by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: Provoke Me by Cari Quinn

Format: E-bookprovokeme
Read with: Kindle for I-Pad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Unveiled, Book 2
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: Spencer Galvin
Heroine: Kelly Crossman
Sensuality: 4.5
Date of Publication: June 22, 2011
Started On: June 24, 2011
Finished On: June 24, 2011

Provoke Me is a title that lives up to its name. It draws the reader in, refuses to let go and provokes all sorts of emotions from the reader and I absolutely loved it. Cari Quinn can certainly do no wrong with her sensational novels, and yes I say sensational because she pens a novel that is nothing less than perfection and Provoke Me is no exception to this rule.

The second book in the series Unveiled, Provoke Me tells the story of how the utterly controlled and focused Spencer Galvin finds in Kelly Crossman a reason worth letting go of his hard earned control in more ways than one. 35 year old Spencer has already learnt the bitter lesson of mixing business with pleasure and he is determined that he would stay true to his vow no matter how much Kelly tempts him to do otherwise.

A decade younger than Spencer, Kelly is caught between a rock and a hard place when even after 3 years of working for Spencer hasn’t dimmed her desire for him even one teensy bit. If anything, she yearns for him more than ever, and if not for the fact that she loves her job at The Book Nook, she would have given in and jumped his bones a long time back.

When Kelly encounters her hands-off boss at Kink the sex club, all bets are off as Kelly finally manages to get under Spencer’s skin to make him let go even for the few minutes during which he gives her the best orgasm of her life up against the club’s wall before all the shields are back again in full force.

Thinking that a few encounters with the whiskey-eyed Kelly with her killer legs would cure him of his fascination for her was Spencer’s first mistake. All his attempts to push her away with the moments in between that show glimpses into a core of sensitivity that few get to see, Kelly knows that for her its Spencer and him alone until Spencer does the one thing that is guaranteed to drive away the best thing that has ever happened to him in his life.

Filled to the brim with erotic sensual material that just about emptied out my salivary glands, one would think that Provoke Me is all about good sex with nothing much else going for it. But that’s where you are wrong as Provoke Me tells the story of two very real individuals who find themselves in the grip of red-hot passion that undermines everything else, giving them both a reason to hide from what it is that they really feel for the other.

Provoke Me definitely tested my boundaries as an erotic romance reader and though I wouldn’t say that I am a convert into the overly erotic material, Cari’s style in introducing me to the world of kinkier behaviour certainly sat well with me.

The one thing that I loved most about Provoke Me is Spencer whose hard and driven nature along with his superb control and focus made him a total hottie and earns him a very well earned notch in my favorite alpha male list. And I loved Kelly because her quirky, strong and yet vulnerable nature was what Spencer needed though he takes a long time to reach that conclusion himself.

Recommended for fans of Cari Quinn and for those who love emotion and depth in their erotica. The fact that I read this in one sitting whilst sick and in need of much required rest should tell its own story.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Kobo | Ellora’s Cave

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by mvbookreviewer

ARC Review: Seduction & Scandal by Charlotte Featherstone

Format: E-bookseductionandscandal
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: The Brethen Guardians, Book 1
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Jude Sheldon
Heroine: Isabella Fairmont
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: June 28, 2011
Started On: May 31, 2011
Finished On: June 22, 2011

Seduction and Scandal by Charlotte Featherstone is a novel that seems to have received its fair share of raving reviews prior to its release date which is set for the 28th of this month. The first book in The Brethen Guardian series, Featherstone introduces the reader into a world steeped in mystcism, religion, red-hot passion and love that is bound to make for an interesting and engrossing tale.

Seduction and Scandal introduces us to the three guardians whose life and the life of their sons are to remain in guarding secrets of the universe altering kind. Jude Sheldon i.e. Lord Black is a member of the three, someone who is tired of all the death that seems to follow him until everything else ceases to exist for him. When his life crosses paths with the beautiful Isabella Fairmont whose life is shrouded in scandal as well, Black wonders whether for the first time in his life he has found a partner who would share the darkness within which he resides right alongside with him.

Ten years younger than Lord Black, Isabella lives with her uncle and his daughter and her best friend Lucy, and suffers from vivid nightmares that has her distrustful of the shadows that linger deep into the night. Death has played a major role in her young life, taking away the two people who have meant the world to her. Her fascination and fear with Death manifests itself in the novel that she writes where Death becomes the hero that seduces the heroine in question until she is ready to surrender everything she has unto the hands of Death.

