A Season to be Sinful by Jo Goodman

This story was my Author of the Month selection for my Yahoo Reading Group. Jo Goodman was a new author for me and I will say she did not disappoint in the least, although I might be weary selecting her again to read. She reminded me alot of Laura Kinsale in the sense that this book was very dark, from the moment it started until we actually turned the last page. Even with a HEA ending, you still felt somber since the book was emotionally draining.

Viscount Sheridan finds himself putting his affairs in order because he plans to retire to the country to regroup, when there is an attempt on his life and death is forestall by a young boy that has taken a grievous wound on his behalf. He is determined to find out who the boy is and delays his trip to the country to investigate the incident. It's at this point that 3 street urchins find themselves at his door demanding that he pay for the medical expenses of 'Miss Rose' since they believe that Sherridon had done the stabbing. Sherry (Sheridan's nickname) is surprised to hear that the 'boy' that stepped between him and death, is in fact a young woman. But his surprise is only heightened when he hears her speak in a upper class manner.

Lily has been in hiding for a while and although she has witnessed great depravity in her life, she still holds true to her principles. This is what took her to interfere when she realized that Sherry was to be hurt. What she didn't expect was to lose her life in the act. After days of lingering between life and death she wakes to find herself at the home of Viscount Sheridan. After her initial shock has passed she recognizes the opportunity that has fallen in her lap to get her three young charges (Pinch, Dash & Midge) off the streets.

Sherry does in fact take a liking to the young rascals and decides to make them his wards, hiring Lily (Miss Rose's real name) as their governess.

If the story seems fanciful and light, you have been fooled. The background of how Lily ends up in the streets of London as well as why she is trying desperately to hid her identity is a dark omen for the secrets that Sherry has in his closet. Each have made choices that have lead them to where they are now. No trust in their hearts and even less capacity to love, yet they find themselves opening to each other in wonderful ways.

I found that by Goodman not putting the whole story out there at once, she built the tension so that when the truth of the assassination debacle unwinds we are actually surprised to see how Lily & Sherry's life have been driven in parallel until the moment of the stabbing when their lives collided.

The Darkness of the piece is what leads me to believe I will have to think seriously on picking up Goodman's work again any time soon. Such despair in books are digestible in small doses and I have alot of Kinsale in my TBR pile for me to seek more books of that nature. Still the book was delicious and will be highly recommended in the future.

Grade: A

Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Another installment to the Chicago Stars series. We met Dean Robillard in Match me if You Can and at that time he charmed the socks off of us. Now he returns with his own story which unfortunately was a bit of a miss with me.

Dean is recovering from shoulder surgery but feels himself slipping into a bit of a rut since he always felt invincible, and with the injury to his shoulder he now has to face a vulnerability he has worked hard to avoid. On his way to his new farmhouse in Tennessee he encounters a woman dressed in a Beaver outfit and his life turns upside down.

Blue Bailey has had a horrible few weeks when she gets into Dean's car. She left her life in Seattle to come assist her distraught boyfriend, Monty, only to find that he has run off with a 19 year old just days before she arrives. Her mother, who is a humanitarian, has emptied her bank account to help some girls in a third world country and after Monty steals her last dollar, she gets kicked out of her new apartment. With no place to go, hanging on to Dean sounds better every minute.

As with all SEP books there is a secondary romance which is between Dean's parents April and Jack. There is alot of baggage that needs to be cleared between Dean and his parents and that needs to be done before he can bring himself to fully give his heart to Blue.

Blue is also a bit damaged, and has her own abandonment issues. She has learned to stay away from caring for anyone since they always leave. Now, Dean asks for a commitment that she cannot give, or can she?

Honestly, I really enjoyed the story until the very end when you would have expected some growth from these characters but the truth is that they had stayed static until the last few pages.
the banter between them was priceless, though!

