Review - Highland Dragon

Title: Highland Dragon
Author: Kimberly Killion
Publishing Date: October 2009
Genre: Medieval
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Hot
Book Disclosure: Received an ebook from the author

Calin is the Lard of Clan MacLeod and has been engaged to the daughter of the rival clan Kinnon since he was ten years old. The match was made to bring peace between the two clans, but on the night Akira was born things went terribly wrong. Calin's father was murdered right before his very eyes and Akira would have been killed too if it wasn't for Calin's quick thinking. He secreted Akira away, to grow into a young woman and when the time was right, Calin would come back for her and make her his wife.

Akira had always known she was different. She didn't look like any of her family. She also was sent to school through her benefactor and she knew that one day she would marry him. She hoped he would be kind to her and give her the babies she longs for. At eighteen, her family believed that her betrothed had come for her, but instead she is kidnapped. Calin finds this out when he comes for Akira himself. Along with Akira's foster brother, Calin rides to get back his bonny bride.

Akira is an interesting combination of a forthrightness, but she is also inexperienced in the ways of the world. Yet for only being eighteen, which I think is young for a heroine (I am showing my age here) she comes across as older. Although, she does have her moments of immaturity, but for the most part she is a thoughtful individual. I found the exchanges between Akira and Calin, especially in the beginning of the story when they first meet, to be a lot of fun to read. There are some really good conversations between the two of them. Calin likes to tease Akira for her naivete.

Calin has a lot of secrets he is keeping from Akira and this eventually drives a rift between the two. Readers know early on that this is going to happen because there is plenty of foreshadowing. That is the one drawback to big misunderstandings. They tend to leave a black cloud over the romance, because the reader knows that eventually the secrets will come out. They just don't know when.

There are also some complicated politics between the clans. I felt like I followed along fine, but there were a few shaky moments. I got a little confused when the English were brought into it. Fortunately, I felt like everything was clearly wrapped up at the end. One interesting secondary character Catriona, Calin's former mistress was a surprise. Her character starts out as a vindictive woman, but later on changes her tune due to Akira's forgiveness. I always enjoy reading about a villain who is redeemable. Some villains aren't redeemable and there is one of those in this story too.

Here is what others had to say:

Leontine's Book Realm
Book Junkie
Heather's Reading Romance
The Good, The Bad, The Unread

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

RT Book Challenge

I have officially decided to attend RT 2010 this year. For those of you who aren't aware, RT Magazine (formerly Romantic Times Magazine) holds an annual convention for readers, authors and booksellers. I went last year and had a fabulous time. This year it is in Columbus, Ohio April 28 - May 2, 2010. It just so happens that my 10th anniversary falls during the convention and I figured it was a lost cause. But wait... my very flexible and understanding husband agreed that we could celebrate our anniversary the weekend before. Whoo hooo! Is he a great guy or what?! I know - total romance hero material!

So, on with the story. I met a plethora of authors. Some of these authors I had read and others I had never even heard of (and I consider myself something of an expert on the subject of romance authors). Shame, shame on me, eh. After meeting some of the authors, who were all very nice people and had interesting backstories, I really wanted to read their books. Some of them I have been able to read and others have sat on my TBR shelf patiently, waiting for me to get to them.

To give myself an extra push I have decided to devise an RT Reading Challenge. I have seven months with which to run this challenge. The rules as I see them are this:

1. The author has to be attending RT 2010. A list of authors participating can be found here. The list is constantly being updated, so check back frequently. Also, let me know if the link stops working.

2. It has to be an author you haven't read before.

3. Pick a number to read each month. For me, my goal is to read two books a month for a total of 14 books until I attend RT in April.

Anyone else going to RT and interested in participating? Anyone, not going to RT and interested in participating? Please, anyone is welcome to join the challenge. Feel free to steal use the challenge logo on your own blogs.

What I'll do is have an open post at the beginning of each month. When you complete a book and post your review, leave a comment with the link. I'll have a link to the post in my sidebar that you can easily access at anytime during the month. I'll update the post regularly to include your review link. Sound easy enough? I hope so. This is my first time hosting a challenge :)

Review - A Marquis To Marry

Title: A Marquis To Marry
Author: Amelia Grey
Publication Date: October 2009
Genre: Historical
Rating: C-
Sensuality: Hot
Book Disclosure: Received an ARC from Sourcebook's publicist

A Marquis To Marry is the second book in Amelia Grey's The Rogues Dynasty Series. Ever since the announcement of his inheritance from his grandmother of the famous Talbot Pearls, the Marquis of Raceworth, known by his friends as Race, has been getting bombarded with all kinds of inquiries. The most surprising is when he gets a visit from the Dowager Duchess of Brookfield. He has never met the Duchess and is surprised to learn that she is not old at all, but beautiful and about the same age as himself. As he meets with her in one of his sitting rooms he discovers that she believes him to be the wrongful owner of her mother's famous Talbot Pearls. She all but accuses him of stealing them from her family.

This series focuses on three cousins Lucien the Duke of Blackwell, Alexander the Marquis of Raceworth and Lucas the Earl of Morgandale. I didn't read the first book, which was about the Duke. There were a few times he and his duchess or past events were alluded too in A Marquis to Marry. I didn't feel lost, but I knew there was more to the story than I was given.

The biggest issue I had with this book was that it was boring. There was a lot of internalizing done by both Race and Susannah which slowed the momentum of the story down. I would have rather had the characters act than think. Race seemed to be more impulsive with his judgement and behavior than Susannah, who was much more refined with expressing her passion. The characters where enjoyable, I just would have liked to have seen more action.

A Marquis To Marry also had a screwball comedic feel to it. There is a secondary plot involving Race's good friend Gibby. Gibby is an older gentleman in his sixties who is called out to a duel for dishonoring another man's spinster sister. When asked his choice of weapon, Gibby chooses fists. So, two men who are not in their prime are going to have a boxing match. Seemed a little silly to me and I am sure this was the point. While I enjoyed Gibby's character, I am not really a fan of silliness. From what I could garner, Gibby has a habit of getting into scrapes and the cousins have to bale him out. I believe something similar happens in all the books. At least that was my impression.

Here is what others had to say:

The Book Girl
Love Romance Passion
A Hoyden's Look at Literature
Maymay's Memos
Anna's Book Blog

This book can be purchased in print format from Amazon.

Making A Change

The book reviewing/blogging world has gotten their panties all in a twist over new regulations being put into place by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) This is a United States government run agency devoted to protecting the consumer. They recently posted an article about consumer endorsements through blogs or celebrities. Apparently, this will affect book bloggers as well. Those of us who receive payment for endorsing a book (through Amazon Associates program) or receive a book from an author or publisher and keep the book have to disclose this to the public.

Personally, I don't see what everybody is so worked up about. I seriously doubt the government is going to have time to see what little o'l me is doing in my neck of the woods. Seriously, I am small potatoes. I know. They know it. Why would they waste their time?

But, I am a born rule follower. Yep. I like to dot my "i's" and cross my "t's". So, to play it safe I will be adding a new addition to my blog. I will now disclose to you, the consumer, where I got my book from. You are used to the format I use when I set up a review, where I list the title, author etc. Here is an example of what the new format will look like using the book Shadow Touch:

Title: Shadow Touch
Author: Marjorie M. Liu
Publishing Date: 2006
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: A
Sensuality: Warm
Book Disclosure: Checked this one out at the library.

Consider yourself disclosed. May you make an informed decision!

PS. I haven't decided if I am going to go back through all my previous posts and include this information. It is going to depend on my time and how seriously I take the rule following issue :)

Review - Beloved Vampire

Title: Beloved Vampire
Author: Joey W. Hill
Publishing Date: August 2009
Genre: Paranormal (Erotic)
Rating: C-
Sensuality: Hot

Jessica Tyson was taken against her will and forced to become a vampire's servant. After five years of servitude she was given the opportunity to end the vampire's life and she took it. Only she was partially third-marked which means she didn't die right away like she should have. Instead she is slowly wasting away. Her will to live has exceeded her body's need to parish. Before she leaves this earth she is determined to find the grave of Farida whose diary kept her sane all those years. Once she finds Farida's tomb she is discovered by Lord Mason, Farida's lover who also happens to be a vampire. Lord Mason saves Farida's life the only way he knows how by marking her as his servant.

I had a hard time with Beloved Vampire. Jessica suffered horrible, indescribable torture at the hands of the sadistic vampire, Raithe. I was very disgusted by the things Raithe did to Jessica. She has HUGE baggage that she needs to deal with in order to gain some semblance of control over her life. She doesn't trust any vampires or anyone associated with vampires. To top things off she is a natural submissive and is confused by her desire to submit to someone stronger than her. She feels the need to please, yet feels guilty or ashamed by these submissive feelings.

Lord Mason is also tortured by his past. He had loved in the past and that love ended very tragically. Both he and Jessica need to overcome HUGE amounts of baggage before they can heal and move on with their lives. Here in lies the crutch of the problem for me. I felt that Mason and Jessica's relationship was overshadowed by each of their own individual problems that I did not believe in their romance. It was almost as if it was too much for me to comprehend and be able to relate too. I hate to say it be I was also bored on a certain level because the story became stagnant. Before Jessica could move forward she had to work through her issues and it seemed to stall the movement of the relationship between her and Mason.

Beloved Vampire is part of the Vampire Queen series. I don't feel that the other books need to be read in order to read this book. It is not the best of the series in my opinion. Although, other characters from previous books to play a small role in this story. I am sorry to say, I can not recommend this book.

Here is what others had to say:

Dear Author (who really liked it)
Darque Reviews
Tour's Books Blog
The Geeky Bookworm

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

Review - Sliding Home

Title: Sliding Home
Author: Kate Angell
Publishing Date: September 2009
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: B
Sensuality: Warm

Sliding Home is one of Kate Angell's Richmond Rogues books. Kason Rhodes plays left field for the Richmond Rogues, a professional baseball team based in Richmond Virginia. For the last six weeks he has been down in Florida spring training. He comes back to his trailer to find that someone, a woman has invaded his home and been living in it. Dayne Sheridan is trying to pick up the pieces of her life after being dumped on air by her former DJ boyfriend. With hardly anything to her name, the abandoned mobile home seems like the perfect place for her to heal and rebuild her life.

Kate Angell's writing is very breezy and light and Sliding Home is no exception. It is what I would call the quintessential beach read. There are no heavy conflicts needing to be resolved. The characters are normal, down-to-earth people and are fun to read about. Their situations mirror real life and they deal with common problems most of us face in our own lives.

I really enjoyed reading about Kason and Dayne. Kason is a loner and most people at first glance would think him a bruiser or criminal. He really is stand-offish with most people but for some reason Dayne has the gift to get under his skin. She has a quiet strength that draws Kason to her like bees to honey. There is a secondary romance between the Rogues' publicist and first baseman Rayden Dunn. Theirs is a cute story and it doesn't take away from Kason and Dayne.

This book is not breaking any new ground, but it's fun and entertaining. If you are looking for something to really sink your teeth in, this book is not it. If you want to pick up something light for a quick escape, then I recommend it.

Here is what others had to say:

Another Book on the Stack

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

September Book Summary

Wow, can you believe that September is over already? Jeez, this year is flying by and now there are only three more months left! I just squeaked by this month with a total of twelve books read this month. The thing I am really pleased about is that 10 of the books managed to be published this year, which is a good thing because I am behind in my reading pile for books published this year. I hope I can keep this pace for the rest of the year.

I had a mixture of duds and studs. I was disappointed in two authors I usually enjoy (Shannon McKenna and Joey W. Hill) and found a few new authors (Hank Phillippi Ryan, Kimberly Killion and Eva Gordon) who I will be revisiting at some point. I even managed to complete both the TBR Challenge and Re-Read Challenge.

1. Werewolf Sanctuary, Gordon (Paranormal) Rating: B-
2. Prime Time, Ryan (Mystery) Rating: B
3. On a Wicked Dawn, Laurens (Historical) Rating: C+
4. Hunting Ground, Briggs (Paranormal) Rating: A-
5. Never Love a Lawman, Goodman (Western) Rating: B
6. Tasting Fear, McKenna (Rom. Suspense) Rating: D
7. At Grave's End, Frost (Paranormal) Rating: B+
8. The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy, Angelini (Contemporary) Rating: C+
9. Sliding Home, Angell (Contemporary) Rating: B
10. Beloved Vampire, Hill (Paranormal/Erotic) Rating: C-
11. Highland Dragon, Killion (Medieval) Rating: B+
12. Shadow Touch, Liu (Paranormal) Rating: A