Love Romance Passion » Gentry 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: Encompassed (Immortal Series, Book 4) by Em Petrova http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-encompassed-immortal-series-book-4-by-em-petrova/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-encompassed-immortal-series-book-4-by-em-petrova/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000 Sandra Scholes http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13738

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

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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

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Heroine: Annabel Winslow, eldest sister of 8 siblings, is soon to be engaged to an overweight, short-tempered nobleman as old as her grandmother. She must agree or risk her family’s future happiness. If she does, she loses her own. But she still has time before the Earl of Newbury asks, perhaps there is another way?

Hero: Sebastian Grey firsts hears of Annabel as a woman ‘…so fertile that birds sing when she draws near.’ He knows his uncle, the Earl of Newbury, wants an heir so that he does not inherit the estate. His uncle hates him and the feeling is mutual. He does not care if he inherits or not, he just wished he knew one way or the other.

Meet Cute: A chance meeting outside in the moors at an annual house party when Annabel literally trips over Sebastian. He was just waiting for his female partner to slip back into the house party before he went in again. She was escaping his cruel, odious, groping uncle. (That lecher!  Shudder.) They flirt and then kiss. (Seb and Annabel.) Hawt.

Review: Rosalyn Landor is a wonderful narrator. She brought the characters fully to life and if you combine her talent with the author’s you have an amazing story. I loved it. Capitalize that—I LOVED IT! I was utterly charmed, just like Sebastian was with Annabel. The story is sweet, the sexual tension sizzling, the romance was just perfect. Sebastian is making it to my favorite hero list (which shouldn't surprise him, he loves lists... and so does the heroine). (Now I have more than one Seb to love, bwuahahaha!)

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy: Ten Things I Love About You

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Hero: Blake Harrison needs a wife, yesterday, in order to complete the terms of the will of his late father. They never saw eye to eye and this is just one more thing he’s being manipulated to do, but Blake has a plan. He’s going to hire himself a bride because the last thing he needs to do is marry somebody and have them get the wrong idea. At first, any gal who understood the game plan would have been good for him, but when he meets the heroine all bets are off.

Heroine: Samantha Elliot is the owner of an elite matchmaking firm that caters to the wealthy. She guarantees to find you the right match for you at this time in your life plans. When Blake turns down her three perfectly good matches with women just like the women he usually dates she’s curious. Then he offers her ten million dollars for a one-year marriage contract... but only if she’s the bride. Can she return to the life of privilege she knew once before or will scandal rear its ugly head?

Review:  This was a cute, fast paced read (it has to with only 220-some pages). There’s sex in the story so don’t equate cute with clean/sweet romance. Cute means the story is adorable and well-done. I liked the premise for this marriage of convenience story, sure it’s been done before (lots of departed family members like to decree weddings in their last will and testaments) but I thought it was handled nicely. I really liked when Blake gets outmaneuvered again by his departed dad with another caveat in the will that only appears after certain criteria was met. Bybee has a good use of the mean-spirited ("evil") ex. Could have done without the mentally ill sister though.

Recommended: If you like MOC romances, contemporary romance, Dukes, and category romances.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Wife by Wednesday

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Reviewed by Sandra Scholes

Just when she thinks everything is alright and the bad times are over, Ginny Blanchard finds that someone else wants to interfere in her life and the raising of her son. Her husband, Henry had died, and she for one is glad he did – he was a cruel man who delighted in hurting her and causing her unhappiness. Little did she know that this someone was Simon Webber, a cousin of the family who will act as a substitute father for her young son, Jack. He has been made trustee of her son’s inheritance and until he becomes of age, both her and her son will have to answer to him.

She wants more than anything to get rid of the man who invades her house, and will do all she can to make sure he has a very uncomfortable stay with her, or so she hopes. Harriet tries to make her understand that he might not be the sort of man who would hurt her, or cause her problems with her son – he might turn out to be a nice man who has her and her son’s interests at heart. Ginny doesn’t see it that way, though and wants to be left alone to live her life with her son and friends.

I found this story to have great characterization; Ginny is a woman who has been hurt all her life while being married to a cruel husband, so she expects every man she meets will be the same sort. She tries to come to terms with what has happened to her over the years, but she finds it hard to trust anyone now that she has the chance to go out into polite society and find another beau. The reader can get to understand why Ginny feels the way she does, and also get into Simon’s mind – even though he seems to mellow out once he is in her good company.

Simon is a no nonsense sort who doesn’t like to be kept waiting, so he doesn’t like Ginny when he first meets her, and who can blame him – after all, she doesn’t want him there. He is impatient, brusque and harsh at first, yet he is amazed at why she is so nasty to him when he arrives – he expected a teary widow, but she was something else entirely. He likes the look of her, and wonders why someone as beautiful as her is so bitter, but then he doesn’t know the whole story. He begins to like her company after a time, but he doesn’t dare tell his best friend, Adam that or he will make fun of him terribly.

