Romance Book Review: Howl

Author: Silke Juppenlatz
Digital ISBN: 9781616502867
Genre: Romance/Paranormal/Fantasy
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Digital Publication Date: Coming In June 2011

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Looking for one of his missing pack, Zalin finds himself stuck in a cave with a man with a shotgun and the man's daughter, Lucia,  who is trying to protect him. Escaping with his life, thanks to the girl he can't seem to forget her. When Zalin sees Lucia again she's again trying to protect one of his own. Zalin is torn because he wants to learn more about this woman, but he really shouldn't because he's a werewolf and she's human, plus as soon as he finds his packmate he's leaving the pack and never coming back.

Nicely written paranormal/shifter short story featuring a strong heroine and hero. It will be interesting to see if the author continues on to make this book into a series.

Description:
When life hands you wolves, howl.

The alpha wolf in Zalin's pack is slowing going insane, which is tough enough to contend with, but the guy is gunning for the woman Zalin loves--the rancher's daughter who saved his hide. He's torn between taking off to avoid a confrontation with the Alpha, and sticking around to protect Lucia. Opening his heart to her is not an option-- he's had enough rejection to last a lifetime.

Lucia is fascinated by the "wolf" she saved--at the time unaware he was more than a canine. Zalin seems out to save her from his Alpha, but she wants more than protection from him. When spilled family secrets make her doubt everything she knows, she turns to Zalin for stability, only to learn he's planning to leave.

Will Zalin desert the one he loves when she needs him most, or will he howl a challenge on her behalf?

Romance Book Scene: A Cowboy's Touch

Author: Denise Hunter
ISBN: 978-1595548016
Genre: Inspirational/ Romance
Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Purchase this book here through Amazon

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Abigail is overly stressed at job as a journalist and making herself sick. Her mother, who is also her employer and sister, who is also her doctor, send Abigail to get some rest to Montana. While there they ask her to check out her great aunt to make sure the older woman is doing okay. While there, Abigail meets a young girl and her father. Over her summer trip, Abigail agrees to take on the role of Nanny for the young girl.

Soon Abigail finds herself embroiled in a mystery and the chance to save her mother's magazine. The only problem is in order to achieve that goal she must betray the man she is falling in love with.

Sweet inspirational love story featuring a father who is trying to do the best for his young daughter after a tragedy and learning to love again. Mention and reference to passages in the Bible.

Description:
Abigail is just in Moose Creek, Montana for the summer to temporarily care for her great aunt. But a tender-hearted cowboy beckons her to stay.

Abigail Jones intends to spend just one summer in middle-of-nowhere Montana with her Aunt Lucy. Time away from her job is just what Abigail needs to reassess her life. The slow pace has her breathing deeply for the first time in years. And the majestic scenery encourages her to get reacquainted with herself . . . and God.

What she didn't count on was the handsome widowed cowboy who owns the ranch where her aunt lives. When the rancher loses his daughter's nanny, Abigail decides to lend a hand for the summer.

Wade Ryan can't help being attracted to Abigail. But he's given up everything to protect his daughter, and he's not about to risk it all on a pretty face.

Under Abigail's care, Wade's home and daughter thrive. And with Wade's touch, Abigail's heart feels at home at last. But Abigail knows this elusive rancher is hiding something. Will her own secrets separate her from the cowboy who finally captured her heart?

Romance Book Review: Hunger Untamed

Author: Pamela Palmer
Series Connection: Feral Warriors
ISBN: 978-006179471
Genre: Paranormal/ Shapeshifters/ Erotic Romance/ Suspense
Publisher: Avon

 Purchase this book here

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Hunger Untamed is by far my favorite book so far in the Feral Warriors' series. For pretty much the whole series readers have been aware that Kougar is the oldest of the Feral Warriors. He had live a long life as we have been told that he lost his mate 1,000 years ago. It wasn't until this book in the series where the story centers around him and his finding his long lost mate, that we find out exactly how old he really is.

Kougar once was the chief of the Feral Warriors. Even back 1,000 years ago he and his fellow warriors were fighting the mage. While on the battle field Kougar feels the bond with his mate cut just as he learns her race has been infected with a dark spirit and all were dying. Believing her dead, Kougar falls into an emotionless state for 1,000 years. Now in present day, Kougar has previously learned that his mate survived after all, but he believe that she is still infected with the dark spirit.

When he finds he needs her help Kougar reaches out to his mate to help free his fellow warriors, trapped in a dark spiral abyss.

