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It is just Hoyt’s terrible bad luck that I read the The Raven Prince for the very first time just two days before I got this book from the library. I know it’s in bad form to judge a book based on another book, but as both are by the same author, I figure this could be the exception to the rule. To Beguile a Beast read like a poor man’s version of the Raven Prince. There were so many similarities between the too, it was astonishing.

Some of the similarities include: the fairytale story at the beginning of each chapter, the conditions of the poor heroes, and the positions of the women in the hero’s life. They are all the same or at least very, very similar. Proof (spoilery):

TBAB = To Beguile a Beast
TRP = The Raven Prince

Fairytale:

Truth Teller soldier fairytale in TBAB.
The raven prince fairytale in TRP.

Heroes:

Hero is scarred in TBAB: Missing eye, missing fingers, facial scars.
Hero is scarred in TRP: Pox marks all over face and body.
Both heroes are gruesome looking.

Hero in TBAB writes on flora and fauna of New England.
Hero in TRP writes on agriculture.

Heroines:

Heroine works as housekeeper in TBAB.
Heroine works as a secretary in TRP.

Similar Hero Character backgrounds:

Hero in TBAB lost his fiancé to fever.
Hero in TRP first wife died in child birth.

The only big difference that I saw was:

Heroine in TBAB has two children.
Heroine in TRP has no children.

I was bored with To Beguile a Beast. It may be because I read Raven Prince so soon before reading this book. I believe, however, that I would have disliked it even without reading Raven Prince. The magic in the tale simply wasn’t as enthralling as the Raven Prince. I closed Raven Prince feeling satisfied and happy. I struggled to make it through each chapter of To Beguile a Beast. I was glad to finish TBAB, simply so I could move on to another story. If you read it, do you feel the same way?

Rating: 1.5-2 Stars

Buy: To Beguile A Beast

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Do you like paranormal romance? Did you at one point enjoy Anita Blake? Well, My Wicked Enemy just pwned Anita Blake, but don’t take my word for it see for yourself! I read this in a day, I couldn’t put it down!

Our heroine is a terrified (rightly so) woman who experiences intense migraines. She’s seen something she shouldn’t (a ritual sacrifice) and it on the run from her guardian (the bad guy). Carson took nothing with her, and that includes her medicine, in hopes to escape. Being in a hurry might seem like a disadvantage now, with a pulsing multi-colored migraine rearing its ugly head and a man who’s stalking her through the streets, but it will in fact be a blessing in disguise.

Nikodemus is a warlord, a fiend with natural leadership, and he is the one stalking the pretty and petite Carson Philips through the streets. Killing her is on his to-do list, just below mage Magellan. He can’t believe how easy it is to track the witch. Her magic is fluctuating all over the place. One minute it’s there and the next it’s almost as if she were a human. When he corners her, Nikodemus asks just one question, “Why shouldn’t I kill you?”

The answer leads them through a dangerous adventure that spins out of control as they face mageheld fiends, evil mages, skitterish warlords, blood twins and more! The book starts out like it ends, by taking your breath away.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Marked interracial because the heroine is a witch and the hero is a fiend.

Buy: My Wicked Enemy

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Of Two Minds is a very deep book for kids. As an adult how it ends leads to quite an interesting train of thought I’m not sure young children will catch. This is my second time reading it. I remembered enjoying it thoroughly when I read it back in middle school. I can’t honestly say one way or another if I caught the concept revealed at the end of the book back then. I enjoyed it just as much this time around as an adult.

Lenora is a young teenage princess from a people who all have the power to create whatever they want. To imagine it is to make it be. She doesn’t understand why it’s law not to create worlds and change things to suit your will. Why were people afraid to change the color of their hair or imagine bright pink puppies?

After one incident too many her parents decide to marry her off to Prince Coren. They feel it will ground her, get her head out of her fantasies and make her a sensible woman. To that end they even plan to set a full brigade (4K-11K men) to think her solidly on the island she and Coren will make their future home, thus making escape impossible.

Angry, frightened, and confused Lenora escapes into somebody else’s world when making one of her own is impossible. Unfortunately, she also dragged the object of her distress with her. Coren, gangly redheaded and freckled, can’t even stand up without tripping over his feet. Could he be any more useless? It turns out he can – where’s his sense of adventure?

Rating: 4 Stars

Makes me want to check out the sequel More Minds!

Buy: Of Two Minds

Spoilers:
Pg193

“I’m not dreaming?” Lenora said. “How do I know that for sure?”
“Well,” Lufa smiled, “I suppose none of us really knows that. Perhaps this is all a dream, a fantasy we will wake out of.”
…
“And if all her imaginings could be real, then who was to say that her reality wasn’t somebody else’s dream?”
…
Surely something this real couldn’t be just somebody’s imagination. Could it?

Ah, but couldn’t it? Especially in light of her adventure with Coren. Is her story her own or the very imaginings of others?

