my auto-buy list. I am really looking forward to reading the story of the Delta Team commander Lt. Col. Roger Weston and Mari, the Muslim widow of Neil who dies in the op that is the starting point of this series and story.
  5. The cover. Believe it or not, the cover was what drew me to the story in the first place. I make it a point to surf through Samhain Publishing at least once a month to find out titles that might interest me. And when I looked into the eyes of the guy on the cover, I was baited enough to read through the synopsis and I have since then been looking forward to its release date which was earlier this month. This one definitely ends up on the fabulous cover list!  ^_^
  6. The creepy villain and his ever more creepy chimpanzee. Gives me the shivers of the bad kind even thinking about his warped mind. But he was a villain who certainly delivered enough to label him as one of the creepiest villains ever and lends the story the edge that it so well receives from him on the danger and adventure front.

Dislikes: As always the lack of a proper epilogue does rankle but not overly much since I hope I would be getting to see a bit of Jack and Lauren in the next couple of books in the series. ^_^

Recommended for: Fans of romantic suspense who love books filled with non-stop adventure and red-hot passion!

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Rhys’s Redemption by Anne McAllister

Format: Paperbackrhyssredemption
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents, #2126
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Rhys Wolfe
Heroine: Mariah Kelly
Sensuality: 2.9
Date of Publication: August 1, 2000
Started On: December 15, 2010
Finished On: December 16, 2010

I first discovered Anne McAllister years ago when I read her Harlequin novel Fletcher’s Baby. That was the time during which I had just discovered the amazing abundance of romance novels that Harlequin provides for voracious readers and Fletcher’s Baby was one of those reads that you remember even after a long time. The impact the story has on the senses (not because of any explicit or otherwise sexual content in the story) but rather because of the emotional wrangling content of the book, even my elder sister who has never been much of a fan of romances read and liked the story that unfolded. The dogeared copy of Fletcher’s Baby on our bookshelf is a testament to how well liked the story is. Even though this is a review of Rhys’s Redemption, my second book from Anne McAllister, if you haven’t already read Fletcher’s Baby, I highly advise you to do so. It is a great book for a good cry!

Rhys Wolfe is a man haunted by memories of the tragic death of his childhood love and wife Sarah and their unborn 4 month old baby. Born and raised in New York, Rhys had tried hard to please his family by going into the family business. Working long hours had kept him away from his pregnant wife and the fire that had  taken away his Sarah eight years back haunts him even to this day. Yes, Rhys has moved on to the best of his ability, quit his job at the firm which had pissed off his father, and taken a job in a specialized unit of firefighting that deals with oil well and rig fires. And it is an extremely commitment phobic Rhys that emerges from the tragedy of losing his beloved who has no intention whatsoever of getting married or having children ever again. His one steadfast rule, one he had made up as an act of self preservation was to sleep only with women who knew exactly what they were getting into – that is until he breaks his rule during the night he turns to comfort in the arms of Mariah, his friend and neighbor for the past 3 years.

31 year old Mariah Kelly comes from a large family from Kansas. She had been a small town girl with a determination to make it in the big city world in the field of journalism when she had first moved to New York 8 years back and was quite comfortable with her achievements. Mariah first meets Rhys during a cookout she holds on her terrace by inviting all her neighbors, and over time within Rhys Mariah finds all the qualities she had ever wanted to find in a man. And regardless of telling herself that falling for a man who has his heart locked away and the key thrown away into the dungeons, Mariah finds herself doing just exactly that – falling head over heels in love with the wrong man. When the one night of intense passion they share ends up in Mariah getting pregnant, Mariah hopes against hope that Rhys would come around and start to care for her and love her as much as she does for him.

When Rhys wakes up with a warm and sleeping Mariah in his arms, all his survival instincts kick in and he does the only thing he knows how to save his battered emotions. Two months without a word and Rhys returns home after an intense job planning all the while in his head how he and Mariah would move on and forget about the night that changed everything only to receive the bombshell that Mariah is pregnant with his child. Betrayal, pain and anger all course through Rhys when he first hears the news and the only thing Rhys is willing to offer Mariah is financial support and nothing more. Avoiding Mariah at all costs is what Rhys sets out  to do, but Mariah makes it damn hard for him to do just that when she refuses to condemn him for his actions, calmly accepting what Rhys is able to give and never asking for more. But staying away and just completely wiping away Mariah from his mind seems to be an impossible task for Rhys which eventually makes for a really heart wrenching read.

Likes:

  1. Mariah Kelly. I loved her for so many things as this story unfolded. Her unchanging love for a man who has immersed himself so deeply in his gut wrenching pain over the loss of the only woman he has ever loved, a love that doesn’t turn into resentment because Rhys is unwilling to give her his everything once he learns of her pregnancy. I loved her because she doesn’t turn bitter, nor does she hold it against Rhys that he is selfish enough to want to protect his heart from being broken to pieces all over again. Her courage, unwavering love and hope that Rhys would turn around makes her one of the most endearing heroines I have come across.
  2. The magic that this story weaves as it is told from both Rhys and Mariah’s viewpoints. There is so much emotion packed into it that the lump that applied for permanent residency in my throat refused to fade away even long after the story was through. Even though I cannot afford to pull an all-nighter reading a book these days, I couldn’t bring myself to part with the story and get my much needed sleep before work today. And thank God for the fact that this one is not a long novel or otherwise I would have found myself in a whole lot of trouble reporting to work all bleary-eyed today. ^_^
  3. How this book made me all teary-eyed – in a good way. Honestly, I am not one to cry and bawl over a story, well most of the time anyway. But last night, I found myself with tears in my eyes as I reached towards the end, tears of frustration at times on Rhys’s stubbornness in refusing to let go of Sarah, tears of sorrow for Mariah who loves Rhys quietly all along and in the end, tears of happiness for the happily ever after.
  4. This story definitely whetted my appetite to read Dominic’s story, the calm and controlled older brother of Rhys, and Sierra the younger sister of Mariah and her exact opposite in every way. That book is definitely going to end up in my wish list!

Dislikes: Though I loved this story to bits, I found myself at times a bit disappointed because Rhys and Mariah spends so much time apart from one another in the story. But in the end it all works out because this story ends up being different to your usual Harlequin pregnancy romances such that the hero doesn’t find himself just a changed man overnight, but rather takes the long road to find himself taking the second chance he has been offered at loving and being loved once again. But I would have loved a bit more interaction between Rhys and Mariah, just a tad more.

Favorite Quotes

Every night there were dreams. Dreams of Sarah. Collages of their life  together – happy childhood moments, the joy of their engagement, the bliss of their wedding day. There were a hundred moments – a thousand memories – all coming to wash over him the second he shut his eyes and gave in to slumber.
And they made him ache with longing. And he awoke sad and desperate – reaching for something – for someone – who slipped further and further away.
Those were bad. Worse, though, were his dreams of Mariah. In them he saw her laughing and smiling, joyful and tender. Her eyes watched him, her hands touched him. And in his dreams he responded. His body grew ready for hers. His heart grew hungry for hers. his arms lifted to reach out to her.
And then he would see Sarah again. Drifting just out of reach.
Then, always, he woke up. Alone.

