Love Romance Passion » Divorced 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: Accused (Pacific Coast Justice Series, Book 1) by Janice Cantore http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-accused-pacific-coast-justice-series-book-1-by-janice-cantore/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-accused-pacific-coast-justice-series-book-1-by-janice-cantore/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:46:19 +0000 Susan S. http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13316

Reviewed by Susan S.

Accused is a powerhouse of suspense!

Summary: Pacific Coast Justice Series-Book One As a law enforcement officer, C. Edwards, has always upheld the law and followed her agency’s protocols. And prior to becoming a divorcée, she was also the faithful wife. No one would categorize Carly’s life as perfect, but at least it has a semblance of stability. Now all that’s about to change!

As Carly searches for answers regarding who murdered Mayor Teresa Burke, she’ll uncover deeply protected secrets. Secrets those in power would kill to keep. With body counts rising, Carly will find herself in a race to stay alive! She never would’ve guessed it, but she’ll have to rely on the two people she’s been avoiding the most. Her ex-husband (Nick) and God.

Review: Janice Cantore is a new-to-me author. And the first thing that impressed me was the flow of the story. Everything flowed perfectly! There were no abrupt and jarring scene changes. It was one continuous smooth storytelling. Secondly, the suspense is top-notch. Furthermore, as a former police officer, Cantore’s uniform dispatch signals were accurate. As a civilian, I also found her descriptions of police procedures insightful.

Recommendations: Recommended for readers who enjoy police stories and inspirational tales of faith and hope.

What I Enjoyed:

Element: I liked the police officers’ sobriquets: Carly is Crash, Joe is Control, and Nick is Face.

Scene: There’s a scene where an officer risks his life for another. I wept copiously! I wouldn’t say I used an entire box of tissues, but it was close!

Extras: After the story there’s an author interview; that was a novel element.

Disclaimer: I requested this novel from NetGalley because of my interest in police stories.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy: Accused (Pacific Coast Justice)

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Copyright 2012, Literature & Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers, Religion & Spirituality, Romance, ISBN-13# 978-1-4143-5847-5, Pages 416.

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If Wishes Were HusbandsReviewed by Karin of Savvy Thinker

I really enjoyed this book.

The story: Rachel is tired of being unmarried. While all her friends can tell horror stories about their men, she has nothing to say, so when her new hairdresser asks if she is married, she spins a story about the perfect man she is married to.

And then when she meets her friend for a drink, she spins the same story to the new women she meets, even as her friend challenges her about the story in privacy. Rachel says she will put them straight, the next time she meets them.

And then…

Imagine her surprise when she goes home and finds the man of her dreams, the one she has spun lies about, ensconced in her apartment, having prepared the gourmet meal she had said he prepares, with a perfect body, perfect sex, perfect everything.

And because she doesn’t remember how they got to that point, he re-proposes to her and tells her about their marriage, and…

But honestly, perfect is not what it is cracked up to be.

Even perfectly perfect in all his ways, after all she did make him up, ends up driving her mad.

The ending: Well, I won’t give it away. It ends differently than I thought, and perhaps my ending would have been better – and I suspect you could propose several endings yourself. But it is satisfying and wraps up some of the loose ends, while giving me other questions, which perhaps if I had read slower, I might have caught – or not. Perhaps the ends are not wrapped up tightly.

This book is delightfully funny, wry, interesting, witty…with good friends…with a mother going through her own mid-life crisis – funny in itself.

You would enjoy it. Part fantasy, part reality, a little bit of everything.

Buy: If Wishes Were Husbands

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Reviewed by Susan S.

Summary: The Secret Life of Cowboys Trilogy, Book Two

Her Plan

Veronica (Ronnie) DelVecchio is determined to thwart Dylan Garahan’s advances and avoid the family curse. The one about DelVecchio women falling for Irishmen only to end up carrying not one, but “two” buns in the oven. Nuh-uh! No way. She will remain strong! Even if he is the sexiest tall drink of water in all of Texas.

