When a Rake Falls by Sally Orr
Having hired a balloon to get him to Paris in a daring race, Lord Boyce Parker is simultaneously exhilarated and unnerved by the wonders and dangers of flight, and most of all by the beautiful, stubborn, intelligent lady operating the balloon.
Eve Mountfloy is in the process of conducting weather experiments when she finds herself spirited away to France by a notorious rake. She's only slightly dismayed--the rake seems to respect her work--but she is frequently distracted by his windblown physical magnificence and buoyant spirits.
As risky as aeronautics may be, once their feet touch the ground, Eve and Boyce learn the real danger of a very different type of falling...
I finished this book with a huge smile on my face. Boyce Parker may be one of the best male leads I have read this year...there was something so earnest and so honest about him. From the very first line of this book, I knew it, and he, were going to be great and I was right. All Parker wants is his father's approval and he is willing to go to great lengths to get it. One such attempt leads to his needing to get to France. He decides a hot air balloon will do the trick and the lovely lady piloting it is icing on his cake.
Eve Mountfloy is used to gentleman wanting to get down to the ground almost as soon as they leave it and is surprised when Parker insists on staying in the air. She is determined to carry out some scientific experiments for her father and Parker offers to help on their way to France. Ideas of being the first female to successfully cross the channel in a balloon lead Eve to make the attempt and one of the sweetest and funniest hero-heroine get-to-know-you scenes commences. Eve and Parker are just so right for each other and everything is going swimmingly until: a balloon crash, a flirtatious "other" woman, a belittling father, and a pernicious fiance among other things.
There were times when I was reading when I got so frustrated with some of the characters who were standing in the way of the HEA...I know they were necessary for there to be a story but Sally Orr did such a great job of making them so ugh!!-inducing that there were times I was tempted to skip ahead in the book--but I couldn't because I didn't want to miss a second with Parker and Eve. There were other times when I was sure the story was heading towards a predicable cliche but instead it would veer into an original avenue every time. I liked how she turned my expectations on their head and it only made me enjoy the story more. This is the second book in a series and I am looking forward to checking out the first. I can only hope that it is as delightful as this one!
Reading Challenges
Around the World
Historical Romance
I Love Library Books
Key Word
Monthly Mix Up Mania
New Release Challenge
New to You
Rising Assets by Rebecca Zanetti
Melanie Jacobs is in trouble. With three jobs--including running her ranch--and dwindling funds, she's exhausted. Not to mention desperately trying to hide a secret. Unfortunately, her best friend Colton Freeze knows all too well that something is going on, and he won't give up until he knows exactly he needs to fix.
Then Colton learns the truth--that Melanie's future happiness rests in the fickle hands of fate, and her chances for having a family are shrinking with every passing day. Her only comfort is Colton, but when a heated argument between them turns into an even hotter kiss, the boundaries of their friendship are erased, leaving only a scorching-hot hunger for more.
Every kiss--every touch--is a stolen pleasure. But will their new friends-with-sexy-benefits arrangement bring them closer together, or destroy everything they once shared?
Rebecca Zanettis is three for three in the "oh-my-gosh-why-haven't-I-discovered-this-author-sooner??" reaction after finishing her books. After having had plenty of hints in the first two books about Melanie and Colton's friendship that was obviously more (even if Colton hadn't figured it out yet) I was worried that this book wouldn't be able to live up to my expectations, especially with how much I enjoyed the first two books. My worries were groundless...this book was as wonderful as I could have wished.
Melanie is working three jobs trying to cover medical bills as she does not have medical insurance and has been diagnosed with endometriosis. This leaves Melanie having to come to grips with the fact that she will most likely not be able to become pregnant. She is looking into possible options for herself such as freezing her eggs but nothing is guaranteed. On top of that, her forever friend Colton is butting into her business and she is finding it harder and harder to push him back out of her life. She is afraid to take their friendship further because she has watched his love 'em and leave 'em ways for far too many years and can't imagine her life without him in it, even if she has to take him on different terms than she would really like.
