Category: Uncategorized (Page 8 of 18)

Why I read it:  After enjoying Unclaimed and Unveiled (and Unlocked) so much, I bought this on release day.  And, may I say, what an absolute bargain at $3.99.  Also, while I’m at it, I’ll mention that ebook file is excellent and self publishers (and a few traditional publishers too) could learn from this example.

What it’s about:  (Goodreads blurb) Smite Turner is renowned for his single-minded devotion to his duty as a magistrate. But behind his relentless focus lies not only a determination to do what is right, but the haunting secrets of his past—secrets that he is determined to hide, even if it means keeping everyone else at arm’s length. Until the day an irresistible woman shows up as a witness in his courtroom…Miranda Darling isn’t in trouble…yet. But she’s close enough that when Turner threatens her with imprisonment if she puts one foot wrong, she knows she should run in the other direction. And yet no matter how forbidding the man seems on the outside, she can’t bring herself to leave. Instead, when he tries to push her away, she pushes right back—straight through his famous self-control, and into the heart of the passion that he has long hidden away…

What worked for me (or, let me count the ways I adore Smite):  Smite is such an interesting character.  Deeply wounded by his mother’s madness, he nevertheless does not regard himself as “broken”.  He actively does not want to forget what happened to him as a child.  He doesn’t want to “get over it” and put it behind him.  He does not want pity or understanding. He does not in fact, feel sorry for himself.    

There was nothing easy about Turner.  He’d fashioned himself into one hard edge.  He was all blade and no handle.  If she held him close, she’d risk being cut.

What he does want is to remember what happened to him and ensure, as best he is able, that it does not happen to someone else – his trauma has defined him (by his choice) – it has led him to the career he loves and it drives him to excellence. There is a price he pays however – nightmares, fear of enclosed spaces particularly involving water, etc.  Smite chooses to keep his nightmares because for him, they are intrinsically connected to his passion to dispense justice to others.  It is the price he feels he must pay.  

His fellow Magistrates who, for the most part, are slackers who could care less about justice (particularly if it means they need to do some actual work themselves) don’t understand him.  Ash (his eldest brother) doesn’t understand him.  Ash is a “fixer”.  He likes to come along and solve everyone’s problems.  That’s what makes him happy.  But, Smite doesn’t want to be “fixed” and there is this innate tension in their relationship as a consequence. (And, for fans of the series, we do see some resolution in their relationship in this book, as well as hear more from Mark too.)

How surprising then, for Smite to happen across Miranda Darling.  Someone who has seen “broken” and knows he isn’t it.  Someone who doesn’t judge him or try to change him. Someone who intrigues and attracts him.    Someone who will let him remain who he is.  Miranda’s “fixing” is more along the lines of smoothing Smite’s path – kind of like a translator I guess. She loves Smite for who he is and accepts his idiosyncracies with grace.  Sometimes a person will put up with something with the full intention of getting to it later, but I didn’t feel this was part of Miranda’s makeup at all.  Rather, she would take what Smite is and make it work for her but the judicious manipulation of others – people, places or circumstances.    In Miranda, Smite found a safe place to fall without it in any way unmanning him.  

Smite has a very dry (and therefore, to some of his peers, practically non-existent) sense of humour which I appreciated.  

The dog looked up in entreaty.  Liquid brown eyes begged:  Take me with you I’ll be good.

Oh , the lies that dogs told.

“Ghost,” Smite commanded, “you will stay.”

…”Ghost.  Do listen.  In the even that I need a squirrel brought to justice, I will go to you first.  Until then…”

He only loosened his grip when he feared he might not be able to let go of her at all.

He was drunk on the taste of her.  He’d been knocked off balance, and he wouldn’t be able to walk a straight line for years. 

He has a “sentimentality quota” of 30 minutes per day (no, he really does), but it is because he does not wish to become maudlin that he has set a strict limit upon it.  It is precisely because he feels so much that he has something which, on its face, is cold and unfeeling.  He is also surprisingly affectionate:

“I do have one question,” she said.

“I’m sure it’s more than one.:

“When you call me Miranda Darling, are you calling me Miranda Darling as my name, or are you saying Miranda, comma, darling?”

His hand slid down her hair.  “I don’t believe I can answer that question without endangering the sentimentality quota beyond all hope of repair.”

