Category Archives: Romance

Review: Caught by Menace by Lolita Lopez

17788835Caught by Menace
(Grabbed, #2)
By: Lolita Lopez
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Published: June 21, 2013
Genre: Erotica
Rating:
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Menace’s plan to catch a docile woman is shot to hell when he’s tackled by a dark-haired beauty who wants to save her friend from being Grabbed. Refusing to leave the planet’s surface empty-handed, Menace claims the spitfire with his collar.

Naya clawed her way off the streets of Connor’s Run and vowed to never let any man control her. She plans to make Menace so miserable he’ll set her free, but the ruggedly sexy warrior disarms her with his unexpected patience and kindness.

Against her better judgment, Naya surrenders to Menace’s masterful hands and mouth. Submitting to her new husband brings more pleasure and happiness than she’d ever imagined possible. For the first time in her life, she willingly trusts a man to protect her.

But when past misdeeds catch up with her, Naya puts the depth and strength of that love to the test. Determined to prove he’s worthy of her trust, Menace will stop at nothing to save her.

 

1thoughtsThis book is perfectly fine being read as a stand alone. I say that because that’s exactly what I did, and I wasn’t lost. Of course the characters from the first book make appearances in this book, you don’t need to know what happened in the last book to enjoy this story. In fact, reading it as a stand alone allowed me to live in the moment with Naya.

Naya is a human who lives a rough life on her home planet. She’s gotten by as best as she could since she was abandoned as a young teen by her family. When her best friend’s number is pulled for the grabbing, she pays her way onto the list. Which isn’t really hard to do since no one really wants to be grabbed and mated to an alien. During a grabbing, aliens from a spaceship come to the planet in hopes of grabbing a bride. The women get a few minutes head start and soon the aliens follow. If they are able to grab a woman before she reaches the safe zone, they get to keep her and take her back to their ship. Which of course is where Naya finds herself, grabbed by an alien.

I liked the story and the sci-fi element of aliens and humans but I didn’t feel like it was sci-fi enough. The aliens were described as being really tall with pale hair and eyes. So of course I picture a blond haired, green eyed NBA star. I’m not saying that the aliens need to have tentacles coming from their neck or eyeballs on their biceps but at least give them horns, insane body colors or something to make it more sci-fi. I’d say even  Jabba the Hutt would do, but let’s be honest here, there’s nothing sexy about that. All I’m saying is make them not appear to be human. I just felt like I was reading a futuristic novel about two humans and that really knocked the book down for me since I really wanted a heavy sci-fi element to this story, and I didn’t get it.

Aside from that, I did find the story enjoyable. I liked the suspense of the grabbing and the fact that some people from other, less fortunate sections look at being on the grab list as a blessing because of the horrid conditions that they live in while others are terrified of having their number drawn. The erotic parts were nicely written and evenly spaced out to where they didn’t overrun the story but complimented it with appropriate scenarios.

Is this a series that I’ll keep up with? I think if they become available for review, I definitely will. It was an enjoyable read.

 

1favequote

“This would go down as one of the worst days of her life. She’s been abandoned by the last person she’s loves and trusted and captures by a man who didn’t even want her.”

kRISTIN

Review: Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

16102004Beautiful Bastard
(Beautiful Bastard, #1)
By: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: Feb. 12, 2013
Genre: Erotic Romance
Rating:
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An ambitious intern.
A perfectionist executive.
And a whole lot of name calling.

Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He’s exacting, blunt, inconsiderate—and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.

Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family’s massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who’d been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative—completely infuriating—creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he’s never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe’s so tempting he’s willing to bend the rules—or outright smash them—if it means he can have her. All over the office.

As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they’re willing to lose in order to win each other.

 

 

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Review: The Derby Girl by Tamara Morgan

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Excerpt: Wicked Heat by Nicola Marsh

WH500Wicked Heat
By: Nicola Marsh
Publisher: Brazen
Published: Sept. 2, 2013
Genre: Romance

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Competitors by day, lovers by night…
Allegra Wilks has had the worst month of her personal and professional life. To save her company, she must go on her would-be honeymoon and land the luxury eco-island resort’s lucrative advertising account. But when a lingerie mishap leads her into the arms of a wickedly distracting Australian, Allegra’s tempted to skip the trip and explore the most sensual kiss she’s ever experienced. Too bad their chance encounter at the airport is just that.

Having recently lost his company to his former best friend’s shady business tactics, Jett Alcott is headed to a South Pacific resort to secure an advertising account that will resurrect his reputation and career. Realizing the tantalizing Allegra Wilks is on his flight, Jett envisions a week filled with business and pleasure. But Jett doesn’t know Allegra’s fighting for the same account, or that there’s more at stake than his heart.

 

 

Excerpt

“You should do that more often,” he said, reaching out to trace her bottom lip with his fingertip. “You’re beautiful, but when you smile? Wow.”

Uncomfortable with his overt compliments, Allegra sat there and let a guy she’d just met touch her lips with a slow, sensual caress. His fingertip traced her bottom lip in a butterfly-soft sweep that left her breathless.