Melanie and Colton are both amazing characters. She is level-headed and stands up for what she wants and needs. She lets Colton have it with both barrels when he deserves it and she doesn't put up with any baloney, but she also knows when to lean on his shoulder when things get to be too much. Colton has a long fuse but when his temper blows, watch out! He is very much a planner and it takes a big hammer to get his preconceived ideas about how is life is supposed to go out of his head. There were times when I wanted to shake him a bit, but watching him realize what Melanie really meant to him was incredibly sweet, and oftentimes quite humorous.
Reading Challenges
Contemporary Romance
I Love Library Books
Monthly Mix Up Mania
I borrowed this book from my local library.
White Lies by Jayne Ann Krentz
Level-ten parasensitive Clare Lancaster has resigned herself to the fact that she may never find a suitable mate. A human lie detector, any falsehood--no matter how subtle--sets her blood racing. And most people, to one degree or another, hide behind a facade.
Including her father's new business "consultant," Jake Salter. His careful conversation walks a delicate line between truth and deception. But it is with his help that Clare begins to unravel a web of conspiracy and murder involving the powerful Arizona family that she just became a part of. Caught in a dizzying storm of secrets, lies, and half-truths. Clare and Jake will plunge into an investigation that demands every bit of their special gifts, as something more than mere attraction sparks between them...
Eight months ago, Clare contacted her half-sister Elizabeth and received one word in reply: Help. Clare raced from San Francisco to Stone Canyon, AZ in time to save Clare from her psychopathic husband. The problem? Nobody but Clare believed Elizabeth when she declared that Brad, her husband, was dangerous. When he is found murdered, by Clare, she becomes the prime suspect.
Clare is now back in Stone Canyon, at the request of her father whom she has only met briefly as Clare was the product of a one-night stand between her father and his secretary. Clare has grown up with her mother and great-aunt and his not sure about how she feels about being summoned by Archer (her father). When she shows up, her father is entertaining friends and business associates, including Jake Salter who sends Clare's senses, both normal and psychic, reeling. Clare is hesitant to crash the party but is not given much choice by either Jake or Archer. Unfortunately, when Brad's mother sees Clare, she melts down as she still believes Clare to be a murderess.
Archer has a business proposal for Clare, who reluctantly agrees to stay in Stone Canyon to think about it. She decides to take some of that time to figure out what really happened to Brad and why he targeted Elizabeth in the first place. Things quickly get complicated as it appears that someone is very uncomfortable with Clare's inquiries and Jake quickly steps up to help Clare as he decides it is the only way to protect the stubborn woman he is falling for.
White Lies is one of my favorite JAK titles and I have read it several times. I love the interactions between the Glazebrook family members as well as Clare's interactions with Jake. The mystery is a good one with plenty of twists and turns and the love story between Clare and Jake is in turns, funny, witty, sweet, and sexy. One of my favorite scenes is in the hospital when Jake is on pain meds...you have to read it!
Reading Challenges
Hard Core Reread
Color Coded
Romantic Suspense
I purchased this book with my own funds.
Garden of Lies by Amanda Quick
The Kern Secretarial Agency provides reliable professional services to its wealthy clientele, and Anne Clifton was one of the finest young women in Ursula Kern's employ. But Miss Clifton has met an untimely end--and Ursula is convinced it was not due to natural causes.
Bent on justice, Ursula hatches a plan: take Anne's place as stenographer to the reclusive poet Valerie, Lady Fullbrook. There are dark rumors about Lord Fullbrook, and his gloomy mansion in Mapstone Square seems the logical starting point for an undercover investigation.
Archaeologist and adventurer Slater Roxton thinks Mrs. Kern is off her head to meddle in such dangerous business. Slater is familiar with mortal peril--and some suspect he has bone a bit mad since the year he spent trapped amid the volcanic rock and jungle of Fever Island, thousands of miles from civilization. Nevertheless, he seems sensible enough to Ursula, though she does find herself unnerved by his self-possession and unreadable green-gold eyes...
If this mysterious beauty insists on stirring the pot, Slater intends to remain close by as they venture into the darker side of polite society and a den of iniquity called the Olympus Club. Together they must reveal the identify of a killer--and to achieve their goal they may need to reveal their deepest secrets to each other as well...
