Tag: Susan Sizemore

What I Read Last Week

Posted March 5, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 8 Comments

Hello there!
How the heck are ya? I’m good. Tired. I’ve been all over my city at what seems like a gajillian appliance stores looking at refrigerators. Our fridge died back on Feb. 20 (luckily we had one in the garage so saved most of the food) and this is the first weekend we’ve had to really start the hunt. Going to places, seeing what we like, then going home to check out reviews and consumer reports, etc. My God it’s exhausting. Then after all of that my brain is so fried I just want to say, “point to one and we’ll get it.” lol Besides finding one we like that doesn’t have a crappy rep, we currently have what’s called a counter depth fridge because of the way the previous owners of our house remodeled it. It looks great but with counter depth models you get less refrigerator for more money. It’s completely asinine but there it is. So then we have to decide do we want to pay the money or do we not care if it sticks out farther. There’s room for it but will it bug the crap out of me? IDK. (and this after the furnace broke down 2 weeks before that!)
And now YOU know more about fridges than you ever wanted to learn! lol
The girls were gone all weekend at different friends’ houses and I should have had a relaxing weekend and lots of reading done. Not. lol
This is what I read last week:
Wedded in Scandal by Jade Lee was my first read of the week and I read this one for The Book Binge. The story follows a woman who is an Earl’s daughter but because of a huge scandal with the father the daughter and mother are left penniless. The daughter, Helaine, starts her own dress shop and is trying to get it off the ground. One of her clients is sister to a Viscount and he falls in lust with Helaine. It was a good book with some great dialogue. I loved the banter between Helaine and Robert but I did have some issues with it. You can read my full review here. 3.5 out of 5
Next up was Winging It by Deborah Cooke. This is book 2 in the Dragon Diaries series and it was really good. The series is YA and involves the children (who are now teens) of the dragon shifters from Cooke’s Dragonfire series. I really enjoy how Cooke really makes this about the kids and doesn’t involve the adults. Would regular adults normally have stepped in after everything that goes on in the book? Probably but this IS fiction! lol The story is again told from Zoe Sorensson’s point of view. She’s having issues with secrecy. She can’t tell her best friend about her dragon side and it’s causing problems with her friend. Then there’s the problem with her powers that seem to be non-existent and she’s supposed to be the Wyvern who is supposed to have special powers. The story follows Zoe and her dragon friends as they try desperately to save themselves and other shifters against evil mages. The book was so much more than I expected and I really liked it. I can’t wait for the next book. Do I really have to wait til June? I know it doesn’t seem that far off but still… lol 4.5 out of 5
The Price of Innocence by Susan Sizemore was the story of a woman who was kidnapped and kept as a slave or sorts but she fell in love with her captor and never wanted to be released. When she meets up with him 9 years later her anger is driving her and she wants nothing to do with him. Or does she? You can read my review here. 4 out of 5
Hair of the Dog by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James was my next read. This is about Ezra who was bitten by a werewolf….they prefer Lycans…on his way home from his father’s wake. He is then visited by the pack alpha, Callum, told he is a werewolf and then shuffled from his home. He is then inserted into pack society and he’s fumbling a bit. The alpha is trying to find out what is making they Lycan’s go a bit crazed and thinks it’s a disease until they discover that it’s really someone making them this way. Then there’s the lust between Callum and Ezra that’s almost out of control. I liked the writing in the story but I wasn’t sure about the story. I liked the suspense part but it definitely took over the book. The relationship portion of it wasn’t told as in depth as I thought it should be and I was a bit let down. I’ll be reviewing this one so I’ll let you know when that review posts. 3 out of 5
Last for the week was Taking the Shot by Jaci Burton. This is the 3rd book in the Play by Play series and it’s about the Riley sister, Jenna, and hockey player Ty Anderson. Wow. Hot. lol I’ll review it this week. 🙂
My Book Binge reviews that have posted since last week:

Happy Reading!

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Review: The Price of Innocence by Susan Sizemore

Posted March 2, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 3 Comments

Possessed by Desire

Years ago, a handsome stranger rescued Sherrie Hamilton from a harem and enticed her into becoming his lover before returning her safely home. Now Sherrie is a respectable young widow and mother, chaperoning her young charges through fashionable London society– until she comes face to face with her erotic dream. For there, across a crowded ballroom, stands the one man who touched the very core of her sensuality, stirring old memories, and a new unbidden desire.

Obsessed by Love

Jack PenMartyn, Earl of PenMartyn, seeks to put his past behind him, yet he’s obsessed by the one woman whose pure innocence he stole; the woman who is the mother of the child he never knew he had. He knows that with one false word, Sherrie will expose the secrets of his past. But does he dare to hope that she will give in to the temptation of their reckless passion for a future together?
First let me say that Sherrie Hamilton was not rescued from a harem as the blurb states. She had been kidnapped and taken prisoner and was “saved” by a pirate only to then make a bargain with him to be his lover for a month. The terms of the bargain are unclear and we never get to see the two discussing this so there’s no notion as to how much Sherrie is coerced…or not . Her unwillingness in the first sexual situation is definitely in question. She hated being in the bargain but I don’t think she hated being with him at all and in fact ended up staying with him for longer than a month.
Now the story begins 9 years after Sherrie and her pirate have gone their separate ways and Sherrie, who is an American, is in London with her aunt and 2 cousins to try and get the cousins married off. You know – wealthy Americans trying to buy a title. Anyway, Sherrie runs into Jack and he is dumbfounded that she is there in London. Sherrie is just sure that she’s delusional as in the past she’s believed that she’s seen Cullum and decides that Jack just looks like Cullum, the pirate that she had loved.
When Sherrie finds out that Jack is Cullum she’s not afraid to take her anger out on him. Jack is determined to stay away from her but they keep getting invited to the same social functions. On top of that Sherrie’s daughter sees Jack and “knows” that he is her daddy. She heads off to see him and he is entranced from the moment they meet. How can he stay away?
On top of that there’s a lunatic con-man who is spinning everyone’s heads with his thoughts and chanting. But the lunatic decides he wants to rule the world and he’ll use the information he has on Jack and Sherrie’s past to his own good use.
The story is told in current times with times of flashback for each character. I did get a little frustrated as I wanted to know more of the back story earlier in the book, but that was not to be. I also would have dearly loved to have known how long Sherrie actually stayed with Cullum before they parted but they never actually say how much time passed.
Sherrie’s younger self had fallen in love with Cullum and she finds that she loves Jack just as much. He’s a different person but one that she wants to spend her life with. Getting over the anger and betrayal of their past is hard for her but she decides to do it and is happy that she does. For Jack it’s a bit more difficult as he was living a lie way back when and his conscience has been eating at him. The guilt of what he forced Sherrie in to has him depressed and damn near suicidal. He believed that every time they had had sex 9 years before that it was rape, even though it wasn’t (at least not all the time) and that had to eat at him. It really takes an act of faith on Sherrie’s part to stand up to the man and make him face some hard truths. I had to admire her for finally taking the final step to talk things out.
Overall I really liked the book. The feelings of love, loss, betrayal and anger were engrossing and I found myself not being able to pull myself away from the story. While I didn’t care for the suspense plot all that much I did love the characters and that made up for it.
This was my first read by Sizemore and I don’t think it will be my last.
Rating: 4 out of 5
This book was originally released in 1999 by Avon

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