Category / Warner Books Incorporated

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Leopard Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

Format: E-booktheleopardprince
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Princes, #2
Publisher: Warner
Hero: Harry Pye
Heroine: Georgina Maitland
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: April 1, 2007
Started On: May 27, 2016
Finished On: May 29, 2016

Readers everywhere would identify with the feeling of unabated excitement that courses through them when they discover an author whose voice they come to adore from the first encounter itself. An added bonus would be having the fortune of finding a long backlist of books that you can indulge in. Elizabeth Hoyt became that for me since I picked up Sweetest Scoundrel from her list of books to read.

The Leopard Prince is the 2nd installment in the Princes trilogy, The Raven Prince being my very first Hoyt novel which I read and reviewed in 2012. The Leopard Prince features Lady Georgina Maitland, owner of multiple estates who remains unmarried, labeled as a spinster given that she is 28 years old.

Harry Pye is Georgina’s land steward, a sort of superior servant considering the grand scheme of things where the elite of society are concerned. However, that does not stop Georgina’s fascination to do with all things related to Harry, even though he has been in her employment for just under six months.

Georgina laments the fact that Harry remains stoically unaffected by her, something she should try and emulate in her burgeoning feelings of curiosity and emotions of other nature towards him. When Georgina decides that she would travel with Harry to Woldsly Manor for a visit, Georgina arrives to find more than she bargained for when it comes to Harry, the village’s animosity towards him and a whole lot of danger that seems to follow in Harry’s wake.

Like in every single book of Hoyt that I have read to-date, The Leopard Prince is also filled with intrigue, danger, craftily formulated characters and mind numbing passion with a love that is as strong and virile as they come. Harry is the kind of hero that we all love to shake up. Broody and silent, Harry knows that his station in life is far below that of a lady like Georgina. The fact alone should tell him that he should stay away. But Georgina is a woman who would not be denied when it comes to passions in the bedroom and otherwise.

Georgina’s stubborn and daring nature might be at odds with the time period within which the story takes place. But then again, history is filled with scandalous affairs of one sort or the other and I believe that is exactly why Georgina and Harry’s story fits with me. I loved the unpretentious nature of both Harry and Georgina. Harry has a way with him that makes you go all weak in the knees every single time he uses “my lady” as a term of endearment, and especially when he uses it as he talks dirty to the woman who rouses his passions unlike any other.

There is a reason why Hoyt is a revered name when it comes to the genre. The Leopard Prince serves as a small testament to that fact.

Recommended!

Final Verdict: Steamy & exciting, with a dash of mystery. Hoyt’s mastery delivers spectacular results.

Favorite Quotes

He walked toward her, his boots scraping against the rocks in the road. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d brought pistols?” His voice was raspy and deep. It demanded apology, concession, even submission.
George didn’t feel like giving any.
“I—” she began firmly, strongly, even haughtily.
She didn’t have a chance to finish because he was in front of her. He grabbed her about the waist and yanked her from the carriage. She half-fell against him. She put her hands on his shoulders to keep from toppling over. He pulled her against him until her breasts were quite squashed into his chest, which, strangely, felt very nice. She lifted her head to ask him what, exactly, he thought he was about—
And he kissed her!

He drew a finger slowly across the edge of her bodice, watching her reaction. “What do you want with me, my lady?”
Her breasts seemed to swell. “I . . .” She couldn’t think while he touched her; she didn’t know what to say. What did he need to hear? George looked around the room for help but saw only the piles of food and dishes. “I’m not sure, really. I don’t have any experience in this.”
He dipped two fingers below her bodice and brushed her nipple. She shuddered. Oh, my. Harry pinched the nipple, sending sparks all the way to her most private places. George closed her eyes.
She felt his breath caress her cheek. “When you figure it out, my lady, let me know.”
He closed the door quietly behind him.

