As an angel of death, Keenan’s job is to collect the souls on his list. He’s carried out his duty for two thousand years and never faltered once. Until he meets Nicole St. James. When the moment of death comes, Keenan hesitates, and instead of taking Nicole, Keenan touches the vampire who’s attacking her.
Cast out of heaven for disobedience, Keenan plummets to earth. Six months later, he finally manages to track Nicole to a bar in Mexico. He’s stunned to discover that the woman he remembers has undergone a dramatic change—she’s become a vampire. And when he realizes that she’s the target of all manner of enemies—other vampires, demons, even shifters—he’ll do whatever it takes to protect her, even if all hell breaks loose…
This blurb came from the author’s website here.

Ms Eden has written in several different genres from her paranormal romances to romantic suspense to some paranormal e-novellas. I have enjoyed her writing style in all of them although I prefer her paranormal romance because her romantic suspense scares the living daylights out of me. I found Ms Eden’s world-building in her previous paranormal series to be extremely interesting as well as populating that world with complex characters so I was looking forward to seeing what she was going to provide in this story.

After reading the beginning of ANGEL OF DARKNESS I started to wonder if Ms Eden was pulling some of what she used in her romantic suspense because I have never read such a descriptive vampire attack including the victim’s trauma. I could almost feel the mental struggle that Keenan experienced as he watched that attack and then his total shock when he discovered Nicole six months later.

Both Nicole and Keenan had serious emotional healing to do. Nicole due to the attack and its aftermath while Keenan was trying to come to terms with becoming one of The Fallen. They both blame each other for the abrupt change in their lives but end up having to rely on one other to survive. As the plot thickens Nicole and Keenan discover that not everyone is how they seem including themselves.

Ms Eden has this way of providing additional information to the reader so you know a little bit more about different characters’ motivation then the hero and heroine but not enough so that you have all the answers. I was carried on the same journey as Nicole and Keenan. I think that technique serves to make me more invested in the story because now I want to see what will happen when/if those bits of information are discovered by the characters. I knew this would have a Happily Ever After (HEA) but I was not expecting all of the complications that the characters had to survive, literally, to get their HEA. I think Nicole and Keenan certainly fit the saying that, “you value what you have to work for.”

I think my favorite subtle surprise was finding out that this book is set in the same world as her other paranormal romances. Makes me wonder about how much more is still unrevealed in her world. I can’t say much more about the parts I really enjoyed because I think the discovery of the various twists and turns is part of what made this read so wonderful.

I give ANGEL OF DARKNESS an A.

Links to purchase:

Kindle eBook | Amazon Book | Barnes & Noble

Review – Angel of Darkness by Cynthia Eden is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

A HANDSOME DEVIL

1762. James Sherbourne, Earl of Whitney, is a gambling man. Not for the money. But for the thrill, the danger—and the company: Whit has become one of the infamous Hellraisers, losing himself in the chase for adventure and pleasure with his four closest friends.

Which is how Whit finds himself in a gypsy encampment, betting against a lovely Romani girl. Zora Grey’s smoky voice and sharp tongue entrance Whit nearly as much as her clever hands—watching them handle cards inspires thoughts of another kind…

Zora can’t explain her attraction to the careless blue-eyed Whit. She also can’t stop him and his Hellraisers from a fiendish curse: the power to grant their own hearts’ desires, to chase their pleasures from the merely debauched to the truly diabolical. And if Zora can’t save Whit, she still has to escape him…
This blurb came from the author’s website here.

I have read other books in the past that have used the idea of a person or several people making a bargain with evil to satisfy their short term desires. What I find interesting about that trope is the combination of what the desire was, who inspires or guides them towards redemption, and the path they take. I had read and enjoyed several of Ms Archer’s previous works so I was really curious about how she would address those three areas.

Devil’s Kiss, the first of Ms Archer’s new The Hellraisers series, introduced me to five rather dissolute friends who make a habit of trying to find new entertainment. Never is this entertainment in the form of anything good or wholesome but usually involving what could be considered a sin. What I found fascinating about the five is that each of them was primarily interested in a particular method of entertainment. As a result initially they appeared to be bound together more by boredom then by common interests.

I really enjoyed the incarnation of evil that Ms Archer created. He didn’t follow many of the common stereotypes like requiring a contract signed in blood, worship or rituals just something that belonged to them. He was a quite sinister evil. He used several different tactics to attempt to keep Whit either through fear or by fulfilling his desire. The reader knows that Whit and his friends have just done something rather ill-advised so aatching Whit’s realization of what he got himself into, who, and what he was against was very entertaining. Despite his bargain Whit was not completely lost from the beginning just mostly lost.