I haven’t said much about Miranda.  I suppose that’s because, in general terms, I identify more with the hero in a romance anyway and in particular in this book.  What I say about Miranda inextricably links to Smite.  What I loved best about her was that she didn’t try to fix or change him.    Miranda is the Mark Darcy to Smite’s Bridget Jones in that respect. 🙂

But one other thing I loved about Miranda is that she asked Smite about things.  (And, Smite talks to her too.)  There were two points in the book where it started to head in to “Big Misunderstanding” territory (which I personally hate with the passion of a thousand fiery suns) and just when I was about to groan in despair (which, with Big Mis is very early on for me), Smite and Miranda HAD A CONVERSATION.  Hooray!!

oh my *fans self*   I wouldn’t mind seeing what he could do with a wall…

What else?  As much as I thought the reasoning behind the threats to Miranda was a bit odd, I did enjoy the contrasts of the Patron’s form of justice and Smite’s struggle/s with dispensing justice.  I thought it made a nice juxtaposition and highlighted many of the problems that persist today with criminal matters – balancing the needs of society and the victim against the individual (and perhaps extenuating) circumstances of the perpetrator, etc. 

*sigh*

Why I read it:  I picked this one up from NetGalley – I hadn’t read this author before and I really like romantic suspense and military romance so I thought this might be a good fit for me.  Also, nice cover.

I actually got a bit confused about which book to read because shortly after I saw Cover Me was on a super Kindle special so I bought it (it may have been free I don’t remember but if I paid for it it was only about 99c or something).  I started reading Cover Me because I thought THAT was the NetGalley ARC and I promised to read and review it around release time.  I realised when I was about 1/3-1/2 way in that I had the wrong book (which was a bit of a relief because I was not into it I’m afraid) and put it down and picked this one up.  You probably didn’t need to know that…

What it’s about:  (the blurb from Goodreads) Master sergeant Hugh Franco lives only to save others, until he plucks beautiful attorney Amelia Bailey from the wreckage of an earthquake and finds himself embroiled in ways he never expected. On the run from kidnappers, Hugh must call on all his training to protect them. But Amelia’s fiery touch threatens to crack his world—and his heart—wide open.

“Not that I wouldn’t welcome the chance to be with you again, but it’s clear you need something else from me right now.”  

“What would that be?”


His fingers forked through her silken blonde – dirty – locks.  “I’m going to wash your hair.”

Simple Gifts by LB Gregg – B- This was a short sweet story about a lonely man who has had a crush on his best friend’s older brother for ages. There is history and when he comes home from the war in Afghanistan for good at Christmas, they meet again.   I’ve a feeling I would have enjoyed it even more if it had been longer and I’d had more detail about the history between the two. There is also origami.

Holiday Kisses (part 2) In my November reads post I reviewed the first 2 novellas.  Here, as promised, is my review of the final 2 in the anthology.

It’s Not Christmas Without You by Helen Kay Dimon – B-  An enjoyable story about a couple of love each other but want different things.  My reading was interrupted by holiday stuff so my experience and my grade may have been affected by this.  The story was very sexy and I think that an established couple works really well in such a short format.  I thought the solution to their problem was fairly obvious but I liked that in the end, the obvious problem wasn’t really the only core issue – it was also Austin trusting that he was “good enough” for Carrie and that she would stick with him, which gave the story a bit more depth for me.

Mistletoe and Margaritas by Shannon Stacey – B+ This was the pick of the bunch for me.  It was funny and sad and sexy and sweet all at once.  Claire’s husband Brendan died 2 years ago.  Their best friend Justin has been Claire’s rock.  But he’s been in love with her since the night he and Brendan met her (Brendan got in first) and it’s becoming more difficult to hide it.  Claire’s libido is waking up and she starts to notice Justin in a new way. She already loves him; they hang out, do everything together, have platonic sleepovers regularly but now she sees him as the hot man he is.  The conflict here is really Justin’s guilt about cracking on to his best friend’s widow.  I had much less trouble with the concept than Justin did, probably because I didn’t really get to know Brendan in the story.  I did like that Brendan wasn’t either villified or lionised in the story and I think my angst factor would have been increased by some of Brendan and Claire together at the start but I guess space is at a premium at this length.   I would have liked just a titch more of Justin and Claire’s HEA but it was a great end to the anthology.  I liked how Brendan and Justin were different men and Claire never mistook one for the other but rather, appreciated the differences in both.    I am really loving Ms. Stacey’s contemporaries and this is no exception.

Bad Boyfriend by KA Mitchell – B+ KA Mitchell is back in fine form in this one.  I didn’t like Bad Company as much as her previous releases (mainly because of the premise) but this was very very good.   Quinn Maloney has been in a (closeted) relationship with Peter for 10 years.  Then Peter (aka, the bastard) tells him he’s leaving him for a woman who he’s knocked up while he’s been cheating (the bastard).  Problem is, Peter’s family have become Quinn’s family and letting go of Peter would mean letting go of everyone.  So he doesn’t.   It sounds doormat-y but the way it’s written, it comes across as very understandable.   I did wonder how Peter (the bastard) and Quinn had managed to stay together for 10 years though – I think that’s maybe because he was in the Navy for a lot of it?

Anyway, fast forward about a year and Peter’s son is being christened and Quinn doesn’t want to attend alone.  He meets Eli (Nate’s friend from Bad Company) and he’s perfect – his look screams gay and Quinn kind of wants to rub it in Peter (the bastard)’s face.  But, Quinn finds in Eli a lot more than a hot date to a christening.  I would have preferred a little more time for the relationship to grow – there was a touch of the insta-love about it which I found a bit jarring given Quinn’s nature (and by that, I mean that given his history with Peter (the bastard) he doesn’t seem prone to quick decisions).  Also, some of the conversations seemed unfinished to me.   I guess the author had extracted what she wanted to tell the reader but they were often interrupted rather than finished and mostly, those conversations were never revisited.  I’m the kind of person who hates that in talk shows and conversations so it’s something I notice.  I would have liked to have known what became of Chrissy (Peter – the bastard-‘s) wife – I felt a bit sorry for her actually.  But then, maybe she shouldn’t have married someone she barely knew just to be married to the baby daddy so you know, caveat emptor.  And, after all, the book wasn’t about her.

However, I loved Eli and Quinn and I loved them together and I wanted more more more.  I love KA Mitchell’s style and the way she writes super hot sex and I love the way she writes the romance – “never let me leave” *sigh*.

Finally, my Sony told me that the book was 175 pages long, but the last 15 pages were excerpts.  You are warned.

Unraveled by Courtney Milan – A- full review to come.

on Audio

On The Edge by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman – B+.  I actually enjoyed this one better the second time around.  I can’t say for certain that it was Renee Raudman’s narration that made the difference for me – I think a large part was familiarity with the world of the Edge, the Weird and the Broken so that I could concentrate more on the story of the interactions between Declan and Rose, and William, George and Jack.  Renee Raudman’s narration was, as usual, very very good but from book to book, unless the character has an accent (eg, French or Southern USA),  the main characters tend to sound the same.  It’s not a complaint as such but I’ve noticed it and given that I said the same thing about Angela Dawe, I felt it only fair to mention that it’s pretty much the same with most narrators, even ones as good as Ms. Raudman.

Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman – A- I think this series just gets better.  This story follows William, the changeling from the previous book, as he goes on a mission for the Adrianglian secret service, The Mirror, into “The Mire” in the Edge.  He is trying to hunt down a particularly nasty Louisania (the Weird Louisiana, not the Broken one) “Hand” operative, called Spider.  In the course of his mission he meets the lovely Cerise Mar, whose parents have gone missing, taken by the Hand.

William is a very interesting character and I loved the way the author kept him consistently changeling in nature – he was a mature man, but he had a lack of social skills and didn’t understand a lot about women and this remained throughout the book – slowly improving as he came to know Cerise, but never completely going away.  It made for some amusing and “awww” moments for me.  Also, William unashamedly likes action figures – he never had a childhood and he enjoys them now and that’s just fine.  I enjoyed William so much – he really carried the book for me.
Once again, Renee Raudman’s narration was excellent.

Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman – A- Wow.  Kalder Mar is Cerise’s cousin and he’s got a vendetta against the Hand.  He’s now an agent for the Mirror and he’s set a task to recover a stolen item before the Hand can get their mitts on it.  Audrey Callahan is an Edger, currently living in the Broken, who has the magical talent of opening locks.  She was involved in the theft in question and Kalder tracks her down to help and hot on his heels are evil Hand bad guys, including one lovely lady who has a penchant for skinning people alive.  Then, there’s George and Jack, Rose’s younger brothers, who are significant characters in the book.

Kalder is a rogue and a grifter and a ladies man but he meets his match in Audrey. In many ways, she’s his female equivalent.  There is excellent witty banter between the two with various attempts at one-upmanship by each, with mixed results which makes for some really fun listening.

Given that I’m a romance reader/listener first and foremost, you’d think it would have bothered me more that Audry and Kalder don’t actually meet up until a couple of hours into the narration.  But, the world is so interesting and catching up with Kalder and George and Jack and geting to know Audrey a bit too, kept me hooked until the sparks started to fly. From the time they first meet, they are basically together, which is a very good thing as they really do strike sparks.  The romance is perhaps less obvious – there’s only one sex scene really and for a lot of the book, Kalder and Audrey are flirting but not necessarily meaning it.  So, it is subtle in that respect.  However, because Audrey and Kalder are interacting  all the time (once they meet) the heat and connection between them becomes obvious, so there is definitely joy for the romance reader – I think even boys who shudder to think of reading romance could happily pick this one up.

As to the narration, it was of course, wonderful. The only thing which threw me a little, was that Renee Raudman uses a particular voice for the parts in the evil Hands operatives’ POV.  Later in the book, Kalder uses a disguise to infiltrate a special gathering and he uses an upper crust Adrianglian accent – except this voice was the same as the bad guys voice – having got used to that voice equalling bad guys, it was a bit of a shock to hear it coming out of the hero’s mouth.