It is more a case of if the two of them can settle their differences and come to an agreement, they can make a friendship in the house work, but I somehow think that even Ginny wants more than that.

The Desires of a Countess is a riveting read - it has a depth about it that makes readers want more from their heroes and heroines.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy: The Desires of a Countess

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-desires-of-a-countess-the-jordans-book-3-by-jenna-petersen/feed/ 1 Review: Song of the Nile (Cleopatra’s Daughter, Book 2) by Stephanie Dray http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-song-of-the-nile-cleopatras-daughter-book-2-by-stephanie-dray/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-song-of-the-nile-cleopatras-daughter-book-2-by-stephanie-dray/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:25:24 +0000 Zarabeth Golden http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13309

Reviewed by Zarabeth

This is the sequel to Dray's Lily of the Nile. I enjoyed this book far more and had to give it at least 4 stars.

This book picks up exactly where the last one left us with young Cleopatra Selene on the cusp of her arranged marriage and queendom. We follow her through several trials with both the Emperor and her husband, King Juba. And, of course, her loyalty to her family, her goddess, and Egypt is constantly under attack. There are several fantastic undercurrents in this story as compared to the first.

I think that as Selene ages and becomes a mother in this book I was more able to relate to her and truly get involved in her story. The first book left something wanting but this one does not. The romances in this novel are satisfying, if sad, and the sex is never obtrusive.

I, once again, have to appreciate Dray's attention to detail in her historical fiction. Her notes and comments in both books really justify her choices and I wholeheartedly approve of the creative licenses she has taken.

If you have any interest in historical fiction of this time period then absolutely read this book. If you have any interest in coming of age stories and trials of young royals- read this series.

I am very much looking forward to the next installment Ms. Dray!

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Song of the Nile (Cleopatra's Daughter)

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-song-of-the-nile-cleopatras-daughter-book-2-by-stephanie-dray/feed/ 1 Review: A Clockwork Fairytale by Helen Scott Taylor http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-a-clockwork-fairytale-by-helen-scott-taylor/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-a-clockwork-fairytale-by-helen-scott-taylor/#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:09:09 +0000 Lynn Reynolds http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13331

Reviewed by Lynn Reynolds

This is book 1 in the “Sorcerers of Arco” series.

We see Melba trying to escape from being captured. Master Turk appears to be a Robin Hood of sorts. Mel wants to pledge her service to him. He’s impressed by her skills but doesn’t realize that not everything is as it appears.

They have Jinn that inhabit their world. Master Turk has an Earth Jinn that tends his plants. He also has a very smart housekeeper, Gwinnie. No one can pull anything over on her – not even Mel.

Gwinnie is someone you need to get used to. She’s very gruff and brusque. She is a character that takes some getting used to. She also appears to hate Mel – and why is that. You’ll have to keep reading to see if that ever changes.

For some reason Melba wants to be a spy and she feels that Master Turk can do that for her. He also has some special abilities – he can track people and listen to their thoughts just by them having a special stone. If you had that kind of ability, whose thoughts would you want to listen to?

He wants Mel to start acting like a girl instead of the boy he was raised to be. We have to wonder what his motives are. You’ll just have to read the story to find out. We watch as Mel grows into a young lady and that includes the feelings that go along with it.

If you’ve watched the Mummy movies, there is a scene that just reminds you of some of the creepy scenes – it will make you shiver. It definitely makes it a different type of fairytale. Very different from the fairytales that I grew up with.

Vittorio seems to be the evil in this story. He wants to be king and will do anything to make that happen. He also knows how to change his looks that can fool people. He feels that Turk is getting in his way of getting what he wants. How does he accomplish this? This is what will keep you reading – you need to have this question answered.

You’ll need to read this book as a fantasy and not as a romance. If you are looking for a sexy fairytale, this book is not it. There are plots and twists in this tale just like a suspense novel. We have questions that need to be answered – what will happen to Turk, Dante, Vittorio, and Melba? Will good overcome evil? Will we ever see Turk and Melba fall in love?

If you are a softhearted person, this story may not be for you. Even I cringed at some of the cruelty written into the storyline. You will be surprised at how the story ends. This is what will draw you in to reading the second book.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: A Clockwork Fairytale

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What You Need to Know: Boys Over Flowers is a Korean TV romantic drama. It runs for two seasons with a total of 25 episodes. The series is based on a Manga series of the same title which I have not read. There’s been other adaptations of the Manga besides this one with differences.

Recommended: If you like/love/drool over Twilight; if you adore foreign films, especially Asian ones, and can read with ease lots of subtitles or know Korean; if you’re a girl lol---:D; if you like love triangles or if you like YA romances… any one of these and you should see this show; more than 3 of these and you’d be a fool not to see it!

Plot: The story takes place at an elite boarding school where only the top 1% of Korea’s wealthy children attend (and even then some of them can’t get into the school.) Geum JanDi saves a bullied male student from committing suicide while running clothes from her father’s dry cleaning business to the school. Journalists and the public voice are having a field day with it until the school’s president decides to offer a scholarship spot to the girl. From there JanDi runs into the F4, a group of popular boys that run the school, and immediately gets on Goo JoonPyo’s bad side. What follows is a wonderfully complex soap opera full of awesome.

