Tag: eBooks

Throwback Thursday Review: Fatal Affair by Marie Force

Posted June 25, 2020 by Casee in Reviews | 3 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Fatal Affair by Marie ForceReviewer: Casee
Fatal Affair by Marie Force
Series: Fatal #1
Publisher: Carina Press
Publication Date: October 21, 2016
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 357
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

*This is an updated cover of this Kindle edition.*

Washington, D.C., Metro Police Detective Sergeant Sam Holland needs a big win to salvage her career--and her confidence--after a disastrous investigation. The perfect opportunity arises when Senator John O'Connor is found brutally murdered in his bed, and Sam is assigned to the case. Matters get complicated when Sam has to team up with Nick Cappuano, O'Connor's friend and chief of staff...and the man Sam had a memorable one-night stand with years earlier. Their sexual chemistry still sizzles, and Sam has to fight to stay focused on the case. Sleeping with a material witness is another mistake she can't afford--especially when the bodies keep piling up.

*** Every Thursday, we’ll be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books. Enjoy! ***

This review was originally posted on June 25, 2010.

I have enjoyed Marie Force in the past. Her books seem to be outside the box to me when it comes to the romance genre. When I read the blurb for Love at First Flight, I was like “are you blanking kidding me?”. Yet Force had the talent to write a storyline without squicking me out. Something that is much appreciated.

I started Fatal Affair almost as soon as I got it. It dragged for me for about the first hundred or so pages. I found myself wondering where Marie Force went and who took her place. The book was just blah. Too much talk of politics and political agendas. Not enough murder and mayhem. That changed (thank you God) about mid-way through the book. Suddenly the book that couldn’t get any slower took off like a rocket.

Sam Holland has returned to the police force after one of her orders inadvertently got a child killed. The public outcry was for Sam’s head. The mother blames Sam and wants to kill her. When high profile Senator John O’Connor is killed, Sam is put on the case. She has to make this one good b/c everyone will be watching her every single move. So it’s just her luck that the guy that found the body is a one night stand from six years ago. One that she’s never forgotten.

Nick is devastated by the death of his best friend. He has long since considered the O’Connor’s family. I think that this is why the book got bogged down. It was in the details. I know too much about what it takes to be a senator’s chief-of-staff. I know too much about John’s family. There was just too much, which definitely took away from the storyline.

Nick called Sam repeatedly after their one night together but never heard back from her. It has always chafed him that she blew off their incredible night together. It’s only after they’re thrown together over John’s murder that they both realized that Sam’s ex-husband was behind her not getting the messages. This is basically a reunion story, the kind that I love.

The complexity of being an alpha male with a female that is a cop is really fascinating. I thought that Force did a good job of writing from both Nick and Sam’s point of view. Sam instinctively protects Nick even if it puts her in danger and Nick wants to protect Sam.

By the time I finished the book, I was much happier than when I started. I do look forward to the next book in the series which continues Sam and Nick’s journey. And what a journey it will be.

3.75 out of 5.

Fatal

three-half-stars


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Retro Review: Shadow Music by Julie Garwood

