Love Romance Passion » Firefighter

Review: A Shot in the Dark (Long Shots, Book 2) by Christine d’Abo

Lynn Reynolds — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:33:12 +0000

Reviewed by Lynn Reynolds

This is the second book in the "Long Shots" series.

Main Characters: Paige Long is part owner of a coffee shop along with two of her siblings. Carter is a firefighter who frequents her shop. Right away he likes what he sees and invites her to Mavericks, a local sex club.

Paige walks into the coffee shop's kitchen to find two of her employees having sex. Now what would you do in her shoes? She ends up working the rest of the night shift and this guy starts to hit on her - his name is Carter. In talking with Carter, it finally dawns on her that he is a Dom.

Her brother Ian comes to see her the next day after hearing what happened the night before. She's concerned about him. Is this what leads to Christine's third book? Can't wait for number 3 to come out so that I can find out the answer.

On her way back to the coffee shop, guess who she meets again. This time in a uniform. Don't you just love men in uniform? He's also back to hitting on Paige.

One thing I love about Christine's writing is that she sticks to her scenes. There is no going off on tangents that don't have anything to do with the interaction of our main characters. Or that don't add anything to a scene.

Things start to happen quickly for Carter and Paige - another good thing about short stories. They both know that they can give each other what they want. This is what makes Carter a good Dom. You will find that the BDSM is very subtle in this story.

If you are more of a sensualist, this story will be good for you. None of the sex scenes are over the top and unbelievable. If you have an adventurous sex partner this story may give you some ideas. And isn't that what some of our romance/erotic novels do? Give us ideas that spice up our lives a little.

The story ends with us wanting more. I can't wait to see how Christine is going to end this trilogy. Will Ian finally be happy and find love? This is definitely a series that you will want to read again.

I do have questions for Christine though, is Josh going to have his own story? He seems to be a link between our main characters. I would love to see him connect with someone. Is Maverick's going to show up in other books?

Rating:

Buy: A Shot in the Dark

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Review: Never Too Hot by Bella Andre

Keira — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:14:08 +0000

Never Too Hot is part of Bella Andre’s Hot Shots: Men of Fire series.

Connor MacKenzie is my ideal hero. He’s a hunky firefighter still struggling with the trauma inflicted by the Desolation wildfire two years ago that left him with serious burns on his arms and hands. As someone who defined himself by his job, Connor can’t handle losing his position as a Hot Shot Tahoe firefighter forever, but as he’s on his last appeal with the Forest Service he might just have to.

In an effort to get his mind off the immediate future, Connor decides to return to his summer childhood vacation retreat in order to fix it up for his brother’s upcoming nuptials. He’s expecting peace, familiarity, and time to work out the remaining aches and pains of his hands. Instead he finds Ginger Sinclair.

Ginger is a newly divorced woman who has come to Poplar Cove to revel in her new freedom. She’ll wear what she wants, talk how she wants, eat what she wants, do what she wants, and live how she wants. None of her wants include a man like Connor MacKenzie who appears at first so much like her sleazy husband. If only he would disappear and her life could go back to what it was before his unexpected arrival.

I really liked Ginger’s and Connor’s love story, and the author’s use of setting to force them together repeatedly. Plus Connor is way yummy. However, their story kept getting hijacked to deal with the reunion of Andrew (Connor’s father) and Isabel (Ginger’s friend), something I wasn’t interested in reading in the least. At least, not as part of this book, maybe if it had been its own stand alone instead of a little side romance I would have felt differently. But, if you’re looking for a little more mature romance in your romances then you will want to read about Andrew and Isabel as well as Connor and Ginger.

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Review: My One and Only by Kristan Higgins

Keira — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:38:43 +0000

Heroine: Harper James is a divorce attorney and good at her job. She knows odds are stacked against couples and can see the discrepancies that the people in the relationship avoid until it’s too late. She’s living proof not all relationships built on love can last. When her younger stepsister, Willa, calls out of the blue during Harper’s botched proposal to longtime boyfriend Dennis to announce she’s marrying Harper’s ex-husband’s half brother, Harper senses blood in the water. The relationship can only be doomed and she’s determined to get Willa to see the error of her ways before it’s too late.

Hero: Successful architect Nick Lowery loves his half brother and wants to see the marriage work between Willa and Chris. He thinks Harper is too cynical. It’s her greatest fault. He blames her for their failed marriage and in equal parts hates and loves her. He’s not sure he can ever forgive her, but when a snafu with the airlines downs all the planes at all of the Midwest small town airports, he offers to drive her to a big city to catch a plane. Will time spent together help them untangle the twisted heap of their failed marriage and rekindle their passion for each other? You bet!

