Review: The Sweetest Seduction by Crista McHugh + Giveaway

Posted on January 15, 2014January 11, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews> Giveaways

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: Paperback, ebook
Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: Kelly Brothers #1
Length: 200 pages
Publisher: self-published
Date Released: January 6, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Lia Mantovani has created one of the hottest restaurants on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, but all that could disappear if she loses her lease with Kelly Properties. Having had her dreams ripped away from her before, she’ll do everything in her power to keep her restaurant. Her fate hangs on the whims of the frustratingly handsome Adam Kelly.

Adam has spent years trying to convince world famous chef Amadeus Schlittler to open a restaurant in Chicago, but he wants the prime location held by Lia. Business has always come first… until sparks fly when Adam meets her. When things get hot outside the kitchen, though, they’re both in danger of getting burned.

My Review:

The Sweetest Seduction is a much spicier romance than its title suggests. However, this delicious concoction mixing a culinary romance with the start of a family romance series is definitely a tasty treat.

The story starts with two matchmaking mamas who want their hard-working children to discover the kind of happiness that they each found with the late husbands. The two women from different points in the economic spectrum have bonded over widowhood and bridge strategy, but they both want the best for their grown up children.

Emilia Mantovani has a soon-to-be celebrity chef for a daughter. Lia owns La Arrieta, the latest “great restaurant” in Chicago, a city of fantastic restaurants. Lia has poured her life and her life savings into making the restaurant a success, and it’s working. But she has no life.

Maureen Kelly has seven sons, all handsome and successful, with names from Adam to Gideon. (If this sounds a bit like the classic Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, it’s intentional). Adam is a workaholic, spending his days as the property manager for the family business, a job he inherited when his father died.

The mamas pretend that Mrs. Kelly won a home cooked dinner by Chef Lia, and gets Lia out to Lake Geneva to cook it at the family weekend home. Mrs. Kelly then dragoons as many of her sons as possible home in hopes that Lia will strike sparks with one of them.

Adam, Lia, and the Kelly’s Great Pyrenees dog, Jasper, are practically incandescent. And that’s where things start to go both terribly right, and horribly wrong, at the same time.

All of Adam’s attempts to get Lia alone are interrupted by someone or something, from the dog to the sheriff. He couldn’t have worse luck if he tried. Or so he thinks.

In the morning he discovers that not only is he her landlord, but that he is planning to evict her at the end of her sublease to make way for an egotistical has-been celebrity chef. He is so busy pursuing the bottom line that he hasn’t done any basic research to find the treasure right in front of him.

And he keeps on screwing things up until it is almost too late. It takes one more push from those meddling mothers to save the day.

Escape Rating B: I was introduced to Crista McHugh through her fantasy romance series, and I was curious to see what her contemporary romance would be like. The Sweetest Seduction certainly has the same kind of high-tension heated romance, but the reasons for the stress in Adam and Lia’s relationship naturally come from a different source!

But there’s still lots of heat, and not all of it is in the kitchen (but some of it is, and not all of that is from the stovetop!)

The setup for the series is charming and also familiar. Readers who enjoy Bella Andre’s Sullivans series are going to eat the Kelly Brothers up with a spoon. The Sweetest Seduction is a terrific start; the brothers we meet are terrific guys, but several seem to either be unattached or in relationships that are floundering or are with women that Mama Kelly knows isn’t right for her son. And having met Mama Kelly and seen her work her magic with Adam, readers will be willing to bet that she’s right about brothers Brian through Gideon.

Although the series focuses on the Kelly Brothers, this story is about Lia’s dreams. Lia and Adam mix business with pleasure, and the result is nearly disastrous. He has too much power over her future, and she’s been in that position before. The meltdown that resulted is what led her to becoming a chef in the first place. But when she mistakes Adam’s offers to help with an attempt to take over, she goes into full “fight or flight” mode and triggers the final crisis.

Still, it’s easy to understand where she’s coming from. While the logical side of me thinks they should have straightened out the sublease before they hopped in the sack; if they had, there wouldn’t be such a delicious story about the mess they nearly made of things.

I hope canine Jasper comes back in the future stories. He is an absolutely adorable, and awesomely HUGE, comic relief!

TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY

Crista is giving away a Seven Brides for Seven Brothers gift basket with a $25 gift card from the bookstore of winner’s choice (B&N, Amazon, BAM, Book Depository, Chapters/Indigo, etc). Gift card open to international winners, but if winner is from outside the US, some of the items in the basket will not be sent (like the DVD). To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Guest Post by Author Cindy Spencer Pape on Escapist Fiction + Giveaway

Posted on January 14, 2014January 8, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | blog tours> Giveaways

My special guest today is Cindy Spencer Pape, the author of one of the most fun steampunk series ever, the Gaslight Chronicles. This is the one that got me hooked on steampunk. It has all the cool steampunk gadgets and toys, there is always a marvelous romance, and for that added bit of the fantastic, she included the Knights of the Round Table. I always snap up each new book as soon as it appears, and as today’s review of Ashes & Alchemy demonstrates, Cindy always delivers a marvelous story.

