Tag: Tracy Cooper-Posey

Guest Review: Blue Knight by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Posted October 7, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: Blue Knight by Tracy Cooper-PoseyReviewer: Judith
Blue Knight by Tracey Cooper-Posey
Series: Guns 'n' Lovers #3
Also in this series: Blue Knight
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Publication Date: October 1, 2010
Format: eARC
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars
Series Rating: five-stars
Caught in the insurrection and held hostage in what was once a luxury hotel, members of a U. N. delegation are being systematically interrogated and, in some cases, tortured. The leader of the revolution is slowly coming apart at the seams and he is looking to force the United States to give his revolutionary government political standing in exchange for the lives of the hostages. However, he is not sure which persons in the delegation are American.

Olivia is a woman who has great diplomatic experience. In fact she is one of the most experienced in the delegation. Yet she recognizes that British businessman, Daniel Castle, really doesn’t “see” her. He has slept with nearly every female in the group except her. Apart from the insult of being “invisible” as a person, she is curiously irritated that he has never seen her as a woman. However, after he climbs in her window one night, stark naked, they both become aware of one another.

Judith‘s review of Blue Knight (Guns n’ Lovers series, Book 3) by Tracy Cooper-Posey.

While this is the third book in the series, it is a stand-alone novel that brings the main characters from the first two books into play and they are significant players in this book’s cast.

This novel is not the easiest of Cooper-Posey’s works that I have read. It is gutsy and edgy, raw and really in-your-face about the political realities and the life & death nature of the situation which faces these hostages each day. The author also brings the reader into the inner workings of what the ousted government is trying to do to retrieve control of this country from the crazies. This is where the reader meets characters from the first two books. The novel, however, is really about Olivia and Daniel.

Daniel is a shadowy character. He needs to stay on the outside boundaries of the group and there are several occasions where his identity and the hard attention of the revolutionary leadership collide — almost. On a couple of occasions Olivia puts herself in dire straits in order to deflect the attention of the soldiers and their leadership. As the story progresses the reader begins to understand that this is an extraordinary lady with deep wells of strength and perseverance. She will “be there” for each and every one of these people in her delegation and especially as her attachment and involvement with Daniel grows, she knows that she will do whatever it takes to protect him.

This is a very tense and meaty novel–with the love story being central to the book. The relationships which began in the first two books also progress. So there is plenty in this novel for romance fans to like. But it is also made very intense because of the context of the novel and the danger in which these lovers constantly find themselves.

This is a very well-written novel. However, I have to admit that it was slow starting for me–switching back and forth from the hostages to the strategizing of the ousted government was not easy for me at first. Yet it all came together ultimately and it was a very good read. Cooper-Posey is a writer of note and has lots of successes under her literary belt. She has kept the tension and energy alive in this third novel and that is not easy to do. I had the feeling that this book was every bit as compelling as any by Robert Ludlum or James Patterson. Others may not agree, but for me it kept me on the edge of my chair from page one. I give this novel a rating of 4 out of 5.

This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.

four-half-stars

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Review: Blue Knight by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Posted September 29, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 4 Comments

Review: Blue Knight by Tracy Cooper-PoseyReviewer: Tracy
Blue Knight by Tracey Cooper-Posey
Series: Guns 'n' Lovers #3
Also in this series: Blue Knight
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Publication Date: October 1, 2010
Format: eARC
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

Held hostage by the Insurrectos for weeks and forgotten by the world, Olivia has watched Daniel bed everyone women but her, who he can’t see. Daniel lives dangerously and is forced to use her window one night to avoid the guards. Naked and faced with a long-legged woman who doesn’t want him, his curiosity is piqued.

Under the hostile, suspicious gazes of the guards, they begin a game of heated seduction where the stakes are so high no one, not even their fellow hostages, must suspect there is a connection between them. As Daniel teaches her how to defy the guards the tension between them, both sexual and personal, spirals until it threatens to shatter.

