Tag Archives: Made Me Cry

Review: Chance of Rain by Amber Lin

Reviews, , , , , , , , ,

Chance of RainChance of Rain by Amber Lin

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Night Owl Reviews.

Review Excerpt:

What I love the most about Chance of Rain is how Amber Lin uses every word to build a whole world in the one small Texas town with stories and descriptions that put us there by showing instead of telling. We learn so much about not only our hero and heroine, but also the town, its more colorful members, and the environment which formed Natalie and Sawyer into the adults they have become in the years since they were together back in high school. The actions of the the characters ring true and provide a foundation for a well earned reconciliation by the time we reach their happy ending. A selfish part of me wishes there was more to read, but even if this is the only time we visit Dearling, Chance of Rain will always stand alone as a perfect jewel of romance. I wish more stories of this length were half as good.

View all my reviews

Review: Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young

Reviews, , , , , , , ,

Before Jamaica Lane (On Dublin Street, #3)Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Night Owl Reviews

Review Excerpt:

Samantha Young is an expert at showing how both the hero and heroine cope with feelings they’ve managed to suppress before being confronted by the one person who can get past the emotional walls they’ve built. The situations are never forced and the reactions ring true. Her heroines have true agency in their actions and her heroes never cross the line between intense alpha and scary stalker. Even when the heroes screw up (and boy, does Nate screw up big in this story), they always return with the most wonderful groveling that neither the heroines nor I could possibly resist. Before Jamaica Lane is another enjoyable addition to the On Dublin Street series and I’m looking forward to reading about whatever couple she has plans for in the next story.

View all my reviews

Review: Last Hit by Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick

Reviews, , , , , , , ,

Title: Last Hit
Author: Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick
Series: Hitman #1
Genre: contemporary erotic romantic suspense
Publisher: self-published
Format: ebook
Release Date: 12/1/2013

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

Publisher Summary:

Nikolai:

I have been a contract killer since I was a boy. For years I savored the fear caused by my name, the trembling at the sight of my tattoos. The stars on my knees, the marks on my fingers, the dagger in my neck, all bespoke of danger. If you saw my eyes, it was the last vision you’d have. I have ever been the hunter, never the prey. With her, I am the mark and I am ready to lie down and let her capture me. Opening my small scarred heart to her brings out my enemies. I will carry out one last hit, but if they hurt her, I will bring the world down around their ears.

Daisy:

I’ve been sheltered from the outside world all my life. Homeschooled and farm-raised, I’m so naive that my best friend calls me Pollyanna. I like to believe the best in people. Nikolai is part of this new life, and he’s terrifying to me. Not because his eyes are cold or my friend warns me away from him, but because he’s the only man that has ever seen the real me beneath the awkwardness. With him, my heart is at risk..and also, my life.

Mini Excerpt:

I watch her through my bathroom window. I’ve placed one of my four rented chairs in here for that express purpose. I tell myself it is not creepy, as the American girls would say, because I watch everyone. But really I watch only her.

I cannot see everything. I’ve never seen her nude. I’ve never seen inside her shower. Smartly there is no window there. But I can see her bedroom and her living room and beyond that, with my scope, her kitchen. I know her schedule. When she gets up in the morning, when she returns to her apartment. If she were a mark, I could’ve killed her a dozen times over by now and been in the wind.

She throws her bag onto her bed and then lies down next to it. It takes many muscles to smile, more to frown but only a few to pull the trigger. I peer down the scope and place my crosshairs over her forehead. Puff, dead.

My Review:

Last Hit is an unlikely love story between a young couple who should never have seen each other, never have met, never have fallen in love. He was an assassin for the Ukrainian mob. She is just learning how dangerous the real world can be after having been kept away from it for most of her life. Together their love heals what’s damaged in each other and makes them stronger as a couple than they ever could have been apart.

