Romance Book Review: Peggy Bird's Beginning Again

Author: Peggy Bird
ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-4406-4
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Crimson Romance, Avon

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Liz Fairchild is moving on with her life with a fresh start. Her ex-husband helps her start a new business venture, allowing her to open her own art gallery. She expects everything to change in her life, but she doesn't realize how much until Collins walks into her art gallery. 

Liz isn't looking for another relationship. She is done with men, but Collins won't take no for an answer. Everything is perfect and falling into place. When Liz realizes that Collins is already a famous local artist in his own right, she begins to questions why he would come to her gallery to show his pieces. Liz realizes there is something out of place, but she just can't put her finger on what it is.

Peggy Bird's Beginning Again is a beautifully written love story featuring an older woman and younger man. Liz's character is played perfectly and who wouldn't fall in love with Collins, even though there is a lot more to his story than Liz knows. 

Description:

Widowed in her twenties, now divorced half way through her forties, Liz Fairchild has decided it’s time to live life just for herself. No man need apply. With the proceeds from her divorce settlement—and business advice from an unexpected source—she opens an art gallery in Northwest Portland, trades her McMansion on the Columbia River for an apartment above her gallery and looks forward to her new, independent life.

Everything is working out the way she’d planned. Until a tall, rugged, way younger man walks into her gallery.

His name is Collins. Just Collins. He’s a sculptor who has a magnetic field around him that attracts her as if she was made of the metal he uses for his art. And, if the look in his stormy grey eyes is to be believed, he returns the feeling.

He says he’s looking for a gallery to represent him in Portland and proceeds to bulldoze his way into her gallery, dinner that night and a date the following weekend. Not willing to take “no” for an answer to anything, he makes it clear he wants to add “her life” and “her bed” to that list.

But Liz hesitates. Is she wary because of her experience? Or does she sense that Collins is not exactly who—or what—he seems? Is the mysterious business he disappears to conduct connected to why he came into her gallery in the first place?

And which would hurt the most—falling for him or sending him away?

Romance Book Byte: Alexandrea Weis’s Broken Wings

Author: Alexandrea Weis
ISBN: 9781937593377
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: World Castle Publishing

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Description:

As a wildlife rehabilitator in southeast Louisiana, Pamela Wells has dealt with her fair share of wild animals, but her reclusive life is forever changed when she meets an elusive former soldier named Daniel Phillips. Sent to Pamela’s wildlife sanctuary as part of his parole requirements, Daniel and Pamela quickly clash until Daniel’s troubled past unexpectedly comes to light. After serving in Iraq, Daniel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Pamela tries to help ease his condition by introducing him to the healing power of animals. Daniel begins to find peace, and an unexpected kindred spirit in Pamela. Fearing one day she will be forced to give up her beloved sanctuary, Pamela confides in Daniel about her debilitating health. United by their misfortunes, the relationship turns romantic.

Just when Pamela has found someone to love and share her burdens, Daniel skips town, crushing her heart. Suddenly Pamela finds herself alone and in a desperate situation. She has no choice but to turn to a ruthless Louisiana attorney, Bob Patrick, for help. Bob promises Pamela financial security in exchange for a life as his obedient wife. When Daniel unexpectedly returns, Bob is not willing to give Pamela up. Like an ensnared bird, Pamela struggles to free herself of her cruel capture. The fight may prove deadly, but Daniel is willing to do anything to save her. Can two broken souls eventually find happiness or, like the broken wings of a dove, will they be forever kept from reaching the heights of heaven. 

Romance Book Byte: Christine Bell’s Wife for Hire

Author: Christine Bell
ISBN: 978-1-62266-973-8
Genre: Category/ Contemporary
Publisher: Entangled Publishing

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Description:
He needs a wife for three weeks…

Owen Phipps is out for revenge. His mission? To expose the man who stole his sister’s money and dignity. All he needs is a “wife” who can play along. Too bad his last best hope is an actress who tries to mace him with perfume when he offers her the role of a lifetime.

