by mvbookreviewer

Score Sheet Review: Challenging Carter by Kate Davies

Format: E-bookchallengingcarter.jpg
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd
Hero: Carter Matthews
Heroine: Dani Williams
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: February 13, 2007
Started On: March 19, 2012
Finished On: March 19, 2012

CATEGORY SCORE GRADE
The hero 90 A
The heroine 90 A
Story line 80 A
Emotional Intensity 80 A
Suck me in Factor 80 A
Heat & Sensuality  90 A
Conflicts 85 A
Writing Style 85 A
Quotable Factor 60 B
Ending 85 A
Overall Grade 82.5  A

Score Sheet Summary

It was my hankering to read a friends-to-lovers romance that led me to purchasing and reading Challenging Carter by Kate Davies. Carter Matthews and Dani Williams are best friends and have been together in business for the past 8 years. While Carter heads Outdoor Sports Equipment, Dani is the Financial Analyst of the company who constantly tries to get Carter to stick to the estimated budget for expenses.

Dani has always been in love with Carter and he has no clue. Dani is an introvert, who feels more comfortable working than socializing. It is Carter’s pestering about a Fitness Challenge that has Dani taking up strip aerobics that gives her that extra edge which starts driving Carter out of his ever loving mind.

The scenes of passion were of the steamy hot variety. The thing I loved most about this novella was the friendship between Carter and Dani and Carter’s ability to goof around and get Dani to lighten up. This was evident even in the most sensually charged scenes of the story and that is one reason why I loved Dani and Carter’s story.

The one thing that I did miss however was the lack of background story which I know is not possible most of the time when it comes to a novella. But a friends to lovers romance becomes that much more real if their past comes up and delivers those tidbits that makes the characters more appealing and give that extra bite of sexual tension that drives the reader to the very edge. 

If you are looking for a short story to stick in between lengthier reads and if you love the friends to lovers trope, give Challenging Carter a go.

Favorite Quotes

Then he strode across the room and kissed her.
It was a crazy, impulsive act, but the minute his lips touched hers he knew it was the right thing to do.
She tasted like sex and sin and forbidden fruit, and he couldn’t get enough.

It should have been awkward. They’d taken their relationship from casual to over-the-top intimate in six-point-two seconds, without all the typical steps in between.
But all Dani could think, wrapped in Carter’s arms, was that finally she was right where she was supposed to be.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: The Best Man by Maggie Osborne

Format: Hardcoverthebestman
Read with: Hardcover
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Dal Frisco
Heroine: Fredrick Roark
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: January 1, 1998
Started On: March 17, 2012
Finished On: March 18, 2012

The Best Man is a novel that is going to be hard to review, not because it wasn’t a splendid read in all the ways that counts. It is going to be difficult to put into words just how much the story affected me, how the characters that were brought to life in front of my eyes continued to worm their way into my heart and later on etched themselves onto my very soul to stay there for the time to come. As I have said before and I will continue to say this, Maggie Osborne is an author who is one of a kind. She delivers romances that takes you to place you rarely get to go and she gives you a story that you can sink your teeth into and cannot let go!

Joe Roark, owner of the King’s Walk Ranch dies leaving behind 3 daughters and his fourth wife a widow. Each of them grapples with the astounding will that Joe leaves which dictates that his daughters prove their mettle before they are to receive their due inheritance. If that fails to be the case, all the sweat and hard work that Joe had put into building his ranch would be in vain and would be handed over to a wife that he detested more than he did  his daughters.

A man who only wanted sons and got saddled with daughters, Joe refused to let his daughters forget their place in the world. Alexander Roark Mills (Alex), Fredrick Roark (Freddy) and Lester Roark (Les); the 3 daughters whom he had pampered in his way and each of whom had disappointed him in one way or the other suddenly finds themselves tasked with driving a herd of longhorns to the market in Abilene, Kansas. 

Dal Frisco is a man who is looking for a second chance, a chance to turn his life around and achieve his dream of owning his own spread in Montana. To do that, he needs cold hard cash and the news of the infamous will Joe left to his daughters pave the way for him to do exactly just that. What he doesn’t bargain for is to find daughters who look like the high strung type who carry smelling salts in their fringed wrist purses who look and behave as if they have never engaged in an honest day of work in their whole lives. But even then, Freddy with her dark hair and green eyes catch him unawares with the bolt of desire that strikes him upon the very first time their eyes meet.

For Dal, the success of the mission ahead hinges on his ability to prepare the 3 women to face and cope with the challenges of being on the road, to actively take part in delivering the herd in the exact number their father has stipulated in the will. But the number of foes who want nothing more than to see them fail work from within to bring chaos and mayhem to their venture. And through it all, the 3 sisters continue to discover the hard truths about themselves, become better women and go on to form a bond with each other that would remain unshaken till death does them apart.

Labeling The Best Man as the story in which Freddy and Dal discover each other and fall in love would not do justice to a story that is so very much more. The Best Man brings to life the characters of 3 sisters who had grown up trying to compete and outdo each other during their childhood, each resenting the other for one thing or the other. And later when adolescence had hit, the 3 of them had found themselves going their separate ways, never forging a connection befitting that of sisters. Alex elopes while Freddy sets off to embrace her dream of performing in a theater which drives a further wedge between the sisters. Les, the youngest is the one who stays behind, who feels betrayed when her father brings home a wife that disrespects everything they stand for.

For 3 people who have never tried working as a team or have never worked hard a day in their life, the training and the pace that Dal sets serves to be sheer torture. But Dal is the man who forces them to force out their inner strength, to straighten that backbone of steel that each sister has in spades, to embrace the true hidden characteristics within each of them that makes them such appealing characters. Each of them has their own fair share of faults, fears and dreams. And learning about each of them was a journey in itself and I loved every minute of it.

The men who enter into their lives are nor less appealing. Dal plays the most prominent role and he is the stuff that pure alpha men are made out of. He is strong, stubborn, has that inner qualities that makes him a good leader. But he is not without his fair share of faults either. A recovering alcoholic, Dal battles his inner demons day in and day out and the focus shifts from his desire for the drink to his need for a woman that sets his senses afire by merely just existing. Freddy drives him crazy in more ways than one and though Dal might try to tell himself otherwise, Freddy invades his heart and his soul before he is even aware of it happening.

Alex was one of the most complex characters in the story. With a past that portrays her as the most tortured soul in the story, Alex is a character that rouses equal amounts of sympathy and admiration in the reader. At first she comes across as a snob who later transforms into a woman who is able and willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that she and her sisters get what is entitled to them. How Alex discovers love, forgiveness and the courage to move on in one of the most unlikely heroes to crop up put a huge lump in my throat and made me ache in ways I cannot explain. If it is only to discover Alex and the magical transformation she undergoes in this story, it is worth getting yourself a copy of The Best Man.

