Wronged, Betrayed & Beguiled by Sylvia McDaniel (The Curvier Widow’s 1, 2 & 3)

Available: Now

Type: Historical Romance

Publisher: Virtual Bookseller- Self Pub

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Pam

They Met Over His Dead Body Until the day of Jean Cuvier’s death, his wives had no idea that he had promised until death do us part to more than one woman. Now, the Cuvier Widows must deal with his duplicity, while wondering who poisoned their wayward husband. Can they ever learn to trust and find love again?

Wronged: Marian Cuvier didn’t know how to react when she learned that the man she called husband and father to her children, Jean Cuvier, had been murdered. Yet, the biggest surprise was when the detective informed her that she’s not the only woman Jean married. There are three Cuvier Widows and one is suspected of murder. Betrayed: Nicole Cuvier went to New Orleans to share the most wonderful news with her husband only to discover him in a hotel room murdered, with two other women claiming to be his wife. It seems there are three Cuvier Widows and one is suspected of murder. Beguiled: Jean Cuvier forced Layla’s father to sell his shipping company and marry his daughter, or so she believed. Until the morning the servants wake her with the news that Jean is dead and she quickly learns she’s not the only Mrs. Cuvier. Jean has three widows, but Layla is the only one accused of Jean’s murder.

The Cuvier Widows is a trilogy that has been recently re-released into a box set with nice new covers. The overall arc of the story is about three women who recently found out they were married to the same man at the same time. Marian, Nicole and Layla had no idea about each other until they are summoned to the hotel room where he died. Even the police are stunned when three different women claim to be Jean Cuvier’s wife. I love the concept and the story is very interesting as we track each widow through the months after Jean dies. Jean leaves a trail of tears as we see what type of man he was, how he treated his children, wives and business partners, he was an evil person that left many unhappy people in his wake.

As the will is read all three realize that only Marian is the true wife and will inherit it all with both Nicole and Layla getting nothing, however they will all have to live with the scandal of being married to a bigamist.

Wronged:

Marian Cuvier was married to Jean for twelve years and they have two children. At one time she was in love with him however as the years passed and he was rarely home and took several mistresses she began to hate him. She believes she can finally be free of this loveless marriage when she finds out he died.

Louis Fournet was Jean’s business partner and is hoping he will be able to now sell the business and move on with his plan to work with his family. However when he talks to Marian she tells him that she wants to keep the business for her son and learn to run it.

As Louis teaches Marian about the business there is a growing attraction between them however they are both keeping secrets and telling lies and there is little trust in the relationship.

Betrayed:

Nicole Curvier was married to Jean for four years and is currently pregnant with their first child. Now she is worried that her child will have the stigma of illegitimacy for the rest of his life. Nicole’s mother never married her father, so she knows what will happen and how they will be treated. She is looking for a husband in name only and finds the perfect person in a drifter who comes to help. Nicole’s name is still on the deed for the plantation Jean bought so she is lucky that even through there is scandal; she will have a place of her own.

Maxim Viel has been watching Nicole trying to find information about the plantation his family used to own, he wants to get it back for them. So he pretends to be a drifter without any money and will be happy to marry Nicole and give her his name.

As they work the plantation, they become close however with lies and secrets between them neither know what is going on and there is no trust. When tragedy strikes, Nicole and Max must learn to wade through the lies to trust and love.

Beguiled:

Layla Curvier was married for only a year and she hated her husband, she was forced to marry him when her father sold him their shipping business. She is very happy to be rid of Jean and was about to leave him when she found him dead in the hotel room. She is the last one to have seen him and the prime suspect of the murder. Her childhood friend, Drew Soulier wants to help her and will use his skills as a lawyer to represent her during her trial.

Drew has a specific reason for representing Layla, he knows this will gain a lot of publicity and wants to be mayor. With all the evidence they have gathered, even Drew does not believe her innocence.

Layla believes there is another woman who may have been involved with Jean and she is determined to find information about her. She must find something to show she is innocent and in the meantime she and Drew get close. However the fact that he does not believe her and he is not telling her everything, she has a hard time trusting him.

When the trial begins, she must put her faith in Drew and others as her life depends on it.

The concept of the trilogy was great, I love that the three widows were shocked when they found out what Jean did and must make their own way for their immediate future. The year was 1895 and although it was quite modern in many aspects, still the papers were alive with all the gossip and scandal. I liked all the women in the stories, Marian was very strong and willing to take the reins of the business, Nicole was willing to marry a man she did not know to give her baby something she never had and Layla was determined to prove her innocence even though those around her did not believe her. The fault I found is with the men and all the lies, secrets and downright manipulation they did to get what they wanted. I had a hard time liking any of them. Louis did not believe Marian could run a business so never told her anything that was going on, even when a strike was looming. Max never told Nicole about his family and that they use to own the plantation she lived on so she believed he was a poor drifter until late in the book. Drew only wanted to use Layla for publicity, only when she finds evidence to help does he look at her differently.

