by mvbookreviewer

Pick of the Month December 2011 + Interviews & Giveaway!

I can’t believe its the beginning of a new year which means a whole lot of new books are to come that I am sure will rock my world. I have 3 picks for the month of December as well, December being a month that I enjoyed almost each and every book that I read immensely. That might have got something to do with the fact that I just read whatever I wanted and went with the flow because I never want the one thing I love to do most in the world to become a chore. So without further ado, my picks of the month ladies and gentlemen. And don’t forget to read the giveaway part to find out which exciting prizes are in store for you this January!

Pick #1: DANCING ON COALS by ELLEN O’CONNELLDacingoncoals

Anyone who has read my reviews of the two previous books published by Ellen O’Connell would know that I just flat-out adore the way she writes. Her books aren’t the type that you can just read and forget, the characters, the setting and the romance tends to linger on with you for a long, long time even after you are done.

So it warms my heart to be able to present to you my first pick of the month for December 2011, a novel from one of my favorite authors, her latest book entitled Dancing on Coals.

MBR: Native American romance is a dying breed in the world of romance. So what made you decide to write a Native American romance as your 3rd romance novel?

EO: All my romances are stories of the kind I like to read myself and can’t find enough of. I’m a western and historical kind of woman and can get as absorbed in reading American history as in a novel. Vampires and werewolves aren’t my cup of tea. I see divorce lurking in the shadows whenever I read a contemporary. I confess when I published my first romance, Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold in April 2010 I had no expectations that it would sell more than a few copies. Conventional wisdom says westerns are out of style and western historicals are a niche subgenre hardly worth bothering about. I accepted that as true. My intention up to that time had been to concentrate on getting more books out in my cozy dog mystery series. If I had a future as a writer, that’s where I believed it would be. Still, Eyes was a finished novel. It was a finalist in two writing contests. Why not get it out and let it find a few readers rather than sit on my computer’s hard drive?

Two months later Eyes reached what I think were its highest rankings in the Kindle store – #1 in Westerns and #10 in Historical Romance – and my ideas about my future as a writer changed. Yes, western and even more so Native American romances are niche subgenres, but there obviously are enough fans in these niches with me to make it worthwhile for someone who loves the Nineteenth Century American West to write them. Of course the hope never dies that a reader who isn’t a western fan will hear good things about my books, try one, and become a convert. I have gotten emails from readers like that.

MBR: I think I have run out of words to describe Gaetan and his effect on my senses. I loved how you kept his thoughts hidden until Chapter 9, making his character a that much more mysterious one. Did Gaetan come across on paper as you envisioned him or did he morph into someone totally unexpected along the way?

EO: Yes, Gaetan is as I envisioned him. I too love the mystery of him and perhaps because of that find him unbearably sexy. For me the idea of a Native American hero who takes one look at a white woman and falls “in love” because she’s so beautiful not only smacks of racism but isn’t very realistic. And within the general limits of our genre, I wanted the story to be as realistic as possible. Telling a love story with a hero that tough was a challenge, particularly as I didn’t want love to change him. I don’t believe a man like that would change.

When the book was done, I thought I had succeeded but worried readers would be put off by Gaetan. So I sent the book out to beta readers and waited for reports, half afraid of what I was going to hear. The reports I got back ran the full gamut of reactions – for every reader who felt as you and I do there was one who wanted Gaetan different. They balanced each other in number and intensity of feeling. The reader right in the middle loved the story, didn’t want Gaetan changed but wanted more insight into his character. After long arguments with myself, I decided to listen to that person in the middle and made revisions designed not to change Gaetan but to provide more insight into what he felt and why. When I started those revisions, I was gritting my teeth, not really wanting to do it, but before long I realized the book was stronger for it and stopped dragging my fingers on the keyboard. All the revisions as to Gaetan are in the second half of the book. For instance, the paragraph you chose as a quote that begins, “If a man could taste wind and fire, they would taste like Katherine,” was part of those revisions. But I really wanted the mystery about Gaetan in the beginning. I wanted readers to wonder how on earth a man like that could be the hero, and I never yielded on that vision.

MBR: I always tend to ask this question about heroes that I just flat-out adore. If Dancing on Coals were ever to be made into a movie, is there someone in your mind who would be just a perfect rendition for Gaetan? Or does a man as such not exist in real life?

EO: I’m embarrassed to confess that I’m such a stick-in-the mud I hardly ever watch movies. The one television in the house is a small portable that only gets network channels and sometimes sits unloved and unwatched for weeks. So my knowledge of today’s movie stars is close to zilch. The faces I had in mind when writing the book come from the photos in Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and are those of the Apache chiefs, Victorio and Naiche.

MBR: I loved Katherine. No two ways about it. She is courageous, daring and bold, her childhood lending her a lot of those qualities. When you first envisioned the story, was it someone like Katherine that you had in mind for Gaetan?

EO: My stories start the way I think a lot of writers’ stories do with a what if. What if two people were in these circumstances? Then of course the people have to be of a certain kind to react to those circumstances in a way that makes a story, and finally each character has to have a background that could produce that particular person in that particular time. Just as Gaetan could not have been Gaetan unless he had spent years in the white school, Katherine could not have been Katherine unless she came from a background that had her used to facing danger, being familiar with guns, etc. So to answer your question – Gaetan came first, and he required a woman like Katherine. When I threw him into a situation where he was forced to endure the company of a white woman rather than kill her, she had to be the kind of woman he would eventually stop hating and begin loving, not because of physical beauty but because of character.

MBR: So, what’s next in line from you? Any new releases set for 2012? And what would they be?

EO: Right now I’m working on the second book in my Rottweiler mystery series. The first mystery has its fans too, and I’ve been promising them another and putting them off in favor of the romances for some time now. As I’m working on that book I’ve been outlining the next romance. Yes, another western historical. I’ll probably start on that as soon as the mystery is finished, although I also have an idea for another short story featuring Anne and Cord Bennett from Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold. So I would say at least one mystery, one romance, and one short story in 2012. I’ve always been a binge writer and am trying to become more disciplined – with mixed results so far.

Pick #2: ATTACHMENTS by RAINBOW ROWELLattachments.jpg

I can’t express my love for all that makes up this book enough! If my gushy review wasn’t enough to drive across the point, then I guess the fact that this book landed as one of my favorite reads of 2011 would just have to be enough. This is a romance for those who love sweet and endearing heroes who just makes you go all warm inside just by their presence alone in the story.

MBR: I read from your website that Attachments is a novel that was a long time in the making. What made you write the story the way it is, using e-mails between two out of the three lead characters to develop them as endearing characters throughout the story?

RR: I think I was drawn to that sort of storytelling — sort of e-pistolary — because I really like to write dialogue. I’d never written a novel before, and I was very nervous about the narrative writing. It was hard for me to adjust to that third-person, past-tense distance. Also, I was insecure about my descriptive writing …

But I could write dialogue all day long.

I actually wrote all the emails before I wrote any of the chapters from Lincoln’s point of view, which have a much more traditional narrative.

MBR: I know that anyone who reads Attachments would irrevocably fall in love with Lincoln. How did his character come about? Is he based on any real life person/character that you know or are familiar with?

RR: Oh, thank you! I love when people love Lincoln; I have such a soft spot for him.

Lincoln isn’t based on any one person. In a lot of ways, he was written as a reaction to the heroes in most romantic comedies. When I was writing the book, I was really sick of characters who start out as insensitive, immature womanizers but then are converted into good guys by true love.

That doesn’t happen in real life. Insensitive jerks pretty much stay insensitive jerks.

So I wanted to write about a really good guy. A sensitive guy. The men in my life — my husband, my brothers, my stepfather, my friends — are loving, sensitive men. I wanted to show that guys like that aren’t boring or lame.

