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Review: The Sinners Club by Kate Pearce

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The Sinners Club (The Sinners Club, #1)The Sinners Club by Kate Pearce

My rating: 4 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 have a great fondness for Kate Pearce’s House of Pleasure series, since they were some of the earliest and best books I read back when I was first exploring the erotic romance genre. So when I saw she had a new series with a first book starring Jack Lennox from Simply Scandalous, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible. And if this first book is any indication, the Sinners Club books are going to be just as good.

After a troubled life where he never had any true home to call his own, Jack Lennox has come into a surprising inheritance from his no-good father, complete with royal title and stately manor. But before Jack can legally claim his place as the new Earl of Storr, he needs to find out what’s been going on at Pinchbeck Hall since the last holder of that title was laid to rest. Wary of what might await there, Jack decides to masquerade as his own personal secretary, wagering that such a man would have a better chance of being accepted by those who might not be as welcoming to the new lord of the manor. What Jack discovers is even more than what he’d bargained for, in the form of a supposed brother and sister, the latter of whom claims to be the pregnant widow of the previous earl.

Jack finds himself drawn to both Simon and Mary Picoult despite his better judgment and their genuine threat to his birthright. What follows in The Sinners Club is an passionate story of desperate lives and no-win scenarios, ultimately leading to a series of choices that could result in Jack either gaining his first chance at a real home and settled life, or losing it all for the love of a woman who has already sacrificed more than anyone ever should.

Everything that made Kate Pearce’s House of Pleasure books such an enjoyable read for me is here in The Sinners Club: a carefully plotted story with bold and memorable characters who aren’t afraid to take charge of their own destinies, especially with regard to their wide-ranging sexual proclivities. Jack may be the next Earl of Storr but he’s got more in common with Simon and Mary than the members of his own extended family, and his growing relationship with the alleged siblings is what drives the plot for the majority of the book. As their personal histories of these three characters unfold, we see how a need for security can drive someone to do just about anything to keep it, even if it means denying true love in the process. That shared need is what makes the romance between Jack and Mary so special, as they both face the decision to give up their own security to help each other as the one person whose well-being was worth any price. The Sinners Club is an outstanding start to Kate Pearce’s new series of the same name and I look forward to reading each and every book to follow.

Favorite Quote:
He’d never felt so secure and yet so vulnerable before in his life. What if she didn’t like him after all? After tangling with the Lennox family once, didn’t she deserve better? But then how was he supposed to live without her?

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My Best Reads of 2013

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This list originally appeared at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance

Top 10 2013 Releases:

Don’t Let Go – Skye Warren

 

Covet – Tracey Garvis-Graves

 

Unbound – Cara McKenna

 

Unforgiven – Anne Calhoun

 

The Mistress – Tiffany Reisz

 

The Cursed – Alyssa Day

 

Because We Belong – Beth Kery

 

Lady In Red – Maire Claremont

REVIEW

 

Whispers – Carolyn Jewel

 

Run to You – Charlotte Stein

 


Honorable Mentions:

Series:

 

Pierced Hearts – Cari Silverwood

 

 

Consequences – Aleatha Romig

   

 

Club Wicked – Ann Mayburn

   

 

Serials:

Just One Night – Kyra Davis

  

 

Not Until You (Loving on the Edge) – Roni Loren

       

 

The Haunted Heart: Winter – Josh Lanyon

Previous Releases: 

Turn It Up – Inez Kelley

The Fifth Favor – Shelby Reed

Heartless – Mary Balogh

Review: In Love Again by Megan Mulry

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In Love Again (Unruly Royals, #3)In Love Again by Megan Mulry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

Lady Claire Heyworth is starting her life over after twenty years of loveless marriage to a man her family considered more worthy of her than the one she thought she loved. Now the faithless husband has gone missing after making off with the bulk of her inheritance and Claire has to learn to exist as something other than a privileged, albeit unhappy, Marchioness. With the support of her brothers and their wives, she moves to New York and lands a job that immediately throws her into the path of Benjamin Hayek, the man she’d reluctantly left behind so many years ago.