The stories all were interesting and I enjoyed the time period, the turn of the century, where people had more choices in life, the world was changing and I enjoyed the semi-freedom women started to have. The books were fast paced I was glad I was able to read them all at the same time as they flowed well together since they all took place at the same time. All in all they were enjoyable books – I just wanted the women to live on their own without the men they selected in their lives.

I give The Cuvier Widows by Sylvia McDaniel 3.25 stars!

Good or Great? Where Is The Line?

Are you an alpha girl? Do you prefer bookish men? Do you find yourself drooling over a great cover? A story line? A simple character? What makes you connect to a book? What takes that book to the next level of greatness for you? For me it’s a simple equation. The right amount of quirk, kink and action sets this reader a pantin and has me coming back for more every time. When the action is done right just, the men are total softie alphas and the heroine are capable females intent on getting what they want…..I’m in love. I swoon. I laugh. I cry. I get pissed. I become part of the journey. A sidelines player in the game the author has set forth. I admit I can be a fickle reader. What works in one book does not work in another. How the author sets the scene is key. If the scene is set to much, the author rambles and I get bored. If not enough is done then I’m confused and irritated. It’s a high wire balancing act with every book I open. At stake is my opinion, which is not worth all that much but every author I’ve met cares about what each individual persons opinion of their book is. They may learn not to respond to the negative opinions and it’s true you can’t please everyone. But they do care.

Lately though I’ve found something to be lacking. Sometimes a character just doesn’t sit well with me or I find myself bored while reading. Doesn’t mean the book wasn’t good it just means I never fully connected with the authors vision. In fact I “liked” the books….but I didn’t “love” them. There was nothing in it that had me running to my computer to tell anyone that would listen how much they NEEDED to read this book or even how much I hated it and loathed the ink it used to be printed (or storage it took up on my e-reader). So I’m left with a what do I do scenario. Do I try and fake it for an entire review? Rack my brain to come up with a review that I deem long enough? Or do I simply tell people that I liked it and if it’s in the genre they like too they might want to check it out.

Available: May 7, 2013 Amazon/B&N

Type: Paranormal Romance Anthology

Publisher: Zebra

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Nikki

Out Of Control by Alexandra Ivy
Ph.D student Angela Locke has a crush on her sexy professor, Dr. Nikolo Bartrev. When she learns he’s actually a Sentinel with extraordinary powers, she joins forces with him to catch a psychopath. But soon, their hottest pursuit is of each other… 

Ties That Bind by Nina Bangs
Cassie Tyler agrees to sub for her friend at the funeral home where she works. But she gets more than she bargained for when a group of men attack her and a vampire comes to her rescue. . . 

In Still Darkness by Dianne Duvall
Immortal Richart d’Alençon can’t forget the woman who rewarded him with a sensuous kiss after he saved her from a trio of vampires. While Richart knows that loving a human can only bring trouble, the taste of forbidden lust is too great to resist. . .

High Stakes by Hannah Jayne
When vampire fashionista Nina LaShay’s design contest rival is found dead, she’s the prime suspect. Sexy photographer Pike is number two. He’s the kind of man who makes Nina salivate. But will she have to reveal herself to have him–and to save them both? Or does Pike have a secret of his own?

Anthologies are hard to review. Simple as that. Most times there is at least one in an anthology that doesn’t click with a person. It’s very rare that I find myself loving every single story. As was the case with Predatory. The first half of this book was awesome. Let’s talk about that first. Alexandria Ivy and Nina Bangs were new to me authors. I had no idea what to expect from them and so I went into those with zero expectations. This is generally better for me as a reader/reviewer. Both Ivy and Bangs wove a quick paranormal romance tale that ensured that I would check out their work again. Both were engaging, well plotted out and had enough heat to have me entertained. Though in that respect Ivy clearly won out because the Bangs novella was lighter on the heat and heavier on the story line.  Duvall’s addition, while part of a series I have enjoyed in the past left me wanting more. I didn’t enjoy the characters and at one point she phonically spells out Richart’s name as Ree-shart. Does she not know what shart is? Does anyone but me know what that is? Well here’s a lesson for you…shart is when you fart and shit your pants. Sexy huh? Yeah didn’t think so. Just let me do what I do in every other book with a weirdly spelled name. Let me weeble-wobble between pronunciations in my head. Then to top it off it ended so incredibly abrupt I thought the publisher had left a chapter out. The last novella was by Hannah Jayne and it re-visits her Underworld Detection Agency series with Nina as the lead instead of a secondary character. I gave up on this series at book 3 and to to be honest I knew from the get go this one wasn’t going to work for me. What started out fun has quickly turned into a puddle of quicksand that I have no intention of getting sucked into. I only read the first 2 chapters of that one before giving up. I just don’t connect to her anymore.

