Review: Dishonorable Intentions by Adrienne Davenport

Dishonorable Intentions by Adrienne Davenport

Publisher: Eternal Press
Genre: Historical Romance

Heat Rating: 2

Blurb

Hidden amongst the rolling hills of Scotland’s rugged countryside sits Kinrara Keep, home to the beautiful and spirited Countess of Kinley. Determined to never marry, Jezebel has but one goal: to care for the home she loves and the aging servants who are her only family. But fate it seems has a far different plan for Jezebel.

Aiden Darlington, the wealthy and powerful Duke of Thistledowne has offered Jezebel his hand in marriage. By rejecting him she risks his wrath, but was she to accept she would be risking far more. Now Aiden’s life is threatened and Jezebel is the prime suspect. Caught amidst a maelstrom of passion and danger, either Aiden or Jezebel dares to acknowledge the love that is enfolding between them. Even as they fight to resist its force however they cannot deny that it is that very love which could ultimately be their salvation. If only they could find the courage to reach for it.


Kris' Review

Dishonorable Intentions is a wonderful story well worth the read, topping in at just over 400 pages. The characters of Jezebel McKinley and Aiden Darlington are refreshingly unique and an exquisite match for each other. Both are stubborn, opinionated and are always right. Neither is looking for love because their plans don’t include love. A chance meeting in a meadow in Scotland has Aiden Darlington, the Duke of Thistledowne, hiring a private investigator to find this beautiful woman that he meets. All he knows is that she has red hair as golden as the sun, and eyes as blue as the summer sky.

Jezebel McKinley has led a very hard life in Scotland. She is the Countess of Kinley, and Lady of Kinrara. Her father and brother Robert died three years ago leaving her the sole heir of Kinrara. As such, being a woman, she knew that the men would never do business with her. Since she has no intention of marrying, she devises a plan to dress in men’s clothing and pretend to be her brother Robert McKinley. She has successfully worked this charade for the past three years, until she meets the Duke of Thistledowne who threatens to expose her. She relishes her ability to run Kinrara on her own. She knows that if she were to marry, her husband would take over the business operation and she’d be relegated to nothing more than a trophy wife. She vows that this will never happen.

Aiden Darlington, the Duke of Thistledowne, is a prominent businessman who enjoys the company of his mistresses and hanging out with his bachelor friends at Alcott’s, the local drinking establishment in London. He has never thought much about marriage until he meets Jezebel McKinley. Unfortunately, she despises him on sight. When he propositions her with marriage she states ‘she’d rather be ruined for life than spend one day married to him’. He promises her that if she marries him, he will keep her secret safe and allow her to run Kinrara as she sees fit. The only thing in return is that she must sire an heir for him. Otherwise their marriage will be merely a business proposition. But the attraction between the two is undeniable, though neither will admit it.

In the meantime, someone is making attempts on Aiden’s life and his private investigator is sure that Jezebel is involved. As Aiden finally convinces Jezebel to marry him, he has to wonder if she really is capable of murder.

Ms. Davenport has created two characters that have clearly met their match. Jezebel is definitely not the demure, woman who will obey her husband. Instead she lives to defy his every order. Aiden on the other hand, though mesmerized by Jezebel’s beauty, finds himself wanting to wring her recalcitrant little neck at times. Watching these two characters come to life in this book is a fantastic read.

5 Tea Cups!

      

Review: Act Like We're In Love by Christi Barth

Act Like We're In Love by Christi Barth

Publisher: Eternal Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Heat Rating: 2

Blurb

When two people make beautiful music together onstage, can their love survive once the curtain falls? Linnea Larson is willing to do anything to keep her family's Minneapolis dinner theatre from going under. Anything, that is, besides accepting a date from the Hollywood hunk her father hired to inject a dose of star power into their production of Guys & Dolls. It's a toss up whether his greatest claim to fame is playing a superhero on screen, or a super stud off screen. Neither fact convinces her he's got what it takes to share her stage. And thanks to a life long pact with her best friend, she never dates actors.

Luke Powell has fame, fortune, and an endless string of women, but also a lingering dissatisfaction with his picture perfect life. Looking for a change, he escapes to his theatrical roots. What he finds are wary cast mates, a nervous best friend convinced the show will ruin Luke's career, and an adorable costar who stubbornly refuses to go out with him. Suddenly singing and dancing aren't the only challenges he'll tackle over the summer. Far from the spotlights of Hollywood, can he find happiness in the footlights of a tiny theatre?

Despite Luke dragging her into his daily paparazzi nightmare, Linnea can't deny her mounting attraction to his irresistible charm. And even if she's crazy enough to chance getting involved, their fling would have a guaranteed expiration date. He's leaving at the end of the run, and she's tied to her family's theatre. Why risk the inevitable heartbreak? Their job is to act like they're in love, but will they decide it's worth the leap to fall in love for real?