MBR: And I just have to ask this, if Attachments were ever to be made into a movie, who would you cast as Lincoln?

RR: Well, he’d have to be tall, wouldn’t he? I’d like an actor who can be both normal-looking and really cute, depending on the day. I kind of like Cory Monteith from Glee. He’s the right age, and he was a really thoughtful, sweetness to him. (He’s a little cute for Lincoln, but I think your could dress him down, let his eyebrows go to seed, etc.)

The other actor who I think would be great is Chris Pratt from Parks and Recreation. He’s pretty zany on that show, but he’s also got that sweet, lovable thing down.

MBR: So what’s next from Rainbow Rowell?

RR: My next book is called Eleanor & Park. It’s more of a straight-up love story than Attachments. (The characters actually meet before the last chapter …) I wanted to write a story that brings back that visceral feeling of falling in love for the first time. It’s about two misfit teenagers in 1986 who spend one school year falling in love and trying to sort each other out.

The book comes out in the UK and Australia in April — and in the U.S. in late 2012/early 2013.

Here’s some promotional copy for it:

Bono met his wife in high school, Park says.
So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be, she says, we’re 16.
What about Romeo and Juliet?
Shallow, confused, then dead.
I love you, Park says.
Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

Pick #3: SWEET DREAMS by KRISTEN ASHLEYsweetdreams

For me, my first experience of Kristen Ashley turned out to be a memorable one. Sweet Dreams turned out to be an outstanding read in every single way that I cannot recommend this book highly enough for everyone who loves romances. The hero is bad-ass and sexy to boot, him walking into the story just made me rejoice in everything that is female in me. And I was delighted when Kristen agreed to answer some questions about this awesome book, which I am sure fans of Tate would love to read!

MBR: Almost everyone who has read Sweet Dreams agrees with the fact that it is an outstanding read. Though a lengthy one, every single page was so worth it. As the story continues to hold a very special place in my heart, why do you think Sweet Dreams is such a roaring success with romance readers?

KA: Firstly, thank you for saying it’s an outstanding read! Secondly, it’s a surprise to me that it’s so successful. Not that I don’t love my folks in Carnal, I definitely do, just that I took a chance with this novel and wasn’t entirely certain it would be embraced. However, I’m delighted that it was embraced PRECISELY because of the chance I took.

My thought process was that I was intrigued with the idea of creating a hero who was a jerk. He had flaws, significant ones. He made poor life decisions. And he was hard to like. Then set about making people like him. Then Tate came into my head and away I went. But it was more than Tate. Those around him, too, are not cardboard cutouts and, on the face of it, not very likable either. For instance, Krystal is hard as nails. She has a soft center but she exposes that very infrequently. Bubba is more of a jerk than Tate, lovable but a total mess – he’s that guy in your life that you can’t help but like but you don’t exactly know why you do. And Jim Billy is, essentially, a functioning alcoholic.

I’m uncertain why it has been received so well but I think it might have to do with the fact that these folks are not perfect. These folks are people you know, people in your life and maybe even bits of them are in you. Readers can identify with them. There is a place for fantasy, the perfect hero who says everything right and does everything right, is unbelievably handsome, wealthy, jet-set and owns yachts and penthouses. Or he is angst-ridden and the heroine is so spunky, she breaks through and brings him bliss. And all the secondary characters are like fairy godmothers and godfathers flitting around the couple providing support and comic relief. I’ve written these too and love them as well. But then there are other fantasies, like Sweet Dreams, based more in real life that may be more fun because the reader might like their fantasy based in reality rather than the impossibly perfect knight in shining armor riding to the rescue.

And, personally, when I find characters in a book that I fall in love with, I can’t get enough of them. Silly little things like what they wear, how they redecorate a house and how they interact not just in situations that push forward the plot but everyday situations, I want to know. That is why this book is lengthy. Because I gave my readers not just a story but a town, its inhabitants, how they connect and interact, who they are and how they live. And, fortunately, I’ve been told by readers that folks enjoy that which is good because I do that in all my books!

And lastly, although our Tate is rough around the edges, the love he feels for Lauren is intensely beautiful. The way they learn to be with each other is wonderful to watch unfold. For instance, when she buys him the picture for his bedroom and he knows she’s spent a fortune on it. He knows that IF he knows what she’s spent, he’ll lose his mind. And he knows that losing his mind when she’s done something thoughtful for him will cause a fight, bad feelings, harsh words (right after they’ve had a go-’round). So he tamps that down and instead decides to look at it only as the loving gesture it was intended to be, enjoy it and the knowledge that she loves him like that. I love that Tate did that for Lauren. And (definite spoiler here), when she’s taken and he’s walking through the house, seeing her everywhere, smelling her, remembering their lives together in that house – writing that scene, I felt his pain intensely, his desperation, his understanding that at that moment while he’s walking through the house she could be enduring torture, he knows precisely what that torture entails, and these thoughts consume him. Even for a man of his strength, he is barely able to function. That’s how much he loves her. If she is killed, he will not be able to move on romantically. She’s the one, there is no other. When the villain is found, this is all Tate can think about… not only what he felt while he walked through their home but also knowing that, in a different way, his son was feeling much the same thing. Reading that scene, when they happen onto Lauren and the villain, I always have difficulty reading that Deke and Shambles see to a wounded Lauren while Tate sees to beating the crap out of the bad guy. The perfect hero would have no thought but for his heroine. But this is Tate, he is imperfect. This man caused his woman to feel fear, he hurt her, he set her running through the wood in terror and he must feel Tate’s wrath, he must pay because Tate cannot abide that his home was breached, the protection he provided for his loved one was broken and he must have vengeance. Obviously, that kind of love for a romance reader is going to be well-received :-).

MBR: Tatum Jackson has got to be one of the most awesomely fantastic and bad-ass heroes ever. I loved how realistically you portrayed his character which is I guess one reason why I fell so hopelessly for him. Is Tatum’s character based on any real life person that you know of? And I always envision Sawyer from Lost when reading about Tate. Who did you envision when you were writing his character?

KA: There you go, obviously a realistic hero is the ticket! Imperfect and real IS awesomely fantastic and badass! Love that!!!!

And kind of yes and no for Tate being based on a real life person. I went to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally a couple of years ago and met a GREAT number of bikers. There are many, many more men than women there and the crowd is very mixed. We were told, in the past, that it was very dangerous. But we experienced none of that. This is not to say there were not rough dudes there who were people we would not want to know. This is to say we met and spent time with men who were not like that and who made certain that that element did not come near us. Everywhere we went, we were surrounded by a bevy of bikers who looked out for us. If some not-so-nice biker made an approach or our biker boys sensed some danger, they would step up. They even watched our purses for us while we danced! No joke! There was something very cool about these rough and tumble men (VERY rough and tumble) who were who they were, got into what they got into but who were gentle and fiercely protective of women THEY DIDN’T EVEN KNOW that, as a writer of romance, I found utterly fascinating. And I put this in Tate.

That said, Wood is based on an actual man I met there… but Tate is not. He’s pure fantasy.

And as for envisioning someone while writing Tate or any of my characters, this doesn’t happen to me. This is because my characters come to me (in most cases) fully-formed. They live in my head. Even the secondary ones. So Tate, in my head, is a real person and I know exactly what he looks like, I hear his voice, I know how he walks, how he moves, how his clothes hang on his frame. Very recently, I was having a conversation with my husband and he asked if I could have my choice of anyone to play any of my characters in a movie, who would it be? I admitted to him that I would struggle with even selling my books to be made into films. He was surprised to hear that. But, for me, to have an actor play one of my characters would forever personify in people’s mind who that character is/what s/he looks like and I worry that my own lock on them in my head would melt away. And I love them in my head and I don’t want to lose them. That is not to say I would never entertain the notion of any of my books being made into films. I just would find that process difficult.

