The Shadowing by Joan Overfield

Evil is the first word that comes to mind when Anne Garthwicke arrives at Castle MacCairn. Duty bound to help her father appraise the holdings, she has no choice but to stay. And her trepidation deepens after meeting the laird. Proud and powerful, he embodies all the wildness of the Scottish highlands and incites dreams of carnal passion such as Anne has never experienced. Achingly tender one moment and roughly forceful the next, Ruairdh MacCairn has a beast within straining to break loose. And according to legend, it is only a matter of time before the monster will escape. Anne already knows her heart is lost, but she can only hope that when the moment of fate arrives, her body won't be sacrificed as well.

~~

Look at that face! Look at that hair! How could I not buy this book? Even though it was originally released in 2002, this book gives off serious old school vibes - it might as well have Fabio on the cover! LOL! I didn't know what I was getting myself into, the description to me meant there was a 50/50 shot of it being good-good or bad-good, but I really enjoyed this! 

Ruairdh is a tortured soul, just waiting for 'The Shadowing' to turn him into a raving madman; when he sees Anne and starts to feel something other than depression, he's not too happy about. He's a bit of a jerk in fact, which luckily is balanced by the reader having some insight to his mental state (ie, I didn't hate him because the book is told partially from his point of view). What's especially great about this story is that Anne doesn't just accept Ruairdh being a jerk; while she does keep her station in mind, she tends to give as good as she gets and the sparks between the two are pretty awesome. 

The paranormal plot line doesn't detract from the romance at the heart of this book and I thought the inclusion of 'love conquers all' was done very well with only the slightest hint of corny. If you can get your hands on a copy of this book I'd recommend it, it's a fast, fun read with a satisfying ending.

Overall Feeling - B+

Series - None

Charmed by His Love by Janet Chapman

All Duncan MacKeage wants is to keep his crew building roads and bridges up the mountain to the fancy resort overlooking Spellbound Falls’ new inland sea. He doesn’t want anything to do with his own family magic or with the beautiful widow, Peg Thompson, and her tribe of little heathens. But when Duncan is tasked with keeping an eye on the widow Thompson, trouble starts.

Because of a family curse, Peg fears that giving in to her desires will mean killing off another lover. But Duncan—the strong, handsome man buying her gravel—is unbelievably tempting and determined to take care of her. Torn between her head and her heart, will Peg find the strength to break free of her black-widow curse? Or will pursuing their attraction put these lovers in harm’s way?

~~

Some things I thought about while reading this book:

 

1) Don't ever kidnap me and think that sh*t is gonna be ok with me later.

2) Don't show clear evidence of how long you've been planning to kidnap me and think that's gonna be ok either.

3) I'm about 50% ok with you not reminding me that we've met before but that still means there's 50% of anger left to make your life a living hell

4) If I tell you, my BFF, in confidence something that has me really worried and then you immediately go and tell your husband who then tells the guy I kind of think is hot I will be upset. That is not ok. How about you just keep your mouth shut and help me as my friend?

5) I'm not ok if your magic can suddenly un-tie my tubes. I made that decision, your magic doesn't get to f*ck around with that.

I'm not trying to sound harsh but I think at some point I got fed up with this book. I liked it 90% of the way through and then all of a sudden I had back to back WTF moments. I like Janet Chapman. I like her voice, most of her series, and her combination of strong heroines with even stronger heroes that have to learn to step back a bit. I don't always like it when the book veers in the direction of 'heroine's journey'; things get a little condescending and what I consider to be realistic life lessons become things the heroine should suddenly disregard.

This book wasn't bad. I just had some issues with the way things were resolved - if you like Chapman and enjoyed the characters in Spellbound Falls look this one up. I'm about 50/50 on whether I'll buy the next one but truthfully I'm going to want to know what happens next dammit, and I've never been very patient, lol.

Overall Feeling - B/B-

Series - 1) Spellbound Falls 2) Charmed by His Love 3) Courting Carolina (8/28/12)

Teaser Tuesdays (6/12)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"I don't know what the hell it is yet, but there's something. So, we ride it out, see what happens"

"I don't know how to do that. I told you."

He picked up his coffee again, stepped over to kiss her on the cheek. " It looks to me like you're doing it just fine. Where's the syrup?"

--pg 213, The Witness by Nora Roberts

Hidden Crimes by Emma Holly

Cats and dogs shouldn't fall in love. Like any wolf, detective Nate Rivera knows this. He can’t help it if the tigress he’s been trading quips with at the supermarket is the most alluring woman he’s ever met—sassy too, which suits him down to his designer boots.

Evina Mohajit is aware their flirtation can’t lead to more. Still, she relishes trading banter with the hot werewolf. This hardworking single mom hasn’t felt so female since her twins’ baby daddy left to start his new family. Plus, as a station chief in Resurrection’s Fire Department, she understands the demands of a dangerous job.

Their will-they-or-won’t-they tango could go on forever if it weren’t for the mortal peril the city’s shifter children fall into. To save them, Nate and Evina must team up, a choice that ignites the sparks smoldering between them . . .