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The movie: BBC 2008 v. staring Gemma Arterton, Eddie Redmayne, and Hans Matheson

I read this book in eighth grade at the urging of my English teacher who thought I would enjoy this book above all others he had offered up for students to read and on which to do a report. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Tess of D’Ubervilles was my first DNF (did not finish) ever. I learned how to speed read with this book. I learned out to read the bare minimum and still understand what was going on in the book.

I suppose it is meant to be one of the greatest love stories ever written but even watching the movie, a much condensed version, acted wonderfully makes me want to find the eight hundred plus page book and hurl it at a wall.

There is so much sadness in this story. Lots of spoilers; in fact I tell the whole story below:

Mr. D’Uberfield finds out he and his family are of noble blood and when things go badly on the farm sends Tess to speak with their rich relatives. Alec D’Ubervilles immediately lusts after her and offers her a position in his family’s home. At first opportunity he rapes her. Tess runs back home, pregnant from the event. The baby dies.

Tess goes off again to work as a dairy maid. There she meets Angel Clare and falls in love. He does too. They marry. He finds out about Alec and the baby and leaves her. For a year perhaps two I’m not quite sure but he stays away in South America.

Meanwhile Alec finds Tess again and pursues her like a dog after a bone. Tess writes to Angel begging his forgiveness and his help. Angel never got the letters but after surviving yellow fever goes back to England determined to find Tess. He searches and searches and follows Tess’ trail until finally he finds her as mistress/wife to the object of her downfall.

Tess tells Angel to go away and never return because she’s already dead. Brokenhearted all over again Tess turns and goes upstairs where after a confrontation with Alec she kills him with a bread knife. From there she runs to Angel’s side and tells him she’s murdered the man that has ruined her/them and now that she has can he forgive her and take her back. They run off together, find an empty home and for the first time he makes love to Tess.

When they are found by a servant they run off again. They stop at Stone Henge. Tess talks about dying. Tess begs him to take care of her family and marry her younger sister. He begs her not to ask this of him. They fall asleep.

Upon waking they are surrounded by law enforcement agents. There is no escape. The story ends Angel and her younger sister wait outside the city where the bell tolls Tess’ execution.

Book: 1 Stars because the story is completely terrible and angst driven. There’s no happiness to be found not even in Tess and Angel’s stolen moments.

Buy Book: Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Buy Audio Version: Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Mini-Series: 4 Stars… the acting, scenery, and script are all perfectly executed. Gemma makes a lovely Tess, you really feel for her. Eddie is perfect as Angel, beautiful, sweet, kind, loving. Alec could not have been betters played by anyone. Hans does a phenomenal job. He’s easy to despise; playing the entitled gentleman who thinks little beyond his own pleasures so adeptly.

Buy Mini-Series: Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer is one scrumptious romp of trouble after the next. It all begins when Miss Charity Steane was found wandering the hillside, luggage in one hand and very sore feet. She is picked up by Viscount Ashley Desford and whisked away in his curricle as blasé as anything you please. He knows he can’t convince her to return to her miserably wretched aunt and so must take it upon himself to see that she is taken care of.

Cherry (Charity) is of course pleased beyond measure that he is not putting her through a lecture and more than willing enough to carry her the rest of the way to London. She has high hopes of running down her grandfather and begging him to take her up. Even if she has to resort to another menial position like the one she held at her aunt’s inside his home.

But the pickle of it becomes when Cherry and Desford find out that her grandfather is not in town. The neighbors do not know his direction, and the sole man inside the home refuses to speak about his master. Desford immediately sets about getting Cherry off his hands and into some more respectable ones. He doesn’t want to damage her reputation and as a single bachelor he can’t feasible continue to keep her in his care. So he settles her at Lady and Miss Silverdale’s home.

Miss Henrietta Silverdale and Desford were once a long time ago thought by their fathers to be an excellent match. They of course both knew better. Now Henrietta is entertaining new suitors and Desford seems to have his eye on Cherry. He is certainly gong well above and beyond the call of duty to locate her grandfather and find her a respectable situation.

What will happen when Desford confronts her grandfather with the charge of his granddaughter? Will Cherry remain in the good graces of Lady Silverdale? Will Henrietta’s brother, Charles, whisk Cherry off to call his own? What will Henrietta’s suitor think of the whole affair? Full of messes as well as larks, Charity Girl will have you alternately tutting like an old hen and giggling like a schoolgirl over all the crazy shenanigans.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Buy: Charity Girl

Originally posted 2008-12-05 09:04:24. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Listening to the Maestro’s Butterfly is an experience that will leave you flushed and begging for more. You’re in luck too because there are two more books after this! Rebecca Rogers is a truly phenomenal narrator. Her character voices are a treat and she’s a real actress. Quivering sighs, harsh words, moans, groans, she does them all without ever breaking form. Rogers draws you into Jones’ secret world of vampires and you can not escape… just like Miranda you are trapped, captivated and set a fire.

Jones’ mythology is unique. Her vampires have heartbeats, never get sick, can’t reproduce, and fangs that extend. The feeders once bitten become the perfect meals, producing more blood, become slightly stronger, and live longer younger. Holding one’s breath even ruins the flavor of blood. To be taken by a vampire is to know the true meaning of sex as they love to combine feeding with intercourse.