Available: Now Amazon/B&N

Type: Erotic Romance

Publisher: Self Pub

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Nikki

Meeting Jett was like lightning. Dangerous. Better left untouched. And better forgotten. But lightning always strikes twice.

Brooke Stewart, a realtor in New York, doesn’t do relationships. When she’s sent to a remote estate to finalize a real estate deal, she discovers her new boss is no other than the guy she left naked in bed.

Sexy, dangerously handsome, and arrogant Jett Mayfield attracts trouble, and women, like a lightning rod. But the night he meets Brooke he gets more than he bargained for. The green-eyed millionaire playboy isn’t used to taking no for an answer, and he isn’t about to start now.

When he proposes two months of no strings sex, Brooke is intrigued and accepts his proposal. Little does she know Jett’s determined to claim the one woman he can’t have, pulling her deeper into his dangerous world.

A man who doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
A woman afraid to surrender to love.
Two lives that are about to cross…and secrets laid bare.

I so very badly wanted to read this book, love it immensely and sing it’s praises to everyone. I mean look at that cover! Holy hell almighty that’s a hot cover. The blurb is rockin. The heros name is JETT. That says it all right there. Smoking, hot, incredibly rich Jett. It’s an erotic romance, which I what I’ve been reading a lot of lately….and maybe that’s part of the problem. A year ago I think I would have read this and been all over it. But it’s getting harder and harder to impress me lately because I’ve read so much. Nothing seems original anymore. Reed does a good job with setting the scene but I never felt the heat between Jett and Brooke. It felt like they were going through the motions. Intense, hot, sexual motions…but motions none the less. While I liked Jett for all the reasons I already stated, I didn’t think she took him far enough. He needed to be more in control. More alpha. He needed more to his persona and more to the story line then just the sex.

Now don’t get me wrong. I “liked” this book. There are moments in it so perfect they made my heart hurt just a bit.  Jett is all mysterious at times and I played into it as much as Brooke did. The little side plot on Brookes heritage and how it plays into everything will be a source of my interest in how thing will play out in book two. Which I most definitely will read. I look forward to watching Brooke handle her new problems and what and who follows her to her new life.

Erotic romance fans that tend to like less story and more sex should enjoy this one. I enjoyed Reeds writing but I think this could have been better. Been more.

Available: Now Amazon/B&N (e-book now, paperback August 2013)

Type: Erotic Romance

Publisher: Forever

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Nikki 

He pushes her sexual boundaries . . . From the moment waitress Karina meets him in a New York bar, she knows James is different. Daring. Dominating. Though he hides his true identity from her, the mysterious, wealthy businessman anticipates her every desire and fulfills her secret fantasies. Awakened by his touch, Karina discovers a wild side she hadn’t known existed and nothing is off limits. She aches for more . . . What begins as an erotic game soon escalates to a power play that blurs the line between pleasure and pain. Even as she capitulates to James’s sensual demands, Karina craves more. She wants his heart, his soul. She wants his love . . . and she’ll break all the rules to get it.

Slow Surrender had all the makings for something I would slobber over, but it never quite got there. From some of the questionably icky foreplay…i.e. vaginal stimulation by toe…to the complete over the topness of everything else. Butterfly clit stimulators being set off while trying to order pizza, a happy ending parlor woman using a glass dildo on the heroine while the hero skypes in and watches, then the realization that the hero is simply, too big to fit in which I immediately started singing:

When this book worked, it worked well but there was too much mystery surrounding the hero. Karina doesn’t even learn his name till the very end. It was just one orgasm to the next without actual penetration. Because of course he’s just too large and it takes him a week of different sized toys to “ready her”. There was no emotional depth to it at all. So while I enjoyed the marathon foreplay the story line lacked a plot that I could get behind. But I kept reading waiting for the next over the top scene to make me chuckle. Probably not what the author intended but I’m actually looking forward to book two to see where else the author can take this. Because really? Where do you go after vag stimulation by toe? *shudder*

All three of these books earned a 3.0 star rating from me. I like them and I will come back but I hope for more on the next go around. I want more emotion. More alpha. MORE PLOT. I want to go to my happy place when I read them only to emerge and feel saddened by the last words. I didn’t quite get there with these ones, but I have high hopes for the next ones.

What about you? What makes you pick up a book? Continue a series? Are you saddened when you decide to stop reading a series or author? Why?

Saved By His Submissive by Angel Payne (The WILD boys of Special Forces #1)

Available: Now Amazon/B&N

Type: Erotic Romance

Publisher: Self pub

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Michelle

Garrett Hawkins is the most valuable asset to his Special Forces unit—because frankly, the guy doesn’t care if he lives or dies anymore. Since the love of his life, Sage Weston, was kidnapped and killed with her medical unit a year ago, Garrett has turned the shell of his soul into the impenetrable armor of a finely-tuned fighting machine. Being the first tapped for the unit’s craziest missions is just fine by him. The less time for memories, and the agony they carve into his soul, the better.

