Shameless by Rebecca J. Clark

3 columns: Worthy Read

Buy it at Amazon

Publisher: Rebecca J. Clark, December 2012

Blurb

Haunted by a tragic accident 20 years ago, John Everest knows he doesn't deserve a family of his own, so he spends his days building the most successful fitness franchise in Seattle...and his nights alone. But that all changes when Samantha Rossi storms back into his life.

Happily single, Samantha feels there are only two types of men in this world: those who are good for nothing and those who are good for one thing. Now she needs that one thing desperately, because she wants a baby. John, a man from her past, is the perfect donor. He doesn't want children. He doesn't want a wife. He just wants her body. She can deal with that.

John agrees to Samantha's no-strings-attached proposal, never expecting to fall for the fiery beauty he'd wronged so many years ago. It'll take more than a shameless proposal to overcome their tragic past, but with a little luck and forgiveness, anything is possible.

Review

Airmid, Lady of Speed Reading, was pleased to read a story with such a sexy premise. She applauded Samantha Rossi's strength and conviction to become a single mother and yet puzzled over Sam's flamboyance and loudly promiscuous advances as she attempted to seduce John Everest once she had decided to invite him to be the sperm donor for her hoped-for child. Samantha's reasoning for her outward appearance and behavior was rooted in her teenage years when she let herself go due to the traumatic events of that one fateful night. So, in order to keep in shape and remind herself not to let that happen again, she wore tight-fitting clothes to alert herself should she put on a few extra pounds. The lady can understand those who use trellises and arbors to train their vines, shrubs and trees, but the realities of nature make this a lovely, yet false impression of the individual. As the story progressed Samantha abandoned those outward features and became someone entirely different. Airmid would have been able to better accept this transformation had Sam admitted from the outset that this was not who she truly was. Airmid admired the way John Everest was portrayed as a caring and thoughtful, and yet he was also demanding of Sam and determined to get the most out of their temporary relationship. Both Sam and John were enigmatic characters, as unpredictable as a bloom of mold on a good patch of tansy and rue.

Airmid was delighted with the secondary characters in the story who carried many scenes where the main characters became less than sympathetic as they failed to find a way to work out their differences and a rift grew between the lovers. The flow of the story was somewhat disjointed, like an ordered bed of herbs left to go wild for a few seasons. Some secondary characters, such as dear Brian, who reminded Airmid much of her beloved and brave brother, Miach, were introduced, and Airmid became quite attached to them, but then they disappeared for a long, lonely time leaving the lady to grieve over their whereabouts and worry what had become of them. Thankfully, they eventually reappeared, though the lady still grieves for Brian's outcome. After finishing the story and with its wonderfully satisfying ending, Airmid decided that there were really two stories in one. The first story had to do with Samatha's brave, bold goal of having a child and the second story had to do with John's growth beyond the terrible events of his youth that made it possible for him to finally find peace and happiness.

The lady Airmid will make one further suggestion to the author and that is not to summarize or skim over scenes that the reader and the lady were looking forward to experiencing in person. One scene that Airmid was disappointed not to find in the book was the scene where Sam announced her pregnancy to John, ending their temporary relationship. The anticipation of this scene was strong in the lady's mind and she was sorely disappointed to find that she was not able to harvest the fruit of the lovely tensions that the author had built toward that scene. Airmid realizes that the story took place over a long period of time and that some summarizing would be needed, but she suggests that if authors are going to build up the anticipation for an announcement they should deliver on that promise and allow the reader to see the scene in full bloom.

Overall, lady Airmid enjoyed reading the story of bringing together these two worthy people to become parents and share the love and joy of children in their lives. The lovely message put forth by this story is that we must all first forgive and learn to love ourselves before we can learn to love another. The author did a wonderful job of touching Airmid's emotions and she freely shed tears at one or two points in the story. If you are looking for a heart-wrenching and enjoyable story to lose yourself in, you would do well to choose Shameless by Rebecca J. Clark.

I Do - Over, Confessions of a Recalcitrant Bridesmaid - Michele Riccio

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Published: January 1, 2013

Length:  327 pages

ISBN: 1481922602

Amazon  

3 Columns – Worthy Read

Blurb

Grace Douglas has a secret crush on Jon, the boy next door. The problem is: at thirty-six she's well past the age of secret crushes, her father insists Jon is her brother (by dint of his marriage to Jon's mother), and Jon is nothing more than brotherly when he spends the night in her hotel room.