Lindy Covington is a real sap. She loves too hard, feels too deep, and often finds herself saying yes when she should be saying “Let me think about it.” She can’t believe her good fortune when Owen offers her more than enough money to hold off foreclosure until she can find a job. Three weeks at a resort, money she desperately needs, and she gets to help bring a criminal to justice? Score.

It seems easy enough until the first time a couples bonding game turns intimate, and they realize how dangerous their mutual attraction could be. Can they keep their hands to themselves long enough to find the evidence Owen needs? Or are the close quarters more temptation than they can handle?

Romance Book Review: C.L. Scholey’s Enslaved

Author: C.L. Scholey
ISBN: N/A
Genre: Sci-fi Romance/ Menage
Publisher: Whispers Publishing

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Minuets' life is just about as bad as it can get. In fact, so far she thinks her lot in life couldn't be any worse. That is until she walks through the forest around home one day and finds a injured man and then  gets shot herself. She wakes up in a strange place and things appear to go from bad to worse, when she is mistaken for someone else. 

Chason and Rance need to get Chason's spy wife back to save face with his people, when they storm a pirate vessel and grab the woman, they have no idea she is a woman from Earth. Why would they when she looks and talks just like Chason's betraying wife. But as facts start to unfold, maybe the stories she's telling aren't so far fetched after all. 

Interplanetary travel, sexy alphas, a pack mentality and a 48 year-old woman who has just been given a body to die for make up this sexy sci-fi. 

Description:

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time seemed to be an occupation of Minuets. Crippled in a car accident at nineteen, walking in on her husband and his lover at thirty. Coming across a bank robbery at forty and just recently losing her job at forty-eight because her boss was having a bad day.

Minuet thought it couldn't possibly get any worse. She was mistaken. Who would have thought finding a gorgeous hunk of a man on the forest floor in need of her aid would be a bad thing?

Holding the man's head in her lap and promising to find him aid Minuet finds herself looking down the business end of a futuristic weapon. Before she can explain she means the man no harm she is shot and killed by his comrade.

When Minuet opens her eyes she finds herself on a strange ship in a strange body married to a strange man. Her 'husband' Chason hates her, his best friend Rance is in love with her and the only way she can prove she is not a Zain spy out to enslave the planet Zanuth with her dancing is to be at the right place at the right time.

Romance Book Review: Gabriella Edwards' Keira's Promise

Author: Gabriella Edwards

ISBN: 9781603108171

Genre: Erotic/ Contemporary/ Romantic/ Suspense

Publisher: Red Sage Publishing

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Keira watches her friend die a horrible death and decides that even though she usually isn't cut out for FBI deep cover work, she needs to avenge her friend. Finding her way into the local sex club isn't as hard as not falling for one of the customers. Can she find it within herself to keep her promise without falling for the suspects?

Haddon knows there's a story in the new hostess as the club that he wants to explore. He knows for sure she isn't exactly what she says she is and he isn't going to let the other slimes in the club get touch her. If he has to take matters in his own hands so be it.

Sexy, romantic suspense story featuring a hot good guy, and a determined FBI agents who knows how to get her man. 

Description: 

Keira Jane Nesmith, a by-the-book FBI agent, never dreamed she’d be working a sex club to solve a friend’s murder. But she’s vowed nothing will stand in her way to get to the truth, not even the scorching attraction she has for Ryan Hargety. A man she must submit to while she investigates the club’s underground sex slave trade. A man she might have to take down to find justice for her friend. When a friend asks for help uncovering a human trafficking ring, Haddon Ryan is happy to pay back a favor. As Ryan Hargety, he doesn’t count on one of the sex club employees distracting him to the point of blowing his cool or his cover. But Haddon suspects the woman who submits to him isn’t who she says she is. When she proves too much to resist, he’s willing to play her game.

