Day: September 27, 2013

What Are You Reading? (171)

Posted September 27, 2013 by Rowena in Features | 12 Comments

Rowena: This week wasn’t a good reading week for me, at all. I read two books. That’s it. I read Deeper by Blue Ashcroft, which was a good read. One about two lifeguards with issues they’re working through but who find love with each other. It was a lot darker than I was expecting but still, it was a solid read. The other book I read was Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines. I liked this book a lot more than I liked the other book that I read by her. I adored Woods so much more than I liked Rush and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Now I’m reading The Striker’s Chance by Rebecca Crowley. I’m not that far into the book so I can’t comment either way. But I’m reviewing it here on the blog so you’ll see my thoughts, eventually.

Holly: I haven’t been reading anything this week, either. I’m seriously annoyed over how little I actually want to read. I did a re-read of Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega novella and that’s pretty much it. I did start Jagged by Kristen Ashley last night, but I started to lose interest about halfway through. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it tonight and get my reading mojo back.

What are you reading?

12 Comments

Review: The Volatile Amazon by Sandy James

Posted September 27, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 2 Comments

Sarita Neeraj has never felt like a real Amazon. Compared to the obvious strengths of her sisters, her Water powers seem small as her stature. She’s determined to prove herself—unfortunately, all that gets her is captured by an enemy.

Ian serves a twisted goddess, preferring this to an empty afterlife. He’s taken Sarita hostage to coax the other Amazons from their safe haven. But in his ancient Scottish castle, the passion and love Ian finds for Sarita resurrect his honor, until he chafes at the dark will of his mistress.

Sarita has finally found happiness—but before she can enjoy it, she’s “rescued” by her furious sisters. To save Ian from destruction at the hands of the Amazons, Sarita must risk wielding magick that could change her very nature. Only then can she prove the Water Amazon is the strongest of the four—and save them all from destruction.

Sarita is the Water Amazon. She is one of 4 women who protect humanity from evil. Unfortunately she’s always been thought of as the weakest of the four Amazon’s and she hates that fact. She’s also quite jealous of the fact that the other three women have found the loves of their lives and are just happy, happy, happy. Ug. She really doesn’t want to see all of the happy couples around because she knows that she’ll never have that.

The God’s send Sarita off to Scotland on a mission to entrap a demon. She completes her mission but then gets captured by a highlander by the name of Ian who is working with the ex-Earth Amazon Helen. Helen wants to rule the world but Ian just wants revenge on Artair Mackay who he blames for his death (Ian was recently resurrected from Limbo to help her cause). Ian takes Sarita to his home in Scotland that has been spelled by Helen so that Sarita can’t contact her sisters and they can’t contact her. Sarita starts to actually like Ian as she sees that he’s been fooled into believing things about Artair and Helen both that are wrong. She tries to get him to see the error of his ways and in the meantime the two fall in love.

Once Sarita is rescued she finds that Helen’s taken Ian’s memories away and he doesn’t remember her at all. She still wants him in her life but how can she be with him when he’s working for the side of evil?

Oh we’ve followed an interesting road throughout the Alliance of the Amazon’s series and this was not less interesting. We got to see Sarita and Ian falling in love and trying to find their paths back to each other. I loved the way that things worked out so that everyone had their HEA and the evil was thwarted. Ms. James really packed a punch with this book and took a woman who was looked at as the weakest and made her the strongest of the bunch – such a great dichotomy.

The love scenes, the romance, the fight scenes, the scenes with the Goddesses – just about everything about this story was really good. We got a wonderful romance and an interesting wrap up to the whole series all in one fell swoop and it was definitely worth reading.

Rating: 4.25/4.5 out of 5

FYI – The Reluctant Amazon, book 1 in the series, is currently free on all sites until Oct. 7. A great way to start the series!

Sandy James

2 Comments

Tagged: Carina Press, Review, Reviews, Sandy James, Tracy's Reviews

Excerpt & Giveaway: Snowbound With The Soldier by Jennifer Faye

Posted September 27, 2013 by Rowena in Promotions | 2 Comments

Maybe this Christmas…?

It has been seven long years since Kara Jameson last saw Jason Greene. Returning home as a wounded war hero, Jason looks a shell of the man she once knew. Yet her heart still skips a beat as if it was yesterday….

Stepping back into civilian life, Jason looks to Kara for help. But there’s too much water under the bridge—not to mention too much lingering attraction.
But it seems that the mountain weather has other ideas, and when Kara and Jason end up snowbound together they are forced to confront the ghosts of Christmas past.

Available at:

________________________________________

Excerpt

“How are you?”

He wanted to exchange pleasantries as though they’d parted on good terms? She didn’t have time to beat around the bush. She should already be home, getting dinner for her daughter before they went over her homework.