It’s a plan that works—until one night, deep in the jungles of Thailand, Garrett’s world is upended when memories become stunning reality. The unit is called to rescue a group of kidnapped aid workers, only the head count on the retrieval is unexpectedly doubled. Sage and her teammates, believed dead, are very much alive. Only now that Sage is back in his arms, Garrett doesn’t know what to do. He has changed in dramatic and daunting ways, especially in the darker tastes of his passion. If he touches Sage again, he’ll want to claim her, restrain her…dominate her.

Is Sage’s love strong enough to let Garrett back in not only as her fiancé, but her Dominant? Can she trust that visiting the new shadows of his life will lead her to ecstasy and not ruin? Or can it be that Garrett’s discipline is exactly what her own soul needs to find its way back to life—and love—once again?

This book had all of the ingredients to create a hot romantic suspense including a sexy alpha hero, a strong heroine, scary situations with bad guys, along with some BDSM thrown in. Garrett was uber-alpha, Sage was kick-ass in her own right, and the action was pretty dramatic. Unfortunately there was so much internal emotional struggle between Garrett and Sage that the erotic aspect took a back seat, and it never felt very romantic at all.

Garrett “Hawk” Hawkins has been going through the motions for the past year, spending his life not caring about much of anything since Sage went missing. When her medical unit disappeared and no bodies were discovered, the world assumed the worst. Garrett pours everything he has left into being a stone cold soldier always up for the most dangerous missions. It is on one of those missions that Garrett stumbles upon his very much alive fiancée. Despite the changes over a year of captivity and fighting for survival have wrought, Garrett knows her immediately. The rest of the world may have accepted her death, but his heart had never truly let go. Now that he has her back, he vows to protect her at all costs and never let her go again.

Sage has never been so glad to see someone in her entire life. She’d been through hell for the past year, never knowing what her fate would eventually be. Somewhere in the back of her mind, though, was always the hope that Garrett, her soldier, her love, would find her. When he and his team rescue her and her fellow captives, she feels it is a second chance at life with him.

Things never quite go according to plan, though. The bad guy(s) have a way of resurfacing at completely inopportune moments. Frankly I don’t understand why the author had to continue that storyline. It seemed to me that Garrett and Sage had enough problems and struggles without throwing in the bad guy that just won’t go away. I would have liked the focus to be on them finding their way back to each other through the murky waters of their new relationship. Maybe they could have had a smoother path if they’d actually had the time (and maturity) to talk things through. Between Garrett’s overprotectiveness that he used to justify his secrecy, his inability to trust Sage with his true desires, and the games she played to try to see behind the walls he put up, they never quite got their act together.

Garrett was determined to suppress his sexual desires, believing that BDSM and sexual bondage/slavery have no place in a relationship between a man and woman who love each other. He was ashamed of his wants and refused to believe Sage when she insisted she shared those same wants. There were two really great parts of this book. The initial reunion between Garrett and Sage in the jungle was full of angst and emotion. I loved when she called him her hero. The scene in which Garrett finally gives in to his Dom/sub urges was very hot – if you can ignore the circumstances, as well as the fact that it took most of the book to reach that point. I would have preferred to read more about how these two overcome the past year of hell they both went through, and explore their new desires, and less about the bad guys and the couple’s inability to communicate. The sexy and romantic reunion story I was hoping for never quite reached its potential.

I give Saved By His Submissive by Angel Payne 3 stars.

Highland Fling by Amanda Scott (Highland #1)

Available: Now 

Type: Historical Romance

Publisher: Originally Publisher by Pinnacle in 1995 – rights reverted back to author

My Copy: Sent/NetGalley

Reviewer: Michelle

Scotland, 1750. In the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellion, Maggie MacDrumin vows to keep fighting to liberate her people. But the intrepid Scotswoman is risking her life for a dangerous cause. When her latest mission lands her in a London courtroom on a trumped-up larceny charge, she has only one hope of survival. Enlisting the aid of Edward Carsley, the powerful fourth Earl of Rothwell, is a two-edged sword. The seductive aristocrat who awakens treacherous desire is her clan’s mortal enemy—a man she can never trust. Edward will do whatever it takes to quell another bloody uprising. But how can he fight his passion for the rebellious Highland beauty in his safekeeping? As their lives come under siege, Maggie lays claim to the one thing Edward vowed never to surrender: his heart.