Romance Book Review: J. Paulette Forshey's The Estate

 Author: J. Paulette Forshey
ISBN: N/A
Genre: Paranormal/ Fantasy/ Thriller
Publisher: Whisper Publishing

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Cuilean Kelley is an archaeology on a mission. At an estate sale he waits for the an item he cashed in all his worldly possessions for. While waiting her learns the strange history of the house and the items being auctioned.

Will Cuilean find the treasure he seeks?

A very short story, that is not your normal romance book. There are strange happenings going on inside this estate.

Description: Night after night Cuilean Kelley's dreams are haunted by an exotic woman, leaving him alone each morning in sweat soaked sheets. When he travels to a tiny parish outside of Savanna hoping to find a rare set of books, he unearths not only the tomes, but discovers the woman of his dreams is real. Cuilean must use all his knowledge to free her from a spectral prison guarded by an ancient lost civilization. They key to her rescue is in the rare books located in a ghostly southern estate.

Romance Book Review: Lora Leigh's Stygian's Honor

Author: Lora Leigh

Series Connection: Breeds

ISBN: 978-0425246078

Genre: Paranormal/ Sci-Fi/ Erotic Romance/ Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Berkeley

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First please let me premise this on the fact that this book is part of one of my favorite series and I look forward to seeing at my local book store every time it comes out. That said I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. Some of the story line was very good, while other pieces could have been eliminated all together. Usually so well at writing sex scene's, I feel that these were just thrown in because the Ms. Leigh needed to throw in some extra pages in the book.

Let's start back at the beginning though, for those of you who like the Breed series this book being part of the series is enough to make the purchase. Stygian's Honor is Breeds book #27. We pick up at the action scene where Diane (from Lawe's Justice) is confronted by one of her team members. The heroine of this story, Liza is the park on her morning jog when Diane confronts her. The scene pretty much plays out as it did in Lawe's Justice only from Liza's point of few. 

Meanwhile, Jonas is on the search for three people before the council and the Breed Gideon finds them. Jonas is convinced that these three have knowledge that will help his young daughter after she was injected with something that no one knows what is by a bad guy several stories ago. 

Jonas is sure that Liza can help him with this information, but Liza can't figure out how that can be possible. Jonas has assigned Stygain Black to protect her. Jonas being Jonas he knows that Stygain is her mate and Jonas is up to his usually tricks to get what he wants. 

The idea behind the story is good and the information that fans from the Breed series will understand that reading the books in order will help them to understand future books to come and Jonas's continued efforts. My main complaint is that the sex scenes between the hero and the heroine appear to be forced and it isn't really necessary to have so many throughout the story. They seem too repetitive and at some points really makes it seem that Stygain is forcing her to have sex with him, when that appears completely out of his character and contradictory to everything he says throughout the story. 

That said, yes you should read this book if you are keeping up with the series, but it isn't one of Lora Leigh's best. Not that it will stop me from reading any future stories. 

Description:

Window Rock, Arizona, is the last known location of Honor Roberts, who vanished when she was just thirteen. It was her only sanctuary from the Breed research that would surely have ended in her death—one such insidious experiment should, indeed, have killed her. That she lived is both a miracle—and a great mystery.

Stygian’s mission is to find Honor Roberts, no matter the cost. Now, with the help of Liza Johnson, assistant to the chief of the Navajo Nation, he is closer than ever to his goal. But will the discovery of Honor Roberts mean the destruction of the mating heat that has developed between Stygian and Liza?

Romance Book Review: Kaylie Newell's Teaching Officer Lonesome

Author: Kaylie Newell

Digital ISBN: 9781937325343
Genre: Contemporary Romance/ May-December Romance/ Erotic Romance
Publisher: Beachwalk Press

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Steamy erotic romance featuring an older man and younger woman. Jack Malone is a cop who lost his wife a year ago. He's tried to date, but he hasn't gotten over the love of his life. One day on the job he pulls over Hope Marlow, a young woman who he recognizes who takes care of her younger sister. 