She gripped his hips and began to move her own. Utterly without rhythm, but it didn’t seem to matter. Almost . . . Oh, heavens! She actually saw stars. She broke their kiss to arch her head into the pillow in a bliss like none she’d ever felt before.
He was suddenly gone from her body, and she felt warmth splattering onto her belly. She opened her eyes in time to see Harry throw his head back and shout. The tendons in his neck stood out, and his upper body glistened with sweat.
He was the most magnificent thing she’d ever seen.

She knocked at his door.
It swung open almost immediately, as if he’d been waiting for her. “My lady.” His green eyes were heavy.
Harry’s chest was bare, and her gaze was drawn to it. “I hope you don’t mind,” she began vapidly, addressing his left nipple.
He reached out a long arm and drew her in. Slammed the door and pushed her up against it. Shoved back her hood and seized her lips. He tilted her head back and slanted his mouth over hers, thrusting his tongue between her lips. Oh, heavens, she needed this.

“My lady.” His breath puffed over her lips.
With an effort, she opened her eyes. “What?” she gasped. She felt drunken, dazed, as if she floated in a marvelous daydream.
“I hope you do not mind”—he rocked—“my boldness.”
What? “No. I, uh, don’t mind.” She could hardly get the words out.
“You’re sure?” He licked her nipple, the devil, and she jumped.
She was so sensitive, the feeling was almost painful. I’m going to get him for this.
He rocked.
Some other time. “Very sure,” she whimpered.
He grinned, but a bead of sweat ran down his temple. “Then with your permission.”
He didn’t wait for her nod but slammed his entire length into her, shoving her up the door and hitting with exquisite accuracy that place.

He withdrew again, and she could feel every inch dragging against her sensitive flesh. She waited, suspended in time and air, for him to mate her once more. And he did, his cock thrusting into her and his pelvis rubbing her exposed center. Then he seemed to lose control. He began a rapid pistoning, his movements short and jerky. But just as effective, damn him. And it began for her, spreading in waves that seemed to have no end. She couldn’t catch her breath, couldn’t see or hear, could only moan in primitive abandon and open her mouth and fill it with his shoulder, salty and warm.
She bit Harry.
He came, withdrawing from her suddenly but keeping his arms around her as he shook and spasmed his release between them.

He reached underneath and found her mound with ruthless accuracy. “This is what you get with a common lover.” He speared two fingers into her sheath.
She gasped at the sudden intrusion, feeling him stretch her as he stroked with his fingers. She shouldn’t feel anything, shouldn’t respond when he—
His thumb pushed down on her most sensitive spot. “No finesse, no pretty words. Just hard cock and hot cunny.” His tongue trailed across her cheek. “And your cunny is hot, my lady,” he whispered into her ear. “It’s fairly dripping on my hand.”
She moaned then. It was impossible for her not to respond to him, even when he touched her in anger.

“Suck me.”
She was startled. Really? She pursed her mouth and his hips came off the bed, startling her again.
“Ahhh. God.”
His reaction, his obvious enjoyment of what she was doing, aroused her. She could feel that part of herself throbbing. She pressed her thighs together tightly and sucked on Harry’s cock. She tasted his semen and wondered if he would reach completion in her mouth. But she wanted him in her when that happened. George licked one last time and rose to straddle his hips. She guided his erection to where it should be, but it seemed so big now. She pressed and felt him begin to part her. To tunnel and push. She glanced down. The smooth red skin of his cock disappeared into her feminine hair. She moaned and almost came apart right there.

