Book Binge

Oh wait, I forgot that I'm announcing the winner of the month long Last Lisa Kleypas Hero Standing. This month's battle has been the most craziest battle of them all so far. It shouldn't have come as much of a surprise since the debate between these two heroes have always been fierce but the winner of this month's last hero standing is well deserved as it brought out a whopping 148 votes. I don't think we've ever had that many votes so without further adieu, the winner is:

Holly's review of And Then He Kissed Her (Girl-Bachelors, Book 1) by Laura Lee Guhrke

An expert in etiquette, Emma takes her pristine reputation most seriously. But the devilish Lord Marlowe is determined to prove that some rules of proper behavior are made to be broken...

Supremely sensible Emmaline Dove wishes to share her etiquette expertise with London's readers, and as secretary to Viscount Marlowe, Emma knows she's in the perfect position to make her dream come true. Marlowe might be a rake with a preference for can-can dancers and an aversion to matrimony, but he is also the city's leading publisher, and Emma is convinced he's her best chance to see her work in print...until she discovers the lying scoundrel has been rejecting her manuscripts without ever reading a single page!

As a publisher, Harry finds reading etiquette books akin to slow, painful torture. Besides, he can't believe his proper secretary has the passion to write anything worth reading. Then she has the nerve to call him a liar, and even resigns without notice, leaving his business in an uproar and his honor in question! Harry decides it's time to teach Miss Dove a few things that aren't proper. But when he kisses her, he discovers that his former secretary has more passion and fire than he'd ever imagined, for one luscious taste of her lips only leaves him hungry for more...

This is the first book in Guhrke's Girl-Bachelor series. I picked it up because I've enjoyed novels by her in the past and because I thought the blurb sounded good. I'm glad I did because it turned out to be a cute read.

Emma was wonderful. I really liked how confident she was. When she realizes Harry lied to her about reading her manuscript she chose to walk away from him. I loved that. Especially since it left him in a total bind and threw his company into an uproar. She didn't let him get away with anything. One of the best things I liked about this book is that Emma doesn't fancy herself in love with Harry in the beginning. She isn't one of the secretaries that's in love with her employer. They're relationship is very platonic in the beginning.

I loved Harry. In the beginning he was so insufferable I couldn't stand him, but as the story progresses and he realizes what a gem Emma really was (both to him personally and professionally) he really shaped up. I loved that he decided he needed to teach Emma a lesson, but in the end he was the one that learned. So cute.

The story starts off kind of slow (a theme with this series, I think) but once it takes off it more than makes up for the slow pace in the beginning. This is one of those stories you want to read for the heroine. Although Harry was great, Emma really stole the show.

4 out of 5


The series:



This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Holly's review of Tempt Me At Twilight (The Hathaways, Book 3) by Lisa Kleypas

Poppy Hathaway, who has always longed for a normal, ordinary life, has been abandoned by her true love, Michael Bayning. Caught up in scandal, she has only one way out-- to marry Harry Rutledge, a handsome and mysterious hotel owner. But Harry is a man of many secrets, and eventually Poppy faces a heartwrenching question: What does a heroine do when she ends up married to the villain?

Before picking this up, I'd heard many others complain that they were disappointed with it. I think I can see why it didn't measure up to some of her others, but I thought it was pretty well done.

I liked Harry. There's something very compelling about him. He wants Poppy more than anything else in the world and makes no apologies for his methods in getting her. I liked the way his mind worked and the way he took care of so many but kept them at a distance, with the exception of Poppy. I really liked that he couldn't figure out exactly why Poppy was different, she just was.

To be honest I don't remember much about Poppy from the previous books, so I didn't go into this with any preconceived notions of her. In the end I found her to be fun and refreshing. She was just what Harry needed. She was strong and intelligent and I liked that she stood up for herself even when she was backed into a corner. She always did what she considered right after looking at all the angles. It isn't very often we get a heroine that does that.

The two of them together were spectacular. They had great chemistry, even when they were holding themselves back from each other. Not just physical chemistry either, but you could see that they just clicked. I did think their relationship grew kind of stale toward the middle. The beginning and end were wonderful, but toward the middle of the book I found myself becoming impatient, wanting them to just get on with it already!

Even so, I'm glad LK took her time with them. Their marriage started under less than perfect circumstances and I'm glad she used the entire length of the book to address the issues, rather than clearing them up in a few pages. She really excels at writing romances that span a good length of time and are stronger for it.

I loved that the secondary characters (the employees of Harry's hotel) got involved in their relationship. They really added extra flavor to the story. As did the Hathaways. It's always a pleasure to see them. They could liven up any story. If anything I'm even more intrigued by Miss Mark's, Poppy and Beatrix's companion. I really wish LK would just hurry up and reveal her story!

I was disappointed in what happened at the very end of the book. There was a suspense/mystery plot that seemed to crop up out of nowhere. It seemed unnecessary and even a bit silly. It's been weeks since I read this book and I'm still scratching my head of why she didn't cut that last part out. It served no purpose other than being filler. The story had pretty much ended by that point, hadn't it?

Otherwise I really enjoyed it. Now if only she'd give us Leo's book!

3.75 out of 5

The series:



This book is available from St. Martin's Press. You can buy it here or here (once again I'm not listing an e-format link because I think it's ridiculous for St. Martin's to set the price so high. $14 when the mmp is $7.99? I think not).

Holly's review of Can't Stand the Heat (A Recipe for Love story) by Louisa Edwards

For sharp-tongued food critic Miranda Wake, the chance to spend a month in Adam Temple’s kitchen to write an exposé is a journalistic dream come true. Surely Miranda can find a way to cut the hotshot chef down to size once she learns what really goes on at his trendy Manhattan restaurant. But she never expected Adam to find out her most embarrassing secret: she has no idea how to cook.

Adam’s not about to have his reputation burned by a critic who doesn’t even know the difference between poaching and paring. He’ll just have to give the tempting redhead a few private lessons of his own—teaching her what it means to cook with passion…and doing more with his hands than simply preparing sumptuous food.

WARNING: This review is less a review and more a rant about the heroine. It will contain strong language and spoilers for the story. Read on at your own risk.

I've mentioned before that I generally have a dislike for heroines who are journalists. I've made some exceptions, but generally I try to stay away from novels featuring them, because I know I have a personal bias and I don't want that to color my reading experience. I chose to pick this one up anyway because Miranda Wake is a food critic, rather than an investigative journalist (the type I generally have the biggest issues with). Also? It's a foodie book and I'm a huge foodie.

I went into this expecting one thing, and got something else entirely.

Miranda Wake is a bitter food critic who desperately wants a book deal. On the pre-opening night of a new restaurant, Market, she gets blitzed and has it out with the Exec Chef and Owner, Adam Temple. She hasn't even had his food yet, but she's already spouting off about how he's pretentious and his food sucks. So he challenges her to spend just one night in his kitchen, thinking to shut her up. Only she accepts.