By the by, Sawyer from Lost… YUM! I don’t think I’d be upset if he was chosen for any of my heroes but my contract would state I have to meet him :-).

MBR: I absolutely adored Lauren’s character and I have to certainly agree with Tate on Lauren being all in a class by herself. If Sweet Dreams were ever to be made into a movie, who would you cast as Lauren?

KA: I think I answered that question above :-) (laughing to myself now because, really, I do go on). What I will say is that I would be extremely displeased if she was a 20- or 30-something size 0. I would want a beautiful actress with a curvy, woman’s body who was in her 40’s. I would want her to be true to my Lauren in those ways. And she would need to be able to pull off Lauren’s journey. It is probably not a surprise that I identified very closely with Lauren. I enjoyed her journey of self-discovery as led by Tate and the inhabitants of Carnal. And part of what I enjoyed about her is that she didn’t discover who she was or where she wanted to be early in life, as many of us don’t. I also enjoyed the fact that this woman “had it all” in the sense of materialistic things and career but had absolutely nothing because, bottom line, she had no sense of self so she was rather clueless as to all that was going on around her. I loved it that in the end a simple house, a simple job and the love of a man and his son, a small cadre of good friends and a close family was all she really needed to find happiness. Because, truthfully, just the latter two are all anyone needs – the former two are icing on the cake! And we each have our bit of special to give to the people in our lives, we just need to understand it and embrace it so we can give it more fully to those we love.

MBR: So how many books in this series is lined up for release next year?

KA: I’ve been writing as a hobby for years and had over 20 finished or nearly completed manuscripts on my hard drive with only three in print (Rock Chick, Rock Chick Rescue and Rock Chick Redemption). But in March of 2011, I decided to take an enormous chance and focus solely on writing in hopes of making a career of it. That’s why I have a huge number of books that have been released this year because I spent nine months cleaning up these manuscripts and publishing them on eBook. In the meantime, as you do, I became inspired and wrote a few more. Of that lot, I currently have six novels left to unleash, one complete and to be published very soon (Heaven and Hell) and five that I will be working on getting out there in the first 3-4 months of 2012. In that time, I also intend to move back to The ‘Burg and write Mike Haines’s story. I’m also kicking around another stand-alone romance in my head that probably will consume me and I won’t be able to deny myself the pleasure of plunging into that world. Indeed, a number of my series have books to be sorted including my Fantasyland Series and the final in the Rock Chick series.

But fortunately, I am very prolific and I write very fast. Ideas come to me all the time and I don’t think I’ll ever be at a loss for a story to tell.

As for the Colorado Mountain Series, it will continue on with at least two books. The next will be Chace and Faye and this will be set in Carnal. Then I will take readers back to Gnaw Bone of The Gamble and write Graham Reece’s story (he was introduced in For You which is in The ‘Burg series but Reece is a mountain man and he’ll be heading up to Gnaw Bone to work at The Dog). It is more than likely I will also tell the story of Maggie and Wood. Further, I’ve had readers request I move onto “the next generation” and tell the stories of the my heroes and heroines’ children and I like this idea. So, in the end, this series will have AT LEAST two more books with the current generation, likely three with Chace and Faye definitely coming out sometime in the first half of 2012. Then again, I hope to get a vacation in there so my family doesn’t think my computer has gobbled me up so end of February/early March I will be heading home to America for four to five weeks to reconnect with family and friends therefore this may cause some delays. Still, lucky for me, my “office” isn’t stationary so I can work whenever and wherever I want and I won’t be able to stay away from my people for too long!

Now, where I’ll be headed, and this is subject to change… but Chace (who was introduced in Lady Luck) has grabbed hold of me very strong. This is somewhat of a miracle since I do not have one, single blond hero (though, Mike Haines is blond too, clearly I’m expanding my horizons :-)). Chace has shared his secrets with me as to what caused him to do the things he did in Lady Luck to get trapped the way he was trapped. He is an exceptionally loyal man, so loyal, he is self-sacrificing. For some time, he’s known who is the woman for him, he was simply biding his time in going after her. But now, after the sacrifices he made and what he was forced to do, he feels the women he’s chosen is beyond his reach. I do not know if she will disagree or if she’ll give him a run for his money. Faye hasn’t really come to me yet. We shall see.

But Reece’s story is more well-formed. Understanding way too late that he was in love with February Owens (For You), then being caught in that drama and (spoiler) attacked by a serial killer, he’ll have learned his lesson and will be taking a close look at his life and how he lives it. He’ll also be taking a close look at the women in his life and how he feels about them (for Feb was not his only one). And he will make a choice and see to making her his. The thing is, by the time he does this, her life will be in disarray and she’ll be focusing on that, not falling in love. I’m looking forward to getting back to Gnaw Bone, seeing how Max and Nina’s family is growing and spending time with Arlene, Cotton, Mindy and the gang. It’ll be like going home.

Maggie and Wood, if their story is told, will be a departure for me. This will be a reunion and, as they have already been reunited in Lady Luck, it will also mean that I will probably have to go back in time. I was careful not to expose too much or get too into their reconciliation in Lady Luck because Wood is important to me and deep down, I want his story told and him to have his happy ending. But Chace and Reece are dominating my headspace so Wood and Maggie are going to have to wait.

I’d like to end by thanking you for even wanting to know the answers to these questions! And also for featuring Sweet Dreams on your site. I cannot explain how fabulous it is that people are responding to my stories. I pour a lot into them, often find I’m giggling myself stupid or crying my eyes out. I identify strongly with what John Mellencamp said during his speech when he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, “I didn’t do it for the money, but I sure like to get paid.” I enjoyed the heck out of writing these stories and often reread them again and again. But I love it even more knowing that I’m sharing these with others who love them just the same.

Thank you, MBR, for sharing Sweet Dreams with your readers. I hope they enjoy it as much as you.

GIVEAWAY!!! GIVEAWAY!!!

So guys, I have awesome stuff to giveaway this month. 

  • First of all, Ellen O’Connell is giving away SIX e-copies of Dancing on Coals. How cool is that?
  • Secondly Rainbow Rowell is giving away a signed bookplate to a lucky winner. And yes, this is open internationally as well!
  • A 20 $ gift certificate from either Amazon, Barnes&Noble or Samhain.
  • And last but not the least, an e-copy of Sweet Dreams!

So, the 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. Remember, you can enter for ALL THREE giveaways. But if you would like to enter for just one, state in the comment which one it is that you are entering for. If not I will consider you eligible for ALL THREE of them.
  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 (use the hashtag #MBRPickofTheMonthGiveaway), recommend this post on Facebook & earn 5 extra entries. And don’t forget to mention in your comment whether you have tweeted or recommended the post on Facebook to get your extra entries.
  5. Like my page on Facebook to gain 5 extra more entries. If you are already a member of my page, just state so and you would gain your 5 extra entries.
  6. Giveaway begins at 00:00 hours January 1, 2012 and will end at 00:00 hours Maldivian time on the January 3, 2012. Winners will be contacted soon after and announced here on my blog!

As always, thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment and enter the giveaway!

by mvbookreviewer

Favorite Quotes 2011!

So I have decided to do something a bit different to mark the end of 2011. I have read more than 200+ books throughout the year, loved some of them to pieces and read a few books I wouldn’t recommend to anyone at all. And so rather than do a favorite books post for 2011, I have decided to do a favorite quotes post for the year. I am someone who continues to re-read favorite quotes of mine and sometimes, it makes me go back and revisit a book just because I cannot contain myself after reading those bits that I had fallen hopelessly in love with when I first read the book.

