HappyLight & Happy New Year!

I've wanted one of these Full Spectrum Lights for several years and finally put it on my Christmas list this year.  And my son got it for me.  This lamp uses Natural Spectrum light to help with the symptoms of "Winter Blues" and SAD (seasonal effected disorder).  For years I've had a hard time dealing with the dark, gloomy winters we have here in the Seattle area.  I have no energy and my mood is borderline depression.  I blogged about getting one of these types of lights years ago but never got around to buying one.  I thought they were a bit pricey and I wasn't too sure they would work.  But this one was only about $50 at Costco so I thought it was worth a try.  Also this one is small (only 12" high) and fits almost anywhere. 

The package says that it emulates sunshine and will improve your mood and energy and help with your productivity and concentration.  You're supposed to sit in front of the light (between 6" - 24" away from your face) for 30 - 60 minutes in the morning with your eyes open.  They suggest reading or knitting or something or put it next to your computer while you work.   I put mine on the small table next to my comfy chair where I read.

I've have used is now for the past two days and I think I can feel a difference already.  I actually felt like doing stuff today. I put away all the Christmas decorations.  Amazing!  That usually doesn't get done until the last couple weeks of January.  A promising start.  We'll see how it goes in the next few weeks since they say you may not feel the effects for a month or so.

Recent reads:
 

Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas

This is the 5th book in the Hathaway series which tells Beatrix's story and is my favorite book in the bunch. I loved Beatrix from the very first book with her quirky animal menagerie which includes a hedgehog and a ferret and other creatures who need her special care. She has a way with wounded animals and a tender heart.  Beatrix is the "baby" of the family and is now 23 y.o. All of her siblings are married and settled and she's feeling like she will never find anyone since she realizes how odd she is in comparison to most young ladies. Beatrix starts a correspondence with Captain Christopher Phelan who is fighting in the Crimean War.  However, Captain Phelan thinks he is corresponding with his love interest, Prudence, Beatrix's friend.  The letters are funny, charming, and touching at times.  When Christopher returns home from the war, he is suffering very badly from guilt and what we would call PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).  When he finds out that he has been exchanging letters with Beatrix rather Prudence, he feels betrayed and angry.  I loved Kleypas' writing in LITA and thought it was one of her best efforts since Devil in Winter.  Beatrix and Christopher were wonderfully drawn and made a perfect match.  LITA is not a DIK but it comes close.   
My Grade:  B+

REVIEW: Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 352
SETTING: Contemporary
TYPE: Straight Romance
SENSUALITY: Hot
REASON FOR READING: Loved the previous two books, Sugar Daddy and Blue-Eyed Devil, and hey, it's Lisa Kleypas, what other reason do you need?

SUMMARY: 

Ella Varner has it all--a successful career as an advice columnist, a handsome boyfriend, and a circle of friends in Austin. When anyone has a problem, Ella knows the answers.

But one night she receives a call that changes everything. And as Ella's world is turned upside-down, she meets a man who is the opposite of everything she ever wanted . . . a man who will offer her the most irresistible challenge she has ever known . . .

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS:
I'm a huge fan of Lisa Kleypas and am thoroughly enjoying this series. At first I was reluctant to try these contemporaries because I have enjoyed so many of her historicals but I shouldn't have worried. Her writing seems to get better and better as the years roll by.

Kleypas' heroes are to die for and Jack Travis is no exception. I think I'm in love! Wow, seriously. Have you ever wanted to jump into the pages of a book and BE the heroine? Ella Varner is an OK heroine but I'm not too fond of heroines who are basically doormats. She lets her mother, sister, and boyfriend walk all over her but she had a difficult childhood and some people may find her behavior understandable but I was just a wee bit irritated with her. And don't get me started on the sister. But Ella does surprisingly confront Jack (who she believes is the father of the baby) which redeemed her a tad bit in my mind. I'm glad this book was written first person POV so I knew what Ella was going through and I did have a certain amount of sympathy for her. I just wanted to smack the self-centered sister upside the head.

This should have been an A read but I disliked the sister so much and was disappointed that she never got what she deserved so I settled on a slightly lower grade. This is a very worthwhile read, just for Jack Travis alone.

GRADE: B+

REVIEW: The Fire King by Marjorie M. Liu

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 309
SETTING: Contemporary China and Mongolia
TYPE: Paranormal Romance
SENSUALITY: Warm
SERIES: Dirk & Steele (book 9)

SUMMARY:

Long ago, shape-shifters were plentiful, soaring through the sky as crows, racing across African veldts as cheetahs, raging furious as dragons atop the Himalayas. Like gods, they reigned supreme. But even gods have laws, and those laws, when broken, destroy.

Zoufalstvi. Epatoivo. Asa. Three words in three very different languages, and yet Soria understands. Like all members of Dirk & Steele, she has a gift, and hers is communication: That was why she was chosen to address the stranger. Strong as a lion, quick as a serpent, Karr is his name, and in his day he was king. But he is a son of strife, a creature of tragedy. As fire consumed all he loved, so an icy sleep has been his atonement. Now, against his will, he has awoken. Zoufalstvi. Epatoivo. Asa. In English, the word is despair. But Soria knows the words for love.

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS:
I don't read a lot of paranormals but Marjorie Liu's Dirk & Steele series is one I have been faithfully reading since the first book, Tiger Eye, and I have enjoyed almost every one. They have all been solid action-packed stories with some great characters. But my main complaint for every one of these books is that there is so much action that at times I had a hard time figuring out what the heck is going on and had to reread pages. But I have to say that I had no such problem with The Fire King. TFK is still filled with action but I found it very smooth flowing and readable. The book just sucks you into the story and you can hardly wait to turn each page.

The Dirk & Steele agency is a group of shapeshifters and people with special gifts who banded together to fight an evil organization (The Consortium) which is described in previous books in the series. But thankfully, TFK works just fine as a standalone read, so you don't have to read any of the other books in the series to understand the storyline.

Karr is a 3000 year old chimera who was just dug out of a cave somewhere in China. A chimera is a creature whose parents are both different types of shapeshifters. Chimeras had been hunted to extinction because they were greatly feared. Karr is tied up and held prisoner and no one can understand him because his language is now extinct. Soria has a gift for languages, in fact she can understand any language in the world by using some kind of psychic connection. Soria's past involves a horrific major trauma from a betrayal and she is still somewhat fragile. She has separated herself from all her friends and family but D&S needs her help with Karr to translate his extinct language and discover why he survived for 3000 years. Karr and Soria are two incredible well-formed characters and Liu makes you feel their isolation and loneliness. Soria was especially well done. I really felt her sense of betrayal, pain, and fear. Yet I marveled at how tough she was and appreciated her sharp tongue. I think she is probably one of my favorite heroines of the year.

Another plus was the unusual setting of China and Mongolia. Can't say I have ever read any book with this setting. And the characters from the tribe of nomads (including a foreign exchange student) and shapeshifters that have appeared in previous books in the series were all very well developed. The sexual tension was marvelous and this is where Karr really shines with how he falls for Soria and doesn't see her "flaws". There was only one short (but warm) sex scene which had me wishing for more. But Liu never puts many sex scenes in her books unfortunately.

All in all an enjoyable read. TFK kept my interest from first page to last and I think it's the best one in the series.