Then his investor gets together with her editor and they decide she'll stay for a month. Which is when she gets a book deal; she's to write a book "dishing" about Adam Temple and what really goes on in his kitchen. While Miranda is busy digging up dirt on Adam and the entire staff, she finds herself falling in love with him. Which I completely understood, because I adored Adam.

He was sweet and adorable, with a strong sense of right and wrong. He was probably the best part about this book. I loved that even though he had preconceived notions about Miranda he set them aside and judged her on his own observations. I loved that he was tough but fair in the kitchen. I loved that he hired chefs based on their merits as cooks, rather than their diplomas or schooling. He had a somewhat gruff exterior, but inside he was kind and loving.

I absolutely adored the secondary characters. The entire kitchen staff came alive for me. I really felt like I was right there with them, laughing and joking and cooking fabulous food. They were a rag-tag bunch, but they really brought flavor and spice to the story.

As a side story, Miranda's younger brother, Jesse, turns up from college (somewhere in the Midwest) saying he's not going back. He gets a job at Market working as a server. As it turns out, he's gay and falls in love with one of the sou chefs, Frankie, which Miranda hates. She thinks Frankie corrupted and tempted her poor straight brother into being gay.

I thought the story with the brother was cute, though I did struggle with his age quite a bit. He's only 19. The problem is I wasn't as bothered by that as I felt I should have been. Especially since Frankie is quite a bit older than him. Why is it that I'm willing to forgive a 19yo hero when he's gay, but wouldn't forgive a 19yo heroine (in a contemp) regardless? Once I got past that, though, I really enjoyed his part of the story.

So at this point in the book Miranda comes off as bitter, cynical and jaded. She's also a complete control freak. Which is fine. I could have dealt with that if it had been one of the centerpieces of the story - how Miranda grew up. Unfortunately I didn't find that to be the case.

Because at the end? She SAYS SHE LOVES HIM AND STILL SUBMITS THE FUCKING BOOK.

WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?!

Her reason for doing so? She needs the money so she can pay for her brother to go to NYU. The problem? She only wants to pay for it to get him away from Frankie so he'll go back to being "normal" instead of "gay". Not only that, but he specifically told her he didn't want her paying for his tuition. He said he wanted to be a responsible adult and contribute something himself. I understand that she wanted to help him as much as she could, but she SOLD OUT THE MAN SHE LOVED AND ALL HIS FRIENDS/EMPLOYEES to do it.

WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!?!?!

And the best part? The only person she has to rely on and go to for support during this whole thing with her brother is Adam. She leans on him and lets him support her and SAYS SHE LOVES HIM AND THEN SELLS HIM OUT IN A CHEAP FUCKING BOOK!

WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!?!?!

The thing is, I loved everything else about the book. The kitchen setting, the secondary characters, the hero. I even loved that the author included some of the recipes she used in the book (I'm sooo going to try them). I'm trying to decide if the heroine ruined the book for me, or if I can move past what she did. Right now I'd probably grade it:

3 out of 5 for the overall story, setting and characters

1 out of 5 for the heroine (maybe even a -1)

I did enjoy parts of it enough to want to read the next book in the series, On the Steamy Side, which will be available March, 2010.



This book is available from St. Martin's. You can buy it here or here (I'm not including a link to buy in e-format b/c I think St. Martin's has terrible e-pricing. The paperback is $6.99 but the e-book is $14. WTF St. Martin's? W.T.F?).

This is a topic that has been on my mind for some time. I actually started this post back in July, but real life issues and laziness got the better of me and I abandoned it. I decided to revisit it based on some recent kerfuffles in Blogland. Most notably this one at The Story Siren. Which I find interesting because I'm pretty sure what sparked this idea for me back in July was a similar incident at The Story Siren. I could be wrong about that, however. I'm too lazy to go back and look.

While the web is world-wide, our little corner of it here in Romanceland is relatively small. You can't turn a corner without running into someone you "know". I love that about our community. I love that just by visiting a long favorite haunt I can discover 10 new places to visit, who turn out to be visitors of my site or others I know. It's a never ending circle, one I appreciate.

But the down side is that we also see a lot of repeat topics. I know for a fact some of the things we've blogged about here have been repeated throughout the community - sometimes in direct relation, but more often than not because someone else just happened to have the same idea as us. Great minds do think alike, after all.

I also know for a fact that we've repeated things that were talked about long before we arrived on the scene. Sometimes intentionally, others not. Naturally when an idea is sparked by something we saw elsewhere we try to give credit, but there are honestly times when we didn't realize a topic had already been discussed. And I guess that's the beauty of the web..we can all offer our own opinion or slant on the same topic over and over again.

Having said that, there are times when I wonder about professional courtesy. Or, to be more specific, giving a nod to someone when something they posted sparks an idea inside of you.

I am not talking about those blogs that blatantly steal content from others (i.e., copy/pasting word for word), but the ones who seem to post about things others are talking about a little too often, without ever offering credit to another.

This isn't something that can be proven. As I said above, the web is world-wide. And even if our corner here is small, it's still large enough that I know there are blogs I don't know about, or read on a regular basis. Add Twitter and Facebook into the mix and the potential for like-minded individuals to have similar ideas is huge.

But sometimes you just know. You see a topic mentioned on Twitter or Facebook, or you see a post on a blog you frequent, and you just know a certain blogger is going to have it on their site, without acknowledging where the conversation stemmed from, basically passing it off as their own idea. I've even seen some bloggers get angry that ideas they stole from somewhere else got stolen from them. If that isn't the height of hypocrisy, I don't know what is.

But I digress. The point is, where do we draw the line? I could easily take something I see on Twitter or one of the 300+ romance related blogs I subscribe to in Google Reader (not that I actually read them all, you understand, but I do subscribe) and turn it into a blog post of my own, without acknowledging where the idea came from.

But I don't. Instead I always (or almost always..sometimes I forget where I heard it and then I say, "I can't remember where I saw this...") link back to the original source, or at least mention their name. Just as a professional courtesy. We aren't required to do this (though I wonder if we won't be at some point in the future) but I believe in giving credit where credit is due.

But what about those people who don't? There's one fairly prominent blogger who often takes ideas from others and passes them off as their own. I know it's blatant because everyone has noticed and/or commented on it. I've considered bringing it up, but without solid proof it's hard. I wouldn't want someone to accuse me of stealing ideas just because I posted something someone else did.

Besides, many topics here in Romanceland are recycled, so often it's hard to say just where it was taken from. I know I've seen other blogs post things we blogged about a year or two ago. Who the hell has time to read through every blog in Romanceland, including archives, before posting about something? Of course in this case I'm talking about topics that were posted an hour ago, or a day ago, not a year ago. But still.

So..is there a line? Is it just up to each individual and their own personal moral code? If you just know someone is passing off others ideas as their own, do you say something? Stop following/reading that person's blog? Do nothing at all?

Curious minds and all that...

Lori's review of Caleb by Sarah McCarty.

Meet three sexy ranchers-who also happen to be vampires-in the first of a new series by the national bestselling author of Wild Instinct.

