Gwen’s review of Heart of Gold by Jessica Bird
Contemporary romance released by Ivy Books 3 Jun 03

Every now and again, I dig through my stacks and pull one out that I have held onto forever but haven’t read.  You know what I mean – walk up to your TBR stack, cover your eyes, and point at a random book, hoping for the best.  That’s how I picked this oldie but goodie to read.

Jessica Bird, a.k.a. J.R. Ward, has written some very nice contemporary romances for the Harlequin imprints.  There are also a couple of her early books out there, like this one.  Her contemps almost always have a seriously alpha male (I know, go figure).  But until this book I’ve almost universally disliked her female characters.

Carter Wessex, our heroine, is unique in Bird/Ward books.  She’s actually a believably strong heroine who acts in a consistent manner for, gasp, THE WHOLE BOOK.  I know.  I was a little surprised, too.

At the beginning of the book, Carter knows our hero, Nick, by reputation and she isn’t at all impressed.  Nick slowly discovers more about Carter as he agrees to let her perform an archeological dig on his land.  What he learns impresses and intrigues him.  Over the course of the book, these two strong people come to know and trust each other – slowly.

There’s some excellent action, lots of fun dialogue, and interesting characters in this book.  The story follows some rather predictable lines, but it’s still entertaining.  The passion sizzles between Carter and Nick – some very nice love scenes, as is common with Bird/Ward.

I recommend this book if you want to read a nice, easy romance with good characters, a bit of action, and some very tender moments.  If you’re a Ward/BDB fan, you’ll like this book.*

Grade: B+

Summary:

She has a chance to find something more precious than gold, if she’s brave enough to trust her heart. . . .

Her intense passion for unlocking the secrets of the past is what made Carter Wessex an archeologist. Now she’s been given a chance to dig on Farrell Mountain where a doomed party of minutemen lost their lives—as well as the gold they were carrying during the Revolutionary War. Carter refuses to let the mountain’s owner, Nick Farrell, rattle her, even though she’s all too aware of his sexy yet sardonic presence. Her work on the mountain could be the most significant find of her career . . . if she can pull herself away from the smoldering attraction that is undeniably growing between them.

Beneath the steely façade Nick Farrell wears like a well-cut suit, he is a man of hidden tenderness. From his first meeting with Carter, there’s an immediate flare—hotter than he has ever experienced before. But no one is more surprised than Nick when his desire for her deepens into something enduring. Now Nick must find a way to convince Carter that the real treasure to be found on Farrell Mountain is a true and lasting love. . . .

Read an excerpt here.

* And, hey, there are no brand names or pseudo-rap slang.

Sandy M’s review of A Man in a Million by Jessica Bird
Contemporary Romance published by Silhouette Special Edition 1 Jan 07

I really am addicted to Bird’s heroes. Whether they’ve come from the wrong side of the tracks and have now made good, lived through a horrible childhood, they’ve been to prison like Spike in this story, or anything else she throws at them, they’re all still gentlemen, they love what family they’ve got, they treat women right, and, of course, they’re as sexy as all get-out. They have a certain mind-set when you first meet them, but even though they think they’ll never change, they’re open to that change once they feel it coming on and then they embrace it wholeheartedly. Men after my own heart.

Spike Moriarty put his happiness and his heart on the line once before and told a girlfriend about his past. Next thing he knew, she disappeared without so much as a goodbye. So that’s a mistake he’ll never make again. One-nighters and short-term relationships are all he’s ever going to chance again. Even when he meets Madeline Maguire, the most beautiful and sexiest woman he’s ever seen, he hesitates to get involved. She’s from a rich family and out of his league, so why take the chance she’d walk away from him too? But when she needs help to stand up to her brother, Spike initially misunderstands why she wants him by her side while she’s visiting. He eventually goes to her rescue and ends up having a slice of heaven when Mad admits her attraction and gives herself to him. Knowing they can’t have forever, he’s determined to store up some memories for the lonely future head of him.

Like a fish out of water when she’s on land, Madeline is also off balance when it comes to men. She’s used to working with the men of her crew, she’s a sailor just like they are, so she’s always treated like one of the guys. Plus, she’s as tall as most men, not petite and blonde, so she’s usually invisible to most males. Especially the one she’s been attracted to for a while now. Spike and his hard, sexy bod that sports incredible tattoos turns her on something fierce, but now that they’ve met up again, it seems he’s jumping to all the wrong conclusions every time they talk. Finally giving up when he refuses her plea to help her get through a family weekend, Mad builds up her courage and heads out to face off with her brother over the family business. However, she gets the surprise of her life when Spike shows up after all, but the bigger surprise is finding out he’s also attracted to her. Their short affair is cut even shorter when her spiteful brother butts in where he doesn’t belong and causes hurt feelings, broken hearts, and just general havoc with their lives.