GRADE: B+

TBR Challenge: REVIEW: A Gentle Rain by Deborah Smith

COPYRIGHT: 2007
PAGES: 360
SETTING/TYPE: Contemporary Romance
SENSUALITY: Subtle
REASON FOR READING: I got lucky and won this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. Since I'm a huge fan of DS, I was thrilled.

SUMMARY: from Deborah Smith's webite

A Connecticut heiress. A Florida cowboy.

Her secret. His heart.

And the very special family she's come home to find.

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS:

A Gentle Rain is another heartwarming engaging story that I have come to expect from Deborah Smith.

Kara Whittenbrook is the daughter of two wealthy award-winning environmentalist parents who have recently died when their plane crashes in the Amazon jungle leaving her an heiress. While sorting through her parent's papers she is shocked to discover her adoption papers. So she confronts her uncle to find out how and why her parents adopted a child. He explains that her adopted parents wanted to tell her but they died before they felt she was secure in herself enough to handle the news. He also told her that her biological parents are mentally disabled and live on a ranch in Northern Florida.

Kara decides she wants to meet them but she is unsure of her welcome so she sets out for Florida as "Karen Johnson", an artist and harp player. The ranch is run by Ben Thocco and her biological parents, Mac and Lily, work for him. Mac was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and Lily was severely shaken as a baby. They have never mentioned having a child and Ben does not know about Kara. Ben's brother, Joey, has Downs Syndrome and a very bad heart and his prognosis is not good. Ben is a wonderfully kind man who has a lot on his shoulders . He is struggling to hold onto the ranch, take care of Joey, and employ other mentally handicapped adults besides Mac and Lily as ranch hands.

Circumstances bring Kara into life on the ranch and Mac and Lily are very drawn to her. She quickly finds herself a part of life on the ranch, cooking and cleaning and getting to know her birth parents . She and Ben are very attracted to each other but Ben feels there is more to Kara than she is revealing. Kara is unsure whether she should reveal herself to her parents but she eventually falls in love with them ... and Ben too. She can't resist secretly fixing some of the financial problems Ben faces with her vast fortune.

This heartwarming story is filled with gentle humor and sweet, endearing characters. The writing alternates between Kara's and Ben's point of view and works wonderfully well. The love between Ben and Kara develops slowly and you will fall in love with them and the special characters just as I did. Deborah Smith is an amazing author and it's too bad more people don't know about her. This is a very special book and I highly recommend.

GRADE: B+

Just finished reading...

I'm caught up with homework for now so I thought I would pop in and post about a book I just finished and loved. If you like contemporary romances with snappy dialogue, three dimensional characters, and steamy love scenes, this is the book for you.

TITLE: Can't Stand the Heat
AUTHOR: Louisa Edwards
SENSUALITY: Hot
THOUGHTS/OPINIONS:
If you have never heard of Louisa Edwards before that's because Can't Stand the Heat is her debut book. And what a debut! I was quite impressed. I love stories where some conflict pits the hero and heroine against each other. I recently read and loved Julie James' Practice Makes Perfect which features this type of story. So when I heard the buzz about this book I had to give it a try since it also features a restaurant critic and a chef. Miranda Wake is a sharp-tongued restaurant critic who would love to write a book about restaurant culture but can't find an interested publisher. Adam Temple is a chef working hard to open his new restaurant - Market - which specializes in organic dishes with the freshest ingredients straight from local growers.

At Market's opening party Miranda gets a bit tipsy and shoots off her mouth. Adam loses his temper and issues a dare, kinda like "Oh yeah, you think this is easy - you wouldn't last a month in my kitchen." Adam's publicist thinks this is a great idea and will make lots of publicity for the restaurant and bring in the customers. Only problem is Miranda can't cook but she sells the idea to a publisher and receives a book advance. This is when the fun begins. The dialogue is crisp and snappy with lots of realistic restaurant jargon, the food descriptions are mouth watering and the pacing is fast and furious. The book is filled with wonderfully realistic characters and features a secondary M/M romance that was well done. I loved Adam much more than Miranda whose motivations sometimes puzzled me even though the story alternates between Adam and Miranda's point of view. The real strength of this book is the how the relationship grows. The sensuality between Adam and Miranda was hot and spicy and blended together with the cooking and food preparation making some very yummy scenes.

This is the first book in Edwards' "Recipe for Love" series and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book.

GRADE: B+

Recent Reads

Where does the time go? Well, I'm done with summer quarter. Took 3 classes for a total of 12 credits and got straight A's :)

Yeah, I'm a totally obsessive student and always have been and I saw it all too clearly this summer. In one class (Excel spreadsheet class) I had a perfect score plus 60 extra credit points which is ridiculous really. Why do I do this to myself? My stressed out tummy has come back again so I need to de-stress and relax until fall quarter starts on September 21. I have been busy reading and have really been knocking down my TBR.

This Duchess of Mine by Eloisa James (2009)
Sensuality: Warm
Grade: B
This is the fifth book in the Desperate Duchesses series and I haven't read any of the previous books which goes to show I have overcome my OCD about reading books in a series in order. I haven't read many books by James (only 2) but I really must go find some of her backlist because I enjoyed this book. This is a troubled marriage plot which is one of my favorites. As the story begins Jemma and Elijah are reunited after a 9 year separation after she catches him in the act with his mistress. Now he wants an heir and Jemma has reluctantly returned from Paris to do her "duty". The beginning of the book felt like I had jumped into the middle of the story so I have a feeling I should have read the previous books (which was confirmed in some of the reviews I read), but I did enjoy the story anyway. There is lots of sexual tension and the plot involves chess (Jemma & Elijah are both chess masters) and some issues with Elijah's heart condition which was all expertly handled in both pacing and dialogue. A thoroughly enjoyable book. A secondary character, the Duke of Villiers, has an interesting storyline involving his illegitimate children and I look forward to his book, A Duke of Her Own, which was recently released. I'm also intrigued enough to checkout the previous books in this series.


One Reckless Summer by Toni Blake
Sensuality: Hot
Grade: B+
Good girl meets bad boy. Been there, done that. In fact the title and book reminded me a little bit of Robard's One Summer, one of my favorite books of all time. ORS is not quite as good as OS, but it's a great summer read. Jenny comes back to her home town to get her life back together after divorcing her cheating husband. She moves into the family vacation cabin on the lake and discovers that Mick, her tormentor from her teenage years, is also back living across the lake. I didn't like Jenny very much at first but Mick is totally yummy. Jenny is too much of a perfect good girl but when she meets Mick after rowing across the lake to do some stargazing, she does something reckless and they have a very steamy sexual encounter. Mick had a very rough childhood with two worthless parents. He is helping his brother who has escaped from prison and is now dying from cancer. Jenny is very attracted to Mick and is torn about keeping the presence of Mick's brother a secret from her father, the chief of police. The chemistry between them and their sizzling sexy affair really was the highlight of the book and made this an excellent book to take to the beach (which I did).

Stolen Fury by Elisabeth Naughton
Sensuality: Warm
Grade: B
This riproaring romantic suspense was another good summer read. It's filled with lots of action adventure in the tradition of Indiana Jones without detracting from the romance. Lisa is an archeologist hot on the trail of three bas-reliefs of the Greek Furies, Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. After finding Alecto she meets Rafe, who seduces her, drugs her and steals Alecto from her hotel safe and she is now furious. With the help of her detective brother, she tracks him down in Key West, Florida, and she reluctantly joins forces with Rafe to get Tisiphone before other treasure hunters. I normally detest a thief hero, but there are some complex circumstances behind Rafe's motives. The book was fast paced and I loved the intrigue and all the twists and turns. The sexual tension was built slowly and I enjoyed the snappy dialogue between the H/H. When they finally get together the pages sizzled nicely. Lisa is a smart, tough heroine with a secret past. Rafe is so charming I couldn't stay mad at him for stealing Alecto (and neither could Lisa). This was my first book by Naughton and I can hardly wait to get my hands on the next book, Stolen Heat.