So my favorite quotes ladies and gentlemen, for the year 2011!

Quote 1

He entered her slowly, determined to keep a tight hold on the lust pounding in his veins. She wrapped her legs higher, took him deeper and deeper. Her hands dug into the muscles of his rear, urging, telling him what she wanted and what he needed were the same. He obeyed and thrust harder, driving into her not with anger but with a desperate raw need. He felt her climax, her body arching, tightening and contracting around him as she cried out against his neck. He shuddered with the intensity of the explosion that wracked his body and spirit and wrung a deep cry from him.
“Katherine.” I was afraid. I missed you. I love you.

Book: Dancing on Coals by Ellen O’Connell

Quote 2

John bent, cradled her in his arms and walked down the hall. Something went soft in Livvy’s belly. Although a cliché, being carried to bed by the man she loved touched some secret place in her heart. In one move, John made her feel cherished, desired and so very feminine. He released her legs but their connection wasn’t lost. He cupped her face and dotted kisses along her cheeks. The wind howled, the rain poured and the thunder rumbled but Livvy only heard the beat of John’s heart mirroring her own.

Book: Sweet As Sin by Inez Kelley

Quote 3

She tasted like chocolate, hot and dark and mysterious. Her tongue slid along his, tentatively at first, then with more confidence. He angled his body toward her, leaning closer, wanting more. She gave an encouraging little moan, her hands sliding to his shoulders.
Heat fired in his belly as he felt the weight of her breasts against his chest and inhaled her scent. Vanilla and cloves, sweet and exotic. Their tongues slid and teased, her hunger matching his.

Book: The Last Goodbye by Sarah Mayberry

Quote 4

He bent his head the last few inches, tasted her soft gasp as his mouth covered hers.
Ah, sweet, so goddamn sweet. Even that slight pressure sent heat surging through him. One taste, one brush of her lips and he was as hard as a spike.
His hips rolled under her, pure reflex as he sought to get closer. He wove his fingers into her hair, angling her face to kiss her deeper, harder.

Book: Beg for Mercy by Jami Alden

Quote 5

She slid her arms around his neck, arched into him, desperate for more.
He groaned, and the hand in her hair became a fist. And in a heartbeat the kiss transformed, his lips pressing hard and hot against hers, his tongue thrusting deep.
Oh, my stars!
Heat lanced through her, striking deep in her belly. With a whimper, she kissed him back, welcoming his tongue with her own, breathing in the male scent of him, her insides going liquid as his hand moved slowly down her spine.

Book: Breaking Point by Pamela Clare

Quote 6

He wanted her hands on him, he wanted her mouth on him, he wanted to take her from behind, leaning over the bunk, he wanted her to go down on him, he wanted everything he could possibly think of and more. He wanted it hard and nasty, gentle and sweet. But most of all he wanted it now.

Book: On Thin Ice by Anne Stuart

Quote 7

She didn’t fight him, but her mouth had been shocked into stillness beneath his—passive, simply taking, accepting—and he wanted her hunger. Wanted the bite of her nails and her mind-blowing passion.
He wanted her wild for him.
“Goddamn it, kiss me back,” he snarled, holding the side of her face in his hand. She moaned, tilting her head, fitting her mouth more closely to his. “Please,” he gasped against her silky lips, his voice cracking as he begged her…pleading.
“Kiss me back, Will.” 
And then he felt the soft, sweet stroke of her tongue, and his body shuddered violently in response to that delicate, seeking touch. Within seconds, the kiss became something explicitly carnal, devastating in its power.

Book: Rush of Pleasure by Rhyannon Byrd

Quote 8

He inched in, slid out. Pumped deeper, pulled away. Just as her frustration swelled to a fuckingly epic level, he hauled her hips up, dragging her higher before he sank all the way in, filling her so completely she gasped.
Her flesh stretched, unaccustomed to a man after so long. Each thrust stirred her unspeakably. More than just her p#ssy linked with him when he slid into her. A little part of her heart did as well. 

Book: Hot Text by Cari Quinn

Quote 9

Every now and then he’d look her way and smile and she tumbled, just tumbled right over into love.

Book: Something to Talk About by M.J. Fredrick

Quote 10

His hands gripped her hips, slowing her descent. She could feel him savoring her, quaking at the feel of her claw tips sinking into his shoulders. His eyes flickered, the gray color she loved having shifted to the glowing yellow of his Wolf. She smiled, bucking against his hold.
“This time, I take you.” She pushed down, filling herself with him. He growled, drowning out her sigh. He squeezed tight, but she refused to be held back. She lifted up, rocking forward before sliding back down, savoring his groan against the beaded tips of her breasts. “I’m claiming you, Jensen Tate.”
Because you’re mine.

Book: Deceiving the Protector by Dee Tenorio

Quote 11

And then he pressed into her. First his thighs, then his middle, his chest, and finally his mouth. She made a whimpering sound, but its definition was unclear even to her, until she realized that her arms had gone around him instinctually, and that she was clutching his back, his shoulders, her hands restless and greedy for the feel of him.
He kissed her openmouthed, using his tongue, and when she kissed back, she felt the hum that vibrated deep inside his chest. It was the kind of hungry sound she hadn’t heard in a long time. Masculine and carnal, it thrilled and aroused her.

Book: Lethal by Sandra Brown

Quote 12

He braced his feet apart and lowered his mouth to her throat and lapped the droplets of water from her skin. “I want to feel your mouth on me. I want you to touch me. Christ, Tess, I’ve missed you.” He followed the slope of her breast and hovered above her nipple, waiting.
Finally her lips caressed the column of his throat, her tongue making trails over his skin, her mouth moving down to his chest, across his pec to his nipple, which she bit. Punishment, he knew, but a turn-on anyway.

Book: Three Days, Two Nights by M.J. Fredrick

by mvbookreviewer

Requested Review: Secretly More by Lux Zakari

Format: E-booksecretlymore
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Etopia Press
Hero: Jay Navarrete
Heroine: Kimber York
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: November 8, 2011
Started On: December 23, 2011
Finished On: December 24, 2011

Secretly More by Lux Zakari is a novel of one of my favorite tropes in romance. Yes, a friends to lovers story, a trope that I haven’t visited of late. My first Lux Zakari turned out to be a novel that ended on a bittersweet note, the difference in Lux Zakari’s prose and style in presenting her novel what made me an instant fan of hers. So I was expecting more of the same I suspect when I delved into this novel, but boy am I glad that I was proven wrong and was delivered with a happily ever after that had me humming all the while in satisfaction.

Jay Navarrete and Kimber York have been best of friends for almost 10 years through which Jay had been head over heels in love with Kimber. Kimber has no clue as to how Jay feels about her. Kimber’s relationship with her guitarist boyfriend Dane which sees its share of downs more than a relationship should sets Jay’s teeth on edge and though he would like nothing better than to come out clean and tell Kimber of his less than friend like feelings he has for her, the thought that Kimber would never ever feel the same way about him stops him cold.

When the opportunity presents itself in the form of a blind folded Kimber who is looking for a sexual escapade that would show her what she has been missing out on in her relationship with Dane is one that Jay cannot turn his back on. And before he knows it, he and Kimber lights up the sheets, each so hot for the other that reality comes crashing down only afterwards. Kimber who is blissfully unaware of the person who rocks her world in ways she has never felt before wants more of the person, her instinctive trust when it comes to her mystery man a surprising one in itself.

