Review: "Slightly Sinful" by Mary Balogh

Slightly Sinful by Mary Balogh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Okay, let's get it out in the open: the premise of this book didn't sound very appealing to me at first. I mean, there's amnesia, deception, and another fake marriage - the fourth fake marriage/bethrotal in the Slightly series, and the fifth if you add A Summer to Remember, which is a prequel to the series. It should have been too much to take, right? Wrong! Somehow Ms. Balogh made it all work by making me fall in love with the H/h, and the rest is history...

The events in Slightly Sinful and Slightly Tempted, the previous book in the series, take place concurrently so it's a good idea to read both books back to back. I did, on the advice of my friends Beanbag Love and BJ Rose, and I had a lot of fun realizing how things could have been completely different if "this or that" happened. What's Romancelandia, if not a place full of what-ifs? ;)

Lord Alleyne Bedwyn, who's just embarked upon a career as a diplomat, has been sent to the front of the Battle of Waterloo to deliver a letter to the Duke of Wellington. On his way back to Brussels, Alleyne is shot, falls from his horse and suffers a head injury. Unconscious and defenseless, he's robbed, stripped naked by looters, and left to die in the forest.

Rachel York was working as a ladies' companion in Brussels when she fell prey to the so-called Reverend Nigel Crawley, who was actually a con artist and managed to steal all her meager funds. He's also robbed the life savings of four whores (I don't like using this term, but that's how Ms. Balogh calls them in the book) who are friends with Rachel, so now she finds herself having to live in a brothel with these "painted ladies" while they plot how to track down the conniving "Reverend" and get their money back. But they need money to afford this chase, and the quickest way to get some at the moment is to loot the dead from the Battle of Waterloo. So off they go to the battlefield, but Rachel decides to stay behind in the forest...

As fate would have it, the first "dead" body Rachel finds is Alleyne's, and when she realizes he isn't really dead, she cries for help. This is one of the what-ifs I mentioned above, as Gervase, the hero in Slightly Tempted, happens to be passing by right there and then, hears Rachel's cries, but doesn't stop because another man rushes to help her. What if Gervase had stopped? Well, both Slightly Tempted and Slightly Sinful would have been very short novels, LOL.

Anyway, Rachel takes the nearly dead Alleyne to the brothel with the assistance of Sergeant William Strickland, the man who rushed to her help in the forest. While nursing both men to health - Sergeant Strickland was also injured in Waterloo -, Rachel develops a special "connection" with Alleyne and, between moments of blessed darkness oblivion and painful consciousness, he becomes infatuated with her. He knows that he's feverish and at least partially delirious, but what red-blooded male wouldn't fall in love with such an angel? The problem is, when this red-blooded male finally awakes from his brush with death, he's got amnesia and doesn't know who he is.

Slightly afraid of facing his new reality alone and hoping to buy some time until he recovers his memory, Alleyne decides to join Rachel and her friends in their quest to recover their lost money. So off they go back to England, where Rachel is to deceive her estranged uncle and convince him she's married to a nice gentleman (aka Jonathan Smith aka Alleyne) so she can get her hands on her inheritance. Once in posession of the jewels her mother has left her, Rachel can sell some of them and finance the chase after the dastardly "Reverend". But when they arrive at her uncle's estate, things get a little tricky, and Alleyne and Rachel are forced to spend more time together than they've planned. Pretending to be happy newlyweds in love for a month for her uncle's sake is due to take its toll, isn't it? And what will happen when Alleyne recovers his memory? Will he be back to being the haughty Lord Alleyne Bedwyn and forget about the group of misfits he met in Brussels?

As I said in the first paragraph of this review, I loved Alleyne and Rachel. They were great together, and I could easily see why each fell in love with the other. There was a small misunderstanding in the beginning of their relationship, and Alleyne was aware of it and could have cleared it sooner than he did, but it wasn't bad enough to ruin the progress of the story. In fact, I understood why he chose to keep his silence and let Rachel keep her misconception about his feelings. It was just the way he found to resist his attraction to her.