Les is the sister who has problems with asserting herself. The one who enters into a relationship with an abusive fiance and believes it to be her due. The sister who has the hardest time in putting one foot in front of the other and taking the next step. The one who continually faces the dilemma of doing the right thing and choosing the easy way out. And hers was a story that I read all the while wanting to infuse her with the strength to move on, to be able to stand up and give as good as she gets. And she does get there eventually, surprising herself more than anyone else by just how far she has come by the time the story ends.

Freddy is the dreamer, the one who envisions life as a stage set for acting and she plays the lead role. One hard bump after the other and the tough lessons day in and day out teaches her to face reality, forces her to come crashing down into the world of living rather than continue to walk the Earth with her head up in the clouds. Her desire for Dal is one that catches her by surprise, her innocence the factor that lures her towards a man who shakes her up and tosses her into a maelstrom of desire that she cant shake lose from. 

With Maggie Osborne, you never get a simple straightforward story. She takes you on a journey filled with twists and turns, ups and downs, traversing through roads that brings joy as much as peril comes seeking you out and later on at the end you emerge victorious from all the hard labor you have toiled in, which in the end transforms your reading experience into something wondrous that you won’t forget anytime soon.

Recommended for fans of Maggie Osborne. If you have never read a Maggie Osborne, you are definitely missing out!

Favorite Quotes

His mouth came down on hers hard and hot and deliberate. His kiss was so unexpected that Freddy went limp in his arms with shock. She didn’t fight or protest, couldn’t move or breathe. No one had ever kissed her like this, selfishly, unemotionally, taking with no thought of giving. This kiss was hungry, domineering, something that seared and scorched physically and left her mind reeling.

He kissed her then, not gently, not tenderly. He didn’t kiss her to comfort her. He took her mouth hungrily, almost savagely, wanting to punish her for having a body that tormented him, for telling him that his last kiss had meant nothing, needed to punish her for letting scum like Jack Caldwell call her honey, and for ever thinking about a man who wasn’t him.

He found her breasts with his hands and dropped his lips to her arching throat, tasting dust and woman sweat and a trace of something that reminded him of apples. She tore his shirt at the throat, ripping it downward, and slipped her hands inside, her fingers like brands of fire across his skin. One minute she was straddling him, the next minute he’d fallen on top of her. It was like a dam had burst within them both, releasing a flood tide of desire and urgency. And God help him, he would have taken her right there on the ground with a stampede winding down a hundred yards behind him.

For a long moment they gazed at each other, and Freddy felt her mouth go dry and her heartbeat accelerate. If the evening ended right now, she would still remember this moment for all her days. The music, the perfume of the flower baskets, and the hard look of desire in Dal’s eyes.

“Dal … Dal …” Mindlessly, she whispered his name as his kisses deepened and became possessive and deliberate. But slow. Exploring. Teasing. Never quite enough. Kisses that drank desire from her mouth and left her frantic with wanting, wanting, wanting.

Winding her arms close around his neck, she closed her eyes. To be embraced, safe in a man’s arms when she had never expected it to happen again, this would be enough.
Time sheltered their embrace, enfolding them within a summer scented capsule that felt endless and theirs alone. The fragrance of grass and sunlight and nearby water sweetened each breath. Theirs was the music of birds ans the lazy buzz of insects and the beating of two hearts. Yes, she thought, she didn’t need more. This would be enough.

This time his kiss was full and provocative, summoning sensations she had believed, had hop, were submerged too deeply to be awakened. But his fingers on her face, his mouth, his lips, stirred slumbering emotions and coaxed them to life. His hands moved to cup her head, to spread across her spine, and he crushed her against him as their kisses deepened.

He molded her body to his and another gasp tore at her throat. She had never expected to be held in a man’s arms again. Hadn’t dared to hope that she would ever stand chest to chest, hip to hip with a man who desired her. She had truly believed lovemaking was a pleasure she would never again experience in her lifetime. That was her choice and destiny.
His hands moved from her waist to her face, and he kissed the tears shining on her cheeks and eyelids. “I love you,” he whispered. “I have loved you from the moment I saw you.”

“You are so beautiful,” he breathed. Standing over her, rampant in the moonlight, he gazed down at her body. “You are as lovely and as perfect as I imagined you would be.”
Afraid to believe, afraid to trust, she dared a look at him and felt her heart wrench when she read his expression and understood that she truly was whole and beautiful in his eyes. She was a magnificent to him as he was to her.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Abe Books

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Shotgun Wedding by Maggie Osborne

Format: Paperbackshotgunwedding
Read with: Paperback
Length: Novel
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Hero: Jesse John Harden
Heroine: Anne Margaret Malloy
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: November 4, 2003
Started On: March 16, 2012
Finished On: March 17, 2012

The saddest feeling in the world as a reader is to know that an author whose voice beats any other writes no more. Every time I read a book by Maggie Osborne, this is a loss that I feel profoundly to my very soul. Lately I have been very discontent with the books lining my e-book shelves, something that happens to me every now and then. Finally, I decided to dust off my paperback edition of Shotgun Wedding which I bought from Abe Books a couple of months back, and let Maggie Osborne charm her way into my heart and soul and she did exactly just that with a story that kept me turning the pages even into wee hours of the morning.

Jesse John Harden works as the Sheriff of the small town of Marshall in Kansas. A man who prefers to keep to himself, Jesse might show a laid-back front to people but he is a man who gets the job done earning him more than the gratitude of the people of his now hometown.

25 year old Anne Margaret Malloy (Annie) finds herself in a bit of a fix when she discovers that she is pregnant and that she can’t continue to avoid the fact any longer. Annie is someone who has sworn off marriage a long time back, the independence that her parents give her one that she had taken for granted and landed her in the shitload of trouble she finds herself in. Annie likes to think of herself as a New Modern Woman like those who aren’t afraid to move ahead in a man’s world and show the world their worth. But the unexpected pregnancy brings all her dreams crashing down and forces her to face the consequences of the road that she had taken when she had met the father of her child.

Even though Annie’s beau agrees to marry her and do the right thing, she cannot accept the concept of living with a man who robs banks and trains for a living. The mere thought of feeding herself and her children from the profit reaped off by robbing other people of their hard earned wealth leaves a hollow feeling deep inside of her and that is how Annie finds herself the outcast of the town, living with her parents who refuse to let her take the coward’s way out and stay at home wallowing in self-pity.

Through a chain of events, the townsfolk arrive at the conclusion that Jesse is the father of Annie’s unborn child as Annie continues to hide the identity of the man who had fathered her child. Jesse had always had a soft spot for Annie, her unruly red curls a constant source that fires his libido unlike any other. But his plans of gentle days of courting Annie into his world fly out of the window when he reels with the news of Annie’s pregnancy, until he comes up with a plan that would effectively tie Annie’s life to his, all the while convinced that with time he would make Annie fall in love with him.