Through a lot of misunderstandings, feelings of betrayal and utter hopelessness on both sides, Lux Zakari weaves a tale of friends turning to lovers that makes for a great read, delivering the reader with scorching scenes of passion between a determined Jay and a willing Kimber which just makes the scenes that much more headier. I flat-out loved Jay’s character. He is a bit of an introvert and a nerd, and a cute one at that, someone who is always there for Kimber through thick and thin, someone who would rather cut off a part of his body than inflict hurt or pain on the woman he loves.

It took me sometime to warm up to Kimber. Surprisingly, it was seeing Kimber through Jay’s eyes that I felt myself warm up towards her, the way Jay sums up Kimber’s character that had me seeing her in a whole new light. The ending which was a fitting one for the two of them with a future that looms in front with endless possibilities was a heartwarming one. Recommended for those who love the friends to lovers trope of the erotic variety. Plenty of emotion to go along with scorching sex; what more can a fan ask for?

Favorite Quotes

“Still feel like talking?” she murmured against his mouth.
In response, he tore her panties down with a speed and finesse that left her speechless. She heard him rummage in his pocket and a foil wrapper rip, then he tugged her back in his lap, her knees on either side of him. He kissed her while she felt between them, fumbling for his c#ck and finding it already sheathed in latex. The knowledge that it was in preparation to fuck her made her dizzy with want.

 

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | All Romance Ebooks

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by mvbookreviewer

Score Sheet Review: Eros, My Love by April Bostic

Format: E-bookerosmylove
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Summerhouse Publishing
Hero: Eros
Heroine: Gabrielle Foster
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: September 14, 2011
Started On: December 23, 2011
Finished On: December 23, 2011

CATEGORY SCORE GRADE
The hero 60 B
The heroine 70 B
Story line 70 B
Emotional Intensity 50 C
Story’s ability to suck me in 80 A
Heat & Sensuality
 75 B
Conflicts within the story 50 C
Writing Style 80 A
Quotable Factor 50 C
The Ending 70 B
Overall Grade 65.5 B

Score Sheet Summary

Eros, My Love is a very short novella, just around 26 pages. It tells the story of how Eros, the Greek God of love in Greek mythology finds the one true love he is searching for during the year he is allowed to roam the Earth. His fascination with the 21 year old Gabrielle Foster (Gabby) takes a turn on his last day on Earth, which in the end turns out to be a dream come true for Gabby.

The novella is well-written, is in the first person written from Gabby’s point of view. The one thing in my opinion that worked against the story was its short length which doesn’t give the reader ample enough time to get invested in the story and its characters. I am sure if the story had been just a tad lengthier, this could have been a really great read!

Even then, I enjoyed the romance and the ending, and recommend it to those who love the idea of a Greek god falling for a mortal. This one’s just enough to wet your appetite for more.

Favorite Quotes

He smiled and smoothed my hair back from my forehead. He did not say a word, nor did he need to, because his affection for me spoke louder than words. I only hoped Eros understood I just extended a personal invitation to share his body with me.
The primal look in his eyes expressed one single message—you’re mine now.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Kobo | Summerhouse Publishing

peachyread

by mvbookreviewer

Score Sheet Review: A Wedding Story by Dee Tenorio

Format: E-bookaweddingstory
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novella
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Bobby Wichowski
Heroine: Ruth Ann Barbellis
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: June 13, 2011
Started On: December 17, 2011
Finished On: December 17, 2011

CATEGORY SCORE GRADE
The hero 90 A
The heroine 90 A
Story line 90 A
Emotional Intensity 80 A
Story’s ability to suck me in 100 A
Heat & Sensuality
 70 B
Conflicts within the story 80 A
Writing Style 100 A
Quotable Factor 50 C
The Ending 100 A
Overall Grade 85 A

Score Sheet Summary

I am wondering how it is I missed the release of this great little novella from Dee Tenorio. And it was quite by chance that I encountered a tweet about this little number, one that I am more than grateful for as for the last 1 hour I was grinning from ear to ear which ended off with a goofy smile on my face after reading that so very cute epilogue at the end.

A Wedding Story is a novella that has a promising  premise. Bobby and Ruth (nicknamed Rhubarb) grew up together, each always testing the limits of the other. As grown-ups they haven’t stopped getting on each other’s nerves, the hilarious antics that is shared here and there in the novella making me laugh out loud several times.

At the wedding from Hell where Bobby’s brother and Ruth’s sister are getting hitched, both Bobby and Ruth discover that in each other lies their future, not without delivering a lot of laughter along the way that takes them to that realization.

I just flat-out adored this little number. Equal parts hilarious and heartwarming, this little novella available for free  is the perfect place to sample Dee’s writing and obsess over her books as I continue to do ever since I became a fan! Highly recommended!

Favorite Quotes

“You know why I’ve always liked your mouth, Rhubarb?” he asked in that whispery voice again, but it was twice as intimate as before. He let go of his prizes and reached up his free hand to rub his thumb over the bottom edge of her lip. Those shivers started again. “Even when you’re calling me names, it’s the perfect shape for kissing.”
“There’s no shape for kissing.” She wasn’t quite sure how the words came out. Her brain was completely disconnected and so her mouth had to be on auto-pilot. Which explained why it didn’t do anything when his eyes closed and his lips descended to hers.

FREE Download Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Smashwords

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Cullen’s Bride by Fiona Brand

Format: E-bookcullensbride
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Silhouette Intimate Moments, #914
Publisher: Silhouette
Hero: Cullen Logan
Heroine: Rachel Sinclair
Sensuality: 3.5
Date of Publication: February 1, 1999
Started On: December 20, 2011
Finished On: December 21, 2011

Fiona Brand is an author whose name gets associated with that of Linda Howard. I have always heard that she has a similar writing style to that of one of my favorite authors of the romance genre and that is one reason why I picked up Cullen’s Bride to sample her writing. And of course a lot of raving reviews of the book by my Goodreads friends had me buying my very first Fiona Brand and indulging in it as soon as I could.

27 year old Rachel Sinclair returns back to the small town of Riverbend after a divorce that had completely shattered with plans to turn her life around. Now the owner of a hair salon, Rachel doesn’t expect much trouble from her sleepy hometown until she experiences otherwise. To her rescue comes 33 year old Cullen Logan, Riverbend’s one time bad boy and outlaw turned military man and still an outcast in his hometown.

The attraction that flares up between Rachel and Cullen is an immediate and a strong one at that, one that Fiona weaves so cleverly throughout the story. Rachel might have grown up with 4 overprotective half brothers who had tried to shield her from the reality that is life. But Rachel is a grown up woman, a woman who is determined in her efforts to live her own life on her own terms. Even when all her survival instincts tells her to flee in the opposite direction whenever she is around Cullen, her heart and other emotions that would like nothing better than to be claimed by the big, tough and a little bit rough around the edges former bad boy wants nothing more than to embrace him heart, body and soul.

Cullen is haunted by the very thought of sullying up the beautiful and dainty Rachel with his touch, his distrust for himself something he has lived with for a long time. But the need that takes a hold of him whenever he runs into Rachel is one that grows in its intensity from one encounter to the next until its very explosive against-the-wall culmination that changes both Cullen and Rachel’s lives forever.

I love it when a book is filled with sexual tension that just grows exponentially until I can barely remember to breathe while reading. And Cullen’s Bride turned out to be a book that delivered extremely well on that aspect from the very sexy Cullen Logan who just seems to fill up the pages with his mere presence. He is what you would call a tortured and tormented hero whose childhood had been nothing but disappointment and his rebellious attitude as a teenager that had stemmed from his frustration with just how meaningless his life had been. The military had been the one place where Cullen had fit in and it had molded him into a more dangerous version of the man he had been, one that is more alluring because even with that iron-clad control of his, nothing can change the fact that underneath all that civilized demeanor lies a man who is wild in his passions for the right woman.