I also loved Rachel's relationship with her uncle and her friends. Granted, those four "painted ladies" were unbelievably nice and kind-hearted - I could have bought one, maybe two "whores with a heart of gold", but four at once was too much - and I had to suspend disbelief with their antics at Rachel's uncle's home, but they made me laugh so they didn't really bother me overall.

As for the plot, I was okay with the amnesia and the deception in the beginning, but they lasted a bit too long. I got really nervous near the end of the story, when there were only three chapters to read and there was no resolution in sight. As it was, I was afraid the ending would be too rushed because there wouldn't be time to set everything right. Trust Ms. Balogh to turn my fears to dust! The ending was just perfect, and I admit that the scene where Alleyne was finally reunited with his family made me sigh like a ninny. I know this book is about Alleyne, but I have to say that his brother Wulf completely stole the scene there:

"Bewcastle had already seen him. His gaze was steady and silver-eyed and inscrutable. His hand reached for the gold-handled, jewel-studded quizzing glass he always wore with formal attire and raised it halfway to his eyes in a characteristic gesture. Then he came striding along the terrace with uncharacteristic speed and did not stop coming until he had caught Alleyne up in a tight, wordless embrace that lasted perhaps a whole minute while Alleyne dipped his forehead to his brother’s shoulder and felt at last that he was safe.

It was an extraordinary moment. He had been little more than a child when his father died, but Wulfric himself had been only seventeen. Alleyne had never thought of him as a father figure. Indeed, he had often resented the authority his brother wielded over them with such unwavering strictness, and often with apparent impersonality and lack of humor. He had always thought of his eldest brother as aloof, unfeeling, totally self-sufficient. A cold fish. And yet it was in Wulfric’s arms that he felt his homecoming most acutely. He felt finally and completely and unconditionally loved.

An extraordinary moment indeed."

Okay, I'd better stop now because this is no longer a review, but a rave from a die-hard Balogh fan, LOL. When it comes to her books, I just can't stop gushing about them. I. Just. Love. Her. Writing!



View all my reviews

Review: "Taking Chase" by Lauren Dane

Taking Chase by Lauren Dane

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Taking Chase is the second book in Lauren Dane's Chase Brothers series and it's older brother Shane's story.

Shane was introduced in Giving Chase, where he pretty much acted like a jerk and failed to endear himself to me, but I knew he would have to change in this book if Ms. Dane had any intention of making him a likable hero. What I didn't expect to see was how abrupt his change was, so it was hard to believe it at first. Right from the start of this book, previously callous and relationship-shy Shane was turned into a gentle and caring man who never hesitated to pursue a serious relationship with Cassie. Huh? Where was the guy who was so afraid of being cheated again that he avoided getting emotionally involved with any woman who might endanger his heart? I know that romantic heroes are supposed to reform when they meet "the one", but there's usually some degree of inner struggle before they take the fall. This didn't happen with Shane, and I was disappointed because I had been wondering how the mighty would fall since I finished Giving Chase. Anyway, once I decided to "accept" Shane's new demeanor without trying to understand it, it was easy to fall in love with him and wish him the best luck in his pursuit of Cassie's love.

Cassie was a difficult heroine to me. I really liked her at first and I completely understood where she was coming from, but she grated on my nerves with her OTT attitude when it came to refusing any help, which she saw as "managing", in her life. Come on, Shane was not only her boyfriend but he was also a cop, and only a stupid woman would refuse his help! She also annoyed me with the way she kept comparing Shane's actions with her ex's. Yes, she did that all the time, and no matter how many times she said she wasn't doing it, her actions said otherwise. Okay, Shane had issues too and dumped them on her now and then, so their relationship was bound to have some bumps along the way. But why was he the one who always made the effort to patch it up? He took the blame for everything, and I didn't think that was right.

