Tempted by Lori Foster

Book Grade: B over all, see each mini review for individual grades
Cover Grade: B
Page Count: 459


Cover Chat:
The cover was one of my favorites of all my April reads. What else can I say. It is cutsie, and fun. YET it does not show any people (faces), we all know that's a huge plus for me!


Some women don't discover their inner vamp...they set her free!

Little Miss Innocent?
For Dr. Daniel Sawyers, sex therapist Lace McGee was a puzzle. While she kept putting all sorts of inappropriate ideas into his sister's head, Lace was even better at putting all kinds of naughty thoughts into Daniel's head. But just how down 'n dirty is Lace really?

Grade: B-

While I did like the story and characters in this one there were things that made me a bit mad. Like how judgmental Daniel was.

Daniel is a doctor and has practically raised his baby sister Annie and younger brother Max. His mother passed away when he was 12 and his father never really recovered from the loss of his true love.

So when Annie starts hanging around Lace, a sex therapist, Daniel disapproves immensely. Lacy is everything he does not want to see his baby sister; sexy, alluring, and promiscuous. At least that's what he assumes. Seeing the way Lace dresses, acts and talks he doesn't see how he can be wrong. But he's got a lot to learn about her.

After Lace gets bit by a dog (on her butt!) and ends up in Daniels ER Daniel can't seem to leave her alone. He stitches her up, to both of their discomfort, and takes her home. Lace has never really helped the situation with Daniel, if he wanted to think the worse of her then let him.

But when Daniel and Lace spend a lot of alone time together they realize maybe there is a lot more than dislike between them.

The thing that annoys me is the basic thing we see in all romance. Daniel disapproves of Lace when he thinks she's been with lots of men and is sexually free with herself. BUT he has a cabin that he uses for all his sexual relationships. And surprise surprise he ends up being ALOT more experienced than her. SHOCKER right?! lol. But it was a good read despite.

Annie, Get Your Guy
No one likes being treated like a kid sister - especially by a guy who could curl a girl's hair faster than hot rollers in an electric socket. So when Annie Sawyers sets out to seduce Guy Donovan once and for all, she tracks down every book about sex she can find... One of them has to work, right?

Grade: B

The entire reason Annie and Lace became friends was because Annie sought her out for advice on seducing the love of her life. Guy is her brother Daniels best friend, he's been around since she was a little girl, being ten years her senior. And although there have been a few stolen kisses through the years Guy has kept his distance and never pursued anything with Annie.

Well Annie is done being the sweet little tom boy. She's spicing things up if it's the last thing she does. But the night she initiates her plan Guy leaves in a haste and ends up in a car accident.

Aside from feeling completely guilty about the accident Annie does benefit a little. Daniel tells Annie to take Guy away, to the 'cabin', to mend up. Away from everything.

And that's where it all gets started.

I really liked this one. Annie was so funny and Guy such a dumb guy. When he was drugged up on meds after the accident? OMG it was sooo funny!

Messing Around With Max
Maddie Montgomery has decided that things have gotten critical. She needs a couple of notches on her bedpost - fast! And rumor has it that Max Sawyers is just the man to show her the goods...and then some. Now, if she can just get past his dog...

Grade: B+

Maddie's been friends with Annie for a bit now, and she's heard all the stories about her bad boy brother Max. So when Maddie walks in on her fiance all tied up and being tickled with a big feather by another woman she decides Max is the perfect man to add a notch or two to her own bed post.

Max on the other hand is done his womanizing days. He found a dog on the side of the road left for dead and ever since he's a changed man. He wants a wife, someone to make a family with him and his dog. But his dog hates about every woman that comes near.

Except for Maddie, sure Chloe puts up a fight but Maddie isn't' even fazed and loves her. The only problem? Maddie wants a fling and Max wants it all.

Although the plot is a bit far fetched it was a good one. I think I liked this one the best. It was full of laughter with Maddie and her ex-hooker friends that she counsels and Max and his dog.

All together? Not a disappointment. Nothing to bolt out to the store over but still good, fun and a little hot. So what else can you ask for right? Just don't pick it up if your looking for a deep meaningful romance.

True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

Grade: C+
Cover Grade: B
Buy It: Here

The Cover:
Well when I decided to do this with each new book I reviewed I thought it'd be fun. And it is, with bad covers. lol. I mean what do I say about this one? The lighthouse is nice? haha. This is the type of cover I like in all seriousness though. The picture has meaning to the story, there aren't any people on the cover. All's good.

From the Publisher:
As a science journalist with a regular column in Scientific American, Jeremy Marsh specializes in debunking the supernatural and has a real nose for the strange and unusual. A born skeptic, he travels to the small town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, determined to find the real cause behind the ghostly apparitions that appear in the town cemetery. What he doesn't plan on, however, is meeting and falling hopelessly in love with Lexie Darnell, granddaughter of the town psychic. Now, if the young lovers are to have any kind of future at all, Jeremy must make a difficult choice: return to the life he knows, or do something he could never do before-take a giant leap of faith.

From Me:
In the beginning Jeremy is in the process of proving a man cannot really speak to ghosts and prove him the fraud he is. Jeremy has been a journalist for many years and has always loved his career. He has one failed marriage under his belt, which his job may have had something to do with it's end but also something that goes so much deeper and hurts so much more. Ever since Jeremy's been the typical bachelor, dates here and there...nothing serious.

When he gets a letter to go visit a small town to investigate lights that are being seen in a cemetery and the legend behind it, he is really just looking for some down time between real projects. Usually these types of things are caused by someone making it up, or some type of natural cause. There is of course not any real ghosts out there.

Lexie was born and raised in Boone Creek and loves everything about it. Her grandmother, that she loves deeply, is here, and she runs the town library she loves just as much. She's gone to college and lived for a bit in the big city, NY. And although it's exciting and fresh, it was not home. So when Jeremy comes to town and there is mutual attraction between them Lexie denies it. After all she's already gone down that road, the man never wants to stay in a small town like this and she sure isn't moving.

We follow both Jeremy and Lexie while they figure out how important what they feel for each other is, what is worth sacrificing for it. We feel Jeremy's hurt and guilt over what really ended his first marriage. And Lexie's worry that she's just going down a well traveled road of hurt and pain again.

Oh and yeah we find out about the lights. lol.

This book was cute, if a bit boring. I think if there wasn't as much talk about Jeremy's job as a scientific journalist I'd have liked it a whole lot more. But that's cause that subject doesn't interest me. So if it does you and you want a sweet romance? This is a book for you.

If I remember right (it was well over a month ago I listened to this) the sex scene was very sweet and touching, like a lot of meaning was behind it. I don't know how to explain it. lol. But just because it was a NS (which aren't usually HOT reads) book it still held appeal in that area, even if you don't get to read the entire act.

I'm such a perv.

Cover of Night by Linda Howard

Grade: D-
Cover Grade: B
Buy It: Here
Disc's: 9

The Cover:
Well not much to say on this one. It's decent, what can I say? I'm not jumping out of my skin over it, but I don't have anything bad to say on it either. Pretty boring cover chat huh? Well then, let's just skip this one and move onto the book.

From the Publisher:
In the charming rural town of Trail Stop, Idaho, accessible to the outside world by only a single road, young widow Cate Nightingale lives peacefully with her four-year-old twin boys, running a bed-and-breakfast. Though the overnight guests are few and far between - occasional hunters and lake fishermen - Cate always manages to make ends meet with the help of the local jack-of-all-trades, Calvin Harris, who can handle everything from carpentry to plumbing. But Calvin is not what he seems, and Cate's luck is about to run out.

One morning, the B&B's only guest inexplicably vanishes, leaving behind his personal effects. A few days later Cate is shocked when armed men storm the house, demanding the mystery man's belongings. Fearing for her children's lives, Cate agrees to cooperate - until Calvin saves the day, forcing the intruders to scatter into the surrounding woods.

The nightmare, however, is just beginning. Cate, Calvin, and their entire community find themselves cut off and alone with no means to call for help as the threat gathers intensity and first blood is drawn.

With their fellow residents trapped and the entire town held hostage, Cate and Calvin have no choice but to take the fight to their enemies under the cover of night. While reticent Cal becomes a fearless protector, Cate makes the most daring move of her life…into the very heart of danger.

From Me:
Hmmm okay, where to start? Maybe the fact that there was a grown man, ex-marine, that blushed rosy red and stuttered every time Cate even looked his way? Or no, let's start with the four year old kids that were described as freaking two year olds.