Allie always desired mysterious, sexy rancher Caleb Johnson, but he never seemed to notice her. Until the night she's attacked by a vicious animal, and rescued by a shapeshifting vampire that she almost seems to recognize: the baritone growl, the mesmerizing eyes, the inexplicable animal attraction. That's because her savior is Caleb, and now he has no choice but to bring Allie into the shadows with him-to protect her from a rival werewolf pack, and to finally reveal his true feelings for the woman he's been afraid to love.

I’ve long been a fan of Sarah McCarty. I adored the original Promises trilogy. They were the first erotic romances I ever read. If I didn’t love some of her other books, I can say that the one thing that McCarty has always done phenomenally well, even if the story didn’t work for me, is write characters. Her characters have always spoken to me. Loudly. Beautifully. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with Caleb. Neither the story nor the characters worked for me.

In the past, I’ve always trusted McCarty to take me anywhere, even in a paranormal, which admittedly, has never been my favorite genre. That is no longer the case. I closed Caleb with a "been there, done that" feeling. Like this book offered nothing new. To either McCarty fans or to vampire fans.

In Caleb, McCarty uses every cliché there is to use with vampires. Every trick and trope she's used in all of her books - the westerns and the paranormals - they’re in there. I felt as though I was reading a glossed over version of a McCarty hero without the depth and a mirror image of a McCarty heroine. Throw a few "son of a bitch"s in the mix (because all McCarty heroes must say that) and voila. And every McCarty hero threatens to paddle their heroines. All the time. But in past books, I've always truly felt that the threat came from a deep-seated fear for the heroine's welfare, and huge relief at her eventual safety. Like when you want to swat your child after they ran into the street without looking, and you're so relieved that they made it across safely. Here, instead, I honestly felt that it was just words taking up space on the page.

Caleb was supposed to be 250 years old, but Allie kept calling him "1860’s man" – as an endearment. That just bugged the ever-living crap out of me. At 250 years old, that would make him 1760’s man. Major blunder, and it took me out of the book every time she said it. I'd accept that Allie was just stupid, except that Caleb gave her his mother's 250 year old wedding ring. From the 1800s, he noted to himself. Ugh.

There was no character depth; none at all. No history. Especially with Allie. And McCarty is usually fantastic with the characters, if nothing else. But they were totally flat. Even Caleb's brothers, whom I assume are next in line for their own books, were flatter than an armadillo on the highway in Texas. And even more than that, I was completely squicked out by their admission that they were turned on by Allie. I didn't find it sexy at all. Just the opposite. So I found the characters extremely lacking from an author who has always had A-1 characterization. And a piss-poor plot to back them up.

An unfortunate entry from McCarty.

1.5 out of 5

Read more from Lori at Living in the House of Testosterone and I Just Finished Reading...

This book is available from Berkley Trade. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Casee's review of Drawn in Blood by Andrea Kane.

Former FBI Special Agent Sloane Burbank has seen her share of danger. She's faced down a serial killer and survived life-threatening injuries . . . but she never expected that danger to invade the lives of her family. . . .

Then her mother is viciously attacked in the posh Manhattan apartment her parents share and it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary robbery. The thieves were too clever, too knowledgeable, and so obviously after something of her father's. But what could a respected art dealer have done to merit such violence? When a mysterious message is left for him, Sloane knows her father's in over his head. Determined to find out the truth, Sloane discovers a deadly secret buried in his past that has made him the target of a power-hungry mobster with a lethal agenda and nothing to lose.

Sloane is desperate to save her father, but to do so she must hold on to secrets of her own—especially from FBI Special Agent Derek Parker, the man she has grown to love deeply. She knows she must tell him everything, but how can she betray her father's confidence? Can a couple who's faced so much survive this ultimate test of trust? Will they survive at all?

As the decades-old secret claims the lives of her father's oldest friends and the killer closes in on him, Sloane finds herself in foreign territory: alone, facing escalating personal danger, and hunting a moving target in a world where memories are long and loyalties are drawn in blood.

While I certainly wouldn't call this book part of a series, it does feature the characters from Twisted. It was interesting to see Sloane and Derek go from Point A to Point B. At one time, their jobs tore them apart. In Twisted, they made their way back to each other. Now, they are navigating a road they have never been on: staying together.

Life is good for Sloane and Derek. Or as good as it can be for now. Moving in together was a huge step for both of them, but they are happy with their decision. Now they have to learn to live with each other. That could be difficult by itself, but when you throw their jobs and Sloane's family in, it's damn near impossible. When Sloane's mother is attacked, Sloane's father begs her not to tell Derek about what's going on. She reluctantly (or stupidly as I like to think) agrees.

While Sloane tries to start piecing together what is happening, she starts walking the TSTL line. Someone almost kills her mother (not once, but twice) and she still keeps her promise to her father not to tell Derek. She waltzes around like she's not in danger. When her mom got attacked for the second time, I really thought that was it for me. Her reaction to it was completely moronic. But she ended up turning it around.

What is happening to her father and his partners turns out to be directly connected to an Asian gang that Derek and his team are trying to stop. Derek knows that Sloane's father is somehow connected to some stolen art, but he can't figure out how. The situation drives a serious wedge in their relationship. Sloane wants to protect her father and his friends and Derek wants to protect Sloane. They eventually have to agree to disagree.

I am amazed by the fact that Andrea Kane can write a character that seems so vile at the beginning, but that you actually end up feeling bad for. She pulled it off with a secondary character. I didn't feel bad for most of them, but I did feel for this one specific character.

There were some loose ends that I didn't feel were tied up, but other than that I really enjoyed the book.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from William Morrow. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Reverend Noah Kincaid moved to Virgin River to re-open an abandoned church he bought on eBay. Like Noah, the place is a little empty inside and needs some loving care.

The young widower arrives ready to roll up his sleeves and build a place of worship and welcome, but he needs some help. And the Lord works in mysterious ways....

With her tight shirts and short skirts, “Pastor's assistant” is not a phrase that springs to mind when Noah meets brassy, beautiful Ellie Baldwin. The former exotic dancer needs a respectable job so she can regain custody of her children. And Noah can’t help but admire her spunk and motherly determination.

The pastor and the stripper: an unlikely team to revitalize a church, much less build a future. The couple has so many differences, but in Virgin River anything is possible, and happiness is never out of the question.

It's another Virgin River story you guys and the hero is a preacher and the heroine is a stripper. That's got to make one heck of a story, don't you think? I haven't read the books that came after Second Chance Pass yet but they're on my list. Who's going to be reading this one and who's excited about it? This book comes out on December 29, 2009 and I'm definitely interested and very curious. Mark your calendars, another Virgin River book is coming soon.

This book is available from Mira. You can pre-order it here or here.

Lori's review of Worth Any Price (Bow Street, Book 3) by Lisa Kleypas

Nick Gentry is reputed to be the most skillful lover in all England. Known for solving delicate situations, he is hired to seek out Miss Charlotte Howard. He believes his mission will be easily accomplished - but that was before he met the lady in question. For instead of a willful female, he discovers one in desperate circumstances, hiding from a man who could destroy her very soul.

