Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read, open to a random page, and share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

 Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser!

She nearly shot off the couch. Murmuring soothingly, he held her in place with one hand low on her abdomen.

~75% on Kindle "Build Me Up" by Lily Rede

Stolen Fury

Oh, is he handsome. And charming. And sexy as all get out. Dr. Lisa Maxwell isn't the type to go home with a guy she barely knows. But, hey, this is Italy and the red-blooded Rafe Sullivan seems much more enticing than cataloging a bunch of dusty artifacts.

After being fully seduced, Lisa wakes to an empty bed and, worse yet, an empty safe. She's staked her career as an archaeologist on collecting the three Furies, a priceless set of ancient Greek reliefs. Now the one she had is gone. But Lisa won't just get mad. She'll get even.

She tracks Rafe to Florida, and finds the sparks between them blaze hotter than the Miami sun. He may still have her relic, but he'll never find all three without her. And they're not the only ones on the hunt. To beat the other treasure seekers, they'll have to partner up--because suddenly Lisa and Rafe are in a race just to stay alive.

Review an on Goodreads by ♡ Sassy ~ Amy ♡
This was actually pretty good.

The first in a series of books about stolen art & relics. Lisa finds one of three relics only to have it stolen by a super hot guy she spent an evening with in Italy. Luckily her brother the cop tracked him down & she can get her relic back. Unfortunately nothing goes as planned & they have to partner up to find the remaining ones.

It was a short fast read with plenty of action & romance. I will eventually go on to the next book. This one gets only a 4 star rating because having to compare to her argonaught books... this one pales!

Rating:

Thief of Shadows

Winter Makepeace lives a double life. By day he's the stoic headmaster of a home for foundling children. But the night brings out a darker side of Winter. As the moon rises, so does the Ghost of St. Giles-protector, judge, fugitive. When the Ghost, beaten and wounded, is rescued by a beautiful aristocrat, Winter has no idea that his two worlds are about to collide.

Lady Isabel Beckinhall enjoys nothing more than a challenge. Yet when she's asked to tutor the Home's dour manager in the ways of society-flirtation, double-entendres, and scandalous liaisons-Isabel can't help wondering why his eyes seem so familiar-and his lips so tempting.

During the day Isabel and Winter engage in a battle of wills. At night their passions are revealed . . . But when little girls start disappearing from St. Giles, Winter must avenge them. For that he might have to sacrifice everything-the Home, Isabel . . . and his life.

Reviewed by Cheryl Sneed

"I really liked Winter and, while it took a bit longer for me to warm to Isabel, I did wind up rooting for her. They make an unlikely pair, and I finished the book wondering if they are truly suited for each other over the long haul, but this is fantasy, after all. I appreciated Winter's interactions with the children and his obvious love for them. There was a side plot that ran throughout the book that felt completely unconnected to the story, and was there solely to set up the next book in the series, that I found to be intrusive and annoying.

But, Thief of Shadows is Winter's story, and, in the end succeeds, for he is a fascinating and compelling character."

Rating:  

Giving it up

Allie prowls the club for a man who will use her hard and then ditch her. Hey, it's not rape if she wants it. Instead she finds Colin, who looks tough but treats her tenderly, despite her protests.

He tempts her, but kindness and a few mindblowing orgasms aren't enough to put her back together again. Allie has no hope for a real relationship. Two years ago her best friend betrayed her in the worst possible way – she’d be stupid to trust a man again. Besides, she has her daughter to think of, the only good thing to have come from that dark night.

But when her rapist returns, threatening her sanity and custody of her daughter, Allie turns to Colin. Under his protection and patient touch, Allie begins to heal and learns to hope. Colin’s no saint, though, and his criminal past draws danger of its own. Allie must fight to protect her child and the man she loves, hoping her newfound power will be enough to save them all.

Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual situations, graphic language, and material that some readers may find objectionable: dubious consent.

"This is not your average cute and sweet feel-good book. Rather, it’s a dark and edgy story about flaws, vulnerabilities, hope and real life. To say that I loved Giving It Up would be an understatement."