I loved Rachel from the very start. From the way she pets and strokes the huge bear of a man who sends all her emotions into a tailspin to the way she stands up for what she wants and believes in and because Rachel knows when to advance and retreat in her mission to win the love of the one man who is reluctant to do just that made me fall for her big time! She matches Cullen in every way and is exactly what he wants and needs, even protecting him from the unjust voices in her hometown from making him feel unwelcome.

Tying up this story of need, red-hot desire with a reluctant hero and a determined heroine is a tad of suspense that just makes it a well rounded tale of romance very hard to put down. The one thing that the Kindle version of this book could have used though was a good editor; seriously some out of this world editing errors throughout the book that kept hindering with my enjoyment of the story.

If you love a hot, tortured hero who just makes your toes curl, Cullen’s Bride is the book for you. I seriously dare you not to dream that you are Rachel the minute the heat is on! 

Favorite Quotes

She pushed the hair away, then began uncoiling and recoiling the silky mass with an unconscious, natural grace. Against the crude background of the alley, she was startlingly feminine and delicate, and with every movement of her arms and hair, her scent wove around Cullen—flowers and freshness and the subtle earthy warmth of woman It sank into him and hardened him with a primitive fierceness he hadn’t experienced since his early teens.

“I’m no Prince Charming,” he admitted flatly. “I’m big and hard, and so hungry it feels like I haven’t had a woman in years. I wouldn’t court you, Rachel, I’d just take you.”

She’d braced herself for a hard, plundering, ravaging assault, but the sweetness of his caress was butterfly-soft, and so beguiling that she ached for him to deepen the pressure. Her hands lifted and settled on the incredible warmth of his chest as she parted her lips and tilted her head to grant him easier access. She was as guilty of misjudging Cullen as everyone else was—he looked every inch an outlaw, but he was kissing her like an angel. A fallen, dangerously beautiful angel.

The passionate fury in every line of her body made Cullen go still. The sudden vision of Rachel locked beneath him, her legs wrapped around his waist, that wild gaze linked passionately with his as he pushed himself inside her, flooded his loins with a throbbing, painful heat. A groan rolled through him, and he broke out in a sweat. Sweet hell
He wanted her. Here. Now.
And God help them both, but she wanted him, too.

Rachel arched, deliberately parting herself more widely over him, inviting him deeper into her body. She heard his intake of air, felt the raw tremor that shook him. Sweat sprang out on his skin, making him glow copper in the half-light. His lips drew back, baring his teeth as he fought for the control she was intent on denying him; then, with a rough sound somewhere between a groan and a purr, his hips jackhammered, and he thrust himself all the way in.
Time stopped. Rachel registered the wild dilation in Cullen’s eyes, her own sense of unreality. She was backed up against a wall, her arms and legs wrapped around Cullen, and he was so deep inside her that her muscles quivered in reaction to his alien heat and hardness.

Rachel’s kiss reached inside him and twined around what passed for his soul. and when she took her mouth from his, she had it all. He knew he loved her with everything he was. Everything that he could be. There would never be another woman for him.
And he could never tell her.

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

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Moonrise by Anne Stuart

Format: E-bookmoonrise
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Signet
Hero: James McKinley
Heroine: Annie Sutherland
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: July 1, 1996
Started On: December 18, 2011
Finished On: December 20, 2011

Moonrise is going to end up being one of those novels that is going to be hard for me to rate. Not because it wasn’t engrossing enough but rather because I felt that a vital aspect of the story was missing in action even when the story ended. I wanted so much more for both James and Annie who seemed to go through so much in the span of just a couple of days. And although the mystery and suspense potion of the novel was superbly done as always, the romance aspect of the novel seemed to suffer making this novel not as enjoyable as it would have been otherwise.

27 year old Annie Sutherland is a woman who has led a sheltered life, a woman who has been manipulated endlessly by her father without even her being aware of the fact. With the sudden death of her father Annie withdraws into herself in grief until a missing picture from her father’s living room causes her to question how her father had actually died. Her quest to find the truth brings her to the doorstep of her father’s protégé James McKinley, a man whom she remembers as being part pf her life since Annie was 7 years old.

The James that she encounters is such a different version from the man that haunts her memories. The James that she finds in a remote cabin in an island off of Mexico has an aura of dangerousness that makes her nervous, but not enough to make her back down from her quest to find what it is that had killed her father. Though James would rather kill Annie than tell her the truth, something deep inside of him stalls at the thought of putting his hands around her neck and squeezing the life out of her. And James knows deep inside that his reluctance to end her life is reason enough to send her packing.

With killers turning up every step of the way, James and Annie travel from Mexico to the US and then to Ireland to find the truth. In the process both Annie and James are forced to remember their shared past and a fragile connection that had gone beyond anything they have encountered before or ever since, a passion and attraction that still seems to linger on stronger than ever. And when the truth does come out at the very end, it is a surprising one that proves Anne Stuart’s mastery when it comes to weaving tales of mystery and suspense.

James turned out to be a yummy hero of the dangerous type. He is a lethal killing machine, someone whose soul cries out to wash away all the blood that he has shed in the name of justice and a country he believed in. His tormented soul is one that comes across vividly, his one weakness being the attraction that burns deep inside of him to possess Annie Sutherland, the one woman who had remained forbidden to him from such a long time back. James is well versed in the art of deception, as good as the man who taught and mentored him, the man whose daughter trusts him with her life; a mission that James knows is a foolhardy one even long before killers start turning up at his doorstep.

Annie proved to be a difficult heroine to place. She has been brought up all her life thinking her father to be totally someone else from the man he actually was, a man who had molded and mapped out her life for her from childhood until his death. The fact that her father turned out to be the total antithesis of what she believed him to be is what makes her change her attitude and outlook towards everything that happens afterwards, her courage and wits the only two things that keeps her going even when James makes no secret of what he wants to do to her.

Though there was this sweet bit of shared history and passion between James and Annie, I felt that they had both outgrown who they were back then and had turned into much harder versions of themselves to be really able to love and accept each other as they were. James tries his hardest to keep Annie at bay, he fights constantly with his feelings that should have made his capitulation that much sweeter. And though as mouth-wateringly sexy as James was, their encounters barely hinted at the deeper emotions between them, that just sort of left me feeling empty deep inside.

Somehow I kept up my hope and belief that towards the end, I would see one thing, no matter how insignificant from James that would signal that he feels a gut wrenching love for the woman for whom he kills and taints his hands with more blood even when his heart and soul yearns for sweeter and softer things in life that he knows aren’t meant for him. But alas, the story ends on an empty note, and though a shared happily ever after is an implied one, I just did not feel the love that should have been there between two characters who held me riveted throughout their story.

Recommended for hard-core fans of Anne Stuart. 

Favorite Quotes

She felt hot, strong, alive against him, and he found he had this crazy urge to move his mouth down to the side of her neck, to press it against her, to taste her skin. He wanted to feel her breasts, wanted to pull her T-shirt up and feel her hot skin against his. Damn, he wanted her.

She expected annoyance, tolerance, perhaps even a distant amusement. She hadn’t expected his reaction.
His arms closed around her like a vice, pulling her tightly up against him. And she didn’t have time to kiss him—the touch of her mouth against his seemed to ignite a firestorm. She could feel him through every inch of her body, the lean, deceptively strong body beneath the suit, the heat and lure of muscle and sinew, the sheer intensity of him. She felt as if she were being absorbed into a maelstrom, and all she could do was hold onto him as he kissed her, he kissed her, using his tongue, kissing her with a thoroughness she’d never experienced.