Is Not Working

What with Dylan repairing her shop and her cooking at his ranch, Ronnie’s resolve is fading faster than the paint on the cars at a junkyard. Who is she kidding, though? The man dances/strips at the Lucky Star. Hello! His body can’t be resisted. By anyone. Will Ronnie be quick enough to duck when he tries to lasso her heart, or will she realize that you can’t outrun a family curse?

Review: With Dylan I felt the characters’ emotional shifts happened too quickly and too often; throwing me out of the story. One second there’s pure rage, the next-there’s laughter. And I’ll admit, the humor was lost on me.

Too much testosterone is not necessarily a plus. The Garahan brothers (Tyler, Dylan and Jesse) have trouble verbalizing their feelings. That’s understandable. Some men aren’t very wordy or expressive. But the fact that they physically go to blows all the time? That was unappealing. To me.

The second half did seem more comfortable in its skin. And I did enjoy the idea of three brothers working hard to maintain the family ranch.

What I enjoyed: Dylan’s one-armed push-ups. Yum.

My Favorite Character: An elderly widow named Mavis. She’s a wonderful friend.

Disclaimer: I received this novel via NetGalley and free of charge by Sourcebooks Casablanca (in exchange for my honest review).

What’s Next? Jesse. The story of the youngest Garahan brother releases in July of 2012.

Rating: ★★½☆☆

Buy: Dylan

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc., Copyright 2012, ISBN-13# 978-1402258077.

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Reviewed by Susan S.

Book Two: Elite Force Series

Summary: Amelia Bailey is a county prosecutor from Alabama. She’s in the Bahamas helping her brother (Aiden) with the legalities of an international adoption. With her assistance, Aiden and Lisabeth are now the proud new parents of a baby boy. And she’ll be the doting aunt. All’s right in the world until disaster strikes. Aiden and his wife decide to have lunch; leaving baby Joshua in his aunt’s care when the unthinkable happens. An earthquake strikes the island, leveling Amelia’s hotel. She and Joshua are now trapped beneath the rubble.

Luckily, Air Force Pararescueman Hugh Franco comes to their aide. And while Hugh may have given them a second chance at life, they’re not out of danger yet. For sometimes, the aftermath is more terrifying than the disaster!

Review: I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Ms. Mann did a wonderful job of describing how emotionally and physically taxing a pararescueman’s mission can be. Her scenes felt entirely too real. Especially the one where Amelia and Joshua are trapped. I felt claustrophobic just envisioning it! Did I mention her scenes feel real?!

The author also does a splendid job of showing the dynamics of the task force team members, and you’ll respect their bravery and courage. And yes, even their human failings.

I hadn’t realized the author was so crafty. Here I am envisioning my idea of this mysterious antagonist, and all the while Mann is leading down the wrong road. Yep. I was duped!

Recommendations: Recommended for readers who enjoy Harlequin Intrigues, military romantic suspense novels, romantic suspense, strong heroes, sexy soldiers, and survival stories.

My Favorite Scenes:

Scene # 1: When Bailey asks if she can hug Hugh. (Yes, there’s more to that-that I’m not saying.)

Scene # 2: I loved the dialogue between the hero and heroine when they were trapped under the rubble.

Comedic Touch: The new team member of Hugh’s task force team is nicknamed Fang. But FANG is actually an acronym. What the letters signify is what makes it funny. Sorry readers; telling you would spoil the fun.

Rating: ★★★★½

Buy: Hot Zone

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc., Copyright December 2011, Romantic Suspense, Mass Market Paperback, Print Pages 318. ISBN# 978-1-4022-4498-8.

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by Karin, guest reviewer from Savvythinker.com

Honeysuckle Summer is a Sweet Magnolia Novel.

I was given three ARCs in this series to review.  I thought I had them in order, but I believe I am reading them out of order, and it doesn’t matter to me.

I loved this book from the very beginning.

