Sweet Release by Pamela Clare

The first in the Kenleigh/Blakewell Family Trilogy, Sweet Release was Clare's debut novel and she made quite a splash on the scene. Unfortunately no one was really paying attention and she has not gotten the recognition she deserves.

Alec Kenleigh is a gentleman in London society but as he is walking home he is kidnapped and thrown onto a ship as an indentured servant towards the Americas. In his place a corpse is left with no face. When he arrives in Virginia he is very ill and doesn't remember much of anything.

Cassie Blakewell takes pity on his dying form and buys his indenture with that of a slave called Luke. When Alec finally comes to, he discovers his predicament and asks for a note be sent to London to clear his name. Until that is clear he will work as an indentured servant to repay Cassie and her family.

Cassie doesn't really know what to make of her new servant and his tale, but she doesn't want to make any waves since, as a woman, she shouldn't be running her family's estate. Cassie has taken over the management of the estate since her father became ill (he appears to have Alzheimer but Clare doesn't come out and say it openly since they didn't have a name for this illness back then). If the truth of her father's illness comes out a guardian would be appointed to her and her four year old brother, Jamie. She fears that this guardian will sell off the land and mistreat her servants and slaves.

For some bizarre reason the two books I have read from Clare have had a very slow start. This one took me a few days to get into. They don't really grab you from the start but when she gets going, she knows how to build momentum. As those of you know I'm a real proponent to the whole falling in love over a period of time. There are a few authors that can convince me that true feelings of love can be developed over a few days or even a week. Clare doesn't try to push that on us. The couple in this book actually didn't even like each other for a while. She was his mistress and he hated the fact that she had that power over him.

The book had a mix of day to day grind with a bit of excitement mixed in. With the ague falling on the estate, an indian doctor who seems to know everything, slaves that fall in love with each other, servants that fall hard after setting their sights to high, an evil neighbor that wants Cassie and horse races that are barely won, the book just pulls you along and makes the end a bittersweet proponent.

Another feather to Pamela Clare is that she gives us a passionate affair that is a bit out of the ordinary and yet doesn't pull the couple out of character. Great book.

Grade: B

Night Watch by Suzanne Brockmann

This is the last of the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series. Not the last I will read, like I mentioned before, since I plan on eventually tackling Blue McCoy's story Forever Blue, but the last book that was published for this series. Brockmann says she plans on giving us more with the characters she has introduced in the last few books (Risotti, Lee and Thomas) but it's been a while (this one was published in 2003) and we really have not seen this yet.

Night Watch is the story of Wes Skelly, best friend and swim buddy to Bobby Taylor (Taylor's Temptation) and we have seen in the last three books that Wes has had the unfortunate luck to fall in love with Lana Quinn (whom we met in Get Lucky). Lana is married to 'Wizard' also known as the 'Mighty Quinn' of Alpha Team Two. Quinn is not much of a husband to Lana (he is unfaithful) but for some reason I really didn't feel much sympathy for her.

Wes had some time off and Lana asked him to look into the security system of her sister, who apparently is a movie star and is getting stalked, so he heads off to LA. While he is there Cowboy and Melody (Everyday Average Jones) set him up on a blind date with Melody's sister Brittney.

We met Brittney in Everyday Average Jones as the live-in divorced sister of Melody. She had adopted Andy who, at the time, was a 13 year old trouble maker. Now, Andy is 19 and is in college. They have moved to LA to pursue his college career and she is trying to get her degree in nursing.

Britt and Wes hit it off right from the get go. She is spunk and no nonsense and he is delighted with her matter of fact attitude. She knows he's hung up on another woman and accepts the relationship as temporary.

That is, until that matter of fact attitude makes him face some glaring problems in his life and he realizes this woman was meant for him. When Lana suddenly becomes available, Wes needs to decide where his heart lies.

I really loved Wes. He was all bouncy energy and cuteness. As the shortest man on the team he got his share of ribbing and we see that it doesn't always fly over his head. He also needs some serious therapy that Brittney was willing to give. Britt was what this man needed. No nonsense and to the point but also with a softer side that empathized with him. She never really felt sorry for him, more on the side of supporting him as he shed the layers of his soul to her.

