Archive for 'romantica'
Dear Ms Hart,
 I was checking my ebook reader to see what books were on it and came across this one. I’m embarrassed to say how long it’s been sitting there, patiently waiting to be read so I won’t. But I found once I got started reading it, the pages just clicked along.
I’m not sure if there’s any place like this in existence, an island retreat for burned out government agents to allow them to regroup, talk with counselors and deal with the issues of their jobs gone bad. It’s nice to think so. I like the small touches to remind us it’s still a gov run facility such as the showers not working in Zane’s original room and the slightly run-down air. But hey, it’s a free week at the beach so I could deal with it as Zane and Kendall do.
I like that you don’t force these two to be together — well beyond being on the same small island — in order to heighten their conflict as there’s enough there already. And Kendall’s already beginning to admit to herself that Zane isn’t really to blame for her despised …
Dear Mrs Lopez,
 I decided to try “Boomerang Love” when Samhain offered it to us because I need a contemporary every once in a while to balance out all the historical stuff I read and I love to listen to Aussie men talk. Yeah, so I couldn’t actually hear Cohen or his brothers but I could imagine!
“Simple lust or lasting love?” The description of your book uses this phrase. By book’s end, it’s supposed to be the latter that we feel but in all honesty, I was left feeling that the relationship between American Hayleigh Davenport and the hot Cohen Thorn was more the former. Okay, maybe with the possibility of eventually being lasting but when a couple has only met once before, a year ago and then spent most of that night trying out various Kama Sutra poses in a pickup truck it doesn’t help me suspend my disbelief that this is lurve.
And then when most of their time during the current visit is still spent swapping body fluids at a rate that makes me think Cohen must be using Viagra in order to maintain all those erections….well, I …
Dear Ms Barrett,
 As I turned my ebook reader off after finishing this book, I was debating with myself over the grade. I finally opted for a D grade just because you did have the guts to give us a hero who really was bad. While many authors try to make the hero a dark, tortured soul whose past has brought him to the brink of physical or emotional ruin, few actually end up pulling it off. Usually said hero turns out to be merely misunderstood or a fake rake. Ryder really is bad. And he’s an opium addict. Too bad that he, IMO, is not redeemed, except in the opinion of the heroine, until almost the last page and even then I still wouldn’t want to be married to the asshole.
At first I was interested in the book because of the very title. This Viscount really is addicted. After being set up on a murder charge, Ryder, Lord Blackwood is hauled off to Newgate, tossed in the depths of hell for five years, becomes addicted, hard and bitter. After new witnesses come forward, he’s released and returns to his ruined home to …
Dear Ms. Drennen,
 There’s no way to sugarcoat this review. I found “Mauvelous” to be just ghastly. Sorry but that’s the word that comes to mind. This book is bad. It’s supposed to be about some agents from a security firm called Aztec. I have no idea what they do but mention was made of villains being traitors so I guess there’s some tie in with the government. If they’re what’s standing between civilization and anarchy then God help us all.
The hero comes across as a smarmy used car salesman with a bad toupee who still thinks he’s the hottest thing on two legs where women are concerned. He smirks when women check out his “package,” drives a muscle car because it seems to be a projection of his manhood, and flubs up almost everything he tries to do.
Mauve, the heroine can’t get her mind off the one night of hot luvin’ they shared and the multiple orgasms he gave her. Never mind he was blowing off enough booze fumes to fell an ox, damn he gave her some fine sex. Oh, what…watch for the villain. Yeah, but she’d rather think of …
Dear Ms Dane,
 Your novella arrived at a perfect time. Both my Christmas trees are up and decorated (with lots of help from my children) and I’m really moving into the holiday mood. This is a great story to tuck into spare reading time between parties, cooking and other seasonal activities
I guess the plot could be summarized as anal-retentive lawyer and childhood dairy farmer friend realize they have the hots for each other, then decide that it might be love. Add plenty of family members to the mix, stir and bake. I like that lawyer Belle and dairyman Rafe have known each other almost all their lives so the sudden romance didn’t make me roll my eyes. As Rafe says, it was a short step to love from friendship and the two easily stepped right into it. But even better, they talk to each other. And listen to each other. And work to make their wildly different lifestyles mesh.