It has everything that I love:

  • Good friends
  • Realistic characters
  • Good story
  • And a love story

As I said to Keira, if I had known how good it was, I would not have put off reading it.  I’ve already started the second of the 3 books.  I want to know how the individual stories unfold and where they go.

And there are other books in the series besides the 3 I was asked to review.  So I will definitely read those and more by the same author in her other series.

The Sweet Magnolias are a group of tight friends that began with the mothers and now includes the grown daughters.  They live in Serenity, South Carolina.  Whenever they need to get together either to support each other or to celebrate, they bring the margaritas and the guacamole, strong friendships, shoulders to cry on, and good advice.

Separate from them are their husbands and significant others who support their women folk as strongly as they support each other.

The Story:

Raylene Hammond has come back home to Serenity after a disastrous marriage, filled with physical and verbal abuse that ended with her physician husband in jail for beating her, not for the first time.  As a result of this beating, she lost the baby she was carrying.

None of this happens on the page.

Her friends rally around her.  The only place she feels safe is in the home of her friend Sarah.  And ultimately she ends up not being able to leave the house without having panic attacks.

Carter Rollins in a sheriff’s deputy, new to Serenity.  He shows up on her doorstep, angry, because when she was left for just a few minutes with Sarah’s children, as the babysitter ran a quick errand, the little boy escapes from the yard.  Raylene is unable to look for him, but she has the presence of mind to call for help.  Carter just happens to be the one who finds the boy.  He misinterprets the situation, thinking that Raylene is the babysitter.

One thing about Serenity, they look after their own.  And this is a very good thing.

Additionally, Carter is the guardian of his two teenage sisters, since their parents died.  One sister is exhibiting signs of anorexia, which is something the Sweet Magnolias know something about first hand.  Both this girl and Raylene find help with a psychologist.

Of course, you can guess there is a confrontation with Raylene's ex-husband, in which she holds her own and takes control of her life, but not without a lot of help from Serenity.

My rating:

This book is 5 out of 5.  I loved the warmth of the relationships within the town, within the main characters, between Raylene and Carter.  I felt as if the characters were real, not figures on a page.  The story is believable, with lots of information, without being didactic.  I just loved it!  (And I’m loving the second book too.)

Buy: Honeysuckle Summer

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by Karin, guest reviewer from Savvy Thinker.

This is book 6 in the Sweet Magnolia series, but it is the second one I have read.

I am really enjoying these books. I’ve already been to the library searching out others the author has written. The characters are endearing, warm and real. I am left with a good feeling when I finish the books.

The story
This is Travis’ and Sarah’s story. Travis is an ex-ball player. Sarah is the divorced mother of two whose ex-husband tore her down at every opportunity, following his parents’ lead. She ultimately found the strength to leave him. She is beginning to put her life back together on a stronger footing.

Her friend Raylene lives with her as she recovers from her abusive marriage and lives with agoraphobia.

When the book opens Sarah is a waitress. She has the gift of gab, talking with the people at her tables, and enjoying their lives. Enter Travis, a man new to town, who occupies one of her tables, and disturbs her on many levels as he begins to tease her. He sees in Sarah what she doesn't see in herself.

Meantime, Walter, her ex-husband is having his own epiphanies. He realizes that he has lost his family because he wasn’t much of a man. He quits the family business and stands up to his parents. He knows there isn’t a chance with Sarah again, but they can become friends. And he begins a friendship with Raylene which carries into the book I read first, but comes after in real time.

My take
I loved the book and give it 5 out of 5 stars. I like that the characters grow. I also like that the author views her characters compassionately. They are characters we can love. And so is the love story. Even the peripheral characters are well developed.

Here’s what I wrote when I reviewed this at my blog:

I love spending time in Serenity -- and that pun is intended! and perhaps may have contributed to the name of the town.

Have you read it? or any of Sherryl Woods' books?

You can read my review of Honeysuckle Summer at Savvy Thinker.