As for the plot, the romance was slow paced - as it should be, considering Cassie's history - and sweet, but there were some jarring "holes" in Cassie's plan to build herself a completely new identity and escape her ex-husband's pursuit. Her being in constant contact with her brother was an extremely easy way for her ex to track her down, and I was actually surprised to see how long it took until her crazy ex finally caught up with her. Maybe I've read too many romantic suspense novels and I've become too jaded to believe that "normal" people on the run do make mistakes like that, but Cassie and her brother weren't acting on their own and had the assistance of people who were - or should have been - experts on the subject.

As it happened before, Ms. Dane's writing wasn't exactly to my liking. I still can't put my finger on it, but I found myself skimming through some scenes involving a secondary character, as I felt that they didn't add much to the story. Regardless, reading this book wasn't a hardship at all, as Shane and Cassie were engaging characters and I was really rooting for their HEA.

All things considered, this was a nice and sweet read, but I still haven't joined the "Chase Brothers's wagon". Oh, I love all the hunkalicious Chase men and I want to marry them all, but there was something lacking in the 2 books I've read so far. Anyway, I intend to read the next 2 books in this series - not because I'm particularly hooked on it, but because I'm curious about Marc and Matt, the remaining Chase brothers who haven't found their HEA yet. Plus, I enjoy reading "feel good" stories now and then, even though the Chase family can be a bit too sweet sometimes.



View all my reviews

Review: "Giving Chase" by Lauren Dane

Giving Chase by Lauren Dane

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


After reading so many good reviews about this series, I finally caved and decided to see what all the fuss was about. Now I know... It's all about the hunky and sweet Chase brothers, of course! ;)

Giving Chase is Kyle's story, and what a charmer he is! Honorable, caring, passionate and protective, he's the son-in-law every mother dreams of - not to mention the husband every woman hopes to find. He doesn't fall fast for Maggie, but when he does... Oh boy, can I say what a charmer he is again?

Maggie doesn't fall fast for Kyle either. In fact, they've known in each other all their lives - that's a given when you live in a small town - but they've never been more than friendly acquaintances. In the beginning of this story, she actually dates other guys before hooking up with him. Naturally, all that is moot when Kyle sets out to woo and conquer her. Maggie has some big self-esteem issues - thanks to her b!tchy mother and sister - and Kyle has to keep convincing her that he's truly attracted to her and that he's in for the long haul. Is there any doubt about his persuasion powers? ;)

As the story begun, I was a bit put off by Maggie dating the creepy Alex and then hooking up with Kyle's older brother Shane, but that was short-lived - thankfully! - and once Kyle stepped in, those shenanigans were over. Kyle and Maggie made a cute couple, and she was definitely better off with him than with his brother. There wasn't much tension in their relationship, aside from Maggie's insecurities about herself, and I have to say, that was a bit dull. It was obvious they did get along and their love scenes were hot but, at one point, I felt like I was reading a premature extended epilogue. I mean, they'd already said their ILY and were basically living together 2/3 through the book, what else was going to happen? Well, I've never been happier to see a stalker in action when creepy Alex made his comeback near the end of the story, LOL.

Some people will think I'm crazy, but this book had a chick-lit vibe to me. Not in its structure per se, but in the way it seemed more focused on Maggie's overcoming her insecurities and becoming a more assertive woman than on her relationship with Kyle. Don't get me wrong, the romance part played a big role in the story, but the lack of conflict between Maggie and Kyle made the other parts of the story more interesting.

As for Ms. Lane's writing style, there was something "off" about it. The story didn't flow smoothly, and sometimes I felt like she was just describing a series of events instead of telling a story, if you know what I mean. Even so, her writing was good enough to make me care and root for the characters, so it wasn't difficult to keep reading.

All in all, this was an enjoyable, light and sweet read. It wasn't perfect, but it was entertaining. Granted, the Chase family was too good to be true, but it was nice to read an uplifting story about people who were kindhearted for a change. Many reviewers have said it before, and I agree: this book made me feel good, and sometimes that's just what the doctor ordered.



View all my reviews

Review: "Something About You" by Julie James

Something About You by Julie James

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


3 1/2 stars

When I added this book to my GR bookshelves, I put it in the "romantic suspense" shelf because what else should I think considering that the hero is an FBI agent and the heroine is an assistant U.S. attorney, right? Well, now that I finished reading it, I had to move it from the "romantic suspense" shelf to the straight "contemporary romance" shelf, because the suspense is almost nonexistent - the reader is aware of who the bad guy is and what his next moves are all the time. To be strict, the romance isn't that strong either - it was nowhere to be seen in the first half of the story and it didn't take my breath away when it finally started - but I think "contemporary romance" is the genre that fits this book the most.

Overall, everything in the story was kind of subdued, I don't know exactly how to explain it. Strangely enough, that didn't make reading the book boring and I actually had fun doing it - mostly because I liked the main characters (Jack, Cameron, his partner Wilkins, her friends Collin and Amy). I enjoyed "watching" their interactions and wouldn't mind having them as RL friends. Ms. James's solid writing helped the plot to move smoothly and easily, without major bumps in the way, but she could have used a bit more showing than telling. Jack's and Cameron's reminiscences about the past read like a recap sometimes, not the most exciting way to find out about a character's history.

All things considered, this was a good read. I didn't love it like many of my GR friends did, but it's still a book I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone looking for a nice contemporary romance.



View all my reviews

Review: "Indecent Suggestion" by Elizabeth Bevarly

Indecent Suggestion by Elizabeth Bevarly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Wow, this was one smoking hot Blaze novel! *fans herself*

Turner McCloud (gotta love this name!) and Becca Mercer are best friends who have know each other since first grade and now work together at the same advertising agency. As the story opens, their smoking addition gets them in trouble with their boss, who doesn't allow smoking inside the office. They've tried to quit smoking many times before, with no success, so they - or better, Becca - decides it's time they took one final "drastic" measure to quit: to visit a hypnotherapist. The problem is, they arrive early to their appointment, the hypnotherapist mistakes them for another couple - who's seeking the hypnotherapist to help them with their sexual inhibitions - and, there you have it, Turner and Becca end up being hypnothized to respond sexually to each other.

Turner has been in love with Becca for years, so the hypnosis doesn't really change anything in him. On the other hand, Becca finds herself very unable to control her lust for him. Unlike Turner, she's not really in love with him yet, but she's always been attracted to him and the only reason she's avoided "getting horizontal" with him so far is the fear of losing their friendship. But now that she's been hypnothized to let go of her inhibitions, there's no stopping her. But as they get closer and closer and she falls in love with him, the truth about her hypnosis session comes to light and Turner wonders how real her feelings are. Is it all due to the hypnotherapist's indecent suggestion?

I really enjoyed this book. The writing was LOL funny - the opening scene was amazing -, the plot was a bit quirky, and Turner and Becca were adorable. And the love scenes... Wow, they were sizzling hot and borderline erotica. I wasn't completely comfortable with their love scene in her cubicle - I mean, at least get inside one of the conference rooms! - but Ms. Beverly's writing was so engaging that I gave it a pass. All in all, this was one of the best HQ Blaze novels I've read, and I'm going to dream about Turner tonight. ;)



View all my reviews

Review: "No Rest for the Wicked" by Kresley Cole

No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I guess third time is the charm... At least, with the Immortals After Dark series. I wasn't impressed with The Warlord Wants Forever and A Hunger Like No Other, the first two entries in the series, but now I understand what all the fuss is about. To be honest, I wasn't "feeling the love" in the first half of this book, but things got much better in the second half.

Back in 1709, Sebastian Wroth was turned into a vampire by his brother Nikolai, the hero in The Warlord Wants Forever. That happened against his will, and Sebastian has never forgiven his older brother for it. When Valkyrie Kaderin the Cold Hearted shows up at his castle to kill him, he's more than happy to oblige... until he realizes she's his Bride, the one and only female destined to be his eternal wife. Now he doesn't want to die anymore. Too bad Valkyries hate vampires and Kaderin is the best vampire slayer on the face of the Earth, er, the Lore.