Posted February 22, 2017 by Holly in Discussions, Reviews | 15 Comments

Retro Review: Shadow Music by Julie GarwoodReviewer: Holly
Shadow Music by Julie Garwood
Series: Highlands Lairds #3
Also in this series: Shadow Music , Ransom, The Secret (Highlands' Lairds #1), Ransom (Highlands' Lairds, #2), Shadow Music
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: 2008
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 438
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
two-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Throughout her acclaimed writing career, Julie Garwood has captivated readers with characters who are compelling, daring, and bursting with life. Now one of the most popular novelists of our time proudly returns to her beloved historical romance roots–in a thrilling tale of love, murder, adventure, and mystery set against the haunting landscape of medieval Scotland.
For Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel, Scotland is a land of stunning vistas, wild chieftains, treacherous glens, and steep shadows–skullduggery, betrayal, and now murder. Prized for her exquisite beauty, the daughter of one of England’s most influential barons, Gabrielle is also a perfect bargaining chip for a king who needs peace in the Highlands: King John has arranged Gabrielle’s marriage to a good and gentle laird. But this marriage will never take place.
For Gabrielle, everything changes in one last burst of freedom–when she and her guards come upon a scene of unimaginable cruelty. With one shot from her bow and arrow, Gabrielle takes a life, saves a life, and begins a war.
Within days, the Highlands are aflame with passions as a battle royal flares between enemies old and new. Having come to Scotland to be married, Gabrielle is instead entangled in Highland intrigue. For two sadistic noblemen, underestimating Gabrielle’s bravery and prowess may prove fatal. But thanks to a secret Gabrielle possesses, Colm MacHugh, the most feared man in Scotland, finds a new cause for courage. Under his penetrating gaze, neither Gabrielle’s body nor heart is safe.
A gripping novel that delves into the heart of emotions–unyielding passions of love, hate, revenge, and raw desire–Shadow Music is magnificent gift from Julie Garwood and a crowning achievement in her amazing career.
From the Hardcover edition.

******As part of our 10 year anniversary celebration, we’ll be re-posting old reviews that make us cringe, laugh or sigh all over again.

Man, I love me some early Julie Garwood historicals. She lost me with her romantic suspense. I remember being so excited when she announced she was releasing a new historical. I’m still pretty disappointed it didn’t live up to my expectations. I wonder what would happen if I read it now? I might need to reread it and see if I still feel the same. 

This review was originally published January 8, 2008

This is less a review about this particular book and more my thoughts on the writing of Julie Garwood. Casee reviewed the book here. You can check that out for a plot summary and her thoughts, for they mostly mirrored mine.

Throughout her career, JG has remained a favorite of mine. Well, let me clarify. Prior to Killjoy she was a favorite of mine. Her historicals still call to me on occasion and I find myself picking them up at random, anxious to sink into an old, comfortable story, similar to how I might slip on my favorite sweats after a long day at work, or pop in a favorite DVD if I’ve had a particularly bad day.

But after Killjoy, not only did I think contemps were not her thing, I decided her writing itself deteriorated. The last novel I read by her was Slow Burn. While I enjoyed the basic premise behind it, I was sadly disappointed in the actual writing. Sentences were choppy, paragraphs seemed to bleed together, or go in odd directions that made no sense to me, dialogue was stilted, characters were half formed or one dimensional. I thought the plot was an awesome one, and had it been better fleshed out it had the potential to become her best written novel yet. But instead it fell far short.

After that, I decided not to read another of her contemps. I told myself, and others, that I’d buy her again if she went back to historicals, but otherwise I was done with her. I removed her from my auto-buy list and comforted myself with her old historicals, the ones that got me hooked on romance to begin with.

Then the announcement came. That yes, Julie Garwood, historical legend, would be returning to her roots. Love her older historicals or hate them, you can’t deny she’s a basic staple in romance. I was happy to hear she’d be returning, but somewhat apprehensive. Because although the moment I’d been waiting for had finally come, I was concerned about her actual writing style. The way she wove a story back when was unconventional perhaps, but still engaging. I didn’t think she’d be able to return to that, not after seeing evidence of her decline in her more recent novels.

I’m sad to say I was correct. She may have done quite a bit of head-hopping in her previous novels, but the focus remained on the two main protagonists. In this novel, however, she chose to write in a more narrative style than from one POV or another. So I was constantly pulled out of the story by her glossing over things, or seeming to sum things up. Very frustrating.

I’m also extremely unclear about how they H/H came to fall in love. There was hardly any interaction between the two, and what there was was disjointed and…once again, glossed over. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to her writing. A chapter would start out from one POV or another, and then half-way through she’d jump into a narrative style, summing things up rather than allowing us as readers to follow the progress.