Then a meddling fortuneteller convinces Grace's half-sister, Kitty she needs to re-stage her recent wedding – and get it right this time – or suffer the consequences. Dodging the bullets of a mysterious, if incompetent, stalker and fending off Geraldo, co-worker without a work ethic are a piece of wedding cake for Grace – compared to being Kitty's maid of honor.

Grace has to find a way out. Or be seen by the man she loves – wearing a bridesmaid gown.

Review

My lady Danu, forced by the inclement spring weather to retreat from the beach and its parade of eye-candy discovered the free books on Amazon.  I Do Over, Confessions of a Recalcitrant Bridesmaid by Michele Riccio was one such book.  I, her humble scribe, provide the following at her behest.

I Do Over is a fast, and in places, a frenetic read; a pace driven in large part by Grace’s snarky perspective.  First person point of view, while intimate, often seems, to my lady, more like navel-gazing than a means to a deeper immersion in a story world when applied to contemporary romance sans subgenre such as paranormal or suspense.  In this case, it became somewhat more problematic because one is left wondering if Grace prefers the merry-go-round she’s on.  To wit...

Grace suffers from the ills of close – as in living next door for example – proximity to her immediate and extended family in ways worthy of a sitcom.  But sitcoms are somewhat akin to cotton candy and whipped cream; fluffy and light and almost never filling.

Dysfunctional is a descriptor that sums up her familial interactions without doing them justice.  They are emotionally manipulative, self-serving and exhibit a mastery of selective hearing that is truly awe inspiring. And Grace experiences it all, accompanied by a silent, jaded and, at bottom, painful commentary while engaging in a kind of self-immolation on the altar of family obligation as she dances to the tune her step-mother whistles.  In fact, it’s like the song in one’s head one can never get rid of.  The snark becomes the means of continuing the pattern of unhelpful surrender –a pattern she carries into her work relationships as well.  One hears in the subtext her own awareness that that self-immolation is the price she pays for admission to the family or job even as she struggles to find the exit.

The snark Grace uses to keep her cool and avoid offending her family or to keep her job is, at times, laugh out loud funny.  One cheers for her at the same time one is mentally screaming at her to do a Nancy Reagan and just say NO!  Trouble is, by the end of the book, one is left feeling much less sympathetic towards Grace than when one started.  In fact, one is left wondering if the author’s naming of the heroine ‘Grace’ was deliberate or serendipitous. 

In romance the character arc of the hero/heroine is the plot. Without getting into spoilers the end point of Grace’s arc is less than fully satisfying.  A much more defined arc would have added the cake to the buttercream.

In spite of all that, I Do Over is a fast, fun read, good for the beach or the long wait at the doctor’s office.  The author’s eye for the nitty-gritty of family is both lucid and, surprisingly, affectionately amused.  It’s that detail that, in the end, makes this book work, and reaffirms The Goddess Danu’s determination to avoid long exposure to the company of her own extended family unless there are copious amounts of free booze and chocolate available.

Anything But Vanilla by Liz Fielding

4 1/2  Columns: an excellent read
Harlequin Kiss

April/May 2013

Available for pre-order from Amazon.com

 Amazon UK

The Book Depository

Blurb
Sorrel Amery is determined to make her summer event the talk of the town, and she knows just the way into people's hearts-champagne sorbet! It's the perfect strategy... Until the ice cream parlour's owner runs off, leaving Sorrel's plans melting faster than a sundae in the summer sun. 
All Sorrel wants is to get back into her comfort zone, but when the gorgeous Alexander West arrives to help pick up the pieces her life gets shaken up more than ever before! Especially as this globe-trotting adventurer is determined that nothing in Sorrel's life should ever be boring old vanilla again...

REVIEW

When Alexander West flies halfway across the world to rescue a close friend’s ice-cream parlour, he makes three alarming discoveries – the business has been issued with an insolvency notice, said friend has disappeared and… gorgeous, sexy businesswoman Sorrel Amery is in the shop’s stockroom, raiding the freezer.

But Sorrel is no thief. As the CEO of Scoop, it’s her job to deliver ice-cream experiences to special events — like the celebrity studded tennis party currently top of her agenda. If she doesn’t get the ices she’s ordered, her reputation will be in ruins.

So when Alex announces that he wants the stock back in the freezer and her off the premises, she takes a determined step forward, intending to search the kitchen for the rest of her order.

Only, Alex won’t let her past. 

She tries pleading. But he’s adamant that nothing can leave the premises until he’s completed an inventory of the assets. In a last ditch attempt to change his mind, she offers a wide-screen, Technicolor, smile and murmurs 'Alexander.. this is important.'

Her action prompts him to ask in a low, dangerously soft voice “How important?”

The next moment he’s kissing her —and she’s making no attempt to stop him. Just the opposite in fact. Totally mesmerised, she arches towards him, lifting her arms and sliding them round his neck, “her body wanting more, wanting him.”

Abruptly he breaks the connection. Thanks to her inexplicable meltdown she’s managed to confirm his belief that she’s the type of girl who thinks she can get whatever she wants in business by flirting.

He couldn’t be more wrong. Sorrel has chosen career over romance and is totally focused on building her business. She does not do lust at first sight.

Her reaction to his kiss marked one of those rare occasions when she’d lost all sense and given into her mother’s wayward genes. A totally  uncharacteristic lapse, given that  Sorrell is determined not to be like her mother (a serial single mother with a propensity for rough-hewn travelling men.) Sorrell wants a man with drive and ambition. Somebody who’ll always be there for her – somebody like her secure, safe and totally dependable mentor, Graeme.

Alex might be overwhelmingly sexy with his “thick brown hair that brushed his shoulders and flopped untidily around his face…and the kind of skin deep tan you didn’t get from two weeks on a beach.” But how can she possibly allow herself to have a crazy fling with a man who clearly follows a beach bum lifestyle and will be gone in days?

Yet despite everything, she experiences such a strong sense of physical attraction that she’s sorely tempted to forget safe and dependable and seize the day in a “live-now-pay-later physical response.”

Seize the day is the book’s theme. Sorrel is locked into a vanilla lifestyle — seeking security and safety in everything she does. But until she learns to be less in control of her life and emotions, ditch her five-year plan and trust her instincts, she’ll never be truly happy .

And emotionally distant, detached, uninvolved Alex, who’s never had a home and is  focused exclusively on exploring distant jungles, illustrates a different side of the theme.

Unlike Sorrel, Alex has no trouble seizing the moment.  His life is full of fresh and exciting opportunities. But instead of experiencing these moments on his own, he needs to learn to open himself up to the warmth and fun of sharing them with another person.

Each leads the other towards emotional change, culminating in Sorrel giving into the attraction and seizing the moment in a night of passion with Alex.  She knows full well that he’ll leave her in a few days, but is done with playing safe with her heart and her head.

Alex proves  the more resistant one. Although he revels in Sorrel’s warm considerate emotionally connecting nature, and has come to a point where he can share confidences with openness and trust, he still backs away from emotional involvement  and returns to his work in the rainforest determined to remain heart whole.

At this point it seems as though Alex will never change his belief about the type of life he wants or the person he is, but in wonderfully emotional final chapter, he experiences a shattering epiphany that totally changes the direction of his emotions and brings about the necessary happy ending.

This book was an absolute pleasure to review. The pacing is smooth (back story is kept to a minimum until well past the second half of the story ) the pages are packed with sizzling sexual tension, deeply experienced emotion and crisp, concise dialogue.

4 1/2  columns (I’d have liked just a hint at the start of the story that the hero’s present life felt a little empty — a suggestion of restlessness.)

Koishi

By: Annie Nicholas 

Genre:  Paranormal Romance (Erotic) Novella (appx 126 pgs.)
Series:  GateKeepers #1
Published: February 4th 2013
Publisher:  Lyrical Press
ISBN 1616504390 (13: 9781616504397)
Amazon    Barnes and Noble   iTunes
 
4 Columns – Recommended Read

Blurb

Never make a deal with a dragon.

Sandra’s sister is dying. Doctors say nothing can be done, but she refuses to give up hope. She has depleted all their resources searching for a cure, when a little bird whispers in Sandra’s ear about secret worlds, gates, and the keepers who protect them. A dragon gatekeeper, who hoards magical treasure within his volcano home in Japan, possibly owns an item capable of curing her sister.

Gates choose their keepers, and Koishi thinks his did an excellent job in picking him. Not many dare to cross, and none who try survive. However, one tiny human female with either the courage of an army or the intelligence of a gnat has arrived on the island asking for him. Curious, he waits for the locals to steer her to his human servant—actually him, in man form.

Let the games begin…

The Shamrock and the Rose 

by: Regan Walker

Genre:  Regency Short Story (appx. 14k words)

ISBN:  978-1-938876-41-7

Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group

Publication date: 2/2/2013

Amazon   Barnes and Noble

4 columns - recommended read

Blurb

Set in London in 1818, it's the story of Rose Collingwood, daughter of a baron, who wanted to play Portia in The Merchant of Venice. To accept the part at the Theatre-Royal at Haymarket, the very proper young lady assumes the disguise of Miss Lily Underwood, the actress. Who knew all of London would soon be at her feet sending her love notes? One such Valentine goes awry only to be found by the dashing Irish barrister, Morgan O'Connell. Though he would have seduced the actress, Morgan must court the lady. Given three choices much like Portia's suitors, can she resist the handsome Irish rogue?     

Burn in Hell, A Jake Carrington Mystery by Marian Lanouette

4 columns: a recommended read

Buy it at MuseItUp Publishing or Amazon

MuseItUp Publishing, January, 2013

Blurb

A botched missing person’s case.

A nervous mob boss.

Lt. Jake Carrington’s gut tells him Phil Lucci is being cagey—with good reason. Jake can see this case has been mishandled from the beginning. Sloppy police work? Or does Lucci's hand reach as far as the WPD? It’s Jake’s job to find the answers.

Then Jake meets Kyra Russell, a woman with an unusual job—she runs the local crematory. Despite the heated attraction between them, Jake becomes more and more suspicious of Kyra. Her gambling problem has already cost her a marriage and custody of her son. More than that, she also happens to be friends with Phil Lucci. Kyra assures Jake that it's just coincidence, but Jake's experience and his instincts warn him not to believe in chance. Can Kyra be burning bodies for the mob? If she is, what will Jake do about it?

Review

Having once conjugated complex Latin phrases with dedication and interest, Airmid, Lady of Speed Reading, recognizes in Burn in Hell, a wonderfully enigmatic and pleasingly difficult puzzle to be opened with anticipation and devoured with delight. The story is at once interesting and engaging, alike in many ways to the healing lore Airmid sought to learn from her father. We first meet lovely, red-haired Kyra Russell, funeral director by day, gambler by night. The addiction of gambling holds Kyra like the milky-white latex that sticks fingers together as one gathers dandelion root. Kyra could pull away easily if she were determined, but she chooses to remain, and even binds herself further by accepting an offer from mob boss, Phil Lucci, to cremate the bodies of his hits. Kyra's rationale for choosing this fate rests on her belief that her gambling debts will be erased and she will receive large amounts of cash with which to win back custody of her son, Trevor, from her vindictive ex-husband, Tom. On this same fate-filled day, Kyra first meets Jake Carrington, luscious local man-of-law and defender of vulnerable females, who is emotionally raw from recent abandonment by his fiancée, Mia.

Like the vines of the Partridge Berry which intertwine as they spread over the ground, Kyra and Jake cling to one another in their duress and grief, each entering the relationship with uncommitted intentions that fail as they find in one another the light and hope that comes from the promise of healing emotional wounds. However, like an herbal remedy prepared by the untruthful or unwise, Jake and Kyra's relationship is destined to prove deadly as their enemies conspire against them. The climax of the story builds to an intense ending that is logical, unpredictable and yet disturbing as a cruel justice is served to the stubborn Kyra, and Jake is helpless to protect her from her chosen fate.

Airmid, having lost her favorite brother, Miach, to her father's anger understands the aching emptiness that Jake feels for his long-ago murdered sister. Having spent a year and a day mourning over Miach's burial place to no avail, Airmid sincerely wishes for Jake's sake that he could have found a way to reach Kyra before it was too late. As the story progresses we are also introduced to the mysterious Mia. Airmid wonders what Jake saw in the maddeningly controlling and acerbic woman, who, after a mystifying argument with Jake two months prior, held herself back from contact, as if Jake resided in a patch of stinging nettles and she had no wish to traverse them and endure the pain even though there was a simple remedy at hand for undertaking such a path with success. Not having read the previous book in the series, Airmid remains at a loss to understand Mia, or feel sympathy for the future relationship between Mia and Jake. Some solid evidence such as a flashback or a short summary with highlights and positive notes about their relationship would have helped Airmid believe in Jake's need for and possible reacceptance of Mia.

Within the same root and stem, Airmid grew impatient with waiting until halfway through the story when an actual scene between Kyra and her beloved son, Trevor was presented. Airmid had some difficulty building sympathy for a woman whose motivation for taking a dangerous path was to reunite with her son, but who forgot to call him on the phone and when she did, made but brief conversations with him, while she seemed to put grand effort into pleasing her lover and mob boss, and fighting with her ex-husband. To be placed thusly at the opposite ends of right and wrong would sober many a mother into actions to reclaim a lost child, but Kyra continued to hesitate when opportunity spread itself open at her feet like a bloom of Lady's Mantle. It would be useful in future to take care to build up a solid foundation for a relationship that a character claims as a motivation for her actions and choices. Many herbs for tea can be grown in tame conditions just outside the kitchen door, but it is the wild varieties, found only after a difficult traipse through the bogs, mosses and rocky hillsides that make for the most satisfying taste and the most emotionally true brew.

Airmid confesses that she sped read past the overly-plentiful internal thoughts and questions presented by the main characters. She wonders why the author found it necessary to use questions, dialogue, and direct internal thoughts, often one after the other, and all aimed to present the same information. Do mortal readers require such repetition? "Mortal readers must not readily comprehend what they read." I may never come to understand the minds of mortals. Airmid suggests that the author reconsider the value of using all three of these at once. The glory and the beauty of the author's prose and dialogue is present in such a high degree in this story that a modest amount of pruning would brighten the entire garden of the scene and allow the marvelous words to flourish and, like the tiny blossoms of yarrow, shine forth in glorious storytelling wonder.

Airmid was absolutely delighted with the antagonists in the story from minor but critical characters Joe Dillon and Tom Russell to major and treacherous adversaries, mob boss Phil Lucci and his partner Angelo. Each of these characters was frightening in a realistic way that set Airmid's heart going apace as if she'd sipped too much of the nectar of the Fairy's Glove. Ex-husband Tom is thoroughly disreputable, lacking any sympathy and needing none. Airmid only wished she might have been permitted to rejoice further over the extent of Tom's injuries, but she would have settled for knowing that he spent a long time in hospital, preferably with incompetent and clumsy healers.

The author presented a well-researched and enjoyable world of work from the details of funeral and cremation practices to the particulars of police procedure. Airmid questions whether this story can rightly be cast as a mystery story since the reader was in a position of superior knowledge to the investigating detective. However, that query does not make the story less enjoyable. The author has an excellent ability to build and maintain tension and to present a conflict that appears to have no possible resolution until the very last moments of the story. Above all, Airmid closed the story with a lasting empathy for Jake Carrington, a good and worthy man who is one of the few who hold the ground of justice and mercy against a world of greed, corruption and hate. Airmid plans to read the prior book in the series, If I Fail, and holds great hope of reading more about the world of Jake Carrington.

Ballroom To Bride And Groom by Kate Hardy

4 columns: a recommended read
Mills & Boon Cherish

Mar 2013

ISBN 9780263900941
Amazon UK

Harlequin Romance

Feb 2013

ISBN: 9780373178629
Amazon US  Barnes and Noble

 

Blurb:

TV presenter Polly Anna Adams has spent a lifetime living up to her name. Suddenly single, Polly hides behind her cheery facade and enters a celebrity dance competition. Her partner? None other than gorgeous but wary professional dancer Liam Flynn.

Liam has learned the hard way to keep his heart on lockdown, but Polly's joie de vivre puts a spring back in his polished step. As the competition heats up, so does their unstoppable attraction. If only they could convince themselves their hot tango passion is just for the cameras….

Review:
 

Smile-and-the-world-smiles-with-you Polly Anna Adams loves her job as a children’s TV presenter. Until her fiancé, the show’s producer, cancels their wedding and brings his new girlfriend onto the production team.  Polly can’t bear the thought of working with her replacement, so walks out of her job—even though a recession means she’s unlikely to find another one soon.

A door opens when her agent clinches her a spot on Ballroom Glitz (think Dancing with the stars/Strictly come dancing) partnering gorgeous ex-ballroom champion Liam Flyn.  Polly fears her natural clumsiness will be her downfall, but convinced the show is a stepping stone to another presenting role, she’s is determined to think positive, try her hardest — and smile her way through.

Liam is equally desperate for her to succeed. A year ago he lost his marriage, his career, his home and his dreams when he was badly injured in a car accident. Experts predicted he’d never dance again, but he’s fought to prove them wrong.  His new dream – to land a job as a choreographer on Broadway – is almost within reach, but first he needs to prove himself by taking his celebrity partner all the way to the final of Ballroom Glitz.  Cue external conflict when Polly’s lack of co-ordination and clear inability to pick out a rhythm seem certain to jeopardise his plans.

Both Liam and Polly share the same internal conflict – fear of  betrayal and  abandonment, coupled with a marked reluctance to trust

Due to his ex-wife/professional dance partner leaving him for another man shortly after the accident, Liam has decided he’s better off on his own and needs to hold himself apart emotionally. When he finds himself strongly attracted to seemingly capricious Polly, he hides his normally kind, supportive nature behind a façade of cool professionalism.

But Polly has a strong backbone under all the sweetness and light, and won’t allow him to treat her so brusquely. A clash ensues resulting Liam apologising to her and seeing her in a different light.

Liam quickly realises that Polly’s super-bright smile hides low self esteem and is a brave attempt to fake it until she makes it –in all areas of her life. She sees herself as far too girl-next-door and clumsy to be a glittering ballroom princess and this affects her ability to grasp the steps and techniques Liam needs her to learn.

He fixes that by taking their practice session to a private candle-lit ballroom in Vienna, where he presents her with a beautiful frothy dress, then whirls her round and round the dance floor in a floaty Viennese waltz, kissing her as they spin. The steps come effortlessly and for the first time ever, Polly feels like the fairy ballerina she always wanted to be as a child.

They kiss all the way back to the hotel, and Polly wanting him more than she’d ever wanted anyone in her life, can’t resist his invitation to share his bed.

 But by the next morning Polly has managed to convince herself that once Liam goes to new York, there’s no way she’ll fit into his life. To protect herself from the inevitable heartbreak, she makes the decision to push him away now before things get too complicated. Liam’s disappointment at her reaction leads him to retreat into cool detachment and re-affirm his vow to hold himself apart..

The second half of the book sees them attempting to focus on their career plans—plans that will end with them living thousands of miles apart.

Although both Liam and Polly have apparently identical emotional issues, they deal with them in opposite ways-- and it’s these differences that enable them to gradually change each other.

Liam believes he’s the only person he can rely on and he can’t trust anyone else. Although this belief gradually changes during the course of the story, he retains a strong sense of self-belief which enables him to teach Polly to have faith in herself and transform from clumsy tomboy to ‘gorgeous kittenish flirt.’

Due to a traumatic incident in her teenage years, Polly has learned to look on the bright side, hide her true feelings and  ignore the difficult stuff.  Embedded in this flaw is a great strength – her warm, optimistic nature. And it’s this  which causes Liam to eventually see that keeping himself separate and pushing people away won’t bring him happiness.

I found the pacing of this story extremely smooth – due to Kate’s short punchy sentences and very linear character thoughts. (Each and every action was beautifully motivated leaving the reader in no doubt at any time as to why the characters were behaving as they were.)

My only quibble is some of the scenes seemed a touch repetitive (practice sessions, dancing on the show, facing the judges, basic dance tuition) but considering the setting of the story it would have been very difficult to avoid this.

Overall, this is a beautiful romantic story filled with tender emotion, sparkling (and sometimes very novel) dance scenes and an ending that will make you cry.

 Athena