Speaking of stories, here’s Cindy’s take on escapist fiction, and why she loves it.

Why I Adore Escapist Fiction
by Cindy Spencer Pape

Confession time: I absolutely adore escapist fiction. I’m not even too particular about the variety. I like mystery, fantasy, SF, and of course, romance. I read quickly, and I read a lot. I’ve been known to buy or check out the same book twice, because I’ve forgotten the title or cover. Reading is, and has always been, my escape. When I’m reading for fun, I don’t want anything too serious. If I want to be depressed, I’ll read the newspaper or an environmental report. When I read for fun, I want to get away from reality.

I find it funny (and not, at the same time) that romance is blasted as the ultimate example of unrealistic fiction. Come on, in fantasy and SF, they’re openly speculative and mysteries? Do we really believe those same amateur detectives solve so many crimes without ending up dead? It’s all fantasy, really. So pick your flavor and don’t bash the others, that’s my take.

In my Gaslight Chronicles, I’ve kind of taken all the flavors of genre fiction and tossed them into a salad. Each book contains fantasy, science fiction, suspense, horror, adventure, and romantic elements. That’s truly my favorite thing about the steampunk subgenre, is that you get to do that. I may even sneak in a little social commentary, but it’s there in the fiction, not as a smack in the face. (Yes, there’s a gay character in the series and yes, there’s a non-white woman adopted into a noble British family.) But the books aren’t about that. They’re about a bunch of interesting characters doing something in an interesting world. They’re meant to make the reader laugh, maybe cry a little, and mostly to forget about their job or their other problems, and just have a little bit of fun.

The books are all available digitally, which brings up another fun fact. Romance readers buy them for their Nook or Kindle without hesitation. A few SF or other fans will buy the Audible.com version to listen to at the gym or in their car. But for the most part? Fantasy and SF fans—maybe especially steampunk fans—often reject digital books. It’s kind of ironic, really. You’d think science fiction readers would be early adopters of technology. But that’s not my experience. At romance conventions, I’m just another author, albeit with only medium-sized presses. But at SF or steampunk cons, I get this look. And then someone asks, “Do you have any real books?”

I smile. Sadly. “Yes. I have a number of print books. They’re mostly erotic romance, which I wrote for years with another publisher.”

“Oh. Romance.” They nod their heads and walk away.

Yep. Digital steampunk is a tough row to hoe. My steampunk books are all Amazon top 100 sellers in their genre. My romances aren’t. My steampunk books have sold literally thousands more copies than my romances. Library journal has named them as “the ultimate in steampunk romance.” I consider them very real books. I’ve spent years working on them, and the research for writing alternate history is not negligible. My publisher edits them thoroughly, and pays me royalties, just like they do for “real” books. I even have some great covers.

If you’re a person who reads e-books, then thank you! If you’re not, that’s okay too. To each their own—I really believe that. But we live in a changing world. We may not have jet packs yet, but I think we’ve at least reached the point where e-books and audiobooks count as real.

Thanks to Reading Reality for having me here today—this is an awesome site! Thanks to each of you for stopping by, and don’t forget to enter the contest.
~Cindy

About Cindy:

Cindy Spencer Pape firmly believes in happily-ever-after and brings that to her writing. Award-winning author of 18 novels and more than 30 shorter works, Cindy lives in southeast Michigan with her husband, two sons and a houseful of pets. When not hard at work writing she can be found dressing up for steampunk parties and Renaissance fairs, or with her nose buried in a book.

Website: http://www.cindyspencerpape.com
Newsletter group: http://yhoo.it/ni7PHo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CindySPape
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/gjbLLC

TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY

Winner’s choice of a custom-beaded necklace featuring choice of available hand-painted cameos, or a pocket watch and chain, with choice of available watch fob, from http://www.etsy.com/shop/SpectraNova

Estimated value, $50.00 – open to US Shipping

Alternative for International winner- $50 Gift Card

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Review: Ashes & Alchemy by Cindy Spencer Pape

Posted on January 14, 2014January 8, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: steampunk romance
Series: Gaslight Chronicles #6
Length: 82 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: January 6, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

Police inspector Sebastian Brown served Queen and country in India before returning to England to investigate supernatural crimes alongside the Order of the Round Table. If his wifeless, childless life feels a little empty sometimes, that’s not too great a price to pay in the name of duty.