When her real life unfolds into events similar to that in her story, for someone like Isabella who has made it her life-long mission not to succumb to the wiles of rakes and men spouting poetry to lure women towards doom, Lord Black and his seductive advances pose a problem when all Isabella wants to do is give into the pleasure that she knows that only Lord Black can give her.

Lord Black is determined that the one thing he has come to yearn for in his otherwise bleak existence would not get away from him, even if it means coming out with the truth that binds Isabella and Black in their past. With Lord Black convinced of the danger to Isabella, the shadows behind which Black and his friends move within suddenly take a more sinister edge when the secrets that they have been guarding for so long lands in the hands of a mad man, who is willing to do everything and anything to attain ultimate power of the universe.

For me, Seduction and Scandal proved to be an interesting read. Though I had a few problems with the constant to and fro dance that Isabella plays with Lord Black and even though at a time or two I just felt like screaming “just get on with it”, Seduction and Scandal is a romance that has a lot going for it. From the adventure aspect to the dialogues to the characters that unfold, Seduction and Scandal exudes the talent and skill of Featherstone in weaving a tale that invokes complex emotions from the reader.

Recommended for fans of historical romances that promise to deliver something very different from the usual books that line your shelves and of course for the fans of Charlotte Featherstone.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

Format: E-bookslavetosensation_2
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Psy-Changeling, Book 1
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Hero: Lucas Hunter
Heroine: Sascha Duncan
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 5, 2006
Started On: June 20, 2011
Finished On: June 21, 2011

Wow!! That is all I am capable of saying at the moment with the remnants of Nalini Singh’s Slave to Sensation still coursing through me. If not for Dina’s review of Kiss of Snow on Goodreads that picks up bits and pieces of Hawke from each and every story till the 10th book in the Psy-Changeling series that delivers Hawke’s story, I would not have been tempted to pick up and read the first book in the series which has left me with a sort of breathless anticipation to continue reading.

Slave to Sensation introduces us to the world of Psy and the Changelings whose worlds cannot be more different even if they tried. Psy’s are well known for their icy control, inhuman practicality and their inability to resort to any sort of violence – or so they say. Changelings on the other hand are races that allow their animal sides to rule them and thrive on all sorts of emotional bonds and attachments that they form within their packs.

Our heroine Sascha Duncan has lived her whole life as a Psy knowing deep inside that she is unlike the rest of her race. Where icy control should be what runs through her veins, Sascha is a Psy that feels, a trait that would get her terminated if the Psy Cardinals were ever to find it out. Thinking that she is going crazy and that life as she knows it would come to an abrupt end if she ever were to show her vulnerability to her own race, Sascha is a woman torn apart on the inside, crying out for something which she doesn’t even fully comprehend.

When things on the business front brings her in contact with the sexy Lucas Hunter, alpha of the DarkRiver pack, she is at a loss as to how to handle the full frontal attack of sensations that bombard her right from the very first meeting. Lucas is a Hunter on a mission, who has vowed that he would do everything in his power to crumble the lines of defences around the Psy to find out who it is that are preying on females of their kind. What he doesn’t expect is to feel a compulsive need to touch and be touched by the woman of mass contradictions with whom he is to spend considerable time with for the next couple of months.

Scared out of her wits that Lucas and the way he constantly touches her is accelerating her deterioration process, Sascha tries her damnedest to erect walls of control around her heart and emotions which proves to be no match for the lethal touches and kisses that invoke a blaze of hunger across all her senses that refuse to be denied any longer.

When the news about a killer amongst her race comes to light, Sascha knows that finding him and bringing him to justice is the one thing she would do for the Changelings whose way of life makes her crave to embrace life with Lucas by her side which she knows is an impossibility. However, Lucas who has finally found his mate refuses to be denied as Sascha undertakes a mission that could very well mean her death and the end of a love that grows and fosters no matter how much Sascha may try to shield Lucas from eternal pain and loss that is sure to follow.

Slave to Sensation is a masterpiece that has everything going for it starting from its very appropriate title, the story underneath which has the power to invoke powerful emotions in the reader. The fascinating world which Ms. Singh creates is an unbeatable one where you can’t help but be in awe at the powers of her imagination in coming up with a world that feels as if its unfolding right in front of you.