Olivia learns that Daniel is not quite who she thought he was. Now she is fighting for Daniel’s life too, for if the Insurrectos find out who he really is, then the man she has come to love will be instantly executed…

FYI – This review contains spoilers

Stuck in a fancy hotel in war torn Vistaria, Olivia’s quite surprised when a naked man crawls into her window one night. It’s fellow diplomat, Daniel, who was sneaking out of her neighbor’s room. After an tension filled night with harsh words spoken between the two of them, life gets back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be for hostages. Daniel and Olivia begin a sexual relationship but it becomes much more in a very short time but it’s something they have to hide from their captors.

Olivia soon learns that Daniel isn’t who she thought. He played a British diplomat well but he’s really a loyalist Vistarian who is trying to save his country, and now Olivia, from being taken from him and his countrymen.

This is book 3 in the Guns ‘n’ Lovers series and it’s a good one. I have to admit that I didn’t LOVE the first book, Red Leopard, but it set a nice stage for the series. The second book, Black Heart, was very good and continued the struggle to get Vistaria back into its rightful hands but had a great romance as well. This book again continued the effort to regain the country but also had a lovely romance as well – if not a typical one.

The story lets us see further into Calli and Nick’s relationship (from book 1) and Nick’s attempts to receive help from US and Mexico as well as try to form some sort of cabinet to work with. But the main part of the book was the struggle inside the hotel that Olivia, Daniel and their fellow captives endured by the psychotic captors.

This is, at times, not an easy book to read. The author pulls no punches and makes it quite realistic, with torture and a rape scene (not with the h/h). While I found them hard to read I didn’t feel that they were put in there for sensationalism. These were things that real hostages would have endured and I while I had a hard time reading those scenes, I liked the book that much more because of them.

In the end I really liked the book. I liked the political aspects, the spy/mystery portion of it and of course the romance. I loved seeing two people fall in love in a less than stellar situation that may not have met in every day life.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

This book was received by the author for review. It releases from Ellora’s Cave on 10/1/10

four-half-stars

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What I Read Last Week

Posted September 27, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 11 Comments

Well it was an interesting week last week to say the least.  This past Tuesday my boss told me that she plans on retiring next July.  This is a huge deal as I work at a church (I know, shocking lol) and finding a new priest is not an easy task. The next 9 months or so are going to be pretty stressful but hopefully we’ll find someone that will be good for the church…as well as someone I can work with! 🙂
Then my oldest brought home her 5 week progress report.  Shoot me.  Shoot me now.  Ug.  It was horrible to say the least – so there will definitely be some changes going on in my house.  One of the biggest issues, I’ve discovered, is that she doesn’t hand in her assignments.  How hard can that be?  She does them – when they are asked for how can she not just get them out and hand them over?  IDK.  Anyway, hopefully we’ll be able to pull her grades up by the first report card.  Cross fingers…and toes…maybe your arms and legs.  Oh, and prayers couldn’t hurt either! lol
As far as reading went it was a strange week there as well.  I’m not sure if my bosses announcement effected what I was reading or not but it really didn’t go as planned.  I felt kind of disconnected and discombobulated and any other “dis” word you can think of. Not that what I read was bad but I had a hard time choosing the next book I wanted to read – my decision making was at its worst. 🙂 Despite that I ended up reading a few pretty good books. Hopefully this week will go a little smoother in the decision making process – I can only hope.

My first read of the week was Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy.  This is book 3 in the Fast Track series.  It was Suzanne and Ryder’s story and was a tension filled reunion story.  Suzanne and Ryder find out after 2 years that they aren’t actually divorced and then they figure out that they love each other and neither really wants to be divorced.  But getting to the point that they can actually be together without fighting, and figuring out their issues was a huge part of the book.  Suzanne had most of the issues and while I understood her feelings on some things I still got annoyed with her at times.  3.75 out of 5

Second up was Black Heart by Tracy Cooper-Posey.  This is book 2 in the Guns ‘n’ Lovers series and I liked it.  The story focuses – more or less – on Minnie who has escaped Vistaria after the revolution but still believes that her love, Duardo, who was shot and assumed dead, is still alive.  She refuses to believe he is dead and returns to Vistaria only to be captured by an evil man, Zalaya.  This was a great story.  It continues the story of Nick and Calli from book 1, their relationship and their movements to reclaim Vistaria.  Tracy has a great way of blending the romance in with the different aspects of the story and it was very well done. 4 out of 5