But suddenly he broke. He gripped her bottom tightly and rolled her underneath him. Then he braced himself on his hands and ploughed into her, fast and furious. She tried to move, to respond, but he pinned her to the mattress with his weight, dominated and mastered her with his flesh. She arched her head and widened her legs helplessly. Allowed him full access. Gave herself to him as he continued his relentless pounding. He grunted with each thrust into her body, and it almost sounded like sobbing. Did he feel it as much as she?
Then she fell apart and saw stars, a glorious stream of light filling her being. Dimly she heard his cry and felt his withdrawal, like a little death.
Then he lay next to her, panting.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | eBookMall | ARe | iTunes

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Brides of Prairie Gold by Maggie Osborne

Format: E-bookbrides
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Warner Books Inc
Hero: Cody Snow
Heroine: Perrin Waverly
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: August 1, 1996
Started On: August 28, 2010
Finished On: August 29, 2010

The Brides of Prairie Gold center around the twelve woman who travel to Clampet Falls, Oregon from Missouri as mail-order brides. Wagon master Cody Snow has no idea how he ended up with agreeing to take these brides to their destination. This being the last trip that Cody was going to take, he was also carrying a stash of weapons and whiskey unknown to the brides on board to sell. A journey that was to take a period of around 6 months of their lives through rough terrain and weather, Cody doesn’t know how he is going to survive the incessant problems that seems to crop up amongst his travelers. Accompanying him as his scout is  the enigmatic half-Indian Webb Coate who makes for a pretty interesting character as well.

When Cody lays his eyes on the beautiful Perrin Waverly, the red-hot attraction that flares between them is instantaneous and unwelcome at best. Cody whose dead wife Ellen had betrayed him and got pregnant with another man’s child and died giving birth had left a bitter taste in Cody’s mouth where women are concerned. Cody had vowed that no woman would ever have that kind of power over him and his heart and he had resigned himself to settling down on his own. Perrin was a woman who had made a lot of mistakes in the past. Perrin viewed men as users of women, who always took and never gave anything back. Widowed quite unexpectedly from her jealous husband Gavin Waverly who had left her no means to fend for herself, Perrin had been at the end of her wits as to what to do when Joseph Boyd, Chastity’s wealthy banker had befriended her. In the end, Perrin had offered herself to him as his mistress, an act that had tainted her forever in the eyes of the citizens of Chastity. This journey towards a new life and a new husband was supposed to be her second chance. But life and its unexpected twists had thrown Augusta Boyd, Joseph’s proud daughter who doesn’t want anything to do with the woman who in her opinion had ruined her father which in the end had prompted him to commit suicide.

Needless to say, the journey doesn’t start off well for Perrin or Augusta. Augusta is a character that brings out all sorts of emotions from the reader. She is spoiled to the core, demanding and pretty much thinks of herself to be above everyone else who was performing the journey along with her. Augusta hires Cora to do her bidding, and whilst Cody had ordered that everyone who was traveling with him had to do their share of work, Augusta refuses to lift a finger to do work she deems to  be beneath her. With only 40 dollars to see her through the journey since her father had been completely ruined financially, a fact Augusta had managed to keep a lid on till now, Augusta is scared of not making it through the journey.

Cody as the wagon master has always opted that his travelers select a representative from their group to bring their problems to, so that Cody can only attend to those problems that are deemed unsolvable by the representative. When Perrin draws the paper marked X which effectively makes her the group’s representative, none of the group members are enthusiastic about the fact. They all know of Perrin’s reputation and were doing their hardest to ignore Perrin and not associate with a woman who had fallen from grace.

Cody curses and thanks the fact that being the womenfolk’s representative undeniably put Cody and Perrin into a situation where they could no longer avoid each other. Sparks fly and the atmosphere pretty much crackles with tension whenever Cody and Perrin are together. Though they try to deny the combustive attraction between them, it is inevitable as the rising sun that these two would come together in an explosive manner that pretty much obliterates everything else. When Perrin realizes that Cody has no intention of ever marrying again, but wants to continue their relationship, Perrin knows that she won’t ruin her second chance at respectability even if it means saying no to the man who had effectively captured her heart forever.

