Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Happy Veterans' Day to Authors!
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If anyone knows any other author veterans, please let me know in the comments.
'All Romance' Celebrates Third Birthday with Freebies!
If you've been hesitant to try eBooks, this may be just the free taste you need.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
XOMBIES Apocalypse Blues by Walter Greatshell
Saturday, November 7, 2009
A New Sister Blog
Thursday, November 5, 2009
ALASKAN RENEGADE by Kate Bridges

I'm probably the wrong Kimber to be reviewing this book as Kimber An, our moderator, is actually living in Alaska but, darn it, she gets enough free books so I'm keeping this one!
Years ago, Victoria's sister was engaged to Brant MacQuaid. He, however, took off without a word, deserting them when they needed him the most. Today Victoria's sister is happily married with kids and Victoria is a nurse assigned to a remote community in Alaska (okay, back in 1899 every community in Alaska was pretty much remote). The trip there is dangerous and she needs an escort. The man escorting her is, you guessed it, Brant.
Brant is a bounty hunter after a really bad baddie. This baddie needs medical attention. Brant knows Victoria and the young doctor-to-be Cooper will be admitted to the camp. He plans to first pose as their bodyguard and then convince them to pose as the doctor.
The sparks between the two fly. Victoria has issues about people leaving her. Brant is very good at leaving. He's also a bounty hunter so leaving in a pine box is always a possibility.
Yep, the romance between Brant and Victoria is everything a good romance should be but what makes this story special to me is Cooper. At the beginning of the book, he steps onto the stagecoach a boy. He was forced into the profession by his family. He refuses to treat patients. He blushes. He takes the easy way out. When he boards the ship to return south, he is a man. He knows his place in the world. He has confidence. He is ready to be the hero of his own book. This transformation is simply wonderful.
I won this book in a contest on Margaret Moore's site. Woo hoo! I also know Kate. We belong to the same Romance Writers Of America chapter.
Kate's website is http://www.katebridges.com/
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
TEMPT ME AT TWILIGHT by Lisa Kleypas

Poppy Hathaway, a member of the rather unusual Hathaway family, has had enough excitement in her short life. She wants to live a normal, rather boring life with a normal, rather boring man. Once her beau finds his backbone and dredges up enough courage to ask his father for permission to marry Poppy, she'll have that humdrum life.
Until then, her days are spent chasing her sister's ferret around the hotel they reside in. She tracks the ferret down in the private suites of the mysterious hotel owner, Harry Rutledge.
Harry came to England with nothing. He is now one of the richest, most powerful men in London. He didn't do that by hesitating. When he meets Poppy, he knows no other woman will do as his wife. He feels he's the perfect man to make Poppy happy. He uses all means, nefarious or otherwise, to secure her hand.
I don't normally like romance novels in which the heroine starts off in love with one man and ends up in love with another. However, it is so obviously puppy love between Poppy and her first beau, especially when directly contrasted against the feelings between Poppy and Harry. The first beau is a boy. Harry is a man. The first beau is the person Poppy thinks she should want. Harry is the person she does want and is a better intellectual fit
I loved Harry. He isn't perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination. But he stole my heart in that first scene with Poppy.
He takes her back to his treasure room, a room where he keeps his favorite trinkets and gadgets. It is his private space in the busy, bustling hotel. No one else is allowed in there. Every object, every piece of furniture is handpicked by Harry.
Then the ferret completely destroys one of the chairs. As a reader, I held my breath, thinking Harry is going to get upset. Nope. He doesn't think twice about it. He doesn't care about this beautiful chair. When Poppy tries to control the ferret, Harry says "The chair is already ruined. Let him have at it." He later calmly asks to have it repaired.
He cares about objects for the happiness they bring him and others. The chair brings the ferret happiness. Harry gladly gives it up. I got the impression that if Harry truly thought the first beau would make Poppy happy, he would have given her up also.