Zora was a treat as well. I really liked how Ms Archer was able to portray a Romani girl who didn’t quite agree with all the traditions but still valued her family and her freedom. While she matured, her actions throughout the book stayed true to what we saw in the beginning. I think my favorite scene with her was when she took enjoyment in the fact that Whit’s servants thought she was a ghost. She was also determined that she would do whatever it took to try to save the goodness and spirit she initially saw in Whit.

I think Ms Archer used the interplay between the five friends to really establish exactly how evil the villain was along with setting up future books. Whit’s journey was hard enough but I think she is going to put the other four (hopefully) through all sorts of misery before they reach their redemption. She did give a glimmer of hope for Whit’s closest friend but it was such a slight glimmer. I am looking forward seeing their journeys.

I give Devil’s Kiss a B+

Links to purchase

Barnes & Noble | Kindle eBook | Amazon Book

Review – Devil’s Kiss by Zoe Archer is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

Adam is the 6th book of Ms Frank’s Nightwalkers series. I started this series with the publication of Jacob, book 1. After I finished reading I started haunting bookstores eagerly waiting for the next one. When I finished Noah, book 5, and Ms Frank started publishing books in other series set in the same world I thought she was finished with the Nightwalkers and I moved onto read other things. When I found Ms Frank was publishing another book in the Nightwalkers series I was really excited. I was even more excited when we were offered a chance to review it.

While reading Adam I actually put the book down a couple of times and wondered if I was going to be able to finish it because Ms Frank had used a plot element that I have associated with bad reading experiences. During my pauses I thought about a theme I heard several times during TusCon 38 which was that a successful author won’t put a scene, an event, or even kill a character for no reason. I also reminded myself that I had read and enjoyed Ms Frank’s works before so I decided I would make sure I followed where the book was going. Not only did I learn that I am far more likely to give an author I have previously enjoyed the benefit of a plot element I usually dislike but I also got to see how it could be extremely skillfully handled. I apologize for my vagueness about what the element was but it is extremely spoilorific.

Ms Frank effectively used the hero and heroine in Adam to bridge the three-year real world gap between Noah and this release. While I think I probably missed a few subtle things because I did not have a chance to go back and re-read the rest of the Nightwalker series enough of the back-story was provided to jog my memory. I do not recommend starting the series with this book because Adam brings closure to certain elements of the story arc that were established in the earlier novels. I did not get the feel that this was the last book for this world since I noticed several things were left unresolved and hints were provided on potential future events. Ms Frank also introduced a rather interesting female character that I hope I get to see more of in the future.

Looking back over this review I noticed that I haven’t really talked about the hero and heroine. I didn’t really connect with either of them but I enjoyed their encounters with each other and how Ms Frank built their relationship from instant resisted lust into partners for life. I was more interested in finding out what was going on in the overall world then I was invested in the primary relationship. I don’t know if this was due to my distraction from the earlier plot element or if I was so heavily invested in the lives of those I had spent quality time with in previous novels. Regardless once I reminded myself to trust the author, my previous enjoyment of her skill, and slipped back into the Nightwalker world it was an enjoyable read.

I give Adam a C+

Links to purchase:

Barnes & Noble | Amazon Book | Kindle eBook

Review – Adam by Jacquelyn Frank is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

To fulfill his grandmother’s ultimatum, Lord Gabriel Sharpe pursues a spitfire he believes desperately needs him. Then the tables are turned….

Like everything daredevil Gabriel Sharpe does, pursuing Virginia Waverly is a high-stakes game. Ever since her brother Roger died racing Lord Gabriel, Virginia has yearned to take her revenge on the reckless lord by beating him at his own sport. But when she challenges Lord Gabriel to a race, the hellion who has always embraced his dark reputation as the “Angel of Death” counters with a marriage proposal!
Gabe knows Virginia’s family is in dire financial straits—why shouldn’t she marry him and solve both their problems? She claims to be appalled by his proposal, but her response to his kisses says otherwise. So when the two of them begin to unravel the truth behind Roger’s death, Gabe takes the greatest gamble of all, offering the cunning and courageous beauty something more precious than any inheritance: true love.
I got this blurb from the author’s website HERE.

Thanks to Pocket we have one copy to give away. Details are at the end of this review.

I have been a fan of historical romances ever since I read my first two romances; A Rose in Winter by Kathleen E. Woodwiss and The Bride by Julie Garwood so when I find an enjoyable historical romance author I tend to try to read everything I can get my hand on by them. Sabrina Jeffries is one of those authors that I know I can pick up and spend a few hours in a different world. I was browsing in a bookstore when I first spotted Ms Jeffries’ books. She tends to write series so my OCDness wouldn’t let me just pick up an book and get started, I had to find the FIRST book. She had just released The Truth About Lord Stoneville, which happened to be the first book in her Hellions of Halstead Hall series. I decided to give it a try and thoroughly enjoyed it. This enjoyment resulted in my adding the next books in the series to my wish list so I was really excited when we were offered the opportunity to review To Wed a Wild Lord, book four of The Hellions of Halstead Hall.

The basic premise of the series is a family of five children whose parents died under suspicious circumstances. After the sudden deaths of their parents, their grandmother raised them. Then one year she got fed up with their less then socially appropriate behavior so she laid down the law. All five had to get married within a year or they would lose their inheritance. So far three of the siblings have met their grandmother’s ultimatum.

Lord Gabriel has decided that since he feels at fault for the death of his best friend, Roger, and the subsequent gradual slide into genteel poverty for his sister that he can kill two birds with one stone. Marrying Roger’s sister would keep her from encountering any of the unpleasantries that occur when you are reduced to living off of a distant relation’s charity or working in one of the few professions available to a gently reared-noblewoman who has fallen on hard times. That marriage would also satisfy his grandmother. Noble as Lord Gabriel’s plan was, he failed to take into account exactly how Virginia Waverly felt about him.

I think it takes a very delicate balancing act to turn enemies into lovers without veering into “I hate your guts, I wish you would die, I love you forever,” and giving the reader whiplash as the emotions abruptly switch between opposite end of the spectrum. Yes I have heard people say that love and hate are merely different sides of the same coin but I need a transition between them if I am going to feel that the emotional connection between the characters is believable. Ms Jeffries hit that balance perfectly.

The interaction between Lord Gabriel and Virginia gave both the characters and the readers a chance to get to know them and who they were without the trappings forced on them in polite society encounters. The slow emerging of facts behind Roger’s death also forced not only Lord Gabriel and Virginia to look at Roger as a whole but forced some of the supporting cast members to examine how personality traits and a series of seemingly unconnected conversations can result in a life changing event.

Ms Jeffries made her main characters work for their Happily Ever After (HEA). As I continued to read it was fascinating to watch the shift between Virginia demanding that Lord Gabriel make all the changes to Lord Gabriel refusing to accept Virginia unless she also grew and risked rejection of her internal self. I enjoyed watching the character growth on both sides because I felt it drew me deeper into the story.

I recommend that if you are going to read this series that you start with the first book because part of my joy came from seeing the changes in Lord Gabriel and his siblings as the year progressed. There is also the underlying theme of solving the murder of their parents and each book contains developments in that case. I also think there is some hinting towards the final relationship that would be missed otherwise. I give To Wed a Wild Lord a B+.

As I mentioned earlier, thanks to Pocket we have one copy of To Wed a Wild Lord to give away. The winner will be announced on Monday the 21st. To enter leave a comment talking about what you enjoy most in a series that involves siblings. Good luck!

Links to purchase:

Barnes & Noble | Amazon Book
| Kindle eBook

Review & Giveaway – To Wed a Wild Lord by Sabrina Jeffries is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

The first in Heather Killough-Walden’s fantastic new paranormal series, the Lost Angels, features Uriel, the Angel of Vengeance Four thousand years ago, four archangels were cast down to Earth in human form. God’s favourites, they came to find their mates, the other half of their souls made only for them, without whom they will ever be complete. Uriel, Gabriel, Azrael and Michael, however, were not alone. They were followed by another, determined to find the archesses for himself, and whose power cannot be underestimated. But after centuries of fruitless searching, the archangels — and their enemy — have all but given up hope. Until one day beautiful and gifted Eleanore Granger crosses paths with Uriel, the Angel of Vengeance. And as a storm rages, outside forces conspire together, initiating an age old battle of good versus evil to win the first archess.
*Blurb from Goodreads*

MinnChica: I was really excited about this book, because I’m a huge fan of paranormal romance, and I love finding new worlds that suck me in and take me away. The blurb and premise of this one seemed like it would be another of those books to pull me in and keep me entertained. While there were somethings I really liked about this book, there were other things I really didn’t like about this book.