So Nick shockingly offers her a very different kind of proposition - one he has never offered before. He asks her to be his bride. And he knows that this will be much more than a union in name only. For he senses what Charlotte does not yet know - that her appetite for sensuality matches his own. But what Nick learns surprises him. For while London's most notorious lover might claim Charlotte's body, he quickly discovers it will take much more than passion to win her love.

Worth Any Price is the 1st book I ever read by Lisa Kleypas (I think..it's the first I remember reading by her so that counts, right?) and it's still my favorite out of all of them. Despite my love for Sebastian St. Vincent, it's Nick who has my heart. Since I know Lori loves him almost as much as I do, I asked her to share her thoughts with us. I was going to add mine as well, but Lori really said everything I wanted to - and better than I ever could have. Really, I just can't express how much I love this book!

_____________

The opening to Worth Any Price is so heartrending, so emotional, that I can’t help but fall in love with Nick every time I reread it (which is at a minimum once or twice a year). Here is a young man in his early 20s who can’t stand to be touched, still a virgin, and is so desperate for some sexual release that he begs the local madam to take him under her wing. You can feel his discomfort with human touch – so much so that you know that something horrific has happened to him – and you feel so badly for him that you just want to make it all better for him. Kleypas writes the scene so wonderfully that you feel the palpable relief and embarrassment when the act is finally completed.

Moving on to his introduction to Lottie, Nick poses as a bored viscount in order to bring her home to her fiancé, Lord Radnor, from whom she ran 2 years earlier. Radnor is a cruel old man, portrayed as cold, skeletal, and creepy. Lottie is serving as a companion to the dowager Countess of Westcliff. She has managed to make a life for herself and is independent. Nick is struck like a ton of bricks. He insinuates himself into her life under the guise of relieving his aristocratic ennui, but in reality simply falls for her. The scene where Lottie goes to the May Day fair and they walk home together following the maypole is beautiful. I loved watching her once she realized she was found out – she lost it, attacking him and yelling at him. Nick was also spellbound. It’s then that he realizes that he could marry her instead of her disgusting fiancé.

Watching Nick deal with the emotions of falling in love with Lottie while still trying to deal with the physical aspect of not being able to be touched is so heart-wrenching. He’s a very physical lover, as long as he’s doing the touching, but refuses to fall asleep with her. This tears her apart. You can see their love for each other grow daily. And as Nick comes to realize that he doesn't need his old life - all he needs is Lottie – it’s just wonderful. The two really begin not only to be friends and lovers, but to truly depend upon one another, to grow as a couple, and to learn how to be in a relationship together.

Eventually, Lottie wins him over by showing him complete acceptance, and when he spends the night in her arms – finally – it just makes your heart clench. Still, even after 10s of rereads, I get the warm fuzzies when he lets himself go enough to tell her his truths and to fall asleep with Lottie.

Lottie, in turn, is a fantastic heroine. She is strong in her own right and strong for Nick as well. She helps him through the toughest revelations of his life and supports him through thick and thin while enduring some horrific stuff on her own as well. Lord Radnor is after her for payback for putting her through school, for supporting her family, all with the expectation of Lottie as the prize at the end. She has to learn to let others do for her and to let go and trust in someone other than herself.

This book is very dynamic – the characters learn and grow. Lottie was seemingly strong as an individual, but really was the strong one in the relationship, supporting Nick in every way he needed. As the book went on, she became stronger in her own right, able to control both herself and her environment as well as her man.

Nick was seemingly the strong one in the relationship, but truly couldn’t be open and free in the marriage until he released his innermost fears. Loving and trusting Lottie allowed him to do that. He was a much stronger individual at the beginning of the book, and as it moved forward, he found he needed her support as well in order to come to terms with his identity and his place in life.

Lottie is just one of those great heroines – there for her guy in every way. Supporting him through thick and thin, helping him through the hardest times, giving unconditional love, but by no means a doormat – strong for those who need her, with a wonderful sense of humor and a great sense of self and self-worth. When Nick’s life is literally hanging by his fingertips, and his last thoughts are of Lottie, that is romance at its finest. Until he walks into the Bow Street offices to see her alive and can’t contain himself and simply kisses the living daylights out of her, losing all sense of time and place, until she can calm him down enough to come back to reality. That’s romance at its finest.

So why is Nick a better hero than Derek? He loves his woman unconditionally. He never tries to stifle her. He recognizes her strengths, and wants her to see them as well. He learns to trust her with his biggest pain. He never, ever would have slept with someone else simply because she looked like Lottie. He took great pains to show her how special she was. It’s no secret that Craven means cowardly, gutless, spineless, weak, “so lacking in courage as to be worthy of contempt”. Nick’s profession, while it may not be one he chose for himself, and yes – it was one he was forced into to avoid death – is at least one that is admirable. He is a Bow Street Runner, essentially a police officer (or what would become the police). He cannot hide his true self – that of one who protects people. Someone with a good heart.

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How can you not want to rush right out and read this now?

5 out of 5 (Lori didn't give me a grade for this, but she didn't need to. It's definitely a 5)

Although this book is the third in a series, I don't think it needs to be read in order.

The series:



This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Last year I read and reviewed Heart Fate, book 7 in Robin D. Owens' Celta's HeartMates series. It was the first book I read in the series and I adored it. I started glomming her backlist shortly after that, but held off on reading the rest of the books. Recently Azteclady reviewed Heart Mate, the first book, and it reminded me that I needed to catch up on the series.

I read these books, with the exception of Heart Dance (it didn't load properly on my e-reader and I haven't fixed it yet, so I skipped it and plan to go back to it later), back-to-back. Ames and I reviewed Heart Mate together, but I decided instead of reviewing each book in the series separately, I'd just review the remaining books lightning style in one post.

Heart Mate, Book 1

T'Ash survived the slums then avenged his family's death. He knows Danith is the future of his clan. Danith knows T'Ash is noble, powerful and dangerous. Not for her. The prophecy: A woman surrounded by peril...

Read the full review here. I definitely enjoyed it, though there were parts that frustrated me. The world-building was fantastic and made me want to continue on with the series.

I loved Zanth, T'Ash's Fam.

4 out of 5


Heart Thief, Book 2

The story of a man without psi powers on a world where they're prized. An outcast, Ruis must overcome all society to survive, pursue his passion for restoring ancient Earth technology, and win his love -- Judge Ailim D'SilverFir.

I wasn't sure about this book when I first started it. Ruis Elder is a Null, which means he has no magical Flair. I wasn't sure how that would work in this world, but Owens pulled it off brilliantly.

I really loved both Ruis and Ailim. Their conflict - she is a Judge and he a Fugitive - was interesting and worked well. I really liked that the setting was something new. I especially liked that the council was taken down a peg or two in this book. It showed that they, too, are vulnerable.

Samaba was a great Fam, too. I literally laughed out loud at her antics.

