Recent Reads

Suddenly One Summer by Julie James

 Genre: Contemporary

 Why this one: I’ve been a fan of her books since her very first book

 Steam Level:  You will need to blow on this one before taking that first sip

 Outline:  Divorce lawyer Victoria Slade has seen enough unhappy endings to swear off marriage forever. That doesn't mean she's opposed to casual dating—just not with her cocky new neighbor, who is as gorgeous and tempting as he is off-limits. But once she agrees to take on his sister's case, she's as determined to win as ever—even if that means teaming up with Ford....

Investigative journalist Ford Dixon is bent on finding the man who got his sister pregnant and left her high and dry. He's willing to partner with Victoria, despite the fact that the beautiful brunette gets under his skin like no other woman. He might not be looking to settle down, but there's no denying the scorching attraction between them. Still, the more time he spends with Victoria, the more he realizes that the one woman as skeptical about love as he is might be the only woman he could really fall for…

 

My Thoughts: Ms. James has been an autobuy author since book 1.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with her a number of times now at conferences and I confess to a bit of a girl crush.  She’s friendly and warm and a very nice person.  But I found this out AFTER I’d read a few of her books so no conflict on how to do a review of a book by an author I’ve met and maybe not like the book so much.  While some I’ve liked more than others, I have enjoyed all of them.

This book is one of my favourites so far.  I found it just delightful and a few places, while in public, found myself snickering out loud unexpectedly.  I love a book that makes me do that.

One of the things Ms. James excels at is writing smart, quick witted and very likeable heroes and heroines and Victoria and Ford are no exception.  Both are very wary of getting into “relationships” – ugly word that – because of issues from growing up.  Victoria in particular had it tough and in her profession as a divorce attorney she sees people and dying marriages at their very worst so she’s very understandably leery.

And Ford doesn’t want anything lasting either.  He has enough with his family.  But as the outline says, sparks fly and neither can deny that the other is growing on them.  Victoria is brought into Fords orbit when she unexpectedly agrees to help his younger sister find the father of her baby and the dialogue between Victoria and Ford is sharp and quick and wickedly funny.

If you are a Julie James fan or even on the fence about this one – go for it!  It’s not often I pay as much for an ebook as I paid for this one – being the cheapy that I am, but I didn’t begrudge the extra money spent on this book one little bit.

Would I read this one again:  Just doing up this review makes me want to read it again so the answer is a resounding YES!

Grade: 4.75 out of 5

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The One You Want by Gena Showalter

Genre: Contemporary

Why this one:  I read a couple of paranormals and while they didn’t work for me, it wasn’t so much the writing and plus this one was on for a real good price…..

Steam Level: Again, a few minutes may be needed for it to cool down before taking a sip

Outline: Rich, powerful and utterly untamable, Dane Michaelson is every woman's darkest fantasy. When he returns to his hometown to witness his father's upcoming nuptials, he is unprepared for the redheaded beauty soon to become his stepsister. He's never wanted anyone more.

Kenna Starr has no desire to join the long list of women on rotation in Dane's bedroom. The single mom learned the hard way—bad boys do bad things, and someone always gets hurt. But Dane isn't fighting fair. With every heated look, stolen kiss and illicit caress, he melts her defenses.

Soon, the girl with the rep and the man who claims to be heartless are locked in a passionate affair. But when trouble arises, will they stand together or fall apart?

My Thoughts: I read this one very shortly after reading Suddenly One Summer and while I liked this one, it didn’t have quite the bang for me as the other book.  It had shades of other books –ABSOLUTELY NOT that it was intentional or anything but the hero/heroine reminded me somewhat of Gray and Faith from Linda Howards After the Night.  Dane’s father and Kenna’s mother were involved when they were young; destroying both families and Dane took his pain out on Kenna treating her unfairly.  He has a lot of anger towards his father for the way his dad treated the family.  She’s had a bit of crush on him but it was quickly dashed by that event.  Dane is now a very successful businessman.  Here the two books diverge as it doesn’t take Dane long before he’s sure that Kenna is the woman for him.  Kenna however isn’t buying it.  She can’t really see why he seems set on her.  She was hurt very badly years earlier and after the incident with Dane.  Her mother is a bitch to her and she’s grown up to be pretty wild.  She’s slow to trust Dane, but with good reason. 

Would I read this one again:  Possibly, very possibly  The odd would be better if only I could quit buying books.

Grade: 3.75 out of 5

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Seduced by Molly O’Keefe

Why this one: Wendy talked it up at RWA and as it’s a Western and a good price…….

Genre: Historical Western

Steam Level: good kind of heat to sit around a campfire by

Outline: Melody Hurst’s days as a Southern belle are over. Now she’s widowed and alone in the foothills of the Rockies, struggling to make a life in a dangerous world. She’s determined to secure a future by marrying – but love is out of the question.

