Tag: Annette Blair

Review: Hot Ticket by Deirdre Martin, Julia London, Annette Blair, Geri Buckley.

Posted December 26, 2011 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments


Rowena’s review of Hot Ticket by Julia London, Deirdre Martin, Annette Blair and Geri Buckley.

Lucky Charm by Julia London.

Hero: Parker Price
Heroine: Kelly O’Shay

Uninhibited radio host Kelly O’Shay loves to take on the egos of overpaid sports stars. then she goes after hot-shot shortstop Parker Price, whose losing streak takes an unexpected turn when he goes head-to-head with his lovely nemesis-on the air and off.

This story was a great big ball of corn. I mean, we have a whiny hot baseball player who keeps whining about how the talk show radio host keeps talking about him (badly of course) on the radio and then he blames her for her poor performance on the field? Yeah, how is a whiny baby hero going to make me drool with delight? He didn’t. I just didn’t really care for the story, it was too short and just really corny.

Grade: 3 out of 5

Same Rink, Next Year by Deirdre Martin.

Hero: David Hewson
Heroine: Tierney O’Connor

I’m not sure what it was about this story that I just couldn’t get. It fell flat for me, I couldn’t really connect with the characters and I really wanted to because this story had such good potential to be such a cute story but the dialogue felt forced and the witty characters and most especially the talk between the hockey players seemed…silly. I know, that word silly gets me in trouble with rabid fangirls but I can’t help it…that’s how I saw it, it may work for others but it just didn’t work for me. I read the chats between David and his friends as, not good. It didn’t flow well with the personalities of the hockey players, it just didn’t fit. But David and Tierny were good together, although once while they’re getting jiggy, I laughed because well, while they’re going at it, he says stuff like, “Better?” and “You like that?” and it totally just takes me right out of the scene…but it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever read, it just wasn’t the best either. So while the story could have been cute, it just sort of is silly.

Grade: 2.75 out of 5.

You Can’t Steal First by Annette Blair.

Hero: Juan Santiago
Heroine: Quinn Murdock

Famous for his big numbers at bat, Juan Santiago’s struck out only once in his life–with Quinn Murdock. Now the Red Sox star player is getting one more shot with the sexy sporting goods magnate. But first he has to prove he’s not just playing the field.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me but I did not really care for this story either. I mean, Tiago and Quinn are long lost lovers who have this big misunderstanding and go all these years without seeing eachother or talking to each other and then Quinn’s friends throw her on his train thats heading for Orlando for Spring Training and on the train, they fall in love again? Hmm, okay, but the dialogue between these two, can it get any cheesier? Tiago didn’t have as much game as he thought he did, if he said some of the things to me that he said to Quinn, I would have laughed at him. I didn’t get how him and her kissing making it on the front page of the newspaper was funny…it seemed childish and juvenile. I just didn’t get this and I didn’t feel any kind of connection between Quinn and Tiago, though one thing that was a sure winner for me in this book, was the name Tiago…I like that Latin lover name, it’s yummy!

Grade: 2.75 out of 5

Can’t Catch This by Geri Buckley.

Hero: Josh Weldon
Heroine: Lindy Hamilton

Lindy Hamilton got her two-timing boyfriend right where it hurts–by stealing his pricey tickets to the Florida Moccasins football game. When she discovers that the really interesting action is in the stands, it proves to be the hottest season opener on record…

Okay, I think this was the worst of all of them. I really wanted to like ONE of the stories a whole lot because I love sports and sports stories like SEP’s were such winners for me, but this one fell right on it’s face for me. I was bummed because I felt like, ehhh, I can’t wait til I’m done with this book so that I can read something else already. The problem that I had with this story was I didn’t care for Lindy and Josh fell in love wayyy too fast with her, I didn’t see them connect anywhere and yet faster than you snap your fingers, they were in love..it was unbelievable and I just didn’t enjoy the interactions between Josh and Lindy. I thought the nephew was cute though, but that’s about it. I thought it was really weird that Josh’s cousin used Lindy as his lucky charm considering he had never met her or talked to her, it was hooky but whatever…so yeah this story was just blah for me.

Grade: 2 out of 5.

Overall grade: 2.5 out of 5.

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


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Guest Review: Naked Dragon by Annette Blair

Posted April 7, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Judith’s review of Naked Dragon (Works Like Magik, Book 1) by Annette Blair

As owner of the Works Like Magick employment agency in Salem, Massachussetts, Vivica Quinlan has a gift for perfectly matching clients with magical temps that works every time.