Hope is beautiful, but she's too young for him. Still he wants to try and be friends with her and help her out.

Hope is very attracted to Jack and doesn't see a problem with their age. She's only after a little fun and a way to thank Jack for all the help he's given her. She knows he's lonely, but will never make the first move. Being bold and sassy isn't a problem for Hope. 

Can she help the officer with his problem without getting too caught up in a relationship she doesn't really see a future for herself?

Very nicely written erotic romance. While there is a lot of sexual tension and steamy love scenes through the pages of this novella, there is still a strong story line outside of the bedroom taking place. 

Description:

A sexy cop with a broken heart is about to be taught a lesson.

Hope Marlow is a twenty-two-year-old seasoned vet when it comes to steamy one-night stands. Hope has had a hard life. From the wrong side of the tracks and abandoned by her mother, she finds herself trying to raise her little sister on a salary that barely pays the bills each month. She's tough, jaded, but when she's pulled over one sweltering summer afternoon for not using her turn signal, she meets her match in a sexually inexperienced cop twice her age.

The day Jack Malone stopped Hope is one he can't forget. It's more than the way she looked in the miniskirt and hot pink tank top, it's her confidence that keeps coming back to haunt him. But Jack is still reeling from his wife's death a year ago, and Hope represents things he thinks he can't have with a woman—passion and a new beginning. Plus, there's the fact that she's practically half his age.

Hope sees things differently. The age difference doesn't bother her, but while Jack craves an emotional connection, Hope has no interest in that. She's an expert at pushing her emotions aside, and she knows that if Jack would let her, she could teach him how fulfilling lust alone can be. With that in mind, she sets out to seduce the sexy cop.

It's only during their first night of passion that they both discover how much they've been missing.

Content Warning: contains sensual sex and some explicit language

Romance Book Review: Marisa Chenery's Miles Redemption

Author: Marisa Chenery

Series Connection: Roxie's Protectors

ISBN 978-1-59578-960-0

Genre: Paranormal/ Shifter/ Werewolf

Publisher: Liquid Silver Books

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In the final installment to Marisa Chenery's of the Roxie's Protectors series, the infamous bad boy Miles meets his mate. For hundreds of years Miles made his mission in life to find the foretold one, bring her under his control so he could be the ruler of the werewolves. That all changed after meeting his daughter and learning she was the foretold one. Miles became a changed man.

Looking for his mate wasn't something Miles was keen on doing. After meeting and falling in love with his daughter's mother years ago, a human woman who wasn't his mate, Miles had no intent of falling for another woman. After urging from his daughter however, Miles goes on an arranged date, only to be stood up by one woman, but to meet his mate at the restaurant. Now he has more of a reason to stay on the straight and narrow, but can Miles remain good, after he hears the secret his daughter has been keeping?

I'm sorry to see the Roxie's Protector series go. All the books were short and offered a quick look at each of the protectors and their trials of finding a mate and trying not to finish the mating process before they tell their mortal mates who and what they are.

Description:

Miles knew using Dirk’s online dating service wouldn’t be the best way to find his mate and is proven right when his date stands him up. But his bad luck turns to good when his would-be mate walks through the restaurant’s doors.

Kareena has been on a dating dry streak since her fiancé of seven years dumped her the year before. She wants the hottie who sits close to her and her friends’ table to be the one to end it, but she doesn’t have enough nerve to go up and talk to him. But after meeting Miles, her life ends up going in a direction she never thought existed. And she soon learns she is the only thing that can secure Miles’s redemption.

Romance Byte: Sherrilyn Kenyon's Time Untime

Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Series Connection: Dark-Hunters

ISBN-13: 978-0312546618

Genre: Fantasy/ Sci-Fi/ Futuristic

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon comes the next thrilling installment in her blockbuster Dark-Hunter series

Description:

The Mayans aren’t the only ones with a 2012 prophecy…

Long before recorded history, there was a Keetoowah warrior so feared that everyone trembled before his wrath. Only a brutal betrayal by the one closest to him could defeat him. But not even death was the end of a man so strong.