So far Spike is my favorite Bird hero. There’s just something about him that softened my heart when reading his story. He and Madeline are great together. I especially enjoyed their lovemaking on his motorcycle parked on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. My goodness gracious, what a scene. I think I’d like to try that myself. And when they’re apart after their misunderstanding because of Mad’s brother’s machinations, Spike broke my heart when everything goes wrong for him after he returns home and he sits on his porch just staring at nothing. Definitely a man in love and he doesn’t know what to do about it. His astonishment when Madeline doesn’t run after he tells her about his past is also a favorite scene.

I know Sybil is probably going to have a conniption when she sees my grade for this book, but I can’t help it if I’ve had a run of wonderful reads lately. I’m a very happy reader right now.

Grade: A
From the back cover:

“Have you met Madeline Maguire?”

Sure have, Spike thought. I saw her last night in my dreams.

As far as bad boy Spike Moriarty was concerned, Madeline Maguire defined female perfection. When they’d met, she’d walked up as if she wasn’t the most gorgeous thing on the planet and asked to see his tattoos. He — a tough guy who’d make grown men run — had just about passed out. But their connection was definitely one-way…it had to be. Because he could never be the man in a million she was looking for, not with the things he’d done and seen. So for as long as she’d let him he’d give her whatever she wanted. He’d worry about her walking away when it happened.

Sandy M’s review of Beauty and the Black Sheep (Moorehouse Legacy, Book 1) by Jessica Bird
Contemporary Romance published by Silhouette Special Edition on 1 July 2005

You know, as much as I love Jessica Bird’s alter ego’s vampire series, having read every one so far, I’ve been missing out not reading her lovely contemporary romances. This is my second one this month and she’s got me hooked. I’m going to be scouring around looking for more.

What I like best that Bird does is she gives her main characters, most especially her heroes, a terrible, deep-down ache in their hearts that makes readers love them more than they ever thought they would. In this case, Nate is one of those sexy men who’s also a gentleman, is going after what he wants in life, and is his own man after giving up the family fortune, but he has a secret that aches in him to his core and that has made him skittish as far as commitment is concerned. Sure, he still enjoys a great roll in the hay, but long-term and marriage are no longer part of his dreams. Once his pain was revealed, he just burrowed that much further into my heart.

Frankie has a pain of her own that is quite similar. She’s been trying to keep the family B&B open since her parents’ deaths, but things are catching up with her and it may not be much longer before she has to give up and sell out, something that will break her heart. Especially because she also has her sister and her grandmother to care for. And especially because of her secret she’s borne for so many years.

At the point Nate comes into Frankie’s life, she’s had one hell of a day. The ceiling in her office literally opened up and rained down on her due to broke pipes in the old home that houses her inn. Later she’s just burned dinner and her guests are not happy in the dining room. When Nate knocks on her door, her life is about to change, starting with the fact that he takes over and prepares one of the best meals ever and her guests leave satsified. The man’s a chef and has saved her butt; however, for some reason, Frankie just can’t seem to feel grateful.

Thus starts a relationship that goes through many changes over a few weeks, one that finally pushes these two independent people closer together and to open up and share their pain, to learn that life goes on and still holds happiness in the future for them both. It’s especially gratifying to see Frankie finally give in because she holds out so much longer than Nate, refusing to acknowledge her feelings, even though she feels he’s the one who may make her happy. I thoroughly enjoyed this entire book, even the little side trips we take with Frankie’s family. I’m looking forward to their books next.

Grade: A-

     FROM THE BACK COVER:

     The force of those eyes hit Frankie Moorehouse like a gust of wind. But she quickly reminded herself that she had dinner to get ready, the staff of White Caps B&B (such as it was) to motivate. She didn’t have the luxury of staring into a stranger’s face.

     Although, jeez, what a face it was.

     And wasn’t it just her luck that the owner of that face, Nate Walker, with his rebel attitude and distaste for authority was the chef her restaurant desperately needed, and he was staying for the summer?

     And it was a bit too tempting to let this breath of fresh air sweep her off her feet. Because all work and no play had been Frankie’s motto for much too long!