McKenna Greylock contacts Vivica in desperate need of a jack-of-all-trades handyman to help repair her Victorian bed-and-breakfast. She has a shoestring budget and ninety days to meet the building inspector’s approval—or the house will be repossessed and purchased by her duplicitous cousin.

To McKenna’s surprise, Vivica sends the gorgeous Bastian Dragonellia who not only possesses the speed, strength, and agility to get the job done, but also sets her soul ablaze with a fiery passion she’s never experienced before. And if McKenna can accept Bastian’s true nature—as a dragon warrior—she’ll find her life heating up in more ways than one.

This is the first Annette Blair novel in the “Works Like Magick” series from Berkely Sensations. As I had not read any of Blair’’s previous work, I was excited about discovering an author that was new to me. As I am also new to paranormal fiction, it was another opportunity to expand my exposure to what is becoming a favorite genre of mine in romantic fiction.

Bastian Dragonelli is a Roman warrior who lived almost 2,000 years ago and who was changed suddenly into a dragon and taken from earth to the Island of Stars in an alternate reality. Assisted by the Goddess of Hope to return to the earth as a man, Bastian is drawn to McKenna from the first time he spots her at Vivica’s employment agency where he is being educated by Vivica (a powerful witch) so that he can learn English, understand human ways, and learn to live among 21st century humanity.

McKenna Greylock is the last of a long line of Celtic witches who have survived over the centuries. As the last of her line she is trying to retain the property that is her only legacy. Obsessed with wresting the land away from McKenna, an unjust and unscrupulous developer is doing all he can to upend her efforts to meet the deadline for paying the mortgage arrears as well as the delinquent taxes, including injury to her contractor. Bastian comes into her life with his strange language and his strange ways, but she is drawn to him in spite of herself.

Blair has written a truly delightful romance that seems to have many of the qualities of a fairy tale. Yet the characters are real, the circumstances are all too contemporary in today’s economy, and McKenna is a woman who has learned that there are few people in whom she can safely put her trust. The extended illnesses of her grandmother and her mother have exhausted her resources – another situation that is all too familiar. Bastian’s gentle spirit, his winsome ways, his desire for her, his kindnesses and his evident and extraordinary abilities begin to melt McKenna’s resistance and challenge her determination not to let any man into her life. Yet her inner spirit is hungry for authentic relationship. Bastian recognizes her as his heartmate but is wise enough to bide his time, not only to eventually be able to woo her into a physical relationship but to also hope that she can accept his alternate existence as a dragon.

We meet good people here as well as some who are pure evil. I was delighted by the children who could see Bastian’s guardian dragon and a tiny fairy that had accompanied him “through the veil” onto earth. There was joy reclaimed when Bastian made it possible for McKenna to see and converse with her parents and her grandparents, to experience the love and protection that was all around her with her family spirits who were remaining until she found true love, and her meeting with Ciarra, the original witch in her ancestry. There’s lot to like here. The humor was wonderful and I have to confess to some hearty laughing while reading. There is hope and renewal as Bastian makes McKenna’s quest his own. Yet it is a joy to witness McKenna’s discovery about her own skills and strengths. When she encounters Bastian true dragon self, the exchange is beautiful and heartwarming.

I think this is a delightful book and I hope all of you take the time to read it. It is not overly long but is well-written and display’s the author’s skill in telling a very good story.

I give this book a rating of 4.5 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place

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


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What I Read Last Week

Posted March 1, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 17 Comments

So this was a good week. My hubby is slowly getting back to normal. He’s still slower than normal along with weak but he did go back to work today. I think (and hope) that he’s just gonna do half days for the next few days until he can get back up to speed. One thing that’s making him so weak is his weight loss. You have to understand my hubby. When he’s completely up to speed he eats a bowl of cereal every night right before bed. If he doesn’t he loses weight (bastard!). When he was in the hospital he lost 6 pounds in the 4.5 days he was there. Since then he’s lost another 6 and he’s been trying to eat normally – although up until a few days ago he just couldn’t stomach that much. So this morning he told me that he weighed 148. I just stared at him for a minute and then said: You weigh 148 and I weigh 143.
Him: That’s just scary.
Me: What? That you weigh 148 or that I weigh 143?
Him: Both
Me: speechless
Then my youngest walked up and gave me a hug and said: It doesn’t matter how much mama weighs, I love her anyway.
Me: awww sticking my tongue out at hubby (bastard)
LOL Anyway – my daughter saved my Monday morning – thank heavens! 🙂

Other home stuff: my oldest dropped her itouch in a pool when she was at her friend’s house. It’s toast, we think. We have a warranty but it only covers broken itouch’s, not water damaged itouch’s. sigh My husband has it imbedded in rice to try to soak up any moisture but since she turned it on right after it happened we’re pretty sure it fried the electronics. What’s a mom to do? She was trying to save her chore money to try and buy an inexpensive laptop – now she’s going to be saving it for a new itouch.