Shotgun Wedding was a story that was delivered in the classic wit and style that only Maggie Osborne can pull off. She is an author who can continue to juggle a hundred characters in her stories and never make you feel as if you are floundering around trying to pin down who is who. In Shotgun Wedding, Ms. Osborne manages to bring the whole town to life, exploring those little nuances that makes you feel as if you are part of the story that unfolds rather than a guest passing through.

I loved Jesse and clamored for him with everything female inside of me. He is the least “tortured” hero that I have come across by the author and there was a definite charm about his character because of that. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that Jesse won’t make your heart go aflutter because he definitely does that and more. He has that inner strength and formidability etched onto his character that would make your heart beat a tad faster when he enters into the picture. And he is the type of man you can count on to keep the nightmares at bay, to make you feel loved and cherished in those little ways that counts. I loved how Jesse begins to court his pregnant wife and that slow simmering seduction that he begins that just made me hum deep inside and curl my toes in anticipation.

I had a bit of a problem with Annie like most readers. Annie is not without her faults but I expected her to grow out of them and show me the backbone that would make her a worthy partner for Jesse till death does them apart. At first her selfishness in not thinking about the parents who had done nothing but love her and give her everything she had wanted grated on me. But later on, she did learn her lesson and accepted her faults and showed that she was made of better stuff. The one thing that continued to irk me was how Annie tried to shield the activities of the actual father of her child from her husband, putting Jesse inevitably in danger which is only then Annie realizes the blunder she has made. But I guess once again she does learn from her mistake but I found it a bit hard to forgive her and move on like Jesse did.

The one other problem I had with the story was how Jesse didn’t feature in the story as prominently as I wanted. The story was mostly dominated by Annie and the father of her child and though the anger that he harbors towards Jesse for snatching away something that he considers as rightfully his drives the story, I wanted the burgeoning relationship between Jesse and Annie to come into the spotlight and give me a couple of chapters to sigh over long after I was done.

It is the sheer feeling of magic that surrounds me when I start a Maggie Osborne that would always leave me coming back for more. Recommended for fans of Maggie Osborne and fans of marriage of convenience themed romances.

Favorite Quotes

If only. The saddest two words in any language.

Golden shadows shimmered and the musky scent of the candles dizzied every breath. They were on the bed now, an enormous bed with sheets of glowing satin. Clasped in an embrace they rolled together, drinking deep kisses from gasping mouths, hands stroking, teasing, chasing, bodies pressing against each other as if seeking to melt and become one with the other.

He bent his head, bringing his lips near her ear. “Talk of the future confuses you, I know. But I think about it all the time.
His hands moved slowly down her bare arms. “When the time is right, when it’s our time, I want to undress you – slowly – in front of the fire. Slowly, one item at a time. I want to roll down your stockings and unlace your corset. I want to slowly take the pins out of your hair and catch the weight of it in my hands. Then I want to learn the feel of every inch of you.”

[Annie] “I just wondered … is slowly a good thing?”
“Is slowly …” His fingers relaxed and she felt rather than saw his smile. He brushed his fingertips across her lips, then sank back to his pillow. “Oh yes, Annie love. Slowly is a very good thing.”
“Oh, my.”

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Abe Books

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: If You Know Her by Shiloh Walker

Format: E-bookifyouknowher
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Ash Trilogy #3
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Hero: Edward Lawson Reilly
Heroine: Nia Hollister
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: February 28, 2012
Started On: March 11, 2012
Finished On: March 16, 2012

If You Know Her, the 3rd book in the Ash Trilogy by Shiloh Walker is the conclusion to a series that started out explosively good. It was the need to know the identity of the killer that Shiloh had hidden so well in plain sight that made me come back for more every time. Shiloh Walker is an author who manages to disturb my slumber. This time it was a nightmare that I read the final book in the trilogy and STILL couldn’t figure out who the killer was which had me jerking back to wakefulness.

Nia Hollister is having a tough time out of accepting the brutal death of her cousin Jolene Hollister. Though the killer had been caught or rather had been killed, tying up everything in a neat little package, Nia doesn’t get the closure that she so craves. A photojournalist by profession, Nia had been away on an assignment when her cousin had first gone missing. The sheer amount of rage that unfurls inside of Nia upon seeing the bruised and battered body of the one person who had been like a sister to her leaves her reeling and at the same time gives her that determination to dig deeper, to find out whether Jolene’s killer had well and truly being caught.

34 year old Edward Lawson Reilly (Law) lives in the small town of Ash in Kentucky. Law is a writer by profession and has that brooding thing down to a fine art. 5 months or so later to the day that Nia Hollister had practically exploded into his life, Law encounters her once again, this time seemingly with her mind set on staying. Law knows deep inside that with that unrelenting glint in her eyes, Nia could stir up a shitload of trouble but that doesn’t stop him from craving for her with every breathe he takes.

What Nia does with her pricking and prodding is to stir up a killer who is more than happy to lay dormant for a while until the dust settles. But as it is usual with methodical serial killers, he too makes his fair share of mistakes and that is how eventually Nia ends up being the one who is able to unravel him, the one who is able to once again set on fire that burning need to hurt, kill and do a hell lot more, only if Nia were the type of person who would not cause a fuss if she went missing from the scene.

For me, it was the killer that Shiloh brought to life in book one that made this whole series. He was scary enough to give me the shivers every single time he came into the picture and my mind was frantically trying to piece together all the evidence to find out who it is that could be the killer. As most readers who have reviewed this already have stated that they had their fair share of suspicion on who could be the killer, I too had them but then Shiloh managed to throw us all off a bit with book 2 in which we didn’t get to see much from the guy.

Nia Hollister is a force to be reckoned with. She is totally bad-ass, drives a Harley and lives from one assignment to the next. But with Law in the picture, Nia starts picturing a life that could mean settling down a bit and dreams of that elusive thing called a happily-ever-after that few people ever seem to find in real life. 

Law is the type of hero that you envision in your mind with that five o’clock shadow darkening his jawline, a pensive faraway look hiding what he thinks and eyes that could drive a woman nuts because when he does focus on you, it would take a mighty force of the nature to pull your gaze away from his. As all the heroes we met through the trilogy, Law too is protectiveness personified. Even when Nia gives him a lot of trouble, Law sticks adamantly to his schedule of keeping his woman safe, even if it means that he is the one who has to carry the nightmares to bed with him.

The passion between Nia and Law was of the toe-curling variety with some scorching scenes tossed in between and I loved every minute of it. The one thing that I felt was missing from the story was the insight into the killer’s life once he was revealed. I wanted to know details about him that would have shed some light on why he had turned out that way. The killer was a mass of contradictions if ever there was one. The fact that he managed to lead a life that resembled normalcy, didn’t isolate himself from the rest of the town and goes about his daily life as a normal person would were bits and pieces that fascinated me. I wanted to know what makes him tick, what kickstarts and unravels that ball of need inside of him that gives him that creepy edge.