Kaderin isn't called "the Cold Hearted" for nothing. She hasn't felt any emotion in a thousand years, ever since her two sisters died by the hand of a vampire whose life Kaderin had just spared out of pity. Devastated by guilt and grief, she was given the blessing of feeling nothing so she could move on with her life. She's cold, fearless and ruthless, the ultimate vampire killer. But all that changes when she meets Sebastian and she starts feeling and experiencing emotions again. However, she isn't the least interested in consorting with a vampire, and she pushes him away.

Besides, she needs to focus on the Talisman's Hie, which is basically an immortal version of the TV show The Amazing Race. Kaderin is the Hie's reigning champion and has won every single edition of the deadly competition, so winning the Hie is a must. But there's more than pride and ego at stake this time around... This Hie, the winner will be given Thrane's Key, a powerful weapon that enables its possessor to time travel to the past. Here's Kaderin chance to go back in time and save her sisters! Her competitors are fierce, but she's positive she'll be able to defeat them. Sebastian offers to join her in the competition, but she flatly refuses his help. So he decides to enter the Hie himself and win the prize for her - after all, she's his Bride and he'll do anything for her. And while they're "globetrotting" in search of the talismans, he'll make her see they're meant for each other. Or will he?

Awww, I loved, loved, loved Sebastian! How could I not? He was adorable, protective, caring, honorable, and sexy as hell. And I think he was a virgin! I loved how he got all nervous and tentative around Kaderin, before he realized she wasn't fragile like the women he knew in his previous human life. I have to say I didn't fully understand why he didn't end his own life in all the three hundred years he lived as an unwilling vampire before he met Kaderin and found a purpose to live, though. I guess I should believe it was fate and he was just waiting to meet her, but Kaderin's behavior didn't make it easy to go along with that idea because she was so not worthy of him... Not in the beginning, at least.

I wanted to throttle Kaderin for the most part of this book. She was cold as expected, given her nickname, but I had a hard time figuring her out. I just couldn't understand how she remained imune to Sebastian for so long. At one point, she even lied to him and tried to use his feelings for her to get her out of a jammy so she could complete a task in the Hie. Thankfully, she came to her senses later in a wonderful scene that made my heart skip a beat. Was it enough to win me over? Not completely, but it was enough to stop me from wanting to smack her, LOL.

The pace of the story was a bit uneven to me. I struggled to get through the first half, when Sebastian and Kaderin didn't really spend much time together and I couldn't see how they would manage to fall in love if they didn't get to know each other. Following the Hie was fun, but it wasn't enough to hold my interest for itself. Once Sebastian and Kaderin started to interact more often, things improved. The second half of the story had a nice mix of action and romance, and I would have read it in one sitting if it wasn't for the darn power outage that took my country by surprise last night. All in all, the final half of the story saved the book for me and the ending had a nice tease - not exactly a cliffhanger - that made me want to read the next book, Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night. Yay!



View all my reviews

Review: "A Hunger Like No Other" by Kresley Cole

A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the first full-length story in the Immortals After Dark series, following the novella The Warlord Wants Forever that introduced the Lore, the mythical strata created by Kresley Cole "where those sentient creatures that are not human live". You don’t have to read that short story to understand A Hunger Like No Other, but I did and I think it helps to get a better grasp of the overall scenario as some events in the two stories take place at the same time.

Lachlain MacRieve is the Lykae King, a 1,200-year-old werewolf who’s been searching for his mate for a long, long time. For the past 150 years, he’s been imprisoned in the catacombs beneath Paris, where he’s been tortured by the Vampire Horde and subjected to die from the fires of hell only to be resurrected by his immortality - over and over again. The only thing that keeps him alive and somewhat sane is the thought of finding his mate, so when he unexpectedly scents her nearby one night, he finds the strength to break free from the bonds that keep him captive. When he finally escapes the catacombs and finds his way to the surface, then into a darkened alley, his mate is gone. He’s not defeated, though, because once a Lykae scents his mate, she’s his forever – and he will find her again… However, Lachlain has the shock of his life when he catches up with her one week later and discovers she’s, gasp!, a vampire. No, this cannot be! Lykaes and vampires are mortal enemies, so why would fate give him a vampire as a mate?