Buy: Sweet Tea at Sunrise (Sweet Magnolias)

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by Master Llama, guest reviewer

Summary: After recently being divorced, Anna Fox, a Londoner in her 30's decides to cheer herself up by going on a river cruise down the Nile, as her grandmother, Louise, did before her. Anna brings two of her grandmother's possessions on the boat- an ancient Egyptian scent bottle and her grandmother's diary. However, what is supposed to be a relaxing Egyptian cruise turns into a chilling mystery, as Anna discovers secrets about her grandmother and Egypt. Not to mention the two men who seem very interested in her grandmother's scent bottle and diary, and maybe even Anna...

Review: Overall, I enjoyed this book, and thought it was a good summer read. The fact that it was set in Egypt made the book more interesting to me, and I learned a lot about Ancient Egypt. I also enjoyed the romance, although the outcome of it was easy to predict.

What I liked:

  • The Ancient Egyptian History
  • How Louise's (the diary) and Anna's stories are interwoven
  • The Characters (except for Andy)

What I didn't like:

  • The plot involving the scent bottle- it was a little far fetched to me
  • The character of Andy- he was annoying, and you could tell immediately that he was bad, but for some reason Anna couldn't.

Rating: ★★★½☆ stars, because even though I enjoyed it some of the plot was far fetched, and at almost 500 pages it dragged a little in the middle.

Buy: Whispers in the Sand, Whispers in the Sand (UK)

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-whispers-in-the-sand-by-barbara-erskine/feed/ 0 Review: Texas Tangle by Leah Braemel http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-texas-tangle-by-leah-braemel/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-texas-tangle-by-leah-braemel/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:11:33 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=7792

This contemporary erotica is a wonderful way to pass a few hours. It takes place in Texas and is about the coming together of a permanent threesome between two men and the woman they both love.

Braemel does an excellent job exploring the mind spaces of all three characters including their fears, motivations, and love.

Nikki Kimball’s life is a wreck all thanks to her good-for-nothing brother and her lousy ex-husband. Her childhood ill equipped her to understand the freedom and joy found in being responsible for personal happiness and because of that she’s had none until the two heroes come along.

Dillon Barnett and his foster-brother Brett Anderson have shared fists before over the luscious Nikki back in high school. It nearly destroyed them then and even now after all these years and her marriage to another man Brett’s just learning to trust the friendship between them again fully. One or the other will lose out because they’re forcing Nikki to choose. But what if they didn’t? Could they possibly both love the same woman and not rip each other to shreds? It doesn’t seem possible because jealousy is what ruined everything before.

I found it a little hard to believe Nikki would be so adventurous at first because of how lousy her marriage was. After the miscarriage things fell apart rapidly and she stayed out of cowardice. Her husband, Wade, cheated on her constantly. He was supposed to be her only lover before Dillon and Brett come along and he honestly didn’t come across as a considerate sounding bloke.

The love making other than that was steamy and sexy. There’s some alone time, voyeurism, three way action (one time double penetration – that was woo-dang smoking hot), and lots of cuddling. Go ahead and spice your bedroom up with this read. You’ll thank me later.

Rating: 4 Stars

Buy: Texas Tangle

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by Karin, guest reviewer from Savvy Thinker

A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware is being reissued -- it is a good choice for reissue for those of us, like me, who never read it the first time -- with some

new material on brain function, chemistry, and recent findings in the scientific literature about the power of our minds to make us sick or well.

This book is an interesting mix of genres -- romance, romantic suspense, gothic romance, possible time travel, and possible past life experiences.  Hypnosis figures into it also.

Where past, present, and future collide...

Blythe Barton Stowe has fled to Cornwall to heal from a nasty, public divorce from her successful Hollywood husband.  He was unfaithful to her in the most egregious way, with her sister, who is now pregnant with the child her husband refused to conceive with her.  Blythe had been an important part of their successful movie team in her own right, but the way she was treated in the divorce proceedings did not grant her that.

The saving grace is that even her lawyer helps her stay far from the limelight -- which shows the kind of loyalty Blythe inspires.  Immediately this gave me insight into her character.