Yeah, we're gonna start there. What the hell? Maybe it's the fact that I have a four year old daughter but I just wasn't buying it. I don't always like reading a lot about kids in my books but sometimes it does work, I get that. But if you do write them in, know how a kid that age acts. Like I said Abby is four, and she was so off the mark, with how they act to what they say to HOW they say things. I swear I kept pausing the book CD and saying "Abby say drill! Abby say..." and so on. Yeah either my daughter is the freaking bomb or LH was way off. Or wait, it could be both cause my daughter is the bomb, takes after her mom, lol.

I just couldn't buy that in the three or four years that Cate lived in Trail Stop she never once noticed in this little itty bitty town that Cal never once blushed or stuttered when talking to anyone but her. Come on, please. And he was just waiting for her to stop mourning? Be a man, step up and make her take notice, maybe then she'd have stopped mourning a little earlier.

And the bad guys? They were supposed to be professional? Yeah right, like I bought that one. I mean honestly I can't even give this book a true review since I skipped over so much of it. The bad guys talk was so boring and what the hell was up with the one guy in bed with that crazy girl then in the end hearing about the eye ball thing? Is that supposed to be the sequel? The crazies find love? Ewwww.

I was way more interested in Joshua and Nina. I was disappointed that there wasn't more about them. They were so much more interesting! I wish we got to read their love scene, I'm sure it was hotter than Cal and Cate. OMG was that a lame scene or what? LH is slacking!

The readers:Joyce Bean~ Reading Cate's part. She did decent except for the kids parts, those I hated. Hated the voices. But over all good.
Dick Hill~ Reading Cal and the bad guys. OMG QUIT RIGHT NOW!!!! He might have been part of the bad grade here. Cal sounded so unattractive and the bad guys? First of all I couldn't understand a lot of it, then the one guy had such a low squeaky voice I had to skip all his parts. It was just bad. Brutally bad!

Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Grade: B

Chicago Stars quarterback Dean Robillard is the luckiest man in the world. But life in the glory lane has started to pale, and Dean has set off on a trip to figure out what's gone wrong. When he hits a lonely stretch of Colorado highway, he spies something that will shake up his gilded life in ways he can't imagine. A young woman . . . dressed in a beaver suit.

Blue Bailey is on a mission. As for the beaver suit she's wearing . . . Is it her fault that life keeps throwing her curve balls? Witness the expensive black sports car pulling up next to her on the highway and the Greek god stepping out of it.

They're soon heading for his summer home, where their already complicated lives and inconvenient attraction to each other will become entangled with a charismatic but aging rock star; a beautiful, fifty-two-year-old woman trying to make peace with her rock and roll past; an eleven-year-old who desperately needs a family; and a bitter old woman who hates them all.

Natural Born Charmer . . . for anyone who's ever thought about leaving their old life in the dust.

I read this a while ago, well maybe a week or more, but just haven't gotten to review it yet. Sorry. But I'm here now. And it sure wasn't because the book was lacking. Cause I really liked the book.

Blue, yes that is really her name, is stomping down the highway on her way to kick some ass when a gorgeous man stops and offers her help. Even if he is laughing at her as he does so. And so starts another amusing, heart pulling, warm, laugh out loud novel from Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

Dean is feeling out of sorts and if picking up a pissed off woman dressed as a beaver will put off him having to do a self evaluation on his feelings then that's fine with him. But as one thing leads to another Dean finds himself dealing with things he's spent his whole life purposely not dealing with. Like who his father is. What his mother did to him. The fact that he has a little sister that he's never met.

But as that very sister seeks him out looking for help his world starts to unravel. And oddly enough the only constant that he has is Blue, the crazy, speak your mind, poke your nose in others business, badly dressed woman he picked up on the highway. The woman that although she won't admit it needs him and his help just as badly. The woman that never stays anywhere long enough to grow roots, and fears any type of a real relationship.

So read on and find a cocky woman and man that just may be very wrong for each other at first glance but can't seem to stay away at the same time. A bitchy old woman that seems horrible at first buy just might be a little lonely. And a father and mother that haven't' seen each other in 30 odd years, may have done a horrible job parenting but really really want another chance. And a little girl that helps pull everything together.

I really did like this book. I know this review may not be giving it justice. You know with me being all rusty since I haven't posted a review in FOREVER! lol. But it was a great read. It had me laughing, and it had my heart aching. The one thing that I will tell you I didn't like was the way the ending was brought on. You know what I mean? The ending was fine, but the events leading up to I didn't like. I didn't' like what Dean did, how he went about what he did. And .... Oh hell just go read the book. lol. It's a great read. You won't be disappointed. Although I am glad I got it from the library, I'll buy the pb when it comes out.

Oh and you don't see much of any of the other characters so I'll let you know now. Don't be disappointed on that front.

Read the Series in Order:
It Had To Be You
Heaven, Texas
Nobodies Baby But Mine
Dream A Little Dream
This Heart Of Mine
Match Me If You Can

Heiress for Hire by Erin McCarthy

Hero: Danny Tucker
Heroine: Amanda Delmar
Category: Contemporary, Paranormal
Page Count: 300 pages
Grade: B+

Chicago socialite Amanda Delmar thought spending the summer in Cuttersville-Ohio's most haunted town-would be a hoot, until dearold-Dad cut her off. Now Amanda has to do the unthinkable and get... A JOB. Her attempts at joining the job market would crack up farmer Danny Tucker, if he weren't so turned on by the skinny, bronzed blonde. Hiring Amanda to babysit his baby girl may not be the smartest thing Danny has ever done. But seeing how she and her couture-clad poodle bring a smile to his shy daughter's face makes it all worthwhile. Now all Danny has to figure out is how to keep Amanda at arm's length, when she has already wriggled her way into his heart.

I don't really know if this is paranormal, but I listed it as such cause there was a tinnie bit of ghost stuff in it. Oh and one more thing before the review, THIS BOOK WAS THE SECOND IN A SERIES AND I DIDN'T KNOW TILL AFTER I WAS FINISHED!!! Kay, 'nuff said, you know how I feel about that.

Sooo.....I really liked this book. Amanda is a very rich, very spoiled, very self absorbed girl that is about to learn a quick lesson of the value of a budget.

Bored out of her mind with her normal life of clubs, shopping and partying in Chicago Amanda decides to follow Boston (who I had no idea who he was, and that's cause his book was BEFORE this book!) to this tiny town called Cuttersville. She rented out a supposedly haunted house for the summer and settled in to be entertained by the small town people. All is going according to plan until she calls her daddy for $200, a girls gotta have a mani, and not everyone takes a credit card in this town, and gets cut off! Tough love is what he's calling it. He says that the $2,000 he gave her last week should hold her over till she can get a job. Little does he know she's already spent it on a must have purse and other necessities.

Danny has always wanted nothing but a family of his own. He's been married and divorced so it's not looking to bright for him. And the attraction he feels towards Amanda is definitely not what he wants, she'll be leaving at the end of the summer and he's looking for long term. What could he possibly offer to a girl that has everything? When his 8 year old daughter that he's never even known about gets dumped on him it just adds one more reason why Amanda is not for him.

Danny is heart broken about having a daughter all this time and never knowing about her, especially since it seems she's been very neglected. As fast as he can he tries to recruit help from his ex wife to shop for his new found daughter and ends up with Amanda. Don't ask how, read the book. lol.

Piper takes to Amanda right away. She's obviously having issues believing Danny won't be abandoning her so if Amanda is the one she wants to stay with when he's working that's who he'll get for his daughter.

It works out for Amanda too. She needs a job badly, and even though she knows she could beg for money to get home and talk to her dad she has some pride and she's making some changes in her life. So if watching Piper, a little girl she's fond of, and getting to watch her hunky dad too is what she has to do for money she's in.

Watching the chemistry grow between Danny and Amanda is great, and seeing Amanda realize there is so much more to herself than the superficial. She definitely grows as a person right in front of us as we read. They are so cute and both bring their share of issues to the table. Danny and Piper and Amanda and Piper is another story all together...OMG I was actually crying at parts. This book isn't very deep, but I wouldn't call it fluff either.

It's a keeper and I definitely suggest all read it. But first go get A Date With The Other Side, the FIRST book!

Oh and it didn't get an A cause Danny was only 26. While I don't mind a heroine that young I like my hero's a little older.