I loved April, Dean's mother, but Jack, his father, did nothing for me. The scenes where Dean finally made peace with his parents were well done and were very believable, as well as poignant, but when it can for the same reconciliation with the woman he had fallen in love with... I felt there could have been more. The secondary characters in the town of Garrison as well as Riley, Dean's half sister gave this book the push that it needed for me to keep it a B.

Grade: B-

Rules of Seduction by Madeline Hunter

Alexis Welbourne has been living with her cousins for a while now and is grateful for their generosity. When she is suddenly left with nothing, after Lord Hayden Rothwell ruins her cousin Timothy Longworth and forces the family out of London. To avoid being a further burden on her cousins she is determined to find employment, when her greatest enemy offers her the opportunity to stay in the house she has made her own as a governess to the miscreant's young cousin.

Lord Hayden Rothwell is quite innocent of the accusations laid on his doorstep. He approached Timothy after discovering that he had been extorting funds from the bank he works at. In turbulent banking times, Hayden decides to leave his own funds in the bank, but demands that Timothy resign, leave London and payoff his debt. He promises not to reveal his crime as long as he follows the dictates he required. Timothy reluctantly agrees since not to, would have meant the gallows.

Do you think there is some gratitude in Timothy? Some semblance of shame for what he did? Not at all. Since Hayden promised to remain silent about the whole affair, Timothy decides to bad mouth him to everyone that can hear, saying that Hayden FORCED him into bankruptcy by removing his funds from the bank. Thus, leading Alexis to despise the man.

As she begins to work for Hayden and becomes better acquainted with him, she revises her opinion that he is a beast. She sees that there is more to the bank issue than was first explained and Hayden is being honorable to a fault. Now she just need to be certain that the man she has fallen in love with is the man she believes him to be.

Great Great Great tale. I love the slow, easy way Hunter takes us to the love story that unfolds for our Hero/Heroine. She also brings in several side characters that inspire strong feelings, like the Aunt and Timothy... who can we hate more...

Wonderful to get back to Hunter as we know she can be!

Grade: A

No True Gentleman by Liz Carlyle

Since we are reviewing Liz Carlyle books lets get to the one I read that was a complete miss. I could not bring myself to even finish reading this one.

Catherine is the sister to the Earl of Treyhern who was the hero in Beauty Like the Night. She is a widow who still finds herself mourning her husband but knows that she needs to move on with her life. While she is in London she crosses path with a man that is No True Gentleman.

Max de Rohan was introduced to us in A Woman of Virtue. He was in charge of the murder investigation of the women in Cole's Mission. In that tale he was a bit spooky but at the same time very admirable. Now, in his own book he just ended up being plain boring.

He is involved in some investigation, Catherine gets in the way, he tries to ward her off, she is determined to stick her nose into what doesn't concern her... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Can you guess I didn't like this one? I just felt bored to pieces. I wanted more of the romance and less of the subplot and since I was not getting it by mid book I decided to close this one and put it to rest. As I mentioned earlier, I did not finish this one.

Grade: DNF

A Woman of Virtue by Liz Carlyle

I want to say that Carlyle is a hit and miss author for me. Because of that I tend to wait a while before picking up her latest releases. I already have all of her earlier work in my TBR pile and I'm working my way to her more updated stuff, but because of that hit and miss situation, I take her work in small doses. The problem with this is that most of her books are interrelated and I tend to forget who is who and how they relate.

Thus was the case with David, Lord Delacourt. I had to go back and look at her previous work to find out that David is the secret brother of Reverend Cole Amherst's wife, Jonet from A Woman Scorned. David is put in a precarious situation when his brother in law, Cole swindles him into taking over his duties at the Mission he has started for fallen women.

Cecilia Lorimer, Lady Walfren would prefer to keep a respectable distance between herself and Delacourt. When she was just 18, Delacourt almost compromised her, which led to a fictitious engagement and finally, a similarly fictitious jilting on her behalf. She eventually married an older man who gave her stability and calmness after the whirlwind that was David. Now that she is widowed she tries very hard to keep that calmness in her life, but the news of David sharing duties with her in the Mission has her trembling, but not so much in fear as in need.