Minerva Shaw is desperately seeking a doctor when she mistakenly lands on Sebastian’s doorstep. Her daughter Ivy has fallen gravely ill with a mysterious illness–the same illness, it seems, that’s responsible for taking the lives of many of Ivy’s classmates.

Seb sniffs a case, and taking in Minnie and Ivy seems the only way to protect them while he solves it. But as mother and daughter work their way into his heart and Seb uses every magickal and technological resource he can muster to uncover the source of the deadly plague, it’s he who will need protecting–from emotions he’d thought buried long ago.

My Review:

Cindy Spencer Pape’s Gaslight Chronicles are a delicious alchemical mixture of steampunk and sorcery, and I’m not just saying that because it echoes the title of the first book in the series (Steam & Sorcery).

If you love steampunk, read this series from the very beginning. The worldbuilding just gets better and more detailed as the series goes on, and the stories are always just plain fun! What makes the series shine is the author’s invention of an alternate Victorian age where Charles Babbage’s analytical engine was actually invented, as opposed to merely theoretical, in the 1830s, and Ada Lovelace was the first coder. Computers in the 1830s and 1840s changed history, bringing the analytical sciences to bear on the age of steam.

And, since Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer, women attend university in this alternate era.

But alongside these scientific developments, vampires and werewolves walk, or stalk among the populace. Werewolves are mostly the good guys, but vampires are rotting corpses that feed on anyone they catch. To fight them, and other supernatural creatures, the Order of the Knights of the Round Table has continued into the “modern” era. They fight the supernatural with magic.

Magic and science coexist to make fantastic stories.

In Ashes & Alchemy we see something that hasn’t previously been dealt with much in the Gaslight Chronicles world–what about the people who are part of the families but don’t have the gift?

Sebastian Brown knows all about the Order because his father is a Knight. He has a smidgen of the talent, but not enough to qualify for the Order himself. He still serves Queen and Country–Seb is a Police Inspector, and his talent is a handy one–he can sense when someone is telling the truth.

Minerva Shaw spends nearly her last strength dropping against his door late one night, mistaking his house for the doctor next door. It’s fortuitous for them both. Her daughter is burning up with fever in the tenement they share, and his neighbor is a doctor known for his willingness to make house calls in chancy neighborhoods.

But the doctor is overwhelmed by patients from an accident, and Seb volunteers to bring the child to his own house. This is where the case deepens from a simple act of charity into another fiendishly clever plot like the one in Moonlight & Mechanicals, although this time the motives are closer to hearth and home.

When Seb takes in Minerva and her daughter Ivy, he finds that the presence of this little family in his formerly empty house awakens feelings that he thought he buried in India along with his own wife and child.

But he knows that Minerva has secrets chasing after her that she is afraid to reveal. And the doctor discovers that Ivy’s illness has a far from natural origin; an origin so unnatural that it requires investigation by the Order.

Escape Rating B+: Steampunk, magic and the Knights of the Round Table are still an irresistible combination. But it is terrific to see this story explore what happens with someone who is not a Knight. Just because your family has magic powers does not mean that your parents are any better at the job. Seb’s father is a piece of work. Still.

Seb using the case as an excuse to keep Minerva and Ivy around is such a classic excuse for him to disturb his empty household for a reason. It works excellently! He can keep pretending that he’s only taking care of them during the investigation, and Minerva can pretend that she doesn’t actually want to stay.

Minerva’s past, particularly her relationship with her daughter Ivy, is extremely touching. She puts Ivy first, always, even at her own expense. She’s aware that she’s doing it but has decided that it is worth the cost to herself.

It was great to see the rest of the gang. Wink and Liam in particular, the couple from Moonlight & Mechanicals, are very necessary side characters in this one.

Ashes & Alchemy is a marvelous love story that continues a theme throughout this series, about the importance of the family-you-make. And it has a terrifically convoluted scientific steampunk plot and a sparking hot romance, too!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Steal Me Cowboy by Kim Boykin + Giveaway

Posted on January 13, 2014January 11, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> Book Giveaway> book reviews> Giveaways

Format read: ebook provided by the publisher
Formats available: ebook
Genre: western romance, contemporary romance
Series: Copper Mountain Rodeo
Length: 102 pages
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Date Released: December 29, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon

Unbeknownst to her boyfriend, Sassy South Carolina hairstylist, Rainey Brown, is headed to Missoula, dead set on giving her minor league baseball player boyfriend of four years an ultimatum. Either put a ring on it or let her go, preferably not the latter.

When Rainey’s piece of crap car dies in the middle of Nowhere, Montana, she’s sure she’s a gonner, until gorgeous restaurateur Beck Hartnett stops to help. Beck falls hard for Rainey, and knows she would admit she’s fallen for him too, if she wasn’t too stubborn to admit it. Beck has five days before the car is repaired to steal Rainey away from a boyfriend who doesn’t deserve her. Five days before she’s gone for good.