- Steffi, Swept Away by Romance

The Governess Affair

She will not give up.Three months ago, governess Serena Barton was let go from her position. Unable to find new work, she's demanding compensation from the man who got her sacked: a petty, selfish, swinish duke. But it's not the duke she fears. It's his merciless man of business -- the man known as the Wolf of Clermont. The formidable former pugilist has a black reputation for handling all the duke's dirty business, and when the duke turns her case over to him, she doesn't stand a chance. But she can't stop trying -- not with her entire future at stake.He cannot give in.Hugo Marshall is a man of ruthless ambition -- a characteristic that has served him well, elevating the coal miner's son to the right hand man of a duke. When his employer orders him to get rid of the pestering governess by fair means or foul, it's just another day at the office. Unfortunately, fair means don't work on Serena, and as he comes to know her, he discovers that he can't bear to use foul ones. But everything he has worked for depends upon seeing her gone. He'll have to choose between the life that he needs, and the woman he is coming to love...

Review:

I loved the story of Serena and Hugo. Their romance was absolutely delicious, full of trust and utterly romantic. A fantastic read with intelligent characters and Courtney Milan's writing leaves you wanting more. It’ll easily be the best dollar you spend this month. This book is highly recommended.

Rating:  

Once Upon a Winter's Eve

                     by Tessa Dare

Some wallflowers bloom at night...

A Spindle Cove Novella

Violet Winterbottom is a quiet girl. She speaks six languages, but seldom raises her voice. She endured bitter heartbreak in perfect silence. The gentlemen aren't beating down her door.

Until the night of the Spindle Cove Christmas ball, when a mysterious stranger crashes into the ballroom and collapses at Violet's feet. His coarse attire and near-criminal good looks would put any sensible young lady on her guard. He's wet, chilled, bleeding, and speaking in an unfamiliar tongue.

Only Violet understands him. And she knows he's not what he seems.

She has one night to draw forth the secrets of this dangerously handsome rogue. Is he a smuggler? A fugitive? An enemy spy? She needs answers by sunrise, but her captive would rather seduce than confess. To learn his secrets, Violet must reveal hers—and open herself to adventure, passion, and the unthinkable... Love.

Warning: The heroine packs a pistol, the hero curses in multiple languages, and together they steam up a cold winter’s night.

Reviewed by May

"This story manages to be both tender and funny, sweet and steamy, and a very quick page-turner. The ending was both satisfying and left me wondering about this pair’s next adventures. One other great thing about this novella – while characters from the first book in the series make an appearance, it is in no way necessary to read that story before this one."

Rating:  

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read, open to a random page, and share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

 Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser

She wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole. It wasn't her place to care about him.

~90% on Kindle "Dark Nights (Xcite Romance)" by Kitti Bernetti

A Scandalous Affair

                   by Karen Erickson

From the moment Daphne, Lady Pomeroy, meets the mysterious Marquess of Hartwell at a masquerade ball, she's determined to seduce him. The handsome, charming man cannot possibly be the cold, calculating lord who Society calls "Black Hart." Risking everything, the lonely widow invites the elusive Hartwell to her dinner party…for two. Hartwell's arrogant reputation is built on a lie. For he has a shameful secret that keeps him in the shadows: a stutter—his downfall since childhood. He'd rather keep his mouth shut than look the fool. But he's shocked to discover that in Daphne's company—and in her bed—his stutter vanishes.

After one wanton evening together, Daphne is hurt when the lord lives up to his Black Hart name. Yet his reasons for leaving surprise even him. Now he must confess everything or risk losing Daphne forever…

Book reviewed by Lori Carroll
As with so many of the previous reviewed historical eroticas, I have to start this review the same way. This is a short novella that is currently only available in ebook format. It is a Regency erotic romance novel, so the romantic development revolves more heavily around their sexual relationship. If any of those situations do not appeal to you, this is not the book for you. Now on to the story.

Daphne has no intention of getting married again. She is comfortably wealthy, has her brother and his family, and has finally found the freedom to indulge her desires. Unfortunately, there are few men that interest her enough to put forth the energy. Until she meets Hartwell.