Ben never forgot that magical summer when he’d loved a quiet English lass who had up and left him without so much as a goodbye. When Claire unexpectedly appears on his doorstep, Ben’s immediate reaction is to scowl, growl, and slam the door in her face. But the attraction from so long ago is still there between them. Now that they’re both older and wiser, Ben and Claire must decide if they want to take up where they left off, or walk away and leave the past alone.

I hadn’t read the previous books in Megan Mulry’s Unruly Royals series (although I own them both – blame my giant To Be Read list!) but I had no problem reading In Love Again as a stand-alone. It was a joy to see Claire emerge from the persona forced on her by her mother and society, and become a fully actualized adult who made her own decisions. Ben is just the sort of fellow that Claire has always needed in her life – one who loves unconditionally and supports her completely without undermining her fragile and recently hard-won self-esteem. I was especially gratified that with so many opportunities along the way, there was never a Big Misunderstanding between the hero and heroine other than the original one which had parted them twenty years before.

In Love Again also features a delightful cast of characters from both families, and shows how the wrongs done to Claire by her detestable husband are righted in a somewhat implausible but easy to forgive series of events. It’s a lovely romance between a hero and heroine who have paid their dues, learned from their mistakes and earned their happiness together. (Now I need to go back and read the other two books in the series!)

Favorite Quote:
His kiss made her feel…everything. She felt the cold air against her cheeks, the hot press of his lips against hers, the tender, inquisitive touch of his fingers as they found their way beneath her blouse and trailed across her belly just above the waist of her jeans. Claire felt an electric snap, like a transformer blowing.

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Review: Chasing Kings by Sierra Dean

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Chasing KingsChasing Kings by Sierra Dean

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

How does a somewhat sheltered bookseller from Oregon end up in a decadent Vegas hotel suite with the most famous man in porn? The setup for how Samantha Hart meets Ethan Silver goes way beyond “meet cute” into an unlikely alliance that ultimately turns into an emotional connection. In the process, both Samantha and Ethan face some hard truths about themselves, including the fact that they might actually have a future together.

The adult film industry might be sleazy and unattractive, but Ethan is neither. He’s handsome and sweet and funny and pretty much a dream date for anyone not otherwise turned off by his profession. Samantha is completely unlike any of the women he works with on a daily basis, and that difference is what initially makes her so attractive to him. But Ethan’s ties to the porn world aren’t easily set aside, and when his attempt to help a fellow co-star puts him in the sights of a deadly criminal, Samantha is the only one who he can turn to for help.

There were so many things I loved about Chasing Kings. I loved how Ethan was shown as more than just a porn star without glossing over the reality of how the adult movie industry can ruin people’s lives. I loved that Samantha didn’t immediately judge Ethan for the choices he’d made in his life, and how she was willing to help him out above and beyond what he’d expected, despite the possible repercussions in her own life. But the best part of Chasing Kings was how Sierra Dean was able to keep the compressed timeframe of the story from overwhelming the growing romance between its hero and heroine. She also ensured that all the usual shortcuts and stereotypes that might have been expected to happen didn’t, keeping me guessing in a good way all the way up to the lovely Happy For Now ending. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Chasing Kings and hope for more stories like this from Sierra Dean in the future.

Favorite Quote:
As good as Ethan was at everything else, it was his kisses that were going to ruin her. He kissed like old romance heroes. Like Rhett Butler sweeping Scarlett O’Hara off her feet, or Heathcliff condemning Cathy to never love another.

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Review: Ripe for Seduction by Isobel Carr

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Ripe for Seduction (The League of Second Sons, #3)Ripe for Seduction by Isobel Carr

My rating: 4 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.

Rating:
~4 hearts: I loved it!

Review:

Isobel Carr’s Ripe for Seduction is the third book in her League of Second Sons series, but it was easy to read as a stand-alone. It’s a light-hearted story of how a pretend engagement built on less than honorable intentions somehow manages to bloom into a real love between a notorious rake and a ruined woman of the ton.

While out carousing one night with his fellow secret society members, Roland Devere has too much to drink and agrees to yet another ill-chosen bet. He wakes the next morning to discover he has wagered a pound that he will be the first to bed a well-known lady who has returned to London months after the death of her bigamist husband. What he doesn’t count on is the lady having a secret plan of her own to thwart similar untoward propositions from anyone else during the upcoming season.