There was a fierce political separation between England and Scotland during the mid-1700s, despite Scotland officially being under English rule. This book capitalizes on that battle between countries, pitting a Scottish heroine, Maggie MacDrumin, against an English lord hero, Edward Carsley, the Earl of Rothwell. The MacDrumin clan is determined to hold onto their heritage, refusing to bow down to English laws – they continue to bear arms and smuggle whiskey, vowing that the first is necessary to protect themselves and the second is their primary means of supporting their clan. They also continue to support the Jacobite cause, which is how Maggie ends up in London.

She travels to the English city intending to deliver messages to known contacts who also support the uprising. Unfortunately her plan goes awry after taking a wrong turn and her coach is stolen, her servants are killed and she herself is accosted and injured. When Maggie winds up in court accused of theft, she realizes if her true purpose in London is discovered, the thievery charge will be the least of her problems. Alone, afraid and unsure of what to do, she confesses to an association with the Earl of Rothwell, hoping his name will be enough to help her. The earl, by English law after the rebellion, was granted the MacDrumin lands, so Maggie knows that he is her benefactor of sorts, or at the very least her landlord and the only honest connection she has in London.

Unfortunately Edward is as English as they come, determined to uphold the law and bring Jacobites to justice. He is patient, intelligent and compassionate when confronted with Maggie’s plight, however, and pledges to do his best to keep her out of trouble and get her home to her family. Of course, that does not coincide with Maggie’s plan of reaching her Jacobite friends to pass on her messages, which lands her in even more trouble. Edward knows that the best way to protect Maggie is to get her out of London, so he decides to escort her home to Scotland. In addition to getting her out of London, he also wishes to oversee how things are being handled on his land by the MacDrumin clan.

The majority of this book focused on the historical aspect of that time period. It is a good demonstration of the battle between the Scottish and the English, with true love finding a way to overcome that battle. While neither Maggie nor Edward ever gave up their beliefs in their respective countries, they were able to find common ground and eventually fall in love, despite their differences. Unfortunately someone looking for a historical romance will get a lot of historical and not a lot of romance. I would have preferred to read more about Maggie and Edward, both individually and together, with more romantic scenes included. The description of this book is way more exciting and romantic than the book ever was.

I give Highland Fling by Amanda Scott 3 stars

 

Anything For You by Jessica Scott (Coming Home #1.5)

Available: Now Amazon/B&N

Type: Contemporary Romance – Short Story

Publisher: Self Pub

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Pam

Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison has spent a year recovering from his combat injuries. A year spent in the arms of the woman of his dreams. But loving Jen comes with a price: every time he touches her, he faces the uncertain fear that loving her might mean losing her forever.

Jen is a breast cancer survivor and with Shane, she’s found a man who loves her despite her scars. But her scars may be too much for their love to survive. As their love grows, so does the risk to Jen’s life. And Shane must make the toughest decision any man can make to save the woman he loves.

An emotional visit with a young couple we met in Ms. Scott’s book “Because of You”. This is a short visit with Shane and Jen that have struggled as they both deal with past issues and continued current problems. They are still reeling from Jen’s breast cancer battle that is still so vivid and Shane’s injuries from Iraq.

Shane is scared that Jen with have a re-occurrence with cancer and does not want a pregnancy to make things worse if there needs to be a horrible decision made. Shane knows Jen wants kids and knows he needs to talk to her about why he wants to take this drastic step but he is scared of her reaction. However it is taken out of his hands when she finds the papers for his vasectomy. She is angry, both because he has not talked to her about it and also because she wants a family.

As they both talk through the choice, they make the decision together that a family is what you make of it and no matter what they will make a wonderful family of their own.

This is a heartfelt visit with a couple truly in love with each other that need to make some life changing decisions. We also get a glimpse in to Laura and Trent’s continued struggles and see how Vic Carponti is doing with his re-hab. A nice addition to the series.

I give Anything For You by Jessica Scott 3.5 stars!

Perpetual by Michaela Debelius (Revoker #1)

Available: Now Amazon/B&N

Type: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Self Pub

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Michelle

“Some people say they don’t care. I actually mean it.” Mercy Green didn’t become this way overnight. Centuries of monotonous life have left her jaded and detached. Humans weren’t meant to live forever. But then again, she isn’t human. Adam is though, and his purity baffles her. How can he remain unpolluted in a world tarnished by corruption? It doesn’t matter. Her time in Birchwood Creek is coming to an end and she must prepare to relocate. That is, until she inexplicably wakes up in a pool of her own blood. The answer seems simple enough: leave immediately. But when an attempt is made on Adam’s life, a failed murder she inadvertently caused, she feels obligated to stay and protect him.

But then she’s attacked again. And Adam begins to ask questions.

Victim to an unseen stalker, Mercy’s forced to seek help from Nick, an immortal teenager whose sudden appearance suspiciously coincides with her plunge into chaos. With her structured life unraveling and revelation of her immortality looming, Mercy must accept the truth: she’s being hunted. But why?