Recommended for:

  1. Fans of Anne McAllister.
  2. Fans of Harlequin romances with enough emotion packed into it to knock your socks off. If you want a high dosage of sensuality in your romances, you are not going to find it here. But it can make you cry from deep within your heart.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Abe Books

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Dangerous Secrets by Lisa Marie Rice

Format: E-bookdangeroussecrets
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Dangerous, Book 2
Publisher: Avon Red
Hero: Nick Ireland
Heroine: Charity Prudence Prewitt
Sensuality: 4.5
Date of Publication: July 1, 2008
Started On: December 9, 2010
Finished On: December 13, 2010

I was going through my reviews the other night when I found that I had not reviewed my favorite Lisa Marie Rice novel from her Dangerous series, the other 2 in the series which I have already read and reviewed before. I remembered Dangerous Secrets to be a novel that made a huge impact on all my senses and that is the main reason why I decided to re-read and do a full review on this one. It has taken me ages to read and review this, not because this book in anyway fell short of my very high expectations (yes, I have high expectations even when I re-read books), but because of certain stuff going on right now I couldn’t find the time that I really, really wanted to indulge in Nick Ireland and savor him to bits! *sigh*

34 year old Nick Ireland aka Nicholas Ames aka Iceman is one of the best undercover agents that the Unit has ever employed, the Unit being a government special task force investigating international organized crime collaborating with terrorists. Nick had never known who his mother was as his mother had abandoned him at an orphanage when he was a baby. Nick had grown up in a bunch of orphanages and sometimes brutal foster homes where his main job had been survival. Though Nick had never known anything tender in his life, he had always been a fierce champion of the underdog, and that is how Nick had ended up befriending his closest friend and billionaire Jack. Tall, with midnight black hair and deep blue eyes Nick has a body which has been honed to perfection to be a lethal killing machine in the 10 years that Nick had served in the military. Nick is known as the Iceman because he is always cool and in control no matter what the circumstance until his legendary cool shatters and dies a brutal death when he invades Charity Prewitt’s life on his newest mission.

Charity Prudence Prewitt is a 28 year old librarian living in the quiet little town of Parker’s Ridge in Vermont. Beautiful with an air of calm serenity and elegance that always surrounds her, Charity had given up the hope of pursuing her dreams to take care of her ailing aunt and uncle who are the only family Charity is left with since her parents had died in a fire 15 years back. Charity had given up hope of ever finding someone who would want to share her life together with her responsibilities towards her aunt and uncle and had resigned herself to turning into an old maid when Nick strolls into her life, seducing her into surrendering her heart, body and soul to him.

Nick’s mission is simple. Seduce information from Charity about her best friend, Vassily Worontzoff, the Russian author of Dry Your Tears in Moscow, a novel considered as one of the classics of the 20th century. However, Vassily is far from the grand old man of literature that everyone thought he was. Vassily is one of the survivors of the Kolyma, the Soviet Union’s cruelest prison camp where prisoners had to work in temperatures as low as -90 degrees Fahrenheit in the gold minefields. Vassily had indeed been the renowned author back then, but the cruelty of the prison system and losing his beloved Katya who had never stood a chance with her beautiful good looks in a place like the Gulag prisons had turned him into the complete opposite of what he had been. Vassily had entered prison as a writer and come out as a monster, now the head of the Russian mafia in America, a man who would do anything to claim Charity as his own as he believes her to be his Katya, reincarnated for them to be together once again.

When Nick strolls into the small quaint library and assumes his role as the suave retired stockbroker and asks Charity out for dinner, the awareness that catches both of them unawares is stunning and ferocious in its intensity. Nick, a man who is so used to always been in control of his emotions and baser nature suddenly finds himself at a loss on how to handle how Charity makes him feel, the need in him to possess Charity as his so strong that nothing on Earth would sway Nick when he saw the danger that Charity was in, making a man who is commitment phobic to the extreme to marry the woman who makes all his senses go haywire – all in a good way.

A week is all that Charity has with her husband before they are married and on the eve of their wedding Charity receives a news that no bride should ever hear, especially on her wedding night. And Nick becomes a force to be reckoned with, as he breaks every rule ever written to protect the woman he loves at all costs, from a man who is nothing short of insane, a man who thinks nothing of it to smuggle radioactive material and sell it to the highest bidder to achieve his nefarious goals in life.

Likes:

  1. Holy shiite!! This book packs a whole lot of sensuality that I found myself in a sort of daze all throughout the story. Damn you Nick!! Nick makes it really hard not to make you devour each and every love scene in the book, and surprisingly I found myself wanting more of the same when most of the time too many love scenes in a book just tends to make the story cumbersome. But Ms. Rice pulls it off so well that I couldn’t help but yearn for more and more of Nick and Charity heating up the sheets, the walls and what not! ^_^
  2. Nick Ireland. He is just perfect! In each and every way! Though his gentleness and kindheartedness draws you towards him unlike anything else, this doesn’t make him a wimpy hero by any means. His smoldering sensuality, the way his senses all comes alive with Charity, the way he cherishes each and every moment he spends with her, unknowingly yearning for something he had always thought that he should or would never have just makes me endlessly sigh over the guy! God, I wish I could order up a guy like him to turn up on my doorstep! For real! ^_~
  3. Charity Prudence Prewitt. Though the prudence bit makes me go LOL, Charity is just the perfect match for Nick in each and every way. I say this because heroines in Ms. Rice’s books are never feminists who constantly need to prove a point to the hero. But rather they are feminine to the core, with an inner strength that stuns you from time to time and manages to lend the story a really charming quality with their elegance and beauty. So needless to say, I fricking loved Charity to bits!
  4. The flow of the story. I don’t think I can ever describe how well this story goes down, like a glass of cool water, not too cold, just the right temperature to quench your thirst on a really hot day. That’s how well I perceived this story and I imagine I would read it again somewhere down the line, just to give a treat to all my senses – as a treat to your senses is what  this book is! Pure magic is what Lisa Marie Rice weaves with Nick and Charity.
  5. And I loved me the ending! To pieces! ^_^
  6. Oh yes, the library smexing! Earned it the A+ grade, yes it did! *wink*

Dislikes: None.

Recommended for: Fans of Lisa Marie Rice or fans of romantic suspense who love their mystery to come packaged with a high dosage of sensuality. This one makes all your senses reel – all in a good way of course!