My Review:

You can’t buy experience, but you can buy “the experience” at the Nell’s Cut ‘n Curl after Rainey Brown gets stranded in Marietta Montana.

It just takes Rainey a while to figure out that the experience she’s earning is worth even more than the experience she’s helping Nell to sell to the tourists. No matter how much money they’re putting in the karma jar.

Rainey Brown has been true to her minor league baseball playing boyfriend, Adam, for four long and lonely years while Adam has been chasing his dream of the major leagues. She hoped that one day Adam would either make it to the bigs or retire to coaching, and they would be together for good.

Instead, he took up coaching 2,000 miles from their home base in Columbia, South Carolina, and didn’t ask her to come to Missoula, Montana to be with him. He said he wanted her to “visit”. She had finally had enough. But not quite.

She packed up her suitcases and her professional cosmetic and hair dressing boxes into her beat up Honda Civic and set out for Montana. It helped that the salon she worked for had closed and left her unemployed. But still, it was the principle of the thing. It was time for them to be together.

Then her car gave a death rattle outside Marietta. Fate had other plans. Because Rainey was rescued by a cowboy. Sort of a cowboy. Certainly a man who thought that whoever put Rainey into the position of driving across country in that beat-up rat trap should be shot. Or at least horse-whipped.

Beck Hartnett set out to steal Rainey from whoever the jerk was that brought her out to Montana. He started out by alternately being a jerk himself, being marvelously sweet and helpful and pushing too fast past her boundaries.

All he really needed to do was let Nell, and Marietta, work their magic.

And let Rainey figure out what she really wanted all along.

Escape Rating B: Steal Me, Cowboy was surprisingly sweet, with just enough tart to make the perfect romantic treat. It’s also not quite as western-themed as the earlier entries in the Copper Mountain Rodeo series, this one is much more small-town romance than western.

Rainey starts out the story already conflicted about Adam. She’s kept the faith throughout their four-year relationship, and she trusts him, but she’s starting to realize that she gives a lot more than she gets. She’s always available whenever he wants, but he’s not there for her in any way. She’s ready to move on, but he won’t stick around long enough for her to even have a conversation about where they are headed, if anywhere.

Beck’s in an interesting position. He falls for Rainey the minute he sees her, and can’t figure out what to do about it. He keeps trying to do the right thing, but can’t quite figure out what the right thing exactly is. He owns the best restaurant in Marietta, he has more than enough money to fix Rainey’s car and send her on her way, but she’s too proud to take his money (and so she should be) and he wants her to stay in Marietta. Also, the more he observes her phone calls with Adam, the more certain he is that her relationship with Adam is a bad idea.

He’s right, but the breakup has to be clean, and that’s not exactly what he has in mind. What Beck has in mind is very, very dirty. An awful lot of fun, but very dirty. To be fair, Beck starts thinking about forever with Rainey pretty darn fast, and that seems to be more than Adam has ever thought about.

Still, Rainey has to get there on her own.

The character who steals the story is Nell, the owner of the Marietta Cut ‘n Curl. Nell has been “fixing” hair forever, and is still wearing a uniform and charging 1960s prices to “her people”. But she’s a friend and a second mother and a mentor to Rainey just when she needs one, and is just a totally awesome lady. Rainey asks Nell for a place to work, but what she gets is a refuge. And together, those ladies are something very special.

GIVEAWAY

Kim and her publisher, Tule Publishing, are giving away one ebook copy of Steal Me, Cowboy to one lucky winner. To enter the giveaway, just fill out the rafflecopter below. This giveaway is open to all!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-12-14

Posted on January 12, 2014January 12, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

I was hoping to come up with something really profound to say today, but it’s been a wet, gloomy weekend here in Seattle. While this is terrific reading weather, the constant drip does not inspire!

However, this was one of my best weeks ever for review books. So many grade A reviews! Even the B+ book was a load of fun. And although I was sad to see the end of this “chapter” of Modesitt’s Imager Portfolio, he has said on his blog that there will definitely be another series in that world. That news made this reader very happy. Except…I have to wait for it. Darn.

Winner Announcements:

Big Sky Secrets by Linda Lael Miller; the winner is L Lam.

Blog Recap:

A Review: Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson
B+ Review: Beg Me to Slay by Lisa Kessler + Giveaway
A Review: Rex Regis by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
A+ Review: River Road by Jayne Ann Krentz
A+ Review: Sharp by Alex Hughes
Stacking the Shelves (73)

Coming Next Week:

Steal Me, Cowboy by Kim Boykin (blog tour review)
Ashes & Alchemy by Cindy Spencer Pape (blog tour review + giveaway)
The Sweetest Seduction by Crista McHugh (blog tour review + giveaway)
Gossamer Wing by Delphine Dryden (review)
After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn (review)

Stacking the Shelves (73)

Posted on January 11, 2014January 11, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Stacking the Shelves

This is shaping up to be the perfect weekend to stay in and read, although it almost wasn’t. Everything started beeping in the middle of the night; we had a power failure and all the Uninterruptible Power Supplies started fweeping that their power had been interrupted!

