Tag: Naima Simone

Review: Secrets and Sins: Raphael by Naima Simone

Posted May 14, 2014 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Secrets and Sins: Raphael by Naima SimoneReviewer: Tracy
Secrets and Sins: Raphael by Naima Simone
Series: Secrets and Sins #3
Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: April 28th 2014
Genres: Suspense
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

When Greer Addison finds her future husband in bed with another woman, she runs...right into the arms of dark and dangerous Raphael Marcel. Angry and hurt, she throws caution to the wind and spends a hot night with the sexy security specialist. But when her fiancé is found dead, Greer becomes the main suspect of a crime she can't remember.

Raphael is stunned and suspicious when Greer shows up on his doorstep claiming she's carrying his baby. Worse, she's the target of a stalker bent on making her pay for a murder she doesn't recall. As Raphael begins to trust Greer, they must race against the clock to uncover a killer. Because Greer's memory is returning...

Greer Addison comes from money, but not a happy home. Her parents are more worried about appearances than they are about protecting or nurturing their children. When Greer finds her fiancé Gavin in bed with another woman she calls off the wedding. Of course her parents try to talk her back into it but she refuses. Over the years she’s watched her mother takes all kinds of abuse from her tyrant father because she “loved” him. If that’s love then Greer wants no part of it. She was marrying for companionship and a family.

Drowning her sorrows in a bar sounds like a good idea so she heads off and ends up meeting Raphael Marcel there. He is a security expert that she and her now ex-fiance had met the previous week when talking about security for their future home. Greer is incredibly attracted to Raphael and he makes it known that he feels the same. They end up leaving together and spending most of the night in the back of his SUV having wild sex (they couldn’t wait long enough to get to either of their homes). When Raphael drops Greer off at her home she wants to invite him up but decides that it’s not a good idea. When she gets to her apartment her ex-fiance is there on the floor, having been stabbed to death. She gets hit over the head and she blacks out.

After spending 3 days in the hospital Greer is at the police station being accused of murder. She has an alibi with Raphael but she was discovered lying next to Gavin with the knife in her hand – pretty damning evidence. Greer would love to say that she didn’t do it but she has a hole in her memory. She remembers being dropped off by Raphael and then waking up in the hospital – everything else is a complete blank.

Four months go by and while she’s released she’s not exactly cleared as the police are still investigating. Greer, now pregnant with Raphael’s child, is staying with her brother as she couldn’t bring herself to return to her apartment/scene of the crime. She’s been getting intimidating letters from an anonymous source but suddenly those start stepping up and Greer decides to seek help from the security expert, Raphael.

Raphael is stunned when Greer walks into his office and claims she’s pregnant by him. This happened to him once before and he was betrayed by the woman he thought he loved. He decides to protect Greer but he refuses to get involved with her or the baby as his heart wouldn’t be able to take it if he started hoping and he was crushed once again. Raphael soon learns that Greer is like no rich socialite he’s ever met and his heart is soon hers.

I was pleasantly surprised when I finished this book. I really enjoyed the characters and the mystery kept me thinking as well. I have to say I’m usually darned good at figuring out who the villain is but this one kept me guessing until almost the end – impressive.

The romance between Raphael and Greer was very sweet, imho. I really liked the softer side of Raphael when he allowed himself to actually feel and be himself. When he was trying to hold himself back he could be a bit of an ass but the rest of the time he was my kind of guy. Loving, concerned, protective, intelligent, kind, funny and oh, so sexy. Greer had had a wealthy upbringing but no love to speak of. Her parents sucked, as I’ve mentioned, and then she thinks all’s well when she gets engaged to her friend only to find out that he’s in it for the money and a position in her father’s bank. Kind of spirit crushing to find that no one wants you for you, you know? Greer was incredibly sad and lonely during the greater part of the book but she tried not to show it too much as she wanted to be thought of as an strong woman. She loved Raphael and at the very least wanted to be friends with him so that they could co-parent their child. In the end they were explosive together and their personalities meshed well.

