Love Romance Passion » 4 Stars http://www.loveromancepassion.com Because Books Don't Fall Asleep Afterwards! Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Review: Carrie Goes Off the Map by Phillipa Ashley http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-carrie-goes-off-the-map-by-phillipa-ashley/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-carrie-goes-off-the-map-by-phillipa-ashley/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000 Karin http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13799

Reviewed by Karin from Savvy Thinker

I really enjoyed this book.

The story: Carrie’s life has changed dramatically.

She had been in the midst of planning her fast upcoming wedding to the fellow she’s known since college and lived with for about 10 years. Meantime she had put some of her own dreams on hold to help him with his family farm. Then he tells her he just can’t go through with it.

And to top it off, four months later he is marrying someone else.

And all her friends have kept the news from her.

When she finds out on the very day of his wedding, she goes a little bit crazy, a mixture of grief and anger -- and how she finds out is as funny, as life sometimes can be, as what she ends up doing.

I’m not sure it is supposed to be funny, maybe more ironic, and it is certainly has an equal amount of pathos.

And intersecting with her story is the story of Matt Landon, MD, newly back from his charity post overseas, to get over an accident.

They end up in a camper, an old VW van, along the English countryside – not quite what Carrie thought, when she expected to go with her friend Rowena through the Continent.

My take: This book is well written, easy to read, with romance, love, laughter, good friends, and some mishaps along the way. What more could we want in a read? Even Carrie’s ex is not as bad as he seems, and gets a bit of a comeuppance along the way – and is even willing to buy out Carrie’s part of the family farm, as well he should, and fairly.

And along the way, she finds a new love and accomplishes her dream.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Carrie Goes Off The Map

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Reviewed by Sandra Scholes

It is interesting the amount of cross genre fiction there is out for readers to have a look at. Encompassed, book 4 is Em Petrova’s chance to show how she can weave a ship’s captain and a Mayan Princess into a loving relationship.

There is a reason Dante and Maria are together and it is to do with the Calling, a way of them bonding with full knowledge of whether they are good for each other. They love each other very much, and their immortal companions notice that too. After a while though, that feeling of love and affection starts to leave them and while others like them are only just getting that feeling, they long to get it back and have the fulfilling relationship they once had.

It isn’t long before a love triangle develops with Dante being distracted by Gracie, another immortal who is influenced by the Calling too. Before this can happen and Dante is torn away from her, Maria has to go back to the place where their feelings were first felt.

I liked how Em Petrova had the original concept for Gracie, the heroine in this new novel. Originally she was under another name and in a contemporary spanking story. She gives her heroines a comical aspect and isn't afraid to create unusual stories in order to somehow make them seem real to others. She has a great descriptive mind and can make the reader truly believe they are there in her chosen world.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Encompassed

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-encompassed-immortal-series-book-4-by-em-petrova/feed/ 0 Review: Immortal Rider (Lords of Deliverance, Book 2) by Larissa Ione http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-immortal-rider-lords-of-deliverance-book-2-by-larissa-ione/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-immortal-rider-lords-of-deliverance-book-2-by-larissa-ione/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:38:40 +0000 Sharon S. http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13712

Reviewed by Sharon S.

You better grab the oven mitts before you try to pick up this book, it is smoking hot! This is the second book in Ione’s Lords of Deliverance series about the 4 horsemen (well, there is one woman) of the apocalypse. It is set in the same world as her Demonica Series. Many of the Demonica characters are also in the Deliverance books. If you haven’t read any of Ione’s books, don’t worry, you can jump right in and pick up on things pretty quick. I haven’t read the first book in the Deliverance series, wishing I had now because Ares sounds mouth watering, but it isn’t necessary.

The great thing about this author’s stories is all her lead characters/couples from past books of the series are still active in the story and she also starts setting up the storyline for the next book so you are already in love with the new couple and biting at the bit to read their story (smart lady <G>). The 4 horseman are siblings who were cursed. Their destiny is to bring about the apocalypse once they have all had their seals broken. They have spent their lives looking for their seals so they can keep them from breaking. They don’t want to turn evil. In the first book, Reseph had his seal broken and became Pestilence he is the villain of this book because he is now trying to make the rest of them turn. We got the story of Ares (would be war if his seal broke).