“When you left Pleasant Valley, you swore you’d never return. So what happened? What finally changed your mind?”

His expression hardened. If he’d been expecting a warm welcome, he’d been sadly mistaken.

He shrugged. “Things change.”

Well, most things did, and generally not for the better, but not in Jason’s case. He hadn’t gained so much as a beer gut or a receding hairline. Even the jagged scar on his face added to his sexiness.

Kara’s gaze rose to meet his. At first glance, she thought his intense blue eyes were the same as she remembered, but a closer inspection revealed a hard glint in them. He no longer resembled the warm, lighthearted guy she’d dated for nearly four years. Or had he been that way all along? Had those rose-colored glasses she’d been wearing back then obscured his real character? Had she ever truly known him at all?
________________________________________

Author Bio

Jennifer Faye is a two-time RT Book Reviews TOP PICK author. Maybe that’s partly due to the fact that she has spent most of her life with her nose in one book or another. It was only natural that she dreamed of becoming a romance writer and spinning the tales of the imaginary people running around in her mind. But first life took her on a couple of detours. Refusing to give up on her dreams, she finally succeeded in getting her name on a book cover. She currently resides in Pennsylvania with her very, very patient husband, one amazing daughter (the other remarkable daughter has flown the coop to chase her own dreams) and two spoiled rotten cats. When she’s not glued to her laptop writing another contemporary romance (which isn’t often) or enjoying some family time, she loves to get lost in a good book, cross-stitch, embroider, quilt, knit, watch hockey (go Pittsburgh Penguins!), and garden. Jennifer loves to hear from readers–you can contact her via her website.

Author Links
Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Google+ / Tumblr

________________________________________

~Giveaway~

Snowbound With The Soldier Blog Tour Giveaway
via Rafflecopter

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/NzA5YTYxOWRiYjhkNTRmYzgxZDBmMTk4NTVkMmUwOjY=/

*Please note that this is not a Book Binge sponsored giveaway.

2 Comments

Tagged: Author Giveaways, Excerpts, Guest Authors, Harlequin Romance, Jennifer Faye

Review: Stealing Phin by Avery Hale

Posted September 27, 2013 by Holly in Reviews | 0 Comments

Holly’s review of Stealing Phin (The Phinegan Swift Adventures in Life and Love series, Book 1) by Avery Hale

What better way to heal your first broken heart than by finding your first true love?

Twenty-two year old Phinegan Swift is a hopeless romantic–a true believer in love. That is, until Douglas, her high-powered lawyer boyfriend and boss, betrays her. Completely devastated by his betrayal, she runs off to Costa Rica for a week with her best friend, Dez, to heal her broken heart and to find her sense of self again.

Instead, she finds Byron Michaels, a handsome and mysterious stranger who harbors a secret that Phin just can’t figure out. All she knows is that Byron is a thief…First, he tries to steal her luggage, then he steals her massage, and finally, he tries to steal Phin’s heart. Who is Byron? What hidden agenda has him following Phin all over Costa Rica? And why is he the only thing that works to keep Phin distracted from her heartache?

Just as Phin’s heart begins to heal, things take a dramatic turn when Byron betrays Phin in his own way. Then, as she’s reeling from this, someone from Phin’s past shows up to win her back…or so he claims.

Will Phin have gained enough clarity to make the right choice? Will Phin be able to see both Douglas and Byron for who they really are? Will she do what her head tells her, or will she do what she always does…and follow her heart?

This was a fast read. I zipped through it in a matter of hours.

Phin is having a bad time of it. She walked in on her boyfriend cheating on her and is using her trip to Costa Rica to get away from the pain. Unfortunately that isn’t working. She wants to let go and be free, but she can’t since she’s still stuck on the cheating bastard.

When she meets Byron Matthews she immediately hates him. Mostly because she’s attracted to him when she doesn’t want to be. She vows to stay away from him but they keep running into each other.

This started out a kind of silly romp. Phin keeps getting into silly scrapes and kind of bumbling her way through her post-breakup feelings. Though that isn’t really my cuppa, I can’t deny I was enjoying it.

Unfortunately, as the novel wore on, Phin wore on my nerves. She continually made poor decisions that went against common sense and found herself in bad situations because of them. Once or twice was silly and fun. After that I began to get impatient and annoyed. Had I been able to suspend disbelief I may have enjoyed it more. In the end I was honestly surprised Phin hadn’t gotten herself kidnapped, raped or dead and that wasn’t amusing to me.

Though this didn’t work for me, I do believe there’s an audience for it. Fans of slapstick comedies along the lines of Evanovich’s Plum series should enjoy this.

3 out 5

This book is self-published. You can buy it here or here in e-format.