Queen Ariana knows that the minute she sees Kougar for the first time in 1,000 years that she can not let him to close. She know that the mage poison that is infecting her will kill him through their bond mate. She has no other choice than work with the Feral Warriors so that she can save her own warriors, by saving theirs.

Out of all of the Feral Warriors series this book shows a lot of emotion, a great deal of detail oriented scenes based in and alien locations. Both Kougar and Ariana are warriors struggling to fit into each other's worlds, both 1,000 years ago and today. Each desperately trying to find away to be together, yet avoid being hurt as they had been in the past. Both are strong and alpha characters. After reading Kougar's story, I find him a much better choice as leader of the Ferals in a lot of ways than the current chief.

As Pamela Palmer digs into the world of both the past Ferals and the Ariana's people that Ilinas and learning of the thousands of years of misery and destruction of both their races the readers begin to understand the battle that the Feral Warriors have been fighting. A story that has gone one for thousands of years and continues to see no end in sight.

Description:
For a thousand years she has haunted him—Ariana, queen of the Ilinas, a beauty of mist and light. His love, his life mate... Kougar believed her lost to him forever until the truth of her stunning betrayal left him bitter and hungry for revenge. Now she alone holds the power to save two trapped and desperate Feral Warriors.

Ariana, caught in a deadly battle of her own, is neither the soulless creature Kougar believes her to be, nor the savior he seeks. And when darkness threatens to annihilate both races, the greatest danger of all becomes the glorious love Kougar and Ariana once shared. A love that must never rise again. A love that has never died.

Romance Book Review: Kayla's Gift

Author: Jayne Rylon
Series Connection: Powertools
ISBN: 978-1-60928-447-3
Genre: Contemporary, Red Hots!!!, Ménage & More
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

Click here to purchase this book
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Kayla has hired a team of construction workers to help her get her new spa ready. The group of sexy guys has agreed to accept part of their payment in the way of massages. The problem is when she gets her hands on the guys for massages she can't help but have sexual fantasies about each of the men.

Ever since the day Dave met Kayla he's wanted her. When he and two of his fellow crew members get snowed in at Kayla's mountain spa he decides to take the step to show her a few of his secrets. In turn Kayla tells her a big one of her own.

Quick read the features some pretty erotic sex scenes.

Description: 
One blizzard, two days, three men to keep her warm.

Powertools, Book 3

Naked is Kayla’s style. She’s exposed to bare skin more than the average person—like when she’s up to her elbows in massage oil, soothing the tired muscles of the construction crew building her new spa, a barter to offset some of the cost. Once it’s finished, she plans to open a private retreat for fellow naturists.

It should be a routine service. Yet for some reason, caressing the man on her table is blurring her normally crystal-clear distinction between nudity and sexuality. And stirring up kinky fantasies involving the rest of the crew.

She never intended to share details about her lifestyle-slash-business plan, not even with the open-minded, sexy crew. But when a faulty truck engine and one hell of a snowstorm trap the three men at her cabin, heat sears away her cover story—and her inhibitions.

Cocooned in blissful isolation, Dave, Neil and James show her that passion knows no barrier, with or without clothing. Leaving Kayla wondering if two days of mutual satisfaction will ever be enough…

Product Warnings:
This book features a m/m/m/f ménage hot enough to melt an entire blizzard’s worth of snow and ice.

Morgan's Surprise

Author: Jayne Rylon
Series Connection: Powertools
ISBN: 978-1-60928-337-7
Genre: Contemporary, Red Hots!!!, Ménage & More
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

Purchase this book here

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Morgan is celebrating her 30th birthday when her best friend Kate, from Kate's Crew, asks her what her wish for her birthday would be. Little does she know that the wish she reveals to her friend is standing right behind her and ready to fulfill her every wish and desire.

Looking for a quick read that is filled with romance and great sex and a little extra this book is a good choice. I thought the book was well written and offers one of the most romantic first dates I've seen written in a long time.

Description:
For a tasty birthday treat, add four men and stir.

Powertools, Book 2

Note to self: When confessing a crush on an ultra-hot construction worker to your best friend, make sure he’s not standing right behind you.

If Morgan thought spilling the beans on her lust for Joe would scare him off, she couldn’t have been more wrong. Following her birthday wish gone awry, the hunk is treating her to one surprise after another. From little things that make her smile to lavish, romantic dates, Joe is turning out to be the stuff of dreams

Joe’s attentions to the sexy pastry shop owner begin as lighthearted fun. Until he finds out about the past that, until now, has made her keep him at arm’s length. Determined to show her seeking pleasure is no crime, he sets out to fulfill her steamiest fantasies—with a little help from three of his best friends.

