Guest Review: Pirate Lady Holiday by Kate Richards

Posted January 29, 2011 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 1 Comment

Tracy’s review of Pirate Lady Holiday by Kate Richards.

Aboard the Pirate Lady, Christmas is not looking too merry. Clara tries to lift her spirits with a little holiday baking, but until tattooed rocker Hot Jack Slick, traveling incognito, arrives on the scene, it looks like Clara’s not going to find any spirit in her holidays.

Jack is about to find out that this is one lady pirate who isn’t impressed by fame and fortune and never dates guys in bands. It’s going to take Santa Claus and all his helpers to help Jack break the ice that surrounds this very lovely lady’s heart. And even then, it will be a stretch to make it to her bedroom before Christmas morning dawns.

Clara is spending her Christmas Eve on board a yacht called the Pirate Lady in Los Angeles. She’s missing her mom who died of cancer and the snow from the east coast that would have made it feel more like Christmas. She decides she can keep one of her Christmas traditions alive and make a Gingerbread house. When she returns to the boat she finds a man there. He introduces himself as Jack Anderson and she’s a bit on edge that he might be there for nefarious reasons. He ends up being a friend of the owner of the yacht who was told he could use it whenever he needed. Clara decides to make the best of just the two of them using the boat and they end up making a gingerbread house together as well as motoring off and heading to a Christmas party on a yacht.

Jack and Clara feel a bond forming between them but Jack knows, after having been told by Clara in no uncertain terms, that she does not date any of the musicians that frequent the use of the yacht. How does Jack get closer to Clara like he wants – especially after he tells her that he’s the lead singer of his record labels best selling band?

While I thought this was overall a cute short holiday story I did have a couple if issues with it. First I thought that the book was too short for all of the issues that were mentioned. Clara dealing with not only the death of her mother but then there was an emotional issue centered around her biological father as well. On top of that Clara had decided that she would not date any of the musicians or clients that came on the boat and when she found out about Jack’s career she certainly wasn’t happy. There was almost too much going on for the story to be so short. Luckily the author didn’t decide to solve all of Clara’s problems in the span of 32 pages, which was nice.

The other niggle I had with the book the over-dramatized responses that the pair had during the one sex scene. It was pretty comical, at least for me, and I found myself laughing (and I don’t think I was supposed to be) when I read Clara’s shouts of ecstasy. Jack wasn’t as bad but I think it’s because he wasn’t as verbal.

Overall a cute short story about two strangers meeting and sharing a nice holiday together.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place.

This book is available from Breathless Press. You can buy it here in e-format.

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Tagged: Breathless Press, Contemporary Erotica, Guest Reviews, Kate Richards, Reviews, Tracy's Reviews

What I Read Last Week

Posted January 24, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 14 Comments

A fun week this past one was. My sister and brother in law were visiting from Kansas City, MO and we had a party at my house that included birthdays and anniversaries from October to January. It was great seeing them again. I’ve missed them horribly since they moved a few years ago but they love where they are and are happy so that’s all the matters. 🙂

On Saturday I and some of the other So Cal Bloggers – Renee, Wendy, Lori, Rosie – drove to Holly’s new house and did a little book organizing. It was so much fun to talk about all of the books she had while alphabetizing and organizing shelves, etc. She’s got A LOT of books! My books are separated into 2 shelves read and not read – that’s as far as my organization goes. lol Of course she has more book cases than I do. She also has this lovely little reading nook in her sun room that is to die for. A large reading chair with lamp set right in front of her book cases – I think I could live there. 🙂

Reading was good this week. This is what I read:

First up was Falke’s Peak by Madison Layle & Anna Leigh Keaton. This was a paranormal about people who accept demon’s into their bodies so that they can have the powers they bring to them so that they can fight demons. It was an interesting book. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5

Next was Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis. This was a great contemporary read! The story of a man who has never felt like he belonged anywhere and has no roots comes to visit friends. They talk him into staying for a month and in that time he starts to fall for Lilah who runs a local kennel/humane society. I read this one for The Book Binge and will let you know when my review posts. 4.5 out of 5

I couldn’t decide what to read next so I opened my ereader, hit a couple of buttons on my index and chose a book. Great way to decide, huh? lol I ended up with If I Had You by Lynn Kurland. This is book 2 in the De Piaget series and it pretty good – I did have some issues with it though. The story was about Robin De Piaget who is truly in love with Anne who was fostered at Artane, Robin’s parents home. He is in France when he finds out that Anne’s father is trying to marry her off and heads home to try and stop it. He won’t admit to anyone, much less himself that he is in love with her and really treats her pretty badly at times before he announces his love. Once the I Love You’s were spoken it was like he was a different man. While I didn’t care for Robin all that much I really liked Anne in this book as well as the other characters – mostly Robin’s family. Of course Kurland’s writing was just as good as always. 3.75 out of 5

Pirate Lady Holiday by Kate Richards was a cute short I read for The Book Binge. About a woman who is spending the Christmas holiday babysitting a yacht and the rock star who decides to use it as a hotel. The couple are really finding a bond but Jack didn’t give Clara his real identity and she’s determined to not date rockers. I’ll let you know when my review posts on TBB. 3 out of 5

On my way to Holly’s house (since it’s a 2.5 hour drive) I listened to the audio book Temptation by Jude Devereaux. I wasn’t sure if I would like the story but I did for the most part. I didn’t like the heroine at first but she was starting to grow on me toward the end of the book. Then I hated the end. She ended up turning into someone I really didn’t care for. The narrator of the audio book – not bad but voiced all of the Scottish accents (and there were many characters with Scottish accents as it was partially set in Scotland). This wasn’t so bad either as she did the accents well but she kept pronouncing Edinburgh in an Americanized version (with a hard g at the end) instead of the Scottish pronunciation (more like Edinbura) and every time she did it I yelled at my radio! lol Needless to say it was a most entertaining drive. 🙂 3 out of 5

Last on the list was Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison. Holly received this book for review and couldn’t stop talking about it. I managed to drive away with it (yes, she was aware I stole it!) and read it yesterday. It’s a really great shifter novel with a wonderful yet incredibly down to earth romance in it. The story is about Pia who is half human, half wyr only she can’t shift. She gets blackmailed into stealing something from the hoard of a Wyr-Dragon and is then on the run for her life. But when he finds her he finds he wants to keep her rather than kill her. Just a great book! Unfortunately for you all it doesn’t release until May but you’ll definitely want to read it when it comes out. 4.5 out of 5

Happy Reading!