REVIEW: Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 291
SETTING: Contemporary
TYPE: Straight Romance
SENSUALITY: Warm
REASON FOR READING: KristieJ gave this one a 4.5 out of 5 and Jane at DA gave it a B

SUMMARY:

When it comes to the laws of attraction, there are no rules The battle between the sexes is about to make these two lawyers hot under the collar. Opposites collide when two lawyers try to make partner at the same firm. Payton Kendall is a feminist to the bone. Cocky J.D. Jameson was born privileged. But when they’re asked to join forces on a major case, they gain a newfound awareness of each other’s personal assets. The partnership spot will be offered to only one of them, though. The competition heats up. Sparks fly. Let the games begin.

THOUGHTS / OPINION:
When I first heard about this book about two lawyers I was not at all tempted to give it a try. Books about lawyers tend to bore me and all the technical legal talk is a real yawn. But Jane's and KristieJ's reviews convinced me that I should at least give it a try. Within the first couple of pages I got right into it but somewhere around page 40 I was ready to strangle the "hero" who infuriated me. What a male chauvinist PIG, sexist cocky bastard! Yeah, I know, that's kinda harsh but it's true and I was steaming at that point and ready to throw the book up against the nearest wall. But I hung on and I'm glad I did because it was a great ride and I enjoyed the book.

J. D. Jameson & Payton Kendall are two hot shot lawyers who have worked for the same prestigious law firm for the past 8 years and both are up for a partnership. But unfortunately the firm has decided that only one will make it and the other will have to leave the firm. So the competition heats up between J.D. and Payton and neither one is afraid to play dirty.

J.D. and Payton have been rivals since day one. They have treated each other with cool reserve but underneath they detest each other and are constantly trying to outdo the other. Payton hates J.D.'s privileged rich boy attitude, his expensive clothes and his fancy car. She feels she has to work twice as hard to get any respect from her boss. J.D. hates Payton's feminist attitude and feels he will be discriminated against because the firm sent out email to the employees stating their intention to grow the female partnership and Payton is the only female up for partner (*rolling eyes* oh, those poooooor white rich males who for centuries held all the cards in jobs and promotions and now feel threatened when a female might just get a job they want ... boo. hoo.). Kinda hard to like J.D. at this point. But J.D really grew on me and slowly I came to realize that I really liked him which surprised me.

You know the old romance cliche about love and hate being closely connected? So true in this case. The intense competition between JD and Payton ratchets up a notch and so does their attraction. They like to play pranks on each other and some of them were pretty funny and there were some laugh out loud moments. PMP is a romantic comedy, very light and fun. However, there were some underlying themes pertaining to class, gender, and workplace discrimination that the author chose to ignore that I found a bit unsettling and rather irritating. I found a review by Jessica over at Racy Romance Reviews that perfectly described my problems with these issues and how they were portrayed in the book.

In the end I chose to ignore those issues since I liked both the H/H and loved their relationship and how realistically the author portrayed the legal profession yet made it fascinating to read. As a feminist I couldn't resist cheering for Payton to make partner all through the book but the ending surprised me and I rather liked it. I haven't read Ms. James' debut novel, Just the Sexiest Man Alive, but it's sitting on my nightstand now and I look forward to reading it soon.

GRADE: B+

REVIEW: Vision in White by Nora Roberts

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 325
TYPE/SETTING: Contemporary - Connecticut
SERIES: 1st book in Bride Quartet
SENSUALITY: Warm
REASON FOR READING: It's a new non-paranormal series from Nora - had to have it.

SUMMARY:

Childhood friends Mackensie, Parker, Laurel and Emmeline have formed a very successful wedding planning business together but, despite helping thousands of happy couples to organize the biggest day of their lives, all four women are unlucky in love. Photographer Mackensie Elliott has suffered a tough childhood and has a bad relationship with her mother, which makes her wary of commitment. But when she meets Carter Macguire, she can't stop herself falling for him, although his ex girlfriend is prepared to play dirty to keep him. Mackensie soon realizes she has to put her past demons to rest in order to find lasting love...

THOUGHTS / OPINION:

My daughter got married last July and the whole wedding planning experience is still fresh in my mind. So when I found out that the newest straight contemporary series (with NO paranormal elements) from Nora Roberts was about a group of friends who own a wedding planning business I just had to have it. Imagine my surprise when I hit Target on a mission to find it shortly after it was released to find that it was a trade sized paperback! I have to admit I was a bit dismayed because the price was more that I was expecting but I was blown away by it. The pages are rough cut with gold tipped edges on the cover making it look like an old wedding memory scrap book. And it has these lovely little flaps (front and back) that can be used as bookmarks. And to top it off the cover image is stunning as you can see. "Totally worth the price," I thought as I grabbed it up and headed for the cashier (the 20% discount softened the blow of course). And what was inside the pages was a treat too so I'm a happy camper.

Mackensie "Mac" Elliot and her best friends since childhood, Parker, Emma, and Laurel own and operate a wedding planning company in Connecticut called Vows. La Nora absolutely excels at developing relationships between brothers/sisters/friends and I think she has written probably about a dozen series with these types of relationships (Chesapeake Bay is my favorite series of hers) and ViW is well done in the friends relationship department. In fact I think the best part of the book was Mackensie's relationships with her three friends. The romance almost took a back seat to that... I say almost because the romance was very good.

Carter is a sweet and yummy kinda bookish, nerdy guy who absolutely floors Mackensie. Mac is a tall, willowy redhead and rather flamboyant. This was definitely an opposites attract story. Carter has had a crush on Mac since high school but Mac barely remembers him. Their first meeting since high school was charmingly funny (he runs into a wall and almost knocks himself out when he accidentally finds her in her studio with just a bra and slacks). Mac is the photographer at Vows and a real pro at what she does. But Mac has lots of personal issues due to a selfish spoiled mother who thinks the world revolves around her and a non-existent father. Parker, Emma and Laurel are her "family" and she has learned to deal with her mother but not in a good way. She gives into her constant incessant demands. But with the help of her friends and Carter she eventually grows a spine and stands up to her. Carter is sweet and funny and I loved being inside his head. His insecure self-talk when he tries to get up the courage to ask her on a date was very cute. Carter is a teacher who wears tweed suits but is a hunk underneath it all and was perfect for Mac but it took her awhile to figure that out.

Mac and Carter's relationship builds in a realistic way and it was an engaging story although not very steamy. If you, like me, have been missing Nora's straight romance series without all that woo-woo paranormal stuff she has been doing lately, you will probably enjoy this book as I did. And I look forward to the whole quartet with stories for Parker, Emma, and Laurel.

