Recent Reads - Two goodies and a wallbanger

I Got You Babe – Jane Sullivan
Good news/ bad news on this one. The good news - this one’s a keeper. The bad news - I’m pretty sure it’s out of print.
John DeMarco is a cop who is burning out. He is ‘encouraged’ to take a vacation after he beats a paper towel dispenser up in a rage when a guilty criminal is set free. He is sitting, eating his meal, and minding his own business in a scruffy diner when a beautiful young woman propositions him. At first, very reluctant, he is eventually persuaded to take her back to his cabin.
Renee Esterhaus is a girl in trouble. Accused of a crime she didn’t commit she is on the run from the cops and a very persistent bounty hunter. When she happens into the same diner as John, she is desperate and tries to get him to take her away – anyway she can. Later when John discovers who she really is, he is torn between his duty as a cop and his ever-increasing belief in Renee’s innocence.
I loved both John and Renee as characters. John is truly a good man, more of a beta hero with pretty good overtones of alpha. He wants to help Renee; he eventually believes her and is very attracted to her, but still his duty as a cop tells him that he should be turning this wanted fugitive in. And I loved Renee. She is far from perfect. She was a juvenile delinquent who admits she was trouble when younger, but with a lot of hard work she’s managed to turn her life around. The author does a wonderful job in describing Renee’s panic at the thoughts of going to jail. There is a wonderful cast of secondary characters. I also found it delightfully funny in parts, such as the scene when John’s sister walks into John’s bedroom and discovers a handcuffed Renee. She is delighted at what she thinks is her brothers “kinkiness”.
I’ve read all the books in this series now with mixed but mainly very positive results. I hated, hated, loathed with every fibre of my being, hated with a passion Wild at Heat, Alex’s story – what a complete a$$hole this jerk was (DNF). I liked Flirting with Disaster, Dave’s story (the first one I read of this series) quite a bit (4 out of 5). I loved Light my Fire, Sandy the sister’s story (4 ½ out of 4) and adored I Got You Babe
Grade: 5 out of 5
**Note** – Jane Graves also writes series books under the name Jane Sullivan, mainly Temptation, a line now no longer being published. As I’m a fan of her books under that line, I hope she moves to another line at Harlequin and that we haven’t seen the end of Jane Sullivan.

Carved in Stone – VickieTaylor
This book was a bit of a fluke find. I was blog hopping and noticed it on Maili’s blog. It looked intriguing so I thought I’d give it a try. I am so glad I did.
This is the first I believe, in a series about another paranormal group – gargoyles, you know those scary looking statues on old buildings.
Nathan Cross is an excommunicated gargoyle. Not only excommunicated, his people are not allowed to speak or even acknowledge him. Having been banished from the group because he holds different and unacceptable beliefs, he is lonely but determined that this will be his last life. Rachel Vandemere is a tormented heroine. After witnessing her parents’ death at the hands of monsters when she was a child, she is determined to find and expose the monster for what they are. Now an Interpol agent, she senses something in Nathan and believing he can help her in her quest, she tells him her story and asks for his help. Little does she know that he is one of the very monsters she is seeking.
You can feel the sexual tension in this book between Nathan and Rachel. Nathan is an alpha hero and very quickly develops a very strong proprietary tie to Rachel. I’d love to have someone like Nathan watching out for me. I think Ms Taylor has done an excellent job in setting up this world. The gargoyles are human enough so I don’t get creeped out yet different enough to be intriguing. One of the most unique angles is while they live thousands and thousands of years; it is through reincarnation that they exist for so long. Their actual life span is just like ours. I’m looking forward to the next instalment as there are some threads left hanging.
I rather reluctantly gave up on Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series. This one I think will be an excellent replacement. I see quite a few others are also reading this book. I’d love to know what they think of the book and potential series.
Grade: 41/2 out of 5

Come Up and See Me Sometime – Lucy Monroe
I loved The Real Deal, Ms Monroe’s breakout book from last year so I was looking forward to enjoying this book. I didn’t. Enjoy it. In fact I couldn’t finish it. This one I hated. The hero Alec was arrogant and a quite a bit of a jerk. I could have kept reading it despite this though. But the heroine did the book in for me. I can’t remember her name at the moment and have no desire to look it up.
Alec is a man with vengeance on his mind. Determined to destroy the father of the heroine who he hold responsible for his own fathers death, he is hit be the desire to make the heroine his own when he finally meets her. He’s been drawn to her for a number of years ever since he saw her picture. He does woo her and win her but does he give up his plan for vengeance on her father? No, of course not. And what does she do when she finds out what he has planned? Does she get angry with him? Well, maybe a little. Not much though. What is her main reaction? She sleeps with the jerk. Not only that, she takes the lead in the sheets. As a heroine, let’s not voice our concerns when our new husband wants to ruin our family. Let’s not talk him out of it. Let’s reward the jerk. Let’s give him sex and not only that but let’s give him our very first blow job the same night we find out he has no intention of compromising on ruining a loved family member. I’m not one to advocate as a woman, using sex to get what we want, but come on now. No woman with any self- respect is going to do this. How does one spell doormat? “Heroine of this book whose name I can’t remember”. At this point I couldn’t finish this book and to be honest, I’m not sure I even care to try another Monroe book. It would take some heavy duty convincing to make me want to try her again. She hit a hot button with me on this one. A real hot button. She went from the top of the mountain to the bottom
Grade – DNF