Slater Roxton and his friend Brice have finally achieved their dream of finding Fever Island and are busy examining an amazing labyrinth filled with exquisite artifacts when Brice accidentally sets off a trap designed to ensure no one who is trying to relieve the ancient site of any of its treasures. Due to its age, all but Slater are able to get out of the structure, and Slater is believed to be dead. With no other alternative, they leave to sail to England. Unbeknownst to them, Slater is safe inside but must find his way out of an amazingly complex labyrinth if he wants to have any hope of survival. When he shows up in England a year after his ordeal, everyone is amazed. His life and his habits have changed however, and he leaves to live his life on his own terms until his father passes away and he must return to London once more in order to take over his father's affairs until his legitimate heirs are of age.
Ursula Kern has reinvented herself after her life took some tough twists and turns. She has established a secretarial agency which prides itself on hiring modern women who are trained in the very latest trends of shorthand on the newest typewriter models. Her secretaries are known to be exclusive and expensive. One such secretary, Anne Clifton is found dead in her rooms and Ursula discovers a handwritten note that proves to Ursula that Anne did not take her own life, but was instead murdered. Ursula decides that she must uncover what really happened to Anne.
Slater has hired Ursula to help him catalog his artifacts and is not happy when Ursula informs him she must take a leave of absence in order to look into her friend's demise. Slater, determined to spend more time with the intriguing Ursula, offers to help her and another classic Amanda Quick adventure begins. Many of the Amanda Quick hallmarks are here: a modern widowed woman who can take some liberties with the expected behaviors of the time, a man who has a dark past who uses logic and mental and physical rituals to derive answers to difficult questions, multiple shady characters with varying degrees of dastardliness, and house staff and relatives who are supportive and helpful and beyond the norm for most individuals of that time period. This formula always works for me; it is like going to my favorite restaurant and ordering my favorite meal. I know I am going to love it but it is always better than I remember it being. The actual consumption is always richer and more enjoyable than the mere thought of it.
I hesitate to write any further details because this book is best discovered on one's own as the layers and pieces slowly move about until the final denouement is revealed.
Reading Challenges
Around the World
Historical Romance
I Love Library Books
New Release
Pay the Piper by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
Not much happens in fourteen-year-old Callie McCallan's sleepy Massachusetts town. So when the famous rock'n'roll band Brass Rat schedules a concert in the valley, it's big news.
As a reporter for her school paper, Callie scores the scoop of a lifetime--a backstage pass to interview the lead singer of Brass Rat! Her friends are so jealous. But Callie isn't sure what the fuss is all about...until she meets the band.
Lead singer Peter Gringras and his band mates are so cool. Especially Peter. When he plays his flute, it's as if he has some kind of hypnotic power. But there is something strange about the band, something Callie can't quite put her finger on. Maybe she's just being weird, but it's as if they're from here--but not from here--at the same time.
Then, on Halloween night, Callie's brother, Nicky, disappears--along with all the other children of Northampton--and she begins to wonder if her suspicions are so weird after all. It's crazy but Callie thinks she knows why the children have disappeared--and who took them.
To prove it and to rescue Nicky and the other children, Callie will be forced down a road that will lead her to a mythical world filled with fantastical creatures. A world from which there may be no return...
Meh. That was what I said out loud when I finished the book. This book was okay but there were so many opportunities to make it more--more fleshed out, more intriguing, more compelling. And none of them were taken. The story felt too cut and dried for me with weird details here and there. Callie waxed poetic about the names of her siblings for about as long as it took her to figure out the riddle that the exiled fairy prince hadn't solved in over eight centuries. I picked this book up because I was looking for a fairytale retelling and the Pied Piper seemed like a fun choice. I also generally really like Jane Yolan's work. However, I was left feeling let down with this one. Rats...
Reading Challenges
I Love Library Books
105 Challenge
Fairytale Retellings
Reading Roadtrip
Bookish Bingo
Story Sprites
I borrowed this book from my local public library.
Under the Covers by Rebecca Zanetti
Opposites don't attract. They ignite.
The small Montana town near the Kooskia reserve seemed like the perfect place for Juliety Montgomery to hide from her not-so-law-abiding family. But when her peace is shattered by a break-in and threatening phone calls, it's clear someone back in New York knows where she is. It's time to plan her getaway, and fast--but first, she needs to tie up a few loose ends. Namely, finding out exactly what the town's sexy cowboy sheriff is hiding in his holster.
Sheriff Quinn Lodge has enough demons on his own to know when someone's hiding something. Clearly he needs to do a thorough investigation to uncover what's beneath Juliet's uptight, city-girl exterior--preferably one piece of clothing at a time. But when their chemistry goes from fizzy to full-on explosive, things start getting complicated. How can Juliet stay beneath the covers with Quinn, when doing so means blowing her cover.
After finishing the first book in this series, I wasted no time in downloading the second and while it was different in overall feeling, less overall family time but we get to meet more members of the community, I enjoyed it just as much. Juliet is running from her past. Quinn is a strict rule-follower. Watching these two come together was great. Quinn doesn't know exactly what Juliet is lying about but he knows she is hiding something. Juliet is trying to bide her time until she leaves again--in fact she would be gone by now but she promised Sophie a showing at her art gallery. Getting involved with Quinn will only lead to heartbreak for her and she doesn't want to hurt Quinn either, but he doesn't exactly give her a choice.
Quinn is in an election year and decides to use that to his advantage by having Juliet pose as his girlfriend for functions so he doesn't get strong-armed into going with the governor's niece with whom he had an unfortunate one night stand. He needs the governor's support but is not interested in taking the niece along with it. Although to be truthful, if that handy excuse hadn't fallen in his lap I am sure that Quinn could have figured out another way to persuade Juliet to finally give him the time of day.
When these two get together, the sparks fly. I loved watching their relationship develop but I, like Juliet, kept waiting for the past to blow up like a bomb in their faces and when it did, boy howdy! The fallout was extensive. It was great fun watching the community band together to try to get these two love birds back together and seeing Jake at work at his lawyer-ly best was a hoot as well. This is another strong entry in the Maverick Montana series and I already have book three waiting for me on my Kindle!
Reading Challenges
105 Challenge
Contemporary Romance
Men in Uniform
I Love Library Books
I borrowed this book from my local public library.
Two Souls Hollow by Paula Graves
When secrets leak from The Gates, the hunt is on for a mole. All evidence points to Anson Daughtry, who knows their security inside and out. Only coworker Ginny Coltrane can help clear his name, but she's caught in the middle of a turf war between militants in the Smoky Mountains. More at ease behind a computer than with a gun, Anson makes for an unlikely bodyguard. But hunkering down in the Tennessee foothills, turns out Ginny's not exactly the "need to be protected" type. Still, with someone stalking their every move, Anson isn't about to let her out of his sight. Or, if he gets his way, out of his arms.
This was the sixth book in a series and I haven't read the first five which unfortunately reminded me of why I am such a stickler for reading a series in order. There were a ton of little asides and one entire plotline that I was clueless about and that I probably needed to know. I am also worried that a previous book may have been ruined for me by all the info dumped in one of the chapters of this book. However, not all was lost.
The beginning of this book was great. I fell in love with Anson immediately and lucky for me he never behaved in a way that would cause me to change my mind over the course of the book. I don't believe that Ginny entirely deserves him but I was okay with him outshining her in this book. I already couldn't stand Ginny's mindless devotion to her brother who obviously could have cared less about her in his need to feed his addiction and her constant pushing aside of any good that people offered her in order to defend him got really old, really fast. I can understand wanting to believe the best in someone you love but to so obstinately refuse to even entertain the idea that due to his alcoholic ways he might not be the person she remembers growing up seemed naive at best and just plain stupid at worst. I wanted to shake her multiple times over the course of this book but Anson kept me reading. It seems a shame that he got a leading lady that doesn't deserve him but he seemed to love her anyway so as long as he is happy...Unfortunately, as amazing as Anson was there wasn't anything else about this book that causes me to want to rush out and get other books from this series. However, if the author has written other books I might give them a try. Maybe Anson has a literary twin the author wants to write about??
Reading Challenges
New to You
New Release
Romantic Suspense
Reading Road Trip
I Love Library Books
I borrowed this book from my local public library.