E: Like Minn I thought the book had a lot of potential. There were some things I really enjoyed and a few that made me wonder what just happened and if I managed to miss something. I really enjoyed the blurb and I was looking forward to seeing how Ms Killough-Walden would spin the “fated mate” trope.

MinnChica: That was one of the things I was really looking forward to as well. I’ll admit that I’m a bit of a sucker for the fated mates deal, and while I had some issues with it, I thought it did turn out okay in the end. One of the big things I really liked was how well developed the world-building was. I thought that everything was explained well and thought out completely and fit. Plus it was different from a lot of the angels stuff that is out right now. And the fact that it didn’t get too preachy or god-like made it that much better for me.

E: See I got burnt out on the “fated mates” especially when the women put up a token disagreement and then meekly go along as if their life has been planned for them so I was slightly apprehensive to see how it was going to work. I really loved how Ellie had her own life, way of doing things and was a complete person without ever thinking that she was just marking time until “something happened.” I also really liked how she had a family that loved, accepted and tried to protect her from anyone who might not have her best interests in mind. Like Minn said the fact that this never verged into preachy or holier then thou increased my enjoyment. I was pretty impressed with how Ms Killough-Walden added aspects of humanity to her other than human main characters. It rounded out her world-building. But she didn’t quite manage to keep that going with the villains which was a disappointment.

MinnChica: One of the things I really loved about Ellie and the story overall was that SHE really saved the day. She didn’t have to rely on Uriel or the guys to come through for her. She stepped up despite her fears and really came through at the last minute. I also thought the humanity she gave both Ellie and the archangels was so well done, and really added depth to their characters. I’ll admit though, it took me awhile to get to the point where I was really invested in the story. One of the things I love about paranormal romance is that it is usually so quick to pull me into the story and world — this one dragged out awhile before I got to that point.

E: It did build slowly after the intense entrance to the story with archangel brother fighting archangel brother. I think some of that might have been first book in a series and the need to establish the world and primary characters. I will admit that once I was sucked in I stayed up way too late reading because I was curious to see what was going to happen with this hinted at other group that was after Ellie. I was really really wanted to know how they were going to get out of a particular predicament caused by a sneakily written contract. “Never bargain with the Devil.”

MinnChica: I was very intrigued by the other group that is after Ellie, and I can imagine will be after the other archesses as well. I’m a little ashamed to admit this, but I think some of the secondary characters pulled me in more than our hero and heroine. I’m not sure if it was because Killough-Walden put such a different spin on some regular evil myths or what, but Sam and especially Lilith threw me for a loop in this one!

E: I LOVED the spin regarding Sam and Lilith. It reminded me some of Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series and how they are the myth but that isn’t all they are. I really hope Ms Killough-Walden continues to develop those two because I want to see what happens with them.

MinnChica: All in all I thought this was a decent first series book. The world-building is well developed and original, the characters are set-up wonderfully and the overall story arc has some great potential. I would have liked the beginning to pick up a little more, and have been as invested in our hero and heroine as some of the secondary characters. Other than that, I think this series has potential to be very good. I give Avenger’s Angel a C+

E: I agree it was a decent first series book. I like the world-building I just wish more attention had been given to the other group after Ellie. They went from tantalizing hints to in your face. Given the amount of information provided about them I am not sure how they are going to grow as the series continues. I think it would be a shame if the series was limited by two dimensional villains. I am looking forward to reading the next book. I give Avenger’s Angel a B-/C+.

Links to purchase:

Amazon Book | Kindle eBook | Barnes & Noble 

Joint Review – Avenger’s Angel by Heather Killough-Walden is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

Alysha Gale’s cousin Charlotte is a Wild Power, who allies herself with a family of Selkies in a fight against offshore oil drilling. The oil company has hired another of the Gale family’s Wild Powers, the fearsome Auntie Catherine, to steal the Selkies’ sealskins. To defeat her, Charlotte will have to learn what born to be Wild really means in the Gale family…

This blurb came from DAW Books here.

I have read most of what Ms Huff has published so I know that sometimes she writes series and other times she writes standalones. I have also learned during my years of reading that even though I might think a book is screaming for a sequel the author doesn’t agree with my line of thinking so I don’t always get my sequels. I am not saying that every book must become part of a series just that some of them I think should. I am sure you can image my excitement when I found out that Ms Huff was writing a sequel to THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM my review is posted here. Since I really enjoyed reading , I felt like I was dancing on air when I was given the opportunity to read and review THE WILD WAYS.