Lena's Review

Linnea Larson has waited all her life to take over the family’s theatre. The problem is that before she can she has to do one more play. Not just any play but one that involves a real life Hollywood superstar. Linnea has seen many things as a Broadway actress but none like Luke. He is arrogant, egotistical and yet she is attracted to him. Linnea knows that this career changes of his is all a ploy. Luke is just another actor thinking to stoop low to increase his popularity. Or is he? All her friends say why deny the attraction and just risk it have a little fun. Yet can she really fall for a Hollywood guy like Luke without losing her heart?

Luke is a superstar and loves acting. The problem is that lately he is not feeling the same adrenaline he had before. He is looking for something different and somehow he knows that Linnea Larson is the perfect woman for the change. His whole goal has always been on his career no time for any romance. The thing is that there is something about Linnea that gets him going and he is having a hard time. His main love has always been on the stage not in front of a camera and Linnea doesn’t believe him. Luke knows the passion and chemistry is there from her kisses. Can he convince Linnea that his love is real and not all just an act?

Act like Were in Love by Christi Barth was definitely a great treat to read. Christi Barth has a way with comedy and romance all in one making it real. I loved how Linnea keeps denying the attraction even though you can tell right away they love one another. Now Luke is definitely an actor with goals in his mind yet once a beautiful woman like Linnea enters and he sets everything aside. Definitely a great read and can’t wait for more from this talented author.

3 Tea Cups!

Review: Dividing Dark by Melissa Swaim

Dividing Dark by Melissa Swaim

Publisher: Eternal Press
Genre: Young Adult Romance

Heat Rating: 1

Blurb

How is a 16-year-old girl with an eating disorder to reconcile the ancient wounds between the Annunaki, the Reptilian Watchers, and the human race? After Flannery “Fee” Birch loses her father in Afghanistan, she ends up in the alien land of Alabama, where she learns the art of spelunking (caving) in order to make friends. To make matters worse, Fee is afraid of caves, heights, and just about everything else…until she meets Faron Rothschild, an outcast from either world, though an emissary for both.

Faron’s mixed blood kind took up the role of protecting humans, whom the Anunnaki abandoned and later warred with, while also keeping the Anunnaki secret from the world who forgot them. Not an easy task for a shape shifter who can switch between both sets of his DNA, human and Reptilian. This is a secret that must be maintained at all cost, and Fee, who once tried to disappear from life, pound by pound, must not only rectify her own life, but demand truce between light and darkness.



Monica’s Review

I love Young Adult books and I was really excited to find this Fantasy Young Adult book by Melissa Swaim, who is an author I’d not read before. Let me start out by saying that Ms. Swaim takes a lot of chances in this book, she seems to dream big, and she gives her young heroine—Fee—a lot to do. I really enjoyed the sheer uniqueness of her story.

The concept is that Farron, a shapeshifter who can be both reptile and human, is responsible for handling negotiations between humans and a reptilian race that most humans know nothing about. Fee gets mixed up in this—and with Farron—and finds herself fighting along side him to save the world.

Fee is, I think, a very relatable character to young women. She suffers from an eating disorder and has endured terrible tragedy in her own life, which makes her sensitive and somewhat lost in the beginning of the book. I think a lot of teenagers will relate to her.

If I have any complaints with the book, it is that the author spends a lot of time telling us what Fee is feeling instead of showing us. Ms. Swaim clearly has a tremendous imagination and I think the more she writes the better the craft will get. I recommend Dividing Dark to anyone who likes Young Adult books that delve into fantasy and the paranormal.

3 Tea Cups!

Review: Malevolent Dead by Heather Kuehl

Malevolent Dead by Heather Kuehl

Publisher: Eternal Press
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Heat Rating: 3

Blurb

To save everyone, she’ll have to do the unthinkable. Werewolf Sarah Vargas thought all she had to worry about was the Blood Moon Corporation's retaliation. She never dreamed that another vampire would arrive, disputing Damian's claim over the throne to Charleston, SC. To make matters worse, he is no ordinary vamp; he's a vampire necromancer. Exceptionally hard to kill, Sarah will have do whatever she can to keep those that she loves safe...


Angelique’s Review

I have been awaiting my next fix of Sarah Vargas ever since I finished “Fade to Black” in June. Ms. Kuehl delivers in the latest addition to the series, “Malevolent Dead.” In a world where the night (and day) is filled with all sorts of paranormal creatures, this heroine kicks some serious butt.