Series Order:
A Date with the Other Side
Heiress for Hire

A Summer to Remember and The Slightly Sereis by Mary Balogh

Hero: Kit Butler
Heroine: Lauren Edgeworth
Category: Historical
Page Count: 361
Grade: C+

Kit Butler, Viscount Ravensberg, is cool and dangerous—one of London’s most infamous bachelors. Marriage is the last thing on his mind. But Kit’s family has other plans. Desperate to thwart his father’s matchmaking, Kit needs a bride...fast. Enter Miss Lauren Edgeworth.
A year after being abandoned at the altar, Lauren has determined that marriage is not for her. When these two fiercely independent souls meet, sparks fly—and a deal is hatched. Lauren will masquerade as Kit’s intended if he agrees to provide a passionate, adventurous, unforgettable summer. When summer ends, she will break off the engagement, rendering herself unmarriageable and leaving them both free. Everything is going perfectly—until Kit does the unthinkable: He begins to fall in love. A Summer to Remember is not enough for him. But how can he convince Lauren to be his...for better, for worse, for the rest of their lives.
Not even the most devoted gambler would take odds on this match as Mary Balogh surprises and delights yet again in an unexpected love story that will hold you in thrall until the last glorious page is turned.

This was my very first Balogh book and it was....okay. There were parts I really liked and parts that just irked me to no end.

First let me say that it bothered me that Kit was short! Well I don't know that he was necessarily short but it kept being repeated that he wasn't as tall as other men. Normally I'd be able to forget that fact and make my own tall hero in my head but it KEPT BEING STATED OVER AND OVER! Sheesh! But as Holly pointed out he could have just been average and the other men were tall and the heroine of the book was also said to be tall. But still. Ya know?

Also I didn't like that Kit was ALWAYS laughing, either out right or with his eyes. Now this isn't a bad thing for a hero but somethings should have some sort of a serious feel to it. Like when they first have sex? Yup, he had laughing eyes.

And Lauren? ALWAYS so cool and aloof. But the difference with her is we saw the reason why she was like that AND we saw her loosen up during her summer with Kit.

I really did enjoy the romance bloom with the two of these characters. They were just so completely different. And I loved how they were just completely honest with each other....for the most part. Of course they were honest about everything EXCEPT their feelings toward the end of the book.

But hey without that would we have gotten the great scene when Kit came for Lauren? What you want to know what happened? Well go read the book. I'm not spilling all here. lol.


Hero: Aiden Bedwyn
Heroine: Eve Morris
Category: Historical
Page Count: 342
Grade: B+

Like all the Bedwyn men, Aidan has a reputation for cool arrogance. But this proud nobleman also possesses a loyal, passionate heart--and it is this fierce loyalty that has brought Colonel Lord Aidan to Ringwood Manor to honor a dying soldier's request. Having promised to comfort and protect the man's sister, Aidan never expected to find a headstrong, fiercely independent woman who wants no part of his protection…nor did he expect the feelings this beguiling creature would ignite in his guarded heart. And when a relative threatens to turn Eve out of her home, Aidan gallantly makes her an offer she can't refuse: marry him…if only to save her home. And now, as all of London breathlessly awaits the transformation of the new Lady Aidan Bedwyn, the strangest thing happens: With one touch, one searing embrace, Aidan and Eve's “business arrangement” is about to be transformed…into something slightly surprising.

I LOVED Aiden! He was that strong silent type. Mmmm mmmm yummy. lol.

A man of honor he followed through on a dying soldiers request. To protect his sister at all costs!

Aiden had never seen a marriage for himself in his future, since he was a Colonel and was always in danger and moving around. But he had just started to think maybe he could have a family of his own, with a woman that was used to following the drum. No he wouldn't have love, but he'd have companionship and his own family.

All that shattered when he happened upon a soldier about to die, and promised him he'd protect his sister. It ends up being that marriage is the only way to save Eve.

Eve had no intention of taking Aidens offer of help and marriage. But when things get worse and she realizes she holds the fate to more that just her own future she doesn't have much choice. Especially considering her two foster children.

They both decide to enter into a marriage in name only. They will marry which will save Eve from a unhappy fate and then they will part ways. Forever....but as the day draws near that Aiden will leave Eve finds her heart breaking just a little. Thinking it will be the last time she ever sees him she watches him ride away.

But when the Duke of Bewcastle, Aiden's older brother, finds out about this marriage he sets things in motion that will change the type of marriage Aiden and Eve both thought they had entered into.

With a dragon of an Aunt trying to change everything about Eve, and Aiden trying hard not to fall in love with this strong loving woman he married. But of course that isn't in the cards for him.

Oh and Aiden with the foster kids? OMG sooooo heart warming.


Hero: Rannulf Bedwyn
Heroine: Judith Law
Category: Historical
Page Count: 342
Grade: B-

With his laughing eyes and wild, rakish good looks, Lord Rannulf Bedwyn is a hard man to resist. To Judith Law, a woman in need of rescue when her stagecoach overturns, Rannulf is simply her savior, a heroic stranger she will reward with one night of reckless passion before she must become a companion to her wealthy aunt. Imagine Judith's shock when the same stranger turns out to be among England's most eligible bachelors…and when he arrives at Harewood Grange to woo her cousin. Certainly, they had made no vows, no promises, but Rannulf never did forget his uninhibited lover…nor did she forget that one delicious night. And as scandal sets the household abuzz, Rannulf proposes a solution…but when Judith refuses to have him--in love or wedlock--Rannulf has only one choice: to wage a campaign of pure pleasure to capture the heart of the woman who has already won his.

Fist let me just say that I find it hard to believe that as innocent as Judith was Rannulf believed that she was an actress. But that said I guess it just goes to show how good of one she really could have been if she had pursued it. lol.

Okay so for some reason I'm drawing a blank on details in this book and I don't want to put off my review any more.

So I'll just say....there was an annoying younger brother to Judith that was the reason her family was becoming rapidly poor and she was forced to go as a poor relation and stay with her aunt and uncle with their snotty daughter. The only good thing was her grandmother was there and they got along great.

After the one night of passion and deception she allowed herself with Rannulf she never thought she'd see him again. So imagine her surprise when he shows up at her aunts house to call on her cousin. And imagine Rannulfs surprise when the woman he thought was an actress that he became a little obsessed with and that ran out on him was indeed a poor relation staying at the house of the woman his grandmother wanted him to marry.

Try as he may Rannulf cannot resist the pull between him and Judith. But to convince Judith to marry him ends up being a lot harder than he thought.


Hero: Joshua Moore
Heroine: Freyja Bedwyn
Category: Historical
Page Count:374
Grade: B-

Growing up with four unruly brothers has made Freyja Bedwyn far bolder than most society ladies. From feisty manner to long, tumbling hair, Lady Freyja is pure fire, a woman who seeks both adventure and freedom.
Adventure soon finds her on a visit to Bath, when a handsome stranger bursts into Freyja's room and entreats her to hide him. His name is Joshua Moore, Marquess of Hallmere, a man with a hell-raising reputation of his own who is quickly intrigued by the independent beauty. So intrigued, in fact, that he makes her a surprising request: to pose as his fiancée and help thwart his family's matchmaking schemes. For two people determined to be free, it's the perfect plan…until passion blindsides them both. For as Joshua sets out to achieve his complete seduction of Freyja, a woman who has sworn off love is in danger of losing the one thing she never expected to give again: her heart…
From the Paperback edition.

When I read A Summer to Remember Freyja was a big part of it. And I didn't like her, AT ALL! So I was not looking forward to her book at all.

But the chemistry between Joshua and her was sooo funny I definitely changed my opinion on Freyja. And we definitely got more clarification on what happened involving her in ASTR.

The storyline I thought was a little to like ASTR but I guess since the characters were so different (well the heroines were) it worked. Joshua and Kit actually had some similarities, in their characters. Both of them had those "laughing" eyes, yes the part I didn't like in ASTR was the same in this, but not as much. While Joshua did have a tendency to be amused at almost everything, he did have a serious side. Thank God.

What started off as a joke for the two of them. Pretend to be betrothed just so Joshua wouldn't have his grandmother play matchmaker ended up with true feelings blooming. And what was supposed to last one week ended up lasting a month and then more.

Right when they would have broken it off Joshua gets hit with a life changing charge and Freyja decides to stand next to him in this hard time. And what comes next is for you to find out when you read their story.

Hero: Gervase Ashford
Heroine: Morgan Bedwyn
Category: Historical
Page Count: 356
Grade: B+

Young. Ravishing. Exquisitely marriageable. From the moment he spies Lady Morgan Bedwyn across the glittering ballroom, Gervase Ashford, Earl of Rosthorn, knows he has found the perfect instrument of his revenge. But wedlock is not on the mind of the continent's most notorious rake. Nor is it of interest to the fiercely independent Lady Morgan herself...until one night of shocking intimacy erupts in a scandal that could make Gervase's vengeance all the sweeter. There is only one thing standing in his way: Morgan, who has achieved the impossible - she's melted his coolly guarded heart. For Gervase, only the marriage bed will do, but Morgan simply will not have him. Thus begins a sizzling courtship where two wary hearts are about to be undone by the most scandalous passion of all: glorious, all-consuming love.

