Tag: Lisa Hendrix

Guest Review: Immortal Defender by Lisa Hendrix

Posted October 27, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Immortal Defender by Lisa HendrixReviewer: Tracy
Immortal Defender by Lisa Hendrix
Series: Immortal Brotherhood #4
Publisher: Berkley, Intermix
Publication Date: October 18th 2016
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Return to the realm of the Immortal Brotherhood with a new paranormal romantic adventure featuring a crew of Viking warriors condemned to live out eternity as were-creatures...

In her Defender's strong arms, she has no defense...

Part of a band of Viking warriors cursed by an evil sorceress, Torvald has searched for years for a magic that can free him from his fate—to live forever as a were-creature, a man by night, a stallion by day. While studying with the alchemist to Queen Elizabeth, Torvald meets the lovely widow Josian Delamere and hopes she might be the one woman who can save him.

Unwilling to give up the independence of her widowhood, Josian expects to become merely lovers, but Torvald's tender seductions make her yearn for more. Just as she’s poised to surrender her heart, a hidden enemy reveals Torvald’s secret to her—and she flees the dark magic that surrounds him, in fear for her very soul.

The proud warrior can win any battle, but he cannot surmount the pain of losing Josian. Yet when her life is threatened, he will risk it all to come to the defense of the one woman who means more to him than his own salvation...

Torvald is a Viking warrior who was cursed long ago, alone with many others, to live a life of half man, half stallion.  By day he is man but when the sun sets he turns into a white stallion.

He is in London staying with a friend when he meets Josian Delamere.  They find a mutual desire in each other and some months later he heads to her home and they begin a tryst.  Unfortunately, not long after they begin Josian comes across Torvald and his friend Ari at sunset and sees Torvald turn into a stallion and Ari turn from a raven to a man.  She leaves her home and runs to her family’s estate.

Her brother-in-law is losing his mind and he decides to head to London to spout his ravings about the queen and his disloyalty to her.  Of course if one of the family is disloyal that means the entire family is disloyal as well, right?  So the entire family gets hauled off to the Tower – including Josian as she was staying with them.

Torvald feels responsible for her being there but he also finds himself falling for her. He works to get her freed from the Tower but once he does Josian is determined to find the papers that will prove the rest of her family is innocent of any wrong-doing and is loyal to the crown.  Torvald, Ari and two other cursed Vikings all help Josian in her quest and while they are together Josian finds herself falling in love with Torvald.  Could she be the woman who could break his curse?

I have to say I waited a darned long time for this fourth book in the Immortal Brotherhood series.  It’s been five years since book 3 was released but I really liked the series back then so thought I’d give this one a shot.  It was hard to remember all of the characters but I soon got into the story.  The first part of the book was slow for me.  I picked it up and put it down several times until I finally got into it – so be warned.

Torvald was a great hero.  He was strong and caring, conscientious and protective.  When Josian first sees Torvald changing she thinks he’s a demon and continues with her disdain through a goodly portion of the book.  I didn’t care for that but it didn’t sway Torvald or his feelings toward her.  He just did his best to help – not matter how Josian felt about him personally.

Josian was a bit much to take at some points in the book.  It was hard for her to deal with the whole changing thing but once she saw how her cousin dealt easily with the changes she opened herself to hearing what the men really were.  Imho that took too long into the story as I would have loved to have seen Torvald and Josian together for longer but that didn’t happen.