I suppose it would be like me starting a story, in which I use rich, colorful detail and much humor only to say, once you’re engaged and intrigued, “Blah blah, yada, yada, you get what I mean” and then just leave it at that. Frustrating, no?

There were some good parts. When the POV was written from either the hero or heroine, I was drawn into the story. Unfortunately, those parts were few and far between, and when they did happen, they didn’t last long. The basic premise was also a good one, and classic Garwood. Sadly, the point of the plot was lost somewhere in the muddle of switching from one writing style to another, the jumping between characters and places (i.e., from the Barons in England to the clans in the Highlands to the heroine to the hero to the guards of the heroine to her father back to the barons to the king of England, etc, etc) and the mass amount of inconsistencies presented.

A lot of the reviews I’ve read for this book said the Priests provided a lot of comic relief, but I didn’t really see that. Sure, there were some amusing parts, but I think I assumed they played a bigger part in the overall story (with actual read time, I mean) and that just didn’t seem to be the case.

I’m sure I’ll end up buying her next book (assuming she continues to write historicals), just to see if she somehow improves…hmm, or perhaps that’s not the right word. Regresses into her old writing habits? Goes back to being the Garwood I knew and loved? I’m not sure. I have a feeling I’m going to be sorely disappointed when (if) that time comes, however.

On a related note: Ange, The Romance Groupie, posted about this book on Saturday. I mentioned my disappointment in the overall writing in the comments, and she responded with this:

Actually, I’ve noticed that many of the popular authors appear to be going down in the quality department. I’m wondering if it’s the editors, publishers, etc. that are ruining it. It just seems strange that so many great authors have gone bad in the last year or so. Is it just me? Are you seeing this trend too?

I thought about it some, and yes, I have to agree. Some of my favorite authors have seriously declined in the last few years. Could it be because of the publishers or editors? Or is it just simply something with them personally?

Regardless, I’m disappointed.

Even though I said this was less a review and more my thoughts on JG’s writing as a whole, I’ll still rate the book:

2.5 out of 5

You can buy it here in hardback or in eBook format here. When I bought it from Books on Board, they were offering a $5 cash-back incentive, bringing the total book price down to $9.95. I’m not sure if they’re still offering the promotion, but you could email them to see.

two-half-stars


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Going Digital

Posted October 13, 2015 by Rowena in Discussions | 25 Comments

Going Digital
One of the biggest problems that book nerds the world over has is the problem of space. There’s never enough room for all of the books that one acquires and since most of us don’t come with our very own Beast to build us the libraries of our dreams, sometimes steps need to be taken.

Steps like purging your book stash every three months or going on book buying bans or if you’re like me, going completely digital.

For years, I’ve held on to the hope that even though I was reading less print books, I still had to have them around. They were a comfort to me and I still liked waking up to the sight of them. They made my bookshelves pretty but then my daughter asked me, “When was the last time you read one of those books?” and the answer? Years. Not days or weeks or even months. Not even one year but multiple years. Years of those books just collecting dust because I just wasn’t into reading them anymore.

So far in 2015, I’ve read not one print book. Not one and we’re coming up on October.

In 2014, I made a TBR jar in an effort to get control of my monstrous TBR pile and all of those print books on my shelves and let me tell you…that was an epic fail. I tried to read 12 books and I just couldn’t do it. I think I got maybe 3 books read and that’s it.

In 2013, I read a handful of print books but none were books from my shelves. All of the books I read were from publishing houses, sent for review.

In 2012, I read a handful of books from my bookshelves but most of the books that I read that year were eBooks.

Well, no more.

I spent the weekend spring cleaning the hell out of my bedroom. I went through my clothes and my daughter’s clothes and packed up anything we haven’t worn in years then I set up the boxes that would pack up every single book on my bookshelves.

I have two bookshelves that were filled with books.

photo

This is an old picture because 1) that’s not my room anymore and 2) I didn’t take a picture of my shelves before I packed up the books so there were quite a few books added since I took this picture but still, you get the idea.

