Tag: Fiery Tales

Guest Review (+ Giveaway): A Midnight Dance by Lila DiPasqua

Posted September 12, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 44 Comments

Publisher: Berkley, Penguin

Tracy’s review of A Midnight Dance (Fiery Tales #3)) by Lila DiPasqua

Born into wealth, Sabine Laurent and her twin sister lived a life of luxury, their father’s prestigious theater frequented by royalty and aristocracy alike. And Sabine dreamed of her own prince charming—the devastatingly handsome Jules de Moutier.

That was before the loss of her sister and her family’s fall from grace—a disaster Sabine blames on the Moutier family. Now, with her father’s death, she’s inherited his sizable debt and the responsibility of caring for his spoiled long-time mistress and her two wastrel daughters. But with the help of Sabine’s eccentric friends—the balance of her father’s acting troupe—she plans to get very close to her old infatuation, seduce the rake—and make away with a fortune.

Resisting Jules’s skillful mouth and tantalizing touch is not as easy as Sabine supposed. And soon she must decide whether her desire for vengeance is greater than her desire for her one and only prince…

Sabine Laurent is desperate. After her family’s financial decline and her father’s death she’s the one keeping the family together. With the taxes so high there’s no way that they can survive for much longer. Sabine overhears talk of a cache of silver. She devises a plan where her and her two younger cousins will go to the camp of the men who are guarding the silver, have them drink tainted wine and then take the silver for themselves. The problem? Well, the men aren’t quite as gullible as Sabine and her cousins think they are. The head of the group, much to Sabine’s dismay, is none other than the nobleman she has pined over for years. When she finds herself stuck in a situation where she can’t seem to rectify she plays along and finds herself in the arms of the man she thought she once loved.

Sabine and her family eventually hit their mark and get the silver but Sabine has already relinquished her heart to Jules de Moutier. Jules is more than pissed that he’s been had and when he finds Sabine he tries to make her life hell. Jules has not only the silver theft to figure out but he also is trying to get his family’s honor back after his father was publicly hanged for treason, their lands and titles stripped and their money taken. Jules believes that his father was innocent and intends on proving that everything was a set up. Surprisingly he gets help from Sabine, her family and her sister’s journals. Jules finds himself having deep feelings about Sabine but their classes are so different there’s no way that he can marry her. How can they be together?

This is another of DiPasqua’s stories that is base around a fairy tale and it was a good one. This was not like any other tale of Cinderella that I had read before – it was so much better.

I think the main thing I liked about the story – besides the fact that it was well written – was the fact that the author didn’t try to stick to the norm of the Cinderella story. Yes, it was loosely based on that story but the whole book had a much darker feel to it – DiPasqua wasn’t afraid to add treason, death, and poverty into her romance – and it worked!

The characters were also wonderful. Sabine and her unending strength was wonderful. She did what she needed to do and she wasn’t afraid to stand up to those who thought she was beneath them. She had a fire in her and I loved that she just didn’t give in to what could have been a horrid life.

Jules, at first, was a terrible snob. He was the typical noble – not even looking at those he thought were beneath him. It really took him reading Sabine’s journal and a good look at himself to get him to realize that everything he wanted out of life before may not be what he wants now. I truly grew to like him more and more as the book went on.

The secondary characters were great as well and very three dimensional.

I very much look forward to reading the next fiery tale that DiPasqua decides to tell us, whatever that may be.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

The Series:
Awakened by a KissThe Princess in His BedA Midnight Dance

Giveaway Alert: We have 3 copies of A Midnight Dance to giveaway. Leave a comment on this post telling us what you love about fairy tales and you’ll be entered to win. US and Canada only. Contest ends 9/16/11 at 11:59pm. Please note: You must include a valid email address with your comment to be eligible.

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

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


Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Guest Review: The Princess in His Bed by Lila Dipasqua

Posted December 13, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Tracy’s review of The Princess in His Bed (Fiery Tales #2) by Lila Dipasqua

The Marquis’ New Clothes: To search his wardrobe for a missing ring, Aimee will have to get very close to the seductive Marquis de Nattes, and soon finds that his clothes-and hers-are utterly forgotten…

The Marqui de Nattes has wanted Aimee for years, but she was married to his friend and he was not about to do anything about his lust of her while she was married. Well, she’s been widowed for two years now and he wants to make his move. His friend Robert thinks he’s going to get nowhere fast but surprisingly Aimee seems to be making a move on him. He’s not sure he understands why she’s flirting with him but he’s not about to look a gift horse in the mouth!