I don’t think I can effectively describe what goes through during this tough journey that these brides take to reach their futures and their husbands. The rough and tough journey inevitably toughens them up. There are losses, deaths, squabbles and disease that occur during the space of the journey. Making the journey doubly dangerous is a long term enemy of Cody, who is hell bent on killing Cody and stealing the arms and whiskey that Cody was transporting. And amongst the women is a bride who has an unhealthy obsession with Cody, who thinks that she is the bride meant for Cody who in the end nearly kills the woman Cody loves with everything in his being.

This book is a pretty great read which enriches the reader with the perils of traveling during the 1800’s. Life was tough and hard and people had to toughen up and face life head on if they wanted to survive. The most remarkable change comes out in Augusta, who finally gets what she deserves and a bit more, and in the end this makes her into a better woman, who but in the end loses the man she loves, because she was too proud to think that a half Indian was beneath her.

The story of how Mem, a 28 year old spinster and Webb Coate find each other was pretty interesting as well. Webb who at first smolders at the mere thought of touching the hauntingly beautiful Augusta Boyd, finally finds everything he had been searching for and more in the arms of Mem, the woman who completes him in every way.

I recommend Maggie Osborne novels for those romance readers who require something more than just a man and woman getting together and falling in love. If you want a romance with a bite of adventure, a little bit of mystery and enough passion to knock your socks off, this is a must read.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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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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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Sunset Embrace by Sandra Brown

Format: Paperbacksunsetemrbace
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: American Western
Series: Coleman Family Saga, Book 1
Publisher: Warner Books
Hero: Ross Coleman
Heroine: Lydia Bryant
Date of Publication: June 1, 1990
Started On: December 17, 2009
Finished On: December 18, 2009
Re-read on: May 2011

This romance is of the American West time period and is romance at its best. With great characters and an intense plot to keep things going, I loved every bit of this delectable novel by Sandra Brown. I feel almost sorry since she has shifted her focus on writing more stories of thriller/romance genre rather than focusing on romance alone after reading this book.

Lydia Langston is found  at the brink of death after giving birth to a dead infant boy, borne out of forced relations with her stepbrother. The family of the boys who find her take her in and nurse her back to health. Amidst the travelers who are on their way to Texas to start their lives anew are Ross Coleman and his wife Victoria. Victoria dies during childbirth rendering Ross a widow with his son Lee who refuses the many attempts to be fed. Ma Langston, the woman who nurses Lydia back to health, convinces Ross to let Lydia wet nurse his son. From the moment Ross lays his eyes on Lydia passion flares between the two which Ross tamps down viciously, with no intention of ever succumbing to a woman whom he thinks of as a loose woman.

Circumstances pit these two together, Lydia who vows that she would never bow down to any man after the years of constant sexual abuse she faced from her stepbrother whom she thinks she murdered in her last attempt to escape, and Ross who vows that no woman would ever take the place of Victoria who bestowed upon him the favor of bringing him into the circle of the elite and genteel society.

Things take an interesting turn with the law enforcement officials after Ross and Lydia’s stepbrother after her to teach her a lesson she would never forget. Both Lydia and Ross find themselves slave to what they arouse in each other, and ultimately learn to trust and love one another on the journey filled with perils and danger they never saw coming.

This is one of the best romances I have read recently and although the book is quite thick its no effort to read through as the intense plot and characters make you feel as if  you are part of the story. And oh yes, I have got to order a Ross Coleman for myself! Sigh!!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | AbeBooks | Half.com

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Wild Orchids By Karen Robards

Format: E-bookwild
Read with: MS Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Warner Books
Hero: John Roberts “Max” Maxwell
Heroine: Lora Harding
Published on: January 1, 1994
Started On: September 2, 2009
Finished On: September 2, 2009

For those who have read my last review (Island Flame by Karen Robards), I mentioned that the most favorite book of mine by this author is Wild Orchids which was the second book of this author that I tried. Writing the review for Island Flame and thinking about the book Wild Orchids, which I had previously read twice, made me stop the book Sea Fire in the middle (the second book  in the Pirates series) to read Wild Orchids once again, and sigh… I wasn’t disappointed! So here is my review for this special book, which most probably, I would end up reading AGAIN sometime in the near future.