All the characters whether it be Sascha and Luke, or the delicious Hawke from the SnowDancers pack to the ruthless and emotionless Psy are well rounded lending the story an extra richness that only in-depth character development can give a story.

Lucas (sigh) has wanting me to braid my non-existent long hair  just so that I can feel even a minute figment of what Sascha feels throughout the story when Lucas focuses his lethal brand of charm and seduction on her. Loved the purring and the rumbling that went on and especially the way Lucas protects, cossets and cherishes Sascha. Fantastic right from the very start, this is a series that fans of paranormal/urban-fantasy romances should not miss!

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

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: The Dome by Nova Sparks

Format: E-bookthedome
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: The Dome trilogy, Book 1
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: NA
Heroine: NA
Sensuality: NA
Date of Publication: April 30, 2011
Started On: June 18, 2011
Finished On: June 20, 2011

What would you do if you knew that the entire world as we know it is coming to an end and know exactly when it is going to happen? That is the dilemma faced by Sam Tucker when he starts getting realistically visual dreams of an apocalypse that is just around the corner.

Fearing that he is losing his mind, Sam does what he thinks is all that he can do in the short period of time available and tries to save as many people as he can without alerting them to what was going on. The only other person who knows the truth is his best friend Mark who is apprehensive about everything that takes place right from the very beginning.

When the annihilation begins, their savior comes in the form of an alien race who seemingly go out of their way to make their planet Syri habitable by the humans. The lucky escape from a certain death makes Sam rethink his priorities in life; a life which he had been taking for granted until now.

For Emma, Sam’s daughter, Syri opens up the possibility of a new love which she tries to embrace in her usual take-charge attitude. But on a planet where everything is not what they seem to be, Emma finds that even falling in love has its price which could get deadly with one wrong turn.

Told on first person basis by both Sam and Emma, the 1st book in The Dome trilogy is one intense, edge-of-the-seat read. Ms. Novak does a brilliant job on capitalizing on the emotions as well as the nature of us human beings, whose instinct for survival always comes into play when that is all we are left with.

Mark’s instinctive distrust with anything that has got to do with Syri certainly rings true with our inquisitive natures and our need for absolute freedom from any sort of shackles that may bind us. For Mark, the truth that he finds out turns out to be a deadly and costly one, leaving Sam a changed man, a man on a mission on the quest for truth and a way out of picture perfect Syri.

For someone who mostly reads and enjoys romances, this one was certainly a delightfully riveting surprise. With a nightmare inducing kind of prologue that reeled me in, I couldn’t help but be fascinated with the story as it unfolded and all my gratitude lays with Ms. Sparks who approached me for a review which otherwise would have had me missing out on this great sci-fi installment. I am definitely looking forward to the next book in the trilogy which cannot come out soon enough as far as I am concerned.

Recommended for fans of the genre. You won’t be disappointed.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Smashwords

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Grace Under Pressure by Melissa Schroeder

Format: E-bookgraceunderpressure
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Hero: Renaldo Morello
Heroine: Grace Beatrice Michael
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: February 1, 2007
Started On: June 19, 2011
Finished On: June 19, 2011

I am someone who always loves a good romance between a warm, sexy and accident prone heroine with a bit of an aloof and controlled hero who finds his hard earned control shattered all around him. As I read Grace Under Pressure, I couldn’t help but think to myself that I have read this earlier in my pre-review phase. Even if that were the case, I am really glad that I picked this up and enjoyed it, a story that left me wanting more of all the characters that cropped up as it unfolded.

33 year old Grace Michaels lives in the small town of Cannon, Texas and is a history professor at the local college. Accident-prone by nature, her first encounter with the town’s new and sexy as hell Chief of Police Ren Morello happens with her ass up in the air stirring up Ren’s amusement and his libido as well in the process.

Ren is a man who has closed and bolted the door on any sort of relationship with the opposite sex that requires his commitment ever since his divorce from the wife from hell. When Grace comes into the picture, even though his over-active libido begs him to bury himself deep within her, his emotions that are a bit more in control than his libido warn him to run the other way and never look back.

