Musings on Romance

Category: links (Page 4 of 10)

February Round Up

Monthly Mini Review

Navy SEAls holiday flingThe Navy SEAL’s Holiday Fling by Zara Keane – C+ While I have most of the Ballybeg series on my TBR, this one is the first of Ms. Keane’s books I’ve actually read. It’s book 3 in her Ballybeg Bad Boys spin-off series. Divorced former Navy SEAL Liam Ryan has been working undercover for Trident Securities in Ballybeg but his case has finished and he’s on his way home to the USA for Christmas. He hasn’t seen his four year old daughter, Meggie, in seven months and he misses her badly. However, when he is on the way to the airport, he gets a call from his boss; there has been a bomb threat from a terrorist known only as “The Ghost”. The threat is credible and there is reason to think he might actually be in Ireland. Liam is the only person alive who has seen The Ghost; he’s the only man who can identify him to police.

The Ghost is a morality terrorist. He targets adult stores and those who have used the services of prostitutes. His target this time is Blush Shoppe, a multinational adult store chain which has just opened in Ireland. As it happens, Liam knows the manager of the new Cork store, Jill Bekele. Jill and he met when he was undercover and had a brief fling. She is extremely surprised to find that the man she knew as Jean-Baptiste, a French chef, is actually a former SEAL from the States. She is initially very unhappy to see Liam but when he thwarts an attempt on her life, she decides maybe hearing him out is a good idea.

Continue reading

Favourite audiobooks from 2015

I mentioned in this post that the audiobooks listed at AudioGals were my favourite listens where my reviews were posted there and I planned to do a post here to make up my top ten. My sense of fairness was pricked by leaving out the excellent romance audios I listened to from my own library or provided direct to me by publishers/authors. In no particular order, the other top five are:

Noble Satyr audio

Noble Satyr by Lucinda Brant, narrated by Alex Wyndham. My list could not have been complete without at least one Brant title. Alex Wyndham was my “find” of 2015 in terms of excellent new narrators. His work here is stellar and the story is excellent too. Georgian romances featuring rakish and mysteriously enigmatic heroes are my catnip. Continue reading

January Round Up

Monthly Mini Review

Liam Takes ManhattanLiam Takes Manhattan by Thea Harrison – C+ The last in the latest trio of novellas about Dragos, Pia and Liam Cuelebre, this one is also the shortest one, coming in at about 50 pages. Also unlike the other two stories, this one felt somewhat incomplete to me. It was more in the nature of a prequel novella, presaging what the next chapter in Liam’s life is and acting as a bridge to (what I hope will be) full length books about Liam. I was involved in a discussion with the author on Twitter recently and she was canvassing interest levels for books featuring adventures in Liam’s life – the first of which would not involve any romance because he’s too young (I picture them as something like a paranormal Vorkosigan series FWIW). The novella sets up Liam branching out on his own. The significance of the Christmas present mentioned in the blurb is a bit misleading I thought. I was expecting a kind of “miracle at Christmas” vibe but it was far more subtle than that. Continue reading

December Round Up

Monthly Mini Review

His to KeepHis To Keep by Katee Robert – C+ Aaron Robertson has had a crush on his sister’s best friend for over 10 years. Marceline Bellini was off limits when they were young, then they were dating other people and then she fell pregnant, became a single mum and dropped out of the dating scene altogether. Her friends are encouraging her to live a little and not focus solely on being the perfect mother to her daughter, Claire. When Marcy finally agrees to go out with friends to a bar, Aaron decides it’s time to make his move.  He has to do some sweet talking and fancy footwork to convince Marcy that he’s a good bet. Marcy doesn’t want Claire to see a revolving door of men come and go in her life (which, considering that Marcy hasn’t dated at all since Claire was born, is something of an overreaction I think). Aaron is helped by the explosive sexual chemistry between he and Marcy.  He’s also a good guy who has had deep feelings for Marcy for a long long time. He falls in love (in the paternal way) with Claire too and has no issue with taking them as a package deal. Continue reading

November Round Up

Monthly Mini Review

Don't Stop BelievingDon’t Stop Believing by Gwen Hayes – B- This is a sweet and (a little bit but in a non-erotic way) sexy short about a grumpy recluse and the librarian he has been crushing on. When Adam’s car goes off the road in a snowstorm, Simon brings him home to his cabin to look after him and they finally have some conversation. The time frame is short and the grand gesture at the end a little treacly but I enjoyed the cast and the writing style. There was a bit of POV whiplash, for instance:

Simon groaned and took Adams lips. Sampling lightly, tasting, teasing. The kisses kept him off balance in the masculine cage Simon had made of his body. Was Simon holding back or was he just trying to drive Adam crazy? As the kisses veered away from Adam’s mouth to his cheek, his chin, Adam clenched. He wanted more. Needed more.

but I was able to follow the story and enjoy it anyway. Simon and Adam were pretty well drawn considering the short word count and I liked my 99c visit to the small Washington town of Silver Pines.

Plus, you gotta love a librarian book amirite?

BUY IT:
AMAZON     KOBO

 

Coming Soon

 The Perfect Gift Noble Satyr audio

Continue reading

September Round Up

Monthly Mini Review

Necessary ForceNecessary Force by DD Ayres – B I recently read Primal Force, which is book three in this series. Even though I had some difficulty with it, there was plenty to like and it was enough to make me look up the other books in the series. I bought two and wishlisted the other. Necessary Force is book 0.5. The stories are only very loosely linked so far as I can tell – but they all feature service dogs. Georgie Flynn is a photojournalist who, as a favour to a friend, takes the pictures for a beefcake charity calendar featuring hot servicemen and their K-9 companions. There, she meets a gorgeous and charming man and has an out-of-character and super hot one night stand with him. A couple of months later, her apartment is burgled and the FBI become involved when they believe she is somehow connected to a bomb left in a prominent Washington DC location. Guess who turns up with his service dog, Zander, to search for explosives residue?

The story is pretty clever actually – the villian is a little obvious and the motivations not entirely clear (there are reasons for this) but it all held together pretty well.  Our hero is a good FBI agent and acts in sensible ways which fit with his job and Georgie is a smart and savvy woman at the peak of her profession. They have combustible chemistry but don’t let it get in the way of catching the bomber. Continue reading

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 Kaetrin’s Musings

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

Verified by MonsterInsights