Emmaline “Emma” Troy is actually half vampire and half Valkyrie. Her mother Helen (of Troy?) was a Valkyrie who died when Emma was still a baby. As for her father, all Emma knows is that he is/was a vampire. Determined to finally find out his identity, Emma’s left the Valkyrie coven in New Orleans for the first time in her 70 years – wow, she’s almost a newborn compared to Lachlain! – and flies to Paris, where her parents are believed to have met and lived together for a while. Imagine her surprise when, one night, she’s kidnapped by a strange non-human male who seems to be a bit "deranged", to say the least.

Lachlain is torn between lust and disgust. His "beast" wants to claim Emma as his mate, but he’s having a hard time reconciling the fact that she’s a vampire. He ends up "convincing" her to travel with him to his home in Scotland, with the promise that he’ll let her go when they get there. He’s lying through his teeth, of course, as he has no intention of letting her go – ever! He’s only buying time, before she accepts her position as his mate. But there are people after her – not only her Valkyrie foster mother and aunts, but some bad vampires too – and Lachlain has to fight all of them to keep Emma safe. Not an easy task, when he has to woo her and convince her she belongs with him at the same time.

When I read the Prologue, I thought Lachlain would end up being one of my favorite heroes. I was sure he would be a dark, brooding and intense hero – come on, he severed one of his leg to free it from its bonds to get to his mate! – but that was not to be. He had a brief bout of "insanity" in the beginning, which was completely expected considering his 150-year imprisonment, but he recovered from it quite easily and I found it too unbelievable. Strangely enough, I wasn’t put off by his lying to Emma. I’m usually not a fan of deceitful heroes, but I was OK with Lachlain’s lying because it was consistent with his initial "madness". He kept lying later, when he was "sane" again, but that was another story...

As for Emma, she got on my nerves. She started out as a wuss – by her own words – and ended up as a strong and independent vampire/Valkyrie – kudos to her! – but the journey in between was uneven. I guess she was supposed to be funny and witty, but I found myself wanting to shake some sense into her a couple of times. Some of her conversations with her crazy Valkyrie aunts were hilarious, but I got tired of their antics after a while. There’s a time to joke around, and there’s a time to get down to business. JMHO.

I could have "ignored" Lachlan’s and Emma’s shortcomings if the plot had been engaging enough but, alas, that wasn’t the case. Some jarring inconsistencies kept pestering me while I was reading this book, and I just couldn’t get over them. A) Lachlain’s escape from the catacombs wasn’t as difficult as it should have been. I mean, not a single guard intercepted his way! B) Why did Lachlain waited 150 years to escape? Don’t tell me that he only felt compelled to do it when he scented Emma, because I can’t believe he didn’t find ending his torture as soon as possible compelling enough. C) Why didn’t the Vampire Horde go after Lachlain when he escaped? He couldn’t be that "insignificant", could he? D) Why did Demestriu, the Vampire King, … Okay, I’ll stop ranting now because I’m about to enter into spoiler territory.

All things considered, this was a fun read but, as it happened with The Warlord Wants Forever, I wasn’t wowed by the story. I’m feeling kind of weird here, because many readers love this series and I just don’t get it. I do love the idea of having all kinds of non-human beings living together – mostly at war but some in peace – in the same universe, the Lore, but that’s all. Ms. Cole’s writing was humorous and easy to read, the love scenes were hot and the story was fast paced and entertaining despite its inconsistencies, but I’m still unsure about this series. Does it get better? Should I give the next book a try? Decisions, decisions…



View all my reviews