Aimee has agreed to help her cousin who did something incredibly stupid. Her cousin stole a ring from the man who broke up with her. But the ring belongs to, in contemporary terms, the chief of police. She’s realized her mistake and wants to get the ring back but in a startled fit puts the ring into the jacket pocket of Nattes’ pocket so as not to be thought a thief. The problem Aimee is discovering is that Nattes is a total clothes horse and she’s got a LOT of jackets to go through in order to find the ring. In the meantime she also discovers that Nattes makes her blood boil and she might be finding more than a ring, she may be finding love.

This was a great take on the Emperor’s New Clothes. I very much enjoyed seeing Nattes and Aimee come to terms with each other although I have to say that all through the reading I just wanted to shake Aimee and say “Just tell him about the ring!” I think Nattes would have totally understood the situation and wouldn’t have looked down upon her for it – but then I guess we wouldn’t have had a story. lol It was a good one despite that issue and as with all Dipasqua’s fairy tales, very hot.

The Lovely Duckling: Joseph d’Alumbert will stop at nothing to peel away the inhibitions of Emilie de Sarron and reveal the beautiful swan inside…

Emilie de Sarron was caught in a fire when she was five years old. At her coming out ten years ago she was laughed at and ridiculed because of her scars and subsequently went into seclusion. Now she’s decided that it’s time to break out of the mold. She goes to her aunts house where she’s having a party of debauchery. Everyone is masked so she believes that she can finally experience passion and no one will know who she is.

There is one person who knows who she is though – Joseph d’Alumbert. In fact not only does Joseph know her but he has been corresponding with her for the past year. He knew she would be at this party and planned to come to protect her in some way – but what ends up happening is that he offers to show her the passion she craves in order to save her from the rakes that abound at the gathering. It starts as passion but after a year of pouring their thoughts out to each other it quickly moves into love. But there’s a big hitch here. Emilie thinks that she’s been corresponding with Joseph’s twin brother, Vincent, and for varied reasons Joseph can’t tell her the truth about her identity.

This was my favorite story, by far, of the three in this book. Actually it might be my favorite interpretation of the Ugly Duckling that I’ve read. I love that the author had the couple corresponding prior to the party. It would have been so easy and very provocative to have them just meet at the party and fall for each other but with that extra layer of emotional bond it made the story that much better.

Joseph’s intentions toward Emile when he first started writing was to check on her, see how she was doing – mostly out of guilt because of the part he played in her coming out debacle. But when he became her lover he truly cared for her and wanted to show her that she was beautiful outside as well as in. It was very touching and I loved reading the story.

The Princess and the Diamonds: Princess Gabrielle can’t sleep. There is something hard in her bed. Not just the stolen diamonds tucked under her mattress- but the handsome marquis on it.

Gabrielle, daughter of the King, is determined to save her brother from total ruin. He gambled his fortune away in a game of Basset – which had been a game banned by the King. So here is Gabrielle, dressed like a man so that no one knows who she is, playing a game that has been banned by her father to try to make up the fortune that her brother lost. Not only that but she’s stolen (with every intention of replacing them) diamonds from her father in order to play the game. The first night she is there Mathias, the Marquis de Montfort figures out that she’s a woman and decides to find out what she’s up to. Why is she clothed as a woman when Basset allows women to play? He is determined to find out.

Mathias has an ulterior motive for being at the Basset tables as well. He’s agreed to assist in the closing of the Basset gambling house and will bring down the man who runs it and those who regularly play at the house. When he meets Gabrielle though he doesn’t want her involved in any raid that might occur at the gambling house but he does want to be involved with her. While Gabrielle and Mathias begin an affair, Gabrielle keeps her identity to herself. When she finds out that Mathias is more or less working for her father she hatches a plan to make them both happy forever.

This was a very cute story as well – a fun take on the Princess and the Pea. I was a little surprised that Gabrielle, even after she fell in love with Mathias, still didn’t tell him who she was. Of course, it would have freaked him right out but still. lol Despite that I thought the story was well done and I enjoyed it.