4.25 out of 5


Heart Duel, Book 3

Holm’s a fighter; Lark a Healer, their Families are at war. Holm knows one thing bone deep. Nothing will prevent him from claiming Lark. Not the feud. Not his Family’s condemnation. Not his own flaws. And not Lark herself.

Generally the characters capture me as much as the world they live in, but that wasn't the case for the heroine of this book. Lark was selfish and bitter for 99% of this story. I didn't connect with her and, to be totally honest, had a hard time even tolerating her for most of the story.

The fact that she hurt Holm again and again without thought was bad enough, but she was a Healer. It didn't speak well of her, IMO, that she could be so callous in disregarding his feelings for her.

I did love Holm, though I think he took too much upon himself and should have let go of his guilt sooner than he did. Also? He should have held out longer against Lark in the end. She deserved more punishment than she got.

I really liked the additional conflict created because their families were enemies. Especially since it caused something major to happen to Holm's father, T'Holly.

I liked both Meserv and Phyl, Holm and Lark's Fams, but they didn't stand out against some of the others.

3 out of 5 (although I hated Lark, I thought the book had redeeming qualities)


Heart Choice, Book 4

Straif Blackthorn is back. To claim his title, restore his home, love his woman. And to fight the enemy who wants all three.

I think the conflict in this book was one of the better of the series so far. I really wasn't sure how they would resolve the main issue between them.

I really liked both Straif and Michella. I wasn't sure about Mitchella going into this novel because I disliked her in the first book, but she really worked. Straif was wonderful, though I wasn't sure if he'd be able to overcome his past for Mitchella.

Their romance was well written and the issues they were dealing with were real and heartbreaking.

I did not like Straif's Fam, Drina. At all. Which is unfortunate because I've really enjoyed all the previous ones.

4.25 out of 5


Heart Quest, Book 5

Trif Clover is searching for her HeartMate. But Guardsman Ilex Winterberry has already found her. He has reasons of his own -- and for her own good -- to keep to the shadows of her life. But there's a killer on the loose, stalking those with unstable psi power like Trif's. Facing his most difficult task yet, Ilex must reveal the truth of their destiny or leave Trif vulnerable to a vicious murderer.

I liked that the characters in this novel were of the lower nobility. It was a nice change from the previous entries in the series.

I understood Ilex's reason for wanting to keep Trif away from him, especially in the beginning. I really liked the way the story progressed and the overall arc of the romance.

Trif really matured as the story progressed. I loved the way she pushed for what she wanted.

I can't remember the names of the Fams in this story, but I remember that Ilex's is a fox and I really liked him. Trif's Fam is a cat who decides she wants to get "painted" and she cracked me up.

4.25 out of 5

Heart Dance, Book 6

Dufleur Thyme is a scholar determined to master time itself – and clear her father's name as a mad scientist. Neglected-boy turned nobleman Saille Willow has other ideas. He wants to claim Dufleur as his own, but he has tougher family problems than he thinks. Both must reveal their secrets.

Review to come at some later date. I will say I'm very intrigued by their story based on things that happen to them in Heart Quest.


Heart Fate, Book 7

With Lahsin D'Yew's husband giving chase after she runs from an abusive marriage, she finds sanctuary in a secret garden, where she meets Tinne Holly. Though he is her HeartMate, he cannot tell her, and her troubled past prevents her from trusting any man. Pretending to find her by chance, Tinne helps her through her Second Passage. But when the truth is revealed, can she forgive his deception, and learn to trust in her destiny?

See the original review here. I wanted to do a re-read to see if it held up as well as I remember. It did.

I'd have to say this is probably my favorite of the series to date. I love that both characters have suffered greatly and aren't ready to jump into anything. The both need time to mend and heal. Seeing their relationship grow is beautiful and lovely.

Lahsin bothered me more this time around at the end. Only at the end, though. I still understand her reasons for not wanting to rush into anything, but I felt she took too long about it.

I understood things more this time around, too, especially in regard to Tinne and the things he suffered in the past.

If you're looking for a sweet romance, I'd highly recommend this one.

4.5 out of 5

Overall I really enjoyed this series. The world is fantastic and the characters are interesting. Reading these is like being transported to another world...one I would love to live in.


This series is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

One of my favorite things about Lisa Kleypas is the way she writes her characters. I haven't read a book by her where I wasn't invested in her characters, one way or another. Whether I hated their guts because they were so dumb (Lillian and Sebastian in Secrets of a Summer Night) or I loved their guts and wanted to marry them (Simon, Zachary, Matthew, Jack, etc. etc.), her characters have always made me feel something.

She has a way of writing her characters that make you feel for them. They make you want to cheer them on and they leave you wanting more from them. More, like...their own story.

This discussion topic is going to be on the secondary characters that we'd like to see get their own stories. We've seen plenty secondary characters get their happy ending but this isn't about them. This post is about the secondary characters that haven't gotten their true love story. There are still plenty characters out there, with their wings flapping in the wind.

I'll start with Lord Ravenhill from Where Dreams Begin. I liked that he was going to keep his word and take care of Holly and Rose. He wasn't in love with her but he still wanted to take care of her and protect her from the ton's wagging tongues. I loved how he showed up at Zach and Holly's wedding and showed his support of her. I thought he showed great signs of becoming a great hero. I'd love to read his story.

In this same story, I adored the secondary romance between Jason Sommers and Elizabeth Bronson. It would have been great to see them fall in love and just to see more from them so I wanted a bit more from their love story as well. I thought Jason was great when he stood up to Zach and told him where he could stick her dowry and his blessing. LOL.

Another character, who's story I want to read is Joe Travis. He's the brother that we don't see very often in the Travis books. He was in the same boating accident with Jack in Smooth Talking Stranger and really, I want to get to know him but that could totally be because I'm a greedy wench and want to see more of the Travis family, loving them the way that I do but seriously, I want Joe to get his story! Too bad, I heard he's not going to get it. *sigh*

So what about you guys...if you had a magic wand that would make LK get to writing on the story you want, who's story would it be?

Rowena's review of The Untamed Bride by Stephanie Laurens.

Hero: Derek Delborough
Heroine: Deliah (not Delilah) Duncannon
Grade: 4.5 out of 5

They're battle-hardened, sinfully wealthy, completely unstoppable—and all male: Four officers of the Crown, fighting against a deadly foe known only as the Black Cobra.

He is a man who has faced peril without flinching, determined to fight for king and country.

She is a bold, beautiful woman with a scandalous past, destined to become an untamed bride.

Together they must vanquish the ruthless enemy, while confronting the dangers of the heart . . .

This is the first book in the Black Cobra Quartet. Stephanie Laurens got really creative when she outlined this series because I love the idea surrounding this group of books. The prologue sets up the entire series. It puts into motion what will happen in the coming books and I am much too excited about it.