Here’s what my books look like after they were all packed up and ready to go.

IMG_0953[1]

I thought I would feel more sad that I got rid of so many books but honestly, I’m excited for the space the books free up in my room. These days, I’m reading 100% of my books on my iPad. If I’m not reading on my iPad then I’m reading on my iPhone and my virtual bookshelves are amazing. I love pulling up Calibre and organizing my eBooks and just seeing them on my iBooks shelves.

So that’s it. It’s done. I’ve gone completely digital and I can’t help but think…

How many of you lovely readers have gone completely digital? Do you think you’ll ever leave print books behind for good?


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New Study: Mobile Reading is Up

Posted November 3, 2014 by Holly in Discussions, News | 8 Comments

mobile readingThis was a UK study, but I found it really interesting. I read books primarily on my e-reader, but I do read on my phone on those rare occasions I’m out and about without my Nook. However, when it comes to blog-hopping, news, social media, etc, I use my phone more than my table, e-reader or even my pc.

Mobile phone book reading boom takes hold

Oxford, UK, 7 October 2014 – We are more likely to use our mobiles to read books than ever before, according to new research by publishing services provider, Publishing Technology.

The survey, which polled 1,500 UK consumers, found that 43 per cent of people read (or have read) ebooks on their mobile. And our love of mobile reading is on the rise, with a huge 59 per cent of people reading more on their phones now than they did last year. Younger people in particular are not just using their mobiles to text, Snapchat and take selfies, they’re also taking to their mobile phones to read more frequently, with 23 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds using their mobiles to read books on a daily basis.

The trend for shorter, snappier online content looks to be changing the way we read books on our phones. The survey shows that we read on our mobiles in short bursts with a growing preference for bite-sized content that is easier to consume on the go.

For example, two thirds of Brits (66 per cent) tend to spend less than 30 minutes reading on their mobile phones in each sitting. And more than a third of young people aged 18-24 said they preferred to read shorter content on their mobiles (38 per cent).

But one thing that doesn’t change just because we’re reading on our mobiles is our favourite genres. As is true in the world of printed books, crime and thriller books are still the most popular genres for readers (27 per cent), followed by autobiographies/biographies (25 per cent), general fiction (20 per cent), sci-fi/fantasy (19 per cent) and romance/erotic fiction (18 per cent).

We all have our favourite places to read too. Relaxation and home comforts are top of the list for young people most of whom prefer to read on their mobiles in the comfort of their homes, either snuggled up on the couch or while taking a long bath (61 per cent). By comparison, older generations (35 and over) are reading around the pressures of busy work lives, mainly reading books secretly on their mobiles at work and during the daily commute on public transport (73 per cent).

Michael Cairns, Publishing Technology’s CEO, said: “As mobile phones become a more intrinsic part of our lives, we are increasingly using them to read our favourite books. Technology is changing the what, where and how of book reading and this survey shows us how significant mobiles, in particular, are going to be to the future of books.”

“We can see that the technology still has a long way to go before it satisfies everyone. But as mobiles continue to improve the user experience, we can expect more people to choose them as a convenient way to read books.”

The Mobile Book Reading Habits survey was conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Publishing Technology. The full results can be accessed at www.publishingtechnology.com/research.

I thought it was interesting that romance readers showed the lowest percentile. Since romance is the highest selling fiction genre, I can only conclude that, like me, most romance readers have an e-reader or still prefer print books. I used to read way more print than digital, but in the last couple years my print reading has dwindled to practically nothing. I might read 5 print books a year, which is nothing when I average 200+ books.

Do you read on your mobile phone, or do you prefer to read in print or on your e-reader? What’s your current print vs digital ratio? 