My favorite of the series is tied between this one and Wulfs story. Both sooo great. But you know I think this one wins by a margin.

I loved how independent and sure of herself Morgan was. She meets Gervase and he is obviously trying to woo her and she plays cool and aloof. She does let her guard down a little with him in her time of need and he is the only one available. But when the cold truth slaps her in her face that she was just a pawn in a revenge plot against her brother she fights back.

Instead of just humiliating Gervase, Morgan decides to accept his marriage proposal make him fall in love with her and then very publicly break their betrothal.

Only she doesn't expect to find such a honorable and lonely man under his mask. And some of her hardest challenges is deciding if she is seeing the real him or another mask.

The only thing that wasn't so great about this book is it was very anti climatic. The book was full of drama and then the end was just blah kinda. But I still loved the book very much!


Hero: Alleyne bedwyn
Heroine: Rachel York
Category: Historical
Page Count: 342
Grade: C+

As the fires of war raged around him, Lord Alleyne Bedwyn was thrown from his horse and left for dead--only to awaken in the bedchamber of a ladies' brothel. Suddenly the dark, handsome diplomat has no memory of who he is or how he got there--yet of one thing he is certain: The angel who nurses him back to health is the woman he vows to make his own. But like him, Rachel York is not who she seems. A lovely young woman caught up in a desperate circumstance, she must devise a scheme to regain her stolen fortune. The dashing soldier she rescued from near-death could be her savior in disguise. There is just one condition: she must pose as his wife--a masquerade that will embroil them in a sinful scandal, where a man and a woman court impropriety with each daring step...with every taboo kiss that can turn passionate strangers into the truest of lovers.

Why did it take me forever and a day to get through this book!!! OMG it wasn't even bad, it had a really good story line and I loved both H & H. Maybe cause I was reading it right before Christmas and my life was crazy but.....never the less lets get on with the review.

So Alleyne is traveling with a very important letter to deliver to the front of the battle lines but on his way back he is shot in the leg.....and his horse knocks him off his back and Alleyne hits his head being knocked out cold.

It is there that Rachel York finds him when she is supposed to be out searching dead bodies for money.

Rachel had been a companion to an elderly woman when she was swept off her feet by a lying thieving man. He took her measly savings and when she had bumped into her old nurse turned whore he pretended to care for even them and stole their entire live savings. Now Rachel was staying in their home with four working women. And they were determined to get what was theirs back.

But when Rachel finds Alleyne she yells that it's her husband and she needs help. He is taken back to the brothel she is staying at and when he awakes he remembers nothing. He knows not who he is or where he is from.

Alleyne needs to pay Rachel back for saving his life and he is also not so excited to venture out into England now knowing if he has any family awaiting him or where they are. So he goes with Rachel to her uncles house pretending to be her husband so she can get her jewels that are her inheritance.

We all know what happens to fake marriages in romance novels. Right? lol. So I am sure I did no justice to this story but go read it and see the journey Rachel and Alleyne take and how he finds himself and his love.

Hero: Wulfric Bedwyn, Duke of Bewcastle
Heroine: Christine Derrick
Category: Historical
Page Count: 365
Grade: B+

All of London is abuzz over the imminent arrival of Wulfric Bedwyn, the reclusive, cold-as-ice Duke of Bewcastle, at the most glittering social event of the season. Some whisper of a tragic love affair. Others say he is so aloof and passionless that not even the greatest beauty could capture his attention. But on this dazzling afternoon, one woman did catch the duke's eye--and she was the only female in the room who wasn't even trying. Christine Derrick is intrigued by the handsome duke…all the more so when he invites her to become his mistress.
What red-blooded woman wouldn't enjoy a tumble in the bedsheets with a consummate lover--with no strings and no questions asked. An infuriating lady with very definite views on men, morals, and marriage, Christine confounds Wulfric at every turn. Yet even as the lone wolf of the Bedwyn clan vows to seduce her any way he can, something strange and wonderful is happening. Now for a man who thought he'd never lose his heart, nothing less than love will do.

With her trademark wit, riveting storytelling, and sizzling sexual sparks, Mary Balogh once again brings together two polar opposites: an irresistible, high-and-mighty aristocrat and the impulsive, pleasure-loving woman who shows him what true passion is all about. A man and a woman so wrong for each other, it can result only in the perfect match.

I really really loved, well liked soooo much it bordered on love, this story! I absolutely am in love with Wulf! I want to cuddle him. haha.

So he is the aristocrat that never breaks any rules and lives but the very high standards of the ton. All the time....Until he finds himself getting a little lonely now that all of his siblings are married off.

He usually loves to be alone but it's kind of different when you choose to be by yourself in a household of people and when your all alone in every house you own and there is not even anyone to try and escape from.

So very uncharacteristically Wulf finds himself accepting an invitation to a house party. Thinking it is a gathering of intellectuals he is shocked and appalled to find himself at a house party hosted to celebrate a chits betrothal!

Not only that but he cannot keep himself from a certain school teacher that is also at the party. Certainly nobody he would have ever rubbed shoulders with but for some reason every time she does something horribly inappropriate he finds himself shocked and very much drawn to her.

In this last book we see a different side of Wulf, we see him as a man not only a Duke. We see how he has always struggled with his roll in life, and what an honorable man he is. And how no matter how cold he seems....he has a heart, it can break and he can definitely love.

Overall Grade for the Series: B

Hot Item by Carly Phillips

Seen on the sidelines . . .

What star quarterback has been spotted with a new flavor of arm candy? It's notorious bad boy Riley Nash, but his newest flame is the last person this reporter could imagine—none other than Sophie Jordan, beautiful, buttoned-down co-owner of The Hot Zone, the industry's top sports management agency.

What's behind this unlikely team? Some say it has to do with the sudden disappearance of super agent Spencer Atkins. Could there be a connection between the red-hot quarterback and the missing dealmaker? Or has the famous groupie magnet simply met his perfect match in cool, collected Sophie? Watch this space, because the resulting news is bound to be one Hot Item.

Sophie Jordon along with her two sisters, one older one younger, was raised by her Uncle Yank from a very young age. Both parents being killed in a plane accident the girls learned early what unexpected heartache life brings. Each relying on their own different ways to cope.

Sophie's comfort comes from being able to control things. Her life, those in it. And if she cannot control it she needs to fully understand it. So when her Uncles best friend, and co-owner of the Athlete's Only and The Hot Zone Spencer Atkins goes MIA Sophia gets a little nervous. Ever since she became a partner at The Hot Zone Spence has always been in his office ready for business at 9am sharp, never late, no exceptions. But the day after all the papers picked up on the gossip about him being gay (the true gossip) Spencer changes his way and becomes a no show.

Sophie soon finds herself with an unexpected companion in her quest to find Spence. None other than the only athlete to ever make her hot, Riley Nash, professional football star. And the bigger shock? Spense is Riley's biological father. All his life Riley has known who his father was but never had contact with him, although he did everything in his power to be noticed. Blessed with a natural talent and love for football he was sure his father the Sports Agent would recognize him and accept him, but that doesn't happen. So Riley decided long ago he needed nobody especially not his father, but Sophie makes his heart flip and stomach flop. How can he a firm believer in doing what he wants when he wants, no rules at all fit with a control obsessed woman?

So with his own issues on being rejected and Sophie's issues with needing to control everything it should be painfully obvious that they don't work. Except for that the burning heat between them, and how they seem to understand each other so well without any words makes a mockery of all their intentions to tell themselves and each other it won't work.

So go pick up the book and see how these two overcome their childhood issues, interfering Uncles, gay fathers, and bratty teenage daughter.

Funny, interesting, and sexy, a must read in my book.

Grade: B

Read the Series in order:
Hot Stuff
Hot Number
Hot Item

Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie

Hero: Alex
Heroine: Nina
Category: Contemp
Page Count: 224, hb
Grade: A
Buy It: Here or here.
Part basset, part beagle, all Cupid . . . can a matchmaking hound fetch a new love for his owner?

For Nina Askew, turning forty means freedom -- from the ex-husband whose career always came first, from their stuffy suburban home. Freedom to have her own apartment in the city, freedom to focus on what she wants for a change. And what she wants is something her ex always vetoed -- a puppy. A bouncy puppy to cheer her up. Instead she gets . . . Fred.

