Veena’s review of For All Time (Nantucket Brides Trilogy, Book 2) by Jude Deveraux
Paranormal Historical Romance published by Ballantine Books 01 Jul 14

I’ve followed the Montgomery Taggart saga from the beginning and was thrilled when the author introduced us to yet another undiscovered branch of the family with the launch of her Nantucket Island trilogy, bringing back fond memories as I got the opportunity to catch up on some of the characters that I had almost forgotten. I absolutely couldn’t wait for this next book in the series to come out to refresh my memories with more members of the Montgomery/Taggart and Lanconian families, but…….. Read the rest of this entry »

Sandy M’s review of To Marry a Scottish Laird (Highland Historical Series, Book 2) by Lynsay Sands
Historical Romance published by Avon 24 June 14

I’ve had a number of disappointments lately with my favorite authors, and I still have no answer for that particular question. And I have to add Lynsay Sands to that list with this latest book in her Highland Historical series. It’s especially disappointing because I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, An English Bride in Scotland.
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Veena’s review of Fool’s Gold Series by Susan Mallery
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin HQN 

Ms. Mallery has definitely struck gold in the California hills with her fresh and charming stories about hunky heroes and plucky heroines who make their way to this little town to find romance and happily ever after. Twelve-plus-deep into the series, each new story shines as bright as if it were a first, though men are predictable in their need to look for escape before succumbing and traditions are important as women stick together to commiserate and hold hands – and at the center of everything is Mayor Marsha, who reminds me of a spider spinning her webs and watching it all come together based on her plan.
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Stevie‘s review of Best Bi Short Stories Edited by Sheela Lambert
Bisexual Fiction Short Story Collection published by Circlet Press 15 Jun 14

I tend to find anthologies a little hit and miss, and generally pick them up only when I recognise more than one of the authors as someone whose short stories I’ve read and enjoyed before. This time, however, it was the theme that attracted me; the bisexual experience is one that gets neglected in fiction compared to the slightly greater representation of characters who act bisexually in ménage stories (generally, in my reading experience, without any engagement with the wider bisexual community) or whose bisexuality is a step on the way to a complete change of identity. Plus, we sometimes get bisexual characters in the background, offering words of wisdom to the protagonists. In this anthology, though, each story’s central characters are in the main very much rooted in their bisexual identities, or are getting there by the end of the story. While not all stories were precisely to my taste, there were some definite stand-outs and no total flops.

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LynneC’s review of Scandalize Me (Fifth Avenue Trilogy, Book 2) by Caitlin Crews
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Presents 1 Jul 14

When I first saw the covers for this trilogy, I wondered if Harlequin was yet again bringing a new look to its flagship Presents/Modern line. When I read the first book, I kind of understood why they’d set them apart in this way. The characters say “fuck.” (shock, horror, fan-fluttering). In the first book at least, they have slightly kinky sex, with a touch of Dom/sub.

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Veena’s review of A Sword Upon The Rose by Brenda Joyce
Historical Romance published by HQN 24 Jun 14

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed historical romances by this author in the past and was very pleased to run across this one almost by accident. This is a period romance of richness and depth that fans of the Scottish historical genre will enjoy. From the first scene where he appears, I visualized Iain of Islay as Mel Gibson from the movie Brave Heart, though happily Iain does not suffer the same end as William Wallace. That in itself should have been enough to rock this book, but it’s Alana who stole my heart with her courage and boldness. A thoroughly modern type of miss, even if she loved and lived in medieval Scotland.
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Back in 2010 I came this close to not becoming a C.L. Wilson fan.

I kept looking at the cover of Lord of the Fading Lands and then picking up another book, all because I’m not that into fantasy. But I eventually cracked that one open, became an instant fan girl of the series and the author, a new reader of the fantasy genre, and avoided the biggest mistake in all my years of reading romance.

After devouring all five books in the Fading Lands series, like all of Ms. Wilson’s fans, I’ve been chomping at the bit for The Winter King to finally hit the shelves. Now that’s less than a month away, and that time is going to move so very slowly for those waiting to get their hands on this book. But it will get here, just be patient a bit longer!

In the meantime, drop by Ms. Wilson’s blog to enter her daily giveaways leading up to the release date. That should pass a little bit of time for you!

And just maybe next week I’ll have an exclusive excerpt for you……

Stevie’s Duckies Do Series review of The Pleasure Wars Series by Jess Michaels
Historical Romance published by Samhain Publishing, Ltd. July 2013 – June 2014

Maybe it’s something to do with being a child of the ’70s and ’80s, but I have a certain soft spot for big overarching series plots about warring families. Throw in a healthy dose of history and the manners and conventions of another era and I’m likely to be hooked. So a Regency series about two powerful families with a mutual hatred so old that no one can quite remember what started it ought to be right up my street. Of course, that’s especially true in this case, where the women have very definite ideas about the silliness of this whole complex mess the men have got themselves into, thanks to their fathers’ and grandfathers’ refusals to give up or to teach their sons that making peace might just be a good idea in polite society.

