by mvbookreviewer

Requested ARC Review: Most Likely to Succeed by Kate Davies

Format: E-bookmostlikelytosucceed
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Most Likely To…, #1
Publisher: Carina Books
Hero: Nathan Barrow
Heroine: Kelsey Moore
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: March 25, 2013
Started On: March 7, 2013
Finished On: March 8, 2013

Hero: Nathan Barrow, works in disaster stricken countries for an international relief organization. Doesn’t care much for mixing in with the “right” sort of company & is always focused on the task at hand.

Heroine: Kelsey Moore, works at her mother’s flower shop since high school. Basically thinks herself to be stuck in a rut from which she would never find an escape from.

Storyline: Its the 10 year reunion of Kelsey and Nathan’s batch in high school and Tess, one of Kelsey’s best friends is putting everything she has into making the reunion one that is bound to shake things up. Kelsey who had crushed big time on her high school lab partner Nathan finds a golden opportunity in scratching a 12 year itch she has had for him. For Nathan, it is something that keeps pushing him to return to his hometown that has him looking forward to the reunion and of course bumping into Kelsey is one of the topmost things on his agenda.

Time Period: Most Likely to Succeed takes place in present time in the small town of Silverton and is told from both Nathan and Kelsey’s points of view.

Awareness between Nathan and Kelsey: Nathan hadn’t noticed much back in high school apart from the fact that Kelsey had been his one steady friend and the lab partner who sometimes pushed him to have a little bit of downtime from studies every now and then. The reunion opens his eyes to a side of Kelsey that he has not noticed before, an altogether alluring side that makes him want to get horizontal with her and never come up for air. The sexual tension between Nathan and Kelsey is very much a part of the developing storyline, their attraction that makes them both ready to explore the feelings of a stronger variety that emerge later on.

Likes: Though a novella, I felt that Kate Davies did a decent job out of tying up all ends in the romance that buds and fosters between Nathan and Kelsey. Both Nathan and Kelsey are likable characters. For Nathan, Kelsey is the woman who excites him and completes him every single way. And for Kelsey, Nathan is the man who makes her look deep into herself and start realizing her worth as a person; not as the person who lost her way after high school as she likes to think. And of course, even before halfway into the story, I was practically itching to learn more about each character that I encountered along the way and I can’t wait for the rest of the novellas to come out!

Dislikes: –

Recommended for: Fans of contemporary romances and reunion romances. And of course, fans of Kate Davies.

Final Verdict: Great storytelling by Kate Davies. Cannot wait for the stories of Tess and Bree which I am certain would leave me begging for more!

Favorite Quotes

And then she was grabbing his shirt collar and tugging him down for a searing kiss, and he stopped thinking altogether.
Groaning into her mouth, he backed her up against the door, slamming it shut behind them. He pressed into her, her soft breasts tight against his chest and his groin easing into the sweet spot between her legs. She moaned and spread her legs as wide as her tight skirt would allow.

Kelsey moaned, wrapping her legs around his waist, hooking them together at the ankles as she rose to meet his thrusts. Her short nails scratched at his back, slipping through the sheen of perspiration that had blossomed. She lifted her head and nosed at the spot where his shoulder met his neck, latched on to it with her mouth and sucked.
Somehow, the knowledge that she was tasting him, marking him, drove him even closer to the edge.

 

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N

greatread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Seduction of Samantha Kincade by Maggie Osborne

Format: Paperbacktheseductionofsamanthakincade.jpg
Read with: NA
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Dangerous Men, #1
Publisher: Warner Books
Hero: Trace Harden
Heroine: Samantha Kincade
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 1, 1995
Started On: December 10, 2012
Finished On: March 6, 2013

It might have been ages since I have read a Maggie Osborne but I certainly have not forgotten the magic that she can weave with her stories; which is one reason why I keep purchasing her out of print titles at hideously expensive prices. But I believe its money well spent since each and every one of Maggie Osborne titles I’ve read so far always gives a story worth reading, a story that is so much more than just a romance, and The Seduction of Samantha Kincade is no exception to that rule.

23 year old Samantha (Sam) has pretended to be a boy half her life. A gunslinger and a bounty hunter who is famous for her kills, Sam is someone who hates the idea of being a woman, of being submissive and restricting herself to what society thinks she can and cannot do. More than half of her life has been focused on one goal; killing Hannibal Cotwell, the man who had taken away the center of her very existence. And nothing and no one is going to deter her from getting there.

Trace Harden is on the hunt for Hannibal himself when he is pursued by Sam as a means to the end that she is working for. Although Sam’s hatred for Hannibal and anything to do with him knows no bounds, Sam is forced to re-evaluate her strategy in getting to Hannibal when both Trace and Sam finds themselves on the run from the law with the same ultimate goal in mind. But what Sam doesn’t realize is that in her ambition to see to the promise she has made to herself 12 years ago, she would also find the woman she has lost in her a long time back and love in a place where she wouldn’t have ever expected to find.