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

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Lisa Marie Rice
by mvbookreviewer

Review: Moving Target by Rosalie Stanton

Format: E-bookmovingtarget
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novella
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Hero: Nathanial Thornton (Wolf)
Heroine: Anna Winter
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: July 5, 2010
Started On: December 6, 2010
Finished On: December 6, 2010

So, it always tends to happen with me, if I stumble across a new author who has done a good job in convincing me with what I have read that he or she is worth rummaging through their backlist to find yummy reads, I ALWAYS end up doing just that. Firsts by Rosalie Stanton which I reviewed earlier definitely whetted my appetite for more from Ms. Stanton and I ended up getting myself a copy of Moving Target, a short romantic suspense novel that was published earlier this year.

Moving Target is the story of how Nathanial Thornton or Wolf is hired to kill Anna Winter, a job after two weeks of surveillance of his target Wolf is convinced that Anna is not what she has been made up to be by whoever has ordered the hit. From the first moment that Wolf lays his eyes on the stunningly gorgeous Anna with her pretty green eyes and gentle smile, all Wolf can think about is claiming her as his own, knowing that someone like him who has seen the dark side of life too many times to count is not deserving of someone like Anna who walks on the right side of life.

Anna had been working as secretary to Richard Monroe at the US Secretary of Agriculture in DC when she had heard something she wasn’t supposed to, and her fate had been sealed the moment Richard had discovered the fact and fired her. Coming back home to Springfield Missouri to lick her wounds and look for job, the last thing Anna would have expected is to run into the gorgeous as sin Wolf whose ocean blue eyes promise her things that makes her senses all go on high alert.

Wolf with the darkness that has surrounded his life till now finds the light at the end of the tunnel so to say in the arms of Anna who brings peace to his otherwise tortured soul with her acceptance and love.

I liked:

  1. Mmm.. you guys guessed right! Of course Wolf tops the list of my likes for this short novella. I felt my heart literally go aflutter when Wolf came up beside Anna asking her to dance, while promising with his eyes of things that he wants to do to her that just made my knees go weak. The club scene was definitely something! *wicked grin*
  2. Anna. I liked her because she doesn’t wait around fussing and bemoaning about the fact that an assassin who has been hired to kill her is the one who ultimately rides to her rescue when the shit hits the fan. I loved Anna because in spite of everything she still saw the gentleness that resides in Wolf that yearns to show itself, and because she opened up herself to let Wolf in, giving him a chance to embrace the light to escape all the darkness in his life.
  3. Definitely love the cover on this one too!! ^_^

I did not like: None, though I would love to read a full length contemporary or romantic suspense from Ms. Stanton. ^_^

Recommended for: Those who love short romantic suspense with a good dosage of sensuality in the mix.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Ritual Sins by Anne Stuart

Format: E-bookritualsins
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Onyx
Hero: Luke Bardell
Heroine: Rachel Connery
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: October 1, 1997
Started On: December 4, 2010
Finished On: December 5, 2010

Ritual Sins was recommended to me on Goodreads by my good friend Ruby. As I read through this one, there is one thing that I can say with absolute certainty; none can blame Ms. Stuart for spinning your usual run-of-the-mill romantic suspense. Ms. Stuart always pushes the boundaries with her stories which either makes you want to hurl the book at the wall or put it at the top of your favorite keeper pile. For me, this book hit somewhere in between, though the story that unfolded pulled me in right from the very beginning.

Ritual Sins begins when 29 year old Rachel Connery decides to visit Santa Dolores, home base of the Foundation of Being in New Mexico, a compound devoted to meditation and enlightenment, combined with a hospice center to care for the dying. Rachel is a tortured heroine if there ever was one. Growing up with a mother who had never really cared about her and flitted from one man to another which had rendered her only child wary of the opposite sex, Stella Connery had cared for no one except her own self. Rachel had suffered sexual molestation at the hands of her third stepfather, the touching which had started when she had been 9 years old which had escalated into rape when she had been 12 had rendered Rachel frigid, unable to touch or be touched by any person, be it in kindness or anything else. Armed with her MBA from Havard, Rachel had worked hard in soul sucking jobs to earn enough money to just one day up and leave to Spain where for a period of 3 months she had found her solace, only to return back to the States to find out that her mother as the trustee to Rachel’s trust fund had drained her of every penny, 12.5 million dollars of which she leaves to Luke Ballard, founder of the Foundation of Being before finally succumbing to death after being diagnosed with breast cancer and leaving nothing behind for her only child but suffering, betrayal, anger and pain. Now the only thing that keeps Rachel going is her quest for revenge, the thirst to bring down Luke and his Foundation crumbling down which grows stronger everyday.

Ex-convict Luke Bardell grew up in a small town where his grandparents had tried to convince his mother to get an abortion, a father who had been an evangelist traveling from one town to the other who had never really wanted a child in the first place and had been killed for his wayward way with womenfolk by a jealous husband which had finally propelled his mother to marry Jackson Bardell, the worst mistake of her life for which she had paid in full by committing suicide when Luke had been around 8 years old, leaving him at the mercy of Jackson’s drunken fists until the day Luke had grown old enough to defend himself. When Luke had killed a man in a barroom brawl, Luke had been found guilty of manslaughter and had done time in jail for 3 years after which he had been released on parole during which time Luke had started the Foundation. With an uncanny charisma and charm, Luke has the ability to use his skills to draw people into his manipulative web of serenity and solace, and when Stella Connery dies at the Foundation, Luke knows deep down in his gut that Stella’s skinny, pale and sour faced daughter would prove to be the downfall of the Foundation, unless Luke can make her pay with the ultimate surrender of her heart, body and soul.

I liked:

  1. The unique story that unfolded as I swept through the pages. As I said at the beginning of my review, none can blame Ms. Stuart for spinning your average romantic suspense. This story is by not any means an easy read. Luke is a manipulator of the highest degree, who doesn’t feel any qualms about using people for his own needs regardless of the consequences. Learning about Luke and Rachel’s disturbing childhoods wasn’t easy, but it makes for a compelling read, one you can’t help but go on reading with a twisted kind of fascination. Even with all his faults, Luke still makes for a hero worthy of a sigh or two, even as he goes out of his way to charm and seduce Rachel to give up her heart, body and soul to him for nothing in return.
  2. Rachel Connery. She is a tortured heroine if there ever was one. She has so much pain, anguish and fear locked up inside of her that she is one simmering ball of misery waiting to explode. Ms. Stuart certainly paints a realistic picture of how someone who has been raped by her own stepfather countless times  can be frozen into state of abject misery throughout the years, not knowing how to reach out to anyone and never letting yourself become vulnerable enough to be hurt like that ever again. It was painful seeing Rachel being “forced” to give in, to embrace her sensual nature and when she did let go, it was a mighty fine feeling that overcame me as I rooted for her freedom from the very shackles of fear that keeps her in a prison of hell till that very moment.
  3. The complex multifaceted characters that liven up this read. There is not one character that I would have wished to do away with in this story. Each one of them lends something essential to the story making it one compelling story to sink into.

