Review - Time and Again

Title: Time and Again
Author: Beverly Sommers
Publishing Date: 1987
Genre: Time Travel
Rating: B
Sensuality: Warm
Book Disclosure: I received a copy from Paperbackswap.com

I choose Time and Again because of this really great post done by Magdalan at Monkey Bear Reviews. I was in the mood for something different and this one fit the bill, a time-travel novel that takes place in turn of the century San Francisco, California. Lauren Hall is one minute at a McDonalds in 1980 in the middle of an earthquake only to find herself transported thru time to 1906. Early Cruz, a reporter for the newspaper takes pity on Lauren and allows her to live as his housekeeper.

Time and Again is a short book coming in at 253 pages. It is a quick, interesting read. I think I finished it easily in a day. The neat thing about this book is that it really is unlike any other romance I have read. The time travel portion of the book came off as rather genuine especially Lauren and Early's reaction to the time-travel. Early is very much old fashioned in comparison to Lauren's more modern proclivities. There is not a lot of romance between Lauren and Early, but what there was developed slowly. If you are looking for something a little different from the usual, give this a try (if you can find it, LOL).

Review - Amethyst Destiny

Title: Amethyst Destiny
Author: Pamela Montgomerie
Publishing Date: May 2010
Genre: Time Travel
Rating: B-
Sensuality: Warm
Book Disclosure: I purchased this book new.

Amethyst Destiny is the second book in Pamela Montgomerie's Jewels of Time series. Julia Brodie is sent back through time to 1688 after her cousin gives her a special necklace. She finds herself in a castle in Scotland standing before a man who believes he is responsible for her time-travel. Talon, known as the wizard thinks the magical ring he wears brought her to him in order to help him find a lamp. Julia and Talon work together to find the lamp and send her back home, but they both harbor feelings for each other that complicate the situation.

Julia Brodie is one of those heroines who get on my nerves. She was a prickly little booger, always snipping at Talon and just being a pain in the ass in general. Now, Julia has valid reasons for most of her behavior, but it was annoying all the same. Talon has his own issues which stem from low self esteem. He doesn't think he is worth much without his magical ring. The good news is that Julia sees beyond that and believes him to be a good man and worthy of her love.

The pacing in Amethyst Destiny is good. There is plenty of action to keep the story moving forward. The nice thing about the characters is that they morph and grow as the story moves along. I have noticed that Mongomerie is not afraid to delve into more horrific events to stir up the readers’ imaginations. The time travel element, while fantastical itself feels more realistic to Montgomerie's writing, which leads a more realistic style as far as lifestyle and human emotions go. I didn't like Amethyst Destiny as much as I did Sapphire Dreams, however I am not ready to write this series off yet.

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Smexy Books

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

Review - Sapphire Dream

Title: Sapphire Dream
Author: Pamela Montgomerie
Publishing Date: 2009
Genre: Time Travel
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Warm
Book Disclosure: I got a used copy from Kris at the Central Fl blogger meet and greet.

Brenna Cameron finds herself on a pirate ship off the coast of Scotland. At first, she can't remember how she got there and thinks these men are actors, possibly from a movie set or war re-enactors. After a dangerous encounter with these men Brenna comes to the realization that she is in the year 1768. She is tied to a prophesy that claims she will destroy of the Earl of Slains. With only the help of the handsome captain, Roarke Douglas she must find a way to get back to her own time.

I was pleasantly surprised with Sapphire Dreams. It has been a while since I read a time-travel novel of this caliber. Pamela Montgomerie does an awesome job of setting the tone and mood of the book. Even though this is a time-travel novel it felt very real. It had a more serious and intense vibe than other time-travel books I have read like Sandra Hill or Sandy Blair.

Brenna is very smart and her actions reflect that. Once Brenna realizes how dangerous the world is for an unescorted woman in this time she clings to her only protector, Roarke. Her confusion and abandonment really came across strong giving the book a feeling of reality. I also really liked that Roarke and Brenna don't fight their attraction. They are fairly open with their feelings for one another. Another positive in the book’s favor is an unusual twist to the plot that keeps this time-travel novel fresh and original.

Brenna and Roarke occasionally make the mistake of assuming things about the other, which eventually leads to problems that could have easily been avoided had they communicated better. More historical detail could have beefed up this book to an A rating. Outlander by Gabaldon did set the bar high, but Sapphire Dream comes close. I enjoyed it and believe that fans of time-travel will too.

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The Good, The Bad and The Unread
Ramblings on Romance, Etc.