Charlotte commonly known as Charlie played a significant role in the previous book. Some of her actions enabled key people to be in certain places at certain important times. I apologize for the vagueness but I am trying to avoid any major spoilers. Charlie is what they call a Wild Power. Wild Powers are those ones that only show up occasionally and those that have them don’t tend to exactly follow the established ways. The Aunties tend to be torn between wanting to see if they can tame and keep that power within the family or if that particular power should die out when the individual possessing it does.

Charlie continues to make her living as a traveling musician because while she cares deeply about her family she continues to be too wild to put down roots in one location. Over several different locations and times Charlie keeps hearing about a new proposed offshore oil drilling site and the associated protests. While working in a Celtic band that was working a particular circuit over the season she meets some of the Selkies and becomes embroiled in their situation.

I enjoyed several things about this book. One of which I have mentioned in other reviews and that is I got to find out “what happened next”. Ms Huff provided a definite sense of continuity and didn’t just leave the reader with the belief that after the climatic events in THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM that everything was going to be perfectly smooth. After all once an Auntie, always an Auntie, regardless of what happened to your previous power base.

Another thing that I enjoyed was that Charlie remained true to her character as it was previously established. Just because her favorite cousin settled down didn’t mean that she was going to follow suit and settle. She also retained her loyalty to her family by blood and those by choice. The underlying theme in this series about the importance of choice continues as Charlie was required to make choice after choice that would result in defining what she could do and who she would become. A saying I have read and heard many times is that, “with great power comes great responsibility,” and Charlie gets the chance to live up to that saying.

As Ms Huff moved between the actions on each side, it was fascinating to match what I guessed with what Charlie learned. Yes I had an advantage because I could see both sides but I couldn’t see or predict what the other players would do or what Charlie would choose to do. I think this technique also added to the tension as events unfolded and the reactions to those events came quicker and quicker. And yes, Ms Huff gave me Dragons (I mentioned that I hoped to see more of them in my review of THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM). Not the way I imagined, but this story couldn’t have happened without them.

I enjoyed reading this, finding out ‘what happens next,’ and delving into the unpredictable Charlie. The only thing that some readers might find problematic with THE WILD WAYS is that it does not seem to stand on its own. In other words you really need to read THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM to understand a large amount of the nuances that are key to THE WILD WAYS. Since I read the previous book and I have a habit of re-reading an entire series before I read the newest installment this did not bother me. Taking both reader habits in mind I give THE WILD WAYS an A-.

Links to purchase:
Nook | BN Book | Amazon Book | Kindle eBook

Review – The Wild Ways by Tanya Huff is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

The Gale family can change the world with the charms they cast, and they like to keep this in the family. Alysha Gale is tired of having all her aunts try to run her life, both personally and magically. So when the letter from her Gran arrives willing her a “junk” shop in Calgary, Alysha jumps at the chance. It isn’t until she gets there that she realizes her customers are fey. And no one told her there’s trouble brewing in Calgary-trouble so big that even calling in the family may not save the day…
This blurb came from Daw Books HERE.

I know that when I pick up a story by Ms Huff I am in for a treat. I will get action/adventure, strong well-rounded characters be they male, female or other, relationships that further the plot, a vivid and detailed setting, world-building that doesn’t involve the dreaded info-dump, and character growth. In this first book of her new urban fantasy series Ms Huff does not disappoint me and actually made this review rather difficult to write. Difficult because I have to come up with hopefully some sort of coherent way of stating why I enjoyed reading this and have re-read it multiple times since its release instead of just “GO, READ THIS NOW”, which only works on my family and the PSAs (public service announcements) I send them.

Family, regardless of how you decide to define it is a very emotional word that affects people on multiple levels. Some of those levels can be determined by your interpretation of who makes up a family. Is it only by blood, by choice, by emotional ties or is it a combination of those and more? When I think of family I think of mine, which is full of the sometimes messy entanglements of blood, choice and emotional ties as well as our traditions that bind the family together and bewilder the newcomers. *evil grin*

The Enchantment Emporium introduces the Gale family and a Canada populated by fae, creatures of fable, myth and legend, and magic. The Gales are full of those same messy entanglements only the implications of their blood, choice and emotional ties can have life changing if not world changing results. Since blood, choice and emotion have a lot of the potential impact, the Gales have a lot of traditions. Some are as simple as any family gathering requiring pies, lots of pies, all of which are entirely homemade. For the Gale women making pies are a way to de-stress, show that you care, try to control a situation, make a point, and prevent the younger ones from starving away from home. Others were far more complex concerning what each person’s role is in the family and how you transition from one to another. Traditions can be great but they can also be stifling because when you know what people expect you to do and meeting that expectation is easy you need a reason to live up to your potential.