Hartwell hates crowds. He's always been shy, but that has been compounded by a stutter, which his demanding father taught him to despise. Oddly enough, he finds his stutter to be almost non-existent in Daphne's presence. Despite the calming effect she has on him, he still avoids her presence, which does nothing but frustrate Daphne. When Daphne finally corners Hartwell she invites him to a dinner party at her house, one that Hartwell is unaware will be for only the two of them. It doesn't take much to spark the flames between the two of them, and once started there is no stopping.

I never know when I start these books what to expect. With A Scandalous Affair Ms. Erickson brought forth two characters that were fully fleshed out and interesting. Hartwell's speech impediment was only worsened by his own personal demons, but somehow, along with making a believable love story, Ms. Erickson was able to make me fully appreciate his success in overcoming it.

I would not say that the sex scenes in this book were anything overly raunchy for a Regency romance, but it fell into the erotic category because of the amount of sexual relations they had, along with the heat and passion behind them.

I definitely recommend this if you are looking for a good quick read, and I will be on the lookout for Ms. Erickson's next one.

Rating:  

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read, open to a random page, and share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

 Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser

The thought of someone watching them make love excited her even more. "Then let's give them a show they'll never forget." 

~97% on Kindle "Leather and Lust" McKenna Chase

A Taste of Midnight

                                    by Alexandra Hawkins

For fans who have been been waiting to devour Darker After Midnight, as well as new readers tempted by the seductive thrills of her Midnight Breed novels, New York Times bestselling author Lara Adrian offers up a tantalizing appetizer in A Taste of Midnight. In this spellbinding eBook novella of otherworldly desire, a woman whose destiny was born from a blood kiss discovers that second chances do come . . . even for immortals.

A shimmering holiday gala lights up an ancient castle in the Scottish Highlands, but beautiful widowed Breedmate Danika MacConn feels alone in the crowd. Even among the friends and festivity of the Darkhaven celebration, she can’t forget her lost love, a fallen warrior of the Order. Her brief return to her mate’s homeland has become treacherous after rejecting the advances of a dangerous Edinburgh crime boss with a taste for blood sport.

As Danika seeks to expose the vampire and his dark trade, she discovers an unexpected ally in his forbidding, enigmatic henchman, Brannoc, a man who exudes heat, danger, and dark menace--and seems somehow achingly familiar. Bran has his own reasons for wanting to keep Dani out of his employer’s business . . . and his own secrets he means to keep buried. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a woman who tempts the wildest part of his Breed nature--especially when that woman is Danika MacConn, the one woman capable of bringing him to his knees.

Contains a preview of the hotly anticipated nightcap of Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breed series, Darker After Midnight!

Review as on Goodreads by ♡ Sassy ~ Amy ♡

This was a great Lara Adrian novella! This is Danika's story. Her Breedmate was killed & she went back to scotland with her baby.

She runs into an old love Malcolm who is working as a bodyguard for a man who runs a blood club.

This was a perfect novella, because it included everything it needed to with out leaving you hanging (waiting for more). It is a must read! If you're into this series, you have to include this book.

Rating:  

The Ugly Duchess

                    by Eloise James

How can she dare to imagine he loves her . . . when all London calls her The Ugly Duchess? Theodora Saxby is the last woman anyone expects the gorgeous James Ryburn, heir to the Duchy of Ashbrook, to marry. But after a romantic proposal before the prince himself, even practical Theo finds herself convinced of her soon-to-be duke's passion.

Still, the tabloids give the marriage six months. Theo would have given it a lifetime . . . until she discovers that James desired not her heart, and certainly not her countenance, but her dowry.

Society was shocked by their wedding . . . and is scandalized by their separation. Now James faces the battle of his life, convincing Theo that he loves the duckling who blossomed into the swan. And Theo will quickly find that, for a man with the soul of a pirate, All's Fair in Love—and War.

Book reviewed by Lori Carroll
The Ugly Duchess was an interesting story. James and Daisy were very young when the story began, and had already built the foundation for love. Despite not knowing the characters tremendously well when they got married, I believed that they were in love but, they needed to spend some time apart and mature. Thank goodness they did, for I was not interested in the couple as they were when the book began.

