Romance Byte: Steel Beauty

Author:Dana Marie Bell
Series Connection: Halle Pumas, Book 4
ISBN: 978-1-60504-498-9
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Description:
She’s everything a big bad wolf could want.

Coping with a devastating injury is hard enough for Belinda “Belle” Campbell. Forced separation from her destined mate while she heals is almost more than she can endure. Until she is strong enough to take up her duties as Luna of the Poconos Wolf Pack, however, the safest place for her is Halle. Now, after months of being alone, she is more than ready to be claimed. But is the pack ready for a Puma Luna?

Rick Lowell has waited long enough to bring Belle home where she belongs. He’s aware of the danger, as well—and it isn’t long before a bitch with an eye on Belle’s position issues a challenge. The only way to put down the threat is for Belle to defeat the usurper in combat.

There’s only one problem. Thanks to the pins in her broken hip, Belle can’t shift. Without that tactical advantage, it won’t be a fair fight. With his new mate’s life on the line, Rick is forced to make a decision that will change everything.

That is, if Belle gives him the chance to make it.

Warning: This title contains explicit sex, graphic language, lots of doggie (or is that kitty?) style and some songs Rick will never want to hear again. Ever.

Romance Book Review: Cat of a Different Color

Author: Dana Marie Bell
Series Connection: Halle Pumas, Book 3
ISBN: 978-1-60504-239-8
Genre: Paranormal Romance

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In the third edition of Halle Pumas, Adrian is asked to bring a new pack member to a meeting. The minute he hears her voice through the door of her hotel room he realizes she is his mate. There is nothing a were-puma won't do to keep his mate safe and Adrian quickly learns that his mate is in need of his and his packs help.

Legally blind Sheri has been through a lot in her life, but being stalked and pursued by her former lover was more than she can handle. She turns to her college friend, Max, Alpha of the Halle Pumas. When her ex-boyfriend attacked her the first time, Max had saved her life by changing her into a puma. Now that she has met Adrian her first instinct is to pull away from him, because no matter how strong he thinks he is, Sheri worries that there will be no way he can be strong enough to fight against her ex-lover--a werewolf and his pack.

Cat of a Different Color was an enjoyable quick read. The pack mentality that is usually seen in werewolf stories was nicely added to this were-cat/puma story. The characters are likable and despite Sheri's handicap she is a strong and delightfully feisty heroine.

Description:
He’ll do whatever it takes to protect his mate.

Dr. Adrian Giordano is quite happy with the way his life is going. His two best friends are happily mated, and he’s still sanely single. He has friends, a thriving business, and the occasional Saturday night date. Then Sheridan Montgomery comes to town. His inner Puma responds to the husky-voiced snow princess in a way that tells him his life is about to be turned upside down.

Sheri can’t believe her luck could be this bad. Instinct tells her Adrian is her mate, but the last thing she wants to do is drag him into her messy life. She’s on the run from a big bad wolf—an ex who won’t take no for an answer. Worse, if he catches her, he’s got the teeth (and the Pack!) to take what he wants.

She doesn’t stand a chance alone, but with her friends—and the persistent Adrian—by her side, she might just survive.

If her ex doesn’t eat the yummy Dr. Giordano for lunch, that is…

Warning: This title contains explicit sex, graphic language, a handsome, dark-eyed shifter and a couple of bites to remember.

About the Author
Dana Marie Bell wrote her first short story when she was thirteen years old. She attended the High School for Creative and Performing Arts for creative writing, where freedom of expression was the order of the day. When her parents moved out of the city and placed her in a Catholic high school for her senior year she tried desperately to get away, but the nuns held fast, and she graduated with honors despite herself.
Dana has lived primarily in the Northeast (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, to be precise), with a brief stint on the US Virgin Island of St. Croix. She lives with her soul-mate and husband Dusty, their two maniacal children, two evil ice-cream stealing cats, and a bull terrier that thinks it’s a Pekinese.

Romance Byte: Playground of the Gods

Author: E. Jamie
ISBN: N/A
Genre: Sci-fi Erotic Romance
Publisher: Amira Press

Description:
Luke and Megan are fighter pilots and soldiers fighting side by side to find a new home for their lost people. They have loved each other for years, but neither will admit it for fear of betraying the memory of their best friend, Megan's dead fiancee. With a little help from the Gods above, will these brave warriors find the courage to engage in a battle for each others hearts?

About the author from her Website:
E. Jamie is the pseudonym of Nancy Da Silva who lives in Toronto, Canada. She has been writing since the age of eleven and hasn't been bored a day in her life since.

She writes non fiction under her real name but thought it best to use another name for her erotica so folks looking for her work didn't get a mishmash of different genres and styles. If erotica's not your thing and you're looking for maybe straight romance or some of her non fiction work, you're better off not looking under 'E. Jamie'.