Tempt Me At Twilight is part of the Hathaway series but can be easily read as a stand alone. It clearly leads into the romance of Leo and Miss Marks.
Oh, I understand that bloggers are supposed to talk about how they got the books they're reviewing. I started reading this one in Target determined only to read a chapter or two and set it down. I couldn't stop, ended up buying it, and read it that night. I don't know Lisa Kleypas... yet but hope to some day. I DO haunt her site for upcoming releases. Does that qualify me as knowing her?
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A MARRIAGE-MINDED MAN by Karen Templeton
I was going to review THOSE OF MY BLOOD by Jacqueline Lichtenberg for you this week for Halloween, but I had a bout of Postpartum Depression and had to switch to something more lighthearted. Probably the biggest benefit of an author writing one kind of story for a while is a reader can count on her for certain things in a story. I know I can count Karen Templeton, in this series, for a lighthearted story full of living, breathing, sweating characters all wrapped up in a believable happy ending I'm so into I can cheer for. When I really needed her, Karen Templeton was there for me. Thank you!
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Some people find their true love soulmates in high school. They get married and live happily ever after. Other people find their true love soulmates in high school, but screw it all up. Sometimes, they screw up the rest of their lives too. But, sometimes, they grow up and fix things later, and that's what happens in this story.
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Tess would tell you Eli was an immature, arrogant jerk-asaurus at the story's start, but, you know, any girl who chases her boyfriend down the street with a sponge mop isn't exactly the most grown up teenager around either. Big blow-up and then they got on with their adult lives. Tess married, had a little sex, and popped out a couple of kids. Eli never married, had a lot of sex, and went into business with his dad. They say when some people fall in love it's like getting struck by lightning.
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Tess got struck by a car, or was it a truck?
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Eli was in the truck and Tess was on an adreneline escape from the finalization of her divorce. Eli takes her home to clean up the ouie on her leg and then Tess decides she wants him to kiss it and make it feel better too. The morning after he did a lot more than that, she feels stupid and her ex-husband, a military dude, calls because he's brought the kids home early because, he says, they missed her, but, really, it's because he can't handle them.
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Charging into battle is much easier than raising children, you know.
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Tess is glad for an excuse to flee the Eli Scene. It was just sex, you know, a little therapeutic nookie. Who's kiddin' who? She never had it so good! Plus, she was really in love with him a long time ago and that never went away. Try as she may, getting on with her day is not easy.
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Eli's more than a little shaken by the experience too. He's done some major growing up since the last time Tess was in his life and he'll be darned if he'll mess it up again. So, he calls her, but she's too befuddled to really have a conversation. So, he just says he's sorry.
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Well, Tess is a bigshot Real Estate lady now and she suddenly gets a 'money pit' to sell. She needs it fixed up NOW. She has no place to go but to Eli's dad, but he's booked solid because, hey, he's the best. That leaves her with Eli and nowhere else to run. Of course, she doesn't really want to run. She's just scared of another broken heart. That's why she shows up to discuss the deal with Eli's dad in a sexy sweater, except, as she subconsciously hoped, Eli's dad ain't there. Eli is.
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Karen Templeton just sends me her books. She knows I'm a sucker for 'em. She doesn't need to ask and I'm glad I don't have to beg. They just show up like chocolate chips from Heaven. Learn more about this one and her vast backlist too at-
http://www.karentempleton.com/
Monday, October 26, 2009
TWILIGHT OF AVALON by Anna Elliott
They say history is written by the victors. Even though King Arthur bought it in his last battle, you'd think he lived victoriously by the amount of stories he spawned, even though it was his spawn which killed him. Think about it though, his wife cheated on him. Why? Well, think about that some more. Back in the Middle Ages, girls were bought and sold like cattle for the financial and political gain of men who couldn't care less if they actually liked having sex with them or not. The girls didn't get to choose their husbands and more often than not these dudes were old, fat, and butt-ugly. No wonder the penalty for women committing adultery was death. The men certainly couldn't rely on their winning personalities to keep their women faithful. Yet, at the heart of every woman is the need for love and tenderness. So, odds are good the Queen cheated on Arthur because she never loved him in the first place, if you believe they really existed. Makes sense to me and I love stories that twist things around, rather than just accepting what is commonly accepted..