Overall it was a good story and definitely was interesting once Josian and her family were arrested.  I will definitely be reading the next in this series as I like the concept so much.  Hopefully we won’t have to wait another five years. 😉

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars

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What I Read Last Week

Posted February 21, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 16 Comments

And here we are again…another week has gone by.  How do they do that so fast? lol

It was a crazy week again this week.  My oldest daughter is going through some stuff and it’s stressful to say the least. But hey, we’re all hanging in and that’s wonderful! 🙂

This week was the week of the haircut for me.  I got my hair cut on Tuesday and loved it…until I started doing it myself (it always looks better when the stylist does it!) and then I realized that it really wasn’t cut like I wanted it. It was a great cut, just not what I was looking for.  So I went and got another hair cut (I know, no hair cut for 6 months and then 2 in one week…shocking!) and I love it!  I think I got the weight of a small child cut off of my head with all of the many inches that were cut off the back and the thinning of my hair. I wish it had all been at once so that I could have donated it all, but unfortunately since it was done in stages I couldn’t. 🙁  

First there was the “before” picture and if you ask me the back looks like some sort of animal pelt.  How did I walk around with that much hair? lol It was just damned BIG! Of course since I usually put it up into a ponytail about 4 hours of wearing it down each day I didn’t notice it that much.  For as crazy as it was down it turned into quite a nice tail. lol  I didn’t get a picture of the in between cuts – sorry.

Here is the final result.  She went a little short on my bangs but since they grow super fast I have no other complaints at all.

I need to work on styling it but it’s all good! So enough about my hair – on to what I read this past week:

I started off reading Duck! by Kim Dare for my TBR Challenge Review (through Wendy the Super Librarian) and it was really good!  I posted my review already so if you’re interested you can read it here.  4.25 out of 5

Next up was Seducing the Governess by Margo Maguire.  This was my first read by this author and I really liked the book.  This review also posted already so you can read it here if you’d like. 4 out of 5

Next up was Immortal Champion by Lisa Hendrix. I read this one for The Book Binge but it’s a series that I’ve been following since the first book (this is book 3). I really like the mix of medieval romance with the addition of magic and paranormal aspects mixed in.  This was Gunnar’s story and though it was heart wrenching at times it was really good. You can read my review here at TBB. 4.25 out of 5

Next was another book for The Book Binge called Cottage by the Stream by Gail Wolfe.  A woman heads to Scotland because she is hiding from a man who’s stalking her and out to kill her.  She ends up being thrown into a world of fey, Star-Children, Watchers and Druid’s. I really liked the premise of this book but it didn’t end up working for me.  2 out of 5

My next read was Not Knowing Jack by KA Mitchell.  This was an incredibly intense book that I certainly wasn’t prepared for what I got.  The book follows Jack and Tony who’ve been together for a little over a year but they never really talk and thoroughly get to know each other during that time.  Jack has some huge secrets and when they come back and start to bite him in the ass Tony isn’t pleased to have been left in the dark.  I knew from the blurb that the relationship between the two men is tested but, wow, that was intense.  You really have to read it to understand and I don’t want to give any spoilers but it was really good.  I wanted to smack Jack around a couple of times – ok, a lot – but in the end it was good to see the men work it all out. (That’s not a spoiler!  I mean, come on…it’s a romance – you know full well there’s gonna be an HEA!) 4 out of 5

For my Tracy’s TBR challenge read this week I picked up the Burning Up anthology by Nalini Singh, Meljean Brook, Virginia Kantra and Angela Knight.  I only ended up reading all the way through the Singh and the Brook stories and they were wonderful!  The Knight…I just couldn’t get into it though I normally like her writing.  The Kantra I read a few pages but just wasn’t feeling it.  I had read 1 book from the Children of the Sea series and it really wasn’t my thing so I passed on that one.  Anyway…for what I read – the Singh and Brook…5 out of 5!

Another Tracy’s TBR challenge read was Must Love Hellhounds by Meljean Brook, Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews.  I had read the Brook story back in Oct. of 2009 but hadn’t read the rest of the stories.  I really liked the Singh story – getting to see how Sara and Deacon got together in her Guild Hunter series.  The Brook of course was great again and though I don’t read that Andrews series the story was good.  I liked the Harris (my first read by her) but it was probably my least favorite of the bunch.  Overall with it’s highs and lows I’ll give it 4 out of 5.

My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:
Moon Burning by Lucy Monroe
Immortal Champion by Lisa Hendrix

Happy Reading!

