Category Archives: Romance

2015 Book #2 – Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Historical Romance, Maiden Lane series, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist, Reading Challenges by

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Title: Darling Beast
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Date finished: 1/7/15
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: October 14, 2014
Pages in book: 321
Stand alone or series: Series – Maiden Lane #7

Blurb from the cover:

A MAN CONDEMNED . . .
Falsely accused of murder and mute from a near-fatal beating, Apollo Greaves, Viscount Kilbourne has escaped from Bedlam. With the Crown’s soldiers at his heels, he finds refuge in the ruins of a pleasure garden, toiling as a simple gardener. But when a vivacious young woman moves in, he’s quickly driven to distraction . . .
A DESPERATE WOMAN . . .
London’s premier actress, Lily Stump, is down on her luck when she’s forced to move into a scorched theatre with her maid and small son. But she and her tiny family aren’t the only inhabitants-a silent, hulking beast of a man also calls the charred ruins home. Yet when she catches him reading her plays, Lily realizes there’s more to this man than meets the eye.
OUT OF ASH, DESIRE FLARES
Though scorching passion draws them together, Apollo knows that Lily is keeping secrets. When his past catches up with him, he’s forced to make a choice: his love for Lily . . . or the explosive truth that will set him free.

My rating: 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will be counting towards my goal for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2015 checklist under the “book with antonyms in the title” check box (darling and beast). I have read the other books in the Maiden Lane series, though none are yet discussed on this blog (hopefully that will be fixed in the future). I think that this is an excellent series, though I have trouble keeping the previous characters straight sometimes. Luckily, Hoyt has included a series of family trees to demonstrate the connections in the novels of the series.
I very much enjoyed this novel, there were a good amount of interesting plot twists and I was interested in the story throughout the novel. One piece of this novel specifically that I found very interesting was that at one point Lily is writing a farce (play) that her brother intends to sell to pay off his debts. I couldn’t find the exact words again but she describes a farce as a bunch of a bunch of plot twists each happening one after the other so much so that the whole idea of the play feels exaggerated and improbably. At the point in the novel when many of the characters were gathered together at the house party, I couldn’t help but notice that the events were happening much as Lily described a farce to be. I just found that interesting.

The bottom line:  I would definitely recommend this book both as part of the series and also based on the merits of the book itself.

Author website: http://www.elizabethhoyt.com/
Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Darling-Beast-Maiden-Lane-Elizabeth/dp/1455586307/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1420719107&sr=8-1

2014 – Book #105

Posted in Book reviews, Contemporary romance by

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The hundred and fifth book I read in 2014 was No Strings Attached by Susan Andersen. I finished this book on 12/22/14. I rated this book 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Tasha Riordan and Luc Bradshaw. Tasha decides to go on vacation and while on vacation she meets a man that she becomes infatuated with, Luc. Luc is an undercover agent for the DEA and he gets word from his supervisor that his most recent undercover assignment might be falling apart. One of the people in the drug world where he resides as an undercover agent decides to set him up so that he falls out of favor with the head of the drug world.

Turns out though, that Tasha is alone in the hotel room when the Bahama police come to raid the room. She is arrested and kept in prison for three days, the longest three days of her life. She grows to hate Luc so big surprise when he turns out to be the long lost never known of brother to her best friend’s fiance’s. This whole plot line was a little too neat and convenient. Three half-brothers fall in love with three best friends.

Overall I was not a huge fan of this book. I found myself losing interest many times through the book and I could not seem to get myself involved in the story line. It was a cute story but it wasn’t my favorite in the least.

Link to author website: http://susanandersen.com/index.php

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Strings-Attached-Hqn-Susan-Andersen/dp/0373778872/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1419394737&sr=8-5

2014 – Book #102

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Cousins O'Dwyer series, Paranormal romance by

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The hundred and second book I read in 2014 was Blood Magick by Nora Roberts. This is the third book in her Cousins O’Dwyer trilogy. I read the first book in 2013 and it is therefore not on this blog yet, the second book I read in 2014 and you can see the review here. I finished this book on 11/16/14. I rated this book 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Branna O’Dwyer and Finbar Burke. Branna is the last of the three Dark Witches of Mayo. She has been in love with Finbar Burke since she was young but after they had sex for the first time when they were eighteen Fin woke up one morning with the mark of Cabhan.