Daisy had been kept a prisoner by her father ever since her mother was murdered by a juvenile delinquent who’d been set free after only 2 years in jail. After over a decade of being kept from living a real life, Daisy has finally saved up enough cash to leave her father’s prison behind and go out into the real world that she only knows from library books. But her sheltered childhood has left her vulnerable to those who would damage and defile her. It’s only when Nikolai spots her that her life will be changed yet again, both for better and worse.

Nikolai’s childhood was as different from Daisy’s as could ever be possible. She never left the house; he never had a home. Her father sheltered her to the point of real abuse; his only family was the mob organization who took him and molded him into a ruthless killer. When Nikolai sees Daisy through a window in the building where he is stalking his next target, he knows she is too good for him, but that he must have her anyway. When it comes to real romance, Nikolai is just as innocent as Daisy, and their courting is both awkward and sweet. But he is sure that she could never accept the real Nikolai if she ever found out just what he really did for a living.

When Nikolai’s past runs into Daisy’s future, there are real consequences, affecting not just them but also innocent bystanders. Still, Nikolai and Daisy both know that all they really have is each other, and even with brief moments of doubt, it’s truly their love that gets them (and us) through all that follows. There are extreme moments of violence and that might make this book not the best choice for everyone. But the romance between this hero and heroine was so fascinating and irresistible that I couldn’t stop reading Last Hit until I knew that their happy ending was guaranteed. I can’t wait to read the next Hitman book Jessica Clare and Jen Frederick have planned for us next year. If it’s half as good as Last Hit, it will be worth the wait. 4.5 stars

Review: Gabriel’s Redemption by Sylvain Reynard

Reviews, , , , , ,

Title: Gabriel’s Redemption
Author: Sylvain Reynard
Series: Gabriel’s Inferno #3
Genre: contemporary erotic romance
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Format: ebook/print/audio
Release Date: 12/3/2013

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

Publisher Summary:

Professor Gabriel Emerson has left his position at the University of Toronto to embark on a new life with his beloved Julianne. Together, he’s confident that they can face any challenge. And he’s eager to become a father.

But Julianne’s graduate program threatens Gabriel’s plans, as the pressures of being a student become all consuming. When she is given the honor of presenting an academic lecture at Oxford, Gabriel is forced to confront her about the subject of her presentation – research that conflicts with his own. And in Oxford, several individuals from their past appear, including an old nemesis intent on humiliating Julia and exposing one of Gabriel’s darkest secrets.

In an effort to confront his remaining demons, Gabriel begins a quest to discover more about his biological parents, beginning a chain of events that has startling repercussions for himself, Julianne, and his hope of having a family.

My Review:

This review contains spoilers for Gabriel’s Inferno and Gabriel’s Rapture, the first two books in the trilogy. You could try to read Gabriel’s Redemption as a stand-alone, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

When we last saw Julia and Gabriel, they had just reconciled and married after a tumultuous time during which they were forcibly separated after the scandal of their illicit relationship had nearly cost both of them their academic careers. Now safely wed, they are working on how to navigate a marriage between one imperious Dante specialist used to having his own way and one equally stubborn Dante specialist-in-training who loves her man but wants to make her own way in the field they both share. Julia has a very important lecture to present at Oxford and it’s that lecture which sparks their final journey through their not-so-distant past, with nearly every friend and foe reappearing for one last hurrah.

Sylvain Reynard has stated publicly that a third book in the Gabriel’s Inferno series was never planned, and that Gabriel’s Redemption is the direct result of the fans requesting it. I’m always wary of books that are produced as a love letter to the fans, as the need to please can either result in something that’s just a repeat of the previous book(s) or worse, a plot that abandons everything readers had loved before and ruins their memories forever.