It’s a wet, chilly gloomy January day in Seattle. Since we have light after all, it looks like a great day for curling up with a good book.

third rule of ten by gay hendricks and tinker lindsay

For Review:
Dark Spirit (Spirit Wolf #2) by Kate Douglas
Deceiving Lies (Forgiving Lies #2) by Molly McAdams
Forward to Camelot: 50th Anniversary Edition by Susan Sloate with Kevin Finn
Haunt Me by Heather Long
Jewel of the East (Devil DeVere #5) by Victoria Vane
King of Thieves (Demons of Elysium #2) by Jane Kindred
Love At Stake by Victoria Davies
The Place I Belong (Country Roads #2) by Inez Kelley
Tempered (St. Croix Chronicles #4) by Karina Cooper
The Third Rule of Ten (Tenzing Norbu #3) by Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay
The Traitor’s Wife by Alison Pataki

Purchased:
Covet Sampler 2013 by Entangled Covet Authors (free at etailers everywhere)

Borrowed from the Library:
Dirty Laundry (Cole McGinnis #3) by Rhys Ford
Dirty Secret (Cole McGinnis #2) by Rhys Ford
The Grendel Affair (SPI Files #1) by Lisa Shearin

Review: Sharp by Alex Hughes

Posted on January 10, 2014January 11, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | A Reviews> book reviews

Format read: paperback provided by the author
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genre: Urban fantasy; science fiction
Series: Mindspace Investigation #2
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Ace/Roc
Date Released: April 2, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

HISTORY HAS A WAY OF REPEATING ITSELF, EVEN FOR TELEPATHS.…

As a Level Eight telepath, I am the best police interrogator in the department. But I’m not a cop—I never will be—and my only friend on the force, Homicide Detective Isabella Cherabino, is avoiding me because of a telepathic link I created by accident.

And I might not even be an interrogator for much longer. Our boss says unless I pull out a miracle, I’ll be gone before Christmas. I need this job, damn it. It’s the only thing keeping me sane.

Parts for illegal Tech—the same parts used to bring the world to its knees in the Tech Wars sixty years ago—are being hijacked all over the city. Plus Cherbino’s longtime nemesis, a cop killer, has resurfaced with a vengeance. If I can stay alive long enough, I just might be able to prove my worth, once and for all…

My Review:

In this second full-length novel in Alex Hughes’ absolutely awesome Mindspace Investigation series, the mind of the killer is sharp; unfortunately, the mind of the telepath investigating the crime is anything but.

Level 8 telepath Adam Ward injured his mental pathways at the end of Clean (incredible, stunning debut, see review) and is left trying to hide his hopefully temporary disability from the school of sharks he works among, otherwise known as the DeKalb County Police Department.

He’s estranged from his only friend and protector, Isabella Cherubino, because saving her life required revealing that he had been resting against her calming mindspace just a bit too often, and that they had accidentally developed a mental “Link”. Now he really can’t stay out of her head, and she feels, rightly so, that he has betrayed her trust.

In the ever-simmering background of the cop shop, there’s the seething resentment of a consultant making the “real” cops look bad with his showmanship, and as the perfect cherry on the sundae, a new round of budget cuts. People’s jobs are on the line, and every cop in the place thinks the first one to go should be Adam, because he’s not one of “them”.

But Adam needs the work. Not just the paycheck, the work. Coming in to solve puzzles, to get bad guys off the streets–to work with Cherubino–is a big chunk of what’s keeping him clean and off drugs.

That and an awful lot of NA meetings and service projects with his sponsor Swartz.

But this case that lands in Adam and Cherubino’s laps turns out to be all about the sins of the past–and it nearly ends both of their futures.

The first murder victim is also the last victim of Adam’s drug addiction while he was still part of the Telepath Guild. His botched mental surgery killed her telepathic gift. Now she’s dead, and one of the other victims is missing.

The cop killer who murdered Cherubino’s fiance has started another serial spree. These things should not be related, but are they?

And while Adam needs desperately to get back into Cherubino’s good graces in order to save his sanity, one of the pillars of his life is struck down–Swartz has a heart attack and the only way to save him is for Adam to strike a deal with the Guild.

He’s not sure who is betraying whom or if it will all be worth it in the end, especially when it looks like the Guild is involved in the entire murder spree, up to its secretive corporate neck.

Escape Rating A+: The Mindspace Investigations series takes place in a gritty and realistic dystopian/post-apocalyptic setting. Even cooler, the setting is a very recognizable Atlanta and its suburbs. I used to live there and it feels right in a just-off-kilter way.