This book focuses on Limos, the only female horseman. She will become Famine when her seal breaks. As if that wasn’t enough she was betrothed to Satan (yes, that one) as a baby and now he wants to claim her. Limos was raised by demons and behaved like one for a long time. Telling lies gives her a high like no other. With the help of her brothers she turned her life around and things haven’t been so bad, but a smexy human named Arik kissed her and everything went to hell (literally) as all her lies catch up with her and she hurts the ones she loves the most. Mix in a love/hate storyline between an angel and demon that work against each other to help/hurt the horseman and the setting up of Thanatos’ story (who will become death, and I think he is going to be my favorite!) you get a whole lot angsty, kick ass action. Ione is also pretty good with the snark and adds just the right amount of humor.

This story/series is what you would call hard core PNR, lots of smut, cliché’ situations, high drama and emotional turmoil. Few do it better than Ione. This book has a lot of urban fantasy elements when you consider the extensive and ingenious world building going on. If you are a PNR fan then this is the author and series for you. For me to like a PNR book it has to be able to go that extra mile and impress me with tortured alpha men with that soft mushy center that only the right woman can touch, a unique twist, clever world building and yeah, lots of great sex. I think she went a little overboard with some of the clichéd PNR themes, but that is just a minor complaint. I will be reaching for Thanatos’ story because you don’t use and betray Death without consequences.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Immortal Rider (Lords of Deliverance, Book 2)

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Reviewed by Carla F.

At the age of 10, Lady Georgiana Montford is introduced to her betrothed, Robert Balfour, who will one day be the Earl of Sheffield. Robert is already a young adult, but he treats Georgie with kindness. A friendship develops, and Georgie falls in love with Robert. She is then devastated to discover Robert in the arms of another woman. Robert is unaware that Georgie saw him, and can’t understand why she is being so cold to him. However, he soon goes off to his father’s Caribbean plantation. Georgie tells no one what she saw, but she is determined to not marry the “Rat” when he returns, and she will take control of her life and destiny.

Things I liked: The story of Robert’s time on the plantation is sad, but shows why he had changed from the happy, more carefree man that Georgie once knew.

It is very sweet that Robert wants to regain Georgie’s friendship even if they will never be married.

The May Day scenes where Georgie washes her face in the dew in an attempt to get rid of her freckles, and the one with her bumping into Robert which causes him to miss the target in the archery contest and lose the prize of kissing the May Day Queen.

The heat in the picnic scene is not caused by the weather!

Things I didn’t like: Georgie was way too headstrong for me. While I admire her decision to not let others particularly her parents run her life, her choices led to other people being hurt.

Georgie and Robert were caught in compromising positions (or intimate discussions) way to many times by family members.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Pretty Persuasion

]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-pretty-persuasion-by-olivia-kingsley/feed/ 0 Audio Review: First Comes Marriage (Huxtable Quintet, Book 1) by Mary Balogh http://www.loveromancepassion.com/audio-review-first-comes-marriage-huxtable-quintet-book-1-by-mary-balogh/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/audio-review-first-comes-marriage-huxtable-quintet-book-1-by-mary-balogh/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:05:55 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13557

Narrator: I am on an audio book kick. I loved this narrator. Anne Flosnik is great! She makes the book come alive. It’s like listening to a movie with all of her voices. I wanted to drive more around town just for the opportunity to get further in the book!

Heroine: Vanessa Dew is the widowed second daughter of the Huxtable family. She liked her previous marriage, despite its hardships (a young dying husband from the get-go). To save her sister from a loveless match, and to get back into a marriage bed (which she has little experience with but enjoyed) she proposes to the most eligible bachelor in London. She promises to make him happy in bed and out. Can a man resist such an offer?