I really loved these two characters, both had reasons to resent the other but they learned to put that aside when a series of murders follow the woman of the Mission. David and Cecilia are able to focus their energies on something other than their disagreements and they discover that there is more to each other than a first impression.

Wonderful, wonderful book! I absolutely loved how these two found a way back to each other. The subplot of the murders never out shined the romance.

Grade: B+

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

After many years of reading Harry Potter, I was greatly anticipating this last installment. I also feared it, due to all the rumors that were flying around. I kept telling myself that our hero will come out safe from this encounter as he has done in the past, but inside, I had my own doubts.
I have enjoyed this series greatly but I think i enjoyed it more than most because my daughter so loved it. She, as most of American children, grew up with Harry Potter and kept that magic alive for me.

Well this final installment finds Harry about to turn 17 and the charms that have kept him safe all this time are about to be broken. The Order of the Phoenix try their best to get him to safety with so many dementors and spies around but they do not realize that Harry, Ron & Hermione are on a mission to find all the horacruxes that make up Voldemort, as per Dumbledore's direction. This is a mission that is at risk many times as Harry questions everything around him.

I really need to keep this review vague since there is so much to give away. The deaths start up early in the book and the final battle claims others we have come to love, but I will offer one spoiler... Our Trio come out Alive.

I found that there was a point in the book that dragged a bit, especially in the middle when the trio set off in search of the horacruxes and, really, had no direction what so ever. They didn't have a clue where to look. Imagine looking for something around the world and not knowing where to start. I felt desperate on their behalf.

We find out a lot about Dumbledore and his past, and it's not what we would expect from the character we all have respected and learned to love. I like the way Rowling has been pulling us along and letting us view these characters from Harry's perspective, There is always a sense of black and white in our judgments. This book introduces the shades of gray that goes with every human frailty. We see everyone from a different perspective and learn to accept these faults.

This series is not one to disappoint. If you have never read a Harry Potter book, you must start from the beginning. It is a long journey but worth every page.

BTW: Don't miss Jo's commentaries of Harry's life after the final page at Mugglenet.com

Grade: A
Format: Audiobook

Anthology - Wish List

It has been a while since I read an Anthology that was really worth recommending, but this one is just that. The stories that comprise the Anthology really make this one worth the time. There were a couple of stories, like Dain's Union and Kleypas' I Will, that actually felt like full length novels, and I think that itself speaks highly of the stories.

Lisa Kleypas contributed the story I Will where Andrew, Lord Drake enlists the help of Miss Caroline Hargreaves to decieve his dying father into believing that he has mended his rotten ways. He has been cut out of his father's will and he already had half of his inheritance spent on gambling and frivolous diversions. He desperately needs the funds so he bribes Caro into assisting him by promising to stay away from her young brother Cade, who is following in Andrew's footsteps. Although we don't get to experience every nuance of the developing love affair, Kleypas gives us enough to root for the couple and be outraged for Caroline when a twist is thrown at the end of the story. Excellent tale! BTW: Andrew is the half brother of Logan Scott, which appeared in an earlier story of Kleypas. (B+)

Lisa Cach contributed Puddings, Pastries and Thou where we meet Vivian Ambrose, who is the poor relation that has been passed around from cousin to cousin for several years now. She arrives at her new "charitable" relations home the night before Xmas, and her cousin's daughter Penelope does not waste a minute to show Vivian her displeasure of having to share her gowns, let alone her first season with Vivian. Vivian, in turn, would like nothing more that to find herself a husband so she no longer will be a burden for her family, so Penelope, tries to put her in the path of Richard Brent. Richard Brent is looking for a wife that will accept him, faults and all. But, what are those faults? and why is it that he is considered less than marriageable material, even for a spinster like Vivian?
I really loved the way we discover Richard's secrets and Vivian's capacity to eat her way out of a difficult situations made this entry a light, pleasurable read. (B)