Alysha Gale appeared willing to just go along with the status quo. She figured someone would eventually choose her or if not there she would always her dream of Michael, then some significant time later she would become an Auntie. A word about Aunties, you didn’t cross them, you didn’t tell them “no”, and the Aunties ran everything. The local and some not so local businesses knew of and were extremely cautious around the Aunties. Younger generations did whatever the Aunties said to do regardless of their personal opinion. Alysha went along with that unless it involved the Aunties attempts to manage her brother David, her cousin Charlie or her habit of a crush Michael. Then she demonstrated flashes of the power and potential she had and actually backed the Aunties down but she never seemed to want more.

Alysha’s calm acceptance of her life as just one of the Gale girls changed when she received a chance to become something more with the inheritance of a junk shop two time zones away from her family’s area. There she walked into a rather complex situation that ended up requiring power, skill, stubbornness, caring, and determination as well as involving Dragon Lords, leprechauns, a sorcerer, more family entanglements and of course the Aunties. I really enjoyed watching Alysha grow as she figured out what she had walked into in Calgary. Even separated from her family, Alysha continued to remain determined to protect those she claimed, Charlie, David and Michael, from the Aunties or whoever else might decide to interfere. As she grew into her power her emotional ties to other people also changed along with what or whom she chose to claim. Her choices and those changes gave her the determination to ultimately decide what she was going to put up with and what she wasn’t.

I learned the importance of making a choice along with Graham, the talented assassin bound to the sorcerer. He was lucky enough to have a few Gales on his side so his first choice wasn’t his last. This served as a nice reminder that even when we think we aren’t making a choice we really are and that each choice changes something. It was entertaining to watch Graham deal with the Gale traditions, their messy family entanglements and start to realize what it really meant to become part of the Gale family. Lets just say he will never get the opportunity to be bored.

While I liked Graham, I think my favorite male characters were the Dragon Lords. They were also part of a messy family with their own traditions that could be bent and stretched only to a certain point. Adam, the oldest Dragon Lord, walked a very careful line as he tried to help Alysha when her choices started to make an impact. I really hope I get to see more of them *cough* Adam *cough* in The Wild Ways, the second book involving the Gale family.

Once again Ms Huff has produced a fantastic read in other words *ahem* “go, read this now,” *ahem*. I am glad to see her return to the worlds of urban fantasy.

I give The Enchantment Emporium an A

Links to purchase:

Amazon Book | Kindle eBook | BN Nook | BN Paperback

Review – The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

“Sebastian Madinger, the Earl of Wriothesly, thought he’d married the perfect woman-until a fatal accident revealed her betrayal with his best friend. After their deaths, Sebastian is determined to avoid a scandal for the sake of his son. But his best friend’s widow is just as determined to cast her mourning veil aside by hosting a party that will surely destroy both their reputations and expose all of his carefully kept secrets…

Leah George has carried the painful knowledge of her husband’s affair for almost a year. All she wants now is to enjoy her independence and make a new life for herself-even if that means being ostracized by the Society whose rules she was raised to obey. Now that the rumors are flying, there’s only one thing left for Sebastian to do: silence the scandal by enticing the improper widow into becoming a proper wife. But when it comes to matters of the heart, neither Sebastian nor Leah is prepared for the passion they discover in each other’s arms….”
I got this blurb from the authors website here.

A large percentage of historical romances make some mention of cheating wives or husbands but they are usually involved with someone who is single. If the single individual is a male then he either ends up becoming the hero when he changes his rakish behavior out of love for the heroine, or is a worthless bounder who is a direct contributor to the death of the cheating wife. If the single male is cast as the villainous type he sets the stage for the bitter betrayed husband to meet the woman who heals his heart and proves that the “fairer sex” is worthy of trust and love. If the single individual is a woman then she must be a member of the demimonde or a worker in a house of ill-repute and contributes to the death of the cheating husband. That death leaves behind a “grieving” widow who must be brought out of her secluded husbandless life. Or the single woman is the innocent heroine acting out of love and naivety or forced, usually by blackmail or threat to her family, into the situation and whom the hero rescues. I haven’t read any before that look at what happens to the surviving spouses if the cheating individuals both happen to be married and as a result of their infidelity they both end up dead. Ms March decided that she was going to explore this in Romancing the Countess.