Cole Baywood has turned bounty hunter after serving in the horrors of the Civil War, but the ghosts of the men and women he’s killed still haunt him. He’s drawn to the beautiful widow trying to seduce him, only the darkness in his soul forces him to reject her. Is it possible that Melody’s touch can heal the demons of his past? And how can he convince a woman who has lost so much to risk her heart?

My Thoughts: Hmmmmm.  I’ve read some really good Westerns so far this year so far, Outlaw Hearts and Do Not Forsake Me by Roseanne Bittner being the crème de la crème and while Seduced was ok, it didn’t even come close to the Bittner books for me.  I didn’t really warm up to either Cole or Melody that much.  I get that Melody was beaten and warn down by an abusive husband and thinks were much worse in those days, but I just didn’t really get her willingness to go along the her husband’s evil plans.  And if I couldn’t buy into that, the rest of the book fell somewhat flat.  I felt that Cole wasn’t really fully drawn as a character.  This is rather a short story at 167 pages and I felt it could have been much better if the author had made it longer with more rounded characters.  Also she brought in four characters right off the bat, Melody and her sister Annie and Cole and his brother Steven.  I got confused for a while with so many characters all seemingly the lead characters until I managed to sort out who was who and who would be with who.

I bought the second book in the series, Tempted and I do believe there is a third book and I will also read both of them, just to finish off the story but *heavy sigh* alas, this author is just one I can’t get completely on board with.  As I said, it wasn’t bad, but the ‘could have been’ knocked it down some in grades for me.

Would I read it again:  Probably not

Grade: 3 out of 5

Well - that's it for now.  I think 3 is a nice number

'til later

Only back briefly but thanks once again to Cindy S *sigh*

(while Nancy gets ready - she's more of a girly girl than me and takes much longer - why she's putting on make-up and stuff when she knows I'm going to make her sweat by helping me clean out the back bedroom I don't know - but it gives me a bit extra time)
Cindy just had to do it. She just had to mention buy 3 get one free at Chapters. I know Nath mentioned it, but I kind of forgot. But Cindy couldn't not remind us.
So of course I had to go for it. And of course I couldn't let it rest at buy 3 get one free. I had to buy 6 get 2 free.
My latest purchases:


Dead to Me by Anton Strout
Katies been saying how good this one is and her review sounded intriguing. So I went outside my box for this book.












The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter
Yep, I know a lot of you are envious that I have this one. For some reason it was on the shelves early. Now all I need to do is start reading this series. I have all of them - just need to read them.










Lessons from a Courtesan by Jenna Petersen.
I got this one after reading her interview at Ciara's blog. I've never tried any of this authors' books before












Tall Tales and Wedding Veils by Jane Graves
I've loved just about all this author's books save one and last time I looked it wasn't on the shelf. This time it was!!












In Twilight's Shadow by Patti O'Shea
I looked for this one last time and couldn't find it even though the store said they had it in. I looked again this time again, didn't see it in the romance section but I found it in the general books shelves











Wild for Him by Janelle Denison
This one was a bit of a gamble. Her last one was a DNF for me but I liked the previous books. So I figured it was only fair to give her another chance.











Never Say Never by Geralyn Dawson.
It's been years since I've read her books. I used to like them but then the Wedding books got to be a bit too much so I kind of stopped. But this one is a RS so I wanted to give it a try.

The Loner by Geralyn Dawson
A Western, not one of her Wedding Series and it was time I tried her again. I've read good buzz on her lately so wanted to get back into the swimming pool

Recent Read

Savor Me Slowly by Gena Showalter

Why this one: To be honest, I’m not really sure why I picked this one up. I’d read a couple of her books and have a couple more in the TBR pile. It was just a spur of the moment that I bought it and a spur of the moment that I read it. I think having read and loved Driven by Eve Kenin might have influenced me.

No! Wait! Katie read this one and really enjoyed it.

Level of Steam: Made my skin turn to red with the heat

Amazon Blurb: Mishka Le'Ace was created to be an undercover operative...literally. Her

beautiful body has been mechanically augmented to give her superhuman

strength -- strength she's going to need. Her latest mission sends her to

rescue Alien Investigation and Removal agent Jaxon Tremain from torture and

death. With him, she discovers a passion unlike any other. A passion she

was forbidden to know....

From the moment they meet in a darkened cell, Jaxon craves her touch. But

the machine half of Le'Ace forces her to do things she doesn't always want

to do. Even betray him...and ultimately destroy him. Now Jaxon must battle

the man controlling Le'Ace, and even Le'Ace herself, to at last claim the

woman he's come to love.