You add a lot of family members to the story but they add to the romance between Rafe and Belle instead of grabbing the spotlight for themselves. I love the guy talk between the men. …
Dear Mrs. Kenner,
 I was excited to see this novella offered for free at Fictionwise. I usually enjoy your books and was looking forward to a sexy start to the Christmas season. Well, after reading it, I was reminded of the saying ‘you get what you pay for.’
When I think of your latest series, I think of a writer who can change plots around to give readers something new. Unfortunately, there’s really nothing new or different about this one. We get a standard lower class heroine, Annie Silver, who’s lusted for hero for years and decides to “go for it” for “one night to remember” before she heads off to NYC. Brent Carrington has lusted after her for years as well but never made a move. Right. One night of hot sex (on the floor, in a department store basement no less) and it’s the bestest either has ever had. Forevah. All I can say is they must have been having really bad sex all their lives. Anyway, it’s instant love though neither will admit it. They will admit to the hots for each other. Insert scenes of hot sex. Then Brent finally finds …
 Ladies, I’d like to thank all three of you for the opportunity to review your newest novellas in the “Love and Lore” anthology at Samhain. The covers are gorgeous, the stories are hot and the Samhain content warning is, as always, fun in and of itself. Who comes up with those warnings? If I’m reading the site correctly, Samhain is offering all three books together in print or individually as ebooks and there’s a short video as well.
Ms Dawn, your story, “A Fairy Special Gift” starts us out with rowdy fairies, a lovelorn Celtic god, a banshee who needs a makeover and two special humans who can both see them all. Meara Magee hates the nasty little fairies who’ve pestered her since she was a child. I loved the image of her  defending herself with flyswatters and putting out wasp traps. Jamison Murphy has come to terms with them and always carries his anti-fairy secret mix with …
Dear Ms Bridger,
 Last year, I tried one of your short stories which was bundled with some other pirate tales by Amber Quill Press. It was not a pleasant experience. Though I had already purchased one of your novels, I was in no hurry to dive into it. This story has left me with a more pleasant taste for your tales.
Passion flares between a federal marshal and his enemy's wife.
Outlaws descend on a stagecoach winding down its long journey between Missouri and Wind River, Wyoming. Federal Marshal Chris McQuade is one of the two occupants of the stage, and the ensuing battle leaves three dead men on the trail.
McQuade's unlikely partner in the deed is a woman he's been attracted to from the start of the trip. It isn't until they're forced to go on alone together that he realizes he's falling for the wife of the man he's been sent to bring to justice. Despite the ring on her finger and the role he plans to play in making her a widow, passion ignites and McQuade is surprised to discover that Elizabeth Davis is as helpless
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Dear Ms. Whiteside:
 I wanted to like this book. It had a nice cover (albeit very modern in feel) and it was a Western. I know that Jayne gave River Devil a poor grade but Jayne and I don’t always see eye to eye on books. A perfect example of this is the fact that I love Dream Man by Linda Howard and Jayne couldn’t finish it. I should have listened to Jayne.
You know how they say authors should start with the action? I believe that wholeheartedly. The book should start with the action. It shouldn’t pretend to start with the action with a two page teaser which then plunges into several hundred pages of backstory. It was Chapter 5 before we were back where we started in the opening two pages. And those first four chapters were such snoozers that I can barely remember why I continued reading the book.
What did I learn in the backstory? That Morgan and Jessamyn were promised to each other. That Morgan betrayed Jessamyn’s trust early on. That Jessamyn married someone else and had good sex …
Dear Mrs Hart,
 I’m finally getting back to Pot of Gold, your first story about Captain Robin Steele and his love, Nora as they search for a hidden leprechaun fortune beneath a Caribbean island. I like it just as much as the sequel, Emerald Isle. It’s fast and humorous and since it’s a fantasy, I just sat back and enjoyed the fun. Despite the fact that romantica isn’t usually my thing, the numerous sex scenes make sense because of the leprechaun sex spell. And they’re hawt without being too purple or ending up silly.
But what really makes me happy about the story is the fact that both lead characters are so well balanced. Robin isn’t an overbearing hero and Nora doesn’t go all feisty on us, even when she saves Robin from the merbitch with the teeth of a shark. Y
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