Other Guy: Dennis is a thirty year old firefighter who plays too much video games, calls Harper dude all the time, and is still basically a boy in many respects. He lives in an over the garage apartment, drives a crappy junker, and wears his long hair in a rattail. Sex might be good, and he might give Harper the control she craves, but a relationship with Dennis means always taking care of him. They break up at Willa’s destination wedding and the path seems clear that Harper will end up with Nick, but wait – there’s more!

Review: This sweet, snarky, chaste second chance at love is a keeper. The heroine’s issues with abandonment are a large part of the novel and are gently dealt with to reach a hug-the-book-happy-ending. You’ll root for Harper (who does well in getting Nick to finally admit he also had a hand in their failed marriage), wish you could spend time in the hero’s head (though Nick’s feelings are pretty upfront), sigh at the hot sexual tension between the two, and laugh at all the antics of Coco the dog. Definitely one of my favorites for 2011!

Favorite Scene: I like a bunch of tiny moments – when Nick and Harper first kiss after all their years estranged, Nick’s reaction when Harper walks out of the airport, Nick’s groveling to get her to stay, and Harper’s repeated crapolas as things begin to pile up rapidly at the end.

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Review: Getting Lucky by Carolyn Brown

Susan S. — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:16:22 +0000

By Susan S., Guest Reviewer

Brown’s novel will warm your heart, and bring you characters so real, you’ll swear they’re flesh and bone. Getting Lucky will move to the top of everyone’s list of new comfort reads.

Getting Lucky is book three from Brown’s Lucky Trilogy. It stands alone, here’s why: In this novel the hero (Griffin Luckadeau) tells the heroine (Julie Donavan) fate stories. These stories will retell Milli and Beau’s fate in Lucky in Love. Griffin also goes on to retell Jane and Slade’s fate in One Lucky Cowboy.

Do we have “small” cameo appearances in Getting Lucky? Not just no, hell no! We got the whole family together!

In book three, which tells the story of another hunky Luckadeau cowboy named Griffin, we’ll stumble upon a chockfull of clichés, idioms, silly sayings, and similes. Here’s a glimpse:

Cliché: Don’t get your panties in a wad.

Idiom: The pot calling the kettle black.

Silly saying: One legged chicken at a coyote convention.

Simile: Her heart thumped in her chest like a bass drum.

This book reminded me of my first romances, First Love from Silhouette. I’m recommending this novel to anyone who enjoys romances, HEA’s, and heart-warming stories which leave you smiling.

Julie moves from Jefferson, Texas to St. Jo. As a single mom raising a daughter named Annie, she hopes to leave the gossip-mongers behind. She’ll soon realize she’s jumped out of the frying pan, and straight into the fire. Julie’s first day as a kindergarten school teacher has left her stupefied. Her new student Lizzy, is the exact double of her daughter Annie.

Lizzy’s single father Griffin feels perplexed over the girls' similarities. While the story unravels, the reasons for these similarities will begin to surface.

Getting Lucky gives us plenty of new characters to fall in love with. My favorite of these? Alvie, the love-stuttering rancher.

What will you love? References to Wild Sex Anonymous, bumping headboards, bull riding, women making bets, and the six sheets to the wind stories.

What did I love? In the barn, Julie’s heel gets caught on a loose board. She trips, Griffin grabs her, but ultimately they both fall to the floor. Is there more to this? Maybe.

Fundamental themes: Friendships are to be cherished, and fate will not be ignored.

Julie thinks Griffin’s egotistical, domineering, and too young for her (she’s six years older.)

He thinks all women are shrewd, conniving, with ulterior motives.

They certainly feel the attraction, but will they overcome prejudices, and stop letting their past cloud their judgments? Maybe.

This is a 5 Star Comfort Read!

Buy: Getting Lucky

Contemporary Romance, ARC, Trilogy, Sourcebooks, Inc., Casablanca, January 2010, Mass Market Paperback, Print Pages 393. ISBN# 978-1-4022-2436-2.