My Thoughts: This one was outside my box or else this is a new kind of romance ‘cause it was different than most romance I read. I don’t know if it’s classed as Urban Fantasy romance or not – I’m not too up to date on that kind of thing. The heroine Le’Ace or Mishla was one tough heroine let me tell you! She was forced to do many a Very Nasty Deed for the person in charge of her. If I’d read this one before voting – he would have made an excellent choice for nastiest villain that’s for sure. Mishla was a Very Strong heroine in this book and more than a match for Jaxon, our heroine. Yet inside she was so very vulnerable. I really enjoyed her. And I thought Jaxon did quite well as a hero. While I was reading this one I knew I’d have to get her previous books in this series and luckily for me, Awaken Me Darkly was available.

It’s a different kind of world they live in. It’s set in the future where aliens to earth are commonly running around. But there is one class of aliens that are proving very deadly to the women and thus the men of earth and it’s up to Mishla and Jaxon to fix this deadly threat.

This was a great book and I hope she has more planned in this fascinating series!

Grade: 4 our of 5

Savor Me Slowly and Man Love Monday!

There are not many authors who time and time again can deliver the “goods”. But there is one author who sticks out in my mind that keeps doing that. She is Gena Showalter and Savor Me Slowly is the second book out of three I have read so far for 2008 that will blow your mind. The first was Demon Night by Meljean Brook that I wrote about back in November. The third I review is yet to come. But after reading Savor Me Slowly, I have come to the realization that Gena can write about any genre and get it right. One of my favorite reads for 2007 was Catch a Mate and I anxiously wait for the next book Gena will publish. She is a true star in the romance genre and a must read for all. I have glommed every single one of her books and will continue to do so until she retires, which is a loooooooooooong way off!

Savor Me Slowly is the third book in her on-going Alien Huntress Series. So if you like sci-fi romance, which is heavy on the romance, with an incredible heroine and the man who shows her how special she is, I urge you to get this book. Once you start you will not be able to stop. The onecharacter that makes this story worthwhile is Mishka Le’Ace, a half human, half machine. Think of the Terminator, but one that has emotions and feelings and wants to belong somewhere. Mishka has no one to love! Usually it is the hero who is torture, but here Mishka is the one. It has been while since I read about a heroine who has had such a rotten life. She is owned by a very powerful man who makes her kill just because he says so. She also has to have sex with some of her targets. If she refuses, our evil villain can terminate with a touch of a button. She has no free will. Mishka is basically nothing but a means to an end.

Her mission this time is to save Jaxon Tremain. I like his name a lot! It rolls off the tongue so nicely. Jaxon has been captured by some rogue aliens and tortured for some information he has that could help them. Jaxon is the typical stubborn hero. He suffers but won’t betray his friends, work or his country. Mishka comes to him undercover as his newest torturer. But she helps him escape. And this is where the story gets even better.

Jaxon and Mishka are loving together in close quarters for the first part of the book because he needs to recover. During this time Mishka starts to feel all tingly inside for Jaxon. She has never had these feelings for a man before. Jaxon, even under his drugged induced state and constant pain still gets a hard-on for his Mishka. But there are major issues of trust between them. Jaxon is not sure if she is the enemy and if she has orders, will she assassinate him. But putting that all inside, Jaxon breaks through Mishka’s defense and have a lot of hot sex. Even in danger they make sure they get it on. And Gena can write really hot and scorching sex scenes.

There is action, suspense and an evil plot, mainly which involve poor Mishaka. But Jaxon is in her life now and will be her knight in shining armor. Their relationship is one wild ride and the journey there is intense and keeps you on the edge of the seat.

2008 will be the year for Gena since she has 3 other books coming out starting in May. Why not start with Savor Me Slowly to get a taste of the excellent writing skills of Ms. Showalter? Once you start with one of her books, you will want to go back and read every single book of hers you can get your hands on!!

There is also a special event happening all day Monday over at Lisabea’s blog. Monday will be “Man Love Monday!” She will be discussing about books with men who love men, hot man sex and sexy men pictures. I also know Sula will be taking part and I will stop by to say hi and look at some men. So stop by if you have the chance and of course bring any sexy pictures you have. *G*

Break Me Off a Piece of That!!

