Book Review: An Invitation To Sin

Author: Sarah Morgan
Title: An Invitation To Sin
Publisher: Harlequin Presents
Publish Date: June 1, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley & the publisher

Book Blurb: Snapped and seduced: there's nothing more dangerous than a restless Corretti…

Taylor Carmichael holds one thing precious: the reputation she's spent years rebuilding. Then one encounter with Corretti lothario Luca, a bottle of chilled champagne and a skintight dress and the paparazzi have their shot.

Cool, calm and irritatingly aloof, Luca couldn't care less. Splash his face over the papers—he has bigger fish to fry. But Taylor is fuming. Luca had the chance to halt the press and refused. Well, this time she'll make the headlines work for her:

Stop the press—bad boy Luca Corretti to wed screen siren Taylor Carmichael!

Review: I love Sarah Morgan, she's one of my absolute must read authors for the Presents line, so I was thrilled to see she had a new book out.

Invitation to Sin, is not your usual Presents for many reasons...allow me to tell you about them.


1. Luca is not the stereotypical alpha male. He's sexy, he's fun, but he's really not all about controlling. Luca was charming and even when he was running from relationships, he was just so fun and likable, most Presents heroes don't make you like them on the spot, Luca does.

2. Taylor Carmichael...at first you think she might be the Harlequin version of Lindsey Lohan, but once you get to know her she has more substance. She's not really fighting Luca either, as much as she's fighting herself. And this poor girl has issues....lots of issues.

3. Luca isn't a golden boy..at least not in the traditional way...he's too much of a bad boy. He doesn't have the respect of his family and what family he has is dysfunctional.

This book really made me laugh at times, mostly due to something Luca did or said. I loved how his fake relationship with Taylor grew into something real without either of them knowing it.

This was the most fun Presents I've read in ages. Kudos to Sarah Morgan for delivering something different to the imprint!

Rating: 5 flowers

TLC Book Tours Book Review: The Perfume Collector

Author: Kathleen Tessaro
Title: The Perfume Collector
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: May 14, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours & the publisher

Book Blurb: A remarkable novel about secrets, desire, memory, passion, and possibility. Newlywed Grace Monroe doesn’t fit anyone’s expectations of a successful 1950s London socialite, least of all her own. When she receives an unexpected inheritance from a complete stranger, Madame Eva d’Orsey, Grace is drawn to uncover the identity of her mysterious benefactor. Weaving through the decades, from 1920s New York to Monte Carlo, Paris, and London, the story Grace uncovers is that of an extraordinary women who inspired one of Paris’s greatest perfumers. Immortalized in three evocative perfumes, Eva d’Orsey’s history will transform Grace’s life forever, forcing her to choose between the woman she is expected to be and the person she really is. The Perfume Collector explores the complex and obsessive love between muse and artist, and the tremendous power of memory and scent.

Review: If there is a novel that is a must read, this book is it. The writing style is beautiful and it is easy to get caught up in the lives of Grace and Eva. Both women will captivate you, most especially Eva who comes from the most humble upbringings.

If you are a fan of M.J. Rose's last two novels, this book will definitely appeal to you, as you get a wonderful glimpse into the world of fragrances. This is something I really found fascinating, especially at one point where they captured the scent of snow and even more so when they found a formula that was looking for the scent of hair.

The story weaved the lives of these two women perfectly. Eva's story is told as Grace continues to look for clues on Eva's life, as she essentially left her estate to her, and Grace had never met her once in her life. (OK, she thinks she hasn't, but to tell you more would be SPOILERS).

I loved getting to know Eva, and while doing so, watch Grace become a different woman.

I couldn't put this book down once I started it. I reminded me of several wonderful books that I have read in the past year, The Shoemaker's Wife, The Book Of Lost Fragrances and The Baker's Daughter.  There are certain aspects of this story that seemed similar to that of these three book, perhaps the writing style as well, though M.J. Rose's novel is much more complex a read. The Perfume Collector is  much lighter, but seeped in history, as these other books are.

This book was easily one of the best I've read this year, engaging and wonderful, a page turner til the end.

Rating: 5 flowers

Cozy Mystery Book Tours Book Review: Mr Tea & the Traveling Tea Cup

About Mr Tea & the Travelling Tea Cup:
After the death of their mother, sisters Terry and Karen Sutter, turn their childhood home into a teahouse. It’s a dream come true, but the dream begins to resemble a nightmare when teacups start crashing to the floor in the middle of the night. Could the teahouse be haunted? There’s a list of possible ghostly candidates: the prior owner who is rumored to have left behind a buried treasure, two spinster neighbors who disappeared without a trace over forty years ago, or perhaps it’s Terry and Karen’s own mother trying to communicate with them. Karen, the older sister, thinks running a haunted teahouse might be fun, until the sisters come home one night to find the attic stairs covered in a trail of what appears to be blood. Is it a ghost or a warning? The teahouse’s new mascot, a psychic macaw, may provide some unexpected clues, but the sisters will encounter many more surprises before they solve this mystery.

Review: I'm always excited when I find a new cozy with a different twist to it. There are so many out there, so I was thrilled to be part of the tour for Mr. Tea and the Travelling Tea Cup.

Why?

First, a psychic macaw! (OK, he's really about as psychic  as Shawn Spencer from the tv show Psych, but you have to love this bird)

Most cozies are full of cats and dogs etc, but a bird! And this bird has quite a personality.

Then there are the teacups!

I love the ghostly air to the story, it definitely makes things a little different and a whole lot more interesting.

I also liked that their are two amateur sleuths here.  But they aren't really sleuths. But there is quite a mystery and it involves treasure. I also like the relationship between the two sisters. Terry and Karen are such fun, and I love Detective Greg, and how he's really working to find out what's going on in the Tea House!

Another really unique thing about this story is that they solve a cold case in a round a bout way.

This was a really fun cozy to read. The ending was a little to easy to figure out, but that didn't stop this from being a cute cozy. I look forward to seeing how this series turns out. I loved all the quirky characters in the story, especially Mr. Tea!

Rating: 4 flowers

About Leslie Matthews Stansfield:
LESLIE MATTHEWS STANSFIELD is the author of MR. TEA AND THE TRAVELING TEACUP, the first book in the Madeline’s Teahouse series. She is the author of a previous book, Windsor Locks, on the town she lives in. She grew up in Delmar, New York, and credits her friends with developing her imagination. Leslie is a graduate of University of Hartford and recently received her Masters’ degree from the University of Phoenix in Educational Leadership. She is a math tutor in a public school as well as the Christian Education Director of her church. She is currently working on her second book in the Madeline’s Teahouse series. She has four children and eight grandchildren and lives in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

Purchase from Amazon.
Connect with Leslie Matthews Stansfield: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Book Review: Back To The Good Fortune Diner

Author: Vicki Essex
Title: Back To The Good Fortune Diner
Publisher: Harlequin Superromance
Publish Date: Jan 2, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley

Book Blurb: Everville, New York — it's the town where Tiffany Cheung grew up, and the last place she wants to be. But after losing her job in Manhattan, that's exactly where she finds herself. Worse, she's working at her family's Chinese diner and feeling like the outsider she once was. The only bright side is that Chris Jamieson, the boy she used to tutor, is still around. Her high school crush is hotter than ever, and he needs her help… again. Tutoring Chris's son is the perfect temporary job. Except, Chris finally seems interested in her — and is hinting about a less temporary arrangement. Talk about bad timing! Because Tiffany's not staying and nothing will stop her from getting back to her real life. But maybe what's real is about to change….

Review: I love when Harlequin's change it up. I was instantly drawn to this book with the non-Caucasian heroine. It was something different from the usual fare.

I wish I could say that Tiffany was a fantastic heroine, because she wasn't. What she was, was a character with a lot of growing up to do. That's why I found I couldn't just love Tiffany. She had that 20 something's view of the world. I must follow a career path, I must get out of my home town, I must live in a big city etc.

I think most small town girls at one time want what Tiffany wanted. Most of us don't get it, and well..Tiff didn't really have it either. So she's back home to her dysfunctional family.

I think it was the craziness of her family that brought the story to life. Her crazy family reminded me a bit of Sofie Metropolis' family. (Anyone read those fantastic books? You should) I liked getting the feeling of being part of the restaurant's day to day operations, however mundane. Vicki painted a great picture of a close knit family run restaurant. (Oh and I got really hungry for chicken balls, which after much searching turns out to be the chicken in sweet and sour chicken)

Then there's our hero, Chris. First off, can I say the guy on the cover is gorgeous and definitely a perfect Chris. He was a great dad, trying hard to raise a son on his own. His own father is quite a piece of work. Mr. Jamieson could best be described as a good hearted racist, if such a think could exist.

Simon was a great teenager, full of moodiness and angst. His character really pulls everyone together. Tiff is tutoring him so he could get his grades up for college. He proves to be quite a challenge!

There's also a subplot with Tiff's brother Daniel and his girlfriend Selena. I would have liked to see more go on with that couple, but I was pleased with how everything worked out in the end for both siblings and their significant others.

There was a lot more to this story than romance but it was a great read for a quiet afternoon.

Rating: 4 flowers

Reading Addiction Blog Tours: Jane Lark - Illict Love

In the beginning – where my story inspiration starts

My stories always begin with a single image in my head. I see a picture, and then as I see that picture I feel the emotion of the scene.

Illicit Love is inspired by the memoirs of a real 19^th Century courtesan. When I read her story, I think it was the emotion expressed in her words which presented a picture in my mind’s eye.

I saw a woman, looking across at a young man, I felt how she was physically drawn to him, his looks attracted her, and she felt a hot, burning longing suddenly, yet there was pain inside her too, and a dead feeling. Edward’s and Ellen’s story unraveled from there.

The image above isn’t even in Harriette Wilson’s memoirs, so it isn’t her story, but then anything can stir the images in my head which go on to become a new plot for a book. The opening image of the book I’ve just begun working on was inspired by a Lady Gaga song. She was even singing about the opposite sex to the image her song suddenly threw into my mind.

Authors all have different inspirations, but I know there are other people who start a story with a single image.

Several years ago, when I’d first begun writing with a determination that one day I would have a novel published, I visited Lyme Regis in the UK. There’s a small museum there, commemorating the author, John Fowles, who wrote, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, and of course, this story was spun from the image he had of a woman standing at the end of the old harbor wall, as the skirt of her dress and her shawl blew sideward on the harsh sea breeze. From that picture, he crafted the story which had led her there.

Oh, I could share with you so many images hanging in my mind’s eyes, just waiting for their story to be written, but I shan’t because that would spoil the surprise when these books come out ;)

In the words of Harriette Wilson, the real 19^th Century courtesan, who inspired Illicit Love, and then - and then - and then…

If you read, Illicit Love, I value feedback, so please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads, or any other site you like. You can also let other readers know what you think on the Illicit Love Book Club page I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for this chance to speak about how my stories begin.

Best wishes

Jane   

Website http://www.janelark.co.uk/index.html 

Blog http://janelark.wordpress.com/

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Janelarkauthor

Twitter https://twitter.com/JaneLark 

Historical Romance

Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing

Date Published-  5/2/13

Synopsis: 

Ellen Harding longs to be free of the life she is trapped in - her husband died at the battle of Waterloo 

and her family disowned her and now she lives under the reign of a cruel protector. When her eyes are 

drawn to a beautiful man for no other reason than his looks, she imagines escaping her chains for a 

night by giving her body to him – to a man of her choosing – even if only to infuriate her captor. 

But Edward Marlow is kind and gentle when he touches her and her subconscious whispers that this 

man could save her. Yet how can he help her when she has secrets which prevent her ever being free. 

She has too many battles to fight. 

Edward is restless, lonely and a little angry with his lot in life – it is his only excuse for being drawn to 

another man’s mistress. The woman’s dark hair and pale eyes are striking and he cannot take his gaze 

off of her while she watches him over the top of a fan with an illicit intent in her eyes. But once he’s 

known her he cannot forget her - and once he’s seen how brutal her protector is, how can leave her 

with the man? But she will not run anymore than she will speak of her past, so how can he help her…

Reading Addiction Book Tours Book Review: Illicit Love

Historical Romance

Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing

Date Published-  5/2/13

Synopsis: 

Ellen Harding longs to be free of the life she is trapped in - her husband died at the battle of Waterloo 

and her family disowned her and now she lives under the reign of a cruel protector. When her eyes are 

drawn to a beautiful man for no other reason than his looks, she imagines escaping her chains for a 

night by giving her body to him – to a man of her choosing – even if only to infuriate her captor. 

But Edward Marlow is kind and gentle when he touches her and her subconscious whispers that this 

man could save her. Yet how can he help her when she has secrets which prevent her ever being free. 

She has too many battles to fight. 

Edward is restless, lonely and a little angry with his lot in life – it is his only excuse for being drawn to 

another man’s mistress. The woman’s dark hair and pale eyes are striking and he cannot take his gaze 

off of her while she watches him over the top of a fan with an illicit intent in her eyes. But once he’s 

known her he cannot forget her - and once he’s seen how brutal her protector is, how can leave her 

with the man? But she will not run anymore than she will speak of her past, so how can he help her…

Review: This is a unique historical. It isn't often you get the story from the eyes of women who is someone's mistress. However in this cast her protector isn't much of one.

So right from the start this is a book that is different.

Jane has created characters that you really feel for. Ellen has had a rough life to end up where she is right now, and you have to be rooting for her. You want her to have just a little bit of happiness in her life and Edward....ah...Edward. He is truly one of the best heroes I've read about in a long time. Any conflict between Edward and Ellen has more to do with him trying to help her than him being an alpha male. Can I just say, I'm not a huge fan of alpha males.

This is another book that had me on the edge of me seat with nerves because of an abusive man. I didn't realize how many historical romances out there were dealing with an issue like this. I loved Edward for helping Ellen, because the life she was living wasn't one she deserved. Her history made me think of Fantine from Les Miz. I mean, every man in her life, up until Edward let her down...well, except her first husband, but it was her first marriage that started her on the downward spiral, though her first husband was not to blame...well except that he died.

I really couldn't tear myself from this book once I started reading it. I had to find out how everything was resolved and what happened to that nasty (insert expletive here) protector of hers.

Rating: 5 flowers

Jane Lark

Author Bio

Jane is qualified to the equivalent of a Masters Degree in People Management and is fascinated by the things which craft people's personalities, so she has great fun exploring these through characters. She lives in the United Kingdom near the Regency City of Bath and has just bought her 400 year old dream home. History has always tempted her imagination and she loves researching and also exploring ruins and houses to get ideas. She equally loves a love story.

Jane has always aspired to writing a historical novel so when she was thirty she put it on her ‘to do before I am forty’ list. She completed her first novel ten years ago, never sent it anywhere then started the next. She’s not stopped writing since, and escaping into a mental world of fiction is a great painkiller to help fight off her Ankylosing Spondylitis.

Jane is a member of RWA, RNA, and the Historical Novel Society.

Website- http://www.janelark.co.uk/
Twitter- www.twitter.com/janelark
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/jane.lark.3?fref=ts

Bewitching Book Tours Book Reviews: Tessa Dare Spindle Cove w/Giveaway

Beauty and the Blacksmith  

Tessa Dare

On Sale Date: April 30, 2013

ISBN: 9780062238849,

ISBN: 0062238841

Genre: Fiction / Romance

Amazon

Description:

Take a trip to Spindle Cove in New York Times bestselling author Tessa Dare’s gorgeous and sexy Regency romance.

Beautiful and elegant, Miss Diana Highwood is destined to marry a wealthy, well-placed nobleman. At least that’s what her mother has loudly declared to everyone in Spindle Cove.

But Diana’s not excited by dukes and lords. The only man who makes her heart pound is the village blacksmith, Aaron Dawes. By birth and fortune, they couldn’t be more wrong for each other ... but during stolen, steamy moments in the smithy, his strong hands feel so right.

Is their love forged strong enough to last, or are they just playing with fire?

Excerpt: How could she help staring? The man had wrists as thick as her ankle.

As always, he wore his sleeves rolled to the elbow, exposing forearms roped with muscle. He pumped the bellows, commanding the flames to dance.

Broad shoulders stretched his homespun shirt, and a leather apron hung low on his hips. As he removed the glowing bit of metal from the fire and placed it on his anvil, his open collar gaped.

Diana averted her gaze—but not fast enough. She caught a moment’s glimpse of pure, superheated virility. Sculpted chest muscles, bronzed skin, dark hair...

“Behave yourself,” he said.

The words startled her breathless.

He knows. He knows. He’s realized that refined, perfect gently bred Miss Highwood comes to the smithy to gawp at his brute manliness. Behave yourself, indeed.

She felt ridiculous. Ashamed. Exposed.

And then—suddenly—relieved.

He wasn’t speaking to her. He was speaking to his work.

“That’s it.” Perspiration glistened on his brow. With a steady hand and a low, rich baritone, he finessed the broken clasp. “Be good for me now.”

Diana turned her gaze downward, focusing on the floor. Neatly swept and fitted stones paved her half of the smithy, where visitors waited for their work. The ground around the forge was packed with black, smudgy cinders. And the border between the two could not have been more stark, or more meaningful.

Here was the division between customer and smith. The line between the world of a gentlewoman and a working man’s domain.

“There we are,” he said. “That’s the way.”

Oh, goodness. She could look away from this thick forearms and his muscled chest. But that voice.

Review: This is the most fantastic novella I've read in ages. Yes, it is a short 100 pages, but the story is different and romantic and wonderful.

How many historical romances have you read where the heroine falls in love with someone beneath her station, and by beneath her station, I don't mean in the military or a swashbuckling sexy pirate.

Not many I bet.

In this novella, Diane, who is in Spindle Cove with her mother to find a husband, a rich one, too. At least that's what mom wants. Diane, however has other ideas. She's totally smitten with Aaron, the local blacksmith, who is sweet, kind and noble.

OMG! A historical hero who isn't an alpha male!

I am so in love with Aaron Dawes!

I loved the plot twist with the stolen items too, that brought things out in the open for everyone too.

This is probably the best novella I've read. Tessa Dare is an absolute dream with historical romance. This is a story not to be missed.

Oh and you get to meet Pauline Simms too, however briefly, who is the heroine of Any Duchess Will Do.

Rating: 5 flowers

Any Duchess Will Do  

Tessa Dare

On Sale Date: May 28, 2013

ISBN: 9780062240125

ISBN: 0062240129

Genre: Fiction / Romance

Publisher: Avon

384 pages

Amazon   Amazon Paperback

Today Pauline is just a serving girl in Spindle Cove but tomorrow... she'll be a Duchess?! It's a Spindle Cove Pygmalion story as only New York Times Bestselling author Tessa Dare can tell it.

What's a duke to do, when the girl who's perfectly wrong becomes the woman he can't live without?

Griffin York, the Duke of Halford, has no desire to wed this season-or any season-but his diabolical mother abducts him to "Spinster Cove" and insists he select a bride from the ladies in residence. Griff decides to teach her a lesson that will end the marriage debate forever. He chooses the serving girl.

Overworked and struggling, Pauline Simms doesn't dream about dukes. All she wants is to hang up her barmaid apron and open a bookshop. That dream becomes a possibility when an arrogant, sinfully attractive duke offers her a small fortune for a week's employment. Her duties are simple: submit to his mother's "duchess training"… and fail miserably.

But in London, Pauline isn't a miserable failure. She's a brave, quick-witted, beguiling failure-a woman who ignites Griff's desire and soothes the darkness in his soul. Keeping Pauline by his side won't be easy. Even if Society could accept a serving girl duchess-can a roguish duke convince a serving girl to trust him with her heart?

Excerpt: “I thought you didn’t have noble impulses.”

“Believe me.” He stared into her eyes and spoke the words without lewdness or irony. “I don’t.”

If he possessed a single grain of decency, he would have set her down long moments ago. Wicked as it made him, he loved the way she was clinging to his neck. As though the world around them were a vast, frozen waste and sharing the heat of his body was her only chance to survive. It was so easy to believe, for this moment, that she needed him. Needed his touch, his mouth, his heated breath. His bared, feverish skin all over hers.

Amazing, what acrobatic contortions the lusting male mind could achieve. He’d almost convinced himself that kissing her lush, sweet lips was the noble thing to do.

Almost. But not quite.

“I’ll put you down now,” he said.

She nodded.

And then she pressed her lips to his.

Praise and curses be heaped. The girl kissed him.

Review: I am officially in love with Tessa Dare and  the Spindle Cove series. I have to go back and buy all the books now to see who fell in love with who before.

There's something about Tessa's writing that makes a story that seems as old as time, as the song goes, seem fresh and new.

In this story, the Duke of Halford, plukes serving girl, Pauline from her duties to make her his duchess, more in hopes of getting his mother to stop matchmaking.

The problem is, Pauline may be of the lower class, but she is beautiful, spunky and full of trouble! 

I can't begin to say how much I loved this regency twist on Pygmalion. 

Pauline is perfect, and I loved her attachment to her sister. And then there's the Duke's mother! You want to dislike her for what she's trying to do, but you can't! And she's just what you expect a dowager duchess to be! She turns out to be really sweet.

All I can say is the "knitting" is what will totally win you over.

I loved the scene in the library after she kissed him when he told her if it had been a real kiss she'd be "beset by flutterings."

Flutterings is my new word! 

Love it!

Pauline is the type of character with spunk and intelligence, probably more so than some of the aristocracy. She's a delight to read about and so is Griff, especially when you learn the secret to his locked room. (I'm not telling, you have to read it...) Your heart will break for him.

Wonderful book!

Tessa Dare again delivers a winner!

Rating: 5 flowers

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