I did not like: Umm.. there’s nothing that I can say outright that I disliked in this novel. But Luke’s character was a bit tough to like during the first couple of chapters though the guy oozes charm like nothing else. But in the end, knowing where he came from, learning about the wealth of pain and suffering that had shaped him up made it all worth in the end. I still can’t say that I flat-out loved Luke, but I can definitely say that I wouldn’t shut the door in his face if he were to turn up at my house. *grin*

Favorite Quotes

She just looked at him. She really had extraordinary eyes, he thought, keeping his own face expressionless, slightly bored. It was those eyes of hers that were his downfall. He could resist her anger, he could resist her body and her sarcastic tongue. But those deep brown eyes, so full of pain and fury, need and defiance, did him in.

Recommended for: Fans of Anne Stuart.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Night Fall by Anne Stuart

Format: E-booknightfall2
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Onyx
Hero: Richard Tiernan
Heroine: Cassidy Roarke
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: March 1, 1995
Started On: December 3, 2010
Finished On: December 4, 2010

Anne Stuart definitely knows what she is doing with her bad-ass heroes who walk a fine line between inciting intense dislike or adoration despite of their broody and almost irredeemable nature in her readers. Night Fall caught my interest whilst going through her list of published  books and the fact that this story had won the RT Reviewer’s Choice award for the Contemporary Romantic Suspense category in 1995 convinced me to push this one towards the top of my TBR pile and I have to say that this is one romantic suspense novel that all lovers of this genre ought to read.

Richard Tiernan is certainly not your average hero in a romantic suspense novel. Yes he is handsome, compelling, charming and draws women towards him like iron towards magnet but what makes him a bit more sinister and edgier than your average alpha hero is the fact that Richard is a man who has been convicted for stabbing his beautifully angelic and pregnant wife Diana Scott Tiernan to death and the murder of his two beautiful children; 5 year old Amy and 3 year old Seth who to this day have never been found. It hadn’t taken much for a jury to find him guilty when Richard had done nothing to allay their suspicions. The fact that Diana had been about to leave him and had in fact filed papers to deny Richard access to their children had provided the motive that was needed for the conviction and his sentence had put him on death row to be killed by lethal injection until Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Sean O’Rourke posts his bail to use Richard’s story to pen his final masterpiece.

27 year old Cassidy Roarke had worked damn hard to make a safe and predictable and albeit a boring life for herself in Baltimore. Growing up with her father Sean who practically storms through life with his fierce bull-like nature and her mother Alice who had just been like Sean had definitely left its mark on Cassidy. Cassidy with her hour-glass figure, red hair and green eyes with her fierce protective nature knows that she will always fall short in her father’s eyes and that she would never be able to rise up and meet his expectations. Though she knows that putting herself in reach of Sean’s manipulative nature wouldn’t end up in a pleasant way, Cassidy is no match for her father’s wheedling and the news that he is sick propels Cassidy to travel to New York to see her father, her curiosity on why Sean had felt the need to manipulate her enough to require her presence being the deal breaker in her decision to go up to see her father.

When she arrives, she is hardly prepared to find a convicted murderer residing at Sean’s home, and Richard is exactly who Cassidy meets when she steps into her father’s apartment. The need to flee, to protect herself from the compelling man that stands before her rages an internal battle with her reluctant fascination for a man she is better off not knowing anything about. But Cassidy can’t help herself as Richard is determined that Cassidy fulfill the role that he has chosen for her, regardless of how much Cassidy might have to sacrifice of herself in the end. Ownership of Cassidy’s heart, body and soul is what Richard wants within the short time period he has left, and he uses all his acquired skill in drawing a hopelessly ensnared Cassidy into his trap until it is all too late when Cassidy’s well-honed survival instincts do kick in. What Richard doesn’t count on is for him to fall into a trap of his own making, for him to come to care enough to want to see the dawn of another day because of Cassidy.

I Liked:

  1. The compelling story telling done by Ms. Stuart on this one. From the prologue itself, this story drew me in, trapping me within the complexity of the story as it unfolded and made me read till late into the night so that I could find out what had really happened that fateful night when Diana Scott Tiernan had been stabbed to death in her own home. Kudos to Ms. Stuart for the amazing story she has told in this one!
  2. Richard Tiernan. His character is one that draws the reader right from the very beginning. It’s not only Cassidy that he lures in with his manipulative lies to ruthlessly achieve what he wants but the reader as well since I could not for the world stop thinking about Richard, his death sentence and the aura of danger, mystery and desolateness that surrounds him. My wary fascination with him turned into entirely something else halfway through the novel as his seductive and compelling nature made it hard for me to do anything else but love him for who he is and when the cracks finally begin to show in his well suited armor around his heart and emotions, I felt like holding him and never letting him go. Richard Tiernan is one fine man definitely worth your time! ^_^
  3. Cassidy Roarke. Her innocence coupled with her undeniable intelligence and her fierce loyalty towards those whom she loves makes her a very compelling heroine, exactly what someone like Richard who has lost himself in a shroud of darkness from which he sees no light really needs. Cassidy’s finely honed fight or flee nature always comes to light around Richard as he tempts her beyond anything or anyone she has ever known which makes for an interesting read in itself.
  4. The hideously creepy villain who comes to light towards the end of the story. The guy just gives me the creeps and the heebie jeebies if you know what I mean! It’s not that I “like” him but I like what his character brings to the story which makes for a very compelling read.

I did not like: Nothing much but *sigh* again, the abruptness of how it ended kinda punched me in the face with this one as well. Though I know better than not to expect long and overdrawn epilogues from Ms. Stuart, it kinda still stings when the story is over long before you want it to be, like cold water up your ass before you have fully woken up in the morning!

Favorite Quotes

She was literally backed into a corner, backed by her own nervousness, and he’d advanced on her. She raised her chin, looking at him with completely false calm, and waited for him to move out of the way.
He didn’t. Not for an agonizingly long time. He let his gaze fall, travel down the length of her, from her wild mane of hair, down to the front of her plain white nightgown to the tips of her bare feet. There was nothing even remotely suggestive about the cotton nightgown or the baggy sweater she’d pulled over it, nothing erotic about bare feet. His eyes slid down her body, and she was burning up.

She was unprepared for the sudden change in him. He’d been holding himself very taut, and suddenly the tension seemed to leave his body. He sank to his knees in front of her, his arms around her waist, his head pressed against her belly, and he was trembling. She reached down, in wonder, to cradle his head against her, and she felt the heat of tears against her skin, and her heart broke.

