December 10th, 2009 — 5 Stars, Book Review, Bride Stealing, Children, Counts, Marquis, Viscounts, Great Britain, Handicap, Headaches, Heiress, Historical Romance, India, J-L, Plump/Endowed Heroine, Scarred Hero, Virgin Heroine
Book three of the Pleasures Trilogy staring plump little Gabrielle from India and Erskine (Quill) Dewland soon to be Viscount Dewland. Right off the bat, this was my kind of book and I loved reading every word. I’ll tell you why:
First, the alpha male is one of those wounded and brooding alphas. Quill was hurt from a horse riding accident that left him scarred. He walks with a slight limp most of the time but when tired it is more pronounced. He can’t dance. Repetitive motions cause him intense migraines and this includes riding horses but more importantly intercourse. As alpha males goes, Quill is decidedly masculine. He likes women – he just doesn’t know if they’re worth the three day recuperation.
Second, this story also involves one male character basically stealing the bride out from another man’s nose. This doesn’t always go well for me, but in this case it was just icing. Upon learning that his son was practically incapable of siring progeny, the elder Viscount Dewland orders his second son Peter to take the heiress sight unseen as his bride. Peter doesn’t want to marry, positively shrinks back from the idea, but eventually under pressure agrees. To his dismay, Gabrielle is the antitheses of beauty, grace, and lacks the instinct to navigate smoothly with society’s haut ton.
Third, Gabrielle is a completely charming heroine. She is as gabby as her nickname implies and loves to talk. Gabby is protective, open, loving, kind, and sharp. She is smart enough to keep her half-brother safe from harm. She also knows that Peter finds her a great disappointment. Despite knowing from experience with her father in India, is determined to do her best to please Peter so that he will fall in love with her. This makes her equally stubborn.
She makes friends early with the Duchess of Gisle who has just returned from her honeymoon on the continent. They meet at the dressmakers. Peter has brought her there to clothe her properly so she won’t shame him in public and prays the Madam will be able to transform his ugly duckling of a future wife.
Quill of course, thinks his younger brother is nuts. In fact most of the men in the ton that have seen luscious Gabby agree with Quill. They congratulate (quite crudely) Peter on his good fortune to snare such a well endowed beauty who will surely be a hellcat in bed. They think it’s doubly clever of Peter that she is an heiress.
When Gabby laughs her way into one social scandal, Peter is determined to throw her over but doesn’t know how. Quill gladly informs his brother that he will marry Gabby and happily. Of course, he’s worried about what she’ll think of him later, but Quill can hardly bring himself to care about his own problems. He burns for her and is happy around her. This is enough for him. His only true concern is will it be enough for Gabby?
Rating: 5 Stars
Originally posted 2008-12-11 09:29:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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November 21st, 2009 — 1.5 Stars, Book Review, Business, Category, Contemporary, Gentry, Interracial, Love Triangle, Marriage of Convenience, Ranching, Rape/Abuse, S-U, South America, Virgin Heroine
MOC + second suitor + jealousy = win! Or… maybe not.
When a tour mixes up dates, Lian is stranded in Argentina with a minimum of Spanish. She takes a job as a hostess at a club only to find to her horror that a hostess is really just a polite word for prostitute. Help comes in the way of Ricardo who tells the owner and a client that Lian is his already for the night. He then proceeds to get her out of there and off to the nice hotel where he is staying.
His help come at a price. Lian must agree to a marriage of convenience or he’ll send her back to the club. Lian chooses marriage. Ricardo reveals he was bluffing. They marry and set off to his smallish plantation with a pit stop at the wedding of his half brother Carlos to prove he was wed first and retains all legal rights to the plantation.
Things progress semi-normally, at least for what one can expect from an older Harlequin. Then a acquaintance of Ricardo’s shows up. Lian is a little too friendly with Grant and earns a fierce rebuke from Ricardo. She defies him and maintains her overly friendly ways all the while attempting to figure out how to escape her MOC. When Grant suggests flight for the 8th time she agrees and off they go.