The Time Untime approaches…

Kateri Avani has been plagued her entire life with dreams she doesn’t understand. Images of places she’s never been and of a man she’s never seen. Her quest for answers has driven her to Las Vegas where she hopes to finally silence the demons in her mind.

What she never anticipates is coming face to face with the warrior who has haunted her her entire life. One who belongs to a world the scientist in her refuses to believe is real. 

Ren Waya came back from the dead to keep the prophecy he began from coming true and ending the world. For thousands of years, he has fought the same evil that once possessed him. But now that evil has found the one person he can’t fight. The one person who, against his will, holds the most sacred part of him.

His heart.

But if he doesn’t kill Kateri, the deadliest of evils will reemerge and destroy everyone else on the planet. It was a sacrifice he made once.

Will he be able to make it again?(less)

Romance Book Review: C.L. McCullough and Lori Green's Letters from Greece

Authors: C.L. McCullough and Lori Green
ISBN: 9781616503932
Genre: Romance/ Contemporary
Publisher: Lyrical Press

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After receiving an email from her Internet friend, Kate decides to take the chance she's always wanted to. She sells all her assets and purchases sight unseen a home and tavern in Greece. Going from West Coast to the Southern United States, Kate goes to Min's house and convinces her to leave her abusive husband and follow a dream the two woman have been talking about as they got to know each other over the Internet.

They both know it is crazy, but it is their chance to start over.

When they finally get to Greece they begin to start their new lives. Both Min and Kate met men that interest them, however Min's husband isn't quite ready to give up his domination over his wife, making their transition into their new life that much harder.

Good story with deep characters. I liked the fact that the two ladies met over the Internet and decided to follow their dreams. As well as the fact that everything didn't just fall into step like it would in a fairy tale.

Description:

They're on the run… To new lives and loves in Greece. 

Best friends Kate and Min are on the run to find a new life. Greece offers Min an escape her abusive husband.

Once there, they find a crumbling home, a run-down tavern and a Greek tycoon who has a soft spot for a faded Southern belle. A younger man catches Kate's fancy and, if they can survive an-almost ex who wants his wife back, they might keep their new lives and loves in this new country.

WARNING: Snarky women with sharp tongues and soft hearts. 

Romance Book Byte: Anshlynne Laynne's Blood Bond

Author: Ashlynne Laynne

ISBN: n/a

Genre: Vampire

Publisher: Novel Concept Publishing, LLC

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Description:

“Forever. For always. For eternity.”

The ties that bind two hearts are powerful. For Ascher Rousseau and Shauna McCutchin, it’s more than just a blood bond. Their union is that of vampire legend. Their love is a predestined prophecy foretold centuries ago.

It’s a week before Ascher and Shauna's sealing and the couple is making final preparations for their eternity, but Ascher's ex has other plans. Ursula is hell-bent on revenge—revenge fueled by lover's scorn and her father's death—and she begins breeding a fresh army of newborn darklings to do her bidding.

When Ursula finds a new weapon—an ally with the capability to dismantle the Rousseau clan— Ascher and Shauna's bond is tested and they must stand together against Ursula or lose each other for eternity.