You see, the book starts out with five soldiers of the crown thrown together on a mission to hunt and bring down a monster of a villain. This villain is such a huge monster that it takes creative thinking to bring him down. Lots of strategic planning went into play here and I loved that Laurens brought in other war veterans to help out with this particular mission. It was great to see characters from the other series play a role in this story without stealing Del and Deliah's thunder. It was good to see all of the series come together to bring down the big beastly monster.

The thing that makes this series unique is that each book in this series will be taking place at the same time, fighting the same fight but in different places. You see, the story starts in India and one of the five soldiers is killed and the remaining soldiers come together to avenge his death and to fulfill their mission. The strategic planning that I mentioned a little bit ago comes into effect when they get the evidence they need to bring this monster down. With help from Dalziel, they come up with a plan to bring the evidence back safely to England and into the right hands. This mission is a whole lot more complicated than just merely protecting a document and bringing it safely home. The villain has an army to do his bidding and so four guys taking on an army just won't work. They have to split up and they all have to take a different route home with either a copy of the evidence or the original evidence package. Nobody will know who has the original package but the person who draws it and they will all meet back home in England, hopefully in one piece to begin the second part of their plan. Bring the Black Cobra down.

This book follows Derek "Del" Delborough as he makes his way to England. Along the way, he becomes entangled with a spirited young lady who won't stay where she's supposed to stay and just won't flat out listen. They encounter numerous attempts on Del's life and they just keep right on fighting the good fight. Together. I enjoyed getting to know these two and I thought that they were well suited for each other even though Deliah got on my nerves some of the time, I didn't hate her. Not at all. She was head strong but she wasn't TSTL. She knew what she was capable of and she ended being a huge help to Del. She was smart and she was capable. I liked her.

Del was a solid, strong hero. One that I had no trouble following along with. He is a great leader and though I loved him, I can tell that I'm going to fall in love with one of the others just a little more. I'm mighty intrigued by Rafe, the hot headed one. Although I'm looking forward to getting to know both Gareth and Logan. I'm really excited for the rest of the series to play out and I think that Stephanie Laurens did a fantastic job with the start of this series. Del and Deliah's story was very entertaining and with the addition of the Cynsters and the Bastion Club, I think fans of Stephanie Laurens will not be disappionted.

Giveaway: We've got a copy of this book to giveaway so if you want to throw your name in the hat to win this book, leave a comment letting us know what you're most looking forward to seeing from this new series even if it's just the Cynsters or the Bastion Club. Good luck!

Browse inside the book before you buy it by clicking here. There's also this pretty nifty little book trailer for The Untamed Bride, check it out:



This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Guide to Good Living: Great Books & Girlfriends by Malena Lott

Keys to happiness. Top ten ways to love your life. How to reduce stress and live longer.

Self-help articles flood the Internet, self-help books line our shelves, and yet something still seems to be missing. I've got a big bone to throw out there: human interaction. You know, the real kind, where the person you're listening to isn't on a flat screen or a big Mac monitor? Where your communication isn't limited to 140 characters? Where you can share ideas, passions and pomegranate martinis using all five senses?

That's right. I know it's old-fashioned of me to propose that girlfriends get together when we're up to our eyeballs in kids' schedules and working our fingers to the bone at the office and at home, but here's the thing: what all those self-help articles have in common is that friends make us happy. Happier than our husbands? Happier than our kids? You betcha. Now, I can imagine you shaking your heads right now, but the research isn't saying we don't love our kids and our husbands, but when the research reports stress levels, honey we're way more stressed with our hubs and kiddos than we are with our friends. Makes sense. Our friends don't ask us to wipe their butts or make them PB&J sammiches.

Seriously, Girls Night Outs are nothing new, and neither is the concept of book clubs, yet as an avid reader all of my life and an author, I've never been in a book club before. My stumbling block? One book picked by a group. Like, an assignment or something. No thanks. I read about a book a week, and I'm usually reading three or four books at a time, based on my mood of the moment. Then it dawned on me: why not let the book club members read whatever they want and discuss it at book club? And furthermore, why not make it more like a girls night out without the guilt. Because, let's face it, some husbands make wives feel very guilty about a night out for fun-fun-fun while they are left at home with the young 'uns, or hell, anywhere without them.

But to say, "I'm going to book club?" It sounds like, and is, an intellectual pursuit. Yes, you've got a commitment to read, which the majority of Americans don't do enough of, and you have an obligation to not back out quite as easily as if it were *just* a night out on the town with the girls.

Hence, Book End Babes was born. Book End Babes is a national book club - a sorority of literary sisters - who share a passion for books. Just like book ends, we support the book industry and authors. We're high tech and high touch. We have real-life chapters all over the country (and one Skype chapter) and we share great recipes for food and drinks and come together to discuss the books we've read that month. The chapters can organize however they wish and choose Anything Goes, All 4 One or Any Four from our top four picks to discuss.

On our site, we invite the members and authors to share essays about books and girlfriends. We get to know the authors a little better to connect readers and writers. Do we use technology? Absolutely. I love Twitter and Facebook and we have both for Book End Babes. We want visits to the site to enhance the readers' life and inspire our chapter members to read more and make their book parties more fun so that their members will keep coming.

Many online relationships lead to real-life friendships, too. I got to meet our Chapter 2 Rebel Book Club in person a couple of weeks ago in Wichita, Kansas. I hope you'll consider starting up a Book End Babes chapter in your area. We'll start you out with a kit and the next four queenBs to host a chapter will get a cool tote bag and one book from our book closet. Our goal is 25 chapters by December 25th, all around the country. I hope you'll consider taking your love for reading from the solitary to the social. Because we all know that real babes read books.

Malena Lott is the author of The Stork Reality and Dating da Vinci. Find out more about Book End Babes at www.bookendbabes.com and follow them at www.twitter.com/bookendbabes

Casee's review of Possess Me at Midnight (Doomsday Brethren, Book 3) by Shayla Black.

As a mysterious dark cloud drains the life of her beloved brother, Doomsday Brethren leader Bram, Sabelle Rion can think of little else. Still, every time she meets Ice Rykard's intense green gaze, her body aches with need for the sexy warrior. Their attraction is explosive, incredible — and forbidden. As dangerous as he is unpredictable, Ice is her brother's sworn enemy. But as Bram weakens, a more sinister force is gaining power.

Evil Mathias and his ruthless Anarki army are on a bloodthirsty hunt for the Doomsday Diary. Sabelle must guard the potent book with her life — and Ice vows to protect the beautiful witch with his. Duty demands that Sabelle deny her lover's fiery call of possession and mate with a man who can sway the magical Council against the impending rebellion. With the fate of magickind hanging in the balance, will she forsake the burning desires she can't ignore or turn her back on her people for the courageous man she can't resist?

After the semi-disappointment of Seduce Me in Shadow, I am happy to report that Possess Me at Midnight was much better. Since I wanted to either read Ice or Shock's book, I was happy when I read the blurb. Ice is such an intriguing character. Despite his obvious animosity for Bram, he continues to fight with the Doomsday Brethren under Bram's direction.