While everyone got their happily ever afters, I wanted an epilogue or just an extra chapter to see how they were all doing, how they were all dealing with the aftermath of a killer who had not just touched their lives for brief moments in time, but left a deep impact on all of them which would only heal with time.

Recommended for fans of Shiloh Walker and fans of the Ash Trilogy. 

Favorite Quotes

Swearing, he fisted a hand in her short hair, yanked her head back and slanted his mouth over hers. She opened for him, humming with delight and Law was cursing himself even as he gorged on her taste. Fuck, she was sweet—hot, sweet, and perfect.

Tipping her head, she stared into his tawny, hazel eyes, so intense, so burning-hot and all-consuming. Had she ever had a man look at her like that? Like she was all? Like she was everything? The center of his universe? Hell, screw the center … Law was looking at her like she was his universe.

Then he curled his tongue around her clit and Nia could have sworn she saw lights exploding. Her breath caught in her lungs, the muscles in her body went rigid. Nothing, absolutely nothing seemed to exist except for the way that man was teasing her closer and closer to climax, using his tongue in a way that was nothing short of diabolical.

Her breathing ragged, her body went lax under his. “We’re not done,” he rasped, fisting a hand in her dark, short hair. Law greedily took her mouth as he started to ride her again—deep, hard. So damned hungry, so damned hungry …
If she’d had the breath, she might have told him to give her a minute.
But even if she had had the breath? He would have stolen it away again.

When she reached the button of his jeans, his hips jerked and he squeezed his eyes closed, hoped he wouldn’t make a fool of himself and lose it the second she touched him. He hadn’t done anything like that in ages, not since high school, but Nia shattered his control like nothing else.
Nia shattered him.

He’d had a need to be gentle, had wanted this to be slow and lazy, as though something sweet and easy could take away the misery of the day. It wasn’t quite the sweet and tender seduction he’d hoped for, but as the climax rushed up on them, claiming them both hard and demanding, as she rested her forehead to his, their gazes locked, her mouth seeking out his … everything else fell away.
In those moments, nothing else existed but each other. 

Across the room, Nia said with a smirk, “Look at Tinkerbell going all mama-bear.”
Hope snapped, “Oh, shove the Tinkerbell crap up your ass.”
For about two seconds, Nia just stared at her. Then she started to laugh.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BoB | Book Depository

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by mvbookreviewer

Requested ARC Review: Tactical Deception by J.L. Saint + Giveaway!

Format: E-booktacticaldeception
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Silent Warrior #2
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd.
Hero: Lt. Col. Roger Weston
Heroine: Maryam Dalton
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: March 13, 2012
Started On: March 12, 2012
Finished On: March 13, 2012

It feels like I have spent ages pining for the release of this much awaited second book in the Silent Warrior series by J.L. Saint. Book 1 in the series Collateral Damage was an eye opening novel filled with drool inducing yummy military heroes and depicts the constant battle that they and the world at large fight in combating terrorism and its ill effects on the whole world. J.L. Saint is one of those authors who gets the details right, someone who doesn’t ‘judge’ in the way she presents a story that is bound to be gone over with a fine-tooth comb by those that would have a hard time believing that any author would be able to paint ‘terrorists’ in a way that doesn’t offend someone who is a Muslim. Having read book 1 in the series, I trusted J.L. Saint to handle the story of Lt. Col. Roger Weston and the beautiful Maryam Dalton (Mari) with the same grace and poise as she did for Collateral Damage and she did just that, leaving me wanting more of the same as I read through the last pages.

39 year old Roger Weston is still paying the price for the hit his team had taken in Lebanon, the guilt of what had gone down and rendered 24 year old Maryam Dalton (Mari) a pregnant widower something that Roger can’t shake himself loose from. Making the situation doubly dangerous is the fact that he desires Mari above and beyond any reason, something that he berates himself for over and over again knowing deep in his heart that if Mari were ever to find the truth behind her husband’s death, she would never look at him in the same way again.

Mari might be pregnant and devout in her faith that had been her way of life even long after she had escaped the land where she had grown up in driven to escape the injustice of being blamed for something she had no power over, but the fact that she desires a man she has no right over is one that continues to taunt her. Mari would like nothing better than to bury her head in the sand and forget that Roger Weston exists, but it seems easier said than done as Roger and his piercing blue eyes continue to haunt her in dreams of the vivid and erotic variety, and it doesn’t make things any easier when Roger sticks by her side to protect her from an enemy who is relentless in his need to see Mari take her last breathe in this world.

When shit hits the fan in more ways than one, Roger and his team are scrambling left and right trying to make sense of a series of sniper attacks which occur simultaneously at different locations in the US, leaving an abject terror gnawing deep inside of everyone. Amidst all the attacks and confusion, Mari’s estranged family makes an appearance, throwing both Roger and Mari into a situation that is fraught with danger from all sides, and it is through sheer luck, God’s will and a whole lot of prowess on Roger’s side that these two find themselves free from their captives, ready to surrender to the desire that is always such a visceral part of their relationship.

Tactical Deception is a complex novel comprised of multiple layers and characters that lend a richness to the story that just begs you to keep on reading. There are few authors in my eyes who can juggle so many characters effectively without the book sounding like a narrative of each and every single attribute of the multi-faceted characters that are introduced and play a vital role in the story. And I believe J.L. Saint to be one who is able to deliver on all accounts and I couldn’t get enough of each and every character that I came across and learned to love as I was pulled deeper into a story that was filled with action, angst and red hot loving till the very last page.

Tactical Deception is not just the story of how Roger and Mari, two very different people in their upbringing as well as their beliefs and culture find that special someone in each other to spend the rest of their lives with. It is a story that shows the true meaning of the word “terrorism”, the terror that one can instill in your heart if you plan that carefully, if you let hate encroach and encompass the whole of your heart until it is just sheer madness that controls all your actions and emotions. It is a realistic portrait of the condition that J.L. Saint creates so vividly that I always found myself holding my breathe in, unable to believe what was happening, but at the same time knowing deep inside of me that this could indeed turn out to be the reality of tomorrow.

I would say this now and I would say this tomorrow, but I do appreciate how well J.L. Saint paints the picture of a devout Muslim who is torn between her beliefs towards Allah and her desires for a man that goes completely against the teachings of a religion that preaches modesty of the self above everything else. But reality in life is that even the most devout when tempted beyond anything they have ever faced before succumbs, and there was a beauty in the way that Mari gives herself over to Roger, a man who above everything else respects the woman he would lay down his very life for.

Roger is a hero that would be hard NOT to fall in love with. He is a warrior with a deep sense of always doing the right thing ingrained in him that it is with a heavy heart that he faces his unrelenting desire for the very last woman he should be lusting after. Even when Mari and the way she covers her beauty from him drives him crazy, I fell irrevocably in love with him the moment Roger showed just how much he respected the woman he loves above anything else in this world. Roger recognizes the woman who hides herself in the shrouds of her abaya, her wants, needs and the desire that burns deep inside of her to embrace freedom, to give her unborn babies all that she had been deprived of when she had been growing up.