Hero: Elliott Wallace, the Darcy-like Viscount Lyngate, accepts the unorthodox proposal from the upstart widow. After all, he’s not looking for a love-match, just a monogamous one. He’s surprised by how much he’s attracted to the little plain thing, but her happy optimistic self is irresistible to a man as staid and reserved as himself. Wedded bliss was more than he expected, and Elliott isn’t about to give it up!

Review: The marriage of convenience premise was a little weak, considering Elliott starts the book with a well-bred mistress. Also for as much regret as he appeared to hold in the beginning about agreeing to wed Vanessa, I find his reasons to remain faithful to the marriage odd – I would have found it more reasonable had he finally got why his own father/grandfather had cheated – but then again, Elliott doesn’t believe in love matches – so perhaps his reasoning isn’t so bad, just unexpected.

Some of my favorite scenes are at the beginning with Vanessa proposing and Elliott catching her at her bragging and also on their honeymoon and the field of flowers! I love how she gets him to pick an entire houseful of them. I love Vanessa’s character, she’s wonderfully drawn and inspires a lot of laughs and smiles as you listen to the story. She’s very forthright and this helps smooth over rough patches and turns potential big misunderstandings into adult conversations fast! If you like reasonableness in your heroes and heroines you’ll like this story!

Rating: ★★★★☆

First Comes Marriage

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/audio-review-first-comes-marriage-huxtable-quintet-book-1-by-mary-balogh/feed/ 0 Review: Getting Familiar with Your Demon by Jodi Redford http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-getting-familiar-with-your-demon-by-jodi-redford/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-getting-familiar-with-your-demon-by-jodi-redford/#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:13:15 +0000 Susan S. http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13702

Reviewed by Susan S.

Please hold. Flip. Flip-flip. After a quick scan of my mental rolodex, Samael Gorasola is the baddest hero I’ve ever encountered. He’s sexy bad and you’ll hate loving him. Or is it, love hating him? Either way works!

Summary: That Old Black Magic, Book 4

Samael (Sam) Gorasola is a dirty-mouthed demon. He’s also sexy as sin and the reason the word bad originated. Sam doesn’t give a damn about anyone or anything. Crank open a thesaurus and all synonyms for bad and remorseless apply to him, specifically.

Gorasola’s a 103 year old demon with 78 years experience as a soul collector. It doesn’t surprise anyone he’s landed in a prison cell at the Demon Detainment Center. Samael is cognizant of his fate: he’ll never be happy. Life dealt him a bad deck and he’s just playing it out. Until wham bamming a white witch (Marabella Blanchard) gives him the wild card he never expected.

Review: Book four is as funny as the earlier installments and equally hot! I enjoyed every milli-second of Sam’s surliness. I’ve always been partial to the roguish rakes in historicals; it seems only natural I’d be just as enthralled with the paranormal baddies. There’s only one thing I would’ve altered, I’d’ve given less scene time to his cousins (Nikki and Cassidy). They were comical. I’ll give `em that, but I wanted more Sam and Marabella time. I’m going to have to give the author extra brownie points, though. She gave me what I wanted! The witch-familiar link.

Recommendations: For Adult Readers 18+

Because the hero doesn’t have a clue and the only thing he knows about romance is that it’s part of a two-worded title to a pop song, I’m recommending this novel to erotica readers first. Who else? Paranormal lovers. Why? There’s magick, angels, demons, and reapers in this story. I’m also recommending it to readers who like bad boy heroes. Samael’s entire DNA make-up is bad. And if you enjoy stories with scarred heroes, Sam is such a hero.

Favorite Characters: The hero and the old warlock.

The hero because he’s crude sexy, aggravating sexy, and broody hot.

The old warlock (Aster) because he’s funny. C’mon, he watches reruns of Days of our Death and is very chatty for a guy, uh, warlock.

Favorite Scenes:

Scene # 1: There’s a scene where Gorasola crashes through a window. Loved how the author wrote that scene!

Scene # 2: When Sam instructs Marabella to get on her knees.