Recommended for:

  1. Fans of contemporary romantic suspense.
  2. Fans of Anne Stuart and her dark, edgy heroes.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

amazingread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Wild Thing by Anne Stuart

Format: E-bookwildthing
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin American Romance Publisher Series
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: John Bartholomew Hunter
Heroine: Dr. Elizabeth Holden
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: October 1, 2000
Started On: December 2, 2010
Finished On: December 3, 2010

This read certainly was different from my usual reads. Though this book is from Anne Stuart who is famous for penning the types of heroes that you hate to love but eventually you do anyway, not that this rule applied to me when I gobbled up her Ice series last month, the hero in Wild Thing is not the type to invoke shocked gasps from fainthearted readers. But rather what makes John unique is his history, the way he came to be labeled as the “Wild Thing”.

Dr. Elizabeth Holden (Libby) has a mind that refuses to be appeased from its thirst for knowledge and she holds doctorates in both anthropology and linguistics. Working on her research at the Stanfield University in Chicago, Libby is someone who thrives on order and regulation in her life. Someone who abhors the concept of camping or the outdoors, Libby is most comfortable in her city, surrounded by what is familiar to her. Her one serious relationship with Richard, a fellow colleague had fallen flat on its face when he had been more interested in nailing a graduate student rather than tying up the knot with her, a fact which drives home the fact that Libby is not one who tempts men to claim as their own. As an only child, Libby had been lost when her parents had died when she had been young, a result of which her family had become her education. When Edward J. Hunnicutt, the 7th richest man in the world who has quite an influence at the university requests for her service, Libby finds herself traveling to the other end of the world to a remote island off the coast of Australia to do his bidding.

What Libby encounters upon arrival couldn’t have shocked her more. Hunnicutt is convinced that he had found the missing link in evolution and is excited about the prospect of learning more about the hauntingly beautiful man he has strapped on a gurney with drugs pumping through his veins 24/7. From the moment Libby sees the man who is called a variety of names ranging from Tarzan to the Wild Man, something stirs deep within her and tenderhearted Libby cannot stand by and let people treat a man regardless of how savage he might be as a plaything for a billionaire.

When Libby helps the man she starts calling John escape from the facility, the last thing she had expected was for him to kidnap her and take her along in his trek through the forest that surrounds the fortress that Hunnicutt’s property is. The nervousness that starts growing deep within her at the close proximity to John who sets all her senses aflutter makes Libby open up herself and reveal all her deepest and darkest secrets, even the fact that she is entertaining lustful thoughts about the man himself, confident in the belief that John wouldn’t understand a word of what she is saying.

The last thing that reclusive John Bartholomew Hunter needs is a chatty woman harping on about her life trekking through the woods with him. But John had had no choice but to bring her along knowing that the Hunnicutt’s hired thugs wouldn’t take her role in aiding his escape lightly. What John doesn’t expect is to become enamored with her constant chatter to the point of missing her husky voice droning on in the background when she stops to take a breather. It certainly doesn’t help matters that John feels a deep need to claim her as his, a man who always is in ruthless command of all his emotions.

The constant restlessness that is a part of John ever since he had survived the plane crash that had killed his parents when he had just been 8 years old and John had had to survive on his own for 9 whole years until he had been rescued makes him uncomfortable around people and John had built his home on an island that wouldn’t require contact with the outside world. And even when that fails to curb his restless nature, John goes on his walkabout, trekking through the deep jungles, the only place where he feels at home. Captured by Russians and mistaken for a savage had lost him 3 months of his life at the sadistic hands of Hunnicutt’s hired thugs until rescue had come in the form of petite Libby with her husky voice and a mouth that would invite a saint to sin in the most wicked of ways.

Two lost souls, mismatched as they are find that they are more than a match when it comes to the combustive passion between them. Knowing that there is no future for them together doesn’t stop John from giving Libby the best sex of her life for one unforgettable night before John sends her away back to her city life in Chicago. When danger once again comes calling, it is John who rides to Libby’s rescue which in turn gives them their happily ever after.

I Liked:

  1. The unique storyline in this novel. I have never read a book of the Tarzan-Jane theme and this was a refreshing change from the usual bunch of romances that line my bookshelves.
  2. John. He is one delicious hunk of man flesh which just makes my mouth water. And of course there is a lot to be said for his broody nature, his restless soul that continually seeks something which it cannot find until he holds his Libby in his arms. *sigh*
  3. Libby. Lord, she made laugh a couple of times with her sense of humor and her incessant chatter.  Was she in for a surprise when John utters his first words at her. The humiliation she feels leaves her seething but in the end it is no match for the strong yearning that takes a hold of her emotions when she comes into contact with her wild man. I loved her sunny nature which comes out to play only when John is around which perfectly complements John’s broody and intense nature.
  4. Ah! This story does prove that Anne Stuart can in fact write an ending that would satisfy her legion of readers. I loved how this story ended with an insight into their lives 3 months after they get together when finally John realizes that at last he had found the other half of his soul in Libby after his latest walkabout.

I Disliked: Nothing comes to mind. I loved this story from start to finish!

Favorite Quotes

The pictures had been astonishing enough, but they failed to prepare her for the reality of Ed Hunnicutt’s wild man.
He was beautiful. There was no other word for him. Beneath the tangle of long, dark hair, beneath the deeply tanned skin and rough beard, he was absolutely stunning. She let her eyes run down the entire length of his body, his lean, muscled shoulders and chest, his long legs ending in bare, narrow feet. He was wearing some sort of ragged cutoffs and nothing else, and he looked like the male equivalent of Sleeping Beauty, perfection lost in an endless sleep.

Recommended for:

  1. Those who love Tarzan-Jane themed romances.
  2. Fans of Anne Stuart.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Two Alone by Sandra Brown

Format: E-booktwoalone
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Silhouette Intimate Moments
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Cooper Landry
Heroine: Rusty Carlson
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: November 1, 1987
Started On: November 30, 2010
Finished On: December 1, 2010

I was going through Sandra Brown’s book list on Goodreads when a bunch of her older titles which I have not managed to read yet caught my eye. This one jumped outright at me from the very first moment with the title alone to make it sound like a story that I would be interested in. Upon reading the book summary, I knew that this book was definitely right up my ally and I didn’t hesitate to get myself a copy and indulge in one of my favorite romance themes ever – where total opposites come together in a romantic suspense novel, the hero as grouchy as can be and the heroine as feminine as  they come creating the best of sexual tension which in the end delivers a romance of the best kind! And this book certainly did not disappoint me on that front.

Two Alone was first published in 1987 when Sandra Brown wrote under the pseudonym Erin St. Claire a fact which I found out when I was about to start writing the review, and I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed this one since most of the time romances penned in the 80’s tend to be of the wall-banger variety in terms of character development and developing storyline. But Sandra Brown has pulled it off, and I should say she has pulled this one off quite well with Cooper Landry and Rusty Carlson and their explosive mixture of passion and desire for one another.

