Tag: Emma Holly

Lightning Review: Beyond Innocence by Emma Holly

Posted June 12, 2023 by Holly in Reviews | 1 Comment

Lightning Review: Beyond Innocence by Emma HollyReviewer: Holly
Beyond Innocence by Emma Holly
Series: Beyond Duet #1
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: July 1, 2001
Format: eBook
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 295
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Emma Holly turns up the heat in this sinfully sensuous story of a family plagued by scandal—and a shy young woman who discovers a passion beyond her wildest dreams...
When her beloved father passes away, Florence Fairleigh finds herself alone in the world. All she wants is a man who will treat her kindly and support her financially—and she's come to London to find him.
Edward Burbrooke thinks marriage is the only way to save his brother, Freddie—and their family—from scandalous ruin. As head of the family, Edward has vowed to find Freddie a bride—and fast.
Thrown together by Edward, Florence and Freddie make a perfect pair—until Edward realizes he has feelings for his brother's betrothed. The sight of her nubile young body makes his blood burn with lust. The sound of her voice makes his heart warm with love. And the sweet taste of her kiss makes him wonder if he isn't making a terrible mistake.

My book club chose Beyond Innocence last year. I’m certain I’ve read Emma Holly before, but I can’t recall what titles or remember any details, so I’m going to say this is a new-to-me author. I haven’t been much for historicals lately, but this one really drew me in. I liked Florence from the start. She’s a practical sort, determined to find a husband so she can live a comfortable life. I liked that she recognized her circumstances and decided to do something about them. I did not love that she was such a perfect innocent. She was a total Disney princess..she even had an affinity for cats and babies. Like…they rushed her whenever she went outside (no joke).

I did not love that the family tried to dupe her into marrying Freddie. It was really frustrating and felt a little squicky (are we still using that word?).

Anyway, aside from that, I enjoyed the story. I really enjoyed Freddie, and his struggle to find his place in a world not accepting of who he was.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Beyond Duet

three-half-stars

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What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted August 31, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 14 Comments

She’s baaaaack! Yes, I’m back from my weekend in the mountains. It’s just so incredibly beautiful and peaceful up there. We had so much fun. I just love getting together with some of the women I know and having a weekend away. We laughed and drank wine and shopped (got some gorgeous Bass boots that were normally $109.00 for $49.00 and some Bass dress shoes that are stinking adorable for $43.00 marked down from $89.00…oh and got some stuff for hubby and kids too. lol) and read and played games. It was just relaxing and fun! I came back refreshed and feeling like I could conquer the world my office. lol

(Here’s a picture of the playful racoons that were on the deck of the house last night.)

And I did conquer the office! Well, at least part of it. The important book part. Here are before pictures of the shelves/messy office. Yes, the box and the bag on the floor have books in them, of course. (and I had the camera on the wrong setting which means the pictures were under-exposed and makes them look worse! lol)

And here’s the new bookcase. Technically it’s for cd/media storage but it was just so adorable and the perfect size for my office I just had to get it. I got to move my hubby’s cd’s (a friggin miracle) and then move some books around. I got an extra shelf out of it in the built-in bookcase and filled the new shelves with cd’s (he got 1 shelf) and my books. It’s beeeeeautiful! Here are photos of the finished product. Later I’ll be working on total office domination (which means that the trashy fish tank that is a total eyesore but my hubby refuses to move will be gone!) but for now I’m happy with the way it is. :0)

I even grouped the books that I’d already read by author. I know, don’t fall off your chairs, I was just on a roll. 🙂 And I have a big bag of books to take to the next So Cal Blogger Get-Together!

Reading: I really didn’t read that much this week but I got everything done that I needed to so that was good.
Book for The Book Binge read – check
Book for Tracy’s TBR Challenge Read read – check (well almost since it was a DNF)
Book for Nath’s Re-Read Challeng read – check
and a couple other stories in between.