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Review: The Christmas Fantasy by KT Grant

Carla F. — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:58:38 +0000

by Carla F., guest reviewer

In the novella, The Christmas Fantasy, by KT Grant all Amanda Lockehart wants for Christmas (and her Christmas day birthday) is Jackson Montgomery. Mandy has a new body after working many years to lose weight, and she is about to turn 30 years old. She is more than ready to give her virginity to her long-time crush, Jackson, who is the best friend of her brother Chris. Mandy’s insecurity about her body and Chris’s big brother attitude are big hurdles that Mandy and Jackson have to face.

The Good:

1. A hunky, yet slightly geeky, fireman hero.

2. A sympathetic heroine who has succeeded in her struggle to lose weight. Even though she is a virgin she is not the least hesitant about anything to do with sex.

3. Hot sex in the bathroom, the car and a few other places.

The Bad:

1. Because this story was so short, there were pieces of the secondary story I thought were going somewhere, but didn’t. What about Chris’s skanky girlfriend who had hit on Jackson? What about the cute personal trainer?

2. Because these secondary character’s stories were left hanging, they came across as very one-dimensional.

The Ugly:

1. Chris - I guess he was so extreme at first in order to show the difference between him and Jackson, but I still wanted to run over his head with the fire engine.

Overall:

A short and hot read that I think needed to be just a bit longer to close up some of the secondary plot gaps. The hero and heroine were engaging characters.

Rating:

Buy: The Christmas Fantasy

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Review: Someone You Know by Gary Zebrun

Sandra Scholes — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:16:26 +0000

by Sandra Scholes, guest reviewer

FYI - This is a suspense thriller with a romantic element, not a romantic suspense. Romance plays a part in the story as the protagonist does fall for a man who doesn't give back that love.

Daniel Caruso, a newspaper columnist is secretly gay, even though he has a wife and family. He can't afford to let his secret out, but due to an indiscretion, and a killer who dogs his step and desperately wants to out him, he has no choice but to tell all to the wife he loves and the child he loves more than his life.

Throughout the novel Daniel fights inside with his true sexuality, feeling a fake for ever marrying, and living a lie when he isn't at home. It might be easier to condemn his actions for not telling his nearest and dearest of his desire for men, but it is interesting to note that there are plenty of men who go through the same kind of heartache all the time.

Gary Zebrun gives the reader a blow by blow account of a gay man's life marred by a series of unfortunate events where the protagonist becomes trapped in a different world from the one his wife and child occupy, until later when he has to reveal all. Through his unhappiness he trawls the gay bars and saunas for satisfaction from other like-minded men, increasing the guilt he feels right up until the end.

There are parts in this that are quite horrific, while others are sexually charged and at times sensual. It reads like an autobiography of how a man's life can go wrong despite having a promising career. Information for this novel can be found at www.alyson.com.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Buy: Someone You Know

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Review: Grace on Fire by Elle Amery

Keira — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:47:03 +0000

Grace on Fire grabbed me in the first sentence:

“Grace Muscat’s totally frigid. I’d be scared my dick would freeze off if I put it in that
icebox of hers.”

Firefighter Don Marshall, the man of Grace’s dreams, just compared her vagina to a freezer in the middle of a bar to his friends unsuspecting of her presence. Ouch! That’s quite a blunder for a hero! I immediately wanted to see if Elle Amery could save him from a fate worse than death…

In order to beat Don Marshall in the game of love Grace turns to Wyatt Bennett, the brother of one of her best friends for sex lessons. He would help her overcome her fear of men and erase all the abuse her husband Duane heaped on her (which is extensive) before he died.

Wyatt Bennett has loved Grace for 10 years, ever since he kissed her when she was fourteen. It’s been two years since she was widowed… if he waits any longer for her to heal, he just might end up losing her again. But when she asks for sex lessons in order to be a good bed partner for the likes of Don Marshall, Wyatt sees red. Eventually he decides to help her out in hopes of making her fall in love with him.

Despite the darker undertones to the story, Grace on Fire is a good read. Not as much sex in it as you would think based on the concept, though there is plenty. There was one instance of the dreaded lathed instead of laved as Smart Bitches has discussed in full. It’s interesting how it ends and took me

Grace on Fire is the second of a trilogy by Elle Amery. You do not need to read them in order, but you appreciate characters and their relationships to each other better by doing so. If I’m right, the trilogy matches three brother/sister pairs which also equals two sets of three best friends (6 people in total).

Sophie Huntsman with Jake Muscat in Saving Sophie.
Grace Muscat with Wyatt Bennett in Grace on Fire.
(My guess…) Tally Bennett with Brett Huntsman in Tally’s Gift.

Rating: 2.5-3 Stars

Buy: Grace on Fire

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