Overweight, smelly and obviously suffering from some kind of doggy depression, Fred is light-years from perky. But for all his faults, he does manage to put Nina face-to-face with Alex Moore, her gorgeous, younger downstairs neighbor.

Alex looks great on paper -- a sexy, seemingly sane, surprisingly single E.R. doctor who shares Fred's abiding love for Oreos -- but a ten-year difference in age, despite his devastating smile, is too wide a gap for Nina to handle. Ignoring her insistent best friend, some interfering do-gooders and the ubiquitous Fred -- not to mention her suddenly raging hormones -- Nina thinks anyone but Alex would be a better bet for a relationship. But with every silver-haired stiff she dates, the more she suspects it's the young dog-loving doctor she wants to sit and stay!

Nina has wanted a dog practically from the day her and Guy got married, he didn't. It should have been a sign. 15 years later she's divorced and ready to get her dog. It's her 40th birthday and she wants a perky happy puppy, what she leaves with is Fred. An older overweight depressed dog, but what does it matter when he makes her happy? That's what she wanted all along. But living on the third floor makes it a bit difficult for him to do his thing, especially without an elevator, so she teaches him to go down the fire escape out the window. All is fine until one time he doesn't come back.....

Fred seems to have found a new friend, he's climbed into the second story window instead of his third floor one, and meets Alex. Alex has been an ER doctor for awhile, his family has been harping on him to choose a profession. It would seem he has but coming from a long line of specialist doctors an ER doctor is NOT a profession. It's also been hard in the dating field, every woman he dates is ready to settle down and sprout children, Alex isn't ready for marriage let alone the fact that he doesn't want children. But when he meets Fred and returns him to his owner he thinks he just might have meet the right woman.

Because of a ten year age gap Nina is very weary of anything romantic with Alex. She's come up with every excuse, his age, his maturity, his .... well everything. But nothing can change the feelings she has every time he is near, or every time she thinks of him for that matter.

Alex doesn't care about Nina's age, and is determined to make sure she doesn't care either. He wants her to see him as a grown man worthy of her. But he still is weary to make THE move, scared she'll turn away and his chance will be lost.

With Nina's best friend that has the black thumb in relationships writing a book on her love life and pushing Nina into SOMETHING with Alex. And their 75 year old upstairs neighbor and her 63 year old boyfriend also dropping hints to how age never matters. And everything else Nina and Alex are fighting an uphill battle. Throw in Alex's older brother Max that's struggling with his life decisions and an alcoholic, cardiac surgeon father this book adds up to lots of fun and a great romance. Hell throw in a red lace incredi bra while we're at it too. This is the closest to a Bet Me book. I loved it! The entire feel of the story, the banter, the dog it just makes a perfect Crusie book. Were there faults? Sure I think Charity and Max should have had some type of ending weather together or with someone else. In the end Alex went a little over board with what he was doing to prove to Nina he was mature and stable enough for her, but he smartened up. So like I said, this one rates #2 right next to Bet Me. A definite great read. Go Get It!

I'm In No Mood for Love by Rachel Gibson

Hero: Sebastian Vaughan
Heroine: Clare Wingate
Category: Contemp
Page Count: 359/paperback
Grade:A
Buy It: Here, or here.

What is Clare Wingate doing? One minute she's suffering in a pretty-in-pink gown she'll never wear again, and the next thing she knows it's morning . . . and she has the nastiest hangover of her life.
To make matters worse, she's wearing nothing but a spritz of Escada and lying next to Sebastian Vaughan . . . her girlhood crush turned sexy, globe-hopping journalist. Somewhere between the toast and the toss of the bouquet she'd gotten herself into a whole lot of trouble.

Clare had the right to go wild-after all, she'd been knocked off her dyed-to-match shoes after finding her own fiancé in a compromising position with the washing machine repairman. Clearly her society wedding is off.

But Sebastian pushed all the wrong buttons-and some of the right ones, too. Clare is in no mood for love-not even for lust-and wants to forget about Sebastian and his six-pack abs ASAP. But he isn't in the mood to go away, and his kiss is impossible to forget.

Ever since buying and reading Sex, Lies, and Online Dating, just about a year ago, I've been dying for Rachel Gibson's next book, I'm In No Mood For Love. It's the second in a series she's writing about 4 girl friends who are all fiction authors. And I wasn't disappointed.

Clare is a historical romance author and she loves her job, even if her mother tells all her friends that she writes woman's fiction and refuses to call it what it really is. Clare's completely happy with her life until the day of one of her best friends wedding when she runs back home and finds the Sears repair man riding her fiance on the floor of her walk in closet.

The next morning she wakes up with a huge hang over and not really remembering to much. But when she looks at the bed she's in and finds her self naked except for her pink thong in a hotel room it's obvious she didn't spend it alone. But before she can escape he's there, the worst person she could even think up. The boy who teased her, hit her and tricked her every chance he got grew up to be a very handsome man. Sebastian is a girls wet dream, with his green eyes, wicked smile, and body to drool over.

After a very embarrassing conversation with Sebastian, mostly cause she didn't remember anything and Sebastian is still teasing her, Clare escaped with what dignity she could. Then went home to face her reality. She cleaned house-so to speak, and decided to stay clear of men for awhile. But before Sebastian is off they share a hot kiss. And a few months later it's a make-out session in her mother pantry, and about a month or so later they stop lying to themselves and give in to the passion burning between them.

After mistakenly thinking they could rid themselves of each other after a night full of hot kinky sex they decide to just be friends that have sex, no strings attached. Great for Sebastian that cannot handle the R word or C word (that's relationship or commitment if you weren't sure), and great for Clare who doesn't mind a few multiple orgasms with Mr. Right Now while she waits for Mr. Right.

But when Clare finds herself in love with another man that doesn't love her back, she takes a stand. And that's when it gets really good. But I'm not gonna tell you the rest. You'll have to go read this to find out how Sebastian reacts, what he does, what she does.....and a lot more.

This book is full of men reading romance, men getting drug around shopping by a shopaholic, a father and son finding a relationship that had gotten forgotten, kick ass girl friends, some sexy banter with our H&H, a lot of laughter (even some tears for me) and that's not even mentioning a flipping fine hero and an awesome heroine.
So go get the book and read it!

Quote from Sebastian (after Clare asks if he heard what she said to him):

"Yeah. You assume I don't see myself married because I want to 'conquer' lots of different women and eat their Lucky Charms and Tasty O's."

....then after he corners her in her mothers pantry

"I want to talk about eating you like a Tasty O. I want to talk about all the things I want to do to you. Then we can talk about all the things I want you to do to me."

Oh wait.....the parts I didn't like? Hmmmm, even a favorite like RG had something that bothered me. There was something on page 182 that really irked me, read the book and see if you can figure it out. lol. And the ending? A little perfect but hey it's a romance novel right? What do you expect? All around though, it was a great book. I can always count on RG for a great read. Now I cannot wait till next year for Maddie's book!!!

The Series order so far:
Sex, Lies and Online Dating
I'm in no Mood for Love

The Seduction of His Wife by Janet Chapman

He set out to seduce her for all the wrong reasons -- but found himself falling in love with her for all the right ones.
Alex Knight is dead -- or so everyone thinks. A widowed logger baron with a risk-taking streak, he took on a South American engineering project and was reported dead after a rebel attack. So when he turns up back in Maine very much alive, his grieving family is shocked. But the biggest shock is Alex's, when he discovers he's now married -- to a woman he's never met.

Sarah Banks is ready for a change from running a quiet Bed & Breakfast, and working for the Knight family offers not only a bigger opportunity, but also the family life she yearns for. So she's glad to help secure custody of Alex's orphaned children, whom she's come to love, by marrying their father by proxy before he's legally declared dead. But when Alex returns, the sexy, determined woodsman upends all of Sarah's plans. Because suddenly she's married to a passionate stranger with an easy smile...and tumbling headlong into a fiery dance of seduction.

I really really enjoyed this book! I mean really, when it was over I kept wishing I was still reading it. And not for any out of this world reason. It was just a good, funny, romantic read. I have really grown to love Janet Chapman and the way she writes. If I'm correct I think most, if not all, of her books are based in Maine. Which is where she lives. Maybe that is why they are all so real, you can feel the place and fall in love with it. Even without going overboard with descriptions, which she does not do. And she usually has kids in her books too. Sometimes this can really put a damper on a story but not a JC book. It makes them so .... warm and definitely adds some funny quirks. Also I love series and she does great ones. The Pine Creek Highlander series (must reads I loved them all): Charming the Highlander, Loving the Highlander, Wedding the Highlander, Tempting the Highlander and Only with a Highlander. Then her Puffin Harbor Series: The Seductive Impostor and The Dangerous Protector. And now this book which I don't know the name of the series yet but I know is one. So do you think I can stop raving on JC and get to the review? Well okay if you insist. lol.