So up first was Saving Midnight by Emma Holly. As I said in my last post, the review is up at The Book Binge if you’d like to read it.
Next up was my Tracy’s TBR Challenge Read for the week: All About Men by Shannon McKenna. Sorry to say this was a DNF for me. My thoughts are in my previous post here.
Next was Out of Her Dreams by Fran Lee. This is a story about a romance author who has dreamed about a man since she was 14. She has based a series of books on him and has used the likeness from her dream for the cover of the books. One day at a book signing a man shows up and he looks exactly like her dream man! It’s a cute story that has lots of sex and some sweet moments. 4 out of 5
Last were the books I read for my Re-Read Challenge. I re-read the novella Alpha and Omega and the book Cry Wolf both by Patricia Briggs. I’ll post my reviews on Tuesday.

And that’s it! Can you believe it? I know I was shocked too. lol Ah well, another day…another book! lol
Happy Reading!
(Sorry for the book covers going all wonky. I can’t seem to fix it. I think it might be time for a new blog template – this one’s driving me batty! lol)

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A Few Things – and an observance

Posted August 28, 2009 by Tracy in Miscellaneous | 10 Comments

Thing 1:
Happy Friday! I’m so happy that my day is almost over! I get to leave early today (at 3) to go to a women’s weekend at my boss’s cabin near Lake Arrowhead. It’s only about an hour and a half from here. Some women from my church are going and we eat and drink and play games and go shopping and take hikes and it’s just fun and relaxing. I say cabin cuz it’s in the mountains but it’s like a fully stocked/equipped home. I’m definitely looking forward to it.


Thing 2:
My review for Saving Midnight by Emma Holly is up at The Book Binge. Just FYI.

Thing 3:
My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for this week was a book that I got from the book swap during the first So Cal Blogger Get Together that I attended. I grabbed All About Men by Shannon McKenna off the shelf and was looking forward to reading it. This book ended up being a DNF for me and since I can’t remember who I got it from I’m curious to see what that person, whoever they may be, thought about it. And if anyone else has read it, what did you think?

It’s a book with 3 novellas in it. I read the first novella and tried really hard not to chuck the book against the wall…3 or 4 times. The hero of the story was a little stalkerish at first (following the heroine 800 miles on his motorcycle cuz he wanted to “taste” her. Uh, yeah. But he was so sweet I kind of let it slide. Then the heroine made him mad and he got all sexually controlling – and controlling in other ways – throwing her stuff away cuz he didn’t think it was good enough, etc. I didn’t like him AT ALL! The fact that the heroine was running from a controlling boyfriend made it even worse…and that she fell in love with him. Oy. I started to think she was as nuts as the hero by the end of the story.

Then the second story was about a woman who worked for a head hunter. She was going after a GM of a hotel group and lied about who she was to get past the receptionist. When she got to the appointment she discovered that there had been an emergency and the GM wouldn’t be able to meet her but the CEO would. She tried to leave but just couldn’t manage it. The CEO and her hit it off (on the couch) and he asked her to dinner. She accepted. During dinner the CEO finds out that she’s not who she says she is so he takes her to his room and has wild sex with her. (cuz that’s what you do when someone lies to your, right?) She of course feels vulnerable so doesn’t ever take her dress off…during 2 rounds of sex and him going down on her twice. Okaaaay. If you feel that vulnerable and uncomfortbale then leave! Omg I hate stupid women. When he finally tells the head hunter that he knows that she’s not who she says she is and that he thinks she’s a scam artist she says, “you thought I was a criminal and you still had sex with me?” and he says (get this), “well just cuz I thought you were a criminal didn’t mean I didn’t want to fuck your brains out.” Oh dear God. I stopped reading immediately. The men in that book were a little too scary for my liking! lol Yet, when I looked on ratings from Goodreads I saw that there was anywhere from 2 stars to 5. Apparently those stories appeal to some women – just not me.