My Recent Reads

I’m not quite sure why I list what I am currently reading at the side. I so seldom follow it. I’ll pick up the books I list but then something else will grab my attention or I can’t quite get into them at the time. Or more often than not, I’m reading one of the recently bought and it seems silly to have the same picture twice. So, anyone reading this – basically ignore the currently reading section.
Anyway onto the my recent reads



Luke - Jill Shalvis
I was planning on reading this for the August challenge of series books but then I did what I shouldn’t do and cleaned up my pile of books and I lost track of it. Never fear, I found it again, although too late for the challenge. I am an unabashed fan of series books and this one is one of the reasons why.
Luke Walker was an overworked, by the book and dedicated doctor. When he made less than flattering remarks about Nurse Practioner Faith McDowell’s health center, he was ‘sentenced’ to work there on his Saturdays for the next three months. Faith was also dedicated and overworked but the two of them had much differing ideas on some treatments. Neither one of them were happy with the amazing attraction that sprang up between them and with their busy schedules, they decided to ignore it but when it wouldn’t go away, they agreed to give in temporarily.
I quite liked this one. It was light and fun and I enjoyed seeing Luke transform into a kinder, gentler hero and eventually admit that maybe Faith was onto something. The sad thing is, this is a Harlequin Temptation, a line I’ve mourned before they are no longer publishing.
Grade: 4 out of 5




Feet First by Leanne Banks
This is the most recent book discussed Pandora’s Box at AAR. It seemed to make a favourable impression. Then there was a not so good review. I decided to give it a try anyway as Leanne Banks is a new to me author. No point in me giving a synopsis as both links cover it pretty well. When I finished this book, I agree with the PB discussion. I liked it. I’m not a shoe person. I buy mine at Payless or Walmart and I never did understand Carrie Bradshaw’s obsession with them. But even though I ‘don’t get’ the shoe thing, it didn’t bother me when reading this book. It was great finding a new author and I will definitely be trying her again
Grade: 4 out of 5




The Stone Prince - Gena Showalter
I started The Stone Prince by the same author and couldn’t seem to get into it so I was a little leery of this one, but I could read it. It was OK. Grace Carlyle was searching for her brother in the jungles of the Amazon when she stumbled into a strange cave filled with mist. There she runs into the Guardian of Atlantis Darius en Kragin. Part dragon, part human, he has been guarding the entrance for centuries and is determined to kill all who stumble across the entrance. He finds it increasingly difficult to do what he is determined to do. Like I said, I found this one all right. I rather liked Darius a tortured dragon soul who, after his entire family was slaughtered was given the job rather against his wishes. He feels no emotions and is rather unsettled by his growing feelings for Grace. Grace on the other hand, I found rather twit-like, a no no for me in a heroine. First off, what the hell is she doing in the Amazon by herself? Yes, she started out with a guide who deserted her, but rather than heading back, she plunged forward instead – in a strange country – in a jungle. Twit. Then at the end she pulled another TSTL moment. Sigh once a twit, always a twit On top of this the book ended with way too much unresolved. I’m sure there is more coming, although I didn’t see it on her web page. I felt like I was being manipulated. I think readers who like Sherrilyn Kenyon, Katie MacAllister, Christine Feehan would like this one more than I did. I think of it as very paranormal-lite. I prefer mine with a little more oomph to it.
Grade: 2 ½ out of 5



To Wilde to Tame by Janelle Dennison
This is the one I mentioned previously as the book where the hero and heroine neglected to practice safe sex, but as I said, other than this lapse I quite liked it. This is one of a series of books about the Wilde family. I think I had read one before this. Apparently the hero/heroine have had an ongoing battle of attraction in the earlier books but this one read fine as a stand-alone. Mia Wilde is the only girl in a family full of guys. She has been overprotected but this has only made her more on the wild side. Cameron is partners with her cousin in an investigation business. Mia and Cam have been sparring and shooting off sparks for a while now. Cam wants nothing to do with Mia, first because of his relationship with her brothers and cousins and second because she is not what he is looking for. Their attraction ratchets up quite a bit though when Mia receives rather a nasty letter and asks Cam for his help.
I liked this book enough to search her back list and read more of her books despite what I consider a major miss. They mystery is rather lame too and I figured out the villain right off the bat – and I don’t read many mysteries. The sex is hot and well written and I like discovering that Mia has more depth to her than we realize.
Grade 3 ½ out of 5



The Wilde Side by Janelle Dennison
As you can see, I liked the first one enough to pick this one up when I saw it at the book store. This one takes place earlier than To Wilde to Tame and is Scott – Mia’s older brothers story. Ashley St. Clare is the daughter of a hotel tycoon who was burned once before when she was blackmailed before by a man she dated. As a result she has buttoned herself up, denying the wild side to her personality until on her 30th birthday s he decides to have one night of unbridled passion. The lucky recipient is Scott Wilde whom she picks up while playing pool with his brothers. But one night isn’t enough for Scott and he is determined to track down the mystery ‘just Ashley”. I liked this one too and yes – they did practise safe sex in this one. I really liked Scott who knew that his one night stand was actually more than that. I got a bit annoyed with Ashleys’ hot and cold, hide and seek games with Scott part way through, but other than that I quite liked this one too.
It seems to me, I have another one of these somewhere around the house. I think I’ll try and find it and give it another read now that I have read a few more in the series. And Ms. Dennison does right some might fine sex scenes.
Grade 4 out of 5