27 year old Rusty Carlson is a real estate agent who works for her rich father and resides in Beverly Hills, California. With her mother dying when she had been a teenager and her brother Jeff whose sudden death had taken him away just two years back, its just Rusty and her father left in the family. Rusty always feels that she falls short when it comes to her father’s expectations, who always goes out of his way to sing praises for his dead son, and it is because Rusty tries so hard to please her father and rise to meet his unrealistic expectations that she subjects herself to spending time with her father at his favorite hunting grounds. On her way back to civilization, the plane on which Rusty is on crashes hurtling her into a world she is not at all equipped to deal with and puts her in the path of the dangerous and broody Cooper Landry.

Ex-military, having served in the Vietnam war and having ended up as a prisoner of war to later come out fighting with enough scars to last him for a lifetime, the last thing that Cooper needs is to be saddled with a woman who is too beautiful for her own good, a spoilt little heiress who Cooper is sure would end up being a pain in his butt whilst they fight for their survival until they are rescued. Cooper has sworn off women after the last woman he had given his everything had in the end betrayed him in the worst way possible and Cooper was in no hurry to let someone like Rusty ride roughshod on his emotions and his well protected heart.

But what Cooper doesn’t count on is the fact that Rusty though has lived a privileged life, she is no whiner and takes the whole survival of the fittest part about their predicament in the icy mountains with the killer snow storms moving in on them far better than Cooper had been expecting and in the end her gumption is what earns Cooper’s admiration, something he is quite stingy in passing out. And regardless of how much he tries to despise her and keep her away with his taunting and rough behavior, Cooper is helpless in the red hot desire that becomes as much a part of him as breathing when he is around Rusty.

Rusty is bewildered by the amount of hostility that Cooper shows her but she is no match for the desire that he unleashes with one searing glance and it is this strong attraction that they both try to ignore which brings forth all their animosity towards each other until the dangers in the wilderness forces them both to put aside their differences and work together for survival, something which propels them towards their ultimate combustive coming together which I absolutely reveled in reading about.

So.. Stuff I liked:

  1. Cooper Landry. He is broody, tortured enough to warrant my heartfelt love and bring forth all my protective instincts which makes him the perfect alpha hero. His callous behavior towards Rusty at the beginning made me realize that oh boy, when this one falls, he will fall hard and that made me nearly rub my hands together in glee at the mere thought of his fall. And every expectation I had of him as a hero was met. Cooper just sizzles the pages with his smoldering sensuality and the hot, hot kisses that fairly made Rusty not the only one to yearn to possess him. *wistful sigh*
  2. I loved the undeniable hostility between Rusty and Cooper which actually sprang from their mutual attraction towards each other which both refused to give in – or Cooper refused to give in because in his mind, he has nothing left to offer to a woman and because for him trust doesn’t come easily at all. Because of this, the simmering tension and sensuality between the two just took my breath away a time or two and I could barely sit still as anticipation coursed through me as I waited for the moment the inevitable explosion to come! *note to self: should join a Lamaze class ASAP*
  3. I loved the epilogue or rather the ending. It wasn’t abrupt, neither was it drawn out and what made this ending special was because of how their happily ever after was told. When Cooper leaves thinking that Rusty had ultimately betrayed him, it is Rusty who makes her way to the mountains where Cooper lives, and the ending is described months later which effectively conveys what happened that night when a bedraggled Rusty showed up on Cooper’s doorstep and also gives the reader glimpses into their happily ever after. Now why we can never find a man like Cooper, I would never know!!

Now.. Stuff I didn’t like so much:

I know it’s trivial but, what’s with the names of the hero and heroine in this book? Rusty? Who in the world calls their child Rusty? LOL! And Cooper was an okay name but I wanted something more significant, a name that would scream testosterone and ooze sexuality in lethal doses just like the man himself! ^_^

Favorite Quotes

He muttered swearwords that were in themselves arousing because they explicitly expressed the height of his arousal.
Like a Rod Stewart song, they were viscerally sexy, one couldn’t hear them without thinking of a male and a female mating.

Recommended for:

  1. Fans of Sandra Brown.
  2. Fans of romantic suspense.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Outsider by Penelope Williamson

Format: Paperbacktheoutsider
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Warner Vision
Hero: Johnny Cain
Heroine: Rachel Yoder
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: August 1, 1997
Started On: November 24, 2010
Finished On: November 30, 2010

I came across The Outsider by Penelope Williamson as usual on a discussion forum on Amazon. The lone hero of the gun-slinging variety and the atypical setting of this romance won me over within seconds of reading the book synopsis. Since this book is not available anywhere in e-format *insert incoherent muttering and cursing at publisher here*, I found myself paying up US$ 22.95 *oh the horror!* for this book without any hesitation. It was only when I received this book that I found out that The Outsider had in fact being made into a movie in 2002 starring the hauntingly beautiful Naomi Watts and sinfully handsome Tim Daly. So this review is a first for me such that it comes right after I read and fell head over heels in love with the story and watched the movie right afterwards so this would end up being a sort of a mixed review between the book and the movie.

The first thing that caught my eye, even with the turn of the very first page was the quote at the very beginning, achingly beautiful in the way it was told that I knew that I would end up with a booklet of quotes from the story to include in my review. And I wasn’t far off the mark when I thought that but I have restrained myself to including those scenes that I really had no choice but to share with those who read my reviews because I have this need within myself to share the beauty that  this story is.

34 years old Rachel Yoder belongs to the Plain People of the straight and narrow path, who puts all their affairs in the hands of God and believe that He would take care of all their needs as long as they submit their will to Him. Its the way of the Plain People to support and aide their neighbors, for women to submit to their husbands, to turn away from violence and mayhem and to shun anyone who leaves their faith once they have submitted to it. Beautiful with mahogany hair and solemn gray eyes, Rachel is left widowed with her 9 year old son Benjo who suffers from stuttering (but oh he is so cute!!) when Benjamin Yoder, her husband of 17 years is brutally hanged by the outsiders hired by Fergus Hunter who owns the Circle H ranch and wants to drive away the Plain People with his cattle and beef rearing business going under mostly due to the bad decision making on his part. The outsiders are those who do not belong to the Plain People and follow their way of life and are deemed to be wicked and bring in with them a lifetime of debauchery and sins and consorting with the likes of them frowned upon. And when one cold Sunday morning during the last ragged days of a Montana winter, a tall outsider walks in on Rachel’s property and collapses right before her eyes bleeding all over from a gunshot wound, Rachel with all the goodness in her heart takes him into her home and nurses him back to health.

The outsider, Johnny Cain, with his black-brown hair, high sculptured cheekbones, long narrow nose and wide-spaced eyes with thick long lashes, and armed to the teeth with different types of guns, stirs up a kaleidoscope of feelings in Rachel. In a man that the Plain People see nothing but the very devil lurking inside of him, Rachel sees the beauty in his face, the haunted look in his otherwise cold blue eyes, the yearning that crosses his face for things better left unspoken as the desire to possess and be possessed rages like a wildfire through Rachel. She sees the scars and calluses on his hands, the shackle marks on his ankles with the whip beating marks on his back that hints of the price that Johnny has paid with his skin and blood that stirs the protective instincts inside of her and makes her think of just how much of his soul Johnny has lost in the process.

Regardless of the fact that plain only marry plain, Rachel yearns for her gunslinger Johnny with a fierceness deep within herself that doesn’t surprise her as she is the one who is witness to the complex man that Johnny actually is. With view points of other multifaceted characters thrown into the mix such as Noah Weaver, the man who wants to claim Rachel as his own, Moses Weaver son of Noah who is conflicted in his need to experience life on the wilder side, who at times think that the Plain way of life is not for him and the complex nature of the relationship described between Quentin Hunter, the half-breed son of Fergus Hunter and his wife Alisa Hunter makes this a book that is hard to put down. Though I resented the time spent on descriptions of their lives which meant time away from the heady magic that is Johnny and Rachel, I know that as a novel their character development lent a richer feel to the story in the end.

The movie of course as anyone who reads romances would know, would always fall short of our expectations. Maybe because this time I wasn’t expecting too much out of the movie knowing that a movie would NEVER be able to invoke the myriad of emotions that the story does, I loved the differences as well as the similarities with the book as I watched Tim Daly work his magic on Naomi Watts and her cute, cute son Benjo. The ending was different from the book and I have to say I loved both endings as they give the much needed happily ever after for Johnny Cain, a more tortured soul one would never find.

 

Likes:

  1. Johnny Cain. Now ain’t that obvious? *grin* It has been quite sometime since I have read a novel that doesn’t include the hero’s point of view on stuff at some point in the story. The relationship that unfolds between Johnny and Rachel is told mostly from Rachel’s point of view and those who observe the not so subtle connection between them that bursts forth against all odds. I almost wept when I read of his childhood at the hands of humans who are better off being labeled as animals with their savagery that had turned Johnny into the killing machine that he is.
  2. Rachel Yoder. Her  upbringing and way of life certainly makes her one of the most unique heroines that I have read about. From her beautiful nature inside and out to the music that she hears in her surroundings, I loved her gentle yet fierce nature when it comes to those whom she loves. I adored her for being wise and insightful enough to see beyond the facade of ruthlessness that is as much part of Johnny Cain as are the guns that he handles like an extension of his arm. And Rachel sealed the deal in acquiring one more fan when she gave up everything because the love she feels for the outsider causes her no shame and it is a love that is much more fierce than any sense of belonging she feels to the Plain People and their way of life, no matter how much the separation from the latter hurts her.
  3. Benjamin Yoder. As I said before though he is not alive even when the story begins, his character seen through Rachel’s eyes made me fall for him right from the very beginning which is a rare happenstance for me when it comes to a romance novel. I loved Benjamin because he had known what a precious gem that Rachel is and had loved, protected and cherished her in kind.
  4. I was totally captivated by the subtle and not so subtle indications to the attraction between Johnny and Rachel. The yearning that they have for the other which neither could deny especially made sweeter by the fact that Johnny’s desire is shown through his involuntary reactions to Rachel made this a world of sensual delights to sink into though if you are looking for any detailed lovemaking scenes in this one, you aren’t going to find it here.

His gaze riveted to her every move as she spread open Ben’s warranted Perfection razor and stropped the blade, moving it back and forth over the smooth leather. She tested its sharpness with the pad of her thumb, deliberately giving herself a little nick. She pulled a face and sucked on the wound. He swallowed hard.

Lucas (the town doctor) set his bag on an upturned nail keg, found the witch hazel cream, and rubbed it into Cain’s blistered palm. As he gripped the man’s wrist, he could feel that the pulse was fast, too fast.
Lucas looked up to find that Cain’s eyes were riveted on Rachel. *swoons*

Dislikes:

As I mentioned before, though the stories of other characters that enriched the novel in terms of character development, I resented being away from the subtle world of magic that surrounds Johnny and Rachel. I wouldn’t have minded if it had just been them in the story, with just enough about the side characters to move the story along. But then again, I enjoyed The Outsider as it is, but nevertheless I did wish at times that I could just skim through some of the other side stories that picked up along the way.

Favorite Quotes

As she (Rachel) bent down to lower the wick in the lamp. her loose hair brushed over his chest and face. Se felt a tug on her hair and saw that he had tangled his fingers in a thick hank of it. In his eyes was a look of surprised bewilderment, but then his heavy eyelids closed as if against his will. He slid into sleep again, but not before letting go of her hair and wrapping his hand once more around the grip of his gun.

Her hair had been falling into her face all night, when it wasn’t been twisted into knots by the wind. She scolded herself for not pinning it up and covering it properly with a prayer cap. It had been prideful of her – and wicked, because she had done it for him.
“Rachel,”
Her name, coming at her out of the night and in such a tone of urgency, startled her so that the sheep hook went clattering to the ground.
He had come up close behind her, and as she whirled, her flying braid wrapped around his throat. He reached up, his long fingers tangling in the thick loose plait. His fingers tightened their grip, pulling her closer. His head dipped, and his lips parted slightly as if he would kiss her.
It was as if she had roped him, roped him with her hair.

She (Rachel) settled the sleeping lamb into the empty cracker box. “Those aren’t the sort of feelings I’m very good at inspiring, making him (Benjo) feel like a man.”
His unsettling eyes stared at her across the small space that separated them. His voice, when he spoke, was clotted and rough. “You’re good at it.”
And then time slowed and slowed and … stopped, as his hand came up. His fingers caressed her neck as they followed the length of her thick, loosely woven braid, down over her shoulder, down where the feathery, wispy ends of it curled around her breast. He was loosening and unraveling her hair.
His mouth was hard, so hard. But his fingers combing through her hair were gentle. She felt a strange seizing, deep in her heart – as if it, like the whole rest of the world, had ceased beating.

They stood close together but not too close, and they spoke not in whispers but plain, so anyone could hear. But Rachel’s eyes shone like morning dew. And her mouth smiled quick and sweet. And her whole body seemed to be leaning, straining to span the distance between them, as if all of her was saying to the outsider, Touch me, touch me, touch me.

Somehow they stopped walking and were facing each other. The wind fluttered her cap string. He took one in each hand and pulled them down until they were stretched taut, with his fingers barely brushing her breasts, and yet she felt his touch all the way to her toes.
He surprised her by starting to sing, a lilting song about a girl named Annie Laurie, filling in with la-di-das when he forgot the words, and at some time he had let go of her cap strings to take her hand, and he was now fitting his palm to hers, entwining their fingers, while his other hand had lifted her arm by the wrist and was draping it over his shoulder, and he was sliding his arm around her waist.
And they were dancing.