While the book started with a bang and ended with a bang, it was a little slow for my liking in the middle. Despite that I thought this was a pretty good book. It also made me interested in eventually reading the first two books in the series – which is a good thing. 🙂

Rating: 3.75/4 out of 5

Naima Simone

four-stars

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What I Read Last Week

Posted May 12, 2014 by Tracy in Features | 3 Comments

How y’all doin?  Hope you had a nice weekend.  Happy belated Mother’s Day to all of the Mother’s out there – I hope your day was wonderful.  I spent mine with my husband’s family (since my fam all moved away! sniff) and that was a lot of fun.  

Let’s see…what’s going on in my life?  Not a lot.  My oldest has a new boyfriend – ug. lol  I’ve only met him once but he seems nice – always a good thing.
My youngest is gearing up for her 6th grade graduation and getting ready for 7th grade (OMG Jr. High! lol).  I was thinking about it yesterday and realized she’ll be in the graduating class of 2020.  That cracks me up for some reason.  I think because back in the 70’s everyone thought we’d all be driving flying cars and/or spaceships by then. Too funny.  We’re not quite in the space age yet. 🙂

On to what I read…

I started off the week with The Kraken King Part VI: The Kraken King and the Crumbling Walls by Meljean Brook.  I was on a roll with parts 4 & 5 so I had to read 6!! Zenobia and Ariq are getting closer as they try to save Krakentown.  I can’t tell you much because I don’t want to give any spoilers but it was good! My review will post on the 20th.  4.25 out of 5

Next up was Secrets and Sin: Raphael by Naima Simone.  This book has Greer drowning her sorrows after her engagement is broken and spending a torrid night with Raphael.  She is then accused of murdering her ex-fiance and she also find herself pregnant.  The story was a good one.  I did have a bit of an issue with Greer but it was still good.  3.75/4 out of 5

My next read was Sir, Yes Sir by Dinah McLeod.  This is a book in a series called Old Fashioned Husbands.  It’s a story that involves domestic discipline and that’s just not my cup of tea. Despite that I thought it was a decent read.  The story has a former Army man coming to terms with life outside the military and his wife dealing with his mood swings.  3 out of 5

Just for the Weekend by Susanne Matthews is the story of Cleo and Sam.  Cleo is a kindergarten teacher who is helping out an author friend at a sci-fi convention in Vegas.  Sam is the man who can’t get Cleo out of his head.  They get together for just the weekend but Cleo knows it can’t last.  She thinks he’s a Chippendale dancer and with her hometown holding her to a high standard she can’t be with him.  He’s actually a multi-millionaire who is trying to figure out if Cleo wants him or his money.  It was a darned good read and one I really enjoyed.  4 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

Three French Hens by Lynsay Sands is a novella that has Joan, a French woman, who doesn’t want to marry the man she’s betrothed to.  She finds a maid, Brinna, who looks like her and pays her to be Joan, with Brinna understanding that it’s just for a day or two.  Brinna, however, falls in love with Joan’s betrothed which she really wasn’t supposed to do.  This is a really cute story and I loved Brinna. Royce, the betrothed, was a sexy beast and a great guy and I wanted nothing more than for him and Brinna to be together.  4 out of 5

Dark Heat: The Dark Kings Stories by Donna Grant was a compilation of 3 novella’s having to do with the Dragon Kings.  Each story has a fated mate and pretty much insta-lust but they all worked for me one way or another.  I’ll post my review this week. 4 out of 5

