Category Archives: Book Review

Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight

21 Sunday Oct 2012

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Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight is the newest in Grace Burrowes’s Windham family Series. Lady Louisa is the oldest of the Duke’s single daughters and should be the next to get married. However, she is hiding a secret that she believes limits her prospects until it can be resolved. Sir Joseph Carrington fought in the war with a couple of Lady Louisa’s brothers and is a family friend. The two begin to get closer but Sir Joseph thinks his lack of title puts him beneath Lady Louisa’s notice, plus he has a secret of his own. A rake’s attempt at ruining her has Sir Joseph offering marriage and the two must decide if their secrets can be shared or if they will destroy everything.

This story is the perfect balance – a heartwarming romance, with a dash of intrigue to keep things interesting and a touch of holiday cheer. The characters are well-developed and their romance is slow & sweet as they start to see each other in a different light. Lady Louisa is unique and quirky, an original with a sharp mind and big heart. She’s found her perfect match in Sir Joseph and their interactions are funny, playful and touching. He’s honorable, intelligent, and witty, with a strong heart and deep character which makes him perfect hero material. They have great chemistry and you find yourself rooting for them from the very beginning.

Lady Louisa’s family plays a huge part in her life so they are all well represented in this story. Many of them have had their own story so readers are given an update on their lives, however it will not affect your enjoyment of this one if you’ve never read another of Burrowes’s books. The secondary characters are fantastic though, unique and entertaining, and the writing is beautifully done, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself finishing this story and heading out to get the previous books.

The Convenient Bride

18 Thursday Oct 2012

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The Convenient Bride is a lovely story about a man coming to grips with his past. Sienna will do just about anything to save her family’s hotel and Antonio Moretti is willing to use that to his advantage. If Sienna does not pay off the loan Antonio gave her father immediately then he will take control of the hotel by default. He is willing to make her a deal though, one that will allow her the time to get the hotel on its feet, but in exchange she has to become his wife for a year. Antonio needs a better image in order to secure a hotel owned by his aunt and uncle. They don’t approve of his playboy lifestyle and he believes that aligning himself with Sienna could change their minds. But nothing in his experience prepares him for Sienna.

Due to a tragedy in his past Antonio has walled himself off from everyone and put all of his attention into his work … and into women. He’s ruthless and driven but removed, enjoying the finer things in life without emotional involvement. Sienna is all about family and has given up her own dreams to help her dad with his hotel. She’s smart, sexy and caring. She’s not at all familiar with the wealthy world that Antonio lives in and her refreshing attitude causes him to re-evaluate the way he looks at life. (I’d say she’s like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman but I don’t want to give anyone the idea that she’s a hooker. The more cynical might disagree since Antonio is paying her to be his wife and, though that isn’t something most of us can imagine doing, Sienna handles it with style and grace). The reveal of Antonio’s secret tragedy is very emotional and the ending is quite touching. This is a fast-paced story, just days pass from beginning to end, but for those that love the idea of a soul-mate, someone who is so perfect for you that you recognize it immediately, it is a delightfully precious tale, regardless of the timing.

Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed

13 Saturday Oct 2012

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I love Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed – I’ve read it twice now because a while back I received an advance copy and was intrigued enough by the story that I read it right away. I wanted to wait until the publication date to write the review, so I read it again to make sure I remembered it right … Loved it then and love it now.

Roberta owes her husband’s cousin, Jonas, a lot of money but he is willing to overlook the debt if she becomes his mistress for a week. The two cousins have been enemies all of their lives and if her husband finds out about the debt, there is no telling what he could do to her. In order to protect her sister, Sidonie takes Roberta’s place in meeting Jonas for a week at a remote castle. She expects to find a scarred, heartless monster willing to take her virtue during a week of sin but what she finds instead is a complex, intriguing man – a man more dangerous to her heart than to her body.

Jonas is scarred on the inside as well as out. He’s had a lot of people let him down and a lifetime of betrayal has made him a harsh, ruthless man. He has the potential to be so much more than society expects of him and he just needs someone to believe in him, to be there for him. Someone who can see behind the scars and cynical persona to the person underneath. Sidonie is strong and caring – two things she will need to deal with Jonas.

Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed is an touching, exciting ride. When Sidonie and Jonas aren’t steaming up the pages, they are tugging at your heartstrings. The characters are complex, well-developed and troubled. You quickly find yourself drawn to them, wanting the best for them, and just when things start going well Campbell yanks the rug out from under you.

This book is an emotional roller-coaster from the beginning – Jonas has not had an easy life and they have to be willing to face a lot of demons before even thinking about a happily-ever-after. It is the first in The Sons of Sin Series and if the kick-off is any indication it will definitely be exciting.

Sultry with a Twist

11 Thursday Oct 2012

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Sultry with a Twist is the sweet debut romantic novel from Macy Beckett and she brings readers a winner. Mae-June Augustine left her home town of Sultry Springs nine years ago with a broken heart and she’s not been back since. But now she discovers that, due to an indiscretion on graduation day, she has to go home to serve a month of community service. Being back brings her together with the two people who hurt her all those years ago – the grandmother who raised her and the man who held her heart before crushing it. Will this prove to be her time for second chances or will she leave devastated all over again?

You’ll find yourself wanting to shake Luke and then give him a big hug. He has self-esteem and relationship problems related to his childhood – his mother left him with June’s grandmother when he was 12, causing him to feel that he isn’t good enough to be loved. These abandonment issues have driven his life so far but he’s finally at a point where it could turn around. Because otherwise he’s a good man – kind, hardworking, thoughtful, and generous – he just needs to see that in himself.

June has done some growing up and coming back home shows her things she hadn’t seen before. She was too young then to realize there were reasons for the way both her grandmother and Luke acted. But she’s got the spunk and the patience to handle things differently this time around.

Sultry with a Twist is a wonderful emotional mixture – humorous, sexy, and heart-warming. The characters are home-grown, solid folk and Beckett makes them real. She also makes them quirky, funny and fun. This is the first in a series so readers can expect to see more of this great little town and its entertaining population, which will be a treat. Full of small town charm, Macy Beckett’s books will be a fast addition to the gotta read pile.

Hunk for the Holidays

09 Tuesday Oct 2012

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Katie Lane’s Hunk for the Holidays brings readers the classic romance plot device of mistaken identity – Cassie McPherson works hard at her family’s construction business and since her last relationship ended a little over a year ago she’s not had time to date. So to avoid any matchmaking from friends and family, she hires an escort to take her to a holiday party. This isn’t the first time she’s had to do this, but it is the first time she’s wanted more from the guy she’s hired . . . or at least she thinks she’s hired. Bowled over by his first glimpse of Cassie, James Sutton goes along with her misconception and quickly finds himself seriously attracted to her. But as things start to heat up, he needs to find a way to tell her that he’s not actually an escort but her business’s biggest rival.

Even using a common theme, Lane does a wonderful job giving readers characters that are appealing, sexy and fun to read. You might wonder if anyone would actually find themselves in this situation, but then you realize that you are enjoying yourself too much to care. Cassie successfully and hilariously channels Lucille Ball, managing to get herself in one embarrassing situation after another. She’s not all that confident in her appeal, more comfortable on a job site than in anything girlie, but she’s smart and sassy which gives her her own unique style. Jake, with I Love Lucy moments of his own, is attractive, funny and charming. And definitely interested in Cassie. He just has to figure out how to get out of the mess he’s made.

The story is more slapstick than deep, but it works just fine. The characters are engaging, the story is funny, and it makes for an entertaining, satisfying read – that’s more than enough for me.