E. Jamie stands for hot. Hot sexy stories that make your toes and everything else curl. It stands for passionate tales that leave the bedroom door wide open and leave you begging for more.

Nancy is a fulltime freelance writer and will be publishing some of her tamer (still sexy, still hot but not that kind of hot) romances under her real name or some edited version of her name very soon.

She decided to take the plunge into writing erotica for publication this year (after writing it for free for more years than she should have been. Naughty girl) and was snapped up by Amira Press where she currently resides having published two shorts thus far 'To Love A Knight' and 'Forbidden'. She has a brand new erotic novella coming out with Amira Press this November called 'Redemption' and is currently at work on her next project, a contemporary erotic romance called 'Till Death Do Us Part'

In her free time she likes to read and counts Paullina Simons, Diana Gabaldon, Julia Quinn, Victoria Alexander, Catherine Anderson and Lisa Kleypas among her favorite authors. She loves to listen to music while she writes and suggests movies soundtracks are some of the best music to write to. She is in love with the TV show Supernatural and thinks Jensen Ackles was born simply to inspire her to write smut. As she is a Days Of Our Lives fan, she believes James Scott falls into this category as well.

She loves to cook as she considers it yet another wonderful creative outlet though much to her chagrin she cannot make soup.

Romance Book Review: Fortune's Woman

Author: RaeAnne Thayne
Series Connection: The Fortunes of Texas: Return to Red Rock
ISBN: 9780373654529
Genre: Contemporary Romance

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The saga of the Fortune family continues with Fortune's Woman. This time readers get to meet Ross Fortune. Ross was introduced earlier in the series. He is the private detective the family goes to to try to figure out the mystery behind who is setting fires and sending notes threatening the family.

Now Ross has another problem to deal with. His no good brother-in-law, Lloyd is murdered and his sister, Frannie, has been arrested for the crime. With his father dead and his mother in jail, it is up to Ross to look after his teenage nephew, Josh. Ross enlists the help of Fortune Foundation counselor, Julie Osterman to help Josh with grief support. But who is going to help Ross with his feelings for Julie?

Julie is a widow who has been brokenhearted enough to last her a lifetime. She's sure that it is time to move on with her life, but she just isn't sure that Ross is the right man to move on with.

This is a nice romance story, but there is little that is seems to relate to the over all mystery of the series. Or is there? Readers who are following the series will just have to wait and see what secrets good old Lloyd might have taken to the grave with him.

Description:
Only a family crisis could bring Ross Fortune back home to Texas. But clearing his sister of a murder charge was the roving P.I.'s most important mission. Falling for the woman counseling his nephew was a complication he definitely didn't need.

Though the sexy, off-limits Fortune was a challenge she couldn't resist, Julie Osterman couldn't afford to let her personal feelings cloud her professional judgment. But when an explosive secret threatened everyone's future, was she willing to put it all on the line for the chance to be at Ross's side…forever?

About the Author from eharlequin's Website:
RaeAnne Thayne loves words. It started as soon as she learned to read, when she used to devour anything she could get her hands on (cereal boxes, encyclopedias, the phone book, you name it!). She loves the way they sound, the way they look on the page, and the amazing way they can be jumbled together in so many combinations to tell a story.

Her love of reading and writing those words led her to journalism, and she worked for fifteen years as a newspaper reporter and editor.

Through it all, she dreamed of writing the kind of stories she loved best. She started writing romance fiction in 1990 and sold her first book five years later. Since then, she's published more than two-dozen novels and that same number of short stories.

Romance Byte: The Witch's Beast

Author: Kiki Howell
ISBN: 978-1-60313-504-7
Genre: Erotic/Paranormal/Publisher lists as Controversial

Description:
A witch rejected… a few spells for revenge… an arrogant Prince turned into a Beast… a beautiful woman taken captive …

And, that is just the beginning of this tale of a Beauty and a Beast told by the Witch who cast the spell that began it all. A dismal castle, possessed candles, and a little mangy fur will be the least of the Beast’s troubles as the Witch goes into a jealous rage over the Beauty he now holds captive.

A magic mirror… desperate sex spells… magical seductive dreams… orgasmic punishments in a dungeon…

This time, the Beast will be caught between a Beauty who has caught his eye but rejects his proposal of marriage and the Witch who allows him moments in his human form to fulfill his every sexual desire.

For whom will there be a happily ever after?

About the Author from her Website:
I have always loved to read, spending hours lost in a book. Getting caught up in the characters lives, I am easily transported into another place in time where I get to be someone else, someplace else, experiencing something new. I am the same way when I write. Creating magical lives with just words has become an amazing and a humbling obsession.

To that end, I earned a bachelor’s degree in English and began a Master’s program in English & Creative Writing.