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Guest Review: Immortal Champion by Lisa Hendrix

Posted February 21, 2011 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 3 Comments

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Tracy’s review of Immortal Champion (Immortal Brotherhood #3) by Lisa Hendrix

Part of a cursed Viking crew, Gunnar the Red must toil through eternity as a half-man, half-beast. Only the magic of true love can release him. Though she is betrothed to another, could Lady Eleanor de Neville be his salvation?

Lady Eleanor is only 14 when she is saved from certain death by fire by Gunnar the Red. She is immediately smitten and sees Gunnar as her champion. Though she waits impatiently for his promised return it’s another four years before she lays eyes on him again. Gunnar isn’t planning on staying at Westmorland’s estate but he arrives when there is a tourney going on and decides to enter a game that ends up putting him right back in Eleanor’s presence. Eleanor is once again love-struck but Gunnar is a bit more wary until he see’s the comb that adorns Eleanor’s hair – a woman riding a bull.

You see, Gunnar is part of a Viking crew that was cursed 600 years before. Each man lives half of his day as a man and half as an animal of some sort. For Gunnar that animal is a bull so when he views Eleanor’s comb he is sure that his feelings that are increasing by the day are because of the fact that Eleanor is the woman for him – that one woman who can love him for who he truly is and can break the curse. Even though they want to be together there are roadblocks in their way – the main one being Eleanor’s father and the fact that she was betrothed when she was 14 and not to Gunnar! When Eleanor’s father finds that his daughter might be sharing her body with Gunnar he sends her off to the nunnery until she can be married to her betrothed. and tells Gunnar that she went willingly.

Gunnar, having once been betrayed once by his previous wife, believes the wretched man until one of his friends talks him in to going after her. But alas they are too late and Eleanor is already married. How will the two ever be together with Eleanor married and Gunnar not trusting in her love for him?

Once again Lisa Hendrix has written a great book.The interesting characters and an engaging and realistic story really drew me in and kept me there. The medieval story with the paranormal and magical elements really made for a good read.

Gunnar – like his bull – is incredibly stubborn. The man has little faith that anything good can come to him and trusts few people. Even when he knows he loves Eleanor and he knows she loves him he is still doubtful and distrusting. It got a bit much at times but he was written so well I had to be the one that had faith that he’d stop being such a…such a…man! (They can be frustrating) lol But I also felt so sad for Gunnar and Eleanor as they are constantly pulled apart from each other as the book spans a period of 19 years (including epilogue). It truly was a tale of star-crossed lovers. Luckily this one had a happy ending.

Like the first two book in this series we got the chance to see and visit with other members of the cursed Viking crew and as usual Ms. Hendrix put an extra little twist in the book with one of the Vikings, Ari, and his visions which I loved. She’s always adding something to each story that makes me want to read the next book but not in a way that it’s blatantly set up for the next story and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

The series:
Immortal WarriorImmortal Outlaw (Immortal Brotherhood)Immortal Champion (Immortal Brotherhood)

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.

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What I Read Last Week

Posted January 10, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 12 Comments

Hello there and Happy Monday!
It was a quiet week that ended with a bit more excitement. On Sunday I went to Century City, CA and met up with authors Zoe Archer, Nico Rosso, Delilah Marvelle, Lisa Hendrix, Sabrina Darby and fellow blogger Renee for lunch and a incredibly fun chat at the Borders there in the mall. I feel so lucky to be able to meet up and talk to these wonderful people. Delilah and Lisa were in town from Oregon promoting their books and they have fun little gifties to give us – including penis candies – what every girl wants.:) Here we are at the Borders coffee shop
 