     Read an excerpt here.

Sandy M’s review of The Billionaire Next Door (O’Banyon Brothers, Book 1) by Jessica Bird
Contemporary Romance published by Silhouette Special Edition 1 August 2007

Isn’t it just wonderful when you find a book you can’t put down, a book that calls to you, makes you feel a gamut of emotions, and gives you the romance you were looking for in picking the next book to read? Oh, and a hot hero to boot? Look no further. Jessica Bird has made the choice easy for your next read.

[Ed.: Read on to the end of the review for information about J.Bird's plans for her next series...]

Sean O’Banyon has escaped his horrible childhood at the hands of his father, as has his two brothers. He came from nothing but violence and now he’s the man all of Wall Street looks to to turn their deals into gold. And he’s a billionaire, he has the best of everything, a beautiful woman always on his arm. All it takes is a phone to call to free him of his past. Or so he thought. Learning his father has died breaks that final link to the man he and his brothers feared for so long, but when he goes to finally rid their lives of their shared brutality, Sean finds himself returning again and again to the place he hold himself he’d never go back to once he left.

Grieving for her friend and the father she never had, Lizzie is the one to tell the Eddie O’Banyon’s son that his father is dead. She’s stunned when Sean accuses her of being after his father’s money, but even such suspicions can’t overcome her attraction to him. Knowing he won’t stay once his father’s estate is taken care of, for once she does something for herself and falls into bed with him, giving him all he needs to break her heart. But when she finds out who he really is and what he truly thinks of her when he discovers “proof” she bilked Eddie of huge amounts of money, it’s time for Lizzie to walk away and never look back.

It’s almost a sin to bring this book down to two quick paragraphs like this. Sean is a great hero. His lesson that all his billions can’t make his past or his pain go away, it can’t buy him love and happiness is a moving progression to watch once he meets Lizzie. She doesn’t push him, doesn’t nag him to talk about whatever it is that causes him to become a different person when he walks into his father’s house. I loved all their time spent together, whether it was with laughter or tension between them. And the differences in their current circumstances is very interesting, as are their individual reactions to that subject the more they learn about one another. Then their realizations they each had wrong impressions about their interactions with Eddie are quite enlightening. For them and for the reader.

I also like that this is just the first book in the trilogy. Sean is the middle brother. We meet Billy, the youngest brother in this book and we get a little peek at Mac, the oldest. The treatment they each suffered at their father’s hands is on opposites end of the spectrum, as is the way they’ve dealt with it and do deal with it in the here and now. Their books have the potential to further blow a reader away just with the emotion alone. I am definitely looking forward to them.

Grade: A+

[Ed note: as of right now there is no date set for the next book in the series but they are still happening and Jessica Bird is still excited about the series. She said she would let us know as soon as something was solid. As soon as we know you will. Sorry, I didn't have better news but she does sound really excited about the series! And if it wasn't for deadlines, RT and such she would have been here for our SSE Spotlight.]

From the back cover:

     Take–no–prisoners deal–maker Sean O’Banyon ate Wall Street financiers for lunch. So why was he losing sleep over a fresh–scrubbed nurse in old jeans and a too–big T–shirt? Maybe it was those warm green eyes. Or the way she blushed when he got personal. There was no denying the serious chemistry between them. But sooner or later Lizzie would learn his deep, dark secrets: First, he had trust issues. And second—he’d rather not go into the whole family thing. He didn’t do relationships…but amazingly, Lizzie made him want one anyway.

     Read an excerpt.

The Billionaire Next Door is Jessica Bird’s newest Silhouette Special Edition. It is an august release, which means you can order if from eHarlequin right this second in print or ebook.

If you weren’t already aware Jessica Bird is the 2007 RITA winner for Best Short Contemporary Romance for her novel From the First. 

I think Sean O’Banyon first appeared in the Moorhouse series (FtF was the final book) and then there was a stand alone that tied into it, A Man in a Million, where I Sean was a major player. I thought the character was fab so I was very excited to see him get his own book. And once I was done with it emailed Jessica first thing… she was nice enough to answer a few questions for the blog.

I noticed Sean is was friends with Butch O’Neal. Is that something of an ‘in joke’ or will he play into the trilogy more later?

LOL that was an ‘in joke’. And a little shout out to BDB readers! Spike, the hero from my SSE A Man in a Million, is Zsadist’s distant, distant relative- something I knew all along. I can remember before I even sent the proposal in for Spike’s book looking across the table at my SSE editor and going, um, see there’s this one thing about Spike you should know. Fortunately, she was cool with it!