Grade: B

Beyond Seduction by Emma Holly

For this month's TBR challenge we needed to read a book that had been in our TBR pile for over 6 months. The book I selected is the sequel to lasts month TBR challenge selection. This particular book had been sitting in my TBR pile for close to two years, so I think it qualifies. LOL!

Title: Beyond Seduction
Author: Emma Holly
Year published: 2002
Why did you get this book? It was part of a series. The Sequel to Beyond Innocence, so I had to purchase it because I would have felt that my reading was incomplete without it. Yeah, I know, I'm weird like that.
Do you like the cover? Yes. It was much better than it's predecessor
Did you enjoy the book? I did, but not as much as the first book.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Author was not new to me and I have so many of her books in my TBR pile it's disgusting!
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Already posted it in Paperback swap.

Anything else?
Here is the recap: We met Merry Vance in Beyond Innocence. She fell hard for the hero in that book and offered herself to him in a thoughtless act of rebellion. He refused her and lived to marry Florence. Some years have past but Merry still has that high spirit. She is determined not to wed because she wants to become an independent woman. She would like to breed horses. This is a change in character from when we first had met her since she wanted to marry Edward Burbrooke back then.

Merry's mother is being blackmailed by an old lover to promote the marriage of his son with Merry and therefore she has alienated most of her suitors with rumors of her daughters wild escapades, but Merry is not having it and refuses Ernest's proposal. When Merry finds herself cornered she strikes back in the only way she thinks she can. As she sees it the only way to get her parents to back down is by making herself unmarriageable (is that even a word?). She decides to pose nude for the most notorious rake in London, who also is one of the most gifted artist in the area.

Nicolas Craven has been running from his past for over 15 years, which is half of his life. He has renounced his family to make a name for himself as an artist and has been successful in doing so. When he saves a young girl from being attacked outside the Duke of Monmouth's home he assumes it's a servant but her unusual beauty charms him and the artist in him sees a specimen that is itching to be painted. He offers her his card in hopes that she will come and model for him but in truth he doesn't expect nothing to come out of it. The next day she appears on his doorstep with the tale that she has been let go, and he seizes the opportunity to have her model for him.

In truth Merry really didn't expect to give up her virginity to Nic but his charms were too much for him and after he falls into a bout of depression she finally gives into him. Her tenderness and her dedication to him makes Nic regard the encounter as more than his usual paramours and thus begins their romance.

This book was not as erotic as it's prequel. They definitely got it on but in truth it was not as spicy as the first book. While you are reading Merry seems to be the stronger character with a stronger sense of what is right and wrong but in truth, she lied to Nic during the whole of the relationship. Nic never lied to her and when he finally discovered his feeling for her he told her outright that he loved her, but even when Nic spilled out the truth about his life and the relationships in his past, she did not step up to the plate and tell him who she was. So when everything blew up in her face and we actually realize that she was the one with the weak moral fiber, it's hard to sympathize. She appears to be a spoiled brat.

I guess that realization made me lower the grade of the book. It was an entertaining read but it left me a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Nic really deserved better.

Grade: B-

Taylor's Temptation by Suzanne Brockmann

I must say the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series is the best series I have read in a long time and will definitely be on my favorite reads for this year. This is next to last book of the series with Night Watch being the last one. From the whole series I have not read Forever Blue (which I have in ebook format and might read later), The Admiral's Bride (which was reissued this month) and Identity Unknown (which is no where to be found). Honestly, I will not be looking for these last two books since we really don't get very attached to these heroes.

In the Admiral's Bride we read Jake Robinson's story. Jake was the Admiral that Crash was accused of killing (obviously he was not dead) in Hawken's Heart. He had lost the love of his life in that book and, honestly, I just can not picture him loving Daisy for so long and then marrying someone else. I want to live with the illusion that he could never love another like Daisy.