Woven into the story of such complex emotions is plenty of action to pump up one’s adrenaline levels and J.L. Saint pulls no punches in delivering scenes that practically explode all over the page, that drives you to the edge of your seat time and yet again and I loved and reveled in every single minute of the experience.

As much as I loved Roger and Mari’s story, I absolutely adored the secondary romance that took place between Angie and Rico that burned up a few pixels on my iPad and a few of my brain cells while they were at it. Their explosive chemistry, the way Rico could not think straight whenever Angie was around, and the bittersweet ending that Angie and Rico faced at the end of this novel just made me want to cry and howl at the injustice of it all. I don’t think I can adequately put into words just how much I want their story next, and yes this goes out as a plea to you Ms. Saint to hurry along and give readers their story before we all get into a tizzy from all the anticipation and waiting around.

As I said earlier, so many fascinating characters that I have a feeling would make for unbelievable stories of their own and I can’t wait to see the journey that Ms. Saint would take us on in a series which I hope and pray would continue to have a lot more books than just these two. With non-stop action, red hot scorching passion that revs up your engines unlike anything else, there is nothing more you can ask from a novel such as this one.

Tactical Deception is a story that goes straight to your blood. Its chills, curdles, pumps and revs it up in equal doses and you just wont get enough!

Favorite Quotes

… war fucks everybody without discretion …

She [Angie] looked at the plate he’d set down. “You’re not hungry?”
“I’m starving. Hungrier than I’ve ever been in my entire life.” He’d waited for weeks for the right time and even though it was the worst timing possible, he couldn’t wait a second more.
Her jaw dropped as he took her plate from her wobbly grip.
“I, uh, am in desperate need of a shower.”
“Me too,” he whispered, then leaned in and pressed his mouth to her lush lips. She opened immediately for him, inviting his tongue and more as she sighed and sank closer against him. He thrust deep into her mouth, tasting the spicy sauce, tasting her, and plundered for more as pleasure washed over him like a benediction from heaven.

Looking down she arched her back, giving him more. His tanned complexion against her milky, slightly freckled skin was visually stark and sexually exciting. She watched as his mouth claimed her other nipple, stroking it with his tongue, and her vision blurred as he rhythmically rocked his erection against her sex.
Hot, damp, desperate, she braced herself with her hands on his knees behind her and met him thrust for thrust, pushing hard. Breathing as heavy as he was, she trembled with the flash fire of passion overtaking them both.

The waistbands of her jeans and panties only made it to her knees before Rico spread open her sex and planted a tongue lashing right on the swollen nub of her core. Wave after wave of fiery pleasure burned through her in an explosive rush to an orgasm that rocked her world because it was so good, but it wasn’t enough. She didn’t have Rico inside her. She didn’t have his arms around her. She couldn’t look into the drowning depths of his eyes. She pulled on his good arm, feeling his body trembling with his desire. “I need you now. More than ever before I need you inside me now. Please.”

Her sheath clamped his erection like a burning fist as her body demanded he follow her over the edge. Physically that was already happening. Big time. He was buried all the way in with his balls kissing her sweet ass as the biggest orgasm of his life blew his mind. He literally saw stars. But it didn’t end there. Emotionally and spiritually she was sucking him into her and he was driving harder and harder to get there himself as his gaze locked with hers. She grabbed his heavy necklace and pulled his mouth to hers, demanding and claiming, giving no quarter. They rode out the pleasure, wave after wave, milking every drop of it together with moans, touches, tiny thrusts, and sealing it all with an endless kiss that left him breathless—soulless—everything-less. She stole it all.

[Roger] “Do you know how amazingly beautiful you are to me?”
“As beautiful as you are to me.” She slid her gaze down then back up with one of those secret smiles that played havoc with a man’s mind.
He shook his head. “Nah, I couldn’t be, because you’d be insane with your need to just watch me. You’d ache every moment to just touch me. Your nights would be consumed with dreams of me and you’d live every moment just to love me.”

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

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GIVEAWAY!! GIVEAWAY!!

Author J.L. Saint is giving away an e-copy of Tactical Deception to one lucky commenter on this post. All you have to do to enter is to tell us who your most favorite fictional military hero is. So easy right?

Please state a valid e-mail address as a way to contact you if you are the winner. And remember, this is open INTERNATIONALLY, so don’t be shy ;-)

If you can help spread the word, you do earn extra points. Tweet about it and earn 5 extra entries, recommend this review and giveaway on Facebook and earn another 5 extra entries. And if you do either, don’t forget to leave the link of your tweet or recommendation on Facebook for me to verify.

Giveaway will open at 00:00 hours on March 14, 2012 Maldivian time and ends at 00:00 hours on March 16, 2012 Maldivian time. Maldivian timezone is GMT+5!

If you love action packed romantic suspense with larger than life military heroes, I dare you to enter. This is one book that won’t disappoint.

by mvbookreviewer

Review: If You See Her by Shiloh Walker

Format: E-bookifyouseeher
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: The Ash Trilogy #2
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Hero: Remington Jennings
Heroine: Hope Carson
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: January 31, 2012
Started On: March 9, 2012
Finished On: March 10, 2012

If You See Her by Shiloh Walker is book 2 in her Ash Trilogy, book 1 of which entitled If You Hear Her crept the bejesus out of me and introduced a whole lot of characters that certainly piqued my interest on more levels than one. 

The small town of Ash, Kentucky with a population of 8,312 is rocked by the series of vicious murders happening in their own backyard. The whole town is shocked to say the least and the last round of violence in which Hope Carson is suspected to have beaten up her best friend Law Reilly and then nearly gone on to kill herself which shocks the District Attorney Remington Jennings  (Remy) more than he lets on.

From the moment Remy had laid eyes on Hope and her beautiful eyes filled with a fear and pain that pains him and makes every protective instinct within him want to embrace her and keep her safe, Remy knows that he wouldn’t have an easy time out of prosecuting the one woman who rouses the very primal instincts deep inside of him.

Hope is a woman who has been on the run for the past 2 years from her ex-husband. Scared and jittery as she might be, the one thing Hope vows is to never return to her ex-husband because living in the darkness that had been their marriage with no way out of it is not an experience that Hope wants to repeat. Hope doesn’t want or need a man in her life, and the merest thought of even getting close to someone of the opposite sex leaves her with a bad taste in her mouth. But Remy, the man who nearly arrests her for a crime she is innocent of is the one man to whom she has a difficulty showing her indifferent side to.