After a long break having my boys, I finally just had to write again. And, as soon as I got out of my own way, the stories took shape. I equally love research and planning as much as I love playing with the words. I find great pleasure in finding creative ways to string them together to bring my stories to life.

I live in the Ohio with my incredibly handsome and talented, singer/songwriter husband and two children. When I am not writing, I am spending time with my family, reading, baking or knitting.

My ultimate dream is to have a novel I have written made into a movie and have my husband create the soundtrack for it.

Enter to WIN a free copy of Vanessa Kelly's Mastering the Marquess

Answer the question at the top of Vanessa Kelly's interview and you could be eligible to win a copy of Vanessa Kelly's new book Mastering The Marquess. (Follow the below link to the interview.)

Just read through Vanessa's interview, answer the question and e-mail the answer to roni@romancebookscene.com. A drawing to win the book will take place June 1, 2009.

Mastering the Marquess book description:
Vanessa is getting rave reviews on her historical novel Mastering the Marquess. The novel features country spinster Meredith Burnley, who will do anything to save her half-sister Annabel, including risking her own life and sacrificing her only chance for happiness. On her quest she meets The Marquess of Silverton, Stephen. The arrogant Marquess must be willing to risk everything--especially his heart--or lose Meredith, and his last chance for love.

Deadline to answer the question is May 31, 2009. A drawing to win the book will take place June 1, 2009. There will be one winner for this contest.

Romance Byte: Stress Relief

Author: Diana Hunter
ISBN: 9781419921834
Genre: BDSM/ Erotic Romance

Description:
Meg Turner needs to relax. Between her job, her mother and the loss of a good Dom, she's all wound up and needs a good flogging to relieve her tension.

Rand Arthur is a busy man with a company to run. He doesn't need commitments, but when his friend asks him to take Meg on as a new sub, he agrees, knowing there's nothing that relieves stress like flogging a willing back.

But by the end of their first session, both find something in the other that neither expected. The scenes are hot, the sex hotter, as Rand takes her places and pushes her farther than she ever dreamed possible. Now, neither wants to change the rules of their relationship and risk losing it all.

This book contains very graphic group sex scenes.

About the author from her Website:
Diana Hunter became interested in writing stories with bondage and D/s themes when she found a dearth of them on the web. Nothing she read seemed to have the romantic element she knew was possible in such relationships. Challenged by a friend to write a better one, she wrote her first full-length novel, Secret Submission.

Each book Diana writes contains a kernel of truth or deeply held conviction from her own life, but don't ask her where truth ends and fantasy begins she'll never tell! When not writing, Diana is either at her loom, weaving thread lines of a different sort, or playing Mommy-taxi to her two teenage children. Married for over twenty-five years to the same man, she is grateful for all the wonderful encouragement he gives her.

Romance Book Review: Demon Can't Help It

Author: Kathy Love
Series Connection: Anyway You Want It and I Want You To Want ME
ISBN-13: 978-0758231932
Genre: Paranormal Romance

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After ending a very bad relationship Jo moves to New Orleans to be closer to her two best friends, Maggie and Erika. Jo isn't ready to come clean with her friends about her torrid relationship or her current condition and she certainly isn't ready for a new relationship with the very gorgeous and totally inappropriate Maksim. The only problem is when Maksim gets near she just can't help herself.

Maksim isn't taking any chances. He wants to get as close as possible to Jo as he can get, even if it means volunteering at the Community Center where Jo works and having to take care of "little heathens". Maksim isn't used to having to work hard to get a woman in his bed, but just getting Jo to spend anytime with him is turning into a chore. It isn't just that Maksim is conceited and believes that no woman can resist him, it is just that he's a demon and since he embodies everything that is sin, lust and desire what woman could refuse.

When strange things start to happen, Jo turns to Maksim for help. He's supportive and the most unbelievable part to Maksim is that he isn't making any of it up. He sincerely wants to be there for Jo, but is that what's best for her or is it best for Maksim to head back to his home in hell and stay away from the woman he loves?

Demon Can't Help It is often times funny and others just a bit scary. The book is made more enjoyable by the quirky, likeable characters. Maksim isn't like any demon from fairytales. He's quick to say he's "self-centered, excessive, indulgent, ruled solely by his own wants and desires," and those are just his fun traits. Jo is feisty, full of secrets and in need of someone to love her. This story has like characters from the first two books in the series, but can be read separately. Although after reading, beware as you may be compelled to read the other two in the series.

Description:
A Demon . . .Not Just In Bed

Practical Josephine "Jo" Burke has no patience for the paranormal—even if she's been having some strange visions lately. But if she is losing her mind, at least it would explain her new attraction to her co-worker, the least suitable man she could ever fall for. . .

Maksim Kostova has no idea why he's so drawn to feisty mortal Jo, but he does know how she feels about the supernatural. Forget about her accepting him for what he really is, she'd never even believe him in the first place. Or would she? When Jo confesses to him that she's been seeing visions of a dead girl, it seems anything's possible. . .