After a four-course birthday adventure, which presents Morgan as the sweetest imaginable dessert, she expects Joe to walk away. But now that Joe’s brought Morgan out of her shell, he’s hungry for something he never expected to crave—a forever kind of love.

Product Warnings:
This book features a m/m/m/m/f ménage. Enough said.

Romance Book Review: Anchor

Author: Jorrie Spencer
Series Connection: Northern Shifters
ISBN: 978-1-60928-427-5
Genre: Paranormal/ Shape-shifters/ Werewolves
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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In Jorrie Spencer's, Anchor, the world knows about werewolves. Like with humans not all werewolves are good, some are down right evil.

All of her life Mala has been having nightmares about wolves. Each time she has them it causes more trouble in her life. This time the dream involves a young wolf being chanced by his father. Somehow she understands that these wolves are more than just wild wolves, she knows they are werewolves.

Deciding once and for all to check out whether her dreams are real or not she decides to seek out the boy she saved from his father in her dream. All the time on the trip she's wondering if she really does want to learn the truth or not. She finally arrives at a small town in Northern Canada, call Wolf Town.

The hero in the story is Angus. Angus runs Wolf Town, a sort of Santuary for the werewolves to go to live in peace. When the boy Mala saves comes to the town for help Angus is there to give him support.

When Mala comes to town looking for the boy, Angus knows she's a good person. Unlike others in her life he believes her.

I really like the story that Jorrie Spencer puts together. Angus is really a hero that can be counted on. He only wants what's best for the wolves and is willing to accept those who want the same, but he is also willing to take care of, in whatever means necessary, those who wants to harm those he cares about.

Mala is an interesting heroine. She's not quite comfortable in her own skin, but she is working on mastering her dreams. Instead of letting them take over her life she is learning to control the dreams and even helping the wolves in the process.

The novel spends a lot of time working around the dreams and getting to know both Mala and Angus, separate from each other that it doesn't really leave a lot of time to explore the love affair between the couple, which disappointed me a little. On the otherhand, I was so interested in learning about Wolf Town and the others in the story that I didn't miss it all that much. Overall, I would give this book a good rating.

Description:
She follows her dreams into his arms…and danger is not far behind.

Children are supposed to outgrow night terrors. Mala is the rare exception. At night she dreams of wolves, ones who attack, and the ones her dream-self protects. The effort costs her—one dream often leads to a week of missed work.

After a months-long reprieve, the dreams are back with a vengeance. Her defense of a young wolf from his abusive father is rewarded when the boy mentions the name of a real town. Finally, the chance to learn if her dreams are just as real. She never expected to meet an honest-to-God alpha wolf, much less develop an instant, embarrassing crush on him.

Angus MacIntyre, the de facto alpha of Wolf Town, is determined to see every fugitive wolf employed, educated and well-adjusted to life in the open. The arrival of a young wolf on the run isn’t all that unusual, but the human woman hard on his heels is beyond extraordinary.

The dark-eyed beauty stirs his mine instinct in a way he’s never felt before. She possesses a dream-wraith ability that challenges everything he thinks he knows about his world, and makes her vulnerable to those who might try to use it—and her—to their advantage.

Product Warnings
Wolf towns, bad guys, dreams and non-alpha alpha wolves, as well as an overabundance of family, and, of course, a healthy dose of romance and sex.

Romance Book Review: Seduced By The Playboy Heir

Author: Grace Cox
Digital ISBN: 9781616502676

Genre: Romance/ Erotica
Publisher: Lyrical Press 

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Lucinda is invited to Scotland from London by someone who claims to be a relative of her mother's. Since she was young Lucinda had always wanted to learn about her family. Since her mother's death some months earlier this might just be her way to find out about the family she never knew.

Taking the chance Lucinda get on the private plane of her benefactor and meets a sexy pilot. Not one to have a one night stand, she takes the second out of character chance of her life and sleeps with the man. The only problem is he turns out to be related to the man who asks for her to meet him and learn about her family.

Matt meets the most beautiful woman on his plane, but soon he realizes that she is to be competition in receiving his full inheritance. Used to being playboy he sets out to seduce Lucinda to find out what she plans to do about gain the inheritance, but what he doesn't count on is getting set in his own trap. Confused and unsure, he screws up big time with Lucinda and then has to work to get her back, but is the price of having her too much for Matt to pay.