Ricardo tracks them down. Detains Grant and forces Lian back home where he proceeds to forcefully claim all his marital rights and tack on a required male heir stipulation before he’ll set her free. Martial rape… again. Why is this a consistent theme in older Harlequins/romances in general? Is this the only way a man is capable of sharing his “feelings” until the heroine cracks and says “I love you!”? Let me repeat this once again… rape is not romantic.
One of the better things in this novel was when the heroine rescued the hero at the end of the novel. The ending high is very nice.
Rating: 1.5 Stars
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October 3rd, 2009 — 4.5 Stars, Arabia/Middle East, Australia/New Zealand, Book Review, Category, Contemporary, Foster/Orphan, Interracial, Kings, Princes, Sheiks, Chiefs, Mistaken Identity, Pregnant, Sheik/Desert, V-Z, Virgin Heroine, Widow or Widower
This book was made out of 3 parts awesome.
Maggie’s mother ran off with her younger sister when Maggie was eight leaving Maggie in the care of her father. He was pretty awful and basically treated Maggie like the son he wished he had forcing Maggie to put all of her time and savings into his farm which basically was throwing it away. Now her father’s dead, but her upbringing has left her with some emotional scars. It doesn’t help to find out the man she thought she loved was screwing with the curvier and more feminine wife of another man.
She meets the hero in the midst of a rainstorm where he rescues her from her sad and sorry state. Concerned, Khalid watches as shock and possibly hypothermia takes over her system. He’s also furious thinking that her tragic state is due to a man hurting her sexually/physically. She denies that she was hurt – which is true at least in the ways that Khalid was mentally coming to a boil over. Her scars are far more mental. Now more than ever before Maggie is feeling inadequate. She’s not nearly feminine enough or enticing enough to attract a man, let alone capable of stirring love in the breast of anyone.
That night she seeks comfort in Khalid’s arms. He hesitates, mentally castrating himself over his undeniable need for this fragile female, because he doesn’t want to take advantage of the situation. Maggie notices the hesitation and it confirms her current muddled thoughts about all the ways in which she is lacking. She presses on and Khalid gives in making love to her.
He wakes to find her gone and his half-brother dead, making him Sheik. Unable to track down the elusive Maggie he heads back home to his country. When he finagles things so that Maggie comes to his country, an incident with a terrified horse almost immediately occurs. This of course leads to some medical tests and surprise, surprise, despite preventative measures Maggie is pregnant. Khalid reveals his identity and proposes marriage.
Will Maggie accept and if she does can she handle being a royal wife with a man who wants her body but not her heart? Will Khalid’s frozen heart melt in the heat of their shared passion? Can a marriage last when it was made purely for the convenience of raising a child?
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Buy on eHarlequin: The Desert King's Pregnant Bride
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Originally posted 2009-01-25 05:47:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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September 28th, 2009 — 1 Star, Arabia/Middle East, Book Review, Bride Stealing, Category, Comedy of Manners, Contemporary, Great Britain, Interracial, Kings, Princes, Sheiks, Chiefs, Mistaken Identity, Sheik/Desert, V-Z
How can I put this lightly? The novel was crap. How terrible? Really terrible. I could break down the awful for you (warning this is the whole plot and is full of spoilers):
Heroine to self: My brother is in prison and only the Sheik can help.
Hero to self: Next time my baby half-brother is getting his own wife.
Heroine and Hero lock eyes – every sane thought drops from head.
Heroine to self: I’m so hot and bothered.
Heroine aloud: You can’t do this to Andy!
Hero to self: I’m so hot and bothered. That apron is hot. She must be maid and lover to Andrew – so jealous.
Hero aloud: I can do what I want!
Insert massive make-out scene that gets interrupted by father.
Hero aloud: Meet me at my hotel at eight.
Later at hotel Hero and Heroine getting it on and right before anything good happens…
Heroine aloud: More!
Hero aloud: We have all night!
Heroine aloud: And for the rest of our married lives.
Hero freezes. All action stops.
Hero aloud: WTF?
Heroine aloud: But- but you told my father you wanted to marry me – that by marrying you, my brother would go free.
Heroine to self: Marrying you would be no hardship… meow.
Hero aloud: No I didn’t. My stupid moronic half-brother who’s going to be dumb enough to fly his helicopter into the sea in three chapters is going to marry you. I am the Sheik of the neighboring country and you’re a gold digging witch.
Which boils down to the Hero kidnapping Heroine upon arrival into his brother’s country for her ‘protection’ that then leads to the half-brother is dead news and of course this leads to the Hero saying, ‘Same deal. Marry me instead.’ Poor Heroine is confused but the sex clears her head and they decide to get married until she can’t go through with it unless he loves her (I totally thought it was going to be the whole I can’t have babies, because another neighboring sheik/wife couple showed up and the wife was pregnant). Hero tells Heroine he loves her. Heroine is happy, repeats the same sentiments. The end.
Honestly? Why are stories with Harlequin such a crap-shoot? Most times they’re just meh… average. Sometimes you get lucky and they’re great. However you’ll stumble upon one of these and are like WTF? Why am I still reading this BS? How did this get published?
Rating: 1 Star
Originally posted 2009-01-26 05:12:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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September 21st, 2009 — 4 Stars, Book Review, Cinderella, Contemporary, P-R, United States of America, Virgin Hero, Virgin Heroine, Young Adult
I'm a sucker for Cinderella plots. My first one was long ago and on the state reading list for eighth graders, you've probably heard of it: Ella Enchanted. The movie by the way is nothing like the book. The only similarity was the names and locations, but this review isn't about Ella Enchanted or the discrepancies between a novel and its movie makeover. Suffice it to say I have followed the Cinderella tale to other novels and movies and heard about Cindy Ella through Twitter not quite two weeks ago.
Cindy Ella takes place in L.A. at Castle Heights High. I found it to be pretty cleverly written. It's stuff full with lots and lots of trivia that will date the book in upcoming years because it's not going to be universally known... the pop culture references include everything from 80s movies, 90s pop music, fashion labels, and celebrities.
Cindy Ella has the usual trappings of the Cinderella plot with a stepmother and stepsisters, but other than that Cindy is relatively normal. Her dad is still alive and in good health. Plus she has a half-brother named Spencer. Also, while Clarissa and the Clones Ashley and Britney are clueless outside of fashion, celebrities, and popularity, they aren't mean like their traditional counterparts. Through in a therapist to help sort it all out and Cindy leads a basically normal blended life.
Cindy Ella Gold is 15 years old and considers herself average. She might be average in looks and smarts, but she's opinionated and has a fairly sassy wit that she channels into writing letters to her school's newspaper editor. They're never published, mostly because she's unpopular and a sophomore to boot. Until now... her letter to the editor about prom puts Cindy on the Untouchable list at school. Luckily for Cindy she has two wonderful friends to help her get through the period where she is socially ostracized.
Cindy has three crushes and no outstanding dating experience. While her social crisis is taking on epic proportions she's finding herself navigating boy drama. The first crush is a boy on internet, with whom she writes and shares her thoughts and daily life with in a way similar to You've Got Mail except it's all done via instant messaging. He refuses to share his name or picture and first contacted Cindy when she was still running a blog. The second boy Cindy crushes on is a boy in her real life. He's into sports (both soccer and basketball) and considered to be the most popular guy in high school. Did I mention he was a senior? His name is Adam Silver. Lastly and most recently added to the list is her 23 year old male SAT tutor, Noah.
Will Cindy be able to juggle boys, high school, and the prom?
Rating: 4 Stars
Originally posted 2009-01-22 05:52:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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