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

Review - Dark Lover

Title: Dark Lover
Author: Brenda Joyce
Publishing Date: October 2009
Genre: Time Travel
Rating: D
Sensuality: Warm
Book Disclosure: Rented from Paperspine

Dark Lover is the fifth book in Brenda Joyce's Masters of Time series. Ian Maclean spent 66 years imprisoned by a powerful demon suffering from unspeakable torture as a nine year old boy. His father eventually freed him from this demon, but Ian carries horrible emotional scars. He has spent the last twenty five years building up his wealth and power in the hopes that nothing like that will ever happen to him again. Samantha Rose works for a secret government agency which keeps track of demonic activity. They hear that Ian Maclean has acquired a page from an ancient text, one that has a very powerful spell attached to it. Sam is assigned to get the page back from Ian before it falls into enemy hands.

Dark Lover is one of those books that I should have just given up on and stopped reading after I realized it wasn't for me. Instead, I managed to keep reading (after all I am a fan of Brenda Joyce's work) but it just never got any better. It seemed like there were many things about this book that hit my hot buttons. I am going to focus on the two main issues.

First, I didn't like the characters. Ian had two personalities, neither of which were appealing a.) he would act like an arrogant jerk or b.) a scared little boy. I understand that he was tortured, but Ian's behavior just didn't sit right with me. Sam's personality wasn't all that great either. She keeps herself at an emotional distance from everyone. She likes meaningless sex and will have it with anyone. She starts to feel, *gasp* compassion for Ian when she learns what he went through. But there is a lot of mental head hopping which explains the emotions of these characters, but not enough action with them working through these issues and they are very heavy issues. They are not something that can be glossed over, which is what I felt happened.

The second major complaint I had with the story was the plot/world building. First of all, the evil bad guy from a previous book comes back to play in this story. I'm sorry, but if the characters already took the time to battle with him in the last book you can't just resurrect him and have him show up again. I mean, who's to say the guy doesn't just keep showing up again and again. Enough is enough. The author does take the time to explain it, but seriously it all just seemed way to flimsy to me. There are still a few characters who could get their stories, but at this point I have no desire to read them. This series is on the outs with me.

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

Review - Spell of the Highlander

Title: Spell of the Highlander
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Publishing Date: 2005
Genre: Time Travel
Rating: A
Sensuality: Hot

Spell of the Highlander, to date, is last book in Karen Marie Moning's highlander series and it just happens to also be my favorite. Jessie St. James is a grad student studying to get her doctorate in archeology in Chicago. She has been asked to accept a package for her professor in his absence. So off she goes to sign for a package. Well, this package happens to be an antique mirror. But, it isn't just any mirror. It is an old UnSeelie relic and it has been cursed. Cian McKeltar has been trapped in this mirror for 1,133 years. Now, Jessie must help Cian keep the mirror out of Lucian Trevan's hands before Samhain in order to break the curse and set Cian free.

There are many reasons why I love this book. First, it has an approachable girly heroine, who is smart and funny. Jessie, is by no means "kick ass", but she can definitely hold it together when things take a turn for the worst. Luckily for her she has an awesome hero Cian, who is a Man with a capital M. His philosophy is if he can't take care of his woman's needs, then he can't call himself a man. He might be a man of few words, but when he does talk he really packs a punch.

This leads to my next favorite reason why I love this book; great dialogue. Cian and Jessie have a great rapport together and their relationship flows seamlessly along. This then leads to great pacing. This book is off and running right from the beginning and doesn't let up until the end. There is plenty of action and drama to keep the story moving. And the wonderful thing about it is that I am completely sucked into the story. As unbelievable as the whole premise is, somehow Ms. Moning makes it all work. This book is the ultimate escape and I love everything about it.

This is just such a great book and I don't even think I am beginning to do it justice. I think what we need here is a good quote so you can experience the book for yourselves. This scene takes place after Jessie releases Cian from the mirror and he realizes he can't use Voice on Jessie. That is a great scene in of itself, but too long, so I opted for the following scene.

God, he was arrogant. She marveled at the sheer, unmitigated cockiness of the man. Had all ninth-century men been that way?
In retrospect, it occurred to her that she should have seen it coming.
She was, after all, a fan of history, a studier of mankind, a ponderer of ancient civilizations. She knew what life had been like a thousand years ago for woman.
Men had been Men.
And women had been Property.
And somehow, she still managed to be utterly unprepared when he ducked that sexy, dark head of his and charged her.
"Oomph!" Jessi grunted, as his shoulder made contact with her stomach.
Her feet left the ground, her world tilted precariously, and the next thing she new, she was hanging upside down over his shoulder.
One of his muscle-bound arms banded her waist, pinning her to his shoulder. The other hand splayed firmly on her bottom.
She parted her lips and was just about to let loose a screech that would do a banshee proud, when his hand moved.
Possessively. Intimately. Dipping right between her legs.

How is that for a teaser to get you wanting more? Yep, that's right, you know you want to read it now!




This book was part of Nath's re-read challenge. Head on over to Nath's to view a list of other participants.

Review - Dark Victory

Title: Dark Victory
Author: Brenda Joyce
Publishing Date: March 2009
Genre: Time-Travel
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Hot

Dark Victory is the fourth book in Brenda Joyce's Masters of Time series. Tabby Rose is a white witch living in modern day New York City. She comes from a long line of magical women. It is their destiny to fight evil. Tabby has always been connected to a sad grieving boy. It turns out this boy is now a man and not just any man, but a medieval highland warrior. As she is viewing an exhibit in a Manhattan museum she has a vision of him and he his burnt and bleeding. Wanting so badly to help this man that she is drawn to, she casts a spell to send him through time to her. Tabby has never been as powerful a witch as her grandmother, but her spell works and Black Macleod is sent across centuries to New York.

So far this series has been hit or miss for me. The first one I liked okay, the second one I really enjoyed and then the third one fell flat. If Dark Victory follows the pattern, then it should be another book that I liked. Well, guess what? I did! Tabby and Macleod have a lot of issues to work through in this book, but I enjoyed their struggles over evil and(the best part)their smouldering sexual tension. There is lots of angst in this book, so look out!

Both Tabby and Macleod are very stubborn people, who strongly believe in their convictions. Unfortunately, for Tabby and Macleod they both have different views on how to handle their problems. The only thing that they do seem to agree on is their sexual attraction to one another. At one point after Tabby and Macleod refuse to budge in their beliefs, Macleod says to Tabby, "If ye insist on war, we'll war in the day. But not in the night." He puts the kibosh on any more of her protests and they form a sort of truce. Le Sigh. I just love a man who knows what he wants and goes after it.

I will admit that Black Macleod was a little more black than I generally like my heroes to be. He walked a fine line at certain times between being a "bad boy" and just down right cruel. He fully redeems himself in the end, though and that made it all the better. The time travel aspect of the story is very convoluted and definitely got confusing. I am certain I still don't have a full grasp on how it works. I just go with the flow and try not to think to hard about it or pick it apart. If this is one of your pet peeves, then you might have a problem with this aspect of the book. Other than that, it's a promising read.

Review - Dark Embrace

Title: Dark Embrace
Author: Brenda Joyce
Publishing Date: August 2008
Genre: Time-Travel
Rating: C
Sensuality: Warm

Dark Embrace is Brenda Joyce’s third novel in her Masters of Time series. It is also the start of the Rose Trilogy within the series. Brianna Rose is from long line of Rose women. These women have all had special powers passed down to them through the generations. Brianna’s special power is empathy. She can sense other peoples’ emotions. Brie has had a crush on Aiden since she the time she briefly meets him in Dark Rival.

Aiden is a Master and can time travel. After hearing Brianna scream for help, he leaps through time to find and protect her. She was being attacked by a group of boys who had been consumed by evil. Aiden saves her. A conflict happens between Brianna’s boss and Aiden. Aiden leaps time and takes Brianna with him back to Scotland in the year 1508.

I hate to say this but I was really disappointed with this story. Aiden appeared in the first two books as a happy-go-lucky, ladies man. Now he is consumed by hatred and revenge. He does such a complete one-eighty that I hardly recognized him as the same man. Aiden was pretty nasty to Brie most of the time and just an all around unpleasant man.

I also think Aiden’s personality and problems overshadowed Brie in this book. Aiden was too mean and Brie was too mousy. His struggles and problems were the focus and therefore the books seemed unbalanced. For example, I don’t even really understand Brie’s powers and how she came to have them. Nor is there much written about her family or background. Aiden was too changed for me to really like him and it is such a shame because he really could have been a magnetic character. Brie and Aiden’s sudden happy ending was not very believable.

One other thing that bothered me was Brie’s boss Nick, who has some very, unexpected capabilities in the book. This just leads to more questions that were left unanswered. It is possible that they will be addressed in future books in the series, but again, it left me confused and unsatisfied with this book.

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Review - Nights in Black Satin

Title: Nights in Black Satin
Author: Noelle Mack
Publishing Date: 2007
Genre: Time Travel (Erotic)
Rating: D
Sensuality: Burning

Nights in Black Satin begins with a young artist, Sarah Ryan who has traveled to Venice to appreciate the history and art of the city. She attends a wild party because a friend gave her the invitation. She meets a mysterious compelling man, Marco who walks her home from the party. The next day they meet and begin a tryst. Marco acquires an old book of spells that Sarah reads out loud from and the next thing they know they are transported back into Venice in the 1700’s (although, that is my best guess as to the time period).

I thought the premise of this book was very promising. Venice is a setting that is not used a lot in romances. I love time-travel novels and with the romance of Venice I was very excited about this book. I am sorry to say that it did not live up to my expectations. This first half of the book was actually pretty good. Marco comes across as very worldly and mysterious and Sarah who is young and naïve can’t help but be attracted to him. Fortunately for her the feeling is mutual. I liked that after their first encounter they don’t end up in bed right away. The time they spend together the first night is actually kind of sweet.

After they travel through time though, Marco takes on a different personality. He seems more selfish and even petulant. Sarah herself began to grate on my nerves because she was just as selfish. For this couple to have a lasting relationship was not at all believable. They never talked or worked out their problems or worries and none of the major issues were ever really addressed, at least not to my satisfaction. Also, there were hardly any steamy scenes in the last half of the book. It just became very boring and it was a real struggle to finish. I don’t recommend this book at all.

Review – Highland Guardian

Title: Highland Guardian
Author: Melissa Mayhue
Publishing Date: November 2007
Genre: Time Travel
Rating: B-
Sensuality: Warm

Sarah Douglas is a successful romance writer currently suffering from writers block. She has had this strange compulsion to visit Scotland. Since she can’t seem to make any progress on her book she finds a quant cottage to stay at for a few months. Maybe she will be able to write again if she scratches this itch. Sarah has always been able to sense other peoples’ feelings when she touches them. These feelings can sometimes incapacitate her. Sarah is unaware of the reason for her unusual “gift” is because she is a descendent of the Fae. After she meets the handsome Ian McCullogh, the owner of the quaint cottage where she is staying, she learns more than she ever wanted to about her gift. Ian is a guardian and half Fae himself. It has been his job for over 600 years to keep certain evil Fae out of the Faery Realm.

The plot may sound complicated but it’s really not. I felt that this was a light and fluffy story that was an enjoyable way to pass the time. It is not at all dark or heavy. Sarah is a very sweet heroine. For a 38 year old woman, she came across as very innocent (don’t worry, she wasn’t a virgin). It wasn’t over done where she seemed too perfect and therefore unlikeable. I actually liked her personality quite a bit. Ian was a good match for her. He realized what a good person she was right away. He was smart about Sarah for the most part. He does pull a bonehead move later on in the story, inevitably hurting Sarah. Thankfully it all gets resolved satisfactorily.

There are some interesting secondary characters. A little boy Will, who befriends Sarah, is a cute touch. There is also an interesting man Ramos, who the reader is not sure whose side he is on. Is he a good Fae or a bad Fae? I felt it made the conflict in the story more interesting. Sarah’s ex-husband was a little to over the top for me. He really says some nasty things to Sarah in front of other people that felt unbelievable to me. I really don’t think someone would say those things in public. Also, sometimes while reading this book I found my mind wondering. Now, I don’t know if it was me or the book. I don’t want to say that the book was boring, because it wasn’t. But maybe it just wasn’t that griping. Does that make sense? It flowed nicely but nothing really jumped out at me. Other than that I didn’t really have much of a problem with the story. If you want to take a time out from heavy novels and want something fluffy, give it a try.

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Review - A Highlander for Christmas

Title: A Highlander for Christmas
Author: Sandy Blair
Publishing Date: October 2007
Genre: Time-Travel
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Warm

Over the past two Christmases, my husband gets a big kick out of shopping for romance novels for me. He gets quite a chuckle from the silly titles and the semi-naked people on the covers. So, this was one of the books that apparently made him chuckle (It had both the requisite silly title and half naked male on the cover). I have never read anything by Sandy Blair before, but I love time travel novels so I was excited about reading it. I am happy to say that it did not disappoint.

Claire MacGregor owns an antique shop in Boston. An old friend of hers passes away and bequeaths his meager belongings to her. One thing leads to another and all of the sudden Cameron Macleod is standing in her bedroom naked as the day he was born. The story is very fast paced right from the get go. Both are instantly attracted to one another. Cameron winds up in lots of trouble trying to assimilate to this new place and time. I found these parts to be rather endearing and funny at the same time. Cameron really steals the show in this romance. Cameron has a very unique outlook on the present day that had me cracking up.

Blair takes the time to slowly form a relationship between Claire and Cameron. There is no jumping into bed at first sight here (even though they like what they see). I like this. It makes the book more believable, considering the premise (how believable can it be….a highlander travels through time). I felt that the ending was a little drawn out, but overall it didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the book. If you are interested in a light-hearted romp with a sexy highlander; give this one a try.

Sandy has also written A thief in a Kilt, A Rogue in a Kilt and A Man in a Kilt. I don’t know if these are connected or not, but I’m definitely going to look into them.