You often say the ‘brotherhood’ write the books and you just tell what you see. With your SSE books and the new “The O’Banyon Brothers” do you feel you have more ‘control’ over the them or is just another movie. Minus the vamps *g*

No, I don’t have much control over any of the folks in my books. The Brothers are louder and more demanding, sure. But the other people in my SSEs are just as clear to me.

I like Sean. I really like Sean. In fact I would say this is one of my favorite Special Editions you have done. And of course he is very alpha. Very much alpha… and I was wondering do you think I will ever do a beta hero? Or have you done one and I missed it?

Um… probably not. Betas aren’t- wait, actually. That’s not true. I have written one. Well, my version of one. He’s part of anthology piece I’ve done which is coming out late next year.

Lizzie was a great heroine and I LOVED the end of novel. I don’t think I have seen a heroine ask that of a hero before. Err… guess that isn’t much of a question *g*

LOL I love Lizzie and let me tell you, she did the right thing. If you consider the emotional ramifications of Sean’s background, and the fact that he’d never talked about what happened to anyone, you’d need him to get some help of the professional variety if you were going to be in a relationship with him. She was right to ask and he was strong to agree.

How much of your past life in working in healthcare in Boston went into the setting of this? Was it something you drew on or just second nature in the back of your mind?

OMG totally something I drew upon! I told my editor I loved this book because I got to back home!

I recently ask Shannon McKenna about her heroines and the flack she has gotten from many a person about them being weak or weaker than her heroes. When we spoke in Dallas you said you had a much harder time writing the women. Do you feel you are improving and what are you doing to work on it?

If I’m getting better, it’s because I’m trying to balance the attention given to them a little more. Other than that, I’m not really changing the way I work- I still just follow the stories in my head.

The most asked question I hear or see about Jessica Bird/JR Ward (other than omg they are the same person?) is ‘What is the deal with the glasses’. Care to answer?

My eyes are photophobic and have been for about the last seven or eight years- the result of too much time in front of the computer. Under florescent lights or in front of flashbulbs, my vision frizzes out. So either I wear them or I don’t see very well.

After I read the answers and saw a question or two over at Dear Author I asked two follow up questions and Jessica was kind enough to answer.

Will the anthology be by Jessica Bird or J.R. Ward? If it is Ward will it be apart of the Brotherhood? Or is it the start of the new series you are doing?

The anthology is J.R. Ward and vampire, but it doesn’t have any Brothers in it. The new series will start in 2009 with full length novels.

Since the news of Rhevenge being in hard cover, two questions are being asked, which I am not even sure you would have answers for: Will the first books be reissued in HC for those of us who are anal and like our books to match. And how many more books are going to be in the series after Rhev? Since I really doubt you know that can you at least tell us how many are contracted?

As far as I know the first books will not be reprinted as such right now- but who knows what the future will bring. At this point the Brotherhood is open ended. Originally there were ten books, but now with so many other folks appearing, I intend to keep on going for as long as folks will read!

**A Note I do not think Jessica Bird will have time to come by and answer any reader questions. But she will for sure be here in October to guest. So if you have questions about the SSE series or the brotherhood you are more than welcome to ask. And I will see about getting them worked into the October Q&A.**

Gwen wants to Manga with you. Since I am prolly gonna bury the post in a bit do go talk manga with Gwen if you like it.

I do have to thank the ever delightful Julia Quinn for braving the blog yesterday. It was fab to have her on and we will announce a winner for her contest today.

I have a short Q&A with Jessica Bird (it can be a week of RITA winners *g*) that will be going up today! And a review for her August SSE.

ran into a snafu with the McKenna contest so I am double checking things…

just a note though:
Anyone that has a real reason to be posting from the same IP, six times, in a row, under different names is more than welcome to email me and explain. I am sadly cynical and when I see four to six names in a row, within seconds of each other, coming from the same IP, same location, with differnet names and emails (from ‘freebie’ accounts like yahoo, gmail, hotmail) I get to thinking socking is going on. For a free contest…. with 40! books being given away… blows the mind….

I need to figure out who all I have going overseas. I have a two winners in the UK and one in Canada. Since it seems to take an act of god to get me to the post office I want to make sure they are the only ones I need to send out. Once that is done I will double check and make sure I have all contest winner out in the mail.

I am sure there is something else I need to do today but for now I must go finish payroll.