Next up was Hard to Hold by Incy Black.  This story is about a single woman who goes out and gets IVF to have a baby.  Now someone is trying to kill her.  Her ex-husband gets involved even though she doesn’t want him to.  She still loves him and he her but they have so many issues between them it’s almost insurmountable.  The story is more suspense than romance but it does have it’s own special blend of romance – and not the sweet, gentle kind.  Anna and Nick are at loggerheads almost the entire book and besides the outside “evil forces” the book is really about them working through their issues in their lives and in their relationship.  It was good – I just don’t have a clue how to rate it.  I finished the book 2 days ago and I still don’t know.  I’ll get back to you on that. (read for Book Binge)

Last for the week was an oldie but goodie called The Deed by Lynsay Sands.  This was Sands’ first book and it made me laugh yet again.  Emma has an audience with the King because her husband of two years has never consummated the marriage.  The husband dies on his way back to follow the King’s orders to do the consummating and Emma’s immediately ordered by the King marry someone else (else her lands will fall to her husband’s mother and Bertrand (a relative but I can’t remember the relationship).  He thinks she must be a hag, I mean, why else would a man not bed his wife for 2 years???  She’s not a hag and Amaury actually has a hard time holding himself back from bedding her immediately. Emma’s got self esteem issues and Amaury’s got someone after him and a temper to boot.  The whole story had me smiling because Emma was just so naive (but still highly intelligent) and Amaury had no patience at first but became a great hero.  Just a cute medieval romance.  3 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
crickets

Happy Reading!!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted July 4, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 7 Comments

Happy 4th of July! (For those of you celebrating!)  I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday.  The girls and I headed over this morning to a local parade – over in the town where my parents live. Very small town but cute.

This week begins some early morning rising for me.  You see my oldest starts summer school tomorrow for the month of July – from 7:00am until Noon.  The school where it will take place is near my work – and a distance from my home – so my boss told me I could work 7:00am-3:30 pm for the month of July.  While I know I’ll love getting out of work early (I usually work 8:30am-5:00pm) the getting up at the butt crack of dawn every day is going to kill me, I just know it.  My reading will suffer. I know that I’ll have to go to bed earlier and not have as much time to read in the evenings after the chicklets go to bed.  Maybe I can make up for it in the afternoons?  I’ll have to see how that pans out.

Diet and Exercise – I’ve been bad about updating this – I don’t think I have for a couple of weeks – sorry.  I’m at a stand still at the same weight from my last weigh in – so only a total of 2.4 pounds lost.  I’m happy I haven’t gained – so that’s a plus.  I think I have my hubby talked into moving our treadmill into the living room. Yes it will be completely unsightly but with it currently in the garage I just never use it.  It’s hotter than hell out there right now (it’s been in the 100’s this past week) and moving it inside would be a much bigger motivator for me.

So what did I read this past week?

My first book for the week was Waking Up With the Duke by Lorraine Heath.   A good book and I loved the hero!  You can read my review here. 3.75 out of 5

Next up was Pushed to the Limit by Nico Rosso.  This is book 2 in the Limit War series and it was good.  I really liked the characters and the romance.  You can read my review here. 3.75 out of 5

Smashed Into Pieces by Scarlet Blackwell was a book that I read for The Book Binge.  I didn’t care for this book for the most part.  There were a few things about it I liked but only a few.  The male hero seemed like a stalker and the other male hero just wanted to be left alone and kept telling man 1 that, but did he listen?  No.  I have been told by Chris that there are a couple of books that she liked by Blackwell so I’ll check those out in the future and not give up on the author. You can read my review here if you’re interested. 1.5 out of 5

Next was another Book Binge book called Loving the Beast by Naima Simone.  This was a erotic version of a beauty and the beast tale.  While I liked the story there just wasn’t enough of it.  Too much sex for me and not enough story  2 out of 5  You can read my review here if you’re interested.