In Identity Unknown, we read Mitch Shaw's story. Who's Mitch Shaw, is my question. If he was mentioned in any other book, except in passing, I missed it. So, I could care less if he finds love. :)

I will eventually read Forever Blue because I really loved Lucy in Get Lucky.

Now, onto Taylor's Temptation. Bobby Taylor goes off to Boston as a favor to Wes (his Swim Buddy and best friend), his mission is to stop Colleen, Wes' baby sister, from participating in a earthquake disaster relief that is headed to a terrorist country. This is a big favor to ask Bobby because since Colleen was 19 Bobby has been attracted to her. He has done his best to stay far, far away from her but when Wes pleads for him to intervene, he cannot a good excuse to deny him.

At 23 Colleen is ten years younger than Bobby but she has had a crush on him since meeting him at 13. When he shows up without her brother in tow she sees it as the perfect opportunity to seduce him. And when she discovers that Bobby actually wants her, she becomes as relentless as ever. Maybe a bit too relentless.

I liked the book but in truth this one was my least favorite. I really loved the scene where Bobby is in his hotel room struggling with his feelings and he says them out loud while Wes is trying to bang the door down. It was so heart wrenching. After that, I had a hard time liking Colleen. I can understand her 'in your face' attitude but she was just too mercenary in her attempt to seduce Bobby and she knew he was struggling with his loyalties to his best friend.

Bobby was what got the grade for me because I didn't care for Colleen much. I also found that the book was too censored. I think Brockmann should have put the explicit language she referred to and not censor it out. It felt a bit incomplete because of this.

Oh, by the way, this was the best cover I have seen in the series! Awesome!

Grade: B

Get Lucky by Suzanne Brockmann

Well, I'm down to the wire on this series. Just a few more to go. I was very lucky (no pun intended) to get my hands on this story. I read it in ebook format because it has been out of print for VERY, VERY long. I believe that it is scheduled to be republished like most of the books in this series but there is no time frame at this date. So, I do count myself lucky.

Luke 'Lucky' O'Donlon has always been the playboy of Alpha Squad Ten. He was the Adonis of the group and of course, all the women fall at his feet. When he has to give up an assignment to attend his sisters wedding, he thinks his luck has abandoned him but when he gets assigned to a special task force and is saddled with a reporter in his team, he KNOWS his luck has abandoned him.

Sydney Jameson is a freelance writer who had the misfortune of running into a serial rapist as he exited the apartment complex she lives in. He had just attacked her neighbor. When police arrive she threatens to write an expose if she is not put on the task force to capture the man who did this to her young friend.

These later books from the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series have included some type of suspense/adventure in them which I really didn't think was needed until I started reading them. The first few books are focused on just the romance but in the last two I've read (Hawken's Heart and now, Get Lucky) the added subplot of the chase to get the bad guy really made the story more robust, something I thought impossible in a book of such short content (248 pages).

Something else I really loved about this book in particular was seeing all the gang together. The Alpha Squad Ten with all their significant others were there and it just added to the pleasure of reading this one. And, oh how the mighty have fallen! To see Lucky finally meet his true love was fabulous! I guess I'm not alone in finding him the most charismatic of the whole squad.

Grade: B+
Format: ebook

Bitten & Smitten by Michelle Rowen

Michelle Rowen is definitely someone to keep an eye out for. Her debut novel Bitten & Smitten was a blast.

Sarah Dearly gets setup on a Blind date that takes her from dead bored to just dead. One minute she is trying to get out of her date and the next, she's crawling out of a grave. As if things aren't bad enough, as she runs away from the date from hell, she smacks straight into a group of vampire hunters that kill her sire in front of her. Well, dang! And she thought things couldn't get worse.

Thierry de Bennicoeur, is one of the oldest living vampires in the area and he has a death wish, literally. The suicidal vamp is ready to chuck it all when Sarah runs to him for salvation. He could do without the complication but he gives her a hand... onto the balustrade of the bridge he was going to jump off of.

Needless to say that helping Sarah adjust to her new vamp status isn't as easy as we would think. She is witty, stubborn and determined to keep a normal life. This last being a little difficult when vampire hunters keep popping up all over the place trying to kill her.