I am so very relieved and pleased to report that Gabriel’s Redemption is neither a boring rehash, nor is it a betrayal of the series. For a huge fan like me, reading this book was like coming back to a place that you have always loved but haven’t visited in quite some time. There was drama (the good kind that doesn’t make you want to throw the book against the wall) and humor (the Professor is finally able to laugh at just how much of an ass he can be) and suspense (whatever happened to all the incriminating photos of Julia with the Senator’s son?). The enemies who had previously threatened Julia and Gabriel’s happiness all got to come back for one more shot, while the dear friends and family who had aided our lovers in their triumph over evil returned to help once again. All the loose ends from the past were addressed and resolved, and by the end of the book, I knew that our Dante and his Beatrice were finally going to live Happily Ever After – no epilogue required. Gabriel’s Redemption is the best gift to those who love Julia and her Professor and it made me love the whole series even more. 4.5 stars

Review: Don’t Let Go by Skye Warren

Reviews, , , , , , , , ,

Don't Let Go (Dark Erotica, #4)Don’t Let Go by Skye Warren

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

There are many writers who specialize in the darkest of erotic novels, both with and without romantic elements, but there are very few who are truly talented in this often misunderstood subgenre. One of those writers is Skye Warren, who has displayed her incredible talent again in what I believe is her best book yet – Never Let Go. This is the fourth entry in her Dark Erotica series, but a reader new to her work should have no problem reading it as a stand-alone. It features a couple who not only appear to be mismatched from the start, but who ultimately put a whole new spin on the terms “hero” and “heroine” that would normally be used to describe them here.

Samantha Holmes never had a real childhood, thanks to her father. He tortured and killed other children for years, but left her alive long enough to be the one who turned him in. No human could emerge from such an experience without some sort of serious emotional damage, yet Samantha is determined not to let anyone suspect that she is anything but normal. As a rookie agent for the FBI, her goal is to put the bad guys in jail, but as a woman, most of what she gets to do involves more mundane tasks, like filing and fetching coffee. So when she is abruptly assigned to one of the Bureau’s most high-profile cases, partnering with a legendary senior agent, she doesn’t let herself question too closely why she, of all people, would be chosen.

On the surface, Ian Hennessy seems to be exactly as he appears, namely the no-nonsense agent who always gets the bad guy and will stop at nothing to get Carlos Laguardia, even if it means dumping his new lady partner before she even has a chance to contribute. Samantha is drawn to him sexually in spite of herself, knowing that although the attraction is mutual, the outcome can’t be anything but bad. Who in their right mind would want a monster like her…unless that person was one, too?

Anyone who was following me on Twitter when I was reading Don’t Let Go got to see my instant reaction in a series of tweets where I expressed just how much I enjoyed it:

When a review book unexpectedly rewards you with writing so
perfectly nuanced and understated that it makes you want to
weep with joy. #win

It’s so damn good, this book.

I now have a book hangover THIS BIG and it’s all @skye_warren ‘s fault.
Wow. #win

I still can’t wrap my head around how much this book got to me. Although I am a long-time fan of truly deeply dark erotica, I normally shy away from books that reference extreme violence, especially against women or children. I’m also nearly burned out on romances where the heroine has been broken/damaged/whatever and can only be “saved” by a hero who is often also broken/damaged/whatever by similar circumstances. But Don’t Let Go morphs both of those tropes into something unique and fascinating, both as a character study and as a genuine romance between a man and a woman who ultimately agree that they are perfectly matched for one another…and all that that implies. To tell you any more would be to ruin all its secrets. But in a year when I’ve been fortunate enough to have read so many 5 star books, you should know that Don’t Let Go has immediately vaulted to the top of my list for 2013, and it will be a difficult task to dislodge it from that spot.