Sarah’s life is pretty complicated. The man she loves has to go back to the life she almost ended and her former employer is most likely trying to kill her. While she was driven mostly by anger in the first book in the series, Sarah is not feeling as sure of herself as she once was and thinks that she doesn’t fit into her new life. Add an incredibly hot vampire, Damian, who saved her boyfriend’s life and now needs her help – she ends up in quite the predicament!

I would love to say more, but I can’t without giving away some major plot points. “Malevolent Dead” is an awesome adventure with kick-butt action, hot sexual encounters, and interesting characters. Eagerly awaiting the next Sarah Vargas book!

4 1/2 Tea Cups!

      

Review: Her Perfect Master by Skye Savoy

Finding Her Perfect Master by Skye Savoy

Publisher: Eternal Press
Genre: Fantasy Romance

Heat Rating: 3

Blurb

Normally, genies grant wishes but Cala Lowery, a 310-year-old half-blood jinn needs a few granted herself. If she doesn’t find a new master before the Queen of the Jinn finds her, she'll be auctioned off on eBay... again.

Cursed by the Queen for supposedly flirting with the King, Cala’s auctioned off to the highest bidder on eBay. Her luck fails again when her master trades her in. She’s thrust into the world of humans with dwindling magical abilities which often misfire. Cala begins a desperate search for a new master to regain her powers and avoid being listed on eBay for a second humiliating time.

Her new job as an Entertainment editor and mystery e-dater for a newspaper’s online dating site brings in plenty of candidates, gives her a taste of independence and reunites her with the victim of her one-time one-night-stand, Lee.

Lee forgives Cala for an incident with a leaky pepper spray can during their first meeting. Their relationship skyrockets until Cala finds herself struggling to keep her career and potential new master when someone tries to sabotage her column and expose her identity to Lee, who happens to have a secret identity himself.



Ronica’s Review

I really liked the premise of this book with genies as masters of their own lives rather than the Genie in a bottle story line that we have come to expect. While Cala’s situation is special as a disgraced half Genie, she still wants independence and love rather than a master.

This book has a lot of classic romance elements that I have come to expect: secrets, conflict, steamy sex, a bad guy (female in this case) scheming against the heroine, miscommunications, and trust issues. Cala and Lee’s misunderstandings and communication problems get a head start with embarrassment followed by heat and then pepper spray. Throw in a fear of another eBay experience along with some serious internet dating, and we have a winner! You’ll have to read it to believe it.

4 Tea Cups!

   

Review: The Rajah's Chosen Bride by Amy Talbot

The Rajah’s Chosen Bride by Amy Talbot

Publisher: Eternal Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Heat Rating: 1

Blurb

The day she buries her grandfather, Australian grade-school teacher Vania di Bergolo finds he has arranged her marriage to Indian business mogul, Devendra Jain. She’s appalled at the proposition. How could her grandfather barter her to the highest bidder? Despite her aversion to marrying a complete stranger, Vania agrees to the betrothal, but demands the marriage be in name only.

Deven is incensed when he finds out about the arrangement. Vania is a thoroughly modern western woman, and they share nothing in common. He has stayed determinedly single from choice, planning to take a wife from his own people when he is ready. Now, thanks to the secret scheming of two old men, and the sweet, innocent smile of a foreigner, his stubbornly held bachelor existence is set to change dramatically.



Ashira Datya’s Review

I really enjoyed The Rajah's Chosen Bride. It was a story of family loyalty which is something that I think is admirable. The story begins on a day of tragedy for our heroine, Vania, as she and her family say goodbye to someone they love very much. That same day, she meets with Deven, the grandson of a family friend and learns that she has been betrothed to Deven, several years before.

Deven's ailing grandfather tells him of a family secret, one that is the cause of hurt and pain. To preserve the family honor, and the wishes of a dying man, Deven agrees to marry Vania, now she needs to agree to it as well.

Together, Vania and Deven learn to love and to trust, but their battle of the heart is not without strife, and not without people that want to tear the new couple apart.

I give The Rajah's Chosen Bride three and a half Tea Cups with a heat score of one. I really enjoyed the story and loved watching Deven realize that not everything was about money and riches, some things were about the heart. I really hope that there is a sequel to this story, because I would love to read more about these two very likeable characters.

3 ½ Tea Cups!

   

Review: Wings of Desire by Arianna Skye

Wings of Desire by Arianna Skye

Publisher: Eternal Press
Genre: Fantasy Romance

Heat Rating: 3

Blurb

A fairytale, but not the kind your mother used to read you!

Rhiannon Kinsley's life goes from boring to downright crazy when a freak lightning bolt strikes her laptop. To make matters even more bizarre, strange words and symbols flash across the computer screen and she hears a mysterious voice. Time to call the men in white coats! Then Cerne Silverwing, an intriguingly sexy man, appears. He insists she's a faerie princess whose fate will determine his own. What a crock! Now she knows who really needs those white coats.