Ever since that day, Fin has remained in Branna’s life but they haven’t been together as they both longed to be. In the previous two books we hear the story of Iona, Branna’s cousin from America, and Connor, Branna’s brother. We hear much of Branna and Fin’s back story through the first two books but we learn about some interesting developments in this third book in the trilogy. To be honest I thought it was a little weird that all of a sudden in this book Branna trusts Fin and decides to have a slumber party with him after all the inner turmoil she put herself through in the first two books.

Overall I thought this was an ok book. The ending went a little fast for me. It was a three book build up to this ending that was only about 10 pages, it just felt a little anticlimactic. It may have also been that i was looking forward to the book so much that I psyched myself up for it a bit too much. I did a WOW post on this book previously, which you can see here. And also I had trouble getting emotionally involved in the story, I didn’t feel like the characters had a lot of depth to them. Other than that it was a good read and I love the magical twist and also the glimpses into and connection with the past and the first three Dark Witches.

Link to author website: http://www.noraroberts.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Magick-Cousins-ODwyer-Roberts/dp/0425259870/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1416355039&sr=8-1

2014 – Book #100

Posted in Book reviews, Paranormal romance, Romantic suspense by

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The hundredth book I read in 2014 was Long Time Coming by Edie Claire. This book was recommended to me by my cousin, Stephanie Gorman. I finished this book on 11/9/14. This was the first book I’ve read by this author. I rated this book 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Joy Hudson, who after 18 years away returns home to Wharton, Kentucky to care for her father and mother, both of which are not in the best of health anymore. Joy left home a long time ago and never looked back, too scarred by traumatic events that occurred at the end of her senior year to think of Wharton as home.

When Joy returns to Wharton though she is forced to face a variety of issues that she had up until then successfully avoided. Like why she feels so guilty about her best friend’s death in high school. And why she’s scared of Jeff Bradford (her best friend’s high school boyfriend) and how he makes her feel, even now eighteen years later.

Overall I did enjoy this book. I was interested in the story line and liked the mixture of paranormal and suspense in the plot. I thought that the characters could’ve been developed a tad bit more and had more depth. As much as we delved into Joy’s psyche I found her character to be a bit flat I guess. Other than that I liked the story well enough. Though I wouldn’t consider it one of my favorites, it was interesting and also free on Amazon Kindle!

Link to author website: http://www.edieclaire.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Long-Time-Coming-Edie-Claire-ebook/dp/B004RJ7Y8Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415646021&sr=8-1&keywords=long+time+coming

2014 – Book #99

Posted in Blue Heron series, Book reviews, Book series, Contemporary romance by

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The ninety-ninth book I read in 2014 was In Your Dreams by Kristan Higgins. I have been very excited about this book for awhile (in fact, here is my “Waiting on Wednesday” post on the book) and couldn’t wait to start reading it. And once I started I couldn’t seem to put it down! I finished this book on 11/3/14. I rated this book 5 stars out of a scale of 5. This is the fourth book in the Blue Heron series. I have read the previous three books in the series as well and loved them all, though only one is discussed on this blog since the others were read prior to 2014. You can read my post on the other book in the series here. This really is just such a great series by one of my favorite authors and I highly recommend it!! I devour her books, I already can’t wait for the next in the series (hopefully Connor’s story!) to come out!!!

So, In Your Dreams is about police woman Emmaline Neal and town favorite Jack Holland. (Just for reference, Jack is brother to Faith and Honor, who were the heroines in books #1 and #2 in the series.) Emmaline had her heart squashed by her fiance 3 years ago and moved to Manningsport, NY to start over. Unfortunately, the dating pool is limited in the area so when she receives an invitation to her ex-fiance’s wedding, she has to find a man and fast. Luckily, Jack is skilled in helping out damsels in distress. He has been a last minute date for many functions in the past for various women in town, though he doesn’t expect to enjoy spending time with Emmaline quite so much.

Hoenstly I just loved this book. I literally couldn’t put it down, I read it in two nights because I got lost in the world that Higgins created. She is so gifted in character development and drawing you into the story. I love the characters she’s formed in this series and I love their individual stories. It was a great read and I would highly recommend trying it! For that matter, I would highly recommend the whole series!!