Publishing Technology plc:

Publishing Technology is the world-leading provider of content solutions that transform business.  We cover the publishing process from end to end with content systems, audience development and content delivery software and services. Combining our unmatched publishing knowledge, global operations and perpetual support model with our advance enterprise system, ingentaconnect scholarly portal, pub2web custom hosting platform and PCG (Publishers Communication Group) sales and marketing consultancy, we offer the industry’s only full spectrum of solutions to help publishers move their content forward.  Listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, the company operates jointly from Europe (Oxford) and North America (Boston and New Jersey), with local offices in Brazil, India, China and Australia.  Assisting 400 trade and scholarly publishers for over thirty years, Publishing Technology solves the fundamental issues content providers face.

 Visit publishingtechnology.com, follow @publishingtech on Twitter, or connect with us on LinkedIn.


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#DFRAT Excerpt (+ a Giveaway): Fated Souls by Becky Flade

Posted July 20, 2013 by Holly in Features | 12 Comments

fsCheck out Fated Souls by Becky Flade

Blurb: Shamed investigative journalist turned tabloid scribe Maggie O’Connell convinces her editor to let her go to Minnesota to research alleged werewolf sightings. Her first night in the woods, she gets trapped in an ancient sleeping bag, unintentionally attracts the attention of a bear, and is saved by the most unlikely of heroes: the very wolf she had come to investigate!

When she meets horse rancher Aidan Gael in the town market days later, she recognizes his eyes as those belonging to her champion. He dodges her every attempt to get to know him but undaunted Maggie launches a campaign to win over the recalcitrant Aidan.

Aidan tries desperately to avoid her; he both fears Maggie and fears for her. Neither man nor beast can resist her curious mind and courageous heart. One kiss threatens to break Aidan’s tenuous self-control but furthers Maggie’s resolve. But danger lurks at every turn. The curse Aidan fights to keep secret is only one of the obstacles that will test the strength of their bond. Together they will navigate the violence of both nature and of man in pursuit of their destiny.

 

Excerpt:

Sometime later as they lay there intertwined, feeling the cool air of the lengthening day on her sweaty skin, Maggie smiled against his neck and simply said, “Deal.”

“Then we better get moving, lover.” He kissed her, and they dressed quickly before eating a hastily put together meal of reheated leftovers and heading out into the meadow. Maggie was equally nervous and excited as she and Aidan walked to the forest’s edge. She had been anxious to see the transformation with her own eyes, the proof her mind needed to finally accept the truth she already knew. She didn’t have any worries that it would change the way she felt about Aidan—she was in love with him and she knew it—but it was like Lois Lane knowing Clark was Superman and actually seeing the Fortress of Solitude for herself.

“Aidan, does it hurt?”

“No, it doesn’t hurt.” He took her hand in his, and led her into the trees far enough that no one could see from the meadow or the house. Maggie glanced up at the sky; the moon would be up any second. She chose a large wide tree to sit against and made herself comfortable as she watched, with total female appreciation as her man stripped down to his skin. She saw him put his clothes in a large, watertight container, painted dark green so it blended well with its surroundings. She marveled at how she’d never considered what happened to his clothes. Aidan winked at her and Maggie smiled back, her smile spreading as he grew visibly aroused. She quirked an eyebrow at him. Aidan’s quick chuckle in response slid into a low growl as the first rays of moonlight touched his shoulder.

Maggie watched in awe as a thin blue mist covered Aidan’s skin and the air around him shimmered with magic. He blurred before her eyes and she blinked against the sudden urge to weep. That fast, Gealach stood before her, his fur thick and downy, his eyes, so like Aidan’s, watching her with concern. She smiled as a lone tear slid down her cheek. The wolf came to her, nuzzled her neck and licked the tear away with his soft, scratchy tongue. She ran her fingers over his pelt and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

“I love you.” She whispered against his side, knowing Aidan could hear her. Gealach whined softly and she pulled her head back so that they were nose to nose. “I know that wasn’t fair. You can pretend you didn’t hear it; I don’t expect you to say it in return. I want you to say it when, or if, you feel it, too.”

The wolf retreated a few steps and when she nodded her head he bound off into the dark forest.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DFRAT2013


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