Friday, June 24, 2016

Romance Book Review: Jennifer Blake's Lancelot of the Pines

Author: Jennifer Blake
Series Connection: Louisiana Knights
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Steel Magnolia Press

Purchase Link: Amazon

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ 

Mandy runs into hiding in small town Louisiana after her husband shows up missing and someone tries to kidnap her. To make matters worse the police are skeptical as to whether she offed her husband or not. 

When police deputy Lance, short for Lancelot (there's a story behind the name), shows up at her doorstep she wants nothing to do with his kind of help. It doesn't take long before the everything blows up on Mandy. Soon she's running with Lance from killers and she learns her husband was violently killed. 

Lance doesn't trust beautiful women who marry for money and as far as he can see Mandy is just like his ex who thought he had all kinds of money. 

Good start to a three book series on three cousins from a small town. I liked both characters, flawed in their own way, but working to be better people. Good prose throughout the story. My only true issue was when it came to the background story. There were a couple of intense scenes that include encounters with the bad guys, but in the end the case is solved without much work throughout the story. 

Description:
Bullets, betrayal and forbidden love--Meet Deputy Lance Benedict, the first of the Louisiana Knights...

CHIVALRY LIVES IN THE SULTRY SOUTH!

Mandy wants only to be left alone; she knows nothing about the disappearance of her much older husband, and less about the thug who tried to abduct her. Forced to hide out in a backwater town, the last thing she needs is an overbearing deputy's protection.

Lance, saddled with the protective instinct that goes with the name of Arthur's most trusted knight, is stunned by his reaction to Mandy's courage and beauty. But is he putting his life on the line for an innocent in danger--or for a Black Widow?
_____

Book 1: LANCELOT OF THE PINES
Book 2: GALAHAD IN JEANS
Book 3: TRISTAN ON A HARLEY


All 3 books in The Louisiana Knights series are standalone reads. The above is suggested reading order only.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Romance Book Review: Marie Johnston's Fever Claim

Fever Claim 
Author: Marie Johnston
Series Connection: The Sigma Menace
Genre: Shifter, Vampire, Paranormal, Erotic Romance
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Purchase Link: Amazon

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ 

Started reading this old series that began in 2014, to get the background scoop on Marie Johnston's new series "Pale Moonlight" which have the first book coming out at the end of the month. The first book is called "Birthright". 

In the first of the Sigma Menace series book, Fever Claim, readers are introduced to Jace. Jace is the brother of Maggie, the heroine in "Birthright". 

Jace is a bartender at "Pale Moonlight" a shifter club. For month's his been lusting after Cassie. He knows Cassie is his mate, but she is human and about to marry another human. When Cassie is dumped a couple of weeks before her wedding Jace knows he has a chance to finally make his more. Cassie doesn't know anything about shifters, so he knows he has to take this slow. 

Time isn't on his side though, after one wild night with Jace, Cassie gets a call from her best friend Kaitlyn and and learns very quickly what shifters are. Jace helps her and her friend out of trouble, but Cassie isn't sure how to take on what is going on in the world. 

Jace and Cassie have more problems than just figuring out their mating. Someone evil is after Cassie and Jace and it will take everything that Jace has to protect his mate and all the understanding Cassie can muster to understand this new world she's been sucked into. 

So far I am liking this series and am interested in reading this full series and moving to the new series that begins with Jace's sister. 

Description:

After being ditched only weeks before her wedding, Cassie Stockwell wasn’t out looking for a hookup. Then the devastatingly handsome bartender she’d been trying not to obsess over for months offered to give her a ride home. What could one night hurt? 

When his future was almost taken away after one impulsive decision, wolf-shifter Jace Miller waited patiently for months before making a move on the woman he knew to be his destined mate. But will one night of passion keep his little human by his side once she learns of his world and the danger it brings to her doorstep?

