Jill D

• Rated 4 stars

“Notorious Pleasures is the second book in Elizabeth Hoyt's Maiden Lane series. Lady Hero , right before her betrothal to the duke of Wakefield is to be announced, finds her finace's brother having relations with a married woman. Hero finds everything about the Duke's brother off putting. So why then does she find herself attracted to the blasted man? Even when Hero is off helping the orphanage she is a major patroness of; she finds Griffin meddling in her affairs.

I actually wasn't going to read this book. I was just going to skip on over to Silence's story when it came out. But I was talking to Ms. Hoyt at RT and she was telling me that Silence's story continues in Notorious Pleasures and of course since I like Silence so much I caved in and read this one. I know. I act like it was such a hardship :)

I think if most readers can get past the first chapter where the heroine finds the hero with another woman, then they are in for good read. I really enjoy Ms. Hoyt's writing style. She does a fantastic job of balancing action, dialogue and internal insight to the characters with pizzazz and flair. Notorious Pleasures is no exception. There is a lot of really wonderful dialogue between Hero and Griffin. There is a lot of heat and sexual tension between these two.

There is mystery that has continued on from the first book Wicked Intentions that will continue along through the other books in the series. I think it would be best to read this series in order, although, each book does stand alone. I can't wait for Silence's book. Really, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more of Silence in this book, but there was just enough of a teaser to get me really hungry for the next book.

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Jill D wrote this review Monday, May 9, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Under the Northern Lights is actually two books in one. Both the first two stories in Vivian Arend's Granite Lake Wolves series are included in this book. The first book is Wolf Signs which the story of Robyn Maxwell, a deaf woman who meets Keil, a local wolf shifter who is next in line for Alpha of his pack at a secluded cabin in the woods. Robyn is a wolf and Keil's mate, but she doesn't know it. She was adopted and hasn't learned her past heritage.

The second story Wolf Fight features Robyn's brother Tad who is a wolf but can't shift. Tad was never able to forget the girl from high school who moved away. Missy reenters Tads life and the sparks pick up right where they left off all those years ago. Tad forms a bond with Missy to protect her from her past.

Under the Northern Lights was a quick and easy read. The characters were likable. I thought Robyn was interesting in that she was deaf but still a strong, determined woman. If she set her mind to do something, nothing was going to stop her. The book was on the short side for my taste. I felt the pack dynamics were lacking and I would have liked to see more depth to the world building and characters. I did like that a lot of the book was action driven. It made for a quick read.

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Jill D wrote this review Sunday, May 8, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Undead and Uneasy is the 6th book in MaryJanice Davidson's Betsy Taylor series. Betsy Taylor is the Queen of the Vampires. She really doesn't want to be a Queen. She didn't even want to be a vampire. She woke up one morning to find that she was dead and had been turned into a vampire. In the big Book of the Dead, it prophesied that she would be queen and her consort would be the delectably sexy, Eric Sinclair. Sure enough it comes true and now Betsy is planning her wedding to Eric. Betsy is about to pull her hair out because nobody wants to help her with all the arrangements most of all, the lucky groom.

I have only listened to this series on audio and never read any of the books. I like the way that Lucy Woo narrates the stories. She does Betsy's voice really well, but I don't like the way she does Sinclair. I think it is hard for women narrators to do men's voices well. Sinclair always comes across as sounding very condescending and I don’t think that if I was reading the book myself he wouldn’t sound condescending.

Anyway, I thought this Betsy book was average. Betsy is very demanding in this book and she tended to get on my nerves. Sinclair and most of the usual cast was missing in this book most of the time, so it was mainly Betsy front and center. I thought the mystery was obvious and it takes Betsy a while to catch on. It was just an okay read. I don't know if I will continue on with the series.

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Jill D wrote this review Wednesday, March 23, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

0 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 1 stars

“Sabrina Winfield has longed for stability for her daughter and herself since her first husband died young and virtually left her penniless. She has been an example of just what a young woman should be, not calling attention to herself and living an exemplary lifestyle. The Earl of Wyldewood's son is engaged to her daughter, yet he might just have designs on the Mother of the Bride. After all, he is in need of a wife himself and what a lovely woman she is. Sabrina has vowed never to need to depend on a man. Very uncharacteristically of her she decides to head to Egypt in search of treasure that will provide her daughter with a proper dowry.

I had a lot of problems with this book. I will say that I was quickly sucked into the story by a charismatic character in Lady Sabrina and her wild adventure after a treasure. However, Lady Sabrina after a few short chapters turned out to be a very annoying character. She was extremely hard headed with her own perception of things with not much bending room. She came across as immature and flighty, which I did not find endearing in the least. I liked Nicholas more than I did Sabrina. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders and I was quick to take his side over things rather than Sabrina's, but in the end, I wondered what he saw in her.

There was a secondary love story between Sabrina's daughter Belinda and Nicholas's son Erick. Their relationship was just touched upon but did not really delve beneath the surface. I cringed at Sabrina's reaction to her daughter at times and vice versa. Belinda was exactly as Sabrina raised her, yet Sabrina would get annoyed with her daughter's behavior when that was how she was taught to behave. Sabrina and Nicholas’s love story was moderately believable at best. I can't really recommend this book. It was definitely not my style.

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Jill D wrote this review Wednesday, March 23, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Cornelia Case wants nothing more than to escape her life in the public eye. After her husband, the president of the United States was assassinated Cornelia longs to experience the ordinary. She manages to disguise herself and elude the secret service men tasked with her safety. On her adventure she meets up with Matt Jorvich who finds himself the guardian to two children Lucy and Button. Lucy at 14 whose Mother recently died has been raising Button by herself. Cornelia finds herself on a journey with the Jorvich to find the girls' grandmother. Along the way Cornelia finds herself part of a family.

First Lady was an enjoyable read. I thought the characters were endearing. The adventures they found themselves in were fun to listen to. First Lady isn't my favorite book by SEP. I can't really put my finger on why. I enjoyed the characters. Although I thought maybe towards the end that Cornelia and Matt were extremely stubborn in their resistance to their feelings for one another, Matt especially about having a family. If they would have just talked about things, misunderstandings could have been avoided. I know this review is short, but I just don't have much more to say about it. I enjoyed the story, but it wasn't my favorite by SEP. That about sums it up for me.

*Interesting factoid:* Lucy makes an appearance in SEP’s latest release Call Me Irresistible as Teddy Beaudine’s fiancé.

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Jill D wrote this review Wednesday, March 23, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Match Me if You Can is the sixth book in Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Chicago Stars series. Annabelle Granger is desperate to land Heath Champion as a client for her new match making company, Perfect for You. With such a prestigious client, her new company will be sure to succeed and in doing so will get her family off her back. She is basically the black sheep in the family. Heath Champion is a very well known sports agent who is as ruthless as he is handsome. He is looking for a wife and has unrealistic expectations of the type of woman he is ready to settle down with. Annabelle has her work cut out for her if she is to be successful in finding him his perfect match.

I had a lot of fun listening to Match Me if You Can. First of all the narrator Anna Fields does an excellent job of getting the humor just right. She is able to use really good inflection when delivering those zingers. There is a lot of really great dialogue between Annabelle and Heath. These two go back and forth throughout the book and readers who love a lot of banter between the hero and heroine are going to really enjoy this book.

I loved Annabelle. She is my kind of heroine. She is funny, smart and completely driven and focused. She was a little insecure but it was only a small part of her character. Heath too was an excellent match for her. He is just as driven, funny and smart. He too has his own little insecurities to get over. I thought this was a great read with many memorable scenes. The dialogue is fantastic and is chock full of rich characters. I even found the secondary love story between Portia and Bodey a treat. Two thumbs up. I highly recommend it.

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Jill D wrote this review Wednesday, March 23, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Dreams of a Dark Warrior is the ninth book in Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series. Regin the Radiant and Aiden the Fierce have an ill-fated love. Throughout the centuries, Aiden a mortal Berserker was killed before he could earn his immortality. Since then, he keeps being reincarnated but as soon as he kisses Regin he remembers Aiden's memories. Shortly after that, he dies. Regin is taken captive by Declan Chase the Magister of the Order. Regin realizes right away that Declan is Aiden reincarnated once again. Somehow Regin has to escape without alerting Declan to his past or she knows he will be killed again yet at the same time, she must keep her own self alive too.

I didn't enjoy Dreams of a Dark Warrior as I have some of the other books in this series. Mainly it was because of Declan. I had a really hard time with his character. He was very badly damaged as a teenager and his hatred of immortals has shaped his whole life. I found his character not very appealing. I thought his behavior was hard to redeem.

Now having said how much I didn't like Declan, I did really like Regin. She had a lot of funny one liners that were quite humorous. If you have liked Cole's humor in the past you will continue to enjoy it in this book, as well. Regin and Declan have such a struggle in this book. The reader really wonders how all the problems are going to be solved between Declan and Regin. I think the author did a pretty good job of showing a change in Declan. He just wasn't a very appealing hero for me, though.

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Jill D wrote this review Saturday, March 12, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Storm Born is the first book in Richelle Mead's Dark Swan series. Eugenie Markham is a shaman. This means that she can walk two worlds, the natural world and the unnatural. Eugenie has been trained since she was a young girl to banish the unnatural back to their world. Recently, more and more attacks by these supernatural creatures have been aimed specifically at her. She becomes the object of much attention because of a prophecy and these creatures even know her by name. Eugenie discovers that a young girl has been kidnapped by the fey. To get the girl back Eugenie must traverse the unnatural world and face a most dangerous fey. To do that, she needs the help of Dorian, another dangerous fairy king. Along the way she also meets a sexy shapeshifter.

Why has it taken my so long to read Richelle Mead? I loved this book! It was rich with world building. I loved the strange fairy world and the beautiful picturesque descriptions. I found Eugenie to be a very straight forward and endearing character. She is a total hard ass when it comes to banishing the bad guys. She doesn't hesitate. Yet she does have a soft vulnerable side, which makes her very appealing to readers. I liked that Eugenie is a work in progress. She doesn't have all the answers. As she walks among the fairies and she learns more about them, she realizes that maybe she misjudged them.

As far as the romance goes, there is a little bit of a love triangle. I know some readers love that and some readers hate it. This has to be the one time that I really can't pick the hero the heroine is leaning towards. I have my own favorite, but I am not sure if that is who Eugenie will pick. I really enjoyed this first installment of Richelle Mead's new urban fantasy series. I can't wait to see where she takes readers next into this interesting world.

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Jill D wrote this review Tuesday, March 8, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Della Ward has lived an isolated existence since her husband was killed in the Civil War. Living in a remote western farm she spends her days regretting the last letter she wrote to her husband. James Cameron is haunted by his past as well. He has spent the last ten years struggling with the decision to go to Della Ward and give her a letter and photo that her husband had on his position when he died. James struggles with the death of Della's husband, but he will have to tell her the truth if he is ever going to move on with his life. He owes Della that much, at least.

Prairie Moon is a very tender and sad love story. Della and James both have an incredible amount of baggage. I like that Ms. Osborne doesn't reveal everything at once to the reader but rather dished it out a little at a time to keep the reader interested in what is going on. Once the reader does discover what both of these characters have gone through, especially Della, their heart will break for them.

There were a few things about the book that kept me from giving it a higher grade. James keeps a very big secret from Della for most of the book and the reader knows that eventually Della is going to find out James motivation for coming to her. James allows Della to make untrue assumptions about how her husband died and he doesn't correct her. When the truth does finally come to light Della reacts just the way James had feared. That bothered me about her. After everything she had learned about James and all the time she spent with him she should have handled it better. Eventually these two do get their happy ending, but boy did they have a long journey of heartbreak to get there.

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Jill D wrote this review Sunday, March 6, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“I choose Time and Again because of this really great post done by Magdalan at Monkey Bear Reviews. I was in the mood for something different and this one fit the bill, a time-travel novel that takes place in turn of the century San Francisco, California. Lauren Hall is one minute at a McDonalds in 1980 in the middle of an earthquake only to find herself transported thru time to 1906. Early Cruz, a reporter for the newspaper takes pity on Lauren and allows her to live as his housekeeper.

Time and Again is a short book coming in at 253 pages. It is a quick, interesting read. I think I finished it easily in a day. The neat thing about this book is that it really is unlike any other romance I have read. The time travel portion of the book came off as rather genuine especially Lauren and Early's reaction to the time-travel. Early is very much old fashioned in comparison to Lauren's more modern proclivities. There is not a lot of romance between Lauren and Early, but what there was developed slowly. If you are looking for something a little different from the usual, give this a try (if you can find it, LOL).

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Jill D wrote this review Sunday, March 6, 2011. ( reply | permalink )