In the magickind world, Ice is know as "Deprived" while Sabelle is "Privileged". It's rather like the classes in the regency romances, where you're either "in" or "out". Since this is a contemporary book, that part was rather interesting to read about.

At the end of Seduce Me in Shadow, the Doomsday Brethren suffered a massive hit. Their enemy (and villain) Matthias put some sort of spell on Bram who seems to be dying more by the second. The only thing that can save him is his missing mate. The men take their mates and scatter to make themselves harder to locate. Sabelle, along with Ice and Bram take the Doomsday Diary and teleport out. They soon discover that Matthias used a witch to put a spell on the Diary, so whenever it is teleported, he knows where.

The Doomsday Brethren has finally figured out why Matthias is targeting Council members (this is like a magickind government). Most of the council members are old school and refuse to believe that Matthias is killing innocent wizards and witches. He uses that to his full advantage when he applies for the open seat on the council. The seat that was opened after he killed the member that held it.

Sabelle and Ice know what Matthias plans, they just don't know how to prove it. What they do know is that they can't let Matthias get on the council. With Bram out of commission, Sabelle and Ice must appeal to the living council members.

Ice has known that Sabelle is the only woman for him. In a moment of weakness, he Calls to her, expecting to be Renounced. Sabelle is unable to Renounce Ice even though she knows that Bram expects her to make a political marriage.

This book started showing who Bram Rion really is. Far from being the diplomat that he portrays, Bram is ruthless in doing what he thinks is best for magickind. I really didn't like the way that he treated Sabelle when he found out that Ice called to her. It was like a throwback to Regency England.

Sabelle's insistence on not letting Bram down really started getting on my nerves. Especially when he started showing his true colors. Ice is the only one that has never asked anything of her. Not even to accept his Call.

I'm not even sure I care about Bram's book. I just want to read Shock's book and I will be happy.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from Pocket. You can buy it here.

Other books in the series:



Leave a comment by Friday, October 30th at 11:59 PDT to win a copy of Possess Me at Midnight.

Lisa Kleypas is a genius at writing the kinds of heroes that women would swoon for. She writes the kind of heroes that we all love to love. The rough neck guys who come from the dirt and fight their way to the top.

Zachary Bronson was that kind of guy. He was this kind of guy:

Zachary was well aware that many aristocrats secretly mocked him for his low birth and his rapidly built fortune, claiming that his mind was bourgeois and mercantile, that he had no understanding of style, elegance and good breeding. They were correct in this assessment. He knew his limitations. However, he took a grim satisfaction in the fact that no one could afford to mock him openly. He had made himself into a force to be reckoned with. He had sunk his financial tentacles into banks, businesses, real estate, investment trusts…it was likely that he had some kind of monetary affiliation, whether large or small, with every man of means in England.

Goodness, this guy was filthy rich and how many of us don't fantasize about being married to someone who was as rich as Zachary was? I do on a constant basis, mostly when my bills are due. But as rich and as handsome as Zack was, it wasn't his money that I fell head over heels in love with in this book. What I fell in love with were the relationships that he had with his mother, his sister and then with Holly's daughter, Rose.

Holy goodness, watching him get closer and closer to Holly's daughter made me turn into a mushy pile of lust at his feet. Zachary was the kind of man that went to great lengths, no matter what lengths that might be to get what he wanted. He knew his own mind and he was comfortable in his skin. He knew that his mother and his sister didn't fit in with the old life that they had, he knew that they needed to blend in with the new life that they had and he knew that he needed help with it so he went out and he got that help. He was ruthless in attaining Lady Holly's help but in the end, he got it and that persistence made me lust after him all the more.

Can you imagine having the love of a man such as Bronson? There was an intenseness in Zachary that you couldn't help but be in awe of. He was just so good. While rereading this book, the descriptions of Zachary had me singing, I Wanna Sex You Up by Color Me Badd in my head. I could see it all in my head, Zach would come home from a hard day at work and I'd open the door and just start singing, "Come inside, take off your coat, I'll make you feel at home. Now let's pour a glass of wine cause now we're all alone. I've been waiting all night so just let me hold you close to me...cause I've been dying for you boy to make love to me....boy you make me feel real good...." LOL, yeah I'd totally sing that song to him.

My favorite scenes are the scenes in which Zach is interacting with little Rose. Here's one of them that I absolutely adored:

“Good afternoon, Mr. Bronson,” [Holly] said, gesturing for him to take a seat next to her. “I hope you will not object if Rose plays in the corner during our discussion today. She has promised to be very quiet.”

“Naturally I wouldn't object to such charming company.” Bronson smiled at the petite child, who sat on the carpeted floor with her toys. “Are you having tea, Miss Rose?”

“Yes, Mr. Bronson. Miss Crumpet asked me to pour. Would you like a cup, too?” Before Holly could restrain her, the little girl hastened to Bronson with a doll-sized cup and saucer no bigger than his thumbnail. “Here you are, sir.” A tiny concerned frown adorned her brow. “It's only ‘air tea,’ but it's quite delicious if you're good at pretending.” Bronson accepted the cup as if it were a great favor. Carefully he sampled the invisible brew. “A bit more sugar, perhaps,” he said thoughtfully.

Holly watched while the two prepared the cup to Bronson's satisfaction. She had not expected Bronson to interact so comfortably with a child. In fact, not even George's brothers, Rose's own uncles, had displayed such ease with her. Children were seldom part of a man's world. Even the most doting father did little more than view his child once or twice a day and inquire after his or her progress.

Glancing at Holly briefly, Bronson caught her perplexed expression. “I was coerced into more than a few tea parties by Elizabeth when she was no bigger than Rose,” he said. “Although Lizzie had to make do with shingles for plates and an old tin cup instead of china. I always swore I'd get her a proper toy tea set someday. By the time I could afford one, she was too old to want it any longer.”

To see a grown pay so much attention to a young girl, especially in that day and age made me sigh all over the place. I had already softened toward Zach by the time I read the scene above but it was this scene that made me the big Zach fan that I am.

Zachary squatted down before her, staring at her eye to eye, and an affectionate grin tugged at his lips.

“What's the matter, princess?” he asked gently, although he already knew.

Rose unburdened herself eagerly. “Mama says we have to go away. We're going to live at my uncle's house again, a-and I want to stay here.” Her little face crumpled with childish sorrow, and Zachary nearly staggered from the impact of an invisible blow to his chest. Panic…love…yet more anguish. Although saying good-bye to Holly hadn't quite killed him, this would certainly finish him off. Somehow during the past months he had begun to love this enchanting child, with her sugar-sticky hands, her jangly button string, her long tangled curls, her brown eyes so like her mother's. No more tea parties, no more sitting in the parlor before the hearth and spinning tales of bunies and cabbages, dragons and princesses, no more miniature hands that clung to his so trustingly.

“Tell Mama that we must stay here with you,” Rose commanded. “You can make her stay, I know you can!”

“Your mama knows what's best for you,” Zachary murmured, smiling faintly though he was dying inside.

“You be a good girl and do as she says.”