When Grace’s home is ransacked and it is clear that her life is in danger, all protective instincts that Ren harbors deep inside comes out demanding that he keep Grace safe at any cost. Being at such close proximity to a woman whose mere existence befuddles his thinking cells plays havoc with the rigid control that Ren exerts on his baser emotions until it all explodes in his face in the most sinfuly delicious ways possible.

Neatly tying in with the main story is the story of Julia, Grace’s best friend and that of her brother Gabriel that served as an equally interesting romantic interlude in this wickedly good romantic suspense of the erotic variety. Though the scenes of passion are erotic in nature, there is none of the overly kinky stuff taking place in the story. Grace Under Pressure is a hot little addition for your TBR pile if you love a steamy romantic suspense in a small town setting with all the antics that go along with small town life. Loved every single minute of this delectable story and I am definitely going to wade through Ms. Schroeder’s back list and see what I can come up with to keep me entertained in the future.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Samhain

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by mvbookreviewer

I-Review: Iron Seduction by J.K. Coi

Format: E-bookironseduction.JPG
Read with: Kindle for I-Pad
Length: Novella
Genre: Chinese Steampunk
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Hero: Jian Denzen
Heroine: Lady Jane
Sensuality: 4
Published On: June 3rd, 2011
Started On: 18th June 2011
Finished On: 18th June 2011

Visitor: What made you pick up Iron Seduction?

MBR: Ever since I read Morning After and flat-out loved the short & hot story, J. K. Coi has been an author of interest to me. But somehow this one slipped through the cracks until I found this on a list of recommendations on a blog post of author Maya Banks which had me running on an immediate shopping spree to acquire my first romance of the steampunk category.

Visitor: Tell us a little bit about the hero Jian Denzen.

MBR: *Huge sigh* Jian Denzen, otherwise known as Dance is the strong, silent and uber-sexy type of hero that just takes your breath away. Well-versed in the art of Lin Kuei, China’s more circumspect version of Japanese ninja, Jian is a hero I can sit and read about all day long because he is so very well worth it.

Visitor: Now tell us a little bit about the heroine Lady Jane.

MBR: Lady Jane is  a heroine who belongs in the kick-ass-heroine category. She commands a contingent of British soldiers who stay in China and is someone who guards her heart fiercely fearing that she might be betrayed yet again.

Visitor: How does Jian and Lady Jane meet for the first time?

MBR: Lady Jane and Jian’s paths cross during the battle for freedom waged against Empress Cixi. Lady Jane saves Jian’s life for which she earns Jian’s undying loyalty and exasperation as well.

Visitor: What was it that drew you into the story with Iron Seduction?

MBR: I delved into Iron Seduction expecting Ms. Coi’s way with the words to reel me in and it did just that. For a Quickie, Iron Seduction has got everything going for it, a well balanced story line, a hotter than sin hero and explosive scenes of passion that just took my breath away. And I loved every single delicious minute of it.

Visitor: What was it that you liked about Iron Seduction?

MBR: I loved everything about Iron Seduction from its sleek man-titty cover to the red-hot attraction between Lady Jane and Jian. For me, Jian and his unwavering loyalty and strength made this novella, and the way he thoroughly commands Lady Jane’s senses (which she tries utmost to keep sensible and do the “right” thing) made this an awesome read for me.

Visitor: What if anything would you want to change in Iron Seduction?

MBR: As a Quickie, the story is well done and delivers on all counts. But for someone who always loves longer stories, I would love to see what Ms. Coi can do with a full length novel. With Iron Seduction, I would have loved to learn more about both Lady Jane and Jian and their interactions together which happens prior to the start of this novella.

Visitor: Any memorable scenes/quotes from Iron Seduction that you would like to share?

MBR: I loved the scenes where Jian’s intensity comes into play.

Visitor: Who would you recommend Iron Seduction to?

MBR: Those who love stories by J. K. Coi. And for those who love their erotica with something a little bit different.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Kobo | Ellora’s Cave

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Secret Wife by Lynne Graham

thesecretwife

Format: E-book
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Constantine Voulos
Heroine: Rosalie Waring
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: November 28, 1997
Started On: June 16, 2011
Finished On: June 17, 2011

The Secret Wife by Lynne Graham is a novel that I seemed to have missed out on previously. It tells the story of how Rosalie Waring’s world collides by a twist of fate with that of the ultra rich Greek tycoon Constantine Voulos brought about by the conditions set aside on the will of Anton Estrada, adoptive father of Constantine.