Overall another great set of fairy tale adaptations that we quite enjoyable.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

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


Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Guest Review: Awakened by a Kiss by Lila Dipasqua

Posted December 9, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 2 Comments

Tracy’s review of Awakened by a Kiss (Fiery Tales #1) by Lila Dipasqua

Once upon a salacious time, when fairy tales were written…

Sleeping Beau: Five years ago, notorious rake Adrien d’Aspe, Marquis de Beaulain, was awakened by a sensuous kiss-and experienced a night of raw ecstasy that was branded into his memory. Years later, he spots his mysterious seductress-and this time, he has no intention of letting her go…
Adrien, when he discovers that Catherine is the woman who came to his bed all those years ago, is determined to have her again because he hasn’t stopped dreaming about her for five long years. She mortified that she’s seeing Adrien because she thought that the man she had bedded was a foreigner and that she’d never see him again. Not only is he not a foreigner but he’s the King’s son!
She eventually gives in to Adrien’s seductiveness and agrees to be his unashamed bed mate for the 5 days that she’s going to be at the house they’re staying at. You see after that she’ll be leaving to get married. The pair share a bed for the days they are together but it also seemed that they shared a bond that grew stronger as the days wore on. When her betrothed comes to get her early Adrien realizes that he’s fallen in love but since he feels that’s not who he is (and he’s got love issues because of his mother) he lets her go. (Stupid man!)
I think the simplicity of this story is what really made my romantic heart go crazy. The ease of the couple when they were together was so wonderful to read. I love complex stories as much as the next person but every once in a while it’s nice to read a story about two people falling in love without too many complications. FYI – there is a distraction in this one that comes in the form of Adrien’s sister – and was a bit dramatic – but I still loved the story.
Little Red Writing: Nicolas de Savignac, Comte de Lambelle, has been assigned by the King to uncover the secret identity of the author writing scandalous stories about powerful courtiers. He never expected his investigation would lead to his grandmother’s house, or to a ravishing woman who would stir his deepest hunger…
What do you do when you’re supposed to arrest someone but you’ve found that you’ve fallen in love with that person? Well that’s this story in a nutshell. Nicolas and his fellow Muskateer Thomas manage to gain entry to his grandmother’s house, after sending her on a fool’s errand, to discover the identity of the author of some scandalous books. He finds himself falling in love with Anne, one of the sisters staying at his grandmother’s house. He has to ask himself, is getting that promotion really worth losing the love of my life?
While I liked this story as a whole I did have a problem with Nicolas’s deceit. Believe me, if I was in his position I don’t know that I could have, or would have, done anything differently but I’m not one who cares for the hero sneaking around behind the heroine’s back for nefarious reasons. (ok, maybe not nefarious, but clearly not nice!) Besides that little quirk I found the couple was great together and seemed to just fit. Just shows me you can meet the mate of your dreams in the most unlikely places. 🙂
Bewitching in Boots: Elisabeth de Roussel, daughter of the King, is accustomed to getting what she wants-and she wants Tristan de Tiersonnier, Comte de Saint-Marcel, an ex-commander of the King’s private Guard. A recent injury has forced Tristan to leave his distinguished position, but Elisabeth is determined to make him see he’s every bit the man he once was-and more than man enough for her…
Elisabeth has been in love with Tristan from afar for years. She’s finally decided that’s she’s going to take matters into her own hands because she’s just tired of waiting. Tristan’s not happy to see Elisabeth. He’s always viewed her as a spoiled daughter of the King, especially as she’s his favorite daughter. But Elisabeth doesn’t just plan to get Tristan for herself – she also plans to get him reinstated as the commander of her father’s private guard.

Again, a little deceit on the heroine’s part in this story but it was for such good reasons I really had to overlook it. Ok, yes, getting Tristan for herself made Elisabeth selfish on some levels but after waiting so long for him to come to her, and it not happening, sometimes a woman just has to do what she’s gotta do! Lol Her heart was in the right place with all plans involving Tristan and I certainly couldn’t dislike her for that.

In all three stories we found tales that were related to fairy tales, but not too closely, which I appreciated. I liked that the setting for the book pretty much revolved around, in a sometimes loose fashion, King Louis XIV, and his court, offspring, etc. I think it takes some good writing skills to get me to look at men from the 17th century with all of their frills, ruffles, brocade and long coats (not to mention those curly wigs) and find them hot and hero worthy – but this author had those skills and worked them quite engagingly. The tales all involved true love and hot sex scenes as well which made the stories one part sweet, one part smokin’ and I found it a great combination.

If you like your fairy tales that are hotter than the original but pretty darned romantic this is definitely a book you need to read.

Rating: 4 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

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


Tagged: , , , , , , , ,