My next read, another one for The Book Binge, was called Flying Blind by Deborah Cooke.  If you’ve been reading the Dragonfire series by Cooke you might be interested in this one.  This is a YA book that is told in 1st person POV by Zoe Sorensson, daughter of Erik, leader of the Pyr (whose book is Kiss of Fate).  This is the first book in a trilogy called the Dragon Diaries and in this book Zoe is frustrated by her lack of puberty as well as her lack of dragon powers.  Supposedly she is the new Wyvern of the Pyr but so far she’s not seeing anything that shows she’s this amazing dragon.  It was a good story and I can’t wait to read what happens next in Zoe’s life.  4 out of 5

My next read was Sno Ho by Ethan Day.  This is a novella about man, Boone, who’s visiting Colorado supposedly to have a romantic time with his boyfriend.  But his boyfriend breaks up with him over the phone and he goes and gets drunk.  He picks up a guy, Wade, but has no idea what happened.  Turns out that it just might be the best thing that’s ever happened to him.  The two spend some time together but the getting to that point is fun and funny.  I really liked both Wade and Boone and enjoyed the story a lot.  4 out of 5 (I did pick up Life in Fusion with is a novel that is the continuing story of Wade and Boone but put it down after about 100 pages.  It just wasn’t capturing my attention so I’ll have to come back to it at a later time.)

My last book for the week was Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn.  This is the first book in a 4 books series about the Smythe-Smith family.  If you’ve read the Bridgerton series then you know that the Smythe-Smith’s are the family that put on the yearly musicale that is horrific.  Honoria is one of the instrumentalists and though she loathes the fact that she has to do the musicale she loves her family so perseveres.  Honoria and Marcus have known each other for 15 years and Marcus is Honoria’s brother’s best friend.  They end up falling in love.  This was a cute book.  The romance could have been fleshed out more and yes, the characters could have been explored more fully but in the end I really liked the book.  Quinn’s always sucks me in and with the emotion and the humor mixed into her stories I end up really loving her work. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Smashed Into Pieces by Scarlet Blackwell
Loving the Beast by Naima Simone

Happy Reading!

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Guest Review: Loving the Beast by Naima Simone

Posted July 3, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Tracy’s review of Loving the Beast (Fairy Tales Unleashed #1) by Naima Simone

Left scarred and bitter, he demands her body and desires her heart. But could she come to love a beast?

Gwendolyn Sinclair needs help. And the one person who can give her the aid she urgently requires is exacting a high price.

Desperate to keep the neighborhood community center open, Gwendolyn seeks out Xavier St. James, her childhood friend and the brother of her dead fiance. Xavier’s family foundation possesses the funds necessary to keep the center open, but instead he offers a bargain—a devil’s bargain: submit her body for his pleasure for seven days, and the building doesn’t close its doors.

Left scarred from an accident, Xavier is bitter, resentful, and alone. When Gwendolyn reappears in his life, need and loneliness override conscience, and he proposes an arrangement she can’t afford to refuse. With the woman he has always wanted but could never have finally in his bed, he hungers for more. Her heart. But could she come to love a beast?

Gwen needs Xavier’s help. She’s trying to save the community center that was so important to her when she was growing up and Xavier company makes those decisions. Unfortunately she’s been getting the run-around from not only the company but from Xavier as well. He claims that there is nothing he can do about the company but he’d be willing to fund the community center for a year with his own money if Gwen would spend 7 days in his bed.

Gwen’s desperate for the money but really she agrees because she’s been in love with Xavier for years. He’s a different person since the accident that caused his facial scarring a year ago but Gwen doesn’t really see the scars – she only sees the emotional ones that the accident has wrought.

The story is about love and finding the person who sees you for what you are inside and out. I liked seeing Xavier coming out of his self-induced prison and the couple finding the love that they shared for one another. There had been a lot of tragedy in Xavier and Gwen’s lives and I liked seeing them work through that. With that the story did a good job but there was so little of the story itself it didn’t hold my attention for long. There was more sex than story here and personally I didn’t find the sex scenes all that imaginative. Xavier’s sex talk came across as a bit cheesy to me as well. In the end I found this one to be just ok.

Rating: 2 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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