…And she thought immortality was boring.

I confess to not really knowing what to expect when I started reading this book. It seemed to be a mix of urban fantasy, paranormal romance and young adult. Initially that last part turned me off because reading about teenagers is not my thing. Fortunately, while many of the characters appear to be in their teens or twenties, they are actually immortals who have been “alive” for decades or more. They simply spend eternity with the physical appearance they had when they died.

The paranormal aspect of this book was interesting. It wasn’t your usual werewolf/shifter or vampire book. The immortals in this book are simply humans who died or were killed, then “created” – brought back to “life” as an immortal. There are several different types, including Geos (who control Earth elements), Fringes (who can blend in to their surroundings), Creators (who create other immortals) and Pumpers (who feel pain, have a heartbeat, bleed, eat and sleep, but cannot die).

Mercy Green was killed in the 1800s. As a Pumper, she has “lived” a long time and learned to do it solo, mostly because she figured out real quick that people don’t appreciate someone as abnormal as an immortal. She also keeps to herself because she learned the hard way that attachments always end up in heartbreak. She keeps a low profile, moving every year or two, and never leaving a trail of her existence. It’s lonely and monotonous, but after hundreds of years, she’s learned that happy ever after is an illusion.

Her careful life is turned upside down when she unwittingly forms several relationships. Adam is a human she met at the animal shelter where they both work. She likes him and admires him, and over time the friendship they develop turns into more. He cares for her, but she fights the attraction they share because she knows getting involved would be no good for him. Even if she could figure out how to explain her immortality, there is no way he could live the life she does, not to mention that as a human he is destined to die. Then Nick enters her life. He is a Fringe immortal who becomes one of her few real friends (despite her attempts to push him away), and watches her back when it becomes apparent someone is targeting her. At first they can’t figure it out, because who would try to kill an immortal? It soon becomes clear that someone is after her, but not to kill her. That someone believes that her blood can kill immortals and he is after that power.

This is when the story really became interesting and things started happening. The first half (or more) of the book was slow-moving. I forced myself not to skim, though, because I didn’t want to miss any of the back-story since the immortality concept was so unusual. The author does a good job of giving the reader a feel for Mercy’s character, and I liked her interaction with Nick and his friends Emily & Ben. They become entrenched in her life despite her protests, and the end result was a happy little “family” of immortals for eternal loner Mercy. I would have liked Adam’s character to be highlighted a bit more, as I feel that his romance with Mercy was a tiny little sidebar instead of a main part of the plot. That’s a minor complaint, though, and I make it simply because I’m first and foremost a romance fan!

I give Perpetual by Michaela Debelius 4 stars!

Caressed By A Crimson Moon by Amanda J Greene (Rulers Of Darkness #3)

Available: Now Amazon/B&N

Type: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Self Pub

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Nikki

Consumed by madness and tormented by dark memories of blood and death, Hadrian Lucretius, King of the Validus Clan, has returned after living in self-imposed exile for nearly three hundred and fifty years.

To maintain peace with the vampires, Eva Maldonado is offered as a sacrifice to the crazed vampire king by her father, the alpha of the Silveria Shifter Pack. Hadrian’s reputation is both legendary and lethal; he is ruthless, bloodthirsty, lusty, and soulless. When Eva arrives at the ancient fortress high in the Carpathian Mountains, she is shocked to find a ravaged man with dark burning eyes filled with loneliness and dangerous desire.

Would she be his lover…or his prey? His savior…or his victim? Would Hadrian lure her into madness or would their perilous passion be their redemption?

.

Amanda J Greene returns to her paranormal series with book 3, Caressed By A Crimson Moon with Hadrian, the crazed vampire king horror stories are made of. Hadrian, who had exiled himself long ago, has decided to come back and take his rightful place as king. In doing so he enacts a long dead treaty with a werewolf pack to bring one of their leaders daughters into his house as his ward. The werewolf leader sends his bastard, half breed daughter, Eva who he wants nothing to do with. Eva has lived in poverty and been treated like a slave for years because of her half blood ancestry but coming to the castle to belong to a vicious vampire seems like an even worse fate. Knowing her father expects her to die at his hands she still agrees to go hoping she can escape once she arrives.

What Eva finds upon arriving is nothing that she ever expected. Her body heats just seeing Hadrian and even though he fights it, Hadrian feels the pull too. She quickly finds out he isn’t nearly as crazy as everyone believes him to be but he suffers from horrible guilt and nightmares from his past. When Eva is near Hadrian’s demons have a harder time ruling his emotions and his growing feelings cause them to quiet for longer periods of time. She evokes a calmness in him that both arouse and confuse him. I loved how Hadrian evolved over the course of the book. At the beginning he’s scary and big and imposing but as the chapters wore on I started to see him simply as scarred and needing to be understood, heard and felt. He always treated Eva with respect and used a gentle hand on her, even giving up what he wanted most in the world….to die. He was complex and Greene weaves a story that leaves no holes in the plot.