Romance Book Byte: Gail Koger's I Hear Voices

Author: Gail Koger ISBN: not assigned Genre: Romance/ Paranormal Publisher: Whispers Publishing Publication  Purchase this book here Description: After being laid off from her psychic gig, Zelda Dragos decides finding Montezuma’s lost treasure has to be easier than prying a check out of the state’s unemployment office. The fly in the ointment is the tenacious Derek Sloan, an Indiana Jones type, who wants the gold for himself. The first clue in the treasure hunt is an Aztec amulet on display at the Phoenix Art Museum. All Zelda needs to do is “borrow” it for a bit. Unfortunately, Derek has the identical plan. With the help of a holographic diversion featuring the Rock as Montezuma, Zelda zaps him with a stun gun and walks off with the Amulet. Zelda uses all of her tricks to discourage Derek’s relentless pursuit; a smoke bomb, mace, a hive of angry bees and getting him arrested. Out of options, Zelda finds herself stuck with a partner who thinks she needs a keeper and he’s just the man for the job. To find the treasure all they have to deal with is an angry Apache Thunder God, Asmoday, the demon king of the Ninth Hell, eight thousand vengeful Aztec spirits and a mummified Aztec warrior. Adding to the mess is Zelda’s evil Aunt Sophie and Uncle Dante who wants the treasure for themselves. Dante’s lethal goons are hot on their trail. Derek and Zelda soon discover love blooms in the weirdest places.

Romance Book Byte: Jenna Jaxon's Only Scandal Will Do

Author: Jenna Jaxon
ISBN: 9781616503796
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Lyrical Press
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Description:

He has the woman of his dreams, but what price will he have to pay to win her heart?

Kidnapped and sold at auction in a London brothel, Lady Katarina Fitzwilliam squelches an undeniable attraction to the masked stranger who purchased her, pits her wits against him, and escapes him and the scandal that would ruin her life.

Unable to resist temptation in a London brothel, Duncan Ferrers, Marquess of Dalbury, purchases a fiery beauty. She claims she's a lady, but how can she be?

No lady of his acquaintance in polite society is anything like her. Then he discovers she is who she says, and that this latest romp has compromised her reputation. He knows how that is. One more scandal and he'll be cast out of London society, but he needs a wife who'll provide an heir to carry on his illustrious family's name. He seeks out Katarina, intending only to scotch the scandal, but instead finds his heart ensnared. He's betting their future he'll capture her heart, but does he have what it 

takes to win the wager?

WARNING: A blade-wielding heroine who crosses swords with a master of sensuality.

Romance Byte: Cari Silverwood's Rough Surrender

Author: Cari Silverwood 
Digital ISBN: 9781616503666
Genre: Romance/ Historical/ Erotica/ BDSM
Publisher: Lyrical Press

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Description:

One master, one woman who craves surrender, and a sky that will challenge them both. 

At a time when airplanes are as new-fangled and sensational as the telephone, Faith dares to fly. The one territory she has not explored is her own sexuality. In Leonhardt she discovers the man who can teach her how a woman surrenders her body and her mind. However, Leonhardt has a shadowed past and his own learning to do. He doesn't have the right to keep Faith from flying, even if he thinks airplanes are flimsy death-traps made of canvas, timber and their inventor's prayers. 

Faith has her limits, Leonhardt has his flaws, and sometimes the nicest people get murdered by unscrupulous bastards. Even if Leonhardt can save the woman he loves, the battle for Faith’s heart will be the hardest one of all. 

WARNING: BDSM, anal sex, orgasms galore, and a Dom who likes to claim his property with pen, ink and bondage.

Romance Byte: LK Below's This Blackened Night

Author: L. K. Below

Series Connection: The Order

ISBN: 9781616504069

Genre: Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal

Publisher: Lyrical Press

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Description: 

The Order Book Three

With murders cropping up all around, who should she trust?

After months of searching, Lori finally scrounges up a clue as to the whereabouts of the missing leader of her secret organization. But her vision isn't encouraging--it points to her vampire companion Terrence as the culprit.

Terrence is adamant that he isn't at fault. Even though she knows she might be walking into a trap, she follows his lead to a shabby island port. When her informants start turning up dead with puncture wounds in their necks, Lori wonders just how well she knows Terrence. And why does he act different during the search than in their hotel room?

Lori doesn't know who to trust anymore. She only hopes that she won't be the next victim.