Romance Byte: Red's Wolf

Author: Brigit Aine
Series Connection: Torrent's Talents Book 1
ISBN: 9781894817530
Genre: Erotica
Release Date: May 15, 2009

Description:
Red is grateful to be able to come back to Torrent where everyone has a talent and she isn’t looked on like a freak. What she doesn’t count on is Ethan.

Ethan knows the minute he says Red on her way to her Grandma’s house that she is his mate, now all he has to do is convince her.

Check out her blog at http://www.brigitsworld.blogspot.com/.

Romance Byte: Twilight Guardian

Author: R. G. Alexander
Series Connection: Children of the Goddess, Book 3
ISBN: 978-1-60504-529-0
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: May 12, 2009

Description:
Not even the Goddess can save him…but maybe love can.

A Sariel guard, Kit has spent centuries fulfilling his people’s oath to protect the Trueblood Clan. Not Vampire, not Were, and certainly not human, Kit is something altogether…different. And when he is called back home to honor his obligations one last time, he can do none other than obey.
Jesse experiences life behind the lens of a camera. The only time she truly lives is in her dreams. For years she’s imagined a world filled with werewolves, vampires, magic. And him.

When she realizes that not only is her dream world real, but the giant of her fantasies is in danger, she’ll have to jump in with both feet, and trust her heart. In Kit’s arms, she learns love is as infinite as time.

But so is a bitter god’s thirst for vengeance.

After a thousand years of duty, Jesse’s love is a gift from the Goddess. But for Kit, it might have come too late…

About the author from her Website:
Stolen away by a free-spirited Gypsy as a babe
(though she still swears she’s my mother)
I spent my childhood roaming the countryside,
meeting fascinating characters and having amazing adventures.
Being the perpetual new kid
my friends, more often than not, were found between the pages of a book.
I read everything I could get my hands on
from L’Engle to Shakespeare
And then, at the age of eleven, I read my first romance
I’ve been hooked ever since.
I’ve had a dozen career changes, and several great passions in my life
Singing, Nursing, Mythology and Archaeology
But my greatest passion of all is my husband
The best buddy who turned out to be my soul mate
Talk about a plot twist
I used to say, “Someday I want to write a book. A romance.”
I said it a lot
One day my husband said, “Do it.”
The gauntlet had been thrown
And now? Now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

EC donates free RomantiCon 2009 trip to Brenda Novak's Online Auction for Diabetes

Ellora’s Cave has donated a really cool gift to Brenda Novak's Online Auction for Diabetes Research and they’re trying to get the word out to get her a good price for it. It’s an all-​expenses-​paid trip to RomantiCon 2009 (our inaugural convention October 9-11) Best of All is the memento of the trip: Winner gets her (or his) picture with the Caveman cover model of her choice on the cover of her favorite Ellora's Cave book.

Trip includes:

1. Admission to RomantiCon 2009, Ellora's Cave's first ever convention. Be there for this historic (and fun) event, including three days of parties, workshops, photo shoots, cover models

2. Food, Hotel Accommodations,​ and Roundtrip Airfare (Continental United States only!)

BEST OF ALL!!
3. Your photo with the Ellora's Caveman cover model of your choice, featured on the book cover of your choice and 10 free copies of the book

To bid on this wonderful gift: Link
For more info on RomantiCon October 9-11 2009: http://www.jasminejade.com/romanticon/

WIN A COPY OF VANESSA KELLY'S NEW BOOK!

Answer the question at the top of Vanessa Kelly's interview and you could be eligible to win a copy of Vanessa Kelly's new book Mastering The Marquess. (Follow the below link to the interview.)

Just read through Vanessa's interview, answer the question and e-mail the answer to roni@romancebookscene.com. A drawing to win the book will take place June 1, 2009.

Mastering the Marquess book description:
Vanessa is getting rave reviews on her historical novel Mastering the Marquess. The novel features country spinster Meredith Burnley, who will do anything to save her half-sister Annabel, including risking her own life and sacrificing her only chance for happiness. On her quest she meets The Marquess of Silverton, Stephen. The arrogant Marquess must be willing to risk everything--especially his heart--or lose Meredith, and his last chance for love.

Deadline to answer the question is May 31, 2009. A drawing to win the book will take place June 1, 2009. There will be one winner for this contest.

Kresley Cole Collection finally uploaded on www.romancebookscene.com

After going through my Website stats this morning I found that there were lots of people who were interested in Kresley Cole. I've finally gotten around to uploading my collection of all of her books. It has been a while since I read some of the titles, but I wanted to at least get a description down and what I thought of her book. I recently completed, Kresley's latest Kiss of the Demon King. (See the review below.)

For all the other reviews on Kresley's books follow this link...