Ratings:

Overall: 5
Sensuality level: 4.5 (multiple scenes of violent dubious consent, bondage, flogging and use of sex toys; threats of rape and sexual violence; discussion of child sex abuse and murder)

View all my reviews

Review: Because We Belong by Beth Kery

Reviews, , , , , , , , ,

Because We Belong (Because You Are Mine, #3)Because We Belong by Beth Kery

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

This review contains spoilers for Because You Are Mine and When I’m With You, the first two stories in the series. You could try to read Because We Belong as a stand-alone book, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

After having to read the previous stories in this series as serial novels, it was a huge relief for me that Because We Belong was being released as a complete book from the start. The prologue takes place hours before the dramatic moment in When I’m With You when Ian found out that his mother had died and that he and his good friend had both been fathered by the same man who had raped their mothers and thousands of other women before his death. We then move forward six months to find that Ian has been missing that entire time, with only his personal assistant Lin knowing where he is or what he is doing. Francesca has moved back into the house she once shared with all her old roommates while trying to go on without Ian, angry and sad that he has refused to contact her even once. When Lucien returns to ask for Francesca’s help in managing a delicate financial crisis at Noble Enterprises, her decision sets off a chain of events that put her in danger from an unknown enemy and force her to confront the mania driving the man she doesn’t want to live without.

I loved Ian and Francesca so much in Because You Are Mine, and hated having to wait each week for the next entry in the story. When I’m With You was a good read in its own right, but because the focus was on Lucien and Elise, it was less compelling for me right up until that heart-slamming chapter when Lucien revealed his relationship to Ian just before Ian found out his mother had died, leaving that same night to see his family in England. I was shocked to find that Ian was still gone and not communicating with Francesca months after that night, and that got me even more hooked into Because We Belong, as I wondered what the hell was going on with Ian and what might happen next.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that I tore through Because We Belong as fast as I was able to read without skimming or missing a single word. All of Francesca’s feelings were front and center in this book and I felt what she did as it was happening. My relief was palpable when Ian finally made contact, yet I cheered her on as she made him see just how much he had hurt her by his absence, and never allowing him to succumb entirely to his obsession with his late father’s past.

In Because We Belong, the passion between Ian and Francesca is just as deep and true and undeniable as it ever was, and their intimate moments burn up the pages whenever they come together. The growing threat to Francesca’s life is intrinsic to the overall story but never overwhelms the romance between Ian and Francesca as they rediscover the love they both had feared they’d lost. Best of all, the end of the story sets up another book in the series, so we’ll be able to see more happy moments between Ian and Francesca now that they’ve defeated both the internal and external threats to their happiness. Because We Belong is a fantastic entry in the Because You Are Mine series and was worth every minute I had to wait before I got to read it.

Ratings:

Overall: 5
Sensuality level: 4 (BDSM elements including light bondage, anal sex and voyeurism, threats of sexual violence and discussion of rape)

View all my reviews

Review: The Fifth Favor by Shelby Reed

Reviews, , , , , , , ,

The Fifth FavorThe Fifth Favor by Shelby Reed

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

I had only recently discovered the books of Shelby Reed when I got the opportunity to review this reissued version of THE FIFTH FAVOR, originally released by Ellora’s Cave back in 2004. It tells the story of a woman who was looking for a big break to help boost her career as a reporter for a sleazy tabloid magazine but ended up finding the one man who could fill the emotional hole in her life. But when the man you love makes his living by sexually servicing other women, can the love you have for each other survive the fallout when he stands accused of murder?

Billie has just come out of a failed marriage where she had been starved for affection from her ex-husband who then proceeded to dump her for a woman more worthy of his love. All she has left is her career, and that isn’t going all that great, either. When her boss arranges an interview with one of the most sought-after male escorts at an exclusive brothel for women, Billie is only thinking about how this assignment will help her at work. But when she meets Adrian, it’s all she can do not to allow herself to fall into his arms like every other woman he’s serviced before her. To his credit, Adrian doesn’t see Billie as just another woman to be romanced, although he’s not quite sure what it is about her that he finds so irresistible. When Adrian becomes a suspect in the possible murder of Lucien, his best friend and fellow escort, both his and Billie’s lives are turned upside down and it’s not a sure thing whether they’ll still be with each other with so many obstacles in their path to lasting love.