In the Maestro’s Butterfly, Rhonda Leigh Jones sets a sexy stage and does not fail to deliver. If you’re into dominant/submissive power plays, vampires, and kinky sex you will love this story. There are elements of S&M, including whipping, public/stage sex, voyeurism, sex with multiple partners (not at the same time unless you count in sync with watching others), and anal sex. Very hot!

Miranda wants to be dominated. She wants to include fear, surrender, and the unknown in the bedroom. She longs for it and is afraid of her desires. Her dreams involve running down darkened streets and being caught and forced upon by the mysterious hunter. In her day life she’s a musician and with a lucky break gets Claudio du Fresne to tutor her for half price. One night after a performance of his, he invites her back to his place and along the way they strike a bet. He will be the partner she has always dreamed of and if at the end of 30 days he will make her his forever… if not she will allowed to leave and he will continued to tutor her at the prearranged deal.

But there is a darker side to this story. Miranda is unaware of Claudio being a vampire. That’s not all… in addition Claudio has struck another bet, this time with his brother, Victoire “Jack” du Fresne. If at the end of 30 days Miranda stays with Claudio, Jack will pay for Claudio quarter of a million dollar performance piece. If however, she bolts like Jack suspects, Miranda will belong to Jack… whether she wants to be or not.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Get the audio version here.

The more I read of Lisa Kleypas the more I want to read. When Strangers Marry was a sinful delight to sit down and read. I enjoyed every moment thoroughly. If you’re looking for some scintillating sex scenes, I would book right over your nearest bookstore and pick up a copy. Some of the bedroom interactions are enough to singe your eyebrows off. I’d tell you my favorite but then you’d be deprived of the surprise.

Lysette is running away. She refuses to marry the man her stepfather wants her to marry. Gaspard can beat her to death before she gives herself over to Etienne Sagesse. Her escape is thwarted at the river by two twin boys, the sons of Maximilien Vallerand. They bring her disheveled form before their father for punishment of attempted theft. Lysette is determined not to be sent back home and Max is drawn to her spunk. Even if he wasn’t, Max would never return Lysette to Etienne, his most hated rival.

Max uses Lysette to thwart Etienne and get the duel he’s been craving for nearly a decade. Etienne had slept with his late wife and murdered her. Of the first, Max knows for certain, of the second, Max is very sure, but lacking evidence. In fact all evidence of his late wife’s murder points to Max, the cuckolded and angry husband. Nobody believed Max’s protests of innocence, but the police let him off because of the circumstances. (Apparently killing a wandering and wild wife is completely understandable.)

When the excuse that Lysette is ill and can’t possibly go home turns into a real sickness Max nurses her through it. His mother protests his presence but gives in because she and the housekeeper alone can’t keep up their energies. During that time (3 weeks) he decides to make her his and as satisfying as it is to steal Etienne’s young bride, Max is going to find out how satisfied he can be… but can such satisfaction last?

Rating: 4 Stars

Forced by her father, Mariah has learned to live like a boy. She dresses like one and shoots like one, but it is not enough. Her father can tell she’s too pretty for her own good and too feminine as well. He cuts her hair to ruin her looks and demands her presence at an Indian raid. Helpless to defy the whims of her father, Mariah tags along an unwilling participant in the savage murder of the peaceful Indians. Horrified by what she sees, Mariah stoutly refuses to draw her weapon until an Indian brave threatens her father’s life. She shoots to wound, not kill, but her father follows up and bashes the young warrior over the head. The raiders leave to celebrate a glorious victory and Mariah runs away to seek help for the Indians.

Chief Echohawk, the young warrior Mariah shot and her father fell awakes on the battle field unable to see clearly. His vision is blurry and dark but he won’t let this weakness hurt him or his people. His pride won’t allow him to accept help and as he moves his people to the shelter of a neighboring tribe he succumbs to fever. In his heart stirs a dark thirst for revenge… on three white men, the one from the last raid on his people with yellow eyes, and the man and his son for the latest raid, and on White Wolf. He will ensure the sorrows of his people are avenged.

Meanwhile, Mariah manages to lose her horse and is brought to the Indian village where Echohawk sought sanctuary for himself and his people. First looked upon as an enemy, Mariah earns their respect and a new name for herself. She is now Nodin, woman of the wind. Following the lead of Neekah, Chief Silver Wing’s wife, Mariah learns the ways of the Chippewa and comes to tend and eventually love Chief Echohawk during his days of recovery. She fears the regaining of his eyesight for he will no doubt see her as the young boy he wants to kill and he fears letting go of his hatred for the white men to love a white woman.

Overall it’s not a bad read. Certainly Savage Wrongs is more engaging than the last Edwards novel that I read, but there’s a story telling quality that is lacking. I can’t put my finger on it, but the result is that I’m not drawn into the unfolding of the tale and am found skimming and skipping forward in hopes to find something that will make me stick to the page.

Rating: 3 Stars

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