If You See Her is an installment in the series that contains very little of the elements of suspense that made book 1 such a hit towards the end. I missed the presence of the creepy killer and craved to know more about him because Shiloh has certainly done a swell job of creating his character, leaving the readers practically tied up in knots trying to guess as to who the killer could be. So needless to say, when the killer didn’t make much of an appearance in the story I felt cheated out just a bit.

Rather than focusing on the suspense element, the novel delves deeper into the growing relationship between Hope and Remy and continues to reveal the different facets of the multitude of characters that bring this trilogy to life. There are family problems, there are problems between friends, and then there is the budding romance between Remy and Hope where Remy forces himself to tread very carefully in order to win a woman who has seen more than her fair share of violence and depravity.

The moment I fell in love with Remy was a bizarre one. It was the moment that Remy let Hope take the lead role in emerging as an independent woman, a person who is more than capable of starting out on her own even if fear continues to walk right along with her on her quest to assert herself. It was how Remy went against his instincts and let Hope do her thing, let her be herself and let her come out of the shell she had hidden herself in to emerge as a woman who is breathtaking as she revels in the freedom that being with Remy brings her that I knew Remy was definitely the man for Hope.

It is always a must to appreciate how Shiloh brings the passion between her characters to life, and I reveled in every minute of how Remy and Hope finds that special someone in each other and forges that deep connection with each other that made me just a teeny bit envious even as I rejoiced in their love.

If the suspense element had been more, if the pace of the story had been just a tad faster, I would have definitely enjoyed this a lot lot more. But having said that, If You See Her is still a decent addition to a trilogy of which the last book I have already started on in my quest to get acquainted with the killer and finally find out who Shiloh has so masterfully created and hidden in plain sight so very well.

Recommended for fans of the series and fans of Shiloh Walker.

Favorite Quotes

This was the absolute last woman on earth he should want—she was trouble, in so many ways. She was troubled, and that was just one of the reasons he didn’t need this.
This was the absolute last woman on earth he wanted to want—she just plain and simple was trouble—he could feel that in his bones.
And yet, as he stared into those big, green eyes, he did want.
Hell, did he want.

One kiss, he told himself.
Just one easy, quick kiss.
He had plenty of control.
He could control his temper, his hunger, his …
Her mouth opened under his and she met his kiss with shy, sweet hesitation.
Remy felt like the very ground had crumbled under his feet.
Oh, hell.

He pushed up onto his heels and then pulled her up against him, one hand cradling the nape of her neck, the other splayed wide over her back. His mouth came down on hers and right before he kissed her, he muttered, “Fuck, you’re going to drive me insane, I know it.”
Then his mouth crushed down onto hers. His taste was different—darker.
Her, she realized. He tasted of her.

Man, she loved the way Remy smelled. Male … warm. Expensive. Idly, she noticed the same scent was on her, now. It was the soap he used. She’d discovered that in the shower when she lathered up with it. The smell was borderline intoxicating on him, not so much on her. Absently, she stroked her hands up and down his sides.
“Hope, you’re making it very hard for me to have a conversation here.”
“Hmmm?” Tipping her head back, she glanced at him through her lashes, saw that he had a look on his face that was rapidly growing familiar.
That lovely blue was heated, his lashes low over his eyes. And she found herself wanting to push up on her toes and tug his head down close enough to kiss him.

Then he kissed her again. When he licked her through the silk, she moaned. Catching the fabric, he tugged it aside and licked her again. “Hot … fuck, yeah, you’re hot.”
Hope shuddered and fisted her hands in his hair again. But this time, she tugged him closer, gasping out his name.
He smiled against her and then proceeded to do to her what she’d been doing to him from the first time he’d laid eyes on her—driving him out of his fucking mind.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | BoB | Book Depository

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Format: E-bookontheisland
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Thomas James Callahan (T.J.)
Heroine: Anna Lynn Emerson
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 4, 2011
Started On: March 6, 2012
Finished On: March 9, 2012

Never have I been so grateful for a recommendation received from the romance discussion forum on Amazon as I was when I finished On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves. By reading the book, you won’t feel that it is a debut novel, such is Tracey’s prowess and mastery with the words that you just want to go on reading, without taking any breaks in between if you can help it.

Thomas James Callahan (T.J.) is sixteen years old and three months into remission from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He is on his way to the Maldives with his 30 year old tutor Anna Lynn Emerson who is to help him catch up on the months of missed school while T.J. had been undergoing treatment.

Tragedy strikes when the sea plane that is supposed to take them to the island which is their final destination crash lands, leaving Anna badly hurt and T.J. with the task of getting them safely to shore. Saying that it is a tough time that Anna and T.J. both undergo, especially during the first couple of days would be an understatement. Being from the Maldives myself, I understand how primitive conditions would be in an uninhabited island, how totally alone you can feel with nothing but the blue skies and the endless seas surrounding you. With no source of fresh water on the island, Anna and T.J.’s main problem lies in the depleting amount of fluids from their bodies. But somehow, part  through luck and partly through trial and error, T.J. and Anna make a life for themselves on the island when being rescued seems like an option that is no longer available for them.

From June 2001 till December 2004 when the devastating tsunami that wrought havoc from Indonesia to Africa serves to be the reason why they get rescued, Anna and T.J. depend and rely on each other and a relationship forms between the two, not surprising given the fact that T.J. had crushed on Anna even from the very start. Anna is the one who remains at first oblivious, for many a reason, one being the fact that she is 13 years older than T.J. For Anna, the protective instinct she has when it comes to T.J. surprises her but she doesn’t make much of it until after T.J. turns 18 and she too starts feeling the stirrings of desire when it comes to T.J. 

The way Anna and T.J.’s relationship progresses is a natural one. No lightning bolt moments in their relationship but rather it is one that is built on mutual affection, trust and a whole lot more than just a simple case of lusting for each other because it is the convenient choice. Both T.J. and Anna are characters who feel real, ones that you can relate to, ones that tug at your heartstrings as you read along. You can’t help but be invested in the outcome of their relationship, their time on the island that subjects them to the harsh reality of life and survival when there remains nothing but each other to look out for.

Being rescued brings along with it its own fair share of doubts and insecurities though both Anna and T.J. know that for them there would always be no love like the one that they have found with each other. The period of separation that they both go through was a much needed one to make their love that much more meaningful and profound and I was deeply moved through everything T.J. and Anna go through, both together and individually as well.

I loved T.J.. No surprises there. He is the kind of hero that you fall in love with immediately because there are no pretenses when it comes to him. He is the what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy and the way he grows into manhood, takes on responsibilities that would otherwise have been foreign if not for the circumstances just made him that much more appealing. He has a protective instinct that naturally comes into play with Anna, a woman he admires and crushes on from afar for far too long. When T.J. realizes the course of change Anna’s feelings towards him has taken, T.J. grabs the opportunity like everything else he does, with a zeal and zest for life that is so charming that you just fall in love with Anna right along with him.