Eva’s heritage is much more complex then Hadrian first believes and her life hangs in the balance even as their passion heats up. His craving of her knows no bounds and even though he believes that he must set her free to live the life she was deprived of in her pack, he  is quickly becoming obsessed with her. Her mind, her body, Hadrian will take anything that Eva is willing to give him for whatever time they have together. He is brooding, alpha and yea, just a bit on the crazy side. But it worked and it worked well.

I will say parts of the book are a bit slow. There is a lot of back story that Hadrian must reveal in order for Eva to understand him as a man and as a vampire.  Eva’s unlikely backstory also stalls the plot a bit as Hadrian deals with what he must sacrifice to save her. There are stretches of time that not much happens and as a reader I did get frustrated at those parts. There is also quite a set up for book four with Hadrian’s second in command.

Overall I really enjoyed Caressed By A Crimson Moon and I look forward to more from Amanda J Greene! She writes with fluidness and a passion that I have found lacking in what I have been reading lately.

I give Caressed By A Crimson Moon by Amanda J Greene 4 stars! 

Rapid Hearts by Rachael Ruddick

Available: Now Smashwords

Type: Contemporary Romance/ Erotica

Publisher:

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Michelle

Jessica, a kayaker, arrives in the Athlete’s Village for the Olympics after a nightmare trip from Oklahoma to discover her ex-husband standing in her apartment! With the same last name and initials, their bookings have been merged, and with the whole town sold out, Jessica has no option but to share accomodation. As their chemistry instantly begins to sizzle, the room’s only bed begins to beckon!

The Games hold a special significance to the couple, as they’d met at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics four years ago. Jessica, young and naïve, left Jake after a whirlwind romance to try to find herself, taking a devastating secret with her.

Now reunited, Jessica falls straight back in love with the man she selfishly walked out on three years ago, and struggles to keep her head on the Games as the stakes get higher- both in the water and in her heart.

Can Jake forgive her for leaving? And will he trust her to stay forever this time?

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It can be frustrating to review a short story romance because most of the time there isn’t enough time to fill the book with very much of anything. It’s difficult for an author to perrfectly flesh out characters, provide a strong, believable plot and give the reader plenty of romance, sex and emotion…. all in under a hundred pages. While I really liked the idea of this book, the whole thing fell a little short.

I love the Olympics and stories about athletes. I love stories about second chances, and that’s what this book was. Jessica and Jake are kayakers who met and fell in love at the Olympics. Following a whirlwind courtship, they were married and planned to build a life together. Unfortunately she couldn’t quite settle for various reasons and her love for him wasn’t enough to keep her there. Fast forward to the next Olympics, where thanks to a scheduling mishap, they are forced to share an apartment. It doesn’t take long for their passion to reignite, despite her being determined to keep her distance and Jake holding a grudge and wanting her to answer for how she treated him.

I liked Jake a lot. I thought the author did a good job of portraying how a man in his position would handle things. He was bitter about her leaving and had tried to move on, but seeing Jessie again brings his feelings back to the surface. At first he plans to just give in to the attraction and then be the one to walk away from her. He soon discovers, though, that along with his passion, his love for her is also rekindled and he knows he wants her in his life. I thought he was a strong, caring, honest hero.

The problem for me with this book was Jessie. She seemed very immature (it was hard for me to believe she was actually 28) and never seemed very sincere with Jake. Sure, she had the hots for him, and her feelings for him never really disappeared, but she seemed to hold it against HIM that she couldn’t handle their marriage. The reasons Jessie gave for abandoning him were so cliche it was ridiculous.

The sex scenes were very matter of fact and almost clinical, but I did like the chemistry between these two. They were sexy together and Jake was very romantic. I like an author who knows how to write an epilogue, and this book had a great one – extremely touching and left me with a warm, happy feeling.

I give Rapid Hearts by Rachael Ruddick 3.5 stars.

Collide by Juliana Stone (The Barker Triplets #2)

Available: Now Amazon/B&N

Type: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self Pub

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Nikki

A second chance never looked so good…

Bobbi-Jo Barker has been in love with the wrong man for years. A man who doesn’t fit into the perfect, controlled life she’s created.A man who not only broke her heart but nearly destroyed her. So the fact that he’s back in town shouldn’t matter because he’s all wrong for her, or so she thinks…

Shane Gallagher, prodigal son, ex-con, and all around hellion, has returned to the small town of New Waterford to mend fences and get his life back. What he doesn’t count on are the feelings he still has for the one woman who can break him—the one woman who is totally wrong for him. 

And yet, as Bobbi and Shane are thrown together and begin to navigate a life with each other in it, neither can deny the attraction they feel, or the emotions that come with it—the good and the bad. And so the question becomes… can these two damaged souls survive a second chance at love?