To society, Daisy was "ugly," but to James she was always gorgeous. Even though the story is modeled after The Ugly Duckling fairy tale, the point was not that she became beautiful, or that James could see past her faults, it was simply that, to James, Daisy didn't have any. And that made it perfect.

While there are several plot devices that usually make me not like a book, here they were all done in a way that I enjoyed them. The two characters were way too young to deal with the issues that they had to face. So while they were deeply in love with each other, I could understand the lack of communication that caused the separation. After James decided not to return home, he slept with other women. This would usually anger me, but Ms. James was able to write it in a way that made it acceptable.

Once again, Ms. James gave me a delightful read. I absolutely say: pick this one up!

Rating:  

Return of the Viscount

                   by Gayle Callen

Desperation drove Cecilia Mallory to seek a union with a stranger—one who would wed her sight unseen and grant her full access to her inheritance with no expectations whatsoever. She anticipated, perhaps, an older, undesirable, equally desperate husband—never the young, vibrant, and devastatingly attractive man who answered her call. What could such a man really be after?

Unknown to Cecilia, Viscount Michael Blackthorne, a soldier and gentleman, owes a debt of honor to Lady Cecilia's father, and granting her unusual request to wed seemed a worthy way to repay it. But an unseen threat perilously close at hand is convincing Michael that his true responsibility is to protect the beautiful, warm-hearted lady he has married . . . the woman he is unexpectedly coming to love.

Book reviewed by Valarie Pelissero

It's been a long time since I've read anything by Gayle Callen and I remember liking her. I don't know why I stopped reading her, I guess I just moved on to different genres and found new favorite authors but, I'm very glad I picked upReturn of the Viscount as it was like discovering the author all over again.

Return of the Viscount is a story about two people who have suffered a lot of tragedy during the war in India (yes, this is Victorian era). Lady Cecilia is the daughter of an earl, who chose to take his family with him while he fought on the front lines in India. During their years following the earl's regiment Cecelia lost one of her younger brothers and eventually both her parents. Cecilia has buried herself in the country running the estates for her brother Oliver, who is just twenty.

Cecilia has a guardian but needs access to her dowry quickly and the only way to achieve that is to marry. Having spent the last two years since her father's death corresponding with Sgt. Michael Blackthorne, one of her father's soldiers, she has come to know him well enough to ask him to marry her by proxy.

Michael feels responsible for the earl's death and a need to see that his family is taken care of so readily agrees to the marriage intending to spend the rest of his life in India and never meeting his wife. Fate has a way of intervening and Michael is injured and is returned to England to recuperate. When he arrives at Cecilia's home she is less than thrilled to find out the “older” husband she thought she had married is a handsome man in his prime.

Cecilia is running the estates for her petulant younger brother while he falls into an ever increasing spiral of depression. Shortly after her husband arrives Cecilia starts having “accidents,” and she doesn't know who is out to kill her - the man she married by proxy but won't commit to, or her beloved brother who is becoming more and more distant.

Cecilia was an enabler and she wasn't helping her brother by ignoring his behavior, even after she was nearly raped by one of his drunken friends. She continually made excuses for him because ten years earlier he had lost his twin brother in India, and she continued to let Oliver wallow in his grief. When Michael arrived and offered to help Oliver find his way to manhood, she fought him every step of the way, always making the excuse that Oliver was still grieving the loss of his twin. I was very glad that Ms. Callen had Cecilia give up control and let her brother finally grow up. Oliver's problem was far worse than the loss of his twin brother, and along with the attempts on Cecilia's life, it made for a riveting story.

Michael and Cecilia were a great couple and Michael was exactly what Cecilia needed to give up her own control issues formed from her mother's own insecurities. I loved watching how she came to believe in Michael and trusted him to keep her safe when she wasn't sure who to trust in her household. Michael had responsibilities of his own to face as his brother was starting out on a life of his own rather than wanting to continue to run the Blackthorne estates. I loved how strong and true Michael was, he was my favorite part of the story.

I'm really glad I read Return of the Viscount and I can't wait to pick up Gayle Callen's next book. Don't miss this one.

Rating: