Day: June 16, 2008

Book Watch: Turbulent Sea by Christine Feehan (Drake Sisters, Book 6)

Posted June 16, 2008 by Holly in Promotions | 5 Comments

I started reading Christine Feehan years ago (Casee forced me to) and though I’ve given up on her Dark series, and never really got into her Ghostwalker series, I’m still highly addicted to her Drake Sisters series. Turbulent Sea is Joley’s book, and though it’s no secret who her hero is or how the story will go, I still can’t wait for it.

Book Cover

The star: Joley Drake was born with a legacy of unexpected magical gifts, but it was the gift of singing that made her an overnight sensation—a rock and roll goddess trapped by fame, fortune, and ambition. Heated by the flush of success, Joley could have any man she wanted. But there’s only man who can give her what she really needs.

The bodyguard: Ilya Prakenskii, cool, inscrutable, dangerously sexy, and working in the shadow of his infamous reputation—that of a secret Russian hit man on the payroll of a notorious mobster. He’s the last man Joley should get close to, yet when her life is threatened on tour she has nowhere left to turn. But in the seductive safe keep of Ilya’s embrace, is Joley really as secure as she imagines?

Read an excerpt here.

This book is available from Jove July 29, 2008. You can pre-order it here.


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Author Spotlight: Poll Question #3: Your Favorite JM Hero.

Posted June 16, 2008 by Rowena in Features | 2 Comments


It’s time for another question from our Author Spotlight Poll and today we’re going to be discussing Heroes. Our favorite heroes, that is.

Judith McNaught knows how to write a damn good hero. Whether they’re historical men of the ton or contemporary CEO’s, all of her heroes can melt just about any of us. So our question today is, what hero did it for you? Which JM hero is your most favorite and why?

Rowena: My favorite JM hero is…well it depends on what book I just finished rereading. I love all of her heroes but the ones that I love the most aren’t the popular ones, like Matt and Royce. Nope, I tend to fall for the guys that get no love from everyone, well with the exception of Jordan Townsende because I hella love me some Jordan. But my favorite JM heroes always include Nick Sinclair from Double Standards and Zack Benedict from Perfect. I love the both of them. I loved Nick because I’ve always had a soft spot for his story and Zack because, well, I love him…they’re just about everything I love in a hero and because I love them.

Holly: Ian. I sooo adore him. He’s smart, sensitive, tough and was able to admit when he was wrong and then fix it. I just want to eat him up!

Casee: Decisions, decisions. I would have to say Ian. Mostly b/c he could actually admit when he was wrong. There was very little game playing with Ian (if any). Plus as the wife of a self-professed genius, I appreciate a smart man. *g*

So who’s your favorite JM hero? Why do you love him so much?


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Help Author Jo Leigh

Posted June 16, 2008 by Casee in News | 0 Comments

Author Jo Leigh lost her husband to cancer last Friday. I’m posting a letter (links included) from Larissa Ione’s blog.

Dear Friends,

One of our own, author Jo Leigh (aka Jolie Kramer) lost her husband on June 13 after he courageously battled cancer. If you don’t know their story, which is the stuff romance novels are made of, you can read it here and see their wedding picture here.

In addition to being a fabulous friend to so many and a multi-RITA nominated author who has written for Harlequin Blaze, Temptation, Intrigue, Special Projects, Silhouette Intimate Moments and Meteor Kismet, Jo is known across the country for the amazing writing classes she teaches, including one on plotting that is incomparable. She has been incredibly generous to so many in sharing her knowledge and expertise.

Unfortunately, Jo has been left with a lot of medical expenses she will be struggling to cover as they had no health insurance, and we would like to help her out by holding several fundraising auctions. If you have items to donate – books or book baskets/collections, critiques, ARCs of upcoming releases, mentoring opportunities, web or promotional material design work etc., please email the item description to the following email address: forjoleigh AT gmail.com This is the address we’re using to organize the items.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Alison Kent, HelenKay Dimon, Larissa Ione, Stephanie Tyler

Larissa also writes this on her blog:

For anyone who would like to contribute money, please email any of us privately and we will tell you how to go about doing so. (My address is larissa AT larissaione.com ) We will have a website up shortly listing all other contributions and auction details. Stay tuned.


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Review: Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare.

Posted June 16, 2008 by Rowena in Reviews | 11 Comments

Genres: Romantic Suspense


Hero: Marc Hunter
Heroine: Sophie Alton
Grade 5 out of 5

When a young woman disappears, journalist Sophie Alton investigates and is led to the woman’s brother, a convicted killer who is running from the law. Together, they follow a dangerous path toward the truth-and unforgettable passion.

A few months ago, over at The Good, The Bad and The Unread Pamela Clare wrote up a bunch of posts about the research she did on women in prison and I remember really wanting to read this book. I knew that there were other books before this book but I really wanted to read this book.

And I finally did.

I can’t say how much I loved this book! There was so much to love about this book. There was so much to love about this book. I loved the hero, the heroine, the secondary characters and just everything pertaining to this book.

The blurb pretty much tells us everything we need to know about the storyline so I’m just going to jump into what I liked and what I didn’t like about this book.

What really worked for me was the hero and the heroine.

This was one of those old childhood sweathearts reunited stories, the one that got away and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this particular storyline. It’s just such a great way to come together. To know your hero from before, to know him as a boy and grow up and fall in love with the man that he became. To get over the fact that your man is a convicted murderer and all that jazz was great for me.

Pamela Clare did such a great job of telling Sophie and Hunt’s story that I was more than a little peeved when it came to an end. The book was filled to the brim with lots of action, lots of steamy romance and just great characters. I should have read Extreme Exposure and Hard Evidence first but I’m not even mad about that. I loved this book! I loved seeing Julian and Reese and Kara and Tessa, even Kat and Natalie and the people from the paper, they were all just great characters. I loved all of them.

I can’t wait to read more from Pamela Clare. I can’t wait to dive into the I-Team world and I really really can’t wait to read Julian and Reese’s stories. I loved how they all stood by Sophie when the world doubted her and her reputation was in shreds, I loved how they united against everyone else to support Sophie and I particularly enjoyed reading the end, where we see Hunt fit into their world.

It was just great, the whole entire book was great. It was an action packed adventure, a feast for your eyes and just an all out I love this book and can’t wait for more from this author kind of book. You must really read it to get how awesome this book is, seriously…you won’t be sorry you read it, it’s great! You can see the knowledge that Pamela Clare learned from her research of life in prison and all that throughout this book, the girl knows her stuff and she filled the pages of this book with an amazing story and I just can’t say enough good things about this book.

Seriously, go out and read this book, it’s totally worth the money!

This book is available from Berkley Books. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted June 16, 2008 by Tracy in Reviews | 13 Comments

What a week!

It was a fabulous reading week to say the least. There wasn’t one I read that I didn’t really like and most I loved – that’s a very rare thing as far as I’m concerned.

Then there was the start of the DIK Ladies blog which has been brain fryingly wonderful. You can visit there daily for info on a different DIK lady starting tomorrow. Then soon we’ll be talking about our DIK book picks as well as our DIK hero picks and then visits from some fabulous authors (check the right side of the blog for the current author schedule) who’ll do the same. Should be a ton of fun!

So onto the books…

I started off with Wicked Game – you can check out the review I did last week for further details but let me say it’s definitely worth the read.

After reading about vampires I wanted to move on to something that was the polar opposite so I then read The Lost Duke of Wyndham. What a great book! I truly loved Grace and Jack. And some of those tender thoughts that Jack had? OMG – so stinkin romantic. This was my first book by Julia Quinn but it certainly won’t be my last.

Ok so I’d done Vamps and a historical so I figured I’d delve back into the contemporary world of the Troubleshooters again with The Defiant Hero by Suzanne Brockmann. I kind of figured that since I had liked the first book so much that it liking just couldn’t continue. Well it definitely proved me wrong! It was a wonderful book and again loved moving through time with Eve’s stories of her past with Ralph to the problems with Nilsson & Meg. I also freakin loooooved the subplot with Starrett & Alyssa Locke – I mean, how could you not? Can hardly wait to read more of the stories of Team Sixteen.

A Lady in Waiting by Samantha Kane was a nice novella in the middle of the week. It was a good story with lots of hot sexin – oh yeah baby. There was one part at the end that was little disappointing but after talking to a friend and hearing that she actually really liked that part – I have to question myself! lol You can read an excerpt here.

My big SQUEEEEE for the week was an ARC that I received for Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh. Holy cow and oh.my.god. I loved, loved, loved this book. I loved Dorian before this book and now I’m even happier that he’s in my hut on the DIK island. What an amazingly wonderful man…who’s fuckin HOT!!! Oh yeah, the heroine was good too I think. HAHA! Just kidding. The book was great, the romance was great, I love Nalini’s work and I will definitely be reading it again when it releases in September.

My last book of the week was The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson. This was m/m fiction and I loved it. Nick and Sean are cops, partners, best friends. Nick has discovered that he’s in love with Sean. Their current assignment is to infiltrate a gay resort to catch a coke dealer. What follows is hot, hot, hot…but parts are so touching and loving it was amazing. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of E.A’s work!

Happy Reading!


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