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Thursday, October 22, 2009
Soulless - by Gail Carriger
When Kimber An asked me if I would review SF and other SpecFic books for her blog I agreed on one condition. I didn’t want to read any Vampire books. Most modern Vampire Fiction makes me want to run screaming into the night, and probably not for the intended reasons. BUT, what good is making your own rules if every once in a while you can’t break them. Soulless is a book worth breaking rules to read. First off although there are vampires it’s not really Vampire Fiction. It is a Gaslight/Semi-Steampunk/Semi-Alternative History/Paranormal Romance or as the cover says “ A novel of Vampires Werewolves and Parasols.”
Doesn’t that tag alone grab your interest?
Alexia Tarabotti has several strikes against her as far as society is concerned. She’s a spinster-at the dried-up age of 25, she’s a hopeless bluestocking, and her father, who at least has the good grace to have died when she was an infant, was a scholar of things best not talked about in civilized drawing rooms, and Italian too boot. So it’s not surprising that due to an attack of boredom, and the poor quality of food on the buffet, at the Duchess of Snodgrove’s Ball Alexia takes herself off the the Library and orders the servants to bring her tea . Just as she is settling in to exploring the Duke’s under appreciated library a vampire rushes into the room and tries to bight her neck – without a proper introduction! Well, Alexia my be unconventional but she won’t stand for things like that. Unfortunately for the vampire in question, who is shabbily dressed in last season’s style of evening wear, Alexia has inherited more than her unfashionable tan skin, robust figure, and strong nose from her father - Like him she is soulless.
In this enlighten period of the triumph of science this isn’t a religious statement, but a description of her physiology. It seems intelligent creatures are divided into three groups. The vast majority of people are Naturals, with just enough soul to go through a normal life. Some people have an excess of soul, they are Supernatural. If they die under the right circumstances they become Vampires, Werewolves or Ghosts. A few people are Preternatural, they have no or very little soul. Contact with them negates the advantages extra soul gives Supernaturals. Vampires, Werewolves and Ghosts are all productive members of society. There is not of the preying on innocent Naturals that went on in the past. Supernaturals are licensed and policed by the Bureau of Unnatural Registry
Alexia unintentional kills her vampire attacker with her trusty parasol. This complication brings Lord Maccon, head of the BUR, chief werewolf in London and close adviser or Queen Victoria on Supernatural matters, into the picture. He and Alexia have been something between friends and enemies ever since the infamous hedgehog incident at a house-party the year before. He’s large, loud, handsome, and almost civilized, for a Scott. Reluctantly he accepts Alexia’s help trying to find out what Vampire Hive is letting its fledglings our so poorly dressed and lacking in manners. They discover a trail of missing lone wolfs and solitary vampires that is quite perplexing. Then the plot thickens…
The best comparison I can think of for this novel is Amelia Peabody meats Buffy. But that does not do it justice. It is charming, engaging , has HEA, and best of all is the planned first book in a series of adventures featuring Alexia and Lord Maccon.
Monday, October 19, 2009
'Fantasy Debut' evolves into 'Debuts and Reviews'
http://www.tianevitt.com/weblog/
LEVIATHAN
http://www.amazon.com/reader/1416971734?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=sib%5Fdp%5Fpt#noop
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Kimber An Wants It
Here's a couple more I want, but I'm not sure I'll ask for. The author probably doesn't need my help, so I might not be able to snag one anyway. Plus, my ARC stack is already ridiculously high. I sense a Read-And-Review Blitz coming on!
the way. This is a
vampire one, an ALIEN vampire one. I don't go for the standard issue blood-sucking dead guys, you know. I bought this one.