This book starts when Lora, who is on vacation in Mexico, finds herself kidnapped at gun point by Max who is on the run for his life from the Mexican authorities. Max married previously, fought in the Vietnam war, and carries the emotional baggage of a war that turned pretty ugly. Lora, a teacher in a quiet town, engaged to a Mathematics teacher at her school, had been nursing her paralyzed mother for ten years or so, and was trying to enjoy a long awaited vacation after her mother dies of pneumonia leaving both her children with a bit of money, allowing Lora to splurge a bit on herself for a change.

Max, a strong alpha hero, from the moment he kidnaps Lora, who gives as good as she gets, has his hands full. Desperate attempts to escape which are thwarted at the last minute by Max, exasperates him endlessly, whilst Lora and Max start to feel the first stirrings of an attraction to one another that won’t be denied. The witty dialogue between Lora and Max never fails to amuse me.

Halfway through the novel, Max releases Lora to return back to wherever she came from, advising her not to go to the cops, when Lora just does the opposite and finds out that she really doesn’t want to turn Max over to  the authorities a moment too late and finds herself locked up. Max and his buddies rescue her from jail and in a harrowing chase, ends up on the plane which was to take them away from the hell hole. However, fate had different plans, when the plane crashes in the midst of the thick jungle, leaving one of Max’s buddies dead, and the other Tunafish (Theodre) with a broken ankle.  Max finds out that who loaned him the plane had double crossed him, and in fact the plane was full of millions of dollars worth of dope.

The story that unfolds is fast paced, filled with action, humor and moments of glorious passion between these two strong willed characters which you can’t put down till you have read the last line. My only peeve with this book is even the first time that I read this book, I thought that Lora didn’t make Max suffer enough before succumbing, which is a problem with most of the romance books. Maybe my ultra feminine side doesn’t like the fact that the heroine suffers so much throughout the novel, and in the end the hero just has to crook his finger in the “come to me” motion and the heroine just forgets every little thing that the hero puts her through and swoons on the confession of ultimate love, desire and marriage. However, even though the ending may not satisfy me 100%, I still love this great book and would continue to re-read it from time to time.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | eBookMall

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Doomsday Conspiracy by Sidney Sheldon

Format: Paperbackdoomsday
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Warner Books, Incorporated
Published on: December 1, 1992
Started On: October 2006
Finished On: October 2006

This is a book that I reviewed during 2006 on an old blog of mine. Just thought that I would post it here since a visitor to the blog requested for a review of one of Sidney Sheldon’s novels. This is one of my absolute favorites from the author.

The story was written at a time where U.F.O sightings were becoming a common occurrence throughout the world and where stories of government cover ups were becoming quite the norm. The story centers on such an incident where a U.F.O craft crashes into Switzerland and is witnessed by a busload of tourists.. The main character of the book a trained official of the CIA is given the task of finding all who witnessed this crash on the pretense of “warning” them not to talk about what they have witnessed. The official who is handed over the task has no idea that the what they had witnessed had been a U.F.O crash but rather a highly secretive military aircraft of some sort.

So thus begins his journey in locating all these witnesses.. as soon as he finds them and reports them to his superior they are killed in mysterious ways.. so as not to arouse any suspicion… The story continues with snippets from the past to show to the readers that the hero was so in love with his ex-wife that he hadn’t been “whole” ever since she left him for another man.. the reason being that the agent didn’t have any time for “them” anymore..

The story does make an interesting read… and leads onto a climactic ending that leaves the reader stunned with disbelief..

The author ends this book by giving a whole lot of information on the extensive interviews and research that he had carried out before writing the book… It hints of the possibility that such an incident is not so far from being the truth.. He further goes onto such “coincidental” deaths of scientists who were involved in the investigation of such actual incidents that had taken place all around the globe..

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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