Even cooler, this dystopia is not that far in the future. People then remember our now, or close. The apocalypse inbetween them and us are the Tech Wars, when wired technology went sentient and then viral. We could get there from here.

The Telepath Guild developed to fight tech with human-based mental skills. It makes a sick and twisted sense. But power still corrupts and absolute power definitely corrupts absolutely.

Adam is so very human. Even his name; Adam, the first man. (It’s slightly geeky cool that his name is Adam Ward. I wonder if he was named after Adam West and Burt Ward; the Batman and Robin of the 1960s?)

In some ways, Adam is Icarus, he flew too close to the sun, his wings melted, and now he’s fallen. But the fallen Adam is a better person than the original. He tries harder.

A lot of reviewers compare this series to Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, because of the urban fantasy plotline. The comparison doesn’t work for me, much as I love Harry. Dresden borrowed the cops but didn’t try to be part of them, and you don’t get much of the cop shop vibe in Dresden. Also Dresden is firmly fantasy, while Mindspace is absolutely science fiction.

A closer parallel might be J.D. Robb’s In Death series, minus the romance. There’s the same police procedural mystery driving the case, albeit with some different procedures. But also there’s the same looming near-future post-apocalypse in the background. Robb’s Urban Wars and Hughes’ Tech Wars have a lot in common.

Adam and Cherubino are extremely flawed, scarred people. They need each other, but navigating their way toward each other, even as partners, is a big part of the fascination in this ongoing series.

As well as the continuing corkscrew convolutions of the mundane politics, the Telepath Guild and whether the humans in this world are going to draw back from the brink of destruction again. And whether Adam will manage to thwart his precognitive visions of his own self-destruction.

This series is awesome stuff. I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for Marked.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: River Road by Jayne Ann Krentz

Posted on January 9, 2014January 1, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | A Reviews> book reviews

Format read: print ARC provided by the publisher
Formats available: Hardcover, ebook, audiobook
Genre: Romantic suspense
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Putnam
Date Released: January 7, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

It’s been thirteen years since Lucy Sheridan was in Summer River. The last time she visited her aunt Sara there, as a teenager, she’d been sent home suddenly after being dragged out of a wild party—by the guy she had a crush on, just to make it more embarrassing. Obviously Mason Fletcher—only a few years older but somehow a lot more of a grown-up—was the overprotective type who thought he had to come to her rescue.

Now, returning after her aunt’s fatal car accident, Lucy is learning there was more to the story than she realized at the time. Mason had saved her from a very nasty crime that night—and soon afterward, Tristan, the cold-blooded rich kid who’d targeted her, disappeared mysteriously, his body never found.

A lot has changed in thirteen years. Lucy now works for a private investigation firm as a forensic genealogist, while Mason has quit the police force to run a successful security firm with his brother—though he still knows his way around a wrench when he fills in at his uncle’s local hardware store. Even Summer River has changed, from a sleepy farm town into a trendy upscale spot in California’s wine country. But Mason is still a protector at heart, a serious (and seriously attractive) man. And when he and Lucy make a shocking discovery inside Sara’s house, and some of Tristan’s old friends start acting suspicious, Mason’s quietly fierce instincts kick into gear. He saved Lucy once, and he’ll save her again. But this time, she insists on playing a role in her own rescue . . .

My Review:

I enjoyed reading River Road so much that it was surprisingly difficult to crystallize my thoughts into a review!

One utterly marvelous thing is that this is a stand-alone story, and sometimes those feel rare. As well as this one weaves past and present, it is complete within the very tight confines of itself; we have the beginning, middle and end wrapped up. No cliffhanger, no next book, no loose ends.

And this was definitely one of those “I couldn’t put it down” sort of suspense stories. Every element in both the past and the present mattered, and both the revelations about the past and the attacks in the present kept on coming. The suspense drove the story to the point where I couldn’t turn pages fast enough.

But there’s still a love story that takes its time to develop in the present. One of the things that makes that love story “sing” is that it is also a second chance at love story. In the case of the past influencing the present, in the “way back”, he was her first crush, but as adults, that three-year age gap is immaterial.

There are two stories in River Road. One is about the past haunting the present. Thirteen years ago Lucy Sheridan’s Aunt Sara murdered Tristan Brinker and bricked his body up inside her fireplace. After Sara’s death, Lucy and Mason Fletcher re-open Sara’s terrible “do-it-yourself” job on that fireplace and discover Tristan’s body; along with evidence indicating that the young man was the “Scorecard Rapist” who police had been unable to capture thirteen years ago.

On the long ago night that opens the story, when Mason Fletcher rescues Lucy from one of Tristan’s famous beach parties at Summer River, Lucy had been Tristan’s next intended victim. Instead, Mason gets Lucy out of the party, Sara gets Lucy out of town, and Sara puts Tristan out of everyone’s misery.

Thirteen years later, Sara and her domestic partner Mary are killed in a car accident on a lonely road, and after the body is discovered in the fireplace, Lucy suddenly isn’t so certain that the “accident” was accidental; especially after an arsonist dies while setting her aunt’s house ablaze and she discovers that she has inherited either money or trouble as the result of not Sara’s, but Mary’s shares in a local investment firm.

And it all relates to the people who were the other victims of Tristan Brinker and that long-ago summer.

Escape Rating A+: I could not put this down, to the point that I was carrying the book around with me so I could get in a few more pages…just a few more paragraphs…

River Road is an absolutely terrific romantic suspense story, with a definite emphasis on the suspense. Krentz did a marvelous job of continually interweaving the past with the present, all the while making the old case both relevant to the present investigation but not taking the reader’s focus on the present-day skullduggery. Of which there was plenty.

The suspense plot was edge-of-the seat tense in this story. Every puzzle piece fit neatly into the ones we had already seen, and yet, I still didn’t know whodunnit until the very end. I had some ideas that some people didn’t exactly have clean hands, but not who the real evildoers were.

And there is one stand up and cheer moment as the story concludes, you’ll be surprised about that, too.

But there’s also a slowly developing love story between Lucy and Mason, and it’s just right. In the prologue, he’s an adult, just barely, and she isn’t quite yet. He’s protective and too much for her, and she knows it. As adults, they are equal. He’s still overprotective, but she doesn’t let him be. They need something from each other. And they need to solve the mystery, because they were both part of what happened in the past, and they are both targets in the present. But their caution makes the romance burn slow and hot.

Excellently well done all the way around. If you enjoy romantic suspense, you’ll love River Road.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Rex Regis by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Posted on January 8, 2014January 1, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | A Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by Edelweiss
Formats available: ebook, hardcover
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Imager Portfolio, #8
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Date Released: January 7, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

The saga of the Imager Quaeryt, Commander in the forces of Lord Bhayar, reaches a new climax as the great struggle to unify the continent of Lydar enters its final phase. Only the land of Khel remains uncommitted to Bhayar’s rule. Their decision could mean a lasting peace, or more conflict across an already war-ravaged realm.

While the conqueror of Bovaria awaits emissaries to arrive with news of Khel’s decision, other weighty matters occupy Bhayar, his sister Velora, and her husband Quaeryt—not the least of which is the fulfillment of Quaeryt’s dream to create the world’s first Imager academy, where the magical abilities of these powerful casters may be honed, managed, and put to the service of the common good.

But before that dream may be realized, or Khel’s fateful choice made known, the spectre of high treason threatens to unravel all that Quaeryt has achieved, catapulting him toward a fateful confrontation with Bhayar’s most powerful military leaders.

My Review:

This volume in the second part of the Imager Portfolio, which started with Scholar, has been about the consolidation of Bhayar’s rule over Tilbor and conquest of the rest of the continent in order to create the continental empire that becomes the Solidar we know in the first volume Imager. It’s been a long ride, or read.

Rex Regis is Bhayar’s title, or it will be if Quaeryt gets the job done, because Quaeryt has been the mover and shaker (sometimes literally) behind many events. Quaeryt’s goal is to create a College where imagers like himself can be trained and protected. In returned, those imagers will back the crown against the High Holders (Lords) and Factors (Merchant Princes).

In case it’s not obvious, imagers are mages. If they manage to live long enough, in a world that reviles them, they can become very powerful mages.

Quaeryt Ryterson is the most powerful imager his country has ever seen. More importantly, he seems to be the most intelligent. His story, told in the books Scholar, Princeps, Imager’s Battalion, Antiagon Fire and now Rex Regis, have made the journey of someone who goes through life intending to be the power behind the throne, fascinating beyond description. Quaeryt has always known that his safety, his prosperity, the best legacy he can leave behind him, lie in making imagers as a group useful to the best ruler he can find, or make, and that the ruler in question can never ever be himself with his imaging “sorcery”. His resistance to temptation is steadfast.

Bhayar thinks early in Quaeryt’s career that he can make him more compliant by arranging for a marriage between Quaeryt and Bhayar’s youngest sister, Vaelora. Instead, it becomes a love match that gives both of those strong-willed people a partner they can rely on no matter what fate brings them.

Rex Regis seems to be the story of the final consolidation of the empire. All of the conquered territories have been brought into line, except, now that the war is over, the jockeying for position among the conquerors has begun. Some of the senior military commanders feel that Bhayar is too young to truly be the firm leader that the new world demands. And he listens to Quaeryt much too much, when he should be listening to them!