“I am a good girlalways ,” Rose said, and began to sniffle again. “Oh, Mr. Bronson…what will happen to my toys?”

“I'll send every last one to you at the Taylors'.”

“They won't all fit.” She used a chubby hand to smear a teardrop across her cheek. “Their house is much, much littler than yours.”

“Rose…” He sighed and pressed her head against his shoulder, his huge hand engulfing the entire top of her skull. She stayed against him and snuggled close, patting his scratchy jaw. After a while, she wriggled away. “You're squashing Miss Crumpet!”

“Sorry,” he said contritely, reaching out to straighten the doll's little blue bonnet.

“Will I ever see you and Lizzie again?” Rose asked woefully.

Zachary couldn't bring himself to lie to her. “Not very often, I'm afraid.”

“You'll miss me awfully,” she said, heaving a sigh, and she began to fumble for something in the pocket of her pinafore.

Something went wrong with Zachary's eyes, some odd blurring and stinging that he couldn't seem to blink away. “Every day, princess.”Rose extracted a small object from the pocket and handed it to him. “This is for you,” she said. “It's my perfume button. When you get sad, you can smell it, and you'll feel better. It always works for me.”

“Princess,” Zachary said, making his voice soft to keep it from cracking, “I can't take your favorite button.” He tried to give it back to her, but she pushed his hand away.

“You need it,” she said stubbornly. “You keep it, Mr. Bronson. And don't lose it.”

“All right.” Zachary closed his fist over the button and bowed his head over it, struggling with his unruly emotions. He had done this to himself, he thought. He had schemed and manipulated until he had gotten Lady Holland Taylor to live in his home. But he had never anticipated the consequences. If he had only known…

“Are you going to cry, Mr. Bronson?” the child asked in concern, coming to stand beside his knees, staring into his downturned face.

He managed to smile at her. “Just a little on the inside,” he said raspily. He felt her little hand on his cheek, and he held utterly still as she kissed him on the nose.

“Good-bye, Mr. Bronson,” she whispered, and she left with her button string trailing dolefully behind her.

If that last scene doesn't endear you to Zachary Bronson then something is wrong...with you, not Zach because Zach is one of those underrated heroes that not very many people talk about. He seems to get lost in the shuffle that is Derek Craven and Sebastian St. Vincent. He's one of the kindest men that I've ever read about and one of the strongest. His capacity to love and the hard work that he put forth to make sure his family was well taken care of just gets me every time. He's one of those heroes that you can't help but love. If you haven't read his book then I highly recommend that you fix that because Zachary Bronson is a man that you definitely have to meet and I dare you to not fall in love with him. It's not hard to figure out why he's this month's Hero of the Month, there are so many reasons why I love him so go on and find out the many reasons you'll love him.

Until next month...


WHERE DREAMS BEGIN is available from Avon. You can buy it here.

There are some great looking titles up this week. I'm especially interested in the Kari Thomas and Maddie James. Has anyone tried them before? My husband isn't going to be happy about it, but I do need some new books to take with me this weekend (we're going out of town for a wedding).

New and Featured eBooks

For all the new eBooks added this week, click here.

Her Heart His Soul
by Kari Thomas
[Romance]

Antique Book Dealer Sara Winters has been searching for a rare book that may not even exist, her obsession taking her all over the world. When her father mysteriously dies, she returns home and immediately is involved in a battle between good and evil, with the fabled book the main catalyst to win for either side. Her saviour from a demon attack is a rare, unique being himself. Drake Domitaine is a warrior. Half angel, ... Details

A Second Seduction
by Janet Lane Walters
[Romance]

Mark figures it's the Blakefield curse to fall in love once and never forget that love. True or not, he's never forgotten Christa and never gotten over her. When he discovers his long lost love is running an Inn in Vermont, he heads for Vermont to try to win her back... Details
Wanted: True Love
by Janet Quinn
[Fantasy/Romance]

Bree-Anna, a witch, has been searching for true love her whole life, with no success, thanks to Gerard, a warlock. As her two-hundredth birthday approaches, she has given up and knows she must face Gerard and culmination of the curse he put on her. If she doesn't find true love, she must marry Gerard or give him her powers. She flees Gerard and moves to Los Angeles to reinvent herself. There she meets Quinton Lawrey, ... Details
Mate to Order [Matchmaking Chef Series]
by Maddie James
[Romance]

When Suzie Matthew's success as the Matchmaking Chef hits the national scene about the same time as her debut cooking show on The Food Channel, her new producer comes to her with a list of requirements-not for Suzie's job, but for a husband. Patricia Plum has a specific Husband List and if Suzie really wants to make it big in New York City, she'll make every attempt to deliver Patricia's "mate to order." Ames Cooper, ... Details
Kiss of Scandal
by Isabel Roman
[Romance/Historical Fiction]

n the wreckage of a friend's death, Countess Katria Markova finds her perfectly ordered life irrevocably altered. Russian politics proves more dangerous than the front lines of war, and when her fiance's future is threatened by rumors of treason, their cat-and-mouse game ends. In its place, a political game, one that puts their very lives at stake, begins. Count Nikolai Orlov will do anything to clear his brother's name. Anything but put Katria in harm's ... Details
10:15
by Trent Kinsey
[Science Fiction/Horror]

One second always makes the difference. The suspenseful tale of three students and one teacher trapped in one second of time, only to find out that something is there with them. Something no one has ever seen before, with an appetite none of them want to bear witness to. Details
The Caretaker
by Gabriella Lucas
[Romance]

A WOMAN ACHING TO FIND LOVE AND PASSION ... Nikki Quinn, fresh off an acrimonious divorce, is lookng for a place to live with her eleven-year-old daughter, a new job--and love. When she inherits her best friend's mansion, she has no idea that her friend's ghost lingers there, nor does she know that the spirit of Paddy Doyle, cursed over two hundred years ago, comes with the property. The truth about what really happened so ... Details
The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag: Skeletons in the Closet
by Jennifer L. Hart
[Mystery/Crime/Mainstream]

Maggie Phillips hasn't had it easy. As the wife of a retired Navy SEAL and the adoptive mother of two little hellions, Maggie is constantly seeking new ways to improve her family's financial situation. She accepts a cleaning position for her new neighbors (who redefine the term 'eccentric'), never imagining she will end up as the sole alibi for a man with a fascination for medieval torture devices when he is brought up on murder ... Details
Sleeping With Skeletons
by Doralynn kennedy
[Romance]

Former CIA operative Margaret Garrison is not the woman she appears to be when she arrives in rural Ireland, hoping to find a quiet respite from running for her life. The last thing she needs is to catch the eye of Aidan Grimes, the wildly popular Irish actor filming the movie Jane Eyre in Ballyrick. Rumored to have broken a thousand hearts, Aidan is also a man of many surprises. The very secrecy that shrouds ... Details
What Happened to Anna?
by Jennifer Robins
[Suspense/Thriller]

Some try to protect those they love-even after death. Upon moving into a restored turn-of-the-century house ... Details

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