The Accidental Bride

07 Sunday Oct 2012

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Christina Skye brings readers another chapter in her Summer Island series with The Accidental Bride. Jilly O’Hara is a driven chef with her own restaurant and food line. One night during dinner service, she collapses and is diagnosed with a heart condition – one that may force her to quit the job she loves dearly. Based on her doctor’s orders to rest, her friends send her on a vacation to a knitting retreat in the mountains of Wyoming. Arriving at the airport, she meets marine Walker Hale and his amazing service dog Winslow. With her life and health in flux, Jilly doesn’t have time for romance but their attraction may be too strong to deny.

The Accidental Bride is a heartwarming story of two people trying to find their way again. Jilly has only ever wanted to be a chef and now her health has taken that from her. She’s not in the best frame of mind and she’s got intimacy issues stemming from being abandoned when she was a baby. For all her prickliness though she’s an appealing character. Walker and his dog were injured in the Middle East while trying to save fellow marines. He, like so many other soldiers, has come home with emotional and mental scars to go with the physical ones. He’s slowly struggling to find a place for himself in society and , because of his own issues, he’s a good fit for Jilly and helps her work through her problems.

The inhabitants of Lost Creek, Wyoming make the perfect supporting cast. They are interesting, fun and full of heart. They care about each other and meddle, which always makes for interesting reading. I hope that they’ll get their own spin-off, since this series concentrates on the four friends from Summer Island.

If you are a fan of books by Jill Shalvis or Susan Mallery, you will enjoy this story. The characters are well-developed and easy to love. And the world Skye creates is realistic, so smoothly delivered that you’ll feel like you’ve been there before. It’s a fast-read, with warmth and humor, enjoyable straight through until the end.

(Even though this is part of a series, it can definitely be enjoyed by itself. Readers of previous stories will get updates on characters but Skye handles it in a way that doesn’t leave new readers lost.)

Blaze of Winter

05 Friday Oct 2012

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Elisabeth Barrett’s Blaze of Winter is the story of two people trying to figure out if they are on the right path and if not where they should go from here.  Avery Newbridge, a social worker helping drug addicts, recently lost a patient and is staying with her aunt in the small town of Star Harbor while she decides if she can go back to work.  Theo Grayson is a best-selling author with writer’s block who has come home hoping the familiar place with help him with his new novel.  When the two meet their attraction is instantaneous, but does a romance make sense if their lives are going two different directions?

Theo is a fantastic hero.  He is smart, sexy, fun and has an obvious love for the town, his family and their friends.  He’s amazingly patient with Avery and therein lies my only real problem.  I didn’t quite get her issues with opening up to Theo.  The doubts about him leaving was easy enough to grasp, but she had some emotional issues that I didn’t quite get a good sense of … maybe it was stated at some point why she didn’t want to get involved with him and I forgot.  I’m not sure, which suggests that it wasn’t that clear.  I did like how Barrett made a point that she was getting counseling for her problem though.  A good choice to not have love heal everything.  I just wished I’d understood her a little more – her issues with her job and her doubts about whether she wanted to return were clear, but I just missed what was going on with Theo outside of his living in San Francisco.

Though Star Harbor is similar to Jill Shalvis’s Lucky Harbor or Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold, it didn’t have quite the quirkiness and liveliness that these others do.  The supporting cast of characters wasn’t as fleshed out, keeping the story from having the same depth.  I do love all the Grayson brothers though.  They are a wonderful group, full of heart and fun, but also with their own secrets and demons.  I look forward to seeing more of them in future stories.

(This is Barrett’s latest in her Star Harbor series but it is definitely a book that can stand on its own.  There is a mystery surrounding a drug operation in the area that seems to flow through the series, but Barrett does a good job of giving you all the information you need to keep up.)

Finally Home

29 Saturday Sep 2012

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Finally Home is Helen Scott Taylor’s sweet story about a woman having to let go of her past in order to move forward with her future. Melanie Marshall is cautiously building a life for herself and her son as the manager of Greyfriar House Hotel. When her boss comes back from what was supposed to be his wedding trip without a wife, things get complicated. For unknown reasons, Jack Summers uses his new hotel manager as an excuse to call of his wedding. But now he can’t get her out of his thoughts and as he gets to know her and her son better, he realizes there may have been a reason after all. When Helen’s past finds her, though, can the budding romance between them be enough?