After a lifetime of wrong decisions Bobbi-Jo has been trying to live life the adult, responsible way. Giving up on passion life can have to settle down with a man so wrong for her, they haven’t even been intimate in a long time. But he offers security and Bobbi-Jo craves that above all else. On the day of her wedding her need for freedom wins out over her need for security and she high tails it out of there, leaving the jilted groom to pick up the pieces.

It may have been years ago, but the sight of Bobbi-Jo sitting at the bar still leaves Shane shaking with lust. It’s not smart, and Shane can’t be the man she deserves but his craving for her only grows as they are pushed together and soon they are sucked into a cyclone of need so strong, someone is bound to get hurt.

I loved this book. LOVED! Juliana Stone created characters that burned so bright it blinded me. The onslaught of emotional turmoil make this a read I can wholly recommend. Shane comes from a dark place, having been on the wrong path for such a long time. When he hit rock bottom years ago and ended up in jail at the hands of his own grandfather, he knew it was time for a change. With the passing of his grandfather and a huge inheritance Shane isn’t sure he’s ready or worthy of, he knows it’s time to make amends and start fresh. Dealing with his past with Bobbi is the last thing he wants to do. They may have lava hot attraction but everything else about them together is always horribly wrong.

Bobbi runs very hot and cold. She takes forever to decide what she wants and that got a bit grating for me. Poor Shane LOL. She is torn between wanting him and wanting to push him away. Plus her lack of job, her other sisters and her ailing father weigh heavily on her mind a lot. I enjoyed her sassy mouth and her tenacity to figure out her life…even if it wasn’t what she had planned for herself.

The one thing I wished was different about this book was the secret Bobbi held onto about a shocking night long ago. I wished she would have revealed things to Shane sooner because it felt very rushed to get to the end after she did.

Book three will be Betty’s book and I am really looking forward to it. Her hard attitude has to be hiding some deep emotional pain. Though everyone else sees her as a washed up model with an addiction problem, I think something really bad must have happened for her to react so viciously with those she loves. There is a definite wall around her and the man who is finally going to break it down will have to work twice as hard.

Juliana Stone delivers with the excellence of a seasoned author! Her contemporary romances are a home run hit and I am always eagerly awaiting her next release!

 

I give Collide by Juliana Stone 5 stars! 

Offside by Juliana Stone (The Barker Triplets #1)

Available: Now Amazon

Type: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self Pub

My Copy: Sent

Reviewer: Nikki

When hockey phenom Billie-Jo Barker returns home and decides to play in the local Friday night hockey league, all hell breaks loose. Not because Billie’s talent is in question, but because Billie is a woman. And though these are modern times, some of the local guys still have a problem letting a girl into their ‘men’s club.’

Soon, Billie is at the center of a small town battle of the sexes, with everyone choosing sides. Her sisters. The townsfolk. Her friends. And yet, the only person whose opinion she cares about doesn’t seem to care much at all. Logan Forest, the man who broke her heart when she was eighteen and the man she now shares the bench with every Friday night.

She’s got a lot to prove and though Billie Jo Barker scores on the ice, will this girl ever score with the man of her dreams?

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Billie-Jo Barker, one third of the Barker triplets, is back in town and she’s not that happy about it. With her professional hockey career cut short by injury she has slunk back into town with nothing to her name but a small nest egg and her equipment. Her relationship with one of her other sisters, Bobbi, is strained and she has no idea where her life is headed now.

When she sees a local hockey tournament sign up sheet she instantly decides to join regardless of her health and past injuries. The men in town aren’t fond of the idea though and they go out of their way to tell her. Now, I don’t know much about hockey myself but these men were downright cruel. Billie handles the jabs quite well but I have to wonder how much of these attitudes are true and why if they are she’d want to subject herself to it. The men even resort to getting physical in a non physical tournament.

Logan didn’t realize that the sporty Barker sister had grown up quite so nicely. He’s instantly attracted to her but his past with who he thinks is her popular sister Betty leaves him in a gray area and he isn’t sure how to proceed. As Billie and Logan get closer each will have to come clean about past transgressions. I would have liked a bit more evolution to their relationship. The sex is great and the  tension is well done but everything seemed to turn for them quickly. They were declaring their love and that was that. More courtship would have been better suited for this one. In fact Logan doesn’t get much of a say at all. Most everything is from Billie’s perspective and I wish I would have gotten more from him. More face time and more understanding. He’s there but because we don’t get much from his perspective he’s kept on the back burner and becomes almost a secondary character.

Bobbie and Billie…These two sisters have a tumultuous relationship stemming from Bobbi’s jealousy and bitter feelings of being left behind to be the adult while Billie had her hockey career and Betty had her modeling. Feeling solely