I was curious to see how Ms March was going to pull the two obviously wounded people together given their different reactions based on both gender and one could almost say different stages of grieving. This is a two-part grief, on one hand dealing with death of a person and on the other with the disillusionment about their marriage. Both the hero and heroine started at the same spot regarding their death grief but Sebastian had the added shock of learning the truth about his marriage, unlike Leah who had known for months. While I liked the overall premise, I had some difficulty understanding Leah’s behavior at times and I thought that both characters exhibited signs of TSTL syndrome upon occasion.

I could understand why Sebastian wanted to ensure that any thought of scandal involving the death of his wife and that of Leah’s husband was never really considered. His main concern was protecting his son from scandal but I also think he used that as an excuse to ignore his own feelings about learning his wife’s true character and that of her lover. I think his behavior and manner towards Leah actually ended up leading to more speculation then his leaving Leah alone would have done. It appeared very evident to me that he actually goaded Leah into doing something that the Ton, her in-laws and family thought was unacceptable. I think he used his internal justification of trying to enforce proper behavior to conceal his attempt to take out his anger/hurt/frustration on Leah for not feeling/behaving the way he thought she should. While he did eventually redeem himself I think to atone for the results of his behavior he needed groveling not just insistence on marriage once Leah found herself in a rather unpleasant situation.

Now Leah herself didn’t quite make sense to me. I understood more after she confided in Sebastian about why she behaved the way she did regarding her husband’s infidelity, but I think I understood that too far into the book. Her characterization outside of that seemed inconsistent. She demonstrated that she knew enough about the Ton, her in-laws and her family to carefully hold the line between acceptable if somewhat surprising behavior for a widow and that which would put her out of society’s good graces. When she went from carefully walking that line to leaping beyond it, even with Sebastian’s behavior as a goad, I think she completely lost me. Her actions were not spur of the moment but required deliberate planning so when she claimed later in the book that she didn’t really know what would happen as a result I was not able to accept that.

While I didn’t have a good connection with either the hero or heroine I did enjoy their interaction together, and I remained continued to wonder how Sebastian and Leah were going to resolve their situation. Ms March crafted an entertaining read I was just not able to completely immerse myself in her story because of what appeared to be character inconsistencies.

I give Romancing the Countess a C

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Review – Romancing the Countess by Ashley March is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

Where did you get the book: e-ARC

Release date: September

Posey Osterhagen can’t complain. She owns a successful architectural salvaging company, she’s surrounded by her lovable, if off-center, family and she has a boyfriend—sort of. Still, something’s missing. Something tall, brooding and criminally good-looking… something like Liam Murphy.

When Posey was sixteen, the bad boy of Bellsford, New Hampshire, broke her heart. But now he’s back, sending Posey’s traitorous schoolgirl heart into overdrive once again. She should be giving him a wide berth, but it seems fate has other ideas…

*Blurb taken from Goodreads*

Kristin Higgins is one of my autobuy authors, and you always know what you get in one of her books: a good solid romance, and usually a heroine down on her luck, and a distant/reserved hero. Until There Was You features this, and whilst I liked the book, I found overall that it was lacking the oomph in the romance with a not so nice hero.

Until There Was You is a unrequited love story that started from when Posey, the heroine, knew Liam, the hero, back in school and when he worked at her parent’s restaurant. Posey was the unpopular shy girl, whilst Liam was the atypical bad boy. Unwittingly, Liam broke young Posey’s heart with some cruel words and by falling in love with the all American girl who would become his wife.

Liam settled down after marrying his childhood sweetheart after their unexpected pregnancy. Liam became the hands on dad whilst his wife went out to work. But his wife developed cancer, and soon after being diagnosed, sadly dies, leaving Liam and his daughter Nicole alone. Liam decides to move back to his hometown to bring Nicole closer to his in-laws, but moving back to his hometown brings back memories for Liam. The now grown Posey captures his attention by not falling at his feet, and with her smart mouth.

Liam was a great (and neurotic) dad, but I hated how he used Posey for his daughter, and I really hated that Posey let Liam walk all over her especially after he treats her quite shamefully by being his dirty little secret because he wasn’t ready, and because he didn’t want his daughter or his in-laws to know. The writing was engaging, and Higgans has very memorable secondary characters that bring her stories to life, but Posey’s and Liam’s romance was such a let down for me because I didn’t really believe in Liam’s love for Posey.  For the first time, we get a hero’s POV in a Higgins romance and even though we see inside Liam’s head, he was still an asshat for the way he treated Posey. He knew that her feelings for him were strong, yet he still carried on a secret relationship with her knowing that she would be hurt in the end. I felt like shaking Posey because how did she not realise what was happening with Liam was the same with her ‘boyfriend’ Dante, which fizzles out in a predictable way early on in the story.