Next up was Blue Knight by Tracy Cooper-Posey.  This is book 3 in the same series as above and furthers the story of Vistaria.  I’ll be posting my review for this one on Wednesday so check back. 🙂  4.5 out of 5

Next was my DIK reading challenge book for September – Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas.  This was a great story about a country woman and the non-typical hero/gentleman’s club owner that she falls in love with.   Good stuff.  You can read my review here. 4.25 out of 5

Next was a book that I read for The Book Binge called A Gentleman’s Savior by Charlene Roberts.  The story was about a woman who paints a picture of a man who ends up being her husband from a previous life.  She goes back in time but discovers that she hadn’t lived long while married to Gabriel as she had been shot and killed.  Now she has to stop her own death and decide to stay in the present or go to the past and finish living that life.  Good book.  4 out of 5

Next was another story for The Book Binge called Tempting Alibi by Savannah Stuart.  This was the story of neighbors who have both been wanting to be with the other but neither has made a move for the past 7 months.  From opposite sides of the tracks while growing up the two start a relationship after Michaela becomes Scott’s alibi.  3.25 out of 5

Another book for The Book Binge was Shattered Glass by AC Katt.  This was an m/m book about friends who start a rock band.  Two of the members – one who is much younger and was practically raised by the other – fall in love but are torn apart by a man bent on revenge.  This was an incredibly emotionally draining book.  The two men go through complete hell but then it’s all A-ok by the end of the book. I didn’t care for the story, unfortunately, and really didn’t care if the characters got back together or not.  In the end, not my kind of book. 2 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR challenge book for the week was Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs by Molly Harper.  This is the story of a small town librarian who is fired from her job, shot and killed and turned into a vampire all in one day.  The story follows her trials in her first few months of being a vampire as well as the mystery behind someone who’s out to get her.  Cute book.  A lot of inner thought and tangents that I couldn’t get into, but cute. 3 out of 5

My last book for the week was another romance book based on a true story.  This was Hard to Hold by Julie Leto and follows Michael and Anne’s romance.  The road is not an easy one for the couple but they manage despite the obstacles.  I’ll be posting my review on Friday…along with a giveaway so check back. 4 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:

Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted September 20, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 9 Comments

