by mvbookreviewer

Review: White Out by Linda Howard

Format: E-bookwhiteout
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Upon A Midnight Clear Series
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Tanner Price
Heroine: Hope Bradshaw
Sensuality: 2.5
Date of Publication: November 29, 1999
Started On: June 17, 2010
Finished On: June 18, 2010

Believe me, once you get addicted to Linda Howard’s writing style, you would find it difficult to let go. It happened to me once before, when I first realized how great a writer she is. And of course the wonderful alpha male heroes that she creates with strong heroines who don’t grate on your nerves by their simpering idiosyncrasy or trying to prove that they are as good as the next guy bodes well with me.

This too is a short story, pretty short I would say, in fact shorter than the book that I reviewed the last time. Anyhow this story is centered around Hope Bradshaw who has been widowed for five long years during which she has devoted most of her time taking care of her dead husband Dylan’s dreams.

The story kicks off when a fierce blizzard is brewing up and Hope is alone at home with her faithful dog Tinkerbell as a companion when a stranger shows up in the midst of the snowstorm barely alive. Hope saves his life and before she knows it, she has given into the quick and hot attraction that flares up between the two.

But news from the outside world intrudes in on the couple making Hope doubt that Tanner is who he claims to be. Scared that he might be one of the escaped convicts the media was reporting about, Hope takes matters into her own hands and finally figures out who  the villain and who the hero is before this short story is through.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Bluebird Winter by Linda Howard

Format: E-bookbluebirdwinter
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Spencer-Nyle Company Series, Book 3
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Derek Taliferro
Heroine: Kathleen Fields
Sensuality: 2
Date of Publication: November 1987
Started On: June 17, 2010
Finished On: June 17, 2010

This is a short story by the author, a story that once I started to read I had the inkling that I had read it previously. Anyhow this book is good for a quick read where not much thinking on the reader’s part is required.

The story starts off when Kathleen goes into labor prematurely during a snow storm. Kathleen lives in a remote ranch where the nearest clinic is around fifteen miles away which in the rough weather that breaks out seems like an impossible task to reach. However for the sake of her unborn child, Kathleen tries to drive through the ferocious weather only to land in a ditch whilst the contractions get worse by the minute.

Derek Tallifero is a doctor specialized in neonatal care who is on  his way back to the city after visiting his mother for Christmas. Derek is also caught up in the storm and barely makes out the truck  Kathleen is in and it is he that rescues her, assist her in the birthing process and fall in love with her all in the same night.

Derek knows that the woman he had so hopelessly fallen in love with has to be wooed and courted so that she would lose that haunted look  in her eyes. The only solution that he could come up with was to propose marriage to Kathleen in the name of taking care of the baby. Kathleen though she doesn’t know it, is seduced into loving the warm and vibrant man that Derek is and slight misunderstandings on Kathleen’s part which is quickly resolved give this little family the happy ending they deserve.

Sarah and Rome, two of my favorite characters from one of my most favorite Linda Howard’s novels Sarah’s Child appear in this story which made it more endearing to me. My only problem with the book was it being too short to enjoy for a bit longer.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Dream Man by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Dane Hollister
Heroine: Marlie Keen
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: November 24, 2009
Started On: June 15, 2010
Finished On: June 17, 2010

This book signifies romantic thrillers at their best. Linda Howard has done an awesome job in creating the story of a vicious serial killer who targets female victims, rapes them and butchers them up like nothing Detective Dane Hollister has seen throughout his career. With no forensic clues left behind by the killer, Dane and his partner Trammel are at a loss on how to proceed.

Help comes in the form of psychic Marlie Keen, who has had a troubled past with her gift. Six years has gone by since she has had a vision, and though she knows the drill of coming out to cops as a psychic, she can’t help herself but show up at the police station to describe the heinous crime committed which she sees through the eyes of the killer.

Dane who is a pretty smart detective, a little bit rough around the edges bristles and scoffs at the mere idea of the psychic business. But chills run up and down his spine and a fierce unwanted longing for Marlie crops up within him right from the first moment he lays his eyes on her. Though Marlie is accustomed to hostility from the police force before she is able to prove her abilities to them, she can’t set aside the burst of anger within her at first the dismissive way Dane treats her and then as a suspect the next.

After searching up on Marlie and learning about the her violent past, Dane sets aside his doubts and starts believing in Marlie and decides to give into the intense feelings he feels for her. Though Marlie is resistant at the idea of starting a relationship with anyone, she is no match at resisting the fierce heat that is between the two.

Before long, Dane realizes the toll each psychic vision has on Marlie and though the second murder doesn’t yield any clues to who the monster might be, the third murder yields a sketch of the killer. Without Marlie knowing, Dane sets her up with the media to grab the attention of the killer, which Marlie attracts in spades. Devastated by the ultimate betrayal by the man she has come to love, Marlie refuses to move to a safe house but reluctantly agrees to move into Dane’s house where the killer comes into finally end Marlie’s life once and for all.

This book is intense, creeping me out at certain scenes where the thoughts of the vicious killer made chills run up and down my spine. The characters are well developed, the passion scorching HOT and the romance just the right level that it made me feel like I was actually reading a romantic thriller and not just a thriller.

Great read the second time round. Loved the epilogue! And loved the larger than life Dane Hollister! Sigh!!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Kill & Tell by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Thriller
Series: John Medina Series, Book 1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Marc Chastain
Heroine: Karen Whitlaw
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 1998
Started On: June 14, 2010
Finished On: June 15, 2010

I went on a Linda Howard reading spree a long time back and am now re-reading some of her books, books that have made an impression on other readers and books that I remember being good enough and worthy enough for a re-read. Linda Howard is an amazing writer, her writing style never lets you down and her heroes are to die for. With the right mixture of romance, mystery and sensuality, her books always rate highly in my opinion.

Right from the start of the book, the reader is drawn into the web of mystery that surrounds the murder of two soldiers who served in the Vietnam war, one being the estranged father of Karen Whitlaw and the other the father of the larger than life CIA operative John Medina, who gets his own story in the book All the Queen’s Men published in 1999. I remember being quite disappointed with John Medina’s book since my expectations for him were at an all time high after reading about just how dangerous a hero John would turn out to be.

Anyhow, Karen learns about the murder of her father from New Orleans’s homicide detective Marc Chastain when he calls her up to tell that her father Dexter Whitlaw who had lived on the streets had been killed under suspicious circumstances as far as Marc could tell. Reeling from the sudden death of her beloved mother a couple of months back, Karen had always nursed a deep resentment for her father who had abandoned both of them when Karen was quite young. However Karen quickly makes arrangements and fly off to New Orleans where she comes face to face with Marc, the man whose velvety voice had made quite an impression on Karen, and the quick hot attraction that flares between the two is something to savor.

The slow seduction that takes place where Marc woos Karen and the scorching passion these two create with one another made me want a Marc of my own. Sigh! Unbeknown to Karen, something in her possession that her father had mailed to her mother a few months before his demise marks Karen as a target and her life quickly unfolds into one filled with danger and pitfalls wherever she turns.

A story that has an intriguing mix of politics gone awry, jealousy, murder and two characters a reader would definitely relate with, this is another book that is in the “un-putdownable” category by the author.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Open Season by Linda Howard

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero: Jack Russo
Heroine: Daisy Minor
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: July 17, 2001
Started On: June 13, 2010
Finished On: June 14, 2010

Daisy Minor, small-town librarian has just turned 34 years old. She is single, frumpy looking at best and well on her way to attaining spinsterhood when she realizes that she wants more out of life than living with her mom and aunt. So Daisy decides to change everything about her, from her appearance to moving out and getting her own place.

Chief of Police Jack Russo was a brusque, hard-nosed Yankee who had served in the SWAT in New York and Chicago when his great-aunt back in Hillsboro dies leaving him her place, a place where Jack had spent his summers as a child. Suddenly tired of all the pressures of working as a cop in the city, Jack moves to Hillsboro and finds himself smiling at the verbal sparring matches he has with the town’s frumpy librarian.

Once her make-over is complete, Daisy decides to hit the night clubs to scout for a husband, and is delighted by the appreciative attention she receives. However to Daisy’s  horror she becomes the source of the start of a brawl in the club and in a matter of seconds finds herself being escorted out of the club by Jack who continually seems to invade her personal space.

The second night Daisy decides to visit the club, she unknowingly witnesses the murder of a man and this puts her in grave danger to which Jack is alerted to when he receives a suspicious call from the mayor who is  involved in the business of smuggling young girls into the country to sell them at a high price to prostitution rings.

Explosive passion and romance are intrinsically woven together with a plot of danger with an interesting cast of characters that makes this book one you cannot put down. The witty banter between Daisy and Jack right from the beginning makes you smile and the ease with which they fall in love will remain with you for a long time.

Linda Howard can always spin a tale where her male characters are to die for and Jack Russo is no exception to the rule. Reading this book the second time round was as good as the first and readers who love romantic thrillers wouldn’t be disappointed in this tale.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Miss Congeniality by Shelly Laurenston

Format: E-bookwhenhewasbad
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Magnus Pack, Book 3.5
Publisher: Brava
Hero: Niles Van Holtz
Heroine: Professor Irene Conridge
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: June 1, 2008
Started On: June 13, 2010
Finished On: June 13, 2010

Oh my god! This has to be one of the most hilarious and witty romances that I have ever come across. Van, a wolf shape shifter, who would one day become the Alpha Male of his family’s pack doesn’t understand the reason why he has always hunted after Professor Irene Conridge ever since he had locked onto her scent seven years back.

Van’s family being one of the richest families in the area, frequently turns up at the fund raising functions for Irene’s university and even the opening dialog itself had me smiling. Irene is a genius physicist who has no time whatsoever for the frivolities in life. She couldn’t be any more different from the sexy and compelling Van even if she tried. Though she had always found Van a trifle bit annoying to say the least since the guy seemed to turn up at every function she attended to discuss her choice of undergarments, one of her experiments puts Irene in danger and it is Van and his pack that rescues her from being devoured by a pack of lions and hyenas.

Van has no choice but to mark her as his mate, though Van doesn’t believe in the folklore that surrounds the concept of marking a mate for life. Currently as happy as a clam with his mission of screwing anything that stands around long enough, Van all of a sudden finds himself uninterested in the plentiful female company that seems to surround him.

Its hilarious to read how these two try to stay away from one another but the simmering and oh so hot attraction that is unleashed right from the very first kiss is enough to keep you warm for all winters to come. Van is the type of hero you cannot go wrong with, someone who is tender, caring, protective and possessive to the right extent whilst understanding the complex genius of a woman Irene is.

With interesting side characters and a bit of danger that crops up every now and then, this is as good a romance can get. I couldn’t seem to put this book down once I started and I am definitely going to check out other books by the author. Her writing style is something you don’t come across every day.

A hot, funny and sensual read that makes for a beautiful romance, and an epilogue that I absolutely loved, this book is highly recommended even for those who do not read paranormal romances.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Nobody’s Angel by Karen Robards

Format: Paperback
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Dell
Hero: Ian Connelly
Heroine: Susannah Redmon
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: November 1, 1992
Started On: June 9, 2010
Finished On: June 12, 2010

Susannah Redmon is the plain, eldest and spinsterish daughter of the preacher in Carolina Colony. Ever since her mother died after giving birth whilst Susannah was at the tender age of around 13 or so, she has looked after her family and congregation, and never been courted by a man in all her 26 years. Resigned to living with her father and sisters, Susannah runs their family farm, and is well respected throughout the community for her healing touch.

With too much work on the farm than Susannah and her sisters could handle, Susannah purchases a convict whose sentence is to serve their family for a period of seven years. Susannah never dreamed that under the defiant and proud man who stood in front of her, who looked ravaged and more like a savage with filth on every inch of him could turn out to be a wealthy aristocrat from London, i.e. the Marquis of Derne.

Betrayed by his family and branded a convict, Ian had paid to be alive and has plans to flee the Colony as soon as he gets his strength back. However the prim and proper woman who has bought him intrigues him on more levels than one and Ian bides his time at the farm trying to court Susannah, though she doesn’t seem to be aware of her beauty and how charmed Ian really is with her.

Susannah never thought that under all that filth that covered Ian, he could turn out to be a handsome devil who tempted her on so many levels. Before she knows it, Susannah is captivated by Ian’s searing kisses and enticing touch and head over heels in love for the first time in her life.