In THE FIFTH FAVOR, Shelby Reed displays her considerable ability to show her characters’ range of emotions without becoming maudlin or mawkish. Adrian knows his secret life has been a lie, yet it takes the double-whammy of meeting Billie and the death of Lucien to shake him out of the destructive rut he’s been in for so many years. Billie’s self-esteem is hanging by a thread when the most beautiful man she’s ever met actually wants to be with her, but she can’t help thinking that it’s all just part of his polished persona as Adrian, and not the real man who truly loves her. The way they come together and slowly chip away the walls they’ve each been hiding behind is what makes THE FIFTH FAVOR such a remarkable read for me, and the steps they each make toward their ultimate happy ending had me crying several times all the way until the end of the book. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Ratings:

Overall: 5 stars
Sensuality level: 4

View all my reviews

Review: Unbound by Cara McKenna

Reviews, , , , , , , , ,

UnboundUnbound by Cara McKenna

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Seductive Musings.

In a genre filled with dominant billionaire alpha heroes, Cara McKenna’s UNBOUND bucks the current trend with one of the most wonderfully developed beta heroes I’ve ever read and a fully realized heroine more than capable of giving him exactly what he needs, even at possible cost to her own future happiness.

Merry’s life has been turned upside down by the death of her beloved mother and her own dramatic weight loss. Not knowing what to do next, she decides that a solo hike through her mother’s home country of Scotland will be an excellent way to make a break between the old and the new, and perhaps come to some conclusions about her future. Everything is going great until Merry drinks the wrong sort of water and in her weakened state, literally stumbles across the cottage in the middle of nowhere where Rob is hiding from the world.

Rob has a whole list of very good reasons why he’s deliberately isolated himself from everything and everyone, and those reasons don’t go away just because a nosy and overly talkative young lass from America can’t leave him be. But Merry likes his looks and demeanor, and is determined to discover why such a soft spoken and good looking man would want to be a hermit. As their mutual curiosity soon grows into desire, it’s not certain whether Rob and Merry are prepared to handle the aftermath when all the secrets he’d hoped were buried forever begin to emerge.

I’m not sure how I can discuss how much I loved this book without sounding like the worst sort of fangirl. Cara McKenna is near the top of my auto-buy list and when I found out she was writing the story of a beta hero who was also a hermit, I knew this was a story I needed to read. One of the things I loved about UNBOUND was that although Merry’s extreme weight loss was part of the motivation for her trek through Scotland, it wasn’t a major focal point in the book, as so often happens with this type of character development. Compared to Rob, Merry is actually in a good place emotionally, which is how she’s able to recognize Rob’s melancholy and help him get past his sense of shame in confronting his deepest desires. It’s Rob who ultimately makes this a five star read for me, as Cara McKenna slowly uncovers why he needed to hide and how Merry helps him see that it’s time to embrace civilization — and love — once again. Their love story is both passionate and poignant, and the ending made me cry. UNBOUND is a perfect example of why Cara McKenna continues to be one of the best writers working in any genre today.

Ratings:

Overall: 5
Sensuality level: 4 (D/s role play including light bondage and verbal humiliation)

View all my reviews

Audiobook Review: Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Reviews, , , , , , ,

Covet

Title: Covet
Author: Tracey Garvis-Graves
Narrated by Kathleen McInerney, Scott Aiello
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
Release Date: 9/17/2013

A copy of this audiobook was provided to me by Audiobook Jukebox for an honest review.

COVET is the story of a woman trying to hang onto the life she has and a man who wishes he could have that life — and her — for his own. Claire Canton’s husband Chris was out of work for over a year, and for a man who defined himself by the ability to provide for his family, the results to him and their marriage were devastating. It was only when Claire insisted he get treatment for his depression and he finally found a new job that things started to turn around, however slowly. But when the new job takes Chris away from home for days on end, the loneliness threatens to overwhelm Claire completely.