But are there really traitors within their midst, or is Quaeryt seeing shadows in men’s hearts at the end of a long and dangerous campaign? Or have fugitive imagers from the defeated rulers suborned loyal men?

Some campaigns never end. Some victories are hard won. And some warriors who deserve to see the peace they have fought for are not fortunate enough to live to see it arrive.

Escape Rating A: Quaeryt’s journey has been a never-ending pleasure to read. I say this having been up until 2 am the first night reading Rex Regis because I didn’t want to stop. But each book has been just that way. Even though Quaeryt has usually been in the position of either bureaucrat or soldier on campaign, he’s always been a self-aware observer of his situation, and his observations are interesting. His mind is never idle, and he’s always trying to make things better.

Modesitt has managed to make both bureaucracy and the hurry-up-and-wait of a long military campaign into compelling reading.

There’s also a bit of the “head, heart, synthesis” trio, or classic Freudian Power Trio among Quaeryt, Bhayar and Vaelora. (Think Kirk, Spock and McCoy from the original Star Trek series.) Quaeryt represents cold logical analysis, Vaelora is the emotional heart, and Bhayar as the ruler has to make the final decisions.

Quaeryt has earned the loyalty of the men who serve with him. He could have used that loyalty to become ruler himself. He could even have become a tyrant. Listening to the logic of why he doesn’t, it’s refreshing. It’s not often that the hero is also in effect a beta character; someone who sets out to create a power structure behind the throne.

I’m not 100% positive whether Quaeryt’s entire saga is done, or not. Rex Regis ends at a point where we can see the “empire that will be”, the place that it is at the start of Imager. Quaeryt’s entire story has been a prequel for the first trilogy. But, there are also loose ends that could still be tied up. I would love to visit this world again.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Beg Me to Slay by Lisa Kessler + Giveaway

Posted on January 7, 2014January 11, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook
Genre: paranormal romance
Length: 188 pages
Publisher: Entangled Covet
Date Released: December 30, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

He’ll slay her demons, but it may cost her heart…

Four years ago Tegan Ashton was attacked. Determined never to be a victim again, she devotes her life to martial arts and self-defense. When her assailant returns to finish what he started, only one person can help her.

Gabe is a private investigator by day and demon slayer by night. After losing loved ones, he vows to defend people from a threat they don’t realize exists.

The relationship is supposed to be strictly business, but fighting demons together stirs up emotions they never expected. Turns out demon slaying is a breeze compared to facing their scarred pasts and even worse – hearts.

My Review:

I always wanted Buffy to end up with Ripper, which would have required a time machine and somewhat of an attitude change on Ripper’s part before he settled down and became Giles. That almost makes sense if you look at it sideways.

But this story made some of these dreams come true, and in a really hot way. Only this slayer is the guy, and he hunts demons instead of vampires.

Work with me here, people!

Two people with the same secrets, except they both need some time to figure that out.

Four years ago, Gabe was lured away from his fiance by a demon attack on a woman who managed to escape. While he was saving the mysterious stranger, his fiance was brutally murdered.

Four years ago, Tegan escaped from a demon attack. Of course, no one believes her. She’s spent the past four years becoming a martial arts expert and trainer, opening her own dojo. She decided that she will not be a victim again.

Gabe has spent the past four years continuing his search for the demons that break through to our world from the hells. It’s his duty. He’s this generation’s demon slayer for the Van Helsing family. He’s also kept himself from becoming emotionally attached to anyone else.

Then Tegan sees her demon nightmare bury a woman in the sand on a webcam, and she starts looking for someone who can help her hunt him down. Someone like Gabe, who advertises his services as “Private and paranormal investigations”.

As soon as they meet, he knows that the demon is still hunting her. Her scar is a beacon. He tells himself that his need to bodyguard her is all about catching the demon; and not about sticking close to Tegan.

What Gabe doesn’t bargain on is Tegan’s refusal to let someone else, even a man as utterly delicious as Gabe, take away her right to deal with whatever happens to her. She will defend herself this time. She can take on whoever, or whatever comes.

Even if she has to cut out a demon’s heart with a bloody knife.

Even if Gabe takes her heart with him.

Escape Rating B+: I just found out this is a stand-alone story, and I am seriously bummed. I want more demon slayers. Why does there have to be only one?

Moving right along…Beg Me to Slay just begs for a sequel. Really. There absolutely have to be more demons that need slaying, and more yummy slayers in need of partners who can both kick down the armor around their hearts and kick demon ass.

Because that’s what this story is all about. Both Tegan and Gabe have chosen to wall themselves off from any emotional involvement after some serious emotional trauma. It makes sense.

But they are perfect for each other. Watching them fight their intense attraction at the same time they learn to fight demons together is just plain fun. And hot. And did I mention fun?

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***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

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