Recent Read

Surrender of a Lady by Tiffany Clare

Why this one: I met the author at the last RWA and as she was an author whose first book was soon to be published, I wanted to give it a try.

Steam Level: Careful, this be a hot one

Blurb: THE PRICE OF PASSION…Sold. With one word, Lady Elena Ravenscliffe’s destiny changes forever. Forced into Constantinople’s slave market to pay off her late husband’s debts and save her son, Elena reinvents herself as Jinan—a harem girl adored by the rich lords who bid on her favors. But one man instantly sees through her façade.…IS COMPLETE SURRENDER Griffin Summerfield, Marquess of Rothburn, let Elena slip through his fingers years ago. When he recognizes her on the auction block, he pays an outrageous sum to possess her even if it is for a short period of time. But when his deadline looms, Griffin will risk all in a desperate bid to make her his—and his alone…

My Thoughts: I’m torn, really torn on this book. I have conflicting opinions on it and since it’s causing me to think - a lot, and ultimately I think that’s a good thing. If I could only use one word to sum up my feelings on this book, it would be ambiguous.

The hero, Griffin, is a former opium dealer and the only real reason he quit is because he became addicted to it himself. I didn’t get the impression that he gave it up for any moral reasons. He also ‘done the heroine wrong’ years previously, which contributed to her current situation and I don’t know if he ever really ‘got’ that. They were engaged many years previously and rather than face the wrath and manipulations of his uncle, he skipped town with no explanation to Elena, leaving her vulnerable to the bounder she married who sold her into slavery. He claims to have never forgot her and spent years looking for her, but considering where he finally found Elena, in a foreign ‘pleasure palace’ where the patrons ‘purchased’ women for weeks at a time, I don’t know how hurt his heart really was. Though to give him credit, when he did find her, he refused to let her go, even though he is somewhat high handed and bull headed in his treatment of her, it’s without question because he loves her.

The owner of the pleasure palace that Elena is sold into, Amir, is written as not so bad a guy; someone who truly cares about the women he has. But bottom line, all niceties aside, he’s a pimp, plain and simple. A pimp who owns the women he whores out. So as gentle and understanding as the author tries to make him, it’s wasted by what he is and what he does.

Elena holds too much in and I found that frustrating. She just assumed too many things. She assumes that Amir will not let her go so she doesn’t even consider talking to him about it. She assumes that Amir will treat her son badly so when Griffin rescues her, she is hell bent on getting back to Amir, even though he has given every indication that her son was safe with him. I just couldn’t understand her sheer desperation in getting away from Griffin and back to Amir. If I can’t understand the motivation, I find it difficult to relate to heroine on any kind of level. But the good news is I didn’t dislike Elena. It’s not a good thing if I dislike a heroine. I just didn’t understand where she was really coming from. She loved Griffin, she wanted to be with her, but figured it was impossible and didn’t even consider giving it a try.

Grade 3.75 out of 5

And a caveat on the grade. It’s rare that I do this. While I have given higher grades than this one, the grade doesn’t really reflect the entirety of things. I think this book, more than many, would be very interesting to debate and discuss. So if anyone has read it, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Recent Read

The Sergeant’s Lady by Susanna Fraser

Why this one: I loved the cover, I heard good things about it and the price, coming from Carina, was excellent.

Steam Level: Nice and Steamy

Blurb: Highborn Anna Arrington has been "following the drum," obeying the wishes of her cold, controlling cavalry officer husband. When he dies, all she wants is to leave life with Wellington's army in Spain behind her and go home to her family's castle in Scotland.

Sergeant Will Atkins ran away from home to join the army in a fit of boyish enthusiasm. He is a natural born soldier, popular with officers and men alike, uncommonly brave and chivalrous, and educated and well-read despite his common birth.

As Anna journeys home with a convoy of wounded soldiers, she forms an unlikely friendship with Will. When the convoy is ambushed and their fellow soldiers captured, they become fugitives—together. The attraction between them is strong—but even if they can escape the threat of death at the hands of the French, is love strong enough to bridge the gap between a viscount's daughter and an innkeeper's son?


