Romance Book Review: Two Pus One

Author: Brynn Paulin
Series Connection: A Hot for Teacher Tale
ISBN: 978-1-934992-67-8
Genre: Erotic Romance/ M/F/M Ménage
Publisher: Resplendence Publishing

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Brynn Paulin turns up the heat for this short novella featuring a college math professor and two of her sexiest students. Briony Swift can't say she isn't attracted to both Leo and Nic, but what two of her students suggest when they enter her office just at the end of office hours is impossible. Even thinking about having an affair with a student just isn't worth the risk, much less two.

Can Nic and Leo convince their math professor that they are worth it and give in to a three way relationship?

Fun sexy tall that is sure to keep up the cold Fall evenings for those who like a lot of bedroom action with two hunky men.

Description:
College math teacher, Briony Swift, lives life on the straight and narrow. After all, one plus one always equals two. But when two of her adult male students visit her office one afternoon, she soon discovers that one plus two might be a new and better equation to explore...

Romance Book Review: Dragon's Blood

Author: Brynn Paulin
Series Connection: Cruentus Dragons series
ISBN: 127-201-107-439-2
Genre: Paranormal romance/Dragons/Shapeshifters
Publisher: Resplendence Publishing

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Dragon's Blood is the first in a new series by author Brynn Paulin about a race of dragon shifters at war with Djinn and Elvish. The two clans will do anything to defeat the Dragons, even try to kill as many of the Dragon mates as they can.

Janos is a dragon shifter and elder of the Cruentus clan. Riding on the subway in New York he finds a dragon mate in trouble and rescues her from a Djinn assassin. When he realizes the woman he saves is his mate he will do everything in his power to keep her from harm.

Scarlett is a pop-star in hiding. Several years ago she was attacked by the Djinn and nearly killed. Since then she has been running for her life with no real idea why she is being hunted. It isn't until she sees Janos turn into a dragon that she begins to see just what she's up against. Not really knowing who to trust, but feeling a pull of attraction to Janos she goes with him to get away from the Djinn. How long can she really trust that he is someone who isn't out to hurt her is something she questions and no matter how gorgeous he is, she needs to make her own way.

Dragon's Blood is a nice start to what appears to be a promising series. I found the concept interesting and the attraction between the two lead characters hot. As with many other first series books there just doesn't seem to be enough time to get a good read on the hero and heroine, because the author has to spend so much time telling the background of the story and other clan members, nevertheless I liked the writing and story characters. It should be interesting to read the next installment. The next book is Blood Bought.

Description:
For centuries, there have been legends of Vampires—the fault of one careless dragon. But humans only know part of the story. Walking amongst us are Dragons—Shape-shifters who feed on blood.

Reluctant Dragon Elder Janos Aventech’s vacation in New York is about to come to an abrupt end. Riding on the subway, he stumbles across a Dragon mate—one of the few human women with whom his people can unite and be truly happy. And his people’s enemies are out to get her. As his attraction to this woman grows, he knows he must find her mate and see her safely into that man’s arms. It’s destined. But as every minute passes in her company, Janos begins to see he’ll never willingly let her go, mate or not.

If only she were his mate…

On the subway, Scarlett couldn’t stop staring at him—then he turned crazy. When he essentially kidnaps her off the train, she knows she should be irate and terrified. Instead, she finds her initial attraction growing. But what’s all this stuff he’s spouting about mates and enemies? She only wants to return to her life, not get caught in the middle of a war. But it’s too late for that. She’s destined for a Dragon’s bed, and in Janos’ arms, she can only hope it’s his.

Romance Book Review: Brier's Bargain

Author: Carol Lynne
Series Connection: Bodyguards in Love and Men in Love
ISBN: 978-1-907280-28-3
Genre: Contemporary romance/ M/M

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Brier's Bargain tells the story of Bram's (Men in Love books Tortured Souls and Reunion) twin brother Brier. When Carol Lynne first introduces Brier readers learn that when Brier and Bram were babies they were abused by their father. Brier was hurt so bad that he received brain damage and then was made a ward of the state. Bram never knew he had a twin brother until in Tortured Souls, Brier kidnaps Bram's lover. In Reunion Brier meets Jackie and falls in love, but Jackie has to go away for work purposes and leaves Brier behind.

Now time has again passed and in Brier's Bargain, Brier is working with his brother, Bram, for the security company. He is still keeping in touch with Jackie, who is still working overseas. When Jackie is injured in a bombing he comes home and all Brier wants to do is take care of his man and establish his independence. He hopes that he can convince his brother that he is ready to be his own man.

While worried about Jackie's condition, Brier makes a bargain with God to be a good man who does the right thing. When the FBI finally finds one of the men who abused Brier in the mental hospital they hope that he will testify against the dangerous man. In order to keep his vow Brier decides that he will do whatever it takes.

Once again Carol Lynne puts together a great story with difficult characters. Brier is not only emotionally, but mentally scared from his childhood. He will always be slow in his mental development. Carol delves into the difficulties for a men with these disabilities to find love and keep a relationship going.

Description:
Love is always special, but when you're a thirty-six year old man experiencing it for the first time, it's everything.

After spending his entire life in a hospital, Brier Blackstone is finally free to become the person he's always wanted to be. With the men of Three Partners Protection Agency as role models, how can he go wrong? And falling in love with bodyguard Jackson Benoit, is a dream come true, but the dream becomes a nightmare when Jackie is gravely injured in the line of duty. Feeling helpless, Brier makes a promise to God in exchange for his lover's life. One he intends to keep no matter what.

Jackie Benoit cherishes the love he's found with Brier. When his new lover insists on testifying against a violent man from his past in order to fulfill a promise, Jackie has no choice but try to stop him. If that doesn't work, Jackie will protect Brier with everything at his disposal.

Romance Byte: Chaos

Author: Barbara Huffert
Series Connection: Questing
ISBN: 9781419922275
Genre: Erotic Romance
Publisher: Ellora's Cave

[Excerpt]

Description:
When Shane McKade wakes up trapped in a bed, handcuffed to Alyssa Campini, he figures things could be worse. She aggravates him to no end but sex with the sassy photographer is smokin’.

Alyssa met McKade while photographing street gangs, and the hot cop has been a thorn in her side ever since. His only redeeming feature is an ability to deliver twenty-four orgasms in twenty-four
hours—if he can stop arguing with her long enough, that is.

Then Shane is shot protecting one of Alyssa’s gang kids. When both find their lives in danger, perhaps it’s time to stop fighting and start evaluating what they mean to each other…before it’s too late.

About the author from publisher's website:
For Barbara Huffert, reading has always been a favorite pastime. A few years ago, she started her first novel after one of the friends she trades books with challenged her to write something better than the last book they read. Barbaraʼs been writing ever since. With her opinionated cats sprawled wherever is most inconvenient, she now spends her time happily wandering through the worlds of her characters.

Romance Book Review: Crisscross

Author: Ericka Scott
ISBN: 1-59431-774-7 or 978-1-59431-774-3
Genre: Contemporary romantic suspense
Publisher: Write Words Inc.

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Lia Morgan's sister has disappeared and the police believe the woman has run off because she is afraid of a paternity case, but Lia knows her sister Sylvie would never do such a thing. With the help of an old flame, Lia goes in search of her sister without the aide of the police.

An old friend and former boss of Sylvie's also steps in to help, but is he there to aide in finding Lia's sister or to frame Sylvie in a plot of revenge.

Ericka Scott has done an exceptional job at weaving her plot and keeping her readers at the edge of their seat to the end in this suspense-filled novel. I enjoyed hearing the story from the point of view of all the characters, moving the fast paced story from many scenes in a way that helps the reader keep track of all the players. Very nicely done Ericka. Suspense with a little paranormal fans will enjoy reading this novel.

Description:
Crisscross (noun): A web of deceit entangling a bestselling author and her small son, two ex-lovers, and a killer with a knack for cruciverbalism and a thirst for revenge.

A psychic, and skeptic, and serial killer...

Lia Morgan has seen portents and signs since she was a teenager; however, few people believed her, including her own family. Although estranged, Lia travels across country to aid in the search for her missing sister, Sylvie. What seems to be a simple case gets complicated fast when Lia discovers her sister had a plethora of secrets, including a small son. Is her sister running from an impending paternity case like the police assume, or is her disappearance the work of a serial killer as her friends suspect?

An anthropologist and crossword puzzle fanatic, Jared Trimble is a packrat with a PhD. His world is grounded in the here and now, with no room for paranormal mumbo-jumbo. When Jared's asked to work as a consultant on a missing person's case involving a series of crossword puzzle clues, he's conflicted. One part's thrilled. The other part is suspicious; worried he fits the description of suspect more than investigator. All that is forgotten when he realizes his ex-lover, Lia Morgan, is the missing woman's sister.

While Lia follows signs and portents, Jared uses his wits and experience. When the two collide, nearly forgotten passions flare. As the final clue is revealed, the solution brings them both into the bull's-eye of the serial killer's target.

About Ericka Scott from the back of her book:
Ericka Scott is a multi-published, bestselling author of seductive suspense. She’s written stories for as long as she can remember and reads anything under the sun (including the back of cereal boxes in a pinch). She got hooked on romantic suspense in her college days, when reading anything but a textbook was a guilty pleasure.

Now, when she’s not chauffeuring children around, wishing she had a maid, or lurking at the library, she’s spinning her own web of fantasy and penning tales of seduction and suspense. She currently lives in Southern California with her husband and three children.

Romance Book Review: Changed

Author: Rose Marie Wolf
Digital ISBN: 978-1-60435-451-5
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Red Rose Publishing

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Written in the first person, Changed is the story of Cheyenne Buckler and the changes in her life after her family is killed and she is left alone to deal with life by herself on the family horse farm. Cheyenne finds living without her family hard to deal with and turns to drinking. One night after binge drinking she goes out to tend to the horses and is bitten by a wolf. Only this wolf isn't the normal kind of wolf. This is a werewolf and once again Cheyenne's life changes forever.

Skye is on the run from werewolf hunters. When he accidently bites Cheyenne, he knows he can't leave her alone while she faces changing into a werewolf, but he also knows that he will put her in danger if her stays with her.

I found Changed an interesting and compelling romance novel. I was impressed with the depth of emotion the author shows while telling a first person view of dealing with alcoholism and what it is like to feel out of control and angry. This is book is no light read, but emotionally charged with a great deal of sadness. While I enjoyed the paranormal angle to this story, I also found that it could have just as easily been a contemporary romance novel.

Description:
For twenty years of her life, Cheyenne Buckler lived a fairly normal existence with her parents and brother...until an accident claimed their lives. On her own, Cheyenne struggles to cope with the grief and keep the family horse farm going strong. When something begins spooking her horses, Cheyenne heads out to take charge, only to find the predator is something more than animal, something more than human...but just what Cheyenne needs.

Having been born a werewolf, Skye has never had to deal with the change, but his guilt-ridden conscience forces him to intervene in Cheyenne's life and save her from herself and from the burden he has unwillingly placed upon her. As he helps Cheyenne to deal with her newfound werewolf life, an enemy from his past returns to enact a deadly revenge, threatening to tear apart all that they have become.

Romance Book Review: Mery Christmas, Cowboy!

Author: Cindy Kirk
Series Connection: Meet Me In Montana
ISBN: 9780373654918
Genre: Holiday Romance

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Heartwarming holiday romance about a woman who grew up with highly educated parents who didn't express love, but practicality and a widower and his daughter who show her the true meaning of Christmas.

Seth needs someone to help him with his young daughter who has a broken arm and foot. His sister's friend, Lauren, is staying in their town temporarily while she finishes her degree. Hoping she can take some time out of her busy schedule to help him out he asks Lauren.

Lauren never celebrated the Christmas holidays as a child because he parents didn't believe in the celebration. She gets a real eye opener after spending Christmas eve and Christmas with Seth and his daughter. Along the way she falls in love with the widower and his daughter, but Seth made a promise to his dead wife and Lauren has places to go in her future when she gets her degree.

Description:
Lauren Van Meveren's life was all mapped out. It didn't include being a temporary nanny to Seth Anderssen's seven-year-old daughter. Even if the widowed rancher was the most heart-meltingly sexy man she'd ever met, filling her head with fantasies of forever at his Sweet River ranch. But when he asked, how could she say no?

All Seth needed was someone to care for his injured little girl. Someone warm and giving. Like Lauren. But how could he ignore the attraction sizzling between them? The beautiful academic was starting to make him believe in second chances. Could he give Lauren the most wonderful Christmas gift of all—love?

Romance Byte: Dear Mr. President

Author: Jaelyn Storm
ISBN # 978-1-61581-001-7
Categories: Gay Contemporary
Published By: Dreamspinner Press

Description:
Mike and Lucas are doing a great job raising Veronica and Bobby, but when the President reads Bobby's letter, they face a new challenge that could also affect the whole world around them.

"Dear Mr. President, I am writing to you today because my teacher said we had to for homework. Mrs. Pavel said that you are history. Since you are making history and telling the U.S. that everybody is equal can you make a law that says my uncles can get married and we can be a real family?"

Romance Byte: Cosmic Intervention

Author: Melanie Atkins
ISBN: 978-1-60088-404-7
Genre: Erotic Romance

Description:
A straight-lace business woman attending a sales conference knows she needs to come out of her shell if she's going to keep her job, but she doesn't count on meeting a hot, sexy stranger with magic hands and a mouth that drives her over the edge. Conference sessions have never been more fun.

Romance Byte: Her Dark Master

Author: Jennifer August
ISBN: N/A
Genre: Erotic Romance

[Excerpt]

Description:
It is an erotic Regency with a Cinderella twist. Sort of.
In Regency England, good girls like Victoria Ashford don’t pen wicked stories for underground sex papers and they certainly don’t don a mask and exchange places with a high-class whore in a desperate bid to share one night of passion with a man. Even the one she’s always desired.
When Matthew Corwin, Earl of Sussex, discovers the identity of his remarkably responsive, submissive “whore”, he plots erotic payback for her treacherous deception, never intending to let his heart get involved. But protecting her from a blackmailer makes him realize maybe there’s more than just being her dark master...
Available September 1, 2009

Romance Byte: When Seducing A Duke

Author: Kathryn Smith
Series Connection: Victorian Series book 1
ISBN: 978-0061340291
Genre: Historical Romance

[Excerpt]

Description:
The first in a new Victorian series

Enchant. Tempt. Entice. Beguile. Just a few things a woman must do when seducing a duke...

The Duke of Ryeton went to Saint's Row for a night of anonymous pleasure.

Rose Danvers went to Saint's Row for a night of forbidden seduction

It was a night that would begin the scandal of the Season.