I did like Liam’s relationship with his daughter, and the bond between them was very strong and his obvious love for her. The secondary storyline featuring the in-laws I found to be cliched with them being the ‘evol’ in-laws, and I felt it was unnecessary because it all fizzled out and everyone was hunky dory at the end. The ending for me was very much rushed, and whilst I liked Posey, I wish she had more self respect for herself as a woman because it seemed no matter what Liam would do, she would forgive him.

Until There Was You has the classic Kristan Higgins romance and characters, but for me had a very weak romance, and a hero that fell short.

I give Until There Was you a C-.

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REVIEW: Until There Was You by Kristan Higgins is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter

Subject: Captain Luke “Solo” Carnes.

Current Status: On temporary assignment.

Mission: Public recruitment and saving his ex’s tail!

Obstacle: He wants much, much more than that…

Sara Weston, an Air Force Captain herself, needs a pilot for her recruitment program, and fast. And she’s found the perfect candidate. Top gun pilot Luke Carnes is qualified, charismatic and available. Problem #1—he’s ridiculously hot. Problem #2—he broke Sara’s heart years ago…

But she’ll be professional. Just as long as she’s never close to him. Never under his gaze. And never in his bed.

Then again, never is a long, long time…
*Blurb taken from author’s official website*

Every so often (usually every two months) on Harlequin’s site, I go and look at the new releases and splurge. I go through the imprint lines I like, and I buy whatever catches my eye. When I do this, sometimes I end up with a few titles I like, others end up being duds. I also rarely buy from the Blaze line, but the cover of Hot Shot caught my eye. It’s a really really good cover . It’s different to the others as it really catches your eye, and I found myself drawn to it. And my book radar pinged when I saw that it was an ex-lovers trope which I’m a big fan of.

Captain Sara Weston works as a recruitment officer, and is in charge of her recruitment team that travels to give talks on life in the Air Force, and to try and encourage people to sign up. She’s missing a pilot in her team, but gets the shock of her life when ex-lover Luke Carnes suddenly shows up for the job. Sara hasn’t seen Luke in over seven years when he left her without warning, breaking her heart and disregarding her so callously. She doesn’t want him in her program as it will cause her problems personally, but knowing him to be one of the best pilots, she doesn’t dismiss him out-hand because she knows she needs to stay professional, and knows that he would be an asset to her team. The only problem is she doesn’t know why Luke is here, and is suspicious of his motives.

Luke has signed up to the recruitment team because he needs to do something important — he needs to apologise and make atones for his behaviour seven years ago. What happened to him whilst on mission made him realise how much of prick he had been for all this years. Even after leaving Sara, he was still a cocky son of a bitch and never understood or really cared how he treated others. But what happened to him on that mission made him realise he didn’t like the person he was, and knew that apologising to Sara was a must.

What really worked for me that made their HEA believable is that I believed in Luke’s remorse, and I believed that he was a changed person — even though I still have a little trouble believing why he would suddenly disregard Sara so badly after they were together for so long. Yet again Luke fully admitted how much of a prick he was. But throughout the book, Luke never rushed Sara, and he left it up to Sara on her terms. There were no flashbacks to what happened when they were youngsters, but it was conveyed well how deeply Sara was hurt when Luke left her, but that didn’t stop her from her career and her achievements, and what impressed me the most about this was that Sara’s professionalism never wavered throughout the beginning of the book to the end. Sara was a quiet heroine, yet she had a dignity about her that I really liked. There’s no major external plots except for a bitchy co-worker that brought tension between Luke and Sara, and that worked for me as there was no ‘required separation’. It was enough tension that was believable for the careers they had.

The smex had a good heat level, but it was toned down compared to a lot of Blaze books. And the main focus was Luke gaining Sarah’s trust back, and Sarah falling in love with the man Luke had become. O’Malley, a secondary character, was great, and I really hope he has a book of his own as he made such an impression on me. And I enjoyed this book so much that I’ve put Jo Leigh’s backlist titles on my wishlist.

I give Hot Shot a B+.

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Review: Hotshot by Jo Leigh is a post from: The Book Pushers | Book Reviews | Book Chatter