And that makes 240 books (including audiobooks) read and reviewed in 2011.  Hmm.  I had thought I’d read more than that – well, there’s always 2012! 😀

My True Love Gave to Me by Ava March B-  A hot sexy Regency.  Alexander Norton had his heart broken on Christmas Eve four years earlier by Thomas Bennett who abruptly moved to New York.  Thomas has come back at last, realising that he made a mistake in leaving and he tries to win Alex over/back.

I would have liked a little on how they were going to manage their HEA in the circumstances of their time, but otherwise, quite enjoyable if a little melodramatic (I suspect it was because they were young – only 19 when the novella commences).

Winter Knights by Harper Fox  – A   *the pick of the bunch for me* Harper Fox writes angst so very well and there is a definite bittersweet tone to this story which was just delicious.

Gavin Lowden is an historian researching Arthur and Lancelot, waiting for his lover, Piers, to join him for their first Christmas together.  But first Piers has to come out to his parents.  He bails and calls Gavin to say he’s not coming and Gavin, lonely and sad, goes for a walk on the moor where he falls into a cave and is rescued by “Arty” and “Lance” who then proceed to teach him a couple of lessons about himself and about sex.  Yes, there is some m/m/m action.  😀  Strangely, it didn’t feel like Gavin was cheating on Piers at all so I was happy enough to go with it.  Besides there was definitely an otherworldly aspect to the story which made it seem more acceptable.

Piers, worried that Gavin has gone missing, comes to Northumberland to find him and they then proceed to work out their HEA.

The story is a clever play on the characters of the Arthur myth and excellent use of the unreliable narrator – We see things from Gavin’s POV but as Lance and Arty ask him questions about his relationship with Piers, we (as well as Gavin) see that Piers wasn’t completely in the wrong here.

Just when I thought the paranormal aspects to the plot were going to unravel, Ms. Fox brought them all together so enough questions were answered that the story made internal sense and wasn’t frustrating, but leaving just enough open to preserve the air of mystery which pervades the story.

Lone Star by Josh Lanyon – B  Enjoyable story about a Texas Ranger and a star New York ballet dancer which was hotter than I’ve read from this author before (not that the two other stories I’ve read are necessarily enough for form an opinion about that I guess).  Having walked in on his lover with another woman, Mitchell Evans flees to Texas – ostensibly to see to his late father’s estate but really to get away from the domestic mess at home.  He meets up with Web Eisley, his first love and they rekindle their romance.   When Mitch had last seen Web, they’d had a big fight when Web didn’t want to come out to his family.  Mitch left town shortly after and nothing was really resolved between them.  The romance aspect was sweet and sexy but the ending came a bit abruptly for me.

There was also a nice thread running through the story about Mitch’s relationship with his father which was bittersweet and added depth to the story overall.

I still don’t understand the significance of the reindeer sightings, other than that it was Christmas and I’m not sure I totally bought the ending – I would have liked a bit more exposition about how it was going to work, but I did enjoy it.

The Christmas Proposition by KA Mitchell – A-  An excellent story featuring humour, scorching sex,  a nativity play and a wedding which flagged a little at the end for me (hence the minus in the grade).

Mel Halner runs the family Christmas Tree farm in Epiphany, Pennsylvania.  His small town was discovered by natural gas miners 3 years earlier and it was then he met Bryce Campion.   Bryce is a millionaire and left town when Mel said he wouldn’t go with him.  Bryce comes back to town to be best man for the wedding of his best friend to Mel’s best friend.  This time, he’s not going to let Mel say no quite so easily.

Mel and Bryce were oh so hot together and I enjoyed reading about them.  I didn’t quite get why Mel was so gun-shy and the ending  had a touch of the “big mis” which isn’t my favourite.  Still, they sort things out fairly quickly (at least in terms of page time) so it wasn’t a huge deal.

Favourite quotes:

 “Since my life had gone totally to shit, it seemed like a good time to go stand in it.”

and this:

“…and put his arms around my back, locking us together in that kiss.  I wanted to climb inside him, find that place that let him be so damned self-assured and let it cover us both.”

Yummy covers for all 4 don’t you think? 

This review originally appeared in the December ARRA newsletter.   I saw another review of it over at All About Romance and the reviewer there gave it an A- so YMMV.

Why I read it:  I was offered a digital ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.

I’m reading the deliciousness that is Courtney Milan’s Unraveled at the moment and I devoured Unclaimed and Unveiled earlier this year, as well as the Turner novella Unlocked.  Last night, while putting myself to sleep, instead of counting sheep, I came up with my top 10 list of the next books in the Turner series Courtney Milan should NOT write (I’m seriously hoping the Turner series isn’t finished yet, so you never know, Ms. Milan may find these un-suggestions useful).

Anyway, it amused me, so I thought I would share.  Of course, it was VERY late and I was VERY tired.