Rosie is stunned when after a period of blissful happiness of four months with Anton, he dies suddenly leaving her bereft and alone once again. When Constantine jumps to the worst of conclusions about her relationship with Anton, Rosie’s bitterness towards Constantine, who has had a lifetime of moments with her own father lets her keep the explanations under wraps until Anton’s will forces Constantine to ask for her hand in marriage.

It is a blazingly resentful Constantine who calls Rosie a gold digger and much worse that turns up for the wedding along with our prickly as a hedgehog heroine whose instinctive reactions of self protection is the tendency to lash out and give as good as she gets, an aftereffect of being in state ward care since the tender age of nine, that makes the joining of holy matrimony of these two a volatile one at best.

Though Rosie tries to come clean with who she is, Constantine is not one to believe a word that comes out of her mouth and this charade continues throughout the book, each of them insulting one another blinded by the fury at the inconvenient desire that they feel for each other.

For me, The Secret Wife didn’t make for such a great read. The premise of the story which promised to deliver an angsty read failed to do that when Constantine refused to listen to whatever Rosie had to say and Rosie refused to try and make Constantine see the light after his initial rejection. For me, I would gladly take Rosie’s side because Constantine just grated on my nerves with his inability to see beyond what he wants to see, and even when eventually the truth does come out, he is quick to lay the blame at Rosie’s feet rather than accept his own doing in complicating matters.

This story is told from Rosie’s viewpoint and I for the world of me cannot understand how it is that Constantine falls in love with Rosie. For someone who loves finding the hero’s feelings via his reactions towards the heroine; I just didn’t feel the love in this one.

Recommended for those who love the marriage of convenience theme and fans of Lynne Graham.

Final Verdict: Blazing sexual heat, jealousy, angst, and a motherlord of misunderstandings signifies this story making it memorable!

Favorite Quotes

‘Let go of me, you caveman!’ Rosie splintered breathlessly.
Constantine gazed down at her, blazing golden eyes intent, and splayed hard fingers to the curve of her hip and forced her up against him. That close to that lean, muscular male frame, Rosie froze, bright eyes bewildered as the heat and the scent of him washed over her in a heady, disorientatingly pleasurable tide. A tiny little muscle deep down in her stomach jerked, making her legs feel oddly weak and hollow. Her heart started slamming suffocatingly fast against her ribcage.
‘You were trying to flirt with me,’ Constantine murmured with a slight frown, his deep, dark drawl sending the most peculiar little shivers travelling down her taut spinal cord.

‘Your mouth is bigger than you are,’ Constantine growled, his deep voice thickening in a manner that sent Rosie’s self-preserving instincts shooting to full power. ‘Why not kiss me instead?’
‘Because I don’t want to kiss you!’
‘No?’
‘Do I look that dumb?’ Rosie spat.

‘It won’t work… I’m naturally argumentative’ Rosie asserted even more tautly.
Golden fire in his molten appraisal, Constantine swept her up into his arms to carry her into the bedroom. ‘Christos… of course it will work. And once we have made love, once you have lain in my arms and tasted the pleasure we can share, you will never mention the throwback again. I may not be perfect but I’m way beyond him in the reliability stakes.’

Constantine smiled. Rosie’s heart flipped. He withdrew his finger, dropped his dark head and traced the fullness of her lower lip with the teasing tip of his tongue. She wanted him to kiss her. It was an instantaneous need and she shifted beneath him, all of a quiver with helpless impatience, her body taut with sudden screaming tension. Her hands flew up of their own volition and her fingers sank into his black hair to try and drag him down to her by force.
With a husky laugh, Constantine resisted her urging and instead let his tongue dip between her readily parted lips. ‘Foreplay,’ he whispered provocatively.

‘You told Anton that you were pregnant,’ Constantine contended in a ragged, dark growl as he drew inexorably closer. ‘It was a cheap trick but that is why he demanded that I marry you.’
‘I don’t play cheap tricks,’ Rosie told him breathlessly, struggling to hang on to her wits as her skin heated and her breasts swelled into throbbing sensitivity. She pressed a betraying hand to the pulse flickering a crazy beat at her collarbone.
‘Christos … you play me like a witch casting a spell!’ Constantine countered with sudden glancing rawness. ‘I want you even more now than I wanted you last night—’
‘Tough,’ Rosie said with tremulous bite, a quiver of deep overpowering longing sheeting over her with the efficacy of a mind-blowing drug, leaving her more dizzy and disorientated than ever.