He kissed the salty tears from her cheeks, her jaw, her neck. And then he kissed her mouth, slowly at first, tasting her pain and despair. Tasting her desire.
He didn’t know whether he turned her in his arms, or whether she shifted herself. He only knew she was astride him, facing him, her long legs wrapped around his hips, and the kissing had gone long past comfort.

He slid his arm under her waist, hauled her up, and entered her that way, sliding in deep, so deep, and her guttural cry was a heartbreaking pleasure.
He couldn’t stop. She wouldn’t let him. She twisted her head around and kissed him, and he wanted to keep on and on, to fill her mouth, her body, her soul with him. To have her take everything and then want more.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Shadows At Sunset by Anne Stuart

Format: E-bookshadowsatsunset
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Series: Standalone
Publisher: MIRA
Hero: Zachariah Redemption Coltrane
Heroine: Jilly Meyer
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: November 12, 2008
Started On: December 17, 2011
Finished On: December 18, 2011

There is one thing you can always count on when you pick up an Anne Stuart. The fact that she draws you in to a web of deceit, lies, desire, explosive passion and an ending that would shake you to the very core when you are done is the very reason I keep coming back for her books even with a ton of reading material to choose from. And Shadows at Sunset proved to be just that sort of read, a story that I completely lost myself in as Anne Stuart wove her brand of magic with Coltrane and Jilly and the rich cast of side characters that makes up this whole story.

Zachariah Redemption Coltrane is a man who is steadfast in his belief and his mission to exact revenge on the man who killed his mother. His sketchy memories about his mother and the only happiness he had ever known while growing up which had been with her is reason enough for him to bring the man responsible down to his knees, stripping him of the very things that he holds near and dear in life.

But Coltrane’s plans for vengeance starts to falter when he meets his enemy’s daughter Jilly Meyer, who lives in and guards the crumbling famous La Casa de Sombras – House of Shadows, one of the most interesting houses in Hollywood that is shrouded in scandal. Jilly is the only one who stands up to her father for the sake of her brother and adopted sister whom she loves with all her heart. Her one attempt at marriage had failed miserably, rendering her to be doubly wary of men who hides their true nature behind their good looks and veneer of charm.

When Coltrane pushes his way into her life, Jilly knows that in Coltrane lies a man who has his own agenda, a man who is ruthless enough to not care even if he leaves a wave of destruction behind him once his plan kicks into gear. But her fascination for all that is Coltrane and how he makes her feel, those tendrils of elemental desire that shocks her to her very core makes her distrust him more than anything else. But Coltrane is not a man to be denied, not when he has set his sights on claiming her, planning all the while to leave her behind, just a casualty of the war he plans to wage.

Shadows at Sunset is such an engrossing tale that is a mix of suspense, romance and  two ghostly beings whose love for one another even crosses on beyond their deaths, lingering on til eternity. The adopted daughter of the Meyer family who makes for such an endearing character on her own, the tender and heartwarming second chance at love that she finds was one of the best aspects of the story. Equally enticing was the game of cat and mouse that Coltrane and Jilly play with each other, their emotions and feelings towards each other as fierce as the need for vengeance and revenge that courses through Coltrane.

Highly intriguing and explosively good, Shadows at Sunset makes for an amazing read, highly recommended from the sunny side of life!

Favorite Quotes

He tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her toward him in the darkness. He knew exactly how she’d respond, her other hand coming up to push him away, her hand touching the bare, hot skin of his chest so that she drew back in surprise, long enough for him to wrap her tightly against his chest, trapping her hand between them. He knew she’d try to jerk her head away when he slid his hand into her hair and tilted her face back for his kiss. And he knew she’d open her mouth for him.
What he hadn’t guessed was what it would feel like. […]
He hadn’t known a mouth could feel like that. That a woman, an argumentative, reluctant woman could feel so hot in his arms, so incredibly right that his monumental self control could start to slip.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Book Depository

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley

Format: E-booksweetdreams
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Colorado Mountain, Book 2
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Tatum Jackson
Heroine: Lauren Grahame
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: April 23, 2011
Started On: December 21, 2011
Finished On: December 23, 2011

I have never been so grateful for a book being so lengthy. Almost 700+ pages of pure magic is what Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley is all about, and Kristen managed to satisfy all my cravings within these pages, delivering one of the best contemporary romances that I have read to-date.

42 year old Lauren Grahame is on a venture to find Nowheresville, the one place where she can fade away into the background, work at a job that she doesn’t hate and just settle in with the fact that her quest to find that something special in her life had failed miserably. Four and a half months on the road and Lauren ends up in Carnal, a small town in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Securing the job of a waitress at the biker bar known as Bubba’s, Lauren is all set on her quest when she runs into the too sexy for his own good, the tattooed biker and part owner of Bubba’s, Tatum Jackson.

44 year old Tate is a bounty hunter, one who has a pretty eventful past that leaps from one corner or the other as the story proceeds. He is larger than life, has got a ton of attitude, is taciturn, totally alpha, a bit of a jerk at times, possessive enough to make butter melt, and through all that Kristen cleverly draws out the man who made my heart go aflutter every.single.time. His attraction to Lauren is one that he doesn’t need and want, he has too much shit going on in his life to really have any time left over to pursue that possessive streak that hits him when he eyes Lauren at his bar.

Lauren and Tate’s attraction, their relationship and how it proceeds to the happily ever after is a heart-warming and emotion wrenching one at best. Lauren the woman who has been betrayed so badly by her ex-husband and the people she had considered to be her friends has certainly done a number on her self-confidence. But slowly and surely with Tate’s powerful brand of seduction which at times might be found crude by certain readers (which I disagree 100% and certainly had my juices flowing all the time) made for one of the most interesting aspects of the novel. The growth of both Lauren and Tate’s characters throughout the story, how their love for each other makes them better people all around, and how their love is an all encompassing one was just beautiful, no two ways about it.

I was a bit disappointed at first with the fact that the story is told from Lauren’s point of view in first person. I wanted to learn first hand what was going through the mind of  Mr. Hotness himself and I thought that Kristen would not be able to pull his character off as I wanted it to with the story being told in the first person. But boy, was I proved deliciously wrong time and yet again as Kristen pulls off Tate’s character so fabulously that I seriously could not have asked for more! And I seriously mean it!

Lauren’s character is a fantastic one. I fell in love with her right from the very start. The way she is ready to embrace what life has to offer, the way she puts her heart and emotions on the line, taking a chance with the one man who seems to be all sorts of wrong for someone like her, but proves to be the right man in ALL the ways, Lauren’s character is one that I wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon.

The secondary cast of characters is what makes Sweet Dreams such a perfect story. The characters whose lives that Kristen brings so vividly to life through Lauren’s eyes, the way they all embrace Lauren and her special brand of charm is what makes this story just so very special. The bit on the serial killer and the mystery behind the gruesome killings just proved to be the icing on the cake, and as I said before, I cannot pin-point at even one teeny tiny bit of the story and say that I wish it had turned out differently.

I am so thankful at the moment to all my Goodreads friends and their reviews on this fabulous book, and especially to Kim for loaning a copy of the book to me. I was all apprehensive about starting a book so well received by all the readers, sometimes high expectations can make a story not work for you.

Sweet Dreams is an outstanding read, I would recommend for EVERY SINGLE ONE of you who loves romances. Tate’s character alone is reason enough to buy this book, the way he calls Lauren “Babe” rendering the term as my word of the month. I found myself drooling all over the book because Tate’s character demands nothing less, that beautiful male specimen that just made everything female inside of me rejoice in the fact that I adore romances! And you’ve got to love a hero who isn’t afraid to be ALL that he is with the woman he loves, his no holds barred passion that just lights up the pages throughout the story. I just want to say to Kristen Ashley, thank you for giving me Tate! He is a character that would live inside of me for the rest of my life.