Cornwall is where her family line began, or so the story has been told her.  So it seems a natural place for her to go to heal her wounds.  She is understandably angry, hurt, and wanting a kind of revenge that she refuses to nurse.  The disloyalty of her sister and her then-husband, now -ex, is more than she can bear, made more so because of his immediate remarriage upon the divorce.  And you can imagine the field day the paparazzi are having at her expense.

Once she gets to the wild coastline in Cornwall, unusual things begin to happen.  She finds herself pulled back into the past on more than one occasion, when she touches the glass of a genealogy chart.  Some of the past life happenings (or life in the past) were scary to me, not knowing where they will lead.  It seems as though she is living out some kind of karmic present life, which is different from the past, but seems to stem from it.

Along the way, she falls in love with the owner of the estate she is living on (which also happens to be the family estate she comes from.)

A lot of information is given about brain function in situations of complex grieving, but it never crosses into didactism.  It just seems part of the story.  This is a feat in itself and shows what a good writer Ware is.

While several of the reviewers on the cover mention staying up all night to finish reading the book, I read it more slowly than some I read, in order to savor the story and its environs.  At the same time, this was because of the gothic nature of it.  I wasn't sure where it was going or if I'd like to know.  This also made it more difficult for me, because I wanted to know where it was going and I wanted to get there faster.

Generally I do not read historical romance (and the historical part was not particularly romantic, it was more tragic and involved a triangle of sorts or a quadrangle and this put it into the gothic category, with the steep clifts, etc.)  I was never quite sure if Blythe would decide to end it all, not necessarily because she was led that way, but because her leaping into the past was making her question her sanity, to a degree.  And it is interesting that one of the characters in the past does commit suicide and is not in his right mind when he does it.  And there is a suspected death/suicide which didn't in reality happen.

If you like an interesting story, with the need to suspend reality to a degree, and you like gothic romances, even a modern one, this book is for you. It was a very interesting read with well developed characters, including a child and another woman who desires to become the estate owner's wife.  There is also a nice settling of the differences with her ex-husband, made easier because she was now in love with another man.  It was definitely a good read, albeit sometimes difficult to read.  It is a thinking woman's romance, not escapism.  It deals with complex issues in an interesting way.

Have you read this one, either in its first printing or now in its second?

Rating: I give it 4 stars.

Buy: A Cottage by the Sea

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The first SEALed is Hot! Hot! Hot! Daughtridge knows how to write about delicious Navy SEALs. Jax Graham is one hunky sex-on-a-stick hero.

I consumed this book in great big heaving gulps. Get it? *wink* I just couldn’t put it down and frankly didn’t I want to either.

What makes Jax so hot? He’s a super confident and cocky male who is disarmed completely when it comes to his four year old son, Tyler. It’s ridiculously adorable. (Probably because he wants to be a good dad but doesn’t know how to do that.) Jax hasn’t been able to bond with Tyler because of his career as a Navy SEAL, which keeps him out of the country more days than he is in it and also because of the divorce and custody arrangements with the now late Diana. He’s frustrated and disappointed with his lack of progress, which makes him think that he should sign papers making his mother-in-law Tyler’s legal guardian.

When Pickett Sessoms spies the pair on the beach, she assesses the situation quickly and knows exactly how to fix it. She’s a family and marriage therapist, working on multiple base related projects. Experiences with her family and with a few jerks resulted in a low self-image and some self-esteem issues (mostly just when it comes to the opposite sex). Determined to keep her soft heart safe, Pickett struggles with her undeniable attraction and growing feelings for Jax and Tyler. After all who knows better than she that romances with (and marriages to) Navy SEALs are a bad idea?

Favorite Jax Gets a Clue moment: When Pickett reveals the reason behind her picky eating habits.

Favorite Scene: Sex on the swing! Yowza!

Favorite Pet: Hobo the three legged dog.

I loved every minute spent reading this book and I highly recommend it – and any of Daughtridge’s SEALed books.

Rating: 5 Stars

Buy: SEALed with a Kiss

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