With complex and multilayered characters, The Seduction of Samantha Kincade is a seduction unto itself. The slow awakening of Sam as a woman, the side of herself that she has hidden from herself and the rest of the world is one to be savored. Sam might be one of the best bounty hunters out there and adept at fooling the whole world when it comes to who she really is but with Trace she finds that from the first moment that that’s not the case. Trace gets under her skin, makes her want the impossible and awakens strange yearnings in her that Sam knows would lead towards one inevitable conclusion.

The fact that Trace who has seen it and done it all gets seduced in turn by the woman that Sam slowly turns into is one to revel in and I loved the bits where Trace is so darn frustrated from his attraction for a woman who exasperates, infuriates and challenges him at every turn but he can’t help but want her with every fiber of his being. For someone who prefers dainty and feminine women in his life, the fact that he is drawn towards the one woman who doesn’t know the lethal weapon she could become if she were to totally embrace her feminine side was an aspect of the story that I absolutely adored.

Trace has his own demons to fight on the journey he takes towards reaching Hannibal. To avenge the legacy left behind by his dead wife Trace knows he would do what he must, even if it means a vital part of himself would die along with it. Trace and his magnetic presence in the story fires things up, starts a slow burn that reaches its very explosive culmination by the time the reader is about to self combust. The slow build up, the ultimate conclusion to all that heady desire and attraction is one of the best bits about books by Maggie Osborne. Its one of the reasons I mourn the fact that she stopped writing a long time back.

The bit that struck me the most when I was reading The Seduction of Samantha Kincade was how I felt about the villain in the story. Hannibal is a hard to place character, something inside of me wanted redemption for him which I knew would never come. Nevertheless his character is one that made me think deeply, his childhood and what he had undergone something that would continue to haunt me for quite a while. I saw the good bits in him which doesn’t excuse all the heinous crimes he had committed most of his adult life, but that didn’t stop me from weeping for him and all that he could have been as the story reached its conclusion.

It takes tremendous talent for an author to create books of this caliber and each one of my reads has been top notch when it comes to Maggie Osborne. Cannot recommend this enough to readers who love American Western historical romances with unusual heroines and undoubtedly, sinfully alluring heroes in the mix.

Favorite Quotes

Trace watched with smoldering eyes. He could recall hundreds of times when he had become aroused while observing a woman remove her clothing. This was the first time he had become powerfully aroused while watching a woman put clothes on. He would have thought such a thing impossible.
Later, he would remember this unique experience and laugh. Right now, he watched her don a pair of pearl ear drops and practice a smile in the glass. He wanted to throw her on the bed and tear off the undergarments she had so carefully assembled. He wanted to touch her all over, and stroke her, and caress those small swelling perfect breasts, and tease his fingertips along the inside of her strong thighs until she gasped his name and begged him to take her as she burned to do.

His lips came down on hers, hard and hot and as possessive and demanding as the hands grabbing her waist. Sam fell against the haystack, her arms going around his neck, and she kissed him back, hard, her lips opening beneath the insistent pressure of his.

 

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N

fantasticread

by mvbookreviewer

Pick of the Month Author Interview: The Duchess War by Courtney Milan

theduchesswarThe interview potion of the Pick of the Month post for the month of February came a tad too late and hence I am posting the interview segment separately. Many thanks to Courtney for doing this for me.

MBR: So the Brothers Sinister, how did you come up with the series?

CM: I can’t answer this question truthfully without giving some massive spoilers for Sebastian’s book. So I will just say that the very inkling of an impetus for this series was that I imagined the first scene in Sebastian’s book, and the rest of the series came about imagining the people that this would be happening to.

The whole left-handed thing…started as an internal joke. Actually, the way it started out was that there was a point (long since abandoned) in the plot for The Duchess War when Minnie was going to try to join the Brothers Sinister, and was going to have to pretend she was left handed. Oliver was going to figure out she was faking it, and then she was going to say: “I have a confession to make. I’m not really left handed.”

And he would say in response: “I have a confession to make, too. I’m not really left handed, either.” Which is true, because Oliver is ambidextrous.

So yeah, they are all left handed as a Princess Bride homage. I sort of had to abandon that as a plot point, and there’s really no way to save that scene anywhere and I’m so sad. :(

MBR: What struck me the most while I was reading was the fact that all the characters in the story continued to surprise me all throughout the story. So which character would you say was the hardest and the easiest to write?

CM: Sebastian is definitely the easiest. I have to watch him when he’s in a scene, because he’ll take over the whole damned thing, and then smile at you while he does it.

