Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Review: Wild (anthology) by Maya Banks

Title: Wild
Author: Maya Banks

Read copy: Paperback
Published: July 1, 2010
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 1605045128
ISBN-13: 9781605045122

Golden Eyes

When Duncan finds an injured cheetah, questions about how she wound up in his mountains—and going after the poachers pursuing her—can wait. First he brings her home. Then he checks in on his patient, and finds not a cat, but a gorgeous, very naked woman.

Aliyah Carter spent the past six months trapped in cheetah form, a prisoner of the poachers who took her to use in an illegal exotic-game hunt. Finally she’s escaped, but now she faces another problem. A devastatingly sexy sheriff who knows her secret.

Amber Eyes

The beautiful, timid cougar that appears at Hunter and Jericho’s remote cabin breaks their quiet routine, warms their hearts—and rouses their curiosity. Why would this wild creature want to form a friendship with humans?

Kaya has survived a lifetime of isolation in her shifted form. Yet there’s something about these two men that draws her to embrace her human side. In the shelter of their love, she blooms. Then they are called away on a mission that goes terribly wrong. Now pregnant and alone, Kaya’s only hope is that the men who love her will find their way home.

My rating:

Monday, May 23, 2011

Review: The Adultery Diet by Eva Cassady

Title: The Adultery Diet
Author: Eva Cassady

Read copy: Paperback
Published: August 31, 2007
Publisher: Piatkus Books
ISBN: 0749937343
ISBN-13: 9780749937348

Eva Cassady is stuck in a marriage that's completely lost its luster. She's even envious of her twenty-year-old daughter, living la vie Parisienne (complete with les condoms) in France for a year. Somewhere inside, Eva knows she's still a woman with dreams and desires—but her whole dull, status-quo existence can be summed up by the tyrannical numbers on her bathroom scale. At 176 pounds, is she just one more invisible, middle-aged woman who will never inspire lust in a man again?

Then fickle fortune—via her job—puts Eva back in touch with Michael Foresman, her passionate lover one unforgettable college spring break. Michael seems trés interested in meeting up and rekindling some old sparks, but she can't possibly let him see her the way she looks now. With reborn fantasies burning through her blood, Eva starts dieting and exercising like a woman possessed...by passion.

With the pounds dropping away, Eva feels as if twenty years have rolled back as well. She feels young, sexy, desirable...and when Michael arrives, he obviously agrees. So now Eva has to make a choice. When a diet promises to change your life, just how big a change do you really want to make?

My rating:

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Review: Ghost Moon by Karen Robards

Title: Ghost Moon
Author: Karen Robards

Read copy: eBook
Published: December 18, 2007
Publisher: Dell
ISBN: 0307422968
ISBN-13: 9780307422965

Olivia Morrison is the prodigal daughter returned. She was only six when her mother died, leaving her to be raised by a stepfamily, the affluent and well-respected Archers. Growing up on LaAngelle Plantation—a lavish estate in northern Louisiana—and leading a life of privilege did little to quell Olivia's wild urges as a teenager.

After a promiscuous and rebellious few years, she ignored the advice of her adoptive family and ran off at the age of 17 to marry a charismatic rodeo rider. Now, nine years later, divorced and struggling financially to raise her eight-year-old daughter, Sara, Olivia has been summoned back to her childhood home by her beloved step-aunt, Callie, who has been diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer.

Though Olivia is prepared for a less than exuberant welcome, she isn't prepared for the reaction she gets when she first arrives at the estate. The Archer patriarch, John, takes one look at her and collapses with a heart attack. From this less-than-auspicious beginning, Olivia's visit quickly becomes even more complicated.

There's Seth, her older step-cousin, who was once like a brother to her but now triggers an unexpected passion. There's Seth's fiancée, Mallory, a cool, slender, professional woman who is busy planning the wedding, which is mere weeks away. Then there's Seth's daughter from his first marriage, eight-year-old Chloe, whose temper tantrums and hysterics have everyone on edge. Rounding things out are a host of aunts, uncles, and cousins who all trip in and out of the stately old house, making for an eclectic extended family.