An Observance:
This morning after I dropped the kids off at school I saw a girl/woman walking down the street. I’m not sure if she was walking for exercise or if she was going somewhere. She had regular clothes on but she was definitely walking with a purpose so it was hard to tell. She wasn’t a large woman from the back but wasn’t small in size either. When I passed her I saw that she had a crop top on and when I looked in the rearview mirror I saw something similar to this:

Eeew. Is it me or are we seeing more and more of this? I see this often in my city – especially in teens. I don’t think I’m a prude and think that everyone should be completely covered at all times but when you’re belly’s on the large side should it be put out there for the world to see? I have to think that the girls who wear outfits like this have great self-esteem (which is awesome) and don’t care what anyone else thinks but then I have to wonder…do they think that boys find this attractive. Just cuz it’s skin doesn’t mean it’s pretty.
I’m not sure why I brought this up – it’s just kind of been on my mind all day! lol The things I think about. 🙂

Ok – I’m off to finish my work so I can go and have fun in the mountains. I won’t have internet access until I get home on Sunday but can’t wait to see what you all have to say!
Have a fabulous weekend!

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Guest Review: Saving Midnight by Emma Holly

Posted August 28, 2009 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Saving Midnight by Emma HollyReviewer: Tracy
Saving Midnight by Emma Holly
Series: Midnight series #6
Also in this series: Kissing Midnight
Publisher: Berkley, Penguin
Publication Date: August 4, 2009
Format: eARC
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Graham Fitz Clare became a vampire to save his adoptive father from a deadly enemy. Sadly, the price of that rescue may have been too high. Edmund’s captors are at large again, and are amassing the sort of power that could make them unstoppable. In the end, the love the Fitz Clares share with each other could be all that stands between them and a desperate storm of destruction.

This book pretty much continues where the last book, Breaking Midnight, left off. It’s 3 months later and the Fitz Clare family has moved to the family home Bridesmere. Edmund has blocked Estelle from his mind and the bond they once shared is slowly slipping away. Edmund is scared that Estelle won’t love him any longer if she see’s what’s in his mind.

Pen, who is in love with Graham and helped out in the last book, has gone to South Carolina to take over the home there since her mother has died. While there the evil upyr, Frank and Li-Hua, attack her. Her “boss” comes to her rescue and saves her. When the Fitz Clare family finds out about the attack they (except Edmund and Estelle) head to the Carolina’s to track and take down the evil ones.

When Pen and Graham are together again they immediately continue their sexual relationship but when Graham realizes that what he’s feeling for Pen is love he tries courting her rather than ravishing her. The problem is that the way Graham starts phrasing things to Pen she’s thinking he just wants to be friends. It makes for an interesting relationship.

This third story in the Fitz Clare Chronicles was a good one. When the whole family took off for the Carolina’s I didn’t get the feeling, like I did in the second book, that their participation was unnecessary. I was closer to the characters than I had been in the second book and could see that each one had their place in the story and in the final events with the villains.

This book also brought to light exactly what Pen’s “job” was. It was a secret no-named agency that was investigating the existence of upyrs. Though I was happy for this information (as I was wondering about it in the second book) I didn’t felt that it added too much to the story. Yes, it gave Pen some good fighting skills but that was about it.

Overall I think this was a good conclusion to the storyline from the last few books. There was a little bit more romance in this one which was nice – since I’m a romance junkie – and of course Emma Holly always has the rockin’ hot sex scenes.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Book CoverBook CoverBook Cover
three-half-stars

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Breaking Midnight Reviw is posted

Posted August 24, 2009 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

My review for Breaking Midnight by Emma Holly is now up at…you guessed it: The Book Binge.

Edmund is an elder among the upyr, a shape-changing race of immortals. Kidnapped by rivals, he’s now a pawn in a deadly game to control the world, and only the love of the mortal beauty, Estelle, can save him.

Edmund has been captured and his family has no idea where he’s been taken. His family is at a loss without him and not quite sure what to do. Graham, his son, decides to take matters into his own hands and makes the decision to become upyr.

Estelle, Edmund’s fiancé, dreams of him though and is able to ascertain that he is in Switzerland. When it comes time to get a rescue party together his entire family wants to be involved. It is decided that everyone will go. But there are many bumps in their road and the rescue will not be easy. Read more—->

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