~~

Let me start with a little (invisible to you) happy dance for the return of the Shifters!  I like the Fae in Holly's Hidden series but the earthiness and honesty of shifters keep them at the top of my favorites list; it's not so much their 'mate at first sight' tendencies but the fact that intrigue and deceit doesn't come naturally to them. Erotic romances highlighting those characters usually tend to have less drama and more focus on making the relationship work with what they have at hand. 

The relationship between Nate and Evina, while complicated due to their being different species, is not dramatic. They have physical feelings towards each other (with a little bit of baggage) that turns into something more. The sparks between them are off the charts and as they traverse the intertwined worlds of their careers they stumble onto a big secret. A big secret that unsurprisingly not everyone wants them to look into. As a reader who loved Hidden Talents I liked how Holly brought both Ari and Adam into this story, even if Adam acted like an ass for some of it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys paranormal romance as it has good doses of both action and heartfelt emotion.

Overall Feeling - A+

Series - 1) Hidden Talents 2) Hidden Depths 3) Move Me 4) Hidden Crimes

**Title provided by author for review consideration**

Mini Me: Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh

Adria, wolf changeling and resilient soldier, has made a break with the past--one as unpredictable in love as it was in war. Now comes a new territory, and a devastating new complication: Riaz, a SnowDancer lieutenant already sworn to a desperate woman who belongs to another.

For Riaz, the primal attraction he feels for Adria is a staggering betrayal. For Adria, his dangerous lone-wolf appeal is beyond sexual. It consumes her. It terrifies her. It threatens to undermine everything she has built of her new life. But fighting their wild compulsion toward one another proves a losing battle.

Their coming together is an inferno...and a melding of two wounded souls who promise each other no commitment, no ties, no bonds. Only pleasure. Too late, they realize that they have more to lose than they ever imagined. Drawn into a cataclysmic Psy war that may alter the fate of the world itself, they must make a decision that might just break them both.

~~

I'm not sure about any of you guys but I hate this cover. I think it looks more than a little ridiculous, I guess because it's so old school? Luckily the story itself is a great one so I'm willing to forgive the cover artist for lackluster vision.

I'm keeping it short and sweet because I think Adria and Riaz's relationship speaks for itself. Both of them are overcoming some serious emotional scars to make things work and it's a bumpy ride accordingly. Their HEA doesn't just happen the second their eyes meet; both have to learn to trust and move on, which is never the easiest. The developments of the Psy civil war are still interesting and written incredibly well even when I want to yell at something to make it happen faster. Not really faster in the world of these books but faster I guess in terms of when those books reach me. Selfish I know, but at least I can admit it.

I would not say this book is a stand alone, much too much has happened and this book brings back quite a few characters from previous books, but I consider the whole series is a must read so I don't think it's too unbearable :).

May in Review

Hmmm...May. What can I say about May? The end of it was pretty awesome as far as Memorial Day Weekends go and hey, I got to go the Gaithersburg Book Festival! Since I did a whole blog post about it I'm sure it's not a surprise when I say that was a blast but that was another big thing for me this month. Hearing Jenny Lawson speak in person was fantastic, as her crazy has spoken to my crazy for a while now

Guarding Jess by Shannon Curtis

Let Me In by Callie Croix

In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz

Once and  Again by Lauren Dane

The Search by Nora Roberts

Dark Symphony by Christine Feehan

Dead Reckoning by Christine Feehan

Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly

Coming Undone by Lauren Dane

Never Enough by Lauren Dane

Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh

Diamond in the Rough by Diana Palmer

Legacy by Jayne Ann Krentz

Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis

Cordina's Royal Family by Nora Roberts

Dawn in Eclipse Bay by Jayne Ann Krentz

Follow My Lead by Kate Noble

Storm Warning by Mercedes Lackey

Storm Rising by Mercedes Lackey

Storm Breaking by Mercedes Lackey

P.S. - Random aside, but did you know you could be smelling like a book right now? Crazy! I'm not sure I'd enjoy smelling like a book, I like smelling books on books, but I might be interested if they'd put it in a room spray, lol.

Just for Kicks by Susan Andersen

Las Vegas showgirl Carly Jacobsen keeps learning the hard way that her idea of fun differs radically from that of her neighbor Wolfgang Jones. Sure, he looks incredible, and he seems to have a thing for her legs, but the man's a robot. So what's with their chemistry?

Wolf has a plan for his life, and it doesn't include finding himself tempted by the freewheeling Carly…mile-high legs or not. Yet in a moment of weakness, the two discover at least one area where they do both have fun. But outside the bedroom the stakes are getting higher, and love might come down to a roll of the dice…

~~

I'm not completely positive I haven't read this book before but I'm going to try and write this anyway....bear with me?

Readers are introduced to Carly and Wolfgang after they've been neighbors for a little while - which I love because they're not friends per se, but I don't have to deal with a sluggish 'this is how we met' explanation. Instead it's a quick story with a lot of action. Carly and Wolf have great snappy dialogue and the sparks between them rapidly evolve into a relationship (let me say again how much more I enjoy a story when both people are being honest with each other (even if they're not being strictly honest with themselves)).

The supporting characters weren't distracting and I think were instrumental in helping Wolf grow as a person and recognize the difference between his 'plan' and being happy. All in all it was a fun little read that even independent of Skintight I liked quite a bit.

Overall Feeling - B

Series - 1) Skintight 2) Just for Kicks