My thoughts: There are some similarities with this book to the one I recently read and reviewed, Sing my Name in that the hero and heroine come from different social backgrounds. This is an English Historical rather than a Western, but other than that they were two different stories.

This one starts out with our hero Will, trying to help a friend who’s in labour while on the move in Spain during the English/French war. The heroine, Anna, comes along to offer her assistance, but it’s soon clean she is married to a real jerk when he rides up and orders Anna away from the ‘riffraff of the common soldier. But Anna has spunk and refuses to leave, instead staying to assist Will, even though neither have participated in a birth before. During this time, a bond is established. Anna admires Will and Will admires Anna, at the same time, recognizing that Anna is married to a very difficult man. Though both fully admit to themselves any kind of relationship is impossible, still, neither can forget the either. When Anna’s husband meets his demise, Anna’s plan is to return to her home in the Highlands of Scotland and Will is part of the regiment that escorts her and a number of wounded soldiers to the coast. They are thrown together again when they are captured by the French and then forced to flee. Their attraction grows but even though Anna’s husband is out of the picture, their different stations in life are still a real barrier.

Like Sing my Name, I found this one to be a poignant story of two people who want to be together, who aren’t quite complete without the other, but who are kept apart due to society. Both are people to be admired. Will is a simple man, yet one to be admired. He entered the army in his youth to seek out adventure and has been quite happy doing what he’s doing. He’s a rifleman in the army and of course while reading I kept thinking of Sean Ben in Sharpe’s Rifles, not a bad picture to keep in mind.

For her part Anna is also a good heroine. She realizes fairly early into her marriage that she has made a huge mistake, but she is doing the best that she can. She is compassionate to others, brave when called for. As with Sing My Name, there is a bit of a road story when Anna and Will are travelling back to his regiment. When they reach it and are forced to remain apart, there is such palpable longing in each of them for the other. If I had any wishes, it would just be that it was longer. I hated to finish this one so soon. But I hasten to add that it was because I was enjoying it; not that I felt it was lacking in any way.


This book was a treat to read and I hope the author has more books coming.

Grade: 4.75 out of 5

Historicals Anyone?

The latest in Sarah McCarty’s Promises series, is Promises Reveal, about preacher, Reverend Brad Swanson and Evie Washington, the woman he is forced to marry because of a portrait she painted of him naked. Her uncle and mother, along with the loving yet nosy townspeople assume Brad and Evie were intimate, because how would Evie know about certain scars on Brad’s body let alone knowing what he looks like naked? When the story begins, there is literally a shotgun wedding about to happen and both Brad and Evie are not too happy about being the bride and groom. Brad is one of those McCarthy heroes who thinks he is bad, way down to his bones and marrying such an innocent yet troublesome lady like Evie is not a good thing, because what if he impregnates her with his demon seed? Keep in mind this is not a paranormal demon western, but an erotic romantic western that Sarah usually excels writing in the past.

Brad and Evie finally get married after a lot of jibber jabber back and forth, which becomes a very prevalent thing in Promises Reveal. Other than Brad and Evie constantly lusting after each other, and acting on it, they tend to go on and on about their feelings and so forth to the point where Brad becomes so frustrated with his bride, that he ravishes her every chance he can get just to shut her up. Evie tends to grate on Brad’s nerves, except when they are making love. I am all for a good ravishing now and then, especially when this occurs during a very intimate moment in the town chapel between the two. But overall I was very bored with Brad and Evie. Other than both trying to work on a marriage that should have never happened in the first place, there is Brad’s mysterious past that he is trying to keep a secret. And he believes he is really evil because of his father who used to beat him everyday and life he soon led in a criminal gang. As you can see, there is quite a lot of nonsense about Brad being an evil demon spawn.

I had great hopes for Promises Reveal because it is a continuation of a popular series that Sarah first started to write for Ellora’s Cave. We see many past characters from the other Promises book in this one, but unfortunately if you haven’t read those, you will be confused because certain couples appear on the scene talk about past events. So, if you are new to reading a Sarah McCarty book, Promises Reveal is not a good place to start. You do get a small taste of Sarah’s writing style and those smoldering sex scenes she is so well known for, but here they are a bit tame, because after all this is being published by Berkley, a more mainstream line and not an erotic publisher like Ellora’s Cave who allows their authors to expand on the heroine’s flowing cream and the hero’s adoration for certain inmate acts that deals with the heroine’s posterior. (Berkley, October 2008)

2 stars out of 5 stars

Laura Lee Guhrke’s next book in her Bachelorette Girls series called, Secret Desires of a Gentleman, is a fitting title because the hero, Philip Hawthorne, The Marquess of Kayne has many hidden desires for Maria Martingale, who opens a pastisserie, which is a high end bakery for the upper London elite. Philip and Maria have history together because she was his family’s cook’s daughter, and at seventeen, Maria and Philip’s younger brother Lawrence were going to elope. Philip put a stop to that by offering Maria a thousand pounds to leave and never see Lawrence again. Maria couldn’t refuse the offer because she was all alone in the world after her father died, and was quiet penniless. She took the money and did what Philip requested. Lawrence went to the United States and Maria went on to work on her baking craft. After twelve years, the Hawthorne brothers come in contact with Maria again just on coincidence.

Philip thinks Maria is up to no good and will ruin Lawrence’s plans to finally settle down and marry, which he is in the process of courting an American heiress. Philip threatens to take Maria’s shop away from her because he owns the building, but this time Maria won’t slink away because her dream is about to come true, and appeals to Lawrence who is all too happy to make her acquaintance yet again. There is nothing Philip can do, and hopes that Lawrence won’t fall for Maria again because Philip has a very important deal with Lawrence’s future father-in-law.

Maria is on cloud nine because everything she has worked so hard for is coming to pass. But Philip won’t leave her alone because his excuse is to watch over her and make sure she doesn’t seduce Lawrence with her feminine wiles and excellent baking techniques. And before long, these two can’t keep their hands off one another. Maria doesn’t want Lawrence, and longs for Philip, who is so out of her league because of the different circles they belong to. Philip is quite the snob who wants Maria, but can’t marry her because he is a lofty and rich Marquess and she is a just a poor cook’s daughter who will never belong in his world.

Secret Desire of a Gentleman is a sweet and fluffy read and those readers who enjoy this on-going series by Laura will certainly enjoy this latest by her. Philip and Maria’s relationship is very reminiscent of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s one from that classic novel, Pride and Prejudice. Philip feels Maria is still very much below him, much like Darcy felt Elizabeth was. Philip even asks for Maria’s hand in marriage after an interesting episode in his carriage with Maria, and that proposal reminded me very much like the one Darcy gives to Lizzy. Actually the first few times Philip and Maria see each other, Philip’s disdain for Maria runs very deep. He truly can’t stand her because of what occurred twelve years ago. But then suddenly, for no reason, Philip begins to remember the times they spent as children and his feelings turn from ones of disapproval to lust, and finally love.

Whenever I read a Laura Lee Guhrke story, I always finish with a smile on my face and I did the same with Secret Desires of a Gentleman. Maria is a lovely heroine who won’t back down from those who think they can tell her what to do, which mainly happens to be Philip. I never really warmed up to Philip because he does tend to insult Maria, just because he thinks he is so high and mighty and so right. It was great to see him fall down a notch when he begins lusting after Maria, but again, that came on so suddenly that even when we find out he has kept a keepsake of Maria’s from when she was a little girl, it felt a bit hollow. If the reader can put their opinions aside about Philip’s sudden turn about feelings for Maria, then Secret Desires of a Gentlemen is a great read to loose yourself in for a few hours. (Avon, October 2008)

2 ½ stars out of 5 stars

Katiebabs (KB)