Comedic Touches:

Comedic Touch # 1: Samael gives his bedding an oral onslaught it won’t soon forget. I’m still…laughing over that!

Comedic Touch # 2: The mixed metaphors were hilarious! And I’m going with Marabella as a hugel. (Sorry readers. I’m not spoiling!)

Disclaimer: I received this novel free of charge in exchange for my honest review.

Others in the Series:

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Getting Familiar with Your Demon: That Old Black Magic, Book 4

Samhain Publishing, Ltd., Copyright 2012, eBook, Paranormal Erotic Romance, ISBN# 978-1-60928-755-9.

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-getting-familiar-with-your-demon-by-jodi-redford/feed/ 4 Review: Aefle and Gisela by Libby Malin http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-aefle-and-gisela-by-libby-malin/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-aefle-and-gisela-by-libby-malin/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:10:57 +0000 Carla F. http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13422

Reviewed by Carla F.

The heroine is DeeDee McGowan who is the owner of a car dealership in the very small town of Oyster Point. She is all ready to settle for and marry Buck Bewley, but the night before the wedding she finds out he is cheating on her.

The hero is Thomas Charlemagne, a Medieval Studies professor at a university in Baltimore whose special area of study is Aefle the Minuscule (a poet monk of the twelfth century). He is back in Oyster Point to attend the wedding of his cousin. At the bachelor party the guys dare Thomas to stand up at his cousin’s wedding and object to the marriage. He agrees in order to finally stop everyone from calling him his nickname since childhood, “Timid Tommy”. The next morning hung over and unable to find his glasses, he does stop the wedding. It is just that it is not his cousin’s but the one of his former lover DeeDee.

This is a satire of both higher education and small time life. There many laugh-out-loud moments most of which came from Thomas.  One happens when he and DeeDee are running from the wedding and a beating of Thomas by Buck. DeeDee tells him to get into her SUV.

“Oh, sorry, I don’t ride in SUVs,” he said. He’d signed a pledge at the university against the gas guzzlers. He was still working on what to do about the one he occasionally drove, his father’s big Jeep Cherokee. Megan had insisted he take over its care. At least he’d put a “Greed Kills” bumper sticker on it."

The titles of Thomas’s papers were all funny (and realistic). I especially liked:

“My Heart Is a Turnip in God’s Cellar: Platonic Romance in Aefle’s Monastery”

At first Thomas and DeeDee were a little bit over the top for me. Thomas is definitely a nerd. His social unawareness made me squirm at times, and I would have to put the book down for awhile. DeeDee took whatever Thomas said as a slight at her intellect/small town life. However, as the book went on and the characters grew and changed they both (especially Thomas) became very appealing. They were definitely characters who were better together than the sum of their parts.

Overall: A hilarious look at higher education, small town life, and of course, love.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Aefle and Gisela

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Reviewed by Lynn Reynolds

Janice Morgan loves to watch porn. How many of you can admit the same? But it sounds like she’s getting bored by them. They don’t seem to satisfy her like they used to.

Janice has a new neighbor that lives across the way. His name is Sam Windsor. Janice has a great vantage point to watch a great show that’s going on over at Sam’s place. Alice lets us see that Sam “swings both ways”. You also get a chance to see the differences in the way that men and women interact during sex.

Janice doesn’t realize it at the time but Sam knows what’s going on. Interesting thing is that Sam doesn’t seem to mind. He actually seems to like the idea. This brings a different level to their relationship. They seem to have an instant connection and set out to explore where it will take them.

It’s nice to see an author that makes a character that is so considerate of their partner – making sure that the partner comes first. Sam gives Janice the ride of her life. In order to add some spice to their relationship

Alice, what are you doing to us? She leaves us hanging at the end. This is where your imagination will have to take over (unless she gives us a series). If you only have a little time to read and need something to get your engines going, “Night Watch is the story for you. It may also give you some ideas to spice things up in your relationship with your partner.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Night Watch

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-night-watch-by-alice-gaines/feed/ 0 Review: Off the Record (Love on the Line, Book One) by Camryn Rhys http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-off-the-record-love-on-the-line-book-one-by-camryn-rhys/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-off-the-record-love-on-the-line-book-one-by-camryn-rhys/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:45:46 +0000 Lynn Reynolds http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13613

Reviewed by Lynn Reynolds

Katrina Parker is a chef at a new restaurant. Because of a mix-up, she’s seen buying some food at the local supermarket. There she gets a nice surprise by meeting Emily Reed. Emily’s son Ben seems fascinated by Kit’s coat. Kit is fascinated by Emily but she’s not sure if Emily feels the same.