Melanie has some serious issues related to her marriage and the criminal actions of her dead husband. I really liked the fact that Taylor acknowledged that these would not be easily fixed. Too often romance novels solve problems with the power of love, which is nice in fairy tales but not so much in real life, and Taylor does a great job of avoiding this trap. Instead she gives us a more realistic look. Readers are given an in depth look at Melanie’s troubles and, though the may be hard to relate to, they are detailed and believable.

We don’t get to see into Jack quite as much, but he does show himself to be honest and loyal – both things that Melanie needs in a new mate. He’s happy, emotionally stable (although he has moments where he needs to grow a backbone), and content with where life has taken him. He’s a good influence on Melanie, showing her that she needs to relax and let herself be happy. He does occasionally prove that he isn’t as in tune with Melanie as he should be, especially at the end, but then again we all see things through our own filter. Overall, he’s supportive and works to help Melanie face her past.

This is a good choice for someone who is looking for a touching story about two people falling in love with a bite of realism. It’s not all roses, but then neither is life.

The Heiress and Her Fake Fiancé

28 Friday Sep 2012

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Jessica Heymore returns to her home town to evaluate her life and her future. Her father has once again meddled in her life and she needs to decide what she wants to do from here. Matt Lawson has also returned to Blakely and is looking for a wife to settle down with. Thanks to Jessica’s matchmaking grandmother, the two find themselves sharing a house. Jessica doesn’t know what she’ll do next but it will be someplace away from home. Matt wants a woman who will stick around. Unfortunately a powerful attraction may have other plans for them.

I liked the premise for The Heiress and Her Fake Fiancé, however by the time I was halfway through the story I felt like yelling at the two to talk to each other. I get that misunderstandings are a common romance theme, but for some reason it really got to me this time. I liked both Jessica and Matt, and I was rooting for them to get together, there was just so much confusion and hurt feelings that could have been addressed with a simple conversation.

The interaction between the two (outside of their failure to talk) was fun and they had good chemistry together. Hope did a good job of creating believable characters with sizzle. I just got frustrated at them.

I recommend giving the book a chance – the characters are likable and the plot is solid. Just don’t blame me if you find yourself wanting to sit them down and make them figure it all out.

A Fool’s Gold Christmas

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

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The exceptional Susan Mallery once again brings readers a delightful and heartwarming story with A Fool’s Gold Christmas. Evie Stryker isn’t happy to be in Fool’s Gold because it is way too close to her family. She’s always been the odd man out in the group and has learned it is better to be apart from them. She just needs to bide her time until she is healthy enough to move away and a romantic entanglement doesn’t fit into that plan. Dante Jefferson learned the hard way that there can be a price for love and he isn’t looking to do it again. An overwhelming attraction to his business partner’s sister is definitely not in his plans either. But Christmas in Fool’s Gold comes with its own share of miracles and may bring these two exactly what they need.

Mallery’s gift is her ability to bring characters to life. She creates people that are vibrant, detailed, and realistic – they always leap off the page. By the time you finish one of her books you feel as if you know them personally and Evie & Dante are no exception. You experience everything right along with them, all their highs and lows. The story flowed very smoothly with a sweet ending that, even though you wanted to smack Dante a little, was satisfying. I love these two and am so happy that they found each other.

A Fool’s Gold Christmas is a rich, engaging romance that will definitely get you in the mood for the holidays. It can stand on its own, but for reader’s of Mallery’s other Fool’s Gold novels this is also a nice chance to catch up with old friends and get a glimpse of those to come. If you haven’t been to Fool’s Gold before, don’t let that intimidate you. Pick this one up – you’ll be happy you did … and will want to visit often.