Recommended for: All fans of romance novels! This is one not to be missed.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | AbeBooks

outstandingread

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: A Baby for Emily by Ginna Gray

Format: E-bookababyforemily
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Silhouette Special Edition #1466
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Dillon Maguire
Heroine: Emily Collins Maguire
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: May 1, 2002
Started On: November 26, 2010
Finished On: November 26, 2010

I know not the reason why, but when I woke up this morning all of a sudden I started recalling this story that I had read a couple of years back. All I remembered was the fact that I had loved the hero in the book and that the book had been an emotional wrangler and that the heroine’s name was some Emily. Since I couldn’t recall the title or author properly I spent a couple of minutes searching for the book and thank god for the fact that I keep my e-book collection on my hard disk drive I was armed with this book in a couple of minutes, ready to sink myself into the heady world of romance that Ginna Gray has so beautifully created with this novel.

29 year old Emily Collins Maguire is shocked senseless when just hours after she and her husband Dr. Keith Wesley Maguire had learned that the in vitro treatment had been successful and that finally Emily was pregnant after going through every conceivable test on Earth for the past couple of years of their 7 year marriage to learn that her husband had died of smoke asphyxiation wrapped in the arms of his current mistress at their townhouse. Devastation doesn’t begin to cover it when the destitution with which Keith had left her in becomes clear as Keith’s countless affairs, the depth of his lies and betrayal in every aspect of their marriage comes to light. Pregnant, alone, broke and unemployed, Emily has no choice but to trust Dillon in the salvation that he offers her, not that she would take his pity or charity any day.

Dillon Maguire has loved Emily since that fateful day 7 years back when he had met Emily at the hospital where Keith worked as an oncologist. Emily who had grown up with a mother who had rarely been present with her wanderlust nature had showed up, deathly sick and diagnosed with breast cancer. The 21 year old Emily had taken a shine to Keith once he determinedly started his wooing process and before she knew it Emily had been married to a handsome and suave doctor who it seems wanted nothing more than for her to be his dutiful wife.

Dillon had grown up with a mother who fiercely resented his presence in her life, the truth of which comes to light much later in the novel. Keith had always been her favorite and Dillon had received whatever mothering and tender care from his neighbor and friend Jeremy’s mother Gert Shneider. And when Jeremy had been killed serving in the army when he had been nineteen, all of Gert’s mothering had solely become focused on Dillon. Dillon had always known that Keith viewed everything as a competition when it came to him and that he had been a little too late in masking his interest in Emily when he had first met her. All throughout their marriage Dillon had  tried his best to act cold and aloof towards the woman who undoubtedly had his love, an act which he pulls off too well when Emily at first tries to refuse his much needed help and care during the first couple of days after Keith’s death. But the secret that Dillon hides within himself is the one that could destroy everything he works so hard throughout the story to build between himself and Emily.

Likes:

  1. Dillon Maguire. If there is anyone who has read this story and not fallen for him then obviously there is something wrong with them! Dillon is manhood personified not just because of his intense and broody good looks and his multi-millionaire status or because of his tortured soul, those things do help, but it is because of how well he takes care of Emily regardless of the fact whether his love and feelings are welcomed by her or not that clinches the deal with Dillon. He puts each and every need of Emily above his, and I do not say this lightly and because of that very fact, my heart ached each and every time for the position Keith had put him in, even in death trying to cheat him from getting what he wants more than anything else in life.
  2. I loved the roller coaster of emotions that coursed through me when I lost myself in this story. Love and an overwhelming feeling of protectiveness towards Dillon, the need to slap Dillon’s mother senseless a time or two and then some, dislike towards Dillon’s elder sister Charlotte for her holier-than-thou attitude at times and a deep respect for Gert, the only woman in my opinion who truly deserves Dillon’s love and affection in this novel.
  3. The intense sexual tension in the story. Though this book doesn’t contain much of scenes of the bedroom variety, the slow awakening of senses that take place continuously in Emily was in fact much better than any hard and fast sex session could have been, though that wouldn’t have been unwelcome either! ^_^ But this drawn out tension between Dillon and Emily made me dizzy a couple of times and everything in me clamored for them to find joy in each other soon or I would have been the first to undergo self combustion in the Maldives! ^_~
  4. For some reason or the other, I can’t help but love the cover of this one. Just the scene of love, warmth and affection it represents touches something deep inside of me. ^_^

Dislikes:

  1. I don’t know why, maybe certain feminist readers may disagree with this but I thoroughly disliked Emily because of how she treated Dillon at the very end. I understand that what he did was not of the norm but Emily never even stopped to think for a second that it was Dillon, the Dillon who had been taking care of her, bestowing upon her his love for the past year or so and that she had never ever felt happier in her life and never more cherished than the time she had spent with Dillon, but the minute she learns of the dreaded truth regarding the paternity of her child, she is all fire and intense anger and goes as far to leave Dillon without even giving him the time to explain. My heart literally broke in two for the hurt that Emily puts Dillon through and in the end it is Gert who has to step in and knock some sense into Emily to make her suddenly realize that Dillon is not Keith and that he would never hurt her and that he had ACTUALLY been in love with her for the past 7 years. *rolls eyes in frustration* That’s why for me, Emily doesn’t really deserve Dillon’s love and unwavering loyalty and affection, because for me, a man like Dillon deserves more, much more than someone like Emily who can just walk away leaving a devastated man behind.
  2. I have to agree with the other readers who have taken the time to review this book. The ending was a bit abrupt and sort of leaves the reader hanging. I would have loved to see Emily do a bit of groveling on this one for a change!

Recommended for:

  1. Fans of Ginna Gray. Her writing style is addictive. You just want to keep on reading and subject yourself to the emotional intensity packed into this story.
  2. Those who loves their romance to play havoc with their emotions. This one certainly does that – in spades!

Favorite Quotes

Dillon’s gaze zeroed in on the distended mound beneath Emily’s blue maternity top.
His nostrils flared slightly as he drew in a bracing breath. He rubbed his palms on the legs of his jeans, then slowly reached out with his right hand. It hovered, not quite steady, the long callused fingers spread. Then, as gentle as thistledown, his hand settled onto Emily’s tummy.
She caught her breath. Tanned by hours in the sun, his skin was a deep bronze against the powder-blue maternity top and so large it practically covered her abdomen. Dillon’s gaze met hers for a second, but as though unable to resist, he looked back at the mound beneath his hand.
Emily closed her eyes and lay rigid as stone. She could barely breathe. Even though her maternity top the imprint of his hand seared her flesh like a branding iron. She could feel each individual finger, the broad palm, the incredible warmth.

Lazily his gaze trailed down her face. For the space of several heartbeats he stared at her lips, parted in surprise, and slowly, as though weighted with lead, his eyelids began to droop and his head tipped to one side.
Emily felt his breath feather across her face and excitement pounded though her. She could barely draw breath. Unconsciously, the tip of her tongue peeked out and swept over her suddenly dry lips. Through slitted lids fringed with sweeping black lashes, Dillon’s eyes glittered like blue diamonds.
Then he pulled her close, gathered her against his chest with both arms and pressed his lips  to hers.

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