GRADE: B+

TBR Challenge: She' Got It Bad by Sarah Mayberry

COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 213
SETTING: Contemporary
TYPE: Series Romance (Harlequin Blaze)
SENSUALITY: Hot
REASON FOR READING: I read some good things about this book from various bloggers and AAR gave it an A-

SUMMARY:

Twelve years ago Zoe Ford let Liam Masters break her heart. But now? There's not a chance. Zoe is as tough and wild as they come. So when Liam shows up at her tattoo parlor, she's more than ready to take him on again. That's not going to be a hardship, since he's hotter than he ever was.

This time she's staying in charge. And she's not going to consider their score settled until he's hot, bothered and begging for more! Then she'll move on as callously as he left her. Unless all that deliciously bad sex is just too good to give up….

THOUGHTS / OPINION:
This month' TBR Challenge is tortured hero and I think this book fits the bill pretty well, actually both H/H were tortured. Most of the time I don't find much 'blaze' in the Harlequin Blaze line but SGIB is definitely blazing and the characters and plot were great.

Liam Masters had a troubled childhood with an abusive father. After his mother died when he was 17, he was taken in by the Ford family and loved by them. He became very close to the Fords two children, Tom and Zoe. Tom was his best friend and Zoe, two year younger, fell head over heels in love with him as 15 yo girls do. She pursues him and offers herself to him. But Liam feels that would be a betrayal to the family he loves and took him in when he needed a home. And he doesn't think he's good enough for Zoe. So he rejects Zoe's advances and leaves town the next day which devastates her. She is incredibly hurt and goes out and does something stupid.

It is now 12 years later and Zoe is a tattoo artist and sings in a thrash band at night. Liam has got his act together now and is the owner of a custom bike shop (kinda like Orange County Choppers) and he is very successful. Right here I am completely enthralled with these two characters with their very unusual occupations. Loved them. Zoe appears to have a hard "bad girl" shell but on the inside she is still pretty vulnerable and sweet. Liam comes across a nude painting at an art gallery and is appalled to recognize Zoe as the face in the painting. He tracks down Zoe and discovers her working in a tattoo parlor and the sparks start to fly. Liam is shocked to find how she has changed from such a sweet girl into an angry bad girl with her heavy drinking, tattoos, and unapologetically sexual act during her nightly band performances. And of course he is determined to "save" her. He offers her a job in his bike shop as an artist.

Liam and Zoe are two wounded people. Liam was beaten by his abusive father and forced to watch his mother's abuse as well. He's afraid he will become his father and feels he'll never be good enough for any woman. Zoe feels worthless because she allowed herself to be used sexually by a sleazebag in high school and (spoiler: he got her pregnant which turned ectopic and the complications left her sterile) now she feels no man could possibly want her.

This book was hard to put down and very well written. It was pretty predictable sometimes in the way that Harlequins can be but I enjoyed it very much anyway. I loved the storyline with Zoe's artistic contributions in the bike shop. But Liam's stubborn attitude with his low self esteem made me want to slap him at one point. However, I love stories about the healing power of love and greatly enjoyed how Liam and Zoe work out their problems together. This is a short fast sexy read that I think most will enjoy.

GRADE: B+

REVIEW: Power Play by Deirdre Martin

COPYRIGHT: 2008
PAGES: 290
SETTING: Contemporary
TYPE: Straight Romance
SERIES: 7th (full length) book in the Blades hockey series
SENSUALITY: Warm

SUMMARY:

Just in time for hockey season

Hockey player Eric Mitchell is a man in demand. First he was traded to save the New York Blades, and now the publicity department has loaned him out to help boost daytime diva Monica Geary's career. What no one knows is that one of People magazine's hottest bachelors is also a closet soap opera fan. He's had his eyes on Monica for years—and can't wait to get his arms around her.

THOUGHTS / OPINION:

I have read only 3 books in this series about hockey players and Body Check, the first in the series, is still my favorite and a keeper. But Power Play was a decent read and I enjoyed it. Hero, Eric Mitchell, is the twin brother of the hero in Chasing Stanley, book 6 of the series, who are both NHL hockey players. Monica Geary's is a daytime soap star. My impression of sports stars and actresses is that they are very egotistical people so that's what I was expecting of Eric and Monica. And I was right ... at first ... they both are very self-centered. But deep down they are both very nice, caring people and they turned out to be likable characters.

Monica is worried about her future stardom on her show, The Wild and the Free, due to a new younger actress just brought onto the show. Eric's team, the NY Blades, just traded away a popular favorite to get Eric. The Blades are not having a good season so many are looking at Eric with resentment. Monica's publicist concocts this plot which involves pretending to be a couple which would boost Monica's career and make Eric more popular with his team mates who are avid TW&TF soap fans. Both of them don't think too much of the other at first but eventually they develop a strong attraction.

I thought this "fake date" plot was rather unbelievable at first but these two characters really made it work. Eric and Monica turned out to be a well balanced couple with each person's strength complementing the other's weakness. The relationship was very fun to watch with some snappy dialogue which kept me turning the pages. I loved the parts where The Blades were falling over themselves about meeting Monica and having her attend their games. I have read that lots of sports teams follow the soaps so I thought this was rather funny and endearing. If you like sports romances (which I do - I love the SEP's Chicago Stars series as well) then you are sure to enjoy PP as much as me.

GRADE: B

TBR Challenge: REVIEW: Winter Woman by Jenna Kernan

COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 296
SETTING: Historical - American West
TYPE: Series Romance
SERIES: None
SENSUALITY: Warm

REASON FOR READING: I really enjoyed High Plains Bride so when I heard good things about WW, I had to buy it. But it's been languishing in my TBR since February 2004. WW is Kernan's debut book.

SUMMARY:

Her prayer was simple: "Dear God, let me die!"

But Cordelia Channing — preacher's wife, preacher's widow — lived and was born anew as Winter Woman, a woman of power who'd survived the deadliest season in the mountains alone.

She knew she could never do it again. Though perhaps there was no need, for Providence had sent her Thomas Nash, an enigmatic Mountain Man who stirred the deep places of her questing soul.

Nash had come west to lose himself, to rail at the fates that seemed ready to destroy his life at every turn. But somehow those same fates now saw fit to put Delia in his care…. And though he was fighting it at every turn, Delia was transforming his life in ways he'd thought forever lost…!

THOUGHTS / OPINION:
Yay! I remembered to post a review for Keishon's TBR Challenge. Last year I think I only got 3 done. Here's hoping I do better this year. Anyway...

I'm a big fan of Harlequin Historicals and this is another good one. Cordelia Channing is probably one of the strongest heroines I've ever come across. She and her preacher husband were heading west to minister to the "savages" when they became separated from their wagon train somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Her husband was killed after leaving her alone to hunt for food. And somehow she survives the winter alone in the mountains. When a group of Flathead Indians find her half-starved in the spring they take her to the only white man they know, Thomas Nash, a trapper and give her to him. Nash has no choice but to take her but he's not happy about it. Cordelia wants to return back east but Nash can't take her until fall after he has finished collecting beaver pelts which he sells to earn his living.

What follows next is quite a rip-roaring adventure. Delia and Nash don't like each other much at first but they come to depend on each other for survival. Delia becomes indispensable to Nash even learning how to set the traps and skins the animals. Wow, what a woman! After Nash is attacked by a grizzly bear, Delia nurses him back to health as well as doing the cooking, hunting, and trapping. The descriptions of scenery with rapids, waterfalls, and dangerous Blackfoot Indians were fascinating and beautifully written. I also loved the details of their survival in the wilderness although sometimes it was a bit gruesome but that just made it more realistic.