Zoe, Nico, Renee, Delilah, Sabrina, Lisa, Moi
Other than that not much happened this week so I’ll get right on to what I read this past week:
First up was Master of Smoke by Angela Knight. This is book 11 in the Mageverse series and another great book. This was the story of a bitten werewolf who’s afraid of her own shadow and the Fae/Spirt/Shifter that falls in love with her. You can read my review here on The Book Binge. 4.25 out of 5
Past Pleasures by Charlotte Stein was my next read. A novella about a woman who gets sent through time to the future and discovers that women are extinct. I really liked this one – you can read my mini review here. 4.25 out of 5
My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was Brighter Than the Sun by Julia Quinn. The hero and heroine meet by chance one day when the heroine, Eleanor, is out walking and the hero, Charles, falls out of a tree that he’s climbed while dead drunk. Nice. lol Charles asks Eleanor to marry him because he has to get married or lose his money. But someone is out to get Charles and someone else is set on making Eleanor look bad. It’s a book of strange events and the hits just keep on comin. A fun book but I did get tired of the bad things happening after a while – I just wanted them to live a normal life. lol 3.5 out of 5
Brier’s Bargain by Carol Lynne was next. I’d not read any other books in this series or the series this was spun off of so maybe that influenced my thoughts on this book. I really liked Brier a lot and was pulling for him and his boyfriend Jackie the whole time, I just thought the book was a little slow paced for my liking. 3 out of 5
The Christmas Throwaway by RJ Scott was my next read. The story about a rookie cop in a small town who finds a 17 (almost 18) year old sleeping in the churchyard on Christmas Eve. Ben and takes Zach home to his family and his mother takes care of him. Zach is understandably leery of the kindness and has panic attacks around so many people but he seems fine when he’s around Ben. The men seem to have a connection and the story takes it from there. I liked the story and Ben and Zach were cute together. The story takes place over 2 years so Zach is older when Ben and Zach eventually get together – fyi. 3.75 out of 5
Next up was book 2 in the Scandal series by Delilah Marvelle – Once Upon a Scandal. I really liked this book. It had Jonathan and Victoria falling in love via letters – which I just loved. But Jonathan, who is in Venice, enters a contract with a Venetian family that makes him, basically, a lady’s maid…as well as a type of sexual slave to the lady of the house. When Jonathan returns after 5 years he’s determined to still woo and marry Victoria who’s having none of it. I really liked that Jonathan was the more romantic of the two and the story just worked for me. My review will post soon. (releases on 1/18/11)
Next up was Kiss of Darkness by Loribelle Hunt which will be a new release from Carina Press on the 24th of this month. The story is about humans who merge themselves with demons in order to fight demons. There are also lupines and nightwalkers involved. A good story – my review will post soon.
Last on the list was my TBR Challenge book for the month of January. The theme was category romance and I chose off my shelves That Last Night in Texas by Ann Evans. This is the story of a ranch hand and the ranch owners daughter who fall in love but life and a horse accident get in their way. They reconnect after 13 years – Oh, and there’s a secret baby. lol Check out my review on the 19th.
My Book Binge reviews that posted since last Monday:
Happy Reading!

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My guest review is posted!

Posted June 26, 2009 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

For those who are interested….my guest review for Immortal Outlaw by Lisa Hendrix is now up at The Book Binge.

And can I say how much I love this cover? If I remember correctly I really liked the one from the first book in the series as well. But this one, ha-cha-cha. I love a man’s back and with the blonde hair and the lion? Oh yeah baby.

For centuries he’s hidden in the woods. Now a maid has come to lead him out…

It’s been four centuries since Steinarr the Proud was cursed by a wicked sorceress—along with the rest of his Viking crew—to live for eternity as half man, half beast. By day Steinarr is like any other man—by night he is a lion. He has taken refuge in the woods of Nottingham, England, and there he encounters two young travelers, Robin and Marian.

Painfully aware of the danger he presents when the moon rises, Steinarr refuses to help guide them on their search for a special amulet. But a kiss from Marian awakens his desire. How can he protect the maid he so desperately wants to ravish? With motives of his own, Steinarr finally joins their quest, while the sorceress Cwen gathers her dark magic to destroy them. As a legend spreads of an outlaw in the woods, their band is joined by others. But it is Steinarr who has the most to gain and the most to lose—if he is ever to be free of the curse and free to love as a man…

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