‘I don’t want to hurt you again.’
‘You don’t argue with me in my fantasies…you don’t stop…you don’t make me wait!’ Rosie sobbed in explosive frustration.
The silence thundered. She closed her eyes in horror. Oh, no, I didn’t say that … did I? she asked herself.
‘What do I do?’ he murmured.
‘What I want,’ Rosie mumbled.
Constantine vented a ragged laugh of appreciation. The velvet-hard thrust of him surged teasingly against her, gently probing the slick, damp welcome awaiting him.

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

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

Format: E-booklordofscoundrels
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Scoundrels, Book 3
Publisher: Avon
Hero: Sebastian Leslie Guy De Ath Ballister
Heroine: Jessica Trent
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: March 30, 1995
Started On: June 15, 2011
Finished On: June 16, 2011

Lord of Scoundrels is a historical romance that has earned its fair share of awards in the world of romance. Being at the very top of the AAR list of 100 romances is no small feat and I went in with high expectations when I started out with this book. True to the awards the book has received, I was totally enchanted and captivated with the story that unfolded and hopelessly and madly in love with both Sebastian and Jessica before halfway through, and enjoyed the third book in the Scoundrels series as much as I imagined I would.

Lord of Scoundrels tells the tale of Sebastian Leslie Guy De Ath Ballister, the son of the Earl of Blackmoor and his second wife. A man who is more besotted with his property than anything else, the Earl holds little regard for his young wife and even less so towards the ugly son that she bears him.

From a young age, Sebastian is a bewildered child because he doesn’t have the remotest clue as to why his father goes out of his way to avoid him. And the only source of warmth and compassion in his life leaves him at the tender age of 8 when his mother runs away with her lover, leaving a scared little boy with a resentful father. Its not long before Sebastian is sent away to boarding school where he learns to toughen up and where he learns to give back as good as he gets and earns the respect of his notorious peers. Needless to say between the merciless teasing and fights with fellow students and the continuous flogging sessions received at school, Sebastian has any figment of love, tenderness or hope beaten out of him long before he turns into an adult.

Twenty five years later, Sebastian is filthy rich and a man powerful in his own right who is still feared by the members of the respectable society towards which Sebastian feels nothing more than contempt. But when beautiful and feisty Jessica Trent invades his life and starts creeping under his skin, Sebastian tries the only trick he is left with; drive her away by being his most notorious self whilst inside his heart and very soul cries out for Jessica in a way he had long since forgotten.

Jessica is no wimpy female who finds her own fascination with Sebastian troublesome to say the least. Animal attraction she can supposedly handle, but marriage and the prospect of falling in love with the most hard headed male she has come across wasnt exactly what Jessica was looking for.

In Jessica Sebastian finds that for the first time in his life that he needs someone else to complete him and knows that if she ever were to leave him he would just wither and die away. You would think that once the man realizes that he would make things easier for his newly wedded wife. But pride and his vow never to let anyone close enough to hurt him has Sebastian trying to drive away Jessica albeit unsuccessfuly and the antics that follow make for quite an engrossing tale.

You can’t read Lord of Scoundrels without falling in love with both Sebastian and Jessica as they together make an explosive combination that just keeps you turning the pages, wishing that the story would just go on and on. I seriously loved the spunky and fiesty Jessica because she was insightful enough to know Sebastian inside out and strong enough to fight him fair snd square where their love is concerned. I especially loved the witty bantering between Sebastian and Jessica whose way with the words cannot help but invoke huge-ass grins all over. And Jessica’s attempts at seducing her husband and the resultant effect on her overly self-controlled husband is definitely one of the highlights in a story that definitely deserves and has more than earned its fair share of millions of fans all over the world.

Highly recommended for fans of romances.

Favorite Quotes

The trouble was Jessica could not feel at all sensible. A magnetic current was racing along her nerve endings. It slithered and swirled through her system, to make an odd, tingling heat in the pit of her belly, and it melted her brain to soup.
She wanted to kick off her shoes and trail her stockinged toes up and down the black, costly boot. She wanted to slide her fingers under his starched shirt cuff and trace the veins and muscles of his wrist and feel his pulse beating under her thumb. Most of all, she wanted to press her lips to his hard, dissolute mouth and kiss him senseless.