Where are the weeks/months going?  I can’t believe it’s already the 3rd week in September!  Didn’t summer just start?  Ok, I know my kids went back to school and all but it’s just going too quickly! lol *sigh* Oh well, what’s a body to do?
It was a pretty quiet week around here. As I said on my Saturday Song post, my parents were in Maui this past week so I would take a late lunch and then go pick up my youngest daughter from school and bring her back to work with me.  That made life a little more interesting in the afternoons, but it was good to spend some extra time with her. 🙂
So let me get to telling you what I read:
First up was a book for The Book Binge called Lust Unleashed by Desiree Holt.  This was an interesting shifter story with a different twist.  A billionaire brings together a group of various law enforcement agents – some shifters, some not – to catch a beast called the Chupacabra.  All of the people have had loved ones or dear friends killed by the creature and they are determined to hunt it down and kill it.  During the first of these hunts shifter Jonah Grey meets the woman who end up being his mate.  It was a good book filled with a good mystery and great sex and a nice little twist at the end that will have me reading the next book in the series. 4 out of 5
Vampyres of Hollywood by Adrienne Barbeau and Michael Scott was next.  This was a contemporary story of Osvanna, a vampyre, and Peter King, a Beverly Hills detective, trying to find the killer of the people who know and work with Osvanna.  You can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5
Next up was Red Leopard by Tracy Cooper-Posey.  This story took place in a country called Vistaria that’s on the brink of revolution.  Calli finds herself attracted to a man that goes by the name Red Leopard aka Nicholas Escobedo and that attraction is mutual.  However due to his position as the Presidents brother and her being American they cannot be together.  What happens when they can’t deny their attraction any longer and the county breaks out in fighting?  This was a good book that I had some niggles with.  I liked the different setting and the sexual tension that you could cut with a knife – that was great.  The cousin who was a sex kitten was more down to earth than I thought she’d be but she still did some pretty reckless things.  When she pulls a doozer Calli runs to Nick for help because time is of the essence.  So what do Calli and Nick do because time is short and the cousin’s life may be on the line?  They stop and have sex in a conference room.  Was it hot?  Yes, but hello?  The cousin?  Remember her, might die, etc.?  That was just so frustrating for me to read because Calli and Nick were both so much smarter than that! *sigh* oh well, I can’t have it all my way. lol  3.25 out of 5
Next was another book for The Book Binge.  This was Play Fling by Amber Scott.  This was a book that kind of had 3 stories going on at the same time but they were all interlinked. It had Millie and AJ who are a cupid team trying to get Brooke together with her ex-husband, Jason.  Millie was kind of reincarnated – I think, that part’s a little hazy – from a socialite to a cupid.  She must make a match for Brooke or her partner AJ will be reassigned.  Since she’s in love with AJ she doesn’t want that to happen.  She’s determined to get Brooke and Jason back together.  But they don’t want to be back together.  The next story is Brooke who is 37 and being pursued by 28 year old college student, Elliot.  He’s just wonderful but she’s concerned about the age difference.  Then there’s Jason, the ex, who is actually gay and in love with Elliot’s cousin, Gordon.  The story was very cute but Millie was making such a mash of things I just wanted to kick her out of the story and read about Brooke and Elliot! lol 3.5 out of 5
Next was Nine Rules To Break When Romancing A Rake by Sarah MacLean.  I have an ARC of book 2 in this series so I figured I should probably finally read book 1! lol  It was good!  Calpurnia (Callie) has been in love with a rake for 10 years.  She’s firmly on the shelf at age 27 but decides that she’s going to do all the things that she’s wanted to do that men get to do, but women don’t.  She makes a list that includes, among other things,  kissing a man passionately, gambling at a gentlemen’s club and attending a duel.  For the kiss she goes to the rake’s house.  The Marquess of Ralston supplies her with the kiss and then ends up guiding her through the rest of her list.  I thought this book was so good. I love that Callie was plain but as Ralston got to know her he just thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. *sigh* I love that! A very sweet romance that I very much enjoyed reading. 4.25 out of 5
I read In The Rough by JB McDonald next. I have By Degrees by the same author, which I guess is the first book I should have read but got mixed up.  Oh well. Jay goes to Rick when he finds out that his ex wife’s boyfriend has molested his eight year old daughter.  Jay has many, many, many issues from his childhood and teen years and needs to get his life together so that he can take custody of his daughter who is temporarily a ward of the court because the ex wife won’t kick the boyfriend out of her house.  Rick loves Jay but knows that Jay isn’t the committing kind so tries to keep his distance – even though they are occasional fuck-buddies.  This book shows Jay slowly getting his life together and Rick and Jay moving into a relationship.  The first thing about this book that I had a huge problem with was: if the court found out that the ex wife’s boyfriend had molested a child they wouldn’t worry about whether he was kicked out of the house or not – he would be in jail!  I had a really hard time dismissing that issue in my mind and kept going back to it. There were also flashbacks in this one but I didn’t know who was having the flashback until half way through the book – that was kind of annoying.  I did like how they showed Jay getting his life back together but wished that there had been more of Rick and Jay after they’d decided to make a go of it as boyfriends. 3.5 out of 5
My Tracy’s TBR challenge read for the week was The Hunt by Anne Marsh.  This was a fantasy shifter book.  Virgins enter a temple once a year and the warrior/were-cats hunt them to search for their mates.  The townspeople do this in exchange for protection from another world that had been destroying them.  It’s much more civilized than it sounds when it’s explained throughout the book but at first I was kind of thinking wtf? lol  Miu enters under the guise of a virgin, which she’s not, in order to steal a necklace for her “master” who is holding her sister hostage.  Miu will stop at nothing to get the necklace.  Jafar is under instructions to follow her to see what she’s up to, but he discovers she’s his mate and when she’s put under a death sentence he’s more than willing to get her out of there.  This was a fun, light read.  Pretty fantastical in the end and everything gets wrapped up with a tidy bow, but there was some witty banter and good sex scenes that kept me reading. 3.25 out of 5
Last up was The Accidental Wedding by Anne Gracie.  This was a fun book – almost a cottage romance, which I love.  The Honorable Nash Renfrew is on his way to claim an inheritance when his horse slips on mud and throws him into a wall.  Maddy sees the whole things and manages to get him to her cottage to save his life.  She cares for him while he’s ill but when he awakes he has no idea who he is.  He’s not able walk because of a hurt ankle so he must stay at Maddy’s cottage with her and her 5 young siblings that she has charge of.  While at the cottage Maddy falls in love, but Nash doesn’t believe in love matches after seeing his parents go through hell with their love match.  I really liked Maddy in this book.  She was a very strong character and wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself – I loved that! (another Book Binge book) 4 out of 5 (this book releases on 10/5)
My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:
Happy Reading!