With the Dark Faerie forces threatening their kingdom, Cerne kidnaps Rhiannon and brings her to Fey, a land where magic knows no bounds. He's performing a duty to save his kingdom and nothing more than a duty that will bring him his wings and the strengthened magic that comes with them. If he doesn't unite with the princess as her consort, those wings will never grow. But this princess grew up in the land of laptops and instant messages, and she's convinced they're both crazy. Despite their differences, the two are thrust together to defeat the whip-wielding Dark Faerie Queen before she takes over their kingdom. Passion and peril aside, will Rhiannon and Cerne discover their true destiny?



Yadkny’s Review

Rhiannon Kinsley is just your average workaholic, computer nerd with a presentation due soon when her life is forever changed after an online chat with who she thinks is a sex-crazed cyber stalker. Cerne Silverwing has been chatting with Rhiannon for quite sometime while trying to determine if she is indeed the long lost faerie princess the White Faeries have been searching for. When Rhiannon starts recognizing the strange symbols and language he shows her, he knows for sure she’s the one. Now how to convince her?

I will admit to expecting this to be the same as some of the stories of the fae that I have read, but I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it was not. There is a very modern start to this tale which dramatically changes once we enter the realm of Fey. The historical elements were well placed in this fantasy romance.

The characters were colorful and blended nicely with each other. The classic role of the female lead being the one to pull away and not put her feelings out there was reversed with the male lead. Cerne brought Rhiannon back to the land of Fey and was prepared to die for her, but refused to admit he loved her. It seemed most times like Rhiannon was pursuing Cerne. The emotional back and forth those two characters played reeked havoc on my frustration level, but I imagine it was quite the same for them.

I would have liked to see a more thorough ending since I felt that there were still a few unanswered questions that didn’t give me the full happily-ever-after affect. Possible sequel? I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to one. This is the first novel for this author and already she shows much promise. I would be happy to read any of the rest of her future work.

4 1/2 Tea Cups!

      

Review: Cassie's Awakening by Brigit Aine

Cassie’s Awakening by Brigit Aine

Publisher: Eternal Press
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Heat Rating: 2

Blurb

He obviously doesn’t want her…so how can she be his mate?

Cassie’s talent is dampening the emotions of others. This has been a very useful way of keeping peace around her, but has proven harmful in learning about passion and love. After all, none of the men she has ever dated have been able to profess or show the true depth of their feelings.



Ashira Datya’s Review

I really enjoyed Cassie's Awakening, it was a short, but sweet little story. Cassie, who works at her friend Red's bakery, has a hard time finding guys to date her. Her life becomes more complicated when Red's husband, Ethan, and his friend and co-worker, Jared, walk into the bakery.

Jared sparks new emotions and feelings in Cassie. He can't fight the attraction he feels for her, but when he does something he shouldn't, he risks losing her forever.

Cassie's Awakening was well written, descriptive, and very enjoyable. My only complaint is that it was a novella and I wanted to read more. I give Cassie's Awakening three and a half Tea Cups and a heat rating of two. I hope there is a sequel to Cassie's Awakening, and if there is, I can't wait to read it.

3 1/2 Tea Cups!

   

Review: Angel of Windword by Maggie Dove

Angel of Windword by Maggie Dove

Publisher: Eternal Press
Genre: Historical Romance

Heat Rating: 2

Blurb

Evil forces are at play surrounding Angelique Beauvisage, but she has no clue. Sensuous and suspense-filled, ANGEL OF WINDWORD, begins with a murder that takes place four years before and turns into a perilous cat and mouse game played by two reluctant lovers, who spin a web of deception that only their love can unravel. Having traded the blissful existence of her beloved Loire Valley, Angelique Beauvisage finds that Windword Hall has more than one villainous skeleton in the closet.



Ashira Datya’s Review

Angelique, a beautiful young French girl, learns from her brothers and step mother that she is to be married to Nicholas Kent, the wealthy son of an English business man. Heartbroken that she must leave the man she loves, Angelique and Nicholas marry and return to England. Once in England, Angelique and Nicholas find themselves caught in a web of deceit and mystery.

I really enjoyed Angel of Windword, it was a thoroughly charming and well written novel. Angelique was an easy character to understand, and the way that Nicholas was described was drool worthy. It made me wish, for a brief moment, that I was Angelique.

I have given Angel of Windword three and a half Tea Cups; I would love to read this story again, and I am eagerly awaiting the sequel. I give Angel of Windword a heat rating of two; the love scenes are stirring, but not overly graphic. I can't wait to read the sequel.

3 1/2 Tea Cups!