2014 – Book #79

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Fairy Tales series, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

The seventy-ninth book I read in 2014 was When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James. This is the second book in the Fairy Tales series by this author. I finished this book on 9/6/14. I rated this book 4.5 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Linnet Thrynne and a man aptly named “the Beast” in polite society, Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant.

Linnet finds herself in an interesting situation. Due to an unfortunate encounter with Prince Augustus at a party, she is now ruined even though all she did was kiss him. Her mother’s reputation proceeds her though and so in society’s mind she is just as ruined as if she were caught in bed with the prince. Linnet’s father and aunt try to think of a way out of this sticky situation. So they set her up with a duke that needs an already impregnated wife-to-be for his son who is thought to be incapable of getting it up. So Linnet travels to Wales and meets the most surly, insensitive creature she has ever encountered.

And obviously she falls in love with him. Linnet is a raving beauty. Men follow her around just to see her smile at them. So when she finally meets someone who is seemingly impervious to her charms (Piers) it is refreshing to not have to deal with a slobbering fool. Thinking him incapable of lustful desires, she relaxes with Piers and an odd friendship of sorts forms. Obviously Piers isn’t really incapable though, otherwise this would be a very unusual romance novel.

Just when things are developing between Piers and Linnet though, a scarlet fever epidemic breaks out in the castle. Piers knows he must send Linnet away in order to protect her. What he doesn’t know though is that she’s already contracted the fever before he sends her away. Linnet ends up in some inn in the middle of nowhere deliriously sick with no one to take care of her. Piers finally realizes somehow that he had to go after Linnet and save her.

Overall I thought this was a really good book. I really liked Linnet’s character and how intelligent she was. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales (mostly due to the MASSIVE library in the Beast’s house and how much of a reader Belle is. Probably also because my husband can be slightly beast-like at times.) and this story was a great version of this story. So in light of that, here’s to hoping all us readers get our own dream library.

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Tamed-Beast-Fairy-Tales/dp/0062021273/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1410051384&sr=8-1-spell

26Aug2014

2014 – Book #77

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Brides of Bliss County, Contemporary romance by rebeccabook17

The seventy-seventh book I read in 2014 was The Marriage Pact by Linda Lael Miller. This is the first book in her Brides of Bliss County series. I finished this book on 8/25/14. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Hadleigh Stevens and Tripp Galloway. Tripp was Hadleigh’s brother Will’s best friend, and she tagged along a lot with them while she was growing up. When Will died in the war oversees, Tripp promised Will that he would take care of Hadleigh and watch over her. So when, at eighteen, Hadleigh decides she’s going to get married. Tripp does a background check on the guy and realizes that Hadleigh is making a humongous mistake and decides to come home just in time to stop the wedding.

Hadleigh admits to herself that she secretly wanted Tripp to put a stop to her wedding. What she didn’t want is for him to then turn around and tell her that he got married himself and didn’t tell anybody. Feeling betrayed and hurt, Hadleigh then doesn’t talk to Tripp for the next ten years. During those ten years she gets a college degree and becomes a successful business woman / quilter. When Tripp finally comes home to take over the ranch for his sick Dad, he decides that it is far past time to make things right with Hadleigh. She doesn’t happen to agree however.

Hadleigh knows that she’s been in love with Tripp pretty much all her life. She doesn’t want to let him back into her life only to have him break her heart again, especially since it took ten years to piece back together the last time. But her best friends are pushing her to take the chance. The three girls made a marriage pact to work together to each find the right husband for them.

Overall I thought this book was ok. I liked the underlying story of friendship between the three girlfriends, and the charm bracelet thing they did to commemorate each of them finding true love was cute. I just had trouble buying into the idea that Hadleigh was able to cut Tripp off from her life so completely for 10 years. I mean, that takes a lot of hate and it sounds just exhausting. I feel like they could’ve maybe reconciled sooner. Other than that the book was good: entertaining, light and sweet.

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Pact-Linda-Lael-Miller/dp/0373778708/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1409058417&sr=8-1

25Aug2014

2014 – Book #76

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

Well this past weekend was certainly a busy weekend. The Terryville Fair was this past weekend and as I am a member of the Terryville Lions Club, who puts on the Fair, it was go, go, go from sun-up to sun-down. For some of the weekend I was helping my Mom in the quilting section, you can see her post on the Fair here: http://joanne94w.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/fair-weekend/

The seventy-sixth book I read in 2014 was The Fatal Fortune by Jayne Castle (one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s many pseudonyms). This is the fourth book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/22/14. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5. This book continues the story of small-business owner Guinevere Jones and her boyfriend Zac Justis. Zac also owns his own business, a security consulting firm. He is hoping to stay away from investigating crimes, but with Gwen as his gal he can’t seem to avoid getting wrapped up in all kinds of trouble.

When Gwen discovers that one of her employees has become the victim of a “protection scam” she decides to figure out the problem herself. Thinking she can complete this investigation on her own, she at first is reticent to involve Zac. She wants to prove to him that she can do this on her own. When people start disappearing and her employee starts being blackmailed though, she knows that its time to call in the big guns.

While trying to go through this investigation, Gwen encounters an old boyfriend, Rick. Rick decides that he wants Gwen back in his life, and he’ll do anything to get her there. Rick’s character was very creepy and unsettling. Zac’s character in this story was shown at a different angle, since most of the time we see his jealous side but in this story we saw how much he trusts Gwen and trusts in their relationship.

Overall this was a good story. I really liked the plot and I thought it was well-paced. I liked that all the stories in the series didn’t really get too deep into things. They were all around 150 pages so they were easy to read and at the same time interesting. I wish there were more in this series. I really like Gwen and Zac!

Link to other posts in the Guinevere Jones series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/guinevere-jones-series/

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Fortune-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HQQ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408989907&sr=8-1&keywords=the+fatal+fortune

22Aug2014

2014 – Book #75

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The seventy-fifth book I read in 2014 was The Sinister Touch by Jayne Castle (one of Jayne Ann Krentz’s many pseudonyms). This is the third book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/21/14. I rated this book 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5. This book continues the story of small-business owner Guinevere Jones and her boyfriend Zac Justis. Zac also owns his own business, a security consulting firm. He is hoping to stay away from investigating crimes, but with Gwen as his gal he can’t seem to avoid getting wrapped up in all kinds of trouble.

Gwen has a friendly aquiantance with her window neighbor across the street. He is an artist and though they’ve never met in person, they wave to each other some mornings in passing. Zac doesn’t enjoy this ritual. Zac has been very busy with a prominent client in recent weeks, though, so there’s no one around to tell Gwen not to wave at her artist neighbor. On this one particular morning though she notices something odd with one of his paintings, it looked like someone defaced the painting and sliced it through. Once the artist neighbor sees this too, he holds up a note asking Gwen to meet him downstairs for coffee.

Turns out the artist’s name is Mason. He asks Gwen if she saw who did this to his painting. She didn’t but she decides to ask Zac for advice on what Mason should do. Zac doesn’t like the idea of Mason and Gwen becoming even friendlier. But with his current client trying to pay him for his genes, i feel like he can’t really say much. What follow is a funny story of intrigue and greed. Zac helps figure out who is behind the attacks on Mason, and unfortunately Gwen since she sticks her nose in everything, in the nick of time and saves both of them from being killed (sacrificed).

I liked this story but I don’t think I liked it as much as the first two books in the series. The plot in this story felt more forced than it did in the last two. It was still a good and entertaining story though and I like seeing the progression of Zac and Gwen’s relationship. I also like seeing the different intricacies of Gwen’s sister Carla’s character that are being introduced through each story.

Link to other posts in the Guinevere Jones series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/guinevere-jones-series/

Link to author website: http://jayneannkrentz.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sinister-Touch-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HRQG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-1&keywords=the+sinister+touch

14Aug2014

2014 – Book #72

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Buchanan/Renard/MacKenna series (FBI), Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The seventy-second book I read in 2014 was Fast Track by Julie Garwood. This is book 12 in her Buchanan / Renard / MacKenna series (mostly FBI thrillers). I finished this book on 8/14/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Cordelia Kane and Aiden Madison (Cordelia is best friends with Aiden’s sister Regan, who is the heroine in book 4 in this series – Murder List).

Cordelia’s dad has had his third and final heart attack and he isn’t going to get any better from this one. He makes a deathbed confession to Cordelia and tells her that he’s lied to her for her whole life, her mother isn’t actually dead. She is in fact alive and living in Sydney Australia. He confesses that he waited all this time for her to come back, that he should’ve given up on that dream long ago but couldn’t seem to move on.

Cordelia knows exactly how that feels. She’s been in love with her best friend’s older brother Aiden since she was five years old. Not wanting to follow in her father’s footsteps, she decides to make some big changes to get Aiden out of her life and out of her mind. First thing she needs to do though, is confront the mother who abandoned her so long ago. As she plans to travel to Sydney, Australia, Aiden decides he needs to tag along to keep her safe. He’s just starting to realize that Cordelia is really the one thing that’s been precious to him all along.

Overall I really liked this book. I liked the heroine’s character and to be honest I loved the hero’s character, as bad at communicating as he was. I also liked the connection to characters from previous stories in the series. This was a great read, I couldn’t seem to put it down!

Link to author website: http://www.juliegarwood.com/index.asp

Link to Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Track-Julie-Garwood/dp/0525954457/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1408032916&sr=8-1

13Aug2014

2014 – Book #71

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Historical Romance, Rhymes with Love by rebeccabook17

The seventy-first book I read in 2014 was Have You Any Rogues? by Elizabeth Boyle. This is book 2.5 in her Rhymes with Love series (between Book #2 And the Miss Ran Away with the Rake and Book #3 If Wishes were Earls). I finished this book on 8/13/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book (novella) tells the story of Viscount Crispin Dale (cousin to Daphne Dale and mentioned in book #2 of the series) and Lady Henrietta Seldon/Astbury/Michaels/Juniper (sister to Lord Henry from book #2 and aunt to Christopher, Duke of Preston, from book #1).

As we learned in book #2, the Dale and Seldon families have a long standing feud. Crispin Dale tries with all his might to keep Daphne and Henry apart in book #2, even though he himself is in love with a Seldon as well. Crispin comes knocking at Owle Park (the Seldon family home) to demand that something be done, and instead ends up locked in a wine cellar with Henrietta Seldon, where they proceed to re-hash their entire past together and finally reach the conclusion that they love each other very much.

This novella jumped back and forth between past and present. I thought it was very interesting and I loved learning of the back-story to both characters, but at a couple points I got a tad bit confused. In order to help with the confusion, I found it best to create a timeline of events so I could keep track of the sequence. **SPOILER ALERT** This timeline reveals points of what happen in the book so if you don’t want to know what happens then don’t read it!

Overall I really enjoyed this novella. It was a great addition to the series. Also Henrietta and Crispin’s characters were very interesting to learn more about! Would definitely recommend.

Link to reviews on other books in the Rhymes with Love series: https://rebeccabookreview.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/book-series-book-reviews/rhymes-with-love/

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Have-You-Any-Rogues-Novella-ebook/dp/B00ECAUBLM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407962730&sr=1-1&keywords=have+you+any+rogues

13Aug2014

2014 – Book #70

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Historical Romance, Rhymes with Love by rebeccabook17

The seventieth book I read in 2014 was If Wishes Were Earls by Elizabeth Boyle. This is the third book in her Rhymes With Love series. I finished this book on 8/12/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Harriet Hathaway and the Earl of Roxley. Harriett was introduced in books one and two in this series as she is the third in a close group of friends, the other two were the heroines of books one and two (I read books one and two previous to 2014). The Earl of Roxley grew up in Kempton, near the Hathaways. Since he was an orphan with no relatives besides his aging aunts, he was encouraged to spend time with the Hathaways as they had 5 boys in their family.

Harriett has been in love with Roxley all her life. But Roxley seems to only see her as an annoying kid sister. After a sensual encounter in the garden though, Roxley realizes that Harriett could be the one person who could steal his heart. And two months later they have another encounter that technically ruins Harriett, leaving her with the impression that they will soon marry. However, when Roxley immediately goes to London (apparently to obtain a special license to marry Harriett, which he never tells her so she starts to think that he’s abandoned her) he encounters problems that he learns could end up being life threatening.

Under very nefarious circumstances, Roxley ends up almost betrothed to someone else. And not wanting to draw Harriett into the danger of his current situation, he doesn’t write to her in Kempton to explain. So when she suddenly shows up in London on the same night he is supposed to propose to someone else, he ends up breaking Harriett’s heart. Harriett loves Roxley so no matter how much he might try to keep her out of this, she keeps involving herself in the mess he’s gotten himself into.

Overall I thought this was a very good book. I didn’t want to put it down and couldn’t seem to make myself stop reading it. It was interesting throughout and though Roxley could have prevented a lot of turmoil by just being open and honest with Harriett, the writer did an excellent job portraying both hero and heroine. Their passion lept off the pages and their personalities were fun to read. And the aging aunts were hilarious. Great read, and great addition to the series.

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/If-Wishes-Were-Earls-Rhymes/dp/0062089099/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1407933346&sr=8-1

11Aug2014

2014 – Book #68

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The sixty-eighth book I read in 2014 was The Witness by Nora Roberts. I finished this book on 8/11/14. I rated this book 4,25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book is about Elizabeth Fitch, prodigy child who at 16 has already been accepted into Harvard medical school. Elizabeth’s controlling mother has decided that Elizabeth will follow in her footsteps and be a neurosurgeon. But Elizabeth’s real passion is computers, and she hopes to someday work for the FBI. One night of rebellion turns Elizabeth’s life around completely, and the few months that follow as she waits in a safe house for a trial to begin turn out to be better than all her years living with her heartless mother. A plot to eliminate her as a witness though leaves her doubting who she can trust, and so she goes on the run for the next twelve years.

Elizabeth (now calling herself Abigail Lowery) settles in a small town in the Ozarks, thinking that in this quiet town she can finally find a semblance of safety and peace. But what she finds is that the Chief of police in this small town of Bickford is an extremely annoying man. He seems to be always butting into her business, and for a woman who just wants to be left in peace this can be extremely trying. Abigail comes to find though that Brooks can’t be avoided, and as they grow closer she discovers that he may be the one person she can trust with her secret. Brooks also has to deal with multiple different side stories in his role as town police chief. The addition of the side stories make it so that there is never a dull moment in this book.

Overall I very much liked this book. Even though it was a longer book for me (488 pages), I even thought that there could have been more added to the end. I felt like the ending was cut off a little too quick, I wanted to find out what happened with the bad guys. I absolutely loved the heroine in this story though, she was utterly fascinating. I would highly recommend this book, it was a great, interesting read and I was hooked throughout the whole story!

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

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Witness-Nora-Roberts/dp/0425264769/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1407786512

7Aug2014

2014 – Book #67

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Cynster family series, Danvers family series, Governess Brides series, Historical Romance by rebeccabook17

The sixty-seventh book I read in 2014 was Hero, Come Back. This is an anthology of books written by 3 romance authors, and all 3 stories are set in the 1830’s in England. I finished this book on 8/6/14.

Lost and Found by Stephanie Laurens is a story connected to the Cynster family series written by this author. I rated this story 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This story is about Reggie Carmathean (best friend to Amanda and Amelia Cynster from 2 books in the Cynster series) and Anne Ashford (sister to Luc, Penelope, and Portia, all of whom have their own books in the Cynster or Barnaby Adair series). This story was brief (only about 75 pages) and therefore was fast-paced, especially compared to Laurens’ other work. The story itself was good though and i thought it was a good addition to the overall series.

The Third Suitor by Christina Dodd is a story connected to her Governess Brides series, which I have not yet read but hope to now in the future. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5. This story is about Lady Jessie Macmillian and Harry Chamberlain. Jessie’s father has set her up with three suitors and told her that she must choose one to marry. Unfortunately she is repulsed by all of them, and enlists the help of Harry Chamberlain, another resident of the inn she is staying in, to help her hide so that her suitors can not force any more of their kissed on her. This was a very good story, I thought the heroine had a great strength of character. I would’ve liked to delve a little more into Harry’s psyche but you can only go so far with a short story. I look forward to reading more in this series in the future!

A Matchmaker’s Bargain by Elizabeth Boyle is a story connected to her Danvers familly series. I rated this book 4 stars out of a scale of 5. This story is about James Reyburn and Miss Amanda Preston. Amanda has run away from home and after getting caught in a storm manages to unwittingly enter herself into a bargain with a matchmaker. Apparently its against the law to leave the town of Bramley Hollow until this bargain has been fulfilled, and since Amanda was only passing through on her way to Brighton this is especially unfortunate for her. James Reyburn tries to help her escape but when his mother gets involved in planning a betrothal ball for Amanda, he realizes that it will take a great deal of stealth to get Amanda out of town without getting arrested. This was an entertaining story, though I thought both the hero and heroine could have used a tad bit more confidence. Overall very good story though, I might read the rest of the series as well!

Link to author website – Stephanie Laurens: http://www.stephanielaurens.com/

Link to author website – Christina Dodd: http://christinadodd.com/

Link to author website – Elizabeth Boyle: http://www.elizabethboyle.com/

Link to Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Come-Back-Stephanie-Laurens/dp/0060564504/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1407376775&sr=8-1

4Aug2014

2014 – Book #66

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Guinevere Jones series, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The sixty-sixth book I read in 2014 was The Chilling Deception by Jayne Castle. This is the second book in the Guinevere Jones series by this author. I finished this book on 8/4/14. I rated this book 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5.This book continues the story of Guinevere Jones and her investigator boyfriend Zac Justis. Gwen is concerned about her current client, Mr. Vandyke, and his current stress level. She convinces Zac to offer his security services on Mr. Vandyke’s upcoming buisness trip to the San Juan islands.

Zac is not thrilled about being a bodyguard to Gwen’s client. Especially when it means being at Mr. Vandyke’s beck and call and not getting any alone time with Gwen. Gwen was hoping to get some alone time this weekend as well, but not for exactly the same reasons as Zac. Gwen was hoping that she might be able to talk to Zac this weekend about their relationship status. But things seem to keep getting in the way.

Overall I thought this was a good story. It was a quick read at only about 165 pages and the plot was interesting and well-paced. The climax was riveting and well done, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next. As I said in my post on the first story in the series though, the hero in these stories is a little too heavy-handed for me. He was almost mean in this story, calling the heroine names and stuff. I’m excited to read the next in the series!

Link to author website: http://jayneannkrentz.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Chilling-Deception-Guinevere-Jones-Book-ebook/dp/B007P7HV9E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407191209&sr=8-1&keywords=the+chilling+deception