Anna was such a lovely character as well. She is the type of heroine who doesn’t fuss around trying to become someone she isn’t. She is comfortable with who she is. Her regrets in life are ones that had driven her to take the job of tutoring T.J. in the first place. She doesn’t talk down to T.J. just because he is much younger than herself but rather treats him as an equal from the very start. Their coping mechanism for what they both go through are different, but in it lies that desolateness that is a result of the hope that diminishes as the months and years pass on by.

If I am ever to crash on an uninhabited island, I want a T.J. by my side, a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to lay his emotions on the line to get what he wants. When the epilogue and the beautiful fitting ending for these two lovely people came about, I was more than ready to embrace it, reveling in the blessings that life had bestowed upon two people who would remain with me forever. 

I have to warn readers like myself who are squeamish with books written in first person that this is indeed written in first person. But Tracey makes it worth your while by giving both characters equal amounts of attention to show you both their viewpoints. A nice touch I must say and I loved T.J.’s take on things. With characters I loved wholeheartedly, this gushy review is a testament to just how much I loved the story. And the story taking place in Maldives? The icing on the cake. 

Beautiful, poignant and real, On the Island is a novel not to be missed! I smiled, I laughed, I cried and I sighed with everything that is in me. There is nothing more you can ask from a book. Grab yourself a copy and indulge – I dare you!

Favorite Quotes

[T.J.] If she had gotten sick, the only thing I could have done was watch her suffer. Bury her next to Mick when she died. I didn’t know if I could make it without her. The sound of her voice, her smile, her– those were the things that made living on the island bearable. I held her a little tighter and thought if she woke up I might tell her that. She didn’t though. She sighed in her sleep, and eventually I drifted off.

[Anna] In February, I woke up from a nap. A bouquet of flowers gathered from the various bushes and shrubs scattered around the island lay on the blanket beside me, a small length of rope wound around their stems.
I found T.J. down at the shore. “Someone’s been checking the calendar.”
He grinned. “I didn’t want to miss Valentine’s Day.”
I kissed him. “You’re sweet to me.”
Pulling me closer, he said, “It’s not hard, Anna.”
I stared into T.J.’s eyes, and he started to sway. My arms went around his neck and we danced, moving in a circle, the sand soft and warm under our feet.
“You don’t need music, do you?”
“No,” T.J. said. “But I do need you.”

[T.J.] I pulled my arms out from underneath her body and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I love you, Anna.”
The surprised look on her face told me she hadn’t seen that coming.
“You weren’t supposed to fall in love,” she whispered.
“Well, I did,” I said, looking into her eyes. “I’ve been in love with you for months. I’m telling you now because I think you love me too, Anna. You just don’t think you’re supposed to. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. I can wait.” I pulled her mouth down to mine and kissed her and when it ended, I smiled and said, “Happy birthday.”

[T.J.] I kissed her as soon as we were inside her apartment, and I wasn’t gentle about it, holding her face firmly in my hands and pressing my lips hard against hers. She wasn’t anyone’s to own – I knew that – but right then she was mine.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

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by mvbookreviewer

Score Sheet Review: A Very Sinful Valentine by Charlotte Featherstone

Format: E-bookSinful
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Historical Erotic Romance
Series: Sinful
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Matthew Wallingford
Heroine: Jane Rankin
Sensuality: 4.5
Date of Publication: February 2012
Started On: March 5, 2012
Finished On: March 5, 2012

CATEGORY SCORE GRADE
The hero 100 A
The heroine 100 A
Story line 100 A
Emotional Intensity 100 A
Suck me in Factor 100 A
Heat & Sensuality  100 A
Conflicts 100 A
Writing Style 100 A
Quotable Factor 100 A
Ending 100 A
Overall Grade 100 A

Score Sheet Summary

Sinful by Charlotte Featherstone is one of those novels that I ended up loving to death. A hero that I could not get enough of, a heroine who was his match in every single way and sensual scenes penned so vividly and erotically that it took my very breathe away, needless to say, Sinful is a novel that I would remember till the end of time.

So it was to my delightful surprise that a friend on Goodreads alerted me to this delicious number released I guess in time for Valentines Day and I am so thankful that Charlotte Featherstone like myself hasn’t forgotten the impact that Matthew has on the female senses.

This little novella finds Matthew basking in wedded bliss so to speak with that untamed wildness within him roaring its head because his beloved wife Jane has been avoiding him for the past 3 months. A man who has a voracious appetite for anything and everything to do with carnal desires of the flesh, Jane had been the woman to bring him down to his knees and possess his heart for all eternity. So it is a brooding Matthew we find ourselves with, dangerous and turbulent emotions swirling deep inside of him, all the while wrecking his brains trying to think up the reason why his strong and brave Jane suddenly seems to be without the very fire that stirs him up.

Jane has her own reasons to be shy around Matthew. Giving birth has put its own toll on her body and needless to say a woman who thinks of herself plain when compared to a husband whose dark vivid good looks is the talk of the town has Jane hesitating to give herself over to her husband, even when she aches to do so.

What Matthew does is breathtaking in its eroticism, beautiful in the way that it brought everything female deep inside of me alive and had my senses humming all throughout. Every woman, and I mean every single woman deserves a man like Matthew who can love like he does, without reservations, without conditions, for time and eternity, until death does them apart. Let the sighing fest begin!

Cannot recommend this highly enough for those who love Matthew. He is the man!

Favorite Quotes

[Jane] “You know how I feel about you. About what we share. I did not mean it in such a way.”
“No?” he whispered wickedly, his gaze finding hers, latching on with strength and determination. “I don‟t believe you. I think you had better show me, Jane.” 
She kissed him, slow, lazily, her lips moving over his mouth, slowly winding, becoming deeper, sensual, and then slowly her tongue penetrated his mouth, touching his tongue, flicking around the tip of his. He groaned, wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her up against his bulging phallus that felt so large and hard. Her core ached, needing that deep inside her.

“I’m a hedonist, and you, Jane, my wife, should know that about me. You’ve shared my body and bed, you know things about me that no other soul on earth does. Who can I not be a sensualist with than, you, Jane? Who else to act out my wicked fantasies, than the woman who inspires them? There is no shame in fantasies, in pleasure. Who other than us needs to know what we’ve done, what brings the other pleasure?”

[…] “But Jane, tonight I’m going to watch–and so are you. It will not be dark when I look upon you. There will be no clothes–only your skin. There will be no wiggling and squirming away from me. You will lie still and let me look. I will take as long as I want, gorge myself on the sight of you, and you will not resist. You will not utter one word to the contrary. You will accept everything I give you. And you will be loved, Jane. Loved so that you never forget that you are the only woman for me. You always have been. And you always will be.”

“Don’t” be shocked, Jane,” he murmured as he lifted her higher, and poised her at the tip of his cock. “Don‟t be embarrassed. Not with me. You‟re gorgeous, and everything about you is perfect.” 
She nodded, met his gaze, and they held each other as she sunk down slowly upon him, impaling herself.  
She cried out, her hand flying to her lower belly. 
“Feel me all the way up there, do you my love?” 
She nodded, began to move, and he let her, just felt her body move and undulate beneath his palms.