Their eyes locked as he lowered his hand, and what she saw made her wish she could ditch Palm Bay and travel to Australia.

Blatant lust. Strong. Sexy. Seductive. His eyes deepened to an incredible green that matched a favorite jade pendant she wore often. He wanted her, and in this crazy moment, the feeling was entirely mutual.

He raised his beer to his lips and took a long swig, his heat-filled stare never leaving hers.

Damn, she had no idea what to do in this situation. Make a joke to diffuse the tension? Acknowledge it? Flirt?

She hated feeling out of control, had instigated steps her entire life to avoid it. Yet in a loaded thirty seconds, Jett had made her damp with just one look and made her flounder.

“Is the blatant charm an Aussie thing or is it just you?”

Thankfully, he blinked, and broke the scorching stare that made her want to grab a napkin off the bar and fan herself. “It’s me.” He leaned in close. “Time you fessed up.”

Yikes. Was her reaction to him that easy to read?

“To what?”

His lips almost brushed her ear. “You’re battling an incredible urge to drag me into the nearest janitor’s closet and ravish me.”

She laughed at his outrageousness. “Sorry. I don’t do sex in cleaning closets. Too many hazardous chemicals.”

“Yeah, those pheromones can be killer.”

She loved his quick wit and for the second time in as many minutes, wished she’d met him at a different place, different time.

“Pity.” He reverted to a smoldering stare that had her wishing she’d ordered a vodka shot chaser. “Sex in confined spaces can be fun.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Heat crept into her cheeks and she signaled the waiter for a glass of water. To douse herself with.

“Not the answer I was hoping for,” he said, shifting his barstool closer so their thighs brushed. “Would’ve been better if you’d said, ‘Sounds good, Jett, let’s go try.’”

She cleared her throat and gratefully accepted the water from the waiter, drinking it all and wishing she could run the cool beaded exterior across her forehead. “How did we get onto this crazy topic?”

“Started with you wanting to ravish me.” He clinked his beer bottle to her empty glass. “Seriously. There’s no need to hold back. I can take whatever you want to dish out.”

 
author583990

USA TODAY bestselling Aussie author Nicola worked as a physiotherapist for thirteen years before she tired of saying “I’m going to write a book one day” and actually did it. She started writing late 2001 and found once she started she couldn’t stop!

Nicola loves the hip, vibrant, cosmopolitan vibe of her home city, Melbourne, where she’s set the bulk of her novels, highlighting fabulous cultural and food havens like Acland Street (St. Kilda), Brunswick Street (Fitzroy) and Lygon Street (Carlton).

When she’s not writing she’s busy raising her two little heroes, sharing fine food with family and friends, cheering on her beloved North Melbourne Kangaroos footy team or her favourite past time, curling up with a good book.

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Review: Rush by Joan Swan

16057050Rush
(Phoenix Rising, #3)
By: Joan Swan
Publisher: Brava
Release Date: Aug. 27, 2013
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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Jessica Fury, Washington lobbyist, has money, connections, and her own firm. But five years ago she had something better: happiness. Her firefighter husband, Quaid, was handsome, courageous, and crazy about her. Then one day he walked into a chemical inferno—and never walked out. Jessica has been through hell to get back on her feet. And then a rumor surfaces that could bring a miracle or shatter her world – again.

Q has been a prisoner forever. He’s honed his mind and body into weapons. He’s developed abilities no one else understands. But he’s still at the mercy of a cabal of ruthless men, who blank his memory, test him like a lab rat, and tell him lies. Although his past has been erased and his future looks grim, instinct tells him he has a woman to live for. What his mind can’t remember, his body can’t forget…

The heat is on.

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Review: Sounds to Die By by Nikki Duncan

6954506Sounds to Die By
(sensory Ops, #1)
By: Nikki Duncan
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Published: Oct. 13, 2009
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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Between her eyes and his ears, there’s a world of sensory overload…

Rookie FBI Agent Kieralyn Beckett is in a delicate position. Her team refuses to buy into her theory that a string of kidnappings is connected. If she pushes too hard, they’ll discover the latest victim was her college roommate and boot her off the case. A garbled recording is the only evidence, and there’s only one man who can decipher it. The hard part will be convincing him to take the case.

Blinded as a child, NSA “listener” Ian Cabrera spends the majority of his time analyzing data while secretly searching for his father, a missing CIA operative. His plate is full, but Kieralyn’s passion and determination, as well as the erotic beat of her heart, spark his interest. So does the mention of his father’s code name on her recording.

There’s only one way to follow this new crumb-trail of clues without tipping her off about what he’s really after. Convince her she needs him to be her undercover partner, despite his handicap. Between her eyes and his ears, they make one beautifully orchestrated team. Every time they touch, though, the arousal they generate creates one red-hot element of distraction…

 

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Review: The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

6323104The Bronze Horseman
(The Bronze Horseman, #1)
By: Paullina Simons
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: May 22, 2001
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating:
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The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler’s armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.

Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana—and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander’s impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects—a secret as devastating as the war itself—as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.

 

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Review: Untamed by Jane Shoup

18159631Untamed
By: Jane Shoup
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: Aug. 6, 2013
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating:
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A love too strong to be tamed: the true story of Tarzan, and the woman who loved him.

In 1908, on a mission to find a new breed of ape in central Africa, an unfathomable thing is discovered – a wild, white man, living amongst gorillas. Local villagers call him matokeo ya utafutaji kwa, the untamed one.

Joining the team of hunters and trackers searching for matokeo ya utafutaji kwa is Arianna Day, the 21-year-old niece of the expedition’s leader. She catches the untamed one’s eye and, believing she is meant for him, he takes her captive and claims her for his own, body and soul.

When Arianna is rescued, the untamed one is captured, and they are sent their separate ways: the wild man to learn language and social skills he’d long forgotten, Arianna back home to England to try to fit back into her old life. A promising marriage proposal awaits, but thoughts of the untamed one haunts her.

Amidst the backdrop of London in the summer of 1908, as the Olympic Games are hosted and the Franko-British Exhibition is held, the now-civilized wild man returns home, with his original name restored: Sebastian or ‘Zan’ Shaffer. He and Arianna are drawn together again only to be ripped apart by social convention and Marshall Derringer, the man determined to have her as his wife. But Zan is not the only one with an untamed heart…

 

1thoughtsAri and her uncle travel to Africa in hopes that they will be able to locate the wild man who’s been living in the jungle for the majority of his life. The only problem is, they have no idea that the second they stepped into the jungle, the wild one was watching them… Ari to be precise.

I was extremely excited to read this story. I’ve never read a re-telling of Tarzan before and this story sounded like a good one. You see, they capture the wild one, teach him how to be civilized and introduce him back into society as Zan. The only thing that Zan wants though is Ari but Ari is engaged to be married to another man.

There were way too many points of view in this story for me and there wasn’t always a definite break between them. So I found myself getting confused quite a bit when the POV would switch to a secondary or sometimes even more distant character. It would jump like this between chapters with no markings that the POV had changed. I also felt that all the POVs weren’t necessary. I would have much preferred just Zan and Ari’s POV with a little bit of Ari’s fiance mixed in. There was also a lot of scenes that were drawn out or not necessary. I found myself skimming over quite a bit of the story to get back to the important parts that were taking place.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book when they find him in the jungle. The first encounter between Ari and Zan is so “untamed” and animal instinct driven that it’s hard to not get sucked into the rawness of it. I mean you figure he’s only known the way of animals so he lacks the understanding or the wrongness of what he does when it comes to Ari.

“She felt sore but not hurt. She’d been forced but did not feel abused. She did not hate him. She didn’t even fear him. He simply wanted her.”

It got me really excited for the upcoming story because surely it had to get better than that! But like I said a lot of the middle was boring talk and way too many POV’s to keep track of who I was reading from, that I lost interest for a while there. I wish the author had kept that same rawness throughout more of the story before it turned to Zan “the gentleman”.

 

1favequote“I’m sorry you feel impatient. Naturally, you should analyze precisely what that means and handle it accordingly.” -Ari

kRISTIN

Review: Midnight Sacrifice by Melinda Leigh

Midnight Sacrifice
(Midnight, #2)
By: Melinda Leigh
Publisher: Montlake Publishing
Published: April 16, 2013
Genre: Romantic Suspense

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One by one, people are mysteriously disappearing from a small Maine town. Four months ago, a ruthless murderer killed two people and kidnapped three more, including Danny Sullivan’s sister, who barely escaped. Unfortunately so did the killer, vanishing without a trace into the vast wilderness. When the police fail to find his sister’s captor, Danny returns to Maine to hunt him down. He begins his search with another survivor, bed-and-breakfast owner Mandy Brown, but her refusal to cooperate raises Danny’s suspicions. What is the beautiful innkeeper hiding? Mandy Brown has a secret. But sexy Danny Sullivan, his relentless questions, and the desire that simmers between them threaten to expose the truth ? a revelation that puts her family in danger. As more people disappear, it becomes clear the killer is planning another ritual?and that he’s circling in on Mandy.

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Review: An Affair of Deceit by Jamie Michele

An Affair of Deceit
By: Jamie Michele
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Published: March 30, 2013
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
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Diligent attorney Abigail Mason doesn’t have a lot of time–not for the father, a legendary spymaster, who abandoned her years ago, and not for the charming CIA agent who’s suddenly asking questions about his whereabouts. But her interest is definitely piqued–just what has her father done to find himself in the agency’s crosshairs?A trained psychologist, Agent James Riley doesn’t need his degree to figure out that the persistent, sexy Abigail will be a problem? both for his investigation and his heart. And while he needs her cooperation, he’s not ready for the hands-on, dangerous role she insists on taking in the search for her father.

As the two uncover startling truths about a secretive past, can Riley shield the woman he’s come to love from a madman who wants her to pay for the sins of her father?

 
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