The story was smart, funny and full of great one-liners that had me laughing out loud. The secondary characters were fabulous as well and even though I would have liked to know more about Thierry's past, his present gave me enough food for thought.
I'm not a real fan of books written in First Person POV but I must say I really enjoyed this one.

Grade: B+

Hawken's Heart by Suzanne Brockmann

The sixth story in the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series, Hawken's Heart was originally called It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. When the book was reissued in 2005 Brockmann requested that the book be renamed to her originally intentioned title. I have to say that Hawken's Heart is a much better title.

We met William 'Crash' Hawken during his stint with Alpha Team Ten's training op with the FinCOM agents in Harvard's Education. He was the mysterious, quiet fellow that swept in and out of places silently. He was Cowboy Jones' swim buddy but they got assigned to separate teams when Cowboy replaced Frisco in Alpha Ten's squad.

The book is broken up in two stories, the present and the future. We have to know what happened in the past to understand Crash's relationships in the future. The previous Christmas, Crash lost the one woman that meant everything to him. His cousin, Daisy and Admiral Jake Robinson, raised Crash and he finds out she is dying of a malignant brain tumor. When they request he spend this last Christmas with them, he can't refuse even if it means getting close to Nell Burns, the personal assistant to Daisy whom attracts Crash like no one has.

It's during that time that Nell falls in love with Billy (Crash's family nickname), but he remains detached and after a night together, he pushes her away.

A year later she sees him on TV, accused of killing Jake, who was like a father to him. She knows that it's impossible and rushes to his side but Crash is determined to keep her away from the conspiracies that are surrounding him. The same conspiracies that have him framed for the murder of the Admiral.

This was the BEST of all the TDD series that I have read. It had suspense and romance and heart wrenching heroes. Crash was more emotionally damaged than Frisco but really, without a cause. He had been neglected as a child but he just closed himself off from the world while Frisco embraced life until his accident.

Nell was a determined little bugger and smart too. I think Brockmann wanted to paint her as a frightened little girl but she didn't turn out that way at all. She chipped and chipped until she broke down Crash's defenses and wiggled her way into his heart.

Wonderful read!!

Grade: A

Tell Me No Lies by Annie Solomon

This one is the prequel to Blind Curve, which I read last month. Unfortunately it was not as good. I think if it had been marketed as a thriller rather than a romance novel, I could have gone into it with a different perspective but that was not the case.

Hank Bonner is just a week away from leaving his job as a NYPD detective. After a family tragedy were his sister is killed by his brother in law, Hank feels he needs to leave the department to take a more active role in the family business, Apple House. His niece and nephew need him and he feels guilt over the events that lead to the death of his sister and brother in law. His life is a mess when, as his last case, he has to work on the murder of a convenience store owner.

Alexandra Jane Baker is a rich socialite that has brought to the town a deal that has Renaissance Oil taking over an old GM plant. The deal promises to bring back the small town from the edge of bankruptcy. But the truth is, she is making the deal to further her agenda of revenge against Miki Petrov, a ex-KGB Russian who murdered her father. She has created a false life and buried her past to make sure that her plans run to fruition but the death of Luka Kole brings Hank Bonner to her door.

The book was a bit of a disappointment for me. Through out most of it I felt no chemistry between the hero and the heroine. Actually for most of the book there was little interaction between them other than his working the case and her avoidance of him. There was so many lies spewing out of Alex's mouth, I had a hard time accepting that Hank would feel any attraction to her.

It still says something about Solomon when in the end the relationship was believable. As with Blind Curve, the relationship appeared to be flawed but Solomon twisted things such that it gave the relationship a chance for a happy ending. Even though this twist helped the reader accept the relationship, I could not put aside that for most of the book there was nothing there. I will still give her new book Black Out a chance, since Blind Curve was so good, but this one was not the same quality as the first.

A side note: The main characters of Blind Curve were not mentioned in this story so, it really was a stand alone.

Grade: C