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Romance Book Review: Kate Kent's Confessions of a Mail Order Bride: Complete Edition

 Confessions of a Mail Order Bride: Complete Edition 
Author: Kate Kent
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Shifter Romance, Erotic Romance, Triad Romance Stories and more

Purchase Link: Amazon

❤ ❤ ❤ 

Get the whole Confessions of a Mail Order Bride series together in one set. 

Vic lives in a shifter town with a lot of shifter friends who all find it hard to get mates. He comes up with an idea, a shifter matchmaking site. 

The idea begins to take off when his friend Adrian, a lion shifter, meets his mate Sherry. 

In Lion's Love, Sherry over hears some of her co-workers talking about a new website where women can meet shifter online and see if they are compatible mates. Sherry isn't so sure she wants to apply to the website, but some mean girls at work sign her up.

Once she gets to meet Adrain, Sherry just can't believe her luck. And Adrian isn't too unhappy with the match either. 

And so the story goes. Throughout each book, friends of Sherry's gets to meet their match. In the background, bad things are happening around town. Someone is starting fires and sending a message to the local sheriff while they're at it. That mystery is explored in the background story of each book. 

Although it isn't necessary to read all of the books in the story and they can be purchased separately, it is nice to have the whole series in one set. It gives a chance to read a each love match takes place. 

While the stores are really short and usually feature one or two really erotic love scenes between each of the characters, the underlying story is interesting and makes the novellas stronger. I particularly like the last two stories, Tiger's Tease and Bull's Beauty. 

Tiger's Tease features a mix match pair if there ever was one. This story I wish would have been a little longer so their story had a chance to develop. This is the story between the Sheriff Dirk Matthews and Ava Adams. Ave is a former drug addict, who spent a little time in jail. She also sports a lot a tattoos, piercings and purple hair. Not exactly a match made in heaven for the small town sheriff. This relationship could have been a fun to explore some more. 

The final story in the set Bull's Beauty finishes off the mystery of who is setting the fires and who killed Vic and Max's mother, which we learn about in the first story. 

The first book, Lion's Love, is a kindle freebie right now if you want to check out the series before purchasing the set. 

Description:
Lion’s Love
Hungry lion meets shy BBW for a roaring good time!
All she’s ever wanted is to find the love of her life. BBW Sherry Cole dreams about the day she will find her true mate, marry and have kids but her natural shyness and a birthmark have eroded her confidence. Some of her co-workers are mean girls who decide it would be fun to play with Sherry’s love life and they take matters into their own hands

Bears’ Babe (menage)
Sexy, scruffy baker bear shifters hook up with curvy BBW for double the growl!
Judith Banks is looking for a partner whose ambition, drive and success match her own. When she sees handsome, successful wolf shifter Brad Stanford’s profile on the ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies Marriage Mates’ website she knows he’s the one. Shifters mate forever and with two failed marriages behind her, Judith is determined to get to know Mr. Perfect. But she hadn’t counted on the desire of the beefcake baker boys; Grant and Evan Myles.

Coyote’s Cutie
Hunky coyote shifter howls with lust and desire for curvy BBW!
Emotionally scarred BBW Marcie Shore aka ‘Hard Core Shore” aches for love but is caught in a vicious cycle of picking the wrong men. And her latest love interest wolf shifter Brad Stanford is about as wrong as they come. When she and nasty boy Brad hook up for some hot loving their steamy encounter leaves Marcie in a tough situation.

Wolves’ Wife (menage)
Sweet and sexy BBW has two wolf shifters growling and howling with desire!
Jill Lambert is not sure men can be trusted. She was the apple of her father’s eye but he left home when she was a teen never to be heard from again, and her ex-boyfriend cheated on her too many times. But when she learns her co-workers and friends have found forever mates on the ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies’ site she is tempted to give the marriage match site a try.

Tiger’s Tease
Pretty and pierced BBW has rough and ready tiger shifter burning with need!
Ava Adams has had her share of troubles; a rough childhood, drug addiction and even a stint in jail. Her last boyfriend was a jerk and the prospects of finding a hot and caring man to love aren’t very good. Though her friend Sherry convinces her to try the ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies Marriage Mates’ site, Ava is pretty sure the outcome will suck—especially since the site is running a blind dating experiment.

Bulls’ Beauty (menage)
Sassy BBW grabs 2 hot n’sexy bulls by the horns!
Cute, curvy and looking for love, Sabrina Foster signs up for the ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies’ marriage mates site. But she’s upset to find that none of the hot shifters on the site are interested in her profile. When she asks Vic, the site owner what the problem is, she is stunned to discover the truth!
Share in their true confessions as the women seek love with some of the hottest shifters in town! Confessions of a Mail Order Bride: Complete Editionincludes all the romances and covers in the Confession series. The stories includes strong sexual themes and language.

Romance Book Review: Celia Kyle's Kozav

Kozav 
Author: Celia Kyle, Erin Tate
Series Connection: Dragons of Preor
Genre: Scifi Alien Romance, Shifter Romance, Dragon Romance

Purchase Link: Amazon

❤ ❤ ❤ 

Kozav is a Primary Warrior on the Preor ship. He and a group of his men are injured and sent to a hospital on earth, but none of the doctors want to work on them and leave them for dead. 

When nurse Grace Hall arrives at work, she sees the Preors and immediately gets to work trying to repair the damage. Unaware that she is being fed information from the Preor's mating experience, she is able to help all the aliens until their own healers arrive. 

When Kozav wakes from his injuries back on the ship he realizes something is different and the "knowing" kicks in. He knows that sometime while he was unconsious he met his mate, now all he has to do is find her. 

When he finally does, he finds that helping his men has cause her health issues and takes her back to his ship where his healers can help her. But when she wakes all Grace can think about is the fact that she has obligations back at home. 

It doesn't help that not everyone on the Preor ship is happy that yet another human mate has been found. It seems Kozav and Grace have a lot to work out before that can have their HEA. 

This story had all the elements of one of Celia Kyle's entertaining stories, but something is holding me back from giving it a "5 Heart" review. I liked Grace and the fact that she has so much going on in her young life and just plows forward to make the best of everything. She has two jobs and takes care of her mother at all costs. 

She is a very independent woman and that certainly makes her very different from the kind of woman, Kozav sees himself with. I don't really think the story had a chance to touch on that very important issue. Compromise is talked about, but with the current situation on the ship, I can't really see this as a place where Grace would thrive, which makes me think she would be very unhappy in that situation. Making this couple not so compatible. 

That said, it is a good read and an interesting addition to the series, where the author goes into more detail about earth before the aliens came. 

Description:
Kozav found his mate and then he lost her. Now it’s time to hunt… 

Grace Hall is a nurse, not a doctor. But when five Preor warriors are brought to the emergency room and the doctors won't touch the aliens, she steps forward. One warrior draws her more than the others. His teal wings, muscular body, and pain-glazed eyes have her torn between two desires — needing his touch and desperation to heal him. She’s going to save the Preor males, even if it kills her. When she loses consciousness after healing them, she realizes it just might. 

Kozav sen Aghin, Primary Warrior of the Preor Third Fleet, wakes on the Preor battleship fully healed yet plagued by a feeling that something is wrong. And something is… Kozav's mate was left behind on Earth—alone and unprotected. Unacceptable. Kozav's guilt for his actions in the past still plague him and he is determined not to fail again. The curvaceous, green-eyed, dark haired human female is his to protect, his to claim and his to keep. 

When someone attempts to murder Grace, Kozav is prepared to do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Even if it means killing one of his own. Or will it be Kozav with a sword through his chest? 

Part of the "DRAGONS OF PREOR" series: 
Jarek 
Taulan 
Kozav 

Rendan *coming soon*