These two are both lost souls. Nash is still hurting from a tragedy five years ago but his heart evenutally thaws toward Delia and they form a strong emotional attachment. He doesn't want her to leave his side ever. Delia finally realizes she is in love with him but she does not want to live in the mountains. And who can blame her after what she has been through. After they make love Delia feels very guilty and feels she has sinned and turns away from Nash and of course he is very hurt, feeling that she is rejecting him because he's not good enough for her. I dislike misunderstandings like this. But they work things out eventually and the ending was wonderful.

If you like a well-paced adventure about the early American west (set in 1835), be sure to find a copy of Winter Woman. Two very strong characters and a story that will keep you turning the pages.

GRADE: B

Recent good reads

I was looking through my book spreadsheet and discovered I have read an amazing number of books so far this year ... 135 (with 30 published in 2008). But I have only reviewed 20 books (8 published in 2008) this year. Pretty pathetic. Another interesting fact ... I have read 81 books from my TBR this year, some of which have been living in my closet for years. A couple of years ago my TBR had over 250 books. Now it's down to 107.

No chance of getting full length reviews done for all of my reads this year but here are some quickies of three 2008 books that are worth checking out:



TITLE/AUTHOR: Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase
SENSUALITY: HOT!

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS: Chase has demonstrated her genius yet again. Set in 1820's Venice, YSW is a wonderful book full of charm and wit. Francesa Bonnard is an unapologetic courtesan. In fact, she calls herself a "great whore". After she is publicly humiliated and divorced by her husband, she flees to the Continent and becomes a notorious and much sought after woman. James Cordier is a spy for the English government and is anxious to retire and return to England. But his last assignment is to steal a packet of letters from Francesca that are potentially damaging to her ex-husband's political career. Francesca and James are wonderfully intelligent characters, the dialog is witty and the setting was so unusual and realistically portrayed. The humor is wonderfully written as well. This is a very funny book. Here is the first paragraph:

"Penises. Everywhere."

Ha! That caught my interest immediately and the story never let me go. And the sex scenes are nice and steamy. But there is a lot of depth to this story too.

GRADE: A


TITLE/AUTHOR: Death Angel by Linda Howard
SENSUALITY: HOT!

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS: I'm having a hard time figuring out how to describe this book. It has an odd paranormal element to it that kinda freaked me out but overall I think I liked this book.

Drea Rousseau is a mistress to Rafael Salinas, a very dangerous crime lord and malicious killer who hires assassins to do his dirty work. After one such hit job, the assassin asks for a few hours with Salina's mistress as part of his payment so Salinas just gives Drea to him, and they spend some hours in some scorchingly hot sex. Whew! The assassin is a cold blooded killer and the "hero" of the book and we eventually find out his name is Simon Goodnight. Hmmm, so both the "hero" and "heroine" are both thoroughly unlikeable characters. Drea has been playing stupid in front Salinas for a long time but now she is desperate to get out of her situation. She outsmarts him and pulls some sneaky moves and gets away with a mountain of money. But Salinas sends "The Assassin" after her.

I don't want to spoil the story for you so I'll just say that Drea ends up turning her life around and totally redeems herself. Simon eventually realizes he loves her and protects her from Salinas. I really came to like Drea. Now Simon is a total mystery and we never find out who he really is and what makes him tick. The ending was rather abrupt but I liked it anyway. I don't think this book will appeal to everyone but Linda Howard is a must read for me. And the sex scenes alone are worth the price of the book (paperback only - due out in April 2009 - otherwise get it from the library). But then I'm slutty that way.

GRADE: B-


TITLE/AUTHOR: Tribute by Nora Roberts
SENSUALITY: Warm

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS: Roberts is a very consistent author and her skill is evident in this book and I really enjoyed it quite a bit. A lot of her recent books have had paranormal elements with ghosts and whatever but this one had none of that and I was so glad. I think she should stick to straight contemporary because ghosts just don't do it for me.

Cilla McGowan is a former child star with a lot of baggage. She returns to her famous grandmother's old neglected house in Virginia and decides to renovate it. Cilla is a pro at remodeling houses and I was fascinated by all the details of turning a run down disaster into a beautiful home. Roberts definitely did her homework in that area but if house renovation is not your thing, you should probably skip this book because while the story was good, it wasn't all that gripping. Ford Sawyer lives across the street and writes graphic novels. The story hinges around a mystery involving the death of Cilla's grandmother many years ago and was pretty tame but was so well written I enjoyed it anyway. Cilla is a very strong, smart woman and very likeable. Ford is what I would call a beta hero but yummy in his own way. A pretty good read all around.

GRADE: B



Sorry for the shortness of these "reviews". I have a few more 2008 book to review so those should be coming up shortly.

Reading now: Under the Wire by Cindy Gerard. This is a romantic suspense with a younger man plot line (one of my favorite). Very good so far.

REVIEW: Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare

SETTING/TYPE: Romantic Suspense
COPYRIGHT: 2008
SENSUALITY: Hot
SERIES: I-Team series (Book 3)

SUMMARY:

Taken hostage by a convicted murderer while reporting at a prison, Sophie Alton has no idea that the man holding the gun to her head is the bad boy who was her first love in high school. Condemned to life without parole, Marc Hunter finds himself with no choice but to break out of prison after his younger sister disappears with her baby.

Though he regrets what he has to put Sophie through, he can’t let anything get in the way of his stopping the corrupt officials who are set on destroying what’s left of his family. But being near Sophie rekindles memories for both of them. As the passion between them heats up, so does the conspiracy to put both of them in their graves.

THOUGHTS/OPINION:

UC is another book in her series about a team of investigative reporters. However, all of these books stand alone so no need to go back and read them in order. I have long been a fan of Pamela Clare's writing whether it's historical or romantic suspense. Ms. Clare is an auto-buy author for me but I was especially anxious to read UC after reading that she had spent 24 hours in jail as part of her research for this book. And wow, does it pay off for the reader. I found it very realistic and gripping from the first page and had a hard time putting it down.

Sophie Alton is a reporter who has been writing a series about women in prison and is focusing on the story of one prisoner, Megan Rawlings. Sophie has come to care about Megan as she struggles to get off drugs and gives birth to a baby while in prison. After Megan is released from prison Sophie wants to follow Megan and her baby as they adjust to life on the outside through a halfway program. But Megan runs away with her baby in violation of her parole.

Sophie knows that Megan's brother, Marc "Hunt" Hunter, is serving time in federal prison for the murder of a DEA agent. But she is unaware of the fact that she and Hunt have a past history. He is her first love from high school who walked out on her. She requests an interview with Hunt hoping he can help her find Megan. Hunt realizes that Sophie is his past lover but he is a desperate man. When she comes for the interview he uses Sophie as a hostage and flees the prison with her.

Sophie is fearful and angry but quickly discovers Hunt's connection to her past and eventually is sympathetic to his plight. She believes him when he tells her about how he was framed for murder and Megan's disappearance is somehow connected. Sophie and Hunt team up and she uses all her skills in investigative journalism to escape the police and find his sister. What follows is a roller coaster ride with all its twists and turns. This is a story of corruption and betrayal and there are lots of complications. Although I found a few scenes that were not quite believable, UC is a real page turner with some scorching hot love scenes and well done characterizations. Hunt and Sophie are a great couple. I love a good steamy romantic suspense that doesn't skimp on the romance and Clare delivers another one with Unlawful Contact. My favorite RS of the year so far.