Lady Olivia Carlow didn’t know her late husband was already married when they had wed, but now that he’s dead, she’s the only one left to suffer the blame from London society. When Devere’s insulting proposition arrives via a drunkenly scrawled note sent to her father’s house, she seizes her advantage and blackmails Devere into agreeing to a false engagement. With Devere by her side as her purported fiance, Olivia intends to keep all the other less than honorable suitors from forcing their attentions and spreading lies about her even if she should turn them aside. Then when the season is over, she can break with him publicly and retire permanently to the family’s country estate at Holinshed. But as she and Devere spend more time in each other’s company, what started as pretend becomes the real thing, and the consequences of their actions have long-reaching implications for more than just themselves.

The fake marriage trope is one of my favorites and it’s used beautifully here in Ripe For Seduction. Olivia is in London under duress, preferring to stay forever buried in the country instead of in town fending off the disgusting private propositions from the men and frosty public snubs from the women. Roland would never have been so incredibly rude to her when sober, but he’s clearly not unhappy at the fate she’s forced on him in return for keeping his drunken overtures a secret. Their growing attraction was fun to watch, as was the concurrent secondary plot of how Olivia’s not-so-old widowed father became attached to Devere’s somewhat older widowed sister. There were a few villains here and there, and another side plot related to the activity of the Second Sons folding neatly into the inevitable Big Misunderstanding between Roland and Olivia near the end of the story. I found the relative lack of angst and drama to be quite refreshing, preferring the extensive details of how Olivia and her father both found happiness with the unlikeliest of partners. And after the Big Misunderstanding is cleared up and true love wins out for all, the epilogue provided the perfect ending to a lovely read.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ripe for Seduction and I’m looking forward to reading the other books in the League of Second Sons series.

Favorite Quote:

“Livy” — he cupped her face and lowered his head until he was staring directly into her eyes — “let me make myself perfectly clear. I love you. There’s no other reason I’d propose in earnest. Not to get you in my bed, not to enrich myself with your dowry, not to pave the way for my sister and your father. And if you don’t believe me, I’ll just have to work at it until you do.”

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Review: Game For Trouble by Karen Erickson

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Game for Trouble (Game for It, #2)Game for Trouble by Karen Erickson

My rating: 4 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.

Game For Trouble is the second book in Karen Erickson’s great new sports romance series about the attractive single men on the San Jose Hawks professional football team and the women with whom they fall in love. The first book – Game For Marriage – featured Jared, the team quarterback and Sheridan, a local artist who was corralled with him into a sham marriage for the sake of repairing his playboy reputation. In this second book, Jared and Sheridan are safely settled and deliriously happy together, and their obvious bliss starts to grate on Nick Hamilton, the Hawks’ usually happy-go-lucky tight end and best friend to Jared. When Nick sees what his friend has, he wants it for himself, and the only woman who can give him what he wants is Willow Cavanaugh. Unfortunately for Nick, she also happens to be the one woman who has vowed never to give him a chance to break her heart again. Willow doesn’t know that Nick dumped her years ago because her high-powered lawyer father had threatened his budding football career. But now that she’s trying to start a new business away from her father’s influence and money, it’s Nick who has the building she wants to lease, and he’s going to use every bit of leverage to convince her that this time he’s not going anywhere without her.

The romance trope where the hero blackmails the heroine into spending time with him against her better judgment can be tricky if it’s not handled well. In Game For Trouble, Karen Erickson’s sure hand keeps everything balanced perfectly so that we see Nick’s feelings for Willow are more than met on her end, even if she’s afraid to express them directly at first. Jared and Sheridan work well in this story as secondary characters, and any necessary details about their own relationship that a new reader would need to follow along are provided without resorting to massive and annoying data dumps.

The heart of Game For Trouble is the second chance at love for both Nick and Willow, and how their mutual and individual pasts must be learned from, instead of just gotten past or forgotten, for them to be able to love each other freely and completely at last. There are more than a few misunderstandings along the way, but there are also delicious scenes of groveling and makeup sex afterward. The love Nick and Willow have for each other is genuine, and their final reconciliation is a satisfying coda to the story. I adored Game For Trouble and I’m looking forward to reading Karen Erickson’s next entry in the Game For It series.

Favorite Quote:
Watching Sheridan smother Jared with kisses made him realize that what he really wanted was his woman back in his life. For good. He was tired of the fight. Tired of letting her go without protest. Sick and damn tired of giving up too damn easy. For once, he was gonna fight for what he wanted. Who he wanted.
And he wanted Willow.
He’d always wanted Willow.

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Review: Snowbound with the CEO by Shannon Stacey

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Snowbound with the CEOSnowbound with the CEO by Shannon Stacey

My rating: 4 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.

Rating: ~4 hearts: I loved it!

Review:
One of my favorite romance tropes is the office romance with characters who are secretly attracted to each other, and when one of those characters is the boss, the ultimate revelation of the secret is all the more appealing for me. In SNOWBOUND WITH THE CEO, we get the caring and considerate boss and his efficient executive assistant, neither of whom dares make a move on the other for fear of ruining their successful work relationship. It takes the intervention of Mother Nature to force them together in a secluded hideaway where they finally feel safe enough to make the next move toward happiness.

Adrian Blackstone is the adorable CEO with a heart who never dared acknowledge his attraction to his assistant until he saw her off the clock at the hotel bar after they were both stranded by a fast moving blizzard. Rachel Carter has been crushing on Adrian for over a year but knows that doing anything about it would end the best job she’s ever had. The protected bubble of their forced hotel stay helps them finally act on what they both want. But when the roads are clear and they have to return to the real world, what seemed so clear before might not be what they can actually have.

SNOWBOUND WITH THE CEO is much like a category romance in its setup, plot, and conclusion, but because this is Shannon Stacey, the writing never falls into cliché. We get to see why the hero and heroine are so drawn to one another, and why their return to the office makes them both behave in ways that each completely misinterprets as a rejection of the other. The misunderstandings are understandable and never too frustrating, making the ultimate resolution between them all the sweeter at the end. As an avowed lover of epilogues, I was also quite happy with the one presented here. My only real dissatisfaction with the story was that it was so short, even shorter than the category romance which is so strongly resembles. But the length doesn’t prevent SNOWBOUND WITH THE CEO from being yet another satisfying read from Shannon Stacey, and I’ll continue to read pretty much anything she writes.

Favorite Quote:

She tried to pull away, but he held her fast. “Whoa. First, your job is not in jeopardy. You are invaluable to me. You could probably whack me over the head with a wine bottle and steal my wallet and I wouldn’t fire you. Second, I like the Greek god thing. And third, since I’ve only heard you call me Adrian in my mind — sometimes when I’m dreaming and sometimes when I’m in the shower — I want to hear it from you more often.”

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Review: Lady in Red by Maire Claremont

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Lady in Red (Mad Passions, #2)Lady in Red by Maire Claremont

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review at Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance.

Maire Claremont is a new author for me, but when I saw the blurb of LADY IN RED, I couldn’t wait to get started reading it. I was immediately sucked in to the plight of Lady Mary Darrel, a woman starved and bedraggled, pleading for help at the doorstep of a London brothel as her last best hope for rescue. She was abused and misused at the hands of those doing the bidding of her monstrous father, the one who had locked her away in a madhouse after she’d witnessed his murder of her beloved mother. Her escape came at a great cost to herself and others, and now her incipient freedom might do likewise to those who will help her seek her vengeance.

When Edward Barrons sees Mary bathing upstairs in a whorehouse bedroom, he initially mistakes her for one of the working girls. After she sets him straight in a most direct fashion, it’s her spirit that calls to him as much as her only slightly diminished beauty. As Duke of Fairleigh, he has the power and social standing to protect her from her father, but only inasmuch as she will allow. As Mary begins to recover and prepares herself to take revenge on those who have harmed her, she and Edward start to bond in a way which could end in their mutual happiness if only they can confront their individual demons in time to see the light.

LADY IN RED was an intense read for me, one where I was so captivated by Mary and Edward and the terrible danger they were in that I was actually afraid to finish the book, deliberately putting it aside after reading a rare happy moment so I could finish it the next day. I especially enjoyed the presence of Edward’s cynical friend, Viscount Powers, who was just as damaged as Mary and Edward, yet was in a unique position to commiserate more fully with them individually than they were able to with each other. Once Mary is set on the path of revenge by Edward, the story hurtles along toward that dread goal, picking up speed along the way and sending me down a foreboding path of not knowing how it all could possibly end well for anyone. Reading THE RED LADY was a fantastic rollercoaster ride of emotions and I’m still experiencing a well-earned book hangover days later. I’ve already bought the first book in the Mad Passions series, THE DARK LADY, to read next, and I’m very pleased to see that Viscount Powers will be the hero of THE DARK AFFAIR. Maire Claremont is now one of my very favorite historical romance writers, and I have LADY IN RED to thank for that.

Favorite Quote:

“Why are you so afraid?” she whispered.
“I am afraid of nothing,” he snapped, bracing his palms on the mantel.
“Fear and I are intimate acquaintances, Edward. You are in its bed.”

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Review: South of Surrender by Laura Kaye

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South of Surrender (Hearts of the Anemoi, #3)South of Surrender by Laura Kaye

My rating: 4 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.

This review may contain spoilers for NORTH OF NEED and WEST OF WANT. You could try to read SOUTH OF SURRENDER as a stand-alone book, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

SOUTH OF SURRENDER continues Laura Kaye’s Hearts of the Anemoi series with the story of how Chrysander Notos, Anemoi and Keeper of the South Wind, stumbles on the one human woman who will love him for himself while trying to save his brothers and the world from the inevitable war between the Winds.

Laney Summerlyn may not consider herself truly happy with her life, but she has found contentment in the routine of caring for injured horses at the Maryland farm left to her by her late grandfather. Although her sight is nearly gone, thanks to the progression of Retinitis Pigmentosa, she can get around fairly well in her familiar surroundings and what she can’t do alone, her good friend Seth Griffin can assist her where she’ll allow him. But her sense of security is ripped away forever on the night when a violent windstorm ends with what appears to be a Pegasus crashing down through the ceiling of her barn. In the morning, the winged horse has transformed into a man whose presence Laney can’t stop desiring. But that presence has also put her in terrible danger from Eurus, Keeper of the East Wind, who has vowed to destroy all his fellow Keepers and anyone close to them.

Chrysander is the last Anemoi brother who believes he can still reach his rogue brother Eurus to keep him from destroying everything in his path. When Eurus responds by nearly killing him in a fight in the sky over Laney’s horse farm, Chrysander’s life is saved only by her ministrations. Their mutual attraction is immediate and powerful, yet Chrys believes he can only keep Laney safe by leaving her. But Eurus has already witnessed their desire for each other, and will stop at nothing to ensure that everyone he believed has wronged him will pay with their lives.

I was glad that I had already read the first two books in the Hearts of the Anemoi series because SOUTH OF SURRENDER contains significantly more development in the ongoing story of the war between the Keepers of the Winds. I was already vested in wanting to know the outcome of the ongoing war between the brothers, especially with all the terrible things Eurus has done, including murder. But I did wish that there might have been a bit less mythological exposition and a little more development in the romance between Chrysander and Laney. It was great that she was able to show him that there was such a thing as true lasting love by the way she never hesitated to put herself in harm’s way for his sake. Yet it would have been nice to have seen more grounding in that selflessness beyond the fact that she was just that nice of a person combined with what seemed to be insta-love for both of them.

SOUTH OF SURRENDER is at its best when it shows the enduring love between each of the Anemoi brothers and the women with whom they have chosen to share their lives. They provided the perfect examples for Chrysander and Laney to see that a god could truly be happy with one woman, goddess or human. It remains to be seen how much happiness will remain, however, when the final confrontation with Eurus takes place in the next book in the Hearts of the Anemoi series.

Favorite Quote:

Their connection — the way they fit together, the way they complemented one another, the fundamental feeling of rightness he felt when he was with her — he couldn’t deny it any longer.
Whatever happened. Whatever was right or wrong. Whether the world woke up in the morning or was going to bed for the very last time. He loved Laney Summerlyn to the very center of his being.
The fierceness of the feeling simply wouldn’t be denied.

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Review: I Only Have Eyes for You by Bella Andre

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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.”

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