Before long, Susannah makes her way to London with Ian where she discovers just how unsuited she is for the life she would have to lead as the wife of a Marquess. In the end it is up to Ian to convince this proud beautiful woman who doesn’t understand her worth that she belongs in his arms and in his life for now and always.

This book bears some resemblance to the storyline of Dark Torment by the same author, but I liked this story better.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Kobo

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: A Place to Call Home by Deborah Smith

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Hero: Roan Sullivan
Heroine: Claire Maloney
Sensuality: 1
Date of Publication: May 4, 1998
Started On: June 8, 2010
Finished On: June 11, 2010

Bearing a strong resemblance to the storyline of Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred, this is a story that captures the essence of the ties of a loving family, how tragic mistakes can unravel even the most close knit of families and how love triumphs over in the end.

The first half of the book focuses on the childhood of Roan Sullivan, the boy from the wrong side of the town with the drunk whoring father and Claire Maloney, the girl who has got everything. Claire comes from a large family, the richest in town. Though Claire and Roan couldn’t be more further apart from one another in social standing, Claire takes an uncanny liking towards the dirty boy with the grey eyes who stands steadfast through all the ribbing and torture dished out by his father as well as other boys in the town.

The author cleverly spins the tale as told by Claire, as to how she falls in love with Roan at the tender age of 10 or so, a love that captures the reader’s heart right from the very beginning. Roan doesn’t trust anyone apart from Claire and one mishap after another leads to Roan living with the Maloneys.

However, a tragic incident involving Roan’s father and Claire which ultimately ends up in Roan killing his father, makes Claire’s parents decide to send Roan off to a church home for a month and Roan disappears thus destroying an essential part of Claire which strains the ties she has with her family.

Claire never stops searching for Roan all throughout the twenty years that they spend apart. Meanwhile Roan too has been keeping tabs on Claire and the Maloneys and a tragic accident involving Claire finally propels him to return to Claire while she recuperates at home.

Now a rich and successful man, Roan has never forgotten how quickly hope can be extinguished by those for whom you care for, and though he is not bitter about the Maloney’s decision to send him away, Roan has turned into a man who has locked away his emotions, except for those that he feels towards Claire.

With secrets of his own to keep, Roan and Claire start off 20 years later to revel in the love they have had for one another, a love that can only last once the previous hurts have been healed. An engrossing tale, this is one story even non-romance readers ought to try, because this is definitely a book of the can’t-put-down variety.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Forbidden Passion by Emilie Rose

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Silhouette Desire
Hero: Sawyer Riggan
Heroine: Lynn
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: May 24, 2010
Started On: June 3, 2010
Finished On: June 3, 2010

Ever since I read the book Condition of Marriage by Emilie Rose and went through the list of published books by the author I have wanted to get my hands on this book as the synopsis seemed to hint at an intriguing story. And of course the raving reviews this book has received on numerous bookseller websites didn’t help. I have been scouting all over the Internet to find whether an e-version of the book had been released for quite sometime now. And to my delightful surprise last night I found that the book has been released on Kindle in April this year. (Woohoo!)

Lynn has been married to Sawyer’s adopted brother Brett for the past four years. A time during which Lynn has learnt that love is not what it seems to be and that a person could really whittle away and breakdown from the constant emotional roller coaster her marriage to Brett was. Lynn and Sawyer end up having mind blowing sex mere hours after Brett’s funeral, an act that puts Lynn in a bit of a predicament as she and Brett had tried to make their marriage work for one final time and started trying for a family just before Brett was killed.

Sawyer and Lynn has a shared history together, and Sawyer has no idea what kind of a monster Brett really was. Believing Brett to be the younger brother Sawyer had always worked his butt off to provide for and never understanding the reason why Lynn never waited for him and got married to Brett instead, Sawyer proposes marrying Lynn when he finds out that she is pregnant even though Lynn has no idea who the father could be.

Lynn never thought that a man could be understanding, loving, kind and attentive towards her needs and wants. Marriage to Sawyer opens up all the possibilities that were closed off to her before and it is not long before Lynn falls for Sawyer all over once again all the while thinking that all Sawyer wants is the temporary arrangement they agreed to before they got married.

Skillfully seductive, this book is a good read for a quick bout of romance with characters that you can relate to. Wish the story could have been longer!

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Silver Lining by Maggie Osborne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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