I’ve decided to make March “Finish the Series” month. I’ve been thinking the past few days that I’ve started quite a few series and haven’t finished them. Some of the series have ended and still others are still going but I haven’t caught up yet. That’s my goal for this month is to get caught up on the series that I’ve begun. This will take a bit of research on my part to try and figure out what I need to read but hopefully it won’t be too daunting and I’ll be able to get it done in a month’s time. Now there are books that I’ve started that were part of a series that I don’t plan on ever reading but thankfully there aren’t many of those.

So my first read for the week: I started Naked Dragon by Annette Blair for review at The Book Binge but it just wasn’t my thing. Both the hero and heroine were annoying me (this seems to be happening a lot) and I just couldn’t read more. After about 100 pages I put it down. DNF

Next up was Bound, Branded and Brazen by Jaci Burton. I read this one for review at The Book Binge as well and really enjoyed it a lot. The story of 3 sisters coming together on their family ranch – reuniting with each other and finding love in the process. I’ll let you know when my review posts. 4 out of 5

My next read was Chosen by Desire by Kate Perry. Book 2 in the Guardians of Destiny series follows Carrie Woods as she steals sacred scrolls for a monastery in order to get information for her dissertation. The man who is sent to get the scrolls back is Max Prescott, a Guardian of Destiny. They have a lustful yet volatile relationship that just works. Max seemed a little out of it to me at times, like he was a time traveler from the past or and didn’t have a clue about the modern world. But then I thought about it and realized the man had spent most of his adult life in a monastery so that would make anyone a little out of it. lol Despite that I liked the book and will be reading the next one when it’s released. 3.75 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was A Perfect Hero by Samantha James. This is book 3 in a trilogy about the Sterling siblings. I didn’t read the first 2 books in the series but really didn’t feel like I needed to. Julianna was jilted at the altar when she was 22 years old. She’s now 27 and on her way to Bath. Her coach is stopped by a highwayman and when the coachman tries to get away crashes the coach and dies. Julianna is hurt and the highwayman takes her to his cottage. The two form a bond and fall in love while Julianna is there. But Julianna leaves eventually and is crushed until she meets Viscount Granville at a ball – and he’s none other than the highwayman. This was a really sweet romance. I loved when the h/h were in the cottage and spending time together. The first part of the book was a little repetitive but I forged through and it ended up be more than worth it. 4 out of 5

After that I read Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels for one of M/M Challenge reads. A great book I highly recommend. My review here. 4.5 out of 5


Love in Exile by Samantha Kane was next. I read this one for review at The Book Binge. I liked the story about Gregory/Palu who is part English and part Polynesian. I’ll let you know when the review posts. 3.75 out of 5

Last up was The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop. Technically I guess this would be considered a Tracy’s TBR Challenge read as well since it’s been on my shelf since the day it released. Why it sat there I don’t have a clue because as usual with Bishop’s writing it was a really good book. The story of Dena Nehele that has been decimated by evil witches and fighting landens. Things have calmed and the last man with the Grayhaven name goes to Daemon Sadi to request a queen for their land. They are given Cassidy who is a lovely person but not all that great to look at. Teran Grayhaven is not thrilled with Daemon and Jaenelle’s choice. He wanted someone with a dark jewel and a beautiful face to “wow” the Blood in Dena Nehele. The book basically follows Cassidy as she goes to Dena Nehele and attempts to be a good queen. This was just a wonderful book. I really liked Cassidy a lot and hated Teran because he was such a bastard. I was a little thrown off by the end of the book as I didn’t feel things were wrapped up well – but since I started Shalador’s Lady right after (and am currently reading it) I realized that the story is still in progress. 4.5 out of 5

FYI my reading list for February is now up at my reading list blog – aptly named Tracy’s Reading List.  I know, it’s genius.

Also – any of my reviews for The Book Binge that have posted you can find here.

Happy Reading!


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