The Love Triangle: (Lots of Twilight references ahead…just because it’s a common base for most to jump from…) It’s so hard to choose because they’re both like Edward Cullen more than Jacob Black.

One of the guys – Goo JoonPyo even has his own crazy hot wild hairdo. It’s curly! It’s adorable. I love it. He’s the possessive one and is basically all of Edward Cullen’s darker qualities, but with a tender streak too. Min-ho Lee who plays Goo JoonPyo has a very expressive face and a really hot body. Yum!

The other guy – Yoon JiHoo is all of Edward’s sensitive artistic aspects combined with his aloofness. Hyun-joong Kim who plays JiHoo is also very hot. I want to go to Korea and date these two boys (seriously! Wow!) JiHoo dislikes all the stupid drama at his school and often rushes to Geum JanDi’s rescue.

The girl – Geum JanDi is a very warm character. She likes to eat, stand up to bullies, and like Bella Swan prefers to stand on her own two feet and not accept monetary bribes or help from the guys. JanDi is played by Hye-sun Koo and the girl is adorable with big eyes. I love how she walks a bike back and forth when she’s not pedaling it – cute!

Final Thoughts: This show has it all – boarding school, school wide bullying/hazing, love triangle, side romances, drowning 3 times? 4 times? something like that, 2 physical disabling incidents, amnesia, lots of fainting and passing out immediately into dead sleeps, faked accidents, fake hospital stays, vacations, backstabbing, revenge, kidnapping, innocents getting setup, getting caught in a blizzard, three proposals, an arranged/forced marriage, estranged family getting reunited, and the kitchen sink in there somewhere too!

Rating: ★★★★★ – Don’t walk, run! Get a copy!

As of December 13, 2011 this is on Netflix (streaming).

Buy: Boys Over Flowers (Season 1), Boys Over Flowers (Season 2)

Buy: Season 1:

Buy: Season 2:

Buy: Geum JanDi's Moon and Star Necklace

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Reviewed by Sandra Scholes

Forbidden lust is the one thing the heroine of this story needs. For many years Princess Briareth’lianna has been hunting powerfully handsome wereling, Daeven just for the thrill of it, of watching his strong limbs leap around the forest of Drearwood, but she wonders what would happen if she allowed him to catch her.

The reason her love for him is forbidden is that she is an Elf and he a wereling, and the two should never be together, yet she yearns for the night he takes her in his arms and makes wild, passionate love to her. There is the chance he could turn on her though, and make a meal of her delicious body, but she hopes he won’t do that.

Daeven is just as much in love with her as she is with him, and he can’t bear to see her run from him any more. Daeven would love nothing more than to catch her and make love to her – claim her as his own even, but a love like theirs has no place in the world for an elf and a human shape-shifter like him. Sooner or later others would find out, and worse could happen to her.

I have liked Ellora’s Cave titles for a while now, and appreciate their different outlook on paranormal romance. They tend to go further in their erotic content than some, but they still don’t come across as obscene. Daeven and Briar is the perfect match, but it is his reluctance and her defiance that could lead them to dangerous territory, but not from Daeven, from her family.

One night she plays prey to the hunter Daeven, and this time after so long, he finds her and catches her – his prize is to have her and she lets him take her. He wonders why she is so willing to sacrifice herself to a man who can change into a wolf, but she tells him she has waited as long as she for the moment when he will take her in his arms and make love to him. He mentions how much it has pained him to see her escape his clutches for such a long time, but he has to remind her of what mating for his people really is. He does make love to her, yet he does not finish it – she is confused as to what he means by mating in his own native language and once he tells her she has to decide.

As the crown princess of the elf people, she would be an outcast if Daeven ever gave her his wolf mark, and her father would surely have him and his kin hunted down and killed. They would not understand what he feels for her, and to her astonishment, he feels more for her than to give her his bite and curse her forever. For him this is real love, and he is content just to see her and make love to her – if he ever finishes their copulation, he will have such a raging need that he will hurt her and cause more trouble than he thinks he is worth.

There are few novels that feature a wereling and an elf, but this one shows the finer points of their personalities. Daeven is a powerful young man, but he is kind and attentive with the woman he loves. He would never hurt her, or let anyone else hurt her, but he has the foresight not to doom her to be hunted as he would be if he ever made her his true mate. He has to deny all his instincts as a wereling in order to save her, yet she doesn’t see his point of view. Briar is young too, and defiant to her father and all he represents. She wants to be free, yet being a crown princess, she has little choice but to do as her family wishes. There is also the risk of death should she encourage the man she loves to make her his wereling love mate.

I was hooked from start to finish with this novel. The characters seemed real to me as the scenery of the fantasy itself. The sex scenes left plenty to be thought about, and the love between the two of them showed that a bond could be forged between man and elf.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy: Princess Mine

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