Claudia Dain gave us the novella Union and although it read like a full length novel, the characters where not as sympathetic as in the other stories in the book. Clarrisa Walingford is on the marriage mart but she is determined to go about her choices with care since she really doesn't marry an Englishman, regardless of the fact that she is English herself. Her goal is to marry a man that has lands in Ireland, her home. Beau Wakefield, Lord Montwyn, owner of a grand estate in Ireland is searching for a bride and believes Clarrisa just might fit the bill, especially after her meddling brothers indirectly challenged him to win her over.
Regardless of the characters or maybe, in spite of them, I found this one funny. Clarrisa and Beau were being easily manipulated by the hordes of brothers she has and it was just plain funny to see these two dance to the brother's tunes without realizing they were doing it. My disappointment in the story was because I really didn't get a feel for the spark between these two. they appear to be attracted to each other but they mostly wanted the union for other reasons. (B-)

Lynsay Sands gives us the last tale in this book, All I Want, which is another funny tale. Prudence Prescott is determined to grant her mother's Christmas wish of having her father stop his gambling and come home. They are on the way to debtor's prison at the rate they are going and Pru is determine to stop the downward spiral, if she could only speak to her father. Stephen Ballard, Lord Stockton, owns the gambling establishment that is frequented by Lord Prescott. He lives on the fringe of society and is dissatisfied with his life, until Pru steps in and turns it all around. I found this one the funniest of all since poor Pru just cannot get anything right and continuously finds herself in Stephen's way, ruining his business and just making a pie of herself. (B)

Grade: B

Lover Revealed by J. R. Ward

Fell absolutely in love with this series last summer when I read the first three books all at once. Then came the wait... God, it took forever for the next installment!

This is the fourth of the series and it tells the story of Butch and Marissa. We met both of them in the first book of the series (Dark Lover).

Butch was a cop and his dedication to saving Beth, who became Wrath's Queen, led to his knowledge and presence in the Brotherhood. He left the force after finding the Brotherhood's cause most rewarding. Unfortunately, although he lives with the Brotherhood and shares their secrets, Butch feels unworthy because he is not allowed to fight the Lessers. He might be surrounded by riches but he cannot respect himself and cannot bring himself to pursue Marissa.

Marissa was Wrath's Shellan (the woman that fed him) and although everyone thought they were destined to be bonded, she was set aside for a mortal. Although Butch attracts her she feels unworthy of him since all of her kind (the aristocracy of Vampires) judge her to be less of a woman. She also fears that if she feeds from him that she will not be able to control herself and will kill him (which she almost does).

At some point Butch is captured by the Lessers when he tries to save a Pre-transition Vamp. They torture him because they know that he is friends with the Brotherhood. The Omega arrives and, discovering the prize that is Butch, inserts some evil part of himself into Butch that almost kills him. He is brought to Marissa's brother who isolates him because he fears that whatever was stuck into Butch could be contagious. Butch is turned to save his life but the Evil in hi is causing him to act a bit differently than expected. Marissa, the Brotherhood and the Scribe Virgin are determined to save the man that could be one told in a prophecy.

This book was one of the most emotionally draining of the series. I thought Zadist's story was the worse but in his case the suffering was expected and, for some reason, made me love him more. This story was so entwined with the subplot it was difficult for me to really feel for Butch. It did make me feel deeply for Vishous since I felt that by giving Butch someone to love left V all alone. There were these weird moments in the book that gave me a feel that V wanted Butch in a WHOLE different way. It was quite an interesting view of V.

John also is heavily depicted in this story and honestly, he doesn't do it for me. I am really looking forward to his transformation to see what a grown up, not so whiny, John can offer. Regardless the story was strong and it was wonderful to continue the line of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Grade: B-