The hardest… gah, there are so many choices. I think in many ways Oliver is and has been the hardest person to write. Every scene with Oliver in it got rewritten somewhere between two (at a low end) and 17 (not an exaggeration) times. Robert’s mother was also quite difficult, in her own special way.

I thought Oliver was going to be really, really easy to write, because in many ways I feel like he and I have more in common than any of my other characters–we both come from homes where our parents have worked hard to give us a huge boost, and we feel like we owe our parents a lot, and we have families that we love, and we’re both ambitious and driven. But Oliver doesn’t want any of the same things I want and that makes him so hard. I’m like, “Dude, you are just like me, why are you like this?” It’s taken me a very long time to figure him out. He has finally given up and spilled the beans, and now he’s a little easier, but he was a tough nut.

I think that sometimes the easiest characters to write are the ones that are not like me at all, because I’m operating on a clean slate.

MBR: When writing, do you ever have someone in your mind to physically match the characteristics of the hero and heroine in your novels? If so, who did you think of while creating Robert and Minnie?

CM: Never, actually. I have almost no physical sense of people at all. I don’t recognize people easily. I confuse TV actors. I can’t watch most TV shows because the people look so much alike to me. If the main character changes clothing half way through, I get confused and don’t know who is who. It’s very confusing being me! I have to go in and add descriptions after the fact to all my books when the book is almost done because I just do not have a head for description. I don’t even know what it means for someone to have a “square jaw” or a “patrician nose” or any of that stuff. Physical characteristics on humans are not my strong point. I only know what people look like because I make a spreadsheet.

Some people never get described, or only get described once, and then things get dicey.

If you pay attention, you’ll see that a lot of the physical characteristics I end up giving them are really just stand-ins for character description. Like calling Minnie’s hair mousey and that sort of thing. I’m a total cheat that way. Don’t know what people look like; do know what they act like, so I make them look how they act. Now that I’ve admitted my fakery my books will never be the same.

So no, I actually don’t have anyone physically in mind for my characters. If you asked me to pick someone, I would probably freeze up because I don’t know who anyone looks like and I’d be afraid of getting it wrong.

MBR: I see that you have a lot of books in this series scheduled to come out this year. Are these the only books you are currently working on or are there other books that you are simultaneously working on?

CM: Er… I am writing, very slowly, a modern urban fantasy. It may never see the light of day, but it’s about an ER Doctor who gets changed into a vampire. And before you say, “Eek! A vampire!”–rest assured, it’s not like any vampire fic I’ve read, and I’ve read a bunch of them. It’s also not an ER like the glorified kinds of ER that you’ve ever seen anywhere on TV. It’s the ER as it is, in all its messy, transcendent awfulness, complete with drug-seeking frequent flyers. HIPAA plays a role at a crucial point early in the book!

Or, as Dr. Grand says:

Everyday I work pisses me off. I wanted to be fixing gunshot wounds, reviving people from heart attacks. Instead, I feel like a college guidance counselor. See a shrink. Stop taking drugs. No, I’m not going to write you a prescription for Delaudid.

This is very different from a historical romance.

MBR: And my final question since I was so moved by the story, are there any particular scenes from The Duchess War that tugs at your heartstrings, that would stay with you always?

CM: I wrote the scenes surrounding the primer–Robert’s mom, and Minnie–when I was injured and barely able to walk and very pissed off and depressed about the whole thing. There is nothing so frustrating as having a body that doesn’t comply with what you want it to do! I think I ended up channeling a lot of my own feelings of helplessness into those scenes.

For exactly that reason, though, I don’t want those to stay with me. The association is very negative.

But one of my favorite scenes in the whole book is one that only tugs at my heartstrings a little, and that’s the scene on the train with Sebastian and Violet and its aftermath. Because I love writing scenes where a character is embarrassed. Embarrassment is a lovely, rich emotion, because usually the things that embarrass you are also the things that you love the most. You don’t get embarrassed about some random stranger saying things. It’s your mom who embarrasses you by saying…really Mom, you said that? In front of everyone?

Embarrassment is the collision of love and pain.

For me, my favorite part of the scene is when, afterwards, Robert is trying to figure out how to apologize for his ridiculously embarrassing friends, and Minnie looks at him like she’s crazy and tells him she likes his friends.

That’s the essence of love. If someone can see the things that most embarrass you–the things you love, and you love so hard that you are afraid to admit it–if they see those things and don’t say, “Yuck, embarrassing, stop!” I think you’ve got yourself a winner.

A big part of love is finding someone who knows who you are, deep down, and says, “No, no, you’re not embarrassing. You’re gorgeous.”

by mvbookreviewer

Guest Post & Giveaway by Author Jennifer Probst

Visiting my blog today is the NYT and USA Today bestselling author of The Marriage Bargain, a book that I adored from start to finish. Jennifer Probst’s latest book, All the Way hits the shelves just today, though Maldives is a bit ahead of most of you. Jennifer is talking about home and what it means to her and also giving away a copy of All the Way to one lucky commenter of the post. So don’t hesitate to enter the giveaway!

There’s No Place Like Home…by Jennifer Probst

First off, a big thank you to Maldivian Book Reviewers for having me here today! I always enjoy visiting!

My kids love their house.

I mean, they LOVE their house. Not the structure – right now we’re still crushed in our starter home that we should’ve traded in over five years ago. From one end of the house to the other we yell and can hear each other. And there’s no secret place to hide, so games of hide and go seek are really short.

But whether we are in Disney on vacation, or had a great trip out, or visiting their cousins, when we pull in the driveway, the kids sigh with happiness and satisfaction. On many weekends, they declare pajama day and refuse to get dressed.

Somehow, someway, I have given them a sense of belonging. Home.

I love using this theme for my books, especially for my newest release, All the Way.  Home can be many different places and mean various things depending on the person. It can be a structure where you grow up as a child. It could be a wonderful memory that evokes tranquility and happiness. It can be a person.  It can even be deep inside of you, enshrouded in silence.

My hero, Gavin Luciano, ran away from home to make it big in his career field. He sacrifices the woman he loves, his family, and his family restaurant, Mia Casa in order to gain what he thought he wanted. But when he finds himself empty and dissatisfied, he goes home to help pull the restaurant from bankruptcy. Gain his family’s forgiveness. And try to heal the wounds with the woman he loved.

Umm, yeah. He’s got a long way to go and a lot to prove to get there. But when you ask your hero or heroine what means home to them, the answer could be critical to an author’s book.

Well. At least to mine.

This answer tells me where my character’s heart lies. Sometimes they lose their way, and as readers we get to experience their journey, as they find their home again. I love that type of journey, and All the Way is a story that beats with the three major themes. Revenge. Redemption.

And home.

Here’s the blurb:

The food critic…

Miranda Storme never expected to see Gavin Luciano again. Three years ago, they had an intense affair—and then he bolted. Now he’s back, and Miranda has the pleasure of a little payback: a scathing review of his restaurant. Revenge is a dish best served the first chance you get…

And the restaurateur…

With three months to make his family’s struggling Italian restaurant successful, a bad review is Gavin’s worst nightmare. But this isn’t just about the meal. He’s finally realized what he left behind and is determined to spend the next eight weeks proving himself to her in the kitchen…and in the bedroom! This is one dish she won’t be able to refuse…

What means home to you? I’m giving away a copy of All the Way to one lucky reader so stop by and share with me!

Buy links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/All-the-Way-ebook/dp/B00BMW0ASC

Other links:

Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Giveaway Timings:

  • Giveaway begins: 00:00 hours, March 4, 2013 – Maldivian Time
  • Giveaway ends: 00:00 hours, March 5, 2013 – Maldivian Time
  • Maldivian Timezone: GMT+5
by mvbookreviewer

Requested ARC Review: All the Way by Jennifer Probst

Format: E-bookalltheway
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Hero: Gavin Luciano
Heroine: Miranda Storme
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: March 4, 2013
Started On: February 26, 2013
Finished On: February 28, 2013

Hero: Gavin Luciano is sexy with a take-charge dominant attitude that can make any heterosexual woman go weak at the knees and then some. Coming from an Italian family, Gavin is a man who has always been determined that nothing would ever prevent him from living his life and following his dreams as he sees fit – even at the cost of losing the only woman he has ever loved.

Heroine: Miranda Storme, as the name suggests is a feisty heroine if ever there was one. She is a food critic, a famous one at that, a name she had earned for herself fair and square when the one man who had invaded her heart had left her reeling when he had walked away from her without a backward glance. Bold and beautiful, Miranda is a heroine that is hard not to fall in love with.

Storyline: Gavin returns home to help his family’s ailing restaurant Mia Casa and runs into Miranda, the woman who still has the ability to take his breathe away. Gavin knows that it had been a mistake to walk away from the best thing to ever happen to him. But then winning Miranda back is not as easy as he thinks it would be as he navigates the minefield of seething emotions on both ends to conquer the woman he loves, once & for all.

Time Period: All the Way takes place in present time in New York and is told from both Gavin and Miranda’s points of view.

Awareness between Gavin and Miranda: If there is anything that Jennifer Probst excels at, and believe me she always tells a darn good story; it is the sense of awareness & heat that she creates so well between her characters which always leaves the reader begging for more. There is always a thread of sensuality spun into every scene that Gavin and Miranda appear in that sometime spins out of control and for most Jennifer leaves it up to the reader to imagine their inevitable conclusion.

Likes: There are so many things to love about All The Way. I started out reading thinking this would be just another one of those second chance romances where the heroine would play hard to get at every turn and get on my nerves. But no, there is none of that as Jennifer always creates such lovable characters in each of her stories. Miranda has good enough reason to be leery of Gavin and the second chance he offers at being a couple. At the same time I could understand Gavin’s reasons for leaving before though he could have done a better job out of it. But the fact we are all humans means we all make mistakes, sometimes of gigantic proportions that seems irreparable.

One aspect of the story I loved was the ruthless determination which Gavin puts into winning Miranda and her affections back. And by ruthless I don’t mean that he strides into the room and kisses Miranda senseless and all’s right in their world again. Hardly that. There is so much underlying emotions within the story that if Gavin had been any different, the way he won Miranda over would not have been believable at all.

I liked the fact that both Gavin and Miranda had matured enough during their time apart to understand the nuances of a relationship that makes it work and long lasting and that is exactly what Gavin tries to prove to Miranda though hiccups are encountered along the way.

And dear me, I loved Miranda’s friend Andy and of course Gavin’s well rounded family that gave me a couple of good pauses and much needed hilarity from the otherwise at times intense read.

Dislikes: For some reason though I can’t put my finger on it, I felt that in the end Gavin was the one who ended up making all the ‘sacrifices’. Perhaps sacrifice might not be the right term to use because he had changed along the course of the 3 years he had been away and his priorities had changed. But I’d have loved to see Miranda meet him half way in making their relationship work for the second time around.

Recommended for: Fans of Jennifer Probst & fans of contemporary romances, Italian heroes and second chance romances.

Final Verdict: A well rounded, sizzling story of two people whose karma lies in their entwined lives. Jennifer Probst hits all the spots with this one.

Favorite Quotes

She bit down on his lip. Her nails curled and dug into his biceps. He groaned and caressed her breasts, flicking her nipples with his thumbs, urging them to tighten and swell and obey his command. She arched.
With a growl, suddenly he lifted her up from the stool and placed her on top of the bar. Never breaking the kiss, he devoured her mouth and pushed her thighs apart. Swollen and ready, she sank into a pit of greed and lust, her body craving release and dominating her usual control.

Fear choked her and she moved to push him away, her mouth open to tell him no.
But it was too late.
Gavin surged inside of her with one strong thrust.
Fire.
Fullness.
Completion.
He interlaced his fingers through hers. Stared deeply into her eyes.
And moved. Again. And again.

Purchase Links: Amazon

fantasticread

by mvbookreviewer

Pick of the Month February 2013 & Giveaway

February’s pick of the month happens to be The Duchess War by Courtney Milan. theduchesswar

Though an interview request was put through, the author’s busy schedule perhaps did not allow her to send the answers back to me. So guys, we will have to do without the interview potion of the post for this one.

But the good thing is, you can still win stuff as you can see from the giveaway details given below.

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

Giveaway Includes:

1- An e-copy of either The Duchess War or any of the titles published as e-books by the author. OR

2- A gift card of value 10$ either from Amazon, B&N or Samhain.

Giveaway Rules:

  1. Open a page of the current book that you are reading. (If you are not reading a book at the moment, open a page of the book that’s nearest to you.) And give me 3 sentences from the page you open up. Please do not forget to mention the book title and author as well. And tell me whether you like what you have read so far!
  2. Specify which giveaway you are entering for. If you choose option 1, please state whether you want a copy of The Duchess War or any of the back titles from the author. If its option 2, state  which vendor you would like your GC from.
  3. Leave a valid e-mail address for a way to contact you in case you are the winner!
  4. Help spread the word about the giveaway! Tweet and earn 5 extra entries, or recommend this post on Facebook & earn 5 extra entries. Post the URL of your tweet or recommendation post on Facebook in your comment.
  5. Like my page on Facebook to gain 5 extra more entries. If you are already a follower of my page, just state so and you would gain your 5 extra entries.

Giveaway Timings:

  • Giveaway begins: 00:00 hours, March 1, 2013 – Maldivian Time
  • Giveaway ends: 00:00 hours, March 2, 2013 – Maldivian Time
  • Maldivian Timezone: GMT+5
by mvbookreviewer

Short & Sweet Review: The Lady’s Scandalous Night by Jeannie Lin

Format: E-booktheladysscandalousnight
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Tang Dynasty, #2.5
Publisher: Harlequin Historical Undone
Hero: Wei Chen
Heroine: Yao Ru Jiang
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 1, 2011
Started On: February 19, 2013
Finished On: February 20, 2013

Hero: Wei Chen, no longer a common soldier of General Li’s army, is a trained swordsman and a trusted bodyguard.

Heroine: Yao Ru Jiang, known as River. She is the younger sister of Yao Ru Shan who served in the army alongside with Wei Chen.