Sarah Kelley has had a hard and sheltered life. She lived on a island (born and raised) and only knew the bed & breakfast her parents ran. When she is fairly young both her parents die within a few years. She falls into a loveless marriage at the age of 17 and some years later finds herself widowed. When Grady Knight comes to her B&B with his grandchildren and sons he offers her a deal she can't refuse. Soon she is moving to the woods of Main to keep house for this family with a promise of a Sporting Camp for her to run. But things turn for the worse when the Knight family thinks they lost their oldest and the father of Grady's two grandchildren. Alex is presumed dead so in order to save his grandchildren from being drug through courts and fights with their other grandparents he has Sarah married to Alex by proxy before anyone knows he's dead, and she adopts the children. Only Alex isn't really dead....imagine his surprise when after running for his life in a jungle in Brazil for over a week he comes home to find himself married! He was married once to a money hungry woman that left him and his kids, and no thank you he doesn't need a new wife. And one night of a little to much to drink and a hot dream turn Alex and Sarah into lovers the tables turn. Alex asks Sarah to give the situation some time, if they act to quickly everyone will know Grady forged the papers and he'll get into trouble. But as time passes and Alex learns that Sarah isn't the quite little mouse he thought her to be he starts to think a divorce is the last thing he wants. But as Alex tries to convince his wife to stay just that he not only has to battle her demons of her past marriage but also a mystery person or persons that are invading his mountain trying to destroy his families business.
And one of Alex's forms of seduction? He reads Sarah's romance books! And when she finds herself bedridden for a little bit he reads them to her. And they are none other than the Puffin Harbor Series by JC.

This book will have you laughing while you cheer on Alex with his seduction of his wife. And Grady's sometimes not so subtle match-making schemes. But not to worry, I might have wanted this book to go on forever but I'll get more in February. The second book in the series is coming. The Temptation of Her Love, Ethan's book. Then we have Paul the biggest flirt. And who knows maybe Tucker and Delaney will get their own stories, Alex's children. I can hope!

Oh and one of the only things I didn't like about this book? It isn't even related to the story. It was the cover. I actually really like the cover, but the mans RIGHT hand is in the picture and there's a wedding ring on it! You wear your wedding ring on the LEFT hand. HELLO! Sorry but that really bothered me.

Grade~ B+ (would have been a A but Sarah did annoy me a little at one point. But she made up for it.)

Sarah's Child by Linda Howard

A tragic accident took everything that mattered to Rome Matthews - his wife, Diana, and their two little boys. And it robbed Sarah Harper of her best friend. In the two years after the tragedy, Sarah wanted nothing more than to reach out to Rome. But she knew it was vital she stay away, guarding the secret she had kept from him and Diana all those years - that she was in love with her best friends husband.

But now Rome needs her. He wants to lose himself in the passion he feels for Sarah. Knowing he is trapped by a grief that won't let go,. and desperate to help him escape his pain, she willingly gives him what he so desperately craves. Though another woman will hold his heart forever, Sarah agrees to be his wife, knowing that everything has a price, including love. It is a price she is willing to pay, but one that will demand all of her courage and her heart.

Then something totally unexpected rekindles her hidden hope that a marriage of convenience will become a union of live. Now it all comes down to her husband. Will Rome keep fighting his own growing need for a woman who dares him to believe there are second chances in life...or will he give in to the power of love and miracles?

This was unlike any other Linda Howard book I've read to date. There was no plot to figure out no suspense. Just plain and simple a man struggling through the pain of losing his family and falling in love and starting over. About a woman who had loved for so long and had to hide it and then was given a chance to have it all.


Sarah had loved Rome since she first met him but when he met her best friend he chose her. Married to Diane and giving her children Sarah stood back and watched. She was still a good friend to Diane and never betrayed her feelings but she couldn't bare to be around them as a family. With Rome loving Diane so much. But in a tragic turn of fate Diane and their two sons where taken from Rome, in a drunken accident. It was all he could do to just wake up, smiling and laughing became foreign to him, and his eyes never held any life.
One phone called changed both their lives. Rome called Sarah one night to pick up some old mementos of Diana's from when they were in high school and in a moment of grief Rome broke. He collapsed and Sarah was there, soon his grief turned into something not so innocent. And he was on Sarah, holding, kissing, caressing. Stopping just in time he lashed out at her for the guilt he was feeling. But the next day he couldn't shake how she touched him, his soul. So he went to her. After the two of them saw each other casually for a while Rome stamps his claim and asks her to marry him. All very businesslike. Through misconceptions and misread signals they go though a few rough patches with hurt feelings and such. But soon they find their niche and Sarah starts to hope that one day he may love her as she loves him. Until it happens...the one thing Rome said he could never give her, would never give her. He said he never wanted any children, after losing his two sons he couldn't bare it. But Sarah gets pregnant and refuses to have an abortion. She gives him an ultimatum..."Leave me or Stay but I am keeping the baby. If you stay you don't have to be part of the baby's life, but I'm not giving it up!" Rome can't leave her, after finally finding a reason to live again he can't give it up, but he also can't accept the baby. Through the ending of the book we see how he struggles with this new part of his life, he wants nothing to do with the baby and make it clear. Leaving Sarah to do everything alone. It's her first child and is all alone in everything involving it. In the end of course we have out HEA for all involved parties, but I'll leave you to read the book to see how it comes about.

But I want to leave you with this, could you love someone enough that after they turn on you in the most important time in your life and leave you to do it all alone you can 'understand' where they are coming from and forgive without a second thought? I mean really not be mad and just say "it's okay, I understand". He missed major parts of their child's birth and beginning of her life. I just don't know if I could be that forgiving. How bout you?

Grade~ B

Hot Spot by Susan Johnson

Stella Scott doesn't date customers. So when a superhero-in-the-flesh strolls into her comic bookstore, snapping up rare editions and insisting on taking her to dinner, she knows she's in trouble. It isn't long before Stella finds herself revising her little rule. But while she's having a blast between the sheets, there's no way she's going to let herself do something stupid...like fall head over heels in love. Hopefully it isn't too late.

Okay this is easy to break down. In a nut shell....Stella owns a Comic Book store and writes her own comic "Marky B". She has a no dating customers rule and never breaks it till one day Danny walks in her store. He is a freaking God! Okay so he asks her out a few times she says no he pursues she says yes and the second she says yes they go up to her room and have wild monkey sex. They end up back at his house after a night out and then she sneaks out. He wakes up and realizes someone has been in his office snooping. So he puts Stella on his list of suspects. Stella on the other hand sees how much money Danny has and he seems to not work so she assumes he's a drug dealer. So on they go. Having sex, getting jealous over other men and women. Leaving each other, assuming the wrong thing about each other. Then in the last chapter they both find out the truth and decide to get married. Ummmm no! This was a totally unbelievable book! There was nothing but sex, and not even good sex scenes. Uggg. Waste of a read in my opinion.

Oh and Danny ended up being some designer of video games and made millions a month!

Grade: C-

Sinfully Sexy by Linda Francis Lee

After a close encounter of the sexy kind,
Chloe discovers her wild side. . . .

Plain-Jane Chloe Sinclair has never been bad . . . until she stumbles- literally-into the arms of a gorgeous stranger. To make matters worse, the morning after, her world is rocked completely off its axis when the sensual dreamboat turns out to be the man brought in to save the TV station where she works.

Sterling Prescott is hard-driven, sexy as hell, and determined to take over the struggling KTEX TV. But all bets are off when the shameless wildcat who disappeared on him last night walks back into his life-acting like a squeaky-clean librarian. Life gets truly complicated, however, when Sterling decides to win more than the station-and to show her that being sexy isn't a sin.

After taking, and failing, a 'how sexy are you' quiz Chloe decides to see how sexy she can be. And with that ends up nearly having sex with a stranger in a hotel bathroom. Opps...but just in time she is snapped back to her senses and flees, never believing she'd see that mystery man again.
But the next day when she walks into a meeting at work and sees that very same man standing there she nearly faints. Not only does she see her mystery man again but he turns out to be (or at least she thinks) an employee of Sterling Prescott. Cutthroat businessman who swoops in and buys out businesses in trouble and rebuilds them, with no remorse. So she does what she thinks is best....pretends she's never seen him before.

