Review: Lover’s Veil

Lovers’ Veil by Eldritch Thorn

Woah, mama. I know that the book description said hardcore erotica, but even still, I was a bit surprised. And super hot-and-bothered.

This book has got it all – a solid plot, sex, adventure, sex, interesting characters, sex, romance, sex, good triumphing over evil, sex… Well, you get the idea. A human prince falls in love at first sight for a fairy princess. Trying to convince himself she was a dream, but convinced she must be real, he ends up crossing through the Veil to her world where he helps to save her from peril time and again.

Review: The Lost Girls

The Lost Girls by Jason Halstead

Kat, a cop with some major attitude, is working a hot case – women are going missing in Phoenix and the case is becoming personal. Judging by the steady increase in attempts on her life, she’s close to solving it – if she can only manage to stay alive.

I love me some action and suspense, and boy does this book have it. Close quarters fighting, bullets flying, creeping around in abandoned warehouses, bodies piling up… the only thing it was missing was a high-speed car chase, but that doesn’t exactly work so well in book form so I’ll let it slide. (Jason, you should totally put a car chase in your next book) AND it’s set in alternative universe/futuristic Phoenix to boot. I’m totally lovin’ that.

Not only is Kat fighting to save the lives of these missing women, she’s fighting to save her own – literally and figuratively.

Review: Death by Broken Heart

Death by Broken Heart by Candy Little

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Little’s latest release, the mystery/romance novella, Death by Broken Heart. Having loved her first book, The Unwilling Bride, I knew I’d enjoy it, even if it was a very different genre. I wasn’t wrong.

There are LOTS of things different about this book, as compared to Bride. For starters, there’s a dead body on the scene within the first couple of chapters. Bailey Rhodes, the prodigal daughter of a very small everyone-kn0ws-everyone kind of town, returns home from her busy job as a private investigator in New York City… just in time to find that body. Is it an accident that the most hated man in town is laying at the bottom of a ledge? Or was it murder?

Review: Love by Design

Love by Design by Liz Matis

In Love by Design, Liz Matis tells the story of former party-girl turned successful interior designer Victoria Bryce. As the co-host of a design show (think Trading Spaces), she’s in need of a new partner… apparently on camera and off. Enter “saucy Aussie” Russ Rowland and the sparks are flying. But Victoria and Russ have both their egos and their pasts to get past in order for something like this to work. Before you know it, this sizzling pair have a laundry list of reasons not to be together.

Although you may find yourself rolling your eyes at their transparent resistance from time to time, Matis’s characterizations never fail to be realistic. Don’t we all make excuses for ourselves not to do something we know is good for us from time to time? And given how much is at stake for these two, especially the stripper scandal (you’ll see), it’s no small wonder that they’ve got to think twice.

Review: In Search of Lucy

In Search of Lucy by Lia Fairchild

At first glance, the story told within Fairchild’s novel In Search of Lucy might seem like any ordinary coming-0f-age tale. Granted, our heroine here is the ripe old age of 30. But with a childhood as difficult as hers (an alcoholic mother, missing father, deceased step-father, etc.), Lucy had to grow up fast and thus, it’s understandable that she’d wind up in such a downward spiral at her age. It’s too much to ask for one woman to handle.

But handle it, Lucy does. And in handling things, she also formed a very maternal relationship with her younger sister Katie, who grew up and basically abandoned her to live her own life.  When it turns out that Katie now needs Lucy in her life again (in a big, bad way, too), what will the trusty older sister do?

Review: Double Occupancy

Double Occupancy by Elaine Raco Chase

When Casey heads to a family member’s Mexican villa for some much needed rest and relaxation, she really just wants to spend time on the novel she’s writing and maybe snooze on the beach once in a while. Little does she know, Travis Craig has also been given permission to rest up at the same villa… and the living arrangement becomes anything but straight forward.

In fact, as tempers flare between the new roommates, other things are heating up too. Casey’s good vacation turned bad suddenly becomes so much more, and Travis is far too distracting for her to get any real work done. Until they can at least confront how they’re feeling about each other.  Of course, cooped up in a villa, surrounded by hot beaches and cool breezes, who can really tell how they actually feel about each other?  Is it just the magic of the place? Or is there something more to be explored between Casey and Travis?

In Double Occupancy, Chase does well by her characters,

Review: Song of the Fairy Queen

Song of the Fairy Queen, by Valerie Douglas

The good King is overthrown by his evil half brother who turns out to be a horrible king (obviously, he is evil after all) and murders people and stuff. The real king roams the countryside and gathers a rebellion with his faithful allies Kyriay, Queen of the Fairy, and Morgan, the High Marshall. Then Kyriay and Morgan totally do it. Totes. Bow-chicka-wow-wow

Morgan is clearly the hero of the novel, and Kyriay is a really great fairy queen who takes the safety of her people and her kingdom personally, to the point of getting down and dirty in the fighting (and the lovin’).

This is a pretty epic book.

Review: The Forgotten Child

The Forgotten Child, by Lorhainne Eckhart

I must admit, Lorhainne is fast becoming a favorite of mine. She has an easy writing style that makes for a quick, light read. This book is no exception, and it took me just a couple of evenings to finish.

Emily ends a loveless marriage and leaves her emotionally abusive husband, taking their young daughter with her. (yay for leaving the SOB!) Luckily she has a good friend who is super supportive and pushes her to stretch beyond her comfort zones – leading Emily to apply for and land a great job as a cook/nanny. A live-in cook/nanny where room and board is included for her and her daughter, and she still gets a paycheck on top of that. Dude. I want that job.

But, things aren’t that easy.

Review: Candles on the Sand

Candles on the Sand by Katie Stephens

For the ultimate in “post breakup recovery” stories, pick up a copy of Candles on the Sand. In this contemporary romance novel, Stephens tells the story of Anna, an English woman who finds herself running to Italy after discovering her fiance cheating on her with her own friend! A strained relationship with her mother sends her over the tipping point and, just two months before her intended nuptials, Anna’s starting a brand new life in another country. Quite by accident, too!

A series of truly fortunate events helps her to establish a new home, many new friends, and even sparks a new flame… one she isn’t sure whether to tender or not, given how jaded she now is about love. But Dante isn’t just any other guy.

Review: Spell Bound

Spell Bound by Kelly Armstrong

I have a serious addiction to Kelly Armstrong’s books. Spellbound is the latest in the Women of the Otherworld series and follows one of the newer and most junior members of the cast of characters that Kelly’s created.

Savannah is a young witch that is learning (the hard way) that not everything is about her and that not everything can be fixed with a spell. Growing up sucks, man. AND she’s trying to save the world? Talk about a major buzz-kill. For her, not for us. For us it means a great supernatural plotline.

And did I mention that she’s had a wicked crush on this guy, Adam, since she was 12? He is a hottie (literally, he’s a half-demon with a pension for fire) that maybe, just maybe, likes her back. The tension between them is just delicious.