If you are waiting around because Kristen is a new author, don’t. Just buy yourself a copy and indulge. This lengthy read will leave you completely satisfied, purring like a cat who got all her milk and then some; that is what a perfectly done romance does to you!

Favorite Quotes

Tate’s kiss…
There was no describing it.
It didn’t start slow, it started hard and wet and so demanding I had no choice but to give back what I got. And I did. Our tongues sparred then our teeth bit at each other’s lips and our heads twisted this way and that, all of it a mindless, sexy dance that was all-consuming. There was nothing but his mouth and my mouth, what they were doing and what they were making me feel. Nothing. Not in the whole universe.

We were both quiet a long time and I was about to fall back asleep in the curve of his arm with his warm body at my back when he called my name.
“Laurie?”
“Yes,” I muttered, my voice sleepy.
“I was pissed last night.”
“I know.”
“You look good.”
“Sorry?”
“No way you can look like all the rest.”
My eyes shot open.
His arm curled me deeper into his body and I felt his face burrow into my hair.
“You’d always shine through,” he muttered and now he sounded sleepy but I was again wide awake. “Somethin’ special,” he finished.

He grabbed my calves and yanked them apart, then pushed them up so my knees were bent. He put a knee to the bed and moved forward, releasing one of my calves, his hand wrapped around his cock and I felt his weight begin to hit me.
“You come with me inside you, Ace,” he gritted and then he was inside me, filling me, beautiful.
At the feel of him, so hard, making me so full, my back left the bed again. “Tate.”
He moved, driving deep, fast, hard. Our mouths attached, our tongues clashed. His hand went between us and he touched me and that was it. It hit me like a rocket and I combusted, my world exploding, taking me with it and I loved every nanosecond.

“The first time I met you, you told me you grew up here, I’d call you a liar,” Tate informed me.
I tipped my head to the side and asked, “Really?”
“Really.”
“Why?”
“High-class,” he replied.
“Sorry?”
“You looked high-class,” he semi-repeated.
“I’m not,” I stated.
“No, Ace, you’re not. You’re a different kind of class.”
“Farmer class.”
“Pure class.”

After more of his sweet torture, I called, “Tate, honey?”
“Yeah, baby,” he answered.
“Am I under your skin?” I whispered as my hips moved with his hand.
He replied instantly, “Oh yeah.” His thumb tweaked my clit harder, my hips jerked and a low mew slid out of my throat as the fingers of one of my hands slid into his hair and the other arm held on tighter. “Fuck yeah,” he growled and his lips left my ear, his mouth found mine and he kissed me, wet and deep.

I stopped looking around when I heard a soft “mew” and I looked toward Tate to see he was crouched. He straightened and turned to me.
I froze and stared.
Tatum Jackson, ex-pro football player, ex-cop, now bartender/bounty hunter, tall, beautiful and more man than I’d ever experienced in my life was standing on the edge of his kitchen holding a cat.
And it wasn’t just any cat and he wasn’t just holding it. He was cradling it. 

His forehead dropped to touch mine. “I’m gonna piss you off ‘cause I can be a dick. That’s who I am. And you’re gonna piss me off ‘cause, babe, you got attitude. That’s who you are. And that’s who we’re comin’ out to be together. And I’m all right with that because, with what I had before, even when you’re a bitch, I like it. But when you’re not, it’s a sweetness the like I’ve never tasted.”

His hand slid up my back and his fingers sifted into my hair to cup the back of my head.
“Kiss me, baby.”
I used the moonlight on the angles of his face to aim and found his mouth. The minute my lips hit his, he rolled partially into me, forcing me to my back in the bed, and my mouth opened as did his. My tongue slid inside, he growled against it and when I absorbed that in my mouth, a small moan escaped my throat. His head slanted one way, mine tilted the other and my kiss turned into a kiss.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Smashwords

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by mvbookreviewer

Review: Tangled Lies by Anne Stuart

Format: E-booktangledlies
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Intrigue, #5
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero: Ben O’Hanlon
Heroine: Rachel Chandler
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: March 15, 1994
Started On: December 11, 2011
Finished On: December 12, 2011

So my Anne Stuart reading binge continued, this time with a Harlequin Intrigue that was published in 1994. Tangled Lies though an earlier story by the author was nevertheless a great one that compelled me to keep on reading, to find out the truth behind the tangled web of lies and deceit that is spun throughout the story, something Anne Stuart is so very good at.

Rachel Chandler makes her way to a little island in Hawaii to meet her brother Emmett Chandler after being estranged from him for 15 long years. Emmette disappears in the late 1960’s when Rachel was just around 12 years old. The news that Emmette has surfaced again in the island propels Rachel to face her fear of flying to meet her brother, to ease that loneliness that has always been a part of her ever since he went missing.

When Rachel meets the man who is playing the role of the 40 year old Emmett Chandler, there is a spark of awareness that shoots right through her, though she quickly tamps it down as part of the joy of being with her brother once again. The Emmett that she discovers is unlike the gentle and kind brother that she knew, this man being an all around tougher and harder version that makes Rachel want to hug him close and ease and soothe his wounds.

Ben O’Hanlon has his own reasons for agreeing to the scheme of pretending to be Emmette Chandler, one he would never divulge to Rachel no matter how tempting she might be. From the first moment that Rachel invades his personal space, its a losing battle that Ben fights with his baser emotions and the possessiveness that takes a hold of him. Though he would like nothing better than to feel nothing towards the woman who shares the ramshackle cabin with him, there is no denying the fact that sparks fly whenever they are together and that the sexual tension could be cut through with a knife.

Rachel is torn apart at the very thought that she has “feelings” towards her older brother. She goes through so much emotional agony because of the fact and when the truth comes to light, all bets are off as Rachel is devastated with anger and the sting of betrayal that courses through her. But once again, the strength of her feelings towards Ben dictates that she give in, that they both give in to the heady desire that escalates out of control with each encounter.

I loved Tangled Lies though there was a bit of an icky factor with Rachel lusting after her “brother” even though the reader knows that he is not her brother in reality. The angst and the tension that is part of this novel was well done and I loved the explosive culmination of their desire for one another.

Ben is a man who is hellbent on vengeance not to be deterred by the pretty haunting eyes of Rachel who occupies every thought that races through his mind. That subtle jasmine scent that clings to the air whenever she is around practically drives him nuts, and even that bitter and cynical heart of his is no match when it comes to Rachel’s soothing touch that sets all his senses afire. Ben fights his feelings until the very last minute, once again Anne Stuart giving her readers a taste of the ruthless alpha heroes that she creates exceptionally well.

Rachel is a bit naive when the story starts, but she is in no means a pushover when it comes to those whom she loves. She is tenacious, loyal and stubborn when it comes to love, all required when you fall hopelessly in love with a man of Ben’s caliber.

Recommended for fans of Anne Stuart and fans of ruthless heroes!

Favorite Quotes

His head moved down, his mouth taking hers in a kiss that held the passion of a thousand years as his body molded against her trembling frame. His lips were hard and hungry as he fought against her resistance, and he pulled his head away for a moment, looking down into her desperate eyes with no pity at all. “Open your mouth, Rachel,” he said.
And closing her eyes, she did, sliding her helpless arms around his body, pulling him closer against her yearning form. Just once, she told herself. Just this once. And she gave herself up to the searching demand of his kiss.

Ben scooped her up in his arms, holding her high against his chest as he carried her back into the cottage, past the shrouded, familiar shapes of the furniture into the night-dark bedroom. They were alone now for the first time. There was no Emmett, no Harris, no lies or masquerade or motives or revenge. There was just Ben and Rachel, together in the darkness.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Abe Books

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