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Guest Review: Dead Again by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Posted July 28, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 3 Comments

Guest Review: Dead Again by Tracy Cooper-PoseyReviewer: Judith
Dead Again by Tracey Cooper-Posey
Series: Romantic Thrillers #2
Publisher: Cerridwen Press
Publication Date: May 27, 2010
Format: eARC
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

A small plan crashes in the Rockies and the only two survivors, Jack and Sophie, help each other live until rescue arrives seven days later. Only Sophie goes on to pick up the pieces of her life which has not been irrevocably changed by big, gentle Jack’s love and death.

But Sophie learns that Jack’s death didn’t close that chapter of her life after all. A drifter called Martin holds the key to her heart, alongside a deadly secret. Combined with a corrupt and desperate police chief and her pressure-cooker life as a single mother in a small town, they plunge her head-deep into the aftershocks caused by those seven days in the mountains. The consequences will reach out to rock state governors, district attorneys and one of the deadliests crime lords in the land, and all of them have reason to react. For Sophie, life is about to change again–for the worse.

Judith‘s review of Dead Again by Tracy Cooper-Posey.

This is a new author for me, but I have to say that right from the outset, I was hooked! I have always been a sucker for a good political novel and while I wouldn’t call this strictly one of those, there are overtones and a back story here that spice up this novel to the finger nail biting level. Seven days on a rock ledge in the Rockies, trying in every way possible to survive, can draw two people together into a bond that exceeds all others. And so it seemed with Sophie and Jack. To have that bond severed by Jack’s death was almost more than Sophie could endure. She even went on to marry a man that closely resembled Jack, but of course, it wasn’t him at all. After trying for years and two children to make believe it was him, Sophie just couldn’t endure the marriage any longer. She is now the owner-manager of a small cafe in a remote area of Montana where she lives with her kids and her housekeeper. Even though her brain keeps telling her that Jack is dead, she never really stops looking for him, and when a drifter wanders into town looking so much like Jack she is stunned, she knows that no matter how this all turns out, her life will never be the same. She’s absolutely right!

I liked this novel very much. I particularly liked Jack, a man who grieved over the loss of lives in the initial plane crash, who did extraordinary things to save Sophie and keep her alive in spite of overwhelming odds against them. Even in his death he made provision for Sophie to have the best medical care for her injuries and to be able to move forward with her life. Sophie is a woman of tremendous personal strength–a woman whose grief stayed with her in spite of knowing that Jack was dead, but who knew that she had to make a life for herself and her kids in spite of that hole in her heart that could never be filled. They are both wonderful characters that represent the best of what we hope humanity can be.

There are loads of bad guys in this story–an attorney that is suspect, a police chief that is obsessed with Sophie and uses his office to pull off some fairly awful stuff, a crime lord, a state governor, and folks here and there that aren’t your usual PTA members. The author has told this story so well that Sophie’s fear for her life and that of her kids is palpable. It just seems to flow off the page into the reader’s mind. The mystery and suspense are well contained but they are always in the background, driving the reader on to the next page. Yet there is loving concern and family support, affection and deep romantic attachment. The erotic encounters are truly sensual but all “wrapped” in the context of a bond that transcends the pettiness of small-minded people.

This is a very good book and it will be one that romance fans and mystery fans alike can enjoy.

I give this novel a rating of 4.5 out of 5.

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

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.

four-half-stars

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