GRADE: B+

REVIEW: Hidden by Eve Kenin

SETTING/TYPE: Futuristic Romance
SENSUALITY: Warm
COPYRIGHT: 2008 (release date July 2008)

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS:

Hidden is the sequel to Driven (which was one of my favorite reads from 2007). It's not necessary to read Driven first because Kenin again provides some first rate world building. This story is set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world called the Northern Waste - like a Mad Max movie only set in the frozen tundra.

Tatiana (or TTN081) is the product of genetic engineering and the prologue (set in 2088) gives the reader an idea of the horrors of her early life. She was born in an underground laboratory and has spent her life being subjected to torturous medical experiments (like something out of Nazi Germany) along with her two siblings, Wizard (hero from Driven) and Yuriko. Duncan Bane is her tormentor along with Dr. Gavin Ward. These two are truly evil and creepy. They supposedly conduct the experiments to test her ability to heal and to make her stronger but I never really understood their main purpose.

Fast forward to the year 2093 and we learn that Duncan Bane is dead. Tatiana has recently escaped and is trying to keep one step ahead of Gavin Ward who now controls the New Government Order. She has come to Abbott's General Store to buy information when she meets a rag swathed settler named Tristan who intrigues her. The store owner is a slimy individual but Tatiana has been hired to recover a stolen ring and she thinks he has information. And she wants to find Tolliver, a scientist specializing in genetic and infectious diseases who works for Ward in a hidden lab where she believes he is testing a horrific plague he had created from her genetic code. She doesn't learn anything about Tolliver but does get a lead on the ring. And does recover it from a couple of Siberian ice pirates in a gruesome scene.

You see, Tatiana is one kick-ass heroine. Since her escape her dormant genetic enhancements have begun to gradually bloom. She finds that she can withstand extreme cold, read minds, heal from almost any wound, and has enhanced telescopic vision. When she confronts the ice pirate about the ring, she surprised herself (and me) when she severs his hand with just her fingers.

After recovering the ring and returning it to it's rightful owner, she makes her way to the Maori Talisman, a mountain of ice and rock, which she thinks may be a linked to Tolliver somehow. But instead she encounters a very odd scene. A group of settlers on snowscooters are chasing a lone man on a scooter across the ice and snow. When they catch him, it appears to be a case of vigilante justice but Tatiana has a hard time figuring out what is going on at first. But Tristan is one of the group. In the tussle with the culprit, Tatiana doesn't realize that she has been exposed to a deadly plague. Tristan invites her back to their underground compound with the promise of hydrogen fuel for her snowscooter.

What follows is a fascinating action adventure laced with some science and blended well with the romance. Tristan is an enigmatic character at first. Kenin likes to keep secrets about her characters and only reveals information on a need-to-know basis, thus keeping the reader in suspense. It was hard for me not to peek ahead (a bad habit of mine). One particular scene is incredibly tense when she and Tristan find their only route to escape the underground compound is through an elevator shaft protected by deadly laser beams. I was chewing my nails on that one. Tatiana is a good strong heroine although a little too trusting of Tristan when she first meets him. Both of them are rather tortured characters due to events in their past but Tristan's sense of humor lightened the mood on occasion. The romance builds slowly along with the trust between them. There is a very romantic and sexy love scene which takes place in an underground hot spring/pool which was well done.

Although the story dragged a bit through some of middle, I really enjoyed it overall. I liked Driven a tad better, but Hidden is a solid read with good characters, a mostly fast moving plot and a great romance. If you liked Driven, I'm sure Hidden will be worth picking up when it's released in July.

GRADE: B

TBR Day: REVIEW: Sex, Straight Up by Kathleen O'Reilly

SETTING: Contemporary - NYC
TYPE: Category Romance (Harlequin Blaze #388)
COPYRIGHT: April 2008
SERIES: Book #2 in "Those Sexy O'Sullivans" miniseries

THOUGHTS/OPINION:
This is my first book by this author and I was so pleased with it, I'm sure it won't be my last. I picked this up because of a glowing review over at DearAuthor. I don't read many of the new categories much anymore because most of them are pretty light on plot with very little sex. Harlequin Blaze are supposed to be sizzling hot and they generally are but most of them have silly or unbelievable plots (like virgin sex therapists - please, give me a break).

This series is about three brothers who own a bar in NYC. SSU is Daniel's story, the oldest brother, who is an accountant. Now if you are one of those (like me) that think that a book with an accountant for a hero would be boring, you'd be wrong. Daniel is an incredibly sexy, but tortured hero. Not angsty, but more sad and his story broke my heart. Six years ago his wife was killed on September 11th. They had both worked at an accounting firm in the twin towers and he had stopped that morning to get that special latte she liked at her favorite coffee shop. He was still inside the coffee shop when he heard the first boom. Now he stills suffers from survivors guilt and can't get over the pain of her loss.

His brothers pressure him into attending a weekend party at the beach in the Hamptons. But he doesn't want to be there so rather than participate in the partying, he sits on the beach instead. Next door in her grandfather's beach house, Catherine Montefiore observes a lonely but sexy man sitting on her beach motionless for hours and gets the urges to draw him so she pulls out her sketchpad and sits on the deck to draw. Catherine loves to sketch but she's not an artist. Her real job is assistant appraiser at Montefiore Auction House which is owned by her grandfather. Eventually they introduce themselves. Later that weekend they spend an incredibly hot evening together but it ends badly when Catherine catches him putting his wedding ring back on and doesn't realize he is widowed. Daniel and Catherine eventually meet again when a serious problem arises at the auction house involving commissions which could destroy their business. So Daniel's firm is called in to perform an audit.

Daniel and Catherine are wonderful 3-dimensional characters and the plot was handled very realistically. So many Blazes have silly plots but I found this one was refreshingly believable and heart wrenching. There were many sizzling sex scenes but they were integral to the plot and not just tacked on to up the heat level. Their relationship and growing love for each over develops slowly which was very believable. When Daniel is finally able to remove his old wedding ring we know that he is finally healing. Catherine is a special character and is no doormat. In the end she comes to believe in herself when she helps Daniel solve the mystery about the commissions. The dialog and plot move along very smoothly and I found it very easy to read but deeply emotional as well.

Book #1 (Shaken and Stirred) and Book #3 (Nightcap) maybe worth looking into.

GRADE: B+

REVIEW: Netherwood by Michele Lang

SETTING: Futuristic Romance
PAGES: 303
COPYRIGHT: 2008

THOUGHTS/OPINION:

It's taken me a long time to write this review because Netherwood is one of the most unusual and unique books I have read in quite awhile. This book takes place in the future where the lines between the real world and virtual reality are blurred. Talia Fortune is the heir apparent and major shareholder of FortuneCorp, a mega-conglomerate that acts more like a government than a business. She has just been appointed sheriff of Fresh Havens, a planet colonized by FortuneCorp employees, and dispatched to Fresh Havens to catch the rebels who have sabotaged computers on the "grid", a kind of intergalactic internet, which is used to communicate and distribute information to all humans across the galaxy.