“Jane, look at me,” he asked, and when she did, he knew she was seeing what she needed in his eyes. 
“You are the only woman for me–it‟s only ever been you. I told you once before, that I have never loved before you, and I will never love again. Jane,” he said, forcing her face to down to his. “There is no condition on my love. No end to my desire. Don‟t put them there, my love.”

“Jane,” he whispered as the streaks of dawn broke through their bedroom window. “Once more. In the daylight, so I can see you with the sun upon your skin.”
And she rolled over, smiled, and held open her arms to him, welcoming him home at last.

Download Link: Mystic Castle

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by mvbookreviewer

Score Sheet Review: Flash Point by Shelli Stevens

Format: E-bookflashpoint.JPG
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Series: Holding Out for a Hero, Book 3
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd.
Hero: Todd Wyatt
Heroine: Caitleen (Kate)
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: March 8, 2011
Started On: March 5, 2012
Finished On: March 5, 2012

CATEGORY SCORE GRADE
The hero 90 A
The heroine 90 A
Story line 90 A
Emotional Intensity 90 A
Story’s ability to suck me in 90 A
Heat & Sensuality  95 A
Conflicts within the story 90 A
Writing Style 95 A
Quotable Factor 60 A
The Ending 80 A
Overall Grade 87 A

Score Sheet Summary

Flash Point is a novella that I have been meaning to read for quite sometime. Almost a year to the date that it was first published, I managed to find some time to squeeze this novella in between some of my heavy reads and I enjoyed the escape that Shelli Stevens provided with this red-hot novella which combines elements of friends turning into lovers with a hero who is commitment phobic to the extreme and a heroine who is sunny, bubbly and vivacious as they come.

Todd Wyatt might want to go on thinking of Kate as a younger sister. But something vital in their relationship seems to have shifted after that tentative kiss that Kate had placed on him 5 months back and for the world of him Todd cannot seem to get the kiss out of his mind.

Kate has been half in love with Todd almost all her adult life, no wonder when Todd is the type of man that every woman in the vicinity wants to tame and call their own. But Kate knows that Todd is not the type for a long term relationship, but even that doesn’t stop her from staking her claim and taking anything and everything that Todd is ready and willing to give, even if it means that Kate would have to walk away nursing a broken heart when all is said and done.

I loved this installment of the Holding Out for a Hero series. Todd is a fireman who has got his own set of insecurities to deal with and the best thing about him was his possessiveness when it comes to Kate, which even he cannot explain. Kate was just lovely, a heroine that I utterly adored in all the ways.

Highly recommended, this is a novella best read after at least reading book 2 in the series, Command and Control which was the book that intrigued me to look up Todd and Kate’s story.

Favorite Quotes

[Todd] “There isn’t a woman I’m trying to impress with baking. I made that up.”
Kate frowned, stilling in her efforts to free herself. “Why did you say that then?”
“Damn it, to keep this from happening.” His head blocked out the light as it dipped, and then his mouth crashed down on hers.
Shock ripped through her as his lips masterfully parted hers, his tongue plunging inside to taste her.

She teetered to catch her balance, but his arm still held her, kept her from falling. And then his mouth crashed down on hers and her balance went wonky for other reasons.
Kate clutched his shoulders and moaned, parting her lips to his fierce kiss. The smell of his familiar, spicy cologne filled her senses. His tongue explored every inch of her mouth, his hands roving over her body. It was deliberate. A man staking his claim. Every female instinct inside of her could sense it.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: Hide’n Go Seek by Dale Mayer

Format: E-bookhidengoseek.jpg
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Series: Psychic Visions, Book 2
Publisher: Valley Publishers
Hero: Grant Summers
Heroine: Kali Jordan
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: December 2, 2011
Started On: February 19, 2012
Finished On: March 5, 2012

Kali Jordan dedicates all her waking hours in contributing to the Second Chance SAR center where she works in more ways than one. Armed with her Labrador Retriever Shiloh, Kali is blessed with “The Sight” as her grandmother called it, something that frustrates Kali as much as it helps her in accurately pinpointing out those in need of rescue. However, her work and dedication to what she does doesn’t come with its own price. The loss of lives and the delicate balance between life and death brings her down and Kali is someone who feels these emotions a lot more than she lets on.

Things take a turn when someone starts on a mission to give the “survivors” what they deserve, the killer believing that it is against God’s will to rescue them in the first place. Thus the killer embarks on a mission to taunt and elude Kali, to bring out to the open the witchery that guides her to be as successful as she is at what she does. 

FBI agent Grant Summers enters her life at this inopportune moment. From the first meeting itself, Kali feels deep inside of her that Grant is someone she has met before but has no recollection of whatsoever. The way she takes comfort in Grant’s company is one reason why she doesn’t get freaked out of the way her senses go on high alert whenever Grant is around. But before anything can happen between them, Kali needs to find the killer who is willing to do whatever it takes to bring Kali to her very knees, even if it means making use of innocent victims to teach Kali a lesson that she would never forget.

Hide’N Go Seek is a novel that flows smoothly right from the very start. I believe this is the first book I have read in which a heroine is in the profession of Search and Rescue and Dale certainly sheds light on a lot of aspects involved in the back breaking work that these heroic individuals embark on, putting their very lives on the line with each mission. The toll it takes on their physical and emotional well being is one that Dale has pulled off very well and I for one immensely enjoyed this aspect of the story.

Kali and Grant are both likable characters. I believe the author has spent more time on developing and bringing across Kali’s character and her life much more than Grant and that was one factor that disappointed me a bit in the story. I wanted Grant’s character to take as much limelight as Kali and I wanted to know where he was coming from, his past and what shapes up his character. Nevertheless, both characters come across as the sort you can depend upon, their inherent need to see justice meted out one of the characteristics that drew me towards them. 

The mystery/suspense potion of the story was quite well done. I had my finger on who the killer could be, and I was right in my choice as well. Maybe I have watched too many movies with twists and turns to really be surprised by any villain that comes across any longer. But Dale has certainly spun a well balanced story in terms of the mystery, suspense and the paranormal aspects embedded to make the story that unfolds that much more interesting.

One of the factors that irked me a bit was the lack of romance between Grant and Kali even by half way into the book. With 400+ pages, I found that I wanted that connection between Grant and Kali to come to life, the need that seems to pulse between them to be realized before the whole story reached its eventual climax. In the end, through all the twists and turns the story took, Kali and Grant eventually managed to get there on their own time, and the concluding chapter when it came served as a satisfactory ending to a story that was interesting, highly readable and enjoyable. Recommended for fans of Dale Mayer and fans of mystery/suspense novels with a bit of romance and paranormal in the mix.

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