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

outstandingread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Indecent Deception by Lynne Graham

Format: E-bookindecentdeception
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Presents, #1740
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Blaze Kenyon
Heroine: Christabel Hamilton
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: April 1, 1995
Started On: June 14, 2011
Finished On: June 14, 2011

This I think must be the third time that I am reading Indecent Deception by Lynne Graham. And that alone should be enough to tell everyone who wants to know that this is a favorite re-read of mine from the Harlequin line.

Christable (Chrissy) Hamilton is just twenty years of age and shoulders the responsibility of caring singlelhandedly for her half sister Rosie who is about two and a half years old. Barely making ends meet, Chrissy is fired from her only job that is responsible for keeping a roof over her and Rosie’s head; all because she lets her pride and anger at Blaze Kenyon’s sheer arrogance take the best of her.

Blaze is a man who has no intention of ever settling down and one whose sensational life as the rich playboy keeps the tabloids in a tailspin. Surprisingly it is Blaze who offers Chrissy a job which she grabs with both hands never knowing the twisted web she would weave in the coming days.

When her sister Elaine turns up claiming that she wants to get back together with Blaze, Chrissy does the stupidest thing she has ever done in her life which ends up with Blaze and herself walking down the aisle. However, once the truth comes out, Chrissy has hell to pay, making her fear that her burgoening love for a man who has become so vibrantly important in her life would never be reciprocated by the man in question, who only feels loathing for her misleading lies.

I just flat-out adore this story which is proven by the number of times I have read it to-date. And I love Blaze Kenyon for everything he is from his sardonic humor to the blazingly sexual side of him that just makes my heart go predictably aflutter each and every single time. Chrissy was a tough one to like because of the deceiving role that she plays in the novel, no matter how martyr-like she wanted her actions to be. For me, its Blaze who makes this novel come alive, who makes this book worth a revisit time and time again.

Recommended for fans of Lynne Graham and fans of Harlequin romances.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble 

 

by mvbookreviewer

Review: Best Man to Wed? by Penny Jordan

Format: E-bookbestmantowed
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: The Bride’s Bouquet, Book 2
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: James Carlton
Heroine: Poppy Carlton
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: May 1, 1997
Started On: June 13, 2011
Finished On: June 13, 2011

I can almost always count on a good old Harlequin novel to take me on an emotional roller coaster ride from which I wouldn’t want to get off. Penny Jordan is a favorite Harlequin author of mine and I am sure many fans of the Harlequin line are bound to feel the same. Though I have done most of my Harlequin crazed phase of reading prior to the start of my review site, this is one novel by Penny Jordan that I seemed to have missed, a fact I am glad that I have rectified when I started on this one on a whim today.

22 year old Poppy Carlton has had her dreams crushed when her cousin Chris Carlton who has been the man of her dreams since she had turned 12 years of age marries another. Forced to grow up and get her head out of the clouds, Poppy is horrified when her virginal body responds in an appalling manner to James Carlton’s caresses. James is her beloved Chris’s elder brother, the forbidding and formidable version to the sunny and easy going nature of Chris who occupies her thoughts night and day – or so Poppy tries telling herself.

8 years older than Poppy, James is a man who keeps his emotions close to himself apart from tearing into Poppy’s infatuation when it comes to his younger brother. When consequences of their nights of passion together forces Poppy to acknowledge her feelings towards the brother who is a match for her in every way, Poppy fears that she might be just a little bit too late in accepting that James is the one and only for her.

I love stories where the hero has always being in love with the heroine but somehow was overshadowed by the heroine’s infatuation with another man presumably a relative of the hero’s. James is a mouthwateringly alluring hero and Poppy though at first grated on my nerves with her self pitying nature made up for it beautifully when she freely expresses her need for James bringing the poor guy to his knees.

And this one certainly managed to be an emotion wrenching read and I loved the effect the story had on my emotions as I read along. Though this might not be a feminist’s idea of how a romance should be, this is romance in its most old-fashioned form, the reason why I fell in love with the world of romance in the first place. Recommended for fans of the Harlequin genre and fans of Penny Jordan.

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

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