Sterling Presscott cannot get the sexy woman from the hotel bathroom out of his mind, and he cannot believe she walked away from him! HIM, Sterling Prescott, CEO of Prescott Media. Granted she doesn't know he is Sterling Prescott, she thinks he is Trey Tanner, his own employee. But what shocks him the most is she's pretending not to know who she is!

Through this book we see a bet with a brother, a TV show gone a little kooky, and lots of hotness with our H & H.

Okay even though I DID like this book! ALOT! There were some of the same issues in this book as the last. Alot of starting up with the hot and heavy....then.....STOPPING! And something else I didn't mention when I reviewed the last book but was there was the fact that the hero's both "Grunted and Cursed" almost every singe page! Goodness. And last but not least, I hate when certain phrases get played out, and LFL used this one in BOTH books "You undo me". Cute but very played. Sorry.

So while I did like the book, there were obviously thinks I didn't like.

Grade: B-

Read them all, in order:
Suddenly Sexy
Sinfully Sexy
Simply Sexy

Suddenly Sexy by Linda Francis Lee

When a legendary bad boy returns to town, Kate must summon her inner temptress.
Kate Bloom’s ordered world is turned upside down when notorious bad boy and superstar athlete Jesse Chapman comes home. Seeing him again reminds Kate of all the reasons she harbored a Texas-sized crush on him back when they were kids. But she isn’t a little girl anymore . . . and she’s ready to show this hell-raising playboy just how sexy she can be.
After a reporter starts digging into his past, Jesse Chapman returns home looking for space. The last thing he needs is a distraction, but that’s just what he gets when he sees his little Katie. Suddenly the girl next door is hot and sexy–and more than even this legendary ladies’ man can handle.

First let me say woooo hooooo! I'm outta my reading slump! I started this book yesterday afternoon and finished today! Or I think that's when I started it. Anyway . . . back to the book.

Kate (or Katie to our hero) and Jessie, what a pair. Friends since childhood, Jessie is four years Kate's senior. He's the one she runs to every time her mom divorces or remarries (5x's). She's the one he opens to when his mom dies and he has problems with his father. But while Kate is completely open and honest with Jessie about her problems and her feelings for him, he withholds. Partially because how can he go into detail about issues with his father that involve sex, smoking and drinking when he is 11 and that would only make her 7. Jessie learns quick to become a buddy to his dad and to turn into a wild boy in order to keep his father close and not lose him like he lost his mother. But he also loses his brother in return, or at least his brothers respect. But with his brother being 7 years older he should have been the one protecting his younger brother from the bad influences of their father, not begrudging him the attention he got or the way he turned out. Which makes for a lot of sibling tension through the book. One of the things Jessie picks up while always with his father is golfing. Which he takes to from the start. So as he lives his wild life he becomes a professional golfer. He has women, he has his game and he feels he is in no way good enough for his Katie. So when on the day of his brothers wedding Kate walks in on him naked and offers herself he pushes her away. But not before he let himself see how sweet it could be with her, he stops in the nick of time. After telling her no and to leave, she flees crying.
So when Jessie comes back into El Paso and into Kate's life she is a bit weary. Her job is falling apart she is "dating" a great guy that she just can't drum up any passion for and just the site of Jessie makes her melt.
Time after time we see the simmering heat between our h&h. After awhile I'll be quite honest I felt like screaming "JUST DO IT!!!" I did love the character development in the book. We really got a good glimpse of who these characters are and what made them the way they are. But there was just to much getting it on to a certain point then just stopping between Kate and Jessie. You know? I get she was going for good sexual tension but it got old real fast.
We do get a big surprise for our hero in the middle of the beginning of the book that really puts a sweat and emotional turn on the story. But to which I don't' think the author knew enough on the subject to write it as well as it should have been.
With Kate being a News Anchor I also felt that there wasn't enough on that, we never really got to see what she was before her ratings plummeted and made her resort to doing "Getting Real With Kate" while the GRWK segments were funny they lacked reality of what that job would really be like.
I did love the friendship between Kate and her two best girlfriends, Chloe and Julia. In the beginning of most of the chapters we read emails back and forth between the girls. It was fun and added to the story a lot.
All in all it was a good book, I just felt as if the author should have tweaked it a bit more before releasing it. So it made me want to read the next book and also hope it's written just a little bit better.

Grade~ B-

Read them all:
Suddenly Sexy
Sinfully Sexy
Simply Sexy


*****Editing to add something I forgot******

The surprise that I told you about...with the hero? Well in the end of the book it never got an ending so to speak. Pretty annoying...

Grade must go down to a C+ for that alone.

To Sir Phillip With Love by Julia Quinn

Sir Phillip knew that Eloise Bridgerton was a spinster, and so he'd proposed, figuring that she'd be homely and unassuming, and more than a little desperate for an offer of marriage. Except she wasn't. The beautiful woman on his doorstep was anything but quiet, and when she stopped talking long enough to close her mouth, all he wanted to do was kiss her and more.

Did he think she was mad? Eloise Bridgerton couldn't marry a man she had never met! But then she started thinking and wondering and before she knew it, she was in a hired carriage in the middle of the night, on her way to meet the man she hoped might be her perfect match. Except he wasn't. Her perfect husband wouldn't be so moody and ill-mannered, and while Phillip was certainly handsome, he was a large brute of a man, rough and rugged, and totally unlike the London gentlemen vying for her hand. But when he smiled and when he kissed her the rest of the world simply fell away, and she couldn't help but wonder could this imperfect man be perfect for her?

I know quite a few of the other ladies here on SF have reviewed this book, as all the other Bridgerton books, so originally I had planned on not reviewing it. But as I read both the book and the reviews I found my opinions differed some, and so decided to give you all my review.

I think this is tied for first place in the series. I cannot choose between The Duke and I and this book.

I, unlike most, didn't think that Phillip was annoying in the way he was with his children. I didn't want to yell at him to stop worrying and just be with them. I think this may have been one of the most real books written on a parents fears. It wasn't overly done. Maybe if his anger in the book had been toward them and so he stayed away I would have been mad, but because it was directed at himself, I was able to understand where he was coming from. He never had a mother or anyone to tell him he was different from his father, so how was he to know when he was upset he wouldn't lash out at the children? He was trying so hard to protect them that when he came across the Nurse it nearly killed him to realize that his staying away hurt them as opposed to helping them. If he had walked away at that point and avoided them I think it may have been one to many times for be. But he didn't. And when his mistake was clear in front of him he fixed it. I loved Phillip, he was so real, so honest with himself.

And may I be blunt? Of course I can, lol. Another reason I so enjoyed this book was it was more sexual. OMG the intimacies between Eloise and Phillip were so hot! They were so hot together. I love how blunt and open Eloise was, she held nothing back. Physically, emotionally or with her words.

This book simply put was a breath of fresh air.

I LOVED the children, I know I stated my opinion on them in the book in the beginning but I must say again, how much they added to the book and to Phillips character.

Grade~ A- (the minus because I felt jipped in the epilogue, way to short, and not informative at all!)

Read the books in order:
The Duke and I
The Viscount Who Loved Me
An Offer From A Gentleman
Romancing Mr. Bridgerton
To Sir Phillip, With Love
When He Was Wicked
It's In His Kiss
On the Way to the Wedding

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

Simon Basset, the irresistible Duke of Hastings, has hatched a plan to keep himself free from the town's marriage-minded society mothers. He pretends to be engaged to the lovely Daphne Bridgerton. After all, it isn't as if the brooding rogue has any real plans to marry Although there is something about the alluring Miss Bridgerton that sets Simon's heart beating a bit faster. And as for Daphne, surely the clever debutante will attract some very worthy suitors now that is seems a duke has declared her desirable. But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, she soon forgets that their courtship is a complete sham. And now she has to do the impossible and keep herself from losing her heart and soul completely to the handsome hell-raiser who has sworn off marriage forever!Simon Basset, the irresistible Duke of Hastings, has hatched a plan to keep himself free from the town's marriage-minded society mothers. He pretends to be engaged to the lovely Daphne Bridgerton. After all, it isn't as if the brooding rogue has any real plans to marry although there is something about the alluring Miss Bridgerton that sets Simon's heart beating a bit faster. And as for Daphne, surely the clever debutante will attract some very worthy suitors now that is seems a duke has declared her desirable. But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, she soon forgets that their courtship is a complete sham. And now she has to do the impossible and keep herself from losing her heart and soul completely to the handsome hell-raiser who has sworn off marriage forever!


Well I finally started the series. Every raves about this series and you know what? I really enjoyed this first book. I loved the simplicity of it. There was no evil villain. No mysterious twist. Just two people that fall in love and have to come to terms with all that entails.

From the start Daphne has a confidence that is to be admired. She is not a heroine to swoon at a rakish remark or smoldering look. She holds her own with her quick wit and knowledge of all things male. Well except when it comes to the bedroom. Having four brothers, three of them older, Daphne is quite refreshing as a heroine. She doesn't even need a knight in shining armor to rescue her she is able and willing to throw down a punch to save herself or get what she needs. And while she did do one thing in the book to really irk me, she scored high on my heroine list. Once she realized she was falling in love with Simon she was determined to have him. Not only to make herself happy, but she was determined she was good enough for him and could save him and that he would love her just as much. She knew her self worth.

From the pain Simon had to deal with at a very young age he found anger the only tool to push him on in life. Anger made him find his words, anger got him into the school he wanted to go to. Anger....at his father. All he ever wanted was to be acknowledged but it was one of the many things his father denied him, to ashamed of him. So Simon was determined to defy his father at every turn of his life. Even when his father was dead. But when Simon realizes how much Daphne means to him and what he will be losing if he doesn't give up his hatred for a dead man he has some hard choices to deal with. Simon was a great hero. I loved everything about him. His speech problems made him more vulnerable to me and his honesty was refreshing. And just reading about his eyes made ME swoon.

I loved all the family interactions. All the Bridgerton siblings were great. Can't remember her name but the youngest girl (H-something) was so cute! Loved the possessiveness of Anthony and how B-something (lol) always backed him up. And Colin? Well I can't wait for his book, I can tell it will be a favorite. And I absolutely love the relationship all the Bridgerton's have with their mother Violet. Such a change from the traditional mother of the ton. She is so caring and warm yet strict and firm when need be. Great family.

If I were to find a fault in this book it would be the reason Simon didn't want children. I won't spoil the book and tell all, but for Simon being such a smart man he was very dumb in that one area.

But overall? Great read, looking forward to the rest of the series.

Grade: B+

Read the books in order:
The Duke and I
The Viscount Who Loved Me
An Offer From A Gentleman
Romancing Mr. Bridgerton
To Sir Phillip, With Love
When He Was Wicked
It's In His Kiss
On the Way to the Wedding

Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas

She gave him her innocence . . .Lady Aline Marsden was brought up for one reason: to make an advantageous marriage to a member of her own class. Instead, she willingly gave her innocence to John McKenna, a servant on her father's estate. Their passionate transgression was unforgivable — John was sent away, and Aline was left to live in the countryside . . . an exile from London society . . .and he took her love.

Now McKenna has made his fortune, and he has returned — more boldly handsome and more mesmerizing than before. His ruthless plan is to take revenge on the woman who shattered his dreams of love. But the magic between them burns as bright as ever. And now he must decide whether to let vengeance take its toll . . . or risk everything for his first, and only, love.

In Again the Magic we follow a story of two children, one born to peerage and one a lowly servant, that form a friendship and when they grow up a passionate love. Both know it can never be but they love each other so much they take all the risks to be with each other when ever they can. Until one day Aline's father finds out about the relationship and banishes McKenna from the manor. Aline knows McKenna will never go if he knows she loves him, he'd always find a way back and then her father would ruin him. So she makes him believe that she has just been playing with him and she could never really love a lowly servant. And although it crushes her she watches him walk away thinking she hated him and knowing he'd come to hate her for it.

Twelve years later McKenna returns to Stoney Cross not a servant anymore but a successful business partner from NY in America. And he comes with one thing in mind, to take Aline, to use her ... to get his revenge.

But when Aline and McKenna are together feelings they both do not want to acknowledge cannot be held at bay. Aline has secrets from a horrible accident and McKenna cannot trust the girls who once broke his heart.

So while reading this book first I was thrown because in the first few chapters we are lead to believe that Aline and McKenna have such a unique and special bond as to even be the others half. They know each others thoughts with just a look. And yet when Aline's father finds out the truth and tells McKenna he is to leave, and he goes to see Aline he just believes the bull she is spouting? She has always said she'd love him forever, and they knew each other so well, why then didn't he argue with her? Why couldn't he see the fake front she was putting on?

So 12 years later when McKenna returns for his revenge and they both fall for each other all over again what happens? Well because of a accident Aline had years ago she won't let the love bloom. She AGAIN pushes him away. I mean how many times does the man need to get his heart broken? It is all about the heroine making the ultimate sacrifice for the hero, the sacrifice that is so stupid you want to hit her.

Of course at the end we get our happily ever after, and McKenna was so swoon worthy at the end he totally made up for annoying me a bit in the story. But Aline? Yeah, by the end maybe I understood her a bit more, but she still totally irked me. She just seemed a bit shallow, or maybe just really stupid.

I was a lot more impressed with the secondary characters Gideon and Livia. Such a sweet romance with them. With true struggles not shallow superficial one's. I would love to have an entire book on them. A man actually struggling with a real problem, being an alcoholic, and a woman that loves him so much ... to much to marry him and watch him kill himself slowly. So in them we see Gideon struggle to over come his demons not only for a woman's love but for himself, and Livia with such an unselfish love.

So I would say this is a must read if only for Gideon and Livia. And for the ending with McKenna. And grudgingly I'll admit that although the hero and heroine annoyed me a bit with there ignorance through a lot of the book it kept my interests. So good writing.

And here are a few of the memorable quotes from McKenna, the man did have a way with words:

"My lady, you're about to receive an education in how to conduct and affair. Because for the duration of my stay at Stony Cross, you're going to work off your debt to me...on your back, your knees, or any other position I desire you in."

"I want you for a thousand reasons other than your legs, and ...no, damn it, I want your for no reason at all, other than the fact that you're you. I want to shove my self deep inside you and stay for hours...days...weeks. I want morning and noon and nightfall with you. I want your tears, your smiles, your kisses...the smell of your hair, the taste of your skin, the touch of your breath on my face. I want to see you in the final hour of my life...to lie in your arms as I take my last breath."

"You sleep too," she said groggily, her hand creeping to the center of his chest.
"No." McKenna smiled and pressed a soft kiss against her temple. His voice was husky with wonder. "Not when staying awake is better than anything I could find in a dream."

Grade- C+ (the plus is because of the great secondary plot)

His Every Kiss by Laura Lee Guhrke

Everyone knows about Dylan Moore—his brilliant talent and his pleasure-seeking ways—but no one knows the torment that lies beneath his reckless veneer. Only one woman gets a glimpse of the forces that drive Dylan's soul, a woman who haunts his dreams and evokes his passions as no other woman ever has before.

Disgraced and destitute, Grace Cheval wants nothing to do with the seductive man who desires her. When Dylan offers her a position as governess to his newfound daughter, she knows his true intentions are dishonorable. Yet she finds this charismatic man hard to resist, and she returns his passionate kisses with a fire that matches his own. Can Dylan dare hope that this proud, spirited beauty will melt the ice around his heart?

Oh.My.Goodness! Loved loved loved this book! Such a great read, had me laughing and crying. I could not put it down, not even for a second. I loved all the characters it was so perfectly written. LLG didn't hold back on the flaws in any of the characters, and it added so much to the book. This will forever be one of my all time favorite historical books.

When we first see Dylan he is saddened and depressed wanting to just end it all. He has his pistol and is contemplating the merits of living anymore. When out of nowhere an angel appears playing a violin. She tells him not to do it, that he has a reason to keep living. Then she is gone...

Grace never forgot the day she saved Dylan from killing himself, and thinks she'll never see him agian. Untill she is playing at a ball he is in attendace at. As soon as she is done she slips away only Dylan has no intention of letting his angel slip away from him agian.

Dylan finding himself in a new situation with a daughter he has just met and a woman he needs to keep near to drive away the demons in his mind he hires Grace on as his daughters new governess.

As things heat up with Dylan and Grace differant aspects come to....Grace is falling for both a man and his daughter and fearing her past is doomed to repeat itself. Dylan is trying to change his ways of bachlorhood to become an ideal father and falling for his angel Grace too. And just when it seems they might all find their happily ever after something turns up that just might ruin it all.

You must read this book to find out all of Dylan and Graces trials and how they end up. It's a story you don't want to miss.

Grade: A+

Don't miss when Dylan is first introduced in Guilty Pleasures
and the end of this trilogy with The Marriage Bed.