Talia has a secret passion to participate in virtual reality role playing games in the cyber-world called Netherwood. In this world her avatar is Amazonia and she battles with Avenger, her cyber-lover. Kinda cool! But she suspects that Avenger is Kovner in the Real world and is responsible for the sabotage on Fresh Havens. I'm a little unclear as to how she knew this but that's a minor quibble. Another peculiar thing about this world is that a person can download their consciousness onto a chip to become a part of the computer hive mind and thus attain "immortality". Talia's grandmother, Violet, did this before she died and Talia carries around her consciousness on her handheld PC.

Lieutenant Robert Kovner is a rebel and freedom fighter on Fresh Havens. He knows that the FortuneCorp computers are trying to take over the galaxy and get rid of humans (Singularity) and it is imperative that he gain Talia's trust and convince her that the Singularity has started.

I'll stop right there in my description of the plot and let you all find out what happens. The blend of science fiction and non-stop action made this book a real page-turner. The world building was very well done and I wouldn't mind visiting it again if Lang ever writes a sequel. Kovner and Talia are good strong characters and it takes awhile for him to convince her that the FortuneCorp is completely evil. Their romance blended with the action very well. The secondary characters were also well developed. This was a fast read and the first person POV never slowed me down. If you like SF/Futuristic, this book is a great one to try.

GRADE: B

REVIEW: All or Nothing by Claire Cross

COPYRIGHT: 2007
SETTING: Contemporary
TYPE: Straight Romance
PAGES: 372
SERIES: Coxwell family series

REASON FOR READING: I read and enjoyed one of her previous books, Double Trouble. In fact, it was a keeper for me. OK, I admit it, I also loved the dog on the cover.

SUMMARY:

Jen Maitland never had any use for handsome guys with easy charm until she met Zach. He's the perfect fake date to end her mother's matchmaking scheme before it starts. The only problem is that Zach isn't as predictable as he appears...

Zach Coxwell hates commitment, but loves a challenge. Like the pretty bar waitress who turned him down flat for a date-only to invite him to her family's Thanksgiving dinner. Zach knows he can make Jen smile, and he's betting that he can unravel her mysteries.

Despite Thanksgiving dinner becoming a familial nightmare for Jen, Zach has the time of his life and finds that Jen may be worth a commitment after all-even if he has to convince her by any means necessary.

THOUGHTS/OPINION:
Both Jen and Zach have serious issues but AoN manages to avoid sinking the reader into a dark depression by dealing with them in a realistic and yet upbeat way. Although Jen is young she is a breast cancer survivor. Naturally this fact has had a profound effect on her and she finds herself unable to make any long term commitments because she's afraid she has no future.

Jen's family loves her and wants to see her happy. Her matchmaking mother is determined to set her up on a date unless she finds one herself for Thanksgiving dinner. Her plan is to bring someone she knows her mother will hate. Jen meets Zach at the restaurant where she waits tables and figures he fits her requirements perfectly. So she invites Zach to Thanksgiving dinner for a 'fake' date.

Zach has serious commitments issues of his own, so a 'fake' date sounds fine to him. Zach is the black sheep of a wealthy family and was wild and reckless in his youth. He did some pretty bad things (some involving illegal drugs) and when his father committed suicide, he blamed himself.

The relationship between Jen and Zach develops slowly and there are some painful scenes when they both reveal their hangups due to their past. Jen and Zach are likable characters and the other characters were well developed. This story about the healing power of love is one of my favorite themes. The plot moved a bit slowly in places but overall the humor and characters made this book an enjoyable read.

GRADE: B

TBR Day: Lots of old categories

I made a concerted effort this month to pare down my TBR. While standing in front of the shelves that contain my TBR, I noticed that there were way too many old categories that I had picked up over the years and just never got around to reading so I decided to start with those. My intent was to read at least 2 chapters of each book and if it didn't keep my interest, toss it away into the "post on PBS" pile. If I liked it (or it wasn't too horrible), then I figured I could finish it in no more than 2 days. Great plan, huh? Anyway, I read 11 categories and not one DNF in the bunch.

So here are mini-reviews of the best of them:

Call Me by Alison Kent (1996)
This book was a real surprise. It's a short (only 216 pages) Harlequin Temptation that had been languishing in my TBR for over 4 years. It was funny, had great sexual tension and the plot was tight and characters are well written. I loved the hero (a Texas rancher - yeah, I'm into cowboys lately) and his teenager brother is a hoot too. The heroine is quite uptight at first and is still hurting from the divorce from her cheating husband. But she warms up rather quickly and things got cooking. The sexy banter and spicy love scenes were worth the price of the book alone.
My grade: A


A Wedding to Remember by Emma Darcy (1994)
This was a troubled marriage story which is one of my guilty pleasures if done right. The H/H are divorced and the heroine, Joanna, is considering remarrying but she is unsure. She decides to visit her ex, Rory, at his office to see if it's well and truly over and get on with her life. Rory is stunned to see her and after talking her into a goodbye kiss, is blown away and impulsively he scoops her up in his arms and 'kidnaps' her for a weekend of pleasure. OK, I know, not realistic. at. all. But I went with it and I'm glad I did. They have some misunderstandings to work out and Joanna learns to believe in Rory rather than vindictive gossip (although I was a bit irritated with her for not believing in him in the first place).
My grade: B+


The Return of Eden McCall by Judith Duncan (1995)
JD is one of my favorite category writers and I have several of her books in my keepers. This book is #3 in the series (Wide Open Spaces) and all of them have been wonderful. TRoEM is no exception. Eden returns to her hometown to take care of her dad who has had a heart attack. She runs into her former boyfriend (and lover), Brodie, who is angry and hurt that she left town. I love how the POV switches to Brodie in several chapters and we really get inside his head. This is a highly emotional and well written book and Brodie is a wonderful hero. Duncan is a talented author who should be writing full length romances but unfortunately she hasn't published anything since 2002. What a shame she dropped out of sight.
My grade: B+


Cattleman's Promise by Marilyn Pappano (1999)
This is book #1 in the Heartbreak Canyon series. I read book #3 a few years ago and liked it so much that I bought the rest of the series, but I'm just finally getting around to reading them. Olivia's husband has just died saving her the trouble of divorcing the rotten scoundrel. She now has the care of her twin 5-year-old daughters and not a penny to her name since the ex gambled it all away. Except she finds the deed to a ranch in Heartbreak, Oklahoma. When she travels to Heartbreak on her last dime she finds out her husband had been swindled since Guthrie owns the ranch. Guthrie is a good, decent, and kind man so he offers to let her stay in a cabin on his property. In exchange she will cook and clean his house. I loved Guthrie. I loved Olivia. And I loved the twins, Elly and Emma. Wonderful plot and characters are so real. I hate cutesy or bratty kids, but Emma (good twin) and Elly ('bad' twin) were absolutely perfect. I found myself laughing at their antics and fell in love with them.
My grade: B+


Reading now: Horseman's Bride by Marilyn Pappano (1999)
This book follows Cattleman's Promise. Very dark, slightly depressing book that I almost gave up on. Features a tortured hero (Easy) with horrendous physical disabilities caused by a serious car accident. Top that with his feelings of loneliness and tremendous guilt caused when he ran off 12 years ago with his best friend's (Guthrie from Cattleman's Promise) fiance (Shay) a few days before their wedding. To make matters worse he abandoned Shay 6 years ago because of his feelings of guilt and worthlessness over his treatment of Guthrie, expecting she would go back to him. Shay went back to Heartbreak, Oklahoma where all three of them grew up together but she never got over Easy. Now Easy is back in Heartbreak, angry and depressed and a tad full of self pity. But Shay won't let him give into it and with Shay's help comes out of it little by little. I'm a few pages from the end and can hardly put it down (late for work this morning trying to squeeze in a few more pages). Update: Just finished it and it had a great last chapter and epilogue.
My grade: B

TBR Day: Review: Reap the Wind by Iris Johansen

COPYRIGHT: 1991
SETTING: Contemporary
TYPE: Romantic Suspense
PAGES: 532
SERIES: 3rd book in the Wind Dancer Trilogy
REASON FOR READING:
Keishon recommended this book a while back and since the premise sounded very original and intriguing, I tracked down a copy on PBS. Keishon mentioned that Johansen revised this book in 2002 to appeal more to her suspense fans and I'm betting she took out the hot sex scenes and the romance. That's just so wrong. So if you're interested in tracking down this book DO NOT GET THE REVISED VERSION. Get this one (cover shown here).