As John Archer lingers near death, Callie's condition rapidly deteriorates, and Seth's marriage date draws ever nearer, Olivia's emotions are further taxed by a recurring nightmare centered around her mother's drowning death years before. Several times Olivia is awakened in the middle of the night, only to smell the lingering traces of her mother's perfume. As time goes by, Olivia begins to suspect there is much more to her mother's death than she remembers. What Olivia doesn't know is that her return to LaAngelle Plantation has resurrected a dark and deadly family secret, one that can provide the answers Olivia seeks but at a horribly high price—namely, the lives of her and Sara.

My rating:

Review: Sanctuary Redeemed by Moira Rogers

Title: Sanctuary Redeemed
Series: Red Rock Pass
Author: Moira Rogers
Read copy: Paperback
Published: May 3, 2011
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 1609280261
ISBN-13: 9781609280260

The most scarred heart can’t run from love forever.

Sanctuary’s Price

Dylan Gennaro is reeling from the changes in his life: a new home, a new alpha, a pack at war. Still, he doesn’t hesitate to protect an outcast witch, thinking it will help him rediscover his own inner strength.

Wounded in body and spirit, Sasha Wallace found refuge with the Red Rock pack. Yet her willingness to lend her powers to the battle makes her an object of suspicion. Except for Dylan. Their attraction is a balm to their wounded hearts, until they face a fight for which neither has the strength. Unless they do it together.

Sanctuary Unbound

After eighty years of solitude, a life debt owed to the Red Rock alpha forces Adam Dubois to leave his retreat—where he encounters a woman who challenges and tempts him on every level.

Cindy Shepherd isn’t concerned that her interest in the mystery-shrouded new vampire in town seems mutual. After all, it’s only sex—there’s no danger he’ll dig deep enough to unleash her demons.

Casual flirtation turns deadly serious when Adam discovers an evil has followed his tracks to Red Rock. To survive, Adam and Cindy must trust each other with more than just their lives…

My rating:

Friday, May 20, 2011

Review: Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Title: Halo
Series: Halo
Author: Alexandra Adornetto
Read copy: eBook
Published: August 31, 2010
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
ISBN: 1429945052
ISBN-13: 9781429945059

Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone—especially herself—from the Dark Forces.

Is love a great enough power against evil?

My rating:

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Review: Sanctuary by Moira Rogers

Title: Sanctuary
Series: Red Rock Pass
Author: Moira Rogers
Read copy: Paperback
Published: April 1, 2010
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 1605045691
ISBN-13: 9781605045696

The only way to win is to lose your heart…

Cry Sanctuary

Keith Winston has come home to Montana to find peace. Instead, the veteran warrior finds himself fighting pressure to become the alpha’s right hand. His attraction to a new wolf on the run sucks him into yet another battle between his instincts and his heart.

Abigail Adler knew nothing about werewolves—until she became one. Red Rock is her only refuge, but she chafes under its rigid rules. Except when it comes to submitting to the passion Keith stirs in her body. With her sister in danger, though, they will both have to risk breaking all the rules.

Sanctuary Lost

Brynn Adler hates feeling helpless and vulnerable. But that’s right where she is…in a world of werewolves. Worse, her sister Abigail is one of them. The pack wants to send her packing, yet she’s unwilling to leave—her sister, or the one man who makes her forget her life is falling apart.

Joe Mitchell knew getting involved with Brynn was a bad idea. A supernatural war is no place for a human, and he’s not about to let her make a decision that will bring pain and regret. Now all he has to do is let her go.

My rating:

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Review: Cold Feet by Brenda Novak

Title: Cold Feet
Author: Brenda Novak

Read copy: eBook
Published: August 1, 2007
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 1426836597
ISBN-13: 9781426836596

The Seattle police suspect Madison Lieberman's father was the serial killer they call the "Sandpoint Strangler." Madison refuses to believe it. Her father is now dead, and all she wants is the chance to create a new life for herself and her six-year-old child.

Then she discovers something in the crawl space beneath her parents' house. Something that makes her question her father's innocence. Or the innocence of someone else who's equally close to her...

When another woman turns up dead, crime writer Caleb Trovato wonders whether they're dealing with a copycat killer. Or is the real Sandpoint Strangler still alive? Caleb's sure Madison knows more than she's telling, and he's determined to find out what. But he doesn't expect to fall in love--or to lead Madison and her child into danger....

My rating: