Review - Everywhere She Turns

Title: Everywhere She Turns
Author: Debra Webb
Publishing Date: 2009
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating: B
Sensuality: Hot
Book Disclosure: Borrowed this book from the local library.

Dr. CJ Patterson learns that her sister Shelley has been murdered. CJ and Shelley grew up in Huntsville, Alabama on the wrong side of the tracks. CJ was able to make something of herself and become a doctor, but her sister Shelley wasn't so lucky. Shelley was a prostitute and drug addict. CJ goes back home to make sure the police are doing what they can to find Shelley's killer. CJ knows that since Shelley wasn't an important citizen that they would be more likely to ignore her murder than make it a priority. She won't stand for that and gets involved with the investigation.

Debra Webb pens excellent suspense. I was engrossed in the story right from the beginning. The suspense portion of the story is very involved. There are a multitude of suspects and angles that the police are investigating. The reader is privy to some of the suspects' points of view, as well as CJ's and the detective Braddock's. CJ and Braddock have a past, which unfolds a little at a time over the first half of the book. The sexual tension between CJ and Braddock is very well done and their first intimate scene together is a scorcher. Whew! I felt that the evolution of their relationship was excellently done and very believable.

The one thing that bothered me with the book was CJ. For an intelligent woman she sure did make some stupid decisions. She had a tendency to put herself in dangerous situations. I think for those readers who are sensitive to this type of heroine will be annoyed with CJ. I could over look it because Webb does pen a good story. The mystery/suspense had plenty of twists and turns where eventually everything culminated in a crashing crescendo. If you can overlook the heroine's bad decision making skills, Everywhere She Turns is definitely an entertaining read.

This book can be purchased in print or kindle format from Amazon.

Series Sunday - The Hathaways

I can't believe I haven't done a Series Sunday post for Lisa Kleypas's popular Hathaway series. Ms. Kleypas happens to be one of my favorite authors and those of you who follow my blog I'm sure have realized this. Her writing style is so easy to read and all of her books seem to resonate with me.

The Hathaway series focuses on the Hathaway family who on the surface seems to be a bunch of misfits. They don't fit into the perfect mold that most of London Society deems essential for survival. After their parents died along with a string of other relatives, the head of the family, Leo was left with the title of Viscount and a slew of sisters to care for Amelia, Winnie, Poppy and Beatrix.

This series features each of these siblings getting their own book and gaining their happily ever after. I have read the first three books in the series. I don't necessarily think that these books need to be read in order, as each stands alone. But the reading experience would be enhanced (especially for Leo's story) if they are read in order. In my opinion, just go ahead and read them in order. I can vouch that they are all good and you won't be waisting your time!

Series Reading Order:
1. Mine Till Midnight (Amelia and Cam)
2. Seduce Me At Sunrise (Winnie and Merripen)
3. Tempt Me At Twilight (Poppy and Harry)
4. Married by Morning (Leo and Cathrine) coming Summer of 2010!
5. Love in the Afternoon (Beatrix)

*Fun Fact* Cam, the hero in Mine Till Midnight first appears in The Devil in Winter as a secondary character. He was appealing to readers then and easily garnered attention. Readers wanted him to get his own book and eventually he did!

Review - Tempt Me Tonight

Title: Tempt Me Tonight
Author: Toni Blake
Publishing Date: 2007
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: B-
Sensuality: Hot
Book Disclosure: Borrowed from Paperspine. Also, part of my RT Reading Challenge.

Trish Henderson and Joe Ramsey were a tight item in high school until the night that Joe chose lust over true love. Joe made a choice that he would grow to regret for a life time. Thirteen years have passed. Trish is a successful lawyer and comes home to the town of Eden where she grew up to help her parents sell their diner so they can retire to Florida. She runs into Joe at a local bar. Not making one of her better decisions she plots to seduce Joe to excercise her demons. Only what she ends up doing is opening a can of worms better left unopened and she realizes that she still harbors feelings for Joe after all these years.

Tempt Me Tonight is a fairly entertaining read if albeat a little uneven. The writing excels with the characters. Both Joe and Trish are protrayed realistically and are fully developed. The reader will come to understand both sides of the story and it will be hard to choose between the two. I felt for both Trish and Joe as they both suffered from mistakes made in the past and neither one of them was able to move forward from it. Tempt Me Tonight focuses soley on these two and what they need to do to work out their problems.

Occasionally, where my attention would wander would be when the characters took it in their mind to have a long internal discussion about the romance. I would have prefered to see action as opposed to internal dialogue. But, I can attest to some beautiful scenes, only these were few and far between. One in particular is a scene where Joe and Trish stay up all night talking and watch the sun rise in the morning. That was quite touching.

There is also the character Beverly who is sort of the villain in the story, although she isn't portrayed as "eeevil". I really appreciated that. She has her own secondary romance. I actually wanted more than we got of her story and felt that it ended all to abruptly and only scratched the surface. It got wrapped up with a neat and tidy bow, but I think there was more to the story.

All in all, I can safely say I think Toni Blake has a lot of potential and I will definitely be looking into some of her other books. I would recommend this one to fans of childhood love, or lost love themes in romance.

Here is what others had to say:

Erotic Horizon
Dear Author
Stacy's Place on Earth
Bluegrass Romance Reviews
Lovin' Me Some Romance
Laurie's Laudanum

This book can be purchased in print and kindle format from Amazon.

Review - King of Sword and Sky

Title: King of Sword and Sky
Author: C. L. Wilson
Publishing Date: 2008
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: C+
Sensuality: Warm
Book Disclosure: Received from Paperbackswap

King of Sword and Sky is the third book in C. L. Wilson's Tairen Soul Series. If you are not familiar with this series, this is not the book to begin with. You'll want to start with the first book Lord of the Fading Lands. Ellysetta has been chosen to save the Fey. How she is supposed to do exactly that is not known. Ellysetta travels with Rain back to the Fading Lands to see how she can stop the Tairen and Fey from extinction. Meanwhile, back in Eld the High Mage is building up his troops preparing for war against the Fey. He has a few tricks up his sleeve that might just tip victory in his favor.

The Tairen Soul series is a sweeping fantasy tale of good verses evil. C. L. Wilson pens a visual story filled vivid imagery and numerous details. While many will find this writing style colorful and imaginative, I found it tedious. Often I found the details of Elly and Rain's plight over exemplified. It seemed every little detail made it's way into the story. Also, the Fey have so much magic. At any time they can create anything they desire, from food to clothing or even just heating up their bath water. The buildings and just about everything in the Fading Lands is so picturesque it has a Disney-like quality to it. It just seemed all to perfect to me.

The part of the story that I really enjoyed was the battle at the end. Here is where all those details really payed off. The battle just comes alive on the page and the imagery is astonishing. The intensity of the story really ratchets up a great deal. This book ends on a cliff-hanger and I can see why so many people were wanting to get the next book, Queen of Song and Souls in their hands right away. At this point, I am not sure if I will finish with this series. I don't want to have to slog through 300 pages of mundane details to get to 100 pages of really good stuff. I'm on the fence.

Here is what others had to say:

Leslie's Psyche
Dear Author
Leontine's Book Realm
Babbling About Books and More
The Book Smugglers
Lurv a La Mode
The Good, The Bad, The Unread
Bodice Ripper Reviews
Aneca's World
Alpha Heroes

This book can be purchased in print or kindle format from Amazon.

October RT Challenge

Bet you thought I forgot about my RT Challenge for the month of October. Well you would be right, LOL! Okay, so I am a few days short but better late than never, right? I was able to read three books by authors who I have never read but will be attending the RT convention in 2010.


Jill: A Perfect Darkness by Jamie Rush - Rated: C+
Jill: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley - Rated A-
Jill: Tempt Me Tonight by Toni Blake - Rated: B-

If anybody else participated in this challenge and you would like your review linked on this post, email me or leave a comment. I will continually update this post.

If anybody wants to participate but doesn't have a blog, I would be happy to post your review here on my blog. Just email me or comment and let me know.

I will be adding this post to my sidebar and another post for the month of November. More information about this challenge can be found here.

Review - Practice Makes Perfect

Title: Practice Makes Perfect
Author: Julie James
Publishing Date: March 2009
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Warm
Book Disclosure: Acquired a used one from Paperbackswap.

Payton Kendall and J.D. Jameson are two associate lawyers who have worked in the same law firm for the last 8 years. Both are hard working individuals who are fantastic at what they do. That is where the similarities end. Payton and J.D. have a healthy dose of competitiveness to their relationship and are always trying to out perform the other. Recently, they have been assigned to the same case and will have to learn to work together. Not only that, they are both up for partner and have been told that only one of them will be chosen.

I loved Practice Makes Perfect! This is a witty, fun, fast-paced read that I couldn't put down after picking it up. Right from the start the tone of the book was set with the first scene when Payton is preparing for work. She is rushing around getting ready, trying to beat J.D. to work. The competition begins and may the best man, or woman win. It never lets up and there are many wonderfully clever written scenes. Scenes that remain memorable long after the book has been read.

Both Payton and J.D. have chips on their shoulders. They are flawed, but I think in a good way. They are not perfect people, yet they are down right likable. At first glance J.D. might seem like a pampered elitist pretty boy - but nope, he is not like that all. Yeah, he has a lot of money, but he doesn't flash it all around. At the core he is practical and a hard worker. Payton is fiercely competitive and strong in her beliefs, but she doesn't come across as pushy. She is fair and open-minded. Really, these two were very well balance individuals.

Another big point in favor to the story is that the romance was very believable. J.D. and Payton knew each other for a long time. For 8 years they competed and fought with one another. I think it could be thought of as 8 years of foreplay! Next thing you know, each is seeing the other in a new light. One of my favorite scenes is when J.D. and Payton discuss what the other felt the first time they met. That was a very sweet scene. I definitely recommend this book for fans of contemporary romance, or those who love a light-hearted comedic romance.

Here is what others had to say:

Dear Author
Tracy's Place
Babbling About Books
The Book Smugglers
Gossamer Obsessions
Closetwriter
Good Books, Bad Books and Everything in Between
Lusty Reader
Book Addict
Janicu's Book Blog

This book can be purchased in print or kindle format from Amazon.

October Book Summary

This month I read 13 books and they were pretty much all over the map. I had some standouts with The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, Practice Makes Perfect and Tempt Me at Twilight. Then I had some duds with Dark Lover and A Marquis to Marry. I also didn't make Nath's Re-read Challenge this month. I just felt that with all the books sitting in my TBR pile, I didn't have time to devote to a re-read. So, a give a big apology to those of you who were anticipating my review of Lucky's Lady.

1. Wild Sweet Ecstasy Goodman (Western) Rating: B-
2. A Marquis to Marry Grey (Historical) Rating: C-
3. Club Dead Harris (Urban Fantasy) Rating: B+
4. Tempt Me at Twilight Kleypas (Historical) Rating: A-
5. A Perfect Darkness Rush (Paranormal) Rating: C+
6. Frostbitten Armstrong (Urban Fantasy) Rating: B+
7. The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie Ashley (Historical) Rating: A-
8. Dark Lover Joyce (Time-Travel) Rating: D
9. Dark Paradise Hoag (Suspense) Rating: B
10. Practice Makes Perfect James (Contemporary) Rating: B+
11. King of Sword and Sky Wilson (Fantasy) Rating: C+
12. Tempt Me Tonight Blake (Contemporary) Rating: B-
13. Everywhere She Turns Webb (Rom. Suspense) Rating: B