Link to author website: http://www.kristanhiggins.com/index.html

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Dreams-Blue-Heron-Series/dp/0373779313/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1415105684&sr=8-1

2014 – Book #87

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by

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The eighty-seventh book I read in 2014 was Mean Streak by Sandra Brown. I finished this book on 9/30/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book was about Dr. Emory Charbonneau, pediatrician and marathon runner who decides to complete a training run up in the mountains of North Carolina. While in the midst of her run, she is knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant.

Emory wakes up in a stranger’s cabin. She has no memory of how he got there. And the man staring back at her looks far from gentle. Worried about why this strange man has brought her to his cabin, she shrinks back at first. However, after the stranger proves again and again that he won’t hurt her, she begins to relax around him. As he nurses her back to health, he tries to ignore the sparks that start to fly between them.

The thing that scares Emory the most is that this mystery man won’t tell her anything about himself, even his name. What is she supposed to tell her husband when this strange man finally returns her to her normal life? Does she even really want to return to her normal life? And then a crisis comes up and Emory and the mystery guy end up having to work together to help someone in need.

Overall I liked this book a lot. This wasn’t my favorite book of hers but the plot was interesting, it was well paced, and was even a little scary in the beginning, a good thriller novel. My only complaint is that the plot was a tad predictable. I usually can’t figure out this author’s plot twists but this one I did see coming a little bit. Was still great and I would definitely recommend!!

Link to author website: http://sandrabrown.net/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mean-Streak-Sandra-Brown/dp/1455581127/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1412207014&sr=8-1

2014 – Book #86

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Harmony, Paranormal romance, Rainshadow by

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The eighty-sixth book I read in 2014 was The Hot Zone by Jayne Castle. This is the fifteenth book in her Harmony series and the third book in her Rainshadow series. I finished this book on 9/27/14. I rated this book 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Sedona Snow (descendant of Arizona Snow from one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s earlier novels) who was the victim of kidnapping and a subsequent awful medical experiment. After she escapes the mad scientist’s lab in the catacombs, she retreats to the island of Rainshadow to try and start over.

Cyrus Jones is the new Guild boss of the newly formed ghost hunter Guild on Rainshadow. While he is exciting to take on this new challenge, he is also there to check up on Sedona Snow. Jones is also a member of the Jones from the Arcane society. Cyrus was sent by Arcane to see if the “formula” worked on Sedona and she has developed some kind of second talent as her ancestor had also done. Multi-talents can sometimes become unstable and dangerous but Cyrus finds Sedona to be not only stable but extremely intriguing.

There’s a lot of other stuff going on in this story, all of which adds to the intrigue of the plot. I do have to say though that if you haven’t read the other Harmony books (or at least one) then this novel might be kind of hard to understand. Harmony is another planet. Apparently at some point in the future a “curtain” will open up between Earth and Harmony. Some people traveled over to Harmony to colonize it and then all of a sudden the curtain closes. The colonists on Harmony are stranded and all of a sudden when the curtain closes all their technology stops working. Also after living on Harmony for awhile amongst the Alien’s psi-strong tunnels, all the citizens of Harmony start to develop natural powers. Most citizens have low-level powers and all citizens need tuned amber to rez their talents, but Sedona and Cyrus are off the charts talents.

Overall I thought this was a really good book. I like this series a lot because its creative and interesting and completely out of the box. Who would ever think of this other planet where everyone has powers and there are underground tunnels that you get lost in unless you have tuned amber on you? Crazy. I would never think of that on my own. So, good book. Nothing outstandingly exciting but overall solid plot, well-paced, and interesting.

Link to author website: http://www.krentz-quick.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Zone-Rainshadow-Jayne-Castle/dp/0515154725/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411829348&sr=8-2&keywords=hot+zone

2014 – Book #84

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Highland Pleasures (Mackenzie family) series, Historical Romance by

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The eighty-fourth book I read in 2014 was Scandal and the Duchess by Jennifer Ashley. This is book 6.5 in the Highland Pleasures/Mackenzie family series. I rated this book 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5. I finished this book on 9/17/14 (my birthday! :-)). This book tells the story of Steven McBride, brother to Ainsley McBride from book #3 in the series and Elliot McBride from book #5 in the series. Steven is home on leave from the military and spends his first night home getting sloshed in a bar. When he tries to head back to his lodgings, he can’t seem to remember exactly where he’s booked a room for this trip. While trying to figure it out he stumbles (literally) into Rose Barclay, young widow of the Duke of Southdown.