They meet later when Emily shows up at Kit’s restaurant. Both women give off mixed messages which just confuses the other. Camryn gives us some indication in how Emily feels by giving us glimpses of her fantasies. You’ll just have to read to see if any of Emily’s fantasies come true.

Kit wants redemption for a less than stellar food critic review so she cooks a meal for Emily and a co-worker. We get to see the connection between the two women blossom. I like how Camryn keeps the story real by showing how prejudice still exists. But those prejudices don’t stop the women from forming a relationship.

Camryn also leaves the reader wondering what life has in store for Emily and Kit. But what happens to Ben? Does Kit’s restaurant become a success? What better way to end a story, where one of the characters is a chef, but with a delicious sounding recipe.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Off the Record (Love on the Line)

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-off-the-record-love-on-the-line-book-one-by-camryn-rhys/feed/ 2 Review: Beauty is the Beast (Woodcutters Grim Series, Book 7) by Karen Wiesner http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-beauty-is-the-beast-woodcutters-grim-series-book-7-by-karen-wiesner/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-beauty-is-the-beast-woodcutters-grim-series-book-7-by-karen-wiesner/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000 Sandra Scholes http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13265

Reviewed by Sandra Scholes

This novel serves as the last in the four book mini series of Woodcutters Grim which has the curse on the Shaussegeny family as the main arc of the story.

As the others are roughly based on popular fairy tales, this one deals with Beauty and the Beast. Here Ransom Shaussegeny decides once and for all to try and get rid of the curse on their family forever, but it will be a tricky task, and one which has its pitfalls. One of them is that Ransom is cursed with becoming a werewolf when the full moon rises in the heavens and life as a ravening beast isn’t the best he can hope for.

Shaussegeny finds himself amazed that he might believe that a kiss from a woman might save him from the curses grip, but even he thinks it is nothing but fairy tale nonsense – until he has the chance to have the one woman who could be his own.

Beauty is the Beast follows a similar story to the original fairy tale as a man who intends to take a rose for his daughter has to make a deal with Ransom so he can have his daughter when the time is right.

From the first few pages there is a nod to Glynnis Shaussegeny and her new husband which formed the sixth in the Woodcutter Grim series of novels previously. Beauty comes in the form of Tess, the old man’s unfortunate daughter, who turns up at the Shaussegeny family house. Ever since the old man had come to his house wanting the rose he had cultivated, he had never imagined that Tess would come, but he finds out his father didn’t have to send her to him-she came of her own free will, and being a lover of plants and flowers, she couldn’t stay away as she has a great fondness for all flora and fauna of every kind and she is fascinated by them as she ends up being fascinated by him.

Unlike the Beast in the fairy tale who wanted a woman through his own selfishness, and didn’t think that it would lift the curse, Ransom is well aware that she could be the one to lift the curse from his family if she is a willing woman.

As in this excerpt he feels he might be asking a lot of her to tolerate:

“A monster, that’s what I am. She’ll never know who and what I really am. I can’t allow her to see me that way. I have to trust in science. The new formula I’ve created has to be the one. It’s shown more promise than anything else has before. Under the full moon at the end of this month, I’ll inject it and, if it works, everything will change. Tess and I will be free to fall in love without the curse hanging over us.”

Even though this is a novel where the characters have their problems, everything can be worked out for the better, and it ends up being an interesting and compelling retelling of a popular fairy tale.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Woodcutter's Grim Series - Classic Tales Of Horror Retold

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