At first sight this book is a simple Harlequin style. Rich man meets middle class woman and thinks she's a gold digger after what is his. Like turns out a bit more complicated then that and the story line is rip with conflict, hurt feeling, etc. That is this book at a glance, but once the reader delves into the story more the characters are well developed with strong senses of who they are. Lucinda is a strong heroine, able to take care of herself and anyone else who comes along. Matt is a confused hero, who you'll want to knock upside the head a few times.

The love scenes are hot, but not too overly erotic. For those who enjoy contemporary love stories with the rich and famous, this is a good quick read.

Description:
A mystery benefactor promises wealth, but passion gets in the way…

After being whisked to Scotland by private jet upon discovering she’s to inherit a fortune, Lucinda learns there’s a competitor for the unexpected wealth – the impetuous playboy Matthew Hardcastle. In order for either of them to gain the money, they have to run the prosperous estate together for no less than three months.

Despite the explosive sexual chemistry between them, Matt’s playboy attitude repulses the work-driven Lucinda. But in order for them to work together they'll have to put their passionate disagreements aside and call a temporary truce.

Their time together proves they aren’t so different…until their personalities once again clash and the only thing that can bring them back together is love.

Warning; Contains scenes of a sexual nature.

Romance Book Review: Big Bad Beast

Author: Shelly Laurenston
Series Connection: Pride Stories
ISBN: 978-0758231703
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Kensington Brava

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In Shelly Laurenston's new book Big Bad Beast she continues with the story line of her previous book bringing back several of the reoccurring characters. Since the first book of the Pride Stories, Dee Ann Smith, Bobby Ray's former Marine cousin, has been a secondary character in the books, taking care of whatever trouble comes along.

She the scary cousin with the father and everyone thinks is crazy.

In Big Bad Beast, Dee Ann is the main character. Readers first meet her when she's a child with her father is meeting with Niles Van Holtz and is first getting involved in the Group. I love the first meeting and how she first is introduced to Ric Van Holtz. The two next meet years later and Ric is instantly in love with Dee.

Dee Ann's attracted to Ric, but he's her boss. Ric knows that it won't be easy to get Dee Ann as his mate, but he's willing to work hard to get the wolf he wants.

Meanwhile, there are other story lines being explored in the story. Ric's young cousin Stein comes back asking for forgiveness. Readers get to meet two young hybrid shifters and they make a big impact. There are also lots of chance to see some of the former characters in the series.

While this book didn't have the laughs of some of the other stories in the series, I liked the action scenes and the fact that Shelly found a match that could take on Dee Ann.


Description:
When it comes to following her instincts, former Marine Dee-Ann Smith never holds back. And this deadly member of a shifter protection group will do anything to prove one of her own kind is having hybrids captured for dogfights. Trouble is, her too-cute rich-boy boss Ric Van Holtz insists on helping out. And his crazy-like-a-fox smarts and charming persistence are making it real hard for Dee to keep her heart safe...

Ric can't believe his luck. He's wanted this fiercely-independent she-wolf from day one, but he never expected teamwork as explosive as this. And now is his last chance to show Dee what she needs isn't some in-your-face Alpha male-but a wily, resourceful wolf who'll always have her back in a fight…and between the sheets.

Romance Byte: Tyler's Woman

Author: Jan Springer
Series Connection: Outlaw Lovers, Book Four
ISBN: 9781419962905
Genre: Erotic Romance

Publisher: Ellora's Cave 

Purchase this book here through: Amazon

Description:
In the near future, a virus has been unleashed, killing a majority of the world’s female population, forcing the introduction of the Claiming Law. A law that states men have all the rights and women are sexual property claimable by groups of men.

Laurie Callahan has always experienced red-hot pleasure and passionate love in Tyler Outlaw’s arms. But when he’s pronounced MIA, presumed dead in the Terrorist Wars, her world is shattered and her heart broken.

For years Tyler Outlaw and his best friend Hunter Brown endured brutal torture and worse in a terrorist prison. Finally free of their hell, they return home intent on seducing Laurie into their erotic-filled fantasies.

Shocked to discover Tyler is alive and he’s taken a male lover, Laurie is thrust into a sensual world of sizzling seductions, scorching ménages and the carnal desires that both scarred men crave. But she fears Tyler won’t want her when he discovers she’s not the same woman he left behind.

 Reader Advisory: Contains references to non-consensual sex.