Scandal seems to find Rose wherever she goes, even if most of the supposed scandals are complete falsities made up by the members of the press. When Steven collapses into Rose in the street, she takes him home thinking him a poor homeless veteran. She lets him sleep it off in her guest room and then brings him some breakfast. In return for her kindness, Steven decides to help Rose in her unfortunate situation. It seems that the new Duke (that inherited the title when Rose’s husband died) is contesting the marriage and refuses to pay Rose a widow’s settlement or let her stay in any of the estate’s houses. Steven decides to help her and hires a lawyer to argue her case and also stands up to Albert for her.

Overall I like this book (really more of a short story). I liked the characters a lot, Rose was very compassionate and Steven very alpha male. The plot was interesting if fast paced as one would expect in a novella. I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the next book in the series, Rules for a Proper Governess, due to come out on October 7.

Link to author website: http://www.jenniferashley.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Scandal-Duchess-Mackenzies-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00DGZKJ5C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411046652&sr=1-1&keywords=scandal+and+the+duchess

2014 – Book #82

Posted in Book reviews, Contemporary romance by

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The eighty-second book I read in 2014 was Love’s Encore by Sandra Brown. I finished this book on 9/14/14. I rated this book 2.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book was about Camille Jameson, an interior decorator from Atlanta who gets hired to renovate an estate called “Bridal Wreath.” When she arrives at the home she will be renovating/redecorating, she is amazed to discover the man she lost her virginity to two years ago is the son of the homeowner.

Zack Prescott always thought of Camille as the “one who got away” since she slipped out of his condo and left the ski town without a word after he deflowered her over two years ago. So when he walks into his foyer one day to discover her sitting there waiting to meet with his father, I guess he wants to punish her or something.

Honestly, this will not be my most eloquent post. This book was pretty awful. Camille is a scared dumb girl to just disappear like that. And then when they finally see each other again, they both seem determined to punish the other. Camille was all mad that Zack “took her innocence without any thought” but SHE DIDN’T TELL HIM BEFOREHAND. What did she expect? That he would just know? Like he’s got X-ray vision or something? Ridiculous. And Zack is pretty much just a complete asshole to her right up until like the last 5 pages of the book. Just awful. To be fair, this is I believe the first book she ever published, and it was in the early 1980’s so that kind of behavior from bother characters was probably fitting for the time. Wouldn’t recommend for a modern reader though.

Link to author website: http://sandrabrown.net/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Loves-Encore-Sandra-Brown/dp/B00C2HI0HE/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1410794696

2014 – Book #81

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by

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The eighty-first book I read in 2014 was The Collector by Nora Roberts. I finished this book on 9/13/14. I rated this book 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Lila Emerson, international house-sitter and young-adult paranormal author. While house-sitting in New York City, she witnesses a brutal murder in the apartment across the street from her. Then when she happens to meet the suspected murderer’s brother at the police station (artist Ashton Archer), she hears a new side of the story that makes her questions what she originally believed happened in that apartment. Ashton asks her to help him figure out what happened to his brother.

As they investigate, Ashton realizes that Lila is everything he’s been looking for and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. When the police realize that the person after Lila and Ashton is a woman wanted is sever countries for murder, they have to come up with a good plan to try and keep Lila safe. As they delve deeper into the investigation, Ashton uncovers a piece of art that his brother was killed over, a Faberge egg. More specifically, one of the lost Imperial eggs.

Overall I was not a huge fan of this book. The hero was FAR too heavy-handed for me and I just couldn’t manage to get involved in the story line. Some parts of the book were interesting but by the time the climax of the book came around I had pretty much lost interest. It was ok but I’m not sure its worth reading the whole 480+ pages.

Link to Faberge Imperial Eggs: http://www.faberge.com/news/49-imperialeggs.aspx

Link to author website: http://www.noraroberts.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Collector-Nora-Roberts/dp/0399164456/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410793306&sr=8-1&keywords=the+collector