Storyline: Both Wei Chen and River have known each other for a long time – through their mutual acquaintance who happens to be River’s brother. Though both have never laid eyes on each other, they have spun dreams about each other & fantasized about the day they would finally meet.

First Meeting: Wei Chen and River meet each other when Wei Chen turns up at River’s village seeking them out, to notify them that he is bound by duty to kill River’s brother.

Time Period: Story is set in Tang Dynasty, China in 759 AD. Story is told from both River and Wei Chen’s points of view.

Awareness between Wei Chen and River: Jeannie Lin is a true master in creating sexual tension and delivering beautifully vivid scenes to complement all of that. And though novella is really short, Jeannie still manages to make the connection & awareness that exists between Wei Chen and River right from the very start believable.

Likes: As always, a book by Jeannie Lin is a treat to read. I love her writing style. And I know I always say that in my reviews. But that is one reason why I keep going back where she is concerned.

Dislikes: I wanted more! Much more than a novella is capable of offering. Story’s ending seemed rushed.

Recommended for: Fans of the Tang Dynasty series by Jeannie Lin. And of course for anyone who loves historical romances Jeannie Lin is definitely a treat. If you love books by Courtney Milan or Sherry Thomas, you should definitely try out Jeannie Lin.

Favorite Quotes

The pleasure rose and took him over until he could think of nothing but thrusting deeper into River’s welcoming body. He tangled a hand into her hair. Her legs curved and locked about his hips. They became nothing but shapes and sensation in the darkness.
River. His River. The reason why he’d come all this way. One final, fierce thrust and he spent himself into her.
Afterward, they lay together unmoving, skin flushed and damp with sweat.
“I dreamed of this,” he murmured, letting his head sink onto the curve of her shoulder. “I dreamed of you.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Harlequin

goodread

by mvbookreviewer

Review: How to Get Over Your Ex by Nikki Logan

Format: E-bookhowtogetoveryourex
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Valentines Day Survival Guide
Publisher: Harlequin KISS
Hero: Alekzander Rush (Zander)
Heroine: Georgia Stone
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: February 2013
Started On: February 05, 2013
Finished On: February  18, 2013

Never have I written a review while conflicted so much about the rating I would give to the story. On the one hand I enjoyed this story immensely. Nikki Logan has definitely earned her place in the list of authors whose books I would always continue to buy. Even then, I find myself a little bit more than disappointed in one aspect of the story I will highlight as I get on with the review.

28 year old Georgia Stone gets rejected on Valentine’s day by the man she has been dating for the past year. Public scrutiny is hardly what she needs or wants but then the contract that she signed with the radio station won’t let her get away that easily. The station manager Alekzander Rush (Zander) offers her a way out, a monthly segment on the radio which features bits and pieces of the one year journey that Georgia takes on an year of self discovery and realization i.e. “The Year of Georgia”.

With Zander “monitoring” her during all the activities that Georgia takes part in, the attraction and the sense of awareness that Georgia has had for Zander since their very first encounter starts to grow. Georgia might not be a woman who might be considered a ravishing beauty but her personality is one worth delving into. I fell in love with her for her easygoing nature, the way she tries her hardest not to let self-doubt and a sense of inadequacy get in her way of exploring new horizons. It takes courage for a woman who has been rejected in a very public way to find within herself to move past all that and take a chance at love and happiness once again and I applaud Georgia for that if not everything else about her.

Zander is one of those broody intense heroes that you are just going to love. I fell in love with him from the moment his intense eyes blazed with need for Georgia, a need he ruthlessly tamps down and brings under control every single time it tries to get the best of him. Zander is reserved, not surprising given his past and surprisingly empathetic when it comes to Georgia’s very public blunder on the Valentine’s day. But when you get to know what Zander himself goes through, the surprise factor turns into understanding of why Zander is the way he is. The more Zander tries to push Georgia and her thoughts away from his mind, the more tenacious they become until all he can think of is Georgia and the one inevitable conclusion of all the combustive passion that he is keeping a tight rein on.

And oh my dear lord, how I loved the subtle and yet intense layer of awareness and attraction that is such a huge part of Georgia and Zander’s relationship. And it made me want to weep and throw the e-reader at the wall when all that came to a realization and there was nothing for the reader to enjoy. Yes, the sense of awareness and desire between Zander and Georgia is mind-numbingly hot & intense and I wanted at least just one scene of passion between them to come to life in the  book. I don’t need explicit content. Just something other than a memory on the heroine’s part of the culmination of all that passion would have done it for me. And yes, true story, I whimpered in sheer agony because I never got to “witness” what an endurance runner might be like in bed.

What made the connection between Zander and Georgia that much more precious was the fact that both characters remain true to their self, and its a slow journey of discovery of a love that is that much more real because in the end its not the normal Harlequin variety of romance where the ultra rich workaholic hero takes one look at the damsel in distress and falls head over heels in lust and love with the heroine. The fact Zander resists the temptation Georgia offers and yet yearns for her with every cell in his being was what made the story work for me. And it would have made for a 5-star outstanding read if not for the fact the I felt so cheated out of seeing the passion between Zander and Georgia explode onto the pages.

Recommended for those who love reticent heroes and the heroines who make them fall in love.

Favorite Quotes

Her breath came heavy and fast and mingled with his. Then she turned inwards, drawn by the plaintive breath that was her name on his lips. Their mouths touched. Sensation sparked between them and birthed a flame, hot and raw. Zander pressed their lips more firmly together, leaned into her. Curled his fingers into the hair at her nape. Georgia pressed a hand to the damp, cool earth and used it to lever herself closer to him, to hold the connection fast. To explore and taste and experience. His breath became hers. Her breath sustained them both. She kissed him harder. Greedy for his taste.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BoB | Harlequin | Kobo

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Duchess War by Courtney Milan

Format: E-booktheduchesswar
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Brothers Sinister, #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Robert Alan Graydon Blaisdell
Heroine: Willhelmina Pursling
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: December 6, 2012
Started On: February 10, 2013
Finished On: February 13, 2013

What an utterly beautifully captivating story. I finished this book in the wee hours of the morning and I was so overwhelmed by the emotions that raced through me all throughout the read, sometimes taking me unawares, other times caressing me with a gentleness and bittersweetness that made me want to weep; needless to say my very first Courtney Milan definitely impressed me beyond any level of expectation that I had when I first started reading.

The Duchess War begins with a glimpse into the very interesting and contrasting character of Willhelmina Pursling (Minnie), whose very entrance into the novel begins with her encounter with the ninth Duke of Clermont Robert Alan Graydon Blaisdell. Dressed rather severely and buttoned up to the extent that nobody would give her a passing glance, Minnie would rather she never be the focus of attention of anyone for long. But her days of hiding behind her the fortress that she has built around herself and perfected over the years are over when Robert enters her life and makes her yearn for the impossible.

Robert’s one mission in his life has always been to stay off the path his father had walked on as much as possible. Going as far as to atone for the bundles his father has made along the way, Robert is unlike any duke you would meet in any book. Well, I certainly haven’t come across any duke like Robert and that’s saying something since I have read my fair share of historical romances back in the day. Now, it is authors like Sherry Thomas and Jeannie Lin that makes me come back for more of a genre which I usually shy away from reading and with The Duchess War, Courtney Milan certainly has earned herself a spot in my list of authors to look out for when pursuing historical romances.

The Duchess War is certainly by no means your usual run of the mill variety historical romance. Contrary to that its comprised of complex characters which I had a hard time placing whether they belonged in the “good guys” category or not. Needless to say, Courtney continuously kept surprising me with the depth to her characters as she unraveled the story, one layer at a time and gives the reader an experience or rather a journey that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

There were times when I thought that I would hate Minnie for the choices that she seemed on the brink of making. But then I should have known better than that and trusted Courtney to do what fans of her books always rave about – that she delivers and hits all the spots and then some. And that was exactly what happened with each of her characters and the story that kept spinning its magic on me until I turned the very last page and heaved a sigh of contentment that would definitely have been heard from all corners of the Earth; if not for my need to quietly contemplate on what the story had done to me and my emotions.

Robert’s character is so so wonderful that it just begs some gushing on my part before I end the review. There were times I wanted to weep for the boy that had been the object of the tug of war contest between his parents, a boy who had grown up thinking himself to be unworthy of love of the lasting kind. A parliamentarian at the young age of 28, Robert is a champion of the underdog, someone who detests what the peerage system means. And above that all he is a man who has contained his passionate side for far too long and when he does start on the journey of discovery, boy does he make up for lost time and then some. The love scenes were so tastefully done and made me burn like a furnace that would never run out of wood anytime soon. Trust me on that.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about a book that wooed me in all the ways that counts. As a true lover of romance I definitely could not have asked for more.

Absolutely recommended!

Favorite Quotes

“Look in a mirror sometime,” he suggested. “Look beyond this.” He touched his cheekbone, mirroring the spot on her face where her scar spread. “Look at yourself sometime the way you are now, all fire and anger, ready to do battle with me. If you’d ever once looked at yourself that way, you wouldn’t question whether I’d want a flirtation with you. You’d know I would.”

Her head remained stubbornly bowed before him. He wanted to grab her and shake her. He wanted to tilt her chin up and force her to gaze in his eyes. He wanted –
He wanted to do a great many things after that, none of which he was going to get from her by force.
“I’m not pretending to flirt with you,” he said instead. “There’s no pretense in it. I want you. God, I want you.”
She let out a little gasp and then – almost involuntarily – she looked up.
For just one moment, he saw something he thought was not pretense – a hopeless yearning in the way her face tilted toward his, a flutter in her ragged exhalation. Her lips parted, and she seemed suddenly, devastatingly beautiful.