SUMMARY:[back blurb]

A DESPERATE RACE AGAINST DEATH
Alex. Brilliant Alex Karazov always regarded his wild talent as merely a tool in the high-tech chessboard of wold events...until murder galvanized him into a global cat-and-mouse game that could cost him not only his life but the woman he loves.

A FIRESTORM OF PASSION
Caitlin. Exquisite Caitlin Vasaro created a perfume whose scent enchants and whose fame may endure through the centuries...but her desire for Alex Karazov may rob her of both her dream and her life.

THE SIZZLING PRICE OF FAME
Chelsea Benedict had fought her way from the depths of poverty and scandal to the heights of international film stardom. Now she must fight the biggest battle of her life, to save the man she loves - from herself.

A LOVE FOR ALL TIME
Jonathan Andreas possesses power, fame, and one of the most valuable treasures on the face of the earth. He is willing to risk everything on the greatest gamble a man can dare...or to lose his life in the balance.

For centuries it was spoken of in whispers, a legendary masterpiece of unspeakable power...and immeasurable beauty. But once the winds had swept the stars from the night sky; who would own the Wind Dancer?

THOUGHTS/OPINION:
Caitlin Vasaro owns and manages a flower farm that has been in her family for generations. Due to many problems they are on the verge of bankruptcy and they can't pay their mortgage or make payroll. One day Alex Karazov a wealthy businessman (and ex-KGB/CIA) visits and offers to invest a huge chuck of cash so they can pay off their mortgage and allow Caitlin to market the perfume she has created and calls "Vasaro". Of course there are strings attached but Caitlin accepts the deal.

The reader is aware from the prologue that there is something not quite right about Alex. He is manipulating Caitlin so he can get his hands on "The Wind Dancer" an antique statue of Pegasus that is supposed to have magical properties. I really didn't like him at first because I thought he was a manipulating people user. And I thought Caitlin was way too stupid for falling for the "too good to be true" offer. But eventually Caitlin reveals that she is fully aware that Alex was using her, she just didn't care because she was so desperate to get her perfume to market. As part of the marketing campaign Alex wants to use the Wind Dancer which is in the possession of Caitlin's cousin, Jonathan Andreas.

What follows is a roller coaster ride of an non-stop action packed adventure across Europe. Oh, and Alex and Caitlin fall in love. Wow, and the sex scenes were pretty spicy. I especially loved the first sex scene which followed several chapters of some scorching sexual tension culminating in a fantastic scene in a lavender field. I could almost smell the lavender while I was reading that part. Another scene I liked is when Caitlin is anticipating that Alex is going to dump her so she dumps him first. I don't think that was really his plan but he was acting kind of like a jerk and really needed a smackdown. And Caitlin doesn't take him back right away...she makes him suffer for a while. She eventually takes him back after some good groveling. I liked that *evil grin*.

The only part I didn't care for was the secondary romance between Caitlin's cousin, Jonathan (a presidential candidate) and Chelsea (an famous actress). It wasn't bad really, just unnecessary to the plot and a tad bit unrealistic given we are in presidential campaign season. I wanted more of Alex and Caitlin. But I will say that Jonathan and Chelsea were well written characters along with Alex and Caitlin. And for a book with over 500 pages, this one flew by fast.

GRADE: B+



OTHER BOOKS READ FROM MY TBR:

The Medusa Project (Silhouette Bombshell) by Cindy Dees (B+)
Surprisingly excellent read about a team of women who go through Special Forces training. Non-stop action and seemed very realistic with a romance subplot. My only complaint... I was expecting at least one sex scene... but no, no sex here.

The Warlord by Elizabeth Elliott (C)
After hearing all the glowing praise about EE I was a bit disappointed because hero was a complete ALPHA-JERK! I liked the heroine though.

REVIEW: On the Loose by Tara Janzen

COPYRIGHT: 2007
PAGES: 403
SETTING: Contemporary
TYPE: Romantic Suspense
SERIES: Book 7 in the Steele Street series
SENSUALITY: Hot
REASON FOR READING: I enjoyed most of the other books in the "Crazy" series. Here is the order:
Crazy Hot (B)
Crazy Cool (B)
Crazy Wild (C+)
Crazy Kisses (B)
Crazy Love (A-)
Crazy Sweet (B)
On the Loose
Cutting Loose

SUMMARY:

He's a special agent who never loses his cool.

She's the heat-seeking missile headed straight for his heart.

Keeping cool under pressure is the credo C. Smith Rydell lives by. That’s why he was handpicked by the Special Defense Forces for a mission few men survive. So why has the ex-DEA superstar been reassigned to Panama City, playing bodyguard to a blond in a black string bikini? Except Honey York isn’t your average pampered socialite. She’s the woman Rydell caught smuggling cash into El Salvador four months ago. And now she wants him to take her back.

All Honey has to do is find the guerrilla camp, deliver the goods, and get the hell out of the jungle—all in forty-eight hours. Only one man is up for the job. But sharing an unforgettable one-night stand was nothing next to being stranded with Rydell on some third world mountaintop. And with bullets flying and all hell breaking loose, now is not the time for passion. As if these two could possibly resist it….

THOUGHTS / OPINION:
I have to admit to a great fondness for all the books in the series. The books are not terribly deep but they all been quick reads with non-stop action, yummy heroes, and hot sex - a lot of it in cars ... the front seat, the back seat, the hood, etc. And I believe all the books, if I'm not mistaken, feature heroes who are secretly in love with the heroines. OTL follows this convention as well. C. Smith Rydell is an agent for the SDF (Special Defense Force), and has been assigned as bodyguard to Honey York. But he and Honey have a past history. Four months earlier they shared a steamy one night stand after he rescued her from a dangerous situation in San Luis. The next morning he put her on a plane back to the States determined to forget her, but he carries a little momento (her silk underwear) from the experience in his pocket.

Now Smith must escort and protect Honey on a mission to El Salvador to deliver a pile of money to a guerrilla leader in exchange for kidnapped nuns one of whom is her sister. While there Smith must locate a plane that crashed in the jungle and recover some highly secret information. There is also a backstory of Smith's former lover who he thought was dead, but is stalking him and wants to kill him. The sexual tension sizzles and the action is non-stop and compressed into a couple of days just as all the other Steele Street series have been. Reading this book was like eating a chocolate covered caramel (my favorite candy).... short, sweet, and done way too quickly but leaves a lingering memory of sweetness and a craving for more. Well, maybe not exactly, but you know what I mean.

GRADE: B+