Officer Daniel Rush once had a version of the life Claire is fighting to keep, complete with a woman who looked very much like her. When he pulls Claire over for a burned out taillight, it begins a chain of events leading to a dangerous friendship, one that could sever the last threads binding Claire to her husband and family forever.

When I read COVET earlier this year, it affected me so strongly that I started crying at about the halfway point and continued crying all the way to the end. The story is so perfectly described and beautifully written that I felt everything Claire was experiencing as though it was my own life. I wanted her to find the happiness she’d thought she’d once had, but I didn’t have a lot of sympathy for Chris and I was rooting for Daniel the whole way, as shocking as that may sound.

But the great thing about this audiobook presentation is that there are both male and female narrators, and Scott Aiello’s voicing of both Chris and Daniel’s points of view provided the extra nuance I needed to understand both men much better than I had before. I appreciated how he was able to clearly delineate between the two men so that I never had a problem knowing who was speaking, even when the chapters went directly from one to another in the story. As Claire, Kathleen McInerney provides the majority of the narration for COVET and does a wonderful job of conveying just how lonely and sad Claire has been in her marriage and how her relationship with Daniel was both the best and worst thing that could have happened to her. Ms. McInerney is also skilled at voicing the various female friends in Claire’s life, as well as the children, which can often sound forced with a less talented narrator.

The talents of both narrators in COVET not only made the story even more enjoyable for me, they gave me new insight to all three of the main characters and made the best book I’ve read this year even better. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Review: I Only Have Eyes for You by Bella Andre

Reviews, , , , , , , ,

I Only Have Eyes for You (The Sullivans, #4)I Only Have Eyes for You by Bella Andre

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at Romancing Rakes For The Love Of Romance.

I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU is the fourth book in Bella Andre’s best-selling Sullivans series and the first with a Sullivan sister as the heroine of the story. The two youngest Sullivan siblings are twin sisters named Lori and Sophie, but their brothers usually refer to them as ‘Naughty’ and ‘Nice’. It’s difficult enough for Sophie Sullivan to establish an identity independent of her wild and unpredictable twin. But when Jake McCann, the man she’s been in love with all her life, continues to behave like another one of her six older and overprotective brothers, Sophie decides to finally make him see her as someone who is capable of being an adult woman worthy of his attention.

Jake McCann is the best friend of Sophie’s brother Zach and practically a member of the Sullivan family after hanging out at their home throughout his troubled childhood. He owed them all so much for looking after him when his own family had let him down, and so would never allow himself to consider making any moves on either Sullivan sister. Yet he can’t help but notice how beautiful Sophie has grown and how much he would like to be with her if she’d only been anyone else. She deserved better than a guy from the wrong side of the tracks who’d had plenty of sex but would never make a real commitment to any woman.

It’s during the wedding of Sophie’s brother Chase that Sophie makes her move, playing up her appearance so that she looks just as seductive and glamorous as her twin. What Sophie doesn’t know is that over the past several months, Jake has already become aware of her as a romantic interest, despite every instinct telling him it could never work out between them. So when Jake sees the new grown-up Sophie in the way she wanted, not even Sophie’s brothers can douse what ignites between them after the wedding is over. The repercussions of what happens on that night will ensure none of their lives will ever be the same.

I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU was so heartfelt and dramatic that it actually had me worried Sophie and Jake might not find their way back to each other in time to enjoy their happy ending. Bella Andre helped me appreciate why they each behaved as they did, even though their actions were often frustrating, and it was gratifying to see them slowly work through all their issues to build a true relationship out of what had begun as a single night of passion.

I’m a big fan of all the Bella Andre Sullivan books, but this was the first one that really affected me more than any of the others. I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU is a poignant love story that tore at my heart and made me cry, and I loved every minute of it.

Favorite Quote:

“I love you, Jake McCann. Always.” She felt the wonder, the magic, the beauty of knowing true love had been waiting for them all along. “Forever.”

View all my reviews