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Veena’s review of Grim Shadows (Roaring Twenties, Book 2) by Jenn Bennett
Paranormal Romance published by Berkley 03 Jun 14

The book starts on a very exciting note and right then I knew this story was going to be a wild adventure in true Indiana Jones style as our protagonists run down a railway track to catch a rapidly accelerating train in the face of gun-toting villains and deal with shattering windows and flying luggage to collapse in someone else’s first-class compartment together. To top the exciting start, our protagonists are a wonderful study in contrasts. Lowe Magnusson is a colorful character who sooner lies than speak the truth, staying one step ahead of vengeful spirits and other villains who want to lay claim to his archeological finds, while Hadley Bacall is like a black-and-white still picture, all calm on the surface and seething insides.
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Sandy M’s review of Where the Horses Run (Heroes of Heartbreak Creek, Book 2) by Kaki Warner
Historical Western Romance published by Berkley 1 Jul 14

While I love the old west as written by Kaki Warner and I’ve enjoyed every minute she’s given readers with Heartbreak Creek characters, this time she takes our cowboys, Indians, and horses to England. All that stuffiness across the pond had never seen the like of our hero, Rayford, and his trusty Indian sidekick, Thomas. What fun I had as they brought their own brand of excitement to the British.

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Grace Burrowes is starting a new series, Captive Hearts! And the first book, The Captive, releases tomorrow.

Here’s a look at bit of an exclusive teaser for you.

Enjoy!

Summary:

Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, is captured out of uniform by the French, and is thus subject to torture. Christian does not break, not once, and is released when Toulouse falls. Back in England, Christian has great difficulty taking up the reins of his life until Gillian, Countess of Windmere, a relation of his late wife, pointedly reminds him that he has a daughter who still needs him very much—a daughter who no longer speaks. Gilly pushes, pulls, and drags Christian back to life, and slowly, she and he admit an attraction to each other.

Christian offers Gilly marriage, but Gilly is a widow, and has fared badly at the hands of her first husband. Gillian will not pledge her heart to a man bent on violence, for Christian cannot give up his determination to extract revenge from his torturer. What will it take for them to give up their stubborn convictions and choose each other over the bonds of the past?

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Veena’s review of The Captive (Captive Hearts, Book 1) by Grace Burrows
Historical Romance published by Sourcebooks Casablanca 01 Jul 14

This book starts off on a very exciting note as Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, miraculously appears after having survived years of torture at the hands of the French. His appearance has changed so drastically that his own cousin doesn’t recognize him. Fortunately his horse recognizes his master; otherwise, I am not sure where this story might have taken us. So the restored Christian returns to regain control of his dukedom. He’s still trying to find his feet and his wits when Gillian Greendale, his cousin by marriage, explodes onto the scene, forcing him to return to the country and his daughter and, by default, the road to recovery. With such a beginning, I settled in for an exciting read.
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LynneC’s review of The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire by Marian Tee
Contemporary Romance published by Jaded Speck Publishing, December 2013

I’m currently going through the 99 cent and free books I grabbed greedily when they first started coming out. With most of them I’m reading a page or two and removing them from my tablet, in favour of books I’m actually going to read. Then this one popped up. If it hadn’t been so short I doubt I’d have finished it.  At 21,000 words, it’s not even novella length.

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Veena’s review of There All Along by Lauren Dane & Megan Hart
Futuristic Romance published by Berkley Trade 03 Dec 2013

This book consists of two novellas. The first is Land’s End written by Lauren Dane and the second is By The Sea of Sand written by Megan Hart. I am a big fan of Ms. Dane’s paranormal series and have enjoyed her other futuristic series, so I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, these stories are not my cup of tea, I find both stories very slow and not very exciting. Read the rest of this entry »

Stevie‘s review of Hell for Leather (Black Knights Inc. Book 6) by Julie Ann Walker
Contemporary Romantic Suspense published by Sourcebooks Casablanca 06 May 14

I had a lot of fun reading the previous book in this series, and after I read that one I was keen to both catch up on the back story and keep up with subsequent instalments. While I haven’t managed the former yet, I’m managing okay with the latter, and was pleased to see that this book gives us more detail on another of the fabulous women who hang out with the men of Black Knights, Inc. Not that there’s any need to have read the rest of the series, as once again this novel is pretty well self-contained and self-explanatory, but I suspect that those who have been lucky enough to have followed the series from Book 1 will spot little treats in the background that I missed in this story.

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