“Indeed,” Violet said. Don’t mind us. We’re scarcely even here. And rest assured, if you’d like to talk of secrets, I’ll never repeat one. I’m known for my trustworthiness.”
“This is true,” Sebastian said. “The Countess of Cambury is like a deep, dark hole – secrets go in, but none of them ever come out.”
“Sebastian,” Violet replied calmly looping the yarn about one of her needles, “it is neither proper nor respectful to let a woman know that you think of her as nothing more than a hole.”

Her hips rose to his. Her hand continued its motion, an added stimulation at the base of his cock. He could feel her pleasure all around him, first ebbing, and then gathering again as he took her. And as if the dam had been broken to bits with her first orgasm, this time she came quickly – in scarcely a minute, her release a scalding hot wash of pure lust that had her clamping down on him.
He couldn’t have enough of her. He pounded into her again and again, each thrust better than the last, each one building, building to a crescendo that washed over him in fierce waves. It was almost painful, his second release. It was messy and slippery and wrong, and it felt so, so damned right.

“It’s a good thing you have hold of your urges,” she said, more quietly, “because I’m so wet now, and it would be dreadfully embarrassing if you were to – “
He lifted her against the wall, wrapped her legs around him, and slid inside her. She was wet, so wet, and hot. The pleasure of her body, clasped around him, was so intense that it almost hurt. The light rhythmic sway of the car rocked him into her.
He braced them against the wall, his muscles straining.
“That’s right, Robert.” Her arms cane around him. “That’s right. Just like that.”

She came around him, tightening in waves of pulsating heat around his cock. And he pounded into her, hard at first, and then even harder, until his own climax came. In the moment when he spilled his seed, he imagined them connected by far more than the scrape of his teeth against her jaw, the tangle of their hands, the clamp of her legs still wrapped around him. It was more than just the physical act of burying himself in her body.
In that moment, for the first time in his life, Robert believed that there was someone for him.

He stood. She couldn’t read his expression at all.
But then he put his hands on her shoulders, and, when she looked up at him, he kissed her. He kissed her with no finesse, no gentleness. He kissed her with all the emotion that he hadn’t shown since he’d walked in the door – fiercely, savagely, as if he’d returned from an absence of ten years and needed to remind her of everything that had happened. His arms came around her, wrapping her to him as tightly as chains. He was scorching heat against her.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Paying the Piper by Simon Wood

Format: E-bookpayingthepiper
Read with: Kindle for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Thriller
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Leisure Books
Hero: Scott Fleetwood
Heroine: NA
Sensuality: NA
Date of Publication: October 30, 2007
Started On: February 13, 2013
Finished On: February 15, 2013

Yep, I have gone and done it. In my need to read something other than a romance though I would always remain strictly a staunch supporter and fan of romances, I went scouring through the thousands of titles on Amazon and stumbled across Paying the Piper by Simon Wood. When I first started reading I was an avid reader of thrillers, mainly focusing on titles by Sidney Sheldon that I couldn’t get enough of. Somehow my fascination with reading thrillers came to a standstill because I couldn’t find an author who satisfied all the adrenaline pumping suspense that I crave from a good mystery/thriller. But then I may just have found what I was looking for in Simon Wood because Paying the Piper certainly was an edge-of-the-seat read for me.

The book opens into the harrowing scene where Scott Fleetwood, a reporter for San Francisco Independent races his way towards the school where his twin sons Sammy and Peter go to school, the premises from which Sammy had been kidnapped.  Little does Scott know that when he receives the call demanding ransom, it would be the notorious Piper on the line, a serial kidnapper who had gone underground eight years earlier when his last kidnapping had ended up in murder.

Scott suffers from his fair share of guilt on the last known kidnapping that Piper had executed. It had been his involvement and need for a hot story that had escalated the events to the level that had ended the life of an innocent young boy who otherwise would have been set free. From the FBI comes his nemesis since then, the lead detective assigned to the case Tom Sheils who has his own grudge and contempt for Scott for what had taken place in the past. But when it becomes evident that this is by far no ordinary “Piper” kidnapping and that the stakes are too high and way too different from his usual MO, it is the joint effort that leaves no stone unturned that finally takes the reader towards the end of this story. And I have to say I loved every single minute of it.

Simon Wood is certainly a master at what he does. Never did there come a moment of lull in the story where I wanted to start a new book because The Piper wasn’t doing it for me. Rather I snatched whatever reading time I could in between chores and raced through the book, most of the time my heart accelerated in its beating because the taut suspense that Simon carries throughout the book is that good.

For fans of suspense and thrillers, this is one book you wouldn’t want to miss. Recommended.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N

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